toolbox
Independent Practice Resource for Students
Independent practice has somewhat of a bad rep. With the emphasis being put on language in context, practicing language alone is discouraged. However, my greatest success in language learning was achieved through independent practice. Despite having taken Spanish for ten years, I was unable to manage more than a few words or phrases in Spanish. The lessons on Coursera have mostly focused on what we can do as teachers during class to help students practice English. For self-conscious students like myself, however, I only began to see progress after doing independent practice outside class.
I know, however, from having watched a lot of animes and not knowing more than a handful of phrases in Japanese, that not all independent practice necessarily leads to language development. My point here is for the teacher to help students find a discipline that will work for them and which they will continue to work on to assist their language development. Aside from participating in class and completing homework assignments, each student will report activities they did outside of class to improve their language skills. By the end of each week, students will post on Facebook an activity they did outside of class to develop their language skills. Every Monday, students will share their activity to reflect on their progress and/or obtain new ideas on ways they could improve their language skills. Below is an example of an activity students can do for independent practice along with a list of ideas and resources which the students can choose from:
Improving Listening Comprehension through Stories
Watch two to three stories on T-Series Kids Hut: https://www.youtube.com/user/kidshut each week. Jot down as many words as you can hear without subtitles. Then watch the videos with subtitles, assessing how many words you heard correctly. Count how many words you got correct and divide it by the number of words present in the story. Record the percentage as a way to measure one’s progress in listening comprehension.
Listening Comprehension Exercises through Videos
Beginners: Bookboxinc (children’s illustrated story): https://www.youtube.com/user/bookboxinc
TwinkleTV (children’s animated story): https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCACE1oA4yri1aXv2vgWBqsA
Intermediate: Kid’s Hut (children’s animated story): https://www.youtube.com/user/kidshut
Learn English with TV Series: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cslyPxzMLWg
Advanced: BBCAmerica (documentaries/shows): http://www.bbcamerica.com/full-episodes
NBC (shows): https://www.nbc.com/video
Reading/Listening Comprehension through News
Intermediate: CBC Kids News: https://www.cbc.ca/kidsnews/
BBC Learning English: http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/features/news-report
Intermediate to Advanced: Huffposts: https://www.huffpost.com/
World BBC: https://www.bbc.com/news/world
The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/world
Aljazeera: https://www.aljazeera.com/
NPR: https://www.npr.org/
Listening/Speaking Exercises through Songs
Beginning: British Council’s Songs for Kids: https://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/songs
Intermediate to advanced: Billboard: https://www.billboard.com/charts/hot-100
Reading/Writing Exercises through SNS
Intermediate: 100 most followed Tweets: https://friendorfollow.com/twitter/most-followers/
Advanced: 10 most followed Facebook posts: https://www.dailydot.com/upstream/most-followers-facebook/
find it in context!
Activity: Find the grammar they have learned in class in real-life context whether it be from news or their favorite literature to TV shows or even from their own personal encounters. Share their example with their classmates on the class Twitter page so that students can react and converse about each others’ findings as well.
Purpose: Grammar tends to be taught in isolation from real-life context. While getting perfect scores in grammar assessments, I personally experienced difficulty distinguishing it from other grammar forms or using it in everyday conversations. I hope this activity would help students utilize what they are learning outside of the classroom in real-life contexts.
Materials: If you would prefer students to stay in their seats, then BYOD (Bring Your Own Device). Otherwise, any and all objects with sentences in the classroom.
Time: Anywhere from 10 to 30min. Increment the number of examples students should find as the amount of time available for this activity increases.
Logistical Requirement: Especially if kids do not have their own electronic device, have students share their examples on a big classroom board or poster.
When to use: After grammar instruction to help students understand its use and motivate mastery of what they are learning.
How to modify for different learners: This activity can be used just as effectively with vocabulary words instead of grammar forms, particularly with younger students who may not yet be able to understand abstract concepts to teach grammar via grammar rules.