Unit 1: Introduction to methodology

Session 1: Introduction to methodology

Warmer:

1. Play the game ―Hangman‘‘ with your teacher what important word does your

teacher want you to guess?

2. How do you pronounce the word?

3. What does it mean?

Task1: The stage of a language lesson

1. Quickly scan the text that you read for homework language learning in the
classroom

2. Write down 1) the names of the two stages of a language lesson 2) the
types of activity you can find in one of the stages

3. Pair – compare with your neighbor.

Task2: methodology and language lessons

Instruction: In the table below, match the words in A with their definitions in B

A B

1) Methodology a)The stage of the lesson when the teacher introduces some

new language

2) controlled practice b) The stage of the lesson when the students use language

themselves

3) presentation c) The stage of the lesson when the students do most of the

talking but under the teacher‘s control

4) Freer practice d)the verb form of the noun

5) Practice e)the study of ways and techniques of teaching

Task3: The roles of a language teacher

Instruction:
1. Look again at the text ‗‘language learning in the classroom‘‘

2. Find the words column ‗A‘ in the text

3. Match the word in ‗A‘ with column ‗B‘

A: roles of the teacher B: stages of the lesson

 (1) Conductor

(2) Manager Presentation

(3) Informant controlled practice

(4) Guide Freer practice

(5) Monitor

Task4: How to learn a new teaching methodology

Instruction:
1. Get in to group of 5 or 6 and choose a secretary for each group.

2. Try to answer these questions 1) you are going to learn a new methodology for

teaching English .2) How do you think you are going learn the new methodology?

3. Secretaries write down the ideas from your group

Task5: Preparing to be a teacher

Instruction:

1. In your groups, try to answer this question ‗How are you going to
PRACTICE being a teacher?

2. Secretaries write down the group‘s ideas

Task6: Why do microteaching?

1.In your groups again, discussion these questions: 1) Why do you think it is

important to do micro- teaching help you to learn to teach well?

2. Secretaries write down the group‘s ideas

Session 2: Introduction to PP and PRS lessons

Task1: Remembering Lessons

1. Think about the English Language improvement Lesson that you had /saw.
How many different kinds of Lessons were there? How were they different from

each other? Use words from session1: presentation, practice, controlled, freer
etc.

2. Brainstorm your ideas in your groups,

Task2: Remembering Lessons

1. Read these questions and try to predict the answer

 a) How many kinds of lessons are you going to study

b) What are they?

c) What does PP stand for?

d) What does PRS stand for?

e) How do you get your students to practice and revise things that they have

already studied?

f) What are the four skills?

Task3: Identifying Lessons

Instruction:
1. Look at the outlines of three lessons below

2. Match the outlines to the names of types of lesson.

1. PP (Vocabulary) lesson

2. PRS lesson

3. PP (Grammar) lesson
A

Presentation stage Practice stage

Use of a short text that contains Various techniques that make students

example of a new grammar item practice the new grammar but only one

or two new words.

Presentation stage Practice stage

Use of a short text that contains 10 new Various techniques to get students to

words but no new grammar practice the new vocabulary

Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3

Techniques to do before Main reading Techniques to do after

main reading technique(s) main reading

Task4: More about the four skills

Instruction:
 1. Discuss these questions:

a) We call reading and listening the ‗receptive (or comprehension) skills‘ and

we call speaking and writing the ‗productive skill‘ Why?

b) Which are more difficult for students: productive or receptive skills? Why?

c) What does your answer to questions (b)

2. Group Secretaries, reports the whole class.

The language learning classroom (Session 1)

Extensive research has been done to show us the best conditions to learn languages. This

research has influenced the way the best language schools teach and the way you learn.

Below are some features of how life in a classroom should be. You will see you are expected

to put a lot of effort into your learning but you will also see that learning a language can also
be a lot of fun and needn't be the frustrating experience many of us may associate with our

schooldays!

 You are an individual! You have strengths and weaknesses and individual needs.
Good language schools recognize this and try to provide you with what you want as

an individual.

 The classroom should be a stress-free and relaxing environment. You learn most
effectively when you feel relaxed.

 Learning a language is fun and hard work! It is important that you participate in your
classes. The more you get involved in the classroom the more speaking and

communicating in the language you're studying will seem natural to you. Pair and

group-work with other students helps to achieve this.

 If your teachers are enthusiastic, friendly and well-organized you will enjoy your

lessons more and learn more.

 Good language schools try to help you get involved by relating the classes to your

experiences in life and making the class fun with interesting activities.

 Games and laughter are part of the learning process. Communicative games are a

very good way of practicing spoken language.

  You need to practice structures/vocabulary you have recently learnt.

 It helps to use the language you know in an enjoyable way without worrying about

making mistakes.

Remember it is useful and important to speak with the other students in the class not just the

teacher! The teacher is also there to guide you; not just to give you a standard model.

Making mistakes is OK, though it does depend on the objective of the activity. If

communicating is the main objective, making mistakes is not so important, but mistakes need
to be corrected if you want to structure your sentences correctly.

Don't be afraid to make mistakes, you do learn from your mistakes!

Submitted by Saint George International, English School in London

Teaching large classes: problems and suggested techniques

Teachers often complain, not without reason, about teaching large classes. These unlucky

teachers not only suffer from the pedagogical shortcomings of large classes, but also from

the stress these classes produce. This post will try to answer the following questions:

1. What are large classes?

2. What makes large classes difficult to teach?

3. What techniques make it possible for students to learn in these classes?

Large classes

It is difficult to set a definition of what a large class is. In some countries, a class with 30

students is not considered at all problematic. In other countries, however, such a class would

be challenging for teachers. Some teachers have to face even more than 40 (in some

Moroccan schools a class may include 50 students). On the other hands, results of some

researchers (see these links: Class size: What Research Says and what it means for State

Policy, How important is class size?). Showed that benefits in achievement generally occur

when class size is reduced to less than 20 students. Above this figure problems of

acquisition and classroom management arise.

Problems with large classes

While it is hard to draw definitive conclusions about student achievement based on class size

alone, since other variables such as the quality of teachers, students‘ degree of motivation

and the role of the parents may come into play, large classes yield the following difficulties:

 One of the main difficulties that a teacher may experience while teaching a large class is

the tremendous effort that she or he will have to make. With an outnumbered class

there is always something to be done.

 With a large class, it is difficult to get a satisfactory knowledge of student‘s needs.

Intimacy with students and remembering names might be a problem.

 As a consequence of the large number of students, the noise level is inevitably high

which adds to the stress teachers may experience.

 Organizing, planning and presenting lessons, may constitute another challenge for

teachers in such classes as students‘ abilities might differ considerably.

 There is another difficulty related to the learning process. In fact, engaging learners

actively in the learning process may not be easy in a crowded class.

 It is hard to imagine how a large class would benefit from school resources such as

computers, books, references…

 With a crowded classroom, teachers might find it difficult to measure effectiveness.

 A large class gives reluctant students a place to hide.

Tips

It is undoubtedly very difficult for a teacher to deal with large classes. Anything done to

remedy the problem would be fruitless unless students are really motivated to learn.
Nevertheless, the following tips may be useful to alleviate the intensity of the situation.

 First it would be a great idea to train students to work in small groups of five to seven

students. And when working in groups, it would be beneficial for students to sit around in
a circle so that everyone could have a chance to participate.

 Groups should include fewer members to avoid any of the students coasting. It is

important to find active roles for students to avoid them being lazy.
 Pair work may be also a good alternative to practice conversations, exercises and other

language activities.

 Pairing weaker students with stronger ones might be an option unless you fear the

weaker students feel intimidated.

 Changing the classroom desk arrangement to take into consideration the large number

of students is a good idea. Finding out the right arrangement is up to the teachers‘

creativity and classroom size. Anyway, desk placements should make cooperative work
easier.

 To optimize your work with students with learning difficulties, give them seats in front of
you, closer to you so that you can spot difficulties easily while teaching.

 To reduce stress and noise level, set simple rules for class management.
1. Establish simple rules of acceptable behavior for everybody to observe when working

in groups, in pairs or individually.

2. Train your students to deal with classroom chores:

a. getting into and out of the classroom at the start and end of lesson or during recess

time
b. handing out books, papers, and other materials;

c. putting away school materials at the end of the lesson.

 Teachers in large classes may also want to delegate some of the work to more able

students. These can play the role of teachers‘ assistants.

 Another measure that might be effective for some teachers is to split the class into weak

students and more able students. This would make it possible for the teacher to

concentrate on the weaker students. However, this should be done with a lot of caution

so as not to affect weaker students‘ self-esteem.

 Why not use technology? Technology ensures that everyone has time to connect with

the teacher. For instance, teachers may plan to do the following:

1. A large class will be better off with a blog or a wiki where students and the teacher

could meet at home.

2. Using student‘s emails would make it easier for teachers to connect with students off

class.
It is true that teaching a large class is challenging as it is pedagogically unacceptable and

psychologically irrelevant. These classes involve, most of the times, mixed abilities, language

levels, motivation, needs, interests, and goals. Nevertheless, teaching and managing such

classes is possible if steps such as those described above are taken.

Presentations in English

A presentation is a formal talk to one or more people that

"presents" ideas or information in a clear, and introduce something new which your students
must learn.

Practice: when students try to change and use something already presented.

Practice activities range from controlled, when you get the student to work closely under

your direction and control to freer or free.

 Steps in Preparing a Presentation

Planning Your Presentation

Preparing a presentation can be an overwhelming experience if you allow it to be one. The

strategies and steps below are provided to help you break down what you might view as a

large job into smaller, more manageable tasks.

Step 1: Analyze your audience

The first step in preparing a presentation is to learn more about the audience to whom you'll

be speaking. It's a good idea to obtain some information on the backgrounds, values, and

interests of your audience so that you understand what the audience members might expect

from your presentation.

Step 2: Select a topic

Next, if possible select a topic that is of interest to the audience and to you. It will be much

easier to deliver a presentation that the audience finds relevant, and more enjoyable to

research a topic that is of interest to you.

Step 3: Define the objective of the presentation

Once you have selected a topic, write the objective of the presentation in a single concise

statement. The objective needs to specify exactly what you want your audience to learn from

your presentation.

Preparing the Content of Your Presentation

Step 4: Prepare the body of the presentation

After defining the objective of your presentation, determine how much information you can

present in the amount of time allowed. Also, use your knowledge about the audience to

prepare a presentation with the right level of detail.

And remember, as you plan the body of your presentation it's important to provide variety.

Listeners may quickly become bored by lots of facts or they may tire of hearing story after

story.

Step 5: Prepare the introduction and conclusion

Once you've prepared the body of the presentation, decide how you will begin and end the

talk. Make sure the introduction captures the attention of your audience and the conclusion

summarizes and reiterates your important points. In other words, "Tell them what you're

going to tell them. Tell them. Then, tell them what you told them."

During the opening of your presentation, it's important to attract the audience's attention and
build their interest. If you don't, listeners will turn their attention elsewhere and you'll have a

difficult time getting it back. Strategies that you can use include the following:

 Make the introduction relevant to the listeners' goals, values, and needs

 Ask questions to stimulate thinking

 Share a personal experience

 Begin with a joke or humorous story

 Project a cartoon or colorful visual

 Make a stimulating or inspirational statement

 Give a unique demonstration

During the opening you want to clearly present your topic and the purpose of your

presentation. Clearly articulating the topic and purpose will help the listeners focus on and

easily follow your main ideas.

During the conclusion of your presentation, reinforce the main ideas you communicated.

Remember that listeners won't remember your entire presentation, only the main ideas. By

reinforcing and reviewing the main ideas, you help the audience remember them.

Practice techniques can vary from very controlled practice like a drill to freer practice like a

discussion.
3 Best Practices for Teaching English Language Learners

By Kathleen L. Gallagher, Ph.D.

I once did an experiment where I followed around an English language learner (ELL) for an

entire day in an attempt to see school through their eyes. The student was well-behaved,

responsible when working independently, committed to getting good grades–but surprisingly,

was never required to speak a single word in class. It got me thinking, ―How common is this,

and how can we allow our ELLs, who need the most practice and feedback on language, to

become essentially invisible in the classroom?‖

There is a ―silent‖ stage that many ELLs go through when learning a new language;
however, they often can get stuck in it for anywhere from two to 10 years. If these students

have been in school for more than six years and are not progressing towards English

competency, they are classified as long-term English learners (LTELs). Unfortunately, LTELs

are a growing demographic that schools have always faced but, until recently, had been

unable to detect and support effectively.

The newly enacted Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) makes tracking Ells‘ progress a top

focus for schools across the nation. States now have standardized criteria for designating
students as ELLs and a process for reclassifying them as ―no longer needing extra language

instruction.‖ In California, ELLs take the California English Language Development

Test (CELDT) yearly to track their progress towards reclassification. Once students are

reclassified, the law requires states to monitor former English learners for four years

(increased from two years) to ensure limited English proficiency is no longer impacting their

learning.

With new requirements and increasing dropout rates among EL students, educators in our
school and across the country are rapidly working to transform ELL programs by putting a

larger focus on active teaching and getting these students to speak English in authentic

academic contexts.
 1. Create an engaging learning environment where students have many opportunities

to improve their language learning. In many schools, young ELLs are expected to

simply ―catch on‖ to the language and successfully learn to read, write,

comprehend and speak English without any formal language instruction. In other

settings, ELLs are pulled into language ability groups and taught language skills

isolated from academic learning contexts.

We believe that teachers must understand how language develops, teach language explicitly
at levels that are accessible to a range of learners, and provide many opportunities for

students to practice their language learning in real academic contexts.

