The StudyDo design supports teachers in helping students develop English proficiency. The free book, Bridges, works to bridge the gap between understanding English and producing it.
Focus on Language
Even when school exams are focused on proficiency, not content, some textbooks continue to question students on facts contained in the text.
Too much focus on content distracts students and teachers from noticing and using language.
Content in Bridges is designed to hold the learners’ interest so that language can be noticed and produced, but the teacher is never responsible for testing content, so she never needs to translate it for students.
This also means students never need to memorize facts or stories. They only need to develop their proficiency in using English, and Bridges helps them do that.
What does the teacher do?
Bridges is designed to require no extra preparation and to be easy for teachers to use.
The teacher’s role is to encourage thinking and language production in students.
To do this, the teacher provides opportunities for students to discuss content in order to process language meaningfully. Since there is no need to translate content, the teacher can allow students time to study the language of the text to find out what happens next. This keeps them curious and interested throughout a lesson and eager to move on to the next one!
