49 results
21 - Managing textbook bias
- Chris Sowton
- Edited by Scott Thornbury
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- Teaching in Challenging Circumstances
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- 22 September 2021
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- 18 February 2021, pp 132-137
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Summary
If TESOL teachers fail to confront textbook bias, these educators are implicitly supporting as well as possibly socializing their students into accepting it.
John ShermanThe short version
1 The contents of a textbook are not value-free; they are generally shaped by a wide range of different forces.
2 As a teacher, it's important to be able to recognize these forces, and to know how to manage them in the classroom.
3 Textbook bias can be directed towards many marginalized groups, e.g. women, minority ethnic groups, or minority religions.
4 Textbook bias can also be demonstrated by not representing particular groups and identities (e.g. gay or disabled people), or else stereotyping or presenting them negatively.
5 Where possible, teachers should combat bias and prejudice in textbooks. Even if you can't do this directly (because of your context), there may be micro-resistances you can use to enable your students to challenge textbook contents.
Introduction
1 Think about the textbook(s) which you use to teach language. If you don't currently use one, think about others you have used or seen. Mark on each line according to how these textbooks treat the following groups.
Understanding textbooks bias
As suggested in ▸Chapter 20, one of the challenges of using textbooks is that they contain ▸bias. Textbook contents are neither neutral, nor value-free. There are a number of reasons why this bias might exist.
• The state and government may be dominated by a particular ethnic or religious group. The education system, through textbooks, reinforces this.
• Society may have particular attitudes towards, or expectations about, certain groups (e.g. girls, people living in rural areas, speakers of particular languages). These cultural norms are treated as fixed facts.
• The writers of the textbooks have their own biases (whether conscious or unconscious).
When textbooks are biased against particular groups, it makes it much more difficult to create an inclusive classroom (see ▸Chapter 3). As such, your efforts to treat all your students fairly and equally can be undermined by the textbook contents. These mixed messages can be very confusing for students.
Therefore, it is important not to ignore bias when you come across it. In thousands of classrooms around the world, the textbook may be the only resource which the students have. As such, the textbook effectively becomes the curriculum.
31 - Reflecting on your own teaching
- Chris Sowton
- Edited by Scott Thornbury
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- Book:
- Teaching in Challenging Circumstances
- Published online:
- 22 September 2021
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- 18 February 2021, pp 182-185
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Summary
As a result of your reflection you may decide to do something in a different way. Or you may just decide that what you are doing is the best way. And that is what professional development is all about.
Julie TiceThe short version
1 Reflecting on your own teaching is an empowering process.
2 This process can help you manage some of the challenges you face on a daily basis, as well as identifying specific ways in which you can improve as a teacher.
3 In addition to reflection which can be done soon after a lesson, teachers can use Critical Incident Analysis to reflect more widely on significant teaching moments across their career.
4 A supportive school environment is one in which all educational stakeholders can give each other constructive feedback. This is difficult to achieve without trust.
5 Getting feedback on your teaching from a colleague can be very beneficial, especially if this can become systemic, and take place on a regular, ongoing basis.
Introduction
1 To what extent do you currently reflect on your own teaching? For example, do you:
• think about whether a lesson met its objectives?
• talk to a colleague about how a lesson went?
• make written notes or records about your teaching?
2 Have you ever been observed in the classroom? Think about:
• who did the observation;
• whether the process was supportive and constructive;
• any changes you made to your teaching following the observation.
Reflective teaching
In challenging circumstances, it may be difficult to access opportunities to improve your own teaching (see ▸Chapter 32 for ideas on how to do this). As such, it can be beneficial to look ‘inwards’ rather than ‘outwards’ for this support. You can learn a lot about your own teaching using a few simple processes. However, if you are able to involve colleagues and even your students in this process, this will add significantly to your development. Indeed, you can use these different perspectives to triangulate the feedback. For example, you may feel that your ▸boardwork isn't very clear and so it's difficult for students to read. If a colleague and your students give you similar feedback, then it's highly likely this is true, and you can make the necessary changes to your classroom practice.
25 - Creating assessments
- Chris Sowton
- Edited by Scott Thornbury
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- Book:
- Teaching in Challenging Circumstances
- Published online:
- 22 September 2021
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- 18 February 2021, pp 154-157
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Summary
If you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.
