Teaching language skills (reading, writing, listening and speaking) in the secondary classroom

Handout 4: Planning a speaking activity/

writing lesson
Think about how to stage your speaking activity/writing lesson and complete the lesson plan. You don’t
need to write a lot of detailed information, but write clearly so other teachers can read it.

Plan

Lesson aim:

Number of learners in the class:

Level of learners:

Stage Activity Stage aim

1

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Teaching language skills (reading, writing, listening and speaking) in the secondary classroom

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 Teaching language skills (reading, writing, listening and speaking) in the secondary classroom

Handout 5: Descriptions

Task 1: Speaking

Look at this speaking activity. What is the aim of this speaking activity? Is it guided?

Think about a place where you like spending time. Say:

• where it is
• what it looks like
• what you do there
• why you like it.
Speak for about 2 minutes and then answer your partner’s questions. Listen to your partner’s
description and then ask them one or two questions.

Task 2: Writing

Look at this writing activity. What is the aim of this writing activity? Is it a product writing activity?

Read the description of the climate in Russia. Then write a description of the climate in your country.
Russia is the largest country in the world and so it has different climates in different areas. However, it mostly
has a continental climate, especially in areas closer to the Atlantic or Pacific Ocean. This means it is cold in
winter but hot in summer. Spring and autumn are often short seasons.
In the middle and north of the country it can be very cold in winter. Temperatures are often as low as –40ºC
and sometimes colder. People who live in these areas know how to keep warm when it is very cold and their
daily lives continue. Summers here are warm but also wet.
In the east it can be hot in summer, sometimes 40ºC or higher, although on the coast it is often cooler and
wetter. In winter it can be cold but not as cold as Siberia in the middle and north of the country. Winters in
the east are similar to winters in the west. Snow arrives in November and stays until the spring. However,
summers in the west are drier than summers in the east.

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Teaching language skills (reading, writing, listening and speaking) in the secondary classroom

Handout 6: Effective feedback on

speaking activities

Task 1

Look at the sentences below. Which are examples of good language (√)? Which are examples of errors
(X)?

a. My uncle’s house is quite pretty.

b. I like go to the beach in the summer.

c. We stay sometimes in the mountains.

d. The architecture of the building is incredible.

e. The building is large and comfortable /kʌmfɔːteɪbəl/.

f. I like see my family every year in the north.

g. The place is dull for a lot of people but I think it’s fascinating.

h. I like the tree in my garden where I can sit and read.

i. I go never on holiday with my family but I like my home.

j. My favourite place is a lake about one kilometre from here. /fævɑːfɪt/

k. I’ve been there last year.

l. That’s the place where I went last year.

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 Teaching language skills (reading, writing, listening and speaking) in the secondary classroom

Task 2

Look at the sentences in Task 1 again.

Which good language would you like to highlight to your learners? Why?

Which errors would you like your learners to correct? Why?

Why are you going to ignore the other sentences?

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Teaching language skills (reading, writing, listening and speaking) in the secondary classroom

Handout 7: Effective feedback on learner

writing

Task 1

Read the piece of learner writing below. Is it organised well? Is the content good? Is the style appropriate?

Malaysia has tropical climate. This means it is hot and often it rains. In the coastal areas it is hotter
than other areas. In the mountains it is less hot. The rainy season is December to March and the
dry season is June to September. It can rains a lot, specially in the north and west of the country.
Sometimes in July to November there are typhoons. They bring heavy rain and lot of problems. In dry
season it is hot. The average temprature in the coast is 28ºC. It is not windy a lot. The average rainfall
is 250 cm per year. Malaysia is near equator.

Read the writing again. Tick good examples of language (√) and underline the errors.

Task 2

Decide which errors to highlight to learners and ask them to correct. Mark these errors using the
correction code below.

art. article
gr. grammar
prep. preposition
sp. spelling
WW wrong word
word order
^ missing word
\ not necessary

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