TEACHING CHILDREN HOW TO LEARN - IATEFL
Manchester 2015
Gail Ellis and Nayr Ibrahim
Session date and time: 2015-04-13 10:30
Summary : Gail Ellis & Nayr Ibrahim (British Council, France)
This talk will discuss the theoretical and
methodological concepts of learning to learn in the primary English language
teaching classroom. It will show how teachers can apply the 'Plan, Do, Review'
routine systematically and explicitly to activities and to whole lessons, in
order to help children learn how to learn and to gradually become aware of
their own learning preferences and differences. (http://iatefl.britishcouncil.org/2015/session/teaching-children-how-learn)
I have very good memories when I have first
met Gail Ellis in person in in Brazil. Her book Learn
to learn English is an awesome and handful timeless source for teachers
and leaners. I have used it for years
with my students (regarding learner training) as well as with teachers, when I am
delivering teacher training sessions. She
has worked together with Nayr Ibrahim at the BC in France for many years.
The book is divided into three parts:
1. Rational and theory
2.
Activties for learners
3.
Teachers’ development activities
The theoretical background of learn to
learn:
The presenters claim that the theory of learning
to learn is based on the philosophy of constructivism which is a view of
learning and teaching and has the concept that learning at school happens inside the heads of leaners. In other words, the teacher cannot learn from
the learner. So there’s a gap between
teaching and learning and learners have to negotiate in order to construct new
knowledge, skills and attitudes.
It’s also based on the theory of social
interactionism where teachers can help the process of learning by creating optimal
conditions for teaching, learning and interaction in the classroom.
So what’s learning to learn? Basically it’s
an umbrella term that comes with a wide variety of activities which is
concerned with the processes of learning.
It aims to focus people’s attention on how
they learn as well as what they learn. It aims to lead them gradually to a constructive
development and how to become more independent.
As for
instructions, in the slide below they cite Bruner (1966).
Learning to learn is dependent on all
learning in all areas of curriculum and life. Mostly, it’s linked to learner
autonomy, one of the most important areas in a child’s educational development and
it’s something that they start learning at very early age. It values diversity and
take into account that children learn in different ways at different grades,
and have different preferences regarding their activities and materials.
Learning to learn is not a new concept
However, teachers tend to remain at
abstract levels and official documents because they have very strong views
about learning to learn:
·
They didn’t learn like this - Teachers
feel uncomfortable to implement an approach they themselves have not
experienced.
·
They think children are too
young for this aspect of learning
·
They don’t have time
·
They have to use the mother
tongue
·
It takes a long time
·
Our materials don’t show us how
to do it
Probably one of the greatest constraints is
the lack of training and practical guidelines on how to implement learning to
learn.
Different
types of learning strategies:
The literature on learning strategies generally
refers to four main categories:
1.
Metacognitive
2.
Cognitive
3.
Social- affective
4.
Communication
In the session they focused on the cognitive
and metacognitive strategies.
Metacognitive
strategies are those that involve learners in thinking
about their learning. It includes
planning, monitoring and evaluating learning.
Cognitive
strategies are task specific and involve children
doing things with the language and their learning materials and relates to
skill areas.
Leaners have a lot of implicit practice in
developing cognitive strategies. They are usually embedded in the tasks they do
such as sorting or classifying, listening for specific information, predicting,
sequencing, and so on. Unfortunately most
classroom situations or materials rarely explicitly inform leaners about the
strategies they are using and why, and they are not encouraged to reflect on
their learning. In other words, the metacognitive dimension is missing as we
can see from the quote below:
So the teachers need to take an expanded world
and incorporate this missing metacognitive dimension.
Suggested activities are designed to
implement learning to learn which obey on the following pedagogical principles:
1.
Provide different modes of input by
using multimodal resources to present
language and convey meaning and with a
large different types of responses such as physical, spoken, written, creative analytical
and personal. It helps to create an inclusive learning environment which accommodates
children’s learning preferences and differences.
2.
