Humanistic Teaching

An approach to learning English

I've mentioned on more than one occasion that I don't like tests. But have I ever mentioned that Wise Hat English is  a test centre for  Junior Eiken? Some five students took  the tests yesterday. Ugh! It's a kind of dilemma for me which I resolve by having as little to do with them as practicable. Notice that I didn't write "as possible". I'd prefer if we had nothing to do with any kind of test but some children want to do them and some parents like them as well.

Of course, it would be possible to remain noble and idealistic but I feel it better to be more flexible. I've been in the situation where parents have put their children  whom I was teaching in for tests without telling me. Better to be in the know than kept in the dark. So we do talk to children and parents about tests and offer advice, and we even help out with practise.

I think that if a child is going to take a test it should be because the child wants to and can be confident about the result. Ideally, with enough ability and confidence it can be more a benchmark than a test, in fact, if it is really easy. it can even become a kind of celebration.

I know that lots of  teachers say one should never teach to the test . I came across a song on YouTube recently that underscores this point. But my feeling is that if there is a test then it is better to know as much about it as possible. At the very least it is important to practise so that one knows the structure and an avoid throwing marks away by not knowing what to do. But I think it is important to go further and look for ways to chisel as many marks as possible. What's it that accountants for the rich do? Is it tax evasion or tax avoidance? Anything's legitimate if you can get away with it. Isn't it?

I guess it's because I generally despise tests that I believe in teaching to them. Part of it comes from my own experience at secondary school. I was in a group who were put in for some O levels  (as the basic National exams were called then) a year early. So that meant that the next year I suddenly found myself with around 18 free periods at school. The school just wanted the prestige of having learners take exams early, they hadn't thought through a policy. So they decided I had too much free time and forced me into dong an additional O level to cut it down.  Then there's the story my father used to tell me of  when he was teaching French and was faced with a similar situation. A group of boys passed French certificate early so he ended up having to teach them French literature. None of them had the slightest interest so he dictated model answers for just over half the time and played games the rest of the time. All of them passed including  four who had failed regular French. Probably very few of them retained anything beyond the test but they were all happy to have the extra piece of paper. After all that's the point of tests, right?. I feel I've mentioned this story before.

Anyway, I'll stop short today by mentioning a titbit that Cedric Noto mentioned at least week's Hiroshima ETJ meeting. He told us that in the interview for Eiken Step Three interviewees could get "free points" by making eye contact with the examiners. I thought that was a great way of putting it so this week I mentioned this to my first grade junior high school students. It definitely encouraged them to practise looking at each other during dialogue practise. Free points! Free points!

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