42806 (Communication The Exchange of Information), страница 5

For activities which question forms are practised. The book by Moskowitz (1978) contains а great number of humanistic exercises.

What would happen if...?⁰

Aims Skills — speaking

Language — if-clauses, making conjectures, asking for confirmation

Other — imagination

Level Intermidiate

Organisation Class

Preparation About twice as many slips of paper with an event/situation written on them as there are students

Time 10-15 minutes

Procedure Every student receives one or two slips of paper with sentences like these on them: 'What would happen if а shop gave away its goods free every Wednesday?' 'What would you do if you won а trip for two to а city of your choice?' One student starts by reading out his question and then asks another student to answer it. The second student continues by answering or asking а third student tо answer the first student's question. If he has answered the question he may then read out his own question for somebody else to answer. The activity is finished when all the questions have been read out and answered.

Variations The students can prepare their own questions. Some more suggestions:

What would happen

if everybody who told а lie turned green?

if people could get а driving licence at 14? if girls had to do military service?

if men were not allowed to become doctors or pilots? if children over 10 were allowed to vote? i f gold was found in your area?

if а film was made in your school/place of work?

if headmasters had to be elected by teachers and pupils? if smoking was forbidden in public places?

if the price of alcohol was raised by 300 per cent?

What would you do

if you were invited tо the Queen' s garden party?

if а photograph of yours won first prize at an exhibition? if your little sister aged 14 told you she was pregnant? if you saw your teacher picking apples from her neighbour' tree?

if а salesman called at your house and tried со sell you а sauna bath?

if your horoscope warned you against travelling when you want to go on holiday?

if it rained every day of your holiday?

if you got а love letter from somebody you did not know? if you found а snake under your bed?

if you got lost on а walk in the woods?

if you were not able to remember numbers?

if somebody hit а small child very hard in your presence? if you found а 120 note in а library book?

if your friend said she did not like the present you had given her?

if you suddenly found out that you could become invisible by eating spinach?

if you broke an expensive vase while you were baby-sitting at а friend' s house?

if you invited somebody to dinner at your house but they forgot to come?

if you forgot you had asked four people to lunch and didn' t have any food in the house when they arrived?

if а young man came up to you, gave you а red rose and said that you were the loveliest person he had seen for а long time?

if you noticed that you hadn' t got any money on you and you had promised tо ring your mother from а call box at exactly this time?

if you could not sleep at night?

Values clarification techniques

The асtivitites in this section are based on the principle of the 'values clarification approach' which originated in the USA⁰. It is one of the assumptions of this approach that school must help young people to become aware of their own values and to act according tо them. The psychologist Louis Raths distinguishes between three main stages in this process: 'Prizing one' s beliefs and behaviours,... choosing one' s beliefs and behaviours,... acting on one' s beliefs’⁰. Personal values relate both to one' s own personality and to the outside world, including such areas as school, leisure activities or politics. Adults as well as young people may not always be consciously aware of their beliefs and so learners of all ages may find that the activities in this section help them tо discover something about themselves.

The activities in this section mainly concern the prizing and choosing of values; acting on one's beliefs cannot be learnt sо easily in the foreign language class. The individual tasks appeal directly tо the learners, who have to be prepared tо talk about their feelings and attitudes. On the one hand this may be а very motivating experience, because the students feel that they are communicating about something meaningful, as well as being taken seriously as people; on the other hand а situation in which the participants have to reveal some of their more 'private' thoughts mау appear threatening. Thus it is essential tо do these exercises in а supportive and relaxed atmosphere. You mау help create this atmosphere by joining in some of the exercises and sharing your values with уоur students. You should also remind your students of the guideline that nobody has tо answer embarrassing questions, and that the right to refuse to answer is granted to everyone in these exercises. The educational bias of values clarification techniques makes it easier to integrate them into а democratic style of teaching than mоrе traditional teacher- centred methods.

As regards the language items practised in these exercises, speech acts like expressing likes and dislikes, stating one' s opinions and giving/asking for reasons occur throughout. Skills like note taking are also practised, because students are often asked tо jot down their ideas and feelings.

Values clarification techniques share some characteristics with ranking exercises, but the latter are more structured and predictable.

Personalities

Aims Skills — speaking, writing

Language — descriptive sentences, past tense (reported speech)

Other — acknowledging the influence other people have on us, note taking

Level Intermdiate

Organisation Individuals, class

Preparation None

Time 10-30

Procedure Step 1: The students are asked tо think about their lives and the people they know/have known. Each student should find at least two people who have influenced him in his life. These mау be his parents, other relations, friends, or personalities from history or literature. Не should note down some points in order to be able tо tell the rest of the class briefly how these people have influenced him.

Step 2: Each student in turn says а few sentences about these people. А discussion and/or question may follow each speal

Remarks Emphasis should be given to positive influences.

Lifestyle

Aims Skills — speaking

Language — giving reasons, stating likes and dislikes

Other — thinking about one' s priorities

Level Beginners/intermediate

Organisation Pairs

Preparation Students are asked а day or so beforehand со bring along three objects which are important or significant for them.

Time 10 — 15 minutes

Procedure Step 1: Students work with а partner. Each of them explains the use/purpose of the three objects he has brought with him and says why they are important and significant for him.

Both partners then talk about similarities and differences between their choice of objects.

Step 2: А few of the students present their partner's objects and explain their significance to the rest of the group.

Variations 1: Instead of real objects, drawings or photographs (cut out-3 of magazines or catalogues) may be used.

2: Before the paired discussion starts, а kind of speculating or guessing game can be conducted, where the three objects of а student whose identity is not revealed are shown, and suggestions about their significance are made.

