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Task-based Language Teaching
BUFS TESOL Workshop Winter 2016 Jeff Lebow |  |
In this course, we will focus on different ways that task-based language teaching can be used in elementary English teaching. The first hour of each class will be spent engaging in demonstration activities for a certain type of TBLT. During the second hour we will brainstorm, discuss, and develop materials for use in the trainees’ actual teaching contexts. Demonstration activities and materials will often be adapted to provide adult trainees with an authentic task-based language learning experience.
We will use a class Band for the purpose of sharing resources and all materials will be posted and archived on the course website at: http://busantesol2016.blogspot.kr/
We will use a class Band for the purpose of sharing resources and all materials will be posted and archived on the course website at: http://busantesol2016.blogspot.kr/
Class Bands
Below is a tentative daily schedule for this course followed by descriptions of TBLT activities that we will covering each day. In some cases, activity materials are included. In other cases they will be provided during class. All handouts, along with the collaborative ideas and materials developed during this program will be available on the course website. Assessment will be based on participation (40%), Assignments (40%), and short quizzes (20%).
Tentative Course Schedule
Class#1
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Task Based Language Teaching - Overview & Main Principles
Social Activities, : Acquaintance jigsaw |
Class#2
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Sharing Personal Experiences, photo descriptions, personal profiles,
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Class#3
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Listing: Brainstorming and fact-finding activities
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Class#4
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Ordering & Sorting: Sequencing, ranking, categorizing, classifying.
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Class#5
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Comparing: Matching, finding similarities, finding differences.
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Class#6
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Problem Solving: Analysing situations, reasoning, and decision making, logic puzzles
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Class#7
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Creative Tasks: Role play, extrapolation, voice over dialogues, storytelling, storyboards
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Class#8
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Technology and Focus on Communication Accuracy: Tools for voice recognition, text-to-speech, gap fills (online and off)
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Class#9
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Technology and Focus on Communication Fluency: Speaker’s corner, student recordings, and peer commenting
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Class#10
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Task Based Assessment: Kahoot, LMS (Schoology) portfolios
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Day#1
Task Based Language Teaching - Course Overview & Main Principles of TBLT
Social Tasks (Part#1), : Acquaintance jigsaw, Small Talk Rotations
TBLT Overview
Principles of task-based language learning
Advantages of task-based language learning
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Activities
Acquaintance Jigsaw
Round 1 - Groups interview one member at a time (~10 minute each) Group members take notes for future use. Round 2 - Students jigsaw so that new groups are comprised of one member from each previous group. Members take turns telling their new group members about each person from their first group, including themselves. (~10 minutes each) |
Small Talk Rotation Lines
Students are given a list of questions and/or conversational prompts. They are lined up in two (or four) lines facing each other. After a certain period of time, the student at one end of one of the lines moves to the opposite end, so that all students have a new partner. Students then repeat the activity. |
Assignments:
- Bring in at least 5 photos of things that are important to you. These can be people, places, experiences, possessions or anything else you value. Photos can be printed or shown on a digital device, but can not be stored on a USB drive with no display.
- Join the appropriate class Band.
Day#2
Social Tasks (Part#2),Photo Descriptions, Truth Detective, Recorded Intros, Guess the Classmate
Personal Photo Description, Q&A
Students bring at least five photos of things that are important to them. Students are provided with some basic photo description language (e.g. This photo shows…., The person (next to me, on the left, wearing the red shirt, etc.) is …., It’s important to me because…). With partners or in groups, they take turns sharing one photo at a time. After each description their partner(s) ask questions. Depending on the level, language prompts for questions can be provided
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Recorded Introductions
Students are given time to ask or review basic acquaintance questions with a partner. They then record a short introduction of each other using any kind of recording device. Optionally, the can discuss another topic together for an additional five minutes. Recordings are then uploaded so that classmates can listen to each other’s recordings. Follow-up activities can include comprehension questions, text comments, and/or teacher feedback (e.g. pronunciation, language accuracy, topic discussion feedback)
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Truth Detective
Instructions: Think of three things you can say about your life (at least one must be true, and at least one must be false. The other may or may not be true). These can be life experiences, something that a family member or friend did, free time activities, or personal preferences. Try to make statements that classmates would not know about you. Examples: - When I was 10 years old, I fell out of a tree and broke my arm.
