LEARNING THROUGH DRAMA

During my past learning experiences, I have found myself in many different learning environments. Various studies show that children, especially the younger ones, learn more through hands-on activities based on play. A number of theories state that drama helps pupils understand curricular concepts better. Both drama and play are mainly based on group work and support personal as well as social development. This helps teachers reach children with different learning abilities. The data gathered during this research shows that drama and play are useful in making the teaching and learning experiences more meaningful and more pleasant for all those involved. Through the integration of drama and play within the curriculum, education becomes more holistic and more complete for all learners, regardless of their learning abilities and learning styles.

When comparing and contrasting the hands on method to the lecture method many people prefer the hands on method. This allows the students to further understand what the teachers are trying to teach. By using this method a majority of the students will learn more, and learn at a quicker pace.

There are many good qualities in using a hands on method for learning. One reason is that way the students get to know each other better. They learn ways to get along and work well together. By having students work out the problem, they are more apt to remember it in the future. Looking at it from a teacher’s standpoint, by having all the kids work in front of class, it is possible to make sure the students are doing their own work. This also can help show how far along the student is, and how much of the reason they’ve learned. The most important thing about hands on work is it’s fun. When students are having fun, they will learn more. This could even create better behavior from the students. .

Many times there can be bad points to lecturing. One thing is that it’s usually boring. Everyone would agree that it’s no fun to sit and listen to someone talk while all you do is take notes. This is the reason for many people falling asleep in class. Sometimes it becomes hard to continue listening to someone for a long period of time. Another bad quality about lecturing is that it separates which teachers students dislike and which ones they like. Lecture style teaching leads many students’ get bored and not enjoy the class. If a teacher lets students use hands on work to learn they will become a teacher the students like and want to have for class.

According to Friedrich Froebel, the founder of the kindergarten system, “children are like growing plants in a garden, to be cultivated according to the laws of their own being, of God and of Nature.” Many authorities believe that because of humans’ evolution in the natural world, people possess nature-based genetic coding and instincts. Therefore, children are born with a natural, innate sense of relatedness to nature.

it is important for children to participate in dramatic play in outdoor environments. It gives them the opportunity to be in role and play imaginatively. And this because there is a greater sense of freedom in the outdoors and more space and noise.

One of the teachers in an ordinary Swedish primary school worked with a class of 7 children of 6-7 years old on two famous fairy tales: “Little Red Riding Hood” and “Three Billy Goats Gruff” in two different periods of time. The enactment of the first fairy tale, “Little Red Riding Hood”, took place not far from school in a place with grass, 8-9 trees, some bushes and a path through the area while the second one took place in the schoolyard. It was very positive and easy enacting these fairy tales in natural outdoor environments since the children could “find a place to act in just by thinking of the story”. “They didn’t have to make nature, they were in it.” In both cases the children were excited and had fun role-playing different characters or animals. They thought it was easy since they were very familiar with the stories and everyone knew what to say.

So, in general terms, the drama activities that were done by the teachers in different outdoor environments were successful and the teachers noted positive reactions on behalf of the students who, according to the teachers’ comments they enjoyed the activities and in many cases they got enthusiastic and wanted to do them again.

Unquestionably, drama and modern education share many of their objectives such as creativity and aesthetic development, the ability to think critically, social growth and the ability to work cooperatively with others, improved communication skills, the development of moral and spiritual values, self knowledge, and understanding and appreciation of the cultural backgrounds and values of others and they should be often included into the classes.

Around The World in Thirty Minutes

I think this lesson  could be easily adapted to the study of different legends and customs  of a country. There can be also a variation that addresses history over time. The lesson uses pantomime skills, research skills, and information sharing, as well as knowledge of the subject matter. This is a basic teacher-in-role exercise. This plan has been written  in the form of a narrative-a description of the class-rather than giving you step-by-step instructions, because it makes better sense. Every teacher has her or his own style.

Preparation

I told my students the name of the lesson--"Around The World in Thirty Minutes." I explained that we would shortly be enacting a worldwide tour of the world. I asked each student to choose his favorite country or continent. I told them that they would be pretending to be someone or something in that country. I, and a friend, would be making the tour of the world, and in each country we visited, the students in that country would pretend to be animals, people, or things that a visitor in that country would be likely to see.

Many of the students chose countries about which they knew little. Some chose countries they have learnt about through the Comenius Project. Some chose places that just sounded exciting. But the long and short of it was that some of them didn't know what a tourist would be likely to find in the country of their choice. That was exactly what I had hoped would happen. We had a class discussion about the problem. Each student in turn told the group what country or continent he had chosen, and I asked if anyone knew what kinds of things might be found there. In many cases, the student's classmates had great suggestions. But some of them had chosen countries nobody knew much about. So I brought out some reference books and we also used internet resources. (I have an excellent children's atlas, which includes maps with pictures of animals, landmarks, industries, etc that the students loved looking at.) The group researched the countries enthusiastically, and after about ten or fifteen minutes, every student had decided what or who he/she was going to pretend to be.

The Trip

I arranged the students around the classroom. Some countries were represented by more than one student (especially the ones from The Comenius Group), but that was fine. Each country or continent had its own place in the room. I explained that it would be impossible to travel to all the countries in thirty minutes, if it were not for my Supersonic Transport. (I used a wheeled swivel chair.) I brought out a Muppet-style puppet which I use in other lessons. I explained that "Oliver" and I would be making the trip together. (Obviously one could do this lesson without the puppet.)

