Using activities alongside teaching an English text

Elementary English
Unit 7:
Using activities alongside teaching an
English text: the importance of planning
and preparation
Teacher Education
through School-based
Support in India
www.TESS-India.edu.in
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/
The TESS-India project (Teacher Education through School-based Support) aims to improve
the classroom practices of elementary and secondary teachers in India through studentcentred and activity-based approaches. This has been realised through 105 teacher
development units (TDUs) available online and downloaded in printed form.
Teachers are encouraged to read the whole TDU and try out the activities in their classroom
in order to maximise their learning and enhance their practice. The TDUs are written in a
supportive manner, with a narrative that helps to establish the context and principles that
underpin the activities. The activities are written for the teacher rather than the student,
acting as a companion to textbooks.
TESS-India TDUs were co-written by Indian authors and UK subject leads to address Indian
curriculum and pedagogic targets and contexts. Originally written in English, the TDUs have
then been localised to ensure that they have relevance and resonance in each participating
Indian state’s context.
TESS-India is led by The Open University and funded by UKAID from the Department for
International Development.
Version 1.0
Except for third party materials and otherwise stated, this content is made available under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike licence: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/bysa/3.0/
Contents
Introduction
1
Learning outcomes
2
1
Using the English textbook
3
2
Creating language learning opportunities
5
3
Creating multiple activities based on a text
8
4
Preparing a lesson plan
11
5
Summary
13
6
Resources
14
Resource
Resource
English
Resource
Resource
7
1: ‘The Puri Boy’
2: Activities to encourage speaking and listening in
3: Managing group work
4: Lesson plan formats
Related units
14
15
18
19
21
References
22
Acknowledgements
23
Transcript
24
Introduction
Introduction
Young students love to play and use their imaginations. They like new
experiences, of course, but they also like routines where they can have
repeated opportunities to practise new skills and ideas. They also thrive on
variety. All of these factors mean that you should be ready to plan a range of
activities around any text that you choose for your English class.
There is so much you can do with a story, poem or even a newspaper article.
Any text that you choose for English lessons can be the starting point for
helping students to develop English language skills through a variety of
activities linked to this text. This unit aims to give you pointers for planning
a variety of such activities and also for managing group work.
1
TDU 7
Using activities alongside teaching an English text: the importance of planning and preparation
Learning outcomes
By the end of this unit, you should have developed:
2
.
knowledge of how to extend the potential of a text or a textbook lesson
for teaching and learning English
.
understanding of how carefully planned activities can promote learning
English
.
skills in classroom management.
1 Using the English textbook
1 Using the English textbook
To learn English well, students need a variety of language experiences
organised by you. The National Focus Group on Teaching of English
(NCERT, 2006) says that a single textbook used over a year is ‘inadequate’
to learn and teach English effectively. But in The Child’s Language and the
Teacher (Resource 2), Professor Krishna Kumar writes that this is what
usually happens in our schools:
Every teacher in our country is expected to ‘cover’ the textbook; that
is, she is expected to finish each lesson given in the textbook one by
one, doing the exercises that the textbook offers, giving homework
concerning each lesson, and ensuring that children have a mastery over
the content of each lesson. There is no doubt that these expectations are
counterproductive as far as the teaching of language is concerned.
Activity 1: Using the English textbook
Read Professor Kumar’s words again very carefully. Then think about
these questions in relation to your own experience at school:
.
How far did the textbook help you to learn English?
.
How did the teacher help you to learn English?
.
Can you remember an activity – in school or outside school – that
helped you learn English?
Now think about your experience as a teacher:
.
How far do you feel you have to ‘cover’ the textbook?
.
How difficult or easy is it to teach English based on the textbook?
.
Why do you think Professor Kumar says that in-depth coverage of a
single textbook is ‘counterproductive’ for language learning?
.
What has helped you, as a teacher, to better teach English to
students?
Discussion
Both research and experience have shown that fluency in English
cannot be developed by using just one textbook. You may recall
moments when you were a young student where a teacher – or a family
member – augmented your textbook learning with additional activities
such as:
.
pointing out advertisement hoardings
.
helping you to read additional texts such as newspapers
.
encouraging you to look in a dictionary to find the meaning of words
and use new vocabulary in daily conversation.
