Masaryk University Brno

Faculty of Education

Department of English Language and Literature

Adjusting coursebooks

Diploma thesis

Brno 2017

Supervisor: Written by:

Mgr. Jaroslav Suchý Bc. BcA. Nikola Polášková

Declaration

I hereby declare that I wrote this diploma thesis by myself and I only used sources that

are found in the list of references.

Prohlášení:

„Prohlašuji, že jsem závěrečnou diplomovou práci vypracoval samostatně, s využitím

pouze citovaných literárních pramenů, dalších informací a zdrojů v souladu s

Disciplinárním řádem pro studenty Pedagogické fakulty Masarykovy univerzity a se

zákonem č. 121/2000 Sb., o právu autorském, o právech souvisejících s právem

autorským a o změně některých zákonů (autorský zákon), ve znění pozdějších předpisů.“

V Brně dne 20.3. 2017

..………………

Nikola Polášková

Acknowledgment:

I would sincerely like to thank my supervisor Mgr. Jaroslav Suchý for the time he devoted

to me, his personal attitude, professional guidance, invaluable support and for being an

eternal inspiration.

I also greatly value the teaching opportunities I have been given by P.A.R.K. School of

English in Brno and ISE Tenerife.

I am also thankful to my first group of complete beginners who inspired me to take up a

new language which eventually challenged my view on coursebooks.

I also greatly appreciate the support received from my family.

Abstract

A coursebook plays a significant role in foreign language teaching. However, the

teachers’ or experts’ opinions on its use in English classes may vary to a great extent.

The aim of this thesis is to explore the academic field in order to find information

concerning using coursebooks and consider its advantages and disadvantages. It focuses

on reasons for and possible ways of adjusting coursebook exercises and thus making the

learning process more effective.

The paper is concerned with activities used in lessons of English language with adult

learners. All the activities are based on a coursebook, yet adjusted in different ways in

favour of the learners, and taught in order to be reflected on, so that the effectiveness of

these adaptations can be evaluated. The students are expected to be engaged and their

interest and involvement increased as well as knowledge of English.

The findings of the thesis can benefit English teachers who can use the gained knowledge

and implement certain procedures described here in their own teaching.

Keywords

Coursebook, textbook, adjust, adapt, omit, replace, add, learners, students, individual

needs

CONTENT

INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................................... 7

THEORETICAL PART

1. COURSEBOOK IN ELT .................................................................................................................. 10

1.1 DEFINITION ............................................................................................................................... 10

1.2 THE ROLE OF A COURSEBOOK ......................................................................................................... 11

1.3 EVALUATION AND CHOICE ............................................................................................................. 12

2. USE OF A COURSEBOOK ............................................................................................................. 16

2.1 ADVANTAGES ............................................................................................................................. 16

2.1.1 Framework .................................................................................................................... 16

2.1.2 Time saved .................................................................................................................... 17

2.1.3 Book ............................................................................................................................. 18

2.1.4 Package ......................................................................................................................... 18

2.2 DISADVANTAGES ......................................................................................................................... 19

2.2.1 Irrelevance .................................................................................................................... 19

2.2.2 Same format ................................................................................................................. 20

2.2.3 Teachers´ skills .............................................................................................................. 20

2.2.4 Over reliance on framework .......................................................................................... 21

2.3 TEACHERS’ ATTITUDES AND ROLES ................................................................................................... 22

2.3.1 Attitude of teachers ...................................................................................................... 22

2.3.2 Roles of teachers ........................................................................................................... 23

2.3.3 What changes ............................................................................................................... 24

3. ADJUSTMENTS ........................................................................................................................... 26

3.1 HOW PEOPLE ACQUIRE AND LEARN LANGUAGE.................................................................................... 26

3.2 INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES .............................................................................................................. 28

3.3 VARIETY.................................................................................................................................... 30

3.4 RELEVANCE ............................................................................................................................... 32

3.5 PERSONALISATION ....................................................................................................................... 34

3.6 COMMUNICATION ....................................................................................................................... 35

3.7 CLASSROOM DYNAMICS ................................................................................................................ 37

3.8 RECYCLING ................................................................................................................................ 39

3.9 GAMES ..................................................................................................................................... 39

3.10 EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING ........................................................................................................... 43

3.11 AUTONOMY .......................................................................................................................... 44

4. IN PRACTICE ............................................................................................................................... 48

PRACTICAL PART

1. LESSON PLANNING ..................................................................................................................... 51

1.1 LESSON PLANS TEMPLATE .............................................................................................................. 51

1.2 PRACTICAL INFORMATION ............................................................................................................. 53

1.3 BACKGROUND ............................................................................................................................ 54

2. LESSON PLANS ............................................................................................................................ 55

2.1 LISTENING TIME BANDITS .......................................................................................................... 55

2.1.1 Lesson plan ................................................................................................................... 55

2.1.2 Reflection ...................................................................................................................... 58

2.2 READING HOROSCOPES............................................................................................................. 61

2.2.1 Lesson plan ................................................................................................................... 61

2.2.2 Reflection ...................................................................................................................... 63

2.3 SPEAKING DREAMS ................................................................................................................... 67

2.3.1 Lesson plan ................................................................................................................... 67

2.3.2 Reflection ...................................................................................................................... 69

2.4 WRITING COMPLAINT .............................................................................................................. 73

2.4.1 Lesson plan ................................................................................................................... 73

2.4.2 Reflection ...................................................................................................................... 75

2.5 GRAMMAR INDIRECT SPEECH .................................................................................................... 79

2.5.1 Lesson plan ................................................................................................................... 79

2.5.2 Reflection ...................................................................................................................... 81

2.6 VOCABULARY TPR ...................................................................................................................... 84

2.6.1 Lesson plan ................................................................................................................... 84

2.6.2 Reflection ...................................................................................................................... 86

2.7 PRONUNCIATION OUGH ............................................................................................................. 90

2.7.1 Lesson plan ................................................................................................................... 90

2.7.2 Reflection ...................................................................................................................... 92

CONCLUSION ....................................................................................................................................... 95

RESUME............................................................................................................................................... 97

APPENDICES

7

The relationship between teacher and coursebook is an important consideration and it is

at its best when it is a partnership which shares common goals to which each side brings

its special contribution.

- Alan Cunningsworth

Introduction

Everybody has experience with a coursebook, either as a teacher or a student.

Coursebooks are inevitably a part of people’s schooling experience and based on that a

feeling about them may vary. This thesis deals with ways of adjusting coursebooks so

that the experience with them of everybody involved is as positive as possible.

A debate whether or not a coursebook is necessary or useful in an English classroom is a

subject of a discussion that has been running for a long time. The ones who pose this

question are usually teachers in favour of making the learning process of their students as

effective as possible. Therefore, this thesis aims to explore the methodological field and

provide relevant arguments connected to usefulness and effectiveness of a coursebook in

an English classroom with adults. Most methodologists seem to agree on the fact that

disadvantages of using coursebooks in classes outweigh its disadvantages, yet they are

aware of the danger of over-using them. Based on this assumption, the focus is on what

adjustments in using coursebooks are necessary to be made to keep a good balance. This

issue is more closely addressed in the theoretical part. A number of practical ideas how

to adjust coursebooks are presented in the practical part, followed by detailed reflections

and further suggestions.

The aim of the theoretical part is to provide a theoretical background that addresses the

main issues this thesis deals with. It discusses some basic facts, such as definitions, roles,

advantages and disadvantages, as it is necessary to be aware of these in order to

understand the issue of coursebook adjustments because this area does not stand in

isolation and is very complex.

The aim of the practical part is to demonstrate practical activities based on a coursebook

and reflect on them. However, instead of following suggested procedures, each of these

activities has been changed in order to be more effective. Reflections following each

8

lesson plan contain explanations for the changes, descriptions of the processes and

possible suggestions for improvements.

The motivation to deal with this topic comes from my personal teaching experience. For

as long as I have been teaching, I have been dealing with the issue of what coursebook to

use, how, so that it is effective, to what extent so as not to bore students and if, at all, use

one or not. My views on this have been changing through my personal and professional

development enormously. During a few years of my varied teaching practice, including

individual and group courses, at language schools, companies, in the Czech Republic and

abroad, I have gone through several phases of not using coursebooks at all to adhering to

them only. Given the immense personal connection with the topic, I would find it

extremely strange and distant to refer to myself in the third person, therefore the form ´I´

will be used throughout the thesis to refer to myself.

I myself have had experience with using coursebooks in English classes as a student.

