Information collection & exchange

pact on Your Classroom and Your Teaching 
Th
to 
use
Sh
United States. The practical, life skills orientation of the Competency-Based Approach is clearly shown in 
is exercise. Following this example, you could build an English lesson around giving instructions for your 
n changing a tire, building a level wall, making a chair, or making a flashlight. To conduct 
the
wo
tha
the
nnovative language teaching 
Th
lan
La
sked yourself which elements of these 
pproaches could be used in your classes. 
the classroom, such as giving a message to another English speaking teacher. Like the Communicative 
a
type of information gap exerc
s. In ''Find Your Partners" the teacher hands out eleven pictures to learners and keeps the twelfth. The 
cher then describes his or her picture and asks any learners who think they may have the same picture to 
se their hands. The teacher questions those who raise their hands. Through this process of asking 
estions it will become clear that while all the pictures in the group are similar, only one other picture is 
ctly the same. 
Im
e Competency-Based Approach is a rich source of materials and ideas for those of you teaching English 
students in technical colleges, in vocational centers, or on the job. The approach is grounded in specific, 
ful tasks which cover a wide range of skills as well as language. Figure 2.4 is an exercise taken from 
ifting Gears, one of a series of books written for refugees in Southeast Asia preparing to move to the 
th
students to follow o
se lessons you might need to coordinate your choice of topic with the teachers giving courses in 
odwork, construction, or auto maintenance. You may need to prepare yourself, checking with colleagues 
t your technical instructions are in line with those taught in other classes. You will also need to organize 
tools and materials your students will need for the class. 
 I
ese innovative approaches have been included in this chapter because in your pre-service or in-service 
guage training you may have been taught by language trainers using the Silent Way, Community 
nguage Learning, or Suggestopedia, and you may have a
a

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Patrick Moran. Department of State and Experiment in 
ternational Living, 1983. Reprinted by permission. 
eace Corps Trainees and Volunteers who have learned languages in these approaches tend either to love 
hould be shown for how learners feel about themselves as language learners. Negative 
feelings about the learning process can block learning. Enhancing a learner's self-confidence leads to 
e classrooms. 
Figure 2.4 From Shifting Gears, Book 1, edited by 
In
P
them or hate them. Regardless of your feelings in the matter, the important task here is to examine your 
language learning experience and determine what implications they may have for you as a teacher of 
English. Feedback from Volunteers who have learned languages using these approaches leads to the 
following conclusions: 
• No one method is sufficient on its own. Different learning styles have to be taken into account. 
• Consideration s
successful learning. 
• Working together as a group is a vital part of language learning. Group members support each other, 
and the interaction between them provides a real need for communication and an opportunity to practice 
the target language. 
These are valuable guidelines which you can easily follow in your English languag
 
 
 
 

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