skills lesson

1. Gaining attention : In the begining of the lesson teacher mentiones about previous lesson and says that he will make them listen a song about the previous lecture and he also uses some pictures behind him. By these materials he is trying to draw students’ attention and prepare them to the next topic.

2. Informing the learner of the objective: After that, teacher explains that he will teach “how are you?” question and its different kinds of usages.

3. Stimulating recall of prior learning :He explains that we are only taught an answer to this question and it is correct. However; there are some other answers to this question and he tells that he will teach them also. By the answer “I am fine and you?” he tries to remind the students of their past learning and get the help of it.

4. Presenting the stimulus : He starts to teach what kind of answers can be given to the question “how are you?” and he gets the help of the pictures behind so that this will help the students understand the content both by visual and audial ways.

5. Providing learner guidance : He uses his gestures while he answering. For example, for the answer “I am hungry” he is showing his stomach. He explains why it is important to use gestures so that students can understand the logic behind. After he shows the action he wants them to do the same thing(practicing together) and motivates them by celebrating - in this case clapping their own actions.

6. Eliciting performance : He shows a game to the students. They are in group of two and they are acting out by the question “how are you?” and different answers. After that they act out in a given period andcombining their previous learning e.g. “what is your name?” and so on.

7. Providing Feedback : He firstly tries to encourage them so that they can believe they will do and success.After the students act out, he immediately gives feedback such as using phrases “very good” or clapping to congratulate.

8. Assessing performance : In the very beginning of the activity , he shows with a model student and assess his performance as good.Later on he encourages and wants all of them to do that.

9. Enhancing retention and transfer: During the activity, students use other structures that they learned and they combine the old and new. Also; teacher explains the logic that they can communicate well and continue their chats in daily life by using these different answers. He tries to tell them that they can combine and transfer this new structure to their future learning.

I think this lesson is suitable for an effective teaching. Teacher not only shows the activity but also explains the logic behind. He is also a good motivator. He encourages students and gives them positive feedback.

Assignment on the use of native culture in the teaching of EFL

1.What do you think of the idea of using student native culture as content in the EFL classroom as a means of fostering cross-cultural awareness? What might be the possible benefits and shortcomings (if any) of using student native culture?

2.Choose a or b :

a) By referring to the article by Post and Rathet (1996: 12-17) in English Language Teaching Forum, suggest a new language learning activity for Turkish learners of EFL where you use the Turkish culture. The activity that you will design could appeal to any levels of proficiency (i.e., beginners, elementary, intermediate or advanced) and it can involve any language skills. You need to specify the aim(s), your learner profile preparation, procedures of the activity.

b) By referring to the article by Tavares and Cavalcanti (1996: 18-23) and examining the suggested activities in the article, suggest one activity of your own design to develop cultural awareness in EFL classroom (if you like, you could choose a feature film in English and you might prefer to take up a certain cultural practice in the film and compare and contrast it with the Turkish culture.

Assignment on conversation analysis

Choose one or two scenes in a feature film/a TV serial that you like. Do two of the following tasks:

1.Try to identify the language functions used in the conversation.
2.Try to analyze the communicative competence of the interlocutors from the following perspectives (grammatical competence, discourse competence, strategic competence, sociolinguistic competence)
3.Try to analyse the conversations from the following aspects:
a) attention getting

b) topic nomination

c) topic development (clarification, shifting, avoidance and interpretation)

d) Topic termination

4. Try to analyze the conversation in terms of Gricean maxims (quantity, quality, relevance, manner )

Please do not forget to illustrate your comments by giving relevant examples.

Reflection assignment on your cognitive styles and learning strategies

Which cognitive styles do you think you have? Give some examples to illustrate your points. In what ways do you think possesssing these specific leaning styles has a positive impact on your academic and private life and in what ways do you think it prevents or challenges you in your academic and private life?

2. Using the list of learning startegies (see pages 125-126 in Chapter 5 of Brown (2000) and communicative strategies (see page 128) in Chapter 5 of Brown (2000), describe examples of two or three that you have already used or you are currently using. Pick one or two that you don’t use very much and provide your reasons for not doing so.

Assignment on learning styles

Choose a character in a feature film/a Turkish or English TV serial that you like and make comments on the learning styles and the learning strategies and communicative strategies that he or she displays in the film/ TV serial by giving examples. How effectively do you think he or she uses them in the film? In what ways does he/she benefit from them and in what ways do they have a negative impact on him/her?