In my first year of teaching, I spent a day observing at another school as a part of my state’s beginning-teacher training program. I sat in with a teacher who used flash cards extremely well. I was impressed at how quickly, uniformly, and correctly students responded to the cards. When I tried using flash cards, however, I noticed that many students were not participating. They didn’t know the answers. Those who didn’t were not learning anything, and the ones who knew the answers didn’t need the practice. I realized that the teacher I observed must have had an approach to planning that made the traditional flash card drill work well. I, however, did not feel that I could sacrifice time spent in more communicative activities so that the students could respond in unison to the cards.
I changed the activity. I now pass the cards out to every other student, quizzing their neighbors, passing their card when the neighbor is successful, and then turning to be quizzed. (More? Click here.) With this variation, each student is forced to participate, has more time to think of the answer, cannot simply say what he hears his neighbor say, and has a personal tutor who can answer whatever question he may have about the answer. The teacher is therefore free to listen for common mistakes and alert the class when necessary.
I believe the above elements are crucial as you choose or create activities. In short, you want every student to be engaged for as much of the class period as possible. There is no place for activities in which only a few students are required to be involved as the others observe.
I once took the advice of a veteran teacher who suggested playing Jeopardy as a review. But I could not justify using class time for an activity in which the vast majority is sitting idle, waiting for a turn. I modified the game so that each student is active during the entire game (More? Click here.). Evaluate the games you use, and modify them so that all students are involved all the time.
In addition to involvement by students, we must also watch to see that the methods actually accomplish what we say they accomplish. Many teachers, for example, consider a scripted presentation to be a valuable oral activity. I used these activities for a couple of years; they’re creative, and they’re fun for the students. But this is a writing exercise! Ask yourself what benefit students derive from the time spent memorizing the scant amount of dialog that they are responsible for. And your admonishments not to memorize—they’re well-intentioned, but are they effective? Ask yourself how much time students spend focusing on improving their oral skills compared with the amount of time they spend trying to make elaborate productions. Ask yourself when, in the real world, students will have a written or memorized script when they enter into a conversation. (Click to see how I do oral presentations). Find a way to get your kids conversing! A conversation involves flexibility that a scripted presentation does not. A conversation requires listening and speaking, and a skill which is not one of the canonical “big four” skills—reacting. The brain needs practice in hearing what is said, comprehending it, and formulating a response in proper form in the target language.
We must be ruthlessly critical of our repertoire.
If an activity does not produce the desired result, there is a better activity
waiting to be discovered that will be a better use of class time. You can
be a more effective teacher by ending your search for “creative” ideas.
Begin evaluating your own activities on the basis of a solid educational
philosophy which may be based largely upon the unique “laboratory” in which
you teach every day. Throw out activities that do not work. Creativity
necessarily follows, as you create activities that involve all of the students
all of the time, toward the goal of a lasting, skillful use of the target
language in the real world.