issue 58 - sep 08

w w w . e t p r o f e s s i o n a l . c o m

TEACHINGENGLISHENGLISHTEACHINGprofessionalprofessional

Issue 58 September

2008

• practical methodology

• fresh ideas & innovations

• classroom resources

• new technology

• teacher development

• tips & techniques

• photocopiable materials

• competitions & reviews

The Leading Practical Magazine For English Language Teachers Worldwide

Dealing with diversityPaola Vettorel and Alan Maley

I think, therefore I learnTessa Woodward

In privateAlan Marsh

Poised for learningCarla Wilson

MAIN FEATURE

DEALING WITH DIVERSITY 4In an interview with Alan Maley, Paola Vettorel

discusses varieties of English

FEATURES

DIFFERENTIATION 1 8Doug Evans advocates focusing on flexibility when dealing with mixed-ability classes

RESUSCITATING READING 12Rosalind Southward finds it rewarding to teach reading skills to exam students

LET US PLAY 17Glenda Demes da Cruz celebrates the possibilities offered by the board

I GOT IT OFF THE TV 34Annette Margolis adapts television shows to make classroom activities

I THINK, THEREFORE I LEARN 1 35Tessa Woodward ponders the need for teachers and learners to think about thinking

IMAGES 10 46Jamie Keddie makes good use of a digital camera

DANGER: ASSIMILATION! 49Christie Murphy points out the perils of being a bilingual teacher

TEACHING YOUNG LEARNERS

KEEPING THEM INTERESTED 22Lucia Maffione looks for motivating ways to teach vocabulary

POISED FOR LEARNING 24Carla Wilson uses yoga to help her students relax and concentrate

BUSINESS ENGLISH PROFESSIONAL

IN PRIVATE 27Alan Marsh offers tips and techniques for teaching one-to-one

TEACHER DEVELOPMENT

GETTING INVOLVED 52Sandee Thompson praises professional development and suggests paths to pursue it

TECHNOLOGY

BLENDED LEARNING 58Blanka Frydrychová Klimová finds magic in a mix of old and new

WEBWATCHER 61Russell Stannard suggests sites to teach vocabulary to children

REGULAR FEATURES

ACTIVITY CORNER: 37TWO ‘SPEED PAIRING’ ACTIVITIESJon Marks

PREPARING TO TEACH ... 40CanJohn Potts

EYE ON THE CLASSROOM: 50FOCUSED OBSERVATIONJohn Hughes

THE TEACHER’S BEST FRIEND 63Rose Senior

IT WORKS IN PRACTICE 42

REVIEWS 44

SCRAPBOOK 56

COMPETITIONS 41, 64

INTERNATIONAL SUBSCRIPTION FORM 14

Includes materials designed to photocopy

Contents

• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 58 September 2008 • 1

Contents

ETp58_pp01_21 Mart 11/8/08 13:32 Page 1

Editorial

[email protected]

Helena Gomm


Editorial

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© 2008, Keyways Publishing Ltd

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Pages 19–20, 30–31, 37–39, 40–41, 50–51, 55 and 56–57 include materials which are designed to photocopy. All other rights are reserved andno part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted without prior permission in writing from the publishers.

2 • Issue 58 September 2008 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •

The board, as Glenda Demes da Cruz explains,

was invented in the 19th century by a young

maths teacher with an uncontrollable urge to

write on his classroom walls. It is certainly one of the

oldest pieces of equipment that survives to the present

day in classrooms all over the world, whether in its

old-style manifestation as a chalk-covered blackboard

or as a modern interactive whiteboard, putting the

endless possibilities of a computer at the teacher’s

fingertips. Hailed by Rose Senior in her regular column

as the teacher’s best friend, the board, perhaps more

than any other item, shows us that there is room for

the survival of the old and trusted alongside the new

and exciting.

The same could be said of many things in the world of

ELT. New ideas come and go, or come and stay,

finding a place alongside old ideas and techniques.

Russell Stannard surfs the internet to find material for

his classes, Annette Margolis finds inspiration on the

television, Jamie Keddie takes digital photos of his

students and Jon Marks mirrors the modern fashion

for speed dating in a classroom activity. But Blanka

Klimová, while incorporating the new, insists on the

value of the old. The resulting ‘blended learning’

exemplifies the absorbent nature of our profession –

its ability to incorporate new ideas and technology

without entirely discarding the old ones.

This is also true of the English language itself. The

possibility of new varieties of English, the notion of

English as an International Language or English as a

Lingua Franca are hotly debated around the world, and

yet, as Alan Maley points out in conversation with

Paola Vettorel, tolerance of infinite variety in language

should not mean abandonment of old standards.

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Dealingwithdiversity

M A I N F E A T U R E


DealingwithdiversityPaola Vettorel

interviews Alan Maley

on varieties of English.

Alan Maley Before I address the

questions below, I would like to make a

few things clear.

All these questions circle around the

major issue of how teachers in their day-

to-day work can deal simultaneously with

teaching a standard variety of English to

satisfy curricular and examination

requirements within an educational

bureaucracy, while also preparing their

students in some measure for the

bewildering variety of English usage they

will certainly encounter in the outside

world. There is no simple answer to that

question, no magic formula! I would be

fooling myself as well as you if I

suggested that things were otherwise.

One key issue is the limited amount

of exposure to English which students

receive in classrooms. I shall suggest that

we need to expand the opportunities and

incentives for students to encounter and

engage with English outside the

classroom. That is, after all, where most

of us learn what is useful to us in the real

world. Given the massive expansion of

AM Here I would interject that such

interactions are not confined to non-

native speakers. Native speakers, whether

they are communicating with fellow

native speakers or with anyone else, are

also focusing on mutual comprehension,

rather than on a standard norm.

PV As you pointed out during theconference, ELF seems to be more acontext of use than a concept in itself –or maybe a plurality of contexts of usewhere diversities and similarities

multi-media and electronic

communication, getting an education

outside school is now a far easier task

than it once was.

I must make it clear that I do not

subscribe to the notion that ELF 1 is a

variety of English. What I do believe is

that we are all faced with a multitude of

unpredictable contexts in which English is

being used internationally. This will

include all manner of combinations of

human subjects: nativised users (such as

Indian, Nigerian or Malaysian speakers),

non-native-speaker users from the

‘expanding circle’2, and native speakers

from any of the many varieties in use.

Any of these users may encounter any

others. It is the way they handle the

interaction which is of primary concern

(the process), which is crucial to the

success or otherwise of the encounter,

rather than some hypothetical new ELF

variety (a product).

Paola Vettorel Despite growingresearch interest, there is still resistanceto the acceptance of ELF, developingparticularly in ‘expanding circle’countries. Intelligibility incommunication among non-nativespeakers seems to be governed more bya focus on mutual communicationrather than adherence to ‘standardEnglish’ norms.

This interview followed the GlobEngInternational Conference on GlobalEnglish, held at the University ofVerona, Italy, in February 2008.

We are all faced with a multitude of unpredictablecontexts in which

English is being usedinternationally

ETp58_pp01_21 Mart 11/8/08 13:32 Page 4


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interweave to allow communicationthrough a multifaceted medium.

This should first of all promote anattitude of tolerance: tolerance for thedifferent varieties of English which havedeveloped and are developing aroundthe world, thus moving away from theconcept of one best, standard variety,but also tolerance in terms ofcommunication for those aspects whichare still considered as ‘linguistic sins’ forlearners, despite the fact that they are,according to Barbara Seidlhofer andJennifer Jenkins, developing ascharacteristics of ELF.

AM I dispute the idea that those aspects

are somehow becoming characteristic of

an ELF variety. However, this does not

mean that we should not develop

tolerance for a wide range of English

usage: whether we are referring to

geographical, social or generational

differences. In fact, we have no option but

to exercise tolerance because variety is a

fact of life in a globalised world.

PV This would, in the first place, meanexposing learners to different varietiesof English, which are already beingintroduced in teaching materials, albeitslowly, but also valuing and developingthe communication strategies andaccommodation skills which play suchan important part in effectivecommunication. How do you see thispossible in terms of teaching? How dowe reconcile integrating these things withthe need to have a model to refer to?

AM As I pointed out at the outset,

teachers are faced with an impossible

task. They are expected to square the

circle. With limited time, institutional

constraints of syllabus and examinations,

they are additionally expected to raise

awareness of the reality of the variability

which their students will face, if ever they

have to use English internationally. The

best they can do, in my opinion, is to

make students aware that, although they

are learning a ‘standard’ variety of

English, they will inevitably meet many

other varieties in the outside world. In

practical terms, this may mean exposing

them to some of these varieties in

comprehension mode, making it clear

that they are not learning to produce such

varieties. It may also mean introducing

some strategies for dealing with

situations where comprehension is not

immediately transparent. For example,

some instruction in repair and

accommodation strategies (‘Could you

say that again, please?’, ‘Do you mean

...?’, ‘No, what I meant was …’ , etc, and

in paraphrasing utterances) would be

highly valuable and not that difficult to

introduce.

PV Promoting tolerance would, in thefirst place, mean fostering teachers’, andtherefore also students’, awareness ofthe fact that it is Englishes in the pluralwe should be talking about – so in away starting to spread the news that themodels of reference cannot any longerbe only British or American. However,there still seems to be little evidence ofthis in the ELT world, due in part to theoften anglocentric vision portrayed inteacher training and classroommaterials. A step in this direction wouldbe to include in these materials modelsof the language spoken by competentnon-native speakers. Particularly withadult learners, listening materials whichinclude non-native models often provemuch more intelligible to learners, thusproviding also a degree of reassurancethat learning is possible.

Do you think taking steps in thisdirection could lead to an increasedtolerance for diversity, and promotionof communication skills and strategiesin ELF?

AM I am sure it would. One thing that

stands in the way of this, however, are the

vested interests and ingrained opinions of

both institutions and some of their older

and more traditional servants: the

teachers themselves. There is a big job of

re-education to be done among teachers.

This is a major teacher development

issue. We should never lose sight of the

fact that teachers have invested heavily in

terms of time, effort and self-esteem in

acquiring a variety of English which is as

close to a standard variety as they can

manage. To acknowledge the ubiquity of

variability flies in the face of all their

previous experience. This is why I would

in no way disparage the efforts of

teachers to acquire a standard variety. In

fact, we should continue to encourage it.

But at the same time, teachers need to

acknowledge the infinite variation in the

language they are teaching.

PV Students already encounter differentvarieties of English outside theclassroom (in videogames, songs, MTV,the web, YouTube, etc). ELF is oftenalready a reality for them – probablymuch more so for them than for oldergenerations, including teachers. Forthem, as Herbert Puchta puts it, often‘sitting in a class is like being in the carwith your parents on a long road tripwithout your CD-player’. Should wenot take this into account, exploitingthe experiences learners as users alreadyhave of the English language by:

● raising their consciousness ofdifferent usages (where ELF is one ofthe choices on offer)?

● using their local, community and popculture as a starting point to developcultural and intercultural awareness?

AM As I mentioned at the outset,

students will learn far more outside the

classroom than in it. It is inevitable that

they will do so anyway. Through popular

songs, rap, email and the rest, they will

acquire aspects of English we have no

way of teaching in the classroom. They

are already primed and motivated to do

this. Our role is to encourage, rather than

to discourage it. But we also have the

responsibility for trying to develop a

sense of appropriacy through our

classroom teaching. Anything goes, but

not all the time and in every situation.

We have to try to help them navigate the

troubled waters of convention.

We have no option but to

exercise tolerancebecause variety is a fact of life in aglobalised world

We also have theresponsibility for

trying to develop asense of appropriacy

through our classroom teaching

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[email protected]

Alan Maley has beeninvolved with ELT forover 40 years, most ofthem in ten overseascountries, includingChina, India, Singaporeand Thailand. He haspublished widely and isseries editor of theOxford Resource Booksfor Teachers.

[email protected]

Paola Vettorel has taughtEnglish to students ofdifferent ages, fromnursery and primaryschool to secondaryschool and adults. Shehas taught Italian as L2at Verona UniversityLanguage Centre and isnow a researcher in theEnglish StudiesDepartment at the sameuniversity. She is also a

PV Fostering attitudes of toleranceneeds to be considered not only instrictly linguistic terms, but also asregards cultural materials. We need toraise awareness, in both teachers andstudents, of the existence of a largerworld. At times even the inclusion ofAustralia and New Zealand in lessonson culture still seems to be regarded asexotic. As you pointed out, it is truethat teachers teach what they know, butthis may result at times in a focus on arather monolithic version of Englishwhich conforms to a traditional view,rather than on what is actuallyhappening in the use of ELF.

Would you agree?

using such texts in the European

situation, where they would open up

horizons for students previously

conditioned to think of English literature

as consisting of the traditional canon, and

their use in their countries of origin, to

give a sense of pride and identity to

students from those countries. During the

conference, I mentioned a small-scale

creative-writing project I am involved

with, which is designed precisely to foster

this kind of identity and confidence. Since

2003, a small group of teacher-writers

from some ten Asian countries have met

in a different Asian country once a year

to write poems and stories in English

designed to be used with students in Asia.

The books (seven volumes in all) have

been published by Pearson Malaysia. This

is just one way to foster a personal voice

for expressing local cultural identities

through the medium of English. Teacher

development projects of this kind should

certainly be encouraged.

PV Students’ pop cultures, theirexperiences of the language outsideschool, could be a starting point, as ameans of inclusion and of learning,using and experiencing the language inconnection with its actual use. CouldELF play a major role in fostering anddeveloping different visions of cultureand expression of identities?

AM I believe that English is increasingly

being used as one among several modes

of self-expression. In a global society

characterised by hybridity, we must

expect a variety of hybrid forms of self-

expression. We can choose to embrace or

to stigmatise such variety, but we cannot

deny its existence.

Having said that, the classroom is not

the ideal location for developing desirable

kinds of attitude and action in relation to

variation in English. The time allocated

to English classes is not adequate even to

acquire a standard variety of English, let

alone to unpack fully the reality of

variation in the outside world. And

teachers are under pressure to deliver

results in the form of examination

grades, which militate against the kind of

flexibility we would ideally like to see.

Given these constraints, the role of

English language teachers in institutional

settings (state schools and universities)

should be to teach something close to a

standard variety. At the same time, they

should do everything they can to draw

attention to the real diversity ‘out there’,

AM I do indeed agree with you. One way

of doing this is to focus on texts written

in English from non-metropolitan regions.

Whether in Europe, Africa, Latin

America or Asia, there is now such a

wonderful and exuberant literature in

English that we would be foolish not to

tap into it. Books (and the films they give

rise to) such as ‘Brick Lane’, and earlier

works, such as Samuel Seldon’s ‘Lonely

Londoners’, highlight the immigrant

condition, as do novels such as Timothy

Mo’s ‘Sour Sweet’ (also a film). Poets

such as Benjamin Zephanaiah and John

Agard often write about the language as

well as the condition of immigrant

communities. In countries where there is

already a flourishing literature in English

– India, Malaysia, Singapore, West

Africa, the Philippines – it would be

madness not to use this resource. Perhaps,

though, we need to distinguish between

which can be accessed independently by

students through extensive reading, the

internet, film and exposure to the range

of accents now common on international

news channels. There is no way we can

teach diversity, the students need some

basis from which they can confidently

reach out to it. But we can teach how to

deal with diversity, through developing a

tolerance for difference and a positive

attitude to accommodation. And that will

be the key to survival in the world outside

the classroom.

Jenkins, J The Phonology of English asan International Language OUP 2000

Seidlhofer, B A Concept of InternationalEnglish and Related Issues: From ‘RealEnglish’ to ‘Realistic English’? Council ofEurope Language Policy Division 2003

1 English as a lingua franca (ELF) The use of English as a medium of communicationby speakers for whom it is not a firstlanguage.

2 Expanding circle A reference to BrajKachru’s model which divided Englishspeakers into three circles, an inner circle(speakers from traditional anglophonecountries such as the UK, the USA,Ireland, New Zealand, etc), an outer circle(speakers from countries where English isnot the official language but is importantfor historical reasons and plays a part inthe nation’s institutions, such as India,Nigeria, Malaysia) and an expanding circle(speakers in those countries where Englishplays no historical or official role but whereit is widely used as a foreign language orlingua franca, such as Japan, China,Russia, etc).

We can choose toembrace or to

stigmatise variety, but we cannot deny

its existence



ETp

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1


I N T H E C L A S S R O O M

DifferentiationDifferentiationDoug Evans looks at ways of meeting the needs of a wide variety of students.

I know you can get it. We just have tofind out how.

ELT teachers typically areaccustomed to being creativeand flexible in their approachesto teaching. Owing to the

strikingly broad range of studentsencountered, a hallmark of ELT teachingis willingness by teachers to adapt theirlessons to the specific needs of their ever-changing student compositions. As aresult, when introduced to the concept ofdifferentiation in the educational context,ELT teachers often find immediatecommon ground and discover that italready matches their teachingsensibilities. Moreover, teachers will oftensee that they are already structuringlessons and facilitating outcomes thatdirectly match the precepts of what isconsidered effective differentiation.However, to some, differentiation canseem to be just another educationalbuzzword that has no real value in and ofitself. It is for this reason that this article,divided into two parts, will answerquestions about the principles of whatconstitutes effective differentiation andthen provide practical differentiationstrategies for the ELT teacher.

What is differentiation?

Differentiation is an ongoing processdesigned in a specific way to providestudents of differing subjectbackgrounds, topic interests and skilllevels with a variety of starting points,ending points, classroom tasks andtesting options. The intention is forthese options to provide students withthe most attuned and relevantclassroom environment possible. Inother words, within a class of differingabilities, motivations and backgroundknowledge of the target topic oroutcome, a teacher who differentiatesskilfully can work with several differentgroups in a way that is relevant,engaging and approachable.

What are the principles?

Although it varies widely in scope anddepth of possibilities, there are threefundamental building blocks to effectivedifferentiation: Assessment, Task

worthiness and Frequent student

interaction.

A well-differentiated class will beassessed before, during and after a unitof teaching. Pre-assessing gives teachersthe necessary information to groupstudents effectively and to gauge thenecessity of altering class targets andgoals. When teachers start a new unit,they know exactly where they want theminimum level of the students to be bythe end of the unit, but before beginningthe first lesson, they give them a mini-assessment to determine the level ofmastery the students already have of thetopic and targeted outcomes. Thisassessment might include a range oftasks, from simple vocabularyidentification (What is this a picture

of? ), through sentence unmixing (don’t

I know I if should the steak order or

chicken the), to the generation ofsophisticated language structures (The

truth is that I have (been) here only once).Once the teacher has assembled and

analysed the data gathered, differenttasks can be assigned and startingpoints for the various levels in the classdetermined as needed. This assessmentmight contain questions to gaugestudent interest in the topic and inoptions that the teacher might beconsidering for the upcoming unit.That, combined with some inquiriesinto the students’ preferred learningstyles, is often enough to tip the scalesof students who are ‘on the fence’ abouta particular unit or even an entiresubject. The better a teacher knows agroup of students, the less necessarythese two question types become.However, this kind of student input is

Assessment

usually consistently effective, regardlessof whether it is sought at the start orthe end of a school year. This approachprovides students with a certain amountof empowerment and the teacher with adeeper understanding of the students.

Ongoing assessment typically comesat one or more times during the courseof a unit of teaching and is designedprimarily to help the teacher determinethe effectiveness of the instruction. Itmay be used to help determine students’grades, but this is not its main purpose.This assessment may come in the formof a quiz, self-reflection, directquestioning or some other task. Theteacher then uses this information todecide if there is a need to adapt oradjust the activities for the class or forindividual students.

Assessment at the end of a unit ofteaching is not just a way of measuring

understanding. It can also be a meansto enhance understanding. If the resultsof an assessment at the end of a unitshow that certain students have notsufficiently mastered the information, ateacher proficient in differentiation willuse the results of the assessment toprovide additional learningopportunities for the areas still in needof improvement, particularly if thoseareas are critical to subsequentinformation.

Teachers may encounter students whoconsistently perform either below orabove average in the target skills. Beingrequired to perform at an average levelis not advantageous to either of thesetypes of students, and may, in fact,damage their motivation to strive toperform at their best. If a student canquickly understand and solve certainmaths problems with very little effort,then there is little reason to require thisstudent to continue to do a pageful ofproblems of this sort. It becomes amenial task or ‘busy work’ – in other

Task worthiness

1

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words, the task is not worthy of thestudent and is just set to keep themoccupied. A well-differentiated classmight have this student doing moresophisticated tasks of a similar type.

