Help yourself

What and why?

The idea of helping students to help themselves occurs in a number of places in CEWw. From Level 1 onwards, the Workbooks include optional Units which show the students how they can improve their spelling, how they can use a dictionary, how they can get extra grammar practice and so on. From Level 3 onwards, the Student's Books include Evaluation sections which ask them to think about their approach to such things as tests, groupwork, doing their homework and so on. The main purpose in these sections is to support the students in developing their AUTONOMY and to bring about greater STUDENT INVOLVEMENT.

Practical ideas

• To discover how the students use their dictionaries, what they think about spelling, what difficulties their think they have, and so on, you could ask them to make a questionnaire for other students. This will tell you a lot about what they think is important and also show you where they need extra support.
• After the students have discussed their answers to an Evaluation questionnaire (Student's Book from CEWw 3 onwards), you could ask them to make posters of DOs and DON'Ts in that area; for example, DOs and DON'Ts about groupwork, about preparing for tests, etc.
• You could choose an area to focus on for one or two weeks and after each lesson ask the students what that they have done. For example, you could ask them what use they have made of a dictionary, what they have done with any new words they have learnt, how they have prepared themselves for a test. You may find that they have nothing much to say - in which case you will have signalled to them that it is something they need to think about!
• Before asking students to do a task, spend a few minutes discussing how they will do the task. For example, what they will do when they come to a word they don't understand, or how they will plan their groupwork.