TBL (Task Based Learning) Method: How to use it to plan lessons?
With a more dynamic and task-based approach, the TBL method has gained popularity in classrooms and is an excellent method for teachers.
Here, the student learns "by doing", and the teacher's role is to use this methodology to introduce activities that allow students to work on this independence in the learning process.
How do I plan lessons using the TBL method? Is it really the most suitable for my class?
To help you in this process, the Teachpedia team has prepared a content to answer your questions about Task Based Learning and how to make it part of your lesson planning.
Follow below and enjoy the reading!
What is TBL: Task Based Learning?
Useful for supporting language teaching, the TBL method focuses on the learner applying language in real situations.
A free translation for Task Based Learning would be “o ensino da língua como base em tarefas”.
Here, these "tasks" are more than exercises for language practice.
These are dynamic activities with the purpose of making students interact and manipulate language in order to produce and deal with real occurrences in which language is the centre, inducing communication in an effective way.
Thus, the student literally learns on the job, through trial and error, with a much more active participation and collecting experiences with the other students.
Just as it would happen in real-world language practice, right?
How does the TBL method work?
As in the other methods based on active learning the student is placed in the centre of the teaching-learning process.
Thus, the student is the protagonist of his / her own learning journey, with the teacher providing the tools for that to happen.
Through tasks that do not have an evaluative purpose, but enrich the learning process, the student finds himself looking for solutions to everyday situations in which the language must be put into practice.
Examples of tasks with the TBL method are:
- plan a trip;
- make a shopping list for a meal;
- discuss the weather forecast and decide on what to wear on that day;
- describe your family members with a portrait.
This is usually done through group activities, encouraging interaction and exchange of knowledge.
The student puts into practice listening skills and leitura, além de produções criativas e de fala, para então sentir que consegue se comunicar no idioma.
Here, the teacher is more involved in answering questions and correcting pronunciation and grammar mistakes, for example.
The importance of various methods in language teaching
With the world becoming increasingly integrated and with rapid access to information, ways that are considered "outdated" are no longer ideal for teaching.
Relying, then, on methodologies to integrate students and help them concentrate and bring good results for subjects is essential and makes all the difference.
For language teaching, especially, methodologies that make the student the protagonist of his/her learning process are what define a training in which the student feels ready to, in fact, put the language into practice.
As argued by William Glasser's Learning Pyramid, focusing on active methodologies for teaching students ensures that they have greater concentration and achieve better results through teaching someone or interacting with the language.
Examples of active methodologies practices are:
- debates;
- practices through activities;
- teaching a classmate or leading a group.
This type of classroom teaching also helps in the socialisation of the student.
How to plan English lessons with TBL?
The Task Based Learning method is perfect for use in English classes - in fact, for any language!
This is because language classes should be mostly practical, where theory only prepares the student to apply the language in everyday situations.
To conduct lessons based on the TBL method, the teacher needs, above all, to be creative and understanding with regard to the needs of his or her class.
When planning your lessons with the TBL method, consider the following topics:
- emphasise communication and interaction activities in groups;
- propose exercises that focus on their personal and cultural construction;
- make parallels between the grammar applied in class and English in real life;
- encourage situations where the student can feel confident practising the language and helping other colleagues.
The more playful and dynamic the activities are, the more they will captivate students and consequently, the more they will be engaged and willing to learn.
What other methodologies can be used in language teaching?
Speaking of active methodologies, the group to which Task Based Learning belongs, there are other ways to conduct your lesson in a way that helps your student have more concentration and bring better results.
These are other examples of good practice:
- flipped classroom: the teacher provides the content in advance for the student to research before the lesson;
- games: the teacher brings different kinds of games for the students to interact, also using their mobiles and tablets as support;
- hybrid teaching: The teacher proposes activities to be carried out in a remote-teaching modality, making the digital more present in the lessons;
- project based learning: approach in which students learn through the development of independent projects in collaboration with their classmates.
Always reinventing their lessons captivates their students and ensures a lighter relationship of students with English.
Conclusion
Teaching a language becomes much easier and with better learning results when the student is the focus of the knowledge journey.
Encouraging students to practise the language through real-life situations, as well as helping to retain content, encourages independence and builds confidence.
TBL method classes offer activities that work with real life simulations, being one of the best ways to learn a language!
Did you like the article? The Teachpedia blog is full of tips to help you prepare great English lessons. Check here!
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