Unit 17 PRACTICE ACTIVITIES AND TASKS FOR LANGUAGE AND SKILLS DEVELOPMENT

Unit 17 PRACTICE ACTIVITIES AND TASKS FOR LANGUAGE AND SKILLS DEVELOPMENT

Activities and tasks give learners opportunities to practice and extend their use of language (e.g. new vocabulary, functional exponents, grammatical structures or the subskills of listening, reading, speaking and writing). There are distinctive kinds of activities and tasks you can apply in your classroom. Those tasks and activities are categorized into controlled, freer and free practice. First, controlled or restricted practice activities focuses on the form of language. Here, learners can use only certain items of language; it gives students practice on using the target language accurately. I would use jazz chants (short songs), choral drills, substitution drills, transformational drills or replacing a key word. Second, freer or less controlled practice activities are the ones in which learners have some choice over what language they are going to use. In this task, students practice using language accurately and communicating, this is a task with a real-world outcome. I would apply role-plays, information-gap activities, sentence competition or surveys. Third, free practice activities that gives students practice in communicating and interaction allow them to use whatever language they wish to complete a task. Here, I would use discussions, sharing or comparing ideas, writing e-mails, stories, letters, or invitations. You are the only one who can decide whether to use a controlled, freer or free practice. That choice will depend on your pupils needs. You can use several kinds of activities in your lessons because that can help you to keep lessons more interesting and motivating. Nevertheless, before using various activities you have to make sure they are suitable for your students´ level of English. For example, you cannot use activities that focus on accuracy and fluency with elementary learners since they are starting to learn a new language and they cannot produce it fluently because they continue working out the language to deduce and calculate how it is used and form. In conclusion, all the activities and tasks have to be chosen depending on your pupils. (age, level, needs, learning styles, etc.).

  

These pictures show some possible tasks or activites you can apply in your lessons.

Controlled parctice (Substitution drills and choral drills)

 

Freer practice  (surveys and gap-fills)

 

 

 Free practice (Writing an invitatio andWriting an e-mail)

 

           References for additional information

- Quizlet.com,. (2014). TKT - Unit 17 - Practice activities and tasks for language and skills development. Retrieved 6 December 2014, from http://quizlet.com/52452045/tkt-unit-17-practice-activities-and-tasks-for-language-and-skills-development-flash-cards/

- Practice activities and tasks for language and skills development. (2009). Teachers`blog. Retrieved from http://teacheraleupbc.blogspot.com/2009/05/practice-activities-and-tasks-for.html

- Controlled and Free Practice in Groups. (2009). Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w50iwAEV25A