Innovation of the republic of uzbekistan termiz state university the faculty of english philology

2.2 Simulations in classroom practice
As demonstrated by classroom practice, simulations can be used in order to cover a wide range of topics and functions in any task-based curriculum: services, shopping, at the restaurant, buying/renting a flat, renting a car, booking a holiday, checking into a hotel, etc. Since the topics and functions to be taught and practiced overlap at some point between proficiency levels (mainly intermediate and advanced), we will make a distinction between the types of simulations used for each level. The simulations that are suitable and applicable for the intermediate level have been called Survival or Functional English, while the ones proved more effective with advanced learners are in the category of Problem Solving and Decision Making, since they require more complex cognitive and linguistic skills.
Functional English (at the airport, at the hotel, at the restaurant, at the post
office, at the bank, at the doctor’s) These simulations are a good way of practicing language targeted on the topic. The role-play activity is usually accompanied by vocabulary handouts meant to activate and consolidate previously introduced structures. The functional English that students are subjected to is related to checking in, getting through customs, booking, ordering food, making transactions, explaining symptoms, etc. This practice falls under the situational instructional model and has the great advantage of having learners use the target language in order to cope with real-life situations most of them have or will definitely experience.
The simulations that are suitable and applicable for the intermediate level have been called Survival or Functional English, while the ones proved more effective with advanced learners are in the category of Problem Solving and Decision Making, since they require more complex cognitive and linguistic skills. Functional English (at the airport, at the hotel, at the restaurant, at the post office, at the bank, at the doctor’s) These simulations are a good way of practicing language targeted on the topic. The role-play activity is usually accompanied by vocabulary handouts meant to activate and consolidate previously introduced structures. The functional English that students are subjected to is related to checking in, getting through customs, booking, ordering food, making transactions, explaining symptoms, etc. This practice falls under the situational instructional model and has the great advantage of having learners use the target language in order to cope with real-life situations most of them have or will definitely experience. Examples of such activities are to be found under the category Survival English, which includes functional English topics, adapted for the intermediate level such as eating out (At the Restaurant), services (At the Bank, At the Doctor’s, At the Post Office, At the Airport, At the Hotel), shopping (At the Supermarket), etc.For these types of simulations, one student is usually asked to come up to the front and the teacher tries to practice a sample of the task cold, before setting the actual context in the class. Such a practice has two goals: the teacher can get a preview of the way students are expected to accomplish the task and can regulate whatever misunderstandings, language errors or limitations that may occur; secondly, it gives the teacher the opportunity to assess the degree of difficulty of the task: if it proves to be too easy, it is generally a good idea to introduce complications; if the level of the task is higher than the students’ actual level⁸, it will demonstrate the need to practice that particular language area and motivates learners to get involved in something they need to be able to cope with in real-life. The preparation for the activity having been done with, the class is then divided in two groups, those who solicit and those who offer different services. Each student gets a role sheet which further explains the task/s they have to accomplish and gives a sample of the type of conversation to be carried out. In addition to that, learners get deeper into the reality of the simulated context by receiving any kind of realia that is suitable for the accomplishment of the task (an airport map, a restaurant menu, fake money, bank checks, a stethoscope, etc.
The students then proceed to actually solving the tasks they are given, while the teacher circulates, monitors and helps with language or corrections when necessary. At some point half-way through, the activity is stopped and students are asked to swap roles, so that everyone gets the chance to be exposed to various areas of the language and functions to be practiced. We generally encourage our students to adapt the setting of the classroom to the context of the activity and they usually display a great deal of creativity in re-arranging the classroom to suit their imaginary layout. One challenging aspect about this type of activities is to watch the students get into the shoes of the characters they impersonate, which allows them to supplement language with attitudinal elements (patients are really aching, students who have to queue at the bank become really impatient, waiters at the restaurant sometimes play their role with a bored and cold attitude, etc). The fact that students often do so, without being told to, adds a twist of their personality to the simulation and validates the theory that such activities are one of the best to be used when we want learners to be actively involved in what they are doing. Practicing the language this way becomes a fun, relaxing activity, and students get swept away by the context itself, without worrying too much about language mistakes or lack of ideas. Such simulations flow naturally, involve even the shiest speakers and have the great advantage of practicing a whole array of functions and language in a very close-to-reality context. Learning by doing is the best way to internalize and become conscious of the language and getting involved in such contexts in the classroom actually provides students with real life skills, which they will definitely use in order to solve common, real life situations in the target language. The first one is to use a video camera or a tape recorder and exploit the recorded material in a later self-correction session or in a student and/or teacher-generated feedback session. Although this method is extremely effective and provides authentic samples to be objectively evaluated at a later time, students feel reluctant to being filmed or recorded and the degree of discomfort they experience is very likely to affect their performance. We usually avoid putting my students in such uncomfortable situations and, even though we are familiar with the theory behind this practice, we choose to do some extra 5 in-class effort and monitor them thoroughly and extensively throughout the activity rather than having them recorded. We have preferred the use of the second advocated method and organized a debriefing session in order to assess how the final decision was reached and to give feedback on the language usage and correct possible errors.