- My sister is married to a dentist.
- I spend about five hours/week watching cartoons.
- I am scared of dogs, but love cats.
Your group partners will have 10 minutes to ask as many detailed questions as possible. They will then try and determine which statements are true and which are false.
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Guess the Classmate Activities
Short Version: Have students write a short list of words in a given time. (e.g. words that describe what you did last weekend). The teacher then collects the papers, reads a few and students guess who they think wrote it.
Longer Version: Have students fill out a worksheet similar to the one below. Make sure know students don’t write their names on the paper. Collect all of the forms and have students pick one at a time (whole group or small group). Have students read the information and guess who is being described. Three Words that describe you: Your favorite….: Free Time Activity______________ Animal______________ Subject___________ Your Dream Job ______________________ Your Hero _____________________ Something people in this class don't know about you ___________________________ |
Assignment: Post a 1~5 minute Introduction Video to your class BAND. Introduce yourself to other workshop participants. You can take a ‘selfie video’ with your phone or get help from a friend. Be as creative as you like! (e.g. give a tour of your home, take us along on your commute, introduce us to your friends and family, sing your favorite song, etc.)
Day#3
Listing: Brainstorming and fact-finding activities
Surveys
A fun and reliable speaking activity for a large class. The teacher models the activity using the example questions and a survey template drawn on the board. Students are then encouraged to write their own questions. During the survey part of the activity the teacher is free to monitor the students and also participate, having an opportunity to speak to students individually. As the students are finishing their surveys, the teacher can write a model report on the board.
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Team category brainstorm
Divide the class into teams and take turns assigning each team a category (e.g. nouns that begin with 'g' or four legged animals that live in Africa). One person is chosen as the 'recorder' for the team. They stand at the board and write down suggestions from their teammates. Recorders cannot speak, but other team members can suggest spelling corrections and clarifications. The team with the most items listed on the board wins.
Variation: Brainstorm Rummy Go around team by team asking them to say a word that they have brainstormed. You could also have students write the words on the board. Once that word is written, all team must cross it off their list. The team with the last unique word left wins. |
Topic Brainstorm and Discussion
Think of a list of words (nouns, verbs, adjectives, phrasal verbs, etc.) related to ta particular topic (e.g. money). That list will depend on students´ level or only focus on a specific theme, but could include:
Post the words on a whiteboard or digital screen.Ask students to look at them and discuss any questions about what the words mean with each other, or look them up in a dictionary. Put students into pairs and ask them if they can add any words to the lists. Give them just a couple of minutes to do so. Having shared their additions with the rest of the class, tell them you would like them to write a "Money Questionnaire" using the words from their mind-maps to complete the following phrases, which can be repeated to create a questionnaire with ten questions.
Put pairs together and ask them to ask each other their questions, noting down each pair´s answers. Give them a time limit. Change pairs. Repeat. Change pairs one last time (time permitting). Ask pairs to review the answers and write a general statement for each question based on the results. Examples could be, "Everyone questioned uses an ATM" or "Only one person was robbed" or "Four out of six people took out a loan recently". Ask pairs to share the most interesting/most surprising results with the rest of the class.
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Day#4 Ordering & Sorting: Sequencing, ranking, categorizing, classifying
Category Activities
- Categories Wordlists
Students work with partners. One partner is given a list of words from a particular category. They give clues (without using hands or gestures) to their partner and try to guess as many words as possible within in given time limit.
- Guess the category
Students work with partners. One partner is given a category (e.g. things people have in their pockets and words related to tennis). They must list items in that category while their partner guesses. The person giving the clues cannot describe the category or use their hands or gestures.
