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www.diako.ir www.diako.ir ContentsContents MAIN FEATURE BUSINESS ENGLISH PROFESSIONAL IS READING ALOUD ALLOWED? 4 NOT ‘THEM’ BUT ‘US’ 29 Jeremy Harmer rehabilitates round-the-class reading Monica Hoogstad uses humour to break down cultural barriers FEATURES TEACHER DEVELOPMENT CLASS-CENTRED TEACHING 8 Rose Senior finds group dynamics are key to establishing ALONE TOGETHER 51 a good classroom climate Deniz Kurtoglu Eken feels personal development is a fundamental factor in professional development WALKING STICKS 12 Ji Lingzhu arms her students with supportive listening strategies TECHNOLOGY ACTIVITIES UNDER ANALYSIS 16 CHOOSING ONLINE MATERIALS 56 Myrian Casamassima explains why we need to make Rafael Sabio puts forward some suggestions for a close assessment of the tasks we assign selecting texts and videos REVISING NEW WORDS 17 FIVE THINGS YOU ALWAYS WANTED 60 Angela Noble demonstrates that a vocabulary column TO KNOW ABOUT: MOODLE on the board has many benefits Nicky Hockly looks at a virtual learning environment LANGUAGE LEARNING IS LIKE ... 18 WEBWATCHER 61 Dede Wilson’s wall posters provide insights for students Russell Stannard has all his questions answered and teachers alike PHRASAL VERBS? THEY’RE EASY! 4 21 REGULAR FEATURES John Ryan finishes up his look at up ACTIVITY CORNER: 37 OVER THE WALL 27 PHONICS FUN Jon Marks Alan Maley recommends books that inspire creative writing ELUSIVE ESSAY WRITING SKILLS 34 PREPARING TO TEACH ... 40 Cheryl Morris finds innovative ways to teach academic Colourful language 2 John Potts writing A VOYAGE OF ADVENTURE 35 LET’S GET ENGAGED 63 Rose Senior James Porcaro sets goals and objectives for students and teachers IT WORKS IN PRACTICE 42 WHAT DO FOREIGNERS NEED TO SAY? 46 Peter Wells believes in teaching language that students REVIEWS 44 actually need to use SCRAPBOOK 54 LITERACY IN TWO LANGUAGES 49 Lois Spitzer sees success in skills transference between COMPETITIONS 41, 64 L1 and L2 TEACHING YOUNG LEARNERS INTERNATIONAL SUBSCRIPTION FORM 32 READY TO READ 23 Includes materials designed to photocopy Ana Lado examines criteria for choosing books for children • www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 65 November 2009 • 1 www.diako.ir www.diako.ir www.diako.ir MAIN FEATURE Despite the fact that all of the readers spoke impeccable English, some of them stumbled over the words. One couldn’t pronounce a name, one got mixed up with concatenation and another found the last sentence of the extract almost impossible to read intelligibly, at sight. Afterwards, we discussed what they IsIs readingreading felt like, and it wasn’t good! Amongst other things, they were nervous, they didn’t understand what they were reading or why, and they hated the experience of not being able to pronounce things correctly in front of their peers, or of fighting to make sense aloud of long, complicated sentences. aloud And yet all they were doing was what has been happening in language classrooms all over the world for ages I have never really allowed?allowed? worried about reading Jeremy Harmer t a recent teacher-training aloud before, but for workshop in Bucharest, I recommends reading, handed out a text (see the various reasons it has box below) and asked the suddenly become more Ateachers to read it out, one by one, repeating and rehearsing. sentence by sentence. I wanted this first interesting for me activity to start a discussion of what it felt like to read aloud. and ages – though, of course, I had History, Karen Bailey used to tell specially chosen a text that would challenge even the most competent her students before the whistle at English speakers. The question that Siete Vientos changed everything, arises, therefore, is whether it has always is the random concatenation of been that bad for students, even with states and events, nothing more. less challenging texts. And if it has, does The job of the historian is to check it have to be? that each of these happenings, I have never really worried about each of the realities under reading aloud before, beyond feeling investigation, is as unambiguous, faintly negative about it, but for various as verifiable as possible, so that reasons it has suddenly become more when describing the past, one interesting for me. In the first place, I could have confidence that one have recently observed it taking place was telling truths, not weaving when watching lessons – something fantasies. This was the kind of way which I haven’t seen for some time, she talked, and she was thought of despite many years of observation. as very academic, very precise. But Secondly, its value – or lack of it – became a point of discussion in a the stories of Siete Vientos and writing project where I am one member what happened there banished that of a team. And finally, in the last few style from her repertoire completely months I have read three articles on this because it suddenly seemed to her topic, which is all the