This Lesson in Dogme

Yesterday was supposed to be my first Dogme lesson.

(Not a very encouraging start, is it?)

Unfortunately, as a result of a number of pressures--incidental, external, but most importantly internal--the end product was a 'neither here nor there' lesson that rested a bit closer to the 'familiar' end of my teaching spectrum than the 'Dogme' direction I was aiming for. Quite simply, rather than go 'full-Dogme' I instead elected to play it safe. The result was one messy hybrid of a lesson. However, before getting into this point in greater detail, I'd like to discuss some of sources of pressure previously mentioned.

#1 - The Build-up: In the days leading up to the class there was quite a lot of attention placed on my lesson, both online and within the teaching center. I was the first DELTA candidate to attempt a Dogme-style lesson at this school and it attracted a bit of attention. This attention fead into point two...

#2 - You do it to yourself: Remember that Radiohead song 'Just'?

You do it to yourself, you do

and that's what really hurts

You do it to yourself, just you

you and no-one else

You do it to yourself

You do it to yourself

There's a lesson in there somewhere, I think. To say that some of the pre-lesson buildup went to my head would be an understatement. The buzz in the center, the exchanges with co-workers back in Korea, even the attention of the illustrious Mr. Thornbury (courtesy of my tutor's omnipresence online). Oh yes. By this point I was quite clever in my own mind. Quite clever indeed.

#3 - The Final Countdown: (No, not that countdown.) Input sessions finished early on that fateful day (wait, it was just yesterday) and I was left with about 2.5 hours worth of sitting around prior to my lesson. This afforded me the opportunity to a) stew in the juices of my own creation and b) be approached by CELTA candidates every 20 minutes asking to observe my lesson because they'd "heard so much about it." My downfall, dear reader, was by this point fully in motion.

So what happened? Well, as mentioned above, I played it safe. Rather than open the topics of the day to plenary discussion (a hallmark of Dogme teaching) I instead got the learners working almost exclusively in pairs, hacking away at the topic to the best of their individual abilities. This is not to say that pairwork doesn't apply in Dogme, but the net result was that rather than creating a bonfire of emergent language from which we could all draw our language focus, the classroom dynamic more resembled isolated groups of learners huddled around their individual pairwork campfires. In the end, the language focus that came at the end was of interest to some, but not the group as a whole. Not everyone was on the same group-assembled page and my attempts to consolidate and extend their language were largely unsuccessful.

What brought this about? All of the pressures listed above, to start. Also, having a number of fellow candidates in the class observing, people whose opinions I've come to value over the last six weeks, compelled me to hedge my teaching bets. (Play it safe! Looks who's watching!) The last minute decision to record the lesson didn't help. (Oddly, visions of Scott Thornbury watching your lesson on Youtube can be quite distracting mid-lesson.) Finally, the ghost of CELTA-Past definitely paid me a visit during the lesson. The words of my tutor, six years ago now, rang clear in my mind: "Learners have more speaking opportunities in pairwork!" "Watch your TTT!" Looking back now, I can't help but think that this was a real shame. This group of learners have excellent rapport with each other and wonderful cohesiveness. If I'd had the guts to let them loose, who knows what they could have produced.

Anyway. Was the lesson a disaster? No. Was it a roaring success? No, not that either. Did the learners have a lot of opportunities to practice their speaking in an enjoyable atmosphere? Yes.

Did I learn something from this lesson in Dogme?