Analysis of an English lesson

THE RECOMMENDATIONS FOR the ORGANIZATION of EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITY at the LESSON

THE PROVISIONAL CIRCUIT of the ANALYSIS of a FOREIGN LANGUAGE LESSON

The analysis of a typical lesson containing all standard stages consists of the objectives of a lesson, organization moment, control of the home task, repeated and preparatory exercises, introduction of a new educational material, control of understanding, training exercise, control of mastering the active material. Depending on the purpose of each given lesson, its number and order, therefore analysis of a lesson should be begun with a setting of the objectives, put by the teacher. Analyzing a course of a lesson, it is necessary to allocate the following elements:

1. Teaching-methodical tasks of a lesson: introduction, fastening, activization of a foreign material, final control work

2. Subjects of the contents of educational materials: the text, oral theme, exercise, situations, methodical receptions, language material.

3. Equipment of a lesson: technical aids, presentation, didactic materials, including used components of a Teaching -methodical complex.

4. A place of a lesson in the study of a theme the lesson opens, continues, finishes an educational theme...).

The analysis of a lesson

5. Purpose: orientation to formation of development of skills and skills of foreign speech activity (auding, monologic, dialogic speech), reading, letter; orientation to mastering by learning aspects of language (pronunciation, lexics, grammar); the complex purposes of a lesson (training dialogue in foreign language, training cognitive activity with use of foreign language).

6. Educational of the purpose of a lesson: moral, aesthetic, labour education, education of the civilized person, culture of thinking, dialogue, feelings and behaviour.

7. General educational purposes of a lesson: cognitive, country-specific, лингвострановедческие, developing; development of linguistic thinking.

8. Conformity of the purposes of a lesson to its place in study of an educational theme, requirements of the program of training to foreign language and educational plan for the given class.

9. Preparation of an educational room for the study of the foreign language, for class work

10. Preparation of the pupils for work, equipment of their workplaces.

11. Educational atmosphere in a class (study): involving of the pupils on a subject " foreign language "; use of materials telling about the country of investigated language; reproduction in a break in a sound recording of foreign speech; use of other means of creation of language environment; registration in appropriate way of class board; use of the tables, visual presentation to a lesson and etc.

12. Organizational moment: efficiency of switching of the pupils on a subject " foreign language "; conversation of the teacher with the pupils in foreign language; questions of the teacher to a class about availability for service; the message on character (plan) of job at the given lesson; orientation of the pupils on achievement practical (communicative, cognitive), educative, general educational purposes; speech drill; an establishment of contact of the teacher with the pupils; use of micro-conversation of the teacher with the pupils; application of other pedagogical and methodical receptions for creation in a class of a creative, business, benevolent atmosphere; use of warm-up in a of course speech materials on an educational theme of a lesson and orientation speech drill on achievement of the purposes of a lesson.

13. Phonetic drill: orientation on achieving of the basic practical purposes of a lesson; preparation of the pupils for job with a new language material; development of phonetic skills.

14. Home task: check of the task at a lesson, control of it in a course of job above a new educational material; quality of performance of the home task; fixation of cases of default of the task prior to the beginning of its check; commenting by the teacher of performance of the task, use of the forms of its check; ways of indemnification of a defect on current (following) a lesson; maintenance of formation of skills and skills; the account of difficulties arising at the pupil at performance of the home task; generalization of typical mistakes; an explanation of the reasons causing these mistakes; use of an effective way of their overcoming; correction of mistakes; an atmosphere of a correctness and goodwill in a course of check of the home task.

15. Introduction of a new material: the form of introduction of a new material; use of an inductive (deductive) way; use of a board, technical aids, material of the textbook; use of subject, representational presentation, interpretation, дефиниции, comment, carry, context, situation for presentation of a new material; conformity to a step of training to character of language units, difficulty of an entered material, purpose of its mastering; maintenance of mastering by the pupils by a rough basis of actions, mastering of knowledge at an explanation of a new language material; the control of understanding of new language units; use by the pupils of language units in a context of the offers.

16. Maintenance of mastering new language material: use of language, conditional - speech and speech exercises for various kinds of speech activity; observance of a rational parity(ratio) of different types of exercises (language, conditional - speech and speech), oral and written, программированных and non-programmed, problem and not problem; application of technical aids and representational presentation.

17. Training auding: receptions used by the teacher for achievement of an object in view; methodical validity of stages of job with text for auding; organization of preparation to perception(recognition) of the text (removal of language difficulties, training to a language guess, antizipation; statement of the target task stimulating interest to perception(recognition)); use of the tape recorder (player); rational use of listening; use of visual, representational, picture presentation both language and semantic support; result of job.

18. Training speaking: selection of a speech material, speech situations, dialogue - sample, text (oral, written), use of presentation, technical aids; organization of the help by the pupil and management of construction диалогических (monologic) statements; application of various kinds of support (plan, logical-syntactic circuit, key words, зачина and концовки etc.); efficiency of game receptions and problem tasks used by the teacher.

19. Training to reading: formation of skills of engineering of reading and skills to understand readable; use of various receptions, tasks and pre-text exercises on the text and after-text stages; correctness of the decision of a task of each stage of job above the text; application of rational methodical receptions for the control of understanding (tasks to find the correct answer to a question from a number(line) of the data to reproduce a context on the basis of key words, to entitle the paragraphs and etc.); use of a context as base for development of oral speech, expediency of such use of the text on the given step of training; efficiency of exercises.

20. Training to the letter: correctness of use of receptions and tasks; according to the purpose of training (written retelling, composition, expansion of retorts in dialogue, spelling of the letter, summary; translation, scheduling with subsequent checking, sample of the most important sentences, drawing up of the abstract during reading on the basis of the plan, theses, key words and word combinations).

21. Use of the forms of class work: a parity(ratio) of frontal and group work; work in pairs and individual; rationality of application of the various forms of the tasks; the forms of educational interaction (schoolboy - teacher, schoolboy - book, schoolboy - tape recorder, schoolboy - slide or figure, schoolboy - reality of the country of investigated language, schoolboy - schoolboy).

