UNIT 17: PRACTICE ACTIVITIES AND TASKS FOR LANFUAGE AND SKILLS DEVELOPMENT

PRACTICE ACTIVITIES AND TASKS FOR LANFUAGE AND SKILLS DEVELOPMENT

In this chapter, I learned some activities and tasks to gives pupils opportunity to practice the use of language. These activities are: vocabulary, functional exponents or grammatical structures, or of the subskills of reading, listening, speaking or writing. Also we can find different kinds of activities and task with different names and different uses. We categorized activities into: controlled activities, free activities. Into controlled activities pupil focus in accuracy and the form of the language, and allow students make few mistakes. They are used to guide pupils in using the form of target language. Examples of controlled activities are: copying words or sentences, jazz chants and drills. Drills are the most essential activities that teacher can provide student in the class. It will be choral drill, individual drills, substitution drills (replace key words), and transformation drills. While free activities are not controlled. These allow students to use the language freely. Here teacher may not be able to predict what language the student will use. These activities focus only in fluency. So, activities that help students in their fluency are: discuss, debate, problem-solving activities, sharing or comparing information, stories ect.  The activities that will be provided in class are going to be essential for students. In addition, teachers choose different activities for students, it depend on what is going to teach them, what she o he is going to achieve with students. 

This video show differents controlled activities that teacher use in the class.

References

·         TeachingEnglish | British Council | BBC

Free practice

TeachingEnglish | British Council | BBC,. (2014).Free practice. Retrieved 6 December 2014, from http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/knowledge-database/free-practice

·         Tesolcourse.com

Controlled Practice and Free Practice

Tesolcourse.com,. (2014). Controlled Practice and Free Practice. Retrieved 6 December 2014, from https://www.tesolcourse.com/tesol-glossary/Controlled-Practice-and-Free-Practice/

UNIT 18: ASSESSMENT TYPES AND TASKS

ASSESSMENT TYPES AND TASKS

This chapter, teach me the use of an authentic assessment to assess students performance. Assessment could be formal or informal. Informal assessment is when the educators observe learners to see how well they are doing something, while the Formal assessment is when the educators assess learners through test and given their work a grade. There are several reasons that teachers assess students’ formally in the classroom. Teachers assess pupil at the beginning of the course in order to know what they know or don’t know. So, they use a Diagnostic test. Another reason is for knowing what level the learners are at, they test that they use is a Placement test, Progressive test is to see how well the learners learnt.. Assessment could be formative and summative. Formative assessment provide feedback to the students, it does not give grades, while the summative assessment gives learners a score. Therefore, there are many tasks teachers can use to assess pupil. Ex.  Multiple- choice questions, interviews, gap filling, table completion for listening task ect. Then, there are many others activities for each skill. As teachers, we need to know how to assess students and when to assess. It is not going to be easy for us because we have to learn different activity task for each skills. Also, we have to know the learners level they need. In addition, I can say that assess student is not an easy task.

This video show us how important is the authentic assessment

 References

·         Teacamp.eu

Teacamp.eu,. (2014). Retrieved 6 December 2014, from http://www.teacamp.eu/moodle2/pluginfile.php/

·         Explore.kent.edu

Importance of Assessment

Explore.kent.edu,. (2014). Importance of Assessment. Retrieved 6 December 2014, from http://explore.kent.edu/aa/guide/2importance.

