What is ppp method

Purchasing Power Parity Adjustments (PPP)

Purchasing Power Parity Adjustments (PPP)

In order to properly understand the importance of the PPP method, we start by republishing here an article we earlier wrote on the topic under the heading Why the PPP method is more accurate for GDP comparisons. [1]

These GDP figures are calculated according to the PPP method. PPP stands for purchasing power parity and it aims to capture the value of the real economic output contrary to the method of rendering GDP in nominal USD figures. The nominal method, converts a country’s GDP calculated in the local currency to the USD using the market exchange rates. The figures calculated with the nominal method is what the media tends to report. But, the Nominal GDP method contains several grave errors. There is a huge calculation bias in favor of the countries possessing the dominant world currencies, that is, the Western countries. Thanks to the dominant currencies, their GDPs tend to be inflated in value as compared with the countries with currencies that are not widely used globally. This way, the economies of the Western countries would seem bigger than they are if one only goes by the nominal market exchange value.

High taxes and a high general level of prices also push up the nominal GDP, again making the Western economies seem bigger than they are.

GDP is statistics fraught with assumptions

Before we proceed further, we must note that any GDP (Gross Domestic Product) calculation is a statistical exercise based on a host of assumptions on how to arrive to the total value of everything produced. Therefore, the step from Nominal GDP to PPP method is just one of the thousands of assumptions, the one method is not based on more exact input data than the other.

The volume of the economy is expressed in a monetary form, because that is the only way you can make all the millions of products statistically comparable, but what we really need to know is how much of each product has been produced, how many cars, how many houses, how many tomatoes etc. But, by using the USD exchange rate as the multiplier we lose the comparability. (Global GDP comparisons are always given in USD).

If one kilo of tomatoes costs 90 rubles or 1.5 USD in Russia and 4.5 USD in the United States, then according to the Nominal method the U.S. economy would be 3 times bigger by this parameter, even though both countries would produce the same amount of tomatoes. In fact, on average, almost everything is 3 or 4 times less expensive in Russia, therefore, by converting the Russian prices to USD according by the market exchange rate, Russia’s economy would seem 3 to 4 times smaller than it actually is. This is where the PPP method comes in to remove the calculation biases and currency fluctuations. The PPP method looks beyond the US dollar, striving to capture the actual volume of goods and services produced in a country. In comparing the size of the economy of different countries, that is precisely what we want to do, to measure their real output of goods and services.

The PPP method adjusts the dollar GDP to the comparative price levels

The starting point for the PPP GDP is the Nominal GDP calculated in the local currency of any country. This is then adjusted by the PPP coefficient, which is the average price difference between products in the given country and the U.S. The local GDP figure is multiplied with the PPP coefficient and this way we reach the more accurate comparison of the actual volumes of the economies. We are still using the USD as the currency for comparing all the world’s economies, but have adjusted them to eliminate the market exchange rate biases.

Another way to express this is to say that we check how much of any given product we can by for one dollar in various countries. Any expat and even tourist experiences something similar on a daily basis when they are in a foreign country, observing what their money buys there compared with at home. The so-called Big Mac index, which compares the price of McDonald’s Big Mac sandwich around the world can serve to illustrate the differences in price levels of various countries. (The idea being that as the product and the production method is highly standardized, it would tell something about the general price level differences). In the U.S. a Big Mac costs on average 5 dollars, while the price in Russia is 2 dollars. Thus by this indicator alone the Russian economy would look artificially lower by 2.5 times using the Nominal method and its market exchange rate. (In reality McDonald’s prices are not the best indicator, because the prices are still higher than the general level of prices due to McDonald’s brand dominance, franchising royalties etc.)

Quality of products is not the explainer

The adherents to the Nominal GDP method maintain that what explains the price difference is supposedly quality, a better Western product is more expensive because it is of better quality, they say. Obviously, quality affects the comparative prices, but only to a certain degree, and often not at all. Let’s go back to the example of tomatoes, many claim – and I agree – that tomatoes in Russia, as well as vegetables in general, are often tastier than those in Europe, yet they are cheaper, so for sure quality is not what explains the price difference in these cases. Or how about a haircut? I can get it for 3 dollars in Moscow and 20 in Helsinki, and really there is no difference in the result.

