TKT Module 1: Types of activities and tasks for language and skills

development – Participant’s Worksheet 1

Drill - choral drilling and individual drilling

The teacher says a word or sentence and the students repeat it together as a class
or individually.

Revise/Review

When a teacher or a student looks again at language or skills that have already been
taught in order to remember this language better.

Contextualise

to put new language into a situation that shows what it means

Elicit

When a teacher asks specially designed questions or gives clues to get students to
give the information.

Model

The teacher says the language for students to repeat in a drilling.

Praise

to tell someone they have done well

Prompt

to help learners think of ideas or to remember a word or phrase by giving them a part
of it or by giving another kind of clue

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TKT Module 1: Types of activities and tasks for language and skills
development – Participant’s Worksheet 2
Exercise 1
Choose one of the task types (A–K) for each of the activities below (1–11).

A guided writing B role-play C problem solving D survey

E brainstorming F chant G jumbled text H warmer
I rank ordering/prioritising J visualisation K jigsaw listening /reading

1. Students find out information from others by asking questions or using questionnaires in
order to practise speaking skills and/or specific language.
2. Students repeat a phrase, sentence, rhyme, verse, poem or song, usually with others, in
a regular rhythm.
3. An activity that a teacher uses at the beginning of a lesson to give the class more
energy.
4. A text is divided into two or more different parts. Students listen to or read their part
only, then share their information with other students so that in the end everyone knows
all the information.
5. Students think of ideas (usually quickly) about a topic (often noting these down). This is
often done as preparation before writing or speaking.
6. An activity where the teacher asks students to close their eyes and create the pictures in
their minds of the story she is telling them.
7. Students produce a text after a lot of preparation by the teacher. The teacher may give
the students a plan to follow, or ideas for the language to use.
8. A classroom activity in which students are given parts to act out in a given situation.
They usually work in pairs or groups.
9. Students are given a list of things to put in order of importance. It involves discussion,
agreeing/disagreeing and negotiating.
10. Students work in pairs or groups talking together to find the solution to a problem.
11. Students are given a text in which the paragraphs or sentences are not in the correct
order. The students put the paragraphs or sentences into the correct order.

Exercise 2
Look at the activities again. Is the activity a comprehension task or a production task? If it’s a comprehension
task, which skill? If it’s a production task, which skill?

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TKT Module 1: Types of activities and tasks for language and skills
development – Participant’s Worksheet 3

Exercise 1

Guided discovery Task-based learning (TBL)

Grammar-translation method Test-teach-test
Lexical approach Total Physical Response (TPR)
Presentation, practice and production (PPP) Skills-based lessons

____________________________________________________________________
Exercise 2

Frameworks for activities and task Approaches

1. Activity with a task and discussion of the task → activity to
focus on language used in the task
2. Grammar rule → students translate a text

3. The teacher presents language items as instructions → the

students do the actions → the students give the instructions
4. Lead in → pre-teach key vocabulary → gist task → detailed
comprehension task → follow up productive activity
5. Activity with a task to see if students can use a particular
structure → the teacher presents the new language to the
students → students do another task using new language
6. The teacher presents the language in context → controlled
practice activities →less controlled → freer practice
7. Activity with examples of the target language provided →
activity for students to work out language rules for themselves
→ activity for students to practice the language
8. Activity for students to ‘notice’ words or chunks of language →
discussion of the meaning of the chunks of language →
activity to practise the language

© UCLES 2009. This material may be photocopied (without alteration) and distributed for classroom
use provided no charge is made. For further information see our Terms and Conditions
TKT Module 1: Types of activities and tasks for language and skills
development – Participant’s Worksheet 4

Key to Participant’s worksheet 3 Exercise 2

Frameworks for activities and task Approaches

1. Activity with a task and discussion of the task → activity to Task-based learning
focus on language used in the task (TBL)
2. Grammar rule → students translate a text Grammar-translation
method
3. The teacher presents language items as instructions → the Total Physical
students do the actions → the students give the instructions Response(TPR)
4. Lead in → pre-teach key vocabulary → gist task → detailed Skills-based lessons
comprehension task → follow up productive activity
5. Activity with a task to see if students can use a particular Test-teach-test
structure → the teacher presents the new language to the
students → students do another task using new language
6. The teacher presents the language in context → controlled Presentation, practice
practice activities →less controlled → freer practice and production (PPP)
7. Activity with examples of the target language provided → Guided discovery
activity for students to work out language rules for themselves
→ activity for students to practice the language
8. Activity for students to ‘notice’ words or chunks of language → Lexical approach
discussion of the meaning of the chunks of language →
activity to practise the language

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use provided no charge is made. For further information see our Terms and Conditions
TKT Module 1: Types of activities and tasks for language and skills
development – Sample Task

For questions 1–7, match the classroom activities with the types of speaking practice listed A, B or C.
Mark the correct letter (A, B or C) on your answer sheet.
You need to use some options more than once
Types of speaking practice

A oral fluency practice

B controlled oral practice

C neither

Classroom activities

1 At the beginning of the lesson, we got into groups and talked about an interesting
newspaper article we had read.

2 The teacher gave us word prompts such as ‘cinema’ and ‘friends’, and we had to
say them in sentences using the past simple, e.g. ‘We went to the cinema.’ ‘We
visited some friends.’

3 We listened to a recording of two people talking about their hobbies, then did a
gap-fill comprehension task.

4 The teacher gave us roles such as ‘film star’ or ‘sports star’ and we had to role play
a party in which we chatted to each other.

5 We had a discussion about the advantages and disadvantages of the internet.

The teacher read out some sentences, some of which were correct and some
6 incorrect. We had to shout out ‘Right’ or ‘Wrong’.

We had to ask our partner five questions about abilities, using ‘can’, e.g. ‘Can you
7 swim?’

© UCLES 2009. This material may be photocopied (without alteration) and distributed for classroom
use provided no charge is made. For further information see our Terms and Conditions