Methods and Theory: English Language Learning Methods and Theory: English Language Learning

UNIVERSIDAD NACIOINAL MICAELA BASTIDAS DE APURIMAC

“Curso Internacional sobre Estrategias de Enseñanza y Aprendizaje del Idioma Ingles.”

July 21 & 22, 2013

Claudia Behnke

UNIVERSIDAD NACIOINAL MICAELA BASTIDAS DE APURIMAC

“Curso Internacional sobre Estrategias de Enseñanza y Aprendizaje del Idioma Ingles.”

July 21 & 22, 2013

Claudia Behnke

Method: Grammar-TranslationSkill: Writing and Reading

Emphasis: Translation, L1 only.

Activities:

Read and translate texts.

Respond to written questions.

Memorize vocabulary and grammar rules.

Pros: Translation of documents with no communicative focus, or the study of classic literature.

Cons: NOT AUTHENTIC, no production.

Method: Audio-lingual (Charles Fries)

Skill: Speaking.

Emphasis: Correct pronunciation.

Activities: Dialogues:

Teacher models a dialogue and students memorize and practice.

Pros: Good pronunciation.

Cons: NOT AUTHENTIC, no ‘real’ production.

Method: Direct (Berlitz & Sauzé)

Skill/system: Grammar and Speaking.

Emphasis: No L1!

Activities:

Use of visual aids to teach vocabulary.

The teacher speaks to students in l2 naturally and corrects students’ errors in L2. The teacher never translates.

Pros: Students receive ‘natural’ input in the L2 and may produce authentically.

Cons: Students may need more support to learn the L2.

Method: Total Physical Response [TPR] (James Asher)

Skill/system: Vocabulary

Emphasis: Comprehension before production (or action).

Activities: Solo use of the imperative.

The teacher states the command and demonstrates the action. The teacher does not correct student error, but repeats the command and action.

The student only repeats the command or action when he or she feels comfortable. The final phase has a student volunteer give the commands to the class.

Pros: Students are confident when they speak. Students comprehend without the use of translation.

Cons: TPR cannot teach grammar, no authentic input.

Method: Community Language Learning (Charles Curran)

Skill: Speaking

Emphasis: Interpersonal communication, Fluidity is more important than correctness.

Activities:Based on themes and topics rather than grammar/vocabulary lessons.

The teacher advises students and seeks student input to create activities and facilitates conversation.

Students (members of the community) learn through interactions with other community members.

Pros: Students receive input and produce authentically. The class is student driven (i.e. class topic is interesting and engaging). Students receive support from other classmates and the teacher.

Cons: Not all students are interested in the same topics. Not all students are comfortable producing immediately in front of their peers.

Method: Natural Approach (Krashen & Terrell)

Skill: Communicative (listening, speaking, reading, writing)

Emphasis: Comprehensible input!

Language Acquisition Device (LAD) Theory: Every human is born with an innate ability to acquire language.

Each language has a universal grammar. As a child is exposed to input which activates different grammar rules.

Natural Approach, cont. Activities: The students interact with lots of comprehensible input.

Level of input: i + 1

Students must “negotiate meaning”.

The teacher exemplifies a natural use of the L2 and creates learning opportunities for students.

The teacher must create a stress-free environment so the students have a lowered “Affective Filter”.

Natural Approach, Cont.

Pros:

Models how we learn our L1.

Creates an environment that is conducive to learning.

Encourages authentic and natural expression in the L2.

Encourages use of authentic materials = cultural information.

Cons:

The adult brain learns language differently than the child brain.

Method: Task-Based Learning (Prabhu)

Skill: All language skills and possibly skills of other disciplines.

Emphasis: Using the L2 to complete real life tasks.

Activities:

Pre-task: The teacher gives instrucctions and may prepare students with relevant vocabulary or grammar.

Task: Students complete the task as the teacher monitors.

Review: The students give and receive feedback.

Example: Information gap activity

Pros: Students are motivated to complete the task and use the L2 in the real world. Students may also benefit from the task itself or strengthen their knowledge of other disciplines.

Cons: The task must be level appropriate or students will feel overwhelmed and defeated.

What method?

Students translate an old biology book from Latin to English.

What method?

METHOD: GRAMMAR TRANSLATION:

Students translate an old biology book from Latin to English

What method?

Student A receives an advertisement for an apartment for sale. Student B is the owner of the apartment and receives more details about the apartment. Student A will call student B to inquire more information about the apartment.

What method?

METHOD: TASK BASED LEARNING:

Student A receives an advertisement for an apartment for sale. Student B is the owner of the apartment and receives more details about the apartment. Student A will call student B to inquire more information about the apartment.

What method?

Students receive a story about “Little Red Riding Hood”.

First they answer comprehension questions about the story in English.

