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This unit was all about productive language skills which are writing and speaking. Both come with their own challenges for a language student. Speaking allows for less thinking time, but is also something that can be asked for clarification in the moment, whereas writing may allow for more time to think and plan, but there is also the need for checking things like pronunciation, spelling, etc. In many ways writing is sometimes seen as the most difficult skill for students and is often the most neglected of the skills, both by teacher or by students. There is also a difference in the production of accurate language and fluent language. Meaning, sometimes a lesson will target or help a student communicate more thoughts and words, but there are more mistakes throughout, where as some exercises work with the student just on their production of accurate language. Both of these are equally important. An accuracy style lesson will be more controlled, and teacher driven, including things like drilling exercises, or prompting question and answers by the teacher. A creative style lesson that focuses on fluency can be something like information gap activities, role play, debates, etc. A teacher may often have to motivate or help their students be more willing and ready to speak. This can be done through pair or group work. Having speaking activities that help teach purposeful skills, like how to order meat from the butcher role-play. In addition these activities take special planning. Some challenges that writing skills and activities create for teachers is that the students must deal with possibly a whole new alphabet, and so their handwriting is a struggle. In addition some languages are written left to right or with out spaces in between words. Furthermore, because English is not a phonetic language this creates problems, never mind the fact that English is made up of irregular words like how 'here' and 'hear' sound the same but are written differently. One of the best ways to overcome this is for a learner to be encouraged to read because there they can see correct usage of writing elements. A teacher may for a creative writing lesson, that is poetry, short story, comics etc. Another helpful skill that was mentioned in this unit was the use of games in the classroom. Games can be used as a good Engaging activity but also in the activation phase. A great game for speaking would be the telephone game, where the teacher whispers a phrase in a students ear and they whisper it down until the end and the last person says the phrase out loud to see if it is at all similar. Games are a great way to keep students interested, excited about what they learn and also calm, which may help their participation and overall achievement.