UNIT 16: PRESENTATION TECHNIQUES AND INTRODUCTORY ACTIVITIES

Part 3: Backgroud to Language Teaching

UNIT 16: PRESENTATION TECHNIQUES AND INTRODUCTORY ACTIVITIES

In this chapter we analize the different presentation techniques and introductory activities that teachers can use to get the learners attention in the class to learn new languages. Presentation techniques are the ways the teacher start the class, who to present the topic to the pupil which strategies or approaches use to engage students into class. Introductory activities are the activities designed for the teacher in order to present the topic. First, teacher need to activate students before presenting teaching topic. Some teachers use Presentation, Practice, and Production (PPP) approach to present the topic, because this approach is very essential which let students to learn the language in a situation. It is very controlled or restricted practice activity. Here teacher present the context, modulation is part of this approach where teachers give prompts to the students. Other way to present task is by Task-based Learning (TBL) approach, it is better to use this approach with adult students because it is students’ center, students practice language more. Teacher is like a guider she o he provide task to do. There is another introductory activity task like a lead –in, this focuses in motivating students and make connection with the topic. Finally, as future teacher should have known different presentation techniques and activities to teach students where they can feel confidence at the moment to produce the language.

For more information checked these sites.

·         Presentationmagazine.com

Effective Presentation Techniques – The Top 10

Presentationmagazine.com,. (2014). Effective Presentation Techniques – The Top 10. Retrieved 6 December 2014, from http://www.presentationmagazine.com/effective-presentation-techniques-the-top-10-149.htm

·         Lifehack.org

4 Effective Presentation Techniques

Lifehack.org,. (2014). 4 Effective Presentation Techniques. Retrieved 6 December 2014, from http://www.lifehack.org/articles/communication/4-effective-presentation-techniques.html

UNIT 15: APPROACHES TO LANGUAGE TEACHING

APPROACHES TO LANGUAGE TEACHING

In this unit, I learned different types approaches that teacher can use to teach the language. An approach is referring the view of language and the view of how language learning takes place. Also, an approach refers to the ways or methods of teaching the class, the way that teacher manage the class. Some experts who studying different approaches think that the best way to learn a language is through the communicative approaches, they believe that the language is a tool of communication meaning, produce sound. There are many approaches that will be studied below. Those approaches are: Presentation, Practice, Production (PPP). This approach has its own purpose in the way to teach language. Firstly, in PPP grammar and function are the most important of the language. Language is learnt by first seeing new language in a context which is in controlled and guided by the teacher. In Lexical Approach, vocabulary is the important aspect of language. It is going to be individual words and different kinds of chunks.  Teacher in class uses authentic written or spoken text activities with students which encourage them to notice chunks in texts. The Functional Approach is the most useful aspect of language; language that students use is guided and controlled.  Communicative Approach, it is focused more in communication rather than to the grammar. It provides learner the opportunity to play with their language. Interaction is linked with this approach. In the classroom, the topics that teacher provide to students is according to they communication needs. Grammar – Translation, is made up of grammatical rules. If focuses more in grammar than communication. Students are managed to translate passages, they don t have ability to interact in the class. In Total Physical response (TPR), grammar structures and vocabulary are the most useful aspects of language. This approach is use with beginner where they can learn the language through action. Teacher gives a command and the learner have to do what the teacher is saying. Movement is essential in this approach Guided discovery,   Content – based learning,   and             Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL). All these approaches have their own purpose in the language learning process. Teacher need to apply an amount of these approaches in the class with students. Providing them memorable information where they can learn a language. Also, it is essentially important to have the best methods to teach the language where students felt motivated to learn a language.

For more information look these web pages.

• Cramlap.org

Cramlap.org,. (2014). Retrieved 6 December 2014, from http://www.cramlap.org/FileStore/Filetoupload,2

·         Shoebottom, P.

Language teaching methods

Shoebottom, P. (2014). Language teaching methods. Esl.fis.edu. Retrieved 6 December 2014, from http://esl.fis.edu/teachers/support/method.htm

Wathc the videos.

UNIT 14: LEARNER NEEDS

LEARNER NEEDS

  Learners who are interested in learning new language they can face different kinds of needs which will influence their learning. They will be personal needs, learning needs, and professional needs. Each learner need play an important role in its context. Personal needs are set by themselves like; security, challenge, goals and the learning expectation. Learning needs are the ways that each student learn the language, they set their learning skills to learn a language and the last we have the Professional needs are related to the teaching. If you are teacher you need to know vocabulary, grammatical structures and their functions and the specific text type.

