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Analysis of Teaching Sessions Cont.
(d) Group–work made easy
To overcome the problem of getting them
used to an unfamiliar way of working, and to do this without making the activity too difficult so that they enjoy the work and are encouraged by
their success, a simple plan was worked out. It was thought advisable to engage them in a familiar activity in groups. By doing this,
easy success was ensured. Eventhough they were not used to working in groups, they were familiar with what they were asked to do and hence
the problem was minimized. For example, they were familiar with answering comprehension questions and hence they were asked to do the same
activity working in groups. The only difference was instead of the teacher asking the questions learners had to ask questions among
themselves and find out the answers.
(e) Get the point
The reading passage also provided the exposure to the written form, which was necessary to make them understand the resources of the written
medium. This at a later stage helped them in choosing the most appropriate answers selecting the best from the choices available. It
thereby introduced the concept of appropriacy. Later they also learnt to take down notes from the reading passage. Comprehension of
reading passages helped them in a way to understand the letters given by the teacher or those received from their friends so that they could
write suitable replies.
(f) Read and then listen
Once the learners had learnt to take down notes from reading passages, they
were made to listen to dialogues based on the theme of the textbook lesson read by them (Appendix 7). Though it might be said that in
normal course of teaching listening should precede reading, here they were first made to take notes from a reading passage and then from a
dialogue listened to. In this way the learner was led gradually from a familiar activity to an unfamiliar one. They were familiar
with reading a passage and writing something, but they were not used to taking down notes from a dialogue read out. So keeping in mind the
familiarity of the learners with a particular activity, note-taking was first done with a reading passage and then with a listening passage.
(g) Come to the blackboard
To familiarize the learners with procedures like asking questions, collecting information and recording them to be organized and presented, a lot
of writing was done along with the learners on the blackboard. In the conventional way of teaching, the teacher gave a set of questions,
which were in a particular order. The answers were orally practiced and written down in the same order to match the questions given by the
teacher. Here according to the new way of teaching, they had to offer their own ideas to be recorded, organized and presented for others to
read, edit and revise. This procedure had to be demonstrated by writing on the blackboard with their help. Merely giving them
instructions in English or in their mother-tongue was not adequate to make them understand what they were expected to do.
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