BA in Language Arts for Teacher Education , Palestine Workshop 3: Aims

1. BA in Language Arts for Teacher Education, Palestine Workshop 3: Aims Dr Martin Hyde Dr Pamela Aboshiha Canterbury Christ Church University

2. 1 Analysis of the teaching of the 4 skills. 2. Teacher training strategies related to the 4 skills and the teaching strategies manual. 3. Application of the teaching skills and strategies to the ‘English for Palestine’ course books and classrooms.

3. Communicative Language Teaching –practice and principles A lesson- what principles is this teacher working from? Feasibility in your contexts ?

4. 1. A recent newspaper : whenever possible authentic language is introduced 2. Underlining the reporters’ predictions: being able to work out the writer’s intention is part of being communicatively competent. 3. Directions in the target language: L2 is a vehicle for classroom communication

5. 4. Students try to say the predictions in different words: one function can have many forms and therefore a variety of language forms are presented together. Emphasis is on the process of communication, rather than mastery of forms. 5. Students unscramble sentences of the newspaper article: students work at discourse level. 6. Students play a language game: games have features in common with real life – a purpose to an exchange. There is immediate feedback to the speaker and negotiation of meaning.

6. 7. Students are asked how they feel about predictions: students should be given the opportunity to express their ideas and opinions. 8.A student error is ignored: errors are tolerated and seen as a natural outcome of language development. 9. The teacher gives the students a strip story: one of the teacher’s major responsibilities is to promote situations to encourage communication.

7. 10. The students work with a partner to predict what the next picture will be: interaction encourages negotiation of meaning and co-operation. 11. The students do a role-play: the social context of the communicative event gives meaning to the utterances. 12. The teacher reminds them that one of the students is ‘the boss’: learning to use language appropriately is an important part of communicative competence.

8. 13. The teacher moves from group to group offering advice: the teacher acts as a facilitator. 14. The students discuss alternative forms to use with colleagues: in communicating we have a choice about what to say and how to say it. 15: The students need to watch TV or listen to the radio for homework: students should be given opportunities to listen to language as it is used authentically. (from Larsen-Freeman, 2000)

9. Questions ??? To what extent are these CLT principles compatible with the Palestinian context of your own undergraduates or teachers in middle schools? Are these principles compatible with the text books? Could they be made more compatible – how ? How could you use this activity with your under-graduates?

10. Larsen- Freeman, D. (2000) Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching Oxford: Oxford University Press