UNIT 18: ASSESSMENT TYPES AND TASKS

Assessment is very essential in the learning process. It will help you to discover in what level of learning you are as student, and on the other hand in what level of learning your students are as teacher. This unit was very important for me because I also thought that assessment and tasks were two similar things, but now thanks to what I learnt in this unit I can say that they are different and they have their own characteristics. There are different types of assessment that you can apply for example the placement test, the progress test are types of assessment which are very known by today’s teachers. I will apply what I learnt in this unit with my students in the future, I think that if they know the assessment types, they will feel more comfortable while taking a test or doing a task and it will make them to feel motivated to learn the language.

Extra Unit Information:

App.griffith.edu.au

Assessment Matters

App.griffith.edu.au,. (2014). Assessment Matters. Retrieved 6 December 2014, from http://app.griffith.edu.au/assessment-matters/docs/assessment-methods/tasks

Flinders.edu.au

Flinders University

Flinders.edu.au,. (2014). Flinders University. Retrieved 6 December 2014, from http://www.flinders.edu.au/teaching/teaching-strategies/assessment/tasks.cfm

UNIT 17: PRACTICE ACTIVITIES AND TASKS FOR LANGUAGE AND SKILLS DEVELOPMENT

I learnt from this unit information that is very important for me as future teacher, and not only as teacher but also as students to know what I can do to improve my skills. Now I know that there are a lot of kinds of activities and tasks that you can do in classes to let students practice what they learnt and also to help them to improve their language skills. This unit talked about new activities that I didn’t know before and that I’m sure that I will use the in a near future. Also this unit taught me the difference between tasks and activities, I didn’t know it but know I can say that they are different and each of these terms has their own characteristics. I will apply the learnt things with my students through giving them activities and tasks which help them to improve their skills and be better in the learning process.

Extra Unit Information:

Takeielts.britishcouncil.org

IELTS practice resources freely available to develop exam skills

Takeielts.britishcouncil.org,. (2014). IELTS practice resources freely available to develop exam skills . Retrieved 6 December 2014, from http://takeielts.britishcouncil.org/prepare-test/british-council-online-resources

Education.com

Effective Classroom Practice: Tasks/Assignments | Education.com

Education.com,. (2014). Effective Classroom Practice: Tasks/Assignments | Education.com. Retrieved 6 December 2014, from http://www.education.com/reference/article/effective-classroom-practice-tasks/

UNIT 16: BACKGROUND TO LANGUAGE TEACING

This unit was very helpful in the way of teaching to the teachers how a good background must be for a student. Most of what the unit said is true and useful in order to have more knowledge about almost everything that has to be with teaching a language. I think it is very important to know because when we are teacher we must pay attention to what we say to the learner, everything we say to the learner is essential especially if the learner is very young because they are in an age where what the teacher says is true. A good background to the students is crucial because it builds confidence on them and makes the learners feel secure with them and secure in learning, even if they commit a mistake, if you background is correct they will continue learning. I will apply this in the future through helping my students to feel secure and have confidence in class; I will explain them that it doesn’t matter if they don’t understand at the beginning or if they commit a mistake what really matter is the motivation and the enthusiasm they show in learning a language.

Extra Unit Information:

Journals.cambridge.org

<i>Principles of Language Learning and Teaching</i>, 2nd ed. H. Douglas Brown. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1987. Pp. xvi + 285.

Journals.cambridge.org,. (2014). <i>Principles of Language Learning and Teaching</i>, 2nd ed. H. Douglas Brown. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1987. Pp. xvi + 285.. Retrieved 6 December 2014, from http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract;jsessionid=8DBEDF459B80AE4E0D3EF8420923A441.journals?fromPage=online&aid=2546788

Journals.cambridge.org

Language Teaching

Journals.cambridge.org,. (2014). Language Teaching. Retrieved 6 December 2014, from http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayJournal?jid=LTA

UNIT 15: APPROACHES AND LANGUAGE TEACHING

What I learnt from this unit was very important to improve my knowledge about approaches and the ways of teaching a language. This interesting unit helped me to understand more about how teaching a language must be and the characteristics it has. I believe that knowing all of these things will help me as future teacher to be better in doing my job and finding the correct approaches to help learners to get the language easily. I will apply this knowledge in the future with my students through teaching them also the approaches there exist in teaching a language, I will explain them clearly and exactly how learning another language must be, I will create between them a good environment of learning and I will teach my students everything about language teaching. I believe that all of this knowledge will create good students, students who are interested in  learning and preparing themselves for a better future.

