Te Whakaipurangi Rauemi - Second language learning tasks

Aim 

These task types create good conditions for language learning. In addition to the direct teaching of te reo Māori, ākonga learn by using te reo Māori and: 

• understanding what is being said 
• meeting and noticing some language material beyond their present level 
• being interested in what is being said and the purpose for which it is said 
• not feeling under a lot of stress.

(Nation, 1995, p. 138) 

There are many different teaching methods that can achieve this. 

Get to know a range of techniques 

 You need to know a good range of techniques (at least 10) so that you can: 

• have variety in your class 
• enable the necessary repetition of language without ākonga getting bored 
• choose appropriate techniques to tailor your teaching to your class. 

 (Nation, 2000, pp. 1–3) 

Is it a good technique? 

 A language teaching technique is a good one if: 

• learning happens 
• ākonga have to think to do it 
• it can be adapted to any level 
• a small amount of kaiako preparation results in a lot of learner activity 
• it is fun! 

 (Nation, 2000, pp. 1–3) 

How effective is the technique? 

• How will the language items learned today help with tomorrow’s language use? 
• Is the information presented in the activity useful? 
• How much control do the learners have over the learning? 

 (Nation, 1989, p. 62) 

Classification of techniques 

 One way to classify teaching techniques is by how ākonga work together: 

• Individual: ākonga work individually 
• Combining: ākonga work together, each with different information to exchange 
• Cooperating: ākonga work together with shared information 
• Superior/Inferior: one or more ākonga or the kaiako has information that the others need 

Varying techniques 

You can vary these techniques in the following ways (Nation, 2000): 

• change the roles of each learner 
• change the outcome of the task 
• change the procedure, that is, the steps involved (for example, after working in pairs, combine to repeat in groups of four) 
• introduce an added challenge
• split the information

“Most techniques require the teacher to adapt material or to make exercises to accompany it. This is particularly true for techniques that can be used repeatedly. Usually the first attempts … are not a great success, but a little practice results in a high level of skill.” (Nation, 2000, p. 64) 

Classroom techniques

These associated resources contain strategies to help you create optimal conditions for learning languages and techniques for promoting second language learning.

• Information transfer
• 4-3-2
• Dictocomp
• Combining tasks
• Ranking tasks
• "Say it"
• "What is it?"
• Ask and answer
• Listening to pictures
• Guess the questions
• Cloze

References 

• Nation, I. S. P. (1989). Language Teaching Techniques. English Language Institute Occasional Publication No. 2. 
• Nation, I. S. P. (1995). Teaching Listening and Speaking. English Language Institute Occasional Publication No. 14. 
• Nation, I. S. P. (2000). Creating, Adapting and Using Language Teaching Techniques. English Language Institute Occasional Publication No. 20. 

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