The main reason why Stephen Curry is one of the best basketball players and athletes in the world is his ability to get himself into a state called flow where optimal performance happens. By flow I mean the scientific term coined by Prof. Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi, a renowned psychology professor who has done extensive research on this phenomenon. Flow is a state of mind where optimal performance can happen, where an athlete with (very) high skills faces high challenges and as a result goes beyond what they seemed capable of, a state where they are not (really) in control of what they are doing and what is happening. If you want to find out more about flow, have a look at the TED talk 'Flow, the secret to happiness' by Prof. Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi and read the following article about Prof. Csikszentmihalyi and his research. Both sources will give you a good overview of what flow is. Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a6/Challenge_vs_skill_Commons.jpg The diagram above can explain why Stephen Curry is generally performing at such a high level and why he was so phenomenal during his MVP season. The diagram consists of two axes, the x-axis indicates the skill level and the y-axis indicates the challenge level.
The reason why Stephen Curry is so good at what he is doing is that the emotions he feels while playing basketball are generally in the upper right quadrant of the diagram. He possesses high skills (not talent, but skills that he acquired through hours and hours of hard work) and is challenged to a high or very high level on the court. And this is the basis of getting into flow. Technically, any person can get into flow but it happens very frequently to athletes because the environment they perform in is conducive to flow. Talent can make it easier to reach flow but only if an athlete puts enough effort into developing their skills. With this diagram you can also explain why at certain points in a game or a season, Stephen Curry might not perform to a level that he is capable of. If the skills are high but the challenge level is low an athlete will feel boredom and thus not feel very involved in the task. If an athlete’s skill level is medium or low for a specific task, the athlete will also not be able to get into flow. The most important aspect to consider in order to really read this diagram correctly is that the skill level on the x-axis is actually a combination of the real and factual skill level and the skill level an athlete perceives to have. That means, that if an athlete has high skills but does not believe in their skills, they are less likely to get into the zone of optimal performance because the emotions they feel will not allow that to happen. Confidence in his skills plays a tremendous part why Stephen Curry can achieve what he does. He truly believes in his high skills to play at such a high level. And he also seems to be aware of the difference between confidence and arrogance. An athlete who wants to consistently perform at their highest level cannot afford such feelings because they are not conducive to optimal performance. Believing in yourself and your skills, however, is a must to achieve that. And Stephen Curry does this to perfection and that is also why he is developing and improving at such a fast pace and why he always seems to reach new heights and do things that surprise everyone. Something that might also happen to Stephen Curry, because he is only human, is that at times an athlete’s skill level might not be enough to handle a very difficult task at hand and that is why they might slip out of flow. In order to get back into flow, they would have to find a way to adjust their skill level and/or their perception of the same, many times it is actually only the latter. This can happen during a performance by adjusting their skills or by approaching tasks with more confidence in their skills or by working on their weaknesses after the competition has ended. If the challenge level is low, an athlete with high skills (real and perceived) might experience feelings of boredom which will prevent them from achieving their best. This is also true if the challenge level is only medium which creates a feeling of control. They will be able to do well in this state but cannot achieve their best. In order to do that, their high skill level has to coincide with a high challenge level. Results of a low or medium challenge level might be easy and avoidable mistakes or when an athlete is not completely ‘focused’ and loses concentration. The same might also happen when an athlete faces challenges that are beyond their skill level, when their real and perceived skill level is low or medium for a task they need to accomplish. Then it is impossible to get into flow and achieve their best because even adjusting the challenge level is not going to create the psychological state of flow where optimal performance can happen. This diagram also shows why having or showing (extreme) emotions is not really helpful for optimal performance in a competition. Having a clear head and balanced mind will help an athlete reach flow more easily and more often and thus make it possible to reach the state where optimal performance happens. Of course, reaching flow is not as simple as knowing how to read a diagram or knowing about its technicalities. That is why many professional athletes also have coaches with an expertise in sports psychology / positive psychology and if they do not have one yet, they should definitely hire one. What is encouraging to know for us mortals is that you do not have to be a professional athlete to reach flow. And the best thing about it is that it does not cost anything, it is for free. I use the knowledge about flow and positive psychology to help my students achieve their best at school and in learning a foreign language and have written a different blog post about how this knowledge can be used in the field of education 'The Right Frame of Mind to Achieve Your Best - At School'. Stephen Curry definitely does not need any help with getting into flow. He is a master of flow and is aware that his own mental strength is more important than his physical strength or limitation thereof. You will be amazed of how Stephen Curry will be able to develop and improve in the future and so will I. FOLLOW ME ON FACEBOOK: DNK TUITION This worksheet includes an exercise to match German and English expressions related to the days of the week, followed by the song ‘Es war eine Mutter’ for the students to be made aware of the German words for the seasons of the year and then connecting it to the months of the year. The words for the German seasons are practiced later again when students have to write down the months that belong to each season. This worksheet should mainly serve as input for the students, I would not recommend any explanations of any linguistic features at this point. FOLLOW ME ON FACEBOOK: DNK TUITION
Source: www.amazon.com This blog post is a summary of chapter 6 Issues in Learning and Teaching Grammar of James Lee and Bill VanPatten’s book Making Communicative Language Teaching Happen from 2003 where they explore several misconceptions about the teaching of foreign language grammar and give language teachers some food for thought.
