Today I wanted students to translate our story which we have been working on (orally only) for about three weeks. One class was a little restless and I sensed they needed to move and have some fun. So I told them we were going to have a translation race, girls versus boys. They sat in two long lines. I read our story line by line, and the first two students had to translate into English. If they were not correct, the first hand up in one of the lines got the opportunity to answer. The two front people then moved to the back of their line, and the next two got the second sentence in the story. Every one got to have 2 or 3 goes each, it was fast moving, and the people at the back had to listen in case they were needed! I was able to quickly see problem sentences that the class had difficulty translating to work on for next time. And the boys loved beating the girls!!

 

Recently I have tried something new with the Special Chair. I have told the class, after interviewing someone in the chair, that “Ibu Anne mau informasi tentang (nama)” – Ibu Anne wants information about (name of child in chair). I told them ‘satu poin Bahasa Inggris, 2 point Bahasa Indonesia’. While this means that children are using some English in class, I have found that many of them are using Indonesian, or a mixture of English and Indonesian to give me information about the ‘special’ person. If they use English or incorrect Indonesian, I repeat what they said correctly. This means there is a higher percentage of English than normally used in this activity.

However, it is giving me an excellent idea of who is more confident and able to use Bahasa Indonesia. It also means that I know how well students comprehend the back and forward chat between the ‘special’ person and the teacher. I have Preps able to give me information in complete, correct Indonesian sentences, which is great feedback for reporting time!

What do you think of this idea? TPRS, or pushing the boundaries? Would love to hear your comments and suggestions!

Thought this blog was great!

Thought it might be interesting to find out what students think of my teaching. I made up a simple indonesian-survey to do with Years 2 and 3. Here are the results:

Seems I need to work on keeping kids moving more, going very slowly when introducing new words, ensuring lots of practice hearing new words (and anything else to help them remember) and playing a few more games. Guess they are over the ‘pinguin’ dance!! I find this information really useful. Comments welcome!

Today I had a Spanish boy in my class. It was his first visit to the Indonesian room. He is in Year 1 and has almost no English. Luckily I have Spanish and I gave him a quick run down on how our class works. I usually tell new students to just listen in and copy the others, and let them know that they do not need to speak until they are ready. It was a busy lesson, with me occasionally translating explanations into English and Spanish!

Anyway, I was really surprised when, during a game of ‘Di mana Bobo?‘, Nestor raised his hand. I asked him “Nestor, di mana Bobo?” and he said, “Putih”. Oh, we all celebrated by clapping. I told the class, “Nestor pandai!” He offered another answer during the same game and this time said “Jingga” with no prompting! I was amazed. I have taught EAL kids before, and usually they do not raise their hand in front of the class, especially when they are so new. I would hazard a guess that his hand will not be raised in his homeroom for some time yet. But because of this beautiful method of teaching with comprehensible input, he felt safe, heard controlled vocabulary repeated many times, and spoke when he felt confident. I love this way of teaching!!!!

 

I invented a new way to get repetitions on story vocabulary (including high-frequency words ‘have’ and ‘give’), questions and numbers! Very simple and kids loved it. I used some pictures of vocab from last term’s story  – Elsa, harimau (tiger), pohon (tree) and rumah (house). There were nine of each item.

Firstly, I told the students there were sembilan (9) of Elsa, harimau, rumah dan pohon. Then I told them to close their eyes and listen to a song. I quickly moved around the room, ‘hiding’ the bits of paper. Then students were asked to ‘cari kertas’ (find the papers). I also asked them to be kind and to give one to someone who had not found any.

Students walked around the room searching for the pictures. I could hear them using the vocabulary as they moved around!

Then we all sat in a circle and I asked “Siapa punya harimau? Beri Ibu Anne harimau.” (Who has a tiger? Give Ibu Anne the tigers). They handed me the tiger pictures and I placed them on the ground as we all counted them. We repeated with each picture. It was easy to see which ones were still missing, but I said “Ada satu harimau lain. Cari satu harimau, kelas!” (There is one more tiger. Find the one tiger, class) Off they went again to find what was missing! We also used “Di mana harimau?” for any cards that were difficult to find.

Lots of repetitions in such a fun way! Try it with your kids this week. I would love to hear how goes.

