One of my greatest rewards from teaching has been when students take charge of their own learning. Collaborative activities started them on that road! Here is more information about collaborative activities and where to find them in the online teacher’s resource room.
What is collaborative learning?
Collaborative learning means students work together with a partner or in a small group. Students talk together; through that talk they learn. The focus may be reinforcing language already presented and practiced or it may be discussing ideas or solving problems.
Why collaborative learning?
Deeper learning occurs when students are engaged in the learning process. When students work together they are exposed to diverse partners and they develop skills in expressing their own ideas and in clarifying and building on the ideas of others.
What levels of language learners benefit from collaborative activities?
All levels – from low-level literacy learners to students transitioning into college and career programs – benefit from collaborative activities. For example, low-level literacy learners can work with a partner to match picture cards with word cards. Higher-level students transitioning into college and career programs can work together to answer questions by citing evidence from a lecture.
Don’t they take a lot of time to develop?
The good news is you don’t have to write them. The Ventures Online Teacher’s Resource Room provides a collaborative activity for each of the skill area lessons in the Student’s Book (Lesson A listening, Lesson B vocabulary or grammar, Lesson C grammar, Lesson D, reading and Lesson E writing) for all five levels. These activities are a great way to end a lesson.
How do I find these activities?
To find a collaborative activity for a lesson in the Student’s Book, go to cambridge.org/ventures/resources Then within the options window (the left-hand side of the screen) select the appropriate filters for results and ensure under Resource Type “Activity” is selected.
Each collaborative activity has reproducible master and there are teaching tips for each type of activity (e.g., Picture Cards and Word Cards, Conversation Cards, Match Mine, Unscramble, Find the Difference, Share Information, Jigsaw Reading).
Collaborative activities are a great way to end a lesson.