[etni] Re: The purpose of UNSEENS
- From: Kara Aharon <aharonmk@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 28 Nov 2012 19:12:56 +0200
I ask you all to take a careful look at both responses. They have similar
opinions about what unseens do and don't do. According to them, unseens
check "proper and careful reading of a text and its questions" and "they
enrich your vocabulary, they improve your reading skills and they help you
practice your ability to answer questions in a limited amount of time". The
problem, according to both, is that unseens don't improve grammar. The first
also claims that they don't improve vocabulary, but I would like to point
out that they do expose students to vocabulary in different contexts.
Now let's think about why it's so important to learn English. Is it really
just to pass the Bagrut and get into college? Or is it because knowing how
to speak, read, write and understand English is necessary to function in
today's world? If you know any Israeli adults who are not English teachers,
ask them what English skills they use on the job. Most likely they will tell
you that they have to read and answer correspondence, read and understand
text and present ideas and summaries in writing and orally. Funny, don't
some of these sound like the skills that are improved while practicing
unseens?
Remember - English isn't just a subject in school, English is a language.
Kara Aharon
Yerucham, Israel
08-6589425, 052-3903306
aharonmk@xxxxxxxxxxxx
www.englishfun.net
> Date: Tue, 27 Nov 2012 09:20:14 +0200
> From: phyllis oded <phylliso@xxxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: [etni] The purpose of UNSEENS
>
> I asked my class to write an opinion essay in class about THE PURPOSE OF
> UNSEENS.
> Here are two responses:
> Edan:
> In my opinion, UNSEENS have no significant purpose. Practicing UNSEENS
> isn't an efficient way to improve a student's level in English. Therefore,
> I believe UNSEENS should not be used on Bagrut tests to evaluate students
> in English.
> The only skills UNSEENS eficiently check are proper and careful
> reading of a text and its questions. UNSEENS do not, however, improve a
> student's vocabulary or grammar level.
> I firmly believe there are better ways to teach English to Israeli
> students, like me. One method, which I recommend, is essay writing. Essay
> writing is a great way to improve both grammar and vocabulary. While
> writing an essay, students are also required to use different thinking
> skills and creativity, as well.
> In conclusion, UNSEENS have little importance and shouldn't be used in
> teaching Israeli students English.
> Yotam:
> In my opinion, the main purpose of an unseen is to check your ablitiy
> in handling a text you have never seen before and to test your reading and
> comprehension skills.
> I firmly believe that unseens are great, because they enrich your
> vocabulary, they improve your reading skills and they help you practice
> your ability to answer questions in a limited amount of time. However,
> unseens don't improve your grammar skills and therefore, you can not rely
> only on unseens to improve your English.
> To sum up, I firmly believe that unseens are great. However, you need
> other exercises to improve other parts of your English skills (grammar and
> so on.)
> Most of the other students agreed with the ideas in the second essay
> above. I found it very interesting to hear the different opinions.
> Try this in YOUR class and see what their opinions AND the written results
> are! Yours, Phyllis
>
**************************************
** Join ETNI on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/groups/31737970668/
** ETNI Blog and Poll
http://ask-etni.blogspot.co.il/
** Etni homepage - http://www.etni.org
** post to ETNI List - etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
** help - ask@xxxxxxxx
***************************************
Other related posts: