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The Firewall in the Mind (Slide 17) Perpetuating teaching in the way we are taught

Now, I'm not saying there was no value in this. A few years later in Hawaii, I selected to study Japanese because the course as it was taught then at the University of Hawaii had a computer-based component. It was revelatory to take a course in a foreign language using CALL. At that very beginner stage of my learning Japanese, I appreciated having drill and practice exercises to help me learn basic grammar and Katakana. How many of you have ever used a computer to learn a foreign language? Yes, well, it's almost axiomatic that if you are going to teach in a certain way, you experience what you are teaching in the way you are teaching it. My talk on the firewall in the mind alludes to the fact that we tend to teach in the way we are taught. We perpetuate that firewall in the mind. When alternatives become available as they have recenly, we need to readjust our thinking to take into consideraton dramatic changes to the pedagogical landscape. A first step is realizing when the old barriers to improved methodology are no longer there.