2. What is a ‘positive’ environment?
I agree with Gravells that “A suitable learning environment is crucial to enable
your learners to learn effectively. This involves not only the venue and
resources used but your attitude and the support you give to your students.”
In my opinion, the characteristics of a positive environment are:
-There is enough room to move around
-The temperature and light are adequate
-There is not loud noise
-The number of students is reduced
-The layout allows them to interact with each other and with the teacher
-There are diverse resources and students can bring their own too
-Students feel safe and secure
-There are opportunities for student learning
-They can take risks and be wrong
-There is constructive feedback
-Students can develop their personality
-There is positive discipline and respect
3. How do you create a positive environment when you are teaching?
A positive environment entails a lot of factors. Some of those factors do not
depend on the teacher. However, the teacher can always change some
things to improve student learning. These are the most important changes I
do to create a positive environment:
-I arrange the furniture in a circle or horseshoe layout so that the students
can see each other and stand in the centre if necessary
-I use different resources (including ICTs) to fulfil the multiple intelligences
-I create real situations of learning so that the students can see a target
-I value participation and initiative
-I give feedback and ask the rest of the students for feedback
-I make students create original products and to reflect on human values
-We agree on some rules that everyone has to respect
4. What constrains your ability to create the kind of environment you would
ideally like?
As a young teacher I am quite idealistic about changing things. However, one has to
be also realistic. I realize I can find these constraints:
School policies: They are sometimes too strict and I, as a teacher, have to stick to
them. For example, the religious question. A religious school will not allow me to
explain some challenging theories as that of Darwin from a naturalistic perspective. As
we saw in this course, every school has a different policy and teachers are sometimes
simple puppets with no personality.
The economic aspect: There can be a shortage of resources both at school and in the
families. That will not allow me to work with some expensive resources. Also, if there is
lack of space in the classroom or there are too many students I cannot arrange the
furniture as I would ideally like. I cannot modify the light, temperature or noise either.
Those aspects do not depend on me.
The social aspect: The class and the neighborhood students live in is also crucial. It
concerns safety, nutrition, health, crime, drugs, and a lack of parental guidance and
support. Those aspects will also come into the classroom and will have an impact on
my teaching.
5. My own practise
Along my career I have had the opportunity to reflect on my own teaching
practice. What I did after every lesson I taught was to write down some
commentaries on a notebook and then just write a line or two with possible
improvements. Now, I will provide here an analysis which reflects my ability to
look critically at my own practice.
●Strong points:
-Negotiating: I feel quite at ease when it comes to assign students some
responsibility. For instance, I would negotiate rules of behavior, materials, the
order of activities, deadlines, etc. But I would never negotiate things like contents,
assessment, etc. I would rather make them varied so that everyone has the
opportunity to be happy with them.
- Positive discipline: I am quite in favor of rewarding good behavior or
participation. I think that will encourage everyone to take risks and be heard.
- Interest and enthusiasm: After my lessons I have noticed that I convey a great
deal of positivism and my explanations are full of enthusiasm. As my subjects are
English and French, I try to relate linguistics to culture and travelling.
6. ●Weak points:
-Lack of negative discipline and assertiveness: As I have always been a good
student, I have never needed any kind of punishment for being irresponsible.
However, I am aware some students need some correction because they do
not fear the limits. I find it difficult to punish a student without making him lose
motivation on my subject.
-Unrealistic goals: Sometimes I go further away and I pretend to accomplish
objectives which are sometimes too many or which are too ambitious.
-Feeling under pressure: Having a textbook that organizes your contents is not
always easy for me. I mostly like to teach languages with real materials like
BBC videos, leaflets, train tickets, videoconference, etc. and that keeps me out
of the course book schedule. At the end of the day, I feel students have learned
and opened their minds to new aspects of the foreign language but some of the
exercises in the book as incomplete.
All these weak points are perceived by asking my students via anonymous
surveys, or my colleagues who observe my teaching and they are also product
of my own self reflection.