Fortunately, since 2005, the national curriculum and most state
curriculums have given teachers the freedom to choose and plan
3
TDU 7
Using activities alongside teaching an English text: the importance of planning and preparation
additional activities based on the needs of the learners in their
classrooms.
So think of your English textbook as the starting point for a range of
interesting and meaningful language learning activities where you can
use your creativity and teaching skills.
4
2 Creating language learning opportunities
2 Creating language learning
opportunities
Language learning opportunities are available all around you, in your local
world, social relationships, media and wider community. Any lesson or text
that you choose for classroom teaching will have some connection with the
world. Your job is to understand the connections and use them as learning
opportunities.
For instance, if you are using Unit 9 of the Marigold textbook for Class IV,
you will see that the topic of the language lesson is about ‘Going to buy a
book’ and using the library. This topic immediately prompts a number of
questions and potential activities:
.
Who has been to a bookshop or to a library?
.
What did you see there?
.
Did you see any books or other writing in English?
.
Can we make a library in our classroom?
.
What kinds of words and sentences in English do we hear or read in a
bookshop or a library?
.
How would we speak politely to people in these places?
.
What questions would we ask?
.
What information would we find?
.
Can we invite someone from a local bookshop or library to talk to the
class?
For every English textbook unit, you can explore these kinds of connections.
There are also everyday opportunities to integrate regular English in the
classroom. When you are teaching you can give instructions in English for
activities such as forming lines or groups, distributing books/materials,
moving from one class to another, conducting assemblies, etc. These
activities can promote English learning in familiar, routine contexts. By
using English frequently to give instructions, you create opportunities for
students to listen and respond to you to English.
Although the textbook is a useful guide and source of ideas, you can also
create a variety of activities based on any story or poem of your choice, or a
story or poem that students choose. This unit will give you a few ideas for
planning such activities.
Activity 2: Planning activities around a text
There are many English language activities, such as games, craftwork,
role play or peer discussions, you can organise for young students
around any text. For older students you can plan literacy activities such
as writing alternative endings, dialogues and play scripts, book-making,
grouping words with the same sounds, finding information, classifying
5
TDU 7
Using activities alongside teaching an English text: the importance of planning and preparation
words and phrases, labelling pictures, picture description, gap-filling,
completing sentences, and writing a review.
It is very important to give students clear instructions when organising
an activity in class so that they understand what is required in terms of
their behaviour and their outputs. It is good practice to repeat
instructions and encourage students to repeat them to confirm their
understanding. Therefore, when you plan activities from a text, you
should consider how you are going to give instructions and recognise
that you have opportunities to practise and speak English for yourself in
this role.
Read Resource 1 for an example of the range of activities you can plan
from a single, simple story. As you read, note how the activities
reinforce:
.
the learning of common nouns and simple verbs in English
.
sentences and phrases in English that recur in the story.
Do you think your students would enjoy these kinds of activities? Why,
or why not?
Case Study 1: Mrs Suresh adapts a textbook
lesson on transport for her class
Mrs Suresh teaches English in Class VI in a regional medium school in
a deprived locality of Bangalore. Her students have been learning
English since Class I, but even after studying English for six years, the
students’ skills in the language are very poor. Although they know some
English vocabulary, they have difficulty framing sentences and are
unable to read independently, despite being able to recognise letters of
the alphabet. Mrs Suresh had recently been transferred to the school
and was determined to improve her students’ speaking and reading
skills. Read her account of how she made a lesson more meaningful to
her students to stimulate their English learning.
The lesson in the English textbook was on transport. I wanted to make
the lesson interesting and relevant, so I started by asking the students
to list names of vehicles that they know in English. They did this without
any problems. The board was filled with the names of a variety of
vehicles, including brand names of cars and motorcycles.
