How to teach reading and writing

Your lesson should begin with a pre-reading activity to introduce the topic and make sure students have enough vocabulary, grammar, and background information to understand the text. Be careful not to introduce a lot of new vocabulary or grammar because you want your students to be able to respond to the content of the text and not expend too much effort analyzing the language. If you don't want to explain all of the potentially new material ahead of time, you can allow your learners to discuss the text with a partner and let them try to figure it out together with the help of a dictionary. After the reading activity, check comprehension and engage the learners with the text, soliciting their opinions and further ideas orally or with a writing task.
Consider the following when designing your reading lessons :
Purpose, reading strategies, Prediction, Guessing from context, skimming, scanning, silent reading vs reading aloud.
Consider the following when designing your writing lessons :
Tyoes of tasks, format, model, editing, and correction.

How to teach speaking and listening

There are many types of listening activities. Those that don't require learners to produce language in response are easier than those that do. Learners can be asked to physically respond to a command (for example, "please open the door"), select an appropriate picture or object, circle the correct letter or word on a worksheet, draw a route on a map, or fill in a chart as they listen. It's more difficult to repeat back what was heard, translate into the native language, take notes, make an outline, or answer comprehension questions. To add more challenge, learners can continue a story text, solve a problem, perform a similar task with a classmate after listening to a model (for example, order a cake from a bakery), or participate in real-time conversation.
Good listening lessons go beyond the listening task itself with related activities before and after the listening. Here is the basic structure:
• Before listening
During listening
After listening
Here some ideas to keep in mind as you plan your speaking activities :
Content, Correcting errors, Quantity vs Quality, Conversation strategies, Teaching intervention.

Communicative Approach (discussion)

What are the goals of teachers who use communicative language teaching (CLT)?
answer : The goal is to enable students to communicate in the target language. To do this students need knowledge of the linguistics forms, meanings, and functions. They need to know that many different forms can be used to perform a function and also that a single form can often serve a variety of functions. They must be able to choose from among these the most appropriate form, given the social context and the roles of the instructors. They must also be able to manage the process of negotiating meaning with their interlocutors. Communication is a process; knowledge of the forms of language is insufficient.
What is the role of the teacher? what is the role of the students?
answer : The teacher facilitates communication in the classroom. In this role, one of his major responsibilities is to establish situations likely to promote communication. During the activities he acts as an adviser, answering students questions and monitoring their performance. He might make note of their errors to be worked on at a later time during more accuracy-based activities. At other times he might be a 'communicator' engaging in the communicative activity along with students.

Total Physical Response (discussion)

What are the goals of teachers who use TPR?
answer : Teachers who use TPR believe in the importance of having their students enjoy their experience in learning to communicate in a foreign language. In fact, TPR was developed in order to reduce the stress people feel when studying foreign language and thereby encourage students to persist in their study beyond a beginning level of proficiency.
What is the role of the teacher? what is the role of the students?
answer : Initially, the teacher is the director of all students behavior. The students are imitators of her nonverbal model. At some point (usually after ten to twenty hours of instruction), some students will be 'ready to speak.' At that point there will be a role reversal with individual students directing the teacher and the other students.
What are some characteristics of the teaching/learning process?
answer : The first phase of a lesson is one of modeling. The instructor issues commands to a few students, then performs the actions with them. In the second phase, these same students demonstrate that they can understand the commands by performing them alone. The observers also have an opportunity to demonstrate their understanding.
What is the nature of student-teacher interaction? what is the nature of student-student interaction?
answer : The teacher interacts with the whole group of students and with individual students. Initially the interaction is characterized by the teacher speaking and the students responding nonverbally. Later on, the students become more verbal and the teacher responds nonverbally.

Community Language Learning (discussion)

What are the goals of teachers who use the Community Language Learning Method?
answer : teachers who use the Community Language Learning Method want their students to learn how to use the target language communicatively.
What is the role of the teacher? What is the role of the students?
answer : the teacher's initial role is primarily that of counselor. This does not mean that the teacher is a therapist, or that the teacher does no teaching. Rather, it means that the teacher recognizes how threatening a new learning situations can be for adult learners, so he skillfully understands and supports his students in their struggle to master the target language. Initially the learners are very dependent upon the teacher. It is recognized, however, that as the learners continue to study, they become increasingly independent.
What are some characteristics of the teaching/learning process?
answer : in a beginning class, which is what we observed, students typically have a conversation using their native language. the teacher helps them express what they want to say by giving them the target language translation in chunks. These chunks are recorded,and when they are replayed, it sounds like a fairly fluid conversation. Later, a transcript is made of the conversation, and native language equivalents arewritten beneath the target language words. The transcription of the conversation becomes a 'text' with which students work.

