Call me old fashioned,but I love using a good dictation lesson with my adult learners.(I think the students love it,too.)I would argue that dictation is one of the greatest activities to encompass all four language skills:Students listen to the words.Students speak for clarification.Students write the words.Students read to self-check.Dictation can be used as a quick check on student progress.The instructor can“gain insight into the strengths and weaknesses of each student,”(Alkire,2002)and plan subsequent lessons accordingly.
Some benefits of dictation
■ Dictation has real world applications:phone messages,bus schedules,etc.
■ Dictation utilizes higher levels of thinking.
■ Dictation can be viewed as developing note taking skills for university classes.
■ Small classes or large classes,dictation can be an incredibly engaging activity.
■ Students can self correct.(adapted from Alkire,2002)
Here are some short dictation activities:
Appointments
Read the times and dates.If you repeat them(as you should)you can vary the format(for example“two fifteen p.m.”and“quarter past two in the afternoon”or“Monday,May 7”and“Monday,7 May”)
a. 2:15 pm, Thursday, 25 June
b. 4:40 pm, 12th January
c. 12 noon, Wednesday 27 April
d. Saturday, the 19th of August, 2:05 am
e. 5:50 pm, 01/05/08
Money
Change the currencies as you wish.You could also introduce the international currency abbreviations(GBP,CHF,USD,JPY,EUR,etc)if appropriate.
a. 97 ￠ (cents)
b. ￥5,630,000 (yen)
c. 367Fr (Swiss Francs)
d. ￡200.50 (pounds)
e. 250.00 (euro)
Names
You’ll need to spell the names out… especially names from non-Latin script language into English.
a. Mohamoud Yousif Kafood
b. Sir Athie Houghey
c. Tigist Abebe
d. Miss I. E. Pastel
e. Edger Allen Poe
f. Thao Xuan Linh Nguyen
Telephone Numbers
Students should be able to reproduce the groups, not just the numbers. In other words,if you read“00-1-23-45-67-89”,the students should not just give you“00123456789”as the anwser. When you repeat then,you can vary the delivery.For example,you could say“three,three,three”or “triple three”or“three double three”if you wanted to be particularly awkward.