 

When I visited Bu Cathy in South Australia some time ago, she told me how she sometimes asked all her students to act out a story while she narrated. I thought the idea sounded great, but was reluctant to try as I imagined chaos in the classroom. But I was getting tired of doing the same thing each lesson (using only a few students to act out the story) and also tired of them complaining they weren’t getting a go! So I decided to bite the bullet and give it a go. We were working on Caterina’s Snake story. (see below)

I changed the names in the story to Murid Satu and Murid Dua. I put students into groups of four. Each student had to decide whether they were going to be Ibu Anne, ular, murid 1 or murid 2.

Then I explained to them that we were doing a special silent play. The only noises allowed to be made were the snake vomiting and Ibu Anne exclaiming ‘Aduh!’ We discussed how to use actions to show others what to do if they forgot their parts, instead of using our voices. The ular had to stand with feet spread apart, making a ‘mouth’ with their legs. When M1 (murid 1) was eaten, they crawled through this tunnel and then stood behind ‘ular’ and stood with their feet spread apart, so M2 could later be eaten. We used red unifix cubes for the chillis. As the students were vomited out, the snake made the vomiting sound effect!

Students loved it and even Preps were able to follow directions and act out the story in groups! It gave me great feedback about how well students understood the story and followed instructions. It had them all listening and moving and best of all, they ALL got to have a go! We did it over and over, each time swapping roles. They probably would have been happy to do this for the entire lesson, getting lots of valuable reps and having fun. Give it a go, I am now a convert and you should be too!

Snake Story for Preps (Catharina)

Ibu Anne punya ular besar.  (Ibu Anne pats Ular on the head)

Murid 1 mau lihat ular. (Murid 1 goes to ular and looks)

Ular makan murid 1! (crawl under ular’s legs)

Bu Anne berkata, “Aduh!”

 Murid 2 mau lihat ular.

Ular makan murid 2!

Bu Anne berkata, “Aduh!”

 Ibu Anne beri ular lombok. (places/throws cube under legs)

Ular muntah murid 1. (as child crawls through legs, ular makes vomiting noise once)

Ular muntah murid 2.

This is a terrible photo, but hopefully you get the idea! My younger students have really enjoyed using these special plates this week to respond to questions. There are two plates glued together, red for ‘tidak’ (no) and white for ‘ya’ (yes). First we randomly picked a student to sit on the special chair (using Class Dojo’s wonderful random function!) then I asked that student a series of questions:

What is your name? How are you? How old are you? What is your favourite colour? Do you have a pet? (If yes, then I ask  ‘Do you have a dog/cat/fish/bird etc) Today’s student had a cat and a bird, so I was able to continue in the L2 and ask ‘Does the cat want to eat the bird?’ Last question was, In your family, is there a mum/dad/older sibling/younger sibling? Sometimes I add in, What is your mum’s name? Dog’s name? Colour of your dog? Is your dog big or small? Any questions that get reps on what they already know.

As some of these questions are quite new (especially to the Preps), I use a powerpoint with pictures to aid understanding. At the conclusion of the ‘interview’, I ask the whole class to listen and respond to questions about the special student. Some are true and some false. They hold up their plates to me, showing me the appropriate colour. It is very easy for me to scan and see who understands straight away, who is looking at others for help and who does not get it.

powerpoint special chair

Here are some notes taken of a book I read recently as part of my professional learning. Very interesting and easy to read. You will be interested to see how many of these points relate to teaching with comprehensible input. My notes are a bit over the place, but hopefully you will find some hidden gems!

Visible Learning and the Science of How we Learn

by John Hattie and Gregory Yates

Notes from Reading:

Teachers become more effective when they can see learning though the eyes of students.

Expert teachers are not the same as experienced teachers. Expert teachers are able to achieve deeper outcomes.

The human brain does not naturally want to think. Avoiding failure is a strong motivator for humans. Paying attention and knowledge gaps – we pay attention only if the gap is perceived as bridgeable in the short term. Chasms are not motivating!

We are curious about new learning when:

1. the knowledge gap is relevant
2. there is a means by which it can be closed

We don’t think about new learning unless there is a link between the effort we have to make and our success.

The quality of thinking drops away once the cognitive load increases beyond 4 items.

Teacher knowledge of content has little relationship with the attainment level of students.

‘Curse of knowledge’ – the more you know about something, the more difficult it can be to see the learning from another’s viewpoint.