They go into detail about five common misconceptions held by language teachers around the world which are not true as research findings have already proved. These five misconceptions are the belief that:
The first belief that many language teachers hold is the belief that something needs to be taught in the same way that they learned it themselves (Lee & VanPatten, 117-120). It is difficult to believe something else than the knowledge you have been taught for years and ‘know’ to be true, but it is worth it to give new thoughts and ideas a chance especially when they are based on research and the findings of experts. The second belief that cannot be supported by evidence is that drills are effective tools for learning grammar. (Lee & VanPatten, 120-123). Isn’t this something that the classroom practice already shows? If you are a learner or teacher, how often have grammar drills not lead to the comprehension and correct application of the grammatical feature? Lee & VanPatten (120-123) differentiate between mechanical drills, meaningful drills and communicative drills. Mechanical drills are those during which the student need not to attend meaning and for which there is only one correct response. (Lee & VanPatten, 121) The difference between mechanical and meaningful drills is that the learner must attend to the meaning of both the stimulus and her own answer in order to complete the meaningful drill successfully. Yet there is still only one right answer, and the answer is already known top the participants. (Lee & VanPatten, 121) Unlike the previous two drill types, communicative drills require attention to meaning, and the information contained in the learner’s answer is new and unknown to the person asking the question. Thus, the answer cannot be deemed right or wrong in terms of meaning conveyed. (Lee & VanPatten, 122) For mechanical drills Lee & VanPatten cite different sources of research that have already proved that “not only was intensive drilling ineffective, it actually delayed the acquisition of the structures and forms that were drilled.” (Lee & VanPatten, 123). The third belief is reflected in the teaching practice when a grammatical feature is taught. Generally, the lesson includes an explanation of the rules and then the students need to apply what they have been taught. Lee & VanPatten (123) mention that the quality of a lessons is often even judged by how well a teacher is able to explain grammatical points. And they point out what I mentioned in my recent blog post about teaching grammar that learning and acquisition are two different processes and that explicit information about a grammatical feature is not necessary for the successful acquisition of the same (Lee & VanPatten, 123). VanPatten has done extensive research and studies about exactly this point. The fourth belief that the first language is the source of all errors is also a common misconception which has been disproved by several studies (Lee & VanPatten, 126). The fifth belief is that the acquisition of grammatical features involves the learning of paradigms. (Lee & VanPatten, 126). A paradigm is an overview of all the elements of a grammatical structure in form of a table or chart. For the German language this could be a table with the verb or adjective endings. Lee & Van Patten (127) point out that paradigms are abstractions and generalisations and are used to organize information and structure data, they do not correspond to how the knowledge is structured in the brain. Lee and VanPatten (2003) give a more detailed explanation of all points and it is worth reading the book as a whole but definitely chapter 6 and chapter 7. Chapter 7 Processing Instruction and Structured Input is of great importance because both researchers actually show how the teaching of grammatical features could be adapted to how learners structure the input they receive. They also explain how you can make use of this information in your teaching practice. The approach by Lee & VanPatten is very interesting and could give some insights into why grammar teaching in its traditional form has its limitations and why language teachers around the world should explore alternative ways in teaching grammar. In a future post I will share some practical ideas and exercises that are based on their theories. Source: Lee, J. F., & VanPatten, B. (2003). Making communicative language teaching happen. Boston: McGraw-Hill. FOLLOW ME ON FACEBOOK: DNK TUITION The right frame of mind to achieve your best – at schools (in sports, in business and in life)10/23/2017 This diagram is based on the research by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, a renowned psychology professor, known for his work on the psychological concept ‘flow’. It can be adapted to the teaching environment and has important implications because it explains how you can help your students to achieve their best and create a situation where optimal learning can happen.
