University of Sonora
Department of Foreign Languages
B. A. in English Language Teaching
Teaching Practice II
Basic Speaking Activities to Avoid the Use of the L1
Sandra Cristina Rivera Hernandez
File number: 208200059
X01
February 19th, 2012
Table of Contents
3
Introduction
4
School Information
7
General Objective
8
Specific Objective
9
Personal Area to Improve
10
Description of Activities (Chronogram)
12
Materials /Resources / Bibliography
Introduction
I am an eight semester student of the B.A. in English Language Teaching. I started learning
English when I was in elementary school; since it was a public one, I always stayed one
hour after my classes with an English teacher, who was paid by parents, in order to teach us
this language. Then, when I was in Jr. High I entered to the EFL courses of Harmon Hall
where I finished all my courses. Last semester I had the opportunity to work with different
levels; I did my practices at Colegio Americano del Pacifico (CAP) with Jr. High students
and my social service at COBACH with High School learners. Also, on October I got a job
as a teacher for the English program of public elementary schools. Right now I am working
with 5th and 6th grade of elementary school.
In this teaching project I was looking to find and include basic speaking activities that make
students practice the different taught structures, as well as the vocabulary being learnt. I
noticed that students have little or no exposure to the English language, so they experienced
a difficult time when trying to speak the target language. In many of the cases, students
simply refused to speak English. Therefore, including different activities that provide them
with opportunities to communicate in the target language in meaningful contextualized
situations are really important to be implemented in language classes. With the inclusion of
a variety of speaking activities related to grammar and the vocabulary seen in each unit,
students learned and practice in an easier way, at the same time they improved their
speaking productions.
School Information

Name of School:
Esc. Primaria Manuel Rios y Rios #2

Location:
Blvd. Libertad y Jacinto López, Col. Villa Hermosa (south part of the city).

Type of school:
Manuel Rios y Rios #2 is a public elementary school. It is located at the south part of the
city, in a marginalized area.

Type of English program:
This school has an EFL program in which students have 2 sessions per week; each session
time varies depending on the season, 40 minutes during winter and 50 minutes the rest of
the year.

School Philosophy and values
For PIP, values play an important role in children education, because of this reason, each
lesson as well as each unit to teach throughout the school year includes a list of values. This
values are the ones that children, with the help of the teacher, must learn about and apply to
their daily life

Methodology and techniques commonly used.
This program establishes an approach to teaching in which the capacity to reflect on
language is related to the communicative competence of students. This means that it not
only takes into consideration linguistic learning but also cultural. One of its functions is
socialization, whose purpose is for students to relate with each other, to progress and
reconstruct the social world they live in.
The language teaching approach promotes and encourages reflection on the linguistic
aspects of language, its functions, and communicative uses, all necessary to achieve the
effective and successful participation of students in social practices of the language.

Description of English program:
The National English Program in Basic Education is mainly based on the Common
European Framework of Reference (CEFR). The CEFR describes and establishes 6 levels
of common reference for 18 languages, English among them. From those 6 levels,
elementary schools’ English program only takes into consideration the first two which are
A1 and A2 (both levels belong to the basic user part).
Each level from the CEFR represents 2 different grades; this means that 1 st and 2nd
grade do not have a level related to the CEFR but at PIP both groups are known as part of
Cycle 1. Then, Cycle 2 will be for 3rd and 4th grade elementary school students and A1 level
of the CEFR. On the other hand, 5th and 6th grade are part of the A2 level and Cycle 3 from
PIP as well.
Talking about the material in this program, when you get hired, they provide you with a
big box which includes some posters, cue cards, CD’s, books, etc. but that’s all the material
you are given. In some schools the principal also help you with copies and different
materials, but in my case, because of the zone in which this school is located, I am the one
in charge of providing this kind of material. Moreover, In the previous years, since this
program started, books were bought by parents. Each teacher was the one who chose the
book to use and let parents know so they could buy them. This year, things changed a little,
now, this program is the one in charged to provide all students with English books.
Unfortunately, this has not work well, there are 5 different books and teachers chose the
one they consider most appropriate to their students; a big problem with this situation is
that books has not arrived for all schools. In December some books arrived and only some
schools were provided with this material, the rest of the schools, including mine, still
waiting for them. Since this situation was presented, the coordinator of this program gave
me two books for me to use as a guide with my students (one of the books was for 5th grade
and the other for 6th).

Description of groups assigned
The groups assigned are 5th and 6th grade, two of each. Each classroom has between 26
and 33 students, both genders: girls and boys. This program does not classify students into
levels such as: basic, intermediate, advanced, etc.; on the contrary, they just got a class for
each school year.
The socioeconomic level of these children play an important role in this development,
this school is located at the south part of the city, in a marginalized area where many
problems are presented.
As I said, students do not have a book so I just follow another as a guide and have
learners working in different ways and in different activities. I like to use team work
because they can learn a lot from their partners, unfortunately there is one classroom in
which I cannot use it a lot because of the conditions of this group.

