So yesterday I shared my enthusiasm regarding my school's french teacher possibly using WBT-style strategies while she taught: read all about it here. A friend of mine who is a recent education grad and now a successful teacher let me know that what our teacher was doing was not WBT but most likely the AIM Language Learning Program which is a program that his school also uses. Now I had never heard of the AIM program but I went to their website and was so impressed! I invite you all to check out their website because they provide a lot of information as well as their research to support their model (which I know has a been a sore spot in regards to the WBT website because they do not provide any research unfortunately).
Since I have no background in french, not to mention teaching french, I admit that I do not know anything about strategies in regards to teaching additional languages. I was, however, drawn to some of the similarities between the AIM program and WBT strategies. This is what stuck out for me: - Both programs address different learning styles by presenting information visually, verbally, and kinesthetically. - They both use gestures!! (AIM uses even more gestures than WBT) - Both programs want students to have an emotionally investment/attachment to their learning experience. They want their students to have fun (all teachers, want this) but emotion can also influence our memory. - They both encourage whole-class participation that have strategies that involve students repeating after the teacher or speaking in unison with the teacher while they mirror parts or all of the teacher's gestures. - Both programs encourage activities to be "chunked" into shorter periods of time (AIM suggests 10minutes, WBT suggests as little as 45secs-2minutes)
Here are some videos from the AIM Language Learning Program that help explain their program and show it in action. You can also check out their YouTube Channel.
AIM Overview
Gestures & Drama
Like I mentioned in my previous post, I hope to still be able to sit down with our french teacher and discuss her strategies with her but for right now I am just very excited about finding another program that has some similarities to WBT.
