|
My comments and explanations[1] on the activities observed and tapescripts of four lessons 19th March, 2003 Lesson tapescript and teacher’s personal comments In the lab, after the students sit in groups of two-three in front of their computers. The groups are 10. It takes more than 10 minutes to start working (going to the lab, switching the computer on, start their task). During the first 10 minutes of work they are always asking for help, then they work quietly collaborating with their partner. They are a bit excited about me recording the lesson. The result is that they desperately try to ask me questions...in English, even questions more difficult than their English. Some of them ask their friends who are better at English for help and then they call me and ask me their question in English. I have forgot to tell them to open the online dictionary, but they ask me whether they can use it to check the spelling or other. I think they have realized what a useful tool it is! It has become a usual tool. They seem really involved in typing and correcting the marked mistakes. T: Everybody listen, please! Can we repeat what we said last time, please? Can you tell me again please what you are going to do today? S: We write letters S: Yes you’ll copy your letters T: Which letters? S: the letter we wrote T: The letters YOU have written, and I have corrected, YES! So, what else do you have to do? SS: Correct....... T: Correct THE..... SS: Mistakes T: Yes, correct your mistakes with the help of your..... SS: friends T: If you have any problems, ask me!!! S: Can I use the dictionary? (online dictionary) T: YES. Have you listened to your friend? He asked me: “Can I use the dictionary?” Do you remember the address of the online dictionary? S: Yes!!!! www.wordreference.com T: That’s correct S: Teacher, here there are some problems with the monitor T: Have you switched the computer on? S: Yes T: So, check the wire and the plugs S: Professoressa, che password ci devo mettere qua? T: In English please!!!!! S: Teacher, teacher..... S: …the password..? T: Type the usual password of your class. T: One moment please..... S: Can you come here? T: Yes S: Can you help me? T: Yes I can help you S: Professoressa, io non riesco ad entrare T: It doesn’t work? Wait, you write the user name here and the password here and press this and then this, OK? S: Thank you!!!! S: Excuse me teacher, we have problems.... S: Professoressa... T: In English, you have to ask me in English. It is OK now for you two? S7: Yes T: What are you doing, darling? S: Now, we write T: Ok. Does that computer over there work now? S: No!! T: I don’t know why. Anyway you can work with this group and you can work with the group over there, OK S: OK A bit of confusion for the people changing place because of the problems they have had with their computer T: Now please shut up! I want to hear only the people who want to ask questions, OK? S: Can we speak? T: Oh yes you can speak with your partners, but quietly. S: Excuse me teacher… T: Yes S: Can I have the letter now? The letters have been already written and corrected by me, the mistakes are only underlined T: Oh yes, here they are. Wait a moment. Where are the letters ?... Yes, here they are This is S.’s, pass it please.. this is J.’s, pass it to J. please, this is T.’s, ................. I distribute the letters (5 minutes)T: Now you can start; copy your letters in a word document and correct the mistakes, if you don’t finish writing all the letters, you’ll complete the work next week, OK? S: Teacher, where is my letter? T: Your letter? You don’t have your letter? Can you come here please? See on the table..... S: Teacher!!! I have one problem... T: You have one problem, what is it? S: the keyboard, the keys T: Which keys? Let me see... Oh they are inverted...... they are number keys, you can use the other keys you have here, OK? This is a stupid joke of the students who come here in the lab...... S.: Teacher! T: Yes? S10: This is my letter. T: Ok , now you can start typing it..... The students start writing and I walk around the lab and see what they are doing (35 min) T: very good, very good, yes, you first write, then try to “discover” the mistake and correct it! But quickly!!!!! T: Hey, I want to hear you speaking but only about the mistakes, not about other things......... Now the students call me to check the corrections they have made S: Professoressa. T: In English!!! S: The address of the dictionary? T: You don’t remember the address of the online dictionary? S: Ehhhhh T ( to the class): Do you remember the address of the online dictionary? SS: Yes T: Can you tell your friend, please? S: Allora, www.wordreference.com T: You open it with Internet Explorer and use it! S: Can you come here, please? T: Yes S: Where is the mistake? T: You mean you don’t understand why this word is underlined?
