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Issue 71 November EENGLISHNGLISH 2010 TTprofessionalprofessionalEACHINGEACHING The Leading Practical Magazine For English Language Teachers Worldwide On the subject of ‘language’ Simon Andrewes Myths, mysteries and mottos JJ Wilson No more size-zero models! Sonja Wirwohl Learning coach Daniel Barber and Duncan Foord • practical methodology • fresh ideas & innovations • classroom resources • new technology • teacher development • tips & techniques • photocopiable materials • competitions & reviews www.etprofessional.com www.diako.ir www.diako.ir Contents MAIN FEATURE TEACHING YOUNG LEARNERS ON THE SUBJECT OF ‘LANGUAGE’ 4 PINEAPPLE, PLEASE 24 Simon Andrewes appreciates the advantages Yen-Ling Teresa Ting hangs her lessons out on the line of a more general approach TEACHER DEVELOPMENT FEATURES LEARNING COACH 1 53 MYTHS, MYSTERIES AND MOTTOS 8 Daniel Barber and Duncan Foord investigate how JJ Wilson finds a rich classroom resource we can encourage learner independence in oral histories MY LESSONS AS A LEARNER 55 BEING DEREK SIVERS 12 Anne Margaret Smith discovers professional Chris Roland gets his class to adopt a new identity development on the other side of the desk POSITIVE AND POWERFUL PUNCTUATION 15 Beata Mazurek-Przybylska proves that TECHNOLOGY punctuation matters READING ONLINE 57 TURNING THE TABLES 18 Nicholas Northall develops his students’ reading Jan Harper puts her student in the driving seat skills with a little assistance from the internet CORPUS DELICTI 2 19 FIVE THINGS YOU ALWAYS WANTED TO 60 Chris Payne incorporates corpora KNOW ABOUT: TEACHING ONLINE Nicky Hockly talks about tips for online tutors RELAX, RETHINK AND REFLECT 23 Grazyna Kilianksa-Przyblo uses word association WEBWATCHER 61 to discover new insights Russell Stannard quotes a quiz-making tool with plenty of options EAP: AN ALL-ROUND CHALLENGE 3 28 Clare Nukui concentrates on critical thinking REGULAR FEATURES ENQUIRE WITHIN 30 Michael Berman investigates intrapersonal intelligence PREPARING TO TEACH ... 40 May and might OVER THE WALL 34 John Potts Alan Maley applauds books that tell it like it is HOW WRONG CAN YOU BE? 63 LEARNING DISABILITY 5 37 Rose Senior Lesley Lanir considers comprehension difficulties SCRAPBOOK 42 NO MORE SIZE-ZERO MODELS! 46 Sonja Wirwohl champions achievable examples REVIEWS 44 JUST FOR THE RECORD 50 COMPETITIONS 41, 64 Katherine Short advocates a step-by-step approach to vocabulary learning INTERNATIONAL SUBSCRIPTION FORM 32 Includes materials designed to photocopy • www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 71 November 2010 • 1 www.diako.ir Editorial any contributors to this issue are concerned with her one-to-one student taking on the role of with identity. For Simon Andrewes, it is the teacher whilst she played the part of a student. This Midentity of the language itself which is the strategy proved beneficial in motivating the student main concern. He advocates the teaching of a general and getting him through his exams with a good grade. subject, called ‘language’, rather than a division of The teacher as student is also the theme of Anne language learning into compartmentalised units, such Margaret Smith’s article. By enrolling in a Polish as L1 and L2. language class, she discovered many of the realities JJ Wilson uses an oral history project to help his of the student experience and found these insights students research their family backgrounds – the myths invaluable in her professional development as a teacher. and memories that make them who they are. He In a similar vein, Nicky Hockly’s advice to anyone believes they can establish their own identities through hoping to be an online teacher includes becoming an a deeper understanding of where they come from. online student first. Chris Roland, on the other hand, gets his students to take on an entirely new identity, that of accomplished speaker and presenter Derek Sivers. By imitating, almost impersonating, Sivers, and delivering one of his well-crafted presentations themselves, they gain greater confidence in speaking. Helena Gomm Editor Jan Harper also writes of changed identities in the classroom – in her case, this involved a role reversal, [email protected] ENGLISH PO Box 100, Chichester, West Sussex, PO18 8HD, UK TEACHING Tel: +44 (0)1243 576444 Email: [email protected] Tprofessional Fax: +44 (0)1243 576456 Web: www.etprofessional.com Editor: Helena Gomm Published by: Pavilion Publishing (Brighton) Ltd, Editorial Consultant: Mike Burghall Part of OLM Group, PO Box 100, Chichester, West Sussex, PO18 8HD Editorial Director: Peter Collin © 2010, Pavilion Publishing (Brighton) Ltd Designer: Christine Cox ISSN 1362-5276 Advisory Panel: Dave Allan, Ruth Gairns, Susan Norman, Janet Olearski Subscriptions: Pavilion Publishing (Brighton) Ltd, PO Box 100, Chichester, West Sussex, PO18 8HD Advertising Sales: Sophie Dickson or Sean Close, Mainline Media. 