Learner-Centered Teaching Book- Chapter 4.

Changing the Balance of Power.

This chapter describes if students deserve the power of choosing and the consequences of giving them that power. Also, in this chapter, we will answer the questions: What can one learn from this? And, How teachers or future teachers can apply that knowledge in a teaching situation?

First, do students deserve to have the power of choice? Yes, as they take a great part in the learning process. However, learners have only some say. They do not dominate the whole classroom. According to the book “Learner-Centered Teaching: Five Key Changes to Practice”, Chapter 4 (Weimer, 2013) between students and the teacher. For example, the main aim of a reading class would be to read a book, and usually, the book is given by the teacher (a controlled practice). Students, therefore, will be demotivated to read because they must read something that was previously selected by the teacher, not by them. If the teacher wants to guide learners to read something, at least he or she should give them some power, like providing book options for students to choose. That would change students' perspective over reading and would make learning meaningful.

Second, what would be the consequences of giving students some power in the classroom? According to Jostens (2016) several positive consequences one can find. For example, if students notice what they say and think is important, they will participate more actively. Learners will acquire knowledge not on the teacher's pace but theirs. Giving students more power will foster learner independence, they will investigate and learn not because the teacher wanted them to do so but because they want to know what their potential is, how far they can go. Besides, giving students a voice in the classroom will improve the teacher-student relationship and the classroom environment since the teacher will be a guide, monitor and observer and only a controller and feedback-provider when necessary.

To conclude, what one can learn from this? The answer is really simple. To give a voice to our students, they need to become independent learners. They need to be involved in the decision making of the class. As a result, we will have more motivated students, learners with a sense of control, and with less disruptive behavior. That will improve the teacher-student relationship and the classroom environment because for a teacher it would be a pleasure to work with students who want to work and more importantly to learn. Now, How teachers can apply this in a real classroom? One can share control in the classroom with these tips.

1. Allow students to be themselves. According to Willis & ETS (1997) in their journal Sharing Control in the Classroom, if a teacher allows his or her students to be themselves he or she will gain a more collaborative relationship, avoiding at the same time major battles. But always with a limit.
2. Let students offer their criteria in the elaboration of the curriculum. That will reduce the teacher’s amount of time doing something that may or may not work in the future when applied. And also, students will have the opportunity to set their own goals, what they can achieve during the learning process.

For further reading:

Weimer, M. (2013). Learner-Centered Teaching : Five Key Changes to Practice (2nd ed.). John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. Retrieved from https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/uta-ebooks/reader.action?docID=1119448&ppg=162

Jostens. (2016). Giving students a voice in the classroom. Educational Leadership, 11. Retrieved from https://www.jostensrenaissance.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/November­SearchInstitute-Voice.pdf

Willis, S., & ETS. (1997). Sharing Control in the Classroom, 1. Retrieved from https://www.ets.org/s/efolio/pdf/Sharing_Control_Classroom.pdf

Learner-Centered Teaching Book- Chapter 3.

The Role of the Teacher.

Pngimg. (2013). The Role of the Teacher. Teaching Early Reading and Phonics: Creative Approaches to Early Literacy. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781473914728.n3

This chapter describes the different roles that the teacher needs to achieve in a classroom and the different principles that the teacher do at the moment to teach. Also, in this chapter, we will answer the questions: What can one learn from this? And, How teachers or future teachers can apply that knowledge in a teaching situation?

 

To start with, teachers are an essential part of any student because they facilitate their learning and help them to acquire knowledge. According to the book “Learner-Centered Teaching: Five Key Changes to Practice”, Chapter 3, (Weimer 2013) in the learner-centered class, one of the major roles of the teacher is as a facilitator because students’ learning efforts need to be supported and being a facilitator of learning is a more a requirement and less an option. However, there are other roles that the teacher has to play such as assessor, monitor, planner, manager, etc, but it is important to take into account that the role of the teacher depends on learners’ motivation, needs, attitude and in the class size. Moreover, in a class is important that the teacher finds teaching ways that work for students. For this reason, there are some principles that teachers develop when they teach. First, teachers let students do more learning tasks. In here, teachers need to stop doing the tasks for learners due they need to do practice and improve their knowledge. Second, teachers do less telling because students need to discover to increase knowledge and it is not necessary for the teacher to always say what students have to do. Another principle is that teachers have to do instructional design work more carefully because if the teacher does authentic and legitimate work motivates students to learn. Additionally, there are more principles that a good teacher need to do in their classes in order to do a better job. (Newton, Strayer, Frazier, & Armentrout, 2006)

