This course is just amazing. I found out how important to understand the purpose of learning the language of your students. And choose the most appropriate approach to the teaching process according to that. Also, I was introduced to 8 different approaches to teaching. Understanding of those methods helps to create content that is accurate for the individual needs of my students and use the most suitable techniques for each specific case.

In my university, I had to spend the whole semester only to study the theories of second language acquisition; my old-fashioned professors made me write down what they say and memorize all of them. And after 5 years of graduation, I don't remember a thing. BUT this course brought my old memories back and get them classified in a very simple and clear way; plus it didn't take so much time! I really enjoyed the course. Thank you Dr Shane!

Good day to a dynamic Team,

Goodness me; talk about a Rollercoaster, this is my second course and I’m still trying to apply brakes. I found the course fun and professionally put together. I had to extend myself beyond my own imagination. I found the structure user friendly and the content enlightening, forcing one to think out of the box, and you can only grow! I am excited to start the next course! Thank you all for your dedication.

This course definitely elucidates that teaching is not just a one-way approach. There is much one can gather from this course, from why languages were taught a certain why, what purposes they served, who the students were, and what we can learn from those different approaches. Most importantly, every teacher can come out of this course with an appreciation of different strengths and weaknesses that any particular method may have.

Really wonderful course in many different ways..... how it was laid out, the instructors unique way of coverage, content provided, nature of assignment and of course Coursera platform adds that ease of use and trust-quotient....

I wonder if they can find some course on "speech analysis" or "acoustic phonetics" or "Praat programme". For language teachers this situate them quite nicely into framework of various language theories....

That was my second course of the Teach English Now! programme. This course had given me a deeper insight on my current way of teaching. And I'm very grateful to the whole team of the course that managed to present such a complicated subject in an inspiring and really spectacular way. After having finished each of the modules, I was looking forward to continuing my studies and my interest towards this course is still insatiable.

Full of information, yet still manageable. The lecturers are amazingly good and can be real models. I really appreciate the way they use metaphors, videos, and stories to convey the messages. The course is well organized so that all the knowledge is delivered effectively and students can have a deeper understanding of the subjects through assignments, review sessions, and retrieval parts at the beginning of each new lesson.

I am a practical person. I think theories often have little to do with application. However, this course presents both teaching theory and the relevant applications in a fun way. I also like the style of this course. This course presents information in bite sized pieces. It asks for you to critically think about the information provided.

I think 5-star reviews should be rarely given. However, this course deserves all 5.

Im'm halfway through completing this course, and it definitely changed my perspective towards the way I teach and my self image as a teacher in class as well. It also made me know things I'm doing that I wasn't aware of doing. Dr Dixon and Ms Cinco are awesome instructors. They make it easy for me to understand better. Thanks for whoever was the reason that this comes to light. I'm remarkably improving. Thank you.

The learning experience is just amazing. Besides the enthusiastic and professional teaching faculty, the course is well-structured and well-executed. I really enjoyed the experience of study this course which has walked me through the most important theories to second language acquisition. I highly recommend this course to anyone (new/current teachers or anyone who plan to be teaching languages). Excellent work!

It takes us along in the time travel back to 1880 to 1980 to brief different teaching methods. The caricature videos of teachers from different periods explaining their methodologies are a visual treat and concisely give us the crux of each method. The discussions about the pros and cons of each strategy give us valuable take home message and a great insight to figure out our own teaching principles and goals.

This course was so helpful. I could see the why of how classes were set up with VIPKID and which theories were in place. I also gained valuable insight in how to implement strategies for different learning styles. The course was easy to follow, and the assessment at the end of each lesson helped in organizing the information I learned for future recall. Thank you Coursera for offering this opportunity.

Honestly, It's one of the best course in the world. I've enjoyed and learned a lot from this amazing course. In addition, I was a bit confusing about teaching approach, but after finishing the course, I can work with different approaches in teaching, moreover, I can choose which approach is suitable for my students and which not capable for them. However, I would love to thank you all teachers, classmates.

Great course! I highly recommend it to everyone who is interested in ESL teaching and learning. Dr. Shawn Dixon is not an instructor - he is a real actor. He turns on his lectures into shows. It was my 15th course on Coursera, all of them were interesting and useful, but it was the funniest one! I have never seen a complex and boring theory outlining so exciting. Believe me, you will enjoy this course!

The high level of the content and the teachers able to inspire, are maybe the best reason to do this course. I never saw so good teachers as they have here and the ability to teach and give valuable information to the learners as done here. In another situation, this course should cost a lot of money.

Thanks to professors Shane Dixon, Jessica Cinco and Justin. More than teach, you are able to inspire!

Even if as teachers we already know about the different approaches and the use of its techniques and strategies, the way you use to explain the contents, has helped me a lot. Now I'm learning in the good and right sense. I have more clear how to help my students and its helped me also to auto reflect where and who i am and where and how i want to go from here in my teaching-learning process.

Thanks!

By studying the history of teaching approaches, I learned both the purposes behind teaching techniques throughout history and why the do or do not work based on a learner's purpose for learning a language. And, as a bonus, as a second language learner, I learned new learner strategies too. The information was clear, and the method of presentation made it both entertaining and memorable. Thanks.

The instructors practice what they preach. There is no lack of creativity in each session. They simplify the approaches and make them more understandable and fun even for adult students. The instructors give us a general overview of each approach but recommend that we do further reading as well. Hats off to Dr. Shane for his acting skills, I really can't get "Parlez vous Frenchie!" off my head :)

Hi :)

By passing this module I have learned a lot about the history of language learning and the route of reaching the last approach which is called communicative approach that does not have clear and fixed methods and teachers can use different ones to make language leraning enjoyable. The videos are nicely made and I thank you very much for giving this opportunity to watch, read and learn. :)

Very nice concept with the time machine and using caricatures! Just one observation: I've noticed that the "Why" question in the time machine videos is different from the "Why" in the sheets. While in the video the caricature was asked "Why do we teach language", the question in the sheet seems to be "Why do we use this approach". The two overlap, but sometimes there are differences to consider!

The lessons are engaging and interesting to say the least. It is interesting to learn all of the approaches that have been used throughout history. I will take what is useful from the approaches, discard what is useless and finally, make an approach that is truly mine! I recommend this course to anyone who is keen on the theories of 2nd language acquisition or on language acquisition in general!

I'd like to say special “Thank you!” to my main dearest American teachers and all members of team of this wonderful, and, very useful for people around the world, course. Thank you for your unreal help for such women like me. Your great program really changes for better a lot of lives. You make me a person, who is full of happy and hope for better fate in the future. Love you all very much!

Like the course before this one, Theories of Second Language Acquistion was exceptional. I love how the professors creatively distill very important facts and information in a format that is enjoyable and refreshing for students. I wish all Coursera Courses were carefully planned and presented like this course - how you present it is just as important as the content that you are presenting.

Hello,

I take this course as a base to revise my teaching techniques as I particaipated the course without any pain and it encourged me to continue step by step. Content is also very charming with its devil and angel debates, teacher's accurate and fluent performances like an actor. And materials are so user friendly that everyone can start to use immediately. Thanks for the opportunity.

An excellent overview of the history of ESL teaching methods. Presented as vignettes using simple caricatures, it is easy to follow and the exaggerated style makes each theory memorable. The graphic organizer that the course provides keeps your notes in place, and will come in handy at Final Exam time. This is not an easy course; you will work and you will learn, but you will also enjoy.