To make this model work better for both ELLs and native English speakers, our teachers

have revamped their instructional approaches to include multiple entry points to academic
discussions throughout every lesson. All students learn a concept in English, then the

teacher utilizes a range of language scaffolds to encourage students to elaborate on

concepts in both English and in students‘ native languages. In partner conversations, ELLs
feel empowered and confident to participate, while more advanced ELs, reclassified

students, and bilingual students get to use their native language to assist others in

developing deeper understanding.

2. Empower students to take ownership of their learning. Encouraging them to make

connections between languages deepens their understanding and helps them to learn at an

accelerated rate. Our ELLs know that it is their responsibility to ask questions of either their

teacher or their peers if they don‘t understand what to do or how to say something in

English. When teachers support students in taking ownership of their English learning, it has

positive impact on both effort and achievement.

3. Differentiate instruction. Individualized tutorials ensure students are working on the ―just

right next step‖ in their learning. To enable teachers to work with individuals and small

groups, we adopted web-based tools to make independent learning more personalized. We

use Learning Upgrade because it supports students using native languages, gives every
 ELL unlimited access to differentiated lessons in math, and continually evolves in its

alignment with 21st-century learning targets.

Another online tool we use for differentiated instruction is Achieve3000. With digital

curriculum, students can learn at their own pace and focus on areas where they need extra

help. We‘ve found that using individualized, web-based programs help our students move

faster up the reclassification scale.

Keeping ELLs from becoming LTELs is all about taking the time to plan rich lessons that
engage students in authentic, content-focused learning; empowering students to take

ownership of their own learning; and differentiating instruction so each child can work at a
level that‘s right for them.

Using Presentation and practice stage described above forms a well-tried method of

language teaching which many teachers find effective.

PP and PRS lessons Session 2 Task 2

You are going to learn how to teach English in Lower Secondary School. You are going to

learn about two different kinds of lessons. We call the first kinds of PP Lessons. The teacher

PRESENTS new thing and students PRACTICE them the new things can be new grammar
or new vocabulary. So we can have PP grammar and PP vocabulary lessons.

PP TEFL Teaching Methodology

The Teaching Process for EFL

During your SEE TEFL certification course you will become more familiar with an

established methodology for teaching English as a foreign language known as

PP – presentation, practice. The PP method could be characterized as a common-

sense approach to teaching as it consists of 3 stages that most people who have learnt how
to do anything will be familiar with.
The first stage is the presentation of an aspect of language in a context that students are

familiar with, much the same way that a swimming instructor would demonstrate a stroke

outside the pool to beginners.

The second stage is practice, where students will be given an activity that gives them plenty

of opportunities to practice the new aspect of language and become familiar with it whilst

receiving limited and appropriate assistance from the teacher. To continue with the analogy,

the swimming instructor allowing the children to rehearse the stroke in the pool whilst being
close enough to give any support required and plenty of encouragement.

Advantages of the PP Method

As with any well-established methodology, PP has its critics and a couple of relatively new

methodologies are starting to gain in popularity such as TBL (task based learning) and ESA

(engage, study, activate). However, even strong advocates of these new methodologies do

concede that new EFL (English as a foreign language) teachers find the PP methodology

easiest to grasp, and that these new teachers, once familiar with the PP methodology, are
able to use TBL and ESA more effectively than new trainees that are only exposed to either

TBL or ESA.
Indeed, there are strong arguments to suggest that experienced teachers trained in PP use

many aspects of TBL and ESA in their lessons, and that these new methodologies are in

truth, the PP methodology with some minor adjustments.

At this stage you might well be asking, It‘s all very well having a clear methodology for how

to teach but how do I know what to teach? The language that we call English today has
absorbed a great many influences over the last thousand years or so. It has resulted in it

becoming a language that can provide us with a sparklingly witty pop culture reference from

a Tarantino script, 4 simple words spoken by Dr. Martin Luther King that continue to inspire

us today, and something as simple and mundane as a road traffic sign.

The Job of the EFL Teacher

As EFL teachers our job is to break down this rich and complex language into manageable

chunks for our students. These chunks of language are what EFL teachers call target

language We are going to look at an example of what a piece of target language might be
and then you will be given more detail on how this would be taught in a PPP lesson before

finally watching three videos with some key aspects of each stage of the lesson highlighted
for you.

During the course we will spend a great deal of time in the training room equipping you with

the tools to employ a successful methodology for teaching the English language. You are
going to get opportunities to both hone these skills in the training room and put them into

practice in authentic classroom settings.

Of course you might be thinking, I don‘t have any experience of being in a classroom! How

on earth am I going to cope with standing at the front of a class with 20 plus pairs of eyes
looking at me waiting to see what I do?
All good TEFL courses are designed to train those with no teaching experience whatsoever.

We will spend the first part of the course in the training room making you familiar with all the

new skills you will need whilst giving you opportunities to practice them in a supported and

controlled environment.

Only after that, will you be put in an authentic classroom environment. It goes without saying

that the first time anybody stands up and delivers their first lesson will be a nerve-racking
experience. However, it is also an experience that mellows over time, and one that all

teachers remember fondly as time goes by and they feel more at home in a classroom.

There will be some of you out there with experience of teaching in a classroom already. You

may be well versed in employing many different methodologies and strategies in your

classroom already, but many or most will have been with native English speaking students,

or those with a near-native levels of English. This means that some of the skills we will be

equipping you with may feel a little alien at first, but your experience will not prove to be a

hindrance. Indeed, you will already have successful classroom management skills that can

be adapted to fit a second language classroom fairly easily and other trainees on the course

will benefit from your presence.

In addition, some of the skills that you will learn on the course can also be adapted to work in

a classroom of native speakers too, and it is not unusual for experienced teachers to

comment on exactly this after completing a good TEFL course.

Target Language in an EFL Lesson

Recall how it is the job of the EFL teacher to break down the rich tapestry of the English

language into manageable bite-size chunks, suitable for study in an average study period of

50 minutes. As mentioned, we refer to these chunks as target language. As EFL teachers

we will select target language that is appropriate for both the skill level and the age of the

students.

The target language that you will see being presented in the videos is Likes and dislikes for
6 food items.
The teacher you will watch in the video has a clear aim, which is to ensure that:

**By the end of the lesson, students will know the names of 6 food items in English and will

be able to express whether or not they like them in a spoken form by entering into a simple

dialogue consisting of,

 Do you like ___?,

 Yes, I like ___., or
 No, I don‘t like ___.
The six food items are ___. In short, the students will be able to name the 6 food items by

the end of the lesson and tell whether they like them or not.**

Presentation PP

You may have delivered a few presentations in your time but the type of presentation we
deliver in a second language classroom will differ quite a bit from those. For a start, you

were speaking to proficient users of the English language about something they were, most

likely, vaguely familiar with anyway. In an EFL classroom we don‘t have those luxuries, so

we have to be careful about the language we use and how clearly we present the new

language that we wish for our students to acquire.

Can you guess what PRS means? PRS stands for? PRS= Practice, Revision, Skill

Receptive and Productive Skills Session 2 Task 4

The Difference Between Receptive and Productive Skills

Although the difference between productive and receptive skills may seem obvious, they

require very different approaches when preparing for exam. Of course,. However, that

should not be the only method you use during your preparation. Real life situations can be

invaluable to build and hone your skill set.

First, do a self-diagnosis. What's your strength in your first language? Are you an avid
reader or maybe your friends tell you what a great listener you are. Alternatively, you may be

the life of the party with the ability to talk to anyone. Do you love to write, or write a lot for

work or school and find that an effective way to express yourself and communicate?

Most people gravitate to either receptive or productive skills, and it may be related to

whether you identify as more or an introverted or extroverted person. Regardless of your

skill level, try to be honest with yourself and consider how your skill set in your first language
may follow you into learning and practicing English.

Productive skills

these include speaking and writing – the production of language. Overall, it's easier to

receive feedback from others about your productive skill set. Whether you're taking TS
preparation course, working with a tutor or just interacting in English in your daily life, you

can easily tell if those you are communicating with can or cannot understand you. If you

struggle to get or take feedback effectively, please feel free to read a previous blog post on

this topic.

Speaking and writing are the skills that are more visible to others and, as a result, may be
easier to address and practice with support from teachers, friends, or colleagues. A more

extroverted person will likely feel more comfortable speaking in their first language, and over

time, this ease of communication will become apparent in the additional language you use.

Receptive skills

Reading and listening are the skills we use to receive information – this makes it inherently

more difficult to receive feedback from others. We all come with a filter that the information

we receive passes through. This filter is informed by our age, background, education and life

experience. We have personal interest areas, curiosities and expertise.

While examiners and markers assess the productive skills, there is no subjectivity in the

reading and listening, there isn't a scale, as seen with the band scores for the productive

skills. You fill in a blank, and the answer is correct or incorrect. This focus is on right and

wrong, versus the band scores which evaluate your skills more holistically. Therefore, being

familiar with common TS topics and specifically, the question types and expectations of the

TS test will help to allow you to focus on the skills you need to read and listen for main ideas

and details successfully during the exam.

On a typical TS exam, you'll encounter many different topics, and some will be familiar, and

others, by design, will be unfamiliar to you. Developing your areas of interest, reading, and

listening to a wide range of material will increase your familiarity and your ability to
understand the related vocabulary and achieve your desired score on the TS test.

Good luck!
 Unit 2: Presentation & Practice lessons

Session: Shape of a PP lesson

Aim: To introduce the general shape of a PP lesson

A PP lesson -Jumbled steps

Pre-teach, Opener, Controlled practice(drill), Set the scene, Check comprehension,

Objective, Introduce Target Item, Concept check, Draw attention to target item, Freer
practice, Warmer, Aim, Closure

Task: Steps and activities in a PP lesson

1. What does each one of them mean?

2. Put the steps in the correct order

3. Say what actually happened in each step.

Now answer these questions

a. What is the difference between presentation stage and practice stage?

b. In the presentation stage who does the most talking?

c. In the practice stage who should do the most talking?

d. How can students learn new words and sentences?

e. In a PP lesson, how much time should be spent on the presentation stage and how

much on the practice stage?

 Unit 3: Teaching Vocabulary

Session 1: The importance of teaching vocabulary

1. Your teacher give you the opposite of words

2. You try to find the opposite of words

3. When you find opposite, sit down with your partner.

Task1: Filling in gaps in a text (10mns)

1. Read the text in the book

2. Fill in the gaps individually

3. Compare with partner

4. Give your answer to the teacher

Task2: See about (10mns)

Try to fill in the gaps

Task3: Group discussion (15mns)

1. Discuss the following questions which were easier? Text 1 or text 2?

2. What does this exercise tell you about the importance of teaching vocabulary and

teaching grammar?
3. Your spokesperson tells the class your ideas/answer to the questions.

Session 2: Eliciting vocabulary

Aim: to show you the advantage of eliciting new words to introduce 5 eliciting

techniques for new vocab.

Task1: discussing the advantages and disadvantages of

―Straight‘‘ presenting

1. What the 2 demonstrations

2. Get in pairs and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of 2 demos

3. Write them down and tell your teacher your ideas.

Tasks 2 to 6: Making notes and discussing on 5 techniques

for eliciting vocab

1. Follow your teacher instructions for each technique.

2. Get into pairs

3. Discuss the Follow questions: What did your teacher do? What do we call these

techniques?
 4. Give your ideas to the class.

Session 3: More eliciting techniques for vocabulary

Tasks 1 and 2: Making notes and discussing 2 techniques for

eliciting vocab

1. Follow your teacher instructions for each technique

2. Get into pairs

3. Discuss the Follow questions: What did your teacher do? What do we call these
techniques?

Tasks 3: Micro- teaching (60mns)

1. Follow your teacher instructions

2. Your teacher has given you 4 words to elicit

3. In your group decide which techniques you will use for each word.

4. Then decide who will ‗teach‘ to the class.

5. Practice in your groups before you micro-teach

Tasks 4: Filling in a table (10mns)

1. Follow your teacher instructions

2. Look at your table

3. Look at the words column

4. Decide which technique is suitable for each word,

5. Compare answer with friends and teacher.

Word Visual Mime Realia Situation Example Syn/Ant Trans T‘s eliciting

question

A finger

(to)count

absent

A cigarette

A friend

colors

The end

To move

quick
 (to) clap

A river

(to) try

lunch

A telephone

sad

Session 4: Steps for eliciting vocabulary and Micro- teaching

Tasks 1: Teacher‘s demonstration (35mns)

1. Listen to the teacher

2. The observers take notes

3. After demo the observers discuss what they show with their groups.

Tasks 2: Filling in the name

1. Read through the poster

2. Fill the name for each step

3. Check your answer

Tasks 3: Students demonstration (10mns)

1. Each group choose one technique

2. Choose one T from your group

3. Teach to the whole class

Session 5: techniques for practicing vocabulary

Tasks 1: Making notes

Tasks 2: Making notes

Tasks 3: Recognizing the techniques (30mns)

Session 6: Techniques for practicing vocabulary

Tasks 1: Note taking (25mns)

Tasks 2: Reading
Session 7: Micro- Teaching vocabulary practice techniques

Tasks 1: Preparing a practicing part of a vocabulary lesson

Tasks 2: Micro- Teaching

Session 8: Planning PP vocabulary lesson and Microteaching
 Tasks 1: Planning lesson

Tasks 2: Microteaching

Techniques for Eliciting New Vocabulary

1. Visuals

2. Mime

3. Reality

4. Situation/Explanation
5. Example

6. Synonym
7. Antonym

8. Translation

6 Classroom Strategies to Teach Vocabulary to English Language Learners

Geri McClymont is passionate about education. She holds an MEd and has
taught English language learners for over ten years.
Contact Author

