I am about to start my first job running a classroom. It's a small Montessori elementaty school in Mexico and I'm suddenly terrified that I have no idea what they're expecting from me.
I've read a little bit about Montessori educational theory and it's interesting, but I have very little idea of how it's applied in the real world, let alone in the EFL classroom. Any advice and/or resources I should check out?
Also, the administrator has told me that she is quite fond of the Total Physical Response method, something else that I've read about but never really put into practice. I understand the theory behind it, but feel that it would be pretty limited in its application. Any recommended reading or especially good exercises I should know about?
Thanks in advance for any help you can offer!
Montessori/total physical response method
Moderators: Dimitris, maneki neko2, Lorikeet, Enrico Palazzo, superpeach, cecil2, Mr. Kalgukshi2
-
Sally Olsen
- Posts: 1322
- Joined: Thu Apr 08, 2004 2:24 pm
- Location: Canada,France, Brazil, Japan, Mongolia, Greenland, Canada, Mongolia, Ethiopia next
Can you tell us the age of the children/adults you will teach and what level of English? It makes a difference.
These are two of my favourite methods to teach. There is a ton of stuff on Montessori methods and TPR on Google.
We have talked a bit about TPR at
http://forums.eslcafe.com/teacher/viewt ... l+response
These are two of my favourite methods to teach. There is a ton of stuff on Montessori methods and TPR on Google.
We have talked a bit about TPR at
http://forums.eslcafe.com/teacher/viewt ... l+response
Last edited by Sally Olsen on Fri Aug 14, 2009 4:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.
The class is entirely children but range in age from about 5 to 11 (I think).
Also, I'm fairly certain that I will be teaching without a text book and that paper handouts will be frowned upon (the school puts a big emphasis on environmentalism), two things that my teaching experience thus far relied very heavily on. Has anyone had an experience like this? How difficult is it?
Also, I'm fairly certain that I will be teaching without a text book and that paper handouts will be frowned upon (the school puts a big emphasis on environmentalism), two things that my teaching experience thus far relied very heavily on. Has anyone had an experience like this? How difficult is it?
-
Sally Olsen
- Posts: 1322
- Joined: Thu Apr 08, 2004 2:24 pm
- Location: Canada,France, Brazil, Japan, Mongolia, Greenland, Canada, Mongolia, Ethiopia next
I hope they have given you a classroom with all the Montessori materials then.
In schools where I have seen it used there are various centers - water, science, math, building toys, moving toys like cars with carpets with roads and buildings on them, craft materials, books, household with fake oven, kitchen stuff, table and chairs, phone and so on to make a little house and often a little house to go in, puppets, arts corners with varying media, literacy center and so on.
The teacher had a huge poster with all the centers (which changed every month or less). There were spaces on the poster beside the picture of the water center, for example for the name tags of four children. The children had name tags with their name and picture and covered in plastic. When a child wanted to go to water center they looked to see if there was a space and then put their name tag in the empty space. When they wanted to move to another center, they took their name tag off the water center and put it on the book center and so on. It takes a little while to train them but not long. There were only four children allowed in each center so you have to have enough centers for all the children.
The Montessori materials in Math are great and Science too but can be made from scratch. The teachers in Mongolia got volunteer parents to do that and used to spend the sleeping hour in the afternoon making their own materials too or the lunch hour in case of the older children.
The teachers circulated and might sit with the four children reading books and ask them questions or read a story or just talk with them, then move on to help out with the first people to do the day's craft who had to stay and teach the next ones and so on, then move on to help the children name the parts of the little house and so on. This is essentially TPR with groups of 4 and other kids listen in of course from their stations.
The children moved from center to center in some kind of natural rhythm based on length of interest. Some kids stayed in one area quite a bit of the day and that was allowed at first but of course they were encouraged to move around to all areas.
There was a general meeting of the class at snack time at small tables where they ate together and that was when the teacher did a lot of TPR, songs, finger plays, puppet plays. That session usually lasted 15 minutes at the beginning and stretched to over half an hour by the end of the year.
The students have to clean up their center before they can move on.
At the beginning of course, it is hard and there are many discipline problems to work out if the children have not been trained to work on their own and with other children without the teacher in charge but they catch on quickly and there was a time out chair for students to sit and watch how things worked. When they thought they could participate, they could leave the chair.
You could demonstrate a new center each day as you add them or if you add a new one and what they can do the center.
If you have tape recorders you can create tasks for them and of course, TV with short videos and computers with tasks. It depends on your resources. We didn't have that in Mongolia.
Towards the end of the year there were more writing tasks but there were always literacy tasks at one center - puzzles with the alphabet, paper for "writing". This was different than the arts center where there was paper for drawing but a child could take their drawing to the writing table to write the story afterwards.
At first, the children spoke their own language at the centers of course, but gradually as they learned the names of things in English, they spoke more and more English to each other until by the end of the year it was rare to hear Mongolian.
In the meantime they learned a great deal about the world through the Montessori materials which allow them weigh things, use magnets, learn how to put things together and to do math with physical objects. It is a win-win situation in my view and I learned a lot of Mongolian as they explained things to me.
