-Clase, gracias por aprender. (Class, thank you for learning.)
-Profe, gracias por enseñarnos. (Teacher, thank you for teaching us.)
I have the above posted only in Spanish next to the door of my classroom. At the end of each class, the students and I say repeat this as a good-bye. I like the good-bye because it brings closure to the class and teaches the students to respectfully exit a room. I have my students so well trained that if the bell rings and I haven't started the good-bye they will look at me, point to the sign with eyes wide open, waiting for me to begin the mantra. I have enjoyed the short exchange with one exception, the word aprender (to learn). Lately it has not felt right to me, but that is the word the students understand so I have used it. After all the students come to school to learn. But I fear that the meaning of the word may be somewhat distorted in the minds of my students. In my humble opinion, many students seem to think learning is memorizing and repeating that which has been memorized to perfection. Some of my students actually get worried that they do not have conjugation charts to fill out or lists of words to memorize. I do not think the word learn is bad, rather I think we as educators may need to redefine it because it impedes student progress.
-Profe, gracias por enseñarnos. (Teacher, thank you for teaching us.)
I have the above posted only in Spanish next to the door of my classroom. At the end of each class, the students and I say repeat this as a good-bye. I like the good-bye because it brings closure to the class and teaches the students to respectfully exit a room. I have my students so well trained that if the bell rings and I haven't started the good-bye they will look at me, point to the sign with eyes wide open, waiting for me to begin the mantra. I have enjoyed the short exchange with one exception, the word aprender (to learn). Lately it has not felt right to me, but that is the word the students understand so I have used it. After all the students come to school to learn. But I fear that the meaning of the word may be somewhat distorted in the minds of my students. In my humble opinion, many students seem to think learning is memorizing and repeating that which has been memorized to perfection. Some of my students actually get worried that they do not have conjugation charts to fill out or lists of words to memorize. I do not think the word learn is bad, rather I think we as educators may need to redefine it because it impedes student progress.
Free Voluntary Reading Blocked by "LEARNING"
Other than reading the hallways, I had stopped FVR for a while because I had been afraid that many of my students were not using the time to truly read. I may have started it too soon in the year with my level 1 class and thus made it a chore. It had lost its pleasure factor. I decided to restart my FVR program. I started by going to Bryce Hedstrom's website because he has great resources such as posters and research on starting an FVR program.
I began my class by having the students read one of Bryce's articles, Language Acquisition and Reading. We discussed why we do FVR, how to do FVR and saw that it was research based. We reviewed how to choose books and then began FVR. The majority of the students read for 30 minutes. At the end of FVR I had the students to fill out Bryce's Reading Reflection. Immediately one student in particular wanted to know if they would get a grade for this activity. I calmly said no. I explained that if they have read for pleasure, the research shows that they will have acquired language from the reading and it will show up in their writing and speaking later on. This was my fault. During the discussion of the article I kept saying learn or learning instead of acquire or gain. I really should have established a new definition of what they were trying to accomplish; reading for pleasure as opposed to reading for learning.
The students handed in their reflections and we discussed what they got out of the FVR time. Many were impressed that they could read the whole 30 minutes. One student read an encyclopedia in Spanish. She actually enjoyed it and reported that it kept her attention the entire time. One student was excited because by reading the book Felipe Alou by Carol Gaab, he discovered that Haiti does not speak Spanish but rather Creole. It made him feel good that he was acquiring new information through reading Spanish. Of course he did not use the word acquire rather he used learn.
Another student declared that she learned nothing from reading because that is not how she learns things. The class gasped. I smiled and thanked her for sharing. While the other students were returning their books I asked this student, who declared she did not learn anything from reading, if she had read for pleasure or if she had read to learn. She responded that she doesn't read for pleasure. She only reads when she has to for class but that it is not as effective for her in learning as when she just listens. She was being sincere and honest, she was not saying this in a disrespectful way. I realized that some of my students still equated reading as a task for learning and not as a pleasurable activity. We ended the class by repeating our good-bye: Clase, gracias por aprender. Profe, gracias por enseñarnos. The word aprender left me with a heavy feeling.
