Source of picture: flickr.com

v Task 1.1. Speaking. Together with your colleagues, you have a discussion at a teachers’ meeting over the best way to organize students’ work in a modern classroom. When your turn to speak comes, what ideas are you going to put forward? Consider the following:

1. Is modern classroom supposed to be any different from a traditional 20-century classroom?If yes, what are the key differences? (You may look at the picture for the support.)

2. What teaching techniques could be the most relevant today?

3. How much independence might be granted to students?

 

v Task 1.2. Listening. Watch the 1^st part of the video “Teaching Methods for Inspiring the Students of the Future” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCFg9bcW7Bk (00:10 – 4: 5 8).

After watching, answer the questions below:

1. What have the 37 years of teaching experience taught the speaker?

2. What does he call a traditional classroom (the one familiar to us from our youth)?

3. How the lesson used to be organized earlier?

4. What are the 5Cs Joe Ruhl speaks about in his talk?

v Task 1.3. Speaking. Say, what one thing from Ruhl’s talk will you entirely agree with? Which one will you rather disagree? In both cases, provide argument.

 

v Task 1.4. Vocabulary focus. Below are the gapped fragments of Joe Ruhl’s speech. Fill them with the words in the frame, making sure you understand them well enough (use the dictionary if necessary).

Uniquely tracking teacher centred collaboration sage wired for ancestors wholeheartedly nurture student centred research-basedteachingmentor authenticcave paintings coach

37 years of teaching experience have taught me that two things are needed: 1.________________ techniques and relationship. Relationship is huge, but we'll talk more about that later.

<…>

And so I said to myself, "Self, maybe that would work in the classroom. Let the kids have choices."

And so that's what I did. I converted my classroom to a situation where student choice was a big part of the room along with four other Cs:

2.________________________, communication, critical thinking and creativity.

Actually, over ten years ago, the National Education Association identified those last four Cs on the list as essential 21st century skills that kids should learn, and I agree 3.______________________.

<…>

Imagine our early hominid 4._________________________ out looking for food. Don't you know that finding and 5.___________________________ that woolly mammoth required critical thinking and problem-solving?

<…>

And I know they smiled when they put those 6._______________________ up on the wall because creativity is a 7._________________________ human, pleasurable, satisfying activity.

So I believe our brains are 8._________________________ the five Cs. And since they're wired for the five Cs, that 9.____________________________ learning will happen when kids are allowed to engage in the five Cs.

<…>

A classroom setup based on the five Cs requires a shift from a 10.__________________________ classroom to a 11._________________________ classroom. And this requires the teacher to remove him or herself from front and centre, becoming more of a guide on the side rather than a 12.______________________________ on the stage. But this opens up opportunities to not merely teach, but to 13.__________________, to 14.________________, to 15._________________ and inspire, and that's why I love it so much.

 

v Task 1.5. Listening. Watch the second part of the video “Teaching Methods for Inspiring the Students of the Future”(6. 28 –1 2. 00). While watching, fill in the table below. Fill in the blanks with the mentioned activities in the left column and provide explanations and examples where possible in the right column.

1. Two activities not required
2. Website activities
3. ___________________ __________________________
4. ___________________
5. __________________
6. educational _________
7. hands-on, minds-on ____________________
8. ___________________
9. ___________________

v Task 1.6. Speaking. Answer publicly the question: “Is it true that being a guide on the side makes the teacher more important?” Agree or disagree. Provide argument. Do not forget to use expressions: “In my opinion…”, “To my mind…”, “From my point of view…” etc. (see page …)

v Task 1.7. Speaking. Pair work. Together with your partner, think of an educational project, which could provide useful information in ecology/physics/chemistry/biology/computer science etc. Name this project. Write a brief plan of its scenario and algorithm of implementing.

Writing skills

Ø Task 1.8. Write a summary of the educational project you planned in class to provide arguments in favour of its use in school education. You will have to share your ideas at the beginning of the next class.

Keep in mind that your project summary (one more example of an academic text) is not supposed to be longer than one page A4. It has to have a clear structure, with logical division into paragraphs. Each paragraph should start with a topic sentence (see page …).

1. start your summary by stating the problem;

2. define your specific goals and objectives, which are to help deal with the problem;

3. explain how you see the practical implementation of the project (give a brief outline of the main steps);

4. expand on why your project is efficient for achieving the goals.

Use where necessary linking adjuncts to provide understanding by your potential readers and emphasize important points (see the full table of linking adjuncts at page …).