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This unit provided a very clear outline of the theories, methods and techniques used to teach English as L2. It outlined the many methods and techniques which have been used over the years to teach and the advantages and the disadvantages of each, thus highlighting that there is not \"a one size fits all\" method to learning a new language. We need to take into the account not just our own personality, background etc. but also personality, background, age, culture and knowledge of language of the students. However there are some very solid conclusions which can be drawn and the ones which I feel from experience are the most relevant for me are; exposure to the language, input from the teacher and for a student not to feel stressed or anxious about the lessons. I believe that these 3 elements were fundamental to my success on my previous language classes. The unit demonstrated very well the method of Engage, Study and Activate (ESA) put forward by Jeremy Harmer and provided many useful ideas to use at each stage in the process. This method showed me that the process of language learning does not have to be a rigid structure but that it can have some flexibility in order to accommodate the needs of the students and also the teacher. For example if we take the Patchwork ESA lesson it gives the teacher an opportunity to listen to the students at the activate stage and then proceed to the study stage and to review any errors made and then have a further activate stage, again giving the teacher the chance to check that the previous errors have been resolved, if not another study stage can be held and again address the issue (this time can use and different activity to see if that will help) and review by another activate session. If the error is still reoccurring the teacher needs to ask himself/herself if it is how they are conveying the message and research ways and ask advise from colleagues on how they might improve. In conclusion I can see how the ESA method works and have seen it demonstrated by my previous language teachers, I can now see very clearly they were using the ESA method.
