Top 10 English-as-a-Second-Language Teaching Methods with Activities

1 FVR - Free Voluntary Reading FVR is simply allowing students to read materials of their own choosing without the pressure of rewards, book reports or testing. FVR is the best way for the student to improve their language skills (L1 or L2) on their own. The pioneer of FVR and its research is Stephen D. Krashen. Practicing FVR improves "reading competence, our vocabulary, and our ability to handle complex grammatical constructions". Some teachers, including myself, doubt that the students will actually read during the allotted time. To create a positive environment for FVR success, teachers should provide "access to interesting reading (materials) in the classroom..., read while students are reading and... (make) efforts to promote and discuss certain books". Activity: Teachers provide time, space and a variety of materials for students to read. Students should also be allowed to bring their own materials if they desire. According to Krashen's research, to facilitate the best results, it's best to provide this time slot for FVR on a long term basis.

Reference: S. Krashen, interview, Presented at PAC5 (Pan-Asian Conference), Vladivostok, Russia, June 24, 2004. Electronically retrieved on March 25, 2008. http://www.sdkrashen.com/articles/pac5/all.html

2 Participatory Learning Participatory Learning is allowing the students to offer ideas and feedback about what goes on in the classroom. "What it means is that the teacher shares power and encourages student input into many areas of classroom life over which the teacher has traditionally made all the decisions-planning lessons, choosing themes and issues, deciding how knowledge will be arrived at and imparted, and so forth." (Richard-Amato p.74) Participatory Learning empowers the student and thus increases their intrinsic motivation to participate in classroom activities. This provides a better learning environment in the classroom for all the students and the teacher. Activity: When playing a game such as Scattergories, students are asked to provide suggestions for the list of topics they will use in the game and the order in which they would like them to appear. The teacher can also ask if the students would like to play for points to determine a winner or for no points-just for fun. Students are also allowed to create their own English team names and choose team members.

3 Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) CLIL is "both learning another (content) subject...through the medium of a foreign language and learning a foreign language by studying a content-based subject". An advantage to the CLIL method is that students increase their knowledge of the L2 while increasing their knowledge of another subject. Often, L2 learning materials are very "Dick and Jane" and not relevant or interesting to the student. The use of a CLIL designed curriculum will hopefully increase the students intrinsic motivation by making class more interesting. Teachers may be hesitant to incorporate CLIL into curriculums as it requires the teacher to be or become somewhat of an expert on another subject. Activity: A friend of mine is hosting and creating the curriculum for an English language immersion week overseas for Korean university students. This will be taking place in the Philippines. She has decided to employ CLIL as the basis for the curriculum. All classes will be based on Philippino history and current events. As well students will be eating Philippino food, doing Philippino arts and crafts and going on excursions to see the sites in the Philippines. All classes and activities are conducted in English.

Reference: Darn, Steve (20th January, 2006) Content and Language Integrated Learning. Retrieved March 25, 2008, from http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/think/methodology/clil.shtml

4 Total Physical Response (TPR) "In the 1960's, James Asher first offered" (Richard-Amato) TPR. TPR "involves giving commands to which students react." (Richard-Amato) TPR is great for all ages and especially beginners as it allows them to learn the L2, while giving them time to maximize the potential of their silent period. Commands are 1^st given by the teacher and then it's possible to let students give the commands. "The lessons themselves are not focused on grammar; instead they are focused on meaning". (Richard-Amato) TPR answers the question of what to do with absolute beginners. Once the teacher has demonstrated the meaning of the sounds she is saying, students recognize those sounds and play along. The cognitive value of these exercises is absorbed by the student naturally. Activity: One of my favorite ways to use TPR is to introduce basic classroom items and commands. These commands are essential if the students are to succeed in my class and for me to succeed as a teacher. Examples include: open/close your book, raise your hand, pick up/put down your pencil, sit down, be quiet, listen, repeat and get into groups.

5 Role Play Lesson plans that use Role Play in the classroom can be reality or fantasy based. Role Play gives students the opportunity to experiment with real life situations and practice new cultural norms in the comfort and safety of the classroom. Under the supervision of a teacher whom they trust, they can learn to assimilate into their new culture. They can practice essential situations that may come up in daily life or while traveling. Fantasy role play can also give students a way to express themselves and create conversational language without the pressure of having to reveal their personal opinions on politics, family, current events and the like. Activity: I like to use Role Play with the adult immigrant ESL students I (volunteer) teach in the USA. These students have many needs in common and learning the language of task based situations are essential to their daily lives. Often times these students are parents and handling an emergency situation for their family in the target language could mean life or death. Topics include: at the bank, at the doctor, car accident, being polite to police, job interview/application and at the restaurant. I ask the class regularly if they have new situations that have come up so we can address them using role play in class.