School teacher assigned
I am the school teacher, my name is Sandra Cristina Rivera Hernandez, and my e-mail:
cristii_rvra@hotmail.com
General objective of the course assigned
The purpose of English Language Teaching for Cycle 3 in Basic Education (5th and
6th grades of Elementary school) is for students to develop competencies particular to social
practices of the language that enable them, through the interaction with oral and written
texts, to understand and use English to carry out simple, everyday communicative activities
about familiar and community, literacy and ludic, and academic and educational
environments.
Specific objectives
At the end of Cycle 3, students are expected to:

Understand and produce everyday or routine information and its general meaning.

Begin or participate in some conversations or transactions using verbal and nonverbal strategies.

Recognize similarities and differences in the form and social use between their
mother tongue and English.

Express opinions and provide short descriptions.

Socialize by means of common expressions.
Personal area to improve
In this project, I provided students with meaningful basic speaking activities according to
their level in order to prove to myself that they are capable of practicing different skills that
were taught throughout the course, using the language being learned: English. As my
personal objective for this project, I stated to learn which teaching strategies help me as a
teacher to make learners avoid the use of their mother tongue and start using the target
language.
This project was carried out since is frustrating, as teachers, to listen to students constantly
speaking Spanish when they actually can do it in English. As I mentioned before this
situation is disappointing and sometimes, it makes me think that speaking English is almost
impossible for them, but as I know it is not I chose to start with this project. In order to
develop my students’ speaking abilities in English I implemented the use of new strategies
found in different articles, by including them I changed a little my teaching practice so I
could made a change towards the attitude from my students.
Before starting with the strategies implemented and that I found useful for my teaching
when trying to avoid the use of L1 by students in the classroom, I will start with what
Nation (2003), in his article “the role of the first language in foreign language learning”,
states that especially in those settings where students do not have that much opportunity to
practice the language in the process of learning, teachers need to use strategies in which the
FL is maximized. By maximize the use of the FL, and in an agreement with Gocer (2010),
affirms that teachers should not be afraid when their students use their mother tongue inside
the classroom as long as the predominant language is the one being taught.
Taking into consideration the two previous citations, and that the L1 can be a useful
element in creating authentic L2 users rather than something to be shunned at all costs
(Cook, 2001), one of the strategies that can be used in order to increase the use of the FL by
not deleting the L1 is giving directions, advertisements, and any important information in
the FL, but always repeating it on their L1, in this case in Spanish. Moreover, if a new topic
seems difficult for them, teachers can switch to the L1, just for a while, so students can feel
more confident with the given information.
As a useful strategy to use when dealing with this kind of situations, Buttner (2007)
suggests to teachers to always model what they want their students to do, and be the right
example for them. Here the saying “monkey see monkey do” can be applied; as long as
they are kids they always do what adults around them do. Therefore, if teachers speak in the
language they are teaching, in this case English, students will know that the correct thing to
do is that, and will try to use the FL the more possible time. Besides that, if teachers agree
in not prohibiting the use of the mother tongue and making reference to what Buttner
(2007) asserts, when giving directions, instead of translating to the L1 what teachers can do
is model. For example, if teachers explain a new structure, and want students to complete a
task with that information, they can do the first item of the task; students will use it as a
guide to continue answering the rest of the activity, at the same time that they decrease they
use of their L1.
Besides implementing the use of different strategies to my different classes, I noticed that
in some occasions, they were not that attractive to students, so what I expected as a result
from them was not always the one really obtained. Since I noticed this, and in continuing
with my research, I found that, as in everything we do, motivation plays an important role.
Sometimes what students hear and see at home is what they believe as correct, or has a
great influence on their learning process. Since I found that information, whenever I had to
plan or look for an activity to bring it into the classroom, I always reflect on what
Hismanoglu (2000) states; he expresses that the most important role of an instructor in
foreign language teaching is to include a wide range of tasks in their classes to match the
needs of all students, this is to meet the different learning styles and motivations. In order
to meet this, most of the activities I used for my classes were related to topics they like or
are popular among children. As long as most of my students are visuals, most of the
material included in the different lessons tried to meet the needs of those students; an
emphasis on using videos, images, posters, and flashcards throughout the course was made,
obviously, without leaving aside material that met the characteristics of other learning
styles and that also help all kind of students to improve on their learning.
Results:
After selecting my teaching area to improve, I start looking for some previous researchers