Similarly, it serves no purpose in theeyes of the students to be asked toperform tasks that are too difficult forthem. They know they can’t completethese tasks well, if at all, which can leadto doubts about their own worthiness asstudents and as people. Instead,effective differentiation gives thestudents tasks that are appropriate fortheir background, interests and skills,while still meeting targets andoutcomes.

Teachers who differentiate effectivelyearmark substantial time in theirlessons for both teacher–student andstudent–student interaction. Byfrequently interacting with the students,a teacher can more effectively monitorstudent progress and scaffold skills andoutcomes. The teacher rotates fromstudent to student, pair to pair, groupto group, depending on need. Just ascritical is student–student interaction.This provides valuable time for inter-student support, communication andpractice. Students should have frequentinteraction with a variety of otherstudents for a variety of purposes.

Meeting students’ needs

Teachers can find it challenging to workwith both struggling and advancedlearners, particularly when they are inthe same class. Teachers whodifferentiate skilfully keep the followingideas and strategies in mind in order tohelp prevent these challenges frombecoming too involved and costly interms of time and energy.

For struggling learners ● Be conscious that they might be

anxious about the given task, andgive extra attention to relievepotential anxiety which may interferewith classroom progress.

● Look for and note the positives.● Be sure that tasks are relevant and

engaging.● Develop strategies for helping

students tackle higher-order tasks,such as breaking the assignment intosmaller parts or using visual aids asneeded.

Frequent student interaction

● Have different plans of action withvarying levels of sophistication readyfor students to use and choose fromwhen encountering a potentiallydifficult situation.

For advanced learners● Be conscious that students might find

some tasks unchallenging and thusboring. Design sophisticated lessonsspecifically to combat this potentialboredom.

● Be sure that tasks are relevant andengaging.

● Develop lessons that push thestudents to just beyond their comfortlevel.

● Encourage student choice in settingadvanced goals and criteria.

● Provide advanced materials on a classtopic or theme.

● Exempt students from practising pre-mastered skills.

● Provide learning opportunities withless concrete outcomes.

A typical differentiatedclass

Teachers starting out in differentiationcan be confused as to whether they aredoing it ‘right’. As in most areas ofeducation, there is no one correct way,but a typical way of working might beas follows:

Pre-assess students at the outsetof the year● Determine and understand students’

interests, preferred ways of learningand their fundamental skills.

● Use quick comprehension, spellingand writing checks.

Identify underlying concepts● Determine what all the students are

expected to understand.● Clarify the difference between

concepts and the contents needed todevelop those concepts.

Pre-assess at the start of each unitof teaching● Evaluate what the students know and

understand, and their abilities.● Take into account learning styles and

multiple intelligences.● Use this information to adapt lesson

outcomes.

Meet with small groups within theclass● Make small teacher-led groups a

matter of routine as this can be good

for hearing students lost in the largergroup.

● Re-teach those who are struggling.● Extend learning for those who

already know the content.

Use multiple presentation/teachingmodes● Move out of your comfort zone.● Plan with the intent of varying your

approach.● Allow for differentiated participation

based on a student’s skill level.

Scaffold reading success● Pre-teach essential vocabulary, for

example by posting it on the wall andreferring to it as the unit progresses.

● Verbalise the critical thinking process.● Use context cues, captions, tables,

personal connections, educatedguesses, etc.

● Highlight texts. This can be doneindividually or in small groups andassists students who struggle to copewith whole chapters. Mark criticaltext points.

● List internet sites on the same topicbut at different reading andcomplexity levels. Find sites in thelanguages of the students in the class.

● Read aloud to the students, puttingthem in groups with similar needs.This can help with sounding out ormaking sense of a text.

Differentiate homework● This helps avoid ‘busy work’ for those

who have already mastered thecontent.

● It can be an opportunity to workbackwards to master missing skills orcontent.

Encourage students to learn andexpress mastery in varied ways● Allow for student choice.

Differentiation-specificassessment

Assessment in differentiated classes maytake the traditional forms found inquizzes and end-of-unit tests, butadditionally there will be criticalongoing assessments throughout a unitof teaching. Here are four samples ofassessments. The first two (A and B)could be done at the start of the year.C could be presented at the start of theyear or at the beginning of a unit. Thelast sample, D, uses fast, low-costmarkers to help students and teachersevaluate student progress within a unit.

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In the second part of this article, I willdiscuss how not to confusedifferentiation with accommodation,and provide examples as to how onemight creatively structure certaindifferentiated tasks and outcomes.

[email protected]

Doug Evans is anEnglish as anAdditional Languageteacher anddepartment head ofStudent SupportServices at ACSHillingdon InternationalSchool in London. Hehas been a teacher inthe USA, Japan,Poland, Russia andSouth Korea.

Costa, A Activating & Engaging Habits ofMind ACSD 2000

Tomlinson, C ‘Differentiating instruction –why bother?’ Middle Ground 9(1) 2005

Tomlinson, C How to DifferentiateInstruction in Mixed-Ability ClassroomsACSD 2001

Cummings, C Managing to TeachTeaching Inc 1996

Eaton, V ‘Differentiated Instruction’www.quasar.ualberta.ca 1996

A About meWhat interests me:

1

2

3

In my free time I like to __________________________________ .

At school, I prefer to study:by myself.with a partner.in a small group.in a big group.

I learn best when _______________________________________ .

It’s hard to learn when __________________________________ .

My favourite subject is __________________________________ .

My best subject is ______________________________________ .

I would describe myself as a ____________________________ ,

_______________________ and _____________________ person.

My favourite school memory is __________________________ .

The best teacher I ever had was good because

_______________________________________________________ .

It is important for my teachers to know that I

_______________________________________________________ .

I study best when it is quiet. T/F

I am able to focus on my work when others are being loud. T/F

I like to work at a table or desk. T/F

I like to work in my bedroom. T/F

I try hard at school for myself. T/F

I try hard at school for my parents. T/F

I complete my homework as well as I can. T/F

Sometimes I do not finish homework because:a) it is boring. d) it is too easy.b) I get frustrated. e) I don’t like the subject.c) I don’t like the teacher.

1DifferentiationDifferentiation 1With homework, I prefer for the teacher to tell me what to do and how to do it. T/F

With homework, I prefer to have flexibility to do what I want. T/F

I usually finish assignments ahead of the deadline. T/F

I learn better by doing. T/F

I learn better by listening. T/F

I learn better by sitting. T/F

I learn better by moving. T/F

B Foreign culturesThese are the English-speaking countries we will be studyingin the first semester. Which country are you most interested inor which sounds the most interesting?USA UK Australia New Zealand Canada

C Phrasal verbs1 Which of the following is a phrasal verb?

a) find out b) look before you leap c) have been going

2 Where is the best place to put it in the following sentence?I can’t ___ figure ___ out ____.

3 Which of the following phrasal verbs are inseparable?a) add up b) get around c) burn down

4 Correct the following sentence:She started to catch on the science lesson.

5 Fill in the blank with the best word from the list.The boy fell _______ the stairs.a) away b) next c) down

D Check yourself! point by pointWhat’s the difference between a haiku and a limerick?

dailyThree things the class learnt today ...One question I still have is ...

by conceptWhy do we need to have good eye contact when giving aspeech?

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Resuscitating readingResuscitating reading

S K I L L S D E V E L O P M E N T

Rosalind Southward

wonders if we neglect to

teach reading skills in exam

classes.

Admittedly, the CambridgeESOL FCE reading paper isan exam which studentscannot study for outright.

There are no definitive vocabulary lists tolearn, no grammar structures which wecan say will definitely appear. It seemsthere is nothing concrete that we can tellFCE students to study. However, shouldthis mean that we ignore this papercompletely in favour of spending time onthe more challenging use of English orwriting papers? I am increasingly inclinedto say no, and feel that there is a wealthof techniques and skills which we canfinely tune to help students maximisetheir potential in the reading exam.

Although this article focuses on theFCE exam, the ideas I suggest will beequally relevant to students at lowerlevels. A greater focus on skills work fromthe beginning of a student’s learningcareer provides the foundations whichwill facilitate their progress later on.

Why bother with reading skills?

Many students in Europe want or needto pass the FCE exam in order toincrease their education or employmentopportunities in the future. Similarly,FCE is a stepping stone to higher-levelexams such as CAE or Proficiency. It isclear that there is a vast difference in thelinguistic challenges presented at FCEand CAE, and in my experience, evenstrong students initially struggle withthe CAE reading paper. The sheeramount of text that they are faced withis a daunting prospect, added to the factthat the level is academically more

challenging than anything they arelikely to have encountered previously.By equipping students with betterreading skills at FCE level, we canprovide them with a better bridge toCAE. At the same time, we are alsohelping them to develop vital techniqueswhich can be utilised when reading intheir first language.

How to teach reading?

My students read too slowly … They treat

me like a walking dictionary ... Have youever thought these things in the middleof a reading lesson? Preparation for thereading exam stretches far beyondforcing students to do time-controlledreading exercises in class. Effective useof the 60 minutes students have inwhich to do the exam is, of course,vitally important. Yet as teachers, weneed to teach the techniques which willenable our students to achieve this,using interesting yet pertinent materials,which, as we all know, can’t always befound in the set coursebook.

An authentic reading lesson

I am a big fan of authentic text. It isreal, relevant and gives students theconfidence boost of knowing that theyhave read and understood somethingthat a native speaker might actually read,too. So, how can we take an averagenewspaper or magazine article and makeit into something we might find in theFCE exam? Here are some ideas for areading lesson that attempted to makethe most of an authentic text.

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[email protected]

After completing herCELTA in 2001, RosalindSouthward spent sixyears teaching inBarcelona, Spain, and ayear in Thailand. Shehas also worked as afreelance writer, and iscurrently teaching at theBritish Council in KualaLumpur, Malaysia.

The first point is to choose a topic whichwill generate interest or opinion. I tookan article from a British newspaper on anotorious blonde, Paris Hilton. Whenasked, most people admit to either hatingor loving Paris, with a plethora ofreasons supporting their viewpoint. Lastyear, when I worked in Asia, some ofmy students thought I looked like Paris.(I am blonde and Western – of course Ilook like Paris!) So I started my lessonby getting my Spanish students to guesswhich celebrity they had thought Iresembled. My personal anecdote madethem laugh and immediately generatedopinions and comments about Paris’s life.

Before the lesson, I took the articleand blanked out a number of sentences,which I then typed onto a separateworksheet with one extra ‘red herring’sentence thrown in for good measure.In very little time I had created an‘authentic’ part two FCE reading exercise(in the exam, students have to matchsentences removed from a text with gapsand there is always one sentence that theydon’t use). The article itself discussed thenotion that our obsession with celebritiessuch as Paris Hilton represents a declinein Western society. Gossiping aboutcelebrities has become a means by whichwe can connect with others in a fast-moving society where family ties andclose relations are becoming obsolete.

As a result of its sociological viewpoint,the article presented my students withsome challenging vocabulary. After thefirst skim-read, I asked them to turnover their papers and discuss what theyremembered with a partner. I wasimmediately faced with vocabularyqueries. As teachers, we have two options:be a walking translator/dictionary orsteer students towards developing theskills of guessing unknown language. Theformer is useful only in monolingualclasses where the teacher speaks the

What does this word mean?

I love Paris in the springtime ...students’ first language. It may be theeasier option, but there are two thingswe really need to be doing: firstly,helping students decide which unknownvocabulary actually interferes with theirunderstanding of the text in terms ofbeing able to complete the task they aregiven, and secondly, helping them thenuse the context to determine possiblemeaning. Students often forget that it isnot necessary to know the exacttranslation of a word, merely that theyonly need to understand its contextualsignificance. Throughout my readinglessons, I encourage my students to makethese important considerations, andhelp them to use their languageknowledge, alongside the context theyare dealing with, to find their ownanswers. Questions from the teacher,such as What part of speech is it? Is the

meaning negative or positive? and How

do you know?, help students achieve this.

Having aired our initial thoughts on thearticle, I then gave my students the taskto complete. Part two of the FCE readingpaper can be challenging if students havenot been made aware of the best waysof approaching it. So many studentsjump in head first: they try to match thesentences to the gaps without consideringwhy a particular sentence fits into aparticular place. I normally elicit frommy students how they are going to goabout doing an exam exercise, and howthey will know if they have done itcorrectly. When they discuss part two ofthe reading paper, it is amazing howmany never consider using the vitalclues provided by grammatical andlexical links, such as pronouns or verbtenses, and how few recognise the needto check for the logical sequence ofideas. The ‘red herring’ sentence oftenplays on our tendency to interpret a textin a particular way, basing answers onour interpretation and not on what isstated in the text.

Even once we have used a text for areading exercise, we are still left with amultitude of valuable extension activitieswe can do. After discussing selected itemsof vocabulary with my class, I then hadthem examine specific words andmanipulate them into a different part ofspeech – incredibly useful practice for the

Multi-tasking

How and why?

word-formation exercise found in the useof English paper. I then broadened thetopics introduced in the article and askedthe students to discuss their views insmall groups. Expressing ideas andopinions on abstract topics mirrorswhat students are expected to do in thefinal part of the speaking exam. In asubsequent lesson, I gave the students acopy of the full, original article on ParisHilton and asked them to blank outtwelve words and write them down on aseparate sheet of paper. They thenexchanged texts with a partner and triedto complete the open-cloze exercisetheir partner had made for them.Having already spent a lesson workingwith the text in a different way, studentswere really able to focus on languageanalysis: an essential skill for part twoof the use of English paper.

� � �

Teaching in Asia meant that I spent alarge amount of time teaching youngchildren how to read. No one wouldcontest that learning to read a differentwritten script is a difficult challenge.Maybe it is time we reviewed thechallenge of reading and showingextensive comprehension of three, non-related texts in 60 minutes. Gaining ahigh score in reading at FCE is no meanfeat, and perhaps teaching students toachieve this could be more enjoyableand worthwhile than you think.

Students often forget that it is notnecessary to know

the exact translation of a word

Expressing ideas and opinions on

abstract topics mirrorswhat students areexpected to do in

the final part of thespeaking exam

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� � �


Let us playLet us playGlenda Demes da

Cruz uses board games

to keep her students from

getting bored.

According to Jeannine Dobbs,the first teacher to write onthe walls of his classroomwas Reverend Samuel Read

Hall (1795–1877), a dedicated mathsteacher in Maine, USA, who started thedevelopment of visual tools for learningby recognising that somethingperforming the function of a board wasmissing from his classroom, even beforethe board itself was invented.

In 1816, Hall started writing on apiece of black paper mounted on thewall. Some time later, this black paperwas replaced by a black wallboard madeof plaster. This new teaching aid becamevery popular among teachers around the

second half of the nineteenth century,and it has remained popular ever since.

The invention of the blackboardwas the first example of technologyinfluencing education and it set off arevolution. Since Hall’s time, there havebeen numerous developments in thevisual presentation of information, fromthe simple handout to the slide projector,the overhead projector, the videoprojector and the interactive whiteboard.

The importance of using the boardin the classroom may be questioned, butnever its effectiveness. Teachers need theboard to make the students’ learningeasier. But what makes the board souseful, so indispensable?

A visual resource

Visual aids are very important in theclassroom. The use of the board isbeneficial to students whose learning ismotivated by visual stimuli, and it alsohelps students focus on what is beingpresented, and to understand andremember what they hear.

When we draw or write on theboard, we can go on to explain what wehave drawn or written. The informationis given gradually, and this gives thestudents time to question any pointsthey don’t understand.

The board can be used with various


The invention

of the blackboard

was the first example

of technology

influencing education

and it set off a

revolution

Phi

llip

Bur

row

s

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� � �

[email protected]

Glenda Demes da Cruzhas been an EFLteacher and teachertrainer for 14 years. Sheis a professor at UECE(a state university inCeará, Brazil). She holdsa degree in Letras and aMaster’s Degree inApplied Linguistics fromthe same university.

objectives, such as to display messagesthe students need to remember, topresent new information, to reviewinformation which has previously beengiven, and to record what teachers andstudents have said.

A resource for teachers

Classes can be greatly enhanced withthe help of the board and somecreativity on the part of the teacher.The board and the teacher’s creativitycan – and should – be used in tandemto make classes dynamic andmotivating. There are various ways ofdoing this. Here are some suggestions:

● Before the class starts, or in the firstfive minutes, write on the board someprovocative or polemic sentences,riddles, tongue twisters or jumbledsentences using language you wantthe students to learn, etc. This givesthose who arrive early something todo, as well as potentially getting themto start to focus on the targetlanguage.

● Draw pictures or abstract shapes onthe board. You can then ask thestudents to talk about them.

● Write up words, questions orstatements and ask the students todiscuss them or write about them.

● Use the board to write up, clarify,illustrate, emphasise, organise,practise and list any informationgiven in class.

● Record key words or a brief outlineof the language presentation you aregoing to make.

● Write up examples of sentences usingvocabulary which you have taughtpreviously.

● Draw pictures to illustrate grammarpoints.

● Summarise the most importantconcepts introduced in a lesson.

● Write up a guide to the activities tobe done in the following lesson.

● Keep a record of the students’participation (their answers andcomments) on the board, using theirown words.

● Communication cannot bemonopolised by one student, aswritten discourse does not allow forthis in the way that oral discoursesometimes does.

● The ability of the teacher to monitorthe class is enhanced. The teacher canobserve what one student is writingon the board at the same time aswalking around the students who areworking at their desks.

● Some students are less sensitive tocriticism when they use the board.This is because their participation isvoluntary and last-minute. Plannedwritten work demands time andpreparation and may cause them toask too much of themselves.

● It is a good option for those studentswho feel safer writing a foreignlanguage than speaking it.

● Some students who don’t like to askfor help, or have difficulties inexpressing themselves, will like theidea of having their peers and teachersee their mistakes and offer to help.

A resource for students

We can also allow our students to writeon the board. When we do this, weprovide an opportunity for them topractise and develop their criticalthinking skills as they can then comparetheir work with that of their peers.Allowing students to write on the boardhas many advantages:

● A different atmosphere is created.Writing in groups on the board allowsstudents to interact not only with theothers in their group, but also withthe class as a whole. In groupactivities where the students remainseated at their desks, interaction withother groups within the class is rare.

● Students are no longer able to concealtheir participation in groupwork,since evidence of their participation ison public display.

A resource for play

Using the board to play games in theclassroom facilitates group interactionand enhances learning. The activitiessuggested on pages 19 and 20 areusually quite challenging, and since thelanguage which the students produceduring the game is unpredictable, theteacher can steer the students to someextent, but cannot entirely manipulatethe result. These games have alwaysworked well with my classes.

While playing language games,students can be exposed to the targetstructures. However, because this isdone in the context of a game, theyrelax and forget that they are beingwatched. They often become soinvolved in the game that they stopfeeling anxious about their mistakes.

To be effective in the languageclassroom, games need to be thosewhich will allow the students to use thetarget language frequently and withflexibility.

� � �

There are many different ways to usethe board in the classroom, and manyreasons why teachers choose to do so.Motivation is one of these reasons andis an important one. The use of theboard to play language acquisitiongames helps students relax and learnwithout pressure. While they areabsorbed in a game, students forget thatthey are in the classroom; they feel as ifthey are different people, living in thatmoment and interacting with others.

We all use the board to teach. Whynot make it even more useful than italready is?

Dobbs, J Using the Board in theLanguage Classroom CUP 2001

Klippel, F Keep Talking: CommunicativeFluency Activities for Language TeachersCUP 1996

Students become so involved in the

game that they stopfeeling anxious about

their mistakes

Let us playLet us play

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� � �

Let us play

The alphabet game

Aims: to raise students’ awareness of what they already know; torecycle vocabularyLevel: any

1 Put the students into numbered groups.

2 Draw the following grid on the board and write the alphabet (withthe students’ help) down the side:

1

3 Tell each group to think of one word beginning with each letter ofthe alphabet. Set a time limit of two to three minutes for this.

4 When the time is up, call out a letter and ask each group to saywhich word they chose. Write their words in the correct place in thegrid.

5 Award points as follows. If one team chose a word that no othergroup chose, they get two points. Teams who chose a word thatwas also chosen by one or more of the other teams get one point.If, for example, Group 1 chose apple for letter A, Group 2 choseand, Group 3 chose apple and Group 4 chose ace, Groups 2 and 4get two points and Groups 1 and 3 get one point each.

