Elena Merino

Embracing Authenticity

Not a copy

Genuine

Real

“The Real

Deal”

“The Genuine Article”

Of undisputed

origin

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intended for native speakers, not second-language learners

Authentic material:

B1+ ?

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CULTURE

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“Ambiguity tolerance”

Ambiguity Tolerance

Raise awareness

Create a risk-friendly atmosphere

Promote speculation

Credit: Steve Oakes

“Good learners learn to live with uncertainty and

develop strategies for making sense of the target language without wanting

to understand every word”

Rubin and Thompson

Ambiguity Tolerance

Create a risk-friendly atmosphere

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Dealing with unknown

vocabulary

To preteach or not to preteach?

Ignore it!

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Teaching ideas

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Can you work it out from the context?

Last week I went for a walk

and saw a Gadwall.

It was standing on a rock.

It flew away.

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I found him affable, yet they had told me he was unfriendly

Is there a contrasting statement?

Work with cognates

Der Film hat ein gutes Argument

What’s the root?

antidisestablishmentarianism

Ambiguity Tolerance

Promote speculation

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What can you see?

What do these pictures represent?

What do the pictures have in common?

Ambiguity Tolerance

Promote speculation with vocabulary support

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Personalize the topic

25 Speak Out l 16/04/15

I’m very good at dancing

Ambiguity Tolerance

Raise awareness

2700.00-1.15

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What level would you use the video at for

A) enjoyment and broader understanding?

B) understanding most of the language?

CEFR GSE

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“Andy’s feeling nervous that not many people will turn up. But, he didn’t need to worry: nearly 20,000 people are here on the streets of Dunblane…”

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Deadspot listening

1.15-1.25

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• Work in pairs

• Student A watches the video (on mute) and provides a running commentary to Student B who is facing the other way. Student A tells a lie.

• After the video, Student B spots the lie!

…with a twist

2.18-2.48

back to back

Watch intently, speak clearly

Full concentration required to complete the task

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Can I do this activity at lower

levels?

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• Choose a section where the action changes more slowly (or put the video in slow motion!)

• Allow the student who is speaking to see the section once prior to describing it.

• Students do a summary as opposed to a running commentary.

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Teaching ideas for post-tasks

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tagxedo.com

worlde.net

Use Word Clouds

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Did the students hear the words in context?

Make a lexical set: tennis / sport

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Can you rearrange the sentences?

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Or Padlet for video creation

Similar to Padlet…

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What can I do with higher levels?

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Jimmy FallonJonathan Ross

Oprah Winfrey Graham Norton

80 Can follow films employing a considerable degree of slang and idiomatic usage

83 Can recognise a wide range of idiomatic expressions and colloquialisms, appreciating register shifts

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Yeah we did an advert that started in the UK and it was during a programme called X Factor that we have and erm yeah it just came on. And it was just like a black screen with white writing just with the lyrics of a bit of the first verse of Hello and then it ended with three dots as in to be continued and erm I mean I was watching it, I like X Factor, so we were watching it and I just like shit myself, like absolutely lost the plot when it came on and I got really excited as if it wasn’t me as well and then afterwards I’m very new to like being on social media and afterwards I was like tried to check twitter but I didn’t have a twitter account, so I just saw what was on there if you’re not on there.

Conclusion (I)

Videos…

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1) Hold our students attention

2) Offer paralinguistic characteristics aid comprehension

3) Students are subjected to ‘real’ English.

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Conclusion (II)

When working with authentic materials…

• Promote speculation• Raise awareness• Create a risk-friendly

atmosphere

Need more ideas?

www.pearsonelt.es  (Events & Teacher Training)

http://eltlearningjourneys.com/