As teachers, we have the opportunity every day to use effective strategies to support English
language learners in our classroom. One significant way to help our English learners
succeed is to be intentional about teaching vocabulary.
Limited academic vocabulary hinders many English language learners from reading and
learning classroom content. But with effective strategies, students can leave our classroom
with an enriched vocabulary bank every single day!
While English learners generally have the greatest need to expand their vocabulary, many
non-English language learners—especially those from low socioeconomic communities—
have a limited vocabulary bank, so many of them can greatly benefit from these strategies
as well.
Expanding your English learners' vocabulary equips them for success in the classroom and
beyond! | Source

Strategies to Teach Vocabulary to English Language Learners

1. Label everything in your classroom.
2. Speak to your students with rich vocabulary.
3. Pre-teach key vocabulary.
4. Use text with rich vocabulary and images.
5. Play vocabulary games.
6. Seize teachable moments.
 Posters: Choose posters with colorful and clearly labeled images. Or add labels for the
pictures yourself. They don't have to be perfect—you don’t need to type, print, and
laminate the words before you tape them onto the posters. Handwriting them in bold on
sticky notes and taping the sticky notes onto the poster works equally well. The main
thing is for your students to associate each word with its corresponding image to help
them learn vocabulary.
 Maps: Write the title above each map to depict what the land represents. If it’s a
country, write the name of the country. If it’s a world map, specify that. Maps are also
great places to label cardinal directions: north, south, east, west, as well as northeast,
northwest, southeast, southwest. Add labels for large bodies of water such as oceans
and bays—their names often appear in tiny print and are therefore almost unnoticeable
on the original map. For a world map, highlight the names of the seven continents to
make them stand out.
I strongly recommend leaving ample space between posters and maps on your walls so that
your students are not over-saturated with visual input. Walls that are too cluttered with
information may overwhelm your students rather than draw them in.
 Supplies: Label containers for all supplies and materials in your classroom: pencils,
colored pencils, erasers, scissors, rulers, glue, lined paper, white paper, and any other
materials you use regularly. Label the shelves where binders, folders, writing journals,
books, and workbooks are kept with their designated names. Labeling all materials will
 not only help your students learn vocabulary, it will help you and your students locate
supplies easily—thereby maximizing classroom time.
 Technology and Furniture: Label computers, computer screen, keyboard, mouse,
speakers, classroom screen, cabinet, file cabinet, teacher desk, teacher chair, and
tables.
 Miscellaneous: Label a wall, a visible outlet, a visible chord, light switch, air vent, the
ceiling, windows, shades, curtains, and the classroom door and clock.
2. Speak to Your Students with Rich Vocabulary
Take full advantage of classroom time by using rich vocabulary in your everyday instruction
and interactions with your students. Believe me, they are listening to every word you say.
Pair up Rich Vocabulary with Synonymous but Simpler Words: When you use rich vocabulary
in the classroom, use synonymous but simpler words immediately after the rich vocabulary
so that your English language learners gain a natural understanding of the rich vocabulary.
For example, when you say to your students, "Can you elaborate on that?", some of your
students may look at you as if they are clueless as to what you mean. But if you say, "Can
you elaborate on that?" followed up with, "Can you tell me more?", then they will grasp what
you mean. They have now learned that to elaborate means to tell more about something.
Use a Variety of Rich Phrases to Communicate the Same Message: Another way to naturally
incorporate rich vocabulary into your daily dialogue is to use different rich phrases
interchangeably to communicate the same message to your students.
For example, one day you might say, "I'm perplexed by what the author is communicating"
and another day you might say, "I'm baffled by what the author is communicating." Use
gestures to communicate that you are confused, such as bringing your finger up to your
head and putting on a very pensive look.
If you think your students still need the rich phrase explained, continue to follow the rich
phrase up with a synonymous but simpler phrase. Eventually, you will no longer need to use
the simpler phrase because your students will have learned to associate it with the richer
phrases.
Use tangible objects to teach the meanings of words to your English learners. Or, better yet, take your
students outside and show them! | Source.

3. Pre-Teach Key Vocabulary

Be intentional about teaching vocabulary to your students by pre-selecting key words from the text
you're about to read.

Don’t assume students will know essential words from the text. Give them a quick pretest to assess
their current knowledge of key vocabulary. Once you've targeted the words your students don’t
know, focus on teaching them!

Word Study, word maps, word journals, and word walls are all excellent tools for helping students
learn and apply new vocabulary.

Aside from images, use tangible objects to teach the meanings of words. For example, if introducing
the word bark (from a tree), show students a piece of actual bark you found outside. Or, better yet,
take them outside and show them!

4. Select Text with Rich Vocabulary and Images

Have a designated, regular time to read aloud to your students in class. Reading to your students is
an excellent way to not only teach new words, but to model their correct pronunciation. Choose
high interest reading material with rich vocabulary and images. Attractive images in text are
powerful in communicating the meanings of words.

With older students or to teach meanings of words for which there are no visuals on the page, it's
critical to pre-teach key words from the text, accompanied by pictures you've gathered to represent
the words' meanings.

Keep the visuals handy after pre-teaching vocabulary—such as posting them on a word wall—so
when you come across the words in the text, you can quickly point to the visuals without distracting
students from the reading. Try to minimize interruptions as you read. Fewer pauses when reading
increases reading fluency which in turn aides comprehension.
Playing games is an excellent and fun way to reinforce vocabulary you teach. | Source

5. Play Vocabulary Games

Allow students many opportunities to practice new vocabulary through games and classroom
activities. Some examples:
Word Bingo: Each student has a card with grids, with one word written in each grid.
Students listen for the meaning of each word and place markers on each word depicting the
meaning they hear. The first player to mark a complete row, column or diagonal pattern of
words is the winner. For more advanced students, give them each two cards–—they now
need a marked pattern of words on each card to win!
Charades: Students have to act out a word or phrase without speaking, while the rest of the
class tries to guess what the word or phrase is. The goal is for students to guess each word
or phrase as quickly as possible. For more advanced or competitive students, divide the
class into teams. Time how long it takes each team to guess the opponent’s word/phrase.
Keep track of time to determine the winning team!

6. Seize Teachable Moments

Impromptu teachable moments are priceless learning opportunities. They come
unannounced but are timely opportunities to teach new vocabulary.
For example: you come across a word in a text you didn’t introduce before reading the text.
Or a student uses a word in an oral sentence and another student asks what the word
means.
Jump on it! Don’t let the opportunity pass. Google the word with images and display them on
the classroom screen. Or write the word on the board along with a quick sketch of its
meaning, adding gestures and body language to help explain it.
Apply the word to a real-life experience you had. Students love hearing about your life
stories! They’re much more likely to remember what the word means when you make a
personal connection to it.

Vocabulary Techniques

1. Think Fast

2. Word associations

3. Word Contest

4. One word a minute

5. Naught and Cross

6. Back Writing

7. Word Word Word

8. Running Dictation (words)

9. Odd Word Out

10. Matching

11. Slap the Board

12. Guessing the picture

13. Rub Out and Remember

14. What and Where

15. Word Snake

16. Bingo

17. Jumbled Word

18. Hangman

19. Word Square

20. Observe and Remember

21.Charades

Write vocabulary words on individual index cards. Break your class into two teams, and have
one individual from each team act out the same word. The team to correctly guess the word
first scores a point.
22. Pictionary

Write vocabulary words on individual index cards or use your set from charades. Break your

class into two teams, and one individual from each team draws a picture on the board.

Drawers cannot use letters numbers or symbols in their drawings. The first team to guess

the word correctly scores a point.

23. Memory

Create your own memory game using vocabulary words. Write each word on individual

index cards. For each existing card, make a matching card with the definition, a synonym or

an antonym. Students shuffle the cards and arrange them all face down on a table.

Students take turns flipping over two cards. If the cards make a set, the student keeps the

cards and takes an additional turn. The person with the most cards at the end of the game

wins.

24. Modified Catch Phrase

Write each vocabulary word on an individual index card. Students sit in a circle with a

timer set for a random amount of time (3-8 minutes works well). Shuffle the cards and give

the deck to the first person in the circle. That person draws a card and tries to get his

classmates to guess the word by giving verbal clues. He cannot say the word or any part of

the word. When someone guesses the word, he passes the stack to the next person who

takes a turn with another word. The person holding the stack of cards when the timer goes

off loses.

25. Categories

Choose ten categories with your students or before class starts (e.g. types of

pets, city names, sports, items in a kitchen, etc.). Use an alphabet die to

determine the letter for each round of play. Set a timer for three minutes, and

students must think of one word for each category that begins with that round’s

letter. Students score one point per word, and the person with the most points at

the end of three rounds is the winner.

26. The Dictionary Game

Choose an unusual word from the dictionary and spell it for your students.

Each person creates a fictional definition for the word and writes it on an index

card. You write the actual definition on another index card. Collect and shuffle the

cards, and then read all the definitions. Students must try to guess which definition

is the real one.

27. Memory Match

Memory style matching games are easy to make and fun to use. Even older

ESL students will be challenged as they review letters of the alphabet while

putting their memories to the test. To make a game like this, you can make a set of

matching cards using index cards. Simply write each capital letter on one card and

its lower case letter on the other card. Turn all the cards over and arrange them on

a desk. Students must find both the capital and lowercase letter to make a match.

Or make the game more challenging for your students and add a vocabulary

element. Have students match an alphabet letter to a picture that starts with that

letter. If you feel like getting seasonal and a bit crafty, have students match ice-
 cream scoops to cones, butterflies to flowers, or cars to tires labeled with

corresponding letters and words.

28. Writing Practice

To give your students practice writing out the letters in the English language,

set up a writing center in your classroom. Use a shallow box (a cereal box with

one large side removed is perfect, but any box will work) and fill it with about an

inch of salt, sand or a similar item. Then make a set of cards that show each letter

in detail. When students are at the center, they can use a stick or the back of a

paintbrush to practice writing letters in the sand tray using the card as a reference.

After finishing one letter, students can smooth out the surface of the sand and

practice another.

29. Beach Ball Alphabet

Using a simple inflatable beach ball, make a fun game for your students to

play anytime you have a few minutes to fill during class. Write the letters of the

alphabet in random places on the beach ball. Arrange your students in a circle.

One student tosses the ball to a classmate, and that person catches it. Whatever

letter is closest to his right thumb she must name. If you like, have her name a

word that starts with that letter as well. Play until everyone has at least one turn.

Slap the Board

Author: Psyche Kennett

Procedure

 Put the vocabulary items on the board in any order - jumbled and sometimes a
little bit higher than the tallest child can reach, so that they'll have to jump.
 Form groups. Give a mother tongue translation for one of the words on the
board. The students have got to recognize the word which translates to that
word. They then run to the board and slap the correct word. The first person in
each group to slap the right word gets a point.
 Alternatively, you can form teams and one person from the team runs to the
board, as a representative. The first team to hit the correct word gets the point.
The representative changes, ready for the next word. This is a little calmer than
if everyone is running to the board.
 You can reverse the translation, by putting the mother tongue on the board. And
of course, you could use definitions or opposites if you want to avoid using the
mother tongue.
 You can do it with pictures so you put the pictures on the board and call out the
English word and the kids slap the picture.
 The teacher doesn't have to call out the English word; you can get other kids to
call out so they're getting practice speaking too.

Brainstorm

Vocabulary builds upon itself, and association with words that are already familiar to
students is one of the most effective means of teaching students unfamiliar words. Teachers
who help student’s associate new words with words they already know well will help
students with long-term retention.

One method of associating vocabulary words with familiar words is to brainstorm with
students. Once students have heard a word and its definition, teachers can write the word on
the board and ask students to say words that go along with the new vocabulary word. If the
word is ―mare,‖ for instance, students might say ―horse,‖ ―barn‖ and ―hay.‖ By writing the
words down together, it creates a visual reference for students.

Act it Out

Younger children, especially,

respond to games, but older kids don’t generally mind a little injection of fun into their school
days either. Teachers can make vocabulary words more fun to learn by turning the process
into a game, like charades.

Students can take turns acting out one of the vocabulary words, while the other students
guess the word. In order for charades with vocabulary words to work, students need some
basis in the vocabulary, so teachers should schedule the game of charades a few days after
students first get their vocabulary words. Teachers may want to release the word list on
Monday, for instance, and make Friday game day.
 Unit 4: Drills

Session 1: Introduce to drills

Tasks 1: What is a drill?

1. Discuss these Questions

1. What is a drill?

2. When do you do a drill?

3. Why do you a drill?

4. Should your drill be meaningful?

5. How many cues should there be for each drill?

6. Do you focus on accuracy or fluency?

Tasks 2: 4 basic drills: 1 Picture drill, 2 T/F repetition drill,

3 Multiple substitution drill, 4 Transformation drill

Session 2: Writing cues for substitution drills

Tasks 1: Making cues

Tasks 2: Peer- teaching and exchanging cues

Session 3: Using 2-speaker drill for controlled pair work

Tasks: Recall and questions: feature of a 2 speaker drill

The Advantages & Disadvantages of Practice & Drills in Teaching

The Advantage of Practice

Students benefit from practice because they are able to apply knowledge through

interaction. Students connect with the material when they work with texts and concepts

beyond a one-time exposure. When students practice using the knowledge through

application, they connect with information on a deeper level. For instance, when learning

about writing, students have to write. They have to hone the voice, tone and style of their

writing. This cannot happen unless they revise, see examples and learn to improve their own

work. Students cannot transfer a lecture on good essay writing into an actual good essay
without practical application.

