Discussion topic - Lesson 4
Posted: Fri Aug 22, 2008 11:47 am1.- There are many games which teachers can use to make practice activities more interesting and motivating for students. Do you have any favourite games which you use to practice specific language items?
As some of my colleagues have already said, acting out is one of the best ways of practicing a form or language item, especially with young learners and even teenagers.
With small kids, we often act out what the characters in the story say. They love to make voices and they usually are very good at imitating the tone and the rhythm of the sentences from the story. Sometimes, they even learn sentences by heart.
Songs are very good means to practice pronunciation, learn vocabulary and also to internalize some structures like "Where are you?", "What are you doing?", "What's the weather like?" and many others.
Another game that I use to learn vocabulary and to become use to certain communicative forms is a kind of Bingo. For example, I gave them a list of fruits and they can choose 10 of them and write them down. In pairs, they start playing asking their partner: "Can I have some apples, please?". If their peer has it, he/she will say: "Yes, of course. Here you are" and the one who asked wins a point because he/she was correct. If their peer doesn't have the fruit, he/she would say: "No, I'm sorry. We are out of apples" and the first to ask won't win the point. I use this game to practice many language items like: "Have you got...?",
"What are you/is he/she wearing today?", "What's your favourite subject?", "Have you ever been to....?" and many others.
Acting actions, miming, pretending short interviews and so on are many ways of motivating students to learn without even noticing.
4.- What are some of the benefits of providing learners with receptive grammar practice activities? What is the balance of receptive and productive grammar practice activities in your classes?
All students, but especially adults, benefit a lot from receptive grammar practice activities because these activities give them the opportunity to analyze and reflect about the item they are learning. They can focus only on the "form" without being distracted or stressed for the "meaning". With these kinds of practices, the students have their "own time" to internalize what they are learning, because they always can go back to them over and over. These activities will also give them confidence for later, when they would try to produce what was learnt in oral or writing communication.
The balance between both of them will depend on the group you are teaching. With young learners you have a large amount of practice activities. With adults it's easier to try to be balanced, but with teenagers many times we do many more receptive than productive grammar activities because when you use these kinds of activities, it is easier to keep your students quieter, focus on task and work all together at the same time.
As some of my colleagues have already said, acting out is one of the best ways of practicing a form or language item, especially with young learners and even teenagers.
With small kids, we often act out what the characters in the story say. They love to make voices and they usually are very good at imitating the tone and the rhythm of the sentences from the story. Sometimes, they even learn sentences by heart.
Songs are very good means to practice pronunciation, learn vocabulary and also to internalize some structures like "Where are you?", "What are you doing?", "What's the weather like?" and many others.
Another game that I use to learn vocabulary and to become use to certain communicative forms is a kind of Bingo. For example, I gave them a list of fruits and they can choose 10 of them and write them down. In pairs, they start playing asking their partner: "Can I have some apples, please?". If their peer has it, he/she will say: "Yes, of course. Here you are" and the one who asked wins a point because he/she was correct. If their peer doesn't have the fruit, he/she would say: "No, I'm sorry. We are out of apples" and the first to ask won't win the point. I use this game to practice many language items like: "Have you got...?",
"What are you/is he/she wearing today?", "What's your favourite subject?", "Have you ever been to....?" and many others.
Acting actions, miming, pretending short interviews and so on are many ways of motivating students to learn without even noticing.
4.- What are some of the benefits of providing learners with receptive grammar practice activities? What is the balance of receptive and productive grammar practice activities in your classes?
All students, but especially adults, benefit a lot from receptive grammar practice activities because these activities give them the opportunity to analyze and reflect about the item they are learning. They can focus only on the "form" without being distracted or stressed for the "meaning". With these kinds of practices, the students have their "own time" to internalize what they are learning, because they always can go back to them over and over. These activities will also give them confidence for later, when they would try to produce what was learnt in oral or writing communication.
The balance between both of them will depend on the group you are teaching. With young learners you have a large amount of practice activities. With adults it's easier to try to be balanced, but with teenagers many times we do many more receptive than productive grammar activities because when you use these kinds of activities, it is easier to keep your students quieter, focus on task and work all together at the same time.