More serious than you, dear Teacher!
by Zosia Grudzińska, Gymnasium nr 3 in Nidzica
zosia_g@wp.pl
As you might remember (I wrote an article about it to the Newsletter once) several years ago I introduced the tradition of students’ organized and run warm-up activities. The trend has had its ups and downs and not all groups have embraced the idea warmly. The oldest boys’ group, for example, after the initial period of support, has grown increasingly resistant and for some time has been more or less pressed into it by my prodding, reminding the would-be organizers and from time to time asking pointedly: “Tell me, perhaps you’d rather abandon the custom?” As could be expected, the students shied away from such confrontation, although it was obvious that their interest has long since dwindled to zero. Eventually I have just stopped asking and reminding and let it die quietly…
In other groups the tradition has either been surviving or downright flourishing, with prizes and rivalry as to who would present a “better”, more polished game or quiz. Several students have recently awakened to it after a few years’ inertia... which goes to show that you can never predict accurately! Not with students at least.
I admit to a weakness – having an “ideal image” in mind and only with difficulty letting go (if ever…) That’s why some of my friends have nicknamed me “Bulldog”! This is a teacher’s bane, since it hinders flexibility in classroom interactions. Part of the “ideal image” in the case of student-generated warm-up activities is my dream that they will be diversified, ranging from quizzes and simple word games through skits and presentations to drama-based activities involving the group’s active engagement in the proceedings, getting up, moving around, using imagination, etc., etc. With this thought in mind I participated in a summer course, being instructed in the use of various drama techniques in ELT. Upon my return I proceeded to show the students the stuff I learned: funny, entertaining, short, more or less simple ways to spend the first few minutes of the lesson. Certainly not involving a lot of preparation from the person responsible for conducting it. The students loved it. All of them – without exception. They admitted the obvious usefulness of activities which may be initiated “on the spot”. They participated eagerly, amidst laughter and shrieks of pure ecstasy…
After several weeks I announced the return to the old routine and gave the students a list of dates when they can appropriate the first stage of a lesson. And I waited…
DAY ONE: IIa gymnasium: Agnieszka gives a “word test”. II c, boys: a sport quiz; girls, an “association” game (at last something new!)
DAY TWO: IIIa gymnasium, the boys don’t have anything; the girls – an error correction quiz!
DAY THREE: IIa gymnasium, a language test checking past forms of verbs; II c boys – a “trivial pursuits” type of a quiz, the girls – another short test.
DAY FOUR: the teacher gets up and presents yet another “funny and imaginative” warm-up. At the end trying desperately to elicit “the benefits”. Canvassing seems to have worked, since on the next occasion the person responsible for the warm up is sick and someone else steps in on a voluntary basis, conducting one of the “life savers”. Well done! But then… day five, two tests and one word-map activity; day six, more quizzes. Day seven… shall I continue with the monotonous recital?
About the “tests”: short but checking basic language structures, the proceedings are very serious, with the organizer supervising and calling out students who try to cheat, afterwards collecting the answer sheets and checking them at home, finally assigning credits according to the number of correct answers. I am given the list of results and duly put the credits on record in the students’ credit cards. In effect, the student running the test has the full responsibilities of a teacher, to the extent of marking papers. Is that why they love it?