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Bring dialogue to the classroom!

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At the recent conference organised by the European Association for the Education of Adults in Helsinki in June 2024, Isabell Kempf, Director of the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning, stressed that the social aspects of adult education should not be underestimated, but they often are. She continued that adult education offers opportunities for dialogue, which builds functioning democracies.

This is why we as educators of people of all ages should remember to offer opportunities to engage in dialogue in the classroom. Our task is to prepare our learners to a world where dialogue skills help them to participate as family members and citizens. In the Erasmus+ DIAL project we have learned that even though many other soft skills such as communication or time management are given stress in adult education, dialogue skills are often neglected.

Besides democratic participation and work skills, the other benefits of including dialogue in the learning experience is that it brings learners together and it is an opportunity to reflect, which is a vital learning-to-learn skill. We should not underestimate its strength!

How to do it? Here are some ideas:

·         We could use dialogue as an ice breaker by getting students to talk about their expectations and strengths as a learner. We have learned that staring with a positive note encourages dialogue.

·      I have had nice experiences in devising board games on the topic I am teaching where learners are encouraged to share their experiences on the matter we are discussing. They generally enjoy the informal approach to dialogue.

·         Sometimes we focus too much on the delivery of facts. Maybe at the end of a session we could stop for a moment to let students reflect on their learning by engaging in a dialogue about what was meaningful for them. This also teaches the skill of critical thinking.

·         Dialogue takes time. Not everyone is ready to embrace it immediately. By adding the opportunity for mini dialogues during the training course or classroom activity, we can build the confidence of our learners little by little.

Have you got any other tips? Share them with us!

Marion Fields

Comments

  1. Karmen ŠJuly 29, 2024 at 2:08 PM

    One of the activities that can be carried out in adult education to encourage dialogue on a certain topic at the beginning of a workshop/seminar/class could be the following self-reflecting exercise:

    1. Ask students/participants to think by themselves of one situation when they felt they had a good dialogue experince (OR successfully resolved the conflict OR took care of their well-being - depending on the topic of the session) and one situation when they were not happy with how they themselves acted in a dialogue (OR conflict OR elf-care OR - depending on the topic of the session).

    2. After 3 minutes ask them to share in groups the 2 experiences and focus on the differences. You can provide some questions to facilitate the dialogue:

    — A situation in which I had a good dialogue: What contributed to a good dialogue? What made the dialogue safe? What exactly did I do? In what way did I communicate? To what
    extent did I influence the dialogue?

    — A situation in which I didn’t have a good dialogue: What contributed to not having a good dialogue? What destroyed the dialogue? What exactly did I do? In what way did I
    communicate? To what extent did I influence the dialogue?

    3. A group discussion follows on their learning from the experience.

    I really like this exercise. It is a really good way to get students/participants talking and exchanging views and opinions.

    You can find more exerices like this in Dialogue for all. Unlock your community’s
    dialogue skills (A Manual for Trainers and Facilitators): https://eurolocaldevelopment.org/Manual%20for%20facilitators%20and%20trainers_English.pdf
    The manual is also available in Finnish, Polish, Italian, Greek and Slovenian: https://eurolocaldevelopment.org/dial-2/

    ReplyDelete

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