Last week's role playing: our group's view

The role playing activities we did last week were very instructive and fun; we learnt a lot while having fun, although it was a bit hard for those who played as teachers because of the constant breaks and suggestions.

There was a lot of collective learning involved, because we saw a great difference from the ones that did it at the beginning to the groups that came last. So, we all learnt and improved through the activities.

We learnt as teachers to speak slowly, use short and simple sentences, repeat sentences and useful formulae so children can learn them. We also experienced that the teacher has to start certain activities on her/his own, such as singing, and that children will join in when they feel ready. We saw that flexibility is needed to shift activities when one doesn't work or connect with the children, or to conduct the same activity in a different way. But, at the same time, we realised that flexibility doesn't mean lack of planning; on the contrary, apparent improvising is necessarily based on very fine planning, because only when the teacher has thoroughly planned the activities will she/he be able to pick the right one for a particular situation.

Another interesting part of the role playing was to get into our children's shoes. It was amusing to see that we didn't manage to act as children at the beginning, and it took us some time to take that role. It seemed as if we found it easier to act as teachers, or we knew better what teachers are like. At the same time, during the role playing we paid less attention to how well we were playing the children's role, and we made very few suggestions about that. We think that this is a very important issue for two reasons: on one hand, if we don't act as real children, the teacher's role playing will be somewhat fake and, on the other hand, if we cannot act as children, it means we don't really know them, and it will be very difficult for us to design activities that will interest them.

Zerain Project - Is it CLIL?

After debating in the group, we have decided that Zerain project is CLIL. It is considerate CLIL because they are learning integrating language, contents and context based on the children knowledge. In that way, they learn languages at the same time they are learning another kind of knowledges such as maths, reading, writing and speaking.

The when, why and how of English learning after class debate

After the class debate, our doubt about which age is the best to start learning English continues more or less the same way. However, we realised that exposure time and quality both together are the key. Obviously, there could be several combinations of starting age and hours per week given to English in order to ensure the same overall exposure to the language, so there isn't just one right way around. But it is something to take into account that high exposure will not necessarily bring higher competence.

Nevertheless, we agree that Basque language is the priority here and starting learning English at the age of 4 gives a good exposure to English while not harming Basque language. Therefore, we have decided our starting age will be 4 years old.

Forbidden education: our group's view

First of all, we agree with the critical view over traditional education that the film shows. We also agree with most of the principles that members of alternative schools propose in the film, although we think that the film lacks detailed explanations about how those principles and nice ideas are put into practise in their schools.

On the other hand, most of the alternative educational methodologies mentioned in the film are put into practise in private schools, and therefore, are only accessible to a small part of the population, thus becoming elitist.

Still, we believe that these innovative, and to an extent revolutionary, principles can be put into practise in "regular" schools. Just like inclusion is a process, not a matter of being black or white, we cannot wait until we manage to get a job in a school that will be %100 right until we do something to change the system. The teacher has a great power over what happens in the classroom, and should take advantage of that. No doubt, big changes will be needed in order to improve the education system, but the sum of small changes can become a great wave that will make them inevitable.