Issue 59 November EENGLISHNGLISH 2008 TTprofessionalprofessionalEACHINGEACHING

The Leading Practical Magazine For English Language Teachers Worldwide The write stuff Viv Midlane The sudden specialist Robin Walker Managing the very young Joanna Gruchala See you at the coffee stand! Darren Elliott

• practical methodology

• fresh ideas & innovations

• classroom resources

• new technology

• teacher development

• tips & techniques

• photocopiable materials

• competitions & reviews

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www.diako.ir www.diako.ir ContentsContents MAIN FEATURE TEACHER DEVELOPMENT

THE WRITE STUFF 4 PLUS ÇA CHANGE 46 Viv Midlane puts the case for reassessing Peter Wells reflects on a letter he wrote 25 years ago our attitude to student writing and on how not much has changed since then

SEE YOU AT THE COFFEE STAND! 49 Darren Elliott FEATURES has some sensible suggestions for attending conferences A TOOLKIT FOR TEACHERS 8 Stephanie Hirschman offers some multi-functional lesson plans for teaching the four skills TECHNOLOGY

DOG DAYS 12 WICKED WIKIS 52 William Chaves Gomes slots in some Margaret Horrigan shows how teachers can spontaneous language practice unleash the power of the wiki

RUDE STUDENTS 16 USING WEBQUESTS 55 Paul Bress gives advice on dealing with the Carina Grisolía demonstrates the benefits of socially challenged internet-based projects

PHONEMIC PLAYING CARDS 18 WEBWATCHER 57 Paul Charles creates a playful resource for Russell Stannard suggests there are many more teaching pronunciation ways to use YouTube than you may think

I THINK, THEREFORE I LEARN 2 28 Tessa Woodward looks at the questions REGULAR FEATURES teachers ask ACTIVITY CORNER: 25 A PROCESS APPROACH TO 29 THREE PROBLEM-SOLVING ACTIVITIES TEACHING CULTURE Jon Marks Guo Yan wants to meet her students’ needs and expectations PREPARING TO TEACH ... 38 Could DIFFERENTIATION 2 36 John Potts Doug Evans lists some practical ways to provide different activities for different learners EYE ON THE CLASSROOM: 50 OBSERVATION BY CHECKLIST John Hughes TEACHING YOUNG LEARNERS NORMAN’S HAT 59 MANAGING THE VERY YOUNG 23 Rose Senior Joanna Gruchala tackles the challenge of very young children IT WORKS IN PRACTICE 40 REVIEWS 42

BUSINESS ENGLISH PROFESSIONAL SCRAPBOOK 44

THE SUDDEN SPECIALIST 34 COMPETITIONS 39, 60 Robin Walker offers comfort for teachers working within other people’s fields of expertise INTERNATIONAL SUBSCRIPTION FORM 58

Includes materials designed to photocopy

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www.diako.ir EditorialEditorial everal of the articles in this issue reflect the provide the inspiration. Concerned that culture courses influence that other people have had on the were not giving the students exactly what they needed Swriters, once again demonstrating how helpful it or expected, she conducted a survey to find out how is when we share our ideas with fellow teachers. best their expectations could be fulfilled.

Paul Charles was inspired by Adrian Underhill’s Peter Wells’s muse is himself, or, more accurately, his wonderfully logical layout of the phoneme chart to younger self. He has discovered a letter he wrote as an create a series of playing cards which will help students assignment during a teacher training course, which understand how to pronounce the various sounds. We reflected teaching styles and methodologies of the day. have provided some photocopiable blanks so that you Curiously, some things don’t seem that different from can create your own. (Incidentally, in the Reviews what happens in classrooms today, nearly 25 years section you will find information about some later! commercially available cards for children showing the Finally, our three contributors to the Technology section mouth positions in the form of monsters.) enter the ultimate space for sharing information and Darren Elliott finds inspiration every time he attends an ideas: the web. ELT conference, while William Chaves Gomes had his notion of the teacher’s role in the classroom turned around by exposure to the idea of Dogme, as propounded by Scott Thornbury. He now includes a ‘Dogme slot’ in his lessons where all the language input Helena Gomm comes from the students and their needs. Editor

For Guo Yan, too, it is the students themselves who [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: Keyways Publishing Ltd, Editorial Consultant: Mike Burghall PO Box 100, Chichester, West Sussex, PO18 8HD Editorial Director: Peter Collin © 2008, Keyways Publishing Ltd Designer: Christine Cox ISSN 1362-5276 Advisory Panel: Dave Allan, Ruth Gairns, Yvonne de Subscriptions: Keyways Publishing Ltd, Henseler, Susan Norman, Janet Olearski, Julian Parish PO Box 100, Chichester, West Sussex, PO18 8HD Advertising Sales: Sophie Dickson, Mainline Media, Printed by: Matrix Print Consultants Ltd, Tel: 01536 747333 Kettering, Northants, NN16 9QJ Tel: 01536 527297 Fax: 01536 746565 Número de Commission Paritaire: 1004 U 82181. Email: [email protected] Prix à l’unité = EUR14.75; à l’abonnement (6 numéros) = EUR59. Directeur de la Publication: Sarah Harkness

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Pages 21–22, 25–27, 38–39, 44–45 and 50–51 include materials which are designed to photocopy. All other rights are reserved and no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted without prior permission in writing from the publishers.

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www.diako.ir www.diako.ir MAIN FEATURE 1980s. I explain that I would plan the assignment, then write a first draft, check it and edit it. I then started again, rewriting a fair draft on fresh paper, which was then handed in. All this by hand, on lined A4 paper with a ballpoint pen. I had a permanent callus where the pen rubbed against my finger. At one stage I acquired a manual typewriter, but gave up using it because every time I made a mistake I had to retype the whole page. TheThe This process contrasts with how word-processing allows us to write. For modern students, the delineation of stages in the writing process is not fixed in the way it was for pre-ICT generations. Today we still teach EAP students the model of generating ideas writewrite through brainstorming, making a plan, writing a first draft, checking and editing before writing a final draft. But in practice, with word-processing, these

A piece of writing is now never absolutely finalised in the way stuffstuffViv Midlane champions student writing. that it was when s is often the case, it began Across the centuries the mechanics handwriting meant with accountants. Around of writing, the process by which 6,000 years ago, in readable marks are made on a medium, that late changes Mesopotamia, trade and also developed. The Egyptians were involved creating an Acommerce evolved to a point where using papyrus by the third century BC, information became too complex to be with modern paper being developed in entire new draft retained in any one individual’s China two centuries later. Ink has a memory, and so it needed recording to similarly ancient history, traceable to put it beyond dispute. The ancient sixth-century China. But for millennia stages tend to flow into each other; bookkeepers hit on the idea of keeping the only means for a permanent record brainstorming with free writing or the records using a stylus to make marks in to be made of people’s lives and making of lists evolves into an outline; soft clay tablets. By doing so, they spiritual aspirations, or their business outline points expand into paragraphs; accidentally invented history, considered transactions, was through the laborious we juggle these about, experimenting to to be the tracing of man’s development process of hand copying. This changed find a logical and consistent sequence of seen through the evidence of written around the year 1440, when Johannes ideas and information; we keep writing records. Gutenberg established his printing press until we have nothing more to say and Writing moved slowly from early at Strasbourg. Now, what had been all our points have been made, or, more inventories and manifests into the written could be duplicated and passed likely for most students, we’ve realms of the imagination and of amongst many readers. Despite completed the required number of creativity. Around the third century BC, attempts to put this genie back in its words. After we’ve filled the blank the Epic of Gilgamesh was recorded on bottle, mankind had set out on the path space, we can start editing: looking for clay tablets, the oldest example of to mass literacy. better ways of saying what we mean, written poetry to survive. Gilgamesh is taking out irrelevancies or repetitions, the written record of an older oral A change in practice adding new points, examples or details. tradition, the epic learnt and relearnt by I suggest to my students that, because generations of storytellers, to be recited Anyone over 40 has witnessed massive of this process, a piece of writing is now to new audiences. Maybe those ancient changes in the mechanics of writing. I never absolutely finalised in the way bards saw the writing down of sometimes tell my English for Academic that it was when handwriting meant Gilgamesh as heralding a worrying new Purposes (EAP) students about the that late changes involved creating an technology, a threat to their traditional process of writing an assignment as an entire new draft. Then, one would working practices! undergraduate student in the early accept the final draft as complete, its

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www.diako.ir message carved as in stone. But now, where writing exists in electronic form The stuff of successful writing and tweaking text is so straightforward, it is possible, indeed tempting, to ● Free the imagination. ● Make it regular. continue tinkering indefinitely. For Use visualisation techniques to get Get students to write diaries or blogs, modern students, as for people who students writing creatively. read them and provide feedback. write for a living, only the approach of ● ● deadlines need ever end this process. Write little and often. Engage the students’ enthusiasm I could also tell my students how Even in the EAP classroom, where for technology. giving every employee access to word- the aim is to achieve competency in Create class blogs or wikis, set task- processing changed the world of work. I writing longer pieces, students based activities where students email could explain how in my first job, when benefit from frequent short writing each other or the teacher, or devise a I needed to write a letter to a client, I tasks where they write one or two game where no one is allowed to had to pass a hand-written draft to the sentences. speak and responses must be sent by SMS text. typing pool. The typed version would ● Bring writing back into the return for signature three days later, by classroom. ● Vary formality and feedback. which time, invariably, the client had We learn on teacher training Apply the same approach to fluency phoned, circumstances had changed, courses that class time should and accuracy in writing as you do to and the letter was never sent. I suspect be for communication. Writing is speaking. Encourage communication, my students listen to this stuff communication. Don’t set and pick up on systematic errors. indulgently, much as I did to my assignments in class and leave Analyse student work regularly with grandfather’s stories of seeing the first students to work in silence, but the class, looking at how features motor car in his village. Today’s office do aim to devise collaborative such as syntax, grammar and spelling workers not only do their own typing, classroom writing activities. can be improved, but do not overdo but that letter never even gets printed; it this, and never let it become ● Make it interactive. goes out as an email. intimidating. Audiovisual equipment Have students write to and for such as data projectors and video each other. For example, in a A change in pace OHPs are very useful for this type of business English or a Skills for Life activity, allowing you to share student The psychology of writing has also class, study the language of job writing with the rest of the class. changed with the mechanics of how we advertising and get groups to make marks to record information, create job adverts together. Then ● Mark it. thoughts or ideas. I’m writing this class members can apply for each Setting students writing involves article using voice recognition (VR) other’s vacancies. Follow up this asking them to put extra effort into software, which I’ve used over the last activity with roleplaying of their studies. Make sure that you mark five years or so. Voice recognition can’t interviews, then writing letters work conscientiously and return it produce an exact and accurate of appointment or rejection. promptly. transcription every time, and never will be able to. It regularly produces howlers – I cherish ‘Soul Food University’, my system will recognise (including VR system’s invariable transcription of A change in Gilgamesh!). I use a headset microphone communication ‘Salford University’. However, my for dictation, leaving my hands free to experience is that VR has become more make corrections using the keyboard. Whether the writer is a clerk counting reliable in recent years; it is now Using VR radically speeds up my the bushels of wheat in Pharaoh’s possible to dictate long passages with writing, but there is a trade-off. granaries, a medieval monk copying no transcription errors, and it is However fast your typing or Saint Matthew’s gospel, an extraordinary the range of words the handwriting is, these methods of writing administrator writing an email or an involve a time gap between formulating EFL student working with a partner to ideas into words and these words create a guide to the city where they’re But now, where becoming readable on screen or paper. studying, writing remains a means of writing exists in During this gap, valuable pre-editing communication. The essential difference goes on, with redundant ideas filtered between oral and written electronic form and out as they hit the bottleneck of communication has always been that tweaking text is so transcription speed. With VR, this gap writing allowed communication between is reduced to the time it takes to people separated in space and time. straightforward, it formulate thought into coherent Commentators on computer-mediated language and speak it, and the effort communication – CMC – describe this is possible, indeed expended in getting ideas down is ability as asynchronous communication. tempting, to continue reduced. As a result, I find that voice New means of communication fostered recognition makes me overwrite; every by the internet – such as online chatting tinkering indefinitely idea possible goes in the first draft and or forums – have meant that we now use editing takes longer. writing far more for synchronous

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www.diako.ir assuming that these are understood, and Teacher: Yosuke, do you understand that writing can be part of widening what this sentence means? language learning. The Yosuke: (Nodding) Oh, yes, I understand! A change in attitude Teacher: Great! But I’m not sure Carla understands. Could you explain it to her, Writing has another, fundamental role please? wrwriteite in language teaching. Aside from its inherent, communicative value, it reveals Yosuke: Oh. Sorry, Carla, actually, I’m to teachers a student’s interlanguage – not so sure! their emerging version of the language Teacher: (Laughing) OK, let’s go through stuff being learnt – in ways that speech never it again! can. Everybody feels exposed when communication. This is leading to the speaking a foreign language. Have you Obviously, this little technique should growth of new literacies. ever been in a country where you don’t be used only when the result will be If writing is such a fundamental speak the language and have been everybody smiling and where learning means of communication, why is it often approached in the street by someone the new language point will be ignored in the communicative classroom? asking a question? They probably just reinforced, and avoided if there’s any Of the four basic skills, why is writing want directions, are asking the time, or possibility the student being put on the the one we are most tempted to neglect? maybe it’s market research, but your spot will feel vulnerable or threatened. Why do some teachers seem to believe instant reaction is to close down the Writing puts students in a position there is something old-fashioned, even where they can’t use close-down reactionary, about teaching writing and strategies; they have to participate fully encouraging students to write? ‘Oh, I Why do some teachers in communication. Despite our best want to teach my students to speak,’ I’ve intentions, in a teaching and learning heard teachers say. ‘My classes are about seem to believe situation where no writing happens, we communication. Writing gets in the way.’ never really get to grips with what is Ouch. Without developing writing there is something going on ‘under the hood’ of a student’s skills, students are not getting the full old-fashioned, even language. Maybe we slow down the communicative picture. And yet we communicative flow in class in order to encounter EFL teaching contexts where reactionary, about concentrate on accuracy, but we can students barely write at all: on a teaching writing never deal with each and every summer course, young students work on grammatical or syntactical slip our posters and guides, but never write a and encouraging students make in speech, or our classes full sentence; at an executive training would grind to a halt. It is only through centre, students are asked to produce students to write? interaction with students through their bullet-pointed slides for a PowerPoint written work that we can examine in presentation, but otherwise write interaction as quickly as possible. This detail the mechanics of their nothing. gets both parties out of an awkward interlanguage, revealing their strengths It may be thought that integrating situation and saves face on both sides. and weaknesses and showing up what writing into the learning process Many students do this all the time. they really know and understand about increases the workload for teachers and They have well-developed strategies for the language. Getting students writing is students. Sometimes we are faced with closing down interaction, which vital in every classroom, and not just in massive teaching loads; setting and, all unfortunately sometimes come out in EAP classes, or those where students importantly, conscientiously marking, class. These may include: are preparing for examinations. What is student writing may seem more than we needed is a change in our attitude to can cope with. However, making writing ● Saying they’ve understood and the writing, seeing it not just as a support, part of learning helps with workflow, activity can move on when they or a means through which language is indicating language areas to work on, haven’t and it can’t; learnt, but as a vital component of the helping with the lesson planning ● Single word answers; communicative purpose in itself. ETp process, and providing the spark for activities such as peer review, which ● Echoing words used by the other Viv Midlane is a become part of classroom routine. party or parties to the interaction; freelance EFL/EAP An important point we must never consultant and ● Body language, such as nodding, or materials writer who forget is that not all students of English non-verbal sounds. has taught in Greece, come from affluent, well-educated and Belgium and Italy and for various universities literate backgrounds. ESL teachers Of course, the canny classroom teacher in the UK. He is working in community contexts is aware of these strategies, and evolves currently developing online PhD study skills regularly encounter students who are techniques to get round them. One materials for the not literate in their first language. The which works well with a class that’s University of Salford. aim for these teachers may be to provide been together a long time and is relaxed such students with the basic mechanics with each other and with their teacher of how to write at all, rather than goes like this: [email protected]

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www.diako.ir www.diako.ir SKILLS AA toolkittoolkit fforor teachersteachers Stephanie hen you’ve just started Materials needed teaching, skills lessons You will need a speaking task you wish Hirschman presents can seem difficult. the students to do, eg tell a story, give a Problems posed by mini-presentation, talk about a picture, Wcoping with the resources, equipment roleplay, etc (this can be from a some simple and effective and classroom management overshadow coursebook). lesson plans. the real aims of the lesson, ie giving students practice in the skill and 1 Model the speaking task yourself. teaching them strategies for taking their If you are going to ask the students to comprehension/production abilities to a make notes (see stage 2 below), put some higher level of competence. Every minimal notes for your speaking on the teacher needs a toolkit of simple and board so they can see how you turn key effective lesson plans which they can use words and phrases into full grammatical again and again with different groups sentences. Make sure you successfully and materials. Here are some ideas you accomplish the task yourself in terms of can employ in a skills lesson with the length of time you speak, your use of virtually any resources (including your target language and the points you cover, coursebook) to ensure that your lesson and ask the students some concept- aims are achieved – and all in ten stages check questions afterwards. or fewer! 2 Set the speaking task and allow the Speaking students a short time to think about what they’re going to say. If you want, Many speaking lessons follow the they can make some written notes of present–practise–produce model, and key words, but not full sentences. You ideally you would like to listen to the can refer to the notes from your students speaking in the final activity and demonstration to prompt them. offer them some feedback on their use of the target language. Unfortunately, it rarely works this way in reality. It is Every teacher needs usually impossible for you to monitor all the students in the short time they a toolkit of simple will be speaking and it is often and effective lesson disappointing that they haven’t used the target language much (or at all) because plans which they can they are so worried about what they are going to say. These problems can be use again and again reduced by asking the students to with different groups perform the speaking task twice, and also by incorporating a stage where they and materials reflect on their own performance.

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www.diako.ir How 3 Set up the speaking pairs in 10 Give feedback yourself on the board, simple questions on the board, eg many people are speaking? Are they whatever way seems convenient to you. focusing first on the target language of the American or British? Where are they? While the students speak, you can lesson, and then on any other important Is it monitor and make notes for later areas. For example, you can write up a For a song, the questions could be modern? What kind of music is it? Is the feedback. (Try to note successes as well mixture of sentences you heard, some singer a man or a woman? as failures!) correct and some incorrect, and ask the students to comment on them. Make sure Then play just a short piece from the 4 When the students have finished you end with some praise for students who beginning of the recording and elicit the speaking, put this list on the board: used the target language, or were answers to the questions. otherwise successful or were engaging to How did I do? 2 Certain listen to. Put the headings and ● Target language – did I use it? Uncertain in a chart on the board and ● Pronunciation – was it clear? ask the students to copy it onto a piece Listening of paper. ● Organisation – did I include too little/enough/too much information? Listening lessons can make students 3 Explain that they will listen to the Was the order logical? anxious, especially if the experience of full recording and should take notes of ● Other grammar – did I make mistakes listening seems more like a test than a any words or phrases they hear, but they in any area not covered by the target journey towards understanding. Students must write them on the chart in the language? really need to focus on strategies for place which corresponds to how certain ● Other vocabulary – did I use a range boosting their comprehension, and this they feel about what they actually heard. of vocabulary accurately? lesson plan helps them to develop the ability to piece together clues to arrive 4 Play the full recording while the 5 Tell the students they are going to at (more or less!) sensible conclusions. students make notes and then allow repeat the speaking task with a different them to compare ideas in pairs or small partner. Explain the items on the board. groups. Ask the students to think about their Listening lessons speaking, discuss their performance with can make students 5 With the whole class, check and their original partner and choose one record ideas on the board – certain first area which they would like to improve anxious, especially and then uncertain, maybe one idea per the next time. (They can’t pay attention if the experience student. Make sure they know that you to more than one area at a time so they are only acting as their secretary at this really must stick to one choice.) of listening seems point: when you write something on the board it may or may not be correct. 6 Then get each student individually more like a test than You will need to leave this information to tell you which area they have chosen. a journey towards on the board for the rest of the lesson. (You may be able to use your observations from monitoring to inform understanding 6 Ask the students to discuss in pairs your reactions to these choices – for or groups what is happening in the example, some students think their listening. They can give a general grammar is terrible, but their It is interesting for students to see summary or a detailed one, depending pronunciation is really the worst that some class members hear almost on how comfortable they feel. problem. If so, tell them!) everything but understand very little, while others hear only a little and 7 In a class feedback session, ask the 7 Set up some new pairings and understand a lot. This procedure can be students to justify their ideas about the repeat the task. While the students used with virtually any material (it content of the listening, using the speak again, you can monitor some works very well with songs) and you can information on the board. Act as a more and make notes for later feedback. then move on to focus on further facilitator and encourage discussion and (You might even be able to check comprehension questions, vocabulary argument between the students. Don’t whether one or two students have been related to the topic, a grammar or give them all the answers. successful in their chosen areas for pronunciation point, or a discussion. improvement.) 8 Tell the students they are now Materials needed going to complete a written exercise 8 Briefly get some feedback from a You will need a recorded text – based on the recording. You can use any couple of students on whether their monologue/dialogue/song, etc – with a exercise to accompany this – a gap-fill, speaking was better the second time. tapescript, and some accompanying multiple-choice questions, short-answer exercises (eg a gap-fill, multiple-choice questions, etc. This may be the original 9 Elicit more feedback about the questions, short-answer questions, etc. exercise from the coursebook or content of the speaking by asking a These can be from a coursebook). something you have prepared yourself. couple of students some brief concept- Give them time to read the exercise and check questions about what their 1 Help the students tune in to the answer any questions they can from partner said. recording by putting two or three very memory.

