ESL Teacher's Confessions

  Why read stories to children especially in a foreign language? The speaker in the second webinar mentioned an important topic – reading stories to children. The use of storytelling in the foreign language classroom creates a good learning environment and provides meaningful and comprehensible input. There are many benefits in reading storybooks. First of all, children enjoy listening to stories and this allows them to acquire language unconsciously. Stories allow educators to repeat and revise vocabulary as well as introduce new ones. The exposure to language in a different context enriches their thinking skills. They convey meaning through pictures, gestures and basic words. Repetition helps children learn the patterns and structure of a story, and, eventually, fosters word recognition. They also provide essential language chunks to internalize. She also mentioned that storybooks can help students with their imagination. In addition, it is possible to share various culture...

  On December 10, 2020, GPTE students had the privilege to listen to a webinar entitled Teaching without coursebooks in a public kindergarten , which was conducted by Magda Jóźwicka. The speaker said that she works in a public primary school with an average class size of 22 students. In her webinar, she discussed the reasons as to why she does not use a coursebook. There are many reasons why a teacher might use coursebooks, as they can save one a lot of time thanks to already prepared lessons, songs and additional materials. They have a variety of activities and they are attractive with their colourful pictures, characters and stickers. Magda Jóźwicka explained why not to use these tools when teaching in a kindergarten. First of all , she shared her reasons for not using a dedicated coursebook. She said that they usually cost a lot of money and many parents are not willing to purchase extra books for their pre-school children. Secondly , the activities in the books are genera...

What are the pros of giving students free choice?  This post will be a bit different, as it is a self-reflection on a particular teaching method. After an extensive amount of observation in foreign language classrooms, both in public as well as private institutions, the question arises whether the teacher should allow students to have free choice in a particular subject taught at school. After some consideration, giving students free choice might be beneficial.   Having freedom might cause students to be more engaged and creative in the lessons. It could help them to discover their strengths and interests by giving them more power and control over their learning process. The deeper pupil engagement would most probably result in richer learning. The more students are involved out of their own volition, their brains might be able to process and store information more readily. The boost of creativity might lead to more effective work habits and boost organization skills. For ...