I soon learned that only two students had ever travelled on a train and
that none of them had travelled in the recently commissioned Metro
train. I felt this was unfortunate, since the Metro tracks ran right in front
of the school building and students saw it every day. That afternoon I
proposed to the headmistress that the school should take the students
for a ride in the Metro. The headmistress was enthusiastic and gained
permission for the trip and funding for the tickets from the Block
Education Officer.
6
2 Creating language learning opportunities
Accompanied by another teacher, I then took 32 very excited students
for their first ride on the Metro. The week before the journey I prepared
the students with a series of language activities by:
.
helping students read bilingual pamphlets in Kannada and in
English, with a list of ‘dos and don’ts’ while travelling on the Metro
.
teaching them how to ask for a ticket at the counter in Kannada and
in English
.
making them practise in English what they might say to their fellow
passengers if anyone asked them why they were riding the Metro
.
instructing them to write down in English the regular announcements
that are made in Kannada and English in the Metro station.
The normally boisterous students were on their best behaviour, and they
used what they had learned in English lessons to:
.
stand in the queue to buy their own tickets
.
say ‘thank you’ to the guard on duty
.
read the billboards on the platform
.
listened to the station announcements in Kannada and in English
.
say ‘Hello’ and ‘How are you?’ to anyone who was willing to strike
up a conversation with them.
Their journey lasted less than an hour but it was a memorable
experience.
I felt the trip was well worth the effort that went into organising it, and
the amount of English that the students learned exceeded my
expectations. Later I found that the textbook lesson on transport was
much easier to teach, because now the students had their own
experiences of transport.
The journey changed the way that I taught English. Before I teach any
lesson from the English textbook, I now look for ways to prepare
students for the topic by giving them a personal experience where they
can practise reading, speaking and listening to English.
Pause for thought
If you cannot take your class to a Metro station, how could you create
these same language activities in the classroom? Role play and drama
are effective ways to practise language for specific purposes. In the
example of the Metro, students can take on the roles of ticket sellers,
conductors, passengers and shopkeepers. Metro posters,
announcements, pamphlets and tickets can be made in English. The
classroom can become a Metro station for a day, with students making
imaginary journeys between lessons and practising their English for
travelling as they go!
7
TDU 7
Using activities alongside teaching an English text: the importance of planning and preparation
3 Creating multiple activities based
on a text
Activity 3: Brainstorming around a text
‘Brainstorming’ is a technique used to produce a variety of ideas. The
focus is on rapidly generating as many ideas as possible without being
critical about any of them. People who participate in a brainstorm should
feel free to contribute as many thoughts and ideas as they can, with
other’s thoughts often sparking another idea. These ideas should not be
discussed until the end of the process and all ideas (no matter how
bizarre or irrelevant) should be recorded. When the brainstorm is
complete, there can be a discussion of what emerged and possibly
some ordering or prioritising of the different ideas. Brainstorming is a
technique that encourages everyone to get involved in a task and
generates a rich variety of outcomes.
For this activity, use the short story below or choose one from your own
English textbook.
Raja
Raja called Shyama to come and play with him. Shyama said that
he had to work and could not play. Raja went to a field with a ball.
Raja saw honey bees and called them to play. The honey bees said
they could not play as they had to work. He then saw ants. Raja
called out, ‘Ants! Ants! Come let us play!’ ‘No, we cannot play. We
have to work,’ said the ants. Raja went home. He helped his father
at work. Father said, ‘You are a good boy.’ Raja felt happy.
With several colleagues, brainstorm and list possible activities based on
the story of Raja’s search for playmates. Think about activities that
might involve the following elements:
.
crafts
.
games
.
drama, dialogue or role plays
.
reading
.
writing.
When you have generated a list of ideas, discuss them in more detail
together, considering their relevance, their practicality and their potential
to be used to teach English. Decide on up to three activities that you
consider most likely to implement – some of these activities could well
combine different elements.
Discussion
Here is what a group of Class III teachers thought of for the story of
Raja:
.
8
Craft activity: Make insect and animal masks.
3 Creating multiple activities based on a text
.
Drama/role play: Act out the dialogue, adding other animals and
friends of Raja using the masks made in the craft activity.
.
