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Unit 3 covers EFL teaching methodologies that have influenced the EFL practice over the years and procedures for what is thought to be the most influential and effective EFL methodology, called Engage-Study-Activate (ESA). The ESA is considered to be the most logical and appropriate for trainees or new teachers like myself. This method mainly applies elicitation as the main procedure of the lesson. Several elicitation techniques are known, among which include but not limited to the following: Real Object (Realia) ? The use of a real objects to get information on what it is/they are. Flashcards/Pictures ? Using pictures to prompt responses from the class. It is similar to the Drawing technique where a sketch is used instead a photo. Ask for questions: Eliciting a question form by writing typical answer(s) that will prompt the correct question form(s) for it. Gap fill: Used especially to elicit verb forms etc Sequencing in ESA is also the same. Lessons could be in any order but especially, it should start with Engage activity and ends in Activate activity. In between could feature any of Study, Activate in any order depending on the circumstance and student level. Straight Arrow ESA lessons (Engage ? Study ? Activate) would be appropriate for low level students. Boomerang ESA (Engage ? Activate - Study - Activate) would be more appropriate for higher level learners as it requires students to have a certain to demonstrate so that their needs could be revealed for the Study to deal with and re-enforced in the Activate stage. Patchwork ESA lesson ? is slightly more complex than the boomerang ESA lesson in that it features more alternation of, and many more of the stages in between the first Engage and the last Activate stages. Below are a few typical ideas that could be used to proceed with the stages of an ESA lesson. 1)Engage. Introduction prompts ? a good elicitation activity that will allow students to give information about themselves. A good prompt question for this activity would be, ?My name is ________ and my favorite free time activity is ________. Introduction prompt can be a perfect starter for a class of new students. Partner Information Share- similar to introduction prompt, but here, students are prompted to tell each other about themselves, maybe based on previous day/weekend activities. The prompt question could be asked in a typical grammatical construction to review a previous grammar lesson for instance. Sevens ? Could be used to elicit vocabulary from a previous lesson. Students list seven words related to a vocabulary category, e.g food, air travel, etc. The prompt could be letters of the alphabet in a sequence of three letters respectively. A B C and after than D E F, and words are elicited from students that pertain to the given vocabulary category. Memory games, I spy, Word linking, Fizz-Buzz, etc are just a few additional ideas that could used in this stage. 2) Ideas for Study phase. Elicitation is used to get back students understanding of structures/formation/meaning/usage of new language. Pronunciation ? often performed in choral drill, then three individuals at a time. Spelling ? Longman is a good way of implementing this idea in the classroom. Meaning ? Gap fills; matching exercises, often involving pictures; matching answers to question, word to definition; or a true or false activity etc. Word Order ? Unscrambling jumbled sentences into the correct sentence order, and inserting word into sentences. Analyses ? Looking at texts/dialogues and analyzing typical constructions. 3) Ideas for Activate phase: Some ideas for this phase could include Role plays; Debates/discussion; Story building; Communication games; Material production, such as putting words and sentences together to produce a short radio commercial, or other stuff like that. Feedback/Mistake or error correction: Feedback should be given using positive language. Correction of errors and mistake should first of all tried to be self-corrected, using prompts, and then if necessary engage a student to student correction. Only on last should the teacher give the correction. It is important for corrections to be given openly and clearly (on the board) so that other students may learn from it.