- Scattergories
Divide the class into groups of three or four people each. On the board, write five or more categories. Give the students a letter (H); their task is to come up with one example of each category that begins with that letter (hot dog, hamburger, hotel receptionist, helpful, hyena, Havana). When a group has one example for each category written down, they say “Stop the bus!” and you check. If their answers are good you can continue with the same categories but a different letter. Another version is giving them a time limit and seeing how many unique examples of each category they can come up with in that time (“unique” meaning no other group writes it).
Category Timebomb - The teacher gives students a particular category (e.g. animals with tails, what will you do this weekend). Students have to give an example from that category as a time bomb device is passed around. Whoever is holding the device when the bomb goes off, must complete an extra task (e.g. impromptu speech or sing a song) |
Group Sort
Come up with a list of different ways of grouping students together. Have your class stand and gather around an open area on the floor. Here are some ideas for grouping your students:
Then divide your students and send them to the appropriate area in the room. This can be down with the whole class or in groups of 12~15. Optionally, once in their groups, you can have students ask questions about their grouping topic (e.g. Why is your favorite color red? How many red shirts do you have?). As an extension, you have students think of their own categories.
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Simple Story Sequencing
Tell students a simple story and then have them sequence actions based on what they heard. Example: Adam didn’t bring his English homework to school. His teacher told him to write a composition about why he didn’t hand in his homework. Adam went home and wrote the following composition.
Last night I did my homework and left it on the desk in my room. The first thing I did in the morning was to put my homework in my backpack. Then I got dressed, had breakfast and ran out of the house to catch the bus. On the way to the bus, I realized I didn’t have my backpack. Of course I ran back home to get it. After that my mom drove me to school because I was going to be late. Finally I got to school, I forgot my backpack in the car. What a day!!
….. a. Adam’s mom drove him to school.
….. b. He ran out of the house to catch the bus.
….. c. Adam did his homework.
…..d. Adam realized he forgot his backpack at home.
…..e. Adam put his English homework in his backpack.
…..f. Adam ran home to get his backpack.
…..g. Adam forgot his backpack in the car.
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Day#5: Comparing: Matching, finding similarities, finding differences
Find the Photo Differences
Have students work in pairs. Give each pair two pictures that look similar, but include several differences. Students do not show the photos to each other. They have to describe the picture and find both similarities and differences. After this activity, tell the students to put the pictures side by side so that they can check whether the differences they found really exist or not.
If this is too difficult for students, you can give the two pictures to both students and have them work together to find the differences.
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Flyswatter Vocabulary
Prepare a list of 12-15 vocabulary words learners have recently been studying. Using
many colors of board markers, and using large script, randomly scatter the words across the
board. Count off learners into two teams. Line the teams up, each person standing behind the
next, with the first person in the line facing the board, standing about six feet away. Give the
first person of each team a plastic flyswatter. Read aloud a definition or description of each
word. The first person to swat the correct word on the board with their flyswatter earns a point
for his/her team. Learners can swat the word as soon as they figure out which word it is. After
each word, the learners with flyswatters hand their flyswatters to the person behind them and
rotate to the back of the line.
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Same or Different
Have students work with partners or groups. The task is for them to create a list of ways in which they are the same or different from their partner(s). The teacher can leave this as an open-ended task or provide things for students to ask questions about. Possibilities include:
Provide students with the language prompts they need to ask questions (e.g. When were you…, What is your favorite…, How many…do you have, How often do you..). Have them record similarities and differences on a graphic organizer. They can then change groups and share their findings with their new partners.
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Country Comparisons
This is a tasks to practice comparison and superlative language like
A is _____er than B A is more/less ______ than B, A is as _____ as B. A is the __________est/ most____________ __(noun)___. Divide the class into teams of 4-6 students. Have the students name as many adjectives as they can and write them all on the board. Then, ask them to name 8-10 countries (write those on the board too). Give them 10 minutes to make sentences using the adjectives and the countries (ie Canada is colder than Japan, Russia is the biggest country...) It's better if they have just one student writing the team's sentences so that they actually work as a team. At the end of the ten minutes, each correct sentence is a point for that team- if you want to encourage originality, tell them that no other team can have the same sentence as them. Then switch it up- I had them name animals and famous people too (famous people can be really funny- especially if they count you as famous) |
Day#6:
Problem Solving: Analysing real or hypothetical situations, decision making, logic puzzles
Logic Problems
Provide students with a logic problem or riddle that they need to discuss together in order to solve.
