Material Review: Field Trip and Album Making, Research Paper Example

Introduction

Learning is a process that confides with all the different approaches that define the specificity on how the brain responds to the environment that a person is involved with. When it comes to issues of learning a new language, it is most often than not real that the same aspect of learning is involved. The environment is assumed to create an impact on the capacity of a student to absorb the different aspects of learning presented to him in every class session he engages with. In this case, it is then fully agreed upon that defining the environment that a learner thrives impacts both the being and the learning condition of the student, even those who are trying to master the English language.

In the discussion that follows, the approach of field trip and album making shall be given particular attention to. The tandem of these two specific approaches to teaching is expected to create a much defined environment for students that could motivate their interest in learning the English language in a rather unconventional approach. Relatively, it is believed that through this approach, learners would be able to engage themselves in activities that would specifically impact their interest towards the subject they are aiming to master.

Description

Subject: Teaching English as a Second Language

Age Bracket: Adult Class

Target Location: Beatty Museum: Local History (NYE Nevada)

Procedure Brief: The target age of the lesson approach is noted to already have a background on what language is. Individuals who are under this particular age are expected to have their own original form of speech already. This means that another language [apart from English] is already expected to have been rooted into their minds as a means of their speech. Most often than not, the problem faced by instructors of language considering this particular age bracket of learners involve the need to reconsider the situation of the students and work around the matters that they already know. The good thing though is that individuals under this age bracket are already expected to have their own personal goals and personal motivations as two how they are to grasp the lessons presented to them in class (Stanovich, 2009, 87). Unlike young learners at such young ages, the direction of students under this age bracket already has their own mindsets hence making it easier for the teachers to work on an approach that could generally impact that thinking process of the learners.

The field trip approach is expected to make a distinct condition of influencing the interest of the students towards the subject through indulging them into sightseeing, which is also considered as a very interesting activity for learners in general. It could be that the field trip be held in a museum that presents important matters about the culture relating to the English language or perhaps going to specific historical places and looking through the records that define each area as a remarkable location for the society that the students are currently residing with. Being in these specific places makes the learning process personal (Lycan, 1999, 54). In a way, this approach is expected to make a greater impact on how the students embrace the lesson to be their ‘own’ and not just a curriculum they have to finish.

The album-making part of the process involves more that posting images the students have captured during the field trip. Instead, it allows the students to relate their experiences and their personal learning through the pictures that they present along with the notes on their journey. Both approaches are expected to help the students engage themselves into the learning process through stirring up their interest into the matter and making it easier for them to take note on what they have to consider especially when it comes to using the English language in expressing themselves fully through writing.

Utilization and Implication on Lessons

It is a general understanding in education and teaching that students who are interested in what they are doing and what they are learning are more motivated to take their personal initiative in getting themselves indulged into the subject. Lessons expected to teach the English language to students are designed to make it easier for learners to engage in using the language as their own. However, for students who already have their own personal languages, it is often hard to work around the language they have already known and used for so many years (Coren, et al, 1999, 9b). Getting them to leave the old language is not the key. Instead, getting them interested in using a new language is expected to create particular pressures that could make it a source of personal hindrance to the students.

Going out on a field trip, takes out the learning from the constraints of the four walls of the classroom. It goes beyond the theories of learning, it goes beyond the aspects of pushing the learners to use the language as they are being bounded by grammatical conditions that they have already been used to. Stimulating their minds to work toward the use of the said language based on an activity that interests them fully. Besides the fact that engaging in an outside environment creates a stimulating factor for the mind to think, this activity is expected to impose on the being of the students the chance to engage personally with their lessons in relation to expanding their experience in using the English language. The album making is intended to stimulate their thinking based on the experiences that have stayed in their memory (Radin, 2009, 88). Being able to understand how the field trip impacts them personally creates a distinctive indication of learning that cannot be contained in a classroom setting alone.

