Here are some students studying the song 'I can see a Rainbow' from the Finding Out Series. (Finding Out 2)
I leave the students alone and they practise the words first. Then I let them listen to the CD and then they practise some more this time practising the melody as well.
The students more often than not help each other with the words. In the second video (the actual performance) you can see two of the students.
I stress that it is best to leave the students to teach each other. Questions do come, like 'what's this word?', but most of the students now know that I encourage them to ask each other questions before asking me. I'm the last resort. I'm giving them a valuable lesson in how to become interdependent learners. The scaffolding that happens in the classroom is fantastic and the students are much happier learning this on their own. Who would have thought that a ten year old 'bully' would put so much passion into singing the rainbow song? He loved it!
Mark