S: yes, where is the mistake? The students discuss about the words underlined, when they speak to one another they mostly use Italian, when they ask me, they use English Now the class is working quietly and the students ask, one at a time, for information about the mistakes underlined. I explain the type of error, sometimes I suggest the correction or give hints to discover the solution of the problem S: Why this is a mistake? T: Why is that a mistake? Well, yes don’t you see? It’s plural….. S: Oh, yes..... The “s”! S: Teacher, where is the mistake? T: Let me see, yes... Are you sure you need “at” if you want to express a movement . How do you say? I go........ (I mime the movement toward a place) S: to... T: Right, this is the mistake S: teacher T: Yes S: Here, “At the 5 o’clock”, Where is the mistake? T: Oh, this is Italian not English. You don’t use the article in English to express the time. How do you say “Ci vediamo alle 2” ? say it in English S: See you.......at two T: Yes at two, no article. I told you, when you write first say it and then write it, when you write you tend to translate Italian, when you speak your English is better S: Excuse me, teacher. T: Yes S: Why is it a mistake? T: Oh, it’s very easy, I don’t tell you. Discuss it with your friend S: Teacher S: Here there is a mistake, why? T: Here? S: Yes T: There is only a problem of spelling, check in the dictionary or you can check the spelling with Word. You select the word and press the right button of the mouse, ok? Have you set the English language before starting the document? S: No T: Do it now. Select what you have written, go to “Strumenti”. Then to “Lingua”, “Imposta lingua” and choose English. Ok, Now you can check the spelling of your words. S: Teacher I write rabit, “coniglio”, and is a mistake.... T: How did you write it? Can you spell it? S: R _ A _ B _ I _T T: Oh, yes, it’s wrong, double b, rabbit has got double b T: Hey Everybody... Use the dictionary and control the spelling of the words, you make a lot of spelling mistakes..... Set the English language if you want to check the spelling with Word S: Come si fa? T: How? Please M., can you come here for a moment and show your friends how to set the English language in Word? S: Teacher T: Well, let me see. Yes when I write this symbol there is something missing, discuss with your friend how you can complete this sentence S: teacher, and here? T: Oh Here there is too much. In English you say ask me, answer me, no “to”, OK? S: OK, yes, no to S: Professoressa, però.... T: In English please T: yes, what do you want to ask me? S: what’s the spelling of “ABOUT”? T: It’s A_B_O_U_T S : Thank you S: what the address…? T: You mean of the dictionary, again? S: I Can’t...... T: You can’t open it? S: Yes T: Let me see, How do you write the address? The students write it on the Internet Explorer page, www.worldreference.com. T: Here is the mistake, It’s word (W_O_R_D) not world (W_O_R_L_D). Do you know the difference between word and world? S: World is “mondo”, word....... T: Ok, now you can open the dictionary and see...... S: Dov’è sbagliata qua? T: In English… S: Where is the mistake? T: Here? S: Yes T: As usual... You write “two” and then this is singular (two hobby), two is not one, it is not singular, two is plural so... S: Ah, la S.... T: Yes The “s”. Write the plural of hobby please... The student writes “Hobbys”S: Are you sure? S: No, no, devo mettere ies? T: You have consonant and y, so you change the y into i and then you add es, like in babies, do you remember? S: Yes, yes S: Teacher, can you come here? T: Yes. Coming... what do you need? S: Here: “he can speaks English.....” T: Yes, it’s wrong. S: Perchè? E’ terza persona T: You say 3rd person, yes, but not after “can". Don't you remember? I can swim, you can swim, she or he can swim, can wants only the base form after it, so ...no s, no change S: And here? I write “I didn’t went...” It’s past tense T: Yes, it’s past tense and negative. You have did, that is the auxiliary of the past and then you can’t use another past tense, so the verb is in the base form “I didn’t GO” S: Professoressa....teacher...come on T: O yes, come on....what do you need? S: Why they are mistake? T: Why are they mistakes? These are the names of the subjects you study at school, it is better you write them with the capital letters, it’s only this T: Now, EVERYBODY LISTEN TO ME PLEASE!!!!! When you have finished save your letter in your….. SS: Personal folder T: Yes, and the name of your file will be .....can you listen to me, please? In the name of the file use the date of today. What is the date? SS: 19 march T: Yes, 19th of March and then write “letter”, so the name will be “19 march letter”. Save the file “19 March letter” in your personal folder. OK? S: Teacher T: Yes S: Where is the mistake? T: “How many brothers are you”? Are you? You need the verb “TO HAVE”. How many brothers