Podcast notes
Agenda
Teaching grammar and vocabulary more communicatively
1 Specific strategies and activities for teaching vocab and grammar
2 General discussions on subject
Interview 1
Description of CLT and teaching grm/vcbl by Joe: Manufacturing more real communication situations in
the classroom
Facilitate students’ activation of the passive knowledge on vcb and grammar.
Classroom= safe rehearsal place for students where they aren’t afraid of making mistakes
Where they find similar/relevant situations to their lives, particularly things they are interested in to
ensure their confidence during communication
Best learners are the ones who are willing to take risks to push their learning
Activities/situations that we can manufacture to introduce gram/vcb topics communicatively: classic
ones= information gap activities, two different Ss with different info which they need to share, for
example students read the same text but they got different info in these texts
Task and project based learning= more authentic groupwork= useful way of rehearsing grm and vcb:
Example: proposal for a school regarding environmental issues which includes the topic vocab relevant
grammar use. Present ideas, report
Project work= more authentic way of letting students communicate using T is inputing lang: things they
will use later on
Clarity of project’s aim is crucial to review the language covered in the process
Project extended to several lessons= chance to identify the weak areas of students, which then be used
to plan a tailored lesson
She recommends to spend 30 min on projects, but not every lesson should involve projects
Because of restrictive curriculum, like the one we have at Cambridge, Ts are constrained by textbook
contents
Solution: Possible to combine. Example: when teaching past simple, discussing what events happened in
Ss towns,
Communicative is not only speaking, but also writing: chatting online
She recommends skipping the control preatcice exercise for homework, and replacing them with project
work: discussing events happened in Ss town with Ss’ grandparents then write 10 sentences on that
Not every exerc is relevant to students: if there smth more enaging than that textbook exercise then go
for it
Grammar with direct method of teaching however is not option for such a practice
But the other type is suitable
Nowadays the distinctions between speaking and writing skills are fading
How to teach structure used in both writing and speaking
Students shouldn’t write down the translation of words, words in chunks but they should also with
collocations, example students
Encouraging students to bring the words that they often come acroos on social media or any media to
learn them together
It is okay to sometimes to look up the words that are exlusively used by gen Z slangs like: rizz, mog
It is also important for learners to know that not every phrase used in writing should be used in a spoken
language
Safe rehearsal places
Ss cant/afraid/reluctant to speak= because of complexity of concepts they are expected to talk about as
well as lack of confidence and familiarity
Its very difficult to safely make mistakes, taking risks to push learning with native seaker teacher, or the
one with a proficient level => So role plays should be used a lot
Role plays give g=chance to students hide behind certain characters of the role play; so students tend to
think it is not them making mistakes it’s those characters making mistakes => becomes easier to take
risks
Sense of safety and security in manufacturing, where students are in the role play
Role play may foster empathy
Task/project based learning allows t work on concepts for several lessons
Gap activities close ended activities limit language learning to knowing the correct answer
Such leaning feels much more practical=> eliminates the separation of grm with vocab
Vocab gramm exercise based books make students aimlessly fil in the gaps
Going to museum or any other public places and have learners talking to staff that have not much to do
Positive experience
Interview 2
Core principals of teaching gr and vocab communicatively
CLT is not understood as grammar or vocab teaching
Communicative competence=> linguistic competence=> vocab and gr
1) Communicative context
2) Authenticity of language. Lanfuage derived from real life situations. Not everuthing that comes
from the studying of linguistics is applied in teaching practice immediately
3) Distinction between grammar and vocab helpful or unhelpful: they are closely linked. Evrything
has a vocab it is possible to communicate with phrases
BOTH SPEAKING and WRITING should be use to teach grammar and vocab communicatively
Strike balance between accuracy and clear communication
When trying to make a point abt grammar Meaning shoukd be the target. Our task is to get our meaning
across
Often curriculums prioritize the knowledge of language not its usage, more linguistic approach
Sometimes students learn a language to pass an gram and vocab exams
Very strong focus on grammar and vocab at expense of meaning/communication because they should
follow the curriculum
The lecturer suggests an unconventional approach to help students who are struggling with a
coursebook. Instead of starting at the beginning, students should start at the end of the unit.
The reasoning is that the end of the unit usually contains communicative activities, speaking,
and writing tasks. These tasks force students to use the grammar ("gram") and vocabulary
("vocab") they've encountered, reinforcing what they need to learn.
If a teacher ("T") spends too much time on just half a unit trying to teach specific grammar or
vocabulary, it's doubtful that students will learn it well through passive learning alone.
To make sure students internalize the material, they should be asked to write or produce
something immediately. This forces them to actively use the new language, which strengthens
their learning.
Different perception of CLT in different countries
Students from chili complained that they were not stidying vocab and grammar enough
Cuz they had a different understanding of what a learning language is
So Ts should change their understanding
It is essebntila to identify the purpose of learning a language
T can follow this approach
1 Start by telling what can be done with a language
2 Provide repetitive words structures
Noticing should be empowered
Something which is motivating
TENOR= Teaching English for No Obvious Reason. T usually come across this globally
Cultural gaps may hinder the engagement of the lesson
She replaced sth unrelated to the culture of students with sth very relatable
Authentic language isn’t sth taken from just known media outlets or popular newspapers or books
It sth that it’s on everyone’s part of daily life, and it is possible to capitalize on it fpor example content
from Instagram and tik tok
How to make teaching vocab fun: produce spoken or written text about topics they are passionate
about instead of not interesting stuff
Example twitter thread, Instagram post
Fun for teens is different so indentify common interests of different age groups is important
