I have to say that using mobile phones in a yr8 lesson on Monday was possibly the best thing I have done with them this year. Not only did they learn more than I could ever have expected, the relationship I now have with the class, three lessons on, is far better than it ever has been. Why? Well, they learnt more because they were engaged, communicating the way they know best and desperate to prove to me that giving them freedom to use their favourite posessions in class was a worthwhile experiment. And the relationship has improved because they see me as someone who wants them to learn and have fun, rather than just the annoying, moaning woman that stands in front of them twice a week to trying to convince them that languages are fun and worth learning.
I suppose it's simple really. Kids have changed - they live in a world where they are surrounded by technology and in order to make learning anything seem relevant to them, we need to speak their language and show them how our subjects can fit into their technologically orientated lives.
How did you use mobile phones in your classroom, I'm curious to try it with my class.
ReplyDeleteHi Jill
ReplyDeleteI started by getting them to learn a rap about the verb avoir (they are a mixed ability set in a comp) to take home with them for learning homework. They took them home, listened to them, learnt lots, came back and did a vocab test. A colleague of mine has been using them for prnunciation practice and I will be using them next week to record a radio news show (using different tenses). There are lots of things that you can do with mobiles, and eventually I will be getting them to upload their work onto their very own blog :)
I think that last paragraph is really interesting, because it's not even as though young people see their lives as being particularly technology orientated - they live in connected, 'always on' lives as a default, whereas some of us from older generations still see a distinction between 'on' and 'off' grid.
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