Topic: Language knowledgeTopic: Language knowledge

General objectives:Students will be able to teach vocabulary.Students will be able to teach grammar.Students will be able to teach pronunciation.

Lesson OneLesson OneTeaching Vocabulary Teaching Vocabulary

Pre-task activities Step One: elicit ways of students’ knowing the meaning of new words. Step Two: the teacher sums up the ways of knowing new words. Step Three: elicit ways of consolidating new words. Step Four: the teacher sums up the ways of consolidating new words. While-task activities Step Four: students teaching new words to their group members. Step Five: students consolidating new words with their group member

s.. Post-task activities Step Six: students reporting their performances in their groups.

Ways of presenting new wordsWays of presenting new words

Realia Pictures Mime, action and gesture Contrast (Synonym or antonyms) Enumeration Explanation Translation Context clues Symbol Numerals Lexical sets Word formation

RealiaRealia

This is the word we use to refer to the use of real objects in the classroom. Thus the words ‘pen’, ‘ruler’, ‘ball’, ‘postcard’, etc. can be easily explained by showing students a pen or a ball or a ruler, etc. This is clearly satisfactory for certain single words, but the use of realia is limited to things that can easily be taken into the classroom.

PicturesPictures

Pictures are clearly indispensable for the language teacher since they can be used in so many ways.

By pictures we mean blackboard drawings, wall pictures and charts, flash-cards etc. Pictures can be used to explain the meaning of vocabulary items: the teacher might draw pens, rulers and balls on the blackboard, or have magazine pictures of cars , bicycles , and trains stuck onto cardboard, The teacher might bring in a wall picture showing three people in a room which could be used for introducing the meaning of the sentence ‘There are three people in the room’. The same language could be introduced with a large street map (e. g. ‘There’s a church in Green Street’) . A picture can also be used to create a situation or context.

Mime, action and gesture Mime, action and gesture

It is often impossible to explain the meaning of words and grammar either through the use of realia or in pictures. Actions, in particular, are probably better explained by mime. Thus concepts like running and smoking are easy concepts to explain if the teacher pretends to run, or takes a drag on and etc..

Contrast (Synonym or antonyms)Contrast (Synonym or antonyms)

Sometimes a visual element (e.g. realia, picture, mime, etc.) may not be sufficient to explain meaning and contrast can be used. Thus the meaning of ‘full’ is better understood in the context of ‘empty’, ‘big’ in the context of ‘small’, etc. The meaning of the past continuous is often explained by contrasting it with the past simple, e.g. ‘I was having a bathe when the telephone rang’.

Enumeration Enumeration

The word ‘vegetable’ is a difficult word to explain visually. If, however, the teacher rapidly lists (or enumerates) a number of vegetables the meaning will become clear. The same is true of a word like ‘clothes’.

Explanation Explanation

Explaining the meaning of vocabulary items can be extremely difficult just as grammatical explanation can be , especially at elementary levels. It will be important, if giving such explanations, to make sure that the explanation includes information about when the item can be used. It would be unsatisfactory just to say that ‘mate’ was a word for ‘friend’ unless you also pointed out that it was colloquial informal English and only used in certain contexts. ‘Do’ means to perform, but information would have to be given about what words it is used with(as opposed to ‘make’).

TranslationTranslation

It seems silly not to translate if by doing so a lot of time can be saved. If the students don’t understand a word and the teacher can’t think how to explain it, he can quickly translate it.The big danger, though, is that not all words and phrases are easily translated from on e language to the other, and it takes a communicatively efficient speaker of both languages to translate well.

Translation, then, seems a useful measure if used sparingly, but it should be used with caution.

Context clues Context clues

Techniques for guessing vocabulary from context include activating background knowledge from the topic of a text, obtaining clues from grammatical structure, pronunciation and punctuation, and using the natural redundancy of surrounding words. For example, the reader should be able to guess the meaning of ‘workaholic’ in the following sentence: ‘My father was a workaholic. He worked so long and so hard that we rarely saw him.’

SymbolSymbol

Hospital

custom

NumeralsNumerals

2+5=7

Lexical setsLexical sets

Cook: fry, boil, bake, grill, stir-fry

Word formationWord formation

Form—formation--formal

Consolidating vocabularyConsolidating vocabulary Labelling Spotting the difference Describing and drawing Playing a game Using word thermometers Using word series Word bingo Word association Odd man out Synonym and antonym Using categories Using word net-work

shop seller price

goods money client

receipt pay bargain

Lesson TwoLesson TwoTeaching GrammarTeaching Grammar

Pre-task activities Step One: elicit ways of teaching grammar. Step Two: the teacher sums up the ways of teaching grammar. Step Three: elicit ways of consolidating new grammatical rules. Step Four: the teacher sums up the ways of consolidating new gramma

tical rules. While-task activities Step Four: students teaching grammatical rules to their group members. Step Five: students consolidating grammatical rules with their group m

embers.. Post-task activities Step Six: students reporting their performances in their groups.

Ways of Teaching GrammarWays of Teaching Grammar

The role of grammar in ELT Grammar presentation methods Deductive method Inductive method Grammar practice Mechanical practice Meaningful practice Using prompts for practice

Grammar presentation methodsGrammar presentation methods Deductive methodDeductive method

Rules ---examples----rulesGeneral---specific---generalAbstract---concrete--- abstract

Grammar presentation methodsGrammar presentation methods Inductive methodInductive method

Examples---rules---examplesSpecific---general---specificConcrete---abstract----concrete

Grammar practiceGrammar practice Mechanical practiceMechanical practice

Substitution drillsTransformation drills

Grammar practiceGrammar practice Meaningful practiceMeaningful practice

Grammar practiceGrammar practice Using prompts for practiceUsing prompts for practice

Using picture promptsUsing mime or gestures as promptsUsing information sheet as promptsUsing chained phrases for story tellingUsing created situations

Lesson ThreeLesson Three Teaching Pronunciation Teaching Pronunciation

Pre-task activities Step One: elicit ways of pracitising sound, stress and intonation. Step Two: the teacher sums up the ways of pracitising sound, stress an

d intonation. Step Three: the teacher sums up the ways of pracitising sound, stress a

nd intonation.. While-task activities Step Four: students pracitising sound, stress and intonation in groups. Post-task activities Step Six: students reporting their performances in their groups.

Teaching PronunciationTeaching Pronunciation

Realistic goals of teaching pronunciationAspects of pronunciationPractising soundsPractising stressPractising intonation

Realistic goals of teaching pronunciationRealistic goals of teaching pronunciation

Consistency: The pronunciation should be smooth and natural.

Intelligibility: The pronunciation should be understandable to the listeners

Communicative efficiency: The pronunciation should help to convey the meaning that is intended by the speaker.

Aspects of pronunciationAspects of pronunciation

SoundsSyllables StressIntonationrhythm

Practising soundsPractising sounds

Focusing on a soundPerception practiceProduction practice

Focusing on a soundFocusing on a sound

Say the sound aloneGet students to repeat the sound in chorusGet individual students to repeat the sound.Explain how to make the soundSay the sound in a wordContrast it with other sounds. Say the sound in meaningful contexts.

Perception practicePerception practice

Using minimal pairsWhich order?Same or different?Odd man outcompletion

Production practiceProduction practice

Listen and repeatFill in the blanksMake up sentencesUse meaningful contextUse picturesUse tongue twisters

Practising stressPractising stress

Using gesturesUse the voiceUse the blackboard

Practising intonationPractising intonation

Using hand or arm movementUsing rising or falling arrowsDrawing lines