Friday, August 6, 2021

Ensinar NÃO IMPLICA aprender!!!

Vez por outra, nos idos dos meus mais de vinte anos de sala de aula, me deparo com esse pensamento; sementinha plantada lá na época do Cambridge CELTA.

A pandemia impôs a alunos e professores, dentre vários, um modelo educacional que os governantes estão chamando de “híbrido”, eu prefiro chamar de síncrono – ensino híbrido é algo muito mais complexo. Pois bem, neste modelo, temos alguns alunos em ambiente escolar e alguns participando de forma remota. O professor fica na sala física e deve atender às demandas tanto de quem está presencial quanto de quem está on-line. Parece um programa de auditório com participação dos telespectadores ao vivo.

São muitas variáveis para equilibrar: microfone, olho no chat, olho na câmera, monitorar os alunos do presencial, não esquecer de envolver os do virtual. Não é fácil. Nem para o professor, nem para ambos os alunos, do presencial e do remoto. Mas não é impossível.

Incomoda-me bastante aquele professor que se esconde atrás da justificativa de que o “modelo híbrido (sic) não funciona, pois não consigo controlar o que os meus alunos estão fazendo” e que justifica a sua não habilidade em montar uma aula que atinja os objetivos conforme sua clientela, responsabilizando um meio de comunicação. Abordagens, métodos, técnicas e recursos existem para serem aplicados aos vários cenários, conforme demanda e contexto. Não existe esse negócio de “one size fits all”.

Planejar uma aula requer, além de conhecimento sobre o objetivo de aprendizagem, conhecimento sobre os alunos. Saber quem são, o que querem, porque estão ali, como aprendem e quais meios existem para ajudar a incluí-los no processo são condição sine qua non de um bom planejamento e, por consequência, de uma boa entrega de aula.

O professor que quer gerar aprendizado planeja. Mil turmas que sejam, com o mesmo conteúdo, serão mil planos de aula diferentes. Justamente porque ensinar não implica aprender, pois cada aluno é único em seu processo. Sendo assim, cabe ao professor conhecer as possibilidades, desde os estilos de aprendizado individuais até as variações de interação, e oferecer aos alunos as ferramentas necessárias para alcançar os objetivos de aprendizagem sinalizados naquela aula.

Objetivos de aprendizagem por si só não vão fazer os alunos aprenderem. Na verdade, o que vejo muito nas aulas, ultimamente, são objetivos de “ensinagem”. O professor lista vários itens que gostaria de ensinar, acreditando que uma palestra genérica vai permitir que seu dever seja cumprido.

Não ensinamos conteúdos, ensinamos a alunos. Por isso, conhecer a audiência é mais importante do que saber manejar o meio de interação. Por isso, não cabe ao professor julgar as condições de participação dos alunos e, sim, encontrar maneiras de envolvê-los conforme seus contextos. Por isso, fazemos mil planos, trocamos de técnicas, buscamos novidades e estamos em constante atualização.

Ensinar não implica aprender. Envolver os alunos e despertar neles o interesse, sim. Em tempos de pandemia, então, planejar uma aula pode ser visto como um ato de empatia aos alunos, acolhendo-os em seus diversos contextos.

Prix. =)

Tuesday, May 10, 2016

Leitura de rótulos ou reconhecimento de marcas: quando a avaliação é mais quantitativa do que qualitativa.


Antes de tudo, uma breve contextualização.

Ian, 3 anos e meio, estudante da educação infantil. Quando não está na escola, está espalhado pelo chão de casa montando castelos, se aventurando com super-heróis, jogando bola ou andando de bicicleta. Adora livros e, agora, aprendendo o alfabeto, sai por aí soletrando tudo o que vê. Se opta por televisão, vai atrás de seus desenhos favoritos que são Patrulha Canina e a Casa do Mickey Mouse – ambos encontrados no Netflix. Por essa razão, Ian, praticamente, não assiste canais de TV por assinatura ou aberta.

