Teach English in ZaojiAo Zhen - Tianshui Shi

Summary for ITTT Unit 7: ?Teaching New Language? From the introduction to Unit 7 I gleaned the understanding that there are four essential things that students must to be able to do with new language: Firstly, they must ?be exposed to it.? After that, they must somehow be able to ?grasp its meaning,? ?understand how it is constructed;? and then (last but not least) they must ?be able to practice and reproduce it.? Some interesting descriptions of grammar and vocabulary are that grammar is said to be the ?tree trunk of language? while vocabulary is said to be the ?leaves and branches of language.? However, while vocabulary undoubtedly adds ?beauty and variety? either Grammar or Vocabulary in isolation would not be very appealing as ?one cannot function without the other.? Even so, to simplify it for new students most lessons will be focused in one particular area i.e. either on grammar, vocabulary, or functions. A key point is that students should always be introduced to the language in a ?balanced? and ?manageable? way. It?s good for the teacher to keep in mind that usually a learners ?receptive? (words the student knows but doesn?t use) vocabulary is more than their ?productive? (words the student knows and uses) vocabulary. Concerning the ESA Lessons approach: the suggested method for a teacher who is preparing lessons that specifically target grammar and vocabulary is that they should utilize the ESA ?straight arrow? approach;? on the other hand ?functions-based? lessons should be based on the ESA ?boomerang? or ?patchwork? based approach. Most importantly, ?effective teachers will think about which structure is most appropriate to the class and to the language being taught.? In the ?Teaching Vocabulary? section of this unit I discovered several ways that a teacher might determine how easy or difficult a new vocabulary word might be for the student to learn. The teacher could use these as a sort of gauge for deciding if the students are ready for the new vocabulary word or if other words should be chosen for the lesson. Such things as ?Similarity to a student?s own language,? ?Similarity to English words already known,? ?Spelling and pronunciation,? and ?Appropriacy? are said to be key factors to think about while making the decisions on which new vocabulary words should be taught and when. Moreover, when selecting which vocabulary words to teach the following should also be considered: ?Appropriacy to the student,? ?Appropriacy to the task,? ?Frequency and use,? and ?Teachability.? It is likewise essential that that the students be taught the following things about the vocabulary item: (a.) ?Meaning?what it means,? (b.) ?Word Grammar?where it belongs,? (c.) ?Use?how/when is it appropriate to use,? (d.) ?Interaction?how it affects other words,? (e.) ?Spelling?how it is written,? and (f.) ?Pronunciation?how it is spoken.? Suggestions for way to ?elicit/explain? meaning during the Vocabulary ?Engage? phase of the ESA lesson is through the use of the following: (a.) ?Realia? (b.) ?Mime and action? (c.) ?Pictures? (d.) ?Contrast? (e.) ?Discussion? and/or (f.) ?Discovery.? On the other hand, for the ?Study? phase of an ESA lesson the teacher should be sure to use activities that are more appropriate to that phase. These would include such things as: (a.) ?Gap-fill exercises,? (b.) ?Word searches,? (c.) ? Crossword Matching exercises,? (d.) ? Example sentences,? (e.)? Pronunciation exercises such as drilling ,? and/or (f.) ?Study from texts and dialogs.? The Activate Stage may include the following activities: (a.) ?Open class, small group or pair discussion,? (b.) ?Roll-play,? (c.) ?Simulation,? (d) ?Story Building,? (e.) ?Material production task,? (f.) ?Poster, advertisement, etc.,? and/or (g.) ?Debate.? This units materiails taught me that ?Introducing new grammatical language structures should be largely determined by the course syllabus and the level of the class.? Even so, in all cases the students will need to know the following fundamental elements: (a.) ?Meaning?what the language means,? (b.) ?Use?how/when it is used,? (c.) ?Forms and Patterns?formation and patterns of the language,? (d.) ?Spoken and Written forms?any difference in forms. (For example in written form ?I am going to?? often becomes ?I?m gonna?? in spoken form).? Various techniques for presenting and practicing language structures in the ?Engage? phase of an ESA lesson on grammar are encouraging students to use: (a.) ?Discussion,? (b.) ?Scenario Building,? (c.) ?Prompting,? (d.) ?Question and Answer,? and/or (e.) ?Using pictures, drawings, real objects, mime, etc.? in order to begin learning to engage in conversation with their teacher and classmates. For the ?Study? stage of an ESA Lesson teaching grammar a teacher might use ?Intonation and pronunciation patterns,? ?Looking at the language in context through texts and dialogs,? ?Choral and Individual repetition and drilling,? ?Gap fills,? ?Information Gaps,? ?Sentence word order activities (unscramble jumbled sentences, etc.)? and/or ?Sentence building.? Lastly, for the ?Activate? stage of a grammar lesson the teacher might have the students engage in ?Communication games,? ?Role-play,? ?Story building,? and or ?Discussion/Debate.? Language functions are said to include such things as: ?Inviting,? ?Refusing Agreeing and Disagreeing,? and ?Suggesting.? Teaching language functions takes account of: ?Appropriacy of the kind of language they use?formal, informal, tentative, technical.?