Writing Practice Week VII

Debate: Money and Environment

Why money is more important than Environment?

          Money is necessary for people because we use money to buy everything if we want. For example: if you want to eat pizza, go to shopping, and buy the clothe. You must to use money to buy these things. Moreover, if you have more money enough, you can go everything you want such as: New York, Paris,Tokyo, Venice etc. You can see more than in your dream. That's why money is more important than environment. If you think about in real world, you can buy everything you want by environment? That's so funny! it's not. However, It's has the one way to keep environment by using money. New technology is the one thing to keep environment. Its help environment return to balance. That's surely; we use money a lot to building new technology. You should know about this. You can't negative this is true. No one live without the money.

Why Environment is more important than Money? 

          Environment is powerful. It's make the balance in natural. You can have a good health such as food, fresh air and clean water. Actually, you can not live without that the thing because this is basic factor to live. Not only about money. However, Environment can protect from natural disaster such as storm, flood and wildfire. It's save our life. Most everyone think about money more than environment. If you cut down the tree for money, its equal you destroy environment. When the rain fall, the flood will destroy the town because it's not the tree to protect our life. An animal is will homeless and going to die. That is good example if you doing this. Personally, Money is making people greedy and selfish. I think this is not good. So, you should think about that before you do something, before too late. cause otherwise, even if you have money too much, you can't change anything when you already done. Especially, environment. That's why environment more than money. So, let get it started to save environment! 

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Chat with Friends via Facebook

I'm speaking English with my friend (Panarat). we practice to chat Facebook by using English. :D 

Reading Practice Week VI

Reducing air pollution from traffic

          In Amsterdam, cars are responsible from producing more than half of the city's air pollution. The pollution causes acid rain, global warming and human health problems, such as breathing difficulties and asthma. Amsterdam city council is banning HGVs from the city centre, implementing speed bumps and speed limits and building an underground system. People are encouraged to use bikes through cycle lanes and this is reducing the number of cars on the roads. 

1. What is the topic?

- The topic is reducing air pollution from traffic.

2. When did it happen?

- It's already begun.

3. Where is it?

-It's in Amsterdam.

4. How does it happen?

- People use the car and producing Carbon monoxide more than half of the city's air pollution.

5. Why does it happen?

- Many people use the car and make this pollution.

6. Who is doing polluting?

- People who use the car in the city.

7. Why should I care about air pollution?

- You should care about air pollution because you need fresh air to breathing for a good health.

8. How can it be stopped?

- Everyone can do it. For example: use the bicycles go to work if the office is near. it's maybe possible to reducing the number of car on the road.

Reference: http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/reducing-air-pollution-from-traffic/1578.html

Learning Log Outside Classroom #2

Teaching Grammar With Fun Learning Games

Teaching English grammar can be hard going - for the teacher and the students. It doesn't have to be difficult or painful, however. You can teach English grammar using fun learning games and before you know it your students will be more than willing. How does it work, you ask. Well, there has been a movement away from the traditional methods of teaching English grammar through writing, rewriting and worksheets to using a more active approach through games. Researchers have also begun to look at how and why these new methods work.

Four sound reasons to teach grammar with games

1. Arif Saricoban and Esen Metin, authors of "Songs, Verse and Games for Teaching Grammar" explain how and why games work for teaching grammar in an ESL classroom. They say, "Games and problem-solving activities, which are task-based and have a purpose beyond the production of correct speech, are the examples of the most preferable communicative activities." They go on to explain that grammar games help children not only gain knowledge but be able to apply and use that learning.

2. Additionally, games have the advantage of allowing the students to "practice and internalise vocabulary, grammar and structures extensively." They can do this because students are often more motivated to play games than they are to do desk work. Plus, during the game, the students are focused on the activity and end up absorbing the language subconsciously. One can also add that fun learning games usually contain repetition, which allows the language to stick.

3. While games are motivating for the students, probably the best reason, according to Saricoban and Metin, to use games is that "the use of such activities both increases the cooperation and competition in the classroom." One can use games to add excitement through competition or games which create bonding among students and teacher.

4. Aydan Ersoz, author of "Six Games for the ESL/EFL Classroom" also explains more reasons why games do work for teaching grammar. Learning a language requires constant effort and that can be tiring. Ersoz says games can counter this as because:

* Games that are amusing and challenging are highly motivating.

