How to Teach English
by Jeremy Harmer (CELTA course study material #3)
CH1 Learners
Reasons for learning The importance of student motivation
Different contexts Responsibility
Learner differences
Reasons for learning - All around the world people learn English for varying reasons, many learn due to having moved into a target-language community and they need to operate successfully within it.
A target-language community is a place where English is the national language, like Britain, Can, NZ, etc, or where it’s one of the main languages of culture and commerce, like India, Pakistan, Nigeria.
Some students need English for a Specific Purpose ESP, aka English for Special Purposes, may need to learn legal language, the language of tourism, banking or nursing, for ex.
A popular ESP is the teaching of business English, where students learn how to operate in English in the business world.
Many students need English for Academic Purposes EAP, in order to study at an English-speaking uni or college, or due to needing access to English-language academic texts.
Many people learn English due to thinking it’ll be useful in some way for international communication and travel.
The purposes students have for learning will have an effect on what it’s they want and need to learn, and as a result will influence what they’re taught.
Business English students will want to spend a lot of time concentrating on the language needed for specific business transactions and situations, for ex.
Students living in a target-language community will need to use English to achieve their immediate practical and social needs.
A group of nurses will want to study the kind of English they’re likely to have to use while they nurse.
Students of general English, including those studying the language as part of their primary and secondary education, will not have such specific needs, and so their lessons, and the materials which the teachers use, will almost certainly look different from those for students with more clearly identifiable needs.
Consideration of our students’ different reasons for learning is only one of many different learner variables, as we shall see below.
Different contexts for learning - English is learnt and taught in many different contexts, and in many different class arrangements. Such differences will have a considerable effect on how and what it is we teach.
EFL, ESL, and ESOL - For many years we’ve made a distinction between people who study English as a foreign language and those who study it as a second or other language.
It’s been suggested students of EFL tend to be learning so they can use English when traveling or to communicate with other people, who also speak English, from whatever country.
ESL students are usually living in the target-language community. The latter may need to learn the particular language variety of community (Scottish English, southern English from England, Australian English, Texan English, etc) rather than a more general language variety, ex. in below CH.
They may need to combine their learning of English with knowledge of how to do things in the target-language community, such as going to a bank, renting a flat, accessing health services, etc.
The English they learn, therefore, may differ from those studied by EFL students, whose needs aren’t so specific to a particular time and place.
However, this distinction begins to look less helpful when we look at the way people use English in a global context.
The use of English for international use, esp online, means many EFL students are in effect living in a global target-language community and so may be thought of ESL students instead!
Partly as a result of this we not tend to use the term ESOL, English for Speakers of Other Languages, to describe both.
Nevertheless, the context in which the language is learnt, what community they wish to be part of, is still of considerable relevance to the kind of English they’ll want and need to study, and the skills they’ll need to acquire.
Schools and language schools - A huge number of students learn English in primary and secondary classes around the world, they haven’t chosen to do this themselves, but learn due to English being on the curriculum.
Depending on the country, area and the school itself, they may have the advantage of the latest class equipment and info tech (IT), or they may, in some parts of the world, be sitting in rows in classes with a blackboard and no other teaching aid.
Private language schools tend to be better equipped than some gov’t schools, though this isn’t always the case. They’ll frequently have smaller class sizes, and crucially, the students in them may well have chosen to come and study. This’ll effect their motivation at the start of the process, seen below.
Large classes and one-to-one teaching - Some students prefer to have a private session with only them and the teacher. Commonly referred to as one-to-one teaching.
At the other end of the scale, English is taught in some environments to groups of over 100 students at a time. Gov’t school classes in many countries have up to 30 students, whereas a typical number in private language school lies somewhere between 8 and 15 learners.
Clearly the size of the class will affect how we teach. Pairwork and groupwork, further discussed below, are often used in large classes to give students more chances for interaction than they’d otherwise get with whole-class teaching.
In a one-to-one setting the teacher’s able to tailor the lesson to an individual’s specific needs, whereas with larger groups compromises have to be reached between the group and the individuals within it.
In large classes the teacher may well teach from the front more often than with smaller groups, where mingling with students when they work in pairs, etc may be much more feasible and time-efficient.
In-school and in-company - The vast majority of language classes take place in edu’l institutions as well as colleges and uni’s.
In such situations teacher have to be aware of school policy and conform to syllabus and curriculum decisions taken by whoever is responsible for the academic running of the school.
There may well be learning outcomes which students are expected to achieve, and students may be preparing for specific exams.
A number of companies also offer language classes and expect teachers to go to the company office or factory to teach.
Here the class may not be quite as appropriate as those which’er special designed for teaching and learning, but more importantly, the teacher may need to negotiate the class content, not only with the students, but also with whoever is paying for the tuition.
Real and virtual learning environments - Language learning has traditionally involved a teacher and a student or students being in the same physical space, now we have the internet, and some of the issues for both real and virtual learning environments are the same.
Students still need to be motivated and we still need to offer help in this area. As a result, the best virtual learning sites have online tutors who interact with their students via email or online chat forums.
It’s also possible to create groups of students who’re all following the same online program, and who can therefore ‘talk’ to each other in the same way, electronically, but despite these interpersonal elements, some students find it more difficult to sustain their motivation online than they may as part of a real learning group.
Virtual learning’s significantly different from face to face classes, firstly students can attend lessons when they want for the most part, though real-time chat forums have to be scheduled, rather than when lessons are timetabled, as in schools.
Secondly, it no longer matters where the students are since they can log on from any location in the world. Online learning may have these advantages, but some of the benefits of real learning environments are less easy to replicate electronically.
These include the physical reality of having teachers and students around you when you’re learning so you can see their expressions and get messages from their gestures, tone of voice, etc.
Many learners will prefer the presence of real people to the sight of a screen, with or without pictures and video. Some communication software, like instant messengers and Skype/Zoom, allows users to see each other on the screen as they communicate, but this is still less attractive, and considerably more jerky, than being face to face with the teacher and fellow students.
Of course, whereas in real learning environments learning can take place with very little technical equipment, virtual learning relies on good hardware and software, and effective internet connections.
Although this book will look at the uses of internet and IT apps, it’s not primarily concerned with the virtual learning environment, preferring instead to concentrate situations where the teachers and learners are usually in the same place at the same time.
Learner differences - Whatever their reasons for learning, or circumstances it takes place, it’s sometimes tempting to see all students as being more or less the same.
Yet there’re marked differences, not only in terms of age and level, but also in terms of different individual abilities, knowledge and preferences. We’ll examine some of these differences in this section.
Age - Learners are often described as children, young learners, adolescents, young adults, or adults. Within education, the term children is generally used for learners between the ages of about 2 -14.
Students described as young learners between the ages of about 5 to 9, and very young learners are usually between 2 - 5.
At what ages it’s safe to call students adolescents is often uncertain, since it’s bound up with physical and emotional changes rather than chronological age.
However, this term tends to refer to students from about 12-17, whereas young adults are generally between 16-20. We’ll look at 3 ages: children, adolescents and adults.
However, we need to remember there’s a large degree of individual variation in the ways in which different children develop. The descriptions following must be seen as generalizations only.
Children - We know children don’t just focus on what’s being taught, but also learn all sorts of other things at the same time, taking info from whatever is going on around them.
We know seeing, hearing, and touching are only as important for understanding as the teacher’s explanation.
We’re conscious the abstraction of say, grammar rules, will be less effective the younger the students are, but we also know children respond well to individual attention from the teacher and are usually pleased to receive teacher approval.
Children usually respond well to activities focusing on their lives and experiences, but a child’s attention span, their willingness to stay rooted in one activity’s often fairly short.
A crucial characteristic of young children’s their ability to become competent speakers of a new language with remarkable facility, provided they get enough exposure to it.
They forget languages with equal ease. This language-acquiring ability’s steadily compromised as they head towards adolescence.
Adolescents - One of the greatest differences between adolescents and young children’s these older children’ve developed a greater capacity for abstract thought as they’ve grown up.
In other words, their intellects are kicking in, and they can talk about more abstract ideas, teasing out concepts in a way which younger children find difficult.
Many adolescents readily understand and accept the need for learning of a more intellectual type. At their best, adolescent students have a great capacity for learning, enormous potential for creative thought and a passionate commitment to things which interest them.
Adolescence is bound up with a search for identity and a need for self-esteem. This is often the result of the students’ position within their peer group rather than being the consequence of teacher approval.
Adults - Older learners often but not always have a wider range of life experiences to draw on, both as individuals and as learners, than younger students do.
They’re often more disciplined than adolescents and apply themselves to the task of learning even when it seems fairly boring.
They often have a clear understanding of why they’re learning things, and can sustain their motivation, see below, by perceiving and holding on to long-term learning goals.
On the other hand, adult learners come with a lot of previous learning experience which may hamper their progress. Students who’ve had negative learning experience in the past may be nervous of new learning.
Students used to failure may be consciously or subconsciously prepared for more failure. Older students who’ve got out of the habit of study may find classes daunting places.
They may also have strong views about teaching methods from their past, which the teacher’ll have to take into account.
Due to student at different ages having different characteristics, the way we teach them will differ, as well. With younger children we may offer a greater variety of games, songs and puzzles than we would do with older students.
We may want to ensure there’re more frequent changes of activity. With a group of adolescents we’ll try to keep in mind the importance of a student’s place within his or her peer group and take special care when correcting or assigning roles within an activity etc. Our choice of topics will reflect their emerging interests.
One of the recurring nightmares for teachers of adolescents, is we may lose control of the class. We worry about lessons slipping away from us, and which we can’t manage due to the students not liking the subj, each other, the teacher or the school, or sometimes only due to feeling like misbehaving, or due to issues in their life outside the class affecting their behavior and outlook on life.
Yet teens are not the only students who sometimes exhibit problem behavior, the type which causes a problem for the teacher, the student themselves, and maybe the others in class.
Younger children can cause difficulties for the teacher and class, as well. Adults can also be disruptive and exhausting.
They may not do it in the same way as younger learners, but teachers of adults can experience a range of behaviors such as students who resist the teacher’s attempts to focus their attention on the topic of the lesson and spend the lesson talking to their neighbors, or who disagree vocally with much of what the teacher or their classmates are saying.
They may arrive late for class or fail to do any homework, and whatever the causes of this behavior, a problem’s created. Teachers need to work both to prevent problem behavior, and to respond to it appropriately if it occurs.
We’ll discuss how the teacher’s behavior can inspire the students’ confidence and cooperation seen below, and we’ll discuss what to do if students exhibit problem behavior in a coming CH.
Learning styles - All students respond to various stimuli, such as pics, sounds, music, movement, etc, but for most of them, and us, some things stimulate them into learning more than other things.
The Neuro-Linguistic Programming model, often called NLP, takes account of this by showing how some students are esp influenced by visual stimuli and are therefore likely to remember things better if they see them.
Some students, on the other hand, are esp affected by auditory input and respond very well to things they hear. Kinaesthetic activity’s esp effective for other learners, who seem to learn best when they’re involved in some kind of physical activity, such as moving around, or rearranging things with their hands.
The point is although we’ll respond to all of these stimuli, for most of us, one or other of them, visual, auditory, kinesthetic, is more powerful than the others in enabling us to learn and remember what we have learnt.
Another way of looking at student variation’s offered by the concept of Multiple Intelligences. In this formulation, and of people who’ve followed and expanded these theories, we’ll have a number of different intelligences, math, musical, interpersonal, spatial, emotional, etc.
However, while one person’s math intelligence may be highly developed, their interpersonal intelligence, the ability to interact with and relate to other people, may be less advanced.
What these two theories tell us from their different standpoints, is in any one class we have a number of different individuals with different learning styles and preferences.
Experienced teachers know this and try to ensure different learning styles are catered for as often as possible. In effect, this means offering a wide range of different activity types in our lessons in order to cater for individual differences and needs.
Nevertheless, we need to find out whether there’re any generalizations which’ll help us to encourage habits in students which’ll help all of them. We may say, for ex, homework is good for everyone and so is reading for pleasure, see CH7.
Certain activities, such as many of the speaking activities in CH9 are good for all students in the class, though the way we organize them, and the precise things we ask students to do may vary for exactly the reasons we’ve been discussing.
Levels - Teachers of English generally make three basic distinctions to categorise the language knowledge of their students: beginner, intermediate, and advanced. Broadly speaking, beginners are those who don’t know nay English and advanced students are those whose level English is competent, allowing them to read unsimplified factual and fictional texts and communicate fluently.
Between these two extremes, intermediate suggests basic competence in speaking and writing and an ability to comprehend fairly straightforward listening and reading.
However, as we’ll see, these are rough and ready labels whose exact meaning can vary from institution to school. Other descriptive terms are also used in an attempt to be more specific about exactly what kind of beginner, intermediate or advanced students we’re talking about.
A distinction’s made between beginners, students who start a beginners’ course and not heard virtually any English, and false beginners to reflect the fact the latter can’t really use any English but actually know quite a lot with can be quickly activated; they’re not real beginners.
Elementary students aren’t beginners and are able to communicate in a basic way. They can string some sentences together, construct a simple story, or take part in simple spoken interactions.
Pre-intermediate students haven’t yet achieved intermediate competence, which involves greater fluency and general comprehension of some general authentic English.
However, they’ve come across most of the basic structures and lexis of the language. Upper-intermediate students, have the competence of intermediate students plus an extended knowledge of grammatical construction and skill use.
However, they may not have achieved the accuracy or depth of knowledge their advanced colleagues have acquired, and as a result are less able to operate at different levels of subtlety.
In recent years, ALTE and the Council of Europe have worked to define language competency levels for learners of a number of different languages.
The result is the Common European Framework, a doc setting out in detail what students can do at various levels, and a series of ATLE levels ranging from A1, roughly equivalent to elementary level, to C2, very advanced.
The following diagram shows the different levels in sequence:
What do these levels mean for the students? If they’re at level B1, for ex, how can their abilities be described? ALTE has produced can do statements to try to make this clear, as the ex below for the skill of writing demos, A1 is at the left, C2 at the right.
ALTE levels and can do statements, alongside the more traditional terms we have mentioned, are being used increasingly by course book writers and curriculum designers, not only in Europe but across much of the language-learning world.
ALTE ‘can do’ statements for writing:
Can complete basic forms and write notes including times, dates, and places.
Can complete forms and write short simple letters or postcards related to personal info.
Can write letters or make notes on familiar predictable matters.
Can make notes while someone’s talking or write a letter including non-standard questions.
Can prepare/draft pro correspondence, take reasonably accurate notes in meetings or write an essay which shows an ability to communicate.
Can write letters on any subj and full notes of meetings or seminars with good expression or accuracy.
However, two points are work making: the ALTE standard are only one way of measuring proficiency. ESL standards were developed by the TESOL org in the US, and many exam systems have their own level descriptors.
We also need to remember students’ abilities within any particular level may be varied too, ie. They may be much better at speaking than writing, for ex.
If we remind ourselves terms such as beginner and intermediate are rough guides only, unlike ALTE levels, they don’t say exactly what the students can do, then we’re in a position to make broad generalizations about the different levels:
Beginners - success’s easy to see at this level and easy for the teacher to arrange, but then so is failure! Some adult beginners find language learning’s more stressful than they expected and reluctantly give up.
However, if things are going well, teaching beginners can be incredibly stimulating. The pleasure of being able to see our part in our students’ success is invigorating.
Intermediate students - success is less obvious at intermediate level, students already having achieved a lot, but they’re less likely to be able to recognize an almost daily progress.
On the contrary, it may sometimes seem to them they don’t improve much or fast anymore. We often call this the plateau effect, and the teacher has to make strenuous attempts to show students what they still need to learn without being discouraging.
One of the ways of doing this is to make the tasks we give them more challenging, and to get them to analyze language more thoroughly.
We need to help them set clear goals for themselves so they have something to measure their achievement by.
Advanced students - students at this level already know a lot of English. There’s still the danger of the plateau effect, even if it’s higher up, so we have to create a class culture where students understand what still has to be done, and we need to provide good, clear evidence of progress.
We can do this through a concentration not so much on grammatical accuracy, but on style and perceptions of, for ex, appropriacy, using the right language in the right situation, connotation, whether words have a negative or positive thing, for ex, and inference, how we can read behind the words to get a writer’s true meaning.
In these areas, we can enable students to use language with more subtlety. It’s also this level, esp, we have to encourage students to take more responsibility for their own learning.
Although many activities can clearly be used at more than one level, designing newspaper front pages, writing radio commercials, etc, others aren’t so universally appropriate.
With beginners, for ex, we won’t suggest abstract discussions or the writing of discursive essays. For advanced students, a drill where students repeat in chorus and individually, seen in a CH below, focusing on simple past tense questions will almost certainly be inappropriate.
Where a simple role-play with ordinary info questions, ‘What time does the next train to London leave?’, ‘What’s the platform for the London train?’, etc, may be a good target for beginners to aim at, the focus for advanced students will have to be richer and more subtle, for ex, ‘What’s the best way to persuade someone of your opinion in an argument?’, ‘How can we structure writing to hold the reader’s attention?’, ‘What different devices do English speakers use to give emphasis to the bits of info they want you to notice’?
Another obvious difference in the way we teach different levels is language. Beginners need to be exposed to fairly simple grammar and vocab which they can understand.
In their language work, they may get pleasure, and good learning, from concentrating on straightforward questions like ‘What’s your name?’, ‘What’s your telephone number?’, ‘Hello’, ‘Goodbye’, etc.
Intermediate students know all this language already and so we’ll not ask them to concentrate on it. The level of language also affects the teacher’s behaviour.
At beginner levels, the need for us to rough-tune our speech is very great: we can exaggerate our voice tone and use gesture to help us to get our meaning across, but at higher levels, such extreme behavior isn’t so important.
Indeed, it’ll probably come across to the students as patronizing. At all levels, teachers need to ascertain what students know before deciding what to focus on.
At higher levels, we can use what the students already know as the basis for our work; at lower levels we’ll for ex, always try to elicit the language, that is, try to get the language form the students rather than giving it to them, we’re going to focus on.
This way we know whether to continue with our plan or whether to amend it then and there due to students, perhaps, knowing more than expected.
Educational and cultural background - We’ve already discussed how students at different ages present different characteristics in the class.
Another aspect of individual variation lies in the students’ cultural and educational background. Some children come from homes where education is highly values and parental help readily available.
Other children may come from less supportive backgrounds with no such backup on offer. Older students, esp adults, may come from a variety of backgrounds and as a result have very different expectations of what teaching and learning involves.
Where students have different cultural backgrounds from the teacher or from each other, they may feel differently from their classmates about topics in the curriculum.
They may have different responses to class practices from the ones the teacher expected or the ones which the writers of the course book they’re using had anticipated.
In some educational cultures students are expected to be articulate and question, or even challenge their teachers, whereas in others, students’ quietness and modesty are more highly prized.
Some educational cultures find learning by rote, memorizing facts and figures, more attractive than learning by doing, where students are involved in project work and experimentation in order to arrive at knowledge, and worth remembering even where students all live in the same town or area, it’s often the case they come from a variety of cultural backgrounds.
Multilingual classes, where students come from different countries and therefore have different mother tongues, are the norm, esp in private language schools, in English speaking countries such as Britain, U.S., Aus, etc.
As teachers, we need to be sensitive to different backgrounds. We need to be able to explain what we’re doing and why; we need to use material, offer topics and employ teaching techniques which, even when engaging and challenging, will not offend anyone in the group.
Where possible, we need to be able to offer different material, topics and teaching techniques, at different time to suit the different individual expectations and tastes.
The importance of student motivation - A variety of factors can create a desire to learn. Perhaps the learners love the subj they’ve chosen, or maybe they’re simply interested in seeing what it’s like.
Perhaps, as with young children, they happen to be curious about everything, including learning. Some students have a practical reason for their study:
they want to learn an instrument so they can play in an orchestra, learn English so they can watch American tv or understand manuals written in English, etc.
This desire to achieve some goal’s the bedrock of motivation and if it’s strong enough, it provokes a decision to act. For an adult this may involve enrolling in an English class.
For a teen it may be choosing one subj over another for special study. This kind of motivation, which comes from outside the class and may be influenced by a number of external factors such as the attitude of society, family and peers to the subj in question’s often referred to as extrinsic motivation, the motivation students bring into the class from outside.
Intrinsic motivation is the end generated by what happens inside the class; this could be the teacher’s methods, the activities students take part in, or their perception of their success or failure.
While it may be relatively easy to be extrinsically motivated, which’s to have a desire to do something, sustaining the motivation can be more problematic.
As students we can become bored, or we may find the subj more difficult than we thought. One of the teacher’s main aims should be to help students to sustain their motivation. We can do this in a number of ways.
The activities we ask students to take part in will, if they involve the students or excite their curiosity, and provoke their participation, help them to stay interested in the subj.
We need to select the appropriate level challenge so things are neither too difficult or easy. We need to display appropriate teacher qualities so students can have confidence in our abilities and professionalism, see CH2.
We need to consider the issue of affect, how the students feel about the learning process. Students need to feel the teacher really cares about them; if students feel supported and valued, they’re far more likely to be motivated to learn.
One way of helping students to sustain their motivation’s to give them as far as feasible, some agency, a term borrowed from social sciences, which means students should take some responsibility for themselves, and they should, like the agent of a passive sentence, be the ‘doers’ in class.
This means they’ll have some decision-making power over the choice of which activity to do next, perhaps, or how they want to be corrected, for ex.
If students feel they’ve some influence over what’s happening, rather than always being told exactly what to do, they’re often more motivated to take part in the lesson, but however much we do to foster and sustain student motivation, we can only encourage by word and deed, offering our support and guidance.
Real motivation comes from within each individual, from the students themselves.
Responsibility for learning - if giving students agency is seen as a key component in sustaining motivation, then such agency isn’t only about giving students more decision-making power.
It’s also about encouraging them to take more responsibility for their own learning. We need to tell them unless they’re prepared to take some of the strain, their learning’s likely to be less successful than if they themselves become active learners, rather than passive recipients of teaching.
This message may be difficult for some students from certain educational backgrounds and cultures who’ve been led to believe this it’s the teacher’s job to provide learning.
In such cases, teachers will not be successful if they merely try to impose a pattern of learner autonomy. Instead of imposing autonomy, we need to gradually extend the students’ role in learning.
At first we’ll expect them, for ex, to make their own dialogues after they’ve listened to a model on an audio track. Such standard practice, getting students to try out new language’s one small way of encouraging student involvement in learning.
We may go on to try to get individual students to investigate a grammar issue or solve a reading puzzle on their own, rather than having things explained to them by the teacher.
We may get them to look for the meanings of words and how they’re used in their dictionaries, see below, rather than telling them what the words mean.
As students get used to working things out for themselves and/or doing work at home, so they can gradually start to become more autonomous.
Getting students to do various kinds of homework, such as written exercises, compositions or further study is one of the best ways to encourage student autonomy.
What’s important is teachers should choose the right kind of task for the students. It should be within their grasp, and not take up too much of their time, or occupy too little of it by being trivial.
Even more importantly than this, teachers should follow up homework when they say they’re going to, imposing the same deadlines upon themselves as they do on their students.
Other ways or promoting student self-reliance include having them read for pleasure in their own time, see in CH below, and find their own resources for language practice, in books or on the internet, for ex.
Apart from homework, teachers will help students to become autonomous if they encourage them to use monolingual leaners’ dictionaries, written only in English, but which’er designed esp for learners, and then help them to understand how and when to use them.
At earlier stages of learning, good bilingual dictionaries serve the same function and allow the students a large measure of independence from the teacher.
We’ll help students to be responsible for their learning if we show them where, either in books, online, etc, they can continue studying outside the class.
For ex, we can point them in the direction of suitable sites, if they’ve comp access, or rec good CD or DVD resources.
If students are lucky, their institution will have a self-access centre with a range of resources comprising books, including readers, newspapers, mags, worksheets, listening material, vids and dads, and comps with access to online.
Students can decide if and when to visit such centers and what they want to do there. Self-access centers should help students to make appropriate choices by having good cataloguing systems and ensuring people are on hand to help students find their way around.
However, the object of a self-access centre is students should themselves take responsibility for what they do and make their own decisions about what’s most appropriate for them.
Of course, many schools don’t have self-access centers, and even where they do, many students don’t make full use of them. This is due to not all students are equally capable of being, or wanting to be autonomous learners.
Despite this fact, we should do our best to encourage them to have agency without forcing it upon them.
CH 2 Teachers
Describing good teachers Teacher skills
Who teachers are in class Teacher knowledge
Rapport Art or science?
Teacher tasks
Describing good teachers - Most people can look back at their own schooldays and identify teachers they thought were good, but generally they find it quite hard to say why certain teachers struck them as special.
Perhaps it’s due to their personality. Possibly it’s due to having interesting things to say. Maybe the reason’s they looked as if they loved their job, or perhaps their interest in their students’ progress was compelling.
Sometimes, it seems, it was only due to the teaching being a fascinating person! One of the reason it’s difficult to give general descriptions of good teachers is different teachers are often successful in different ways.
Some teachers are more extrovert or introvert than others, for ex., and different teachers have different strengths and weaknesses.
A lot will depend on how students view individual teachers and here again, not all students will share the same opinions.
It’s often said good teachers are born, not made and it does seem some people have a natural affinity for the job, but there’re also others, perhaps who don’t have what appears to be a natural gift but who’re still effective and popular teachers.
Such teachers learn their craft through a mixture of personality, intelligence, knowledge and experience (and how they reflect on it), and even some of the teachers who’re apparently born teacher weren’t like this at the start at all, but grew into the role as they learnt their craft.
Teaching is not an easy job, but it’s a necessary one, and can be very rewarding when we see our students’ progress and know we’ve helped to make it happen.
It’s true some lessons and students can be difficult and stressful at times, but it’s also worth remembering at its best teaching can also be extremely enjoyable.
In this CH we’ll look at what is necessary for effective teaching and how it can help to provoke success - so for both students and teachers learning English can be rewarding and enjoyable.
Who teachers are in class
When we walk into a lesson, students get an idea of who we are as a result of what we look like (how we dress, how we present ourselves) and the way we behave and react to what’s going on.
They take note, either consciously or subconsciously, of whether we’re always the same or whether we can be flexible, depending on what’s happening at a particular point in the lesson.
As we’ve said, teachers like any other group of humans, have individual differences. However, one of the things perhaps which differentiates us from some other professions, is we become different people, in a way, when we’re in front of a class from the people we’re in other situations, such as at home or at a party.
Everyone switches roles like this in their daily lives to some extent, but for teachers, who we are (or appear to be) when we’re at work is esp important.
Personality
Some years ago, in prep for a presentation to colleagues, Harmer recorded interviews with a large number of teachers and students.
He asked them What makes a good teacher? and was interested in what their instant responses would be. A number of the people Harmer questioned answered by talking about the teacher’s character.
As one of them told me, I like the teacher who has his own personality and doesn’t hide it from the students so he’s not only a teacher but a person as well - and it comes through in the lesson.
Discussing teacher personality’s difficult for two reasons: in the first place there’s no one ideal teacher personality.
Some teachers are effective due to being larger than life, while others persuade through their quiet authority, but the other problem - as the respondent seemed to be saying to me in the comment above - is students want not only to see a professional who’s come to teach them, but also to glimpse the person as well.
Effective teacher personality is a blend between who re really are, and who we are as teachers. In other words, teaching’s much more than only being ourselves, however much some students want to see the real person.
We have to be able to present a professional face to the students which they find both interesting and effective. When we walk into the classroom, we want them to see someone who looks like a teacher whatever else they look like.
This doesn’t mean conforming to some kind of teacher stereotype, but rather finding, each in our own way, a personal which we adopt when we cross the threshold.
We need to ask ourselves what kind of personality we want our students to encounter, and the decisions we take before and during lessons should help to demo the personality.
This isn’t to suggest we’re in any way dishonest about who we are - teaching isn’t acting, after all - but we do need to think carefully about how we appear.
One 12-year-old interviewee Harmer talked to answered my question by saying the teacher needs to have dress sense - not always the same old boring suits and ties! (see above)
However flippant this comment seems to be, it reminds us the way we present ourselves to our students matters, whether this involves our real clothes (as in the student’s comments) or the personality we put on in our lessons.
Adaptability
What often marks one teacher out from another is how they react to different events in the class as the lesson proceeds. This is important, due to however well we have prepared, the chances are things’ll not go exactly to plan.
Unexpected events happen in lessons and part of a teacher’s skill is to decide what the response should be when they do. We’ll discuss such magic moments and unforeseen problems (see upcoming CH).
Good teachers are able to absorb the unexpected and to use it to their and the students’ advantage. This is esp important when the learning outcomes we’d planned for look as if they may not succeed due to what’s happening.
We have to be flexible enough to work with this and change your destination accordingly (of this has to be done) or find some other way to get there, or perhaps we’ve to take a decision to continue what we’re doing despite the interruption to the way we imagined things were going to proceed.
In other words, teachers need to be able to think on their feet and act quickly and decisively at various points in the lesson. When students see they can do this, their confidence in their teachers is greatly enhanced.
Teacher roles
Part of a good teacher’s art is the ability to adopt a number of different roles in the class, depending on what the students are doing.
If, for ex., the teacher always acts as a controller, standing at the front of the class, dictating everything which happens and being the focus of attn, they’ll be little chance for students to take much responsibility for their own learning, in other words, for them to have agency (see above).
Being a controller may work for grammar explanations and other info presentation, for instance, but it’s less effective for activities where students are working together cooperatively on a project, for ex.
In such situations we may need to be prompters, encouraging students, pushing them to achieve more, feeding in a bit of info or language to help them proceed.
At other times, we may need to act as feedback providers (helping students to evaluate. their performance) or as assessors (telling students how well they have done or giving them grades, etc).
We also need to be able to function as a resource (for language info, etc) when students need to consult us and at times, as a language tutor (which is, an advisor who responds to what the student is doing and advises them on what to do next).
The way we act when we’re controlling a class is very different from the listening and advising behaviour we’ll exhibit when we’re tutoring students or responding to a presentation or a piece of writing (something which is different, again from the way we assess a piece of work).
Part of our teacher personality, therefore, is our ability to perform all these roles at different times, but with the same care and ease whichever role we’re involved with.
This flexibility will help us to facilitate the many different stages and facets of learning.
Rapport
A significant feature in the intrinsic motivation of students (see above) will depend on their perception of what the teacher thinks of them, and how they’re treated.
It’s no surprise, therefore to find what many people look for when they observe other people’s lessons, is evidence of good rapport between the teacher and the class.
Rapport means, in essence, the relationship which the students have with the teacher, and vice versa. In the best lessons we’ll always see a positive, enjoyable and respectful relationship.
Rapport is established in part when students become aware of our professionalism (see above), but it also occurs as a result of the way we listen to and treat the students in our classes.
Recognizing students
One of the students Harmer talked to in his research said a good teacher’s ‘someone who knows our names’. This comment is revealing both literally and metaphorically.
In the first place, students want teachers to know their names rather than, say, pointing at them, but this is extremely difficult for teachers who see eight or nine groups a week. How can they remember their students?
Teachers have developed a number of strategies to help them remember students’ names. One method is to ask the students (at least in the first week or two) to put name cards on the desk in front of them or stick name badges on their sweaters or jackets.
We can also draw up a seating plan and ask students always to sit in the same place until we’ve learnt their names.
However, this means we can’t move students around when we want to, and students - esp younger students - sometimes take pleasure in sitting in the wrong place only to confuse us.
Many teachers use the register to make notes about individual students (Do they wear glasses? Are they tall?, etc) and others keep separate notes about the individuals in their classes.
There’s no easy way of remembering students’ names, yet it’s extremely important we do so if good rapport is to be established with individuals.
We need, therefore, to find ways of doing this which suit us best, but knowing our names is also about knowing about students.
At any age, they’ll be pleased when they realize their teacher has remembered things about them, and has some understanding of who they are.
Once again, this is extremely difficult in large classes, esp when we’ve a number of different groups, but part of a teacher’s skill is to persuade students we recognize them, and who and what they are.
Listening to students
Students respond very well to teachers who listen to them. Another respondent in my research said ‘It’s important you can talk to the teacher when you have problems and you don’t get along with the subj’.
Although there’re many calls on a teacher’s time, nevertheless we need to make ourselves as available as we can to listen to individual students, but we need to listen properly to students in lessons, too, and we need to show we’re interested in what they have to say.
Of course, no one can force us to be genuinely interested in absolutely everything and everyone, but it’s part of a teacher’s professional personality (see above) we should be able to convince students we’re listening to what they say with every sign of attn.
As far as possible we also need to listen to the students’ comments on how they’re getting on, and which activities and techniques they respond well or badly to.
If we only go on teaching the same thing day after day without being aware of our students’ reactions, it’ll become more and more difficult to maintain the rapport which’s so important for successful classes.
Respecting students
One student Harmer interviewed had absolutely no doubt about the key quality of good teachers. ‘They should be able to correct people without offending them’, he said with feeling.
Correcting students (see below in another CH) is always a delicate event. If we’re too critical, we risk demotivating them, yet if we’re constantly praising them, we risk turning them into praise junkies, who begin to need approval all the time.
The problem we face, however is while some students are happy to be corrected robustly, others need more support and positive reinforcement.
In speaking activities (see CH9), some students want to be corrected the moment they make any mistake, whereas others would like to be corrected later.
In other words, only as students have different learning styles and intelligences, so too they’ve different preferences when it comes to being corrected, but whichever method of correction we choose, and whoever we’re working with, students need to know which we’re treating them with respect, and not using mockery or sarcasm - or expressing despair at their efforts!
Respect is vital, too, when we deal with any kind of problem behavior. We could, of course, respond to indiscipline or awkwardness by being biting in our criticism of the student who’s done something we don’t approve of.
Yes this will be counterproductive. It’s the behavior we want to criticize, not the character of the student in question. Teachers who respect students do their best to see them in a positive light.
They’re not negative about their learners or in the way they deal with them in class. They don’t react with anger or ridicule when students do unplanned things, but instead use a respectful professionalism to solve the problem.
Being even-handed
Most teachers have some students which they like more than others. For ex., we’ll tend to react well to those who take part, are cheerful and cooperative, take responsibility for their own learning, and do what we ask of them without complaint.
Sometimes we’re less enthusiastic about those who’re less forthcoming, and who find learner autonomy, for ex., more of a challenge.
Yet, as one of the students in Harmer’s research said, a good teacher should try to draw out the quiet ones and control the more talkative ones, and one of her colleagues echoed this by saying a good teacher is… someone who asks the people who don’t always put their hands up.
Students will generally respect teachers who show impartiality and who do their best to reach all the students in a group rather than only concentrating on the ones who always put their hands up.
The reasons some students aren’t forthcoming may be many and varied, ranging from shyness to their cultural or family backgrounds.
Sometimes students are reluctant to take part overtly due to other stronger characters in the group, and these quiet students will only be negatively affected when they see far more attn being paid to their more robust classmates.
At the same time, giving some students more attn than others may make those students more difficult to deal with later since they’ll come to expect special treatment, and may take our interest as a license to become over dominant in the class.
Moreover, it’s not only teen students who can suffer from being the teachers pet. Treating all students equally not only helps to establish and maintain rapport, but is also a mark of professionalism.
Teacher tasks
Teaching doesn’t only involve the relationship we have with students, of course. As professionals we’re also asked to perform certain tasks.
Preparation
Effective teachers are well-prepared. Part of this prep resides in the knowledge they have of their subj and the skill of teaching, something we’ll discuss in detail below, but another feature of being well-prepared is having thought in advance of what we’re going to do in our lessons.
As we walk towards our class, we need to have some idea of what the students are going to achieve in the lesson; we should’ve some learning outcomes in our head.
Of course, what happens in a lesson doesn’t always conform to our plans for it, as we shall discuss in a below CH, but students always take comfort from the perception their teacher has thought about what’ll be appropriate for their particular class on the particular day.
The degree to which we plan our lessons differs from teacher to teacher. It’ll often depend, among other things, on whether we’ve taught this lesson or something like it before. We’ll discuss planning in detail in CH12.
Keeping records
Many teachers find the admin features of their job (taking the register, filling forms, writing report cards) irksome, yet such record keeping is a necessary adjunct to the class exp.
There’s one particularly good reason for keeping a record of what we’ve taught. It works as a way of looking back at what we’ve done in order to decide what to do next, and if we keep a record of how well things have gone (what has been more or less successful), we’ll begin to come to conclusions about what works and what doesn’t.
It’s important for professional teachers to try to evaluate how successful an activity has been in terms of student engagement and learning outcomes.
If we do this, we’ll start to amend our teaching practice in the light of exp, rather than getting stuck in sterile routines.
It’s one of the characteristics of good teachers which they’re constantly changing and developing their teaching practice as a result of reflecting on their teaching exp’s.
Being reliable
Professional teachers are reliable about things like timekeeping and homework. It’s very difficult to berate students for being late for lessons if we get into the habit (for whatever reason) of turning up late ourselves.
It’s unsatisfactory to insist on the prompt delivery of homework if it takes us weeks to correct it and give it back. Being reliable in this way is simply a matter of following the old idiom of practicing what we preach.
Teacher skills
As we’ve suggested, who we are and the way we interact with out students are vital components in successful teaching, as are the tasks which we’re obliged to undertake, but these will not make us effective teachers unless we possess certain teacher skills.
Managing classes
Effective teachers see class management as a separate aspect of their skill. In other words, whatever activity we ask our students to be involved in or whether they’re working with a board, a tape recorder or a computer, we’ll have thought of (and be able to carry out) procedures to make the activity successful.
We’ll know how to put students into groups, or when to start and finish an activity. We’ll have worked out what kinds of instructions to give, and what order to do things in.
We’ll have decided whether students should work in groups, in pairs or as a whole class. We’ll have considered whether we want to move them around the class, or move the chairs into a different seating pattern (see below).
We’ll discuss class management in more detain in CH3. Successful class management also involves being able to prevent disruptive behavior and reacting to it effectively when it occurs (see below CH).
Matching tasks and groups
Students will learn more successfully if they enjoy the activities they’re involved in and are interested or stimulated by the topics we (or they) bring into the class.
Teachers, Harmer was told when conducting interviews (see above), should make their lessons interesting, so you don’t fall asleep on them!
Of course, in many institutions, topics and activities are decreed to some extent by the material in the coursebook which’s being used, but even in such situations there’s a lot we can do to make sure we cater for the range of needs and interests of the students in our classes (see above).
Many teachers have the unsettling exp of using an activity with, say two or three groups and having considerable success only to find it completely fails in the next class.
There could be many reasons for this, including the students, the time of day, a mismatch between the task and the level or only the fact which the group weren’t in the mood.
However, what such exp’s clearly suggest is which we need to think carefully about matching activities and topics to the different groups we teach.
Whereas, for ex., some groups seem happy to work creatively on their own, others need more help and guidance. Where some students respond well to teacher presentation (with the teacher acting as a controller), others are much happier when they investigate language issues on their own.
Variety
Good teachers vary activities and topics over a period of time. The best activity type will be less motivating the sixth time we ask the students to take part in it than it was when they first came across it.
Much of the value of an activity, in other words, resides in its freshness, but even where we use the same activity types for some reason (due to the curriculum expects this or due to it’s a feature of the materials we’re using), it’s important to try to ensure which learner roles aren’t always the same.
If we use a lot of group discussion, for ex., we want to be sure the same student isn’t always given the role of taking notes, rather than actually participating in the discussion themselves.
When we get students to read texts, we won’t always have them work on comprehension questions in the same way.
Sometimes they may compare answers in pairs; sometimes they may interview each other about the text; sometimes they may do all the work on their own.
Variety works within lessons, too. It’s not only children who can become bored by doing the same thing all the time.
Thus, although there may be considerable advantages in using language drills for beginner students, we won’t want to keep a drill running for half an hour due to it’d exhaust both students and teacher.
However, we may make a different kind of activity, such as a role-play, last for longer than this. A lot depends on exactly what we’re asking students to do.
Where we’re using a coursebook for a large part of the time, it’s advisable to vary the ways in which we use certain repetitive activity types.
Just due to reading comprehension exercises always look the same in a book, for ex., it doesn’t mean we always have to approach them in the same way.
We’ll discuss ways of using and adapting course books in more detail in CH11.
Destinations
When we take learning activities into the class, we need to persuade our students of their usefulness. Good activities should’ve some kind of destination or learning outcome, and it’s the job of the teacher to make this destination apparent.
Students need to have an idea of where they’re going, and more importantly, to recognize when they’ve got there. Of course, some activities, such as discussions, don’t have a fixed end.
Nevertheless, even in such circumstances, it’ll be helpful if we can make sure students leave the class with some tangible result. Which’s why a summing-up, or feedback session at the end of a discussion, for ex., is so valuable.
Teacher knowledge
Apart from the ability to create and foster good teacher-student rapport and the possession of skills necessary for organizing successful lessons, teachers need to know a lot about the subj they’re teaching (the English language).
They’ll need to know what equipment is available in their school and how to use it. They need to know what materials are available for teachers and students.
They should also do their best to keep abreast of new developments in teaching approaches and techniques by consulting a range of print material, online resources, and by attending, where possible, development sessions and teacher seminars.
The language system
Language teachers need to know how the language works. This means having a knowledge of the grammar system and understanding the lexical system:
how words change their shape depending on their grammatical function, and how they group together into phrases.
They need to be aware of pronunciation features such as sounds, stress, and intonation. These different features of the language system are explained in CH5.
Students have a right to expect teachers of the English language can explain straightforward grammar concepts, including how and when they’re used.
They expect their teachers to know the difference between the colloquial language people use in informal convo and the more formal language required in more formal settings.
They also expect teachers to be able to demo and help them to pronounce words correctly and with appropriate intonation.
When students have doubts about the language, they frequently ask their teachers to explain things. They ask ‘What’s the difference between … and…?’ or ‘Why can’t we say…?’
Sometimes the answer is clear and easy to explain, but at other times the issue is one of great complexity and even the most exp’d teacher will have difficulty giving an instant answer.
In other words, our knowledge of the language system may not be adequate for certain kinds of on-the-spot questions about subtleties.
Moreover, sometimes the question’s not especially relevant - it’s a distraction from what’s going on in the lesson. In such situations, teachers need to be able to say things like ‘That’s a very interesting question. I think the answer is X, but I’ll check to make sure and I’ll bring you a more complete answer tomorrow’ or ‘That’s a very interesting question. I don’t want to answer it now due to we’re doing something else, but you can find the answer yourself if you go to this book. We’ll discuss it tomorrow’.
Students will realize these answers are perfectly appropriate when the teacher does indeed return for the next lesson with the info they’ve promised.
This’ll demo the teacher’s knowledge of the language and reference materials, but if on the other hand, we forgot to find the info and never mention the questions again, students will gradually start to think we only don’t know enough about the language to find what we’re looking for - or we just don’t care.
Materials and resources
When students ask the kind of complicated questions mentioned above, good teachers know where to find the answers. We need to know about books and sites where such technical info is available.
However, this is quite a challenge in today’s world, where the sheer number of coursebook titles released every year can sometimes seem overwhelming, and where there’re quite a significant number of grammar books and monolingual learner’s dics (MLDs) to choose from - to say nothing of the multitude of useful sites on the internet.
No one expects teachers to be all-knowing in this respect: what colleagues and students can expect, however, is teachers know where to fin at least one good reference grammar at the appropriate level, or a good MLD, or can direct them to a library or a site where they can find these things.
If teachers are using a coursebook, students expect them, of course, to know how the materials work. Their confidence will be greatly enhanced if they can see the teacher has looked at the material they’re using before the lesson, and has worked out a way of dealing with it.
Classroom equipment
Over the last few decades the growth in different types of class equipment has been incredible. Once upon a time we only had pens, board and chalk to work with, but then along came the tape recorder, the language lab, video machines, the overhead projector, computers, data projectors and interactive whiteboards (the are all described in the appendix).
Some teachers are more comfortable with these various pieces of educational technology than others. This will always be the case. There’s no reason why everyone should be equally proficient at everything.
However, students will expect teachers should know how to use the equipment which they’ve elected to use. Learning how to use various types of equipment is a major part of modern teacher training.
However, we should do everything in our power to avoid being overzealous about the equipment itself. It’s only worth using if it can do things which other equipment or routines can’t.
The essentials of good teaching - ie rapport, professionalism, using good activities - will always be more important than the actual means of delivery.
What has changed recently, though, is students can do things they were unable to do before thanks to technical innovation.
Thus modern podcasts (downloadable listening which can be played on individual mp3 players) give students many more listening opportunities than ever before.
They can also write their own blogs (Internet diaries) and put them on the web. They can burn cds with ex.’s of their work and the materials used in class to take home when a course has finished.
They can search for a wide range of language and info resources in a way which would’ve been impossible a few years ago.
As teachers, we need to do everything we can to keep abreast of technological change in educational resources, but we should never let technology drive our decisions about teaching and learning.
We should, instead decide what our learners want to achieve and only then see what kind of techniques and technology will help them to do this.
Keeping up-to-date
Teachers need to know how to use a variety of activities in the class, of course but they also need to be constantly finding out about new ways of doing things.
A good way of learning about new activities and techniques is to read the various teachers’ magazines and journals which are available (see appendix).
There’s now a wealth of info about teaching on the internet, too. Magazines, books and sites often contain good descriptions of new activities and how to use them.
We can also learn a lot from attending seminars and teachers’ conferences, and listening to other teachers describing new activities and the successes they’ve had with them.
Two things need to be said about the various knowledges we’ve been describing. In the first place, it’s difficult for newly qualified teachers to keep everything in their heads at the same time as they struggle with the demands of a new job.
Nevertheless, as they learn their craft, we’d expect them to be hungry for as much knowledge in these areas as possible since this will make them better teachers.
Secondly, this kind of knowledge is not static, hence the need to keep up-to-date. Things change almost daily.
New books, class equipment and computer software are being produced all the time, only as teachers keep coming up with wonderful new ways of doing old things (such as grammar presentation or discussion activities).
Staying in touch with these developments can seem daunting, of course, due to the pace of change, but it’s worth remembering how deadly it’d be if things always stayed the same.
Art or science?
Is teaching language an art, then or is it a science? As this CH has shown, there’re good grounds for focusing on its almost-scientific attributes.
Understanding the language system and finding the best ways to explain it’s some kind of a scientific endeavor, esp when we continue to research its changes and evolution.
In the same way, some of the technical skills which’re required of teachers (procedures for how to do things, a constant attn to innovation in educational technology and materials design) need to be almost scientific in their rigor.
Yet teaching’s an art, too. It works when the relationship which’s created between teacher and students, and between the students in a group, is at its best.
If we have managed to establish a good rapport with a group, almost anything is possible. We’ve discussed some of the key requirements in creating such a rapport, yet behind everything we’ve said lurks the possibility of magic - or a lack of it, due to the way some teachers are able to establish fantastic rapport, or get students really interested in a new activity may be observable, but trying to work out exactly how it was done or why it happened may be more difficult.
In the same way, the instant decision-making we’ve been discussing can happen on supposedly scientific grounds, but its success, and the creativity which can be unleashed, is often the result of the teacher’s feelings or judgement at the very moment.
For as we’ve said, good teachers listen and watch, and use both professional and personal skills to respond to what they see and hear.
Good teachers have a knack of responding by doing things right, and which’s most definitely an art.
CH3 Managing the classroom
Class management Using the L1
The teacher in the class Creating lesson stages
Using the voice Different seating arrangements
Talking to students
Giving instructions Different student groupings
Student talk and teacher talk
Class management
If we want to manage classes effectively, we have to be able to handle a range of variables. These include how the class space is organized, whether the students are working on their own or in groups and how we organize class time.
We also need to consider how we appear to the students, and how we use our most valuable asset - our voice.
The way we talk to students - and who talks most in the lesson - is another key factor in class management.
We also need to think about what role, if any, there may be for the use of the students’ mother tongue in lessons.
Successful class management also involves being able to deal with difficult situations - an issue we’ll discuss in below CH.
The teacher in the class
Our physical presence can play a large part in our management of the class environment, and it’s not only appearance either (though which’s clearly an issue for the secondary students in CH2).
The way we move and stand, and the degree to which we’re physically demonstrative can have a clear effect on the management of the class.
Most importantly, the way we’re able to respond to what happens in class, the degree to which we’re aware of what’s going on, often marks the difference between successful teaching and less satisfactory lessons.
All teachers, like all people, have their own physical characteristics and habits, and they’ll take these into the class with them, but there’re a number of issues to consider which’re not only matters of personality or style and which have a direct bearing on the students’ perception of us.
Proximity
Teachers need to consider how close they should be to the students they’re working with. Some students are uncomfortable if their teacher stands or sits close to them.
For some, on the other hand, distance is a sign of coldness. Teachers should be conscious of how close they’re to their students, should take this into account when assessing their students’ reactions and should, if necessary, modify their behavior.
Appropriacy
Deciding how to close to the students you should be when you work with them is a matter of appropriacy. So is the general way in which teachers sit or stand in classes.
Many teachers create an extremely friendly atmosphere by crouching down when they work with students in pairs. In this way, they’re at the same level as their seated students.
However, some students find this informality worrying. Some teachers are even happy to sit on the floor, and in certain situations this may be appropriate, but in others it may well lead to a situation where students are put off concentrating.
All the positions teachers take - sitting on the edge of tables, standing behind a lectern, standing on a raised dais, etc - make strong statements about the kind of person the teacher is.
It’s important, therefor, to consider what kind of effect such physical behavior has so which we can behave in a way which’s appropriate to the students we’re teaching and the relationship we wish to create with them.
If we want to manage a class effectively, such a relationship is crucial.
Movement
Some teachers tend to spend most of their classes time in one place - at the front of the class, for ex., or to the side, or in the middle.
Others spend a great deal of time walking from side to side, or striding up and down the aisles between the chairs.
Although this, again is to some extent a matter of personal preference, it’s worth remembering motionless teachers can bore students, while teacher who’re constantly in motion can turn their students into tennis spectators, their heads moving from side to side until they become exhausted.
Most successful teachers move around the class to some extent. This way they can retain their students’ interest (if they’re leading an activity) or work more closely with smaller groups (when they go to help a pair or group).
How much we move around in the class will depend on our personal style, where we feel most comfortable for the management of the class and whether or not we want to work with smaller groups.
Awareness
In order to manage a class successfully, the teacher has to be aware of what students are doing and, where possible, how they’re feeling.
This means watching and listening only as carefully as teaching. This’ll be difficult if we keep too much distance or if we’re perceived by the students to be cold and aloof due to then finding it difficult to establish the kind of rapport we mentioned in CH2.
Awareness means assessing what students have said and responding appropriately. According to a writer, a colleague of his put this perfectly when he said the teacher’s primary responsibility is response-ability!
This means being able to perceive the success or failure of what’s taking place in the class, and being flexible enough (see in below CH) to respond to what’s going on.
We need to be as conscious as possible of what’s going on in the students’ heads. It’s almost impossible to help students to learn a language in a class setting without making contact with them in this way.
The exact nature of this contact will vary from teacher to teacher and from class to class. Finally, it’s not only awareness of the students which’s important.
We also need to be self-aware, in order to try to gauge the success (or otherwise) of our behavior and to gain an understanding of how our students see us.
The teacher’s physical approach and personality in the class’s one aspect of class management to consider. Another is one of the teacher’s chief tools: the voice.
Using the voice
Perhaps our most important instrument as teacher’s our voice. How we speak and what our voice sounds like have a crucial impact on class.
When considering the use of the voice in the management of teaching, there’re three issues to think about.
Audibility
Clearly, teachers need to be audible. They must be sure the students at the back of the class can hear them only as well as those at the front, but audibility can’t be divorced from voice quality: a rasping shout is always unpleasant.
Teachers don’t have to shout to be audible. Good voice projection is more important than volume (though the two are, of course, connected).
Speaking too softly or unpleasantly loudly are both irritating and unhelpful for students.
Variety
It’s important for teachers to vary the quality of their voices - and the volume they speak at - according to the type of lesson and the type of activity.
The kind of voice we use to give instructions or intro a new activity will be different from the voice which’s most appropriate for convo or an informal exchange of views or info.
In one particular situation, teachers often use very loud voices, and which’s when they want students to be quiet or stop doing something (see the next section), but it’s worth pointing out which speaking quietly is often only as effective a way of getting the students’ attn since, when they realize which you’re talking, they’ll want to stop and listen in case you’re saying something important or interesting.
However, for teachers who almost never raise their voices, the occasional shouted interjection may have an extremely dramatic effect, and this can sometimes be beneficial.
Conservation
Only like opera singers, teachers have to take great care of their voices. It’s important they breathe correctly so they don’t strain their larynxes.
Breathing properly means being relaxed (in the shoulders, for ex., and not slumped backward or forwards), and using the lower abdomen to help expand the rib cage, thus filling the lungs with air.
It’s important too teachers vary their voices throughout the day, avoiding shouting wherever possible, so they can conserve their vocal energy.
Conserving the voice is one of the things teachers’ll want to take into account when planning a day’s or a week’s work.
Talking to students
The way teachers talk to students - the manner in which they interact with them - is one of the crucial teacher skills, but it doesn’t demand technical expertise.
It does, however, require teachers to empathize with the people they’re talking to by establishing a good rapport with them.
One group of people who seem to find it fairly natural to adapt their language to their audience are parents when they talk to their young children.
Studies show they use more exaggerated tones of voice and speak with less complex grammatical structures than they would if they’re talking to adults.
Their vocab is generally more restricted, they make more frequent attempts to establish eye contact and they use other forms of physical contact. They generally do these things unconsciously.
Though the teacher-student relationship is not the same as between a parent and child, this subconscious ability to rough-tune the language is a skill teachers and parents have in common.
Rough-tuning is the simplification of language which both parents and teachers make in order to increase the chances of their being understood.
Neither group sets out to get the level of language exactly correct for their audience. They rely, instead, on a general perception of what’s being understood and what’s not, due to they’re constantly aware of the effect their words are having, they’re able to adjust their language use - in terms of grammatical complexity, vocab use and voice tone - when their listener shows signs of incomprehension.
In order to rough-tune their language, teachers need to be aware of three things. Firstly, they should consider the kind of language which students are likely to understand.
Secondly, they need to think about what they wish to say to the students and how best to do it, and thirdly, they need to consider the manner in which they’ll speak (in terms of intonation, tone of voice, etc), but these considerations need not be detailed.
To be successful at rough-tuning, all we have to do is speak at a level which’s more or less appropriate. Exp’d teachers rough-tune the way they speak to students as a matter of course.
Newer teachers need to pay attn to their students’ comprehension and use it as the yardstick by which to measure their own speaking style in the class.
Apart from adapting their language, teachers also use physical movements and gestures (these are often quite exaggerated), such as shrugging the shoulders for ‘who cares?’ or scratching the head to show puzzlement.
Many teachers also use gestures to demo things like the past tense (pointing back over their shoulders). They use facial expressions to show emotions such as happiness and sadness, and mime to demo actions such as opening a book or filling a glass and drinking.
Gesture, expression and mime should become a natural adjunct to the language we use, esp with students at lower levels.
Giving instructions
This issue of how to talk to students becomes crucial when we give them instructions. The best activity in the world is a waste of time if the students don’t understand what it is they’re supposed to do.
There’re two general rules for giving instructions: they must be kept as simple as possible, and they must be logical. Before giving instructions, therefore, teachers must ask themselves the following questions:
What’s the important info I’m trying to convey? What must the students know if they’re to complete this activity successfully?
What info do they need first? Which should come next? When teachers give instructions, it’s important for them to check the students have understood what they’re being asked to do.
This can be achieved either by asking a student to explain the activity after the teacher has given the instruction or by getting someone to show the other people in the class how the exercise works.
Where students all share the same mother tongue (which the teacher also understands), a member of the class can be asked to translate the instructions into their mother tongue as a check they’ve understood them.
Student talk and teacher talk
There’s a continuing debate about the amount of time teachers should spend talking in class. Classes are sometimes criticized due to there’s too much TTT (Teacher Talking Time) and not enough STT (Student Talking Time).
Overuse of TT is inappropriate due to more a teacher talks, the less chance there is for the students to practise their own speaking - and it’s the students who need the practice, not the teacher.
If a teacher talks and talks, the students will have less time for other things, too, such as reading and writing. For these reasons, a good teacher maximizes STT and minimizes TTT.
Good TTT may have beneficial qualities, however. If teachers know how to talk to students, if they know how to rough-tune their language to the students’ level as discussed above, then the students get a chance to hear language which’s certainly above their own productive level, but which they can more or less understand.
Such comprehensible input - where students receive rough-tuned input in a relaxed and unthreatening way - is an important feature in language acquisition.
Perhaps, therefore, we shouldn’t talk simply about the difference between STT and TTT, but also consider TTQ (Teacher Talking Quality).
In other words, teachers who only go on and on, using language which’s not esp useful or appropriate, aren’t offering students the right kind of talking, whereas teachers who engage students with their stories and interaction, using appropriate comprehensible input will be helping them to understand and acquire the language.
The best lessons, therefore are ones where STT is maximized, but where at appropriate moments during the lesson the teacher’s not afraid to summarise what is happening, tell a story or enter into discussion, etc.
Good teachers use their common sense and exp to get the balance right.
Using the L1
All learners of English, whatever their situation, come to the class with at least one other language, their mother tongue (often called their L1).
We need to ask ourselves, therefore, whether it’s appropriate for them to use the L1 in class when their main object is, after all to learn an L2 (in our case English).
The first thing to remember is, esp at beginner levels, students are going to translate what’s happening into their L1 whether teachers want them to or not.
It’s a natural process of learning a foreign language. On the other hand, an English-language class should have English in it, and as far as possible, there should be an English environment in the room, where English’s heard and used as much of the time as possible.
For this reason, it’s advisable for teachers to use English as often as possible, and not to spend a long time talking in the students’ L1.
However, where teacher and students share the same L1 it’d be foolish to deny its existence and potential value.
Once we’ve given instructions for an activity, for ex., we can ask students to repeat the instructions back to us in the L1 - and this will tell us whether they’ve understood what they have to do.
When we have complicated instructions to explain, we may want to do this in the L1, and where students need individual help or encouragement, the use of the L1 may have very beneficial effects.
Since students translate in their heads anyway, it makes sense to use this translation process in an active away.
For ex., we can ask students to translate words, phrases or sentences into their L1, and then, perhaps, back into English without looking at the original.
This helps them to think carefully about meaning and construction. Teachers may translate particular words, esp those for concepts and abstractions, when other ways of explaining their meaning are ineffective.
At a more advanced level, we can have students read a text, say in their L1, but get them to ask and answer questions about it, or summarise it, in English.
When teaching pronunciation, it’s often useful if students can find an equivalent sound in the L1 for the English one they’re trying to produce.
We may want to explain to them how English has two different sounds where the L1 doesn’t make such a distinction (eg /b/ and /v/ for Spanish speakers, /l/ and /r/ for Japanese speakers).
Some teachers like to use films in the L1 with English subtitles; judging whether the subs offer an adequate version of the original can offer considerable insight for higher-level students.
Alternatively, with switch-on/off subs, students can be asked to write their own English subs for a scene before watching how the filmmakers have done it.
However, using the translation process in the ways described above doesn’t mean a return to a trad’l Grammar-translation methods (see CH4), but rather, from time to time, using the students’ L1 may help them to see connections and differences between the L1 and L2, and occasionally, the teacher’s use of the L1 may help them to understand things they’re finding difficult to grasp.
However, many classes around the world there’re students with a variety of different L1s and as a result, the use of L1 becomes more problematic.
In such situations, it’s still useful to get students to think of similarities and differences between their L1 and the L2, but they’ll have to explain these differences in English.
Making use of the students’ L1 (where possible) doesn’t mean we should abandon the commitment (mentioned above) to creating an English environment.
Although we’ve seen the L1 can be used as an enabling tool, English should predominate in an English lesson, esp where the teacher’s concerned since, as we’ve seen, they are the best provider of comprehensible input the students have got.
Not only, but English’s the language they’re learning, not their L1. However, despite our best efforts, some students find it difficult to use English in the class, an we’ll discuss this issue in below CH.
Creating lesson stages
Since, as said in CH2, teachers need to provide variety, then clearly we have to include different stages in our lessons.
When we arrive in the class, we need to start the lesson off in such a way the students’ interest is aroused so they become engaged.
Where possible and appropriate, we’ll tell the students what they’ll be doing, or in a different kind of lesson, discuss with them what they can achieve as a result of what they’re going to do.
We don’t always need to explain what we’re going to do, however, particular if we want to maintain an element of surprise, but even in such cases, a clear start to the lesson is necessary, only as a good play starts with the rise of a curtain, or a visit to the doctor starts when he or she asks you, ‘Now then, what seems to be the problem?’ or ‘How can I help you?’.
When an activity has finished and/or another one is about to start, it helps if teachers make this clear through the way they behave and the things they say.
It helps students if they’re made clearly aware of the end of something and the beginning of what’s coming next. Frequently, teachers need to refocus the students’ attn, or point it in some new direction.
In order for such changes of direction to be effective, the teacher first needs to get the students’ attn. This can sometimes be difficult, esp when teachers try to draw a speaking activity to a conclusion, or when students are working in groups.
Some teachers clap their hands to get the students’ attn. Some speak loudly, saying things like, ‘Thank you… now can I have your attn, please?’ or ‘Ok… thanks… let’s all face the front, shall we?’.
Sometimes when teachers speak loudly, the students only speak louder in order not to be bothered by the interruption.
To counter this, some teachers speak quietly in order to force the students to listen to them. Another method is for the teacher to raise his or her hand.
When individual students see this, they raise their hands briefly in reply to indicate they’re now going to be quiet and wait for the next stage.
When we’ve brought an activity or a lesson to a finish, it helps if we provide some kind of closure: a summary of what’s happened, perhaps, or a prediction of what’ll take place in the next lesson.
Sometimes, teachers find themselves in the middle of something when the bell goes. This is unfortunate due to leaving unfinished business behind and a sense of incompleteness.
It’s much better to round the lesson off successfully. Ideally, too, we’ll be able to give the students some idea of what they’ll be doing next, and create enthusiasm for it so they come to their next lesson with a positive attitude.
The stages of a lesson will be a particular concern when planning lessons (see CH12).
Different seating arrangements
In many classes around the world students sit in orderly rows. Sometimes, their chairs have little wooden palettes on one of the arms to provide a surface to write on.
Sometimes, the students will have desks in front of them. At the front of such classes, often on a raised platform (so all the students can see them), stands the teacher.
In contrast, there’re other institutions where you can find students sitting in a large circle around the walls of the class, or you may see small groups of them working in different parts of the room.
Sometimes, they’re arranged in a horseshoe shape around the teacher. Sometimes, in a class of adults, it’s not immediately obvious who the teacher is.
Different seating arrangements in class
Clearly, the different arrangements of chairs and tables indicate a number of different approaches and this raises a number of questions.
Are schools which use a variety of seating plans progressive or merely modish, for ex.? Is there something intrinsically superior about rigid seating arrangements - or are such classes the product of a particular methodological orthodoxy?
Is one kind of seating arrangement better than another? What are the advantages of each? We’ll look at the advantages and disadvantages of various seating arrangements.
Orderly rows
Having the students sit in rows can appear somewhat restrictive, but there’re advantages to this arrangement.
The teacher has a clear view of all the students and the students can all see the teacher - in whose direction they’re facing.
It makes lecturing easier, enabling the teacher to maintain eye contact with the people he or she is talking to.
If there’re aisles in the class, the teacher can easily walk up and down making more personal contact with individual students and watching what they’re doing.
Orderly rows imply teachers working with the whole class. Some activities are esp suited to this kind of organization such as explaining a grammar point, watching a video/dvd or a PowerPoint (or other computer-based) presentation, using the board (whether or not it’s interactive) or showing student work on an overhead transparency (see Appendix for descriptions these and other class technologies).
It’s also useful when students are involved in certain kinds of language practice (as we shall see in CH6). If all the students are focused on a task at the same time, the whole class gets the same messages.
When we’re teaching a whole class of students who’re sitting in orderly rows, it’s vitally important to make sure we keep everyone involved in what we’re doing.
So, if we’re asking the class questions, we must remember to ask the students at the back - the quiet ones, perhaps - rather than only the ones nearest us.
We must move round so we can see al the students and gauge their reactions to what’s going on. One trick many teachers use is to keep their students guessing.
Esp where teachers need to ask individual students questions, it’s important they don’t do so in a predictable sequence, student after student, line by line.
This way, the procedure becomes very tedious and each student knows when they’re going to be asked and once this has happened, they’re not going to be asked again.
It’s much better to talk to students from all parts of the room in random order. It keeps everyone on their toes!
In many classes around the world, teachers are faced with classes of anywhere between 40 and 200 students at a time. In such circumstances, orderly rows may well be the best or only solution.
Pairwork and groupwork (see below) are possible even when the class is seated in orderly rows; students can work with people next to them or in front of them or behind them.
Circles and horseshoes
In smaller classes, many teachers and students prefer circles or horseshoes. In a horseshoe, the teacher will probably be at the open end of the arrangement since may well be where the board, overhead projector and/or computer are situated.
In a circle, the teacher’s position - where the board is situated - is less dominating. Classes which are arranged in a circle make quite a strong statement about what the teacher and the students believe in.
The Round Table in the British and French legends about King Arthur was specially designed so there’d not be arguments about who was more important than who - and included the king himself when they were in a meeting.
So it’s in classes. With all the people in the room sitting in a circle, there’s a far greater feeling of equality than when the teacher stays out at the front.
This may not be quite so true of the horseshoe shape where the teacher’s often located in a commanding position but, even here, the rigidity which comes with orderly rows, for ex., is lessened.
If therefore, teachers believe in lowering the barriers between themselves and their students, this kind of seating arrangement will help.
There’re other advantages too, chief among which’s the fact all the students can see each other. In an orderly row class, you have to turn round - which is, away from the teacher - if you want to make eye contact with someone behind you.
In a circle or a horseshoe, no such disruption is necessary. The class is thus a more intimate place and the potential for students to share feelings and info through talking, eye contact or expressive body movements (eyebrow-raising, shoulder-shrugging, etc) is far greater.
Separate tables
Even circles and horseshoes seem rather formal compared to classes where students are seated in small groups at individual tables.
In such classes, you may see the teacher walking around checking the students’ work and helping out if they’re having difficulties - prompting the students at this table, or explaining something to the students at table in the corner.
When students sit in small groups at individual tables, it’s much easier for the teacher to work at one table while the others get on with their own work.
This is esp useful in mixed-ability classes where different groups of students can benefit from concentrating on different tasks (designed for different ability levels).
Separate table seating is also appropriate if students are working around a computer screen, for ex. where students are engaged in collaborative writing (see CH8) or where they’re listening to different audio tracks in a jigsaw listening exercise (see CH10).
However, this arrangement isn’t without its own problems. In the first place, students may not always want to be with the same colleagues; indeed, their preferences may change over time.
Secondly, it makes whole-class teaching more difficult, since the students are more diffuse and separated.
Different student groupings
Whatever the seating arrangements in a class, students can be organized in different ways: they can work as a whole class, in groups, in pairs or individually.
Whole class
There’re many occasions when the best type of class organisation is a teacher working with the class as a whole group.
However, this doesn’t always mean the class sitting in orderly rows; whatever the seating arrangement, we can have the students focus on us and the task in hand.
This is useful for presenting info and for controlled practice (such as repetition and drilling) which’s often used, esp at lower levels (see CH6).
Whole-class teaching can be dynamic and motivating and, by treating everyone as part of the same gru, we can build a great sense of belonging - of being part of a team.
However, when a class’s working as a whole group, it’s necessarily the case which individual students get fewer individual opportunities either to speak or to reflect.
Whole-class teaching is less effective if we want to encourage individual contributions and discussion, since speaking out in front of a whole class is often more demanding - and therefore more inhibiting - than speaking in smaller groups.
Groupwork and pairwork
Groupwork and pairwork have been popular in language teaching for many years and have many advantages.
They both foster cooperative activity in the students involved work together to complete a task. They may be discussing a topic, doing a role-play or working at a computer in order to find info from a site for a web quest (see CH below) or they may be writing up a report.
In pairs and groups, students tend to participate more actively, and they also have more chance to experiment with the language than is possible in a whole-class arrangement.
The moment students get into pairs or groups and start working on a problem or talking about something, many more of them will be doing the activity than if the teacher was working with the whole class, where, in most cases, only one student can talk at a time.
Both pairwork and groupwork give the students chances for greater independence, due to the students are working together without the teacher controlling every move, they take some of their own learning decisions (see above), they decide what language to use to complete a certain task and they can work without the pressure of the whole class listening to what they’re doing.
Another great advantage of groupwork and pairwork (but esp of groupwork) is they give the teacher more opportunity to focus attn on particular students.
While groups A and C are doing one task, the teacher can spend some time with group B who need special help. Neither groupwork or pairwork are without their problems.
As with separate table seating, students may not like the people they’re grouped or paired with. Some students are ill-at-ease with the idea of working without constant teacher supervision, and may be unconvinced by the student-centred nature of these groupings.
In such situations we may want to discuss the advantages of pair- and groupwork with the class, but we shouldn’t insist on endless pairwork where students are seriously opposed to it.
In any one group or pair, one student may dominate while the others stay silent or engage in social loafing, but we can counteract this by structuring the task so everyone’s participation is mandatory or we can employ tricks such as Littlewood’s numbered heads.
Here the teacher asks the groups to number themselves from 1 to 5 (if there’re five-student groups). They don’t tell the teacher who has which number.
At the end of the activity the teacher can then say, Ok, let’s hear from number 3 in group C, and due to the teacher doesn’t know who this student is, and the students don’t know who the teacher may call (but do know the call will, in some senses, but random) they’re all more motivated to take part and don’t leave it all up to the others.
In difficult classes, groupwork can sometimes encourage students to be more disruptive than they’d be in a whole-class setting, and esp in a class where students share the same first language, they may revert to the language, rather than English, when the teacher’s not working with them.
Ways of dealing with this are discussed below. Apart from groupwork and pairwork, the other alternative to whole-class teaching is solo (or individual) work.
Solowork
This can have many advantages: it allows students to work at their own speed, allows them thinking time, and allows them to be individuals.
It often provides welcome relief from the group-centred nature of much language teaching. For the time solo work takes place, students can relax their public faces and go back to considering their own individual needs and progress.
Class-to-class
One last grouping should be mentioned, and this is when we’re able to join two classes so they can interact with each other.
Where different-level classes are concerned, higher-level students often feel positive about being able to help students from other classes, only as lower-level students can feel motivated by being able to engage with people whose language is better than theirs.
Class-to-class interactions are good for surveys (where students can work with students they don’t normally interact with in the English lesson), discussions and lectures and presentations.
They can be time-consuming to organize, but at their best, can often give students a huge sense of satisfaction.
How much use we make of groupwork, pairwork or solo work depends to a large extent on our style and on the preferences of our students, but it also depends to a large extent on what kind of learning task is involved.
Good teachers are able to be flexible, using different class groupings for different activities. As they do this, they can assess which ones are the most successful for which types of activity, so they can always seek to use the most effective grouping for the task in hand.
CH4 Describing learning and teaching
Children and language Elements for successful language learning (ESA)
Acquisition and learning ESA lesson sequences
Different times, different methods ESA and planning
Children and language
Almost all children acquire a language, apparently without effort. In many parts of the world, children grow up speaking two or more languages, and if young children move to a new country and go to school there, they seem to pick up the new language with incredible ease.
Language acquisition seems to be almost guaranteed for children up to about the age of six. They seem to be able to learn languages with incredible facility.
They’re also capable of forgetting a language only as easily. It’s almost as if they can put on and take off different languages like items of clothing!
However, this ease of acquisition becomes gradually less noticeable as children move towards puberty, and after this, language acquisition is much more difficult.
Acquisition here describes the way in which people get language with no real conscious effort - in other words, without thinking about grammar or vocab, or worrying about which bits of language go where.
When children start vocalizing their mother tongue at around the age of two, we don’t expect them to study it; we expect to only watch it emerge, first at the level of one-word utterances, then two-word utterances, until the phrases and sentences they use become gradually more complex as they grow older.
In order for acquisition to take place, certain conditions need to be met. In the first place, the children need to hear a lot of language. Such exposure is absolutely vital.
Secondly, it’s clear the nature of the language they hear matters, too. When parents talk to their children, they simplify what they say, both consciously and unconsciously.
They don’t use complex sentences, or technical vocab; they use language which fits the situation, rough-tuning what they say to match the child’s age and situation.
Parents’ language is marked by other features, too. They often exaggerate the intonation they use so their voices sound higher and more enthusiastic than they would if they’re talking to friend, colleague or partner.
During childhood we get an enormous amount of such language exposure. Furthermore, most of the language we hear - esp from our parents - is given to us in typical social and emotional interactions so as we hear language, we also hear the ways in which the language is used.
Finally, children have a strong motivational urge to communicate in order to be fed and understood. Together with their parents (and later other adults) they make language together, and then they try out and use it.
This trying out is shown by the way children repeat words and phrases, talk to themselves and generally play with language, but in the end it’s their desire to communicate needs, wants and feelings which seems to matter most, and throughout childhood and beyond, most people have a great many opportunities and inducements to use the language they’ve been acquiring.
It sounds, then as if three features need to be present in order for children to acquire a language: exposure to it, motivation to communicate with it and opportunities to use it.
Acquisition and learning
If, as we’ve said, children acquire language subconsciously, what does this tell us about how students should get a second language? Can we (indeed, should we) attempt to replicate the child’s exp in the language class?
Some theorists, have suggested we can make a distinction between acquisition and learning. Whereas the former is subconscious and anxiety free, learning is a conscious process where separate items from the language are studied and practiced in turn.
Stephen Krashen, among others, suggested teacher should concentrate on acquisition rather than learning and the role of the language teacher should be to provide the right kind of language exposure, namely comprehensible input (which is, language which the students understand more or less, even if it’s a bit above their own level of production).
Provided students exp such language in an anxiety-free atmosphere, the argument goes, they’ll acquire it only as children do, and more importantly when they want to say something, they’ll be able to retrieve the language they need from their acquired-language store.
Language which has been learnt, on the other hand, isn’t available for use in the same way, according to this argument, due to the learner having to think much more consciously about what they want to say.
The principal function of learnt language is to monitor what’s coming form our acquired store to check it’s Ok. As a result, learnt language tends to get in the way of acquire-language production and may inhibit spontaneous communication.
This apparently convoluted discussion becomes relevant when we consider what we should do with students in class.
If we believe acquisition is superior to learning, we will spend all our time providing comprehensible input. What we will not do is to ask the students to focus on how the language works.
Yet there’re problems with this approach. In the first place, the ability to acquire language easily tends to deteriorate with age.
Secondly, as we saw in CH1, teens and adults have perfectly good reasoning powers and may want to think consciously about how language works.
To suggest which they shouldn’t think about language if they want to (learn it consciously), would seem absurd, and we should remember for many language learners, one of the biggest differences between them and children acquiring their first language is the amount of exposure they get (in terms of hours), and the situation in which this language is used.
Learners in foreign language classes are in a very different situation from the children of loving parents. Perhaps, mere exposure to comprehensible input isn’t enough, therefore for older children and adults.
Perhaps, as some claim, they should have their attn drawn to aspects of language so they can notice these aspects; as a result will recognize them when they come across them again, and this recognition will be the first stage in their knowing of the language which, once known in this way, will be available for them to use.
We can go further and say a rich class environment wouldn’t only expose students to language (of course), but also give them opportunities to activate their language knowledge.
Furthermore, we should offer them chances to study language and the way it works too, since for some learners this’ll be the key to their success, and for all others (apart from young children) it’ll be an added bonus to the other activities which we take into the class.
In other words, both acquisition and learning have their part to play in language getting for students after childhood.
Different times, different methods
The acquisition-versus-learning debate may seem to be a relatively recent argument, yet for as long as languages have been taught people have argued about the best way of doing it, and how to help students to learn more effectively.
A great linguist, Palmer made a similar distinction between spontaneous and studial capacities in a book published in 1921, and this was only one of many writings before and since which have tried to pin down what makes a good language lesson or an effective method.
Current teaching practice is the direct result of such argument and discussion, and not only on the subj of acquisition and learning.
Both abstract theory and practical techniques have been debated, have gone in and out of fashion, and have influenced what was and is included win classes and teaching materials.
In the 90s, for ex., there was considerable discussion about the Lexical Approach, where it was suggested we should structure our curriculum around language chunks.
These are the various phrases of two or more words which we use as units of meaning to communicate with (see in below CH for fuller explanation).
In the 70s, methods such as the Silent Way (where teachers do little talking and the onus is put on the students), or Community Language Learning (where bilingual teachers help students to translate what they want to say from their first language into the language they’re learning) were advocated, and although they may not be used much any more - certainly not as they were originally envisaged - still some of the techniques they included have been incorporated into modern teaching practice.
Amongst the plethora of ideas and techniques which have been offered over the years, some trends have had - and continue to have - a significant impact on how languages are taught today.
Grammar-translation
This method (which was first named as such in Germany in the 1780s) intro-d the idea of presenting students with short grammar rules and word lists, and then translation exercises in which they had to make use of the same rules and words.
It’s intro-d in a reform of the German secondary school system and soon, with changes and expansions, spread much further afield.
Grammar-translation still has relevance today, though it’s not practiced as a method in the same way, but most language learners translate in their heads at various stages anyway, and they (and we) can learn a lot about a foreign language by comparing parts of it with parts of our own mother tongue.
However, a total concentration on grammar-translation stops students from getting the kind of natural language input which will help them acquire language (since they’re always looking at L1 equivalents), and it fails to give them opportunities to activate their language knowledge.
If they’re always translating the language, they’re not using the L2 for communication. The danger with Grammar-translation, in other words, is it teachers people about language but doesn’t really help them to communicate effectively with it.
Audio-lingualism
The audio-lingual method originated in army education in the 40s. It’s then developed in the 50s and enhanced by the arrival of the language lab in the 60s.
It capitalized on the suggestion if we describe the grammatical patterns of English, we can have students repeat and learn them.
In such structural-situational teaching, grammatical structures were presented in simple situations which exemplified their usage.
Crucially, too the structures were carefully graded so students learnt the easy ones first before moving onto things which were more complex.
Audio-lingualism marries this emphasis on grammatical patterns with behaviorist theories of learning. These theories suggested much learning is the result of habit-formation, where performing the correct response to a stimulus means a reward is given; constant repetition of this reward makes the response automatic.
This procedure is referred to as conditioning. In effect, audio-lingual classes made extensive use of drilling, in which students produced the same grammatical pattern but were prompted to use different words within the pattern, in the hope they’d acquire good language habits.
By rewarding correct production during these repetition phases, students could be conditioned into learning the language.
Early language lab tapes used this procedure with students spending hours wearing headphones and responding to prompts or cues in so-called cue-response drills.
It was only later people realized all the other uses to which labs could be put (such as exposing students to a variety of listening materials), and the lab drill regime went out of fashion.
Audio-lingualism (and behaviourism) lost popularity due to commentators argued which language learning was far more subtle than only the formation of habits.
For ex., students are quickly able to produce their own combos of words, whether or not they’ve heard them before.
This is due to all humans have the power to be creative in language, basing what they say on the underlying knowledge they’ve acquired, including rules of construction and a knowledge of when a certain kind of form of language is appropriate.
Methodologists were also concerned which in Audio-lingualism students were not exposed to real or realistic language, and were therefore unlikely to produce natural-sounding language themselves.
However, it’s interesting to note drilling (choral and individual repetition and cue-response drilling - see CH6, esp) is still considered a useful technique to use, esp with low-level students.
PPP
Both Audio-lingualism and its assimilation into structural-situationalism have their modern equivalent in the procedure which is often referred to as PPP. This stands for Presentation, Practice and Production.
In PPP lessons or sequences, the teacher presents the context and situation for the language (eg describing someone’s holiday plans) and both explains and demos the meaning and form of the new language (for ex., the ‘going to’ future - eg ’He’s going to visit the Hermitage Museum’).
The students then practise making sentences with ‘going to’ (this is often called controlled practice and may involve drilling - see above) before going on to the production stage in which they talk more freely about themselves (‘Next week I’m going to see that new film’) or other people in the real world (‘My cousin’s going to buy a new car’, etc).
The same procedure can also be used for teaching students functions, such as how to invite people, or for teaching vocab. We can teach pronunciation, too, using the PPP procedure.
After an explanation of how a sound is produced, for ex., students are involved in the controlled practice of words using the sound before they’re asked to come up with their own words in which the sound is present.
The PPP procedure is still widely used in language classes around the world, esp for teaching simple language at lower levels.
Most modern coursebooks include ex.’s of PPP grammar and vocab teaching which have retained elements of structural-situation methodology and Audio-lingualism, but the general consensus is PPP is only one procedure among many, and takes no account of other ways of learning and understanding; it’s very learning-based (see above) and takes little account of students’ acquisition abilities.
Communicative Language Teaching (CLT)
CLT was a 70s reaction to much which had gone before - namely the grammatical patterning of structural-situationalism and the rigidity of the drill-type methodology which Audio-lingualism (and later PPP) made varying use of.
CLT has two main guiding principles: the first is language’s not only patterns of grammar with vocab items slotted in, but also involves language functions such as inviting, agreeing and disagreeing, suggesting, etc (see in below CH), which students should learn how to perform using a variety of language exponents (eg we can invite by saying ‘Would you like to come to the cinema?’, ‘How about a film?’, ‘Are you on for a film?’, etc).
Students also need to be aware of the need for appropriacy when talking and writing to people in terms of the kind of language they use (formal, informal, tentative, technical, etc).
CLT is not only about the language, in other words, it’s about how it’s used. The second principle of Communicative Language Teaching is if students get enough exposure to language, and opportunities for language use - and if they’re motivated - then language learning will take care of itself.
Thus CLT has a lot in common with the acquisition view of language absorption which we discussed above. As a result, the focus of much CLT has been on students communicating real messages, and not only grammatically controlled language.
The deployment of many communicative activities, where students use all and any language they know to communicate, shows this aspect of CLT at work.
CLT has had a thoroughly beneficial effect since it reminded teachers which people learn languages not so they know about them, but so they can communicate with them.
Giving students different kinds of language, pointing them towards aspects of style and appropriacy, and above all giving them opportunities to try out real language within the class humanized what’d sometimes been too rigidly controlled.
Task-Based Learning (TBL)
TBL is a natural extension of communicative language teaching. In TBL, the emphasis is on the task rather than the language.
For ex., students perform real-life tasks such as getting info about bus timetables, or making a presentation on a certain topic.
Later, after the task has been completed, they can look at the language they’ve used and work on any imperfections which have arisen, correcting grammatical mistakes or thinking about aspects of style.
In other words, instead of language study leading to a task, the task itself is the main focus and jumping-off point for (possible) subsequent study later.
This approach puts communicative activities (see above) at the heart of learning, and as a result a TBL syllabus may well be a list of tasks and activities, not a list of language.
A typical TBL sequence starts with a pre-task (where students are intro’d to the topic and told what the task will be).
This is followed by a task cycle where the students plan the task, gathering language and info to do it, and then produce the piece of writing or oral performance which the task demands.
In the final language focus phase, students analyze the language they used for the task, making improvements and practicing any language which needs repair or development.
TBL, like a communicative methodology, has allowed teachers and students to concentrate on how we achieve things with language, and how we can use language for certain tasks.
It’s a significant departure from the original PPP sequence, since it takes the third element (production) as the starting point, not the end-point of the procedure.
Elements for successful language learning (ESA)
Most current language teaching tries to offer a judicious blend of many of the ideas and elements discussed above.
It recognizes the value of language exposure through comprehensible input, while still believing which most people (apart from young children) find chances to concentrate on language forms and how they can be used extremely helpful.
Current language teaching practise generally gives students the opportunity to think about how a piece of grammar works (or which words group together, for ex.), while at the same time providing opportunities for language use in communicative activities and task-based procedures.
It offers students the security of appropriate controlled practice (depending on variables such as the students’ age, personal learning styles and the language in question), while also letting them have a go at using all and any language they know.
Such eclecticism - choosing between the best elements of a number of different ideas and methods - is a proper response to the competing claims of the various trends we’ve described.
However, the danger of eclecticism is the possible conclusion since we can use bits and pieces from different theories and methods, ‘anything goes’.
Our lessons can then become a disorganized ragbag of different activities with no obvious coherence or philosophy to underpin them.
This can be only as damaging as the methodological rigidity which eclecticism aims to replace. However, eclecticism which makes use of an underlying philosophy and structure, in other words, a principled eclecticism avoids these risks.
Believing students need exposure, motivation and opportunities for language use, and acknowledging which different students may respond more or less well to different stimuli, it suggests which most teaching sequences need to have certain characteristics or elements, whether they take place over a few minutes, half an hour, a lesson or a sequence of lessons.
These elements are Engage, Study and Activate. Having discussed what they mean, we’ll go on to look at how they can occur within three typical sequences (out of many).
Engage (E)
Most of us can remember lessons at school which were uninvolving and where we ’switched off’ from what was being taught.
We may also remember lessons where we were more or less paying attn, but where we were not really ‘hooked’.
We were not engaged emotionally with what’s going on; we were not curious, passionate or involved. Yet things are learnt much better if both our minds and our hearts are brought into service.
Engagement of this type’s one of the vital ingredients for successful learning. Activities and materials which frequently engage students include:
games (depending on the age of the learners and the type of game), music, discussions (when handled challengingly), stimulating pics, dramatic stories, amusing anecdotes, etc.
Even where such activities and materials aren’t used, teachers can do their best to ensure they’re students engage with the topic, exercise or language they’re going to be dealing with by asking them to make predictions, or relate class materials to their own lives.
A lot will depend, of course on what the individual students are like, as we saw in CH1, and how well the teacher provokes and encourages engagement.
The reason why this element is so important in teaching sequences, is when students are properly engaged, their involvement in the study and activation stages is likely to be far more pronounced, and as a result, the benefit they get from these will be considerably greater.
Study (S)
Study activities are those where the students are asked to focus on the construction of something, whether it’s the language itself, the ways in which it’s used or how it sounds and looks.
Study activities can range from the focus on and practice of a single sound to an investigation of how a writer achieves a particular effect in a long text; from the examination and practice of a verb tense to the study of a transcript of informal speech in order to discuss spoken style.
In the PPP procedure describe above, both presentation and practice (the first two stages) are focusing on the construction of an element of grammar or lexis; after all, controlled practice (where students repeat many phrases using the language they’re focusing on) is designed to make students think about language construction.
When we have students repeat words with the correct pronunciation (or say the words we want them to say based on cues we give them), it’s due to wanting them to think about the best way to say the words.
We want them to think of the construction of the words’ pronunciation, but study here means more than PPP procedure - although PPP is one kind of study. Students can study in a variety of different ways.
Sometimes we may show them a new grammar pattern, repeating each element separately or putting a diagram on the board before getting them to repeat sentences, and is very much like a PPP procedure, but at other times, we may show students ex.’s of language and ask them to try to work out the rules.
Such discovery activities ask the students to do all the intellectual work, rather than leaving it to the teacher. Sometimes students can read a text together and find words and phrases they want to concentrate on for later study.
At other times, they may spend time, with the teacher, listening to or looking at the language they’ve used to see when it has been more or less successful.
All of these (and many other possibilities) are ex.’s of the study of language construction. Some typical language areas for study may be the study and practice of the vowel sound in ship and sheep (eg chip, cheap, dip, deep, bit, beat, etc), the study and practice of the third person singular of the present simple (He sleeps, she laughs, it works, etc), the study and practice of lexical phrases for inviting (Would you like to come to the cinema / to a concert?, etc), the study and practice of the way we use pronouns in written discourse (eg ‘A man entered a house in Brixton. He was tall with an unusual hat. It was multicolored…’, etc), the study and practise of paragraph organization (topic sentence, dev., conclusion) or of the rules for using ‘make’ and ‘do’.
Activate (A)
This element describes exercises and activities which’re designed to get students using language as freely and communicatively as they can (as in CLT).
We won’t be asking them to focus on the use of a particular structure, or to try to use words from a list we give them.
This would make what they’re doing more like a study activity, where they’re expected to focus on the accuracy of specific bits of language, rather than on the message they’re trying to convey or the task which needs to be performed.
The objective in an activate activity is for them to use all and any language which may be appropriate for a given situation or topic.
In this way, students get a chance to try out real language use with little or no restriction - a kind of rehearsal for the real world.
Personalization (where students use language they’ve studied to talk about themselves, or to make their own original dialogues, often as the third or production phase of PPP) provides a bridge between the study and activate stages, but more genuinely activate exercises include role-plays (where students act out, as realistically as possible, an exchange between a travel agent and a client, for ex.), advert design (where students write and then record a radio commercial, for ex.), debates and discussions, Describe and draw (where one student tries to get another to draw a pic without the other student being able to see the original), story and poem writing, email exchanges, writing in groups, etc.
Activation isn’t only about producing language in speech and writing, however. When students read or listen for pleasure (or when they’re listening or reading to understand the message rather than thinking about the form of the language they’re seeing or hearing), they’re involved in language activation.
They’re using all and any language at their disposal to comprehend the reading or listening text, but of course, students may once they’ve been through an activation stage, go back to what they’ve said or to the text they’ve read, and focus upon its construction.
Activation can be a prelude to study, rather than necessarily the other way round. All three ESA elements need to be present in most lessons or teaching sequences.
Whatever the main focus of the lesson (eg a grammar topic or a reading skills exercise), students always need to be engaged, if possible so they can get the max benefit from the learning experience.
Most students will readily appreciate opportunities to activate their language knowledge, but for many of them the inclusion of study elements, however small or of short duration these are, will persuade them of the usefulness of the lesson.
Some events, for ex. a debate or a role-play, a prolonged internet-based search or a piece of extended writing take a lot of time and so, in one lesson, teachers may not want to interrupt the flow of activation with a study stage, but they may want to use the exercise as a basis for study (perhaps in a different lesson).
The same may be true of an extended study period where chances for activation are few, but in both these cases, the only limitation is time. The missing elements will appear at some other time.
The majority of teaching and learning at lower levels isn’t made up of such long activities, however. Instead, it’s far more likely there’ll be more than one ESA sequence in a given lesson sequence or period.
ESA lesson sequences
Just because the three elements of ESA need to be present in lesson sequences, this doesn’t mean they should always occur in the same order.
In the first place, the order is bound to change depending on what we want to achieve. If we’re running a task-based lesson, the study event may well come after activation.
On the other hand, if we’re intro-ing a piece of grammar, we may study the language first before the students are asked to try to use it.
Secondly, there’s a danger if we always do things in the same order, students will become bored; predictability can diminish students’ enthusiasm and motivation - and ours, as teachers, too.
Many different teaching sequences (using the ESA elements in a number of different ways) are possible. We can look at three possibilities to sense how varied the sequences can be.
One type of teaching sequence takes students in a straight line and as a result is called straight arrows: first the teacher gets the class interested and engaged; then they study something; then they try to activate it by putting it into production.
Here’s an ex. of such a sequence designed for elementary-level students to teach ‘can’ and ‘can’t’:
1 Engage: students and teacher look at a pic, site or dvd of new generation robots. Perhaps they can watch a brief clip of the movie I, Robot or some other contemporary film with a similar theme. They say whether they like or don’t like the idea of robots.
2 Study: the teacher shows students (the pic of) a particular robot. Students are intro’d to ‘can’ and ‘can’t’ (how they’re pronounced and constructed) and say things like ‘It can use a cash machine’ and ‘It can’t play the piano’. The teacher tries to make sure the sentences are pronounced correctly and the students use accurate grammar.
3 Activate: students work in groups to design and describe their dream robot. They make a presentation to the class saying what their robot can and can’t do.
We can represent this kind of lesson like this:
ESA straight arrows sequence
Engage
↓
Study
↓
Activate
Straight arrows lessons, much like PPP procedures (see above), work very well for certain structures. The robot ex. clearly shows how ‘can’ and ‘can’t’ are constructed and how they’re used.
It gives students a chance to practise the language in a controlled way (during the study phase) and then gives them the chance to begin to activate the ‘new’ language in an enjoyable way.
However, if we teach all our lessons like this, we may not be giving our students’ own learning styles (see above) a fair chance.
Such a procedure may work at lower levels for straightforward language, but it may not be so appropriate for more adv’d learners with more complex language.
It won’t be of much use if we want students to get involved with a reading text or have a discussion about something. It wouldn’t be terribly useful either if most of the students already know how to use ‘can’ and ‘can’t’.
Thus, while there’s nothing wrong with using the straight arrows sequence - for the right students at the right level, learning the right language - it’s not always appropriate.
Instead, there’re other possibilities for the sequence of the ESA elements. Here, for ex., is a boomerang procedure:
1 Engage: students and teacher discuss issues surrounding job interviews. What makes a good interviewee? What sort of thing does the interviewer want to find out? Hopefully, the students get interested in the topic.
2 Activate: the teacher describes an interview situation which the students are going to act out in a role-play. The students plan the kind of questions they’re going to ask and the kind of answers they may want to give (not focusing specifically on language construction, etc, but treating it as a real-life task).
3 Study: when the role-plays are over, the teacher works with the students on the grammar and vocab which caused them trouble. For ex., students can compare their language with more correct usage and try to work out (discover) for themselves where they went wrong. The teacher may explain what the problems were or refer students to grammar books, etc. They may do some controlled practice of the language (see below CH).
4 Activate: some time later, students role-play another job interview, having absorbed the corrections to the language they used last time round.
A diagram for boomerang lessons can show this procedure like this:
Engage ⤵️
⬇️
Study ⬇️
⬆️ ⬇️
Activate ↙️
EAS(A) boomerang sequence
In this sequence the teacher is answering the needs of the students. They’re not taught language until and unless they’ve shown (in the activate phase) which they’ve a need for it.
In some ways, this makes much better sense due to the connection between what students need to learn and what they’re taught is more transparent.
However, it places a greater burden on the teacher since he or she’ll have to be able to find good teaching material based on the (often unforeseen) problems thrown up at the first activate stage.
It may also be more appropriate for students at intermediate and adv’d levels since they’ve quite a lot of language already available to them to use in an activate stage.
Boomerang sequences feel much more like the kind of TBL procedures we discussed above; the task came first, not a specific language point, but then the boomerang comes back (if we need it) to remind us to study some of the language used, more or less successfully, in the task.
A more specific type of boomerang sequence is sometimes called test-teach-test where the students are first asked to use language in an activation stage, and are then taught how to deal with things they made mistakes with before trying the testing part of it again.
Many lessons aren’t quite as clear-cut as this, however. Instead, they’re a mix of procedures and mini-procedure, a variety of short episodes building up to a whole. Here is an ex. of this kind of patchwork lesson:
1 Engage → Activate: students look at a pic of sunbathers and respond to it by commenting on the people and the activity they’re taking part in. Maybe they look at each other’s holiday photos, etc. Then they act out a dialogue between a doctor and a sunburn victim after a day at the beach.
2 Activate: students look at a text describing different people (with different skin types) and the effects the sun has on their skin (see below CH). They say how they feel about the effects of the sun.
3 Study: the teacher does vocab work on words such as ‘pale’, ‘fair-skinned’, ‘freckles’, ‘tan’, etc, ensuring students understand the meaning and the hyphenated compound nature of some of them, and they’re able to say them with the correct pronunciation in appropriate contexts.
4 Activate: students describe themselves or people they know in the same kind of ways as the reading text.
5 Study: the teacher focuses the students’ attn on the relative clause construction used in the text (eg ‘I’m the type of person who always burns’ and ‘I’m the type of person who burns easily’). The use of the ‘who’ clause is discussed and students practise sentences, saying things like ‘They’re the kind of people who enjoys movies’, etc.
6 Engage: the teacher discusses adverts with the students. What’re they for? What different ways do they try to achieve their effect? What’re the most effective ads the students can think of? Perhaps the teacher plays some radio commercials or puts some striking visual ads on an overhead projector.
7 Activate: the students write a radio commercial for a sunscreen. The teacher lets them record it, using sound effects and music.
We can represent a (version of a) patchwork lesson sequence in the following way:
↱ Engage ⤵ ⤵
↗ ⬆️⬇️ ↓ ↓
↑ Study ↓ ↓
↑ ⬆️ ↓ ↓
↖ Activate ↲ ↲
⤴
EAASASEA (etc) patchwork sequence
Such classes are very common, esp at intermediate and adv’d levels. Not only do they probably reflect the way we learn - rather chaotically, not always in a straight line - but they also provide an appealing balance between study and activation, and between language and topic.
Engage, Study and Activate are the basic building blocks for successful language teaching and learning. By using them in different and varied sequences, teachers will be doing their best to promote their students’ success since various theories and procedures which’ve informed debates about language learning are reflected in sequences such as straight arrows, boomerang and patchwork lessons.
ESA and planning
When we think of what to do in our lessons, we’ve to decide what it’s we hope our students will achieve by the end of a lesson (or the end of a week or month, for ex.). We then try to plan how to get there (see CH12).
In this context, balancing up the three ESA elements reminds us of the need for student engagement; it prompts us to ensure there’re study events built into the plan; it ensures in almost all lessons there’re also opportunities for students to have a go at using the language they’re learning (or learnt yesterday, last week or last month).
When they try to use language (whether for interacting with other people’s texts and convo or in order to produce language themselves) they get a chance for the kind of mental processing which makes all learning and acquisition worthwhile.
We’ll remember, too which is important to vary the sequence of events for the reasons we state above. Many teachers have to plan around a coursebook (see CH11) which has been chosen for their classes, but even where lessons are based on coursebook pages, it’s important to manipulate the activities in the book so the three elements, engage, study and activate are evident in appropriate sequences.
CH5 Describing language
Meaning in context Words together
The elements of language Language functions
Forms and meanings Text and discourse
Parts of speech Language variables
Hypothetical meaning
Meaning in context
No one who speaks English has any difficulty understanding the meaning of a sentence like ‘It’s warm in here’. We all recognize it’s a comment on the temp in some place or other, but why it’s being said, and what the speaker wishes to convey by saying it, depends entirely on two things: the context in which it’s said and what the speaker wants people to understand.
Suppose, for ex., the words are spoken by someone who’s either lazy, ill or in some position of power. ‘It’s warm in here’ may then be either a request or an order for someone to open a window.
If, however, two people come in out of the cold, ‘It’s warm in here’ may well be an expression of satisfaction or pleasure.
If, to give a third ex., two people are trying to decide which room to use as their bedroom, the sentence ‘It’s warm in here’ may serve as a suggestion to choose or not to choose the room.
In each case, the sentence is performing a different language function (see below), eg requesting, suggesting, etc.
The meaning of language depends on where it occurs within a larger stretch of discourse (see below), and thus the relationship which the different language elements have with what comes before and after them.
In other words, speakers and writers have to be able to operate with more than only words and grammar; they’ve to be able to string utterances together.
The following convo takes place in the context of two people getting ready for their party:
A We can leave the ice here till we need it.
B It’s warm in here.
A Is it? Ok, then, let’s find somewhere else.
The utterance ‘It’s warm in here’ acts as a rejection of A’s suggestion. A can then use ‘it’ to refer to the whole of B’s proposition (‘It’s warm in here’), and ‘Ok’ suggests which A has absorbed all of the discourse so far (suggestion - rejection - agreement with the rejection) and can then move the convo on with a further suggestion.
Our ability to function properly in convo or writing, in other words, depends not only on reacting to the context in which we’re using the language, but also on the relationship between words and ideas in longer texts.
The elements of language
Whatever the sentence ‘It’s warm in here’ is used to mean, the speaker has put together a number of elements in order to get this meaning across:
Grammar
Our sentence depends, for its success, on putting number of elements in the correct order, in this case subj (it), verb (is), complement (‘warm’ - called a complement due to it adding info about the subj), and adverbial (‘in here’ - called adverbial due to it further exemplifies the verb).
The elements have to go in the right order for the sentence to work. If we tried to say ‘*It here in warm is’, the sentence wouldn’t work.
In the same way, we have to be careful about the types of words we can put in the slots (subj, verb, etc). We can’t, for ex., put an adj or an adverb in the subj slot (‘*stealthily is warm in here/inhospitable is warm in here’), or a verb in the adverbial position (‘*It’s warm go’).
However, there’re some changes we’re allowed to make to our sentence elements, and these will alter the meaning of the sentence.
For ex., a simple element-order change (subj-verb→verb-subj) will make our sentence into a question (‘Is it warm in here?’).
Unlike the ex. we’ve used so far, some sentences only have two elements, subj and verb (eg ‘He laughed’, ‘They disagreed’, ‘It rained!’). Verbs such as these which don’t take an object are called intransitive.
Some verbs can be either transitive (ie they do take an object) or intransitive, eg ‘She opened the door/The door opened’.
The one sentence element we haven’t mentioned so far is the object, exemplified in sentences such as ‘He opened the door’, ‘He entered the warm room’.
Once again, the sequence of sentence elements is crucial, so we can’t say ‘*The room entered he’, but the situation is complicated by the fact some sentences have two objects, a direct object and an indirect object.
Direct objects refer to things or persons affected by the verb, eg ‘He sang a song’, ‘Pizarro conquered Peru’, ‘She loved him’.
An indirect object refers to the person or things which (in one grammarian’s phrase) ‘benefits’ from the action, eg ‘He sang me a song’, ‘She painted him a picture’, ‘I gave a ring to my girlfriend’, ‘Why should we pay taxes to the government?’.
Not all sentences consist of only one clause (eg subj-verb-adverbial or subj-verb-object) in this way. We can make things considerably more complex by joining and amalgamating a number of different clauses.
For ex., the following sentences:
‘The girl met the woman.’
‘The woman was standing by the canal.’
‘They went to a cafe.’
‘They had a meal.’
‘They enjoyed it very much.’
can be amalgamated into a multi-clause sentence such as:
‘The girl met the woman who was standing by the canal and they went to a cafe and had a meal, which they enjoyed very much.’
It’s possible also to convert some elements of the separate sentences into phrases, eg ‘The girl met the woman standing by the canal…’, etc, but whether we’re dealing with a single-clause or multi-clause sentence, our choice of what we can say is governed by what’s appropriate or permissible in the various slots which make up the sentence.
Vocab
The sentence ‘It is warm in here’ is made up of the words ‘it’, ‘is’, ‘warm’, ‘in’ and ‘here’. The speaker has chosen ‘hot’ or ‘cold’ instead of ‘warm’ and, as a result, the sentence would mean something different.
What a word means is also defined by its relationship to other words. For ex., we can say the word ‘hot’ is the antonym (opposite) of the word ‘cold’ - and this fact helps us understand the meaning of each word.
When words mean the same thing (eg ‘hold-up’ and ‘delay’) we call them synonyms - though since one word can have many meanings (see below), it’ll depend on which meaning is being used.
Whereas ‘cold’ may be an antonym of ‘hot’ when talking about temp, it’s more likely the antonym of ‘warm’ if the words are being used to describe someone’s character.
A speaker’s knowledge of a word also includes an understanding of how the shape of the word can be altered so its grammatical meaning can be changed.
We call the system of rules which determine how these changes can be made morphology. For ex., a simple morphological change will make the sentence which started this section less categorical (‘It’s warmish in here’) whereas adding ‘-er’ to the adj (‘It’s warmer in here’) makes it a comparative adj.
In the same way adding ‘-ed’ to a regular verb (‘he walked’, ‘she played’) makes it a past tense verb. Using words appropriately means knowing these things and, crucially, knowing which grammatical slots (see above) they can go into.
In order to do this, we need to know what part of speech a word is (see below).
Pronunciation
The way the sentence is spoken will also determine exactly what it means. For ex., while reading this CH so far you may’ve heard the speaker’s voice (in your head) drop on the word ‘warm’.
However, if we change the speaker’s intonation (the way the voice goes up or down as we speak) so this voice rises on the word ‘warm’, our statement becomes a question, eg ‘It’s warm in here?’.
Intonation (sometimes described as the music of speech) encompasses the moments at which we change the pitch of our voices in order to give certain messages.
Pitch describes the level (high or low) at which we speak. Changing our pitch in an utterance is absolutely crucial for getting our meaning across.
The word ‘Yes’, for ex., can be said with a falling voice, a rising voice or a combo of the two. By changing the direction of the voice we can make ‘Yes’ mean ‘I agree’ or ‘Perhaps it’s true’ or ‘You can’t be serious’ or ‘Wow, you’re so right’, or any number of things.
Teachers often use arrows or wavy lines to show intonation tunes (pitch change), like this:
As you read the question, you probably hear the stress on the word ‘warm’, eg. ‘It’s WARM in here?’ (Where the speaker sounds as if he or she’s contesting this description of the temp).
It’s on this stressed syllable of the word ‘here’, eg ‘It’s warm in HERE?’ the question’s now an exclamation or challenge to the notion this room or place is warm - rather than questioning the warmth itself.
Words of more than one syllable have both stressed and unstressed syllables (we say ‘photographer’ not ‘*photographer’).
Frequently, the stress is different when the word acts as different parts of speech, eg ‘import’ (verb) but ‘import’ (verb) but ‘import’ (noun). Teachers use a variety of symbols to show stress, eg.
◻️⬜️ ◻️ ⏺ ⚫️ ⏺
‘teacher performance rapport engagement
Our sentence works, too, due to the speaker having used a collection of sounds - or phonemes - to get the meaning across.
For ex., the word ‘warm’, though it has four letters, has only three sounds, /w/, (upside down ‘c:’) (like ‘or’) and /m/. By changing one sound (eg saying /n/ instead of /m/) we can change the word so now our speaker, perhaps referring to the carpet, is saying ‘It’s worn in here’.
The fact ‘warm’ has four letters, but only three sounds (in British English) is a demo of the fact there’s no one-to-one correspondence between sounds and spelling.
Thus, for ex., the ‘c’ of ‘cat’ is pronounced differently from the ‘c’ of ‘cease’, but is the same as the ‘c’ of ‘coffee’. ‘Though’, ‘trough’ and ‘rough’ all have the letter combo ‘ou’, but it’s pronounced differently in every case.
Different spellings can have the same sound, too: ‘plane’ and ‘gain’ both have the same vowel sound, but they’re spelt differently.
There’re two main categories of sounds: vowel sounds (like (upside down ‘c:’)) in ‘warm’ /æ/ in ‘cat’, /D/ and /i:/ in ‘coffee, etc’ and consonant sounds (like /m/ in ‘warm’, /t/ in ‘trough’ and /f/ in ‘rough’ and ‘trough’).
Vowel sounds can either be single (like (upside down ‘c:’) and /i:/) or combos of two or more sounds (diphthongs — like /ei/ in ‘late’, /aƱ/ in ‘now’, /iǝ/ in ‘real’, or triphthongs — like /aƱǝ/ in ‘power’).
Consonants can sometimes be joined together to make sounds like /tf/ in ‘child’ and ‘church’, and /d3/ in ‘judge’ (the sound is used twice) and ‘John’. Consonants can be either voiced or voiceless.
Voiced consonants are those where we close the vocal cords in our throat (see above) and they vibrate as the air from the lungs passes between them.
Consonants like /b/, /d/, /v/ and /g/ are all voiced in this way, whereas when we say the consonants /p/, /t/, /f/ and /k/, the vocal cords are left open and so there’s no vibration, and therefore no voice.
Thus, while for ex., we use exactly the same parts of the mouth to make the sounds /d/ and /t/, the first is voiced while the second isn’t. The same is true of the pairs /b/ and /p/, /v/ and /f/, and /g/ and /k/.
Position of the vocal cords for voiceless and voiced sounds (seen from above - the Adam’s apple at the front is at the top of each diagram)
Note vowels are always voiced. A complete list of phonemic symbols is given below.
Forms and meanings
Like in English there’s sometimes no readily discernible correspondence between sounds and spelling, there’re frequent instances, too where the same language forms can be used to express different meanings, or where a meaning can be expressed by many different forms.
One form, many meanings
The present continuous verb form (‘is/are doing’ - see below) can refer to both the present (‘I’m not listening’) and the future (‘I’m seeing him tomorrow’).
It can be used to refer to a temporary uncompleted event (‘They are enjoying the weather’) or to a series of completed events (‘He’s always putting his foot in it’).
The same basic form is being used to express a number of different concepts of time and duration. The same is true of, for ex., the present simple.
‘He goes to work at 7 every day’ to describe a habit, versus ‘Thierry Henry scores!’ To describe something taking place now are only two of its many uses. Other verb forms behave in the same way.
Words can also mean more than one things, for ex., ‘book’ (= something to read, to reserve, a list of bets, etc), ‘beat’ (= to win, to hit, to mix, eg an egg, the ‘pulse’ of music/a heart) and ‘can’ (= ability, permission, probability - and a container made of metal).
Notice in these ex.’s, not only can the same form have many meanings, but it can also be different parts of speech.
With so many available meanings for words and grammatical forms, it’s the context the word occurs in which determines which of these meanings is being referred to.
If we say, ‘I beat him because I ran faster than he did’, ‘beat’ is likely to mean won rather than physically assaulted or mixed (though there’s always the possibility of ambiguity, of course).
Likewise, the sentence ‘I’m talking to the president’ changes dramatically if we use these different expressions: ‘at this very minute’ or ‘tomorrow at noon’.
One meaning, many forms
A meaning or concept can be expressed in many different ways. Consider, for ex., the concept of the future. Different forms can be used to express the same basic concept (though each form does have a slightly different meaning).
EXAMPLES
I’ll see you tomorrow.
I’m going to see you tomorrow.
I’m seeing you tomorrow - that’s the arrangement, isn’t it?
I can get to you by about six o’clock.
I see you at six, and afterwards I have a meeting with John.
The choice of which way to express futurity depends on whether the speaker wants to talk about fixed arrangements, plans, schedules, offers, or only a simple concept of the future with none of these overtones.
Word meaning can also be expressed in different ways. Even where words appear to have the same meaning - to be synonyms- they’re usually distinct from each other.