Every student has their needs. According to Simpson and Ure, learners have shared needs associated with the following “The curriculum, Cognition, the management of learning, motivational factors, personal factors” all these factors influences learner need in their learning process. We as teacher we can find this kind of problem in classroom, so to face it we need to have strategies to teach them in order to get them good students. Also, we can find irrelevant activities for them where the learners can develop their learning process. Finally, learners’ needs are the main problem that teacher have. They don’t know how to help them because the lack of teaching strategies.

For more information look these web pages

Pcrest3.com

·         3.2.6 Identifying Learner Needs

Pcrest3.com,. (2014). 3.2.6 Identifying Learner Needs. Retrieved 3 December 2014, from http://www.pcrest3.com/fgb/efgb4/3/3_2_6.htm

·         Momentumworks.com

Momentumworks.com,. (2014). Retrieved 3 December 2014, from http://www.momentumworks.com/images/Identi

Watach this video

• the importance of understanding your learner needs

YouTube,. (2014). the importance of understanding your learner needs. Retrieved 3 December 2014, from the importance of understanding your learner needs.

UNIT 13: LEARNER CHARACTERISTIC

LEARNER CHARACTERISTIC

In this chapter I learned some learners’ characteristics that influence in their attitude to learning a language. Those are motivation, learning style, learning strategies and maturity of them. In the classroom we can find different learning style students. They learn a language in different ways. Some of them are visual (they learn best through watching and looking), kinesthetic, (They learn best through being physically, moving and touching things- experiment), group (they learn working with others), analytic (they learn best having the opportunity to analyse things), etc. As teachers should know the types of learning style of our students in order to give them different materials that can help them to learn the language easily. Therefore, it is so important to use good learning strategies in teaching classroom. The right strategies help pupils learn the language better. So, Classes will be taught according the age and level of students. Other that teachers have to take in to account is the maturity of learners. It helps learners to be conscious and unconscious in the learning process. For example, children have different maturity factors than teenagers and adults. Adults are more maturity than teenager. They control themselves, they can choose class topic in the class. Different activities will be used with students. With children teacher can use games, videos, story telling  in order to get students attention . With teenagers the class will be a little more complex like, verbs, tenses. Finally, some learner characteristics will be the main problem that teachers can face in the class. They need to be prepared for that.

For more information watch the video

There are some factors that include in the learner characterictic

• The Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition (CARLA)

Carla.umn.edu,. (2014). The Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition (CARLA). Retrieved 3 December 2014, from http://www.carla.umn.edu/learnerlanguage/ind_d

• Seven Characteristics of Good Learners

Maryellen Weimer, P. (2014). Seven Characteristics of Good Learners. Faculty Focus. Retrieved 3 December 2014, from http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/teaching-professor-blog/seven-characteristics-good-learners/

• Itma.vt.edu

Itma.vt.edu,. (2014). Retrieved 3 December 2014, from http://www.itma.vt.edu/modules/spring11/efund

UNIT 12: DIFFERENCES BETWEEN L1 AND L2 LEARNING

 DIFFERENCES BETWEEN L1 AND L2 LEARNING

      In this chapter I learned how students or children acquire their first language and the second language or foreign language. Some experts said that there are three ways to learn the langugae. First, Acquisition is the main tool for picking the languge up, in this stage especially children pick up a lot of words from the enviroment. Second, Interaction is other way of emerging the language. Children or students who are learning the langauge need to produce it. it does not of fact if they make a lot of mistakes. Children first pick up the language. For children, the language is mostly acquired in a natural context and the social group in which the child is growing. There are some essential factors that will be implied in the learning the languages. Those factors are; age, contexts and the way of learning the language. According to” Larsen-Freeman and Long (1991) point out, the age issue is an important one for theory building in second language acquisition research for educational policy-making and for language pedagogy.” Then, there are also some individual differences that play part in this distinction and they fall in two groups. First, physical differences and age: Children who are acquiring their first language are still developing their speech organs. This explains the gradual and natural development of sound production accompanied with the brain development. L2 learners’ competence is also affected by age-related physical conditions that hinder their learning. The best way to apply it in the classroom is, first, to make differences between the languages, analyzing the grammatical rules of the languages, syntax, ect. Those are being essential for teacher to try to teach the second language in the class. The clear example could be the sentences analyzing, introduce vocabulary, verbs and the sentence structure. Finally, it is easy to teach different lanaguages, it is unique, each language their structure. 

