Talking about yourself

This is based on an exercise from First Lessons by Jane Willis, called Talking about the Past, as discussed in the workshop of Peach Richmond.

There are three main stages:

     pre-task - preparation by the teacher and students
     the task cycle - student work, planning, reporting
     the language focus - analysis, practice

In the workshop we went through both the supplied material (text and cassette) and also a more interactive method including Peach talking about himself and participants discussing with partners.

1. Pre-Task: building up information to use

Looking at pictures (1950s, sexist!), remember what did you like doing as a child?
Matching questions to answers
Listen to a tape and fill in the table
Listen to Peach, talking about his early life

	Eva	Peach	yourself	Max
Where were you born?		Berne!		Murgenthal
Where did you live as a child?	Johannesburg	Devon		Lucerne
What did you like doing?	ballet, ...	football		building huts in the forest
You stayed at school until ...?		18		forever, just changed sides
Where did you start work?				never worked, just a teacher

2. Task

finding out about your partner
writing about it in a textual report form (fill in the blanks).
presenting it

I was born in ________ and I lived in _as a child. My best friend was _________. We liked ________ and _________________________. I stayed at school until I was ______. My first job was in ____________.

Here I have written down a verbal presentation, showing the difference between written and spoken forms. Note that both Max and I do not necessarily say what we believe!

Max was born in Murgenthal and later moved to Emmen and then Lucerne. He attended school until, well, he is still at school, he says, he's just changed sides. And he never started work, English teaching is really playing. It's the responsibility of the student to learn, not the teacher's to teach.

3. Analysis

What have we been learning - the simple past
Practice --

What
When
Where
Who
How Long

did

you
he
she
we
they

start school?
stay at school?
live?
like doing?
play with your friends?

I
you
He
She
We
They

started ...
lived ...
liked ...
stayed ...
played ...
worked ...

The task-oriented method needs much more time.