MOTIVATING TEENAGERS WITH TASK-BASED ACTIVITIES

INTRODUCTION
What are the problems we face when teaching teenagers?
- They'd rather be somewhere else.
- They may bring a lot of negative baggage with them from their     previous experience of learning English.
- They see school as a place to socialise. Consequently, they spend most of the class talking to each other in their own language. 
- They all want to show off. But at the same time they are very self-conscious.
- They can't see the point in what you are trying to do.
- They are rarely interested in learning a language for its own sake.
- They are rarely as enthusiastic about grammar as teachers are.
- They've probably been learning English for years and anything you try to teach them will be met with: 'We've done this already'.

WHAT ARE THE DISADVANTAGES OF THE CONVENTIONAL COURSEBOOK LESSON?
- Although the coursebook writers try hard to focus on topics that are of interest to young people, the students are never fully engaged. It is never 'theirs'; they are always at a distance from the material.
- The lessons tend to follow the same formula: Introduce language, practise language in written exercises, do some kind of 'communicative activity' (which is rarely truly communicative), produce some guided writing. There is a place for this kind of lesson but lessons that begin: 'Turn to page 16 and read the text' may quieten the students down but will not stimulate and motivate them.

HOW DOES A TASK-BASED LESSON DIFFER FROM A COURSEBOOK LESSON?
- All language is contextualised and contains all the normal features of speech. 
- The focus is on the outcome or result, which will be something that would have relevance in the 'real world' such as a proposal, an advertisement, a talk, a letter, a magazine article, a TV/radio programme etc.
- Both the preparation and the final result will involve real communication, which can give the teacher an opportunity to assess the students (e.g. according to the CEF bands,) 
- The language will be that which is needed to carry out the task and will be supplied by the teacher when asked for. The students will ask for the language they need rather than the teacher telling them what language to use, although once the task has been presented to them, there may be some discussion of the kind of language they might need. 
- The task allows students to draw on their own creativity and inventiveness.
- The work involved gives those students who have talents other than linguistic ones a chance to shine (drawing, music, science etc.) It is often during task-based activities that the teacher has an opportunity to find out what talents the students have.
- The activity is learner-centred rather than teacher-centred.
- The students are motivated by their desire to achieve the task, especially if there is a competitive element in it. 
- It doesn’t matter if the students have different levels of English. (No class will ever be uniform.) It can even be a mix of native and non-native learners.
- Discipline is easier to maintain because they are all involved in the task. If someone misbehaves, they can be given some boring work to do in a quiet corner. However, it is often the class clown who shines in this kind of activity. 
- The parents can be invited to come and see the results in an end-of-term ‘open day’.

ORGANISATION OF THE CLASS
- My classes (of all ages) are organised on the English 'house' system as can be seen in the Harry Potter stories. In a class of sixteen students I have four groups of four. If there are twenty four in a class it could be four groups of six or six groups of four. I call them red, blue, yellow and green. 
- During the term each group can gain stars for good behaviour, good work, winning competitions, doing class duties etc. Conversely, they can lose stars for bad behaviour, homework not done etc. At the end of term each member of the group gets a certificate and a little prize. They usually take this very seriously.
(Peer pressure is much more effective than teacher nagging!)
- In task-based work a group can win stars for the best result. I often get another teacher or the director of the school to come in and be the judge. This makes it more like a real-life activity.
- Although the students always use English for the final outcome, they are often unwilling to use it during the planning/discussion stage so I usually go round listening to them and when I hear them trying to use English, I say: "Extra star for (blue) group". If you have to give the students an oral grade at the end of term, this is often a good time to evaluate some of them.

ORGANISING A TASK-BASED LESSON
1.	STIMULUS
This is something that will arouse the students’ curiosity or challenge them in some way. (You may even have something written on the board already when they come in.)
This will focus them straight away.
2.	INPUT
This can be a short film, a text, a song – something that will get them thinking and give them ideas.
3.	SETTING UP THE TASK
Divide them into groups or pairs. Explain what the objective is, check that they have understood and explain how they can achieve the task.
4.	DOING THE TASK
Give the students a time limit for completing the task, explain that they must try to communicate in English and that points will be awarded for this. You could record some of their conversation at this point. They can use dictionaries and ask you to help them if necessary.
5.	FEEDBACK
The final result will be an oral or written presentation of some kind. This could be a talk, an interview, a TV/radio programme, a poster, a magazine, a letter etc

SOME SUCCESSFUL TASK-BASED LESSONS I HAVE TAUGHT
-	A SQUIRREL-PROOF BIRD-FEEDER
-	CRAZY INVENTIONS
-	AN INVENTION OF THE FUTURE
-	A POSTER ABOUT BULLYING
-	A POSTER FOR ‘GREEN DAY’ (ECOLOGY)
-	A CLASS MAGAZINE
-	A MURDER MYSTERY (WRITE AND PERFORM)
-	RE-WRITE THE LYRICS OF A SONG (TOPIC-HOLIDAYS)
-	A TV PROGRAMME ON UNEXPLAINED MYSTERIES 
   - TV INTERVIEWS
   - INVENTING A GAME 

WHAT ARE THE DRAWBACKS?
-	The students may take too long at the preparation and the presentation stage. Deadlines must be given. After all, in real life they would have a deadline to meet.
-	The parents may not understand this way of teaching. It is important to explain the rationale to them.
-	The students may use their own language a lot. However, this shows that they are involved and enthusiastic. It is important to try to get them to use the target language but the main thing is that they use English during the presentation stage and any follow-up oral activity.
-	The students will often read from their notes. This can sound unnatural. They need to be discouraged from doing this.
-	Sometimes the students will copy information in language that is too sophisticated for them and then regurgitate it. They need to learn how to read and then paraphrase the information. A good way to do this is to tell them that they are going to present it to Primary School children.
NOTE: At the beginning of the year take in a video or audio recording with a few examples of famous people from their country or other countries speaking in English (e.g. Cristiano Ronaldo, José Mourinho etc).  Explain that it is important to be able to communicate in an international context and that these people use English effectively. If possible, pick out some mistakes that these people make either of vocabulary or pronunciation and stress that the important thing is to get the message across not to speak faultlessly.