Drilling in the classroom

1. Drilling in the
Classroom
28 June 2013
Martin Sketchley
www.eltexperiences.com

2. Contents
•Discussion
•The theory of drilling
•Benefits & drawbacks of
drilling
•Activities to include
•Video review
•Any questions

3. Drilling in the
Classroom
•When was the last
time you did any
form of drilling?
•When do you normally
do any type of
drilling?
•Can you think how
drilling could be
adapted?
•What are the
benefits and
drawbacks of
drilling?

4. Drilling: The Theory
•Based upon the
‘behaviourist’
model of language
learning
•Included with an
‘audiolinguistic’
approach to
language teaching
•Continuous practice
will make perfect!

5. Benefits of Drills
•It develops learner confidence
•Helps learners get their tongues
round new words
•Picks up pace and maintains
student attention
•Develops ability to produce and
understand connective speech
•Less confident students can take
part and not get embarrassed

6. Drawbacks of Drills
•Drilling not looked upon as
communicative and more
‘Pavlovian’
•It is didactic
•Other teachers consider drills
as boring
•Students could just sit back and
hide behind others
•It can hurt!!!

7. Why Should We Drill?
•Drilling is essential for
pronunciation practice
•Drilling helps with the
automisation and memorisation
of language chunks
•Drilling can be seen as a step
towards fluency
•Drilling, if done correctly,
can work well

8. Activities in
Practice
•Circle drilling
•Silent drilling
•Emotional drilling
•Volume controlled drills
•Traditional drills

9. Circle Drilling
•Prepare a
number of
flashcards
•Get students
to sit in a
circle
•Get faster
and faster
during the
activity

10. Silent Drilling
•Prepare a dialogue:
“In a post-office”
“Hotel reception”
•Act the dialogue and
pronounce words
silently
•Repeat each utterance
until correctly guessed
by learners
•Then get learners in
pairs/groups to repeat
the dialogue

11. Emotional Drilling
•Prepare various pictures
showing differing
emotions
•Prepare separate cards
with target vocabulary
•Drill target vocabulary
as normal without emotion
pictures
•Then drill the vocabulary
again with the emotion
pictures

12. Volume Controlled
Drills
•Drilling varying the
volume
•Start off soft and then
build up to a ear-
shattering noise
•YLs really enjoy this
type of drilling, but
then again so could
adults
•It is very easy and
requires very little
preparation

13. Traditional Drills
•Nominated drilling: the
teacher nominates students to
repeat
•Choral drilling: getting the
whole class to drill at the
same time
•Substitution drills:
substituting key vocabulary
with prompts

14. Video: Drilling With
Asian Learners
•Watch the
video of
Rachael
teaching YLs
•Afterwards,
discuss the
video with a
partner

15. Questions for
Reflection
•When is the best time to incorporate
drilling?
•How frequently do you use drilling in
your classes?
•Do you think a focus on pronunciation
is a necessary part in every class?
•Do you think drills are a useful
technique in class and affect student
pronunciation?
•How comfortable are you at drilling
exercises?