Post by justin on Oct 29, 2016 12:39:40 GMT 8
One of the ways we can do this is with rewards for preserving the learning environment. We already do this with stickers and stars to some extent and by creating classroom rules like “no English” and getting the students to help reinforce the rule on their own. Students need to be invested in the purposes of the class in order to want to step up and become leaders in the classroom, so discovering students’ attitudes towards learning and incorporating their interests and desires into the class can create an environment where students want to preserve the rules and genuinely enjoy learning and practicing new English.
As to the feasibility question I think there are some students who will step forward because they already have good attitudes towards learning English that they brought with them into the classroom even before meeting the current teacher. For these students it’s important to make sure that your class engages those students well enough to maintain that high level of enthusiasm. The challenge will be students who don’t bring a good attitude about learning English and don’t have a personal reason for wanting to learn at all. Some strategies suggested by the reading seem to be getting them to bring things they are interested in into the classroom so that you can incorporate that into the language learning. We often tried to that that talking about Superheroes and Son Wukong with a particularly difficult student called Steve. I believe Alex had seen a fair deal of improvement in Steve’s attitude after taking over the course which is reassuring that difficult students can be turned into active participants and classroom leaders.
As to the feasibility question I think there are some students who will step forward because they already have good attitudes towards learning English that they brought with them into the classroom even before meeting the current teacher. For these students it’s important to make sure that your class engages those students well enough to maintain that high level of enthusiasm. The challenge will be students who don’t bring a good attitude about learning English and don’t have a personal reason for wanting to learn at all. Some strategies suggested by the reading seem to be getting them to bring things they are interested in into the classroom so that you can incorporate that into the language learning. We often tried to that that talking about Superheroes and Son Wukong with a particularly difficult student called Steve. I believe Alex had seen a fair deal of improvement in Steve’s attitude after taking over the course which is reassuring that difficult students can be turned into active participants and classroom leaders.