2. Listening is thelanguage skill whichlearners usually find themostdifficult. This oftenis
because theyfeel under unnecessary pressure tounderstand every word.Toachieve theaims
related tothisskill, theteacher playsan importantrole thatis defined inthe followingsteps.
1. Itis importanttohelp pupilsprepare for thelistening taskwell before theyhear thetext
itself. First ofall, theteacher must ensure thatthepupilsunderstand thelanguage they
need tocompletethe taskandare fully aware ofexactly whatis expected ofthem.
Reassure thepupils thattheydonotneedtounderstandevery wordtheyhear.
2. Thenext importantstepis toencourage pupils toanticipate what theyare goingto
hear. Ineveryday life, thesituation, thespeaker,and visual clues all help ustodecode
oral messages. Away tomake thingsa biteasier tothepupilsis topresent thelistening
activity within thecontextofthetopic ofa teachingunit.This in itself will helppupils
topredictwhatthe answers mightbe.Theteacher canhelp themfurther byasking
questionsand usingthe illustrations toencourage pupils toguesstheanswers even
before theyhear thetext.
3. Duringthe listening thepupilsshould beable to concentrate onunderstandingthe
message so make sure theyare nottryingtoread, draw,andwriteat thesame time.
Always give asecond chance tolisten tothetexttoprovidea new opportunitytothose
whowere notabletodothe task.
4. Finally, when pupilshave completedthe activity,invite answers fromthewhole class.
Trynottoputindividual pupils underunduepressure. Rather thanconfirming whether
an answer iscorrect or not,playthecassette again andallow pupils tolisten again for
confirmation. Youmay begiven a variety ofanswers, in whichcase list them all onthe
boardandplay thetextagain, sothattheclass can listen andchoosethe correct one.
Even if thepupilsall appear tohave completedthe tasksuccessfully, always encourage
themtolisten tothetextonce moreand checktheir answers forthemselves.
Speaking
First ofall, wemust takeinto accountthatthelevel oflanguage input(listening) mustbe higher
thanthelevel oflanguage productionexpectedof thepupils.Sowehave many speaking
3. activities usedin thefirst levels thatenable pupilstoparticipate witha minimal verbal
response. However,in thelast levels, pupilsare encouraged tobegin tomanipulate language
andexpress themselves in amuch more personal way.
Inprimary andmiddle schoolstwomain typesof speakingactivities are used.The first type,
songs,chants,andpoems, encourages pupils tomimic the modelthey hearon thecassette. This
helps pupilstomaster thesounds,rhythms,andintonation ofthe Englishlanguage through
simple reproduction.The gamesandpairworkactivities ontheother hand,althoughalways
basedon agiven model,encourage the pupilstobegintomanipulate thelanguage by
presenting themwitha certain amount ofchoice, albeit withina fairly controlled situation.
Inorder forany speakingactivity tobe successful children need toacknowledgethatthere is a
real reason for askinga questionor givinga piece ofinformation. Therefore, make sure the
activities youpresent tothepupils,providea reason forspeaking, whetherthisis toplay agame
ortofind outreal information aboutfriends in theclass.
Oncethe activity begins,make sure thatthechildren are speakingas much English aspossible
withoutinterfering tocorrect themistakes thattheywill probablymake.Try totreaterrors
casually bypraising theutterance andsimply repeating itcorrectly withoutnecessarily
highlightingthe errors.Andfinally, always offer praise for effortregardless oftheaccuracy of
theEnglish produced.
Reading
Inorder tomake reading aninteresting challenge as opposedtoatediouschore,it is important
thatpupilsdonotlabor overevery word,whethertheyare skimming thetextfor general
meaning or scanning ittopickoutspecific information. Otherthingstokeepin mind are:
4. 1. Whenchoosing textsconsider notonlytheir difficulty level, butalso their interestor
their mood sothatchildren will wanttoread forthe same reasons they read in their
ownlanguage: tobeentertained ortofind outsomethingtheydonotalready know.
2. Aswith listening activities, it is importanttospendtime preparing for thetaskbyusing
theillustrations (ausual feature in reading activities forchildren), pupils'own
knowledgeaboutthesubject matter,andkey vocabulary tohelpthepupils topredict
thegeneral contentofthetext.Discuss thesubject andask questionstoelicit language
andtostimulate thepupils'interest in thetextbefore theybeginreading. Alsomake sure
thatthepupils understandtheessential vocabulary theyneed tocompletethe task
before theybegintoread.
3. While thechildren are reading thetext,move aroundtheclass providing supportif
pupilsneed it.Where possible,encourage pupils toworkoutthemeaning ofvocabulary
as theycome across it,using thecontextandthe supportingillustrations.
4. Donotencourage pupilsto read textsaloud unless this is tolearn a playorrecite apoem.
Reading aloud inhibitsmost pupilsandforces them toconcentrate onwhattheyare
saying as opposedtowhattheyarereading and themeaning is very oftenlost.
Writing
Inprimary schools,pupilsprogress fromwriting isolated wordsandphrases, toshort
paragraphs aboutthemselves oraboutvery familiar topics (family, home,hobbies,friends,
food,etc.)
Since many pupilsatthis level are notyet capable either linguistically orintellectually of
creating a piece ofwrittentext fromscratch, itis important thattime isspent buildingupthe
language theywill need andprovidinga model onwhichtheycan thenbase their ownefforts.
Thewriting activities shouldtherefore bebased onaparallel textandguide thepupils,using
simple cues. These writingactivities generally appeartowardsthe endofa unitso thatpupils
have hadplentyof exposuretothelanguage and practice ofthemain structures andvocabulary
theyneed.
5. Atthisstage, thepupils'workwill invariably contain mistakes. Again,theteacher shouldtry to
besensitive in his/her correction andnotnecessarily insist onevery error being highlighted.A
piece ofwritten workcoveredin red penis demoralizing andgenerally counter-productive.
Where possible,encourage pupils tocorrecttheir ownmistakes as theywork.