ENGLISH LANGUAGE

TEACHING METHODOLOGY
AND LEARNING STRATEGIES

UNIT 2
Profesora: Luca balos lvarez

INDEX
1.

ESL RESOURCES AND TEACHING THE FOUR SKILLS

2.

SUBJECT GUIDANCE

3.

ESL RESOURCES AND TEACHING THE FOUR SKILLS

3.1. TEACHING THE FOUR SKILLS
3.2. ESL RESOURCES

4. BIBLIOGRAPHY
5. USEFUL WEBSITES

ESL RESOURCES AND

TEACHING THE FOUR SKILLS
2.1. TEACHING THE FOUR SKILLS
Sequencing of activities
Teaching the four skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing
2.2. ESL RESOURCES

Teaching strategies: types of materials and resources

2. SUBJECT GUIDANCE
The teacher will:
make oral presentations in class;
propose questions for debate or discussion;
carry out online tutorials to answer students questions, doubts,
etc.
The students are expected to participate:
in class: answering questions, participating in debates or
discussions,
working in groups, join in the activities
at home: preparing the activities assigned by the teacher and
study.

3. TEACHING THE FOUR SKILLS

Pre-listening
Teacher sets the topic and finds out the students
expectations by having a discussion with them. Find
out previous knowledge and teach key words!

3. TEACHING THE FOUR SKILLS

While-listening
The student performs a task designed by the
teacher to develop listening strategies. Tasks can
be extensive (global understanding) or intensive
(specific search for sounds, words, facts...). Check
how they are doing!
Post-listening
The students perform tasks connecting what they
have listened to with their own personal
experiences (comparing, inventing a dialogue,
practising pronunciation, performing role-plays,
writing a summary...)

3. TEACHING THE FOUR SKILLS

LISTENING
We can best teach listening by replicating the mother tongue

situation as closely as possible at the early stages, by exposing

the students to as much language as possible without requiring
them to speak.

The central role is comprehension, rather than practice.

Pre-reading
Motivate the students by relating the
topic to their personal experiences.
Ask them to predict the content.

While-reading
The teacher gives the students points
to search for: getting the general idea
or look for specific information.

Post-reading
Reading comprehension questions,
summaries, a discussion...

3. TEACHING THE FOUR SKILLS

READING
The goal is to enable the students to cope with a variety of texts

which are useful to them.

They need to be able to read comprehensively:

Skimming
Scanning

(obtaining the general idea)

(locating specific information)

We should teach them how to read out loud, listening to others not
to get lost and how to do silent reading (levelled books)

Imitation
Chorusing is very useful because she encourages
the shyest students.

Practice
The teacher organises the students in pairs or
groups to practice the verbal form presented. The
activities are controlled by the teacher. The objective
is the correct learning of the structures/
sounds/grammar points

Free production
The students have to put into practice what they
have learnt in a creative way, without the teachers
control.
Its a real communicative activity.

3. TEACHING THE FOUR SKILLS

SPEAKING
The aim of oral production is to speak fluently.
The students should be able to express their ideas with clarity, considerable
correction and without hesitating too much.
There are often periods of silence which cannot be interpreted as learning
absence. The ability to speak with fluency emerges independently with time,
after the learner has built up linguistic competence by understanding input.

In the first levels we should focus on accuracy: pronunciation, structures and

vocabulary must be learnt in the correct way.
At advanced stages we should focus on fluency: discursive competence is the
aim at this stages.

Copying
It reinforces spellings and structures
It helps to retain words.

Controlled practice
Guided activities (sequencing sentences,
spelling, dictations, writing sentences with
given words...) and sentence connectors
(because, but, and, so...)

Production
It should be guided (organise ideas,
vocabulary, structures...)

3. TEACHING THE FOUR SKILLS

WRITING

Developing writing skills should move from the spelling level to more complex
tasks that involve students in the production of guided and freer texts.

The final goal is to achieve effective communication at an elementary level.

3. ESL RESOURCES
Types of materials:

Visual, written, auditory,

course book, authentic,
adapted, students-produced,
students as material...

3. ESL RESOURCES
VISUAL MATERIALS:
They shorten the gap between the real world and the classroom, they
encourage the transmission of contents of language and they
motivate the students.

Flashcards

Posters

Friezes

Displays

3. ESL RESOURCES
WORD FLASHCARDS & PICTURE FLASHCARDS
Functions:

They help understand the message,

They are motivating
They can be used at different stages of the lesson (presentation,
practice, production, revision, eliciting, games...)

3. ESL RESOURCES
FRIEZES, DISPLAYS, POSTERS
Functions:

They create an English atmosphere,

They are motivating
Students can glance at them and revise language taught earlier
They can be used to present complex language points
They can be used for revision

3. ESL RESOURCES
WRITTEN MATERIALS:

We have to master in both oral and written skills to learn a

language,
In real life we need to read and write,
It reinforces the learning of oral communication

3. ESL RESOURCES
WORKSHEETS
Functions:

They can be used for moral and written practice

They consolidate functions, vocabulary, pronunciation...
They promote autonomous learning

3. ESL RESOURCES
WRITTEN TEXTS
Functions:

They provide written input

They enable the teacher to introduce new aspects of language
vocabulary, structures, discourse patterns...
They provide reading comprehension practice, pronunciation
practice and silent reading

http://luciaabalos.weebly.com/spreadingmotivation.html

3. ESL RESOURCES
AUDITORY MATERIALS:
THE TEACHERS OWN VOICE IS THE MOST POWERFUL
AUDITORY AID IN THE CLASSROOM.

How to speak:

Expressive language (vary the tone and the speed)

Gestures and body language
Simple constructions at the beginning
Move mouth and lips clearly for them to imitate
Pauses, repetitions, rephrasing
Surprise them!
Praise and encouragement

3. ESL RESOURCES
COURSE BOOK
Textbooks are a resource for teachers, but they shouldnt be the only
one.
Teachers should ask themselves the following questions about
textbooks:
Do we want to use a textbook?
Will it help our teaching practice?
Will the children learn with it?
Do we have to adapt contents/methods?
Do we have to change the contents/methods?
Do we have to omit whats irrelevant?

3. ESL RESOURCES
AUTHENTIC
They include any genuine item in English. The language has not been
selected or graded.
Songs
Podcasts
Nursery rhymes
Jokes
Extracts from TV, radio, magazines...
Charts and maps
Timetables and schedules
Brochures
Videos

3. ESL RESOURCES
ADAPTED
They are materials specifically designed for the teaching of English as
a foreign language, so language has been selected and graded.
Higher level of
competence

More authentic materials

Lower level of
competence

More adapted materials

4. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Hall, J. & Verplaetse, L. (Eds.) (2000). Second and foreign

language learning through classroom interaction. Mahwah, NJ:
Erlbaum.
Harmer, J. (2007). The practice of English language teaching
(4th ed.). Essex, England: Pearson Longman ELT.
Matterson, E. (1991). This Little Puffin. London: Puffin Books.

5. USEFUL WEBSITES
http://luciaabalos.weebly.com/
http://www.lakeshorelearning.com
http://www.sparklebox.co.uk/
http://www.mes-english.com/
http://www.mrthornedoesphonics.
com/
http://voki.com/
http://www.tagxedo.com/
http://classtools.net
http://quizlet.com

http://www.jigsawplanet.com
http://www.propofs.com/games/
http://schoolexpress.com
http://www.wikispaces.com/
http://www.blogger.com
http://www.gliffy.com/
http://voki.com/
http://www.wordle.net/
http://www.tagxedo.com/
http://wallwisher.com/
http://phpwebquest.org/my/