do you.... S: ...have? How many brothers do you have... yes T: Ahhhh S: Teacher. Can I write “in the biennio”. What’s the English for “biennio”? T: Yes write “biennio” and then in paretheses write first and second years of secondary school T: So, have you finished? SS: YES T: What is the name of your file? SS: 19 March letter T: Yes this is the name of the file. And where have you saved it? S: In my personal folder T: Where? SS: in my personal folder T: Have you saved your file in your personal folder? SS: Yes T: Sure? Which number is your folder? S: 11 T: OK T: Have you finished? SS: Yes In the final part of the lesson the students are a bit tired and use Italian more. And there is a bit of confusion while they are saving the files and shutting down the computers T: Ok. Now, I’ll give you these papers. Answer the questions in the paper in Italian. I need them for the research I told you. Don’t write your name in the paper and feel free to answer what you want, sincerely. OK? SS: OK. In Italiano? T: Yes, in Italian SS: Sono domande difficili? T: Oh no, It’s not a test. Just some questions to know your impressions on the lesson of today. OK? The students answer and go out as this is the last lesson of the day (5 minutes) 27th March, 2003 Teacher’s personal comments
The students, in pairs or in groups of three, produce Word documents with the materials created during the previous English + Maths lessons (a page with the four operations, a page with the definitions created, a page for each word problem resolved according to a scheme devised in class – problem, table, equation, results, reasoning). The teacher repeat briefly what they have to do, the students work and from time to time they ask the teacher for help. They use the online dictionary. The documents will be completed in the next lesson. Beginning of the lesson: they already know how to open Word as they have used it to write their letters since the beginning of the year. The pairs are formed trying to put together students more expert in using computers with less expert ones. The page to write have been already assigned, so when they enter the lab, each student knows what he/she has to do. As usual they ask me in English but most of the exchanges when they discuss in pairs are in Italian!!!! They copy from their copybooks, and most of the questions are about points that they have to make more explicit in the Word document (Ex: the reasoning part of the word problems, a definition they want to add, the definition of equation, as in class we made only the definitions of variable and expression). They mostly ask me to check the new parts they have written.
2nd April, 2003 Lesson tapescript and teacher’s personal comments In this lesson the students (in pairs) will do different tasks. Some students will finish writing their letters and correct the mistakes in order to complete the work of the previous lesson in the lab, the others will complete their Word documents containing the Maths problems done in class with the teacher of Mathematics and other documents about the mathematical operations, lexis and definitions created in class in order to complete the work started in the previous Maths-English lesson. A few students that have finished these works (letters or documents) will enter the forum of www.eslcafe.com and see whether they have received replies to their messages or write replies to messages they choose. In the beginning of the lesson I ask each group what they are doing. The class is very quiet and the students answer and communicate to me and to the class what their task is for today. (10 minutes) T: OK, who of you needs the letters to copy? S: Me S: Me T: Do you need the letter? S: Yes T: So take your letters..... T: Who has to finish the Word documents with the problems of Mathematics? S: Can you repeat? T: Yes, I repeat. Who has to finish the problems, the Maths problems? To finish writing the problems? S: I don’t SS: We do T: Which problem? Do you remember the name of the problem? S: The problem is “Granny” T: Alright . What is the point you are at? S: Reasoning, the last part T: OK, complete it. T: Marco, what are you doing? S: Ehhhhh T: Think about what to say and tell me. What are you doing? S: I finish ...the document ...about the problem T: Which problem? S: Ehhh.... T: Which problem? S: Mathematical problem T: Yes, but which problem ...the one about the coins, about the age of the people... S: About the coins T: Ah, about the coins, the problem of the coins, very good T: F., what are you two doing? S:...... T: Sorry? What are you doing? S: the forum T: So, you are going to write into the forum..., OK T: And you? What are you doing? S: I am writing my letter. T: Your letter, yes you are copying you letter, typing you letter, yes.. T: F. and M., what are you two doing? S: We are ....copy the problem T: Yes, you are copying the problem..... Which problem? S: The