Some activities teach more than a language

I would like to reflect on one of the activities I found interesting enough to repeat in the future with other groups. It was a debate on 'Uprising Behind Bars'. First I divided the class into groups and then distributed materials I had prepared earlier. After having read the text they were givetime to brainstorm the idea within groups of four. I monitored just to make sure they do not speak Polish or sit doing nothing but I tried not to interfere with the discussion at that stage not to discourage them.

As far as FLT goes the activity develops mainly the skill of speaking but it also teaches how to behave in a panel discussion how to listen to the others and take into consideration their opinions (which includes full understanding). It also enables the students to get used to making decisions and changing them according to acquired knowledge provided by other participants of the discussion. To handle this students are simply forced to listen to the others.

Another skill such activity develops is fast reacting to allegations and accusations.

It also requires imagination and creativity to present one's own proposals and ideas.

Working in groups involves even the weaker or shy students because after discussing the problem in groups they choose one person in each group for the general debate. The most bold and fluent students represent their groups. Now everybody may comment on mistakes or other shortcomings.

Such activities require a lot of extra effort both on the part of the teacher and the students but it is not in vain. Combining the skill to speak fluently in a foreign language with the ability to express and defend one's opinions is the aim I would not hesitate to spend some extra time on.

Last but not least, such possibilities to express one's ideas will help the students to pass oral exams without stress. As I still had the recording device I recorded fragments of the debate and played them to the students to show how well they were doing.

I have been taking part in the matura exams for many years and I know that for a great many of students this oral exam is the first chance of speaking publicly in English. That is unacceptable as it is the duty of the teacher to prepare the student in this respect.

I noticed the activity was such a fun for the learners that it helped them to forget about the language barrier. Practice in analysing and drawing conclusions was another asset The activity was followed by appropriate homework consisting of exercises practising various (grammar, collocations etc.) problems that occurred during the debate.

This activity also provided opportunities for roleplay. Some of my students are very good at it as they also are actors in our school theatre.

We intend to stage a few short plays in English after holidays. At the moment I am looking franticly for suitable texts. All the students in our school learn English but on different levels so the language will have to be relatively simple. As for the teachers of other subjects, who do not speak English, I guess we will have to prepare Polish summary.

This was my last observation but due to a therapeutic impact of the whole project on me I think I will write similar observations from my lessons in the future. It was a little bit like writing a diary or letters to myself. Anyway I find it a useful tool in my everyday work. I wonder if other teachers will share my opinion so I am looking forward to any comments. at my address: agierska@hotmail.com
 

Opracowanie: Anna Gierska

Wyświetleń: 612