ASSIGNMENT THREE

CELTA 5

JUNE, 2014
INTERNATIONAL HOUSE LONDON
MARIE WILLOUGHBY

Word Count: 871

Skills related Task

1. Introduction:

This assignment is based on the four language skills in English; listening, speaking, reading and
writing. I will briefly outline what these are and discuss how they can be practiced using an
authentic material (an article). The receptive skills are (reading and listening skills) where
language is acquired and meaning is extracted, and productive skills are (writing and speaking
skills) where language is produced. Note that extracting meaning is an active process requiring a
degree of engagement (Harmer, 2007: 265).

2. Choice of article and level of students (upper- intermediate)

The authentic text for this assignment is a newspaper article called ‘Family Feuds- or just lunch
*. This article would be aimed at upper-intermediate level due to the complexity of grammatical
structure such as (I’ve make, had enough, we are always having, get used to doing ...etc.). Also,
the type of vocabulary used in the text such as (feuds, justified, interrogate, priority …etc). In
addition to the use of complex expressions such as (to be honest, despite the noise, I hardly ever
get…etc. Also, the article has relevance to everyday life, which could be useful inside as well as
outside the classroom. Scrivener held an opinion about reading tasks set in ELT classes; he wrote
‘real life purposes are not the only way of measuring the usefulness of classroom reading work. Often we
might train students in specific reading techniques or strategies, things that will help their future
reading, even if the immediate classroom work doesn’t itself reflect a real-life purpose.’ (J Scrivener
2005)

Also, the length of the article is a reasonable length for the students to be able to complete a
number of tasks from it, which will enable them to practice their receptive and productive skills
in depth. McNeil (1994) and Miller (2003) are of the opinion that authentic material can be used
as long as tasks are produced in accordance with the level of the students.

3. receptive and productive skills

Both receptive and productive skills contain further sub-skills and these consist of skimming
(fast reading to get gist), scanning (listening/reading for specific information), reading for
detailed information, predicting (deducting, inferring or speculating) and interpreting (by going
beyond meaning) (House et al 2011).

A. Generating interest in the topic of the text

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The aim of this stage is to generate interest and motivate learners through giving them a reason
to read and activate their schemata. We can introduce a task through showing students pictures or
a video in which we ask students to discuss what they have seen. Moreover, we can personalize
the task by relating it to their lives or experience by asking them what will the text be about.
Students at that stage are practicing speaking. According to Jack Richardson and D. Bohlke
(2011) personalization of tasks are very important because we are trying to centre our teaching
whenever possible to our students and their lives, goals and interests which can be achieved by
linking the context of our lessons to our students’ lives & involving them. See Appendix one

B. Pre-teach vocabulary

The aim of pre-teaching vocabulary is to prepare students for obstacles that might hinder their
understanding of the text. Moreover, it activates their schemata or existing knowledge to make
the encounter with new words more meaningful (Michael McCarthy (1990: 108). I have chosen
the most the words that might be difficult for learners they are: Feuds, impractical, justified,
essential, interrogate and priority.

C. skim reading ( for gist) to get general understanding of text

The aim of this task is for the students to practice skim reading for gist. For this task I will hand
the students the news article and set them a quick task for them to read through the article
quickly for gist. The students are asked to answer the following questions in 3 minutes and are
reminded that this task of gist reading/skimming requires them to quickly look through the article
and find only relevant information. See Appendix two

D. Detailed understanding of the text

For detailed reading and understanding of the text I will ask students to read the article again answering
the following questions, for this task I would give them about 10-15 minutes to work by themselves then
to check with the person beside them before doing feedback. See Appendix three

E. Follow up speaking task

The follow-up stages are often a reflection to the main topic (article). As Williams (2001) notes,
this can be an opportunity to reflect upon what has been read and relate it to the student’s pre-
existing knowledge, views or interests. See Appendix four

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I have picked two productive (writing and speaking) tasks which will lead into each other as part
of one main productive task. I’d put students in different groups than the ones they were working
in before and ask them to discuss what they thought of the article and what they learnt from what
they read. Once students have completed this task, I will ask them to take two minutes to prepare
for a classroom discussion. Students will then begin the discussion, each group summarising
what they spoke about. They would then write a brief paragraph of what they thought of the
article.

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References:

Creating Effective language Lessons by Richards & D. Bohlke (2011) Cambridge University
Press

Harmer, J. (2001) The Practice of English Language Teaching. Essex, England: Pearson
Longman

Harmer, J. (2007) The Practice of English Language Teaching. Essex, England: Pearson
Education Limited

McCarthy, M. (1990) Vocabulary Oxford University press

McNeill, A. (1994). What Makes Authentic Materials Different? The Case of English Language
Materials for Educational Television. Papers presented at the Annual International Language in
Education Conference, Hong Kong.

Miller, L. (2003). Developing listening skills with authentic materials. ESL Magazine, 6 (1), 16-
19.

San House et al (2011) ‘DIDACTICA DEL INGLES: Classroom practice’.

Scrivener, Jim (2005) ‘Learning Teaching’ 2nd edition. Oxford.

Williams, E. (1996) Reading in the Language Classroom. Hemel Hempstead, England.

1. Google images

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Appendix one

Lead in:

Look at the following pictures and describe to your partner what you see (3minutes)

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Appendix two:

Gist task:

2) Answer the following questions about the article you have:

1) Is the article mainly about meals in general or family meals? (Family meals)

2) Do you think this is a positive or negative article? (Negative)

3) What do you think this article is about? How do you know that ? (It is about family meals and
how do different people feel about them). I know that from the title and the picture at the bottom.

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Appendix three

Detailed reading task:

o Answer the following questions after reading the article

1) What does the article say about eating habits in general? (ans: that they have changed
and many families no longer eat together on a regular basis ’)
2) What much time do parents talk now to their children a day? (ans: they talk to them
for an average of 12 minutes a day.’)
3) What does Gerry think of family meals? (ans: He finds them impractical and
undesirable ’)
4) How does James feel about family dinner? (ans: ‘he feels that meal times are
important point of a family contact .’)
5) What about Ben and Angel’s routine for the family meals? (ans: ‘they try yo get their
four children around the table for at least half an hour )