 

To sum up, once we already know the different teachers’ roles and a set of teaching principles, it is important to apply them in a classroom in order to get good results in students' learning. For this reason, there are some examples:

1. Before to start any activity, to give clear instructions about how to do the activity to our students, in this way, during the development of the activity will be easier for us not to help them all the time and students will discover things by themselves.
2. While the students are developing activities base on any language skill, the teacher should walk around the class monitoring and guiding the activities in order to avoid students’ mistakes.
3.  According to Jagtap, (2016) the teacher can work in his/her classes as a facilitator in order to have a practical class. Students can do any activity and the teacher will facilitate the subject material for the development of the task.

Extra information:

Weimer, M. (2013). Learner-Centered Teaching : Five Key Changes to Practice (2nd ed.). John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. Retrieved from https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/uta-ebooks/reader.action?docID=1119448&ppg=162

Jagtap, P. (2016). Teachers Role As Facilitator in Learning. Aug-Sept, 3, 3903–3905. Retrieved from www.srjis.com

Newton, M. E., Strayer, G. D., Frazier, G. W., & Armentrout, W. D. (2006). Principles of Teaching. The American Journal of Nursing, 36(12), 1294. https://doi.org/10.2307/3414292

Unit 8.

SPEAKING.

Ahkâm, & Freeiconspng. (2014). Speaking. Retrieved from https://images.app.goo.gl/Zz2GgT6t678CEpix6

 

     The eighth unit in the book “The TKT Course Modules 1, 2 and 3” talks about one of the four language skills “Speaking”. This unit will answer the questions: What can one learn from this? And, How teachers can apply that knowledge in a teaching situation?

 

To get started, it is important to know what speaking is, according to the TKT book, (Spratt, Pulverness y Williams 2011) is one of the four language skill and it is a productive skill due to it involves producing language rather than receiving it and using speech in order to communicate with other people. In addition, according to Torky, (2006) is a learner's ability to express himself/herself with good fluency and accuracy in a given meaningful context. Once already we know the meaning of speaking, it is also important to know some features. Firstly, connected speech is an essential part of speaking due to we use intonation, word and sentence stress, accurate individual sounds, linking and contractions to help convey meaning. Secondly, fluency, accuracy, and appropriacy are a major part of speaking because they help us to communicate in a better way. Additionally, as the other language skills, speaking also involves text types which help us to improve communicative ability due to involves using different functions, structures, levels of formality, amounts of interaction and vocabulary.

 

To sum up, we can say that as with the other language skills, speaking is a complex activity. However, there are some speaking activities and sources that teachers can apply in the classroom in order to improve the speaking skill. For example:

1.      Performing role plays, debates, discussions, small dramatizations about movies or book, etc, will help students develop certain aspects of the speaking skill such as pronunciation, fluency, register, body language, and some interactive strategies.

2.      In each class, as teachers, we can use the repetition activity which is very useful because the student will learn the correct pronunciation due to that activity is focused on accuracy in speaking. Also, the learner will not have many errors because it is a controlled activity which will give them more confidence at the moment to speak.

3.      According to Bahrani & Soltani, (2012) a good way to improve speaking is doing the traditional classroom with drills in which one person asks a question and another gives an answer.

For further information:

Spratt, M., Pulverness, A., & Williams, M. (2011). The TKT Course Modules 1, 2 and 3 (Second). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139062398.003

Bahrani, T., & Soltani, R. (2012). How to Teach Speaking Skill? Journal of Education and Practice, 3(2), 25–29. Retrieved from http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.893.2386&rep=rep1&type=pdf

Torky,  shiamaa abd E. F. (2006). The Effectiveness of a Task- Based Instruction program in Developing the English Language Speaking Skills of Secondary Stage Students A thesis Supervised by. Ain Shams University Women’s College Curricula and Methods of Teaching Departement, 1–254. Retrieved from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED523922.pdf

Unit 7.

LISTENING.

 

Knudge.me, & Gupta, N. (2017). Listening. Retrieved from https://images.app.goo.gl/wXc6wXFaE5Ni7uLN6

 

     The seventh unit in the book “The TKT Course Modules 1, 2 and 3” is focused on listening. This unit will answer the questions: What can one learn from this? And, How teachers can apply that knowledge in a teaching situation?

