Some reflections on Multiple Intelligences Teachers open the door, but you must enter for yourself Proverb

Chinese

Professor Howard Gardner established the theory of the Multiple Intelligences, which develops the idea that individuals have a determined, general, quantifiable capability of learning, called intelligence. This capacity for learning varies in quantity from individual to individual. At first, Professor Howard Gardner affirmed that human beings had at least seven distinct units of intellectual functioning called intelligences, but on further research, he added many more. He describes intelligence as the capacity to solve problems or to fashion products that are valued in one or more cultural setting. (Gardner and Hatch 1989). According to him, all human beings are born possessing many intelligences. Admitting Gardners theory, EFL teachers should take into consideration all kinds of intelligences as equally significant, and should spot and teach to a wider variety of abilities and aptitudes. Thus, teachers should organize the management of material resources using different techniques, which would engage most of all the intelligences. Teachers should be aware of their own as well as their learners Multiple Intelligences profiles. Furthermore, educators should encourage students to be aware of their own intelligences, plan lessons according to the different intelligences, develop, reinforce, improve each intelligence, and consider the students strengths and weaknesses. It is of the outmost importance to recognize and shape all the varieties of human intelligences and all the possible amalgamations of intelligences. People are all different partly because they have dissimilar combinations of intelligences. If teachers can recognize that, they will be able to have a better prospect to manage adequately the problems that we all have to confront daily. Some observations on Task Based Learning One of the main aims of communicating language teaching is to provide opportunities for learners to participate in interaction where the primary goal is to exchange meaning rather than to learn the L2. Sandra Fotos & Rod Ellis What is it that helps people to learn? Motivation and exposure to the language. This is how we all learn to speak a language in a natural way since we have to make use of whatever words and phrases in order to achieve meaning, to communicate. Free use entails a wide variety of language and gives learners a wide range of possibilities for its acquisition. Students require opportunities to express what they think or feel, to experiment in a low-filtered atmosphere, to test hypotheses about the way language functions, to try things out and to confirm that they are understood. A task-based learning framework intends to present opportunities for students to experiment with language. Human beings learn in different ways. Previous learning experiences, cognitive styles, motivation, abilities, talents, age, personality, and other

characteristics affect the strategies and styles of the different learners. Different learners assume different strategies for learning. Skilful students will try to find opportunities to use the target language as much as they can, to analyse, categorise, and recall language structures, to take risks, scrutinize errors, and adjust to different learning conditions. Doing a task in pairs or groups has many advantages. It grants students confidence in the use of the target language, it enables them to experience natural communication, it shows them how other students convey similar meaning, it offers them possibilities to negotiate turns to speak, it engages them in using language meaningfully and co-operatively, and it makes them participate in conversations exchanging ideas. What matters is the student Nowadays, the teacher should be familiarized with the students personal needs, conflicts, insecurities, and doubts. On the one hand, the student is focused under a new, active role in which he/she is involved in his/her own learning process and strategies. If the student is able to evaluate learning strategies and the success of a given one, he/she will then be able to apply that same strategy to other situations. On the other hand, new roles have been assigned to the teacher, who should no longer be an instructor but a facilitator in the learning process. It is widely believed that teachers and students can be active participants in an interaction in which both sides share experiences in a collaborative spirit. We firmly believe in the importance of student-centeredness and the raising of awareness about sharing feelings, experiences, and emotions. In addition, we consider that the students feelings and self-confidence are fundamental for their anchoring of memorable life-long learning. We want our students to think systematically, so we promote freethinking, toleration, and respect of different ideas, feelings, backgrounds and cultures. We fancy that emotional factors and the students abilities to express them are the foundation for long-term learning. Why use Literature? The positive gains for using poetry in language classes are concerned with education, affection, achievement, individuality, stimulus, and skills development. [...] As language teachers, we are fundamentally educationalists and not just instructors, and it is our duty to contribute to the emotional, imaginative and intellectual development of our learners Brian Tomlinson Literature is a very useful weapon to develop linguistic competence and it provides an excellent opportunity for reflection and personal growth. It encourages students autonomy and tolerance since when reading they constantly deal with a variety of human conflicts and situations where they have to search into themselves to make their own personal conclusions. According to John McRae we have to make a distinction between referential and representational language. Referential language is language which communicates on only one level, usually in terms of

