BRAIN-FRIENDLY LEARNING. TEACHING STRATEGIES

Do you know what it means  A BRAIN-FRIENDLY LEARNING? If so, you don't need to read the information below. But if you have a very transparent idea of it (as I used to have), read it, you may find out curious facts about our brain and how this knowledge can be used in the classroom. The information below is taken from the book by Janet Nay Zadina "Multiple pathways to the student bain. Energising and enhancing instruction."

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TEACH LIKE FINLAND

It is often spoken today about the Finnish schools. Their students are praised for showing better results with less or no homework. And they spend less time at school. How is it possible?

I tried to search for the answer as it interests me greatly as a teacher and a parent. And this is what I have found out and would like to share with you. I believe it can be useful.

• ·        The way of thinking. The thing that is common for Finland and the countries of the Scandinavian region is the lack of competition between pupils. It is also true for teachers and people of other professions. They do not compete with each other who is the best pupil / teacher or who is richer or more successful. That is why cooperation is thriving and giving its contribution to such good results. Finnish teachers work together on a common problem with a pupil, ask each other for advice. It is the mentality of prosperity that gives a chance to develop and be happy with what you have achieved in a team. Mentality of prosperity brings happiness.
• ·        The less is more or Finnish design of classrooms. Simplified design of classrooms lets pupils concentrate better. A study has proved that pupils showed less progress in education when the walls in the classroom were richly decorated rather than when it was vise versa. It is especially important for younger children as it has effect on their concentration of attention during the lesson.
• ·        To use or not to use new technologies? Finnish schools do not devote too much of their attention to technology at the lesson. Surprising it may seem but students concentrate better when there is a limited access to technology.
• ·        Independence or let the pupils decide. Who but the teacher may know better what to teach? This is how I always thought. We as teachers often make a decision for pupils or are imposed from above what to teach how many hours to devote to it. Finnish teachers have a little bit more freedom in it and have such a privilege as sharing the responsibility for content with their pupils. But a good idea would be to ask pupils what they already know on the topic we want to teach or even ask a simple question what they would like to find out?

If you are interested in more facts about schools in Finland I strongly recommend to read the book by Timothy D. Walker  - TEACH LIKE FINLAND. 

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TEACHER AND TECHNOLOGY - 2Ts

One can surely teach without technology and you won't be a worse teacher because of that but why not make the process of studying more appealing for pupils?
Today you will learn about three really great computer applications that you can use at the lesson as well as after the lessons.
The only minus is that you may need computers at the lesson, interractive board or maybe smartphones, but if you have a lesson in the computer class once a week, as I have this year, it may work perfectly.

1. #1 is Quizlet. This program is mainly for vocabulary, but you can use sentences as well. It contains several categories at which you can train vocabulary:

• learning the words
• flashcards
• writing skills
• test
• matching
• game - gravitation

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WHAT SHALL I DO WITH NON-LEARNERS?

Today's post is for deep overthinking and analysis of your strategies in motivating students. So, be ready for a long reading.

Why do some pupils are eager to learn, while the others aren't? The answer to this question has found Carol Dweck in her book MINDSET. THE NEW PSCYCHOLOGY OF SUCCESS. 

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IDEAS FOR USING FLASHCARDS

How often do you use flashcards at the lesson of English? I'm sure you do it quite often as it is one of the best ways to visualize the vocabulary. What is more, in tmodern picture-liking era flashcards reach the minds of pupils as nothing else.

So, how to use flashcards in a creative way helping students in acquiring information and not letting our students feel bored at the lesson.

1. Disappearing flashcards

I use this activity for introducing the new vocabulary. The flashcards are displayed on the board, students repeat the words after you but at each sequence of repetition you turn over the last flashcard and the students have to name it themselves.

It lookes like that: 

cough - cut - tummy ache - headache - earache - sore throat - cold 

cough - cut - tummy ache - headache - earache - sore throat - X

cough - cut - tummy ache - headache - earache - X - X 

cough - cut - tummy ache - headache - X - X - X 

cough - cut - tummy ache - X - X - X - X 

cough - cut - X - X - X - X - X 

cough - X - X - X - X - X - X 

X - X - X - X - X - X - X 

In the end after numerous repeating the students memorize the words and the sequence of the cards. They learn and train their memory.

2. Treasure Hunt

The flashcards are displayed on the board face up. What students don't know is if there is a sticker behind the flashcard, it's the treasure. The task is to make up a sentence corresponding to the card. If the sentence is 100% correct they are allowed to turn over the flashcard and check if there is a treasure, if not, another student tries. What is good about it is that if they make a mistake, they start listening to more successful students trying to repeat the grammar stucture after them, and as a result they learn.