6 Audio-Lingual Method The Audio-Lingual Method originated in the United States. It was first used in the US armed forces, in the 1950's, as a "crash course" for soldiers to learn new languages. It's a "non-communicative approach (to teaching) that involves heavy use of mimicry, imitation and drill. Speech (and listening) and not writing is emphasized." This method quickly gained popularity and was widely used. It emphasizes an ethnocentric view that languages can only be spoken with one accent. Unfortunately, it wasn't effective and after about 20 years was phased out. The Audio-Lingual Method still clings to life, especially in East Asian countries, specifically China and Korea. Activity: I hope one day to move to India for a year and be a trainer at a call center. You know the kind that is stealing away American jobs. As the employees already speak English with an Indian accent much of the job would be to remove their accent (as well as help them deal with American type hostility that is not common in their culture). I would employ the Audio-Lingual method in the classroom, lots of "repeat after me".

Reference: Valdman,Albert. (May, 1970), Toward a Better Implementation of the Audio-Lingual Approach [Electonic Version]. The Modern Language Journal Vol. 54, No. 5 pp. 309-319.

7 Music "At beginning levels, music can be used to teach basic vocabulary. Colors, body parts, simple actions(and phrases), clothes and names of people are only a few of the concepts that can be taught through music". (Richard-Amato p.202) Teachers can utilize a tape or CD player, CD-ROM, DVD, or if they are musically inclined - bring in a guitar. "The teacher doesn't have to be talented in music to make it a memorable experience". (Richard-Amato p.202) A teacher can use a popular song by a known band such as the Beatles or use academically prepared song or just make it up. Activity: From June thru December, I used a CD-ROM with my elementary school students grades 4-6. Every lesson included a song, that I taught to the class. At the beginning of class we would sing all the songs we had learned together (I saw them once a week). My students easily remembered the songs and I would often hear them singing the songs in the hallway.

8 Story-Telling A lesson plan that includes Story-Telling activities, allows students to be creative and fosters the natural approach to learning a second language. Story-telling activities "enable the students to participate in the language before actually being proficient in it, just as children do when being read to in their first language". (Richard-Amato p.215) There are many kinds of story telling activities such as the classic game Mad-Libs or the group activity add a sentence. Children have vivid imaginations and this gives them a chance to use them rather than sticking to the traditional textbook. Activity: I am planning to use cartoons with empty caption bubbles in my classroom sometime soon as part of my lesson plan. I think groups of 2 would work well for this activity as my students are at an intermediate level. I might even give them a choice to work alone or together so those with a lower level don't have to be too intimidated by this activity.

9 Warm-ups I am a huge fan of warm-ups. I use warm-ups everyday in every class. Often times students have spent most of or their entire day speaking their native language. Immigrants speak their native language at home and even in their workplace or while shopping. When teaching abroad, students entire lives are in their native language. When they enter your English classroom they are not thinking in English. It's important to use Warm-ups at the beginning of class give students the opportunity to get their brain into an English frame of mind and help them focus on the days lesson. Activity: My favorite warm-up for more advanced students is to practice past and future tense by asking them what they did that day or what they plan to do tomorrow. For beginners I write a category (fruit, words that begin or end with a letter, etc.) on the board and students call out things that match the category and I write them on the board. Once I have a decent list I use the audio-lingual method and have them repeat after me and ask if they have any questions.

10 Grammar-Translation "Grammar-translation method (Prussian Method) began in Germany (Prussia), at the end of the 18th century and became popular in early years of the 19th century." "The goal of this approach was to produce students who could read and write in the target language by teaching the rules and applications. Atypical grammar-translation lesson began with a reading followed by the grammar rule it illustrated...Students were asked to translate the readings in to their first language." (Richard-Amato p.16) While this method is appropriate for certain classroom situations it has been shown through research that this method is not very effective and creating communicative competence. Activity: Although I use the Grammar-translation method in my classroom minimally, I none the less find it indispensable to my current teaching situation. In a mixed level classroom where I don't speak the students L1, I need students to translate short stories to ensure the entire class understands so more students can participate in the exercises that follow the story. It is imperative to classroom management that as many students are engaged in the activity as possible.

Reference: Refer to: Penn State University, Department of Education. English Teaching Methodology, Grammar-Translation Method in Richards and Theodore's framework. http://www.personal.psu.edu/mxh392/insys441/Methodology/grammar_translation.htm

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