In schools where I have seen it used there are various centers - water, science, math, building toys, moving toys like cars with carpets with roads and buildings on them, craft materials, books, household with fake oven, kitchen stuff, table and chairs, phone and so on to make a little house and often a little house to go in, puppets, arts corners with varying media, literacy center and so on.
The teacher had a huge poster with all the centers (which changed every month or less). There were spaces on the poster beside the picture of the water center, for example for the name tags of four children. The children had name tags with their name and picture and covered in plastic. When a child wanted to go to water center they looked to see if there was a space and then put their name tag in the empty space. When they wanted to move to another center, they took their name tag off the water center and put it on the book center and so on. It takes a little while to train them but not long. There were only four children allowed in each center so you have to have enough centers for all the children.
The Montessori materials in Math are great and Science too but can be made from scratch. The teachers in Mongolia got volunteer parents to do that and used to spend the sleeping hour in the afternoon making their own materials too or the lunch hour in case of the older children.
The teachers circulated and might sit with the four children reading books and ask them questions or read a story or just talk with them, then move on to help out with the first people to do the day's craft who had to stay and teach the next ones and so on, then move on to help the children name the parts of the little house and so on. This is essentially TPR with groups of 4 and other kids listen in of course from their stations.
The children moved from center to center in some kind of natural rhythm based on length of interest. Some kids stayed in one area quite a bit of the day and that was allowed at first but of course they were encouraged to move around to all areas.
There was a general meeting of the class at snack time at small tables where they ate together and that was when the teacher did a lot of TPR, songs, finger plays, puppet plays. That session usually lasted 15 minutes at the beginning and stretched to over half an hour by the end of the year.
The students have to clean up their center before they can move on.
At the beginning of course, it is hard and there are many discipline problems to work out if the children have not been trained to work on their own and with other children without the teacher in charge but they catch on quickly and there was a time out chair for students to sit and watch how things worked. When they thought they could participate, they could leave the chair.
You could demonstrate a new center each day as you add them or if you add a new one and what they can do the center.
If you have tape recorders you can create tasks for them and of course, TV with short videos and computers with tasks. It depends on your resources. We didn't have that in Mongolia.
Towards the end of the year there were more writing tasks but there were always literacy tasks at one center - puzzles with the alphabet, paper for "writing". This was different than the arts center where there was paper for drawing but a child could take their drawing to the writing table to write the story afterwards.
At first, the children spoke their own language at the centers of course, but gradually as they learned the names of things in English, they spoke more and more English to each other until by the end of the year it was rare to hear Mongolian.
In the meantime they learned a great deal about the world through the Montessori materials which allow them weigh things, use magnets, learn how to put things together and to do math with physical objects. It is a win-win situation in my view and I learned a lot of Mongolian as they explained things to me.
Last edited by Sally Olsen on Tue Aug 18, 2009 12:05 pm, edited 1 time in total.
-
shelleyvernon
- Posts: 52
- Joined: Fri Jul 21, 2006 7:28 am
- Contact:
Hello again,
I just realised that your pupils are between 5 to 11, so the links I gave you for the stories and songs will work for the 5 to 6 year olds (stories) and the songs will be good for up to about 8 or 9 depending on the kids.
For the older ones try out my primary games - most of which involve TPR and which cover the four skills. It comes with 16 elementary lesson plans just to give you the idea of how to construct ESL lessons completely with games.
If you have classes of up to 15 then there are also skits and plays and you get a free one with the primary games to get your feet wet with.
Here's where you go to receive free sample games for the 5 to 11 year olds: (they do all class and group sizes)
http://www.teachingenglishgames.com/4-12.htm
Kind regards
Shelley
I just realised that your pupils are between 5 to 11, so the links I gave you for the stories and songs will work for the 5 to 6 year olds (stories) and the songs will be good for up to about 8 or 9 depending on the kids.
For the older ones try out my primary games - most of which involve TPR and which cover the four skills. It comes with 16 elementary lesson plans just to give you the idea of how to construct ESL lessons completely with games.
If you have classes of up to 15 then there are also skits and plays and you get a free one with the primary games to get your feet wet with.
Here's where you go to receive free sample games for the 5 to 11 year olds: (they do all class and group sizes)
http://www.teachingenglishgames.com/4-12.htm
Kind regards
Shelley
Relax
You are about to move to Mexico to teach English to Elementary students. Relax! It will be fun and easy, especially if you have teaching experience. TPR is really you saying something and the students need to perform a specific action in response. Its cake! You can walk the kids all around the school, calling out commands like: turn left! walk straight! Go up the stairs! Or you can play Simon Says (that is basically a form of TRP). These things are great additions to lessons! Maybe use this for the first and last 5 to 10 minutes of every lesson!
For actual teaching, I am sure they will give you plenty of materials. Also, the white board is how you share your brain with your students. Also, allow your students to use it to share their brain with you and each other!
Big smiles and lots of fun!
For actual teaching, I am sure they will give you plenty of materials. Also, the white board is how you share your brain with your students. Also, allow your students to use it to share their brain with you and each other!
Big smiles and lots of fun!