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In this unit we focus on the productive skills, which are speaking and writing. It is said that writing is the most neglected of the skills that have been spoken about. First we were told the difference between accuracy and fluency. Usually accuracy activities concentrate more on producing correct language and these activities are controlled to make sure that the students are reproducing the most accurate language. Fluency activities are more concentrated by letting the students be more creative with the language they are using. Both accuracy and fluency are important to speaking. Some controlled activities would be drilling or prompting. The language used in these activities are all controlled by the teacher. There are also guided activities such as model dialogues and guided role-play. These are also focused on accuracy just like controlled activities but the language isn't exactly controlled by the teacher but the output is. Lastly, creative communication are fluency based in which the scenario is created by the usually created by the teacher but the language isn't controlled by them. Activities could be simulations, debates, discussions, and many more. There are reasons why they students wouldn't want to speak in class and it is the teachers duty to encourage them so that they will want to participate. Good techniques that can encourage student interaction would be group/pair work, careful planning, change in classroom dynamics and so on. In this unit we are given a basic idea for a lesson for both speaking and writing. I think providing these simple lesson ideas is beneficial to show how to set up a lesson for when I will actually get to teach. It is a very good way to show how a lesson should be set up. There are many guidelines when creating a free or creative speaking activity. Before a lesson you should see how long the activity will take, prepare the needed materials, make sure your instructions are clear, and more. During the activity make sure you peak the interest of you students, make sure the students know the aim or goal of the activity, and more. After the activity you should make comments on how fluent the activity was, possibly jot down some note on the errors that you heard being made throughout the activity. With writing there are a few things that the students and teachers should focus on. Those things are handwriting/penmanship, spelling, punctuation, and creative writing. At the end of this unit we are given a list of games that could work within a class environment. Having this list is convenient for future classroom teaching. I feel like after reading through this unit I have learned a little bit more about lesson layouts. I also feel like I have learned more about how to properly encourage a student into being more comfortable with classroom participation which is key to their success as well as the teachers.
