Gesture and Teacher Led Self Expression

Gestures and TLSE. 

My teaching practice and the experiences of my students have changed radically since implementing the AIM, using gestures and using Teacher Led Self Expression. The gestures are a powerful tool for teaching a L2. Before using AIM, there was really no way to teach vocabulary other than through the use of vocabulary lists that were related to a theme. These vocab lists contained very little functional vocabulary and students were rarely able to transfer the learning of such vocab into everyday language. Students did learn words but the learning was usually not sustained and thematic vocabulary was soon forgotten. With AIM, not only do students learn essential, functional vocabulary kinaesthetically and repetitively, through the use of gesture, but also learn grammar inductively just as they did when learning their maternal language. 

Before using AIM, I was really only able to connect to students who were good “listening learners”. I struggled to pull boys into French literacy. I struggled to reach all the students, especially those with learning disability. With gestures, I am able to connect with those students who are kinaesthetic learners, especially the boys. Students who were on Individual Education Plans (IEP) for language and needed accommodations and modifications in English language learning, did very well in French and got good marks because the gestures allowed them to see, hear, feel and be the language all at the same time. Learning through gesture allows the students to understand and to speak. The students are empowered and happy and look forward to coming to French class. 

Before using AIM, I did not have a method for teaching oral language. No one taught me how to teach others to speak French. All I had was my own experience, which was the “old way”. I learned, in the 70s and early 80s, to speak French by reading it and by memorizing vocabulary with the use of flashcards. I learned about verbs through endless verb conjugation drills. My oral communication skills were very poor. I could read with perfect pronunciation but could not engage in spontaneous conversation. Also, as I attempted to teach others how to speak French, all I had were the programs and pedagogy available at that time, which were all grammar based. My students rarely spoke French and my teaching was done in English. 

With AIM, I have a method for teaching others to speak French. I have the TLSE. The first few times I used TLSE, I felt so good! I was finally teaching others to speak French. One of my first thoughts was, “I can actually teach French and I can enjoy doing it!” It was an A-HA moment and was career changing because I didn’t know if I wanted to continue teaching French. It was such a struggle before the AIM. Every day was like being in a war of attrition. Nobody was getting anywhere and everyone was being worn down. During TLSE, the students and I speak French! We speak it together! It is not just them listening to me. It is like singing a song together. We speak chorally, asking and answering questions in a fluid, natural way. Receptive and expressive language is being developed simultaneously. During TLSE, I am able to scaffold language and I can guide the students through hundreds of guided spontaneous sentences. We practice and say these sentences over so they become part of the collective classroom consciousness –the language is embedded. With TLSE, my students rarely speak English and my teaching is done entirely in French. During TLSE, I am able to connect with the weak students. If a student makes a mistake, it doesn’t matter because he only hears it himself. He doesn’t have to be self-conscious about producing an error. As we repeat it over and over again, he can hear what he is saying incorrectly and then he can self-correct, and his error won’t become fossilized. 

As an Immersion teacher, it is easy to forget to use gestures during spontaneous communication because the students have more of an opportunity to practice during the day so it seems like their language acquisition is even more accelerated than that of Core French students. I am finding that my students in Grade 1 have excellent receptive language skills but their expressive language skills are starting to level off. I believe that it is because I am used to how they talk now so even when they talk to me with errors, I fail to correct them, because I understand them. What I need to do is to be cognizant of this and to consciously correct those errors that students are making when speaking to the class or myself.