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

Teaching Basic Skills through different types of activities and games

Detska gradina Svetulka

Yusuf Savas Ilkokulu

OS Vransko-Tabor Vransko 23 3305 Vransko

Kedainiu „Ryto” progimnazija

ICLODITERZO

Comenius-Schule Städt. Gem. Hauptschule Dohler Straße

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.

Teaching Basic Skills through Drama and Creativity Activities

Nadezhda Mincheva
Headmistress of Svetulka kindergarten,
Shumen, Bulgaria

Educational drama is a syncretic model in education that uses the possibilities of art techniques to master knowledge, skills and attitudes. The most distinctive aspect of this pedagogical technology is that it is a holistic process in which the child / student participates and it is a field for the development of potential, creativity, reflection and initiative. The drama-story is a causal sequence and a conflict, a dilemma. In order to perceive the picture of the world, it is necessary to consider the objects, processes and phenomena as existing in time and space. Playing an etude or a play itself requires a stage (space) and development through beginning, development, culmination, denouement and end (time). The whole process resembles the stages of the game. Therefore, the educational drama is close to the child and is successfully applied in kindergarten and school.
Pedagogical interaction is a process that is:
- aimed at achieving a certain expected result,
- related to the overall development of the child / student,
- in which the main participants are the teacher and the child / student (students).
The educational process in kindergarten and school is aimed at the overall development of the child's personality and the acquisition of competencies that are seen as knowledge, skills and attitudes necessary for the successful transition of adolescents to the next stage of their lives.

The ultimate goal of any modern educational system is the mastery of basic competencies by children and students. In general, competence is defined as a skill based on knowledge. Dynamic changes worldwide are also changing the focus on some competencies, despite their interconnectedness. For example, in a period of pandemic, digital, language competence, entrepreneurship, civic competence came to the fore due to the way of communication and learning.
The educational drama directly corresponds to the basic competencies. According to the stages of the educational drama, a different set of competencies is mastered. In the stage of "preparation and acting of an etude or play" the child / student uses his / her linguistic and communicative competence, personal competence, cultural awareness. In the stages of "self-reflection", "analysis and evaluation", learning skills and civic competences are clearly outlined. Viewed through the prism of the teaching material, each educational field uses a combination of competencies presented through different techniques and types of theater. For example, mathematical competences and competences in the field of natural sciences can be successfully mastered in kindergarten and primary school through the theater of shadows, pantomime. Language competence is developed through drama, musical theater, theater of imagination, myths and legends. Constructive-technical, pictorial and digital skills are acquired through specific scenography techniques.
The most valuable thing in the use of educational drama is that in the whole process the children / students acquire skills for teamwork, creativity, research, problem solving. All so-called "soft", transferable skills are involved in the child's personal development.