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Four things students need to do with a new language: ? Understand its meaning ? Be exposed to it ? Understand how its constructed ? Be able to practice & produce it Students must be introduced to new language balanced & convenient way. Lessons that are specially targeted to grammar/vocabulary usually use the ?straight arrow? ESA approach whereas function based lessons are more commonly approached with ?boomerang? or ?patchwork? ESA structures. This is not a rule that has to be followed. A good teacher will think about which suitable structure to use. TEACHING VOCABULARY: Vocabulary is very important in early stages when students are motivated to learn basics words needed to get by in a language. As a rule a student?s receptive vocabulary (words the student knows but doesn?t use) is larger than their productive vocabulary (words students know & use) Difficulty/ease of a vocabulary item depends on many factors i.e. ? Similarity to students own language ? Similarity to English words already known ? Spelling & pronunciation ? Appropriacy Selecting a vocabulary: Although there is general consensus about which grammatical structures should be taught at which levels the same is not true of vocabulary. Biggest problem of vocabulary teaching is how to select which word to teach. Following criteria can be used: ? Appropriacy to students ? Appropriacy to task ? Frequency & coverage - -how often are students likely to use/come across the language & can it be applied to different situations. ? Teachability i.e. beginner students need clear & visual language. What do students need to know about a vocabulary item? ? Meaning ? Use - How/when it is appropriate to use ? Word grammar - Where it belongs ? Interaction - How it interacts/affects other word s ? Spelling - How it is written ? Pronunciation - How it is spoken. TECHNIQUES FOR VOCABULARY TEACHING: ENGAGE: Following methods can be used to elicit students & explain meaning ? Realia ? Mime & action ? Pictures ? Contrast ? Discussion ? Discovery STUDY: ? Gap-fill exercises ? Word searches ? Crosswords ? Study from texts/dialogues ? Pronunciation sentences ? Matching exercises ACTIVATE: ? Open class/group/pair discussion ? Role play ? Simulation ? Story building ? Debate ? Material production poster etc. TYPICAL ESA VOCABULARY LESSON: Typical ?straight arrow? structured ESA vocabulary lesson for lower level students with learning objective ? ?At the end of the lesson students will be able to use vocabulary associated with houses, rooms, and furniture? can look like this: ENGAGE: Open class activity ? Students share info about where they live, types of house they live in, rooms they have. Students can be asked to bring pictures etc. to show fellow students. Teacher may bring pictures too. STUDY: Teacher shows small text/plays dialogue of someone describing their house. Check pronunciation, spelling, meaning etc. with some study activities mentioned above. ACTIVATE: Teacher tells groups/pairs of students to design perfect house with furniture. Later students present their dream house to class & have debate on pros & cons of each house before voting on which house they like most. NOTE: This it is just one way to approach it. A patchwork structured approach can be seen in Unit 3. INTRODUCING GRAMMATICAL STRUCTURES: Students need to know what the language means, how it is used, what grammatical form is & how it is said/written. ? Meaning ? what the language means ? Use ? how/when it is used ? Patterns ? formation & patterns of language ? Spoken & written form - difference in forms. i.e. ?am going? written becomes ?I?m gonna? in spoken. Techniques for presenting & practising language structure: ENGAGE: ? Discussion ? Scenario building ? Prompting ? Question & Answer ? Using pictures, drawings, real objects, mime etc. STUDY: ? Intonation & pronunciation patterns ? Gap fills ? Info gaps ? Sentence word order activities i.e. unscramble jumbled sentences ? Sentence building ? Looking at language in context through texts & dialogues ACTIVATE: ? Communicating games ? Role-play ? Story building ? Discussion/debate TYPICAL ESA GRAMMAR LESSON: Typical ESA ?patchwork? grammar lesson for midlevel students with learning objective ??At end of lesson students will be able to talk/write about films & books using past Simple tense.? ENGAGE: Students discuss favourite books/films & what they liked about them. ACTIVATE: In pairs students write short synopsis of book/film STUDY: Analyse usage of Past Simple Tense. Study activities to reinforce meaning formation & pronunciation ACTIVATE: In groups students write story from picture prompts STUDY: Group passes story to another group who checks for correct usage of Past Tense. Errors are discussed in class. ACTIVATE: Chain story communication game one student starts story, the next continues etc. TEACHING LANGUAGE FUNCTIONS: Language consists of vocabulary, grammar as well as functions. Functions include areas such as inviting, refusing, agreeing, disagreeing; suggesting etc. teaching language functions includes appropriacy (appropriateness) of the language in terms of kind of language they use ? formal, informal, tentative, technical etc. Language function lessons stress the need for activation of language & is effectively used with boomerang and patchwork type ESA lessons as seen in Unit 3. Role plays are useful here. TYPICAL ESA FUNCTION LESSON: A Typical function ? inviting ? ESA ?boomerang? type lesson i.e. ENGAGE: Students talk in open class favourite leisure activities, why they like them & how often they do them etc. Teacher uses prompts to gain students opinions on certain activities ACTIVATE: Students walk around class inviting peers to join them in their favourite activities until they have found at least two students who would like to do so. STUDY: Teacher/students listen to invitation dialogues on tape. Compare to the language they used & analyse ways of inviting formally/informally & accepting/rejecting said invitations appropriately. Use pronunciation & other study exercises to reinforce. ACTIVATE: Using new language students role- play in pairs. One wants a date with the other & invites. The other isn?t eager so makes excuses. Winner is student who doesn?t run out of invitations or rejections!
