Task leading to task: priming and preparation for TBL Jane Willis www.willis-elt.co.uk Honorary Visiting Fellow, Aston University, UK OUTLINE Clarifying terms and setting the scene A sample task sequence Types of Priming and Preparation tasks Workshop: in twos or threes select a topic and brainstorm your own mini-tasks Choose one or two and write them on a slip of paper to pass on and hand in Report back Final words Possible topics and sample target tasks In pairs or threes, choose one or two School canteen: survey & recommendations Families: family trees - more boys/girls? Family life: reach a concensus on family values Class trip: plan a day away (+ aims & budget) Parking at work / college: problems and solutions Daily journeys: the shortest/longest/best/worst? Volcanoes and volcanic eruptions: negative and positive outcomes (+case studies – Key Stage 3) Other … You will – in the process of planning a task sequence after this workshop - need to adapt and fine-tune the target task to suit your own learners. Meanwhile - how do priming and preparation activities fit in to the larger framework of TBL? Using tasks to promote language development Tasks are most effective when used flexibly within a coherent Framework: Priming & Preparation (exploring topic, useful words & phrases) Task Cycle Task(s) >> Planning >> Report of outcome Form focus Analysis of familiar texts and practice of forms Priming Aims: To facilitate participation in main / target tasks To activate prior knowledge and engage learners PRIMING activities are usually teacher-led: - exploring topic, assembling useful words and phrases - explaining / demonstrating target task and clarifying outcomes and goals, Note: Some priming can be done in the previous lesson so learners can prepare outside class. Preparation Aims: To let learners think of their own ideas / strategies To help learners prepare the language they may need. PREPARATION activities are mainly done by learners and often involve texts (chosen by teacher) - Reading a short text or set of statements to complete a mini-task, e.g. agree / disagree - Using a given web-site to research an aspect of a topic and prepare a list of key facts or a quiz - Listing useful words, phrases and expressions Canteens a possible task sequence Introduce topic and task – useful teacher talk Teacher tells class 3 things they remember about school meals and compare their canteen / cafeteria with the pictures. True/false game with pictures. ‘What about your school / college canteen / cafeteria?’ Ask ‘Either / or’ or ‘Who had ….’ questions (minimal response) Mini-task: What can learners remember? Good memories? Not so good? Plan, then report to class or other pairs Explain target task: survey and recommendations Sample text for canteen task I went to school over 40 years ago so I am sure that school dinners now are very different. We sat on tables of 8 people, with the youngest (11 years old) at one end and the oldest (18) at the other end. The main meal was brought to the table by the kitchen staff in large serving dishes. The oldest person then divided the food into 8 portions. But if they liked that particular meal they took more than their fair share and the youngest got less. The youngest on the table had to collect the dirty plates and cutlery and take them back to the kitchen. The pudding was served in the same way. We all had our favourites – mine was Bread and Butter pudding The chief cook was a nice and very large lady called Gertie Hardcastle. Neil Preparation mini-tasks for Canteen Survey Read about other people’s experience of canteens and compare. List the aspects of the present facilities you want to investigate. Brainstorm and order questions you might use for a survey. List the people each group might interview and organise the survey. ------------------------------------If you were running the canteen what would you do? List 3 priorities. Brainstorm problems your catering staff might be facing. Over to you – with help from the next slides Decide on your target task, write it at top of a half sheet of paper 2 mins Brainstorm one or two mini tasks for listing, classifying, comparing 3 mins for each type Write the best ones on your half sheet of paper 3 mins At the bottom, write ‘Suitable for …. (a teaching context) and your names (optional). 1 min TIME – KEEPER - LISTEN FOR THE BELL! Possible topics and sample target tasks In pairs or threes, choose one or two School canteen: survey & recommendations Families: family trees - more boys/girls? Family life: reach a concensus on family values Class trip: plan a day away (+ aims & budget) Parking at work / college: problems and solutions Daily journeys: the shortest/longest/best/worst? Volcanoes and volcanic eruptions: negative and positive outcomes (+case studies – Key Stage 3) Other … Priming tasks: type 1 – plan two for your topic 1 Listing - brainstorming – fact-finding Teacher chats, recounts own experience, collects class ideas, writes useful phrases on board, discusses, extends E.g. - Talk about own family, then ask how many family words do learners know in English? Make a list. - Things to consider when planning a class trip / day away - Good and bad places to park near work / college - What do you already know about volcanoes? 2 minutes Priming tasks: type 2 - plan two more 2 Classifying, ranking, ordering, mind-mapping etc e.g. - Make a mind-map with items from your list - Sort into good or not so good? - True / false? - How many ways can you classify ….. ? Meaning-focused teacher talk is excellent exposure to language in use – so share your experiences! Priming tasks: type 3 Matching Matching e.g. Matching pictures to captions or short texts or recordings Following a route on a map from directions Text books have many priming tasks of this type. From Priming to Preparation 3 Comparing learners’ lists, classifications & ideas with: - each others’ ideas visuals recordings of fluent speakers doing same task texts (pick out useful topic words and phrases) e.g. Which picture is most like your canteen? Differences? Means of transport to work: advantages/disadvantages Text-based tasks – before reading/hearing Listing Questions you would like answered in the text/recording, Prediction task based on title / headline and first lines Key points you think will be mentioned (predicting) Classifying / ordering General Knowledge: True / false statements to discuss Narrative text: Ordering given phrases from the text to make a story Comparing results of above with other pairs Reporting back Write your 1 or 2 of your best mini-tasks on your half sheet of paper At the bottom, write ‘Suitable for …. (a teaching context) and your name. Pass it on and hand it in. jane@willis-elt.co.uk Tasks are to enhance language learning. Optimum conditions for learning are Essential Exposure to language in use Using language to mean… Motivation & Engagement Beneficial Focus on Form Evaluate – how far does your task sequence fulfill these condition? Seven types of task: use this to generate a set of three or four tasks Listing Matching Ordering & Sorting Comparing Problem solving TOPIC (e.g. eating out in Spain, pets, volcanoes) Sharing personal experiences Projects and creative tasks Task leading to task: priming and preparation for TBL jane@willis-elt.co.uk www.willis-elt.co.uk Doing Task-based Teaching OUP A Framework for Task-based Learning ebook Some books and articles on TBL Edwards, C. and J. Willis (eds) 2005. Teachers Exploring Tasks in ELT. Palgrave MacMillan. Prize winner - British Council ELT Innovations Awards 2006 Hobbs, J. 2011 Practical steps towards task-based teaching http://jaltpublications.org/proceedings/articles/1118-practical-steps-towards-task-basedteaching Willis D. 2003. Rules, Patterns and Words: Grammar and Lexis in English Language Teaching. Cambridge University Press Willis, D. and Willis, J. 2007. Doing Task-based Teaching. Oxford University Press Willis, D. and Willis, J. 2010. ‘Six propositions in search of a methodology: applying linguistics to task-based language teaching’ in S. Hunston & D. Oakey (eds) Introducing Applied Linguistics: Concepts and Skills Routledge. Willis, J. 1996. A framework for task-based learning. ebook edition 2012: http://www.intrinsicbooks.co.uk/online/online.html Willis, J. 2009. The TBL framework: the task cycle. In K.Van den Branden, M. Bygate, J. Norris (eds) Task-based Language Teaching – a reader. John Benjamin’s Publishing Company Willis, J. 2011. ‘Concordances in the classroom: a D.I.Y. approach to assembling and exploiting concordances of frequent words’ in Tomlinson, B. (ed.) Material Development in Language Teaching. (Revised edition). Cambridge: CUP