Let's Chat! Is That Municative Ability
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LL E E TT ’S’S CHCH A ATT ! ! ! ! T AT A CH ’S CH ’S T T E E L L John Pak TEACHER’S GUIDE CONTENTS I. General Introduction 1 II. Answer Keys & Notes 4 III. Tapescripts & Vocabulary 20 GENERAL INTRODUCTION BASIC PHILOSOPHY BEHIND THE to more interaction and greater learning. COURSE Accuracy is seen simply as one aspect of com- The basic philosophy behind Let's Chat! is that municative ability. A student needn't speak for students to improve their communication 'perfect' English to be understood; however, skills in English, they must be given many obviously the more errors there are, the less chances to use English for genuine interaction. likely a student’s utterance will be understood. Hence, the course provides students many With this point in mind, teachers are encouraged opportunities to speak through paired and to work with students mainly on errors that small group activities. Let's Chat! gives interfere with communication, rather than on students the opportunity to get to know their all errors. It is not advisable to ignore errors classmates better by providing a chance to completely. Students often expect or want share their experiences, opinions, and ideas some error correction. On the other hand, don't with each other. correct students to the point of damaging class atmosphere or student confidence. Another principle behind the course is that learning is enhanced when students are Keep in mind that students have already motivated, content is interesting, and spent years studying grammar; therefore, long- activities are learner-centered. Let's Chat! winded grammatical explanations are usually has been developed around topics that not necessary. Short drills can be useful to students will enjoy talking about. In addition, highlight grammatical points which you feel several of the units include an interesting students need extra practice with. game based on real surveys of Japanese college students. Accuracy is not limited to structure. Teachers should pay attention to accuracy in phonology QUESTION-ASKING as well. Do the students articulate the sounds Let's Chat! has a strong emphasis on of English correctly? Do they speak with the question-asking. The ability to ask questions correct stress and intonation? It's often is important in language learning. Students unrealistic to expect students to sound like who know how to ask questions are able to: native speakers, so it's best to work mainly on problems that hinder communication. ● get information they need or want ● maintain a conversation AN IMPORTANT TIP ● control the content and flow of a conversation It's very useful to learn your students' names. ● be more interactive and thus increase Knowing the students' names will help you to language input get to know them as individuals. It also helps ● contribute to a dynamic and positive with class management, organizing activities, classroom atmosphere and so on. Question-asking ability is important not only One way to facilitate learning the students' for the transaction of information; it also has names is to have a card for each student with a social-interaction value. Students who are his or her name and photo. Use these cards able to freely engage in conversation are more often; for example, to take attendance, to call likely to make friends with English speakers. on students to answer questions, or to divide the class into small groups. FLUENCY VERSUS ACCURACY USING LET'S CHAT! Most of the activities in Let's Chat! are fluency-based. Students need to be able to Each unit of Let's Chat! takes between 100 successfully communicate what they want to and 120 minutes to complete. The time it say in English. Communicative success will lead takes to complete a unit will depend on a to greater confidence which, in turn, will lead number of things: how the text is used, the 1 level and motivation of the students, the Talk About... students' areas of interest, the number and Most of the units have at least one section in length of class sessions, and other factors. which students work with a partner and take Teachers are encouraged to use the book in a turns asking questions related to the topic of way that is most suitable and helpful for their the unit. Before the students begin, you may students. You may want to spend more time want to preteach any words and expressions on particular units or activities. On the other that might be unknown. You may also want hand, you may want to complete some of the to go over correct question intonation. units relatively quickly, or perhaps even skip some activities. Encourage students to give long answers by adding details, opinions, explanations, and Unit 1 is linguistically fairly easy and its so on. Write examples on the board. To primary purpose is to help students build encourage longer answers and prevent confidence in using English. This unit also students from rushing, challenge them NOT creates an opportunity for students to get to be the first pair to finish the activity. to know each other. In addition, students will quickly discover the highly interactive nature In addition, a student, after answering his or of the course. Unit 14 is a review unit and her partner's question, may 'return' the can be used for evaluation purposes as well. question by asking, "What about you?" Although the order of the Units 2-13 is some- Or, alternatively, students can switch roles what graded, they can be done in any order. and repeat the activity, although this way will take up more class time. Conversation It's very important for the teacher to walk Each unit opens with a conversation. This around the class and listen to students as dialog serves to get the students thinking they ask each other the questions. You may about the topic of the unit, previews some need to help students if they: of the patterns that will be featured, and helps the students 'warm up' before starting ● misunderstand a question some of the more interactive activities. ● mispronounce words or speak with incorrect intonation You can ask the students to study the dialog ● don't know how to answer a question for homework. They should look up words they don't know and circle parts of the When most of the pairs have finished asking dialog they don't understand. Later, in class, each other their questions, give the students students can practice the dialog in pairs. You a chance to ask you (or other students in the should encourage students to read their lines class besides their partner) any question they with feeling, concentrating on stress and choose from the page. intonation. If necessary, have the students repeat the lines while listening to the Note: Students usually sit next to their recording, pausing the CD after each line. friends in class, but it's good to have them work with different partners from time to After the students have had a chance to time. This allows students to get to know practice the dialog with a partner, select two other people in the class and is good for students to read the dialog out loud. Again, classroom atmosphere. encourage them to read their lines with feeling. When they are finished, go over any Small Group Activities problematic parts, including any words which are still unknown, wrong pronunciation, Divide the class randomly into small groups. incorrect intonation, and so on. The size of the group should be appropriate for the activity, but generally, limiting the size Finally, have the students practice the dialog to three or four students per group ensures again with their partner, this time closing the that everyone will have a chance to speak. book as they say each line. They may open their book and look at their line if they forget, Make sure each group understands the task but they should close the book again before at hand and inform the groups how much saying their line. This will help to encourage time they have to complete the activity. In eye contact between partners as well as get addition, remind the class that they should the students to focus more on meaning. speak only English! 2 Each group should select a leader, who will assigned as homework or as individual lab make sure the group stays on task and speaks work if the students have a copy of the only English, and a secretary, who will take recording. Otherwise, the activity can be done notes. together in class. Teachers may duplicate the CD for their students provided one original You should walk around the class and help copy has already been purchased. each group as needed. Be sure to give the class a three-minute warning so they don't run Students are not expected to fully understand out of time unexpectedly. When all the groups each dialog, but just enough to complete have finished, you might want to ask a couple the task. To allow the students to study the of the groups to tell the rest of the class what dialog further, you can make photocopies of they have come up with. the tapescript and have the students practice the dialog with a partner, or they can read Note: Again, it's good to change the groupings it for homework. The tapescripts for the frequently to give students a chance to work listenings, followed by a bilingual listing of with different people in the class. the more difficult vocabulary, are found in the last section of this Teacher's Guide. The We Asked 100 Students tapescripts are also available at our website Several of the units include a survey game.