Kompetenz-Portfolio
Name der Studentin/des Studenten:
Linda Geckeler
Studiengang:
Fachmodul Fremdsprachen-Englisch
Ort:
AfaP Dornach / RSS Basel
Dokumentierter Zeitraum:
2015 / 2016
Mentor:
Elisabeth Minder, RSS Biel
Künstlerische Lehrveranstaltung
Praxisstudium
x
Theoretische Lehrveranstaltung /
Literaturstudium
Berufliche Praxis
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Einleitung:
This portfolio describes examples from teaching a grade 6 in English. The selected examples
encompass the topic of games and oral or creative class activities that are intended to bind the
students more to the subject and to keep their interest awake.
When I started teaching, my background was solely academic as was my teaching experience
of over ten years. Therefore, in the beginning, my teaching was relatively dry and detached
from the students, thus leaving little or no room for games or creative ways for language
learning. The students felt somehow bored and could not really relate to the subject, whereas I
was missing a productive interaction and enthusiasm by them. I chose to focus this portfolio on
this aspect of my teaching, since this is the area that was most difficult for me to incorporate in
the lessons.
Most of these activities refer to a content that was already introduced and had merely to be
practiced.
Tätigkeitsbeschreibung:
Vocabulary: Everyday Objects
A theme within our vocabulary were everyday objects.
I had brought most of the objects to class, put them on the teacher’s desk and covered them
with a cloth. The student who was fasted to raise his hand could start. He would get in front of
the class, choose one of the objects and hold it behind his back so that the rest of the class
could not see it. I had not introduced the words beforehand because some of them were
obvious and the ones that were less known could also be named in German or French first.
The class could now start to ask questions, except for the question “What is it?”. Since we had
also practiced questions with question words, the asking was not limited to yes/no-questions.
The students had to raise their hands and to be called upon before they could ask a question.
This rule equally applied to those who thought to know the answer. The one who had guessed
correctly could choose the next object.
This approach worked well. The students were curious to see what was hidden under the cloth
and therefore eager to get the answer right so that they would be next to choose something.
Since the continuation of the game depended on them sticking to the rules, the disciplinary
situation was satisfactory. There is one trap in this type of game, though, to which I have not
yet found a solution: those students who had already had a turn to choose an object, had seen
the other covered objects and they had a disproportional advantage over the others. To tell
them not to guess any more is possible, but then they do not have anything to do really for the
remaining game.
After the game, I distributed the vocabulary as pictures, which the students had to glue into
their notebooks, then we would go through the vocabulary once again and label the pictures
with the appropriate English words they had used or heard during the game. I liked the idea of
giving a part of the vocabulary as pictures. In our classes there are also French native speakers
and a picture is ‘understandable’ for both German and French native speakers. In the
subsequent lessons we applied these words in sentences and larger contexts.
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Vocabulary: Everyday Activities
A related theme of our vocabulary were everyday activities. In order to practice these
expressions, I wrote them on a index card. Again, one student could start. The index cards
were upside down on the teacher’s desk. A student would choose one card, and then mime the
expression written on the card, e.g. “you drive a car” or “you play football”. The rest of the
class would guess the expression and the student who got the answer right could come forward
to mime the next action.
In contrast to “everyday objects”, this activity was done after the students had glued the
respective pictures in their notebooks and completed with the corresponding English
expressions. The activity was well received.
Both vocabulary games were fun for the class and the students participated actively and with
motivation. The process of learning these words during the game went almost unnoticed for the
class. At the end of the school year, while repeating what we had learned so far, I was pleased
to realize that the class still knew a lot from the vocabulary themes “Everyday Objects” and
“Everyday Activities”. Throughout the school year we also learned vocabulary the ‘classical’
way: we wrote unknown words from our reader in the notebook, in columns, the students had
to learn these words at home by heart, while I would just test these words in class, from
English into German and vice versa. In comparison, both ways of learning vocabulary worked
well. However, I could not ascertain that the students remembered the vocabulary better when
learned over games or via creative activities, even though the words and verbs that were
learned through games depicted concrete objects and actions. Thus, they are easier to be
remembered than words that carry a more abstract meaning. Among the vocabulary we studied
the more classical way, were quite a number of words like “probably, perhaps, every, ….”. From
the point of view of the learning success, there seemed to be no reason to favor games or
creative activities over a sober drilling.
There are, however, significant differences in the way these two methods enable an adolescent
to gain access to a language. Through a game or an activity that involves a student
emotionally, a much stronger connection is established with the subject and it is towards this
connection, among others, the Rudolf Steiner pedagogy aims for.
Listening Comprehension
This activity involved me in describing a picture and the students in drawing.
The class was divided into groups of three or four students. The groups were seated in different
corners of the classroom so that they could not see what the others were drawing. Each group
got a large white paper with colored pens. I stood in front of the class and described a funny
picture in detail. The groups had to draw what they understood from my description.
