Mentor: Prof.Dr.

Nina Daskalovska

Izrabotil: Valentina Prepaskovska No.16404

The Direct Method

Teachers, frustrated by the limits of the Grammar Translation Method in terms of its inability to create communicative competence in students, began to experiment with new ways of teaching language like Direct Method in post-war and depression era classrooms. This methods name comes from the fact that meaning is to be conveyed directly in the target language. And its also called Natural Method as its based on the way children learn their native language.

 Aim: The Direct Method aims at establishing the direct

bond between thought and expressions and between experience and language. It is based on the assumption that the learner should experience the new language in the same way as he experienced his mother tongue. Its main features are: 1. Only the use of target language is allowed in class, 2. Students are encouraged to think in the target language, 3. Grammar should be taught inductively, 4. This method is based on sound principles of education. It believes in introducing the particular before general, concrete before abstract and practice before theory.

5. The teacher should demonstrate not explain or

translate, 6. Vocabulary should be learned in full sentences rather than memorizing word lists, 7. Pronunciation should be worked on right from outset, 8. Self-correction facilitates language learning,, 9. First speaking is taught and then reading and writing, 10. The learner should be actively involved in using the target language in realistic everyday situation, 11. The syllabus is based on situations or topics, not usually on linguistic structures, 12. Objects should be used to help student understand the meaning.

Strategies Using Direct Method

Q & A: The teacher asks questions of any nature and the

students answer.
Dictation: The teacher chooses a grade appropriate passage

and reads the text aloud. Teacher reads the passage three times.
Reading Aloud: Students take turn reading sections of a

passage, play or dialog out loud.

Getting Students to Self-Correct: The teacher should have

the students self-correct by offering them a choice between what they said and the correct answer.

 Conversation Practise: The teacher asks students a

number of questions in the target language which the students are able to answer correctly. Later, the students ask each other their own questions using the same grammatical structures.
Map Drawing: Students are given a map without labeled

then the students label it by using the directions the teacher gives.
Paragraph Writing : The students are asked to write a

passage in their own words. They can do this from memory or use a reading passage in the lesson as a model.

Characteristics
Lessons begin with dialogues and anecdotes in

modern conversational style. Actions and pictures are used to make the meanings clear. Literary texts are read for pleasure and are not analyzed grammatically. The target culture is also taught inductively. The teacner must be a native speaker or native like proficiency in the target language. (Celce Murcia, 1979:6)

Advantages & Disadvantages of Direct Method

Advantages Disadvantages
Students are encourage & motivated Lack of teachers that interested in to use L2 spontaneously. using DM(not many teachers creative to create their own materials) Its emphasis on speech made it more DM ignores written work & reading attractive for those who have needs of activities and sufficient attention is not real communication in the target paid to reading & writing skills. language It make learning process interesting In large class, DM is not properly and fun because DM encourage using applied.(not satisfy the needs of realia during learning process. individual) Students are able to understand what DM is not suitable for public school they learn.(it focus on meaning not the because it is costly.(realia, visual rules) materials)

Conclusion
According to this method, printed language and text

must be kept away from second language learner for as long as possible, just as a first language learner does not use printed word until he has good grasp of speech. Learning of writing and spelling should be delayed until after the printed word has been introduced, and grammar and translation should also be avoided because this would involve the application of the learner's first language. All above items must be avoided because they hinder the acquisition of a good oral proficiency.

Lesson plan: Animals and their habitats

This lesson plan is aimed at teaching a foreign language in an elementary school classroom, where the participating students are third graders. The class starts with a 15-minute expository dialog or question -and -answer period, during which the children learn new vocabulary or grammar. As the task is aimed at elementary students, teachers should be aware that it should be presented as simple as possible. For example, the teacher may ask the students about their favorite cartoon, linking the motivational atmosphere with the subject. To simplify the task, the teacher could also ask if the childrens favorite cartoons are, for example Tom and Jerry or Finding Nemo. In her hand, she holds a pictures of a fish, a cat and a mouse, and asks the students to identify the animals. A similar exercise is conducted about the animals habitats. Next: a 15minute game or activity that helps practice the newly presented material. (My approaches).

Annimal Collage
Topic

Animals and their habitats Verb to be (form) Materials Plain white paper (1 sheet per student) Crayons, pens, or markers A few large poster sketches of different animal habitats (rainforest, ocean, desert, forest, house, etc.) Tape
Objectives

To reinforce animal and habitat vocabulary through art while incorporating the verbs to be (form) or to live (in)

 Instructions Pass out pieces of plain white paper to the students. Ask them each to make a simple drawing of an animal, choosing from the animals they have studied in class. When the students are finished with their drawings, students individually come to the front of the room, hold up their drawings, and announce their animals and the habitats in which they live. For example, to use the verb to be (form), the student holds up the drawing of a fish and say, The fish is from the ocean. After announcing this, the students tape their animals on the appropriate habitat poster. Note If there is not enough time for students to come up individually, call then up by habitat. For example say: All the animals of the ocean come to the front. Than the students can still announce their animals but save time by not announcing their habitats. (Boucquery, Ph.D; Flores; Kramer; McPherson; Pettit; Silverstain; Tjuanakis 2006:2)

Literature used
Larsen-Freeman, D. 2000. Techniques and Principles

in Language Teaching; Oxford University Press. Richards, J. C.& Rodgers T. S. 2001. Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching; Cambridge University Press. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct_method_education http://purwarnolinguistics.blogspot.com/2006/01/direct-method.html http://www.englishraven.com/method_direct.html