622. A beautiful landscape



One day teacher of English A said to teacher of English B, “Problem-solving tasks is a very useful activity to practice authentic speaking in English, and also to learn new vocabulary.


I’ve done this activity with my students a few times. It’s great, look. Once a task to carry out was about what to build and what not in a beautiful natural landscape.


A few students performed different roles: I think to remember one was a realtor, one an environmental scientist, one was a big wheel of certain company... It was a brief activity. They had to discuss on their opinions of what to build, like for example something to just raise money, or setting a leisure place, or a natural park, or something to create posts of work.


In that activity, I confess, I didn’t make the students prepare something to say beforehand, previous to the actual performing in front of their classmates. I had fun when hearing their things. Evidently you can set a more basic activity like just talking about the school to a newcomer family.

The teacher can help with hints, vocabulary they don’t know. I think this type of activity is useful to practice naturalistic speaking, at different levels of English.” / Photo from: A friend of mine took this picture in Val d’Aran, north of Spain, close to the Pyrenees. (He is O.M.C.).

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