STARTBODY

Teach English in Zezhang Zhen - Yuncheng Shi

Do you want to be TEFL or TESOL-certified and teach in Zezhang Zhen? Are you interested in teaching English in Yuncheng Shi? Check out ITTT’s online and in-class courses, Become certified to Teach English as a Foreign Language and start teaching English ONLINE or abroad! ITTT offers a wide variety of Online TEFL Courses and a great number of opportunities for English Teachers and for Teachers of English as a Second Language.

Which activities can be used for teaching productive skills? Almost every language consists of productive and receptive skills. Speaking and writing are productive, active skills; information is produced in oral or written form. Listening and reading, on the other hand, are receptive abilities. These skills are used when we receive information. A good language teacher should integrate all the skills in his or her lessons. Skills are never taught isolated. There always needs to be a combination of communication forms. Speaking Speaking is essential in communication and mostly interacts with listening. Nearly every speaking activity covers both listening and speaking. It involves risk-taking. Pupils should feel confident enough to pass a message and react to another speaker using English. Therefore, the teacher must create a safe classroom environment where speaking is considered a learning opportunity. Mistakes will arise and the pupils should be made aware of this. Showing respect to one another is vital. The teacher should set the example. Writing Writing is a hard skill to master. It is different from the spoken language. The language learner should already have a certain level of English in order to produce something on paper. He or she has to be able to use the learned vocabulary and grammar in an active way. The teacher will use the production stage to deal with writing assignments, based on a PPP lesson (presentation, practice and production). When pupils reach the production stage, the guidance or support from the teacher should be as little as possible. Activities An easy speaking activity is the information gap. The language learners pair up and one of them has got the information that the other one lacks. To receive all the information, they need to talk to one another. Pupils benefit more from it because it feels less threatening. It also gives the teacher the opportunity to observe the pupils. Afterwards the teacher can ask questions regarding the information gap exercise. The fish-bowl technique is another motivational exercise. This method is used for group discussions. Some pupils are participants and others are observers. The participants talk about a certain topic and each of them gives his or her opinion. Afterwards the pupils who took part in the discussion can form groups again but with other partners. They share the gathered information with the new group. Dialogues and role plays are ideal for the creative learners. Vocabulary can be reviewed in context when using dialogues. The teacher can differentiate when this method is applied. The level of proficiency is not the same for every language learner. Slow learners can be given dialogues without gaps and with a closed structure whereas the more proficient language learner can get dialogues with slots. The use of different dialogues in one class is applicable. The highly advanced pupils can work with role plays. A situation is given in which the pupils have to act out. They can use their imagination and bring the language that they learned to life. It is a fun activity with a lot of learning opportunities. An excellent way to deal with specific vocabulary is a ranking exercise. This method is similar to the fish-bowl technique. Pupils talk about the importance of things by ranking them e.g. which four things can you not live without, what are the four most important problems in the world, which four clothing items do you love, … The pupils can either do this in pairs, larger groups or with the whole class. Next to the speaking activities, the writing assignments are of great significance for an English lesson. The pupils learn a different register than the spoken language. In my experience the language learners do not always like writing exercises. They lack the motivation and do not understand the importance of written English. By using authentic material from their life, they will be more persuaded to do their very best. Text lingo is an excellent example. The teacher hands out text abbreviations and the pupils have to match them with the right meaning. Afterwards they should be able to write a text message themselves but not using the abbreviations but the appropriate messaging language e.g. text me back, have nice day, … That way they learn how to text message in English. Writing a postcard is another nice exercise for elementary learners. The teacher can give each pupil a picture of a holiday destination. They write a message and exchange it with a fellow learner. The usage of songs in the classroom is very encouraging as well. Besides the writing assignment the pupils also use their listening skills. They are divided in groups, listen to different songs and get a blank sheet of paper. Each group member draws something on it depending on the emotion that they feel when they hear the music. Afterwards all the drawings must be combined and the pupils create a written story based on the pictures. Freeze frame is a method that allows the learners to use their vivid imagination. They watch a film fragment and the teacher stops it at a crucial moment. The learners have to guess the ending and write a story about it. This assignment is more for the proficient learners. Both productive skills challenge the teacher as well as the pupils. By using authentic materials, creating a feeling of emotional safety and often taking on the role as observer, the teacher can motivate the language learners to improve their writing and speaking skills. The exercises mentioned can certainly achieve this. SOURCES: BUDDEN, J., ‘Writing activities’, internet, https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/writing-activities, 2019-07-10 ALBER, R., ‘Classroom management’, internet, https://www.edutopia.org/blog/20-tips-create-safe-learning-environment-rebecca-alber, 2019-07-13 ITTTNUNO, ‘Teaching productive skills’, internet, https://mytesolworld.wordpress.com/2014/02/27/teaching-productive-skills-speaking-and-writing/, 2019-01-13 WICKHAM, R., ‘ESL pair work speaking activities’, internet, https://www.fluentu.com/blog/educator-english/esl-pair-work-speaking-activities/, 2019-07-12 -,-, ‘Fishbowl technique’, internet, https://www.betterevaluation.org/en/evaluation-options/fishbowltechnique, 2019-07-13 VERNER, S., ‘Speaking activities’, internet, https://busyteacher.org/20354-top-10-speaking-worksheets-the-best-of-busy.html, 2019-07-12 VERNER, S., ‘Writing activities’, internet, https://busyteacher.org/17447-6-short-esl-writing-activities.html, 2019-07-14 LEYS, B., Teaching English as a Foreign Language Part 1, Acco, Leuven, 2010, 106 pages


ENDBODY