Free conversation Controlled activities Awareness activities Fluency activities

Free conversation Controlled activities Awareness activities Fluency activities Feedback By Bartashevich T., Shudegov T., Khamitova J., Timopheeva N.

1. Controlled activities. What for? Many students have to overcome a psychological barrier before they are prepared to speak in the foreign language. Some students find speaking in the classroom situation a threat because there is always an audience, and consequently prefer the anonymity of one-to-one encounters outside. Others on the other hand experience considerable problems in building up the courage ro use the language outside class. A few prefer not to speak at all, and are consequently denied opportunities for practice.

a. Getting-to-know-you-activities Students are a lot happier to speak or make mistakes if there is a positive atmosphere of trust within a group. This is unlikely to develop quickly unless the group begins by getting to know each other's names. Activities which serve to promote exchange of personal information also promote trust and confidence.

Getting-to-know-you task: 'Find someone in class who...' 1 Give out a task sheet to each student and give them about l0 minutes to try and complete it. Encourage them to mill around. 2 When the buzz begins to subside call the students together and go through the rask sheers by asking questions like, Who plays the piano? Who was born in Australia? etc. Allow any of the srudents ro answer. Time: 15-20 min Prepare task sheets for the students to complete. Go through your students' application forms, initial interview notes, etc. to get an interesting piece of information about each of your students to incorporate into the task sheets.

Students are a lot happier to speak or make mistakes if there is a positive atmosphere of trust within a group. This is unlikely to develop quickly unless the group begins by getting to know each other's names. Activities which serve to promote exchange of personal information also promote trust and confidence.