22. Means of the account, control and estimation: a degree of mastering by the pupils foreign by a material, skills and skills of foreign speech; efficiency of question-answer- work, performance of exercises and tasks, testing, job with figures, раздаточным by a material.

23. Task to the following lesson: the control of understanding of the task; the recommendations to its performance, partial performance of it in a class with the pupils; inclusion of different kinds of speech activity; correctness of a parity(ratio) between formal, receptive, reproductive and productive kinds of the tasks; fastening of the acquired material; preparation of the pupils for the following lesson.

24. Final stage of a lesson: conversation of the teacher with the pupils; the answers to questions which are not included in the plan of a lesson; the developed (non- developed) assessment of works of each pupil; exhibiting of estimations.

25. Observance of general didactic principles: consciousness, practical orientation, transition from simple to complex, from known to unknown, from concrete to abstract. Realization of methodical principles: communicative orientations of training иноязычной of speech, oral basis (oral advancing), функциональности etc.

26. Individualization of training at a lesson: use of several kinds of presentation of an educational material simultaneously, account of interests of a personality in a choice of the tasks, different level of preparation and different speed of mastering of a new material at a choice of the tasks for different groups of the pupils; stimulation of discussion, discussion; application of the differentiated forms of encouragement and censure depending on личностных of the characteristics of the pupils.

27. Teacher and class: a general atmosphere of lesson work (optimistic, active, business, benevolent); contact of the teacher to a class; a professional standard of the teacher, possession of a technique of training to foreign language; personal qualities of the teacher as teacher; expressiveness of speech of the teacher, tone, stylistic correctness, absence (presence) of language mistakes, timbre of a vote.

28. Understanding by a class (group) of the purposes of carried out educational actions; initiative of the pupils in dialogue with the teacher, with the schoolmates; spontaneous character of questions, offer on a choice of educational actions; the offer of the decisions; the statement of the opinions; aspiration to use investigated language; absence of fear to admit(allow) a mistake; an estimation by the pupils of the teacher as expert, sympathy to the teacher; a high estimation of opinion of the teacher; readiness to execute the educational tasks.

29. Use of the native language in speech of the teacher and pupils: use by the teacher of the native language for an explanation by the pupil of the instruction, when, in his(its) opinion, the pupils do not know the certain words and word collocations, and their use is justified by a situation; duplication in the native language the most difficult statements for understanding; constant use of foreign language as means of dialogue with the pupils; application of the native language as bases of thinking activity learning to induce the pupils to speak only English.

ORGANIZATION of EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITY In a foreign language; the use of the native language with the purposes of economical presentation, for an explanation of the most difficult material, interpretation of realities, illustration and more accessible understanding stylistic, фразеологических of features of language, decision of complex psychological-pedagogical tasks, rendering assistance by the pupil in preparation of the independent statements, comparison of result of a mistake in foreign of speech, its influence on understanding in dialogue with a similar mistake in native speech; duplication of the statements on the native and foreign language; ways of encouragement of preferable or constant use by the pupils of foreign language; use of the native language by the pupils (constantly or only then, when does not suffice to them necessary language means).

30. Rational use of time at a lesson: time for speaking of the teacher and learning in minutes; time spent on the organizational moment, control of the home task, presentation of a new material, its correction, training of the task, final control, explanation of the home task, final part of a lesson; time speaking on the native language and the language under study; conformity of distribution of time at a lesson to the plan of work.

31. General estimation of a lesson.

Recommended Literature:

Рогова Г. В. Еще раз об организации урока. — „ Иностранные языки в школе". 1968 № I.

Гез Н. И. Некоторые вопросы теории урока иностранного языка. — „Иностранные языки в школе". 1968. № 4.

Teacher's Books and Pupil's Books for secondary schools.

Questions for Discussion:

1.Planning is a necessary prerequisite for effective leaching. Say why.

2.Unit planning not only saves the teacher's time for compiling daily planning but also makes allowance for developing various skills within the time allotted to a certain unit. Do you agree? Confirm your statement.

3.Since classes are different, daily plans should be adapted to each particular class. What is your opinion on the subject?

Activities:

1.Examine current foreign language textbooks and say how the authors plan the teacher's work at a lesson (unit).

Analyse one of the lessons in the Pupil's Hook and determine the difficulties of the lesson. Compare your analysis with the one given in the Teacher's Book.

 

Chapter XIII

The Essential Course in the Secondary School

We distinguish three stages in teaching a foreign language in schools: junior, intermediate, and senior. Since every stage has its peculiarities we shall dwell upon each one separately.

Junior stage. This stage involves the 5th and the 6th forms. Pupils are eleven and twelve years old. They are usually-eager to learn a foreign language. Indeed, the eagerness, with which pupils volunteer answers to the teacher's questions with frantically waving hands leaves little doubt that power­ful motives are at work, among them the desire to display language aptitude, and intellectual strength, or simply to "show off" in front of the teacher and classmates. They want to speak the language and understand it when spoken. Pupils like to perform various exercises and the teacher can easily [involve them into various activities during the lesson. The conditions for language learning are favourable enough: pupils have four periods a week in the 5th form, and three — in the 6th form. The class, as a rule, is divided into two groups of about twenty pupils. Oral language receives the greatest time and emphasis although at this stage pupils learn hearing, speaking, reading, and writing.

Proceeding from the fourfold aim of foreign language teaching, namely, hearing, speaking, reading, and writing, as the syllabus sets, the problem arises what to begin with.

There are two possible solutions:

(1) to begin with teaching all the language skills, i. е. oral language (hearing and speaking) and written language (reading and writing);

(2) to begin with teaching oral language first.

