Do
it yourself
What
and why?
'Do
it yourself' is an important idea that occurs throughout CEWw.
Encouraging students to do something themselves, rather than
simply using the exercises in the book, is to encourage them towards
AUTONOMY - the ultimate
goal of education. This also allows students room for their own
individual interests, needs and abilities. It is also an important
element in a CRITICAL
PEDAGOGY. 'Do it yourself' occurs as a feature of the DECIDE
... EXERCISES, and is supported through the HELP
YOURSELF LIST (or Ideas list) in the Student's Book.
In the Decide ... exercises, the students must decide what
they wish to do, in consultation with you. Initially, it is likely
that the suggestions that students make for what they would like
to do are not ones that you think are particularly valuable. This
may not be a problem for a number of reasons. Firstly, one of the
aims of allowing students to suggest something else to do is to
bring about greater STUDENT
INVOLVEMENT and a feeling of 'ownership' of what they are learning.
Secondly, it is only through making decisions that students
can become better at making decisions. The important point is that
any suggestion they make and act on should be followed up by some
kind of EVALUATION.
This can be simply asking the students how useful they found what
they did.
Practical
ideas
- If
students cannot think of something to do, you can propose
something. In the Student's Book there is a list of suggestions
with each Decide ... exercise. There are also other possibilities,
if the students wish to do something completely different, for
example: choose something from the EXERCISE
BOX if you have one in class, do some READING,
look back through the previous Unit, do something from the Workbook,
do a TIME TO SPARE?
exercise, prepare something for the PARCEL
OF ENGLISH, or design an exercise using the HELP
YOURSELF section in the Workbook.
- One
or two lessons before the students come to a Decide ...
exercise, point out the option for them to decide for themselves.
Encourage them to prepare ahead.
- You
will need to insist that what they decide to do is related to
learning English!
- You
could also allow some time for students to tell other students
(either in small groups or to the whole class) what they have
been doing.
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