For ex., we can describe an intelligent person by using a number of different words: intelligent, bright, brainy, clever, smart, etc, but each of these words has a different connotation (shade of meaning).
Brainy is an informal word and may well have a negative connotation when used by a schoolchild about a classmate. ‘Bright’ carries the connotation of lively and young.
‘Smart’ is commonly used in American English and has a slight connotation of trickiness, and ‘clever’ is often used in phrases with negative connotations, eg ‘too clever by half’, ‘He may be clever but he’s not going to get away with it’.
Parts of speech
The chart below shows the different parts of speech. These are the categories which help us determine how grammatical sequences are put together, and which words can go in which slots (see above).
We’ll consider the parts of speech in terms of the noun phrase, verbs, adverbs and prepositions, and discourse.
The noun phrase
A noun phrase may consist of only a noun (John) or a pronoun (he, they). The noun may be preceded by a determiner (‘this woman’, ‘a man’).
There may be one or more adj’s before the noun (‘a young woman’, ‘a handsome old man’), and the noun may be post-modified in some way (eg ‘a woman with a computer’, ‘the man wearing a hat’).
Nouns
The way nouns behave depends upon a number of grammatical and morphological variables.
Countable and uncountable
A distinction needs to be made between countable nouns you can ‘count’ what the words refer to (eg apple, table, horse, cottage, novel) and therefore you can make them plural (apples, tables, etc), but you can’t count what uncountable words refer to (eg furniture and comfort) and you can’t make them plural - we can’t say ‘*two furnitures’, ‘*eight comforts’.
part of speech description ex’s (words) ex’s (sentences, etc)
noun (noun phrase) a word (or group of Rachel Rachel arrives tomorrow.
words) which is the New York I love New York.
name of a person, a book I recommend this book.
place, a thing or sense I can’t get any sense out of her.
activity or a quality walking stick I don’t need a walking stick.
or idea; nouns can town hall They met outside the town hall.
be used as the subj
or obj of a verb
pronoun a word which’s used in her He met her on the internet.
place of a noun or noun she She is a famous dancer.
phrase him Look at him!
they They don’t talk much.
adj a word which gives more kind What a kind person!
info about a noun or better We all want a better life.
pronoun impetuous She’s so impetuous.
best That’s the best thing about her.
verb a word (or group of words) write Pushkin wrote Eugene Onegin.
which’s used in describing watch I like to watch TV.
an action, exp or state believe I don’t believe you!
have Have you eaten yet?
adverb a word (or group of words) sensibly Please act sensibly this evening.
(adverbial phrase) which describes or adds carefully She walked across the bridge
to the meaning of a verb, at home carefully.
adj, another adverb or a in half an hour I checked my emails at home.
whole sentence See you in half an hour.
preposition a word (or group of words) for a plan for life
(prepositional phrase) which’s used to show the of Bring me two bottles of wine.
way which other words are in Put that in the box.
connected on top of I think I put it on top of the cupboard.
determiner definite article the The composer of that theme tune
indefinite article a A beautiful new daughter
an An appalling mistake
possessives my, your, etc. My secret life
demonstratives this, that, these those Look at those buildings.
quantifiers some, many, few, etc Few people believed him.
conjuntion a word which connects and Full of energy and ready to go
sentences, phrases or so I lost my mobile phone, so I
clauses but couldn’t call you.
It’s great but I can’t afford it.
EXAMPLES
The weather is terrible today. (uncountable)
He hasn’t got much money. (uncountable)
She’s got a lot of friends to help her through this. (countable)
I’ve only got a few coins in my pocket. (countable)
A number of words are sometimes countable when they mean one thing but uncountable when they mean something different.
For ex., the word ‘sugar’ is uncountable when we say ‘I like sugar’, ‘I’d like some sugar’, but countable if we say ‘One sugar or two?’ (where ‘sugar’ = spoonful/cube of sugar).
Plural nouns, singular verbs
There’re some nouns which appear to be plural, but which behave as if they’re singular - you can only use them with singular verbs, eg ‘Darts is a game played by large men’, ‘The news is depressing’.
Collective nouns
Nouns which describe groups or orgs (eg ‘family’, ‘team’, ‘gov’t’) are called collective nouns. They can either be singular or plural depending on whether we are describing the unit or its members.
We can say ‘The army are adv’ing’ or ‘The army is adv’ing’. This choice isn’t usually available American English, however, where you’d expect speakers to use singular verbs only.
Some collective nouns are formed by making adj’s behave like nouns and nouns and in this case they’re always plural, eg ‘The poor live in terrible conditions’, ‘The good die young’.
Whether a noun is countable, uncountable, plural or collective affects the construction of the sentences it occurs in. Uncountable nouns are used with singular verbs, and quantifiers like ‘much’, ‘a lot of’ and ‘some’.
Countable nouns, on the other hand, are used with singular or plural verbs and with words like ‘many’.
Compound nouns
We’re used to nouns being one word, but English also has many compound nouns, constructed from more than one word, eg ‘walking stick’, ‘cherry tree’, ‘town hall’, ‘boyfriend’.
Not all compound words are nouns, however. We can also have compound adj’s, for ex., fair-skinned, neat-looking.
Pronouns
There’re three basic types of pronoun: personal pronouns, reflexive (personal) pronouns and relative pronouns.
Personal pronouns
Personal pronouns are ‘I’, ‘you’, ‘he’, ‘she’, ‘we’ and ‘they’ - and ‘it’ which isn’t really personal at all! Not only do they have these subj realizations, however but they can be object pronouns (me, you, him, her, it, us, and them in sentences like, I saw him, reflexive pronouns (myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves and themselves in sentences like, I cut myself), and possessive pronouns (mine, yours his, hers, its, his, hers, ours and theirs in sentences like, They’re not yours, they’re mine!).
Relative pronouns
The pronouns ‘who’, ‘whose’, ‘where’, ‘which’ and ‘that’ are used to intro relative clauses. In the sentences, ‘I photographed a dance who was wearing national costume’ and ‘I stood at the door of the house where I used to live’, ‘who was wearing national costume’ and ‘where I used to live’ are relative clauses.
Relative pronouns are necessary if the noun in the relative clause is the subj of this clause. In the sentence, ‘I found the man whose grandfather started the revolution’, the grandfather is the subj of the clause ‘started the revolution’.
Relative pronouns aren’t necessary, however, if the noun is the obj of the clause. In the sentence, ‘I filmed the man I met’, ‘the man’ is the obj of the clause (‘I met the man’).
Articles and determiners
Articles (‘the’, ‘a’, and ‘an’) belong to a class of words called determiners. These identify - or indicate the type of reference of - the noun phrase, telling us whether it’s general or specific, or whether it’s known about or is new.
Other ex.’s of determiners are ‘this’, ‘that’, ‘those’, ‘some’, and ‘all of’. Determiners usually come before a noun or at the start of a noun phrase, eg ‘an apple’, ‘the red bus’, ‘some of my best friends’, ‘these fresh oranges’.
Definite article
We use the definite article (the) when we think the reader or listener knows which particular thing or person we’re talking about, perhaps due to having already mentioned it (eg, I met a woman in the park… the woman was alone.), or when there can only be one, eg, ‘the Pope’ (we know which one due to there’s only one), the book I read (= we both know which one I”m talking about), ‘the oldest man in the world’ (due to there can only be one ‘oldest’ man), etc.
We don’t use the definite article when we’re talking about people and things in general, using plural or uncountable nouns, eg, Teachers should establish a good rapport with their students, Trumpet players tend to make a lot of noise, Money doesn’t grow on trees, etc. This is often referred to as the zero article.
However, only to confuse things, we do sometimes make general statements with the definite article and a singular noun, eg ‘The great white shark is a dangerous creature in the wrong situation’ (see also the indefinite article below).
Indefinite article
The indefinite article (a/an) is used to refer to a particular person or thing when the listener/reader doesn’t know which one is being described, eg, A man was reading the paper, I saw a plane take off, I’m going to buy a new mobile phone.
As with the definite article (see above), we can also use ‘a/an’ to refer to a member of a group - in order to refer to the whole group, eg, A man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do, A good nurse will always spend time with her patients, etc.
Adj’s
Adj’s describe the modify the nouns they come before or after. They can have many forms.
Comparative and superlative forms
Adj’s can have comparative forms (big-bigger, nice-nicer, noisy-noisier, young-younger) and superlative forms (biggest, nicest, noisiest, youngest).
Sometimes this change is indicated by the addition of -er and -est, sometimes with an additional spelling change (eg biggest, noisier), sometimes not (eg younger, youngest).
With longer words, we use ‘more’ (more colorful, more enjoyable) and ‘most’ (most colorful, most enjoyable). A few adj’s have their own comparative and superlative forms which do not conform to these patterns (eg good - better - best, bad - worse - worst).
Adj sequence
When we use a string of adj’s, there’s a generally accepted sequence.
size colour origin material purpose noun
the small purple German silk evening gown
the large () () wooden () crate
Notice if only some of the categories are present, the order is usually retained, eg, the large wooden crate.
Adj and preposition
Many adj’s are followed by specific prepositions, eg interested in, keen on, happy about, etc.
Adj’s as nouns
We can use some adj’s as if they were nouns, eg, the blind, the poor, etc (see also collective nouns above).
Adj or adverb?
Some words can be both adj’s and adverbs, depending on whether they modify nouns or verbs. When we say ‘I had a later lunch’, ‘late’ is an adj, but when we say ‘He arrived late’, it’s an adverb.
Although many adverbs end in -ly, a word like deadly (a deadly disease) is functioning as an adj.
The verb phrase
In any discussion of verbs we need to bear in mind two main parameters, tense and aspect. A verb tense is the form of the verb we choose when we want to say what time (past, present, future, etc) the verb is referring to.
However, this is complicated by the fact we can use the same tense (or form) to talk about more than one time, as we saw above.
The form of the verb also depends on whether we want to say the action is ongoing or whether it’s complete. The aspect (continuous, simple, perfect, etc) which we choose for the verb describes this.
This section looks at three different types of verb: auxiliary verbs, main verbs and phrasal (multi-word) verbs, before going on to look at different verb forms, and verb complementation.
We’ll then look at adverbs and adverbial phrases.
Auxiliary verbs are ‘be’, ‘do’ and ‘have’ and the modal auxiliary verbs ‘shall’, ‘should’, ‘will’, ‘would’, ‘can’, ‘could’, ‘may’, ‘might’, ‘must’ and ‘ought to’.
They’re used with main verbs (see above) in affirmative sentences, negative sentences and question formation.
EXAMPLES
We are staying at a friend’s house.
We’ve only just got our new computer.
She doesn’t expect to be here very long.
You can’t afford to pay for a hotel like that, can you?
He ought to find a place of his own at his age.
Could you text me when you arrive?
Did you live in Dubai once?
I would never have guessed if I hadn’t seen him.
Notice we often use contractions with auxiliaries, eg ‘don’t’ instead of ‘do not’, ‘we’re’ instead of ‘we are’. Modal verbs are used to express the speaker’s judgement about something (‘you shouldn’t smoke’) or the likelihood of it happening (‘It might rain’).
Modals are often used in conditional sentences (see below).
Main verbs can stand alone (eg, She shouted, They arrived). However, where more than one verb is used, they express the main idea (eg, She was swimming, Have you seen her?).
This makes them different from auxiliary verbs since, as their name suggest, auxiliary verbs occur when main verbs are also present.
However, some auxiliary verbs like ‘have’ and ‘do’, can also take on main-verb status, eg, ‘You’ve had your chance’, ‘Have you done your homework?’
Notice ‘have’ is the auxiliary in the last ex., but ‘do’ has the status of a main verb.
EXAMPLES
I don’t believe you. You’re always telling stories.
He texted his friend about the party.
He shouted at us because we were laughing at him.
I had three cups of coffee.
Phrasal (multi-word) verbs
Phrasal verbs are formed by adding a particle (adverb or preposition - or an adverb and a preposition) to a verb to create new meanings.
Thus ‘set out’ (We set out the following day or He set out his agenda for the meeting) has a completely different meaning from ‘set’ (eg ‘set an exam’, ‘set the table’); ‘put up with’ (I’m not going to put up with this any more) has a completely different meaning from ‘put’ (eg, ‘He put her photographs with the letters’).
There are four basic types of phrasal verbs:
Type 1: intransitive
The verb doesn’t take a direct object. These are verbs like ‘take off’ (‘The plane took off’), ‘slow down’ (Slow down at the corner), ‘stand up’ (‘She stood up when I came into room’).
Type 2: transitive and inseparable
These are verbs which take an object, and where the object must come after the complete verb (the verb and the particle can’t be separated).
Ex.’s include ‘go on’ (to go on a diet), ‘look after’ (Will you look after the children?), ‘see about’ (I’m going to see about a new car).
Type 3: transitive and separable
With these verbs the object can come between the verb and the particle (or go after it). Ex.’s include ‘give back’ (He gave the present back, He gave back the present back, He gave back the present) and ‘work out’ (We’re going to work the problem out somehow, We’re going to work out the problem somehow).
However, if the object is a pronoun, it must come between the verb and the particle (He gave it back, We’re going to work it out).
Type 4: transitive, 2+particles, inseparable
Where there’s more than one particle, the object has to come at the end. Ex.’s include run out of (We’ve run out of petrol), ‘break up with’ (He’s broken up with his girlfriend), ‘cut down on’ (I’m trying to cut down on my chocolate intake).
Verb forms
We describe the form (and meaning) of main verbs in the following ways.
Present
‘Your brother is upstairs’, ‘I love it here’, ‘What’s happening?’, ‘I’m not missing that plane’.
Past
‘Eleanor said goodnight’, ‘She cried’, ‘Her parents were packing their suitcases’.
Simple
This is the base form of a verb (eg ‘walk’,’do’, ‘run’) often inflected to agree with the subj (He walks, She does, It runs) or to indicate time and tense (They walked, It was done, He ran as fast as possible).
Continuous verbs (also called progressive) are formed by adding ‘-ing’ to the base form and using it with the verb ‘to be’, eg, She is writing a letter, She was looking out of the window.
Present and past verb forms can therefore be described as present simple or present continuous, past simple or past continuous. We can summarise these verb forms in the following table.
simple continuous
present John is in the kitchen. What’s happening?
I love it here. I’m not listening.
past She said goodbye. He was waiting at the gate.
He cried. They weren’t listening.
She didn’t buy a new cellphone.
Participles
There’re two participle forms in English - present participles, eg, taking, talking, happening, going, and past participles, eg, taken, talked, happened, gone.
Regular and irregular verbs
We can talk about verbs as regular or irregular. Regular verbs take the ‘-ed’ ending in the past, eg, talked, happened, laughed and past participle forms (which are the same).
Irregular verbs have different past tense forms, eg, ran, went, bought, saw, and different past participles, (eg, run, gone, bought, seen, etc).
Perfect verbs are those made with have/had + the past participle (or ‘been’ + the ‘-ing’ form of the verb, eg ‘I have lived here for six years’, ‘They had just arrived’, ’She will have been to six countries’, ‘He’s been jogging’, ‘He hadn’t been listening’, ‘They’ll have been traveling for sixteen hours’).
People have struggled for years to explain exactly what concept present perfect verbs express. It has been variously described as suggesting the idea of an action started in the past but continuing up until the present, the idea of an action started in the past which has present relevance, or the idea of an action on a continuum which has not yet finished.
Thus, we can say ‘I’ve been to Santiago’ and, although we’re talking about an event in the past, we don’t use the past simple (see above) perhaps due to wishing to stress the present relevance of having been to Santiago or due to it occurring on the unfinished continuum of ‘my life’.
Apart from present perfect verb forms with ‘have’, eg ‘She studied Portuguese’, we can also have past perfect verb forms with ‘had’, eg, He had been asleep, They had been laughing all the way home.
In this case, the verb describes an action before the past and continuing up until which point in the past - or at least having a kind of past relevance.
The future perfect refers to the period between now and some point in the future when we will be able to look back and describe an action taking place up until this point in the future (eg, If he wins the gold medal this year, he will have won it five times in succession).
As with past verb forms, there’re both simple and continuous perfect verb forms as the following table shows.
simple continuous
present perfect I’ve read his new book. I’ve been reading his new book.
They haven’t arrived yet. They haven’t been traveling for long.
past perfect He had studied English as a child. He had been waiting for about half an hour.
I had never worked with a robot before. They hadn’t been talking for more than a minute when…
future perfect I’ll have finished this homework by tmw. In August we’ll have been living here for 26 years.
By this time next year, I will have been When you get back, I’ll have been working on this
to the gym about 160 times. CH for six hours.
Active and passive
Another distinction to be made about verbs is between active and passive. Active sentences have a subj (S), a verb (V) and an object (O), eg.
⎸A scene of utter chaos⎸confronted her.
S V O
If we flip things around, however, starting with the object (and, in effect, making it the subj) we get a passive sentence eg.
She was confronted by a scene of utter chaos.
Passives are formed by the auxiliary + past participle of the verb in question, eg, ‘It’s made in Taiwan’, ‘They’re being processed right now’ (present), ‘He was met by the president’, ‘The plan was being worked on’ (past), ‘You’ll be taken to the airport’, ‘She’s going to be offered a new job’ (future), etc.
Passive constructions are often used when we don’t know or we don’t want to say who did something (eg, It’s been destroyed, It was decided you should leave), or when we want to give a different emphasis to the subj and obj of an action (The prime minister opened the new bridge versus The new bridge was opened by the prime minister).
Verb complementation
This describes what words and kinds of words we can use after particular verbs. Some verbs, for ex., are followed by infinitives (I can swim, He should go), some are followed by ‘to’ + infinitive (I like to swim, He tried to save her), some are followed by participles (I don’t enjoy running), and some by ‘that’ + a new clause (He promised that he would finish the work on time).
There’re many other complementation patterns, too. Some verbs can be followed by more than one grammatical pattern.
EXAMPLES
I like to watch TV / like watching TV.
I enjoy watching TV. (not *I enjoy to watch TV)
I must go. (not *I must to go)
I explained the problem to him. (not *I explained him the problem)
She suggested that I train as a teacher. (not *She suggested me to train as a teacher)
Adverbs and adverbial phrases (phrases of more than one word which act like adverbs) modify verbs. Thus time adverbs (early, late, yesterday morning) say when the action takes place, adverbs of manner (He played well, She ran quickly, He spoke fiercely) say how the action happens, adverbs of place (They work upstairs, I live in Cambridge, I’ll see you at home) say where the action happens, and adverbs of frequency (sometimes, often, never, every now and then, twice a week) say how often the action happens.
Adverb position
It’s important to know which slots (see above) adverbs can fit into. They usually appear at the end of sentences, but they can sometimes be used at the start or in the middle.
Most frequently adverbs (always, usually, often, sometimes, etc) can usually go at the start, middle or end of a sentence, eg. Sometimes he rings me up in the morning, He sometimes rings me up in the morning, He rings me up in the morning sometimes.
However, ‘never’ is an exception since it can only occur in the middle position (except when starting more literary sentences, in which case it provokes a subj-verb order change, eg, Never have I been in such a difficult situation).
Adverbs don’t usually come between a verb and its obj. We say ‘I usually have sandwiches for lunch’, but not ‘*I have usually sandwiches for lunch’.
Adverbs of degree
Adverbs can modify adj’s, eg, a wonderfully physical performance, an unusually large cucumber, a really fascinating film, etc. Other adverbs of this type are words like ‘extremely’, ‘rather’, and ‘very’.
Comparative and superlative adverbs
The comparative and superlative forms of adverbs follow the same pattern as those of adj’s. One-syllable adverbs add ‘-er’ and ‘-est’ (loud→ louder→ loudest; hard→ harder → hardest).
Adverbs ending in ‘-ly’ use ’more’ and ’most’ (eg ‘quickly → more quickly→ most quickly’). There’re also irregular forms (eg ‘well→ better →best’; ‘badly→ worse→ worst’).
Joining words
Two parts of speech (prepositions and conjunctions) are concerned with how words, phrases or sentences are connected.
Prepositions express a time relationship between two events (He left before I got there), or a spatial relationship between two things or people (eg, I saw him at the cinema, Put the projector in the office when you have finished with it).
They usually come before a noun but can also come at the end of a clause with certain structures. For ex., we can say, ‘The book’s on the shelf’ or ‘It’s not something I’m very interested in’.
Particular prepositions
Many words and expressions can only be followed by particular prepositions, eg anxious about, dream about/of, good at, kind to, etc.
Prepositions and adverbs
Some words can be both prepositions and also adverbs (often called adverbial particles). In the sentence, ‘She claimed down the ladder’, ‘down’ is a preposition due to having an obj (the ladder).
In ‘She sat down’, it’s an adverb due to not having an obj.
Conjunctions join two clauses, eg ’Nicky said goodnight and walked out of the house with a heavy heart’, ‘She was going to be away for a fortnight so she took a large suitcase’, ‘I can sing but I can’t play the guitar’, ‘I’m a teacher because I like working with people’, etc.
We only use one conjunction for two clauses. We say ‘Although it was early he jumped out of bed’, not ‘*Although it was early but he jumped out of bed’.
Hypothetical meaning
When we talk about something which isn’t real, but may be the case, we’re talking hypothetically. English has many ways of expressing hypothetical meaning.
Modal verbs
As we saw above, modals are auxiliary verbs which we use to comment on the likelihood of something. Thus, if we say ‘It may rain’ we are saying which it’s a hypothetical possibility.
If we say ‘Perhaps I could be persuaded’ or ‘I would if I could’ we are hypothesizing situations in which such eventualities are possible.
However, not all modal verbs express hypothetical meaning. ‘It will rain’ is a statement of fact, and ‘I can’t go’ makes no concessions to the possibility of not going.
Conditional sentences are formed when the conjunction ‘if’ is used to preface a condition, eg, If it rains ( condition), you’ll get wet (result).
In this case, it’s quite likely which it will rain, and therefore the result is possible. However, if we change the sentence to ‘If it rained, you’d get wet’ we’re suggesting the chance of it raining is unlikely - in other words, we’re talking hypothetically - and this is signaled by the use of ‘would’ rather than ‘will’.
A further change of verb tense/form (using the past perfect) will produce an impossible condition, eg ‘If it had rained, you would have got wet’, but it didn’t so you were spared!
These three conditional forms are often called first, second and third conditionals. It’s useful to understand whether they’re real (= possible/likely) or hypothetical (= unlikely/impossible) and whether they refer to the present, future or past.
The following table gives some ex.’s of this.
real hypothetical
talking about the present If you pay online, you get a discount. If I had a dog, I’d take it for walks.
You get a discount if you pay online. I’d take a dog for walks if I had one.
talking about the future If you work hard, you’ll pass the exam. If I won the lottery, I’d travel round You’ll pass the exam if you work hard. the world. If I were you I’d get a new jacket.
talking about the past If it was very warm, we ate outside. If I’d known about the rail strike, I’d We at outside if it was very warm. have come by car. I’d have come by car if I’d known about the rail strike.
The chart shows how the order of the clauses can be reversed with little change in meaning. We also need to remember many conditional sentences are variations on these basic patterns, using a wide range of different tenses and verb types, eg, ‘If you finish before time, hand your papers in and go’, ‘If it rains like it looks like it’s going to rain, we’re going to get soaked’, ‘If I’d been informed about this, I could solve the problem’ - and, in American English sometimes, ‘If I would have met her earlier, I would have married her’, though this use of ‘would’ in both clauses (instead of only in the result clause) is considered unacceptable by many speakers of British English.
Words together
Students frequently worry about the meaning of individual words. Yet a marked feature of the way we construct and understand language is far from putting together strings of individual words, we actually use collections of vocab items which frequently occur together in pairs of groups, as this excerpt from the novel Small Island by Andrea Levy (about Jamaican immigrants to Britain) makes clear:
Louis now believed bloodyforeigner to be all one word. For, like bosom pals, he only ever heard those words spoken together.
We’ll look at three specific instances of words which group together: collocations, lexical chunks and idiom.
Collocations
If any two words occur together more often than only by chance, we often call them collocations. In other words, when you hear the word ‘asleep’ there’s a good chance which the word ‘fast’ will be used with it (fast asleep).
In the ex. Above, Louis has worked out if he hears the word ‘pals’, the word ‘bosom’ will be hovering around, too, and he never hears the word ‘foreigner’ occurring without ‘bloody’ in front of it.
Knowledge of collocation is an important part of knowing a word. For ex., the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English (LDOCE) lists the following collocations for the word ‘heavy’, when it means ‘great in amount, degree or severity’:
heavy traffic, heavy rain/snow, heavy fighting, heavy drinker, heavy smoking, heavy smoker, heavy burner, heavy demands, heavy pressure, heavy fine, heavy casualties, heavy losses, heavy defeat, heavy cold, heavy use.
The reason for this listing is even though ‘heavy’ (with this meaning) may sometimes be used with other words, a study of language shows which it’s most often found in the company of the words indicated (traffic, demands, casualties, etc).
Furthermore, even though this meaning of ‘heavy’ isn’t unlike the word ‘big’, we don’t often find ‘big’ collocating with words like ’smoker’ and ‘casualties’.
The compilers of LDOCE (and other dics) can be confident about these issues due to they having studied large computer corpusees (collections of articles, novels, recorded speech, journals, etc stored electronically).
These corpuses (and the software which allows them to be analysed) were developed towards the end of the twentieth century - and this dev process is still ongoing.
Corpuses allow us to have a much clearer idea of when and how often word collocations occur.
Lexical chunks
Corpuses have shown us something else we have always been aware of - but which is now more demonstrably the case. This is the words groups together into longer lexical phrases or lexical chunks.
Lexical chunks are strings of words which behave almost as one unit. Some of these are fixed (which means you can’t change any of the words, eg over the moon, out of the blue), and some of them are semi-fixed (which means you can change some of the words, eg nice to see you/good to see you/great to see you, etc).
Our ability to use the language effectively depends largely on a knowledge of lexical chunking of this kind. In certain varieties of English, for ex., speakers may well use phrases like ‘It’s a safe bet that…’ to preface a strong speculation, or ‘I wouldn’t go that far’ to show only partial agreement.
Lexical chunks become more or less problematic depending on how idiomatic they are. An idiom is a lexical phrase where the meaning of the whole phrase may not be comprehensible even if we know the meaning of each individual word (eg ‘full of beans’ = energetic, ‘as plain as the nose on your’ = obvious).
Many phrasal and multi-word verbs cause problems for learners precisely due to they’re idiomatic in this way. We should note, however many idioms are extremely culture-specific and so may not be useful anyway in int’l contexts.
Language functions
An exasperated teacher tells a habitually late student ‘You’d better get here on time next class!’ She’s making a rec, something which’s between advice and an order.
There’re other ways in which the teacher can make recs, too and her choice may well depend on exactly how exasperated she is and how formal, informal, direct or indirect she wishes to be - what tone she wishes to adopt (see below).
EXAMPLES
Get here on time next class if you know what’s good for you.
I strongly recommend you get here on time next class.
I suggest you get here on time next class.
I think it would be a really good idea if you got here on time next class.
It would be a good idea if you tried to get here on time next class.
Next class? On time, Ok?
A language function is a purpose you wish to achieve when you say or write something. By ‘performing’ the function, you’re performing an act of communication.
If you say ‘I apologise’, you’re performing the function of apologizing; if you say ‘I promise’, you’re performing the function of promising, but functions are more often performed without using verbs like this at all.
We can apologise by saying ‘sorry’ and invite someone not by saying ‘I invite you’ but by saying things like ‘D’you fancy coming round for a meal?’.
As we’ve seen above, there’re many ways of reccing a course of action. Many functional exponents (patterns or phrases) are exactly the kind of lexical phrases we discussed above.
If our students want to express themselves in speaking or writing, they need to know how to perform these functions.
A key feature specific functional exponents is to know which’re more or less appropriate in given situations (depending on non who’s being talked to, what the situation is and how determined or tentative the speaker wishes to be). Issues of register (see below) are crucial here.
Text and discourse
Much of this CH has dealt with language at the level of words and utterances (sentences, questions, etc in speech).
However, as we saw at the very start, utterances are generally part of a longer stretch of spoken discourse. In writing, sentences are usually part of a longer text.
In order to be an effective language user, therefore, speakers and writers need to be able to operate with longer texts (stretches of discourse) as well as with words, phrases, sentences and questions.
We’ll now look at cohesion, coherence and the special features of spoken face to face discourse.
Cohesion refers to the devices we use to stick text together - the way we connect ideas and sentences together.
Lexical cohesion involves using words and groups of words throughout a text to bind a topic together. Grammatical cohesion, on the other hand uses pronouns, articles and tense agreement, among other devices, for the same purpose.
In the following passage, describing a primary teacher’s first day with a new class, lexical cohesion is achieved by the use of a group of related topic-words (thuglets, boys, girls, young lad, children).
Clare knew her class had a high proportion of thuglets (the word she used for boys and girls whose behavior could cause problems).
They’d acquired a fearsome reputation in the previous two years, but this didn’t stop her from walking towards the class with a feeling of eager anticipation. She was a teacher, after all. This is what she did.
The children were waiting for her. Some of them were sitting quietly at their desks, but one young lad was standing at the back of the room, his arms crossed and a look of sulky petulance on his face.
This is how it starts, she thought as she said ‘Good morning, children,’ and waited for them to reply.
Grammatical cohesion is achieved by the placing of the account in the past tense, but also by the use of words like ‘her’ in sentence 1 referring back to ‘Clare’, ’they’ at the start of sentence 2 to refer to the ‘thuglets’, and ‘she’ at the start of sentence 4 referring back to Clare again.
Such anaphoric reference is present in the second and third paragraphs, too with words like ‘her’, ‘them’, ‘his’, ‘she’, etc, but the writer also asks us to make stronger connections too.
‘This’ at the start of sentence 3 refers back to the whole situation - the fact the ‘thuglets had acquired a fearsome reputation’.
‘This’ in sentence 5 of paragraph 1, however, refers to both the first day of a new year and Clare’s job. ‘This’ in the first sentence of the last paragraph refers to the exp of walking into a new class - in other words it refers to everything which has gone before.
In many longer texts we also use linkers (‘In the first place’, ‘On the one hand…’, ‘Furthermore…’, ‘In conclusion…’, etc) to show the progress of a text.
Coherence
Cohesion will make no different to the success of a text if it’s not coherent. The following four sentences (about the same teacher working on notions of perception) are perfectly well formed, but the text makes no sense due to it having no internal logic: the ideas are in the wrong order.
She opened it and took a large spoonful. She held up the tin. Ignoring the children’s shocked faces, she put the spoon into her mouth. It was marked ‘Dog food’.
When a text is coherent - when it has some internal logic - the readers should be able to perceive the writer’s purpose and follow their line of thought.
Conversational discourse
Many of the same elements of cohesion and coherence apply to face to face discourse as well, but in speech we can also use ellipsis (see above) for grammatical cohesion, and participants need to be proficient at turn-taking, the conversational convention which requires only one person speak at any one time.
Moreover, if the convo is to be successful, speakers should avoid long silences, and should listen when someone else is speaking.
The skill of turn-taking involves such attributes as recognizing when you can take a turn, knowing how to keep your turn (or hold the floor), knowing how to signal someone else can take their turn, and knowing how to show you’re listening.
This kind of knowledge isn’t specific to English, of course, since such conversational skills are almost universal. However, speakers of English need to know typical discourse markers (which is, linguistic ways of performing these skills - much like linkers in more writing-like text) in order to operate effectively.
Phrases such as ‘You may be right, but…’ or ‘Hold on, I’d like to say that…’ or ’Yes, but…’ can help speakers take a turn. ‘And another thing…’, ‘and that reminds me…’, ‘I’ve nearly finished, but before I do…’ help to keep a turn, whereas ‘uh uh’, ‘right’ and ‘yeah’ show we’re listening.
Speakers of English need to recognize these discourse markers and be able to use them if they’re to be successful conversationalists.
Language variables
The way English speakers use systems of grammar, vocab and pronunciation is dependent upon a number of variables. We’ll look at speaking and writing, register and language varieties.
Speaking and writing
The way we put words together in correct sequences is often influenced by whether or not we’re doing it in speech or writing.
For ex., we find in convo we tend to use more contractions (eg ‘it is’ contracted to ‘it’s’, ‘I have’ contracted to ‘I’ve’) than in writing.
In speech we may well shorten ‘It’s warm in here’ to ‘Warm in here’ or even ‘Warm’, though such ellipsis is less likely in writing.
However, the choice of whether something is more or less speaking-like or writing-like may depend on the register of speaker is using.
Students of English need to be able to recognize the different between more speaking-like and writing-like language, and to use these differences creatively.
Recent computer research has also shown words are used differently in speech and writing. ‘However’ is more common in writing than speaking, for ex., but ‘started’ is much more common than ‘began’ in speaking.
People use ‘go’ and ‘be like’ to mean ‘said’ (She goes/She’s like “How are you feeling?” And I go/I’m like “Not so bad”…) in speech but almost never in writing.
Due to speaking is often face to face and interactive, speakers can use paralinguistic (or non-language) features, such as changing their tone of voice, giving added emphasis, whispering and shouting or speaking faster or slower.
They can use gesture and expression to modify their meanings, too. However, writers have their own bag of tricks:
-dashes
! exclamations marks
new paragraphs
, commas
CAPITAL letters, etc.
These can be used to create rhythm and effect, but whereas in speech the participants can clarify what they’re saying as they go along, depending on who they’re talking to, in writing it’s much more important to get it right the first time.
Writers are likely to write full grammatical sentences and use writing-specific language. In addition, research shows they use a higher percentage of content words (words which carry meaning like ‘flower’, ‘car’, ‘hot’, ‘sun’, ‘feel’) relative to function words (grammar words like ‘which’, ‘to’ or ‘was’), than speakers do.
With speakers, the proportion of function words is often much higher.
Register
Our choice of words is also determined by the register we’re speaking in. Register refers to both the topic we’re speaking about and the tone (for ex. formal or informal) which we wish to adopt.
Thus, for ex., in a weather forecast we’d expect to hear topic words such as ‘depression’, ‘cold front’, ‘moving in from…’, ‘temps’ and ‘hot’, ’cool’ and ’warm’.
However, if we revert to the sentence at the start of this CH (It’s warm in here) and imagine this the convo was taking place between two friends, one of them may change it to ‘Pretty warm in here’.
Here the use of ‘pretty’ (which is much more common in speech in writing) indicates an informal tone, but if we use the word extremely instead (eg It’s extremely warm in here), the tone of the speaker is considerably more formal.
Students of English need to be able to recognize register differences so they can choose their words appropriately, depending on who they’re speaking or writing to, and on the topic in question.
Language varieties
English isn’t only one language, of course. There’re many different varieties. Even if we take only British English for ex., we’ll find whereas a speaker from southern England may say ‘It’s really warm in here’, someone from Newcastle in the north of England may say ‘It’s right warm in here’ (where ‘right’ is pronounced ‘reet’).
There’re regional variations in Britain in pronunciation, word choice and grammar. There’re differences between varieties of British English and the English used in other countries too.
An AU speaker, using an informal tone, may well change our sentence to ‘Bloody warm in here, mate’, and many American speakers of English will say /wↃ:rm/ rather than wↃ:m/ - ie with the /r/ sound clearly audible.
There’re other marked differences between British and American English, too. Whereas a British speaker may use the present perfect (see above) to ask a question such as ‘Have you been to Venice?’, American speakers may use the past simple (see above), eg ‘Did you go to Venice?’.
Indian and Pakistani speakers of English often use the present continuous (see above), eg, ‘We are not having that problem here’, where British speakers, for ex., would use the present simple (see above) to say ‘We don’t have that problem here’, and now English is becoming so much more widely used as a second language than by first-language English speakers, the number of varieties (eg Singapore English, Korean English, Mexican English, etc) will gradually increase, even if the majority of people in some countries (eg Korea and Mexico) don’t yet speak English with any confidence.
The status of English as one language is challenged by the many different ‘Englishes’ being used around the world, and notions of the ownership of English have shifted dramatically.
Although there’re still many people who advocate using a native-speaker model to teach English, there’s growing acceptance of the concept of an Int’l English, used as a common language of communication by people whose native language isn’t English.
This Int’l English belongs to everyone who speaks it, but it’s no one’s mother tongue. Students should be aware of the difference in language varieties and should be given opportunities to exp different Englishes, though not in such a way as to make things incomprehensible to them.
Furthermore, they need to be aware there’s much more which is similar about different Englishes than is different.
CH6 Teaching the language system
Teaching specific aspects of language Ex.’s of language system teaching
Explaining meaning Mistakes, slips, errors and attempts
Explaining language construction Correcting students
Practice and controlled practice
Teaching specific aspects of language
When we ask students to concentrate on specific aspects of language, we’ll usually choose some way of explaining the form and meaning of this language before asking for student repetition as part of a controlled practice phase of the lesson sequence.
This explanation, repetition and practice is a form of what we’ve called study (see CH4).
Sometimes we’ll spend a lot of time on this language focus, and students will be involved in quite a few minutes of repetition.
At other times, once our students’ attn has been drawn to the language in question, they may well be able to move fairly quickly to a stage of personalization (where they use the language to talk about their lives - see above) or even full activation.
In such cases, the study element has been brief due to it having met with almost instant success. How long we’ve to spend on language study will depend on who the students are, what their level is and what elements of language we’re asking them to study.
Many people have contrasted two approaches (called, rather unhelpfully, deductive and inductive) for intro-ing students to specific aspects of language.
The deductive approach
Students are given explanations or grammar rules, for ex., and then, based on these explanations or rules, they make phrases and sentences using the new language.
In the following ex., elementary students are going to focus on the present continuous tense. The teacher starts by showing them pics of people doing certain actions (painting a house, fixing the roof, cutting the grass, etc).
He or she then models a sentence about one of the pics (He’s painting the house) before using a series of devices to draw the students’ attn to the grammar of the present continuous (Listen…he’s…he’s...he is…he is [using a gesture, perhaps fingers or hands coming together to show ‘he’ and ‘is’ joined together to make the contracted form]…he’s …he’s… painting…listen…paint…ing…paint…ing… he’s painting the house).
Students then repeat the sentence, before moving on to the next one (He’s fixing the roof), where the teacher once again models the sentence, and again draws the students’ attn to the construction of the present continuous by isolating parts of it (he’s, fixing).
The students then repeat the second sentence. The teacher now cues the students with a prompt (paint) and the students have to say ‘He’s painting the house’, ‘fix’ and they say ‘He’s fixing the roof’.
They then use what they’re learning to make sentences about the other pics, and as they do so, the teacher corrects where necessary (see below).
It can be seen this explain and practise approach to teaching aspects of the language system looks very much like a straight arrows sequence (see above) in which the order of elements is engage→study→activate.
It suits some students and language points very well. We’ll see an ex. of this kind of procedure seen below.
The inductive approach
Things happen the other way round istead of going from the rules to the ex.’s, students see ex.’s of language and try to work out the rules.
Thus, for ex., after students have read a text, we may ask them to find ex.’s of different past tenses and say how and why they’re used.
This boomerang-type lesson (where the elements occur in the sequence engage →activate →study) is esp appropriate where language study arises out of skills work on reading and listening texts.
If we want students to understand how speakers in informal convo use certain phrases as delaying tactics (or to buy thinking time) we may - after letting them listen and respond to someone speaking spontaneously - get them to listen again, but this time reading a transcript of what’s being said.
The task we give them is to find language used for buying time - hoping they’ll identify phrases like ‘you know’, ‘I mean’, ‘yeah’, ‘mmm’, etc.
If we want students to understand how certain words collocate (see above), we can if we want, tell them about the words and their collocations.
Which’s what we’d do in an explain and practice sequence, but in an inductive approach we prefer the students to find this info out.
If we’re teaching body language, therefore, instead of telling students which verbs like wave, clench, wag, etc collocate with which nouns such as hand, arm, teeth, fist, etc, we can send them to monolingual learners’ dics (MLDs) or computer corpuses to see if they can work it out for themselves.
Such discovery activities ask students to do the work rather than having everything handed to them on a plate by the teacher or a grammar/vocab book.
Discovery activities suit some students very well; they enjoy working things out. Many people think the language they understand in this way’s more powerfully learnt (due to having to make some cognitive effort as they uncovered its patterns) than it’d have been if they were told the grammar rules first and didn’t have to make such an effort.
However, not all students feel comfortable with this approach and would still prefer to be spoon-fed. A lot will depend on their level.
It’s generally easier for more adv’d students to analyze language using discovery procedures than it’s for complete beginners.
The boomerang sequence is often more appropriate with students who already have a certain amount of language available to them for the first activation stage than it’s with students who can say very little.
Discovery activities are esp useful when students are looking at the construction of specific language for the second or third time.
When we ask them to look at the use of different past tenses in a story and to work out how they’re used and why, we assume they know the individual tenses.
The detective work they’re doing now is intended to expand their knowledge and revise things they’re already familiar with.
Explaining meaning
One of the clearest ways of explaining the meaning of something is to show it. If we hold up a book, point to it and say ‘book...book’, its meaning will be instantly clear.
For actions we can use mime: if we’re teaching ‘He is running’, we can mime someone running. At other times we can use gesture.
We can demo superlative adj’s, by using hand and arm movements to show ‘big…bigger…biggest’, and many teachers have standard gestures to explain such things as the past (a hand pointing backwards over the shoulder), or the future (a hand pointing forwards).
We can also use facial expressions to explain the meaning of sad, happy, frightened, etc. We can use pics to explain situations and concepts (for ex., a pic of someone coming away from a swimming pool with dripping wet hair to show ‘She’s just been swimming’).
We can use diagrams too. Many teachers use time lines to explain time, simple versus continuous and aspect (eg perfect tenses).
For ex., if we want to explain the present perfect continuous tense, we can use a time line to demo ‘I’ve been living here since 2004’.
2004 Now
⎸ 〰️→ ⎸
If we can’t show something in one of the ways mentioned above, we can describe the meaning of the word. For ex., a generous person is someone who shares their time and their money/possessions with you.
Nasty is the opposite of nice. A radish is a kind of vegetable. If describing meaning isn’t appropriate, we can list vocab items to explain concepts.
For ex., if we want students to understand the idea of the caring professions (perhaps due to the phrase coming up in a text), we can list a number of jobs such as doctor, nurse, social worker and counsellor to explain the phrase.
We can also use check questions to make sure students have understood correctly. If they’re learning how to make third conditional sentences (see above) and one of the ex.’s is ‘If she’d missed the bus, she’d have been late for work’, we can ask the students questions such as ‘Did she miss the bus?’ and ‘Was she late for work?’.
A way of making meaning absolutely clear, of course is to translate words and phrases. Sometimes this is easy; all languages have a word for ‘book’.
Sometimes, however, it’s more complex; many languages don’t have an absolute equivalent for the English phrase ‘devil-may-care attitude’ and translating idioms such as ‘to pull the wool over someone’s eyes’ means having to find an L1 equivalent, even though it may be constructed completely differently.
The trick of explaining meaning effectively is to choose the best method to fit the meaning which needs to be explained. In actual fact, most teachers use a mix of some or all of these techniques.
However, check questions are esp important since they allow us to determine if our explanations have been effective.
Explaining language construction
We’ve already seen (see above) how the teacher can model a sentence such as ‘He’s painting the house’, isolating the features (‘he’s’ and ‘painting’) which’re essential parts of its grammatical construction.
We can use fingers or hands, too to show how ‘he is’ turns into ‘he’s’ in speech or how ‘fast’ and ‘er’ are joined together to make a comparative adj.
We can also demo word and sentence stress by beating time with our arms. We can show intonation patterns by ‘drawing’ the tune in the air.
Some students will find such graphic gestures sufficient, but others like to see written explanations, or diagrams on boards and overhead projectors.
If we’re teaching the third conditional (see above), we may write the following on the board:
If + had + past participle → would + have + past participle
With an overhead projector, the teacher can write on overhead transparencies to draw attn to grammatical construction, as in the ex. below where the two main language areas of interest are the way headlines are written, and the use of pronouns for reference within a text (see anaphoric reference above):
The same can be done with tech such as an interactive whiteboard (see below). This has the added advantage which the end result can be saved or printed out for students to keep.
Another way of demo-ing grammatical sequence is to write words on individual cards which can then be moved around (to show the difference between affirmative sentence order and the syntax of questions, for ex.).
We can also manipulate a set of Cuisenaire rods (small blocks of wood of different colors and lengths). They can be used to show parts of speech, stress patterns and sentence construction.
Finally, it’s often easiest to explain language construction. For ex., if we want students to understand the rule about the third person singular of the present simple, we can say:
‘Listen…we say I play, you play, we play, they play, but with he, she and it we add an s. Listen, I play, she plays…you play, he plays…we play, it plays.’
However, we’ll need to be careful (a) explaining the construction of the language’s fairly easy to do, and (b) which we can do it in language which the students we’re teaching will find easy to understand.
present simple is often used in headlines↴
headlines omit articles, etc - NEIGHBOR BITES DOG IN STREET DISPUTE
A 47-year-old man, William Jesperson, bit his neighbor’s dog in a dispute about her garden fence yesterday. Mrs Carol Ramsey has complained to the police and her dog needed four stitches. The argument between neighbors William Jesperson and Carol Ramsey started when Mrs Ramsey took down the fence between their two gardens. She told her neighbor she was going to replace it with
commas used to separate a newer one but she has not yet done so because, she claims, she cannot afford
phrase to.
When the fence was removed Mrs Ramsey’s dog used Mr Jesperson’s garden to play in, on once occasion frightening his two-year-old son. Despite repeated complaints Mrs Ramsey had done nothing and when the dog chased Mr Jesperson’s pet rabbit, the outraged father and pet-lover—(what do you think?) took action.
‘We’re investigating’, says a spokeswoman for Thames Valley Police.
Practice and controlled practice
We ask students to practise the language they’re studying so they can try it out and get used to saying it or writing it.
As they do this, we may well correct them if they make mistakes (see below) so they’re clear about how it works.
This practise helps them to internalize how the language is constructed so when it passes from their short-term memory to their long-term memory, they know how it’s put together.
Short-term memory is where things are stored only for as long as they’re needed. For ex., we may remember a house # due to having been invited to a party, but a week later we may’ve forgotten it due to not needing it anymore.
Long-term memory, on the other hand is for things which we want to ‘keep’. We remember PIN #’s for cc’s, our own car license plates, and passwords for bank accounts or computers due to needing to use them all the time.
If we want specific language items to be part of our students’ long-term memory, a once-only study session will not be enough. We need to ensure students see new words, phrases and grammar again and again.
Repetition works, in other words but this doesn’t only mean the repetition which takes place in a controlled practice session when students first meet the language.
Rather, it suggests we need to bring the language back over time and at spaced intervals so it gradually becomes part of our students’ language store.
Some of this happens quite naturally due to language activation stages draw on all the students’ knowledge; but if we don’t explicitly bring recently learnt language back into lessons, there’s a danger, like the party-house number, it’ll not make the transition from short- to long-term memory.
Controlled practise
The first stage of controlled practise is repetition and this can be either choral or individual. When we use choral repetition, we get all the students to say the new word or phrase together.
For choral repetition to be effective, it’s important to start the chorus clearly (so everyone gets going at once) and to help the students with the rhythm by ‘conducting’ the chorus, using arms and hands to show where stress occurs, etc.
Choral repetition can be invigorating, and it gives all the students a chance to speak together rather than being (possibly) shown up individually.
Sometimes teachers divide the class in half (when working with a two-person dialogue, for ex.) and give each of the dialogue roles to one or other half.
The convo is then spoken in semi-chorus, with the two halves each taking their turn to speak. When we think students have been given sufficient repetition time in chorus (or if we don’t see the need for choral repetition), we may ask for individual repetition.
We do this by nominating students and asking them to give us the sentence, eg.
TEACHER: OK. Sam?
STUDENT 1: They’re watching television.
TEACHER: Good. Kim?
STUDENT 2: They’re watching television.
TEACHER: Good.
etc
It’s worth remembering not to nominate students in an obvious order (eg by going from one end of a row to the other) since this will make the activity predictable and, as a result, will not keep students ‘on their toes’.
A form of individual practise which some teachers and students find useful occurs when teachers tell their students they can say the word or phrase quietly to themselves, murmuring it a few times as they get used to saying it.
It may sound strange to hear everyone speaking the phrase quietly to themselves at the same time, but it gives them all a chance for individual repetition, a chance once again to see how it feels to say the new language.
If we feel students have done enough repetition of the phrase or phrases (or if we don’t think such repetition is necessary), we may organize a quick cue-response session to encourage controlled practise of the new language.
Suppose, for ex., we’ve taught a group of beginner students a series of vocab items such as ‘nurse’, ‘fireman’, ‘doctor’, ‘teacher’, ‘policeman’, etc, and we’ve pics of these people on cards.
We can use these cards as a cue, which we hope will then elicit the appropriate response, eg.
TEACHER (holds up picture of a policeman): Sam?
STUDENT 1 (Sam): Policeman.
TEACHER: Good. (holds up pic of a nurse) Kim?
STUDENT 2 (Kim): Nurse.
TEACHER: Good.
Curse can also be verbal (eg ‘Question … Flight 36’ to get the response ‘What time does Flight 36 leave?’) or non-verbal (eg the teacher shrugs their shoulders to elicit ‘I don’t know’).
Cue-response drills are an efficient way of getting the students to say the new language in a way which can be invigorating and challenging.
If we think students need more controlled practise of this type, we can put them in pairs and ask them to continue saying the new words and phrases to each other.
Perhaps they can take turns miming one of the professions or showing/drawing pics of policemen, nurses, etc so they are, in effect conducting cue-response drills of their own.
Freer practice
Sometimes we may decide students don’t need very much controlled practice of the new language. This is often the case at higher levels where not only will they probably have understood our explanations of meaning and language construction, but they may be slightly familiar with the language anyway.
In such situations we may only say something like ‘Ok, can anyone tell me what would have happened if they’d overslept this morning?’ to provoke ex.’s of the third conditional (see above).
As students use personalized sentences in this way, we can point out any mistakes they may be making and encouraging correct pronunciation.
If, when we try to bypass controlled practise in this way, we find students are having more problems than we thought, we may’ve to return to our explanations of meaning and construction and then organize controlled practise after all, but hopefully this will not happen, and our students will be able to try using the language in this more relaxed and less formal setting.
Freer practise - esp where personalization is concerned (see above) - is a kind of transition stage between language study and activation.
It’s still concerned with the correct construction of language and so it’s part of study; it’s also concerned with language use and so it’s moving towards activation.
The decision about whether or not students need explanation or controlled practise will depend, as we’ve suggested, on whether we think they’re already familiar with the new language or not.
It’d after all, be inappropriate to force students to concentrate on studying language they’re already perfectly capable of using.
Our decision about how to proceed should, therefore, be based on what the students know already, and we’ll need to adapt our plan immediately if we find the majority of them are more aware of the ‘new’ language than we thought they were.
Ex.’s of language system teaching
We can now look at a few ideas for teaching grammar, pronunciation, vocab, and language functions. These lesson sequences and ideas will include both student discovery-type moments and explain and practise ex.’s (see above).
There’ll be a mix of straight arrows and boomerang procedures. However, there’re many more ways of approaching this kind of teaching than there’s room for here.
Readers should consult the books listed in below CH for more ideas.
Teaching grammar
One way of teaching grammar is to use an explain and practise procedure such as we’ve described above. So, for ex., if we want to teach the present simple (see above) for habitual actions, we can show elementary students pics of someone with an interesting occupation (in this case a marathon runner).
After talking about running (‘Would you like to run?’, ‘Do you take exercise?’, etc), the students see the following pics.
We point to the first pic and model the sentence ‘She gets up at half past five’. We use check questions (Does she get up at half past five on Monday?, on Thursday?, etc) to make sure they understand the concept of habitual actions.
We isolate the word ‘gets’ and show how an ’s’ is added to the verb for ‘she’, ‘he’ and ‘it’ (we can say ‘Listen, get …s…’ indicating ‘get’ with one hand ’s’ with the other. Now we draw the two hands together and say ‘gets…gets…listen, she gets…’).
Then we model the sentence again and get the students to repeat it chorally and individually.
Students now look at the second pic and we try to elicit the sentence (get them to produce it, rather than give it to them) ’She has breakfast at six o’clock’. If necessary, we model this sentence too, isolating ‘has’.
Students repeat this second sentence chorally and individually. We now start a cue-response drill where we say ‘half past five’ and the students say ‘She gets up’ or ‘six o’clock’, for them to say ‘She has breakfast’.
We elicit ‘She leaves home at six thirty’, and once again get repetition of this new sentence before conducting more elaborate cue-response stages.
We correct (and perhaps re-explain) where students are having difficulties. Finally, students tel the class about their own daily routine and about the routines of people they know (members of their families, etc).
Over subsequent lessons, we make sure they’ve more opportunities to use the present simple in this way. If we use a discovery approach to teaching grammar, ur lesson sequence will look rather different - as in the following ex. for upper-intermediate students studying conditional if-sentences.
We can start the sequence by asking students to think about grandparents. In pairs or groups, they discuss what adj’s (wise, kind, old, etc) they’d use to describe a typical grandmother. They write their words down.
We then ask them to read the following extract (from a book for children, but which’s equally appropriate for adults and young adults in this context).
Their task is to see if any of the adj’s they chose fit George’s grandmother, and if not, how they’d choose to describe her.
‘You know what’s the matter with you?’ the old woman said, staring at George over the rim of the teacup with those bright wicked little eyes. ‘You’re growing too fast. Boys who grow too fast become stupid and lazy.’
‘But I can’t help it if I’m growing fast, Grandma,’ George said.
‘Of course you can’, she snapped. ‘Growing’s a nasty childish habit.’
‘But we have to grow, Grandma. If we didn’t grow, we’d never be grown-ups.’
‘Rubbish, boy, rubbish,’ she said. ‘Look at me. Am I growing? Certainly not.’
‘But you did once, Grandma.’
‘Only very little,’ the old woman answered. ‘I gave up growing when I was extremely small, along with other nasty childish habits like laziness and disobedience and greed and sloppiness and untidiness and stupidity. You haven’t given up any of those things, have you?’
‘I’m still only a little boy, Grandma.’
‘You’re eight years old,’ she snorted. ‘That’s old enough to know better. If you don’t stop growing soon, it’ll be too late.’
‘Too late for what, Grandma?’
‘It’s ridiculous,’ she went on. ‘You’re nearly as tall as me already.’
George took a good look at grandma. She certainly was a very tiny person. Her legs were so short she had to have a footstool to put her feet on, and her head only came half-way up the back of the armchair.
‘Daddy says it’s fine for a man to be tall,’ George said.
‘Don’t listen to your daddy,’ Grandma said. ‘Listen to me.’
‘But how do I stop growing?’ George asked her.
‘Eat less chocolate,’ Grandma said.
‘Does chocolate make you grow?’
‘It makes you grow the wrong way,’ she snapped. ‘Up instead of down.’
Grandma sipped some tea but never took her eyes from the little boy who stood before her. ‘Never grow up,’ she said. ‘Always down.’
‘Yes, Grandma.’
‘And stop eating chocolate. Eat cabbage instead.’
‘Cabbage! Oh no, I don’t like cabbage,’ George said.