1. When we begin teaching reading, writing, and speak­ing simultaneously, pupils have to overcome many difficul­ties in acquiring the language, among them unfamiliar sounds of the language different from those of the mother tongue; peculiar intonation, stress, and rhythm; the new alphabet which includes strange letters, familiar letters that stand for different sounds; a complicated relationship between letters and sounds, some new concepts fixed or reflected in words (Russian — иди туда, иди сюда, English — go there, come here); the peculiar word-order in various types of sentences and so on and so forth. To provide the necessary conditions for the assimilation of such a complex thing as a foreign language in all its activities, the teaching process is rather slow. First, pupils assimilate the elements, namely, sounds and letters (how to pronounce this or that sound, how to put down this or that sound in symbols, how to write this or that letter, how to write the words the child learns, how to read words, word groups, sentences, what this or that word means, what thought is expressed in this or that sentence). Then they come to "the whole". The work pupils do is oа analytical character. They learn elements first to get a "whole". For instance, pupils learn sounds and letters in their rela­tionship in order to be able to read a word; they learn words, their meaning, spelling, pronunciation, grammar forms in order to be able to use them while reading a sentence, or writing a sentence, or saying it. They learn how to put the words together to express this or that thought orally or in writing, etc. Consequently, the process is from the elements of the language to speech, and from analysis to synthesis.

The advantage of this approach lies in the fact that pupils get acquainted with all the language activities (reading, writing and speaking). The advocates of this approach ' say that one phase of a language helps the other. Thus writ­ing helps reading; they both help speaking, and speaking helps reading. Language is an organic unity, each language activity is intimately related to every other activity. Lan­guage learning involves all types of memory: auditory, visual, and kinesthetic from the very beginning.

There are some disadvantages in this approach, however, and we must not overlook them. They are the following: there are too many elements pupils have to assimilate before they are able to understand sentences pronounced by the teacher or read by themselves. They have but little idea of the oral language they study for a long time (at least for a month or more); many children of eleven soon get tired of the analy­tical work and lose interest in the language; besides, the teacher in his attempt to make pupils' work easier (there is too much for them to memorize) conducts his lessons, as a rule, in the mother tongue, some elementary commands (sir down, stand up, and three-five more expressions) are an exception since teaching reading and writing requires a lot of time (pupils are slow in doing this, thereby speaking is neglected, which is, of course, undesirable when the aim is the command of the language). The most dangerous of all disadvantages mentioned above is the loss of interest in the subject and of the desire to learn the language. "No one can learn what he does not want to study" (P. Hagboldt). This is especially true when we deal with children.

The significance of interest in learning cannot be overesti­mated. It is the strongest motive in all our efforts. It con­centrates our attention, enlivens our impressions, ensures repetition, and favours a wealth of associations. Some psychol­ogists even speak of the "law of interest". According to this law the most interesting parts of a subject most strongly resist the tendency to be forgotten.

"No teaching is so poor as that which puts the class to sleep" (P. Hagboldt). Perfect integration of the various lan­guage activities is an ideal, and like all ideals, unattainable but worth striving for.

To minimize the disadvantages the simultaneous teaching of all language activities possesses, a few introductory les­sons at a purely oral level are conducted. Besides, of all the skills preference is given to the development of oral language in the junior stage, thus pupils are engaged in an exchange of ideas, however primitive they are from the very beginning. The linguistic material is presented orally which is important for developing hearing and speak­ing skills. The oral-aural competence of the pupil helps him in reading and writing, the latter in their turn support and reinforce hearing and speaking. This approach is reflected in the textbook for the 5th form by S. K. Folomkina and E. 1. Kaar.

2.When we begin teaching hearing and speaking first in the 5th form pupils have to overcome but one difficulty, namely, they learn first how to speak and understand the foreign language when it is spoken. Teaching reading and writing is postponed for a while. In this case there is an oppor­tunity to concentrate pupils' attention upon hearing and speaking. Fortunately, ability in oral language may be devel­oped before ability in written language. Bearing this in mind some teachers prefer the following sequence in teaching beginners, that is, from oral language lo written language-they conduct the oral introductory course in the 5th form and follow the oral approach in teaching a foreign language afterwards. The advocates of the oral introductory course in the 5th form believe that it will lead to radical changes in foreign language teaching in schools (where for many years the simultaneous teaching of language skills has been prac­tised) and make the teacher revise the method and tech­niques he uses. It is practically impossible to make the teacher deviate from the methods and techniques he is used to, though they have not proved as effective as they were expected to be. The use of the oral introductory course changes the methods and techniques the teacher applies.

The advantages of the oral introductory course in the 5th form are as follows:

1.The oral introductory course allows the children lo get a clear idea of how the language sounds from the very first steps. The pupils follow a natural sequence in language assimilation from hearing to speaking and later on to reading and writing.

2.The oral introductory course stimulates pupils' inter­est as they deal with the language in its communicative function. For children a language is first of all speech. There­fore when they begin to learn a foreign language, they natu­rally want to speak it and hear it spoken. We know how-eager the children are to learn a foreign language in the 5th form when the school year begins, and how disappointed they become when it appears to be not what they have expected. The oral introductory course permits the teacher to instruct pupils in comprehension of elementary commands, requests, statements, and questions from the very beginning, on the one hand, and in saying something in a foreign language, on the other.

3.Pronunciation in teaching a modern language is known to be the most important skill to be developed when instruct­ing beginners. In the oral introductory course much atten­tion is given to teaching pronunciation. The imitative abil­ities of children are great enough to be relied upon in teaching pronunciation successfully. Besides, during the oral course hearing and speaking are in focus, therefore children have plenty of oral practice. Hearing and speaking improve their pronunciation.

At present much attention is given to finding ways

of more effective teaching. The effectiveness depends to a greal extent on how well "feed-back" (from the pupil to the teacher) is established, that is, whether a response from the pupil is elicited. If the pupil's response indicates he has accurately received and recorded the previous information the next increment of information is presented. If the pupil's re­sponse is of low fidelity or accuracy — it is slow, inaccurate, fumbling, etc., — corrective information is provided. In oral language there is a constant communication between the teacher and the pupil. Therefore the feedback is permanent.