* Games allow meaningful use of the language in context.

Children are more motivated to learn grammar with games

The theory of intrinsic motivation also gives some insight as to why teaching grammar through games actually works. Intrinsic motivation refers to the internal factors that encourage us to do something. Most young learners will not internally decide that they want to learn grammar. They don't yet understand the concepts of why it's important to know proper grammar, so these external factors won't affect them much either. Instead, intrinsic motivation can lead encourage them to play games. If these games are good then they will be learning while they are playing.

Using some movement is crucial because movement helps activate the students' mental capacities and stimulate neural networks, thus promoting learning and retention. If you have a large class with no space you still have options. Children can stand up, sit down, move various body parts and pass things around to each other. Movement does not only mean children tearing around the playground.

What Kinds of Games Work Best?

When you are looking for games to use in your classroom, don't just pick something to be a "time filler" which does not have a definite linguistic outcome. These games may entertain the students, but when you don't have much time with them each day as it is, you want your game to do double duty to get the most out of the time you spend playing games.

Have a clear linguistic outcome for each game. The game can be a listening game to allow the students to repeatedly hear a new grammatical structure in use, or it can be a speaking game to allow practise of the grammar once it has been absorbed through listening beforehand. There are degrees of difficulty with speaking games from basic repetition in a fun context to more creative sentence creation for revision or more advanced practise once the basics have been mastered. The teacher should lead the children through this progression so that the game at hand is always well within the grasp of the students. This makes games fun rather than laborious. It is a mistake to play a speaking game immediately after the new grammar has been presented. Ideally reading, spelling and writing games come after the new grammar has been absorbed and the students can use it orally.

Another thing to watch out for with grammar games is that a maximum of students are involved simultaneously. If you have thirty children you want to avoid a game where only one child is speaking at a time. What are the other twenty-nine children supposed to do in the meantime other than get bored? On the other end of the scale however are games that cause chaos in class and make teachers unpopular with colleagues because of high noise levels. A variety of suitable games are available for you to try free in the resource box below the article.

Now you can stop the eye-rolling and complaining from your students when you even THINK about teaching them a grammar lesson, and have some productive fun.

Shelley Vernon has helped 1000s of teachers be an inspiration to their pupils and achieve results 2x as fast. Improve the effectiveness of your lessons by up to 80%. Receive free English language games now on Fun ESL games for children website.

Reference : http://ezinearticles.com/?Teaching-Grammar-With-Fun-Learning-Games&id=484516

Writing Practice Week VI

Forest Environment 

          Good Afternoon everybody. Today, I would like to talk about Forest Environment. There are 500 species in forest. some animals and plants are in danger of extinction. That's concerned! The government should know about this.

          People affect the forest environment by cut the tree for selling and building. Not only about this but also wildfire change the forest environment to decrease animals and plants species. I don't know about wildfire but I know about people activity. I think people is the most dangerous to risk the animals and plants to be extinct. They hunt the animal to create something new about health. They're just to trying to use animals and plants as much as they want it. They never know what they do it makes damage.

          I feel very sad when I see the animal dying. Why people doing this for? I don't know. So, I try to protect the forest to help the animal and plants. Everyone can do it by afforest or don't throw the junk in forest and river.

          To conclude everyone should know what to do something to help the animals and plants, because if everyone did something small than we can make a big change. 

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Reading Practice Week V

Using Drama Activities and Techniques to Foster Teaching English

as a Foreign Language: a Theoretical Perspective.

