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TRABAJO DE FIN DE MÁSTER MODALIDAD “A” Máster en Profesorado de Educación Secundaria Obligatoria, Bachillerato, Formación Profesional y Enseñanzas de Idiomas, Artísticas y Deportivas 2011-2012 “Musings of a future English teacher” Nombre de la alumna: Catherine Dolan Nombre de la tutora: Mª José Rodriguez Maimón Catherine Dolan TFM. Tutora: Mª José Rodriguez-Maimón 1 INDEX page 1 1. Introduction - The theory and the practice page 2 i) What makes a good teacher page 2 ii) Understanding our students’ personalities page 2 iii) Analysing the group page 5 iv) Understanding our students’ backgrounds page 5 v) Education laws page 6 vi) Homogeneous or heterogeneous page 7 vii) Methodologies and Approaches page 8 2. Justification - Projects chosen and why selected page 12 a) Investigation Project: Authentic games in the L2 classroom page 12 b) Reflections on the Learning Unit: What would you do? page 16 c) Experiences of teaching practice at IES Ramón y Cajal, Huesca page 18 3. Critical reflection of relationship between chosen projects page 23 What I would have done differently, my methods contrasted with the methods witnessed in teaching practice, and the sort of teacher I want to be 4. Conclusions and thoughts for the future page 26 Games, time management, self-assessment, Spanish education system, mixed levels, passion for the subject and student-centering 5. References page 27 Notes Works cited 6. Appendixes page 30 Appendix I Investigation Project: Authentic games in the L2 classroom Appendix II Learning Unit: What would you do? Catherine Dolan TFM. Tutora: Mª José Rodriguez-Maimón 2 1. INTRODUCTION i) What makes a good teacher? “The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.” (1) So said William Arthur Ward, American scholar, author, editor, pastor and teacher. But before we can become Ward’s great teacher and inspire and motivate our students we must first do some learning ourselves. We must study our students, analyse and try to understand them. Only once we have done our research can we begin to properly plan lessons for our students. No two groups are the same and so therefore no two lessons can be the same. During the first half of this master we studied the personal and psychological aspects of teaching. We have also looked at legislation and the organization of educational centres. In the second half we have focused more on designing classes and seen different teaching methods and approaches. We have also had the opportunity to experience a real life secondary school in our teaching practice. All of these are elements which combine to form a teacher. In this section I shall highlight those aspects of theory which I have found most interesting and relevant, especially bearing in mind my teaching practice. ii) Understanding our students’ personalities In the first semester I had two subjects which addressed the human aspects of teaching. These courses, Interacción y Convivencia en el aula and Prevención y Resolucion de Conflictos taught me to empathise, understand and put myself in the position of the other person, in this case the student. These particular classes, Interacción y Convivencia en el aula and Prevención y Resolucion de Conflictos, didn’t give us recipes for dealing with interaction in the classroom nor for resolving conflicts, instead they gave us concepts, showed us how to act and what sort of attitude to adopt towards adolescents. One of the key themes I shall take away from Professor David Gimeno’s Interaccióny Convivencia en el aula classes is this: we must learn that sometimes it’s better to do nothing, just to observe and listen. By this he meant that teachers can Catherine Dolan TFM. Tutora: Mª José Rodriguez-Maimón 3 sometimes overwhelm the students. Instead we should step back and give them space to breathe. As the old adage goes: You can take a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink. The same applies to students; if they don’t want to speak about what’s bothering them or to take part in class, they cannot be forced. We won’t get anywhere by dictating to our students, instead we should always leave the door open for when they are ready and not rebuff them when they finally decide to cooperate. We shouldn’t pre-judge and must keep an open mind, as we never know what troubles they might be having outside the classroom. These ideas were closely linked to the subject of Prevención y Resolucion de conflictos, where we studied John Burton’s conflict iceberg (2) and the theory that when people are involved in a conflict they never truly talk about the real reason. There are always underlying factors which they don’t mention. These are called the subaquatic and are fundamentally important for the individual. In a nutshell, the supra-aquatic is what we say in an argument, the position we take, while the sub-aquatic is what lies, most of the time, at the heart of the conflict, but is unspoken, and more importantly, is non-negotiable. These elements can be, for instance, religious, emotional or spiritual elements. Negotiable positions and interests ------------------------------------------ Non-negotiable needs In Prevención y Resolución de Conflictos we learnt that the first step to addressing any conflict is to identify and analyse it properly. That is to say, observing and gathering information to make an informed decision on the next course of action. In practical terms, rather than beginning confrontationally, a good question to ask is ‘what do you need?’ This usually dissipates the situation and generally has the effect of making the other party feel understood and calming them down to be able to talk. I have Catherine Dolan TFM. Tutora: Mª José Rodriguez-Maimón 4 tried this at home and found it quite successful; (instead of asking my daughters ‘Why are you cross?’ or ‘What’s the matter?’, ‘What do you need?’ receives a much more useful response). We can apply this to the language classroom when we encounter angry or frustrated students. Again, like Interaccion y Convivencia en el Aula, we learnt about how to humanize opponents, putting ourselves in their position. This is an extremely useful tool for future teachers as there may be a plethora of reasons why a student is acting in a certain way and most of these reasons will be unspoken. Certainly unspoken by teenagers! When on teaching practice I found myself working together with the teacher of the second year PAB (Basic Learning Programme) class and the relevance of these sessions was immediately apparent. The teacher explained to me that each of the students in the PAB class was an island, that they each had a story and a hard family life at home. She said one of her main aims was for them to enjoy their English classes and look forward to coming to them. Bearing their backgrounds in mind made me more understanding and empathetic towards them and also affected the way I treated them. Instead of being too firm I tried to encourage them by offering interesting and motivating activities. However, on one occasion, during class changeover, I witnessed another teacher come in and ask them to be quiet. The teacher’s attitude towards one boy in particular, was aggressive and confrontational, something which he is clearly used to experiencing at home and this provoked a certain response. His way of dealing with that sort of attack was to answer back, creating a worse situation. But it served to show me that aggressive, confrontational behaviour leads nowhere fast. Although when students break rules, of course they should receive the correct punishment. But if we can try to avoid the conflictive situation in the first place, so much the better. We also looked at communication, verbal and non-verbal, which has an enormous impact in the classroom but is also something which we may not be aware of. Where we sit or stand in the classroom , if we look at the students or our notes, our gestures and so on. Everything influences. While observing during my teaching practice it was interesting to compare the different gestures and different stances of the students. Catherine Dolan TFM. Tutora: Mª José Rodriguez-Maimón 5 iii) Analysing the group With Professor Marta Gil, also from Interaccion y Convivencia en el Aula, we looked at the theory behind the group; why people form groups, what holds the group together, which roles we take on and why, what influences our behaviour as well as the different types of leader which can arise depending on the group situation and demands or personalities of the leaders. These were situations which we could all relate to but which are equally relevant to the classroom. Secondary school students are, after all, individuals like us, with their own personalities, wanting to defend their own needs. The school is in a way a micro-society. We could say that students form certain groups for the same reasons as adults, such as security or prestige. Likewise, the way students act is very much affected by the actions of their peers. We also looked at the effect the group has on productivity and the conclusion was that the most productive situation was cooperative groups working in competition with each other. This would seem to fit well with the cooperative learning theories we have studied in Diseño, Organizacion y Desarollo de Actividades para el Aprendizaje del Inglés . An interesting point we discovered was that, rather ironically, as the group gets larger, so production decreases. This is because responsibility becomes diluted, a point which is very relevant to the ELT classroom when organizing activities in groups. From my own point of view, as a student this year, I have found any more than four in a group quite difficult to work with. These ideas of group dynamics was something I bore in mind while on teaching practise and had to organise my students into groups. They became very competitive against the other groups within the class but worked very hard together, cooperatively, to do the best work they could for their group. It was also very interesting to see how giving each group a name, not just a number, also gave them a greater sense of group spirit. iv) Understanding our students’ backgrounds In the sociological part of Interacción y Comunicación en el Aula we studied different theories relating to educational sociology. One that I found particularly interesting was that of social reproduction. The idea of social reproduction, as expounded by Davis and Moore (3), argued that there was a need for greater equality of opportunity and equality of access to education. Catherine Dolan TFM. Tutora: Mª José Rodriguez-Maimón 6 In a meritocracy the assumption is that there is upward as well as downward social mobility. The reality, in fact, is that there is mostly social reproduction. That is to say that people tend to remain within their social