6 Continue in this way through the alphabet.

Variation: The rules may vary, depending on the level of the group.For example, the students may be asked to come up with wordsover five letters long; they can be asked to write words on a theme,such as things that can be found at the beach, in the bathroom,and so on.

You may or may not decide to tell the students in advance ofthe criteria for awarding points.

What’s the word?

Aim: to recycle the target language (good forsmall texts and dialogues)Level: any

1 Before the lesson, choose a short text ordialogue (similar to one the students havealready studied) and write it into a chart, oneword per space, as shown here.

2 In class, draw the empty chart on the boardand write a title which will give the students aclue to its content, eg In a shop.

3 Put the students into teams, and ask them toguess the words contained in the chart, scoringpoints for each word guessed. For example, inthe chart here, if one team guesses I, they willget three points as this word occurs three timesin the text. When a word has been guessedcorrectly, write all instances of it in the chart inthe correct places.

3 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

A Good morning. Can I help you?

B Yes, I am looking for a pair of trainers

C for my boyfriend.

D What size does he take?

E He is a size forty.

F Well, these ones here are on sale.

G How much are they?

H Thirty-nine ninety nine.

I That is cheap! I will take them.

J OK. How would you like to pay?

K In cash.

L That is thirty-nine ninety nine, please.

M Here you are

N Thank you. Here are your trainers and your receipt.

O Thanks. Bye.

P Goodbye.

Football English

Aim: to practise readingLevel: anyMaterials: You will need a button to represent a football and somesticky tape to attach it to the board.

1 Choose a text for the students to read. This could be one fromthe lesson you are about to do or an entirely new one. Prepareabout 20 questions on the text.

2 Ask the students to read the text and give them about 10 to 15minutes to do this.

3 When the time is up, draw the following football pitch on theboard and divide the class into two teams. Allow them to choosetheir own team names and ask them to appoint a team captain.

2

4 Toss a coin and ask the team captains to call heads or tails tosee who starts. Place the ball in the centre of the pitch and decidewhich team is playing in which direction.

5 Ask the first team a question about the text. If the answer iscorrect, the ball moves one line towards the opposing team’s goal.The same team then has another turn and the ball only passes intothe other team’s possession if they get the answer wrong.

6 Whenever a team scores a goal, the opposing team gets to startagain from the centre. The aim is to score as many goals aspossible (20 questions should produce at least three or four goals).

7 You are the referee. You can give out yellow/red cards to teamswho speak their mother tongue or are too rowdy. Two yellow cards(or one red card) gives the opposing team a penalty: they only haveto answer one question in order to score a goal.

Group 1 Group 2 Group 3 Group 4

A

B

C

D

E

…

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Let us play

Boardwork puzzle

Aims: to practise speaking, listening and writing; to encouragecooperationLevel: intermediate/advanced

1 Draw the following puzzle on the board. Note: This one has ananimal theme, but you can create your own puzzles atwww.crosswordpuzzlegames.com.

4

2 Divide the class into groups. (The number of groups, as well asthe number of students in each group, will depend on the size of theclass, but the fewer the better.)

3 Tell the class that you will call out a number and say its directionon the puzzle (across or down). Then, you will read out the definitionof the word that fits that place in the puzzle. (The clues for theexample puzzle are given here.)

4 Ask the groups to discuss a possible word to match the definitionand to raise their hands when they think they know the answer. Ifthe word is correct, one of the team members writes the word onthe board. Each correct word is worth one point. With advancedclasses, you can make it a rule that if certain target language is notused during the discussion, the team will not get the point.

Across3 A sea creature with a soft oval body and eight tentacles (=

long arm-like parts).5 A large greyish green lizard of tropical America.8 A large animal with a long neck, that lives in the desert and

has one or two humps (= large raised areas of flesh) on itsback.

9 A bird with a flat face, large eyes and strong, curved nails,which hunts small mammals at night.

12 A large, hard-skinned reptile that lives in and near rivers andlakes in the hot, wet parts of America and China. It has a longnose that is slightly wider and shorter than that of a crocodile.

Down1 A small, brown European bird known especially for the

beautiful song of the male bird which is usually heard duringthe night.

2 A very small insect which lives under the ground in large andhighly-organised social groups.

4 A large wild animal of the cat family with yellowish orange furwith black lines, which lives in parts of Asia.

6 A small rodent, larger than a mouse, which has a long tail andis considered to be harmful.

7 A sea mammal that is large, smooth and grey, with a longpointed mouth.

10 A young sheep, or the flesh of a young sheep eaten as meat.11 An animal that lives in hot countries, has a long tail and

climbs trees.

5 When the puzzle has been completed, announce the team that isin the lead, but tell the students that the game is not over yet. (Note:it is important not to tell them in advance that there is a second partto the game or they will try to do both parts at once.)

6 For the final part of the competition, tell the students to use theinitials of all the words in the puzzle to form a short definition of aword (if they need help, tell them it is a two-word definition). Theteam that first finds the word corresponding to the definition getstwo extra points.

(Answers: 1 nightingale, 2 ant, 3 octopus, 4 tiger, 5 iguana, 6 rat, 7 dolphin, 8 camel, 9 owl, 10 lamb, 11 monkey, 12 alligator. The letters of the words in the puzzle form the clue ‘animal doctor’so the final word is vet.)

2 Ask the students to identify the invented words and rewrite theparagraph, substituting words that fit the text.

Answer:

I can’t trymplist men any longer! They always briscol me. Every time Istart popling someone, I get hurt. My repertemenst do not last very long.After a month, the prince turns into a frog. When a date is arranged, healways himbleds later than he should and every time I try to have acolfes with him, I have to think twice about what to say, because I don’twant to hurt his grapertugers. What grapertugers? Well, I guess all I cando is flait for a prince that doesn’t turn into a frog. The question is: dothey really exist?

I can’t tolerate men any longer! They always disappoint me. Every timeI start dating someone, I get hurt. My relationships do not last verylong. After a month the prince turns into a frog. When a date isarranged, he always arrives later than he should and every time I try tohave a talk with him, I have to think twice about what to say, because Idon’t want to hurt his feelings. What feelings? Well, I guess all I can dois wait for a prince that doesn’t turn into a frog. The question is: do theyreally exist?

Calefabenadle what?

Aims: to practise reading and writing; to review vocabularyLevel: intermediate/advanced

1 Write a paragraph on the board, changing some of the originalwords for words that do not exist. For example:

5

1

5

7

2

6

10

9

11

12

3 4

8

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��TEACHING YOUNG LEARNERS

Keeping theminterested

Keeping theminterested

Lucia Maffione considers how to motivate childrenwhen teaching vocabulary.

In his book on teaching vocabulary,Scott Thornbury quotes WilgaRivers, a leading authority on secondlanguage learning, who wrote some

years ago: ‘Vocabulary cannot be taught. Itcan be presented, explained, included in allkinds of activities, and experienced in allmanner of associations ... but ultimately itis learned by the individual. As languageteachers, we must arouse interest in wordsand a certain excitement in personaldevelopment in this area ...’

This certainly does not mean that theteacher is redundant. On the contrary,the teacher should play a pivotal role inmotivating young learners during theirvocabulary acquisition because onlymotivation will sustain them as they carryout this complex learning process withits long-term goals. By complex learningprocess, I mean the understanding ofnew words and the ability to storethem and afterwards to retrieve anduse them in appropriate situations.

Motivating young learners to enrichtheir own vocabulary is undoubtedly achallenging task for teachers.Consequently, some simple directionsabout how to make vocabularyactivities motivating may be helpful.

ElicitationAs Scott Thornbury points out, ‘younglearners need to be actively involved in

the learning of words’. One techniquethat might achieve this involvement iselicitation.

A standard elicitation procedure isfor the teacher to present the meaningof a word (eg by showing a flashcard)and to ask the learners to supply theform. For example:

T: (showing a picture of a skyscraper)What’s this?

S: Building?

T: Not exactly.

S: Skyscraper?

T: Good.

This activity maximises speakingopportunities and involves the learners,keeping them alert and attentive.

PersonalisationAnother important way to involve andmotivate learners is to make thempersonalise new lexical items.Personalisation is the process of usingnew words in a context that is real forthe learner. According to ScottThornbury, even unmotivated learnerswill remember words if they have beenset tasks that require them to makedecisions about them. The teacher canuse tasks that ask students to thinkabout their personal response towords. One such activity is subjective

categorisation, where students have tocategorise a list of new words whichthe teacher has just introduced andexplained. These categories might beFriendly/Unfriendly or I like/I dislike.Afterwards, the students compare theirown answers with those of a partnerto see if they agree. In so doing, theyexpress their own points of view, and,at the same time, practise the newwords. As Gough points out, it isimportant that students do not agreeall the time so that they havesomething to talk about.

Peer teachingAnother motivating activity is peerteaching, in which students teachvocabulary items to each other. Theteacher might, for example, divide theclass into small groups and give eachstudent a piece of paper with a newly-encountered word written on it,together with a definition from amonolingual dictionary. Each person hasto make the other members of thegroup guess their word without actuallysaying it. Techniques and strategies theymight employ include using synonyms,antonyms, mime, drawing, comparison,etc. Students generally enjoy thisactivity because guessing words ismotivating and to succeed they have tocommunicate with each other.

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[email protected]

Lucia Maffione qualifiedas a teacher at theUniversity of Pisa in May2007. She is currentlyteaching Englishlanguage, literature andESP in several highschools in Barletta, Italy.

Carter, R and McCarthy, M Vocabulary andLanguage Teaching Longman 1988Gough, C ‘Actually activating vocabulary’Modern English Teacher 4(2) 1995Hyuyen and Thi Thu Nga ‘Learningvocabulary through games’ Asian EFL Journal(online) www.teflgames/com/why.htmlThornbury, S How to Teach VocabularyPearson 2002

FunA further feature to consider is theimportance of fun.

The learning experience shouldinvolve as much fun (or at leastenjoyment and satisfaction) as possible.Students (and many teachers) often thinkthat to be effective, learning tasks have tobe boring. In fact, the opposite is the casebecause it has been shown that a relaxedatmosphere may facilitate the learningprocess. The simplest way to provide funvocabulary activities is to play games inthe classroom. Here is an example of avery nice game, useful both for practisingvocabulary and encouraging students toproduce language.

Hot seat

First, the class is divided into two teams.The students sit facing the board. Anempty chair – one for each team – isput at the front, facing the teammembers. These chairs are the ‘hotseats’. One member from each team hasto come to the front and sit in the chairso that they are facing their team-matesand have their backs to the board. Theteacher has a list of vocabulary itemsthat students will use in this game. Theteacher writes the first word from thelist clearly on the board. The aim of thegame is for the teams to describe thatword using synonyms, antonyms,definition, mime, etc to the student whois in the hot seat. When students are inthe hot seat, they cannot see the wordon the board and must listen to theirteam-mates and try to guess the wordfrom the clues they are given. The firsthot-seat student to say the word wins apoint for their team. Then a newmember of each team sits in theirteam’s hot seat.The teacher thenwrites the next word on the board.

This activity is motivating because itrequires both mental and physicalinvolvement from the students. Theimportance of physical activity is oftenoverlooked in language teaching, and itis beneficial in encouraging students tobe both mentally and physically active,rather than just sitting passively. This isalso a very student-centred activitybecause the teacher acts only as afacilitator.

Different contextsAnother important way to motivatestudents in vocabulary activities is tointroduce and use words withindifferent contexts.

Lexical competence doesn’t consistsimply of remembering a set ofvocabulary items. It involves masteringthe use of them in appropriatecontexts.

When learning new words, studentsneed to recognise how and where theycan be used. This goal may be achievedthrough roleplays. Here is an example.

Door to door salesman

This is a pairwork activity. In each pair,one student plays at being asalesperson who tries to sell objects tothe other student, who pretends to bea potential client. To make this activitywork, it will be necessary to pre-teachsome expressions which will enable thestudents to accomplish the task. Forexample: (for the client) I don’t need it, Iam busy, I can’t afford it ... (for thesalesperson) It could improve your life,you can try it, you can have a refund ...

The essential thing about roleplays isthat they provide a memorable way touse new words or expressions. In thisrespect, they are helpful both for learnerstrying to memorise new words and forteachers who want to maintain their

students’ motivation. Moreover, throughthis activity students are encouraged tofocus on the use of the language ratherthan on the language itself.

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Elicitation, personalisation, peerteaching, games and roleplays are justsome strategies to motivate thelearners when you are using vocabularyteaching activities. Whilst thesetechniques cannot force the students tolearn new words, they can at leastensure the learners’ willing participationin the learning process. ETp

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Poised forlearningPoised forlearningCarla Wilson suggests you use yoga to promote relaxation and concentration.

Having practised yoga forseveral years and taught it toadults since I qualified as ayoga teacher in 2006, I have

seen the many positive effects it has,such as increased concentration andfocus, and reduced stress and anxiety.It became evident to me that thesebenefits would be very useful in achildren’s language classroom and so Idecided to incorporate some verysimple yoga techniques in my lessonswith children.

SuitableStudents’ ability to learn a language canbe hampered if they are anxious, upsetor self-conscious. Yoga can help alleviatethese problems through its promotionof relaxation, concentration and self-esteem. However, most research in thisfield has been done with students usingtheir native language rather than in anEFL or ESL setting. This is probablybecause these settings pose acommunication problem – many yogatechniques, particularly guidedmeditation, require good languagecomprehension skills.

The students with whom I wanted touse yoga didn’t have the language skillsnecessary for many yoga activities. Mychoice, then, was between conductingthe activities in Japanese or adapting

them so that they were suitable forstudents with low-level English. As mystudents have only one hour a week ofEnglish study, I felt it was important tomaximise the use of English in that timeand so I chose the latter option. Forthe same reason, I wanted all the yogaactivities in my classes to have an Englishcomponent as well as a yoga component.

SafeSome yoga experts, including theteachers at the ashram where I trainedto teach yoga, recommend that manyasana (yoga postures) should not be

used with children under about the ageof 12. This is because their bones arestill relatively soft, and there is aperceived danger of damaging boneformation through excessive twisting oflimbs, and so on. While these sameasana are thought to be perfectly safefor children by many other yogaexperts, I chose not to use them withmy students. Instead, I opted forbreathing activities, relaxation activities,visualisation activities and asana that areuniversally thought to be safe for youngchildren. This also has the advantagethat they are activities that teachers cando without any formal yoga training.

SuccessfulI have been using yoga over a period ofseveral months in my weekly classes. Thestudents have shown an improvementin concentration and in confidence. Themost noticeable difference has been instudents who were particularly lackingin concentration ability and confidencepreviously. Moreover, in some cases, anunanticipated benefit of the yoga hasbeen that it is something that weakerstudents can do just as well as, if notbetter than, the students who are usuallystronger. This was the case with the Palmtree balance and Visualisation exercises.

Yoga for youHere are the yoga exercises I use in mylessons and which you might like to try.I usually use one or two per lesson,interspersed through the main language-learning activities. Breathing exercisesshould be conducted so that the studentsnever get short of breath. Breathingshould always be through the nose.

Letter breathing

A letter or word is slowly written onthe board, either by the teacher or by astudent. The students breathe in asupward strokes are written and breatheout as downward strokes are written.(Horizontal strokes such as the crossof a t can be accompanied by holding ofthe breath.) This is a particularly goodexercise to do with words that can’t beread phonetically, such as what. It willhelp students become familiar with the

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[email protected]

Carla Wilson has beenteaching English since1998, mainly in Japan.She is director ofchildren’s courses atDavid English House inHiroshima, and alsoteaches at HiroshimaUniversity’s elementaryschool.


pattern or shape of such words. Thisexercise is also useful when studentsare first learning the alphabet. Itencourages them to focus on theirbreathing, which improvesconcentration and promotes relaxation.

Stomach breathing

Students sit, stand or lie with their handsresting on their stomachs. The teacheror a student gives instructions tobreathe in and out. Students try to maketheir stomach grow big as they breathein and grow small as they breathe out.Instructions can be ‘Big. Small’ or ‘Fat.Thin’ or ‘Breathe in. Breathe out’. (Don’tuse just ‘In. Out’ as the breathing isopposite to the movement of thestomach and this may cause confusion,ie as we breathe in our stomach movesout and vice versa. Breathing in and outfrom our stomach promotes full lungcapacity breathing, which gets moreoxygen into the blood. This helps to re-energise students, as well as providingthe benefits of focusing on breathingmentioned above.

Stretching and crouching

Students breathe in as they stretch tallwith hands in the air and crouch downas they breathe out. The teacher or astudent gives instructions such as ‘Tall.Short’, ‘High. Low’, ‘Big. Small’, ‘Tree.Stone’, ‘Giraffe. Mouse’. Stretching andcrouching promotes circulation, whichenergises students. Focusing onbreathing has the benefits mentionedabove.

Palm tree balance

Students stand with their arms abovetheir heads, palms together and balanceon their toes. This is a yoga asana that issafe for children of any age to practiseas it stretches all the muscles andbones in one upward direction. Thiscan be done as a competitive gamewith students seeing who can balancefor the longest while the teacher, onestudent or all the students count. It canalso be done as a cooperative gamewhere points are awarded for how manystudents are left standing after a giventime, again with someone counting.

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Alternatively, it can be done without anykind of scoring element. If studentslose their balance, they simply try again,and the whole class counts to 50 or100. Variations are to use a song orbackward counting. This asana improvesconcentration. Physical and mentalbalance are strongly connected, and anyimprovement to physical balance willprobably give a correspondingimprovement in mental balance.

Chanting

Several flashcards are put whereeveryone can see them. The studentstake turns to say the word or phraseassociated with each card in orderaround the class until all the cards havebeen used. The teacher times theprocess. The students then repeat theexercise and try to do it in a fastertime. This activity imitates the use ofchanting in yoga, but with the use ofnormal English rather than specialsacred words. All the students mustkeep very focused so that when theirturn comes round they are ready. Allother thoughts are wiped from theirminds as they concentrate on the cardsand what their classmates are saying.

Body parts

The teacher or a student names a bodypart and the students breathe in whiletensing that part. The teacher or astudent then gives the instruction to

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relax, and the students breathe outwhile relaxing the named body part.This exercise promotes concentrationand relaxation.

Visualisation

The teacher or a student says a series ofcolour and noun combinations (eg pinkcat, green house, etc) while the studentsmentally visualise the objects. The wordsshould be said quickly enough thatstudents don’t get bored, but slowlyenough so they have time to visualiseeach one. Prepare a list of about ten(more or less depending on age andability). The activity can end here orstudents can then try to recall what theyvisualised either orally, in writing or as apicture. Students can also take the roleof describing. For more advancedstudents, other information can beadded, such as actions (The pink cat iseating,The green horse is jumping, etc).Visualisation helps improveconcentration and encourages a directlink between the English word and theconcept it represents, making translationto the student’s first language less likely.

Extra-sensory perception

Several pictures, words or sentencesare put on display. One student secretlychooses one of the pictures, words orsentences, and then tries to sendmessages telepathically to the otherstudents about which one he or shehas chosen. Students should close theireyes to help them avoid feeling silly.After several seconds, ask for a show ofhands to see how many studentsreceived the telepathic message. Thisactivity helps students to concentrate,and promotes intuitive thinking. It isalso a good activity to calm down anover-excited class.

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� � �

BUSINESS ENGLISH professional � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �

In privateIn privateAlan Marsh explores the world of one-to-one lessons.

Some teachers love them, somehate them: one-to-one lessons,121, private lessons, individuallessons – they go by different

names, but they all come down to thesame thing: you’re alone with a learner,and usually you’re their only teacher.Sometimes the learner may also betaking part in a group course, and mayhave opted for an extension. Theirreasons for doing so are various, butusually it’s because they want to focuson a specific area, or they wantindividual attention, or both.

I’ve often been asked to write downsome tips and advice for teachers whofeel unsure about teaching one-to-one,and perhaps to run a workshop. I’vebeen to several workshops myself, andalthough they often provide usefulinsights and some practical techniques,they have the problem that all learnersare different, with differentpersonalities, learning styles, strengthsand weaknesses, practical needs andlanguage learning experiences. As aresult, 121 workshops (including myown) tend to gloss over the topic andend up being somewhat unsatisfactory.So I decided to sit down and thinkabout what I actually do with my one-to-one learners.

