Language Sensei

A Language Teacher's Journey

Top Posts of the Year – #3 – What Is An “Oral Final”

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What a year it has been! A year of change and growth for me as a teaching professional (it never ends!). For the next few posts I am looking back at what resonated with readers of “Language Sensei”.

58db2d0e2c1397f19cc3fd65bcffa2daThis post generated some interesting comments – and almost deteriorated into what I don’t like – the “There is only 1 way to teach” argument. Some disagreed with the idea that ‘imperfect’ language is okay and thought that I should be involved (as the ‘perfect’ language???) in the mix. Others took issue with the ‘real world’ idea. For me the ‘real world’ is them using the language in casual conversation with someone…not in a classroom and certainly not with a teacher there. I think the misunderstandings may also have stemmed from readers not seeing that this post was about my oral FINAL – not orals in general. So if this is a new post to you – again  – this is my FINAL…. 🙂

What should an oral final look/sound like? I’ve been thinking about this as I continue to try to take away the ‘unnecessary’ – and get to the necessary – in my classroom.  And I’ve thought a lot about what the ‘summative’ part means. This is the ‘last’ oral interaction – especially for some of my juniors (not going to Yr4), and all of my seniors, that they will have in the Target Language. This is a significant moment and I want the legacy of this moment – the impact of it – to be felt by them. I want them to leave my program with the confidence to take an opportunity to use, or further develop, their skills and choose to act upon them. It may be the end of their class journey but I hope it’s not the end of their learning. So I’ve rethought what a summative oral should be and I’ve gone in my thinking from ‘testing what they know’ to ‘establishing what they will hopefully do…’…’ Read more…

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