Dr. Munther Zyoud / Al Quds Open University

Abstract
Drama can foster language skills such as reading, writing, speaking and listening
by creating a suitable context. Drama is a powerful language teaching tool that
involves all of the students interactively all of the class period. Drama can also
provide the means for connecting students’ emotions and cognition as it enables
students to take risks with language and experience the connection between thought
and action. Teaching English as a foreign language inevitably involves a balance
between receptive and productive skills; here drama can effectively deal with this
requirement. Through drama, a class will address, practice and integrate reading,
writing, speaking and listening. Drama also fosters and maintains students’
motivation, by providing an atmosphere which is full of fun and entertainment. In so
doing, it engages feelings and attention and enriches the learners' experience of the
language.
Introduction
There are many reasons in favour of using drama activities and techniques in the
language classroom. First of all it is entertaining and fun, and can provide motivation
to learn. It can provide varied opportunities for different uses of language and because
it engages feelings it can provide rich experience of language for the participants.
Maley (2005) listed many points supporting the use of drama and these are:
1- It integrates language skills in a natural way. Careful listening is a key feature.
Spontaneous verbal expression is integral to most of the activities; and many of them
require reading and writing, both as part of the input and the output.
2- It integrates verbal and non verbal aspects of communication, thus bringing
together both mind and body, and restoring the balance between physical and
intellectual aspects of learning.
3- It draws upon both cognitive and affective domains, thus restoring the
importance of feeling as well as thinking.
4- By fully contextualizing the language, it brings the classroom interaction to
life through an intensive focus on meaning.
5- The emphasis on whole-person learning and multi-sensory inputs helps
learners to capitalize on their strength and to extend their range. In doing so, it offers
unequalled opportunities for catering to learner differences.
6- It fosters self-awareness (and awareness of others), self-esteem and
confidence; and through this, motivation is developed.
7- Motivation is likewise fostered and sustained through the variety and sense of
expectancy generated by the activities.
8- There is a transfer of responsibility for learning from teacher to learners which
is where it belongs.
9- It encourages an open, exploratory style of learning where creativity and the
imagination are given scope to develop. This, in turn, promotes risk-taking, which is
an essential elements in effective language learning
10-It has a positive effect on classroom dynamics and atmosphere, thus facilitating the
formation of a bonded group, which learns together.

11-It is an enjoyable experience.
12-It is low-resource. For most of the time, all you need is a 'roomful of human
beings'.
Fleming (2006) stated that drama is inevitably learner-centered because it can
only operate through active cooperation. It is therefore a social activity and thus
embodies much of the theory that has emphasized the social and communal, as
opposed to the purely individual, aspects of learning. The use of drama techniques
and activities in the classroom provides exciting opportunities for foreign language
learners to use the language in concrete "situations". Besides, some research studies ,
(Maley and Duff 2001, Phillips, 2003) suggest that drama activities can promote
interesting ways of motivating language learners and teachers. With drama we can
play, move, act and learn at the same time. (Philips, 2003). Also the use of drama
activities has clear advantages for language learning regarding motivation, the use of
language in context, teaching and learning cross curricular content, etc (Philips, 2003)
. There are several studies that support the benefits of drama in foreign language
learning, such as Maley and Duff (2001), Brumfit (1991) and Philips (2003).
Dramatic activities according to Maley and Duff (1979) "Are activities which give the
students an opportunity to use his own personality in creating the material in which
part of the language class is to be based". Drama activities can provide students with
an opportunity to use language to express various emotions, to solve problems, to
make decisions, to socialize. Drama activities are also useful in the development of
oral communication skills, and reading and writing as well. Drama activities help
students to communicate in the foreign language including those with limited
vocabulary. (Aldavero, 2008)
There are different ways in which drama can be defined. And to mention only
one of them, Susan Holden (1982) takes drama to mean" any kind of activity where
learners are asked either to portray themselves or to portray someone else in an
imaginary situation". In other words, drama is concerned with the world of "let's
pretend" ; it asks the learner to project himself imaginatively into another situation,
outside the classroom, or into the skin and persona of another person".
As mentioned before drama can foster the oral communication of the students,

let's us now find out how drama can do that.