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www.diako.ir Materials needed 7 Ask the students to compare their You will need copies of a text that you answers in their pairs or groups and A toolkit want the students to read; this could be then check the answers with the class, from your coursebook or a newspaper. It is recording ideas on the board in note fforor teachers helpful if the text has paragraphs marked form. Ask the students to put the A, B, C, etc, or has line numbers indicated. information into their own words as much as possible. 1 Put the headline or title of the text 9 Play the recording again for the on the board and explain any unknown 8 Ask the students to rate the text as students to complete the exercise. Then vocabulary. Hand out any follows and get feedback: accompanying pictures but don’t let the ask them to compare answers in pairs. ● students see the text yet. Elicit the topic How interesting is the article Play the recording once more if (1–5 points)? necessary and then check the answers of the text and a very general prediction ● How much do you understand (in %)? with the class. of what it will be about. ● Did you read any new information? 2 10 Ask the students to comment on Ask the students to work in pairs Was it surprising? Was there anything their notes from the first time they or small groups and to write two to five you disagree with? listened and their guesses about the questions that they are interested in and content of the listening. What didn’t that they think they will be able to This lesson can stand alone, or if you they hear and why not? Was it a answer after quickly reading the text. wish to extend it, you could go on to question of the pronunciation, the You can prompt them with question exploit some other aspect of the text. You vocabulary or a complete words: who, when, where, etc. Monitor might want to ask further comprehension misunderstanding of the context? If and assist with ideas and grammar. questions, focus on new vocabulary related to the topic, pick out a particular necessary, you can always listen again, 3 with the students looking at the Ask the students to choose their language point or initiate a discussion. tapescript. favourite/best question and put one or two different questions from each pair This lesson can stand alone, or if you or group on the board, subtly correcting Writing activities can wish to extend it, you can go on to focus any grammar mistakes. (You should give you a valuable on some other aspect of the text: further have a maximum of six questions.) comprehension questions, vocabulary opportunity to pay 4 Give out copies of the text, set a related to the topic, a language point attention to each of (including pronunciation) or discussion. time limit and ask the students to read the text quickly so that they can say your students and to simply whether or not the questions on Reading the board can be answered. No give really meaningful dictionaries should be used. It is often difficult for students to engage (Note: They should not try to answer personalised feedback with a reading lesson because they may the questions at this point, but just say lose confidence in their individual ability either Yes, the text contains the answer to relate to or adequately understand to this question or No, it doesn’t.) the text in a reasonable amount of time. Writing This problem can be overcome by 5 Ask the students to compare their Writing activities can give you a valuable allowing the class to predict the content answers in their pairs or groups and opportunity to pay individual attention to of the text and write their own, then check with the class which each and every one of your students and personalised comprehension questions. questions can be answered. You can to give really meaningful personalised Once these questions have been further confirm where the answer is, eg feedback. Students often want to have all answered (or not!), you can either end in paragraph C or in line 22. their mistakes corrected, but this is time- the lesson or ask them to focus on your (If their questions were not very consuming for you and it gives them too own agenda for the text. successful, you can reassure the students much feedback (often in an unintelligible that predicting the content of a text is a form), which they can’t make use of. By sub-skill which is acquired through using the following technique regularly, You can reassure practice.) you can train students to write the students that effectively and to appraise their own 6 Ask the students to re-examine the work critically. It must be used after you predicting the content text and highlight the information they have set the task and students have need to answer the questions. Tell them completed their writing. of a text is a sub-skill they can use dictionaries in moderation which is acquired but only to answer the questions on the Materials needed board. They don’t need to write the You will need a writing task where through practice answers, but they should be prepared to students have already produced a piece talk about them. of work belonging to a particular genre

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www.diako.ir – eg a story, a formal letter, an e-mail, a C = content 9 Now collect the written work and composition, etc. All the students must ● Wrote about specific problems the feedback sheet and staple them have worked on the same task. experienced during a visit. together. Tell the students that you will ● Gave details of the visit (dates, 1 read the writing, check that the feedback Elicit what makes a piece of writing room number, staff names, etc). was accurate and maybe add some successful. Students will say that a lack ● Asked for a refund and an apology. remarks of your own, and correct some of grammar mistakes is important, but of their mistakes. Outside of class time, try to extract some other ideas as well. O = organisation ● Used appropriate letter layout with when you mark the accuracy and range, focus on a few serious mistakes only. 2 Write COAST vertically on the addresses, greetings and closing. ● Used paragraphs. Highlight the errors on the text itself and board. Then ask the students to say then write some general comments, eg: what they think the letters stand for and ● Used linking words. ● give some extra information: Be careful with articles. S = style ● Remember to use past tenses when C = content, ie did you write about the ● Formal – no contractions, phrasal describing past events. correct topic? If the task asks you to write verbs, etc. ● about a holiday and you write about ● Expressed strong feelings without Learn to spell these words ... (and list your grandmother, then the content is being impolite. words for students to learn). inappropriate, regardless of accuracy. 10 This also includes word count. If the T = target reader The next time the class meets, return ● task asks for 120 words, then 80 words is The hotel manager can understand the corrected written work and feedback inadequate and 250 words is too much. your feelings and the reasons for to the students, allowing them a few these feelings. minutes to see what you have written O = organisation, ie paragraphs and ● The hotel manager will want to and ask any questions they may have. If proper use of linking words. apologise and offer you a refund or you like, they can write a second draft A = accuracy and range, for both some other financial compensation. incorporating any necessary changes. ● A positive comment: ...... vocabulary and grammar. ૽ ૽ ૽ S = style, ie formal, semi-formal, 6 Ask the students to copy this onto neutral, informal. a piece of A4 paper and tell them that Using these lesson plans regularly will T = target reader, ie what effect will it they will use this paper as a checklist to have two positive effects. Firstly, once you have on the person the writing is mark a classmate’s work. Also tell them get to know the procedure of each lesson intended for? What will that person feel that in addition, they should write a plan, you will be able to relax a bit so like doing after reading the text? Will positive comment in the final section. that you can focus more on the students they understand the writer’s ideas? Will and less on the delivery. Secondly, you they be able to take appropriate action 7 If they are not marking will be training the students to work as a result? anonymously, tell the students to begin more productively by asking them to by putting the name of the writer, their assess their own work in the productive 3 Tell the students they are going to own name and the approximate number skills of speaking and writing, and by read each other’s writing and give of words in the text at the top of their allowing them to approach materials at feedback in four of these categories. sheet of paper. They should then read their own level in the receptive skills of (Students cannot give feedback in the text. If they feel the writer has reading and listening. ETp accuracy and range – that’s the teacher’s successfully fulfilled the listed criteria, job!) they can put a tick next to them. If not, Stephanie Hirschman is American and teaches they should put nothing. They shouldn’t teenagers and adults at 4 Decide how you will organise the correct any mistakes. Remind them that Sussex Downs College in southeast England. feedback. You can either ask the students they must add a positive comment at She also teaches Latin to exchange written work with a partner the end. This can be any supportive and to primary school children. She is or you can type up and photocopy one appreciative comment, such as: interested in helping student’s work for everyone to read. If ● Good spelling teachers and learners to you do this, keep it anonymous. This also develop habits and ways ● Excellent vocabulary of thinking which make works well if the students work in pairs lessons more effective. ● Funny story so they can discuss their feedback. [email protected] Give them a few minutes to complete 5 Add two or three criteria to each their feedback. Monitor and help as COAST heading relating to the specific necessary. writing task which your students Writing for ETp 8 undertook. The examples here are for a If you asked all the students to Would you like to write for ETp? We are transactional letter of complaint to a read the same text, you can check their always interested in new writers and hotel where the writer recently stayed. ideas with the class. Otherwise, you can fresh ideas. For guidelines and advice, You will have to write appropriate ask students to return the feedback to write to us or email: criteria for every writing task you use in the writer so they can see how they did. [email protected] this way, but it doesn’t take long! Monitor and assist with any queries.

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www.diako.ir METHODOLOGY DogDog daysdays

William Chaves s a student of English, I was lessons were never the same! However, I taught for two hours a week was no longer a human being genuinely Gomes invites us to do a by very experienced teachers interacting with my students: I had in an excellent language become a mere materials operator. Aschool, which could afford to provide Even though materials play an little Dogme in our lessons. me with loads of materials and tried to important role in language teaching, reproduce ‘real-life situations’, some of what has been noticed recently is an which, I now realise, bore little over-dependency on them at the expense resemblance to real life at all. My of the learning opportunities that can teachers followed the coursebook and happen between people in the did what they believed was best – classroom. It was not until I started the something pretty natural, I would say. DELTA course that I was observed by a When I started my own teaching tutor who diagnosed my dependence on career in a very modest language materials and my tendency towards school, a good 12 years ago, the over-planning. And that was when I was coursebook was basically all I had with introduced to Dogme ELT. which to teach the language. As a novice teacher, I had to rely heavily on my creativity and my perception of each The role of the student by interacting with them in Dogme teacher is to order to fill classroom time. Because of the lack of varied be attentive to the material, the interaction between my students’ needs and students and me was really intense, and I still remember talking to them about responses and to things that came up in the lessons but that, in fact, had no connection with the maximise language topic of the book or the topic of the learning opportunities lesson. These unexpected conversations with my students used to leave me with a horrendous sense that I was simply The term derives from the Dogme- padding the lesson out. 95 Collective headed by Danish Little did I know that what I was filmmaker Lars von Trier, who believed doing was real teaching! that the art of making cinema had been destroyed by the high-budget and highly A materials teacher in a technological Hollywood-style productions. materials world? In a similar fashion, Scott My ‘nightmare’ ended with the Thornbury suggests that the absence of development of technology and the materials fosters interaction in class and wonderful range of teaching resources it allows language to emerge out of the put at a teacher’s disposal. There are communicative needs, interests and now downloadable activities, resource desires of the people in the room: thus packs, CD-ROMs, catch-up CDs, to Dogme ELT. name but a few. From the moment I The role of the Dogme teacher is to had access to these resources, my be attentive to the students’ needs and

12 • Issue 59 November 2008 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •

www.diako.ir responses and to maximise language moments (Dogme slots) in my class to learning opportunities by drawing their make room for language emergence and Much of what attention to the characteristics of the reformulation. language which emerges. By interacting teenagers want to with the students, the teacher works Slots for situations know – slang and with the language that comes up, helping students reformulate it or Having Dogme slots in class also informal expressions, providing them with the next level of increases motivation because students the language they need, a process which can use the language they have in a non- for example – is not relates to Stephen Krashen’s input threatening atmosphere to talk about easily found hypothesis (i + 1). real problems and to get real answers. Because they don’t feel threatened in books during this informal talk – as it doesn’t I made sure that I seem to be something the teacher has planned – students feel at ease trying to teacher becomes somebody who is truly included unplanned get their message across. Meanwhile, the interested in what they have to say, moments (Dogme teacher can silently diagnose the rather than a mere mistake corrector. language and lexical gaps to target in slots) in my class follow-up work. Simple Dogme activities If students are learning the language I still have a lot to learn and experiment to make room for in an English-speaking environment, a on with my students, but the following Dogme moment in class is a marvellous language emergence activities have worked beautifully in my opportunity for them to use ‘real-life classes and I believe they will probably and reformulation language’ learnt outside the classroom inspire you, too! and to get feedback from the teacher on whether that language is appropriate for Knowledge is, therefore, a particular situation in class. Also, it is Lower levels constructed, instead of being imposed an opportunity to share cultural or transmitted by the teacher. In other differences between countries and learn 1 My world words, language and grammar are not informally from other students while This is a very good Dogme slot for acquired: they simply appear, given the interacting with them. appropriate conditions. Hence, there is showing your students that you are no right order in which grammar interested in their countries. It is also structures should be learnt. useful for diagnosing problems with A Dogme question formation. Slots for surprises moment in class is a If you teach a multinational group, write the countries the students come I was once teaching a group of marvellous opportunity from on the board and ask them what elementary students on a freezing day in for students to use they would like to know about one or London when it started sleeting. An two of the countries. Have them write Algerian student was overjoyed to see ‘real-life language’ appropriate questions in their for the first time what he called ‘snow’. learnt outside the notebooks. Then a Swiss student in the group Then get the students to ask and explained to him that it wasn’t snow, classroom answer the questions about their but sleet. In a six-minute conversation, countries, while you make a note of any lexical items such as snow, sleet, hail, language gaps. hailstorm, flurry and grammatical Dogme slots in class are also highly If you teach a monolingual group, structures such as there’ll probably be beneficial for those who are in a non- you can adapt the activity and write on more snow later, I think there won’t be English-speaking environment. Much of the board the different cities the any … tomorrow and it will definitely, it what teenagers want to know – slang students come from or the area in the possibly won’t emerged. These words and informal expressions, for example – city where they live. and structures are not normally part of is not easily found in books. So, Dogme an elementary syllabus, but were slots in class not only bridge this gap, 2 Free time perfectly pertinent and relevant for that but also motivate students to participate Ask your students what they did at the lesson. in the lesson and, consequently, lead to weekend or before coming to class. I believe that designing an entire less disruptive behaviour. Involve all the other students by asking ‘Dogme syllabus’ or letting students As for adults, who tend to be if they did the same thing or if they dictate the content of a whole course is reluctant to speak and afraid of having would consider doing it. I’ve noticed somewhat utopian. In fact, materials are their poor English exposed, a Dogme that this activity tends to generate powerful and effective tools in fostering slot is a boost to their confidence language for recommendation, such as the learning process. However, from the because they suddenly realise that they it’s worthwhile, I strongly recommend, it’s moment I got acquainted with Dogme, can actually communicate in situations well worth a visit. But again, it depends I made sure that I included unplanned beyond those given in coursebooks. The on the class.

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www.diako.ir Whichever activity the teacher chooses or whatever Dogme moment arises in a lesson – either planned or genuinely ENGLISH Dog days unplanned – it is the teacher’s EACHING responsibility to orchestrate that Tprofessional moment well so that all the students get Higher levels involved in the same topic and give their contributions. This is your magazine. 1 Complete the sentences With the language that emerges put We want to hear from you! Write on the board a series of prompts, on the board, the teacher can work like the following: afterwards on form and pronunciation. ● I will … The meaning will already be clear: after ߜ ● … is the most disgusting thing I’ve ever all, it came from the students’ seen. communication needs. Finally, it is a IT WORKS IN PRACTICE ● I can’t stand … because … great idea for the students to copy the Do you have ideas you’d like to share ● You wouldn’t see me dead … language into their notebooks so that with colleagues around the world? ● I can’t … they have a written record and so that Tips, techniques and activities; ● I wish I could … because … that rich class moment doesn’t fade away. simple or sophisticated; well-tried You can either work with the whole ૽ ૽ ૽ or innovative; something that has class or split it into smaller groups. Ask worked well for you? All published the students to complete the sentences My intention when I wrote this article contributions receive a prize! any way they like. This sort of activity was to reinforce Scott Thornbury’s ideas Write to us or email: generates a lot of language for the of Dogme ELT but also, and perhaps [email protected] teacher to work on because of the range mainly, to encourage teachers to include of possibilities provided by the Dogme slots in their classes so that real unfinished sentences. communicative needs and language Alternatively, if you want to work emerge. By doing so, the focus is directed TALKBACK!TALKBACK! on writing skills, ask the students to away from the teacher and onto the Do you have something to say about write the sentences in their notebooks. students, giving them more to say. Also, an article in the current issue of ETp? I would invite teachers to look critically 2 This is your magazine and we would What’s on today? at the activities in their coursebooks really like to hear from you. Ask the students to report on something and feel free to reject them, if necessary, Write to us or email: they saw on TV or read in the newspaper. in favour of more meaningful and Involve the other students in the class by quality time in class. And, above all, to [email protected] asking them if they saw or read about it listen to what their students have to say! and what their opinion is. You can also I’d like to end this article with a give students follow-up work by asking quotation from David French: ‘It is Writing for ETp them to write a short summary about more rewarding to talk about real lives, Would you like to write for ETp? We are what was on the news that particular day. real opinions and real experiences than always interested in new writers and invent opinions or take on an invented fresh ideas. For guidelines and advice, 3 Me, not me! p role.’ ET write to us or email: Write a number of words, such as dogs, robots, soaps, rap, marbles, arguments, X- French, D ‘The Dogme discussion group’ [email protected] Factor, etc, at random on the board and IATEFL 3 2000 ask the students if those words relate to Lightbown, P M and Spada, N How them in any way, and, if so, why. Again, Languages are Learned OUP 1994 Visit the lots of grammar and lexical items can Nield, D ‘Spirit of Dogme’ English ETp website! emerge from this activity. Teaching Professional 41 2005 The ETp website is packed with practical Thornbury, S ‘Teaching unplugged’ www.teaching-unplugged.com/ tips, advice, resources, information and By using descriptions.htm selected articles. You can submit tips or articles, renew your subscription Dogme slots in William Chaves Gomes or simply browse the features. has taught and trained class, the focus is teachers in Brazil and in England. He is an oral www.etprofessional.com examiner for Cambridge directed away from ESOL and currently works at Cultura Inglesa ENGLISH TEACHING professional the teacher and onto São João del Rei in Brazil. Keyways Publishing Ltd, PO Box 100, the students, giving Chichester, West Sussex, PO18 8HD, UK Fax: +44 (0)1243 576456 them more to say Email: [email protected] [email protected]

14 • Issue 59 November 2008 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •

www.diako.ir www.diako.ir IN THE CLASSROOM every lesson to discuss specific examples of that student’s behaviour that the teacher has noted. ૽ ૽ ૽

It is obvious that most language students Rude students attend classes in order to learn grammar, Paul Bress tackles the issue of anti-social behaviour. vocabulary, phonology and the four skills. They may, in addition, have a uman beings are essentially 2 Talking behaviour particular motivation for communicating social animals. There are those Those students who know how to fit in in a specific area, eg business English or Hwho like to spend their lives make a point of making relevant English for Academic Purposes. seeking nirvana in caves, but, for most of contributions to a conversation, and they However, for whatever reason they’re us, happiness arises out of the ability to don’t ‘hog the floor’. Their contributions studying, they will probably need to be fit in with those around us. Some people will be positive ones, and their tone will able to converse in a group (both during are lucky enough to have been well be calm. If their contributions involve and after their studies). Some students socialised as infants, but the less some reference to a personal experience, will be excellent at this, some reasonable fortunate have not been encouraged to the reference will be a modest one. and some dire. Teachers need to be able mix with others and have not been made In short, socialised students are to help the socially ‘dysfunctional’ aware of what is acceptable behaviour sensitive to other students in class both students to converse more effectively and what isn’t. This lack of socialisation when they are listening and when they and behave more appropriately in a may result in racist or sexist behaviour. are speaking. group. If they can do that, the students in question will have learnt much more p Socialisation in the classroom Students who don’t fit in than just English. ET If students have not been well socialised, Teachers can do two principal things to Paul Bress works both they may exhibit a number of different help students to fit in: a) praise in the fields of personal undesirable behaviours: growth and ELT and ‘functional’ behaviour and b) raise has published very ● They constantly seek attention. awareness of the effects of widely in both areas. Paul is a life-long, non- ● They never contribute anything to a ‘dysfunctional’ behaviour. In the grid stop learner – he learns class discussion. below there are some examples of more from everyday possible language a teacher could use. experience than from ● They are often negative or aggressive. formal research. His life In the event of serious ongoing coaching website is ● They constantly interrupt other problems, it is a good idea for a teacher www.bemycoach.co.uk. students when they’re speaking. to take a ‘problem’ student aside after [email protected] ● They often say things which aren’t connected with the existing ‘FITTING IN’ SKILLS PRAISING ENCOURAGING AWARENESS conversation. Listening I like the way you listened I noticed that you were looking at your ● They like to show off. carefully to what Maria said. watch while Maria was speaking. What Just one of these behaviours is likely to do you think she thought about that? have a very negative effect on the rest of Waiting Well done! I noticed you Did you know that Harumi hadn’t the class, but if a student exhibits all of waiting patiently for Harumi finished speaking? What do you think these behaviours, the most likely to finish speaking before you she felt when you interrupted her? scenario is that the student will be said something. shunned, and the class will be extremely difficult to teach. Connecting You’re keeping the Did you think the conversation topic conversation topic going was finished? What can you do instead well! of just changing the direction of the Students who fit in conversation like that? Let’s look at students who do know how to behave in a group. What do they do – Contributing It’s good to hear you express Do you have any opinions about this whether as a result of lucky genes or your opinions! topic? Do you think that we would like successful socialisation – to fit into a to hear them? group? I’ll divide their behaviour into Being positive/calm I thought that that was a Are you feeling angry? Do you think ‘non-talking behaviour’ and ‘talking really useful contribution. that the classroom is a good place to behaviour’. show your anger? 1 Non-talking behaviour Being modest I liked the way you didn’t give I’m happy for your success, but do you Students who know how to fit in always too much detail about your think you need to go into so much listen carefully to what other students competition victory! detail? Do you think the group will say. They always wait until the other appreciate the fact that you talk so students have finished speaking before much about your achievements? they join in the conversation.

