[etni] Re: The Oral Bagrut and Projects
- From: "Adele Raemer and Laurie Levy" <raemer@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <golomb@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, "etni" <etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 4 Mar 2005 22:29:18 +0200
**** ETNI on the web http://www.etni.org.il http://www.etni.org ****
Dear Nina and ETNI listers,
Personally, I think it is a shame not to take advantage of the projects in
the oral exam. The examiners are professional teachers who can follow
instructions and understand that their job is not to assess the project,
rather to use the project as a springboard to assess the learners' ability
to discuss something that s/he has invested considerable time working on, in
English. The presence of the project, I have found, aids both the learner
and the tester during the oral exam. The learner has something to remind
her/him of the vocabulary, and is something tangible to focus on. For the
tester, it makes it easier to encourage talk, it is again, a tangible focus
for their discussion.
I saw no problem whatsoever performing the oral magen (I know of quite a few
schools who have always given a mock oral exam before the real one- aiding
the teachers to focus more on the areas where the learners need help, as
well as giving the learners a really good idea of what to expect on the
actual exam.) In fact, I really enjoyed listening to my learners talk about
their projects, themselves and found it a sort of personal way of summing up
our period together - a bit of quality time and attention for each of them.
While we were doing the mock oral exams, I had them working on various
exercises that would help them on the written exam - points that I had seen
were problematic, and each learner was able to choose the different
reinforcement activities and work on what s/he needed.
I believe that the new format for testing is far preferable to the old
format, of role plays which- while I - as an eternal ham - loved them, they
were very difficult for learners who are more introverted, as well as the
fact that I did not believe int he reliability or the validity of what the
role plays were testing.
Regarding the literature, I love the fact that I am given the authority to
teach what I love and am passionate about, and assess in ways that are
appropriate to my learners and the different literature. I believe that
changing it into something that is tested formally on the bagrut will throw
us back 25 years. If there is question about what is being done in the
school, perhaps we should discuss ways of centralizing or formalizing how
classroom practices are overseen, for example, more training for the English
coordinators, and more budget for in service sessions and counselors who can
come into the schools and guide the English staffs.
Getting back to the point of forbidding your learners to bring their
projects in, I would let THEM decide if they want to or not. A learner who
participated in a class that did their projects properly, is proud of the
hard work invested in it and WANTS to take it in, should be allowed to, and
not punished at this point because of political disagreements between
her/his teacher and the board of education. I believe that not allowing them
to bring the projects in if they want to will be doing them a disservice,
and I am sure that is the LAST thing you would want to do.
Adele
----- Original Message -----
From: "Golomb" <golomb@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "etni" <etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, March 03, 2005 11:01 PM
Subject: [etni] The Oral Bagrut and Projects
> **** ETNI on the web http://www.etni.org.il http://www.etni.org ****
>
> I would like to notify that list that I am not letting my twelfth grade
> students take their projects with them into the oral bagrut.
> I discussed this issue with Bracha Maziel from the Irgun and she agreed
> with me.
> The purpose of the oral bagrut is to test speaking and the project is to
> be used as a springboard for discussion. It is not the task of the
> external examiner to assess the actual project. However, when the
> examiner sees the actual project, the danger exists that part of the grade
> will be given according to the examiners' impressions.
>
> For this reason, my students are going to be instructed not to take their
> projects with them. This does not deviate from any of the instructions
> given to teachers.
>
> Nina
>
>
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