The English Language Portfolio: Each
activity is linked to an English Language Portfolio – The use of portfolio is
an integral part of the learning to learn methodology. A portfolio helps children
organise their work, monitor their progress, take pride on their work and help
them to talk about and account for their learning. They are supposed to teak
their portfolios home to encourage family involvement and maximise their time. It
lays an important role and fosters home involvement.
3.
Assessment: Assessment for learning is incorporated and it
is based on the principle that children progress best when learn aims to make
explicit and share them and they know what to do to succeed in that activity by
negotiating success criteria. Assessment for children also involves children in
peer and self-assessment.
4.
Value the children’s voices. Children are encouraged to talk about their
experiences.
5.
All activities are informed so that
there’s a spirit of transparency. This means teachers share information. For
example, they tell the aim of a lesson and the activities, they explain the
purpose of an activity so that children understand what they are doing and why,
they negotiate success criteria together, and they explain strategies use.
6.
ROUTINES: All activities are
structured around routines as routines are a central part of a primary
classroom. They help children feel
secure, they help children value a sense of time, develop what’s going to come
next , and provide exposure to repeated
language and familiar situations.
7.
Home involvemvent : Which includes
children and parents awareness of the possibilities of conserve English outside
the classroom in order to maximise earning.
8.
Beliefs: Learning should promote a
philosophy based on valuing self, others and the environment and 5 values on
the pillar of activities: Accountability, caring, flexibility , resilience and
tolerance.
9.
Cross- curricular activities : Activities
can and should be linked to other areas of the primary curriculum to provide a
broader view of learning English and of the world . It moves away from the
traditional and sequential view of English as a subject approach to a holistic
approach.
10.
Each activity has a main outcome : Children are informed at the beginning of each
activity where they work is leading in
order to make this more purposeful, meaningful and motivating.
ROUTINE:
These three stages provide a framework in
which children can be systematically and explicitly helped to learn how to
learn by combining cognitive and metacognitive strategies training through reflection,
experimentation and further reflection.
The plan stage: Children are involved in the learning aims of the activity and
they are encouraged to reflect on what they are going to know and how best to
plan for the activity. They then identify and negotiate the success criteria
with their teachers.
The do stage involves children with experimenting and doing things with the
language and the language materials.
The review stage involves children in reflecting on their learning by responding to
five reflection questions* and participating in a variety of familiar activities such as Simon says.
1.
*What did you do?
2.
*What did you learn?
3.
*How did you learn?
4.
*How well did you do?
5.
* What do you need to do best
and why?
As for the DO stage, it gives
opportunity to further extend and consolidate learning. Gives children opportunity
to work independently and personalise learning.
The share stage takes place when children
take their portfolio home to share with their families and are also given an
activity to do together,. They aim is to maximise time and get families involved.
The presenters believe learn to learn is
best developed in the classroom context as learning is considered to be affective,
emotional and a social process which requires a face to face interaction.
As a teaching learning aid, they’ve chosen
a mascot which plays 4 roles:
1.
A procedural role
2.
An affective role
3.
A behavioural role
4.
An interactive role
The presenters then demonstrate some activities
with worm the puppet that aim to :
·
Integrate learners
·
Develop awareness
·
Express the experience of
learning English through the five senses
·
A variety of presentations and
representations by classmates
Children are always informed about the aims
of the activities
Example: Learning English looks like, sounds like,
tastes like, etc… (all represented by students’ drawings)
At the end of the activity or the lesson, children
are involved in reflection through reflective
activities or the completion of a “my activity record page “ which they
organise in their portfolios and share with their families.
They conclude the session giving the
teachers a rest at their mind regarding the use of mother tongue and shared classroom
language:
As stated at the beggining of this post , the presenters say that teachers also concern they haven't experinced or been trained to learning to learn. So it's important to have teachers' development activities designed around the plan-do-review routine. This is to enable them to also experince this approach as related to their own personal and professional development. The share stage encougaes teachers support t, exchange and collaborate with their colleagues, their key source of information , inspiration and ideas.
The TD activities should :
Involve the learning to lean Pedaggical principles
Be a long term and ongoing project
Include action research, peer observaton, self assessesment and the development of an action plan.
Teacher development activities help the teacher:
Their new book will be available soon but can be seen on DELTA website , including the download of sample pages.
