68008 - English Language Lab 3 (G.E)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the Laboratory the student will be able to understand texts (level B1+/B2) on a variety of topics mainly concerning the teaching of English to young learners. He/she will be able to interact in English (level B1/B2), especially using simple language suitable for interaction with pupils in the classroom. The student will also have learnt how to write clear and simple texts (level B1+/B2) in English, and will be able to understand the main standard accents of several varieties of English. As for the student’s teaching skills, he/she will have learnt how to design and propose classroom activities for the teaching of English to young learners, especially activities concerning the teaching of pronunciation.

Course contents

The third-year workshop has a twofold objective. On the one hand, it aims to help students improve their proficiency in English by means of activities designed to consolidate both their receptive (listening and reading) and their productive (writing and speaking) skills at a B1+level at least. Particular attention will be paid to the consolidation of pronunciation, taking the standard British accent (General British, GB) as a reference point. The features of GB will be presented and compared with those of other accents. On the other hand, the workshop aims at introducing students to some methodologies for the teaching of English in infant and primary school. To this purpose, students will be provided with practical examples of activities suitable for the teaching of English to very young learners, with a focus on the teaching of pronunciation. In this respect, the 3^rd-year English lab will specifically deal with the following aspects: 1) English phonetics and prosody; 2. Teaching English pronunciation to young learners. The activities proposed will be aimed at improving student teachers’ pronunciation skills, thus allowing them to learn how to teach English in English with an acceptable pronunciation. Students will also have the opportunity to analyse and comment on materials and resources designed for the teaching of pronunciation to infant- and primary school pupils.

The present possibilities offered by the European eTwinning experience will also be explained.

There will be 4 groups in the first semester and 4 groups in the second. Students can enrol in the group they prefer, either in the first or in the second semester. The 8 groups will be equivalent in the first and second semester, i.e. A=E, B=F, C=G, and D=H, and the level will be the same for all groups. Those who cannot enrol in any groups in the first semester will have to attend in the second semester. Enrolment lists cannot be changed.

For all English labs, attendance is exclusively face-to-face and is compulsory up to 75%. The first and last lessons are not mandatory. However, attendance to the first and last class is highly recommended (except in case of a serious emergency or objective impossibility to attend). This is because during the first lesson the teacher will present the contents of the lab, including information concerning the final exam, and in the last class the quality evaluation questionnaire (which id obligatory) will be submitted. Those who cannot attend the first class will have to be present during the second, or they will lose their place in the Lab.

In case of absences in excess of the allowed 8 hours, students will have to attend the summer workshop for the TOTAL number of hours they missed. For example, if a student misses 8 + 2 hours, he/she will have to attend 10 hours of the summer lab.

Readings/Bibliography

No text is needed, and materials will be available on Virtuale during and after the course.

Besides the material that will be uploaded on Virtuale after each session, any further texts, websites, articles, and other bibliographical resources that may be useful for the purposes of the workshop will be suggested by the teacher during the sessions.

Teaching methods

The workshop sessions will be mainly based on teacher-guided exercises and practical activities. The tasks will be carried out individually, in pairs, in small groups or as a class. Students will learn, test and showcase to the whole class various techniques for the teaching of English, and in particular of English pronunciation, to primary- and infant school children. To this purpose, students will work on improving their own pronunciation in order to speak and work in English.

During the workshop sessions there will also be some lecturing concerning those theoretical aspects whose knowledge is necessary for the performance of the practical tasks.

Assessment methods

Continuous assessment during the 3^rd-year workshop may be used to give personalised advice. In-class tests may be administered on active pronunciation, fluency, intonation, comprehension, also with non-standard English accents. They will not count as part of the final exam, but they will be formative, and they will give students an idea of what to do to perform better orally, especially with children.

At the end of the 3rd-year workshop, students will have to do an ORAL exam. The exam will take place in the usual exam sessions.

The oral exam consists in the presentation and/or simulation of an activity suitable for the teaching of English at infant or primary School, and focussing on the teaching of one aspect of English pronunciation. Alternatively, students may design an activity for the teaching of vocabulary or of a simple grammatical topic. For example, students can choose a sound, or a group of sounds, a feature of English phonetics and/or prosody, or a grammatical structure, or some lexical items they would like to teach children; then they will create an activity with the necessary materials (cards, pictures, drawings, puppets, charts, mimes, theatrical contraptions, monsters, real-life objects, songs, etc.) to teach the topic they have chosen. When designing the activity, students will have to follow the instructions provided by the lab teacher (e.g. target age, objective, methodology etc.).

The presentation/simulation will have to be in English, and shall be accompanied by all the materials the student wants to use with his/her pupils. The activities cannot be group activities, but each student must bring her/his own production.

The student’s assessment will be based on 2 criteria: 1) linguistic performance (pronunciation, fluency, use of appropriate technical lexicon) and 2) teaching skill (overall suitability of the proposed activity for the pupils’ target age and for the teaching objective). Criterion no. 1) will count for 70% in the overall evaluation.

Each oral exam will last approximately 10 minutes.

NB: For all the groups of the teacher, at the beginning of the exam the student may be asked a couple of questions (also about theory) concerning pronunciation-related aspects and notions dealt with during the workshop. The student will have to answer in English.

Teaching tools

The teaching tools will be mainly slides, videos, texts in the original language, flashcards, and handouts with exercises and readings.

Office hours

See the website of Paola Maria Caleffi

See the website of Licia Masoni