Matthew KellyThe short version
1 When creating an assessment, crucial initial questions to ask are: (a) why are we assessing, and (b) what are we assessing?
2 Assessments must be both valid and reliable.
3 Assessment questions should be written as clearly and simply as possible.
4 Marking schemes are important to ensure fairness and equity within the assessment process.
5 Assessment should ‘feed forward’ into future learning, that is, inform our decisions about adapting our methods and approaches to better suit our learners.
Introduction
1 Why do we assess students? What is the overall purpose?
2 What is the process for creating assessments where you teach? Are you involved in the process?
3 Do you think language assessments used in your institution are fair? Why / why not?
4 Have you ever failed a test? How did you feel?
About assessment
Even if all high-stakes assessment in your institution is controlled by an ▸education authority, you are likely to still create some kinds of assessment, e.g. formative or ▸diagnostic assessments. This may just be the occasional test to see how students are progressing, or it may be more detailed and complex assessment. This chapter focuses on key questions which you should ask yourself when creating assessments. These questions are presented in the chronological order in which you should address them.
What is the assessment actually testing?
Too often, the clear purpose of an assessment is not known. Sometimes the only reason that students are assessed is because ‘this is what we’ve always done’. Educational stakeholders often have strong expectations that assessment is a central, if not the core, component of education. Moreover, their view of what constitutes a good assessment may be very traditional – i.e. formal, written exams. However, teachers often don't know how to create good assessments, and students are just given memory tests about what they have learned in class. Furthermore, assessment results are not used to improve learning.
Introduction
- Chris Sowton
- Edited by Scott Thornbury
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- Book:
- Teaching in Challenging Circumstances
- Published online:
- 22 September 2021
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- 18 February 2021, pp 1-8
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Summary
Washing one's hands of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless means to side with the powerful, not to be neutral.
Paulo FreireBackground to Teaching in Challenging Circumstances
The inspiration for Teaching in Challenging Circumstances is Michael West's Teaching English in Difficult Circumstances, a work which evolved out of his experiences as an educator in British India during the first half of the 20th century. Despite the six decades which have passed since its publication in 1960, many of his conclusions about English language learning in Bengal feel very familiar today, and there is much which we can learn from his experiences. He noted, for example, that despite students spending around ten hours a week on English study, very few students ‘had real reading ability in English, nor were they able to speak more than disjointed sentences, and they could write only very slowly and laboriously’, with the effect that their ‘results were extremely poor’. This state of affairs is instantly recognizable throughout the modern world, from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, where millions of students are daily receiving a language education where both the outcome and experience is unsatisfactory.
West's response to the situation he found in Kolkata and beyond was to support teachers in developing a pragmatic, practice-oriented pedagogy. This approach prioritized practices such as the comprehensibility of input, the recycling of new language, and linking language learning with the wider curriculum. His emphasis on a more liberal, democratic form of education was radical in its time, and indeed he purposefully ‘stood away from and was opposed to the dominant beliefs and practices of his day’ (Smith, 2016). One such contentious area concerned the negative impact which an assessment-focused culture had on classroom practice. This pressure resulted in a situation where teachers ‘can't do what they want to do because it doesn't help students pass examinations’. Again, West's critique is as fresh and relevant today as it ever was.
For West, the role of the teacher is nuanced. One particular area which he was critical of was classroom performativity, that is, where the teacher ‘is thinking too much of what he does so as to impress the Supervisor rather than of what the pupils are doing’.
13 - Teaching receptive skills
- Chris Sowton
- Edited by Scott Thornbury
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- Book:
- Teaching in Challenging Circumstances
- Published online:
- 22 September 2021
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- 18 February 2021, pp 77-84
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Summary
There's a lot of difference between listening and hearing.
GK ChestertonThe short version
1 Make reading and listening texts as interesting as possible for students – they will be more motivated to learn.
2 Focusing on high-frequency words is a quick and effective way to help students develop reading competency and confidence.
3 Listening lessons can be difficult due to the resources required and the classroom environment. However, there are ways of managing these challenges.
4 You should do reading and listening tasks which help students develop skills and strategies. Be explicit about what skills and strategies you are aiming to develop.
5 Create opportunities for students to do extensive reading and listening, both inside and outside of your institution.
Introduction
1 What challenges do your students face in developing their reading and listening skills? What do you do to try and overcome these challenges?