problem Of Maths T: Yes.. of Maths.. in particular? S: Mary and John T: Very good, the problem of Mary’s and John’s age T: And what are you two doing, darling? S: We are copying my letter T: Very good T: S., what are you doing? S: I’m going, ehhh..... T: You’re going...... S: ...to the forum T: Yes. To the forum, alright. Ok, now please work!!! If you need some help, ask me. The students work quietly, everybody is involved in what he has to do. The pairs talk to each other...in Italian, from time to time they ask me for help. (40 minutes) S: Teacher. T: Yes S: Can you help me? T: Yes, of course, tell me S: I write “X= wrong answers” T: Yes... if you write in this very synthetic way a person who reads interprets the symbol and says: x is equal to the wrong answers, or x represents the wrong answers, But I think that in the Reasoning part you should write the complete sentence in words, without mathematical symbols, what do you think? I mean you are telling a sort of tale, so use words.... S: OK T (to all): If you want now, make your Maths document beautiful, I mean choose a background, insert images ...whatever you want. If you want, ask me for help! S: Teacher T: Tell me S: For a person “How are you”, for many....? T: These persons are in front of you? S: .... no...... T: Who are they? S: my efriends.. T: Are you writing to them? S: Yes T: So, they are in front of you...in the fantasy T: Are you writing to many people? S: Two people T: Two people S: Yes T: The question is “How are you?”, the same T (to all): If you need help, ask me. S: teacher T: yes tell me, L. S: Do you like...? T: Let me see. Yes, beautiful ......“Translation from English to mathematical expression”.... Good title.....write “expressions” because they are many, ok? Very beautiful page!!!! Good. The students finish their works T: Next time we’ll do a wonderful activity... yes I have a wonderful exercise for you!!!! Next time ... do you want to know about next time? Do ..you...want...to...know...about...next...time? S: Next time?!?! T: Yes, next time S: La prossima volta? T: Yes T: We can….we can do a sort of game S: Gioco? T: Yes a game... a creative game. I’ll give you a mathematical equation, here, in the lab, a very simple equation ..... for example 3x+2 = 4 and you have to invent a story or a situation that is a possible translation of the equation into words, OK? That is the English translation of the mathematical equation... a science fiction story, a love story, a horror story, a story of the past...about Napoleon or.... The students seem a bit worried. I don’t think they have understood very well what they are expected to do, anyway we’ll see next time.... The last five minutes are for the usual questionnaire about the lesson of today.
Teacher’s personal comments
In the beginning of the lesson, in the lab, the students are given a Website address where they will find a lot of simple mathematical equations to solve in one passage, the immediate correction of them and hints they can use to have help. I shortly discuss with them about the webpage we have opened, so that they can find the relevant parts of it and the ones that are particularly useful for the activity they have to do, for example the links they’ll have to use (“score”, “score and show answers”, “get a different set of questions” “show hint”. I try to make them guess the meaning from the context, some of them immediately open the online dictionary to have the Italian translation, other click on the links and deduce the meaning from observing the content of the page that the links open. We discuss a bit about the word “hint”, of which they don’t know the meaning. Then, when they understand how to use the page, they start doing the exercises and go on and on through several sets of equations up to the end of the lesson. The questions are only about mathematics, only a few times about English, I have the impression that after the starting explanation of the activity and the Website, they have forgot they are using a resource in English. They ask indifferently me or the Maths teacher about the problems they encounter in resolving the equations. The questions are exclusively about the equations, about calculations, signs, in a word about mathematics, not about English. I think this is positive because they are using English in its natural role, that it conveying meaning, messages about a content. The content is the focus, the language is the means by with they discover the content. Indirectly they are handling a lot of English, when they read quickly to find how to start a new set of equations, when they click on the score link, when they read the hints to find out where they have made the mistakes. They tend more to use Italian when they speak to one another, because they are considering it a lesson of Mathematics, but most of them use English, or are “forced” to do it by me, when they are talking to me.