5. The oral introductory course provides an efficient activization of teaching from the very beginning. During the lesson pupils should be active. They must listen to what the teacher and their classmates say. Their memory, thinking, visual, auditory, and kinesthetic analysers are at work. That is why many teachers turned to the oral introductory course in the 5th form to gain better results in foreign lan­guage teaching. To meet the requirements of the teachers a new textbook for the pupils of the 5th form has been com­piled. This is the textbook by A. P. Starkov, R. R. Dixon which is now in use.

When teaching the pupils orally the method used is the aural-oral method. The teacher must strive towards establishing direct connection between words, sentences in the foreign language and the concepts and thoughts they convey. However, this does not mean the teacher cannot use the mother tongue during the lesson. He uses it for con­veying the meaning of some words, structures, and for those explanations and commentaries which provide the necessary comprehension of the language material. For example, the teacher presents a sentence pattern: This is a desk (the trans­lation may be given). In this sentence there are two sounds the pronunciation of which should be shown [ð], [d]). The rest are assimilated through imitation.

The mother tongue, however, should not be an essential link between the foreign language and the thoughts it ex­presses. The mother tongue should only be utilized when it can help to ensure necessary comprehension. The extensive use of the mother tongue, translation in particular, however, deprives the oral introductory course of its sense and value. The principle of visualization is of great importance in teach­ing beginners. Audio "visualization" is provided when the Pupil listens to the teacher's and the classmates' speech.

For example, the teacher presents a new word. The word is a chair.

Teacher: This is a chair... a chair... Is this a chair? Yes, it is. Is this a table? No, it is not. It's a chair. Is this a chair or a table? This is a chair. What is this? It's a chair.

Pupils listen to the teacher. They retain the new word not only as a whole but as an element of familiar structures. After that the teacher asks the pupils to repeat the word a chair in chorus, then individually, then in sentences. The new word must be heard and pronounced at least 30- 50 times. The teacher's speech should be of a normal speed, and he must not repeat the same sentence or question several times. The slow uttering of the question is not desirable, because the pupils get time for inner translation and they are not prepared for hearing and comprehension of the foreign lan­guage. Objects, pictures, gestures should be extensively used at all points of the lesson. The assimilation of language material on the part of pupils depends on their activity during the lesson.

Pupils memorize the language material in a form suit­able for communication provided they hear and reproduce it again and again. New habits can be formed only by many repetitions. When conducting the oral course individual work is carried on. Work in pairs should be used, too.

During the oral introductory course the teacher uses sentence patterns as units of instruction. He starts working at a sentence pattern and then attracts his pupils' attention to the elements this particular sentence pattern involves; for example, the sound is given in a sentence, the pattern is given in a situation. No analysis is used. Later on when reading and writing are introduced, some analysis and gen­eralization may take place.

The duration of the course is one of the problems that is not solved yet. It depends on many factors, such as:

I. Number of pupils in the class. In overcrowded classes the oral introductory course should be shorter than in small classes of 10—15 pupils because the teacher cannot give due attention to every pupil and ensure oral practice for everyone. The consequence of this is that some pupils cannot assimilate words, phrases and sentence patterns which they grasp only by ear. They need printed matter to be able to see all this. Reading and writing are helpful since auditory perception is reinforced by visual perception.

2.Pupils' aptitude. There are pupils who can grasp words, phrases and sentence patterns in a foreign language by ear without any difficulty, and they can use them easily in conversations due to good imitative abilities. There is no need for reading and writing to reinforce the pupils' audi­tory perception. If the class consists of such pupils, the oral introductory course may be longer than in ordinary classes.

3.The teacher's qualifications. The oral method of teach­ing a foreign language requires qualified teachers who have good command of the language they teach, who can manage the class, who can work with audio-visual aids and mate­rials when presenting and consolidating linguistic material and who can use modern methods and teaching techniques in order to stimulate pupils' activities in listening com­prehension and speaking. The more experienced the teacher is in this respect, the longer he is able to teach pupils hearing and speaking without turning to reading and writing for the reinforcement of his pupils' auditory perception. How­ever, to meet modern requirements in teaching foreign lan­guages in our schools, and to be considered "the oral intro­ductory course" it must not be shorter than 4 weeks (16 peri­ods). In the textbook by A. P. Starkov, Z. V. Starkova the oral introductory course goes on for a term (the first two months).

The oral introductory course allows the teacher: (1) to develop pronunciation habits and skills both in articulation and intonation since pupils are taught spoken language only; the teacher can give his full attention to teaching correct pronunciation by saying each sentence very carefully and quietly, by asking the pupils to say it correctly following the pattern, by listening intently to detect faults in the pro­nunciation of his pupils so as to help each pupil in his effort to pronounce as close to the pattern as possible; (2) to intro­duce the material necessary for conducting lessons in Eng­lish, namely, greetings, requests, orders, names of school objects and actions, words and expressions which are neces­sary for commenting, for instance, good, very good, belter, but nut good enough, wrong, right this lime; (3) to create the situations in which pupils may speak about themselves and their friends, about objects and things they can see and use in the classroom, and so on.

The oral introductory course is designed for developing pupils' skills in hearing and speaking before they are taught to read and «rite in the target language. This makes the learning of the language easier. Teachers who want to fol­low this approach in teaching English should select the text­book for the 5th form by A. P. Starkov, R. R. Dixon. In the Teacher's Book they will find all necessary directions as to how to teach children during the oral introductory course. When pupils have acquired habits and skills in listening comprehension and speaking during the oral introductory course, the oral approach is suggested in teaching the foreign language.

Oral approach. The Russian for the oral approach is устная основа обучения. This means that the learner receives his initial contact with the material through the ear. The oral approach centres attention fundamentally upon learning a language as a set of symbols to be spoken and understood when heard. The oral approach is a name primarily for an end to be attained in the first stage of language learning, i. е., the building up of a set of habits for the oral produc­tion of a language and for the receptive understanding of the language when it is spoken.