classes. For example, parents who went to university are more likely to have higher paid jobs and will encourage their children to go to university as well. Likewise, parents who dropped out of school will be less likely to encourage their children to achieve academic success and will obviously be less able to help them in their studies. During our teaching practice we had to do a sociological study of the area where our students came from. Part of this involved passing round a questionnaire in one of the classes asking questions on topics such as the number of books students had at home, how many hours they spent each day on homework, watching television, going out, as well as the level of studies obtained by their parents and their parents’ professions. I found this an extremely interesting exercise because it not only made our studies in class more relevant, but also showed us how important it is to understand our students’ backgrounds when it comes to planning classes and setting homework. Knowing a little bit about our students’ home life gives us an idea of what we can hope to expect from them. v) Education laws In Contexto de la Actividad Docente we looked at the education laws from when they first began in 1857, the Ley Moyano, through to ‘our’ law, the LOE. One might ask, what’s the point of learning about the past laws when we will be working under the current law? Yes, that is true and, of course, the law we have learnt the most about, without a doubt, is the LOE, but the education laws have evolved and grown, each a continuation of or a reaction to the previous. Seeing them in their political and historical context is also important to help us understand them. We as teachers will understand the present law, but the parents who come to speak to us about their children will have studied Bup and COU or EGB and it is important to be able to translate or compare their children’s studies to the system that they knew. This was also particularly useful for me as a foreigner who, when I began this course, knew nothing about the Spanish education system either past or present. As well as the law, we looked at the different entities which exist in schools. I had heard of the school council or consejo escolar, but really had very little idea about what it did, Catherine Dolan TFM. Tutora: Mª José Rodriguez-Maimón 7 how strict the law was about how many representatives had to be appointed from each area, and I certainly had no idea about how much power it has. It seems that every decision made has to be passed by the consejo escolar in the last instance. Likewise, I knew very little about the role of the claustro de profesores. We also looked at the different management roles within a school. All this has proved extremely useful to me and when we had our first session of teaching practice it was helpful to see it in real life. It was as if all the theory ‘came alive’. Contexto de la Actividad Docente seems to me a very relevant subject as the law which applies to us during our careers will always be changing. As such it has been very worthwhile to see it in a historical context. And who knows what the new government will alter in the near future. Right now it’s not looking too good with all the cuts which are being proposed. vi) Homogeneous or heterogeneous? During the whole course of the master the theme of heterogeneous groups has appeared from time to time, especially as it is favoured now by the Aragonese Curriculum. When I first discovered that Spanish students are grouped together heterogeneously I was amazed. Coming from an education system where students are split into homogeneous groups according to their academic results, I assumed that was the method used everywhere. In our classes of Procesos de Enseñanza y Aprendizaje Profesor Sandra Vazquez touched on the subject. She is a great believer in the richness of heterogeneous groupings and how it can have a positive learning effect on all students. I have listened to the arguments that stronger students will reinforce their learning being paired with weaker classmates, they will gain in competences of autonomy and learning to learn. I have tried to understand these arguments but I’m still not convinced that it is the better way of doing things. Indeed, when I found myself speaking to parents of students from the school where I did my teaching practice, I tried to convince them of the benefits of heterogeneous groups and they couldn’t see the benefits either. They explained that their daughter was being held back, always being paired with a much weaker classmate. I shall examine the merits of heterogeneous or homogeneous groups later. However, here it would be worth mentioning the Pygmalion Effect where the mere belief that one’s students can achieve certain results makes it happen. It becomes a self- Catherine Dolan TFM. Tutora: Mª José Rodriguez-Maimón 8 fulfilling prophecy. Believing in ones students can be shown through encouragement, positive reinforcement or ‘celebrating success’ as promoted by Robert Marzano in The Art and Science of Teaching where he talks about Effective Teaching. But I shall examine these aspects in more detail later. In my teaching practice I certainly witnessed heterogeneous groups but what was lacking was the motivation and the belief in the students. vii) Methods and Approaches In the classes of Diseño, Organizacion y Desarollo de Actividades para el Aprendizaje del Inglés we saw different methods and approaches for English language teaching and in order to understand them more clearly let us concentrate for a moment on the difference between a method and an approach, and then a technique. According to Richards and Rodgers (2001), quoting the American applied linguist Edward Anthony (1963), “approach refers to theories about the nature of language and language learning that serve as the source of practices and principles in language teaching.” Whereas a method is “an overall plan for the orderly presentation of language material, based on the chosen approach. An approach may contain many methods. On a smaller scale is the technique, the implementational. This is what actually happens in the classroom, and it must be consistent with the method and therefore with the approach. Let us go back briefly in history to see why we have the chosen approach we have today. Following the rejection of the traditional ideas of teaching, like the grammartranslation method, new methods of language teaching were sought during the twentieth century, with many different methods and approaches being tried. But it became apparent that linguistic competence alone was not enough to be able to communicate in a language. What was needed was communicative competence as well, and so, during the late 1970s and early 1980s, a Communicative Approach was born. Under the umbrella of the Communicative Approach, many methods can be seen, such as taskbased learning and cooperative learning. The main focus of the Communicative Approach is, as the name suggests, on communication. The techniques employed involve the use of authentic materials, working in small groups, student-centred activities, role plays, information gap activities and at times an emphasis on fluency over accuracy. This approach has been Catherine Dolan TFM. Tutora: Mª José Rodriguez-Maimón 15 learning task. If there is a high level of anxiety or high affective filter, a student may be unable to focus on learning. Under conditions that lower the affective filter, students can concentrate on the learning task and learn what is being taught. In this sense, teachers can provide ‘low affective filter’ conditions during instructions incorporating games. One of the advantages of including games in the L2 classroom is that learners are motivated to use the language when they are in the game. Students get absorbed in the game because there is a feeling of competitiveness arising, which stimulates their interest and as a result they become willing to learn. Many teachers believe that competition should be avoided because there is always a winner and a loser. However, our experience revealed the opposite, especially when students work together in small cooperative groups in competition with others. Catherine Dolan TFM. Tutora: Mª José Rodriguez-Maimón 16 b) Reflections on the Learning Unit: What would you do? This is the rather unusual title given to my Learning Unit. I chose this title because the main language area was the second conditional and because of the rather mixed nature of my unit. I would like to have been given a topic where I could have created a coherent unit under one theme, as I mentioned before along the lines of task-based learning, however, as I had to teach certain language and vocabulary which were in the class textbook I was limited. At first I saw this as a disadvantage but now I believe it has been a benefit. I had to adapt material in a textbook or find certain materials which covered specific areas and that was more challenging. By being challenged in the design of my learning unit I myself have learnt from it. I have chosen to include my teaching unit because it has helped me link all the theory we have studied since October with the practice. It has helped me clearly organise a series of lessons, in terms of aims and objectives, content and methodology according to the Aragonese Curriculum while bearing in mind the key competences. Producing a learning unit has taught me to focus on the goals, or learning objectives of each session. I have also learnt the importance of being coherent and making sure that the contents of the learning unit reflect the objectives set out at the beginning. Likewise, I have learnt to describe a methodology or approach and to make sure this too is reflected in the activities within the learning unit. However, the most useful tools I shall take away from having created this teaching unit relate to assessment, both self-assessment and student assessment. I had never before used a rubric until I created one to mark the writing activity in the end of unit assessment. Using it was a delight. I simply had to correct the texts and then count up the number and types of errors made by the students to get their mark. It was incredibly easy and by having clearly defined criteria it also gave me a sense of being completely fair to the students. Personally I would have put even less importance on the end of unit assessment and more on the activities carried out in class, but as the students are used to being assessed in that way, I needed to do the Catherine Dolan TFM. Tutora: Mª José Rodriguez-Maimón 17 same. I hope that when I have a class of my own I will be free enough to decide how and when to evaluate my students. In terms of self-assessment I used the EPOSTL (7) document which I found thought-provoking as it forces the teacher to reflect on their own