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Unit 12 focuses on speaking and writing, which are the production skill sets. When it comes to these two skills, accuracy and fluency play a big role. Accuracy focuses on on producing correct and accurate language while fluency allows the English learner to experiment and be creative. It is important to understand that each of these skills share an equal importance. Accuracy consists of controlled activities and include drilling, prompting, and sometimes guided role-play. Fluency activities include free role-play, discussions, debate, communication games, etc.
Getting the students to speak can be difficult at times, and there are several factor that may prevent a student from participating. This includes lack of confidence, peer intimidate, fear of making mistakes, or even lack of interest in the lesson. Teachers must overcome this obstacles and make their classroom a safe and comfortable learning environment. This unit suggests activities such as group work, guided practice, planning carefully, and changing classroom dynamic. It is also important to have students prepare what they are going to safe to instill confidence in them. Feedback also plays an important part in the speaking lesson. Teachers should focus on what the students accomplished as opposed to what they could not accomplish.
When it comes to writing, penmanship, spelling, and punctuation are things all teachers should look for. Many foreign languages use a different alphabet from the English language, which will make forming English letters quite a challenge. It is important to consider that handwriting is a personal thing. Even native English speakers have different handwriting styles. Teachers should not make all student writing identically, but poor handwriting should be addressed. Spelling also plays a big role when it comes to writing. Incorrect spelling can create misunderstandings and may give the impression of a person's lack of education. Another issues with spelling in the English language is the significant amount of homophones (words that sound the same but are spelled differently) while some words are written the same but pronounced differently. Some languages have different punctuation from the English language, and some languages have no pronunciation. Some languages even write from right to left, which is backwards from the English language. It is important to expose students to several types of layouts such as emails, handwritten letters, etc. to ensure proper understanding.
The unit suggest several games and Wikipedia links for further explanation, which will be helpful when providing entertainment in the class.
