Gallery Walk and Games for Children
Thinking about gallery walk is a good way to let the students be focused on a topic and also it's good for every children because they'll be able to explain what is the topic about or at least to tell their classmates that they have a theme to explain even if its drawing. I will try as a professor to choose the themes according to the lvl of English my stundents will have. It's a way to let them speak without thinking about mistakes. On the other hand the games we saw today.... most of them are useful but, others aren't or not for me at least because there were "games" that are not really games, they're more like commands and I don't want the students learn just commands because they'll not going to be able to say anything without a command. Which means that the students that I have to teach they must enjoy what I'm doing as a teacher otherwise they'll not going to be able to learn. In fact considering the low lvl of English we have in Panama one of the games I could use is "Change Charirs" but not as the teacher told us to use it with one student giving instructions because we as Panamanian knows the lvl of English our yought have. They sometimes are not going to be able to understand even if Im going to give the instruction as a teacher. It's a hard position to see what we are learning here to addapt it to out country, in different sides of Panama itself because depending on the side of Panama you are you'll see different lvl of English in every people. In my case I'm in the country side so, the lvl of English in there is too low and well, it's one of the lowerest and I need to addapt tecniques for this because even if a student is 17 years old finishing highschool most of the time is hard to them to understand when the professor is giving instructions. Thats one of the hardest part that I'm thinking on to see what can I do.
I appreciate your reflection on how the activities that you experienced may not fit exactly with your teaching context. You demonstrate keen awareness of the challenges that students in Panama, and especially in the countryside, may present to EFL learning.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I want to urge caution. Ts (including myself) too often make the mistake of underestimating what Ss are able to do. Or underestimating what Ss COULD do if only we have them the opportunity to show us. Ss can and do often surprise us when we expect more from them and grant them the freedom to surprise us. Therefore, because your assessment of the Ss is most likely accurate in many respects, use that to adapt instruction and activities accordingly, but guard against low expectations.