Contexto exposto, vamos lá...

Na semana passada recebi o tão esperado “boletim bimestral” do rapaz, com um senhor pente fino sobre seu desenvolvimento ao longo do referido período no Infantil III. Num breve encontro com a professora regente, passei os olhos rapidamente pelos temas que englobavam formação pessoal, social, emocional, psicomotricidade, autonomia, etc. Tudo indo até muito bem e em concordância com o que já era esperado para o Ian que conhecemos. Eis que na seção “Linguagem”, dou de cara com o seguinte item “Realiza Leitura de Rótulos” e o conceito me deixa curiosa: “ED” (em desenvolvimento).

Para tudo!!!

Ian tem três anos. Isso. TRÊS. Como é que já é esperado que ele faça a LEITURA de qualquer coisa? Que ele soletre, reconheça as vogais e consoantes, que até identifique seu próprio nome e os dos colegas na ficha atrás das cadeirinhas, tudo bem. Mas... LER??? De fato??? Não fazia o menor sentido.

Fui conversar com a “Tia” que não me deu lá uma justificativa plausível do que viria a ser a tal “leitura de rótulos”, mas que fez questão de me informar que Ian sabia, sim, o que era um creme dental. (Oi?!)

Não satisfeita com a tentativa de elucidação, fui ter com a coordenadora que me explicou que “leitura de rótulos” (que eu achava que era um gênero textual, diga-se de passagem) nada mais era do que a habilidade em reconhecer aquele conjunto visual de uma marca – as letras, as cores, o formato.

Hum... Até aí, tudo bem. É experiência de mundo, exposição, variação, exploração das possibilidades. Isso é importante para as crianças. Daí, ela me deu uma série de exemplos, para explicar como o processo acontecia em classe:

- a professora mostra um rótulo de Nescau e as crianças devem reconhecer que aquela imagem, com aquele conjunto de letras e aquelas cores, representa aquele achocolatado específico;

- a professora apresenta o rótulo de um creme dental e trabalha as letras e sons daquela palavra e fala sobre o produto;

E por aí vai... Ela ficou lá me listando exemplos e eu pensando com os meus botões: onde estava o “ED”?

Foi aí que dois exemplos me deixaram invocada:

Exemplo 01: A fralda descartável!!!
- a professora mostra o rótulo de Pampers e logo eles reconhecem que é Pampers, que é de fralda descartável. Afinal, as crianças nessa idade assistem muita televisão e sabem distinguir Pampers de Turma da Mônica facilmente.

Exemplo 02: O creme dental... (De novo!)
- a professora mostra vários rótulos e as crianças têm de identificar se aquela pasta é Kolynos, Colgate ou Even. Elas não têm de ler, LER. Elas têm de reconhecer o rótulo pelo conjunto completo.

Fui pra casa pensando nesses dois exemplos e em quão injusta a avaliação das crianças da turma havia sido.

Recapitulando, Ian praticamente não assiste propagandas, pois o Netflix supre as pouquíssimas horas que ele passa em frente à telinha, portanto, estará sempre aquém no que se refere a marcas em propagandas de TV.

E, sobre o creme dental?

Citando o Referencial Curricular Nacional para a Educação Infantil, do MEC, “no que se refere à avaliação formativa, deve-se ter em conta que não se trata de avaliar a criança, mas sim as situações de aprendizagem que foram oferecidas. Isso significa dizer que a expectativa em relação à aprendizagem da criança deve estar sempre vinculada às oportunidades e experiências que foram oferecidas a ela. Assim, pode-se esperar, por exemplo, que a criança identifique seus colegas pelo nome apenas se foi dado a ela oportunidade para que pudesse conhecer o nome de todos e pudesse perceber que isso, além de ser algo importante e valorizado, tem uma função real.
(http://portal.mec.gov.br/seb/arquivos/pdf/volume2.pdf: acesso em 09/05/16)

Se aqui em casa, ele usa Tandy e os adultos utilizam Colgate, como será possível reconhecer Even e Kolynos se estas não oferecem função real em sua vida (tal qual expõe o referencial), além do que fora exposto num cartaz na sala de aula?

