Letter

Demarie Enriquez
2580 17th street NW
Washington DC, 2009
D’marieEE@giggabits.net
November 24th 2009

Cc: Dr. Manuel Feliciano, President of Language & Literature of the National Student Association.
807 Ruddick Ave
Los Angeles, CA 545930
Dear, Dr Manuel Feliciano
I am writing you this letter to encourage and request that more professors in the department of languages in universities across the United States teach in a more oral approach to the class instead of grammatically.
I make this request not to be exasperating but to provide a critical commentary on the performance of most students learning languages in universities here in America. Rudolph Steiner, an Austrian scientist, mathematician, linguist, philosopher, educator, artist, playwright, & social thinker, believed that “early introduction and approach to modern foreign languages is through development of speaking and listening through an emphasis on oral work; the good pacing of lessons through an emphasis on rhythm”.
While grammar is important in any language, when students have no real frame of reference to their native languages’ grammar, they struggle with learning a new one. I feel in order to absorb a language you must be totally submerged in the culture where you’re forced to learn the language because that’s the language they speak. An ideal way of teaching students language is to use oral expressions such as questions, phrases, dialogue, readings, and songs. With this technique you can not only teach the grammar but the right pronunciation of words and use more realistic phrases so that students can actually dialogue with people who speak that native language. A lot of the grammar and oral taught in class are not conducive to what is used in the real world. So why not replace it with practicing sentences and conversations so that over time the repetitive sequences become second nature to the students.
Understanding how to read and write in Spanish is a very good skill, but unless you are working for an international business or something that involves understanding written work it wouldn’t be very helpful in someone stopping them on the street asking them a question. The improvement of oral idiom in a language is very vital to the success of a student attempt to embrace and comprehend what they are taught. I sincerely hope that this diminutive amount of advice that I gave can be used as a frame of reference to make more developed lesson plans of language courses. Thank you for being charitable with your time. If you have questions, comments, or concerns please feel free to contact me.
Sincerely,
DeMarie Feliciano