1. Who was talking? 2. About how old were they?
3. Where were they when you eavesdropped? 4. What were they talking about? 5. What did they say?
6. Did they become aware that you were listening to them?
The exercise puts students in a real-world listening situation where they must report information overheard. Most likely they have an opinion of the topic, and a class discussion could follow, in the target language, about their experiences and viewpoints.
Communicative exercises such as this motivate the students by treating topics of their choice, at an appropriately challenging level.
Another exercise taken from the same source is for beginning students of Spanish. In \to an authentic text.
\ \promoting.
\habitaciones de lujo, con aire acondicionado...Elegante restaurante...de fama internacional.\ (The announcement can be read by the teacher or played on tape.) Then ask students to circle the letter of the most appropriate answer on their copy, which consists of the following multiple-choice options: a. a taxi service b. a hotel c. an airport d. a restaurant
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Gunter Gerngross, an English teacher in Austria, gives an example of how he makes his lessons more communicative. He cites a widely used textbook that shows English children having a pet show. \depth of involvement that is almost tangible when they act out a short text that presents a family conflict revolving round the question of whether the children should be allowed to have a pet or not\\one of the hardest tasks to achieve because the children are used to listening to the teacher but not to their peers. There are no quick, set recipes.
4) How do the roles of the teacher and student change in communicative language teaching?
Teachers in communicative classrooms will find themselves talking less and listening
more--becoming active facilitators of their students' learning (Larsen-Freeman, 1986). The teacher sets up the exercise, but because the students' performance is the goal, the teacher must step back and observe, sometimes acting as referee or monitor. A classroom during a communicative activity is far from quiet, however. The students do most of the speaking, and frequently the scene of a classroom during a communicative exercise is active, with students leaving their seats to complete a task.
Because of the increased responsibility to participate, students may find they gain confidence in using the target language in general. Students are more responsible managers of their own learning (Larsen-Freeman, 1986).
4) Classroom activities
Pre-communicative activities aim to help pupils learn the language forms, without actually requiring them to perform communicative acts. They focus on accuracy.
Communicative activities aim at the communication of meaning. They focus on fluency. They pass from strictly guided tasks through semi-guided to free-communication tasks.
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1. Functional Communication Activities: the main purpose of the activity is that learners should use the language they know in order to get meaning across as effectively as possible. In the process of performing certain tasks pupils will:
a. share information, e.g. pair/group tasks: following directions; picture identification;
discovering differences; discovering missing information; arranging pieces of information in sequences, communicating patterns and pictures, reconstructing story sequences, etc. b. use information, e.g. group tasks: pooling information, solving problems.
2. Social Interaction Activities: the main purpose of this activity is to give the learners an oppotunity to use the language in an appropriate social contex, to create variety of social situations and relationships, e.g. pair/group tasks: conversations, simulations and role-playing.
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Learner Role
Pupils interact both with each other and the teacher.
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Teacher Role
The teacher is a facilitator of the communicative process in the classroom. S/he is needs analyst, counsellor and group manager. So:
a. Plan your lessons according to your pupils' needs. b. Advise and guide pupils in the communication process.
c. Organize the classroom as a setting for communication and communicative activities.
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The Role of Instructional Materials
1. Text-based materials
A typical lesson consists of a theme (e.g. relaying information), a task analysis, for thematic development (e.g. understanding the message, asking questions to obtain clarification, asking for more information, taking notes, ordering and presenting information), a practice situation description (e.g. \necessary information from him and relay the message to you manager.\
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(in the preceding case, the beginning of an office conversation scripted and on tape), comprehension questions (e.g. \2. Task-based materials
A variety of games, role plays, simulations, and task-based communication activities have been prepared to support Communicative Language Teaching classes. These typically are in the form of one-of-a-kind items: exercise handbooks, cue cards, pair-communication practice materials, there are typically two sets of material for a pair of students, each set containing different kind of information. Sometimes the information is complementary, and partners must fit their respective parts of the \partners (e.g. an interviewer and an interviewer). Still others provide drills and practice materials interactional formats. 3. Authentic Materials
These might include language-based 'from-life' materials such as signs, magazines, advertisements, and newspapers, or graphic and visual sources around which communicative activities can be built, such as maps, pictures, symbols, graphs, and charts. Different kinds of objects can be used to support communicative exercises, such as a plastic model to assemble from directions. 5.Using Pictures and games in classroom 1) Why use pictures?
By providing a wide range of contexts, students can meet a range of situations and experience that will equip them for real life communication. Specifically, pictures contribute to: a. interest and motivation
b. a sense of the content of the language
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Several years ago I was teaching a beginning level class. One student in the group, Juan, seemed particularly shy, he was afraid of making mistakes, and reluctant to participate. One day, I gave each student an unusual picture of a person, and I asked them to describe the people in the pictures. Juan's photograph showed a young woman swimming with a killer
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