Teaching English in the Elementary Grades through Literature

1. Mei Ann B. Cundiman
Participatory
Approach
Teaching English in the Elementary
Grades through Literature
The Approaches for Teaching
Language Arts

2. Content
What you'll learn
today.
• Background about Participatory Approach
• Overview on Participatory Approach
• Goal of Participatory Approach
• Introduction to Participatory Approach in
Language Teaching
• Suggested Activities
• Advantages and Dis-advantages of Using
Participatory Approach in Language
Teaching
• Role of Teacher/Students in the
Participatory Approach
• Conclusion

3. Participatory
Approach in
Teaching
Language Arts

4. • Developed by a Brazilian language educator
Paulo Freire
• Participatory also known as Freirean
Approach
• Freire opposes the old "banking method" of
teaching and advocated the learners to co-
create knowledge.
• Participatory approach is under the umbrella
of Content-Based Instruction (CBI)
Background

5. Overview
A participatory approach
incorporates themes or content area
that are of interest to the learners.
With participatory approach,
students are encouraged to work
with fellow students either in pairs,
small groups, or in whole groups for
collective participation and for
learning to be meaningful.

6. Goal of
Participatory
Approach
• To use language learning as
a tool to provide solutions to
social problems that impact
learners in their daily lives,
and to help empower
students to take actions and
make decisions in order to
gain control over their lives.

7. Introduction
The Participatory Approach
belongs under the umbrella of CBI
because it employs themes and
topics that affect or interest
learners. With this approach
students are taking ownership of
their learning as well as adding
cooperative learning as they have to
collaborate with other classmates in
finding and endorsing solutions to
social issues that affect the
community they belong to.

8. • A classroom using a participatory approach is different
from many teacher-fronted classrooms that have been
typical in language learning setting.
• Participatory approach utilizes a two-way transaction of
learning.
 Student-teacher collaboration
 Teacher as Facilitator
• Participatory approach is more process-based than
product based in its outcome.

9. • Education is most effective when it is experience-centered because
students are motivated by their personal involvement.
• The topics are generated based from students’ realities and previous
experience which make up for an authentic and meaningful learning
experience.
• Participatory approach is based on solving the learner’s problem in real
life, using the target language as a tool this propose. Learners bring
their outside problems into class.

10. • Pair
• Group work
• Whole class
Suggested
Activities
• Two-way
Dialogue/Discussion
• Problem-posing
• Problem-solving
• Role play
• Group reporting
• Writing a letter/story
• Science
project/Experiment

11. Advantages of Participatory Approach
• It uses inexpensive resources.
• It is interesting and fun.
• It helps people to build self-confidence.
• It helps people to learn about themselves.
• It helps people to understand the perspectives of others.
• It prevent individuals from being singled out for what they know, or don't
know.
• It is less intimidating for less confident participants.
• It helps people to analyze complex situations.
• They are memorable.

12. Dis-advantages of Participatory
Approach
• It takes longer process
• They are difficult to plan, because planning often depends
on what the participants want to do.
• It may be difficult to assure that all of the students get to
the table.
• It takes patience and commitment on everyone’s part.

13. Role of Teacher/Students on Using
Participatory Approach in Teaching
Language Arts
• The teachers takes the role as a guide, to help
the students engage in dialogue and problem
solving.
• The students gradually take on more power, and
become their own advocates through education.
• Collaboration between students is encouraged.
• Students are encouraged to self-evaluate and
self-correct to take responsibility for their own
learning.

14. Language teaching and learning have gone a long way.
Recent methods are more learner-centered which also
require pro-active involvement by the learners. Language
domains can be taught even in specific content-area
subjects and it can be used to empower people to free
themselves from the social ruts they are in.
By teaching language we are providing new
possibilities for students to see things around them in a
different perspective; we are giving them voice to express
their thoughts and opinions; and we are giving them the
power to act. Language is liberating.
Conclusion

15. Thank you!
Feel free to approach me
if you have any questions.