Then they work with a partner to underline all of the verbs conjugated in the Past.

Next, students decide whether the past conjugation is ‘regular’ or ‘irregular’.

Finally, students write their own story in the past tense.

What method?

METHOD: NATURAL APPROACH:

Students receive a story about “Little Red Riding Hood”.

First they answer comprehension questions about the story in English.

Then they work with a partner to underline all of the verbs conjugated in the Past.

Next, students decide whether the past conjugation is ‘regular’ or ‘irregular’.

Finally, students write their own story in the past tense.

What method?

Students listen to the teacher model a dialogue at a restaurant. Students then repeat and practice the dialogue with a partner.

What method?

METHOD: AUDIO-LINGUAL:

Students listen to the teacher model a dialogue at a restaurant. Students then repeat and practice the dialogue with a partner

What method?

The teacher demonstrates a ‘chores’ activity. He demonstrates the action and says the command. For example, “sweep!”. The students repeat the action.

What method?

METHOD: TOTAL PHYSICAL RESPONSE (TPR)

The teacher demonstrates a ‘chores’ activity. He demonstrates the action and says the command. For example, “sweep!”. The students repeat the action.

But... What method do I use?

Why are the students studying English?

What is the objective of the lesson?

How many students are participating?

How can I accommodate different learning styles?

How old are the students? What are their cultural backgrounds? What is their level of English?

The best method = An eclectic approach

Other techniques:

Increase STT (Student talk time) and decrease TTT (Teacher talk time).

Always identify student errors. Give them the opportunity to self-correct.

Elicit meaning: draw, mime, synonyms, etc. NO TRANSLATION!

Always engage the students with the topic. Be energetic and make things interesting!

Other techniques, cont. :

Ensure your students understand! Use comprehension check questions (CCQs):

Grammar: “I am going to travel to Arequipa.”

Is this past, present or future? Are you traveling now? When are your going to travel?

Vocabulary: “Sightseeing”

1. Obvious: In Cusco, Sam went and saw many important historical places of Cusco like the Qoricancha and Sacsayhuaman.

2. Yes/No: Can I go sightseeing in Paris?

3. 50/50: Do you sightsee at your house or when you travel?

4. Open: If I got sightseeing in Peru, what will I see?

Ultimate: Students write an example sentence using the vocabulary.

Teaching Grammar:

Two approaches:

Explicit: The teacher gives the grammar rule or structure. The students practice and produce.

Implicit: The teacher gives examples an guides the students to define the rule or structure themselves. The students practice and produce.

Explicit Grammar Approach: FUTURE TENSE

Teacher tells students: To form the future, add “will” before the stem verb.

Students change verbs from the present to the future.

Students write a dialogue using the future tense.

Implicit Grammar Approach: FUTURE TENSE

Students read the sentence “I will drink beer on Friday.”

Students answer questions:

When will you drink beer? Is this past, present or future? Etc.

Students receive more example sentences and must define the rule. “Future = will + VERB”.

Students change verbs from present to future.

Students write a dialogue using the future tense.

P.A.C.E. Method(Implicit Grammar Approach)

Gerunds vs. Infintives

P.resentation: students read a story or dialogue. After, they answer comprehension questions.

A.ttention: Students return to the text and underline all infinitives and circle all gerunds. With a classmate they begin to hypothesize why the gerund/infinitive was used.

C.o-construcction: As a class the teacher will solicit hypothesis and ask students to support these hypothesis with examples from the text. After the rule is discovered, students will practice.

E.xtension: Students will produce the rule in writing or speaking. This activity is used to evaluate the lesson.

Teaching Vocabulary:

Always create a context!

Present the vocabulary with visual aids: graphs, photos, miming, as part of a story, etc.

Have students repeat the word, write the word, identify the word and use the word.

Example:Elicit the vocabulary: What’s the weather like today? (teacher shows “windy”).

Students repeat “windy” and teacher checks for correct pronunciation.

Check for comprehension: Show me “windy”.

Label a picture:

Use the word: What activities can you do when it’s windy?

When it’s windy I can fly a kite.

Teaching Reading

Select texts that are relevant, interesting and level appropriate (i + 1).

Reading activities must have 3 parts:

Pre-reading.

Reading.

Post-reading.

Teaching ReadingPre-reading tasks:

Students make hypothesis about the reading based on the title.

Students answer pre-reading questions.

Students research the author or the cultural importance of the reading, etc.

The teacher prepares students with key vocabulary from the reading.

Teaching ReadingReading:

Reading aloud keeps students on task, practices pronunciation but students also need to READ SILENTLY.

Reading silently is when comprehension occurs.

Reading cycle:

Individual students read aloud for 3-4 paragraphs.

The students silently read the same 3-4 paragraphs and underline any unknown vocabulary.

The teacher elicits the meaning of the new vocabulary and asks CCQs.

