How to teach and drill Kids with M.A.T. (Model-Act-Talk) Methodology

The Art of Teaching Kids is How to Present and Drill

These notes are based on a workshop given by Ritsuko Nakata of MAT(Model-Action-Talk) and author of O.U.P.,’s childrens’ text, 'Let’s Go’.

Teachers:

Q) Do you have problems to solve?
Q) Do your students repeat what you say parrot-like, rather than answer the question?
Q) Do your students not easily pick up question forms or grammatical structures?

A) Then perhaps the problem is that you’ve not yet mastered how to drill and present information. Let’s study the principles for MAT.

Q)What is MAT?

A) M.A.T. stands for ‘Model –Action –Talk’. In other words you model the structures you want to present, then invite the children to use T.P.R. (Total Physical Response) to act out these structures. Thus, the concepts will better be embodied in the kids’ brains.

Q) What are the 3 steps you need to take to present new structures/concepts clearly?

A) 1)Vocabulary 2)Sentence (/structures) forms 3)question form

Q) How should I introduce the keyword concept of the new structure?

A) For example, introducing the word, ”have”, you can cross your arms around you and elicit or tell the students what this gesture means in Japanese:’ (viz. motte iru’)

Notice! Although some schools ask teachers not to use any Japanese, in the classroom, it is unlikely children may grasp the key concept by the gesture alone. Thus, it is best to translate it to avoid confusion.

Drilling using T.P.R

Again the teacher show the cards, but this time you, the teacher ask the kids to copy your gesture of crossing the arms (to mean ”have”) while students are repeating after you, saying out loud “have” plus the name of each card. This will be easiest if you choose cards which they already may know the names of..

Q) Why use T.P.R?

A) T.P.R. Wakes up the brain, motivates and ensures better attention, concentration, retention of structures taught. The teacher is asking the question, “What do you have?” and for example as the teacher is presenting the cards, the students are replying “I have a coin (while crossing their arms),I have a tissue (while crossing their arms).

Q) How do I teach the structures ‘he’ or ‘she’?

A) Using the white-board, stick up the following pictures and cards ( a boy image for ‘he’ card and a girl images for “she’ card) Next in the middle of the white board, add these following text only cards: ‘he’, ‘she’? ‘has. Again present ??vocabulary cards but this time stick them onto the white-board below the image of the boy on the left or the girl on the right?
Alternatively just reveal the cards visibly in your hands underneath the image of either the boy or the girl. Again the teacher asks the same question to the students but rephrased as Q ”What does he (or she) have?” Students reply in reference to he or she has…(a coin etc.)

Q) How can I successfully get the students to do pair work on their own?
Q) Are your lessons perhaps too teacher-centered, or is your drilling method just too boring?

A) Here’s a suggestion how to make pair-work more fun. Again, still referring to the white-board the middle word is “has”, the teacher models with one student what everyone is to do in pairs. In a pair, say “has”, “has”, “has”, ‘1,2,3’ then Janken! The losing child then has to read out the sentence on his side of the board eg. the student on the left looks at the image of the boy and the vocabulary item below the boy and thus says eg. ”he has a coin”. Meanwhile the teacher keeps replacing the vocabulary items on the board and calling out the question viz. Q ”What does he/she have?”’

Q) Why is this method a successful way to drill?

A) Firstly, the children have enjoyed janken, paid attention and hotwired their brain to learn. However, secondly they have just repeated the structure 3 times over, thus retention will sink into their brains. To emphasize the T.P.R, you can ask them to raise their hands above their heads or do some other gesture at the end and say “I am finished”

Q) Now that the students are getting familiar with both the vocabulary and the structure, how to present the question?

A) After the drilling activity is finished (repeat several times), the teacher asks, Q ”What did I say?” Now the teacher models the question with the class repeating viz. Q)”What does he/she have?”
Divide the class into two sides and ask one side of the class to call out the question referring to the boy or the girl card on their side of the classroom. The teacher shows only one half of the class the answer in the form of various vocabulary items, meanwhile checking that they are indeed correctly answering with the appropriate structure of “he” or “she”.

Notice: If children are to speak and listen to naturally intonated English rhythms then you must present the cards rapidly. Also unless you insure that one half of the class is blind to the cards being asked to answer about until shown those cards by the teacher, then the question, “What does he have?”, will not be a natural activity. Obviously, it’s not just about the students naming cards shown to them, therefore the teacher must not show the card until after the question has been correctly asked by the other half of class.

This style of presenting also ensures better concentration and attention. Also without it, the kids might not understand what they are supposed to do.. It clearly tells them to either ask the question or to answer it- and everyone to pay ATTENTION! Note that just showing the cards to everyone does not elicit a communicative responsive behavior.

Q) How to produce and review further?

Now in pairs, get one student in turn to ask the other 3 times over the Q) What does he/she have?” His or her partner replies correctly, for example, “He has a coin” also repeating the phrase 3 times over. Whilst saying this, both children must cross his or her arms. When finished, they can use more T.P.R. again for example raise their arms and say “I’ m finished” Never forget knowing should be ‘fun’!

For further advice on the MAT method, visit www.iieec.com to learn about her regular workshops in Fukuoka and her useful educational materials for purchase.