As a teacher I try to find solutions for my students living in the digital age and it is challenging to make students engage into learning process. I developed an approach, which I call MIC (motivation innovation concentration). I make my lesson plans based on this approach.
MIC approach lets my students be flexible, creative and pragmatic. It has an impact to make an eco-friendly-digital class. I believe that teaching should be eco-friendly combined with digital technologies and intercultural values.
Why digital? Digital Technology makes students more engaged as the technology is at the center of their attention and is widely used in their daily life, encourages collaboration, provides instant feedback from teachers.
Why eco? Fosters to go paperless and somehow reflect on nature.
I would like to elicit one of the activities, which I frequently use in my teaching process based on MIC approach. In this activity we have to use internet, mobile devices or laptops and jamboard.
The procedure of this TBA:
- Discuss the idiom with your class 'When in Rome, do as the Romans do' - Do you agree/disagree?
- Divide the class into small groups (3 or 4 pp in each group)
- Hand out a jamboard worksheet where it shows the different aspects of the culture
- Let every group choose a country and find some information on the following themes
- General information
- Language (some expressions in that language)
- Gestures
- Music
- Food - Every group has 3 min. to introduce their chosen country in the target language.
- Teacher gives feedback on the spot after each presentation.
This activity needs concentration as the students have to read and take the information they need. It has an impact on students' motivation as they work together in groups, every student has his/her own role to complete the task and at the end the best presentation will be awarded. And it's innovative as they enhance their presentation skills, use online platform (jamboard) and their devices in order to work on presentation and speech.
Here the role of the teacher is to be a facilitator and moderator.
Innovator: Lusine Topchyan, 'Hay Aspet' school