On the diagram you can see two axes, one for the skill level (from low to high) and the other for the challenge level (from low to high). Depending on the combination of a learner’s skill and challenge level, different emotions are caused which facilitate or impede optimal learning and development. Let me give you a concrete example so you have a better understanding of what that means. Let’s say you have three students in your class who factually have the same high skill level but their perception of their skill level is different. In our example, student A believes they have a high skill level, student B believes their skill level is medium and student C believes they have a very low skill level, when in fact, to make this clear again, all of them have the same high skill level. If student A is presented with exercises that are not challenging and too easy for them, they will feel relaxation, meaning that they know they are capable of completing the tasks without much effort. The result is that student A does not feel involved in the task. This is not what we want as a teacher because that means that this student does not make the progress they are theoretically capable of. If we now raise the challenge level for student A (who believes that they have a high skill level), they will feel in control. At this stage student A does not push beyond what they are capable of, you could say that this is their comfort zone. They will still be able to complete the task but with a bit more effort. However, at this stage their learning potential is not optimal yet, this is the level where you want them to be when they revise for a test or take an exam. For optimal learning to take place, a student should be in the zone of flow, a state where their (perceived & real) high skill level is matched by a high challenge level. This means that they feel that the task is very difficult and a bit beyond what they are capable of. Student A, however, because of their belief in their high skill level do not give up and will eventually manage to complete the task. Let’s look at student B now who believes that their skill level is medium. If they are presented with tasks that are very easy, they will feel boredom which is different to student A who feels control. But in this state student B will also not feel very involved in the task. If the challenge level is now raised and student B (who believes they only have a medium skill level) feels that the task becomes too difficult for them, they will feel arousal, a state when they believe that the challenge level is too high for them to complete the task. In this state student B will be able to make progress but they will not be able to achieve their best because the emotions they feel will not allow them to make use of all of their abilities. Let’s now look at student C who believes that they have a low skill level. If they are presented with a task that is not challenging they will feel apathy, if the task becomes more challenging, they will feel worry, if the task becomes too challenging, they will feel anxiety. Neither of these feelings are positive and student C will most likely not feel positive about their learning and thus not make the progress that their skills would enable them to make. Student C will always perform worse than they could and struggle with their self-judgement because the beliefs they hold about themselves and their skills are not representative of the reality (which in our example is that student A, B and C have the same high skill level). A learner like student C will generally underperform, possibly be shy or frustrated and not engaged in learning. The perception of their skill level might also contribute to students overperforming or underperforming at secondary schools. Student A who has a high skills level and actually believes they do will react differently to a difficult task than student B or C. When student A gets to a point where it becomes very challenging for them, they do not give up but try their best to solve the problem because they believe that they have the skills to accomplish that and they eventually manage to do so. Student B might give up more easily because they will feel that their skill level is not enough to complete the difficult task. Student C who believes that their skill level is low will always experience negative feelings no matter how low or high the challenge level is. The reason why student B and C perform worse than they could is their lack of confidence in their skills. Of course, applying this knowledge successfully in practice and actually using it to the benefit of students is neither an easy nor a straightforward process because it requires skills and in-depth knowledge about psychology, flow and motivation and it also requires the ability of a teacher to raise the ‘real’ skill level of a student, not only their belief in the same. Judging by the performance of my students, their increased level of confidence and their personal development as an individual and also taking their feedback about me and my teaching into consideration, I would say that it is possible. I truly believe in my students’ ability to achieve anything they put their minds to and I also believe in my ability as a teacher to help any student achieve their best. No matter which school subject or what task, under the guidance of a well-trained teacher, mentor or coach, there is nothing a student/learner cannot (eventually) understand or achieve if they have the right frame of mind, put enough effort into their work and persevere. In order to make this point