Salam; Djelfa Meeting ; ¨PROBLEM SOLVING IN TEACHING ENGLISH Djelfa meeting tackled the following questions  Questions : 1- What is a problem ? 2- What is problem solving situation? 3- Why problem solving in teaching? 4- Is problem solving new in our teaching system? 5- How to plan problem solving lesson? 6- Barriers to problem solving teaching? 7- What are the classroom problem solving activities ? NB : Special thank to all the people who welcomed us , for their great hospitality , to Aziz , team of Riassla School , Mr Sadek and my friends Nourddine Yadade, Yacine Gabes, Boualem Ziane for their great contributions By ; Samir Bounab ( teacher trainer at MONE)

3. Mingling
• Would you please stand up , move around the room
and find some one who:
Questions Name s
1- came to the meeting by bus
2- lives in Djelfa
3- knows about the topics of the meeting
4- teaches at Secondary school
5- teaches at Middle School
6- is a student and feels concerned by training and workshops
7- attended the first Djelfa training?
8- remembers the topics of the first Djelfa meeting?
9- retired or going to retire

4. What happened?
• How was the audience?
• Was every one involved?
• What do you think was my aim using mingle
activity?

5. Video

6. What can you say about the video?

7. Can you compare and contrast the
two situations?

8. In Which situation learners are

9. Why do learners feel more acitve in
situation 1 than in situation 2

11.  To clarify this some important questions
must be raised :

12. Questions
1- What is a problem ?
2- What is problem solving situation?
3- Why problem solving in teaching?
4- Is problem solving new in our teaching system?
5- How to plan problem solving lesson?
6- Barriers to problem solving teaching?
7- What are the classroom problem solving activities

13. 1- What is a
problem ?
• A problem is a task that requires
the learner to think through a
motivating and challenging
learning situation which is not
impossible to solve.

14. What is
problem
solving
situation?
• A problem solving situation is a
process of working on facts, details ,
information and knowledge to reach a
solution.
• It is an ongoing activity in which we
use what we know to discover what
we don't know.
• It includes expectable obstacles by
generating hypo-theses, predictions,
and arriving at satisfactory solutions.

15. Problem-solving involves three basic
functions:
a) Seeking information
b) Developping new knowledge
c) Making decisions
d) Assessing one’s learning process

16. Why problem solving situation?

17. - Problem solving learning
situations is very important since it
places learners in situations that
test/check their capacity to
overcome obstacles and problems .

18. • Languages are learned most effectively and
lastingly when they are used to solve
problems through hypothesis testing .

19. - The Problems make the learners think and they
learn by thinking
- word their thinking in English while solving the
problems.

20. It provides students with opportunities to
use their newly acquired knowledge in
meaningful, real-life activities and assists
them in working at higher levels of
thinking.

21. Problem-solving is, and should be, a very real part of
the curriculum. It presupposes that students can :
• take on some of the responsibility for their own
learning
• can take personal action to solve problems
• resolve conflicts
• discuss alternatives
• focus on thinking as a vital element of the
curriculum.

22. 4-
Is problem solving new in our
teaching system?

23. What does this illustration stand for?

30. -Teaching and learning through problem solving
situations has been introduced in the Algerian
teaching system since 2003 when the Ministry of
National Education opted for the Competency Based
Approach .

31. What is initial problem solving
situation?

32. • It's the starting point of your lesson where you involve
your learners from the first moment you are in class
• you put them in real life situation conform to the
official approach (CBA) which is learner centered one.
• Using selected aids , you invite your learners to guess,
improsive, deduce....

33. -CBA is an action-oriented in that it gears
language learning to the acquisition of
embedded in functions and skills.

34. These will allow the know-how learner to
become an effective/competent
language problem solver user in real-life
situations outside the classroom.

35. 5- How to plan problem solving lesson?

36. • Planning lessons through problem solving
situations necessitates from the teacher to take
into account many important facts:

37. 1. Consider and acknowledge the learners
abilities and competences toward the target
language . ( who are my learners?)

