K-W-L charts

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K-W-L charts Using what you know to guess what you don’t know Satisfaction of one’s curiosity is one of the greatest sources of happiness in life.

Linus PAULING, American scientist

¡MAMÁ, MIRA QUe HE APRENDIDO HOY!

When you decide to go shopping, the first thing you do is look into a fridge to see what you already have. Then you make a real or mental list of what you need, and finally when you come back home you check if you bought everything.

When you teach, first you consider what your students already know or might know, and then you design your teaching objectives accordingly.

At the end you revise and assess to check what they have learned. The question is: are our learners, especially the young ones, equally aware of this process?

Shouldn’t we involve them in our planning so that they can have a clear sense of a beginning, middle and end? Why omit students from our planning stage? Why not make them active participants, so that they can take more pride in their learning?

An excellent way of encouraging even our youngest students to take part in planning are K-W-L charts. These charts are a simple tool which can help you involve your students in a fun and effective way.

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What is a K-W-L chart?

How to use a K-W-L chart

K-W-L charts were created in the ’80s by Donna Ogle, an Illinois professor and president of the International Reading Association. The name K-W-L stands for:

K-W-L charts are used at the beginning to check how much the learners already know, before introducing new content.

Know (What do you know now?)

Want (What do you want to learn?)

Learn (What have you learned?)

Activating – Looking forward – Looking back

Content, language and life skills in one

• And last, but not least, learners practise their social skills. Your learners will see for themselves how much they can learn by co-operating and sharing knowledge. This kind of co-operation will be useful throughout their lives, so starting as soon as possible is a good idea!

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front to share answers on the board with the rest of the class.

4 Ask them what else they would like to find out. Tell them to talk about it in their groups and to complete the W column. They can write anything they like.

5 Again, write their suggestions on the board for everybody to share. Once they realise there are still many new things to learn, they will be motivated and eager to find them out. ➜

• From a language point of view, K-W-L charts provide a meaningful and natural opportunity to talk in English.

3 Call one representative of each group to the

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• K-W-L allows teachers and learners to revise content vocabulary and organize knowledge.

Basically, it’s summing up the whole lesson in just one table!

learners go through the corresponding pages in the book and look at the images.

Tell them that they will learn some really important and useful things, but first they need to tell you if they already know something about this. Ask them to complete the K column.

➜

At the same time K-W-L charts give learners something to look forward to. They foster curiosity about new content and ensure learners will want to know more. Finally, K-W-L charts give learners a chance to see their progress for themselves. What better way to motivate?

2 Announce the topic of the lesson and let

➜

K-W-L charts give your learners a clear point of departure, helping them to activate their previous knowledge. It goes without saying that our students will feel incredibly proud when they realise how much they already know!

Divide your class into small groups and give each group a K-W-L sheet (use the photocopiable sheet at the end of this article). Draw a larger version of the chart on the board or otherwise display it in on the classroom wall. ➜

Initially, Donna Ogle thought of them as a reading strategy, but nowadays K-W-L charts are one of the most recommendable teaching practices in the CLIL classroom.

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6 Leave the big K-W-L chart displayed in the classroom until you finish the lesson.

Then invite learners to complete the last column, first in groups and then on the board as a class.

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K-W-L charts

➜ You can make K-W-L charts

in different ways: • The students draw the chart in their notebooks.

• They draw it on a sheet of paper and keep them all together in a folder.

• You give them a photocopied chart (always the same to develop a routine) at the beginning of a lesson.

K

W What do you know now?

I eat with my mouth.

L What do you want to learn?

What have you learned?

I smell with my nose.

What happens to the food I eat?

The food goes to my stomach and intestine.

I see with my eyes.

Why does my heart beat?

My heart pumps blood.

Example of a K-W-L chart.

Classroom management tips ◗ Filling in the W column might be challenging

at the beginning. Students are naturally curious, but if the topic is difficult and they don’t come up with anything, provide some interesting information to encourage them: • Did you know that your heart beats 30 million times a year?

• Did you know that girls’ hearts beat faster than boys’?

• What do you think: why does our heart beat? ◗ Once they get used to K-W-L charts your

students will start coming up with really crazy questions such as ‘Why do my nails grow?’

Reward and nourish their curiosity: tell them to note down the difficult questions and promise that they will discover the answers together with you in a special future project.

And finally … parents are kept informed The same old home scene. Joan, an eight year old child in a Bilingual School who has just learned something about body systems comes home and his mother asks: “So, what have you learned at school today?”

“Err, I don’t know. Something,” says Joan shrugging his shoulders.

With K-W-L charts your learners will have a clearer idea of what they learned and why they learned it and will feel more enthusiastic about sharing the discoveries with their parents.

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