Learners' mistakes

Can you remember the two general catagories of mistakes made by learners?
Which one can often be self-corrected?

Take a look at these articles from http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/ which gives a good overview of error correction.

http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/articles/error-correction-1

http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/articles/error-correction-2

Classroom functions (teacher and learners)

These refer to the purposes for which we use language in the classroom.
Think about a basic PPP lesson. How many functions might the teacher need at the presentation stage?

Here are some common classroom exponents. What function do you think is being served in each?

1. "Ok everybody, please look at the board."
2. "What can you see in this picture?"
3. "What do we call a person who designs houses, an arch....."
4. "Listen carefully: He works as an architect".
5. "Does he work in a hospital?"
6. "Min Su - does he work in a bank?"
7. "Ok, I'd like you to take a look at this sentence and tell me what is missing."

The answers are: Getting learners' attention, eliciting, prompting, modelling, concept checking, nominating and instructing.

It is important to consider appropricacy when choosing our exponents for classroom functions. We need to think about our classroom environment and our learners' characteristics.  We also need to think about grading our language, making it clear exactly what we want our learners to do.

"So, ah. I'd kind of like you guys to open your book to page fifty.....fifty four, no sorry, fifty five and ah, look at the text."

Think carefully about sequencing your instructions. Do you want to explain what you want students to do with a handout before you distribute it or after? Why?

Learners also need language to express particular functions in the classroom. Take a look at some of these common learner exponents. What functions do they serve?

1. "Sorry I don't understand."
2. "Could I have the answer to number 2 please?"
3. "Do we start on page 4?"
4. "An architect is a person who designs buildings."
5. "I don't think that is right".

Answers: Expressing confusion, checking answers, asking for clarification, providing a definition and disagreeing.

Learner functional exponents are often taught as chunks e.g. "Excuse me, could I borrow your _____?" and are generally neutral ore neutral/formal in style.
This language can be used by students outside the classroom, in different contexts so it is worth spending some time modelling and practising it with our learners.

Teaching aids

What do you think is the most popular teaching aid in the EFL classroom?
Here is a hint:

From here

Teachers plan what their whiteboard will look like at different stages of the lesson (hopefully not like this) and often include this outline in their lesson plan.

Of course whiteboards are only one type of aid (resources and equipment available to us). While many schools still use OHPs, many schools have interactive whiteboards, access to language laboratories, the Internet, CD players, DVD players etc.

Can you remember the definition of realia? How about flashcards? Puppets?
It is important that we choose aids that match our learners' needs and integrate them into our procedures to ensure that our lesson flows smoothly.

For 101 ways to use your whiteboard, visit here.

Supplementary materials and activities

Can you list four or five reasons for wanting to use supplementary materials in the classroom? Use these phrases to guide your answer.

• Coursebook material (Suitable for learners age, background? Complete? Relevant to needs?)
• Extra practice, extending.
• Variety (methodology, activities)

Brainstorm a list of different supplementary materials that can be used in the classroom and decide what are some possible advantages and disadvantages for them.

For an overview of some supplementary books (for skills and language) and free samples visit the Copy Collection at Cambridge University Press.

Here is a sample from their supplementary book entitled Imaginative Project.

From here

Coursebook materials

In the ideal world, teachers would choose their coursebook based on their students' needs (level; perhaps with the use of a placement test, learning preferences, learning background, areas of language difficulty; perhaps with the use of a diagnostic test, and topics of interest).

Unfortunately the practicalities of modern language teaching mean that often our coursebook package is already chosen for us. However, this doesn't mean that we can't adapt our materials to make them more suitable for our learners.

Problem                                                                         Solution
The material is too easy/difficult for my learners.
The tasks are too long/short.
The topics don't match my learners' interests.
My students get bored with the same format.
The activities don't provide real world practice.

What solutions can you suggest for these common problems?

Reference resources

In TKT reference resources refers to all sources of information about language and teaching which we use in our lesson preparation. Think back to your time as a language learner. What resources (beyond the course book) did your teacher use?

Here are some reasons for using reference resources. What resources could you match to each reason?

• To check the form and use of grammar structures.
• To check the spelling, pronunciation and use of lexis.
• To develop the teachers' understanding of language.
• To help anticipate learners' difficulties.
• To help us discover new approaches to teaching.
• To help us extend our use of the course book.
• To get advice on a specific area of teaching.

From here

Can you label the above dictionary entry with these headings?
Headword, word family, part of speech, pronunciation, denotative meaning, figurative meaning, transitive/intransitive, example sentence.

Assessment activities

Can you arrange these words into logical groupings?

Subjective        Formative          Continuous assessment          Proficiency         

Informal           Diagnostic         Achievement                         Summative

Portfolio           Objective            Progress                                Placement

Formal             Feedback            Project                                   Monitoring

How many assessment activities can you recall? Here are some to get you started:
Cloze
Gapfill
Sentence transformation....

When you have your list of assessment activities, decide if they are more suited to formal or informal assessment, if marking is objective or subjective and which skills they can be used to test.