Κατηγορία: ARTICLES

At the end of every school year I always assay and reappraise my educational targets and my teaching strategy.

Questions like

• “Did I achieve my educational goal in relation to the curriculum?”
• “Was a specific project successful as to its original purpose?”
• “Were all language skills covered equally?”
• “Did this or that work for my students?”
• “Did this or that work for me?”

keep turning in my mind and I feel like a farmer who is harvesting her crops. And if there aren’t adequate answers to the above questions I am searching for new “fertilizers” or “seeding” techniques. How? Trying to rethink and reorganize my projects and their target, getting trained in new apps, strategize a more effective connection between the curriculum and the syllabus.

In the field, there are a lot of elements I need to handle and some factors work against me: time, boredom, lack of technological resources, unexpected factors.

First and foremost, because I’m interested in the social emotional development of my students, I contemplate if my students felt accepted, secure and comfortable enough to express themselves in my classes. What skills do I need to improve to foster their expressiveness? Had I created the fertile conditions for a rapport to bloom? Am I emotionally available and approachable? What kind of assessment could measure the rapport I’m building with my students?

Given the hugs, the drawings, the little gifts, the parent-teacher conferences, the looks and the delight tone they pronounced my name I could easily answer yes. But I know that I missed some. Not every student comes ready to be taught a foreign language. Different social backgrounds, lack of stimuli. Not every student comes open to be taught. Private foreign language schools have robbed us of the thrill and the purpose of foreign language learning. And to this battle, I’m all alone. I need to fight an obsolete mindset which relates foreign language teaching only to certificates.

But learning a foreign language means a lot more. A foreign language offers you a different point of view in life and therefore a different perspective. It broadens the spectrum and the horizon of our thought, makes us realize that difference is all that we come to this world for and learning communication codes is the only way to bridge the gaps.

As a teacher I am the cultural focal point and the representative of the foreign language I teach. I need to feel that my mission has got the time, the space and the respect of the state, of students, of parents, of society to be flourished and accomplished. But I will keep fighting my battles until something shifts.

So this school year, numerically speaking, I have managed to complete 5-7 units out of the 10 suggested ones for the four grades I teach. I created the related revision material and tests for all of them.  8 projects have been developed and only celebrations crafts have been confected. I am not satisfied with what my recap looks like. I need to be more inventive and resourceful. I need to be more supported in my educational work. Then my recap would look like a cup of joy!

And from that cup cheers for a nice summer!

What does YOUR recap-cup look like?

 

 

 

https://read.bookcreator.com/tBpCXAdrwG10_Ivny_y1Ihsa91AQaFWLy1X1WurLKDY/_Z9rY5W6Tu6GMrmM4-Exhw

The problem:

Dictation has always been a troubling issue for students in the process of learning new words. It is an obsolete way of studying the new words and it does not involve students constructively in the learning process, let alone in the position to “own” the word, that is to say to be able to recall and use it in the proper context. So not only it is unproductive and discouraging but it also requires most of the times parental involvement which makes it even more complicated and demanding for every day school life.

The solution:

So how do I get to solve this problem? No more dictation! Except for my 3rd Graders and a few words each week as they need to familiarize themselves with the process of learning and recalling a word in English progressively, I do not dictate any words to the rest of the grades. Instead, we use QUIZLET flashcards and WORDWALL exercises to drill and learn the words of the Unit.

How do YOU teach and practise the new vocabulary?

 

I will approach this matter by presenting the strengths & weaknesses of the use of state books in my opinion and from my experience.

Strengths

• CEFR levels are covered in particular hours and that is 115 hours for A1, 230 for A2, 460 for B1, 720 for B2, 1040 for C1 and 1680 for C2 according to Common Programme for Foreign Languages Studies (ΕΠΣ-ΞΓ). Practically this means that each school year ONLY a part of each CEFR level is covered. As a result, CEFR levels may take two or three school years to be completed. For example A-, A, A+ for the third, fourth and fifth school grades correspondingly. To my mind, this works in favour of students as they have time to drill and absorb the new knowledge.
• Units explore GRAMMAR phenomena in 2, 3, or 4 lessons because they explore one grammar rule at a time.
• VOCABULARY thematically follows a vertical and horizontal pattern. This means, it follows the structure of topic related vocabulary according to the most common knowledge areas the other books from local and foreign publications follow but at the same time they are age and school subject related on a cognitive level i.e Geography, History, Maths, Language wise. In other words, methodologicaly it is crosscuricularly oriented.
• There is no rigid LESSON PLAN -only suggested one- as to how a teacher can work on a lesson and the little number of exercises leave time and space for using other resources which I believe enriches the possibilities of fruitful teaching and learning.
• Teachers can cover a course in whatever order they wish. This FLEXIBILTY of the course give them the opportunity to create their own time schedule and mini curriculum according to their students’ potential and needs.

Weaknesses

• Some exercises lack CONSISTENCY between their description and their practice or might be more complicated than they should be. This results in discouraging students from doing them.
• Reading, speaking and listening SKILLS definitely deserve and need more time and that is why I suggest the extension of time and classroom limits by using certain apps (see article about “my edu tools”) but this is really on students’ good will, not in their school material.
• Some TOPICS and related material such as listening tasks, songs or projects are outdated so this fact leaves students indifferent and less motivated to get involved.

Any other strengths and weaknesses YOU spotted?