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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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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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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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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Какой учебник выбрать для начальной школы?

Сегодня я поделюсь мнением на счет учебника, по которому я учу детей в 1-3 классах начальной школы. Учебник называется Tiger, в России Tiger Tales, издательство Macmillan.
Я работаю в Польше, поэтому здесь учителя должны сами выбрать издательство, с которым будут работать. К слову учебник этот издательства Macmillan, с которым просто приятно сотрудничать, начиная от призов на школьные конкурсы, заканчиваю учебными пособиями для учителя.
Автором учебника является Carol Read, учитель и очень толковый методист.

Итак, в чем же достоинства Tiger?

*Учебник имеет коммуниктивную направленность.
Каждый урок в юните отрабатывает структуры из данного раздела. И в песнях, и в упражнениях, и в микро диалогах. Первоклассники на самом деле могут много сказать по английски.

*Следующим достоинством является наличие рубрики EARLY FINISH для учеников, которые раньше, чем другие справились с заданием.

*Дополнительные материалы, которые получает учитель - Teacher's Resourse File, в котором есть тесты к каждому разделу, грамматические упражнения, задания к песням, к видео, аудиозаписи, разделы с дополнительным вокабуляром и тесты к ним.
Ниже можно скачать материалы к курсу Tiger 1, для 1 класса:

1. Тесты к раздела учебника Tiger 1 скачать, pdf
2. Дополнительные задания Tiger 1 скачать, pdf
3. Если ученик справился раньше - доп. задания скачать, pdf
4. Задания для работы в парах скачать, pdf
5. Задания для работы со звуками скачать, pdf
6. Задания к просмотренным видео скачать, pdf


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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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Reading books at the lesson

We all know that we have to read more and encourage our students to read more too, and we as teachers of English are supposed to promote reading English books. A good idea would be to start reading English books to our 1st Graders so that it was an ordinary thing for them to reach for an English book later. You think they won't understand anything? You have to try.

In this article you'll find out about the book for children by an English author Nick Sharratt whose works are always a great hit at the lesson with my younger learners. Actually, this books can be most suitable for 6-9 year olds who are learning Eglish as their second language.
What is special about them? They are humorous and interractive. There is always something in these books that you can touch, rotate or where a child can peep inside. I also use them to teach my own child English. We start learning storytelling for children as well.

As you understand, these books are useful for teaching English words and structures. Now you'll find out how I suggest doing it.

1. One of my favourites is A SHARK IN THE PARK
This books is fantastic as it arouses curiosity. The photos show how it looks inside:

What can we do with it at the lesson?

1. Before reading aloud, I bring some objects from the book.
* telescope, you can make one from the paper rolls
*a toy of a shark
*a toy of a cat
*a picture of a crow
*an illustration of a park
*a flashcard of Dad
You can bring pictures only but objects work
best. Next we try to predict what is this book going to be about.

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