1.1 Examples of active participation in learning

The photographs in Activity 2.1 show a variety of teaching strategies to promote active participation: pair work, group work, building models, mind mapping, brainstorming, and role play. The teacher is rarely standing at the front, but is moving around the room, listening, watching and supporting students. Practitioners who promote active engagement in learning:

• give students the opportunity to talk
• listen to students
• encourage students to ask questions
• use a variety of different approaches to learning in their teaching
• link new ideas to students’ experiences and lives.

Above all, they will use what they discover about their students to plan appropriate future activities.