The Advantage of Drills

While drills are associated with a regimented style of instruction, they do have a place. Drills

are used successfully when teaching students technique. For instance, when young people

are learning their multiplication tables, they can do drills on each number set to help them

memorize; they can then proceed to more difficult concepts that use the information obtained

from drills. In physical education and music, coaches and teachers use drills as a method to

hone skills that need repetition for improvement. Additionally, students can use this technique

with one another for shared learning opportunities.

The Hurdles with Practice and Drills

There are potential drawbacks to practice and drills. Teachers need to make sure that when

having students practice, there is a clear link between concept and action. Students must be

able to relate what they are doing to what they are learning. Similarly, drills are not effective

when students are not prepared enough; they will not be able to maintain a pace if they are

still unclear about a concept. Furthermore, drills are typically for more basic knowledge or for

a more physical understanding. If teaching about more abstract concepts, a drill

methodology would not be appropriate.

Useful Methodologies

Teachers, when planning appropriately, include practice time for students. Students in all

grades benefit from practice because it deepens their understanding and increases

familiarity with the material. Similarly, drills are useful to reinforce and practice more rote

knowledge and skills. With both methods, students are activating knowledge through

application.

How to Drill

Drilling Activities for Your English Classroom

How to Proceed

1. Choral Repetition: Choral repetition is a commonly used method of drilling. Students

simply have to repeat words or phrases after you. This is a good method because it means

that students are given excellent model pronunciation immediately before they are asked to

respond. Going through vocabulary this way many times in a single lesson will be boring for

your students and they will be less inclined to perform well. Break up the monotony

by changing the speed or volume you use and have students change their responses

accordingly. Using this method, students are not called on individually to pronounce words

therefore you will need to check individual pronunciation and comprehension separately.

Integrating these checks into your drill activities will keep students alert because they will

never know when you may call on them.

2. Drilling with Flashcards:

Drilling using flashcards can be useful as well. In the introduction, show students both the

image and word sides of each flashcard. When you start drilling words for the first time,

show students the word side of the flashcard so they can practice reading and pronouncing

it. Later on, rather than show students the word you want them to pronounce, show them

the image. This will help check their comprehension of the material. With flashcards, you

can also challenge your students when they become more familiar with certain vocabulary

by flipping through the cards at a faster rate.

3. Comprehension:
Asking for volunteers or calling on students to give you a synonym, antonym, or translation

of a new vocabulary word will check individual comprehension. It is always nice to ask for

volunteers as opposed to calling on students individually but generally a volunteer will be

more confident in his answer so this will not properly show whether or not the class

understands the material. When you find it necessary to single out particular students who

are not participating in drill activities, calling on them for answers is an easy method of

focusing their attention on the lesson. Doing comprehension checks is also a good way to

break up the drill activities a bit.

4. Drill in pairs:

As material becomes more familiar, you may want to conduct short pair activities where a

student‘s comprehension is tested by his partner. To do this with a vocabulary list for

instance, have student A read the translation of each word in random order while the

student B says the word in English. Student A can then place a checkmark next to all the

words student B got correct and then the students can switch roles. With this method

students can check each other and have visual proof of how well they performed afterwards

which they can refer to when practicing material on their own or preparing for exams.

Conducting an activity such as this on a regular basis will help students review vocabulary

often and should not take more than five minutes even with fifteen to twenty vocabulary

words. It may still be necessary to practice using choral repetition before performing pair

activities so that students are reminded of the proper pronunciation of the vocabulary.

5. Games
breaking your classroom up into sections where each section says one portion of a new

structure is another way of drilling material. In small classes you can conduct some drilling

activities in a circle. The more variation there is to an activity, the more students have to pay

attention but it is best to start off with the simplest, easiest variation of a game and build on it

as opposed to trying to explain a complex activity from the very beginning. Challenging

students but not overwhelming them is important in maintaining their attention and

participation.
6. Picture Drill
7. True/False repetition Drill
8. Multiple Substitution Drill
9. Transformation Drill
10. 2 Speaker exchange Drill

Unit 5: Giving Instructions

Warmer:

1. What does Giving Instructions mean?

2. Do you think instructions are important? Why?

3. How did you give instructions to your Ss?

Session: Step by step Instructions

Tasks 1: Listening and understanding/reading and understanding

Listen to your teacher‘s instructions

Tasks 2: Checklist for giving good Instructions

-Be clear

-Keep it simple
-Pre- plan your instructions

-Use short sentences

-Separate instructions from other talk.

-Make sure there‘s silence and you eye contact

-Stand where everyone can see you

-Make sure students are listening before you start

10 Tips for Giving and Checking Instructions in an ESL Classroom

Some of the activities that we use in the classroom are fairly complex in terms of the way

they‘re organized, and I doubt if there are many teachers who can honestly claim that
they‘ve never got a class totally confused by the way they‘ve given instructions. How can
you make sure that your instructions are as clear and comprehensible as possible?
1. Plan how you‘re going to give the instructions before you go into the classroom, and

make sure that you can explain them within the limits of the language which the

students can understand. For example, the following instruction would be fine for an

intermediate class, but would lose a group of beginners: ―You‘re going to hear a

description of a famous person and you have to guess who it is.‖ For beginners, ―Listen

to my description of a famous person. Who is it?‖ would be far more comprehensible.

2. Think too about the speed of your speech – slow down slightly if necessary – and insert

pauses to allow students to take in each piece of information before you go on to the

next.

3. Make sure that your instructions are fully explicit – don‘t take anything for granted.

Because we are so familiar with the activity types, we often assume that certain things

are obvious. How often have you explained an activity but forgotten to say explicitly

―Don‘t show your information to your partner‖ – only to find students happily doing just

that.

4. Also think about how much you‘re going to explain at a time. If you have a long,

complicated, or two part activity, don‘t explain everything at once. Explain the first stage,

and check that students have understood before you go on to the explanation of the

next part. In some cases it is not necessary for the students to have an overview of the
whole activity before they start. In this case, explain the first part, do the first part and

then go on to the explanation of the second part.

5. Don‘t start the explanation until you have the students‘ full attention. Make sure they

have stopped whatever they are doing, are turned towards you and are listening.

6. Even in the first lesson, use English wherever possible. ―Get into pairs‖ won‘t be

understood, but ―You two, you two and you two‖ plus a gesture pushing the students

together will be.

7. However, if you speak the students‘ language, for very complex activities it may be

more efficient to use the L1 for explanations. This can be gradually phased out as the
students become more proficient:

a) at the beginning of the course, give the instructions in the L1, and then repeat them

immediately, as simply as possible, in English.

b) Later on reverse the order: give the instructions in English first, and in the L1 second.

c) as soon as possible, give the instructions in English only, but check comprehension

by asking the students to repeat them back in their L1.

8. Avoid using the imperative in your instructions. In most situations that the students will

find themselves, it will not be an appropriate form to use. In the classroom it may be, but

if they have constantly heard the teacher saying ―Repeat!‖ there‘s a good chance they‘ll

use it themselves:

Native speaker: And so I was dropped right in it. Student: Repeat!

Instead, use request forms – for example ―Can you repeat that?‖ – which provide a

good model for the students‘ own use of the language. This is especially important if the

imperative is more socially acceptable in the students‘ own language (for example

Italian) so that they are liable to transfer the use into English.
9. Always check that students have understood your instructions before starting the

activity. The question ―Do you understand?‖ is as good as useless. Students may be too

shy to admit that they don‘t understand, or may think they understand when they

actually don‘t. Make sure they demonstrate their understanding. This can be done by:

a) Asking them check questions – for example, for a role-play : ―OK, if you‘re student A

put your hands up… Right… who are you? And what‘s your problem? And who is

student B?‖

b) Asking them to repeat back to you the instructions. Don‘t choose the strongest

person in the group to do this. S/he is the one most likely to have understood and your

check needs to be directed to the students who probably haven‘t.

c) Asking two students to demonstrate the activity in front of the class, or for a written

exercise by eliciting the answers to the first two examples.

d) Not giving instructions at all but asking students to look at the activity and tell you
what they think they have to do. This can be useful for activity types which are already

known the students.

10. As soon as the students start the activity, go around quickly to each pair or group just to

check they are on task. Don‘t stop to help or monitor one group until you have checked

them all. If only one group has not understood, then go back and help. If several groups

are off track, then stop the activity and explain again, using the students who have

understood to demonstrate to the others.

How to give better teaching instructions

There are two general rules for telling what students need to do:

 Instructions must be kept as simple as possible.

 And they must be logical.

Before teachers give instructions they must ask themselves:

  What is the important information I am trying to convey?

 What must students know in order to complete the task successfully?

 Which information do they need first?

 Which comes second?

 What materials do students need to do the tasks?

 Are they going to work individually, in pairs or in groups?

Practical tips

The success of any activity relies on instructions.

 The formulations should be short, easy to understand and precise.

 To attract the attention of a group, try clapping your hands or knocking on a desk. Make

sure that students understand that by doing this you want them to put everything down,

stop talking, look at you and listen.

 Instructions should be given BEFORE the students start to work, otherwise they can be
absolutely perfect but nobody pays attention to them.

 The spoken instructions are not everything. The body language counts as well, the

gestures, miming etc.

 Instructions should always be followed by demonstration. The best way to tell students

how to do something is to actually do it yourself. For example with role-play, take a more

confident/gifted student and pair up with them and do a practice-run in front of the class.

Talking and talking for minutes can be counter-productive and time-wasting when a

quick demo can illustrate the activity not only linguistically but visually.

 For EFL students, giving clear instructions in the mother tongue can be a challenge, let

alone in a second language.

 Teachers should establish routines by giving instructions in a consistent way. By doing

this, students will almost always know what they are expected to do.

 Teachers should prepare everything carefully beforehand. Task types can be grouped

and therefore a teacher can find out what should be said in order to deliver one specific

type of task, and so on. In the end, he/she will have a repertoire of instructions for

different tasks and everything will be much simpler.

 Teachers should not forget that wordy instructions do not work effectively, particularly

with learners of low English proficiency. Instructions should be cut up in small pieces

according to different phases of the task that learners have to perform.

 When an activity is introduced for the first time, words might not be enough for low-level

students. In some cases, visuals can support learners‘ understanding even for

instructions.

 One of the fundamental obstructions is the Mother Tongue Interference.

 If you are aware of particular pupils who have difficulty in listening to and following

instructions, it is also worthwhile considering where you are standing when giving the
directions to the group. Close proximity to the target pupil and using his or her name will

give more opportunities for engagement in the activity.

 Check for understanding by asking questions related to instruction.

 Once the instructions have been given, questions have been answered and the activity

practiced, scan the room and circulate, look for the pupil who is complying and make a
positive comment about those who are following the instructions.

Conclusion

Being clear with your instructions and expectations will reduce the likelihood of ongoing

disruption and interruptions. With better ways to direct students, teachers will help not only

attentive students but also those seemingly low achievers who can‘t do a task because they

may have trouble understanding what is asked from them.

 Unit 6: Practice techniques

Session 1: The practice Stage and one Practice techniques

Aim: to show Ss the difference between presentation and practice

Important note: These are speaking techniques. Be used in the practice

stage of PP or Main –task PRS speaking skill

Tasks 1: Revision of the steps of a PP lesson (10-15mns)

-Work in pairs to discuss the steps. Make notes

Tasks 2: Group work answering questions (15mns)

1. What is the difference between the Presentation and Practice stage?

2. When does the Practice stage start?

3. Why do we spend more time on Practice?

Tasks 3: Brainstorm and categorizing (10-15mns)

-Brainstorm all the different practice techniques you know

-Look at the techniques under

-Look at the 3 columns

-Get into pairs

-Give answer to your teacher

Very controlled Controlled Free(r)

Session 2: More controlled Practice techniques

Tasks 1: Demo of Chain game……(25mns)

Tasks 2: Demo of Guessing game and Information Gap

Tasks 3: Demo of Interview or Questionnaire ( 25mns)

Ten teaching techniques to practice – deliberately.

It‘s a well-established idea that, to develop expertise in a particular skill or technique, you

need to practice. The more you practise, the better you get. As outlined by the excellent

people at Deans for Impact in their Practice with Purpose document, it helps to identify a

specific element of your teaching to practice on and then focus very deliberately on

improving in that area.

Instead of flitting from one thing to another, dipping in and out, the suggestion is that

teachers would do better to select one thing from all the options and try hard to keep at it

until the practice feels more like a habit. This approach absolutely applies to numerous

elements of behavior management and most of the Silver Arrows I highlighted in this popular

post. However, for this post I wanted to focus on pedagogical elements of teaching.

Here are ten things you might want to try to practice – deliberately:
1. Developing routine knowledge recall procedures.

It takes practice to establish this as a snappy, low-stakes routine, conducted in a disciplined

fashion, at a frequency that really helps your students to retain the knowledge you‘ve taught

them. You need to establish a pattern that you can stick to:

 Identify the specific knowledge elements that lend themselves to snappy tests – a

knowledge organizer broken into sections that students can focus on.

 a quizzing method that students are familiar with and can organize readily – are you
going to read out the questions, prepare each test?

 a quick method for self or peer checking of the answer – eg with answers on a visualizer.

 a routine that returns to the same knowledge elements repeatedly so that the recall is

strengthened; it needs not to take up too much time in any given lesson and happen
often enough to become low stakes and habitual.

Develop the technique with multiple choice questions, sequencing of concepts/events and

more sophisticated ‗which is a better answer‘ style questions.

