Asking ideas of different teachers and students in Iran, I found that many of them are tired of the old system of conferencing classrooms in different ages.
Iran Education system is divided to 4 steps.
4-6 years old Kindergarten (optional).
6-11 years old (5 years) primary school; studying Persian Literature, Math, Science, sports, arts.
11-14years old (3 years) guidance school; studying Persian Literature, Math, Science, Sports, Social related materials,Religion, History, Geography, and English as a second language, and Arabic.
14-18years old (4 years) high school.
First year, all high school students study Physics, Math/ Algebra/ Geometry, Persian Literature, English, Arabic, Chemistry, Geography, History, Economy, Sports.
Next 3 years of High schools they study some general courses , and some related courses to their major.
Some students start studying English from the age of 8-9, in private Institutes, Even some private Kindergartens, and primary schools teach English and Computers and some extra courses.
But is that really Beneficial?
I was English Teacher in a kindergarten for a year. It was rather playing with language than teaching as it was their first exposure to English and we didn't want students to feel bad, or worry about their learning.
I found it interesting teaching little kids, the most important part was that I was speaking in English only as it was a rule in our training course.
I recognized students didn't understand many of the words I used , but miming, and using context helped me so much in teaching many words to them. after several sessions they started to ask about concepts, specially when they watched some cartoons like magic English that is suitable for children who want to learn English.
But I never forget the supervisor's dissatisfaction of adding English to the things that they were going to teach the students. She said the only reason she wants to have these classes is that nowadays many parents want to follow these trades, and she believed teaching English couldn't be useful in the kindergarten.
This is the same at the private schools. computer have been added to students courses, just like many other courses they have to study. students enjoy the time they spend on learning it, but what do they really learn ?
Unfortunately many teachers, parents, and students are not enough familiar with computer, software, and other devices. iPod, iPad are just some devices to show off not only for students, but also for parents. When we discuss using iPod in teaching students become happy, because they think about the games and the way that they can escape from the other contents and courses that they have to study.
I think what makes many people believe computers are not useful in teaching kids or teens is the matter of the content that students could find there. The content of what they have to study at school is completely different from the courses.
To computerize our education, teachers need to do more, they should find the things that students can do, rather practically than mere searching in Wikipedia, or several sites to copy and conference it.
We should look forward a system that is enough related to the content. on the other hand we should make the right context in the virtual teaching world.
I will appreciate all suggestions that my friends have in different fields, and I look forward the reality of technology in education.
How should we add technology to our contents in a way to help a better education, not to make more problems?
Maybe the whole system is under question then! but let's find the true way, and not to escape!
The school I used to work has three campuses, one of which is to provide service to teach children English from 5-year old to 13-year old. I had worked on the campus for about 2 months to help developing school's regulations. The teachers taught students English by playing games as you did.They didn't use native language either. Most of time, students understood what teachers mean because they helped each other to understand and practice. It seemed that they really enjoyed the classes because it's so different from the English course they were taking in their public schools.
ReplyDeleteI would rather think parents' sending their children to English training school is to build kids' intrinsic motivation than just follow some trades.
In China, children are typically too shy to speak languages other than their native languages in public. English training experience in their early childhood may offer them a chance to overcome the psychological barriers to speak English. More important, with the building of intrinsic motivation, they will perform better in their ongoing English learning.
I agree with your opinion toward computers' using in classroon. It's as same as what happend in China. Although every school has at least one computer center, the computer use has little positive impact on neither students' academic performance nor creative thinking. It seems like that computer course is just another extracurriculum activity in scool class settings.
I think computers use in class should be regard as a bridge, which enable effective interaction between teachers and students with clear learning goals.
Tina,
ReplyDeleteI know parents do not like to follow trades,in the case of their children, but lack of knowledge and choosing wrong school can decrease children's motivation as well as a good one can increase it.
I know many managers of different schools who claim they teach English, but they have lack of playground, aids, and even time that they need to put on teaching English.
Private schools have different amount of time and different ways to teach English.
What will happen to a student who moves to another school, or a higher grade. what will happen when students with more knowledge are mixed with those who have no Idea about English or computers? and the problem starts when they have to listen and learn what they already knew!
I know information gap could be positive in some cases, but not when the gap is too much.
this gap is also too much between the different generations in Iran.
It is too much dependent on every individual right now.
being a teacher,I would like to find a balance between my students. if there is no balance at the beginning of the term, I would try to achieve it somehow.
I feel that in schools now technology is not use as a learning tool. Teachers do not integrate technology in there classrooms the correct way. I read in an article "For technology to fulfill its promise as a powerful
ReplyDeletecontributor to learning, it must be used to deepen children’s engagement in meaningful and intellectually authentic curriculum". As educators and future educators we have to use technology as a learning tool in this new era, because this is what our student's are engaged in. But it must be use in a way where our student's will gain their learning experience individually and with each other.
I think for EFL and ESL students technology is a powerful tool because they have a lot software, resources and so on.
ReplyDeleteNow the important thing is how to handle this technology and apply it in the proper way into the classroom.
In that point the teacher's point of view is very important.
Wilson, That really is true the importance is how to apply the technology to a system/class in a proper way, Teacher's point of view is important. I think the benefit depends so much on the teacher's knowledge, plan, and the curriculum.
ReplyDeleteI have been thinking about this topic for awhile. I struggith the type of technology to use in my classroom. When planning and researching in our courses we think that these will all be good ideas, but are they really? It is really hard to imagine our classroom without technology, but what if our school lacks in that department? Above all else, you discussed the usefullness of the technology, I really hope that we can all make informed decisions. It will be a constant struggle trying to decide if we are using technology just to use it, or if it is appropriate and has an "end game."
ReplyDelete