It will probably be necessary for teachers to correct mistakes made during speaking activities in a different way from those made during a study exercise. When students are repeating sentences, trying to get their pronunciation exactly right, then the teacher will often correct (appropriately) every time there's a problem .But if the same teacher did this while students were involved in a passionate discussion about whether smoking should be banned on tourist beaches, for example, the effect might well be to destroy the conversational flow. If, just at the moment one of the students is making an important point, the teacher says 'Hey wait, you said «is» but it should be «are», beaches are… repeat', the point will quickly be lost. Constant interruption from the teacher will destroy the purpose of the speaking activity.

Many teachers watch and listen while speaking activities are taking place. They note down things that seemed to go well and times when students couldn't make themselves understood or made important mistakes. When the activity has finished, they then ask the students how they thought it went before giving their own feedback. They may say that they liked the way Student A said this, and the way Student Вwas able to disagree with her. They will then say that they did hear one or two mistakes, and they can either discuss them with the class, write them on the board or give them individually to the students concerned. In each case, they will ask the students to see if they can identify the problem and correct it.

As with any kind of correction, it is important not to single students out for particular criticism. Many teachers deal with the mistakes they heard without saying who was responsible for them.

Of course, there are no hard and fast rules about correcting. Some teachers who have a good relationship with their students can intervene appropriately during a speaking activity if they do it in a quiet non-obtrusive way. This kind of gentle correction might take the form of reformulation where the teacher repeats what the student has said, but correctly this time, and does not ask for student repetition of the corrected form. Some students do prefer to be told at exactly the moment they make a mistake; but we always have to be careful to make sure that our actions do not compromise the activity in question.

Perhaps the best way of correcting speaking activities appropriately is to talk to students about it. You can ask them how and when they would prefer to be corrected; you can explain how you intend to correct during these stages, and show them how different activities may mean different correction behaviour on your part.(J.Harmer ch.8,9 R.Gower ch.5)

On this week we are going to have a lesson based on reading. That is why we are to know all pecularities of teaching reading and be able to use them in our practice.  I decided to do it in advance because this theme seemed to be interesting for me. and while preparing for the lesson I found relevant and helpful information .

I used as the main sourse the book of famous writer and teacher, Jeremy Harmer 

And having read the chapter about how to teach reading I could find out the main ways of encouraging students to read extensively.

Encouraging students to read extensively

There are four factors which contribute to the success of this kind of extensive reading:

Library

Students need to have access to a collection of readers, both at their own level and above and below it. Sometimes the library will be in a fixed place in a school, but we can also carry collections of books around to different classes. The library should have a range of different genres (factual, novels, adaptations of films, etc).

Choice

A major aspect of joyful reading (see page 99) is that students should be able to choose what they read — both in terms of genre but also, crucially, level. They are much more likely to read with enthusiasm if they have made the decision about what they read.

Feedback

Students should have an opportunity to give feedback on what they have read, either verbally or in written form. This does not mean formal reports, however, since that might take the pleasure away from reading. Instead, there might be a quick comment form on the inside cover of a book, or a folder with different forms for different titles. Students can then record their reactions to a book they have read. Other students looking for a new book to read can use those comments to help them make their choice.

Time

We need to give students time for reading in addition to those occasions when they read on their own. It is a good idea to leave a ten-minute reading period at various times during a course just to get students comfortable with the activity. It is vitally important that when we do this, we should be reading ourselves in order to underline the attractiveness of the activity.

Not all students become active readers. While some are highly motivated and consume books avidly, others don't have the same appetite. We can't force students to read, of course, but we should do everything we can to encourage them to do so.

Finally …I have been waiting for this moment.

Literally, a few hours ago ,I passed the first variant of my course paper.

I was very nervous about it, because it was not simple for me to put it all together, and I was very glad when I knew that I could do it and did it well .

Of course I got several remarks and mistakes, almost everything connected with lesson plans… as far as I am concerned that planning is my weal point. But from the other side I think it is a great experience, and thanks to this process I will be able to avoid of doing them. It is very well.

Today I am going to teach the next lesson in the library and I cannot say that I am fully self-confident and carefree, but in comparison with the first weeks of only one thought about it which makes me crazy I set seriously and take it easier and it is also a progress! Personal progress !!!!

I think this week was very productive.

I knew and did many new and useful things connected with the study and I `m pleased with myself.

To begin with Saturday, the week becomes harder and harder. The assignment scope fills it.

But day after day I am trying to do my best to achieve necessary aims and purposes .Sometimes it is very difficult but when you begin noticing the result of your work you do not want to stop.

This week I was responsible for Pronunciation lesson at Institute ,and according to excellent assessment I managed with it successfully. It is one of two good things )

The other is my first lesson in the library ( free English courses )

I was very nervous and excited at first .

I was  going to teach Present Continuous Tense and revise Present Simple using different types of activities .  Of course before the lesson I prepared a plan to follow and did everything concerning that plan. The lesson was very informative, students knew how to form tenses and found out the difference between them. Step by step I even lost the time! but the most important aims of the lesson were achieved and I was happy with that! I want to believe that students enjoyed with the lesson.

It seems that I have good news, finally I have begun writing a course paper and although the second part of my plan is still in the stage of developing, the theoretical part and introduction are almost ready, and it really makes me happy (partially).

 By the way  the theme of my course paper is «Teaching communication in English: Creating and using speech situations to activate the speech of high school students» and as it turned out it this theme is very close to me and I was really interested in searching the information. Of course, there were some difficulties concerning the references but anyway I could find relevant material.

