UNIT 10: INDEPENDENT, SELF-DIRECTED, AND SELF- REGULATED LEARNERS

A teacher needs to keep in mind that self-regulating learning deals with self-awareness and self-motivation, those allow students to apply their knowledge and skills in an accurate way (Weimer, 2013). Some research has stated that self –regulating gives students the chance to achieve success due to the freedom in their learning process as they are able to choose the best way in their learning process in order to get a better learning result. In this section a self-regulated learner can manage time effectively, set own goals and strategies in the learning process.  

As a conclusion, we as English teachers need to encourage our individuals to become autonomous learners, in other words, independent learners. An independent learner are able to take an active role into the learning process. Furthermore, the role of an effective teacher is to be just a guide of students, because they are the ones that need to work. 

Video: in this video self-learning is developed.  

Sources:

-          Davidson Films, Inc. (2010, July 24). Scaffolding Self-Regulated Learning in Primary Classrooms (Davidson Films, Inc.) . Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeUUJ7SrMVg

-          Weimer, M. (2013). Learner-Centered Teaching:Five Key Changes to Practice (Second ed.). John Wiley & Sons.

  UNIT 9: CONSTRUCTIVISM

It is an approach in which students need to take an active role in their learning process. In other words here students are the ones that construct their knowledge by being active participants in tasks and activities that promotes interaction. Something important in this section is the collaborative learning; when individuals practice group working, they are sharing knowledge, ideas, beliefs, and experiences in order to get a better result or solution to a stated problem. On the contrary, Piaget (as cited in Gail & Brader, 2002) argues that building knowledge includes the incorporation of new information into the previous knowledge we have.

In this approach, the teacher doesn’t provide anything to students. Instead, are the students the ones that discover and build knowledge, by using this approach learners will develop problem solving and critical thinking easily. Furthermore, the role of the teacher is crucial, as he or she provides guidance or model in order to create the appropriate environment in which learners can work freely with their peers.

Video: in this video we can find the constructivism in Piaget`s theory.

Sources:

-       

-          Gail, M., & Brader, L. (2002). The Impact of Constructivism on Education: Language,. American Communication Journal. Retrieved from http://ac-journal.org/journal/vol5/iss3/special/jones.pdf

-          Myers, J. (2016, February 19). Piaget's Constructivist Theory . Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNuPVHIbjP0

UNIT 8: SPEAKING

It is one of the productive skills, it involves not only listening and reading, but also producing the language (Thornbury, S. 2005). When we speak, we often do, intonation, hesitation, paraphrasing, use grammar and lexis, smile, etc. This skill involves several subskills, functions, connected speech, interactive strategies, fluency, and self-correction. The activities within a speaking lesson often follow this pattern: the lead-in or the introduction to the topic, practice activities, where the student has the chance to produce the language, and post-task activities or the free speaking about the learnt topic.

When learners are immerse into a context, they are going to develop communication, it means using the language in real situations to express ideas. It is the best way to encourage students to promote communication. By creating some tasks teacher stimulates learners to use the target language, some interactive activities include role plays, debates, interviews, games and conversations. This kind of activities give students the opportunity to be creative and confident with the use of language. Some activities can be done in groups in order to develop cooperation and interaction.  

Video: in this video individuals will learn some games in the speaking skill.   

Sources:

-          Spratt M., Pulverness A. & Willians M. (2011). The TKT course.Modules 1,2,3. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press

-          Thornbury, S., (2005). How to Teach Speaking. Pearson

-Bolen, J. (2015, June 2). ESL Speaking: Board Games. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w77wZLq0vpY

UNIT 7: LISTENING

One of the most important of the receptive skills is listening, here we have to deal with the understanding of units of language by listening. Some examples of listening can be: news, talks, lectures, music, etc. Through listening individuals acquire language. When listening we have to be careful, due to its difficultness, talking about pronunciation, speed of delivery, repetition, idioms, slangs, contractions, reduced forms, and hesitation. (Clare, A. 2008). To understand spoken language facial expressions or gestures must be considered. Furthermore, when developing a task it is important to use the stages: pre-listening, while-listening and post-listening, to get a good result in this skill. 