I sat in my chair and wheeled myself and Oliver to the first country. The puppet and I Ooohed and Aaahed at the sights we saw there. Usually I was able to correctly guess what the students were pretending to be, but when I wasn't, they were not offended, and were quick to give me hints until I did. After I had finished in the first country, I asked the students which other country was the closest. They had to think about this one, but we always came to a decision. In this way they learned and used their knowledge of geography. Sometimes I had to help. Once we decided which country was closest, I moved on to that country and continued in this way until I had visited everybody. Then I "came home."

Discussion( feed-back)

After the trip was over, we sat in a circle, and I asked each student to mention one thing he learned that he hadn't known before. Every one was able to come up with something.
This lesson worked extremely well.

Time-Travel Variation

I haven't tried this, but I think it would work: Instead of traveling from country to country, we would travel from time period to time period or travel from legend to legend in different countries. The people in each period could interact with the travelers--who could be students, rather than the instructor--as much or as little as time and the sophistication of the students allowed.

written by Ioana

ADD MORE SPICES TO YOUR ENGLISH LESSON

While teaching, you have probably thought more than once how to make your lessons more and more interesting and how to make them memorable. You might have asked your students about their interests, you might have searched for the ideas on the Internet and you might have read thousands of handbooks. But sometimes it is still not enough. The situation is more difficult when you are asked to replace a teacher who is absent and make a lesson with students you do not know. It happens very often that they are not prepared for anything and they are unwilling to work.

But in such cases you should remember about a recipe for a good English lesson. It is like this:

INGREDIENTS:

• 1. a topic close to your students’ interests
• 2. activities adjusted to your students’ abilities
• 3. positive feedback
• 4. some drama
• 5. some movement
• 6. some songs
• 7. some spoons of good humour

When you mixed all these ingredients well and in the good proportion, your lesson will be a real success.


TEACHING ENGLISH THROUGH DRAMA

Using drama and songs in lessons is still not so popular. Some teachers hardly ever use them because they do not consider them to be useful to acquire a language. But using such elements at our lessons, we encourage students to learn English in an active way. It is a very motivating and realistic source of language. Since their childhood, kids have liked performing and acting out. They practised it in their mother tounge in kindergarten and primary school. But then, in middle school they become more ashamed to perform. But if they get used to such activities, it will become natural for them. And they will really enjoy it.

While doing drama activities, they will practise fluency in speaking, rhythm, rhymes, mimes, gestures and acting abilities. These issues help students express sentences in English in a meaningful and understandable way.

Moreover, while teaching through drama, we also:

• teach vocabulary in context
• teach grammar structur
• develope imagination of students
• integrate all language skills.

If you want to teach through drama, you can find some examples of plays in coursebooks. But you can also adopt some authentic material, a story, a sketch or a play, which for sure will be more challenging for you students. If your students have a good command of English, they can try to write a script on their own.

When you decide on a material, first you should concentrate on new vocabulary and key words. Pupils can remember them by preparing short dialogues, doing crosswords and other exercises. Then, pupils should be presented with the play, with the intonation and pronunciation. After that, we can discuss the characters and decide who will play which role.

Do not forget about decorations and costumes. When it is ready, you can start your rehearsals and practise till the big day of a performance.


TEACHING ENGLISH THROUGH SONGS

Songs are on the contrary more popular at English lessons. Teachers try to use them more often, maybe because of the fact, that they do not consume so much time as drama activities.

Songs are also a good source of teaching English, because they combine rhythm, rhymes and music which make the new vocabulary easy to remember. Words, phrases and even grammar srtuctures which are repeated so kids acquire them easily. Moreover, they know where to put the stress and they practise the proper pronunciation.

Singing at lessons introduces a lot of fun, no matter how old the students are, they are not afraid and ashamed of singing. Especially, when we choose a song from the top list. In this way, we present an effective and enjoyable way of playing with a language, reinforcing grammar structures and developing all language skills. It helps students remember the meaning of new words.

When you decide to introduce a song at your lesson, it is not enough to prepare a handout with the lyrics and a CD with a song. You should think about activities which can help students memorise new words and expressions. You can arrange the activities to:

• complete with the missing words
• replace the wrong words with the correct ones
• put the versus into the correct order

While working with a song, you can also practise grammar, for example “Lemon Tree” to practise present continuous, or “Yesterday” or “Yellow submarine” to practise past simple.











Using songs and drama in the lesson can be a joyful activity to develop a positive attitude to language learning. Pupils are usualyy very enthusiastic about singing and acting so do not feel afraid of losing your lesson and wasting the time, because very often they will remember more than from the formal lesson.

Magdalena Pakulska – Poland

References: “The teacher” English Language Teaching nr 2(26)2005

OBS. For assessment you may use this on-line test.

THE MAGIC WAND APPROACH

Some Reflections on Current Reality within the EFL Classroom

I have been a teacher of English for many years now and I always wondered why students did not learn the way I wanted, or, in other words, as much as I wanted in the time I wanted. They seemed to start well in the early courses but there is a moment, after two or three years, when I feel students loose their interest in the subject (“Well, they are teenagers, you know!” everybody tells me!) and no matter which lesson you are teaching there is always a group which does not looks interested at all. One brief look at text books will give you the clue: it is the same song with a different tune over and over again: family, school, sports, your neighbourhood... English school books are written to suit the needs of people from all over the world and the subjects have to be as general as possible, with no cultural reference (or just very little) and loads of boring and decontextualized grammar drills provided (on most cases) to keep students busy and, that way, quiet. And we go like this once and again, working with adapted texts, which means texts written bearing in mind the limited vocabulary of students and their (also limited) language knowledge. And most students believe they are learning the language (or teachers believe they are teaching the language) just because they keep going unit after unit, chapter after chapter, following a mathematical order and doing exactly what the author suggests the way the author suggests.

