Ok, maybe
one does simply create an EFL task. But the real problems come up when attempting
to have group of teenagers actually DO the task. You might notice that the
students are not engaged, or maybe the task is way too easy for them and they
have completed it in half the time you thought they would.
Come what
may, you are not alone. You have this blog (and the rest
of your Analysis group).
Please use
this blog to ask questions, reflect on your experience and enlighten other
people about your wonderful teaching secrets (don’t be selfish).
Have fun!
Dear Paulina and Vale,
ResponderBorrarThank you for putting the blog together. I quite like the design. Now, we must bring it to life, all 42 of us! We are quite a Company!
Intro Unit: Beyond Materials
ResponderBorrarHello everyone! I would love to hear you first impressions on our first assignment: pros and cons of procedure for selecting texts, working on the posters during your classroom time, the poster presentation procedure. Suggestions and ideas to make the poster presentation more efficient and engaging are WELCOME!
I personally think that selecting the text by us is the first step for having better results in an activity, why? because of the motivation involved. When texts are given by the teacher, most of the time students feel obligated with the topic they have to analyze or discuss because it was not chosen by their likes or interests and that somewhat reduces motivation during the process of the activity. Moreover, working on the posters during our classroom time was also something positive because we were not stress out thinking or planning outside the classroom. We only had to read the text that we chose and that was enough to come up with ideas for the poster analysis and so on. Finally, the poster presentation procedure for me was absolutely engaging and interactive, in fact I didn't miss the typical power point presentation and the teacher-centered class. I considered it a very autonomous activity worth do it again during the course.
ResponderBorrarIn my opinion, the first task we did in class was a very good instance of learning in many aspects. Firstly, we had the chance of selecting a chapter that we considered interesting and this motivated us because we were into the topic. Secondly, the way of presenting the task was absolutely different to the ways we were used to. In that sense, I am convinced that this kind of activity has much more meaning than the ones that we forced to do ( without choosing a topic, without much interaction, without stationary supply, etc.) Finally, I would say that the only constraints of this task were related to the organization of the peer-evaluation. So we can improve that aspect! :)
ResponderBorrarIn spite of what could have gone wrong, the activity itself learning experience. I had learnt about flipped classroom a few years ago and I just got the idea of virtual classes at home and practice in school. But now I came to realize that we could flip a lesson and make the students build their own learning with materials that anyone could get and giving them the opportunity to choose the topic.
ResponderBorrarCons...well, I think that they were quite obvious: the noise in the classroom and the fact that we could not learn from every presentation but just one or two of them. But, if we do not try we would never know if it works, right?
From my perspective, the first activity was very engaging, original, and very useful for us as future teachers. First of all, letting us to select the text that as groups were going to analize allowed us to embrace the chosen topic and be prepared to present as we were in charge of that piece of information. Regarding the preparation of the posters during our classroom time, I consider we needed more time to discuss the main topics that were worth mentioning, and finally come to an agreement and summarize the information in order to create the poster. However, we could make good use of the time and work as a team. Finally, I consider that the poster presentation procedure was very efficient as each one of us had the opportunity to be part of more than one presentation and have a general idea of the different texts the other groups worked on. One of the main problems was the noise in the limited space we had at the classroom, and the number of people who attended to each presentation, but those were not an impediment to carry out the presentation.
ResponderBorrar