Interactive Supplementation of High School Texts

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Interactive Supplementation of High School Texts

• Form-Focused Interaction

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High School English

• Q Whats the problem?

• A Textbooks
• are skills-based (R, W, L, S).
• have little time for active use of the language
  (speaking, communication).
• treat the learner as passive.
• are test-driven, focusing on grammar-translation
  (teaching to the test).
• are notional-functional (memorization of
  situational phrases).

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High School English

• Q Whats the solution?

• A Supplement the textbooks. Make them
• integrated (activities using all the skills),
• interactive (group work, communication),
• meaningful (real-life, relevant, authentic),
• learner-centred (personal, student-directed),
• motivational (exciting, inspirational),
• task-based (students learn at their own level).

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High School English

• Q How can teachers do this?

• A Make form-focused interactive activities
• simple instructions to the students
• one-way, information-gap tasks
• meaningful use of the language
• active learning (discovery, collaboration)
• task completion!
• peer-correction
• students working at their own speeeeeeeeeeeeds.

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High School English

• Some videos will be shown now.
• These videos were taken in a high school in
  Daegu. The students are in Grade 1.
• The students are using integrated, interactive
  activities, based on the textbook.
• The activities are grammar-based. However, they
  are also meaningful and relevant to the students.
  
• Students are learning the goals of the textbook
  in a meaningful, effective, motivated manner.

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High School English, Lesson 3I want to be in
Fashion
Do You Think I Should?
FashionVocabulary
Tell Me Why
Faces
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High School English, Lesson 4Alexs Concern
about his Homeland
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High School English, Lesson 4Alexs Concern
about his Homeland
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High School English, Lesson 4Alexs Concern
about his Homeland
What do you think?
Strip Story
That would be
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High School English I, Lesson 3Too Tall Twyla
Sports Activities
Jigsaw Reading
You Have to
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High School English I, Lesson 5Here Come the
Rocketplanes!
True or False?
Time Bingo
Vocabulary Games
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Conclusion

• Whatever the problems of the teaching text,
  teachers can effectively make learning tasks
  which address those problems .
• If students are observed to have a problem with
  prepositions (for example), the teacher can make
  an interactive learning task that addresses this
  issue enjoyably, meaningfully, authentically and
  enjoyably.
• Such tasks give self-esteem to the students
  through perceived success of communication, and
  thus promote intrinsic motivation.

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Conclusion

• Confident, motivated students will learn
  whatever it is they are motivated to learn.
• Self-doubting, unmotivated students will learn
  very little, and will stop learning as soon as
  the test for which they have been preparing is
  over.
• Self-esteem, intrinsic motivation, reduced
  anxiety, and promotion of positive attitudes to
  learning are indispensable in the design of
  successful tasks .

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Conclusion

• Students who see themselves communicating
  successfully, become better at learning .
• Teachers can teach to the textbook in a
  positive way, whatever the merits of that
  textbook .
• By making their own task-based supplementary
  materials, teachers (who are the experts about
  their own students learning needs) can help to
  satisfy those needs in an effective and
  pedagogically sound manner .

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Sources

• The videos from this presentation can be viewed
  online http//www.finchpark.com/videos
• Interviews with students and teachers are at
  www.finchpark.com/videos/research/index1.htm
• The CD-Rom of Tell Me More can be obtained from
  Dr. Finch at andrew _at_ finchpark.com

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Sources

• You can find FREE supplementary materials for
  High School English at this site
  www.finchpark.com/hse
• Thank you for listening!
• Enjoy making activities for your students!