teaching skills. Sometimes we can sit down after a class and want to reflect on how it went, but have difficulty doing so. With EPOSTL, however, we are guided with some very useful and relevant questions. I also wrote questions to myself at the end of each lesson plan which I then answered after the class. Not only did they help me self-assess, they also helped keep me focused in the lesson. However, one area of assessment was overlooked and I regret this now. I thought about carrying out a one minute paper or similar student-teacher assessment survey but didn’t, for various reasons; I wasn’t altogether sure about how to do it, we were always very pushed for time and the atmosphere at the school didn’t seem to be one where teachers invited comments from their students. All the same, I wish I had done a one minute paper, especially as back in class in Zaragoza I have heard lots of positive feedback from fellow trainee teachers concerning these surveys and I now realise it can be as simple as asking students to write one positive thing and one negative thing from the class or teaching unit. The very process of analysing and presenting my learning unit before my classmates in Zaragoza has forced me to examine every aspect of it carefully. It has made me aware of my weaknesses (as well as my strengths!) and helped me see how I could have done things differently. Making mistakes is how we learn, and as teachers we, of all people, should know this! Catherine Dolan TFM. Tutora: Mª José Rodriguez-Maimón 18 c) Teaching Practice Experience I have chosen to examine my teaching practice experience because some of the things I saw while in my secondary school left me almost speechless. This may be because I come from England where the style of teaching and the organization of the education system is quite different from here. While the teachers in the English department were all very friendly, treated me well and were passionate about the English language and all things British, they didn’t always transmit this passion to the students, for example, there was a fairly high level of L1 spoken in class. I have a CELTA certificate in teaching English as a foreign language which I studied at Broadstairs, in the UK. On this course we had it drummed in that wherever we went in the world to teach English we must speak English and only English. This is something I have always tried to do, almost to the point of being obsessive about how much of the L1 should be spoken. While I am willing to concede that very occasionally there is a case for briefly speaking in the L1, however, in general I am a strong believer in creating the language of the classroom as that of the L2. If the students know you speak perfect Spanish and you begin speaking in that language, to speak English would feel artificial to them. So imagine my surprise when I arrived at my secondary school only to find a high level of Spanish being spoken both in class and in the English department. This attitude of teaching a language in the L1 reminded me of my own schooldays when our French classes were given in English except for occasional parts in French. I finished with a fairly low level of spoken and aural French compared to my ability for reading and writing. I was also surprised by the fact there was no peer observation or assessment and the lack of any type of accountability, while I, in contrast, sat completing my EPOSTL selfassessment form. Nor were there any performance-related benefits for well-performing teachers. Any of these could have motivated the teachers and inspired them to give their best. In the teachers’ defense though, they do have very tight schedules at times which doesn’t allow much opportunity for peer assessment activities. Another area I would like to highlight from my teaching practice is that of the debate between homogeneous and heterogeneous groups. During our classes of Diseño, organizacion y Desarollo de Actividades para el aprendizaje del inglés and Procesos de Catherine Dolan TFM. Tutora: Mª José Rodriguez-Maimón 19 Enseñanza y Aprendizaje we studied different theories as well as looking at the Aragonese Curculum where the preferred set up now is heterogeneous groupings. I grew up in the UK where most schools are organised into homogeneous groups according to academic ability. I have tried to understand the arguments in favour of this both before, during and after my teaching practice. However, after witnessing the group I taught my learning unit to I am still not yet convinced of the merits of heterogeneous groups. However, in an attempt to understand the reasoning behind heterogeneous groups I shall now examine some of the arguments, beginning with Vygotsky (1978). Lev Vygotsky spoke about the difference between a child’s assessed mental age and the age of activities which they can achieve with help or in collaboration with peers. This difference is referred to as the zone of proximal development and is defined thus: “It is the distance between the actual development level as determined by independent problem solving and the level of potential development as determined through problem solving under adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers.” (8) He explains that the zone of proximal development refers to those functions that have not yet matured but are in the process of maturation and which, in the near future, the child will be able to do unaided. By using imitation children are able to do more collectively than they would alone. He goes on to say that any learning which addresses the skills that have already been developed is wasted, whereas learning which makes the students go that step further, stretching them, is working in their zone of proximal development, and that the best learning is the one where there is an advance in development, we might call this ‘input +1’ , to quote Stephen Krashen and his Input Hypothesis. In summary, the way I understand Vygotsky’s theory is that by working collectively students stretch themselves and can achieve more than they would individually. I can see perfectly well the argument in favour of heterogeneous groupings here from the point of view of weaker students; they have a stronger mentor with whom to work and who can explain aspects of the class to them on a one-to-one basis. But does this address the question of stronger students? Does this give me the answer for my parents of the girl who was ‘always being put with weaker classmates’? Catherine Dolan TFM. Tutora: Mª José Rodriguez-Maimón 20 Vygotsky argued that learning creates the zone of proximal development or put another way, it awakens different internal processes which can only operate when the child is interacting with those around him and working in cooperation with his peers. When these processes become internalized, they become part of the child’s independent developmental achievement. He also states that although a child’s learning and development are directly related, the two never happen in parallel and that a child’s development also never happens at the speed of the school textbooks or at that of her classmates. All students will learn and develop at different speeds. So it would seem that even the stronger child is learning if she is interacting with her peers, even though her zone of proximal development is working at a more advanced level of development. An important point to note, however, is that heterogeneous classes work best when weaker students are placed, not with the highest achieving students, but those who are slightly better, again we see Krashen’s ‘Input plus one’. The level of the best students might be too much of a difference. I certainly noticed this in my class, when on a couple of occasions, due to seating arrangements I found my two weakest students being partnered with my two strongest students. However, homogeneous groupings have their supporters too. In an article by Sharon Cromwell on the website www.educationworld.com (9), the author quotes a selection of teachers, among them are those who believe homogeneous groups to be better than heterogeneous. While she gives several opinions in favour of heterogeneous groupings, she quotes one teacher who says “The idea of heterogeneous grouping is an ideal…… Truth is, in our experience the low-end kids tend to pull down the high-end kids, rather than the other way round. The class pace slows, and the teacher has to in effect devise two lesson plans for each period, one for the accelerated students and another for those who have low skills.” She also comments that the main reason in favour of homogeneous grouping is that higher-level students languish in mixed ability classes. Certain activities, like analysing plot twists in works by Shakespeare, would be almost impossible in mixed ability groups, while in higher-level groups it could be done and in greater depth. Catherine Dolan TFM. Tutora: Mª José Rodriguez-Maimón 21 Meanwhile, Jan Adams-Byer (Adams-Byer et al. 2004) carried out an enquiry about the perceptions of students towards heterogeneous and homogeneous groups. They found: “the participants perceived homogeneous grouping more positively with respect to academic outcomes. This was as a result of being able to move more quickly through materials and do more challenging exercises than they would have been able to do in a heterogeneous classroom. However, socially the students’ feelings were mixed, unsure whether it was better to be with other students like themselves or in a socially mixed, heterogeneous group. But in all the debates, articles and texts I have found comparing the two types of groupings, there are always more arguments in favour of heterogeneous groupings. Here are a few of the arguments cited. Teachers on the educational world website commented that when students were split according to academic ability, test scores in the lowerability group did not improve and in the higher-ability group improved only slightly. They said that attitudes of the students in the lower-level group actually went down. Adams-Byer et al point out the blatant injustice of homogeneous grouping due to the fact that, given finite educational resources, the higher ability students would receive the best teachers, materials and programmes, while lower-level students would be put at an even greater disadvantage than they would have been. They propose some ways to provide enrichment to all students: - demand excellence in the classroom - promote exercises that foster creativity and require critical thinking - pose ‘real life’ problems which makes learning more relevant in the real world - encourage self-directed learning , self-identity and individual pacing, along the lines of the learning to learn competencies in the Aragonese Curriculum (this can go some way to stop the problem of gifted students moving at a faster pace) - Reward risk-taking and