‘It’s not what you like or don’t like,’ Grandma snapped. ‘It’s what’s good for you that counts. From now on, you must eat cabbage three times a day, Mountains of cabbage! And if it’s got caterpillars on it, so much the better!’
We can ask the students whether they liked the text or not. Did they find it funny or outrageous? Students can check any words they don’t understand by working in groups with dics or by asking us.
Now we ask them to look at the text and find any sentences which have the word ‘if’ in them. They’ll come up with the following:
1 ‘But I can’t help it if I’m growing fast, Grandma,’ George said.
2 ‘If we didn’t grow, we’d never be grown-ups.’
3 ‘If you don’t stop growing soon, it’ll be too late.’
4 ‘And if it’s got caterpillars on it, so much the better!’
We ask the students to analyze the sentences (perhaps in pairs or groups). Which sentence is hypothetical (sentence 2) and how do we know this? (Because it uses past tenses about a present/timeless situation)
Which sentence is about the future (sentence 3)? And what’re the differences between the two ‘present’ sentences (the use of the present continuous in a clause in sentence 1; the verbless clause in sentence 4)?
They need to notice in sentences 1 and 4 there’re variations from the conditional patterns which they’ve probably usually studied.
Students now try to make their own sentences using exactly the same grammar patterns (‘I can’t stop it if it’s happening already’ or ‘If people didn’t like spending money, they’d never buy expensive clothes’, etc).
We can then show them more texts which they’ve to search in the same way, looking for ‘if’ sentences to see if they used the same or different patterns (and to determine how different they are).
Later, students can be asked to imagine a new situation featuring George’s grandmother (perhaps when she’s questioned by the police, or goes to a party or can’t find what she wants in a shop).
They have to write a convo in which she uses ‘if’ sentences like the ones in the original text. Finally, they can role-play a scene with the grandmother, or instead, have a discussion about the depiction of old people on the TV or in the media.
The point about this kind of language study is instead of the teacher explaining something which the students then have to practise, it’s the students themselves who look at the language and come to their own conclusions (with the teacher’s help).
Using real text extracts (from books or the internet, or listening to tracks from the radio or other recorded material) will always provide grammar for the students to read and study.
Teaching pronunciation
In the following lesson excerpt (for teen and adult students at intermediate level or above), we tell the students they’re going to hear convos in which a woman asks a man to do something, and man replies by saying things like ‘Well…’ or ‘I’d rather not’ or ‘That depends on what it is’ (if the woman says something general like ‘Could you give me a hand?’).
Students listen to an audio track in which the woman asks (for ex.) ‘Could you give me a hand with hanging out the washing?’ and the man says ‘Well…’.
All the students have to do is decide whether or not the man is going to help, and the only clue they have to this is the intonation he uses and the pitch of his voice.
After each exchange, we pause the audio track and the students discuss whether the man sounded as if he was saying ‘Definitely, no’, ‘Maybe’ or ‘All right, I suppose so’.
The class discuss and analyze the different intonation patterns the man uses. Later, students can ask us to do things and we can answer using different intonation patterns so the students have to work out which of the three answers it is.
Students then ask each other to do things and, using the phrases ‘Well…’, ‘That depends on what it is’, etc, the answering students have to indicate (using intonation) what their answer means.
We can teach intonation (and stress) in many other ways, too:
Punctuation: one activity is to show pre-intermediate students a range of unpunctuated phrases such as ‘You bought a lottery ticket’, ‘You don’t like my hat’ or ‘You want a pizza’.
The teacher plays an audio track (or says the phrases out loud), and the students have to decide whether they should put a full stop, a question mark or an exclamation mark at the end of them depending on what they’ve heard.
Students can then practise saying the phrases in the three different ways (statement, question, exclamation).
Same sentence, different situations: a variation on these activities is to get students to think about how they’d say the same sentence in different situations.
For ex., we can ask them to say, ‘Good morning, Mr Jones’ as if (a) they’ve never met him before, (b) he owes them money, (c) they really like him but don’t want to be too obvious, etc.
We can practise stress in words by modeling the words and exaggerating the stressed syllable (eg the second syllable of ‘comPUTer’ or the third syllable of ‘impoSITion’) and maybe beating time with our hands.
We can give students a list of three- and four-syllable words which they have to put in different boxes depending on whether the stress comes on the first, second or third syllable (as in the ex. below):
Put the following words in the correct columns:
accompanist audience audition composer conductor double bass
interview manager percussion photographer receptionist remember
saxophone songwriter therapist violin
A ⚫️⚫️ ⚫️ B ⚫️ ⚫️ ⚫️ C ⚫️ ⚫️ ⚫️ D ⚫️ ⚫️ ⚫️ ⚫️
Perhaps we can write the words on cards which students have to stick up on a board in the appropriate column. Or they could drag-and-drop words into the columns on a computer screen or interactive whiteboard.
There’re many other ways of teaching stress and rhythm - the following are only two ex.’s.
Stress in phrases: for stress in phrases, we can, for ex., show intermediate students a range of phrases such as ‘Come at ten’, ‘I lost my voice’, ‘Sing your song’, ‘The weather’s awful’, ‘This can’t go on’, ‘You must be joking’.
The phrases can be written on individual cards. Each student has one of the cards and they have to find their ‘stress pair’ (the student who has a card which has a phrase with the same stress pattern as the one they’re holding).
‘Come at ten’ is matched with ‘Sing your song’; ‘I lost my voice’ is paired with ‘This can’t go on’; ‘You must be joking’ is paired with ‘The weather’s awful’.
Songs and chants: songs and chants are good for rhythm, and for young children esp, they make the business of stress easy and uncomplicated since it doesn’t even have to be explained.
Songs like ‘The wheels on the bus’ have a strong rhythmic pattern which, through constant repetition, become part of the child’s rhythmic sense:
The wheels on the bus go round and round, round and round, round and round.
The wheels on the bus go round and round, all through the town.
The wipers on the bus go swish, swish, swish; swish, swish, swish; swish, swish, swish.
The wipers on the bus go swish, swish, swish all through the town.
(There’re further verses about the horn on the bus - beep, beep, beep; the mums on the bus - chatter, chatter, chatter; the dads on the bus - snore, snore, snore, etc).
Some teachers use jazz chants for rhythm. Words are spoken rhythmically to the accompaniment of clapping and stamping. Imagine, for ex., putting a beat to the following lines:
I dropped into my neighborhood and what did I see
A hundred happy faces smiling up at me.
etc
When we teach sounds, we want students not only to speak correctly, but also to recognize sound and spelling correspondence. We also want them to be able to discriminate between similar-sounding phonemes.
We can, for ex., do minimal pair exercises (minimal pairs are pairs of words such as ‘ship’ and ‘sheep’, ‘hat’ and ‘hut’, ’sin’ and ’sing’, ‘wash’ and ‘watch’, which are differentiated by only one sound - the other sounds stay the same).
Students can be given pairs of words, eg.
1 ship sheep
2 heart hard
For each number, they hear a sentence and they have to circle the word they hear in each case. (For ex., 1 ‘Yesterday I saw a large sheep in the field’, 2 ‘Being in love is so hard’). We can then model the words.
In the case of the vowels, we’ll make sure the students take note of the lip position for ‘ship’ (spread loosely) and ‘sheep’ (stretched).
With the two consonants, they need to know whereas /t/ (eg ‘two’, ‘touch’, ‘heart’) is said with the vocal chords open, /d/ (eg ‘do’, ‘hard’) is said with the vocal chords closed.
The result is /d/ is a voiced consonant (due to the air vibrates as it passes though the closed chords) whereas /t/ is voiceless due to there being no such constriction (see above).
Students then say the words and their classmates have to decide which sound they were using. Minimal pair exercises like this can be used with any age and, depending on what particular words, sentences and phrases are used, at any level.
Once again, drawings and cards with help young children, only as getting them to stand in different groups depending on the sounds in words which they’ve written on cards may help the more kinesthetic learners (see above).
Sounds and spelling: a major cause of difficulty for some students of English is the apparent lack of correspondence between sounds and spelling.
The following procedures show ways of dealing with this. In the first, we give students lists of word with a certain spelling (eg the letter combo ‘ou’ in ‘rough’, ‘tough’, ‘ought’, ‘bought’, ‘though’, ‘through’, etc).
They have to group the words according to the different ways ‘ou’ is pronounced. A second idea is to give students a list of words (eg. won, summer, son, plunge, under, etc) and ask them to say which sound (in this case /A/) occurs in all of them, before getting them to repeat the words and then think of others which contain the same sound.
Tongue twisters: we can design rhymes and tongue twisters which use a particular sound or sounds and have students repeat them - for ex., ‘George judges jewels jealously’ for the sound /d3/, or ‘awful orphans ought to organise’ for the sound /ǝ/ (at least in many varieties of British English).
The most important things to remember about pronunciation teaching’s students should’ve as much opportunity as possible to listen to spoken English.
When teaching different sounds, we’ll try to help them hear the different between confusing phonemes. When teaching stress and intonation, we’ll ask them to recognize what different intonation patterns mean (eg. enthusiasm, lack of enthusiasm); we’ll model words and phrases indicating appropriate stress and intonation (using hand and arm movements and vocal exaggeration, perhaps) and get students to try to imitate us.
A lot of this occurs naturally when we’re teaching grammar or vocab. It’s important to remember when we write new language on the board, we should indicate where the word or phrase is stressed, using one of the methods we saw above.
Teaching vocab
At beginner levels, teachers frequently use explain and practise procedures. For ex., we may have individual pics on flashcards showing people who’re tired, sad, happy, frightening, exhausted, etc.
We hold up a pic, point to it and say ‘tired…she’s tired’, while miming a yawn. Then we model ‘tired’ and get the students to repeat it. Next, we hold up (or point to) the next pic and model ‘sad’.
As the students learn more words, we conduct a cue-response drill, holding up different flashcards (or pointing to different pics) so the students give the correct word.
Students can then use the words in their own sentences. For any classes above the complete beginner level we can assume different students will know a range of different lexical items.
A way of exploiting this is to get the class (with our help) to build their own vocab tree. For ex., suppose intermediate students are working on a unit about homes and houses, we may put this diagram on the board.
House Map
cooker
fridge ⎸
bedroom ⎸ ⎸
⎸ ↘︎ ⎸
↘︎ ↱ ↳kitchen
↳ house ⎯
The students are asked to add to the diagram as extensively as they can. Perhaps we put them in different groups, one for each room (kitchen, bedroom, dining room, etc) and they have to come up with as many words as possible for their room.
Or perhaps they come up to the board, one by one, to add to the diagram, using chalk or marker pens. While they’re doing this, we can help out with spellings and pronunciation - and when the diagram is as complete as the students can make it, we can do pronunciation work and/or add any important words which we think are missing.
This kind of activity draws not he students’ existing knowledge (which is why it’s appropriate for elementary levels onwards); the students are involved; there’s movement and discussion, and the teacher’s on hand to explain and practise when it’s necessary.
At higher levels, we can ask students to take even more responsibility for decision-making about how words are used.
The following ex. is all about vocab associated with the weather, including the metaphorical uses we have for weather lexis. The activity starts when students are asked to say what their favorite kind of weather is.
When they’ve done this, we tell them they’re going to do some language research. Students are given a series of weather phrases, eg.
blazing sun blizzard breeze downpour gale heavy shower heavy snowfall
light shower light breeze light snowfall strong breeze strong sunshine
strong wind sunshine torrential rain
They’re told to use the words to complete the middle column of the following table by looking for the words in a dic, on a cd, by using a search engine and/or by talking to each other.
lease severe ↔ most severe associated verbs
rain light shower, heavy shower …
snow
sun
wind
When they’ve done this (and we’ve checked through their tables), we can ask them to put the following weather-related verbs in the right-hand column of the chart:
blow drizzle fall howl pour roar scorch settle shine whistle
Once again, they do this by researching the words for themselves. We only help them if they get stuck or when the activity finishes and we check through what they’ve found out (we can draw the chart on the board and have the students come and fill it in).
Students are then asked to tell each other about the worst weather they’ve ever been in - or to describe a day they remember was particularly memorable due to the weather.
Finally, the students are asked to read a text in which various weather metaphors occur (eg. ‘sunny disposition’, ‘shower with presents’, ‘gales of laughter’, ‘thunder’ (as a verb), ‘storm out of a room’, ‘thunderstruck’, ‘thunderous applause’, ‘storm of protest’).
They have to find the weather metaphors and say what they think they mean. We’ll then go through the metaphors to make sure they’re comfortable with them before asking them to use them in their own invented stories.
Two things need to be said about this sequence. Firstly, when we stray into metaphorical and idiomatic usage of any kind, the language we teach is often specific to a particular variety of English (in this case British English), and so we’ll have to decide how genuinely useful it is for our students to learn, but secondly, and more importantly in the context of approaches to vocab teaching and learning, the whole sequence has involved students in doing much of the study themselves, without having to be told and taught by us - although we’ll, of course, confirm the students’ right choices, and make sure they’re using the words and phrases correctly.
Teaching language functions
In the following explain and practise sequence for elementary students, the teacher engages the students by drawing a pic of a boy and a girl on the board. She mimes the boy’s nervousness.
She indicates the boy likes the girl (she can draw a think bubble coming from his head with a heart in it). She makes students aware the boy speaks first. He says, ‘Would you like to come to the cinema?’
She checks the students understand ‘cinema’ (she draws a pic or mimes watching a big screen, etc). She models ‘Would you like to come to the cinema?’ She isolates ’come to the cinema?’ Maintaining the appropriate intonation.
Students then repeat this phrase in chorus. She then models ‘Would you like to…’ and the students repeat this. Now she joins the two halves of the question together so she models ‘Would you like to come to the cinema?’ and the students repeat it.
This kind of back-chaining - where the teacher builds up phrases from the end - is esp useful for longer questions and sentences.
The teacher then models the answer ‘Yes, please. That would be great’, paying special attn to the use of appropriate stress and intonation. Students repeat the phrase.
Now she cues a student with the word ‘question’ so they ask ‘Would you like to come to the cinema?’. She nominates another student to answer and he says, ‘Yes, please. That would be great’.
After some controlled practice of this kind, the teacher elicits and models the answer ‘I’m afraid I can’t. Sorry’. When the students have repeated it, the teacher conducts a further cue-response session where she indicates whether the students should give a yes or no answer.
Finally, she gets them to sub other words and phrases so they can say things like ‘Would you like to come to dinner?’, ‘Would you like to come to my house?’.
The students practise making these two-line invitation dialogues in pairs. Finally, the teacher listens to some of these pairs, making any last-minute corrections or adjustments.
At higher levels, we can move towards a more discovery-type sequence, and build language activation into the study section of the lesson.
For ex., students can be shown a pic and dialogue with the lines in the wrong order, as in this ex. which is for upper-intermediate students.
🔲 … and on top of it, the vegetables are undercooked
🔲 Excuse me!
🔲 I’m not very happy with my meal.
🔲 I’m sorry, madam …
🔲 I’m sorry to hear that madam. I’ll take it back to the kitchen.
🔲 I’m sorry to hear that, madam. What seems to be the problem?
🔲 Thank you. I would appreciate it.
🔲 Well, to start with the meat is too well done …
🔲 Yes, madam?
Students listen to an audio track to see if they’ve got the order right. They then listen again and work on aspects of stress and intonation in particular phrases.
If appropriate, the teacher can ask them to repeat these phrases in the same way. Working in pairs, they then identify which phrases (a) expressed a complaint, (b) expressed regret and apology, (c) gave details of the complaint, (d) suggested ways of dealing with the complaint and (e) expressed appreciation.
They’re now asked to come up with any other phrases or restaurant complaints they can think of for categories a-e. The teacher can feed in more ex.’s, too.
Finally, in pairs, students make their own dialogues while the teacher goes round the room helping them and offering advice.
The pairs then perform their dialogues for the rest of the class and the teacher and students discuss the good points of the dialogues for the rest of the class and the teacher and students discuss the good points of the dialogues they hear, while at the same time correcting any serious mistakes which have crept in.
Mistakes, slips, errors and attempts
In language study phases such as those described in this CH, students will not always use correct English. They’ll make mistakes, too when writing or speaking more freely (as we shall see in CH’s 8 and 9).
We can divide mistakes into three categories. Slips are mistakes which students can correct themselves, once the mistake has been pointed out to them.
Errors are mistakes which they can’t correct themselves - and which, therefore, need explanation. Attempts are mistakes which students when they try to say something but don’t yet know how to say it.
The way we give feedback and correct such mistakes will be heavily influenced by which type we think the students are making.
There’re many reasons why students may make mistakes, whichever kind of mistakes they are. Perhaps - esp in a study session - they haven’t quite grasped the new info and so continue to make errors.
Perhaps their own language gets in the way due to the way English expresses an idea or uses a grammatical construction is either very different or tantalizingly similar to how it’s done in their first language.
As a result they may make a slip, produce a deeply ingrained error, or rely on their first language when making an attempt.
Japanese students frequently have trouble with article usage, for ex.; Germans have to get used to positioning the verb correctly; Turkish students have to deal with different sentence structure, while Arab students have to deal with a completely different written system.
False friends (words which sound the same but have different meanings) can also cause trouble, esp for speakers of Romance languages which share a common heritage with English.
Another ‘problem’ category is often described as developmental errors. These occur naturally as the students’ language knowledge develops, and are the result of the students making apparently sensible (but mistaken) assumptions about the way language works.
Suppose, for ex., which a student, has learnt to say things like ‘I have to go’, ‘I want to go’ or ‘I would like to go’. This may lead them on to say - with perfectly appropriate logic - things like ‘*I must go’, not realizing the use of ‘to’ isn’t permitted with ‘must’.
Whatever the reason for the students ‘getting it wrong’, it’s vital for the teacher to realize all students make mistakes as a natural part of the process of learning.
By working out when and why things have gone wrong, students learn more about the language they’re studying.
Correcting students
When students are involved in a speaking activity such as a role-play or convo (see CH9), instant and intrusive correction is often not appropriate since it can interfere with the flow of the activity and inhibit students only at the moment when they should be trying hardest to activate their language knowledge, but during study sessions, we’ll probably use correction more as it helps to clarify the language in the students’ minds.
Due to correction involving pointing out people’s mistakes, we have to tread carefully. If we do it in an insensitive way, we can upset our students and dent their confidence.
Moreover, what’s appropriate for one student may be quite wrong for another. In general, the teacher’s job is to point out when something has gone wrong - and see if the students can correct themselves.
Maybe what they said or wrote was only a slip and they’re able to put it right straightaway. Sometimes, however, students can’t put mistakes right on their own (due to they falling into the categories of errors or attempts), so we have to help them.
We can do this by asking if one of their peers (fellow students) can help out, or by explaining the problem ourselves.
If we get other students in the class to help out, we have to make sure the student who made the mistake in the first place isn’t going to be humiliated by this (‘How come they all know the answer? I must be stupid!’).
Sometimes, students prefer correction directly from the teacher. On the other hand, in the right kind of atmosphere students enjoy helping each other - and being helped in return.
The following ex. shows students being corrected during a practise phase in which they’re making sentences using the comparative form of adj’s (comparing trains and planes).
MONICA: Trains are safer planes.
TEACHER: Safer planes? (with surprised questioning intonation)
MONICA: Oh…Trains are safer than planes.
TEACHER: Good, Monica. Now, ‘comfortable’ … Simon?
SIMON: Trains more comfortable. Planes are.
TEACHER: Hmm. Can you help Simon, Bruno?
BRUNO: Er… Trains are more comfortable than planes.
TEACHER: Thank you. Simon?
SIMON: Trains are more comfortable than planes.
TEACHER: That’s right, Simon. Great. What about ‘fast’, Matilde?
MATILDE: Trains faster planes.
TEACHER: Trains are faster?
MATILDE: Trains faster planes? I don’t know.
TEACHER: Ok. Look. Trains go at a hundred miles an hour, planes go at 500 miles an hour, so planes are faster than trains. Yes?
MATILDE: Planes are faster than trains.
TEACHER: Well done, Matilde.
With Monica, all the teacher has to do was point out something was wrong (by echoing what she said with a questioning intonation) and she immediately corrected herself.
Simon wasn’t able to do this, however, so the teacher got Bruno to help him. When Matilde made a mistake, however (and wasn’t able to correct herself), the teacher judged she’d be unhappy to have correction from her peers so she helped her out herself.
When organizing practice, then teachers need to listen out for mistakes, identify the problem and put it right in the most efficient and tactful way.
Before leaving the subj of errors, it’s worth remembering this correction is only one response which teachers can make to student language production.
It’s only as important - perhaps more so - to praise students for their success, as it’s to correct them as they struggle towards accuracy.
Teachers can show through the use of expression, encouraging words and noises (good, well done, fantastic, mmm, etc) which students’re doing really well, but praise shouldn’t be overused due to when it is, it becomes devalued, and therefore meaningless.
Praise is only effective if students know what they’re being praised for - and when they themselves believe it is merited.
CH7 Teaching reading
Reasons for reading Reading sequences
Different kinds of reading More reading suggestions
Reading levels Encouraging students to read extensively
Reading skills
Reading principles
Reasons for reading
There’re many reasons why getting students to read English texts is an important part of the teacher’s job. In the first place, many students want to be able to read texts in English either for their careers, for study purposes or simple for pleasure.
Anything we can do to make it easier for them to do these things must be a good idea. Reading is useful for language acquisition.
Provided students more or less understand what they read, the more they read, the better they get at it. Reading also has a positive effect on students’ vocab knowledge, on their spelling and on their writing.
Reading texts also provide good models for English writing. At different times we can encourage students to focus on vocab, grammar or punctuation.
We can also use reading material to demo the way we construct sentences, paragraphs and whole texts. Students then have good models for their own writing (see CH8).
Lastly, good reading texts can intro interesting topics, stimulate discussion, excite imaginative responses and provide the springboard for well-rounded, fascinating lessons.
Different kinds of reading
We need to make a distinction between extensive and intensive reading. The term extensive reading refers to reading which students do often (but not exclusively) away from the class.
They may read novels, web pages, newspapers, magazines or any other reference material. Where possible, extensive reading should involve reading for pleasure - what Richard Day calls joyful reading.
This is enhanced if students have a chance to choose what they want to read, first they’re encouraged to read by the teacher, and if some opportunity is given for them to share their reading experiences.
Although not all students are equally keen on this kind of reading, we can say with certainty which the ones who read most progress fastest.
The term intensive reading, on the other hand, refers to the detailed focus on the construction of reading texts which takes place usually (but not always) in classes.
Teachers may ask students to look at extracts from magazines, poems, sites, novels, newspapers, plays and a wide range of other text genres (which is, styles or types of text, see below).
The exact choice of genres and topics may be determined by the specific purposes which students are studying for (such as business, science or nursing).
In such cases, we may well want to concentrate on texts within their specialties, but if, as is often the case, they’re a mixed group with differing interests and careers, a more varied diet is appropriate, as the reading sequences in this CH will demo.
Intensive reading is usually accompanied by study activities. We may ask students to work out what kind of text they’re reading, tease out details of meaning, look at particular uses of grammar and vocab, and then use the info in the text to move on to other learning activities.
We’ll also encourage them to reflect on different reading skills.
Reading levels
When we ask students to read, the success of the activity will often depend on the level of the text we’re asking them to work with.
Ideally, we’d like students to read authentic texts - in other words, texts which aren’t written esp for language learners, but which’re intended for any competent user of the language.
However, at lower levels this can often present insuperable problems since the amount of difficult and unknown language may make the texts impenetrable for the students.
A balance has to be struck between real English on the one hand and the students’ capabilities and interests on the other.
There’s some authentic written material which beginner students can understand to some degree: menus, timetables, signs and basic instructions, for ex., and where appropriate, we can use these, but for longer prose, we may want to offer our students texts which’re written or adapted esp for their level.
The important thing, however is such texts are as much like real English as possible. How well the students are able to deal with reading material will depend on whether the texts are designed for intensive or extensive reading.
Where students read with the support of a teacher and other students, they’re usually able to deal with higher-level material than if they’re reading on their own.
If we want them to read for pleasure, therefore, we’ll try to ensure they don’t attempt material which is only too difficult for them - as a result of which they may be put off reading.
This is why lower-level students are encouraged to use simplified or graded readers for extensive reading. The readers are graded so at different levels they use language appropriate for this level - very much like the comprehensible input we mentioned in previous CH.
As a result, the students can take pleasure in reading the books even when there’s no teacher there to help them.
Reading skills
Students, like the rest of us, need to be able to do a number of things with a reading text. They need to be able to scan the text for particular bits of info they’re searching for (as, for ex., when we look for a phone #, what’s on tv at a certain time or search quickly through an article looking for a name or other detail).
This skill means they don’t have to read every word and line; on the contrary, such an approach would stop them scanning successfully.
Students also need to be able to skim a text - as if they’re casting their eyes over its surface - to get a general idea of what it’s about (as, for ex., when we run our eyes over a film review to see what the film is about and what the reviewer thought about it, or when we look quickly at a report to get a feel for the topic and what its conclusions are).
Like with scanning, if students try to gather all the details at this stage, they’ll get bogged down and may not be able to identify the general idea due to they’re concentrating too hard on specifics.
Whether readers scan or skim depends on what kind of text they’re reading and what they want or need to get out of it.
They may scan a computer ‘Help’ window to find the one piece of info they need to get them out of a difficulty, and they may skim a newspaper article to pick up a general idea of what’s been happening in the world.
Reading for detailed comprehension, whether this entails looking for detailed info or picking out particular ex.’s of language use, should be seen by students as something very different from the skills mentioned above.
Many students are perfectly capable of doing all these things in other languages, of course, though some may not read much at all in their daily lives.
For both types of students, we should do our best to offer a mix of materials and activities so they can practise using these various skills with English text.
Reading principles
Principle 1: Encourage students to read as often and as much as possible.
The more students read, the better. Everything we do should encourage them to read extensively as well as - if not more than - intensively. It’s a good idea to discuss this principle with students.
Principle 2: Students need to be engaged with what they’re reading.
Outside normal lesson time, when students are reading extensively, they should be involved in joyful reading - which is, we should try to help them get as much pleasure from it as possible, but during lessons, too, we’ll do our best to ensure they’re engaged with the topic of a reading text and the activities they’re asked to do while dealing with it.
Principle 3: Encourage students to respond to the content of a text (and explore their feelings about it), not only concentrate on its construction.
Of course, it’s important for students to study reading texts in class in order to find out such things as the way they use language, the number of paragraphs they contain and how many times they use relative clauses, but the meaning, the message of the text, is only as important as this.
As a result, we must give students a chance to respond to the message in some way. It’s esp important they should be allowed to show their feelings about the topic - thus provoking personal engagement with it and the language.
With extensive reading this is even more important. Reading for pleasure is - and should be - different from reading for study.
Principle 4: Prediction is a major factor in reading.
When we read texts in our own language, we frequently have a good idea of the content before we actually start reading.
Book covers give us a clue about what’s in the book; photographs and headlines hint at what articles are about; we can identify reports as reports from their appearance before we read a single word.
The moment we get these clues - the book cover, the headline, the web-page banner - our brain starts predicting what we’re going to read.
Expectations are set up and the active process of reading is ready to begin. In class, teachers should give students ‘hints’ so they also have a chance to predict what’s coming.
In the case of extensive reading - when students are choosing what to read for pleasure - we should encourage them to look at covers and back cover copy to help them select what to read and then to help them ‘get into’ a book.
Principle 5: Match the task to the topic when using intensive reading texts.
Once a decision has been taken about what reading text the students are going to read (based on their level, the topic of the text and its linguistic and activation potential), we need to choose good reading tasks - the right kind of questions, appropriate activities before during and after reading, and useful study exploitation, etc.
The most useful and interesting text can be undermined by boring and inappropriate tasks; the most commonplace passage can be made really exciting with imaginative and challenging activities, esp if the level of challenge (ie how easy it is for students to complete a task) is exactly right for the class.
Principle 6: Good teachers exploit reading texts to the full.
Any reading text is full of sentences, words, ideas, descriptions, etc. It doesn’t make sense in class, only to get students to read it and then drop it and move on to something else.
Good teachers integrate the reading text into interesting lesson sequences, using the topic for discussion and further tasks, using the language for study and then activation (or, of course, activation and then study) and using a range of activities to bring the text to life.
Where students have been doing extensive reading, we should use whatever opportunities present themselves to provoke useful feedback.
Reading sequences
In the following three ex.’s, we’re going to look at three different kinds of reading text and several different kinds of reading task.
As with all other skills work, it’ll be seen reading often follow on from - or is followed by - work on other skills, such as speaking and writing.
Ex. 1: sunscreen (pre-intermediate)
In this ex. for pre-intermediate students, the students first look at a pic of people sunbathing and say whether it’s a positive, safe and attractive image - or whether it’s the opposite.
They may discuss how people should protect themselves from the sun. The teacher then asks the students to read the text and identify where they think it comes from. They should do this fairly quickly.
When the class has agreed the text’s from a magazine for teen girls (this is obvious, partly due to the format - photos combined with short texts - and also due to the language:
‘and let’s face it’, ‘gorgeous guys’, ‘babes’, ‘not only really cool’), the teacher asks them to read it again and put skin, hair and eye color in order of least vulnerable to the sun to most vulnerable.
They can do this individually or in pairs. The class can now study some of the language in the text - including ‘SPF’, physical descriptions (’freckles’, ‘fair hair’, ‘dark-skinned’, etc) - and the teen language mentioned above.
POLLY GRIFFITHS GOES DOWN ROGER MIKE
TO THE SEA FOR ADVICE ON
HOW TO LOOK GOOD AND STAY I’m the type who always burns. Yeah I tan easily. People like
SAFE It’s because I’m fair-skinned - me who are dark-skinned
- and I’ve got red hair and (with dark hair and brown
So you think you’re too pale and freckles. Which’s why I’m so eyes) aren’t only really cool
want to get a good suntan this good-looking! But I still burn but we go even browner in
summer? Why not? Except unless I use a really high SPF the sun. I still use sunscreen
unless you’re careful the sun can (sun protection factor) - about though, something light with
make your skin old and leathery 20 in strong sun. an SPF of about 6…
and can even give you skin cancer.
MELINDA ALICE
If you must sunbathe (and let’s face it,
lots of us think it’s a good idea), then I have to be careful ‘cause I’m Me, I’ve got built-in
have a look at these gorgeous guys and the type who burns easily. But protection! I don’t burn, but I
babes I found on the beach and see which I do tan in the end. If you’ve got don’t sunbathe anyway. I
of them is like you. fair hair and blue eyes like me mean what for? I like
you’d better use quite a strong messing around on the
sunscreen (an SPF of 15 to start beach though.
with)…
SO THE MESSAGE IS: CHECK OUT WHAT KIND OF SKIN YOU’VE GOT AND THEN BE SAFE AND SENSIBLE - AND HAVE A GOOD TIME! SEE YOU AT THE POOLSIDE BAR!
There’re any number of activation possibilities with this text: students can write descriptions of themselves for the same page in the magazine. They can decide which of the four people they’d most like to meet and why.
They can role-play an interview with the characters in the article (see below), or they can prepare a short talk on how people should protect themselves against the sun, depending on skin type.
Many magazines have articles like this which we can bring into class. However, we’ll need to make sure the language isn’t too complex for our students’ levels, and we’ll need to think carefully about the kinds of tasks we ask students to do with them.
Ex. 2: campaigns (intermediate)
The following reading sequence is designed for teen students. After doing comprehension work on the reading text, students are involved in a role-play which follows on from the reading they’ve done.
The sequence starts when students are asked to look quickly at the reading text and say where they think it comes from and what - at a first glance - they think it’s likely to be about.
They may do this in pairs, or in response to the teacher’s prompting. This ‘first glance’ should both engage students and also allow them to start predicting what they’re going to read.
The teacher listens to their predictions but doesn’t confirm or deny them at this stage.
cardifftimesonline.com
Youth Centre wins campaign
The popular Grove Youth Centre, which is used by hundreds of young people, will be staying open. At the last minute, the Council changed its mind. They agreed to share the funding with local businesses and charities.
Last December, the Council made the decision to close the centre because there wasn’t enough money to keep it open. But Whitfield School A-level student Johnny Chester didn’t agree. ‘I was really angry when I heard about the decision to close the centre,’ he told Cardiff Times Online yesterday. ‘Loads of people use the centre. It’s safe and it doesn’t cost anything to come here.’
Johnny started the Save the Grove campaign in January with a petition which now has over 5,000 signatures. He did interviews on local radio stations and wrote to politicians and businesses.
Mr Godfrey, a teacher at Whitfield School who has been helping with the campaign said, ‘Johnny decided to do something. He fought tooth and nail, and he has persuaded the Council to think twice. It will make a real difference to the lives of young people in this area. It’s a great achievement.’
We asked Johnny for his reaction. ‘Great news! Unbelievable! Lots of people have been involved in this campaign,’ he explained. ‘I’m just happy we have won and the centre is going to survive. Young people like me will be using The Grove for many more years.’
Students are now asked to read the text fairly quickly in order to answer the following questions:
1 What’s the important news?
2 Why did the council change its mind?
Once again, they can discuss their answers to these questions in pairs before the teacher solicits answers from the whole class.
The teacher can now ask students for their reactions to the story before getting them to do some study work. First of all, they’re asked to match words (from the text) and meanings:
1 at the last moment a fight as hard as you can
2 funding b at the end of a period of time
3 fight tooth and nail c continue to exist
4 to persuade d your thoughts about an event
5 achievement e work out your opinion again
6 reaction f money for an event or place
7 survive g to help someone decide to do something
8 think twice h a difficult thing that you do successfully
When they’ve worked through this exercise successfully (and as a result cleared up doubts about the meaning of certain words), students are asked to read the text in detail again in order to correct sentences such as ‘Most young people aren’t interested in the youth centre’, ‘The council is going to pay all the money for The Grove’, and ‘Johnny ran the campaign alone’.
Finally, students are involved in an activation role-play (see below). They’re told to work in groups of five in order to have a radio discussion.
They’re told the council wants to close their school and open a new shopping centre. One student in each group is the radio presenter, two represent the council and two represent the school.
Each student is given a role-card. For ex., the presenter is told: ‘Prepare your ideas with presenters from other groups. Plan what to say and how to control the discussion’.
The presenter is also given some appropriate language such as ‘Good evening and welcome to …’, ‘I’d like to intro…’, etc. The council representatives are told:
‘Plan your ideas. Practise expressing your ideas and opinions politelly’, and they’re given some language to help them do this.
The school reps are told to think about why they want to keep the school open (and are given some useful language such as ‘Our school is special because …’).
The groups now have their ‘radio discussion’. While they’re doing this, the teacher can go round helping out with any difficulties. The groups can then report back on what they discussed.
This sequence will appeal to teen students due to the topic and the fact which it’s presented as a web page. The sequence demos very clearly how work on one skill can lead naturally to work on another.
Ex. 3: webquest (intermediate to advanced)
The previous activity asked students to read a text (from a book) which pretended to be a snapshot of a web page.
However, a lot of reading activities can use the internet itself (where both teacher and students have easy access to it). One type of activity using the Internet is a webquest.
In a webquest, students visit various sites (pre-determined by the teacher) in order to find info to use in a class project, and because we’ve determined (in advance) the sites the students are going to visit, we can be confidence they’ll not spend endless hours in fruitless searching of open internet.
The quest is, as its name suggests, a search for info. Webquests normally have four basic stages: the intro stage (where the overall theme of the webquest is presented with appropriate background info. Sometimes key vocab is offered at this stage), the task section (in which the task is explained, and the students are engaged with it), the process stage (in which students are given web links to click on to get the info they need), and the eval stage (where students and teachers evaluate what they’ve learnt - and perhaps do some study work on language they’ve encountered and used during the quest).
It can be seen, therefore, much of the webquest procedure is concerned with activation. However, both at the intro stage and the eval stage there may be many opportunities for language study.
In this webquest sequence about UFOs (unidentified flying objects), designed by JoAnn Miller, the process stage includes not only the quest itself, but also a role-play discussion based on what students have found.
The students are first given the intro to the quest.
That’s a Possibility: UFOs
An Internet WebQuest on UFO’s
created by JoAnn Miller
Universidad del Valle de Mexico
Intro The Task The Process & Resources Conclusion Dictionary.com
Introduction
Picture this: you and a team of learners are presented with the task of organizing a debate about whether UFOs exist or not. But instead of looking for a group of outside experts, you are each going to become an expert. Each of you will develop a different point of view.
Based upon what each of you learned, you will organize a class debate: What’s the truth? That will be for you to discover.
But be careful when you use the internet for research because many people post their personal opinions or only know a little bit of the whole story. In the following WebQuest, you will use the power of teamwork and the abundance resources on the internet to learn all about UFOs. Each person on your team will learn one piece of the puzzle and then you will come together to get a better understanding of the topic.
When they’re clear about the info given here, they’re told the quest is to find out (a) if UFOs really exist, (b) whether people have really been abducted by extraterrestrials and (c) whether there’s life on other planets.
For the task, students will be divided into groups, and each group will prepare a different aspect of the debate. The students are told due to the web pages they’ll be visiting are real, and not designed only for schools, they may find the reading level challenging.
They’re reassured they’re free to use an online dic or any paper dic which is available in the class. Students now begin their quest with background web links for everyone:
All the students have to do is click on the links, and they will be taken to the relevant site.
Phase 1 - Background: Something for Everyone
Use the Internet info linked below to answer the basic questions about what UFOs are.
1 Where have they been see?
2 Have people really been kidnapped?
3 What happened at Roswell?
Be creative in exploring the info so you answer these questions as fully and insightfully as you can
• Unnatural Museum-Hall of UFO Mysteries
• Kidnapped by UFOs?
• Roswell Declassified
Now, students divide into groups of (i) believers in UFOs, (ii) scientists who don’t believe in UFOs, (iii) members of the SETI (search for extraterrestrial intelligence) project and (iv) people who’ve been abducted by aliens.
Each group is provided with web links like the ones above, and has to answer certain questions. For ex., the alien abductees have the following tasks:
1 Read some of the abduction stories and pretend you have been abducted. Be sure to know exactly what happened to you.
2 What is the Abductee questionnaire?
3 What is PEER?
4 What do the scientists from PEER think about abductions?
When the students have visited their sites, collected their opinions (and downloaded any images they may need), the groups then debate the original questions (a-c above), using the arguments they found in their own quests.
Finally, in the eval phase, the whole class tries to come up with a statement about UFOs which they can agree with, and JoAnn Miller suggests they post their opinions on a site which discusses the topic (this provides real-world interaction which should be highly motivating).
The UFO webquest obviously depends on the class having easy and instant access to computers. It also requires a certain level of English from the students.
Furthermore, it takes a long time to complete (quite apart from whatever prep time the webquest designer has to put into it), but if time is available, this kind of reading - with the teacher on hand to help if things are esp difficult for the students - is highly motivating and yields great results.
More reading suggestions
Jigsaw reading: students read a short text which sets up a problem and then, in three groups, they read three different texts, all of which are about the same thing (different aspects of behaviors such as anger, or different reports on a problem, or different parts of a story or strange event).
When they’ve read their texts, they come together in groups where each student has read a different text, and they try to work out the whole story, or describe the whole situation.
JoAnn Miller’s UFO webquest employs jigsaw reading on a large scale, but it’s still a highly motivating technique, despite - or perhaps due to - the time it takes.
Above all, this kind of jigsaw technique gives students a reason for reading - and then sharing what they have found out.
Reading puzzles: apart from jigsaw reading, there’re many other kinds of puzzle which involve students in motivating reading tasks.
For ex., we can give them texts which have been chopped up so each paragraph is on a different piece of paper. Students have to reassemble the text (see poetry below).
We can give students a series of emails between two people which’re out of sequence. The students have to work out the order of the emails. We can mix up two stories and students have to prise them apart.
Using newspapers: there’s almost no limit to the kinds of activity which can be done with newspapers (or their online equivalents).
We can do all kinds of matching exercises, such as ones where students have to match articles with their headlines or with relevant pics.
At higher levels, we can have students read three accounts of the same incident and ask them to find the differences between them.
We can use newspaper articles as a stimulus for speaking or writing (students can write letters in reply to what they read).
We can ask students to read small ads (adverts) for holidays, partners, things for sale, etc, in order to make a choice about which holiday, person or thing they’d choose.
Later, they can use their choices to role-play descriptions, contact the service providers or say what happened when they made their choice.
We can get students to read the letters page from a newspaper and try to imagine what the writers look like, and what kinds of lives they have. They can reply to the letters.
Following instructions: students read instructions for a simple operation (using a public phonebox, etc) and have to put the instructions in the correct order.
They may also match instructions about, for ex., unpacking a printer or inserting a new ink cartridge with the little pics normally accompany such instructions in manuals.
We can also get students to read instructions in order to follow them. Recipes are a particular kind of instruction genre, but can be used in much the same way as the ex.’s above - eg. students read a recipe and match the instructions with pics.
We can then get them to cook the food!
Poetry: in groups, students are each given a line from a poem. They can’t show the line to the other members of the group, though they can read it out loud. They have to reassemble the poem by putting the lines in order.
A poem Harmer has used like this with some success - at upper-intermediate levels - is ‘Fire and Ice’ by Robert Frost:
Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice
I think I know enough of hate
To know that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.
We can get students to read different poems and then, without actually showing their poem to anyone else, they’ve to go round the class finding similarities and differences between their poem and other people’s.
Another way of using poems with the whole class is to show the students a poem line by line (on an overhead projector or a computer screen) with words blanked out.
The first time they see these blanks, they’ve to make a wild guess at what the words could be. When they see the lines for the second time, the first letter is included.
When they see the poem for the third time, the first two letters are included, and so on. This is a great activity for getting students to really search in their minds for contextualised lexis.
Play extracts: students read an extract from a play or film and, after ensuring they understand it and analyzing its construction, they have to work on acting it out.
This means thinking about how lines are said, concentrating on stress, intonation, speed, etc. We can use many different text genres for this kind of activity since reading aloud - a speaking skill - is only successful wen students have really studied a text, worked out what it means, and thought about how to make sense of it when it’s spoken.
Predicting from words and pics: students are given a number of words from a text. Working in groups, they have to predict what kind of a text they’re going to read - or what story the text tells.
They then read the text to see if their original predictions were correct. We don’t have to give them individual words, of course. We can give them whole phrases and get them to try to make a story using them.
For ex., the phrases ‘knock on the door’, ‘Go away!’, ‘They find a man the next morning’, ‘He is dead’, ‘James is in the lighthouse’ will help students to predict (perhaps wrongly, of course!) some kind of story about a lighthouse keeper, some sort of threat and a dead person. (They then read a ghost story with these phrases in it.)
We can also give students pics to predict from, or slightly bigger fragments from the text.
Different responses: there’re many things students can do with a reading text apart from answering comprehension questions with sentences, saying whether something is true or false or finding particular words in the text.
For ex., when a text is full of facts and figures, we can get students to put the info into graphs, tables or diagrams. We can also ask them to describe the people in the text (where no physical description is given).
This will encourage them to visualize what they’re reading. We can let students read stories, but leave off the ending for them to guess.
Alternatively, they can read stories in stages, stopping every now and then to predict what will happen next. At higher levels, we can get students to infer the writer’s attitude from a text.
We can also get the students involved in genre analysis - where they look at the construction of a number of different ex.’s of say, magazine adverts in order to work out how they’re typically constructed.
Encouraging students to read extensively
If, as we said at the start of this CH, we want students to read extensively, using simplified readers at pre-advanced levels, then we need to have systems in place to help them do this.
There’re four factors which contribute to the success of this kind of extensive reading:
Library
Students need to have access to a collection readers, both at their own level and above and below it. Sometimes the library will be in a fixed place in a school, but we can also carry collections of books around to different classes.
The library should’ve a range of different genres (factual, novels, adaptations of films, etc).
Choice
A major aspect of joyful reading (see above) is students should be able to choose what they read - both in terms of genre but also, crucially, level.
They’re much more likely to read with enthusiasm if they’ve made the decision about what about what they read.
Feedback
Students should’ve an opportunity to give feedback on what they’ve read, either verbally or in written form. This doesn’t mean formal reports, however, since this may take the pleasure away from reading.
Instead, there may be a quick comment form on the inside cover of a book, or a folder with different forms for different titles. Students can then record their reactions to a book they’ve read.
Other students looking for a new book to read can use those comments to help them make their choice.
Time
We need to give students time for reading in addition to those occasions when they read on their own. It’s a good idea to leave a ten-minute reading period at various times during a course only to get students comfortable with the activity.
t’s vitally important when we do this, we should be reading ourselves in order to underline the attractiveness of the activity. Not all students become active readers.
While some are highly motivated and consume books avidly, others don’t have the same appetite. We can’t force students to read, of course, but we should do everything we can to encourage them to do so.
CH8 Teaching writing
Reasons for teaching writing More writing suggestions
Writing issues Correcting written work
Writing sequences Handwriting
Reasons for teaching writing
There’re many reasons for getting students to write, both in and outside class. Firstly, writing gives them more ‘thinking time’ than they get when they attempt spontaneous convo.
This allows them more opportunity for language processing - which’s thinking about the language - whether they’re involved in study or activation.
When thinking about writing, it’s helpful to make a distinction between writing-for-learning and writing-for-writing.
In the case of the former, writing is used as an aide-memoire or practice tool to help students practise and work with language they’ve been studying.
We may, for ex., ask a class to write five sentences using a given structure, or using five of the new words or phrases they’ve been learning. Writing activities like this are designed to give reinforcements to students.
This is particularly useful for those who need a mix of visual and kinesthetic activity (see above). Another kind of writing-for-learning occurs when we have students write sentences in prep for some other activity.
Here, writing is an enabling activity. Writing-for-writing, on the other hand, is directed at developing the student’s skills as writers.
In other words, the main purpose for activities of this type is so students should become better at writing, whatever kind of writing it may be.
There’re good ‘real-life’ reasons for getting students to write such things as emails, letters and reports, and whereas in writing-for-learning activities it’s usually the language itself which’s the main focus of attn, in writing-for-writing we look at the whole text.
This will include not only appropriate language use, but also text construction, layout, style and effectiveness. It’s clear the way we organize our students’ writing - and the way we offer advice and correction - will be different, depending on what kind of writing they’re involved in.
Writing issues
The kind of writing we ask students to do (and the way we ask them to do it) will depend, as most other things do, on their age, level, learning styles and interests.
We won’t get beginners to try to put together a complex narrative composition in English; we probably won’t ask a class of advanced business students to write a poem about their mothers (unless we’ve specific reasons for doing this).
In order to help students write successfully and enthusiastically in different styles, we need to consider three separate issues:
Genre
One of our decisions about what to get students to write will depend on what genres we think they need to write in (or which will be useful to them).
A genre’s a type of writing which members of a discourse community would instantly recognize for what it was.
Thus, we recognize a small ad in a newspaper the moment we see it due to, being members of a particular group, or community, we’ve seen many such texts before and are familiar with the way they’re constructed.
We know what a poem looks like, a theatre listing or the function and appearance of the cover copy on the back of a book.
One of the decisions we’ll need to make, therefore, is which genres are important and/or engaging for our students.
Once we’ve done this, we can show them ex.’s of texts within a genre (for ex., a variety of different kinds of written invitations) so they get a feel for the conventions of this genre.
Such genre analysis will help students see how typical texts within a genre are constructed, and this knowledge will help them construct appropriate texts of their own.
At lower levels, we may give them clear models to follow, and they’ll write something which looks very much like the original.
Such guided writing will help students produce appropriate texts even with fairly limited English. However, as their language level improves, we need to make sure their writing begins to express their own creativity within a genre, rather than merely imitating it.
The writing process
When students are writing-for-writing, we’ll want to involve them in the process of writing. In the ‘real world’, this typically involves planning what we’re going to write, drafting it, reviewing and editing what we’ve written and then producing a final (and satisfactory) version.
Many people have thought this is a linear process, but a closer examination of how writers of all different kinds are involved in the writing process suggests we do all of these things again and again, sometimes in a chaotic order.
Thus we may plan, draft, re-plan, draft, edit, re-plan, etc before we produce our final version. We will need to encourage students to plan, draft and edit in this way, even though this may be time-consuming and may meet, initially, with some resistance on their part.
By doing so, we’ll help them to be better writers both in exams, for ex., and in their post-class English lives.
Building the writing habit
One other issue, which we can refer to as building the writing habit, deserves mention here. Many students either think or say they can’t, or don’t want to write.
This may be due to they lack confidence, think it’s boring or believe they have nothing to say. We need to engage them, from early levels, with activities which’re easy and enjoyable to take part in, so writing activities not only become a normal part of class life but also present opportunities for students to achieve almost instant success.
It’s when students have acquired this writing habit they’re able to look at written genres and involve themselves in the writing process with enthusiasm.
Writing sequences
The three ex.’s of writing we’re going to look at show a range of level and complexity. As with almost all the skills sequences in CHs7-10, it’ll be seen work on one skill (in this case writing) is often preceded by - or leads on to - work in another (eg. speaking or reading).
Ex. 1: postcards (pre-intermediate/intermediate)
This guided writing sequence shows how students at a fairly early level can be helped to write within a certain genre so they do the final writing task, they’ve everything they need to do it successfully.
Students are told when we write postcards, we often leave out a lot of words to save space (eg. ‘We’re having a great time’,’The food is wonderful’).
They then read the following postcard and decide where the words in the box should go:
The there are my is We’re We’re We’ll be The is We
Dear Pete and Sarah,
We’re
⎸
having a great time here in the Big Apple.
Weather brilliant - hot and sunny. Spent
most of today shopping - fantastic
department stores here: credit card’s not Mr and Mrs Hall,
looking too healthy! Hoping to do some 3 Park Grove,
sightseeing tomorrow - Fifth Avenue, Times Leicester,
Square, etc. Nightlife also incredible … nobody England.
seems to go to bed!
Back in a couple of weeks,
love Sue and Joe
XXXX
The students now look at another postcard, but this time they have to circle the words which can be left out.
b Read the postcard from Rome and circle the words which can be left out.
Dear Sam and Julie,
We arrived here a couple days ago - the hotel is small but comfortable, but the food is not great. We’re going on a tour of the whole city tomorrow, then we’re planning to try some typical pasta dishes for dinner. We hope your family are all well, we’ll see you in September.
Love Mark and Tim
Sam and Julie Foster,
School Cottage,
Broadwood,
Gloucester,
England.
Finally, students imagine they’re on holiday themselves. They can discuss their holiday in pairs or small groups, deciding where they’ll send the postcard from and what they want to say.
We’ll ask them to pay special attn to the kinds of words they can leave out. We could also get them to look at how postcards are structured.
For ex.: description of where the writer is; activities the write is involved in; exhortation to the reader (‘Hope you are well/Get well soon’, etc); sign off (‘Wish you were here, Love P’).
We can then get them to write something similar. At beginner levels, some teachers give students ‘postcard phrases’ for them to arrange into a postcard.
Ex. 2: email interview (pre-intermediate upwards)
Many magazines and color supplements contain short celebrity interviews in which people answer a series of inconsequential questions designed to be revealing, amusing and entertaining in equal measure.
The genre is a highly effective way of getting students to write communicatively. The excerpt from an interview with Neil Gaiman (a cartoonist and graphic novelist) below is a typical ex. of this kind of writing.
To use this writing genre in class, we’ll first show students an ex. (real or invented) of this kind of interview and discuss how it’s put together (a whole variety of questions are emailed to the interviewee, who can answer as many of them as they want).
We can elicit a whole range of possible questions from students and write them up on the board - and as we do so, modify them so they emerge in good appropriate English.
Students now work in pairs or groups choosing the questions they want to use and adding their own. We’ll stress which these questions should be sufficiently general to be answered by anybody (eg. ‘When and where were you happiest?’).
While students are working on these questions, we’ll go round the class suggestions modifications, if appropriate.
Students now write a fair copy of their questions and send them to one of the other students in the class. They can do this on pieces of paper, perhaps designed to look like email screens, or if they have email access, they can send real emails.
Neil Gaiman was born in Hampshire in 1960. He was a journalist before becoming a graphic novelist, and his breakthrough came with The Sandman, a hugely successful cartoon strip. In 2001, he produced the bestselling adult novel American Gods. He recently published a new adult novel, Anansi Boys. His children’s book, The Wolves In The Walls, has been adapted for the stage and is on tour until May 20. He is married, has three children and lives in Minneapolis.
What is your idea of perfect happiness?
Reading under a tree on a summer’s day.
What is your greatest fear?
Something dreadful but unspecified happening to my children.
What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
I’m utterly disorganized and I wish I wasn’t.
What makes you depressed?
Not writing. I get moody and roody and irritable if I’m not making stuff up.
What has been your most embarrassing moment?
School - it was a long moment, but an embarrassing one.
What is your greatest extravagance?
Buying books I’ll never read, in the vague hope if I’m stranded on a desert island I’ll have remembered to pack a trunk with unread books.
What is your most treasured possession?
My iPod - the idea of it, having all my music when I need it, rather than the rather battered object.
What is your favorite smell?
November evenings: the frost and leaf-mould and woodsmoke. The smell of coming winter.
What is your favorite book?
A huge leather-bound, 150-year-old accounts book, with 500 numbered pages, all blank. I keep promising myself I’ll write a story in it one day.
What is your fancy dress costume of choice?
Pirate.
What is your guiltiest pleasure?
Wasting time.
What is your greatest regret?
I wish I’d enjoyed the journey more, rather than worried about it.
What single thing would improve the quality of your life?
Time. Ten-day weeks, six-week months, 20-months years. Things like that.
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
My children.
What keeps you awake at night?
Silence.
Rosanna Greenstreet
The interviewees now answer as many questions as they want to. Once again we can go round the room helping them with any difficulties they may have.
They then ‘send’ the replies back to the questioners, whose job is to write up the interviews appropriately. We can vary the activity by asking the questioners to turn the questions and answers in question less prose.
For ex., the first two utterances in the ex. above may be written as:
My idea of perfect happiness is reading under a tree on a summer’s day.
My greatest fear is of something dreadful but unspecified happening to my children.
This kind of writing activity is a typical boomerang lesson sequence (see above) since once students are engaged, they have to activate their language knowledge before it, at various stages, they modify what has been said or what they’ve written, and in so doing find themselves studying the construction of their texts.
There’s no reason why the interviewees should be the students’ classmates; if they can find other people to interview in this way, so much the better.
Ex. 3: writing a report (upper intermediate)
The following report-writing sequence is detailed, and will take some time. As the sequence progresses, students analyze the report genre, look at some language points, gather info, draft their report, check it and produce a final version (thus immersing themselves not only in the writing product, but in the process of writing).
When they’ve listened to an interview about the position of women around the world, students are asked to read a report and match sections A-D in it with the following headings:
Positive comments
Conclusion and reccs
Negative facts
Aim of the report
Subject: Business Opportunities for Women in the UK and the USA.
A This report aims to assess the opportunities for women in top jobs in the world of business. It will examine statistics from the UK and the USA.
B In many ways, the present situation is not very positive for women in the workplace.
a) The number of women directors with companies in the UK has fallen since 1999, and fewer than 3% of directors in public companies are female.
