HLT3701 – Home Language Teaching
University of South Africa
Classroom activities, concepts, phonics instruction, low and high order
questions, shared writing.
1.1 Activities using the class discussion strategy to develop listening and
speaking skills among Grade 3 learners.
a. Ball toss game
Skills: Reading/ Listening/ Speaking.
Material: Lightweight ball with questions written on it.
Procedure: Have learners sit or stand in a circle. Before the activity begins,
tell learners to listen closely to each other’s answers. Learner A asks a
question and tosses the ball to learner B. Learner B answers the question
and then asks the question that is under his/her right thumb ad tosses the
ball to Learner C. Learner C answers the question and also asks a question
that is under his/her thumb and tosses the ball and so on.
Examples:
What is your favourite subject?
What do you want to be when you grow up?
What do you usually do on weekends?
What is your favourite pet?
When every learner has had the chance to ask and answer questions, the
teacher ask learners questions about other students. E.g. What is Thabo’s
favourite pet? What does Linda wants to be when she grows up? These
questions will test the learners’ listening and speaking skills.
b. Hot seat
Skills: Listening/Speaking
Material: Two empty chairs, vocabulary list
Procedure:
1|Page
, Put learners into two teams or more depending on the size of the
class.
Learners should sit facing the board.
Put two empty chairs (one for each team) in front of the class, these
are the ‘hot seats’.
One team member from each team sits on the hot seat facing team
members.
Teacher takes the first word on the vocabulary list and writes it on the
board.
Team members must describe the word using synonyms or definitions
etc. to their team mate who is on the hot seat.
The learner on the hot seat listens to his/her team members and tries
to guess the word that is being described.
The first to say the word wins a point for the team.
Learners rotate to get on the hot seat and the teacher keeps on writing
the vocabulary on the board.
This activity enables learners to exercise their listening and speaking
skills. They also get to revise vocabulary.
1.2 Concept of Zone of Proximal Development
It refers to the difference in abilities of what learners can achieve without assistance
from the teacher (individually) and what they can achieve with the teacher’s
encouragement and guidance. The creation of ZPDs involves assistance with the
cognitive structuring of learning tasks and sensitivity to the learner's current capabilities.
(McLeod, 2019).
According to the social constructivism theory, children’s learning is influenced by their
social environment. The knowledge that they construct derives from adults around them
and from one another. Since language is socially constructed, in order to develop the
learners’ speaking skills I would make students to work in pairs or groups in order to
learn from each other. I would incorporate the scaffolding technique by making use of
objects, pictures or models in the classroom to enhance their learning experience. I
2|Page
University of South Africa
Classroom activities, concepts, phonics instruction, low and high order
questions, shared writing.
1.1 Activities using the class discussion strategy to develop listening and
speaking skills among Grade 3 learners.
a. Ball toss game
Skills: Reading/ Listening/ Speaking.
Material: Lightweight ball with questions written on it.
Procedure: Have learners sit or stand in a circle. Before the activity begins,
tell learners to listen closely to each other’s answers. Learner A asks a
question and tosses the ball to learner B. Learner B answers the question
and then asks the question that is under his/her right thumb ad tosses the
ball to Learner C. Learner C answers the question and also asks a question
that is under his/her thumb and tosses the ball and so on.
Examples:
What is your favourite subject?
What do you want to be when you grow up?
What do you usually do on weekends?
What is your favourite pet?
When every learner has had the chance to ask and answer questions, the
teacher ask learners questions about other students. E.g. What is Thabo’s
favourite pet? What does Linda wants to be when she grows up? These
questions will test the learners’ listening and speaking skills.
b. Hot seat
Skills: Listening/Speaking
Material: Two empty chairs, vocabulary list
Procedure:
1|Page
, Put learners into two teams or more depending on the size of the
class.
Learners should sit facing the board.
Put two empty chairs (one for each team) in front of the class, these
are the ‘hot seats’.
One team member from each team sits on the hot seat facing team
members.
Teacher takes the first word on the vocabulary list and writes it on the
board.
Team members must describe the word using synonyms or definitions
etc. to their team mate who is on the hot seat.
The learner on the hot seat listens to his/her team members and tries
to guess the word that is being described.
The first to say the word wins a point for the team.
Learners rotate to get on the hot seat and the teacher keeps on writing
the vocabulary on the board.
This activity enables learners to exercise their listening and speaking
skills. They also get to revise vocabulary.
1.2 Concept of Zone of Proximal Development
It refers to the difference in abilities of what learners can achieve without assistance
from the teacher (individually) and what they can achieve with the teacher’s
encouragement and guidance. The creation of ZPDs involves assistance with the
cognitive structuring of learning tasks and sensitivity to the learner's current capabilities.
(McLeod, 2019).
According to the social constructivism theory, children’s learning is influenced by their
social environment. The knowledge that they construct derives from adults around them
and from one another. Since language is socially constructed, in order to develop the
learners’ speaking skills I would make students to work in pairs or groups in order to
learn from each other. I would incorporate the scaffolding technique by making use of
objects, pictures or models in the classroom to enhance their learning experience. I
2|Page