16 • Issue 59 November 2008 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •

www.diako.ir www.diako.ir PRONUNCIATION PhonemicPhonemic pplayinglaying cards Paul Charles puts his money where his mouth is.

he mark of a great air is somehow blocked. The layout of often the case, learning by doing is the sportsperson is the ability to the monophthongs in the chart is based only approach with real merit. Unlikely make difficult things look on the mouth’s shape when each is as it may sound, plenty of fun can be easy. To take something I had formed, more closed for the top row, had moving from sound to sound, Tknowingly marginalised in my teaching moving to open on the bottom. inventing new ones, and vainly trying to and, within an hour, turn it into a Pronouncing those on the left, the lips make one vowel sound while the mouth passion bordering on obsession must be are pulled back and the tongue pushed is in the natural position for another. one sign of an inspirational trainer. forward. This slides into the reverse Next comes the logical step of Some time ago, Adrian Underhill did arrangement (lips forward and tongue combining these sounds, appreciating the exactly that for me, and I’m sure I’m back) as the four sounds in each row are feel of diphthongs, and suddenly being not the first person to say this. produced. Feel the difference in the able to mimic various accents by playing movement between the two sounds in the about with vowels. Finally, there are the A change of heart word she /i*/ compared with shoe /u*/, consonants. Where there are voiced and for example. Try it for yourself! As is so unvoiced versions of exactly the same Before this revelation at a conference in Devon, UK, I imagine my attitude to teaching pronunciation was sadly common. My Director of Studies said that the phonemic chart had to be displayed, but I had similar feelings towards the chart as to the patch of wall it covered. Actually, I was even more negative, because people rarely ask awkward questions about blank wall space. At Adrian Underhill’s workshop, though, the wonderfully logical layout of his chart finally became clear to me. A change of chart Understanding the significant differences between sounds (phonemes) and stress patterns is critical to successful communication in English. Monophthongs, diphthongs and consonants are, of course, separated in the chart. When we pronounce vowels, the flow of air is shaped but not impeded Phoneme chart from Sound Foundations by Adrian Underhill. by the mouth. To form a consonant, the Chart © Adrian Underhill & Macmillan Education, 1994, 2005

18 • Issue 59 November 2008 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •

www.diako.ir mouth movement or shape (the vast position in the chart. Several cards are 1 Memory majority), they are always side-by-side in reproduced on page 20 and there are the chart, like /t/ and /d/. There is much, blank templates for you to photocopy Objectives: To familiarise students much more as well. For example, try and produce your own on pages 21 and with the sounds of English, and help sliding between /l/, /n/ and /r/, feeling the 22. At the bottom of each card is an them think about pronunciation in tongue’s subtle but crucial movement. indication of the position they occupy terms of phonemes rather than letters. Imagine the difference a similar in Adrian Underhill’s phonemic chart. To highlight where different sounds awareness could make to students The inclusion of this information is commonly occur in words. struggling with these distinctions. crucial, as I have tried to explain above. Players: This game can be played Without it, they are a random – if still individually, in pairs or in groups of Learning about the potentially useful – set of symbol cards. three. Where necessary, I have found that the sounds best way to model sounds is to make the Procedure ● In the same way we English teachers correct shape with the mouth, but Twenty-seven of the cards are laid out have to learn about a language we silently, and encourage the students to face down in three groups (consonants, already ‘know’, I found myself, for the do the same, then voicing the most monophthongs/diphthongs, first time, learning about the sounds comfortable sound in each position. consonants). Use fewer cards for that were the most familiar in the world That way, you can elicit the ideal model lower-level groups, where only a few to me. And while I apologise for a from the students. Alternatively, some of the sounds have been introduced. whirlwind couple of paragraphs, as I of the sounds lend themselves to a Useful cards for the first group of said, it has become a near-obsession. description of the face shape (smile nine include /C/ /b/ /h/ /s/ /f / /r/ /l/ The harmony of exhaled air, lip and /k/ /m/ tongue movements just reading this Useful cards for the second group sentence out loud is extraordinary. The games can include /æ/ /J / /I / /a*/ /Ÿ/ /Ê*/ /Q*/ /e/ I also began to appreciate fully the /u*/ benefits of this chart in the teaching inspire confidence Useful cards for the third group and learning process. Crucially, this and overcome the include /d/ /n/ /t / /z / /b/ /Ñ / /dú/ /Ü/ wasn’t even a grudging acceptance. It /p/ involved full participation, childish students’ reluctance enthusiasm and a fair amount of ● The first player turns over one card daftness and laughter. Since then, I have to try to change from each group, aiming to make a spent countless hours copying and their pronunciation word. After each turn, the cards are adapting Adrian Underhill’s methods, turned back over and the next player and trying to develop my own ideas. habits or team has a go. When I left Europe for an Ethiopian ● Players try to memorise the position teacher training college, I enjoyed an of each card, and receive a point for even more striking reaction, and saw widely for /i*/ or open the mouth as far each word they make. genuine, positive effects. as possible and try to smile for /æ/.) Sound association can also work (you ● In groups of three, players can work Teaching the sounds are at a football match and have just in teams, with one set of nine cards seen your team hit the post – /u*/, or each to memorise. There, with a glaring lack of exposure to you are a sulky teenager and your native speaker English, and an education mother has told you to wash up – /Q*/). Obviously, the cards used can be that mostly involved lectures to classes It is worth spending some time on this changed according to the class. Players of 100 or more students, two inevitable at the very beginning of the course. could also be asked to spell the word problems occurred. The first was weak The games work best if they produce or use it in a sentence for pronunciation. This was compounded monophthongs, diphthongs and bonus points. by the more serious second problem – a consonants are each printed on different total lack of confidence when speaking coloured card. When they work well, 2 Countdown English. These issues are clearly not they can inspire confidence and Objectives: Similar to ‘Memory’. limited to Ethiopia, Africa, or even the overcome the students’ reluctance to try developing world. to change their pronunciation habits. Players: This is a whole-class There isn’t space here to describe in Most of all, like many games involving alternative to ‘Memory’. Students can detail the methods that originally the chart itself, they can inspire work individually, in pairs or in teams. inspired my interest (although the downright silliness. In a country where Procedure classic book Sound Foundations goes a learners are too often forced into the This game is similar to a UK television long way towards doing this and I role of passive observer, this is game show of the same name. The would thoroughly recommend it). My invaluable. I really hope you and your students ask the teacher for consonant, own contribution has been to develop a students enjoy the cards, and develop monophthong or diphthong (or just set of games with playing cards showing some new and exciting games of your consonant or vowel) and the teacher the phonemes, their type (consonant, own. Here are five of my favourite picks each one at random and attaches monophthong or diphthong) and their activities. it to the board until nine symbols are

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www.diako.ir related to a recent topic. If necessary, Vowels: Monophthongs they look it up in a dictionary to find Phonemic the phonemic script. As in standard hangman, the word is marked out with pplayinglaying cards dashes on the board, but in this version, each dash represents a phoneme rather displayed. The winner is the student or than a letter. The student should also team that can construct the longest mark the primary and (if applicable) i* word within a time limit (1–5 minutes). secondary stress. The other students Have several rounds, using different nominate phonemes by making the symbols. Bonus points can be awarded sound and, if necessary, showing the as above for spelling a word or using it corresponding card. The game is won in a sentence. and lost like normal hangman. It is a good idea to duplicate cards for the most useful sounds, such as the 5 Phonemic sardines schwa /P/, and remove some of the least common, such as /ŸP/. Objectives: To tune the students’ ears into sounds and word stress. To work Vowels: Diphthongs 3 Clap-Clap-Click-Click on forming sounds. To construct words using phonemic symbols. Objectives: To encourage instinctive recognition and production of English Players: More than six, split into equal sounds. To build familiarity with the teams of three to seven students. Note: more than one set of cards may be âP phonemic symbols. useful. Players: Ideally, ten students or more. Procedure Procedure The first team thinks of a word with the The players stand in a wide circle. Each same number of phonemes as there are student takes one phonemic playing players per team (eg, if there are five card and places it face up in front of players, the word number / ÷nJmbP/ them. This phoneme is ‘their’ sound. If could be used). If only one set of cards the cards are too small to see, the is being used, it must also be a word in students can copy their allotted sound which no sound is repeated. If students onto a piece of A4 paper. are new to the phonemic chart, they Consonants Using a slow 3/4 rhythm, everybody could draw words with the correct hits their knees twice (one and …), claps number of phonemes from sets their hands twice (two and …), clicks prepared by the teacher. The other team the fingers on their left then their right has the phonemic cards. (In large hand (three and …), and repeats. p classes, it works better to scatter all the Once the regular rhythm is cards on the floor in front of the team.) established, the student to the teacher’s A player from the first team says the right says his or her own sound on the chosen word. The players from the first finger click, and somebody else’s on second team then have 30 seconds to the second finger click. The player find the corresponding cards, take one whose sound this is becomes the new each and stand in a line with them in nominee and does the same, using his or order. The person with the stressed her own sound on the first click and a sound holds their card up higher or different player’s on the second. If stands on one leg. Points are awarded students fail to recognise their sounds for the phonemes and stress, and the or lose the rhythm, they are eliminated. teams then swap roles. Underhill, A Sound Foundations Gradually speed up the beat. The last Macmillan 1994

player remaining is the winner. One example card from each group is Paul Charles is a shown here. There are another 12 blank teacher and freelance writer. He has taught 4 Phonemic hangman cards on the following pages; six for and trained in Spain, consonants and six for vowels. These England and with VSO Objectives: To help recognition of can be photocopied as many times as in Ethiopia. He has symbols and production of sounds. To just started an MEd in necessary. Copy all the symbols from TESOL at Exeter encourage students to think about the chart onto the photocopied cards, University, UK. His words or phrases in terms of phonemes. main interests are mark each sound’s position in its pronunciation, Players: Three or more. section of the chart, and enjoy the authentic materials and communicative phonemic fun! ETp Procedure methods. One player thinks of a word or phrase [email protected]

20 • Issue 59 November 2008 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •

www.diako.ir Phonemic playing cards

Vowels: Monophthongs Vowels: Monophthongs Vowels: Monophthongs

Vowels: Diphthongs Vowels: Diphthongs Vowels: Diphthongs

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www.diako.ir Phonemic playing cards

Consonants Consonants Consonants

Consonants Consonants Consonants

22 • Issue 59 November 2008 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •

www.diako.ir TEACHING YOUNG LEARNERS ૽૽૽૽૽૽૽૽૽૽૽૽૽ Managing the veveryryyoung young Joanna Gruchala gets her pre-school classes well organised.

he aim of this article is to for instance, some space for working at There are some forms of behaviour identify the key issues facing desks in one corner of the classroom, which are caused by the developmental teachers in pre-school and a carpeted area for kinaesthetic stage which the children are at. These classroom management. We activities in another. Moving from one can, therefore, be anticipated by a needT to be aware of the problems that part of the classroom to another helps teacher. For instance, children of may surface during a lesson, and, at the the children to anticipate what is going around three years old often try to same time, we need to support the to happen. It also has a positive effect assert their independence and affirm children’s development by organising on their motivation, as they experience themselves by means of negative the classroom space and setting up what Genevieve Roth calls ‘a sense of behaviour. Resistance to adult authority activities in such a manner that the change and of doing something different is characteristic of most children at this lesson will contribute to the fostering and new’. age, and therefore very young learners of both social skills and social maturity. may be especially difficult to manage. Discipline They may flatly refuse to take part in an Surroundings The next issue to consider relates to activity or may become aggressive and First of all, as Wendy Scott and Lisbeth discipline. This is a very difficult aspect have sudden tantrums and whims. Ytreberg point out, the surroundings in of working with very young learners, which very young learners participate who tend to be emotionally unstable Play in an English lesson need to be pleasant and incapable of controlling negative Negative behaviour is not the only issue and attractive. This means they need to emotions such as anger. Children may which needs to be dealt with in terms be bright and decorated with items be aggressive towards other learners of the social development of young which are familiar to the children, without any particular motive. They are learners. Of course, the major activity of thereby helping them to feel secure and also at the initial stage of understanding young children is play, and thus it seems self-confident. the concept of cause and effect, and natural for a teacher to include aspects There is no doubt that the layout of therefore are not able to anticipate the of this in any lesson plan. However, a classroom influences the atmosphere results of their own and other people’s some knowledge of social development of a lesson. When dealing with very actions. For this reason, teachers need in relation to how learners play is young learners, it is important to to be very careful when grouping essential. Teachers need to know that ensure that it provides them with children and should pay particular before the age of five, children cannot constant opportunities for interacting attention to preventing any possibility really participate in associative or not only with the teacher but also with of accidents, especially during physical cooperative games. It is also important the other children. activities involving the whole class, such to recognise that some of the youngest Another feature of classroom layout as performing a boisterous song or children, especially those who have not is that there need to be different areas miming actions which require large experienced any kind of formal pre- clearly defined within it. There might be, gestures. school education, may not have learnt

• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 59 November 2008 • 23

www.diako.ir TEACHING YOUNG LEARNERS ૽૽૽૽૽૽૽૽૽૽૽૽૽

becomes acceptable. However, whilst interest and motivation demands teachers who care about the safety and constant changes of activity, each one Managing the wellbeing of the whole class often focus typically lasting only a few minutes. their attention on the disruptive Vanessa Reilly and Sheila Ward point veveryryyoung young members for the sake of the whole out that in the course of a 30-minute English lesson, there are usually no group, this can be counterproductive. to take turns. This has implications for Children may turn to bad behaviour as opportunities for free play as the English language teachers, who cannot a method of gaining the teacher’s teacher is required to expose the expect four-year-old children to attention and interest. For this reason, children to as much language as participate in pair- or groupwork. They it is often a good idea to get the carers possible. That is why in many classes, also need to realise that very young of more disruptive and aggressive even when children are engaged in learners have very specific concepts of learners to participate in a lesson with individual work, such as arts and crafts, possession and, at the earliest stages, them. (By ‘carers’ here I mean either there is usually a song or a chant audible are often unwilling to share and may the parents, babysitters, etc who bring in the background. Not only does this react very aggressively if another child the children to English classes – if they increase the learners’ exposure to reaches for an item they consider as have stayed to observe the lesson – or English, but it also reduces the level of belonging to them alone. other teachers, for example those who their noise and relaxes the children. have more regular charge of the Actions children in question.) ૽ ૽ ૽ In addition, teachers need to be aware of how their own actions may In short, then, several factors need to contribute to increasing difficulties with One stage of be taken into account when managing managing very young learners. For classes of very young learners. Firstly, example, engaging children in a new and a child’s social and the physical surroundings in which extremely lively activity just before one learning is to take place are important which requires them to regroup and emotional development as they need to create a pleasant and concentrate may result in a chaotic may be characterised encouraging atmosphere. It is essential transition stage with the children being to plan the arrangement of the nearly impossible to handle. Such by negative behaviour classroom: division of a classroom into problems may be prevented at the different areas is beneficial. Secondly, lesson planning stage and by employing and a desire for one of the crucial aspects of managing regular lesson routines as individual attention very young learners involves handling recommended by Genevieve Roth. discipline problems, which, due to the Another aspect of the discipline children’s developmental stage, are issue concerns managing individual likely to arise in a typical lesson. Thirdly, discipline. As mentioned above, one Activities activities should be designed to move stage of a child’s social and emotional the children on in their social As mentioned above, very young development and to provide a balance development may be characterised by learners are often not at a stage of of activity type within the lesson. ETp negative behaviour and a desire for social development which allows them individual attention. At this stage, it is to work successfully in pairs or small common for a child to disrupt an activity Reilly,V and Ward, S M Very Young Learners groups. As a result, activities are OUP 2000 or refuse to participate in it. When it typically designed for the whole class. Roth, G Teaching Very Young Children: Pre- happens that a single child or just a few However, in order to stimulate the school and Early Primary Richmond Publishing children are disruptive, teachers can learners’ social skills, teachers working 1998 often still continue to lead the activity if Scott,W A and Ytreberg, L H Teaching with children aged five and six need to English to Children Longman 1994 they approach the disruptive child and start introducing activities which simply signal, for instance by sitting next involve elements of getting the learners Joanna Gruchala is a to them or placing a hand on their to interact in small groups or pairs. Polish teacher of English. She currently teaches head or shoulder, that they are causing Roleplays and games of this type may students of all ages and a problem. levels in Gdynia, Poland. act as a stimulus to bringing social Her professional interactions to a higher level. During a interests are in teaching Carers young and very young lesson, there will also be a number of learners. Instead of simply reprimanding a child, activities which require the learners to it is often beneficial for the teacher to work individually. Lessons with young suggest to the child how they could learners tend to be teacher-centred change their behaviour so that it because maintaining the learners’ [email protected]

24 • Issue 59 November 2008 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •

www.diako.ir Jon Marks offers three photocopiable, Activity thematically-linked communication activities with an element of corner innovation. Three problem-solving activities

Here are three free-speaking practice the exam. The language should be as 3 What’s wrong? activities based on problems and varied and adventurous as possible. solutions. They can be used at Time: 20–30 minutes 3 When the dialogues have been intermediate level and above. The oral Preparation: None completed, ask several pairs to volunteer components of some exams (for to perform their dialogues for the rest of Method example, part three of the Cambridge the class. The class then comment on Brainstorm local problems with the class. ESOL First Certificate speaking paper) whether they think the dialogue would For example, there might be too much are partly based on discussing problems, impress an examiner or not, and why. traffic in the town centre, nowhere for kids so these activities would be especially to play, not enough affordable housing, etc. suitable for classes preparing for such Write the most suitable ideas on the board. exams. 2 What’s the Avoid any politically sensitive issues. problem? 1 Get the class to vote on which one of 1 What’s best? Time: 20–30 minutes the problems on the board they would like Preparation: Copy and cut out the cards to discuss. Time: A minimum of 15 minutes on page 27. If any of the cards are Preparation: Make one copy of the 2 Put the students into pairs or small unsuitable for the class for cultural handout on page 26 for each pair of groups. Each pair or group must come up reasons, omit them. students or group of three. Cut it up into with a proposal to solve the problem. Visit cards if you wish. Method the pairs/groups, and prompt proper discussion of the topic rather than instant Method 1 Divide the class into 12 groups of two or more students. If you have fewer than consensus (reminding them, if necessary, 1 Put the students into pairs or threes and 20 students, omit cards as necessary. that the purpose of the activity is language ask them to discuss the questions in the Give one card to each pair or group and practice rather than actually solving the first box. (To match the FCE format, they ask them to discuss the problem. Their problem). If you get the impression that two should speak for three to four minutes in task is to come up with a good solution. pairs/groups are going to come up with the total, but of course the conversations Monitor, and if necessary remind the same idea, see if you can steer one towards could be longer or shorter.) Monitor and students that the purpose of the activity is a slightly different version of that idea. assist anybody who is struggling. to practise speaking rather than to finish 3 When the discussion stage has run its 2 Reorganise the class into new pairs or as quickly as possible. course, ask a member of each pair/group threes so that everybody gets the chance 2 When everybody has finished, get each to explain their proposal to the rest of the to work with as many other students as pair or group in turn to describe their class. Write very short summaries of these possible. The new pairs or threes then solution without mentioning the problem. ideas on the board. discuss the questions in box 2, and so on. The rest of the class listen, and try to Continue until all seven boxes have been 4 Have a class vote on the proposals guess what the problem was. discussed, or stop after fewer than seven, (students can’t vote for their own proposals). as required. Alternative method Find out which idea has the most votes. 3 Have a feedback session, focusing on Use the cards for a speaking activity with 5 With smaller classes, you may like to any language problems that you noticed a more traditional format. Each small have a whole-class discussion on the while you were monitoring the students. group receives a pile of face-down cards. subject and any related issues. One member of the group takes a card Follow-up for exam classes and reads it out. The other members of the Jon Marks is an ELT writer and editor, based in Italy. Recent 1 If your class is preparing for an exam group must each propose a different publications include the such as FCE, which features a problem- solution. The reader of the card then Puzzle Time series and IELTS Resource Pack (both DELTA solving task, put the students into pairs, chooses the solution they think best, and Publishing) and three titles in and ask each pair to choose one of the the person who suggested it ‘wins’ the A & C Black’s Check Your English Vocabulary series. problems. card. Then another student takes a card He is currently developing from the pile, and so on. teenager courses for China, 2 Ask the pairs to write some ideas (but and also draws the Langwich not a script) for a short dialogue featuring Scool cartoon in ETp. two students discussing the problem in [email protected]

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www.diako.ir What’s best?