Although I have always been rather content, I tended to look down on them. At the

beginning of my teacher training studies, a wave of new knowledge of modern methods

overwhelmed me and made me look critically at coursebooks. I experienced experiential

learning (e.g. optional subjects at Masaryk University: A2BP_TVPR1 Team Project), got

inspired by many creative workshops and seminars and pushed coursebooks aside. As I

progressed in teaching I realized I turn to coursebooks anyway in search for a good

material. However, it was not until I began teaching for a language school that I started

using coursebooks to a big extent, as a primary source in classes. After a short period of

time of adhering solely to a coursebook I started experimenting and trying to find a

balance by adjusting them to suit best both mine and my students’ needs. Successively,

having taken up a new language and becoming a student myself once again made me see

coursebooks from a different perspective and appreciate them again.

I consider the ability of adjusting coursebooks extremely useful in an everyday teaching

life. Moreover, I believe it leads to better results among students and satisfaction with the

job that is thus made more rewarding. This experience with using and non-using of

coursebooks resulted in my curiosity about this issue in the academic field which is why

I explore it; in order to find useful arguments for teachers who might identify with the

similar struggle concerning the use of coursebooks.

9

THEORETICAL PART

10

1. Coursebook in ELT

This chapter focuses on basic facts connected to terminology and the use of

coursebooks in ELT. Understanding these basic terms is necessary as they appear often

and many other things are based on them in the thesis.

1.1 Definition

In English it is possible to distinguish between two words that are very similar concerning

its form as well as meaning: a coursebook and a textbook. A question can be posed as to

which one of these is more appropriate to use in the context of this thesis. According to

Cambridge, a textbook is book that contains detailed information about a subject for

people who are studying that subject, while a coursebook is a book used by students when

they do a particular course of study ("Coursebook.", "Textbook."). Ur defines a

coursebook as „… a textbook of which the teacher and, usually, each student has a copy,

and which is in principle to be followed systematically as the basis for a language

practice“ (Ur 183).

The word coursebook seems to be more complex due to its first part including a word

„course“, implying that it consists of all things necessary for an English course. There

are, indeed, more aids accompanying the main book usually referred to as a students´

book. Apart from that, there can be a workbook, a teacher´s book, photocopiable

materials, audio or video recordings, electronic material, tests etc. However, in this sense,

a textbook does not differ from a coursebook because to describe all the material

mentioned above alltogether, ´a coursebook set´ or ´a textbook set´ could be used. What

is more, not all methodologists are consistent in using one term only. The use of the word

„coursebook“ prevails, but there are writers who use the term „textbook“ to refer to the

same thing (e.g. Grant). Moreover, the translation of those two words have the same

meaning in some languages (e.g. učebnice in Czech language, el libro de texto in Spanish

etc.)

Even though it seems that both terms could be used to refer to the same idea (the core

book as a source used in English classes to learn the language), term coursebook is used

throughout this thesis to achieve a consistency.

11

1.2 The role of a coursebook

Coursebooks are nowadays main sources of information in teaching and „…help in

achieving aims and objectives that have already been set in terms of learner needs“

(Cunningsworth 7). They are a useful aid for everybody who uses them, teachers as well

as learners.

In general, coursebooks tend to be appreciated but there are certain dangers: „…teachers

who over-use a coursebook and thus repeatedly follow the sequence in each unit may

become boring over a period of time“ (Harmer „The Practice Of English Language

Teaching 1991“ 257). For this and also a great number of other reasons that will be dealt

with in the thesis, as vast majority of methodologists, whose names and arguments will

be mentioned in more detail throughout the thesis, agree, there is a necessity for

adjustments in favour of students´ progress. Possible advantages and disadvantages,

suggested solutions and more reasons for these changes will be dealt with more closely

in the following chapters.

Coursebooks often serve as a syllabus. „A syllabus is a document which consists,

essentially, of a list. This list specifies all the things that are to be taught in the course(s)

for which the syllabus was designed…“ (Ur 176). Following the content of a coursebook,

both teachers and students can regularly check if they are progressing as planned. „Many

institutions present the syllabus in terms of the main coursebook to be used: by a certain

date teachers are expected to have covered a certain number of units in the book“ (Harmer

„The Practice Of English Language Teaching 1991“ 256). Viewing some lessons in

advance, making estimations about future topics or finding links with items from the past

can be of a great benefit. However, the tables of contents should be an aid rather than a

goal and our objectives should be drawn on more factors relevant to teaching and

students´ needs: „When we occasionally talk about ́ teaching Unit 16´, ´doing the first six

chapters´, or ´teaching page 68´, it is to be hoped that we are only using a convenient

shorthand way of expressing well-thought-out aims and objectives and that the

coursebook has not become the main determiner of them“ (Cunningsworth 7).

Nunan mentions that teachers are consumers of other people’s syllabuses (7). The other

people are usually experienced and skilled linguists and teachers, so, naturally, the task

of creating coursebooks and their syllabuses is left for them. Teachers then get the final

product, but it is important to be aware that the plans are not to be followed blindly but

12

to be adjusted as needed: „While it is realized that few teachers are in the position of

being able to design their own syllabuses, it is hoped that most are in a position to interpret

and modify their syllabuses in the process of translating them into action“ (Nunan 8).

Teachers need to be able to fit these as much as possible the teaching conditions, including

specific requirements of the institutions, students’ needs and their own beliefs. Changes

to the syllabuses are welcomed if done for a better effect. However, teachers who choose

to make changes, e.g. skip some units or supplement them by other material (for more

information about the possible adjustments see chapter 2.3.3), should make sure they do

so in coordination with the syllabus where the language items planned to be dealt with

usually have a specific order: „the assumption being made is that these language items

will be new for the students and should therefore be introduced to them in the order of

the syllabus“ (Harmer „The Practice Of English Language Teaching 1991“ 257).

1.3 Evaluation and choice

Teachers can find themselves in a position when they can choose a main coursebook that

will be used during their courses. In that case it is necessary to be able to evaluate

coursebooks and based on these evaluations choose one. My own experience that

motivated this thesis is based on using already pre-selected coursebooks and working

with these, the characteristics of which might not be liked by their users and thus need to

be adjusted. Therefore, the issues connected to the evaluation and selection are touched

on only briefly as the thesis is also based on an assumption that the main coursebook used

has already been selected by an authority (e.g. institution/ colleagues/ director of studies).

However, admittedly, this issue is relevant to the topic of this thesis as evaluation skills

are extremely useful for the following reasons. By making a good choice teachers can

prevent some unwanted situations in the future connected to the use of coursebooks and

save time as not so much adjusting is likely to be needed. Moreover, even if teachers

cannot influence the choice of the book, they can use some evaluation strategies to do the

evaluation of their coursebooks, adjust it according to their students and „…be aware of

its good and bad points in order to make the most of the first and compensate for or

neutralize the second“ (Ur 187). This serves useful when considering which parts to

adjust. „This process of evaluation is the first step towards deciding how a book should

be most profitably used in your classroom – and how it should be adapted“ (Grant 118).

13

Therefore, evaluation skills are useful when assessing a material to be used and deciding

whether or not to adjust it and how.

There is a wide range of criteria available when trying to reach a decision. „Probably the

best way of doing this is to select areas that interest us (e.g. layout and design,

methodology, topics, etc.)“ (Harmer "How To Teach English"153). That means setting

goals and objectives and being aware of the teaching context and students’ needs.

After establishing the aims of the course, the first phase of evaluation should be done:

general assessment (Ur 184) / impressionistic overview (Cunningsworth 1-2)/ initial

evaluation (Grant 119). Ur mentions two basic steps for a coursebook assessment:

„…general, applicable to any language-teaching coursebook, or specific, relating to the

appropriateness of the book for a certain course or learner population“ (Ur 184).

Similarly, Cunningsworth writes about an impressionistic overview, which „gives general

introduction to the material“ (1) and an in-depth evaluation that naturally follows the first

step and is there to „examine how specific items are dealt with, particularly those which

relate to students´ learning needs, syllabus, requirements, how different aspects of

language are dealt with etc“ (2). Grant provides help applicable to the first selection

process, called CATALIYST, each letter of which represents one use criterion to

determine the usefulness of the book for the classroom: „Communicative? Aims?

Teachable? Available Add-ons? Level? Your impression? Student interest? Tried and

tested?“ (Grant 120).

Undoubtedly, all approaches mentioned above should be taken into consideration with

the emphasis being on the specific needs of learners. The result of this stage are supposed

to be around 3-5 coursebooks to proceed to the further evaluation. In order to carry it out

effectively, a check list that digs deeper than the first phase of the selection process should

be created. A list can be made or questions asked, built on relevance, for example: „Are

they relevant and useful for your classes? Is there a balance between accuracy and fluency

practice?...“ (Ur 188). There is a certain level of subjectivity present as „the questions

will always depend on the specific priorities of those who are asking them. (Harmer "How

To Teach English" 153).

In the next step, the check list is used to carry out the in-depth/ detailed evaluation.

Cunningsworth warns against being overwhelmed with superfluous amount of criteria,

14

which, if not limited to the most crucial ones, can result in „being swampt in a sea of

detail“ (Cunningsworth 5).

