TESOL Philosophies
How I might implement the traditional philosophies in my teaching would be in this manner: idealism would be used to teach students that they should strive for something higher, some goal that is an ideal, a virtue, a good -- something like perfection, for example. It may not be possible, but by striving for it, we tend to achieve more than would otherwise be possible. Realism would be used in conjunction with ensuring that students nonetheless remain grounded in reality; for example, a student may want to be able to write a novel by the end of the year. This kind of thinking can be promoted along with idealism, but realism would be employed so as to not cause the student to be disappointed when the end of the year comes and the student cannot write a novel -- in this sense, I would say, "Yes, write a novel -- but make it a short novel; it does not have to be long." This makes the goal still ideal but somewhat more realistic now. For neo-scholasticism, I would encourage immersion in grammar and the traditions and customs of language that have given us this language today; it would prompt investigations into why we speak the way we do, and how grammar changes and what it means.
The basic philosophic issues inherent in existentialism are based on the question of why we are here and what it means. It essentially drives at the heart of existence -- what is this experience about, and what...
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