Reading: Read the story aloud together from the chalkboard or the
textbook, looking at the sentences ‘Come let us play’ and ‘No, we
cannot play’. Substitute and read together other words in the
sentences, such as ‘Come let us dance’, ‘Come let us cook’ or
‘Come let us sing’, and ‘No, we cannot dance/cook/sing’.
.
Writing: Draw a series of scenes from the story with speech bubbles
and write in the dialogues.
Think of other simple stories like ‘Raja’ that you could use in your
classroom. To help you, Resource 1 gives you some ideas to try out
with a different story, ‘The Puri Boy’. You will also find Resource 2
(adapted from Krishna Kumar) useful in planning speaking and listening
activities: games like ‘What Did You See?’ and ‘Guessing the Right
Picture’ are easily adapted to any story or English textbook lesson.
When you have chosen a story and thought of some activities, try out
your ideas with your colleagues. Take their feedback and revise your
ideas, if need be. You will be asked shortly to take an idea that you
have generated and make a lesson plan to use it with your class.
Activity 4: Organising group work for multiple
activities
Now watch the video below about a teacher who organises multiple
activities based on a story. The class has listened to, and then read, the
story of The Enormous Turnip. The teacher puts the class into small
groups. and each group works on a different activity related to the story,
such as drawing illustrations and revising key vocabulary. You may also
find it useful to read the video’s transcript.
Now watch the video clip. If it is unavailable or has not been
provided separately, you can find it at the TESS-India YouTube
channel. You will find the transcript at the end of this unit.
9
TDU 7
Using activities alongside teaching an English text: the importance of planning and preparation
After watching the video, discuss the strategies that the teacher uses to
organise the class into groups. How does she distribute resources
needed for the activity? What is she doing to manage the class? Notice
how she uses both Hindi and English to support students in the
activities.
What are your strategies for grouping students or for moving students
from one activity to another? Resource 3 offers you some ideas about
how to organise groupwork.
10
4 Preparing a lesson plan
4 Preparing a lesson plan
Activity 5: Preparing a lesson plan
1 Use the video and your work in Activity 2 to prepare a detailed
plan based on a story or another short text such as a poem. You
can refer to Resource 4 for some formats for writing lesson plans,
but many teachers develop their own format to suit their teaching
style and preferences.
How much time will you need for each activity, including time needed
for giving instructions, grouping students, moving equipment and
distributing resources? For example, for ‘The Puri Boy’ story (Resource
1), you could spend the suggested amount of time for the following
activities:
◦
◦
narrating or reading the text – 20 minutes
◦
mask-making – 25 minutes (including distributing resources and
repeating instructions).
action rhyme – 15 minutes (including instructing students to stand
in a circle and listen, repeat, etc.)
As you can see, one class period is not enough time to do everything
well. Think about planning over two or more periods, depending on the
nature of your activities. Start to split the lesson into different parts and
put timings next to each part.
2 Next think of what English words and phrases can you use for the
activities, to organise students and get their attention? Here are a
few examples:
◦
◦
◦
◦
◦
◦
◦
Turn around and face each other.
Form a circle.
Move around quietly.
Listen to me.
Is everyone ready?
Please stop and look at me.
It’s time to finish now.
Now come up with some phrases of your own related to your activity,
your classroom and your students.
3 Make a note of the English language learning that will happen in
the activities. What words or phrases do you want students to
practise? How will you make sure these are used?
4 Make a list of the resources you will need. How will you organise
the distribution of the resources? For example, you could:
◦
lay out the necessary resources on tables beforehand and instruct
how many students should stand at each table
◦
ask students to group themselves and ask one child from each
group to pick up the resources
◦
call out names of students and ask them to collect the resources.
11
TDU 7
Using activities alongside teaching an English text: the importance of planning and preparation
5 If there are multiple activities, how will you organise the students
to change from one activity to another?
6 Lastly, you should plan for contingencies: after all, students may
not be interested in participating or they may not understand your
instructions. You should be ready to quickly reorganise your
activity or rephrase your instructions. Over time, you will find that
activities become easier to organise as students get used to the
routines. What might go wrong or get in the way of your plan?