information being sought or given, or of a social situation being handled. On the other hand, representational language is that type of language which engages the imagination of the receiver so that its meaning potential can be decoded by that receiver. Most texts have more than one meaning, and they demand some kind of response and reflection on part of the reader. Learning to discover the meaning of figurative language, understanding metaphors, and reading between the lines contribute to personal enrichment as well as to the broadening of the learners minds. Figurative language helps students to develop thinking skills while metaphors help them to create images that make language memorable. Reading between the lines makes students develop their creativity and their perception of life. Why teaching English through Poems? Poetry is the art of uniting pleasure with truth by calling imagination to the help of reason Samuel Johnson Poetry begins in delight and ends in wisdom Robert Frost Poems can be highly motivating if students feel identified with them. They can also help learners to heighten their perception of everyday experience. In addition, poems enable students to be in touch with other peoples feelings, feelings that most of the time they share but are unable to communicate. Poetry is a unique kind of language, which reaches our emotions most closely. It can help students to understand, incorporate, and appreciate the typical rhythms of a language. Furthermore, poems are often easily remembered as they normally repeat sound and word patterns. The topics, which poems deal with, are usually interesting and significant. When learning a target language adolescents need to have meaningful issues to reflect and talk about. Poems offer something worthwhile to discuss as Alan Maley and Sandra Moulding assert in their work Poem into Poem. In addition, Why Songs? Every song is a culture capsule containing within itself a significant piece of social information Dale T. Griffee Poetry and music are so closely related that many times it can be very hard to draw a line that can separate one from the other. In most cultures of the world people sing and recite. Ezra Pound once said, Poetry begins to atrophy when it gets too far from music. Are songs poems? Many of them certainly are. Pete Seeger, an American folk singer, once said, A printed song is like a photograph of a bird in flight. If the lyrics are rich and interesting, we will surely increase our enjoyment of them and sing them with true enthusiasm. Certain memorable rhymed and rhythmic lines will undoubtedly live on, especially if wonderful music is their base and if singers have made them immortal.

According to Dale T. Griffee songs have a place in the classroom for helping create that friendly and cooperative atmosphere so important for language learning, but they can offer much more. Generally, songs use conversational language, with many repetitions, and they tend to be written in language simple enough to be understood on first hearing. Nevertheless, some lyrics are complex and demanding, thus students have to make use of their thinking skills and learning strategies. What is more, songs talk to us about our experience, and they can comfort us in troublesome moments. Songs can be easily associated with important people, memorable places, and significant episodes in our lives. They can also be a tool for relaxation and can contribute to a pleasurable classroom environment. Moreover, by means of songs, we expose learners to the rhythms of language and we incorporate contemporary living language. They mirror not only the existing sound technology but also the uncertainties and expectations of their times. Bringing the song into the classroom entails bringing the culture of the song in with it, says Dale Griffee in Songs in Action. Songs are particularly interesting for introducing vocabulary because they supply a significant framework for the new terminology. With the use of pop songs, educators and learners involve themselves in the rising of a new global culture. Furthermore, adolescents are easily moved and touched by music and songs, as perhaps they are one of the most important fields to hold them together and to give them both individual and group identity. Through songs learners can grasp a new perspective of culture, social values and life. When singing, a person can increase his/her self-esteem and overcome insecurities and fears of public exposure. Why relationships? All happy families resemble one another, each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina When we had to choose the songs, we decided to focus on the theme of relationships since the textbook we use is topic-based and the first unit centres on relationships. So we selected two songs, the first one dealing with the subject of family relationships and the second one with the topic of romantic love. Unquestionably, family ties exert a strong influence on the lives of people, and especially on teenagers, who are in the process of developing their autonomy, although they are still emotionally attached to their parents. Human relationships depend on personal experience and they contribute to the definition of the individuals identity. The role of each individual in society is affected by its interrelationship with the roles of the other members within the same society: parents-children, men-women, young-old, friends, lovers, and others. It is impossible to imagine any form of social organization which does not involve the primary structure of the family. Through the history of humankind, this organization has constituted the essential unit of all social clusters. The family has a dynamic importance for humanity because it

provides the adequate framework for the definition and preservation of human differences. At the same time, it objectively shapes the distinctive but reciprocally connected roles of mother, father, and child, which are the basic roles in all cultures. As regards the theme of love, we took into account the fact that, as teenagers grow up, they confront their sexuality, and so they come across a new kind of relationship: that of man and woman. The failure or success of their love relationships will depend, according to Freudian theories, on the family experiences lived since childhood. Adolescents are extremely concerned with the topic of love relationships, since it means a new territory for them, which they are anxious to explore and experience, and which will affect and define their path to adulthood. Conclusion Every lesson can be taught for multiple intelligences, devising different tasks while using songs and poems. We should help students to learn by supplying them with memorable and significant experiences, making use of their intellectual faculties and senses. In addition, we should humanize our students learning process, supporting them in their search of identity and the expression of their emotions.