The results from this activity were interesting. It was a fun activity for the students in which
each group had enthusiastically participated. As a practice for listening and comprehension this
activity is very suitable. There are aspects that need to be considered though, in order to make
this activity more effective.
The composition of the groups must be thought trough carefully beforehand. I had selected
students of different levels and talents to work together in one group. There are aspects that I
will have to improve next time: The students should draw one after the other while the others
in a group focus on listening and understanding in order to convey details to the one that has
to draw. In this context it is useful not to make the groups too big, so that no student can slip
unnoticed into a non-working state.
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Possessive Pronouns: Playing a Sketch
In order to get more familiar with possessive pronouns and to incorporate them more
automatically into the speaking of the students, we practiced a sketch. The possessive
pronouns had been introduced and understood by the students. In the following lessons we
practiced the sketch “The schoolbag”. The text uses a lot of possessive pronouns and by
rehearsing their parts, the students repeated this chapter of grammar.
There were groups with four students each. Before practicing in groups, we read the text in
class. Then the groups had time to rehearse and also think about how they wanted to act out
their different parts.
The results among the groups varied considerably. The greatest difficulty was that some
students were not able to work responsibly with their group, so that, at one point, we had to
rearrange groups. In the end, when performing their sketch, there were groups with students
who still had difficulty even reading the text and other groups that had learned the text by
heart and that had prepared perfectly with real acting and by having organized all the
necessary props, like school bags, ruler, eraser, books, calculator, etc.
In all, the students liked the possibility to break out of the usual routine of a lesson and
therefore, role playing should be an integral part in a foreign language class. If done seriously,
the students profit a lot from playing sketches and little theatre pieces, especially in foreign
languages because they have to memorize a certain text, they have to speak clearly and loudly
and can gain more self-confidence by having to present a text in the foreign language.
The reason why it did not work out so well in this class was due to the overall disciplinary
situation. At this point, there was a number of students who did not integrate well with the rest
of the class and who did not take their English work seriously enough. This had a repercussion
on the attitude and the effort of others as well.
Games for Repetition
At the end of the school year, I introduced two new games that are suitable for repetition.
The first one is “football on the board”, the second one, “Le petit Chelem”, is taken from a book
about games for French classes (J. Bruchet Collins, “77 kommunikative Spiele”, Stuttgart: Ernst
Klett, 2013).
For both games, I had prepared questions that covered a part of what we had learned:
vocabulary, grammar, little translations, making questions with question words and questions
referring to the content of our reader.
For the game “football on the board”, I had drawn a football field on the board. The class was
divided into two groups, each group had a different color and a magnet in that same color
representing their team. Then each student in each group got a number, so that there were
two students having the same number but belonging to opposite groups. I first asked a
question, then chose a number randomly, and the students with that number had to answer the
questions – the one who gave the answer first, had won a point for his team and the magnet of
his group moved forward towards the opposite goal. The team who first reached the opposite
goal had won.
For the game “Le petit Chelem”, I had drawn a table on the board with 5 columns and 6 rows,
in each rectangle I wrote a number between 1 –30. Each number represented one question.
The class was divided into two teams. One team had to chose a number and then someone to
answer the question that was linked to this number. The one chosen to respond had to answer
by himself without the help of the others. If the reply was correct, the rectangle was marked in
the teams’ color and the team had won a point. If the reply was false, the question was given
to the other team with a chance for getting an additional answer right. The goal was to win
three rectangles horizontally, vertically or diagonally. This would earn the team an additional 3
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bonus points. Each turn meant that someone else in the group had to be chosen to answer a
question.
Both games are ideal for a repetition. The students liked to play and since a point for the team
depended on the students answering correctly, these games also involve a lot of tension and
relieve, which make them fun for the class. The additional challenge in the game “Le Petit
Chelem” is that there is also some strategic thinking involved as to which rectangle is to be
chosen next with the greatest chance of getting three in a row subsequently. Before playing, a
teacher has to pay attention that each group consists of weaker and stronger students equally.
A shortcoming is that weaker students are more likely to be exposed as the ones, who do not
get the answer right and, therefore, do not gain a point for their team.
Arbeitsbeispiel:
Diese sind in den Appendices 1 – 15 enthalten.
Selbstreflexion und Selbstevaluation:
Games and creative activities are very popular among the students. But they require more class
time and a careful preparation, especially with games or activities we design ourselves. You
have to consider the class, the division into groups and the activity itself in its logical and fair
sequence as well as whether all of students will be capable of reasonably participating, and if
they will really all be busy throughout the game or activity. Also the time frame and ending with
potential winners has to be foreseen. The question is what kind of results games and activities
bring forth compared to more classical ways of teaching a language and if such an effort is
justified.
