Reflection - Ana - 3rd Session

After a warm-up of Who am I?, Ana gave us names of some of the most important ‘gurus’ nowadays in education in Spain. First, César Bona, who affirms that “curiosity is the motor of learning.”  We should educate children to participate in society by giving them the emotional tools to be happy adults.  Education should be based on empathy, sensitivity and respect. We live in a strange world where these children, bursting with emotion and curiosity, enter a classroom and have to leave all this at the door - behave, memorise and regurgitate information.  We extinguish their curiosity instead of simulating it.  

“Una persona deja de aprender no porque se haga mayor, sino porque deja de tener curiosidad”

Next, maths, science and technology teacher David Calle, the Youtube teacher and finally - Angel Carracedo - who interestingly, never went to high school himself, so knows what it’s like to have freedom outside a classroom.  He talks about how we need to rethink our culture of results and instead foment a culture of effort - in a similar vein to the ‘growth mindset’ that I talked about in a previous post.  We also need to encourage all children to achieve their own potential, not just what is expected of them in a formal test.   

A British ‘guru’ on education, Sir Ken Robinson, in another RSA Animate video, (can you tell I’m a fan?) talks about how the traditional education system is no longer ‘fit for purpose’, how instances of ADHD have risen along with the appearance of standardised tests. Schools are still organised like factories and this production line mentality is getting in the way of the creativity of students and discouraging ‘divergent thinking’ - a key ingredient for creativity. In an article in TES, Sir Ken uses an anecdote about an abattoir and makes the point that all institutions behave in ways that are particular to them, he says “If you run an education system based on standardisation and conformity, which suppresses individuality, imagination and creativity, don’t be surprised if that’s what it does.”  

In class, we then turned to look at an example of a textbook and how to exploit it effectively. We first discussed objectives.  One thing that quite a lot of books do nowadays is explicitly explain the objectives. This is also common practice in the UK where teachers write up the aims and objectives of the class on the board at the beginning of the class.  However, Christina Dennet, again in the TES magazine, suggests that setting out the objectives in stone may actually be counterproductive.  Like asking a closed question, there leaves no room for discovery and effectively extinguishes curiosity.  Here I agree entirely, the teacher should have a clear idea of where they want to go with the lesson, but there should be room to allow for an interesting (and important) tangent to be addressed.

Another important point is to focus on the theme rather than the grammar.  I put my hands up and fully admit that I have on occasion got sucked into the grammar black hole when teaching a unit.  It’s a mixture of my own keenness to get the grammar right for the students and partly the expectation of the students.  A colleague of mine once said that teachers often spend so much time explaining grammar for the sake of their own ego, to prove that they can explain it inside out, exceptions included. Guilty as charged, especially when I first started out.  Students quite often expect it too, adults especially, but quite often teenagers, because of how they are taught in school.  It’s a hard trap to get out of, but one that is well worth it.  There is so much to be gained from focusing on the communicative aspect.  

Other key points that really stood out for me:

So much time can be dedicated to the first page that it could take the whole class.  I like the idea of pre-preparing the students with the vocabulary, either by refreshing their memory or introducing new items.  This type of preparation facilitates the communicative process because they already have the artillery they need.  

It’s not necessary to explicitly explain the grammar or what it’s called.  Ask anyone on the street in London, Glasgow or Belfast what a ‘relative pronoun’ is and they would look at you like you had two heads!  Of course, there will be students that want a proper grammar explanation but it’s not always necessary to drill in the form.  One thing that can be useful is to point out common mistakes - difference between whose and who’s, when to use anything or nothing etc.

To really make it stick in their head, real meaning should be attached to the grammar.  Textbooks do their best but they are inherently sterile and faceless, it’s up to the teacher to reformulate the information to make it stick in their heads eg. ‘ If I study, I’ll pass…’ ‘Celta beat Barcelona, they won 4-3.’ etc. The problem with textbooks is that they age. Something awfully ‘hip’ about the X-Factor or a celebrity is almost immediately out of date.  I remember trying awkwardly to explain what Myspace was to a group of 12 year olds. And I’ll never forget a unit in English in Mind 2 by Cambridge. The grammar point was the present perfect simple and continuous - “How long has David Bowie been playing guitar?”, “How many films has he been in?”.  The only problem was that David Bowie had passed away not a month before…. I’m being facetious but textbooks do actually bring a lot of positive things for teachers - especially for those starting out. Books offer routine, structure and a logical progression. They also provide ready-made materials for the classroom and assessment.  Whatsmore, the quality has improved dramatically over the last few years and practically all use the communicative approach (albeit communicative with a small c).  Most also have Spanish-Speakers editions which greatly help in understanding the difficulties that our students might have.  In short, activities in textbooks should be used a springboard, a jumping off point to adapt, expand (or indeed remove) according to the needs of our students.   

https://www.tes.com/news/school-news/breaking-views/sir-ken-robinson-%E2%80%98-education-system-a-dangerous-myth%E2%80%99

https://www.tes.com/news/tes-magazine/tes-magazine/your-objective-shouldnt-be-share-lessons-aim

https://trespasoseducacionesp.wordpress.com/2016/03/07/angel-carracedo-reflexiones-para-la-mejora-del-sistema-educativo/

https://scottthornbury.wordpress.com/2010/08/15/c-is-for-communicative/