| R |
| Reading
for gist |
An
important reading
skill. It involves reading a passage to get a general idea
of what it’s about, but not worrying about understanding the
complete content or every specific idea.
For example, students could read a review of a pop stars’
latest CD and decide if the reviewer’s opinion is generally favourable
or unfavourable.
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| Reading
skills |
Some
of the most important reading
skills are:
Click on the relevant skill for more detailed information.
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| Realia |
Real
objects which are used in the classroom.
Example:
To teach your students words for fruit, you could take an
apple, a pear, some grapes, etc. into the classroom.
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| Receptive
/ Productive language skills |
Reading
and listening
are the two examples of receptive language skills -
students are not required to produce new language.
Speaking
and writing
are the two examples of productive language skills -
when they speak and write, students have to produce new
language.
See also Recognition
/ Production.
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| Recognition
/ Production |
Reading
and listening
are recognition activities. The students are not
required to create language, they only have to understand the
language that is given to them.
Speaking
and writing
are production activities - the students are creating
language.
Language learners can usually recognize much more than they
can produce.
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| Recycling |
See
Review
/ Revision / Reinforcement / Recycling.
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| Register |
The
different ways of using the language according to the
situation.
Example:
Asking someone to open the door for you.
- I wonder if I could ask you to open the door?
- Could I ask you to open the door?
- Would you mind opening the door?
- Could you open the door?
- Open the door!
- 1 and 2 are really only appropriate for formal
situations – with people you don’t know and who are in
positions of respect or authority.
- 3 is appropriate for semi-formal or informal situations
where politeness is important.
- 4 is only appropriate for informal situations.
- 5 is only appropriate if you want to show that you’re
angry, or in a hurry!
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| Reinforcement |
See
Review
/ Revision / Reinforcement / Recycling.
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| Review
/ Revision / Reinforcement / Recycling |
Reinforcement
is the practice which you give your students after the main
presentation and practice.
Review is when the students practice the language again
at the end of the unit or set of units. Sometimes this is
referred to as consolidation.
In British English, Revision is the practice which you
give your students to prepare them for tests and exams.
Recycling is when students see for a second time the
language that was presented earlier in the course, or in a
previous course.
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| Revision |
See
Review
/ Revision / Reinforcement / Recycling.
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| Role
play |
An
important fluency
activity. Students act out conversations in which they have a
certain role.
Role plays can be guided or free.
Guided role plays:
Students follow instructions for simple dialogues:
Example:
Student A: Invite Student B to a movie tonight.
Student B: Say you can’t go and give a reason.
Student A: Suggest another time.
Student B: Accept and thank Student A.
Free role plays:
Students have instructions for the situation, but they develop
the dialogue in their own way.
Example:
Student A: You are Ricky. You’re fourteen. You really
want to go to a rock concert with your friends on Saturday
evening. The concert finishes at 11 o’clock. Ask your mother
or father for permission.
Student B: You are Ricky’s mother or father. You
don’t want Ricky to go to the concert because:
- you don’t approve of rock concerts
- the concert finishes late
- Ricky has a lot of homework
- you don’t approve of Ricky’s friends.
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| Rote
learning |
In
ELT,
this involves learning memorization without any situation to
make the meaning of the language clear.
Examples:
- Learning declensions of verbs:
I go, You go, He goes, etc.
I don’t go, You don’t go, He doesn’t go, etc.
Do I go...?, Do you go...?, Does he go...? etc.
- Learning vocabulary groups with translation:
table mesa
chair silla
desk escritorio
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|
| S |
| Scanning |
One
of the most important reading
skills - learners search a text quickly for specific
information.
An example of scanning in real life is looking quickly
through the headlines of newspaper for articles of interest.
Example:
A typical scanning exercise in class:
1. Students are given a story about a celebrity.
2. First they read ten questions such as:
- What is the name of the celebrity?
- Where was he?
- Who did he talk to?
3. Then they look quickly at the text to find the
answers.
Always give a time limit for scanning activities to ensure
that the students don’t try to read the text word by
word.
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| Semi-authentic
material |
This
is authentic
material which has been:
1. Adapted for use in the classroom.
2. Specially written for classroom use, but which has
the style and format of authentic material.
Typical adaptations include:
- making the sentences shorter
- simplifying the vocabulary
- removing complex grammar.
Semi-authentic material should still keep the basic
“look” and format of authentic material.
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| Silent
period |
With
a silent period, students are exposed to the new
language but they don’t have to produce it immediately.
Examples:
- Students may see the new language in a reading text and
answer comprehension questions about it.
- They may listen to tapes containing the new language and
talk about the content of the tapes.
When a silent period is rigidly applied, the students don’t
have to produce the new language until they want to.
A silent period gives the students a chance to get familiar
with the new structure and understand it before producing it.
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| Skills |
The
four skills are:
Reading and listening (the receptive
skills).
Speaking and writing (the productive
skills).
Each skill is in fact a mixture of different skills. See the
following:
Reading
skills
Writing
skills
Listening
skills
Speaking
skills
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| Skimming |
An
important reading
skill - learners read for the general content of a text.
An example of skimming in real life is when we look
through an article to get a general idea of what it’s about,
before reading in detail.
Example in class:
1. Students are given a newspaper article to read.
2. They have to answer these questions:
- Is it a story about a) a crime, b) a rescue, c) an
accident?
- Is it a story about a) a lot of people, b) a lot of
animals, c) one person?
Always give a time limit for skimming exercises, to ensure
that the students don’t try to read the passage word by
word.
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| SLA |
Second
Language Acquisition – the general term for learning a
second language, used mostly in theoretical and academic
articles and books.
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| Speaking
skills |
Some
speaking skills which are useful for our students are:
- use of position holders
- appropriate use of register
- making a speech.
The field of speaking skills is not so clearly defined as
the other three skills.
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| Structural
syllabus |
A
syllabus (or program) which is based principally on a sequence
of grammatical structures.
The syllabus generally starts from the simplest structures
(usually the present simple of the verb to be) and
moves on to more complex structures, such as present simple,
past simple, present continuous, past continuous,
conditionals, and so on.
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| Structural-situational
approach |
This
approach has two basic elements:
- A graded
sequence of grammatical structures, usually starting with
the verb to be and progressing through present simple,
past simple, etc.
- A situation or context for each new structure that makes
the meaning clear.
Example:
Future use of going to could be presented with a
character drawn on the board and a set of picture cues to show
his plans for the weekend.
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| STT |
STT
= Student Talking Time
Teachers with good classroom
management skills make sure that class activities are
always designed to maximize STT.
These activities could be:
- production and practice of L2
- requests for clarification, which can be in either L1
or L2,
as appropriate.
A related concept is TTT
(Teacher Talking Time).
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| Student-centered
/ Teacher-centered |
In
a teacher-centered class, the focus is on what the
teacher is doing and saying.
In a student-centered class, the focus is on what the
students are doing and saying.
Students need student-centered activities to practice and use
the language.
But a class must also have some teacher-centered activities to
provide structure, discipline and input.
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| Summarizing |
Summarizing
is an example of integrating skills. Students read a text and
identify the main points, then use those main points to write
a summary (a much shorter version of the text) containing only
the essential information.
Example:
Students read a text of about 250 words about the contemporary
music scene and summarize the information in 100 words.
Summarizing is a complex activity for use with higher level
classes in the Young adult/Adult age group.
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| Syntax |
The
grammatical rules or systems of a language.
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