Teach English in Linxi Zhen - Chifeng Shi

TESTING VS EXPERIENCES.WHICH ONE ? When I think about my young ages , I remember being in a such a hurry before the exam days.Sleepless nights ,eating disorders , sometimes having nightmares , getting more introverted ,having so many social problems.. The list could go on and on .. But Why ? Way was I so worried about myself ? Lack of Self-confidence? Society pressure ? Family issues ? Fear of failiure? I would like to discuss the neccessity of exams and tests in this essay. So lets start by answering this question : What are the exams and tests for ?According to many articles written by some educators who are experts in this area ,evaluation,assesment and test,they are different from each other in terms of criteria they are offering .First we do tests then we asses and final we evaluate . But to what extend is this true ? Can we really be sure of the tests we are apllying to our students ? Of course I know there are measurements of the tests like reliability and validity, but how can tests be true when it comes to real life learning ? In an article I have read recently , it was claiming that ;do not give a kid lots of toys to play but instead give the kids experiences .I really loved and took the idea ,as it was a really adoptable in the era we live right now which is getting globalized so quick . So ,giving experiences to a students instead of stressfull tests , we can help the kids build self-confidence even more to make a real life learning .So what is our goal ? I have many students who are good in tests ,memorizing the topics ,passing from my exams with a great score ,but still can not do anything when they need to spend a day in a nature and they are helpless .A doctor can be good in theory ,but when it comes to an operations,she needs to have experiences .A teacher can gradute from a university at the 1st rank ,but when it comes to the real life conditions ,she can not be succesfull. So , I believe the tests and evaluation by the tests are not totally but mostly a vain and waste of the time in a classroom .Most of the time,they help us to undertsand nothing .It’s like the one of the popular comics which depicts some animals ; monkey,fish elephant and giraffe ;asking them to climb the same tree.I mean how is that possible ? In the early years of learning , the tests and assesments should be over the roof.We should focus on teaching the things we want to by not forcing them to learn because they will be tested at the end but we should provide safe environment for learning coherently and voluntarily.The tests are for the managers and parent who are afraid of facing the failure.Moreover ,they are scared of losing the control of the kids ,as they are control-freaks .I guess kids want to play more than getting stucked in the same classroom ,from 9-5 everyday . .But for me ,a kid should face the failure as well as success not giving them the tests but giving them some real life conditions.We should know that our kids are not race hourses and every child has a different special talent. So when are the tests should be given to the students ? The best possible answer for that is ,when the kids are ready .Well what does that mean ? For example,I decided to take this course as I was in need of improving myself in this field which means that was a NEED for me . Then,I had to take the course and I had known before taking the course that I had to take tests at the end of the each sessions .It was my preferance. We are giving 16 lessons each term to a high school kids and we are expecting them to be succesfull nearly all of them and When they are asked they are giving the same answers : They are fed up .A student who is talented in music and probably will study in Arts faculty in the future is taking the same science classes and the test with the students who will study Medicine after high school .Or vice versa.So we should negotiate the terms of testing again and again and we should update the exam systems in our schools.A very good example has come from Finland .It might sound crazy at the beginning but then we start to ask ourselves ,why not to try.It takes courage ,indeed loads of courage but taking this as a model and starting slowly give harm to no one .For my side , I have even started The other day ,I announced my 9th graders that they would take a vocab quiz and it might happen any time during the week .They asked me if their score would affect the final term points .And I replied : NO. There was a big silence in the class ,the eyes were rowling and they were dying out of curiosity.For the first time , they were not tested for the finals,but they were so sure that the decision was left to them.I was just a launcher of the rocket and it was totally up to them to study or not . Long story short ,we should take huge steps for humanity may be small for our lives ,so in the future we will not be able to observe a mass who are fed up with the exam stress,who are not eager to go to school because of the lessons they are not interested ,the teachers who are not scared of being successful or loser according to the exam results of the students .And managers who turn the classes beautiful places granted for a happy learning environment .