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Pre-While-Post Model for Skills Lessons

The document outlines the Pre-While-Post model for structuring skills lessons, which consists of three stages: Pre-task, While-task, and Post-task. Each stage serves a specific purpose, with the Pre-task preparing students, the While-task providing a framework for practice, and the Post-task allowing for meaningful application of learned skills. The teacher's role varies across stages, focusing on preparation, monitoring, and evaluation, while emphasizing the importance of well-prepared materials for effective task-based learning.

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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
182 views3 pages

Pre-While-Post Model for Skills Lessons

The document outlines the Pre-While-Post model for structuring skills lessons, which consists of three stages: Pre-task, While-task, and Post-task. Each stage serves a specific purpose, with the Pre-task preparing students, the While-task providing a framework for practice, and the Post-task allowing for meaningful application of learned skills. The teacher's role varies across stages, focusing on preparation, monitoring, and evaluation, while emphasizing the importance of well-prepared materials for effective task-based learning.

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Hiền Trang
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© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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MODULE 2.2.

SHAPE OF A SKILL LESSON


THE PRE-WHILE-POST MODEL
1. Understanding the Pre-While-Post model
Three Stages
A grammar or vocabulary lesson has three stages; Presentation, Practice and Production. A skills
lesson also has three stages: Pre-task, While-task and Post-task. For example, the first stage in a
writing lesson is the Pre-writing stage. The second stage is the While-writing stage, and the third stage
Is the Post-writing stage. This simple framework structures the teacher's lesson plan so that students
not only 'understand' but: use (the four skills in a meaningful, task-based way. Pre While, Post
techniques give students practical tools for using (the four skills in real life. not for just passing their
school exams.
The 'Pre' Stage
The 'Pre' stage prepares students by getting them to think about the topic or situation before they read,
listen, speak or write about it. 'Pre' tasks can be brainstorming or discussion tasks, where students
collect all their ideas on the topic; vocabulary preparation tasks, where the teacher pre-teaches key
vocabulary to aid comprehension, prediction tasks, where students guess what they are about to learn;
and production tasks, where students produce language in one skill which will later be transformed
into another skill.
The 'While' Stage
The 'While' stage gives students a 'guide' or framework to help them practice the target skill of the
lesson. 'While' tasks can be comprehension tasks, where students answer questions based on the text;
ordering tasks, where students show that they have understood by putting pictures or statements into
the same sequence as the text; and transformation tasks, where students take one format and transfer
it into another. For example, instead of simply telling students to write a paragraph on 'The Geography
of Vietnam', the teacher gives students a simple passage on The Geography of Thailand' and tells them
to re-write the information according to Vietnam. In this way, the teacher gives the students a
framework on which they can hang new information. This kind of framework reduces mistakes,
provides the correct style, grammar and sentence type, and "guides' students towards satisfactory
completion of the task.
The 'Post' Stage
The 'Post' stage is like the follow-up stage. After students have practised the target skill in the 'While'
stage, they do an extension activity. This helps students take the information or whatever [hey have
produced in the 'While' stage, and do something meaningful with it. The 'Post' stage is usually an

1
'information transfer' production-type exercise where students 'respond' to what they have just learnt.
The 'Post' task usually involves the productive skills (speaking or writing). For example, students
respond to reading a description of a sports event by writing a letter to a friend, describing what
happened; or they do a roleplay, acting out the story they have just read. If the 'While' task was
speaking, for example, conducting a questionnaire on their friends, the 'Post' task could be writing up
the results in a short paragraph.
The Teacher's Role
In the 'Pre' stage, the teacher's role is to get the students thinking about what they are going to do
before they do it, so they are prepared, and actively using their brains. The teacher will have to set up
a pre task, so it is very important that the teacher gives clear instructions. In the 'While' stage, apart
from setting up the activity, the teacher doesn't have to do a lot of teaching - because students will be
working on the 'While' task, by themselves, working individually or in groups. Instead, the teacher
will have to do a lot of monitoring and assisting weaker students who are having difficulty completing
the task. Before the 'Post' stage, the teacher needs to evaluate how well students have completed the
task - and whether or not students are ready to go on to the 'Post' stage. In this last stage, the teacher
is again giving instructions, monitoring and evaluating students' performance.
Materials
Because skills lessons are task based the teacher does less up-front teaching; the three stages are much
more based on the materials and the tasks. This means teachers need to prepare skills lessons in detail
so that the materials are fully exploited and so that the emphasis is on students completing the tasks
rather than the teacher teaching the lesson. However, particularly for reading and listening lessons,
non native speaking English teachers should not be expected to develop their own texts from scratch.
Teachers need to develop the ability to select material that is of interest to their students from existing,
published materials, and perhaps most importantly, teachers should be able to adapt the suggested
tasks into a Pre-While-Post lesson format for their own large classes - without having to make a lot of
photocopies.
Exercise 1. Say if the following student tasks are Pre, While or Post type tasks

PRE WHILE POST

a. Listening to a tape and answering a set of true/false statements and


finding out which answers you and your partner got the same and which
ones you got different.

