Summary and Response of History101: Pass the Popcorn, Please

Summary:
The author, Elaine Minamide, writes this article “Pass the Popcorn, Please.” She takes some arguments to persuade her readers that students or children can learn history or culture from media because they are easily hooked by VCR or movies. However, older siblings debate some issues about this way.

A famous cram school, called Sesame Street, succeeds to use VCR to teach English for children. The way Sesame Street using is to sing and dance. However, most educators didn’t agree until they participate in their teaching programs. Obviously, this teaching way is greater than traditional teaching way. Therefore, more and more teachers are accommodating them. For example, in the San Diego Union-Tribune focused on local teachers who frequently supplement classroom instruction with contemporary films.

Maybe it is a good way for students to learn, but, however, there is also an argument which indicates students spend more time watching TV and movies than reading books. This issue needs to be explored from a broader view. In author’s opinion, she thinks that audio-visual learning is just one of teaching ways to enhance students’ learning motivations rather than substitute the main course.

To sum up, there are neither advantages nor disadvantages in a new teaching way, but if this way can promote children or students to learn, they are all good ways for teachers to apply in the courses. The author thinks audio-visual learning is just a better way for learning.


Response:
There are a lot of teaching ways which teachers can apply them in their courses. However, it must have a proper teaching ways for students in different ages. The audio-visual learning actually is appropriate for children. It has been a common teaching way that most cram school which teaches children from kindergarten to elementary school.

Why is it a proper teaching way for this range of children? In my opinion, the range of children can not concentrate on one thing for a long time. Take my teaching experience as an example, I have a student who is six years old. He can not concentrate on one subject constantly. Therefore, I need to change my teaching way to teach him. I always teach today’s course first, and then we will have a game on the second step. Thus, courses and games will exchange all the time in order to enhance his learning efficiency. Through my inspection, I find that it is a good way which can indeed enhance learning efficiency.

Therefore, it is based on how we apply those teaching ways into the courses. We can think what ways are appropriate for which part students, and enhance their learning wills. There are not the worst teaching ways or the best teaching ways. Only students can easily absorb those learning targets and those ways are all the best ways for students.

To sum up, we can adjust our teaching ways for our learners. If learners could learn what we teach, we has achieved the goal which is a good teaching way for students. So there are lots of teaching ways, they are based on how we use.