TRAIN INCIDENT

One day I took a train to go to my friends house. The train was fairly full, so I stood at the bag of the train. While I was standing I saw cute girl staring at me us she moved to towards me. I became a bit embarassed,thinking she might fancy me. She stood next to me and we spirit that my fly was oven. I was so embarassed, I got of the train without even thanking the girl.

AN UNFORGETTABLE MOMENT AT THE BIRTHDAY PARTY

A party is usually something fun to remember. Mine was the opposite. I dont happy wih my birthday party.The disaster occured two years ago in my 17 birthday. My parents and my friends were in the living room,celebrating my big day. I was getting ready to blow out all of the candles on the cake before puffing with all my might. All of sudden I had candle wax all over my face. It was no too hot,but I was shocked, and screamed. Looking at my face,everybody laughed. I was so embarassed what abirhtday party!

THE SUGGESTOPEDIA

THE SUGGESTOPEDIA

The methods present in this chapter are illustrative of that which Celce-Murcia (1991) calls an attractive-humanistic approach, an approach in which there is respect for students feelings.
Let us we know see for outselves how the principle of Desugestopedia are applied to language taeching:
a. Learning is facilitated in a cherfull environment.
b. Students can learn from what is present in environment, even if their attention is not directed to it.
c. If student trust and respect the teacher authorit, they will accept and retain information better.
d. The teacher should recognize that learners bring psychological barriers with them to the learning situation.
e. Assuming a new identity enhances students feeling of security and allowes them to be more open.
f. The dilaog that the students learn contains language they can use immadiately.
g. Songs are useful for freeing the speech muscles and evoking possitive emotions.
h. The teacher should integrate indirect positive suggestions (there is no limit to what you can do) into the learning stuation.
i. The teacher should present and explain the grammar and vocabulary, but not dwell on them.
j. Fine art provides positive suggestion for students.
k. One way that meaning is made clear is through native language translation.
l. Comunication takes place on “two planes” : on one the linguistic message is encoded; and on the other factors which iinfluence the linguistic message.
m. A calm state, such as one experiences when listening to a concert, is ideal for overcoming psychological barriers and for taking advantage of learning potential.
n. At these times, the distinction between the concious and the subconcious is most blurred and, therefore, learning can occur.
o. Dramatization is a particularly valuable way of playfully activating the material.
p. The fine arts ( music, art, and drama ) enable suggestion to reach the subconcious.
q. The teacher should help the student ‘active’ the material to which they have been exposed.
r. Music and movement reinforce the linguistic material.
s. In an atmosphere of play, the concious attenton of the learner does not focus on linguistic form.
t. Errors are corrected gently, not in a direct, confrontational manner.

COMPARE THE AUDIO LINGUAL METHOD AND THE SILENT WAY

COMPARE THE AUDIO LINGUAL METHOD AND THE SILENT WAY

a. The audio Lingual method
The udio Lingual Method, like the Direct Method we have just examined, is also an oral based approach. However, it is very different in that rather than emphasizing vocabulary acquistion through exposure to its use in situations, the Audio Liingual Method drills student in use of grammatical sentence patterns.It was thought that the way to acquire the sentence patterns of the target language was through conditioning-helping learners to respond correctly to stimuli through shaping and reinforcement.Learners could overcome the habits of their native language and form the new habits required to be target language speakers.
The principles of The audio Linguual Method that are :
a. Language forms do not occur by themselves; they occur most naturally within a context.
b. The native language and the target language have separate linguistic systems. They should be kept apart so that the student’s native language interferes as little as possible with student’s attempts to acquire the target language.
c. One of the language teacher’s major roles is that of a model the target language. Teachers should provide students with a good model. By listening to how it tis supposed to sound, students should be able to mimic the model.
d. Language learning is a process of habit formation. The more often something is repeated, the stronger the habit and greater the learning.
e. It is important to prevent learners for making errors. Errors lead to formation of bad habits. When errors do occur, they should be immadiately corrected by the teacher.
f. The purpose of language learning is to learn how to use the language to communicate.
g. Particular parts of speech occupy particular “slots” in sentences, In order to create new sentences, students must learn which part of speech occupies which slot.
h. Positive reinforcement help the student to develop correct habits.
i. Students should learn to respond to both verbal and non verbal stimuli.
j. Each language has a finite number of patterns. Pattern practice helps students to form habits which enables the students to use the patterns.
k. Students should “overlearn” e.g learn to answer automatically wihout stopping to think.
l. The teacher should be like an orchestra leader-conducting, guiding, and controling the students’ behaviour in the target language.
m. The major objevtive of language teaching should be for students to acquire the structural patterns; students will learn vocabulary afteward.
n. The learning of a foreign language should be the same as the acquisition of the native language. We do not need to memorize rules in order to use our native language. The rules necessary to use the target language will be figured out or induced from examples.
o. The major challenge of foreign language teaching is gettin to overcome the habits of their native language. A comparison beteen the native and the target language will tell the teacher in what areas her students will probably experienced difficulty.
p. Speech is more basic to language than the written form. The “ntural order” –the order children follow when learning their native language-of skill acquistion is; listening, speaking, reading, and writing.
q. Languages cannot be separated from culture. Culture is not only literature and the arts, but also the everyday behaviour of the people who use the target language. One of the teacher’s responsibilities is to present information about that culture.