38. 2 - Adapt the lesson’s learning objectives to the
learners level, abilities , competences, needs
and likes

39. 3- Create a climate of communication by inviting
the learners to act in reflective thoughts .

40. 4 - The problem exposed must be of some
interest to the learners who must have
experienced such similar problem situation.

41. 5 - Such problem must be
motivating and stimulating to
thinkabout the options to
solve the problem.

42. 6 - The learner already possesses a
minimum of data to deal with the
problem exposed .

43. 7 - Help the learner reach the solution in a
complete autonomous way where he or she feels
responsible about his or her thoughts.

44. 8 - Encourage Independence :
 Have students work through problems on their own.
Ask directing questions or give helpful suggestions, but
provide only minimal assistance and only when needed to
overcome obstacles.
Don’t fear group work! Students can frequently help each
other, and talking about a problem helps them think more
critically about the steps needed to solve the problem.
Additionally, group work helps students realize that
problems often have multiple solution strategies, some that
might be more effective than others

45. Be sensitive :
• when working problems, students are
unsure of themselves. This lack of
confidence may chain their learning.
• It is important to recognize this when
students come to us for help, and to give
each student some feeling of mastery.
• Do this by providing positive reinforcement
to let students know when they have
mastered a new concept or skill.

46. • Encourage Thoroughness and Patience :
• Try to communicate that the process is more important
than the answer so that the student learns that it is OK to
not have an instant solution.
• This is learned through your acceptance of his/her pace of
doing things, through your refusal to let anxiety pressure
you into giving the right answer, and through your example
of problem solving through a step-by step process.

47. 6- Barriers to problem solving teaching?
• The barriers that may trouble dealing with problem
solving situation are:
a) Fail to recognize the problem
b) Uncertain about what is the problem is dealing
with .
c) Being uncertain about the choice to adopt since
the problem may expose a variety of solutions.
d) Doubt about if the reached solution is doable
and achievable .

48. 7- Some problem solving classroom activities:
• Problem solving skills are very important in real life
and classroom activities can help a lot in preparing
the learner to face such problems in daily life.
• They do not need to be dull and routine activities
( they depend on the type of the target language
tackled)

49. Brainstorming
• Helping learners to generate as many as possible as idea
and elicit them in lists .
For example just say the word “ imagine” and see what
happens :
Learners may :

50. May sing this

52. Or may activate such process

53. Guessing
 using pictures ( generally the ones of the school
manuals) invite the learners to guess and improvise.
( teacher may help them to put their ideas “black
on white” by answering specific questions like :
1) where does the situation take place?
2) who or what is in the photo?
3) what is heppening?

54. What’s the problem ?
• This is a powerful technic to unify all the ideas

55. Group activities
• One of the motivating problem solving strategies is
group work where learners can express themselves
easily ( shy learners can easily share their ideas with
their peers)
• learners may deal with :

56. • Brain Purge activity : Many ideas are suggested by all the
members of the group about the problem exposed which
may save time.
• Brain sketching: instead the learners interact about their
ideas or interpret them in written way , they draw that on
paper , each member of the group does that then they
share their drawings.
• Combo Chatter: is process of generating ideas then
selecting the best ones and developing them into workable
product.

57. • The “sentence trigger” = what if……. ? : helps
push the limits of our imagination
• Mingling: moving around and talking to peers or
groups which will oblige learners to take part in
discussion about the problem exposed.

58. workshop
• What problem solving situations can you
create to teach :

59. Conclusion
• These are just ideas , teachers can generate their
own ones depending on their learners needs and
interests .
• what is important while using problem solving
teaching is the learner is a collaborator and an
individual where all his needs and interests are
taken into account.
• Using problem solving teaching helps to build
who are not only excellent learners but future
problem solvers.

60. By:Mr Samir Bounab (Teacher trainer at MONE)
yellowdaffodil66@gmail.com