Reggio Emilia – Dogme for YLs

Image courtesy of Best Way to Encourage Children

I came across the following after clicking on a link on a parenting blog.  It discusses curriculums in the Reggio Emilia Approach :

“The topic of investigation may derive directly from teacher observations of children’s spontaneous play and exploration. Project topics are also selected on the basis of an academic curiosity or social concern on the part of teachers or parents, or serendipitous events that direct the attention of the children and teachers. Reggio teachers place a high value on their ability to improvise and respond to children’s predisposition to enjoy the unexpected. Regardless of their origins, successful projects are those that generate a sufficient amount of interest and uncertainty to provoke children’s creative thinking and problem-solving and are open to different avenues of exploration. Because curriculum decisions are based on developmental and sociocultural concerns, small groups of children of varying abilities and interests, including those with special needs, work together on projects.

Projects begin with teachers observing and questioning children about the topic of interest. Based on children’s responses, teachers introduce materials, questions, and opportunities that provoke children to further explore the topic. While some of these teacher provocations are anticipated, projects often move in unanticipated directions as a result of problems children identify. Thus, curriculum planning and implementation revolve around open-ended and often long-term projects that are based on the reciprocal nature of teacher-directed and child-initiated activity. All of the topics of interest are given by the children. Within the project approach, children are given opportunities to make connections between prior and new knowledge while engaging in authentic tasks…”
(Reggio Emilia Approach)

This is what I feel Dogme for YLs looks like.

- Teacher as co-learner

- Focus on interests and needs of the people in the room

- A focus on social concerns.

- Spontaneity and flexibility integral to curriculum extension

While the current curriculum I work in is quite rigid, I always work to create the types of environments above whenever possible and constantly seize on opportunities to take lessons in interesting directions based on learner input.  The result is often very chatty and engaged students

Does anyone work in a program like this?  What results have you seen?

Nurture Learning, Not Activities

Image courtesy of Beneath the Cover

Sometimes we teachers have a habit of preparing a lot of activities. We all dread that moment when we have ten minutes left in the class, but realize we don’t have anything else planned. So what do we do? We plan a bunch of extra activities just in case.

Here’s the problem though, a classroom isn’t about doing activities, it’s about learning. A successful lesson is defined by the amount and quality of the learning that occurred, not by how many activites were completed. Sometimes it’s a good idea to step back and look at our lesson and our lesson plans. Are they just a series of activities or can we visualize the learning occurring? Is our goal to take up space in the lesson or maximize the quality of the education delivered?

The next time you plan an activity for your class, take a moment to really look at it. Is it just a space filler or is something really valuable being done?

The Number One Priority

Image courtesy of nightmaremode.net

As a learning director of a private language institute, there is one question I ask myself over and over again every day: “Is what I’m doing right now the best thing I can be doing to help our students learn?”. It’s such a simple and obvious question, but I’ve found that we don’t ask it nearly enough.

I have tons of competing priorities every day. Often I have to make a choice between such things as supporting an upset teacher, helping a learner whose parents lost their book, cleaning up a classroom, or filing some paperwork every ten minutes. When all these issues constantly crop up at the same time, I just ask myself that simple question and make my choice.

This question doesn’t just focus on the students though, even though at first glance you might think that. It encompasses every choice and action throughout the day. Should I spend extra time planning my lesson or use that time to read a research article on teaching? Is complaining about my day making anyone else feel better about being here and will that in turn help the students in all of our classes? Is staying out for that one or two more beers going to affect the quality of my lessons tomorrow? Will going out of my way to welcome a new teacher have a positive effect on their teaching?

As a teacher, and especially as a manager, we affect the quality of learning at our school far more than just in making choices involved in lesson planning and delivery. Every choice we make at our school whether it affects other team members, the students, or even the cleanliness of the school all contribute to creating a quality learning environment for everyone. Often, even many of the choices we make away from our schools affect the quality of learning, too.

How do you prioritize your day? How do you make choices between all the competing demands on you? Do you always make the choices that benefit your students?

Learning is Messy!

Image courtesy of Provinciales Primary School

What’s your vision of the ideal classroom?  Is it a classroom where every learner sits calmly and quietly?  Do students always raise their hands before talking?  Are they always focused on their task?