Example: Danny’s Family
Danny is having a birthday party with 6 of his family members. They are his grandmother, mother, aunt, brother, father, and uncle. Their names in random order are Ben, Lily, Jeff, Betty, Jane, and Luke.
Listen to the clues to discover the names of Danny's family members.
Clues:
1. Ben is not Danny’s uncle.
2. Danny’s grandmother’s name starts with B.
3. Luke is not Danny’s brother.
4. Lily is not his aunt.
5. Danny’s father’s name is Jeff.
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Secret Code
This task provides students with pronunciation and listening practice. The teacher gives a secret code table like the one below to the students. When the teacher reads "12, 15, 19, 20", that goes a word "l, o, s, t". Any student who get that word will raise a hand and say that word loud. If the answer is correct, s/he will get a point. Because students, sometimes get confused with fourteen and fifteen when listening, this task requires them to listen carefully. With the second table, you can have another version of task . When the teacher reads “r, l, h, g”, that goes a word "l, o, s, t".
For pronunciation skills, one of the students reads his/her secret code to the others just like the teacher does. That would work too.
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What would you do…?
This can be down as a coin flick game, card picking activity, or simple list of questions. Provide students with a choice of ‘What would you do…’ questions and depending on their level, either have them discuss freely or work with a partner to prepare responses. Possible questions include ‘What would you do if…
….you were 300cm tall …. you could go home early today
….you were principal of this school …. you could choose any superpower
The teacher can brainstorm additional possible questions with students beforehand. |
Day#7
Creative Tasks: Role play, extrapolation, voice over dialogues, storytelling storyboards
Picture Dictations
Find a large magazine photo or textbook illustration that shows a specific setting (a city, park, kitchen, school, office, hospital, store etc) and several people engaged in a variety of activities. Don’t show learners the picture. Pre-teach any unfamiliar vocabulary you will use to describe the picture. Orally describe the picture, using level-appropriate sentences, and pausing between lines to allow learners to draw the picture while you describe it. Include some negative statements such as “The woman isn’t wearing a hat.” and confirm that learners don’t draw in response. Describe the picture a second time to allow learners to check their work. When finished, learners compare their pictures to the original and to each other’s pictures. For higher level learners, pictures can be given to them and they can describe them to their partners.
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Story retelling with 3/2/1
Divide the class into two groups. Give each group a different story. Let them read the story and prepare their retelling. Let students line up in two lines facing each other. For the first round, students retell the story for 3 minutes. The second time, change partners, and retell the story for 2 minutes and for the last round retell the story in one minute.
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1st/2nd/3rd Person Story Retelling - Students work in pairs answering a basic question like ‘What did you do last weekend?’ with 5 different sentences (I went, I ate, etc.). Their partner must remember and repeat the sentences ‘You went, You ate, etc.) Students then change partners and must repeat the sentences of their original partner (John went, He ate, etc.)
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Korea Tour Planning
At the beginning of class, students watch a tourism commercials advertising Korean tourism. Ask them to watch each one and pay attention to what they see; what the Korean National Tourism Board thinks best represents Korea. After each commercial, make a quick list of everything that was shown: Finally, discuss which of the commercials appeals to them most and why.
The task: Plan a seven-day tour of Korea
Next, announce that each group is a travel agency, and they want to design a seven-day package tour of Korea. They must decide the following:
Extension: Have students create an advertising campaign for the tour that they created. They can ceate posters, digital slideshows, or role play TV commercials.
