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Midterm Q #2. Meaning and Action
Grade: 5th(2nd period)
T :Today's activity is "Speed Game." (I wrote "Speed Game" on the board).
(sic-> Today's playing is a speed game)
You don't need to correct the grammar mistakes! The word "sic" should probably be "sacred". Data is SACRED--we don't correct mistakes in data.
But we DO need to notice them, for three reasons:
a) First of all, studying mistakes tells us a LOT about difficulty. What is difficult for the teacher is usually difficult for the kids too. Patterns of mistakes in teacher talk often reflect very similar patterns in learner talk (for example, the teacher doesn't make mistakes with "this game" or "the chosen person" or "the same group", and children often don't make mistakes with DEMONSTRATIVES or DEFINITE articles, but do with INDEFINITE articles!) So "a" appears to be more difficult than "the". Can you think of a reason why this might be?
b) Secondly, studying ARTICLE mistakes tells us a fair amount about GENERALITY, and that says quite a bit about the way in which the teacher presents abstract rules, parts, moves, etc. This teacher tends to be very DEDUCTIVE in her approach (she uses GENERAL terms like 'activity' and then less general ones like 'game' and then more concrete ones like 'speed game' and examples). I think the pattern of mistakes reflects that.
c) Thirdly, studying mistakes is probably the ONLY way teachers can realistically hope to avoid them, because children do not EVER correct mistakes, and even if they did there is not much evidence that correction after the fact does much to help (that's what Rod Ellis is going to be talking about next Saturday!)
This is group activity.
Notice how BOTH "activity" and "game" are EXAMPLES (and therefore require an article to show that they are examples).
But they are not equally abstract. A game is an example of a group activity, but a group activity is not an example of a game.
This suggests that the teacher's language is becoming MORE abstract. But her next move is to try to make things concrete, by COUNTING the groups.
Interestingly, stressing NUMBER (and thus countability) is EXACTLY what the teacher does!
How many groups are there? One, two, three,,,,
S : Six groups.
What would happen if we applied this method to teaching ARTICLES. Like this:
T: Today's activity is a game. One game. How many games?
Ss: ONE!
T: Right. So we say "a game". Not just "game". But "a game". Not "Speed Game". But "the Speed Game". What is it?
Ss:....
What do you think the children would say?
a) Game (sic)
b) A game
c) Speed Game (sic)
d) The Speed Game.
T : Right. I'll explain how to play this game.
It's interesting that the teacher uses "this" instead of using "the". Why do you suppose she does that?
S : ......
T : I need 5 or 6 people to show how to play this game. Any volunteers?
(Several students raised their hands and I chose six pupils which had 6 members. Six students came to the front).
T : OK. They are in the same group. Now, please choose ONE person in the group.
(Students discussed and chose one person)
T : Who is the chosen person?
S 민지: Me!
T : (Pointing (sic) the chosen student) You... can't... watch... TV (I pointed (sic) TV (sic) first and gestured X with my arms). OK?
S 민지: (She nodded her head)
T :Others, face 민지 and make a line in front of her. And, there's a program for this activity. (I operated the program, speed quiz tool1) on TV).
T : (On TV, There were letters, 재, 미, 있, 는, 스, 피, 드, 퀴, 즈). 민지, please choose a letter among 재, 미, 있, 는, 스, 피, 드, 퀴, 즈. Which one?
S 민지 : 미!
T : (I clicked "미" on TV). Yes, For each group, I will give 30 seconds.
How many?
Ss : 30 seconds.
T : Yes. Right.
(I clicked the button "시작" and there's a word "singing" on TV)
Then, the first person in the line, please act like singing.
S준혁 : (pretended to sing without sound)
T :Then, 민지, What should you say?
Interestingly, the teacher does NOT use the teaching point ("What is he doing?") here, although this is the logical slot for it.
One reason might be that the teacher is thinking of the teaching point as "What are YOU doing?" and the teacher realizes that this is not appropriate, since we don't want the DOER to answer.
S 민지 :He's singing.
T : Right. Next, 석현‘s turn(석현 was behind 준혁), (On TV, there's the word, "doing Taegundo") 석현! Please act like doing Taegundo.
S 석현 :(acted like doing Taegundo)
T :Good. This is how to play.
Everyone! (Poining (sic) 민지) Can she watch TV?
Ss : No.
T :(Pointing others in the group) Can they watch TV?
Ss :Yes.
T :You are right. Let's start "Speed Game!" (sic)
1. Can you find examples of iconic, indexical, and symbolic (second order symbolic?) meaning making?
In the first period, students learned the present progressive form. During activity time, when I acted something like "kick, play, eat, etc", they answered and vise versa. Through this, they were accustomed to the present progressive form. So, in this period, I planned the game like above. Surely, for some students who are not competent in English, this is a bit tough activity because this demands the knowledge about words and the speed or quickness to make the team win. However, students need to do something which is challenging, I think. Before this lesson, there was a previous announce to play "Speed Game" and to study "Verbs" in the introduction paper of Lessen 11 (Usually, I give the student the introduction paper of each lesson in the first period which is included vocabularies and key sentences)
I tried to use iconic, indexical and symbolic meaning making simultaneously. Firstly, the first line "Today's activity is "Speed Game." has indexical and symbolic meaning. As well as my mention(symbolic), I wrote "Speed Game" on the board to let student have time to think what it means (indexical).