But what happens when students, by any chance, come across the “real world of the language”? It happens that most of them feel cheated by a system that does not provide them with enough “tools” to face it. And then, we, their teachers of English, have to hear once and again the same: students are unmotivated because they KNOW it is not possible to study English in a classroom (an artificial context anyway!) and they believe that if they go to England and live there for some time they are going to learn the REAL language there! And what is worse: this is not only our students’ belief, but their parents’, other teachers and, basically, most members of our own society!

So what can we do to change this way of seeing the teaching/learning of English in our schools? Well, of course, I would like to have a magic wand and make my students go through time and space to an English speaking country and stay there, interact with people and hear (and use!) the REAL language at least during the time they are in my classes. For the moment, I am totally unable to fulfil these expectations, but what I CAN DO is bring the real world to my classes! This is possible if we limit the use of (what I call) “artificial language” and focus on real, original English teaching resources. That is to say, if we introduce in our classes original texts, songs, films as means of an attractive and interesting teaching approach, students will be more motivated and willing to participate in the classroom activities. By means of projects, webquests, podcasts, blogs, chats, original version films, poems, short stories, novels, songs and also inviting native speakers to visit your classroom and talk to your students, kids (and the others!) will see they are interacting in a world that can be easily recognized by anybody, particularly by our own students.
The results are truly worth the effort!

PAT DRIVER THE TINKER. THE SOCIAL VALUE OF STORY-TELLING

In the past story-telling used to be a powerful tool by means of which a coummunity would share and reinforce its values and beliefs. For the survival of a small comunity it was vital that the distinctive traits of its culture, folklore, stories and customs should be stored in a "collective mind" in the form of archetypal truths and values. These "truths" would be then available to the new generations that in turn would later pass them on to their children and so on.

The following traditional folk-tale comes from Ireland, a place well-known for both the hospitality and the story-telling skills of its people.

You will find out that if you can't tell a story the people might turn out not so... friendly after all!!!

Far Darrig in Donegal
Pat Driver, the tinker, was a man well-accustomed to a wandering life, and to strange shelters; he had shared the beggar’s blanket in smoky cabins; he had crouched beside the still in many a nook and corner where poteen was made on the wild Innishowen mountains; he had even slept on the bare heather, or on the ditch, with no roof over him but the vault of heaven; yet were all his nights of adventure tame and commonplace when compared with the one especial night. During the day preceding that night, he had mended all the kettles and saucepans in Moville and Greencastle, and was on his way to Culdaff, when night overtook him on a lonely mountain road. He knocked at one door after another asking for a night’s lodging, while he jingled the halfpence in his pocket, but was everywhere refused. Where was the boasted hospitality of Innishowen, which he had never before known to fail? It was of no use to be able to pay when the people seemed so churlish. Thus thinking he made his way towards a light a little farther on, and knocked at another cabin door. An old man and woman were seated one at each side of the fire. Will you be pleased to give me a night’s lodging sir? Asked Pat respectfully. Can you tell a story? Returned the old man. No, then, sir I canna say I’m good at story-telling, replied the puzzled tinker. Then you maun just gang farther, for none but them that can tell a story will get in here. This reply was made in so decided a tone that Pat did not attempt to repeat his appeal, but turned away reluctantly to resume his weary journey. A story, indeed, muttered he. Auld wives fables to please the weans! As he took up his bundle of tinkering implements, he observed a man standing rather behind the dwelling- house, and, aided by the rising moon, he made his way towards it. It was a clean, roomy barn, with a piled-up heap of straw in one corner. Here was a shelter not to be despised; so Pat crept under the straw and was soon asleep. He could not have slept very long when he was awakened by the tramp of feet, and, peeping cautiously through a crevice in his straw covering, he saw four immensely tall men enter the barn, dragging a body which they threw roughly upon the floor. They next lighted a fire in the middle of the barn, and fastened the corpse by the feet with a great rope to a beam in the roof. One of them began to turn it slowly before the fire. Come on, said he, addressing a gigantic fellow, the tallest of the four-I’m tired; you be to tak’ your turn. Faix an’ troth, I’ll no’ turn him, replied the big man. There’s Pat Diver in under the straw, why wouldn’t he tak’ his turn? With hideous clamour the four men called the wretched Pat, who seeing there was no escape, thought it was his wisest plan to come forth as he was bidden. Now, Pat, said they, You’ll turn the corpse, but if you let him burn you’ll be tied up there and roasted in his place. Pat’s hair stood on end, and the cold perspiration poured from his forehead, but there was nothing for it but to perform his dreadful task. Seeing him fairly embarked in it, the tall men went away. Soon, however, the flames rose so high as to singe the rope, and the corpse fell with a great thud upon the fire, scattering the ashes and embers, and extracting a howl of anguish from the miserable cook, who rushed to the door, and ran for his life. He ran on until he was ready to drop with fatigue, when, seeing a drain overgrown with tall, rank grass, he thought he would creep in there and lie hidden till morning. But he was not many minutes in the drain before he heard the heavy tramping again, and the four men came up with their burthen, which they laid down on the edge of the drain. I’m tired, said one, to the giant; it’s your turn to carry him apiece now. Faix and troth, I’ll no’ carry him, replied he, but there’s Pat Diver in the drain why wouldn’t he come out and tak’ his turn? Come out, Pat, come out, roared all the men, and Pat, almost dead with fright, crept out. He staggered on under weight of the corpse until he reached Kiltown Abbey, a ruin festooned with ivy, where the brown owl hooted all night long, and the forgotten dead slept around the walls under dense, matted tangles of brambles and ben-weed. No one ever buried there now, but Pat’s tall companions turned into the wild graveyard, and began digging a grave. Pat, seeing them thus engaged, thought he might once more try to escape, and climbed up into a hawthorn tree in the fence hoping to be hidden in the boughs. I’m tired, said the man who was digging the grave, here take the spade, addressing the big man. It’s your turn. Faix an’ troth, it’s no’ my turn, replied he, as before. There’s Pat Diver in the tree, why wouldn’t he come down and tak’ his turn? Pat came down to take the spade, but just then the cocks in the little farmyards and cabins round the abbey began to crow, and the men looked at one another. We must go, said they, and well is it for you, Pat Diver, that the cocks crowed, for if they had not, you’d just ha’ been bundled into that grave with the corpse. Two months passed, and Pat had wandered far and wide over the county Donegal, when he chanced to arrive at Raphoe during a fair. Among the crowd that filled the Diamond he came suddenly on the big man. How are you , Pat Diver? Said he, bending down to look into the tinker’s face. You’ve the advantage of me, sir, for I havna’ the pleasure of knowing you, faltered Pat. Do you not know me, Pat? Whisper—When you go back to Innishowen, you’ll have a story to tell!

