LANGUAGES Assembly corner
“Education is the great engine of personal development. It is through education that the daughter of a peasant can become a doctor, that a son of a mineworker can become the head of the mine, that a child of farm workers can
become the president.” Nelson Mandela (1918-), former president of South Africa
“The great aim of education
is not knowledge but action.” Herbet Spencer (1820-1903), English philosopher
up! She explained: “You have to convey complex ideas
succinctly and clearly in simple language that gets straight to the point. Questioning your methodology is very important and knowing your students as individuals is at the heart of everything.” She also makes the point that open-ended activities
tap into the strengths and preferred learning styles of many boys, who do not show much flair for meticulous preparation and attention to detail. In this context, the rewards are for risk-taking, which is right up their street. They rise to the challenge and fly. That does not mean that more reticent girls are
neglected and there are plenty of opportunities for them to shine. It is a question of balance and careful classroom management to ensure that speaking activities are not dominated by boisterous boys. Group work, pair work, triangles (with two people
talking and one person listening in and giving feedback and then rotating) – these are some of the strategies that take the spotlight off individuals and enable maximum participation. They are also useful in the context of assessment.
Instead of freezing in terror during a one-on-one interrogation, students are assessed in a more relaxed, unobtrusive way. Examples include: Building opportunities for everyone to be talking
simultaneously, maybe in a speaking line, while the teacher interacts with small groups. Turning a listening exercise into a speaking
opportunity by getting pupils to work in pairs. At the end, they compare notes and spend a few minutes preparing what they might say before volunteering their conclusions. It allows them to demonstrate their ability to move between structures such as “I think”, “my partner thinks”, and “we both think” without feeling under pressure. A speed-dating activity, where each person is
assessed by three peers and the teacher collates the scores to come up with the average, is also effective.
This last activity proved a huge success with one
group of students who informed their teacher that it was the best test they had ever had. When asked for an explanation, they replied: “It didn’t feel like a test. We were just talking the whole time!” And that, at the end of the day, is what it is all about – making language learning pleasurable and rewarding. An activity entitled “What is the question?” is one
of many examples. A series of statements is displayed on a PowerPoint slide and the task is to formulate questions that fit. Some are structured to reinforce specific areas of language while others are open-ended, such as “yes, of course” or “certainly not”. The latter inspire extrovert boys to be creative and bring their own brand of humour to the proceedings. They might ask the teacher, “do you like the headteacher?” forcing the reply “certainly not”! “With all of these strategies, nothing is rocket
science,” concluded Ms Hawkes. “What is the question? is a standard activity but this one little twist improves it. Things that involve humour or anything grotesque have enormous appeal for boys. Sad as we might feel as female teachers, we have to inhabit their world. What do we care if they can conjugate the verb to puke? It helps to be flexible!” .
SecEd • Alison Thomas is a freelance education journalist.
Further information For ideas and resources, visit
www.rachelhawkes.com and for more details on the Linked Up project, visit
www.linksintolanguages.ac.uk/resources/1921 Rachel Hawkes’ book Curriculum Now! is
a collection of activities and strategies designed to meet the needs of the new curriculum. Some draw on other subjects such as music, geography, English and art; others focus on memory, thinking skills and phonics. You can order it at
www.all-languages.org.uk/ publications/curriculum_now
Strategies identified by the project to help students sustain a conversation
• Listen to the question very carefully – work to make sense of it. • Buy yourself time with a ‘hesitation’ word. • Think of something you know that you can say quickly – e.g. repeat back a couple of words of the question with raised intonation.
• Use what you know how to say when you put your answer together (not necessarily exactly what you want to say).
• Keep talking for as long as you can – it’s always easy to add in a “for example” or an opinion.
• When you are beginning to run out of flow, ask a question. • Use other ‘help’ to get your message across well – i.e. expression, emotion. Sound like you mean it and us facial expressions, body language and gestures.
Call our friendly team on
01332 378 008 Visit our website at
www.voicetheunion.org.uk
SecEd • April 14 2011 9
For over 40 years, Voice has been speaking up for professionals working in early years, childcare and education. Our members trust us to guide them through the issues affecting their lives inside the classroom and out. Isn’t it time your voice was heard?
Tough.
I want to belong to a union that isn’t afraid to stand up for its members’ rights. Voice gets on with negotiating, arbitrating, and consulting on my behalf, giving me the freedom to get on with what matters most – my job.
“What children need is not new and better curricula but access to more and more of the real world; plenty of time and space to think over their experiences, and to use fantasy and play to make meaning out of them; and advice, road maps, guidebooks, to make it easier for them to get where they want to go (not where we think they ought to go), and to find out
what they want to find out.” John Holt (1923-1985), American author and educator
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16