clear again, this diagram shows that it is not enough for a teacher to just help their students acquire high skills, it is equally important to make sure that they have the necessary confidence in their skills and themselves to make use of that. This knowledge could also have far reaching implications for yourself, no matter in which job you are working or if you are an athlete or artist, professional or amateur. Just imagine if the reason for you not performing at your optimal level and making the most of your abilities is more a matter of your own perception of your skills than your actual skills. If you are interested in this topic in more detail, I would recommend watching Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's TED talk 'Flow, the secret to happiness'. It might help if you inform yourself about the concept of 'flow' before you watch this video. This article about Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's research explains everything very well. FOLLOW ME ON FACEBOOK: DNK TUITION A Common Misconception
There is a common misconception about the teaching and learning of the grammatical system of a foreign language, which seems to come from a lack of understanding the difference between acquiring and learning grammar. The acquisition of the grammatical system of a language is probably the most complex aspect in the foreign language learning process. The problem is that it cannot be taught, a teacher can only support a learner in this process. Learning about the grammatical system on the other hand is different and the teacher can help a learner with that. However, it is important to know that learning grammar does not necessarily lead to acquisition. So what is the difference between acquisition and learning? Acquisition means that a learner is able to use a grammatical aspect proficiently in speaking, reading, writing and listening without much effort of thinking about the grammatical feature and its rules. Easy: Plural of nouns in English An intermediate learner of English is generally not going to struggle anymore with the plural formation of nouns because they will have managed to acquire this feature of the language already. Very difficult: German adjective endings An intermediate learner of German, however, will probably not have mastered the case system and the corresponding adjective endings even though they will have been taught about it many times or given various grammar table to practice it. This is a good example of how learning does not necessarily lead to acquisition, just because the students are aware of the rules governing the case system and have been provided with tables and given plenty of opportunities to memorise and apply it, does not mean that they are proficient in using it. Some learners might be good at using these tables or applying the rules, but it will still be a conscious effort to get it right. This is good for the students who can do this, but the overwhelming majority of the students will find this difficult. What does the research say? I think the biggest problem in foreign language teaching is exactly this misconception, which leads to a heavy focus on explicit grammar teaching and grammatical accuracy and is hurting the students in their language learning process more than it is helping them. The research in the past 20 years supports that mastering the grammatical system of a foreign language is indeed a highly complex process but indicates that grammar teaching in its traditional sense, and how it is still practiced in most language classrooms around the world, is not the most effective way for a student to become proficient and use the grammar structure of a foreign language, it can actually hinder the students in their learning process. A heavy focus on grammar can make language learning less enjoyable for the students, as well as the teachers. Language learning is not driven by grammar, it is driven by meaning. Therefore focusing on a content-driven approach, contextualisation and making sure the learners have enough opportunities for personalisation prove to be more successful in helping students to learn a foreign language. Language exams nowadays generally have four components: reading, listening, speaking and writing (the four basic skills). What do you think? Is it easier to prepare a student who is proficient in the language for a language exam or a student who has a lot of knowledge about the rules governing a language but who cannot use or apply it? Do you need explicit grammar knowledge in a language exam? It depends on the exam, if you are taking the CAE or CPE, then yes, definitely. For many other exams it is not really necessary, however. Think about it. Which skill do you need during a listening comprehension task? Do you need explicit grammar knowledge or the ability to understand the content? What about a reading task? Do you need explicit grammar knowledge or the ability to decode messages addressed at the reader? What about a speaking task? Do you need explicit grammar knowledge or the ability to use the language for communicating content? What about a writing task? Do you need explicit grammar knowledge or the ability to use the language for expressing what you want to say in writing? I think you get an idea of what I mean. Grammar is important I am not saying that you do not need to be aware of any grammar rules, but I am saying that you do not need to have detailed knowledge about all the rules of one grammatical feature and its exceptions. The only instance where you would really need explicit knowledge about the