Transcripts

Module 1 Lesson 8

Section 4 – Differentiating by adapting tasks

 Section 4 – Differentiating by adapting tasks

Transcript 1, Slide 2
Teacher 1: I did a really interesting speaking task with my class the other day.
Teacher 2: Really, what was it?
Teacher 1: I gave them some topics and they had to ask and answer questions about
the topics in pairs.
Teacher 2: Really? I could never do this with my classes. The weaker learners would
just sit there or would start speaking their own language. How did you make it work?
Teacher 1: Well, I used the same activity but changed it a little for different groups of
learners. So, each group got a slightly different version of the task.
Teacher 2: That sounds interesting, how did you set that up?
Teacher 1: First, I grouped the class into three ability groups. The stronger learners
who like to talk were one group. The second group were stronger learners who are a
bit quiet. The third group were the weaker learners.
Teacher 2: Okay, and what did you do next?
Teacher 1: Then, I gave the pairs in each group a different version of the task. So, the
stronger learners who like to talk, just got the list of the topics. I told them to choose
topics from the list, think of questions to ask each other and then ask and answer the
questions in their pairs. They had 10 minutes to do the task.
Teacher 2: I can imagine they enjoyed that. They could choose what they wanted to
talk about, and what questions to ask!
Teacher 1: That's right. Then I gave the strong but quieter pairs the same list, they
could choose the topics as well, but I told them to write down their questions, and to
write as many as possible in five minutes. Then, they had to choose the two best
questions to ask their partner for the next five minutes. They liked that because they
didn’t have to speak as much and they like to think about what they're going to say.
Teacher 2: Great. And what about the pairs in the last group, the weaker learners?
Teacher 1: I gave them example questions for each topic, so they had to look at these
first, and then they only had to produce two questions of their own. I was also free to
help them quite a lot and I made sure they asked each other at least one question from
each topic.
Teacher 2: Wow! How did it go?
Teacher 1: It worked really well! Everyone did the task in the same amount of time –
they all had 10 minutes, but they could work at their own pace. And I was free to help
learners who needed more help while the stronger learners were busy chatting or
writing their own questions.
Teacher 2: And what about feedback? How did you manage that?
Teacher 1: We did that as a whole class after the 10 minutes. It was great because
everyone had something to say in feedback.
Teacher 2: Sounds really good, I think I’ll try this with my class

Cambridge English | CELT-S | Module 1 | Lesson 8 | © UCLES 2015 1

 Section 4 – Differentiating by adapting tasks

Transcript 2, Slide 3
Teacher 1: I did a really interesting speaking task with my class the other day.
Teacher 2: Really, what was it?
Teacher 1: I gave them some topics and they had to ask and answer questions about
the topics in pairs.
Teacher 2: Really? I could never do this with my classes. The weaker learners would
just sit there or would start speaking their own language. How did you make it work?
Teacher 1: Well, I used the same activity but changed it a little for different groups of
learners. So, each group got a slightly different version of the task.
Teacher 2: That sounds interesting, how did you set that up?
Teacher 1: First, I grouped the class into three ability groups. The stronger learners
who like to talk were one group. The second group were stronger learners who are a
bit quiet. The third group were the weaker learners.
Teacher 2: Okay, and what did you do next?
Teacher 1: Then, I gave the pairs in each group a different version of the task. So, the
stronger learners who like to talk, just got the list of the topics. I told them to choose
topics from the list, think of questions to ask each other and then ask and answer the
questions in their pairs. They had 10 minutes to do the task.
Teacher 2: I can imagine they enjoyed that. They could choose what they wanted to
talk about, and what questions to ask!
Teacher 1: That's right. Then I gave the strong but quieter pairs the same list, they
could choose the topics as well, but I told them to write down their questions, and to
write as many as possible in five minutes. Then, they had to choose the two best
questions to ask their partner for the next five minutes. They liked that because they
didn’t have to speak as much and they like to think about what they're going to say.
Teacher 2: Great. And what about the pairs in the last group, the weaker learners?
Teacher 1: I gave them example questions for each topic, so they had to look at these
first, and then they only had to produce two questions of their own.