The PPP method thus assesses the actual economic output of goods and services disregarding the distortions of currency exchange rates and all the structural differences on the markets of the various countries, contrary to the wrongheaded nominal GDP method.

In the case of Russia, a particularly good example is the arms industry. Lately, it has been proven beyond any doubt that Russia’s weapons, aircraft, missile systems, tanks etc. are by no means inferior in quality to the American ones, yet they cost much less. This article [2] argues that the PPP difference in the arms industry could be as high as tenfold in Russia’s favor.

The final nail in the coffer of the Nominal GDP method

PPP and tax adjusted income, Russia compared with Finland

As it was shown, a proper comparison of income levels between countries would have to consider both the difference in price levels (PPP adjustments) and the tax burden, so that income would be compared net of taxes and adjusted to the respective price levels. Both these adjustment vastly favor Russia, in the sense that it shows Russia’s true comparative wealth and well-being. This point is well illustrated by comparing the adjusted salaries of Russia and Finland.

The above examples should make it clear how illusional the nominal income and nominal wealth comparisons are if they are not adjusted for purchasing power parity and indeed taxes, too. For further reading, we refer to Awara Global Survey on Total Payroll Taxes 2014 [7]

[5] We refer to the calculations of the Finnish Taxpayers Association of effective tax for various income levels https://www.veronmaksajat.fi/luvut/Laskelmat/Palkansaajan-veroprosentit/

[6] The PPP conversion factor is calculated by comparing the nominal GDP and PPP GDP as reported by the IMF

PPP уже не в моде?

Три этих буквы знакомы многим преподавателям. Триада Presentation — Practice — Production зарекомендовала себя как надежный путь формирования грамматических и лексических навыков. Однако в последнее время такой подход вытесняется другими способами и приемами, например, guided discovery. Давайте разберемся, почему PPP начинает терять популярность и как его использовать эффективно в современных реалиях.

Как работает PPP?

PPP является стандартным подходом в обучении: преподаватель дает правило, показывает его в контексте, объясняет и иллюстрирует. Чтобы понять, как студенты усвоили теоретическую информацию, преподаватель задает concept checking questions. Студенты на этом этапе почти пассивны. Их задача — усвоить правило.

На этапе Practice важен drilling — тщательная и последовательная отработка нового явления с целью его закрепления. Упражнения на этом этапе носят «технический» характер, так как важно довести навык до автоматизма.

Последний этап — Production. Он наиболее важен, так как именно речь является целью обучения, а не формальное знание правила и заполнение пропусков. Теперь задача студентов воспроизвести изученную структуру в естественной (коммуникативной) ситуации. Задания могут быть самыми разнообразными, но они должны носить творческий характер: описать фотографию, рассказать о себе в прошлом, придумать диалог в магазине между продавцом и покупателем. Преподаватель записывает ошибки учеников, чтобы исправить их вместе уже после выполнения задания.

Почему PPP теряет популярность?

Достоинства данного метода: последовательность, удобство для учителя, прочность навыков сопряжены и с недостатками. Во-первых, данный метод для высоких уровней может показаться скучным и демотивирующим. Как показывает практика, уроки «по шаблону» быстро надоедают, поэтому более актуальными становятся flipped classes, уроки по принципу Test-Teach-Test. Во-вторых, учитель при таком подходе играет ключевую роль, что означает полный контроль над процессом и пассивность студентов. Урок рискует превратиться в лекцию, если преподаватель не контролирует TTT (Teacher Talking Time).

В-третьих, одним из основных принципов drilling является исправление всех ошибок, так как работа ведется над точностью. Даже на этапе production ошибки редко исправляются отсрочено. Такой подход может привести к тому, что студенты будут зациклены на ошибках и не захотят говорить из-за страха.

Что взамен?

В настоящее время основным «соперником» PPP является guided discovery, дающий возможность студентам «открыть знание».

Три этапа работы с guided discovery

1) Преподаватель находит аутентичный материал, в котором нужное грамматическое явление используется часто: песня, отрывок из статьи, пост в инстаграме и т. д. Далее необходимо обеспечить понимание значения явления с помощью анализа предложений и компонентов конструкции в контексте. Сформулированное правило отражается в письменном виде.

