Unit 1 - Teacher's suggestions
Posted: Sat Oct 15, 2011 5:51 pmObviously, I’ve come across most of the described situations and the proposals suggested are logical. There are some other things to do.
In the first situation, it’s a very good idea to work in pairs and a more cooperative correction, but I would have tried a pre-reading activity related to elicit some vocabulary of the reading text. This can help the student to a better comprehension.
When preparing a speaking activity a lot of problems appear, not only because there are very large groups of students in a classroom but also because they all have got different personalities, and some of them would not even talk in their native languages. So, I’d prefer a more directed and lined exercise. I would divide the classroom in groups of four or five students and I’d choose a topic for each group of them related to something interesting, for example, the MTV awards, Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, etc They can have a few days to prepare the topic and then all the members of the group have to prepare an oral presentation in front of the class and the other students have to listen carefully because they have to ask them questions after their presentation, and this would lead to a final debate.
According to the third situation, I must admit that grammar is not easy and motivating at all, and I try to motivate my students by using the new technologies. There are lots of motivating activities for them to practise and learn on line, and they love it! On the other hand, I still have a dossier with some grammar worksheets for those who want and/or need to practise more. Obviously, I’ll correct them for them.
In the next situation, I think that the best idea is to let them work in pairs first to decide the correct answers, then most of them will feel more confident with their answer and this will help them to participate more in the correction.
And finally, it is always a good idea to make the students aware that they are learning a language and they are an important part of the process. So, I completely agree with the proposal of the participation of the students in the process itself.
In the first situation, it’s a very good idea to work in pairs and a more cooperative correction, but I would have tried a pre-reading activity related to elicit some vocabulary of the reading text. This can help the student to a better comprehension.
When preparing a speaking activity a lot of problems appear, not only because there are very large groups of students in a classroom but also because they all have got different personalities, and some of them would not even talk in their native languages. So, I’d prefer a more directed and lined exercise. I would divide the classroom in groups of four or five students and I’d choose a topic for each group of them related to something interesting, for example, the MTV awards, Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, etc They can have a few days to prepare the topic and then all the members of the group have to prepare an oral presentation in front of the class and the other students have to listen carefully because they have to ask them questions after their presentation, and this would lead to a final debate.
According to the third situation, I must admit that grammar is not easy and motivating at all, and I try to motivate my students by using the new technologies. There are lots of motivating activities for them to practise and learn on line, and they love it! On the other hand, I still have a dossier with some grammar worksheets for those who want and/or need to practise more. Obviously, I’ll correct them for them.
In the next situation, I think that the best idea is to let them work in pairs first to decide the correct answers, then most of them will feel more confident with their answer and this will help them to participate more in the correction.
And finally, it is always a good idea to make the students aware that they are learning a language and they are an important part of the process. So, I completely agree with the proposal of the participation of the students in the process itself.