Download
1 / 81
E N D
WHAT IS A HETEROGENEOUS CLASS? A class which is varied in: ability level of English
SOME PROBLEMS • Providing for learning for all
SOME ADVANTAGES • Educational aspects: • - tolerance and respect for the ‘other’ • - cooperation • - mutual help • Richer personal resources • Challenge, teacher development
‘Differentiated instruction’? A lot of slogans: ‘Allow for different reading speeds’ ‘Cater to different learning styles’ ‘Offer choices’ But how? ...
‘Differentiated teaching’ on the Internet A lot of impractical ‘practical suggestions’: ‘Provide varying sets of reading comprehension questions to answer for a given book’ ‘Prepare personalized packages with individualized materials’ But who has time to prepare these?
What we need: Practical principles, illustrated by actual procedures Activities that are accessible and afford learning opportunities for a wide range of learner abilities or learning styles Ideas how to adapt (tweak’) coursebook activities to make more accessible... Involving little or no extra preparation
SOME THINGS THAT CAN HELP A. Keeping them motivated 1. Variation 2. Interest B. Reaching the individual 3. Individualization 4. Personalization 5. Collaboration C. Providing for learning at different levels 6. Open-ending 7. Compulsory + Optional
We can vary in... • Topic • Demands: level, pace, amount • Classroom organization: teacher-fronted, group work or individualized. • Learning style: visual or oral/aural, productive or receptive • Material: textbook, worksheets, the board, …
What IS ‘interest’? Very difficult to define: By results? But even then, a combination Interest in a task implies the following: • attention is voluntary • the learner is involved in doing the task • there is enjoyment
voluntary attention interest active task involvement enjoyment
Why the rise or fall in interest? Challenge through using higher-order thinking skills: • convergent (logical, critical) • divergent (creative, ‘lateral’)
connecting prioritizing classifying identifying causality / lack of causality evaluating truth/falsehood identifying inclusion / exclusion detecting contradictions or tautologies identifying logical necessity Convergent / critical / logical thinkingExamples:
Creative thinking associations solutions to a problem answers to a question questions to an answer Lateral thinking thinking of unusual or original solutions to problems looking at things from an unconventional angle Divergent/ creative thinking
Also • Personalization • ‘Language play’ • Originality: ‘Thinking outside the box’ • Collaboration • Humor • Use of narrative
Individualization Allowing for individual variation in speed, level, learning style
Example 1: Teacher-led exercises We’re going to try four different ways of administering a set of questions.
The modes: Teacher-dominated ‘ping-pong’, only oral. Teacher-dominated ‘ping-pong’ written questions as well as spoken. Individual preparation; choice of which to do (not expected to do all); student choice of item during checking. Individual or pair preparation; choice of which to do (not expected to do all); self-check of answers.
Non-heterogeneous teachingstrategies Heterogeneous teaching strategies Possibility of pre-reading Questions done in order chosen by students Questions done at students’ own pace Possibility of individual or collaboration (choice) Teacher says OK not to finish • No pre-reading • Questions done in order decided by teacher • Questions done at speed dictated by teacher • Individual preparation imposed by teacher • Teacher implies they have to do all the questions
Checking Conventional ‘ping-pong’ Answers provided, students self-check (Saves time, all students activated)
Example 2: Vocabulary Fill in any four of the opposites to the words on the page. Then pass it on. Fill in another four on the page you received... then pass it on.
boring interesting high low floor ceiling, roof general specific day night diluted concentrated freeze melt mountain valley full empty noisy quiet vague exact, precise white black friend enemy war peace asleep awake success failure implicit explicit center periphery, margin simple complex, complicated straight crooked, bent smooth rough sick well, healthy, fit exit entrance, enter mandatory optional
Note Items not numbered, scattered. Choice of which to do Choice of how fast to work Legitimizing ‘not knowing’ Collaboration, not competition
Tip In ‘pass it on’ activities, don’t tell them just to pass to the next student. (Danger of ‘bottlenecks’) Tell them to exchange with anyone else who’s finished.
Allowing for contributions that reflect personal taste, experience, opinion etc. My favourite … I remember … Agree / disagree …
Oral fluency A conversation Climbing a mountain A menu Consulting the doctor Eating a meal Doing the shopping A symphony A wedding What is the best metaphor for an English lesson?
Learners work together in order to get better joint results than they could on their own. Enables more interaction between students and (potentially) more engagement with the task. Enables peer-teaching.
Two types of collaborative activities • Full-class sharing through: • Class brainstorm • ‘Pass it round’ • Pair or group work • in-class • outside class
Example 1: Another ‘Pass it round’ Choose any number from between one and ten.
Write at the top of your page the sentence whose number you chose If I got a million dollars If I were not here If everyone knew English If I lived in China If I were telepathic If I were a champion tennis player If I knew Japanese If I had no family If the climate became very cold If birds could talk
Finish the sentence, then write the first half of the next sentence as an ‘if ‘ clause If I won a million dollars, I would be very happy. If I were very happy
Not all tasks work as group/pair activities. Pair work usually works better than group work. Make sure the task is such that it is likely to be better done by the group / pair than by an individual. Allow individuals to work on their own if they prefer.
OPEN-ENDING Cues allow for many possible right answers: So that: • More learners can get to respond. • Learners can respond at different levels.
Examples: Closed-ended: Moshe is a baby. Moshe can / can’t ride a bicycle. Open-ended: Moshe is a baby. Moshe can’t ride a bicycle, but he can smile. What else can / can’t Moshe do?
Other possibilities for open-ending 1. Brainstorming • Practice of can/could • How many ways can you think of to use an empty tin can? (A pen? A piece of fimo?) Adjective-before-noun, vocabulary • How many adjectives can you think of to describe the noun ‘road’ (or house or song)? How many nouns can you think of that could be described by the adjective ‘hard’ (or black or clear)?
Comparative of adjectives How many ways can you think of to compare a train with a car? Second conditional How many endings can you think of for the sentence: If I had a million dollars…?
Other possibilities for open-ending 2. Originality ‘Lateral thinking’ Comparative of adjectives Think of ten ways to compare a tree with a piece of spaghetti. Both... Think of some ways in which a lesson is like a wedding. Interrogatives Find six questions to which the answer is … twelve…(tomorrow …of course! …I don’t know … I hope so … )
Writing Suggest at least three advantages of being an only child. (of not having a cellphone / of having no car?) Negative sentences Name ten things you have never done. Name six things that you can’t touch, and why. Say six negative things about …a pen (a cat / English). Say four NICE things about your friend, using negative sentences.
COMPULSORY PLUS OPTIONAL 1. Activities 2. Tests
