MODERN METHODS OF REVIEWING AND SYSTEMATISING ENGLISH
The activities regarding the reviewing and the systematization of English knowledge can be done during special communication lesson or during the other types of lessons as well. Besides these current repetitions, there can be organized some special lessons for reviewing and systematizing the learnt information. These lessons shall include key elements which are very important for the better understanding of English language. There can be done lessons for current reviewing, lessons at the end of a chapter or a theme, or special lessons that can be organized at the end of the term or at the end of the school year.
These types of lessons should include activities which apply to this task and at the same time which contribute at filling the blanks in the pupils' knowledge and enlarging their area of knowing English language.
Most of the lessons that are based on reviewing the accumulated in 15215g612p formation are based on methods like: the frontal dialogue with the class, the pupils' personal activities or projects.
When we refer the modern ways of reviewing knowledge, we may give examples like: problematic situations, working on the PC, role playing, modern exercises and even brainstorming.
Choosing the best method to apply it to such a lesson, it depends only on the teacher's style and the class's level. At the same time modern methods are best used when we work with modern instruments too.
Problematic situations mean that the teacher is the one who must come up with different new contexts for the pupils to work in. The task should involve the pupils' investigation and the desire to discover the solution to the problem by using all the lexical and grammar structures that they studied up to that moment. One example of such an activity would be to give them two drawings that contain a number of mistakes and they should make a parallel between them by using different structures (have got/haven't got, long/short, black/white). Another example could be the following: Divide the class into equal groups and hand them empty pieces of paper. Then start describing a picture to one group using the space prepositions like: on, in, under, between, in front of, at the right of, at the left of, at the bottom, in the left/right corner, opposite, next to, in the centre/ middle of and so on. Pupils try to draw only by listening to the teacher's instructions. Then this group starts doing the same thing for the second one until the finish their drawings. After that they can compare it to the teacher's drawing and find the resemblance or the differences that may appear on their projects. The desire for this kind of exercise is for both group the have a similar drawing with the one presented by the teacher. And, of course the examples can continue.
Working on the PC to review the information can be a very effective way of leading a lesson. It all depends on the possibilities that the respective school has. The internet provides a very wide series of exercises and interesting situations that can be used in this type of lesson. For example, there is a very interesting exercise that has as an aim to consolidate domestic and wild animals. The pupils open the first page and they are given a short description of the animal (eg: it has got hair all over its body and it eats bananas). By writing the correct name of the animal (monkey, in this situation), the pupil is allowed to continue to the next one. There are also exercises that can be done only with a given time interval and the pupils must find a certain number words (five family members, for example) in a given time limit (5 minutes). And of course, they can go to the next level by solving the task correctly. For higher levels the exercises are more difficult and they deal with different aspects of the English language. This time the pupils are asked to choose the correct answer for the given situation. If they choose wrong they are given extra explanations depending on which variant they chose.
Here is an example that illustrates what it was said before: The pupils are given the first question: Which of the following are sentences?
a) Joan's sister
b) Joan's sister got married.
c) got married
By choosing a) there will appear on the screen the explanation: it is not a sentence because there is no predicate, by choosing b) they will get the correct answer: this sentence has got a subject and a predicate, too, by choosing c) they will get the following information: it is not a sentence because it is only a predicate. Each time the pupils choose the wrong answer, the program will send them back to the original question until they get it right. After that they are allowed to continue the exercise.
Role playing can also be a very demanding method but it is a very good one and most of the pupils love it. Role playing involves pupils taking up some roles in different situations that also involve things that had been studied before. For example we can ask them to play a scene between a librarian and a pupil that delayed delivering his book. They have to use polite forms of addressing to people, certain tenses that may appear depending on the situation, and of course a wide area of the vocabulary. They can also play the roles of mother/father and daughter/son in different situations to which pupils can easily relate. For the effectiveness of this method in reviewing knowledge, the scenery for the role play should not be premeditated. It should be something spontaneous, making everybody feel free to express their opinions. Most of the specialists say that role playing implies different aspects of social, affective and mental evolution: development of empathy, of understanding the points of view, the feelings of the others, the aptitude to surprise, to understand and to evaluate the partner's values, to create good behavior and to eliminate bad elements.
Modern exercises can be used in all types of lesson but they are very useful when it comes to reviewing information. They should be chosen according to the level of the class and to their ability to conform to the requests. When I think about modern exercises I can give an example that works very well in classes and that is usually adaptable to all levels and aims. Give the pupils a sheet of paper divided into two columns. On one side write the pupil's name and on the other one, write his/her partner's name. According to what you want to review ask them to write down time expressions that are specific for the respective tense. For example, if you want to review past tense simple, then they should give time expressions such as: yesterday, two days ago, a month ago, last year, last winter and so on. Each child should write the activities that he or she did at the respective time and then try to write activities that they think their partners did at the same time. Then they should ask each other questions to try to find the correct answers.
Example: TOM Tom's partner's suppositions
Yesterday- play football play football
A week ago- visit my fiends visit his grandparents
Last summer- go at the mountain go in a camp
Tom: What did I do yesterday?
Tom's partner: You played football.
Tom: Yes, I did. What did I do a week ago?
Partner: You visited your grandparents.
Tom: No, I didn't. I visited my friends. What did I do last summer?
Partner: You went in a camp.
Tom: No, I didn't. I went at the mountain.
And the dialogue continues with the changing of roles until each pupil asked and answer the questions from the paper. This exercise can also be done for future time reviewing or for making pupils imagine they are stars and they answer different questions about their past and future. This is a combination between exercising and role playing activity and it is perfect for this kind of lesson.
The reviewing and systematization lessons can be done in a pleasant and interesting way just by choosing the right method which can be applied to the aims and context of the respective lesson. It all depends on the teacher's being an open-minded person and at the same time knowing very well her or his classes and pupils.
Teacher,
Militaru Nicoleta
|