The next important thing demanding a great attention is creating and writing lesson plans. As you remember, last week I was anxious  with my first lesson plan. Fortunately it was estimated as an excellent work and I was pleased with myself. On this Friday the task is the same, only the theme is different and I worry about it again! Sometimes I think that this feeling will be endless while I do not have enough experience like « vicious circle»

The lesson plan is directed on studying Vocabulary. At this lesson, different types of students` activities are used, such as whole class work and pair work. All handouts are presented in Appendix and the theme is Shopping.

I am going to organize the lesson tomorrow  for my group mates ,and I believe that they will enjoy.

Today I have written my first lesson plan!

I haven`t known yet the results but I could not help writing about this event in my blog!!! Because I am  very nervous. It was very difficult for me to make this plan and I barely managed!

So ,let`s turning back to  the process of such important work.

My lesson is considered to be connected with learning Past Simple Tense.

This lesson plan is directed on studying Past Simple Tense. At this lesson, different types of students` activities are used, such as whole class work and pair work.

Lesson Goals: At the end of the lesson, students should be able to form and use past simple tense, be familiar with the formation and word order in negative sentences and questions. Target Grammar: Past Simple Target Vocabulary: Action Verbs *

The first obstruction I knocked into was to find such types of  activities to keep within 15 minutes and  than more I was thinking about it than more it was making me desperate  and tired .

Subsequently, when I realized what I should do, the work turned in different way and finally I could beat my laziness and despair.

The plan was over with all necessary things, such as appendix  and handouts .

Now I am waiting the next day to check my work and clear up what mistakes I did and what I should do to avoid them and to correct .

Good news

Finally we have an opportunity to improve our teaching skills and I do not mean school practicum.

Several days ago a representative of speaking club, situated in L.N.Tolstoy library, Ksenia  entered our classroom when we were having French lesson. It was an unexpected visit  so everybody was surprised a little.

The good thing that she was not alone, she was accompanied by Marina Ivanowna, always smiling person !)

It helped us  to low persistence .

Yeah! exactly persistence! because at the beginning nobody could realize what was going on!

Then she explained the reason of her visit. She told that there were many people who wanted to learn English, and because  of the lack of teachers  she decided to ask students to help them, another words to teach people English like volunteers !

The first reaction was – Oh my God! What am I supposed to do? What do  these people  want  from me? The next station was an evaluation all pluses and great opportunities!

To tell the truth  it was easy to  notice the ocean of fears and contradictions in my eyes! I was really impressed!

When they left the classroom we could not discuss this situation because of French, but during the break there was a hot discussion )

Me and a half of my group decided to try our strengths in so difficult and at the same time enthralling direction!

We have already called them and now we are waiting for callback

They promised to invite us on 25^th of October  for an interview!

So let`s see what happens 

Finally we could understand and know how to be a real teacher!

This week was full of different activities concerning two main disciplines – “Methodology “ and “ Psychology of teaching foreign languages “.

I must say that it was not so simple as I supposed, but any case it was very interesting and exciting  .

Initially we had a seminar where we had to prepare a small speaking activity for little children. As for me I decided to work with visuals to attract auditoria’s attention. I had pictures with different people and their task was to describe their appearance answering on me questions using Present Simple .

It was the main idea and I seemed to feel very confident before lesson. But when you stand in front  of dozen eyes which  are waiting something special from you your confidence begins disappearing slowly. And it was my great mistake, there was a random in my head and I did not manage with my job. The teacher made  several objective and equitable remarks and I did right conclusion about this .

At the end of the week I was responsible for preparing a 15 minutes video lesson,which consists of 3 parts: pre-viewing, viewing, post-viewing activities .

And of coarse, at that time I tried to do my best to be perfect .

I chose for my presentation a video by famous singer Selena Gomez .

The task for students was to watch the video and then fill the gaps with missing words in lyrics which I gave them.

I started my “lesson” with acquaintance with new unknown words, the next step was a watching the video, afterwards I played a video one more time and my group mates  were filling the gaps, eventually we checked it all together. If I had more time we could sing it together, but unfortunately we did not.

At the beginning I was very nervous and upset because there were some troubles with equipment, but when the teacher expressed her positive opinion I was happy and encouraged.

I think it was the most pleasant moment of that day. Anyhow Friday came to the end: great experience and good mood !!!!

This week was very saturated .

As for our classes, I mean “ Methodology…”, they were very interesting .

We started a new theme “COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE “, this theme is very important for me as I have chosen it for my course paper ,and according to this topic we had a special activity to activate our speech ,also I can say that it was like an example and a great experience for our future of teaching .

Coming back to the activity, it was like a cocktail party firstly  ” of course without alcohol”  , we had to choose one card with some description (special characteristics) and then to find all members of our family among all students.  The auditory was full of noise and mess, but subsequently we could do it.Then we had a problem, which was an obstruction of good relationship between inside our family. The next step was to present ourselves and a solution of this big problem.

The fact is communicative competence consists of three components: choice, information gap, feedback. And I am sure we could manage them together, also thanks to this activity I remembered all these components !!!

To tell the truth I have never done such interesting and enthralling things and I really enjoyed .

Finally a difficult week came to the end, I have been waiting for this moment.

And of course we have known many  interesting and important things about our coarse paper .

Firstly the topics that we had chosen seemed absolutely not appropriate .

The problem is that these topics are too large and abstract to make a good, informative work .

So during our seminar we were looking trough different course papers, paying attention literally on everything, beginning from the mistakes to references and final marks to be able to formulate right questions about all those works .

It was an interesting activity

But when the seminar was going to the end we were announced about topics… the reaction of auditory was ambiguous …the truth is that we were close to the hysterics.

But then we pulled ourselves together and tried thinking up a new topics, more narrow ,you know.

And after several empty attempts, with a help of a teacher, the idea came to my mind )

Now the topic of my course paper is called «Teaching communication in English in secondary schools »

I am very glad of my choice

And I hope there will be not so many problems with searching an information