T6

Cooperative learning is a efficient way to keep our students motivated and uding this methodology we can help them to develop their responsability and communicative skills, in fact, it also allows to every single student to participate in the classroom in spite of their level, due to the fact that they work in groups where teachers try to mix different levels, attitudes and skills, so they can help each other and distribute the effort.

In my opinion, one of the most useful activity used is the jigsaw-technique, in which students switch from group to group to work in different tasks.

I decided to apply this method in the last task, Project-based learning, since I truly believe that this technique helps to create a relaxed enviroment in which students feel motivated to try and participate in the classroom, as well as improve their relationship with other classmates because they will have the opportunity to meet each other deeply. We can see an example of jigsaw in sessions 2 and 3, first, in session 2 the teachers divide the classroom into groups of 4 so they can go to a travel agency to ask information. Once this information has been collected, the teachers split those groups and create new ones with different members so they all can share their information and work with that information.

I let you here again the plan lesson for those 2 sessions explained:

Now, I would like to share with you other activity in which cooperative learning is applied, for this activity we are going to rely on the use of the Internet and new technolofy, we are going to use Padlet. This website is like a endless board in which students can share information about them or answer a question the teachers has asked during the classroom so they feel confortable and confident to share their anwer. Once the students post their entry, the rest of the class can answer to them and comment, working together to create a beautiful board and helping each other with doubts. I will now show you one of the padlet I create last year during my last course of degree in which we worked with students from New York Univeristy.

The activity, in this case, is very easy and dynamic: students will be asked to create a Padlet they must update every week, the content of the Padlet is up to them, they can decide their favourite topic, what they like the most, so the teacher will be able to know them better and it will also allow students to meet each other as well. During every week they must create a post, they can insert photos, videos, gifs, etc. Then, the students must access all their classmates' padlet and comment that weekly post. Thanks to this activity, they will practise their writing and reading skills, as well as learning the appropriate use of the target language, new vocabulary and expressions.

Finally, I will like to remember you one of the most used and known resource from Google: Google Docs. You probably have used that tool without notice that in fact, it is a tool designed for cooperative learning. Students can work in the same document together, it brings them the oportunity to work jointly even though they are not together in the same place. My advice is to combine that tool with a videocall, so it is easier to decide the roles, the point every person of the group is going to work in and solve any problem that might appear during their work.

The activity would be the following: students will be asked to create a PowerPoint or Mindmap in which they must include a summary of the book the group had to read for that month, to do so, they would be asked to use google docs so they can share the idea of the short book they individually have had after reading it and organise all the information. Then, they will use Google Presentation because they will be able to create the presentation of the topic jointly without the need of being together in the same place.