allow student input. Catherine Dolan TFM. Tutora: Mª José Rodriguez-Maimón 22 Having considered the arguments in favour of both positions I tend to agree with Sharon Cromwell when she concludes that it is difficult to reach a consensus on ability grouping. She says that ability grouping can work in some areas but not in others and that flexibility is necessary so that students can move between groups. One of the main arguments in favour of heterogeneous grouping seems to be the interactive aspect and the social skills which students can gain. After examining arguments for and against both types of groupings I now feel that in some areas heterogeneous groups benefit all students, but there are still valid arguments in favour of homogeneity both for stronger and weaker students. On my teaching practice I saw that at times classes were split in half, and one half would take an extra optional subject while those who needed it were given extra support classes in core subjects. This is a clear example of mixed heterogeneous and homogeneous groupings in action. Catherine Dolan TFM. Tutora: Mª José Rodriguez-Maimón 23 3. CRITICAL REFLECTION OF POSSIBLE OR EXISTING RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN PROJECTS CHOSEN IN PART 2 I could include games in my learning unit: After carrying out my Investigation Project into games in the L2 classroom, I can see the benefits of dropping even more of the few textbook activities which I had included and replacing them with games. For instance, I could include a second conditional chain game or perhaps a version of Snap to match conditions and results. Now we have studied previous research and also done our own investigating, I can see the great benefits of games, not only as peripheral activities but as the meat of the class. The methods/approaches employed and seen in teaching practice don’t use methods/approaches I’ve used in my learning unit. Classes are mostly teacherfronted and grammar-translation in style with very little pair or small group work: This is more of a reflection of a lack of relation between the teaching theories mentioned in my learning unit and what I saw in my teaching practice. For instance, I used pairwork, groupwork and cooperative learning, but only once did I witness groupwork while on teaching practice. The reason could be that as the exams students sit don’t require them to speak or work in pairs, teachers don’t tend to use these methods or simply that students are easier to manage working individually. An exception to this would have to be the second year PAB class I observed and taught on several occasions. The teacher, Pilar, was very encouraging and enthusiastic with her students, and either knowingly or unknowingly she used several of the theories we studied in Zaragoza. For instance she used the ideas of motivating and celebrating success as expressed by Marzano (10) and believing in her students, Pygmalion Effect (11). She also appreciated their different abilities as expressed in Howard Gardner’s theory of Multiple Intelligences (12). Why is there this lack of synthesis between methods and approaches used by new student-teachers and the teachers we observed on teaching practice? As an observer I can only comment on what I saw while on teaching practice, but what I witnessed was an absolute lack of any type of on-going teacher-training or peer observation. The teachers themselves are not to blame. The attitude comes from above. Schools are inspected but as far as I am aware the inspectors do not enter the classrooms to check Catherine Dolan TFM. Tutora: Mª José Rodriguez-Maimón 24 the quality of teaching. And if they did, and didn’t like what they saw, what could they actually do? Many of these teachers are ‘funcionarios’ and have a secure job until retirement, so, in my opinion, have very little motivation to give their best. Human nature tells us that job satisfaction alone is not always enough to spur an individual to try harder. An occasional observation session would go a long way, in my opinion. I grew up in an England where there is no such thing as a job for life anymore. We have Ofsted inspections (13), accountability and Sats (14), and bad teachers are removed from teaching. In Spain it is nigh on impossible to remove a bad teacher from his or her job in the public sector and the teachers themselves know that. In the UK bad teachers can be removed within a term now. The time has been shortened because it is believed that children don’t have time to wait, their education is too important to be wasted on incompetent teachers. But until the attitude within the Spanish education system changes and a wind of accountability blows in, I fear nothing will change and that the 27% (25% in Aragon) failure rate will continue to hold. Questionnaire gives other useful data which could be used for future learning units: The information gained from the questionnaire of my investigation project could be used to give a slight insight into our students’ homelife. This can help us understand them better, for instance do they tend to play games with their family or not, and can also help us plan future lessons. The sort of teacher I want to be: Having carried out the EPOSTL self-assessment and observed other teachers in my secondary school , I now have a firmer idea of the sort of teacher I want to be. And, by default, the sort of teacher I don’t want to be: I hope to: - inspire and motivate my students - use continual self-assessment - give relevant lessons which interest my students - be organized both in terms of materials and time management - be fair in assessment by using rubrics, a new revelation to me during this master - endeavour to continue speaking only English whenever possible Authentic games in the L2 classroom Curso 2011-2012 Máster en Profesorado de Educación Secundaria Obligatoria, Bachillerato, Formación Profesional y Enseñanzas de Idiomas, Artísticas y Deportivas Authors: Beatriz Calvo Elena Chacón Catherine Dolan Mª Jesús Horno 2 INDEX 1. INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………………..2 2. PREVIOUS LITERATURE ON GAMES……………………………….3-6 3. GAMES IN OUR SCHOOLS´ TEXTBOOKS………………………….7-8 4. METHOD……………………………………………………....................9-12 4.1. PARTICIPANTS……………………………………….......9-11 4.2. INSTRUMENTS…………………………………………….12 5. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION…………………………………………13-18 6. CONCLUSIONS…………………………………………………………..19-22 7. REFERENCES……………………………………………………………23 8. APPENDIX (SATISFACTION QUESTIONNAIRES)……………..24-41 3 1. INTRODUCTION In this study we will try to observe how genuine games are integrated in the L2 classroom. Firstly we will look at games in three different textbooks (New English File Intermediate, Outcomes Intermediate, and New English Alive, all published by Oxford University Press). Secondly, we will introduce “genuine games” in our teaching and analyse how they work in the Official Language School of Utebo and in Ramón y Cajal, a Secondary School in Huesca. We have chosen this topic because we consider that authentic materials should be implemented in the L2 classroom, a principle set out in the Aragonese curriculum. As for the purpose of this research, we will try to demonstrate that textbooks do not offer real games at all but role-play situations which are unreal in most cases. In addition, we believe that introducing a “genuine game” in the classroom would be a motivating experience for our students, the idea being that if they are having fun they will learn better. Finally, we will pass round a satisfaction survey among our students to collect data and reflect on the use of “genuine games” in a learning environment. We hope this experience helps us to improve future teaching and go some way to finding the value of games in the classroom. 2. PREVIOUS LITERATURE ON GAMES 4 “You must train the children to their studies in a playful manner and without any air of constraint with the further object of discerning more readily the natural bent of their respective characters” said Plato (ca. 428 a. C. /427 a. C. – 347 a. C.). In other words, teachers must train their students in a relaxed and “close to life” atmosphere encouraging them to develop their own attitudes towards life. Following this trend, foreign language teaching has always been a source of debate. Throughout history, there have been many approaches and teaching methodologies in the study of second language acquisition. However, not all of them considered a communicative side of the target language. Nowadays, there is an increasing demand of communicating in a second language and most of the current teaching methods are based on the communicative approach. In this sense, games help teachers to create contexts in which the language is useful and meaningful. Therefore, in the following statements we will focus on the reason why games are effective tools, the contributions that games can make, the way we can use them, at which level they can be put into practice, real games in everyday life, and how games contribute to create a good classroom atmosphere. After this first analysis, we will focus on the Communicative Approach and the Affective Filter Theory in order to support our ideas. First of all, as we mentioned above, games help the teacher to create contexts in which the language is useful and meaningful. As A. Wright 5 (1979: 1) suggests, students want to be part of the language lesson. In this sense, games give students the opportunity to initiate the communication, in contrast to teacher-fronted lessons. This is the main contribution that games can make in the L2 classroom. It is very important to take into account how we use these games in order to make them meaningful. We agree with A.Wright (1979:3), when he states: “it is essential to choose games which are appropriate to the class in terms of language and type of participation”. This links with our beliefs on using games for specific purposes, which implies being more specific about the type of games for which aspects of language learning. For instance, games for vocabulary acquisition, fluency development or specific grammar points. After carrying out exhaustive research, we noticed that most of the articles we found referred to games to be implemented with children or Primary students. However, we implemented games with both teenagers and adults and the results were satisfactory. This goes along with Wright’s thoughts on creating games according to the students’ level. On the other hand, games benefit from small group work and the interaction between students. We base our thoughts on the use of games in the L2 classroom on two well-known theories on second language acquisition: Krashen´s Affective Filter Theory and Motivation and Communicative approach respectively. The term "affective filter" refers to the level of anxiety or frustration that a