Cooperative Learning Helps Promote Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking Skills

English Learners work to expand their English language proficiency in the domains of Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening. To maximize the opportunity to work on these skills in a 30 minute class, we use various Kagan cooperative learning structures. 

For example, during a reading class, students used a structure called Listen Write. During this activity, students listened to me read the passage aloud. When I was done reading, they wrote down what they felt were important and/or interesting points. To work on their speaking skills, they took turns sharing their notes with their teammates using a structure called Round Robin.

Next, students were given a copy of the passage to read independently. Then they were given a set of cards that had questions about the text. Using the cooperative learning structure called Fan-N-Pick, students worked on their speaking and listening skills.

For this structure, students are divided into groups of four and using a Kagan role mat, they are numbered 1 thru 4.  Students perform the roles as follows:

            #1 fans out the question  cards

#2 picks a card and reads the question aloud

#3 responds to the prompt. 

#4 paraphrases/repeats, checks, clarifies and praises the answer.

The mat rotates to the right and  the steps are repeated so that each person in the group has at least one chance at each role.

                                         

    #1 fans the cards for #2 to pick

                                                                             #2 picks a card and reads it to #3

   

                                                                       #3 answers question as #4 listens attentively

As you can see, we pack a lot in during a 30 minute class period. Fortunately, there are several cooperative learning activities that can be used to ensure all language domains are covered. This is good for English Learners and our English only speaking students, as well.