Empathy gap – if you can’t put yourself in the place of another.

It is important to interact with at-risk students in a non-coercive and friendly manner. Interesting study (teachers spent time chatting and playing games with students out of class times) showed that with closer r’ships, teacher views of students changed. A close relationship is important for trust.

Students value being treated with

1. fairness
2. dignity
3. respect

‘blink effect’ students evaluate a teacher after 10 seconds!

DELIBERATE practice is needed to learn. Guidance, instruction, goal setting and feedback leads to deliberate practice.

Studies show attention drops off after 10 minutes!

A students’ pace of processing in reading is so important for their learning. Slow processing can even have an impact on oral listening skills. Pace of reading needs intensive, self-directed practice to improve.

Repeated reading – with repetitions, reading improves dramatically in fluency and prosody.

MULTILIT (Macquarie Uni) proven very successful with poor readers.

Students want to know how to improve so they can do better next time.

Show students examples of each level of success (success critieria).

Feedback is POWERFUL when students know:

1. what success looks like
2. how to reduce the gap between here and there
3. where to go next

Praise does not help you to learn!

Fallacies:

People learn more with praise X

People need praise to establish and maintain self-worth X

NO! Don’t confuse praise with feedback!

Give more informational feedback and less praise!

Kids need to know when things are difficult and that it is normal for new things to be hard sometimes.

“Know thy impact” The more teachers know about their impact in the classroom, the more benefits their students have. Get feedback from your kids!

Personal ‘discovery learning’ does not lead to learning.

Kids need direct instructional language. Also learning through observation is very powerful. (observing is better than doing)

direct interpersonal knowledge – transmission very powerful YES!!!

discovery learning NO!!!

Social transmission as evolutionary driver – we are built to learn from others.

Most people remember what is said first (primacy) or last (recency).

No use performing a skill already acquired. Deliberate practice is for improvement of a skill. You cannot improve the skill if the mind is elsewhere. THE HUMAN MIND IS UNABLE TO GENUINELY FOCUS ON TWO ACTIVITIES AT ONCE. If you do this, the skill is being exercised but NOT improved. This means no listening to music or playing games while learning. No meaningful learning or skill development will take place.

Deliberate practice is:

1. effortful
2. goal-structured
3. actively monitored

There may be a plateau of learning, this is normal.

Practice time should be about 20 minutes.

Expert teachers:

1. set goals and use challenges for students
2. monitor student learning and use feedback to alter teacher decisions
3. draw on strong curriculum knowledge

6 Principles of Acquisition

1. Human learning is slow. It needs time, goal orientation, supportive feedback, accumulated successful practice, frequent review. Needs to be meaningful, relevant and timely.

2. Concentration spans are short. 15 – 20 minutes before mind wanders. There is no Mozart effect! Young kids even shorter span of attn.

3. Distributive practice more effective than massed practice/cramming. Blocks of 15-30 minutes are most effective.

4. Prior knowledge effects are powerful. Far easier to build on what kids know. If new knowledge cannot be linked to prior knowledge, it is quickly shed. Meaningfulness stems from prior knowledge. Advance organisers can be useful for this.

5. Your mind responds well to multimedia input. We are all visual learners and audio learners!! We all learn well when inputs are multi-modal. Strong learning occurs when words and images are combined. ALL students learn most effectively through linking images with words.

6. To learn, your mind has to be active. Get kids to respond somehow.

6 Principles of Memory Retention

1. To recognise is easy, to recall is hard

2. Primary and recency rule!! (We remember what is taught first and last)

3. Rates of forgetting differ. It depends on the type of learning. The mind sheds isolated facts very rapidly.

4. Memory is a highly constructive process. It is dependent on the focus of attn at the time of learning.

5. What is forgotten can still help down the track. We can learn material a second time around very rapidly.

6. Memory is subject to interference. (second language interferes when learning third)

5 Aspects of Handling Information Overload

1. Learning can be stressful and make you feel uncertain. Negative feelings can creep in once capacity is exceeded.
2. Students tend to be overconfident in what they think they can learn, but they underestimate the time and practice it takes.
3. Once overload is reached, the ability to take on board new information is reduced.
4. Overload is caused by:
   1. -low levels of prior knowledge
   2. -deficient use of mental strategies/inappropriate coping strategies
   3. -unrealistic expectations
   4. -poor instruction, failure to engage
   5. -unfavourable learning conditions
   6. -assessment apprehension
5. How much info can be held?