This approach is expected to take at least a week to complete. It is also expected to help students master the three variants of learning the English language. One is the process by which the student thinks in English, another is the process by which one expresses himself in writing through utilizing the English language and third is the process by which one expresses himself verbally through the said language. The students are to be scheduled to undergo a field trip activity in a place where they would be most interested. As noted earlier, this could be a trip to the museum or to a series of interesting places that could help the students engage personally into the activity; the choice of place of interest would depend on how the teacher sees his students in relation to matters that interest them throughout the year. Likely, this activity is supposed to be scheduled during the mid-year of the curriculum. This would be considered as the turning point of lessons where the students are to be fully stimulated to engage in the process of learning that is presented to them both in class and outside its limitations.

Casually using the English language in their daily activities should already be a considerable matter that has been an established culture in the classroom setting. Nevertheless, engaging the students in the actual activities that would motivate them to actually use the language in thinking, in speech and in writing would seal the situation’s impact on the personal growth of the students in becoming more engaged in the subject.

As the field trip is scheduled, the students are to be instructed to capture images that specifically get their attention and their interest. It could be understood that somehow, the students would enjoy the idea that taking pictures that interest them is part of the activity as it is. They would also be instructed to take down notes regarding the important details related to the trip and the possible personal impact that the journey has towards them. Keeping track of these information and making sure that they have their notes in their memory would be the backbone of this particular activity.

Within the days that follow the field trip, the students are to be instructed to collect the images they captured, chose the ones they ought to place in an album and be prepared to place in two paragraphs serving as the caption of the pictures. These captions ought to provide information as to what the photographs are about, where they were taken, why they were taken and how they relate to the personality of the student. After compiling the album and the information relating to the activity, the students are expected to present their work one by one in class. Speaking about the album and the information contained in it is expected to motivate the students to tell their classmates about their experience and share the learning that they have gained from the journey.

Synthesis on Learning Theories

Cognitive learning is defined under the conditions by which a person becomes engaged in a particular lesson through having a personal degree of perspective regarding these matters (Coren, et al, 1999, 9). What makes learning more interesting though is the fact that the student is able to contend with the pressures of gaining knowledge in full accord with the idea that they are enjoying the procedures used to help them learn the lessons accordingly. Most often than not, getting the lessons out of the classrooms assist students better as activities outside the classroom often stimulate the brain to function better and more effectively. The synthesis of the external activity with the internal activities of the class makes the learning more valid and specifically effective in motivating the students to make the lessons their own.

Conclusion

In relation to learning a new language, students often undergo a sense of distinction on how to manage the pressure that is presented to them by the idea of actually undergoing the activities needed to complete the given curriculum of learning. What institutes learning as a source of confident understanding of a specific language is the manner by which a student makes the subject a personal matter for the sake of their own development. In the discussion presented herein, it is expected that the learning process of the students would be fully developed through imposing a proper way of seeing the importance of the language as a mark of their personal improvement (Rowland, 2010, 87). Using the language in activities that they enjoy would make it easier for the students to engage fully in the learning hence making a direct impact on their personal understanding of the matter and how the said language could actually change their attitude (Allen, et al, 2007, 67). This form of learning is expected to adjust the learners’ perception towards their confidence in using it in verbal and written speech an even in casual conversations with their peers and the other members of the society living around them.

References:

Radin, J.P. (Fall 2009). “Brain-Compatible Teaching and Learning: Implications for Teacher Education.”. Educ Horiz 88 (1).

Rowland (2010). “The brain that changes itself: Stories of personal triumph from the frontiers of brain science”. Journal of Academic Language and Learning.

Allen, I. E., J. Seaman, et al. (2007). Blending In: The Extent and Promise of Blended Education in the United States. Needham, M.A., The Sloan Consortium.

Coren, Stanley; Lawrence M. Ward, James T. Enns (1999). Sensation and Perception. Harcourt Brace. p. 9.

Lycan, W.G., (ed.). (1999). Mind and Cognition: An Anthology, 2nd Edition. Malden, Mass: Blackwell Publishers, Inc.

Stanovich, Keith (2009). What Intelligence Tests Miss: The Psychology of Rational Thought. New Haven (CT): Yale University Press. Lay summary