CHANGING THE WAY TEACHING ENGLISH

Kisseleva N.Ye.

School-gymnasium # 38

CHANGING THE WAY TEACHING ENGLISH

It is interesting to discuss the subject in which a lot of teachers personally have a great interest: changing one’s way teaching English after three month’s courses. This year, the courses slogan was: “When the world changes – we change too.” A learning, developing aspect was noticeable everywhere. Teachers got together and exchanged opinions, practiced a lot of methods and activities, asked questions during our learning, relaxed at the classes singing songs and doing morning exercises. On our first day, the head of ORLEU and our trainer greeted us with the words: “Welcome to our courses!” Welcome was the key word for all of us during the whole courses. We can run to the trainer of the courses, asked all sort of the questions and our trainer was always ready to help us. We took part in many interesting workshops to learn how to use ICT in classroom, and to compare with what we do at our own classes. Through our practice at school we tried to use seven topics at the lessons: new approaches to teaching and learning: “dialogic teaching and learning” and “Learning how to learn”, learning to think critically, assessment for and of learning, using ICT in teaching and learning, teaching talented and gifted children, responding to age-related differences in teaching and learning, management and leadership of learning. So, throughout our time as a level programme learner, we have often expressed our opinions on the subject of teaching in the changing world. We are quite sure that learning at the courses has changed our way teaching English. It is because teachers believe that using seven topics at their lessons play an essential part in shaping the future of partnership between students and a teacher. We all live in a globalized world, with unprecedented potential for communication. We were taught at the courses to make all this potential accessible especially to younger generation. We were taught how to listen to our students, how to improve their leadership skills to be succeed in our fast changing world. There are many reasons for learning at the courses. Because we like other teachers feel that something should be changed in teaching. Learning at the courses opens up the whole new dimension for our children. It greatly benefits their reading and writing in their own language, and there’s evidence that, like musical education, it contributes significantly to the development of personal intelligence; and it definitely improves the overall results at school. Our students can also have new vital social functions. By learning new methods, we developed our personality; we gained new horizons, but at the same time reinforced our own identity, and therefore our self-confidence. Now at our lessons students take an active part in all the activities, and get some hands-on experience. It took a lot of time and effort, but the teacher managed to do it. The courses were very helpful in advising teachers how to find all the necessary methods for our lessons and what activities were needed for this or that lesson. Now at our classes students write essays on different topics, exchange their opinions, post their works. Younger kids write about family values, for instance, while teens may prefer to discuss global problems, not to mention such eternal topics as love and friendship. Those who are to leave school in the current academic year will write about their future professions, and their goals in life. Now we know if teachers focus their attention on the learning experiences of students and make changes based on what we know about teaching it will promote learning. Students will understand more of what they are learning.  When our students interact with the content, when they try to speak about it and work with it, they make it their own and it becomes meaningful to them. The students understand why it’s important, why they must know it and how it fits with what they have already known and still need to learn. Thanks to these courses we see our students are engaged and involved with the content, when they are really learning, as in understanding the material, they remember it longer. Now, after courses we want our students to learn more than just the content because we understand that when students are involved and engaged with the material, directing their learning of it and working on it with others, they are developing important learning skills. At present they are learning to ask questions, to find answers, to challenge reasons, to consider alternatives, to evaluate evidence, and to solve problems. Students leave these kinds of learning experiences, not just knowing the content, but equip to learn more on their own and for themselves. Students will love learning more because a good learning experience where the student conquers challenging content, finds out something fascinating, and through the process discovers an aptitude for doing something; this is what creates an ongoing hunger for learning. These are compelling reasons to change the way we teach—to move away from instruction devoted to teacher-transmitted content and teacher-directed learning and toward more student-centered teaching. There is still a time and place for telling students what they need to know and ought to do. The process of moving toward learner-centeredness is a developmental one for teachers and students. As a rule student discovery of what they need to know, their selection of the processes by which they learn it, their firsthand experience of the messiness of learning, and their need to assess what they have learned—we need to make more time and a larger space for that kind of teaching and learning. The results after the experiment are shown in the diagram 1: “The level of the main students’ skills”.  

Diagram 1. The level of the main students’ skills

As a rule we teach our students four skills – listening, speaking, reading, and writing. After the experiment the students often show brilliant results when they are tested and checked in these skills. Now in work we use the learner –centered approach. It helps us to develop the best in the students. In teacher’s opinion the best and most effective method of teaching of English as a foreign language is a communicative approach. It includes group and pair work. We give students the chance of talking, discussing, expressing their own opinions, arguing. After courses as far as we teach students of the junior grades we usually pay much attention to self-study and independent work of students. When they get ready for classes or country-study they look through different magazines and newspapers in order to find the material for their reports and individual answers. When students make reports the rest of the group listen to them and get ready to answer the questions on the topics. We’d like to mention that now we try to teach skimming, scanning, role play, different types of the questions, split dialogue, and different kinds of drills. After we completed a three month training program for professional development using new methods of teaching we wanted all the students to be the active participants at the lesson, to take an active part in all discussions, computer activities, etc. It is natural that now our approach of teaching differs greatly with respect to different types of students. To be precise, the teachers plan their classes taking into account the level of pupils’ knowledge. The most gifted students get more complicated tasks; they help their classmates, explain what they can. When we check reading skills aloud firstly listen to the reading of students who are the best in the group, and then they listen to the reading of less skilled students, coach them and only after that we listen and estimate their skills. Some pupils are very quick at their work and study, that’s why we give them more complicated tasks and they have the chance of helping their classmates. To be plain, we think that individual approach to students is the best way to success in this case. Now our motto is: “What is worth doing – all is worth doing well!”

LITERATURE:

1. Handbook for teacher//Nazarbayev Intellectual School, 2012.-221p.
2. Programme// Nazarbayev Intellectual School, 2012.-88p.
3. School-Based Tasks//Nazarbayev Intellectual School, 2012.-50p.