After a casual online search, the evaluation of Swiss education is like this.
Hearsay is always hearsay, and what we usually see is only the "halo" of these reports. Why is the educational achievement of this small country among the top in the world? As a bystander, most people can't see the details behind it, including myself.
Until my children go to school here. .........
Small details in local teaching constantly refresh my "three views" of being a teacher in China for more than ten years.
The teacher "doesn't correct" the child's spelling mistakes!
19 12 years, the teacher will arrange some writing exercises, such as writing short stories by looking at pictures, or giving the beginning of the story, and then let the students use their imagination to write the story completely.
Several times I found that Haha's short story was really well written, but some words were misspelled. What surprised me even more was that the teacher didn't correct these spelling mistakes, but only wrote "Sehr gut!" (Very good).
I used to wonder how the teacher was so careless that the students didn't correct their spelling mistakes!
Later, in the communication with the teacher, I also raised my own doubts.
The teacher's answer is this: Don't worry, our main task at this stage is to cultivate children's imagination and expressive ability. As long as children can express themselves correctly, that's enough. As for spelling, it's normal for children to make mistakes when they are just learning. In the future, with the improvement of my ability, there will be fewer and fewer mistakes. If you always stare at children's individual spelling mistakes, it will often dampen their enthusiasm for writing, and they may be afraid to write or no longer willing to write.
Looking back on my own teaching experience, I have absolutely zero tolerance for students' spelling mistakes. When correcting students' homework, you will never let go of any small mistakes and punctuation marks! We believe that this is a teacher's conscientious performance.
In fact, the teacher's "intentional neglect" really encouraged students to write and express their desire and continue to write with confidence. With continuous practice, the spelling accuracy is also improving.
This is an idea that I have never found before.
In the same class, students actually do different homework!
Haha, in the first grade, there is little homework. Since the second grade, I occasionally take my homework home, and most of them finish exercises in class. At first, I thought that every child's homework was the same. Later, I found out from Haha's mouth and communication with other parents that this was not the case. The basic exercises in class are the same, but children with better ability may finish the tasks assigned by the teacher quickly. At this time, the teacher will do another exercise for the students who have finished first according to the situation.
In other words, children in the same class will do different homework, including different quantities and difficulties. Such uneven requirements do take into account the differences of individual students, which will neither make the children with high ability bored while waiting, nor make the children with slow pace feel pressure.
Teachers usually take a grade for many years, so they have prepared very rich resources at this level. These resources are filed according to the degree of difficulty, and children can complete one exercise at their own pace before applying for the next difficult exercise.
If a student's ability can't keep up with the basic learning requirements of this grade, the teacher will suggest repeating the grade. If a student's ability has greatly exceeded the learning requirements of this grade, he will be advised to skip a grade. Haha, at the end of the second grade, someone suggested that I skip the fourth grade. At the same time, two students continued to repeat their studies in the second grade.
It is normal to repeat or skip a grade, but they will carefully observe and collect all aspects of children's data, and then discuss the pros and cons with parents and children themselves many times before making a decision.
After haha advanced placement, I deeply realized that the teachers here really pay attention to the differences between students' learning and development in teaching, and carry out differentiated teaching in a targeted manner, so that each student can develop their strengths and avoid their weaknesses and get the best development.
At this time, a familiar idiom suddenly came to my mind: teach students in accordance with their aptitude!
Isn't this the "teaching students in accordance with their aptitude" proposed by our great educator Confucius, which is difficult for many front-line teachers to implement?
The teaching idea put forward by Confucius more than 2000 years ago has actually been implemented in Swiss classrooms!
In a class, the students actually said more than the teacher!
Swiss schools, like us, have regular parents' visiting days every semester. On this day, parents can sit in the classroom with students and watch classes.
As I have been standing on the podium for more than ten years, the biggest feeling after each parent visit day is, why do the teachers here talk so little? Every class is basically explained in the first ten minutes, and then students do exercises. In these exercises, there are not only copying and writing, but also speeches and group discussions of individual students ... The classroom atmosphere can be said to be noisy and orderly, and all students can participate.
Looking back on my teaching career, a class lasts for 45 minutes. I am willing to spend 45 minutes explaining it to the students in detail, but I am worried that the students will not learn.
However, even though I tried my best to tell every knowledge point to the students without reservation, the final teaching effect was not proportional to my efforts, which once made me very depressed and unfulfilled.
Teachers, parents and students are used to it, and it takes 45 minutes to attend class. If you talk less and practice more, you will feel that the teacher is "inaction".
In Swiss classrooms, children have been used to it since grade one. The demonstration is only ten minutes, and the remaining sixty or seventy minutes are spent exploring and completing exercises by yourself or a group. (Generally, a class lasts 90 minutes)
The children's weekly plan is full of learning contents of various subjects, but they can ensure that they can finish them in an orderly way in class and rarely need to take their homework home.
How to realize your educational dream without the system?
After contacting the local teaching methods in Switzerland, I rekindled the passion of entering the front line of education at the beginning of the year.
