What Is The Role Of Learning A Foreign Language In A 21st Century Education?

Developing 21st Century Skills in the Foreign Language Classroom

AP German and Guest Blogger Kristin Immature

"That won't fly in 'the real earth.'" "Just wait until you become out into 'the existent world.'" These are comments often heard within the classroom, and yet how is "the real earth" defined? How do we, as educators, prepare and equip our students with the skills which will be required of them in their futures? The 21st Century places high demands on its citizens. Jobs have been created, and volition continue to be created as society and applied science develop, which did not exist when teachers entered the piece of work forcefulness. As teachers consider these concepts, they begin to encounter the necessity to prepare their students non only with content knowledge, but also with skills to play a meaningful role in society.

As a foreign linguistic communication teacher, my primary objective is advice. Global language as a whole is considered to be a part of 21st Century skills (Framework, n.d). By effectively connecting content of other curriculums to the language, students are able to delve deeper into the language, cultures, and perspectives of those with which they may be working in their futurity careers. They develop respect for their international colleagues, which will spur successful relationships in their piece of work fields. By exposing them to content from other disciplines they learn to use their knowledge of the foreign language to a variety of contexts.

In my classroom I focus on interpersonal communication because it is what they will most commonly encounter in their daily lives. As I speak High german 90% of the time, students are constantly asked to procedure what I, and others, are proverb to them, and then accurately answer. This takes a great deal of skill in the language also as critical thinking because it demands them to solve the trouble of non only comprehending the question being posed to them, but also to consider possible solutions. Additionally, speaking in the language forces them to have strong interpersonal skills. Berliner (2009) identified social skills necessary to the workplace to be "active and tolerant listening, helping to define problems and suggesting courses of activeness, giving and receiving constructive criticism, and managing disagreements" (p. 135).

Students need more chances for collaboration, real world experiences, and the opportunity to test their theories after working with one another to collaborate on potential solutions. Past giving their learning purpose, they will be better engaged in learning the information. For case, I take given my students the opportunity to collaborate while employing disquisitional thinking skills to create a lesson plan to teach a seventh grade German class greetings, proficient-byes, and how to substitution names. Throughout the procedure students had a diversity of opportunities to collaborate in modest and large settings to come to an agreement as a class as to the best way of instruction the fabric. In general students did very well exchanging ideas, compromising, and creating an action program, even the students who were unremarkably less engaged.

Throughout the lesson students were required to maintain the target language and so it was simulating a real earth situation. Additionally, they were charged with analyzing the language acquisition process, which many reported to be quite valuable as they moved forward in their own learning. They were ready to prove themselves capable and to stretch their wings to test their abilities, which was what I found most inspiring. After the lesson had been implemented, students reported they felt empowered by the experience. It is an art to assist when needed, however, I enjoyed watching my students take ownership of the lesson as it also validated my teaching practices. They knew how to apply the language in a existent-world setting, which has always been one of my goals.

Though students often struggle with maintaining the target language at first, and asking translations or for English to be spoken instead of the target linguistic communication, information technology is these kinds of experiences that they volition be able to utilise in the future. By maintaining the language students receive more than comprehensible input, but they are besides forced to manipulate critical thinking skills. They learn to multi-task, and meet high standards. Students struggle at the beginning, but it is well worth it in the finish every bit they are better able to communicate interpersonally every bit well equally present information to a group of their peers.

References

Berliner, D.C. (2009). The incompatibility of loftier-stakes testing and the development of skills for the twenty-first century. In Marzano, R. (Ed), On excellence in teaching (pp. 113–143). Bloomington: Solution Tree Press.

Framework for 21st century learning. (n.d.). Retrieved March 18, 2017, from www.p21.org

Pickering, D. (2009). Teaching the thinking skills that college-society tasks demand. In Marzano, R. (Ed), On excellence in didactics (pp. 145–166). Bloomington: Solution Tree Press.

Kristin Young graduated from the Academy of Cincinnati in 2010 with a double major in German and Secondary Education. She has been teaching for six years, two of which were in Ohio and four in Kentucky. Currently at Highlands High School in Fort Thomas, Kentucky she instructs High german ane, 2, 3, 4, 5, and AP.

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Source: https://medium.com/inspired-ideas-prek-12/developing-21st-century-skills-in-the-foreign-language-classroom-fef37c7b1084#:~:text=Global%20language%20as%20a%20whole,working%20in%20their%20future%20careers.

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