The Sorting Hat as a teaching method

[Kristjan Arnason]

Hi,

How to put this....

I'm a Canadian who teaches English in Korea.  I had a
class of mostly 11 year olds.  One day I decided to
try something different with them.  I took them all to
the computer room and went to the Warner Brothers
harry Potter site, and had them all take the Sorting
Hat test.  With the exception of the two best students
in the class (there were 8 students total) they all
did the test in Korean.  It has language options.

Anyhow,  the test put two students into each house.  I
had taken the test a month earlier and had been
(rightly) sorted into Slytherin.  Amazement followed. 
I played the role of Professor Snape, and they all
played their houses perfectly.  I picked on the
Gryffindors (but not too cruelly) and shamelessly
favoured the Slytherins, but also made sure the Huffs
and the Raves had a chance too.  I'd give and remove
points for correct and incorrect answers, you see.

The thing is, the kids started to assume personalities
appropiate to their houses.  The Raves were brainy. 
The Slyths, who included the best student in the
class, kissed up to me.  The Gryffindors fought with
me, and had to go an extra mile to get any credit. 
The Hufflepuffs were...Hufflepuffs.

Don't get me wrong.  I made sure everyone had a chance
to win.  When I let the G's win I'd stomp about as
Snape would surely do.  When my S's won, as they
usually did (thanks to Claudia), I'd give them extra
stickers and a big smile.  When H or R won I'd skowl
at my Slytherins for failing me, and curse the
Gryffindors.  The game was slightly rigged...I made
sure that even the Hufflepuffs had a victory.  They
were quite happy.

The kids loved it.  I did too.  I'm at a different
school now, and I don't think I'll use the "Sorting
Hat" again.  But it was fun.

Anyway,  the Sorting Hat can be used as a teaching
instrument.  Dividing this one class like that made
the lessons very interesting.

Professional Teachers and Child Psychologists may now
flame me.

Kris

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