Page 80 - Šolsko polje, XXXI, 2020, 5-6: Teaching Feminism, ed. Valerija Vendramin
P. 80
šolsko polje, letnik xxxi, številka 5–6
We also talk about why we make those mistakes, so what is the spe-
cific cultural environment in Slovenia that results in us making such mis-
takes. I like to classify the mistakes we make in two groups: this is some-
thing that native speakers do as well, and this happens because of transfer,
because of the specifics of our language.
Nina’s teaching is also shaped by the structure of the classrooms. The
basic principles of feminist pedagogy are present in all her classrooms, but
the teaching methods are adjusted to the specific group of students. She
mostly focuses on the students’ age when she talks about different teach-
ing and learning situations. Discovering mistakes and advanced discus-
sions are mostly reserved for older students because cognitively and lan-
guage-wise they are capable of participating in such activities. That does
not mean that classrooms with younger students are not active classrooms
nurturing social agency. Nina describes a project with students from the
third grade, where they dedicated a week to talking about empathy. Her
goal was to try out some activities that English teachers do not usually
participate in, centred around the notion of empathy and promoting a
better classroom climate. She picked a children’s book on the said topic
and decided to use a method of language teaching with non-verbal activ-
ities since children so young are still not able to have a discussion about
read material.
I set up a story time nook and had them sit on the pillows, be very relaxed, have
this good classroom atmosphere and I read them a book that was difficult for them
language-wise /…/ but the content was based around the concept of empathy and
was more relatable, as it followed a simple structure, familiar to children. We also
stopped and talked about it in between pages. /…/ After the story was over, they
started drawing /…/ they had complete freedom, they just had to include something
from the book or something that reminded them of the book. I expected them to start
talking and they did, they started talking about a different language they can use
when talking about somebody and when talking to them /…/ and why it is nice to
use some words and not nice to use others /…/. They got into disagreements about
whether specific words are nice or not and held a conversation on a deep level, cog-
nitively pretty advanced for third-graders. They started talking about why it is im-
portant to be nice. The whole concept of empathy really came out during that lesson.
This activity also helped with managing the behavioural problems of
some students in the class, especially three boys, who are very rowdy and
disruptive.
Their behaviour during that lesson was completely different from how they usually
behave. I think it is because of the classroom climate, the other students really egged
78
We also talk about why we make those mistakes, so what is the spe-
cific cultural environment in Slovenia that results in us making such mis-
takes. I like to classify the mistakes we make in two groups: this is some-
thing that native speakers do as well, and this happens because of transfer,
because of the specifics of our language.
Nina’s teaching is also shaped by the structure of the classrooms. The
basic principles of feminist pedagogy are present in all her classrooms, but
the teaching methods are adjusted to the specific group of students. She
mostly focuses on the students’ age when she talks about different teach-
ing and learning situations. Discovering mistakes and advanced discus-
sions are mostly reserved for older students because cognitively and lan-
guage-wise they are capable of participating in such activities. That does
not mean that classrooms with younger students are not active classrooms
nurturing social agency. Nina describes a project with students from the
third grade, where they dedicated a week to talking about empathy. Her
goal was to try out some activities that English teachers do not usually
participate in, centred around the notion of empathy and promoting a
better classroom climate. She picked a children’s book on the said topic
and decided to use a method of language teaching with non-verbal activ-
ities since children so young are still not able to have a discussion about
read material.
I set up a story time nook and had them sit on the pillows, be very relaxed, have
this good classroom atmosphere and I read them a book that was difficult for them
language-wise /…/ but the content was based around the concept of empathy and
was more relatable, as it followed a simple structure, familiar to children. We also
stopped and talked about it in between pages. /…/ After the story was over, they
started drawing /…/ they had complete freedom, they just had to include something
from the book or something that reminded them of the book. I expected them to start
talking and they did, they started talking about a different language they can use
when talking about somebody and when talking to them /…/ and why it is nice to
use some words and not nice to use others /…/. They got into disagreements about
whether specific words are nice or not and held a conversation on a deep level, cog-
nitively pretty advanced for third-graders. They started talking about why it is im-
portant to be nice. The whole concept of empathy really came out during that lesson.
This activity also helped with managing the behavioural problems of
some students in the class, especially three boys, who are very rowdy and
disruptive.
Their behaviour during that lesson was completely different from how they usually
behave. I think it is because of the classroom climate, the other students really egged
78
