Oxford's teachhing methods of english language

Oxford's teachhing methods of english language

Contents

|Contents |2 |

|Introduction |3 |

|Theory part: The use of games |4 |

| Note-taking |10 |

|Practical part : Grammar games: |14 |

|Speed |14 |

|Spot the differences |15 |

|Tipycal questions |16 |

|Achievements |16 |

|Reported advioce |17 |

|Picture the past |18 |

|Impersonating members of a set |18 |

|No backshift |19 |

|Incomparable |20 |

|One question behind |20 |

|Sit down then |22 |

|Only if |22 |

|Two-word verbs |23 |

|The world of take |25 |

|A dictionary game |26 |

|Eyes |27 |

|Umbrella |28 |

|Listening to time |29 |

|Guess my grammar |30 |

|Puzzle stories |30 |

|Word ordwer dictation |31 |

|Grammar lessons taking notes: |33 |

|Passive voice |33 |

|Context and meaning |34 |

|Subject matter note taking |36 |

|Conclusion |37 |

|References |38 |

Introduction

This course work presents two teaching methods widely approved in

Oxfrord Universities: grammar and vocabulary games and the variations of

taking notes during the lesson.

Both of methods are embodied in the theory and practical part. As a

theory part I give research works of professional lavguage teachers who

studied the methods they considered as useful and effective and put their

opinion and reseach works on the press. I’m very grateful to them for

sharing their experiences with us. So this part of my work describes the

method itself, gives tests proving its effectiveness and touches some

problem spots of it. Next I offer practical part containing examples of

taking these methods in the classroom.

None of these methods presented here is any brand new discovery for the

language teacher. Every teacher used to practice them in his/her work,

there’s only a try to add something new to well known and allegedebly usual

techiques (like note-taking), to study them deeper and show more

interesting and useful side of them. In short words some suggestions to

make them work better.

The reason I’ve chosen this theme is the wish to know more about how to

make the lesson more interesting and useful at the same time. I’ve

benefitted much by collectiong and studing all this material I present here

and hope you’ll find this work worth reviewing.

The Use of Games

For Vocabulary Presentation and Revision

by Agnieszka Uberman

|Vocabulary acquisition is increasingly viewed as |

|crucial to language acquisition. However, there is |

|much disagreement as to the effectiveness of |

|different approaches for presenting vocabulary |

|items. Moreover, learning vocabulary is often |

|perceived as a tedious and laborious process. |

|In this article I would like to examine some |

|traditional techniques and compare them with the |

|use of language games for vocabulary presentation |

|and revision, in order to determine whether they |

|are more successful in presenting and revising |

|vocabulary than other methods. |

|From my teaching experience I have noticed how |

|enthusiastic students are about practising language|

|by means of games. I believe games are not only fun|

|but help students learn without a conscious |

|analysis or understanding of the learning process |

|while they acquire communicative competence as |

|second language users. |

Vocabulary teaching techniques

There are numerous techniques concerned with vocabulary presentation.

However, there are a few things that have to be remembered irrespective of

the way new lexical items are presented. If teachers want students to

remember new vocabulary, it needs to be learnt in context, practised, and

then revised to prevent students from forgetting. We can tell the same

about grammar.Teachers must make sure students have understood the new

words, which will be remembered better if introduced in a "memorable way".

Bearing all this in mind, teachers have to remember to employ a variety of

techniques for new vocabulary presentation and revision.

Gairns and Redman (1986) suggest the following types of vocabulary

presentation techniques:

1. Visual techniques. These pertain to visual memory, which is considered

especially helpful with vocabulary retention. Learners remember better

the material that has been presented by means of visual aids. Visual

techniques lend themselves well to presenting concrete items of

vocabulary-nouns; many are also helpful in conveying meanings of verbs

and adjectives. They help students associate presented material in a

meaningful way and incorporate it into their system of language

values.

2. Verbal explanation. This pertains to the use of illustrative

situations, synonymy, opposites, scales (Gairns and Redman ),

definition (Nation) and categories (Allen and Valette ).

3. Use of dictionaries. Using a dictionary is another technique of

finding out meanings of unfamiliar words and expressions. Students can

make use of a variety of dictionaries: bilingual, monolingual,

pictorial, thesauri, and the like. As French Allen perceives them,

dictionaries are "passports to independence," and using them is one of

the student-centered learning activities.