References

In this link you can see the big differences between L1 and L2

• Comparing First and Second Language Acquisition by Vivian Cook   Homepage.ntlworld.com,. (2014). Comparing First and Second Language Acquisition by Vivian Cook. Retrieved 26 November 2014, from http://homepage.ntlworld.com/vivian.c/SLA/L1%
• Irjabs.com,. (2014). Retrieved 26 November 2014, from http://www.irjabs.com/files_site/paperlist/r_1023_1

• Differences between First Language Acquisition and Second Language Learning | سومر | J09W

J09w.com,. (2011). Differences between First Language Acquisition and Second Language Learning | سومر | J09W. Retrieved 26 November 2014, from http://j09w.com/wp/?p=37

UNIT 11: THE ROLE OF ERROR

THE ROLE OF ERROR

 In this chapter I learned different kinds of errors that learners make when they speak or write a foreign language. Those errors are: slips, developmental errors, Interference or transfer errors and fossilized errors. Slips are made consciously because students’ attention is somewhere else at the moment. And the rest of  errors were made in different learner situations. Mistakes play an important role in the learning language process because it allows pupil experiment with the use the language correctly. According to Ali Akbar Khansir “Errors are an integral part of language learning.” That is right that mistakes are an inseparable part of the learning process where all of us can learn from those errors. In real situation it is difficult to face that problem with students because learners always make errors in every situation. To avoid students errors teacher have to give them more language exposure to feel confidence with the language and also practice the accuracy. For example, when students make a mistake, it is important to use some techniques to correct them. we can use handfinger, or re-estate the sentences putting more emphasis in the word that she o he made a mistake in order to let them to correct.Also, it is essential let students washback at the end of the lesson about errors that they made. As conclusion, errors can confused people understanding the language. Some people can misundertand the meaning of the sentences. Maybe students errors are of lack of vocabulary, verbs and the sentences production.

This video teach us some useful techniques that teacher can apply to correct errors.

References.

file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/pc/Mis%20documentos/Downloads/7332-16279-1-PB.pdf

UNIT 10: EXPOSURE AND FOCUS ON FORM

EXPOSURE AND FOCUS ON FORM

This chapter let me know how important the exposure is, 

“Research shows that an infant's brain comes pre-wired to learn language, and children begin to build their language skills from birth, using the sounds of the speech they are exposed to.  They can actually differentiate between different languages long before they can vocalize them themselves, and there seems to be no limit to the number of languages a young child can acquire”. Babies start to vocalize words so that is the way how the infants began to produce the language. It does not matter if they make a lot of errors. Parents are like scaffolding, they must guide them with their use of language. When children start to talk they can repeat words, so they can restore in their mind, later they can produce it. They need to listen amount of words from their relatives. From the early age they should develop their native language mostly perfect.  Also, for adults and young learners or people who want to learn foreign language is by exposure, it helps students play with the language. They can pick the language up from the environment; they can learn it like their first language (L1) mother tongue. There are different ways that students or children learn the language. First, interaction is a good tool to acquire the language. Second, they must have time to interact, discussion, debates, paraphrase and role plays are good activities for exposure. It also helps learners to focus on form of language. In conclusion, language has a variety of features for acquiring for infants and students of the higher level.

References

Musiclingua.com,. (2014). Why it is important that children learn languages at an early age. Retrieved 26 November 2014, from http://www.musiclingua.com/early-language-benefits.html