Webinar #2 – Reflections

 

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 generally designed for desk-work, but for young pupils desk-work is torturous.

Thirdly, she mentioned that a lot of time would be lost by putting away books back in their proper place. From my experience, children are prone to forget their books at home, lose their books or even accidentally destroy them.

So, if we don’t use a coursebook, what else is there to do with pupils?

She mentioned a few activity ideas which she personally uses in her lessons. For instance, she uses a portable speaker to play songs, uses self-made flashcards, and the most interesting method is the use of laminated paper, whiteboards and whiteboard markers ­— I enjoyed this idea, as it can be used in a number of different ways. She recommended to use toys and materials that are already in the classroom and incorporate them in the lessons. Magda mentioned that the possibilities are endless with materials such as building blocks which can be analyzed by their shape, colour, size and much more.

Magda also gave a few examples of activities which can be conducted without the use of a coursebook:

Find my snowman – this activity includes printed pictures of snowmen and their accessories (hat, gloves and scarf) in different colours. With a few supporting colour flashcards, the teacher describes the snowman and the students have to choose the correct picture.

Trip around Poland – By using a map of Poland, the students have to plan a trip to cities they would like to visit, e.g. Warsaw, the seaside, etc. To get to each of these places, the students have to decide on the means of transportation, e.g. by car, by train, or by an airplane. After they create the plan, the pupils run around in a circle repeating words and playcting.

Trip around the world with Genibot – The activity requires a basic map of the world and animal flashcards. The students have to decide where these animals live and match their country. Then the pupils must program Genibot (a remote-controlled robot) with directions on how to get there.

I have to agree with the speaker that there is no use in using just a coursebook with young learners. Children are discovering the world around them and they do not want to do this by completing exercises from a book but rather, explore through their senses, play and storybooks.

What would you like to incorporate in your lessons? Or even your personal experience! Tell me in the comment section below!

Sara