Moments from an unplugged day...

                                                                                                Image by Dan Belton

So... lots to reflect on after today - some real highs and some areas to work on!

Highs!

The moment when a Polish, male learner could not  stop laughing. I have no idea what set him off but it looked like he was laughing at his Asian, female partner whilst she was speaking. I'm sure he wasn't! But dynamics in a class of boisterous, flirtatious Polish guys with strict Muslim ladies isn't always the easiest and it could have gone oh so wrong! But we were using what came up in the classroom so I taught them got the giggles. Up it went on the board. We chatted about what to say in similar situations to avoid offense e.g.  "so sorry I've got the giggles". By the end my Asian ladies were laughing and thanking him for teaching them new language :-) Later one of the ladies also got the giggles, which everyone loved pointing out.

The creativity and variety of stories that came out of the reverse reading on Saira's Day ... from Valentine's Day surprises and a house decorated in celebration of a birthday to a special trip to the seaside and the return of a long-lost sister.

The noticing that went on when I let them be the teachers whilst they were correcting eachother's  texts.  For example, "Anna they've spelt morning wrong haven't they?" "No, no that's right." "Ohhh ... I've spelt mornign wrong haven't I?" "Yep... but it's great that you noticed!!"

The level of engagement and activity as they started their own coursebooks in their notebooks, used texts they were genuinely interested in, checked new vocab with me and eachother, wrote their own questions and had a laugh correcting their partner's mistakes and successes.

Areas to work on!

Language feedback! I love the principles and ideals behind Teaching Unplugged and the many many ideas contained within. Including the one I tried today. I can 'set it up'... I can 'let it run'.... but I need to get so much better at 'rounding it off'. Orally taking in what they are saying, how they are saying it and how I can move it forward is a real area of development for me.  I can focus on content, I can focus on form and I can focus on ways to improve but not all at the same time. Not yet anyway. So in the first class... we just did content feedback. In the next class I did write up some good examples of language I'd noticed and then we fedback onto the board some more ways you could keep a conversation going e.g. follow up questions, appropriate contributions, discourse markers etc... But  I have a long way to go in terms of developing that vital teaching skill! 

Making time for vocab! Recycling vocab is so important and I don't give enough time for it... and again we ran out of time before I could try out Cecilia's great ideas! So first thing next week...  ;-p 

Overall impressions of the day...good... the learners were engaged and enjoying the activities and once again... I was left wishing we had more time. Instead of scrambling to fill the time with anything and everything, letting the break drag on a little too long etc... we were really using the time and there's always so much more that could be done. With the notebooks as coursebooks session they only got as far as answering eachother's questions in the books. The listenings, the dictogloss, the projects... haven't even got there yet.

There's a lot to learn and I'm a long way from where I want to be but there were more than enough moments to feather my magpie's nest with today. So thanks again ELT bloggers you're transforming my teaching world :-)

 

the return of a long-lost sister,

 

Comments

[Alan Tait]

It's a pleasure to hear somebody else trying to get to grips with dogme teaching. IMHO you showed great social sense in dealing with the giggling problem! It's also good to hear your reflections, and very useful. I worry about the scaffolding/recycling/recapping bit too.

[Naomishema]

Anna!
how do you manage to write up examples of their errors for another lesson? Our whiteboard is small and we're constantly erasing - haven't gotten there yet! Good for you!
I'm amazed how many strategies you incorporate in one lesson! How long is a lesson?
Good reaction to the giggling situation!

[Harrisonmike]

Hey Anna,

Great to hear about the day, I really love the idea of your blog - really shows the development behind what goes on in your classes and your reflection on it all!

I'm so glad the reverse reading comprehension went well - I'd love to know what your questions were, it sounds like the learners took to them in the right way by your comments above.

Re the last part of the dogme process - I think you're on the right track (this is something I'm not so good at myself, echoing Alan's comment). I think getting the learners to notice and note down is a big part of it.

@Naomi, you could write down the examples of errors in a notebook for future use or, though it might not sit totally with dogme principles, take a photo with a digital camera or smartphone, maybe even the learners themselves could do this?

