Nikoloz Tskitishvili - Ayuda en Acción Fuenlabrada

Here you have the first part of the interview with Nikoloz Tskitishvili. When you finish the listening questions, please report your mark to me (use this information: teacher code: alberto; class id: none). Finally, write a comment on this post explaining how difficult it was. Hope you enjoy it!!



Video edited by Daniel Tierno

Interviewing ACB basketball players

We have just done the most motiviting activity I have ever been involved in. We have interviewed three ACB basketball players who play for Ayuda en Acción Fuenlabrada: Gerald Fitch, who is the leader of the ACB top scorers classification, Chris Thomas and Nicoloz Tskitishvili, who has played in the NBA and Chris Thomas. This has been done thanks to the cooperation of Ayuda en Acción Fuenlabrada basketball club. They allowed us not only to interviewed them, but also use Fernando Martín Sports Center, mainly the court and the press room. We are really grateful for that.

This activity has provided real oral practice, both speaking and listening. It was necessary to practice and review all the sounds we have seen so far this year and to practice falling intonation in questions. Although most part of the interviews was controlled practice (the questions we had practiced in class), there was also open conversation (introductions, giving personal/group information, asking for pictures, autographs...).

Confidence has played an important part: students do not only have to speak in English but they have to do it with a famous basketball player whom they have seen on TV, newspapers or magazines. So, in order to be successful in the interview they must have confidence on themselves.

Motivation has been another important aspect as a result of having done this activity. There is an after and a before this activity. I know it has been incredible for most of you to have been understood in English and being able to have a short conversation in English.

In future posts, we are going to do some listening practice using the audio recordings of these interviews. But before that, and although we have done an evaluation sheet on the activity in class, I would like you to write a comment on this activity explaining what you have learnt and how you felt and referring to confidence and motivation.

Thank you.

Pictures taken by Alberto Hidalgo

CONFIDENCE is one key to learn a language

There are many key aspects when learning a language that students must bear in mind and teachers must help to accomplish. One of them is confidence. When learning a language a student must be aware of what they CAN communicate (and not of what they can´t communicate). So, it is important to learn in an atmosphere of confidence, making students feel what they know and pushing them a step forward.

Developing confidence is more important than learning new vocabulary or using a determined grammatical structure. It is the basis for a longlife language learning. It is the key to use one's knowledge of a language, making mistakes and learning from them, and also to build bridges towards new unknown areas. It is a necessary tool at any stage in the process of speaking a second language.

Confidence has played an important part in the out-of-school activity we have just done. I will comment on this activity in the following post and I will refer to confidence in it.