2 The following words about teaching / learning reading and listening are used in this chapter. What do you think they mean? (They are all explained in the Glossary.)
Teaching reading and listening
In challenging circumstances, teachers often don't have a choice about what written or audio texts they have to teach, especially if they work in formal education. Many of the challenges and suggestions in this chapter recognize this limitation (see Part VI for further information). If students are bored by the texts you have to teach, it's crucial that you adapt your pedagogical approach so that they do find it interesting. If you don't adapt, students will be confused and demotivated, and their ▸receptive skills will not improve.
If you do have flexibility in which texts you can use, ask your students what interests them and find or create texts accordingly. If you involve them in the process, they will be more focused. If it's difficult to do this in L2, ask students to bring in L1 texts they enjoy. You can work with them to translate these texts into English. They will be motivated to do this because they already like the content, and this activity also creates written texts in English which you could potentially use with other students.
VIII - Linking the school to the outside world
- Chris Sowton
- Edited by Scott Thornbury
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- Teaching in Challenging Circumstances
- Published online:
- 22 September 2021
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- 18 February 2021, pp -
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32 - Accessing development opportunities
- Chris Sowton
- Edited by Scott Thornbury
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- Book:
- Teaching in Challenging Circumstances
- Published online:
- 22 September 2021
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- 18 February 2021, pp 186-189
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Summary
A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
Chinese proverb, attributed to Lao TzuThe short version
1 It's important to develop as a teacher, for personal, professional and psychological reasons.
2 Although you may feel that you have no opportunities for professional development, even in the most challenging circumstances, there are things you can do.
3 Developing your language ability, particularly your spoken skills, can give you confidence and have a positive impact on your teaching ability.
4 Participating in face-to-face and/or online teacher groups, as well as joining national or international networks, is a good way of developing your pedagogical skills and to make you feel part of a community.
5 There are many online options for development, but you may need to search carefully to find ones which are relevant and appropriate for you.
Introduction
1 What skills and knowledge would make you a better teacher?
2 What development opportunities can you find in your context? Are you accessing all the opportunities which are available?
Teacher development
Developing as a teacher is important for personal, professional and psychological reasons. In becoming better as a teacher, as learning experiences and outcomes improve, both you and your students benefit. Furthermore, as you develop your own skills and abilities, you also make yourself more employable. Teachers, like students, can sometimes have a negative mindset, where professional development feels pointless, or a very high mountain to climb. You may feel that there is so much to do that there is no point in doing anything, However, in the majority of challenging circumstances, if teachers don't take responsibility for their own development, nobody else will. Although it may not be easy, it is usually possible to improve your situation.
Teacher development can be divided into three main categories:
• How can I increase my knowledge of my specific subject area? (e.g. improving your own English, or a specific aspect of it, such as speaking skills)
• How can I improve my general pedagogic skills? (e.g. using group work more effectively, or teaching writing more collaboratively)
• How can I improve a specific skill which is particularly relevant where I teach? (e.g. supporting children who have trauma, or teaching multilingual classes)
9 - Managing the seating arrangements
- Chris Sowton
- Edited by Scott Thornbury
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- Book:
- Teaching in Challenging Circumstances
- Published online:
- 22 September 2021
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- 18 February 2021, pp 57-62
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Summary
A good seating arrangement is one which facilitates specific learning tasks and activities and communicates a teacher's beliefs about learning and teaching.
Hue Ming-Tak and Li Wai-ShingThe short version
1 Classroom seating arrangement has a big impact on how you teach, and therefore on how learning takes place.
2 Many of the assumptions about the advantages of fixed-desk classrooms are untrue.
3 In situations where the desks and seating are fixed and cannot be moved, there are still many things which you can do to improve learning experiences and outcomes.
4 If you are able to change the seating layout, there are many advantages to doing so. What you can do depends on the size of your class, and the existing infrastructure.
5 Remember: even if the desks and benches are not mobile, your students are!
Introduction
1 What are the seating arrangements in the classroom(s) which you teach in? Are you satisfied with the arrangements? Why / why not?
