Language Sensei

A Language Teacher's Journey

The “Pre-Oral” Consult – Another Formative Feedback Opportunity

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whyAsking if they need assistance. We all do it and for me this is especially true before interpersonal orals. We have them involved in an activity or practice to help set them up for the evaluation. We walk around, ask “any questions?”, respond to the few we get. But I am trying to provide more feedback and, specifically, more meaningful feedback this year. Feedback that encourages growth in their language.

Today for the first time I stepped out to try to do that. In my Yr3 class we have explored the world of Anime and Manga. Their task will be to discuss their favourite characters with an unknown (until the oral) partner in a 5-6 minute conversation. We debriefed the rubric, we talked about what ‘meeting expectations’ would look like. They set out practicing/preparing for what they will have to do including specific circumlocution practice for the vocabulary they selected to use. And then…I added my new piece. One by one I called them out of the room for a quick personal one-on-one ‘consult’. I asked them if they had any questions. Any questions about the process? Anything they are worried they aren’t expressing correctly? Anything they might not be sure how to use if they wanted to include.  The questions they had for me were wide-ranging from ‘What do I do if my partner…” to “I still don’t get how to do/use ….” and even to “So, if I don’t understand something they say I am allowed to tell them that? (yes!)”. Some students had nothing that was pressing. Others had several detailed things they wanted to know. The 60min it took to talk to each of my 30 students was, to me, invaluable. I saw and heard their specific needs, I could provide support and clarification. My goodness – I put my ‘words’ into practice and offered more actual formative feedback!

This was a personal ‘big step’ and win for me. And a confirmation  AGAIN that when we take the time to add formative feedback (in any shape/way we choose) it is time well spent in developing our learners…. I will make time for this in all of my classes….

C

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