If possible, the selected coursebook or a few should be piloted. However, this rarely

happens in real teaching life as there is no space for trying out the course before the actual

adoption. „Many teachers have to rely on their own judgement in choosing new materials“

(Grant 121). Nevertheless, it is not only the teachers´ opinion that matters. If there is a

chance of gaining an opinion of a colleague, an expert or students themselves, these point

should be taken into consideration as well.

Based on the previous selection process, possible piloting and its reflection and opinions

of others, teacher should summarize the gained information and compare the outcome to

the previously stated aims. „It is idealistic to expect a perfect fit, as coursebooks are

produced for wide markets and cannot completely meet the demands of every individual

class, but selecting within the material and adapting and supplementing it where

necessary will overcome minor deficiencies (Cunningswort 9). Therefore, although the

coursebook does not satisfy the criteria selected, the possibility to adjust the material

compensates for that. This stage should naturally result in making the final decision. As

it may seem to be the final one, it is not the case. Even coursebooks once adopted need to

be re-evaluated constantly. „This evaluation process should be continuous, even in

situations where you do not plan, for financial or other reasons, to replace the coursebook

for some time (Grant 121).

To sum up, the evaluation and selection process could be staged as follows:

1) Assessing leaners’ needs and teaching context, setting of the objectives

2) First impression assessment (general assessment / impressionistic overview /

initial evaluation)

3) Asking questions, creating a check list

4) Deep evaluation (specific assessment / in-depth analysis / detailed evaluation)

5) Piloting and reflection of the experience

6) Gathering colleagues´/ students’/ experts’ opinions

7) Summarizing

8) Making a decision

9) Adoption and in-use evaluation

15

In summary, although teachers cannot select their own coursebook to be used with their

students, it is useful to be aware of the evaluation strategies. These strategies can be used

when evaluating a particular coursebook already in use, revealing its strong and weak

point, and thus helping to decide which parts should be adjusted so that the learning

process is as effective as possible.

16

2. Use of a coursebook

The aim of this chapter is to explore the methodological field and find references to

the use of coursebooks in language teaching, focusing on its advantages and

disadvantages. Various methodological sources are used to support ideas presented

below. It is important to be aware of these positive and negative aspects prior to the

chapter focusing on adjustments. Considering advantages and disadvantages of

coursebook use is unavoidably a part of the debate whether or not it is appropriate to

adjust them in classes. Having knowledge of these features helps understanding the

reasoning of the suggested solutions when it is suggested that a material should be

adjusted.

2.1 Advantages

This subchapter looks at some argument in favour of using coursebooks. „Where a

coursebook is involved there are obvious advantages for both teachers and students“

(Harmer „The Practice Of English Language Teaching 1991“ 257). Most methodologists

who attend to this issue seem to be in agreement with this statement. This chapter looks

closely at the most crucial arguments.

2.1.1 Framework

Coursebooks provide teachers with a certain plan what direction to go in classes. Good

coursebooks are carefully prepared to offer a coherent syllabus“ (Harmer "The Practice

Of English Language Teaching 2001" 304). Hence everybody involved (mainly teachers

and students, but also authorities) knows „…where they are going and what is coming

next, so that there is sense of structure and progress (Ur 184). Following the content, it is

also possible to check what has already been learnt, by reviewing the content of old units

and thus it is „…possible to measure progression of language (Harmer "The Practice Of

English Language Teaching 1991" 257). The system provided by a coursebook is of a

great benefit for teachers and students.

For teachers a coursebook is an indispensable aid they can trust on several occasions.

„They provide teachers under pressure with the reassurance that, even when they are

forced to plan at the last moment, they will be using material which they can have

confidence in“ (Harmer "The Practice Of English Language Teaching 2001" 304). Also,

17

adhering to the framework can help those who are „…unexperienced or occasionally

unsure of the language“ (Ur 184). However, not only teachers at the beginning of their

teaching career with little experience can benefit from this attitude. Everybody can trust

good coursebooks as they „…are written by teachers and writers with considerable

knowledge and skill…“ (Harmer "The Practice Of English Language Teaching 1991"

258)

For students, having a certain framework in their learning process is likely to have a

positive effect on their autonomy. With a coursebook, students have more opportunities

to work individually, for example revising, focusing on problematic areas etc. “A learner

without a coursebook is more teacher-dependent“ (Ur 184). Autonomy in learning in

connection to coursebook adjustments is more closely dealt with in chapter 3.11. Apart

from the actual learning, students can „…review and monitor progress with some degree

of autonomy“ (Ur 184). That is an important aspect, too, because seeing a progress in

one’s studies increases motivation, that is why students like to have coursebooks as they

„…foster the perception of progress as units and then books are completed“ (Harmer "The

Practice Of English Language Teaching 2001" 304). Undoubtedly, the guidance and

support for teachers and students that coursebooks provide is extremely helpful.

However, adherig to syllabus too much and not listening to students´ needs is likely to

have an opposite effect.

2.1.2 Time saved

When using coursebooks, teachers save an enormous amount of time, especially if they

teach many classes of different ages and levels. Having to create good-quality materials

on daily basis without the coursebook being available would be extremely time-

consuming. These high demands would lead to a certain decrease in quality of the

designed material and there is also a risk that students would „…end up with an incoherent

collection of bits and pieces of material“ (Harmer "The Practice Of English Language

Teaching 2001" 305). Although possibly being done with the best intention, e.g. being

attentive to students’ needs and creating something personal and relevant (the issues of

personalisation and relevance and addressed in more detail in chapters 3.4 and 3.5), as far

as time is concerned, use of coursebooks outweigh any other material preparation, which,

clearly, requires more time. It is supposed that the selected coursebook is of an

appropriate level and therefore can be relied on as a good resource material. „This of

18

course saves time for the teacher who would otherwise have to prepare his or her own“

(Ur 184).

2.1.3 Book

The actual form of a coursebook is another advantage for several reasons. First of all,

they can be characterized as lively and interesting material (Harmer "The Practice Of

English Language Teaching 1991" 257). The fact that they are printed in colour can

increase students’ interest in the topics being dealt with. It is important to take into

account the advance of technologies and graphics and the increasing extent of exposition

to them which causes that learners „…expect high standards of production and

presentation, especially where visuals are concerned…and can be quick to lose interest in

dull and uninspiring material, no matter how sound it may be methodologically“

(Cunningsworth 1).

Further, compared to a great number of individual photocopied pages, Ur highlights the

convenience of coursebooks as „…its components stick together and stay in order“ (Ur

184). It is difficult to keep order in a pile of papers, they are not particularly appealing

due to their colour (usually black and white and sometimes even not well copied),

uncomfortable to work with and as a consequence learners may lose interest in looking

through them in order to revise, and, eventually, may lose them altogether. Besides, such

alternatives to coursebooks are likely to be more expensive, so having a coursebook is

also economical (Ur 184).

2.1.4 Package

Apart from the actual coursebook, which in most cases serves as a main material used in

classes, there are other useful things accompanying it. These can be tests, audios or

videos, extra supplementary materials, CDs with electronic material both for teachers and

students, flashcards, posters. There are also workbooks that are useful for students as they

give them extra practice connected to what has already been done in class. It would be

much more demanding to provide this sort of extra practice for teachers not following

any coursebook. Teachers can benefit from teacher´s books which give them ideas and

tips on how to work with the coursebook, and supplementary materials designed to

practice previously discussed items, often in an entertaining and communicative way

(benefits of communicative activities are discussed in chapter 3.6). As there is a big

19

number of materials supporting the central coursebook, the teacher´s book also provides

some useful connections between them: „Ideas on how to bring the different parts together

and suggestions on how and when the various components are best used should appear in

the teacher´s book“ (Cunningsworth 25). However, teacher following teachers´ books

should bear in mind that these procedures are sort of neutral and nobody knows their class

and students better than themselves, so they should not be afraid to do things differently

from the suggested procedures.

As can be seen from the arguments presented above, using coursebooks in classes brings

an enormous number of advantages. Nevertheless, although there are advantages, there

are also certain dangers teachers should be aware of, dealt with in the following chapter.

2.2 Disadvantages

This subchapter looks at some arguments against coursebooks. These are especially

important to be aware of as they are likely to be the reasons to be compensated for by

adjusting coursebooks.

2.2.1 Irrelevance

First of all, the coursebook can be unsatisfactory because of its irrelevance and disinterest

because „…in their choice of topics coursebooks can sometimes be bland and culturally

inappropriate“ (Harmer "The Practice Of English Language Teaching 2001" 304). Every

class is different and so is every individual within it. For that reason, students might not

find the topics presented in the coursebook appealing and thus their motivation and

progress lower if these are dealt with anyway as suggested in the coursebook. Harmer

says „…they are not written for your class. Each group of students is potentially different

from any other and while most published books are written with a ´general´ student

audience in mind your class is unique“ (Harmer "The Practice Of English Language

Teaching 1991" 258). It is important to keep in mind the fact, that coursebooks are created

to satisfy as great number of audience as possible. Although teachers are content with

their choice of a coursebook and trust it and its authors fully, it is absolutely fine to adjust

the part that might not be relevant or of interest for students.

