space.template.Reflection

Annamaria Pinter was the first speaker in the conference. She started her presentation with the definition of differentiated learning, which aims to address students as unique learners. She highlighted benefits of grouping students, dividing the lesson into sessions and learner autonomy in general. She suggested some techniques which may make the lesson more efficient. She was supporting what she was offering us in the session. That’s why she made us do some activities which we can use in our classes. This was one of the major strengths of Mrs. Pinter; she seemed to believe the things she was mentioning. The importance of grouping students and dividing the class in sessions were mentioned. She said that although students seemed to be reluctant to participate in group work in the first place, they became more and more interested in time. I heard this idea in that session for the first time. I like this idea because it sees the students as individuals who can control their learning, which is in contrast to the traditional view which says that teacher is the one who is responsible for all of the learning processes in the class. It really worked although I and my partner were a little bit confused about what to talk. Then, we finished two minutes with talking without any obvious effort. We talked about some daily issue (I don’t remember now) and the time was up. This showed us that if we give the choice of topic to the students, they may be easily motivated to use the target language in the context they will prefer. Then, this idea is completed with the circle designed by Pinter herself. Moreover, she offered us some techniques we can use in the class such as poetry, picture stories, and individual writing. In the poetry, as she made us do the activity, teacher provides a model, simple poem and asks students to write their own poems. Students enjoy writing simple poems according to the form of the provided poem and at the same time, they practice their adjective knowledge. Picture stories are beneficial for students to use their own creativity in writing and also they are free to describe what happens in the picture story to some extent. Last but not the least, individual writing helps students learn about their own learning process. It shows them what knowledge they lack of.