Teacher Discussion Forums

I'd like to ask your opinion on this since you all teach children and you understand the problems an EFL teacher may face in schools where English is not one of the "main" subjects ; in my case, large mixed ability classes, lack of equipment and general indifference towards lesson+teacher since all children go to an afternoon private English language school. (BTW, I teach at state schools in my country.)
So the question is, do you think 8 or 9-year-olds are too young to be asked how they feel about the lesson, things they would like to do more, things they don't like doing etc? I did it with my older pupils when I felt there was sth wrong and wanted to be honest with them and surprisingly, their reaction was quite positive and helpful. Of course, I'm talking about classes where things are generally under control and communication goes beyond grammar structures or vocabulary exercises. Still, I've never risked asking such questions to the little ones because I feel they're too young to concentrate on them.
What do you think? Thanks.

Some 8-9 year olds can handle that sort of questioning. Others can't. You'll have to decide based on the kind of kids in the class. One thing though: if I were you I'd give them multiple choice questions (do you want this, that, or the other thing? Did you like this better, or that?) rather than open ended questions (Tell me about your favorite English activities.) Open ended questions may invite too much off-topic discussion, which in this case isn't what you're looking for.

Good luck,
-EH

You could also give them Happy Faces, Unhappy Faces and Indecisive Faces to show how they feel about the English classes or devise a questionnaire with these more visual indications of their feeling at the end of each question. It seems to me that they express their views very successfully if they don't pay attention, aren't involved and so on but I am all for giving people more input and choices to enhance their learning, get them more involved and responsible for their own learning. I think you can start this at a very young age by giving little kids choices - do you want to work on the red paper or the blue one, go by the stairs or outside through the playground and so on? I think that is what is so good about the "stations" form of teaching where there are different stations for the students to work at so they do have some choice in how they study. All ages like to know where they are going for the year and how far along they are on that path. That is why many students like a text-book because they have the feeling that the amount of knowledge is contained and ordered for them and they can complete a certain amount of work in the specified time. Most students even like to know where they are going and what is expected of them in a lesson. Most students like to feel that they are treated as an individual and are valued. Most seem to enjoy the responsibilities that come with working in and with a class. Most enjoy variety in the tasks and at that age perhaps they don't know the variety that is available so perhaps your first lessons could demonstrate this variety and list them so they remember what is available and can expand on these - learning through music, worksheets, puzzles, games and the majority of times in groups. Samples of old text books will help them think up and develop their own ideas that they can then share with the others. Having lessons in different locations is another possibility. Using different technologies from the blackboard to computers to cameras of all sorts is another possibility. Having themes is often used as a way to organize learning and yet allow for individual differences. I am sure the students will be inspired to come up with a dozen different ways to learn what you have in mind for them having developed or been given a curriculum.

Thanks for your suggestions. Why do I always feel I'm trying to swim an ocean when it comes to teaching? Sally, I have one more question. What do you mean by "stations" form of teaching?

Just to give an example: for the theme "Transportation" I set up four stations around the room. I had the fifth group with me in the corner with the couch and the rug. The first was Sounds of Transportation. I had an older class go outside to record different sounds - cars, motorcycles, dog sledges, airplanes, walking on snow, walking on rocks, boats, etc. and the younger students listened to the sounds and tried to identify them on a worksheet from pictures with the words beside. The second station was provided with a series of books on transportation or information I was able to get from the Internet. The students consulted the books, making a list of various types of transportation on a worksheet and drawing or tracing pictures. The third station was a "play station" with a map of the town on the surface of the desk and a variety of "toys" that they could use to travel about the town. I had one student record the talk with a tape recorder at this station and after awhile the students listened to their discussion and wrote down the words they used. Some made a little story from this. The fourth station used the picture dictionary on the pages under the title Transportation and wrote a story from the words on the page. Some of the children at this station worked together and a few wrote individual stories. They could illustrate them and put in Transportation binder which could be borrowed by any student to read at home. I took the fifth group to talk about their experiences with transportation. The stations last for five periods because you can move the groups around each period so all the preparation is useful and I tried to get the older students to do as much as possible in developing the lessons for their younger brothers and sisters, especially the students who were poor in basic vocabulary as it gave them a chance to go over the vocabulary with a "higher" purpose. Not all students would move to other stations at the beginning. I found that the more active boys in particular wanted to stay at the hands on table more than once and used a lot of noises to describe the movement of buses, cars, motorcycles and so on. We added these to the sounds table as part of their assignment. My fifth class was often spent with these students individually trying to draw a story out of them and writing it down for them so they could illustrate it and add it to the Transportation binder. It took six months or more before they started to think they could do it on their own. They often wanted to type their stories on the computer though because they were not happy with their printing skills which was a great sixth period activity for all the students and allowed more time for editing, correcting spelling errors and so on. We then shared our binder with other classes and they sent us back binders to read. You introduce the stations by having a class using one or two of the activities that you propose to do at the stations, doing them with the whole class until they get the idea of what to do and when you have four or five activities can then set up the desks in the stations. I think about four students to a station is ideal and more in your group if there are students left over. I sometimes used my group to teach a game that involved rules and then one or two of these students could be at a station the next time to teach the others the game. If a station wasn't popular I just dropped it and tried something else the next period - learning a song about the theme, doing a crossword, making puzzles, etc. If anyone is misbehaving at the stations you can call him/her over to your group and send someone you know will be more responsible back to his/her place. It only takes a few time before they will behave. You can be more formal and have them sign up for the stations at a chart near you so that you can locate them quickly. I had them make a name tag which they put in one of the four pockets of the station during break times before my class. If they didn't sign up, they came with me. At the sound table you can read a story on the tape which they follow along with on a stencil or with the books if you have them. Lots of possibilities. I prefer to think of teaching as scuba diving and exploring the sea to different depths rather than swimming endlessly with the possibility of drowning.

That remark about drowning in the sea of teaching was the final blow... Still it helped as I'm trying to look at things from new perspectives because (what we call) reality at our state schools is quite discouraging. One needs a fighting spirit, which I seemed to lack recently.
Thanks again for your answer. I cannot see it work as a whole mostly due to practical problems but I'm sure I can work on different bits and come up with fresh ideas for the new school year.

Hi
In another post I suggested a new book for you ... and it has a really good section on more open types of talk in classrooms.

M<ark