Collaborative Learning EAL Friendly, Language Conscious Learning Resources

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Collaborative Learning EAL Friendly, Language
ConsciousLearning Resources

• Hereford
• 5th July2010

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Lev Vgotsky

• The construction of knowledge is a social process

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Douglas Barnes

• Presentational talk
• Exploratory talkconstructing new meaning

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Neil Mercer

• Symmetrical talk
• Asymmetrical talk

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Progress in putting talk at the heart of learning

• Andrew Wilkinson - Oracy - 1965
• Harold Orton - English dialect survey
• Britton, Barnes, Rosen 1974
• ILEA Collaborative Learning Project 1983
• Language in the National Curriculum
• Oracy Project

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Decline of talk in the classroom

• 1993 LINC banned and Oracy Project closed down.
• Standard English where appropriate replaced by
  Standard English

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Some good news

• Oracy, Dialogic teaching and the Cambridge
  Primary Review (Robin Alexander)
• Exploratory talk (Neil Mercer/Lyn Dawes)

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Whole class discussion example 1

• Teacher OK. Looking at the text now I want you
  please to
• tell me what tense the first paragraph is in.
• Girl The past tense.
• Teacher Yes its in the past tense. How do you
  know its in the past tense?
• Girl Because it says August 1990.
• Teacher You know by the date its in the past
  tense, but you know by something else you know,
  you know by the doing words in the
• text that change. Whats a doing word? What do
  we call a doing word David?
• David A verb.
• Teacher A verb good. Will you give me one verb
  please out of this first paragraph. Find one
  verb in this paragraph. Stephen?
• Stephen Rescued.
• Teacher Rescued, excellent, excellent and thats
  in the past tense.
• (Hardman, 2007)

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Whole class discussion example 2
Teacher reads text 'Ten to twenty
Daddy-long-legs can live together in this cage.
It is fun to watch then at night. They are more
active then. They rest during the day. If you
look into your Daddy-long-legs cage when they are
resting, your shadow will wake them suddenly.
Then they will scamper round the cage, bouncing
up and down in their funny dance. A few minutes
later, they will all be resting quietly again.

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Whole class discussion example 2 contd.
Teacher Who has a question? Susan How many
spiders can fit in a cage? Reggie It didn't
tell. Susan Yes it did. Justin Reggie doesn't
think it told us. Susan Charlie? Charlie About
ten or so. Susan Mara? Mara Ten to
twenty. Teacher Ten to twenty. Darylwhat
question would you ask? Daryl If you came by and
looked, if you looked in the Daddy Long Legs
cage, what would the Daddy-long-legs do? Justin?
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Whole class discussion example 2 contd.
Justin Your shadow would wake him up and then
they would start scampering around and... Mara
And in a little bit all of them will lay
down and go back to sleep again. Daryl He kind
of left something out Teacher What did he leave
out? Daryl When they bounce up and down Teacher
In a funny dance, right. That was a good
question Daryl. And Justin, I like the way you
brought in the use of shadow.
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(No Transcript)
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Build on prior knowledgeMove from concrete to
abstractEnsure everyone works with everyone
elseExtend social language into curriculum
languageProvide motivating ways to go over the
same thing more than once
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Visual/kinesthetic support for concept
development Opportunities to value prior
knowledgeSupportive environments to formulate
new ideasOpportunities to rework/reword ideas
and provide time for reflection
How does collaborative learning help construction
of new meaning?
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Opportunities to revisit learning in attractive
waysTemplates for pupils to develop their own
activitiesScaffolds talk at all levels
simultaneouslyProvides tasks that model thinking
processes Transformation of information
How does collaborative learning help thinking?
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Activities that provide access to the curriculum,
opportunities to practice predictable language
structures and improve social relations
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Build on prior knowledge

• Buzz groups/talk partners
• Information gap

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Move from concrete to abstract

• Key visuals/graphic organisers
• Humanising the abstract

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Some key visuals

• Chart
• Grid
• Venn diagram
• Tree diagram
• Sequencing line
• Time line
• Cycle

• Diamond Nines
• Sorting table
• Tracks

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Everybody working with everybody

• Create different roles and then jigsaw!

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How do you jigsaw?
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Move social language into curriculum language
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Provide motivating ways to go over the same thing
more once
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How are activities planned?

• What do we want the children to know?
• What kinds of thinking do we hope they will
  practice?
• What kinds of language do they need? Necessary
  language and potential language?
• What key visuals best produce the thinking and
  the language?
• Can we make our activity collaborative/sociable?

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Here is an example!!

• We want children to consider the different
  habitats of animals.
• Where do they live?
• What is it like there?
• Why do they live there?
• How do they survive and/or thrive?

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What key visual will help their thinking?A
sorting grid or chart.
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This can be made into a game.

• You need 4 people, one baseboard and two sets of
  cards (different colours.)
• Work with a partner to make a team of two.
• Shuffle your cards and place them in a pile
  facing down.
• Take it in turn to turn over your top card and
  decide where to put it on the board.
• The winning team gets four in row vertically,
  horizontally or diagonally.
• Decide whether to have challenges or a checking
  system.

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Collaborative Learning and the National Forest

• Inspired by a vision
• Fits in where there is space
• Committed to growth
• Scattered outcrops all over the place
• Plans to cover the whole country

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Go to http//www.collaborativelearning.org/herefo
rd.html For links to all the resources you have
seen today including the powerpoint.