Controlled practice
Once new language has been introduced to the students, they need to have an opportunity to try it out for themselves. To become familiar with the form and get their tongues and brains around it, controlled practice activities can be used. These
activities focus only on the target language, giving the students many opportunities to use it.
There are many kinds of controlled practice activities as well as those in grammar and course books. Here are a few
examples:
• Drills
• Gap-fill
• Sentence completion
• Quizzes
• Games
• Tests
• Information search
• Dictation
This is an example of a very simple game that we could use in our lesson:
A good way to practise ‘for’ and ‘since’ is with the pointing game. On one piece of paper write ‘FOR’ in capital letters.
On another piece of paper write ‘SINCE’. Pin the two pieces up on opposites sides of the class room. Tell the students
that they have to point to the correct word when you say a time, date or year. For example, if you read out ‘5 years’
they should point to ‘FOR’. And if you read out ‘1988’ they should point to ‘SINCE’. When you’ve used all the
examples, stick the pieces of paper with ‘FOR and ‘SINCE on the board. Read the time expressions out again. This time
students shouldn’t point, they should shout out ‘for’ or ‘since’. As they shout the words, write the time expressions under
the correct word, ‘FOR’ or ‘SINCE’. Now get the students to use the time expression in other examples. Divide the
students into pairs and tell them to make sentences using the time expressions and ‘for’ and ‘since’. Tell them to make
the sentences true for them. Give an example of your own to get them started. For example, ‘I’ve been a teacher since
1992’.
Boo Tumber - Lesson Plan, Programme 4
This activity helps to reinforce the target language by repetition, but it’s done in an entertaining way for the students and it
leads on to students creating sentences about their own lives. This is another very important feature of teaching and
learning. If teachers can personalise the target language, that is, get the students to use it to talk and write about their own
lives and experiences, it can greatly help the learning process.
Here’s another practical idea for personalised controlled practice. It’s a form of sentence completion exercise. Notice again
that although the practice is very controlled, it involves the students using their own ideas as sources of material.
Many course books and grammar books have excellent activities for practising new language. However, I try to do
something that is perhaps a little more personal or more closely connected to my students’ lives. One of my favourite
activities or most productive activities, the ‘negative sentence completion’, is an ideal quick activity. For this activity the
students are in pairs. Each student writes the beginning of some sentences that use the target language, for us toda y
the present perfect with ‘for’ and ‘since’. A student might write, ‘I haven’t eaten chocolate for ...’, ‘I haven’t played
football since ...’, ‘I haven’t been to the beach for ...’. Ask the students to write the beginnings of four or five sentences
and when they have done that they can do one of two things. Either they pass the sentences to their partner who now
completes them with suitable language that is true for their lives. So for me, ‘I haven’t eaten chocolate for 10 minutes’,
‘I haven’t been to the beach since 1997’, ‘I haven’t played football for 10 years’. Or perhaps for a higher level class the
student reads out the beginning of their sentence and the partner has to complete it with the language that is true for
them. For very adventurous classes you could ask the students to stand up and to walk around the class asking
different students to complete different sentences. This is an excellent way to extend a very controlled activity. So this
activity allows the students to practice the target language in a very controlled way. They have an opportunity to use it
many times, this repetition will help the students acquire or learn the new language. And most importantly, they’ve had
a chance to use the language in a real, meaningful way. They’ ve been talking about their own lives using the target
language.
Gareth Rees - Lesson Plan, Programme 4
The purpose of controlled practice is to allow the students to internalise the new language successfully so that they
understand it, they know how and when to use it and they’ve had a chance to produce it. Ultimately, we want students to
be able to use the target language in appropriate ways in a less controlled and more natural environment. Controlled
practice helps to fix the language in the students’ mind so that this becomes more possible.
By it’s nature, controlled practice can be very repetitive. Too much repetition can have a negative effect on the students.
They can become bored and lose interest. In order to create and maintain a good atmosphere for learning, it’s important to
have variety in the practice stage and to be sure that activities do not go on for too long.