2 Do you have a seating plan for your students, or can they sit where they want?
3 The names of six possible classrom layouts are given below. Draw a diagram of what you think each would look like.
The link between seating arrangement and teaching approach
The seating plan in a classroom says a lot about the pedagogy and methodology which is used. Typically, in a classroom without any furniture (e.g. just mats on the floor), the learning includes more activities and is more learner-centred, and students interact more effectively and with more of their classmates. In fixed-desk classrooms, a ‘chalk and talk’ or ‘sit and listen’ approach is commonly used. This leads to students working more by themselves, being less active, and talking to the same people much of the time.
Robert Sommer said that we should not talk about a single ‘classroom environment’, but rather several ‘classroom environments’. Within one room, there can be huge differences in terms of comfort, atmosphere, temperature, lighting and sightlines (i.e. the view of the board). Just one of these factors could negatively impact the students. A combination of these factors would likely be very significant.
3 - Creating an inclusive classroom
- Chris Sowton
- Edited by Scott Thornbury
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- Book:
- Teaching in Challenging Circumstances
- Published online:
- 22 September 2021
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- 18 February 2021, pp 21-26
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Summary
Inclusion and equity in and through education is the cornerstone of a transformative education agenda.
World Education ForumThe short version
1 Economic and social pressure means that in challenging circumstances, classrooms are often not inclusive, and in certain situations may actually be anti-inclusive.
2 Creating an inclusive classroom can be challenging, especially if students, teachers, school management, parents and even you have strongly-held views.
3 Inclusivity must be considered from multiple perspectives – e.g. students’ physical disability, gender, sexual orientation and age, as well as their ethnic, racial and religious identity.
4 Inclusivity is a critical issue in terms of both student retention and student assessment.
5 Inclusive policies are most effective when supported by all the institution's educational stakeholders.
Introduction
1 Think about your institution. What specific challenges do your students face if they
• have poor eyesight / are blind?
• are deaf or hard of hearing?
• are physically disabled?
• are HIV positive?
• are a member of a minority ethnicity / race?
• are female?
• are a member of a minority religion?
• are lesbian / gay / bisexual?
2 Think about your answers above. How inclusive is: (a) your institution, (b) your own classroom? What views do the stakeholders have on these issues?
What is an inclusive classroom?
An inclusive classroom is one in which all students have a chance to participate equally and to the best of their abilities. Students recognize and accept each other as equal partners in learning. An inclusive institution is one which has fair, open and full access, and where all students are supported equally in their learning. Inclusivity means that no student is discriminated against, whatever their age, level of (dis)ability, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, HIV status, race or religion.
Note
Managing multilingual and mixed-age classrooms are discussed in detail in ▸Chapter 8 and ▸Chapter 11, respectively.
Creating inclusive institutions and classrooms can be difficult. Individuals and communities can have strong views about particular groups or identities. This can affect whether they are allowed (or if they feel comfortable) to learn. These views may be held by the students, teachers, school management, parents – or even yourself.
27 - Involving parents and guardians
- Chris Sowton
- Edited by Scott Thornbury
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- Book:
- Teaching in Challenging Circumstances
- Published online:
- 22 September 2021
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- 18 February 2021, pp 163-166
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Summary
Schools do not properly engage parents in their decisions and they rarely share critical information about what concerns the children's education, except where there arises a problem beyond the school's control.
Yakubu Anas, Kano, NigeriaThe short version
1 Parents and guardians have an important role to play in schools.
2 Some schools are supportive of parents’ and guardians’ involvement in schools, and have mechanisms which encourage this, such as parent–teacher associations. Other schools can be less supportive to this, or indeed hostile.
3 Some parents and guardians may feel nervous or embarrassed about getting involved, often because of their educational background or social status. Schools have to be more welcoming to those who feel like this.
4 The learning which takes place at home can be as important as the learning which takes place at school.
5 Parents and guardians can have an important role to play in the classroom.
Introduction
1 How many of your students’ parents have you met, or do you know?
2 To what extent are parents and guardians involved in the life of your school, and their children's learning?
3 Below are some strategies for getting parents / guardians involved more in schools and their children's learning. What do you think they mean? How can parents and guardians be involved in them?
How to involve all educational stakeholders
The first thing to say is that you cannot make the changes listed here by yourself. To fully involve parents and guardians in the life of your school, all ▸educational stakeholders will need to be involved, especially head teachers and senior teachers. Strong leadership is needed to make meaningful change. Depending on your context, some of the ideas below will be more realistic than others. You will need to adapt to your local situation.