Dessa forma, um adulto que não conhece Crest!, por exemplo, seria reprovado, então?

(Ah! Te peguei, né?! Rsrsrsrs!)

Prix. =)


Tuesday, October 25, 2011

What does YOUR wall look like? - A blog challenge

The clock has been ticking much faster lately, hasn't it?

It was just a few minutes ago that I made a comment on a friend's photo on Facebook which I found really interesting and intriguing! Do people really add up Post-it notes and reminders to their walls? Wow! Suddenly, I was not alone!

(@lu_bodeman’s FB page)

And that’s how we decided to kick off the challenge!

This is my wall:



I know… I know… A bit too pink, right? I painted it myself – with a little help from hubby! On the first weekend after we had moved into the new house! This was about a year ago…

In Lu’s challenge she mentions that one’s wall can reveal quite a lot about its owner. Let's see… 

On my wall you will find lots of lists. I am a ‘to-do list’ type of person!

On the top left you will see that I have a list for whatever it is that I lend – from a magazine with a delicious recipe a friend once needed to a microphone for a student to record a ‘voicethread’ assignment. There are also lists for future meetings, post I’d like to write about, grading scales, TTC dates and topics, extra hours I have used at work… Lists!

I am also very positive about things, so I like to stick positive messages or any piece which will cheer me up whenever I’m in need. For now, I have two beautiful pieces: one is a letter a great friend and teacher wrote saying good-bye when going abroad on a huge adventure last year; and the other is a lovely poem a CELTA trainee wrote which is really touchy and sweet!

I like to set goals. On the top of the wall there is an old piece of paper, which I wrote about 5 years ago, with my main goals for the next years. This has helped me to achieve my objectives and not strand too far that I can get lost in the way. Every time I tick one of the items, it’s a party!

Do you think it’s over? Nope! There are some mini-notes which are related to the new words and expressions I come across so that I am always learning something new.

Oh! Yeah! And the 'orange' in the center? Positive words, written by workmates, trainees and tutors!

This is it… For today. As I said, the clock's been ticking much faster... Tomorrow, I’ll have another set of goals, notes, ideas…


What does YOUR wall tell us about you?


Prix. =)

Monday, October 17, 2011

Tutors...


October 5 was International Teacher's Day. Last Saturday, in my country, was Teacher's Day. We also had Children's Day three days before, so I was still in the mood for Children's Week and ended up letting Teacher's Day become just a day off. To make up for this, I have decided to post a little something about these great people who have made me grow and become the teacher I am now. The people who have inspired and guided me and whom I turn to whenever I feel I need some kind supporting words. Or just a wake up call... My tutors!


Prix. =)
----


'Teaching does not cause learning', that's what one of my first tutors used to say. If it was she who coined this motto or if she had borrowed it from someone else, I don't know and won't bother doing any research for now. What I do know is that by guiding me through so that I could make sense of this sentence was the turning point of my career. After those training sessions I was never the same inexperienced, rather naive, trainee anymore. I wouldn't just enroll a training course expecting what my tutors would give me, but how they would guide me so that I could give them my very best. This is another saying I borrowed from another great tutor: 'always guide, never give'. What I find most interesting is that all these great people I have come across come from many different backgrounds and cultures, even from abroad and they share the same passion and have the same sensitivity to their trainees' silliest questions. 'There's no such thing as a stupid question' said another inspiring tutor.

These people have always been there for me somehow. It doesn’t really matter if it was ages ago that I had my first session with that tutor I mentioned in the begining of this piece, or if it was just last week that I attended a webinar with my last tutor – they are always there to help me and guide me a little more. It’s never-ending!

Now, I'm on the other side playing the part these people I've always looked up to have played. Will I ever achieve their level of excellence?