1-Why using drama in EFL classroom?
Using drama and drama activities has clear advantages for language learning. It
encourages students to speak, it gives them the chance to communicate, even with
limited language, using non-verbal communication, such as body movements and
facial expression. There are also a number of other factors which makes drama a very
powerful tool in the language classroom. Desiatova (2009) outlined some of the
areas where drama is very useful to language learners and teachers, and they are listed
below;
1-To give learners an experience (dry-run) of using the language for genuine
communication and real life purposes; and by generating a need to speak.
Drama is an ideal way to encourage learners to guess the meaning of unknown
language in a context. Learners will need to use a mixture of language structures and
functions ("chunks") if they want to communicate successfully.
1- To make language learning an active, motivating experience
2- To help learners gain the confidence and self-esteem needed to use the language
spontaneously
By taking a role, students can escape from their everyday identity and "hide
behind" another character. When you give students special roles, it encourages
them to be that character and abandon their shyness.
3- To bring the real world into the classroom (problem solving, research, consulting
dictionaries, real time and space, cross-curricular content)
When using drama the aim can be more than linguistic, teachers can use topics
from other subjects: the students can act out scenes from history, they can work
on ideas and issues that run through the curriculum . Drama can also be used to
introduce the culture of the new language, through stories and customs, and with
a context for working on different kinds of behavior.
4- To emulate the way students naturally acquire language through play, makebelieve
and meaningful interaction.
5- To make what is learned memorable through direct experience and affect
(emotions) for learners with different learning styles.
6- When students dramatize, they use all the channels (sight, hearing, and physical
bodies)and each student will draw to the one that suits them best. This means they
will all be actively involved in the activity and the language will "enter" through
the channel most appropriate for them.
7- To stimulate learners' intellect and imagination
8- To develop students' ability to empathize with others and thus become better
communicators
9- Helps learners acquire language by focusing on the message they are conveying,
not the form of their utterance
2-Students Communication
Using drama to teach English results in real communication, involving ideas,
emotions, feelings, appropriateness and adaptability. (Barbu, 2007). Teaching English
may not fulfill its goals. Even after years of English teaching, the students do not gain
the confidence of using the language in and outside the class. The conventional
English class hardly gives the students an opportunity to use language in this manner
and develop fluency in it, and this is because students lack the adequate exposure to
spoken English outside the class as well as the lack of exposure to native speakers
who can communicate with the students on authentic matters. So an alternative to this
is teaching English through drama because it gives a context for listening and
meaningful language production, leading the students or forcing them to use their own
language resources, and thus, enhancing their linguistic abilities. Using drama in
teaching English also provides situations for reading and writing. By using drama
techniques to teach English, the monotony of a conventional English class can be
broken and the syllabus can be transformed into one which prepares students to face
their immediate world better as competent users of the English language because they
get an opportunity to use the language in operation. Drama improves oral
communication, as a form of communication methodology, drama provides the
opportunity for the students to use language meaningfully and appropriately. Maley
and Duff (1979) state that drama puts back some of the forgotten emotional content
into language. Appropriacy and meaning are more important than form or structure of
the language. Drama can help to restore the totality of the situation by reversing the
learning process, beginning with meaning and moving towards language form. This
makes language learning more meaningful and attempts to prepare the students for
real-life situations. Earl Stevick (1980) states that language learning must appeal to
the creative intuitive aspect of personality as well as the conscious and rational part.
Drama activities can be used to provide opportunities for the students to be involved
actively. The activities involve the student's whole personality and not only his mental
process. Effective learning can be achieved when the student involves himself in the
tasks and is motivated to use the target language.
Morrow (1981 cited in Sam 1990) stated that communicative activities should
conform to some principles: students should know what they are doing and its
purpose. In communication, it is necessary to work in the context as a unit.
Communication cannot be divided into its various components. Drama can be
considered a communicative activity since it fosters communication among learners
and provides different opportunities to use the target language in "make believe"
situations.
Vernon (n d) supports the view that this conversational use of language also
promotes fluency. He states that while learning a play, students are encouraged to
listen to, potentially read and then repeat their lines over a period of time. By
repeating the words and phrases they become familiar with them and are able to say
them with increasing fluency by encouraging self-expression, drama motivates
students to use language confidently and creatively.
Speaking is the most common and important means of providing communication
among human beings. The key to successful communication is speaking nicely,
efficiently and articulately, as well as using effective voice projection, speaking is
linked to success in life, as it occupies an important position both individually and
socially (Ulas, 2008)
Several scientific investigation have demonstrated that creative, instructional and
educational drama activities have positive contribution to the general education
process and that these activities improve speaking skills. According to Makita (1995)
dramatic and role –playing activities are valuable classroom techniques that
encourage students to participate actively in the learning process. These dramatic
activities can take different forms and that the teacher can provide students with a
variety of learning experience by developing different methodologies according to the
needs of his students . These role-playing activities enable the teacher to create a
supportive, enjoyable classroom environment in which students are encouraged and
motivated to effectively learn the target language. Drama has a significant function
especially in specifically improving acquired/improved speaking skills among the
basic language skills. Smith (1984) noted , although drama has existed as a potential
language teaching tool for hundreds of years, it has only been in the last thirty years
or so that its applicability as a language learning technique to improve oral skills has
come to the forefront. Regarding the point that drama has an important impact on
language teaching, Goodwin (2001) states, drama is a particularly effective tool for
pronunciation teaching because various components of communicative competence
(discourse, intonation, pragmatic awareness, non verbal communication) can be
practiced in an integrated way. There are some other elements involved in acquiring
oral communication skills: adding efficiency to communication and drama activities
facilitates the improvement of these elements. Whitear (1998) approach in this regard
is, speaking is not only about words, structure and pronunciation , but also feelings,
motivations and meanings that are valuable benefits for bringing drama to the
language learner. Drama techniques and activities to develop communication skills
through fluency, pronunciation, cooperative learning, confidence building and
intercultural awareness may be added also to the above mentioned elements.
One of the major characteristics of the social aspect of oral communication skills
is the ability to deliver a speech comfortably and with self confidence. Drama appears
to be the ideal method for students to develop self confidence. In this regard, Pietro
(1987) says, students who are not naturally talkative often appear more willing to join
in the discourse when they realize that they are not dominated by a teacher figure.
Sam (1990) agrees by stating, drama activities can be used to provide opportunities
for the students to be involved actively, the activities involve the students, whole
personality and not merely his mental process. Peregoy and Boyle (2008) stated
"Drama activities provide students with a variety of contextualized and scaffold
activities that gradually involve more participation and more oral language
proficiency, they are also non- threatening and a lot of fun. Desiatova (2009) stated
that using drama and drama activities has clear advantages for language learning. It
encourages students to speak, it gives them the chance to communicate, even with
limited language, using non verbal communication, such as body movements and
facial expressions. Students' involvement in the negotiation and construction of
meaning during participation in a drama allows them insights into the relationship
between context and language, and lets them link the language they are learning to the
world around them ( Maley and Duff, 1978). Drama has been credited with the
ability to empower students and allow them some ownership and control over their
own learning (Wilburn, 1992). Working in drama allows students to test out various
situations, registers and vocabulary in a real way without having to suffer any real
consequences, (Neelands, 1992). Kao and O, Neill (1998) propose that confidence

