Tutor-Private Teaching and Learning

The Internet has often been described as the biggest communications revolution since not too long ago. The Internet is considered to be a prosperous community with many million of people exchanging information, ideas and opinions. For foreign language teachers it is the perfect medium. A foreign language teacher always gets an opportunity to access for quality, authentic teaching material. With the Internet all the teaching material can be quickly and readily available from the comfort of our desks.

The Internet in the process of foreign language teaching. An access to the Internet opens up a world of possibilities for both students and foreign language teachers. The Internet gives students an access to the world knowledge they often don`t have. The Internet puts them in touch with other students of the same language around the world. The students can send their homework to their teachers by E-mail. By using the Internet the students can take part in collaborative projects on a global scale. The Internet offers a variety of topics to satisfy a diverse audience. It`s very much motivating. Through the Internet learners are exposed to authentic language that is constantly updated. Besides, the Internet gives the students the opportunity to manage their own learning, to use it outside the class.

What are the reasons to use the Internet in language teaching? There are several possible reasons for using the Internet in language teaching. The main reason is that the linguistic nature of online communication is necessary for promoting language learning. Another well-known factor is that the Internet creates optimal conditions for learning to write, because it provides an authentic audience for written communication. Foreign language teachers know that the Internet can also increase students` motivation that is important for successful learning. There are many ways of integrating the Internet activities into the class work. The teacher and his students can investigate something in collaboration with foreign partners, can create research questions, work at publications. But every teacher has to find his own way, based on the goals of the curriculum, the needs of the students and the materials and technology available.

Communication or speaking may be defined as a major learning task. Students learn better if they have positive attitude to what they are doing. Interest is a crucial factor. Teachers get excited about the lesson when they feel that their students have communicated on a level that goes beyond going through the motions, when they have engaged with the topic on a personal level. Engagement can be triggered by anything from understanding and laughing at a cartoon to what life was when you were 8 years old.

The aim of speaking tasks. Speaking tasks, presented at the lesson, are not intended principally as a grammar practice. They are connected with the certain topic, certain vocabulary and grammar. Everything is aimed at turning input into output. Such tasks are easy to set up and enjoyable to use. Most of them encourage students to talk about things that matter to them. The students can play roles, exchange invented information.

What is linguistic risk taking? Personalized, authentic tasks challenge and engage students and this encourages linguistic risk taking. When students take risks they are experimenting, testing theories about how the language works. This is an essential part of language learning. A series of challenging speaking tasks focuses on learner`s own experiences and opinions. The choice within tasks encourages students to take charge of interactions. Teachers tend to refine and improve their set pieces: jokes and stories. Students do the same. When they have the opportunity to take risk, they become more adventurous and more precise in the language they use. The first time the students do a speaking activity, they are more likely to concentrate on the content; repetition of the task means that they have more time to process the language, increase the range of vocabulary and use more syntactically complex language. While taking linguistic risk students as well as teachers achieve the main purpose of speaking tasks – they develop fluency.