Teaching and learning activities

• Project/assignment
• One-to-one(coaching)

The benefits of using such activities are many. They include:

• Encourage participation
• Improve critical thinking skills
• Increase retention and transfer of new information
• Increase motivation
• Improve interpersonal skills

Many of these activities are also appropriate as out-of-classroom activities. Presentation materials, tasks and other resources can be made available to students who can’t attend all or some of the lessons.

Use an appropriate selection from those available, during your teaching.

Good teaching is not just about choosing appropriate content for lessons, but about designing appropriate activities and developing skills needed to manage the learning environment in such a way that students learn effectively.

The choice of teaching strategy depends on:

• Objective to be achieved – both the domain and level in the domain need to be considered.

• The size of the group – different methods are more appropriate to different sizes of class
• The needs and characteristic of students – students needs and characteristics need to be considered. This may involve negotiation.
• The ability of the students – ability and intelligence need to be considered
• The motivation – appropriate strategies can motivate (Reece and Walker, 2003, p.110)

Baring in mind that students learn in different ways, when designing activities for my lessons I am trying to provide variety by mixing didactic (short lecture, presentation, etc), participative (discussion, question and answer) and discovery (case, study, project work, handouts) styles to ensure that student learn in a manner appropriate to themselves.

I also take into consideration attention and concentration span of the students – design more entertaining and at the same time educational tasks and change the task every 10-20 minutes.

I am trying to ensure that the teaching suits the motivation of the students and that their “needs” are met, so that they are free to achieve Maslow’s state of “self-actualisation” (Curzon, 1997, p.123) in which learning can take place.

Activities that I used successfully in my lessons include – question and answer session, games/quizzes, handouts, presentation with group participation, PPT – presentations, case studies, discussions, buzz groups.

 I use both individual and small group work and take particular care to involve all students in them and feedback on time. I commonly use the white board to gather suggestions and answers or to clarify points of confusion. What does really seem to work with the students I teach are the presentation with group participation. The students enjoy exploring the web or provided materials, to gather the information needed and present it in front of their peers. They also enjoy participating in quizes and games, which they find funny and educational.

Most of my lessons are student centred. This allows students to explore ideas and construct knowledge, based on their own observations and experiences. I facilitate student-centred learning by the use of appropriate support materials like, tourist brochures, tourist guides, maps, journals, structured handouts and appropriate web sites.

Evaluate one of the activities selected from those available and explain how you could modify/develop your teaching strategy in future.

An important method of evaluating and improving teaching activities and strategies is reflection (Minton, 1997, p.103)

In my lessons I often use question and answer sessions to ascertain the existing level of learning or entry behaviour in the beginning of the lesson and to assess the learning that has taken place at the end or during the lesson.

I can identify the following problems affecting the success of my Q&A sessions:

• As English is not my native tongue I talk with a foreign accent;
• Sometimes I mispronounce certain words;
• Usually I speak slowly in effort to use the most appropriate words and expressions.

To improve my teaching strategy in future

• I should spend more time thinking about the teaching I need to do during the lesson ;
• Make sure that sentences used are grammatically correct, and the words correctly pronounced;
• The questions I use need to be carefully considered, so that learners supply their knowledge and do not simply answer “yes” or “no”;
• Allow thinking time for each question;
• I should try to involve as many learners as possible;
• If the session is dominated by two or free students I should nominate students to answer each question;
• Encourage all answers and build upon wrong and partially correct answers.

Conclusion

Apart from choosing the right teaching strategies the success of the lesson depends on carefully used methods of classroom management and control, which are based on positive behavior and reinforcement. These methods help students to govern their own behavior in ways that help them learn. There are a number of ways in which a teacher can promote good classroom management:

• Be fair, positive and consistent;
• Keep your classroom orderly;
• Get to know your students;
• Begin class on time;
• Make learning fun;
• Praise good work, good responses, and good behavior;
• Don’t threaten or use sarcasm;
• Let the students know you care;
• Treat students with the same respect you expect from them; keep confidence;
• Be mobile, walking around the room as students work or respond to instruction;
• Keep your voice at a normal level;
• Grade assignments and return them as soon as possible;
• Expect the unexpected. Schedules will be changed without warning and unanticipated events will occur. Be flexible in responding to the unexpected.

Bibliography

• Curzon, L.B.(1997) Teaching in Further Education, Fifth edition, Cassel education.

• Educational Resources, Teaching and learning, Beginning teacher handbook, WEAC

• Minton, D.(1997) Teaching Skills in Further and Adult Education, Second edition, City and Guilds
• Reece, I. and Walker, S. (2003) Teaching, Training and Learning; a practical guide, Fifth edition, Business Education Publishers Limited