LEARNER-CENTERED DICTATION

"JIGSAW DICTATION"

Cut the text up and then distribute one line to each of the students. They take turns dictating their sentence while the other students listen and write it down. Then give them a copy of the full text to compare with their own.

"RUNNING DICTATION"

Divide the class into pairs and ask them to choose one person to be the "writer" and one to be the "runner". Stick the text to be dictated up at one end of the room. The runners have to go to the text and return to their partners having memorised the lines of the text, which they dictate. The roles can be swapped halfway. Their text is then compared to a correct version and corrected. This activity requires only a short text.

"RECORDED DICTATION"

Do the dictation yourself but let the students control the speed that you speak at and the amount of repetition you do. Tell the students that they need to pretend that you are no longer a teacher but you have turned into a human tape recorder. As you read the text, they call out instructions such as "Stop", "Rewind", "Play", etc.

"COLOURING"  DICTATION"

The students have line drawings and the teacher gives them instructions on how to colour the drawing. The instructions are not direct commands, instead the teacher dictates sentences and the student must listen and understand how the picture is to be coloured. For younger children it can be as simple as "the green tree", "three blue balls", etc. For older students it can be more complex : "The boy on the left is wearing blue shoes." Repeat each phrase several times before moving on. Give the children plenty of time for colouring. Don't be afraid to continually add more complex sentences as they get used to this type of dictation. Children love the challenge and they will listen carefully to avoid making costly mistakes as it is very difficult to erase colouring pencils.

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