2) Controlled practice tasks, направленные на закрепление материала: заполнение пропусков, расставление по порядку;

3) Freer practice tasks. Цель данного этапа — практика изученного материала в речи. Можно предложить студентам различные ролевые игры, составление историй, высказывания на проблемные темы.

Учитель направляет и помогает, но не объясняет все сам. Известно, что материал лучше запоминается, когда материал проанализирован учеником самостоятельно или с небольшой помощью.

Guided discovery вытесняет PPP еще и потому, что студенты активны, даже когда работают над правилом.

Если же говорить о недостатках, то они могут быть связаны с возрастом ученика. Дошкольники и младшие школьники не могут сформулировать правило их-за слабого развития таких свойств мышления, как анализ, синтез, сравнение. Некоторые преподаватели испытывают сложности, задавая вопросы при введении новой конструкции. Также многие взрослые ученики привыкли к «лекционной» подаче материала.

Другим довольно популярным методом является TTT (test-teach-test), основными достоинствами которого являются ориентированность на цель, быстрота использования, понимание преподавателем того, что нужно студенту в каждый конкретный момент работы над материалом.

Работа также проходит в три этапа:

Отказаться, нельзя использовать?

Любой метод имеет недостатки, поэтому преподавателю важно быть гибким и использовать то лучшее, что предлагает данный метод. Кроме того, все студенты разные, и выбор способа обучения и объяснения будет также обусловлен их индивидуальными особенностями.

Что можно взять на вооружение из PPP:

— структурированность и наглядность материала, представленного в таблицах или схемах;

— четкую систему упражнений, вывод в речь материала на этапе production.

Что можно использовать из других методов:

— возможность студентам самим формулировать правило и структурировать его, представляя в таблицах и схемах;

— формулировку коммуникативной задачи при изучении нового грамматического явления;

— возможность анализа контекста для осознания нового грамматического или лексического явления;

— большую свободу в разговорной практике и исправление ошибок в виде обратной связи после речевого высказывания.

В современных условиях важно разнообразить упражнения, которые используются на этапе Practice, уделяя внимание визуальному оформлению таких упражнений. Использование игровых технологий и геймификации (Bamboozle), различных сервисов как для создания упражнений (Wordwall, LearningApps), так и для оформления правил поможет преподавателю мотивировать студентов к занятиям, уйти от надоевшего шаблона.

Мода меняется, но один принцип останется навечно: необходимо помочь ученикам не просто запомнить грамматику и лексику, но и научиться применять иностранный язык в процессе коммуникации. Использование различных подходов, гибкость и постоянный анализ прогресса приблизят вас и вашего студента к этой цели.

Все, что учителю нужно знать о методике PPP

Дарья Добрица

Presentation, Practice and Production — дедуктивный подход к обучению. Наверняка его использовал практически каждый преподаватель в своей практике. Подход универсален, не требует шаманского бубна, слез единорога, мудреных познаний и подготовки.

Суть методики

Подход прост и логичен — благодаря этому он естественно вписывается в процесс обучения. По сути он сам — скелет вашего плана урока. Тут даже не о чем говорить, название кричит само за себя. Каждая Р отвечает за свою фазу: Presentation, Practice and Production.

Step 1. Presentation.

Самая ответственная часть урока — здесь учителю придется изрядно попотеть, чтобы доходчиво донести суть темы урока.

Выглядит это так: учитель задает ситуацию, используя историю, видео, аудио, диалог, абзац из текста — все, где можно найти структуру, которой хотите обучить. Нужен контекст, который раскроет функцию и значение новой темы полностью. Это может быть как новое время в грамматике, так и отдельная структура.

Например, для used to можно найти небольшое видео о жизни ранее и сейчас, или просто показать ваши фотографии 5 лет назад и недавние (студенты любят узнавать разные подробности жизни своих преподавателей. Иногда мне кажется, что они работают на разведку…)

Очень важно, чтобы информация была представлена максимально детально и использовалась по прямому значению. Для начала избегайте исключений, чтобы не запутать студентов.

Далее учитель дает свои примеры с изучаемой структурой, чтобы студенты видели, как её создать и использовать самостоятельно. В итоге, чтобы убедиться, что тема «зашла», нужно задать парочку concept checking questions.

