Life Skills Education
Teachers, how many of you teach practical life skills? If you do, what are they?
I’ve been involved in Adult Education for seven years. I could not, in good conscience, not teach practical skills. I marvel at English as a Second Language teachers, for example, that can teach English devoid of any pragmatics. It makes no sense to me to teach ESL without practical application. It can’t all be rote grammar memorization. There is a place for grammar, and there definitely needs to be a balance between a communicative focus and a grammar focus, but pragmatics must heavily factor into the teaching of the English language.
The reason that pragmatics is so important is that direct real world experience and application of language is the best way to own that language. Take whatever real interactions ESL students have and teach them in class. Figure out what grammar and vocabulary are going to be used beforehand, make it explicit, teach it, and have students report the results. Pragmatics don’t have to be spoken–it can be aural, read, or written. I’ve found the best way to teach ESL is to ask the students. One student had a problem with her heat. So we all wrote faux-letters to our landlords (except that one student’s letter was real). Another student got what she felt was an unjust parking ticket. So we all wrote letters of contest to the city (except that one student’s letter was real). The result? The landlord fixed the first student’s problem right away. It turns out people don’t write letters as much as they used to and it was quite effective. The second student did not have to pay her unjust parking ticket. All of the students that participated in that activity now have direct experience using practical English in real contexts. They also have experiential knowledge that a command of the English language can make their lives safer and can save them money too. Lastly, they’re motivated to practice and study English more than before because of that real experience (as opposed to decontextualized grammar exercises).
As far as K-12 students are concerned, I think they appreciate practical teaching as well. There are certain standards that we have to meet and a curriculum we have to get through so they can score well on the SAT etc. I understand that. Nevertheless, I like to keep my eyes open for opportunities to teach real-world skills such as saving money, applying for jobs, how to use a credit card responsibly, what to look for in buying a car, etc. There are great sites that offer lesson plans and great advice.
One useful site is http://www.handsonbanking.org/en/. This site offers instructional resources that meet the educational standards for finance, economics, mathematics and language arts. They have programs for all ages and levels. I’ve found that some of the lessons are directly related to being safe online, something that should concern all parents and educators.
If you’ve thought about implementing some practical life skills into your teaching give Hands on Banking a try. My student outcomes for these lessons: smart, safe and savvy.
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