Thinking strategies

In the last decade Edward de Bono has repeatedly demanded that thinking should be taught in schools. His main intention is to change our rigid way of thinking and make us learn to think creatively. Some of the activities in this section are taken from his thinking course for schools. Brainstorming, although also mentioned by de Bono, is а technique that has been used widely in psychology and cannot be attributed to him.

The thinking strategies resemble each other in that different ideas have to be collected by the participants in the first stage. In the second stage these ideas have tо be ordered and evaluated. It is obvious that there is ample opportunity tо use the foreign language at both stages. Apart from the speech acts of agreeing and disagreeing, suggesting, etc. these exercises practise all forms of comparison and the conditional.

Brainstorming

Aims Skills — speaking, writing

Language — conditional, making suggestions

Other — imagination, practice of important thinking skills

Level Intermediate

Organisation Groups of four to seven students

Preparation None

Time 5 — 15 minutes

Procedure Step 1: The class is divided into groups. Each group receives the same task. Possible tasks are:

(а) How many possible uses can you find for а paper clip (plastic bag/wooden coat hanger/teacup/pencil/sheet of typing paper/matchbox, etc.)?

(b) You have со make an important phone call but you have по change. How many ways can you find of getting the money for the call?

(с) How many ways can you find of opening а wine bottle without а corkscrew?

(d) How many ways can you find of having а cheap holiday? The groups work on the task for а few minutes, collecting as many ideas as possible without commenting on them or evaluating them. All the ideas are written down by the group secretary.

Step 2: Each group reads out their list of ideas. The ideas are written on the board.

Step 3: The groups choose five ideas from the complete list (either the most original or the most practical ones) and rank them.

Variations 1: After Step 1 the groups exchange their lists of ideas. Each group ranks the ideas on its new list according со а common criterion, е.g. practicability, costs, simplicity, danger, etc.

2: Each group chooses an idea and discusses it according to the procedure.

Remarks Brainstorming increases mental flexibility and encourages original thinking. It is а useful strategy for а great number of teaching situations.

Interactive problem solving

In this section, we shall look at two approaches in which communicative tasks are sequenced around problem situations. The first is Scarcella's sociodrama, while the second is Di Pietro's strategic interaction. Both approaches allow the teacher to build in exercises which enable learners to develop vocabulary, grammar and discourse as well as interactive skills.

The focus of Scarcella's sociodrama is on the development of skills in social interaction. Unlike most role plays, sociodrama involves a series of specific steps. It is student- rather than teacher-centred in that students define their own roles and determine their own course of action. The following set of steps provides an idea of how the approach works.

1. Warm up

The topic is introduced by the teacher.

2. Presentation of new vocabulary

New words and expressions are introduced.

3. Presentation of dilemma

A story is introduced by the teacher who stops at the dilemma point. Students focus on the conflict which occurs at the dilemma point.

4. Discussion of the situation and selection of roles

The problem and roles are discussed. Students who relate to the roles and who have solutions to offer come to the front of the class to participate in the enactment.

5. Audience preparation

Those who are not going to take part in the enactment are given specific tasks to carry out during the enactment.

6. Enactment

Role-players act out the solution which has been suggested.

1. Discussion of the situation and selection of new role-players
   Alternative ways of solving the problem are explored and new
   role-players are selected.

2. Re-enactment

The problem situation is replayed with new strategies.

9. Summary

The teacher guides the students to summarise what was presented.

10. Follow-up

These may include a written exercise, extended discussion, aural comprehension exercises or a reading exercise. (Scarcella 1978)⁰

Di Pietro's approach, which he calls 'strategic interaction' is based on improvisations or 'scenarios'. Students act out scenarios, having first memorised the situation and roles they are expected to play and having carefully rehearsed the scenario. However, at certain points during the acting out, additional information is injected into the situation, requiring learners to modify their intended role, and to alter the direction of the interaction.

With a little thought, problem situations and scenarios can be developed which do allow learners to rehearse 'real-world' language i.e. language they might potentially need to use in the real world. Whether or not a given lesson appears to have a real-world rationale really depends on the situation which the teacher has chosen. Scarcella obviously believes that her approach has real-world applications as can be seen in the following quote:

Socio-drama is an activity which obliges students to attend to the verbal environment. First, it is relevant to the students' interests, utilizing both extrinsic motivation, which refers to the students' daily interests and cares, and intrinsic motivation, which refers to the students' internal feelings and attitudes. . . . Furthermore, socio-drama is a problem-solving activity which stimulates real life situations and requires active student involvement.

(Scarcella 1978: 46)

In the following activities the learners have to find solutions tо various types of problem. In the case of puzzles there is just one correct solution: however, most of the ехеrcises lead tо а discussion of several ways of solving the problems. The problem tasks themselves range from the imaginary to the more realistic. The latter provide situations which the learners might conceivably have . to face outside the classroom.

Apart from the activities focusing on the likes and dislikes of individual learners, which therefore need an initial phase where each student works on his own, most of the problem- '. solving tasks in this section require pair or group work throughout. In some ways these activities are similar to ranking exercises because, like them, they generate discussions of the importance or relevance of statements, ideas or procedures. But unlike ranking exercises, problem-solving activities demand that the learners themselves decide upon the items to be ranked. Thus there is more creative use of the foreign language. It is advisable to use the less complex ranking exercises before any problem- solving activities if the students have not done this kind of work before.

The language which is needed for problem-solving activities depends on the topic of each exercise, but in general students will have tо make suggestions, give reasons, and accept, modify or reject suggestions and reasons given by others.