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Playfulness
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4 thoughts on “Playfulness”
I love your post, Dana and I was thinking about this same thing this morning. In the past, I have been heavy-handed and militant in my instruction. What a gross feeling upon reflection!
I was thinking about happiness and playfulness in teaching in regards to newcomers to the United States. There are teachers who admit that having one or two newcomers in their classroom is ok, but any more than that creates too much work. What if teaching them and incorporating them were a creative, fun, playful process? If more teachers of newcomers learn to play with them instead of “catch them up,” it will be a game-changer.
Julia said:
… if more teachers of newcomers learn to play with them instead of “catch them up,” it will be a game-changer….
I agree. And inviting newcomers into playfulness in a language classroom would be much easier with non-targeted instruction and the Invisibles, in my opinion. It’s because, since all the other kids are playing much more than in traditional and targeted CI classes, the normally guarded newcomers are much freer to join in the fun as well. What else will tear down those walls of fear that accompany not fully knowing the new language? At its core, it’s about judging people or not judging people.
I seem to have been on this road for some time but only meeting the NT-CI world here has boosted my courage and my knowledge to embrace this approach with all my heart and now my curriculum has become so simple: the kids and the language in all its beauty and not chopped up.
Today, (based on a story) we looked at how many people can move their ears. When they saw that I can do it, someone popped up and presented me with a medal, and everyone started humming the music for the Olympic medal ceremony. I proudly and nerly tearfully took my place in the pantheon – after all those years of dedication to the sport!
We had kids showing off their funny body tricks – double jointed fingers, clover tongue – touching nose w/tongue, wrapping foot behind neck, raising one eyebrow….
There’s “learning the body parts,” and there’s this. Take yer pick.