 |
| Ms. Mithila Dalvi, Educational Consultant |
Date / Time – 9th April, 2018 between 8.00 a.m. and 1.00 p.m.
 |
Attendees – Teachers from English Secondary,
English Primary and Balodyan |
Ms. Dalvi
literally burst into Bhai Surve hall with an enthusiastic ‘Good morning’ at ten
to eight and started setting up her laptop and ppt., telling us all the time to
give her five minutes. Everyone relaxed. This was the first lesson: Give
students time to chat, to relax and settle down. Ms. Dalvi was introduced by
Ms. Honkote.
At the outset, Ms. Dalvi checked the retention and recall
capacity of the teachers and made them realise what aspects are easier to
remember. She told them to vary their tone of speech in a way that all become
attentive and can decipher what is read or told. Avoid long, complicated
sentences, she said.
“Boys need several hours of free play to
release their testosterone, their excess energy so please do not take away P.T.
periods to teach other subjects,” Ms. Dalvi pleaded, “The more they play, the
more they can concentrate on studies.” Madam went into the details of the topic
for the day.
Depending on
the way we comprehend data, we have 3 learning styles - Auditory, Visual and
Kinesthetic. In order to make learning more effective it is important that
teachers learn to identify the different learning styles. A questionnaire was
given to all the participants to help them identify their own learning style. A
simple game was also played so as to identify behaviour of individuals
belonging to different styles. With the help of an audio clip, a shadow play
and several slides madam sensitized the teachers towards the different learning
styles.
Auditory – These people talk a lot, they
prefer listening to instructions, have good vocabulary, like songs, music and
meeting people. The present teaching style is largely auditory but only 30% of
people are auditory. Thus teaching-learning is not effective enough and doesn’t
cater to all the students. To increase auditory skills, one needs to move
around with friends and relatives, participate in group or creative activities.
Visual - These individuals are very comfortable with
forms, instruction manuals and written matter. They need to see to understand.
Their imagination is good. They can be very disciplined, precise and organised.
They don’t like a barrage of words, in fact they are not very friendly and
prefer to be aloof. Being introverts, they love to work alone and have issues
with social skills. They form pictures in their mind so they need more visual
inputs in order to comprehend. Teachers need to provide a plethora of visual
experiences to students as 65% of individuals are visually inclined. Use flash
cards, charts and other visual aids to facilitate learning. Visual people can
control their emotions. They think a lot so they are good at mental work, thus
games such as chess, carrom and cricket wherein you need to plan strategies are
preferred. Encourage students to put together a jigsaw puzzle, to build with
blocks and to study maps.
Kinesthetic – These children rely on touch and
even sometimes smell. They need action and movement thus they move around a
lot. Physical activities, constant change in situations and variety appeal to
them. Their facial expressions change easily so they are fond of acting, dancing,
singing, fancy dress and role play. Adventure stories appeal to them. A magic
kit would do wonders. Kinesthetic people find it difficult to focus for long,
to construct sentences and to find appropriate words. They get distracted
easily and become aggressive quickly. They dare to dive into situations without
thinking too much therefore they can be the best firefighters or commandos. They
love animals. 5% of individuals are kinesthetic. Educators need to play games,
introduce skipping, juggling, swimming, skating, playing drums, tabla, dhol or
similar activities as they would be exciting.
Why do educators need to know learning styles?
-
To
increase learning capacity
-
To
overcome hurdles in class
-
To
expand horizons of comprehension
-
To
increase self confidence and belief in students
-
To
teach in a way that suits maximum students
-
To
improve the approach to examinations
-
To
change yourself consciously and meet the greater goal
-
To
improve communication
-
To
become more accommodative
Points to remember
Never label children
Understand emotional intelligence
Bring in variation
There is fun in mental activities
Kinesthetic children need more
acceptance
Learning styles can consciously be
changed
Don’t pounce on children, Give them
time
Ms. Dalvi’s effectiveness lay in her deep
knowledge about the topic, her style of speaking, her delivery, her expressions
and the citing of real life examples from drawn from a wealth of experience.
The teachers were very impressed. Hope it has a lasting impact on all.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 10th April 2018 Timing: 8.00 a.m- 1.00 p.m
The
2nd day of the workshop started at 8.00 a.m. Ms. S.S. Tharval (
Headmistress English Secondary Section ) welcomed the guest. Madam Mithila
Dalvi introduced the topic ‘English’and also spoke about the fun-loving English
language games which can enhance the knowledge of the subject and also help to improve the vocabulary and
grammar too. To begin with the session the teachers were divided into 9 teachers
per group. Total 5 groups were formed. The teachers group were rated according to the speed , performance
and participation in the game. All the games played were group activities. 
What are language games?
Language games are designed to make the teaching-learning
process easier. It can be the best tool for the teacher. Teaching-learning
process can be done in a relaxed atmosphere. The teachers’ dynamic teaching
method can help her create an overwhelming response in the class. Thus, the
English language teachers can value games to sustain fluency of the subject.
Ms.Mithila Dalvi introduced the following
games to the teachers:
1. Antakshari of living things
2. Write the names of living things.
3. Prepare words from the given word taking first two or last two
letters of the given word.
4. Prepare
words using group of alphabets in the same order.
5. Grow on a word.
6. Dictionary of alphabets.
7. Memory Chain
8. Prepare a new word after changing one
letter at a time.
9. Make sentences
using the pair of words given.
10.
Prepare a short story from the given theme.
Importance/ Outcome of English
language games:
- Students can interact and communicate well.
- Learning language games can help the child use his auditory, visual and kinesthetic skills.
- It caters to the needs of the present generation.
- It helps to improve the acquisition of language.
- It helps the child to build his self-esteem and self-confidence.
- It helps the teacher to have novelty in her teaching style.
- The fear factor of learning the subject can be removed.
- It helps the child involve in any creative and collective class activity.
- There can be variations in teaching methods and teaching style.
- It helps to increase the learning capacity of the child.
- It makes the classroom atmosphere lively.
- It helps to increase to concentration level of the child because the more the child plays the more he can concentrate.
- It helps the child to be more accommodative to each other.
- It helps to increase to physical movement of the child.
- A better language practice and revision can be given by the teacher.
- It helps to reduce the stress and anxiety of the students.
- It helps the child to speak the language fluently due to continuous practice and regular usage of it.
- It helps the shy and introvert students of the class to be more expressive.
- It helps to add a welcome diversion from the normal activities of the class.
