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PPP Approach 

The Basics

  • Present the language or process
  • Practice the language or process
  • Give opportunities to produce/do the language and process

Let’s hear from Scott Thornbury.

 

Know your PCK (Pedagogical Content Knowledge).

  • PCK – Teacher Centered – Telling the students what to do.
  • PCK – Bag of Tricks – What approach and process work for the activity
  • PCK – Student Centered – What’s happening during the interactions (t-s, s-t, s-s)

Step  1: Present

Present / Produce – Teachers present and hook students through continuous input based on awareness of the context, interest and point of need.

  • Get students’ attention (ears, eyes)
  • Bring students attention to a specific word, pattern or structure (grammar)
  • Hook the students to the theme, context, activity, or task.
  • Elicit prior knowledge.
  • Adjust language based on interactions 
  • Set expectations.

Step  2: Practice

Practice / Produce  – Students and teachers invest into co-creating an enjoyable experience of repetitive receptive processing and focused practice of exercises, activities and tasks through communicative interactions that build stronger representations to the content.

  • Choose a specific task or activity that let’s language emerge meaningfully
  • Adjust complexity to allow for more optimal levels of English language usage
  • Master the methods and techniques that the activity require
  • Model the process by engaging in step-by-step interactions
  • Provide contextualized feedback
  • Help students build up procedural language to perform the tasks
  • Reinforce expectations
  • Use tools to aid in monitoring students- timers, point systems, progress tracking
  • Frequently interleave the process that promotes the practice
  • Mix L1 and L2 through bilingual strategies if required
  • Build routines and processes

Step 3: Produce:

Produce / Present – Students present output based on awareness of communicative needs and willingness to communicate.

  • Choose a specific task or activity that let’s language emerge meaningfully
  • Provide students with a bar to aim for
  • Reward the how
  • Use effective monitoring, praise, and tracking to hold students accountable
  • Measure metrics that help teachers and students reflect on their production skills

Step 4: Personalize:

Personalize -Teachers notice and adjust the zone of proximal development to provide a scaffolded experience to meet the needs of students through varying degrees of support and comprehension checks.

  • Listen to what your students say
  • Watch how they interact 
  • Adjust your interaction to meet the student’s needs

Helpful Links

  1. PPP (British Council)
  2. Planning a Grammar Lesson ( British Councill)
  3. Presenting Grammar – Jo Gokunga  (ELT TRAINING VIDEO)
  4. How To Answer Learners’ Grammar Questions – Scott Thornbury (IATEFL 2019)
  5. Three Types of PPP – Steve Smith
  6. My misconceptions of the PPP Approach – Rhett Burton
  7. WHY PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT SENSE By Jason Anderson
  8. What’ is Fisher’s Skill Theory? By Robert Murphy

Moving Forward

  • PPP in curriculum
  • PPP in word Networks
  • PPP in skills
  • PPP in content
  • PPP in grammar
  • PPP in your approach
  • PPP in assessments

These are example of how I want to start applying a PPP into the core aspects of the Burton School Expereince.

Check the box.check circle icon

1
 To Do: Define how PPP works in my curriculum.
2
 To Do: Define how PPP works in my Word Network.
3
 To Do: Define how PPP works the skills required for each level.
4
 To Do: Define how PPP within the content.
5
 To Do: Define how PPP helps your approach evolve for different levels.
6
 To Do: Define how PPP leads to better assessment practices.

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Focus on Teaching 

Rhett's Observations, Reflections and Research at Burton's School

General Practices