3. Hopscotch
This type of activity is most suitable for younger learners as action is what they need. You might think that you can't play it in the classroom. But as you know there is always a way out for those who want. You can use oilcloth for that. The only thing you have to do beforehand is to draw the template on the oilcloth to which you will stick the flashcards.
A new post on hopschotch at the lesson of English is comming soon.

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DICTATIONS CAN BE FUN

Do your pupils like dictations at the lesson? For most teachers it's a synonym with 'old-fashioned' and 'boring'. I believe most students would make a dull face if you tell them you are going to have a dictation at the lesson today. But what if these dictations are fun and have elements of a game. Let's try to make an interesting activity out of a simple dictation.

First, why dictation is a good way to practice? It's a great tool to work on accuracy, not mentioning the skills of listening, writing and even communication. Let's see how you can transform this activity to make it combine all these elements.

A traditional dictation is teacher-centred. Why not make it student-to-student and let your pupils work in pairs. It will release tention and let them feel some freedom. There are 4 types of dictations below based on the principle student-to-student. I hope you will like them.

1. Running dictation

The text is on the board. Students make a line. One person from the line is a writer and can't see the text. The rest of the students in the line have to run to the board, memorize one sentence from the card, run back to the writer and repeat the sentence so that the writer could write it. You set the time for your students or the activity lasts until one team is done. Then you check if all is correct.

2. Shouting dictation

The idea is that your students make too lines at the opposite sides of the classroom and have to shout the text to their partner who is supposed to put it down. Make sure the texts are split or differ a little bit. No doubt, it may become too noisy if the whole class takes part in the activity, so it could be reasonable to make at least 4-5 teams, so that not all of your pupils speak at a time.

3. Whispering chain dictation

If you try to avoid any kind of noise in your classroom, this type of dictation would be most suitable for you. Students make a line or several lines if it is a whole class and whisper the sentneces. The last student has to write down what he/she has heard. Then they rotate positions. The last student comes to the front of the line and whispers first.

4. Back-to-back dictation

This type of dictation is good for pair-work. Students sit with their backs to each other and dictate. When they can't see each other, it removes body language and lip reading. By the way, it's excellent for telephoning practice.

You'll find other interesting activities you can do at the lesson GAMES AT THE LESSON

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REFLECTION OR HOW TO FINISH THE LESSON

In my today's article I'd like to present several ways I use at the end of the lesson to summarise all that has been done at the lesson. It may usually take up to 7 minutes and is a good way to relax a bit at the end and reflect on all that has been done during the lesson. 

1. Mincing machine, dustbin, suitcase.This is one of my favourite ways to finish the lesson. Children also enjoy it. At the very beginning they don't quite understand what it is for, but in the end everyone wants to place the word in the container.  It works best for primary school when you work with the vocabulary. The idea is to distribute the words or flashcards into the corresponding container. 
Suitcase --> words/flashcards that we might need during the trip to Britain, or that we want to remember. 
Mincing machine --> The vocabulary that we worked on, that we remember after the lesson. 
Dustbin --> words that we don't like, or that we don't need to remember or simply find too difficult. When all the words have been distributed, we read them usually all together. Sometimes, I turn them over and ask students to tell me what was in the mincing machine, suitcase and the dustbin. I printed out mine, but one can even draw the images on the board.

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CURIOUS ORIGIN OF SOME ENGLISH WORDS

1.A piggy bank is the form of a pig? The answer is simple and has surprisingly little to do with pigs. In the Middle Ages most of home pottery in England was made from a special sort of clay that was called pygg. Of course, the clay pots, in which people used to keep their money, was also made from pygg. these pygg jars gave birth to pig banks which are now called piggy banks and are made in the form of a pig in so many countries. 

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REVIEW ANY CONCEPT IN GROUPS

Today I'd like to share with you the way I sometimes revise the material with my students at the end of the topic. Usually it evokes a lot of positive emotions, creates basement for contest and is sgreat fun. It is simply not that boring as doing the worksheets.

What is unusual about it, you will ask? 

I use SANDWICHES. You read it correctly. But my sandwiches are made of fabric. You can see them in the photo. I use paper plates for them too.