(1) _______, if you are a woman and want to get on, it helps to have a title.
(2) ________ a recent survey, about one-third of female directors are women with titles such as lady, professor or doctor.
b) Many women feel let down by the world of big business. They believe their work is not regarded as valuable as the work of male colleagues.
(3)________, they perceive they need to work harder than men in the same job to get a top position in a company. (4) __________, women with young children often feel unsupported by company policies.
For ex., a lot of companies are inflexible and make no allowance for the responsibilities of mothers (or fathers).
c) The Internet, with a few notable exceptions, is still a male-dominated world. (5) ________, only 8% of computer engineers are women. The statistics are more encouraging for computer analysts and programmers, where 20% are female. (6) _________, another est puts women working in info tech at 24% - much lower than the figures in 1994.
C (7) __________, the future is not all gloomy.
a) More women are beginning to use e-mail and new tech to develop their own businesses from home.
(8) _________ they can avoid the discrimination of a traditional workplace and the big companies’ lack of flexibility. (9) ________, they can balance work and family responsibilities.
b) In the USA, 70% of new jobs are being set up in the small business sector where women predominate.
D (10) ________, there’re some positive devs,
(11) _______ the world of business is still dominated by men. Governments should encourage more girls in the education system to follow courses in business or computer studies. (12) _________, companies need to be more flexible with working timetables for women with family responsibilities.
Students then complete the report with the linking words ‘according to’, ‘also’, ‘although’, ‘as a result’, ‘for ex.’, ‘furthermore’, ‘however’, ‘in addition’, ‘moreover’, ‘on the other hand’, ‘in this way’ and ‘to sum up’.
They then move on to do some work on using synonyms. Now students have been prepared they write a report in six stages:
Stage 1: students are asked to choose one from a list of topics such as the benefits/dangers of mass tourism, whether banning things ever works (such as gangster rap lyrics, etc), answers to world poverty, freedom to choose (eg. smoking, gun ownership, etc) or whether parents should be liable for the actions of their children. Alternatively, they can choose a topic of their own.
Stage 2: students are asked to gather info from a variety of sources including - in the case of the ex. above - the module of the coursebook the text occurs in, a library, the internet (the teacher can give students lists of sites - rather as happened in the webquest above), Cd encyclopedia, magazine articles, tv and radio programmes, and anyone they’d like to interview.
Stage 3: students plan their reports. They should decide what to include, what order to put it in (after looking back at the report they studied) and what their conclusions will be.
Stage 4: students write a draft of their report.
Stage 5: students check through the report in order to decide how effective it is and correct any language mistakes.
Stage 6: students write their final report (they may have repeated stages 4 and 5 more than once).
During stages 4 and 5, it’s important for the teacher to be on hand to suggest changes, question parts of the report and be a useful resource for students so they can improve their writing as they continue.
When the reports are finished, the teacher can collect them for correction, or they can be assembled on a class noticeboard or put up on a class site.
More writing suggestions
Instant writing: one way of building the writing habit (see above) is to use instant writing activities as often as possible with both children/teens and adults who are reluctant writers.
Instant writing activities are those where students are asked to write immediately in response to a teacher request.
We can, for ex., dictate half sentences for students to complete (eg. ‘My favorite relative is…’ or ‘I will never forget the time I…’). We can ask students to write two sentences about a topic ‘right now’.
We can give them three words and tell them to put them into a sentence as quickly as possible. Instant writing is designed both to make students comfortable when writing, and also to give them thinking time before they say the sentences they’ve written aloud.
Using music and pics: music and pics are excellent stimuli for both writing and speaking. For ex., we can play a piece of music and the students have to imagine and then write out the film scene they think it could accompany (this can be done after they’ve looked at a film script model).
We can dictate the first sentence of a story and then have the students complete the story, based on the music we play them.
We can then dictate the first sentence again and have them write a different story (due to the music they hear is very different).
They can then read out one of their stories and the class has to guess which music excerpt inspired it. Pics offer a wealth of possibilities.
We can ask students to write descriptions of one of a group of pics; their classmates then have to guess which one it is. They can write postcards based on pics we give them.
We can get them to look at portraits and write the inner thoughts of the characters or their diaries, or an article about them. All of these activities are designed to get students writing freely, in an engaging way.
Newspapers and magazines: the different kinds of text found in newspapers and magazines offer a range of possibilities for genre analysis (see above), followed by writing within the genre.
For ex., we can get students to look at a range of different articles and ask them to analyze how headlines are constructed, and how articles are normally arranged (eg. the first paragraph often - but not always - offers a summary of the whole article).
They then write an article about a real or imaginary news story which interests them. At advanced levels, we can get students to look at the same story dealt with by different kinds of publication and ask them to write specifically for one or the other.
We can do the same kind of genre analysis in newspaper and magazine adverts. ‘Lonely hearts’ entries, for ex., always conform to a genre frame.
Our students can learn a lot from analyzing the genre and being able to imitate it. In the same vein, agony column letters (where people write in to ask for help with a problem) offer engaging writing practice.
Finally, we can show students a story and have them respond to it in a variety of different genres, and for different audiences (eg. the report of a long traffic delay can prompt letters to the newspaper, emails, text messages, letters of apology, etc).
Brochures and guides: we can get students to look at a variety of brochures (eg. For a town, entertainment venue, health club or leisure complex) to analyze how they’re put together.
They can then write their own brochure or town guide, using this analysis to help them. Younger learners may enjoy writing brochures and guides for their areas which give completely wrong info (eg. ‘Sending postcards home: Look for the bins marked “Rubbish” or “Litter” and your postcards will be delivered next day; Traveling by bus: The buses in London are similar taxis. Tell the driver where you want to go and they’ll drive you home!’).
This is potentially only as engaging for children and teens as writing serious pieces of work.
Poetry: many teachers like getting students to write poems due to it allowing them to express themselves in a way which other genres, perhaps, don’t, but we’ll have to give students models to help them write (to start with, anyway), since many of them will be unused to this kind of writing.
We can ask them to write acrostic poems (where the letters which start each line, when read downwards, form a word which is the topic of the poem).
They can write a poetry alphabet (a line for each letter), or we can give them sentence frames to write with ‘I like… because…’ x 3, and then ‘But I hate…’.
We can get them to write lines about someone they like with instructions such as ‘Write about this person as if they’re a kind of weather’. We can give them models of real poems which they have to imitate.
Poetry writing is esp appropriate for younger learners who’re usually not afraid to have a go in the ways suggested above; but it’s appropriate for older learners, too, since it allows them to be more creative than is permitted in some other activities.
Collaborative writing: students gain a lot from constructing texts together. For ex., we can have them build up a letter on the board, where each line is written by a different student (with help from the class, the group and/or the teacher).
We can tell a story which students then have to try to reproduce in groups (a version of this activity goes by the name dictogloss, where, when students have tried to recreate what they’ve heard, they compare their versions with the original as a way of increasing their language awareness).
We can set up a story circle in which each student in the group has a piece of paper on which they write the first line of a story (which we dictate to them). They then have to write the next sentence.
After this, they pass their papers to the person next to them, and they write the next sentence of the story they now have in front of them.
They then pass the paper to the next student and again write the next sentence of the (new) story they have. Finally, when the papers get back to their original owners, those students write the conclusion.
Students can also engage in collaborative writing around a computer screen.
Writing to each other: the email interview (see above) is an ex. of getting students to write to each other. They can also write emails, or any other kind of message (the teacher can act as a postal worker) which has to be answered.
They can be involved, under our supervision, in live chat sessions on the internet, or we can organize pen pal exchanges with students in other countries (often called mousepads or keypals when done via the internet).
Writing in other genres: there’re countless different genres which students can write in apart from those mentioned so far. We can have students write personal narratives and other stories.
We can prepare them for this by looking at the way other writers do it. We can analyse first lines of novels and then have students write their own attn-grabbing lines.
We can get students to complete stories to think together before they attempt the task - brainstorming ideas - will be a major factor in their success.
Students can write discursive essays in which they assemble arguments both for and against a proposition, work out a coherent order for their arguments, study various models for such an essay & then write their own.
The procedures we follow may be similar to the spoken discussion ideas outlined below. All these ideas depend for their success on students having a chance to share ideas, look at ex.’s of the genre, plan their writing and then draft and edit it.
Correcting written work
Most students find it very dispiriting if they get a piece of written work back and it’s covered in red ink, underlinings and crossings-out. It’s a powerful visual statement of the fact their written English is terrible.
Of course, some pieces of written work are completely full of mistakes, but even in these cases, over-correction can have a very demotivating effect.
Rather than this, the teacher has to achieve a balance between being accurate and truthful, on the one hand, and treating students sensitively and sympathetically, on the other.
One way of avoiding the ‘over-correction’ problem is for teachers to tell their students which for a particular piece of work they’re only going to correct mistakes of punctuation, or only spelling or only grammar, etc.
This has two advantages: it makes students concentrate on particular aspect, and it cuts down on the correction.
Another technique which many teachers use is to agree on a list of written symbols (S = spelling, WO = word order, etc). When they come across a mistake, they underline it discreetly and write the symbol in the margin.
This makes correction look less damaging. Where students write with electronic media, teachers can use editing tools such as Track Changes.
These make it easier for students to write correct versions of their originals. However, such applications should be used carefully since they, too, can be very discouraging.
The way we react to students’ writing will depend on what kind of writing it is. When students hand us final pieces of work, we may correct it using techniques such as the ones above.
However, while students are actually involved in the writing process, correction will not help them learn to edit their own work, whereas responding (telling students what you think, teasing out alternatives and making suggestions) will, but whatever kind of writing students have been doing, we need to react not only to the form of what they’ve written, but also to the content (what they’ve written about).
We also need to make sure students don’t only put corrected work into their folders without fully understanding why we’ve reacted as we have, and without doing their best to put things right.
Handwriting
Now so much writing is done with electronic media, it may seem perverse to worry about handwriting. Nevertheless, many people around the world still write with pens and pencils, and so we’ll need to help any students who’ve problems of legibility.
Many nationalities don’t use the same kind of script as English, so for students from those cultures, writing in English is doubly difficult:
they’re fighting to express themselves at the same time as trying (when they’re not using a computer keyboard) to work out a completely new writing system.
Teachers can’t ask students to change their handwriting style, but they can encourage neatness and legibility. Esp when students are intending to take pen-and-paper exams, such things are crucial.
Special classes or group sessions may have to be arranged to help students who’re having problems with English script.
They can be shown ex.’s of certain letters, and the teacher can demo the strokes necessary for making those shapes.
They may also need to be shown where to start the first stroke of a letter as writing from left to right is difficult for some students.
They can be asked to write in the air to give them confidence or to trace letters on lined paper which demos the position and height of letters, before going on to imitate them, eg. (Ex. Provided was generated online at: http://handwritingworksheets.com).
CH9 Teaching speaking
Reasons for teaching speaking More speaking suggestions
Speaking sequences Correcting speakers
Discussion What teachers do during a speaking activity
Reasons for teaching speaking
There’re three main reasons for getting students to speak in the class. Firstly, speaking activities provide rehearsal opportunities - chances to practise real-life speaking in the safety of the class.
Secondly, speaking tasks in which students try to use any or all of the language they know provide feedback for both teacher and students.
Everyone can see how well they’re doing: both how successful they are, and also what language problems they’re experiencing, (This is a good reason for boomerang lessons, see above.) and finally, the more students have opportunities to activate the various elements of language they’ve stored in their brains, the more automatic their use of these elements become.
As a result, students gradually become autonomous language users. This means they’ll be able to use words and phrases fluently without very much conscious thought.
Good speaking activities can and should be extremely engaging for the students. If they’re all participating fully - and if the teacher has set up the activity properly and can then give sympathetic and useful feedback - they’ll get tremendous satisfaction from it.
We need to be clear the kinds of speaking activities we’re looking at here’re not the same as controlled language practice, where, for ex., students say a lot of sentences using a particular piece of grammar or a particular function.
This kind of speaking is part of study and is covered in CH6. The kind of speaking we’re talking about here almost always involves the activate element in our ESA trilogy (see CH4).
In other words, the students are using any and all of the language at their command to achieve some kind of purpose which’s not purely linguistic.
They’re practicing what Scott Thornbury from his book How to Teach Speaking, calls speaking-as-skill, where there’s a task to complete and speaking is the way to complete it.
In the same way ‘writing-for-writing’ is designed to help the student get better at the skill of writing (see above), so the activities in this CH are designed to foster better speaking, rather than having students speak only to focus on (and practise) specific language constructions.
As with any sequence, however, we may use what happens in a speaking activity as a focus for future study, esp where the speaking activity throws up some language problems which subsequently need fixing.
Scott Thornbury suggests which the teaching of speaking depends on there being a class culture of speaking, and classes need to become ‘talking classes’.
In other words, students will be much more confident speakers (and their speaking abilities will improve) if this kind of speaking activation is a regular feature of lessons.
Speaking sequences
In the following three ex.’s, we’re going to look at very different speaking activities. All the activities satisfy the three reasons for using speaking tasks which we mentioned above.
As with all other skills, what starts as a speaking activity may very well lead on to writing - or the speaking activity itself may develop from a reading text, or after listening to an audio track.
Ex. 1: photographic competition (upper intermediate to advanced)
In the following activity, students have to discuss criteria before reaching a final decision. They also have to be able to give reasons for their decision.
The activity begins when students, working in groups, are told they’re going to be the judges of a photographic competition in which all the images are of men.
Before they see the four finalists, they have to decide the criteria they’re going to use to make their choice. Each group should come up with five criteria.
White they’re discussing this, we can circulate, listening in on the groups’ discussions, helping them out of any difficulties and feeding them gin words and phrases such as ‘contrast’ and ‘make a strong impression’, if this is necessary.
We’ll also make a note of any language problems we may want to study later in remedial exercises. The students are then shown the four finalists for the competition.
In their groups, they have to choose the winning photograph, but they can’t do this only on the basis of which one they like best. They have to use the criteria they’ve previously agreed.
Once again, we can go round the groups helping out, cajoling or sometimes correcting (see below) where this is appropriate.
Finally, the groups have to report back on their choices and say exactly why they’ve chosen them - which criteria made them choose one above the others.
This can develop into a longer whole-class discussion about what masculinity means, or about photography and how it has been changed by the invention of digitized images, etc.
This speaking activity works due to students are activating any and all of the language they know to talk about something other than learning English.
They have a purpose for their speaking (designing criteria, making a choice), but the activity also allows us to feed useful words and phrases into the discussion while, at the same time, giving us a lot of ex.’s of student language.
We can use these later in study sequences, where we both look at some of the mistakes the students made, and also help them to say things better or more appropriately.
Ex. 2: role-play (intermediate to upper intermediate)
Many teachers ask students to become involved in simulations and role-plays. In simulations, students act as if they were in a real-life situation.
We can ask them to simulate a check-in encounter at an airport, for ex., or a job interview, or a presentation to a conference.
Role-plays simulate the real world in the same kind of way, but the students are given particular roles - they’re told who they’re and often what they think about a certain subj.
They have to speak and act from their new character’s point of view. The following role-play sets up a dramatic situation & then gives the participants role-cards which tell them how they feel and what they want to achieve.
The teacher presents the class with the following situation:
Last night the Wolverhampton Trophy was stolen from the Wolverhampton Football Club Headquarters at around 9.30 in the evening. The police have brought in a youth for questioning; they believe this youth stole the trophy.
The suspect is being interviewed by two police officers. The suspect’s lawyer is also present. But because the suspect isn’t yet eighteen, a parent is also present.
When the teacher is sure the students understand the situation (including, for ex., the meaning of ‘trophy’), the class is divided into five groups: suspect, police officer 1, police officer 2, lawyer and parent.
Each member of the group is given the role-card for the part they’re to play. The role-cars are as follows:
The suspect
• You are seventeen and a half years old.
• You did steal the trophy, of course, but you don’t think the police have any proof.
• You want to know where the police got their info. When they ask you what you were doing last night, you’ll say you were with a friend.
• You enjoy being silly when the police ask you questions. You get angry when the lawyer tries to stop you doing this.
Police officer 1
• The suspect was seen leaving the club house at around 9.30 by two other criminals, Ben and Joey, but you can’t tell the suspect this, due to putting Ben and Joey in danger.
• So the only thing you can do is to keep asking the suspect different questions about what they were doing last night in the hope they’ll get confused and in the end confess.
• You’ve had enough of teen crime in your area. It makes you really mad. Anyway, you want to get home. Unfortunately, you get angry rather quickly.
• When your police colleague tells you to calm down, you get really angry.
Police officer 2
• The suspect was seen taking the trophy by two other criminals, Ben and Joey, but you can’t tell the suspect this, due to putting Ben and Joey in danger.
• So the only thing you can do is keep asking the suspect different questions about what they were doing last night in the hope they’ll get confused and in the end confess.
• You like your partner, but you get really worried when they start getting angry since this doesn’t help in a police interview situation, so you try to calm your partner down, but whenever a suspect’s mother or father tries to say their beautiful child is not really to blame for something, you get really irritated.
Lawyer
• Your job is to protect the suspect.
• You try to stop the police asking difficult questions - and you try to stop the suspect saying too much.
Parent
• You think your child is a good person and if they’ve got into any trouble it isn’t their fault. Your partner (the suspect’s mother or father) was sent to prison and the suspect is very upset about this.
• If you think the police are being unfair to your child, you should tell them so - and make sure they realize it isn’t really your child’s fault.
In their groups, students discuss the role they’re going to play. What kind of questions will they ask first they’re police officers? What will they say if they’re lawyers (eg. ‘You don’t have to answer this question’)?, etc.
They discuss what the other people in the situation are likely to do or say. While they’re doing this, the teacher goes round the class clearing up any doubts the students may have and giving them language they think they may need.
This pre-stage is vital for getting students in the mood for the activity. Students are now put in new groups of suspect, two police officers, lawyer and parent, and the role-play gets going.
The teacher goes from group to group, helping out and noting down any language which’s worth commenting on later.
When the activity is finished, the teacher tells the class what he or she witnessed and works on any persistent mistakes which occurred during the role-play.
A variation of this kind of detective activity is the game Alibi. The teacher invents a crime - probably related to grammar or vocab the students have been learning - and, say, three students are sent out of the class to concoct an alibi about what they were doing when the crime was committed.
The three students are now called back one by one and questioned by the rest of the class. When the second students comes in, the class try to find inconsistencies with the alibi of the first of the three.
The same happens when the third student of the three turns up. The class then highlights the inconsistencies and guesses who the ‘criminal’ is.
Of course, it doesn’t actually matter who they decide on since the game is simply designed to have students ask and answer, using their questions and answers as fluently as possible.
There’re differing views about whether students gain more or less benefit from simulating reality as themselves or, conversely, playing the role of someone else in the same situation.
When students simulate reality as themselves, they get a chance for real-life rehearsal, seeing how they themselves would cope (linguistically) in such a situation.
Giving students a role, on the other hand, allows them to ‘hide behind’ the character they’re playing, and this can sometimes allow them to express themselves more freely than they’d if they’re voicing their own opinions or feelings.
The best thing to do is to try simulations with and without roles and see which works best with a particular group.
Ex. 3: the portrait interview (almost any level)
The following speaking sequence shows how portraits can be used to provoke questions and answers which can then develop into a very involved convo.
The amount of convo will, of course, depend to a large extent on the level of the students: at lower levels they may ask questions like ‘How old are you?’ to the people in the portrait (see below), whereas at higher levels and questions (and answers) may be significantly more complex.
This kind of activity can work well with both children and adults. The activity develops in the following way:
Stage 1 - students are put into three groups. Each group gets a copy of ‘The Arnolfini Marriage’ by Jan van Eyck - or a large version of the painting is projected onto a screen.
Stage 2 - each group selects either the man, the woman or the dog. They have to look at the pic carefully and then come up with as many questions for their character as possible.
Every student in the group must make a copy of all the questions produced by the group. (One group of advanced students produced questions for the man such as, ‘How long did it take to have your pic done?’ And ‘What is written on the wall?’. For the woman they put, ‘Why don’t you replace the missing candles in the chandelier?’ and ‘Why is your room so untidy?’ And for the dog, ‘Why’d on’t you run from such a dark room?’ and ‘How did they manage to keep you in this position for such a long time?’ )
Stage 3 - students are put in new groups of three (one from each of the original three groups). Each student in the group takes on the identity of one of the two characters they did not prepare questions for.
The student with the questions for them interviews them, and the other students has to follow up each answer with a subsequent question.
Stage 4 - three students are chosen to play the different characters. They come to the front of the class and are interviewed in the same way.
Quite apart from its intrinsic appeal as an activity which provokes students into looking more closely at a work of art (which is satisfyingly ambiguous in many respects), this speaking sequence works extremely well due to the speaking and interaction it provokes.
In the first place, the original groups activate their English knowledge as they talk to each other to plan and negotiate the questions they want to ask.
In the second place, when playing one of the characters in the pic (in small groups), the students have to come up with answers (however profound or amusing), and think of follow-up questions when they’ve heard an answer from one of the others.
This acts as a rehearsal for the interview in front of the whole class. The teacher’ll now have a lot of language use to comment on, & can work on the questions or any of the answers which came up if appropriate.
This kind of activity is suitable for almost any age group, including younger learners, who often find imaginative role-play like this very enjoyable, and there’re many other possibilities:
for ex., we can have students react to anything which’s said to them as if they were one of the character in the pic.
We can get them to talk about their typical day (as one of the pictured characters). We can ask them to have the convo which two portraits have with eachother when the museum lights are turned off & the doors are shut!
This interview technique can work with any pics of people - including portraits and photographs - or, for children, puppets or computer-generated characters.
It can also be employed when students have worked with a reading text: they can interview the people they’ve read about, asking them how they feel, what they do, etc., & of course these interviews can be turned into written profiles.
Discussion
When students suddenly want to talk about something in a lesson and discussion occurs spontaneously, the results are often highly gratifying (see ‘magic moments’ seen in below CH).
Spontaneous convo of this type can be rare, yet discussion, whether spontaneous or planned, has the great advantage of provoking fluent language use.
As a result, most teachers would like to organize discussion sessions on a more formal basis. Many of them find, however which planned discussion sessions are less successful than they’d hoped.
Something we should always remember is people need to time to assemble their thoughts before any discussion.
After all, it’s challenging to have to give immediate and articulate opinions in our own language, let alone in a language we’re struggling to learn. Consequently, it’s important to give students pre-discussion rehearsal time.
For ex., we can put them in small buzz groups to explore the discussion topic before organizing a discussion with the whole class.
On a more formal basis, we can put students into ‘opposing’ groups and give them quite a lot of time for one group to prepare arguments against a proposition (eg. ‘Tourism is bad for the world’), while the other assembles arguments in favor.
We can help students in other ways too. We can, for ex., give them cards containing brief statements of arguments about the topic (for them to use if they get stuck), or we can make the discussion the end of a lengthier process (such as the web quest above).
We can get students to rewrite statements (such as ‘Boys don’t like shopping’ or ‘Football is a man’s game’) so they represent the group’s opinion, and when students are speaking, we can help and encourage them by suggesting things they can say in order to push the discussion along.
More speaking suggestions
The following activities are also helpful in getting students to practise ‘speaking-as-a-skill’. Although they’re not level-specific, the last four will be more successful with higher-level students (upper intermediate plus), whereas the first two, in particular, are highly appropriate at lower levels (but can also be used satisfactorily with more advanced classes).
Info-gap activities: an info gap is where two speakers have different bits of info, and they can only complete the whole pic by sharing the info - due to they have different info, there’s a ‘gap’ between them.
One popular info-gap activity is called Describe and draw. In this activity, one student has a pic which they must not show their partner (teachers sometimes like to use surrealist paintings - empty doorways on beaches, trains coming out of fireplaces, etc).
All the partner has to do is draw the pic without looking at the original, so the one with the pic will give instructions and descriptions, and the ‘artist’ will ask questions.
A variation on Describe and draw is an activity called Find the differences - popular in puzzle books and newspaper entertainment sections all over the world.
In pairs, students each look at a pic which is very similar to (though they do not know this) to the one their partner has. They have to find, say, ten differences between their pics without showing their pics to each other.
This means they’ll have to do a lot of describing - and questioning and answering - to find the differences. For info-gap activities to work, it’s vitally important students understand the details of the task (for ex., they should not show each other their pics).
It’s often a good idea for teachers to demo how an activity works by getting a students up to the front of the class and doing the activity (or a similar one) with the student, so everyone can see exactly how it’s meant to go.
Telling stories: we spend a lot of our time telling other people stories and anecdotes about what happened to us and other people. Students need to be able to tell stories in English, too.
One way of getting students to tell stories is to use the info-gap principle (see above) to give them something to talk about. Students are put in groups. Each group is given one of a sequence of pics which tell a story.
Once they’ve had a chance to look at the pics, the pics are taken away. New groups are formed which consist of one student from each of the original groups.
The new groups have to work out what story the original pic sequence told. For the story reconstruction to be successful, they have to describe the pics they’ve seen, talk about them, work out what order they should be in, etc.
The different groups then tell the class their stories to see if everyone came up with the same versions. We can, alternatively, give students six objects, or pics of objects.
In groups, they have to invent a story which connects the objects. We can encourage students to retell stories which they’ve read in their books or found in newspapers or on the Internet (such retelling is a valuable way of provoking the activation of previously learnt or acquired language).
The best stories, of course, are those which the students tell about themselves and their fam or friends. We can also offer them chances to creative by asking them to talk about a scar they have, or to tell the story of their hair, or to describe the previous day in either a positive or a negative way.
When students tell stories based on personal experience, their classmates can ask them questions in order to find out more about what happened.
Storytelling like this often happens spontaneously (due to a certain topic coming up in the lesson - see ‘magic moments’ see below CH), but at other times, students need time to think about what they’re going to say.
Favourite objects: a variation on getting students to tell personal stories (but which may also involve a lot of storytelling) is an activity in which students are asked to talk about their favourite objects (things like MP3 players, objects with sentimental value, instruments, clothes, jewelry, pics, etc).
They think about how they’d describe their favorite objects in terms of when they got them, why they got them, what they do with them, why they’re so important to them and whether there’re are any stories associated with them.
In groups, they then tell each other about their objects, and the groups tell the class about which was the most unusual/interesting, etc in their group.
Meeting and greeting: students role-play a formal/business social occasion where they meet a number of people and intro themselves.
Surveys: can be used to get students interviewing each other. For ex., they can design a questionnaire about people’s sleeping habits with questions like ‘How many hours do you normally sleep?’, ‘Have you ever walked in your sleep or talked in your sleep?’, ‘Have you ever fallen out of bed?’, etc.
They then go round the class asking each other their questions. A variation of this is a popular activity called Find someone who…
In this activity, students list activities (eg. climb a mtn, do a bungee jump, swim in the Pacific, act in a play, etc) and they then go round the class asking ‘Have you ever climbed a mtn?’, ‘Have you ever done a bungee jump?’, etc.
Both activities are good for getting students to ‘mill about’ in the class, talking and interacting with others in a way which’s different from many other activities.
There’s no reason, either, why they shouldn’t go outside the class to conduct surveys.
Famous people: students think of five famous people. They have to decide on the perfect gift for each person. We can also get groups of students to decide on which five famous people (living or dead) they’d most like to invite for dinner, what they’d talk about and what food they’d give them.
Student presentations: individual students give a talk on a given topic/person. In order for this to work for the individual (and the rest of the class), time must be given for the student to gather info & structure it accordingly.
We may want to offer models to help individuals to do this. The students listening to presentations must be given some kind of listening tasks too - including, perhaps, giving feedback.
Balloon debate: a group of students are in the bast of a balloon which’s losing air. Only one person can stay in the balloon and survive (the others have to jump out).
Individual students representing famous characters (Napoleon, Gandhi, Cleopatra, etc) or professions (teacher, doctor, lawyer, etc) have to argue why they should be allowed to survive.
Moral dilemmas: students are presented with a moral dilemma and asked to come to a decision about how to resolve it. For ex, they’re told a student has been caught cheating in an important exam.
They’re then given the student’s (far-from-ideal) circumstances, and offered five possible courses of action - from exposing the student publicly to ignoring the incident - which they have to choose between.
Correcting speaking
It’ll probably be necessary for teachers to correct mistakes made during speaking activities in a different way from those made during a study exercise.
When students are repeating sentences, trying to get their pronunciation exactly right, then the teacher will often correct (appropriately) every time there’s a problem (see above), but if the same teacher did this while students were involved in a passionate discussion about whether smoking should be banned on tourist beaches, for ex., the effect may well be to destroy the conversational flow.
If, only at the moment one of the students is making an important point, the teacher says ‘Hey wait, you said ‘is’ but it should be ‘are’, beaches are…repeat’, the point will quickly be lost.
Constant interruption from the teacher will destroy the purpose of the speaking activity. Many teachers watch and listen while speaking activities are taking place.
They note down things which seemed to go well and times when students couldn’t make themselves understood or made important mistakes.
When the activity has finished, they then ask the students how they thought it went before giving their own feedback.
They may say they liked the way Student A said this, and the way Student B was able to disagree with her. They’ll then say they did hear one or two mistakes, and they can either discuss them with the class, write them on the board or give them individually to the students concerned.
In each case, they’ll ask the students to see if they can identify the problem and correct it. As with any kind of correction, it’s important not to single students out for particular criticism.
Many teachers deal with the mistakes they heard without saying who was responsible for them. Of course, there’re no hard and fast rules about correcting.
Some teachers who have a good relationship with their students can intervene appropriately during a speaking activity if they do it in a quiet non-obtrusive way.
This kind of gentle correction may take the form of reformulation where the teacher repeats what the student has said, but correctly this time, and doesn’t ask for student repetition of the corrected form.
Some students do prefer to be told at exactly the moment they make a mistake; but we always have to be careful to make sure our actions don’t compromise the activity in question.
Perhaps the best way of correcting speaking activities appropriately is to talk to students about it. You can ask them how and when they’d prefer to be corrected; you can explain how you intend to correct during these stages, and show them how different activities may mean different correction behavior on your part.
What teachers do during a speaking activity
Some teachers get very involved with their students during a speaking activity and want to participate in the activity themselves!
They may argue forcefully in a discussion or get fascinated by a role-play and start ‘playing’ themselves. There’s nothing wrong with teachers getting involved, of course, provided they don’t start to dominate.
Although it’s probably better to stand back so you can watch and listen to what’s going on, students can also appreciate teacher participation at the appropriate level - in other words, not too much!
Sometimes, however, teachers will have to intervene in some way if the activity isn’t going smoothly. If someone in a role-play can’t think of what to say, or if a discussion begins to dry up, the teacher will have to decide if the activity should be stopped - because the topic has run out of steam - or if careful prompting can get it going again.
This is where the teacher may make a point in a discussion or quickly take on a role to push a role-play forward.
Prompting is often necessary but, as with correction, teachers should do it sympathetically and sensitively.
CH10 Teacher listening
Reasons for listening Listening principles
Different kinds of listening Listening sequences
Listening levels More listening suggestions
Listening skills Audio and video
Reasons for listening
Most students want to be able to understand what people are saying to them in English, either face-to-face, on TV or on the radio, in theaters and cinemas, or on cd, or other recorded media.
Anything we can do to make easier will be useful for them. This is especially important since, as we said above, the way people speak is often significantly different from the way they write.
Listening is good for our students’ pronunciation, too in the more they hear and understand English being spoken, the more they absorb appropriate pitch and intonation, stress and the sounds of both individual words and those which blend together in connected speech.
Listening texts are good pronunciation models, in other words, and the more students listen, the better they get, not only at understanding speech, but also at speaking themselves.
Indeed, it’s worth remembering successful spoken communication depends not only on our ability to speak, but also on the effectiveness of the way we listen.
One of the main sources of listening for students is the voice of their teacher (see above for a discussion of the way teachers should talk to students).
However, it’s important, where possible, for students to be exposed to more than only one voice, with all its idiosyncrasies.
There’s nothing wrong with an individual teacher’s voice, of course, but as we saw above, there’re significant regional variations in the way people speak English in a country like Britain.
For ex., the ‘a’ of ‘bath’ is pronounced like the vowel sound in ‘park’ in some parts of Britain, but like the ‘a’ in ‘cat’ in others.
In grammar, certain varieties of English within the British Isles use ‘done’ in sentences like ‘I done it yesterday’ where other varieties would find such tense usage unacceptable.
In vocab, ‘happen’ is a verb in standard southern English, but in parts of Yorkshire (in northern England) it’s often used as an adverb to mean ‘maybe’ or ‘perhaps’ in sentences such as ‘Happen it’ll rain’, and if there’re many regional varieties in only one country, it’s obvious the different English’s around the world will be many and varied.
Students need to be exposed to different English’s, but teachers need to exercise judgement about the number (and degree) of the varieties which they hear.
A lot will depend on the students’ level of competence, and on what variety or varieties they’ve so far been exposed to.
Different kinds of listening
A distinction can be drawn between intensive and extensive listening. As with reading, the latter refers to listening which the students often do away from the class, for pleasure or some other reason.
The audio material they consume in this way - often on cds in their cars, on mp3 players, dads, vids or on the internet - should consist of texts which they can enjoy listening to since they more or less understand them without the intervention of a teacher or course materials to help them.
It’s true there’s not at present a body of material developed for extensive listening as there’s for extensive reading, but this looks set to change in the foreseeable future.
Already, many simplified readers (see above) come with accompanying cds on which the books are read or dramatized.
Students can also use tapes and cds to listen to their coursebook dialogues again after they’ve studied them in class.
There’s a growing number of podcast sites from where students can download free materials, and another way of getting students involved in a form of extensive listening is to encourage them to go to English language films with subs; as they hear the English dialogue, the subs help them understand; as they understand, they’ll to some extent, absorb the language they hear.
Intensive listening is different from extensive listening in which students listen specifically in order to work on listening skills, and in order to study the way in which English is spoken.
It usually takes place in classes or language labs, and typically occurs when teachers are present to guide students through any listening difficulties, and point them to areas of interest.
Listening sources
A lot of listening is experienced from recorded extracts - on cd, tape or mp3 player of some kind. Frequently this is commercially produced, either as part of a coursebook or as supplementary material, but there’s no reason why teachers shouldn’t record their own listening materials, using themselves or their friends or colleagues.
With modern recording tech available through range of media, it’s quite possible to produce recordings of reasonable quality.
We can download a huge amount of extremely useful listening material from the Internet, too provided we’re not breaking any rules of copyright.
Recorded extracts are quite distinct from live listening, the name given to real-life face-to-face encounters in the class.
To some extent all teacher talk is live listening, but in particular the term live listening is used to refer to situations in which the teacher brings visitors into the class or, if this isn’t possible, role-plays different characters for the students to talk and listen to.
The main advantage of live listening over recorded extracts is the students can interact with the speaker on the basis of what they’re saying, making the whole listening experience far more dynamic and exciting.
Listening levels
We’ll want our students to hear listening material in a number of different genres (which is, styles or types of text - see above) and registers.
This may include news broadcasts, public announcements, recorded messages, lectures, phone convos, dramatic dialogue, etc.), but we’ll also have to decide whether what they listen to should be authentic or not.
Authentic speech is speech not spoken only for language learners - in other words, it’s language spoken for native- or competent speakers of English, with no concessions made for the learner.
Much recorded speech on the radio or on the internet, for ex., is of this type. However, it’s often far too difficult for lower-level students, and is, therefore, inappropriate for use with them, but we don’t want to give our lower-level students inauthentic language (which doesn’t sound at all like the real thing) either.
What we aim for instead is realistic language use which, while roughly-tuned to match the students’ level, nevertheless approximates to real-life language, but we’ll aim to get our students to listen to and understand authentic English as soon and as often as they can.
Listening skills
Students need to be able to listen to a variety of things in a number of different ways. In the first place, they need to be able to recognize paralinguistic clues such as intonation in order to understand mood & meaning.
They also need to be able to listen for specific info (such as times, platform numbers, etc), and sometimes for more general understanding (when they’re listening to a story or interacting in a social convo).
A lot will depend on the particular genres they’re working with. Most students are perfectly capable of listening to different things in different ways in their own language(s).
Our job is to help them become adept at this kind of multiskilling when listening to English. However, sometimes they find this exceptionally difficult. We will discuss what to do if this happens in CH14.
Listening principles
Principle 1: Encourage students to listen as often and as much as possible.
The more students listen, the better they get at listening - and the better they get at understanding pronunciation and at using it appropriately themselves.
One of our main tasks, therefore, will be to use as much listening in class as possible, and to encourage students to listen to as much English as they can (via the internet, podcasts, cds, tapes, etc)
Principle 2: Help students prepare to listen.
Students need to be made ready to listen. This means they’ll need to look at pics, discuss the topic, or read the questions first, for ex., in order to be in a position to predict what’s coming.
This isn’t only so they’re in the right frame of mind (and are thinking about the topic), but also so they’re engaged with the topic and the task and really want to listen.
Principle 3: Once may not be enough.
There’re almost no occasions when the teacher will play an audio tract only once. Students will want to hear it again to pick up the things they missed the first time - and we may well want them to have a chance to study some of the language features on the tape.
In the case of live listening, students should be encouraged to ask for repetition and clarification when they need it.
The first listening to a text is often used only to give students an idea of what the speakers sound like, and what the general topic is (see Principle 5) so subsequent listenings are easier for them.
For subsequent listenings, we may stop the audio track at various points, or only play extracts from it. However, we’ll have to ensure we don’t go on and on working with the same audio track.
Principle 4: Encourage students to respond to the content of a listening, not only to the language.
An important part of a listening sequence is for teachers to draw out the meaning of what’s being said, discern what’s intended and find out what impression it makes on the students.
Questions such as ‘Do you agree with what they say?’ and ‘Did you find the listening interesting? Why?’ are only as important as questions ‘What language did she use to invite him?’
However, any listening material is also useful for studying language use and a range of pronunciation issues.
Principle 5: Different listening stages demand different listening tasks.
Due to there’re different things we want to do with a listening text, we need to set different tasks for different listening stages. This means, for a first listening, the task(s) may need to be fairly straightforward and general.
This way, the students’ general understanding and response can be successful - and the stress associated with listening can be reduced.
Later listenings, however, may focus in on detailed info, language use or pronunciation, etc. It’ll be the teacher’s job to help students to focus in on what they’re listening for.
Principle 6: Good teachers exploit listening texts to the full.
If teachers ask students to invest time and emotional energy in a listening text - and if they themselves have spent time choosing and preparing the listening sequence - then it makes sense to use the audio track or live listening experience for as many different applications as possible.
Thus, after an initial listening, the teacher can play a track again for various kinds of study before using the subject matter, situation or audioscript for a new activity.
The listening then becomes an important event in a teaching sequence rather than only an exercise by itself.
Listening sequences
The following listening sequences are pitched at different levels. As with all other skill-based sequences, they’ll often lead into work on other skills or present opportunities for language study and further activation of some kind.
Ex. 1: live interview (beginner onwards)
The following sequence works when teachers can bring visitors to the class (or when they themselves play a role as if they’re a visitor).
The teacher primes a visitor to the class by giving them an idea of the students’ level and what they may or may not understand.
The visitor should be aware they may have to modify the way they normally speak - but speaking slowly and shouting (as people often do when confronted with people whose English isn’t high level) will not be appropriate!
The students are told a visitor is coming to the lesson, and they should think of a number of questions to ask which’ll tell them as much as possible about who the person is.
Their questions are checked by the teacher to make sure the students are really asking what they want to ask. When the visitor comes to the lesson, students ask their questions and take notes of the answers.
A key feature of such an exchange is the follow-up question - a questions which follows on from the interviewee’s first answer.
This means students are forced to listen carefully to the first answer, but it also gives them more opportunity to interact with the visitor, and it means the visitor will say more.
For live listening to work well, students need to have phrases to help them such as ‘I’m sorry, I don’t understand what X means…’, ‘Could you repeat what you just said?’, ‘Are you saying that…?’.
The actual questions they use will depend on their level. Sometimes it’s a good idea for students to find out who the visitor is through their questioning (we keep their identity a secret), but at other times they’ll prepare their questions more efficiently if they know who’s coming and what their occupation is, or what kind of story they have to tell.
It’s not always easy to find visitors. However, for those schools which’re well equipped, it’s now possible to replicate such interviews with the help of a webcam.
As the tech improves, this’ll become more feasible, but if this isn’t possible, teachers can pretend to be someone else for the students to interview.
With younger children, teachers can use puppets or wear masks to show they’re someone different. Students can use their notes to write a profile of the visitor, to write to or about them, or to discuss with the class what they thought about the visitor’s opinions.
Ex. 2: buying tickets (pre-intermediate)
The following coursebook sequence is an ex. of how work on one skill (listening) leads naturally into work on another (speaking).
As suggested above, it allows the students to predict what they’ll hear and involves both general and detailed comprehension work. Students look at the following pics:
The teacher encourages them to describe what’s going on in each pic. Words like ‘ticket’, ‘check-in’ and ‘coach’ are bound to occur naturally here, but more importantly, students have an idea of what the convos they’re going to hear are about.
Students now hear the following four convos which they have to match with the four pics:
1
PASSENGER: I’d like a return to Oxford, please.
ASSISTANT: Yes, of course. Are you coming back today?
PASSENGER: Yes, I am.
ASSISTANT: That’s £18.50, please.
PASSENGER: Thank you.
2
CHECK-IN: How many pieces of luggage have you got?
PASSENGER: One suitcase and one handbag.
CHECK-IN: Did you pack your suitcase yourself?
PASSENGER: Yes, I did.
CHECK-IN: Does it contain any knives or scissors?
PASSENGER: No.
CHECK-IN: Fine. Could you put it on here, please? OK…15 kilos.
3
PASSENGER: Piccadilly Circus, please.
BUS DRIVER: One pound, please.
PASSENGER: Thanks.
BUS DRIVER: Thank you.
4
ASSISTANT: Victoria Coach Station. Can I help you?
PASSENGER: I’d like to book a single ticket to Edinburgh, please.
ASSISTANT: Yes… when would you like to travel?
PASSENGER: Friday 14th March in the afternoon.
ASSISTANT: OK…uh…there’s a coach at 5:45 pm.
PASSENGER: Yes, that’s fine. How much is it?
ASSISTANT: £45 for a single ticket. How would you like to pay?
PASSENGER: By Visa, please.
ASSISTANT: OK.
After this general listening task, students listen again to slot in various key language items in blanks from the audioscript, eg.
PASSENGER: _________ to Oxford, please.
ASSISTANT: Yes, of course. Are you coming back today?
PASSENGER: Yes, I am.
ASSISTANT: _________, please.
PASSENGER: Thank you.
This study section encourages students to focus in on the construction of the specific language which the coursebook writers have selected.
Finally, students try to activate the language they know for this kind of interaction. In pairs, students A and B look at different info (see above) in order to have exchanges which are similar to the ones they’ve listened to.
Student A Student B
1 You’re a passenger buying a ticket at Victoria Station, 1 You’re an asst in the ticket office at Victoria
London. Your partner’s an asst in the ticket office. Station, London. Your partner’s a
passenger.
Before you buy your ticket, prepare what you need to ask using the info below. Before you help the passenger buy his/her ticket, prepare your answers using the info You want to go to Brighton on Friday after 5.30pm below.
and come back on Sunday around 4.00pm. You want TICKETS TO BRIGHTON
to pay by credit card. Prices:
Single: £10 / Day Return: £18
b Buy your ticket. Weekend return: £15
2 a Now change roles. You’re an asst in the ticket Times of trains:
office at King’s Cross Station, London. Your partner To Brighton - Fridays 17.37 / 17.53
is a passenger. To London - Sundays 15.58 / 16.51
Before you help the passenger buy his/her ticket, Method of payment:
prepare your answers using the info below. Credit card, cheque or cash
TICKETS TO CAMBRIDGE b Help the passenger buy his/her ticket.
Prices:
Single: £11 / Day Return: £18.50 2 a Now change roles. You’re a passenger buying Weekend return: £16 a ticket at King’s Cross Station, London. Your Times of trains: partner is an asst in the ticket office.
To Cambridge - Thursdays 10.22 / 10.52 To London - Thursdays 18.15 / 18.45 Before you buy your ticket, prepare what you Method of payment: need to ask using the info below. Credit card, cheque or cash
You want to go to Cambridge on Thursday b Help the passenger buy his/her ticket between 10.00 and 11.00am. You want to
come back the same day after 6.00pm.
You want to pay in cash.
Although this particular ex. is culture-specific (British English, using English locations and destinations), the technique of matching what students hear to pics can be used in many different ways at many different levels.
Booking and buying tickets take place in all languages and cultures, too.
Ex. 3: prerecorded authentic interview-narrative (upper intermediate)
In this ex., for upper-intermediate level, students are going to hear two excerpts from a recorded authentic interview.
However, in both cases the interviewee often replies to the interviewer by telling stories rather than only giving short answers.
These excerpts are considerably longer than lower-level listening texts - and unlike the live listening in Ex. 1, students will not have the opportunity to interact with the interviewee.
It’s therefore, esp important they’re both fully engaged with what’s going on and also ready to listen. This interview is notable too, in the interviewee is a speaker of Indian English - an important world variety, and therefore one which students of English as an Int’l Language (see above) should be comfortable with.
Students are first shown the pic on the right and asked to speculate about who the person is, and asked to speculate about who the person is, where she’s from, what she does, etc.
They then look at the following questions before they hear her speak:
a What happened at the station in Mumbai (then called Bombay), and how much money did Diana have with
her?
b How did Diana try to get accommodation in Mumbai?
c What time was it on Diana’s watch when she knocked on the lady’s door?
d Why do you think the lady said ‘Come inside’?
e What lesson does Diana draw from this exp in her life?
They discuss the questions, perhaps in pairs, and try to predict the answers. The teacher now plays the following audio track (after they’ve been told Diana comes form Hyderabad in southern India and at the age of 18 she went to Mumbai, then called Bombay, to look for work):
DIANA: I had 250 rupees in my pocket. Now 250 rupees is the equivalent of about umm four pounds, and the person who was a family friend who was supposed to meet me at the station wasn’t there, and then I went knocking form one door to the other looking for accommodation and umm it’s a very bizarre story but I did get accommodation.
Someone sent me to somebody else and they said - like you call them ‘bedsits’ here, in India you call them paying guests and they said ‘oh so-and-so person keeps paying guests, go there’, I got sent from one place to the other off this main road and umm I knocked on this lady’s door and my watch said 7.30 and she opened the door and I said ‘Look, someone told me - can’t remember where down the line - someone said you keep, you know, paying guests,’ and she said ‘No, I don’t, not anymore, I’ve stopped for the last three years,’ and then I heard the English news in the background.
Now the English news is from 9.30 to 9.45 and I said ‘Is that the English news?’ She said ‘Yes, and what is a young girl like you doing on your own on the streets at this time?’ and I said ‘But it can’t be because the English news is at 9.30’.
She said, ‘Yes, a quarter to ten,’ and I showed her my watch and it stopped at 7.30 and she said, ‘Come inside.’ She was a Pakistani woman. She was married to an Englishman. She said, ‘Come inside.’
She says, ‘My hair’s standing and I just think God has sent you to me,’ and she took me in. She said, ‘Bring all your stuff and come tomorrow and umm go and get a job. When you get a job, then you can start paying me.’
So that’s the… it’s it’s just everything. I believe everything you try to do, if you put yourself out there and give it your all… you will … you will achieve it.
I think it’s very important you look back and you connect with those experiences and you remember them as clearly as yesterday because if not, the superficial nonsense which goes on in your life like today can very easily take over you and you can lose perspective.
Students go through the questions again in pairs to see if they agree with the answers. The teacher may decide to play the audio track again if they’ve had difficulty catching the main points of her story.
The teacher now tells the students Diana went on to become quite famous due to she winning something. They’re invited to speculate what this is - though they’re not told if they’re right.
Instead, the teacher plays the next audio track for them to see if their speculations were correct:
DIANA: … I think it’s very important you look back and you connect with those experiences and you remember them as clearly as yesterday because if not, the superficial nonsense goes on in your life like today can very easily take over you and you can lose perspective.
PRESENTER: But Diana didn’t lose perspective. After a succession of jobs - including managing two of India’s most famous pop stars - she was entered into the Miss India beauty competition and she won it. Next she found herself representing her country in the Miss World competition, something which must have been quite daunting for the 23-year-old.
DIANA: You biggest fear is ‘I shouldn’t trip’ and because you’ve got these really high heels and these long, long gowns and you’ve got all these steps you’re walking up and down and it’s live on television you’ve got…
INTERVIEWER: Watched by…
DIANA: … thousands of people watching…
INTERVIEWER: Watched by…
DIANA: … by millions. It is huge. Everybody watches it. You have more people watching them in India than you’d have them watching the Wimbledon finals or something, you know, or the Olympic Games or something. Yeah. Umm and your biggest fear is ‘I should not go blank’ because you’re asked questions on stage and yeah, you can just freeze.
PRESENTER: But Diana didn’t freeze. In front of a huge worldwide audience she heard a voice announce Miss India, Diana Hayden, was the new Miss World.
DIANA: Oooh you feel numb. The…you know, it’s it’s a saturation point. It’s too much for you to digest your grin is stuck on your face. It was stuck on my face for weeks. I would position that crown in such a way which as soon as I opened my eyes I would see my crown. I did that for weeks. Ha ha. It was such a great feeling. You just, you’re just grinning and you are just numb. If that’s what euphoria is, you know, umm you, you can’t speak very clearly. You speak but you’re just so excited you’re tripping over your own words, and immediately there was a press conference on stage itself and it’s like ooh ooh ooh because you go from being nobody, a regular person. That’s not fair. It’s not a nobody. You go from being a regular person to being in every newspaper around the world and everyone knows. It went from going in a bus with 87 other girls to ‘and Miss World is Miss India’ to a stretch limousine, with bodyguards, where the heads of the company moved out of the presidential suite and I took over and chaperones and which’s what it was like since then. You sit in the cockpits for take-offs and landings. You’re treated like a queen you, you know, you have private planes, and all these flights and umm the red carpet and it’s just Lights! Camera! Action!
Having established Diana was Miss World, students then listen to the second audio track again to answer more straightforward info questions such as what Diana was afraid of and why, how many people were watching the second competition, how she felt when she won Miss World, what she did with her crown and what happened immediately after she won.
Once again, the students will have the opportunity to listen to the audio track one or two more times. The two audio tracks and the audioscripts provide ample opportunity for various kinds of study.
For ex., it’s worth drawing the students’ attn to some of the vocab which Diana uses (‘bedsit’, ‘hair standing’ - and how Diana says the phrase - ‘give your all’, ‘trip over your words’, ‘mind goes blank’, ‘chaperone’, ‘cockpit’, etc).
We may also get the students to listen to the audio track while they read the audioscript and identify moments when Diana repeats words and phrases (and why she does this), find when she uses meaningless sounds (and why she does this) and see where she starts speaking with one grammatical construction and then changes it.
Another useful activity is to get students to retell Diana’s story, trying to use as many of her expressions as they can. Retelling is a good way of fixing some of the language in their minds.
We could also move on to a discussion about the ethos of the Miss World competition. This last ex. of listening is highly elaborate and takes some time, but the advantages of hearing real English spoken normally - and an English which’s somewhat different from the usual British and American varieties which have been the staple of listening texts for many years (though this is changing) - outweigh the potential pitfalls of length.
More listening suggestions
Jigsaw listening: in the three groups, students listen to three different tapes, all of which’re about the same thing (witness reports after an accident or a crime, phone convos arranging a meeting, different news stories which explain a strange event, etc).
Students have to assemble all the facts by comparing notes. In this way, they may find out what actually happened, solve a mystery or get a rounded account of a situation or topic.
Jigsaw listening works due to it giving students a purpose for listening, and a goal to aim for (solving the ‘mystery’, or understanding all the facts).
However, it obviously depends on whether students have access to three different tape or cd players, or computer-delivered listening material.
Message-taking: students listen to a phone message being given. They have to write down the message on a message pad. There’re many other kinds of message students can listen to.
For ex., they may hear a recorded message about what films are on at a cinema, when they’re on, what rating they have and whether there’re still tickets. They then have to decide which film to go to.
They may hear the message on an answerphone, or a gallery guide (where they have to identify which pics are being talked about), or messages about how to place an order.
In each case, they have to respond in some way. It’s also appropriate for students to listen to announcements in airports and on railway stations which they can match with pics or respond to by saying what they’re going to do next.
Music and sound effects: although most audio tracks consist of speech, we can also use music and sound effects. Songs are very useful because, if we choose them well, they can be very engaging.
Students can fill in blanks in song lyrics, rearrange lines or verses, or listen to songs and say what mood or message they convey.
We can use instrumental music to get students in the right mood, or as a stimulus for any number of creative tasks (imagining film scenes, responding to mood and atmosphere, saying what the music is describing, etc).
The same is true of sound effects, which students can listen to in order to build up a story.
News and other radio genres: students listen to a news broadcast and have to say which topics from a list occur in the bulletin and in which order. They then have to listen for details about individual stories.
If the news contains a lot of facts and figures, students may be asked to convert them into chart or graph form. Other genres which students get benefit from are radio commercials (they have to match commercials with pics or say why one - on safety - is different from the rest - which are trying to sell things), radio phone-ins (where they can match speakers to topics) and any number of games and quizzes.
In all of the above cases, the degree of authenticity will depend on the level of the radio extract and the level of the students.
Poetry: can be used in a number of ways. Students can listen to poems being read aloud and say what mood they convey (or what color they suggest to them).
They can hear a poem and then try to come up with an appropriate title. They can listen to a poem which has no punctuation and put in commas and full stops where they think they should occur.
One way of getting students to predict what they’re going to hear is to give them the titles of three poems and then ask them to guess what words the poems will contain.
As a result, when they listen, they’re eager to see if they’re right, and awake to the possibilities of what the poem may be like.
Stories: a major speaking genre is storytelling. When students listen to people telling stories, there’re a number of things we can have them do.
Perhaps they can put pics in the order in which the story is told. Sometimes we can let students listen to a story but not tell them the end. They have to guess what it is and then, perhaps we play them the recorded version.
A variation on this technique is to stop the story at various points and say ‘What do you think happens next?’ before continuing. These techniques are appropriate for children and adults alike.
Some of the best stories for students to listen to are when people are talking more or less informally (like Diana Hayden above), but it’s also good to let them hear well-read extracts from books; we can get them to say which book they think the extract comes from, or decide what kind of book it is (horror, romance, thriller, etc).
Monologues: various monologues genres can be used for different listening tasks. For ex., we can ask students to listen to lectures and take notes.
We can get them to listen to ‘vox-pop’ interviews where five different speakers say what they thinka bout a topic and the students have to match the different speakers with different opinions.
We can listen to dramatic or comic monologues and ask the students to say how the speaker feels. We can have them listen to speeches (at weddings, farewells, openings, etc) and get them to identify what the subject is and what the speaker thinks about it.
Audio and video
Almost everything we have said about listening applies to video, too (or any other film platform, such as dvds or other digitally delivered film; we’ll use the term video to include all of these - see below ‘Appendix A Class equipment, class tech’ for more on tech for listening and watching).
