Hands on is Better. A Vignette.

 

It was September 2019 at a primary school in the north western area of Florida, Buenos Aires. The teacher was delivering an English lesson on plants and their parts for 29 third graders between the age of 8 and 9. The classroom was at its full capacity and attendance was total.  The teacher took her own projector, speakers and computer out of her backpack and started setting things up. The children knew they were about to watch a video and started asking quite enthusiastically what the video was about. When everything was ready, the teacher used a still image of the story called The Farmer and the Beet to elicit answers from her students and to tap into prior knowledge. While the video was playing, students could stand and mimic the movements that the Farmer and his family did to take the beet out of the ground. Every single child in the room was paying attention. Once the story finished, the teacher revised the parts of the plants using flashcards and sticky notes. This time, not all the students seemed to be engaged in the activity and some of them were distracted doing other things, such as drawing or playing with their pencils. After a few minutes of revision, the teacher told the class that for next week they were going to plant their own vegetables to create an orchard. The kids clapped and smiled as in sign of approval.

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