In this article, I will show how we can

• increase learners' exposure to natural English through teacher talk and teacher-led tasks
• exploit text-book material to help structure a task sequence
• incorporate priming tasks at the Pre-task stage
• manage a task-planning-report cycle with a language focus in the Planning stage
• do form focused study after the task cycle
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  • activities
  • task-based learning
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In this article we look at different types of task, and see which kinds are most often used in textbooks. I also suggest ways of adjusting them so that they stimulate more opportunities for meaning-focused interaction, and encourage learners to give longer responses. Finally I show how a graded set of tasks can be developed on a theme.

This is the first in a series of three articles which will explore how to integrate a task-based approach into a typical textbook to maximise learning opportunities for your learners and to save teacher preparation time.

This article is in three parts. The first part has already looked at what a speaker needs to be able to do to use spoken English as an effective form of communication.

The four stage cycle
In my earlier articles Reading for information, Form focus and recycling, and Techniques for Priming and recycling, I set out a four stage cycle for teaching reading:

A four stage methodology for reading
In Reading for Information, and Form focus and recycling, I have proposed a four stage methodology for teaching reading:

In my last article, Reading for Information: Motivating learners to read efficiently, I referred to four stages in a task-based reading lesson

This is the first in a series of four-articles which propose a four stage methodology for teaching reading.

Do you have a blackboard, a whiteboard or an IWB? Whatever type of board you have in your classroom it is important to be organised and to put yourself in your students' shoes for a moment.