If I can't realize my educational dream because of various objective constraints within the system, then I will try my best to realize it after getting rid of them.
Since the establishment of TAPAI Foreign Languages, the Swiss educational model has been influencing my educational thoughts. In curriculum design, various activities design, classroom form and so on. We will consider how to combine our domestic situation before we can integrate into these humanized teaching methods in Switzerland.
Follow the law of language learning and return to the method of mother tongue learning.
I have taught English by myself for more than ten years, and I am well aware of the suffering of the traditional learning mode.
On the premise that children in Britain and America can listen and speak, teachers can "tolerate" students' spelling mistakes at the beginning of their studies. Why should our students be required to spell and write completely and accurately on the basis of unheard of? Teachers' zero tolerance for spelling mistakes undoubtedly leads to most students reciting and plagiarizing, and their listening, speaking and reading exercises are seriously inadequate, thus creating "dumb" English and losing interest in English learning.
Listening, speaking, reading and writing, which should be written in the last step, has been bothering children since kindergarten, copying letters, words and sentences mechanically and repeatedly, doing meaningless useless work and polishing children's interest in learning.
In the years when I studied German and English with Haha, I never asked her to do spelling exercises, but after accumulating a certain foundation of listening and reading, I can easily transition to the stage of correct spelling.
In the tower card class, I no longer ask students to practice calligraphy, follow the natural law of language learning, and first get through their ears and mouths. I heard it was the first step.
Strengthen students' "will" and weaken "not yet"
Being exposed to a new language for the first time is a great challenge for every student.
In this period, it is very important to help students build their self-confidence and keep their interest in learning.
At the parent-teacher meeting, I will repeatedly emphasize that we should keep an eye on what the children are doing right, even if the children are only 20% right, we should cheer for the right 20%.
Mother tongue learning does not depend on the language we know to translate and assist learning. It is normal to guess wrong, but as long as students study, they can gradually improve through constant guessing.
And we said to one or two-year-old children, "Baby, it's so cold, let's not go out to play, ok?" "The child said," go. "In this sentence reply, whether already let us ecstatic?
Similarly, when learning a new language, children can gain a greater sense of accomplishment if they can keep a heart of discovering surprises.
A successful online course should not only help children grow up, but also help parents grow up.
Give up the requirement of unified learning progress and set no limits on students.
I have invited some old classmates, colleagues and seniors from the English training industry to experience our courses. After reading our course content, many people put forward a suggestion to me: according to the course content of Little Tata, it is several times that of traditional institutions. You can charge more tuition for this course. As long as you start the course step by step, you can charge the current price for one year.
From the perspective of institutional interests alone, this can indeed be done. However, isn't this the traditional learning mode? Unified learning progress and controlled teaching set limits for students.
We offer all courses and try to motivate learners. Learners can learn a foreign language within a year, or they can keep a certain pace, and it takes three to five years to get a real introduction. Really "I am the master of learning".
Prepare enough resources to meet the needs of students with different abilities.
Our students are five or six-year-old children, primary school students, junior high school students, students with zero foundation in English and students with good foundation. How can we take care of all learners and meet learners with different ability levels?
Then you need to prepare enough resources!
For example, in the singing camp, we prepared super simple songs for younger children, and catchy children's songs such as English pop songs for older children, so that everyone can find their own songs.
For example, for the breakthrough of natural spelling, we have prepared a number of different sets of natural spelling tutorials, such as phonics kids, Magic Phonics, Oxford natural spelling and other resources to help children pass round after round, supplemented by graded reading of natural spelling, to help learners truly internalize the laws of natural spelling in reading.
Similarly, we have prepared enough resources to attract children, such as graded reading, chapter novels, etc., and give different learning guidance according to their learning progress.
Let every child who wants to learn find suitable learning resources and respect the learning rhythm of each child.
A lot of introductory preparations we make are aimed at leading children to read classics and explore the world.
Extensive reading is the king of language learning, and reading is lifelong. We use the best reading resources to stimulate children's reading enthusiasm and let reading enrich their lives.
Abandoning "Full Hall Irrigation" and Realizing Flip Classroom
In the classroom in Switzerland, the teacher only makes simple demonstrations, and the children discuss and study in groups and finish their homework independently. Finally, the teacher checked to see the degree of mastery, and there was no "full house irrigation" in the whole process. This gave me great inspiration.
Real mastery depends on learners' learning and understanding, and teachers need to play an important leading role.
Therefore, in the counseling session, we give priority to guidance and inspiration, and then give as many classes as possible to children and parents.
Teaching is the best learning! As far as specific courses are concerned, as long as they are children who have studied, they can teach children who have not studied; Parents who have studied can also share it with parents who have not studied. Through the sharing form of parents and the display form of students, whether online or offline, the classroom has been turned over and good learning results have been achieved.
Close observation, in-depth thinking, absorbing the essence from Swiss education, reflecting on our education, combining Chinese and western, building our own language learning system and forming our own characteristic guidance system. We let children be children again, play middle school, learn from it, improve through efficient language learning, and find a better self.