View Content #24141

Harinder Khalsa teaches Italian at the University of Oregon and coordinates the Self Study Language Program for the Yamada Language Center. Her research interests include Italian language and culture, Turkish language and culture, less commonly taught languages, and second language acquisition and teaching.

October 31, 2017

The last three weeks of this term brought a unique enrichment in my professional life as a language educator while I observed four language classes in four different languages (Thai, Hindi/Urdu, Chinese, Portuguese) and was observed and received feedback myself teaching Turkish. In all classes, what stood out was the unequivocal dedication that these educators put into empowering students to learn no matter what methodology they used. I learned something new from each one of them that will help with my own classes sooner or later.   

These three weeks of class observation and feedback cycle also took me back to the very first year I started teaching Italian at the University of Oregon in fall of 1993. The first time my supervisor told me she would come to observe my class, I had very mixed feelings. On one hand, I was super nervous, afraid of not doing things right and being judged; on the other hand, I really wanted to know whether I was moving in the right direction with my class and learn how I could give a better learning experience to my students. Luckily, the latter prevailed in how I received my supervisor’s feedback (definitely thanks to her most objective and compassionate comments) and looked forward to having her come back to observe my classes. I also remember the same year observing and giving feedback myself on not only my supervisor’s but also my peers’ language classes. I can confidently say that these observations were and still are one of the most empowering tools in my professional life for the following reasons: 

1.     I started developing an awareness about how I do things without being too emotionally involved in it, i.e. thinking about how I do things in an objective manner so I can see where my abilities are and how I can improve upon them.

2.     It helped me understand that what I do is not always about perfection but allowing myself the space to see that it takes time, patience, reliance on the experience and the expertise of those who have come so far in the profession to help myself grow professionally.

3.     It showed me that there is not one right way of doing things. There are however methods that work better than the others for making language learning more conducive and meaningful. I can observe, pick and choose what works best in terms of delivering active learning experiences to the students so that they can internalize and use the language in their own creative ways depending on their needs and interests.

4.     It also showed me that it really is never about how good (and justified) I feel about what I do but it is about how I can help the students discover their own power to learn and internalize what they learn so they feel good about it. I have to admit, however, that it makes me feel really good when the students use the language on their own spontaneously!

I am very grateful that the beginning years of my formation as a language educator instilled this trust in the power of peer observation and feedback mechanism with the hope that it does the same for all educators. With all this in mind, I thank all my colleagues at CASLS, Yamada Language Center and Romance Languages Department for letting me observe their classes and learn from them in many other ways. I truly appreciate how everyone in the profession puts their heart, soul, and hard work for our students to learn about the beautiful languages and cultures they bring into their lives.