or articles that could help me. I found several reading related to my topic, as I was reading
them I noticed that the L1, especially in the first levels, should not be prohibited. On the
contrary, it is something that as teachers we have to take as an advantage to help our
students improve on their learning of EFL.
Considering the information obtained from the articles, I started changing the activities that
I used for my classes. Since my students do not have an English book, I am the one who
always bring the activities, exercises and topics without taking a textbook as a reference;
this gives me the flexibility to use any material that I consider useful and meaningful for
my students with no hesitation to finish the book.
What worked the best for me was using meaningful and interesting topics for my students
and, appropriate to their age. As stated before, if students are not motivated the teaching
strategies used in the classroom will not work in the expected way. Therefore, a way to
motivate students that worked for me was including tasks with r information about
cartoons, TV shows, movies, games, news, artist, music and sports; as well as topics with
information that they can actually use in their daily life.
Finally, since students are learning a language out of its the natural context I found that
creating that natural environment inside the classroom motivate students at the time that
help them improve their learning. For this reason, some of the materials used, and from
which the use of videos was the most useful tool, were pictures, flashcards, worksheets,
realia, audios, hand outs, graphics, and stories.
Description of activities and chronogram
Since books are about to arrive this chronogram may change. That’s the reason activities
are not that specific.
Week
1
Date
February
20- 26
Objectives
Read stories
and legends
aloud
2
February
27- March
4th
To participate
in formal
communicative
events
3
March 5th.
11th
To identify
main and
supporting
ideas in
paragraphs.
4
March 12th . 18th
Listen to, read,
and record
information
from diverse
media
Activities
Ss will help me
read the story.
Each student
will be given a
hand out with
some images
which represent
the story, to
order.
Ss will imagine
they are in a
museum and I
will be the one
giving the
demonstration,
explaining what
each item
means, etc.
Then, they will
look for
information
(topic of
interest) and
create a big
brochure to
present in class.
After the
explanation of
what main and
supporting ideas
are, students
will be given a
hand out with a
text in which
they will
identify both:
main and
supporting
ideas.
Ss will get
familiarized
with News and
identify what
they are about..
Resources/materials
- Big book with
legends
- Pictures with
parts of the
story
-
-
Brochures of a
museum
Card board
Markers
Texts with
appropriate
and attractive
information to
students.
- Different News
Comments
5
6
7
8
9
March 19th
– 25th
March 26th
– April 1st
April 2nd –
8th
April 9th –
15th
April 16th –
22nd
10
April 23rd –
29th
11
April 30th –
May 6th
12
May 7th –
13th
Listen to, read,
and record
information
from diverse
media
SPELLING
BEE
SPRING
VACATIONS
SPRING
VACATIONS
Participate in
language games
with expressive
and aesthetic
purposes.
Identify and
classify
information
from an
illustrated guide
to solve a
specific
problem.
Read and write
notes ad letters
Read and
compare
aspects of
Mexico and
EnglishSpeaking
Countries
Ss will listen to
a radio program
and identify
what they are
talking about
and common
vocabulary or
expressions.
Competence
An audio/video of a
radio program.
With this games
students will
identify
different sounds
in
pronunciation,
spell words and
try saying
tongue twisters
(appropriate for
their level)
Ss will
understand
some actions
and figure out
the problem
from graphics
and solve it.
Language games
Ss will look at a
note and at a big
letter and
identify
purpose,
intended
audience and
sender. Then,
they will create
their own.
Ss will read a
travel story in
which the
character is
going from
Mexico to the
U.S., they will
identify
expressions as
well as well as
cultural aspects.
Questionnaire
Spelling bee contest
list.
Tongue twisters
-
Graphics
-
Big letter
Big note
Cardboard
Markers
-
List of
common
cultural
expressions
and words.
Travel story
-
Resources
-
Worksheet with family tree. Created with the help of a textbook used as a course
basis.
-
Big book with a legend. Given by PIP as material to use throughout the school
year.
-
Images of different events (to order). Taken from the internet.
-
Brochures for a museum exhibition. Taken from trips I´ve made.
-
Different News. Taken from the internet.
-
An audio/video of a radio program. Downloaded from the internet.
-
Word game. Taken from “5000 Activities for the Primary Classroom”
-
Spelling Bee list. It was send to my e-mail by the coordinator of the English
Program
-
Questionnaire. Created by myself.
-
Tongue twisters. Taken from the internet.
-
Graphics. Taken from the textbook.
References:
Buttner, A. (2007). Activities, Games and Assessment Strategies for the Foreign Language
Classroom (pp: 8-9 & 30-33). Larchmont, NY: Eye on Education.
Carol, R. (2007). 500 Activities for the Primary Classroom. Oxford: Macmillan Education.
Cook, V. (2001) Using the First Language in the Classroom. Canadian Modern Language
Review/ La Revue Canadienne des Langues Vivantes. Vol. 57(3), pp. 402-423.
Gocer, A. (2010). A Qualitative Research on the Teaching Strategies and Class
Applications of the High School Teachers Who Teach English in Turkey as a
Foreign Language. Education, Vol. 131(1), 196-219.
Hismanoglu, M. (2000). Language Learning Strategies in Foreign Language Learning and
Teaching. TESL Journal, Vol. 6(8).
Nation, P. (2003). The role of the first language in foreign language learning. Asian EFL
Journal, Vol. 5 (1). Article 1.
NEPBE (2010), Syllabus 2010, Cycle 3 (5th and 6th Elementary school). Pp. 17-18, 29-50.
NEPBE (2010), Curricular Foundations: preschool, elementary school, secondary school.
Pp. 13-21, 25-39