Thursday 31 May 2007

Meaning-focused activities for the communicative lesson

I’ve searched through English File 2 (OUP) by Clive Oxenden c.f. , trying to identify the three types of meaning-focused activity in the classroom that Prabhu describes. Let's see if others agree with my analysis!
  • Information-gap activity: on page 121 I’ve found an activity in which Student A has to read a description and answer B’s questions to complete a chart on page 81. Then Student B turns to page 124 activity 6B and reads the description and answer Students A’s questions and the latter completes the chart on page 81.
  • Reasoning-gap activity: on page 120, unit 2D I’ve found a crossword in which Student A has some information and has to answer Student B questions. Student A has to define the word and Student B has to guess the word and complete his crossword. Student B is on page 123 so he cannot see Student A’s crossword. He has to define the words too and Student A has to guess and complete his crossword.
  • Opinion-gap activity: on page 121, activity 7C. Student A reads and memorizes his problems and then tells B and C who are going to give Student A advice. Student A decides which the best idea is. Then Student B turns to page 124 and Student C to page 125. They do the same as with Student A.
So... what do you think?
Lorena

BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Hedge, Tricia (2001); Teaching and Learning in the Language Classroom; chapter 2 (Discussion projects and topics # 4 - p. 73); O.U.P.
Oxenden, Clive ;
English File 2; O.U.P.

5 comments:

Gladys Baya said...

In my experience, these 3 activities are likely to work well in a communicative lesson, Lore! :-)

To me, one of the best things about looking at book tasks in this way is that then you build a kind of "bank" of task tyoes you can adapt to different classes and topics, enhancing communication needs in your lessons.

Hope that happens to you too!

Gladys

Maria Lorena Recio said...

You're totally right. It's wonderful to have a "bank" of tasks which you can adapt for different courses and know that students will enjoy them.

Gladys Baya said...

Hey! You've given me an idea! How about starting a group bank at our class wiki? Future classes might add to it, and you'd always have access to it!
Feel free to get started!
Gladys

Anonymous said...

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- David

Maria Lorena Recio said...

David, what do you mean 'odd'? I've been getting spam messages but apparently I can't see them... Thanks for your comment, Lore