ELT365 · D159 — Setting gist tasks that work
Idea — A gist task must be answerable from one listen or read, simple enough to capture overall meaning, and specific enough to require real processing. Example — Vague: ‘What is the text about?’ Better:…
Category: Teaching Methodology
ELT365 · D158 — The lead-in — context before the text
Idea — A lead-in activates prior knowledge, builds interest, and prepares students for the topic. It comes before any task and never reveals the text content. Example — For a listening about food markets, ask:…
ELT365 · D157 — Pre-teaching blocking vocabulary
Idea — Blocking vocabulary means words whose absence will stop comprehension entirely. Pre-teach only those — not every new word in the text. Example — In a sports commentary, ‘offside’ may block a non-sports listener.…
ELT365 · D156 — Predicting content before listening or reading
Idea — Prediction activates background knowledge and creates a purpose for engaging with the text. It primes the brain to recognise incoming information faster. Example — Before a listening about nutrition, students write three things…
ELT365 · D155 — Scanning for specific information
Idea — Scanning means moving through a text at speed to locate one specific piece of data, then stopping. The learner does not process the whole text. Example — Finding a train departure time in…
ELT365 · D154 — Gist listening — one question, whole text
Idea — A gist task asks one global question requiring a single listen. Its job is to orient the learner to the whole text, not chase detail. Example — Bad gist task: ‘What are the…
ELT365 · D153 — Top-down vs bottom-up processing
Idea — Top-down processing uses background knowledge and context to predict meaning. Bottom-up processing builds meaning from individual sounds or words. Example — Hearing ‘gate 7 … delayed … boarding’ at an airport triggers top-down:…
ELT365 · D152 — What receptive skills are
Idea — Receptive skills — reading and listening — involve decoding meaning from input. The learner receives language; they do not need to produce it. Example — A student watches a short video clip and…
ELT365 · Day 211 — Designing a Productive-Skills Lesson from Scratch
Idea — A productive-skills lesson follows: lead-in → model and analyse → prepare → task → content feedback → language feedback. Skip language focus and learners repeat errors; skip content feedback and they feel unheard.…
ELT365 · Day 210 — Pronunciation in Production: The Intelligibility Principle
Idea — The goal of pronunciation in production is intelligibility — being understood by the intended listener — not native-speaker accuracy. Many native-speaker features are unnecessary for communication (Levis). Example — A learner who adds…