I trust this finds you well. As I mentioned previously, my recent Advanced and Proficiency classes have been based, almost entirely, around the book, "The Story of English in 100 Words." By David Crystal. I've also previously mentioned my desire to get students reading in English. Now it seems in class they do an awful lot of reading, of course they do, otherwise they wouldn't be able to get through the exams that are constantly thrown in front of them. But while they're reading do they actually digest any of it? Do they process any of the information? Do they learn from it? The resounding answer I get from other educators is No. Students smash off the part of the exam they have and then completely forget about it. I can say with some degree of certainty that if you asked your students to tell you something from within an exam part from a day or two previous, they wouldn't have a clue. What's most upsetting for me is the fact that one or two of the Cambridge exams have some mildly interesting content and students could learn from them. There is also a huge amount of new vocabulary that they could take in.
It's for these reasons that I have tried to get my students into memes to peak their interest. Along with this I've started to bring non-exam related readings into class. Things that I enjoy and can share my passion with my students. I have also started a new project with students to bring in articles about the things they enjoy doing. The endless reems of Real Madrid propaganda is beginning to get somewhat tiresome though.
As you may have seen with yesterday's post I talked about Americanisms especially related to Harry Potter. My students really got into this, used the worksheet on the back and actually digested some of the information. Of course, some of the boys didn't really care much for the reading and went straight for the worksheet, others just didn't do it. But a good 50% of the class, took interst, paid attention to what they read and have now improved on what they already knew. Much like with the words Debt and Money from Mr Crystal's delightful book. Some of the students have really started to realise that paying attention to a words etymology can really broarden their vocabulary. And let's be honest at Advanced and Prof level expanding on vocab and seeing the world or new collocations out there is exactly where we need to be taking our students.
With that in mind I took another word from the book, Rep. This time, rather than creating a worksheet, I gave the full text to my students and let them read it through. Next I gave them a cut version of the text with UOE parts 1 and 2 incorporated into the text and asked them to give it a try. Those who care about what they read did very well, those who don't, not so well.
The worksheet is attached at this link Rep sheet. With the original here Look for Words. Something else I've been doing for a while my students is to get them to read their text and make their own exam parts for their classmates or to do each others. Again it shows students that they really do need to read what is in front of them and they can learn an awful lot more that way. It also allows them to own their work and take the class themselves. This step towards autonomus learning can end up being a giant leap.
Next class go back and check what they've learnt and how much of it has stuck.
'til next time
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