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COOPERATIVE LEARNING

TEXT

3. You are going to read a text about a new teaching method. Seven sen­tences have been removed from the article. Choose from the sentences A-H the one which fits each gap (1-6). There is one extra sentence which you do not need to use. There is an example at the beginning (0).

The concept of cooperative learning is aliento all of us who were taught the traditionalway, but it offers our children the adventureof finding their own answers. Di Lilford reports.

If you took a doctor from the J9th century and put her in a modern operating 'theatre,' she would have no idea what to do, but if you put a teacher from the 19th cen­tury into a modern classroom she would be able to carry on teaching without pause. 0) D____.

The idea remainsthat students are empty containerswhich the teacher fills with knowledge,and that all stu­dents have to do is listen and write. Education consultantAlyce Miller says: "This approach does not work in today's changing world. We are not teaching Creativeproblem-solving. We encourage competition, believing that this brings out the best in people." But this is not so. 1) _____ . She goes on to say that the teacher's role is no longer to feed stu­dents with information. "The facts are availablein libraries, on CD ROMS and on the Internet. What stu­dents need are the skills to find this information, to use it and to think creativelyin order to solve the problems of our world."

Miller believes that cooperative learning is the future of education and thinks of it as the best way to encourage responsibility, tolerance and helpfulnesstowards others. 2) _______ . In cooperative learning classes, the traditional class­room physical layoutis abandoned. 3) _______ . Pupils learn to work first in pairs,then in threes, and finally in teams of four. Students are required toparti­cipate actively in discussing and shapingtheir own knowledge. The teacher, who is still very important to the process,becomes the helper rather than the master.

Arnout Brombacher, head of the mathematics depart­ment at Westerford High School, says: "The incorrect assumptionthat many people make about cooperative learning is that it is merely group work. It is much, much more. 4) ______ . With this technique, most of the time in the classroom is spent teaching them these skills - life skills."

Brett Melville, a 17-year-old pupil at the school, agrees. "You learn the same materialas you would using the normal method, but this way you learn how to work with others at the same time. In our class, we are given enough time to discuss issues and problems in detail."5) ______ .

One teacher, Lynne Gedye, has been using cooperative learning in her classes for two years. She says, "This year we have several pupils in the class who can hardly speak a word of English. I was tearing my hair out, wonderingwhat to do, but I need not have worried. The children's responsewas amazing.6) _______ .

All in all, it seems that cooperative learning turns the classroom from a competitive arenainto a place where learning facts and life skills is both more fun and more effectivefor pupils and teachers alike.



 

a. Children do not sit straight rows of desks facing the teacher, but rather face one another to make it easier to share ideas.

b. The strong ones coached the weak ones endlessly so that they could participate in the question time too.

c. However, she believes that this method is not suitable for all pupils.

d. Teaching methods have hardly changed in one hundred years.

e. She says that good relationship are the key to effective learning.

f. Encouraging children to con concentrate on getting the best marks destroys motivation and takes the fun out of learning.

g. He adds that it might take longer than simply listening to teach lecture, but the students remember much more afterwards.

h. It recognizes that pupils do not have the skills to work together.


Date: 2015-12-18; view: 1886


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