One thing I know... Causing learning or not, the way you have scaffolded my learning has definitely taught me great lessons!

For having guided me through so that I could walk on my own (and allow me to get back to you whenever I get stuck) I thank you!

Happy teacher’s week!

Monday, September 19, 2011

'Affective' or 'Effective' teaching: which shoes should we wear?


#ELTchat summary for the evening session on September 14, 2011.

The writing of this summary came as a strong response to my previous post. YES! Collaboration DOES happen in the ELT world. I am just so glad to have been given the opportunity to co-write this summary with lovely Ceri Jones!

Thanks for accepting my suggestion... I've learned a lot!

Prix. =)
----



#ELTChat Summary: 
'Affective' or 'Effective' teaching: which shoes should we wear?




INTRODUCTION

A note on the summary:  this is a two-headed summary, a collaboration between someone who was there (@cerirhiannon), and someone couldn't be, but who followed the chat on the transcript (@teacher_prix). We wrote it together on typewithme.com, both synchronously and asynchronously, across a 5 hour time zone. 

Ceri's introduction 

Last Wednesday's 9pm chat was a discussion of affective and effective teaching, and the relationship between the two. We touched on a whole range of issues and questions, including whether the two can actually be separated one from the other- The chat kicked off with a definition of terms, which had initially confused some chatters, and a re-casting of the opening question and moved on to discuss first affective teaching and then the relationship between affective teaching and effective learning. Towards the end quite a few big questions were raised which we didn't really have the time or space to tackle, but which could well be put forward for other chats in the future. 

Priscilla's introduction

In a humanist classroom for teaching to be taken as 'effective' the affective variable should be taken into account. As most humanistic approaches claim the learners' feelings and reactions regarding the learning process are of crucial importance to the success (or failure) of the learning. The more we get involved with our students the closer we get to this humanistic way of teaching. What is the impact of this closer contact with our students in our teaching? How far should we get involved? Should we ever get involved?



The chat started with a definition of terms. Quite a few chatters seemed a little confused by the question: 

@sandymillin My first questions is: what exactly are 'effective' and 'affective' teaching? Not really sure I know what they are! #eltchat

SOME SUGGESTED DEFINITIONS

A number of answers were offered as the chatters moved towards a working definition.    

@Marisa_C Effective = it works Affective= appealing to the emotions?
@perkypawn: isn't 'affective' ..   what impact we have on a students life  and "effective" simply   doing a job efficiently ? 
    
The emphasis moved away from effective to affective: 

@pacogascon dont think the point's highlighting ss affective   needs when teaching,jst being aware of em & predicting hw they cn affect   t process #eltchat

@hartle RT @Marisa_C: An encouraging teacher sees mistakes   as learning opportunities #ELTchat

@mscro1 RT @pacogascon: affective teaching: being aware of   ss differences, shy, naughty, bold, talkative and trying to   balance/compensate for deficiencies #eltchat

And then the chat focused back on the original question: 

@Marisa_C: 'Affective' or 'Effective teaching': which shoes should we wear? 

There was a general consensus that there really isn't a conflict here. Throughout the course of the chat, chatters reiterated that it was not a matter of choosing one or the other way of teaching, but that both should combine to achieve positive goals. 
       
@esolcourses RT @Marisa_C: RT @cerirhiannon:  I   don't really see a dichotomy...

@mscro1 I think we all combine effective with affective teaching

@SueAnnan surely they are both needed and not a question of either or?

@Timek: Isn't this a false opposition? If positive affect enhances learning, then it's a factor in effective teaching

@Raquel_EFL: I personally believe there isn't a dichotomy...

@Marisa_C Indeed is it possible to be an effective teacher without connecting to one's learners at the affective level as well?

@pacogascon: kind of bringing together teaching, counselling and group dynamics #eltchat


Having agreed on this basic premise, it was time to redefine the question. Sandy Millin was the first to take the chat in a new direction: 

AFFECTIVE TEACHING & LEARNING

@sandymillin How would you define a learner's affective needs? 

