What are the challenges in teaching each of the four language skills? Review the chapters by Hedge and make a chart. List possible difficulties and strategies to help overcome them. Post your answer below and comment on one of your partners' posts.
Answer the following questions based on the text "What is the history of reading and writing?" 1) Find examples of fixed expressions, semi-fixed expressions and collocations. 2) Think of a possible teaching context and plan three activities to present the new vocabulary. You may use or adapt any of the sample exercises in chapters 6 and 7. 3) Based on your experience wirking with the text proposed, What would you say are the pros and cons of this approach? Do you agree with the following statement by Thornbury (p.11): "Lewis offers us a prospect of a journey, even an exciting one, but it is a journey without maps". Discuss your answers in pairs.
Listening skills.
ReplyDeleteDifficulty: Not identifying words from their sounds or stress.
Strategy: Working with phonics regularly for them to be familiar with the sounds in English, so that when they listen to them, they can predict what the word is, and by doing so, what the main topics in the listening exercise are. If the listening exercise comes with a photocopy with some exercises in it, working with the most important words before listening to the file may be a good strategy, so that learners are familiar with the new words they will hear.
Difficulty: Specific or technical vocabulary.
Strategy: Pre-teaching this vocabulary and stating which area they belong to (e.g. geography, mechanics, grammar) will help students focus on the topics and conversations in the file, rather than having difficulties identifying the words in the first place. It might be easier with adults, because the area of vocabulary may refer to their field of expertise, for example, when teaching in companies.
Difficulty: Exposure to different accents
Strategy: We can start by explaningn that learning a language is learning also a culture, and that English (same as Spanish) has different accents and expressions, depending on the region we refer to. So maybe introducing the United Kingdom and the four (completely) different cultures from each of the four countries would be a good idea for students to incorporate the term "accents".
Difficulty: Real people vs Audio files (and presentation of speech)
Strategy: Alternating between audio files from books and interviews to people on the street could help students focus on two important aspects of listening, which are phonics and real-life language. Maybe in the case of "real" listenings, it is a good idea to go step by step, analysing what is said together with students so that they learn expressions and words used by people in a real-life context. Audio files from books might be a good source to get the right pronunciation of the word(s) discussed.
Difficulty: Listening negation (esp. adults)
Strategy: Unlike reading, where students can go back to the text whenever they want to check meaning, listening is a one-shot opportunity (unless of course the teacher decides to play the file several times) to get the meanings they need to do the exercises or start a discussion. And then is where negation, frustration and boredom begins. Some students want to identify every word said in the listening file. To fight this back, teachers should pre-teach important (maybe easy, though) words and give students the meaning in context. And after the first time listening, teachers should check what the students understood, and play the file a second time, in a step-by-step fashion.
Difficulty: Old technology
Strategy: It's impossible to have a clear understanding from old casette recordings or bad-quality speakers. So it should be of the utmost importance to have the latest (hopefully) technology for students to get the best sound quality.
Difficulty: Lack of content
Strategy: Pre-teaching, again, is maybe the best tool when there is new or specific content in the audio file. Students will feel more confident when they know the meanings to new words, and even more so if they can use those words in context.
After reading your post I realised that lack of content can also affect the writing process. If students feel they don’t know a wide range of vocabulary, they will probably find it difficult to express their ideas accurately. They must be provided with background knowledge so they feel more confident before dealing with activities that focus on skills such as listening or writing.
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ReplyDeleteTEACHING WRITING
1. Difficulty: lack of ideas.
Strategies: Teachers can provide them with questions to guide the writing process.
2. Difficulty: planning the writing work.
Strategies: planning in groups, guided-note taking, strategic questions, highlighting essential information, sorting and matching ideas.
3. Difficulty: Revising and checking mistakes.
Strategies: teachers can talk with individual students about their work in progress and support them in getting ideas together, organising them and finding appropriate language. Another possibility could be comparing drafts on the blackboard, identifying the changes so students can reformulate their work based on useful information they gained.
4. Difficulty: differences in text organization and genres because of cultural factors.
Strategies: provide with examples to help building an understanding of how texts can be effectively organised in the target language.
5. Difficulty: motivation
Strategies: make your students write a journal for ten minutes at the end of the lesson or letters that will be answered by the teacher later on. Encourage them to share writing as a natural exchange.
I like the fact that you organized the difficulties as a step-by-step guide to writing. The difficulties you present are real, we've all experienced them when teaching, and the answers are pretty straightforward. Maybe on motivation I'd suggest they swap the letters they write and then asking them what their partner wrote about.
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ReplyDeleteSpeaking:
ReplyDeletePossible difficulties:
Poor intelligibility resulting from interference of the first language.
Multilingual classes.
Over-insistence on precision of articulation resulting in artificial language.
Lack of motivation to learn pronuncation.
Lack of confidence.
Lack of exposure.
Students' anxiety in formulating opinions.
Strategies:
Decide on which variety of English is going to be used.
Contextualized practice: classroom actions, telephone conversations.
Enable students to express their own ideas. They should be able to choose what to say.
(for example, how to open/close a conversation, act it out)
Pairwork practice or role play to create a positive atmosphere in the classroom.