● What are the principles I (sometimesunconsciously) adopt?

● What techniques and activities do Iuse over and over again?

● What risks do I take?

For the purposes of this article, I’ll belooking at levels pre-intermediate(around B1 on the Council of Europescale) and above, as following acoursebook will often suffice for lowerlevels. I will also group together both

business and general English one-to-onelearners, although there are, of course,differences.

Setting the tone

One of the advantages of 121 lessons isthat you’re dealing with an individuallearner and not a class. This means youcan do all sorts of things you can’t doin a group. These include:

● giving the learner maximum attention– including listening to them talkabout anything that interests them;

● focusing on the learner’s particularstrengths and weaknesses;

● developing a rapport that can becloser than is normally possible.

I think the last of these points isparticularly important. It’s so easy tolose sight of the person because we’refocused on the role. A useful thing toremember here is that we don’t teachEnglish; we teach people. It’s the samewhen it comes to English for SpecificPurposes (ESP). We teach people. Whatkind of people? People who need to useEnglish for professional purposes. Sofirst and foremost, I think, it’s importantto break down the barriers and try to

get through to the person, rather thanthe student/client/executive/learner. Hereare some thought-provoking aphorismsfrom Mark Powell, an internationallyrenowned teacher trainer who haswritten several successful businessEnglish courses:

We don’t teach business ... we

teach people who do business.

Nobody is ‘just a business person’

… and yet everybody does

business.

Knowing a lot about people will

give you … what you really need –

rapport.

Get to the person first ... and leave

the job for later.

‘Executive’ is a role … not an

identity.

Having said that, first of all you need toestablish some sort of face validity. Thatis to say, you need to set the tone andestablish that the lessons areprofessional and based on the learner’sreal and perceived needs (these are notalways the same). So carry out somekind of professional needs analysis,such as the one on page 28. There areplenty of these in coursebooks, butoften the simpler, more direct andshorter they are, the better. I like to givethese needs analysis questions out andask my learner to think about theanswers to them.

After that, the learner talks, usingthe questions as a framework. As theytalk, it’s important to leave silences. Ifthey pause, don’t jump in, but give thema chance to formulate what they want tosay, to search for the word they need, tothink. Don’t be afraid of silence. It canbe very productive. By leaving silences,

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You need to set the tone and establish

that the lessons areprofessional and

based on the learner’s real andperceived needs

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you are allowing your learner space andtime. Often teachers feel they need tojump in because a silence can embarrassa learner, and they want to help out.But if you give them space and time,they will usually come up withsomething themselves. So leave somesilence first (say three to five seconds),then offer a prompt if necessary.

As they speak, ask any follow-upquestions, eg So what do you want to do

most? What are you strongest/weakest

in? How do you feel about (grammar)?

Are you good at it? Is it a priority for

you? Can you use it well when you’re

speaking? Do you feel you need more

words and expressions (vocabulary)? How

do you feel about your pronunciation? Is

it good enough for you? Do you want to

practise it? Do you understand when

people speak quickly? Can you speak

quickly, or do you find yourself searching

for words?

Regarding the question about sparetime interests, here’s something acolleague in Malta told me:

‘I also discovered that it’s very

important to find out what the student

enjoys talking about. I had a Japanese

lady who was mad about football so I

found this e-lesson from Macmillan

about Ronaldinho and she really enjoyed

it and said it was a good change from the

usual stuff women tend to talk about, like

fashion, family, etc.’

Getting personal

To be able to work on the learner’s needs,you need to get them to provide data.When it comes to speaking, they need tospeak. And most people like talkingabout things that are relevant to them:their experiences, their hopes, beliefs,families, jobs, cultures, their favouritefood, music, holiday experiences, etc.But many may be reluctant to – unlessyou give them a way in. And oneeffective way of doing that is by first ofall talking about these things yourself.So be prepared to talk about your ownlife, family, hopes, etc. Once you’veopened the door and invited the learnerin, the chances are that they’ll walk onthrough and feel comfortable talkingabout their own lives.

Here is an original task, which willenable you to do this. This is how itworks:

Each of you has a ME-diagram(see page 31). You take the Ainstructions and your learner takesthe B instructions (see page 30).

You each fill in information on theME-diagram, following yourindividual instructions.

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You both put your instructionsaside, look at your ME-diagramand try to remember why you havewritten what you have. If you don’tremember, go back to theinstructions.

Exchange ME-diagrams.

Ask your learner: Why have you

written […] for number [4]? Yourlearner tells you. As they do so, ask

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1 What do you do for a living? What is your job? What do you do, exactly?

2 Do you use English in your job? Will you use English in your job in the future?Do you need English for anything else, for example travelling?

3 If you use English (now or in the future), do you/will you use it …

● on the phone?

● to write (emails, reports, messages)?

● face-to-face?

● with native speakers?

● with non-native speakers?

4 How have you learnt English in the past? When? How long?

5 Think about your spoken English. Where would you put yourself on this line?—————————————————————————————————————————1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10Beginner I can keep Expert

a conversation going

What about your ability to understand natural spoken English? Where wouldyou put that on the line?

6 Think about your ability to read and understand authentic English(newspapers, articles, emails, reports, etc). Where would you put yourself on this line?—————————————————————————————————————————1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10Beginner I can understand Expert

newspaper/internet articles

What about your written English (formal and informal letters, messages,emails, etc)? Where would you put that on the line?

7 How do you feel about English? Do you like it, or not? Is it easy or difficult for you?

8 What do you expect from this course? What do you want to be able to do by the end of the course? What is most important for you?

9 What are your spare time interests and hobbies?

10 Is there anything else you want to tell me?

In privateIn private� � �

A ten-point analysis

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� � �[email protected]

Alan Marsh is based inMalta and has been anELT teacher for 30years. He is a freelanceteacher and teachertrainer on CambridgeCELTA and DELTAcourses and also workswith secondary schooland adult educationteachers on Comeniuscourses.


back-channelling questions to getthem to expand, clarify andexplain, eg Why was that exactly?

Really? That’s interesting ... can you

tell me a bit more about that?, etc.Remember to leave pauses, silencesfor your learner to fill.

Then your learner chooses anumber on your ME-diagram andasks you: Why have you written

[…]? Explain, describe, expandand give lots of information. Theaim is to share your experience(s),and also to show your learner thatthat is what is expected of them.

Every 15 minutes or so, stop andgive some feedback on languageused (again, this gives the chatmore face validity). Comment onlanguage used well; show errors(grammar, pronunciation,vocabulary, phrasing) and ask yourlearner to see if they can correctthem; introduce better, moreidiomatic ways of saying what yourlearner wanted to say. To do allthis, keep brief notes while yourlearner explains their ME-diagram,but do it discreetly so that it doesn’tstem the flow.

Twenty tips

● By all means revise and extendgrammar, but remember that learnerswant to use language (grammar andvocabulary) to talk about the thingsthat are important to them, eg theirlives, experiences, jobs, families,holidays, hopes, hobbies, etc. Don’tlet grammatical accuracy be theyardstick for everything.

● Allow plenty of time for fluencyactivities. Look at speaking fluencybooks, such as Discussions A–Z.Chatting in English gives most learnersa sense of achievement – they maynever have been able to do this before.

● Learners often ‘know’ a lot of basicgrammar, but often have difficulty inusing it in real-life communication. Sofocus on real-life communication –but don’t forget to work on thesupporting systems (lexis, grammar,phonology and discourse).

● Learners often have limited vocabulary.Extend it. Look at the excellent series

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English Vocabulary in Use, forexample. Get the student to do anexercise first. If they don’t do it well,teach or elicit the rules and uses. Thenget them to do the exercise again.Make sure you do those exerciseswhere they have to personalise thenew knowledge by extending it totheir own lives and experiences(usually the last exercise). Don’t beafraid to extend these conversationsby asking lots of questions.

● Recycle vocabulary. For example, setup a vocabulary box where you puteach new important item ofvocabulary (including lexical chunks)on a slip of paper which goes into thebox. The next day, pick out someitems randomly, give the definitionsand ask the learner to say the words.Remember, most learners need toencounter a vocabulary item at leastseven times before they’ve learnt it!

● Keep getting focused feedback.Instead of asking Is everything OK?

ask What would you like to do more of

or less of?

● Sometimes record your learner. Givethem the cassette player and ask themto stop the cassette whenever theywant feedback (they ask you ifsomething is right, or if there’sanother way of saying things, etc).Try not to correct them while they’retalking. Play back the cassetteafterwards, and you or your learnercan stop it whenever you want tofocus on a particular utterance.

● Change the environment now andagain, if the learner is willing – go toa museum, a café or a garden. Buttake your materials with you so thatthe lesson goes on. (Check that yourDirector of Studies knows andapproves.)

● Take regular, short breaks – both ofyou! One-to-one is tiring!

● Stand up and move around – again,both of you. This can be done inroleplays or if the learner comes tothe board to explain things to you.

● If you are teaching in a countrywhere English is spoken, try to set upa meeting with someone local in thesame line of business, eg a bank

manager, a politician, a factorymanager. Prepare interview questionsand go along to the meeting. Dofeedback together afterwards.

● Have a variety of tasks so thatboredom doesn’t set in and the pace isright.

● If a learner needs to do something inEnglish in real life, prepare andpractise it in the lessons (apresentation, speech, report, showingpeople around the company, etc).

● If learners are going to be askedquestions in English (eg for a jobinterview, or for showing visitorsaround, or as part of an oral exam inEnglish), get them to think of asmany questions as possible whichthey might be asked. Help them putthese into English. Prepare answersand rehearse them (and record themif possible for feedback).

● Rehearse real-life tasks, record themand do feedback.

● Recycle language and repeat tasks.

● Use a coursebook as a framework,but use your own materials, too.

● Ask if your learner wants homework.If they do, give it regularly and givefeedback on it promptly.

And finally, last but not least:

● Listen. Show you’re interested (useeye contact, back-channelling andbody language).

● Keep up that rapport which you haveso carefully established.

Redman, S English Vocabulary in Use:Pre-intermediate and intermediate CUP2005

Wallwork, A Discussions A–Z CUP 1997

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� � �

Tell me about yourself (A)

Look at the questions below. Think about your answers.

Write short answers in the numbered spaces on the

‘ME-diagram’. When you’ve finished, look at all your

answers and see if you can remember what they refer to.

If you can’t remember, go back and look at the original

questions. Exchange ‘ME-diagrams’ with your student.

Ask why they have written what they have. Try to find out

as much as you can about your student as a person.


AWrite the following pieces of information about yourself on the ‘ME-diagram’:

The name of a city or country that you have visited in your job.

Three of the most important things you have to do in your job.

The biggest challenge your company or institution faces in the future.

The three most essential qualities of a person who does your job well.

Three things that you would like to improve in your job performance.

The name of a book or article that you have read which has really influenced you in your work.

Three things that would irritate you in a colleague.

What you are most looking forward to in your job in the weeks or months ahead.

The year when you were happiest up to now in your professional life.

A personal achievement in your work that you are especially proud of.10

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Tell me about yourself (B)

Look at the questions below. Think about your answers.

Write short answers in the numbered spaces on the

‘ME-diagram’. When you’ve finished, look at all your

answers and see if you can remember what they refer to.

If you can’t remember, go back and look at the original

question. Exchange ‘ME-diagrams’ with your teacher. Ask

why they have written what they have. Try to find out as

much as you can about your teacher as a person.

BWrite the following pieces of information about yourself on the ‘ME-diagram’:

The name of a person you really admire in your field, or anyone else you really admire because of the work theyhave done.

The name of a person you enjoy or have enjoyed working with.

The three most important qualities of a person in your line of work.

The name of a country which you consider is good for business for your company’s product, or which hascontributed a lot to your field.

What you are most looking forward to in the next few weeks (or months) in your job.

Three things you would like to know about your teacher’s job.

The most challenging or difficult aspect of your job.

Three things you really like about your job.

Three ambitions you have in your job.

What job you would like to do if you didn’t have your present job.10

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Identify a time when you havefelt ‘different’ or noticedsomething different when with aperson of another culture.

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ME-diagram


1 ..................................................................

2 ..................................................................

6 ..................................................................

8 ..................................................................

10 ..................................................................

3 ..................................................................

7 ..................................................................

4 ..................................................................

9 ..................................................................

5 ..................................................................

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I got it off the TVI got it off the TV

[email protected]

Annette Margolisteaches learners of allages in the Latina areaof Italy. She is now anassistant tutor/trainerfor the CambridgeCELTYL.


Annette Margolis goes square-eyed in her pursuit of lesson ideas.

My students and I enjoy a goodgame of ‘Things we don’t do’.This usually starts off with my

admission that I don’t watch TV. (Notall Italian television is poor quality, butlistening to the radio is less angst-inducing and gives me the opportunityfor limited multi-tasking.) The result is agame of questions (see below) in whicha student will ask ‘Why don’t you watch

TV?’, followed hot on the heels by my‘And why do you watch it?’

In fact it is not strictly true that Idon’t watch TV. During holidays in theUK, visiting my mobility-challengedmum, and those with my sister in ruralFrance, there is little to do except watchTV. And so, like other dedicatedcolleagues before me, I have profitedfrom this enforced viewing to come upwith new teaching input. Many of theideas described below are from quizshows. No plagiarism is intended but Iam unable to put a name to them all.

The Fake Phone-InStudents have to think up a list offamous people they would like to speakto on a TV phone-in programme. Theythen invent questions to ask thepersonalities. One lucky (?) student ischosen to come to the front of the classas the star (in the state school where Iteach, in which classes are mixed ability,I might choose someone whose Englishis either better than the average or isconfident in manipulating the littlelanguage they have) and another as thepresenter, who fields calls of the type:

‘We’ve got Giovanni on the phone

from Modena. He’d like to ask ...’

And, of course, as it’s a phone-in,the questioner has to hold a phone totheir ear as they’re speaking andeveryone else has to listen.

Questions, QuestionsI got this idea from David Crystal, whodescribed it at a conference, rather thanfrom the TV, but it is based on an ideafrom the TV show Whose Line is it

Anyway?

Students either plan or improvise adialogue in which each speaker must

answer a question posed by the otherspeaker with another question. Apossible model might be a typicalconversation between a mother and hergrown-up offspring or even betweenlovers, one of whom is jealous:

A: How are you?

B: Why do you want to know?

A: Why don’t you want to tell me?

B: Do you think I don’t love you?

Blind Date Speed DatingIn this quick-change version, pairs ofstudents think up three importantquestions for the partner of their dreams.Potential partners sit in two concentricrings and ask their questions to theperson facing them. One ring movesround one place after, say, five minutes.In classes where one sex predominates, Ipersuade same-sex groups to ask theirquestions to either a girl or boy asappropriate. The latter can say who theyfelt asked the best questions.

My students tell me that when they goout to a bar, they use questions/messageson post-it notes to pass to someone whotakes their fancy. So presumably thispredominantly spoken activity can bechanged into a written one!

QII think the idea of the TV show QI (QuiteInteresting), in which the winning answerto a question is the most interesting oneand not the boring albeit correct one,might be applied more extensively inorder to liven up classroom talk.

Patently ObviousThis programme had a short run on theBBC in the seventies. Basically, opposingteams of scientists had to guess thefunction of some pretty strange-lookingobjects. I use this when I am clearing outstuff from underneath the sink and canbring to class some of those odd objectsthat tend to lurk under sinks, togetherwith any broken bits and bobs whosefunction has been all but forgotten.Teams of students present their newuses to their classmates and with anyremaining enthusiasm can also designtheir own advert to sell them.

The Shopping Channel This might be thought as the sisterprogramme to the one above. Bring in,or encourage your students to bring in,some truly naff jewellery, knickknacksand unwanted Christmas presents thatare normally kept hidden from humanview. Encourage your students (workingin pairs) to ‘sex them up’ in order to re-gift them to other students. After theyhave tried it once, show them an extractof how the professionals from theshopping channel do it. This providesexcellent practice in adjective order, asin a delightful, miniature, hand-painted,

wooden fairy house.

Word CoiningAshley Harrold, a poet in myhometown of Reading in the UK(www.afharrold.co.uk), alerted me to hispresence on a radio show (as opposedto a TV show), where he and his fellowbards took turns to invent new wordsand definitions by blending, suffixingand compounding. If you have aninventive class, you might like to try itwith them.

� � �

I’m sure some enterprising,mathematically-minded English teacherhas managed to adapt the internationally-franchised TV show Deal or no Deal –perhaps for practice in using modals ofprobability. I haven’t as yet, although I douse some activities similar to those inThink of a Number, even if somewhatsparingly as not all my learners lovemathematics. Also, mathematics, even onan exploratory basis, has a tendency tolimit the number of correct responses.

If anyone out there can help me puta name to those programme titles I’veforgotten, I’d love to hear from them, asI would from any game-show addictswho have succeeded in the knottyproblem of transforming them intopresentable lesson ideas. ETp

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[email protected]

Tessa Woodward is ateacher and teachertrainer at HilderstoneCollege, Broadstairs, UK. She also edits TheTeacher Trainer forPilgrims, UK. She is apast president of IATEFL.Her latest book isHeadstrong, publishedby TW Publications,which is reviewed onpage 44.

I think, therefore I learnI think, therefore I learnI N T H E C L A S S R O O M

In the first of a new series, Tessa Woodward shares her thoughtson the need to encourage thinking for both teachers and learners.

‘I’ll be more enthusiastic about

encouraging thinking outside the box

when there’s evidence of any thinking

going on inside it.’

Terry Pratchett

As language teachers, we thinkhard about our lessons. Students,too, do a lot of thinking when

trying to understand and use a newlanguage. So it may sound odd to suggestthat we start teaching thinking or thatsome of our classroom routines actuallystop it dead. I’ll explain! Let’s start bylooking at two different kinds of thinking.

Practical thinking in everyday lifeThese days, in many settings, we and ourstudents receive masses of informationand ideas from many different sources.Along with newspapers, books, radioand TV, we’ve now got emails and textmessages, podcasts and internet chatlines bombarding us with messages. Wehave to sort all these out somehow,analyse them, recognise assumptions,evaluate arguments, make decisions andjudge consequences. In this era of swifttechnological change, movingpopulations, short-term employmentand family break-up, we have to plan,adapt and solve problems.

Thinking in language classesWithin language learning, we and ourstudents also need to perform mentalexercises such as: identifying, definingand analysing pieces of language,scanning for patterns, working out rules,devising mnemonics, memorising,coming up with creative alternativeswhen meeting gaps in our knowledge,recognising categories, evaluating thecredibility of sources, being aware offeedback and reacting to it, diagnosingproblems, being sensitive to context,predicting what comes next andevaluating our own and other people’swork. We also have to deal cognitivelywith all the tasks and materials of alively communicative classroom.

Whichever of these two kinds ofthinking we’re involved in, whether we

2

1

are queasily sorting out a hail ofinformation in a storm of change orstudiously manipulating new language,we need to stay calm and focused sothat we can deal with it all and keep asense of humour. We all, students andteachers, need to keep our wits about us.So let’s check that we are allowing thisthinking to happen in our classes.

A thinking classroomThere is a belief now that thinking can beencouraged through overt instruction inhow to do it. This instruction, plus plentyof practice, it is believed, leads to animprovement in student performance,intelligence and achievement of tasks. Butbefore we get to the specifics on overtinstruction, there is much that a teachercan do to set the tone for mental exercise.

Being warm and encouraging,having high expectations of students,giving students the freedom to expressopinions, to explore and take risks areall mentioned in the research literature.

Teacher behavioursWhen searching for advice on how toachieve the kind of classroom climatethat stimulates thinking, I came across alist of recommended teacher behaviours,which I have adapted below. We can:

● set/negotiate ground rules well inadvance;

● provide well-planned, non-threateningactivities;

● show respect for each student andaccept individual differences;

● be flexible and positive;● show that we are thinking, too;● acknowledge every response;● allow students to be active participants;● create success-oriented experiences

that are doable at least part of thetime by each student;

● vary our methods.(Based on Thacker, in Gough 1991)

Student questionsFrom the list above, we can see thatencouraging students to be active andacknowledging every response are bothimportant. Sometimes, when a student

asks a tricky question, not like ‘Can we go

now?’, but more like ‘Is a “mandate” the

same as a “manifesto”?’, some teachersmay feel that the student is trying to catchthem out. However, if we reset our mentalcompass, moving it away from the pointlabelled ‘Giving my lesson’ and towardsthe lodestar of ‘Genuine curiosity’, wecan learn how our student is attemptingto make sense of the lesson. So, as weourselves become curious and observeand listen to our students carefully, beingopen about our own ignorance andshowing the sources we use to checkthings out, we model behaviour that isvaluable in a learning environment.

