Assignment 4
This assignment can be done individually or in pairs. Choose one problem situation and suggest your ways of solving (improving) it.
Situation 1
Study the situation:
“I never know how to deal with my students’ mistakes. Once they were involved in a survey. I went round the classroom and listened to them. As soon as I heard a mistake I corrected it. My students looked frustrated and finished the task very quickly. Nobody wanted to present the results of the survey. I thought it was probably because of my interference. Next time we did a grammar activity – they filled in the gaps and then had to extend the sentences – to add what they wanted. I decided not to interrupt them and put down the mistakes – to give the feedback later. When I mentioned their mistakes nobody remembered anything! Again the activity was spoiled! What should I do?”
What’s the problem about error correction? Why is the teacher unhappy about the results she got? Would you use the same strategy? Why? Why not?
Situation 2
You teach “Environmental protection” to your 8th formers. The round up unit is devoted to project work. What project themes can you offer to your students? Choose one and describe how you will organize the work.
Situation 3
Your students (the 6th form) have never done any pairwork before. You are planning to introduce it. What difficulties can you foresee? How can you deal with them? What activities is pairwork suitable for? What stages of the lesson are “the best” for pairwork? Why?
Situation 4
Study the situation:
“I had a wonderful topic with my 7th formers. All my last year students liked to learn more and more about London, so I thought it would be exactly the same situation this year. I gave them the best-loved task - to present a sightseeing tour of London. They had to design it themselves. My students, who are usually very active, said a couple of sentences and that was all! I had expected much more! What is the matter?”
Why, do you think, the teacher didn’t get what she expected? What difficulties could the learners face? How would you deal with those difficulties?
Situation 5
Here are the words and phrases you introduced in the 6th form at the previous lesson:
London
the capital
Big Ben
Trafalgar Square
the Tower of London
Hyde Park
the Thames
to visit
to take pictures.
You are going to practice them communicatively. What tasks can you use? Write a task sequence.
Situation 6
You work with the 8th formers and know that this is a mixed-ability group – there are 4 ‘star’ students and 2 problem students, the rest of the group are at the average level. The difference between the students becomes extremely noticeable in speaking activities. How can you organize the class so that the work is useful for all groups of students?
Situation 7
What is the role of visuals in teaching Speaking? What other cues can you use to support your students? Give examples of tasks and visuals you can use for teaching your 5th formers a monologue on the topic ‘London today and 100 years ago’ based on the pictures below.
Situation 8
What is an ‘information gap’ and how is it created? Give an example of an information gap dialogue on the topic ‘Choosing a birthday present for your classmate’ (the 8th form). Write the task and what should be written on the students’ cards. Support your statement with quotations.
Situation 9
Look at the activity below and answer the questions which follow it:
Find the differences between the two pictures. Do not look at each other’s pictures.
- What age and level are they appropriate for?
- Would you feel confident using them as a teacher? Why? Why not?
- What problems, if any, can you anticipate with this activity?
- What would you need to do before starting the activity?
- What do you think might have come before it and after it in the coursebook from which it is taken?
Situation 10
Support or argue with the statement below:
Modern information technologies give students a great chance to develop their speaking skills. Without them, all speaking tasks are unnatural.
Situation 11
What kind of activity might be suitable for the following topics and levels?
a) a visit to a travel agent (teenagers, elementary, A2)
b) the issue of gambling (adults, intermediate, B1)
c) two similar but slightly different pictures (children/teenagers, beginners, A1)
d) leisure activities (teenagers, elementary, A2)
e) Is it possible to substitute all teachers with computers? (teenagers/ adults, upper intermediate, C1)
Choose one of the activities a-e and describe how the teacher might organize it for the students
Tutorial 12. Teaching writing
Key terminology
handwriting
coherence
cohesion
draft(ing), redrafting
process writing
proof reading
Issues to discuss
What is the place of writing tasks in the English classroom?
How can writing be assessed?
What writing tasks are included in the National Examination?
What are the steps in teaching writing?
What is the role of technology in teaching writing?
Reading
Useful sites:
www.handwritingworksheets.com
www.longman.com/methodology
www.inTouchClub.com
Assignment 5
This assignment can be done in pairs. Choose one problem situation and suggest your ways of solving (improving) it.
Situation 1
You’re introducing handwriting in the 2nd form. Students write letters and short words both in handwriting books and copybooks. They are eager to write more – letters, stories, etc. You as a teacher know you can’t do it right now. What activities can you offer to your students to make writing meaningful for them?
Situation 2
Rewrite the following statement so that it reflects your own point of view:
Teachers should correct all the mistakes they find in a student’s written work. They should underline the mistakes in red ink. Students should be made to write the work out again.
Support your point of view with facts and quotations.
Situation 3
Analyse the tasks given for the National Examination. What kind of writing is assessed in them? What criteria are used for assessment? What tasks are used in the coursebooks to prepare students for the examination? What should every teacher do to prepare their students for the ‘Writing’ part?
Situation 4
What difficulties might a teacher face in teaching young learners handwriting? What is the cause of these difficulties and how can the teacher deal with them (prevent them)?
Situation 5
Write a sequence of activities for teaching students to write an informal letter on the topic ‘Holidays’ (the 6th form). The outcome should be the letter itself (within 10 sentences in length). How much time do you need for this kind of work? How will you integrate it with other activities? Give concrete examples.
Situation 6
Think of the major difficulties Russian learners face in mastering writing skills in English. What are the causes of these difficulties? Can you prevent them? If yes, how? How can you deal with the problems which arise in the course of teaching?
Situation 7
Look at the activity below and answer the questions which follow it:
- What age and level are they appropriate for?
- Would you feel confident using them as a teacher? Why? Why not?
- What problems, if any, can you anticipate with this activity?
- What would you need to do before starting the activity?
- What do you think might have come before it and after it in the coursebook from which it is taken?