Mike

[Anna Rose]

Hi Alan - what a lovely comment and thank you it's good to know I'm not the only one still trying to figure it all out ;-p... I would love to go on some kind of weekend training or observe some well modelled classes or something.

Yeah...the giggling was one of those knife edge moments ... they don't always work out but it's nice that this time it did :-D

Naomi - hey! You've caught me out... I have to confess to a moment of cheating... in the break I copied their stories (copier was back online!), gave them different colour pens, the copied story and asked them to "be the teacher" for each other. They had to give two bits of content feedback e.g. their opinion on the story, what they liked etc... plus some language feedback - e.g. correct a spelling mistake or a punctuation error. So not completely material free and didn't have to use the whiteboard. Lessons are between 2 - 2.30 hours. How about yours?

I guess the different strategies things is partly because I still haven't got the hang of the "rounding off" part of teaching unplugged. I didn't extend and work much with the emergent spoken language from the first activity so needed to use the reverse reading as well. I'm much better at working with emergent written language hence the final "be the teacher" strategy at the end.

Does any of that make sense?! Thanks for your comments always hugely appreciated :-)

[Anna Rose]

Hi Mike

Thank you :-) I'm really enjoying writing it. I get so much out of finding and experimenting with other people's amazing ideas. Then the process of writing it up and thinking it through is very fulfilling and the cherry on top is when the amazing people whose ideas I've pinched take the time to talk to me about it! ;-p This on-line world has quite literally transformed my feelings/attitude towards work. I've realised, much more deeply, how necessary it is for me to learn as well as teach!

The reverse reading went great! Thanks again for sharing... I pretty much used your questions...

How did Saira feel when she woke up?
What was special about that day?
Who did she see at the shops?
What surprised her when she got home?
What happened later that day?

...but have been inspired by Naomi's much more adventurous adaptation so will definitely try again!

Yeah the noting down thing is good ... I need to get better at encouraging them to take neat, useful notes in a coherent way. Rather than letting them jot things down here, there and everywhere then losing the scraps of paper they wrote on.

Thanks for taking the time to comment Mike - very encouraging! :-)

[Naomishema]

Anna!
the only thing I have "caught you" with is using every available resoursce to make the most of your lesson!
Our lessons are officially 45 minutes, with a 10 min break between most lessons. it's a high-school!

I'm lost on terminology here - what is DOGME?

[Anna Rose]

Hi Naomi

You're very kind...wow so quite a difference in terms of what you can do in that time slot. Do you get the same learners back after the 10 minute break or is it all change?

I'm very under-qualified to answer your question re dogme and someone else might chip in. But my understanding is that it's an approach developed by Scott Thornbury and others via an ELT discussion forum. They were inspired by some Danish filmakers who took a "vow of chastity" only to use what was available to them e.g. natural light etc... in their filming.

The idea of Dogme ELT was to also use only what was available in the classroom e.g. whiteboard/ paper / pens and most importantly the learners and the teacher/s.

Teaching Unplugged, which I linked to in the post, is the main text (and a name I much prefer to Dogme!) and I'd really recommend you buy/beg/borrow a copy... it's full of amazing teaching ideas and the philosophy / ideology behind it is so refreshing!

For me it was like breathing in clean air. It's not as rigid as the original dogme concept. However the basic idea - a materials lite approach more concerned with the people in the room than the materials in the room - is basically the same. I'm obviously adding a heavy reliance on other people's blogs to that mix ;-p

You're well on your way without even trying.... all these ideas we've been experimenting with reverse reading / live reading etc... would qualify as unplugged or dogme!

Check out Scott's page on the topic here: http://www.thornburyscott.com/tu/sources.htm for more in depth info and resources!

Hope that helps ;-p

[Anna Rose]

Oh yeah... so hopefully the "you caught me" comment makes more sense now! Since I did add materials to the mix in the end by copying their work and giving it back to them to mark. Although... I think I can probably get away with that with an unplugged rather than a dogme approach ;-p

[Naomishema]

That helps a lot! I haven't encountered these approaches!
Thanks again!