A question which received the following responses: 

@cerirhiannon  how about to feel comfortable and not threatened / daunted?

@sandymillin Need for love, praise, belonging,   positive self esteem, encouragement, security, acceptance.... I could go on

@cerirhiannon to feel confident that their contributions will be   valued and their questions listened to

@SueAnnan to feel safe in the environment and able to make mistakes #ELTchat > @Marisa_C feeling safe v important

Sandy then led the chat on to another tack, asking the chatters to think about:

@sandymillin ... how you ensure that you can creative an atmpsohere which takes care of your learners' affective needs

Various suggestions were offered: 

@sandymillin for YLs creating an atmosphere to cater   for their aff needs would involve: praising production of lang

@janebarden affective teaching for me is ALWAYS asking the question before nominating a student to answer. This stops sts feeling so nervous

@sandymillin create a positive atmosphere in class by giving all SS time to speak/listen & try not to let SS dominate

@hartle important to make each std feel their contribution is valued and wht they say is important

@naomishema maybe the Q actually refers to the Ts having to be careful not to let emotions take over, like when there's a S she doesn't like?

@mscro1 have to be careful with Ss domination I agree @sandymillin

@hartle #eltchat feedback activities that really foster discussion and exchange rather than simply display questions help too

EFFECTIVE TEACHING & LEARNING 

The conversation then shifted to discuss effective teaching and learning.     
    
@sandymillin what can you do to help learners work together to become more effective learners? #eltchat

This last question derived a new round of definitions and discussion, with chatters listing some of the key factors in effective teaching and learning:

@Raquel_EFL What makes an effective learner and what makes an effective teacher? Just a case of Motivation?

@sandymillin An effective learner has one or more goals for their learning> @cerirhiannon realistic, achievable goals

@sandymillin Motivation key for both. Without it you get nowhere

@Marisa_C An effective learner=a good language learner - is not inhibited or shy (which means s/he feels safe in class)

@mscro1 So teachers need to be also very motivating in the class, I use a lot of demonstration to engage Ss in their work

@SueAnnan yes enthusiasm very infectious

@cerirhiannon I think patience and knowing when to take a back seat imp [for the teacher] too

@mscro1 I had one [an effective learner] during holidays, she kept asking me for more ideas to work on her glogsters- was very enthusiastic

@SueAnnan I think preparation is key [for teachers]  #ELTchat

@sandymillin First part of effective teaching is knowing what makes an effective learner ;-)

@Timek  yes, but an effective   learner can learn even with an ineffective teacher.

@SueAnnan So if they've been taught how to be effective learners, they can cope when better when they get ineffective teachers!


Once more, as in many previous chats, chatters agreed that motivation was one of the main keys to both affective and effective learning. The links and suggestions at the bottom of the page include some useful  ideas for fostering motivation in the classroom:

SUMMING UP

At the end, the chat came round in a full circle in this final exchange between Raquel (@Raquel_EFL), the proposer of the topic, and Marisa (@Marisa_C), our moderator.
       
@Raquel_EFL I like wearing one shoe from each pair (Affective Teaching-Learning X Effective Teaching-Learning)..

and Marisa's parting tweet closed the chat on a very positive note. 

@Marisa_C @Raquel_EFL Hope ur shoes shine bright in the affective glow of your classes :-) 
    

[A final apology to everyone who took part: the chat was a little bit difficult to follow at times, both on twitter and on the transcripts, please let us know if we left anything out.]


