Tracing your beliefs
1.1.3.1
Activity: the winding road (step 1)
1.1.3.2 Activity: the winding road (step 2)
1.1.3.3 Spotting your past in your teaching: an example
1.1.3.4 Spotting your past in your teaching: an activity
1.1.3.5 Activity: the winding road (step 3)
1.1.3.1
Activity: the winding road (step 1)
Note: this is best done with a partner, but it is still useful to do on
your own.
1.1.3.2
Activity: the winding road (step 2)
Once when I did this activity in a workshop, Maria, a teacher from Spain,
told us about an event that happened when she was in kindergarten, at
just four years old! Her regular teacher, who was very strict and old
fashioned, became ill and was replaced temporarily by a younger, more
relaxed teacher. Being able to sit in a circle on the floor during story-telling
time, instead of in straight rows at their desks, was a revelation, and
made such an impression that Maria still avoids having students sit in
rows to this day!
- How far back does your 'road' go?
1.1.3.3
Spotting your past in your teaching: an example
Here is Angela Coutts, who teaches Japanese and English as a foreign language,
in action in her English classroom. Notice how she interacts with her
students.
Link to video clip: Angela class.mpg
And here is Angela again, talking
about two of her teachers from her schooldays. As you watch, decide which
of the two teachers she describes she is most similar to:
Link to video clip: Angela story.mpg
1.1.3.4
Spotting your past in your teaching: an activity
Depending on how your study and teaching schedules combine, now would
be a good time to go straight to the 'classroom project' described in
section 1.1.4. You can then use your notes or
lesson recording as the basis for the discussion / reflection activity
described in the next paragraph.
Explain how each event on your 'winding road' has contributed to how you are as a language teacher today, in terms of what you do and what you believe. (Many people like to do this with a colleague, and talk each other through the bends rather than write everything down. You can then prompt each other to say more, as you heard me doing with Angela in the first video clip.)
1.1.3.5
Activity: the winding road (step 3)
When you have made some links between your previous experiences and your
current teaching for each bend, spend a few minutes considering these
questions:
