Teaching Tips

Debates (discussion) allow forming the conscious attitude to consideration of problems, activity in its discussion, speech culture, an orientation on revealing of the reasons of arising problems and installation on their decision further. Here the principle of formation of critical thinking is realized. Language, thus, is simultaneously both the purpose and means of teaching. The technique of debates helps pupils not only to seize all four kinds of speech activity, but to bring a language situation on a background of a problem of social and cultural sphere, to find out the reasons of the arisen situations and try to solve them. Interest to the independent decision of a problem is the stimulus, driving force of process of knowledge [40; 59].
Thus, application of discussion allows making active cognitive activity of pupils, their independence, forms culture of creative operative thinking, creates conditions for use of personal life experience and received before knowledge for mastering new. As discussion and the decision of problems occurs during controlled group dialogue at participants skill to operate in interests of group is developed, there is an interested respect for interlocutors and conducts to formation of collective. Application of this method in aggregate with a method of projects allows generating thinking and owning not only the English language, but also the expert understanding in various problems, capable to be guided in quickly varying information streams.
There are pros and cons of group discussion:

• 
  group discussions provide for greater interaction between students,
  
• 
  instructors maintain a greater control over what is being taught because they are able to steer the discussion.
  
• 
  auditory learners find them appealing to their learning style,
  
• 
  teachers can check on what students are retaining through questions posed,
  
• 
  group discussion is comfortable for many teachers because it is a modified form of lecture,
  
• 
  students have a tendency to stay focused on the lesson because they might be called on to answer questions,
  
• 
  students may feel more comfortable asking questions during group discussions.
  

But:

• 
  group discussions require setting up and enforcing ground rules for students. If these rules are not enforced then there is a possibility that the discussion could quickly go off-topic.
  
• 
  students who are weak in note-taking skills will have trouble understanding what they should remember from group discussions. This is even more so than in lectures in many cases because not only the teacher but fellow students are talking about the lesson,
  
• 
  some students may not feel comfortable being put on the spot during a whole group discussion.
  

Thus, group discussions are an excellent teaching method when used in conjunction with other methods. Instruction should be varied from day to day to help reach the most students possible. Teachers need to provide their students with note taking skills before starting discussions. It is important that teachers be good at managing and facilitating discussions. Questioning techniques are effective for this. Two questioning techniques that teachers employ is to increase their wait time after questions are asked and to only ask one question at a time.
Many experienced textbook and methodology manuals writers have argued that collaborative games are not just time-filling activities but have a great educational value in communicative teaching. W. R. Lee holds that most language games make learners use the language instead of thinking about learning the correct forms. He also says that games should be treated as central not peripheral to the foreign language teaching programme [41; 43]. A similar opinion is expressed by Richard Amato, who believes games to be fun but warns against overlooking their pedagogical value, particularly in foreign language teaching [42; 26].
In interactive teaching collaborative games are used. They are aimed to developing communicative abilities, fluency in speaking, creative mind.
There are many advantages of using games. They are highly motivating and entertaining, and they can give shy students more opportunity to express their opinions and feelings. They also enable learners to acquire new experiences within a foreign language which are not always possible during a typical lesson. Furthermore, to quote Richard Amato, they, "add diversion to the regular classroom activities," break the ice, " [but also] they are used to introduce new ideas”. [19, c.56]. In the easy, relaxed atmosphere which is created by using games, students remember things faster and better. Further support comes from A. Zdybiewska, who believes games to be a good way of practicing language, for they provide a model of what learners will use the language for in real life in the future [43; 48].
Collaborative games encourage, entertain, teach, and promote fluency. If not for any of these reasons, they should be used just because they help students see beauty in a foreign language and not just problems.
Project is a set of educational and cognitive modes which allow solve this or that problem as a result of independent actions of pupils with obligatory presentation of results. With reference to a lesson of foreign language, the project is specially organized by the teacher and independently carried out by pupils, finished with creation of a creative product.
The work with the projects teacher can realize in groups and individually. It is necessary to note, that the method of projects helps children to seize such competences as: to be ready to work in collective, to accept the responsibility for a choice, to share the responsibility with members of the team, to analyze results of activity [44; 24].
In a project work students are put in the centre of the action, where they use the language and practice communicative speech. The purpose of this method is to encourage the learners to work things out for themselves. It is an extended language activity, focusing on the topics, themes. The project work is a means of communication and enjoyment. The learners can experiment with the language as something real. It is a highly adaptable methodology, it is useful as a means of generating positive motivation, because it is very personal. The students tell about their own lives, their own research into topics that interest them. This work helps them to understand that they can use English to talk about their own world, it improves their ability to think [45; 37].
Project work allows students to consolidate the language that they have learnt and encourages them to acquire new vocabulary and expressions. In addition, it gives learners integrated skills practice. Throughout project work students have extensive practice of the skills of reading, writing, listening and speaking. Using projects with classes provides excellent opportunities for cross - curricular work. The topics should be carefully chosen and have to be presented in a lively and up-to-date manner. It is important to present a new project in an enthusiastic way and encourage the class activity in a discussion about the key topic [46; 54]. The more students are engaged in to a project, the more likely that the project will be a success. The teacher tries to encourage learners to think of their own ideas, to produce something new of their own. Before setting up a project it is essential to explain the final outcome, this will help them to understand what they are doing and why. The teacher explains the students that at the end of the project they will write or design a small leaflet on the topic, a wall display, a poster…
There are some stages in presenting a project:

