Overview

What do we mean by weaving? Weaving is a language practice drill where the item to be practiced is passed around a class in a seemingly random order.

Steps of a Weave

The Trainer models the exchange, both question and answer, with a learner until the pattern is established. Then the trainer instructs the first learner to practice the exchange with a second learner. The trainer reinforces by saying ‘good’ and instructs (usually with a gesture) to get the second learner to ask a third. The language is then woven around the class in a seemingly random order.

The trainer, in fact, uses her/his powers of observation to make sure each learner asks and answers the question with different learners but not in a predictable order. This keeps everyone on their toes and ensures learners get to practice with all the others. It also helps to keep the level of the class as stable as possible.

There will always be weaker and stronger learners, but this kind of practice offers as much practice as is necessary for all the learners to grasp the language being practiced before moving on.

It is best to start with different learners where possible. Trainers often use a stronger learner to start a Weave, and this helps the lesson to flow smoothly as the weaker learners get to hear the target language repeated a few times. This is fine to use now and again with difficult structures, but risks learners becoming dependent on their colleagues, so should not become a habit.

Completion Weave

In this weave, the sentence is completed by the learner answering the question. For example, the trainer may ask ‘Will you be able to … next week?’ taking an item from a substitution table, like ‘play tennis’ or ‘go to the movie’s etc. The learner would respond ‘No, I’m afraid I won’t. I have to ….’ again taking an example from a substitution table fed by the trainer.

In accordance with the principle of learning though speaking (see my blog on Language is Speaking ), the trainer would orally feed the substitution item to the learner. Of course, it would first entail the trainer modeling the question and response required before initiating the weave. This may be done quite simply, as described above, by modeling the question and then getting a learner to ask the trainer such that the trainer could then model the response.

With lower groups, the trainer could do this with each learner individually before initiating a weave. Once the weave has passed around all the learners, with the trainer monitoring carefully that each learner has asked the question as well as given the answer, the learners may be encouraged to ask each other spontaneously and offer additional substitution items.

This helps to encourage autonomy while also practicing some of the specific structures and target language of the lesson.

Questions and Answers

The Questions and Answers weave exemplifies the technique of weaving as weaving is mostly based on questions and answers. However, it can be more difficult to initiate as it often requires two substitution items, in the answer.

For example, in practicing the use of ‘while’ in a sentence, the question may be ‘What did you do while the computer was printing?’ The trainer cues the learner or next learner ‘have a cup of coffee’. The learner must then formulate the reply using the substitution item in the question and the one fed by the trainer to say, ‘I was having a cup of coffee while the computer was printing.’

Transformation Weave

In the Transformation Weave the sentence is transformed in some way. For example, the question may be ‘Do you normally sleep on long flights?’ to which the learner answers, ‘yes or no’. The transformed question would then be ‘Are you sleeping at the moment?’ with the answers ‘no’.

Once the weave has been established, the trainer feeds in further substitution items like ‘eat meat’ or ‘write reports’. With stronger learners the reply could be extended e.g. ‘No I don’t normally sleep on longer flights’ and ‘No I ‘m not sleeping at the moment’.

Contrasting Weave

This weave contrasts the questions and the responses in some way. The question may be ‘Is he a careful worker?’ the response should be, ‘Yes, he works carefully.’ The learners would be challenged with some irregular adverbs: ‘Is he a good worker?’ or ‘Is he a hard worker?’ You can see how this might cause difficulty with beginners, but there is a chance to get this right at an early stage by practicing with fellow learners.

Statement/Response

As stated earlier in this post, the weaving technique is usually based on an exchange of questions and answers. The Statement/Response weave is the exception.

Rather than initiating the practice with a question, the trainer offers a statement, to which the learner has to respond. For example, ‘Hello. My name’s John’  the response required may be ‘Nice to meet you, John. I’m …’ or, more formally, ‘How do you do’

3-Learner Weave

This is a little more complicated to initiate but has the advantage of getting the learners to do more of the talking. For example, the trainer may ask ‘Geoff, what’s Monica’s Telephone number?’ He would first reply, ‘I don’t know.’ The trainer would then get him to ask Monica – she replies with an invented number or one already given on a slip of paper. The next stage would be for the trainer to say to ‘Geoff ask Monica what Adolf’s telephone number is’. This then creates a round of the learners asking each other to ask another for a telephone number. If this is done well, the trainer only needs to keep the weave going by gesturing to the learners who should ask whom.

Controlled and semi-controlled discussion

The weaving technique is very effective for beginner and lower intermediate groups to drill the basic structures and practice key vocabulary. Weaving can also be used to drill more difficult structures at higher levels, but as the learners build their personal lexicon and start using the main structures with ease, it is often more productive to encourage a trainer-led discussion to practice the new items in context.

Next blog

Some ideas for working with texts.

Der Beitrag The Art of Weaving erschien zuerst auf inlingua.