Step 2. Practice.

Стадия drilling, где придется побыть пресловутым «попугаем» и повторять новую структуру для студентов, просить их повторять ее вместе или по одному, пока они не достигнут идеала.

Есть много упражнений для оттачивания навыка на данной стадии — gap fill exercises, split sentences and matching sentences to pictures.

Главное условие здесь — полный контроль студентов, их произношения, использования грамматики и искоренение любых ошибок. Тайминг можно варьировать — стоит потратить на это столько времени, сколько требуется вашим студентам для понимания и усвоения новой темы.

Продолжая тему used to, можно дать несколько фото из вашей жизни или жизни персонажа, набросать описания с конструкцией и попросить студентов соотнести предложения с фото.

Step 3. Production.

Теперь можно попить чайку и полистать инстаграм, пока студенты будут работать. LOL.

На этой стадии роль учителя сводится к минимуму, но не стоит терять бдительность. Суть стадии Production сводится к тому, чтобы побудить неокрепшие умы и полупустые сосуды воспроизвести новую структуру самостоятельно в естественной ситуации. Это могут быть information gaps, a role play, a communication task и мои любимые board games на самые различные темы (самое время достать запылившиеся snakes & ladders).

Чтобы завершить практику used to, бросьте студентам вызов типа #throwbackthursday, где им нужно выложить старое фото и описать свою жизнь, используя новую конструкцию.

Это стадия свободной практики — тут вы бросаете учеников в бассейн грамматики, где им нужно удержаться на плаву, используя все то, что вы им разжевывали до этого.

Во время выполнения студентами упражнений записывайте их ошибки, чтобы в конце могли выдать обоснованный фидбек, а урок не прошел зря.

Плюсы подхода

• неприхотлив (лоточек на пять, ест натуралочку 🙂 )

• подходит для любой возрастной группы

• хорошо работает на любых уровнях

• лучший друг тайминга, т.к. длительность стадий планируется учителем и легко соблюдается

• хорош для изучения грамматики, так как в основу урока берутся небольшие единицы языка, которые постепенно наращиваются, как снежный ком

• роль учителя ключевая, что позволяет полностью контролировать класс

• легок в исполнении и понимании

• хорошо подойдет студентам с аналитическим мышлением

• задает реальную ситуацию и дает живые примеры из контекста

Минусы подхода

• может быть скучноват для высоких уровней; им лучше дать guided discovery, где они сами обучают себя на основе имеющейся базы знаний

• более teacher-centered, чем другие подходы

• не дает студентам party hard, т.к. весьма пассивен

• внимание уделяется точности, а не беглости

• может не подойти под индивидуальные стили обучения ваших студентов

Какие упражнения используются в этом подходе?

Все. Все, что батюшка интернет нам дает, может быть использовано для двух последних стадий этого подхода.

Practice: gap fill exercises, split sentences, asking and answering questions using the target language, reordering sentences, sentence transformations, picture dictations, class questionnaires and matching sentences to pictures.

Production: information gaps, a role play, spot the differences, a simulation activity, picture cues, problem solving, class survey, find someone who, a communication task, board games.

Можно ли использовать эту методику в качестве основной?

Можно. Этот подход должен стать вашими «настройками по умолчанию». Это элегантная классика — как маленькое черное платье. Это беспроигрышный вариант. С ним вас ждет успех, признание, благодарные студенты. Этот подход, как конструктор лего, его можно вписывать в любой план урока и адаптировать под разные нужды.

Несмотря на некоторые недостатки и критику подход РРР очень полезен и продуктивен, его даже рекомендуют использовать при сдаче CELTA. Многие учебники используют этот подход при объяснении грамматики. Это самый простой подход для использования в больших классах, где нужен тотальный контроль.

Лично я считаю РРР довольно гибким подходом, который вы можете использовать как фундамент урока, на котором можно выстроить коммуникативный и студенто-ориентированный урок.

А что вы думаете о РРР? Используете ли его на своих уроках?

Какой ваш любимый подход к презентации новой грамматики?

PPP TEFL Teaching Methodology

What is Presentation, practice and production (PPP)?

