Teach English in Nanyang Zhen - Jining Shi

Abstract It is of highly importance for the teacher to visualize, understand, and accept the differences between young learners not only based on their age and language acquisition level but mostly on their way of perceiving information and the way they react to the environment around them. An effective learning method depends on embracing these differences. Teachers in order to achieve their goals in language acquisition need to understand that there are no two learners the same and each reacts different to their method of teaching. So how can we find one method that embraces these differences and reaches to all young learners no matter how different they are? One way of designing the perfect curriculum for all our young learners is to look into the 'Multiple Intelligences' Approach by Howard Gardner. Gardner viewed the 'learners intelligence' not as a single result test like IQ but as a complex system created by different types of intelligences. (Gardner, H. 1999) Gardner described intelligence as 'the capacity to solve problems or to fashion products that one valued in one or more cultural setting." (Gardner & Hatch, 1989) By accepting Gardner's idea that all children have an inborn intact intelligence which makes them unique and makes them react different towards their interaction with the environment we, teachers, can design the most suitable teaching methods that will reach to all young learners with all their eight intelligences no matter if the child is better at math and his colleague is more perceptive to music or sports than others. Designing a teaching method and curriculum based on the Multiple Intelligences Approach by Gardner can be the perfect solution to reach language acquisition for all our students. The aim of this paper is to gain more knowledge and understanding on how different young learners are based on their type of intelligence and how we can use the Multiple Intelligences Approach by Gardner to achieve the highest results from all our young learners when it comes to effective language acquisition. Introduction Gardner proposed in 1999 that there are eight different intelligences that need to be taken into consideration when designing a curriculum and teaching method. The way we understand and see these different intelligences has a consequence on how we approach our learners and how we react to their different styles of learning. The first intelligence Gardner discovered was 'the linguistic intelligence' which refers to a more sensitive and emotional reaction towards their ability to learn languages. They are able to express themselves rhetorically, poetically and in this way they remember information. Gardner assumed that the learners who have this type of intelligence are more likely to become writers, poets, speakers in the future. The second intelligence Gardner concentrated on was 'the logical mathematical intelligence'. These learners react better when everything is logical, straight-forward, involve numbers and mathematical operations. They are also able to see patterns and think more logical than others. The third intelligence Gardner introduced in his theory in 1998 was 'the musical theory' created based on the capacity of the learners to learn better when they are surrounded by music, tones and rhythms. The forth intelligence 'the bodily-kinesthetic intelligence' refers to the capacity of the body to solve problems by using mental and physical activity. 'Spatial intelligence' was another intelligence discovered by Gardner and showed that these learners use their ability to see patterns, recognize spaces, form mental images as a way to retain information. The sixth intelligence was the most common one called 'the interpersonal intelligence' which refers to the ability to connect with others by understanding feelings and intentions of the people surrounding them. It is different than 'the intrapersonal intelligence' which compared to 'interpersonal intelligence' instead of focusing on others feelings and reactions, it involves self consciousness and analyzing one's fears and motivations. The last intelligence developed one year later than the others in 1999 was the 'naturalist intelligence' which refers to the capacity to create and understand connections with the nature. (Gardner, H. 1999) By looking at these eight intelligences discovered by Gardner and understanding the characteristics of young learners we can be able to design a so called 'multiple intelligence lesson' such as the one created by Lazear in 1991 in order to effectively teach english to young learners no matter how different they are. Lazear (1991) came with the idea that the theory of Multiple Intelligences should influence teachers teaching style by creating a four stage 'developmental sequence'. 'Stage 1: awaken the intelligence' makes the learners more receptive to learning through touching, tasting, seeing involving a variety of sensory experiences. 'Stage 2: amplify the intelligences' shows that students are more open to sharing their own experience with others. Students can involve their own stories and can bring their own objects into the classroom. 'Stage 3: teach with/for the intelligence' allows the teacher to connect the intelligence to the whole class through worksheets and group discussions. 