Follow-up task

Creative writing

Imagine you are Pat Driver.

A few months after your adventure involving the four men and the corpse you happen to be back in the village of Innishowen. It’s getting dark and you need a place to spend the night…you knock on a cabin door and an old man says he’s willing to let you sleep in his cottage only if you can tell a story…Of course you can, can’t you?

Tell the story of the corpse.

Motivating Language Learners with Flickr

Introduction

Some language educators are turning to Web-based social networks in an effort to motivate their students beyond the carrot-and-stick methods of the traditional classroom. Social networks bring people together who share common interests and give those participants the tools to produce, collect, share, and re-mix artifacts (Dieu and Stevens, 2007). Such networks provide language learners with opportunities to meet and interact with people from around the world in self-directed ways on personally meaningful topics. They also give learners a chance to construct a space to call their own; a space without any institutional affiliation, giving learners complete ownership and control over their own work. As long as educators give learners the freedom to choose the content and direction of their online activities, participation in social networks can tap into the bubbling fountain of intrinsic motivation that each learner carries within.

Flickr is one such social network that uses photos as the primary content for sharing amongst its participants. Started in 2002 by Ludicorp (Graham 2006), Flickr’s membership numbers grew rapidly. Bought out by Yahoo! in late 2005, Flickr now hosts a pool of around 500 million photos (Arrington 2007).

One of the advantages Flickr offers language learners is the presence of few linguistic barriers to participation. Unlike the more complex language found in weblog communities, for instance, most of the text-based communication on Flickr consists of short sentences or “one-liners” that tend to be of a positive, encouraging nature. This is ideal for beginning and intermediate level learners, who can receive a great deal of pleasure and satisfaction seeing their photos commented on in positive ways by other people.

The purpose of this paper, then, is to show educators how they can begin putting Flickr to immediate use with their students. After a brief description of Flickr’s main features and how to get started, I will list some practical, and enjoyable activities that teachers can have their students carry out using Flickr and their computers and/or cell phones - both inside and outside of the classroom - to share their photos, write about other photos, and carry out simple conversation with people in different countries. Flickr is a great deal of fun to use and your students are certain to love it.

Main Features

Flickr offers its users a wide variety of features; some of the most fundamental are:

* Photo Galleries – each user can store up to XX megabytes per month.

* Comments – users can comment on each others’ photos; a fun and easy way to communicate.

* Profiles – users can choose to share information about themselves, such as age, geographic location, interests, favorite movies, etc.

* Contacts – users can create their own personal network on Flickr, enabling them to keep in contact with specific people who share similar interests.

* Tags – Flickr allows users to describe the content of their photos with a list of keywords - called tags. Clicking on a tag takes users to all photos sharing the same tag, thus enabling a user-generated classification of content, also called a folksonomy.

* Groups – Users can also create or join theme-based photo pools with corresponding discussion lists. This enables more in-depth discussion on topics of shared interest.

Getting Started

Registering for Flickr requires a Yahoo! ID. This is easy enough for any given teacher to accomplish, but those wanting students to maintain individual accounts should give them clear instructions for how to complete the registration process. It is best to demonstrate the procedure step-by-step with a digital projector. Make sure students write down their Flickr usernames and passwords, for they inevitably forget them (I create a special handout specifically for this). Once registered, teachers should have their students fill out their profiles with information relative to their personal interests, such as hobbies, favorite movies, etc. From there they can begin to upload and share photos.

Privacy

One convenient feature of Flickr is its four privacy levels: users can mark photos private, family only, friends only, and public. It is important that students understand the implications of sharing personal information in a public space. Teachers should deal with this privacy issue before embarking on a Flickr project with their students, particularly with younger learners; they should be encouraged to use pseudonyms whenever possible. Teachers need to monitor learner activity and be ready to advise when necessary.

Activities with Flickr

Listed below are some activities that language teachers and their learners can use both in and out of class. I’ve chosen to group them according to the type of room in which the class is held. Most of the activities necessitate individual learner accounts, others can be carried out with just a single teacher account, while a few, like ‘searching for photos’, ‘picture dictionary’, and ‘exploring geotags’, can even be done without any accounts.

