Icebrakers
Yesterday we learnt
som methods to start talking about a subject or to introduce an issue
(Ice Breakers). The one I liked the most was a work in groups of
three, which consisted in talking about what is a good student, or a
good teacher (not all groups had the same subject). We had to draw it
and put some adjectives in a piece of paper, which would be later put
in discussion with the rest of the class and hanged on the class
wall.
As Philosophy
teacher, I'm very concentrate on activities that promote the
discussion. So I think that in my Philosophy classes I could do
something similar to this one, jaust changing the subject. For
example, we could talk about what is a good philosopher, a good man
or woman, a good leader, and so on. The students will have to use
adjectives or sentences to describe the habilities that are required
to be good in some of these things.
Questions with no
answers
Another way of
starting talking is just by showing a picture, and make the students
make questions about it, that they would like to know about what is
happening in the picture. As nobody, even the teacher, doesn't know
the answer, the students become aware that there is no right answer
and that they have to make hypothesis. Of course, the activity can
continue by writing a text, or reading alternative texts about it
with missing information in two versions (student A and B), so that
they have to communicate to complete the information that they don't
have.
Problems with
speaking
It happens very
often that students doesn't speak in class, or they have serious
difficulties to start speaking, because they feel the pressure of
being tested, they have fear of mistakes, or just no interest on the
subject. Stuart gave us some advices:
- To give them time
to practice in little groups and to prepare what they were going to
say.
- To personalize the
topic (making them talk about their own opinion or about things that
they like).
From speaking to
writing
Once we have
introduced the topic by pictures, or we made a discussion obout a
subject, it's important to work with important vocabulary before
starting writing. The student can also write in pairs, and correct
themselves with a correction code.
How to introduce
vocabulary
The main idea of the
methodology we are learning is that vocabulary is always learned in
context. The first thing we have to decide is which vocabulary is
receptive (they have to understand it, but no to use it), and which
is productive (they have to be able to use it).
The different steps
for vocabulary activities could be:
1. To present the
vocabulary in context
2. To ask for
definitions
3. To compare the
own definitions with the partners
4. To compare the
definition with the solution
5. To correct
6. To do
associations in order to check if the comprehension is right.
What does it have to do with Philosophy?
I think that really a lot. A very important task of Philosophy is to make things clear and, like Socrates did, to find good definitions of some important words like: Hapiness, Justice, Freedom, Goodness, Pleasure, and so on. The difference is that in Philosophy there is not a definitive answer or definition, so students will have to search for good definitions and also for good arguments to defend it.
