In the foreign language classroom, the last thing you want hear the kids say is “it's boring.” Think about those young children having to listen and speak some strange language and not having any idea about the meaning; how can they engage the learning? Many articles about engagement suggest the use of movement to get kids to focus. In my class, I switch activities very frequently. In a twenty minute session, I normally have about 10 activities. As a teacher, I have to learn how to read students' faces. When you see “boring” on their face, they start to talk, wiggle around in their seats, and do something else. This is the signal that I “gotta move” to the next task. I have very limited time for each class (20 minutes for most sessions), there is not much time to waste.
Instruction is about teaching the subject material and managing the classroom. There are many issues that should be considered such as age, gender, learning style, cultural background, etc... The first step in building instruction is to learn about the students. If you want to keep them engaged, you have to teach in a way they like and accept.
For my inquiry plan I will focus on how to use movement to engage students since my students are at very young and my lesson periods are very short. I will try to develop age appropriate instruction, and try to address students' individual needs to keep them engaged in Chinese learning.
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CZ,
ReplyDeleteI also want to focus my inquiry plan on movement. Wow! 20 minutes is not very long to get things accomplished. That must really be difficult. I have 90 minutes, which can really be a long time. I really try to shift things. I just had an idea, what about stations? I'm not really sure how that would work, I guess it depends on the age level.
I have 55 minutes per class and I cannot imagine trying to teach a lesson in 20 minutes! That must be extremely challenging. I have heard that "exercises" that incorporate left to right and right to left movements help to stimulate cognitive processing. It seems like I have even read research articles that suggested these physical- movements increase brain wave activity. Getting students involved in a game of "Simon Says"....where the students must use the Chinese language...might get them interested.
ReplyDeleteCZ:
ReplyDeleteI think the magic of teaching 20 mins is that students will get much higher frequency then if you see them once a week. I will be the first to admit that you have a challenging job, 20 mins seems go by in a blink of the eyes. But study have shown that young students attention span are so short that 20 mins is just about what they are able to absorb. My only suggestion is that as they get older, such as 3rd grade and above, perhaps that time can increase, thus allow the students to do more then just movement and music. Hanging there, you are an amazing teacher!
20 minute class period, WOW. I have two classes that are 90 minute blocks that I see three times a week and another 60 minute class that I see everyday. It would be hard to engage the students and give them time to learn on their own and have student lead instruction when you only have 20 minutes.
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