Let’s think about itMaybe, if I look at the list above ofrecommended behaviours for encouragingthinking, I can be tempted to think, ‘Oh!I believe I already do all those!’ But if Iam honest, I’m not absolutely sure that Ihear all student contributions, let aloneacknowledge them all properly. If I reallywant to find out my patterns, I need toinvite a couple of colleagues in to checkthis for me or record myself on audioand then analyse the tape afterwards.

� � �

In my next article I’ll look at howteacher questions, wait-time and follow-up questions can encourage or can closedown thinking!

Paley, V ‘On listening to what children say’Harvard Educational Review 56(2) 1986

Thacker, J in Gough, D ‘Thinking aboutthinking’ USA National Association ofElementary School Principals 1991

1

ETp

ETp58_pp22-39 Mart 11/8/08 13:34 Page 35

ETp58_pp22-39 Mart 11/8/08 13:34 Page 36

[email protected]

Jon Marks is an ELT writer and editor, based in Italy.Recent publications includethe Puzzle Time series andIELTS Resource Pack (bothDELTA Publishing) and threetitles in A & C Black’s CheckYour English Vocabularyseries. He is currentlydeveloping teenager coursesfor China, and also draws the Langwich Scool cartoon in ETp.

If speed dating isn’t something you’veheard of, it works like this: half a group ofpeople who are seeking a partner sit attables, while the other half circulate, sittingfor just a few minutes at each table andexchanging personal information. The ideais that it’s a quick and efficient way to findsomeone who shares your interests andwhom you might like to date. The two‘speed pairing’ activities here are looselybased on this format – although withoutthe dating element, of course. The first isbased on the idea of job interviews; thesecond involves the exchange of personalinformation to find similarities anddifferences.

While each activity is in progress,monitor the language being generated.Afterwards conduct a feedback session.What language problems did the studentsfind they had? What errors did they make?How could they have expressedthemselves better?

Both activities could also be donewithout photocopies. You could insteadput the grids given here on the board forstudents to copy into their notebooks (inthe second activity, writing ‘S/D’ ratherthan ‘similar/different’ 30 times!).

Job interviews

Level: Pre-intermediate and above

Time: A minimum of 20 minutes

Preparation: Make a copy of the handouton page 38 for each student (there are twogiven on the page to reduce photocopying).You may like to reorganise your classroomfurniture so that interviewers andinterviewees can sit facing each other – forexample, by having two facing rows ofchairs. (However, if this isn’t practical, thestudents can just sit next to each other.)

Method1 Brainstorm various types of job with theclass. Which jobs are difficult to get? Whatqualifications/experience are needed?Which jobs would the class most like todo? What would they really not like to do?Choose a colourful job from the

1

suggestions you receive – lion tamer oractor will make for a more interestingactivity than cleaner or shop assistant.

2 Divide the class in half and tell one halfthey are interviewers and the other halfcandidates for the chosen job. Give theinterviewers a moment or two to think ofthe questions they are going to ask thecandidates for the job. Meanwhile, thecandidates think up an imaginary identityfor themselves. This should be someonewho has suitable qualifications andexperience for the job. Avoid rushing thisphase – check that everybody is readybefore continuing.

3 Each candidate chooses an interviewerand sits down to be interviewed. Theyroleplay the interview, and the interviewersmake notes on their handouts. Assist anypairs who are having trouble gettingstarted.

4 When the interview is complete, thecandidates stand and find anotherinterviewer to repeat the process. There isspace on the handout for up to seveninterviews, but I would suggest that inmost cases three to five will be aboutright.

5 To finish, each interviewer finds theperson they thought most suitable, andoffers them the job.

6 If you wish, begin the whole processagain with a new job, and with the formercandidates becoming interviewers andvice versa.

Similar or different?

Level: Intermediate and above

Time: A minimum of 20 minutes

Preparation: Make a copy of the handouton page 39 for each student.

Method1 One way to use this is as a ‘getting-to-know-you’ type of activity. However, if thatmight generate unwelcome contrasts insocial or financial status, or if the studentsknow each other well already, you could

2

instead ask everybody to think up animaginary identity. This could besomething linked to a coursebook unit youhave been using. For example, if the unit isabout music, each student could pretendto be a famous musician or singer,imagining that person’s personalcircumstances and likes and dislikes ifthese are not already known.

2 Give each student a copy of thehandout on page 39. Sections 7, 8 and 9have to be completed by the students withtheir own ideas (food, music, TV, weather,book, clothes, etc). This could either bedone by brainstorming suggestions andeverybody writing in the same thing, or byeach student privately writing in their ownideas.

3 Organise the class into random pairs –preferably people who don’t usually sittogether. The pairs then haveconversations in order to find out in whichareas their experiences and tastes aresimilar. As in a real-life conversation, thereis no clear cue as to who should start andhow the conversation should progress. Asyou monitor, assist any pairs who arefaltering.

4 When the conversations have run theircourse, repeat with two further pairings.Approaching such an open and loosely-structured activity may have been quitechallenging. Repeating it will give studentsthe chance to improve on their firstattempt and gain confidence. At the end,each student can tot up the scores to findwhich of the people they spoke to is themost similar to themselves.

Jon Marks offers two photocopiable,

thematically-linked communication

activities with an element of

innovation.

ActivitycornerTwo ‘speed pairing’ activities


� � �

ETp58_pp22-39 Mart 11/8/08 13:34 Page 37

Job interviews


Name Qualifications Experience Suitability

Job ........................................................................................................

Job interviews

Name Qualifications Experience Suitability

Job ........................................................................................................

ETp58_pp22-39 Mart 11/8/08 13:34 Page 38


Similar or different?

Family:1

Job:2

Residence:3

Leisure interests:4

Favourite type ofholiday:

5

Favourite type of film:6

Favourite type of

................................................:

7

Favourite type of

................................................:

8

Least favourite type of

................................................:

9

Hopes for the future:10

TOTAL SIMILAR:

similar / different similar / different similar / different










_____ / 10 _____ / 10 _____ / 10

Name: ...................................................... ...................................................... ......................................................

ETp58_pp22-39 Mart 11/8/08 13:34 Page 39

Ai I can see clearly now the rain has gone.(Johnny Nash)

Aii I can’t dance, I can’t sing. (Genesis)

Bi You can leave your hat on. (Joe Cocker)

Bii You can’t have my heart. (Joe Cocker)

Biii Baby, can I hold you? (Tracy Chapman)

Ci Smoking can damage your health.

Cii My iPod can hold 40,000 songs.

Di If it makes you happy, it can’t be that bad. (Sheryl Crow)

Dii It can’t be raining if they’re still playing on Centre Court.

Diii It can’t have been a good party if everyone left early

John Potts displays his potential.

PREPARING TO TEACH ...Can

D E S I G N E D T O P H O T O C O P Y


� CONCEPT QUESTIONS

Aii I can’t dance, I can’t sing.Am I able to dance or sing? (No.)Why not? (Perhaps you neverlearnt how to.)Is it possible to learn? (Yes –everyone has the potential!)

Cii My iPod can hold 40,000songs.What is the maximum number ofsongs on an iPod? (40,000.)Do I have 40,000 on mine? (Wedon’t know – perhaps it isn’t fullyet.)But it has the capacity for40,000? (Yes.)

Dii It can’t be raining if they’re still playing on Centre Court.Do we think it’s raining? (No, wedon’t.)How do we know? (Becausethey’re still playing on CentreCourt.)Are we 100 per cent sure it’s notraining? (No, not 100 per cent.)So how sure are we? (99.99 percent!)Why? (Because it’s logical –when it rains they stop playing,so …)

� FUNCTION

Modals are frequently associated with functions, and any modal may express a number of different functions.Can has four main functions:

Ai and Aii express ability (whether physical or anacquired skill).

Bi, Bii and Biii express, refuse or request permission.

Ci and Cii express inherent capacity or potential.

Di, Dii and Diii express assumptions anddeductions.

� PRONUNCIATION

In rapid fluent speech, can is oftenpronounced quite weakly. The negatedform can’t is pronounced kG*nt inBritish English and kænt in AmericanEnglish.

� FORM

All ten sentences contain a form of can, which is amodal auxiliary verb.

Like most modals, can is followed by the infinitivewithout to. There is no third person s in the affirmative.

Aii, Bii, Di, Dii and Diii use the contracted formcan’t. The full form is written as one word: cannot.

Dii shows how modals can take on presentprogressive meanings by adding be + present participle.

Diii shows how modals can take on past meanings byadding have + past participle.

� MEANING

Ai refers to physical abilityto do something.

Aii refers to an acquired orlearnt ability (or not, in thiscase!).

In Bi the speaker allowssomeone to do something.

In Bii the speaker refusesto let someone dosomething.

In Biii the speaker asks tobe allowed to do something.

Ci says that smoking isinherently dangerous – it’spotentially dangerous.

Cii refers to the inherentcapacity of my iPod – itspotential capability.

In Di the speaker assumesthat, from what she knows, itisn’t so bad.

In Dii the speaker assumesthat it isn’t raining, based onthe evidence.

In Diii the speaker assumesthat it wasn’t a good party,based on the evidence.

The basic concept of can is‘potentiality’ – thisencompasses notions suchas potential ability, possibilityand inherent capacity. Thesein turn are often expressedfunctionally – see Function.

� USE

Ai, Aii, Ci and Cii are used widely in both formal andinformal contexts.

Bi, Bii and Biii are often felt to be informal andspoken, and some speakers prefer to employ could ormay when expressing permission.

Di, Dii and Diii tend to be found in more informaland spoken contexts; in more formal registers, verbssuch as assume, presume, deduce, conclude, etc maybe used instead.

ETp58_pp40-55 Mart 11/8/08 13:36 Page 40


D E S I G N E D T O P H O T O C O P Y

John Potts is a teacher and teacher trainer basedin Zürich, Switzerland. He has written and co-written several adultcoursebooks, and is a Joint Chief Assessor for the Cambridge/RSA CELTA scheme.

[email protected]

PREPARING TO TEACH ... Can

� SITUATIONS

I can, I can’t Prepare a questionnaire for yourlearners to do in small groups. Include questionsabout languages, musical talents, skills such asdriving or riding, technical skills, unusual skills,etc. Then each group member presents someonefrom the group and says what they can do.

Variation 1: This can also be done as a ‘Findsome things in common’ activity.

Variation 2: It can also be done as a ‘Findsomeone who can …’ walk-around activity.

Living here Ask the class to prepare someguidelines for visitors to their town or country,including things that one can or can’t do – eg youcan buy bus tickets at a shop or kiosk, but youcan’t buy them on the bus.

Dos and don’ts You can combine practisingcan/can’t with must/have to/mustn’t and make alist of dos and don’ts – either for a town orcountry, as above, or as school rules, etc.

COMPETITION RESULTS

Can I? cards Make sets of cards (or simply a worksheet)with visual and/or word prompts, eg a cigarette, a car, aparking sign, a dictionary, a pen, a camera, etc (useMicrosoft Clip Art as a source for the visuals). Thestudents work in pairs and take turns to use a promptcard to ask for permission to do something (eg Can Ismoke here? Can I borrow your pen? etc). Provide someexponents for the reply (eg Yes, of course you can. No,I’m afraid you can’t. Yes, you can, but only if you …).

Carrier bag clues (Note: this activity practises bothcan’t/can’t have and must/must have when makingdeductions and assumptions – you’ll need some items ofrealia.) Take to class a carrier bag containing objectswhich reveal something about the owner (eg a cigarettelighter, several chocolate bar wrappers, an unused tramor bus ticket, a dated receipt, a comb, a lipstick, aboarding card stub, a French–English dictionary, a citystreet plan, a photo of a young man/woman, a phonecard, etc). Students take an object from the bag one at atime and make deductions about the owner – for boththe present and the past.

Hiltrud Hartmüller, Ludwigshafen, GermanyKarolina Kaminska, Burton-on-Trent, UKJeevan Sagar, Pithora, IndiaFrancesca Ferri, San Michele all’Adige, ItalyMagdalena Horajko, Reading, UKMelissa Martin, Stuttgart, GermanyNoemi Strohmeier, Basel, SwitzerlandSandy Willcox, Addis Ababa, EthiopiaSusan Ruston, Wokingham, UKFiona Maclean, Veyrier, Switzerland

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26

M Z O Y V K Q C W J P A I

F H D T N U E L R G S X B

Congratulations to all thosereaders who successfullycompleted our Prize Crossword28. We apologise for the factthat the wrong number wasprinted in one of the squaresof the quotation. The winners,who will each receive a copyof the Macmillan EnglishDictionary for AdvancedLearners, are:

6 20 4 24 17 15 3 22 3 19 23 15

18 3 24 3 12 11 12

20 7 19 12 17 3 22 17 3 9 20 21

20 18 13 22 13 12 14

16 13 23 13 17 3 16 3 19 22 24

20 8 22 16 19

20 12 22 17 15 4 22 12 13 24 13 18

11 12 24 22 8

3 26 10 20 8 17 22 12 16 13 3

26 26 18 19 13 20 19

20 25 13 24 17 16 20 5 20 21 3 11

12 17 20 13 20 17 21

1 19 24 15 22 3 3 1 23 12 2 20

Tennyson, In Memoriam

9 3 22 16 24 21 13 6 20 18 12 17 19

22 20 15 12 21 14 22 20 5 20 12 21

12 18 16 15 12 21 14 8 3 18 8 20 12 21

17 15 20 24 3 19 21 9 13 17 15 13 18

W O R D S L I K E N A T U

R E H A L F R E V E A L

A N D H A L F C O N C E A L

T H E S O U L W I T H I N

K E Y S T H O R O U G H

N O S O A P A

E Q U A T O R T O W E L

E N I R I A F

D I G I T O D O U R S

E C R D U

E A R T H Y R A I S I N

P A S R C

O B J E C T R A D I O

B B N U I E U

E X I S T D E V E L O P

A T E I E T L

M U S H R O O M G A Z E

,

,

The ETp website is packed with practical tips, advice, resources, information and selected articles.

You can submit tips or articles, renew your subscription or simply browse the features.

Visit the ETp website!

www.etprofessional.com

ETp58_pp40-55 Mart 11/8/08 13:36 Page 41

42 • Issue 58 Sepember 2008 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •

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 copies of Destinations Grammar & Vocabulary,

levels B1, B2 and C1 and C2, by Malcolm Mann and Steve

Taylore-Knowles, published by Macmillan. These books were

reviewed in Issue 57 of ETp. Macmillan have kindly agreed to

be sponsors of It Works in Practice for this year.

�� IT WORKS IN PRACTICEIT WORKS IN PRACTICE

Teaching Las Vegas style�Using dice with common classroom activities can turn

monotonous drilling into lively, giggling sessions that whizz

by faster than you can say ‘double six’. The element of

uncertainty jolts the students out of the stupor often

induced by the anticipation of repetitive tasks. Handling

dice is also a bonus for your tactile learners. The final

advantage, which will have you leaping for joy, is that it

requires virtually no extra planning, and after a few tries you

can instantly introduce them at any time. My dice are a

permanent part of my teaching bag and I use them at least a

couple of times a week. Normal six-sided dice can liven up

drilling, grammar formations and many other activities.

However, if you get addicted (as I have done), you can

purchase a range of special dice, with ten, 12 or 20 sides,

and instead of numbers, parts of speech, modal verbs or

even the entire alphabet! But let’s start with the simple,

traditional dice.

For pronunciation, simply write a list of six items fordrilling next to the numbers 1 to 6 on the board. Putthe students into pairs and give each pair a die. Theytake turns to roll it and say aloud the correspondingword. The edge-of-seat attitude which replaces theseen-it-all-before yawning has to be seen to bebelieved. The items can either be individual words, oruseful phrases and sentences.

This can be expanded into other areas very easily bymaking the six items on the list prompts – for example,each number could correspond to a different questionword, and the student has to make up a question usingthat word. Alternatively, the number could represent aquestion which the student must answer, or agrammatical structure which they must use in asentence. The options you can apply this to arelimitless!

Make a long list of words; students roll the dice to pickwords from the list and then make a story with thechosen words.

Ask the students to roll the dice and think of a wordwith the corresponding number of syllables (4, 5 and 6can be made to be secondary representations of 1, 2and 3).

Make two lists of words. The students roll the dicetwice to choose a word from each list and then make asentence using both words. The lists can includecombinations of things such as weather and days of theweek, verbs and places, clothes and countries. As longas they are grammatically correct, nonsensicalsentences (eg I wear shorts in Siberia) simply add tothe entertainment. A particularly good use for this isto practise the third person s, with one list of pronounsand the other of verbs which they must adjust or not asappropriate.

The advantage of ten- and twenty-sided dice is thatthey allow the above exercises to encompass moreitems. There is also the obvious advantage of beingable to drill numbers instantly. To begin with, thestudents simply roll the ten-sided die and say thenumber it lands on. Then they can progress on to thetwenty-sided die, and finally, by giving them two ten-sided dice and having one represent ‘tens’, all thenumbers up to 100 can be drilled.

The word and letter dice mentioned above have moreobvious uses, but more limited scope. The modals andparts of speech dice can again be used, alone or inconjunction, as prompts for practising makinggrammatical sentences, and the alphabet dice can beused for drilling the alphabet, or saying words startingwith a particular letter.

Kat Brenke

Reading, UK

ETp58_pp40-55 Mart 11/8/08 13:36 Page 42


Cow storyThis is an entertaining jigsaw-reading activity involving two versions

of the same story. The example below is adapted from Stranger than

Fiction by Phil Healy and Rick Glanville, published by Penguin. After I

did this activity, my class were well motivated to read the book.

Divide the class into two groups, A and B. Give all the A students

a copy of Story 1 and the B students Story 2 and ask them to read

their stories and look at the instructions below them.

Have all the As pair up with a B. They take turns asking one

question each until they have solved the mystery of the cow.

STORY 1

Once there was a TV news reader. He had a very fast, open car. He wasdriving to work very quickly. Suddenly something fell into the back ofthe car. He jumped. What was it? He stopped the car to look. There inthe back seat was a big, dead cow. He looked at his watch. It was 8.30am. He was a famous TV person. He did not want people to see him witha dead cow in the back seat. He tried to move the cow. The cow was tooheavy. He needed help so he kept going. He stopped to get somethingto drink. The people in the shop asked him why he had a dead cow in hisback seat. He said he did not know. He said it came from the sky. Thepeople thought he was telling a story for TV. Then someone laughed.

TV news reader

You meet a farmer while you are having a drink. Ask him:

1 Where have you come from? 2 What is your work?3 What car do you drive? 4 Have you had a good journey?5 What happened on your journey?6 What time did it happen?

STORY 2

Once there was a farmer travelling from the country to the town. He was in a truck. He was going very fast.Suddenly there were a lot of cows in the road. He tried to goround them. He was going too fast and the cows were in the way.He was driving on a bridge over a big road. There they all were, thecows, the man and his truck, on a bridge. The man hit one of the cows.The cow fell off the bridge. It fell down to the road underneath. Thedriver got a fright. He stopped. He looked over the bridge. He could notsee the cow. He looked over the other side. There was no cow. Wherecould such a big cow go? He did not know. He looked at his watch. Itwas 8.30 am. He went on and stopped in the next town to get a drink.There was a man from a TV station having a drink as well. He had a verystrange story to tell. The man heard the story and he laughed.

Farmer

You meet a TV news reader while you are having a drink. Ask him:

1 Where have you come from?2 What is your work?3 What car do you drive? 4 Have you had a good journey?5 What happened on your journey?6 What time did it happen?

Sandy Willcox

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

2

1

�

© iS

tock

pho

to.c

om /

Hei

ko P

otth

off

Listening for punctuationThis activity raises students’ awareness of the

importance of punctuation as well as being great

fun to do. It shows how non-verbal signals in

spoken language can be reflected in punctuation.

Students listen to a passage and punctuate it

according to how it is read.

Write the following on the board:

cough, er, um, pause = comma long pause = full stoplaughter, sigh = exclamation mark decrease/increase volume = open/close bracketsrise in intonation = question mark

Give a copy of the following text to each of the

students and ask them to listen as you read it and

add punctuation according to the instructions on

the board. Don’t forget to remind the students

that all new sentences need to begin with a capital

letter.

Students’ version

While I was at school I played tennis I wasn’t verygood at tennis one day I lost a game 6-0 6-0 6-0 noone was watching fortunately so what was myfavourite sport table tennis I think anyway sport wasnot my strong point but I loved drawing I spent manyhappy hours sitting in the art room with my pad andpencil just drawing what fun I had there

Read the text aloud as follows:

Teacher’s version

While I was at school (pause) I played tennis (longpause) I wasn’t very good at tennis (laugh) one day Ilost a game 6-0 6-0 6-0 (decrease volume) no onewas watching fortunately (increase volume) (longpause) so what was my favourite sport (intonationrises) table tennis (er) I think (long pause) anyway(cough) sport was not my strong point (er) but Iloved drawing (long pause) I spent many happyhours sitting in the art room with my pad and pencil(um) just drawing (long pause) what fun I had there(sigh)

Solution

While I was at school, I played tennis. I wasn’t verygood at tennis! One day I lost a game 6-0 6-0 6-0(no one was watching fortunately). So what was myfavourite sport? Table tennis, I think. Anyway, sportwas not my strong point, but I loved drawing. I spentmany happy hours sitting in the art room with mypad and pencil, just drawing. What fun I had there!

After checking answers, as a follow-up, get the

students to read their final versions aloud, using

the same methods to indicate the punctuation.

Simon Mumford

Izmir, Turkey

4

3

2

1

�

ETp58_pp40-55 Mart 11/8/08 13:36 Page 43


Headstrongby Tessa WoodwardTessa Woodward Publications20060-9547621-1-8

Headstrong is a delightful andapproachable book whichexamines different ways ofthinking and recommends that wetake a step back and actually thinkabout our thinking, identifying thedifferent types of thinking that weemploy and then making ourselvesmentally fitter by consciouslypractising these methods and tryingout alternative ones. This will give usa deeper understanding of ourselvesand also of others, helping us to seewhy people react to situations andexperiences as they do.

In this book, thinking is divided intovarious frameworks: some are takenfrom everyday life, such as the listingand categorisation that most of usengage in, some from the fields ofpsychology, Neuro-LinguisticProgramming, drama, Buddhism andeducation. Tessa Woodward describeseach framework and exemplifies it clearly,often with personal stories. Shedemonstrates how to spot a particulartype of thinking at work and identifies theeffects that it has or is likely to have onourselves, the situation we are in, and onother people around us. She alsosuggests practical ways in which wemight want to use each framework toimprove our lives, solve a particularproblem or enrich our experience at workor at home.

At the end of most of the 11 chaptersis a section with ideas on how Englishlanguage teachers can use theframeworks productively with theirstudents. Teachers who want to reachtheir students by finding ways ofapproaching them that complement thestudents’ own thinking styles will find thisuseful. The book will be good, too, forteachers with an interest in how peoplethink, and who want to expand theirstudents’ thinking repertoire or challengethem to try out different ways of thinkingand working.

Martin RichardsonLondon, UK

Fifty Ways to Improve your Telephoning andTeleconferencing Skillsby Ken TaylorSummertown Publishing 2008978-1-905992-065

This self-help manual for business peopletackles head-on the new dimension totelephone calls which has been broughtabout both by the development ofsophisticated digital telephonytechnologies and the pressure not totravel unnecessarily for environmentalreasons. Students now not only requireskills for dealing with one-to-onetelephone calls, but also need to learntechniques for being involved inteleconferencing.

This book covers both types ofcall. It teaches and practises basictelephoning techniques but alsoincludes three modules on thespecific requirements ofteleconference calls. Here it goesinto the technicalities of makingteleconference calls, as well as theprotocol and ‘rules’, together withtips on acting as the chair of thediscussion or just getting yourvoice heard as one of severalparticipants.

Self-study materials need to be veryclear and easy to follow and the structureand layout of this book are impressive.Beginning sensibly with a self-assessment sheet so students canestablish where they are at present andwhere they hope to be, the bookprogresses in clear logical steps frompreparation for making a phone call,through the basic practicalities of gettingthrough, to the actual phone call itself.Where the book scores highly for me is inthe little extras: students are not justtaught how to be polite on the phone,they are given techniques for managingthe atmosphere, including presentingnegative information in a ‘good newssandwich’; they are not just taught whatto say when making small talk, they areshown how to find opportunities formaking small talk by listening to andpicking up on what other people say.

‘Top tips’ and ‘Test yourself’ boxesare scattered throughout the tenmodules. The tips are helpful and wellthought-out and the tests give students achance to check their progress as theywork through the material. Modulesummaries at the end of each one drawthe most important points together as afinal reminder.

The final module is a languagesummary, which brings together all the

Reviews

ETp58_pp40-55 Mart 11/8/08 13:36 Page 44

most useful phrases and expressionswhich have been introduced in the book.These are clearly categorised by function.This section provides a very usefulreference, almost a language bank, whichstudents can refer to quickly when theyneed a particular expression for aparticular occasion.

The book comes with an audio CDattached to the inside back cover and thetapescripts are all printed at the back.

Tim SmithKuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Check Your Vocabulary for ...by Rawdon Wyatt, Tessie Dalton andDavid PorterMacmillan 2008PET 978-0-230-03359-7FCE 978-0-230-03363-4IELTS 978-0-230-03360-3TOEIC 978-0-230-03362-7TOEFL 978-0-230-03361-0Academic English 978-0-230-03364-1

There are six volumes in thisseries, each geared towards adifferent international exam.They are designed for eitherself-study or classroom useand each aims to bring thestudents’ vocabulary levelup to that required by theparticular exam it targets.

The claim on the frontcover of each book: All you need topass your exams! is, perhaps, a littleexaggerated. Most of these examsrequire rather more than a soundgrounding in vocabulary, but there is nodoubt that this series will proveinvaluable as a step along the way. Both

Reviewsteachers and students working towardsinternational exams value goodvocabulary development material and thisis very good material indeed.

Many of the books in the series areby Rawdon Wyatt, who has a proventrack-record for producing greatworksheets and photocopiable materials.The instructions are clear and theactivities, including exercises, puzzles,quizzes and word games, are motivatingand easy to use.

A lot of thought has gone into thesebooks so that they target not only the

vocabulary areas which are likely toappear in the exams, but also thespecific focus of the vocabularytesting that occurs in the examquestions. So where exam questions

frequently test wordswith similarmeanings, there areplenty of practiceexercises that showsuch words incontext and helpstudentsdifferentiatebetween them.Where an examhas a focus on

topic-basedvocabulary, there are sections

which broaden the students’ range ofvocabulary within those fields.

These books may not be all thatstudents need to pass these variousexams, but students who have done the

amount of vocabulary workcontained within them will

certainly have the edgeover those who have not.

Louisa JudgeToulouse, France

TALKBACK!TALKBACK!

ENGLISH TEACHING professionalKeyways Publishing Ltd, PO Box 100,

Chichester, West Sussex, PO18 8HD, UK

Fax: +44 (0)1243 576456Email: [email protected]

This is your magazine.

We want to hear from you!

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]

IT WORKS IN PRACTICE�


Do you have something to say about an article in the current issue of ETp? This is your magazine and we would

really like to hear from you. Write to us or email:

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Writing for ETpWould you like to write for ETp? We are

always interested in new writers and fresh ideas. For guidelines and advice,

write to us or email:

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Visit the ETp website!

The ETp website is packed with practicaltips, advice, resources, information andselected articles. You can submit tips or articles, renew your subscription

or simply browse the features.

www.etprofessional.com


ETp58_pp40-55 Mart 11/8/08 13:36 Page 45


R E S O U R C E S

10ImagesImages

10Jamie Keddie’s classes go digital.

Photography has been thrustinto a new phase of its history.The development of digitalcameras and camera phones, as

well as online photo sharing sites, imagemanipulation software and otherapplications, has resulted in our takingand sharing more pictures than everbefore. In the news media, we see anincreasing number of images that havecome from ordinary people, and lastyear the mayor of New York City evenannounced a programme in whichmembers of the public will be able tosend mobile phone images of crimes inprogress directly to the emergencyservices.

Inevitably, photographic devices findtheir way into the classroom. At theirworst, they can be disruptive and causeprivacy concerns. But at their best, theycan be a valuable classroom resource. Inthis article, which is the last in theseries, we will look at a few ideas forways in which they can be used with ourlanguage learners.

Privacy

Of course, if you intend to photographyour students, it is absolutely essential toconsider their privacy. Most people areunenthusiastic about having a camerathrust into their face, especially if it isfirst thing on a Monday morning. Ifpossible, give prior warning of your

intentions. That way, at least, everyonewill have the opportunity to makethemselves look good on the day shouldthey want to. Alternatively, focus in onthe extroverts who will do anything for alaugh and shy away from those who mayfeel self-conscious. Use your discretion.

If you intend to photograph younglearners, you must get permission fromtheir parents first.

Idea 1: Remembering students’names

For classes of good-humoured students,creating mug shots is an effective way oflearning new names at the beginning ofany new course. Start off by showing thema real police booking photograph (thereare thousands at www.mugshots.com)and then asking individuals to writetheir names clearly on pieces of paperbefore posing for the camera.

Later in the lesson, when your newstudents are engaged in an activity, youcan discreetly scroll through thephotographs in your digital camera andmemorise their names.

Your students will want to see theirpictures, so prepare a slideshow for thenext day, and use the images to teach,practise or drill language such as:

● Julio looks very serious.

● Elke is smiling.

● Elke is grinning.

● Pilar looks like she is trying to keep a

straight face.

● Pilar looks as if she is trying not to

laugh.

Idea 2: What were we wearing?Take a group photograph of your classand before the next lesson prepare anumber of statements – some true andsome false – which describe whatindividuals were wearing. For example:

● Safa was wearing a T-shirt that said:

‘I am the boss’.

● Daniela and Graziella were both

wearing white blouses.

● Teresa was wearing a waistcoat.

● Marta was wearing her hair tied back.

● Toni was wearing a light grey suit.

● Lourdes was wearing a T-shirt that had

little hearts on it.

The next day, dictate the sentences toyour students, ask them to decidewhether they are true or false and thenshow them the previous day’s photographto let them check their answers.

Idea 3: Snap the boardDigital cameras are ideal for documentingthe language that arises in theclassroom and gets written up on a non-interactive whiteboard. Simply write thedate in a corner of the board and take apicture at the end of the class for yourrecords.

Photographs of the whiteboard can

ETp58_pp40-55 Mart 11/8/08 13:36 Page 46


[email protected]

also be used to revise and recap languageat later dates. For example, I used thefollowing display to represent ninethings that a group of Italian learnerson a summer course in England saidthey would have to get used to if theylived in Britain.

If I lived in England I would

have to get used to:

… driving on the left.

… spicy food.

… carrying an

umbrella everywhere.

… having two showers

a day because there

are no bidets.

… having dinner at

half past six.

… being polite all the

time.

… the rain.

… big coffees.

… using an adaptor

for electrical

appliances.

Later that evening, I emailed thephotograph of the whiteboard to each ofmy students. Their homework task wasto send me back an email containingthe nine sentences written out in full.Note: During the speaking activity, Ihad not let any of the students takenotes or write down the target language.

Idea 4: Scared studentsFor this activity, which practisesadjectives of emotion ending in -ing and-ed, I started by writing the followingon the board:

● Your pet hate

● A time when you felt very tired or

exhausted

● The most boring job in the world

(What do you think it would be?)

● Your phobias

● What do you do to relax?

● A confusing aspect of the English

language

● An embarrassing incident that you

remember (When you are

embarrassed, your face goes red.)

● The most disappointing/over-rated/

predictable film you have ever seen

Before getting students to share theirideas in pairs, I told them about some ofmine. For example, my pet hate is peoplewho block the escalator on the Barcelonametro. The most boring job in the worldhas to be the one that Mr Bucket had inCharlie and the Chocolate Factory –screwing tops onto tubes of toothpaste.

Once everyone had discussed theirideas, they were encouraged to sharethem with the rest of the class.Following these exchanges, the studentswere invited to select one of eightbanners to describe how they felt/wouldfeel in the situations considered(annoyed, tired/exhausted, bored,

frightened, relaxed, confused,

embarrassed and disappointed).The students were then

photographed holding the appropriatebanner and acting out the emotion.

Finally, I sent the images to mystudents on a pdf file and asked them tosend me their original ideas andexperiences (pet hates, etc).

Jamie Keddie is aBarcelona-basedteacher and teachertrainer. He blogs atjamiekeddie.com andalso runs teflclips.com,a site dedicated to thepossibilities of YouTubein language teaching.

Thanks to Maria Grazia (annoyed), Roberto(tired and exhausted), Daniela (bored),Graziella (relaxed), Marta (confused), Gloria(embarrassed), Teresa (disappointed), Elena(bored), Delia (frightened), Monica(embarrassed), Santina (disappointed), andRossella (frightened).

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ETp58_pp40-55 Mart 11/8/08 13:36 Page 48


Danger: Assimilation!Danger: Assimilation!L A N G U A G E

Christie Murphy warns of the hazards of living amongst non-native speakers.

In a field rife with acronyms (TEFL,TESOL, TEAL, PPP, ARC, TBL,NST, NNST, etc) I would like to

suggest another: ABNST – AssimilatedBilingual Native Speaker Teacher.

Ania, my colleague at a languageschool in Poland, teaches her ownchildren English at home. She recentlytold me, with some embarrassment, thather six year old had been correcting hispre-school English teacher’s accent. ‘In

English they don’t roll their Rs, you

know,’ he mentioned to her helpfully.And he reported to his mother that theteacher had promptly ‘cleaned up’ herpronunciation.

I had a moment of native-speakerarrogance: What was the teacherthinking? Why would anyone model thewrong pronunciation if they knew better?But Ania had a different take on thesituation: The teacher probably thoughtthe children would find it easier tounderstand an accent closer to their own.

More astonished superiority on mypart … and then I realised that I doexactly the same thing! I’m one of thoseteachers who has settled long-term inone place and acquired a new language– in my case, Poland and Polish. Myoccasional use of Polish-English usuallyinvolves lexical or structural errorsrather than pronunciation, but theycould be misleading for my learners andothers with whom I sometimes speakEnglish.

Admittedly, there are hugeadvantages for teachers in reallyknowing the homeland and culture oftheir students, and it is an immeasurableplus to speak their L1. We understandwhy learners make certain errors, andit’s easier to help them. Beyond that,showing respect for the local cultureand the language (by learning it) gives ateacher credibility and goes a long waytoward building trust. The nature ofsuch relationships, in the classroom andbeyond it, is totally different from whatthe drive-by ELT teacher canexperience.

Deceptive disadvantages

However, the disadvantages includeassimilating the inter-language of thoselearners and using some of it ourselves– which deceives learners as to the realnature of English. This probablyhappens much more outside than insidethe classroom, but we can never shedour role of being English languagemodels, no matter where we are.

Why do conscientious teachers fallinto these patterns of errors? I canthink of five reasons.

We hear the same inter-languageerrors so many millions of timesthat they begin to sound normal.Once I heard myself tell a friendquite naturally, ‘I said him that …’

and was then struck dumb withshock. But with other, less strikingerrors I’ve hardly caught myself,and I know other ABNSTs are thesame.

We lose the energy to fight deeplyrooted errors. One example inPolish-English is to call evening‘afternoon’. Polish has separatewords for morning, afternoon andevening, but the corresponding timeof day connected with each isdifferent from that in English-speaking countries. Furthermore,I often use the 24-hour clock, asPoles do in all contexts, whenspeaking of times of day, ratherthan am and pm, in order to avoidconfusion when speaking Englishwith Poles.

We want to avoid socialawkwardness. Recently I invited afriend to a restaurant for lunch.We were speaking English, so I said‘I invite you’, a direct translation ofthe Polish way to say ‘My treat’.Because the idea of my payingcould have been slightlyuncomfortable for him, I took this

3

2

1

shortcut to move us through thesituation quickly, rather thanexplain an English idiom. No onewants to ‘play the teacher’ alwaysand everywhere.

Home language becomesgeneralised. Many ABNSTs livewith native speakers of their newlanguage, and over time create theirown dictionary of blended lexicalitems. Sometimes this is a form ofnormal language play, but othershearing it won’t know that.

To make things easier. Like the pre-school teacher, I just want to makeit easier for my listeners.Subconsciously I decide, ‘So many

things are difficult for them; I’ll be

kind and go more than half-way in

creating understanding.’

� � �

There are regions of the world whereblended forms of English are the norm,but it probably isn’t the role of thenative speaker teacher to lead in theirformation. Our students need a solidgrasp of International English, andtrust us for an accurate model.

What to do? We ABNSTs need tostay aware of our tendency to beinfluenced by our L2 and actively resistit, at least in the company of ourstudents. Regular immersion visits backto our country of origin are a goodreality check!

5

4

[email protected]

Christie Murphy hasbeen a teacher ofEnglish in Poland since1989, first in a languageschool (including a stintas director of studies)and now in a theologicalcollege, where she isthe entire Englishdepartment. She is alsoa CertTESOL trainerwith InternationalTraining Network inBournemouth, UK.

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ETp58_pp40-55 Mart 11/8/08 13:36 Page 49


We often assume that a classroomobservation should involve watching andnoting down comments on everything thathappens. In fact, an observation is oftenmore valuable when the focus is on onlyone aspect of the lesson. This means thatany feedback you give to the teacher willbe very precise and much clearer. It alsomeans that you can observe for an areathat you personally want to develop inyour own teaching.

In this article, we’ll look at a number ofareas of teaching which you can focus onindividually. There is an observation sheeton page 51 for you to photocopy and use.Unlike many of the observation sheets whichwe use for note-taking during classroomobservation and reference afterwards, thisone takes the form of a graph, whichprovides a very clear visual representation.The Y-axis represents the length of thelesson or length of the observation (in thiscase, a 60-minute lesson) and the X-axis, aswe will see below, can represent a numberof different aspects of classroom teaching.

� PacePace is important in any lesson and it issometimes mistakenly assumed thatlessons must always be fast. In fact, manylessons benefit from regular changes ofpace (especially with younger learners) soobserving for this can be helpful. You canmonitor the pace of a lesson with theobservation sheet on page 51 by using theX-axis to represent a faster or slowerpace. The observer draws a line during thecourse of the lesson which shows whenthe pace becomes faster or slower. Alesson with regular changes of pace mightlook like this:

On the other hand, a lesson with fewchanges of pace or difference in activitytype might look like this:

In addition to drawing the trend linealong the graph, the observer can alsomake notes about what caused a changeof pace. For example, maybe the pacequickened when students stood up to do aroleplay or it slowed when they completed acontrolled practice exercise in their books.

� One studentSometimes we want to observe one studentin particular, so we build a picture of howthis individual is working within the wholeclass. This is also a useful exercise toremind us that a class is a group of differentindividuals, not a homogenous whole!

Choose a student to monitor, or perhapsthe teacher will ask you to concentrate on aparticular student they are concerned about.The X-axis on the graph represents thestudent’s level of interest, motivation andinvolvement. As you draw the trend line,you can also make notes on the graph tocomment on what they were doing that eitherdisplayed high interest in the lesson or lowinterest. Afterwards, in a feedback session,you can discuss what might have raised thestudent’s interest at all stages of the lesson.This activity is even more interesting if thereis a group of observers all watching differentstudents. By gathering the graphs together,you create a wider perspective on whysome students are responding positively toa lesson and why perhaps some aren’t.

� Authenticity The graph also allows us to monitor howauthentic a task is or how real the responseof our students is. When you think studentsare giving very authentic responses,perhaps to classroom discussion, thetrend line rises. If the exercise seems verycontrolled or inauthentic then the line drops.As with pace, you would hope to seeplenty of fluctuations, with perhaps moreauthenticity towards the end of a lesson.

Eye on the classroom

A regular series by John Hughes,

with practical ideas for observing teachers

in the classroom and an observation sheet to

photocopy and use straight away.

2

John Hughes is a freelanceteacher, trainer and author.He has worked in Austria,Poland, Italy, Malta and theUK. He currently lives andworks in the USA.