grammatical system of a language would be a situation where you are specifically asked to explain the rules of a grammatical feature or in exercises where you have to mechanically apply it in a gap-fill in activity. Of course, grammar teaching has its place in the language classroom and it is important. Studies have shown that not teaching students who are learning a foreign language about the grammatical system of the language will prevent them from being fully proficient in the language. But grammar teaching needs to serve as a means to an end, it should be used to equip a learner with the skills to properly express themselves in the language. Explicit grammar instruction in the way it is still done in language classrooms around the world, is not the most effective way. What does that mean for teachers? Teach grammar in a more communicative way, there are two approaches that you could try to incorporate in your teaching, the PACE model (Donato and Adair-Hauk, 1992) and Processing Instruction (VanPatten, 2002). But, however you end up teaching grammar, be patient with your students and give them enough time to learn and understand, let them make mistakes and encourage them. If you want more practical advice, check out my published article 'MFL Minus Grammar Equals More Proficiency (And Better Exam Results?)' where I write about grammar teaching in the secondary school setting. FOLLOW ME ON FACEBOOK: DNK TUITION Meine Name ist David Koch und ich bin Experte in der Vermittlung von Englisch als Fremdsprache. Ich war während meiner bisher 13-jährigen Lehrtätigkeit fünf Jahre lang an einem Privatgymnasium in München als Englischlehrer tätig und habe dort in mehreren Oberstufenjahrgängen (Klasse 11 & 12) alle meine Schüler erfolgreich zum schriftlichen oder mündlichen Abitur in Englisch geführt, viele mit ausgezeichneten Noten.
Mein Expertenwissen zur Sprachenvermittlung sowie meine Unterrichtserfahrung am Gymnasium machen es mir möglich jeden Oberstufenschüler perfekt auf das Abitur vorzubereiten, so dass sie / er das Maximale aus ihren / seinen Fähigkeiten herausholen kann um das Abitur in Englisch erfolgreich zu meistern. Unter dem Menüpunkt Nachhilfe & Abiturvorbereitung für Englisch kannst du / können Sie dazu mehr erfahren. Ich habe auch mehrere Unterrichtseinheiten, die ich in der Oberstufe verwendet habe, zur Verfügung gestellt, um einen Einblick in die inhaltliche und auf die schülerinteressen abgestimmte Bandbreite meines Unterrichts zu geben. Meine Abiturvorbereitung ist auf den jeweiligen Lerner und dessen Bedürfnisse individuell abgestimmt um den bestmöglichen Erfolg zu gewährleisten. Bei Interesse und offenen Fragen bin ich am Besten per E-Mail zu erreichen. FOLLOW ME ON FACEBOOK: DNK TUITION How I teach the days of the week to beginning learners of German (for children and teenagers)10/6/2017
In order to teach the days of the week to beginning learners of German, I make use of the Youtube video ‘Wochentagelied’. But I do not only let my students listen to the song and then make them memorise the words. I apply what I know about language learning to guarantee the successful acquisition of the words. I start off by just playing the ‘Wochentagelied’ to the students and they have to listen and figure out what it could be about. This is part of my content driven approach to language teaching as the main focus in the beginning is to understand the general content of the song, the students do not focus on the days of the week yet. There are several words in the song that resemble words in the English language and so far the students have always worked out what the song is about. I continue the lesson by explaining the meaning of ‘der Wochentag’ = ‘day of the week’ before handing out the lyrics of the song and playing it again. I ask the students to read along while they pay attention to the pronunciation and intonation. After that I play it again and give them a chance to sing along and practice their pronunciation and intonation while doing that. I then give them an empty sheet of paper, they turn their worksheet with the lyrics over and they have one minute to write down the days of the week which they have just read and heard about. This is very difficult for the students and rarely does anyone manage to do that correctly. I do this exercise so that the students (actually it is their brain that does it for them) focus their attention on the days of the week and the spelling of the words when they listen to the song the next time. The brain does that because it experienced failure and noticed that it had a lack of information to complete the task and now it will try to make up for that at the second attempt by focusing on these words. Before I play it for a fourth time, I write the days of the week on the board so that I can briefly point out how the ‘ie’ in ‘Dienstag’ and the ‘ei’ in ‘Freitag’ is pronounced. The students then copy these words from the board onto another empty sheet to practice the writing of the words. After they have completed writing down the days of the week, they turn this sheet over as well so that they cannot access this information when they listen to the songs. Then I play the song for the last time and afterwards ask them again to write down the days of the week on an empty sheet of paper. At this point they generally get the spelling of most of the days right and manage to reproduce the correct order of the days of the week. As a homework task they have to memorise the words and write them down as a vocabulary item and practice them. Over the course of the next lesson(s) I make the