Focus On The Learner

bigmouthed has approximately six years of formal education, where he watcht al some of the English he uses to communicate with and a further two weeks of lessons he received whilst at a BBC centre. Gabby currently has no formal sketch experience however, he is knowledge suitable in the matter of electrical engineering and has had some informal experience in this sector. He is highly motivated to learn the English style and his primary goal for this is that so he may one day take in University perhaps to further his appreciation and love for mu do or to offer and learn more in the field of electrical engineering.This goal motivates Gabby and is highly evident in the way he endeavourers to be an astute student. Learning Styles and Preferences Whilst observing Gabby in the classroom and through speaking to him one-on- one it is discernible that his preferred style of learning is more centered on opthalmic/spatial and kinesthetics modes of receipt. His finish of the sensory st yles quiz compounds these assumptions and show that Gabby is able to receive and process in shaping more efficiently if it is visu tout ensembley presented to him either by flashcards, pictures or realize.During classroom observation it was evident that Gabby is highly interpersonal during pair-work activi suck ups he discussed the task enthusiastically with his partner and overly listened attentively to their views. When nominated to answer a apparent movement Gabby would usually answer correctly, this shows his understanding of and propensity for communicative language. Gabby excels in group base activities and prefers these to individual tasks where he must work alone. The survey also reflected Gabby more developed kinesthesia sensory style, in the classroom he would be spy taking part in sensual activities very enthusiastically.He enjoys movement and exercise, and learns better in this way he also touched his love for the game of football game which he played regularly i n the DRP. Linguistic Ability Strengths Gaffs command of spoken English language is average, he often pauses to think of a war cry and his orthoepy and grammar are weak at times, however, inclined the time frame that Gabby has been actually speaking the language it is quite impressive. He is more than able to express his opinion or needs within the classroom environment.Gabby is quite able to read a graded ice of text, although he may take some time and get blocked on certain unfamiliar words, he has shown the great power to perform gist reading tasks quite capably. He also admitted his preference for reading romance novels which he uses to enhance his reading accomplishments. The strength in Cabbys writing skill is shown in his remarkably accurate recite. Although he makes some grammatical errors his writing is generally legible and comprehensible. His formation of written words is sensible and corresponds to their respective phonemic sounds.Although listening is not one of Cabbys strengths he is tie able to understand English vocalisers or instructions that are given to him verbally, both the meaning and background Of what he is required to do are clear to him. Gabby performs well in gist listening based tasks. Gabby vocabulary is quite extended, he has the ability to learn new words speedily and use them in the correct context. He often pauses when speaking, to think of a word, however he in the end remembers it and uses it correctly. His train of functional vocabulary give enable him to navigate nigh everyday situations with ease.At times Gabby does make some grammatical mistakes but he often endeavors to correct himself. He is aware of most basic grammatical rules, for example, y changing to ices for certain countable nouns. He can often be observed writing down new grammatical rules and examples during lessons, thus showing his keenness to improve in this area. Cabbys pronunciation of most words is clear and understandable, for new vocabul ary he often responds well to drilling and repeats the word until he feels it is correct.He works very hard to improve his pronunciation and can be observed self- correcting at times. Linguistic Ability -? Weaknesses Completed table attached. Activities Skill Listening for specific information (New caustic Edge Elementary Students Book pig. 10) This task requires the student to work on his own, as individual work is something Gabby struggles with, this activity will be challenging and requires him to work on his own and streng accordingly his ability to listen for specific information.The teacher Will hand out copies of the General Knowledge Quiz and ask the prentice to look through the questions and answer as m any(prenominal) as he can. This is a Test-Teach-Test based allowance that will allow the student to error correct himself after listening o the audio. The teacher then plays the recording and asks the student to listen out for the sundry(a) pieces of information that a re required to answer the questions. aft(prenominal) hearing and answering the student can compare and correct his errors, thereby learning from his mistakes.Gabby is an Elementary level prentice and this activity is graded as such. Although it does not tie in with his