Vygotsky’s theory of social development

Lev Vygotsky’s social learning theory puts an emphasis on the importance of social interaction for the development of learning and cognition.

He believed that community was an important factor in the process of creating meaning and knowledge.

Vygotsky’s theory approaches learning from a sociocultural viewpoint, arguing that individual development does not happen without being informed by social and cultural contexts.

He proposed that speech plays a major role in the development of thought, with conversations with more knowledgeable people driving forward understanding and cognition.

An important aspect of Vygotsky’s social learning theory is the Zone of Proximal Development.

At Blazer in Spanish Class, we use "Team-Based Learning"

• We start a class unit by giving students some tasks to complete, such as reading, listening, writing or speaking assignments. We always consider assigning these to be completed before class.

• We have some rounds of CFU. Check students' comprehension of the material with a quick multiple-choice quiz. Wordwall, Quizlet, Nearpod, Quizziz and Google Suite and the appropriate use of cell phones exclusively for educational purposes and why not games- Bingos, The Wheel of Fortune or Jeopardy competitions are alternatives for a quick assessment.

• Students are assigned to groups and have them review their assignment and answer with group members to reach consensus. Then, students share answers and complete a study guide or handouts.

• Students record videos using Seesaw, read aloud chunks, complete writing tasks or speak using the target language. Both the individual student assessment scores and the final group assessment score (both of which are used toward each student's course grade).

• Feedback is provided immediately or the next day depending on the task and students socialize their misgaps or misconceptions and do reinforcement activities based on the assessments reveal.

• Groups are given a challenging assignment, such as solving a problem or applying a theory to a real-world situation. Language is a social construct so interaction is fundamental to get them acquire high levels of proficiency. We enjoy and have fun with our daily encounters that also include the development of  Intercultural competencies.