PHƯƠNG PHÁP GIẢNG DẠY

1. FLASHCARDS
Flashcards is pictures (or diagrams, words, etc) that you can show to students,
typically something you can hold up when standing in front of the whole class.
They are a very useful teaching aid.
- to quickly show the meaning of a lexical item, eg to iron;
- to illustrate run of language, for example by giving a visual image to an
imaginary character, eg This is Marilyn. Every day she gets up at six
o'clock…, etc;
- as seeds for student - based storytelling activities, eg handing out a small
selection of pictures to groups of students and asking them to invent a story
that combines all those images;
- as prompts for guessing games, definition games, description games, etc.
For example, one person in a team has a picture of a person, which they
describe.

2. PICTURE STORIES
Accuracy to fluency: We start by looking at the language involved in the story
and correct before we tell the story. Thus we could follow this route:
1 Introduction of topic
2 Focus on lexis, grammar or function
3 Look at the pictures and discuss; possibly more language focus
4 Tell the story
5 Writing exercise
Fluency to accuracy: We could start with a fluency activity and only focus in on
accurate use of language at a later stage. The lesson might have this shape:
1 Introduction of topic / subject
2 Look at the pictures and discuss
3 Tell the story
 4 Focus on interesting or essential lexis, grammar or function
5 Tell the story more accurately
6 Writing exercise

3. SONGS AND MUSIC

Ideas for using songs in class:
- Gapped text: Give students the lyrics with certain words blanked out. They
have to listen carefully and fill in the missing words.
- Song jumble: Cut the lyrics up into separate lines. In small groups, students
try to work out the original order. When ready, they listen and compare their
guess with the actual song.
- Matching pictures: 'Here are twenty pictures connected with the song.
Listen and put them in the order in which you hear them in the song.'
- Reading or listening comprehension: Use the song text as a normal
reading or listening text with the bonus of hearing it sung afterwards
- Dictation: Dictate the chorus or the whole song. Compare with the
recording.
- Picture dictation: Decide on a representative picture of something that
happens in the song. Dictate the information about this picture, a line at a
time, to the students who draw (not write) their interpretation. For example,
"The sun is shining in the sky, there are a lot of people in the street, there is a
dark cloud overhead, it's just starting to rain,' etc. By the time you have
finished, a lot of the essential lexis and phrases from the song will have been
circulating, and the song should be not too difficult to follow.
- Listen and discuss: Get students to listen to the whole song once or twice,
or to a shorter section. Discuss what happened, reactions, interpretations,
predictions, etc. Printed lyrics could be given out if you wish.
- Sing along: The aim is to learn the tune and to get the rhythm well enough
to sing along with the original recording (probably with spoken rather than
sung sentences, perhaps using individual, mouthed and choral practice).
- Compose: 'Here's the tune-now you write the lyrics.' (Again, an activity that
is quite challenging on stress and rhythm.)
 - Action movements: Listen to one line at a time. For each line, the students
invent a mimed action, which they teach each other and then all perform. At
the end, all come together to watch a performance of the different versions.

4. FILLER
Kim's game: Prepare a tray with about 25 to 30 small objects on it (eg pencil,
cassette, mobile phone, comb, etc). Show it to the students for two minutes, then
cover it (or remove the tray from sight). The students must make a list (as
individuals or in teams) of all the objects they can remember. The winner is the
one who gets most. Could also be done with a list of words on the board or with
flashcards, if you can't get enough objects.

5. LEXICAL GAMES
Back to the board:
- Divide the class into two teams.
- One team sends one member to the front, who then sits facing the class, with
his back to the board. Thus everyone except this student can see what you
write on the board.
- Write a word on the board (probably one recently studied or met); the team
of the student sitting at the front must define the word or give examples of
its use without saying the actual word.
- As soon as he guesses the word, write another word up and so on until a
time limit (perhaps two minutes) is reached.
- Clever players use all manner of techniques to convey the word: rhyme,
collocations, synonyms, etc.

6. A STUDENT'S PROGRESS WHEN LEARNING A NEW ITEM

1. Ignorance: The learner doesn't know anything about the item.
2. Exposure: The learner hears or reads examples of the item (maybe a number of
times), but doesn't particularly notice it.
3. Noticing: The learner begins to realise that there is a feature he/she doesn't fully
understand.
4. Understanding: The learner starts to look more carefully at the item and tries to
work out the formation rules and the meaning, possibly with the help of
explanations or other help.
5. Practice: The learner tries to use the item in his/her own speech or writing
(maybe hesitantly, probably with many errors).
6. Active use: The learner integrates the item fully into his/her own language and
uses it (without thinking) relatively easily with minor errors.
EXAMPLE:
- On the way I saw some coffee cars with the words ‘Take away’, but I didn't
understand.
- Several times I saw that word in the books
- Next, I noticed a feature that was not well understood.
- So the next day I asked my teacher about the meaning of that word.
- Then apply it in the writing.
- Gradually, I can easily use the word ‘Take away’ without thinking.

7. ‘AUTHENTIC’ AND ‘RESTRICTED’ EXPOSURE

Authentic exposure:
The exposure comes from a text that is realistic or reasonably likes a normal
natural text.
For example:
 Reading magazines, books, articles, product labels, etc
 Listening to small talk and listening to recordings, radio, etc
 Watching English films or television channels (eg Cartoon Network)
 Living in a place where the language is used
 Hearing incidental language used in class
 Reading pieces of language on notices, posters, etc around the classroom
Restricted exposure:
The exposure comes from a text that is simplified or unnaturally includes a high
number of examples of a specific target item.
The texts will often:
 be specially designed for learners, providing clear examples of target
language items being used in context
 be simplified through use of graded language;
 have high quantities of specific target language items.

8. ‘AUTHENTIC’ AND ‘RESTRICTED’ OUTPUT

Authentic output:
Output that is freer or more natural interaction which might have many stresses and
pressures.
For example:
 Discussions
 Meetings
 Small talk in a café
 Writing a postcard
 Negotiations
 Chatting in class
Restricted output:
Output that is deliberately simplified or controlled by a teacher instruction or by
the nature of a particular task that makes the load on the learner less demanding.
For example:
 Drills
 Written gap-fill exercises
 Grammar practice activities
 'Repeat what I say'
 Simple games based on saying very similar sentences (eg 'Simon says')