In a Computer Room:

1. Searching for Photos: Students can search for photos, either via tags or text, and display them using a large size on the monitor to use in conversation or writing activities, such as:

* Show and tell, using descriptive adjectives.

* Practice using the subjunctive and/or conditional tense.

* Giving opinions, making recommendations, or making comparisons.

The serendipity involved in browsing photos by ‘most viewed’, ‘most relevant’ and ‘most interesting’ makes this activity enjoyable for everyone.

2. Uploading Photos: Uploading photos to Flickr is a great way to start using English, especially for beginners.

* Each uploaded photo needs a title, caption (called a ‘description’ in Flickr), and a set of tags that describe the content of the photo. Students using a computer can even leave notes on their photos for people who want to take a closer look. Teachers should model this activity on their own Flickr accounts.

* Photos can be uploaded either directly via the Flickr site or via students’ cell phones. Students with their own computers can download other, more sophisticated uploading programs.

* There are four general privacy levels: private, family only, friends only, or public. If teachers don’t want students sharing photos publicly, have students make ‘friends’ of everyone in the class.

3. Making friends: Students can search the keywords they entered in their profile for their interests, likes, favorite movies, favorite books, etc., to browse the profiles and photos of other people who entered the same keyword. If they find someone who looks intriguing, they can make that person a ‘contact’, labeling him/her a ‘friend’. From there, they will be able to receive new photos from their friends on their ‘contacts’ photos’ page. They can and should try to interact with their ‘friend’ by leaving comments on their friend’s photos and/or by sending Flickr emails.

4. Commenting: Leaving comments on photos is a great way to practice sentence formation. Teachers can have students integrate grammar and vocab being learned in class into the comments students leave on Flickr photos. Furthermore, teachers can teach students common techniques of conversation starting in their comments, such as making complements and criticisms, and asking questions. A student’s record of “comments left” can be viewed for evaluation purposes if desired. Always remind students to answer all comments left by others on their own photos. They should see comments as conversation starters, not merely as one-liners.

5. Leaving Notes: Another fun way to use English with Flickr is to leave ‘notes’ on photos. These notes can be left on personal photos or those of ‘friends’. Notes are great way to hone in and describe the details of a particular photo.

6. Joining Groups: Students should join Flickr groups (photo pools coupled with threaded discussion lists) related to what most interests them in their personal lives. There are two major benefits to joining groups:

* Students can send their own relevant photos to the group pool, thus increasing exposure to their own work and making receiving comments more likely. Students should always try to comment on photos of other group members.

* They can take part in discussion on the group list – a challenge even for intermediate students.

7. Exploring Geotags: Flickr, in association with Yahoo! Maps, allows users to tag their photos with a specific geographic coordinate. This allows students to both tag their own photos by selecting the exact location on a map, and to explore the world map by finding photos from a geographic location of their choice. This is an excellent way to learn geography while associating the maps with images. Teachers could have students practice speaking about directions, geographic features, distance, area, countries, cities, etc.

* Photo Tours: Students can choose a specific region that they have never been to before, explore the photos there, and introduce other students to the region. This would be a good chance to combine this activity with some research on Wikipedia or CIA website to learn more about the country/region being shown.

8. Blogging Photos: If students are using weblogs as part of a writing class (as mine are), the “blog this” button over each Flickr photo allows students to directly post the photo to their weblog with text. I often have students to practice different paragraph types (compare/contrast, opinions, recommendations, illustrations) with photos of their choice.

9. Emailing Other Flickr Users: With its internal email system (called Flickrmail), Flickr also presents opportunities to practice the genre of email writing: a very useful skill to possess in today’s world of international electronic communication. Have students find someone whose photos they enjoy, and write to that person with a question. My students have enjoyed a high response rate for emails sent within Flickr.

10. Creating Slideshows: Flickr offers an attractive “view as slideshow” feature that can be activated with the click of a mouse. Students can create on-the-fly presentations on themes or topics of their choice. For example, if Kenji is into baseball, he can put together 12 photos that best capture the spirit of his interest. He can then prepare descriptions for each of the photos and then present these to the class, or to small groups of other students using the slideshow feature. Having students prepare a peer and tutor edited script can be a part of this as well. Alternatively, teachers could have their students prepare an online version of the slideshow using an application called Voicethread, which integrates with Flickr.

11. Using Flickrtoys: Many offshoot applications, called Flickrtoys, have been developed specifically for Flickr users, some of which are fun and easy to use. For example, students can use photos to create a calendar, a magazine cover, a billboard, a CD or DVD cover, a cartoon with bubble captions from a particular photos, etc. This fun factor makes using English enjoyable for everyone, especially if you combine it with language learning activities.

12. Using Combinations: Many of the above activities can be combined into a single assignment that can be given to students at intervals during the semester. For example:

* Have students start with one of the tags the entered in the ‘interests’ section of their profile, ‘sushi’ for example. The student, let’s call her ‘Mayumi’, then browses profiles of others with the same interest. When she finds someone with interesting photos of sushi, say Cindy - an American who takes photos of Californian sushi - she leaves a few comments and makes Cindy a contact. Then, Mayumi chooses one of Cindy’s most interesting photos, makes it a “favorite,” clicks “blog this” and writes about it on her weblog. Over the course of the semester, Mayumi follows Cindy’s photo stream and continues to leave a comment here and there. Eventually, Mayumi might even email Cindy, asking her about sushi in California and why they use such strange ingredients. Mayumi also takes photos of sushi she eats, Geotags them according to the location of the restaurant where each of the photos was taken, and creates a photo set pertaining to the topic, which she presents to other students at the end of the semester. On those photos, she can leave notes that educate viewers on the Japanese names of each of the sushi ingredients.