1 nurse waiter bus driver chef flight attendant police officer nanny How difficult would it be to do these jobs without training? Which would be the most difficult?

2 a city apartment a sea-front flat an old house in the country a modern suburban house a really big camper van What are the advantages of each of these places to live? Which would be best for a family with young children?

3 email fax letter personal meeting telephone What are the advantages of each of these forms of communication? Which is best for business communication?

4 cat dog chimpanzee rabbit fish mouse bird A family with two teenage children want a pet. They live in a ground-floor flat with a small garden. What would be the advantages and disadvantages of each of these? Which would be the most suitable?

5 cookery computing first aid judo car mechanics art creative writing These evening classes are offered by a local adult education centre. Unfortunately, for financial reasons, they have to cut three courses. Which four should stay?

6 luxury hotel simple hotel youth hostel caravan tent staying with a local family What are the advantages of each of these places to stay while on holiday? Which would be best for a family with young children? Which would be best for a young couple?

7 kindergarten primary school secondary school university language school driving school Bob is 22, and has just finished university. He would like to teach. What are the advantages and disadvantages of careers in these institutions? Which would be the easiest? Which would be the most satisfying?

26 • Issue 59 November 2008 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •

www.diako.ir What’s the problem?

You are walking in the country. In the The door of this room is locked and distance, a car stops. A man gets out you can’t get out. There are no other and hides something in the vegetation. people in the building. The car leaves. You go to the place, and pull out a suitcase. It’s full of money.

Ten minutes before a really important For a joke, your friends take all your job interview, somebody spills coffee clothes and leave you standing naked all over you. in the town centre at 11 o’clock in the morning.

You really have to pass an English You arrive at an airport, and realise exam. You did a practice test that you’ve left your ticket and yesterday, and got 30%. The exam passport at home. is in two weeks’ time, and the pass mark is 60%.

You need to make a journey of 1,000 You are in a country where you don’t kilometres very urgently. You have no speak a word of the language. Your money. It’s not safe to hitchhike. money, credit cards and passport have just been stolen.

You are in a city far from home with You have just pulled the front door of no money, cheques or credit cards. your house shut, and realise that you You don’t know anyone. It’s getting have left your keys inside. late. You need somewhere to spend the night.

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www.diako.ir IN THE CLASSROOM I think, therefore I learn 2 Tessa Woodward looks at the questions teachers ask.

e probably ask hundreds of Student 2: There are no commas or a class to fill out answers that are not questions in the process of a anything. quite right or not full enough. They can Wmonth’s teaching! One way of If we wait after our own questions involve rephrasing the original question, classifying the questions we ask is by and also after student contributions, we making it simpler, or can involve briefly the answers they require. So, for give the students time to think. reviewing previous information for example, we could frame a question to Research tells us that good wait-time students to help them recall it. require a brief, specific answer: will get us more and longer answers Brown and Wragg, amongst others, ‘What class of word is “yummy”?’ from more students, who will also start have suggested that follow-up questions Or to require a wide-ranging answer: to build on each other’s contributions. be asked in a gentle way or so that a ‘What did you do last weekend?’ If you find pausing hard, try the task is seen as a fun or interesting Some people call the narrow-answer following: challenge. Here are some examples: questions ‘closed’ or ‘convergent’ and the ● Notice your breathing and gestures Can anyone give me an example of that? broad ones ‘open’ or ‘divergent’. You’ll and keep them relaxed. Can you tell me the difference between see that both the questions above start ● Count ‘One Mississippi, two those two? with the word What. So we can say for Mississippi …’ up to five, slowly. Is there another possible reason? sure that it is too simple to imagine that ● Look calmly round the classroom. Now, remember what we said yesterday questions starting with what, when, where, ● Mentally check that your own question about ...? How does that fit with ...? who, etc always get dull, unthinking was a well-worded, clear and relevant Linking back to previous responses or that those starting with one. contributions is a good way to follow what if, why or how necessarily lead to up as well: Echoing interesting answers. It’s the content of What did Sari just say? Echoing is when a teacher repeats what a the question, rather than its form, that Good … so Maria said it means starting a student has just said. Here is an example: is the key to stimulating thinking. new topic. Juan said it’s informal. So now Teacher: What do people do to prepare However, it is pretty clear that lots what does it have in common with …? for a job interview? of narrow questions (whatever word This encourages students to listen to Student: Wear a suit. they start with) will elicit lots of short each other and validates previous Teacher: Wear a suit. answers and so may require less thought contributions. Echoing is a really hard habit to on the students’ part. break. If we are even aware that we do Finally … Answering our own questions it, we imagine that we are dong it for all What I am suggesting, then, is that we Teachers who are inexperienced and shy sorts of good reasons, such as to confirm notice the kinds of question we ask, of silences, or those who are really keen to a student that their answer is a good make sure we ask a variety with plenty to get through lots of material, will ask a one, to repeat it loudly enough for others of open-ended ones, lengthen our wait- question or two (or more), one after the to hear or to model pronunciation. But, time, use it in two different places and other, and, after waiting just a couple of in fact, echoing increases teacher talking use skilful follow-up questions and links. seconds, will answer the question(s) time, hands control of the conversation Checking these everyday classroom themselves! Once students get used to back to the teacher, discourages students routines is pivotal in helping students to this and realise that they are not really from bothering to speak up and understand, think and contribute. ETp expected to attempt an answer, they will supplants praise or encouragement. It is very unnatural in ordinary conversation Brown, G and Wragg, E C Questioning switch off. No thinking necessary there! Routledge 1993 and, in the context of this article, it Wait-time Fisher, R Teaching Thinking Continuum hardly encourages thinking! 2008 Wait-time is when the teacher pauses in If we realise we have got into a real Lindstromberg, S ‘Teacher echoing’ class and … er … waits! habit of echoing, what can we do? Well, Teacher Trainer 2(1) 1988 There are two different situations we can ask a quiet student to speak up or when wait-time is invaluable. Firstly, Tessa Woodward is a ask a nearby student to repeat it more teacher and teacher just after you have asked a question. loudly. Or we can acknowledge the trainer. She also edits Secondly, after you have received an student’s contribution or, yes, you guessed the Teacher Trainer journal for Pilgrims, UK. answer. Thus … it, we can practise using wait-time! Her latest book is Teacher: What do you notice about the Headstrong, available Follow-up questions from Hilderstone sentences in this story? Colllege, St Peter’s, Pause Unlike teacher echoing, follow-up Broadstairs, Kent Student 1: They’re all short. questions can really move thinking on. CT10 2AQ, UK. Pause They are encouraging prompts that help [email protected]

28 • Issue 59 November 2008 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •

www.diako.ir CULTURE A process approach to teaching culture Guo Yan consults her students to find out what they want.

lthough some researchers people’s attitudes, and learning to Provision and practice and teachers remain tolerate different value systems in order sceptical about the role of to achieve mutual understanding. In the teaching of English to non- culture in language teaching, Moreover, they considered lack of English majors at universities and theA majority assume that some form of understanding of other cultures, colleges in China, culture is generally cross-cultural training is inevitable in any unfamiliarity with the pragmatic rules implicitly embedded in two courses, an English course. However, the literature of English use and inability to make use ‘integrated skills’ course and a ‘listening on the subject seldom mentions the of communicative strategies as potential and speaking’ course. The content of students’ attitudes to the teaching of hindrances to establishing deep both courses is topic-led. When covering culture. This article looks at what friendships with foreigners. a topic, teachers often supply some students in tertiary education in China related cultural information about the have to say, and examines whether people, the country, the background, current teaching practices meet their The students etc. Thanks to a series of reform expectations and needs. policies, recent years have witnessed the deemed competence incorporation of more cultural content into the curriculum of college English. Questions and answers in using English to In many universities, non-English majors A questionnaire (adapted from the talk about their own take additional courses like British and research of Zhang Bei and Ma Lan) was American Cultures, Appreciation of used to survey students’ perceptions of Chinese culture as British and American Movies, British cross-cultural communication and culture equally important and American Literature, etc. The teaching in college English. Altogether underlying rationale is that culture is there were five questions on cross-cultural the background and context of a communication (see Table 1) and six on Most of the respondents expect to language and by plunging students into culture teaching (see Table 2). For each use English for work and in cross- the sea of the target culture(s), they will item, three to five choices were listed cultural communication within China. be better motivated and their language and students were required to tick the As a result, they expressed the view that skills will be enhanced. one that they felt most accurately learning English and information about However, in the courses mentioned reflected their views. The questionnaires British and American culture was above, students are simply exposed to were administered in regular class time definitely not enough. They deemed superficial second-hand knowledge of to 258 students from five universities in competence in using English to talk geography, education systems, customs, Hubei province of central China. The about their own Chinese culture as festivals, etc. Moreover, the end-of- results are shown on pages 30 and 31. equally important. They would like course assessment concentrates mainly Although a small number of teaching materials to focus on a variety on checking the students’ ability in respondents had no thought of ever of cultures, including their own. As for memorising and understanding cultural making foreign friends, the vast the cultural course British and American knowledge. The students’ own Chinese majority (81.8%) were pretty optimistic Cultures, 37.6% (mainly those who culture is used only for providing that they might make friends with either indicated that there was no such course reference to the target cultures. As a native speakers of English or people on offer in their school) had very result, when it comes to talking about who use English as a second or foreign positive attitudes toward its potential Chinese culture in English, students language. Conversational topics were role in improving their cross-cultural often feel at a loss. Overgeneralisation most likely to be personal interests and communicative competence. However, or oversimplification of information cultural matters. The problems they felt more than half (53.5%), mainly those about culture also occurs, which in turn they would face were overcoming who indicated that they had actually leads learners to form stereotypical diverse cultural backgrounds, choosing taken the course, stated that it was only perspectives about the target cultures the right words, understanding other moderately helpful. and their people.

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www.diako.ir The teaching of culture needs to two-sided, the students’ lack in this A process approach consist of more than mere ability is a big obstacle to developing familiarisation with different social, their intercultural communicative to teaching culture political and religious circumstances in competence. The students themselves the target culture. Cultural knowledge have clearly realised their shortcomings Expectations and reality by itself cannot guarantee students’ in this respect and would like culture By comparing students’ perceptions and smooth communication with speakers teaching materials and textbooks to current teaching practice, we found that of English in real-life situations. Rather, incorporate their native Chinese culture. students expect to acquire the skills that it is intercultural communicative will enable them to identify other competence that plays this crucial role. Bridging the gap people’s attitudes, to choose the proper The students also expressed the hope vocabulary for expressing their own that they could improve their competence What can we do to bridge the gap meaning, to use appropriate in English in order to talk about their between students’ expectations and our communicative strategies, and to own Chinese culture. This, too, is largely teaching practice? understand the pragmatic meaning of ignored in current teaching practice. Firstly, we need to realise that what people say to them in English. In Although the students’ native culture is culture teaching is not a product, but a reality, current teaching practice ignores introduced in comparison and contrast process. More emphasis should be such expectations and needs and appears with the target culture, it does not appear placed on having students discover merely to impart impractical cultural sufficiently part of the course materials as cultural data as a learning process rather knowledge to students in a passive way. to guarantee its inclusion when any topic than having it ‘fed’ to them as static This is, in essence, a ‘product’ approach is presented. In other words, it serves only information. In other words, as both to the teaching of language and culture. as a near-invisible backdrop for the Claire Kramsch and Linda Quinn Allen In this approach, the target culture is presentation of British and American point out, culture teaching and learning regarded as a product, waiting to be put cultures and seldom comes to the front of should be a process of discovery in into the students’ minds. This fails to the stage, leaving students no opportunity which students explore aspects of the facilitate the students’ individual to learn systematically how to talk about target culture, reflect on the fruits of initiatives, to instill creative learning or Chinese culture in English. As cross- their explorations and create relational to provoke critical thinking. cultural communication is by nature meanings of their own based on

Cross-cultural Choices Number of Percentage communication students (Total)

1 In my opinion, any foreign A British or American people who use English as their mother tongue. 124 48.1% people I will have contact B people who use English as their second language. 55 21.3% with or make friends with now or in the future will C people who use English as a foreign language. 32 12.4% be ... D There is only a remote possibility that I will have contact with foreigners. 47 18.2% 2 Topics of conversation A daily greetings. 30 11.6% with my foreign friends B hobbies and interests. 132 51.2% are usually ... C learning a new language. 19 7.4% D cultural exchange. 71 27.5% E current affairs. 6 2.3% 3 Any misunderstandings A different habits of conversing. 33 12.8% between me and foreign B different personal experiences. 9 3.5% friends are usually caused by ... C different communicative competence. 17 6.6% D different language speaking habits. 48 18.6% E diverse cultural backgrounds. 151 58.5% 4 My biggest problem when A I am not able to use appropriate words to express ideas. 116 45% communicating with B there is no interesting topic to talk about. 25 9.7% foreign friends is that ... C I don’t know how to use appropriate body language. 29 11.2% D I am not sure about the foreign friend’s attitudes. 41 15.9% E we have diverse value systems. 47 18.2% 5 The difficulty of setting up A I lack adequate understanding of the other person’s culture. 82 31.8% deep friendships with B I lack adequate understanding of the pragmatic rules of their language use. 56 21.7% foreigners lies in the fact that ... C I lack communicative strategies. 59 22.9% D I am not tolerant of other cultures. 25 9.7% E Other reasons. 36 13.9% Table 1

30 • Issue 59 November 2008 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •

www.diako.ir Culture teaching Choices Number of Percentage and language use students (Total)

1 I think if I learn a foreign A this will be enough for cross-cultural communication. 25 9.7% language and about its B it will not be enough. I still need to master competence in using English to talk culture, ... about my own native Chinese culture. 229 88.8% C native Chinese culture is irrelevant. 4 1.5% 2 I like English culture A embody the culture of the USA. 65 15.2% teaching textbooks that ... B embody British culture. 22 8.5% C embody Chinese culture. 15 15.8% D embody a variety of cultures. 156 60.5% 3 I think that English culture A the target culture(s). 38 14.7% teaching materials should B Chinese culture. 27 10.5% focus on ... C a combination of the target culture(s) and Chinese culture. 97 37.6% D multicultural integration. 96 37.2% 4 I think the cultural course A helps learners get knowledge of British and American cultures so as to enhance 97 37.6% British and American cross-cultural communication. Cultures ... B gives learners little help in English language learning and cross-cultural communication by imparting knowledge of British and American cultures. 23 8.9% C to a certain extent motivates learners and helps them in English language learning and cross-cultural communication. 138 53.5% 5 I hope my English A my need for cross-cultural communication. 73 28.3% proficiency will match ... B my needs for my future job. 111 43% C my need for my personal development and dreams. 63 24.4% D my need to pass examinations. 11 4.3% 6 I think I will use English in A professional translation or interpretation. 5 1.9% the future for ... B cross-cultural communication in China. 60 23.3% C making a living in an English-speaking country. 8 3.1% D further study or an academic exchange or visit abroad. 48 18.6% E needs within the work field. 137 53.1% Table 2 reflections on both the target culture Lixian Jin recommend developing Allen, L Q ‘Implementing a culture portfolio and their native culture. Conducting multicultural content teaching materials project within a constructivist paradigm’ portfolio projects is a good approach as by making use of both international Foreign Language Annals 37(2) 2004 it can involve students in more active target culture language materials and Cortazzi, M and Jin, L ‘Cultural mirrors: learning experiences and more source culture language materials which material and methods in the EFL student–student and student–teacher draw on the students’ own culture. classroom’ In Hinkel, E (Ed) Culture in interactions. In addition, the process of ૽ ૽ ૽ Second Language Teaching CUP 1999 each student’s learning can be evaluated. Kramsch, C Context and Culture in Language Teaching OUP 1993 Secondly, we should integrate the By investigating students’ perceptions target culture(s) and the students’ own and examining current practice for the Zhang, B and Ma, L ‘An investigation of the cultural content in college English culture. We must help our students teaching of culture, we found that to coursebooks’ Foreign Language World 4 attain sufficient knowledge and expertise some extent the students’ expectations 2004 in English to talk about their native and needs are not being met. A product culture. If possible, the concept of the approach to culture teaching cannot Guo Yan is a lecturer in target culture should be broadened, so satisfy students’ needs in regard to their the School of Foreign that it is not simply confined to British future use of English because it merely Languages of Huazhong University of Science and and American culture. Nowadays, transmits a limited range of cultural Technology in China. Her English is an international language and information. The students’ native culture, current research interests are applied linguistics and is essentially the first choice in which is an indispensable component of translation studies. Her communication between people from cross-cultural communication, is largely most recent publication is Autonomous English different speech communities and ignored. In response to these problems, a Learning among cultural backgrounds. If these diverse process approach is suggested and it is Postgraduate EFL Learners in China: A cultures can also be touched upon, it proposed that multicultural materials, Study of Attitudes and will be easier for both parties to particularly involving content on the Behaviors, published by establish mutual comprehensibility in native culture, need to be developed and Asia TEFL. [email protected] communication. Martin Cortazzi and included in courses on culture. ETp

• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 59 November 2008 • 31

www.diako.ir www.diako.ir www.diako.ir BUSINESS ENGLISH professional ⅢⅢⅢⅢⅢⅢⅢⅢⅢⅢⅢⅢⅢⅢⅢⅢⅢⅢⅢⅢⅢⅢⅢⅢⅢⅢⅢⅢⅢⅢⅢⅢ TheThe suddensudden spspecialistecialist Robin Walker has suggestions for the non-specialist teacher faced with specialised needs.