[email protected]

Focused observation� Learner-centred or

teacher-centred?You can also measure where the focus is atdifferent stages of the lesson. For example,in the graph below, the high points showthat the lesson was learner-centred withstudents working together. The low pointsshow that the lesson was very focused onthe teacher. The graph also shows us thatthe majority of the lesson seems to bevery teacher-centred. This isn’t necessarilynegative, but most lessons would normallyaim to be more student-centred.

Observing objectivelyYou will probably think of more ways to usethis approach to observing. For example,you could also use it to measure thebalance of teacher and student talking time.One important point to note about thisgraph, however, is that it is an example ofan observation tool which reports back onthe lesson rather than one which forces youinto making judgements about a lesson.There is some level of subjectivity whenusing it and it certainly isn’t 100 per centscientific. Nevertheless, it does provide auseful overview of an aspect of teaching. Itoffers a useful starting point for discussionafter a lesson between teacher andobserver. It can quickly highlight causes ofdifficulties or demonstrate why a lessonhas been successful. Finally, with differentobservers in one lesson all focusing ondifferent aspects of the lesson, a collectionof graphs together builds into an accessibleperspective of the lesson.

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ETp58_pp40-55 Mart 11/8/08 13:36 Page 51


T E A C H E R D E V E L O P M E N T

Getting involved

Getting involved

Sandee Thompson

adds up the advantages of

professional development.T

here are many things that wecan do as teachers to ‘keep upwith the ELT Joneses’, but forsome of us, it all seems either

too overwhelming, too much work orunnecessary. So here is a list of reasonswhy you should and how you can getinvolved in your own professionaldevelopment, and also how and where

you can do it.

Why should you get involved?

First of all, professional development isgood for you, as well as for yourstudents. Learning about newtechniques, methods and approacheshelps you avoid becoming stale andensures that you remain interested inyour field and that you continue tolearn. If you are interested in what youare teaching, the chances are greaterthat your students will also bestimulated – or at least curious enoughto see the lesson through to the end!

Secondly, keeping up with what isnew in the field provides you with moreoptions in the classroom. It is never toolate to find a new technique that‘speaks’ to you, and providing variety inlessons means that all of the studentsare engaged, not just the ones who areaccustomed to your individual style orwho respond to your personality.

A third reason to get involved inprofessional development is to advanceyour career, which often meansmonetary gain, a self-confidence boostand new connections. Unless you hopeto keep the same job for your entire life,

and many people don’t, makingcontacts in the field is one way todiscover what else is out there.

If you are in a senior position inyour place of employment, you can alsoset a good example for newer teachers.Life-long learning is the newcatchphrase for a reason and, since youare working in the field of education, itis also good to practise what you preachto your students.

How and where can you do it?

Resources for professional developmentcome in a variety of shapes, sizes andprice tags. They can be of a short orlong duration and can be directly orindirectly related to ELT. You can dothem as solitary activities or join othersin your quest for knowledge.

It can be as simple as joining anonline chat group, searching the web fornew materials or articles, becoming amember of a national TESL group orpicking up a journal at the library. It

Learning about newtechniques, methodsand approaches helpsyou avoid becoming

stale and ensures thatyou remain interested

in your field

ETp58_pp40-55 Mart 11/8/08 13:36 Page 52



� � �

can also be more complex, such asjoining a TESL board, designing aconference workshop or setting up apeer observation schedule in yourworkplace. Whatever you do, big orsmall, you are contributing to yourprofessional development and, possibly,are acting as a model for others tofollow.

So, what specifically can you do?

Starting with your individual self, youcan begin with your education.Certificate courses abound, some goodand some poor, but all will offer yousomething. These can be done online,as distance courses, and as intensive,month-long courses like the CELTA orTrinity certificate. These are thestarting-off point and are consideredpre-service certificates by many.

Once you have got your feet wet, thenext course of action is to take theCambridge DELTA (diploma), or theTrinity diploma. Some opt to go theMasters (MA) route, and still others doboth since they tend to focus ondifferent aspects of teaching,methodology and theory. DELTAs andMAs come in a variety of options tomeet everyone’s needs or preferences.DELTAs can be done distance, in-houseor as intensive 8- to 10-week courses.MAs can be done online or on campusover two years or four, with adissertation or a practicum, or withouteither! There is something for everyoneout there and they are accessible toanyone who can get to a mail box orclick an icon on their computer screen.

Continue your

education

You can take an MA in linguistics,teaching, translation, with a focus onyouth, business or just about anything.

Some teachers, those who seem toknow what they want to do in life rightout of high school, go into the SecondLanguage Education field for their firstdegree and then work in the regularschool system. Whatever you do here,and in whichever order you do them, itis never too late to take one of thesecourses: universities worldwide arescreaming for students and it is unlikelythat you would not be able to find onethat interests you!

At the other end of the time-scale,one-day training opportunities are alsoprevalent in our field. Being trained inFirst Aid or Safety in the Workplace isjust as important in a language-teachinginstitution as being trained as an IELTSexaminer or learning to teach a newlevel. They are also wonderfulopportunities to learn something newand to contribute to your school’scorporate plan.

Joining a professional organisation isanother terrific way to ensure youcontinue your growth in the field. InCanada, membership of any provincialaffiliate group automatically ensuresyou also become a TESL Canadamember. In my province, Nova Scotia,we hold an annual conference eachautumn and a half-day conference everyspring. Members are given a discount ifthey present a workshop, and round-table discussions of new and up-comingissues are also very popular. The USAand the UK, as well as countries such asJapan, Korea, Brazil and Mexico, allhave TESL organisations that promotelearning, fellowship and professionalstandards.

Serving on a board or committeethat you are interested in is a wonderfulway to meet other like-minded people,become actively involved and makeconnections for future jobopportunities, as well as to continueyour growth as a professional. Mostboards and conference organisers want‘new blood’, so don’t be shy aboutvolunteering in some capacity! It can beas mundane as licking envelopes or as

Join professional

organisations

interesting as finding guest speakers forconferences. Whatever you are able todo, you can be sure it will be welcome.

Being aware of current issues andmethods in the field, as well asunderstanding the history of languageteaching, is both interesting andinformative and can expand your ownknowledge base. There are so manyresources available to you: the web(current university papers, studies anddissertations, e-magazines, chat rooms),magazines and journals (ETp, Modern

English Teacher, ELT Journal, TESOL

Quarterly, TESL Canada Journal ),newspapers (EL Gazette) and, ofcourse, books available throughpublishers aimed specifically at Englishteachers. There is Pearson’s How to

teach … series, the Oxford andCambridge teachers’ series and amultitude of other texts and readersthat explore everything from MultipleIntelligences to discourse practices.Nowadays, being well-read is easy, andworking in a remote location or notbeing affiliated to a school is no longera deterrent or excuse! I ordered 80 percent of the books I required for my MAfrom Amazon and had them within twoweeks of ordering them.

In Canada, you can also get auniversity access card that allows you toborrow books from universities allacross the country, so if your localcommunity does not train Englishlanguage teachers, you can still haveaccess to materials delivered to yourdoor or to your local university orcollege.

Keep up with current

ELT literature

Most boards and conferenceorganisers want ‘new blood’, so

don’t be shy aboutvolunteering in some capacity!

Being aware of current issues and

methods in the field, aswell as understandingthe history of language

teaching, is bothinteresting and

informative

ETp58_pp40-55 Mart 11/8/08 13:36 Page 53



[email protected]

Sandee Thompson is the Director of Studies,CELTA tutor and IELTSexaminer at a privatelanguage school inHalifax, Nova Scotia,Canada. She has taughtteachers in Canada,Korea, El Salvador andVietnam. Her interestsinclude task-basedlearning, learning stylesand strategies, teachertraining and classroom-based research.

� � �

Another way you can continue yourdevelopment as a teacher is to ensureyou continue to receive feedback onyour teaching. Asking students toevaluate your lessons on a regular basisis always a good idea, and so is askingyour supervisor or DOS to observe yourclasses. Even if your DOS does annualor bi-annual observations and providesyou with feedback on your teaching,setting up a peer-observation schedule isalso a great way to gather new ideas andto help your colleagues in their personalgrowth as well. If you work at a teachertraining school, you are likely to havetrainees sitting in your class as well.Asking the trainer for feedback fromthe trainees is another way to get inputinto your teaching.

Keeping tabs on your developmentis also important. Using a checklist likethe one on page 55 is a way of ensuringyou are developing new ideas, tryingnew things and staying on top of whatis current in the field.

At my school we have a mentorshipprogramme that helps get everyoneinvolved. Whenever a new or new-to-usteacher begins, a mentor is arranged toprovide support. This includeseverything from how to write a report,to where the extra toilet paper is kept.Everything that will help them to feelcomfortable and to assimilate into theteam as quickly as possible is included.Being asked to be a mentor means thatyou have been around long enough toknow where things are and havedemonstrated that you care about theschool and your colleagues. It isconsidered a privilege and an honour,and it always interests me to see howmuch confidence the role instils in theperson doing it.

Get involved in

mentoring

Organise

observations

The best way to learn something is toteach it, or so some people say. Inkeeping with this idea, researching,designing and presenting workshops isone of the best ways to expand yourhorizons. Start small by doing it foryour colleagues. Once you discover howeasy it actually is, you can then do it foryour provincial organisation – it is onlya very small step after that to doing aworkshop for a national conference!Volunteering to do workshops at thelocal library or YMCA for people whovolunteer to teach in the community isalways welcome, and so is volunteeringto work with newcomers who would liketo put a workshop together themselves!

Participate in

workshops

Finally, the last area to look at when itcomes to professional developmentinvolves ensuring that you are a well-rounded person. While there is notroom in this article to explore this areain depth, suffice it to say that a well-rounded, emotionally healthy person ismore apt to contribute to the overallatmosphere of a school and a classroomand is more interested in growingprofessionally than someone who isburnt out and in need of a break.Taking time away from the classroomand your students is essential if you aregoing to gain, or keep, a healthyperspective and continue to be inspiredby your classes. I am a strong advocateof taking short mini-breaks, while someof my colleagues prefer to take month-long sojourns away from it all.

� � �

Whatever you do to keep yourselfinspired, continue to do it. It certainlycan’t hurt you in any way and may eveninspire others to do the same. Andremember, while it is certainly a lot ofwork to keep abreast of changes in thefield, your students will appreciate theeffort and since, after all, they are thereason we are in the classroom in thefirst place, it makes good sense to keepthem inspired.

Give yourself

a break

You are in charge of your own destiny.Whenever possible, it is helpful todemonstrate to your supervisors thatyou are not afraid of change orchallenges. Ask to be given differentclasses to teach and, if possible, dosome peer observations to demonstrateyour interest and to gather ideas priorto teaching the class. If you generallyteach lower levels, try teaching someexam classes or business classes to seehow the other half lives. The differencein perspective will be very eye-openingas high-stakes exam classes are oftenfilled with students who areextrinsically motivated, and thatdifference in dynamic will be anotheropportunity for professional, andpersonal, growth.

Strive to be the best

you can be

Getting involved

Getting involved

Another way you can continue your development

as a teacher is to ensure you

continue to receivefeedback on your

teaching

Writing for ETpWould you like to write for ETp? We are

always interested in new writers andfresh ideas. For guidelines and advice,

write to us or email:[email protected]

ETp

ETp58_pp40-55 Mart 11/8/08 13:36 Page 54



Personal checklist

1 taken a relatedcourse?

2 attended aworkshop?

3 attended aconference?

4 given a workshop?

5 read any ELT-related materials?

6 been observed bymy DOS?

7 been observed bya colleague?

8 been observed bya trainee?

9 observed someoneteach?

10 volunteered in thecommunity?

11 taught a differentclass?

12 asked for feedbackfrom my students?

13 read an ELT journalor magazine?

14 supported a newteacher?

15 served on an ELTboard or committee?

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov DecIn the last 12 months,have I ...

ETp58_pp40-55 Mart 11/8/08 13:36 Page 55

SCRAPBOOKSCRAPBOOKGems, titbits, puzzles, foibles, quirks, bits & pieces,

quotations, snippets, odds & ends, what you will

Gems, titbits, puzzles, foibles, quirks, bits & pieces,quotations, snippets, odds & ends,

what you will


Ten household truthsHave you ever noticed that the laws of household physics are every bit as real as all the other laws in the universe? Here are a few examples:Children’s eagerness to assist in any project varies ininverse proportion to their ability to do the workinvolved.

Leftovers always expand to fill all available containersplus one.

A newly-washed window gathers dirt at double thespeed of an unwashed window.

The availability of a ballpoint pen is inverselyproportional to how badly it is needed.

The same clutter that will fill a one-car garage will alsofill a two-car garage.

5

4

3

2

1The potential for argument is in direct proportion to thenumber of TV remote controls divided by the number ofviewers.

The number of doors left open varies inversely with theoutside temperature.

The capacity of any hot water heater is equal to one and a half showers.

What goes up must come down, except for chewing gumand kites.

Place two children in a room full of toys and they will bothwant to play with the same toy.

10

9

8

7

6

Motel nemesisRita Dawson had a serious, but surprisinglycommon, telephone problem. But unlikemost people, she did something about it.

A brand-new luxury motel had recentlyopened nearby and had been assigned atelephone number which was very similarto Rita’s.

From the moment the motel opened,she was besieged by calls which were notfor her. Since she had had the same phonenumber for years, she felt that she had acase for persuading the management ofthe motel to change theirs.

However, the management refused,claiming that it would cost too much toreprint all the stationery. The phonecompany wasn’t very helpful, either. Ritawas told that a number was a number, and just because one customer wasgetting someone else’s calls 24 hours aday, the company couldn’t be heldresponsible. After her pleas fell on deafears, Rita decided to take matters into her own hands.

One evening at 9 o’clock the phonerang. It was someone trying to book aroom at the motel for the followingSaturday. ‘No problem,’ said Rita. ‘Howmany nights would you like to stay?’

A few hours later there was anothercall. A secretary at an oil company wanteda suite with two bedrooms for her boss for a week. Emboldened, Rita told her thePresidential Suite on the 12th floor wasavailable for £300 a night. The secretarysaid that she would take it and asked ifthe motel required a deposit. ‘No, thatwon’t be necessary,’ said Rita. ‘We trustyou.’

The next day was a busy one for Rita.In the morning, she booked an electricalappliance manufacturers’ convention for abank holiday weekend, a collegegraduation party and a reunion of theScots Guards veterans from World War II.

Her biggest challenge came when amother called to book the ballroom for herdaughter’s wedding in June. Rita assured

the woman that it would be no problemand asked if she would be providing theflowers or whether she would prefer themotel to take care of them. The mothersaid that she would prefer the motel tohandle the floral arrangements. Then thequestion of valet parking came up. Onceagain Rita was helpful. ‘There’s no chargefor valet parking,’ she said breezily, ‘butwe always recommend that the client tipsthe drivers.’

Within a few months, the motel was adisaster area. People kept showing up forweddings, bar mitzvahs, reunions andconferences and were all told there wereno such events.

Rita had her final revenge when sheread in the local paper that the motelmight go bankrupt. Her phone rang, andan executive from a big hotel chain said,‘We’re prepared to offer you £200,000 forthe motel.’

‘We’ll take it,’ Rita replied, ‘but only ifyou change the telephone number.’

ETp58_pp56-57 Mart 11/8/08 13:37 Page 56


Snail’s paceAt a recent snail-racing contest, the participating

snails wore numbers and were painted so that

they could easily be recognised as they sped past

the finishing post. Only one snail wore the same

number as the position it finished in. Mike’s snail

wasn’t painted yellow or blue, and the snail which

wore number 3, which was painted red, beat the

snail which came in third. Rachel’s snail beat

Helena’s snail, whereas Chris’s snail beat the snail

which wore number 1. The snail painted green,

Chris’s, came second and the snail painted blue

wore number 4. Helena’s snail wore number 1.

Can you work out whose snail finished where, its

number and the colour it was painted?

AnswersFinal positionOwnerNumberColour

1stMike3red

2ndChris2green

3rdRachel4blue

4thHelena1yellow

Ten Zen teachingsDo not walk behind me, for I may not lead. Do not walk ahead

of me, for I may not follow. Do not walk beside me for the

path is narrow. In fact, just go away and leave me alone.

Always remember you’re unique. Just like everyone else.

Never test the depth of the water with both feet.

If you think nobody cares whether you’re alive or dead, try

missing a couple of mortgage payments.

Before you criticise someone, you should walk a mile in their

shoes. That way, they’re a mile away and you have their

shoes.

If at first you don’t succeed, bomb disposal is probably not

the career for you.

Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach him how to

fish, and he will sit in a boat and drink beer all day.

If you lend someone £20 and never see that person again, it

was probably well worth it.

Generally speaking, you aren’t learning much when your lips

are moving.

Experience is something you don’t get until just after you

need it.

10

9

8

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

Ridiculous repliesIt was mealtime during a flight from the UK.‘Would you like dinner?’ the flight attendant asked a man,seated at the front. ‘What are my choices?’ he asked. ‘Yes or no,’ she replied.

A woman was picking through the frozen turkeys at asupermarket, but she couldn’t find one big enough for her family. Seeing a young man stacking shelves nearby, she asked him, ‘Do these turkeys get any bigger?’The assistant replied, ‘No, madam, they’re dead.’

A lorry driver driving along on a busy road passed a sign saying

‘Low Bridge Ahead’. Before he knew it, the bridge was rightahead of him and, sure enough, his lorry got stuck under it. The

queue of cars behind him stretched for miles. Finally, a police car drove up. The police officer got out of hiscar, walked over to the lorry driver, put his hands on his hipsand said, ‘Got stuck, huh?’ ‘No,’ replied the lorry driver. ‘I was delivering this bridge and Iran out of petrol.’

A balancing actMike put his winnings from the snail race(£100) into his bank account. He then made sixwithdrawals, totalling £100. He kept a record ofthese withdrawals, and the balance remainingin the account, as follows:

Withdrawals Balance remaining

£50 £50£25 £25£10 £15£8 £7£5 £2£2 £0

_________ _________

£100 £99

When he added up the columns, he assumedthat he must owe £1 to the bank. Was he right?

Answer There is no reason whatever why Mike’s originaldeposit of £100 should equal the total of the balances left aftereach withdrawal. The total of withdrawals in the left-handcolumn must always equal £100, but it is purely a coincidencethat the total of the right-hand column is close to £100.

Phi

llip

Bur

row

s

ETp58_pp56-57 Mart 11/8/08 13:37 Page 57


T E C H N O L O G Y

Blended learning

Blended learning

Blanka Frydrychová

Klímová’s experience

shows that melding the

traditional with the

technological is a way of

increasing the quality of

teaching and learning.

The term blended learning hasbecome extremely fashionablenowadays, particularly incorporate and higher education

settings. But what does it actually mean?Blended learning is quite difficult to definesince the term is used in diverse ways bydifferent people. Overall, the three mostcommon meanings are as follows:

the integration of traditionallearning with web-based onlineapproaches;

the combination of media and tools (eg textbooks) employed in e-learning environments;

the combination of a number ofteaching and learning approachesirrespective of the technology used.

As Curtis Bonk and Charles Grahamclaim, blended learning is part of theongoing convergence of two archetypallearning environments. On the onehand, there is the traditional face-to-face learning environment that has beenaround for centuries. On the otherhand, there are new learningenvironments which have begun to growand expand in exponential ways as newtechnologies have increased thepossibilities for distance communicationand interaction. In this article, I shallfollow Andrew Littlejohn in perceivingblended learning as an integration offace-to-face teaching and learningmethods with online approaches.

Why blend?

In the literature on blended learning,the most common reason given for itsimplementation is that it combines the

3

2

1

best of both words. Charles Grahamand his colleagues cite three mainreasons why blended learning should bechosen:

● improved pedagogy;

● increased access/flexibility;

● increased cost effectiveness.

Pedagogy

Blended learning undoubtedlycontributes to the development andsupport of more interactive strategies,not only in face-to-face teaching butalso in distance education. Developingactivities linked to learning outcomesplaces the focus on learner interaction,rather than content dissemination. Inaddition, distance learning can offermore information to students, betterand faster feedback and richercommunication between a tutor and astudent with more opportunities forboth face-to-face and onlinecommunication.

Access

Access to learning is one of the keyfactors influencing the growth ofdistributed (computer-mediated)learning environments. Students canaccess materials at any time andanywhere. Furthermore, they canproceed at their own pace.Consequently, blended learning cancreate higher motivation and givegreater stimulation to students.

