Presenting of a new grammar: indirect questions
The aim of my seminar paper is to show how to present indirect questions to students of a middle school. The indirect questions would be inroduced and presented to students of 9th form. These students should be approximately at pre-intermediate level of English and they should be familiar with the direct questions, its form and use. The students will be able to recognize the differencies between both types of questions, and will be able to understand a different usage of both grammatical concepts in a particular context. The presentation and practising is divided into two lessons.
Class I
1. The introduction of the lesson:
After checking the attendandance (2 minutes), The teacher would start with asking questions, for example:
Teacher: How are you today? What did you do yesterday after school? What did you have for lunch?
The whole class responds (this type of activity serves to activate the students and get their attention). Subsequently, individuals are asked:
Teacher: Tom. What time is it?
Student A: It’s five past one.
Teacher: Good. Now ask somebody in the class to another question.
Student A: Eliška. Do you like swimming?
Student B: Yes I like it.
In this activity, the students are practising asking questions and mutual comunication. This serves the teacher to recognize, if students are able to form the direct questions correctly and can control their responding in whole sentences. This activity should take 5 minutes maximum.
2. The presentation of new grammar
After the teacher is reassured that the students are familiar with direct questions, the presentation of a new grammar can start. The teacher tells the student the aim of the lesson.
Teacher: Today we are ...
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...the students task is to rewrite the questions to indirect – the teacher can assign the exercise as homework.
The aim of the activity: The students develop their listening and reading skills. Teacher can also ask them if they know who Elvis Presley was (cultural competences developed).
Then the teacher ends the lesson.
Works Cited
Nepřímé otázky – kurz angličtiny. January 27, 2010 http://www.kafe.cz/ctenarsky-koutek/anglictina/gramatika-neprima-otazka-36-3701.aspx#.U4Nse3KSz5B Vítová, M.(2011): Nepřímé otázky (embedded questions). Help for English http://www.helpforenglish.cz/article/2011060701-neprime-otazky-embedded-questions Je to boj – Nepřímé otázky – indirect questions. May 25, 2011 jetoboj.cz/neprime-otazky-indirect-questions/ Direct – Indirect questions – Are You Lonesome Tonight? – video clip. April 13, 2012
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0dHpa0HzBw
This task should be fun and interesting for the students. It is my hope that this activity proves to be successful for my students and helps them to understand the necessary learning objectives set forth.
3. I will assess my student’s mastery of this objective by creating an open conversation within the entire class by asking questions, and before each student is dismissed, they will each hand in a piece of paper with one difference and similarity between the two texts written down.
The thesis, or the main idea of the book, is that by using specific communication techniques, we can turn difficult discussions into productive learning conversations.
2. During your observations, when was the student talking and participating more than other times? What were the circumstances (group size, one-on-one, activity)? Why is it important for you to notice this?
2b. How will I call on students during question and discussion sessions? In a physical education setting, I might have questions and answer discussions at the beginning of class. This will happen when the students are sitting in their assigned positions
Preschool is the first step for the children to get their formal education, so it is important for the school to provide the children with the appropriate experience that accommodate the readiness among the children to get formal education in the primary level education. According to Kres (1993), Roger Shank mentions that learning at school in this day is an unnatural situation. Conversely, the learner must learn by doing, trying thing out, seeing how they work and exploring. At the same time when there is an error or failure, the learner should reflect and get the reason for the error or failure. On the other hand, possible leading question can be given to the learner so that they can identify the reasons for the error or failure, and this kind of learning is a natural way of learning (Kres, 1993).
Each student will take a quiz, asking them two questions on the lesson. This will assess whether the objectives were accomplished.
My main field experience this semester was in Ms. Schreyer's third grade math class at Trinity South. I was in the classroom on Tuesdays from 8:30 to 12:00 and Thursdays from 10:30 to 2:00. When in Ms. Schreyer's class, I observed two different groups of students because of the way the class rotations work. The first group that I observed is Ms. Schreyer's homeroom. There are 17 students in her homeroom class, and four of them have IEPs for either learning support or emotional support. On Tuesdays I arrived as the students arrived, so I was able to see the morning routine. The students bring their materials to the classroom, go to breakfast, and, upon returning from breakfast, complete a bell ringer activity. The bell ringers alternate between math,
Questions may be derived from the questions generated by individual students or raised by the group during discussion of the
The author, Gershon, did not describe explicitly how Socratic methods are used in his classroom, however, two ways of using Socratic Method of questioning in a classroom will be considered. First, when it is used by the tutor to facilitate discussion in groups amongst pupils (Socratic seminar) and second, when it is used by the tutor to question an individual for an answer (one-on-one). The following case studies describe each of these methods. Al-Darwish (2012) conducted a case study in Kuwait based on comparing teaching English Language as a second language using both Socratic and traditional questioning. 15 female teachers were asked to carry out the teaching, 7 were newly graduate with experience of how Socratic questioning works and the remaining 8 were teachers with less than 10 years’ experience. The newly graduated teachers aimed at using Socratic questioning to evaluate individual student on what they know and also to communicate with them in the target language. The result shows that there was a little difference in the improvement of the vocabulary and grammar between the two groups. Some of the issues associated with this experiment are the lack of understanding of the target language between pupil and tutor as it makes it really hard for
A major proportion of class time is taken up by teachers talking in front of the classroom(Nunan & Bailey, 2009). No matter what teaching strategies or methods a teacher uses, it is necessary to give directions, explain activities and check students’ understanding (Richards & Schimdt, 1985). This clearly emphasizes the importance of teacher talk in language classrooms. Walsh (2011) claimed that teacher talk is more important in language classroom than any other classroom since in this context the language being used by teacher is not only the means of acquiring new knowledge; it is also the goal of the study.
On the other hand, teachers prefer using L1 for a more effective approach to teaching grammar and checking students’ understanding. Macaro (1997) commented that teachers often lack enthusiasm in using the target language for grammar explanation. Many students have difficulty in learning grammar, especially for those whose L1 system is entirely different from the TL. L1 can be more efficient, particularly when a teacher wants to discuss the learning contract with students, or tries to explore the needs of his/her students, especially those in the lower level (Harmer, 2007). Evidence provided by Harmer (2007) also indicates that the classroom environment can be enhanced through the use of L1 to establish a positive social relationship with students, which ultimately leads to a more effective teaching process.
To conclude, teaching conditionals is still the area needed to be explored as the complexity of its forms and functions served in different situations. It is challenging for teachers to find an effective and proper approach for teaching. Teachers really need to set up appropriate contexts for students, as it is very important for input and output. Thinking about the real teaching situation, teachers should make a balance between the inductive and deductive approaches. Last but not least, teachers should make the good combination between the form, meaning and use in three-dimensional framework (Larsen-Freeman, 1991) and help students achieve a full understanding of the relationship among these three permanents. (2051 words in total.)
Based on the textbooks in Hong Kong, the students in Primary 5 get the first chance to learn conditional sentences. There are four types in all: Type 0 (any situation which is always true), Type 1(something is going to happen in the future), Type 2 (an imaginary situation which stands no chance of happening or even impossible) and Type 3 (a situation which might have happened in the past but which did not really happen) (Loo, 1996). As time goes by, students will get a better understanding about them in junior high school. Thus, it is not the first time that Miss Wong’s students get to know the target structures. However, some students find that it is hard to understand why we use simple past tense in if-clause to refer to an imaginary situation that is not a real past but impossibility.
Johnson, R., (1997). Questioning techniques to use in teaching. Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance, 68(8), p.45-49.