student experiences when confronted with a learning task. This anxiety may prevent a student from learning or accomplishing the learning task. If there is a high anxiety level, or high affective filter, a student may be unable to focus on learning. Under 6 conditions that lower the affective filter, students can concentrate on the learning task and learn what is being taught. In this sense, teachers can provide “low affective filter” conditions during instructions incorporating games. One of the advantages of including games in the L2 classroom is that learners are motivated to use the language when they are in the game. Students get absorbed in the game because there is a feeling of competitiveness arising, which stimulates their interest and as a result they become willing to learn. Many teachers believe that competition should be avoided because there is always a winner and a loser. However, our experience tells us the opposite, as we will comment on in our conclusions. The use of games in the L2 classroom echoes many of the principles of another theory: the Communicative Approach. This is reflected in the use of games, because when you play a game with your students the understanding and use of the language is necessary, whereas the analysis of the language itself is not. Also, when playing a game another principle of communicative methodology arises because the teaching situation must be learner-centred. In addition, Communicative Language Teaching makes use of real-life situations that need communication. When introducing games in the classroom, the teacher sets up a situation that students are likely to encounter in real life. In this sense, learners are often more motivated with this approach as they have an interest in what is being communicated. What is more, playing games students seem to learn new vocabulary or grammar structures quicker and better than in a usual classroom situation. 7 3. GAMES IN OUR SCHOOLS´ TEXTBOOKS Outcomes Intermediate, Huge Dellar and Andrew Walkey: The textbook contains sixteen lessons and eight lessons at the end which teach different styles of writing. Each lesson has a model text as well as speaking tasks to do in pairs or groups. There are lots of grammar and vocabulary exercises. As for games, there are four Review Units in which the students can only practice grammar and vocabulary of the previous four units. The first two pages of these reviews contain a board game, always the same in each Review Unit, a quiz and work on collocations and pronunciation. On the other hand, the teacher’s book offers a detailed plan of the lessons. It contains the answer key of each exercise, extra help for the teacher´ s management of the class and some tips, additional activities for early finishers and web pages for practising and revising the contents of the units. There is a complete absence of games and there are no additional activities implying cooperative work. Every activity is so guided that the teacher never has the opportunity of choosing between different options. New English File Intermediate There are some examples of games that teachers can find in New English File Intermediate. As seen, most of them are authentic games adapted to students’ levels. They are given as grammar and vocabulary revision. However, they can sometimes be used as warm-up, follow-up and even introduction of a topic or grammar point. The teacher’s book 8 is an excellent guide for teachers but, at the same time, it gives a lot of freedom to the teacher to implement other activities. English Alive 3 and 4 Ben Wetz The textbooks contain nine units plus a starter unit and three Curriculum Extra units. Each unit is packed with activities which build from presenting the language to providing productive practice. At the end of each section there is also Practical English and either a section on Culture or a song. While there is some pair work there are no role plays or games. 9 4. METHOD 4.1. PARTICIPANTS The participants in this study are students in 4º E.S.O., First Intermediate and Second Intermediate Levels, from two different schools:  EOI Utebo: The EOI of Utebo is an Official Language School in a rural area of Zaragoza. It is located in a quiet area close to a bank, a theatre, a primary school and some shops. This school offers three levels (Basic, Intermediate and Advanced) of English, German and French as well as That´s English for distance learning English. It is a small school with two floors. However, every classroom is equipped with a computer with Internet access, a CD player, a projector and an interactive whiteboard. The library, apart from books, dictionaries and films, also has three computers with Internet access for the students.  IES Ramón y Cajal, Huesca: This secondary school is located very close to the centre of Huesca, and is surrounded by shops, bars and government buildings. There are just under 900 students and nearly 80 teaching staff. There are 56 immigrant students of 23 different nationalities. The school is spread between two separate buildings with 1º, 2º and 3º ESO in one and 4º ESO and Bachillerato in the other. Classes are from 8.30am until 2.30 pm and Ramón y Cajal is also the only centre in Huesca which offers afternoon/evening Bachillerato classes for older and repeating students. Almost all the ESO classrooms have an interactive whiteboard and in the library there are four computers with internet access available for students during break times. There is also internet on the computers in the computer room. There is Wifi within the school but not freely available, just for teachers who are given the password. 10 Some of the characteristics of these groups are:  First Intermediate Level (EOI Utebo): It is a big group of around 30 students who range in age from 21 to 70 but there are no students at all from 45 to 55. Their ability in spoken English doesn´t correspond to their level. Adults and retired people do the activities at home before coming to class. They usually work together according to their age and they are not very fluent. Their learning goals are completely different; young people are more interested in getting a certificate whereas retired people are more interested in learning.  Second Intermediate Level (EOI Utebo): In this class there are 28 students, the amount of women is higher than men. Their age ranges between 25 and 56 years old. Generally speaking we can say that they have a positive attitude towards learning English and their knowledge of English corresponds to the course they attend. Although some differences in the students´ levels can be noticed.  3º ESO (IES Ramón y Cajal): This is a class of 20 students (12 girls and 8 boys) aged 14 and 15, who are very participative and at times quite competitive. With the exception of four students (one is repeating, two will repeat next year and one is lazy) the level of the class is good and in the evaluation students demonstrated they had learnt the language taught. 17 9. - How often would you include “genuine games” in your English classroom? The fourth-year diversification group, who responded better than any others in class, wanted to include games every day. Students at the EOI liked the idea of games and generally agreed they should be included regularly, perhaps once a week or once a month. 10. - Which skill do you think you practised playing “genuine games” in the classroom? (Here you can choose more than one option) It is interesting to see the students’ perception of the skills which were practised during the games sessions. Although all the games involved spoken interaction, students felt they were practising vocabulary most. 18 How do you feel when playing a “genuine game” in class? This question was only asked in the First Intermediate group. Due to the fact that we adapted the questionnaire. This question appeared in the first questionnaire. However, we would like to say that most of the students felt involved when they play games in class. Important factors to consider: not all the same games were played with each group. 1st and 2nd year PAB played Pelmanism/Memory and Taboo (adapted for their level). 3rd year ESO played a selection of board games, including Scrabble and Half Minute Topics. 4th year ESO played 20 Questions in teams. 4th year Diversification played team Pictionary (adapted for their vocabulary content). 19 6. CONCLUSIONS The following conclusions are based on our experiences in our teaching placements, which were IES Ramón y Cajal (Huesca) and EOI Utebo (Zaragoza). Firstly, we will explain the difference we found when implementing games with our students. Secondly, we will mention some of the advantages R. Ellis states when “doing small-group work and interaction” that we can apply to games as well. Finally, we will conclude with two main proposals for future teaching. IES Ramón y Cajal Huesca vs. EOI Utebo: In the IES Ramón y Cajal, games were particularly successful with PAB and Diversification groups. These groups tend to be considered low-ability and less ‘academic’ students but by introducing games they were taken out of the usual routine and able to use different skills. We will remember this for our future teaching careers and if we find ourselves teaching these groups, we will try to use games whenever appropriate. Adult learners from EOI Utebo responded very well to games, although at the beginning we were afraid of their reactions. What is more, in general students seemed to learn new vocabulary or grammar structures quicker and better than in a usual classroom situation. 