2. All-student response: using mini-whiteboards really well.

As I outline in this post – the No1 bit of classroom kit is a set of mini-whiteboards. The trick is

to use them really well. You need to drill the class to use them seriously, to do the ‗show

me‘ action simultaneously in a crisp, prompt manner and, crucially, you need to get students

to hold up the boards long enough for you to engage with their responses. Who is stuck?
Who has got it right? Are there any interesting variations/ideas? Use the opportunity to ask

‗why did you say that? how did you know that?‘ – and so on. It takes practice to make this

technique work but it‘s so good when done well.

3. Questioning techniques:

Each questioning technique takes practice, especially if you are in the default-mode habit of

asking the whole class every question and taking answers from those with their hands up.

Make a deliberate effort to try out and practice these methods:

 Random selection: use an online name generator or loll sticks or some other means of

selecting students at random. It‘s powerful effect. (Loll sticks need to be a no-nonsense
practical tool, not a fussy gimmick – I‘ve seen this done superbly well.)
 Cold Calling: just check out technique 33 in Doug Lemov‘s Teach Like a Champion 2.0. I

prefer this when combined with wait time and the name selected after the question. eg

―What is 7 cubed?…..pause….. John?‖ With ―John, what is 7 cubed?‖, only John has to

think about it.

 Probing: routinely ask follow-up questions for every question you ask, two or three

times. Go deeper. I‘ve explored this in Great Lessons 1: Probing.

 Going Dialogic. An extension of probing – you set up the expectation that one student
might engage in an extended dialogue to probe ever more deeply into their

understanding with the rest of the class as an audience. It takes practice but works
incredibly well. See Pedagogy Postcard 1.

4. Think Pair Share

A strategy I firmly believe is underused relative to its power. It takes practice to make it a

routine with the necessary behavior management strategies. It is fully explained in this

post: The Washing Hands of Learning

5. Metacognition and modeling

Metacognition scored very highly in several ranked lists of effective teaching and learning

strategies – eg Hattie‘s visible learning effects or the EEF toolkit. In a nutshell, it is the

process of teaching students how to solve problems and complete complex tasks by making

the strategies and thought processes explicit by modeling them. For example, in these non-
verbal reasoning questions, you can show students how you go about solving them,

narrating the process explicitly including double-checking all the wrong answers. This

is something they can then practice. It works for modeling writing too – you need to walk

through the full details of how you construct sentences and paragraphs to convey what you

want to say in the way you want it said. Doing this well takes practice – try it.

Look no further than John Tomsett‘s posts on this, featuring some videos of modeling in

action: Modeling and meta-cognition – and this one too.

6. Whole-class feedback instead of marking

Instead of slaving away late into the night with your red pen poised to ink up a massive set of

exercise books, just read this brilliant post by Jo Facer: Giving feedback the ‗Michaela‘

way. Read through the books, make some notes and give whole-class feedback
instead. Do it over and over again and get good at doing it – practise. It‘s a game changer.

7. Critique-method feedback

Instead of merely nodding in jaded recognition at the Austin‘s Butterfly video, why not
actually use the critique method it describes and develop real expertise with it. There are

lots of ideas and resources to support you – nicely compiled in this excellent post by Dave
Fawcett Creating a culture of critique. Let‘s see your students developing the expectation

that their work will be critiqued in a specific, support manner allowing them to reach higher

standards than they thought possible.

8. Deliberate vocab development

This links to the recall method above but here I‘m thinking about a technique to cement

vocabulary development specifically. Very often new words are encountered in lessons and

teachers might explain them at the time – only for them to be completely forgotten about and,

consequently, not learned. I suggest adopting a routine:

 a region of a board is dedicated to new vocab;

 new words are listed during the lesson with awkward spellings explored explicitly

 new words are sounded out through choral repetition so that students all experience

saying the words

 students are asked to put the words in a sentence orally or in a place in their books for

new words
 the lesson list forms the basis of a systematic recall test the following day/week/month –

something students learn to expect thus supporting their engagement with the words in

the first place.

9. Embedded tiring: Mild, Spicy, Hot or Challenge, Turbo-challenge

Instead of differentiation meaning providing different work, develop a collaborative planning

approach where question relating to any given topic are constructed with in-built tiering. I‘ve

seen this used superbly well at primary and secondary with labels such as bronze, silver,
gold; mild, spicy and hot or, Core, Challenge, Turbo-Challenge.

This is not the same as setting artificially differentiated learning objectives – but it supports

the organization of a class where students progress at different rates, allowing everyone to

find a suitable challenge level (seeking an optimal 80% success rate). Practice is needed
not only to devise really good tiered sets of questions that still offer enough repetition at each

level – but also to manage the learning in the classroom when everyone has diverged from

the initial instruction phase.

10. Third time for excellence: Draft, re-draft, publish.

Again, taking something from Austin‘s Butterfly, try to create space in your curriculum

planning to go the whole hog on redrafting so that students get to the third version: the third

draft of a poem, story, essay or piece of writing in French; the third attempt at a painting; the

third run-through of the performance, recitation or speech. The first one might be ‗a great
start‘. After feedback, the second version is a big step forward, taking the feedback

onboard. But you will find that Version 3 is where you see Excellence emerging. This is

where it gets exciting. You can‘t do it for every piece of work – so pick your moment – but

when you can, go for the power of three. You can get better at this – more streamlined; less

bogged down in the individual feedback; less fussy about every detail of the first draft,

focusing on specific elements over others. Try it.

Let me know how you get on.

Practice Activities Techniques

1. Its teacher‘s turn

2. Contest
3. Could you tell me?

4. Chain story

5. What do we have in common?

6. That‘s not right

7. How can you see that?

8. Sales pitch

9. Grammar content
10. One in lifetime

11. What the question (Yes/No questions)

12. The good old day

13. Question and Answer (Wh Q)

14. Terrible neighbors

15. What do you think it is?

16. A great commercial

17. How much did you find out?

18. What the time?

19. How I‘ve changed

20. What‗s your opinions?

21. Job ads

22. That sounds like…

23. Cocktail

24. Role play

25. Complete story

26. Sentence halves

27. Running Dictation

28. Brainstorm

24. Find S.O Who

25. Interview/Questionnaire
 Unit 7: Roles of a Teacher and Monitoring

Session 1: The roles of a Teacher and Learner- centered classroom

Aim: to introduce the different roles a teacher might have during a lesson

Tasks 1: Matching (15mns)

1. Look at the table below

2. Read each role and definitions they are mixed up

3. Choose the correct definitions

5. Compare answer with friends

Role Definition

1.controller a) Taking part in an activity

2. organizer b) Completely in charge of the class

3.evaluator c) A walking dictionary, grammar, book,

4.prompter someone to give advice etc.

5.participant d) Encouraging Ss to participate helping

6.consultant with answers

e) Seeing how well Ss perform

f) Telling Ss what they should do

Tasks 2: Identifying

1. Look at the list below. It is the list of things that happen in the
classroom.

2. Read each event and decide what the teacher‘s role is in each.
3. The teacher may have more than 1 role at the same time.

a) The teacher goes round the class listening to pairs doing pair work.

She /He take notes as she/he walks around. Some Ss stop the

teacher as she /he passes

b) In a whole class activity, the teacher says, No Dara, that is

 Incorrect. You should be using the simple past. Repeat after me: She

went to the market yesterday.

c) The teacher claps his /her hands at the end of group work and says

―Right let‘s hear your answer‘‘

d) The teacher says ‘‘Now we are going to do a drill. For example, I

say, I go to school and you say, I went to school Ok let‘s try‘‘

e) The teacher presents the future tense and its use

f) After group work, the teacher discusses the results of the task.

g) After pair work, the teacher gives feedback about common mistakes
to the whole class.

h) a group of Ss are stuck. They can‘t continue the task: writing down
names of animals. The teacher says, ‗‘Why don‘t you think about animals

you see in the zoo‘‘

i) The teacher says, ‗‘ Now we are going to do some group work,

talking about our family‘‘

j) A student isn‘t participating in group work. As she is passing the teacher

notices this and says,‘‘ Sohun, what do you think?

k) The teacher is organizing an information gap activity, S/he tells Ss not to

look at each other‘s ‗papers while doing the activity.

l) The teacher sits down with one group and joins in the activity they are

doing.

m) A student doesn‘t know a word in English. He asks the teacher in khmer,

and the teacher tells him the word in English.

Write your answer here:

a) b) c) d)

e) f) g) h)

i) j) k) l) m)

Tasks 3: Problem Solving (10mns)

1. Get into pairs

2. Look at some more classroom events in the table below.

 3. n your pairs decide which events are learner-centered and which are

teacher- centered

1-a teacher gives ss a test 5- a teacher drills the simple past

2-groups of ss play a board game 6- groups of ss perform a role-play

3- a teacher gives instructions for a game 7- ss work on an information gap exercise in

pairs

4-Ss practice questions and answer in pairs 8- A teacher has her/his first lesson with
beginners

Tasks 4: Writing a checklist of questions to help you make your lessons more
learner-centered (15-20mns)

1. Get ss into groups of 3 or 4

2. Ask them to think of questions

3. Report ideas

Questions
1. Do you present the technique in a positive?

2. Are SS clear about the purpose of the technique?

3. Does the technique encourage students to communicate with each other?

4. Does it encourage cooperation?

5. Is it challenging?

Session 2: Monitoring Jobs and the role of the teacher

Tasks 1: Brainstorming (15mns)

1. Write down as many monitoring jobs you can think of.

2. Compare with friends

3. Get into group of 4 and do the same

4. Get into group of 8 and do the same

5.Give your answers to the teacher

Tasks 2: Awareness raising and discussion (20mns)

1. Read the following statements

2. Write down comments

3.Elicit some answers

Statement Agree Disagree

1) .The teacher should always stand at the front of the

class to maintain discipline

2 .I have 60 students in my class I can see everyone‘s

book

3 .A student must always stand up when S/he talks to a

teacher

4 .A teacher should never sit down with her/his students

5 . Students always copy correctly from the bb. It isn‘t

necessary for the teacher to check their copying

6 . Monitoring is a waste of time because the teacher can

never get to see everyone in the class.

Tasks 3: Filling in the table

1. Look at the table

2. Read the verb column And make sure you understand them

3. Look at the second column. Fill in this column

4. When you finish, compare your ideas with friend

5. Give your ideas to the teacher with the whole class.

Verbs What monitoring job could you do?

Look Looking at ss books when copying from the bb

Listen

Evaluation

Discipline

Encourage

Praise

Help

Explain

Elicit

Direct

Provide information
 Take notes

Session 3: Monitoring Jobs and the stages of a lesson

Aims: to get you to think about how to monitor more effectively.

Tasks 1: Matching (15mns)

1. Look at the table and box below

2. Write your answers in the second column

Stages of lesson Monitoring job to be done

1.Presentation : copying new

language off the bb

2.Practice : Closed pair work drill

3. Practice :Setting up and getting a

game going

4.Practice :swap roles A become B

and B becomes A

5.Production: students discuss a topic

in groups

6. Production: in general

7. Production: Brainstorming vocab

8.Feedback: Exhibition

a) Checking all the as have said it.

b) Checking that students don‘t over correct each other‘s posters

c) Checking group by group that they understand the rules

d) Getting students to hurry up, copy accurately

e) Encouraging weaker students to speak

f) Moving from pair to pair listening and then giving direct correction

g) Taking notes of mistakes for delayed correction

h) Acting as a resource or a human dictionary

Tasks 2: Discussing using a pyramid work arrangement (20mns)

1. Read the different situations below
2. Now work with a partners and share your ideas

3. Join others and share ideas

What would you do?

1.Student are copying extremely slowly from the bb

2. Student are making a lot of mistakes copying from the bb

3. Student get into groups when you tell them. Some of the groups get on

with the activity but the weaker groups sit in silence

4.One group of students can‘t do the activity because they can‘t

remember the vocabulary

5.You find that all the students are making the same mistake, over and

over again

6. One group of students do the activity well but finish a long time before

the rest of the class.

Tasks 3: Questions and reading

1. Read the following questions silently

2. Answer questions

3. Now read the passage on Monitoring students in class (copy)

4. Make changes to your answer if necessary.

1. Is it just enough to tell ss what to do?

2. If you want to get your ss to do something they have never done before

what must you do and why?

3. What can a teacher do before, while and after an activity?

4. Sometimes students copy very badly from the bb. What can you do?

5. Sometimes students very quickly and others very slowly. what can you do?

6. When ss are writing answer to a listening task what must the teacher do?

7. So what must a teacher do before s/he wants to do listening?

8. Imagine that your students are doing a dialogue in pairs. What should you

be doing?

9. What does ‗‘pair-compare‘‘ mean?

 What Are the Duties of a Teacher in Classroom Management?

Written by Dr. Kelly S. Meier

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4. Top Reasons That Kids Struggle in School

Teachers are responsible for maintaining a positive learning environment in

the classroom. Managing a classroom is not an easy task. A classroom that is out of
control yields lower achievement for students and high burnout rates for teachers.

Teachers must implement structure, develop positive student interaction and take

immediate action when problems arise. Maintaining control from the beginning

provides a foundation for effective classroom management.

Create A Culture Of Caring

Effective classroom management is rooted in a culture of caring. Teachers set the tone for
the classroom. If the classroom climate encourages participation and risk taking, students

are more likely to become involved in the learning process. Teachers should use a nurturing

approach and invest in each student on an individual basis. Group projects can serve as a

vehicle to build a collaborative environment that invites a team-centric learning environment.

