ask the teacher if they encountered any difficulty. Reading was in chorus
and some of students asked the teacher how to pronounce a difficult word
they had encountered. In only one of the classes, the reading exercise was
implemented in a participatory manner. The lesson was poetry, which was
to be recited with rhyme. The teacher first demonstrated, then asked the
whole class to repeat after her, then asked the whole class to repeat in a group
without the teacher, then asked each bench to recite in turn, and finally asked
students to recite individually by selecting them randomly. All the students
had opportunity to participate and they seemed to enjoy the lesson.
- While reading aloud, the teachers occasionally stopped to ask the students
questions. Most of the questions required ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answers or short
responses. Questions were of a low level and verbatim from the textbook.
The teachers expected standard answers. If students gave slightly different
answers, those were rejected as being ‘wrong’ in most cases.
- In two of the classes, teachers could have brought in crosscutting issues or
could have related the lesson to social or environmental issues. For example,
in the lesson ‘natural disasters’, the teacher could have begun by asking
students to share examples of disasters they had experienced or heard about.
The lesson could have then built upon what the students had shared. Even a
story or incident where someone has been victimized could have been used
to inspire empathy or cooperation. The teacher delivered the lesson reading
from a book and paraphrasing, with the occasional question and, thus, this
important lesson was reduced to being content to be memorized for a test.
- In one of the classes, one student had forgotten to bring his book. When his
turn came to read the next paragraph from the book, he asked his peer for the
book. His peer was reluctant to share the book. Although the teacher scolded
the other child for being selfish, the teacher did not take the opportunity to
fully use the situation to teach the students the reason why life skills such as
cooperation, sharing and togetherness are important.
- Communication was directed from the teacher to the students. Students
rarely took the initiative to ask the teacher a question or to ask his or her peers.
Genuine feedback and corrective measures were largely missing.
- During the reading and paraphrasing activity, classroom questioning mostly
involved the teacher asking the class a question and the class answering in
chorus. The teacher rarely waited for an answer, and rarely simplified the
question, redirected or hinted. Thus, while questioning is a topic that is covered
extensively in teacher training in Nepal, teachers rarely use questioning skills
effectively in the classroom.