4 items if new, 8 if relatively familiar

To move items from short-term mem to long-term mem, try CRIME:

C – chunking – organise into patterns

R – rehearsal (reciting, labelling)

I – imagery (picture it)

M – mnemonics

E – elaboration (linking new items to old)

Declarative knowledge – expressed through words

Procedural knowledge – expressed through actions

Gestures in Teaching

When students gesticulate and use their hands as they speak, their understanding of what they are saying can move to a deeper level, and their overall performance on academic tasks can be enhanced.

Gesticulation assists our mental processes entirely positively.

Cognitive load

We have a limited working memory. We can store about 7 bits of info.

2 – 4 elements at a time to learn. This is lost within 20 seconds unless rehearsed. But there are no limits when info is retrieved from long-term memory.

Pre- instructional experience is valuable for novices:

eg flipped learning, backward design, whole picture before specifics, success criteria for series of lessons is important BUT when teaching knowledgeable people it is far less effective.

We learn better when we listen and see images.

Clear and usable techniques for memorisation can and should be actively taught in classroom situations. eg pegboard scheme

Memorising Strategies

1. Pegword schemes : one is to bun, two is to shoe, three is to tree etc
2. Story chaining: invent a story to link disparate items
3. Method of loci: use imagery of places to position items along a walk
4. Acrostics: Call in the COPS (Capitals, Organisation, Punctuation and Spelling) Medical emergency (blow to the head or stroke) get the person to START – Smile, talk, arms raised, tongue poke
5. Acronyms eg NAPLAN
6. First letter cues: rhythm helps your two hips move
7. Specific word associations: principal/principle. Principal is my pal, potassium – one tea with two sugars

Specialist mnemonics – for foreign language words. Linking new words to meanings in long-term memory. eg Ranidae frog – sounds like rainy day – it lives in a rainforest. Spanish rojo (red) sounds like ‘raw’

To learn a new word:

1. Stare at the word
2. Pronounce it slowly and correctly 3 times
3. Think of a keyword (to link it with)

LEARNING STYLES debunked

‘There is not any recognised evidence suggesting that knowing or diagnosing learning styles will help you teach your students any better than not knowing their learning style.’

NO evidence suggesting that learning styles can predict learning in any meaningful manner.

“…it is nonsense to hold the idea that some of your students can be classified as visual learners whereas others…are auditory learners.”

“…be wary, and distrustful, of any theory-based scheme that informs you there are different types of students sitting in your class that need to be taught in different ways.”

To increase students’ confidence

Use active teaching strategies:

1. Use lots of ‘can do’ language, ‘everyone will learn’ etc
2. active, direct teaching in short bursts, teach skills clearly, use of prior knowledge, good methodologies, etc
3. ensure all S engage with materials. Move from easy to hard. Use scaffolds so all S can move fwd

Use active motivational strategies:

4. Help students ‘own’ their academic work. Ensure they all have something they are proud of.
5. Focus on effort rather than ability. Explain that effort comes in temporary, but infinitely renewable.
6. Emphasise how current challenges relate to past problems. I know you can do this because you did a similar one last week.
7. Use high levels of feedback with corrective function. Don’t overdo praise.
8. Get to know your students.
9. Directly teach healthy attributions. No ‘I can’t do this’ stuff! If failure needs to be explained, cite: a) lack of input (not paying attn., missed lessons, concept not taught well), b) lack of practice, c) a gap in knowledge, d) lack of effort or e) goals way too high without bridging goals
10. ABILITY IS NOT FIXED! Ability is the result of effort. Learning takes time, much longer than we expect. Reset goals to achievable levels.
11. Discourage social comparisons. Highlight personal progressions that improve over time.

When it comes to learning, multitasking DOES NOT EXIST. If attention is split, learning cannot occur. Students should be discouraged from thinking they can do two things at once, if one of those activities is LEARNING.

MOZART effect is UNPROVEN.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Found this great link today for teachers wanting to incorporate TPRS into their lower primary classroom but need some good advice before doing so, or those who need reminding of what young learners need!

This vimeo is from Pat Gaab.

TPRS in the primary classroom