1. 
   Initial discussion of the idea.
   
2. 
   Decide a form of the project.
   
3. 
   Practicing language skills.
   
4. 
   Collecting information.
   
5. 
   Displaying the result of the research [46; 54]
   

Every project work finished in stage of reflection. All errors are marked and corrected
Jigsaw is a cooperative learning technique that reduces racial conflict among school children, promotes better learning, improves student motivation, and increases enjoyment of the learning experience. The jigsaw technique was first developed in the early 1970s by Elliot Aronson and his students at the University of Texas and the University of California. Since then, hundreds of schools have used the jigsaw classroom with great success [29; 43].
This technique learning allows students to be introduced to material and yet maintain a high level of personal responsibility. The purpose of Jigsaw is to develop teamwork and cooperative learning skills within all students. In addition it helps develop a depth of knowledge not possible if the students were to try and learn all of the material on their own. Finally, because students are required to present their findings to the home group, Jigsaw learning will often disclose a student’s own understanding of a concept as well as reveal any misunderstandings.
This strategy involves students becoming "experts" on one aspect of a topic, then sharing their expertise with others. Divide a topic into a few constitutive parts ("puzzle pieces”). Form subgroups of 3-5 and assign each subgroup a different "piece" of the topic (or, if the class is large, assign two or more subgroups to each subtopic). Each group’s task is to develop expertise on its particular subtopic by brainstorming, developing ideas, and if time permits, researching. Once students have become experts on a particular subtopic, shuffle the groups so that the members of each new group have a different area of expertise. Students then take turns sharing their expertise with the other group members, thereby creating a completed "puzzle” of knowledge about the main topic. A convenient way to assign different areas of expertise is to distribute handouts of different colours. For the first stage of the group work, groups are composed of students with the same colour of handout; for the second stage, each member of the newly formed groups must have a different colour of handout.
The jigsaw helps to avoid tiresome plenary sessions, because most of the information is shared in small groups. This method can be expanded by having students develop expertise about their subtopics first through independent research outside of class. Then, when they meet with those who have the same subtopic, they can clarify and expand on their expertise before moving to a new group. One potential drawback is that students hear only one group’s expertise on a particular topic and don’t benefit as much from the insight of the whole class; to address this issue, you could collect a written record of each group’s work and create a master document-a truly complete puzzle-on the topic.
In its simplest form, the Jigsaw instructional strategy is when:
1. Each student receives a portion of the materials to be introduced;
2. Students leave their "home” groups and meet in "expert” groups;
3. Expert groups discuss the material and brainstorm ways in which to present their understandings to the other members of their "home” group;
4. The experts return to their "home” groups to teach their portion of the materials and to learn from the other members of their "home” group. [26, c.39]
The benefit of the jigsaw classroom is that it is a remarkably efficient way to learn the material. But even more important, the jigsaw process encourages listening, engagement, and empathy by giving each member of the group an essential part to play in the academic activity. Group members must work together as a team to accomplish a common goal; each person depends on all the others. No student can succeed completely unless everyone works well together as a team. This "cooperation by design” facilitates interaction among all students in the class, leading them to value each other as contributors to their common task.
Snowball Groups/Pyramids. This technique involves progressive doubling: students first work alone, then in pairs, then in fours, and so on. In most cases, after working in fours, students come together for a plenary session in which their conclusions or solutions are pooled. Provide a sequence of increasingly complex tasks so that students do not become bored with repeated discussion at multiple stages. For example, have students record a few questions that relate to the class topic. In pairs, students try to answer one another’s questions. Pairs join together to make fours and identify, depending on the topic, either unanswered questions or areas of controversy or relevant principles based on their previous discussions. Back in the large class group, one representative from each group reports the group’s conclusions.