During your SEE TEFL certification course you will become more familiar with an established methodology for teaching English as a foreign language known as 3Ps or PPP – presentation, practice, production. The PPP method could be characterized as a common-sense approach to teaching as it consists of 3 stages that most people who have learnt how to do anything will be familiar with.

The first stage is the presentation of an aspect of language in a context that students are familiar with, much the same way that a swimming instructor would demonstrate a stroke outside the pool to beginners.

The second stage is practice, where students will be given an activity that gives them plenty of opportunities to practice the new aspect of language and become familiar with it whilst receiving limited and appropriate assistance from the teacher. To continue with the analogy, the swimming instructor allowing the children to rehearse the stroke in the pool whilst being close enough to give any support required and plenty of encouragement.

The final stage is production where the students will use the language in context, in an activity set up by the teacher who will be giving minimal assistance, like the swimming instructor allowing his young charges to take their first few tentative strokes on their own.

Advantages of the PPP (3Ps) Method

As with any well-established methodology, PPP has its critics and a couple of relatively new methodologies are starting to gain in popularity such as TBL (task based learning) and ESA (engage, study, activate). However, even strong advocates of these new methodologies do concede that new EFL (English as a foreign language) teachers find the PPP methodology easiest to grasp, and that these new teachers, once familiar with the PPP methodology, are able to use TBL and ESA more effectively than new trainees that are only exposed to either TBL or ESA.

Indeed, there are strong arguments to suggest that experienced teachers trained in PPP use many aspects of TBL and ESA in their lessons, and that these new methodologies are in truth, the PPP methodology with some minor adjustments.

At this stage you might well be asking, It’s all very well having a clear methodology for how to teach but how do I know what to teach? The language that we call English today has absorbed a great many influences over the last thousand years or so. It has resulted in it becoming a language that can provide us with a sparklingly witty pop culture reference from a Tarantino script, 4 simple words spoken by Dr. Martin Luther King that continue to inspire us today, and something as simple and mundane as a road traffic sign.

The Job of the EFL Teacher

As EFL teachers our job is to break down this rich and complex language into manageable chunks for our students. These chunks of language are what EFL teachers call target languageWe are going to look at an example of what a piece of target language might be and then you will be given more detail on how this would be taught in a PPP lesson before finally watching three videos with some key aspects of each stage of the lesson highlighted for you.

During the course we will spend a great deal of time in the training room equipping you with the tools to employ a successful methodology for teaching the English language. You are going to get opportunities to both hone these skills in the training room and put them into practice in authentic classroom settings.

Of course you might be thinking, I don’t have any experience of being in a classroom! How on earth am I going to cope with standing at the front of a class with 20 plus pairs of eyes looking at me waiting to see what I do?

All good TEFL courses are designed to train those with no teaching experience whatsoever. We will spend the first part of the course in the training room making you familiar with all the new skills you will need whilst giving you opportunities to practice them in a supported and controlled environment.

Only after that, will you be put in an authentic classroom environment. It goes without saying that the first time anybody stands up and delivers their first lesson will be a nerve-racking experience. However, it is also an experience that mellows over time, and one that all teachers remember fondly as time goes by and they feel more at home in a classroom.

There will be some of you out there with experience of teaching in a classroom already. You may be well versed in employing many different methodologies and strategies in your classroom already, but many or most will have been with native English speaking students, or those with a near-native levels of English. This means that some of the skills we will be equipping you with may feel a little alien at first, but your experience will not prove to be a hindrance. Indeed, you will already have successful classroom management skills that can be adapted to fit a second language classroom fairly easily and other trainees on the course will benefit from your presence.

In addition, some of the skills that you will learn on the course can also be adapted to work in a classroom of native speakers too, and it is not unusual for experienced teachers to comment on exactly this after completing a good TEFL course.

Target Language in an EFL Lesson

Recall how it is the job of the EFL teacher to break down the rich tapestry of the English language into manageable bite-size chunks, suitable for study in an average study period of 50 minutes. As mentioned, we refer to these chunks as target language. As EFL teachers we will select target language that is appropriate for both the skill level and the age of the students.

The target language that you will see being presented in the videos is Likes and dislikes for 6 food items.

