WhatsApp in the classroom to foster oral skills

Would you like to help those students of yours who prefer to work on their own when they have to prepare a presentation and take things slowly so as to overcome the anxiety they feel when they work under the pressure of having to face an audience? This is one of the reasons why you should try using  WhatsApp in your classroom.

The activity I suggest can be used in English and in any content area taught through English.

Procedure:

- Assign each student a topic related to your classroom purposes ( Renewable energy sources, healthy life, your favourite Music, types of plants, types of rocks, helping to protect our planet, the best inventions for humankind, advantages of tourism, etc). Tell them they will have to prepare a short presentation on the topic.

- Hand out a task  to each of the students so that they know the questions they have to answer or the information they have to include in their presentation.  

- Tell students the deadline so that they prepare their presentation and send it to The  class WhatsApp  group. 

- Share the assessment criteria with them and explain what they mean so that they know what is important in order to get a good mark. You can use this one or another one you prefer for your classroom context.

- Recommend students to use on-line pronouncing dictionaries and text-to-speech tools to help them with vocabulary and pronunciation. 

- Once every student has sent his/her recording, listen to them and mark them according to the assessment tool you have chosen.

- Prepare a handout for students with a list of questions that they will be able to answer by listening to their peers' recordings.

- When students come to class after you have done the previous tasks, let them listen to all students' recordings and ask them to answer the questions in the handout you have prepared for them. You can collect the handouts  at the end of the session and give students some feedback on them. They will be helpful revision resources for students.

What are the advantages? 

- Students enjoy listening to others' recordings and being able to listen as many times as they need in order to carry out the task. 

- They learn in a cooperative way because they may need to clarify words they do not understand by asking their peers.

- They do not feel anxious because they do not have to speak in front of everyone.

All in all, it is not a perfect tool and it has its drawbacks, which have to do with the need of a good Internet connection.  Remember to ask the school for an external phone if you do not want to use your personal mobile phone with students. It is not very expensive and you will keep your intimacy.

Last but not least, this tool should not replace the usual procedure by which students present their work in front of the peers but it will help students who feel anxious in public to relax  and it will also create an atmosphere of concentration which is key to effective listening. 

International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women 25 November

In 1999 the United Nations General Assembly designated 25 November  as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, and invited governments, international organizations and NGOs to organize on that day activities designed to raise public awareness of the problem. 

Two years before, in 1997 "How come, how long" song was written, produced and performed by Babyface as a duet with American singer-songwriter Stevie Wonder, who also co-wrote the song. The lyrics deal with domestic violence and is inspired by  Nicole Brown Simpson's  case. The music video for this song, directed by F. Gary Gray, shows several people in the same building ignoring the shouts and screams and multiple fights between a married couple, ending with a twist, showing that the woman killed her abusive husband, ending with her being arrested. This video received a nomination for Best R&B Video at the 1997 MTV Video Music Awards. 

Unfortunately, twenty years later, one in three women and girls experience violence in their lifetime. It happens in every country and every society. It happens at home, in schools, on the streets, at work and  on the internet. 

What can teachers do? My proposal  to collaborate to stop the cycle of violence against girls and women is based on this beautiful song and the high-quality video story F. Gary Gray directed:

You will need to download the handout for your students  and the lyrics of the song.  

(The handout above includes a writing task which you may choose to collect from students for correction  after the classroom session is over)

The first step to ending violence is to break the silence. I hope this meaningful song will help all of us to take this first step. 

World Science day for peace and development in our classrooms

Celebrated every 10 November, World Science Day for Peace and Development highlights the important role of science in society and the need to engage the wider public in debates on emerging scientific issues. It also underlines the importance and relevance of science in our daily lives.The 2017 theme is “Science for Global Understanding”. Global Understanding is key to peace and sustainable development in that it promotes the commitment of individuals and local communities in sharing knowledge for actions and behavioral change. Science is thus central to global understanding as it not only helps understand the world but also it assists in designing, developing and implementing the change we aim for. 

UNESCO strongly encourages all to join them  in celebrating World Science Day for Peace and Development by scheduling something special for that date. 

My proposal for your  Secondary classrooms needs three sessions and is based on the following video:
 

Before starting viewing the video above, prepare a handout for students with the most difficult words which are key to understanding and check they know those words.

While watching the video, ask students to write down the name of each of the scientists who,  according to the author of this video, changed the world. They should also try to understand  the reason why he/she  was essential for mankind. (Students  can use this  simple table to take notes while they listen).

Let students watch  the video twice and after watching the video for a second time,  ask them to  share their notes in pairs for about 15 minutes. After that,  proceed to check their understanding  of the contents of the video by asking different pairs to tell you what they have written. 

In the second session, group students in threes /fours and ask them to think about a  STEM discovery/ theory that   exemplifies the important role of  Science in our society. Each group  will have to write a paragraph about their favourite discovery and the reasons for their choice. This language support document will help them to express their opinion, agree and disagree with their partner. You can prepare copies of it and hand them out to students before  they  start talking in pairs. They will need about 45 minutes for this second task. 

Help students with websites they can use to carry out this task:

https://www.factmonster.com/science/general-science/life-changing-science-discoveries

http://list25.com/25-biggest-scientific-discoveries-in-history-of-mankind/

https://science.howstuffworks.com/innovation/scientific-experiments/5-scientific-breakthroughs-we-couldnt-live-without.htm


The third session that wraps up this micro-unit on the importance of Science and its impact on society will be aimed at listening to the different groups. Allow students to read their paragraph aloud for other  students to listen  and, if you feel like it, after all groups have been heard,  you can ask  students to vote for the "most important" discovery/theory/development. 

I hope this simple proposal will raise awareness of the importance  of Science in and for society.