Using games

The advantages of using games. Many experienced textbook and methodology

manuals writers have argued that games are not just time-filling activities

but have a great educational value. W. R. Lee holds that most language

games make learners use the language instead of thinking about learning the

correct forms. He also says that games should be treated as central not

peripheral to the foreign language teaching programme. A similar opinion is

expressed by Richard-Amato, who believes games to be fun but warns against

overlooking their pedagogical value, particularly in foreign language

teaching. There are many advantages of using games. "Games can lower

anxiety, thus making the acquisition of input more likely" (Richard-Amato).

They are highly motivating and entertaining, and they can give shy students

more opportunity to express their opinions and feelings (Hansen). They also

enable learners to acquire new experiences within a foreign language which

are not always possible during a typical lesson. Furthermore, to quote

Richard-Amato, they, "add diversion to the regular classroom activities,"

break the ice, "[but also] they are used to introduce new ideas". In the

easy, relaxed atmosphere which is created by using games, students remember

things faster and better (Wierus and Wierus ). Further support comes from

Zdybiewska, who believes games to be a good way of practising language, for

they provide a model of what learners will use the language for in real

life in the future.

Games encourage, entertain, teach, and promote fluency. If not for any of

these reasons, they should be used just because they help students see

beauty in a foreign language and not just problems .

Choosing appropriate games. There are many factors to consider while

discussing games, one of which is appropriacy. Teachers should be very

careful about choosing games if they want to make them profitable for the

learning process. If games are to bring desired results, they must

correspond to either the student's level, or age, or to the material that

is to be introduced or practised. Not all games are appropriate for all

students irrespective of their age. Different age groups require various

topics, materials, and modes of games. For example, children benefit most

from games which require moving around, imitating a model, competing

between groups and the like. Furthermore, structural games that practise or

reinforce a certain grammatical aspect of language have to relate to

students' abilities and prior knowledge. Games become difficult when the

task or the topic is unsuitable or outside the student'sexperience.

Another factor influencing the choice of a game is its length and the time

necessary for its completion. Many games have a time limit, but according

to Siek-Piskozub, the teacher can either allocate more or less time

depending on the students' level, the number of people in a group, or the

knowledge of the rules of a game etc.

When to use games. Games are often used as short warm-up activities or when

there is some time left at the end of a lesson. Yet, as Lee observes, a

game "should not be regarded as a marginal activity filling in odd moments

when the teacher and class have nothing better to do". Games ought to be at

the heart of teaching foreign languages. Rixon suggests that games be used

at all stages of the lesson, provided that they are suitable and carefully

chosen. At different stages of the lesson, the teacher's aims connected

with a game may vary:

1. Presentation. Provide a good model making its meaning clear;

2. Controlled practise. Elicit good imitation of new language and

appropriate responses;

3. Communicative prastice. Give students a chance to use the language .

Games also lend themselves well to revision exercises helping learners

recall material in a pleasant, entertaining way. All authors referred to in

this article agree that even if games resulted only in noise and

entertained students, they are still worth paying attention to and

implementing in the classroom since they motivate learners, promote

communicative competence, and generate fluency. However, can they be more

successful for presentation and revision than other techniques? The

following part of this article is an attempt at finding the answer to this

question.

The use of games for presenting and revising vocabulary

Vocabulary presentation. After the teacher chooses what items to teach,

Haycraft suggests following certain guidelines. These include teaching the

vocabulary "in spoken form first" to prevent students from pronouncing the

words in the form they are written, placing the new items in context, and

revising them..I shall now proceed to present practical examples of games I

have used for vocabulary introduction and revision.

Description of the groups. For the purpose of vocabulary presentation, I

chose two groups of third form students. With one of them I used a

presentation game and with the other translation and context guessing. In

both groups, students' abilities varied-ranging from those whose command of

English was very good, able to communicate easily using a wide range of

vocabulary and grammatical structures, and those who found it difficult to

communicate.