The teacher you will watch in the video has a clear aim, which is to ensure that:

**By the end of the lesson, students will know the names of 6 food items in English and will be able to express whether or not they like them in a spoken form by entering into a simple dialogue consisting of,

The six food items are ___. In short, the students will be able to name the 6 food items by the end of the lesson and tell whether they like them or not.**

Presentation – Part 1 of PPP

You may have delivered a few presentations in your time but the type of presentation we deliver in a second language classroom will differ quite a bit from those. For a start, you were speaking to proficient users of the English language about something they were, most likely, vaguely familiar with anyway. In an EFL classroom we don’t have those luxuries, so we have to be careful about the language we use and how clearly we present the new language that we wish for our students to acquire.

Let’s look at 4 key things that should be occurring in an effective second language classroom presentation:

1 – Attention in the Classroom

Learners are alert, have focused their attention on the new language and are responsive to cues that show them that something new is coming up. A simple way to ensure some of the above is if the teacher makes the target language interesting to the students.

The language will of course, be of more interest to the students if it is put into some type of context that the students are familiar with. In the case of likes and dislikes for young learners a visual associated with a facial expression will be something they can relate to. Naturally, the easier it is for them to relate to the context, the more likely they are to be interested in the language presented.

In the case of the target language for the videos a smiley face visual and a sad face visual on the whiteboard linked to the phrases I like ___. and I don’t like ___., respectively. A teacher might make exaggerated facial expressions whilst presenting these ideas to make the ideas both fun and easy to perceive for the students. This is often referred to as contextualization in EFL classrooms.

2 – Perception and Grading of Language

We want to ensure that the learners both see and hear the target language easily. So if a whiteboard is being used, it should be well organized with different colors being used to differentiate between different ideas. If images are being used, there should be no ambiguity as to what they represent and sounds made by the teacher should not only be clear, but should be repeated and the teacher needs to check the material has been perceived correctly, and can do this by asking the students to repeat the sounds he or she is making.

Learners will be bombarded with a series of images corresponding to sounds made by the teacher during the presentation stage and it is the teacher’s responsibility to ensure that they are not overloaded with information and that clear links are being made between the images and the associated sounds.

Therefore, there is an onus on the teacher not to use any unnecessary language at this stage. That is to say the grading of their language should be appropriate for the level of their students and the language they use should consist of the target language and any other essential language required to present the ideas clearly such as commands like listen! The commands should, whenever possible, be supported by clear body language.

3 – Target Language Understanding

The learners must be able to understand the meaning of the material. So in the case of likes and dislikes they perhaps need to see an image of a happy face and associate it with liking something and a sad face and associate that with disliking something.

We also need to have a way of checking if the learners did indeed, understand the material presented without asking the question, Do you understand? as this invariably triggers the response yes! from learners who are keen to please their teacher and not to lose face. We, as teachers, need to be a little more imaginative in checking our student’s understanding of material presented. Ideally, we should be checking the learners’ understanding in context. In the videos you will see, expect to see the teacher doing this during the presentation stage.

4 – Short-term Memory in the Classroom

The learners will have to retain the information from the presentation and use it further on in the lesson when we have consolidated their learning of the material and we will give them an opportunity to produce it on their own.

For the target language to be retained by the learners, it needs to be engaging and we need to consider that different learners will remember the material in different ways. Some by the way the material is seen, others by the way it is heard, and others if it is associated with a physical movement perhaps. We need to make sure our presentation has something to enable all these types of learners to retain the information.

Presentation Stage of a PPP EFL Lesson with subtitles

Practice – Part 2 of PPP

Practice can roughly be defined as the rehearsal of certain behaviors with the objective of consolidating learning and improving performance. Below are some of the characteristics of an effective language practice:

1 – Practice Validity

The practice activity must have learners rehearsing the skill or material it purports to practice. So in the case of the lesson you will view shortly, it must have the learners practicing both the food vocabulary items and the structure of the dialogue, i.e.,

2 – Pre-learning

Before we ask our learners to practice new language, we must have ensured that they have some understanding of the new language. We will have done this during the presentation stage. If they have not had the new language clearly presented to them and been aided in being given some understanding of it, then they (the learners) will not be practicing at this stage but will be going through another initial learning stage. Worse still, they will feel like they are being tested on something they haven’t been allowed to gain an understanding of.

