Swimming Dictation
Catherine Vaucher, Switzerland
Catherine Vaucher lives in the French speaking part of Switzerland, near Neuchâtel. She’s both a secondary school teacher (students age 11-15) and a swimming teacher. She’s also an aquafitness instructor for adults (age 25-80). She has been teaching English to Beginners since1990 and French as mother tongue since 1983. She’s married and has got three sons. She previously taught German, History and Sport. This is her first contribution to this magazine.
E-mail: cathy.60@bluewin.ch
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Introduction
Movement and Learning
Movement and Teaching
I consider movement as an important part of a complete education. We move everyday in various situations. Some people are more kinaesthetic than others, of course. Some are very happy when they can develop the mobility of their body. They are very good at imitating and creating new forms. Think of the amazing performances shown by Hip Hop dancers; some kids not older than 7 or 8 are able to twist on their heads and crawl like snakes on the floor. Nobody taught them to do that, they simply observed and reproduced it.
If young people are so prompt to learn this way in a sport domaine, we can imagine they have such potential in the intellectual sphere. And if we can combine both ways, it will be beneficent for everybody.
Famous writers and philosophers used to stroll for a long time thinking and making up their stories or theories. Remember Aristotle’s Peripatetician School. Does our mind follow the course of our body or the opposite? Anyway, we are now aware that there are strong links between them both. I know students who prefer learning poems by heart or lists of vocabulary while walking around their room, playing with a ball. Each time you go for a jogging, cross-country skiing or a cycling tour you very often review your diary, imagine your phone calls, prepare your lessons.
As we saw above it is natural to keep moving. Unfortunately, our students are stuck on their chairs for long hours. That makes them feel uneasy. We teachers have the opportunity to go from one place to another in the classroom without any justification. I am unable to stay for more than ten minutes at my desk, not considering my uncomfortable chair. Why do we so often stand up and move? I leave it up to you to find a satisfying answer.
As a sport teacher I go once a week to the swimming pool with Primary School classes (age 6 to 11). Of course we teach them to swim, to be confident in water. Sometimes I add a more intellectual task: countdown in another language, games with odd and even numbers, memory with animal pictures for the smallest, cards games, bingo and so on.
I tried this activity: the swimming dictation. All you need beside the pool is a text written on a waterproof support- boards or water paper and pencils. For younger children a poem will be easier to manage because of the rhymes. Putting numbers in front of each line is also a good help.
You divide your class into 3 or 4 teams.
1° stick your texts on the opposite wall
2° a child of each group take it in turn to run or swim - depending on their ability to swim –to read a sentence or a few words and to come back
3° then you can either make them write down what they’ve learned on a piece of water paper or have them dictate it to a classmate (it depends what you are aiming at).
4° each child is allowed to go back to check their sentence or improve it if necessary
5° you can use an alarm-clock or do this activity till the first team has completed it
6° then check all the boards and give your assessment.
For teachers without a swimming pool at hand (across the sea or the lake will be a bit tedious- we haven’t that much time in a lesson) you can adapt this with a basketball game, a balance exercise on a pole, a slalom with bottles, climbing a staircase in the courtyard or any other kind of task that associate memorization, movement and writing activity.
I am looking forward to reading your new ideas inside or outside a pool.
Please check the Creative Methodology for the Classroom course at Pilgrims website.
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