Back from beyond...

Six weeks away from teaching has had some interesting effects. I've had lots of time to recover, which I didn't over the summer, and I've come back to my classes with a much calmer attitude, I think.

I had in fact relaxed so much that I forgot about the one member of my teacher training class who drives me up the wall. This week, it was disparaging comments about a much-loved teaching method of mine- specifically, using games in class- which got me going and stopped me wanting to contribute. "In my subject," he announced, "games are for Christmas break." I found that very rude of him, and can't help wondering whether he allows his own students to be so rude about other students' opinions and ideas. I was rather frustrated that games were not discussed further as other methods were, since I was itching for the opportunity at least to explain why they are so useful in an English class. What I should have done was jump on the comment, which was made seemingly as a parting shot as other comments have been, and ask why he said that. I felt very angry that someone felt it was acceptable to denigrate a teaching tool, simply because it couldn't be used for a particular subject. That said, I feel that a game approach can be used in a variety of subject areas. It's not specifically playing a game- I don't spend my English classes playing parlour games- it's putting the learning goal into a game format.

For example: I want my students to revise the past simple tense. I could give them a test. I could give them a worksheet on the past simple. In some classes that is precisely what I would do, as they respond to a more formal teaching style. But I could, with equal success in terms of the learning outcome, use the Blockbusters I think I've mentioned before- a hex-grid of verbs, which the students have to turn into the tense I specify to win the hex and get across the board.

Another example: I want to feedback with the class and go through the answers to some work they have been doing, let us for the sake of argument say a Cloze exercise. I could simply ask them to tell me the answers and I write them down. But I could also put the students in teams, and 'buy' the correct answers with monopoly money- if they bid on the correct one, they get their money back. If they bid incorrectly, they lose their money, and the team with the most money at the end is the winner. It keeps their interest, as they have a stake in every answer, and getting them right matters more. Or I could project (this is pre-Smartboard) the exercise onto the whiteboard twice- as in two copies up at the same time- give two groups of students pens, and get them to race to fill out the correct answers. The team with the most correct, and correctly spelled, wins. Again, it makes getting things right matter.

A final example, from a listening exercise: I want my students to pick out particular words in a listening exercise, to practice their listening skills. A great, fun, and very kinaesthetic way to do this, is to give the students flashcards, each with a different word on it. The chairs are put out so that students can stand up easily. When they hear their word, that is exactly what they have to do. It hones their skills, and is tremendous fun when you use a song.

These examples, and others like them (I shall talk about using puppets and drama another time) are, as far as I'm concerned, games. They are not serious, but they have learning outcomes, and students gain from them. One of the most important things they gain is a more varied lesson. Varying the way that I deliver my subject is, as far as I'm concerned, one of the most important skills I can develop. It keeps my students engaged, interested, and focussed on the task.

At least I can empathise now with students who have problems with particular peers who antagonise them- there was a time when I would deliberately pair such students to try and get them to co-operate and get over their differences, but I realise now, having had to work with said classmember, just how unproductive that can be.

Slang and talking about the trip will, I think, provide some interesting lessons.

But not as interesting, I suspect, as the ESOL citizenship work. Why didn't I start using this sooner? It's an ideal way to introduce some positive changes in classroom management, as one of the first things discussed in both the coursebooks are good and bad manners. Now that we have established what they are, my Entry 2 class are keenly putting up their hands before answering or asking questions- a good start to getting them not to talk to each other when others are talking.