2. What’s the funniest thing you’ve ever
seen?
A “warmer”?
Gif from
http://www.picgifs.com/graphics/laughing
Not so easy is it!Not so easy is it!
3. Why is this so difficult?
• Too many options to choose
from
• No prompts/context
• Pressure to remember
something incredibly funny
Image from www.bikejuju.com/2012/monkeys-on-
bicycles
4. Why do trainees do this?
But…But…
Admirably, they may be trying to …
•give learners freer practice or fluency practice
•give learners a chance to say what they want
•promote personalized, meaningful interaction
•remove artificial restrictions
5. Why do trainees do this?
So, if this is the case…So, if this is the case…
But they may…
•not understand the terminology
•not know how to support the learners with speaking
tasks
•not be aware of the difficulty level of their tasks (and
not just linguistic difficulties!)
6. What is freer practice?
Now let’s see if they are the same ones I selected!Now let’s see if they are the same ones I selected!
Take one minute, and circle any of the following aspects
that you think characterizes ‘freer practice’.
No one right or wrong
answer
Wide range of language can be
used to successfully complete the
task
Task doesn’t have specific
parameters
Students can be encouraged
to use the target language
Task can’t have a concrete
outcome
Task must be about students’ own
lives
Task should not have multiple
stages
7. Restrictions in real genres
Or if you’re not into Shakespeare:
There once was a man from Nantucket…
Or if you’re not into Shakespeare:
There once was a man from Nantucket…
Listen to this short audio clip and answer these questions:
•Do you recognize the poem?
•Do you think the poet is following any predetermined structure?
Sonnet 130 by Shakespeare
Famous for using the following structure:
• 14 lines long
•Iambic Pentameter
•AB AB CD CD EF EF GG
8. Restrictions in real genres
Some other structured text types include
•Haikus (5 syllables – 7 syllables – 5 syllables)
•Tweets (140 characters)
•Minisagas (max 50 words)
Can you think of any others to add to the list?
Did you know?
As of March 2013, more than 400 million
tweets per day are sent worldwide
Did you know?
As of March 2013, more than 400 million
tweets per day are sent worldwide
10. Classic freer-speaking ELT
activity (with restrictions) -
ROLEPLAY
Restrictions
•Context provided
•Character motivations (reasons for speaking) provided
•Predictable functional language and lexis that will be
needed
11. A few other classic freer-
speaking ELT activities (with
restrictions)
• Alibi
• Balloon / Desert island discussion
• Ranking/Prioritizing activities
• Lexis on cards dialogues/roleplays/debates
• Murder mysteries (or other info gap / puzzle tasks)
• Time-restricted / randomly chosen topic short
conversations
• Picture dictations
12. Classic freer-writing ELT activity
(with restrictions) – Chain story
animation from gifbin.comanimation from gifbin.com
Nothing fancy to see here…
•Dictate first sentence of a story
•Pairs write next sentence
•Pairs pass on sentence to next
group
•Target language must be used
•Continue process
•Class/group feedback of some sort
Or is
there!?!
When chain stories go bad…
13. Classic freer-writing ELT activity
(with restrictions) – Chain Story
Restrictions
•Context provided
•Limited to writing one sentence
•Teacher can select required target language
•Writing closely linked to preceding text
14. A few other classic freer-writing
ELT activities (with restrictions)
• Random word story
• Restrictive genres (those mentioned earlier)
• Writing crosswords
• Genre prompts
• Paper interview
• Any others?
15. Keep in touch!
Ben Naismith
Email: ben@ihdubai.com
Blog: www.eltstew.wordpress.com
Twitter: @Ben_Naismith
Notes de l'éditeur
Please replace the IHWO logo in the bottom left corner with your school’ s if you can .
Put session or section title in top left and then content in text box. Remember animation doesn;t work in Blackboard, so you need a new slide for anything you want to appear on top of a slide.
Put session or section title in top left and then content in text box. Remember animation doesn;t work in Blackboard, so you need a new slide for anything you want to appear on top of a slide.
Put session or section title in top left and then content in text box. Remember animation doesn;t work in Blackboard, so you need a new slide for anything you want to appear on top of a slide.
Put session or section title in top left and then content in text box. Remember animation doesn;t work in Blackboard, so you need a new slide for anything you want to appear on top of a slide.
Put session or section title in top left and then content in text box. Remember animation doesn;t work in Blackboard, so you need a new slide for anything you want to appear on top of a slide.
Put session or section title in top left and then content in text box. Remember animation doesn;t work in Blackboard, so you need a new slide for anything you want to appear on top of a slide.
Put session or section title in top left and then content in text box. Remember animation doesn;t work in Blackboard, so you need a new slide for anything you want to appear on top of a slide.
Put session or section title in top left and then content in text box. Remember animation doesn;t work in Blackboard, so you need a new slide for anything you want to appear on top of a slide.
Put session or section title in top left and then content in text box. Remember animation doesn;t work in Blackboard, so you need a new slide for anything you want to appear on top of a slide.
Put session or section title in top left and then content in text box. Remember animation doesn;t work in Blackboard, so you need a new slide for anything you want to appear on top of a slide.
Put session or section title in top left and then content in text box. Remember animation doesn;t work in Blackboard, so you need a new slide for anything you want to appear on top of a slide.
Put session or section title in top left and then content in text box. Remember animation doesn;t work in Blackboard, so you need a new slide for anything you want to appear on top of a slide.
Put session or section title in top left and then content in text box. Remember animation doesn;t work in Blackboard, so you need a new slide for anything you want to appear on top of a slide.
Please replace the IHWO logo in the bottom left corner with your school’ s if you can .