'Stage 4: transfer of the intelligence' makes students reflect on their own experiences resulted from going through all three stages and relate to others similar real life challenges. (Lazear, D. 1991) How to design a Multiple Intelligences curriculum in order to reach effective language acquisition? If a teacher encounters difficulty in reaching to all his/her students through a more traditional teaching method, looking into implementing the Multiple Intelligences Approach into the lesson plan might be the answer. But how can we reach to all our learners if they all have different intelligences and react different to teaching, creating their own individual learning style? Some simple steps can be integrated into the lesson such as using simple words and dialogues (linguistic intelligence) mixed with pictures (spatial intelligence) and even using music on the background (musical intelligence). In the activate stage teachers can create games using numbers or logic for logical-mathematical intelligence, or using physical activity such as creating a drama play or moving around the class while presenting a project for bodily-kinesthetic intelligence. Giving our students the opportunity to share their social experience with others (interpersonal intelligence) while reflecting on their own reactions (interpersonal intelligence) can be the right approach. Also offering an experience in the natural world (naturalist intelligence) can reach more learners and attract their interest. (Eve, H. 2018) In order to reach to all eight intelligences type of learners we need first to take the time and analyze our students, their reaction to our teaching style, what keeps their interest, what makes them learn faster in order to discover their individual intelligence and create the curriculum around this information. Identifying the intelligences in the classroom is the right approach from the side of the teacher. We cannot create a general curriculum and apply it again and again to different classes expecting our students to react the same way and learn effectively. We need first to know our students, identify their intelligence, understand what works for them and than design the curriculum and lesson plan around this approach. Disadvantages and advantages of using the Multiple Intelligences Approach in the classroom As any teaching theory, the Multiple Intelligences by Gardner (1999) comes with a high number of benefits generated by bringing this approach into the classroom, but in the same time it comes with several challenges and barriers. The highest benefit of Multiple Intelligence is that it can be used for any subject at any level for any stage of the lesson: engage, study and activate. Only by understanding our students, identifying their individual intelligence we can understand their strengths and weaknesses of their own learning style and use this information to approach them in order to focus on their strengths and minimize their weaknesses. Another benefit seen by Temur in 2007 is that there can be more than one learning style in the classroom and the teacher should be able to balance learning styles by focusing on the teaching method around their abilities. In this way learners can learn about any subject even those which doesn't interest them such as war or grammar by making them enjoying it, having fun while not being pressured. Using music on the background while teaching the students and making them move around while presenting a lesson can make the musical intelligence and bodily-kinesthetic intelligence learners to actually have fun while learning and assimilating information faster. (Temur, 2007) In the same time integrating Multiple Intelligences theory in the classroom can come with a number of challenges. It can be very hard for teachers to identify the specific intelligence of all their learners before preparing for a learning activity. Some learners can even show mixed intelligences or even with the right approach designed specifically for their own intelligence young learners can easily lose interest if the teacher doesn't change the dynamic, approach and activities often. Even if we identify a musical intelligence for a 5 year old young learner and we use songs about the teaching point all the time, that learner will learn faster at the beginning and will be interested to learn but with time he/she will get bored of the same style and other teaching techniques designed for his/her intelligence need to be created. Finding and mixing different suitable activities for all learners can be time and energy consuming and challenging for teachers. The class seize also has a strong impact on applying this theory. Having a large classroom with so many different young learners can cause difficulties in reaching all their different learning styles and identifying their intelligence without loosing too much time and taking from the time allocated for the the teaching point itself. (Osman, N. K & Jazlin, E. 2006) Conclusion The theory of Multiple Intelligences developed by Gardner in 1999 changes the way teachers approach their students and design their lessons by bringing some interesting facts about how teachers should firstly understand each student in the classroom and create a more dynamic personal lesson. There is a no specific 'eight Multiple Intelligence lesson framework' that teachers can read and apply. It is more based on their ability to read their own students learning styles and be more flexible when it comes to designing their lesson plan. Even though it comes with challenges as any teaching method, understanding, doing more research about this theory and being able to identify the type of intelligence our students have and designing a Multiple Intelligences lesson plan can result in great results in language acquisition. The most important fact is that the Multiple Intelligences theory taught us that we need to open our eyes and take our time based on our personal teaching experience to understand our students individually no matter how different they are from one another and design the most suitable lesson plan for them reaching to all young learners in our classroom. References 1. Eve Herndon (2018). What are multiple intelligences and how do they affect learning? 2. Gardner, H. (1999). Intelligence reframed, Multiple Intelligences for the 21st century, New York, NY: Basic Books 3. Gardner, H. & Thomas, H. (1989). Multiple Intelligences got to school: Educational Implications of the theory of intelligences, Educational Researches, Vol.18, NO.8 (Nov: 1989), pp.4-10 4. Lazear, D. (1991). Seven ways of teaching: the Artistry of Teaching with Multiple Intelligences. Palatine, III: IRI Skylight 5. Osman, N. K. & Jazlin, E. (2006). Invisible obstacles on the implementation of multiple intelligences theory in k-8 classroom in Turkey, Wayne State University, College of Education 6. Temur (2007). The Effects of Teaching Activities prepared according to the Multiple Intelligences Theory on Mathematics Achievements and Permanence of Information learned by 4th grade students, International Journal of Environmental and Science Education