Dear Family & Friends,
Today will share several pix of our participants last week, 30 teachers from 8 schools, many of whom had attended one or more Mwangaza seminars over the years since 1996.
Our 30 teachers were asked to begin the seminar seated so that each table of three represented 3 different schools and 3 different content areas. With a key part of Mwangaza's focus over the years being students' learning, practice, and application within the interaction of group configurations, we then proceeded to guide them into 3 other groupings: double tables, subject area groups, and school groups. In every session we modeled using a minimum of 2 different groups, often focusing first on discussions in table groupings to find different/common perspectives and experiences across schools and content, or within their subject areas so they can discuss with a common focus, then moving to the school groups so that same school colleagues could discover/discuss issues across content areas.
Since the students for each of our participants will be in the same school and, period by period, in the same class, those "groupings'" will not transfer. This gives us the challenge, and opportunity, to make our ideas/methods applicable & meaningful when the teachers return to their schools and environments. So, we are modeling how groups can be used for 1. teaching and learning, 2. greatly increasing student opportunities for speaking and listening to the English language, 3. practice and application activities, and 4. checking for understanding. Then we must discuss with the teachers their school/classroom environments and how to adapt what we have modeled to the reality of their circumstances.
Since we are focused on students' language development, specifically language development in their NEW language of English, one of the very interesting experiences involves teachers in the same school but different subject areas discovering a common list of academic words that each uses in teaching their subject. In other words (Yes, pun is intended), all subject area teachers use add & adding -- but 'tis very interesting to hear the history teacher tell the math and physics teacher why it's not the same as their word. Until, with a bit of guidance, the group members come to the conclusion that these are the same words, with basically the same meanings, but with different applications. Now the teachers can also explain this to their students, and both the students' confidence and the use of these academic words increases.
Sharon is explaining the process, first for each teacher to individually select the words, from the list given, used in his/her subject area. The the teachers were moved to subject area groups to see if there fellow math, etc. teachers agreed with their choices. Heard some good teaching going on even then, as one physics teacher might tell another, "You must use this word when teaching the ..... concept".
A quick stop and switch to school groups, modeling that moving from one group configuration to another does not have to be chaotic nor excessively time consuming. Then heard wonderful discussion in school groups as the math teacher heard words shared with English and biology teachers, history with chemistry, etc.
Teachers from Bangala
The Enaboishu crew
And finally, Mama Sharon asks the groups to give her the subject area which use each word, with the results giving the teachers a list of common academic words they can share with Form 1 (freshmen) students in the first days of school, even posting them in classrooms. The students now have both the opportunity and inclination to increase vocabulary knowing there will be meaningful applications in several of their courses.
Back soon with technology !!
Peace and love,
Mike and Sharon
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