The oral approach allows the teacher:

(1)to centre attention on teaching the pupils how to pronounce correctly the language material they assimilate;

(2)to have plenty of time for hearing, repetition, and reproduction since all the work is done orally;

(3)to train pupils in assimilating the material through the ear and, in this way, not to become eye-learners;

(4)to arouse pupils' interest in learning as they deal with the language as a means of communication;

(5)to provide the natural sequence in language as­similation: hearing, speaking, reading, writing.

Pupils are taught a foreign language through hearing and speaking it. At every lesson they enrich their knowledge of vocabulary and grammar, and therefore they can under­stand and say more and more. Pupils develop their reading and writing skills first within the material assimilated orally.

When the teacher is to use the oral approach the follow­ing procedure should be adopted.

The objective is: to teach pupils to understand and use a grammar item in speech. The grammar item should pass through the following stages to be grasped and retained by pupils.

1.Listening comprehension.

2.Listening repetition in imitation of the teacher.

3.Numerous repetitions of the sentence patterns; the words being changed.

4.Transformations.

5. The usage of the grammar item in various situations.
For example, the grammar item is "The Future Indefi­nite".

1. The teacher selects the situations suitable for pre­senting the grammar item. He may use а геаl situation.
Imagine the class decided to go on a hike.

Teacher: Next Sunday (lie points to the calendar) we shall go on a hike. We shall get up at 5 o'clock (lie looks at his watch). We shall take everything we need for the hike. We shall leave at 7 o'clock. We shall have a good time, we are sure. We shall be back at 10.

Pupils listen to the teacher trying to understand what he says. Now and then the teacher may repeat a sentence or ask one of the pupils (the slowest one) to translate what he has said. After he has finished, he says it again.

2. Pupils repeat the sentences in imitation of the teacher.
Attention is given to the intonation. Pupils may repeat

the sentences both individually and in unison.

3. The teacher arranges a talk.

Teacher: Tomorrow I shall go to the library,

and what about you, Mike?
Mike: Tomorrow I shall go to the cinema,

and what about you, Lena?
Lena: Tomorrow I shall go to school, and

what about you, Sasha?
S a s h a: I shall read a book, and you, Pete?
Pete: I shall not read a book. I shall watch

TV and what about you, Ann?
A n n: I shall not watch TV. I shall do my lessons, and you Andrew?

Andrew: I shall listen to music, etc.

 

4. Then (he teacher suggests that the pupils should change
the person in the sentences following the model.

Teacher: We shall go on a hike. (He points to the children playing in the yard.)

Pupil,: They will stay in town. (The teacher points to Pete.)

P u p i 1₂: 1 shall play chess. (He points to Mike.)

Pupil,: He will watch TV, etc.

The pupil asks for confirmation. Teacher: Dan will help us. Pupil,: Will he help us? Teacher: Ann will be on duty tomorrow. Pupil.: Will Ann be on duty tomorrow? etc.

5. The teacher gives a pattern dialogue. He may use
a tape-recording and a picture:

—Will you help me, John?

—What shall I do, father?

—Will you polish the floor?

—With pleasure.

Or:

—What will you do tonight?

—I think I shall do my lessons first, then 1 shall go to see my friend or I shall watch TV.

The work results in assimilating the Future Indefinite, and more than that, in reviewing a great number of words and phrases.

If the objective is to teach pupils to understand and use in speech 6—8 words a similar procedure should be adopted:

1.Listening and comprehension.

2.Listening and repeating the word over and over.

3.Listening and repeating the word in different word combinations.

4.Using the word in various sentence patterns.

5.Using the word in the act of communication.

1. The teacher selects situations for presenting the new words. He selects a method for conveying the meaning of each word. For example, the word is dance. It is not difficult to find pictures with dancing people in it. So the direct method may be applied. The teacher says a number of sentences with the word dance in the situations selected for the purpose.

2.Pupils pronounce the word in different forms (dance, dances, is dancing, are dancing, danced) in imitation of the teacher. Pupils are taught to pronounce it correctly as "a whole" (a unit).

3.They pronounce word combinations: dance well, dance badly, dance at the party, dance in the hall, dance with some­body.

4.Pupils use the word in different sentence patterns: The girl (in the picture) can dance well. The people are dancing in the hall. We shall dance at the party, etc.

5.The teacher arranges a talk (Teacher — Pupil, Pupil — Pupil).

 

—Can you dance?

—Do you like to dance?

—Who can dance well in our class?

—Who will dance at the party? etc.

The oral approach in teaching the language material forces the teacher to plan his work carefully. It provides a systematic revision of vocabulary and grammar. Indeed, pupils, as­similate a grammar item through the revision of words and phrases they need to use this particular grammar item. Pupils assimilate new words in different sentence patterns, there­fore, they review grammar while learning the words.

Various exercises may be suggested which pupils are to perform to retain grammar and vocabulary, among them:

—Make statements following the model.

—Answer the questions. (Various types of questions are asked — general, alternative, and special.) The teacher asks a question, e. g., What will you do after classes? Many pupils answer this question.

—Ask questions.

T e а с h e r: I shall read a book. Ask me questions to get

more information. Pupil,: Will you read a Russian book? P u p i L: Will you read an English book? P u p i 1₃: Will you read it at home or in the library? Pupil,: When will you read the book? etc.

—Make up a dialogue.

Speak about a picture, a situation, a topic suggested.

Various audio-visual aids should be used. After pupils perform various oral exercises and use the material in speech for 1—2 lessons (hey read (he text in which the grammar item or (he words they have assimilated orally occur. They all perform various written exercises.

The relationship of oral language and written language in the junior stage must be approximately 3:1, that is, oral language receives the greatest time and emphasis in pupils' activity.

Reading is developed on the basis of the material assimi­lated orally. However, the teacher should bear in mind that oral-aural competence does not automatically create reading ability. It only helps pupils to acquire this skill. Among the exercises designed for developing reading, graphemic-phonemic and structural-information exercises should prevail. Pupils are encouraged to read a text for thorough comprehen­sion and not for translation since the aim is to acquire profi­ciency in reading and not in translating (see Chapter IX).