levels increase when students have something to talk about and , most importantly, 
when they know how to express their ideas.

3- How can drama or dramatic activities be used in ELT

3.1- Mime
John Dougill (1987) defines mime as "a non-verbal representation of an idea or
story through gesture, bodily movement and expression". Mime emphasizes the
paralinguistic features of communication. It builds up the confidence of learners by
encouraging them to get up and do things in front of one another. Mime helps develop
students' power of imagination and observation and can also be quite simply " a
source of great enjoyment" with students tending "to be very enthusiastic about this
aspect of drama", (Hayes, 1984). To the language teacher, one could generally say
that mime is acting out an idea or story through gesture, bodily movement and
expression, without using words .Savignon (1983) says that the mime helps learners
become comfortable with the idea of performing in front of peers without concern for
language and that although no language is used during a mime it can be a spur to use
language. John Dougill (1987) supports this when he says that not only is mime one
of the most useful activities for language practice, it is also one of the most potent and
relatively undemanding. Its strength lies in that although no language is used during
the mime, the mime itself can act as a catalyst to generate and elicit language before,
during and after the activity. Mime is a great way of reinforcing memory by means of
visual association, and recall of language items is assisted whenever an associated
image is presented (Rose, 1985). Mime can help to fix language in the minds of the
students, and the following activity demonstrates how vocabulary items can be
revised and reinforced (Dougill, 1987). Placing a box in front of the class, the teacher
mimes taking something out of it and asks students to take a guess at what it could be.
The teacher then invites a student to approach the box and whispers the name of the
object to the student, who in turn mimes taking the object out of the box while the rest
of the class guesses. Mime can generate language use where explanation is requiredteacher's
instructions and the discussion of the students-if the mime involves pair
work or group work, learners normally find it easier and more motivating to produce
language when they have to accomplish a task (Ur,1981). If the mime is then
performed before the rest of the class, the target language can be usefully employed
for evaluating and interpreting what has been seen, as in the following example which
aims at practicing fluency (Dougill,1987). Working in pairs or small groups, students
are given topics to work on which are to form the basis of a three minute mime (a
burglary that goes wrong, an incident at a bus stop, an argument at the cinema, for
example), five minutes are allowed for preparing and rehearsing. Students perform
their mime in turn, and after each performance the teacher asks the class to interpret
what it has been.
3.2 Role Play
According to Blatner (2002) role play is a method for exploring the issues
involved in complex social situations. McCaslin (1990) concurs with this viewpoint
by contending that the focus is on the value that the assumption of the role has for the
participant rather than for the development of an art. In role play the participants are
assigned roles which they act out in a given scenario. According to Kodotchigova
(2001) role play prepares L2 learners for L2 communication in a different social and
cultural context. The purpose of role play is educative rather than therapeutic and the
situations examined are common to all. Family scenes, school situations and
playground incidents provide opportunities for interaction and group discussion. Role
play enables participants to deepen prior experience and to translate it into characters
for the plot. In this way according to Wrentschur and Altman (2002), the participants
are able to adopt roles hither to alien to them, and to try what it feels like to be on the
other side for once. The main benefit of role play from the point of view of language
teaching is that it enables a flow of language to be produced that might be otherwise
difficult or impossible to create. Role play can also help recreate the language
students used in different situation, the sort of language students are likely to need
outside the classroom.(Livingstone, 1983). By simulating reality, role play allows
students to prepare and practice for possible future situations.
Ideas for role play could be obtained from situations that teachers and learners
experience in their own lives, from books, television programmes and movies or
from their daily interactions with other people at school/ university or in the work
place. After choosing a context for a role play, the next step to follow is to provide
ideas on how this situation may develop. It is important to take into consideration the
learners' level of language proficiency when using and implementing role play
activities in the Fl classroom. Assuming a role is an essential element in drama,
Heathcote (1984) concurs that role taking is so flexible that when applied in
education, it will suit all personalities and teaching circumstances.
Broadly speaking role-play involves being an imaginary person usually in a
hypothetical situation and sometimes in a real one (Venugopal, 1986). Livingstone
(1983) sees role play as a class activity which gives the students the opportunities to
