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Santanfara
3460 Posts |
 Posted - 26 Sep 2007 : 01:59:52
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the subject of giving home work to school children and adults is an age old practice but what is the real purpose of home work ?
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Surah- Ar-Rum 30-22
"And among His signs is the creation of heavens and the earth, and the difference of your languages and colours. verily, in that are indeed signs for men of sound knowledge." Qu'ran
www.suntoumana.blogspot.com |
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anna
Netherlands
730 Posts |
Posted - 26 Sep 2007 : 07:30:09
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Hi Santanfara! The real purpose of home work in my opinion is for the students to come to the lessons well prepared. When i am teaching communication skills, such as PR or Advertising, i would ask my students to study the chapter on a certain subject, say 'sponsoring', from their textbooks before i am going to explain the workings of that specific subject. Especially i would ask them to write down examples of certain types of sponsoring which they see in their own daily lives. It is also important that they make an inventory of the problems they come across while studying the subject, so that they can be extra attentive when this 'problem' is being discussed.
All this is to make better use of the time we have for lessons, which is sometimes (ridiculously) small in the Dutch system because of economising on education (what a shame!).
When i teach (business)English i would for instance explain a grammatical structure, let's say the verb tenses, and for homework the students are instructed to do a translation exercise just to check for themselves if they understood the structure. During the next lesson we would discuss their translations and i could further explain if there were any difficulties (there will always be).
So the real purpose for me is efficiency - see how i can make best use of the limited time i have with the students for a course. They have to work hard to get the certificates.
Of course, this doesn't always work smoothly. It takes some convincing! Especially my daytime (17 - 20 years old) students are too busy making money after school, working in supermarkets, call centers etc. In my evening classes the system works much better, the students being adults already in a job but ambitious to have a better one. |
When an old African dies, it is as if a whole library has burnt down.
Amadou Hampate Ba (Mali) |
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jambo
3300 Posts |
Posted - 26 Sep 2007 : 10:24:00
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home work is for you to explain work that you have learnt in a formal lesson, it is practice. you learn maths at school, get set an assignmen related to the at subject for you to have extra practice. unfortunately some schools have to do this, because children in senior schools can be learning over 8 subjects, there is not enough time in the school hours to cover and practice the subject taught.
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Santanfara
3460 Posts |
Posted - 26 Sep 2007 : 11:22:24
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thanks anna for the elaborated explanation .but do you think students like you giving them home work ?
what can parents do to help adults and children do their home work ? |
Surah- Ar-Rum 30-22
"And among His signs is the creation of heavens and the earth, and the difference of your languages and colours. verily, in that are indeed signs for men of sound knowledge." Qu'ran
www.suntoumana.blogspot.com |
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jambo
3300 Posts |
Posted - 26 Sep 2007 : 11:23:36
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| lobby for less subjects, there is not enough time in the school work to cover all subjects. |
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anna
Netherlands
730 Posts |
Posted - 26 Sep 2007 : 18:57:25
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Jambo, you're right. I already stated that the time we have to teach some subjects is ridiculously small. Time and time again governments are taking economising measures in education whereas they should realise that educating the next generation is of major importance and an investment for the better of the country. In the way it is now the students know something about a lot of things, but they will never acquire a deeper knowledge about the subjects they are especially interested in.
But the universities (where a percentage of my students end up as i teach at a Business College at intermediate level) work the same way. This year, university students were even 'demonstrating' in the streets in order to get more 'contact hours' (=contact with the teachers) instead of all this 'selfstudy hours' for which most of them have insufficient discipline. So, by giving them homework i try to prepare them for their education at a higher level. If you want to study a subject, study it by yourself seeing if you can make head or tails of the theory and use the time you have with the teacher to check if you understood the theory correctly. Ask questions, give feedback - i don't want my lessons to be like 'the teacher is reading from the book'. It's boring (for me and for them).
Santanfara, you'd be surprised: my adult (evening class) students always ASK me for an assignment to do for next week, in case i forget to give them one. And even my daytime students, once they got the hang of it, check if for next week they are supposed to study the next subject (i always give them a schedule of what will be discussed when). They know very well after 3 or 4 weeks, that they will be left out of the discussion if they don't study beforehand.
My motto: if you're not working for my subject, i am not working for you.
Of course, i understand that this will all be different when you have to teach primary or secondary general education - which is something i would never want to do. It takes another type of character. |
When an old African dies, it is as if a whole library has burnt down.
Amadou Hampate Ba (Mali) |
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Santanfara
3460 Posts |
Posted - 27 Sep 2007 : 18:58:19
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| thanks lady anna and jambo. |
Surah- Ar-Rum 30-22
"And among His signs is the creation of heavens and the earth, and the difference of your languages and colours. verily, in that are indeed signs for men of sound knowledge." Qu'ran
www.suntoumana.blogspot.com |
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