In a standard classroom with one computer and digital projector:

1. Photo Sets: Teacher can create slideshows and/or photo sets of images related to the lesson and use them in class to stimulate conversation.

2. Photo Streams: Teachers can aggregate RSS feeds of tags or groups that pertain to classroom content. These can be displayed in class for conversational purposes. Aggregation of these feeds can be combined with content from other sources (such as blogs, news, podcasts, etc) with a service like SuperGlu or Dekita Orchard, and the resulting URL can be displayed in class, or can be given to students to access and comment on in their free time as well.

3. Picture Dictionary: Instead of having students break out their dictionaries, the teacher can do a tag search to show a photo of the vocabulary word in question – “worth a thousand words.”

4. Class Account: Teachers can set up a ‘class account’ where students can use it to post photos. This can be coordinated to complement textbook content. For example, if the theme of the week is ‘food’, students can post photos of a “the most delicious dish they ate during the week.” The resulting slideshow can be projected on the main screen and students could vote on which was the most delicious. If this were done weekly, the winning photo could be “favorited” by the teacher’s personal account, and then the student with the most ‘favorites’ at the end of the semester would win some kind of prize.

5. Individual Student Accounts: If teachers had students open individual student accounts, many of the same writing activities below can be used. However, caution must be taken with this approach, as a significant number of students don’t have a personal computer at home, forcing them to find time in their busy schedules to make use of university machines.

In a standard classroom with no computer or digital projector:

The following three activities assume a majority of students carry cell phones with built-in cameras.

1. Photo viewing: Students can view photos the teacher pre-selects via their cell phones. Teachers would need to provide the students with the URL to his/her Flickr account at the beginning of the term, which the students would then bookmark on their cell phone. Photos with questions could be used for warm-up activities. Individual student accounts not needed.

2. Homework photos: Teachers can have students take photos of their choice with their cell phones to be used in conversation activities. Students should prepare to explain the five Ws of their photos to other students - a great warm-up activity.

3. Search and find: Conversation activities can be constructed around students using their cell phones to search the Flickr database and find photos, either of personal interest and/or related to course content. Teachers should use caution with this activity, as it will inevitably cause students’ monthly phone bills to increase.

Conclusion

The activities described above are only some of the many others that could be done with Flickr. What is important for teachers to remember concerning the success of their students in social networks like Flickr is to release students into these communicative spaces, giving them as much control over the direction and content of their actions there, while modeling the very same activities with their own accounts. Teacher control of direction and content leaves no room for the expression of intrinsic motivation; it’s akin to putting a growing plant inside a box and closing the lid. Help your students meet interesting people and use the English language in fun and personally meaningful ways with Flickr.

http://e-poche.net/flickr/

TRADITIONAL BALLADS IN A EUROPEAN CONTEXT

~A MULTICULTURAL APPROACH~

WHAT IS A BALLAD?

A ballad is a folk poem which flourished in the late Middle Ages. It was originally meant to be sung and handed down orally from generation to generation. Ballads are narrative poems and they are music. Words and music are closely dependant on one another.

Listen to this version of a very popular ballad: Lord Randall. Focus on the music first. (Several versions of the song can be found surfing the net)

Where do you think the ballad comes from?
Are there some words which don’t sound “standard English” at all?

Now read the text while you listen to the ballad.

‘O WHERE ha you been, Lord Randal, my son?
And where ha you been, my handsome young man?’
‘I ha been at the greenwood; mother, mak my bed soon,
For I’m wearied wi hunting, and fain wad lie down.’
‘An what met ye there, Lord Randal, my son?
An wha met you there, my handsome young man?’
‘O I met wi my true-love; mother, mak my bed soon,
For I’m wearied wi huntin, an fain wad lie down.’
‘And what did she give you, Lord Randal, my son?
And what did she give you, my handsome young man?’
‘Eels fried in a pan; mother, mak my bed soon,
For I’m wearied wi huntin, and fain wad lie down.’
‘And wha gat your leavins, Lord Randal, my son?
And wha gat your leavins, my handsom young man?’
‘My hawks and my hounds; mother, mak my bed soon,
For I’m wearied wi hunting, and fain wad lie down.’
and what becam of them, Lord Randal, my son?
And what becam of them, my handsome young man?’
‘They stretched their legs out an died; mother, mak my bed soon,
For I’m wearied wi huntin, and fain wad lie down.’
‘O I fear you are poisoned, Lord Randal, my son!
I fear you are poisoned, my handsome young man!’
‘O yes, I am poisoned; mother, mak my bed soon,
For I’m sick at the heart, and I fain wad lie down.’
‘What d’ye leave to your mother, Lord Randal, my son?
What d’ye leave to your mother, my handsome young man?’
‘Four and twenty milk kye; mother, mak my bed soon,
For I’m sick at the heart, and I fain wad lie down.’
‘What d’ye leave to your sister, Lord Randal, my son?
What d’ye leave to your sister, my handsome young man?’
‘My gold and my silver; mother, mak my bed soon,
For I’m sick at the heart, an I fain wad lie down.’
‘What d’ye leave to your brother, Lord Randal, my son?
What d’ye leave to your brother, my handsome young man?’
‘My houses and my lands; mother, mak my bed soon,
For I’m sick at the heart, and I fain wad lie down.’
‘What d’ye leave to your true-love, Lord Randal, my son?
What d’ye leave to your true-love, my handsome young man?’
‘I leave her hell and fire; mother, mak my bed soon,
For I’m sick at the heart, and I fain wad lie down.’