Discussion
Discuss your plan with a colleague, reworking it if necessary.
You can then try out your lesson plan with your class. When the class is
over, think about these questions in order for you to learn from the
outcome and use this learning to plan activities into another lesson:
.
What did you enjoy most? Why?
.
What did the students enjoy?
.
What could have been planned better?
.
How far did the activities give students opportunities to practise
English?
.
What opportunities were there for you to practise English yourself?
.
What would you do differently next time?
Continuous and comprehensive evaluation (CCE)
Observe the students while they are doing the activities and note down
in your notebook any one of the following (each week you could plan for
one observation):
.
which students are unable to follow instructions in English
.
English words used by the students while conversing with each other
.
which students are able to use complete sentences in English
.
which students are reluctant to participate in activities because they
do not feel confident
.
English phrases that students are able to reproduce in different
contexts
.
what students say when you ask them to talk about their activities –
note down their vocabulary, sentence structure, confidence and
independence.
This is only a suggested list; you can observe any aspect of English that
you wish to focus on. Even though you will normally select only one
parameter for assessment observation in a week, if you get a chance to
observe any aspect of some other assessment parameter, do make a
record of that in the your notes.
12
5 Summary
5 Summary
This unit has emphasised the importance of planning in organising activities
for students to learn and practise English. Initially you may have to plan in
detail, including strategies for managing the class and groups; but over time
you will find that both you and your students will become familiar with
basic class rules for conducting the activities. Students will pick up English
naturally, and all of you will enjoy the learning process.
Now reflect and make some notes on the following:
.
Identify three key ideas or skills you have learned in this unit.
.
Identify your strengths in planning English activities based on a text.
.
What skills for planning around a text would you like to develop further?
13
TDU 7
Using activities alongside teaching an English text: the importance of planning and preparation
6 Resources
Resource 1: ‘The Puri Boy’
Once upon a time, an old woman and her husband lived alone in a little
old house. They had no children. One day the woman made a puri
shaped like a boy. She carefully rolled out the dough, and cut out a
very nice-looking boy. What a fine looking boy he was!
The old woman put him in the pan full of hot oil, to fry. After he was
fully fried and fluffy, she carefully lifted him from the pan. Up jumped
the puri boy, and he ran out the door saying, ‘Run, run, as fast as you
can! You can’t catch me! I’m the puri boy!’
The old woman and the old man ran after him, but they could not catch
him.
And so the Puri boy ran and ran. While he was running, he met a cow.
‘Moo,’ said the cow. ‘You look very fine! Fine enough to eat!’ and the
cow started to chase the little boy.
But the puri boy ran faster, saying, ‘I ran away from an old woman, I
ran away from an old man, and I can run away from you!’
And he laughed, ‘Run, run, as fast as you can! You can’t catch me! I’m
the puri boy!’
The cow ran after the puri boy, but it could not catch him.
While he ran, he met a cat.
‘Meow,’ said the cat. ‘You look good enough to eat. I’m going to eat
you, puri boy.’
But the puri boy just laughed, ‘I ran away from an old woman, I ran
away from an old man, I ran away from a cow, and I can run away
from you!’
And so he ran singing, ‘Run, run, as fast as you can! You can’t catch
me! I’m the puri boy!’
The cat ran after the puri boy, but it could not catch him. The puri boy
was proud that he could run so fast.
‘Nobody can catch me,’ he thought. So he kept on running until he met
a fox. He wanted to tell the fox how he ran faster than all the others.
‘Mr Fox,’ he said, ‘I ran away from an old woman, I ran away from an
old man, I ran away from a cow, I ran away from a cat, and I can run
away from you.’
‘Why would I want to eat you?’ asked Mr Fox. ‘I do not like puris.’
The puri boy was happy to hear this. He stopped running. Immediately,
the fox ate him up. The fox said, ‘Sorry, puri boy – I do like puris.’
14
6 Resources
Activities
1 Extend the telling of the story by introducing other animal characters,
such as a dog, goat, ox, bullock, elephant, etc.
2 For your mask-making craftwork, draw on a sheet of paper any character
from the story. Cut out the eyes. Punch a hole on either side of the mask.
Thread the holes and knot up the ends. Additional vocabulary can be
reinforced through craft instructions, e.g. ‘draw’, ‘cut’, ‘string’, etc. –
help the students to associate words with what they are doing while
making their masks. Label resources in English.
3 Teach this action rhyme:
◦
◦
◦
◦
Run, run, as fast as you can
Jump, jump, as high as you can
Skip, skip, as far as you can
Walk, walk, as far as you can.
4 Encourage students to come up with other characters like puri boy, such
as a talking car, a talking doll, a talking chapati, etc.
5 Pair up the students. Ask one child to be a talking puri and the other
child to talk to the puri. They can start by using the words and phrases of
the story. Help them to form other phrases in English, such as ‘Oh no!
Don’t eat me!’
6 Ask students to identify word(s) hidden in these words: ‘catch’, ‘woman’,
‘late’, ‘fast’, ‘dough’.
7 Ask students to think what would happen if the fox didn’t eat the puri
boy.
8 Ask for six volunteers from the class to play this game.
Draw a box on the floor with five rows. Make a child stand in each
row. Each child represents a character in the story. The sixth child is
the ‘puri boy’ who stands outside the box. The child in each row can
hop only within that row and they have to try to ‘catch’ the ‘puri boy’,
who is the only child who can run across all rows. The ‘puri boy’ tries
to cross all the rows without getting caught by the students inside their
respective rows. The game continues with other ‘puri boys and girls’.
Resource 2: Activities to encourage
speaking and listening in English
We have reproduced below some of the activities suggested in Krishna
Kumar’s book The Child’s Language and the Teacher (published in 1986).
To read the full list of activities, go to Chapter 2 (titled ‘Some activities’) in
an online copy of the book.
These are easy language games to encourage speaking and listening in
English. They can easily be applied to the topics and vocabulary of English
textbook lessons:
15
TDU 7
Using activities alongside teaching an English text: the importance of planning and preparation
.
What Did You See?
.
Asking the Explorers
.
Guess What I Saw
.
Doing What Was Said
.
Comparing
.
How Did You Make That?
.
Acting Out
.
Analysing a Picture
.
Guessing the Right Picture
.
Making a Story
.
Where Do You Live?
Here is the extract from The Child’s Language and the Teacher:
These are just some of the dozens of activities any teacher can organise in
any ordinary classroom. Each time an activity is repeated with some little
change, it will be received with even greater enthusiasm by the children than
it got last time. So do each activity any number of times, adding something
new each time. Keep a record of the variations so that you can introduce
your innovations to a new colleague. Nearly each activity described here can
become the starting point of a dozen variations.
1 What Did You See?
Stage 1: Ask one child to go out of the room, see what is happening outside,
and tell the class what he saw. For instance, he might report that he saw a
truck, two shops and a bicycle.
Stage 2: Now the rest of the children, preferably sitting in a circle, will ask
him questions, one by one, and one question per child. For instance, a child
may ask: ‘What was hanging from the bicycle’s handle?’ The reply may be:
‘A basket.’ The next question may be, ‘What colour was the basket?’
Stage 3: When one round of questioning is complete, the teacher will ask the
child who has gone out: ‘Who asked the best question?’ Supposing he says,
‘Shashi asked the best question; the teacher will ask: ‘What was the
question?’
Stage 4: The next round starts with Shashi. Ask her to see something that
the earlier child had not seen. When she comes back, ask children to come
up with new questions – not the ones they have already asked.
2 Asking the Explorers
Send a small group of children, no more than five or six, to study some
specific object or place near the school or even inside the school building.
For example, they may be sent to examine a cluster of trees, a tea stall, a
broken bridge, or a nest. Ask them to explore it carefully and discuss among
themselves everything they notice.
16
6 Resources
While the explorer group is away, tell the rest of the class about the object
in some detail. For example, if the explorers have gone to examine a tea
stall, tell the class about the things available at the stall, who runs it, where
do the things available there come from, etc.
When the explorer group comes back, it will face questions from the class.
The teacher can also have her turn.