20

Each student is an individual and not only has different interests but also needs, which is

where a coursebook fails to be satisfactory. „Ineffective, unhelpful teaching is teaching

that proceeds forward (perhaps according to a plan, according to what you wanted to do,

according to what the book says, according to a syllabus, according to whatever) without

reference to what impact this is having on the learners.“ (Scrivener 74). Therefore, if only

book is followed without taking a notice of students´ needs and reactions, the result of the

teaching process is not likely to be very effective. The issue of relevance is also attended

to 3.4.

2.2.2 Same format

Each unit in a coursebook usually has the same or very similar format. That enables both

students and teachers to get to know the book well, understand the pattern and thus makes

using it easier without the need to find one´s way around first. However, „…teachers and

students eventually become de-motivated by the sameness of it all“ (Harmer "The

Practice Of English Language Teaching 2001" 304). If the procedures in a chapter are too

predictable, element of surprise is eliminated and it may „…lead to boredom and lack of

motivation on the part of the learners“ (Ur 184). However good the coursebook selected

is, if it gets too repetitive, students become less engaged and thus the learning process is

not so effective. A possible solution is to provide variety, which is discussed more closely

in chapter 3.3.

2.2.3 Teachers´ skills

Relating to the excessive predictability of chapter in coursebooks, this can have a bad

impact on a teacher as well. Their abilities to create good quality lessons themselves

decline as they rely too heavily and too often on the coursebooks whose „…set structure

and sequence may inhibit teacher´s initiative and creativity…“ (Ur 184). While this may

be happening unconsciously as a coursebook (even very well selected) is followed, some

teachers may be aware of this fact which is extremely frustrating.

According to Hutchinson and Torres (1994, qtd. in Harmer "The Practice Of English

Language Teaching 2001" 304) „the adoption of a new coursebook provides a powerful

stimulus for methodological development“. There are certainly many benefits as

mentioned earlier, and relying on a coursebook can be beneficial especially for beginning

teachers, but there should be some limitations to the use of it in classes. Cunningsworth

21

suggests that if a book is followed very closely, there is not scope for development as

teachers are dependent on a coursebook which leads to „…a sharply reduced level of

creativity in teaching technique and language use“ (Cunningsworth10).

In short, teachers need to be aware that they are in charge of what is happening in the

classroom, not the coursebook. And although it might need to be followed, they are the

ones to assess the suitability of its activities, students´ needs and ways to adjust the

material.

2.2.4 Over reliance on framework

Although it has been mentioned earlier that a clear framework that a coursebook provides

is one of the main advantages, there are some dangers if not approached appropriately.

The content should not be the only orientation point to base one´s opinion on concerning

progress, because, „…although authorities may be satisfied at recordable data (pages

turned, books finished, syllabus covered, exams passed, etc.), the learning that has been

achieved may be largely illusory“ (Scrivener 74). Therefore, more ways to check progress

need to be applied.

To sum up, considering the number and value of presented advantages and disadvantages,

and professionals’ opinion, it is clear that positive aspects outweigh the negative ones.

Using coursebooks in classes and following its clear framework provides valuable

support both for students and teachers, saves an enormous amount of time and is a

convenient package. However, using coursebooks can also have a negative impact on

everybody involved if students’ needs are not taken into consideration or if the book is

followed too closely without flexibility and space for adjustments. That can lead to

boredom on the part of students and decrease of creativity on the part of teachers.

Fortunately, there are ways to compensate for the cons: most methodologists agree that

coursebooks should be flexibly adjusted in order to suit best a particular class. Particular

ways to do so are discussed in detail in the following chapter.

22

2.3 Teachers’ attitudes and roles

2.3.1 Attitude of teachers

This chapter looks at an important issue which is a relationship between a coursebook

and a teacher. Different teachers have different opinions on their use. Usually,

methodologists describe three kinds of attitudes: (Cunningsworth 10, Grant 7, Ur 183)

- Teachers closely follow one selected coursebook only

- Teachers do not use any coursebook, they create their own materials

- Teachers use a coursebook selectively and flexibly

The first two attitudes are extremes that are not generally considered good. The third is a

compromise between them, a „…situation is where a coursebook is used selectively, not

necessarily in sequence, and is extensively supplemented by other materials“ (Ur 183).

In my opinion, it is most desired, and I personally aim at, the third type.

With the approach where teacher bases his or her teaching solely on a coursebook there

are several considerable deficiencies, connected also to the drawbacks described in the

previous chapter. Inordinate reliance on a coursebook is prone to result in a lack of

variety, creativity and spontaneity in teaching, and reduced range of response to

individual student needs and problems (Cunningsworth 10). Although the advantages of

using coursebooks prevail, „…everybody agrees that the prefect coursebook does not

exist“ (Grant 8) and „most language-teaching coursebooks probably need supplementing

to some extent, if only in order to tailor them to the needs of a particular class or to offer

richer options“ (Ur 188). Therefore, relying on a coursebook without making appropriate

adjustments would be highly insufficient.

On the contrary, there are teachers who do not use any coursebooks at all and create their

own materials. There are circumstances where this attitude is justified, for example when

creating personalized courses, running summer schools or , as Grant mentions (7),

teaching English for Special Purposes. Nevertheless, given the value of positive effects

of using a coursebook, this strategy is not recommended on daily basis in general English

classes. The biggest drawback is that teachers cannot benefit from the fact how much time

the use of a coursebook saves and that makes this approach extremely time-consuming

and demanding. Moreover, most students simply want a coursebook because, as described

in the previous chapter, it provides an invaluable support for their self-study as well as

23

visual proof of a progress. Also, „they find that a folder full of classroom handouts fails

to satisfy in ways that a coursebook can“ (Grant 8). Related to this, origins of material

presented in classes also play an important role. Some experts say, that „good teacher-

made materials are arguably the best there are: relevant and personalized, answering the

needs of the learners in a way no other materials can” (Ur 192). That is what we do when

we adjust to some extent. However, some students may have a tendency to trust the

„official“ published material in a form of a coursebook more rather than a teacher-made

piece of paper, in my own experience.

The third approach that lies in between those two extremes is generally appraised the

most for its balance. In this case it is possible to utilize the advantages of using

coursebooks fully and at the same time compensate for the disadvantages effectively by

being flexible and doing adjustments. This approach is successful when teachers are

„…able to select material from a range of alternative resources, or where there is one

basic coursebook supported by a variety of supplementary materials“ (Cunningsworth

10). In that case, the core coursebook „…serves as a useful framework for language

content and sequencing but is used selectively, and is supplemented by other material

whenever this is thought to be desirable“ (Cunningsworth 10).

After studying those three approaches what it comes down to is that the success in

teaching is most likely to come when there is a main coursebook present in the course,

not followed slavishly though, but rather looked on as a framework and used selectively,

adjusted when needed.

2.3.2 Roles of teachers

Harmer says that „…creative coursebook use is one of a teacher’s main skills“ (Harmer

"How To Teach English" 155). What that means is that not only is he or she able to teach

a lesson based on a published material, but possesses certain skills that make the use of

the selected material more effective. In this way, teachers have a great responsibility and

can make big decisions: „When teachers open a page in their coursebook, they have to

decide whether or not they should use the lesson on that page with their class“ (Harmer

"How To Teach English" 146). In order to be able to make such decision, teachers need

to use their skill of judgement which rests on questions that need to be asked: „When is

it a good time to use a different method from that suggested in the book, to issue a

24

handout, to close the books, or to supplement the book with ideas or materials of our

own?“ (Grant 9). Therefore, teachers need to realize that it is not a problem to change the

given material. On the contrary, it is necessary to be done, because „learning and teaching

are not wholly predictable activities, and even teachers who know their classes well often

have to make adjustments to their planned lessons to accommodate an unexpected

difficulty encountered in an item to be taught, or to respond to the mood of a class on a

particular day“ (Cunningsworth 109).

Cunningsworth´s words can summarize the role of a teacher well as „…guiding learners

through the learning process, with support from the coursebook…“ (Cunningsworth 110).

The coursebook can, however, be adjusted whenever necessary.

2.3.3 What changes

After assessing the material and deciding not to use it for whatever reason, there are

several possibilities for adjustments that can be made:

„ - Adapt

- Replace

- Omit

- Add (Grant 17).

