239709 Opening up the Primary English Classroom (Alternative to Teaching Specific Domains) (Grundschule) (S) (SoSe 2014)

Nowadays one recongnises a shift from teacher-centred teaching to open learning - but what actually does that mean? What exactly is open learning?
We'll start with a working definition of what we understand as opening up the classroom as well as open learning, taking a look at contemporary literature and contrasting some of the positions. Particularly we'll see that open learning is more than just laisse faire. We'll then take a closer look at opportunities for opening up the English classroom, for example activity corners, weekly scedules or project work. In particular, we'll come up with very practical ideas of how the teacher can prepare different forms of open learning and how the teacher can practically open up the EFL classroom. These ideas will be reflected on the theoretical background of the curriculum, learning outcomes, competencies and individualisation/differentiation.
Combining our ideas, the students will prepare differnt types of open learning in small groups, which will practically be tried out in school during the last weeks of the semester. This means that four sessions will take place in a primary school in Bielefeld (starting at 7:30 instead of 8:30) and not at University. These lessons will eventually be evaluated, also taking a critical look at how assessment works in forms of open learning.

Requirements for participation, required level

It is recommended to take "Introduction to English Language Teaching Methodology (GS)" before taking this course as you'll need some basic knowledge about teaching English in primary school.

Bibliography

We'll work with quite a few sources, amongst others: Elsner (2010), Böttger (2005), Legutke et al. (2009), Bartnitzky (2002) and Klippert (2010). A list of literature will be found in the syllabus.