Next time, send a different group.
3 Guess What I Saw
One child goes out, stands at the door or at some distance from the class,
and selects one of the hundreds of things she sees around (it could be
anything – tree, leaf, squirrel, bird, wires, pole, grass, stones). When she
comes back, she says just one sentence about the thing she has in mind. For
example, she might say, ‘What I saw is brown.’
Now every child in the class gets one chance to ask more about the thing
and guess what it was. For example, questioning may go like this:
Child 1:
‘Is it thin?’
Answer:
‘No.’
Child 2:
‘How big is it?’
Answer:
‘It’s quite big’.
Child 3:
‘Is it as big as a chair?’
Answer:
‘No, it’s smaller than a chair.’
Child 4:
‘Can it turn?’ …
Finally when the thing has been guessed correctly, some children may object
to the answers they got for their questions. For instance, someone may point
out that the colour was not brown but clay-like. In such situations, the
teacher’s role is very important, as someone who can help children establish
subtle distinctions between meanings.
4 Doing What Was Said
Ask children to listen and do what you tell them to do. Start with simple
things to do, and ask the whole class to do them together. Examples:
‘Touch your head’.
‘Close your right eye.’
‘Clap on your head.’
Divide the class in two groups. The teacher will give instructions to the first
group, and the children of this group will now give similar instructions to
17
TDU 7
Using activities alongside teaching an English text: the importance of planning and preparation
the second group. Gradually make your instructions more complicated, for
example:
‘Touch your head with both hands, then touch your right ear with your right
hand.’
‘Close both eyes, touch your neighbour, ask him to give you his left hand.’
When children of one group give instructions to the other group, they need
not repeat everything they have heard. Encourage them to make up new
instructions.
5 Comparing
Make sets of similar-looking things, such as leaves of two or more trees,
flowers of different plants, stones, pieces of paper cut in different shapes etc.
Ask children to listen to the description you give of one of the things in a
set, and on the basis of the description they must decide which one you are
thinking of. Example:
‘I’m thinking of a leaf that is smooth and long, and it has even edges.’
After doing this activity a few times, ask children to take turns to choose
and describe. Change things each time you do this activity. Identify more
subtle features each time.
Resource 3: Managing group work
Group work can be an effective way to manage large classes, and classes of
mixed ages and mixed abilities. It is also an opportunity for you to separate
specific groups for a more focused reading session with you while the other
groups are engaged in other tasks. In this way, every child will have focused
reading with you at some time during the week. When you read with a small
group, you have an opportunity to assess individual students’ reading
readiness and reading development.
It is important to think about what you will be doing while students are busy
with their group work. You might go around to each group and monitor their
progress during the lesson. When you begin group work, it is often useful to
ensure that students are doing the task, but you should also encourage
students to try to work independently – even if only for ten minutes. This
will build their independent learning skills.
Effective group work in the classroom depends on everyone knowing what
the rules are. When you develop class rules for group work, make sure they
are simple and easy for students to follow, for example:
18
.
We work quietly on our own when the teacher is working with another
group.
.
If we need help, we wait for our turn.
.
We can ask a friend for help, quietly.
.
We make sure everyone in the group contributes.
6 Resources
.
We follow the teacher’s instructions promptly so we do not waste time.
Make time to involve students in creating these rules. If students are
involved, they are much more likely to follow these rules and see the
reasons for having them. Do not have too many rules – not more than four
or five. Display the rules in the classroom. Refer to them frequently. Be
ready to change the rules in response to students’ and your own
requirements.
Resource 4: Lesson plan formats
These formats were contributed by teachers. You can adapt them to suit your
own preferences.
Weekly planning format (1)
Day
Language
focus
Activities
Resources
Time
Classroom
management
Reflections
Weekly planning format (2)
Day
Focus
words/
sentences
Listening
activities
Speaking
activities
Reading
activities
Writing
activities
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Daily planning format (1)
19
TDU 7
Using activities alongside teaching an English text: the importance of planning and preparation
Daily planning format (2)
1 What do I want students to learn today?
2 My plan for the day.
3 What worked? Why?
4 What did not work? Why?
5 Students who need additional help and my plan for them.
Individual lesson plan
Timing
Resources Teacher
Students
Key learning
15 mins
Story book
Listen and note
down characters
mentioned
Listen to story
in English
Read story of
tiger
Make notes in
English
5 mins
20
Pens and
paper
Write instructions
on board about
groups and
resources
Listen and follow
instructions to sit
in groups with
resources
Follow
instructions in
English
7 Related units
7 Related units
.
