Questões de Inglês - Advérbios e conjunções | Adverbs and conjunctions para Concurso

It is not uncommon for English language lessons to favour communication over accuracy: real life is nothing like a classroom! In real-life situations, when you make a mistake in the language you are learning, context provides ample information as to what the intended message is. In fact, most of the time, impeccable accuracy is not needed at all! “Don’t worry about making mistakes,” I used to tell my English language students. “Communicating is the most important thing!”

While making mistakes when trying to master a language might seem counter-intuitive, letting learners freely communicate and negotiate meaning is key to success. A learner who communicates a lot while making a few mistakes is much more likely to develop confidence for dealing with real-life situations than a learner who communicates very little because they’re afraid of making any. In communicative language teaching, for example, the teacher is tasked with both encouraging the learner to express themselves and with providing corrective feedback in a way that is not obstructive to communication. 

This means that if a learner says, “I go swimming last night,” it is much more effective to respond with, “Oh, that’s nice, you went swimming. What did you do after?” rather than, “No! You went swimming! Use past simple for past events!” – the former encourages the learner to continue their narrative while the latter is much more likely to make the learner stop in their tracks, re-evaluate the context, and think twice before expressing themselves again in the future, for the fear of making a mistake again. Teachers need to be careful not to parrot back everything the students say in this manner, of course, but the technique can be an effective method of acknowledging the content of a student’s response, while also providing feedback on accuracy.

The importance of the freedom to make mistakes in language learning is also supported by research in psychology, which suggests that learners who try a task without having mastered it completely experience improved retention of new information. A similar experiment in the context of language learning also indicates that the process of making mistakes activates a greater network of related knowledge in the brain, which leads to superior learning outcomes.

It is believed that the key to help learners feel relaxed and ready for communicating freely in the classroom is authenticity. This means that there should be both a real communicative need for a learner to speak and the authentic reaction from those around to what the learner has said.

Here are a few ways of how such authentic communicative interactions can be practiced in the classroom: 

• surround learners with the English language – encourage them to speak to you and each other in English;

• don’t worry about diverging from topics that are not strictly covered in your lesson plan;

• model communication by telling your students stories and anecdotes about your own life and encourage them to do the same;

• let your learners have fun with English – give them colloquial expressions to try and ask them to share some expressions

; • do not overcorrect – make a note of errors and cover it in subsequent lessons;

• avoid the temptation to turn what was intended as speaking practice into a full-on grammar lesson.

While easier said than done, especially when the outcome of an exam is at stake, it is worth remembering that people that our learners might come to interact with outside of the classroom are driven by the natural desire to understand the people they communicate with. This is especially powerful when practiced in the context of a classroom. They set the learners up for success in real-life communication. In other words, when communication is the goal, mistakes are secondary, and that’s real life, isn’t it?

Adapted from: https://wwwcambridgeenglish.org/blog/mistakes-help-you-learnfreedom-to-fail-in-games-and-language-learning/

(1º§) Devices including mobile phones are set to be banned from classrooms to stop them from disrupting learning, the Dutch government has announced. The initiative is being introduced in collaboration with schools and is to take effect at the start of next year.

(2º§) There will be some exceptions, including for students with medical needs or a disability, and for classes focused on digital skills. The ban is not legally enforceable but may become so in the future. "Even though mobile phones are almost intertwined with our lives, they do not belong in the classroom," said Education Minister Robbert Dijkgraaf. "Students must be able to concentrate there and be given every opportunity to learn well. We know from scientific research that mobile phones disrupt this."

(3º§) Various studies have found limiting children's screen time is linked to improved cognition and concentration. Other tech including tablets and smartwatches are also included in the Dutch ban. The government said it would be up to individual schools to agree the exact rules with teachers, parents and pupils - including whether they wanted to completely ban devices __ schools.

(4º§) The scheme is the result of an agreement between the ministry, schools and related organisations. It will be reviewed at the end of the 2024/2025 school year to see how well it had worked and whether a legal ban is needed. The announcement follows a similar decision by Finland last week.

(5º§) Its government announced it would change the law to make it easier __ restrict the use of phones in schools. Other countries, including England and France, have also proposed banning mobile phones to improve learning.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-66107027 

    The Senate approved sweeping deficit-reduction legislation last night that would save about $35 billion over the next five years by cutting federal spending on prescription drugs, agriculture supports and student loans, while clamping down on fraud in the Medicaid program.

     Yesterday's action is part of an effort by congressional Republicans to demonstrate fiscal discipline after widespread complaints of profligate spending on Capitol Hill. ....51.... many Democrats and some moderate Republicans are concerned that the effort may go too far, prominent Republicans in the Senate and House said the cuts were necessary to slow the rate of spending and control a deficit projected to total $314 billion by the end of the fiscal year.

      During a speech yesterday, former House majority leader Tom Delay (R-Tex) repeatedly apologized for excessive spending by Congress, including recent highway legislation that was ....52.... with lawmakers’ pet projects. After noting that House Republicans have voted to cut taxes every year since winning the majority in 1994, DeLay acknowledged, “Our record on spending has not been as consistent, ....53.... .”

(Adapted from washingtonpost.com)