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The first portion of the unit covered the different language teaching methodologies. It covered their origins and uses and then went out to outline the pros and cons of each method. Some were straight forward and predictable like the classic method of translating to and from a target language. Some were familiar like the army method of using audio drills. Some were new like the silent method using the bars. I've participated in or heard of almost every one of these methods before. While reading about the different methods, I was wondering where the most familiar structure was called and when were we going to talk about that. The ESA method was it. This format was immediately familiar and while the explanation was considerably more in-depth, it was much easier to imagine examples of activities for each steps. Each step is differentiated by the changing roles of the students and teacher along with the goal of the activities during each step. The Engage step involves the teacher eliciting responses and getting the student warmed-up and engaged in the lesson's topic. The students are all participating and using the language while participating in an activity with the class and teacher that introduces the topic. The Study step involves the teacher providing instruction or monitoring solo or group activities that are meant to teach and enforce the lesson's topic. The students aren't using the language actively in this step, but instead focusing on how to use it, how to pronounce it, and related ideas. The teacher can either be the focus, as is the case with board work. Or the teacher can be a monitor while the students do activities alone or in pairs. The Activate step involves the students applying the new topic and using the language actively. Role playing and surveys are common activities in this step. The students should all be very active in this step and very actively using the language and new topics to communicate. After introducing the stages and sample activities, different implementation of the ESA steps were presented. The most straight forward being the arrow pattern which follows the simple ESA pattern. This is standard and effective for all levels, but can become very predictable and possibly boring. The second method covered was the boomerang pattern while follows an EASA pattern. This is good because it offers more time for students to actively use the language. Planning this style can be difficult as it can be hard to foresee the issues in the first Activate stage that should be addressed in the Study stage. The final and most adaptable pattern is the patchwork pattern. This covers are other variations with the only requirements being that it begins with an Engage stage and ends with an Activate stage. The stages between can be any combination and number of ESA stages. Finally, the method how and when to correct student was outlined. The difference between errors and mistakes was explained: a mistake being something simple and noticed easily by the student and an error being something that is misunderstood grammar or an ingrained repeating problem. Encouragement should always be put before corrections. Self-correction or peer-correction should be promoted first and teacher-correction should be used as a last resort.