students recycle the newly learned vocabulary by giving them different follow up tasks. One of these follow up tasks can be found on the second page of the worksheet. You can just have the students fill in the gaps from their memory or play the song again. There is no perfect way to do this and both options are fine depending what you want to focus on. The gap fill in activities are a good way of getting students to pay attention to the correct spelling of the words and give them practice in writing the words out. I have attached another worksheet with a variety of follow-up activities so the students can practice the days of the week while focusing on meaningful language. This is a very simple and basic topic but it exemplifies how I use the knowledge about language learning and apply it in practice to maximise students' success in learning the language. This approach to making a student learn the days of the week in German will be more successful than just having them memorise the words. The reasons for that is that the students have received meaningful input before they were even exposed to the actual lexical item (= word) that needed to be learned and because the days of the week were embedded in meaningful content as well. FOLLOW ME ON FACEBOOK: DNK TUITION
I am very interested in positive psychology, the science which focuses on well-being, happiness, flow, personal strength, wisdom, creativity and imagination (Hefferon & Boniwell, 2011). I integrate the knowledge into my teaching which has proven to be beneficial to the students as well as me.
I developed several teaching modules on positive psychology for students who are learning English (EFL/EAL). I used these modules successfully to strengthen their self-confidence and improve their positive outlook on (school) life by teaching them the scientific knowledge behind happiness & flow and success & failure. The main focus in those lessons is the content, but at the same time I connect it to several tasks that develop a learner’s skills in the foreign language. One of the resources I use in the teaching modules about positive psychology is the TED talk ‘The Surprising Science of Happiness’ by Dan Gilbert, an American social psychologist and Professor of Psychology at Harvard University. It is a very interesting talk but rather challenging and that’s why I generally do this with advanced learners of English (EFL/EAL). I use this video in a sequence of lessons to help learners develop their listening, reading, speaking and writing skills while learning about the advantages that the knowledge of positive psychology holds for them. In this lesson sequence, the students are provided with a handout with questions that they need to answer about the video. The students are then given 45-60 min to watch the TED talk individually at their own speed (with English subtitles if necessary). This gives the learners the freedom to decide when to stop the talk to listen to something repeatedly or when to check online for words or concepts they are not familiar with. Thus they are in control of the tempo of their own learning. After this initial lesson, the students come together in pairs or groups and share their answers with their partner or group members. Then a classroom discussion opens up where I discuss the answers with everyone or guide them to the answer if they did not manage to find one. I also explain some of the concepts in more detail to make it easier for the learners to understand. After that, I give them a writing task on how they could apply this knowledge in their own life so they can personalise what they have learned. This sample lesson is an example of my content driven approach to language learning with the added element of personalising the content. As part of the initial consultation session I will find out which topics you are interested in and then I will teach lessons that develop your language skills by making use of the content you have selected. Feel free to watch the talk and post your answers to the questions, maybe even comment on how you could use this knowledge in your own life. FOLLOW ME ON FACEBOOK: DNK TUITION Learning a foreign language is per se not a very difficult task. If you know what to do and how to do it, it is surprisingly very straightforward, no matter which modern foreign language you are trying to learn. It will take time to become proficient and you will need to be dedicated to improving your skills.
However, that does not mean that it will take you months or years until you can enjoy using the language successfully. Learning a language is not a tiring, boring and arduous task. It can be fun, entertaining, enjoyable and extremely gratifying. One way of speeding up the language learning process and making it more enjoyable is to have private lessons. Learning a language does not require a special skill from you, you do not need to be gifted or talented, anyone can learn a foreign language successfully. With the help of the right tutor, you will be able to make progress very quickly because the lessons will be targeted to your needs and interests. The language learning process is closely monitored and corrections are made on the spot. Do not underestimate the social component of language learning. It will be easier to establish a strong connection between you and your tutor and this will give you the confidence to use the language creatively and take away the fear of asking the 'wrong' questions or making mistakes. |
AuthorDavid Koch- Language Teaching Expert Follow Me
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