Teaching & Learning

Just because I saw somebody last Saturday that reminded me of this song...
This one goes for you! :)

Large classes are perceived as difficult to engage students. However, the basic level of engagement with students is the same across all class sizes. The key strategies must be engaged teaching and active learning. Try to focus on three main targets: creating a good relationship with your students, getting formal and informal feedback from them and encouraging real communication between your pupils.

Work on the relationship between teacher and students
Get to know your students by name: say their names in class. The minute you know their names, they are not anonymous and will want to perform.Show them you are human: feel at home yourself and your students will feel at home.Set a task and wander around the class: show that you are approachable.Help students feel 'at home': appreciate that large classes can be lonely/alien places for students.Agree the ground rules: establish that attending the class is not just listening passively, but also involves answering questions, discussin…

One of my biggest concerns with the diagnostic activities format (as with most activities in general) is how I might make the practice of speaking/writing accessible and familiar to my students so that they would recognize it as something they do, not merely an artificial exercise deployed in order to perform well in class. So I thought of creating an informal social network page through which students could communicate with me and with each other in a comfortable, quick-and-easy medium. The board seems too impersonal and “academic” for my purposes, so I'll use an imaginary page that each student will have to fill in and then present to class.  My plan is to incorporate class discussion during those presentations, even though I assume most students won't feel comfortable enough to start their own topics... This type of activity can be used in almost all proficiency levels with variable approaches, for example, for low intermediate/ intermediate students, I will start by showing …

I really think the theme suits the timing ;-) but I have to admit that it is good to feel mad, sometimes! BTW, Muse keep on rocking in incredible and mysterious ways, don't you think?