Once new language has been introduced to the students, they need to have an opportunity to try it out for themselves. To become familiar with the form and get their tongues and brains around it, controlled practice activities can be used. These
activities focus only on the target language, giving the students many opportunities to use it.
There are many kinds of controlled practice activities as well as those in grammar and course books. Here are a few
examples:
• Drills
• Gap-fill
• Sentence completion
• Quizzes
• Games
• Tests
• Information search
• Dictation
This is an example of a very simple game that we could use in our lesson:
A good way to practise ‘for’ and ‘since’ is with the pointing game. On one piece of paper write ‘FOR’ in capital letters.
On another piece of paper write ‘SINCE’. Pin the two pieces up on opposites sides of the class room. Tell the students
that they have to point to the correct word when you say a time, date or year. For example, if you read out ‘5 years’
they should point to ‘FOR’. And if you read out ‘1988’ they should point to ‘SINCE’. When you’ve used all the
examples, stick the pieces of paper with ‘FOR and ‘SINCE on the board. Read the time expressions out again. This time
students shouldn’t point, they should shout out ‘for’ or ‘since’. As they shout the words, write the time expressions under
the correct word, ‘FOR’ or ‘SINCE’. Now get the students to use the time expression in other examples. Divide the
students into pairs and tell them to make sentences using the time expressions and ‘for’ and ‘since’. Tell them to make
the sentences true for them. Give an example of your own to get them started. For example, ‘I’ve been a teacher since
1992’.
Boo Tumber - Lesson Plan, Programme 4
This activity helps to reinforce the target language by repetition, but it’s done in an entertaining way for the students and it
leads on to students creating sentences about their own lives. This is another very important feature of teaching and
learning. If teachers can personalise the target language, that is, get the students to use it to talk and write about their own
lives and experiences, it can greatly help the learning process.
Here’s another practical idea for personalised controlled practice. It’s a form of sentence completion exercise. Notice again
that although the practice is very controlled, it involves the students using their own ideas as sources of material.
Many course books and grammar books have excellent activities for practising new language. However, I try to do
something that is perhaps a little more personal or more closely connected to my students’ lives. One of my favourite
activities or most productive activities, the ‘negative sentence completion’, is an ideal quick activity. For this activity the
students are in pairs. Each student writes the beginning of some sentences that use the target language, for us toda y
the present perfect with ‘for’ and ‘since’. A student might write, ‘I haven’t eaten chocolate for ...’, ‘I haven’t played
football since ...’, ‘I haven’t been to the beach for ...’. Ask the students to write the beginnings of four or five sentences
and when they have done that they can do one of two things. Either they pass the sentences to their partner who now
completes them with suitable language that is true for their lives. So for me, ‘I haven’t eaten chocolate for 10 minutes’,
‘I haven’t been to the beach since 1997’, ‘I haven’t played football for 10 years’. Or perhaps for a higher level class the
student reads out the beginning of their sentence and the partner has to complete it with the language that is true for
them. For very adventurous classes you could ask the students to stand up and to walk around the class asking
different students to complete different sentences. This is an excellent way to extend a very controlled activity. So this
activity allows the students to practice the target language in a very controlled way. They have an opportunity to use it
many times, this repetition will help the students acquire or learn the new language. And most importantly, they’ve had
a chance to use the language in a real, meaningful way. They’ ve been talking about their own lives using the target
language.
Gareth Rees - Lesson Plan, Programme 4
The purpose of controlled practice is to allow the students to internalise the new language successfully so that they
understand it, they know how and when to use it and they’ve had a chance to produce it. Ultimately, we want students to
be able to use the target language in appropriate ways in a less controlled and more natural environment. Controlled
practice helps to fix the language in the students’ mind so that this becomes more possible.
By it’s nature, controlled practice can be very repetitive. Too much repetition can have a negative effect on the students.
They can become bored and lose interest. In order to create and maintain a good atmosphere for learning, it’s important to
have variety in the practice stage and to be sure that activities do not go on for too long.
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