Placing Value on the Words of Others

2020.1.17 [Language Center Blog] 教職員  担当: Sinéad O’ Connor

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 The school year is coming to close here at FGS. We are now working to help our students finish their course work and prepare for their classes next year. In our 10th grade classes we have spent the year working on discussion surrounding topics like childhood, immigration, discrimination and LGBTQ issues. The students have done a wonderful job of accessing the texts we use in class and of digging deeper into these issues. Given that they are trying to discuss these topics in their second language we need to be sure to allow them the time and space to explore both the topic and ways to express their ideas.

 In class recently we used some yarn and had the students pass it to each other to track their lines of communication. This worked as a good reminder for them to be more active not only in speaking out but also in including quieter students. It also worked as a way to show them who they haven’t spoken directly to and therefore whose ideas they have not fully interacted with. By the end of the lesson I feel my students were more aware of their tendencies to shy away from speaking out or their tendency towards accepting what others say without following up or learning more about it and can now work on a course correction.

今年の高1オーラル・コミュニケーションの授業では生徒たちは難しい話題について話し合いました。彼女たちは毎週宿題として与えられる記事を読んできて、そのテーマにしたがって授業では英語だけを使ってグループディスカッションを行います。生徒たちは問題に一生懸命に取り組みます。
 授業では最近、相手の意見をもっと批判的に考えるためにお互いのコミュニケーションを可視化することにしました。赤い糸を生徒たちに渡し、生徒間でディスカッションが行われる度に赤い糸が張られます。こうすることで発言者の偏りや、聞き手に回ってしまう傾向などが見え、各自がディスカッションにうまく参加するための改善ができるようになったと感じています。

写真:高1「オーラル・コミュニケーション」授業の様子