SUGGESTIONS FOR USING THIS MATERIAL/3
- Exchanges
In a number of Chapters, Exchanges are included to show how the grammar points work in natural, short conversation. The teacher should allow the students to expand each of these two or three line Exchanges by:
- substituting other vocabulary in them at every opportunity,
- letting the students make sentences similar in meaning but different in form than those in the Exchanges,
- adding sentences to the Exchanges that contain grammar points from previous chapters,
- developing situations and visuals to add "reality" to the practice involved, (As with all work in the classroom, then Exchanges should be practiced in "real" situations or with pictures.)
- writing more Exchanges and re-writing those included here,
- having the students write Exchanges around the grammar points of one chapter or all chapters studied to that point.
- Remaining Parts of the Chapter
The Dialogues, Activities, Proverbs, etc. represent further development of the grammar point(s) and/or topic in each Unit. The teacher should consult other TESOL materials for suggestions that will make the greatest use of these parts of the Chapter.
With all of the parts of the Chapter the teacher should remember that any text (including this one) must be adapted to fit the needs of a particular moment in the classroom. The teacher must continually strive to use the text to develop special activities that exact more and more from the students and less and less from the teacher. Perhaps the best way for the teacher to create such activities is to make every effort to focus on what the students are and/or could be thinking and doing.
Regarding the students as primary in the learning situation will create situations in which their interests, aspirations, likes, and dislikes will come alive, allowing them to discover things about their world, themselves, and the language they are trying to master.
- d.h.