In my experience, this is what’s passed down to us as the ideal class.  But whose ideal class is it?  The teacher’s of course.  The teacher is the one who wants all the students sitting quietly and listening only to them.  They don’t want the chaos of 20 students all talking at once.  Every student should be focused on their task whether they find it interesting or not.

My classrooms rarely fit this vision because I think learning is loud.  Learning is messy.  I try my best to make learners interested in my lessons.  They don’t sit quietly because they aren’t going to get a sticker, they’ll be put in time out, or I’ll yell at them.  In fact, they generally don’t sit quietly at all.

When young learners are engaged in a lesson, they’re excited; they want to shout and move around.  A loud classroom means that they’re really happy and enjoy what we’re doing, which will make them feel positive about English and learning.  What more could I ask for?

It’s also great practice.  Sure, I could have students raise their hand before speaking, but then only one student would speak and they’d only say one sentence.  Letting them all shout out the answers, or shouting to be chosen next, or shouting to say what they want to do next is great.  Sure it’s loud and chaotic, but not only are they getting tons of practice, they’re using English to express themselves.  To say what they want to say and to get their desires and interests across.  They’re speaking in their own voice, and not just when the teacher says it’s ok.

I also love projects and tasks and role-plays where all the learners are trying it together.  Will some get side-tracked?  Of course, they’re only 5 years old.  But what would they be doing otherwise?  If you only have one pair of students at a time do something, then the others will simply be bored in their chairs and not learning anyway.  At least if they all participate, they’ll work with each other.  And the surprising thing is, most of them will do the activity to the best of their ability.  Even better, they’ll start teaching each other.  There’s nothing cuter than seeing a five-year-old teach another five-year-old how to buy fruit in English

Yes, my classrooms are loud.  Yes, learners are often moving around and may get off task.  But they’re also learning to express themselves.  They’re learning to take responsibility, share, and help each other too.  Learning may be messy, but there sure is a lot of learning, even if it’s spread all over the classroom floor

Let the Children Speak!

Courtesy of Public Speaking for Kids

Two dialogues from classrooms with very different learning environments.  Can you guess which one allows for more learner autonomy, emergent language, and student participation?

S: Ehm, how old is your father?
L: My father is forty years old. And how old is your father?
S: Fifteen years old.  How old is your mother?
L: My mother is thirty-nine years old.
S: How old are you?
L: I’m twelve.  How old are you?
S: I’m eleven.  What are your foreign languages?
L: My foreign languages are Sport, Textil.  What are your foreign languages?
S: My foreign languages are Biologie, Textil and German.
L: Ehm.
S: Oh, ah how ah how ne, what is the name or your father?
L: The name of my fater is Felix.  And what is the name of your father?
S: Ehm, the name of my father is ah Bernd, ah.
L: What’s the name of your mother?
S: Ehm, ah, my mother’s name is Maria.  And your mother’s name?
(Legenhausen, 1999:  166-167)

L: What should we talk about, Claus?
C: I don’t know, we could talk about our music group ‘Big Engine’.
L: Yeah, that’s a good idea.
C: I think it’s fun.  Now we have to play, ah , record our tape.
L: Yeah, the first time.
C: Yeah, it’s very exciting.  I have made a cover to our tape at home.
L: That one you showed me?
C: Yes.
L: The only thing it’s beautiful.
C: Beautiful?
L: Yes.
C: It’s lovely. (Laughing)
L: I think it’s good, too.
C: Yes.
(Legenhausen, 1999:  167)

In the above two dialogues, the students were put into pairs and given the very basic task of simply talking to each other in English for a few minutes.  The dialogues are from two classrooms of the same level and age but different countries with different learning environments.  Which one do you think comes from a classroom where children are given their own voice?

The first dialogue is from a German classroom where children learn from a textbook and follow a fairly prescriptive progression of learning targets.  The second dialogue is from a Danish classroom where learner autonomy is encouraged, the voice of the learners is listened to, and choice is an integral part of the learning process.  In the words of Legenhausen,the researcher who conducted the study, the Danish learners “do not construe a contrast between authentic and didactic tasks” (Legenhausen, 1999:  181).