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Role Plays
Including a roleplay task at the end is a conversation lesson can be a powerful way to get students to work on their communicative skills and tie the contents of a lesson together. Unlike skits, role plays aren’t scripted out in detail. Instead students are give a general scenario with different elements and suggested ideas. Before asking them to perform a role play, prepare the students by reviewing key vocabulary and asking questions. The questions should incorporate the major parts of the role play and the vocabulary involved. There is an abundance of role play materials available online. These will be linked to on our course website.
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Day#8
Focus on Communication Accuracy: voice recognition, text-to-speech, gap fills (online and off)
Minimal Pair Pronunciation Practice
Students are given a handout with sets of minimal pairs. The teacher can lead ‘listen & repeat’ style practice. Native speaker recordings are available for the minimal pairs on the following pages. Students then practice saying a pair while their partner guesses with which word(s) was spoken. This can be done as singles, doubles, or triples (e.g. Seat - Sit: Singles - seat or sit ; Doubles - seat, sit or seat, seat or sit, seat or sit, sit, Triples - sit, seat, sit or seat, seat, sit). Help learners distinguish between similar sounds at the beginning of words (pat, bat), in the middle of words (lift, list), and/or at the end of words (have, half).
Variation: Same or Different? Have each learner make two 3” x 3” cards, one labeled SAME, one labeled DIFFERENT. Read word pairs aloud, where some pairs are two different words (minimal pairs) and some are the same word read twice. As you read, each learner holds up their SAME or DIFFERENT card.
Same or Different Numbers?
Follow the same procedure above, using number pairs (14/40; 90/19, 15/15)
Extension: Use a voice recognition tool like Google Translate to check whether student’s pronunciation is accurate enough to be recognized. This can be done with minimal pairs or with practice sentences like the ones below.
Practice Sentences
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Lsts and audio recordings at: http://pufspronunciation.blogspot.com/
Day#9 Technology and Focus on Communication Fluency: Speaker’s corner, student recordings, and peer commenting
Speaker’s Corner
This is a fluency activity that is suitable for relatively high-level students in schools or classes that suppot the use of technology and/or shared online spaces. Introduce the concept of Speaker’s Corner by showing videos from the ‘You Are Here’ YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/user/youareherecafe/ Give the students a list of topics they can discuss. Possibilities include:
Divide them into groups of two or three and give them some time to prepare what they are going to say. If enough recording devices are available, pair teams up with each other so that one teach can take turns recording the other. Videos can then be uploaded to a private communal space (like a class Band). Students are encouraged (or required) to watch and comment on their classmates videos. For lower level students, the speaking task can be simplified and additional language prompts can be provided.
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Other recording Tasks
Using basic mobile technology, students can audio and/or video record a variety of speaking tasks. This can include introductions, basic storytelling, interviews with each other, and other spoken tasks described above. Students can be allowed to record multiple times until they are satisfied before posting on an online space and sharing their recordings with their classmates. This process of repetition, self-observation, and refinement tends to improve the quality of student output. The existence of an ‘audience’ for their work and the social engagement of commenting also creates additional motivation.
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Day#10
Task Based Assessment and Review: Kahoot, LMS (Schoology) portfolios
Task-based assessment is easy, straightforward and, above all, meaningful for students and teachers alike. Simply put, one begins by looking at the appropriate completion of any given task first, and at the accuracy of the language used to complete it second. If the student can achieve a particular goal, or “outcome,” using English, then the student passes. We will discuss in class which tasks covered during this course would be most suitable for offline assessment purposes. We will also explore some of the online assessment options that are available now and will likely play greater role in coming years.
Online Assessment Tools
Flashcards - Sites like Quizlet are primarily used as powerful study aids for vocabulary building, but can also be used to generate quizzes and track student progress.
Mobile Quizzes- Teachers can create mobile friendly quizzes at GetKahoot.ocm which students play ‘gameshow-style’ with mobile devices. Aside from assessment, this can be useful for review activities.
Learning Management Systems - Sites like Schoology.com and Eliademy.com provide robust tools for tracking individual student progress, compiling grades, and offering cumulative feedback on which areas the class has mastered or not.
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