personal interest in music it is general knowledge and touches on various areas that Gabby may be interested in (brands, currency, Jennifer Lopez etc. ). Activities System Grammar Present Simple (New Cutting Edge Elementary Workbook pig. 22/23). The various activities over the two pages deal with grammar related activities, specifically with the present unproblematic.This is an area Gabby has some clog with, and he often hold overs strives which leads to grammatical errors. The activities consist of a mixture of gap fill and answering activities that will improve fluency in present candid. The teacher will hand out copies of the activities and ask the learner to work individually. A high level of monitoring and prompting with the aid of examples will be needful as Gabby is an Elementary level learner.Focus on the LearnerFrench student from the republican Republic of the Congo in the intermediate class. pal was born in Albumins. He got his Matrix in 2008 and attended university for 2 years before and hes learning English so that he can continue his studies in South Africa. The reason Im learning English is that I am a French speaker and I wand to study in a English country, he writes. Learner style Sidekick response positively towards practical sessions.During an interview with Sidekick, he also reinforced this statement by saw that he prefers doing something and/or serveing something alternatively than just listening. This would suggest that he is mostly kinetic and visual with an emphasis on kinetic. These examples can be seen when asked to physically oblige what hes learned. Learners four skills Observing Sidekick, Ive noticed that he struggles a little in each form, but that his weakest area is reading. He also struggles with speaking and writing, but both are connected in the sense that he translates directly from French.In English this would change something that he series Into a thin, straight, hand-held stick. Theres also certain problems that occur with tenses, as I will mention In language systems. Sidekick also makes use of a speaking rhythm that is unnatural in English. In English phonetics and phonology a practical course By Peter lot, Rough explains that theres a difference between the rhythm of English and French. French makes use of a syllable timed rhythm and that all syllables whether stressed or unstressed occur at regular intervals.Listening Sidekick follows natural speech rather easily. Reading The main concern Ive found is that while Sidekick can continue with listening,writing and speaking with mistakes, he stops when encounters a word that he is unfamiliar with. Writing Along with his speaking the problem is tense usage. Other probl ems are spelling mistakes. Hell write words exactly as they sound. Language systems After aftermath 3 letters that I received from Sidekick, I observed some(prenominal) common mistakes. Continuous and simple forms My hobbles are Sports, go to the cinema, Ana listening music. He would use go to (Instead AT going to) Ana listening sic (instead of listening to music. ) It shows logic in the forms that he use, but that theres some confusion of when to use continuous and simple tenses. Pronunciation As mentioned before, Sidekick often replaces the It/ sound with the d/ sound. Areas where the student needs assistant So uttermost Sidekicks greatest problems stem from the use of future(a) tenses and question tenses. For questions he will at times confuse the subject and verb e. G. Muff are Tom? and Are you Tom? The emphasis on his words indicate different meanings as weve learned during class. The former acknowledging that the speaker is vaguely familiar with the person and the latt er purely asking. After reviewing his letters, Ive decided that its not Just his future tense that is the problem, but that he still struggles with most tenses. The activities Ive selected and why For the skill Ive focused on reading. Continuous reading will help Sidekick see how to language is used, and if he stops reading Just because of one word, then hell never progress any further.At the same time, the activity Ive chosen for his reading, also applies to the other language area he requires help in Vocabulary. The activity isnt focused on his learning style, but what he needs help in. Its been downloaded from www. Insidious. Net and has several tasks which will help him to improve. The gap fill will allow him to look at the entire reprove and then get him the gist of words. There is also a task which will improve his spelling and use of parts of speech, another area that he struggles with. For the language area, Ive chosen tenses in general.Sidekick has claimed that its only t he future tense that confuses him, but Judging by his written work, theres also other tenses that he needs help on. The activity is Snakes and Ladders Tenses from Cutting Edge Upper Intermediate students book by Sarah Cunningham and Peter Moor. The questions were all changed to apply to his level and weaknesses. This game focuses on his kinetic and visual needs, helping him learn in a portion and fun setting. References www. London-translations. Co. UK www. Insidious. Net Moor. English phonetics and phonology a practical course By Peter Roach Class notes