Methodology of Teaching English as a Foreign Language

Seminar IV – Teaching Writing and Speaking Skills

I. Suggest the appropriate level with which you can use the following writing activities:
1. students write letters to a newspaper in response to a controversial article
2. students expand a variety of headlines into newspaper articles
3. students write / design their own menus
4. students design posters for a party / play / concert
5. students write a radio news bulletin
6. students write a letter of application for a job
7. students write the description of a room while listening to music
8. students send e-mail messages (real or simulated) to other English speakers around the
world
9. students write invitations of various kinds

II. Below is an example of a creative writing activity (Matters, Intermediate, Unit 8).
1. How would you organise your class for this activity?
2. What supplementary materials would you use?
3. What do you think is the aim of this writing activity? (what will the students have learned
at the end of the activity?)
4. What kind of pre-writing activities would you use?

Write a draft description of a house or a room that you really loved or hated. Make sure you
include:
- factual information
- human interest (what it reminded you of, how you felt about it, why you liked or disliked
it)
- linking expressions (but, after, also, however)
- prepositional phrases of place (in the corner of, behind the, on top of the)

III. Starting from the writing tip below (Targets – Reading / Writing, Unit 9), think of a set of
activities designed to teach your students appropriate paragraph construction in for-and-
against essays.
In an article with for and against a subject, we usually give a balanced argument. We use a
formal style and divide our article into four paragraphs.
 In the introduction, we make general remarks about the subject, without giving our
opinion
 In the second paragraph, we give the advantages, with examples
 In the third paragraph, we give the disadvantages, with examples
 In the conclusion, we sum up the subject, stating our opinion clearly
We can use expressions such as I think, I believe, in my opinion, etc to express our opinion
and linking words (as, because, for example, however, etc) to join ideas.

IV. Read the story below and devise both preparing-speaking activities and follow-up speaking
activities:
AN IMPERIAL MESSAGE
by Franz Kafka

The Emperor—so they say—has sent a message, directly from his deathbed, to you alone, his
pathetic subject, a tiny shadow which has taken refuge at the furthest distance from the imperial
sun. He ordered the herald to kneel down beside his death bed and whispered the message to him.
He thought it was so important that he had the herald repeat it back to him. He confirmed the
accuracy of the verbal message by nodding his head. And in front of the entire crowd of those who
have come to witness his death—all the obstructing walls have been broken down and all the great
ones of his empire are standing in a circle on the broad and high soaring flights of stairs—in front
of all of them he dispatched his herald. The messenger started off at once, a powerful, tireless
man. Sticking one arm out and then another, he makes his way through the crowd. If he runs into
resistance, he points to his breast where there is a sign of the sun. So he moves forward easily,
unlike anyone else. But the crowd is so huge; its dwelling places are infinite. If there were an open
field, how he would fly along, and soon you would hear the marvellous pounding of his fist on
your door. But instead of that, how futile are all his efforts. He is still forcing his way through the
private rooms of the innermost palace. He will never win his way through. And if he did manage
that, nothing would have been achieved. He would have to fight his way down the steps, and, if he
managed to do that, nothing would have been achieved. He would have to stride through the
courtyards, and after the courtyards the second palace encircling the first, and, then again, stairs
and courtyards, and then, once again, a palace, and so on for thousands of years. And if he finally
did burst through the outermost door—but that can never, never happen—the royal capital city, the
centre of the world, is still there in front of him, piled high and full of sediment. No one pushes his
way through here, certainly not with a message from a dead man. But you sit at your window and
dream to yourself of that message when evening comes.

V. Below is a speaking activity (Listening and Speaking Skills, Unit 4). Read and decide:
1. What stage of the lesson would be appropriate for this activity
2. What materials you would use for preparing-speaking activities
3. What sequence of preparing-speaking activities you would use
4. What homework you would assign

a) Look at the ways of discriminating against people and the victims of discrimination in the table
below. Put a tick to indicate which groups are discriminated against in you country.
WAYS OF RACIAL ETHNIC WOME THE LOWER
DISCRIMINATING MINORITIES GROUPS N / DISABLED SOCIAL
GIRLS CLASSES
Segregation at school
Exploitation at work
Treating as inferiors
Avoiding special contact
Denying job opportunities
Not paying equal wages
Telling jokes at their
expense
Blaming for social ills
Subjecting to violent
attacks
Intolerance of customs /
beliefs
Not providing facilities for
access to public
buildings / transport

b) In pairs, discuss any examples of discrimination you know of from personal experience. You
may use the information above.