Friday 30 September 2011

#MFLSAT MARK PURVES @markpurves - SINGING TRIBES

This was an active start to the SAT, with Mark demonstrating how he uses music to lift the mood and engage pupils, as a warm-up at the start of the lesson. Mark told us that it is all about the breathing, so we should get the pupils to pull in their stomachs and open the throat. Singing engages the pupils quickly and gets their attention, as they listen to you and repeat what you say.
Mark recommended that we read “The Element How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything” by Ken Robinson. We must look at teaching a curriculum which enthuses the pupils, where they are motivated by creativity. The benefits of singing are that it builds a class community, giving pupils a sense of a shared identity and the obvious benefits of this are that pupils who are comfortable with each other are happy to participate and contribute orally to a language lesson.
Mark ended his slot with Singing Praises. He makes up gestures to accompany the words for heaping praise on pupils’ heads, eg magnífico etc and then the whole class does it adding the person’s name with gestures too. This is probably easier to demonstrate through video, so if we adopt it in class, as I intend to do, then I will post the video here.

No comments: