The thing that I'm finding hardest about trying out some of these new teaching approaches is giving more detailed language feedback. So I am so grateful for the template that Jason Renshaw made available here.
It's funny I was thinking about this yesterday. Whilst this resource is great for learners in its own right in many ways the resources and templates Jason's making available are kind of like scaffolding for teachers. In the same way that I make worksheets simpler or create boxes and grids to encourage my learners to try new things... these templates do the same for me!
So whilst the learners were on their break, (following the adjectives session I described here) I rushed to the staff room, typed their errors into the template and printed it.
It's here if you're interested...
They then corrected all their spellings as a group without too much trouble (we've done this before) and we went on to the sentence errors.
However, they found the sentence errors much harder to correct. As did I! I was desperately trying to think of how to explain some of the rules off the cuff while they tried to figure out what the mistake actually were. I must admit I didn't do all of them. Below you can see my attempts at some.
I actually tried to convince them to delay the rule and pattern section till next class to give me time to prepare but they really wanted to do it there and then. Which in itself is encouraging! What was also encouraging was that for the first error they just could not see the missing article but after we'd gone over the rules/patterns they immediately spotted a missing article in the third sentence.
Well by the end of this whole session I was exhausted... but... it made me realise how much I do actually know and how useful that is for the students especially when delivered in such a focused way to meet their individual needs.
My plan is now to brush up on my grammar knowledge using this great book by Scott Thornbury! ;-p
Hi Anna,
Hearing that templates are like a teaching scaffolding device is not only a huge compliment (thanks :-) but also, I think, an indication of what I think good materials should be all about. They shouldn't do all the work for the teacher, or limit what can/should happen, they should really facilitate a range of interesting options. No two teachers are going to be the same, and no two classes for a teacher are going to be the same either!
The baffling/difficulty thing (in trying to establish rules and patterns based on students' errors in production) you mention here is something I experienced myself when first experimenting with the technique. It's also the reason why a whole team of Korean teachers tried and then comprehensively rejected the approach in a school I was managing some years ago. They couldn't cope with 'fluid' grammar of this nature, not governed in advance with specific rules and targeted activities setting out to apply them.
This follows on from my experience as a writing teacher and trying to correct students' work. Language is infinitely more complex and variable than the structure syllabi we see in most coursebooks, and learners' application of the language can be even more complex and variable.
What this approach encourages a teacher to do is look for smaller, manageable patterns and rules based on specific output. It also requires a teacher to draw a lot more on instinct and a sort of internal voice or melody in terms of what feels right about the language, what can be salient. Hopefully, regular application of this can encourage a similar feel and search for internal melody in the learners too!
It's also a terrific way to sharpen your on-the-spot skills as a language teacher. Over time, you'll find certain patterns cropping up again and again. It becomes possible to link patterns to previous ones. And learners become impressed and more interested in the process when they can see their own language being made more understandable with some basic rationales included. In my very humble opinion, a process like this helps in taking a teacher to a new, more elite level as a language educator. It's a terrific feeling to be able to stand up there and grapple coherently with whatever language the learners are producing, and it keeps you at the edge (so to speak), which also helps to maintain the teacher's own interest in the language and how it works.
One of those processes you need to work at in an ongoing way. The real fruit and gems to this approach tend to emerge a little later on, once you've been applying it regularly.
Good luck with it!
- Jason
Posted by: Account Deleted | 03/12/2011 at 07:04 PM
Thank you for sharing those experiences and thoughts... it's so helpful at the start of this process to hear from someone much further down the line.
Although the session I described here was tiring... I did try the approach again with a higher level and definitely felt something of the exhilaration you describe at the end. The board was covered with ideas and models and when the learners were reflecting on what they'd learned they mentioned things that had come up in the language feedback as being the most useful for them.
What this approach encourages a teacher to do is look for smaller, manageable patterns and rules based on specific output. Yeah...whilst I find it challenging to think of the rule/pattern on the spot at the same time it removes the burden of having to figure out every rule/exception etc... when preparing a session before hand. I'm simply focusing on the language as the learner has produced it. In many ways it's much more freeing and manageable for me as a teacher... as well as for them as learners.
I really like what you said about language being more complex and variable than the structured syllabi. That's something I've always been uncomfortable with - forgive me for going a bit Matrixy but this quote just popped into my head You don't know what it is, but it's there, like a splinter in your mind. At the back of my mind I've known, and been uncomfortable with the fact, that what I'm inputing doesn't fit the errors they're actually making. They make a few errors with past continuous so I whack out the whole 2 sessions on past continous. Every rule, exception and variable and by the end they're still making errors.
To just naturally address the specific error there and then and then move on ...
It ...requires a teacher to draw a lot more on instinct and... melody Yes - I love this it's so natural...and freeing and... good!
It's also a terrific way to sharpen your on-the-spot skills as a language teacher.
And they definitely need sharpening! But despite that...I think I've got enough of a taste to keep working at it and am looking forward to the process!
Thanks again so much for taking the time to share some of your thoughts and insights.. it's a lot of fun to read and very helpful.
Posted by: Anna Rose | 03/14/2011 at 01:05 AM