Back to Uni...

On Friday I returned to Uni after the very long christmas break. It was great to see everybody and made me think about the importance of meeting everyone once a week.

Yes we are there to learn but more importantly we are there to support one another and to learn from each other. We can talk about our good and bad experiences on placement and feel safe in the knowledge that we are in this together. It's the perfect forum and provides a great basis for reflection.

During the day of classes I suddenly realised that my experiences as a learner have changed over time. When I was at school and even during my first degree I used to keep my answers and opinions to myself unless called upon for a response. During my PGCE I've become a lot more confident and I'm no longer afraid to speak up in class - I regularly offer my thoughts and opinions and I'm really enjoying being so much more involved. So this got me thinking:

1. What is it that has changed?
2. Why do I now feel safe enough in the classroom to share my views and opinions?
3. How can I use this experience to help my learners feel safe in the classroom?

Firstly I've realised the importance of laying down some ground rules from the start of a course. This is something that should be agreed by the learners and not just stated by the teacher. Every learner should feel that their opinions and ideas are valued within the classroom environment.

I've also considered the importance of ensuring the classroom environment is as relaxed as possible. Question and Answer is a crucial tool used by ESOL teachers to check their learners understanding. I like to involve all of my learners in Q&A and therefore they need to feel that the rest of the group are supportive. I've noticed through observing other ESOL teachers that humour can be an extremely useful tool. It's not about laughing at learners for their mistakes but using humour for encouragement instead. To help learners to improve it is important to use Positive Reinforcement. No learner should ever be in fear of having a question fired at them. When mistakes are made we must be supportive and involve the rest of the class in correcting the error.

I definitely feel like the learning environment in which I am at the moment is a safe one. This is why I have the confidence to contribute. Over the next few weeks I will try on reflect further on what it is that makes it so safe in order to explore my questions further.