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Date Posted: 16:40:55 07/25/03 Fri
Author: José Euríalo dos Reis
Subject: TASK 12

TASK 12

Task: “Examine one textbook and choose a good communicative activity. Describe it and then classify that activity according to the types presented by Littlewood.”

The activity chosen to be described and classified as my “task 12” was taken from a unit named “Tourist or Traveller?”, extracted from a book entitled “Focus on Proficiency”, by Sue O’Connell (reference below), p.47-48. Its title is “Communication activity – Life or death in the Alps” and it is mainly based on the choices of items for survival from a list of items whose names are presented followed by very good illustrations (it is good in order to enrich the students’ vocabulary, for sure!).

The students are supposed to work individually and, later, in groups, and it seems to be a very exciting activity.

ACTIVITY DESCRIPTION
The main (oppening) picture shows a small plane flying over the Alps and the students are given a situation in that they are invited to imagine they suffer an accident in the Alps and must try to get down the mountain (it is said such a decending may mean spending two nights on the mountain, in dangerous situations, since the mountain is covered in a blanket of thick snow). The challenge propposed is to salvage only 15 items from the wreckage of the plane in order to climb down the mountain, taking into consideration the dangers and difficulties to be faced. Working individually, the students have to choose the items and put them in order in terms of importance (put “1” for the most important down to “15” to the leas important), mentally preparing themselves to explain the reason of their choices. Later, the students must work in groups and agree, as a group, on a rank order for the items, discussing the reasons for he choices and organizing all the items again. The challenge is there because the question reminds the learners that the group’s survival depends on its decision. Then, there must be discussions with other groups and a suggested solution is given. The students are invited to discuss their choices and the propposed solution (they can agree or not, since they justify their opinions) and imagine if they would have survived or not, according to their choices. Finally, the activity asks the students to discuss about individual and group decisions and chances concerning survival in hard situations.

CLASSIFICATION OF THE ACTIVITY, ACCORDING TO LITTLEWOOD
According to the types of communicative activities presented by Littlewood (1981: 20-36), this activity could be classified as a “POLLING INFORMATION TO SOLVE A PROBLEM” (p.34), taking into consideration that all the students have some backgrounds that enable them to choose among those items in order to pool information to solve a problem. They can use their own intuiton, inferences and references (based on previous TV series, readings or films, for instance) to work individually, prepare reasonings and, later, discuss and process information together (with partners) in order to make a good collective choice.

Since individuals and partners can agree or disagree (using their reasonings, negotiating choices and working together in order to solve a problem), such an activity can be excellent to stimulate students to use all their skills and many different strategies, learning new words, new expressions and exploring their whole potencial, in terms of communication and social interaction, consolidating learning and improving their performances in order to become competent users of the language.

Bibliography

Littlewood, William. Communicative activities: some general considerations. In: ________. "Communicative language teaching". Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981. p.16-21.

Littlewood, William. Functional communication acitivies. In: ________. Communicative activities: some general considerations. "Communicative language teaching". Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981. p.22-42.

O’Connell, Sue. "Focus on proficiency". Essex (UK): Longman, 1995.p.47-48.

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