When students sense a teacher is committed to their success, they are more likely to
conform to classroom guidelines and specific behavioral goals.
Establish Rules

Teachers should begin the year with clear expectations of classroom behavior. If students

are aware of what is and isn‘t acceptable, they are more likely to be positive contributors in

the classroom. Teaching an understanding of social skills and how to face adversity needs to

be part of the regular classroom curriculum. Outlining consequences for unacceptable

behavior will help students develop critical thinking skills and become better decision-

makers. Teachers need to align behavioral expectations with school and district policies and

make this information clear to parents.

Maintain Accountability

Providing accountability strategies is critical to classroom management. Teachers should

have a system for evaluating behavior. Monitoring behavior on a regular basis will aid in

long-term success. Students need to be made aware that the evaluation process will be

based upon their interactions with others in and out of the classroom. Verbal and non-verbal

behavior should be included in the assessment. Teachers should share feedback about

behavior with individual students and parents in a parent-teacher conference. If parents are

aware of issues as they arise, they can reinforce expectations and consequences at home.

Manage Problems

Teachers should determine the cause of troubling behavior before attempting to correct it.
Reflecting upon the factors influencing a problem will provide a framework for intervention.

For example, if a child is regularly misbehaving when he or she is sitting next to a specific

friend, rearranging seating may be the answer. When possible, teachers should help

students learn how to control and modify their behavior before it escalates into a larger

issue. Teachers need to work together to reinforce intervention strategies. This will

underscore behavioral expectations and maximize success.

Five Monitoring Techniques That Deepen Student Learning

By Carla Moore on December 1, 2017

For years, we‘ve had a serious problem in education. The heavy emphasis on high-stakes

testing has prevented teachers from getting timely, actionable evidence of student learning.

Ultimately, when a test score, issued after a student is no longer in a given classroom,
indicates that the student did not meet the expectations of the standards, it‘s too late for the

classroom teacher to provide any additional support or do anything about it.

Fortunately, the tide is changing. Schools are focusing on short-cycle formative assessment
to monitor student progress throughout the course of each and every lesson. This way,

teachers can stay informed about who‘s learning and who may need additional help before

the end of the lesson—and before the first quiz or test.

Dr. Dylan Wiliam has said, ―Formative assessment is a process used by teachers and

students during instruction that provides feedback to adjust ongoing teaching and learning to

improve students‘ achievement of intended outcomes.‖

Student monitoring also helps to clear up misconceptions, so learners don‘t go home and
rehearse errors in their homework. The closer to instruction the feedback and adjustments

occur, the more likely students will reach the intended goals of the lesson. Over the year,

this brings about student mastery of the standards.

This impactful teacher practice helps teachers know how their students are progressing on a

daily basis, allowing opportunities to provide extra support if needed. The possibilities for

implementation are endless, but here are five monitoring techniques that teachers are using

to deepen student learning:

1) Entrance and Exit Tickets

As students arrive and/or leave the classroom, require them to demonstrate mastery of key

parts of the content. For example, a math teacher‘s entrance or exit ticket could consist of

three problems of varied complexity, giving the teacher a clear picture of each student‘s level

of understanding, as well as where his or her understanding may have been altered.

2) Student Reflection

Have students communicate what they know, what has helped them learn, and what they‘re

still unclear about. This gives educators clear insight so they can make adjustments and plan

next steps in their teaching. It also gives them opportunities to help students revise their

knowledge and clear areas of confusion. Best of all, they now know what part of their

instruction was most helpful to students.

3) Revising Knowledge

To deepen their knowledge, students must be able to identify what they know about the

critical content and recognize how their understanding has evolved. A myriad of activities can

be done in small groups to get students discussing their own learning processes and
solidifying the revised knowledge in their minds.

4) Accountable Answers

Effective student monitoring provides more than a snapshot of how the majority of the class

seems to be doing. When teachers require all students to respond to a question, they can

effectively gauge each learner‘s understanding. They can quickly display responses on

whiteboards or vote anonymously. You may even have them walk to the a corner of the room
that corresponds with their responses, essentially ―voting with their feet.‖
 5) Summarizing

Another good way to help students grasp their learning targets is by having them summarize

what they‘ve learned. This immediately shows teachers which students need an adjustment
in instruction. It can be as simple as asking students to summarize in quick phrases or a

teacher might spontaneously have them provide descriptors for a particular character,

person, or concept from the lesson.

Monitoring

Monitoring is a classroom management technique loosely defined as listening to the learners

for their accuracy and fluency, or checking to see whether activities are going to plan and

that the learners are 'on task'.

However, monitoring is often carried out as a vague listening and looking exercise by the

teacher, and sometimes not done at all, whereas in fact effective monitoring is a skill that

needs to be developed if learners are to benefit fully from activities, particularly those of the

information gap and group interactive types.

 When to monitor
 Purposes of monitoring

 How to monitor

 Conclusion

When to monitor

Monitoring goes on all the time, but particularly during speaking activities when the teacher is

concerned with the general assessment of learners' performance in relation to general

progress or recent language and skills development. Monitoring of individual learners takes

place during written practice exercises, when the aim is to point out errors and encourage

self-correction. Guided practice activities, particularly of the pair work format, are monitored

for accuracy, while less guided group work activities are monitored for task achievement and

fluency. Monitoring may be general or multipurpose, focusing on one or more of the following

aims.

Purposes of monitoring
Not all learners develop at the same rate. Monitoring offers the opportunity to assess the

progress of individuals, and often provides an indication of what to re-teach or practice

further. Specific aims of monitoring, depending on the stage of the lesson and the activity,

include:

 Being aware of the whole class. The teacher should always be aware of how the class is

getting on, whether the pace is too fast or too slow, and which students may need individual

attention. There is often a tendency to teach to the lesson plan and materials at the expense

of teaching the learners themselves.

 Listening for errors in the target language, particularly during guided practice activities.

Correction is required here, since these are usually accuracy-based activities.

 Listening to ensure that learners are on task. Some re-instruction, modelling of the activity or
prompting may be required.

 Taking opportunities for micro-teaching to individuals or pairs who have clearly not grasped
the target language.
 Assessing both individuals and the whole class. Monitoring provides clues to individual and

group difficulties and progress. In this respect, monitoring is a kind of ongoing needs

analysis. All students should receive some attention, even if it is only a few words of

encouragement.

 Adding input. Particularly in fluency activities, learners may not be able to sustain output. The

teacher's role here is to feed in language and ideas when appropriate to keep the activity

alive.

 Assessing the development of fluency. This involves monitoring from a distance, and the

teacher's role is often to take notes about common errors to be dealt with in a delayed

correction slot, as well as mentally noting the use of target language in a freer context.

 Assessing the task. Some activities work better with one class than another, others are
being tried out for the first time. Monitoring offers the teacher the opportunity to assess the

success of an activity and to get feedback from the learners.

 Planning. Monitoring facilitates decision-making in terms of what to do next, whether to

modify the original lesson plan, planning future lessons and giving feedback to students on

their performance.

 Maintaining discipline. Large groups may become restless and bored if some learners have

finished a task before others. The teacher should have some short back-up activities for

these learners, or could use the quicker learners as assistants to help slower groups.

How to monitor

Monitoring is an acquired skill which hopefully becomes a good habit. Less experienced

teachers may feel that they need to monitor closely and maintain control of activities, while

other teachers feel that they should be involved at all times, and that monitoring is the

solution. In either case, there is a danger of over-monitoring, interference, and a tense rather

than relaxed, student-centered learning environment during less guided practice activities.

Close monitoring needs to be carried out sensitively, and an element of personal and cultural

awareness is required. Some learners resent a very close physical presence, others object
 to the teacher crouching in front of them. Monitoring from in front of the learners is distracting

and sometimes intrusive, tending to interrupt the activity and shifting the focus onto the

teacher. Students then expect the teacher to provide some input, make a comment, or

correct them. Unobtrusive monitoring is most effective, and is often best done from behind

the learners. Some useful tips are:

 Move chairs away from walls.

 Make sure that there is a clear route around the classroom.

 Arrange seating so that all students are visible from wherever the teacher is positioned.

 Monitor pairs or groups randomly.

 Don't spend too much time with one individual, pair or group, and make sure that all learners

are monitored.

 Rather than standing or crouching, sit with pairs or groups. A chair with wheels is an ideal
vehicle for moving from group to group.

Monitoring from a distance is done from any position in the classroom which offers the

possibility of 'tuning in' on different conversations. In larger classes, the teacher may need to

move around the room. It is important not to sit near one group for the whole activity,
suggesting that the teacher is listening only to them. Often, the best position is behind the

learners, out of their field of vision, so that they are focused on the task and each other

rather than the teacher.

Learners may want to ask questions during freer practice activities. The teacher's response

will depend on the activity, but it is a useful learner-training exercise to teach the learners to

note down any questions to be asked at the end of the activity.

There are possibilities for self- and peer-monitoring. Self-monitoring involves training in self-

correction. All learners may be involved in peer-monitoring, but a useful technique is to ask

learners to work in threes rather than pairs, with learners taking turns in monitoring the
performance of the other two.

Conclusion

The monitoring techniques above apply to all teaching and learning situations, but monitoring

also achieves the purpose of providing discipline in certain circumstances. In classes where

there are less well-motivated or younger students, and often in monolingual and mixed-ability

classes, the temptation for the learners may be to abandon the task, leave the task to more
able students, or to lapse into the mother tongue. Sometimes the presence of the teacher in

a supervisory role is enough, but careful monitoring guarantees the best performance from
the learners and provides the most instructive feedback for the teacher.
 Unit 8: Practice, Revision, Skills lesson

Session: Revision of PRS Lesson

Aim: To revise the shape of PRS lesson as a preparation for looking at teaching of 4 skills in

following sessions.

Tasks 1: Recall of PRS Lesson - Question

1. Answer the questions below

2. Compare your answers with friends

3. Note down any problems you have

1. What do P, R and S mean?

2. What is the difference between practice and Revision?

3. Is new grammar structure introduced in a PRS lesson?

4. Are new words given in a PRS lesson?

5. What do we mean by a ‗skill focuses in a PRS lesson?

What are the 4 skills?

6. What are the main differences between a PRS and a PP lesson?

Tasks 2: Steps of PRS Lesson

1. Look at the jumbled up names in the box below. Make an outline PRS

lesson plane on a piece of paper, putting the steps, stages and example activities

in the correct place. Work in pairs

2. Pairs then form groups of 4 and compare and discuss your lesson plans.

3. Finally, check your plan with the outline lesson plans

4. Discuss, What are the main differences between Pre- Task, Main –Task,

and Post- Task?

Steps and stages of a PRS lesson Jumbled-up

Aim Post- Task Objective Set the scene Pre-Task

Pre- teach Main- Task Closure Warm- up Lesson opener

 Unit 9: Planning a PRS Lesson `

Session1: Speaking Skill

Session: Planning a PRS Speaking Lesson

Aim: to show you how practice techniques and get you to choose the right activities

for specific target items in a speaking lesson with getting you plan a PRS

speaking lesson

Task1: Recall (10mins)

Instructions:
1. Get into small groups
 2. Think of the step of a speaking lesson

3. Give your answers to your teacher and look at what s/he puts on the bb

Speaking lesson

___Lesson Opener __ __ __ __

Task2: Questions and Outline plan (15mins)

Instructions:

1. Get into a small group again

2. Choose a secretary to make notes

3. Answer the following questions

a. What can you do in the pre task?

b. What techniques can you use in the pre- task?

c. What techniques can you use in the Main- task?

d. How many techniques can you use in the Main- task?

e. What do you do in the post- task?

f. Do you introduce new target items in a PRS Speaking Lesson?

Task3: Placing techniques

Instructions:

-Decide which techniques to put in which columns, write them in

- Check your answers with the whole class.

Pre- task Main -task Post- task

Task4: Planning a PRS speaking lesson (60mins)

1. Get into small groups

2. Look at your target item

3. Plan a PRS speaking lesson using this target item

4. Decide which techniques to use i.e. which are the most suitable for your target

item.

5. Copy your plan onto poster paper

 6. Put it on the wall and walk around and look each other‘s, Are they the same /very

different? Have you forgotten anything?

7. Make changes if you want to!

The characteristics and roles of the teacher in the speaking skill:

Organizer: Get Students engaged and set the activity.

Prompter: Provide Students with chunks not words.

Observer: Analyze what causes communication breakdowns.

Participant: Do not initiate the conversation.

Feedback provider: Tell Students how proficient their performance was.

Resource: Provide Students with tools to improve their oral performance.

Friendly: Establishes a good rapport with Ss.

Top 10 Classroom Games

1. Charades

This simple but classic game is a great way to encourage your student to get out of their
seats and participate in the lesson.

Resources: a list of people, actions or concepts related to the subject you are teaching.
Game: Select a student to stand at the front of the room and act out a word from your list (no
speaking allowed). The rest of the class must then guess what the student is attempting to

portray. Other students can shout out their guesses or put their hands up – depending on

your teaching preference! Whoever guesses correctly can act out the next word.

Alternative: A more challenging version involves the student describing a subject-specific

word but restricted by a list of forbidden words, e.g. describing ‗habitat‘ without using the

words ‗home‘ or ‗animals‘.

2. Hangman

A traditional but interactive game which improves students‘ spelling and subject knowledge,

but is also enjoyable.

Resources: whiteboard and pen or interactive whiteboard, plus a list of subject-specific

words to inspire your students.