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THE VERY HUNGRY CATERPILLAR. YOUNGER LEARNERS

I'm sure that you all know this book by Eric Carle. It can be a really good story to teach your young pupils names of food, mainly fruit and vegetables. In this post I decided to share with you the printables that I have found for this topic and that can be useful at the lesson devoted to food.

First, if somebody doesn't know the story, here is the animated film, that you can watch with your students at the lesson. Watch The Hungry Caterpillar here.

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SECRET CODE

SECRET CODE WHEEL DECIFER

The idea and the template of the secret code belongs to Lindsey, a teacher in Utah, who writes the blog THE TEACHER WIFE. Her ideas are really great! Today I'd like to share her idea with a Secret Code Decifer, which could be useful for us teacher of English as a second language.

There are two versions, with signs for younger children and letters, which can be more challenging. It's easy to make it. You have to print out the template on colour paper and join the wheels with a pin and a rubber from the back side.

You can change the code by rotating the wheels. There is also a worksheet of a letter to write your message on.

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TRAIN YOUR BRAIN

Mnemotechnics,(rus. мнемотехники)

Have you ever wondered why a teenager boy can easily recall the names of all the players in his favourite basketball team as well as the game scores, while he struggles to remember a few irregular verb forms? According to neuropedagogues, the answer is in the level of excitement or usefulness. People always memorise things if they evoke emotions, relate to their life or personal experience.

The general principle is: when learning is harder, it lasts longer. So, why not make the difficulty brain-friendly? The tricks to make you remember are called 'mnemonics'.

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WARM-UP EXERCISES TO START THE LESSON

Warm up exercises are activities for the beginning of the lesson to introduce the students to the language or evoke their interest to the lesson. It's a very good idea to begin your lesson with a warming up activity as children don't feel stressed and are slowly introduced to the topic.

What warm up activities can there be?

1. Listen to the answer, give a question
The idea is simple, the teacher gives an answer instead of a question. Students have to say the question.
- I'm 12. 
- No, I don't.
- Tea, please.
When students do this kind of exercise for the first time, they are a bit perplexed, but very soon they get the idea.

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BOARD AND CARD GAMES AT THE LESSON

Games are always a great hit at the lesson. It makes the lesson unusual and the children feel relaxed. Games wisely used at the lesson is a very good way to train their skills.

The majority of games are for 3-6 people, so sometimes I have to adapt them so that the whole class could play.

There are TOP 5 games I use at the lesson:

1. The DIXIT cards

The game with Dixit cards is very popular today, so why not use it at the lesson of English. The good thing about them is that you can adjust the illustrations to any topic you need.
The ideas below belong to Aniela Tekiela, an English teacher and a Polish blogger.

• Find the common element for 2 cards and make a sentence with it.
• Forsee the future. One student opens one cards and tries to say what may it refer to in his/her future.
• Making New Year resolutions connected with the card.
• Answer the question, finding the answer in the card.
• Associations. One student has to describe his associations, the other has to guess what card he/she has in mind.
• Students search for common elements in the cards, find and write the word in English. The other team has to do the reverse task, find the cards using their notes.
• Finish the sentence using the cards: I'd like to learn....,  I've got ..., I really like/enjoy.... .
• Match the name of the film with the cards, eg. 'Shark'.

2. 5 SECONDS

Use it for revision. Actually, you need only one thing from this game. It's the funny 5-second timer, which makes a funny noise. You decide with the pupils on the category for the answering person, set the 5 sec. timer and the person has to name as many words from the category as he/she can. The number of words equals to the number of points for the team. The team with the most points wins.

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PARACHUTE GAMES

This time I'd like to draw your attention to the use of parachute at the lesson of English.
I'm sure you all know how it looks like. It's a circle of colourful segments, sometimes with a small hole in the middle. I've made mine myself. Of course, I could buy a ready-made one, but I decided to have more colours in it to be able to train colours with my pupils later. Maybe it doesn't look that ideal, but it works.

But how can we use it at our lessons? There are TOP 5 ways how to do it:

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CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT. YOUNGER LEARNERS

 

 There are special tricks a teacher can introduce at the lesson, that may help for some time. BUT it's not the remedy and sooner or later they won't work too. In this case it would be a good idea to ask or help a more experienced colleague-teacher at your school.
Anyway, these tricks may help you for the start and can make your lessons more attractive for your younger pupils.

Here we go....

1. Bouncyballs. 
It's a program in the internet that you can use to controll the limit of noise at the lesson. You will need a computer with internet connection and a microphone. The balls that you see in the picture start bouncing when the noise is increasing. So, the louder are the students, the quicker the balls are bouncing. You can change the theme from plastic ball that you can see in the picture to smilies, bubbles or eyeballs. It can work as a reminder for the pupils that it becomes noisy and they have to calm down.

