ACE TESOL Diploma Program – London Language Institute OBJECTIVES You will understand: 1. A variety of interactive techniques that cater specifically to adult learners. 2. How to incorporate these techniques into the English language classroom. You will be able to: 1. Have a portfolio of interactive techniques to help learners achieve their linguistic goals.

ACE TESOL Diploma Program – London Language Institute INTERACTIVE TECHNIQUES FOR ADULT EDUCATION Recall that there are three main categories of techniques for the adult education classroom:  teacher-led techniques  interactive techniques  independent techniques This final lesson takes a closer look at the rest of the interactive techniques. When considering these techniques in more detail, they may seem familiar; these are the same techniques that are found in most advanced language classes that focus on speaking. This lesson looks at these techniques from the perspective of adult education, rather than from the language skill of speaking.

ACE TESOL Diploma Program – London Language Institute DEBATES From the perspective of adult education, debating has many more merits beyond the language practice it provides. To quickly review, debating is a formal, structured contest of argumentation in which two opposing individuals or teams discuss a given statement, also called a proposition. Debates are a highly effective activity with adult learners:  Adult learners are required to be self-directed when researching the topic of the proposition.  They must deal with abstract concepts.  They must go beyond the obvious in order to find ways to support their position.  They must consider not just the facts but also the implications.

ACE TESOL Diploma Program – London Language Institute HOW TO IMPLEMENT A DEBATE 1. Review what a debate is and how it is structured. 2. Discuss the idea of arguing differences of opinion and why it is an important skill. 3. Review the vocabulary of debating such as proposition, rebuttal, and thesis. 4. Divide the class into two teams. Allow time for each team to allocate roles and come up with ideas for defending their position. 5. Run the debate and adjudicate it. 6. Announce the debate winner and justify the choice. 7. Discuss each team’s performance in terms of analysis, reasoning, evidence, organization, refutation, and delivery.

ACE TESOL Diploma Program – London Language Institute CLASS DISCUSSIONS Class discussions allow adult learners to share their perspectives and life experiences on a wide variety of topics. They allow students to talk about what they have observed, heard or read. The teacher can use questions to start and guide the discussion. The questions can stimulate the learners to reflect, interpret, summarize, evaluate, conclude or share personal reactions. HOW TO IMPLEMENT CLASS DISCUSSIONS The key to implementing class discussions is to create the right series of questions to start and then maintain the discussion. The questions should be open-ended and not have a single correct answer. Each question should be designed to take the discussion in a slightly different direction or look at the issue from a slightly different angle. In addition, the role of the teacher is as follows:  Monitor student participation in the discussion to ensure everyone is taking part and no one student is dominating.  Monitor the discussion to ensure it stays on track with the original topic.  Move the discussion forward or end it when students have exhausted their comments.

ACE TESOL Diploma Program – London Language Institute SIMULATIONS A simulation is a specific form of experiential learning. In a simulation a detailed scenario is written to present a particular reality, or another world, in which students can interact with assigned roles. The teacher controls the rules for how the world works, and can manipulate these rules to achieve a particular instructional end point. Simulations are a fun, motivating and useful adult education technique. Adult students have to use a variety of skills in order to complete the simulation: analysis, evaluation, critical thinking, decision-making and collaboration. Because simulations are open-ended, simulations also allow students to be very creative and inventive, and may rely on student creativity to drive the events forward.

ACE TESOL Diploma Program – London Language Institute HOW TO IMPLEMENT SIMULATIONS The following are the key components to include in the preparation of a simulation activity:  A detailed context or ‘world’ in which events will take place.  A set of rules (from 5 to 10) which govern how students can interact with each other.  One role, spelled out in detail, for each student within the context.  Decide how long you want the simulation to continue. Once you have completed the preparations, you are ready to begin: 1. Ensure that all students understand how the simulation will work before they begin. 2. Assign students their roles. 3. Ensure that students stay within their roles and follow the set of rules or parameters as they solve problems that arise from the context or world. 4. Monitor the simulation to ensure that students are following the parameters. 5. The simulation ends when the teacher decides the full usefulness of the activity has been exploited.

ACE TESOL Diploma Program – London Language Institute CASE STUDIES Case studies are narratives, usually adapted from real life events that are analyzed and discussed for particular points of learning. Case studies were originally used in business and law studies. However, they are now used with almost all subject matter because they are a good tool for illustrating what to do or not do in particular situations. In contrast to simulations, in which students are directly involved in the scenario, case studies require students to be an outside, objective observer of the situation. The analysis will include looking at the situation for a variety of perspectives in order to fully understand what is going on. Case studies allow adult students to use the following skills: analysis, research, reflection, critical thinking, evaluation, and speculation. They also require students to come up with possible solutions or outcomes, and then evaluate those solutions and outcomes to determine the best course of action. It is important to note that case studies don’t usually have a single correct answer; they can usually be appropriately resolved in more than one way.

ACE TESOL Diploma Program – London Language Institute HOW TO IMPLEMENT CASE STUDIES 1. The first step in implementing a case study is to find an appropriate case study to use or to write a case study yourself. Case studies can range anywhere from one to thirty pages. (For language education purposes, case studies should be no more than two pages in length.) Regardless of length, however, the case study should include the following components:  An individual or a company that has encountered a particular problem or issue that needs to be resolved  A context or environment within which that issue is taking place  Various possible options for the individual or company to pursue, all with different possible consequences

ACE TESOL Diploma Program – London Language Institute IMPLEMENTING CASE STUDIES CONTINUED… 2. Students work in groups to dissect the case, discussing the following questions:  Who are the individuals involved?  What are the events that led up to the current situation?  What is at stake, (money, someone’s job, someone’s life)?  What DON’T you know about the situation? What assumptions do you have to make?  What are possible next steps or options?  Which option is the best one? Why? 3. Once students have decided upon their option, bring the class back together for each group to share their choices and the reasoning behind their choices.

ACE TESOL Diploma Program – London Language Institute ROLE PLAYS Role-plays allow adult students to really explore behaviour in particular situations and within particular relationships. As such, role plays allow adult students to learn interpersonal and social skills, explore attitudes and values, and understand where other people might be coming from. HOW TO IMPLEMENT ROLE PLAYS For language teachers, the implementation of role plays should be second nature. However, in case it is not, here is a quick review: 1. Decide on the topic that will be highlighted by the role play. 2. Decide on the situation in which the role play will be set. 3. Decide on the different roles that will be acted out in the role play. Create a detailed description of each role. 4. Have students complete the role play multiple times, switching roles in order to experience the situation from multiple perspectives. 5. Ask for volunteers to perform their role play. Discuss the language and behaviour used in the role play.

ACE TESOL Diploma Program – London Language Institute Complete task journal question 2 and submit via to (preferred), or print and hand in.