Gathering together every Saturday morning, many students, some from IFL and some from other universities, go to U-life Café, which is located along Russia Federation Boulevard and in front of IFL, for the same reason. Obviously, they go there in order to make group discussions. They say that they do so because just sitting and listening to the teachers explaining in the classroom is not enough for them to become effective and efficient learners and to possess themselves a hallmark of well-rounded educated people. They have to establish group discussion. Hence, it is clear that group discussion is the only way to consolidate and ameliorate knowledge, build-up self-confidence, and strengthen relationship amongst group’s members.
Firstly, group discussion is actually a good way to consolidate and ameliorate knowledge. By forming a group, students are able to review their lessons they have just learnt from school. They explain each other on what they don’t understand clearly, and if they still can not find the answers to those problems, they will try to search in other sources of information such as the Internet, magazines, newspapers or libraries; that provides them skill to cope with the problems they face in academic years. Moreover, homework or assignments assigned by teachers can be done and checked whether or not they are correct, and are corrected by the group’s members in case they are unacceptable or wrong. Doing this regularly, sooner or later, they will get to know each strength and weakness, so they can help complement each other. Not only do they work on what teacher have assigned them, but they gain general knowledge outside the school context, for they share current information they just get from such mass-medias as radio, television and internet or from their friends, families, neighbors as well as local residents. They can pick up one particular topic and debate about it in order to reach a good solution. As a result, deliberately or unintentionally, they will automatically become critical and analytical thinkers. Furthermore, remember that no man is an island; people have to learn and exchange experiences from each other in return. They can get good experiences they may not themselves undergo. So it is clear that group discussion enables students to consolidate and ameliorate their knowledge both in formal and informal context.
Secondly, self-confidence, a very strong, golden key used for breaking down the barrier of desperation and fear, is built up due to group discussion. Many students face the same problem when they are asked to express their ideas because they have no confidence. Though they have many ideas related to the topic that others are discussing, they still unable to open their beauteous mouth and let out words they want to say. That’s because they are afraid whether their ideas are acceptable or not; they are afraid of being laughed or ridiculed. Moreover, at the time they are speaking, they tremble- their hearts are pounding like a bulldozer breaking down the great giant wall or like the world fastest train running off its track and hitting the mountain- that make their ideas drifted away from their heads; therefore group discussion can help them. Practice makes perfect. During the discussion, all of the group’s members are obliged to practice speaking, sharing ideas and responding to their responsibilities that the group facilitator who orders them to. They practice again and again and again like the wheel turns and turns and turns until they could pronounce words clearly and accurately and then speak fluently and confidently. Along with practice speaking, writing is also included into the group’s schedule. When one is speaking, the others have to take notes and then develop them into essay and exchange each paper for editing. By and large, they have to be aware of their responsibilities. As a consequence, they will become full of confidence and are not afraid when expressing ideas in class or in public as well as on exam day.
In addition to the previous two points, group discussion also enables students to strengthen relationship amongst the group members. It is a chance for them to meet and share ideas and common interest with one another. Relationship needs dialogue; relationship needs spending time and enjoying together. Staying together, they will get to know each other clearly that leads to mutual understanding, an important aspect for living in harmony. Now imagine; how can we become close friends if we have never talked to each other, just sit and listen to the teacher? It is definitely not. In short, strong relationship exists only if all members spend time together and share ideas and common interest in order to become faithful friends.
On the other side of the coin, someone who has different view to what have been mentioned earlier, always thinks and says that it is a waste of time as well as an awkward and silly thought to establish a group discussion and gather together on weekend. Their idea is that when students meet each other, they will talk about something useless, so they had better stay at home do housework or watch their favorite program on TV. However, does it really destroy their time that they just spend only two hours or something discussing about study? This idea is completely preposterous because only two or three hours, or four hours if possible, they need to sacrifice to get back knowledge. I don’t think and also don’t believe that all of them do beneficial things besides sleeping and watching television when they are alone at home. If you are one among those people, why don’t you think again and form a group? It’s not too late to do so. It’s never too late to learn.
In conclusion, ones can attain their goals as successful learners unless they are in the gloomy world of unawareness of the value of group discussion, which helps students to gain and consolidate their knowledge both inside and outside school context, to build up self confidence, and strengthen relationship among their friends. Being a college student, we should sacrifice our time so that we can fulfill our brain with knowledge, and in the near future we will see the impressive result. Bitterness can be a catalyst to be better.
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