making exam prep child's play

Making Exam

Prep Child’s Play

Dogme-Inspired Ideas for

Children Taking Tests

David Dodgson

TED Ankara College

Image b

y @

aC

lilTo

Clim

b v

ia e

ltpic

s

A picture is worth a thousand lessons...

Why ask students to draw?• Inclusive activity.• Low-key but rich in detail.

• Allows individual expression and

personalisation.• Encourages creativity.

• Taps into their imaginations.

Why ask students to draw?

Image b

y L

ang

wit

ches

Getting round the drawbacks...

Time-consuming

Reluctance to

draw

Where’s the

language

learning?

Set time limits;

think beyond

one lesson

Join in!

Circulate,

monitor, ask

questions,

make

suggestions

What can we do with these drawings?• Listen and colour.

• Describe the differences.

• Listen and match the

names.• Yes/No sentences.• Gap-fill summary sentences.• ...and?

Image by Trevor Huxman

What

do y

ou

see?

Don’t just fill the gaps....

....explore the space....

A q

uick w

ord

about

Dogm

e E

LT...The ‘testing economy’

includes coursebooks and

published materials (on

shelves and online) that

reflect and promote a

reductive, one-piece-at-a-

time approach to teaching

and learning

Meddings and Thornbury (2009)

Teaching Unplugged

A q

uick w

ord

about

Dogm

e E

LT...

‘Unplugging’ means

challenging that

economy, and restoring to

the classroom the human

curiousity that lies at the

heart of learning.

Meddings and Thornbury (2009)

Teaching Unplugged

To put it another way...

Image b

y L

ang

wit

ches

The bigger picture...

Working with texts...

Image b

y sh

aw

nca

mpbell

• Look at the reading texts in

the exam paper.• How could students be

prepared for these sections

without ‘cut flowers’?

Back to the bigger picture...

One snowy day, four friends (Mark, Fredrick,

Kurt and Tim) went to the park because there

was snow everywhere. While they were in the

park, Mark and Fredrick had a snowball fight

and Kurt was sledging. Later, they made a

snowman together. They had a lot of fun.

Then, they went home and drank hot

chocolate.

Back to the bigger picture...

What’s the best name for this story?

A.Mark makes a snowman

B.A fun day in the snow

C.Four friends fighting

Extend the conversation...

dave.dodgson@gmail.com

www.davedodgson.com

@DaveDodgson

Lessons on the Fly...