Writing is developed on the material pupils can use in speaking and reading. In this stage writing is a means of teaching since it helps pupils in fixing words, phrases or sen­tence patterns in their memory. The leading type of written work at this stage is copying, though dictations and elemen­tary compositions are available (see Chapter XI).

In the junior stage the role of the teacher is great: he presents the language material, stimulates and directs pupils' correct usage of the material presented. However it does not mean that his activity should "dominate" during the lesson. On the contrary, care should be taken to increase pupil-practice time. Special investigations have shown that teachers are often too active during the lesson. Sometimes the teacher's activity takes 73 per cent of the lesson lime and 25 per cent is left for the class. In this case we cannot expect much learn­ing on the part of the pupil. Indeed 45nun. = 2700sec. Tito teacher is talking (and doing something else, reading, for in­stance) 30 min. or 1800sec. Thus900sec. are left for the class. If there are 20 pupils in the class, each child has 45 sec. at his disposal. Which is not so much for learning the lan­guage.

Of course in the initial lessons we cannot minimize the teacher's participation in this bilateral process, and it may be considered a reasonable relationship. The teacher manages the class activities by giving directions; he shows the pupils how to pronounce something, or what and how to say in this or that situation, he presents new words and gram­mar items by giving vivid examples and using audio-visual materials; he guides the class by pointing out his pupils' errors; he praises good work and encourages the class to further perfect their habits and skills; he evaluates the work of the class. All this requires time, and if we take into consideration that pupils are slow in grasping much of what the teacher says and he is sometimes forced to repeat what he utters a second time to be understood by the pupils, the time utilized by the teacher is not wasted and the ratio fifty-fifty is justi­fied. However the relationship should be gradually changed in favour of pupils, for every child to be able to have practice in speaking, reading, and writing. Thorough unit and daily planning can ensure rational distribution of time during the lesson between the teacher and the class so that favourable conditions may be created for the pupils' learning a foreign language.

Given below is a general outline of a daily lesson for the 5th form during the oral introductory course with its inter­pretation.

1.The beginning of the lesson 2—3 min.

2.Pronunciation drill 8—10 min.

3.Oral practice 30—35 min.

4.Homework 1—2 min.

The beginning of the lesson is used by the teacher for greeting the class and getting everyone ready for the lesson, for telling his pupils what they will learn and how that will be achieved. The latter is said' in the pupils' mother tongue because the class is not prepared for understanding the foreign language.

Pronunciation drill enables the teacher to concentrate pupils' attention on sounds, sound combinations, rhythm, and melody. The teacher usually utilizes the material already covered to get the pupils to practise in producing sounds, words with these sounds, phrases and sentences correctly by asking the class to pronounce all this in unison and individ­ually, Since learning to pronounce properly in the target language is the most important objective for beginners during the oral introductory course, eight-ten minutes' drill is need­ed lo achieve necessary pronunciation habits. To help pupils to acquire these habits the teacher either conducts pronuncia­tion drill himself or uses audio-visual materials so that pupils can watch how to produce sounds, words, phrases and sen­tences, i. е., how wide or narrow the teacher opens his mouth, whether the voice goes up (the teacher moves his hand up) or it falls (the teacher moves his hand down).

If the pupils find difficulties, they can get some further help by listening to the teacher's explanation and watching how to produce this or that sound, word, etc. When the teacher has only an audio means, for instance, a tape-recording or a record, he uses this to support his efforts in teaching pronun­ciation.

Since pronunciation in the English language differs greatly from that of the Russian language, the teacher should not hurry and should do his best to help each pupil to make prog­ress in discriminating and producing English sounds to be able to aud and speak this language. As there are 18—20 pupils in the group and each needs special attention on the part of the teacher, eight-ten minutes should be devoted to pronunciation drill.

Oral practice implies the revision of the material covered and the presentation and assimilation of some new linguistic material for further developing pupils' hearing and speaking activities. This is the core of each lesson providing the theme or topic as well as the new vocabulary and structure. They are all woven into natural English whether in simple questions and answers, dialogue or monologue. Thus within this part of the lesson we can easily distinguish:

Revision. Pupils perform exercises which make communication possible, however elementary the level of such communication may be. Their speech is stimulated by the teacher's commands and requests, objects and pictures. The work is done mainly individually and in pairs.

Presentation of new words and new sounds (if there are any) and sentence patterns. The teacher uses direct and translation methods by choice. Pupils perform drill exercises: repetition, substitution, extension, etc. Audio­visual aids and various visual materials are used as stimuli. The work is done in unison and individually for all the pupils to be able to pronounce new words and sentences presented as many times as possible.

Assimilation. Pupils perform speech exercises within the new and old material. The teacher creates favour­able conditions for the pupils to use the material presented in speech, both in dialogue and monologue using classroom situations and other stimuli for the purpose. Oral practice takes 30—35 minutes.

Homework during the oral introductory course or the pre-reading phase may include: drawing objects whose names the pupil has learnt and giving them names; simple structural drill; contrastive phonology drills; learning the rhyme at which the class has worked during the lesson by heart; practis­ing a dialogue they have learnt in class. It is desirable that the pupil should have a model to be able to compare his pro­nunciation with the one given; non-controlled practice might bring about the learning of incorrect forms, structures and pronunciation. The practice records that accompany the text­book are a common source of model pronunciation. To save the quality of the record which usually inclines to scratches, it is recommended that the text should be re-recorded on a tape. A language laboratory may be used as a homework centre to which pupils may come during free hours to do their home­work. Of course pupils need to be taught how to work with this kind of home study material. The content of homework during the oral introductory course will depend on the length of the latter. If it is short, for instance two-four weeks, then pupils need not be given any homework, at least no homework which requires the use of audio materials. If it lasts for a term pupils should have some homework, otherwise the lack of conventional homework may establish negative attitude to the subject on the part of both pupils and parents; they may classify it as something that is not serious. In any case, the teacher informs his pupils, and, if necessary, their parents, what will be done in class and how to practise effectively at home.

During the oral introductory course some preparatory work in reading begins. Pupils may be taught to discriminate Eng­lish letters.