Extra Unit Information:

Es.slideshare.net

Language Teaching Approaches and Methods

Es.slideshare.net,. (2014). Language Teaching Approaches and Methods. Retrieved 6 December 2014, from http://es.slideshare.net/emma.a/language-teaching-approaches-and-methods

Richards, J. C. and Rodgers, T. S.

Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching

Richards, J., & Rodgers, T. (2001). Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching. doi:10.1017/cbo9780511667305

UNIT 14: LEARNERS NEEDS

It’s very important as teacher to pay attention to all what happen in class, but more than everything, it’s important to pay attention to the learner. Sometimes it’s hard to be a teacher because we must know what our students need, for example you cannot prepare a class without thinking about the learner, prepare an activity without thinking about the learner and send homework without thinking about the learner. Everything you will do has to be with the learner. This unit helped us to discover what the principal learner’s needs are and what we have to do in order to help them to cover these needs. I will apply the knowledge about the unit in the future trough discovering what my students need in order to be better and in which areas they have more difficulty; so knowing this important things I will look for activities to help them to catch the language faster and easier, and make them feel comfortable and happy about learning another language.

Extra Unit Information:

Yates, B.

Learning Needs Analysis

Yates, B. (2014). Learning Needs Analysis .Assetproject.info. Retrieved 6 December 2014, from http://www.assetproject.info/learner_methodologie

Pcrest3.com

3.2.6 Identifying Learner Needs

Pcrest3.com,. (2014). 3.2.6 Identifying Learner Needs. Retrieved 6 December 2014, from http://www.pcrest3.com/fgb/efgb4/3/3_2_6.htm

UNIT 13: LEARNERS CHARACTERISTICS

What this unit taught me was very helpful and important to improve my knowledge about learners’ characteristics. I know that students have different ways of learning, for example visual, auditory, kinesthetic, and so many others which are one of the characteristics that learners have when learning a language. I learnt that we as future teachers have to pay a lot of attention about the way students learn better in order to find activities and tasks where the learner is going to put in practice her/his learning style. I think it will help me in the future; I will discover my students’ learning styles and help them to develop it more through activities where they will feel comfortable; I’m sure this is a good way of teaching. Knowing the way students learn will help teachers, in general, to improve themselves, be good at teaching and prepare activities taking into account their students’ needs.

Extra information form the unit:

Seven Characteristics of Good Learners

Maryellen Weimer, P. (2014). Seven Characteristics of Good Learners. Faculty Focus. Retrieved 6 December 2014, from http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/teaching-professor-blog/seven-characteristics-good-learners/

Texas Language Technology Center, U. O. T. A. A.

Learner Characteristics | Foreign Language Teaching Methods: The Language Learner

Texas Language Technology Center, U. (2014).Learner Characteristics | Foreign Language Teaching Methods: The Language Learner.Coerll.utexas.edu. Retrieved 6 December 2014, from http://coerll.utexas.edu/methods/modules/learners/01

Unit 12: Differences between L1 and L2 learning

This unit was helpful and interesting as well as the rest of the units. This is because it taught us what is the difference between L1 and L2 learning; we distinguished some differences for example one of the principles we have that L1 we learn through exposure and then we pick it up, we don’t put too much attention to structure while learning the L2 we always need specific language items and we need to focus in structures so, it means we need a guide to learn a second language because it is new it is not our mother tongue. I will take into account all this strategies about teaching a second language when I am a teacher because they will help me a lot with my students, for example I will teach structures and also use exposure to make the second language learning acquisition easier and enjoyable.

