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**//Final Summary of Penny Ur's article- Check it Out//** In her article, Penny Ur presents the importance of questioning and repeatedly checking out professional literature and conference sessions. Ur claims that the primary source of information is the teacher’s own experience as well as his colleagues’. A professional teacher would read the literature and attend conferences but, at the same time, use various criteria to ‘check them out’. He would ask himself whether it is meaningful to him, whether it makes sense, whether it is rationally and convincingly argumentative, whether there is any convincing research evidence to back it up and whether their own experience as well as colleagues’ experience support it. Ur explains this through three different sayings. The first one is, ‘[|Learner- centered teaching] is best’ whose meaning could focus on the active learner or on the work he has to do (such as finding information or self- assessing). Ur claims that it is a philosophical belief which is associated with “good teaching” without any rational argument or researched evidence in literature to support it. The effectiveness of this approach is not questioned at all. Moreover, her own personal experience and other effective teachers’ experience is not learner- centered. The second saying is that ‘[|The presentation- practice- production model] is ineffective.’ Still, there is contradictory evidence about PPP. The rational argument against it is that language is an organic process that is dependant upon the stage development of the learner, but the proponents claim that there is convincing research that shows that PPP works. Since Ur’s main experience as a teacher was with PPP, she understood the importance of including other types of procedures in light of her ‘crap- detecting’ that led her to a working compromise (more communicative practice.) The third saying she deals with is that ‘Younger is better in language learning’, a saying that stems from people’s experience with their migrant children and from the ‘[|critical period]’ assumption. Still, the argument isn’t that rational since different ages have different learning conditions. However, research shows that in the short term or in a formal environment only, older students achieve more in less time.Ur’s experience showed her that young children learn differently and that the teaching situation is important. Ur’s questioning of the learner- centered approach made me curious. In my classes I tend to use both PPP and communicative activities. The fact that there is no evidence in literature that supports the learner- centered approach, aside from people’s opinions, was appalling to me. I have always found this approach effective and I was sure it would be rationally supported in the literature.

Lanna added that "learner- centeredness" doesn't work if the teacher lets students give many wrong answers and only then explains. She thinks that students have to take responsibility to their studies and it must be based on knowledge and tangible desire to learn. In order to become an independent learner being able to make critical remarks and analyze what others say or write they have to first build a massive bulk of knowledge, to listen and absorb. Roaa believes Penny correctly says that we should not accept the literature as a holy thing. She thinks that teachers must criticize the literature and compare it with their own experience and only then decide whether it is right or not. Irit states that the dilemma of when to start learning / teaching L2 is an old one. Proponents of starting at an older age found that older learners managed to fill the gap of several years of learning English, because of being more mature and motivated. Irit agrees with this from personal experience, especially when young learners of L2 (ages: 6-8) in Israel learn very few hours a week, and mainly songs. Rana adds that not only teachers should criticize the literature, but also students should do that. It is very important to teach our students to acquire the capacity of reading between the lines and criticize what they read. They need to be able to choose the most suitable things. Proficient teachers are those who are open minded, read and search, help and ask for help, and are able to accept criticism. Eslam likes Penny's article since it encourages us, teachers, to analyze educational issues. Shifra comments that in the beginning of her journey as a new English teacher, she believed almost everything and thought that she needed to go over everything that was in the textbooks. However, throughout the years she has learned, as Penny said, that not everything the research says, works for her as a teacher and not everything in the textbooks needs to be done. The best source for pupils is teachers' beliefs. When a teacher teaches something she or he believes in, it passes on to the student. It is like when a singer sings a song and touches the audience because s/he or he feels the words when s/he sings. In addition, she thinks that it is better to learn a second language in the third grade after they know how to read and write well in their L1. However, it is important to teach more than two or three hours in the third grade. Things would look a lot better if English was taught four hours a week from the third grade. Haifa believes in Ur's idea of each teacher having his/her own practical theory. That theory is what makes him/her an expert teacher. Absolutely it is the combination of many factors and insights that a teacher gains from his/her own teaching experience, his/her colleagues' and the professional literature the teacher is exposed to through academic studies, in-service courses or self-study. Teachers' practical theory should be flexible and change according to the changing population of students, system changes, and changes in his/her own perceptions of life as long he/she gets older and more mature. In other words, the teachers' own theory should be updated. Haifa attests about herself that she never teaches the same, not even in different classes of the same year. She thinks that she is still on her journey of discovering the perfect teaching method. My opinion is that any good teacher would feel the same.