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Activities of Task Based Learning

This document describes six types of learning activities: listing, ordering/sorting, matching, comparing, problem solving, and sharing personal experiences. It provides examples for each type of activity, such as having students list famous people from the 20th century or compare solutions to a traffic problem in town. The document suggests that these activity types can be combined into sets that build upon each other around a common theme, helping learners gain confidence through recycling familiar vocabulary in different contexts.

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ANTHONY ZAMORA
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151 views

Activities of Task Based Learning

This document describes six types of learning activities: listing, ordering/sorting, matching, comparing, problem solving, and sharing personal experiences. It provides examples for each type of activity, such as having students list famous people from the 20th century or compare solutions to a traffic problem in town. The document suggests that these activity types can be combined into sets that build upon each other around a common theme, helping learners gain confidence through recycling familiar vocabulary in different contexts.

Uploaded by

ANTHONY ZAMORA
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Types of Learning and Teaching

Activities
Tasks are activities that requires learners to reach an outcome by means of own thoughts
or communication.
Sometimes textbooks use Listing, Ordering and Matching activities at the beginnings of
units, to introduce or revise useful words and phrases to prepare for the main topics.

Willis proposes six task types:

- Listing
You can list people, places, things, actions, reasons, everyday problems, things to do
in various circumstances, etc.
Examples:
 In pairs, agree on a list of four or five people who were famous in the 20th century and give
at least one reason for including each person;

 Can you remember your partner’s busiest day?


On your own, make a list of all the things he/she did. Then check with your partner. Were
there any things you forgot?

- ordering, sorting.
This can be sequencing, ranking, or classifying.
Examples:
 In pairs, look at your list of famous people. Which people are most likely to remain popular
and become 20th century icons? Rank them from most popular to least popular, and
be prepared to justify your order to another pair.
 (4) Look at the four pictures. They are mixed up. Work in pairs. Put the four pictures in
a sequence so that they tell a story. Prepare to tell your story to another pair.

- matching
You can match captions / texts / recorded extracts to pictures; short
notes or headlines to longer texts, e.g. news items.
Examples:
 (5) Read the texts – each is about a famous person but the person is not named - and look
at the photos. Match each text to a photo. Then talk to your partner,
and say how you were able to match them. Prepare to tell the class how you did it.
 (6) Read the four headlines A to D. Match two pieces of information (given in 1-
8 below) to each headline. Explain to your partner how you did this. What clues did you find?
Did you both use the same clues?

 Comparing.
It means finding similarities and differences.
Comparison tasks can be based on two quite
similar texts or pictures (a classic example is ‘Spot the Differences’) or places or events, etc. that lea
rners have experience of. Learners can also compare their own work with that of another learner or a
nother pair or group.
Examples:
 Compare your list of possible 20th century icons with your partner’s list. Did you have any
people in common?
Tell each other why you chose them. How many reasons did you both think of? Finally,
combine your two lists, but keep it to five people.
 Tell your picture story to another pair and listen to theirs.
Compare stories – make a list of the main similarities and differences.

- problem solving
Text-books often contain activities based on common problems – pollution, relationships, noisy
neighbours and so on. But sometimes problem-
solving tasks are over too quickly – learners agree on the first solution that comes to mind, using
mimal language, e.g. ‘Noisy neighbours? OK –
so call police’. The instructions for the town centre traffic problem in the example below incorporate
six or seven ways of generating richer interaction. Which of these ways might you use with your clas
ses?
Example:
 Think of a town centre where there is too much traffic.
 In group of
three, think of three alternative solutions to this problem. List the advantages and disadvantages
of each alternative. Then decide which alternative would be the cheapest one, the most innovativ
e one, the most environmentally friendly one. Report your decisions to another group / the class,
and discuss with them which solution would be the best one to put forward to the local governm
ent.

- sharing personal experiences, anecdote, telling


Activities where learners are asked to recount their personal experiences and tell stories that
are valuable because they give learners a chance to speak for longer and in a more sustained way.
And it is something we often do in real-life.
Example:

In pairs, look at the role that you have to be (student A or student B) and them with your own
thoughts and experiences make the things that you have to do. After that, you can exchange your
roles.

You will by now have noticed that many of these tasks carry on the same themes as
in previous tasks. It is possible to build up ‘a
set of tasks’ on the same theme, each one arising out of the previous one. This is an excellent way to
build learner’s confidence – once they are
familiar with the basic vocabulary for the topic, they can then do
a range of activities recycling the topic language and using it for different purposes in a set of tasks.

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