20 As we mentioned above, R. Ellis states some advantages of working in small groups and we observed a clear relationship between his words and our teaching experience. One of these advantages is the fact that anxiety can be reduced; since games create a relaxed atmosphere and sometimes teachers need to plan some activities just for fun. Another positive aspect of group work is that group activities help students to become independent learners because each of them has a responsibility within the group and at the same time working as part of a team enables them to get to know each other. Our proposals for future teaching will mainly be the following two: “Games are not just time-filling activities, but have great educational value”: We believe that games should be treated as central, not peripheral to the foreign language teaching syllabus, as we also believe in a student-centred classroom. Probably teachers use games as time fillers, because they think they take too long to prepare and they have no time to do that. However, new technologies make it easier for us and we encourage teachers to use games for revising, introducing a 21 new topic or even to assess their students at the end of a learning unit. “Games are also equally valid learning tools for teaching teenagers and adults, but they need to have a specific didactic purpose”: Games are more interesting than traditional language instruction. Course books rarely offer any games or ideas for real situations in the classroom, neither additional ideas for games in the teacher’s books. For classes that have motivation problems, such as PAB and Diversification, it would be beneficial to introduce a gaming situation because it will increase opportunities for learning. In the case of adults they need to know what the aims are and what they are learning when playing the game in order to appreciate the use of games in the classroom. Following these trends, our research tries to demonstrate that games have an educational value and that they can provide a meaningful context for language use. Surveys have been very useful tools to strengthen our beliefs, 22 since they have provided us with real data of their habits and opinions about how they learn best. 23 7. REFERENCES Articles: - (2011) Effectiveness of using games in teaching grammar to young learners; Gülin YOLAGELDİLİ & Arda ARIKAN. - (2011) Digital culture and Education (DCE); Hayno Reinders (Middlesex University) & Sorada Wattana (Dhurakij Pundit University). - Games to teach English learners by International Teacher Trainer Organization (Date and place not available). - Learning Vocabulary through Games; Nguyen Thi Thanh Huyen & Khuat Thi Thu Nga Asian EFL Journal. December, 2003 Books: - (2001) El-Shami, Susan.: Training Games: Everything You Need to Know About Using Games to Reinforce Learning; - (1982) Wright, Andrew; Games for Language Learning. Cambridge University Press. WEBS RESOURCES: - http://teachingenglishgames.com/adults.htm - http://www.superteachertools.com/millionaire/ 24 8. APPENDIX (SATISFACTION QUESTIONNAIRES) 25 26 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 Diseño, organización y desarrollo de actividades para el aprendizaje del inglés LEARNING UNIT What would you do? Catherine Dolan Tutors: Ana Artiga y Vicky Gil May 2012 Master en Profesorado de Educación Secundaria Catherine Dolan DODAIN – Learning Unit What would you do? 1 INDEX Page 1 INTRODUCTION Page 2 Justification Page 2 Contextualization Page 2 Organization of Learning Unit Page 3 LEARNING UNIT OF WORK Page 5 Contribution to the key competences Page 5 Objectives Page 6 Contents Page 7 Methodology Page 8 Evaluation Page 9 CONCLUSIONS Page 10 REFERENCES Page 12 LESSON PLANS Lesson 1 – Would you be my hero? Lesson 2 – What scares us? Lesson 3 – London calling! Lesson 4 – It’s not as scary as you think! Lesson 5 – Dear Sue, what should I do? Lesson 6 – Revision time! Lesson 7 – Evaluation time! APPENDICES Catherine Dolan DODAIN – Learning Unit What would you do? 8 Methodology As set out in the Aragonese Curriculum, my teaching unit used the communicative approach. The students worked in pairs and small groups wherever possible and there was interaction between individuals and pairs/groups, both written and spoken. The language of the classroom was always English with only very occasional words being explained in Spanish. I strongly believe that the language of the classroom should be well established as being English. We should create a need to speak English among the students, whichever their level. If the students get into the habit of using their L1 to speak to the teacher this need will not be created. Furthermore, I believe that any time spent giving instructions in the L1 is an opportunity of practising the L2 which is wasted. There was one instance when I did check students’ understanding of the meaning of the second conditional by giving them the correct Spanish form of four sentences. In my learning unit I divided my students into groups using different methods, like fruit, cars etc…rather than just numbers. This was a suggestion from a classmate from Zaragoza and was a great idea as it gave the groups a sense of identity and team spirit. I also employed cooperative learning, for instance in the activity of planning a trip to London, where the students needed to work together to plan their itinerary. Likewise the problem page letters and replies were done cooperatively in pairs. If I had been able to use the computer room for the lesson planning a trip to London, I would have been using task-based learning as the students would have been given a task to complete, ie an itinerary for two days in London, which they could have researched relatively freely. However, at the secondary school I was in, it was logistically very difficult to take students to the computer room, so I provided information, thus making it a much more controlled activity. Catherine Dolan DODAIN – Learning Unit What would you do? 9 Evaluation The evaluation carried out in my learning unit was two-fold, not simply the students but also the teacher. I believe it is also fundamental to reflect on and evaluate one’s role as a teacher. Teaching is a profession where self-assessment should be continual. Student evaluation The student evaluation was divided in the following way: Participation and speaking in class 20% Planning a trip to London 20% End of unit test 60% The writing part of the assessment was carried out with a rubric. It was the first time I had used one and I really enjoyed it. It made marking much easier and gave me a sense that I was being very fair to all the students. In future I will use rubrics for evaluating the other sections as well. Teacher evaluation In the lesson plan template I used there was a section for writing down doubts, concerns, worries about the lesson and ideas for the future. In each lesson plan I completed this section before class with some concerns I had and afterwards answered my own questions. This was a very helpful way of reflecting on how successful my class had been. I also used the EPOSTL document for more detailed self-reflection. I shall hold on to this and use it when I finally start teaching. I also had a good relationship with my tutor and talked over my classes with her at the end of each session or morning. I would also like to have had the opportunity of peer assessment. I wish I had used a one minute paper at the end of my teaching practice, but we were always so pushed for time that I didn’t. I was also a little unsure as to how to carry it out and the atmosphere of the school wasn’t one which invited student criticism, be it positive or negative. However, since I’ve been back in Zaragoza listening to my classmates’ presentations I see it can be as easy as asking students to write one positive thing and one negative thing. Catherine Dolan DODAIN – Learning Unit What would you do? 10 Conclusions The biggest challenge for me when I begin teaching in secondary school will be time. During my teaching practice I was constantly up against the clock, so I will have to become firmer with myself, make realistic time plans and stick to them. However, I do think that perhaps some of the activities I did with the students took longer because they weren’t used to this type of interaction; moving around into different groups, standing up for songs, doing running dictations etc…. but I hope that when I have some groups of my own they will get into the habit of doing communicative activities and setting them up should become quicker. Before going on the first teaching practice in December we had heard all manner of horror stories about how unruly secondary school students can be, so it was with some trepidation that I went on the first TP session. Fortunately, it became apparent that teenagers were not the beasts I had feared, rather they are young people with their own ideas who should be valued. My second session of TP has only helped to reinforce this feeling and make me sure that this is what I want to do. I had a lovely group of students who participated and were keen to learn English. However, there were difficult elements within the group, and it was with the helpful comments from my tutor that I managed to avoid them causing any trouble. But on the whole teenagers are not so bad. Yes, they sometimes have lots of energy, it just needs to be channeled in the right direction and possible troublesome elements within the group need to be nipped in the bud. Another aspect which I saw firsthand during my TP was the Spanish education system and the way distribution of teachers is organized. It is so wholly different to the system in the UK that I can’t help comparing the two. Many of the teachers I met spoke about how they had come to be teaching in their current posts and how they were happy with where they had ended up. The most important aspects for them seemed to be having a job for life and not being too far away from home. Quite understandable goals I suppose. But the idea of a job for life is so completely alien to me. In England this would be almost unthinkable. My understanding is that in the UK teachers apply directly to the schools rather than being appointed by the state and likewise poorly performing teachers can be removed (it can take a while, up to a term I believe, but it’s certainly possible). Working in such an environment the teachers are motivated to give their best, while in Spain, where the teachers know they are secure until retirement, there is no motivation and it’s very easy for them to become complacent and stuck in their ways. Catherine Dolan DODAIN – Learning Unit What would you do? 11 One way to try and tackle this would be regular peer observation and assessment between teachers, but I witnessed none of this in my TP. The closest was a seminar they attended with other English teachers from schools across the city, where they exchanged language activity ideas. As an individual going into a job where this may well be the case, I will try and regularly self-assess and reflect on my own teaching. I think it is very important for teachers to continually self-assess and even to continue learning themselves. Catherine Dolan DODAIN – Learning Unit What would you do? 12 References Books KAY, Susan. 1995. Reward Intermediate Teachers’ Resource Pack. London: Macmillan Heinemann English Language Teaching. SWAN, Michael. 1995 Practical English Usage. Oxford: Oxford University Press. UR, Penny. 1988 Grammar Practice Activities: A practical guide for teachers Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. WATCYN-JONES, Peter. 