Ten-minute share
When some children begin school, they are very nervous. Indeed, they may even be scared. It's obviously important to minimize this wherever possible. One way to achieve this is to have ‘tenminute share’ sessions at the beginning and/or end of the day. This can help the child feel safe and secure, and that school is a ‘place for them’. These sessions should not be compulsory for parents. They should be encouraged, rather than pressured to participate. Indeed, there may be good reasons why some parents cannot come.
Index
- Chris Sowton
- Edited by Scott Thornbury
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- Book:
- Teaching in Challenging Circumstances
- Published online:
- 22 September 2021
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- 18 February 2021, pp 200-222
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Glossary
- Chris Sowton
- Edited by Scott Thornbury
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- Book:
- Teaching in Challenging Circumstances
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- 22 September 2021
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- 18 February 2021, pp 190-199
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8 - Using different languages
- Chris Sowton
- Edited by Scott Thornbury
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- Teaching in Challenging Circumstances
- Published online:
- 22 September 2021
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- 18 February 2021, pp 51-56
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Summary
The punishments [for speaking local languages] include washing dining-hall plates, weeding, scrubbing, writing lines and wearing labels that say ‘I will not speak vernacular in school again’.
Beth Erling, Lina Adinolfi and Anna Kristina HultgreenThe short version
1 Students’ mother tongues need to be seen as a resource and opportunity rather than as a problem. This is especially important as national and international languages become increasingly dominant.
2 There should be greater tolerance towards using L1 in the classroom, acknowledging the benefits which it can have for acquiring L2.
3 Three potential ways to promote different languages in your classroom are code switching, translanguaging and using bilingual teaching assistants.
4 Creating materials and resources, both for classroom and wider use, is another important way of promoting minority languages in schools.
5 Having a more open and welcoming approach to different languages in the classroom also presents challenges, but these challenges can be managed.
Introduction
1 What language, or languages, are used in your school in:
• the classroom?
• the playground?
• staff meetings?
2 Are these the same languages which are spoken in the wider community where the students live?
3 Do you think the language policy in your school is fair and equitable? If you could change it, would you? How?
4 Below is a list of strategies which can be used to encourage students’ use of local languages in the classroom. What do you think they mean? Have you ever used these strategies?
Multilingual classrooms
In challenging circumstances, especially in conflict and post-conflict areas, language can be both a threat and an opportunity. It can be a threat because it is commonly used as a tool of division and ‘othering’, and to prioritize a particular ethnic, social or cultural group over others who live in the same community. Languages can also be an opportunity as they can give people life chances, and promote communication between disparate groups.
As such, a school's policy towards language, perhaps more than any other single factor, can affect students’ learning outcomes. When students are forced to use a language which is unfamiliar or which they are not proficient in, their educational progress and experiences are negatively affected.
26 - Helping students perform well in exams
- Chris Sowton
- Edited by Scott Thornbury
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- Book:
- Teaching in Challenging Circumstances
- Published online:
- 22 September 2021
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- 18 February 2021, pp 158-162
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Summary
Assessment is … the bridge between teaching and learning.
Dylan WilliamThe short version
1 Exams should be seen as a core part of the whole educational process, not as one-off events.
2 Before exams, prepare students for what to expect, check equipment, and identify what happens to the other students.
3 During exams, ensure the physical conditions are optimized, that students are as physically prepared as possible, and that invigilators know what to do.
4 After exams, give as much feedback to students as possible, and ensure that there is systemic support for processes.
5 Create a system where students (and staff) use learning portfolios.
Introduction
1 What is your students’ attitude towards exams?
2 How do you think your students’ performance in exams could be improved?
3 What would be the obstacles to making these changes?
Exams are a continuous process
It's important that institutions see exams as a core part of the whole educational process. They should not be viewed as one-off events, but as part of a much bigger picture. This chapter thinks about exams from three different perspectives: how you can prepare students before exams, what you can do during exams to make the experience better, and what you can do afterwards.
Before exams
Familiarizing students with exam tasks
Students need to know what to expect in an exam, especially if it is high stakes. Knowing the type and style of tasks can help reduce anxiety and stress. If possible, share previous exam papers or tasks with the students. Another good technique is to get them to predict the kind of questions which might come. Engaging with the tasks in this critical way can result in students performing better.