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BACK TO SCHOOL. CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT

A new school year is comming and all teachers are surfing the Internet or making up their mind what they will do at the first lesson with their pupuls. My today's idea is DON'T BE IN A HURRY TO ENTERTAIN THEM at the first lesson. Think that on the first lesson depends a lot in their behaviour at the lesson and their attitude to you. So, it's high time to set the rules and maybe even sign a goup contract, as we all perfectly know how the lack of discipline at the lesson ruins all your aims, plans and ideas you were so eager to realise? And how frustrated and unwilling you may feel to teach because of that.

 But how can you set the boundaries?

 

 The secret is in you - this is what Carol Read says. For me she is a great specialist in primary English language teaching. Moreover, I teach from her books at school and find them highly professional. Her ideas are really precious and I'd like to share them with you.

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Lapbooks. What are they?

 

These mini-books are a great hands-on teaching method. What is it a lapbook then? It's a kind of portfoilio or a collection of flap mini-books in which pupils can draw and write. This teaching tool is ideal to sum up any topic.
The whole lapbook is devoted usually to one theme. So, it can be about a country, time zones, sea animals, anything. These books are large and can cover your laps that's why they are called lapbooks. In the photos you can see an example of the book about Canada.  

 For the inner part y cou can use the laptop templates from the internet or cut them out yourself. All is up to you and your pupils.

Actually, you can make the elements of the lapbook at several lessons, not all at once.

With my younger classes we sometimes fill in only one template a lesson.

I'm sure that your pupils will remember making the lapbooks better than filling in the worksheets and, what is more, they will have their own lapbook ideas for the lesson.

 

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Spinners at the lesson.

A fidget  spinner is a fidget toy or a gadget that is noisy and disruptive at the lesson but it can be really useful for the English class.

This is how an English teacher can use it:

1. As a timer of the task a pupil has to fulfill
*How much of the (long) poem can you recite while the fidget spinner is rotating or how many times a pupil can recite a short poem.
*How much of a story can you retell while the fidget spinner is rotating.
*How many tongue twisters can you read correctly during this time.
*How many words can you read from a long list while the spinner is rotating.

*How many words can you name from the topic eg. Food or any other.
Find the winner! Who does best in the class today.
Your students will surely have one spinner with them, so you don't even have to bother yourself and buy it.:-)

2. As a pointer.
*The fidget spinner can also point to the flashcard/object/pupil. You only have to mark one of the sides of it.
At my yesterday's lesson it was pointing to different objects (a stick, a block, a watch ...), the task of my younger pupils was to say what it is made of (It's made of plastic/wood/paper/metal).

Or it can point to parts of the face (blue eyes, brown eyes, 3 eyes, 2 noses, 6 ears...) spin 6 times or as many as you like, draw your monster and DESCRIBE it:-)

3.As a dice where each colour can stand for something (action, movement, task, words for the story)
Read here how you can use board games at the lesson.

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Do you know PUS blocks? 

What is it, PUS blocks? They are educational toys, that you can use at the lesson to revise anything.
They are Polish invention and as I live and work in Poland  I was lucky to run across them here.
There are ready-made tasks for these blocks, but I never use them.  I make the tasks myself.

Advantages of the blocks: learning, fun and self-control of a student. They learn conentration, abstract thinking and there is also a prize and a surprise that is the pattern that the PUS blocks make.
 Disadvantages: one has to buy the blocks and compile the handouts. I tried to make the blocks myself, but it didn't work, so I bought 6 boxes of them and now I'm a happy owner of this great educational toy.

How does it work?
There are 12 square blocks in a red box. Each block has a number on one side and a colourful shape on the other. There are 12 numbers in the box too. Now I'll explain it as I do to my pupils. You take the block with number 1, look at the task with 1, there says 'giraffe', so you have to find the picture of the giraffe, check what numer is written next to it and put this block on number 9 in the red box. When you have all the answer, you close the box, turn it over and open from the reverse side. If all the answers were correct, you'll get the pattern as I have on the board.

If I have no time to compile the handout I simply use the flashcards on the board that I numer from one to twelve and write the task on the board. It can also be grammar tasks, for eg. filling in the sentences with suitable words.

I strongly recommend it. It would be great if every child in the class had such a box at the lesson, but in groups of five they work well too.
 

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