This was a post I’ve been yearning to write for a while and Dave Dodgson’s recent post told me the time had come.  Dave reflects on why, after years of English language instruction, learners still have poor communicative ability.  As Dave hints at, I think the key lies in the contrast we see above.  Text book type teaching and prescriptive curriculums simply don’t engage learners.  Further more, the English language becomes only something used in the classroom; it’s not seen as a part of who they are or connected to their life.  For language to be truly internalized, it has to become part of a learner’s identity, not something done to them at school.  What do you think?

Assessment – What is it Good for?

Courtesy of http://sokoloperkovuskeci.com

In my last post I talked about throwing exams out.  In this one, I’ll discuss how to use them.

I believe the greatest mistake made with assessments is that they are viewed as an indicator of worth, either the student’s or the teacher’s.  An assessment does not tell you if a student is smart, a hard studier, or good at English.  An assessment does not tell you how effective a teacher is or how much they should be paid.  Tests should never be used in the sense of pass/fail for either teachers or students.  Using tests in this way ignores the realities that most tests are not designed well, don’t necessarily measure what we want them to measure, don’t take into account the level and needs of the students, and don’t encourage mistakes or skill development.

Assessments are merely a tool like any other in the teacher’s toolbox.  If used correctly, an assessment can show you where students are struggling and what areas were not taught well.  If the class average is 80% and Jimmy only got a 20%, it’s  a good bet he needs some extra help.  If everyone got that question about the present perfect wrong (not that anyone ever really understands the present perfect ), it’s probably because it wasn’t taught well.

The greatest value of assessments come from the practices we put into place after viewing the results.  Assessments should help us determine where to go next.  If Jimmy is doing so poorly, we now need to find out why and come up with a plan to help him to better.  If none of the students understood the present perfect, we need to find out where they are confused.  We then have to look back at our lessons on it and determine why we failed to create the conditions for learners to grasp the concept.

Assessment doesn’t just tell us what went poorly, it also tells us what went well.  If all the students got something right, it must have been taught effectively.  We should ask ourselves how we can use elements of that lesson to help teach other aspects of the course.  It also tells us which students are up for more of a challenge.

What do you do with the information you learn after giving an assessment?  Does it influence where your attention is focused, the direction you take, the amount of material you cover, what you review?  If not, maybe you shouldn’t bother giving the test in the first place

Related Posts

Assessments – A Look Back at Getting Rid of Them

Crazy or Enlightened

Joe Bower- Why Do We Give Exams?

Assessments – A Look Back at Getting Rid of Them

Courtesy of Zhi Shan’s Blog

If you’re a long-time reader, you may remember that at my previous school I threw out exams.  Students moved up or down levels based completely on mutual decisions between the teacher and student.  If you’re in a position to do so, I highly recommend giving it a try.  Below I’ll share some of the feedback I received from teachers and students.

Feedback from teachers:

- Some teachers felt it would be difficult to determine what level a student was and especially whether or not they were ready to move up.  My answer to this was that we had small classes.  Teachers should be informally assessing their students at all times.  Want to know if your students have a decent understanding of past simple?  Ask them what they did yesterday.  Simple as that.

- Without an exam, some teachers weren’t sure what the goal posts were and where they should be headed with what they were teaching.  My answer was to ask the students where they wanted to go.  Additionally, assess their needs and fill in gaps by creating lessons that use what they know, but challenge them to take themselves to the next level.

- Some teachers liked that fact that they were be able to take the lesson in any direction they wanted without having to tailor everything to an exam.  This was a key reason for my decision to remove exams.  There would be no more teaching to the exam and no more limiting of what was learned simply because they wanted to focus on what students would need to pass.

-  One thing teachers really liked was that students focused on improving.  Beforehand, many students would do nothing, but then cram for exams in an effort to pass.  Sometimes students might pass an exam even though there general language ability was clearly far below what the exam indicated.  Students saw that improvement was dependant on them and came down to how much work they put in.  Once students realized this, they became much more engaged in lessons and focused much more on self-improvement.

From the students:

-  They thought it took a lot of pressure off.

-  They liked having a say in whether or not they were ready to move up.

-  Some students felt uncomfortable about not knowing whether or not they were making progress.  They felt they couldn’t see results.  This sometimes had a negative effect on motivation.

Summary:

When I first talked to the teachers about trying this, I wasn’t sure it would work. After doing it for about 6 months, it was clear that it was working.  Students no longer felt the need to take formal exams.  Especially helpful was the larger amounts of feedback teachers started giving students in one-on-one discussions.  Students and teachers also became much better at consistent informal assessment.  I also felt that teachers really became more aware of their students and they needed to really look at how their students were doing to help plan the next lesson or set overall directions for a student or course.

