An-Najah Staff

This article discusses two principles in language teaching that underlie my approach to teaching English as a foreign language. As a result of my learning/teaching experience, I have concluded that there is no conclusion, no destination, but a constant journey of searching, asking, and reflecting on what seems to work for me and for my learners. This experience has opened my horizons and shed light on many blurred questions I had regarding both learning and teaching English as a second language. Moreover, this experience has heightened my awareness of the learning differences among students, improved my abilities to meet the needs for these differences, and enabled me to adapt to each new learning environment. Also, being exposed to more and more group work, I have observed, learned, and then become aware of how powerful suggestion and desuggestion are in order to enhance optimal learning, and to help the students know and work towards their potential. I have become aware of the importance of creating a relaxed environment for eliciting joy and ease that help suggest what has previously been conditioned (e.g. negative beliefs and attitudes towards learning a Second Language) through past experiences. Besides that, I have become aware of the need to focus the students and bring them to the “here and now” rather than all the extraneous motion going on inside of them. This would keep the students centered, balanced and secure. As a result of my learning/teaching experience, I have come up with the following principles that underlie my own approach to teaching: 1-Telling does not Help (Learners) but Involvement does. 2-Balancing Teacher Control/Initiative with Student Control/Initiative. 3-Creating Security and a Holistic View of each Individual within the Learning Environment. (For principle 3 see Jami’a. (vol. 4), Baqa El-Gharbiyya: College of Shari’a and Islamic Studies, 2000: Pp.120-123)