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The Teacher's Edition- The English Language Institute, Hanoi, Vietnam
Issue 8, March 2002
Freestanding
. . . Freestanding is a quality asset that is definitely worth getting
A lone teacher can devise only so many ingenious classroom activities
that don't rely on a textbook. Fortunately, the author of Freestanding
has taken into account that a language teacher in Asia is never guaranteed
to have much more than a chalkboard to use in the classroom. As its title
suggests, Freestanding is ready to assist the TESOL instructor
with complete lessons that require minimal teaching materials.
The book is packed with creative activity ideas,
all organized into topical lessons with common themes such as family,
jobs and free time. The table of contents gives an excellent overview
of all the lessons, including a list of materials needed. Half the lessons
require nothing more than a chalkboard, while the rest need only photocopies
or blank paper. For those lessons that call for handouts, there are reproducible
masters. Of the 36 lessons, 15 are geared toward beginning or low-intermediate
students, 16 are for low-intermediate to intermediate students and the
last five are aimed at intermediate level or above learners.
Typical components of a Freestanding lesson are: warmer (warm-up),
speaking, listening, vocabulary and langauge focus. This is not a formula
- the number and order of these exercises vary from lesson to lesson.
Each "language focus" targets a specific point of grammar in
order to help students use language more accurately. For example, in a
lesson on the home, students work on using prepositions of location by
correcting true/false statements about the teacher's room. This lesson
also includes a variation where students plan a dream house. Other lessons
incorporate reading or writing activities, such as having students write
a biography of another student without mentioning the person's name. The
writings are redistributed, then students circulate around the room searching
for the person who matches the biography they were given. As you can see,
one of the book's strengths is that it often takes
what might seem an ordinary idea for an activity and infuses it with a
more interactive twist.
Freestanding commends the "language pull" approach,
a method whereby students take responsibility to elicit necessary language
from the teacher, rather than the teacher predetermining everything that
will be taught. This approach lends itself well to the book's premise
that effective lessons need not start with a textbook, though the lesson
ideas found here can also be used to supplement an existing curriculum,
syllabus or textbook.
To use this book effectively, an instructor must be prepared and have
a clear idea of what will happen in the classroom. Without other materials
to fall back on, giving directions in a way that students understand becomes
more important, particularly with lower level students. Thankfully, this
is a book that will help you do so. Whether your
classroom resources are ample or few, Freestanding is a quality
asset that is definitely worth getting.
Julia Baurain
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