Enthused to teach after college, I found that the spark I had for foreign language learning was difficult to ignite in my students.  I was relying too much on a prescribed ‘curriculum’ and got weighed down by racing to complete dry lessons and meet deadlines.

But soon enough I realized that what enthused me about language (as I had learned it  abroad) was being immersed in it, that is, seeing the culture, hearing it spoken often and using it – even little bits at first – to actually say something.  Mine was an auditory, visual, kinesthetic, 3-dimensional experience.  Relevant and useful. 

One professional workshop helped me identify what I had already begun to inject into teaching – the key to igniting that spark of understanding and enthusiasm in students – focus on real communication.  Students learn in different ways and so I needed relevant, basic tools for them, presented in as many active, right-brain oriented ways as I could think of.  I learned to tune into key principles of multi-faceted presentation and teach the basic elements of the language / then build on that and remix material in meaningful context / then present opportunities for students to USE what they learned in real life.

And the spark was ignited!