Match the COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES with their meanings. The learner uses a non-L2 form but adapts it to make it appear like a L2 form. The speaker takes a word from his/her L1 linguistic system, without altering it hoping that the listener will be able to recognize it. The learner invents a new target-language word or phrase by relying on his/her knowledge of the L2 language. The speaker could choose an indirect (often longer) linguistic route to arrive at the concept he/she wants to express.
What communication strategy is being taught or strengthened in the following classroom activity?
(a) Show students pictures of typical Spanish objects, customs, etc. which do not have a direct translation in English, e.g. peineta, mantilla, banderillas, Las Fallas, etc.
(b) Students work in pairs.
(c) Ask students to try to explain an item to their partners in English.
(d) The partner tries to guess the item and they switch roles.
(e) As a class, discuss phrases that students used to describe or explain the items.
(f) Identify useful phrases for this type of strategy. avoidance strategy foreignizing an L1 word coining a new word cooperative strategy compensatory strategy circumlocution.
What communication strategy is being taught or strengthened in the following classroom activity?
Role play: The tourist is shopping in a department store. The tourist speaks to a shop clerk. The tourist does not know how to say certain words (phrases) in English, and tries to explain them using mimes. The shop clerk guesses what the tourist is trying to say.
(a) The teacher distributes two sets of handouts. The students in each pair receive different handouts.
(b) In each pair, one student plays the role of the tourist, and the other student guesses the meaning.
(c) When the correct answer is found, they switch roles.
(d) Each pair tries to find as many answers as possible within a limited time. (5-10 min.)
Example: I'd like some (medicine) for (headache)."
Tourist: I'd like some (gesture of taking a pill).
Clerk: Candy?
Tourist: No, no. This. (gesture of being sick, and taking a pill).
Clerk: Oh, medicine?
Tourist: Yes! For (gesture of having a headache).
Clerk: Headache?
Tourist: Yes!
Clerk: So you want some medicine for a headache.
Tourist: That's right. avoidance strategy foreignizing an L1 word coining a new word cooperative strategy compensatory strategy circumlocution.
What communication strategy is being taught or strengthened in the following classroom activity?
(a) Divide the class into four or five teams.
(b) Use identifying games for each team to practice questions like "What's this/that?"; "What are these/those?"; "Who's this/that?"; "How do you say … in English?"; etc.
(c) Have the students in each team hold up or touch or point to objects or other students to ask the questions.
(d) Get students in other teams answer the questions in writing.
(e) Ask representatives of each team read out their answers.
(f) Have those who answer correctly ask a similar question in return. avoidance strategy foreignizing an L1 word coining a new word cooperative strategy compensatory strategy circumlocution.
What communication strategy is being taught or strengthened in the following classroom activity?
Role play: The tourist is shopping in a department store. The tourist speaks to a shop clerk. The tourist does not know how to say certain words (phrases) in English, and tries to explain them using mimes. The shop clerk guesses what the tourist is trying to say.
(a) The teacher gives the class a list of useful phrases to "kill" a conversation or keep it going. For example, killers: I don't really know.; I have no idea.; That's a good question.; I'd have to think about that.; Umm, ahhh, I'd rather not say. Keepers: What do you think?; How about you?; How do you feel?; What about you?
(b) The teacher also teaches useful expressions for changing the subject of a conversation, e.g. Oh, by the way,...; What do you think about (x)?; Talking about (x), did you know (that ...)?; That reminds me,...; I hear (that ...).
(c) Students receive handouts on which are written some personal or difficult questions.
(d) The students are divided into pairs. In each pair, one student asks a question and the other student either responds to the question or uses one of the phrases to avoid the question or change the subject.
(e) The students switch roles, and move on to the next question.
Example:
A: Do you believe in God?
B: I'm not sure. Talking about God, did you see the TV show, "Touched by an Angel," last Sunday?
