Drilling: never get bored! (workshop) How often and how long should we drill at a lesson? What should be drilled? If you get someone to repeat something often enough, they’ll usually get it right in the end. The primary value of drilling techniques lies in the opportunity they provide to draw students' attention to elements of the language. They also offer a non-threatening chance for students to get their tongues round the sounds and rhythms of a foreign language, and to hear themselves saying something. So long as the purpose of drilling is clear in our minds, it can also be helpful to our students. The techniques offered in this session are practical and helpful in any teaching context for any target language. Come and see for yourself! https://grade.ua/uk/teachers/elena-koshovskaya/

1. Drilling: neverget bored!
Olena Koshovska,
Grade Education Centre

2. Drilling is a repetitive
oral practice of
a particular target structure.
It focuses on accuracy and
provides a model for students.
Adapted from BBC Learning English: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9x1KrKJUsU

3. tusontisubti
substitution
orcalh
choral
monietadn
nominated
akcb-cinhangi
back-chaining

4. Examples
BBC Learning English rocks.
BBC Learning English rocks.
Sean is so cool.Dan. Dan is so cool. Tim. Tim is so cool.
I like Sean and Dan.Negative:I don’t like Sean and Dan.
Past : I liked Sean and Dan. Future: I’m going to like
Sean and Dan forever.
Mario.Seen Mario. Has ever seen Mario. No one has ever
seen Mario.
- Have you ever been to France? – Yes, I have.
- Mario, have you ever been to America? – Yes, I have,
many times.
We – love – learning – English!
Types of drills
Choral, individual
Varying the voice (loud, whisper, mumbling)
Substitution drill
Transformation drills
Back-chaining (with longer sentences)
Chain drilling (T asks a question to a S, the
S responds and asks another S, etc.)
Split drilling (split the target structure across
a group, imitating the stress and intonation)
Adapted from BBC Learning English

5. Grammar
Vocabulary
Function
What
should
be drilled? And as a part of language clarification
(aspect):
Form Pronunciation

6. Type of drill?
Aspect: form or pronunciation?
Grammar, vocabulary or function?

7. Now you try:
Suggestion: choral drill, smaller group drill, individual drill, split drill.
If I’d listened to his advice, I’d have
got there much earlier.

8. I was wondering if you’d
like to go for a coffee.
Suggestion: choral drill, change voice, substitution drill

9. A: How big are the college rooms?
B: Somewhere in the region of
500 students.
Suggestion: choral drill, chain drill, substitution drill

10. They used that innovative approach.
Suggestion: choral drill of the target word, individual drill, transformation drill

11. Problem 1. How to make drilling
more varied and engaging for Ss?
Solution: Try another technique or use
more than one technique for the same TL.
Add emotion. Experiment and see which
technique(s) Ss like more.

12. Solution 2: set a goal to make drilling
a useful teaching tool for the future
and try to achieve it!
Problem 2. A teacher is shy to drill
with the group.
Solution 1: rely more on the tracks
for pronunciation in the course book.

13. Solution: generally, before.
But drilling can also be remedial,
e.g. correction and re-clarification
after the controlled practice.
Problem 3. When is it better to drill:
before or after controlled practice?

14. The best of luck
with drilling to you
and your students!

15. CELTA, Delta Modules 1,2, Cambridge English: FCE ; Grade Education Centre
Olena Koshovska
+38 (044)580 11 00 facebook: olena koshovska
skype: olena.koshovska