Instructions
Hello and welcome back,
Today I’m going to write about classroom instructions that I observed this week. It’s a really important matter that should be close to the hearts of all the language teachers that work with young learners.
Instructions that a teacher gives are the basis of the work and it is obvious, that in the foreign language classroom the mother tongue of pupils shall not be used, or used as rarely as possible. If not, what’s the point in teaching a foreign language?
Giving instructions is very difficult, but we ought to remember that it’s all a matter of practice so there is a big chance of improvement as time passes.
What I saw in my mentor teacher’s classrooms left me completely speechless. Polish is not present there! And not only that. When she meets her students on the corridor between classes they speak to her in Polish, but she replies in English. But let’s move to details now.
In each class, the teacher takes the register. She signalizes it by telling students Now I will take the register and reads names of students while they answer in English present or absent.
New activities are introduced verbally, by making clear that the previous thing is over. With a simple and short language, the teacher introduces the next task. She uses not only words but also body language, gestures and if it doesn’t work, how to do it by giving example on the board. I was stunned by the way she deals with giving instructions. Only grade zero shows sometimes that they didn’t get something, grades 1 and 2 seem to be used to the language in the classroom and they do really well with it. The teacher carefully observes all the students, seems like she knows them quite well and can say if they understand or not just by their facial expression. If someone didn’t understand she repeats it if it doesn’t work still she asks one student who seems to understand to explain what they will be doing. Usually, students start working right away, sometimes happen that they ask each other about the details, but the teacher is really careful and when she overhears the talk she will come back to explaining even if it’s only for one student.
The more I observe the more I look up to my mentor teacher. She seems so well prepared and conscious of everything that happens! Full of ideas, creative and flexible. It gives me some hope since she graduated from the same program of studies that hopefully I will, too.
For this week that’s it. Hope it wasn't too boring. See you next Sunday!
Today I’m going to write about classroom instructions that I observed this week. It’s a really important matter that should be close to the hearts of all the language teachers that work with young learners.
Instructions that a teacher gives are the basis of the work and it is obvious, that in the foreign language classroom the mother tongue of pupils shall not be used, or used as rarely as possible. If not, what’s the point in teaching a foreign language?
Giving instructions is very difficult, but we ought to remember that it’s all a matter of practice so there is a big chance of improvement as time passes.
What I saw in my mentor teacher’s classrooms left me completely speechless. Polish is not present there! And not only that. When she meets her students on the corridor between classes they speak to her in Polish, but she replies in English. But let’s move to details now.
In each class, the teacher takes the register. She signalizes it by telling students Now I will take the register and reads names of students while they answer in English present or absent.
New activities are introduced verbally, by making clear that the previous thing is over. With a simple and short language, the teacher introduces the next task. She uses not only words but also body language, gestures and if it doesn’t work, how to do it by giving example on the board. I was stunned by the way she deals with giving instructions. Only grade zero shows sometimes that they didn’t get something, grades 1 and 2 seem to be used to the language in the classroom and they do really well with it. The teacher carefully observes all the students, seems like she knows them quite well and can say if they understand or not just by their facial expression. If someone didn’t understand she repeats it if it doesn’t work still she asks one student who seems to understand to explain what they will be doing. Usually, students start working right away, sometimes happen that they ask each other about the details, but the teacher is really careful and when she overhears the talk she will come back to explaining even if it’s only for one student.
The more I observe the more I look up to my mentor teacher. She seems so well prepared and conscious of everything that happens! Full of ideas, creative and flexible. It gives me some hope since she graduated from the same program of studies that hopefully I will, too.
For this week that’s it. Hope it wasn't too boring. See you next Sunday!
Thanks for your post, I found it very interesting! I also believe that in language learning the teacher should try to communicate in L2 as I think that the advantages of it by far outweigh the disadvantages. Unfortunately sometimes teachers don’t communicate in English—I met such teacher during my observations—who, at this point, doesn’t even try using English, and uses only Polish (maybe at the beginning of the year he did try). If something is in English, he translates it for them. However, it is also true that, sometimes, if students are unaccustomed to listening to instructions in English, they just decide not to listen as they believe they won’t understand it (I had such a situation during micro teaching with 5th graders, during which the students told me that they are the ‘worse’ 5th grade class and they do not understand instructions in English). So I think it is great that your experience is different and the teachers uses English in class!
ReplyDeleteI feel great respect towards language teachers who can make their students speak only English. It seems that your mentor teacher is a wonderful role model for you as a student teacher. I hope that she will inspire you more. It's great that she graduated from our programme!
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you that English classes should be conducted in this language, not in the L1. Of course it is really difficult to make students understand instructions given in the foreign language but there are some techniques that can be used by the teacher such as gestures or demonstration. Your mentor teacher uses all of them which shows that she knows various methods connected with giving instructions as well as is able to apply them in her classes. I wish there were more teachers like her in Poland! Good luck!
ReplyDeleteit is an interesting and important post. Instruction is very difficult in teaching, which I totally agree with you. I need to practice giving instructions clearly, simply and concisely more in the nearest future. by the way, my mentor teacher graduated from the same program project. and she is very confident when she conduct the lessons and she is extreme the one as your mentor teacher.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing.