Best Practices and New Practices

  One of the most successful exercises I do is the reading exercise as it incorporates both receptive and productive skills. I teach New Interchange Book. Each Unit ends up with a reading. The reading has two exercises.  Exercise A includes questions of information. Exercise B depends on open ended questions and questions of opinion. The students practice the receptive skill of reading and the productive skill of writing. They express their opinion in writing. I also start up a conversation related to the reading topic.

As for the new activity I am planning to practice, it is the listening and I will use Listening Journals. I got impressed by the idea when I read the article by Anthony Schmidt ’Listening Journals for Extensive and Intensive Listening Practice’.  I would apply it by giving students assignments on videos I chose and videos  they choose on their own. They would send me the listening journal  in whatsapp or through mail. This would improve students listening skills and extend the learning behind the walls of the classroom. I also believe it would help students get confidence. Schmidt define listening journal as “a book in which students record their extensive and intensive listening practices, as well as reflections on their listening experiences.” I also have the idea that the listening journal could be in speaking form as whatsapp has a voice icon, or they could create media that could be sent to via mail.

Rasha Osman.