Teaching foreign language for specific purposes

CONCLUSION
In this section of Teach-This.com, you will find a large variety of fun and engaging ESL classroom games to spice up your lessons. The games contained in this section will also provide you with a great source of ideas for your classes. These tried and tested games provide practice in reading, writing, listening and speaking. The games are also categorized to help you easily find the type of game you are looking for. There are games for young learners, teenagers and adults. Each game comes with full teacher's notes and most of the games take very little preparation and are easy to set up and play.Adult English language learners at all proficiency levels, including literacy- and beginning level learners, need to speak and understand spoken English for a variety of reasons. Immigrant adults need English for daily life to communicate with the doctor, the school, the community, and the workplace.
Learners at all proficiency levels can communicate, and they appreciate being encouraged and challenged to further their skills. They participate in interactive, communicative activities in all facets of the class—from ice-breaking activities, needs assessment, and goal-setting to life-skills, phonics, and spelling. This is especially true where there is a strong classroom community that supports natural language production.A situation in which people are busy doing different things in order to achieve a particular aim is called activity. Speech activity is a purposeful interaction of people via language. As any other activity, it has a motive or reason for the interlocutors to communicate. When we have something to say, want to get/receive information or convey our thoughts, we start communicating with other people. When we are interested in other peoples’ ideas or information, we read or listen to them. Without any particular reason speech activity does not exist.The subject of speech activity is someone else’s thought, idea or message. Speech (both written and oral) is realized by language means (phonetic, lexical, and grammatical). The product of speech activity in speaking is an utterance, in writing - a text, and in listening and reading is comprehension. The result of speech activity may be expressed in the reaction to it, for example, a reply or answer of a person, fulfilling some actions and the like.In FLT methodology there are two terms task and activity, which are very often used interchangeably. Though activity is the most general term for the units of which a lesson consists of, task (according to G. Crookes, C. Chandon) is a less-controlled activity, which produces realistic use of foreign language. According to Nunan, task or activity is the smallest unit of classroom work which involves learners in comprehending, manipulating, producing or interacting in the target language. It is important in this respect to cover the theory of activity done by Jim Scrivener. He distinguishes five steps of activity procedure
What are Communicative Activities? Communicative activities include any activities that encourage and require a learner to speak with and listen to other learners, as well as with people in the program and community. Communicative activities have real purposes: to find information, break down barriers, talk about self, and learn about the culture. Even when a lesson is focused on developing reading or writing skills, communicative activities should be integrated into the lesson. Furthermore, research on second language acquisition (SLA) suggests that more learning takes place when students are engaged in relevant tasks within a dynamic learning environment rather than in traditional teacher-led classes (Moss & Ross-Feldman, 2003). Benefits of Communicative Activities Some immigrants, such as parents, elders, or people who work in isolated environments (like housekeepers and babysitters) may feel lonely and experience depression or have low self-esteem. They may begin to feel that they will never learn English or never feel comfortable in the United States. Offering well-designed and well-executed communicative activities can help turn the English classroom into an active, safe, and enjoyable place where literacy- and beginning-level learners can learn what they need and want to learn.
The games can be used to introduce new vocabulary, reinforce a language point, practice words or language structures, teach or practice grammar and improve core skills. You can also use these games to warm up the class when the lesson begins, during the lesson to re-energize the class or at the end of class to finish on a positive note and round off the lesson.Using games and fun activities in class is an important part of teaching ESL. Playing games is a fun way to help students make connections between words and grammar. These connections quicken the process of building language skills.
These ESL games can help both native and foreign speakers of English improve their language ability. Playing games in class also helps to focus attention, improve interaction, increase energy levels and build confidence. Furthermore, shy or quiet students begin to open up and speak English when playing games in class. We are sure you will find our games section a useful tool in improving your students' English language ability. We often need to review things that are no fun, things like the past simple or past participle of irregular verbs. Instead of the classic Q & A, try this. Use a large container or trash can as your “basket”, give your students a ball and have them shoot for points. But here’s the catch: you’ll ask them a question in past simple, and they’ll have to remember the past correctly in order to earn the chance to shoot. They can get 10 points for scoring or five if they miss (because at least they answered the question correctly.
Everyone loves a board game, and your ESL students will particularly appreciate one if it’s not only loads of fun, but also a helpful way to review essential grammar. You can design your own to include the tenses and structures your students have learned, or use any of the ones already available at BusyTeacher.org. This Grammar Revision Board Game is a perfect example.
Tic Tac Toe is another versatile game, one that can be adapted to suit a wide variety of needs. What you need to decide first is which grammar your students need to review for the test. Then, write the topics on nine index cards or large enough pieces of paper. Arrange the cards face down on a table or stick them on the board, in the classic Tic Tac Toe 3 x 3 grid.
Next, teams take turns choosing a square (you can add letters across and numbers down to make it easier to call out the squares). You turn over the card and reveal to your students the tense/structure/grammar point written on it. Students must then either provide an example or ask a question that another team member must answer correctly to get their X or O on that square. Of course, the first team that gets three Xs or Os across, down or diagonally wins. Contextual learning is based on a constructivist theory of teaching and learning.Learning takes place when teachers are able to present information in such a way that students are able to construct meaning based on their own experiences. Contextual learning experiences include internships, service learning and study abroad programs.