Planning for the other students
During exam periods (especially for formal summative exams), it is common for the whole institution to be closed except for those doing the exams. Whilst the underlying reason for this makes sense (i.e. to minimize disruptions), the majority of students miss out on learning during this time. In situations where educational opportunities are very limited, the available time for learning has to be maximized.
18 - Using the local environment
- Chris Sowton
- Edited by Scott Thornbury
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- Book:
- Teaching in Challenging Circumstances
- Published online:
- 22 September 2021
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- 18 February 2021, pp 114-119
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Summary
Using the local environment enables children to develop a sense of belonging to the local community. It helps them to develop a sense of place which in turn will develop their feelings of security.
The British Association for Early Childhood EducationThe short version
1 In our busy, day-to-day lives, we often don't see the language opportunities which are right in front of us.
2 When using the local environment, learning can be deepened as students not only see and hear, but touch, taste and smell.
3 Learning walks are one type of activity which enables students to engage with where they live, and to learn.
4 Community mapping is another activity, through which students can learn more about where they live (and each other).
5 Any activities you do should be adapted to the specific characteristics of the local area.
Introduction
1 How can the local environment be used for language learning? (If you haven't looked at ▸Chapter 17 already, you might benefit from reading it before moving on to this chapter.)
2 Look at the photos below. How might you use these environments to teach language?
Learning and the local environment
In Teaching Without Textbooks, Edward John Wade describes how, as a volunteer teacher in 1963 he was recruited to start up, alone, an Australian government primary school deep in the rainforests of New Guinea. Having lost the few materials he had in an accident, he describes how, impelled by the children's needs and interests, he covered the primary school curriculum by working from what was immediately available. ‘I asked the children to show me what they wanted to know about, and gradually introduced English through their responses. …We did our math and science in the bush by estimating how many kernels we could get from an ear of corn. We checked with the villagers where and how far apart we should plant them, and how big an area we would need to clear …’ and so on.
When he finally saw a copy of the primary school syllabus, he was gratified to find that he had ‘covered’ just about every item listed.
22 - Supplementing textbooks
- Chris Sowton
- Edited by Scott Thornbury
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- Book:
- Teaching in Challenging Circumstances
- Published online:
- 22 September 2021
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- 18 February 2021, pp 138-142
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Summary
Textbooks in every subject can be analysed from two perspectives: a content analysis that examines the areas that the textbook covers, and a didactic analysis that examines the methodological approach to the subject matter or to how the content is treated.
John WhiteThe short version
1 Although textbooks are important, there are times when the content can be challenging for students.
2 Students may, for example, find the contents difficult, inappropriate or offensive.
3 In such situations, there are several strategies you can use, like simplifying or managing the content.
4 Another way is to make the material more directly and obviously relevant to students, for example by personalizing and contextualizing.
5 Where possible, make textbooks as student-focused as possible, and differentiate to ensure that students maximize their language learning.
Introduction
Below is a page from an English language textbook for 13–14 year old students. Their level is lowerintermediate.
1 What challenges might you face teaching this in your context?
2 How could you make the content more interesting and accessible?
Read this story silently, then answer the questions on your own.①
Sam lives in the city. One day, he decided to go a restaurant②. He was feeling really hungry. Having shown
him to a table, the waiter asked him what he wanted to eat.③
‘I will have steak please.’④
‘I’m afraid we don't have any left.’
‘WHAT? I WANT TO SEE THE MANAGER IMMEDIATELY.’⑤
Sam called the manager over. She apologized to Sam, saying that they had not received their delivery of steak, but that they had lots of other food.
‘I can't eat here. This restaurant is terrible. I’m never coming back.’ Sam stood up, marched to the door, and walked into the street.
Questions⑥
1 Who felt hungry?
2 Where did he go?
3 Why was Sam angry?
4 What happened next?
Potential challenges of textbook materials
Of course it is difficult to make generalizations about a text. However, some of the potential problems presented by the reading text and activity in the example are outlined below.
24 - Checking what students have learned
- Chris Sowton
- Edited by Scott Thornbury
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- Book:
- Teaching in Challenging Circumstances
- Published online:
- 22 September 2021
- Print publication:
- 18 February 2021, pp 148-153
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Summary
Teacher: Do you understand?