Can you grasp the essence of the story from the rhythm and from some key-words?
Is it a sad or happy story?
Who are the people involved in the story?


Now read the text carefully with the help of your teacher. Ask him/her about any difficult or “strange” words (the teacher may decide to point out that the language of this ballad is Scots English so some words are spelled differently and some expressions are non-standard in British English. Students might be surprised to hear that soon rhymes with down!

With the help of the teacher – who should now feed in some information to clear some hazy parts of the text – students should be able to tell the story behind the song.

CREATIVE WRITING

As the story doesn’t say anything about the reasons behind the cold-blood murder of the protagonist at the hand of his “true love”, students should be encouraged to provide their own explanations.

Imagine that the girl has been arrested and found guilty of her lover’s murder. Students write the letter in which she confesses the crime and explain why she killed her lover.

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Features of the ballad

A ballad is a folk song that tells a story with stress on the crucial situation, tells it by letting the action unfold itself in event and speech, and tells it objectively with little comment or intrusion of personal bias.

The definition above points out the main characteristics of the ballad. A ballad is transmitted orally - It’s a narrative in verse - it is made to be sung. The story focuses on a single episode (the past is implied rather darkly or even ignored). In other words it tells the story in terms of its crucial incident. The action interprets itself with minimum of comment and descriptive setting. The story is a highly compressed and centralised episode. The story is told dramatically mostly through direct speech. Nothing matters except the action. It presents action and represents it. A ballad lets the facts, dramatically presented, speak for themselves. Moreover a traditional ballad is characterised by dramatic impersonality. The ballad maker treats the subject (often universal themes like love, death, revenge, sometimes historical episodes) with objectivity no matter how personally involved he might have been (as in the case of the so-called borders ballads, dealing with the tragic consequences of the conflicts between English and Scots). As a rule, the events furnish their own commentary.

As to its artistic value we can state that traditional ballads are a form of art developed among people whose training was oral and not visual. The people who made ballads and sang them did not commit their art to the written page and relied on their memory to transmit it to the following generations and so did the people who enjoyed them for centuries.

The narration proceeds mainly through co-ordination, which is more characteristic of speech than of writing. Repetition is used to increase the memorability of the text. in Lord Randall incremental repetition is extensively used, that is the repetition of a previous line or lines with a slight variation which advances the story by small additions.

The obvious implication of the process: oral transmission shaped the ballads and altered it so that we have so many different versions.

British and European ballads: Ballads have been circulated over wide areas. Their origins cannot be accurately determined. Versions of Lord Randall, for instance, have been found as far east as Hungary, as far north as Scotland and Sweden and as far south as Calabria in Italy. In the Scottish version the mother questions the son who has come back to her mortally ill after having eaten what he thought were eels but were more probably snakes. As the dialogue progresses we discover the horrid truth. In the European versions the actors of the story may vary but the events are basically the same.

Ballads are to be viewed as manifestations of a culture common to European folk as a whole.

Ballads feature intensity of passion, justice of feeling and they show no subtlety of emotions, no delicacy of perceptions. The emphasis is usually on the adventures of one or more individuals. In Lord Randall unfaithfulness and treachery lurk in the background. The mistress poisons her lover for some reason we do non learn.

Form of the ballad: simple and regular. Each stanza has four lines which rhyme abcb or abcc. The stress pattern tends to vary.

Now read the following ballad that comes from the area around Reggio Emilia and Parma. Students are invited to find the similarities between the Italian and the Scottish ballad.

Il testamento dell’avvelenato

Dove t’è sté ier sira, figliol mio Rico?
Dove t’è sté ier sira cavaliere gentile?
Sun sté da me sorela, mama la mia mama.
Sun sté da me sorela che il mio cuore sta male.
Che t’ha dato da cena , figliol mio Rico?
Un’anguillina arrosto mama la mia mama.
Che perta è sté la tua, figliol mio Rico?
La testa e non la coda, mama la mia mama.
Dove te l’ha condita, figliol mio Rico?
In un piattino d’oro, mama la mia mama.
Andèe a ciamer al prete, mama la mia mama.
Sin vot mai fèr dal prete, figliol mio Rico?
Mi devo confessare, mama la mia mama.
M’avete avvelenato e il mio cuore sta male.

Loosely translated into English:

The Will of the Poisoned Man

Where were you yesterday evening, my son Rico?
Where were you yesterday evening, my noble knight?
I went to see my sister, mother my mother
I went to see my sister because my heart is sick
What did she serve you for dinner, my son Rico'?
A tiny roast eel mother my mother
Which part did you have, my son Rico?
The head and not the tail, mother my mother
How did she serve it, my son Rico?
On a golden plate, mother my mother
Go and call the priest, mother my mother
Whatever do you need o priest for, noble knight?
I must make my confession, mother my mother
You have poisoned me, and my heart is sick.

TRADITIONAL VS. MODERN METHODS OF ASSESSING ENGLISH

Let me take you back to your school years for a moment. Who was your favourite teacher? "The old" soldier-like Maths teacher who was very strict in the class or "the young", friendly Literature teacher who was always open to all kinds of ideas, even to the extreme ones. I can hear you screaming the answer. “The latter one”

There are a lot of views regarding education and its purposes. If our goal is only to produce good students who will study to pass the exams, learn what they have to learn without exploring all the other possibilities and cause no problems to us, then it won’t be a difficult issue to educate them. If, however, our goal is to produce well-rounded, cultured gentlemen and ladies who are open minded and capable of solving the problems they faced in the real life and to make the things they learned during their education at school meaningful, then the means of education will be much more complicated.