LINKS, SUGGESTIONS AND FURTHER READING

@Timek A is for Affect - Tips for YLs: http://t.co/GoD927Ab
@Marisa_C Can I suggest a great book for improving Classroom Dynamics by Jill Hadfield? I love this book #ELTchat

@Marisa_C Here is a great article by Rebecca Oxford #eltchat http://t.co/I6odypQb

@Timek Lessons from Good Language Learners by C   Griffiths is a gr8book on effective Learner Strategies:http://t.co/RWUavaM2 #eltchat

@Marisa_C Here are pages from the original book on Good   Language Learners by Naimn  & Frolich http://t.co/kNHbsrtI #ELTchat

@Timek @Marisa_C yes, Rebecca Oxford has written good stuff on area of Learner Strategies also - http://t.co/cIeGx3qZ #eltchat

@sandymillin RT @Marisa_C: RT  @Raquel_EFL #eltchat turning some of their work into displays makes them proud of ...(cont)http://t.co/OZYZep3L

@Marisa_C Here is a link I found on affective teaching - receiving, responding & valuing seem to be key conceptshttp://t.co/9rL7gqAy #ELTchat



New to #ELTchat?
If you have never participated in an #ELTchat discussion, these take place twice a day every Wednesday on Twitter at 12pm GMT and 9pm GMT. Over 400 educators participate in this discussion by just adding #edchat to their tweets. For tips on participating in the discussion, please check out this video, Using Tweetdeck for Hashtag Discussions!

What do you think? Leave a comment!


Tuesday, August 23, 2011

What is TEAM in Teamwork?


It’s funny how tutors, when giving feedback, tend to start highlighting the good things we did, right? I remember this great tutor who would start his feedback just like this:
‘Priscilla! Well... Your lesson was very good. You did this, this and that [bla bla bla... a long list of achievements]. HOWEVER...
And everything would fall apart.
As I have just come back from my DELTA Module 02 intensive course, lots of colleagues and friends keep asking how it was.
To write about it I have chosen not to follow the steps of my tutors. I will do it excatly the other way around. Not that I disagree with them, but I just have so much to talk about on the high points that I still need to digest the whole adventure before being able to post anything.
What you are about to read is a piece I started when it was week 03 of the course and carried out throughout the whole course. I hope this serves as food fo thought and help you not to let this happen in case you decide to embark in this crazy adventure!

Prix. =)
----
So sorry!

Expectation...
Why do we expect so much from others? It's been a while I've been meaning to write about teamwork again and its importance in such a tiring, hectic and suffocating course like the DELTA. Time has passed me by with all the essays and lesson plans that I had never had the chance talk about it with my peer colleagues.

Colleagues.
What an interesting word. In my own language and taking into account my personal view of the world - obviously - I see the 'co' in colleague as a means for collaboration, co-creation, co-working and why not comprehension and support...  It's just funny that none of these views were even referred to in this intensive course.

This is the word: intensive.
It's exausting, demanding, painful... So what? Who cares? No one. No caring and sharing! I even heard of a classmate that we were supposed to work on our own, that we shouldn't write each other's papers. Since when is sharing, proof reading, discussing and giving suggestions the same as doing someonelse's work? I'm sorry, pal, but where I come from sharing means growing!

I have to confess that being this course as heavy as it already is just judging by its content that the minimum I was expecting from a group was that we could really work as a group. This was never encourged. I did try a couple - well, more than a couple - of times to get the group together to share ideas... I have volunteered to discuss lesson plans with peers...  It never really happened. I'm so sorry. So many ideas not discussed, so much knowledge not shared, so much learning not...

So... So sorry!

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

PDA and the Wandrous Whiteboard Challenge

Last week I was required to teach my first lesson for the Professional Development Assignment (PDA); the diagnostic lesson. As our first session finished my classmates and I started sharing ideas and discussing about what type of lesson we should plan, what would make a good diagnostic lesson, and so on. The first thing to cross my mind was to try and go unplugged to see what the students had to offer and maybe start from there… Well, doing a dogme-like lesson for the PDA wouldn’t really help me for example with lesson planning and I really needed to get some feedback on that. So, I ended up trying a test-teach-test type of lesson.

