Hi all.

Hi all. Sorry I had to leave before the end of the session today. Juan, I just wanted to follow up on that question I asked about the practical needs of a curriculum/course book to teach to vs. an an affective learning approach. My question was:  
One thing that really strikes me about your teaching style, Juan is that it is not rushed. You take your time. I always find myself myself thinking I have to get through this stuff in the curriculum today...how do you balance course book/curriculum dictates/requirements/ confines versus affective learning?
Looking forward to hearing from you, Juan and from anyone else who has any other ideas :) Yasmin

Comments

  1. Juan UribeApril 23, 2016 at 12:29 PM

    Thank you for bringing up the question again, Yasmin. Let's think together about this very common challenge teachers face all around the world. 

    I teach in a small private language school in which we have a small number of students in class. I do not have to rush through a curriculum or have tests that guide my teaching. In this sense I have a high degree of freedom to experiment and to listen to students. 

    Teachers who have larger classrooms with 25 students in 50 minute classes are artists in the way they work with affective language learning. 

    Changing the way students sit can help you in their interaction. I have noticed that learning stations with tables with four students that face each other work really well when it comes to getting students to talk to each other and work together. Also asking students about how they would like to learn the fixed curriculum promotes engagement through power sharing. 

    Where do you think you might be losing precious time? What are the boundaries that challenge you the most? 

    Let's continue talking about it! 

    Which hints would teachers in the course give  Yasmin?

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  2. yazhApril 24, 2016 at 5:54 AM

    Many thanks for your response, Juan. Sounds likely a lovely environment you teach in :)
    I currently have 4 classes of up to 20 YLs in a class and lessons are 2 hours long with a 10 minute break after either 50 minutes or one hour, depending on whether they are primary or secondary!  
    There are also prescribed student books and accompanying workbooks which all parents MUST buy for their kids, so I feel I have to use for them to get their 'money's worth', to some extent. 
    There are also recommended lesson aims given to us by management for each of the 15 lessons of the course  (though we can deviate from them... perhaps more than I have been)
    There is only one lesson a week - on the Egyptian weekend -Thurday evening, Friday or Saturday. So these are 15-week courses - though in Egypt, this is a minimum as invariably there are holidays at some point in those 3-4 months :)

    I like your point about having four students facing each other - I have this option in the classroom I am currently assigned for my 6-7 year olds, as that classroom has tablesm but the other three classrooms only have the chairs with the kind of flappy arm rest to write on - do you know what I mean? 

    Ooh- asking students how they would like to learn sounds interesting...I wonder how that would go down!! Thanks v much, Juan :)

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