Homework

[Brove]

Hi, I'm an English teacher in Italy and I have a question about homework. I usually give my students little homework and try to do lots of stuff in class,but many colleagues give loads of exercises and ask students to copy those execises and the book dialogues. Is there any use in making students copy dialogues and learn them by heart? Isn't it better to ask students to make the dialogues personal?I mean:use the grammar structures presented in the dialogue and make proper changes in order to make it real? Thanks

 

[Tdol]

Do those teachers find that students learn much that can be externally verified from their methods?

 

[Brove]

Thank you for answering. Actually I don't know. What I believe is that you kill their motivation if you burden them with loads of repetitive homework and, what's more, you put all the students on the same level, while the good ones could do better then learn by heart. My opinion is that the good students do their homework well either you give them 3 or 10 exercises. When you get to the "idle" ones, they get discouraged in front of a heap of homework and they will surely do them with little or no concentration. if you give them a more reasonable goal, you can hope they will use their grey cells while working at home.
However, what I wanted to know is if there is any didactic ground that may explain why so many colleagues of mine in Italy want their students to copy dialogues or passages and then learn them by heart.
Thanks

 

[kreative_korner]

Well, It is not unfair to give a reasonable amount of homework to help students register concepts you taught in the class that day. Therefore, it is advisable to give home-work. You need to be able to create a balance between class-room teaching and home-work. Remember, burdening them too much will only going to put them off. Moreover, there are also students who take their own time in understanding concepts. I have experienced many a times, students coming back to me, asking me questions on topics I covered earlier. Giving home-work helps them see different angles of a concept in their own way, which they miss during the class-room training.

 

[emsr2d2]

Note the correct spelling of "homework" and "classroom". There is no hyphen in either word.