On Personalized Learning and Teaching

On Personalized Learning and Teaching

It is wildly believed in America that “learning has always been and always will be a personal matter”, quoted from Changing the School Learning Environment. In comparison, language teachers in China have begun to recognize this fact in recent years, yet most of us have not realized sound personalized teaching. Fortunately, I came to Yale and learned several effective methods from my tutors Carrie and Siggy to personalize education.

Last week, I observed Carrie’s writing class, which will definitely impact on my personalized teaching in future. Factually, I have never thought of a way to connect students personal feelings with the reading material; instead, Carrie did it by asking students to describe their sense of hearing in their house after reading a vivid description in The Class Castle. Hence, each student had solid experience to share and to write.

Also I will never forget Carrie’s beautiful tone with which she read the article for her students, successfully leading them to walk in to the author’s life. So when she asked who would like to read the next paragraph, I prayed there was no volunteer, for I aspired to continue listing to her voice, emotional and clear, perfectly matching the story. And this is the way a teacher shares her personal feelings with the students when they read together

The most forgettable scene is that yesterday Carrie shared her experience in Qinhuangdao, Hebei in China, which is also my hometown. She told her personal story and feelings so sincerely that she could not help shedding tears. At that time, I suddenly felt we were so close to each other as if we had known each other for many years although we come from different countries across thousands of miles.

In short, this is the power of sharing personal experience and feelings with students and personalizing students’ learning, thereby not only stimulating learners’ inspiration to write, but also helping them set up a harmonious relationship, which further improves students’ trust in their teacher.