Skip to main content

Random thoughts

So it's the third day of our PBL saga. And below I summarize my feelings:
1) Students should write the problems;
2) What we did in three days we should have done in two days;
3) We should be clearer in the fact that we had a concrete plan but that we are willing to change it - this is not meant to be confusing but rather accommodating.
I don't really know what's going on but I'm getting very strange mixed messages from the students and no real concrete feedback.

On the other hand, isn't it a chance to say "Well, since things are so vague, I can choose something that really interests me in terms of of strategies and go with it". Up to now, everyone always says what is necessary but here's a chance to define it yourself. When I think back to my studies, I remember horribly boring lectures and perhaps I'm now giving some of those. But at the same time, I think that this Lernfeld is a chance to really say "I will tolerate a few really boring lectures because I know I can individualize what comes next". And do the work :)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Those Pesky Native Speakers....AGAIN!

The question I most frequently get asked - probably because I grew up speaking English myself and my daughters went through the Swiss public school system - is “how do I deal with native speakers in my classroom?” I will discuss this below starting with my own experiences and then generalize those points to some more practical tips. First of all, I would like to state that I get irritated by the question. Teachers in Switzerland have a 3-year degree in education and a lot of fieldwork. In every subject there will be learners who are more or less motivated, more or less interested, and have had more or fewer experiences in a subject. So when I get asked about native speakers, I think “have they not learned how to differentiate instruction?” and that they have it wrong. Teachers are not responsible for teaching native-level English (they cannot), but they ARE responsible that every child has an active, positive experience where they make progress. They ARE responsible for not just “follo
Post a Comment
Read more

Looking Forward!

What's the difference between "forward-looking" and "looking forward"? An initial thought leads to time: are forward-looking things less probable because they take place in an undetermined point in the future? Are things you look forward to more concrete, in the shorter-term and thus more probable? Who knows - but it is sure fun to think about it!! I am looking forward to this upcoming semester because: I get to teach a lot! My grandfather is coming from the US and we get to go to Lauffen am Neckar ( http://www.lauffen.de/portal ) and take a trip through time. I get to go to the mountains ( http://www.nationalpark.ch/ ) with Ally, Zoe and Patrick. I get to go to the Leonard Cohen concert in Zurich ( http://www.leonardcohen.com/ ) with Patrick! I get to go to the zoo with my students. Somehow it seems a bit simplistic, but isn't it these simple things that keep us happy?
Post a Comment
Read more

The Endless Loop

Today I taught a group of students at the Zurich University of Teacher Education (PH Zurich). I corrected the following utterances: “What means ‘intelligible’?” (should be “What DOES ‘intelligible’ mean?”) “Last year I have gone there, it was great!” (should be: “Last year I WENT there…”) [eye roll] How many times I have corrected these ‘miscues’ or ‘mistakes’? However, did these utterances hinder the students’ ability to communicate? No! Did the students know the rule? Yes! Were they able to correct themselves? Yes! Did they say it incorrectly again after being corrected, made to repeat the expression correctly and write it down to remember? Yes!! What does this example show us? It shows that language is not learned in isolated moments of “learning the present perfect”. It shows us that noticing language takes place all the time, in different contexts. Some things, like the present perfect, are so different from German, that it is only in extended exposure, use in different
Post a Comment
Read more