What better way to end the term than to work on a Learning Situation with your students!
Learning Situations use real-life contexts to help students put their knowledge and skills into practice. They put students in the driving seat as they continue their English language journey.
A Learning Situation doesn’t have to be complicated.
It could involve simple tasks like helping to make a shopping list or something more challenging, like understanding a floor plan. It could test students’ arts skills, science skills, or even their crime-solving skills!
Another important aspect of Learning Situations is their ability to introduce students to the Sustainable Development Goals in an accessible and creative way.
Students could be asked to reflect on issues related to inclusivity and reduced inequalities to think about issues surrounding sustainability and responsible consumption and production, or to understand the importance of eating breakfast.
Speaking of creativity, Learning Situations find a fun way to combine unit topics from students’ textbooks that you wouldn’t normally think have anything in common! Where else would you find astronauts and household appliances in the same place?!
Learning situations also play an important role in social-emotional learning. As students respond to the tasks and challenges set for them, they discover new skills, find new ways to learn, and learn more about themselves along the way. Working with others also helps students to understand their own emotions, as well as those of their classmates, and develop strategies to manage them.
A Learning Situation doesn’t have to be complicated.
Let’s look at a Learning Situation related to Sustainable Development Goal 4, Quality Education.
The Learning Situation, A New School Timetable, starts with a fun video in the Let’s go! section, in which a headteacher, Miss Gardner, presents students with a challenge. Students are asked to choose three subjects from the school timetable and replace them with three new subjects.
Activities in the Follow the Steps! section of the student’s worksheet guide students through the thinking process, inviting them to reflect on what we learn at school and how it can be useful in the real world. Students can then choose from two options in the You’re doing great! section, either designing a new school timetable or creating a digital presentation.
Finally, in the Time to review! section, students are asked to reflect on their performance during the task by completing a simple self-evaluation chart.
This Learning Situation is a great way to get students thinking about what they learn, but also about the importance of receiving a quality education and the transformative power it can have, not only in their own lives, but in the lives of others. That’s why we’re offering it as a FREE DOWNLOAD!
With this download you will gain access to the Milton English Teachers community where you will find even more more free resources to supplement your English classes and informative articles to build upon your teaching practice.
Stephanie Gay is an author and editor of educational materials who believes that teaching and learning should be engaging, creative and fun. She specializes in developing resources for STEAM, SEL, mediation, inclusivity and the Sustainable Development Goals. Although she loves writing all types of materials, she especially loves the challenge of finding connections between topics that aren’t obviously related and coming up with innovative ways to work with them.