University of Kragujevac

Faculty of Education in Jagodina

International Conference

Responding to Diversity in Teaching Young Learners

16-17 May 2008

REPORT: EMILY HILL

It has been such a pleasure for me, Emily Hill, to participate in Jagodina’s first Annual ELT Conference. Overall, there were 60 participants, all of which were teachers of English, seeking to improve their techniques. There were numerous lectures on multiple topics aimed at adding variety in the classroom.

The Conference began with Richard Pemberton, who introduced the concept of “Autonomous Learning”. This does not mean learning entirely on one’s own, but instead, giving the student the freedom to decide how he/she wants to learn. This is a helpful technique, especially when one considers the many kinds of learning styles there are.

This led to the over arching theme of the – Diversity. This included Diversity in Teaching Techniques and Diversity of Students, meaning students of a minority background and students with special needs.

I led a Workshop on the second day of the Conference and introduced a few techniques I have used in both my classes at the orphanage in Bijela , Montenegro and at the school in Gradacac, BiH. I used/played ‘Simon Says’ to provide an example of adaptable learning. This activity/game, not only reinforces vocabulary, but it also (1) helps shy students to shine, as you can win without speaking; (2) the teacher may add difficulty to advanced/remaining students by (a) increasing pace of the game, (b) adding new words (ie, hips, knees, etc.) (c) adding new actions (ie, jump, hop, stand on one foot, etc.).

Next, I introduced ‘I’m Going on a Trip’ – to show how students can practice and showcase vocabulary. The game also allows students to hear a continuous phrase and words, which increases word recognition.

My next activities included: (1) Introducing ways to make Color Recognition fun; (2) Student led sentence construction in the game ‘Bingo’ and ‘Who Am I?’ Respectively, following these, I gave the floor to Bobby who discussed and acted out interactive learning. The aim is for the students (following the example set by the leader) to become part of what is being learned through the storytelling. In this case, Bobby told a story about a Pirate and dressed as the character morphed into a Pirate. It serves as an interesting and successful way for students to (1) learn vocabulary by (a) actually seeing/feeling the taught words (ie, hat, parrot, etc.) and (b) using repetition from within the story and (2) keep their interest intact by allowing the students to take part in working rather than merely listening. This storytelling activity included all of the senses discussed earlier in the TWI presentation, which are seeing, hearing, touching and smelling.

The purpose of my Workshop was to reinforce the talk Bobby gave on day 1 and to give written and visual examples of the games we used that produced good results (improved English grades in their school work.   

ABSTRACT

Look at Me – I’m Having Fun!

Children Learn the Way They are Taught

Diversity: 1a.the fact or quality of being diverse: different. (Webster’s II New Riverside University Dictionary)

The Magical teacher (Miss M.) is one who knows her teaching style, recognizes  student’s learning styles (vision, hearing, touch, smell) and adapts the classroom environment and curriculum to include all students. In the pirate story, they hear the wind blowing, see the pirate, feel the feathers on the parrot perched on his shoulder and smell the chocolate he is eating. For her students with special needs, she considers their disability and  adapts classroom activities to meet their needs. Miss M, I like to call her, knows her students and their parents. She develops an organized plan or strategy and makes learning fun for a range of students within the classroom, whether the class is history, English as a second language or math.