b. The Silent Way
Linguist Noam Chomsky argued that language acquistion could not possibly take place through habit formation since people create and understand utterances they have never heard before.Chomsky proposed instead that speakers have a knowledge of underlying abstract rules, which allow them to understand and create novel utterances. Thus, Chomsky reasoned, language must not be considered a product of habit formation, but rather of rule formation.
Altouhgh Caleb Gattegno’s Silent way did not stem diraectly from the Cognitive Approach, it shares certain principle with it.
Let us review in detail our observation and examine its principle are:
a. The taecher should start with something the students already know and bulid from that to the unkown. Languages share a nuber of features, sounds being the most basic.
b. Language learners are intellegent and bring with them the experience of already learning a language. The teacher should give only what help is necessary.
c. Language is not learned by repeating after a model. Students need to develop their own’innercriteria’ for correctness—to trust and to be responsible for their own production in the target language.
d. Student actions can tell the teacher whether or not they have learned.
e. Student should learn to rely on each othe and themselves.
f. The teacher works with student while the student work on the language.
g. The teacher makes use of what student already know. The more the teacher does for the students what they can do for themselves.
h. Learning involves transfefrring what one knows to new contexts.
i. Reading is worked on from the beginning but follows from what students have learned to say
j. Silence is a tool. It helps to foster autonmy, or the exercise of initiative.

THE DIRECT METHOD

THE DIRECT METHOD
The direct method is not new. Its principles have been applied by language teachers for many yeras.Most recently, it was reveived as a method when the goal of instruction became learning how to use a foreign language to communicate. Since the grammar translation method was not very effective in preparating students to use the target language communicatively,it cause the direct method became popular.
In direct method has one very basic rule:No translation is allowed.
The principles of the direct method that are:
a. Reading in target language should be taught from the begining of language instruction; however the reading skill will be develop through practice with speaking. Language is primarily speech. Culture consist of more than the fine arts (e.g. the students study geography and cultural attitudes).
b. Objects (e.g realia or pictures) present in the immediate classroom environment should be used to help students understand the meaning.
c. The native language should not be used in the classrom.
d. The teacher should demonstrate, not explain or translate. It is direct association between the target language and meaning.
e. Student should learn to think in target language as soon as possible. Vocabulary is acquired more naturally if students use it in full sentences, rather than memorizing word lists.
f. The purpose of language learning is communication (therefore students need to learn how to ask questions as well as answer them).
g. Pronunciation should be worked on right from the beginning of language instruction.
h. Self-correction facilitates language learning.
i. Lesson should contain some conversational activity-some opportunity for students to use language in real contexts. Students should be encouraged to speak as much as possible.
j. Grammar should be taught inductively. There may never be an explicit grammar rule given.
k. Writting is an important skill, to be developed from the begining of language instruction.
l. The syllabus is based on situations or topics, not usually on linguistic structure.
m. Learning another language also involves learning how speakers of thet language.

The Grammar-Translation Method

The Grammar-Translation Method is used for purpose of helping students read foreign language literature. The study of grammar of the target language, students would become more familiar with the grammar of their native language.
Reviewing the Techniques
- Translation of a literary passage
Students translate a reading passage from the target language into their native language. The translation may be written or spoken or both. Students should not translate idioms and the like literally, but rather in a way that shows that they understand their meaning.
-Reading comprehension questions
Students answer questions in target language based on their understanding of the reading passage.
-Antonyms/synonims
Students are given one set of words and are asked to find antonyms in the reading passage.A similar exercise could be done by asking students to find synonims for particular set of words.
-Cognates
Students are taught to recognize cognates by learning the spelling or sound patterns that correspond between the languages. This techniques only be useful in language that share cognates.
-Deductive application of rule
In deductive, from patterns of language to examples.
-Fill-in-the-blanks
They fill in the blanks with new vocabulary items or with items of a particular grammar type.
-Memorization
Students are given lists of target language vocabulary words and their native language equivalents and are asked to memorize them.
-Use words in sentences
Students make up sentences in which they use the new words.
-Composition
The teacher gives the students a ttopic to write about in the target language. The topic is based upon some aspect of the reading passage of the lesson.