Move On and Leave Behind those “Fossilized Errors”
We ESL teachers all have experienced that terrible feeling of remaining speechless after having encountered “mental lapses” at which we struggle with trying to recall the meaning of certain words that somehow end up being part of our personal lexicon, though inadequately well defined.
Thus, admitting our lack of knowledge to that respect instead of “making-up” for such ignorance with embarrassing excuses or the uttering of more confusing words or new inappropriate associations, it is of vital importance that we approach that limbo-condition with a decisive attitude towards willingness to resolve that fossilized structure once for all; therefore, giving our mindset a new resolution that will remain unshakeable on the right new track and leave within us a relieving sensation of clearing ourselves out of such foggy moments.
Particularly, regarding teaching English to our Spanish speaking students — as we tend to go back and forth with some type of L2 explanation — it concerns us all mentors at American School Way, that false cognates / false friends or fake associations we tend to make to conform to our mother tongue, may be appropriately addressed. It’d be of vital importance to stick to the “old school” Teaching Methodology related to the technique of setting apart a time to clarify our students with the possibility that there is a discrepancy in between what we “think” it is true and what it “might” actually mean instead , all this without any concerns of criticism either on ourselves or on their behalf.
By recording — voiced or written — those mistakes or the misquoting uttered by us or perhaps some other mentor and meticulously comparing it with its Spanish version will prevent to go further into improper scaffolding of concepts.
In conclusion, as we see those fossilized errors we promptly notice in our students are not only part of their reality but also our; then it is time to move on and take matters into that issue.
By:
Juan C. Reina.