“Teaching students to think in English teaches them to live in English” affirms my friend, Anthony Vaughan in his blog several weeks back.
And this struck a bell in my mind and got ME thinking. Now, how often do we plan lessons that primarily aim in getting learners to don their thinking hats? More often than not, the precision and details that go into EFL lesson planning is largely intended to hone a multititude of language skills. Fair enough for a language class. But what about those crucial soft skills that learners would so need once they go out into the world of reality ? Think about it.
The truth is (as Anthony puts it) we’re probably a really lucky bunch of ELT teachers if we’ve been blessed with learners who hail from educational systems that place focus on nurturing thinking skills. But this is usually not the case now, is it? For I honestly believe that in a large number of countries, a huge share of the educational-cake is given to assessments and examinations of some sort. In fact, it can pretty much get into a rat-race of learners trying their best to outdo one another where exam results are concerned. But how can we use exams as a basis in determining a learners’ intelligence level? You do get what I mean now, don’t you?