We have to choose video material according to the level and interests of our students. If we make it too difficult or too easy, the students will not be motivated.
If the content is irrelevant to the students’ interests, it may fail to engage them. Video is richer than audio: speakers can be seen’ their body movements give clues as to meaning; so do the clothes they wear, their location, etc.
Background info ca be filled in visually. Some teachers, however, think video is less useful for teaching listening than audio precisely due to, with the visual senses engaged as well as the audio senses, students pay less attn to what they’re actually hearing.
A danger of video is students may treat it rather as they treat watching tv - eg uncritically and lazily. There may well be occasions when it’s entirely appropriate for them to watch video in a relaxed way, but more often we’ll want them to engage, not only with the content of what they’re seeing, but also the language and other features.
Four particular techniques are esp appropriate for language learners, and are often used with video footage:
Play the video without sound: students and teacher discuss what they see and what clues it gives them, and then they guess what the characters are actually saying.
Once they’ve predicted the convo, the teacher rewinds the video and plays it with sound. Were they right? A variation on this technique is to fast forward the excerpt. The students say what they think was happening.
The teacher can then play the extract with sound, or play it, again without sound, but this time at normal speed.
Play the audio without the pic: this reverses the previous procedure. While the students listen, they try to judge where the speakers are, what they look like, what’s going on, etc.
When they’ve predicted this, they listen again, this time with the visual images as well. Were they correct?
Freeze frame: the teacher presses the pause button and asks the students what’s going to happen next. Can they predict the action - and the language which’ll be used?
Dividing the class in half: half the class face the screen. The other half sit with their backs to it. The ‘screen’ half describe the visual images to the ‘wall’ half.
CH11 Using coursebooks
Options for coursebook use Reasons for (and against) coursebook use
Adding, adapting and replacing Choosing coursebooks
Options for coursebook use
When teachers open a page in their coursebook, they have to decide whether or not they should use the lesson on the page with their class. Is the language at the right level?
Is the topic/content suitable for the students? Are there the right kind of activities in the book? Is the sequencing of the lesson logical?
With a good coursebook, there’s a strong possibility which the language, content and sequencing in the book will be appropriate, and the topics and treatment of the different language skills will be attractive.
As a result the teacher will want to go ahead and use what’s in the book. If, however, teachers have the time or inclination to amend parts of a coursebook (due to the texts or activities don’t seem appropriate for a particular group of students or a particular lesson, or due to they wanting to tailor the material to match their own particular style), they have to decide what to do next.
There’re four alternatives to consider if we decide this part of a coursebook isn’t appropriate. Firstly we may simply decide to omit the lesson.
This solves the problem of inappropriacy and allows us and our students to get on with something else. There’s nothing wrong with omitting lessons from coursebooks.
Teachers do it all the time, developing a kind of ‘pick and choose’ approach to what’s in front of them. However, if they omit too many pages, the students may begin to wonder why they’re using the book in the first place, esp if they’ve bought it themselves.
Another alternative is to replace the coursebook lesson with one of our own. This has obvious advantages: our own material probably interests us more than the coursebook and it may well be more appropriate for our students.
If we cover the same language or topic, the students can still use the book to revise this particular language/vocab, but as with omitting pages, if too much of the coursebook is replaced, both students and teacher may wonder if it’s worth bothering with it at all.
The third option is to add to what’s in the book. If the lesson’s rather boring, too controlled, or if it gives no chance for students to use what they’re learning in a personal kind of way, the teacher may want to add activities and exercises which extend the students’ engagement with the language or topic.
We’re using the coursebook’s strengths but marrying them with our own skills and perceptions of the class in front of us. The final option is for teachers to adapt what’s in the book.
If a reading text is dealt with in a boring or uncreative way, if an invitation sequence is too predictable or teachers simply want to deal with the material in their own way, they can adapt the lesson by rewriting parts of it, replacing some of the activities (but not all), reordering activities or reducing the number of activities in the sequence.
Using coursebooks creatively is one of the teacher’s premier skills. The way in which we get students to look at reading texts, do exercises or solve puzzles in the book’s extremely important.
At what point, for ex., do we actually get the students to open the book? If they do so before we give our instructions, they often don’t concentrate on what we have to say.
Should the books always be on the students’ desks, or should they be kept in a drawer or in the students’ bags until they’re needed? Furthermore, as we’ve said, many teachers don’t go through the book line by line.
Instead they use the parts which’re most appropriate for their class, and make suitable changes to other material so it’s exactly right for their students.
Adding, adapting and replacing
In the following three ex.’s, we’re going to show how coursebook material can be used differently by teachers. However, it’s not being suggested any of these coursebook extracts have anything wrong with them.
Our ex.’s are designed only to show there’re always other ways of doing things even when the original material’s perfectly good.
Ex. 1: adapting and adding (elementary)
In the following ex., students are working with a coursebook called New Cutting Edge Elementary by Sarah Cunningham and Peter Moor.
They’ve read a text called ‘Amazing facts about the natural world’ which includes such statistics as the fact we share our birthdays with about 18 million other people in the world, we eat about 8 kilos of dirt in our lifetimes, donkey’s kill more people than plane crashes do, elephants can’t jump, the Arctic Tern does a 22,000-miles trip to the Antarctic every year, etc.
After discussing the text they make sentences with ‘can’ and ‘can’t’ about these facts, eg. ‘Elephants can’t jump’, ‘Pigs can’t look at the sky’, ‘Kangaroos can’t walk backwards’, etc.
They now look at the following page (see below) which shifts the focus towards various question words (how long, how fast, etc), and not only includes a grammar description and a practice activity where students have to choose the right question word or phrase, but also a short quiz referring back to the ‘amazing facts’ text they’ve read (the unit continues with more question practice designed for pairwork).
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with the page we’re illustrating. On the contrary, it’s bright and well conceived, but for whatever reason, we may decide to adapt what the authors have suggested, even adding more material of our own.
We could, for ex., adapt the quiz by having individual students each choose an animal (perhaps after looking up info in an encyclopedia or on the internet). They don’t tell their classmates which animal they’ve chosen.
The class then tries to find out which animals different individuals have chosen by asking questions such as ‘How fast can you run?’, ‘How big are you?’, ‘Which countries do you live in?’, ‘How far do you travel?’, ‘Is there anything you can’t do?’
Language focus 2
Question words
1 a Work in pairs. How many questions in the Animal quiz can you answer without looking back at the text?
b Look back at the text and check your answers.
2 Circle the question word in each question.
Grammar
1 There are many two-word questions with how, what and which. Match the question words to the answers.
a How far …? Los Angeles.
b How tall …? Every day.
c How often …? Lions.
d How long…? Ten metres.
e How fast…? Forty kilometres an hour.
f Which city…? Ten kilometers.
g Which animals…? Rock and pop.
h What kinds of music…? Three hours.
2 Do you remember? Choose the correct alternative.
We use:
⁃ How many with countable / uncountable nouns.
⁃ How much with countable / uncountable nouns.
3 We use what when there are a large number of possible answers.
What is the population of China?
We use which when there are only a few possible answers.
Which continent has no active volcanoes?
⏵ Read Language summary B —(**see if it’s below, can’t locate it.)
Practice
1 Choose the correct question word.
a Which / What do kangaroos eat?
b How much / How many eater do people need to drink every day?
c What / Which do you like best, dogs or cats?
d How much / How many pets have you got?
e How much / How long o elephants usually live?
f How far / How often do you need to feed a baby?
g How fast / How long does the average person walk?
h How far / How many can you swim?
i How long / How often do you go swimming?
j Which / What is your dog’s name?
Animal quiz
1 How much dirt does the average person eat during their life?
2 What kind of animals can’t jump?
3 Which continent has no active volcanoes?
4 How fast does the earth rotate?
5 How many ants are there in the world?
6 How long can snails sleep?
7 How do guide dogs know when to cross the road?
8 How far do Arctic Terns fly every year?
9 What is the present population of the world?
Alternatively, we may decide to get the students to look back at the text and write their own questions, and then divide the class into two teams.
They fire their questions at the opposing team who’ve to give as many correct answers as possible within a time limit.
Another adaptation, which’ll appeal to those students who respond well to kinaesthetic stimuli (see above), is to write questions and answers on different pieces of paper.
Students take a question card or an answer card and have to ‘mill around’ finding the student who has the answer to their question, or vice versa.
We could also adapt the quiz by turning it into the kind of ‘interview’ which can be found in many magazines. In this case, however, students aren’t interviewing a celebrity, but one of the animals from the text (elephants, kangaroos, ants, etc).
Students write interview questions and send them to other students, who answer as if they were the animal they’ve chosen; they can answer as seriously, comically or facetiously as they want.
They can write their questions on a piece of paper, leaving space for the answers, and then ‘send’ them to the student (animal) they wish to interview, they can use photocopies of blank ‘email windows’ to simulate a typical email exchange, or they can, of course, send their questions via email if this is available.
None of the activities suggested here are better than the ones in the coursebook; they’re simply different. Indeed, these activities may not appeal to some teachers at all, which’s exactly the point.
It’s up to individual teachers and their students to decide how and when to use different sections of a coursebook.
Ex. 2: adding (intermediate)
Most coursebooks have word lists, sometimes at the back of the book, sometimes at the end of a unit or a section.
These are usually ignored, except by some students who often write inaccurate translations of the words. Teachers seldom touch them.
Yet here is a chance to add to what the coursebook provides in enjoyable and useful ways. The following word list occurs after three lessons of intermediate material.
admire exciting law protection
attendance experience leader record
attractive factor lovely rugged
bad fair-haired lover scenic
beautiful fair-skinned magnificent sick
boring fantastic Melanin skin cancer
cute fascinating memorable song
dangerous flight attendant motorway striking
dark-haired freckles moving stunning
dark-skinned gang newscaster sunburnt
die good-looking picturesque suntanned
doctor handsome pig trust
dramatic impressive place ultraviolet
elegant interesting pretty unmemorable
event killer professor victim
There are a number of things we can do with such an apparently static piece of text. They fall into three categories: personal engagement, word formation and word games.
Personal engagement: the teacher can ask students to discuss questions like ‘Which words have a positive meaning for you?’ and ‘Which words have a negative meaning for you?’ (Notice we’re asking them about their own personal reaction to these words.)
The teacher can ask students to list their five favourite words form the list - words which appeal to them due to their meaning, sound, spelling, etc.
They then have to explain to the class why they have chosen those particular words. We can go further and ask students which five words they’d most like to take to a desert island, and why.
This demands they think a bit laterally, but they may decide to take ‘protection’, for ex., due to the sun or ‘beautiful’ due to beautiful islands are better than ugly ones!
We can ask students to predict which words will be most useful for them in the future. We can even hold a word auction where students have to bid for the words they most want to buy.
The teacher can ask whether any of the words look or sound like words in their language and whether they mean the same. This is especially useful for Romance languages.
We can ask students which word they find easy to pronounce and which they find difficult. The moment we ask them questions like this, we’re, in a sense saying these words belong not to the teacher or the book, but to the students themselves.
Word formation: we can ask a number of questions about how the words (in any list) are constructed. Students can be asked to make a list of words which’re stressed on the first, second or third syllables.
They can be asked how many of the adj’s can be changed into verbs and/or what endings the verbs would need if they were changed into adj’s.
They can be asked to identify compound words (made up from tow words - eg. ‘dark-skinned’, ‘skin cancer’, ‘suntanned’) and say how they’re formed.
There’re many other possible activities here: students can make contrary meanings by adding ‘un-’ or ‘in-’, for ex., give adj’s a comparative form, decide which of the verbs are ‘regular’ an what sound their past tense endings make, etc.
In each case, using a word list reminds students of some of the rules governing words and their grammar.
Word games: there’s almost no limit to the games we can play with a collection of words from the wordlist.
We can ask students to make tabloid headlines from the list (eg. ‘Attractive doctor in dramatic motorway experience!’).
The word list can be used for ‘expansion’, too by giving the students a sentence like ‘The man kissed the woman’ and asking them to expand it using as many words from the list as they can (together with any necessary grammar words).
Can anyone make a longer sentence than ‘The attractive fair-haired man with dramatic but elegant suntanned freckles kissed the fascinating pretty flight attendant in front of the dangerous woman on the motorway’?
The words can be written on cards which’re then put into a hat. When a student pulls one of the cards out of the hat, they have to make up a good sentence on the spot with the word on the card.
Students can write correct and incorrect definitions for the different words. Opposing teams then have to guess which’re the correct definitions and which are false.
We can ask students to design word bingo cards with some of the words. They then read out sentences, omitting a word and other students have to cross off the word on their cards which they think will go in the gap.
Some modern coursebooks include activities like this, but many don’t. In such circumstances, there’s almost no limit to the kinds of activity we can add to the list to make it dynamic and engaging.
As a result, students have a good chance of remembering more of the words than they otherwise may have done.
Ex. 3: replacing (pre-intermediate)
In the following ex. (From a coursebook for teens), a reading text is part of a longer unit which concentrates on the past simple and includes biographical info, a functional dialogue about apologies (‘I’m sorry I’m late’) and listening and activity pages.
Students are asked to complete a chart with info about the dates 1870, 1883, 1886, 1890, 1892 and 1893 by reading the following text:
He photographed the world!
Go into the Tv room and switch on the tv. Suddenly you’re not at home any more: you’re not at home any more: you’re in another country thousands of miles away. Tv has made the world a smaller place.
One hundred & fifty years ago it was different. There were no planes & people didn’t travel to different countries all the time. But one man did. His name was Burton Holmes & he was born in 1870 in Chicago, Illinois.
In 1883, Holmes bought his first camera and when he was sixteen he travelled to Europe with his grandmother. He took photographs and he loved it. Four years later, Holmes came back to the US with his pics.
In 1892 Holmes went to Japan and one year later he started to give lectures with slides. He talked about the countries he had visited (in Europe and Asia) and showed slides. Many people came to see and hear.
Most of his slides were in black and white, but Japanese artists had colored some of them and they were very beautiful. Four years later he showed his first moving pics.
Burton Holmes continued his lectures into the 1950s. He was famous all over the US as a great traveller, the man who photographed the world.
The coursebook then encourages the students to ask as many questions about Burton Holmes as possible. There’re a number of options for using this text.
We could try to make it more engaging by having students work in pairs where one of them plays the role of Burton Holmes and the other is an interviewer.
We could blank out words in the text, or cut the text up into paragraphs which students have to rearrange.
Students could search the internet for further info about Burton Holmes (although at their level this may prove difficult), or we could do a search ourselves and come up with more facts about the man, but it’s equally possible we don’t want to use this text due to not thinking it has sufficient potential for interesting our students.
We’ll need to replace it, then with an appropriate text (or activities) which fits in with the coursebook unit. We could, for ex., bring in some of our own photographs and then show students a text (photocopied, or on an OHT) which describes one of them.
The students have to decide which one it is. We can ask students to bring in a photo of their own, for which they’ll have prepared a narrative (where it was taken, what happened, etc).
We could show students famous ‘event’ pics and ask them to say what they think is happening before giving them an oral or written description.
Perhaps we could ask them to judge a competition for the best photo from a set of four or five (for a full description of this activity see above), though this will be fairly demanding at this level.
Of course, it may be we don’t want to deal with the topic of photography. We could instead look for any biographical text or info we think students will be interested in - a singer or other celebrity, or someone famous from the students’ own culture - and offer material about this person.
There’s almost no limit to the ways in which we can replace coursebook excerpts. However, as we’ve said above, we’ll need to decide how much and how often we wish to replace in this way.
Reasons for (and against) coursebook use
Some teachers have a very poor opinion of coursebooks. They say they’re boring, stifling (for both teacher and students) and often inappropriate for the class in front of them.
Such people would prefer to rely on their own ideas, snippets from reference books, pages from magazines, ideas from the students themselves and a variety of other sources.
Other teachers feel much more positive about coursebooks. For them, coursebooks provide good teaching material which’s often attractively presented.
The coursebook has been carefully researched and has a consistent grammar syllabus as well as providing appropriate vocab exposure and practice, together with pronunciation work and writing tasks.
Good coursebooks have a range of reading and listening material and workbooks, for ex., to back them up (to say nothing of internet tie-ins and other extras).
It takes less time to prepare a good coursebook lesson than to start from the start each time and prepare brand new material; however idea such freshness may be, many teachers simply don’t have the time to prepare and plan as much as they’d like to.
Most coursebooks have an accompanying teacher’s guide to help teachers with procedure and give them extra ideas, and students often feel extremely positive about coursebooks, too.
For them, the coursebook is reassuring. It allows them to look forward and back, giving them a chance to prepare for what’s coming and review what they’ve done.
However, there’s the ever-present danger both teacher and students will get locked into he book, using its content as the only material which’s taken into the class, and always teaching and learning only in the way the book suggests.
In such circumstances, the book may become like a millstone around the necks of all concerned, endangering the engagement which a student-centred class may otherwise create.
As a result, some teachers take the decision to do without coursebooks altogether, a decision which may well be of benefit to their students if, and only if, they’ve the exp and time to proved a consistent programme of work on their own, and if they’ve a bank of materials to back up their ’no-coursebook’ decision.
Even teachers who’re enthusiastic coursebook users, however, need to see them as proposals for action, rather than instructions for action.
In other words, we can look at the possibilities the coursebook offers us and then decide between the options for coursebook use which we discussed at the start of this CH.
If teachers and students approach coursebooks in this light, and use them according to the criteria we suggested above, they’ll have a much more beneficial effect than if they’re followed slavishly.
However good a coursebook is, it only really comes to life when it’s used by students and teachers, and it’s they, not the book, who should determine exactly how and when the material is used.
Choosing coursebooks
At many stages during their careers, teachers have to decide what books to use. How should they do this, and on what basis will they be able to say one book is better or more appropriate than another?
The first thing we need to do is analyze the books under consideration to see how they compare with each other.
Probably the best way of doing this is to select areas which interest us (eg. layout and design, methodology, topics, etc), write short descriptions of how our ideal coursebook would deal with such areas, and then use these descriptions to see whether the books we’re looking at match up to them.
Alternatively, we can turn our descriptions into questions, as in the checklist below. It’s important to note here when teachers make their own questions, they may not be the same as those shown here.
The questions will always depend on the specific priorities of those who’re asking them. This checklist is, therefore, only an ex. of some possible questions.
Once we’ve analyzed the competing merits of different materials, and chosen the one or ones which most interest us, it’ll be important to pilot it - or parts of it - with a class so we can assess its strengths and weaknesses.
Before making our final choice, we’ll want to consult colleagues, and indeed anyone who has an opinion about the book(s) in question.
We need to be aware, of course of their differing teaching situations or competing publisher, author or methodology loyalties, but it’s always worth listening to what other people have to say.
Lastly, it’s always a good idea to let our students have a look at the two or three books we’re considering and ask their opinion on what looks best to them.
They may not make our decision for us, but their opinion can help us come to a final decision.
Possible areas for consideration Possible questions for coursebook analysis
Price and availability How much does the coursebook cost? Will students have to buy an extra material (workbook, etc)? Are all the components (coursebook, workbook, teacher’s guide, audio, etc) available? What about other levels? Is this good value for money? How much does the whole package (With all the components) cost?
Add-ons and extras Apart from a workbook, what other extras are offered with the course? Are there internet sites with extra material (exercises, texts, etc), or with ‘meeting places’ for users? What else does the publisher offer to support the course? What value should we place on the extras which’re available?
Layout and design Is the book attractive? Is its design appropriate (a) the students, and (b) the teacher? Does the design of the book make it easy to follow?
Instructions Are the instructions clear and unambiguous? Are they written in language which the students will understand? Can the coursebook be used by students working on their own, or is a teacher necessary to show them how to use it?
Methodology What kind of teaching and learning does the coursebook promote? Is there a good balance between study and activation? How do the authors appear to think people learn languages and do we agree with them?
Syllabus Is the syllabus appropriate for our students? Does it cover the language areas (grammar, vocab, functions, pronunciation, etc) which we’d expect? Do we and our students like the sequencing of language and topics, etc? Does the coursebook build in a feeling of progress?
Language skills Does the coursebook have the appropriate balance of skills? Is the skills work really designed to promote the skills (eg. Writing-for-writing, not writing-for-learning)? Are there possibilities for both study and activation in the skills areas? Are the skills activities likely to engage students?
Topics Does the book contain a variety of topics? On balance, are the topics appropriate for the kind of students who’ll be using the coursebook? Are the topics likely to engage the students?
Cultural appropriacy Is the material appropriate for the cultural situation which the students are in? Do the texts contain culturally insensitive material? Are the activities appropriate for the learning culture? Is the coursebook unprejudiced in the way it deals with different customs, ethnicities, races and sexes?
Teacher’s guide Does the coursebook have an accompanying teacher’s guide? Is it easy to use? Does it explain things clearly? Does it offer alternatives to the coursebook activities? Does it have all the answers which teachers and students need? Does it provide differentiated activities for fast and slow learners?
Descriptions into questions: a possible coursebook analysis checklist
CH12 Planning lessons
Reasons for planning Planning a sequence of lessons
A proposal for action After the lesson (and before the next)
Lesson shapes Planning questions
Plan formats
Reasons for planning
Some teachers with exp seem to have an ability to think on their feet, and this allows them to believe this lesson planning is unnecessary. However, most teachers don’t share this view and prepare their lessons.
The resulting lesson plans range from the very formal and elaborate to a few hurried notes, but even the notes are still a plan of a kind.
For students, evidence of a plan shows the teacher has devoted time to thinking about the class. It strongly suggests a level of professionalism and a commitment to the kind of research they may reasonably expect.
Lack of a plan may suggest the opposite of these teacher attributes, even if such a perception is unjustified. For teachers, a plan gives the lesson a framework, an overall shape.
It’s true they may end up departing from it at some stage of the lesson, but at the very least it’ll be something to fall back on.
Of course, good teachers are flexible and respond creatively to what happens in the class, but they also need to have thought ahead, to have a destination which they want their students to reach, and some idea of how they’re going to get there.
In the class, a plan helps to remind teachers what they intended to do - esp if they get distracted or momentarily forget what they had proposed.
There’s one particular situation in which planning is especially important, and this is when a teacher’s to be observed as part of an assessment or performance review.
Such plans are likely to be more elaborate than usual, not only for the sake of the teacher being observed, but also so the observer can have a clear idea of what the teacher intends in order to judge how well the intention’s carried through.
A proposal for action
Whatever lesson plans look like, they should never be thought of as instructions to be slavishly followed, but rather as proposals for action (in the same way as coursebook lessons - see above).
We may have an idea of what the learning outcomes for the lesson should be (which is, what the students will have learnt by the end), but we’ll only really know what those outcomes are once the lesson itself has finished.
How closely lesson plans are followed depends, in other words, on what happens when we try to put them to work.
Suppose, for ex., which the teacher has planned the students should prepare a dialogue and then act it out, after which there’s a reading text and some exercises for them to get through.
The teacher has allowed twenty minutes for dialogue prep and acting out, but when the students start working on this activity, it’s obvious they need more time. Clearly the plan will have to be modified.
A similar decision will have to be made if the class suddenly encounters an unexpected language problem in the middle of some planned sequence of activities.
The teacher can bypass the problem and keep going, or they can realize now is an ideal time to deal with the issue, and amend the plan accordingly.
Another scenario is also possible: all the students are working on preparing a dialogue except for two pairs who’ve already finished.
The teacher then has to decide whether to tell them to wait for the others to catch up (which may make them bored and resentful) or whether to stop the rest of the class to prevent this (which could frustrate all those who didn’t get a chance to finish).
There’re other unforeseen problems too: the tape/cd player or computer program suddenly doesn’t work; we forget to bring the material we’re relying on; the students look at the planned reading text and say ‘We’ve done this before’.
Good teachers need to be flexible enough to cope with unforeseen events, and it’s due to they knowing they may have to adapt to changing circumstances which they understand a lesson plan isn’t fixed in stone.
So far we’ve suggested teachers need to be flexible when confronted with unforeseen problems, but a happier scenario is also possible.
Imagine during a discussion phase a student suddenly says something really interesting, something which could provoke fascinating convo or suggest a completely unplanned (but appropriate and enjoyable) activity.
In such a situation - when this kind of magic moment suddenly presents itself - we’d be foolish to plough on with our plan regardless.
On the contrary, a good teacher will recognize the magic moment for what it’s and adapt what they’d planned to do accordingly.
Magic moments are precious, in other words, and shouldn’t be wasted only due to not knowing they’re going to happen.
There’ll always be a tension between what we had planned to do and what we actually do when magic moments or unforeseen problems present themselves.
It’s the mark of a good teacher to know when and how to deal with unplanned events, and how to balance a proposal for action with appropriate flexibility.
Lesson shapes
A good lesson needs to contain a judicious blend of coherence and variety. Coherence means students can see a logical pattern to the lesson.
Even if there’re three separate activities, for ex., there has to be some connection between them - or at the very least a perceptible reason for changing direction.
In this context, it’d not make sense to have students listen to an audio track, ask a few comprehension questions and then change the activity completely to something totally unrelated to the listening, and if the following activity only lasted for five minutes before, again, something completely different was attempted, we may well want to call the lesson incoherent.
Nevertheless, the effect of having a class do a 45-minute drill would be equally damaging. The lack of variety, coupled with the relentless of such a procedure, would militate against the possibility of real student engagement.
However present it may be at the start of the session, it’d be unlikely to be sustained. There has to be some variety in a lesson period. There’re other methodological reasons why a 45-minute drill is inappropriate, too.
Drilling concentrates only on the study aspect of our three ESA learning elements (see above). In effective lessons, the teacher has thought (and is thinking) carefully about the balance of engagement, study and activation, and how one can lead to the others in a variety of different sequences such as the straight arrows, boomerang and patchwork sequences we discussed in CH4.
The moment we think of lessons in this way, both variety and coherence are almost guaranteed. The ideal compromise, then, is to plan a lesson which has an internal coherence but which nevertheless allows students to do different things as it progresses.
Planning questions
Unless teachers walk towards a class with absolutely no idea about (or interest in) what’s going to happen when they get there, they’ll have thought about what they’re going to do.
These thoughts may be extremely detailed and formalized, or they may be vaguer and more informal. When we discuss plan formats seen below, we’ll see differences between more and less formal thinking of this kind, but in every case teachers will be answering seven fundamental questions when they decide what activities to take to a lesson.
Who exactly are the students for this activity?
The make-up of the class will influence the way we plan. The students’ age, level, cultural background and individual characteristics have to be taken into account when deciding what activities, texts or methodologies to use in the class.
This includes an understanding of the kinds of individual differences in learning style, for ex., which we discussed in CH1.
What do we want to do and why?
We have to decide what we want to do in the lesson in terms of both activities, skills and language. We also need to know why we want to do it.
It may be due to we liking the activity, or due to we thinking it’ll be appropriate for a particular day or group. There’s nothing wrong with deciding to do an activity simple due to we thinking it’ll make students feel good.
However, before deciding to use an activity only due to we or the students may like it, we need to try to predict what it’ll achieve.
What will students know, be able to do, understand or feel after the activity which they didn’t know, weren’t able to do, didn’t understand or feel before? What, in other words, is the learning outcome of the activity?
Ex.’s of what an activity may achieve include giving students a greater understanding of an area of vocab, providing them with better listening strategies, teaching them how to construction conditional sentences, improving their oral fluency or raising the morale of the group through appropriate cooperative interaction.
How long will it take?
Some activities which, at first glance, look very imaginative end up lasting for only a very short time. Others demand considerable setting-up time, discussion time, student-planning time, etc.
The students’ confidence in the teacher can be undermined if they never finish what they set out to do; students are frequently irritated when teachers run on after the bell has gone due to not having finished an activity.
Teachers, for their part, are made uncomfortable if they’ve overestimated the amount of time something may take and are thus left with time on their hands and no clear idea what to do.
There’s no absolute way of preventing such problems from occurring, of course but we should at least try to est how long each activity will take (based on our exp and knowledge of the class) so we can measure our progress as the lesson continues against our proposed ‘timetable’.
We can also plan for our material taking too little time by having some spare activities with us (see below). If we’ve built-in lesson stages in our plan, we can decide as the lesson progresses, where we may want to veer away from the plan if we see we have taken too much time over one particular element of it.
How does it work?
If we want to use the photo-choosing activity above, we need to know how we and our students are going to do it.
Who does what first? How and when should students be put in pairs or groups? When do we give instructions? What should those instructions be? What should we be doing while the students are working in groups?, etc.
Exp’d teachers may have procedures firmly fixed in their minds, but even they, when they try something new, need to think carefully about the mechanics of an activity.
What will be needed?
Teachers have to decide whether they’re going to sue the board, a cd or tape player, an overhead projector, a data projector, some role-cards or a computer(s).
It’s important to think about the best way of doing something (in other words, the most effective piece of class equipment - see Appendix A in last CH), rather than automatically choosing the most technologically exciting option.
It’s also important to consider the physical environment of the class itself and how this may affect whatever teaching equipment we wish to use.
What may go wrong?
If teachers try to identify problems which may arise in the lesson, they’re in a much better position to deal with them if and when they occur.
This’ll also give the teacher insight into the language and/or the activity which’s to be used. This isn’t to say we can predict everything which may happen.
Nevertheless, thinking around our activities - trying to put ourselves in the students’ minds, and gauging how they may react - will make us much more aware of potential pitfalls than we may otherwise be.
How will it fit in with what comes before and after it?
An activity on its own may be useful and engaging and may generate plenty of good language, but what connection, if any, does it have with the activities which come before and after it?
How does it fit into our need for the three ESA lesson elements? Is there a language tie-in to previous or future activities?
Perhaps two or three activities are linked by topic, one leading into the other (like the threads of a multi-lesson sequence - see below).
Perhaps an activity has no connection with the one before it: it’s there to break up the monotony of a lesson or act as a gear change.
Perhaps we may decide to start our lesson with a short icebreaker (sometimes called a warmer) for no other reason than to get the students in a good mood for the lesson which is to follow.
The point of answering this question for ourselves is to ensure we have some reasonable vision of the overall shape of our lesson and it’s not composed of unrelated scraps.
Plan formats
When making plans, some teachers write down exactly what they’re going to do and note down each sentence which the students are going to say.
Others use note-form hints to themselves (eg. ’T checks comprehension’) or only write ‘pairwork’ or ‘solowork’ or ‘whole class’, for ex., to describe they’re going to do something.
Some teachers write down notes with ordered paragraph headings, whereas others produce flow diagrams or random notes.
Some only write short headings like ‘going to’ or ‘photo activity’ or ‘Little Rock reading’ to remind them what to do, and of course there’re teachers working keep the whole plan in their heads.
This may be completely appropriate for them, of course, but won’t help anyone else (observers, possible sub teachers, etc) to know what they had in mind.
When teachers are observed - or when an institution asks for formal plans - the exact format of the plan may depend on the personal preferences of trainers, exam schemes or institutions (schools, colleges, etc).
However, in some form or other, the following elements (which match the kinds of questions we asked in the previous section) are usually included:
Description of the students: this includes anything from a general pic of the group (its level, age range, atmosphere, etc) to detailed descriptions of individual students (what they find easy or difficult, how they respond to different activities, etc).
Aims and objectives: we generally say what we hope to achieve; the more specific we are, the easier it’ll be for us - and anyone observing - to see whether or not we have achieved those aims.
Broad aims like ‘have a good time’ are bound to be less useful than ‘sensitive students to uses of pitch and intonation to indicate enthusiasm (or lack of it)’. Most lessons will have a series of primary and secondary aims.
Procedures: the meat of the plan is in the description of how it’ll be executed. The section on procedures can include patterns of interaction.
We may write T→ SS (for times when the teacher talks to the whole class), S→S (for pairwork) or SSS → SSS (for groupwork); or we could write ‘groups’, ‘pairs’, etc or record these patterns in some other way.
Frequently we’ll include timings as well, so we have some idea of how long we expect things to take. We’ll also include the actual procedures, such as ‘students look through the pics and match them with the phrases’.
Anticipated problems: teachers frequently make some kind of a list of potential difficulties - and suggestions about what to do if they arise.
They may consider what they’d do if a computer or other piece of equipment failed them - or if some other student - based eventuality occurred (such as the activity being a lot more difficult for the class than expected).
Extra activities / material (just in case): many teachers make a note of extra activities they could include if things go quicker than anticipated.
Material to be used in the lesson: esp when they’re to be observed, teachers attach ex.’s of the material they’re to use with the students to their plan.
Group: Date: Time: No. of students:
Recent topic: Recent language work:
Aims: (stated in input terms, ie. What the teacher intends to do)
Objectives: (stated in output terms, ie. what the students are expected to do)
Assessment:
Materials:
Anticipated problems:
Timing Teacher activity Student activity Success indicators Aims of the stage
Additional possibilities:
Homework/Further work:
Lesson plan blank
The actual form of a plan becomes important for teachers in training, esp when they’re about to be observed. In such circumstances, the plan format is dictated by the training program and the trainers who teach it.
The plan blank above, for ex., shows one such institutional template. There’re two elements in this template which we haven’t so far mentioned.
Firstly, there’s a column called Success indicators where the planner has to note down how they’ll be able to measure the success of what happens.
This forces the planner to focus on exactly how both teacher and students will know if something has worked, in other words, if the learning outcomes have been met.
There’s also a final heading for Homework/Further work which’ll show the planner thinking ahead beyond the actual lesson to be taught.
The (first page of a) completed lesson plan below shows how a different plan blank (from a different institution) may be filled in.
Notice this, in contrast to the plan blank above, there’s no column here for success indicators, but there’s a special column for Interaction (who’s interacting with who), since the trainer/designers perceive this as being of special significance.
Other trainers and schools may have their own formats, of course and they may look significantly different from the two templates shown here.
A lot will depend on the priorities of the training course - and perhaps the teaching qualification which the trainees are working towards.
There’s no one correct format, in other words, although of course trainees will almost certainly have to conform to the format which’s used on their particular training course.
To sum up: the purpose of a plan is to be as useful as possible to the people who’re going to use it (whether they’re the teachers themselves, their observers or an examination board).
This, in the end is what should guide the form in which teachers put their thoughts down on paper.
Planning a sequence of lessons
We have stressed the need for variety in class activities and teacher behavior as an antidote to student (and teacher) boredom.
This means, as we’ve seen, which when teachers plan a lesson, they build in changes in pace and a variety of different activities.
The same principles also apply to a sequence of lessons stretching, for ex., over two weeks or a month. Once again, students will want to see a coherent pattern of progress and topic-linking so which there’s a transparent connection between lessons, and so they can perceive some overall aims and objectives to their program of study.
Most find this preferable to a series of ‘one-off’ lessons. However, two dangers may prejudice the success of a sequence of lessons.
The first is predictability; if students know exactly what to expect, they’re likely to be less motivated than if their curiosity is aroused.
The second is sameness; students may feel less enthusiastic about today’s lesson if it start with exactly the same kind of activity as yesterday’s lesson.
Once again, however thinking about the three ESA learning elements will help us to avoid such problems. We recognize there’re many different ways of combining and sequencing the three elements, and our choice of how they should be sequenced will often depend upon the task, the level and age of the students and what exactly we want them to achieve.
According to Tessa Woodward in her book on planning (see the reference below), an ideal multi-lesson sequence has threads running through it.
These may be topic threads, language threads (grammar, vocab, etc) or skill threads (reading, listening, etc). Over a period of lessons students should be able to see some interconnectivity, in other words, rather than a random collection of activities.
The need for both coherence and variety is only as necessary in multi-lesson sequences as it’s in single lessons.
Seven Language and Culture SP Length of class: 150 minutes Level: basic
Book: World Link Intro A
Class profile There’re 13 students in this group, 5 men and 8 women. Most of them are between 16 and 25 years old. They’ve had little exposure to spoken English. They have had a few opportunities to speak English.
Timetable fit This is the second week of the course. Ss are being taken from a very basic level to the ability to manage simple convo such as: asking about names, talking briefly about occupations, greeting, asking and giving phone numbers, describing people, talking about locations, informal phone convos, and talking about current activities. In this class they’ll produce y/n questions with be, they will practise the vocab related to the family, which was introduced in the previous class, and they’ll be introduced to numbers and to the irregular form of the plural. Ss will also be provided with practice related to the new structures.
Terminal objective(s) 1 Ss will review the vocab learned in the previous lesson. 2 Ss will learn new vocab and grammar. 3 Ss will learn to say thank you.
TIME STAGE AIM ANTICIPATED PROCEDURES INTERACTION MATERIAL
PROBLEMS AND
SOLUTIONS
13’ Warm up Review P: Ss may have a hard time filling 1 tell Ss they T X sss Slips for
the adj’s in the slips. have to fill in Individual Ss to fill in
learned in S: circulate a lot during the the chart with Cocktail
the prev. activity and check if Ss are on their idea of
lesson in the right track. place, where it
a meaningful P: Ss may make mistakes during is and what it’s
context the practice. like.
5: encourage to correct 2. distribute the
themselves. handout to Ss.
3. Give then time to fill it in.
4. encourage
each S to talk
to another 3 Ss.
5. at the end,
Ss report their
findings as to what
place they’d like
to go on their holiday.
10’ Vocab
presentation Intro personal P: Ss may not understand 1. give Ss the group T X Poster
items meaning of a new piece of poster with the pics ssss Slips
vocab. and Ss to match the Individual Glue
S: encourage Ss to explain slips with the names
the definitions to each other. of the items.
2. Work on the pronun.
of each of the items (#
of syllables, stressed
syllables).
3. ask Ss to copy it into
their notebooks by
drawing as well.
10’ Grammar Intro the dif P: Ss may not understand the 1. Put the poster with Group Poster
practice between a instructions of the exercise. the personal items on T X sss Slips with
and an (indef- S: have a S who understood the floor and tell Ss the articles
invite articles) the instructions in English they’ll have to put Board
clarify the instructions in before each of them a Glue
Portuguese to the others. or an. The group should
agree on what to put
where and they should
be able to justify their
choices.
2. elicit the rule and put
it on the bb.
3. Ss copy the bb record.
Page 1 of a completed lesson plan
The following lesson notes show how three such threads (topic, grammar (tense) and a skill (reading)) can be woven into five consecutive classes:
Threads MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY
Animals Parts of cat’s Review + cat Review + cat Review & start Review & start fish verbs
vocab body words metaphors fish vocab
thread (10
mins each x)
Tenses Regular past Review + all Review + all Review + some Review & start ‘Did you…?’
thread (30 simple 1st persons negatives irregulars questions
mins each x) person
Reading Intro of a 1st two pgs Review and CH1 Study of past forms Oral summary of CH1 +
thread (20 graded + comp. qs in CH1 vocab in notebooks
mins each x) reader
Lesson threads
Perhaps the most important thing to remember, however, is this a long teaching sequence (eg. two weeks) is made up of shorter sequences (eg. six lessons) which’re themselves made up of smaller sequences (one or two per lesson perhaps), and at the level of a teaching sequence we have to ensure the present of our three elements, engage, study, and activate in their various permutations.
After the lesson (and before the next)
In the lesson plan blank above there’s a column labelled Success indicators, so teachers could work out how to judge if a lesson (or part of a lesson) had been a success.
Eval of how well things have gone (for both teacher and students) is vital if our lessons are to develop in response to our students’ progress.
In other words, we need to plan future lessons on the basis of what happened in previous classes. Not only this, but our decision about whether to use an activity more than once (or whether we need to change the way we use this activity) will depend on how successful it was the first time we tried it.
When we evaluate lesson or activities, we need to ask ourselves questions such as, Was the activity successful? Did the students enjoy it? Did they learn anything from it?
What exactly did they get from the activity? Unless we ask ourselves such questions, we’re in danger of continuing with activities and techniques which either don’t work, or at the very least, are not as successful as they may be with appropriate modification.
One kind of data which’ll help us evaluate lessons and activities is feedback from students. We may, for ex., ask them simple questions such as, ‘Did you like this exercise? Did you find it useful?’ and see what they say, but not all students will discuss topics like this openly in class.
It may be better to ask them to write their answers down and hand them in. A simple way of dong this is to ask students once every fortnight, for ex., to write down two things they want more of and two things they want less of.
The answers we get may prove a fruitful place to start a discussion, and we’ll then be able to modify what happens in class, if we think it appropriate, in the light of our students’ feelings.
Such modifications will greatly enhance our ability to manage the class. We can also give students special eval forms where they have to rate different activities with a score, or put them in some kind of order and then add comments about what they thought.
We may ask students to submit comments by email. Another way of getting reactions to new techniques is to invite a colleague into the class and ask them to observe what happens and make suggestions afterwards.
This kind of peer observation is most successful when both teachers discuss the content and practice of the lesson both before and after the observation.
It’s important the colleague who comes into our class does so in order to offer constructive advice rather than to concentrate on our apparent failings. The lesson could also be videoed.
This’lll allow us to watch the effect of what happened in the lesson with more objectivity than when we try to observe what’s happening as it takes place.
Some teachers keep journals in which they record their thoughts about what happened as soon as possible after the lesson has finished.
In this way they can read through their comments later and reflect on how they now feel about what happened. Good teachers also need to assess how well their students are progressing.
This can be done through a variety of measures including homework assignments, speaking activities where the teacher scores the participation of each student and frequent small progress tests (see CH13).
CH13 Testing
Reasons for testing students Marking tests
Good tests Designing tests
Test types
Reasons for testing students
At various stages during their learning, students may need or want to be tested on their ability in the English language.
If they arrive at a school and need to be put in a class at an appropriate level, they may do a placement test. This often takes the form of a # of discrete (indirect) items (see below), coupled with an oral interview and perhaps a longer piece of writing.
The purpose of the test is to find out not only what students know, but also what they don’t know. As a result, they can be placed in an appropriate class.
At various stages during a term or semester, we may give students progress tests. These have the function of seeing how students are getting on with the lessons, and how well they have assimilated what they’ve been taught over the last week, two weeks or a month.
At the end of a term, semester or year, we may want to do a final achievement test (sometimes called an exit test) to see how well students have learnt everything.
Their results on this test may determine what class they’re placed in next year (in some schools, failing students have to repeat a year), or may be entered into some kind of school-leaving certificate.
Typically, achievement tests include a variety of test types and measure the students’ abilities in all four skills, as well as their knowledge of grammar and vocab.
Many students enter for public exams such as those offered by the University of Cambridge ESOL, Pitman or Trinity College in the UK, and in the US, the Univ. of Michigan and TOEFL and TOEIC.
These proficiency tests are designed to show what level a student has reached at any one time, and are used by employers and universities, for ex., who want a reliable measure of a student’s language abilities.
So far in the CH we’ve been talking about testing in terms of ‘one-off’ events, usually taking place at the end of a period of time (except for placement tests).
These ‘sudden death’ events (where ability is measured at a particular point in time) are very different from continuous assessment, where the students’ progress is measured as it’s happening, and where the measure of a student’s achievement is the work done all through the learning period and not only at the end.
One form of continuous assessment is the language portfolio, where students collect ex.’s of their work over time, so these pieces of work can all be taken into account when an eval is made of their language progress and achievement.
Such portfolios (called dossiers in this case) are part of the CEF (Common European Framework), which also asks language learners to complete language passports (showing their language abilities in all the languages they speak) and language biographies (describing their exp’s and progress).
There’re other forms of continuous assessment, to which allow us to keep an eye on how well our students are doing.
Such continuous recording may involve, among other things, keeping a record of who speaks in lessons and how often they do it, how compliant students are with homework tasks and how well they do them, and also how well they interact with their classmates.
Some students seem to be well suited to taking progress and achievement tests as the main way of having their language abilities measured.
Others do less well in such circumstances and are better able to show their abilities in continuous assessment environments. The best solution is probably a judicious blend of both.
Good tests are those which do the job they’re designed to do and which convince the people taking & marking them they work. Good tests also have a positive rather than a negative effect on both students and teachers.
A good test is valid. This means it does what it says it will. In other words, if we say a certain test is a good measure of a student’s reading ability, then we need to be able to show this is the case.
There’s another kind of validity, too in how students and teachers see the test, they should think it looks like the real thing - it has a face validity.
As they sit in front of their test paper or in front of the screen, the students need to have confidence this test will work (even if they’re nervous about their own abilities).
However reliable the test is (see below) face validity demands the students think it’s reliable and valid. A good test should have marking reliability.
Not only should it be fairly easy to mark, but anyone marking it should come up with the same result as someone else.
However, since different people can (and do) mark differently, there’ll always be the danger where tests involve anything other than computer-storable questions, different results will be given by different markers.
For this reason, a test should be designed to minimize the effect of individual marking styles. When designing tests, one of the things we have to take into account is the practicality of the test.
We need to work out how long it’ll take both to sit the test and also to mark it. The test will be worthless if it’s so long no one has the time to do it.
In the same way, we have to think of the physical constraints of the test situation. Some speaking tests, esp for int’l exams, as not only for an examiner but also for an interlocutor (someone who participates in a convo with a student), but this is clearly not practical for teachers working on their own.
Tests have a marked washback/backwash effect, whether they’re public exams or institution-designed progress or achievement tests.
The washback effect occurs when teachers see the form of the test their students are going to have to take and then, as a result, start teaching for the test.
For ex., they concentrate on teaching the techniques for answering certain types of question rather than thinking in terms of what language students need to learn in general.
This is completely understandable since teachers want as many of their students as possible to pass the test. Indeed, teachers would be careless if they didn’t into their students to the kinds of test item they’re likely to encounter in the exam, but this doesn’t mean teachers should allow such test prep to dominate their lessons and deflect from their main teaching aims and procedures.
The washback effect has a negative effect on teaching if the test fails to mirror our teaching due to then being tempted to make our teaching fit the test, rather than the other way around.
Many modern public exams have improved greatly from their more traditional versions, so they often do reflect contemporary teaching practice.
As a result, the washback effect doesn’t have the baleful influence on teaching which we’ve been discussing. When we design our own progress and achievement tests, we need to try to ensure we’re not asking students to do things which’re completely different from the activities they’ve taken part in during our lessons.
This would clearly be unfair. Finally, we need to remember tests have a powerful effect on student motivation. Firstly, students often work a lot harder than normal when there’s a test or exam in sight.
Secondly, they can be greatly encouraged by success in tests, or conversely, demotivated by doing badly. For this reason, we may want to try to discourage students from taking public examinations they’re clearly going to fail, and when designing our own progress and achievement tests, we may want to consider the needs of all our students, not only the ones who’re doing well.
This doesn’t mean writing easy tests, but it does suggest when writing progress tests, esp, we don’t want to design the test so students fail unnecessarily - and are consequently demotivated by the exp.
Test types
When designing tests, we can either write discrete items, or ask students to become involved in more integrative language use.
Discrete-item testing means only testing one thing at a time (eg. testing a verb tense or a word), whereas integrative testing means asking students to use a variety of language and skills to complete a task successfully.
A further distinction needs to be made between direct and indirect test items. A direct test item is one which asks students to do something with language (eg. write a letter, read and reply to a newspaper article or take part in a convo).
Direct test items are almost always integrative. Indirect test items are those which test the students’ knowledge of language rather than getting them to use it.
Indirect test items may focus on say, word collocations (see above) or the correct use of modal verbs (see above).
Direct test items have more to do with activation, whereas indirect items are more closely related to study - which’s the construction of language.
Indirect test items
There’re many different ways of testing the students’ knowledge of language construction. We’ll look at three of the most common.
Multiple choice questions are those where students are given alternatives to choose from, as in the following ex.:
Circle the correct answer.
You must ____ here on time.
a to get b getting c to have get d get
Sometimes students are instructed to choose the correct answer (due to only one answer being possible), as in the ex. above, but sometimes, instead they can be told to choose the best answer (due to, although more than one answer being possible, one stands out as the most appropriate), eg.
Circle the best answer.
Police are worried about the level of ____ crime.
a juvenile b childish c young d infant
Multiple-choice questions have the great advantage of being easy to mark. Answer sheets can be read by computer, or can be marked by putting a transparency over the answer sheet which shows the circled correct letters.
Markers don’t have to worry, then, about the language in the questions; it’s simply a matter of checking the correct letters for each question.
One problem with multiple-choice questions lies in the choice of distractors, which is the three incorrect (or inappropriate) answers.
For while it may not be difficult to write one obvious distractor (eg. answer a ‘to get’ in the first ex. above), due to it being a mistake which students commonly make, it becomes less easy to come up with three items which will all sort out those students who know how this piece of language works from the ones who don’t.
In other words, there’s a danger we’ll either distract too many students (even those who should get the question right) or too few (in which case the question hasn’t done its job of differentiating students).
Multiple-choice questions can be used to test reading and listening comprehension (we can also use true/false questions for this: students circle ’T’ or ‘F’ next to statements concerning material they’ve read or listened to).
The washback effect of multiple-choice questions leads some people to find them unattractive, since training students to be good at multiple-choice questions may not help them to become better language learners, and there’s a limit to how much we can test with this kind of indirect item.
Nevertheless, multiple-choice questions are very attractive in terms of scorer reliability.
Fill-in and cloze
This extremely common form of indirect testing involves the examinee writing a word in a gap in a sentence or paragraph, eg.
Yesterday I went a ____ the cinema b ___ my friend Clare. I enjoyed the film c ____ she did not.
Gap-in (or fill-in) items like this are fairly easy to write, though it’s often difficult to leave a gap where only one item is possible. In such cases, we’ll need to be aware of what different answers we can accept.
They also make marking a little more complex, though we can design answer sheets where students only have to write the required word against different letters, eg.
a ____
b ____
c ____
A variation on fill-ins and gap-fills is the cloze procedure, where gaps are put into a text at regular intervals (say every sixth word).
As a result, without the test writer having to think about it too much, students are forced to produce a wide range of different words based on everything from collocation to verb formation, etc as in the following ex.
All around the world, students a____ all ages are learning to b ____ English, but their reasons for c____ to study English can differ d ____. Some students, of course, only e ____ English because it is on f____ curriculum at primary or secondary g____, but for others, studying the h ____ reflects some kind of a i ____.
The random selection of gaps (every sixth word) is difficult to use in all circumstances. Sometimes the sixth word will be impossible to guess - or will give rise to far too many alternatives (eg. gaps c and d above).
Most test designers use a form of modified cloze to counteract this situation, trying to adhere to some kind of random distribution (eg. making every sixth word into a blank), but using their common sense to ensure students have a chance of filling in the gaps successfully - and thus demonstrating their knowledge of English.
Transformation
In transformation items students are asked to change the form of words and phrases to show their knowledge of syntax and word grammar.
In the following test type they’re given a sentence and then asked to produce an equivalent sentence using a given word:
Rewrite the sentence so it means the same. Use the word in bold
Could I borrow five pounds, please?
lend__________
In order to complete the item successfully, the students not only have to know the meaning of borrow and lend, but also how to use them in grammatical constructions.
A variation of this technique is designed to focus more exactly on word grammar. Here, students have to complete lines in a text using the correct form of a given word, eg.
It was terrifying performance. terrify
The acrobats showed ___no fear even though absolute
their feats of ___ shocked the crowd into stunned silence. dare
These kinds of transformations work very well as a test of the students’ underlying knowledge of grammar and vocab. However, the items are quite difficult to construct. There’re many other kinds of indirect test item.
We can ask students to put jumbled words in order, to make correct sentences and questions. We can ask them to identify and correct mistakes or match the starts and ends of sentences.
Our choice of test item will depend on which, if any, of these techniques we’ve used in our teaching since it’ll always be unfair to give students test items unlike anything they’ve seen before.
Direct test items
In direct test items, we ask students to use language to do something, instead of only testing their knowledge of how the language itself works.
We may ask our students to write instructions for a simple task (such as using a vending machine or assembling a shelving system) or to give an oral mini-presentation.
There’s no real limit to the kinds of tasks we may ask students to perform. The following list gives some possibilities:
Reading and listening
Some reading and writing test items look a bit like indirect items (eg. when students are given multiple-choice questions about a particular word in a text, for ex., or have to answer T/F questions about a particular sentence), but at other times we may ask students to choose the best summary of what they’ve heard or read.
We may ask them to put a set of pics in order as they read or listen to a story, or complete a phone message form (for a listening task) or fill out a summary form (for a reading task).
Many reading and listening tests are a blend of direct and indirect testing. We can ask students direct language - or text-focused - questions as well as testing their global understanding.
Writing
Direct tests of writing may include getting students to write leaflets based on info supplied in an accompanying text, or having them write compositions, such as narrative and discursive essays.
We can ask students to write ’transactional letters’ (letters replying to an advert, or something they’ve read in the paper, etc). In transactional writing we expect students to include and refer to info they’re given.
Speaking
We can interview students, or we can put them win pairs and ask them to perform a number of tasks. These may include having them discuss the similarities and differences between two pics (see info-gap activities above); they may discuss how to furnish a room, or talk about any other topic we select for them.
We can ask them to role-play certain situations (see above), such as buying a ticket or asking for info in a shop, or we may ask them to talk about a pic we show them.
When designing direct test items for our students, we need to remember two crucial facts. The first is, as with indirect tests, direct tests should’ve items which look like the kind of tasks students have been practicing in their lessons.
In other words, there’s no point in giving students tasks which, due to they’re unfamiliar, confuse them. The result of this’ll be students can’t demo properly how well they can use the language, & this’ll make the test worthless.
Direct test items are much more difficult to mark than indirect items. This is due to our response to a piece of writing or speaking will almost certainly be very subjective unless we do something to modify this subjectivity.
We’ll now go on to look at how this can be done.
Marking tests
The marking of tests is reasonably simple if the markers only have to tick boxes or individual words (though even here human error can often creep in).
Things are a lot more complex, however, when we’ve to evaluate a more integrative piece of work. One way of marking a piece of writing, for ex., is to give it an overall score (say A or B, or 65%).
This’ll be based on our exp of the level we’re teaching & on our ‘gut-instinct’ reaction to what we read. This’ the way many essays are marked in various different branches of education & sometimes such marking can be highly appropriate.
However, ‘gut instinct’ is a highly subjective phenomenon. Our judgment can be heavily swayed by factors we’re not even conscious of.
All students will remember times when they didn’t understand why they got a low mark for an essay which looked remarkably similar to one of their classmates’ higher-scoring pieces.
There’re two ways of countering the danger of marker subjectivity. The first is to involve other people. When two or three people look at the same piece of work and, independently, give it a score, we can have more confidence in the eval of the writing than if only one person looks at it.
The other way of making the marking more objective is to use marking scales for a range of difference items. If we’re marking a student’s oral presentation, we may use the following scales:
0 1 2 3 4 5
Grammar
Vocab
Pronunciation
Coherence
Fluency
This kind of scale forces us to look at our student’s speaking in more detail than is allowed by an overall impressionistic mark.
It also allows for differences in individual performance: a student may get marked down on pronunciation, but score more highly on use of grammar, for ex.
As a result, the student’s final mark out of a total of 25 may reflect his or her ability more accurately than a one-mark impression will do, but we’re still left with the problem of knowing exactly why we should give a student 2 rather than 3 for pronunciation.
What exactly do students have to do to score 5 for grammar? What would make us give students 0 for fluency? Subjectivity is still an issue here (though it’s less problematic due to forcing ourselves to eval different aspects of the students’ performance).
