Teaching Basic Skills through different types of activities and games

ERASMUS+ KA 229
Nr. 2018-1-BG01-KA229-047892

Book editors:
Oksana Nečajeva
Nadezhda Mincheva

Co-authors:
Oksana Nečajeva
Nadezhda Mincheva
Mustafa Balci
Francesca Bergamaschi
Maja Jerman
Annette Weber

Photographs/paintings: Oksana Nečajeva, Nadezhda Mincheva, Mustafa Balci,Francesca Bergamaschi, Maja Jerman, Annette Weber

Funded by: * The “ACQUISITION OF BASIC COMPETENCES – АВС” has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for the information contained in this publication.
All rights reserved
License: CC BY NC

CONTENTS

Preface........................................................................................4

1. Teaching Basic Skills through Drama and Creativity Activities ....................................................................................6

2. Teaching Basic Skills through Collaborative - Cooperative Learning, Music and Buddy Activities...................................................................................22

3. Teaching Basic Skills through Art, Digital Art and Videography .............................................................................35

4. Teaching Basic Skills through Technology and Digital Games........................................................................................49

5. Teaching Basic Skills through Traditional, Board and Contemporary Games........................................................................................64

6. Teaching Basic Skills through Action Indoors and Outdoor ....................................................................................82

SUMMARY

“In order to learn, one must want something, notice something, do something. Without the first, the other three cannot follow”
Spithill

It is widely agreed that motivation has a great effect on students’ capacity to learn. Motivation can be broken down into extrinsic and intrinsic forms. Intrinsic motivation comes from within the learner, who wants to learn for the sake of learning.

Folk wisdom says that “unmotivated students just won’t learn”, that “you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink”. This proverb comes to mind when we see how different various pupils’ attitudes are to learning. For one pupil, learning is personally significant; he is motivated to learning through self-actualization, high achievement motivation, goal orientation, avoidance of failure. For another pupil, learning is a heavy burden which he has to carry and he does not hide boredom, yawning and just waiting for the end of the class. Every teacher faces such situations and in truth is often inclined to blame a pupil for misbehaviour or his inability to learn. But this situation can be understood differently by a teacher who can think critically. It is mostly a sign which reveals if the teaching methods and approaches are effective and relevant to pupils’ needs.

Consequently, extrinsic and intrinsic forms are closely related to each other. Motivated pupil is one who wants to learn, first of all, and who is always interested in learning with the help of the teacher and parents. It is important to provide lessons which keep pupils interested. If the pupils are not interested in the material, it is probable that both pupils and the teacher will end up bored and frustrated. The teacher should show that she/he is interested in the pupils’ opinions and is prepared to adapt her lessons after listening to these opinions. This can have a very positive effect on the atmosphere in the classroom and outside it.

I hear and I forget,
I listen and I remember,
I do and I understand.
(Chinese proverb)

It is truth, that pupils learn any subjects better than they do or experience something themselves. To prove it, the following example can be given: if a learner asked a teacher ‘What is a blind person?’ the teacher might simply reply, ‘A blind person cannot see’, and this would probably satisfy the learner intellectually. But if the teacher replied, ‘Shut your eyes and try to find your pen on the desk in front of you’, she/he would be involving a pupil in the actual experience of being blind. This would satisfy the pupil not only intellectually, but emotionally as well, and possibly inspire in him/her feeling of empathy with all blind people. The pupil would be more likely to remember the meaning of the word as a result of this moment of direct experience.