 

To start with, what is listening? According to the TKT book, (Spratt, Pulverness y Williams 2011) is one of the four language skill and it is a receptive skill due to it involves responding to a language rather than producing it and making sense of the meaningful sounds of language. In addition, according to Tyagi (2013), is a modality of the language and a psychological process of receiving and responding messages. Furthermore, Listening involves dealing with the characteristics of spoken language and understanding a range of relevant text types, different speeds of speech and accents because each person speaks differently, it means some people speak slow and others fast. Finally, listening has several different subskills which depend on our reason. We might listen for gist, specific information, detail or infer attitude. Also, other ways of listening are intensively and extensively listening.

To sum up, one can say that listening is just as important as the other language skills and it involves doing many things like understanding the grammar, vocabulary, and functions of what we hear. For this reason, there are some listening activities and sources that teachers can apply in the classroom in order to develop it in a good way. For example:

1. In each class, as teachers, we can enhance the listening skill using different tools whether auditory or auditory-visual, such as songs, videos, conversations, short stories, etc., due to those tools are interesting for any learner and useful. Also, those sources help students to like listening.
2. Writing tasks are also useful because we can use listening recordings to complete those tasks, which will improve listening understanding. For example, completing conversation, putting events in order or choosing the correct event are other useful tasks to understand and develop listening because in this way students focus on the main details of the audio.
3. According to Ali, (n.d.), we can use a listening sequence in a class. Pre-listening (students try to predict the topic), while listening (development of activities), and post-listening (reflection about their listening experience). This pattern or sequence will be helpful in a classroom in order to have a good activity organization.

For further information:

Spratt, M., Pulverness, A., & Williams, M. (2011). The TKT Course Modules 1, 2 and 3 (Second). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139062398.003

Ali, R. (n.d.). How to teach listening effectively? Ministry of Education and Higher Education. 22. Retrieved from http://www.edu.gov.qa/Ar/SECInstitutes/EducationInstitute/CS/English/QatarUniversityConference/How to teach listening effectively.pdf

Tyagi, B. (2013). Listening: An Important Skill and Its Various Aspects. The Criterion: An International Journal in English, 12(12), 1–8. Retrieved from http://www.the-criterion.com/V4/n1/Babita.pdf

Unit 6.

WRITING.

 

Freeiconspng. (n.d.). Writing. Retrieved from https://images.app.goo.gl/z6WtDfaZK7geUSY78

     On this unit of the book “The TKT Course Modules 1, 2 and 3” a productive skill called Writing is going to be described, as well as, the text types one may encounter and their subskills along with the stages of writing. Also, this blog will answer the questions: What can one learn from this unit? And, How can grammar be useful in a real-life classroom?

 

     To write, first, a need to communicate a message by using different kinds of writing is required. Also, the way one writes the information is known as text types. There are many written text types, and according to the National Literacy Trust (2012), one can find several examples of written text types like discussion texts, free verse, dilemma stories, etc, likewise, the “TKT” book (Spratt, M., Pulverness, A., & Williams, 2011) describes text types as writing a shopping list, a postcard, a diary, etc. with all of them having different degrees of formality or register, layouts, ordering, complexity, etc.

     Second, to write, one needs to consider the writing subskills according to the text type to write. The “TKT” book describes two general writing subskills, some of them related to accuracy like joining letters together, spelling correctly, etc. And others to communicating ideas as in using appropriate style and register, join words and sentences clearly and using appropriate functions, etc. In addition to the writing subskills, one needs to consider the stages of writing which are getting ideas, organizing those ideas, drafting, editing, proofreading, and re-reading.

 

     To conclude, what one can know about this unit of writing? Several things like we need something to communicate and a way of doing it, also known as text types. Also, one needs to know the subskills of writing along with the stages of it to improve the quality of our writing. Now, how can teaching writing be useful in a real-life classroom? Here are some tips you might find useful.

1. Do not scare students right away by telling them to write. Start little by little, so then, students will be able to join words or sentences correctly, using one of the subskills of writing.
2. Give students more than one strategy to help them cope with writing. Keep in mind that not every strategy will work for every student, so, you need to have some backups. The journal HOW TO TEACH WRITING LIKE A PRO (BusyTeacher, 2016) offers thirteen strategies for students to improve their writing skills.
3. Practice makes the master! Do not worry if students take more than one hour in their writings. In fact, allow them to. There are plenty of writing books in the market, being one of them “ENGAGING WRITING 1” (Fitzpatrick, 2011)  which gives students lots of practice in writing and reading too.

