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MODULE 10 TASK 2

Look at the following list of some of the activities stu ents might engage in the class!oom" #n icate $% &lacing a tick in the a&&!o&!iate column whethe! %ou think the most a&&!o&!iate 'g!ou&ing( fo! the activit% woul $e &ai!s )*+, g!ou&s of th!ee to five )-+ o! in ivi ual wo!k )#+" Discuss the !easons fo! %ou! ecisions" ACTIVITY Doing cou!se $ook g!amma! e.e!cises Doing cou!se $ook voca$ula!% e.e!cises /ea ing com&!ehension &assages Answe!ing com&!ehension 0uestions *!e&a!ing a!guments fo! a iscussion fo! w!itten com&osition 1!iting ialogues 2!ainsto!ming a le.ical fiel Doing a !evision test Talking a$out to&ics of &e!sonal life Using a ictiona!% to !esea!ch voca$ula!% !elating to a s&ecial to&ic /e&eating wo! s an &h!ases to im&!ove &!onunciation /ole3&la%ing a situation to &!actise e.&onents of a &a!ticula! function )e"g" 'inviting(+ P v G I

One reason for asking students to work individually on a task is so that they can prepare their personal ideas, views or arguments in response to a problem or a piece of stimulus material. A second reason for asking students to work on their own is to provide an opportunity for the teacher to talk with individuals and respond to students understanding. Individual work may take the form of silent reading activities, problems or case studies. Individual work creates lower levels of interaction between the teacher and students (because attention is focused on one individual at a time) than other formats. or this reason it makes sense to use individual work sparingly. !hen students work together in pairs or small groups, the "uantity of interaction is increased, and attitude towards learning is improved and willingness to work hard is increased. #tudents can be asked to work together in pairs or small groups to consider the answers to specific problems, discuss ideas, prepare for whole$class discussions, compare their answers or mark each others work. If you include an in$class test as part of your unit assessment, you can incorporate this into a subse"uent activity. !hen you mark each test paper, identify the one or two "uestions that caused the student most difficulty. Identify these "uestions on the test paper. %air each student in the group with a student who had difficulty with different "uestions and ask them to work through, with their partner, those "uestions that you have identified at the top of each of their papers. &his e'ercise re"uires students to revisit material that they did not understand and pairs them with a student who demonstrated a stronger understanding of that same material. !orking through these "uestions again with a partner, and discussing the areas that created the most difficulty, helps both students to gain a deeper understanding of the sub(ect.

)ncouraging students to learn from each other is a prime ob(ective in organising students in small groups. It is therefore important to consider the way in which students are grouped. *ess confident students can learn from the understanding of more confident students, and students with a higher level of understanding can consolidate their thinking through e'plaining ideas to others. %airing "uiet or less confident students with more outgoing students can often be beneficial to both parties, whereas putting all the outgoing, confident students into one group may lead to conflict and a less than successful outcome to the whole activity.

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