Harmer recommends the same four treatments of materials if it has been decided by a

teacher that they are inappropriate and he comments on them in a following way: „There´s

nothing wrong with omitting lessons from coursebooks. Teachers do it all the time,

developing a kind of ´pick and choose´ approach“ (Harmer "How To Teach English"

146). The easiest solution when omitting a lesson is to deal with the following unit. Also,

substituting this skipped lesson can either be done by replacing it by a completely

different material with no connection to the content of that particular unit, or covering

what the unit intended to deal with in a different way. On the contrary, instead of skipping

the lesson completely, extending it may be considered useful by adding something: „If

the lesson is rather boring, too controlled, or if it gives no chance for students to use what

they are learning in a personal kind of way, the teacher may want to add activities and

exercises which extend the students engagement with the language or topic“ (Harmer

"How To Teach English"146). Ur has a similar point of view: „If the tasks are too short

and do not provide for very much learner activity, they can be extended by, for example,

25

adding further similar items…“ (Ur 188). Sometimes, adaptation may be the solution for

a particular situation, for example „…if a reading text is dealt with in a boring or

uncreative way… (Harmer "How To Teach English" 147).

Apart from the activities and units themselves, instructions, arrangements or sequences

can be adjusted: „…even where coursebook tasks include explicit instructions……you

always have the option as a teacher to give a different organisational instructions. … And

even if you follow the book´s instructions, you still have the possibility of manipulating

the organisation a little…“ (Scrivener 42-43).

As written above, however high the quality of a coursebook, it may be necessary at times

to introduce adjustments: „There are always other ways of doing things even when the

original material is perfectly good“ (Harmer "How To Teach English" 147). It is

important to be aware of benefits and dangers of coursebook use before investigating

further in the following chapters that looks at some crucial factors that cause teachers

make the important decisions about to what extent to use a coursebook with a particular

class and under what circumstances to adjust it.

26

3. Adjustments

The previous few chapters were concerned with advantages and disadvantages of using

coursebooks which is an important basis for exploring the topic of coursebooks

adjustments deeper as some basic facts were stated that can now be built on. This chapter

addresses important aspects to consider in relation to adjusting coursebooks, such as what

can be done, when and how, so that the best results possible concerning learning and

teaching processes can be achieved.

3.1 How people acquire and learn language

It is essential to understand some basic principles of how one acquires and learns a

language in order to apply the knowledge gained in practice with using and consequently

adjusting coursebooks correctly. Clearly, it helps the process of adjusting material in

favour of students and effectiveness of materials.

Harmer makes a distinction between acquisition, which is subconscious and anxiety-free,

and learning, which is conscious (Harmer "How To Teach English" 47). Krashen suggests

that „…teachers should concentrate on acquisition rather than learning and the role of the

language teacher should be to provide the right kind of language exposure namely

comprehensible input (qtd. in Harmer "How To Teach English" 47). Everybody acquires

a language when being a child and that process is considered to be successful as people

do that well, are able to remember things relatively quickly and use the language

correctly. Therefore, attention should be devoted to how to make learning processes of

students as similar as possible to the first language acquisition in order to reach the same

level of fluency. Of course, the process can never be the same as conditions differ greatly.

There is a different level of success depending on age. While focusing on acquisition with

young learners who are still close to the event of acquiring their own native language, this

attitude may not work so effectively with another age category. „Perhaps, mere exposure

to comprehensible input is not enough, therefore, for older children and adults. Perhaps,

as some claim, they should draw their attention to aspects of language so that they can

notice these aspects; as a result they will recognise then when they come across them

again, and this recognition will be the first stage in their „knowing“ of the language which,

once known in this way, will be available for them to use“ (HAR Harmer "How To Teach

English" 48). The fact that students need to meet items once covered often is crucial here.

27

As suggested by Harmer above, this noticing functions as a kind of „acquisition“ that

results in better remembering. Therefore, there is a great need for recycling in language

teaching, because „it is rarely sufficient for students to meet new items only once“

(Cunningsworth 28). This is also dealt with in more detail in chapter 3.8.

Concerning the anxiety-free surrounding, which is when acquisition happens, teachers

can foster for this by creating a relaxed atmosphere in the classroom. An inspiration can

be drawn from suggestopedia, which is a concept developed by Georgi Lozanov in the

1970s and „…makes use of music, a comfortable and relaxing environment, and a

relationship between the teacher and the student…“ (Bowen). There are many ways of

doing so, depending on the conditions, possibilities of an institution, learners etc.

However, there are some basic solutions that can be applied generally. Being oneself and

not having a barrier caused by over-formality helps as well as taking care of coherence of

particular groups by working with classroom dynamics, which is addressed in more detail

in chapter 3.7.

Further, it is important to engage learners which can be done for example by starting the

class by a good lead-in. Starting a topic in a well thought-through way can serve as a basis

for a good lesson. „Whatever the main focus of the lesson (…), students always need to

be engaged, if possible, so that they can get maximum benefit from the learning

experience (Harmer "How To Teach English" 53). This is based on so-called ESA

principle, which is a shortcut that stands for engage, study and activate. Students should

be engaged emotionally, be curious, passionate and feel involved in the lesson, because

„…things are learnt much better if both our minds and our hearts are brought into service.

Engagement of this type is one of the vital ingredients for successful learning“ (Harmer

"How To Teach English" 52). Hence it is important to create a positive learning

environment before the „study“ stage that focuses on construction and controlled practice.

In the following step, „activate“, students should use the language freely and

communicatively. This kind of practice serves as „…a kind of rehearsal for the real world

(Harmer "How To Teach English" 53), which is extremely important, even more if

students are aware of the usefulness of what is happening in the classroom. That

realization is likely to make them feel more motivated and engaged once again. Ur

describes the usefulness of activating students and emphasizes that it is the teacher who

makes this happen, not the coursebook: „When preparing to teach a coursebook material,

28

it is worth devoting a little thought as to how best to activate learners in a particular task

in order to get optimum learning benefit out of it and make it interesting; and this is a

point on which many coursebooks fail to provide guidance“ (Ur 189). Universal

coursebooks hardly know how to activate particular learners, so it is up to a teacher to

modify materials to achieve so. For example on how to engage learners by implementing

lead-in into lessons, refer to lesson plan 2.3.

Moreover, nothing in language teaching is happening in isolation: „New learning is

constructed over the foundations of our own earlier learning“ (Scrivener 19-21).

Therefore, it is important to make connections and make sure students see them, too.

There are indeed many ways to enhance successful learning, for example implementing

topics of students´ interest, asking them to talk about themselves and thus personalising

the learning, providing variety and game-like activities, making students do things

themselves, giving them some responsibility and real-life tasks to communicate is likely

to lead to better results. These aspects influencing the effectiveness of a learning

processes will be addressed in a greater detail in the following chapters as they are

important and deserve special attention that will be dedicated to them and connected to

coursebook adjustments in separate chapters.

3.2 Individual differences

In every class there is a group of people looked upon as a whole, yet each individual

within that group may differ enormously from each other. Experts have been dealing with

the theories of learning styles and multiple intelligences for a long time in attempt to

satisfy as great number of learners as possible. As for learning styles, there are three basic

types: visual, auditory and kinesthetic. Based on Neuro-Linguistic Programming, learners

"...take in information chiefly through the eye, ear and movement, and that we each have

our own preferred learning style" (Berman 1). With regards to multiple intelligences,

Gardner distinguishes those: Linguistic, Logical/Mathematical, Spatial, Musical,

Bodily/Kinesthetic, Interpersonal, Intrapersonal and Naturalist. Richard and Rodgers

point out that people have all these within themselves but rather differ in their proportion

and combinations (Richards, and Rodgers 115). „What these theories tell us … is that in

any one classroom we have a number of different individuals with different learning styles

and preferences“ (Harmer "How To Teach English" 16). Clearly, no coursebook authors

29

can in advance predict what mixture of learners there will be in a class using a particular

coursebook. Undoubtedly, that is one of the reasons why teachers do and should turn to

adjusting the material used in order to cover as wide range of these intelligences and

styles, because "...the more angles you can give to learning a topic, then the more likely

pupils will understand and memorize it" (Starbuck 49).

As expressed earlier, many coursebooks nowadays are created for wide audiences and

thus do not always suit individual needs of everybody. Although it is possible to find

great-quality coursebooks on the market as their authors try to take the critique into

consideration and improve the published materials, it is necessary to sustain the healthy

relationship based on balance between the coursebook and their users. Coursebook

writers are „…attempting to build flexibility and balance into their materials. But the

coursebook rarely has the perfect balance that the teacher is looking for. The coursebook,

in other words, is an aid … and not a sacred text“ (Harmer "The Practice Of English

Language Teaching 1991" 258). That is to say, although the authors do their best and try

to address issues experts mention when describing drawback of a coursebook use, they

do not know the particular group of learners the coursebook is used with and cannot

satisfy everybody at the same time. „Even with an excellent coursebook… there comes a

point at which many teachers find they have to make their own occasional supplementary

workcards or worksheets“ (Ur 192). It is the teachers’ task to consider his or her students’

needs, individualities and assess the suitability of a material. In order to do this, teachers

need to observe students while conducting different activities: „As far as possible we also

need to listen to the students´ comments on how they are getting on, and which activities

and techniques they respond well or badly to“ (Harmer "How To Teach English" 26). The

implication, therefore, is, that teachers need to be attentive to their students´ reactions

based on diverse activities in their classroom. „In effect, this means offering a wide range

of different activity types in our lessons in order to cater for individual differences and

needs“ (Harmer "How To Teach English"16).

