Here - EnglishAgenda - British Council

WeekTime(mins)ContentPart of thesystemMedium5 60 Work with banks of mistakes 5 Online20 Support session 5 Classroom30 Development of the improved model 5 Online6 60 Testing of the improved model 5 Online30 Further work with the bank of mistakes 5 Online40 Presentation of models and their discussion 5 Classroom7 40 Implementation of the model 6 Online40 Putting models to practice + discussion ofremaining questions6 Online andclassroom8 15 Final test 7 Online20 Analysis of results 7 Classroom30 Reflection and plan for further work 7 Online20 The teacher’s reflection and advicefor further work7 ClassroomThe time indicators above should be treated with caution. Normally more time shouldbe allocated when students work with their first system, as in addition to new content,they are getting used to new technology and often a new approach to learningin which they are expected to ‘build’ their understanding instead of being giveninformation to remember. In the beginning, one lesson was spent on introducingthe online modules to learners and explaining the rationale for this work. Learnersgenerally accepted the idea that classroom time can be used more effectively if itis allocated to those things that are impossible or very difficult to do without theteacher. Most grammar work does not fall under this category and thus can be dealtwith online. The ease of doing was the main factor behind the rationale used for thedivision between classroom and online activities. It should be noted though, thatin the beginning, more time was spent in the classroom to familiarise learners withsome task types and the way of thinking expected on their part, especially in partswhere own-grammar models had to be developed and tested.It should also be stressed that work with grammar described in this study constitutedonly a part of the General English course offered to learners (about 20 per cent ifboth classroom and individual learning time are considered).Methodology and skills developedAs seen from the description above, the approach to learning grammar is verydifferent from the traditional present-practise-produce (PPP) models typical of mostonline resources. In the proposed approach, learners start with a hypothesis aboutthe use of the structures, test it through collecting a bank of mistakes and thenimprove the initial hypothesis. The model is presented in Figure 1.192 | A thinking-based blended learning course