ne of the most unnerving environment, and we are trained experts teacher to assist the learner in gaining moments in the career of in teaching this grammar. these skills, or in optimising in English many teachers of English is the communication skills they already the arrival of their Director Skills possess in their mother tongue. Oof Studies or Head of Department to We are also experts in guiding students Despite all of the above, teaching tell them that they are going to have to to high levels of competence in each of English for any specialist purpose can teach a group of agricultural engineers, the four language skills, and although still generate difficulties, and it is to three architects, chemists or business studies some situations would need us to focus of these problems, and to potential undergraduates. Mostly trained in more on writing than on speaking, say, solutions, that we now turn our attention. humanities, teachers new to English for we are experts in determining the exact Academic Purposes (EAP), English for balance of skills work that each student Problem 1: It’s a completely Special Purposes (ESP), or Business or group requires. new specialism for you. English, quite naturally feel intimidated Functions With English now a lingua franca in by the prospect of teaching with texts Once again, our expertise from teaching many academic, professional and that can be characterised by dense exam or general English leaves us business environments, our own technical vocabulary and often obscure perfectly equipped to help our specialist profession will be called on more and field-specific concepts. Though we now learners to achieve the fluency they all more to give classes to groups studying know what FAQs are through using the desire when putting forward a tentative one or other of a constantly expanding internet ourselves, we may be less at idea, agreeing a price or rejecting an range of specialisms. Here there are two ease on encountering FABs, GDSs, argument from a peer. relatively simple courses of action we can SWOT or yield analyses. take in order to gain at least a minimal understanding of the specialism’s basic Common features At the heart of all concepts and terminology: But before we hand in our notice and specialist Englishes 1 Use the internet to check the look for work elsewhere, it is worth meaning of new concepts/terminology. remembering that at the heart of all there lies a core of In particular, for simple but adequate specialist Englishes there lies a core of common features explanations try wikipedia.com and common features that, as professional answers.com. language teachers, we are experts in. that, as professional It is also usually possible to find the The most important generic features are language teachers, English translation of a wide range of familiar terrain for us: terms on the internet. we are experts in Grammar 2 Use Amazon, or a similar online Although genre analysis and other related book supplier, and buy an undergraduate studies have revealed certain differences We should also not lose sight of the introductory coursebook on the between different specialist Englishes, fact that many people in academic, specialism in question, in English especially at discourse level, the actual professional or business contexts will and/or the students’ mother tongue, if grammar that students of any field will need to make presentations, to negotiate, you can speak this. Such introductory need is remarkably constant. None of the to travel and to socialise. All of this coursebooks, though not exactly ‘light grammar taught up to upper-intermediate implies having strong communication reading’, are usually conceptually well level in general English classes would be skills in English, and once again, there is within the intellectual limits of any ELT out of place in an ESP or related nobody better than the trained language professional. As a bonus, these

34 • Issue 59 November 2008 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •

www.diako.ir BUSINESS ENGLISH professional ⅢⅢⅢⅢⅢⅢⅢⅢⅢⅢⅢⅢⅢⅢⅢⅢⅢⅢⅢⅢⅢⅢⅢⅢⅢⅢⅢⅢⅢⅢⅢⅢ textbooks will also provide: It is useful to collect the PLDs from version of the text, with each paragraph ● additional reading material; time to time to check that the students on a separate slip of paper. are maintaining them properly. If a Invite your students to read the ● (probably) additional activities and student’s explanation of the meaning of paragraphs and put them back in the mini-research projects at the end of a term is not clear to you, get them to right order. This can be done each unit or chapter; re-write it, or to explain it to you in individually, in pairs or threes. On ● (possibly) addresses of websites with English until you do understand. This is confirming the answer to the order of authentic related material – websites quite a demanding exercise, but has the paragraphs from the answer sheet, of professional bodies, companies, etc. obvious benefits both for you, as you get take the opportunity to point out how to understand technical vocabulary, and cohesion is maintained in the text Problem 2: Your class has for the student, who practises using it. through the use of reference, ellipsis, students from a variety of different conjunction, etc. professional backgrounds. 3 Teach your students sufficient presentation skills for them to be able to 3 Cloze. Get your students to look 1 Openly discuss the impossibility of prepare and give mini-presentations for texts on the internet that they can teaching to the needs (especially the about terms or concepts from their download as Word files, and then delete lexical needs) of one specialism only, specialism. These should last about five every ninth or tenth word (less often, if and so justify a ‘broad’ approach. minutes, and, initially, the use of you have weaker students). Print out Explain that you will base your lessons PowerPoint should be discouraged; and copy the texts and give them to the on the generic features of all specialist learners need to concentrate on the students to complete. Englishes, namely: language they need rather than on the A variation on deleting every nth ● grammar; ‘fireworks’ of modern digital word, is to delete certain grammatical ● functions; presentations. elements (articles, prepositions, pronouns, etc) or to delete vocabulary ● competence in the four skills. Problem 3: You don’t have a central to the specialism the text dedicated coursebook for a 2 Having justified a broad approach, get belongs to. You can also vary the specialism you have to teach. your students to prepare PLDs (Personal difficulty of this ‘cloze’ activity by: Learning Dictionaries) of the vocabulary There are various ways we can respond ● giving all the missing words in specific to their individual professional to this situation, which is not at all alphabetical order in a box below the or vocational fields. Of course, they will uncommon. Three simple but effective text; probably not have taken full responsibility responses are: ● giving all the missing words and one for their vocabulary work before, so you 1 Shared reading comprehension. or two ‘distractors’ (ideally, the right will need to use general English Get your students to bring in authentic word but the wrong part of speech, eg vocabulary at first in order to train texts and/or to search for texts on the patient, patiently and patience, where them. Eventually the PLDs will become internet. Ask them to read their texts only patience is correct). so personalised that even when two and to prepare questions (and answers!) students share the same specialism, their on the content of the texts. Support ૽ ૽ ૽ dictionaries will frequently be quite them as they prepare the questions, different. However, as a general rule, primarily with language, but also by In short, whilst in no way underestimating each entry into a PLD should include: reminding them of the types of reading the magnitude of the task of preparing ● the headword (the English term the comprehension question that they might a course in a specialist English, we student hopes to learn); like to use. Prepare copies of the texts should not forget the skills and ● a translation into the student’s L1; and the answer sheets, or put them on professional expertise that we possess as the institution’s website. Students then language teachers, and which we too ● pronunciation – this can be the choose texts and questions written by easily take for granted in a world that official IPA transcription, and/or a their peers and work on them. Where an still has not understood just how vital personal notation based on listening author and user disagree about the the English teaching professional is to to the word on a CD-ROM, an online answers, you can join them and ask each modern life. ETp dictionary, to you, etc; one to justify their opinion in English. ● grammar (especially where this is Robin Walker is a 2 Jigsaw reading. Get your students freelance teacher trainer different to the L1 grammar of the and materials writer. same word); to look for texts on the internet that He taught ESP at the they can download as Word files. Ask Escuela Universitaria ● an example of use from an authentic de Turismo de Asturias them to reformat their texts so that (Spain) for over 20 text (and perhaps an example there are clear spaces of approximately years, and is co-author invented by the student); of the Tourism title in 5–6 blank lines between the paragraphs. OUP’s Oxford English ● an explanation of meaning written by Make copies of these reformatted texts, for Careers series. the student, plus, if the student chooses, keeping a copy of the original text as an explanation from a technical the answer sheet. Cut the copies up so [email protected] dictionary, or from Wikipedia. that your students then receive a ‘jigsaw’

• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 59 November 2008 • 35

www.diako.ir IN THE CLASSROOM Differentiation 2 Doug Evans continues his look at catering for mixed-ability classes.

n Part 1 of this article, we discussed Environment pictures to illustrate whenever possible. the principles of effective ● Consider the environment – a student ● Demonstrate, model and act out differentiation and looked at some may benefit from taking a test in instructions. examples of differentiation- another room. ● Record instructions on tape. friendlyI assessment. Here, I would like ● Allow students to move around, sit ● Repeat your instructions and ask the to make clear the distinction between on the floor, work in the hallway, etc, students to repeat them, either to the differentiation and accommodation and as appropriate. whole class or to a classmate. provide examples of how a teacher might ● Write instructions and homework tasks Materials present various differentiated lessons. in clear handwriting, either on the ● Vary materials by reading level. board or on post-it notes to give to the ● Vary materials by student interest. students. If you display instructions in Differentiation versus ● Provide recordings of some materials. the classroom, put them in the same accommodation ● Use a variety of levels of materials. place and write in a consistent manner. ● Use worksheets and tasks that have Confusing differentiation with ● Use graduated rubrics. At times, problems which go from easier to accommodation is a common mistake. students with different skill levels and more difficult with different starting Accommodation describes certain starting points may be given rubrics points for different learners. actions and strategies which, when done and tasks with somewhat different ● Provide non-testable, supplementary, consistently and effectively over a period outcomes in order to challenge them ‘keep going’ tasks for those who of time, can in a major way effect very at their appropriate levels. finish more quickly. positive change in how students can ● Break down long tasks into smaller ● Provide copies of notes. access and synthesise information. steps. Instead of giving certain ● Use texts and handouts with key Differentiation is an ongoing process students all of the information at concepts already highlighted. that isn’t achieved simply by allowing a once, give them the first part only. ● Provide or pre-teach key vocabulary student extra time on a quiz, for When they finish, they can ask for the for the next day, week, or unit. example. In its essence, differentiation is second part. Another option is to ● Provide multi-language resources and the practice of meeting a wide variety of provide a checklist for the student to materials. Have some materials available student needs within a class of differing cross off completed steps. in the students’ native language. abilities, motivations and background ● Delete some options. If a particular ● Before a lesson, provide a structured knowledge. Effective differentiation uses student is consistently unable to keep outline or graphic organiser for the ongoing assessment throughout a unit up with certain tasks, it may be students on which they can fill in of work, ensures that classroom tasks because they are being overwhelmed blanks and jot notes while listening. are at an appropriate level, and requires by too many choices. By removing ● Provide paper options – lined, unlined, frequent teacher interaction. some steps or options, a student may graph with different square sizes, Accommodation strategies certainly are be more able to focus better on the raised lines, or different coloured ink. an important part of differentiation, but targeted outcomes. ● Use enlarged print. if used in isolation they are simply ● Post assignments on weblogs. ● Use different coloured paper for accommodations, nothing more. handouts for organisation and Teacher behaviour The following are all valid reading contrast. ● Modify your tone of voice. accommodations, which can have ● Give the students a colour-coded ● Modify the pace of instruction to considerable positive effect in all timeline for large projects. allow the students to speed up or slow classrooms, but many are particularly ● Provide something concrete upon down as needed. suited to the ELT classroom: which students can anchor their ● Adapt and vary your level of Classroom management learning. Items that they can grasp, questioning as per Bloom’s Taxonomy. manoeuvre and manipulate can The six levels of Bloom’s cognitive ● Use direct, small-group instruction. provide a welcome, and at times domain (knowledge, comprehension, ● Provide additional time for previewing necessary, sensory alternative to application, analysis, synthesis, materials or completing tasks. learning by lecture or coursebook. evaluation) are of particular interest to ● Encourage and plan for cooperative teachers who differentiate. However, learning within heterogeneous groups. Instructions the often-overlooked affective domain ● Provide task choices according to the ● Simplify instructions. Minimise unclear (receiving, responding, valuing, students’ learning preferences. language and directions and use

36 • Issue 59 November 2008 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •

www.diako.ir organising, characterising) has a very 2 ELT menu picture of each on a digital camera. Use high potential for personalising and Present your tasks as if you are in a them to write a short story of 8–12 enriching the educational experience restaurant. Let the students choose lines. Alternatively, draw the objects. individually or within a group. whatever ‘dishes’ they like. 4 Using the computer in the library, go to http://a4esl.org/phrasalverbs/html, Feedback Main dishes (pick two) read through steps 1–4 and complete ● Videotape lessons for later review. 1 Read the story and then complete the task. ● Provide consistent feedback. Effective the grammar questions on pages 44 differentiation relies on there being 4 Reading prompts and 45 of your textbook. assessment tasks and frequent teacher An important aspect of differentiation 2 Create a Venn diagram showing the interaction throughout a unit of (and good teaching practice in general) is similarities and differences between work. Because a teacher may have a self-reflection. After a selected reading, the two main characters. number of varied outcomes targeted questions such as those listed below may 3 Create a timeline of ten major within a class, in a differentiated help the students understand the story in events in the story. setting it is of particular importance more depth, link targets to the students’ to communicate with the students on Side dishes (pick one) own experiences, and provide the kinds their progress throughout a lesson or 1 Interview someone who was alive of tasks that can help them gain a better unit. This feedback ensures that the during the 1960s. understanding of their own learning information and targets are at the 2 Write an acrostic poem using the styles and preferences. The teacher most appropriate levels. word juxtaposition to give the first could provide a selection of these kinds letter of each line. of questions and the student would Testing and assessment 3 Make a recording of an imaginary choose one to write about. The next ● Present different parts of a test radio broadcast from a reporter time, the student would pick a different separately. embedded in a combat situation. question so that they would be able to ● Record test directions and questions reflect on their own learning from a on tape. Desserts (pick one) variety of different perspectives. ● Give students testing options, such as These can be done for extra credit if Ⅲ oral testing, tape recorders, take- the main and side dishes are done to If I could interview someone in the home tests, different orders of the chef’s (your teacher) satisfaction. story, I’d interview ... Ⅲ questions, open-book tests. 1 Listen to Bob Dylan’s The Times They Something in the story that is similar ● Provide additional time for taking Are-A-Changin’ and write a one-page to my life is ... Ⅲ tests. essay on how it relates to the story. Something that is very different from ● Provide options for expressing 2 Visit the Vietnam War Museum. my life is ... Ⅲ mastery. Some students might want to Write or tell about your experience. I became curious when ... Ⅲ present their information using 3 Your choice (with your teacher’s I liked this story more/less than (a PowerPoint. Some might prefer to approval). previous story) because ... Ⅲ write an essay. Others may choose to I was reminded of ... when ... Ⅲ I understood (a character) when ... write something from the perspective 3 A grammar-focused lesson Ⅲ I didn’t like it when ... ETp of a character in a story. These tasks all provide for student choice while still keeping the students Bloom, B ‘Taxonomy of educational Differentiation in action focused on the desired outcomes. objectives: the classification of The following are examples of how a 1 Read pages 30–31 of your textbook. educational goals’ Handbook 1: Cognitive Domain Longman 1956 teacher can use a variety of differentiation Answer the questions on page 32, techniques in the ELT classroom. They choosing either the odd- or even- Costa, A Activating & Engaging Habits of Mind ACSD 2000 are designed to meet targets, while at numbered questions. the same time providing student choice. 2 Pick any three red cards from the Cummings, C Managing to Teach reading card catalogue and work on Teaching Inc 1996 1 Tic-Tac-Toe them with a partner. Tomlinson, C ‘Differentiating instruction – Ask the students to choose three tasks 3 Find any five objects in your house why bother?’ Middle Ground 9(1) 2005 to complete which make a line in any that represent five of the new Tomlinson, C How to Differentiate Instruction in Mixed-Ability Classrooms one direction, as in the grid below. vocabulary words on page 39. Take a ACSD 2001

Write and submit a letter to the Using at least five new Write out the rules of your Doug Evans is an editor of a local newspaper. vocabulary words, write a favourite card game. English as an greetings card. Additional Language teacher and department head of Write two legitimate suggestions Write directions on how to Imagine you are the main Student Support for improving the school and say get from Trafalgar Square character in your favourite book. Services at ACS Hillingdon International why they are needed. to Piccadilly Circus. Describe a typical day in your life. School in London. He has been a teacher in Describe how a fish is like a Write about a time when Write an imaginary conversation the USA, Japan, Poland, Russia and tree. you felt sad. in which you give advice to South Korea. someone who is being bullied. [email protected]

• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 59 November 2008 • 37

www.diako.ir DESIGNED TO PHOTOCOPY

PREPARING TO TEACH ... Could

John Potts’s explanations of a multi-functional modal go swimmingly.

Ai The pool was crowded and I couldn’t swim properly. Di That could be the lifeguard, standing over there. Aii I could swim when I was four. Dii It couldn’t have been a good party if everyone Bi My mum said we could go for a swim in the left early. afternoon, but we couldn’t go straight after lunch. Ei You could be more careful with my iPod! Bii Could I go to the pool this afternoon, please? Eii You could have told me that the pool is closed Ci Swimming could be dangerous immediately after for the summer! eating. Fi The pool could be open all year, I suppose. Cii We went swimming whenever we could. Fii He could have told me that the pool is closed Ciii The pool was tiny and could hold only a few for the summer. swimmers.

ᮡ MEANING ᮡ FORM ᮡ USE Ai refers to physical Di refers to the likelihood All the sentences contain could, Bii is usually considered more (in)ability to do something that it is the lifeguard. which is a modal auxiliary verb. polite than Can I …? Note that in the past. Note that in Like most modals, could is the reply usually uses may or In Dii, the speaker affirmative sentences, followed by the infinitive without can: Yes, of course you assumes that it wasn’t a physical ability is to. See Issue 58 for more may/can. No, you can’t. good party, based on the traditionally expressed by information on the form of evidence. Ei and Eii are more informal was/were able to (eg I was modals. and spoken. able to load the program In Ei, the speaker quite easily). However, criticises someone for Fi and Fii also tend to be ᮡ some native speakers not being careful (in the FUNCTION more informal (more formal nevertheless use could in present). Modals are frequently contexts prefer may or expressions such as it is such sentences. In Eii, the speaker associated with functions, and any modal may express a possible that, there is the Aii refers to an acquired or criticises someone for not number of different functions. possibility that, etc). learnt ability in the past. informing her/him (in the past). Could has many functions: In Bi, the subject Ai and Aii express ability ᮡ allowed/forbade someone In Fi, the speaker isn’t PRONUNCIATION (whether physical or an acquired to do something in the past. sure whether the pool is In rapid fluent speech, could skill). open all year or not. is often pronounced quite In Bii, the subject asks to Bi and Bii express, refuse or weakly. be allowed to do In Fii, the speaker isn’t request permission. something in the present. sure whether someone In Ei, the main stress is on informed her/him or not Ci, Cii and Ciii express careful to emphasise that the Ci says that swimming is inherent capacity or potential. other person is not being inherently dangerous – it is Note that sometimes could careful. potentially dangerous – refers to the past in a real Di and Dii express likelihood, under certain conditions. sense (eg Aii), and speculation, assumption and In Eii, the main stress is on sometimes could has a deduction. told to emphasise that he or Cii refers to potential hypothetical sense and she wasn’t, in fact, told. ability in the past. Ei and Eii express may refer to the past, counterfactual situations – the In Fi and Fii, the main stress Ciii refers to the inherent present or future, reality is the opposite. is on could to emphasise the capacity of the pool in the depending on the context speaker’s uncertainty. past. (eg Bii, Ci, Di and Ei). Fi and Fii express uncertainty.

38 • Issue 59 November 2008 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •

www.diako.ir DESIGNED TO PHOTOCOPY

PREPARING TO TEACH ... Could

ᮢ CONCEPT QUESTIONS ᮢ SITUATIONS Ci Swimming could be dangerous Talent competition Make a remove more post-its and immediately after eating. questionnaire that asks about elicit further speculation at Is swimming always dangerous? the age when students learnt each stage until the class is (No.) to do things (eg swim, ride a (almost) sure – then they Is eating and then swimming bike, speak another language, should use either it must be dangerous? (Yes, perhaps you’ll use a computer, etc). The … or it is ... . (This activity can get cramp.) students ask and answer in a also use the modals may and John Potts is a teacher and teacher trainer based Is it certain that there’ll be a walk-round activity. Then pool might.) in Zürich, Switzerland. problem? (No, perhaps nothing the results with the whole He has written and co-written several adult will happen.) class to find who could do Polite requests Make some coursebooks, and is a But doing this does contain a what at the earliest age (eg ‘situation cards’ (eg in a post- Joint Chief Assessor for the Cambridge/RSA risk? (Yes.) Maria could swim when she office, in a hotel, in class, on a CELTA scheme. was three). train, in the street, at Eii You could have told me that the [email protected] someone’s home, etc). Give a pool is closed for the summer! Speculations For this, you’ll set, face down, to pairs of Did you know that the pool is need a largish photo – if students, who take turns to closed? (Yes.) possible make an overhead turn over a card and make a Did you tell me? (No.) transparency (OHT) of it. The request appropriate to the Was that right or wrong of you? photo should be ‘busy’ – situation (eg Could I borrow (Wrong.) people doing things, many your dictionary, please?). The How do I feel about that? details, etc (not just an empty other student should respond (Annoyed, angry perhaps.) beach!). Cover the photo/OHT politely (eg Yes, of course you Fii He could have told me that the completely, using either post- can. No, I’m afraid not.). pool is closed for the summer. its or smallish pieces of paper. Variation: This can also be Did he know that the pool is Remove one and ask the class played as a board game closed? (Yes, probably.) to speculate about the picture, (rather like a Monopoly board, Did he tell me? (I’m not sure, using could be, could be with counters and dice) with I can’t remember.) doing, etc. Progressively students in groups of four.

