Penny Ur: From conflict to complement and games in the language classroom

Online, Webinar

Summary

This webinar has two parts.

Part 1: From conflict to complement

A number of controversies in ELT have given rise to hot – sometimes acrimonious – debate: for example, task-based language teaching (TBLT) as against presentation-practice-production (PPP). In this session I will look at a selection of such apparently opposing positions and explore how they might be combined in a principled and adaptable approach to effective English language teaching and teacher courses.

Part 2: Games in the language classroom: A good thing?  A waste of time? It depends.

This talk will begin by defining what a ‘game’ is, and will then go on to explore the place of games in the language classroom. It cannot be taken for granted that because a game is connected to English and keeps students happily employed it is therefore worth doing.  Many so-called language-learning games simply waste time on fruitless ‘busy-ness’, and may irritate serious students who realize that they are not learning much. I will try to identify some characteristics of genuinely learning-rich games, with examples, and suggest some ways in which routine classroom procedures can be transformed into game-like and enjoyable activities while clearly promoting effective engagement with target language features or providing rich opportunities for fluency practice.

To register, please send an email to: info@melta.de

About the presenter

Penny Ur has extensive experience as an English teacher in primary, secondary and tertiary education and has taught courses for teachers at Oranim Academic College of Education and Haifa University.  She has also lectured extensively at conferences worldwide. She is particularly interested in practical aspects of effective English language teaching and the place of research as a source of professional knowledge. She was for ten years the editor of the Cambridge Handbooks for Language Teachers series. Her books include Grammar practice activities (2^nd Edition) (2009), Vocabulary activities (2012), A course in English language teaching (2012), Discussions and more (2014), Penny Ur’s 100 tips (2016), Penny Ur’s 77 tips for vocabulary teaching (2022), all published by Cambridge University Press.