AFTER LISTENING activity: I CAN´T HEAR YOU.

We have created an activity to improve listening skills and to learn well the vocabulary that appears in the song. This is the popular game called Simon says.

The teacher is going to say:

Ø    Clap your hands. 

Ø    Touch the sky. 

Ø    Count to five.

Ø    Touch your nose.

Ø    Count to three.

Ø    Drink the sea.

Ø    Move your toes.

Ø    Raise your hand.

 

Activity about READING TECHNIQUE: MICE

MICE

Skimming: what is the text about? Choose the correct answer.

a) Living in the jungle

b) Animals

c) Different kind of mice

• Scamming: Fill in the gaps with correct kind mouse.

a) The -------- mouse is the smallest mouse

b) The --------sleeps for seven months every year

c) The --------mouse climb very well

d) The --------jumps three metros

e) The --------mouse lives with people

• Reading between the lines.  After reading…

a) Which type of mouse lives in the town, the harvest mouse or the house mouse?

b) Where do they live the others? What do you think?

• Predicting. Before reading…

We are going to talk about the different types of mice. Do you know any type?

• Intensive reading: Find the correct word…

a) In the pygmy text… they live everywhere, except?

b)  In the jumping mouse text… the plural of foot.

c) In the house mouse text… something they eat that is dangerous.

• Guessing meaning. After reading the text… what is the meaning of these words?

a) Weight:

b) Seeds

c) House mouse

d) Climb.

e) Worms.

Olga Méndez Sánchez & Isabel Valiente.

ACTIVITY: Second language teaching methods.

1.  It has been said that the Grammar - Translation Method teaches students about the target language, but not how to use it. Explain the difference in your own words.

·  The Grammar-Translation Method teaches students about grammatical rules and vocabulary making translation from the first language to the target language and the opposite way. Therefore the students use these rules to translate sentences from their first language to the target language. This is a wrong way to use and to learn English properly. It is very difficult that a person could be communicated with others if he translates everything he wants to say in his native language to the target language and besides he doesn’t know how to talk without thinking in his first language. Consequently, the Grammar-Translation Method doesn’t teach the students how to use the target language although it teaches about target language.

2.     In the Grammar-Translation Method, grammar is treated deductively; in the Direct Method, grammar is treated inductively. Can you explain the difference between deductive and inductive treatments of grammar?

·  Deductive is based on the grammar-translation method. The teacher teaches the rules to the children, later she gives them some examples. This method doesn’t let

·    Inductive is based on direct method. Students learn a new language by listening and by speaking it. It is based on the experimental, trial and error.  The teacher gives inputs to the children, she uses the grammar rules and the students learn by themselves. Making errors is the best way to learn a second language and to know how to use the grammar.

3.  Which of the following techniques follows from the principles of the Audio-Lingual Method, and which ones don’t? Explain the reasons for your answer.

A.  The teacher asks beginning level students to write a composition about the system of transportation in their home countries. If they need a vocabulary word that they don’t know, they are told to look in a bilingual dictionary for a translation.

-   This technique doesn’t follow the principles of the Audio-Lingual Method. This technique follows the Grammar-Translation Method because the students have to look in a bilingual dictionary for a translation. They don’t receive any feedback. They have to work the writing instead of working the speaking.

B. Towards the end of the third week of the course, the teacher gives the students a reading passage. The teacher asks the students to read the passage and to answer certain questions based upon it. The passage contains words and structures introduced during the first three weeks of the course.

-   This technique doesn’t follow the principles of the Audio-Lingual Method. However, it could be a technique to practice the reading method.

C.  The teacher tells the students that they must add an “s” to third person singular verbs in the present tense in English. She then gives the students a list of verbs and asks them to change the verbs into the third person singular present tense form.

-   This technique doesn’t follow the principles of the Audio-Lingual Method either. In this technique the teacher doesn’t have to correct the students. Students learn these rules by listening and improving their skills of communication.

5.  Asher believes that foreign language instruction can and should be modelled on native language acquisition. What are some characteristics of TPR that are similar to the way children acquire their native language?

·    Some characteristics of TPR those are similar to the way children acquire their native languages are: Use of commands. Simple structures. The use of imperative, the children get inputs, a comfortable enviroment, the children imitate and to be silent.

7.    A lot of target language structures and vocabulary can be taught through the imperative. Plan part of a TPR lesson in which the present continuous tense, or another structure in the target language, is introduced.

·        TPR lesson: in which the present continuous tense is introduced.

·    The teacher tells the pupils that they are going to play: Simon says. They should obey him when he says the phrase: Simon says, before an action.

·        He realizes the following steps:

-     Simon says: “Move your hands”. Look! You are moving your hands.

-   Simon says: “Walk in your place”. Oh! You are walking in your place.

-      Simon says: “Girls jump and Boys read a book”. Can you see? Girls, you are jumping and boys, you are reading a bokk.

·     The teacher selects some children to do some actions and she repeats the method to make the pupils to understand that when they are doing something in a particular moment it is used the present continuous tense.

DESIGN OF A LISTENING ACTIVITY: ALIENS.

This is the picture but the real one is wih colour.

ACTIVITIES

Pre-listening

§     The teacher tells the children that today they are going to do some activities about ALIENS. 

§        She shows the pupils this image of some aliens and she asks them:

-   How many aliens are in the picture?

-   How many aliens have two heads?

-   How many colours can you see in the picture?

-   Which alien do you like more? Why?

-   Where do you think these aliens are?

a.     In a bar, that is a place where you can eat and have a drink.

b.     In a shop, that is a place where you can buy some clothes.

c.      In a museum, that is a place where you can see art like pictures and sculptures.

While listening

§        The teacher describes some of the characters that appear in the image. The pupils have to find them listening very carefully to the descriptions. Also the teacher will ask them a particular question about the description.

a)     Peter is sitting on a high chair. There is a lot of noise and he finds it hard to read the newspaper.

b)    Michael has three eyes. He can see very well. He serves drinks to the rest of the aliens. He is the waiter.

c)     John and Paul are very tall. They have one head each one but they share the same body. Paul is drinking a cocktail while John is smoking.

d)    Mary is the youngest alien. She is always smiling. She likes to meet new aliens. She is pink.

Post-listening

§        The teacher gives some information about the last descriptions to the pupils and they have to say if that information is TRUE or FALSE.

     If the phrase is false they will have to say the true:

-         Peter reads a book. (Answer: False. He reads a newspaper).

-         Peter is a customer. (Answer: True).

-         Michael has one eye and he doesn’t see very well (Answer: False. He has three eyes and he can see very well).

-         Michael serves chips to the rest of the aliens. (False. He serves drinks to the rest of the aliens).

-         John is short and Paul is tall. (False. John is tall and Paul too).

-         Mary is a pink alien and she is short. (True).

§        The teacher gives some plasticine to the pupils and they have to create their own alien doing something. For example and alien drinking a coke or an alien playing with a toy. Then, these aliens will be all together in shelving. 

DIDÁCTICA

Here begins this course, very beautiful on the outside but much more inside.