practice the language aspects of role-behaviour, the actual role they may need outside
the classroom. According to Richards (1985) role –play involves a situation in which
a setting ,participants and a goal problem are described. Participants are to
accomplish the task given, drawing on whatever language resources they can. From
the above definitions we can come up with the conclusion that role-play is thus an
activity which requires a person to take on a role that is real or imaginary. It involves
spontaneous interaction of participants as they attempt to complete a task.
There are many types of role play. Dramatic plays, story dramatization and
sociodrama, seminar style presentation, debates and interview. They range from
beginners, role play for weaker students to advanced role play for the more proficient
students. Different types of role play demand different approaches, the way the role
play is introduced, the description of the roles, the facilitation and debriefing sessions
vary accordingly. Role play can fit into a course we teach at QOU called language
use, this course has a practical part that require students to talk in the classroom
performing different role and tasks.
3.3- Simulation:
Jones (1980) calls a simulation as case study where learners become participants in an
event and shape the course of the event. The learners have roles, functions, duties ,
and responsibilities within a structured situation involving problem solving.
Simulations are generally held to be a structured set of circumstances' that mirror real
life and in which participants act as instructed. Jones (1982) defined simulations as "a
reality of functions in a simulated and structures environment".
A simulation activity is one where the learners discuss a problem within a defined
setting, In simulation activities, the students are either playing themselves or someone
else. Simulation activities are also interaction activities with various categories of
dialogues. One category would be social formulas and dialogues such as greeting,
parting, introductions, compliments, and complaints. Simulation exercises can teach
students how to function in a social situation with the appropriate social niceties: for
example, students could practice how to turn down a request for a date or a party.
Another category of simulated interaction activity is community oriented tasks, where
students learn how to cope with shopping, buying a ticket at a bus stop etc. This sort
of simulation helps students' communicative participation in the community and at the
very least help them in the task of collecting important information.
A clear line cannot be drawn between role play and simulation. These two drama
activities overlap. Role play is frequently used within simulation in role-simulation,
the participant remains the same individual while reacting to a task that has been
simulated on the basis of his own personal or professional experience. In language
teaching the differences between role play and simulation are not that important. As
Livingston (1983) pointed out "the main concern for the language teacher is the
opportunities role play and simulation provide.
The function of a simulation is to give participants the opportunity to practice taking
on specific roles and improvising within specific situations on the assumption that
with practice the participants will play their roles more effectively when situations
involving similar skills occur in real life. A simulation activity provides a specific
situation within which students can practice various communication skills like
asserting oneself, expressing opinions, convincing others, arguing eliciting opinions,
group-problems-solving, analyzing situations and so on (smith, 1984). Using given
details of the relevant aspects of situation, participants have to make decisions or
come to some agreement or resolve a problem, thus meeting a challenge posed by the
simulated situation.
Behaviour is not controlled in a simulation and the participants bring to the situation
their own skills, experience and knowledge. Simulation can be effectively applied to a
course we teach at QOU called English for Specific Purposes , because in ESP
classes, simulations are particularly useful in practicing and evaluating the use of
procedures and language (vocabulary, and structures) specific to particular skills.
A typical simulation used in business English would be that of a board meeting
discussing a company crisis, rules would be allotted , an agenda drawn up and the
procedures and conventions of a board-meeting adhered to.
3.4 Improvisation
Landy (1982) defines improvisation as an unscripted, unrehearsed, spontaneous
set of actions in response to minimal directions from a teacher, usually including
statements of whom one is, where one is and what one is doing there. The focus is
thus on identifying with characters, enacting roles and entering into their inner
experience of imagination and fantasy. And according to McCashin (1990) the focus
of improvisation is on helping learners to discover their own resources from which
their most imaginative ideas and strongest feelings flow, participants gain freedom as
self-discipline and the ability to work with others develops. Hodgson and Richards
(1974) in their book improvisation, define the term as "spontaneous response to the
unfolding of unexpected situation.
Improvisation is an excellent technique to use in the FL/L2 classroom as it motivates
the learners to be active participants in authentic situations thereby reducing their self
consciousness. At the beginning students will be hesitant and shy to participate in the
activities, but after a few sessions they will become more enthusiastic and there will
be a phenomenal improvement in their confidence level. According to MeCuslin
(1990) dialogue in improvisation is apt to be brief and scanty at first, but with practice
words begin to come and the players discover the possibilities of character
development when oral language is added.
The implementation of techniques that aim to improve the FL learners' confidence
level will invariably lead to improvement in the use of the target language.
Improvisation provides learners with opportunities to not only improve their
language communication skills, but also to improve their confidence which will
ultimately lead to the development of positive concepts.
Before beginning the improvisation session the teacher or the facilitator has to
involve the establishment of a context which serves to inform the participants where
they are and what they are expected to portray in their inter-relationships with other
characters. Since this is an unscripted, unrehearsed drama exercise, the participants
are at liberty to make their own spontaneous contribution as the play unfold. This
entails that they have the freedom to add their own words and develop their characters
in the ways which they would like to. Thus one of the advantages of improvisation is
the level of freedom that the participants are able to exercise during the execution of
the creative session.
Improvisation exercises could involve an entire class of learners or smaller groups.
Once the context has been provided the learners will participate spontaneously in the
exercise. A whole class improvisation exercise could involve the participants at a
market where some are the buyers and others the sellers. The teacher role is to provide
the context and the participants act out their roles spontaneously without any
planning.
It is important to keep in mind that much of the content for the improvisation
activities could come from the participants' own background and experiences.
Spontaneous improvisation gives learners practice in language and communication
skills, and they have the opportunity to develop their emotional range by playing roles
unfamiliar to them and outside their own experience.
Here are some examples of improvisation, keeping in mind that the backgrounds of
the players will determine the appropriateness of these examples.
1- You are a group of people at a party having a good time. Decide who you are and
what you are doing.
2- You are a group of teachers on strike for higher pay.
3- You are a group of parents attending a parent meeting who are complaining about
the poor facilities and teaching.
These activities and others can be used by the teacher in his class. Also these
activities and their varieties depends on the creativity of the teacher who can
think of useful situations where he can generate students communication
skills.
4- Role of the Teacher
In using Drama in the classroom , the teacher becomes a facilitator rather than an
authority or the source of knowledge. Hoetker (1969) warns that " the teacher who too
often imposes his authority or who conceives of drama as a kind of inductive method
for arriving at preordained correct answer, will certainly vitiate the developmental
values of drama and possibly its educational value as well."
Classroom drama is most useful in exploring topics when there are no single ,
correct answer or interpretation, and when divergence is more interesting than
conformity and truth is interpretable. As Douglas Barnes (1968) puts it" Education
should strive not for the acceptance of one voice, but for an active exploration of
many voices"
Using drama activities and techniques inside the classroom has changed the role
of the teacher. The class becomes more of a learner-centered rather than a teachercentered
one. The teacher is merely the facilitator.
5- Conclusion
Drama is an appealing teaching strategy which promotes cooperation,
collaboration, self-control, goal-oriented learning as well as emotional intelligence
skills. Drama bridges the gap between course-book dialogues
and natural usage, and can also help to bridge a similar gap between the classroom
and real life situations by providing insights into how to handle tricky situations.
Drama strengthens the bond between thought and expression in language, provides
practice of supra-segmental and Para-language, and offers good listening practice. If
drama is considered as a teaching method in the sense of being part of the eclectic
approach to language teaching, then it can become a main aid in the acquisition of
communicative competence. Drama activities facilitate the type of language
behaviour that should lead to fluency, and if it is accepted that the learners want to
learn a language in order to make themselves understood in the target language, then
drama does indeed further this end.
One of the greatest advantages to be gained from the use of drama is that students
become more confident in their use of English by experiencing the language in
operation. Drama in the English language classroom is ultimately indispensable
because it gives learners the chance to use their own personalities. It draws upon
students' natural abilities to imitate and express themselves, and if well-handled
should arouse interest and imagination. Drama encourages adaptability, fluency, and
communicative competence . It puts language into context, and by giving learners

