Idea: Learning Dutch in a playful way
"Can I use the text form Interview as Question-Answer?" Dutch teacher Marjolein Mantelaers from Delft lets her students make and play board games, making 'boring' material more attractive.
Image: Angeliek de Jonge
"For students, Dutch is not the best subject at school," says Marjolein Mantelaers, Dutch teacher at the Christelijke Lyceum in Delft. "It is generally quite static and has rules and exceptions that students have to learn, and most people don't like that .”
That is why Mantelaers prefers to make her own teaching methods, so that she can offer teaching material that is experienced as boring as attractive as possible. At least once a year, she has her students make a board game about specific teaching material. Mantelaers: “That can be anything. For the coming year I have decided that I will use memory to practice concepts. On one card is the concept, on the other the explanation. But I also sometimes have a quartet game made for reading comprehension, in which students have to think of four characteristics for each text form.”
Even in 3-havo they think it's fantastic to be creative
Sometimes Mantelaers chooses to first explain the teaching material and then have students make the game in groups, but usually she lets her students learn through inquiry. “Then I only set out the frameworks and students first have to investigate together what the rules are, which they then have to work out in a game. By eventually having the game played by students from other groups, you treat the material in a fun, attractive way.”
very active
Making a game is not possible in one lesson, explains Mantelaers. “We have teaching periods of five to seven weeks at school. I usually let them work on the game one lesson a week during such a period. And if students in other lessons have finished their assignment earlier, they can continue working on the game. That way you prevent them from fiddling in class.”
Fiddling around for the teacher is not an option if you opt for this teaching method. Mantelaers himself is very active, but more in the coaching and steering field. “I always join the groups, especially when things don't go well. Then I think along and I make sure that the collaboration goes well. Usually it comes naturally to half of the groups and you have to coach a little more with the other half. What I also do, by the way, is check the games and the rules of the game for factual correctness, because of course I don't want students to practice with lesson material that contains errors."
fröbelen
When putting together the groups, she often tries to pull the fixed groups apart, so that students also learn to work together with others. “Discussions often arise when I put the groups together myself. That's why I do that more and more randomly - you even have special apps for that. The strange thing is that students are more likely to accept that, because then they don't have the idea that I have put them in that group on purpose.”
And do you eventually let students fröbel? “Yes, there are always glue, paper and markers ready. I teach the lower classes of havo and vwo, but I can tell you that even in 3-havo they think it's fantastic to be creative. In the first lesson you sometimes hear: 'Oh no, because we're going to do it again now', but that resistance often ebbs away quickly. What students find very important is that the game is played in the end. Because it often takes a lot of blood, sweat and tears, they want a reward and that is playing it.”
In addition to the teaching material, they learn to find out and investigate things themselves, to summarize and to work together
As a working method, having games made and played is very effective, says Mantelaers. “In addition to the teaching material, they learn to figure things out and research, summarize, collaborate, divide roles, step out of their comfort zone and deal with feedback. And for me it is nice to get to know students quickly and better. When you join a group, you often have different conversations with students. That's why I always try to start the game in the first half of the school year. Then I will benefit from that for the rest of the year.”
Enthusiastic
Pupils themselves are also enthusiastic about the games, as evidenced by the exit tickets that Mantelaers uses to get her pupils to think about learning objectives and working methods at the end of almost every lesson. This is how I check for myself whether I am still on the right track. And in the student surveys, my lessons always score high on variety of working methods.” Mantelaers himself is not a game person, by the way. “We have a lot of games in the cupboard at home, but it is actually always my husband who plays them with our four children.”
