INTRODUCTIONS

There are many ways to introduce a session. Find out if you included any of the following in your list for Activity B7.1.

• Connecting with the previous sessions e.g. “Last week we learnt how to build a toilet.”

This is useful as an introduction but it is boring if you always start this way!

• Describing what you are going to do e.g. “Today we are going to learn how to design a special kind of dress.”

Again useful, but boring if always used.

• Explaining why you are going to teach the topic or skill e.g. “Diabetes is one of the commonest diseases in the Solomons but it can be controlled by diet.”

• Connecting the topic or skill to the student’s experience e.g. “I’m sure you’ve all been in a canoe when the engine wouldn’t start.”

• Creating interest by telling them or showing them something startling or surprising e.g. “Did you know that 60% of the people in Nauru have got diabetes and it is the fastest growing disease in the Pacific?” or “Did you read in the Star about the people from Kiribati who drifted for 30 days in a canoe and ended in the Reef Islands? Three of them died and only two survived, all because they couldn’t start their outboard motor.”

• You can do something or show something e.g. try to start an outboard motor when you know it won’t start. Show a picture of a man with one leg and explain that he lost the other one due to diabetes.

All the above methods are teacher-centred. We may create more interest in the session by involving the students, by questioning them or getting them todo something.

• Questioning. All the above methods could be done by questioning rather than telling. Here are some examples of questions:

What do you have to do when the rice in the nursery is fully grown?

What is the most frightening thing that ever happened to you in a canoe?

In Tikopia most houses have only one piece of furniture. Can you guess what it is?

• Ask students to do something e.g.

• “Try to start this engine.”

• “Come and pull one of these plants out of the nursery.”

• “Make a list starting ‘A house in a village needs to have a food safe because….’ “

• Promote a discussion e.g.

• “What do you think are the main things all villages need to make life comfortable?”

• “What kind of dress do you think a young girl in your village might like?”

SUMMARY OF ACTIVITIES WHICH CAN BE USED IN INTRODUCTIONS

Teacher talking: explaining; telling a story; making a joke.

Questioning.

Doing something: you or the students.

Showing something: a sample; a picture.

Promoting discussion.

GOOD INTRODUCTIONS…

Create an interest: This is the most important thing. If you do not do this the

students will not want to learn.

Introduce the topic or skill.

Connect with previous knowledge.

Connect with their own experience.

Involve the students actively.

Tell students why the topic or skill is useful to them.

BAD INTRODUCTIONS

These include:

“Now, where did we get to yesterday?”

This suggests very bad planning and creates no interest.

“Copy down the notes on the board.”

Never tell students to copy until you have explained something.

GLOSS: A STRUCTURE FOR AN INTRODUCTION

G = Grab students’ attention.

L = Link with previous knowledge and experience.

O = Outcome – describe what you hope the lesson will achieve.

S = Structure of the sessions - explain what you want the students to do.

S = Stimulate students with encouragement.

NOTE: When you write up your session plan do not just write “grab the students attention” or even ‘GLOSS”. Say how you are going to grab their attention in that particular session or what previous knowledge you will link with