Unit 4: The Power of Language

6.1 Reflection Task

Step A

Try out the planned sequence of activities with your learner/s. You might want to gather some feedback from your learner/s about the lesson as well, which you can bring to the course and share with your fellow students.

Step B

Write a reflective account (300 words or more) about the successes and challenges of this learning experience when putting your plan into action. If you decided to do so, consider how teaching a language using a digital tool has worked for you and your learner/s.

These questions might help you focus your reflection:

What were the activities you had planned?
Why had you planned these particular activities?
Which materials (photos, objects, games, digital apps etc) did you try out? Why these?
On reflection, how did the activities work? What went well, what did not go as planned? What would you do differently next time and why?
What was your learner/s feedback?
What are the next steps for your learner/s?
How will you provide further opportunities to practise and reinforce the new language?

Step C

Then post your reflective account together with an overview of the planned activities produced in Activity 6.0, and where appropriate the materials you used and even examples from the digital tool outcomes, should you have used any, in Unit 4 Forum(opens in a new tab).

Finally, read the contributions from your peers and comment constructively on the reflections posted by your fellow students.

To help you write your reflective account, you might want to have a look at our model answer.

Step D

A)
Once you have tried out your language learning activity and shared it with your peers, it will be useful to think about what you have learned from sharing your experience and ideas with your fellow students. You might want to note down some key points in your Reflective Learning Log. Some aspects for reflection you may want to consider:

What aspects of your fellow students' teaching worked well?
Where did your peers see problem areas, and why did they think this was problematic?
Were there any posts you particularly agreed or disagreed with and why?
In previous units and tutorials, you have already considered criteria for best practice in social care. Revisit the reflective wheel of best practice and consider where you have developed further and which areas you want to address next.

This final step in activity 6.1 is specifically designed for you to contribute to the collaborative research project between The Open University and Lingo Flamingo.

In your Reflective Learning Log, make notes capturing your reflections during the study and application of content of this unit on the following aspects, which will be particularly important for the research project:

your own learning journey applying the skills you are learning in this course in your care context, in particular:
- your motivation and confidence as you go through the course
- whether your relationships with your learners are changing due to the language learning
- any impact this learning has on your opinion of good care practice
- any views colleagues, your learners and/or families have shared regarding the language learning activities

your observations on you senior learner(s)’ learning journey (the individual as well as the group), particularly:
- on their motivation for participating in this learning
- the impact the learning has on their overall confidence and participation in the sessions and the learning group (if there is one)
- aspects of how they learn and engage (for example you could share some relevant incidents during the language learning sessions and other examples)

Please note: This part of the application and reflection is NOT assessed and is primarily a tool for you to feed into our research whilst encouraging you to think more closely about your own learning journey and the wider impact of the language learning activities. Your tutors will read your entry and provide some brief comments, although the main focus here are your own insights and reflections.