After covering the first conditional and time clauses in the textbook, I

decided to present students with a set of idioms relating to bodily parts-

mainly those connected with the head (taken from The Penguin Dictionary of

English Idioms ). The choice of these expressions was determined by

students' requests to learn colloquial expressions to describe people's

moods, behavior, etc. Moreover, in one of the exercises the authors of the

textbook called for examples of expressions which contain parts of the

body. For the purpose of the lesson I adapted Gear and Gear's "Vocabulary

Picture-Puzzle" from the English Teaching Forum (1988). Students were to

work out the meanings of sixteen idiomatic expressions. All of them have

Polish equivalents, which made it easier for students to remember them.

Description of vocabulary picture-puzzle

To prepare the puzzle, I cut two equal-sized pieces of cardboard paper into

rectangles. The selected idioms were written onto the rectangles in the

puzzle-pieces board and their definitions on the game board. On the reverse

side of the puzzle-pieces board, I glued colorful photographs of landscapes

and then cut the puzzle-pieces board into individual pieces, each with an

idiom on it. The important thing was the distribution of the idioms and

their definitions on the boards. The definitions were placed in the same

horizontal row opposite to the idioms so that when put together face to

face each idiom faced its definition.

Puzzle Pieces Board

The idioms and their definitions were the following (all taken from The

Penguin Dictionary of English Idioms p.77):

1. to be soft in the head: foolish, not very intelligent;

2. to have one's hair stand on end: to be terrified;

3. to be two-faced: to agree with a person to his face but disagree with

him behind his back;

4. to make a face: to make a grimace which may express disgust, anger;

5. to be all eyes: to be very attentive;

6. to be an eye-opener: to be a revelation;

7. to be nosy: to be inquisitive, to ask too many questions;

8. to be led by the nose: to be completely dominated by, totally

influenced by;

9. long ears: an inquisitive person who is always asking too many

questions;

10. to be all ears: to listen very attentively;

11. to be wet behind the ears: to be naive, inexperienced;

12. a loose mouth: an indiscrete person;

13. one's lips are sealed: to be obliged to keep a secret;

14. to have a sweet tooth: to have a liking for sweet food, sugar, honey,

ice cream, etc.;

15. to grind one's teeth: to express one's fury;

16. to hold one's tongue: to say nothing, to be discrete;

The task for students. Work out the puzzle by matching the idioms and

their definitions. First, put puzzle-pieces on the desk with the word

facing up. Take one and match the idiom to the definition. Having done

that, place the puzzle-piece, word-side-up, in the chosen rectangle. When

you have used up all the pieces, turn them over. If they form a picture of

a landscape, the choices are correct. If not, rearrange the picture and

check the idiom-definition correspondences.

The game objectives. To work out the puzzle, students had to match

idioms with their definitions. The objective of the game was for each pair

to cooperate in completing the activity successfully in order to expand

their vocabulary with, in this case, colloquial expressions.

All students were active and enjoyed the activity. Some of their

comments were as follows: "Very interesting and motivating" "Learning can

be a lot of fun" etc.

Students also had to find the appropriate matches in the shortest time

possible to beat other participating groups. The element of competition

among the groups made them concentrate and think intensively.

Translation activity. The other group of students had to work out the

meanings of the idioms by means of translation. Unlike the previously

described group, they did not know the definitions. The expressions were

listed on the board, and students tried to guess their proper meanings

giving different options. My role was to direct them to those that were

appropriate. Students translated the idioms into Polish and endeavored to

find similar or corresponding expressions in their mother tongue. Unlike

the game used for the purpose of idiom introduction, this activity did not

require the preparation of any aids. Fewer learners participated actively

or enthusiastically in this lesson and most did not show great interest in

the activity.

Administering the test. In order to find out which group acquired new

vocabulary better, I designed a short test, for both groups containing a

translation into English and a game. This allowed learners to activate

their memory with the type of activity they had been exposed to in the

presentation.

The test checking the acquisition of newly-introduced reading vocabulary

I. Match the definitions of the idioms with the pictures and write

which idiom is depicted and described:

1. to be inexperienced

2. to listen very attentively

3. to be terrified

4. to be dominated by someone

5. to be attentive

6. to be insincere, dishonest

The proper answers are the following:

1. d ., to be wet behind the ears

2. a ., to be all ears

3. e ., to have one's hair stand on end

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