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Question 1: In your classroom, would you prefer using listening materials and activities in your coursebook, authentic listening materials and tasks, or a combination of the two? Discuss the reasons for your preference.                                      2. Do you think the ideas about developing more active, listening skills in sessions would be appropriate and useful in your classrooms? Why, why not?

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Question 1: In your classroom, would you prefer using listening materials and activities in your coursebook, authentic listening materials and tasks, or a combination of the two? Discuss the reasons for your preference.                                      2. Do you think the ideas about developing more active, listening skills in sessions would be appropriate and useful in your classrooms? Why, why not?

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1) Listening skill is needed to be acquired by learners with different language proficiency levels. Especially beginners and young learners need to be more exposed to the listening process so that they could be instilled. This is why I prefer combination of coursebook activities and authentic listening materials. As secondary grade teachers we have to stick to the cirriculum since students are to enter the high school exams. Also not all the students have an easy  access to the internet and other materials. So, coursebook activities shape the outline of the process. On the other hand the content and the topics of the coursebooks are limited and we can't ignore the needs and tendencies of students. I use authentic listening materials for the very reason. They have many advantages other than offering varied grammatical features. Some of the advantages are redundant features, real-life examples of language used in everyday situations and more updated, current and relevant content which provides information about the target culture and an issue or event that easily capture students' attention.

2. I think it  would. As far as I see from today's session active listening makes the experince of speaking to other people more enjoyable. Students could feel more focused, supported and empowered since they would engage on a higher level with the speaker to elicit specific details. Also they would develop their listening skills to organize information and understand, analyze different topics better.

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On the first day of our training I once again see that getting out of the comfort zone is always worth it. It might be scary, but daring to try something new and embrace the unknown always pays off. My word for the day is "luminious." I hope it will be  joyful, encouraging and inspiring till the end. 

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On the first day of our training I once again see that getting out of the comfort zone is always worth it. It might be scary, but daring to try something new and embrace the unknown always pays off. My word for the day is "luminious." I hope it will be  joyful, encouraging and inspiring till the end. 

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Questions:
1.What do you consider the most common problem in your district related to teaching speaking in language classes?

2.Do you think the ideas or suggestions you have taken away from today can help you cope with that particular problem? Why, why not?

1.Some problems I encounter in teaching speaking are students' lack of vocabulary, pronunciation problems, lack of motivation and the use of the mother tongue. I think among these problems the most common one is lack of motivation. It causes many other problems  like fear of mistake, lack of words usage, low participation, reading laziness, shyness, less dictionary usage,  fear of being critisized because of the limited hours of English classes and not process but the exam/result oriented educational system. When they have low motivation they can't engage their learning process with real life experiences, and they can't be conscious learners.

2. I believe so. I am writing a book based on a character who normally lives in Italy, but decides to move England and embark on a journey to chase his dreams and discover more about life. So these activities and tips will help in many ways while students relate themselves to the character's learning process with the problems he could face, mistakes he makes, challenges he overcomes and how all of these  help him change and evolve. For example adding today's activities like paperslide or using different web tools or applications that I didn't use before such as flip or voki education may enrich the content and students can learn in a collabrative,creative, encouraging and fun way while appreciating learning one day at a time just like our character does.

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1. How would you differentiate a reading task from 7 grade coursebook for a mixed ability classroom? Please include the reading text and the tasks with your ideas for differentiation.

2. Which idea from today's session do you think your colleagues in your context would find the most useful to solve common problems in teaching reading?

1st question:
The teacher can use authentic materials and capture students' interest.

Lead in: The teacher gets in the classroom carrying a box with a bunch of party stuff in it. She asks the students:
*Do you know the story of Alaaddin and the Genie.
*What is so special about the lamp?
* I  think I am going to invite the Genie to my party. Because I want to make a wish.

1. Pre-reading: The teacher can ask Yes/No questions for the weaker students and Wh-questions for the the stonger ones to elicit related words.

*Imagine that you can invite the Genie to a party. Would you like to invite him and ask him to bring the lamp?
* What kind of party do you think the Genie will enjoy most?
*Does he enjoy a graduation party?
*Is there any other way to make a wish at a party?
*How about you? What kind of party do you want to throw?
*What would you need for your party?
*Do you need balloons?
*Do you need juice?
And then she moves on to the next step saying: Let's see what kind of party Amanda and Paul throw.

2.Gist reading: The teacher show some material she brought in the box and ask students:
"Which one of  these Paul and Amanda don't need?"