experience of success in real-life situations it should rm them with confidence for
tackling the world outside the classroom.

References
1- Aldavero, Vanesa, Alonso. (2008) Drama in the development of oral
spontaneous communication. Encuentro 17. Retrieved on 1/8/2010 from www.
encuentrojournal. Org/textos/Alonso.pd
2- Barbu, Lucia (2007) Using Drama techniques for teaching English. Retrieved
on 17/7/2010 from http://forum.famouswhy.com/index.php? Show topic=1150
3- Barnes, Douglas (1968) Drama in the English Classroom. Champaign,
illinios: national Council of Teachers of English
4- Blatner, A., (2002) Role playing in education , Retrieved on 1/8/2010
www.blatner.com/adam/pdntbk/rlplayedu.htm.
5- Brumfit, C., (1991) The communicative Approach to language Teaching.
Oxford: Oxford University Press.
6- Desialova, Liubov, (2009) Using different forms of Drama in EFL. Classroom.
. Humanizing language teaching Magazine, issue 4 Retrieved on 17/7/2010
from http://www. hltmag.co.uk/aug09/sart07.htm.
7- Di Pietro, R. J., (1987) Strategic Instruction: Learning languages through
Scenarios. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
8- Dougill, John (1987) Drama Activities for Language Learner. Macmillan
Publishers Ltd. London
9- Fleming, Mike (2006) Drama and language teaching: The relevance of
Wittgenstein's concept of language games. Humanizing language teaching
Magazine, issue 4 Retrieved on 20/7/2010 from http://www.
hltmag.co.uk/jul06/mart0l.htm.
10-Goodwin, J., (2001) Teaching Pronunciation in M. Celce-Murcia. Teaching

English as a second or Foreign language, 3rd ed., Heinle & Heinle

From this Article,

- I agree because Drama is the part of activity in classroom. student can learn and practice speaking and listening skill. it's help student improve their skill and have more motivate to communicate with other people in social. I think Drama is very important in the communicative approach because they give student an opportunity to practice communicating in different social context. Drama Activity should to teach in the classroom for make student encourage to communicate with other people in real situation.

Writing Practice Week V

Forest Environment 

          Good morning teacher and my friends. My name is Apiwat krapkerd. My favorite animal is tiger because it’s awesome. What is your favorite animal?

Today, I would like to talk about Forest environment. There are about 500 species in forest. Some animals and plants are in danger of extinction. That’s concerned! The government should know about this.

          People affect the forest environment by cut the tree for sold and building. Not only about this but also wildfire change the forest environment to decrease animals and plants species. I don’t know about wildfire but I know about people activity. I think people is the most dangerous to risk the animals and plants to be extinct. They hunt the animal to create something new about health. They’re not taking care about what happen. They’re just trying to useful from animals and plants as much as they want it. They never know what they do it’s make damage.

          I feel very sad when I see the animal dying. Why people doing this for? I don’t know. So, I try to protect the forest to help the animal and plants. Everyone can do it by afforest or don’t throw the junk in forest and river.

To conclude everyone should know what to do something to help the animals and plants, because if everyone did something small than we can make a big change.