Saturday, December 10, 2011

46. Teaching Reported speech in a Constructivist Class room


[Kerala University English Teacher Educator’s Forum - KUETEF]

A question asked for the First Semester Examination,  April  2011 ( Q # 12 Paper  V : Principles of Pedagogic  Analysis: English) was rarely attempted by students.

A specimen answer is  given below. I hope you will find it useful.

Q. How will you teach ‘reported speech’ through  Constructivist Approach ?

Ans. While teaching, the teacher follows the following  six phases :Situation, Grouping, Bridging, Question, Exhibit and Reflection.


Situation
The teacher  writes the  following sentences on the Blackboard:
A.   Raju said “I am going to my house”.
B.   She  says her brother  met with an accident.
C.   Father said “I have finished the work”
D.   Raju  said that he was going to his house.
E.    She said, “My sister left for Delhi”.
F.    Father said that he had finished  the work.

Grouping
The teacher directs the students to group the six sentences
Pupils accordingly group sentences A,C and E in one group and the rest in another group.

Bridging
The teacher now attempts to bridge the new  knowledge the students have to learn with  the knowledge they already have. The teacher asks the students: “Why did you classify the three sentences  under one category”?
S: They are similar in pattern
T: Is there any similarity between sentence A and C?
S : In those sentences the people directly says it.
T: What about the rest?
S: They are reported by someone else.
Now, the teacher explains that sentences are of two types: direct and indirect speech
 
Questions
The teacher presents some more questions and asks the students to use the indirect form.

Exhibition
Students write the answers and presents them in the class.

Reflection
Here the teacher and the students work collaboratively and discuss about Direct and Indirect speech. Then, the teacher presents some rules governing change in reporting:
Simple present changes to  Simple past
Present continuous changes into past continuous
Will/shall changes into would and should etc.
1

The session ends with the teacher  giving  an  assignment to enable the students to master the change from direct to indirect speech.

Dr. C. Praveen
Secretary, KUETEF



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