The teacher shows a letter, for example, P and says it stands for [pi. He invites pupils to name the words in which they hear this sound. Pupils recollect the words: pen, pencil, picture, and so on. 2—3 minutes may be devoted to this work during the lesson, beginning with the middle of the course.

Possessing an outline for a daily lesson the teacher fills it in with concrete material. Here is one of the possible ways to write a daily plan. In may look like this:

Level: 5th form. September 18

О b j e с t i v e s: 1. To teach pupils the sound... and to understand the use of the words... in the sentence patterns

2. To develop hearing and speaking skills on the material covered.

1. The beginning of the lesson. (2 min).
Greeting.

Classroom expressions.

2. Pronunciation drill. (8 min.)

Use.........................

Have every pupil pronounce in chorus and individually

3. Oral practice. (30—35 min.)
Review:

—Ask questions for every one to answer.

—Use objects (movements) and pictures of...

—Have pupils make statements about the objects shown.

—Require pupils to ask and answer questions: T — class; P — class; P — P (work in pairs). (10 min).

—Present the words.... Introduce the sound.... Use the direct method for conveying the meaning of and translation for.... Have pupils listen to the sen­tences..., repeat them in unison and individuals. (10 min),

Develop pupils' skills:

—In hearing. Each child receives a picture (or an object). I say sentences... for them to recognize the one which relates to the object each has. Then they change the pictures and listen lo the speaker from the tape-recorder.

—In speaking. Each speaks about the picture he has following the model. (14 min.)

4. Homework. (1 min.)

Draw... and practise saying....

A general outline for a daily plan for the junior stage when pupils learn hearing, speaking, reading, and writing may look like this:

1.The beginning of the lesson 3—5 min.

2.Pronunciation drill 3—5 min.

3.Oral practice 15—20 min.

4. Reading 7—12 min.

5. Writing 3—8 min.

6. Homework 1 min. The beginning of the lesson is used not only for the pupils

to get ready for the lesson, but also for "free talk", of course within their ability to understand the language spoken and to speak it.

Pronunciation drill remains one of the main points of the lesson. Pupils are trained to pronounce sounds, phrases, sentences, rhymes. For example, cat, map, cap. In the garden, on the skating-rink. Don't go home alone.

Father, mother, sister, brother Hand in hand with one another.

Pupils listen either to the teacher, or to the tape-recording or the record. They repeat the words, phrases and sentences in imitation of the teacher or the speaker individually and in chorus. Special attention is given to individuals. The teacher corrects mistakes, if there are any. Songs and poems may serve as material for pronunciation drill at this stage. If the teacher uses a song or a poem he explains briefly to the pupils in Russian what the song or the poem is about.

The teacher plays or sings the entire song once while the pupils listen. He reads or recites the poem to the class.

The teacher drills the lines to be taught. The lines are broken up into phrases and pronounced by the teacher in the rhythm in which they are lo be sung & recited. The pupils repeat first in chorus and then individually. The teacher and pupils sing the song or recite the poem softly at first.

The teacher divides the class into groups and has each group sing or recite separately. Errors are immediately cor­rected.

Then the teacher calls oh individuals to come up in front of the class to recite for the class or to sing; the latter can be suggested to volunteers only.

Pupils develop their hearing and speaking skills:

—when assimilating new words, phrases, and sentence patterns presented in performing drill and creative exercises (this is the case when oral language is used as a means of learning the language (see "Teaching Vocabulary" and "Tea­ching Grammar");

—when hearing and speaking in the English language in connection with the situations suggested (this is the case when the target language is use as a means of communica­tion). The materials used for the purpose are: sentence pat­terns and words for substitution, pattern dialogues, pattern utterances related to the situations in which pupils can use them.

Pupils develop their reading skills:

—when reading aloud;

—when reading silently.

The materials used for the purpose are: exercises mostly with flash cards and texts in the textbooks, and supplemen­tary readers (see "Teaching Reading").

Pupils develop their writing skills when assimilating the English graphic system (see "Writing") and performing vari­ous written exercises.

Homework should include reading, writing, and speaking and require approximately 20 minutes a day. Pupils need to be shown how to work at home. They should be cautioned against translation and be encouraged to read the text aloud, grouping the words in sense-groups; to read for meaning and sequence of ideas; to answer the questions given before or after the text; to compose questions on the text, and so on. Pupils should know that when copying words, phrases or sentences they should first read them aloud, look at them attentively and then write a whole word, a whole phrase, or a whole sentence. This will help them in learning the words and structures and in mastering English spelling.

Here is one of the possible approaches to compiling a daily plan.

Level: 6th form. Date...

Objectives: 1......

2...

3....

I. The beginning of the lesson. (3—5 min.)

A. Greeting.

B. A short talk with a pupil on duty.
С A "free talk" about...

(The subject of "free talk" changes with the growth of vocabulary and grammar.)

2- Pronunciation drill. (3—5 min.)

Material: sounds...

words

word - combinations

sentences

a rhyme (proverb, saying)

a poem

(The choice depends on the content of the lesson.)

Source: teacher, tape-recorder or record-player. (The choice depends on the material and conditions.) Activities: listening to the pattern, repeating it in unison and individually until adequate pronuncia­tion is attained.

3. Oral practice. (15—20 min.)

Version A

Objective: To teach pupils the words... (or the grammar item...) so that they can use them in speak­ing on sentence level.

Present the words... in the following sentence pat­terns....

Use pictures..., objects..., real situations for conveying the meaning of..., and translation for....

Activities. Pupils perform the following exer­cises with the words presented:

(1)listen to the words, word combinations, and sen­tences and repeat them in chorus and individually;

(2)compose word combinations with the following old words....

(3)Answer the questions:

 

—Yes — No

—Special: What... Where... When... etc.?

—Alternative... or...?

 

(4)Ask questions with the new words.

(5)Make statements using the new words.

Use the pictures, objects and real situations utilized for presenting the material, and add some new ones...

Version В

Objective: To teach pupils to use the words presented at the previous lesson on utterance level.

Activities. Pupils go through the following exercises:

(1)review the words by listening to the word combi­nations and sentences in which they occurred.

(2) make statements on the new pictures and objects

(3)combine the following two sentences into one...

(4)say three-four sentences about the object (picture)

Use pictures, objects, real situations and tape-record­ing. Every pupil participates in oral practice.

V e r s i о n С

Objective: To develop hearing and speaking skills on speech level on the material covered. Activities. Pupils

(1)say several sentences about the object every pupil has chosen and prepared at home (check five-seven indi­viduals on their ability to speak about the object);

(2)aud story "..." from the record and answer the questions;

(3)aud it a second time and retell the story (pupils retell the story in a chain-like way first, and then two pupils give a summary of the story).

4. Reading. (7—12 min.)

Version A

Objectives; 1. To check five or six individuals on their ability to read aloud (control reading. Test "...")

2. To teach pupils silent reading on text "...".

Activities. Pupils

(1)look through text "..." read at home;

(2)read this text aloud (call on 5—6 pupils in turn. to read the text, the class follows their reading and cor­rects mistakes if any);

 

(3)read text "..."silently to be able to answer before-questions (explain what they should do and how to work at the text to understand it);

(4)answer the questions.

Version В

Objective: To teach pupils to read the words

... (they have assimilated orally), sentences (in which

they occur) and text "..." aloud.

Activities. Pupils

(1) read the words aloud from flash cards (or from the textbook);

(2)read word combinations and sentences first silent­ly, then aloud, ex p....;

(3)read text "..." first silently, then aloud (give pupils time for looking through the reading material before they start reading aloud. Then they pass through diagnostic and instructive reading. Use the record for instructive reading. Pupils listen to the text with their books open and read it in a low voice. Then partially choral and individual reading follows).

5. Writing. (3—8 min.)

Version A

Activity. Pupils write down the answers to the questions on the text.

Version В

Activity. Pupils copy out topical sentences from the text they read silently.

Ve r s i о n С
Objective: To teach pupils to write the words

... (assimilated orally).

Activity. Pupils copy the words and sentences from the blackboard. Ask pupils to spell the words... and recollect other words which have similar and dif­ferent spelling (chair — air, write — right).

Ve r s i о n D
Objective: To check pupils' ability to write the words....

Activity. Pupils write a dictation. (Dictate the text from Teacher's Guide, p.)

6. Homework (1 min.). Read... write ex....; compose 3—4 sentences about....

N о t e: The content of homework depends fully on the work done m the classroom.

Intermediate stage. This stage includes the 7th and the 8th forms. Pupils are thirteen and fourteen years old. they already have some experience in learning a foreign lan­guage. If pupils have had good achievements in language learning, they are usually interested in the subject and work willingly both in class and at home. If their proficiency in hearing, speaking, reading, and writing is poor they begin to lose interest in the foreign language. Their desire lo learn depends fully on the teacher's ability to involve each pupil in language activities during the lesson by asking questions which require thinking on the part of the learners, by pre­senting new facts that may be interesting to pupils, by stimu­lating their hearing and speaking with audio-visual materials which should not be too childish in form and content since pupils at this age think they are nearer to grown-ups than to children, and sometimes feel insulted when the teacher "dares" to use pictures or techniques he has used in the junior stage. In other words, they want to be treated as adults.

Pupils give preference to those exercises which require thinking on their part, therefore, the teacher should change the relationship between drill and creative exercises in favour of the latter. Since learning a foreign language requires drill. this must be provided through seatwork when each pupil learns for himself. The teacher's chief concern is to supply pupils with exercises, explain what and how they have to do these, provide time for solitary work, think of the proper techniques for checking and evaluating their work. At this stage most of the drill exercises can be done through mass work and work in pairs. The teacher wanders around the room while the pupils are involved in seatwork. As to creative exercises, they are to be performed under the direction of the teacher. To do an assignment pupils need a period of time for thinking after the task is set so the teacher must provide the necessary time.

Praising good work and encouragement are desirable since these stimulate the pupil's language activity and his desire to learn, whereas criticizing, constant interruptions for corrections, demands for repetition irritate pupils and make them dislike the subject.

In this stage pupils have three periods a week in the 7th form, and two in the 8th form. However they may have two more periods as an optional subject. The time allotted to learning a foreign language, including pupils' homework, should be evenly distributed between oral language and writ­ten language, and be in the ratio of 1: 1. This means that half the time is spent on learning to speak, whereas the other half on learning to read and write in a foreign language.

Oral approach is used as a method of instruction as in the junior stage. As far as the material for developing auding and speaking is concerned, exercises to teach reading, structural-information and semantic-communicative exercises should prevail. Much atten­tion should be given to the development of pupils' skills in silent reading both during the class period and at home. Pupils should be taught to read texts containing various dif­ficulties.

Much attention should be given to pupils' independent work in the classroom and at home because pupils, who have only 2—3 periods a week, can achieve proficiency in the target language if they work hard during seatwork and homework when every pupil learns for himself, and if they take an active part in the work which is done in class under the guidance of the teacher.

Homework is an important ingredient of pupils' language learning. It may include drill exercises designed for retention of new vocabulary and grammar performed orally or in writ­ten form; practice and learning of a dialogue or a story; oral composition based on vocabulary and structures acquired; reading aloud a paragraph, a few paragraphs or a short text; silent reading for obtaining information through various assignments accompanying the text; reading a new text; consulting a dictionary and so on. The amount of time neces­sary for homework should not exceed twenty-five minutes each day.

Proceeding from these considerations the teacher can succeed in achieving good results in pupils' learning the lan­guage if he thoroughly plans their behaviour in the classroom, how he and his pupils interact. A class should be "pupil dominated", that is, most of the time pupils speak and perform other language activities, thereby getting the lion's share of the lesson time for practice in the target language.

In compiling a unit and a daily plan the teacher follows the recommendations given in the Teacher's Book and takes into account the concrete conditions he has in the classroom-Here is a general outline for a da