Task #3

Task #3

I really enjoyed watching the Circle Time video. Throughout the video, I kept thinking of the song and story time I led with toddlers, and how I could use some of the techniques in the video with the very young language learners. In circle time, the students get to know each other better as they share what they are thinking and feeling. It helps a bond grow among the students. It encourages understanding and a caring atmosphere at the beginning of the class so that the students and the teacher understand how everyone is feeling that day. This leads to a better learning environment as the students feel safe with each other and the teacher. When the students feel safe, they are not as worried about making mistakes. They will look forward to learning together.

Some problems that can occur during circle time include:
1) a student, who is very shy, might not want to share anything.
2) a student might be unwilling to sit and listen to others and then could cause a distraction.
3) one student might want to talk too much
4) a student might be too young to sit and share very much.

Comments

  1. Juan UribeApril 14, 2016 at 11:11 AM

    You are very right, Karen, when you point out the challenges of having circle time with some types of students. Singing is a powerful way of building harmony and pacing the class to be in your wavelength. 

    Having small groups can help with students that might be too shy. Talking chips can help with the dominating ones. And one very last idea that just came to my mind is having circle time moving, stopping, and sharing which could possibly work with the very little ones. 

    I am very interested in researching about the effects of mindfulness and how it can happen in English classes with young learners. Will let you know what I discover!

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  2. Karen Frazier TsaiApril 16, 2016 at 9:54 AM

    I really look forward to what you discover about mindfulness with young learners!! :)

    Thank you for your suggestions!  I'm not real familiar with the talking chips and will check that out! I like the idea of moving, stopping and sharing, though some of the toddlers that come are very young 9-18 months and are not speaking a lot yet. So they are not ready for the sharing, but the 2-3 year olds might be! :)

    One thing that I do with the toddlers in a reading circle is to read the same book (Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see?) every session. It has a sliding door on each page that reveals what animal will be seen next. As the weeks go by, and the toddlers become more comfortable with story time and the language, they start repeating with me as I read the familiar text. And, some eventually become bold enough to come up to me and help slide the door open. :) 

    I also have the toddlers get up and move a lot, gesturing and walking around in a circle as we sing. That helps them become comfortable with both the language and with interacting with each other.

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