Game: Divide your class into two teams then select a student to stand at the front of the
class and think of a word related to the lesson (or you could give them a suitable word). The

student must then draw spaces on the whiteboard to represent each letter in their word. The

rest of the class then guesses the word, one letter at a time (allow one student from each

team to guess alternately). Incorrect guesses result in a hangman being drawn (one line at a

time). The first team to guess the word wins, unless the hangman is completed. The game

then repeats with another student thinking of a relevant word.

Alternative: If you feel a hangman would not be appropriate then use a different image –
either subject-specific or think creatively e.g. a spaceman or snowman.

3. Scatter –gories

This fun game will encourage your students to think ‗outside-the-box‘ and draw on a range of

subject knowledge.
Resources: pieces of paper, pens/pencils and a list of subject-specific categories e.g. Earth
and Space (topic): rocks, landforms, weather, and solar system (categories).

Game: Split students into small groups and ask them to note down the categories on their
pieces of paper. Choose a letter (A-Z) at random and give students 1-2 minutes (depending

on how many categories) to think of a word for each category, beginning with that letter.

Once the time is up, allocate points for unique answers, i.e. if two teams write down the

same word for a category then neither get any points. Repeat the game with different letters.

Example: Letter M – Topic: Earth and Space

Rocks: Metamorphic
Landforms: Mountain

Weather: Mist
Solar System: Mars

Alternative: If you class only has a small number of students then they could fill in the
categories individually, rather than working in teams.

4. Bingo

A quick and simple game which never fails to motivate students in their learning.

Resources: whiteboards and pen or paper and pen/pencils, plus a list of subject-specific
terms or concepts e.g. numbers, phonics, key vocabulary, scientific formulae or historical

figures.

Game: Ask students to draw a 6 x 6 grid on their whiteboards or pieces of paper then select
6 words or images from the given list to draw/write in their grid. You must then randomly
select a word from the list to describe, and students must guess the word in order to cross it
off on their grid (if present). Continue describing different words until one student

successfully completes their grid and shouts ‗bingo!‘ (you can also award a prize to the first

student who gets 3 in a row).

Alternative: Students can insert their own subject-related answers into the bingo grid, but this
makes it more challenging for you due to extensive word choice and ambiguity. Also, if you

have more time, then you could create your own bingo boards with specific vocabulary or

concepts you are covering in that lesson (reusable).

5. Puzzles

This creative group game encourages students to work together and visualize academic

concepts in an abstract way.

Resources: images, words, calculations or concepts printed or stuck on card/paper and cut
into random shapes (puzzle pieces) e.g. math‘s calculations, chemical equations, subject

vocabulary, historical figures etc.

Game: Separate your class into groups (or simply use table groupings) then hand out a
puzzle for each group to piece together.

Alternative: Students can create their own puzzles on the computer or drawn onto
card/paper for their peers to complete.

6. Draw swords

This quick fire game tests students‘ fine motor skills and promotes quick thinking, as well as

generating some healthy competition.

Resources: Dictionary or textbook, plus list of key vocabulary.
Game: Split your class into small groups and choose a student from each group to start. The
nominated student then places the dictionary or textbook under their arm. You then say a

word or image which the students must then race to find in their book (like drawing a sword

from under their arm!). The first student to find the word/image is the winner. The game

continues with different words/images until every student has had a turn.

Alternative: If you have enough textbooks or dictionaries for every student then the whole
class can compete against each other.

7. Hot potato

This fun classroom game encourages students to think on their feet and draw on a range of
subject knowledge.

Resources: a soft toy, object or item for each group to pass round e.g. bear or ball, plus a
list of subject-specific themes e.g. numbers – prime, composite, rational, fractions, decimals

etc.
Game: Divide your class into small groups and hand out an object/soft toy to each group.
The person with the object in each group will start. You name a title or theme, e.g. prime

numbers, and it is then a race against time for the student to give 5 correct responses, e.g.

2, 3, 5, 7, 11, before the item/soft toy has been passed round everyone in their small group

and returned to them.

Alternative: With small classes you could play in one large group, however shy students may
find this intimidating because of the the pressure to give correct answers.

8. Pictionary

An old classic but also a great way for students to visualize their understanding in a fun team

game.
Resources: whiteboards and pens or pieces of paper and pencils/pens, plus a list of subject-
specific concepts.

Game: Students work in small groups. One student from each group is chosen to start and
they must draw the subject-related concept you state, within a given time (30 seconds – 2

minutes). The rest of the group must then guess what he/she is drawing. The first group to

correctly guess the word wins. The game repeats until every student has had a turn/there

are no more words on your list.

Alternative: Students could model concepts using playdough for their peers to guess.

9. Quizalize

This fun and engaging quiz game allows you to test your students‘ knowledge, in any
subject, using a motivating classroom team activity.

Resources: interactive whiteboard, devices for your students or an IT suite and a Quizalize
quiz (create your own or choose from thousands of quizzes created by teachers from around

the world).

Game: Once you‘ve created or found a quiz on Quizalize, simply assign it to your students
and they can access it from any device – no apps to install! Students visit zzi.sh, enter their

class code (shown on the ‗Launch Game View‘ screen) followed by their name and then they

can play the quiz. Students‘ results appear in real-time, so they can track their score while

they play (Click here to sign up and find out more).

Alternative: You can also set Quizalize quizzes as an interactive homework.

10. Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down

Although this game isn‘t academic, it is an excellent behaviour management tool which

endorses hard work amongst students.

Resources: n/a
Game: 3 – 4 students are chosen to stand at the front of the room. The rest of the class then
put their heads on the table and hold their thumbs in the air. The 3 – 4 students at the front

then carefully tip-toe around the classroom and gently pinch one thumb each, from the
students with their heads down. The 3-4 students return to the front of the room, once they

have pinched a thumb, and the class raises their heads. The students whose thumbs were

pinched then stand and have to guess who pinched them. If they guess correctly then they
swap with the student at the front, and the game continues.

20 interactive teaching activities for in the interactive classroom

by Ruben Knapen — Jun 13, 2018

Interactive teaching is all about instructing the students in a way they are actively involved
with their own learning process. There are different ways to create an involvement like this.
Most of the time it‘s through

 teacher-student interaction

 student-student interaction

 the use of audio, visuals, video

  hands-on demonstrations and exercises

You encourage your students to be active members of your class, thinking on their own,

using their own brains, resulting in long-term memory retention. Not only the students'
knowledge will improve, but their interest, strength, knowledge, team spirit and freedom of

expression will increase as well.

In this blog post, I wall talk about the use of interactive methods for teaching, encouraging

more dedication towards the lesson material. We will see some interactive teaching tools,
interactive teaching ideas and interactive teaching games.

Not only will I talk about the use of interactive methods of teaching, I‘ll give you some

examples of methods used in the present classroom as well.

Ready? Here are some of the most effective ways to engage your pupils!

3 Effective interactive teaching strategies to encourage speech in your classroom

First, I want to put some activities in the spotlight. The following interactive student activities

are three of the most effective ways to encourage more speech in your classroom.

1. Think, pair and share

Set a problem or a question around a certain topic, and pair up your students.
Give each pair of students enough time so they can reach a proper conclusion, and permit

the kids to share their conclusion in their personal voice. This way your students will be

engaged, communicating, and remember more of the class than ever before.
2. Brainstorming

Interactive brainstorming is mostly performed in group sessions. The process is

useful for generating creative thoughts and ideas. Brainstorming helps students learn to work

together, and above all, learn from each other. You‘ll be surprised of all the great ideas they

come up with! Check out these 8 fun brainstorming apps you can use in your classroom, or

use BookWidgets' Mindmap widget to structure thinking.

3. Buzz session

Participants come together in session groups that focus on a single topic. Within

each group, every student contributes thoughts and ideas. Encourage discussion and

collaboration among the students within each group. Everyone should learn from each
other‘s input and experiences. As a teacher, you could give your students some keywords to

spark the conversation.

Of course, there are many other interactive teaching ideas as well. I split up the activities in

different categories:

 Individual student activities

 Student pair activities

 Student group activities

 Interactive game activities

Individual student activities

4. Exit slips

These are best used at the end of the class session. You‘ll ask the students to

write for one minute on a specific question. It might be generalized to ―what was the most

important thing you learned today‖. Then, you can decide if you are going to open up a
conversation about it in your next class. You can ask them if they still remember what they

wrote down. Need a digital exit slip template? Try this one from BookWidgets and learn more

about the possibilities of an exit slip.

5. Misconception check

Discover students' misconceptions. See if students can identify what is the

correct answer, when given a false fact. It‘s useful when going over a previous lesson. It

encourages students to think deeply and wager all the possibilities.

6. Circle the questions

Make a worksheet or a survey that has a list of questions (make them specific)

about your topic, and ask students to circle (or check) the ones they don‘t know the answers

to. Then, let them turn in the paper.

Create corners concerning different questions that were circled. Let your students work on

the extra exercises and explanation in the corners, individually. As your students will all have

circled different questions, you have to give each student a different and personilized order
to visit the corners.
7. Ask the winner

Ask students to silently solve a problem on the board. After revealing the

answer, instruct those who got it right to raise their hands (and keep them raised). Then, all

other students have to talk to someone with a raised hand to better understand the question

and how to solve it next time.

Student pair activities

8. Pair-share-repeat

After a Think-pair-share experience, which I‘ve written about in the first

interactive learning lesson idea, you can also ask students to find a new partner and share
the wisdom of the old partnership to this new partner.

9. Teacher and student

Let students brainstorm the main points of the last lesson. Then, pair up your

students and assign them 2 roles. One of them is the teacher, and the other the student. The
teacher‘s job is to sketch the main points, while the student‘s job is to cross off points on his

list as they are mentioned and come up with 2 to 3 points that the teacher missed.
10. Wisdom from another

After an individual brainstorm or creative activity, pair students to share their

results with each other. Then, call for volunteers who found their partner‘s work to be

interesting or exemplary. Students are often more willing to share the work of fellow students

publicly than their own work. Of course, you can always encourage sharing their own

objectives as well.

11. Forced debate

Let students debate in pairs. Students must defend the opposite side of their

personal opinion. It encourages them to step away from their own beliefs and teaches them

to look through a different coloured glass for once in a while.

Variation: one half of the class takes one position, the other half takes the other position.

Students line up and face each other. Each student may only speak once, so that all
students on both sides can engage the issue.

12. Optimist/Pessimist

In pairs, students take opposite emotional sides of a case study, statement, or

topic. Encourage them to be empathic and truly ―live‖ the case study. You‘ll discover some

good solution proposals and your students will learn some exceptional social skills.
13. Peer review writing task

To assist students with a writing assignment, encourage them to exchange

drafts with a partner. The partner reads the essay and writes a three-paragraph response:

the first paragraph outlines the strengths of the essay, the second paragraph discusses the

essay‘s problems, and the third paragraph is a description of what the partner would focus

on in revision, if it were her essay. Students can learn a lot from each other and from
themselves as well! Here are 10 more creative self-assessment ideas.

Student group activities

14. Board rotation

This interactive learning strategy is even more interactive than the others! Divide

your class into different groups of students and assign them to each of the boards you‘ve set

up in the room. Assign one topic/question per board. After each group writes an answer,
they rotate to the next board. Here, they write their answer below the first answer of the

previous group. Let them go around the room until all the groups have covered all the

boards. Not that many boards in your classroom? Try using tablets and

BookWidgets' interactive whiteboard.

15. Pick the Winner

Divide the class into groups and let them work on the same topic/problem. Let

them record an answer/strategy on paper or digitally. Then, ask the groups to switch with a

nearby group and let them evaluate their answer. After a few minutes, allow each set of
groups to merge and ask them to select the better answer from the two choices, which will

be presented to the complete class.

16. Movie Application

In groups, students discuss examples of movies that made use of a concept or

event discussed in class, trying to identify at least one way the movie makers got it right, and

one way they got it wrong. Think about movies showing historical facts, geographical facts,

biographies of famous people, …

Interactive game activities

Create in interactive classroom full of interactive learning games. Games are so much fun for

students, since it doesn‘t feel like learning. With BookWidgets, you can make interactive

learning games like crossword puzzles, pair matching games, bingo games, jigsaw puzzles,

memory games, and many more in minutes (and there‘s a Google Classroom integration as

well).

17. Crossword puzzle

The crossword game is perfect to use as repetition activity. Choose a list of

words and their description, and BookWidgets creates an interactive crossword for you. The

crossword game transforms these boring lessons into a fun experience. Here you can read

more about how to create them and for which topics you can use them (not only for teaching

languages)!
18. Scrabble

Use the chapter (or course) title as the pool of letters from which to make words

(e.g., mitochondrial DNA), and allow teams to brainstorm as many words relevant to the topic

as possible. You can also actually play scrabble and ask students to form words from the

newly learned vocabulary.

19. Who/what am I?

Tape a term or name on the back of each student. You can also tape it on their

forehead. Each student walks around the room, asking ―yes or no‖ questions to the other

students in an effort to guess the term. Of course, the term has something to do with your

lesson topic.

20. Bingo

Bingo is a fun game that can be used for all sorts of exercises: language

exercises, introductory games, math exercises, etc. Take a look at this blog post with all the

different bingo possibilities here. You‘ll be surprised about how many interactive lesson

activities you can do with just one game.

 Session 2: Reading Skill and Techniques

8. Task1: Awareness Raising- Effective Reading

9. Read the questions below, what do you think? How do you think?

10. Compare with your friends:

11. What do people read?

12. Why do people read?

13. How do people read? And what do you think are effective ways of reading, which
ways are not so good?

14. Do you try to understand every word or just get the main ideas or what? Do you
read with your finger, with your mouth or with your eyes?

