November, 2006 Vol.55 No.10
With the deadline for elementary school English education approaching there is more and more talk and speculation about what form the classes will take. One of the recurring assumptions seems to be that elementary school English should be “fun”. But what exactly does “fun” mean and to whom?
In the first place, do you think English should be “fun”, or does that just sound like a complete waste of time to you? What is your definition of “fun”? What would you think if you asked your own child, “What did you do and learn in English class today?” And your child answered, “I played games and had fun!” Could you be satisfied with that answer? Compare your ideas and opinions with Mayuka and Robert - both as parents and educators.
M: Robert, I am deeply concerned about the English classes that are to be taught in elementary schools. It sounds like people are still mainly talking about jumping around, singing, and doing games. Granted, children learn while they are having fun. But where’s the meat?
R: Yeah, you’re right. While activities take an important role in all the phases, that is not the main meat of the lesson - nor the origin of genuine fun in the classroom. You know, when we give workshops, teachers are always hungry for new exciting activities, right? Any ideas why?
M: Most of the teachers of “fun” based classes believe that they have to give different activities every 5 minutes or so. This is also taught in some teacher-training courses. The student trainees get told that the students have short attention spans so they should change the activities as much as possible.
R: Well, that way of teaching does not give space for children to think, digest, and internalize what they have been exposed to. Plus; I think those teachers and students must get tired from -“hyper fun”- running through a list of activities. I think that way may lead to teacher burnout and students who may lose interest in English. It is a pity, because students who are internally
motivated have long attention spans, right?
M: Yeah, for example, do you remember what I told you about Hinako when she was two and a half? She spent a couple of hours on a plastic beads picture set using her little fingers - which were not very coordinated - to put each little bead on the spike board to make the picture. When I called the children for lunch she didn’t even hear me and just kept doing what she was doing. Finally when she finished it she brought it to me and said “Iron it, please.”- to keep it as a picture. Guess what? She had made an Ampanman face. When I asked her what she had looked at to make the picture she said “Nothing.” She had made a perfect “Ampanman” face from memory.
R: We both know, as does any parent that kids can concentrate on things once they get interested in it and their internal need or desire to do it has been awakened. Learning itself and learning something new is fun for them. But in Hinako’s example, that is just one child. What about in English classes where there are many students? How can teachers lead students to want to learn? How to make kids internally curious? What can be done practically?
M: One of the best activities is “Battleships”. You know the game, right?
R: Yeah. You hide your battleships on your grid and your opponents try to sink them without looking at your grid but calling out “1-A” or “3-D” to shoot the specific square on the grid, right? I played the game when I was a kid. It was one of my favorites.
M: That’s the one. The players will soon be able to guess where the ships are after missing a couple of shots. The way to use this in the classroom is that in the beginning it is the class against the teacher. To play the game, they have to think logically and construct a strategy based on the grid and incoming information about “hits” and “misses”. The beauty of this game in the classroom is that your students want to speak up because they want to shoot and sink your ships. So we have one of the criteria for real learning to take place - namely, an internally motivated activity that the students want to do and continue.
R: Uh… Mayuka, I understand the educational value of the game but
what about the language part? Where does English come in?
M: Easy, you don’t use the numbers and alphabet letters to name the columns and rows but use English words and phrases. For example, if you set the task to produce present progressive patterns and work with names, you name the horizontal rows with people’s names and the vertical columns with verbs. So, your students must call out “Jane is running.” Or “Bob is sleeping.”
R: Oh, I get it. Neat!!
M: You can use this game with any language item and for any target.
R: That sounds like a great activity for students who are strong on mathematical and logical intelligence. What about for the ones whose strongest channel is intrapersonal intelligence?
M: Now you are talking about Gardner’s multiple intelligences theory. Some students can have fun with moving their bodies if they are kinesthetic learners. But if the child is strong on the intrapersonal intelligence then being quiet and thinking by themself is much more fun.
R: Big time! I believe that teachers need to think about the learning objectives and learning process first and the activities second. Then when we think about using activities, we have to create some space for students to think, digest, internalize, and reflect, on what they faced and learned. In this way, our students will say “I learned a lot and it was fun.”
M: That is the “fun” we want to bring in to the English classrooms. Well, talking about the learning process, I must say it also has to take into account multiple intelligences. I think we would like to discuss about this next time.
日本語解説
students who are internally motivated have long attention spans
子どもたちが一つのことに意識を集中できる時間が短いというのは、外から与えられる受動的な刺激に対しての話です。テレビを見ているときの子どもたちの状態ですね。実際には、子どもたちは、能動的かつ主体的に関わっている事柄に対しては、驚くほど長い時間集中します。ですから、「集中しない」から「より多くの刺激を与える」ことによって、「集中しなくてもよい」環境が出来上がり、子どもたちは「集中する」よりも、「より多くの刺激を求める」ようになってしまう危険があります。
battleships
縦の列と横の列、それぞれに単語やフレーズなどを入れることによって、どんな学習内容にも対応できます。何よりも、学習者のほうから積極的に発話を促すことができるという点で、優れものゲームです。オリジナルのゲームは、一対一でお互いに相手の戦艦をすべて沈めあうのですが、英語学習の場面においては、先生対生徒全員という形で行うことをお勧めします。遊び方の詳細は、MayukaHabbick.comでご紹介しております。
Gardner’s multiple intelligences
まずはじめは、1983年に発表されたFrames of Mindという本の中で、linguistic, logical-mathmatical, musical, bodily-kinethetic, spatial, interpersonal, intrapersonalの７つのintelligencesとして紹介されました。その後、ほかにも要素があるのではないかという議論の末、naturalistという項目が加わり、８項目にまとめられました。詳しくは、公式ウエブサイトhttp://www.howardgardner.com/へどうぞ。
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