However, while some types of tasks only for specific learners, some things may work for

all kinds of learners. Harmer suggests, that „…homework is good for everyone and so is

reading for pleasure“ (Harmer "How To Teach English" 16). He also makes a

generalization that „…many of the speaking activities … are good for all the students in

the class, though the way we organize them may vary…“ (Harmer "How To Teach

30

English" 16). Nonetheless, the ways used to present such common tasks may vary as its

particularities always depend on the individuals and can be adjusted accordingly even to

a minimum extent.

A situation which is driven by individual needs the most is when there are individual

classes only with one student at a time. Under such circumstances, the advantage that

there is just one person with particular needs is made difficult by the fact that absolutely

everything needs to be adjusted to that particular person.

The following quote suitably summarizes the topic of individual differences within

students and also provides smooth transition into an issue dealt with in the following

chapter that is concerned with the importance of variety: „In any one class there will be a

number of different personalities with different ways of looking at the world. The activity

that is particularly appropriate for one student may not be ideal for another. But teachers

who vary their teaching approach may be able to satisfy most of their students at different

times“ (Harmer "The Practice Of English Language Teaching 1991" 259).

3.3 Variety

As suggested in the previous chapters, it is extremely important to provide variety in

language teaching. There are two main reasons:

One is to find out about students´ differences in order to cater for their individual needs

so that materials to be taught could be appropriately adjusted. „If we just go on teaching

the same thing day after day without being aware of our students´ reactions, it will become

more and more difficult to maintain the rapport that is so important for successful classes“

(Harmer "How To Teach English" 26). If teachers do not implement variety of activities,

it is not an easy task to find out objectively what students are in favour of and therefore

it may be difficult to make a choice in terms of materials adjustments.

The second reason is because keeping variety in classes brings positive benefits: „Good

teachers vary activities and topics over a period of time. The best activity type will be less

motivating the sixth time we ask students to take part in it than it was when they first

came across it. Much of the value of an activity, in other words, resides in its freshness“

(Harmer "How To Teach English" 29). However, at the same point, Harmer admits being

aware of the possible obligation to repeat the same activity but provides an alternative

31

solution: „But even where we use the same activity types for some reason (because the

curriculum expects this or because it is a feature of the materials we are using), it is

important to try to ensure that learner roles are not always the same. … A lot depends on

exactly what we are asking student to do“ (Harmer "How To Teach English" 29).

Therefore, varying students´ roles and their specific tasks can solve the problem of not

having enough variety to always provide fresh and attractive material.

The variety is difficult to achieve with coursebooks following the same format (see

chapter 2.2.2 on its disadvantages) and the teacher´s books suggesting very similar

procedures. „Classes will start appearing increasingly similar and the routine will become

increasingly monotonous.“ (Harmer "The Practice Of English Language Teaching 1991"

257) And this is exactly the point when it is a good idea to adjust the material slightly.

„You may need to supplement also in order to provide more heterogeneous or interesting

tasks...to provide material which is relevant“ (Ur 188). Otherwise, if activities are not of

interest to learners, „…there is a danger that if we always do things in the same order,

students will become bored; predictability can diminish students´ enthusiasm and

motivation – and ours, as teachers, too“ (Harmer "How To Teach English" 54). Therefore,

certain elements of surprise need to be preserved and tasks modified often. If a

coursebook does not provide variety, teachers should create it themselves. For an example

on how to vary similar language presentations see lesson plan 2.6.

Although not all the books follow similar format, using it only is not likely to have a good

effect on learning processes: „…even with good coursebooks, students may find the study

of English becoming routine and thus less and less motivating“ (Harmer "The Practice Of

English Language Teaching 1991" 257).

What it comes down to is that the comfortable routine should be disrupted sometimes

however good a coursebook being used is, because it has not been created for a particular

group of students teachers may find themselves teaching: „The balanced activities

approach realises the need for balance, in terms of the different activities with which the

students are faced, in order to provide them with interesting and varied programme of

study. And the best person to achieve the correct balance is the teacher who knows the

students…“ (Harmer "The Practice Of English Language Teaching 1991" 258). Any

coursebook fails to substitute the roles of a teacher in terms of personal connection and

32

knowledge of students, their interests and needs, based on which adjustments are decided

to be done.

Not only do the tasks need to be changed often to keep certain freshness in classes, but

also because making activities varied means making teachers think of different ways of

doing things and thus, very likely, satisfying needs of a greater number of learners, rather

than just sticking to one form of a particular book.

3.4 Relevance

One of the things that our students bring to class and we should be aware of and act on

are their interests: Often we will take planning decisions on the basis of student interest

rather than anything else: it should not be forgotten that interest is a primary ingredient

of motivation. (Harmer "The Practice Of English Language Teaching 1991" 263) In the

chapter focused on disadvantages it has already been warned against presenting topics

that are not related to students´ interests and thus are irrelevant to them (see chapter 2.2.1).

It can lead to lower motivation and slower progress. „Teachers can make a positive

contrinution to students´ motivation to learn if classroom are places that students enjoy

coming to because the content is interesting and relevant to their age and level of

ability…“ (Lightbown, and Spada 88). Fortunately, the content and its topics are

something adjustable in case a coursebook does not offer what teachers or students like.

The issue of relevance and students´ interest is closely connected to a content of courses.

There are, generally, two types of contents:

- Language/ linguistic content that is concerned with grammar, functions and

vocabulary (Barrios 42)

- Non-language/ non-linguistic/ subject/ topic content are „topics the language talks

about…“ (Ur 197).

„…non-language contents in ELT coursebooks appear to gain in importance thus adding

a dimension of interest and motivation“ (Barrios 40). To keep this motivation,

coursebooks should present subject matter that is „…informative, challenging, amusing,

exciting and occasionally, provocative“ (Cunningsworth 86). Teachers can therefore

adjust their materials accordingly so that they contain the attributes above, for example

by adding something extra.

33

Another division about subject content to be made is:

- Imaginary - Ur calls this zero or trivial content that contain „…sentences about

fictional ´Mary and John´ doing everyday activities (Ur 198). Cook see its main

advantage in the fact that „…it motivates and entertains the students, rather like a

television soap opera…“ (Cook).

- Real – It „…consists of information about the real world outside the classroom,

its events, problems, and places“ (Cook).

Compared to Cook, Cunningsworth sees the big value in a real content: „…using English

to convey information about an aspect of the real world is providing a better model of

language use than describing some imaginary non-existent construct, and at the same time

is more likely to motivate the learner“ (Cunningsworth 86). It seems that opinions on this

issue vary and it is up to individual teachers to assess their students´ interests, preferences

and then decide which type of content would be more appropriate. Adjusting coursebooks

to achieve the best result possible seems to be the best option here.

Also, content can be characterized as:

- Authentic

- Non-authentic

Authentic language is „…produced naturally by native speakers, rather than language

specially designed for teaching (Cook). While Cunningsworth (75) argues that „we

should look for progression towards the authentic as early as possible, whilst expecting

non-authentic texts to display realistic discourse structure…“, Ur departs from this view

saying that „the use of authentic texts in early stages of learning can be often frustrating

and counter-productive as it can present difficult, unknown language“ (Ur 150). However,

it is indeed possible to include authentic materials at low levels without demotivating

learners, for example already understandable items such as timetables, menus and signs

(Harmer "How To Teach English"100).

The following conclusions can be drawn: Non-language content in coursebooks is an

important aspect and teachers should make sure it matches with their students´ interests.

If the topics are found irrelevant, it is possible to make adjustments, for example, in a way

of introducing topics concerning real-life, adding authentic items to spice up the lessons

34

or, on the other hand, if students struggle with the reality, or are children, come up with

fictional characters to present grammar through.

3.5 Personalisation

As described earlier, teachers can maintain the students´ interest by getting to know them

well in order to adjust materials to their need so that it is relevant, or by varying activities.

