Bytesize 3: Learning-from-home "offline" - Good for eyes, body and mind

In the third bytesize of the year, the NET Section would like to focus on authentic learning offline when learning from home.

Is technology the sole solution to learning from home?

Learning from home offers many challenges. Often, technology is seen as a solution. However, there are times when learning “offline” is better for learners. We need to consider our learners’ “whole” development:

eye health (see our last Bytesize* on eye health and myopia)
physical development (fine and gross motor skills and physical fitness)
mental wellness (emotional and social skills for well-being)
and broad cognitive (brain) development.

Too much of one habit will develop some capabilities and ignore many others. A good baseball player practises running and team skills, not only batting, hitting, throwing and catching. This is true for the education of the “whole child”. Even at home.

Organic learning

Professor Hattie** is a well-known literacy and learning academic. He describes “organic learning” at home. Organic learning is the natural learning opportunities that arise in the new situation that students find themselves in. Research has shown that learning organically happens in an authentic life setting for an authentic purpose. Cooking and problem solving are good examples.

Offline learning opportunities

Organic learning involves moving and using handy resources. Online learning does not lend itself to this. Yet, the home can be a source of rich offline learning for English — by exploring everyday activities, the physical space and the people living there. It encourages family interaction, although it can be done independently. And it is motivating.

Learn more and access the list of offline activities for authentic learning

Read the Bytesize below to learn more about authentic, organic, offline learning at home. It offers strategies for teacher preparation to scaffold students and keep them accountable.

You can plunder the long list of possible activities. These involve “high cognitive demand”, which avoid simplistic paper activities (like word search), but help develop skills for literacy, critical thinking and creative thinking. The activities all have educational value, and for each one, the English connections are listed.

Click here for Learning-from-home “offline”.

The activities are grouped under these topics, however many activities cross topic groups:

Around the home
Living together in restricted times

Self-organisation
Using family as a resource
Food shopping and budgets
Design technology and problem solving
Staying healthy and fit
Social and emotional wellbeing
Being creative

Feel free to adapt them and send us your ideas!

Printing advice: To print each page fully, please print from a computer. (App attachments may not print accurately.)

* NET Section “Bytesize” offers advice and resources about e-learning and for schools to adapt to learning-from-home and restricted class time. Recent newsletters include the effect of screens on students’ eye health and learning ‘offline’ at home. Past e-newsletters can be found at: https://nets.edb.hkedcity.net/page.php?p=556

** https://opsoa.org/application/files/2215/8689/0389/Infuences-during-Corona-JH-article.pdf

Disclaimer:

Information was available via the links above at the time the webpage was prepared. The links are provided as a convenience and for informational purposes only.

Disclaimer
To enhance the teaching content, teachers can exercise their professional judgment and consult relevant scholarly work when adopting the learning and teaching resources prepared by educators and other teachers. In support of the implementation of the English Language Education KLA Curriculum, teachers can also select appropriate parts of the resources for classroom learning or extended learning based on pedagogical consideration and the learning needs of students.