Teach English in FahaniuZhen - Shenyang Shi

In the Unit 8 – ‘Teaching productive skills’ I learned many important things about teaching and exercising both 'speaking' and 'writing', which are the two productive skills. I also learned the difference between accuracy and fluency activities. While accuracy activities (usually part of the study phase) are concentrated on producing correct language and are usually controlled to ensure accurate reproduction of language, fluency activities (usually part of the activate phase) are concentrated on allowing the students to experiment and be creative with language. When we are doing fluency activities we are less concerned about with accuracy and more concerned about with the effectiveness and flow of the communication. Another very important part of the unit was about the different kinds of speaking activities, such as 'Controlled activities’, 'Guided activities' and 'Creative communication'. I also learned about the importance of encouraging students to speak and interact. The teacher must try to overcome some student’s hurdles (such as lack of confidence, fear of making mistakes, peer intimidation, etc) and encourages student interaction. The aim should be to create a comfortable atmosphere where students are not afraid to speak or make mistakes, and enjoy communication with the teacher and their fellow students. And there are some techniques to encourage interaction, such as pair work, group work, plenty of controlled activities purposeful (create a desire and need to communicate), change the classroom dynamics and careful planning. At last, I learned more about games that can be used in order to practice writing.