3.Detailed reading-Differentation of 3rd and 4th activity:
3rd activity: Low level students can find the answers. Since it would be easy for the higher level students, after they choose the correct answers  the teacher can ask these students to make a sentence using at least one of those words to challenge them. Or she can ask personalised questions like:
✅ a few music CDs
* So, tell me what kind of music do you like?
✅some juice
*Ok, what is your favourite juice?
When do you have it most? At breakfast?

4th activity: The teacher can add "at least" into the statement, and ask students to "Read again and write at least two things they should do to organize the party."

4.Post reading:
Giving more than one option is also a way of differentiation. So the teacher can offer more than one option especially if the classroom includes students who has mixed abilities. The options might be:
* What would your ideal birthday party look like? Draw a picture about it. If you want you can cut pictures from magazines as well and put the words you learnt today like balloons etc on the picture. (for weaker students)
*Think that you invite your friends to your slumber or birthday party. What would you need? Prepare paper slide about it. ( for stronger students)
* What is your favourite party type? Record a video about it. You  can use Flip.

2nd question:
I think focusing on the sub-skills of reading would be quite useful. For example, our coursebooks lacks instructions for gist reading which arouse curiosity and teachers can make use of them to help students get the whole picture and engage in the text easily. Also, not ignoring differentiation in the reading tasks can solve some reading problems.

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1. What idea/ approach about writing instruction do you think would be the most useful/ appropriate in your local context? Why?

2.What do you think your colleagues would be most interested in exploring in a PDC meeting focusing on writing?

1. When I think of our cirruculum and high school entrance exam the product approach would be the most useful one for the 8th grades since they have limited time to allocate for English classes. Besides it focuses on accuracy and may be set as an homework. So, process approach won't be appropriate for them since it requires students to draft and redraft their writing and be collabrative in a short amount of time. On the  other hand, for 5th, 6th, 7th grades we can use process and snack approach a lot more than the product approach. Based on today's activities "Agony Aunt" and "Why we are better?" students will enjoy attending the activities, feel supported and motivated by working collabratively and getting feedback from their peers would be less formal and weak or shy students may not feel critisized in comparison to getting feedback from teachers.

2. Because many teachers think that writing activities are challenging as students can moan and lose interest easily,  I believe they would be interested in exploring product and snack approaches and the activities we did related to them.  Also, sharing the links to the web tools and applications can be useful for my colleagues.

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1. G) What ideas from the grammar session do you think would be most useful and appropriate in language classrooms in your area? Why?
2. G)  What issues about grammar instruction do you think your colleagues would want to discuss in a PDC meeting? Which one do you think should be prioritised and why?            1. V )What do you think is the most effective vocabulary teaching suggestion in today's session for  language classrooms in your area? Why?
2. V) How can you make use of vocabulary notebooks in your classroom? What details would ask your students to include in those notebooks? Why?

1. Grammer) Today we have focused on two different approaches to teach grammer. First one is deductive approach. It is traditional, teacher centered and controling. The other one is inductive approach. It is sort of the discovery of learning, focuses on the students and observation. But both approaches  include form, meaning and pronounciation in different stages. Also they have some steps which frame the role of teacher and student, how and when the content will be provided . I can use those steps to check the order my activities. The other topics we have covered today are the continuum between fluency and accuracy, also the  definition of activities as "controlled, guided, freer" which fall between two points . I think it is practical to determine where to place the activities and see the flow of activities. In this way it would be easier to decide if I should be more flexible or I should stick to the limited and precise options.

2. Grammer) Although there are various approaches for grammer teaching teachers can't give up traditional practices for different reasons. Some believe that grammar should be given importance in language

teaching, and some others defend that grammar should not be taught. In Turkey grammer translation method is widely used altough this method has given its place to cognitive and communicitive approaches. Since our education system is based upon testing students' English level and focus on results rather than the process teachers have to be more controlling and limit their options. This is the main problem that my colleagues would mention rather than the other problems like teaching in crowded classrooms, lack of technological devices, students' low motivation. And it should be prioritised since it shapes and affects the whole teaching process and outcomes.

3. Vocabulary) I think the stages we present the vocabulary is the most effective teaching suggestion that I've learnt in today's session. Because following the "elicit, check, drill, write" order  will build natural curiosity, encourage student participation and students will actively engage in learning process.

4.) Students can use them for writing down the words they don't know or they can use the words that they find interesting. In this way they will take control of their vocabulary learning ( learning autonomously), productivity and creativity. Also, it can increase their awareness and motivation. I can ask my students to include a title (units' names) so that they can comprehend and recall the concept better. And there should be a column for English words and for their meaning so that it would be more organized. They can use synonyms or short explanations for each word  they choose since  it will help improve their memory. They can use collocations to learn related words easily.