TEFL lessons at St Edward’s College are never boring, especially with five energetic volcanoes from TEFL 7 who add so much variety to what is happening in the classroom it cannot be described in a few words. It is not only due to their never-ending energy resources, but also because of their cultural richness and variety they bring to class every day. Owing to this, they frequently surprise one another with entirely different points of view and perspectives on basically everything.
This week, TEFL 7 students started a new unit in which they were learning about sports and sharing their experience and knowledge of physical activities and movement. However, one lesson in particular aroused their interest and even woke up their inner MASTER of RHETORIC. The students were reading a very interesting text about mind sports, such as chess, card games and board games, and engaged into a lively discussion whether chess should be included in the Olympics or not. All this inspired their teacher, Ms Zaneta, to organise a debate exercise. The students were divided into two teams – one in favour of chess being part of the Olympics, and the other one against. The teams had 10 minutes to prepare their solid arguments which could be written down on a piece of paper. After the preparation time, the groups started the discussion. Apart from the fact that the students were developing their speaking skills and learning how to express and defend their opinions, it was also a lesson of patience. Each student had a minute to present his argument and interruptions were out of question. Even though some students found it quite difficult to wait for their turn, they all succeeded and managed to have an extremely interesting and also decent debate.
Well done to all!
