I posted this picture a few years ago and instantly remembered it when pondering on goal 11 of the 30 goals challenge for educators 2012.

Goal 11 is about impacting our students. As Shelly Terrell mentions in her blog:” Educators don’t realize that every time they walk into a classroom they plant seeds that may grow into weeds and stunt their students’ learning journeys…“. I would rather think that we plant seeds that will grow into the learners own beautiful flowers and plants.

When reflecting on the positive impact I try to have on my students, my main target is to get them to enjoy discovering a new language and therefore a new way of thinking and a new culture. I want my students to become open-minded and world citizens. I do realize it is a “big word” but I do believe it is key nowadays. Thanks to the Web and social networks, we are connected to other people worldwide and it is very important to be flexible and opened.

Another positive impact is to get students to become fluent in another language. The aim here is fluency and not accuracy as Steve Smith writes in a very interesting post Accuracy versus fluency. I aim at including lots of comprehensible input and at becoming “a listener rather than a correcter“. Acquiring a new language tends to be stressful because it is all new from the pronunciation part to the actual input. Students often fear to not understand anything and as a language teacher, my aim is to make them feel safe and relaxed in order to cope with the “newness”. Therefore as Steve Smith mentions in his blog “The focus on accuracy merely helps students develop their ability to monitor their own accuracy and to self-correct. Worrying about getting things wrong sets up an affective barrier for students and inhibits their language acquisition. Comprehension and fluency tasks remain the heart of language acquisition.“. Once students become comfortable in a new language (even if they do make mistakes), we can then shift our focus towards accuracy.

All in all, the good seeds I wish to plant throughout my students’ learning journeys are to discover something completely new and to have fun learning.

What about you? What kind of impact are you aiming at having on your students?

Other goals I have accomplished so far:

• Me manifesto
• Highlight of my magical moment
• Ask a learner and reveal their strengths
• Feed yourself inspiration
• Investigate and instigate questions
• Make a global connection
• Share an activity
• Teaching ourselves and them to overcome
• Spread your knowledge