COMPETITION RESULTS

19188 24 12241410169 6 24 Congratulations to all those readers who successfully completed our JOKE RELAT I VE Prize Crossword 29. The winners, who will each receive a copy of the 242222013210 ENSXCSAMacmillan English Dictionary for Advanced Learners, are: 102 9 10169 13 132414142 AS I AT I C CELLS Rodia Athanasiou, Thessaloniki, Natasha Mauger, Bristol, UK 14 23 24 24 18 10 25 Greece Augoustinos Neophytou, Larnaca, Cyprus LFEEOAYMichele Ben, Yavueh, Israel Sophie Pietrucci, Paris, France 18624122152414179227 Halima Brewer, Oxford, UK Eric Roch, Bergerac, France OVERWHELMI NG 15 10311326Cathy Gannon, Courtmacsherry, Francisco Rodríguez, Utrera, Spain UADPDBIreland Dorothy Sommer, Zeuthen, Germany 2 1 15 10 12 24 13 14 18 2 24 12 SQUARE CLOSER 12345678910111213 25 22 3 7 9 9 QSDZHVGK I APRC YNDG I I14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 13 10 12 24 14 24 2 2 22 24 2 2 LUTMOJXWNFEYB CARELESSNESS 31822, 16 2 912 1013 4 21 2 9 5 14 16 ,, ZWS I H L TDON T S I R AC 13152 161817 251815122 2414 24 20 10 17 2 2 11 24 13 9 10 14 EXAMS SPEC I AL CUSTOM YOURSEL 23 16 18 15 2 24 26 9 7 21 12 12 24 5 3 16 24 RREHDTEFTOUSEBIGW 18 12 3 2 23 18 12 14 9 16 16 14 1862412224102 1124162 OVERSEAS PETS ORDS FOR L I T T L 24 17 10 16 16 24 12 2 Samuel EMATTERS. Johnson

• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 59 November 2008 • 39

www.diako.ir ߜߜ ITIT WORKSWORKS IN IN PRACTICEPRACTICE More tested lessons, suggestions, tips and techniques which have all worked for ETp readers. Try them out for yourself – and then send us your own contribution.

All the contributors to It Works in Practice in this issue of ETp will receive a year’s subscription to Onestop CLIL, Macmillan’s new CLIL resource site. Macmillan have kindly agreed to be sponsors of It Works in Practice for this year.

ߜ Hungry crocodiles ߜ Two fun games This activity makes use of the cardboard Here are two ideas for games which you can play in class. circles that you often get underneath pizzas Headline Call My Bluff and is an alternative to putting them in the Call My Bluff is a television game once popular in the UK in which two recycling bin. It is a great activity for teams take turns to present three definitions of unusual words, two of reviewing newly-learnt vocabulary with which are false. The opposing team has to try to identify the correct young learners and is always popular with definition. I play a version of this game with my students, using my students. magazine and newspaper headlines. Draw pictures of vocabulary items grouped Many UK tabloid headlines are extraordinary, perhaps the most famous in categories on the pizza circles. For being Freddie Starr Ate My Hamster – the story, later discredited, in the example: UK newspaper The Sun, alleged that comedian Freddie Starr had eaten a Food – cake, apple, bread live hamster in a sandwich! However, there are others that are more Drink – water, juice, milk easily accessible, such as: The body – hand, knee, leg ● I’ve Tried Every Diet There Is ● I Live on the QE2 The circles are then laid down randomly on ● I Want to Dance Like Gene Kelly the floor and become stepping stones across an imaginary river. Two to four ‘crocodiles’ I ask teams of students to take turns to find and present three are appointed and they lurk in the river, headlines and their corresponding article summaries, one of which they while a volunteer attempts to cross, saying have made up. The headlines can come from English newspapers or the words on the stones as they step on each magazines which I bring in. Alternatively, they can find them on the one. If this student hesitates or makes a internet. The opposing team has to try to spot which story is false. mistake, the crocodiles move forward slowly Superhero (at a signal from the teacher) while other Set up a dramatic disaster scenario, get your students to devise one, or classmates help from the sidelines to prompt produce one as a class with the students suggesting ideas and you the student to say the words correctly. If too helping to formulate it into a workable example. Write this up on the many mistakes are made or there is too board. Then put the students into groups and ask them to work much hesitation, the crocodiles get their together to invent their own superhero who can deal with this disaster. prey. However, with the help of their friends, Get them to write a description of their powers and how they would I find that most students manage to cross solve the problem. The students could draw a picture if they wish. The the river successfully! class can then vote for the best one. Bernadette Cross Annette Margolis La Forêt, France Latina, Italy

40 • Issue 59 November 2008 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •

www.diako.ir ߜ Orderly boards Most teachers use the board routinely in their classrooms; underlying logic and organisation of the lesson. As a many will even say they find it hard to teach without one! result, students may mistakenly focus on tangential However, most don’t think in advance about what precisely points, or may conflate two different aspects of the they will put on the board, much less what their board will lesson into one. look like at the end of a specific lesson. It is important to The solution? In every case, the solution is to plan your realise that whatever you write on the board, students will board ahead of time – when you plan your lessons. Just as copy it down. Therefore: you think about what directions you’re going to give ● Think what, think when and think where. students for different activities, or how long activities will ● Know why everything that’s on the board is there. take, you should think about what your board will look ● Don’t let errors stay on the board. like, when you’ll be writing on it, and why.

Here are three common problems with the way teachers use Try asking yourself these questions when planning your the board and one solution: lesson:

1 Some teachers write everything on the board, from 1 What will my board look like at every step of the lesson? directions for activities to homework assignments to sentences from the previous homework which students 2 Why am I writing these things on the board – what does are going over in class. This wastes the time it takes to actually seeing them add to the lesson? write these things on the board, without necessarily 3 When will I write things on the board? adding any value to the lesson. It also risks making students overly reliant on the board for information that 4 What will students be doing while I write on the board? teachers of other subjects tend to deliver orally. 5 What will the board look like at the end of the lesson? 2 Sometimes teachers ask students to put up on the board 6 Where are the different components of the lesson in their sentences or paragraphs from a specific activity for relation to each other – in columns, sections, etc? everyone to look at together. Again, this takes up a great deal of classroom time for arguably little payoff. One practical tip is to make a note on your copy of your Moreover, it often consists of a few students finding lesson plan, handout or coursebook about what you will chalk, finding space and writing on the board while the put on the board and when. Some teachers use a different majority stare at their backs. In addition, student coloured pen to remind themselves that they’re going to sentences almost always contain errors, and teachers are put this information up on the board; others use an faced with the dilemma of leaving the errors on the abbreviation (such as ‘B’) for what goes on the board next board (for other students to copy down) or else to the relevant part of their notes. correcting every single error, even those that are beyond Ultimately, you have to make clear to yourself what you are the focus of the lesson at hand. writing on the board: where, when, and why. If it’s not 3 Other teachers put things up on the board at random clear to you, it certainly won’t be clear to your students.

throughout the lesson, resulting in an incoherent jumble. Marnie Reed, Christina Michaud Not having a clear plan for your board risks obscuring the Boston, USA ߜߜ ITIT WORKSWORKS IN IN PRACTICEPRACTICE Do you have ideas you’d like to share with colleagues around the world? Tips, techniques and activities; simple or sophisticated; well-tried or innovative; something that has worked well for you? All published contributions receive a prize! Write to us or email: [email protected].

• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 59 November 2008 • 41

www.diako.ir Reviews

Monster Phonic Fun Word Families www.creative-english.com 2008

Monster Phonic Fun consists of two packs of laminated playing cards, which can be used to teach children to produce sounds correctly. Each pack has 56 cards, giving practice in 14 sounds, and a leaflet with instructions for a game that can be played with them. A reference list of the target sounds and /Ü/. The Level 2 pack includes also appears on this leaflet. more complex sounds made up of Each card has four words which more than one letter, such as the /f/ in contain the target sound, printed photo and the /ÜPn/ of action. underneath a picture of a monster with Games that can be played with the mouth and tongue in the position these cards are not limited to the one needed to create that sound. (The suggested on the accompanying monster pictures also often include leaflet. Creative teachers will find illustrations of at least some of the words many ways to use them, child’s hand. However, in the lists.) One word on each card is perhaps getting students to the layout probably printed in bold, with the target sound make up stories containing the reflects the developers’ highlighted in red. The game consists of words on the cards in their concern to teach the trying to collect an entire set of four hands. correct mouth positions for words (ie four cards) containing the same A colleague tried these cards the words via the monster target sound by asking another player if with a nine-year-old Russian boy pictures, and the position they have a particular word. and they were a great success. of the words on the cards The Level 1 pack introduces basic Although the monsters, with their was not considered an tÜ sounds, including the short vowels, / / exaggerated mouths, may appear insurmountable obstacle a little grotesque to adult eyes, to playing the game they were a hit with this successfully. particular child, who was soon Word Families is a clamouring to ‘play monsters’ in vocabulary-teaching game every lesson. His teacher remarked also involving a pack of cards. As with that monsters are always a favourite Monster Phonic Fun, the cards each have with children and that card games an illustration and four words, one of involving monsters are sure to go which is printed in bold. The difference is down well. The only drawback she that here the words are grouped could see was that the words were according to categories rather than printed at the bottom of the cards and sounds, eg sports, animals, transport, so were concealed when held in the colours. Again there are two packs of cards, one at a higher level than the other. In the higher-level pack, more abstract concepts are introduced. A similar game is recommended on the accompanying leaflet, ie collecting four cards in a set by asking other players if they have a particular word. Once again, teachers are not limited to this and the cards would lend themselves to many other possibilities. The Word Families illustrations are attractive and, as with Monster Phonic Fun, the cards are laminated and durable. Ian Mainwaring Harrogate, UK

42 • Issue 59 November 2008 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •

www.diako.ir Reviews

classrooms. This lifts each activity out of Doing Task-based Teaching the realm of ‘another idea that sounds by Dave Willis and Jane Willis good in a methodology book’ into the OUP 2007 ‘here is an activity that will really work for 978-0-19-442210-9 me’ category. This is a practical guide to designing and There are also ‘reader activities’ using activities and sequences of throughout the book, which encourage activities in the context of task-based readers to reflect on what they have read teaching. The early chapters provide and to relate it to their own situations, accessible explanations of the basic thinking about ways in which they could principles which lie behind a task-based make the suggestions work for them. approach, and a very comprehensive One thing in particular that caught contents section enables you to head my eye was the way the authors straight to a topic or area that interests demonstrated how any topic can give you. The introduction gives a concise but rise to a series of tasks that may be helpful overview of exactly what is to be divided into categories corresponding found in each chapter, and I found this to different cognitive processes: invaluable for navigating my way around listing, ordering/sorting, matching, the book, which is a very rich resource of comparing, solving problems, sharing ideas and example activities for use in personal experiences and projects and almost any situation. One of the most creative tasks. This gave me a wealth of corpus and information supplied by a interesting sections is Chapter 10, in ideas for planning activities for the topics panel of experts on teaching and which the authors answer a series of chosen for one of my advanced classes. language study. This list is based on frequently-asked questions about task- Tim Franks frequency and usefulness to learners and based teaching, questions which they Zagreb, Croatia the evidence suggests that these are have collected from teachers all over the words which should be a priority for world in the last ten years. teachers and learners. Special ‘spotlight’ Many task types and ideas for Oxford Word Skills (Basic level) sections focus on particularly important activities are described, and it is by Ruth Gairns and Stuart Redman words and common usages and help to refreshing that in addition to each OUP 2008 distinguish between words which seem description there is an account of how 978-0-19-462003-1 similar but are used in different ways, eg real teachers in a variety of contexts tin and can. actually tried the activity in their This is the first in a three-level vocabulary Also included with the book are a series, equally useful for work in class or CD-ROM, containing oral pronunciation for self-study. It equates to the Council of models of all the vocabulary together Europe’s A1 to A2 levels and includes the with further practice exercises, and a ubiquitous I can ... as part of its chapter handy piece of laminated card, attached headings in a further link to the Common to the inside front cover, which can be European Framework – one that is removed and used to mask parts of a perhaps becoming rather déjà vu for page so that students can test teachers and materials writers alike themselves on the words they have (though not necessarily for students) and learnt. At the front are notes for the fits more easily with material for younger teacher on how the book can be used in learners than for those of more advanced class and a ‘starter’ unit provides clear years and skills. Nevertheless, this is a illustrated instructions for students on thoroughly likeable book, which offers how to use the book and how best to comprehensive vocabulary presentation learn new words. Equal weight is given to and practice in 80 themed units, which presentation and practice and there are are themselves grouped into themed frequent opportunities for revision. modules, such as places, study and Inevitably, many of the exercises are gap- work, holidays, social English, etc. fills, but the authors have clearly made Presentation of new words is done by considerable efforts to vary the exercise illustration (clear drawings and types as much as possible and to include photos), definition, example, or a those in which a personal response can combination of all three. The words be made. themselves are chosen from a list of Melinda Mathieson 3,000 developed by OUP using a Worthing, UK

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www.diako.ir SCRAPBOOKSCRAPBOOK Gems, titbits, puzzles, foibles, quirks, bits & pieces, quotations, snippets, odds & ends, what you will

A dangerous Coincidence? diet? ૽ Abraham Lincoln was elected to Congress in 1846. ૽ A man who owned two labradors went to the John F Kennedy was elected to Congress in 1946. supermarket to buy a large bag of Winalot dog ૽ Abraham Lincoln was elected President in 1860. food for them. As he was standing in the queue at ૽ John F Kennedy was elected President in 1960. the checkout, the woman behind him asked if he had a dog. ૽ Both were particularly concerned with civil rights. ૽ On impulse, he told her that no, he didn’t have a Both their wives lost children while living in the White House. dog, he was starting the ‘Winalot Diet’ again, ૽ Both Presidents were shot on a Friday. adding that he probably shouldn’t because the last ૽ Both Presidents were shot in the head. time he had tried it, he’d ended up in hospital. However, he pointed out that he had managed to Now it gets really weird ... lose 50 pounds before he woke up in an intensive care ward, hooked up to several machines and ૽ Lincoln’s secretary was called Kennedy. with intravenous drips in both arms. ૽ Kennedy’s secretary was called Lincoln.

He went on to tell her that it is essentially a perfect ૽ Both were assassinated by Southerners. diet and the way that it works is to load your ૽ Both were succeeded by Southerners named Johnson. trouser pockets with Winalot nuggets and simply eat one or two every time you feel hungry. He ૽ Andrew Johnson, who succeeded Lincoln, was born in 1808. maintained that the food was nutritionally ૽ Lyndon Johnson, who succeeded Kennedy, was born in 1908. complete and so he was going to try it again. ૽ John Wilkes Booth, who assassinated Lincoln, was born in By now, practically everyone in the queue was 1839. enthralled by the man’s story. ૽ Lee Harvey Oswald, who assassinated Kennedy, was born in 1939. Horrified, the woman asked if he had ended up in the hospital because he had been poisoned. ૽ Both assassins were known by their three names. He told her no, it was because he’d been sitting in ૽ Both names are composed of fifteen letters. the road scratching his fleas when a car hit him. ૽ Lincoln was shot at a theatre called ‘Ford’. ૽ Kennedy was shot in a car called a ‘Lincoln’ made by ‘Ford’.

૽ Lincoln was shot in a theatre and his assassin ran and hid in a Syllable surprise warehouse. ૽ Find a word that has one Kennedy was shot from a warehouse and his assassin ran and hid in a theatre. syllable, until you add one ૽ letter to the end, when it Both Booth and Oswald were assassinated before their trials could take place. suddenly has three syllables. And finally ...

૽ A week before Lincoln was shot, he was in Monroe, Maryland. are – area – are

Answer ૽ A week before Kennedy was shot, he was with Marilyn Monroe.

44 • Issue 59 November 2008 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •

www.diako.ir Invention Missing Name an ancient invention, which is still money used in most parts of the world today, that allows people to see through walls. Three people check into a hotel. They pay £30 to the manager and go

to their room. The manager suddenly

A window A remembers that the room rate is £25 Answer and gives £5 to the bellboy to return to the guests. On the way to the The troll toll room, the bellboy reasons that £5 You are on your way to visit your would be difficult to share among grandmother, who lives at the end three people so he pockets £2 and of a long valley. It is her birthday, Amazing and you want to give her some gives £1 to each person. Now each cakes that you’ve baked. paragraph person paid £10 and got back £1. So they paid £9 each, Between your house and her Study this paragraph and all totalling £27. The house, you have to cross seven words in it. What is vitally wrong bridges, but under each bridge bellboy has £2, with it? Actually, nothing in it is lives a troll! Each troll, quite rightly, totalling £29. wrong, but you must admit that insists that you pay a troll toll. Where is the Before you can cross their bridge, it is most unusual. Don’t just zip

missing £1? you have to give them half of the through it quickly, but study it

£2 went to the bellboy. the to went £2 cakes you are carrying, but as they scrupulously. With luck, you

£27, £25 went to the manager for the room and room the for manager the to went £25 £27, are kind trolls, they each give you

back £1, so they now have only paid £27. Of this Of £27. paid only have now they so £1, back should spot what is so Originally, they paid £30, they each received each they £30, paid they Originally, back a single cake.

particular about it and all words Answer Answer Be careful what you are adding together. adding are you what careful Be How many cakes do you have to found in it. Can you say what it leave home with to make sure that is? Tax your brains and try you arrive at your grandmother’s house with exactly two cakes? again. Don’t miss a word or a

Ten by ten symbol. It isn’t all that difficult!

Each of the following clues refers bridge.) every after cakes two with

contain all of the other letters. other the of all contain

and you receive one back. This leaves you leaves This back. one receive you and

to a word that begins with ten. does it though E, letter the contain required to hand over half of your cakes, your of half over hand to required

Answer

The paragraph does not does paragraph The Two. (At each bridge you are you bridge each (At Two. Can you find them all? Answer

1 Inclination

2 Delicate, gentle or sore 3 A sinew Fizzy or still, sir? 4 A racket game A man in a restaurant asked a waiter for a glass, a dinner plate, some 5 Capable of being stretched water, a match, and a wedge of lemon. He then poured enough water onto the plate to cover it. 6 Between baritone and alto ‘If you can get the water on the plate into this glass without touching or 7 Stretched tight moving the plate, I will give you £200,’ the man said. ‘You can only use 8 Insubstantial the match and the lemon to do this.’

