1. Lenguas Extranjeras 4º año – I.I.N.N. – C.F.E. – A.N.E.P.
Prof. Mtra. Graciela Bilat
Nombre del alumno: Analía González
C.I: 4.383.276-3
ACTIVITIES:
1)What type of text is it?
El texto es un artículo.
2) Highlight- a proverb
-a date
-the source
-the name of the author
OUR NEWS
Getting Students to Do Things for Themselves
21 July 2014
The second in a series of blog posts on learning English as a Second Language by Peter Lucantoni, author
of Cambridge IGCSE English as a Second Language.
“Spoon-feeding in the long run teaches us nothing but the shape of the spoon”. (E. M.
Forster)
Something which often comes up during training events is whether or not teachers think they are working too
hard inside the classroom (and, for that matter, outside, too). Invariably the answer from teachers is pretty
much a unanimous and resounding ‘Yes, we are!’ A follow-up question is usually something along the lines
of: ‘Well, if you think you are working too hard, who is probably not working very hard?’ The answer, of
course, is‘The students’, which leads very neatly into a third question: ‘And why is that?’ And so to the topic
of this blog and the reason for E M Forster’s words:‘Spoon-feeding in the long run teaches us nothing but the
shape of the spoon.’
‘Spoon-feeding’ suggests that we are providing so much help and support to someone (in our case,
students) that they need to do very little for themselves, whether this is thinking about something, asking
questions about something, or actually producing something. Spoon-feeding is often seen as a traditional
(and outdated) teaching approach, a type of ‘rote-learning’ system, in which teachers ‘feed’ students with
information, students memorise it and regurgitate it for a test or an exam, and then forget it. No doubt many
of us have experienced such a system, either because we have had to teach in such a way, or have been on
the receiving end of the approach. Judit Neurink in an online article explains the spoon-feeding approach
using a wonderful analogy: ‘I have at times compared a group of students … with a nest full of baby birds,
who open their beaks to receive the food the parent is bringing in.’*
If an educational system encourages this approach to teaching and learning, then we can hardly blame
students for sitting back with their mouths open, waiting to be fed by teachers. Students will normally accept
whatever is offered, without question, more often than not because it is the easy option, but also because
they have learned through experience that it works.
The real problem of course comes to the fore when learners move from a spoon-feeding context into one
which expects learners to do things for themselves, to be inquisitive, to ask questions, and not to accept
things at face value. This often happens when teenagers move from high school to college or university, or
from one culture to another. When students who are not used to questioning things are suddenly expected to
do exactly that, a degree of shock usually follows.
‘The curriculum’, ‘the system’ and ‘the final exam’ are all frequently blamed for much of what goes on in the
classroom, both in terms of effective and less-effective teaching and learning. However, as educators, we
need to be aware of the hazards of adopting and prolonging a spoon-feeding approach, and, as Judit
Neurink concludes: ‘We need vision, and decision makers who understand the needs of education in the
21st Century.’* We need, therefore, to ensure that our classroom practice promotes questioning and thinking,
and encourages students to find out what information is available to them, above and beyond what the
teacher and the coursebook offer them.
To end this blog post, the very well-known Chinese proverb below aptly sums up the discussion:
Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.

2. Lenguas Extranjeras 4º año – I.I.N.N. – C.F.E. – A.N.E.P.
Prof. Mtra. Graciela Bilat
Nombre del alumno: Analía González
C.I: 4.383.276-3
(Chinese Proverb)
* Judit Neurink
Source: http://education.cambridge.org/uk/whats-new/our-blog/2014/07/getting-students-to-do-things-for-themselves
[visited on July 24,2014]
3) Write TRUE ( T) or FALSE ( F)
a.Spoon-feeding suggests that teachers are providing too much help to the
students. TRUE
b.Spoon-feeding is seen as a modern teaching approach in which teachers “feed”
students with information. FALSE
c.It is necessary to understand the needs of education to promote questioning and
thinking. TRUE
4) Summarize the text in 80-100 words including your reflection about the topic.
“Alimentación por cuchara”, sugiere que nosotros estamos proporcionando tanta
ayuda y apoyo a alguien que ellos tienen que hacer muy poco por sí mismos. Es
visto como un método de enseñanza tradicional, un tipo de sistema de aprendizaje
memorístico. Los estudiantes por lo general no cuestionan lo que se les ofrece.
Esto se convierte en un verdadero problema al momento de pasar al liceo o a la
universidad donde son exigidos y se les pide que reflexionen o que simplemente
estudien un repartido ya que no están acostumbrados porque nunca se les enseño
a estudiar. Depende de los docentes fomentar el pensamiento critico delos
alumnos.
10 ( ortografía)