A: No, I didn't. I was busy with my homework. avoidance strategy foreignizing an L1 word coining a new word cooperative strategy compensatory strategy circumlocution.
What communication strategy is being taught or strengthened in the following classroom activity?
(a) Ask the class to think of a number of objects and concepts whose names and definitions are unknown to them.
(b) Ask students to write the names and definitions of the objects and concepts in their native language.
(c) Have the students describe (in writing) the characteristics or elements of the objects and concepts in English.
(d) Give them enough time to perform stage (c).
(e) Ask them to read their descriptions loudly while others listening.
(f) Ask them to identify the objects or concepts in their native language.
(g) Write the names or definitions of the objects or concepts in English on the blackboard.
(h) Ask students to write the objects or concepts in English in their notebooks with original descriptions opposite to them. avoidance strategy foreignizing an L1 word coining a new word cooperative strategy compensatory strategy circumlocution.
What communication strategy is being taught or strengthened in the following classroom activity?
(a) The teacher tells the students to think of as many imported/borrowed words as possible and to write them down in their notebooks, e.g. fútbol, footing, feeling, etc. The students can write the words either in English or in Spanish.
(b) The students tell the class the words they wrote in their notebooks.The teacher writes them on the blackboard and the students copy them to their notebooks.
(c) The teacher tells the students to decide if those words can be used directly in English sentences and to mark each word as follows:
1. The word can be used as it is (if pronounced correctly).
2. The form of the word needs to be changed.
3. The meaning of the word is different in English.
4. The word does not exist in English.
(d) Check the answers.The students learn the correct pronunciation, form, and meaning. avoidance strategy foreignizing an L1 word coining a new word cooperative strategy compensatory strategy circumlocution.
What communication strategy is being taught or strengthened in the following classroom activity?
(a) Ask the class to sit back and watch you drawing on the blackboard with pen and paper ready.
(b) Draw sketches (or hang up pictures) of ten objects on the blackboard for which students probably do not know the names, e. g. a safety pin, a straight pin, a clothes pin, a bobby pin, a needle, a paper clip, etc.
(c) Ask students to give names to the objects drawn on the blackboard.
(d) Allow them time to think.
(e) Have learners exchange papers.
(f) Allow them to correct each other's terms.
(g) Have them discuss the corrected terms in pairs.
(h) Get each of them read out their terms with others listening attentively.
(i) Choose the terms which are closest in meaning to the correct names of the objects.
(j) Have students write the correct names for later use. avoidance strategy foreignizing an L1 word coining a new word cooperative strategy compensatory strategy circumlocution.
What communication strategy is being taught or strengthened in the following classroom activity?
The game, "Twenty questions".
(a) The teacher thinks of a word or object, perhaps from the current vocabulary list being learned.
(b) Students have to guess the word by asking twenty or fewer yes/no questions.
(c) The teacher responds yes or no to each question until the students guess the word.
(d) This may also be played in pairs or small groups. avoidance strategy foreignizing an L1 word coining a new word cooperative strategy compensatory strategy circumlocution.
What communication strategy is being taught or strengthened in the following classroom activity?
(a) The teacher speaks to the students, while at the same time using gestures.
(b) Sometimes the teacher expresses his ideas using only gestures.
(c) The students are told to guess what the teacher means to say. avoidance strategy foreignizing an L1 word coining a new word cooperative strategy compensatory strategy circumlocution.
What type of learning strategy is being taught or strengthened in the following classroom activity?
(a) Explain to students that if they recognize that a word in English is a cognate of a Spanish word, their vocabulary can increase by leaps and bounds and this will undoubtedly improve their reading skills.
(b) Give each student a copy of an article from an English newspaper.
(c) Tell the students to skim through the article and pick out any words that look familiar to them and that they think relate to government or politics.
(d) Make a master list of the appropriate cognates on the blackboard. cognitive strategy metacognitive strategy memory strategy affective strategy social strategy compensation strategy.
