Using Online resources for Teaching English

Here are two case studies sharing the experiences of two teachers with different approaches to teaching.

(from Master Trainer Workbook Phase 1, British Council and Axom Sarba Siksha Abhijan-Assam,

Master Trainer Development Programme)

While doing an activity, the learners actively participate in the learning process. A learning activity engages a learner and is able to apply later what they have learnt. In order to break the monotony of the class, different types of activity patterns like individual work, pair work, group work or whole class can be adopted by a teacher. Three aspects play crucial role in proper execution of an activity.

· First, instructions given to the young learners for conducting the activity must be short, simple, and crisp so that they understand what to do in the activity properly. For example, “Open page 21”

· Second, elicitation techniques adopted for collecting responses.

· Third, monitoring the learners to make sure everyone is on task.

Confucius commented, “I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.” This has been proved to be true. Learning by doing makes teaching effective. The task based learning caters to this feature of learners’ need, making it a learner-centered approach of learning. Here, tasks are basically activities where the learners communicate in the target language to achieve the desired learning outcomes. The specific activities used in doing the target task are studied and analyzed at the end in the post task phase. The task based learning is a cycle of three phases:

(Task Based Learning, https://wwwlanguages.dk>final>taskuk)

The performance of a learner is directly related to how much s/he can remember. New information is stored in the short-term memory which later is either stored in long term memory or completely disappeared. Whether or not learners can store the content from the lesson in the long term memory depends on the cognitive overload. Repetition is a common technique followed in order to retain the new information and recovery of it from the long-term memory. There are three learning styles observed among learners.

· Visual learning style: This group of learners learns best by seeing.

· Auditory learning style: This group of learners understands and retains information by hearing.

· Kinesthetic learning style: This group of learners learns best by doing.

When it comes to achieving of the learning objectives, a teacher is required to adopt all the three learning styles as per the need of the learning situation.

Click on the links to explore some of the online resources available on different types of activities:

https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/dictogloss

https://youtu.be/lRQIDMCjS9c

https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/active-listening-activities

https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/running-dictation

https://youtu.be/o9l2uzjGnOQ

https://youtu.be/euhtXUgBEts

https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/jigsaw-reading

https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/writing-activities

https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/a-creative-writing-activity-a-dark-stormy-night

https://youtu.be/_pq-7Lg4Bnk

https://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/helping-your-child/pronunciation-activities