9 A place to live A few minutes later, the waiter walked away with £200 in his pocket.

10 An opinion held to be true How did he do it?

vacuum, which sucked in the water through the space between the glass and the plate. the and glass the between space the through water the in sucked which vacuum,

down over the match. As the flame used up the oxygen in the glass, it created a small a created it glass, the in oxygen the up used flame the As match. the over down

tenement or tent 10 tenet 10 tent or tenement

Then he put it in the middle of the plate and lit the match. Next, he placed the glass upside- glass the placed he Next, match. the lit and plate the of middle the in it put he Then

tennis 5 tensile 6 tenor 7 tense 8 tenuous 9 tenuous 8 tense 7 tenor 6 tensile 5 tennis

First, he pushed the match into the lemon wedge, so that it would stand straight. stand would it that so wedge, lemon the into match the pushed he First, Answer Answer

1 tendency 2 tender 3 tendon 4 tendon 3 tender 2 tendency 1 Answers

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www.diako.ir TEACHER DEVELOPMENT

Perhaps I should explain that foreign language learning has changed a bit since you and I were at school. You can’t just go in and say, ‘Turn to page 81 and do Exercise C.’ They don’t actually have a textbook at all. (Teachers are now forbidden to use textbooks; they’re supposed to Plus ça produce their own materials. What Plus ça they actually do is to nick bits of other people’s textbooks, and pass them off as their own, which is what I’ve done here.) So all the students need is paper and pen. They will have everything from the Oxford English Dictionary chchangeange (on microfilm, in Arabic) to autographed copies of the complete Peter Wells reveals he following letter was written works of Edmund Spenser, but try to as an assignment on my ignore this. You will have the attached that there is nothing new Master’s course in Applied script and a tape-recorder with the Linguistics, amazingly, some tape in it, ready for use. Don’t worry 25T years ago. We were asked to write under the sun. clear instructions for an ESL lesson for an imaginary colleague, using materials The large from a current textbook. To my eye, video-camera staring ESL teaching in the UK and many other countries is spookily similar to what it at you from the back was then, with the possible exception of the departure of chalkboards! left-hand corner is Mr Sinaga, who will

The Common Room, be in New York, or 24/3/83 Jakarta, or somewhere Dear Bill, in between I wonder if you remember that night when, on the way back from if the tape recorder doesn’t work. The the rugby club end-of-season ball, students all have at least two each, you said you’d always wanted to have one in their sandwich box and one in a go at teaching English, and, if ever I their briefcase. Sometimes, when they needed a stand-in, you’d be willing to have a business appointment, they help me out? Well, here’s your just send their tape-recorders to class. chance. A very important bridge I try to discourage this, as it makes appointment has suddenly cropped pairwork difficult. (The large video- up, and, for reasons well known to us camera staring at you from the back both, I can’t ask the Principal for yet left-hand corner is Mr Sinaga, who another night off. I’ve got this class will be in New York, or Jakarta, or called Intermediate English for somewhere in between. He will hear Business and Administrative Purposes most of what you say, but his answers at 7.30. According to the timetable, may be a bit slow if the satellite is in all you’ve got for that evening – the wrong place.) tomorrow, that’s Tuesday 25th – is Advanced Applied Micro-Metallurgy II The object of this lesson is to help at 8.30. So, here’s the info. these chaps to learn to listen to and

46 • Issue 59 November 2008 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •

www.diako.ir TEACHER DEVELOPMENT understand English as she is spoke. This is the rationale behind the inclusion of, among other things, the word ‘erm’, Phillip Burrows which I hope didn’t have you rushing for your Pocket Oxford. (Come to think of it, it’s probably a unit of measurement in micro-metallurgy!) No, the ‘erm’, together with other atrocities such as ‘Uh-huh’ and ‘Mm- mm’ and grammatical cockups like ‘is due at … to come’ have been carefully inserted by the actors to make the tape sound spontaneous. Don’t for goodness sake run away with the idea that we actually try to teach the students to talk like this. You have to draw a fine line here, and you can easily be misunderstood. Ever since a lesson when I pretended to give my name on the phone, Mr Chang (not one of our brightest students) has persisted in addressing me as ‘Mr Erwells’. In fact, when playing the final version of the tape, you should try, as far as possible, to persuade them to turn off all the other tape-recorders, otherwise they tend to go home and learn the whole thing off by heart. (Mr Daud, second from left, second row, has an ‘Mm’ was a real word, like ‘examiner’ foresee a spot of bother when you get additional micro-recorder hidden in or ‘toilet’, but you just try learning to the afternoon, as the tape clearly the earpiece of his glasses, which he Arabic or Japanese and you’ll see uses the British GMT, non-decimalised activates by rubbing his left nostril.) what I mean. or ‘Fahrenheit’ times, as opposed to what these guys are used to, but you’ll The thing is, natives (and we’re all Anyway, you get in there at 7.30 just have to take this in your stride. Try natives, you know) don’t talk like (don’t be late; they’re very busy men, to avoid them getting their computers grammar books – ‘la plume de ma they’re paying 30 pounds an hour out at this point, as many of them are tante’, etc – a fact which has gone each for this course – not that I see plugged into the mains and tend to unnoticed for the past two thousand much of it – and you’ll have 20 digital fuse the power points throughout the years and which WE ARE HERE TO stopwatches on you from the moment entire college if they’re all turned on PUT RIGHT. Everybody erms – as Pope you step in) and GET THEM INVOLVED at once. Mark this page ‘Monday’. said, ‘To erm is human’ – but other right from the start (our tutors were Then get them to do another one – natives (don’t actually use this word, very keen on this) by asking them to this won’t take long, as most of them by the way; last time someone used it draw a big box with 13 horizontal have the new photocopier the African Nationalists hijacked the lines in it. Just for a little bit of attachment to their fountain pens language laboratory) erm in different spontaneous practice you can ask them (Mr Kim’s plays the South Korean ways from us. So our aim is, gently what they think it is. Most of them will national anthem). The second page and without too much explanation, guess it’s an office block, factory, etc, should be headed ‘Tuesday’. to introduce our students to the and you have to be a little bit careful Great British ‘Erm’, by helping them as nasty fights can develop over Now you’re ready for Phase One. to concentrate their attention on the discussions as to whose block/factory is In this, your aim is to get them to bits that mean something – generally the biggest. What you have drawn is, pick out all the things the Principal’s separating the wheat from the chaff, in fact, a page from a secretary’s got on in those two days. They’ll so to speak. It may seem incredible to diary, and you can make this clear by probably find it a bit difficult, you that anyone could think that beginning to write in the times. I can especially the names, but after all

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www.diako.ir TEACHER DEVELOPMENT

c) In Chinese, pitch has semantic the trick is to turn the thing on and meaning, and Mr Chang, as I have off at the mains. The power point is Plus ça already indicated, is not one of our behind the radiator on your right, so brightest students. It would be an all you have to do is to lie down unfortunate reflection on our under the sink, and reach behind the chchangeange college if he were to make a radiator with your right hand. On the practice, in his future career, of whole, it’s better to stay there for the they’re going to meet a lot of names rolling his eyes, and raising his whole of the phase, rather than in their careers, mumbled, spat or voice an octave every time he was standing up and getting down again, squeaked, so they’d better get some called upon to utter adverbial and it’s not usually very wet. I know I practice now. They can work in pairs, clauses of time. could use one of the students’ and try to work out what they’ve machines, but it’s humiliating to 2 I have not heard this tape, actually, heard. On the whole they’ll use admit we can’t do any better, so I don’t know how ‘Japanese English for this, as, on their arrival, especially as they’re paying so much, agent’ is pronounced. It may be during the fleeting couple of minutes so I pretend that my posture is part ‘Japanıese agent’, meaning an when in obedience to childhood of a New Method. habits they treated me as a master, agent who deals with things ı rather than a servant, I got them Japanese, or ‘Japanese agent’, Finally, Phase Three (by the way, seated so that no two people who meaning an agent who happens to some of them start having their share a language sit together. Now come from Japan. What it means, saunas around this time – it will be they have got their places so well either way, I’ve no idea. Anyway, nothing personal. I usually have a organised (leather chairs, big desks, the point I wanted to make was, BE sheet of blotting paper to protect my flush toilets, etc) they don’t want to VERY CAREFUL HOW YOU SAY lesson notes, and keep my chalk in leave them. For this phase you will ‘JAPANESE’. Mr Sato, who sits in my pocket, as NOTHING IS WORSE not use the tape. You will read the the front row, owns most of Surrey, THAN SOGGY CHALK). Phase Three is tapescript, in correct English, NO is a judo black belt and has a short the full unexpurgated tape, and the ‘ERMS’, fairly slowly, hammering the temper. Nothing serious, just a little full unexpurgated timetable. word of warning. important bits. I have jotted down for Well, I hope you enjoy yourself. you the sort of thing they should They’re really a great bunch, but if come up with. By the way, you do have any trouble from any of them, Mr Ne Win (left back corner) is Two additional points about this the correct name reading: always happy to lend me the for artificially tape- enormous sabre-toting eunuch he 1 You may decide to indicate the keeps under his desk. Mr Win speaks respective parts by writing recorded dialogues no English whatsoever, but he will ‘Secretary’ on one side of the board like these is ‘authentic pass the course with flying colours as and ‘Principal’ on the other, and long as this arrangement continues. running between them. This is fine, materials’ provided you do not have them too Let me know how you get on. I’ll far apart, but DO NOT READ THE do the same for you any time, For Phase Two we use the tape- SECRETARY’S PART IN FALSETTO. provided you don’t leave anything recorder, and the object is to get the There are three reasons for this nuclear bubbling on the Bunsen! students to assign days to the items that I can think of straight off. of business already mentioned. In Cheers, a) You have one smouldering but order to break them in gently (by the Pete extremely militant feminist, way, the correct name for artificially

hitherto included under the general tape-recorded dialogues like these is Peter Wells has taught heading of ‘chaps’, who will fight ‘authentic materials’), you will have English for over 40 years in Africa, Asia, England to the hilt any suggestion that to use the pause button on the and the Middle East. secretaries are ever female. machine, and stop the conversation He and his wife are currently Assistant after each speech. Professors at Kansai b) You have at least one Gaidai University, Japan. fundamentalist from a country As a matter of fact, there is no Peter’s interests include assessment, extensive where the penalty for any form of pause button on the machine, and reading, discourse effeminacy is immediate and even if there was, it probably analysis and EAP. extremely nasty. wouldn’t work. The best way to do [email protected]

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www.diako.ir TEACHER DEVELOPMENT

strike up a conversation with the person next to you. Also, I always think it is considerate to go up and say a quick See you at the ‘thank you’ to the presenter after a session. See you at the Try something different Rather than seeing a series of presentations in only one or two fields of interest, a conference is an opportunity to open your horizons to cocoffeeffee stand! something that you don’t usually approach with enthusiasm. Not usually Darren Elliott considers how to get the most out of conferences. thrilled by corpus linguistics? Maybe this might be the time to re-evaluate. onferences are a fantastic way to see and slipping this note into your Something I’ve discovered is this: if get out of a rut, to blow away pocket can save time later. you hear someone is a good presenter the cobwebs, to come into C Be flexible you should go and see them – no matter contact with new ideas and new people, what they are presenting on. Ask your Just because you went through the and to find new approaches to old colleagues if they have seen anyone programme with a highlighter on the problems. For those of you in the UK, particularly interesting; most veteran first morning and noted down your and possibly beyond, the IATEFL April conference goers will have a list of personal schedule, it doesn’t mean you conference is likely to be one of the names not to miss (and maybe one or have to stick to your original plan. You major events in your professional two to avoid – but let’s not go there!). might have your interest piqued in one calendar. However, this isn’t the only presentation, which then leads your conference; there are many other thoughts in a different direction. You After the conference significant opportunities to get involved may hear especially good things about You will probably return from the with people in our fields throughout the one presenter. You could fall in with a conference laden with papers, ideas and year and across the world. group of interesting colleagues who energy. The general reinvigorating nature The larger conferences, in particular, suggest a change of tack. Remember, of a conference visit is in itself a can be quite daunting for the first timer you didn’t carve your timetable on a wonderful reason to go, but if you don’t – and also exhausting. Here are a few tablet of stone; you just jotted it down want the feeling to peter out, you need to ways in which you can maximise the on a piece of paper. manage what you have learnt carefully benefits. and realistically. Look at your own Take a break context and consider what will actually fit. Wear good shoes Seeing seven presentations in a row for Make a detailed plan of how you would Being comfortable will help you three days straight is not especially like to implement change, either in your concentrate. A good bag is also very conducive to reflection and development. own classroom or institutionally. Like the important. You will want access to pen Have a coffee with the nice person you sarong you bought on holiday in Bali, and paper, the conference programme met in the last session, and have a chat what seems marvellous at a conference and, possibly, a bottle of water and some about what you heard. After all, meeting may simply not work when you get back nibbles. You will also need somewhere to people with different perspectives and home. But if you are pragmatic, you put the various handouts, flyers and other experiences is one of the benefits of should be able to implement the good materials you accumulate throughout attending conferences. Having a look ideas and develop as a teacher. the day. Many conferences give out bags around the publishers’ exhibition area at registration, which can be useful as can be advantageous, too – you can ૽ ૽ ૽ long as you decant some of the pick up free samples of textbooks and advertising material to a locker or hotel promotional gifts, such as pens. The I hope these suggestions help you to get room for later, more leisurely, perusal. books which are on sale are sometimes the most out of the next conference you discounted at the end of the conference attend. And if you see me at the free Plan ahead p so the sales staff don’t have to box them coffee stand, please say hello! ET Most medium-to-large conferences will up and take them all home again, so it have several plenary sessions, and will Darren Elliott has been is worth paying a visit to the exhibition teaching English since then split into smaller seminars or 1999 and has taught and towards the end of the final day. workshops held in different rooms. trained teachers in the UK and Japan. He is There can be some tough choices to be Be sociable currently working at made in deciding which to attend, so it Get out and about – see a new place and Nanzan University in Nagoya, Japan. His main is better to think about it in advance. meet new people. Many old hands enjoy interests are teacher Going through the programme, making conferences mainly for the prospect of development and learner autonomy. a note of the times and room numbers meeting up with colleagues they only see of the presentations you really want to once or twice a year. Don’t be afraid to [email protected]

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www.diako.ir A regular series by John Hughes, Eye on the with practical ideas for observing teachers in the classroom and an observation sheet to classroom photocopy and use straight away. 3 Observation by checklist

ⅷ Fulfilling criteria The danger with such forms is that this example, effective classroom management. Anyone who has taken a formal teaching kind of ‘observation by checklist’ presents This process of pre-observation discussion qualification with assessed teaching teachers with a set of hoops through which also helps to demystify observation for practice will recall the stress of having an to jump; you’re teaching to suit the score assessment and gives a sense of teacher assessor at the back of the class, ticking sheet rather than teaching the students. It’s and observer working together. and scoring a set of criteria. Alternatively, even possible to be able to leave a training you might have had visits from your course or a classroom with the feeling that An observation checklist you can ‘do’ all these things on the director of studies to check up on how However, checklist observations don’t checklist and yet you still have a long way your lessons are going. They will probably have to be purely evaluative. They can to go – teaching is so much more complex have had a form with a set of criteria that also be highly developmental. For even than our assessment forms might suggest. might have looked something like this: greater joint-ownership in the process, you can use them for peer observation. There (1 = excellent, 2 = good, 3 = satisfactory, Observation for assessment is an example form on page 51 which you 4 = not satisfactory) and development can copy and use with another teacher. It The lesson ... Score Having said all that, observation for bases the observation on five criteria. assessment can be beneficial when used had clear aims and objectives. ___ Agreeing the criteria alongside other criteria for measuring the ...... The observer and teacher meet before the success of a whole school. (For example, lesson, discuss what the five criteria will be had clear sub-aims. ___ British Council validation includes many and write them on the form. If the observer ...... other forms of assessment when it is experienced or has observed the teacher assesses schools – not just teacher had a variety of relevant activities. ___ before, then some criteria should be at the assessment.) Similarly, the teacher trainer ...... prompting of the observer. However, the or director of studies using a score sheet teacher should also think about areas they had logical staging and progression. ___ type form can also make the process wish to work on or focus on with a ...... developmental as well as an assessment. particular class or type of lesson. Here is fitted into the context of others ⅷ Less is more an example of five criteria developed by a lessons (before/after). ___ First of all, it’s important to consider how teacher and observer before a lesson. The ...... the form is designed and used. One tip is teacher wants to focus on presenting a to keep this kind of observation form to a new grammar item: The teacher ... page, if possible, and certainly not more achieved their stated aims. ___ than two pages at most. One reason is Agreed criteria ...... that an observer will find it hard to observe 1 The teacher engages the students whilst at the same time trying to find the was well prepared for the lesson. ___ with an interesting lead-in. relevant criteria on pages 3, 4 or 5! Then, ...... when you come to give feedback, the 2 The teacher elicits the target used clear boardwork. ___ process will become bogged down in language point from the lead-in task...... paperwork and a system of scoring which 3 The teacher uses concept questions can often fail to reach the heart of what had a good rapport with the students. ___ effectively to check understanding. really mattered in the lesson...... 4 The teacher provides a variety of ⅷ Transparency dealt with errors appropriately. ___ relevant practice activities after the There’s also the issue of whether teachers ...... clarification stage. see the criteria by which they are 5 managed the class effectively. ___ measured. Even if they are allowed to see The teacher uses clear instructions, ...... the form before teaching (which you would which include demonstrating a task hope they would do), it might not be as well as explaining it. responded to individual needs. ___ transparent. It is worth having a meeting ...... with a teacher or group of teachers to study This example shows how this kind of used a variety of interaction patterns. ___ the form and discuss exactly what each observation can work at a very detailed ...... criterion really means. This allows time for step-by-step level, as well as taking a everyone to agree on what is meant by, for broader, global view of the lesson.

50 • Issue 59 November 2008 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •

www.diako.ir Criteria can also be very personal to the could also score themselves before such a individual lesson. Imagine, for example, 1 = You did this really well and there’s meeting, based on what they thought of that a teacher wonders if they are nothing to worry about. the lesson.) At the end of the feedback responding fully to all the students. 2 = This was fairly good, but let’s keep session, they draw up another set of Perhaps there are two students who are working on it. criteria for the next observation using a always sidelined by more demanding similar form. If the teacher has scored 1 3 = This was OK, but let’s keep this members of the class. In this case one of (high) then they can probably leave out criterion for the next observation. the criteria could read, The teacher this criterion and put in a new one. Any responds to individual needs with 4 = Let’s do some work on this outside criteria that scored 3 or 4 (low) probably particular attention paid to Raul and Sonia. of the lesson. need to remain on the next form. In this way, the teacher sees a clear progression Defining your scores With the criteria and scoring system from one observation to the next and the Once the criteria have been defined on the agreed and written on the form, the checklist approach becomes a motivating form, the system of scoring can also be teacher and observer are ready for the developmental tool, instead of an ordeal defined. In the section entitled Definition of class. The observer scores the criteria and by assessment. scores, the observer and teacher decide also makes comments at the bottom of John Hughes is a freelance on what 1 to 4 mean and write this in. the page, which should give further details teacher, trainer and author. They might decide that a standard system He has worked in Austria, on the reasons for the scores. Poland, Italy, Malta and the such as 1 = excellent, 2 = good, 3 = UK. He currently lives and satisfactory, 4 = not satisfactory is fine. After the observation works in the USA. However, you can also define scores with After the lesson, teacher and observer a description like this: meet to discuss the criteria. (Teachers [email protected]

Observation checklist

Teacher: ______Date/time of lesson: ______

Observer: ______Details of class: ______

Agreed criteria: Score 1 ______

2 ______

3 ______

4 ______

5 ______

Definition of scores: 1 = ______

2 = ______

3 = ______

4 = ______

Comments and explanation of scores for criteria 1–5: ______

______

______

______

______

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www.diako.ir TECHNOLOGY the colours of the text, background and links. You can also upload a logo or picture to be shown on all the pages. You may have to modify the logo or picture you want to upload as it must be 150 x 150 pixels or smaller. The logo or picture is automatically embedded with a link to return to the homepage of your wiki. Now you are ready to personalise the space. WickedWicked Creating your pages Click on the picture or logo you have uploaded and you are ready to go. At the top, you should find a button labelled Edit This Page. This is your homepage, so think about what you want to say, who you are saying it to, and how you wiwikiskis are going to say it. You can add as many Margaret Horrigan here is just something about new pages as you need by clicking on the internet that attracts. Let’s the New Page link below your logo or wends her way through a face it, there is surely not an picture. The Edit This Page option works individual among us who can in exactly the same way for every page Tclaim never to have surfed the net at you create. Remember that the more wonderful world. least once in their life. The internet pages you create, the more links you opens doors, it both educates and may need to create to access these belittles. The cocktail is intoxicating! So, pages. I say may, as you might want to just imagine for one moment that you have the ability to create your own site – a site that you can have up and working A wikispace is in a couple of hours at the most; a site a type of site that where your students can access handouts, videos, PowerPoint enables the creator presentations, mp3 recordings, etc, all from their home. Imagine the potential! and designated First things first, however. How do ‘members’ to upload you get this site up and running? files in most formats Getting started A wikispace is a type of site that enables consider rotating pages – this simply the creator and designated ‘members’ to means that as a course develops, you upload files in most formats. This is may activate or deactivate links to pages great news for teachers because it gives in order to keep the space fresh and you the opportunity to have all your keep the visitors coming back for more. teaching materials online. In order to create a wikispace, you must first create Creating links a space. All you need to do this is go to www.wikispaces.com and follow the Under the Home link, you will see instructions. (I have created a wikispace another link called edit navigation. This for this article, which is available at: is basically where you go to create your http://eflwikiworld.wikispaces.com.It perennial menu. This is what visitors took me only ten seconds to do this.) will see and will use to move within the site. If you click on the edit navigation link, you will be presented with a page Editing your wikispace where you can type in the titles to the In the top left-hand corner, you will see pages that you want to be visible and a link labelled Manage Space. Once you accessible all the time. Once you have have clicked on this link, you will be created these pages, decide which of provided with a list of options. I would them you want your visitors to have advise going to the Look and Feel access to. Highlight the title you want to option first. This is where you can set link to a specific page, go to the toolbar

