3.2.3 Illustration
This method is excellent for teaching vocabulary, especially at lower levels. You can
show pictures of objects you want to teach; you can draw items on the board or cut
pictures out of magazines. You can even use the real item (known as realia); it is very
memorable for students to see spoons, forks, plates, bracelets, watches, buttons, etc
in class. The use of pictures is also memorable, especially for visual learners. It is also
easy and time efficient to go back to the language item: you just hold up the item and
invite students to tell you what it is, no need for an explanation or complicated
elicitation.
You can also use this method to teach structures. For example, if you want to teach
the present perfect continuous, e.g. He’s been doing his homework since 7pm. You
can show, or draw, a picture of John at 7pm settling down to his homework. You can
then show a picture of him at 9pm, still doing his homework. You can use the situation
to teach or elicit “he’s been doing his homework since 7pm”.
One drawback of illustration is that it is time-consuming for the teacher to gather
together items before the lesson and they can be heavy to carry in to class. Pictures
can help you get around this; I suggest your start building up a picture bank as soon as
possible.
3.2.4 Discovery / deducing meanings
This approach guides students to learn for themselves rather than the teacher teaching
the language point directly. The discovery method involves students studying language
items in a text or in isolated sentences. If isolated sentences are used, it’s preferable to
provide a context. Students deduce grammatical rules, use of tenses, use of the
infinitive contrasted with use of verb with –ing. or meanings of words from what they
read. (The possibilities are endless). Students then check with the teacher whether
their deductions are correct.
For example, you can give your students the following sentences and ask them to tell
you the names of the tenses used (present perfect and simple past) and to tell you why
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they are used: (simple past to talk about a specific time in the past and present perfect
to talk about experiences).
I’ve never been to Brazil: present perfect to talk about experiences.
She’s never eaten snails: present perfect to talk about experiences.
We went to Corsica on holiday last year: simple past to talk about a specific time
in the past.
I had beef for dinner last night: simple past to talk about a specific time in the
past.
To give a personal example, many years ago I studied elementary German. One day
our teacher asked us to read a text relating what the writer had done the previous day
and to answer questions on this text. The text contained elements such as the
following:
Yesterday I got up late, ate breakfast quickly and had a shower. I left the house at
8.30.
We all knew the German for yesterday, get up, eat, have and leave; this meant that we
were able to understand the text even though we had never studied the German
equivalent of got, ate, had and left. Our teacher then proceeded to a study of
language; she put 2 columns on the board with the headings every day and yesterday.
In the every day column, she wrote: get up, eat breakfast, have a shower, leave the
house. She asked us to provide the verb forms for the yesterday column and then
asked us why the verb form was spelt differently: they’re in the past tense of course.
She elicited from us the name of the tense and the verb forms even though we were
new to this structure.
This is a highly effective method of teaching; it involves students 100% in the lesson;
the source of knowledge becomes the class rather than the teacher; the teacher has
the chance to see who knows the language item and to what extent. This helps plan
subsequent lessons; it might be that your students know the structure and just require
brief revision and practice. Alternatively, they might need a complete presentation,
explanation and extensive practice. It is also very memorable. I studied German almost
20 years ago and can still remember this lesson and the feeling of joy at understanding
and discovering this language for myself.
This approach works well for revising language that students should already know and
it can be used for new language if the meaning is obvious (as in the example above).
This approach engages students in the learning process and as such it is more
memorable, especially if they get it right! Using this method in class will encourage
students to do the same thing outside the classroom whenever they see the written
word; this will be an excellent learning tool for them.
Disadvantages are that students might be resistant to this method if they’re not used to
it. If you use this method once and you explain the language point after the discovery
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phase, they will accept it more easily on subsequent occasions. Another drawback is
that it requires a teacher to have thorough knowledge of the language point. Students
sometimes come up with something they’ve heard somewhere else and have
misunderstood and you will need to confirm or correct, what they say. I suggest you
experiment with this method on a language point you know well and not the first time
you teach a complicated structure!
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