Transcript 3, Slide 4
Teacher 2: Okay, and what did you do next?
Teacher 1: Then I gave the pairs in each group a different version of the task. So, the
stronger learners who like to talk, just got the list of the topics. I told them to choose
topics from the list, think of questions to ask each other and then ask and answer the
questions in their groups. They had 10 minutes to do the task.
Teacher 2: I can imagine they enjoyed that. They could choose what they wanted to
talk about, and what questions to ask!

Cambridge English | CELT-S | Module 1 | Lesson 8 | © UCLES 2015 2

 Section 4 – Differentiating by adapting tasks

Transcript 4, Slide 5
Teacher 1: That's right. Then I gave the strong but quieter pairs the same list, they
could choose the topics as well, but I told them to write down their questions, and to
write as many as possible in five minutes. Then, they had to choose the two best
questions to ask their partner for the next five minutes. They liked that because they
didn’t have to speak as much and they like to think about what they're going to say.

Transcript 5, Slide 6
Teacher 2: Great. And what about the pairs in the last group, the weaker learners?
Teacher 1: I gave them example questions for each topic, so they had to look at these
first and then they only had to produce two questions of their own. I was also free to
help them quite a lot and I made sure they asked each other at least one question from
each topic.

Transcript 6, Slide 7
Teacher 2: Wow! How did it go?
Teacher 1: It worked really well! Everyone did the task in the same amount of time –
they all had 10 minutes, but they could work at their own pace. And I was free to help
learners who needed more help while the stronger learners were busy chatting or
writing their own questions.
Teacher 2: And what about feedback? How did you manage that?
Teacher 1: We did that as a whole class after the 10 minutes. It was great because
everyone had something to say in feedback.
Teacher 2: Sounds really good, I think I’ll try this with my class.

Transcript 7, Slide 8
Teacher 1: I did a really interesting speaking task with my class the other day.
Teacher 2: Really, what was it?
Teacher 1: I gave them some topics and they had to ask and answer questions about
the topics in pairs.
Teacher 2: Really? I could never do this with my classes. The weaker learners would
just sit there or would start speaking their own language. How did you make it work?
Teacher 1: Well, I used the same activity but changed it a little for different groups of
learners. So, each group got a slightly different version of the task.
Teacher 2: That sounds interesting, how did you set that up?

Cambridge English | CELT-S | Module 1 | Lesson 8 | © UCLES 2015 3

 Section 4 – Differentiating by adapting tasks

Teacher 1: First, I grouped the class into three ability groups. The stronger learners
who like to talk were one group. The second group were stronger learners who are a
bit quiet. The third group were the weaker learners.
Teacher 2: Okay, and what did you do next?
Teacher 1: Then, I gave the pairs in each group a different version of the task. So, the
stronger learners who like to talk, just got the list of the topics. I told them to choose
topics from the list, think of questions to ask each other and then ask and answer the
questions in their pairs. They had 10 minutes to do the task.
Teacher 2: I can imagine they enjoyed that. They could choose what they wanted to
talk about, and what questions to ask!
Teacher 1: That's right. Then I gave the strong but quieter pairs the same list, they
could choose the topics as well, but I told them to write down their questions, and to
write as many as possible in five minutes. Then, they had to choose the two best
questions to ask their partner for the next five minutes. They liked that because they
didn’t have to speak as much and they like to think about what they're going to say.
Teacher 2: Great. And what about the pairs in the last group, the weaker learners?
Teacher 1: I gave them example questions for each topic, so they had to look at these
first, and then they only had to produce two questions of their own. I was also free to
help them quite a lot and I made sure they asked each other at least one question from
each topic.
Teacher 2: Wow! How did it go?
Teacher 1: It worked really well! Everyone did the task in the same amount of time –
they all had 10 minutes, but they could work at their own pace. And I was free to help
learners who needed more help while the stronger learners were busy chatting or
writing their own questions.
Teacher 2: And what about feedback? How did you manage that?
Teacher 1: We did that as a whole class after the 10 minutes. It was great because
everyone had something to say in feedback.
Teacher 2: Sounds really good, I think I’ll try this with my class.

Cambridge English | CELT-S | Module 1 | Lesson 8 | © UCLES 2015 4