Teachers can use activities to develop different listening subskills, for example, listening for gist or listening for specific details. By listening to a story, an explanation or a song students will have the opportunity to listen in a more relaxed way. Students will develop better the listening skill if they feel comfortable with the activity.  

Video: here we can find interesting ways to improve the different listening subskills. 

Sources:

-          Spratt M., Pulverness A. & Willians M. (2011). The TKT course.Modules 1,2,3. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press

-          Clare, A. (2008). Receptive Skills. Pearson Education.

eHowEducation. (2013, February 27). Ice Breakers for Active Listening : Teaching & Learning Styles . Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RatORMzBY4s

UNIT 6: WRITING

In this unit it is presented one of the productive skills: writing. It is one of the most difficult skills, due to its complexity when creating pieces of writing, as it involves joining words, sentences, and paragraphs but with coherence which deals with logical organization and sense, and cohesion which deals with organization in terms of grammar (Harmer, J. 2004).  Another aspects that we have to keep in mind at the time of writing is the register and the layout. Indeed we have the stages of writing: drafting, editing, proofreading, and re-drafting. By applying the stages correctly, learners will have a successful result in writing. 

To help students to improve their writing skills, we found some useful activities like: creating a story by using a sequence of pictures, through it students will help themselves to write in a more simple a fun way. The employment of a sequence of pictures gives stimulus to write by following the pictures. This is an activity that helps learners to develop vocabulary awareness. The role of an effective teacher is to guide students by supporting their writing skills with useful prompting and materials.

Video: It includes some promts in order to improve the writing skill ( WaysAndHow , 2013).

Sources:

-          Spratt M., Pulverness A. & Willians M. (2011). The TKT course.Modules 1,2,3. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press

-          Harmer, J., (2004). How to Teach Writing. Pearson

-          WaysAndHow. (2013, June 5). How to improve you English Writing Skills. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0djjrCxuJk

UNIT 5: READING

Here we found that reading can be a complex process as we should have the capacity to comprehend language structure, which means; words and sentences and how a text expresses meaning.  In this section we are going to notice how a learner will deduce meaning of a certain vocabulary item from context. In this unit, I was dealing with the different reading subskills: reading for specific information, reading for gist, deducing meaning from context, and predicting. Something useful in this section is the use of graded readers, which goes according to students´ level, so they will be more comfortable at the time of reading a text.

A good idea to inspire students to read is by getting them associated with updated and creative activities, and it will help them to enhance their vocabulary, as well (Duke and Moses, 2003). By reading we learn a lot of vocabulary and start understanding unknown words by employing context. When choosing a piece of reading, it is important to take into account students´ needs and a catching topic. To develop reading skills a teacher will create exercises like: matching, open questions, fill in blanks, etc. In order to get a better result a teacher may follow the reading stages. 

Sources:

-          Spratt M., Pulverness A. & Willians M. (2011). The TKT course.Modules 1,2,3. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press

-          Duke, N., & Moses, A. (2003). Teacher scholastic. com. Retrieved from http://teacher.scholastic.com/products/readingline/pdfs/ProfessionalPaper.pdf

UNIT 4: FUNCTIONS

In this unit functions of language are the main point. We are going to define functions as the main reason with the purpose of communication. Functions of language represent the intention of the doer; the one that is communicating (Peregoy & Boyle, 2003). For example we can use the functions of language when thanking, apologizing, and greeting. In order to express functions, we use exponents. Exponents also works with the situation and can express the different levels of formality. Depending on the individual we are addressing, formal or informal language could be used.

We as English teachers should encourage learners to use the language appropriately, since it is vital to make a contrast in the correct use of language, for instance, when a kid talks to a teacher, conversely while talking to a friend. Another case is the point at which we as teachers teach students how to write something formal: a report, or how to write something informal: a letter. So, students are forced to look for appropriate words and use them according to the context, situation or circumstance. An effective teacher may use examples, in order to elicit an answer in learners. (Give students a phrase like: good morning, and ask them for the function of it) 

Sources:

-          Spratt M., Pulverness A. & Willians M. (2011). The TKT course.Modules 1,2,3. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press

-          Peregoy, S., & Boyle, O. (2003). Reading writing and learning in ESL. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education Inc.