3 – Volume (Amount) of Practice

Here, we are referring to the number of opportunities every student in the class has to practice the new language and not the level of sound. The more opportunities each student has to practice the target language, the more effective this stage of the lesson is.

So in the case of likes and dislikes, we might give the students individual worksheets where they have to fill in some part of the dialogue and the name of a food.

4 – Success Orientation

The students should have an opportunity to practice the new language and in order for this to happen they need an activity that both stretches them and is a task they can complete because of course, if it wasn’t, they wouldn’t be getting any opportunity to practice.

5 – Issuing Activity Instructions and Managing the Activity

Of course, whilst it is important to select an appropriate activity, it is equally important to issue clear and unambiguous instructions for the activity itself so all of your students are clear as to what is expected of them. We will be issuing instructions for the activity in the student’s second language so we need to make use of clear visuals to support any language we have to use and strong demonstrations of what is expected.

Managing the activity should consist of the teacher being mobile during the activity, offering praise and being on hand to show struggling students where relevant information may be found on the whiteboard.

Practice Stage of PPP EFL Lesson with subtitles

Production – Part 3 of PPP

The students have now had the target language presented to them clearly and have had an opportunity to practice it in a controlled environment. If we return to the swimming instructor analogy, it is now time to let them take their first few tentative strokes in the pool on their own with supervision and encouragement from the instructor.

As with the practice stage, we have to initiate an activity that allows them opportunities to use the target language in the classroom. In fact, the characteristics of a production stage activity are quite similar to the practice stage with one key difference and that is, student autonomy.

During this stage, the students will be producing the target language with minimal assistance from the teacher as opposed to the practice stage where the teacher will be on hand to assist students rehearse target language that has only just been presented to them.

Here are some of the key aspects of a production stage activity:

1 – Volume (Amount) of Production

As with practice, we want to create as many opportunities for our students to produce the target language albeit this time, more independently. This means we avoid activities where the students speak to the teacher as this allows limited opportunities (the students have to wait their turn before they get a chance to speak to the teacher). Instead for spoken activities, we look to get the students speaking in pairs, speaking to each other as much as possible, whilst we as the teachers go around the classroom offering minimal assistance but lots of positive reinforcement.

2 – Production Validity

Again, we should initiate an activity that allows the students to produce the target language that we presented to them and not a variation on it (although this is not strictly true with higher level students).

So, in the case of likes and dislikes for food, we should set up an activity where the students are saying, Do you like pineapple? as opposed to, What do you think of pineapples?

3 – Production Contextualization

The activity should simulate a real–life situation where they (the students) may use the target language. In the case of likes and dislikes for food this might be a menu with images of the food items or perhaps a series of images of the food items to prompt the dialogue,

Note that a successful production activity will also have aspects that set it apart from a practice activity, including:

4 – Student Autonomy

Students will be speaking, using the target language, with ideally, little or no support from the teacher.

They shouldn’t be looking things up on either the whiteboard or on any materials they have on their desk (e.g. a completed practice worksheet) so a teacher may choose to erase information from the whiteboard for this stage and the teacher might also choose to get students to clear their desks.

5 – Issuing Instructions for an Activity

As with the practice stage whilst it is important to select an appropriate activity, it is equally important to issue clear and unambiguous instructions for the activity itself so all of our students are clear as to what is expected of them. We will be issuing instructions for the activity in the student’s second language so we need to make use of clear visuals to support any language we have to use and strong demonstrations of what is expected, just as we will have done during the practice stage.

6 – Correcting Errors During the Activity

It is important that the students get as many opportunities to speak using the newly acquired language. Therefore, a teacher shouldn’t be drowning them out by speaking at length, over the top of them to correct any errors. This obviously differs from the practice where students expect the teacher to assist them as they rehearse (not produce) newly acquired language.

Clever use of body language by the teacher will enable them to be discrete in correcting errors and will allow them to offer much needed encouragement to students as well.

My English Language

English Language Resources for EFL Students and Teachers

PPP Technique in TEFL

Presentation, Practice and Production

The PPP technique in teaching is a common way to introduce students to new words and concepts. This can be especially useful in the EFL classroom. The PPP method in English teaching is a three-step lesson plan and teaching approach that helps the student learn, understand and practice new vocabulary.

