Feeding the mind, the heart….and the soul

This project was the follow-up of “Feeding the Mind”, a unit in the coursebook, “Objective Advanced”. As the students had shown interest in a painting by Gainsborough, I thought they might enjoy interpreting one of their choice. I asked them to choose a painting they liked and then brainstorm 4 or 5 words. After that, I told them to write a short poem including those words. Finally, I invited them to think of a song that matched the spirit of the painting and the poem.

Upshot: when they presented their work, I was speechless. I was amazed at the quality of their work.

I wondered, “How come they were able to do this with such little input?”

Answer: the so much neglected role emotion plays in classroom motivation!

Historically, the psychological components of cognition, motivation and emotion have tended to be considered separately. However, Meyer and Turner (2002) suggest that, in real life situations, the three concepts operate synergistically.

Conclusion: the role of emotions should not be underestimated in language teaching. 

 Heaven by Natalia Erquicia

Liberty Leading the People by Sofía Rossit

Serenade by Valentina Ecalle

Shiny Stars by Micaela Vidoz

Starry Night by Luciana Lemos

Sur le mer, la nuit by Florencia Moreno

The Entombment of Atala by Milena Moroni

The Kiss by Patricia Paterno

Teacher: Mariana De Biassi

 

Class: CAE B

My Fave Bookmarks

I asked my group to bring colour cardboard, a pair of scissors and sticking glue for the following class. They probably thought something was wrong with the teacher! To prove them right, I also brought old mags to cut out bits and pieces in case they might feel like a collage. The next class I asked them to join in pairs or groups of three and read a story in class. This time everybody read “The Shepherd´s Daughter”. Then, I asked them to design a bookmark related to the story. They spent 40 minutes in their design and then presented their bookmarks to the rest of the class, explaining the connection between the bookmark and the story they had read. They voted for the best bookmark. A different class altogether where everybody worked in a relaxed atmosphere with inspiring background music.

Teacher: Juana Nicemboin

Class: FCE 'D'

Making thinking visible

Many times what we learn mirrors what others are doing around us. We watch, we imitate, we adapt, we construct from there, we develop. Now imagine learning to dance when the dancers around us are not visible. Strange as it may seem, something very close to it happens all the time when learning to think. Thinking is pretty much invisible.

What we did in our group was try a way of making thinking visible through the use of art. The learners browsed through a menu of short stories and they chose the one that attracted them most. Yes, each learner can choose what to read and yet be in the same class as peers who have taken different reading decisions and paths. 

First, the learners decided what to read and I made sure that more than one student would read the same story from the menu.

We followed the several-stories-but-same-task approach. When the time came to discuss the stories we left the classroom and went to the place that speaks volumes about books: the library, which accounted for a big portion of the successful outcomes.  There the students gathered in different corners with the like-minded partners who had read the same short story.

The task I set was very simple, the thinking they engaged in was not: they were asked to say what was meant by the title and to select powerful quotes so as to discuss their implications. Next came art and that was when their thinking became visible.

These are the posters they designed to encourage others to read their short stories in our school:

All this flowed from rendering thinking visible. However, the first step is to overcome the problem of invisibility. Part of the challenge lies in the invisibility of thinking, which is in itself invisible. We are so used to thinking being invisible that we do not notice how easily thinking can stay out of sight. As educators then the first task is to see the absence, to hear the silence, to notice what is not there. A journey of one thousand miles, the Chinese proverb says, begins with but a single step. Seeing the absence is an excellent first step.The second making thinking visible through art.

Art invites thinking, encourages visual literacy, fosters different learning modalities, develops forms of thinking that are vital to grow as individuals. The positive payoffs of the experience? Thoughtfullness, accomplishment, enjoyment, ownership, and above all a dream come true: a bunch of adolescents staying 20 minutes after the class was due, handling books and gathered around the librarian to borrow one!

Teacher: Analía Dobboletta

Class: CAE 'C'