Do you want to be TEFL or TESOL-certified and teach in Shizijie Zhen? Are you interested in teaching English in Dandong Shi? Check out ITTT’s online and in-class courses, Become certified to Teach English as a Foreign Language and start teaching English ONLINE or abroad! ITTT offers a wide variety of Online TEFL Courses and a great number of opportunities for English Teachers and for Teachers of English as a Second Language.
Unit 12 was focused on teaching the productive skills, speaking and writing, and how they may be different from each other but they still have the same overall purpose of communication. From this unit I learnt that when teaching speaking and writing it is important to know the difference between accuracy activities and fluency activities, and when it is appropriate to use them. Accuracy activities are focused around producing correct language and are usually controlled, whereas fluency activities are concentrated around letting the students be creative with language. Moreover, using these types of activities at the right time in a lesson can help make students feel more comfortable to speak; for example, completing accuracy activities before fluency activities to ensure the students have been exposed to and have had practice reproducing the language before they are asked to speak with others or in front of the class. There are three types of speaking activities that can be utilized, controlled activities (accuracy based), guided activities (accuracy based but a little more creative), and creative communication activities (fluency based). Written text has many differences that separate it from speaking, but many of the same factors can be considered in a writing lesson and a speaking lesson. Writing skills can be difficult for students because their native language may have a different alphabet system, a different layout and different punctuation. On top of this spelling in the English language is made difficult by the fact that there are differences between American and British English, many words are pronounced the same but are spelled differently, and that words are spelled the same but pronounced differently. Therefore, lots of exposure to written work is very important for students. For both speaking and writing activities it is often required to give the students some planning time so they can think of what they are going to say or write; by doing this students are more likely to be encouraged to speak or can be more creative with their writing. Lastly, unit 12 taught me how games are a great teaching skill since they can add an element of fun while still teaching the students.