Especially in a grade 6, where the students are still rather childlike and playful, a game or
creative activity works like an open door through which an adolescent can walk through and
advance a little further into the hitherto unknown world and culture, and he will do this with
curiosity, open-mindedness and fun. In contrast, a more rational way of learning always keeps
up a little wall, the intellect, that prevents students to completely connect with the language
and her spirit. If we judge our teaching methods not only over the course of half a year or a
year, but see them in a larger time frame, the method involving not only a student’s intellect
but also the needs of his soul and spirit will bring forth more lasting results and an
understanding on a deeper level that also meets one of the demands of the Rudolf Steiner
pedagogy for foreign languages, namely to build bridges of understanding into other cultures.
Methods that can bind a student also emotionally act like an underlying tissue that is woven and
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is getting stronger with every connection made. Therefore, games and creative activities are a
beautiful way to lead young people into the new world of an unknown language and culture.
Fremdevaluation:
Vor- und Nachname:
Elisabeth Minder
Funktion:
Mentorin
Das Ausbildungsmodul der AfaP fand während des zweiten Unterrichtsjahres von Linda Geckeler
statt. Für jemanden, der vor allem Erwachsene unterrichtet hatte, ging es darum, in einen ganz
anderen pädagogischen Kontext einzutauchen.
Ein Element, das Linda bis dahin wenig genutzt hatte, war das Spiel. In Ergänzung von Praxis
und Theorie, hat sie nach und nach die zahlreichen didaktischen und verbindenden Aspekte, die
ein Spiel bietet, ausprobiert. Ich konnte einerseits feststellen, dass die Klassen positiv auf diese
Art, die Dinge in Angriff zu nehmen, reagiert haben, und andererseits, dass Linda Freude daran
hatte, diese Einheiten vorzubereiten und durchzuführen.
Hinsichtlich der theoretischen Kenntnisse der Menschenkunde, hat dieses Fachmodul Linda eine
sicherere Grundlage gegeben. Während der Mentoratsstunden haben wir die jeweiligen Texte
vertieft. Die Organisation, dass die Seminare in monatlichem Abstand stattfanden, gewährte
eine willkommene Zeit zum Nachdenken und Verinnerlichen.
Im Hinblick auf die persönliche Entwicklung habe ich wahrgenommen, dass Linda besonders den
Kontakt mit den Schülern pflegt. Sie hat es sich sehr zu Herzen genommen, sich persönlich um
jeden Schüler zu kümmern, mit den Jugendlichen während der Pausen zu sprechen, ebenso wie
Stützunterricht zu geben. Dank der Kurse in Sprachgestaltung, hat sie ihre Präsenz vor der
Klasse verstärkt.
Daher freuen wir uns, das Mentorat so abschliessen zu können.
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Name der Studentin/des Studenten:
Linda Geckeler
Studiengang:
Fachmodul Fremdsprachen Englisch
Ort:
AfaP Dornach/RSS Basel
Dokumentierter Zeitraum:
2015-2016
Dozent / Mentor:
Elisabeth Minder
Im Kompetenznachweis sollen Fach-, Methoden-, Sozial- und Selbstkompetenzen erfasst werden,
die Bestandteil des im Portfolio dokumentierten Gesamtrahmens waren. Der Nachweis der
Kompetenzen erfolgt nach Möglichkeit direkt anhand des Portfolios.
Fachkompetenz:
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Studium der Germanistik, Anglistik und Romanistik
Magister-Abschluss in Anglistik und Romanistik (Hauptsprache: Französisch)
Berufserfahrung als Übersetzerin (Englisch-Deutsch)
Langjährige Berufserfahrung als Universitätslektorin für Englisch und Deutsch als
Fremdsprache
Deutsch: Muttersprache
Englisch: Muttersprachliche Kompetenz
Französisch: Sehr gute Kenntnisse
Italienisch/Spanisch: Grundkenntnisse
Koreanisch: Grundkenntnisse
Methodenkompetenz:
 Ausgeprägt systematisches Arbeiten, was für einen logischen Aufbau einer
Unterrichtseinheit hilfreich ist
 Gründliches Arbeiten und Eintauchen in einen Sachverhalt
 Präferenz für die Breite eines Themas
 Analytische Fähigkeiten, Erkennen von Wissenslücken und Schliessen derselben
 Interaktives Unterrichten mit Einbinden von Spielen und kreativen Tätigkeiten
Stand: 24. Mai 2011
7/8
© AfaP, Dornach
Sozialkompetenz:
 Freude an der Unterstützung anderer und Förderung von Schülern
 Eignung und Spass an Teamarbeit
 Akzeptanz anderer Meinungen und Kritik zur Verbesserung der Arbeit
Selbstkompetenz:
 Konzentriertes Arbeiten und Zuverlässigkeit verbunden mit Geduld, Ausdauer und
Hartnäckigkeit
 Optimierte Zeitorganisation
 Bewusstheit meiner Stärken und Schwächen
 Enthusiasmus und Motivation
Unterschrift des Studierenden
Biel, 16.07.2016
Ort und Datum
Stand: 24. Mai 2011
Unterschrift
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© AfaP, Dornach