For further reading

Spratt, M., Pulverness, A., & Williams, M. (2011). The TKT Course Modules 1, 2 and 3 (Second). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139062398.003

 

BusyTeacher. (2016). HOW TO TEACH WRITING LIKE A PRO, 63. Retrieved from http://www.pasco.k12.fl.us/library/esol/how-to-teach-writing-like-a-pro.pdf

Fitzpatrick, M. (2011). ENGAGING WRITING 1. (Pearson Education, Ed.). NY United States of America.

National Literacy Trust. (2012). A Guide to Text Types: Narrative, Non-fiction and poetry, 32. Retrieved from https://www.thomastallisschool.com/uploads/2/2/8/7/2287089/guide_to_text_types_final-1.pdf

Spratt, M., Pulverness, A., & Williams, M. (2011). The TKT Course Modules 1, 2 and 3 (Second). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139062398.003

 

Unit 5.

READING.

GEIKHMAN, Y. (2019). Reading Skill. Retrieved from https://images.app.goo.gl/ET3VxFvL6pQxhNHq9

    The book “The TKT Course Modules 1, 2 and 3” has many units, and of them is unit five which talks about Reading. To read using our knowledge of the language and our knowledge of the world since it will help us to understand better. And that some reading skills and ways of reading will depend on the type of text we are going to read. Also, in this blog, we will answer the questions: What can one learn from this unit? And, How can teaching reading be useful in a real-life classroom?

     Before to start, one has to know that Reading is a receptive skill meaning that it will receive information rather than producing it. With that in mind, what does it mean to understand a text, sentence or word by using our knowledge of the language and the knowledge of the world? Basically, to understand the meaning of the text, sentence or word. And its connections between each other and our knowledge of the world, in other words, what discourse is. According to Sparks, (2012) discourse is to establish connections with the combination of information from prior grammar and vocabulary, as well as from our prior knowledge, in order to have coherence and cohesion.

     Reading also includes using different reading skills and ways of reading depending on the text one might want to read. According to the “TKT” book (Spratt, M., Pulverness, A., & Williams, 2011) some reading skills may include Scanning, Reading for detail, Skimming, Deducing meaning from context, Inferring, Predicting, etc. It is also considered Extensive reading and Intensive reading as ways of reading. For example, extensive reading is reading for pleasure. And intensive reading is when you read to know how language is used.

     To conclude, what one can learn from unit five “Reading”? You can learn that reading is a comprehension process. First, you have to understand the discourse of it. And, once you understand it, you will know which reading skill or way of reading would be best to apply. Now, how can teaching reading be useful in a real-life classroom? Here are some tips you might find useful.

1.      Make this comprehension process more bearable. How? Teach reading with activities in a process (before-reading, while-reading, and after-reading). For example, the book “HOW TO TEACH READING LIKE A PRO” (BusyTeacher, 2013) gives you lots of activities for this matter as in how to teach reading with fairy tales,  poetry, etc.

2.     Practice the reading skills with reading passages. You can give students a reading text, passage, or paragraph depending on the level of the students, and teach them to identify the meaning from context, etc. The book “MORE READING POWER 3” (Jeffries & Mikulecky, 2011) will help you to select from a wide variety of reading passages all of them previously selected to help you teach reading in the best way possible.
 

For further reading:

Spratt, M., Pulverness, A., & Williams, M. (2011). The TKT Course Modules 1, 2 and 3 (Second). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139062398.003

BusyTeacher. (2013). HOW TO TEACH READING LIKE A PRO. Hamilton, ON, Canada. Retrieved from http://www.pasco.k12.fl.us/library/esol/how-to-teach-reading-like-a-pro.pdf

Jeffries, L., & Mikulecky, B. S. (2011). MORE READING POWER 3. (Pearson Education ESL, Ed.) (Third). Pearson Education ESL.

Sparks, J. R. (2012). Language/Discourse Comprehension and Understanding. Choice Reviews Online, 5. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1428-6_1005 

Spratt, M., Pulverness, A., & Williams, M. (2011). The TKT Course Modules 1, 2 and 3 (Second). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139062398.003