Author: Deb Avery | Published on 1 December 2022
Question: What happens when learners collaborate in language classes?
Answer: They learn to share ideas, respect others and improve language skills.
Collaborative learning is when learners work in groups on a specific topic. This might be giving learners a task or project to work on together, and then share with the class. It might also be an activity within a class.
Body Parts is an example of such an activity. This game also encourages critical thinking.
Ask learners to form groups where they have to show a particular number of body parts (e.g. ’20 fingers’ = pairwork; ‘6 legs’ = groups of 3). Learners can experiment as they become more confident. E.g. in a ’20 fingers’ group, you could have
- 2 learners holding out 10 fingers
- 2 learners holding out 8 fingers, 1 learner holding out 4 fingers
- 3 learners holding out 6 fingers, 2 learners holding out 1 finger
Think about how you can maximise collaboration in your class