52 • Issue 59 November 2008 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •

www.diako.ir www.diako.ir be used as a dictation. The teacher doesn’t need to insist on an exact Wicked transcription of what was heard, though ENGLISH perhaps there should be an insistence on EACHING correct grammar and spelling. This type Tprofessional wikis of task is excellent for university students or business classes, where What now? attending meetings or lectures and This is your magazine. taking copious notes is the norm. We want to hear from you! A wikispace has an enormous number of practical applications. The old student Reading language lab, study centre or self-access Upload any text you have found which ߜ centre is really no longer needed. If can be used legally and for free, and set students can access tasks set by their a task on the page where the file is IT WORKS IN PRACTICE institution online, this means that the uploaded. You could even set up a only use of such physical spaces within a jigsaw reading task. Just remember to Do you have ideas you’d like to share school is for exam practice which involves make the instructions clear. with colleagues around the world? listening. Most other material for exams Tips, techniques and activities; Presentations is available online. Wikis are especially simple or sophisticated; well-tried Upload a PowerPoint presentation and, useful if you are teaching private lessons or innovative; something that has as a homework task, get the students to – you can create your own online worked well for you? All published write a summary of it. Getting students language laboratory or study centre. contributions receive a prize! to expand on notes is the basic task here. Students who are absent from lessons Write to us or email: can easily catch up with lessons they [email protected] have missed if the teacher has created a Considerations wikispace. It may not be ideal that I find it best to upload text documents students are absent, but as educators we in pdf format, but this may simply be a want them to learn regardless. And personal preference. You can make any TALKBACK!TALKBACK! surely, facilitating busy people in the Word document into a pdf by going to Do you have something to say about real world by making lessons accessible www.pdfonline.com/convert_pdf.asp. an article in the current issue of ETp? online can’t be bad for business either. However, do remember to check that This is your magazine and we would The students who do come to class what you are uploading from another really like to hear from you. are provided with study options which source is not protected by copyright. I Write to us or email: broaden their contact with English. generally use the rule of thumb that if the Videos allow them to hear other accents, material is from a reputable site you can [email protected] expose them to different cultures and use it. A disclaimer can often help here. often provide some humour. This basically states that any material which you have uploaded will be removed Writing for ETp What next? if you have broken any copyright laws Would you like to write for ETp? We are and are duly notified of this. Here are just a few ideas for things always interested in new writers and which can be done with a wiki. ૽ ૽ ૽ fresh ideas. For guidelines and advice, write to us or email: Quizzes Wikispaces are certainly teacher- and In order to get the students familiar student-friendly. The feedback I have had [email protected] with the wikispace, you could post an on the spaces I have created has always initial quiz which students complete and been positive. Now let’s hear your ideas! bring to class. The quiz content should Simply go to the wiki which was created Visit the be based solely on where to go and what for this article and post whatever ideas ETp website! to do, in the context of your wikispace. and comments you can. Remember, the The ETp website is packed with practical Once you have created your basic quiz, link is http://eflwikiworld.wikispaces.com. tips, advice, resources, information and it can be used with all your classes. On this wiki, you will find a few tasks selected articles. You can submit tips ETp Listening which I have already set for you to do. or articles, renew your subscription Some of the tasks I set my students are to Margaret Horrigan is or simply browse the features. watch a video and post a comment, a DELTA, CELTA and CELTYL trainer and a www.etprofessional.com which they then print out and keep. The teacher of EAP courses higher the level, the more interaction at the LUISS University in Rome, Italy. She between students occurs, as they post holds an MA in applied ENGLISH TEACHING professional their comments and read other people’s. linguistics and is Keyways Publishing Ltd, PO Box 100, currently the head of This is what many young people are teacher training at Chichester, West Sussex, PO18 8HD, UK spending their free time doing, so why not International House Fax: +44 (0)1243 576456 Rome. harness it for the language classroom? Email: [email protected] [email protected] A short video or audio segment can

54 • Issue 59 November 2008 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •

www.diako.ir TECHNOLOGY UsingUsing WWebQuestsebQuests Carina Grisolía spins WebQuest, as defined by the questions to an essay. Dodge developed originator of the activity, the activity in 1995 and it has since some internet activities for Bernie Dodge, is ‘an inquiry- become popular with teachers in many oriented activity in which different disciplines. So what is the Asome or all of the information that structure of a good WebQuest, how her students. learners interact with comes from useful is this type of activity in the resources on the Internet’. Essentially, language classroom, and is it feasible to students are given a task or series of create your own? tasks to do, which requires them to collect information from different internet websites and process and The instructions need organise this information in order to to identify clearly the create a final product. This could be anything from the answers to a list of steps the students should go through in order to accomplish the final task

The structure Introduction A good WebQuest will begin with an introduction, which motivates the students, introduces the topic, sets the stage for the whole activity and provides any necessary background information.

Instructions The students have to be told what the end result of the WebQuest will be, what task they must perform and what their end product should be. The instructions, therefore, need to identify clearly the steps the students should go through in order to accomplish the final task and should provide scaffolding for organising the information gathered Phillip Burrows during the activity.

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www.diako.ir organisation and presentation of ● the vocabulary which will be needed work. to complete the task Using ● ● They generally involve groupwork, the teaching context into which the which promotes teamwork and WebQuest is to fit WWebQuestsebQuests cooperation with others. This helps to ● the strategies to be practised generate a good atmosphere in the ● the genre of the texts to be used Resources classroom. ● the content A clear list of the online resources the ● They are good for the development of ● students will need to access in order to cognitive processes; students have to the linguistic and non-linguistic perform the task needs to be provided. analyse, organise, compare, deduce objectives Given that websites often disappear, the and transform information in order ● the available web resources. teacher needs to check before the to create something new. It isn’t necessary to be a webpage WebQuest begins that all the sites ● They can be used to teach reading designer in order to create a WebQuest required are still current. strategies and to promote the as there are several sites that will help development of reading comprehension. Evaluation you do this by following a series of easy A WebQuest model developed by María Students should be told in advance how steps. Try http://webquest.org/index.php Isabel Pérez Torres finds a correlation their performance on the WebQuest will or www.a-virtual.net/wq. Before you between current approaches to teaching be evaluated. begin, however, it is important to decide reading strategies and comprehension on the following: Conclusion and WebQuests, as WebQuests provide ● A final summary should set out what for the different stages of the reading the WebQuest topic the students have accomplished by process, with pre-reading, while-reading ● the task you want your students to completing the WebQuest. This may and post-reading activities. We might perform also provide information on additional equate the introduction and the task- ● the process you want them to go opportunities for extending the activity planning stage of the WebQuest to the through to accomplish the task or doing further reading or research. pre-reading stage; the consulting of the ● web resources to the reading stage, the resources you want them to use The benefits and the completion of the WebQuest ● the method of evaluation that you task and the evaluation and wish to employ. Here are some of the advantages of conclusion to the post-reading stage. using WebQuests with language students. ૽ ૽ ૽ ● They provide opportunities for ● WebQuests are extremely motivational vocabulary acquisition, both as the as students are always keen to use the students look for the relevant In my experience, WebQuests are good internet. information to perform the task and for stimulating the students’ motivation ● They are beneficial from a pedagogical through any explicit lexical tasks which and they enjoy them because they are point of view because they are may be set by the teacher. (Isabel Pérez fun to do. They provide a high level of challenging and they require students Torres suggests the inclusion of interaction and foster learner autonomy. to be autonomous and to take an reading and vocabulary workshops They also boost reading comprehension active role in the learning process. within the structure of the WebQuest and vocabulary acquisition development. ETp ● WebQuests involve exposure to a to ensure that reading and vocabulary skill acquisition is maximised.) variety of forms of input, the use of a Dodge, B ‘Some thoughts about wide range of strategies to process ● They enable students to engage with WebQuests’ language and content, and the authentic material and meaningful http://webquest.sdsu.edu/about_ requirement to produce an end content in the target language. webquests.html product. Pérez Torres, M I Diseño de WebQuests ● para la Enseñanza-Aprendizaje del Inglés They promote interdisciplinary work Designing your own como Lengua Extranjera: Aplicaciones en as the content may come from other WebQuest la Adquisición del Vocabulario y la areas of the curriculum. Destreza Lectora Editorial de la There are plenty of ready-made Universidad de Granada 2006 ● They are practical activities, which WebQuests available, which teachers can provide students with situations in use. Simply type WebQuest into any Carina Grisolía has wide which real-life skills can be exploited: experience of teaching search engine and you will find a list of English at primary, something may need to be created, a them. However, many teachers prefer to secondary and tertiary problem may have to be solved, an levels in Argentina. She design their own in order to make them also runs workshops for issue may have to be debated, relevant to their students’ interests and teachers and teacher- collaboration and negotiation with abilities. There are several factors which training courses and has published several other members of a group may be you need to bear in mind if you decide articles related to required, etc. to produce your own WebQuest: English language teaching and learning. ● WebQuests are a good use of time ● the age, level, and linguistic ability of [email protected] and resources and encourage good the students

56 • Issue 59 November 2008 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •

www.diako.ir Russell Stannard goes down the WebWebwatcher tube and gets inundated with good material.

YouTube is overlooked by many teachers, who think it is just a www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJg138YlwvA&feature=related site for younger people to upload their weird and wacky videos. The help offered by YouTube goes further than an oral exam. In part this is true, but it is also the repository of an enormous There are also lots of videos giving tips on all parts of the collection of varied and fascinating videos, many of which can exams. Try this video to watch and listen to a woman giving tips be incredibly useful to teachers. on the TOEFL exam.

Teaching presentations Experiencing live lectures There are some superb example presentations on YouTube, When I teach on EAP courses, I like to give the students the which you can show to your students as both good and bad chance to experience what a live lecture is going to be like when models. they study at university. There are many examples of live www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXILI9Q1jIw lectures on YouTube. You can use the videos to get the students In a recent lesson, I got the students to watch this video a to listen and take notes. couple of times and then to work in groups and discuss all the YouTube tip Key Lectures in [subject] into the search things the presenter did wrong. It created some laughs and a engine. You will find a large number of different topics and useful list of what not do to when presenting. an incredible range of lectures. www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFJg1T2hMk8&feature=related I put the students in groups to watch this one. (It is broken up www.youtube.com/watch?v=tc8Asv7EK9c into two parts, showing first a bad and then a good presentation.) I used this lecture/discussion just this week, as it is very topical. I asked them to make a list of the ways in which the woman had It deals with the credit crunch and was excellent for my improved her presentation the second time she gave it. I then put economics students who are on an EAP course. the students into larger groups so that they could compare their www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2VxreFE-Gc ideas. Again, it gave them a useful insight into what to do and In this lecture a teacher talks about how to approach a Masters what not to do in a presentation. or PhD dissertation. It is great because students get a taster of YouTube tip Key Presentations into the YouTube search what a university lecture might be like in English, and, at the engine, and you will be amazed just how much there is. same time, learn about writing a dissertation. Teaching methodologies and ideas Interviewing stars Recently a reader contacted me and asked me for good material It is nice for students to listen to interviews with people they for learning about teaching methodologies. I did a few searches know and are interested in, especially when you are working on YouTube and couldn’t believe what I found! There are talks with younger students. YouTube has an incredible number of given by many writers, like Scott Thornbury, Adrian Underhill and interviews with pop stars, actors and people from the world of Jeremy Harmer, and loads of material on communicative entertainment. If you want something more serious, try searching language teaching, pronunciation, grammar, Suggestopedia, for interviews with politicians or writers. language games, etc. In fact, I was completely inundated with www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilWLk9T9e-k material and it is going to take me years to get through it! This is a typical chat show interview with pop star Rihanna. I got Teaching grammar the students to listen to the interview and then make their own www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtwDhKso2No&feature=related comprehension questions. YouTube allows me to access right- Suggestopedia up-to-date artists and interviews. Try searching for a few artists www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXaRZQmtwSY and you will be very surprised what you can find. I have used Scott Thornbury on repetition interviews with Madonna, Tom Cruise (talking about www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzGhw8NOcrI Scientology), Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and Jennifer Lopez. Day in the life of an ELT teacher in China www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxdGYlK9leY YouTube tip Key the name of any fairly well-known person into the YouTube search engine, followed by the word Training tip For more ideas about YouTube and more in- interview. Then click on search. depth information about loading your own content, try out my training video: http://trainingvideos.hscs.wmin.ac.uk/ Helping your students with their exams youTube/index.html If you want to give your students some tips for their exams, then YouTube can definitely help. Try keying in IELTS or TOEFL. It is Russell Stannard is a principal lecturer at the surprising just how much material there is available. University of Westminster, UK, where he teaches using technology on multimedia and TESOL courses. www.youtube.com/watch?v=56WFNiQBOb8 He also runs www.teachertrainingvideos.com, a website that trains English teachers to use technology. What about this for starters? It is just one of many example interviews from the IELTS interview section. It provides a superb Keep sending your favourite sites to Russell: resource for helping the students really understand the oral [email protected] exam and what questions they might be asked.

• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 59 November 2008 • 57

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Keyways Publishing Ltd

www.diako.ir In this column Rose Senior explains why certain teaching techniques and class management strategies are effective, and identifies specific issues that can assist all language teachers in improving the quality of their teaching.

Norman’s hat

n this issue of ETp I’d like to do inclusive in everything that I did so that no the racist comments of the man on the something slightly different: tell you one would feel left out. But despite my bus, and I sensed that they were behind about a particular student I taught a few best efforts, Norman remained isolated me as I praised Norman for his polite, Iyears ago. As teachers, we all have vivid from the rest of the class. controlled and appropriate responses. memories of the classroom behaviour of One day, approximately two thirds of Perhaps other students in the class had certain individuals – particularly when those the way through the course, Norman did had experiences similar to Norman’s, but students have played on our emotions by something that ended his self-imposed had not known whether or how to respond. irritating, challenging, frustrating or isolation. The class had just listened to an This being the case, Norman had shown amusing us. Norman (not his real name) audio-taped recording about Australia being them one way of dealing with the situation. was different: a model student who kept a multicultural country that welcomed When we teachers enter our himself to himself and did not cause any newcomers. By this point in the course, I classrooms, we tend to let our eyes sweep trouble at all. Why do I remember him? had got to know the class and judged that across the room – subconsciously on the Because of his change of hat – and heart. we trusted each other enough for me to look-out either for the usual troublemakers, The class was composed take a slight risk. I asked if or for students about whom we are worried of 19 students enrolled in a As teachers, we all anyone would like to share any or curious. When I entered the classroom 15-week pre-university have vivid memories personal experience of not being on the following day, my eyes went intensive academic English of the classroom made welcome in Australia. I immediately to the back of the room in programme. My job was to waited for a few moments. search of Norman. He wasn’t there. Then teach academic study skills. behaviour of certain Eventually one student slowly my eyes drifted towards the front of the The class contained students individuals raised his hand. It was Norman. room, where I noticed two students deeply from ten different countries, Would he like to share his story engrossed in conversation. One of them spread across four continents: the People’s with the class? Yes, he would. was a Chinese boy and the other one was Republic of China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, One day, Norman had boarded a – or was it? – Norman. I had to look twice Thailand, Korea, Italy, El Salvador, Sierra crowded bus and had sat down next to an because Norman had replaced his battered Leone, Liberia and Ethiopia. Norman was elderly Australian, who had turned to him sunhat with a brightly-coloured baseball from Africa. and said, ‘You blacks should go back to cap, which he wore fashionably reversed, On the first day of term I noticed him Africa where you belong!’ ‘Really?’ said with the peak at the back. sitting at the back of the class. A tall, Norman, who was a scholarship student For the remainder of the course, handsome young man with gleaming black intent on returning home after I sensed that they Norman entered more skin, he sat, head bent and shoulders completing his studies. ‘Australia fully into the collective life hunched. He wore a faded sunhat with a belongs to Australians, not were behind me as I of the class. He floppy brim that hid his eyes from view. He foreigners!’ continued the man. praised Norman for his volunteered answers to appeared chronically shy and, if ever I ‘You were born in Australia, the general questions that required the class to swap seats for then?’ inquired Norman. ‘No,’ polite, controlled and I asked the class and speaking tasks, he would scuttle back to admitted the man, ‘I was born in appropriate responses behaved in more his familiar seat as soon as he could. Every Northern Ireland.’ ‘Oh, so you are extroverted ways. He sat day he came to class wearing the same a migrant,’ said Norman quietly. ‘All in different seats on different days and battered old hat, which appeared to offer countries in Africa are at war,’ continued soon had a small circle of friends. Most him protection, not only from other class the man, ‘and they have civil wars too – significantly of all, Norman continued to members but also from me (since I was using knives as weapons!’ ‘That is wear his baseball cap – an object that unable to establish eye-contact with him). interesting,’ said Norman, who had a good appeared to be symbolic of his new-found Adhering to one of the principles of knowledge of European history. ‘I confidence. And he would look me in the class-centred teaching, that of balance, I understand that your own country is only eye whenever I addressed him. ETp did my best to make the class into a now at peace after many years of civil war. metaphorical ‘level playing field’ in which And I did not know that knives were any everyone was equal. I made a point of worse than bombs at killing innocent praising low-key students. I let it be known people.’ The man replied lamely to this Rose Senior is a conference presenter when self-effacing students did better in statement and the conversation ended. and teacher educator. She is the author mini-tests than higher-profile students. I Norman had made his point. of The Experience of Language Teaching, published by Cambridge University Press. read out examples of good work from a The rest of the class listened intently as range of class members. I tried to be Norman recounted how he had replied to www.rosesenior.com

• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 59 November 2008 • 59

www.diako.ir Prize crossword 32

ETp presents the thirty-second in our series of prize Keyways Publishing, PO Box 100, Chichester, West Sussex, crosswords, and this one, again, has a very different PO18 8HD, UK. Ten correct entries will be drawn from a hat format. Try it … and maybe win a prize! Once you on 10 January 2009 and the senders will each receive a have done it successfully, let your students have a go. copy of the second edition of the Macmillan English Send your entry (not forgetting to include your Dictionary for Advanced Learners, applauded for its unique full name, postal address and telephone number) to red star system showing the frequency of the 7,500 most Prize crossword 32, ENGLISH TEACHING professional, common words in English.

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20 26 20 20 26 2 8 12 11261169232621 19209 . 8 111 1520 22102319181111 William Wordsworth, Resolution and Independence MPO 25 20 20 1 VERY FREQUENT WORDS ** To burst with a lot of force and with 18 16 13 7 20 1 6 26 16 1 15 20 *** A large number of soldiers a loud noise *** An official document that gives ** To press something firmly with your 11 11 12 20 someone permission to do or use hands something ** To produce something useful, such 141181323911 242161321 *** A number of different things that are as information or evidence of the same general type FAIRLY FREQUENT WORDS 20 11 26 11 20 9 16 *** A prize that is given to someone who * A large bird that kills other birds and has achieved something animals for food 26 23 9 15 20 8 16 13 20 9 13 20 *** Chosen from a group * A mountain that forces hot gas, rocks, *** Does not agree to an offer, proposal 17 20 23 20 17 20 8 ash and lava into the air through a hole or request at the top *** In addition to the usual or expected 21118 7 22 1 20221626201 * An officer of high rank in the army amount * Arranged so that things or people that *** Inside or further towards the centre are similar are together in one place of something 12345678910111213 * To formally make something, such as *** Particular subjects or types of activity a complaint or a claim O *** The structure that supports a road, 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 * Tricked into believing something that PM railway, or path that goes over a river, is not true over another road, etc *** To find the exact size, amount, LESS FREQUENT WORDS To solve the puzzle, find which letter each number speed, etc of something, using a – A large animal with a long neck and represents. You can keep a record in the boxes above. special tool or special equipment one or two humps – A liquid that you use for washing your Three letters are done for you. Start by writing these FREQUENT WORDS hair letters in the other boxes in the crossword where their ** A situation in which someone does – Good to eat because it contains a lot numbers appear. The definitions of the words in the puzzle not have enough money to pay for their of liquid are given, but not in the right order. When you have basic needs – The middle, yellow parts of eggs finished, you will be able to read the quotation. ** Completely typical – Wanted (like an effect you want to ** Solid food made from milk achieve)

60 • Issue 59 November 2008 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •

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