Another way is by involving them actively in classes: „The activities we ask students to

take part in will, if they involve the students or excite their curiosity – and provoke their

participation – help them to stay interested in the subject“ (Harmer "How To Teach

English" 20). Similarly, Klippel says that „Learning is more effective if the learners are

actively involved in the process“ (Klippel 5). Personalisation is a kind of involvement,

Harmer describes it as a situation „…where students use language they have studied to

talk about themselves, or to make their own original dialogues…“ (Harmer "How To

Teach English" 53). This is considered beneficial according to Speaking personally,

which is a book of activities focused exactly on personalised tasks, because „…people

will learn more readily and efficiently if they are actively and personally involved in their

language lessons“ (Ladousse). Therefore, personalising is a suitable way of adjusting

materials and Harmer also mentions it as one of the possibilities: „There are number of

things we can do with a static piece of text…: personal engagement, word formation,

word games“ (Harmer "How To Teach English" 150). Similarly, Hadfield suggests that

teacher should „…use activities with a more personal and motivating focus, particularly

if their coursebook is rather dry, or concerned with the exploits of a fictional character

who is not particularly interesting or relevant to the students“ (Hadfield 59).

In summary, adapting an exercise, adding something to it if students need more practice

to make it more relevant through personalisation, or replacing a piece of material

completely by something more personalised is bound to be beneficial for students. „One

good way of getting the best of both worlds, humanistic and linguistic, is to use

´personalized´ grammar practice exercises, which often provide very concentrated

practice of grammatical point, but which have a personal focus“ (Hadfield 59). To see an

example of implementing personalisation into classes, see lesson plans 2.2, 2.4, 2.5, 2.6.

35

3.6 Communication

This chapter presents benefits of a communicative approach and why teachers should

adjust their materials to make it communicative and a few suggestions when and how to

do so.

The communicative approach is based on the idea that learning language successfully

comes through having to communicate real meaning ("Communicative approach").

When people speak together in real life, they are doing so for a specific reason, Harmer

describes this situation as follows: „They want to say something…They have some

communicative purpose“ (Harmer "The Practice Of English Language Teaching 1991"

46-47). He emphasizes the importance of presence of such purpose in classroom

activities: „Whatever activity the students are involved in, if it is to be genuinely

communicative and if it is really promoting language use, the students should have a

desire to communicate. If they do not want to be involved in communication then that

communication will probably not be effective. The students should have some kind of

communicative purpose“ (Harmer "The Practice Of English Language Teaching 1991"

49). Sometimes, it is present naturally, on other occasions, teachers need to create good

conditions for such communication. “Two devices help the teacher in making up

communicative activities: information gap and opinion gap” (Klippel 4). Teachers can

then introduce activities containing these gaps. „By creating classroom activities that

include such information gaps, we can provide activities that mimic this reason for

communication, and this may be more motivating and useful to language learners than

speaking without any real reason for doing so“ (Scrivener 53). Moreover, „most real-life

communication comes about because of such gaps of information (or of opinions or ideas,

etc.)“ (Scrivener 52). As almost every student wishes to be able to have a smooth

conversation in English, rehearsal for such situation that is likely to come in the real life

is of a great benefit. If teaching materials to be followed do not contain these, it is up to

teachers to adjust them so.

Activities containing the gaps, as described above, have an enormous value. Nevertheless,

there are certain drawbacks Hadfield warns against. In spite of appreciating value of gap

activities and encouragements for discussions they provide, she says that „…from the

point of view of successful group dynamics, the effect of a series of such activities over

36

a term or a year, with the consequent constant emphasis on individual differences of

opinion or taste, may be to intensify divisions in the groups“ (Hadfield "Classroom

dynamics" 64). Implementation of too many gap activities might endanger the group

dynamics as „groups are more likely to be cohesive and amicable if their members have

some things in common“ (Hadfield "Classroom dynamics" 64). In practice, the same

author provides a solution in a form of ‘bridging’ activities the aim of which is „to bring

people together, by emphasizing the qualities they share rather than what is different

about them“ (Hadfield "Classroom dynamics" 64). Teachers should keep in mind both

arguments for and against gap activities and adjust their material accordingly on account

of their students.

Littlewood distinguishes between two types of learning activities: pre-communicative,

where „the learners´ main purpose is to produce language which is acceptable … rather

than to communicate meanings effectively“ (Littlewood 85), and communicative, where

In other words, the first phase is a trial for the second one, where learners are expected to

connect learnt structures with meanings and thus carry out successful communication.

The same author acknowledges that adjustments to materials are sometimes necessary:

„Even when the teacher is using a published course, he has to consider whether it should

be adapted or complemented, so that it will be more suited to his learners´ needs“

(Littlewood 76). The issue of learners´ needs plays a significant role in creation of

communicative activities because in order to make them relevant and thus effective,

students´ interests have to be taken into account and the activities created around them.

In practice, teachers can focus on „…language that reflects as closely as possible the

topics that the learner might want to talk about“ (Littlewood 77) or attempt to „…relate

the language practice to communicative functions which learners might need to express“

(78). Although the author says that students can develop their communicative skills by

using language that may seem irrelevant, he underlines how effective and motivating it is

when language is being dealt with through topics of their interest (Littlewood 77-78).

„Traditional coursebooks exercises – however necessary and useful they may be for pre-

communicative grammar practice – do not as a rule forge a link between the learners and

the foreign language. Meaningful activities on a personal level can be a step towards this

identification, which improves performance and generates interest“ (Klippel 5). This is

an example of where teachers might need to adjust their material in order to foster for a

successful communication of students in the future (which is very often the main goal of

37

one’s studies), because an universal coursebook can rarely be relevant and of interest to

all its users. For more information refer to these issues in chapters 3.2 and 3.4.

3.7 Classroom dynamics

As discussed in the previous chapters, personalising tasks is a good way to adjust

materials as they involve students and have good impact on the learning process.

Preparing good conditions for such activities is key here. Creating good atmosphere is an

important basis for activities containing personalisation because „speaking about oneself

is not something that everyone does with ease. It becomes impossible, even for the most

extrovert person, if the atmosphere in the group is hostile and the learner concerned is

afraid of being ridiculed or mocked“ (Klippel 7). Therefore, attention should also be given

to ways teachers can make students feel good and relaxed.

Moreover, Hadfield implies that there is often a problem with using inadequate

coursebooks but she expresses her own personal bad teaching experience due to negative

atmosphere in group (9). According to her, it is all right to depart from the core teaching

resource and „…occasionally to plan in activities that may be unrelated to the syllabus

but which have a positive effect on group cohesion (Hadfield "Classroom dynamics" 13).

Some teachers may have a tendency to reject this idea automatically due to their lack of

time as they focus on following syllabus or a coursebook. Nonetheless, the author

suggests that, instead of creating extra slot in timetable for these activities,

„…considerations of group dynamics should form part of your criteria for selecting these

activities (21). In other words, selecting tasks should be accompanied by a thought on

what impact the particular activity would have on students, their feeling about the class,

classroom dynamics and the overall atmosphere in class. Coursebook exercises and

activities can be adjusted with that information in mind. „The atmosphere within a class

or group can largely be determined by the teacher, who – quite often without being aware

of it – sets the tone by choosing certain types of exercises and topics“ (Klippel 6).

The issue of classroom dynamics is closely tied to use of coursebooks as it is a type of

material that prevails and often contains exercises asking student to work in pairs or

groups: „…in present-day EFL classrooms, where pairwork and groupwork have become

the norm, relationships within the group become more important: it is fundamental to the

success of these activities to have support and co-operation between its members

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(Hadfield "Classroom dynamics" 10). Unwanted situations such as students´ frustration

that can contribute to negative atmosphere need to be avoided: „it is important to ensure

that students do not always work with the same partner or partners for several reasons:

always working with the same partner may will place limits on the amount of language

used – pairs may develop their own ´restricted code´, always using the same vocabulary

and phrases. They may also get to know each other too well, and have too few information

gaps, thus becoming bored with each other (Hadfield "Classroom dynamics" 52).

Therefore, the author suggests implementing different reseating games to prevent the

problems described above. Making activities more „mingling“ to make sure students

speak to different people is a good idea how to adjust a material if they contain too much

work in pairs and teachers have a tendency to set up the same pairs always. For an

example of a change of pairs during activities, see lesson plan 2.3.

Furthermore, it is important to make sure that each student participates more or less

equally in the classes. It is undoubtedly difficult to achieve as there are many different

personalities among students and these are indeed reflected in their classroom

contribution. However, there are certain ways to cater for this issue and make quiet

students speak, for example by implementing activities that save students the need to

invent something but rather give them something to say. Also, as the shy ones might not

enjoy speaking personally to a big extent, making turn-taking activities game-like rather

than based on real life is likely to help (Hadfield "Classroom dynamics" 122). Again, this

problem can be avoided if teachers make adjustments to their materials accordingly.