In addition, like I mentioned above, we stopped having students that would slack through courses only to try and pass desperately at the end.  They realized they both needed to actually improve and to prove that they had improved to the teacher in order to advance.  I think this is one big reason students started to rapidly advance through levels.

Well, that’s a decent summary of some benefits and potential hiccups to eliminating exams.  At my current school, I am back to adminstering exams.  Most teachers the world over have to adminster exams, so, with that being the case, what’s the best way to look at exams and how should teachers use them?  Find out what I think in next week’s post.

Related Posts:

Assessment – What is it Good for?

Crazy or Enlightened

Joe Bower- Why Do We Give Exams?

Guest Post by Thomas Christie: Talking to Tourists

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Image courtesy of Akorenliyiz

This post is by an old teacher of mine named Thomas Christie.  When we worked together in Turkey he used to do a really cool activity with tourists and I asked him to write it up for the blog.   Tom has worked in Korea, Turkey, Spain, and the UK and is a strong advocate of dogme principles in ELT.  Here is Tom’s post:

Do you teach English in a city where there is an abundance of tourists? Have you ever considered having your learners compile a survey and taking advantage of this? Well, you should for the excellent practice it offers your learners. I am going to explain the many reasons why it’s fantastic and a few reasons that I found which caused challenges.

When I taught English in Istanbul, some of my most memorable classes were when we hit the streets to talk to tourists. Istanbul is a great city to do this. In Istanbul, most general English classes are 3 hours long so even when I worked at a school which was 30 minutes from the tourist beat; it was still possible to have enough time to meet plenty of English speaking visitors. This 30 minute journey also proved to be productive as the learners practiced their questions and wrote new follow up ones as well as enjoying the valuable thinking time. In a different branch for the same school, all we had to do was walk out onto the busiest street in Istanbul. This had the advantage of being able to literally point at the school and say where we came from. If there are tourists in your city within a reasonable distance, go for it. Just hit the tourist beat. Most of the preparation can be done as homework to save time.

So, why is speaking to tourists so spectacular for your students? Well, the bottom line is that it offers real communication, the kind of which is enforced when the students leave the classroom. The tourists were genuinely interested in what the learners had to say. They appreciated the advice and suggestions offered by local people with experience of the area and places that weren’t always frequented by outsiders. This also motivated my students to converse as they were proud to talk about their city and show hospitality. Both sides were usually really happy to benefit from the exchange. What a great way to find out about the area, from locals who aren’t in it for commercial reasons!

Your students will encounter many different accents. Many people often overlook the fact that English learners often spend most of their time talking in their L2 to other people who have learned English. There is often a focus in the TEFL world of sounding like a native speaker. However, the wide range of accents encountered provides great listening practice, particularly as I ask my students to take notes on answers to report back later. The conversations are so intriguing that your students and the tourists will be intent on trying to understand, offering intensive listening practice.

Another plus is the chance to really get to grips with some functional language such as politely getting someone’s attention, greeting people, thanking people and apologising for any inconvenience caused. I once took a class out without practicing this well enough and it caused problems as tourists are sometimes like a fish out of water and feel that they are being harassed. So, having learned from this experience, I would practice the language extensively through role play in the classroom. Things like “Excuse me, I wonder if I could take a moment of your time to ask a few questions” as well as “Excuse me, we are studying English at such and such school. Would it be possible to ask for a few minutes of your time?” and “Would you mind answering some questions for a survey?” are essential for making the encounter a success. Don’t worry if this sounds too advanced for a lower level class, there is enough context to make it understandable after some practice in the classroom. It’s also worth noting that some tourists (very few) will want to ignore the questions and continue in their headed direction. However, this provides more language learning opportunities with a quick “I’m sorry to bother you” and “Thank you for your time.”

One thing that I have noticed when taking learners out onto the streets is that the quieter shy students tend to take a leading role in initiating and maintaining a conversation. Confidence levels are increased with such an exchange between your students and people on holiday. I once came back from completing a survey with an elementary class. As we were in the lift returning back up to the classroom, there was a real buzz of excitement in the air. The class rapport had changed for the better and most students were really confident taking hold of their language learning. They realised that shyness is just an obstacle and that their language skills had improved to the extent that they could offer advice to fluent speakers of English.

