Teach English in Jiuxian Zhen - Beijing

Multiple IntelligenceA group of 7th graders are involved in a unit on nutrition in animals , learning about the nutritional needs, its importance in healthy living and foods that help meet those needs. The class has been divided into various groups. One group has drawn a flow chart of energy, another group has drawn a diagram of a digestive system, another a food web. The teacher asks the class to display the charts and think of fun and creative images, designs and symbols they could add to the charts. The students come up with various ideas giving characters to each component on the chart. E.g. A boy plucking an apple off of a tree with really long hands. The teacher follows it with a mini-lecture. As the lesson progresses, the students start drawing comparisons. E.g. a car using petrol as fuel and animal using food as fuel. Towards the end the teacher asks them to draw an abstract drawing related to anything they learnt in that class. This could be an example to using multiple intelligence to facilitate deeper thinking and reasoning in students. What is Multiple intelligence? The term multiple intelligence was coined by Howard Gardner in 1983 to describe the many different ways we remember what we know, process information, acquire knowledge, learn and understand. Multiple intelligence approach to teaching can be especially helpful while teaching an ESL class. This approach can be used to spice up the dry lessons. It can raise the entertainment value of the lesson and can aid students in retaining the information much better.. According to Gardner there are eight different types of intelligence. Verbal-Linguistic Intelligence -- well-developed verbal skills and sensitivity to the sounds, meanings and rhythms of words. Of all the 8 types this intelligence plays an important role in teaching English since the focus is on using language. Mathematical-Logical Intelligence -- ability to think conceptually and abstractly, and capacity to discern logical or numerical patterns. Learning to analyze grammar will involve this intelligence. Musical Intelligence -- ability to produce and appreciate rhythm, pitch and timber. Verbal aspect of learning the language i.e. the intonation, pitch and word stress, will call upon this intelligence. Visual-Spatial Intelligence -- capacity to think in images and pictures, to visualize accurately and abstractly. This method uses pictures, graphs, maps etc. This intelligence is also very effective in an ESL classroom as the students, especially beginners can draw upon pictorials and visual clues to comprehend and remember the language. Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence -- ability to control one's body movements and to handle objects skillfully. Activities involving this intelligence will work wonderfully while teaching young learners. Role-plays and games like charades involve this intelligence. Interpersonal Intelligence -- capacity to detect and respond appropriately to the moods, motivations and desires of others. Group activities will call upon interpersonal skills. Intrapersonal Intelligence -- capacity to be self-aware and in tune with inner feelings, values, beliefs and thinking processes. A student?s intrapersonal intelligence i.e. his goal setting, motivation, dedication, value system will each play an important part in determining how well he is able to learn. Naturalist Intelligence -- ability to recognize and categorize plants, animals and other objects in nature. Internal and external sensorial experiences used during various activities would fall under this category. Each of us has strengths and weaknesses. Each of us learns differently. No one student can be well equipped with all the intelligences. Thus we can see that by including games, visual aids, repetition drills, role plays, discussions, debates, etc., each of which falls under one or more of the above mentioned intelligences , we can ensure that the lessons have been presented in a wide variety of way and that we reach all the students through these mediums.