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
3.3 Stage 3: Check students’ understanding
When you have completed your presentation of language, you will need to check whether students have understood. It is not enough to ask students whether they
understand or whether everything is clear. The result will simply be their assurances that they understand. It is far better to devise a method that checks they have
understood.
For example, after presenting question formation involving present simple you could write on the board: “she likes animals” and invite students to make the question.
Students should be able to say “does she like animals?”. You can invite a student to the board to write the question or invite the class to produce it orally. You could
accidentally add an “s” to like: “does she likes animals?” or make a similar error to see whether students notice and correct it. If so, make sure you remove the extra “s” so
students don’t copy it into their books.
You can also use a technique called concept check questions CCQs. You need to ask questions that will lead students to the precise meaning of the language item. First
of all check the precise meaning of the language item and then create questions accordingly.
For example, comparative adjectives are used to describe two things that differ and to compare the elements that differ. In the sentence: Sally is taller than Jane, you could
ask the students:
Are Sally and Jane are the same size? No. Is Jane is taller than Sally? No.
Is Jane shorter than Sally? Yes. If students answer the questions correctly, you can assume that they’ve understood
the language point.
3.4 Stage 4: Practising language points
After presenting language, set a practice activity that allows students to use the language they have just studied. This should be done as soon as possible after the
presentation of the language point in order to consolidate learning. Controlled practice and freer practice for definitions see Chapter 1 are useful at lower levels. At higher
levels, you might be able to skip controlled practice and move directly to free practice.
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The following activity is an example of controlled practice of questions and short answers: e.g. did she leave work late? Yes, she did or no, she didn’t. The example is
in the simple past but you can change the tense. The objective of the activity is to answer questions without using the words yes or no.
Start by demonstrating the activity to the class. Students ask you questions about what you did yesterday; you reply without hesitating and without using the words “yes” or
“no”. For the first round, you could write some questions on the board as prompts, so students don’t spend too long formulating their questions. Example:
Did you go to work yesterday? Did you finish work at 6pm?
Did you have lunch with friends? Students read out the questions and the person in the hot seat this is the teacher
during the presentation phase responds with I did or I didn’t. You continue with this for one minute. To help with timing, you can take in a stopwatch,
an egg timer or ask a student to time you. If anybody uses the words yes or no, they are eliminated. If somebody speaks for one minute without using those words, heshe
gets 10 points. You could then ask a student to come to the front of the class to provide further demonstration of the activity.
When students are clear about what is expected of them, separate them into groups of at least three. One person is in the hot seat and the others ask questions; one person
is responsible for keeping an eye on the time.
You can find more games that provide controlled practice of language in the Communication Games series.
3.5 Stage 5: Revision
