tbl - engelsk - dlf · task example: superheroes • pre-work: knowing the genre – knowing the...
TRANSCRIPT
TBL - English 5th-10th grade: First session
Task design: Lynne Cameron
• Cameron’s model of Task design (2002) involves 3 phases (pre- while and post-task)
• Her model also involves 4 key aspects: Learning goals Activities Demand Support
Lynne Cameron: Learning goals
• Pre-phase: often centres on core vocabulary necessary for the Task, core language structures (questions/answers, key sentences, gambits) – and creating motivation for the Task.
• While-phase: often same language goals as in pre-phase + using strategies to communicate in the foreign language in a situation
• Post-phase: that learners become aware of the language they have used in the Task – e.g. checking core vocabulary, language structures and taking time to reflect on language points that came up. Appreciation of learner products/output also plays a part here
Lynne Cameron: Demand
• Pre-phase: often involves learning new words and understanding the Task
• While-phase: often the demands here are connected with communication – obstacles that stop learners from communicating during the core activity/Task
• Post-phase: demands here often involves meta-language – knowing words to talk about language; recalling vocabulary and storing information.
Lynne Cameron: Support
‘Support’ includes pictures, handouts, glossaries, model texts, teacher advice – in short any help that can make learners meet the demands • Pre-phase: often flashcards, pictures, explaining meaning of words, saying
words out loud, spelling them, providing examples. Activities here should be fun
• While-phase: dictionaries, model texts, handouts with lines/dialogue, etc. Whatever helps learners stay active during the core activity/Task
• Post-phase: Learning logs, exercises, crossword puzzles, classroom/pair reflection time
Task example: Superheroes
• Pre-work: knowing the genre – knowing the task. Presentation and brainstorm
• While-work: making the story of the character – presenting to others.
• Post-work: focus on form: on-demand language support. Notes for ”My language diary” and summation
Pre-work: Superheroes as storytelling
Creating a superhero character involves establishing the genre • Genre requirements: - The basic drive is Fairytale/Fantasy – the fight between good and evil • Character requirements: - Characters must obey the Magic Code (Nicolajeva 1988): supernatural elements
have a limit; for every spell, there is a counterspell. Even Superman is weak in the face of kryptonite.
- Superheroes as magic characters are defined by powers, mission and identity (Coogan, 2006)
Case in point: Batman • Powers: has no supernatural powers, but instead a James
Bond-like array of gadgets. His brains, money and physical training together make up his powers.
• Mission: to fight crime in Gotham City – motivated by the murder of his parents when he was a boy.
• Identity: Batman/Bruce Wayne. Batman is masked and cloaked to conceal Bruce Wayne’s identity. Wayne deliberately cultivates a private identity as a superficial upperclass bachelor far from Batman’s actions in back alleys.
While-work: create character
• Start out by brainstorming your character: draw, act out - if it helps
• Then make HERO CARD together: key words are OK – as long as you can remember and re-tell the character’s story later
While-work: present character
• Carrousel feedback: Get feedback from others!
• Feedback Criteria:
- powers, mission and identity: do they make a whole character?
Post-work: language focus
• Take a moment to reflect with your partners: which langauge issues came up when making the HERO CARD and when presenting it?
• Issues might involve:
- spelling, pronunciation, grammar,
- unknown words, words with new meaning, phrases you haven’t heard before
• Write down notes on the back of HERO CARD
Issues that came up
• Enhance – spelling
• ‘sammensatte ord’ – compound words
• Disguise – spelling
• ? Word (arch nemesis)
• Name for unicorn horn? – spiralling horn
Condition: a need for differentiation • Learners 5th – 10th grade in English have communicative competences in
English that vary over a very wide spectrum. • Looking at the competence goals (both new FFM and former FM), there is a
clear expectation that learners enter the Fluency Phase during the intermediate stage (5th-7th grade) and break into the Sophistication Phase during the advanced stage (8th-10th grade. A relatively small number of learners do not meet this expectation; most learners do.
• The basic premise for 5th-10th grade English teachers is therefore that a) the goals are fairly ambitious; b) the learners’ competences vary greatly and c) expetancy and actual performance are both high
What does that mean for TBL?
• That understanding and negotiation of meaning are often challenged by uneven relationships
• That intensive training in tasks is often highly modelled at beginner/early intermediate stages, while there is an increasing focus on spontaneous use of language throughout late intermediate and advanced stages
• That evaluation and post-task work often needs to be individualized