15. Do you stop reading when you meet difficult words?

16. Is it a good idea that the teacher gets students to read without doing any

techniques?

17. How do you get your students to read ?Do you just tell them read and translate or
read then ask them question?

18. Task 2 (60min) Steps of reading lesson

19. 1. Your teacher will demonstrate a mini- lesson for reading

20. Lucy‘s Day

21. Today is Monday. Lucy look at her watch . It‘s 6 o‘clock in the morning and

time to get up. Lucy washes her face and cleans her teeth. At 7 o‘clock she eats

her breakfast with her brothers Peter and John. At 8 o‘clock, Lucy goes to school.

22. Lucy walks to school with her friends. She goes to high school. She‗s in grade

11.at 9 o‘clock she‘s in the classroom. At 1 o‘clock in the afternoon it‘s time for

Lucy‘s lunch. She eat her lunch at school. At 4 o‘clock Lucy walks home. In the

evening she studies in her room and watch television. At 8 o‘clock she eat dinner

and at 10 o‘clock she goes to bed.

23. Put the activities into the correct stage of the reading lesson

24. Closure, Warm- Up, Pre-Teach; While- reading, Pre-reading, , Post- reading,.

Lesson –Opener, Set the scene

___________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

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Reading Techniques (page 152-159)

7 Reading Techniques for Increasing Learning & Knowledge

Reading is a method of communication that

enables a person to turn writing into meaning.

It allows the reader to convert a written text into a meaningful language with independence,

comprehension, and fluency, and to interact with the message.

7 Reading Techniques or Styles are the following:

1. Scanning.

2. Skimming.

3. Active Reading.

4. Detailed.

5. Speed.

6. Structure-Proposition-Evaluation

7. Survey-Question-Read-Recite-Review.

1. Reading Technique-Scanning
Scanning through the text is a reading strategy that is used for getting some specific

points by looking at the whole text.

For highlighting the important points of a book the readers can skim through the summary
or the preface or the beginning and end chapters of that book.

For example,

This technique is used for looking up a name from the telephone guidebook.

2. Reading Technique–Skimming

This reading technique is used for getting the gist of the whole text lead. We generally
use this technique at the time of reading a newspaper or magazine.

3. Active Reading Style

Active reading aims to get an in-depth understanding of the text. Under this technique,

the reader actively involved with the text while reading it.

Getting in-depth knowledge of the text at hand is not possible by reading to skim through
or scan through the text.

4. Detailed Reading

This technique is used for extracting information accurately from the whole text. Under

this technique, we read every word for understanding the meaning of the text.

In this careful reading, we can skim the text first for getting a general idea and then go

back to read in detail. We can use a dictionary to find the meaning of every unfamiliar

word.

5. Speed Reading

Speed-reading is actually a combination of various reading methods. The aim of speed-

reading is basically to increase the reading speed without compromising the
understanding of the text reading. Some of the strategies used in speed reading are as

follows:

Identifying words without focusing on each letter;

Not to sounding-out all words;

Not sub-vocalizing some phrases;

Spending less time on some phrases than others; Skimming small sections.

6. Structure-Proposition-Evaluation

This is an interesting reading technique suggested by Mortimer Adler in his book How to

Read a Book.

This reading technique is mainly applicable to non-fiction writing. This technique suggests

reading as per the three following patterns:

Studying the structure of the work;

Studying the logical propositions made and organized into chains of inference;

Evaluation of the merits of the arguments and conclusions.

7. Reading Techniques: Survey-Question-Read-Recite-Review

This method aims at to facilitate a clear understanding of the text that the reader

would be able to teach whatever he has learned during the process of reading. The

process involves five different steps, which are as follows:

Survey
The survey involves getting a quick idea on the whole writing piece. For example, reading

the introduction or summary of a book will be enough to get an idea on that book.
Question

We are not just reading the words or looking at the words but are actually trying to make

out the underlying meaning of the text. So we should prepare questions in our mind and

look for the answers while reading the text.

Read

The reader should read selectively if they are looking for any specific.

Recite

The reader should answer the questions in his own words using only the keywords that

are required to sum up the complete idea.

Review

The reader should review the entire things in his mind.

Reading is the basic foundation on which academic skills of individuals are built. As we

know the paramount importance of reading, it is given the top priority in primary

education.

Many believe that reading is a true measure of a person‘s success in academics. Most of

the subjects taught to us are based on a simple concept – read, understand, analyze,

synthesize, and get information.

Session 3: Writing Skill and Techniques

Session 1: Introduction to teaching writing

Aim: to get you to think about basic features of teaching writing

Task 1: What does teaching writing mean?

Brainstorm answer to the questions:

a-What do we mean by teaching students to write?

b-What are the ways we get students to write in class?

Task 2: Meaningful writing

1. Look at the two writing exercises below

2. Answer the questions:

Which writing exercise is more Meaningful? Why?

Exercises 1

Student read
Change these sentences into the negative

I like Chinese food

He smokes and drinks a lot

Cambodians grow rice four times a year

My friends and I go to the bar and dance every evening.

Students write
I don‘t like Chinese food

He doesn‘t smoke and drink a lot

Cambodians don‘t grow rice four times a year

My friends and I don‘t go to the bar and dance every evening.

Exercises 2

Teacher sets the scene. This is Peter. These are Peter sentences

Student read

I live in Australia. My house is near the seaside. I eat a lot of potatoes. My teacher comes to

school by car. My friends and I go camping every summer.

(Teacher tells students: change these sentences ( in Khmer) make them true for yourself.
Use the negative begin ‘I don’t---’)
Students write
I live in Cambodia. My house isn’t near the seaside. I don’t eat a lot of potatoes. My teacher

doesn‘t come to school by car. My friends and I don’t go camping every summer.

Session 2: Techniques Writing

(Page 170-176)
15 Techniques to Develop Writing Skill

Effective writing requires writer‘s adequate

knowledge of language concern and techniques of writing messages.

Writers‘ knowledge of language and techniques of writings enable them to write skillfully and

logically.
Some techniques or guidelines for improving writing skills are discussed below:

1. Adapting Language to the Specific Readers

Adaptation means fitting the message to the specific reader. While writing, the writer

must keep in mind that all the readers do not have the same level of understanding.
They do not all have the same vocabulary, the same knowledge, or the same mentality.

Thus to communicate clearly the writer should know the person with whom he wishes to

communicate.

The writer should form the message to fit that person‘s mind by using words that the reader

understands. Adapting requires visualizing the reader, that means imagining what the reader

knows, feels, thinks and such.

2. Using Familiar Words

Using familiar words means using the words that most of us use in everyday conversation.
These words convey sharp and clear meanings in the mind. Complex and difficult words and

the words that do not communicate precisely or quickly should be avoided.

For example, instead of using the more unfamiliar word ‗endeavour‘, use ‗try‘. Instead of

using ‗terminate,‘ use ‗end.‘ In the same way, we should prefer the word ‗use‘ to ‗utilize,‘ ‗do‘

to ‗perform,‘ ‗begin‘ to ‗initiate,‘ ‗find out‘ to ‗ascertain,‘ ‗stop‘ to ‗discontinue‘ and ‗show‘ to

‗demonstrate.‘

However, using difficult words are not always bad. They can be used when they fit the
writer‘s need and are understood.

Related: 7 Reading Techniques for Increasing Learning & Knowledge

3. Choosing Short Words

Short words generally communicate better than long words. Use of wordy sentences even
these are understood give an impression of difficulty that hinders communication.

But it is not always true that all short words are easy and all long words are hard.

The suggestion is that in most situations the writer should concentrate on short words and

use long words with caution.

It is suggested further that long words can be used when the writer think the readers know
them.

4. Avoiding Overuse of Camouflaged Verbs

The writer should avoid using the camouflaged verb in writing. An action verb is changed to

a camouflaged verb by changing it to a noun and then adding action verb.

Since camouflaged verbs are abstract nouns and they frequently require a passive form of

sentence, they should be avoided for ensuring concreteness and active form of sentence in

writing.

For example:

If we want to change the action verb ‗consider‘ to a camouflaged verb we have to change
the verb ‗consider‘ to noun ‗consideration,‘ then add verb ‗give, ‘ and at last we get

camouflaged verb ‗give consideration to.‘

5. Selecting Words for Precise Meanings

Certainly, writing requires knowledge of the language. In fact, the greater our knowledge of

the language, the greater we are likely to write.

Knowledge of language enables the writer to use words that carry the meaning that the

writer wants to communicate.

Unfortunately, many of us treat language routinely. We use words without thinking about the

meaning they convey. The result is vague writing.

Good writers require studying words carefully. They should learn their precise meanings,

especially the shades of differences in the meanings of similar words.

For example:
‗Fewer‘ and ‗less‘ mean the same meaning to some people.

But careful writer selects ‗fewer‘ to mean ―a smaller number of items‖ and ‗less‘ to mean
―reduced value, degree or quantity.‖
Related: 4s of Communication
6. Avoiding Gender Discriminating Words

Our language developed in a male-dominated society. For reasons of fair play, the writer

should avoid using gender discriminating or sexist words.

There are some ways for avoiding such sexist words.

 First, masculine pronouns such as he, his and him can be eliminated by rewording the
sentence. For example;the sexist sentence – ‗the typical college student eats his lunch at

the student corner‘ can be changed to the nonsexist sentence as like – ‗the typical college

student eats lunch at the student corner.‘

 Secondly, the use of masculine pronouns can be eliminated by making the reference

plural. The plural pronouns such as their, them and they refer to both sexes.
 Thirdly, masculine pronouns he, his or him can be substituted by a neutral expression

such as ‗he or her,‘ he/she, you, one and person.

7. Using Technical Words and Acronyms with Caution

Every field of knowledge has its own technical language. This language can be so complex

that in some ease specialized dictionaries are compiled.

Individuals of a particular field need to learn its technical words and acronyms and later, use

these terms freely in communicating with I other people belonging to that respective field.

But problems may arise when people of a particular field communicate with people outside
their field by using their own technical terms.
Though these words are everyday words to them, these may be unfamiliar to the people

outside that field.

So, the writers should use their respective technical terms and acronyms with caution and

replace their technical words with plain words.

8. Select Words with the Right Strength and Vigor

Some words are strong and vigor. Some are weak and dull and some fall between these

extremes. Good writers know these differences and they consider them carefully.

So the writer should use the words that carry the best-intended meanings.

For example;

The word ‗tycoon‘ is stronger than ‗eminently successful businessperson‘, ‗bear market‘ is

stronger than ‗generally decline market,‘ ‗boom‘ is stronger than ‗a period of business
prosperity‘ and like.

9. Using Concrete Language

Concrete words are those that form sharp and clear meaning in the mind.

The writer should prefer these concrete words in their writings. Concrete is opposite to

abstract. Abstract words are vague.

Concrete words stand for things that the reader can see, feel, taste, or smell.

For example, write ‗a 48 percent loss‘ instead of ‗a significant loss,‘ ‗100 percent attendance

record‘ instead of ‗good attendance record.‘

Related: 7 C’s of Business Communication
10. Using Active Voice

The writer should prefer the active voice in making a sentence to the passive voice.

Active voice produces stronger and livelier writing. It emphasizes the action and it usually

saves words. For example, write ‗He plays football‘ instead of writing ‗Football is played by

him.‘

11. Avoiding Words that Stereotype by Race or Nationality

Words that label all members of a group by race or nationality are unfair. Members of any

minority may vary widely in all characteristics.

Thus it is unfair to imply that Jews are miserly, that Italians are Mafia members, that I

Hispanics are lazy, that African Americans can do only menial jobs and so on.
12. Avoiding Words that Stereotype by Age or Disabilities

Words that label people as old or young can produce negative reactions.

Similarly, disabled people are sensitive to words that describe their disabilities.

Therefore, it is suggested not to use words that discriminate against age or disabilities.

13. Emphasizing on Short Sentences

Writing simpler sentences largely depends on writing shorter sentences.

Research reveals that the more the words and relationships in a sentence, the greater is the

possibility for misunderstanding. The reader can not hold too much information at a time.
They generally prefer short and readable sentence so that they can easily read the message

and hold the information from it.

Thus it is recommended to write short and clear sentences by limiting sentence contents and

economizing on words.

14. Maintaining Sentence Unity

Sentence unity means all parts of a sentence should concern one thought.

In other words, all the things put in a sentence should have a good reason for being
together.

Therefore, the writer must ensure that all the information in a sentence belongs together.

Sentence unity can be maintained by:

(1) Eliminating excessive details,

(2) Combining only related thoughts and

(3) Avoiding illogical constructions.

15. Taking Care in Paragraph Design

Paragraphing is also important to clear writing.

Paragraphs show the reader where topics begin and end.

They also help in organizing information in the reader‘s mind. There are some suggestions

for designing a paragraph.

1. First, each separate topic should be discussed in a separate paragraph.

2. Secondly, the length of the paragraph should be as short as possible. Short paragraphs‘

attract the readers and communicate better.

3. Thirdly, unnecessary details should be avoided in writing paragraphs.

4. Fourthly, each paragraph should move to an additional step toward the goal.

Lesson Plan (Writing)

Put it in order
Pre- task, Main –task, Check comprehension, Post- task, closure lesson
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Micro- teaching in classroom.

References

Ministry of Education Youth and Sport (Cambodia)1996-2019

by Ruben Knapen — Jun 13, 2018

By Carla Moore on December 1, 2017

By Kathleen L. Gallagher, Ph.D.

By Dr. Martin Luther King

By Geri McClymont

By Dr. Kelly S. Meier

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