One way of trying to make marking scales more objective is to write careful descriptions of what the different scores for each category actually represent. Here, for ex., is a scale for assessing writing, which uses descriptions.
5 Exemplary 4 Strong 3 Satisfactory 2 Developing 1 Weak
Ideas/Content Original treatment of Clear, interesting Evident main idea Some attempt at Writing lacks
ideas, well-developed ideas enhanced with some support but main a central idea;
from start to finish, by appropriate supporting details. topic may be too dev is minimal
focused topic with details. May have some general or confused or non-
relevant, strong irrelevant material, by irrelevant details. existent,
supporting detail. gaps in needed info. wanders.
Organization Effectively organised Structure moves Organisation is An effort has been A lack of
in a logical & the reader appropriate but made to organise structure
interesting way. Has a smoothly through conventional. the piece, but it makes this
creative & engaging the test. Well There’s an obv may be a list of piece hard to
intro & conclusion. organised with an attempt at an intro events. The intro follow. Lead
inviting intro & a & conclusion aren’t & conclusion & conclusion
satisfying closure. well-developed. aren’t well may be weak
developed or nonexistent.
Voice Passionate, compelling, Expressive, Pleasant but not Voice may be Writing tends to
full of energy & commit- engaging, sincere distinctive tone & mechanical, be flat or stiff.
ment. Shows emotion tone with good persona. Voice is artificial or Style doesn’t
& generates an emo- sense of audience. appropriate to inappropriate. suit audience or
tional response from the Writer behind the audience & Writer seems to purpose.
reader. words comes purpose. lack a sense of
through occasionally. audience.
Word Choice Carefully chosen words Word choice is Words may be Word choice’s Limited vocab
convey strong, fresh, functional & correct but monotonous; range.
vivid images consistantly appropriate with mundane; writing may be
throughout the piece. some attempt at uses patterns of repetitious or
description; may convo rather than immature.
overuse adj’s & book language &
adverbs structure.
Sentence Fluency High degree of The piece has an The writing shows Many similar No real
craftsmanship; easy flow & rhythm some general sentence starts sentence
control of rhythm & with a good variety sense of rhythm & and patterns sense - may
flow so the writing of sentence length flow, but many with little sense ramble or
sounds almost & structures. sentences follow of rhythm; sound choppy
musical to read aloud. a similar structure. sounds choppy to read aloud.
Variation in sentence to read aloud.
length & forms adds May have many
interest & rhythm. short sentences
or run-ons.
Conventions The writing contains Generally, the Occasional errors The writing Errors in
few, if any, errors in writing is free from are noticeable but suffers from conventions
conventions. The errors, but there minor. They writer more frequent make the
writer shows control may be occasional uses conventions errors, inappro- writing diff-
over a wide range of errors in more with enough skill priate to the icult to follow.
conventions for this complex words & to make the paper grade level, but The writer
grade level. sentence constructions. easily readable. a reader can seems to
still follow it. know some
conventions,
but confuse
many more.
A marking scale for writing
This framework suggests the students’ writing will be marked fairly and objectively, but it’s extremely cumbersome, and for teachers to use it well, they’ll need training and familiarity with the different descriptions provided here.
When marking tests - esp progress tests we design ourselves - we need to strike a balance between totally subjective one-mark-only eval on the one hand, and over-complexity in marking-scale frameworks on the other.
Designing tests
When we write tests for our classes, we need to bear in mind the characteristics of good tests which we discussed above.
We’ll think very carefully about how practical our tests will be in terms of time (including how long it’ll take us to mark them).
When writing progress tests, it’s important to try to work out what we want to achieve, esp since the students’ results in a progress test will have an immediate effect on their motivation.
As a consequence, we need to think bout how difficult we want the test to be. Is it designed so only the best students will pass, or should everyone get a good mark?
Some test designers, esp for public exams, appear to have an idea of how many students should get a high grade, what percentage of examinees should pass satisfactorily, & what an acceptable failing percentage would look like.
Progress tests shouldn’t work like this, however. Their purpose is only to see how well the students have learnt what they’ve been taught.
Our intention, as far as possible, should be to allow the students to show us what they know and can do, not what they don’t know and can’t do.
When designing tests for our classes, it’s helpful to make a list of the things we want to test. This list may include grammar items (eg. the present continuous) or direct tasks (eg. sending an email to arrange a meeting).
When we’ve made our lists, we can decide how much importance to give to each item. We can then reflect these different levels of importance either by making specific elements take up most of the time (or space) on the test, or by weighting the marks to reflect the importance of a particular element.
In other words, we may give a writing task double the marks of an equivalent indirect test item to reflect our belief in the importance of direct test types. When we’ve decided what to include, we write the test.
It’ll be much more sensible to show the test to colleagues (who frequently notice things we hadn’t thought of) first.
If possible, it’s a good idea to try the test out with students of roughly the same level as the ones it’s designed for.
This will show us if there’re any items which’re more difficult (or easier) than we thought, and it’ll highlight any items which’re unclear - or which cause unnecessary problems.
Finally, once we’ve given the test and marked it, we should see if we need to make any changes to it if we’re to use some or all of it again. It’s not always necessary to write our own tests, however.
Many coursebooks now include test items or test generators which can be used instead of home-grown versions.
However, such tests may not take account of the particular situation or learning exp’s of our own classes.
CH14 What if?
What if students are all at different levels? What if students don’t want to talk?
What if the class is very big? What if students don’t understand the audio track?
What if students keep using their own language? What if some students finish before everybody else?
What if students don’t do homework?
What if students are uncooperative?
What if students are all at different levels?
One of the biggest problems teachers face is classes where the students are at different levels - some with quite competent English, some whose English isn’t very good, and some whose English is only getting started.
Even if things aren’t quite so extreme, teachers of English - along with teachers of other curriculum subjects - regularly face mixed-ability groups where different individuals are at different levels & have different abilities.
What then are the possible ways of dealing with the situation?
Use different materials/technology
When teachers know who the good and less good students are, they can form different groups. While one group is working on a piece of language study (eg. the past continuous), the other group may be reading a story or doing internet-based research.
Later, while the better group or groups are discussing a topic, the weaker group or groups may be doing a parallel writing exercise, or sitting around a cd player listening to an audio track.
This is an ex. of differentiation - in other words, treating some students differently from others. In schools where there’re self-study facilities (a study centre or separate rooms), the teacher can send one group of students off to work there in order to concentrate on another.
Provided the self-study task is purposeful, the students who go out of the class will not feel cheated. If the self-study area’s big enough, of course it’s an ideal place for different-level learning.
While one group is working on a grammar activity in one corner, two other students can be watching a dvd; another group again can be consulting an encyclopedia while a different set o students is working at a computer screen.
Do different tasks with the same material/technology
Where teachers use the same material with the whole class, differentiation can still take place. We can encourage students to do different tasks depending on their abilities.
A reading text can have sets of questions at three different levels, for ex. The teacher tells the students to see how far they can get: the better ones will quickly finish the first two sets and have to work hard on the third.
The weakest students may not get past the first set. In a language study exercise, the teacher can ask for simple repetition from some students, but ask others to use the new language in more complex sentences.
If the teacher is getting students to give answers or opinions, she can make it clear one word will do for some students whereas longer and more complex contributions are expected from others.
In role-plays and other speaking or group activities, she can ensure students have roles or functions which are appropriate to their level.
Ignore the problem
It’s perfectly feasible to hold the belief, within a heterogeneous group, students will find their own level. In speaking and writing activities, for ex., the better students will probably be more daring; in reading and listening, they’ll understand more completely and more quickly.
However, the danger of this position is students may either be bored by the slowness of their colleagues or frustrated by their inability to keep up.
Use the students
Some teachers adopt a strategy of peer help and teaching so better students can help weaker ones. They can work with them in pairs or groups, explaining things or providing good models of language performance in speaking and writing.
Thus, when teachers put students in groups, they can ensure weak and strong students are put together. However, this has to be done with great sensitivity so students don’t feel alienated by their over-knowledgable peers or oppressed by their obligatory teaching role.
Many teachers, faced with students at different levels, adopt a mix of solutions such as the ones we’ve suggested here. However, it’s vitally important this is done in a supportive and nonjudgmental manner.
Students shouldn’t be made to feel in any way inferior, but rather should’ve the benefits of different treatment explained to them.
Furthermore, we should be sensitive to their wishes so if they don’t want to be treated differently, we should work either to persuade them of its benefits or, perhaps accede to their wishes.
What if the class is very big?
In big classes, it’s difficult for the teacher to make contact with the students at the back and it’s difficult for the students to ask for and receive individual attention.
It may seem impossible to organise dynamic and creative teaching and learning sessions. Frequently, big classes mean it’s not easy to have students walking around or changing pairs, etc.
Most importantly, big classes can be quite intimidating for inexperienced teachers. Despite the problems of big classes, there’re things which teachers can do.
Use worksheets
One solution is for teachers to hand out worksheets for many of the tasks which they’d normally do with the whole class, if the class was smaller.
When the feedback stage is reached, teachers can go through the worksheets with the whole group - and all the students will get the benefit.
Use pairwork and groupwork
In large classes, pairwork and groupwork play an important part since they maximize student participation. Even where chairs and desks can’t be moved, there’re ways of doing this:
first rows turn to face second rows, third rows to face fourth rows, etc.
In more technologically equipped rooms, students can work round computer screens. When using pairwork and groupwork with large groups, it’s important to make instructions esp clear, to agree how to stop the activity (many teachers only raise their hands until students notice them and gradually quieten down) and to give good feedback.
Use chorus reaction
Since it becomes difficult to use a lot of individual repetition and controlled practice in a big group, it may be more appropriate to use students in chorus.
The class can be divided into two halves - the front five rows and the back five rows, for ex., or the left-hand and right-hand sides of the class.
Each row/half can then speak a part in a dialogue, ask or answer a question, repeat sentences or words. This is esp useful at lower levels.
Use group leaders
Teachers can enlist the help of a few group leaders. They can be used to hand out copies, check everyone in their group (or row or half) has understood a task, collect work and give feedback.
Think about vision and acoustics
Big classes are often (but not always) in big rooms. Teachers should ensure what they show or write can be seen and what they say or play to the whole group can be heard.
Use the size of the group to your advantage
Big groups have disadvantages of course, but they also have one main advantage - they’re bigger, so humor, for ex., is funnier, drama is more dramatic, a good class feeling is warmer and more enveloping.
Exp’d teachers use this potential to organise exciting and involving classes. No one chooses to have a large group: it makes the job of teaching even more challenging than it already is.
However, some of the suggestions above will help to turn a potential disaster into some kind of a success.
What if students keep using their own language?
In CH3 we discussed situations in which using the students’ L1 (their mother tongue) in class may be both sensible and beneficial.
However, there’re also occasions in which students use their native language rather than English to perform class tasks, such as having a discussion or doing an English-language role-play, and in such circumstances the use of the L1 is less appropriate.
If we want students to activate their English, they won’t be helped if they talk in a different language instead. When students use their L1 in such circumstances, they often do so due to they wanting to communicate in the best way they can and so, almost without thinking, they revert to their own language, but however much we sympathize with this behavior, the need to have students practicing English in such situations remains paramount, and so we’ll need to do something to make it happen.
Here’re some ways of doing this:
Talk to them about the issues
Teachers can discuss with students how they should all feel about using English and/or their own language in the class.
Teachers should try to get their students’ agreement which overuse of their own language means they’ll have less chance to learn English; which using their own language during speaking activities denies them chances for rehearsal and feedback.
Encourage them to use English appropriately
Teachers should make it clear there’s not a total ban on the students’ own language - it depends on what’s happening.
In other words, a little bit of the students’ native language when they’re working on a reading text isn’t much of a problem, but a speaking exercise will lose its purpose if not done in English.
Only respond to English use
Teachers can make it clear by their behavior which they want to hear English. They can ignore what students say in their own language.
Create an English environment
Teachers themselves should speak English for the majority of the time so, together with the use of listening material and video, the students are constantly exposed to how English sounds and what it feels like.
Some teachers anglicize their students’ names too.
Keep reminding them
Teachers should be prepared to go round the class during a speaking exercise encouraging, cajoling, even pleading with the students to use English - and offering help if necessary.
This technique, often repeated, will gradually change most students’ behavior over a period of time.
What if students don’t do homework?
We know homework is good for students. After all, the more time they spend working with English, the better they get at it. Yet homework is often a dispiriting affair.
Teachers sometimes give out homework tasks with no special enthusiasm, students don’t always do it and teachers don’t esp enjoy marking it. In some schools, systems have been developed to deal with this situation.
Students all have a homework ‘diary’ in which they have to write their homework tasks, and whether or not they’ve done them.
Their parents have to sign off their homework diaries at the end of the week so there’s some hope they’ll ensure their sons and daughters do the required tasks.
It’s more difficult when students are older, however. Here we can’t rely on parents to help out.
Ask the students
We can ask the students what they think about homework and get their agreement about how much we should ask for.
We can find out what their interests are, and try to ensure we set homework tasks which’re relevant to them (not only in terms of their interests, but also in terms of what they’re studying).
A recounted situation in which a teacher got her students to say what their ideas of useful and appropriate homework were.
She then used the results to set homework assignments, and the outcome was many more students did the homework tasks with something like enthusiasm - an enthusiasm she shared when correcting their work.
Make it fun
Some students think homework will always be set by the teacher on a Friday afternoon, and it’ll always be the same kind of task (an exercise from a workbook, for ex.).
Such students are much more likely to be engaged if the tasks are varied, and if the teacher tries to make them fun. We can give out homework tasks in envelopes or send them in emails.
We can have students do some serious things, yes but include some slightly crazy tasks too. Homework will then become something which students want to be involved in.
Respect homework
Some teachers have difficulty in working up any enthusiasm for setting and marking homework, and students sense this.
It’s especially inappropriate if they give homework in on time but the teacher keeps forgetting to mark it and hand it back.
Students need to know which the effort they make in doing the tasks will be reciprocated by the teacher.
Make post-homework productive
Students are unlikely to develop much respect for the teacher’s comments if, when marked homework is handed back, they’re not encouraged to look at the feedback to see how they may make corrections.
Left to their own devices, they may well only glance at the comments - or a grade they’ve been given - before putting the work into some folder, never to be looked at again.
We need to change this behavior by ensuring not only the feedback we give on homework is useful, but also students are encouraged to correct their mistakes and learn from them before putting the returned homework away.
We need to provide opportunities for them to react to suggestions we make on their homework or to discuss the task which was set in the light of our comments.
It’s often a good idea to get students to correct each other’s homework, provided this is done in a supportive and cooperative way.
What if students are uncooperative?
As we saw above in previous CH, all teachers are nervous about the possibility their students will start behaving badly. We need to have some idea about what to do when this happens.
Problem behavior can take many forms: constant chattering in class, not listening to the teacher, disengagement from what’s going on (a kind of passive resistance), blunt refusal to do certain activities or to do what they’re told, constant lateness and even rudeness.
These are the occasions when we, as teachers, need to draw on our reserves of professionalism in a clear and cool-headed way. There’re a number of ways teachers can react to problem behavior.
Remember it’s ‘just a job’
When students behave badly, esp when this involves rudeness or obstinacy, we often feel very hurt and tend to see their behavior as a personal attack.
This makes reacting to what’s happening very difficult, but teaching is a job, not a lifestyle, and in order to act professionally, we need to be able to stand back from what’s happening so we can react dispassionately, rather than taking instant decisions in the heat of the moment.
In other words, we need to keep calm, and respond as objectively as we can. Instead of interpreting the behavior as an attack on us as people, we need to view it as something ‘the teacher’ has to deal with.
Of course this easier said than done, but some kind of emotional detachment will always be more successful than reacting emotionally.
Deal with the behavior, not the student
When we lose our objectivity, it’s sometimes easy to criticize the students who’re exhibiting problem behavior by using sarcasm or insults, or humiliating them in some other way, but this will not help the situation since it’ll only cause greater resentment, and anyway, it’s not the student we want to stop, but the problem behavior itself.
When problem behavior occurs, therefore, we need to act immediately and stop it from continuing. As far as possible, we need to deal with the student or students who are causing difficulties by talking to them away from the whole class.
Such face-to-face discussion has a much greater chance of success than a public confrontation in front of all the other students. It’s also helpful to find out why the student is behaving uncooperatively.
For ex., if students are always arriving late, we need to find out why they arrive late so often, and keep a check on how often this occurs.
It may be necessary to impose some kin of sanction on persistent latecomers (such as excluding them from the lesson if they arrive more than, say ten minutes late), or not allowing them to take part in some class activities or tests.
However, our objective should always be to try to identify the problem and see if we can resolve it without having to take such measures.
Be even-handed
The way we deal with problem behavior has an effect not only on the student who’s causing trouble, but also on the whole class.
All the students watch how we react to uncooperative students and come to their own conclusions about how effective we are.
If the class sees sarcasm used as a weapon, their respect for the teacher’s professionalism may be diminished.
If they see on e student getting away with behavior which others are punished for, they’ll resent such favoritism.
For the same reason, students need to be clear about what actions we’ll take if and when problem behavior occurs. They then need to see such action being carried out when it happens.
They’ll be confused if we react to the behavior on some occasions but not others.
Go forward
The best way to deal with problem behavior is to work out what’ll happen next. Rather than focusing only on what a student has done, we need to see how their behavior can be improved in the future.
We can change the activity, for ex., or reseat students rather than discussing exactly who did what and when. We can ask for future good behavior so the student knows what happens in the future is the most important thing.
Use any means of communication
We can talk to students individually. We can discuss the problem via email, or send ‘letter’ to the class explaining the problem and asking them to reply if they’ve anything they need or want to say.
Enlist help
Teachers shouldn’t have to suffer on their own! They should talk to colleagues and, if possible, get a friend to come and observe the class to see if they notice things the teacher themself isn’t aware of.
Finally, of course, they may need to rely on higher authority and the school or institute’s behaviour policy.
Prevention or cure?
It’s always better to preempt problem behavior so it never takes place than to have to try to react to it when it does.
One of the ways of doing this is to agree on behavior standards with the class at the start of a semester.
This may involve making a language-learning contract in which both teacher and students say what they expect and what is unacceptable.
If the students have had a hand in deciding what the rules should be (if they’ve some agency in the decisions - see above different CH), they’re much more likely to recognize problem behavior when it occurs and, as a result, stop doing it when they’re reminded of their original decisions.
What if students don’t want to talk?
Many teachers have come across students who don’t seem to want to talk in class. Sometimes this may have to do with the students’ own characters.
Sometimes it’s due to there are other students who dominate and may even intimidate. Sometimes it’s due to students are simply not used to talking freely in a class setting.
Perhaps they suffer from a fear of making mistakes and therefore ‘losing face’ in front of the teacher and their colleagues. Whatever the reason, it makes no sense to try forcing such students to talk.
It’ll probably only make them more reluctant to speak. There’re other much better things to try.
Use pairwork
Pairwork (and groupwork) will help to provoke quiet students into talking. When they’re with one or perhaps two or three other students, they’re not under so much pressure as they are when asked to speak in front of the whole class.
Allow them to speak in a controlled way at first
Asking quiet students for instant fluency will probably be unsuccessful. It’s better to do it in stages. For ex., the teacher can dictate sentences which the students only have to fill in parts of before reading them out.
Thus, the teacher dictates ‘One of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen is…’ and the students have to complete it for themselves.
They then read out their sentences, eg. ‘One of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen is Mount Fuji at sunset’, etc.
In general, it Amy be a good idea at first, to let students write down what they’re going to say before they say it, and then once they’ve read out their sentences, the teacher or other students can ask them follow-up questions.
Psychologically, they’re more likely to be able to respond.
Use ‘acting out’ and reading aloud
Getting students to act out dialogues is one way of encouraging quiet students. However, acting out doesn’t only mean reading aloud.
The teacher has to work with the students like a drama coach, working out when the voice should rise and fall, where the emphasis goes, what emotion the actor should try to convey.
When the student then acts out the role, the teacher can be confident it’ll sound good.
Use role-play
Many teacher have found quiet students speak more freely when they’re playing a role, when they’re not having to be themselves.
The use of role-cards (see above) allows students to take on a new identity, one in which they can behave in uncharacteristic ways. It can be very liberating.
Use recording
If teachers have time, they can tell students to record what they’d like to say, outside the lesson. The teacher then listens to the tape and points out possible errors.
The student now has a chance to produce a more correct version when the lesson comes round, thus avoiding the embarrassment (for them) of making mistakes.
What if students don’t understand the audio track?
Sometimes, despite the best judgement of the teacher (or the materials designer), listening material seems to be too difficult for students to understand. However many times the teacher plays the track, it doesn’t work.
The teacher then abandons the activity and everyone loses face. There’re a number of alternatives to this scenario which can help.
Preview interview questions
Students can be given the questions of an interview and are encouraged to role-play what may be said before listening to it. This’ll have great predictive power.
Use ’jigsaw listening’
Different groups can be given different audio excerpts (either on tape or cd, or - for some of them - as audioscripts).
When the groups hear about each other’s extracts, they can get the whole pic by putting the ‘jigsaw’ pieces together.
One task only
Students can be given a straightforward task which doesn’t demand too much detailed understanding. For ex., we can get them to describe the speaker on the recording - the sound of the voice will suggest sex, age, status, etc.
Such an activity offers the possibility of success, however difficult the listening passage.
Play a/the first segment only
Instead of playing the whole recording, teachers can only play the first segment and then let students predict what’s coming next. Our third ex. in CH10 (see above) was a version of this.
Play the listening in chunks
Break the audio track into manageable chunks so students understand the content of a part of it before moving on to the next one.
This can make listening less stressful, and help students to predict what the next chunk will contain.
Use the audio script
There’re three ways of using the audio script to help students who’re having difficulty. In the first place, we can cut the script into bits. The students put the bits in the right order as they listen.
Secondly, we can let the students see the first part of the audioscript before they listen. They’ll then know what the listening text is going to be about.
Finally, the students can read the audio script before, during and after they listen. The audioscript can also have words or phrases blanked out.
Use vocab prediction
We can give students ‘key’ vocab before they listen. They can be asked to predict what the recording will be about and, due to they now knowing some of the words, they’ll probably understand more.
Have students listen all the time
Encourage students to carry listening extracts in their car or on their mp3 players. Get them to listen to the news in English on the radio or internet as often as possible and to try to understand only the main points.
Remind them the more you listen, the easier it gets.
What if some students finish before everybody else?
When teachers put students in groups and ask them to complete a task - designing a poster, discussing a reading text, etc - they can be sure some groups will finish before others.
If the activity has a competitive element (for ex., who can solve a problem first), this isn’t a worry, but where no such element is present, we’re put in a quandary:
should we stop the activity (which means not letting some finish) or let the others finish (which means boring the people who finished first)?
As in so many other cases, common sense has to prevail here. If only one group finishes way before the others, we can work with this group or provide them with some extra material.
If only one group is left without having finished, we may decide to stop the activity anyway - due to the rest of the class shouldn’t be kept waiting.
One way of dealing with the problem is for the teacher to carry around a selection of spare activities - little worksheets, puzzles, readings, etc - which can be done quickly and which will keep the early-finishing students happy until the others have caught.
Another solution is to plan extensions to the original task so if groups finish early, they can do extra work on it.
TASK FILE
Intro
• The exercises int his section all relate to topics discussed in the relevant CH. Some expect definite answer, while others ask only for the reader’s ideas and opinions.
• Tutors can decide when it’s appropriate to use tasks in this section. Readers on their own can work on the tasks at any stage in their reading of the book.
• An answer key (below) is provided after the Task File for those tasks where it’s possible to provide specific or suggested answers.
• The symbol 🗝️ beside an exercise indicates which answers are given for the exercise in the answer key.
• The material in the Task File can be photocopied for use in limited circumstances. Please see the notice on the back of the title page for photocopying restrictions.
Two task types recur frequently in the task files:
The A & D chart: A & D (advantages & disadvantages) charts are often suggested to discuss the relative merits of a technique, idea or activity.
Where the A & D charts refer to one topic (eg. Using authentic listening texts at any level - see below), should’ve two columns.
Advantages of using authentic listening Disadvantages of using authentic listening
texts at any level texts at any level
But where the A & D charts refer to different topics (eg. different student groupings, such as ‘whole class’, ‘pairwork’, etc) they should’ve three columns.
Advantages Disadvantages
Whole-class grouping
Groupwork
Pairwork
Solowork
Jargon buster(s): ask you to say what you understand by certain terms and what their relevance is to teaching.
You can then check in the appropriate CH and/or check the glossary (below), where you’ll find further explanations to compare with your own understanding.
Your definition Relevance for language learning/teaching
Neuro-Linguistic
Programming (NLP)
Multiple Intelligences theory
(MI)
Learning by rote
Learning by doing
TASK FILE
CH1: Learners
A Reasons for learning 🗝️
Match the student needs on the left with the terms on the right.
a I have to be able to write projects i General English
(and my thesis) in English.
b I need to learn English so I can ii English for Academic Purposes
work as a nurse in English-speaking
contexts.
c I think English is an important int’l iii English for Specific Purposes
language & so I’d like to learn it in case
I need it.
d We cam to this country as refugees and iv Business English
we want to make a success of our lives
here.
e We’re trying to establish commercial links Target-language community interaction
with int’l trading partners so I need to improve
my English.
B Different contexts for learning 🗝️
Read the following descriptions and say which learning context (in the box) they refer to.
English lessons at secondary In-company teaching Large classes
One-to-one teaching Private language school Virtual learning
a Even though students may not be physically present, there’re still issues of students motivation & learning
management to be dealt with.
b It’s vital to find out exactly what your student needs and enter into a dialogue with him or her about the
content of the lessons.
c The job of the teacher’s to ignore the fact students have to be there and instead treat all lessons as
something special.
d We have to find techniques which’ll allow students some individual work or pairwork to counteract the
problem of numbers.
e We prefer teachers to come to us. This way our employees lose less time.
f We try to keep class sizes down to a max of ten. Our clients expect it.
C Learner differences 🗝️
1 Make an A & D chart (see above) for teaching children, adolescents, and adults
2 Who do you think is being described in these ex.’s? Put C = children, A = adolescents, Ad = adults or ? = don’t know in the boxes.
a A small group of students come to see you and say they’re finding learning English
much more difficult than they’d hoped. They want to stop the classes. 🔲
b After a lesson, a group of students come to see you and say, ‘We don’t like the way
you’re teaching. We want more grammar.’ 🔲
c One of the students’ favourite activities is the chanting of rhythmic sentences to
develop good pronunciation. 🔲
d Students get really excited when you offer to let them sing a song. 🔲
e Students play tricks such as hiding under desks and giving the wrong names when
you’re taking the register. 🔲
f When you arrive late for class, some of the students are quietly getting on with their
work. 🔲
g When you ask a student to come out to the front of the class to take part in a demo,
he’s extremely reluctant to do so due to he being so nervous. 🔲
h You get students in groups to play a board game adapted from a general knowledge
quiz. They’re reluctant to play the game. 🔲
i You get students to write poems on the subj of friendship and you’re surprised and
moved by their work. 🔲
3 What level are these activities appropriate for? Put B = beginner, I = intermediate or A = advanced in the boxes. Some may be appropriate for more than one level.
a 🔲 Students write and assemble the front page of an imaginary newspaper with stories you’ve given them
and others they make up.
b 🔲 Students listen to a dialogue between a railway official and a tourist asking for info.
c 🔲 Students listen to an interview with an actor talking about how she got started.
d 🔲 Students practise intro-ing themselves with language such as ‘Pleased to meet you’, ‘Hello, my name’s
Karen’.
e 🔲 Students practise repeating/saying words with the /æ/ sound, eg. ‘cab’, ‘sand’, ‘bat’, ‘and’, ‘at’, etc.
f 🔲 Students put together a radio commercial for a new kind of shoe.
g 🔲 Students report back on an unsimplified work of English-language fiction.
h 🔲 Students role-play choosing a dress in a clothes store.
i 🔲 Students watch a video of a documentary about global warming.
Jargon buster
Copy the chart with your own definitions for the following terms (column 1) and explain their relevance to teaching (column 2).
Your definition Relevance to language learning/teaching
Neuro-Linguistic
Programming (NLP)
Multiple Intelligences
theory (MI)
Learning by rote
Learning by doing
Extrinsic motivation
Intrinsic motivation
Affect
Agency
Learner autonomy
TASK FILE
CH2: Teachers
A Describing good teachers
1 Think of two good teachers from your past. What personal qualities do/do they share?
2 Rate the following teacher qualities in order of importance (1-10).
🔲 They are adaptable.
🔲 They’re even-handed in their treatment of students.
🔲 They’re good-looking.
🔲 They care about their students.
🔲 They dress well.
🔲 They give interesting lessons.
🔲 They know their subj.
🔲 They listen to their students.
🔲 They prepare well.
🔲 They use new tech
Add two more qualities you think are important.
a …………………………..
b …………………………..
B Who teachers are in class 🗝️
1 Do you agree with the following paragraph? Why? Why not?
‘Good teachers plan their classes minutely so everything they do is prearranged. Once they’re in the class, they follow their plan without deviation, always watching out for irrelevancies which the students may bring up and which would disrupt the plan.’
2 Match the descriptions on the left with the teacher roles on the right.
a Students make appts to talk to the teacher about their progress. i assessor
b The teacher is explaining something to the class. ii controller
c The teacher is telling students how correct (or incorrect) their language iii prompter
use is.
d The teacher makes herself available to answer any questions/supply
info while students are working on a task in groups. iv resource
e The teacher wants to help the students along during a fluency activity
(where their convo is faltering a bit). v tutor
C Rapport
Rewrite the following statement so it accurately reflects your own opinion.
‘It’s easy to create good rapport with your students; all you have to do is to be entertaining and give them something interesting to do.’
D Teacher skills 🗝️
Make an A & D chart (see above) for the following approaches to students’ names.
a Class seating plan
b Name badges
c Name cards on the desk
d Not using students’ names (due to not being able to learn them all)
e Students always say their names when they ask a question or when you ask them to do something.
f Write notes about appearance/attitude, etc against the students’ names in the class register.
E Teacher knowledge
Complete the chart.
In use when I I use this in my I have never used Usefulness rating
was at school/uni daily life (give this (or been taught o (= useless)
details) using this) to 5 (= fantastic)
Black/whiteboard
CD player
Computer
Data projector
DVD player
Interactive whiteboard
Language lab
Overhead projector
Tape recorder
Video machine
Jargon buster
Copy the chart with your own definitions for the following terms (column 1) and explain their relevance to teaching (column 2).
Your definition Relevance to language learning/teaching
Magic moments
Learning outcome
Learner role
Monolingual learners’
dic (MLD)
Podcast
Blog
TASK FILE
CH3: Managing the class
A The teacher in the class
Using the voice
Give a rating of 1 (= just right) to 5 (= absolutely terrible) for a teacher you remember well.
appearance general presence in class
audibility movement
clarity vocal quality
• In the case of a low score, explain your reasons.
• Now score yourself as you are or are likely to be.
B Talking to students
Giving instructions 🗝️
1 Put a tick (✓) in the boxes if you think the instructions are good.
🔲 Teacher: Now I want you to work in pairs… yes (gesturing) … that’s right … you two… you two…you two.
Good. Now listen carefully. I want you to read this text (holding up the book and pointing to it) see page 26
& answer the questions… OK? Now then, Ilona, what’s the page? …Good… What are you going to do,
Danuta…?
🔲 Teacher: OK, this is the deal - & I hope you really enjoy this ‘cos I spent a lot of time planning it, you know,
well in between some wild contests on my gameboy - and I was going to watch Sky Sports but I got, you
know, sidetracked - anyway, where was I, yes, well, due to I’m ideologically committed to cooperative work,
I thought you could probably access this grammar problem yourselves, by looking it up in your book in
groups. OK?
🔲 Teacher: (sitting at desk, looking at his/her notes). Open your books on page 26. What’s the answer to
question 1?
🔲 Teacher: (holding up large pic): Right, we’re going to do something a bit different now. Fumiko … everybody
… are you listening? Good. Right. Now ask me questions about the pic (pointing to the pic, gesturing)…
questions with ‘What’… Anybody? Yes, Fumiko?
2 What info would you have to get over if you wanted to explain how to
a change a tyre?
b use a cash machine?
c fry an egg?
Write the instructions you’d give to a low-level group of students for one of these procedures.
C Student talk and teacher talk 🗝️
1 In a class of 20 students (working as a whole group) and one teacher, how much speaking time will each
student have in a fifty-minute language practice class.
2 Make an A & D chart (see above) for teacher talking time (TTT) and student talking time (STT) in an English
lesson.
D Using the L1
Rewrite the following statement so it reflects your own opinion.
‘Students and teachers should be discouraged from using the students’ mother tongue (L1) in the class.’
E Creating lesson stages
Number the following ways of regaining the initiative in a noisy class in order of personal preference and give your opinion of their effectiveness.
a The teacher blows a whistle. 🔲
b The teacher claps his or her hands. 🔲
c The teacher raises his or her hand, expecting
students to raise their hands, too, and quieten
down. 🔲
d The teacher shouts at students to be quiet. 🔲
e The teacher stands on a table and shouts at
students to be quiet. 🔲
f The teacher speaks quietly in the hope students will
quieten down to listen. 🔲
g The teacher stands in front of the class with arms
folded, fixing the students with a baleful stare. The
teacher waits. 🔲
F Different seating arrangements 🗝️
What’s the best seating arrangement for the following situations?
a A team game with a class of forty
b A class discussion with fifteen students
c Pairwork in a group of thirty students
d A reading task in a group of ten
e Students design an advert in groups
f Students all listen to an audio track
g The teacher explains a grammar point
G Different student groupings 🗝️
1 Make an A & D chart (see above) for whole class, groupwork, pairwork and solowork.
2 What’s the best grouping for these activities, do you think? Put W = whole class, P = pairwork, G =
groupwork or S = solo work in the boxes.
🔲 a Students choose one of three alternatives when faced with an imaginary moral dilemma.
🔲 b Students design a site for a school or special interest group.
🔲 c Students listen to an audio recording of a convo.
🔲 d Students practise saying sentences with the present perfect (‘I’ve lived here for six years’, ‘He’s studied
here for six months’).
🔲 e Students prepare a talk/presentation on a subj of their choice.
🔲 f Students repeat words and phrases to make sure they can say them correctly.
🔲 g Students work out the answers to a reading comprehension.
🔲 h Students write a dialogue between a traveller and an immigration official.
🔲 i Students write a paragraph about themselves.
🔲 j The teacher explains the rule for the pronunciation of ’s’ plurals (‘pins’, ‘cups’, ‘brushes’).
Jargon buster
Copy the chart with your own definitions for the following terms (column 1) and explain their relevance to teaching (column 2).
Your definition Relevance to language learning/teaching
Gesture
Expression
Mime
TTQ
L1
L2
Mixed-ability class
Collaborative writing
TASK FILE
CH4: Describing learning and teaching
A Children and language 🗝️
Complete the chart with as many differences as you can think of between babies/young children learning their mother tongue and schoolchildren/adults learning a second or foreign language.
Mother tongue Second/Foreign language
B Acquisition and learning
How like or unlike natural language acquisition was your exp of learning a foreign language at school?
C Different times, different methods 🗝️
Which methods/approaches in the box are being described in the following statements (sometimes more than one statement applies to an approach).
Audio-lingualism Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) Grammar-translation
PPP Task-Based Learning (TBL) the Lexical Approach the Silent Way
teaching language functions
a After students have been intro’d to a situation which exemplifies the meaning and use of the new language
(and had the language explained to them), they do some controlled practice before being asked to produce
ex.’s of the new language themselves.
b By repeated drilling of new language (coupled with appropriate rewards and encouragement), students learn
correct language habits.
c Language consists of a number of lexical phrases (or chunks). These should form the basis of learning.
d Language learning is a process of working out the similarities and differences between the language you
speak and the language you’re learning.
e Students learn by being involved in communicating with each other.
f Students study how language is used - and what language to use to perform certain functions, such as
requesting, agreeing, etc.
g The syllabus is organised into certain tasks; the students learn by trying to complete these tasks.
h The teacher says almost nothing; the students have to listen to each other, think and correct themselves as
far as possible.
D ESA lesson sequences 🗝️
1 What do the following letters stand for?
1 CLT 2 PPP 3 TBL
What connection (if any) is there between the letters above and the following:
a Straight arrows lessons? b Boomerang lessons? c Patchwork lessons?
2 How would you describe the following lesson sequences in terms of ESA?
A
1 The teacher gives students a number of words and tells them they’ll come from a story. In groups, the
students have to try to work out what the story is.
2 The teacher reads the (ghost) story aloud and the students see if they’re right. They discuss whether they
like the story.
3 The students now read the story and answer detailed comprehension questions about it.
4 The students look at the use of the past continuous tense (eg. ‘They were sitting at the kitchen table’) in the
story and make their own sentences using the past continuous.
5 The students talk about ghost stories in general: do they like them/are they scared by them?, etc.
6 The students write their own ghost stories.
B
1 The teacher stands in front of the class and starts to look very unhappy. The students are clearly interested/
concerned.
2 The teacher mimes feeling ill. The students look as if they understand what’s going on.
3 The teacher says, ‘I’m feeling ill.’ The students repeat, ‘I’m feeling ill’.
4 The teacher mimes feeling frightened/sad/angry/depressed, etc, and says, ‘I’m feeling sad’, etc, and the
students repeat the sentences.
5 The teacher models the question ‘What’s the matter?’ The students repeat the question.
6 The students practise questions and answers, eg. ‘What’s the matter’, ‘I’m feeling depressed’, etc.
7 The students do a role-play in which two neighbors meet - and one has only had their car stolen.
C
1 The teacher asks students if they like photos.
2 The teacher shows students four photos and puts them in groups to decide which should win a photographic
competition.
3 The students question each other about photography - Do they own a camera? Do they take a lot of photos?,
etc.
4 The students look at a # of words (which will appear in stage 5) and have to decide which part of speech they
are.
5 The students look at a poem
About photo with some of the words blanked out. They have to decide what parts speech are missing.
6 The students now put their words from stage 4 in the blanks. They listen to a reading of the poem to check
they’ve got it right.
7 The teacher and the students discuss the meaning of the poem. What’s the story? Did they like it?
8 The students write their own poems on a similar theme.
Jargon buster
Copy the chart with your own definitions for the following terms (column 1) and explain their relevance to teaching (column 2).
Your definition Relevance to language learning/teaching
Rough-tuning ________________________________________________________________
Comprehensible input ________________________________________________________________
Monitor (v) ________________________________________________________________
Noticing ________________________________________________________________
Conditioning ________________________________________________________________
Cue-response drill ________________________________________________________________
Language function ________________________________________________________________
Task cycle ________________________________________________________________
Discovery activity ________________________________________________________________
TASK FILE
CH5: Describing language
A The elements of language 🗝️
Grammar
1 Identify the elements in the following sentences in terms of S (subj), V (verb), O (object), C (complement) and A (adverbial).
a He left quickly. d The school principal wrote a letter.
b She is incredibly intelligent. e They kissed each other.
c She read the book very slowly. f They’ll arrive in two hours.
2 Look at the underlined parts of the sentences. Are the verbs transitive or intransitive? What different kinds of object are there?
a Don’t break the cup. e Please sing me that song again.
b He fell. f That aftershave smells terrible!
C He gave me the letter. g They sent the message to their family by email.
d It broke.
Pronunciation
1 How many sounds are there in these words?
a activate e learner i teacher
b arrangement f overhead projector j willingness
c classroom g performance
d emotion h rapport
2 Write the following words and mark the stress using underlining, stress marks, squares or circles.
a activate e export (noun) i teacher
b adolescent f export (verb) j willingness
c classroom g learner
d emotion h procrastination
3 How many different ways can you say the following sentences by changing the stress on the words? What different situations could the sentences be said in?
a It was only last night you arrived.
b This is the best show I’ve ever attended.
c She’s decided she loves you.
4 How many different meanings can you give the following words by changing the intonation?
a well b no c happy d OK
B Forms and meanings 🗝️
1 What different meanings can you think of for the following words, phrases and sentences. Che k a dic to see whether you’ve thought of all the meanings possible.
a edge d pick g They’re off. j They’re watching a Dvd.
b end e shadow h I don’t want to miss her.
c flag f twist i It’s a goal.
2 What time is the present continuous referring to in the following sentences?
a They’re living in Singapore.
b He’s always leaving his keys behind.
c They’re meeting up in ten days or so.
d So there I am. It’s ten o’clock on a cold winter evening - about a year ago - and I’m waiting for the bus when suddenly …
e It’s no use talking. I’m not listening, OK!
What different tenses could you use to mean roughly the same thing in each case?
C Parts of speech 🗝️
1 Read the following extract and then complete the chart below with at least two words from the text for each part of speech.
Matilda said goodnight and set out to walk home to her parents’ house, which was about an eight-minute journey away. She didn’t take too much notice of that. There were often strange cars parked outside her father’s place. But when she entered the house, she was confronted by a scene of utter chaos. Her mother and father were both in the hall frantically stuffing clothing and various objects into suitcases.
“What on earth’s going on?” she cried. “What’s happening, Daddy?”
“We’re off,” Mr Wormwood said, not looking up. “We’re leaving for the airport in half an hour so you’d better get packed. Your brother’s upstairs all ready to go. Get a move on girl! Get going!”
“Off?” Matilda cried out. “Where to?”
“Spain,” the father said. “It’s a better climate than this lousy country.”
“Spain!” Matilda cried. “I don’t want to go to Spain! I love it here and I love my school!”
“Just do as you’re told and stop arguing,” the father snapped. “I’ve got enough troubles without messing about with you!”
“But Daddy…” Matilda began.
“Shut up,” the father shouted. “We’re leaving in thirty minutes! I’m not missing that plane.”
“But how long for, Daddy?” Matilda cried. “When are we coming bak?”
“We aren’t,” the father said. “Now beat it! I’m busy!”
noun ___________
pronoun ___________
adj ___________
verb ___________
adverb ___________
preposition___________
article ___________
conjunction___________
2 Look at the chart in Exercise 1. Add two more words to each category which aren’t from the text.
D The noun phrase 🗝️
1 In the Matilda extract above, find:
a some countable nouns b some uncountable nouns
2 Which different kinds of noun (countable, uncountable, plural, collective) can you put in the blanks?
a I’d like some………..
b There are two……… in the story.
c The………………….is unbelievable.
d Our …………………are completely crazy!
e ……………………… is not only unavoidable, but a good idea, too!
Choose words to go in the blanks.
3 Explain what is wrong with these student sentences.
a He bought a French designer red big plastic chair.
b He himself washed.
c I like often to play tennis.
d I love the nature.
e I’m crazy of French films.
f The lady sat down beside me was beautiful.
g She is more bright than her brother.
h The inhumanity is a terrible thing in our world.
i In spite of it was late but he started to revise for his exam.
j I’ll see you at Saturday at five o’clock.
k I have seen him yesterday.
4 Expand this sentence from the Matilda extract (Section C above) using as many adverbs and adj’s as you can without the sentence becoming impossible. You can use commas, colons, semicolons and hyphens.
We’re leaving for the airport in half an hour so you’d better get packed.
E The verb phrase 🗝️
1 Look at the Matilda extract (Section C above) and answer the following questions.
a How many contracted verb forms can you find? What would the full form be?
b Can you find at least one ex. of:
1 an auxiliary verb? 2 a main verb? 3 a phrasal verb?
2 What are the underlined verbs - auxiliary - auxiliary, main or phrasal?
a I don’t want to go to Spain.
b We’re leaving in thirty minutes.
c She can’t understand all the fuss.
d Matilda was brought up very badly by her parents.
e I might not mind.
3 Look at the Matilda extract (section C above) and find one ex. of each of the following.
a past simple c present simple
b present continuous d a passive verb
4 Describe the verb forms in these sentences.
a I haven’t seen him for a week.
b He was being chased by a tiger.
c I’m enjoying myself.
d People are usually frightened by the unknown.
e They were sitting in the early evening sunshine.
f He had been practicing for the game.
g I get up at about six o’clock every morning - it’s terrible!
h Water! Water! I’ve been jogging.
i He finished his drink and walked out of the bar.
F Hypothetical meaning 🗝️
Give the ‘if’ conditions in the following sentences a label saying (a) whether they are ‘real’ or ‘hypothetical’, and (b) whether they refer to to the present, future or past (eg. ‘real future’, ‘hypothetical past’, etc).
a If I finish the letter, I’ll post it this evening.
b I’d have helped you if you had asked me.
c If you were at all interested, I would tell you about it.
d If you get caught cheating, you have to leave. That’s the rule.
e I’ll drop in on my way back if I have time.
f If she hadn’t fallen asleep, she wouldn’t have missed her station.
g If I was clever, I’d know the answer.
h If I got a pay rise, I’d move to a nicer apartment.
G Words together 🗝️
1 Which of these words go together? Tick the boxes.
alert asleep awake conscious
fast _________________________________________
fully _________________________________________
half _________________________________________
semi _________________________________________
sound _________________________________________
wide _________________________________________
2 Find the missing noun for the sentences n column A and the missing verb for the sentences in column B.
A B
1 Be a …….and fetch me my gloves. 1 If you……..the club code, they’ll kick you out.
2 She fell in……..with a Japanese guy. 2 Go on, … the habit of a lifetime & take some exercise!
3 For the ………. of God be quiet! 3 We going to…..our journey in Des Moines, Idaho.
4 When he saw her it was…at first sight. 4 She doesn’t believe she can……the record.
5 There is no……..lost between them. 5 The more you…promises like this, the more people will distrust you.
6 They’re head over heels in ……… 6 I’m going to …..the back of this report before I go to bed.
- what are the lexical phrases in each case?
- what other lexical phrases can you think of including the words for column A and column B?
H Language functions 🗝️
1 How many different ways can you think of for expressing the following language functions?
a giving advice c offering help
b inviting someone d giving your opinion
2 Which language function are the following phrases expressing. Put F (formal), I (informal) or N (neutral) in the boxes.
a 🔲 Be a love and bring me the phone, would you?
b 🔲 Rachel! The phone! Now.
c 🔲 You couldn’t possibly answer the phone, could you?
d 🔲 I’d be most grateful if you could answer the phone.
e 🔲 Somebody get that!
f 🔲 Could you answer the phone, please?
g 🔲 The phone’s ringing, Lianli.
Can you think of any other ways of performing the same function?
I Test and discourse 🗝️
Put these sentences from an article called ‘Against the modern world’ in order. The first one is done for you.
🔲 a And if they’re (a) not talking into phones, they have earphones pressed to their (b) ears as they (c) listen
to thumping music which may well make them (d) deaf.
🔲 b Everywhere you look, people are involved in their (e) own private worlds.
🔲 c So we (f) will end up with a situation where people won’t talk to each other anymore, and even if they (g)
do, no one will hear them (h) because they’ll (i) all be deaf! Oh, brave new world!
1️⃣ d We (j) live in an alienating culture.
🔲 e When they (k) walk down the street they (l) have mobile phones pressed to their (m) ears, shrieking into
them (n) as if no one else was on the street with them (o).
Now say what the pronouns mean:
a they ……………. i they …………….
b their ……………. j we …………….
c they ……………. k they …………….
d them …………….. l they …………….
e their …………….. m their …………….
f we …………….. n them ……………..
g they …………….. o them ……………..
h them ……………..
J Language variables 🗝️
1 Use the following sentence from to make as many sentences as possible about the differences between speaking and writing.
Speaking is different from writing because…
2 Record an informal convo between (yourself and) friends in English. Transcribe what you hear on the tape and then complete these tasks.
a Take any two lines of the transcription and write them out in formal written English.
b Study the transcription and the formal version you have written. What words from the formal version aren’t included in the conversational version?
TASK FILE
CH6: Teaching the language system
A Teaching specific aspects of language 🗝️
a 🔲 The teacher models sentences using the preset simple. Students repeat.
b 🔲 The students read a text and in their groups discuss the different ways the writer refers to past time.
c 🔲 Students watch a film of a job interview in prep for an interview role-play. They pay particular attn to the
way questions are asked.
d 🔲 The students listen to a recorded dialogue. The teacher draws their attn to the invitation language being
used, isolating parts of invitation models for the students’ attn. Students practise using the same
language.
e 🔲 The teacher holds up flashcards with pics of animals. For each one, he or she models the correct
pronunciation and the students repeat. The teacher then holds up different flashcards for a cue-
response drill and the students have to say the right words.
f 🔲 The teacher shows students the position of lips and teeth for the sounds /w/ and /v/ before getting them
to say words with the two sounds.
B Explaining meaning
1 How could you make sure the students understood the meaning of the following words?
a to count c flower e stagger g to promise i vehicle
b confused d full f teacher h under j very
2 How could you ensure the students understood the meaning of the following language items?
a Ordinal numbers (1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc)
b ‘Do you like X?’, ‘Yes, I do/No, I don’t.’
c going to future (I’m going to see my grandmother next week.)
d the first conditional (If it rains, we’ll stay home, If I finish work early, I’ll call you)
e the past continuous (She was waiting at the station, The gov’t was preparing for war, etc)
C Explaining language construction
How would you explain the construction of the following structural items? (You can isolate, distort, use gesture, draw board diagrams, etc.)
a past tense negatives (They didn’t feel good, She didn’t go to work, etc)
b present simple, 3rd person (He sleeps, She takes, It hurts, etc)
c superlatives (best, youngest, prettiest, most alarming, etc)
d past passives (He was seen, They were contacted, It was designed by…, etc)
e compound words with participles (walking stick, running shoes, laughing gas, etc)
D Practice and controlled practice 🗝️
1 Write six model sentences which you could use to practise the following structures.
a adverbs of manner (wearily, happily, longingly, etc)
b ‘must’ and ‘mustn’t’ (You must take off your shoes, You mustn’t bring the dog, etc)
c past simple (They laughed, She cried, It happened, etc)
d prepositions of place (on, in, under)
e the present perfect with ‘never’ (He’s never seen Mount Fuji, etc)
2 Number the following actions to put them in order to make part of an effective cue-response drill. (The order of the flashcards is headache, stomachache, toothache.)
a 🔲 Boris: He’s got a toothache.
b 🔲 Boris: He’s got some toothache.
c 🔲 Kim: She’s got a headache.
d 🔲 Maria: He’s got a stomachache.
e 🔲 (Teacher holds up a picture of a man with a toothache.)
f 🔲 (Teacher holds up a picture of a woman with a headache.)
g 🔲 (Teacher holds up a picture of with a stomachache.)
h 🔲 Teacher: Maria.
i 🔲 Teacher: Boris.
j 🔲 Teacher: Good.
k 🔲 Teacher: Kim.
l 🔲 Teacher: Some toothache?
m🔲 Teacher: Well done, Kim.
n 🔲 Teacher: Yes, that’s it. Good.
Write down the letters of the cues……………………
Write down the letters where the teacher nominates students………………….
Write down the letters of the student responses…………………..
E Examples of language system teaching
Grammar
Read the following text and answer the questions which follow:
Archery Target
When I opened my eyes that morning, I knew I should have stayed asleep. My head felt terrible and when I got up, it felt worse.
I lit a cigarette and dragged the electric razor across my chin. The noise it made hit the hangover in my brain like the ‘Dies Irae’ from Verdi’s Requiem - which’s the bit with the bass drum, the shrieking chorus, and the full orchestra for those of you who don’t know their Verdi. I hadn’t managed to sleep it off after all. It was going to be one hell of a day.
As I opened the door the sunlight blasted into my eyes like a searchlight. It hurt. So did the jogger who sprinted past me as I stumbled into the street. I should have realized then something was wrong. We didn’t get many joggers in our neighborhood - certainly not ones with bright-green running suits.
I staggered down towards the coffee shop for my morning coffee. I was moving at a snail’s pace, but even that was faster than Easy Eddie who I met shuffling along the sidewalk. He was always shuffling along the sidewalk and I had got used to him by now. He gave me a cheerful greeting. I muttered ‘Hi.’
Someone strode past me and hurried down the street. He wasn’t wearing a running suit, he was wearing a morning suit - with a tail coat and a white bow tie. I reckoned I must be hallucinating. For the hundredth time I swore I’d never drink Bourbon again.
I turned into Mission Boulevard and there she was. She was sauntering along on the other side of the street, colored like an archery target, with head held high and that innocent look of hers. Then, from the corner of my eye I saw the running suit again and suddenly the fog blew right out of my head. I knew what was going to happen! I dashed across the road, weaving in and out of the early taxis and the garbage trucks as they hit their klaxons and shouted curses at me. But I was too late. I just had time to see the jogger stop her and the man with the morning suit touch her back - almost gently - and then they were gone.
“Lauren, Lauren,” I called through dry lips. She seemed to hear. She turned her head in my direction and limped towards me and then she just kind of fell in a rustling heap right there on the sidewalk. By the time I reached her she was gone.
I pulled another cigarette from the crushed packet in my pocket. One day, I swore, I’d give them up, but not now. Especially not now.
a What level could you use this text with?
b How would you use this text to revise/teach different ways of talking about the past?
c How would you introduce the text?
d How would you get students to practise the different past tenses in the text?
e What other activities would you use with this text?
Pronunciation: intonation
Look at these expressions of reaction to what people say and answer the questions which follow:
That’s fantastic! How interesting! Really? That’s incredible!
a How could you use the expressions to teach variations of pitch and intonation?
b What level would this be appropriate for?
Pronunciation: sounds
a Design an activity for elementary students to show how the letter ‘a’ is pronounced.
b What is the best way to teach the sounds /æ/ cat,/A/ cut, and /D/ cot to lower-intermediate students?
Vocabulary
Look at the following list of words and answer the questions which follow:
attractive beautiful chubby emaciated fat flabby good-looking handsome
hideous lean muscular nubile obese overweight plain pretty shapely
sinewy skinny slender slight slim stout tanned thin ugly
underweight voluptuous well-built
a At what level would it be appropriate for students to concentrate on these vocabulary items?
b How could you get students to understand the meaning and connotation of the words?
c What aspects of the pronunciation of these words would you draw students’ attn to?
d What kind of situations can you think of to get students using the new words?
F Correcting students 🗝️
Complete the blanks with an appropriate form of the correction in the following exchanges between a teacher and her elementary students.
a TEACHER: OK…question, Juan.
JUAN: where the book is
TEACHER: ………………………
b TEACHER: Olga?
OLGA: He never has been see Paris.
TEACHER: Can anyone help her?
STUDENTS: He never has see/He never been/He never sees, etc.
TEACHER: ………………………
c PAULA: He can to play tennis.
TEACHER: ………………………
Jargon buster
Copy the chart with your own definitions for the following terms (column 1) and explain their relevance to teaching (column 2).
Your definition Relevance to language learning/teaching
Personalisation
Deductive approach
Model
Isolate
Inductive approach
Check questions
Elicitation
Minimal pair
Error
Slip
Attempt
False friend
Developmental error
TASK FILE
CH7: Teaching reading
A Reasons for reading
List the last five different reading tasks you have done (eg I looked at the TV guide to see what time a programme was on) in column 1, and thens ay if the same kinds of reading would be useful for your students or not. Give your reasons.