Student: Yes.
Teacher: Good.
The short version
1 Checking students’ understanding of the target language is something which should occur regularly throughout your lessons, not just periodically in tests and exams.
2 It's important to resist the pressure to rush through and finish the textbook. The quality, not quantity, of learning is what matters.
3 Checking students’ understanding does not have to be a boring activity – there are many fun, active strategies which you can use to make it interesting as well as productive.
4 Although it's important not to ‘over-check’ during a lesson, checking should be a normal part of your teaching practice.
5 Asking concept checking questions is a very effective way to check students’ understanding, but they can be challenging for both students and teachers.
Introduction
Think about your general day-to-day classroom practice:
1 Why do you check what your students have learned?
2 When do you check what your students have learned?
3 How do you check what your students have learned?
Checking students’ understanding
Checking understanding is not something which only takes place in tests or exams. It should be a core part of your teaching practice, and what happens in your language learning classroom. However, you should also be careful not to ‘over-check’ as it can be quite demotivating for students to constantly be asked questions. When teaching in challenging circumstances, knowing why, when and how to test is even more important, because of the many other factors which make learning difficult.
• Classes may be multi-level (see ▸Chapter 10), meaning that there is likely to be a large gap between the strongest and weakest students. Students may therefore have different levels of understanding. Some may understand the new language quickly whilst others take more time.
• Large class sizes (see ▸Part III) make it more difficult to get accurate or individual data about students’ levels of understanding. You may therefore need to get more general or approximate data.
• Textbook issues (see ▸Part VI) lead to students facing difficulties in doing homework or checking their understanding after the class.
• Fewer learning resources (see ▸Part V) mean that students may not be able to write notes and make a record of what they learn in class. This makes it more important that teachers check regularly within classes.
12 - Learning outside the classroom
- Chris Sowton
- Edited by Scott Thornbury
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- Book:
- Teaching in Challenging Circumstances
- Published online:
- 22 September 2021
- Print publication:
- 18 February 2021, pp 72-76
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Summary
A tremendous imbalance of power exists in the classroom … The instructor has freedom of space, the students do not.
Robert SommerThe short version
1 The space outside a classroom can be just as good for learning as inside a classroom (if not better!)
2 Some outdoor language learning activities are based on existing games known by the students (e.g. tag, running), making students feel they are playing rather than learning.
3 An empty classroom is a room full of possibilities.
4 One of the main advantages of removing classroom furniture is that the process of learning language is closer to real life.
5 If you decide to go ‘furniture free’ in your classroom, you need an implementation / transition plan, and to involve as many people in the decision as possible.
Introduction
1 Does your existing classroom furniture (desks, benches, chairs, etc.) help or prevent learning? Why?
2 How much do you use outdoor space for learning? Why / why not?
3 Look at the list of language learning activities below, all of which can be done outside. What do you think happens in each?
Taking the learning outside
In ▸Chapter 9 we discussed ways in which you can manage a fixed-desk classroom. We looked at different ways in which this situation could maximize language learning opportunities. One additional option is to forget about the classroom and take the learning outside. This is not something you have to do all the time. However, if you do it on a regular, periodic basis, it can be fun, interesting and motivating both for students and for yourself.
Part VI of this book looks more widely at language learning opportunities when not using textbooks – in your local community and beyond. The focus of the current chapter is on activities which you could do within the school grounds, but away from your classroom (e.g. in the playground, or sports area if there is one). Please note that the space required does not need to be large. Whilst some of these activities could be done inside the classroom, they are much more effective in an outdoor space.
Taking learning outside can also have important health benefits. This is especially important if your classroom is badly lit, poorly ventilated and too small for the number of students. Students cannot be properly mentally focused on learning if they are physically uncomfortable.
I - Creating a good environment for language learning
- Chris Sowton
- Edited by Scott Thornbury
-
- Book:
- Teaching in Challenging Circumstances
- Published online:
- 22 September 2021
- Print publication:
- 18 February 2021, pp -
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IV - Teaching language skills and systems
- Chris Sowton
- Edited by Scott Thornbury
-
- Book:
- Teaching in Challenging Circumstances
- Published online:
- 22 September 2021
- Print publication:
- 18 February 2021, pp -
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- Chapter
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