The three stages of a PPP lesson

There are three stages in a PPP TEFL lesson.

Firstly, the teacher presents the new word, an event which involves the presentation of pronunciation and spelling in context.

Next, the teacher allows the students to practice the new word in a controlled setting, making sure the student has understood the vocabulary and usage properly.

Lastly comes the production stage, where there is a period of less-controlled practice and an informal assessment of learning. This is where the students get chance to use the new word or phrase in an original way and to relate it to their knowledge and experiences.

These three stages of a PPP lesson help the student to consolidate the new word in their mental vocabulary bank.

The sequence of a PPP lesson in EFL teaching

This EFL teaching method of presentation, practice and production is an approach that follows a definite sequence:

Teaching English using the PPP technique

Each stage of the Presentation, Practice and Production lesson must be planned well to be effective. However, the PPP method in TEFL is a highly flexible approach to teaching and there are many different activities a teacher can employ for each stage.

Presentation can include mime, drawing and audio. In fact, it is a good idea to try to engage with the students’ different senses to get across the meaning of the new word, using visual, kinaesthetic (movement) and audio techniques.

It is also important to make sure that students have understood the new word before encouraging them to practise it. It is often fun and highly effective for students to play games to practise vocabulary and to produce it.

Current debate about the PPP technique in TEFL

In recent times, there has been increasing debate surrounding the PPP method of teaching, with many critics asking if teachers should be using the PPP technique so often in the EFL classroom.

Some critics of the PPP method in TEFL think it can be too formal and structured, with too little focus on student interaction. However, we think the PPP technique in EFL teaching offers a very flexible base from which to construct a lesson that is highly student-centred.

For ideas on ways to present new vocabulary and check comprehension, and activities which allow students to practice and produce their vocabulary, please browse this PPP teaching section.

Let us know your thoughts in the comments box below.

9 thoughts on “ PPP Technique in TEFL ”

may I know who is the actual founder of PPP technique?

Sorry Sifa, we don’t know who originally developed the PPP technique. Can any readers help?

Yes, it was Jeremy Harmer. 😉

Thanks for this information, Miri! If any readers want to check out Jeremy Harmer’s explorations of the PPP technique, you can read more in his book: ‘How to Teach English’, published by Longman.

Catherine may you please help me with the same book by Jeremy Harmer, on soft copy I will highly appreciate it.

Hi Grace, Jeremy Harmer’s book can be found online to read or download at academia.edu.

It PPP useful and used in teaching reading?

Hi Muharram, thanks for your question. Yes the PPP method can be used to teach all areas of language, including reading.

In this type of lesson, any new target words would be presented in the early part of the class (pre-reading) before the student meets the vocabulary within a longer written text. While reading the text during the ‘practice’ stage, students should be able to identify the individual ideas expressed and understand how the new words are used in context.

After reading, students can analyse the material and discuss the text, hold a questions/answer session or write about it in the production stage. This helps them deepen their understanding and test their reading comprehension. I hope this gives you a few ideas – I’ll be adding more details about using the PPP method to teach reading and writing soon.

Can somebody help me with these questions of Unit 3 i-to-i (180 hour units) please:

Match the description to the stages to make a complete PPP lesson. The aim of the lesson is expressing past habits with ‘used to’ + infinitive.
For example, When I was younger, I used to watch cartoons.

The teacher repeats the model sentence with natural linking, stress and intonation. The class repeats.

1)Teacher asks, “Did he play football in the past?” (Yes) “Does he play football now?” (No).

2)Teacher says ‘used to’ + infinitive can be used to talk about things we regularly did in the past, but don’t do now.

3)The students answer conversation questions about their childhood to introduce them to the topic.

4)The teacher asks some individuals how many people share their thoughts on living in London and corrects some errors if they are made.

5)The learners use the target language to talk about how their lives are different now they live in London and compare their country’s cultures to the UK.

6)The teacher writes the model sentence on the board. When I was younger, he used to play football. Draws a box round ‘used to’ and writes ‘infinitive’ over play.

7)Learners choose an activity they enjoyed as children then walk round the class asking if other people used to do the same thing. For example, Did you use to watch cartoons?