On the 19th line, it is "(On TV, There were letters, 재, 미, 있, 는, 스, 피, 드, 퀴, 즈). 민지, please choose a letter among 재, 미, 있, 는, 스, 피, 드, 퀴, 즈. Which one?"
Here, students could see the Korean letters on TV (iconic). I pointed (sic) each Korean letters when I said the letters (indexical). Also, pupils needed to understand English in the sentence (symbolic).
You can see that the concept of iconic, indexical and symbolic meaning making here is quite different from what it is in van Lier or in our beautiful blue book.
A written letter is a symbol for a spoken sound. A spoken sound is a symbol for an intended meaning.
Now, here the written letter is ANOTHER kind of symbol as well: it's a place you can click on and get a word. Of course, when we "click" on a computer we say that we "clicking" on an icon. But is it REALLY iconic?
Now, why is all this important, Eunjeong? Remember that at the very beginning we wanted to solve the problem of how children figure out that words exist in the first place.
We SORT OF solved that problem by using indexical meaning-making; we decided that they could look at the facial expressions of people and figure out that they were communicating feelings or else look at their gestures and figure out that they were referring to things.
Indexical meaning of THIS type in a sense INCLUDES iconic meanings. The smile MEANS happiness, but it also IS a smile. Laughing and crying simply are what they are, as well as the reasons for happiness and sadness that they suggest. When we point, we do not point at abstract concepts, or things that happened in the past; we point at objects, iconic meanings, that exist here and now.
But how does the child make the NEXT jump--the jump to SYMBOLIC meaning? Suppose we say that symbolic meaning is NOT purely arbitrary. It's NOT a system of grammar and a system of vocabulary and a system of phonology all arbitrarily connected.
Let us suppose instead that symbolic meaning INCLUDES indexical meanings just as indexical meanings included iconic ones. Sure enough, we find that it does! When we stress words, we make them LOUDER and SLOWER, not faster and more distinct (think a minute about the "a" and "the" problem in the last section). When we ask questions, we go UP, which suggests we are not finished yet. But when we make commands, we go DOWN, which suggests that we're done. These meanings are not iconic, of course. But they are not symbolic either.
What this means is that the business of dividing up the data into percepts, gestures, and words won't work. We can't just say:
Here, students could see the Korean letters on TV (iconic). I pointed (sic) each Korean letters when I said the letters (indexical). Also, pupils needed to understand English in the sentence (symbolic).
If the world just consisted of objects, actions, and symbols, there would be no way to use one kind of thing to learn another. It's because actions include objects, and symbols include gestures that we are able to "bootstrap", and turn one kind of information into another.
2. What goes wrong? How does the teacher solve the problem?
In the explanation of the Speed Game, I think I used some extra sentences like "I'll explain how to play this game" at the 4th line. Or at the 6th line, "I need 5 or 6 people to show how to play this game." These sentences are a little long for 5th graders. Instead, I could've acted more without saying long sentences.
But what went wrong? Did it go wrong?
There IS a great deal that goes wrong in the teacher talk (articles, for example) and the teacher DOES put it right in the end. Look:
T : Who is the chosen person?
S 민지: Me!
T : (Pointing (sic) the chosen student) You... can't... watch... TV (I pointed (sic) TV (sic) first and gestured X with my arms). OK?
S 민지: (She nodded her head)
T :Others, face 민지 and make a line in front of her. And, there's a program for this activity. (I operated the program, speed quiz tool1) on TV).
In general, though, I don't like answers that focus on blaming the teacher. Let's see if there are any problems with what the kids say.
a) The kids do NOT use the teaching point.
b) They just nod or gesture rather than speak.
c) MOST of the kids are not actually playing, but only "looking and listening".
Look at this:
S준혁 : (pretended to sing without sound)
T :Then, 민지, What should you say?
S 민지 :He's singing.
What goes wrong? How does the teacher SOLVE the problem?
<Original>
T :Today's activity is "Speed Game." (I wrote "Speed Game" on the board). This is group activity. How many groups are there? One, two, three,,,,
S : Six groups.
T : Right. I'll explain how to play this game.
S : ......
T : I need 5 or 6 people to show how to play this game. Any volunteers?
<Revised>
T :Today, "Speed Game."
This is group activity. How many groups? One, two, three,,,,
S : Six groups.
T : Right.
S : ......
T : I need 5 or 6 people. Any volunteers?
3. Can you think of a way of doing this activity that adds MORE meaning?
That's not the question, Eunjeong! Question TWO is about adding ACTION!