 Teaching skills to create the best classroom atmosphere. Teaching skills in the classroom can be a very challenging experience, but it is essential to learn how to do it properly and effectively. Study Guide. As it was shown in the units 7 and 8 of this 60-hour ITTT course, there are four basic skills in the English language, and in any other language as well, and these skills are divided into two groups, receptive skills, which include reading and listening, and productive skills, which include speaking and writing. Both groups are very important and should be taught equally in the classroom, in the most balanced manner as possible. In Unit 7- Teaching Receptive Skills I could see many important topics about teaching and exercising both reading and listening skills. Over there I learned, that readers and listeners employ some specialist skills and their understanding of the context, will depend on their expertise in these areas, such as predictive skills, specific information, also called scanning, general idea, also called skimming, detailed information, and deduction from context. Another very important part of Unit 7 was about the choice of a topic in a lesson, which the focus will be the receptive skills. Choosing the topic that will be discussed in the classroom is very important, because it can help to motivate the students. If the topic is not interesting, likely the students will not engage well and satisfactorily in the activity. So choosing a good and interesting topic is very important and advisable. Relationships with Students It is also important to have in mind, that the teacher can generate interest knowing better the students and what interests them. A very nice suggestion given in the Unit 7, that I frequently use in my classrooms is, a variety of topics over a period of time, is needed to ensure that all of the students are equally catered for in the end, as a single topic may interest some of the class but not others. And there are also other effective ways to get students engaged, such as by discussing the topic, showing pictures, predicting what the text will be about, and other engage phase activities. Additional Activities I also learned that a good task of receptive skills shouldn't be too easy or too difficult, it has to be realistically achievable challenge. And as shown in Unit 7, the basic keys to successful receptive skills lessons are, choose material that motivates students, build interest before reading or listening, pre-teach complex vocabulary or structures if necessary, vary the type of material, incorporate activate phases that naturally lead on from the text. Do you want to teach English abroad? Take a TEFL course today. In Unit 8-Teaching Productive Skills, I could see many important topics about teaching and exercising both speaking and writing skills. Over there I learned the difference between accuracy and fluency activities. While accuracy activities are concentrated on producing correct language, and are usually controlled to ensure accurate reproduction of language, fluency activities are concentrated on allowing the students to experiment and be creative with language. When we are doing fluency activities, we are less concerned about with accuracy, and more concerned about the effectiveness and flow of communication. Thanks so much for watching. We are ITTT the leading provider for TEFL and TESOL training courses. If you like this video, please subscribe by clicking that button down here, and click on any of the videos here on the left, for more interesting teaching tips for getting certified to teach English abroad and online.