Playful Learning in Unexpected Places: Promoting Values through English Micro-Messaging and More
Mary Beth Osburn, the NET at Fukien Secondary School (Siu Sai Wan), shared a few activities that she organised with her junior secondary students to promote positive values and attitudes through playful learning, including leaving micro messages around the school in the most unexpected places and engaging students in collaboratively creating mandala artwork with positive messages inscribed.
According to Mary Beth, “I have always believed in the magic of serendipity. Happy accidents or small chance encounters have the power to inspire a chain of events that can lightly or strongly shift someone’s life course, exposing them to unexpected opportunities. To be sure, I am fatally optimistic here because often I place these messages on doorknobs, backs of chairs, in halls and stairwells and, my favourite location, school bathrooms. Granted, these locations are not the bastions of learning one might imagine, which is why their incongruity makes them a hit with the students. By reframing traditional spaces for learning in creative ways, I also create a sense of belonging and an abundance of conversation.”
She also explored the cross-curricular opportunities inherent in values education and the value of visually stimulating students in unusual and unconventional ways.
Mary Beth’s idea of ‘playful learning’ is affect-driven, yet she designed a series of learning activities that promote the authentic use of English and, for this reason, her students also had to go through a cognitive process when practising English (i.e. application / action).
To watch the presentation, please click here to view the recorded session.
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.
