Discussion forums: A place for students’ originality
The following comments were posted by course participants in response to (1) their readings and to (2) another member's comments, as required by the task (see above). These comments suggest that students were keen on their readings and also on sharing their insights and discussing their ideas with one another.
In what follows, we present some of the samples of students' comments. Participants' names were removed:
2014.09.29 16:54:50
Reading Schank & Abelson's ‘Knowledge and Memory', I found the following sentence very intriguing and useful: "A good teacher is not one who explains things correctly, but one who couches his explanations in a memorable (i.e., an interesting) format." I am ready to believe it, because I (and probably all of us) have experienced that new information, although presented coherently and correctly, may be forgotten in a minute after stepping out the classroom. Logical explanation is important but not enough. And since people generally like stories and story related explanations (because this is how they can put new information into context) teaching, in order to be effective, should also be based on this approach.
2014.09.29 15:35:14
I totally agree with your opinion about fairy tales. They are really useful because they ensure not only meaningful contexts which are necessary in a foreign language acquisition but they foster the child's personality and psychological development and provide a contribution to his moral maturity as well. ( Bettelheim, Introduction:The Struggle for Meaning)
Ezt megelőző hozzászólás: [5] 2014.09.28 12:07:03
2014.09.28 13:14:10
I think you are right when you think learning English is pleasant and enjoyable through nursery rhymes, fairy tales and picture books. According to Lydia Williams '...stories are something to be enjoyed'. They have no ulterior didactic purpose. I think this is why storytelling is so effective in teaching a language. It is carried out in total freedom. Children just enjoy the situation and pick up knowledge without frustrating instructions and tiring explanations of how the language works.
2014.09.30 16:15:55
Yes, and in this regard maybe it's worth mentioning that in this type of
education "activities are designed so that no-one will have a sense of failure."
Of course, there may be pupils who will lag behind, but eventually even their
confidence will increase, which is considered the main point of nursery school
education. It is 100% userfriendly! 
Ezt megelőző hozzászólás: [4] 2014.09.28 09:38:43
2014.09.27 11:05:47
Yes, I totally agree with the meaningful stories! I have just read Nikolov Mariann's picture book designed for children. The stories like The hungry caterpillar, The city mouse and the country mouse, just to mention only two, are designed in a very creative way, using NO HUNGARIAN!! Why would we want to use Hungarian, translate the words when the pictures are already speking for themselves?
In what follows, we will present some of the samples of students' comments
2014.09.29 16:54:50
Reading Schank & Abelson's ‘Knowledge and Memory', I found the following sentence very intriguing and useful: "A good teacher is not one who explains things correctly, but one who couches his explanations in a memorable (i.e., an interesting) format." I am ready to believe it, because I (and probably all of us) have experienced that new information, although presented coherently and correctly, may be forgotten in a minute after stepping out the classroom. Logical explanation is important but not enough. And since people generally like stories and story related explanations (because this is how they can put new information into context) teaching, in order to be effective, should also be based on this approach.
2014.09.29 15:35:14
I totally agree with your opinion about fairy tales. They are really useful because they ensure not only meaningful contexts which are necessary in a foreign language acquisition but they foster the child's personality and psychological development and provide a contribution to his moral maturity as well. (Bettelheim, Introduction:The Struggle for Meaning)
Ezt megelőző hozzászólás: 2014.09.28 12:07:03
2014.09.28 13:14:10
I think you are right when you think learning English is pleasant and enjoyable through nursery rhymes, fairy tales and picture books. According to Lydia Williams '...stories are something to be enjoyed'. They have no ulterior didactic purpose. I think this is why storytelling is so effective in teaching a language. It is carried out in total freedom. Children just enjoy the situation and pick up knowledge without frustrating instructions and tiring explanations of how the language works.
2014.09.30 16:15:55
Yes, and in this regard maybe it's worth mentioning that in this type of
education "activities are designed so that no-one will have a sense of
failure." Of course, there may be pupils who will lag behind, but
eventually even their confidence will increase, which is considered the main
point of nursery school education. It is 100% userfriendly!
Ezt megelőző hozzászólás: 2014.09.28 09:38:43
2014.09.27 11:05:47
Yes, I totally agree with the meaningful stories! I have just read Nikolov Mariann's picture book designed for children. The stories like The hungry caterpillar, The city mouse and the country mouse, just to mention only two, are designed in a very creative way, using NO HUNGARIAN!! Why would we want to use Hungarian, translate the words when the pictures are already speking for themselves?
2014.09.30 16:15:55
Yes, and in this regard maybe it's worth mentioning that in this type of
education "activities are designed so that no-one will have a sense of
failure." Of course, there may be pupils who will lag behind, but
eventually even their confidence will increase, which is considered the main
point of nursery school education. It is 100% userfriendly!
Ezt megelőző hozzászólás: [4] 2014.09.28 09:38:43
2014.09.30 15:04:23
I would say that this is equally true regarding adult learners as well. In have always taught adults and they were exited , motivated and definitely less nervous while showing them a story picture book or a nursery rhyme. Moreover, it could boost their motivation and they would individually look up other nursery rhymes, stories from other sources as well.
Ezt megelőző hozzászólás: [10] 2014.09.30 09:50:13
2014.09.30 14:59:09
Bruno Bettelheim in the The struggle for meaning explains clearly why the good fairy tales need to have a good and a bad character. A good fairy tale can speak to a child about his/her serious inner struggles and offers a solution at the end. Nevertheless there are some amoral fairy tales, where there's no polarization of good and bad. Such tales and their figures are Puss in Boots ( Csizmás Kandúr) orJack in the Jack and the beanstalk story. Puss in Boots arranges the hero's succes by trickery ( lies and threatens other characters), while Jack, stealing the giant's treasure, gives the child a hope that even the meekest can succeed in life. I used to read the Puss in Boots story to my kids in English, but they weren't quite excited even though it was in English.
2014.09.30 10:12:00
I totally agree with your opinion about Logician model and good teacher by Schank & Abelson. The undrestanding problem can not be solved with only logical explanations, peole need a context as well to help them relate and understand stories.
Ezt megelőző hozzászólás: 2014.09.29 16:54:50
2014.09.30 09:50:13
While reading Literature-Based Activities in a Foreign-Language Nursery School by Lydia Williams I can absolutely agree with the author that nursery rhymes can be suitable to break down the children's nervousness of learning English and in this way can be language learning an enjoyable experience.
Students' comments show that students were able to integrate course materials (studies as well as other teaching materials) with their own professional thinking and daily practice. It also emerges that all participants rely on higher order thinking skills and most of them apply technical language to discuss their thoughts.
On the other hand, some of the comments also reveal lacks in participants' language knowledge, which is not a very promising sign in their professional lives as teachers of English. These mistakes can be managed by involving students into self-correction. That is, participants can be asked to reread their own comments and identify possible mistakes.