Indeed, the readings of the week made me think about how autonomous I am in my teaching with so many constraints and how autonomous I want to be. Not many teachers in my country would be a success without following strict guidelines or covering the material in the textbook. But I believe even within curriculum constraints a teacher should bring something new and entertaining to class and the curriculum states the topics and grammar phenomena we are to teach but not the methods we choose.
I can give you several examples from my own teaching practice.
When we learned household chores (curriculum requirement), I gave my students a song dictation to write that I found at http://www.etseverywhere.com/category/vocabulary-list-songs. The list was the following: Take out the trash, feed the cats, mow the lawn, clean up that mess, make your bed, wash your hands, pick up your toys, iron your shirt, sweep the floor, brush your teeth, walk the dog. It is called "The Nagging Song" Students loved it!
Or when we covered names of materials, flowers I prepared PP presentation first to learn, then to check the material. So even within the curriculum constraints we can be creative.
I also encourage everybody to use technology when available because it is a real breakthrough and a great tool to encrease teacher and learner autonomy. For those who can read in Russian, here a link to my book with simple instructions "how-to". I also like Nik Peachey's book here http://www.scribd.com/doc/19576895/Web-20-Tools-for-Teachers. It helped me a lot to encrease my expertise in Web tools.
I can give you several examples from my own teaching practice.
When we learned household chores (curriculum requirement), I gave my students a song dictation to write that I found at http://www.etseverywhere.com/category/vocabulary-list-songs. The list was the following: Take out the trash, feed the cats, mow the lawn, clean up that mess, make your bed, wash your hands, pick up your toys, iron your shirt, sweep the floor, brush your teeth, walk the dog. It is called "The Nagging Song" Students loved it!
Or when we covered names of materials, flowers I prepared PP presentation first to learn, then to check the material. So even within the curriculum constraints we can be creative.
I also encourage everybody to use technology when available because it is a real breakthrough and a great tool to encrease teacher and learner autonomy. For those who can read in Russian, here a link to my book with simple instructions "how-to". I also like Nik Peachey's book here http://www.scribd.com/doc/19576895/Web-20-Tools-for-Teachers. It helped me a lot to encrease my expertise in Web tools.
Hi Stasya,
ReplyDeleteI have downloaded and looked through your book. Wow! It is great! I liked both the content and your style of writing. Thanks for sharing it. I am happy that we are partners for the Porject work as I am sure I will learn a lot from you!
Nodira
Hi Stasya!
ReplyDeleteI like your idea of using songs to teach even traditional lesson! Thanks for sharing!
Muhammad Rashid