2
b. Guessing the answers to a set of true/false statements before listening
to a tape and finding out which answers you and your partner got the
same and which ones you got different.

c. Writing down as many sentences as you can find in a substitution table


after you have practised saying them with a partner first

d. Brainstorming weather vocabulary before listening to a weather


forecast

e. Swapping books with your partner and correcting each other's written
work.

f. Acting out a scene from something you have just lead and answered
questions on.

g. Writing a description of three classmates after interviewing them.

h. Answering a series of multiple choice questions based on the main


ideas of the text.

i. Correcting the order of a series of pictures that illustrate a story you


have just read.

Exercise 2. Look at some sample lessons in an English textbook. Decide the stage for each activity.

Common questions

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Misunderstandings between the intended 'While' tasks and student execution can significantly impact learning outcomes. If students do not understand the task requirements due to unclear instructions or poor task design, they may not engage meaningfully with the activity. This can result in superficial learning or reinforce incorrect language forms, undermining the educational objectives. Such misunderstandings can also lead to frustration and disengagement among students, further hampering their ability to internalize and apply the language skills being taught .

When selecting published materials for a Pre-While-Post lesson, teachers should consider the material's relevance to students' interests and language proficiency levels to ensure engagement and comprehension. The materials should support the development of the target language skills and be adaptable to the Pre-While-Post framework. Additionally, teachers should ensure the materials provide clear opportunities for each stage, such as prediction tasks in the 'Pre' stage, sequential tasks or transformation tasks in the 'While' stage, and meaningful, productive tasks in the 'Post' stage .

Material selection and adaptation are crucial in crafting a skills lesson within the Pre-While-Post model because the success of each stage heavily depends on the tasks and materials used. Teachers need to select interesting and relevant existing materials for their students, ensuring the tasks are suitable for the pre, while, and post stages. They should adapt suggested tasks into the Pre-While-Post framework to meet the needs of large classes, focusing on students completing tasks rather than teacher-led instruction. This approach helps to maximize student engagement and learning outcomes .

The 'Post' stage is important for ensuring students' comprehension and application of learned skills because it allows them to synthesize and apply the information from the 'While' stage in a meaningful context. This stage often involves productive skills requiring students to express their understanding through speaking or writing, thereby reinforcing learning. For example, responding to a reading by writing a letter or performing a role-play helps students internalize and personalize the lesson content, transforming theoretical knowledge into practical skills .

To adapt the Pre-While-Post model for developing speaking skills, the teacher can begin with a 'Pre' stage that includes discussions or brainstorming on the speaking topic to activate prior knowledge. In the 'While' stage, students might engage in role-plays, interviews, or debates that require active speaking and listening. For the 'Post' stage, students can reflect on their performance, discuss possible improvements, or transfer their spoken ideas into a written format, such as writing a summary or opinion piece about the discussion topic, thereby reinforcing their speaking practice .

The Pre-While-Post model facilitates the teaching of integrated language skills by structuring lessons in a way that naturally incorporates different skills. During the 'Pre' stage, students might engage with listening and speaking through discussions or brainstorms. In the 'While' stage, they could combine reading with writing by transforming a text's format or by taking notes while listening. The 'Post' stage often involves productive skills such as writing a report based on information gathered during a listening task or engaging in speaking tasks that extend the lesson's content, thus solidifying their integrated language abilities .

A teacher might face several challenges when implementing the Pre-While-Post model in a large classroom setting. Managing individual or group tasks during the 'While' stage can be difficult due to the need for detailed monitoring and assistance for weaker students. Ensuring all students understand the instructions and can engage effectively with the tasks at each stage can be challenging without personalized attention. Additionally, adapting existing materials to suit diverse learners' needs without the over-reliance on photocopies makes lesson planning more complex and time-consuming .

Prediction tasks in the 'Pre' stage play a role in activating students' prior knowledge and engaging them in the topic before they engage with new content. By predicting, students explore their expectations and assumptions about the material, which prepares them mentally and emotionally for the task ahead. This anticipation promotes critical thinking and sets a purpose for the subsequent activity, enhancing focus and comprehension when they eventually encounter the core material .

The Pre-While-Post model enhances students' understanding and practical use of the four language skills by providing structured stages that facilitate not only comprehension but also meaningful application in real-life contexts. The 'Pre' stage prepares students by engaging them with the topic, which aids in comprehension. The 'While' stage offers a framework to guide students in practicing language skills, reducing mistakes and providing the correct style, grammar, and sentence structure. The 'Post' stage allows students to extend their learning by responding to tasks in a meaningful way through productive skills, such as writing or speaking, which consolidates their understanding and application .

During the 'Pre' stage, the teacher's role is to prepare students by getting them to think about the topic and setting up pre-tasks with clear instructions. In the 'While' stage, the teacher's role is minimal in terms of direct teaching but involves monitoring and assisting weaker students as they work independently or in groups. The teacher evaluates students' task performance before moving on to the 'Post' stage. In the 'Post' stage, the teacher again gives instructions, maintains evaluation, and monitors students' performance to ensure they extend their understanding through meaningful tasks .

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