HEROES Teacher's Guide - Book - Page 15
13. Cooperative Learning
Using a language is a social activity. When learning a new language, situations must be
created so that pupils have as many opportunities to interact with each other in order to
make sense of and create meaning in the new language. Engaging in cooperative learning
puts the responsibility for learning on the pupils and fosters important social skills such as
willingness to listen and help each other.
Heroes provides a multitude of such opportunities through the games that can be played in
pairs or in teams and through the activities in the Course Book. Teachers should let pupils
work in pairs when doing the activities so that they can learn from each other and help each
other solve any problems they might encounter when completing the tasks. Even if they
speak in L1 when completing the task, the ultimate response to the activity will be in the
English language. The materials also provide opportunities for the pupils to present original
work to the class, at the same time giving others a chance to manage a discourse with the
presenter by asking relevant questions.
Group activities can also be done by adapting the games into group competitions. Different
organizing devices for grouping pupils can be used in order to make sure that there is a
mixed ability population in each group. One good technique is to use colored chips and hand
them out to the pupils, then have them sit in groups according to their chip color.
14. Language Environment
Teachers are encouraged to create a language-rich learning environment in the aural/oral
stage (Guidelines 2019). Surrounding pupils with language-related materials motivates the
learning process and visually exposes them to the language throughout the lesson. Thus,
four vibrant classroom posters are provided as part of the Heroes program. Teachers should
utilize them during the lessons in order to review vocabulary and lexical chunks or invoke
discussions inspired by the images. Along with the posters, teachers are advised to hang
pupils’ work on the wall of the classroom or bulletin board in order to praise and celebrate
the progress they are making.
15. Use of First Language
As exposure to natural use of English is important, lessons are conducted in English. In order
to create a positive atmosphere and comfortable learning environment, the pupils’ first
language (L1) can be used to ensure comprehension (Laufer, Meara, and Nation 2015),
reinforce important teaching points, and reduce anxiety. In addition, L1 is useful for creating
discussions around concepts and ideas emerging from the stories and encouraging pupils to
share their personal experiences. Furthermore, instructions can be repeated in L1 to help
pupils know what is being asked of them. As pupils become more competent in the language
the need for L1 will diminish.
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