Here is a simple listening and vocab retrieval activity from my frenchteacher site. It's easy to adapt to other languages, of course. I like this for its clarity and simplicity. I also like the fact that it helps build students' deep knowledge of vocabulary, by associating words with a meaningful context (words within conected language as opposed to words memorised from lsist or learned via a vocab app). Finally, the activity allows you to fully oprate in the target language. If you think more scaffolding is needed, you could always display partial translations on the board, though i would avoid this if possible. If you are recycling known, comprehensible language, you shouldn't need extra support. A listening exercise and vocab retrieval starter. Do as many examples as you wish. They are given in three sets of 12 sentences. Read aloud the sentences. Pupils must just supply the missing word (shown in brackets). They can do this on paper or on a mini-whiteboard. Presen
It is often said in the research literature on second language acquisition that two key factors behind success are aptitude and motivation . I have posted before about aptitude here. In this post, I'm lifting and adapting some sections sections about motivation from our handbook The Language Teacher Toolkit (Second Edition). I have not listed the references at the end of this post - they are part of the ample bibliography in the handbook. Motivation has been considered over the years from various perspectives, all of which cast light on the topic and can help language teachers provide the best conditions for learning. below are some of those perspectives. 1. Instrumental and integrative motivation Gardner and Lambert coined the terms instrumental motivation (language learning for more immediate or practical goals, such as mastering basic conversation for a professional role) and integrative motivation (language learning for personal growth, cultural enrichment and a desire to