Lesson tapescript and teacher’s personal comments In Class before going to the lab I remind the students the activities they can choose - the completion of the Word documents of Mathematics for the students who have already finished them, the forum activity. Then I ask a pair of students who have finished their documents to create a home page by using FrontPage to insert into the School Website, containing the presentation and the menu of the Maths pages they have created, so that we can publish our Maths works on the Internet. Finally I ask another pair of students to copy and paste all the letters written by their friends in a unique Word document, so that we can send them to our efriends in a unique attachment. When we go to the lab every pair of students know what they have to do. In the lab: T: First of all, let’s repeat quickly your tasks... F. and M., what are you doing? S: We doing ....a copy of the letters...and a ...in one file T: In one file, yes...Which letters? S: The letters of...the class T: The letters of the class, yes and then we’ll send them to... S: to....efriends T: Yes to our efriends! T: And you? What are you two doing? S: We write letter T: Do you have to write your letters or messages on the forum? S: letters T: the letters to your American efriends? S: Yes I copy my letters for American efriends T: J., what are you doing? S: I ... use the file where I ... there is my message T: Are you going to use the forum? S: Yes T: Do you remember the address of the forum? S: Yes T: What is it? T: Very good... F. and D., what are you doing? S: we ... doing.. a message T: a message for the forum? S: yes T: I remind you that before writing a new message for the forum you have to find the messages sent and received and put them into the file with all your messages that is in your personal folder S: But.. we don’t have messages T: New messages for you? S: Yes T: So you only write today? S: Yes, we write messages... T: Ok... M. and L. what are you two doing? S: we work to the forum and we...write...letters T: if you have a new message..... S: we copy and.... T: ... and PASTE it S: in Word.... T: Yes, in your Word file... Have you got a Word file with the old messages? S: Yes... T: M. and A., what are you two doing? S: We must write a message for the forum T: Have you got any new messages? S: I don’t know T: You don’t know, If you have please COPY and PASTE, everybody listen to me please, these are the English terms for “Copia” e “Incolla”, OK? PASTE, a new word... T: What are you doing? S: Teacher? T: Yes? S: I can’t open FrontPage... T: Let me see, yes, FrontPage doesn’t work on this computer... I think this is a problem of this computer...try another one. That one over there, OK? I’m sure.. I was using FrontPage in the previous lesson and it worked....Please, try another one... T: what are you doing? S: We are writing a message T: If you have new messages... S: Yes, I copy and... T: and? S: ...paste in the file of Word T: Yes, right! You select, copy and paste the new messages in your file T: S. and S., what are you doing? S: We...... T: We...? S: do the forum... T: What are you doing on the forum? S: I discuss....with... my friends T: Yes, you are discussing with your friends on the forum T: If you have new messages... S: We save my messages T: Well, you save ...you don’t really save... What do you do? S: Ah yes, I paste... T: Yes you copy and paste the messages in the file you have in your personal folder...OK? T: Does it work? S: Yes, It’s working now T: I’m sure it’s a problem of that computer not a network’s problem...I told you I was using Front Page with the other class just in the lesson before... S: Can I..... have my letter? T: You need your letter, why? Haven’t you finished to copy your letters? S: No, because.....I was not at school..... T: Oh sorry, I thought you all had finished, I don’t have your letters now.... You can enter the forum and write messages, OK? I’ll take it next time, OK? I can’t reproduce the scripts of the exchanges occurring among the students as I should have used as many recorders as the pairs in the class, what I can say is that the students now are working and talking about what they are doing. I can understand some words in English and some words (more) in Italian, there’s a sort of background “noise” composed of all these exchanges, but not an unpleasant noise... from time to time they ask me for help. S: teacher, teacher.. S: teacher.. T: Yes.. wait a moment please... Yes tell me... S: is it....rotto?... non funziona.... T: It doesn’t work again… I don’t know why… I don’t know why…. Are you sure it doesn’t work? S: Yes ...doesn’t work T: Professoressa.... T: In English please!!! S: Teacher can you come here please? T: Yes... I can. Just a moment please... Try this computer... maybe it