Педагогические науки/ 3. Методические основы воспитательного процесса

Liubov Khalezova, PhD

Federal State Budget Educational Establishment of High Education

“Sevastopol State University”

DISCUSSION CLUB FOR STUDENTS AS A MEANS OF UPBRINGING

The idea of discussion English clubs for the students of Pedagogical Institute of Sevastopol State University has appeared on the grounds of the number of hours given by the curriculum to teach English. The problem now mostly lies in the mentality, because self study is understood rather wrongly by the students, so they tend to do nothing when they actually have to do a lot. The roots of the problem might be in the lack of communication to native speakers (school children and school leavers in most European countries have the possibility to travel around Europe without any visas during their holidays and not only). Not so many Russian school-leavers come to the institutes with B1-B2 level of English and still have no desire to study it.

To my mind one of the ways to infect students with the desire to stop communicating to each other through computer games, chats and social networks on the one hand and to show them the other type of work with their future pupils (because the major of the institute is Pedagogic) on the other is Discussion or Debating club, which gives a wide range of opportunities for topics to choose and ways of extra activities to show.

There is a need in debating club, because the debate is a polylogue, and during the discussion there is the possibility to generate and evaluate the ability to listen actively, to join in the conversation, to take the initiative, to be tolerant to the different opinion. That is, to raise the qualities of a leader!

Everything matters during the preparation to the club and discussion itself.

As for the design and decorating the room for the clubs I need to create such an atmosphere that will enable me as a moderator to launch the communication level to a better and higher “orbit”. While conducting any club a teacher has to appeal to all the archetypes of a personality. That is where the idea of covering the desks with the multicoloured tablecloths came from (because they themselves make the process a “non-academic” one), together with the small plastic confetti, which helps to relax. Because every student who comes to the Club is different – somebody needs to twist something in his/her hands (confetti is a good choice!), somebody finds it enough to listen to the moderator, the other is a “visual type” (so everything has to be nicely decorated), somebody is passionate for writing or drawing something. So while conducting any club meeting I try to use such approaches that will satisfy everybody’s needs: to listen, to write down, to talk, to see a qualitative presentation and to taste candies. Candies is another important moment – students try candies and get the glucose that nourishes their brain and helps generating ideas to answer my questions.

The other point is that the discussion club is a place where students are not evaluated by the teacher in the form of marks, as a result they feel more relaxed. The first thing I as a teacher and a moderator warn them about is that anyone who comes to the club is already taking part in the discussion, even without saying a word! A student when coming to the discussion club thinks about the topic of the conversation, listens to the others, even not pronouncing a sound, enriches himself/herself with the others’ ideas. As to the group work it is a rather convenient type of exercise which allows practically every participant to express his/her ideas and points of view during the time given.

One of the most important issues in preparing and conducting English Club is the choice of topic. I have always been sure in the idea that “Everything that touches you will touch your students”! Working with young generation gives a lovely opportunity to exchange experience, to see their reaction, to listen to their point of view and to get the explanation of what they seem to accept as “good or bad”.

So the moderator can touch such issues that are more of ethic type or such ones that are not studied during the classes. I have already described how to use Edgar Schein’s ideas or career anchors in my article “Использование концепции «якорей карьеры» Эдгара Шейна во внеаудиторной и аудиторной работе по иностранному языку со студентами экономических специальностей” [1].

Some clubs can be dedicated to calendar holidays, e.g. Victory day in May, Day of Handicapped People in November, or Christmas. If you are teaching a multicultural class, which is rather usual in Sevastopol State University where students can belong to different nationalities and cultural backgrounds, it will be a nice idea to prepare information about their national or religious holidays. This way of introducing material can help you as a teacher form multicultural and pluricultural competences in your students, and for them to practice their English as well as get new information.

Literature

1. Халезова Л. В. Использование концепции «якорей карьеры» Эдгара Шейна во внеаудиторной и аудиторной работе по иностранному языку со студентами экономических специальностей / Л. В. Халезова. – Горизонты образования. – Севастополь : Рибэст, 2014. – №2 (41)2014. – С. 136 – 142.