Jonnathan's Tango

Being a teacher is much more than teaching a class...sometimes you have to do certain things that are not really related to your field....this is a good example....I had the chance to prepare this "Tango" with one of my students...and I want to share it with you...

Cooperative Learning

This is a video in which my students from Grammar VI at UTN-Puntarenas helped to show some activities related to cooperative Learning.

My Shared Presentation

Learning to learn cooperatively

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My Cooperative Experience

Let’s Cooperate!

By Jonnathan Salas Alvarado
Based on Anne Hammond Byrd’s article

As human beings we are meant to be social beings, that means, we are going to be part of a group or many groups at the same time. Actually, as soon as we are born we enter our very first social group: our family. This is a group that is composed by the people that love us and share different things in common with us. As time goes by, we are supposed to start interacting with the people around, then we are inserted in other groups e.g. the school, the church, a sports team, among others.

Being part of a group is not just about sharing certain interests or ideas, it is also about understanding that once you are part of a team or a group you are not a single individual anymore. Now you have to work and fight for a common interest. And this is quite clear in groups such as the sports teams. Whenever we watch a soccer match on TV or anytime we attend to the stadium to enjoy a game we are going to see a group of men or women working together as a team to try to reach their objective: win a game, be the champion, be the best. This is exactly what being part of a team is about, understanding that what is good for me is good for my teammates. It is beautiful when a team reaches its objective since the effort was worthy and they all look satisficed but it also nice to see that if they lose, they feel happy as well since they know they did their best. Cooperative learning is pretty much the principle used in this case. It is equally useful in other field such as dancing or acting. A dancing couple, for instance, must work together to get a very good performance, they are a team that must be connected to understand what they are doing in order to execute every step as it is supposed to be and reach common success.

Now, what do soccer or dancing have to do with learning or teaching a language? As a matter of fact, relating these subjects would be a difficult task since they all seem to be very different. However, they are not that distant from each other. All of them are skills or abilities that can be developed by means of practice and their development seems to be favored if they are practiced or developed in groups. Of course, there are certain aspects of those specific subjects that are better developed in isolation, but most of what they are about is going to be performed in a group. You are not expected to go and dance by yourself, or to go and play a soccer match alone, it is the same with a language, when you develop your linguistic competence, you are expected to go and use it as part of a social group. One of the main functions of language it to provide social interaction. So, if we develop a language system, we are expected to use it.

In order to expand all these ideas, it is important to make reference to what Anne Hammond establishes in her article “Learning to Learn Cooperatively”, she considers that cooperative learning is a type of instruction whereby students work together in small group to achieve a common goal. This instruction method has different benefits for the students. According to Hammond, it increases language learning since it includes self-esteem and tolerance to diverse points of view. By using this method in the English class, the teacher can improve different areas of their students’ knowledge. They can grow as language learners but more importantly, they can develop themselves as social beings. They will learn how to be part of a group that is looking for the best for everyone there.

According to Hammond, in order to develop cooperative learning, it is necessary to change the culture of the classroom. We need to know our students, their needs, their interests, their strengths as well as their weaknesses. If I want to make my students cooperate with each other I must know what they can offer to the group, so I can maximize it to make it beneficial for everyone.

When reading what Hammond had done with her students, I thought it would be interesting to try something similar, and that is exactly what I did. I worked with my grammar VI students at Universidad Técnica Nacional in Puntarenas-Costa Rica. In order to start working with them, I told them about the importance of cooperative learning and the implications it has for their learning. Then, they were divided into four different groups to work on a series of activities that involved teamwork. They showed an active participation in all the activities, they totally enjoyed working as a team. Actually, They were supportive to each other and did not compete against each other. At the end of the activities, some students were interviewed to listen to their reaction towards this cooperative experience. They were all enthusiastic, they said they loved the activities and they liked the way in which they could work with their classmates. They said it was funny, interesting, different and effective for their learning. Moreover, some of them confessed that they were not afraid of participating in any of the activities since they felt that working as a team reduced their anxiety level.

Teaching our students by means of cooperative learning will help them to understand that there are more people around and that each of them must use his or her abilities to be productive for him/herself as well as for the people around. Soccer players and dancers cannot get successful performances if they do not use what they have in order to bring out the best from the people in their team. You can be a soccer star or the best dancer ever, but if you do not learn to cooperate you will not go too far. Same happens with language learners cooperation is the key.

Alberto Plaza - Que Cante la vida

Talking Cats

For Those who think animals don't communicate...guess what....they do!!! Not as well as humans but they have thier ways...:)