I haven’t explicitly noticed in any of my classes but there is always the chance that someone in the class might have their confidence level diminished. Be wary of this when monitoring the exchange between your students and tourists and jump in when you feel that meaning has become confused. However, for any student who doesn’t feel like participating, there is always the opportunity to listen and take notes.

To top it all off, what are the two main advantages of this cultural exchange? Firstly, the students utilize the language learnt in class through a tangible format. When making a list of questions, the students and teacher can incorporate so many grammar structures. Some obvious questions could be, “How long have you been in Rome?” or “If you came to Seville again, would you stay for longer?” You could even make the questions more advanced “Would your opinion of Kyoto have been the same, if you hadn’t come to visit?” or simpler with “Is this your first time in Italy?”

An example set of questions that one pair of pre-intermediate students provided.

1)      Where are you from?

2)      Why are you visiting Istanbul?

3)      Have you been to Istanbul before?

4)      How long are you planning to stay?

5)      What are you doing today?

6)      What has been your most memorable moment so far?

7)      What do you think about Turkish food?

8)      If you came to Turkey again, would you think about visiting a different city?

9)  Have you been to the Palace?

10)  What do you recommend visiting in your home town?

As you may have realised, most of this language will arise in the classroom at some point for this level.

You may have also noticed that some questions provide excellent opportunities for more conversation through offering advice/suggestions/recommendations such as “If I were you, I’d recommend taking the train to the park” or “The palace is (really) worth visiting.” I had my students make a list of recommendations beforehand that they could refer to.

The second big advantage is taking the cultural exchange back to the classroom for reporting, discussion and to work on any language that came up during the exchange. All students will have noted (a great skill) what the tourists had said. In the classroom, pairs or groups of 3 can report their findings, make presentations and compare them with others. This offers a chance to use statistical language and reported speech as well as setting up a really insightful discussion about tourism in the area.

So, unlike your learners who have the added problem of making themselves understood, don’t be shy! Get outside and practice all the language from the classroom in a truly communicative setting.

But how can we find the tourists???? You might ask.

Don’t worry! They are actually the easiest people to point out. Just look for maps, cameras, guidebooks and confused facial expressions.

DO’S AND DON’TS!!!

***   DO’S   ***

-          Thoroughly practice language in the classroom before leaving.

-          Have students approach tourists in pairs or groups of 3’s (anything more could be a bit intimidating).

-          Have learners explain to the tourists properly what they are doing and where they are studying. Some sort of documentation from the school would really help or just a leaflet.

-          Give students clipboards. This will help the feeling of professionalism.

-          Give students leaflets to offer the tourists to reinforce what they are saying.

-          Give students maps to show the tourists where they might be talking about.

-          Help your students identify tourists.

-          Obviously, check all questions before you leave.

-          Think about some follow-up activities – maybe an article or video about tourism in the city.

***   DON’TS   ***

-          Have learners congregate in large groups.

-          Stay far away from your students. You have to be there in case there’s a communication problem.

-          Leave your students unprepared when they hit the streets.

-          Don’t forget the importance of encouraging your learners to note answers and comments.

-          Ignore the language that comes up during the exchange! Most of it will be extremely rewarding and memorable for your learners!!!

Preventing Punishment

Image courtesy of Bankrupcy Litigation Blog.

Often it’s not what you do to stop unwanted behavior when it occurs, but what you do to prevent it that really counts in creating a classroom environment productive to learning.

There are 3 main things I look at to prevent problems occuring in the classroom:  clear guidelines & expectations, classroom awareness, and engaging activities.

Guidelines and expectations are something that need to be set right from the beginning.  For many young learners, school is a new environment and it’s often not clear to them what they are doing there or what is expected of them while they are there. 

This is especially true if your school’s program has a different environment from other schools they are going to.  In Asia, schools are very disciplined and structured, so when students come to classes at my school, they are very unsure of how to behave.  The play-type atmosphere and more open environment makes many young learners feel like they can do anything in our classrooms.  In fact, they don’t know what to do with themselves because they’ve never been in such a free environment before and this often has them bouncing off the walls the first few classes .