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Cover photo: © iStockphoto.com / Marek Uliasz Cover photo: © iStockphoto.com / Marek 2 • Issue 71 November 2010 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com • www.diako.ir www.diako.ir MAIN FEATURE On the subject of ‘language’ Simon Andrewes takes a philosophical perspective on language awareness. here is little evidence to children may learn the L2 in a similar maturation through teaching. This belief indicate that an early start to way to that in which they learnt their is given credence by the, in themselves, learning a language leads mother tongue); but afterwards, ‘such a unsensational findings of an aptitude test Tautomatically to higher procedure is not only a waste of time but carried out by Peter Green, a colleague proficiency later in life. Indeed, a lot of runs more and more against the grain of of Hawkins’, back in the seventies, to evidence suggests that any lead the early the learner’. assess the ability children have to grasp starters may have acquired is quickly The quote is from Czech linguist structures, patterns, rules and regularities wiped out when they are joined in class Ivan Poldauf and is taken here from in a language they have never met before. by newcomers to the language. This was Eric Hawkins’ influential article This language learning aptitude that the argument of Ping Wang’s ‘Foreign language study and language Green demonstrated in his test was not convincing article in ETp Issue 68. awareness’. Hawkins is today revered as the same thing as verbal intelligence. One factor that cancels out the a pioneer of the concept and ‘school’ of Verbal (and non-verbal) intelligence, it advantages of an early start is the language awareness, his pertinent ideas turned out, was less decisive in the transition and the break in continuity on the role of awareness in language process of learning a language. between primary and secondary school. learning going back to the 1970s. My own experience coincides with Hawkins’ ideas are still relevant to One factor Wang’s in telling me that, while learning the current discussion on teaching and a language in primary school is treated learning languages, even though they that cancels out the as fun, it rather suddenly gets taken as a have in practice been ignored or serious business at secondary level. The marginalised over the years, largely advantages of an early pleasure of playing with or in a because of a lack of political will to start is the transition and language gives way to the chores of carry them out, due, in turn, to lack of learning vocabulary and irregular verbs, economic incentive. A bold assertion? the break in continuity of getting the tenses and gender We will try to justify it later. agreements right. between primary and To some extent, these contrasting Proposal teaching styles reflect the needs and secondary school abilities of the learners. It seems true The central and most radical element of that up to a certain age children have a Hawkins’ ideas on the role of language Developing this aptitude, focusing greater ability to mimic the sounds and awareness in language learning is his attention on structures, patterns, rules sound patterns of a language and absorb proposal for a new subject, called and regularities in language, would be the chunks of language spontaneously, but ‘language’, to be taught as a bridging content of the new subject: ‘language’. then this ability declines as a more subject between mother tongue and Hawkins reported how he drew up a cognitive need kicks in and the learner foreign language teaching across the programme of awareness of language, tends to start looking for parallels and school curriculum. starting in the primary school and aimed contrasts between the foreign language Underlying the proposal is the at equipping young learners to tackle and the native tongue. Before this conviction that we have a sort of natural the language challenges of secondary cognitive approach takes hold of the aptitude for learning language, developed