works here, OK? Now I try with my password....No there is the same problem even with my password.. I don’t know what has happened... I don’t know S: It works here.. T: Does it work there? Yes? OK, Good..... S: ... Teacher... T: Yes, tell me... S: Hey... I don’t think you are talking in English.... You have to exchange ideas in English... OK? S: Teacher.. T: Yes... S: we can’t ... find the letter of F. ... T: F., have you saved you letter in the letters’ folder? S: No ... T: Where is it? S: No, I was not at school.... T: When? S: When..... the classwork T: Oh, when we did the classwork you were not at school S: yes T: Ok, so if you want to send your letter to the American efriends you have to write it at home... Do you want to send your letter with the others? S: yes.. T: Ok, so do it as a homework and then I’ll correct it. When are you going to take it at school? S: Tomorrow... T: Ok, tomorrow... The students go on working and talking.... S: Teacher... a boy from Portorico... wrote ... a message... T: Oh, a boy from Puerto Rico has written a message to you!!!! S: Yes , to me... a reply T: Fantastic!!!! What’s his name? S: Niky T: And what does he speak about in his message? S: about a film.... Fast and Furious...... T: What kind of film is it? S: It’s about vampires, witches, but it is comic..... like Scary Movie T: Do you like this kind of film? S: Yes.... because it’s horror and comic S: Teacher... T: Yes.....What do you want? S: We have problems.....many problems...... T: Many problems!!!! S: we don’t have.....the document... T: the document you are writing? It has disappeared, oh my god!!!! Let me see..... Maybe it’s at the bottom of the screen, maybe you’ve minimized it... yes...here it is!!! S: Teacher... T: yes.. S: Where I save the document...with the messages? T: Where do you save your file?... LISTEN TO ME EVERYBODY.... Where do you save your personal files? SS: in “Studenti su Fermi” ( The name of the server) ......Class 1clst..... T: Class 1 C lst... and then? SS: my folder... T: Yes, your personal folder... J. what’s your folder? S: Number three T: Yes, number three... OK? And what is the name of your file? S: It’s.... forum messages T: OK Some questions are about words they need for writing their messages.... S: Excuse me teacher... T: Yes? S: What’s the English for “entrambi”? T; Both... B-o-t-h, ok? S: teacher , what’s the English for “dittatore”? T: Dictator, like....terminator... d-i-c-t-a-t-o-r S: Teacher, what’s the English for “competere”? T: It’s to compete, c-o-m-p-e-t-e During the last minutes of the lesson, the students, as usual, answer the questionnaire in Italian. 24th April, 2003Lesson tapescript and teacher’s personal comments
T: we are recording another lesson. Everything in English to me, and in Italian to the other teachers, OK? Maths teacher: questo computer non funziona, che deve fare? T: Use another one (as the students work in pairs there are some workstations available) T: Listen to me, please… These are the instructions for the lesson of today…listen carefully because I won’t repeat…today we’ll use another Website . I’m going to write the address on my computer and you’ll see it on the screen. This new Website is about word problems.. What does “word problem” mean in Italian? S: Problema T: Not only… SS: …con le parole T: Yes!!! A problem expressed with words. You have to read and comprehend it, then follow the steps, the operations that the Website suggests…So you have to read and understand…and do what the instructions on the page tell you. If you don’t know some words you can use the online dictionary or ask me for help. What is the address of the online dictionary? SS: vu- vu-vu... T: vu vu vu is Italian… SS : w-w-w dot T: Yes, that’s right, and then? SS: wordreference dot com T: So, first of all you open wordreference.com, and you’ll have your dictionary, if you don’t understand some instructions you can find the words on the dictionary…… and now let’s open the new Website of Mathematics … Now I’m going to write it here… and then you do the exercises… If you want to ask me, ask me in English if you want to ask the Maths teachers you can ask in Italian, OK? SS: OK While I’m writing the address, the students open the dictionary and then they copy the long address of the page that we’ll use today, some of them have problems because they make mistakes in copying the address T: Can you see it? SS: Yes T: Ok…. This is the new address S: First… we must open …..wordreference? T: Yes… you open two pages, wordreference and this new website… When you are ready tell me, well, tell us… T: Ready? S: No S: No T: You have to type it correctly S: Professoressa ma word reference tutto attaccato? S: yes, one word “wordreference” T: ready? S: No T: A., are you ready? S: Yes T: L., are you ready? S: Yes T: Z.? S: No, T: You are not ready…. T: M.? S: No, I’m not ready T: What are you doing? S: We are typing.. T: You are typing….. what? S: The address of the site of Mathematics T: F., are you ready? S: No, T: F.? S: Yes T: J.? S: Yes In the meantime the assistant of Maths is speaking with two students who are not doing what I have said but are trying to open a file from a floppy: it’s the file that one of them has completed, containing the homepage of their Maths work, the teacher thinks it’s something not related to school activities, but I tell him what it is and tell the students that it is not the case they do this now, because the activity of today is just doing algebra exercises. The control and management of the the class in the lab is an important aspect of the lesson planning, as some students autonomously may decide to do …… something else. T: Now you are ready, you must be ready in two seconds…hurry up!!! T: Have you opened the page? SS: Yes T: This is the webpage, you have it in front of you, don’t you? SS: Yes T: Now look at the page. This is the page we have opened. Can you please see what are the main elements in this page? In your opinion … observe the page.. what does it contain? What is in the page? SS: The problems… SS: word problems SS: the problems of words SS: the problem of Mathematics T: Yes, some problems…composed of words T: How many problems? You can scroll down and see how many they are… How many are they, only one? S: No S: Many S: Eight T: Yes, some.. You said eight T: Now we choose one, which one? the first of course, let’s start from the first, can you observe it please? Look at the link “Solve this problem interactively” , can you translate this sentence, please? What is the meaning of “solve this problem interactively”? S: problemi interattivi S: ….risolvi T: Yes, risolvi, svolgi…this problem interative-ly S: interattivamente Y: Ok.. What is the meaning of interactive or interactively, what does it mean? If you don’t know how to say it in English you can say it in Italian… che significa interattivamente? In Italiano, a parole vostre, che significa interattivamente? S: che interagisci T: E cioè, che vuol dire che interagisci? S: Che comunichi.. S: che partecipi….. S: che sei coinvolto T: Si, che sei coinvolto, che anche voi siete coinvolti nella… SS: soluzione… T: Bisognerà seguire quello che ci dice di fare, ma noi dobbiamo partecipare.., OK? This is an interactive exercise… The computer proposes something, but you have to choose, to give your contribution, Ok? Now click on this link… “Solve this problem interactively” …Ok, this is the first problem… read the problem … you.. Maths teacher: Allora leggete il problema… ricordate che è con una incognita… S: Una sola vero? Maths T: Si, una sola.. T: Let’t do the first one together and then you’ll work alone, OK? Can you read please? S: “The sum of three consecutive number is 18. What are these numbers?” This is the question. What are these numbers? Well, interactively…follow the instructions . What is the first instruction M.? S: “Begin…solving this problem” T: Yes, “Begin solving this problem”, and you click on it… you click on “begin”… T: Vediamo come il computer ce lo fa risolvere… “Begin” T: Step 1, can you see Step 1? SS: Yes T: “Now, you need to identify the unknown”, it’s a new word…unknown …it’s the same as to say variable … unknown … what can be the meaning of unknown? S: Sconosciuto T: Yes, that is what we say in Italian in…. SS: incognita T: Yes, so we can say variable but we can say also unknown, new word…. “We must identify the unknown”, quindi il primo passo per risolvere il problema come al solito è quello di identificare…. SS: la variabile… T: Qui dice l’incognita, cioè stabiliamo che cosa è l’incognita T: Let’s read the definition of unknown that is in this Webpage. “An unknown… An unknown is a quantity … a quantity …. or a value….that your problem requires you to find out or the quantity that is necessary to find out in order to obtain the solution” Oppure che cosa è? Cerchiamo di tradurre questo ultimo pezzettino, che è importante? S: è una quantità…che è necessaria per risolvere il problema T: Si, che magari non è la soluzione ma che è necessaria per trovare la soluzione Maths teacher: si, che ti può servire per trovare la soluzione del problema T: There’s an important verb that is repeated twice… “To find out”, new verb that is to say “discover”, scoprire not in the sense of discover America like Columbus, scoprire in the sense of ragionare ed arrivare a risolvere … so what is the unknown of this problem? And you have two possibilities…. “Please choose one answer”: 1 - “The first number is the unknown.” 