Cost effectiveness

An increase in cost effectiveness isparticularly noticeable in corporateenvironments where people are

ETp58_pp58_64 Mart 11/8/08 13:38 Page 58

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permanently busy and can hardly everafford the time to attend full-time, face-to-face classes. Blended learning enablesthem to start learning after fulfillingtheir work, family and other socialcommitments. Blended learning is alsopopular with universities, which arealways looking for quality enhancementand cost savings, and is particularlyappropriate to distance learning courses.

Nevertheless, there are some drawbacksto blended learning. There is no doubtthat it is time-consuming and makesgreat demands in terms of creation,preparation and evaluation. Thepossibility of randomly-occurringproblems with technology also needs tobe taken into consideration.

A blended languagecourse model

A blended learning approach isparticularly suited to language learning,where conventional face-to-face teachingis sometimes necessary for developingspeaking communication skills. For thisreason it is used for language courses atthe Faculty of Informatics andManagement at the University ofHradec Králové in the Czech Republic.Students here undertake reading andwriting tasks on their own, whichenables the teachers to concentrate moreon listening and speaking activities inface-to-face classroom teaching.

E-learning has been an importantfeature of courses at this faculty since1999 and is seen by teachers as a usefultool for improving the quality of theirteaching. It has been found to be botheffective and efficient in delivering thedesired results. In 2001 theadministrators of a few selected coursesfor part-time students created a virtuallearning environment for their courses

and web communication tools wereintroduced for the students. By 2002online courses were also beginning to beused to support the teaching of full-time students. At present, more than 90e-courses are being fully exploited inteaching at the faculty, 40 of these inthe teaching of English. Some of theEnglish courses, such as those teachingwritten business English, can be taughtcompletely online. However, most ofthem are blended as there is a need forsome tutorial work. At face-to-facetutorials, students have the opportunityto discuss the problems they encounterwhen they are doing various types oftasks and writing assignments. Thismethod is particularly suitable fordistance students and those involved inan inter-university study project. Inaddition, e-courses are used as referencesources for regular classes. Students cango online to read again information thathas been given in class, and they can dofurther online activities to practise whatthey have learnt. These online coursesare also very useful for revision.

A blended course onacademic writing

A good example of the blended courseson offer at the faculty is an optionalone-semester course on academicwriting. The course is aimed at trainingstudents in the whole process of writingand gives advice on how to writeprofessionally. It teaches the differentstages of the writing process: envisagingwhat to write, planning an outline,drafting passages, writing the wholetext, revising and rewriting it, andfinishing it in an appropriate form,together with publishing all or parts ofit. In addition, it focuses on thosefeatures of academic writing which aredifferent in English and Czech, such asstructure, register and referencing.There are separate sections on grammarstructures in written English, lexicalstructures and punctuation.

By employing a blended learningapproach, the course tries not only toaddress students’ lack of knowledgeabout formal writing in English, but

At face-to-face tutorials, students

have the opportunity todiscuss the problemsthey encounter whenthey are doing various

types of tasks andwriting assignments

Traditional face-to-face

learning environment

Distributed (computer-mediated) learning environment

Past

(largely separatesystems)

Present

(increasingimplementationof blendedsystems)

Future

(majority ofblended systems)

expansion due to

technologicalinnovation

blendedlearningsystem

Development of blended learning systems (adapted from Bonk and Graham 2005)

ETp58_pp58_64 Mart 11/8/08 13:38 Page 59


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[email protected]

Blanka FrydrychováKlímová teaches at theFaculty of Informaticsand Management of theUniversity of HradecKrálové, CzechRepublic. Her main fieldof interest is teachingbusiness English. Inaddition, she runscourses in the cultureand history of GreatBritain and the USA andacademic writing.

The main motivationfactor for attending

the course wasstudents’ eagerness

to improve their English, especially their skills of formal

written English

also to approach it in a new way.Students meet their teacher once everytwo weeks to discuss and clarify anymistakes they made in their writtenassignments (essays). They then dofurther and more detailed self-studyonline, before rewriting their essays.

In the summer semester of 2007, 12students of management and tourismattended this course. At the end of thecourse, they were asked to complete thefollowing evaluation form, in an attemptto discover whether the integration offace-to-face teaching and learningmethods with online approaches wassuccessful.

In general, all 12 respondents weresatisfied with the overall structure of thecourse. They stated that the informationgiven to them during the course hadbeen very useful. Moreover, they thoughtthis subject should be compulsory in thesecond year of study when preparing towrite academic papers.

As far as the online element of thecourse was concerned, it was alsodeemed to be quite useful andmotivating. Students appreciated itsclear structure and the self-studyexercises. They liked the fact that they

could do these at any time, could receiveimmediate feedback on their work andsee what mistakes they had made, andthe fact that they could print out all thematerials if they wished. Only twostudents mentioned technical problemswith the system – they found it annoyingwhen the system did not work.

The most useful activities accordingto the respondents were: writing essays,discussing common mistakes whichappeared in students’ essays, discussingthe structure of an academic paper,using the online course and translating.In fact there was no activity that thestudents considered not worth doing.Only two students commented that therehad been too many tasks in the onlinecourse, and that not all were useful.

As for question 5, the mainmotivation factor for attending andstudying the course was students’eagerness to improve their English,especially their skills of formal writtenEnglish. The second motivation factorwas their intention to write an academicpaper in English. Among the otherfactors mentioned were that this coursewas another way of obtaining neededcredits or that a friend recommendedthe course to them.

Two respondents said they wouldhave liked to have had the face-to-facetutorials every week. However, everybodyelse was happy to have them once everytwo weeks. Overall, the responses to thegiven questions were very positive, andit is noteworthy that respondentsindicated in their answers to question 7that they thought the course would beuseful for all students at the faculty.

� � �

The experiences described abovedemonstrate both the institution’s and theteachers’ desire to apply new educational

Bonk, C J and Graham, C R Handbook ofBlended Learning: Global PerspectivesPfeiffer Publishing 2005

Graham, C R et al ‘Benefits andchallenges of blended learningenvironments’ In Khosrow-Pour, M (Ed)Encyclopedia of Information Science andTechnology I-V Idea Group Inc 2003

Littlejohn, A Planning Blended LearningActivities Routledge-Falmer 2006

Sharma, P ‘Future in the balance’ EnglishTeaching Professional 42 2006

1 Please comment on the overallstructure and content of thecourse.

2 Did you find the online course onreferencing motivating/notmotivating and why?

3 List three activities which were themost useful to you.

4 Were there any activities you didnot find useful. If so, why?

5 What or who motivated you toattend the course?

6 Did you welcome the opportunityto have face-to-face tutorials onceevery two weeks or would youprefer to have these every week?

7 Would you recommend the courseto other people?

8 Do you have any furthercomments?

Thank you.

technologies to improve the quality ofteaching and learning at the faculty. Whileinevitably there were some problems, theseseem to have been be outweighed by theadvantages. In particular, blendedlearning gave the opportunity to providegood quality distance learning, therebyincreasing students’ chances to be able toparticipate in university-level education.

Modern information technologiesoffer challenging ways of teaching andlearning languages. The benefits includeeasy access to study materials, theopportunity to proceed at one’s ownindividual pace, the ability to choose thetime and place for study, and almostimmediate feedback on writing with e-mail tutorial support. These benefitsare, however, only a partial solution forlearners who need to develop speakingskills. This gap could be filled to someextent by using telephone and videoconferencing. Nevertheless, conventionalface-to-face training is still necessary toprovide the practice and feedback onperformance that can really help toimprove speaking skills. As a result,blended learning would seem to be anideal solution to a number of problems.As Pete Sharma says, ‘on the one hand,technology is here to stay. On the other,the teacher will never be replaced. Ibelieve it is crucial that the teacherremains in control as the personcreating the course programme, meetingthe learners, interpreting or assigningthe material and honing the course. Thetechnology should not “lead”’.

Blended learning

Blended learning

ETp

ETp58_pp58_64 Mart 11/8/08 13:38 Page 60


WebWebwatcherRussell Stannard

recommends some great sites where

children can learn vocabulary.

Russell Stannard is a principal lecturer at the University of Westminster, UK, where he teaches using technology on multimedia and TESOL courses.He also runs www.teachertrainingvideos.com, awebsite that trains English teachers to use technology.

Keep sending your favourite sites to Russell:[email protected]

In this issue I want to point out some of the best sites on theinternet for children. You can use them in class, if you arelucky enough to have computers for the children to work on. If

not, then they are sites that you can recommend the students touse outside class.

www.ur.se/sprk/engelska/index.phpThere are several games on this site, but the one I want toconcentrate on is called ‘Decorate’. It is a really fun activity andvery simple. Basically, you have to help Roger to decorate hisroom. Just follow his instructions and click on the correctfurniture and the right colours and patterns. This is a very well-designed game. It is easy to play and has clear learningobjectives, yet at the same time it is engaging for students.

http://vocabulary.co.il/index_main.phpThis site has all the standard vocabulary games, such aswordsearches, crosswords and hangman, but there are one ortwo more which I really like. Try ‘Letter Blocks’. You first click ona letter and then you can click on any of the letters which areadjacent to that letter. The idea is to build a word. To tell thecomputer you have created a word you simply double click onthe last letter and it increases your score. Again, this is reallysimple but very engaging.

www.eduplace.com/kids/sv/books/content/wordbuilderOn this site, you can hear sentences being read out and youhave to spell a missing word (you are given some help). Onceyou have spelled the word, you click on it and you will be told ifyou are correct or incorrect. You then move on to the nextsentence. This is well designed in terms of interaction–clickratios: it is important that you don’t have to click needlessly onthe screen to make things happen which can quite easily bedone automatically by the programme. This site has lots ofuseful content.

www.britishcouncil.org/kids-games-fun.htmThe British Council material is superb. They have investedheavily in the web and there is a lot of fun vocabulary practiceon this site. Try ‘Trolley Dash’ – it is addictive! You are given a listof things you have to buy in the supermarket, and you have to‘run around’, going to the right sections of the supermarket andclicking on the items so that they are added to the shoppingtrolley. This is enormous fun. You have only one minute to buyeverything on the list (you can click the list at any time to remindyourself what you need). I have happily wasted a few hours ofmy life playing it and have also used it with my students(including adults).

Another good game on this site is ‘Clean and Green’. You haveto click on objects and put them into the correct recycling bin.There are many other games here, too. For teaching purposes,you will need to spend a bit of time on the site assessing thesuitability of the games for your students as the level of theactivities jumps around a little, but they are all worth looking at.

www.hello-world.com/English/index.phpThis site has lots of material and you will need a bit of time tolook through it. You can easily miss some of the good things as

the site is, unfortunately, not that well laid out. A lot of what youfind on the opening page is presentation material for colours,numbers, etc, but if you click on ‘Children’s games andactivities’, you will find another page full of activities. Try some ofthe ‘Play Bingo’ games. I did the clothes one. Someone calls outan item and you have a limited time to click on it before anotheritem is read out. The game flows well, it is good for revisingvocabulary and there is plenty of content. I like the matchinggames, too. All the words are read out so that the students arecontinually hearing the pronunciation of the words whilepractising them. I tried some of these games out in French (alanguage I am learning) and I found them pretty useful. You caneven play the games in pairs, so you are competing withsomeone. This can be useful if you are doing them in class.Most of the activities here have a choice of levels, too.

www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks1bitesizeOn this site, the content is not really aimed at ELT students, but Ibelieve that it would work fine with them. Click on ‘literacy’ andthen you have a whole host of games to choose from. I havenever used this material in class but it looks good. I tried out‘Rhyming Words’, where you have to select the word that hasthe same sound as a word the programme reads out for you. Allthe games are set in nice contexts and there are different levelsthat you can choose, too. This is well worth looking at.

To make things easier, I have created a free video that

takes you through the sites I have written about here and

points out some of the games that you can play. There are

also some extra sites that I haven’t included in the article,

to encourage you to watch the video.

http://trainingvideos.hscs.wmin.ac.uk/kidsVocab.index.html

www.spellingcity.comJust one last thing. There is a very good site called ‘SpellingCity’. The great thing about this site is that you can enter yourown content. You write in the words you want to practise and itmakes spelling games out of them. I really like activities whereyou can control the content because this means you can usethem time and time again. This is definitely one to recommendto your students as they can write in words that they continuallyspell wrong and then practise them. I have created a video tohelp you with the this site, too. Go to http://trainingvideos.com/spell/index.html. ETp

ETp58_pp58_64 Mart 11/8/08 13:38 Page 61

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Wherever they teach andwhatever their teachingcircumstances, most teachershave access to a tried-and-

tested teaching aid located at the front ofthe room: a large blank surface upon whichthey can write or draw pictures during thecourse of lessons. These large flat surfaces,with their versatility and attention-focusingpower, are variously known as blackboards(together with powdery chalk sticks thatleave the hands of every usercoated with dust), whiteboards(together with felt pens that mustbe of the water-soluble variety), ormore technologically-advanced(but not necessarily moreeffective) interactive whiteboards.

In this article I will use the term boardto refer to all forms of this teaching aid, souseful in the classroom that we could call itthe teacher’s best friend.

Although classroom language learningcan occur very effectively without anyreference to the written word, throughsongs, rhymes, chanting, repetitive actions,physical responses to oral instructions, andso on, most language teachers – literateindividuals who themselves rely heavily onthe written word – find themselvesdepending on their boards when teachingtheir lessons. How precisely do they usethem, and why are they so effective?

In classrooms where students haveneither textbooks nor access to photocopiedmaterials, teachers obviously require studentsto copy down information for consolidationand future reference. The very act of copyingwords and phrases from the board is animportant step in committing language tomemory. Teachers must, of course, writelegibly so that students neither copy wordsincorrectly nor interrupt the lesson withurgent requests for clarification. Teachersmust avoid the cardinal sin of rubbinginformation off the board before the class hashad time to copy it down. Nothing can bemore frustrating! Some teachers routinelyrequest permission before cleaning the board.

Boards are particularly useful for theconsolidation or expansion of lexical

knowledge during the course of lessons.Teachers can remind students of whichwords go together in terms of similarity ofstructure, form or meaning by bracketingthem together on the board. They can showpairs of words that contrast in sound ormeaning by placing a forward slash betweenthem (ship/sheep, hard-working/lazy, andso on). They can emphasise phonologicalaspects of English by dividing words intosyllables with slashes, accenting syllables to

indicate word stress, or drawingsloping up-and-down arrows abovesections of sentences to indicatesentence stress. Teachers canmake a habit of indicating the partof speech of new words by placinga code in brackets after each one

(n, v, adj, adv, and so on). They can also usedifferent coloured pens or chalk, distinctforms of underlining and a variety of symbolsincluding equals signs, asterisks, arrows,sweeping circles, and so on to help studentsreach deeper levels of lexical understanding.

Teachers with drawing talents can usetheir boards to create quick drawings orimages that establish contexts for learning.Teachers can also use them to depictfamiliar objects or to helpstudents understand themeaning of new words,concepts or relationships.Even teachers without artisticskills can draw stick figures,do stylised representations ofobjects such as hearts or clouds, or portraysimple items ranging from houses andfurniture to plants and animals. If theirclasses laugh at their efforts, teachers canexclaim ‘You know I’m not good atdrawing!’ or ‘Guess what this is meant tobe!’ Alternatively, they can enlist the help ofa willing student with artistic flair – apractice that not only engages the attentionof the class but also raises the status ofthe individual concerned.

To prepare students for writing tasks,teachers can write a topic (such astechnology, happiness or health) in thecentre of the board and then surround itwith words and ideas suggested by the

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.

The teacher’s best friendclass until the board is filled with clusters ofwords branching out from the central wordin the form of a mind map. During speakingor writing activities, students often requireadditional words or phrases with which toexpress thoughts, feelings or opinions. Bywriting requested linguistic items on theboard – and leaving them up for the benefitof others – teachers show that they valuestudent input. As a result, lessons becomemore dynamic, with students understandingthe true purpose of language: to satisfygenuine communicative needs.

Teachers of classes containing up to, say,30 students can – provided the classroomallows for easy movement – involve the wholeclass in board-writing activities. Scribes canbe appointed to write up items brainstormedby particular student groups. (Having a line ofscribes at the front of the class, particularlywhen groups are in competition, creates highlevels of involvement.) When the energylevel of classes is low, an old favourite isHangman, the vocabulary game where theentire class pits its collective wits against theperson standing at the board – either theteacher or a student. A popular end-of-termactivity involves dividing the class into two

teams and having randomly-selectedpairs of students (matched in ability)from opposing teams rush to theboard when their number is called tospell a designated word correctly.Activities such as these vitaliselanguage classes, confirming that

classroom language learning is a collectiveendeavour involving the whole class.

The message of this article is: Don’tforget the board! Regard it as your trustedfriend which, unless its surface is damaged oryou run out of chalk or whiteboard markers,will never let you down. Make sure you enlistits help in as many ways as you can!

www.rosesenior.com

Even teacherswithout artisticskills can draw

stick figures

Teachers can enlist the help of a willing studentwith artistic flair

Rose Senior is a conference presenter and teacher educator. She is the author of The Experience of Language Teaching,published by Cambridge University Press.

ETp

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Prize crossword 31ETp presents the thirty-first in our series of prizecrosswords, and this one, again, has a very differentformat. Try it … and maybe win a prize! Once youhave done it successfully, let your students have a go.

Send your entry (not forgetting to include your full name, postal address and telephone number) toPrize crossword 31, ENGLISH TEACHING professional,

To solve the puzzle, find which letter each numberrepresents. You can keep a record in the boxes above.Three letters are done for you. Start by writing theseletters in the other boxes in the crossword where theirnumbers appear. The definitions of the words in the puzzleare given, but not in the right order. When you havefinished, you will be able to read the quotation.

VERY FREQUENT WORDS*** Always, in every situation*** At the present time*** A car whose driver is paid to takeyou to a particular place*** Change, growth or improvementover a period of time*** To get something that you want orneed, especially by going through aprocess that is difficult*** An injury on your skin made bysomething sharp*** To legally have something,especially because you have bought it*** The place in which people live andwork, including all the physicalconditions that affect them*** A place where people live and workthat is larger than a village but smallerthan a city*** The process of trying to find out allthe details or facts about something inorder to discover who or what causedit or how it happened*** A pronoun for referring to a womanor girl who has already beenmentioned*** To put food into your mouth andswallow it*** The quality of being hot, or thedegree to which something is hot*** The same in value, amount or size

WinstonChurchill

12 2 24 2 22 6 21 25 2 9 19 2

11 1 6 16 6 13 9

25 1 4 19 23 4 4 14 2 4 24

1 22 20 4 1 4 7 23

8 2 2 4 2 23 12 22 2 11

9 2 19 3 12 6

23 9 24 2 4 19 23 8 1 19 23 6 9

18 2 22 22 24 25

23 19 1 17 23 4 2 23 10 2

26 14 19 19 19 6 9 9

2 6 3 19 1 23 9 5 2 1 19

9 6 13 23 2 2 22

19 9 2 26 2 4 4 1 11 23 22 15

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26

I

C

E

I C

E

23 19 23 4 1 11 23 12 12 22 2

13 11 1 21 21 2 12 23 9 1

25 15 4 19 2 11 15 23 9 4 23 12 2

1 9 2 9 23 8 25 1.

Keyways Publishing, PO Box 100, Chichester, West Sussex,PO18 8HD, UK. Ten correct entries will be drawn from a haton 10 November 2008 and the senders will each receive acopy of the second edition of the Macmillan EnglishDictionary for Advanced Learners, applauded for its uniquered star system showing the frequency of the 7,500 mostcommon words in English.

*** Subjects that people discuss orargue about*** Things that might happen or betrue*** The whole of an amount or everypart of something*** A word for adding another fact oridea to what you have already said

FREQUENT WORDS** Like a god, or relating to a god** The part of a piece of clothing thatcovers your arm** A period of time that has aparticular quality or character** Planes that can fly very fast** To take something using officialpower and force** To throw something somewheregently or in a slightly careless way** Very impressive and beautiful, goodor skilful

FAIRLY FREQUENT WORDS* To slide over snow, as a sport or asa way of travelling

LESS FREQUENT WORDS– A tall pole that sails hang from on aship– Large white or grey birds with longbeaks– Lazy, or not being used– The room in a house under the roof

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issue 58 - sep 08

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