Teach English in Xiehe Zhen - Wuwei Shi

This unit is focused on the teaching of productive skills. This involved speaking and writing (including games). When two or more people are communicating with each other, we can be sure that they are doing so far one of the following reasons; - They have some communicative purpose - They want to say something - They want to listen to something - They are interested in what is being said What is the difference between accuracy and fluency activities? - Accuracy activities (usually part of the study phase) are concentrated on producing correct language - Fluency activities (usually part of the activate phase)are concentrated on allowing the students to experiment and be creative with language Which is more important? Accuracy and fluency carry equal importance as both come into different stages of the lesson that accuracy check understanding in students while fluency use it creatively. Speaking activities in the classroom: a- Controlled activities: - Drilling - Prompted b- Guided activities: - Modal dialogues - Guided role-play c- Creative communication: - Free role ?play - Discussions - Information gap - Debate - Simulation - Communication games Encouraging students to speak: Many students can seem reluctant to speak in the classroom due to the following reasons; - Lack of confidence - Fear of making mistakes - Peer intimidation - Lack of interest in the topic - Previous learning experiences - Cultural reasons Techniques to encourage interaction: - Pair-work - Plenty of controlled and guided practice before fluency activities - Make speaking activities purposeful - Change the classroom dynamics - Careful planning - With certain activities you may need to allow students time to think about what they are going to say. A typical free/creative speaking activity lesson; - Engage - Study - Activate Guidelines for a free/creative speaking activity: a- Before the lesson: - Decide on your aims: what you want to do and why - Try to predict what the students will bring to the activity and any problems they might have - Work out how long the activity will take and tailor it to the time available - Prepare any necessary materials - Work out your instructions b- During the activity: - Arouse the students interest through visuals, a short lead-in talk, a newspaper headlines etc - You may want to remind students of any instructions or vocabulary that might be useful - Set up the activity so that the students know the aims of the activity and what they are to do - Make sure the students have enough time to prepare in pairs or groups , before asking them to tackle the main activity - Evaluate the activity and the students? performance in order to provide feedback later but don?t jump in with instant corrections etc c- After the activity: - Indicate how well the class communicated - Sometimes you might want to record the activity on videocassette and play it back for discussion - Note down glaring recurrent errors in grammar, pronunciation and use of vocabulary Writing skills Despite the differences involved in speaking and writing, many of the same factors as those for speaking lesson need to be considered and incorporated as follows; - Handwriting - Spelling - Layout and punctuation - Creative writing A typical creative writing activity lesson - Engage - Study - Activate Games in the classroom: A game is an activity with rules, a goal and an element of fun There are two kinds of games which include; - Competitive games - Co-operative games Below are some of the games and their web links which include; Game - Twenty questions - Noughts and crosses/tic-tac-toe - Hangman - Twister - Clue/cluedo etc In this unit, I learnt about the productive skills that is speaking and writing (including games). Also I have learnt about the various techniques to encourage the students to speak and writing English easily and finally how games are very important in the classroom.