Mediation of the Language Learning and Teaching
Process through The Voice of Guanacaste
By Dr. Gilberto Hernández Quirós
gilberto.hernandez.quiros@una.cr
In the
language learning and teaching process, it is vital to have direct exposure to
authentic and meaningful material which should ideally enable language learners
to acquire and fully comprehend both oral and written speech production.
As a
university professor at UNA Nicoya, I have happily come across The Voice of
Guanacaste and realized how useful it is for my students in the English as a
foreign language teaching major and English courses in general to read
articles, enrich lexicon and foster open discussion and analysis to strengthen
conversational skills in English.
The fact
that contents in articles as well as in advertisements in this valuable
newspaper are quite focused and contextualized to our immediate environment and
reality, do facilitate reading comprehension, and thereby, trigger and boost
the need to express ourselves and have a say on the topics, stories and
articles published. The Voice of
Guanacaste has undoubtedly become an effective tool for students to learn
faster and in a more realistic and memorable way.
Among the
activities carried out to mediate language and learning employing The Voice of
Guanacaste, are full engagement in individual as well as in group tasks such as
writing summaries, rendering recorded audios, having debates and round table
discussions to name a few. Even games
and videos have been inspired by contents in the Voice of Guanacaste.
A key element
in reinforcing and consolidating language skills is definitely identifying with
the content of articles and reacting to them as supposed to being exposed to
readings that do not cause much sense of belonging or identification and end up
in losing interest or not even reading an article entirely.
I truly
wish to thank the Board of Directors, editors, graphic designers, journalists,
managers and administrators as well as advertisers for providing citizens with
this wonderful source of information in a bilingual version on a monthly
basis. I likewise urge teachers of
English to utilize and support great endeavors and professionals as the ones at
The Voice of Guanacaste. Kudos!
