Activating Language! is a meta-resource (i.e., ‘a resource about resources’) intended for busy teachers that can be used across a variety of setttings:
- from primary to middle secondary school to TAFE, Language Centres/Colleges and community adult education venues;
- from elementary/beginner, to pre-intermediate and intermediate language levels;
- from EAL/D and EFL to general or remedial literacy classes.
It contains more than 200 ideas across the four macro-skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing. These ideas can be practised for a particular mode or integrated across modes or a particular curriculum program being used. The book also contains an additional visual aids resource consisting of 20 picture-story sequences developed by the author for fair-use copying by teachers.
The Contents indicate general levels of difficulty: elementary (lower primary or beginner for older secondary or adult learners), intermediate (middle primary or pre-intermediate for older learners) and advanced (upper primary or intermediate for older learners). However, teachers have the freedom to easily adapt individual activity-ideas up or down these levels. Many activity-ideas include variation suggestions for decreasing or increasing the difficulty.
Its fundamental aim is to facilitate learner’s engagement with genuine ‘languaging’ by which is meant: purposefully using contextualized language that is interactive and enjoyable.
Contents:
- Preface
- Part 1 Listening
- 1 What’s the word?
- 2 Picture quiz
- 3 Phone messages
- 4 TPR
- 5 Picture dictation
- 6 Verbal memory game
- 7 Radio listening task
- 8 True or false?
- 9 Map directions
- 10 Poetry responses
- 11 Video segments
- 12 Picture stories
- 13 Song dictation
- 14 Filling in forms
- 15 Out of sight
- Part 2 Speaking
- 16 Do you like?
- 17 Describe and guess
- 18 20 questions
- 19 Grid surveys
- 20 Brainstorming
- 21 Spot the difference
- 22 Dream sequences
- 23 Verbal directions
- 24 Miming
- 25 Interviews
- 26 Demonstrations
- 27 Explain yourself
- 28 Scenarios
- 29 Vocabulary revision
- 30 Quizzes
- 31 Information gap
- 32 Just a minute
- Part 3 Reading
- 33 Big book story
- 34 Strip story
- 35 Deliberate variation
- 36 Cartoon strips
- 37 Cloze task
- 38 Story-picture matching
- 39 Synthesizing
- 40 Appreciating poetry
- 41 Newspapers
- 42 Crosswords
- 43 RAT (Read, ask & tell)
- Part 4 Writing
- 44 Kim’s game
- 45 Common signs
- 46 Justifying preferences
- 47 News headlines
- 48 Proverbs
- 49 Re-formatting
- 50 Writing directions
- 51 Cohesive fluency
- 52 Speed Writing
- 53 Picture definitions
- 54 Writing specifications
- 55 Expansion & reduction
- 56 Dialogue journal
- 57 Dictogloss
- 58 Running dictation
- 59 Cognitive mapping
- 60 Precis
- 61 Similes
- 62 Writing poetry
- 63 Writing Stories
- 64 Other Short Forms of Writing
- Part 5 Picture Stories
- Using picture stories
- 20 untitled picture stories
