Every teacher knows how demanding teaching is in a global world where uncertainty, entertainment, interactivity, distraction, high tech, image and sound, loss of adult authority, increasing specialization of services and tasks, marketing and, basically, abundance are the rule. Every pupil knows that education, the way their grandparents understood it, is no key to success. We all know success is often related nowadays to being popular and likeable to many others, and if this is the result of education and effort or lack of it, who cares?
Whether we like this state of affairs or not, whether this picture is too simplistic and we sense there are kids who would still prefer to read Shakespeare’s sonnets rather than be rich and famous, this is utterly irrelevant. What matters is that any responsible adult knows that education is the key: our knowledge society cannot afford not to educate our youths and make sure core competencies are attained by all. The problem is what to teach and how.
We must first recognize in which ways our pupils are different: we are teaching people who were born in a more individualistic, smaller and faster consumer world; they are much more stimulated than we ever dreamt we could be and much more used to getting immediate answers and pleasure out of the things they do. To them meaning is basically related to networking and to building their own self in relation to an immediate environment that makes sense to them: being connected to their friends, the sports they like, the songs they sing, the games they play, the TV soaps they watch…
Networking has many facets and allows people to pursue their interests with renewed energy, based on an unrivaled capacity to interact with what they do and have their say. Technology allows us to find, share, trade and exchange in a cheap, efficient and simple way which was unthinkable only 10 years ago, when the internet was something that only a few could afford. Our pupils are prosumers from the cradle, who both consume and produce collaboratively, and their networking is often social, virtual, multitask, interactive, superficial or disruptive. It is also quite creative, if we think of it.
As to what we must teach, we are extremely lucky to be teachers of English. On the one hand, whatever our pupils need to know in the future, English will certainly make their life easier, even if Chinese became an increasingly present lingua franca. Pupils know it, too. On the other, networking and English often go hand in hand; English is everywhere, and it can make their life more fun.
If what we teach has a clear social recognition, then how we teach it must concern us. How can these spoiled global prosumers be taught when they know their future is uncertain and they despise effort without meaning?
It would be wise to listen and tune in to pupils before deciding on the content of our classes and on what their contributions to them must be, allowing them an active role in pursuing their own interests. It is not a matter of embracing what is fashionable and new, but of taking them seriously and trying to adjust our classroom planning to what can be seen by all as sensible production.
Using common sense and our experience as teachers we can channel their interests and take advantage of what can be useful to our class, investigate, discuss, expose and share. Observation and open dialogue might keep our frontal lobes awake and help us adjust to change and reflect about it.
But we are still the adults, and must keep control. We must survey and guide, give advice and warn, connect, coordinate, question, challenge, evaluate and provide the rules for the learning game. We are the teachers. The moment we accept that we are not experts in many of the things they love and expect them to explain them to us, while we give them the tools to do so, listen to them and foster debate, we are creating dialogue and respect for difference. But we had better watch out, the moment we feel overwhelmed, overworked, out of control, deceived, the spell will be lost and burnout will appear. If we assume we can do more than we are actually capable of we will be at risk. We should be careful and advance one step at a time, each of us at her own pace.
Sharing the classroom universe with pupils means asking them what they expect from our classes and telling them what we expect from them. From here we can reach agreements. They will know we care, and that is the only thing that matters. From this starting point we should try to go forward together and make sure our classes include as many activities as we can cope with: drills, games and exercises, real communication activities, simulations, treasure hunts, role plays, portfolios, oral presentations, posters, collages, webquests and web searches, mind maps, pictures and games, listening activities, oral presentations, newspapers and comics, books and magazines, group work, individual and pair work, on-line collaboration, field trips… Whatever gives our class dynamism, reflection and choice while making sure what we do is integrated in the curriculum, follows clear learning objectives and fosters their autonomy as learners.
Most of this can include ICT, which would allow them to search, process, communicate, create and share and come up with products they can be proud of and show to the world in a really easy and cheap way. We must not be blinded by technology, though, and must use as much of it as we feel comfortable with, now that it is becoming increasingly easier to use. What is important is what has always been: That our objectives are clear, our planning, careful and flexible, our guidance viable, our capacity to allow them to surprise us, sincere and that they are the ones who search for information, negotiate in groups, plan, write, speak, listen, read, design products, show them, draw conclusions and share, with our guidance.