I began my class by having the students read one of Bryce's articles, Language Acquisition and Reading. We discussed why we do FVR, how to do FVR and saw that it was research based. We reviewed how to choose books and then began FVR. The majority of the students read for 30 minutes. At the end of FVR I had the students to fill out Bryce's Reading Reflection. Immediately one student in particular wanted to know if they would get a grade for this activity. I calmly said no. I explained that if they have read for pleasure, the research shows that they will have acquired language from the reading and it will show up in their writing and speaking later on. This was my fault. During the discussion of the article I kept saying learn or learning instead of acquire or gain. I really should have established a new definition of what they were trying to accomplish; reading for pleasure as opposed to reading for learning.
The students handed in their reflections and we discussed what they got out of the FVR time. Many were impressed that they could read the whole 30 minutes. One student read an encyclopedia in Spanish. She actually enjoyed it and reported that it kept her attention the entire time. One student was excited because by reading the book Felipe Alou by Carol Gaab, he discovered that Haiti does not speak Spanish but rather Creole. It made him feel good that he was acquiring new information through reading Spanish. Of course he did not use the word acquire rather he used learn.
Another student declared that she learned nothing from reading because that is not how she learns things. The class gasped. I smiled and thanked her for sharing. While the other students were returning their books I asked this student, who declared she did not learn anything from reading, if she had read for pleasure or if she had read to learn. She responded that she doesn't read for pleasure. She only reads when she has to for class but that it is not as effective for her in learning as when she just listens. She was being sincere and honest, she was not saying this in a disrespectful way. I realized that some of my students still equated reading as a task for learning and not as a pleasurable activity. We ended the class by repeating our good-bye: Clase, gracias por aprender. Profe, gracias por enseñarnos. The word aprender left me with a heavy feeling.
Planing for Pleasure reading
In thinking about my students and how some still do not know that they are capable of reading for pleasure, I have decided to focus on pleasure reading for the rest of the year. This week I have had the most success from Story Listening that I have had all year. I told two stories this week. They were not fantastic but they were compelling. I think I am getting better each time I tell a story. You can see some of my Story Listening attempts on my YouTube Channel. I keep rereading Dr. Beniko Mason's research on Story Listening and extensive reading and I see how powerful it is in creating readers for pleasure as opposed to readers for learning. Pleasure readers acquire information. Then they take that information that they have acquired and share it or create something new with it and then share their new idea. That is what happened when my student read about Felipe Alou. He acquired information about Haiti and he proudly shared it with the class. He wasn't directed to learn about Haiti. He will not forget what language is spoken in Haiti nor where it is located. He did not have to memorize any facts about the country. That is the power of pleasure reading.
I will continue to use the Invisibles, and One Word Images because it allows the students to create and be just a little silly. I think there is room for all good comprehensible and compelling input. This input helps build the students' confidence and comprehension of readings in the target language.
FVR will continue now on a daily basis with sharing every now and then. I would also like to hear how students are choosing their reading materials. I think students need to hear from their peers about what gets their attention and why. My last plan for FVR is to have some Free Voluntary Web-Surfing. I think this may be a nice change for some of my more reluctant readers and since I have a dedicated world language computer lab at my disposal, I am going to use it.
Lastly I am going to change the sign on my wall. Here is what it will say:
-Clase, gracias por adquirir, crear y compartir. (Clase, thank you for acquiring, creating and sharing.)
-Profe, gracias por enseñarnos. (Teacher, thank you for teaching us.)
I will continue to use the Invisibles, and One Word Images because it allows the students to create and be just a little silly. I think there is room for all good comprehensible and compelling input. This input helps build the students' confidence and comprehension of readings in the target language.
FVR will continue now on a daily basis with sharing every now and then. I would also like to hear how students are choosing their reading materials. I think students need to hear from their peers about what gets their attention and why. My last plan for FVR is to have some Free Voluntary Web-Surfing. I think this may be a nice change for some of my more reluctant readers and since I have a dedicated world language computer lab at my disposal, I am going to use it.
Lastly I am going to change the sign on my wall. Here is what it will say:
-Clase, gracias por adquirir, crear y compartir. (Clase, thank you for acquiring, creating and sharing.)
-Profe, gracias por enseñarnos. (Teacher, thank you for teaching us.)
