Communicative method of teaching English

The role of the teacher

Unlike other approaches, the main role is assigned to the student. The teacher is an adviser, and he is entrusted with the following functions:

• Maintain student motivation.
• Creation of conditions for free communication.
• Maintaining a friendly and safe environment.
• Explanation of instructions, rules and theory of English.
• Process monitoring, quality feedback.
• Selection of information and materials for the lesson.

The teacher should follow the conversation, correct pronunciation, explain grammatical constructions and help model life events. Its main goal is to achieve continuous, meaningful, passionate dialogue.

Communication exercises for English teachers

All exercises, one way or another, should include the practice of speaking - otherwise, complete freedom of choice. Let's look at some activity options.

Role-playing games

Students are offered a situation in which they can act on their own - there are no right options. The main goal is to find out the necessary information, to convey your opinion.

The following scenarios can be used as a plot:

• A foreigner is lost in Los Angeles, he needs to get to his hotel.
• A journalist asks a visiting football fan questions about his impressions.
• The tutor conducts the first lesson with an immigrant.
• A man is reporting from a concert by an American rock band.

It is important to help participants imagine themselves as real characters and practice. The stories can be funny and even humorous. It is important that the student memorize the words and the context in which they are used.

Information gaps

The guys work in groups - the students are given incomplete information, and they need to fill in all the gaps. It can be drawings, numbers, words, whole phrases, emotions. In this case, people should learn to consult, share their thoughts and defend their point of view, as well as provide the full version to the teacher.

Puzzles

An interesting type of activity in which students are divided into groups or given individual data. The trick is that all the information goes on one topic, but is considered from different angles.

An example of this technique can be the division of the class into 3 groups, and the demonstration of three video clips on the topic "How to save nature." Some students watch a video on how to achieve zero waste production at home, another group analyzes a video about what can replace plastic, and the rest watch a short film about innovative ideas for sustainable consumption.

Then a discussion starts, in which everyone speaks out, offers their own ideas or answers questions.

Open discussions and debates

Great tool for practicing fluency. A controversial topic is brought up for discussion, for example, who is in charge in the house - dad or mom, at what age can a teenager work, how to prevent bullying in the classroom.

The older the students, the more interesting the debate can be. Adult students can discuss gender equality or politics. The main task is to develop the ability to politely and quickly formulate a response. Often, such a lesson is prepared in advance in order to be able to constructively and reasonably express disagreement. The discussion can be a form of assessment of communicative competence.

Project-based learning as a replacement for classical education

Many private schools and kindergartens have long used this type of process. Project based learning has the following benefits:

• integration of all subjects studied,
• long-term use of acquired knowledge,
• independence and responsibility of the student,
• linking to important issues of society and the planet,
• the teacher plays a secondary role of adviser and coach.

Examples of implementation could be a group project on global warming, done in English.

Students independently choose topics, the format of the speech and receive marks for several subjects at once. The integration of diverse knowledge and data helps to think broadly and not in a stereotyped way, and by encouraging the defense of a project in a foreign language, a person receives much more practical skills than in a regular lesson.

Children can use all sources of information and answer those questions in the course of work that are of interest to them. Communication occurs at several levels: at the level of the project team, at the group-class level during the presentation of work, at the group-teacher level during answers and discussion.

Task-Based Learning

Task-based language learning involves the active use of all existing knowledge and the acquisition of new ones in the course of performing certain tasks.

Tasks can be drawing up a dialogue, writing a piece of text, a presentation, a poster. In American schools, assignments very often are answers to difficult questions:

• how to plan a trip to Mexico with $100 in your pocket,
• how to determine who spread a rumor at school,
• how to build a presidential speech so that the candidate wins the election,
• how to prove that the work of your favorite musician should be included in the school curriculum.

The task consists of three stages:

1. The preliminary task is motivation and inspiration for students. The teacher expresses his expectations about the volume or format of the answer, explains why this topic is important and relevant. Possibly showing an example of a job well done. Be sure to group the children and give the necessary instructions.
2. Fulfillment - as a rule, children are divided into pairs so that the most shy ones also take part in the process. Tips from the teacher are only acceptable if the group is really slow. In domestic schools, children communicate with each other in their group in English.
3. Review - a meaningful completed task, presented in a foreign language, elaborated feedback, a deep understanding of the problem solved and intensive training in communication skills are the main learning outcomes.

Content-based instruction

Used in lyceums, colleges and universities for second language learners and involves simultaneous integration with "content", i.e. other academic subjects. Content-based instruction has been used in the English for Special Purposes (ESP) and English as a Second Foreign Language (EFL/ESL) programs since the 1980s.

Basically, the approach is practiced for students of the specialties "International Legal Relations", "International Business", "Interethnic Cultural Relations" - for which all subjects can be taught in a foreign language.

The difficulty lies in the fact that the teaching staff should consist of specialists in their fields: economics, business, political science, cultural studies, who know the language at the Proficiency. In addition, the heterogeneity of language levels in groups can also be problematic.

The most useful technique for those who plan to work in their specialty abroad due to the deep study of professional topics, situations and vocabulary.

The sources of vocabulary and data are authentic English-language materials.

dogme language teaching

The approach encourages lessons without textbooks and instead focuses on conversation. Author Scott Thornbury emphasized ten fundamental principles:

1. Interactivity - everyone communicates with everyone.
2. Engagement - students themselves create content for study.
3. Dialogue - people share knowledge and experience, helping each other.
4. Conversations - the teacher explains difficult points through conversations.
5. Emergence - grammar and vocabulary are formed independently in the process of conversation.
6. Opportunities - the teacher is interested in finding new interesting topics.
7. Voice - Everyone has the right to vote.
8. Empowerment - there are no books or other literature in the classroom, students can offer any format for additional study.
9. Relevance - the materials are not divorced from reality and are relevant to the students themselves.
10. Critical thinking - all used printed data or copyrighted works are perceived as such that can be criticized.

Thus, the Dogme approach is based on such rules: oral speech is the main tool, the fundamental form of language, English in action. Communication, social interaction is much more important than the analysis of sentences and phrases. The availability of materials for classes will allow everyone to study equally. The emergence of language is the basis of student success, i.e. speech arises, and is not taken from other sources.

Difficult to perform, depending on the comprehensive development of the mentor and difficult to evaluate.

Main principles

To summarize, the main principles are:

• We've been talking since the first session. A few new phrases, words each lesson is a guarantee that after a while a person will be able to operate with a sufficient lexical base.
• We use authentic materials. English-language films, series, books, dictionaries will help you get used to the language faster.
• Modeling real life situations. The language should be useful and applicable in the real world.
• We perceive the teacher as a mentor who engages, motivates, and helps.
• We make mistakes and draw conclusions. Strict teachers were replaced by friendly mentors.
• We learn not only to speak, but also to find a common language. This approach is designed for dense and close useful interaction within groups.

Why is it so effective?

Because people are focused on practice, and theoretical points are considered as needed. A large number of topics covered form certain cliches, associations that help to communicate in the future. And when choosing professional topics, the student will successfully support even working discussions.

The focus not only on fluent communication, but also on a deep understanding of speech - 90% of the lesson is devoted to oral discussion, will lead to the fact that in the future, to save time, a person begins to think immediately in English.

The acquired skills can be immediately used by viewing literature or videos on YouTube. Properly memorized constructions also contribute to literate writing, and constant speaking aloud significantly improves pronunciation.

It is based on the use of only relevant words and expressions, due to which an active vocabulary is immediately formed.

Students can train on their own by practicing on social networking sites through Skype lessons