1995. Grammar Games and Activities for Teachers. London: Penguin English. WETZ, Ben. 2006 English Alive 3 Oxford: Oxford University Press. Websites www.tefltunes.com www.rubistar.4teachers.org http://www.changing-the-guard.com/chaging-the-guard-schedules-times.html http://www.oxfordstreet.co.uk/ http://www.londonpass.com/london-attractions/tower-of- london.html?aid=19&gclid=CKvgkOqur68CFWwntAodAzn3mg http://www.westminster-abbey.org/visit-us/opening-times/general-opening-times http://www.stpauls.co.uk/Visits-Events/Sightseeing-Times-Prices Learning Unit Lesson 1 - Would you be my hero? Grade Level: 3º ESO Subject: English Prepared By: Catherine Dolan Teacher Guide Learning goals (Specify skills/information that will be learned.) At the end of this lesson students will: Understand …vocabulary from song Hero by Enrique Iglesias Know …how 2nd conditional is formed Be able to …distinguish between 1st and 2nd conditionals Materials Needed  Paper  Pencil Other Resources (e.g. Web, books, etc.) Song Hero by Enrique Iglesias Gapfill copies of song Lines of song enlarged on coloured paper Class book English Alive 3 Critical input (Give and/or demonstrate necessary information) Review 1st conditional: Eg. If I go to London, I’ll visit Big Ben. If + present will + infinitive Probable situations: most likely going to England this summer or thinking about it Elicit/teach 2nd conditional: Eg. If I went to London, I would visit Big Ben. If + past would + infinitive Possible situations: not planning to go to London soon, but if I did….this is what I might do. NOTE: Condition and Result are interchangeable. Learning Activities (Describe the activities to reinforce learning and how they will be organized i.e whole group, pairs, CL, individual) 1. Warm-up: One minute to tell person next to them how to make the first conditional. (studied last session) (5) 2. Elicit/explain grammar (whole class) (10) 3. Page 80 ex 1 and 2 (pairs and whole class) (10) 4. Song: (individually and whole class) a) Gapfill – pre-teach given vocab, b) check answers and new vocab, c) listen for their line and get in order, d) mime their lines (20) 5. If time left over Hangman or Pictionary to recap today’s vocab or previous units. Homework assigned Exercise 3 and 5, page 80 of class book. Verification (Steps to check for student understanding) Ex 1 and 2 - Monitoring students and checking as a class Hangman or Pictionary Summary (what has been achieved and what needs to be reinforced in future lessons) Did Ss participate in miming? Unfortunately we ran out of time so only did ordering, but they were keen and would have Did I explain grammar clearly enough? I think so, they managed to complete the box with the rules How were María and Marina? Did they follow the class? They participated in everything and seemed happy enough. I made sure their song lines weren’t too tricky and prompted them when they needed to get in line. Additional Notes María and Marina will be separated and sat with slightly stronger students Learning Unit Lesson 2 - What scares us?! Grade Level: 3º ESO Subject: English Prepared By: Catherine Dolan Teacher Guide Learning goals (Specify skills/information that will be learned.) At the end of this lesson students will: Understand …Phrasal verbs from page 78 of book Know …more vocabulary for scary situations/extreme sports Be able to …join two parts of 2nd conditional with would/wouldn’t Materials Needed  Paper  Pencil Other Resources (e.g. Web, books, etc.) Class book English Alive 3 plus CD for listening Sentence halves activity Photo of me on zip wire! Critical input (Give and/or demonstrate necessary information) Introduce phrasal verbs they don’t know. Elicit onto board scary situations: dark streets, horror films, sharks, rollercoaster, skiing, spiders, zip wire, bungee jumping, Enrique Iglesias….. Learning Activities (Describe the activities to reinforce learning and how they will be organized i.e whole group, pairs, CL, individual) 1. Inner circle/outer circle – how to form the 2nd conditional (10) whole class 2. Phrasal verb activities on page 78 of book ex 1, 2, 3 and 4 (15) – if it’s taking too long, drop ex 3 and/or 4. whole class 3. What scares us? – eliciting onto board (5) whole class 4. Sentence halves (small groups, 3 groups of 4 and 2 groups of 3). Ss take turns to take one of each paper and make sentences about what they would/wouldn’t do. Eg. If I watched a horror film, I would hide behind the sofa.(15) Source: own 5. If there’s time left. Discuss: What could you do to overcome your fear in these situations? (in pairs or groups, depending if they’ve all finished or not) Homework assigned Learn phrasal verbs for next class!! Verification (Steps to check for student understanding) Monitor Ss in groups to check form of phrases. Make sure I hear at least one correct phrase from each student. Summary (what has been achieved and what needs to be reinforced in future lessons) How well organized was inner circle/outer circle? We didn’t do it, instead we checked the homework from yesterday Did my sentence halves activity work? Yes, quite well, once they got the idea. I should have had one group do a couple of sentences of the activity and the others watch. But they participated, were well-behaved and I managed to hear a correct sentence from each student. Additional Notes If Ss finish sentence halves activity early they can invent their own ‘better’ endings! Learning Unit Lesson 3 – London calling! Grade Level: 3º ESO Subject: English Prepared By: Catherine Dolan Teacher Guide Learning goals (Specify skills/information that will be learned.) At the end of this lesson students will: Understand …2nd conditional for negotiating/suggesting Know …more sights of London Be able to …roughly plan a weekend in London Materials Needed  Paper  Pencil Other Resources (e.g. Web, books, etc.) PPT of London Language to use for negotiating to display on projector Map of London for each group (6) Opening times of main sights Critical input (Give and/or demonstrate necessary information) PPT of photos of London Language for negotiating: - we could see/visit/go to…… - If we went to …..first, then we could visit….. - If we got the tube, we would arrive at Oxford Street. - If we went to Buckingham Palace in the morning, we would see the changing of the Guard. Learning Activities (Describe the activities to reinforce learning and how they will be organized i.e whole group, pairs, CL, individual) 1. Review phrasal verbs quickly with team Pictionary (5) (and wake Ss up!) 2. PPT of photos of London (15) whole class 3. Introduce language needed for the activity (10) whole class 4. Plan itinerary for a two-day trip to London (10) Ss work in 6 groups of 3 (using fruit to separate them randomly) 5. Present to class or to another group (10) ‘If we went to London we would visit…… We would go to….then we would see….If we had lunch in Covent Garden, we could watch street performers….’ Homework assigned Write up itinerary of trip (if not done in class) Work book Unit 8 first 2 pages Verification (Steps to check for student understanding) Monitoring Ss in groups and the final presentation to the class. Summary (what has been achieved and what needs to be reinforced in future lessons) Were Ss interested in London? Yes, very. Some had been there before and others are planning to go. How was PPT? (I’m not very good with ICT!) Went very smoothly. How were the presentations? Fruit separation worked surprisingly well! Short of time so each group just presented one day. Students discussed and negotiated itinerary but perhaps it was too free. If it had been more controlled they would have spoken more English in the negotiation part. Additional Notes If all goes very quickly, could do hangman/2nd conditional chain around the class Learning Unit Lesson 4 – It’s not as scary as you think! Grade Level: 3º ESO Subject: English Prepared By: Catherine Dolan Teacher Guide Learning goals (Specify skills/information that will be learned.) At the end of this lesson students will: Understand …expressions ‘as….as…’ and ‘not as….as….’. Know …a little about the history of roller coasters Be able to…..use adverbs and make adverbs from adjectives Materials Needed  Paper  Pencil Other Resources (e.g. Web, books, etc.) Running dictation text (printed), plus blu tak Comprehension questions (on pen) Adverbs on slips of paper. Slips of paper for Ss to write actions. Word document with answers and examples of adverbs etc.. (on pen) Critical input (Give and/or demonstrate necessary information) After running dictation highlight simile expressions and adjectives in the text. Ask Ss to convert adjectives into adverbs. Dangerous – dangerously, safe – safely, scary – scarily (and here point out the +ily when there is a y) Also point out irregulars: hard, fast and well Highlight and explain ‘as …..as…..’ and ‘isn’t as …..as …….’ (see notes) Learning Activities (Describe the activities to reinforce learning and how they will be organized i.e whole group, pairs, CL, individual) 1. Running Dictation with first half of text from page 79 (15). Read again for comprehension questions. (5) In groups of 4 2. Highlight simile expressions and adjectives. Give critical input (10 , but try to be quicker) Whole class 3. Exercises on page 81, ex 6, 9, 10, 11. (10) whole class 4. Adverb game. Go through adverbs, check understanding. Each Ss writes an activity ‘put on jeans’, washing up’ etc… Put list of adverbs on board. Ss take turns to come to front of class and mime an action. Other ss are in teams and take turns to ask ‘Are you washing up quickly?’, ‘Are you putting jeans on calmly?’ etc… (adapted from Grammar Games by Peter Watcyn-Jones) (15) Homework assigned Page 81 ex 12. Relevant work book pages (page 106) Verification (Steps to check for student understanding) Do ss make correct questions in adverb activity? Comprehension questions for reading text Summary (what has been achieved and what needs to be reinforced in future lessons) How well organised was the Running Dictation? Students did it well once they got the idea. But we ran out of time and had to cut it short. Normally I do this activity in pairs but here I did it in groups of 4 as we did in Zaragoza. I’m not sure if pairs isn’t better…. Did students answer comprehension questions correctly? Yes Did students manage to convert adjectives into adverbs? We looked at them briefly but didn’t have time to do the adverb game Additional Notes Make sure María and Marina are in groups with other stronger students Learning Unit Lesson 5 – Dear Sue, what should I do? Grade Level: 3º ESO Subject: English Prepared By: Catherine Dolan Teacher Guide Learning goals (Specify skills/information that will be learned.) At the end of this lesson students will: Understand …what a problem page is Know …the language of rules Be able to …give advice using second conditional and modals of obligation Materials Needed  Paper  Pencil Other Resources (e.g. Web, books, etc.) Classbook Flashcards depicting rules A magazine with a problem page Dear Sue activity cut up and blank paper cut up Critical input (Give and/or demonstrate necessary information) Modals of obligation and grammar box: You must, should, ought to, could, have to etc…(see attached document for presenting modals of obligation and expressions of advice) Page 82 of book/stick rules in order on board Vocabulary: Problem page, agony aunt Learning Activities (Describe the activities to reinforce learning and how they will be organized i.e whole group, pairs, CL, individual) 1. Elicit/teach modals of obligation, building on Ss’ own knowledge. With my flashcards from Penny Ur ‘Grammar Practice Activities’ (whole class) 2. Do grammar box and exercise 4, page 82 of class book (whole class) 3. ‘Dear Sue, what should I do?’ (from Reward Intermediate teachers’ resource pack). In pairs or groups of three, Ss complete problems then exchange and write replies. Homework assigned Page 84 class book quiz ‘Are you streetwise?’ Page 84 ex 6,7,8,9 Relevant workbook pages Verification (Steps to check for student understanding) I will monitor Ss while they write problems and replies. I’ll also take letters and replies home, correct them and give them back to students. Summary (what has been achieved and what needs to be reinforced in future lessons) Did students use their imagination to write problem letters? Yes, they did. It might have been a good idea to also focus on the structure of letters a bit, Dear……Regards/All the best….. Was timing any better? Yes, we managed to get several replies for each letter Additional Notes If need more activities: Problem Guessing (I write a problem and one student acts it out or describes without naming it. Others guess). Page 78, exercise 1 and 2,( maybe 3 and 4) Lesson 3– London calling! Language presentation on whiteboard Using the second conditional to negotiate - We could visit/see/go to….. - If we went to …….first, then we could visit…….. - If we went by ……(bus/train/tube), we would arrive at…….. - If we went to……..in the morning we could see the changing of the guard - If we got up early, we would….. Presenting our itinerary If we went to London, we would visit…….on the first day. We would go to……, then we would see…….If we had lunch at ……we could watch ……. On the second day we would…… London maps and information given to students Changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace: Takes place between 11.30 and 12pm, but guards start arriving from 11.15am. See http://www.changing-the- guard.com/chaging-the-guard-schedules-times.html Oxford Street General Oxford Street opening times: Monday - Friday 9.00am — 8.00pm Thursday 9.00am — 9.00pm Saturday 9.00am — 7.00pm Sunday 12.00pm — 6.00pm See http://www.oxfordstreet.co.uk/ Tower of London Opening Times: 1st March to 31st October Tuesday to Saturday: 09.00-18.00 Sunday to Monday: 10.00-18.00 1st November to 28th February: Tuesday-Saturday: 09.00-17.00 Sunday-Monday: 10.00-17.00 http://www.londonpass.com/london-attractions/tower-of- london.html?aid=19&gclid=CKvgkOqur68CFWwntAodAzn3mg Westminster Abbey Main Abbey Church Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday 9.30am - 4.30pm (last admission 3.30pm) Wednesday 9.30am - 7.00pm (last general admission 6.00pm, last group admission 3.30 pm) Saturday 9.30am - 2.30pm (last admission 1.30pm) June - September last admission 3.30pm Sunday Worship only - No Tourist Visiting See http://www.westminster-abbey.org/visit-us/opening-times/general-opening-times St Paul’s Cathedral  St Paul's Cathedral is open for sightseeing from Monday to Saturday between 8.30am - 4pm.  Last tickets are sold at 4pm and the cathedral closes for sightseeing at 4.30pm.  On Sunday the cathedral is open for worship only and there is no sightseeing. http://www.stpauls.co.uk/Visits-Events/Sightseeing-Times-Prices Harrods Knightsbridge Store: Opening Times Main Store Monday to Saturday: 10am - 8pm Sunday: 11:30am* - 6pm Selected Food Halls open Monday to Saturday: 9am - 9pm Sunday: 11:30am* - 6pm Please note that we are closed Easter Sunday. * Browsing only between 11.30am and 12 noon on Sundays Lesson 4 – It’s not as scary as you think! Running Dictation Cut from page 79 of textbook Roller coaster comprehension questions (displayed on Interactive whiteboard): 1. How fast does Millenium Force go? 2. Why were these attractions called Russian Mountains? 3. According to the article, which is more dangerous, a roller coaster or a bus? 4. Psychologists say there are two types of people, what are they? Roller coaster comprehension questions + answers 1. How fast does Millenium Force go? 110 km/hour. 2. Why were these attractions called Russian Mountains? In the 1700s some people in Russia made artificial mountains of ice which they travelled down in metal boxes. 3. According to the article, which is more dangerous, a roller coaster or a bus? Buses (the chance of having an accident on a roller coaster is one in 15 million). 4. Psychologists say there are two types of people, what are they? Those who love danger and excitement and those who prefer to have their feet on the ground. Spanish translation for me: Activity 6 page 81 Translations: 1. Son tan seguro como el autobus 2. No es tan alto como una montaña 3. Es tan alta como yo 4. No es tan inteligente como yo Presentation of adverbs and adjectives (on whiteboard): Adjectives: (more) dangerous Scary Safe Adjectives – describe nouns Adverbs – describe verbs (actions) We change an adjective to an adverb by adding –ly Words ending in y, we add -ily Adjectives → adverbs Dangerous → dangerously Scary → scarily Safe → safely Page 81, exercises 6, 9, 10 and 11 To be displayed on whiteboard: The Adverb Game accurately affectionately anxiously angrily badly calmly carefully carelessly cautiously cheerfully dangerously energetically fast furiously gently happily hard loudly nervously noisily quickly quietly sadly self-consciously seriously shyly silently sleepily slowly superstitiously suspiciously violently well Lesson 7 – Evaluation time! Evaluation 3ºA Tuesday 24th April 2012 A Vocabulary 1 Complete the text with verbs + prepositions. In the morning you (1) _________ of bed, (2)_________ your pyjamas, (3) _________ the shower and (4) _________ the water. When you’ve finished your shower, you (5)_________ the water, (6) _________ of the shower, get dried and (7) _________ your clothes. After breakfast, you (8) _________ your bike and cycle to school. Cycle carefully to school and don’t (9) _________ your bike! At school, (10) _________ your bike and go into your classroom. (11) _________ on your chair and (12) _________ your pen. Now you’re ready! 1 MARK FOR EACH CORRECT ANSWER. TOTAL ___ / 12 2 Complete the table. Adjectives Adverbs 1 happy ____________ 2 good ____________ 3 fast ____________ 4 bad ____________ 5 dangerous ____________ 6 intelligent ____________ 1/2 MARK FOR EACH CORRECT ANSWER. TOTAL ___ / 3 3 Complete the sentences with a suitable adverb. 1 The man was shouting a____________ . 2 Dad’s working h____________ at the moment. 3 Can you listen to your music q____________ , please? 4 You have to drive s____________ near the school. 5 I admire people who do things c____________ . 1 MARK FOR EACH CORRECT ANSWER. TOTAL ___ / 5 B Grammar 4 Complete the second conditional sentences with the correct form of the verbs. 1 If you ____________ (not play) computer games, you ____________ (have) more time. 2 People ____________ (not fly) if aeroplanes ____________ (be) safe. 3 If I ____________ (like) football, I____________ (watch) the match. 4 Kelly ____________ (not go out) with you if she ____________ (not like) you. 5 If Josh ____________ (win) the lottery, he ____________ (buy) a house. 6 I ____________ (text) you if I ____________ (have) your number. 7 If Jess ____________ (know) the result, she ____________ (tell) me. 8 We ____________ (go) to that bar if the food ____________ (be) too expensive. 9 If they ____________ (want) a new car, they ____________ (buy) one. 10 She ____________ (speak) to me if she ____________ (understand) what I was saying! 1 MARK FOR EACH CORRECT ANSWER. TOTAL ___ / 10 C Listening 5 Listen to two conversations. Circle the correct names. Conversation 1 1 Ana / Jake thinks that bikes are better than Vespas because you can do more exercise. 2 Ana / Jake thinks that Vespas are better because they’re faster than bikes. 3 Ana / Jake says that bikes are cheaper than Vespas. Conversation 2 4 Dave / Emma might leave school and look for a job. 5 Dave / Emma thinks she must think about the decision very carefully. 6 Dave / Emma thinks that people have more opportunities if they go to university. 1 MARK FOR EACH CORRECT ANSWER. TOTAL ___ / 6 6 Listen again to the first conversation. What are the advantages? Write V (Vespa) or B (bike). 1 Get fitter ___ 2 Go faster ___ 3 Get up later ___ 4 Cheaper ___ 1/2 MARK FOR EACH CORRECT ANSWER. TOTAL ___ / 2 7 Listen again to the second conversation. Tick the four advantages you hear about university. 1 More opportunities ___ 2 Easier to find a job ___ 3 Interesting courses ___ 4 Meet new people ___ 5 Do new things ___ 6 Live in another town ___ 1/2 MARK FOR EACH CORRECT ANSWER. TOTAL ___ / 2 D Writing 8 Read the letter to a problem page and write a reply giving advice, between 50 and 100 words. Use the second conditional and expressions for giving advice. ___/20 Dear Jane, I’ve had an argument with my best friend and now she isn’t speaking to me. We’ve been friends since we were 10 years old and it makes me very sad that we’ve fallen out. We had a big argument over a boy and we both said some horrible things. Usually we go everywhere together but now I have to go alone. I feel so miserable, please help! Unhappy of Huesca. Dear Jane Advice Letters – Marking rubric CATEGORY 4 3 2 1 Content The letter from Dear Jane accurately answers the problem with useful, relevant advice. There are five or more good details. The letter from Dear Jane provides advice and shows at least 3-4 good details The letter from Dear Jane includes some suggestions to solve the problem. There are 1-2 details. There is no clear advice in the letter. Conventions Writer makes no errors in spelling, capitalization, punctuation or grammar. Writer makes 1-2 errors in spelling, capitalization, punctuation or grammar. Writer makes 3-4 errors in spelling, capitalization, punctuation or grammar. Writer makes more than 4 errors in spelling, capitalization, punctuation or grammar. Length The letter is 8 or more sentences long. The letter is 7-8 sentences long The letter is 5-6 sentences long The letter is less than 4 sentences long. Language focus Second conditional and expressions for giving advice are correctly used with no errors Second conditional and expressions for giving advice are correctly used with 2-3 errors Writer attempts to use Second conditional and/or expressions for giving advice but there are 4 or more errors Second conditional and expressions for giving advice are not used Neatness Letters are clean, and easy to read with no distracting corrections Letters are hand written and easy to read. There are 1-2 distracting corrections. Letters are hand written, but it is messy and has 3-4 distracting corrections. Letters are hand written, but it is messy and has more than 4 distracting corrections.