We chose GA 2 Script, called 'Role Play'.
For our pair assignment Olya Sergeeva suggested trying out John's idea from the reading (Chapter 8.2 from the book) and consider three ways to make small changes (sharing them below with the examples we discussed in relation to the lesson scripted)
1. Stop doing what you usually do by breaking your habitual unconscious behaviors—rules: for this lesson, we would try and stop speaking too much while explaining an item to students.
2. try doing the opposite of what you usually do, or having your students do the opposite of what you usually have them do: for this lesson, we would let students try and explain the item first (before teacher's explanation); we would also try silent praising (a smile or thumb up)
3. do something, or have your students do something, inside the classroom that is commonly done only outside the classroom: we though about encouraging students to look up the word in a dictionary (on the phone, depending on the context and age, etc.)
Besides, we categorized our opinions/ideas about this piece of lessons into 2 groups: what we think is useful/helpful for student learning, and what we thought was less helpful (or not helpful at all). Here are the 2 lists we got.
useful/helpful:
nominating a S using his/her name
using mime and telling the story (supporting the verbal story visually)
using flashcard with a written record of the word
using engaging materials (story, visuals, props, etc.)
less helpful/useful:
students are repeating/pronouncing isolated linguistic items (found it)
confusing example offered by teacher (picking up sticks in the context of finding a bean')
using L2 only for explanations and examples
Finally, we took each item from the list above and asked ourselves 'How could the opposite be true?' Here are the new lists we have.
useful/helpful ideas may become 'less helpful' if we consider the following:
nominating a S using his/her name > > this can push a student out of their comfort zone and put them on the spot;
using mime and telling the story (supporting the verbal story visually) > > this can result in confusing the meaning, or making a wrong connection (that 'find' is the same as 'pick up', for example)
using flashcard with a written record of the word > > if students don't know how to read in English, this may be not helpful
using engaging materials (story, visuals, props, etc.) > > we don't know how engaged all the students in this group are, and we don't know either they have a chance to use the materials, or it is only the teacher who has 'control' over it.
'less helpful/useful' ideas become 'helpful' if we consider the following:
students are repeating/pronouncing isolated linguistic items (found it) > > this may be a more natural way to use language, as opposed on focusing on 'full sentences' as we see quite commonly done in the schools in our countries, for example;
confusing example offered by teacher (picking up sticks in the context of finding a bean') > > students may need to do more work figuring the meaning out, asking questions, decoding the meaning from the context, etc. Learners become more active and therefore learn better.
using L2 only for explanations and examples > > referring to L1 may save time in class, and offer confidence and comfort to the learners who need it.
Olya, did I miss anything?
For our pair assignment Olya Sergeeva suggested trying out John's idea from the reading (Chapter 8.2 from the book) and consider three ways to make small changes (sharing them below with the examples we discussed in relation to the lesson scripted)
1. Stop doing what you usually do by breaking your habitual unconscious behaviors—rules: for this lesson, we would try and stop speaking too much while explaining an item to students.
2. try doing the opposite of what you usually do, or having your students do the opposite of what you usually have them do: for this lesson, we would let students try and explain the item first (before teacher's explanation); we would also try silent praising (a smile or thumb up)
3. do something, or have your students do something, inside the classroom that is commonly done only outside the classroom: we though about encouraging students to look up the word in a dictionary (on the phone, depending on the context and age, etc.)
Besides, we categorized our opinions/ideas about this piece of lessons into 2 groups: what we think is useful/helpful for student learning, and what we thought was less helpful (or not helpful at all). Here are the 2 lists we got.
useful/helpful:
nominating a S using his/her name
using mime and telling the story (supporting the verbal story visually)
using flashcard with a written record of the word
using engaging materials (story, visuals, props, etc.)
less helpful/useful:
students are repeating/pronouncing isolated linguistic items (found it)
confusing example offered by teacher (picking up sticks in the context of finding a bean')
using L2 only for explanations and examples
Finally, we took each item from the list above and asked ourselves 'How could the opposite be true?' Here are the new lists we have.
useful/helpful ideas may become 'less helpful' if we consider the following:
nominating a S using his/her name > > this can push a student out of their comfort zone and put them on the spot;
using mime and telling the story (supporting the verbal story visually) > > this can result in confusing the meaning, or making a wrong connection (that 'find' is the same as 'pick up', for example)
using flashcard with a written record of the word > > if students don't know how to read in English, this may be not helpful
using engaging materials (story, visuals, props, etc.) > > we don't know how engaged all the students in this group are, and we don't know either they have a chance to use the materials, or it is only the teacher who has 'control' over it.
'less helpful/useful' ideas become 'helpful' if we consider the following:
students are repeating/pronouncing isolated linguistic items (found it) > > this may be a more natural way to use language, as opposed on focusing on 'full sentences' as we see quite commonly done in the schools in our countries, for example;
confusing example offered by teacher (picking up sticks in the context of finding a bean') > > students may need to do more work figuring the meaning out, asking questions, decoding the meaning from the context, etc. Learners become more active and therefore learn better.
using L2 only for explanations and examples > > referring to L1 may save time in class, and offer confidence and comfort to the learners who need it.
Olya, did I miss anything?
I enjoyed reading about how you implemented Heather Thomas's ideas and used this type of thinking in your approach to the task. The point you made about engaging materials, i.e. engaging according to whom?, is excellent!
ReplyDeleteDear 0 and Z,
ReplyDeleteYou are on the way to looking at how what some think is useful might not be and how what is not useful might be. As you continue your exploration, write two reasons rather than one--so saying repeating words alone rather than sentences might be useful because, give a second or third reason. Ditto re using L1 for directions, etc.
Sounds like a lively discussion! Did you record your discussion? If so send it to Steven and maybe we can listen to a bit of the discussion Sunday.
Cheers.
J
John Fanselow Olya Sergeeva Thank you for the reply! No, we have not recorded ourselves (and I wish we had, as we talked about a number of things, both about the course and outside).
ReplyDeleteYes, I can see how each point can have 2, 3 and more reasons, both 'for' and 'against'.
For example, repeating words alone rather than sentences might be useful because, (1) it's easier to say something short than the whole sentence and (2) we can work on pronunciation features very closely, e.g. individual sounds ('p' and 'f' were difficult for Korean learners, so the same may be true for the ones in the lesson, in the word 'found'). I am sure there are possible reasons 4, 5, etc. Maybe someone in the group could join us and make the list longer?
Using L1 was a huge area of our conversation actually, because we reflected on our beliefs, on our learning experience, our teaching experience before and after taking a CELTA course, before and after becoming teacher trainers, etc.
I like the exercise of brainstorming possible reasons, alternatives and questioning the 'given' (or 'always works' as Liudmyla Beraud mentioned in her thread this week. My favorite part of the reflective process :-)
Thank you for the chance to 'think aloud' about it!
Zhenya