Not only should expectations be set early, but they should also be discussed with the students.  As teachers, we should be careful not just to set rules and expect students to follow them.  We should reach a level of mutual understanding with the students and explain the reasons for rules.  Explaining to students that it’s important to respect each other, so we should listen when others are speaking is better than simply saying “Be quiet and listen.”  Even learners as young as 3 years old can participate in a discussion about the reasons behind most rules.

This goes equally for activities as well as the general class.  Whenever a new activity is being introduced, the rules and expectations for that activity should be explained clearly beforehand.

Being aware of your classes’ needs is another easy fix for preventing students from acting out.  If two students are always picking on each other, move them to different seats. If students can’t sit in a circle without fidgeting, give them chairs. 

It’s also about reading your class.  If students are getting bored with an activity, change to a new one.  If students have a lot of energy, get them up and moving.  If they can’t focus as a group any more, move to an individual craft.  

Out of all these preventative measures, I think the most important and effective is engaging your students.  As Simon mentioned in a comment on my last post, the primary reasons most children act up are because they are bored or the task is too difficult.   This is something I commonly see in classrooms and remember from my own schooling.  When students are bored, they lose interest and start to behave in ways that are unproductive for learning. 

Making engaging lessons comes down to asking and answering the right questions.  What is the age and developmental level of the students?  What are their interests?  How long are their attention spans?  If you can answer these questions, it’s pretty easy to create activities that are the right level and length that match your students interests.  Engaged learners are active learners and don’t have time to get distracted.

Also, one thing I’ve notice is the number of students an activity involves has a huge impact on how interesting it is.  Designing activities that have all the learners participating are much better than ones where only one or two at a time participate.   

What other ways do you use to create a positive learning environment and prevent disruptive behavior in your classrooms?

Related Posts:

Discipline & Punish:  The Birth of the School

The Importance of Learning Strategies

What it comes down to is do the students know how to learn. I was having a conversation the other day with one of my teachers who happened to hate immersion methods. She expressed very similar sentiments to ones Gavin presented a while back on Jeremy Harmer’s blog. Both conversations made me reflect again on my own beliefs.

With my own language learning I prefer a lot of live communication, but I even also use a lot of translation in various ways. Now, I’ve met learners who use translation and never seem to progress in the language even after years of study and then I see others who use it and learn very well. Why is this? On reflection, what I think it really comes down to is learner beliefs, strategies and habits. The biggest obstacle, and I think the best reason to use primarily the target language in the classroom, is to divorce learners from over-analyzing, focusing on discrete items, and doing word-for-word translations.

Having taught hundreds of students, I know it’s often a big shock and a constant source of frustation for students to learn that languages have different grammar and vocabulary. Most learners assume languages can be translated word for word. Even after this often becomes immediately obvious that it isn’t the case, learners still hold on to a related belief and constantly try to translate structures piece by piece.

The second piece of this puzzle is standard language education. Word-for-word translation and over-analyzing are the primary focus of most 2nd language programs world-wide. This simply creates or reinforces bad learning strategies and habits. This previous education is sometimes decades long and incredibly entrenched. Changing not just the beliefs, but the learning strategies themselves can be very difficult.

In my opinion, the (over?) use of grammar translation or L1 in the class is only an issue for learners who don’t have the right learning beliefs, strategies, and habits yet. Good learners use whatever means they have at their disposal to pick up a new language. They might take a class, listen to podcasts, and research grammar online. They can take all that and combine it together to add to their language knowledge and abilites. A good language learner might translate a new word, but then recheck the word back into L1, double check those translations in sentences on google, try them out in conversations, pay attention to listener reactions and level of understanding, and hold in the back of their head that their understanding of the word may not be 100% correct.

On the other hand, many new learners simply don’t do this. They often assume a tranlsated word is 100% correct, obsess over everything they don’t understand, constantly search for exact translations, are only looking at grammar,etc.

I think more important than the teaching methodology/use of translation is the learning awareness of the learners if their learning strategies are effective or not.

For these reasons, I advocate less translation and less use of L1 with newer students. After students break free of a number of false assumptions they often carry with them into the classroom and after they develop some good learning strategies, I think a wide mixture of teaching methods and mixes of languages can be used.

What do you think? Maybe the key is where the learners are at and how they go about learning rather than the external factors of how they are taught and whether or not L1 is used in various ways.