What type of learning strategy is being taught or strengthened in the following classroom activity?
(a) Choose a relatively difficult article from a target culture news source.
(b) Distribute the article and have the students read it aloud with a partner. At the end of each paragraph, they should stop and discuss what they have read.
(c) Explain to them that this is a strategy that they will use more often individually rather than with a partner.
(d) Have students describe how they monitored their understanding of this article in a journal entry.
(e) As a class, have them share their experiences and ideas. Ask them to think about how they could monitor their progress on other assignments. cognitive strategy metacognitive strategy memory strategy affective strategy social strategy compensation strategy.
What type of learning strategy is being taught or strengthened in the following classroom activity?
Take students through the following steps, in Spanish or in English, according to their language level:
(a) Take a few moments to relax, unwind and ‘gather attention’. Feel every muscle in your body relax and let your breathing become even and deep.
(b) Now visualise a piece of music you like: anything, a song or an instrumental piece. Play it in your head. Play it loudly, as if someone were performing it in front of you.
(c) Focus on the details. When the image is clear, change just one feature of the music. For example, change the tempo from slow to fast or from fast to slow.
(d) Now change another feature in your imagination. For example, hear different instruments performing the music.
(e) Keep changing the music as ideas spring to mind until you hear a whole new different piece of music, something neither you nor anyone else has ever heard.
(f) Be as daring or as subtle as you wish, but allow your mind room for something new each time.
(g) What does the creative experience feel like? Take some time to think about this.
(h) Make notes and share with a partner. cognitive strategy metacognitive strategy memory strategy affective strategy social strategy compensation strategy.
What type of learning strategy is being taught or strengthened in the following classroom activity?
(a) Bring to class several magazine-pictures of people accomplishing different tasks. For example, an athlete climbing a mountain, a runner participating in a marathon, a student graduating from college, and a baby learning to walk or eat on her own. Display the pictures and ask students to talk about the tasks represented by each picture.
(b) After students are done with all the pictures, ask them about what they think might have helped people in the pictures to accomplish their tasks. Write their answers on the board.
(c) Ask the students what mentality the people in the pictures had; what went through their minds during this task completion, i.e., what attitude did they have to focus on the task?
(d) Explain to students that those people believed in themselves and their abilities; they were ambitious but they tried and tried, had never lost hope and were determined to succeed! Most importantly, they were always saying to themselves: “I CAN DO IT!”
(e) Tell students that “I can do it” is a magic tool that helps ease tasks. Surprise them by saying: “Today we will accomplish together a task of cooking a dish from the Arabic Culture. Do you think we can make a delicious dish?” Give each student a copy of the recipe and display a large one on the board.
(f) Divide students into groups of three.
(g) Read the recipe ingredients and steps as you prepare the recipe. Make encouraging comments as you go along. For example, when you model chopping some onions, say: Chopping onions is not as difficult as I thought. I can do this. Have one group finish the task. Each time you give a task to a group, remind students to encourage themselves. cognitive strategy metacognitive strategy memory strategy affective strategy social strategy compensation strategy.
What type of learning strategy is being taught or strengthened in the following classroom activity?
(a) Explain to students that learning new information is easier and more interesting if we are building on knowledge we already have.
(b) Provide the students with the topic of the news event that they are going to watch.
(c) Ask students what they have watched or read about the topic of the newscast in the last 24-48 hours. Have students work in groups to come up with 5-10 things they know about this topic.
(d) Watch the news clip once. Ask students how much of what you discussed was mentioned in the clip. What was not mentioned?
(e) Watch the clip again to check their answers. Have students report on the new information they unearthed. cognitive strategy metacognitive strategy memory strategy affective strategy social strategy compensation strategy.
What type of learning strategy is being taught or strengthened in the following classroom
activity?
(a) Explain to students that taking notes is useful in understanding a rather difficult and long
text. It helps in organizing ideas and remembering the most important ideas of the text. This
strategy is also useful to develop the analytical skills needed to analyze a text and draw
comparisons and conclusions. It also develops writing skills.