2 - “The second and third numbers are equal to the value of the first plus one and two respectively” 3 - “The sum of these numbers”. SS: The first, the first T: Can you translate what it says? S: Allora, il primo numero è l’incognita T: E di conseguenza posso ricavarmi il secondo e il terzo? Che dice a proposito del secondo e del terzo? SS: il valore del secondo e il terzo numero è uguale al valore del primo più uno o due. T: Avete capito? Ss: no SS: Si T: Come devono essere i numeri? SS: consecutivi T: E quindi? Per esempio? S: Per esempio 4 5 e 6 Maths teacher: 4 5 e 6 , si, allora 5 lo ottengo facendo 4 più 1, 6 lo ottengo facendo 4 più due… è chiaro? Se io chiamo x il primo, gli altri li trovo facendo più 1 e più 2 T: Yes, because the keyword is “consecutive” T: So… “try your answer”, click on it… Ahhh, you are right, the first option is right T: Note….. vogliamo vedere quello che ci dice di notare? Note that there is a definite relationship between the first, the second and the third numbers , c’è una relazione definita, precisa, e l’avete detto voi, la relazione che c’è tra questi tre numeri e che sono consecutivi e quindi ripete “. The second and third numbers are equal to the value of the first plus one and two respectively” You are right Maths teacher: quindi il primo è x, il secondo è x più uno e il terzo è x più due T: adesso potete anche fare da soli, qual è l’altra istruzione da clikkare? SS: Proceed T: Yes, proceed, what does it mean? SS: Procedi T: Yes, continue, go on…. What is the step now? Step number….? SS: Two T: Two. You proceed and go to step two, ok… “So we denoted the first number as X, Now, What is the equation that the problem gives us? A questo punto dobbiamo tirar fuori…che cosa? SS: L’equazione S: Ho fatto progressi, professoressa T: Brava… What is the equation, so what do we have to write now? Che cosa dobbiamo scrivere adesso? SS: L’equazione T: How many choices do you have? SS: Two SS: The second, the second T: Ok, you say the second…so, try your answer… Ohh, you are right “As we said earlier, there is a defined relation between the first, second and third number. If the first is X, then the second is X plus 1, the third is X plus 2. Writing down their sum we have, X + (X+1)+(X+2), since the problem tells us that their sum is 18, everything is equal to… SS: 18 T: Yes, … and this is the equation , OK? Proceed now! T: Ahhh, now we have the equation, and from the equation we have the…. SS: the solution SS: the result T: Ok, now, following the same steps you can resolve the other problems, OK? The students all work, quite silently in the beginning, then they start discussing in Italian because they speak about the problems and the reasoning they have to do, and this is often difficult to do it in English, they tend to read the problem and the alternative answers in English aloud. Some of them quickly resolve the other problems as they click immediately on the options/answers and skip the explanations, also because if their answer is wrong they can go backward and choose the alternative solution. Some follow the steps and read all the instructions and notes. Some of them ask questions about the comprehension of the problem and the answers suggested. They tend to ask me in English and ask the Maths teachers in Italian. The interaction contained in the page can become mechanic exercise of clicking and coming back if the students are not well motivated to understand the reasons of their choices. For this reason the Maths teachers and I tell the class that next time they will do the problems again on their exercise-books, without any suggestions, so we hope now they will pay more attention to the instructions and the notes of explanation. S: Excuse me, teacher! What is the meaning of “even”? T: Attention please everybody. One moment, One moment, can you listen to me one moment? “Even” and “odd”. Do you know what are the even numbers and the odd numbers? SS:…… T: They are new words… and they are necessary to resolve one of the problems…So, the numbers can be even or odd . I give you some examples: two is even and one is odd, three is odd and four is even SS: Numeri pari SS: Pari e dispari T: Yes, even is pari, odd is dispari, remember them…even and odd S: Exceed…? T: The meaning of “exceed”? S: Yes… T: It’s a verb.. It means “eccedere, superare..” Check on wordreference.. It is difficult to reproduce all the exchanges in the class (that are many) between students and teachers and among the students as they are contemporaneous. There is a sort of “chaos” but they all work. Some of the students finish all the problems and navigate through the site to find other problems. And they find them. In the end of the lesson the students and the two maths teachers fill in the questionnaires. [1] My comments and explanations are in italics; they were written during the lessons and while re-listening to the recordings. The Italian words in the tapescripts are written in red.
|