Unit Extra Material

Comparing First and Second Language Acquisition by Vivian Cook

Homepage.ntlworld.com,. (2014). Comparing First and Second Language Acquisition by Vivian Cook. Retrieved 26 November 2014, from http://homepage.ntlworld.com/vivian.c/SLA/L1%

Reviewing some similarities and differences in L1 and L2 lexical development

Chenu, F., & Jisa, H. (2009). Reviewing some similarities and differences in L1 and L2 lexical development. Acquisition Et Interaction En Langue Étrangère, (Aile... Lia 1), 17-38. Retrieved from http://aile.revues.org/4506

Unit 11: The role of Error

This unit helps us a lot in order to know what the role of error is in the learning process. We can say that committing a mistake while speaking or writing the new language is very normal because we are learning it. When we have an error, it allows us to know the level of knowledge we have, and it is an advantage for all of the students because they will know in what area they have to improve. There are many types of errors, but we as future teachers can learn how to deal with them and how to helps students to control errors. I will apply this in my future class through helping my students to deal with errors, tell them that is not as bad as they think to make a mistake because that’s the only way they are going to learn correctly. I will give them a good feedback even of the mistakes they do in order to make them feel sure and not afraid.

Unit Extra Material

TKT - Module 1 - Unit 11: The role of error

Quizlet.com,. (2014). TKT - Module 1 - Unit 11: The role of error. Retrieved 26 November 2014, from http://quizlet.com/13034995/tkt-module-1-unit-11-the-role-of-error-flash-cards/

Tkt m1 11 12-13

Es.slideshare.net,. (2014). Tkt m1 11 12-13. Retrieved 26 November 2014, from http://es.slideshare.net/gyg66/tkt-m1-11-1213

Unit 10: Exposure and Focus on form

This unit was very interesting I learnt important things to be applied in the future. I learnt that some experts say that we can learn a language just through being exposure to it; we have just to hear to the language and then we pick it up. This is interesting because some people say that to learn a new language which is not our mother tongue; we need a professor to guide us and to teach everything about the language. I also believe that we just need to hear a language to be familiar with it but I also believe that we need instruction, someone who can tell us if we are acquiring it right or wrong. I will apply this with my future students; I will play music in English so, they can hear the language and in that way I’m using exposure, and on the other hand I will be also a guide in order to teach grammar structures and all elements we need while learning a second language.

Unit Extra Material

Exposure

TeachingEnglish | British Council | BBC,. (2014).Exposure. Retrieved 26 November 2014, from http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/knowledge-database/exposure

The Five Principles of Effective Second Language Acquisition

Transparent.com,. (2014). The Five Principles of Effective Second Language Acquisition. Retrieved 26 November 2014, from http://www.transparent.com/about/second-language.html

Unit 9:Motivation

I really learnt something interesting from this unit about motivation. For example I learnt that motivation is a feeling that makes you want to continue doing something for a purpose or just because you want to do. Motivation is very important for students because if they are motivated they will enjoy the class. I will apply motivation on my students through doing some activities at the beginning, at tthe middle and at the en of a class, so they can feel sure about everything they do. Every single teacher must know that motivation in students is very important, we can create confidence with our students so they will feel motivated to talk in class and they will answer any question without feeling afraid. This unit is very helpful for us because it says how we can encourage our students to continue learning; if there is motivation in a class there will be easier the learning process and there will exist an appropriate enviroment of learning. Motivation is what stududents must have while learning. 

Extra Material Pages: 

How to Motivate Students: Top 12 Ways TeachHUB,. (2014). How to Motivate Students: Top 12 Ways. Retrieved 26 November 2014, from http://www.teachhub.com/top-12-ways-motivate-students 

21 Simple Ideas To Improve Student Motivation Staff, T. (2012). 21 Simple Ideas To Improve 

Student Motivation. TeachThought. Retrieved 26 November 2014, from http://www.teachthought.com/teaching/21-simple-ideas-to-improve-student-motivatio/