Overview
Scenario
A group of middle students at a Spanish class is learning about a series of new vocabularies.
At the end of the lesson, the students will be asked to present a 5 min conversation in Spanish with 2-3 classmates using the vocabularies they just learned. The students need to combine the knowledge of Spanish they’ve learned in the past with the new vocabularies to create a meaningful conversation. Each team can be creative about the topic and scenarios of the conversation. It could be a dialogue happening on campus, a mall, a restaurant, or any other locations. Using customs and props during the presentation will be appreciated.
The Zone of proximal development
The skill in the zone of proximal development in this scenario would be the grammatical perspective of the language. Since these vocabularies are still new to the students, they may not be able to apply them correctly with the grammar and context by themselves. Therefore, the instruction from the teacher would be necessary for this scenario in order to make sure the students understand the correct usage of the vocabularies.
Scaffolding strategy
During the lecture, the teacher will demonstrate the students some ways of expression with the vocabularies which they may be able to use in the presentation. At the preparation stage of the presentation, the teacher will also help students to check if they apply the vocabularies grammatically and contextually accurately. Once the students comprehend the right usage of these vocabularies and successfully apply them into their presentation, they should be able to master them and to use them proficiently and correctly by themselves in the future.
Social constructivist strategy
The presentation is a collaborative activity. On the one hand, the students are required to work in a group with their peers. They could better understand and familiarize new knowledge by discussing and practicing the dialogue together. On the other hand, the interaction between the teacher and the students also facilitates a learning process that assists students in getting through the zone of proximal development with guidance and encouragement.
References
GSI Teaching and Resource Center. (2019). Social Constructivism. Berkley University of California. Retrieved from https://gsi.berkeley.edu/gsi-guide-contents/learning-theory-research/social-constructivism/
The University of Sydney School of Education and Social Work. (January, 2018). Constructivism. The University of Sydney. Retrieved from https://sydney.edu.au/education_social_work/learning_teaching/ict/theory/constructivism.shtml