(b) Introduce the content of the text by discussing culture shock and its effects.
(c) Give students a text that focuses on an aspect of life in the American culture.
(d) Draw two columns on the board, one titled "Spain" and the other "United States." Have
students write on the board what they know about the two ways of life, including similarities and
differences between the two. The columns can be divided into categories such as food,
housing, family, etc. Have the students compare the two columns.
(e) Have the students read the text, take notes, and then write a sentence or two summarizing
the main idea of the paragraphs.
(f) Discuss as a class the main points of the text and have the students draw comparisons
based on what they read. cognitive strategy metacognitive strategy memory strategy affective strategy social strategy compensation strategy.
What type of learning strategy is being taught or strengthened in the following classroom
activity?
(a) Explain to students that one way to learn a list of new terms is to memorize the list.
However, explain that it is usually easier to learn the information when it is organized in a logical
way. One can make associations and the information is easier to remember.
(b) Give students the list of foods in English. Tell them to put the words on the food pyramid.
(c) Have students label the pyramid in pairs and then check answers with another pair.
(d) Finally, have the partners create a three-day food plan based on the sample day's menu that
you created. Monitor their work to make sure that the foods are being assigned to the right
meals.
(e) Ask students whether categorizing the new terms helped them learn. cognitive strategy metacognitive strategy memory strategy affective strategy social strategy compensation strategy.
What type of learning strategy is being taught or strengthened in the following classroom
activity?
(a) Explain to students that asking for and giving ideas and help will make their learning more
successful and enjoyable.
(b) Give students a list of influential individuals in the history of the target culture.
(c) Divide students into small working groups of 3 or 4.
(d) Each group should discuss the individuals on the list and select the one that the group would
like to research.
(e) Students should do research (in the library, on the Internet, in textbooks, etc.) and share
their information with their group.
(f) Using their research material each group will create a timeline of the figure's life and
achievements.
(g) They will then collaborate on a written narrative history based on a timeline of events.
(h) Make sure that there is a collaborative effort at each stage of the project. Monitor their
information exchanges carefully to make sure they are sharing ideas and helping each other
effectively. cognitive strategy metacognitive strategy memory strategy affective strategy social strategy compensation strategy.
What type of learning strategy is being taught or strengthened in the following classroom
activity?
(a) Explain to students that using imagery aids students in comprehending complex information
through the use of visual representation.
(b) Introduce the term “street poetry.” Give a personal example of a piece of literature that uses
more colloquial language. Students’ own examples from poetry or music can be elicited. The
ensuing discussion can revolve around the use of language to create a setting, mood, and
evoke memory.
(c) Distribute the excerpt from the poem “Scenes from Columbia Heights” (either in Spanish or
in English - see here below). Have students read the excerpt through to themselves for
comprehension of the language.
Escenas en Columbia Heights
Un grupo de muchachas
Con mahones apretados y anchos abajo,
Extra pintalabio y masticaban chicle como las vacas
Piensan que son duenas del mundo
Ignoran que somos todos iguales
Ellas tienen el estilo pero yo tengo la sabiduria.
(d) Have students choose particular phrases or scenes and create the images in their minds.
Answer the following questions about the scenes: What are the colors you see? What facial
expressions do you imagine? How do you feel in the neighborhood?
(e) Elicit new vocabulary or colloquial phrases introduced in the poem. What do these phrases
mean? What images are associated with these terms? How are they used? Are they effective in
adding to the mood of the poem?
(f) In pairs, have students look through magazines and cut out images that fit the images the
poem brought to their mind. Encourage students to add to these pictures with their own
drawing, and to label the images with lines or vocabulary from the poem.
(g) Have students write their own poem in English. cognitive strategy metacognitive strategy memory strategy affective strategy social strategy compensation strategy.
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