more remarkable that history, people’s histories, the since for many years hardly anyone history of a place breathed in the talked about it at all. air and sticking to the rocks, is Sally Gibson, for example, explains more than dusty accretions of the reasons why people have been sources and references.1 against reading aloud, but argues for its many virtues. Costas Gabrielatos says 4 • Issue 65 November 2009 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com • www.diako.ir www.diako.ir www.diako.ir www.diako.ir IN THE CLASSROOM Class-centredClass-centred teachingteaching Rose Senior ponders the principles of group development. ccepting that classes function Teachers can readily discern – often in class-centred ways with the myriad as groups is central to all through a spontaneous collective occurrences that are part of everyday effective teaching. Whether response by the class to an unforeseen classroom life. we like it or not, powerful occurrence – when the tipping point has The box on page 9 contains a Agroup forces are at work in all been reached. From this point on, their selection of concepts from general classrooms. Classes of learners are not confidence grows and they feel more at research into group dynamics upon simply collections of individuals who ease with their class. which the ten principles of class group happen to be studying the same learning If teachers do not behave in class- development which I will describe in materials in the same room under the centred ways, their classes can quickly this article are based. direction of a teacher: they are groups tip in the opposite direction, with their of students whose individual or students either becoming a fragmented Group development collective behaviour both influences and learning community or, worse still, principles is influenced by the individual or uniting against their common enemy: collective behaviour of others in the the teacher. The following principles were developed room. Teachers, too, participate in class Class-centred teachers have a higher by examining a wide range of social group processes – with their teaching proportion of classes that function in a processes occurring during intensive and class management practices closely cohesive manner than do other teachers. English language classes containing related to the social evolution of their With their intuitive understanding of adult learners from a range of cultural class groups. group behaviour, class-centred teachers and linguistic backgrounds. Language teachers who keep in mind sense when to go with the flow and 1 that their classes function as groups allow social processes to occur naturally, Creating the climate have a class-centred focus and teach in and when to pull back and adopt their As with any new skill, learning to speak class-centred ways. Through their own more traditional teacher roles. a new language involves trial and error. behaviour and the ways that they relate Confidence, combined with consistency Nobody wants to appear foolish in to their students, class-centred teachers in personal behaviour and a willingness public and yet, especially in encourage their classes to evolve into to be flexible, are the hallmarks of communicative classrooms where learning communities in which the effective class-centred teachers. students are expected to interact with overall atmosphere of the class their peers in English, errors are influences the behaviour of individuals. Research principles inevitable. Students become easily upset The crucial moment when a critical when they mispronounce or misuse a mass of the students in a class starts to The relevance of group dynamics to word, or fail to understand something behave in ways that promote the education is well known. In their classic that somebody says – particularly when development of class cohesion has been book, Schmuck and Schmuck relate those around them are amused. defined by Malcolm Gladwell (quoted insights from research into how groups Class-centred teachers make an effort by Tollefson and Osborn) as the develop and function in classroom to create classroom climates in which it situations. Dörnyei and Murphey Phillip Burrows ‘tipping point’. is clear that making errors is a natural provide an invaluable introduction to part of the learning process and nothing The tipping point group dynamics for language teachers, to be ashamed of. Such teachers while Hadfield presents an extensive regularly model desirable behaviour, collection of classroom activities for including behaving confidently and encouraging classes to develop and openly when they themselves make maintain a positive group feeling. In my mistakes. By smilingly admitting their own work I describe how teachers deal error (and thanking the person who 8 • Issue 65 November 2009 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com • www.diako.ir whispering with friends or using Group dynamics concepts mother-tongue talk in ways that make others feel excluded.