Her own techniques

Do you remember studying learning strategies? And what about multiple intelligences? Well, I remember learning that we should always be aware of our students´ strategies and techniques, and that teaching strategies is an essential part of education. However, it was difficult for me at that time to imagine how to realize which strategy each student preferred or which techniques they use at the moment of studying.

I´ve been having a private student for almost two years now and I´ve noticed that she uses too many “self-made” techniques. To mention but a few examples, she uses two or three colours in each exercise she completes. She´s told me that by using colours she can recall the words or examples easier than if she didn´t. As she´s for sure visual, when I explain her something, from the meaning of a word to a grammar point, I use colour pens or drawings for her to pay more attention and to help in her storage process. I´ve also noticed that she changes the letter type from one word to the other one. For instance, she writes “a” in a word and, the next time she writes that letter she writes “A”. She´s told me that if she doesn´t do so she cannot concentrate properly on what she does.

Despite these strategies may seem an advantage for her both at the moments of studying and or storing information, I´ve told her that she should try to attach to a specific typology to make her writing tidier. I´ve also realized that she wastes too much time when using her techniques. In fact, her teacher at the institute has told her that she should use the same colour all along exercises and tests. While even for the teacher it may be easier to resort to the same techniques students use if they want the latter to pay more attention, many questions cross my mind. How should we combine all students´ strategies? Should we let students use their own learning strategies and study techniques? Or should we tell them to use those techniques only at home, to practice and to study? Should we be more concerned about the syllabus than about the way our students find it easier to learn? Surely it must be highly difficult to strike a balance between strategies and complying with the syllabus´ contents. After being with this girl for such a long time I´ve started wondering what I´ll do in the future… I´ll try to teach both strategies and contents but I think striking a balance will be the result of experience. How do you see it?