Grade 3 EAL 

Team - Building and Problem Solving

I was thinking of a way to make it obvious for my students that it is easier to problem solve collaboratively. My idea was to adapt well-known team building games like Zoom or Go for Gold in such a way, so that my students will realize the benefits of cooperation with friends during decision making.

In the Go for Gold game traditionally teams have a common objective but different materials for building, creating, etc.

My goal was to make sure that my students are actively involved in the decision-making process. To reach this goal I modified the Go for Gold game by giving my students 4 different cards with a problem scenario as they worked in 4 small groups. However, the idea of the game was the same: they all had the common goal of solving the problem/making a decision, but they all had various resources as they had to work with different people. In the end, each group had to share their solution and explanation of the choice.

In order to scaffold this activity I did three things. First, I made sure that the scenario was described in easy language, as I wanted everyone to be able to participate. Second, the cards with the guiding questions (such as - What makes a decision necessary?; What are my options?; What are the consequences of each option?;etc) were on each table. We also discussed the language of the questions prior to the activity. Third, I prepared a Decision Making Wheel  to guide my students through the process and explained how to use it before the game.

I was closely observing my kids moving from table to table and was excited to see how they were feeding ideas to each other, thinking collaboratively and how it affected the final decisions in a creative way.

At the end of the class we traditionally shared our outcomes and reflected on the process in general. I was glad to hear some of my students saying that it was easier to make a decision with friends!

Jiun enjoyed participating in the group discussion and shared his choices.

After sharing some ideas and opinions in their small groups of three students, Maly and Tony enthusiastically started the conversation between the groups.

Grade 3 EFL Class

All my students were pretty enthusiastic about our decision making discussion.

To trigger their thinking we watched a video and discussed what was new for us in the video and what we learned.

After that we read a story that gave us some food for thought and discussed the decisions and actions of the main character. We talked about how one decision leads to another and why it is so important to think before we act and others are affected. 

Since moral values dictate our decision making process, I also thought that fables could be excellent to provoke discussions as the "moral of the story" is stated there very clearly. I may try to use fables next week.

In order to summarize all the thinking my students created a concept map that would show how one decision triggers another. My students had a choice of using the story we read for creating the concept map or they could use their own life experience as an example.

The bell rang when our concept maps were mostly ready. Next week we will share and discuss our maps. I am really looking forward to this class as I observed some of my students using their own life experiences and I can’t wait to hear their stories.

Kim Veng  and the  concept map he created. We will learn what it is all about on Monday.

Welcome Back to School!

I was looking forward to seeing all my students! 
Our first English as Foreign Language class on Friday with Grade 3 was truly special. All my students were bubbling with enthusiasm and eagerly shared their summer experiences and plans for the new year. We all met the new students and participated in fun team building activities. My kids had to draw their self portraits, describe themselves with 3 words and share what their favourite activity is.