We sat down and discussed our favorite activities to build student interdependence and here they are, arranged by time and scope.
Author: Brain Admin
Using Social Testing to Brighten One of Life’s Darkest Moments
Certainly, one of the most a-social times for our students is when they are taking tests. Traditionally, they are not permitted to talk to others, exchange ideas, collaborate, help others, laugh out loud, or make a new friend … they must do it all alone! However, in normal, everyday life when we do not know something, we can ask people for help, we can be social, and not feel alone and alienated—a direction that our societies are going more and more (aka “III,” Increasing Isolation and Individualization, the reason the UK now has a Minister for Loneliness). Thus, because tests are so isolating, they are also stressful, alienating, depressing, and basically one of the lowest-ranked learning events in places that advertise themselves as learning institutions!
Inquiry Dialogue and the Balancing Act to Invigorate Our Students’ Minds
This article is about classroom talk. The most fascinating aspect of English Language Teaching! We all do it, and we do it in different ways. Some for the good of our students, and, unfortunately, some to the detriment of our students’ learning. But that can be fixed.
Student-to-Student: Perspectives from the Literature
Every teacher understands that the way that students interact, relate, and shape each other’s experience is an important factor of learning, and yet the research on this social arena is surprisingly limited. We have assembled experts to explain four related theories for us. We hope this will give us a clearer perspective.
S2S: The Connected Classroom
Thirty minutes searching for “student relationships” on Google Scholar will show you there is an abundance of research on teacher-student relationships, and a dearth on student-student relationships. Johnson refers to student interaction as “the neglected variable in education” (1981). We intend to make up for that shortfall with this issue, but first, let’s take a quick look at what educational psychology has to tell us about student-to-student relationships.
Call for Contributions: Ideas & Articles
Become a Think Tank star! Here are some of the future issue topics we are thinking about. Would you, or anyone you know, like to write about any of these? Or is there another topic you’d like to recommend? Do you have any suggestions for lead-in, or just plain interesting, videos? How about writing a book review? Or sending us a story about your experiences? Contact us.
Lost in Citations
2020 started off pretty great, actually. I attended a JALT conference in Hokkaido in early February. Around this time, though, news of the virus was picking up steam and, as I was watching local and national news outlets in Hokkaido, I did get the impression that the “Corona” virus may be very different from previous virus scares in Japan.
A Beautiful Gift from Corona
March 2020 started in India. Life was on its wheels, keeping us on the daily challenges and beautiful night dreams. And what? NEWS started flashing on the television saying “Corona Virus has attacked the world and it is spreading across the globe, taking life away.
Rise like a Phoenix from the Ashes of Scattered Dreams…
2020 started with beautiful dreams: a promotion at work, buying a house, a vacation to some new country, a secret wish of finding a soul mate, and then, Corona happened. It felt like God was determined that I face all my worst fears—Fear Factor 2020—and may the strongest person win.
Adapting Positive Psychology in ELT to On-line Teaching
One big change for me is that I’ve started using Positive Psychology on-line. Last July, the Think Tank did a special issue on Positive Psychology, particularly on using the “Science of Happiness” in language teaching. In that issue, we led with a video of Seligman explaining his model, PERMA.