Happy new school year!
Whether we like this state of affairs or not, whether this picture is too simplistic and we sense there are kids who would still prefer to read Shakespeare’s sonnets rather than be rich and famous, this is utterly irrelevant. What matters is that any responsible adult knows that education is the key: our knowledge society cannot afford not to educate our youths and make sure core competencies are attained by all. The problem is what to teach and how.
We must first recognize in which ways our pupils are different: we are teaching people who were born in a more individualistic, smaller and faster consumer world; they are much more stimulated than we ever dreamt we could be and much more used to getting immediate answers and pleasure out of the things they do. To them meaning is basically related to networking and to building their own self in relation to an immediate environment that makes sense to them: being connected to their friends, the sports they like, the songs they sing, the games they play, the TV soaps they watch…
Networking has many facets and allows people to pursue their interests with renewed energy, based on an unrivaled capacity to interact with what they do and have their say. Technology allows us to find, share, trade and exchange in a cheap, efficient and simple way which was unthinkable only 10 years ago, when the internet was something that only a few could afford. Our pupils are prosumers from the cradle, who both consume and produce collaboratively, and their networking is often social, virtual, multitask, interactive, superficial or disruptive. It is also quite creative, if we think of it.
As to what we must teach, we are extremely lucky to be teachers of English. On the one hand, whatever our pupils need to know in the future, English will certainly make their life easier, even if Chinese became an increasingly present lingua franca. Pupils know it, too. On the other, networking and English often go hand in hand; English is everywhere, and it can make their life more fun.
If what we teach has a clear social recognition, then how we teach it must concern us. How can these spoiled global prosumers be taught when they know their future is uncertain and they despise effort without meaning?
It would be wise to listen and tune in to pupils before deciding on the content of our classes and on what their contributions to them must be, allowing them an active role in pursuing their own interests. It is not a matter of embracing what is fashionable and new, but of taking them seriously and trying to adjust our classroom planning to what can be seen by all as sensible production.
Using common sense and our experience as teachers we can channel their interests and take advantage of what can be useful to our class, investigate, discuss, expose and share. Observation and open dialogue might keep our frontal lobes awake and help us adjust to change and reflect about it.
But we are still the adults, and must keep control. We must survey and guide, give advice and warn, connect, coordinate, question, challenge, evaluate and provide the rules for the learning game. We are the teachers. The moment we accept that we are not experts in many of the things they love and expect them to explain them to us, while we give them the tools to do so, listen to them and foster debate, we are creating dialogue and respect for difference. But we had better watch out, the moment we feel overwhelmed, overworked, out of control, deceived, the spell will be lost and burnout will appear. If we assume we can do more than we are actually capable of we will be at risk. We should be careful and advance one step at a time, each of us at her own pace.
Sharing the classroom universe with pupils means asking them what they expect from our classes and telling them what we expect from them. From here we can reach agreements. They will know we care, and that is the only thing that matters. From this starting point we should try to go forward together and make sure our classes include as many activities as we can cope with: drills, games and exercises, real communication activities, simulations, treasure hunts, role plays, portfolios, oral presentations, posters, collages, webquests and web searches, mind maps, pictures and games, listening activities, oral presentations, newspapers and comics, books and magazines, group work, individual and pair work, on-line collaboration, field trips… Whatever gives our class dynamism, reflection and choice while making sure what we do is integrated in the curriculum, follows clear learning objectives and fosters their autonomy as learners.
Most of this can include ICT, which would allow them to search, process, communicate, create and share and come up with products they can be proud of and show to the world in a really easy and cheap way. We must not be blinded by technology, though, and must use as much of it as we feel comfortable with, now that it is becoming increasingly easier to use. What is important is what has always been: That our objectives are clear, our planning, careful and flexible, our guidance viable, our capacity to allow them to surprise us, sincere and that they are the ones who search for information, negotiate in groups, plan, write, speak, listen, read, design products, show them, draw conclusions and share, with our guidance.
Happy new school year!