TDU 5, English storytelling: using questions, adapting texts, extracting
learning.
.
TDU 6, Reading English: shared reading and guided reading.
21
TDU 7
Using activities alongside teaching an English text: the importance of planning and preparation
References
Kumar, K. (1986) The Child’s Language and the Teacher: A Handbook. United
Nations Children’s Fund.
NCERT (2006) Position Paper, National Focus Group on Teaching of English
National Council of Educational Research and Teaching (NCERT) (2006) The
National Focus Group on Teaching and English. Available from: http://www.
ncert.nic.in/new_ncert/ncert/rightside/links/pdf/focus_group/english.pdf
(accessed 16 September 2013).
22
Acknowledgements
Acknowledgements
The content of this teacher development unit was developed collaboratively
and incrementally by the following educators and academics from India and
The Open University (UK) who discussed various drafts, including the
feedback from Indian and UK critical readers: Mythili Ramchand and
Kimberly Safford.
Except for third party materials and otherwise stated, this content is made
available under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike licence:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/.
The material acknowledged below is Proprietary and used under licence (not
subject to Creative Commons Licence). Grateful acknowledgement is made
to the following sources for permission to reproduce material in this unit:
CCE logo: http://www.cbse.nic.in/.
‘The Puri Boy’: a traditional tale adapted and developed by the RVEC
(http://www.rishivalley.org/default.html).
Extract from Krishna Kumar (1986) The Child’s Language and The Teacher,
A Handbook, United Nations Children’s.
Video: thanks are extended to the heads and students in our partner schools
across India who worked with The Open University in this production.
Every effort has been made to contact copyright owners. If any have been
inadvertently overlooked, the publishers will be pleased to make the
necessary arrangements at the first opportunity.
23
Transcript
Transcript
Narrator:
In this video the teacher organises group work around the story if the
giant turnip each group does a different task related to the story.
Teacher:
Yesterday you heard the story.
Students:
Yes ma’am.
Teacher:
You liked the story.
Students:
Yes ma’am.
Teacher:
Okay. All of you have read it also.
Students:
Yes ma’am.
Teacher:
Yes. अब हम एक ए क
क
. Four children will make a group and I
will tell you what you have to do like group 1, 2, and 3 will make
scene from the story. Scene you remember the scene any words you
remember from the story.
Students:
Ma’am when the old man was trying to pull that turnip…..
Teacher:
Yes, very good. Now group 4, 5, and 6 will do, remember words and
draw. Do you remember any words from the story?
Students:
Ma’am … turnip.
Teacher:
Turnip very good, yes.
Students:
The old man.
Teacher:
Old man very nice, now group 7, 8, and 9 will draw the cover of the
story, क म
ब
क ह आप?
Students:
The girl came and helped them.
Teacher:
The girl came and helped them, yes you can draw this on the cover
page.
Narrator:
The teacher organises the children into groups of four. If the furniture
can’t be moved, ask alternative rows to turn around and face their
classmates.
Teacher:
Okay, this is group 1, this is group 2, and this is group 3. This is
group 4, this is group 5, and your group is 9. Start your work.
Students:
[murmur]
Teacher:
Do you remember any words from the story ‘आपक क
पएक
Student:
म
... ह
24
हब
आपक
म क
प
क
ह
बक म क क
आ
क
ह, ह
,
ह (Unclear) ... ह ह ... अ
ह
.
ह
ब
क म
,
...’
क
TDU 7 Planning around the text
Narrator:
There are many ways you can use stories or poems as the basis for
group work.
These include having students read a poem aloud, or answer
comprehension questions orally, or getting them to do role plays, or
craft activities.
25