Type of reading Useful? Why/why not?
____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
B Different kinds of reading
Look at the following texts for elementary students and complete the table which follows.
TEXT A
Three and a half hours later on the same day I sat down with Inspector Portillo in the dining room.
“Good morning, Miss Biggleswade,” he said.
“Good morning,” I answered nervously. Why did he want to see me? Why were the police talking to everybody?
“I know about you,” he said.
“You do?” I asked.
“Yes. You’re the player with the double bass.”
“Without the double bass,” I said.
“Yes,” he laughed, “but we’re looking for it.”
“Will you find it?” I asked.
“I hope so.” He isn’t cold at all, I thought. He’s very nice. I like him. Then, suddenly, he changed.
“Why?” I asked.
“That is not an intelligent question, I think,” he said, “someone has died. We always ask questions.”
“So you think I’m stupid, do you?” I was angry and very, very tired.
“No, of course not. I am very sorry,” he said. I looked into his face. He really was sorry.
“Forget it!” I said, “I’m just tired.”
“Yes, so am I,” he laughed, “now, can I ask you some questions?”
TEXT B
South America is one of the most beautiful places in the world.
It is a lot bigger than Europe and two times bigger than Australia.
The Amazon River is 6,448 kilometres long but it isn’t the longest river in the world. The Nile in Africa is 6,695 kilometers long.
South America has got the biggest rain forest in the world (in Brazil) where twenty per cent of all the world’s trees grow. It’s also got the world’s driest desert - the Atacama Desert in Chile.
Lake Titicaca - in the Andes between Peru and Bolivia - is the highest large lake in the world.
The Andes mountain range is the longest on Earth. It starts in the south of Cole and finishes in Venezuela. The Andes mountains are higher than any mountains in North America, Africa, Australia or Europe.
South America has got half of the world’s animals and insects. It has also got the biggest spider - the Goliath bird-eating spider. It is bigger than a page of this book and it really can eat small birds and snakes!
The tropical rattlesnake from Brazil is more dangerous than a spider (to humans). It is the most poisonous snake in South America!
Three of South America’s biggest cities are in the top ten biggest cities in the world.
Text A Text B
a What level would the text be
useful for?
b Is the extract designed for
extensive or intensive reading?
c How would you describe the
genre in which the text is
written?
d What would you get the
students to do with the text?
C Reading skills 🗝️
Match the skills with the reading aims.
a Reading for detailed i You are an 18-year-old history student. In a school history magazine you
comprehension see an article about reassessing the Cold War in terms of Third World politics.
b Reading for pleasure ii You are trying to decide what movie to take your 7-year-old niece to see. You check your local newspaper.
c Scanning iii When you are iii the dentist’s waiting room, you see an article about your favourite singer in a magazine.
d Skimming iv You have heard about a singer/artist and you are mildly interested in their life. You look them up on the Internet when you don’t have much else to do.
D Reading sequences 🗝️
Look at the reading text and answer the questions which follow.
Your sleep and you
Miriam Kellaway reports
How much beauty sleep do you need? According to Philip Sedgewick, research fellow at the Sleep Disorders Clinic at the Department of Mental Health at St George’s Hospital, most of us need roughly eight hours a night if we want to stay healthy. And we need to have a regular routine too. Problems for tired people:
• more chance of bugs and infections
• shift workers (people who work at different times of day and night) get more infectious diseases than the rest of us.
• more chance of stress
• more need for energy food like chocolate, coffee, etc. Students in the USA say tiredness causes overeating. In a survey of hospital nurses across the country, ninety per cent of those working on the night shift gained weight.
• irritability, grumpiness
REM & Non-REM
• REM stands for Rapid Eye Movement. That’s the time we dream, when we sort out all the memories, thoughts and feelings in our head. Non-REM is often called Deep Sleep.
• without REM people become forgetful, irritable and less able to concentrate.
• deep sleep provides us with physical and mental recovery.
Things not to do in bed (according to sleep experts):
• eat
• read
• watch television
• work
• drink caffeine
• smoke cigarettes
• have alcohol (It interferes with REM sleep. It can make you tired and irritable the morning after the night before.)
Canadian sleep researcher Harvey Modofsky, at the Toronto Western Hospital took blood from sleeping people and he found sleeping bodies were fighting infection better than those which were awake and in a recent study of 9,000 adults in the UK, those who slept between six and a half and eight and a half hours a night were more healthy than those who slept less.
a What level do you think it might be suitable for?
b What kind of comprehension tasks could you do with it?
c How would you get students engaged with the topic of the text?
d What language, if any, would you focus the students’ attn on in the reading text for a study exercise?
e What would you do after the students had read the text?
E Encouraging students to read extensively
Rewrite the following statement so it reflects your own point of view:
Students should always give detailed feedback on books which they have read for pleasure (eg readers).
Jargon buster
Copy the chart with your own definitions for the following terms (column 1) and explain their relevance to teaching (column 2).
Your definition Relevance to language learning/teaching
Genre
Genre analysis
Authentic text
Graded reader
Webquest
Jigsaw reading
Reassembling poems
TASK FILE
CH8: Teaching writing
A Reasons for teaching writing 🗝️
Read the following task rubrics. Are the tasks designed for ‘writing-for-learning’ (L) or ‘writing-for-writing’ (W). Write L or W in the boxes.
a Expand the following sentence using as many adj’s as you can. 🔲
b Interview a colleague and write up the interview for inclusion in a class website. 🔲
c Write a paragraph about a member of your family. Say who they are, what they
do, what languages they speak and what their favourite hobbies are. 🔲
d Write a paragraph with the title ‘Three things I would like to do before I’m thirty.’
Use language from activities 32-35. 🔲
e Write an essay with the title ‘Charity is not the responsibility of individuals, but
of governments’. 🔲
f Write description of the people in the photographs using the words in the box. 🔲
g Write five sentences using the present perfect tense. 🔲
h Write your own blog; update it every week. 🔲
B Writing issues
Put these writing activities in an order of preference for you and a group of intermediate students (ages 14-16).
🔲 autobiographical narrative
🔲 construct a class website
🔲 fill in a university application form
🔲 imaginary ‘agony column’ letters
🔲 magazine advertisement
🔲 poems
🔲 postcards
🔲 poster for an imaginary amateur drama production
🔲 report on eating - people’s habits
🔲 script for an imaginary soap-opera episode
🔲 students rewrite statements to reflect their own views
🔲 write an email to a mousepal/keypal
What were your reasons for your number 1 choice? What were your reasons for your last choice?
C Writing sequences
Look at these two writing activities for students and answer the questions which follow.
TASK A
Report writing
Work in groups and complete the following tasks:
1 Write a multiple-choice questionnaire to find out about people’s attitudes to one of the following:
mobile phones
computers
housework
marriage
2 Do the questionnaire in class and collate the results.
3 Write a report to summarise your feelings. Use expressions from the survey highlights above.
8 Write
Write an answer to the problem. Use these prompts to help you.
• not to worry Help! My teeth aren’t very straight but I don’t want to wear a
• see a dentist brace. Everyone will stare at me. What can I do?
• wear a brace
• tap to friends who wear one Jenny, 13 Hastings
You shouldn’t worry…
TASK B
a What age and level are they appropriate for?
b Would you feel confident using them as a teacher? Why? Why not?
c What problems, if any, can you anticipate with these activities?
d What would you need to do before starting the activities to ensure they were a success?
e What do you think might have come before them and after them in the textbooks from which they were taken?
D Correcting written work 🗝️
1 Rewrite the following paragraph so it reflects your own opinions.
Teachers should correct all the mistakes they find in a student’s written work. They should underline the mistakes in red ink. Students should be made to write the work out again.
2 Write the correction symbols in the left-hand column of the chart above and the descriptions of the student error in the second column.
Symbols: C G ƛ S WO {} F/I ?M P T WW
Descriptions:
a grammar mistake a mistake in word order a punctuation mistake
a spelling error concord mistake (eg subj and verb agreement)
something has been left out something is not necessary the meaning is unclear
too formal or informal wrong verb tense wrong word
Symbol Meaning Example errors
The answer is obvius.
I like very much it.
I am going to buy some furnitures.
I have seen him yesterday.
People is angry.
He told that he was on sorry.
ƛ
I am interested on jazz music.
He was not { too } strong enough.
That is a very excited photograph.
Do you like London.
Hi Mr Franklin, Thank you for your letter…
Jargon buster
Copy the chart with your own definitions for the following terms (column 1) and explain their relevance to teaching (column 2).
Your definition Relevance to language learning/teaching
Discourse community
Guided writing
Writing process
Collaborative writing
Dictogloss
Mousepal
Over-correction
Responding
TASK FILE
CH9: Teaching speaking
A Reasons for teaching speaking 🗝️
1 What should the characteristics of a speaking activity be? Put a tick (✓) or a cross (X) against the statements if you agree or disagree with them.
a 🔲 It should be a study exercise.
b 🔲 It should be an activate exercise.
c 🔲 It should engage students.
d 🔲 It should involve everyone.
e 🔲 It should practise specific language structures.
f 🔲 Students should concentrate on the accuracy of what they are saying.
2 Which is the odd one out? Why?
a a role-play a discussion a drill a communication game a questionnaire
b a letter a speech a poem a grammar exercise a play extract
c study rehearsal feedback engagement enjoyment
B Speaking sequences
1 Look at these two speaking activities for students and answer the questions which follow.
ACTIVITY 1
Find the differences between the two pictures. Do not look at each other’s pictures.
ACTIVITY 2
a What level could you use the activities with?
b Would you feel confident using them as a teacher? Why? Why not?
c What problems, if any, can you anticipate with these activities?
d What would you need to do before starting the activities to ensure they were a success?
e What do you think might have come before them and after them in the textbooks from which they were taken?
2 What kind of activity might be suitable for the following topics and levels?
a a visit to a travel agent (elementary)
b the issue of gambling (intermediate)
c two similar but slightly different pictures (beginners)
d leisure activities (lower intermediate)
e Should a pub be allowed to exclude women from one of its bars? (advanced)
Choose one of the activities a-e above and say how the teacher might organize it for the students.
a Look at the activities below. For each, mark how dangerous you think it is on a scale 0-3.
0 = I don’t think it’s dangerous at all
1 = I think it’s quite dangerous
2 = I think it’s very dangerous
3 = I think it’s incredibly dangerous
🔲 driving and talking on a mobile phone
🔲 going out with someone you hardly know
🔲 sunbathing
🔲 walking alone in the hills or mountains
🔲 hitchhiking
🔲 traveling in the back of a car without a seatbelt
🔲 cooking
🔲 adventure sports like bungee-jumping or rafting
🔲 swimming after a heavy meal
🔲 doing home repairs
🔲 travelling in a country where they don’t speak your language or English
b In groups of three, compare your marks. Use your own experiences to explain your opinions.
C More speaking suggestions
1 Read the following situation, which presents a ‘moral dilemma’.
In a dept store a woman (Perdita) is seen taking some bread and cheese without paying for it. It is known she is very poor and if she is charged and take to court, she will probably get sent to prison and her children will be taken into care. In the dept store a meeting has been quickly arranged to decide what to do about Perdita.
What five different roles could you assign students to provoke a role-play of the meeting
2 Think of at least two different ways of using the following pictures.
Jargon buster
Copy the chart with your own definitions for the following terms (column 1) and explain their relevance to teaching (column 2).
Your definition Relevance to language learning/teaching
Rehearsal
Speaking-as-skill
Simulation
Role-play
Role-card
Buzz group
Describe and draw
Story reconstruction
TASK FILE
CH10: Teaching listening
A Reasons for listening
List five different types of listening you have done in the last twenty-four hours and complete the chart.
Listening genre Listening delivery method Useful for students to listen to? At what level?
(eg play, convo) (eg radio, face-to-face)
B Listening levels
Make an A & D chart (see above) for using authentic listening texts at any level.
C Listening principles
Rewrite the following sentences so they more accurately reflect your own opinion.
a Students should get everything they need from one exposure to a listening text. Otherwise they may get bored.
b The most important thing students should get from a listening text is info about how language is used.
c Students should only listen to listening texts in class where the teacher can help and guide them.
D Listening sequences
Read the following tapescript and answer the questions which follow it.
ASST: Can I help you?
OLLIE: Yes, please. I’m looking for some suncream.
ASST: What kind do you want?
OLLIE: I’m not really sure.
ASST: Well, the thing to do is decide what factor you need.
OLLIE: What factor?
ASST: Yes. Choose the right factor and it’ll protect you from UV rays.
OLLIE: Ultra violet rays?
ASST: Yeah. All you have to do is select the factor which fits your coloring and skin type.
OLLIE: OK. I mean, I’m the kind of person who burns quite easily. But I tan in the end.
ASST: Well, start with this Factor 15 and then when you’ve gone brown a bit, you can gradually reduce the strength to, I don’t know, about 8.
OLLIE: Oh, right. So I buy both of these?
ASST: Yes. That would be a good idea.
OLLIE: How much are they?
ASST: Six pounds fifty.
OLLIE: Each?
ASST: Yes.
OLLIE: That’s really expensive. I wasn’t expecting…
ASST: You want to protect yourself against skin cancer or not?
OLLIE: Yes, of course.
ASST: Well…
OLLIE: Oh, OK. Here you are.
ASST: Thanks. That’s seven pounds change.
OLLIE: Thanks.
ASST: Enjoy your sunbathing.
OLLIE: If I can afford it!
a Based on what you have read so far, what level do you think this tapescript could be used with?
b How would you engage students with the topic? What prep would you do with the students before they lisened to
this extract?
c What general listening task would be appropriate for this tapescript?
d What study/detailed listening activity would be appropriate for this activity?
e Can you think of an activate stage to follow this listening activity?
f Would you use this tape? Why? Why not?
E More listening suggestions
1 Find a song you think would be appropriate for students at or around the intermediate level.
Think of at least four different things you could do with the song.
2 You are going to write and record a convo in which someone asks for (and gets) directions. The convo is for elementary students to listen to. They should be able to understand it, but at the same time it should be as authentic as possible.
a Write the convo.
b Say how you will use it when you play it to students.
Jargon buster
Copy the chart with your own definitions for the following terms (column 1) and explain their relevance to teaching (column 2).
Your definition Relevance to language learning/teaching
Regional variations
Intensive listening
Extensive listening
Live listening
Paralinguistic clues
Follow-up questions
Sound effects
Radio genres
Freeze frame
TASK FILE
CH11: Using coursebooks
A Options for coursebook use 🗝️
Complete the diagram with the following words:
Adapt Change No Replace
B Adding, adapting and replacing 🗝️
Look at the coursebook lesson below and answer the following questions.
a What is/are the aim(s) of the lesson?
b What should/might students be able to do at the end of the lesson they were not able to do at the beginning?
c If you were gong to replace any part of the lesson, which would it be?
d What adaptations, if any, would you make to the material?
e What additions, if any, would you make to the lesson?
C Reasons for (and against) coursebook use 🗝️
1 Complete these sentences.
a When I learnt a foreign language at school, the coursebook…
b The best kind of coursebook for a language student…
c If I wrote a coursebook, I…
2 Make an A & D chart (see above) for coursebook use.
3 Do/Will you use a textbook a lot, often, sometimes, rarely or not at all?
2 Communication
Holiday routines
1 Match the photos to the captions.
1 In the city 🔲
2 In the mountains 🔲
3 At the beach 🔲
2 wor- (word the picture above cut off and I was too lazy to fix.)
do do get ge go time what when where who
Holiday routines
(Drawn pictures of Museum, hammock, sunblock, luggage, magazine, cash,, camera and someone swimming)
What do you usually do on holiday?
1 Where do you go on holiday?
2 How do you ____ there?
3 ____ do you go with?
4 What ____ you take with you?
5 ____ do you get up on holiday?
6 What do you ____ in the day?
7 ____ do you do in the evening?
8 What ____ do you ____ to bed?
b Match the questions to these answers. 3 a Ask your partner about his/her holiday routines and write a my camera and a good book _4_ the answers.
b to the beach ____ A: Where do you go on holiday?
c at about ten in the morning ____ B: I go to my sister’s house.
d go on excursions or swim ____
e at about half pas eleven ____ b Choose the best holiday from the photos for your partner.
f go to a nightclub or restaurant ____
g my friends ____ 4 a Tell the class about your partner’s holiday routines.
Stefano goes to his sister’s house in the city. He takes the bus. He goes with his wife…
e What do you do? Answer the questions in the
questionnaire in Ex. 2a. b Make sentences about your partner’s holiday routines.
D Choosing coursebooks
1 Complete the chart with three ‘should’ statements for each topic (as in the ex).
Area Comments
1 Layout and design The coursebook should have lesson sequences which are easy to follow.
2 Instructions/rubrics
3 Methodology
4 Skills
5 Syllabus
6 Topics
7 Cultural appropriacy
8 Teacher’s guide
2 Now change your ‘should’ statements into direct sentences using main verbs as in the example.
The coursebook has lesson sequences which are easy to follow.
3 Look at a coursebook and use your statements. Give each one a tick or a cross.
Jargon buster
Copy the chart with your own definitions for the following terms (column 1) and explain their relevance to teaching (column 2).
Your definition Relevance to language learning/teaching
Pilot
Consult
Analyse
Add-on
Balance of skills
Unprejudiced
Syllabus
Cultural appropriacy
TASK FILE
CH12: Planning lessons
A Reasons for planning 🗝️
1 Write a list of any written or mental plans you make in your daily life apart from teaching (eg shopping lists).
a What do you use your plans for?
b How useful are the plans?
c How much do you deviate from your plans as you carry them out?
2 Make an A & D (see above) for planning lessons.
B Plan formats 🗝️
Study the plan below and complete the chart with your comments. In each case say whether you approve of the plan or whether, on the contrary, you think it’s lacking something. Give reasons in each case.
Appropriacy of lesson plan format (For the teacher? For an observer?) __________________________
Lesson details (Are they sufficient for the teacher? For an observer?) ____________________________
Lesson shape (eg Is the lesson coherent? Does it have variety?) ________________________________
Timings (eg. Are they clear? Do you ‘believe’ them?) __________________________________________
Who does what (eg. Do you approve of the patterns of interaction?) _____________________________
Is it a good plan? (eg. What would you (a) leave out? (b) add to? (c) bring in? or (d) change completely?) __
LESSON PLAN Time
[“ = minutes]
Description of class
Intermediate plus: 20 students
Difficult to make them take part in speaking activities and things like that. They
can be uncooperative, esp if they’ve been out the night before (because it’s a
morning class). ___________
Aims
To get Ss reading in the fiction genre.
To raise Ss’ awareness of different conditional constructions.
To get Ss talking in a relaxed and engaging way.______________________________________
Procedure
1 T tells Ss about their (teacher’s) grandmother. Encourages Ss to ask questions._5”_________
2 T tells Ss to read a text about a boy and his grandmother (see above).________ 8”_________
3 T tells Ss to see how many differences they can think of between George’s 5”
Grandmother (in the text) and the T’s grandmother they discussed earlier. Ss do
_ this in pairs. ____________
4 T asks pairs for their conclusions and discusses with the class. 5”_________
5 T asks Ss to find sentences in text with the word ‘if’. T discusses with class 10”
these are conditional sentences, but combine grammar differently from the
_ traditional 1st, 2nd, and 3rd conditionals.___________________________________________
6 T elicits sentences using equivalent grammar constructions to the four different 12”
_ grammar patterns. T writes sentences with mistakes on the board and corrects them.________
7 T shows Ss the pic of ‘The Arnolfini Marriage’ (see above). In groups, Ss prepare 10”
_ questions for the man, the woman and the dog.__________________________ ___________
8 T chooses three Ss to role-play the man, the woman and the dog. The other Ss
_ask their prepared questions.____________________________________________________
Comments
Ss may be reluctant to speak at all stages. T will encourage them.
Ss may find it very difficult to produce equivalent conditional sentences (see stage 6). T will
prepare sentences for prompting.__________________________________________________
Jargon buster
Copy the chart with your own definitions for the following terms (column 1) and explain their relevance to teaching (column 2).
Your definition Relevance to language learning/teaching
Coherence
Variety
Multi-lesson sequence
Patterns of interaction
Topic-linking
Threads
Peer observations
Journal
TASK FILE
CH13: Testing
A Reasons for testing students 🗝️
Complete the sentences with a phrase from the box.
achievement test continuous assessment exit test placement test
portfolio assessment proficiency test progress test
a ……………. is the name given to a situation where ex.’s of students’ work, taken over a term, semester or year,
are collected together and used to decide the students’ final grades.
b ……………. is the name given to a situation where marks for the students’ work over a term, semester or year
are collected, and are used for a final grade.
c A ………….. measures the students’ knowledge at the time the test is taken. Most public exams are tests of this
type.
d Students often take an ………… to see how well they’ve learnt the subject(s) of recent lessons.
e Students take a ………… to see how well they’re getting on.
f Students take an ………… at the end of a course.
g We give students a ………… to decide which class/level will be most suitable for them.
B Good tests 🗝️
Comment on the suitability of the following test items for students of general English.
a Write a composition about the importance of DNA research in not more than 500 words.
b I didn’t enjoy the book. I found it ………… difficult.
a very b terrible c un- d rather
c Write ten words you’ve learnt recently. This is the only task for today’s test.
d Write a poem about happiness.
e Complete the following sentences.
Before I’m thirty I ……………………
I have never ………………..
f The human brain is (a) ……………. sensitive to any and (b) ………. event: we cannot complacently (c) ………. it
as an article (d) …………. faith it’ll (e) ……….. inviolate and ways (f) ……… learning and thinking will (g) ………..
constant. A new idea (h) ………. there's room (i) …….. improvement. So-called transhumanism, (j) ………. as ‘the
world’s’ most (k) ……………. idea’, promotes the ability (l) ……… science and technology to (m) ………… beyond
the ‘norm’ (whatever (n) ………….. is) for physical and (o) …………… human enhancement.
C Test types
1 Write multiple-choice items to test whether students know the following collocations.
a clench + fist
b heavy + traffic
c shrug + shoulders
What level could your test items be used with?
2 Use the following passage for a cloze test. Try it first deleting every sixth word, regardless of what word it
is. Then do it again, deleting roughly every sixth word, but don’t stick rigidly to the rule - eg. you can
select more appropriate words to delete if you want.
a Which is better? Strict cloze (every sixth word) or modified cloze (you choose the words).
b What level could you use this passage with?
When you read a book, the author usually takes you by the hand and you travel from the beginning to the middle
to the end I a continuous narrative of interconnected steps. It may not be a journey with which you agree, or one
you enjoy, but none the less, as you turn the pages, one train of thought succeeds the last in a logical fashion.
We can then compare one narrative with another and, in so doing, start to build up a conceptual framework
which enables us to evaluate further journeys, which, in turn, will influence our individualized framework. We can
place an isolated fact in a context which gives it a significance. So traditional education has enabled us to turn
info into knowledge.
3 Write transformation exercises to test whether students know the relationship between the following words:
a divisive division c honestly honesty
b explain explanation d inform information
D Marking tests
Read the activity below and mark the students script using the following marking scale to produce a total mark out of 20.
0 1 2 3 4 5
Grammar
Vocab
Coherence
Fluency
Get a friend or colleague to mark the work, using the same scale. Do you end up with the same mark?
Your English class is going to spend three days in London. The Principal of your college, Mr Robertson, has already organised the programme.
However, the students in your class have seen an advert for the London Fashion and Leisure Show and you would all like to go to the show. Your class has asked you to write to Mr Robertson about this. Read the extract from Mr Robertson’s programme, the advert and your notes. Then, using the info, write a letter to Mr Robertson.
Monday 13 March
Morning: Sightseeing by bus
Afternoon: River trip to Greenwich
Tuesday 14 March
Morning: Science Museum
Afternoon: Shopping
Wednesday 15 March
Morning: National Art Gallery
Afternoon: Free time
THE LONDON FASHION AND LEISURE SHOW
Central Exhibition Hall, London
Tuesday March 14
10:00 - 19:00
• Latest fashions
• Leisure and sports wear
• Make-up
• Hairstyles
Students free!
Notes
• Thanks - good programme, esp…
• Explain about London Fashion and Leisure Show
• Great opportunity because…
• Suggest how programmed cold be changed
Write a letter of between 120 and 150 words in an appropriate style on the opposite page. Don’t write any personal addresses.
Dear Mr Robertson
I would like to thank you for the good program, it’s nice, but my class ask for me to do a letter to explain you about an event that will have in London, the London Fashion and Leisure show, because the all class think that was a good idea to go. the London Fashion and Leisure show will be on tuesday at 10am to 19pm. The class was thinking if you can change one day in the program for everybody goes to the exhibition. On tuesday we not going shopping and we go for the show. And in Wensday, in the free tim, we all go shopping. these show its a great opportunity because, will show the latest fashions, leisure and sports wear, make-up for girls and Hairstyles. And the best topic is that students are free. the exhibition will be in the Central Exhibition Hall, it’s a great place.
thats all for now when you have the answer please call to my cell phone. Iim looking faward to hering for you.
Yours,
Daniel
Jargon buster
Copy the chart with your own definitions for the following terms (column 1) and explain their relevance to teaching (column 2).
Your definition Relevance to language learning/teaching
Validity
Reliability
Face validity
Backwash effect
Interlocutor
Discrete test item
Integrative test item
Direct test item
Indirect test items
TASK FILE
CH14: What if?
A Students are all at different levels
1 Rewrite these sentences so they reflect your own opinion.
a Mixed-ability classes present the teacher with insuperable problems.
b The only thing you can do with a mixed-ability class is ignore the problem.
c All classes are mixed-ability classes.
2 How would you approach these situations with a mixed-ability group?
a You want to use the interview with Diana Hayden seen above with your students.
b You want students to write a ghost story, having studied story telling, and having been given some ‘ghost’ vocab
and phrases.
c You want students to study ways of agreeing and disagreeing - and later use them, if possible, in some kind of
discussion.
d You have a poem which you want students to look at. You can refer to ‘Fire and Ice’ seen above if you want.
e Three of your good students are making it clear they’re finding your classes too easy for them.
f You want to hand back some written work and deal with the mistakes you found when correcting.
B The class is very big
1 Complete the chart. In the first column write things you can do with small classes (ten or under) but you
can’t do with big classes (of forty plus). In the second column write things you can do with big classes
which you can’t do with small classes.
Small classes Big classes
2 In big classes, what special consideration need to be taken into account for the following?
a the teacher’s voice
b the teacher’s place in the class
c the teacher’s board work/overhead projector use
d using the tape recorder
C Students keep using their own language
1 What action can teacher take if students use their own language in class all the time? List as many things
as you can think of.
2 In which of the following situations, if any, would you be happy (or at least not unhappy) for students to
use their own language?
a Students are working in pairs to practise a dialogue.
b Students are debating the issue of whether birth control should be imposed on the world to prevent
overpopulation.
c Students are working in pairs to solve a reading puzzle.
d Students are checking they understand the instructions for an activity.
e Students are doing a group writing task.
f Students are taking part in a business meeting simulation.
D Students don’t do homework
Write 1 (= most favourite) to 9 (= lease favourite) in Column A: Me as the teacher.
A B Homework task
Students do a fill-in exercise, choosing between ‘going to’ and ‘will’.
Students interview residents/tourists in the street and bring the results to the next lesson.
Students learn a list of words by heart to be tested by the teacher in the next lesson.
Students prepare a presentation which they’ll give (individually) in the next lesson.
Students prepare roles for next week’s role-play.
Students read a text and answer multiple-choice questions.
Students write six sentences using the past continuous.
Students write a composition about the environment.
Students write a publicity leaflet based on something in the coursebook.
Now write 1 (= most favourite) to 9 (least favourite) in column B: me as a student.
E Students are uncooperative
1 How many ways are there for students to be uncooperative in class? List them in order where the first
one is most difficult for the teacher to deal with and the last is the least challenging for the teacher.
2 What might teachers and students write in this contract form?
THE LANGUAGE-LEARNING CONTRACT
TEACHER LEARNER
As your teacher I will… As a learning I will…
As your teacher I expect… As a learner I expect…
F Students don’t want to talk
Copy and complete the chart with things you could do to make reluctant speakers talk - and say what the possible consequences are (both positive and negative).
Action Consequences
Join in yourself in order to try to stimulate discussion It may relax students; on the other hand students may end up listening more than talking.
G Students don’t understand the audio track
1 What problems do students have (in general) when listening to audio tracks in class? How can you help
them to overcome these difficulties?
2 Look at this audioscript of an interview with an amateur musician (intended for use with intermediate
students) and answer the questions below.
SUSAN: Umm … went into a room where you could practise and then the accompanist came in and had a quick run-through … umm … and so you’re waiting in a little room and you can hear other people audition- ing who sound ten times better than you, which then makes you even more frightened because you wonder what — you know — I wondered, ‘What on earth am I doing here?’ I thought, ‘I may as well go home now’ … umm … but I thought, ‘No, I’m here I may — you know, I’ve I’ve got this far, I may as well just see it through another 15 minutes and I can be out of here then, you know if it goes all horribly wrong, I never have to see these people again.’ … umm … So then went into a room where there was two people who were auditioning you and the accompanist and you sat down with the music and played, the accompanist accompanied piece … umm … and, er …
INTERVIEWER: How did that go?
SUSAN: Some mistakes I was just —
INTERVIEWER: Because I bet you can remember er just about every minute of it.
SUSAN: Oh, it was horrible. I hated it. Absolutely dreadful. I, I made mistakes. And I think because I was nervous I made mistakes … umm … and I wasn’t used to playing with an accompanist because I don’t have anybody to just practise with at home … umm … and any little mistake you make, you think they’re gonna, they know that you’ve made a mistake, they’re very good musicians, they are going to be thinking ‘Oh, she’s dreadful, what on earth is she doing?’ And I sort of breathed a huge sigh of relief when I ground to a — the end and nearly nearly felt like crying — I don’t know, out of relief or just nerves that you’ve got to the end, yeah, just absolutely … er … it’s w — a horrible moment … erm … and then they gave a piece of sight-reading to do which wasn’t too bad, actually it was better than I’d — had thought, and then a scale, I played a scale — I was so relieved when I played it in tune … which is always a bit of a bonus when playing a scale, and then and then they said to me, they said, ‘Oh … umm … will you be at orchestra on Monday?’ Because this was on a Saturday and I said, ‘Well, kind of depended on today really,’ and they said, I said, ‘When will I get to know?’ and they said that the person who sorts out the auditions would phone me … umm … and so they said, ‘Oh come along on Monday,’ so I thought, well, do I take that as a ‘yes’ or do I take that as … umm …? You know, you just don’t know, so I went home and I was actually going out that evening and quickly phoned my parents and said, ‘Er, dreadful! Horrible! They’ll ring me,’ and nobody phoned me for the rest of the weekend. Monday evening ca — time to go to orchestra, nobody had phoned me so I though, well I’d better go because nobody’s told me not to go, and … umm … they — someone came up to me just before we started and — no, actually, I think it was in the interval — and said, ‘Oh I’m pleased you got in,’ which after all that, you know to me it was such a big thing — you know, I’d been practicing for a long time — when it’s something that you want to do and just suddenly, erh, you’re in.
a What problems, if any, would you expect students to have with this tape? (The speaker uses a ‘British northern
English’ variety of English; she speaks reasonably clearly, but with many topic shifts, etc.)
b What action would you take to counter these problems?
H Some students finish before everybody else
1 What kind of activity could you have ‘up your sleeve’ to give to groups of students who finish before
some of the other groups in the class? Can you think of examples?
2 Look at the photographic competition activity seen above. What would you do in these situations?
a One group decide on the winner before the others.
b One group still haven’t decided on the winner even after the rest have.
c One group don’t seem to be concentrating on the activity; they are talking about something else.
d One group keep asking you for help to do the activity.
e One group say ‘We did a photographic competition with the last teacher’ when you give them the sheets of
paper.
TASK FILE KEY
NOTE: No answers are give for the Jargon buster tasks. Readers should check their answers by looking back at the chapter and/or consulting the glossary seen below or in original textbook.
CH1
A
a ii b iii c i d v e iv
B
a virtual learning b one-to-one teaching c English lessons at secondary school d large classes
e in-company teaching f private language school
C
1 Some of the possible advantages and disadvantages of the different age groups - from a teacher’s point of view - are:
Advantages Disadvantages
Children Respond well to individual attn Shortish attn span
Curious about almost everything Inability to deal with abstract thought
Respond well to involving activities Ability to forget languages as quickly as they acquire them Have an unlimited acquisition potential (depending on age)
(depending on age)
Adolescents Developing capacity for abstract thought Search for identity can make them awkward
Understand the need for learning Need for self-esteem can make them awkward
Largely untapped creative potential Peer group is highly influential
Passionate commitment
Adults Wide range of life exp.’s to draw on Fear of failure
Good at application to learning Previous (negative) learning experiences
Clear understanding of learning (Sometimes) out of the habit of classroom learning
purposes
Disciplined Strong ingrained views about teaching
2 a Ad b Ad c ? d C (most likely) e A f Ad (most likely) g ? h Ad (most likely) i ?
3 a A b B/I c I/A d B e B/I (and maybe A for remedial practice) f I/A g A h B/I/A i I/A
CH2
B
2 a v b ii c i d iv e iii
D
Advantages Disadvantages
Class seating plan In the teacher’s hands Students always have to sit in the same place
Easy to refer to during a lesson Some students may deliberately sit in different places ___________________________
Name badges Easy to see Have to be re-made each class unless they are Students ‘carry’ them with them durable, and then (a) they cost money and (b) Easy and quick to make students will forget them__________________
Name cards on the desk Clear Need good stiff paper/cardboard
Creates nice formal-but-friendly atmo- Difficult to see in a big classroom
sphere They get knocked off desks________________
Not using students’ names Takes pressure off the teacher Students want the T to ‘know their names’
All students treated equally Encourages T pointing
Makes the class less personal
May look as if the T doesn’t care____________
Students always say their Takes pressure off the teacher Makes classroom interaction very unnatural
names when they ask a Lots of repetition of the students’ names Students think the T can’t remember names (!)
question or when you ask so everyone gets to remember them
them to do something ______________________________________________________________________
Write notes about appear- A very good way to remember who Difficult to think of something to say about every
ance/attitude, etc against students are student
the students’ names in the Makes us concentrate on different Takes up a lot of space/messes up register
register student identities T always has to look at notes_______________
(You can add your own feelings about the different naming schemes.)
CH3
B
1 The first instruction is clear, uses gesture and repetition, and then checks students have understood what’s going
on.
The second instruction uses complex language, is full of non sequiturs and includes info which’s completely
unhelpful to the students.
The third instruction is perfectly efficient, but doesn’t actually ‘include’ students in any way.
The fourth instruction works in a number of ways. The teacher announces a change of direction/a new stage. She
makes sure even the student who is currently distracted is listening, and then starts to elicit questions.
C
1 Supposing the teacher speaks speaks for about twenty-five minutes in total (including taking the register, etc), the
maximum time any one student could talk would be one minute and fifteen seconds.
2
Advantages Disadvantages
Teacher talking time (TTT) T is a good language model. SS need speaking practice, not the teacher.
Good Ts are good ‘rough-tuners’- It can be very boring if it goes on too long.
so their language’s useful for the It means SS are usually working only as a
students’ acquisition. whole group.
SS like listening to the T. It means SS are only listening - which cuts out T can focus the attn and energy the learning potential speaking, reading and of the whole group. writing offer.____________________________
Student talking time (STT) SS need the practice! It can be very chaotic - esp in groups, etc.
STT can provide rehearsal (see It may be less efficient than TTT for getting
CH9). across specific info.
STT gives T and SS good info It’s easy for individual SS to dominate.
about how well the SS are doing. ______________________________________
F
a probably orderly rows with the aisle (if there’s one) dividing the teams, or two sides of a horseshoe; in smaller groups, each team could be at a separate table b sitting in a circle (or horseshoe seating) c orderly rows (unless you can ha e two or three pairs at each separate table) d separate tables e separate tables f just about any seating arrangement g orderly rows (although any seating arrangement will do if they can all turn to the front)
G
1 These are among the advantages and disadvantages:
Advantages Disadvantages
Whole class Creates a sense of group identity. Favours groups over individuals.
Suitable for T-as-controller activities. Does not encourage SS to take responsibility for their Ideal for showing things. own learning.
Is not good for decision-making, discussion, etc.____
Groupwork Increases speaking time for individuals Can be noisy.
(in contrast to whole-class grouping). Some students get ‘lost’ in groups.
Opportunities for lots of different Some students end up always fulfilling the same group
opinions. role.
Encourages learner self-reliance Can be difficult to organize.
through group decision-making. Some SS prefer whole-class grouping.____________
Pairwork Dramatically increases speaking time in Can be very noisy.
contrast to whole-class grouping. SS may veer off the point of the activity.
Students work/interact independently. SS aren’t always keen on pairwork.
Two heads are better than one! It depends who individuals are paired with.
Easy to organize. __________________________________________
Solowork Allows SS to work at their own pace. Doesn’t necessarily help group solidarity.
Less stressful than whole-group More work for the teacher.
‘performance’.
Quiet._____________________________________________________________________
2 a G b G c W/S d W/P e S f W g P h P i S j W
CH4
A
Some of the many differences are:
Mother tongue Second/foreign language
Massive exposure to language. Exposure is often limited to lessons only.
The mother tongue is a bonding language. Language is often carefully selected - and can there-
Input usually very comprehensible (‘motherese’ is sub- fore be poor in terms of acquisition potential, but highly
consciously designed for babies and children and usually appropriate in terms of learning.
highly effective.) The comprehensibility of the input depends on the Input is ‘rough-tuned’ rather than selected precisely - so it’s teacher’s skill.
rich in acquisition terms. Teachers help students to focus precisely on important Focus usually on activation rather than study (though language issues.
parents do correct children and, esp, involve them in Teachers can control the amount of input.
repetitive routines which look a little like study). Depending on age, students have the exp of L1 Language is generated by need (the baby/child’s) and the acquisition to help them with the second language.
positive aspect of human-human interaction. L1 and L2 contrast can be both insightful but Massive positive reinforcement of language production (the baby/ (sometimes) confusing.
child gets what it wants/a [positive] reaction. There’s not the same 1-1 contact between the knower (mother/teacher) and the student (or child).
C
a PPP b Audio-lingualism c the Lexical Approach d Grammar-translation e Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) f teaching language functions g Task-Based Learning (TBL) h the Silent Way
D
1 1 Communicative Language Teaching - many CLT lessons will be patchwork lessons involving a number of
different E, S and A sequences.
2 Presentation, Practice and Production - most PPP lessons are equivalent to straight arrows lessons.
3 Task-Based Learning - most TBL lessons are like boomerang lessons in which doing the task is the thing which
prompts later study of language which needs more work.
2 A E → A → S → S → A → A
B E → S → S → S → S → S → A
C E → A → A → S → S → S → E → A
CH5
A
Grammar
1 a SVA b SVC c SVOA d SVO f SVA
2 a transitive, direct object b intransitive c transitive, indirect object (me), direct object (the letter) d intransitive e transitive, indirect object (me), direct object (that song) f intransitive g transitive, direct object (the message) indirect object (their family)
Pronunciation
1 a 6 b 9 c 7 d 6 e 4 f 14 g 8 h 4 i 4 j 8
2 a ‘activate b adol’escent c ‘classroom d e’motion e ‘export f ex’port g ‘learner h procrastin’ation i stipu’lation j ‘willingness
3 a It was only last night you arrive (= don’t contradict me. I’m sure of my facts), It was only last night you arrived (= surely. You didn’t arrive the night before or the one before that), It was only last night you arrived (= well you didn’t arrive in the morning or the afternoon), It was only last night you arrived (= other people arrived at different times, but you arrived last night), It was only last night you arrived (= surely you’re not thinking of going already)
b This is the best show I’ve ever attended (= not some of the other ones you’re talking about), This is the best show I’ve ever attended (= not the worst or the second best, etc), This is the best show I’ve ever attended (= it’s not necessarily the best concert or play, but it is the best show), This is the best show I’ve ever attended (= other people may have been to better ones, but not me), This is the best show I’ve ever attended (= in my whole, whole life), This is the best show I’ve ever attended (= not the best one I’ve ever seen, eg. on the TV, or heard, eg. on the radio, but the best one I’ve actually been to)
c She’s decided she loves you (= nobody else has decided by her), She’s decided she loves you (= she took the decision), She’s decided she loves you (= not anyone else, but her), She’s decided she loves you (= she doesn’t like you, she actually loves you), She’s decided she loves you (= she thought it was someone else, but actually it’s you)
B
2 a This refers to a (present) temporary state of affairs.
b This refers to a pattern of repeated actions which is in some way irritating.
c This refers to an arrangement which has already been made for the future.
d The present continuous is being used here to tell a story in the past - but by using present tenses it has a special immediacy.
e This is slightly ambiguous. It either refers to a present temporary state of affairs or it might mean ‘I’m not going to listen’.
C
1
noun Matilda, parents, house, journey, gate, Mercedes, motor-car, etc
pronoun she, we, I, you, etc
adj eight-minute, large, strange, better, lousy, etc
verb said, walk, arrived, saw, take, were, etc
adverb home, frantically, in half an hour, etc
preposition at, outside
article a, the
conjunction but, and
D
1 a parent, journey, gate, motor-car, place, scene, hall, object, etc b notice, clothing
2 a all categories of noun can go here b countable noun c singular countable noun, uncountable noun, collective noun d plural countable noun, collective noun e singular countable noun, uncountable noun
3 a adj order (It should be ‘big red French plastic designer chair’.)
b word order (It should be ‘He washed himself’.)
c position of ‘often’ (It could be ‘Often I like to play tennis’ or ‘I like to play tennis often’.)
d we don’t use an article when expressing general concepts (Ot should be ‘I love nature’.)
e the wrong particle is attached to the verb (It should be ‘I’m crazy about French films’.)
f the clause is the wrong place and there’s no relative pronoun (It should be ‘The lady who sat down beside me
was beautiful’.)
g the comparative form is incorrect (It should be ‘She is brighter than her brother’.)
h general concepts don’t have an article (It should be ‘Inhumanity is a terrible thing in our world’.)
i ‘in spite of’ must be followed by a noun or noun phrase (It should be ‘In spite of the fact it was late/In spite of the
time/lateness of the hour …’.)
j the wrong preposition is used (It should be ‘It should be ‘I’ll see you on Saturday …’.)
k we don’t use the present perfect with a past time adverbial (It should be ‘It should be ‘I saw him yesterday’.)
E
1 a didn’t take (= did not take), what on earth’s going on? (= what on earth is going on?), What’s happening (= what is happening), We’re off, we’re leaving, (= we are), You’d better get packed (= you had), Your brother’s upstairs (= your brother is), It’s a better climate (= it is), I don’t want to (= I do not), do as you’re told (= you are), I’ve got enough troubles (= I have got), I’m not missing the plane (= I am), We aren’t (= are not)
b 1 didn’t (take), what’s (happening), we’re leaving, you brother’s upstairs, etc 2 said, was (an eight-minute journey), arrived, saw, take, were (often strange cars …), etc 3 set out, shut up
2 a don’t (auxiliary) want (main) b ‘re (auxiliary), leaving (main) c can’t (modal auxiliary), understand (main) d was (auxiliary), brought up (phrasal verb) e might (modal auxiliary), mind (main)
3 a said, set out, was, arrived, saw, etc b What’s happening? We’re leaving, I’m not missing c We’re off, your brother’s upstairs, It’s a better climate, I love it here, etc d she was confronted by a scene
4 a present perfect simple b past continuous passive c present continuous d present passive e past continuous f past perfect continuous g phrasal verb h present perfect continuous i past simple (both verbs)
F
a real, future b hypothetical, past c hypothetical, present d real, timeless present e real, future f hypothetical, past g hypothetical, present h hypothetical, future
G
1 fast asleep fully alert/awake/conscious half asleep/awake/conscious semi-alert/conscious sound asleep wide awake
2 A: love B: break
H
1 a (includes) If I were you, I’d study more, How about studying more? Why not study more? Study more, I reckon, Perhaps you should study more, etc
b Would you like to come to dinner? D’you fancy coming to dinner? I was wondering if you might be interested in coming for dinner? How about coming for dinner? Dinner at my place?, etc
c Can I help you? Would you like some help? I’ll help you, let me help you, etc
d In my opinion …, the way I see it …, it’s a fact that …, you’ve got to admit that …, as far as I can see …, etc
2 All the sentences are requesting someone to do something. In terms of formality, they can be described as a I, b I, c F, d F, e I, f N, g N. Remember, a lot depends on pitch and tone of voice.
I
The order is d, b, e, a, c.
Pronoun reference: a people - from sentence 2 b people’s - ditto c people - ditto d people - ditto e people - from this sentence f all of us, society g people - the ones who aren’t talking to each other h people - ditto i people - ditto j all of us - society in general k people - from sentence 2 l people - ditto m people’s - ditto n mobile phones o the people talking into their mobile phones
CH6
A
a D b I c I d D e D f D
D
2 The correct order is f, k, c, m, g, h, d, j, e, i, b, l, a, n
Cues: e, f and g
Teacher nominating: h, i, k
Student responses: a, b, c, d
F
a possibilities: ‘where the book is?’ (with rising intonation), ‘Is that a question, Juan?’, ‘Question, remember’, ‘Try again’, etc
b Possible T response: ‘OK, listen everyone. Look (writes on the board) He’s never been … he’s … he has … he has … he’s … he’s never been … OK?’
c ‘Can to?’ or ‘to?’ with rising intonation, ‘Do we need “to”?’
CH7
B
a Both texts seem to be at the elementary to pre-intermediate level.
b Text A is designed for extensive reading. We can tell this is because it is clearly written and is obviously part of a
longer piece. Text B is designed for intensive reading. We know this because it’s packed full of facts and figures,
is short, and is clearly designed for some kind of post-reading exercises about comparative/superlative adj’s.
c Text A seems to be a fiction genre, perhaps a detective novel/thriller. Text B is an imitation of the info/encyclopedia genre - but is clearly from some kind of coursebook.
d You decide!
C
a i b iii c ii d iv
D
a This text could be used with intermediate students and above. b You decide. c You decide. d You decide, though - amongst many other language features - there’s a lot of good present simple use, the ‘Canadian sleep researcher’ paragraph is good on formal uses of past tenses, and the use of bullet points to list things (esp with ‘more’) is interesting. There are also many nouns: stress, tiredness, sleep, overeating, irritability, grumpiness, infection, etc, which might lead into a good word ‘field’ - and we could do some word formation exercises on the different adj - noun - adverb - verb forms. e You decide.
CH8
A
a L b W c L d L e W f L g L h W
D
2
Symbol Meaning Ex. error
S A spelling error The answer is obvius.
WO A mistake in word order I like very much it.
G A grammar mistake I am going to buy some furnitures.
T Wrong verb tense I have seen him yesterday.
C Concord mistake (eg. subj & verb agreement) People is angry.
⋌ Something has been left out. He told⋌that he was sorry
WW Wrong word I am interested on jazz music.
{ } Something is not necessary. He was not {too} strong enough
?M The meaning is unclear. That is a very excited photograph.
P A punctuation mistake Do you like London.
F / I Too formal or informal Hi Mr Franklin, Thank you for your letter …
CH9
A
1 a 𝔁 b ✓ c ✓ d ✓ e 𝔁 f 𝔁
2 a drill - because it’s a controlled practice exercise, not a ‘speaking-as-skill’ exercise
b a grammar exercise - because all the others are ex’s of language genres, rather than studying the language
itself.
c study - because all the others are about person-person interaction, whereas study is about person-language
CH10
B
Advantages of using authentic listening texts at any level Disadvantages of using authentic listening texts at any level________________________________________
Motivating (because it’s the real thing). Demotivating (because students can’t understand it).
Gives students exposure to real language use instead of Speed, accent and colloquialism may make it
concocted ex.’s. inappropriate.
There’s a much greater variety of authentic listening texts. Complex speech patterns (in regional variety informal convo) may not be useful for students of int’l English.
Students respond in different ways; authentic listening may
bring some of them on very quickly. May not have repetition of language patterns/lexis, which makes some non-authentic material very good for study activities.
Not geared or designed for a specific audience of language learners.
CH11
A
↗No change ↗Add
Yes ↗Adapt
↗ ↘︎ Change → Replace activities
Use the coursebook extract?↘︎ ↘︎ Reorder
No↗Omit ↘︎ Reduce
↘︎ Replace
B
a The aims of the lesson appear to be (1) to recycle/practice/teach holiday topic vocab, (2) to recycle/practice/teach present simple questions and answers, and (3) to use the present simple to talk about routines, using holiday language. b Students should be able to use the present simple confidently to talk about holidays. c You decide. d You decide. e You decide.
C
2
Advantages of using coursebooks Disadvantages of using coursebooks
Systematically written Often have an unvaried format
Colourful Not written esp for your class
Full of solid ideas which work (ideal for busy teachers) May perhaps stifle teacher creativity
A cumulative syllabus and good sequencing Often have topics which aren’t esp interesting for your
Students feel secure students
Something for students and teachers to use to see progress, Create a kind of ‘book-dependency’ in students
and check on past learning
CH12
A
2
Advantages of planning lessons Disadvantages of planning lessons
T has thought about what will be appropriate for the lesson. Plans straitjacket a lesson.
T has some idea of what s/he wants the students to achieve. Plans are uncreative - because everything depends on the T’s ability to react to the ‘here-and-now’.
T has thought about how the lesson fits into the sequence. Plans can discourage Ts from reacting to magic
SS like to see the T has planned the lesson. moments and unforeseen circumstances.
B
Individual readers will have different responses to the plan. Below are a few possible reactions:
Appropriacy of lesson plan format (For the teacher? For an observer?) The format is clear and easy to follow. Some plan formats have a separate column for interaction patterns (eg. T-SS, S-S, etc). This makes them easier to follow in some ways.
Lesson details (Are they sufficient for the teacher? For an observer?) Some of the info isn’t very detailed (for ex., the description of the class - it’d be nice to know more about individual students). The third aim is rather general.
There’s nothing in this plan about possible extra activities.
Lesson shape (eg. Is the lesson coherent? Does it have variety?) There’s a good variety of activities (listening, reading, discussion, study, speaking, etc).
There’s a question about why the plan suddenly switches from the g/mother topic to a not-very-related speaking activity. It might be better to have a more topic-linked speaking activity - although this itself might not be ideal!
Timings (eg. Are they clear? Do you ‘believe’ them?) Many of the timings seem a little optimistic (eg. procedures 2 and 6), esp since there are 20 students here. But everything depends on the actual students and how the lesson progresses.
Who does what? (eg. Do you approve of the patterns of interaction?) There seems to be a good range of interaction patterns in this plan (eg. T-SS, S-S, SS-SS, etc).
Is it a good plan? (eg. What would you (a) leave out? (b) add to? (c) bring You decide.
in? or (d) change completely?)
CH13
A
a portfolio assessment b continuous assessment c proficiency test d achievement test e progress test f exit test g placement test
B
a This test isn’t valid since it not only tests the students’ writing ability, but also presupposes (and therefore is
testing) their knowledge of issues surrounding DNA. It might, however, be valid in an ‘English-for-science’ class,
where DNA research had been a topic - but even in this case it’s testing more than only the language.
b This item doesn’t work due to both answer a and answer d are possible.
c This item/test fails on the grounds of face validity. Students would wonder why such a short test was given.
d This may be invalid for those students who’re not natural poets - esp since it gives so little guidance about how
the task is to be done.
e This test item is perfectly feasible, except it gives very few parameters and so different students may write
answers of wildly differing lengths and complexity. There’s then an issue of both validity and reliability.
f This is a strict ‘every-5th-word’ cloze test. There are many blanks which’re fillable by a number of different words
(eg. a, j, k) whereas others are highly predictable (eg. c, d, f). Perhaps it would be better to use a modified cloze
procedure so we could ensure good answers to the questions.
APPENDIX B
Useful organisations and websites
Websites on the Internet are evolving all the time so this list could already be out of date. However, the following (very small selection of) sites all offer something for teachers of English.
Note: for a more complete list of websites and other online and technical resources, see How to
Teach English with Technology in this series.
How to Readers who wish to follow up issues in How to ... books - and find extra methodological articles, tips and materials, should find a methodology site.
Teachers’ associations - Most teachers’ associations have their own website which you can find by searching (see below) on a search engine. IATEFL in the UK (iatefl.org) and TESOL in the US (tesol.org) are the sites for two important organisations.
Teachers - Teaching English (teachingenglish.org.uk) is an invaluable site which is full of articles, teaching tips, advice on methodology, etc. It is run by the BBC and the British Council.
Another useful site is the Macmillan Heinemann One stop English site (onestopenglish.com).
An early pioneer for ESL websites, and still well worth a visit, is Dave’s ESL Cafe (eslcafe.com). Many of its links are ‘sponsored’, but there’s still a lot of good material for teachers and some lively chat and debate.
Learners - a BBC site called Learning English (bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish) has the same breadth of ideas as its equivalent teachers’ site (see ‘Teaching English’ above).
Online journals - Many journals have online presences where you can read articles, see correspondence and join in the fun. One of the most interesting is Humanising Language Teaching (hltmag.co.uk) which is not only free but also has a wonderfully eclectic mix of the academic, practical and downright opinionated. The magazine publication English Teachingprofessional (etprofessional.com) have all the articles that grace their printed publications - that is to say, really good down-to-earth discussions of ideas and techniques. You have to be a subscriber to these as you do to the ELT Journal (eltj.oxfordjournals.org), where the practical nature of the articles is augmented by their more theoretical content. All three journals are absolutely worth their weight in gold.
APPENDIX C
Chapter notes and further reading
Two of the ways that teachers can stay in touch with what is happening in the world of English language teaching are through teachers’associations (which hold local and national conferences and which publish magazines and newsletters), and via subscriptions to journals. The Internet is also a major source of information, articles and activities (see Appendix B on page 259).
Most countries have their own teachers’associations (e.g. JALT in Japan, SPELT in Pakistan). The best way to find them is to conduct an Internet search.
In Britain, the main teachers’association is IATEFL (International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language) which can be found at www.iatefl.org. In the United States, TESOL (Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages) can be found at www.tesol.org. Both organisations have affiliates in many other countries (e.g. TESOL Greece, IATEFL Chile).
The How to... series
This book is informed by the titles so far produced in the How to ... series, all published by
Pearson Education. The books are:
Burgess, S and Head, K (2005) How to Teach for Exams
Dudeney, G and Hockly, N (2007) How to Teach English with Technology Frendo, E (2005) How to Teach Business English
Harmer,J(2004) HowtoTeachWriting
Kelly,G(2000) HowtoTeachPronunciation
Thornbury,S(1999) HowtoTeachGrammar
Thornbury,S(2002) HowtoTeachVocabulary
Thornbury,S(2005) HowtoTeachSpeaking
This was definitely the best cap to the 3 books I’ve read for the CELTA course which I have a few months before I take, so I can calmly continue adding areas of study in the meantime. I’m glad I went through the suggested reading and agree with how the three I’ve read are considered top tier.