Anyway…

I’m not really writing about it here – I’ll leave it for the assignment. My mentioning of this lesson is just that it reminded me about one experience I’ve been meaning to share…

Some time ago, a sequence of challenges was triggered by great ELT blog writers and I decided to take part in one of those. And this is what I got…

The wandrous whiteboard challenge:
a 'collatributive' post.

‘What? Has the teacher gone crazy?’ – This was the first thought my 13-16 year-old pre-intermediate students had when I entered the room, sat down on a desk on the corner and shot: ‘Ok, guys, that’s the mouse-pen, that’s the board. Just feel free to write whatever you like on it!’






- Acknowledgments:
That’s how it all started:

@teacher_prix Hey Priscilla. :) @englishraven Jason's link below has more info on this...a simple yet very nice warm up to get classes rolling.


- The challenge:
The students kept asking: ‘Anything?’ and I would just ‘hum-hum’. Silence. They were looking at each other with big question marks on their foreheads (picture that!), until somebody decided to take a shot and write:






After this brave soul, all the others felt like contributing. Ones, voluntarily; others, ‘with a little help from my friends’. From time to time, I would interfere – just to rearrange the sentences to make room for new ones. They invited me to have a go (sentence #7), so I gave my two cents.






All very colorful, out-of-context, nonsense sentences were there. Now what? I asked a student choose a sentence and we started from there… And you know how it goes: one topic leads to another, which connects to another one and so on.

There were moments in which extra clarification was needed and ‘Google images’ was our best friend; some other times, it was grammar being discussed. Collabration, turn-taking and language for giving opinions would pop in unexpectedly.






In the end, we referred back to all the discussion we had just had (thx to IWB endless pages!) and reflected upon the amount of learning involved.

What a lesson!

- The following lesson:
Before dismissing the group I told them about Jason’s ‘Wandrous Whiteboard Challenge’ post and they left the room with a bug: ‘what did the word wandrous mean? This was homework. I confess I never really thought they would remember the word itself (they hadn’t taken any notes), let alone that they would research about it (Why do we keep making wrong assumptions? Nevermind…).

The following lesson was all about the challenge. Ops! I had to let go of the lesson plan. When the students entered the classroom there was no ‘Afternoon, P!’ at all. One of the student’s first sentences was: ‘I know what wandrous is, Prix!’.

I couldn’t just let the opportunity pass by. I mean, how often do topics which engage a whole group fall from the sky? We had to go back to the challenge again. This time, I asked them to write their reactions to that lesson. And here is their contribution (the exact way they wrote on paper, no teacher interference at all):

Gabriel:
“I really liked the class, becouse it was different it was new and interesting, also it was funny. When the class ended (?) I was feeling so happy, happy with myself with the world, I was so happy and my mind was so clean that I could flew.
The best thing about it was talking in English, really talking in English, having a real conversation with everybody. I was realyzed with that.”

Bia:
“I think last class was very cool. Based on my classmates said, they said, when they came the class our teacher Prix ask to everybody draw or write any sentence then they have to explain why and analyse grammar and talk about the sentence or draw.”

Carol:
“Last class I was confuse, because when I arrived at the room the teacher just gives us a pen and sayed that we need wrote a sentence but about what? She didn’t sayed.
Was strange in the beginning but after that, I loved. We talked a lot, and discussing we learn a lot of thinks.”

Nina:
“The class was very interesting, because we saied about any foods, and what Leticia’s hate and saied about Jared Leto (singer). This day was cool, we wrote sentences about anything on the board.”

Gustavo:
“The challenge is very. I enjoy differents class because I’m very parcipative and I really think drawing is fun.
I write this sentence because the teacher ask to we draw or write anything so I create the sentence drawing is fun.”

Lais:
“I didn’t like only one thing, I forgot how write SCHOOL, I was ashamed.
On begin I was a little scared, because I didn’t know what write and if I would can write what I want.”

In the end of the day, a memorable lesson is what counts most!

Prix. =)