I teach my students, not other teachers’
students.
What do I mean by that?
I have been extensively reading about
teenagers and what/ how they are learning. I have been reading how they text,
how they speak, what they like doing. I have been reading all that from
teachers or from people in the learning business. As I was reading I have never
taken the time to actually stop and look at MY students. I assumed that
teachers around the world had the same students. So I thought that teenagers
from Scotland were like teenagers in South Africa, who were the same as
teenagers in the US or Australia.
How wrong was I.
 |
| (source http://bit.ly/QR3no3) |
One typical example is that I have asked my
students how they text. They told me that they text like they write in English
(proper !!!), they do not use text language and cannot stand kids who do.
As you know, I teach French in a rural high
school in NZ. My experience, my students might be different from yours even if
you teach in a rural high school in NZ. My experience might also be different
from another teacher in the same school as me.
I made the mistake to assume how my
students were. This year, I have been observing them (I should have done that
years ago of course, but I cannot change that). By observing and asking them
what they actually like, I have realised that they like touching stuff I have
laminated, they like doing grammar drills, they like playing gameboards, they
like conjugating verbs on individual whiteboards (the old way) and they like
learning their vocabulary using Language Perfect online.
So now, when I plan my lessons, I do not
plan them if I were teaching students in Australia or in Huntly, I plan my
lessons if I were teaching my students, the ones who decide to take French in
high school, the ones who like conjugating verbs and playing gameboards