UNIT 3: PHONOLOGY

It is the study of the sound characteristics of a language (Spratt, M. Pulverness, A. Williams, M, 2014). Spoken English sounds are made up of many smaller sound units, called phonemes: small pieces of sound are the “building blocks of words.” When producing English sounds, it is vital to take into account the most important parts of the mouth: lips, teeth, tongue, and different parts of the top of the mouth. English sounds are divided into two groups; consonants and vowels.  Consonants depend on the place of articulation: where the sound is produced, the manner of articulation: airflow to make a sound, and vocal chords that produce sound or not. Vowels are all voiced and depend on the placement of the tongue in the mouth. In the transcription of words we found phonemic symbols, and word stress.

In my opinion, songs and videos can be used in a classroom in order to help students to practice and produce more characteristic sounds, for example: stress and intonation, and also ask learners to do repetition of models, and minimal pairs. With this activity students are asked to pay attention to the words with similar sounds. For example: thing and think. Through practice learners develop phonological consciousness.

Sources:

-          Spratt M., Pulverness A. & Willians M. (2011). The TKT course.Modules 1,2,3. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press

-          Virginia Department of education. (1998). Ideas and activities for developing phonological awareness skills. Retrieved from http://www.senia.asia/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/phonological-awareness-by-Lyon.pdf

UNIT 2: LEXIS

Lexis refers to words: the vocabulary of a language which have a specific meaning. Words have different kinds of meaning, the one that describes the thing behind the vocabulary and the other one that describes the figurative meaning. Vocabulary units come from their form, like affixation, compounds, and compound nouns. Some words occur together such as collocations and idioms, those are chunks: fixed units that we learn as one piece.  Words also have different relationships among them in the case of synonyms, or antonyms which may be part of the same lexical set or belong to the same word family. False friends, homophones, homonyms are other ways in which words can be related (Spratt, M. Pulverness, A. Williams, M, 2014). A complete knowledge of a word involves the understanding of its meaning and form, this process starts with its meaning, spelling and pronunciation.

The role of an effective teacher is to encourage students to acquire knowledge, by implementing teaching strategies. In this chapter new vocabulary items will be introduced in a class by using visual elements. Here it is vital to use real objects whenever possible, for example: sounds, smells, and tastes. By using and discovering students´ learning styles a teacher will appeal to all of his or her students’ senses. In addition, introduced new vocabulary should be used for students, by giving learners the opportunity to put into practice and to use lexis.  

Sources:

-          Spratt M., Pulverness A. & Willians M. (2011). The TKT course.Modules 1,2,3. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press

-     Lackman, K. (2011). Lexical Approach Activities. Retrieved from http://kenlackman.com/files/LexicalActivitiesBook102.pdf

UNIT 1: GRAMMAR

This unit is fundamentally about grammar, which is a really important part at the time of learning a language as it helps learners to combine, to organize, and to change parts of words to make meaning. Grammar is used unconsciously when speaking, reading, listening, and writing. Talking about grammatical terms presented in speech or writing we found: parts of speech, grammatical structures, affixation, and cores of words. The context is another key point. By it learners are going to notice meaning. Furthermore, grammar rules describe written language and the ways in which the language works.

Knowledge will be applied by using catching activities like games.  These are useful tools in which students can practice affixation for example. By writing on the board some base forms, and giving students some prefixes and suffixes in different colors, learners will create new words inductively. According to Thornbury (1999), an inductive approach (rule-discovery) starts with some examples from which a rule is inferred. In other words the inductive teaching approach is a kind of learning by discovering, indeed it has as the main point the focusness on the student.  

Sources:

-          Spratt M., Pulverness A. & Willians M. (2011). The TKT course.Modules 1,2,3. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press

-

-          Thornbury, S., (1999). How to Teach Grammar. Pearson

Grammar Games. (2012). Grammar Games 1. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kB-OiIePGk