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Teacher Training through Video: ESL Techniques

Beginning Literacy
Dialogue/Drill
Early Production
Focused Listening
Information Gap
Language Experience
Lesson Planning
Life Skills Reading
Narrative Reading
Problem Solving
Role Play
Total Physical Response

GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

Beginning Literacy

Goal: To develop skills in beginning literacy lessons

Objectives: Upon completion of this module, you will be able to:

Recognize the goal and underlying principles of teaching ESL literacy
Identify the key steps in teaching a literacy lesson
Develop reading- and writing-readiness activities
Develop activities to build reading and writing skills
Develop comprehension activities
Use grouping strategies to meet the needs of students at different literacy levels

Dialogue/Drill

Goal: To develop skill in using the dialogue/drill technique.

Objectives: Upon completion of this module, you will be able to:

Recognize the goal and underlying principles of the dialogue/drill technique
Identify key steps in the dialogue/drill technique
Model the dialogue for the students
Provide cues for eliciting the dialogue
Select meaningful segments for repetition practice
Develop drills to practice pronunciation, vocabulary, structure, and student-to-student communication

Early Production

Goal: To develop skills in using early production activities.

Objectives: Upon completion of this module, you will be able to:

Recognize the goal and underlying principles of early production techniques
Identify key steps in early production techniques
Provide several different contexts for the target language
Use questioning strategies that allow students to comprehend before producing the target language
Provide activities to create a non threatening environment for language acquisition

Focused Listening

Goal: To develop skills in using focused listening activities.

Objectives: Upon completion of this module, you will be able to:

Recognize the goal and underlying principles in teaching listening
Identify key steps in teaching listening
Prepare students for a listening passage
Develop exercises that require the listener to respond with an action
Provide clues to guide students in responding to listening tasks

Information Gap

Goal: To develop skills in using the information gap technique.

Objectives: Upon completion of this module, you will be able to:

Recognize the goal and underlying principles of the information gap technique
Identify key steps in the information gap technique
Set up an information gap activity
Provide different information to different students to fill the information gap
Adapt materials to create an information gap activity

Language Experience

Goal: To develop skills in using the Language Experience Approach.

Objectives: Upon completion of this module, you will be able to:

Recognize the goal and underlying principles of the Language Experience Approach
Identify the key steps in the Language Experience Approach
Elicit from students a description or story about a common experience
Provide students with practice in reading the written story
Design activities to develop reading skills

Lesson Planning

Goal: To develop skills in planning an ESL lesson.

Objectives: Upon completion of this module, you will be able to:

Recognize the principles underlying lesson planning
Identify the stages of a lesson
Develop activities for each key stage of a lesson
Write a lesson plan containing all stages

Life Skills Reading

Goal: To develop skills in using life skills reading.

Objectives: Upon completion of this module, you will be able to:

Recognize the goal and underlying principles in teaching life skills reading
Identify the key steps in teaching life skills reading
Utilize students' prior knowledge and experience
Prepare students for the vocabulary of the reading
Develop an activity to highlight the organization of the reading
Develop an activity that requires understanding of details

Narrative Reading

Goal: To develop skills in using narrative reading lessons.

Objectives: Upon completion of this module, you will be able to:

Recognize the goal and underlying principles in teaching narrative reading
Identify key steps in narrative reading
Develop activities to help students predict what will be in the reading
Develop comprehension questions
Develop activities that build reading skills

Problem Solving

Goal: To develop skills in using the problem-solving technique.

Objectives: Upon completion of this module, you will be able to:

Recognize the goals and underlying principles of the problem-solving technique
Identify key steps in the problem-solving technique
Provide students with an opportunity to identify the problem and discuss a variety of possible solutions and consequences
Pride an activity in which individuals make their own choices and decisions
Transform students' problems and concerns into a story

Role Play

Goal: To develop skills in using the role play technique.

Objectives: Upon completion of this module, you will be able to:

Recognize the goal and underlying principles of the Role Play technique
Identify key steps in the role play technique
Elicit a model for the role play technique
Provide opportunities for students to expand the model using different vocabulary and structures
Provide opportunities for students to make language choices based on function, social setting, and register

Total Physical Response

Goal: To develop skills in using the total physical response approach - that is, to provide a series of commands to which students respond with appropriate nonverbal actions.

Objectives: Upon completion of this module, you will be able to:

Recognize the goal and underlying principles of the total physical response approach
Identify the key steps in the total physical response approach
Demonstrate a series of commands
Develop activities that provide command variation
Develop techniques to encourage a non threatening environment
Develop activities that connect oral and written language
Develop a series of commands for classroom use