In this context, it seems really hard to decide which method/theory is better to apply. There are 2 different ways of thinking on the education; Traditional or Modern Methods? Both sides of the issue tend to fling mud on the other side. So, traditional and modern concepts can be seen as opposite because of misunderstanding and misconception, then which of the two assessing methods would be most efficient to give our students a better education?

Modern, progressive education sometimes causes our denying or ignoring the souls of the students. Our students study not to learn something new but to pass the exams. The brain, thus, works as a sort of computer that stores data only, but if we ignore the souls of children and so remove love from education, what do we get – modern, progressive, dumbing-down education in which the students have the fear of failure. Because of this pressure they may feel desperate and it’s a well-known-fact that when the students feel secure they become more successful.

On the other hand, traditional ways of teaching have a lot of handicaps. The teachers generally shoulders too much of responsibilities for teaching in the classroom to make sure everything they taught were understood by the students. There is a typical way and controllable class where the teacher will teach on the blackboard, explain, ask students to copy and make sure students pay attention and listen. In this kind of education, the teacher becomes the centre of classroom interactions, and the students can’t play an active role. Instead of being the dominating authority in the classroom, the teacher should facilitate the communicative process among the students. Any unnecessary intervention on the teacher’s part may prevent learners from becoming involved in the activities and thus hinder the development of their communicative skills.

If children shared only similar physical and emotional characteristics and expectations, it would be easy to motivate them and one method would be enough may be, but we are aware of the differences among our students and modern education has a goal to fulfill the individual needs, interests and capacities of the students.

In order to cultivate students’ innovation and learning effects, a variety of teaching methods should be applied to inspire and guide students involved in learning process. With the help of modern educational technology, the traditional lecture style and across-the-board teaching methods have been changed to individualized teaching methods and the closed classrooms are opening now.

In this context, Comenius project is a big opportunity for us to give our students a better education because the students will be able to communicate without the fear of failure. Peter Sacks’ “Sandbox Experiment” is a good example for this situation. He, as a teacher, thought that if he made the classroom similar to a playground, the students would become more willing to participate in the teaching-learning activities. Sacks stated “I’ll call class the “sandbox” and we will play all kinds of games and just have fun. He called this “The Sandbox Experiment”. He also had an approach that he called ‘Collaborative Approach’ where he didn’t act as he knew more than the students.

For the students who are learning English in a non-English-speaking country, there is a little chance for them to learn an acceptable form of English outside the classroom. In language teaching, it is important to provide opportunities for our students to engage in real-life communication in the target language, otherwise it won’t be meaningful for them to learn or speak English. The comenius project will give the teachers and students this chance, they will also have a really big “sandbox” to play in, learn something new, meet new people and share their ideas without the fear of getting low marks.

It is clear that modern education technology changed people’s traditional education idea. It changed the single teacher and student relationship in the past into relationship of teacher and student, student and teaching resources, student to student and the change of education elements became a positive contributing factor to the development of education itself. However, it mustn’t be forgotten that modernization process in education is a result of countless experiences. As human mind evolves, his perceptions, approaches and reactions evolve on many areas too. So it is very natural to notice many changes on teaching and learning methods, starting with the antiquity, reaching to our very day. To give our students better education, instead of separating the old ways from the contemporary ones, we should mix traditional and modern values in teaching by getting the best sides of them.

LEARNING WHILE PLAYING - A GAME

Target: students of 14 years of age –first year of high school –who do not live in the town center.

Aim/Objective:

• understanding and giving directions, learning specific nouns and the use of the imperative and the Present Tense;
• taking notes , how to make questions.

Method of working: In group .

Location: Town centre of Reggio Emilia .

During my teaching career, I 've realized that teaching by playing is a method usually very successful and motivating for students. It's easy to understand that they prefer learning in an amusing situation and in a more relaxing atmosphere rather than in their own class, at their desk, listening to a lesson. I admit that it is not always possible to take them out of school because of the daily school routine, the school rules etc. but I suggest that you do this from time to time, when possible. Some time ago, I had some difficulties getting my students to remember specific names (geographical names) and to learn prepositions and the use of some tenses. For this reason I decided to help them overcome their difficulties by playing a game that's like the "Treasure –Hunting"game. First of all, I created a large number cards for each group with clues, questions to reply to, instructions to follow etc. on them. I kept one card for each group and then I hid the others in a variety of places in town. I contacted people in town and gave them instructions to follow when the kids would to ask for some information from them. Then I split my class into 5 groups of 4 people, none of whom were living in the center of town . I took the kids to the town centre and there I picked up a referee for each group who had the duty to coordinate the group and to record all the steps done and information obtained and if requested ( on the card) the questions made or the replies they got. I gave them a deadline and when I said "please let's go " ,they started to read the only card they had and to solve the clue .The clue asked them to take some action or to move towards a specific direction or to follow some instructions … If they responded accurately they would find the second card containing the new set of requirements. The group who completed all the steps with accuracy:

1. followed all instructions given ( objective=following directions) ;
2. understood the orders (objective=imperative) ;
3. wrote down sentences containing correct vocabulary and grammatical point (present tense and names ) ;
4. asked the prompted questions etc .

That group would win!