The teacher asks a few CCQs regarding the content of 3-4 paragraphs.

Repeat the cycle.

Teaching ReadingPost-reading tasks:

Students answer comprehension questions. (Demonstrates knowledge of facts and events from the reading)

Students complete ‘big-idea’ activities:

Change the title.

Write a review or summary.

Write a love or hate letter to one of the protagonists.

Students produce:

Students write a poem, song, etc. about the reading.

Write a different ending.

Change the title.

Teaching SpeakingGive students materials to guide their speaking. Reading out loud IS NOT speaking.

Narrate a comic strip.

Describe a photo.

Give directions.

Compare and contrast.

Other speaking activities:

Guess who

Prompt questions. “What are you going to do this weekend?”

Interviews (speed dating).

Teaching ListeningListening is difficult!

Students can’t recognize words in the spoken form.

They have difficulty concentrating (depending on the type and length of the passage).

They can’t remember what they have listened to.

They are so focused on understanding the first point mentioned in the passage that they don’t pay attention to the rest of the audio.

They understand the words but not the overall message, or meaning

Teaching Listening

Useful tools to practice listening skills

Using music in the target language

Web 2.0 tools: Voki

Using authentic videos in the target language

Teaching Listening

Music: Why it is effective

It motivates students inside and outside of class to find music to listen to in the target language.

It can be used to enforce culture (perspectives and references), grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation and most importantly, listening comprehension skills.

There is easy access for both teachers and students to music.

Teaching Listening

How to use music in the classroom

Start with pre-listening activities: Introduce the artist, where they are from, the genre, the topic (introduce title), and if any awards have been won.

Have students make hypotheses about what the song is about based on the title, and discuss unknown key vocabulary.

In groups, students draw a representation of a stanza of the song, then the class orders the pictures and listens to the song to check the order.

It is important to choose songs that can be easily represented in drawings and that tell a story.

Have students discuss whether their hypotheses were correct.

Teacher checks comprehension.

Teaching Listening

Other activities using music:

Pre-listening activities: Students receive the title of the song, and then in groups create semantic maps associating other words with the title.

While listening, each group will be assigned one stanza of the song and will take notes to answer the following questions:

Who is the singer? Where is he from? Where is he now? What is the singer’s dilemma?

Post-listening activities: The groups present their answers to the class and discuss. Each group draws a visual representation of their interpretation of the song.

Teaching Listening

Web 2.0 Tools: Voki

Voki is an online program that uses speaking avatars, which can be sent and received as messages, or embedded in a website.

http://www.voki.com/

Teaching Listening

Web 2.0 Tools: Voki

Teachers can send speaking avatars to students. Students listen to the message and then reply using their own avatars. In this sense, Voki encourages listening in transactional interactions.

We can use Vokis in jigsaw listening activities. Teachers can create characters telling different parts of the story and students have to listen to the different characters and take notes in order to re-create the logical sequence of events.

Teaching ListeningExamples of Voki activities

Listening comprehension activity using Voki (listening in an interaction with the teacher)

Students listen to a recording on Vocaroo (Vocaroo.com) giving a brief description of a famous figure in Latin America including a physical description.

Students then create their own Voki that resembles the physical description. After brief research, the student then records a short message speaking as if they were the famous person.

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Teaching ListeningExamples of Voki Activities

Jigsaw activity: Thanksgiving Day

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Teaching Listening

Using Videos in the Classroom

Using videos allows the listener to process both the aural and visual information transmitted by the speaker (Wagner, 2008).

Provides students with language used in real life as well as cultural references.

Provides students with a visual, which can aid in listening comprehension.

Simulates an authentic listening situation.

Teaching Listening

Using Videos in the Classroom

Using videos allows the listener to process both the aural and visual information transmitted by the speaker (Wagner, 2008).

Provides students with language used in real life as well as cultural references.

Provides students with a visual, which can aid in listening comprehension.

Simulates an authentic listening situation.

Teaching Listening

Activities Using Videos

Activity #1:

Teacher shows a video on mute, and students hypothesize about the content of the dialogue.

Teacher plays the video with sound and students compare their hypotheses with the actual dialogue.

Teaching Listening

Example: Mafalda - Hypothesizing

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Teaching Listening

Activities Using Videos

Activity #2:

Teacher shows a video and pauses halfway through. The students then make predictions about what is going to happen next. Students must justify their hypotheses based on what they have heard.

Teaching ListeningExample: El Chavo - Predicting

Teaching ListeningWhy these tools are successful

They involve technology, which engages this generation of students.

They can be cultural, which interests students.

They are accessible outside of the classroom, so students can use them at home.

The songs and videos provide students with authentic language.

Questions?

Find this presentation at:

Contact me:

Claudia.behnke.az@gmail.com