Being authentic as a teacher, meaning being oneself, also contributes to a creation of an

effective learning environment where the class, as a result, feels less official, students are

more comfortable and relaxed, rather than worried about making mistakes. Scrivener

mentions three important qualities of a teacher: respect, empathy and authenticity,

highlighting the last one the most: „Not to play the role of a teacher, but to take the risk

of being vulnerable and human and honest“ (Scrivener 24). Students are capable of

appreciating these qualities, especially if they see that their teachers are real, honest

people, and „the educational climate become positive, forward looking and supportive“

(Scrivener 24). On the contrary, Harmer suggests that „…teaching is much more than just

´being ourselves´, however much some students want to see the real person. We have to

be able to present a professional face to students which they find both interesting and

39

effective“ (Harmer "How To Teach English" 24). As far as I am concerned, the decision

whether to be totally authentic or put on a certain teacher´s role depends on many factors,

such as the age of students, the type of relationship with them, the type of institution etc.,

and I find this idea of Harmer to be a suitable summary concerning the teacher: „Effective

teacher personality is a blend between who we really are, and who we are as teachers“

(Harmer "How To Teach English" 24).

3.8 Recycling

Another important need coursebooks often fail to assist with, and therefore needs to be

adjusted, is concerned with recycling. Language items dealt with in classes „…need to be

met in context and actively practised, they need to be recycled three, four or more times

before they become stored in a long-term memory“ (Cunningsworth 28). When

describing exam course, Scrivener states the following which is also applicable to any

other course or teaching event: „It is often a good idea … to take care that item, once met,

are recycled usefully“ (Scrivener 327).

Further, Cunningsworth suggests a smooth line between the process of recycling and

introducing a new topic: „As basic principle of learning is to more from the familiar to

the new, and to relate new items to those already known, recycling of previously taught

items can be linked to the first presentation of a new item“ (Cunningsworth 28).

Although some coursebooks and teacher´s books offer ideas on how to revise certain

language with learners, it is seldom enough. Moreover, it is impossible for authors of

published materials to include the right amount of recycling activities because that is

highly individual. They do not know the classes their book will be used in and how often

students will be in need of revising language. Therefore, it is a task of a teacher to assess

the students´ needs for recycling and provide them with a number of opportunities to do

so. In most cases, teacher have to supplement their core book, add exercises, create and

conduct activities where the target language would be used again.

3.9 Games

This chapter looks at benefits of implementing games into language teaching. These could

be either added to the syllabus as an extra activity or based on the main coursebook with

its exercises adjusted to make it more game-like.

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Firstly, a question is posed what a game is: „A game is an activity with rules, a goal and

an element of fun“ (Hadfield "Intermediate Communication Games" v). The element of

fun is an important aspect of games as „…fun generates energy for the achievement of

the serious goal“ (Rinvolucri, and Davis "More grammar games" 3). The goal is also

made reachable: „Games provide a clear short term achievable aim for students…“

(Hadfield "Writing games" vi). Moreover, although talking about games aimed at writing,

what Hadfield writes about can be related to other language areas as well: „Students who

are having fun are usually motivated, so they will find writing made more interesting and

more enjoyable, and will begin to improve as a result“ (Hadfield "Writing games" vi).

Most students usually like games and their immersion in them can lead to a positive result:

„During games, learners are attracted to their plot, their shyness disappears and so does

their dislike to express oneself in foreign language. Games help to eliminate translation

from the first into the target language and creates basis for thinking in foreign language“

(Eibenová et al. 11, translated by the author). The extent of involvement can be big

indeed, especially in competitive games. „In this heightened atmosphere a lot of learning

takes place witout the students noticing the are studying“ (Rinvolucri, and Davis "More

grammar games" x). Although this is in general a positive aspect, both teachers and

students may find the absence of being aware that learning is taking place unsatisfying

and thus not be fond of them. For example, some teachers might not consider games

suitable enough for business context and may be afraid to introduce them in companies.

However, „…this view has more to do with teacher fears than students disposition. If you

present games activities within a goal-oriented frame, then fully fledged business people

instantly see the point (Rinvolucri, and Davis "More grammar games x). Whether or not

games seem to be serious enough and thus adequate for a particular context, teachers

should focus on making students see their usefulness, because „they provide, in many

cases, as much concentrated practice as a traditional drill and, more importantly, they

provide an opportunity for real communication, albeit within artificially defined limits,

and thus constitute a bridge between the classroom and the real world“ (Hadfield

"Intermediate Communication Games" v). Basically, teacher need to be aware of their

benefits and make sure students see them too.

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The author of Grammar games describes his own experience how he uses games in

teaching. Although his book focuses on grammar-oriented games, I believe this can be

applied to other kinds as well, for example vocabulary games:

„ a) Diagnostically before presenting a given structure area to find out how much

knowledge of the area is already disjointedly present in the group;

b) After a grammar presentation to see how much the group have grasped;

c) As revision of a grammar area „ (Rinvolucri "Grammar games" 3).

Hadfield writes about similar usage like in a): „They can also serve as a diagnostic tool

for the teacher who can note areas of difficulty and take appropriate remedial action“

(Hadfield "Intermediate Communication Games" v). If a coursebook presents a new

language point and teachers wish to know how much of it their students already know but

the coursebook does not give any tips on that, they can come up with a game to find out.

Similarly, if more of freer practice is needed, games are good activities to be added. Also,

there may be enough exercises to practice particular language points, but to provide more

variety, generate students´ interest and make them involved, some coursebook exercises

can be adjusted into a game. Even better if these games make students get up and move

around as „a percentage of people of any age cannot be comfortable unless their periods

of stillness are broken up by regular oasis of movement“ (Rinvolucri, and Davis "More

grammar games" xiii).

Sometimes, games may form a small part of a lesson: „…once you have prepared the

main components of your lesson, and made sure it is (hopefully!) learning-rich, varied

and interesting, you may find you still need some extra ingredients to make it into a

smooth, integrated unit“ (Wright, and Ur x). The element missing could be something

that is not included in the instructions of a coursebook or teacher’s book but teacher feels

like doing it, for example an activity to start or end an lesson with, or change the mood

(Wright, and Ur x). These initial and end parts of lessons are extremely important:

„Learning is like exercise for the brain! Without a warm-up and a cool-down, the brain

can easily feel the strain…“ (Moir 7). As suggested earlier in this thesis when dealing

with engagement, lead-ins, or warm-ups as Moir calls them, play an important role in

lessons.

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Given the pros described above, „Games should be regarded as an integral part of the

language syllabus, not as an amusing activity for Friday afternoon or for the end of term“

(Hadfield "Intermediate Communication Games" v). Another author agrees with this

view: „I do not use grammar games as a Friday afternoon ´reward´ activity – I use them

as a central part of the students´ learning process“ (Rinvolucri "Grammar games" 3).

Another issue concerning games is connected to their presentation. The teacher´s role is

to supply the initial enthusiasm and input of energy and ideas“( Hadfield "Writing games"

vii). A question can be posed in what language, though. Eibenová et al. (12, translated by

the author) prefer to present instructions in learners´ mother tongue because it is difficult

for them to understand the rules otherwise, and as a result, the explanation in English

takes more time than actual game. However, even in the mother tongue it can take quite

a time to explain and there´s often no way of knowing if some or all the students have

misunderstood something until they start playing the game (Rinvolucri, and Davis "More

grammar games" xv). Another teachers´ role, apart from being enthusiastic at the

iniciation of the games, is to observe process and step in and re-explain if necessary. It is

useful to keep general teaching principles in mind, one of them can be especially useful

in connection to games: „Demonstrations are often a better way of introducing a task than

a wordy explanation“ (Scrivener 49).

Games can be used in all language areas the proof of which is the wide variety of books

providing teachers with many ideas and materials for the games and fun activities, for

exmple: Games for grammar practice (Zaorob, and Chin), Grammar games and activities

(Watcyn-Jones, and Howard-Williams), Grammar games and activities for teachers

(Watcyn-Jones), Games for vocabulary practice (O´Dell, and Head), series of Play games

with English (Granger) , Pronunciation games (Hancock) etc. In general, grammar and

vocabulary games books tend to prevail. This is, in my opinion, because these areas make

the most important points in syllabus and can also be easily adapted in games and other

fun activities, while with listening or writing, for example, it is not so typical. Therefore,

abilities to adjust coursebooks may be utilised in lessons by teachers who wish to

implement games that are not easily obtainable.

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3.10 Experiential learning

Another concept worth exploring and incorporating into classes is experiential learning.

This chapter introduces its main idea and suggests what benefits the application of these

techniques may bring when using them to adjust coursebooks.

Beard states that „Traditional learning, with the teacher or trainer spouting facts and

figures and with pupils or participants regurgitating the information without deeper

involvement, is a very ineffective form of learning“ (Beard, and Wilson1). The question

that could be posed now is how to involve students more deeply so that the learning taking

place is more beneficial. Scrivener´s statement provides a possible solution: „…the

essential learning experience is in doing the thing yourself“ (Scrivener 20). The approach

of learning by doing is paramount in this chapter. A definition summarizing the key term

goes as follows: „The term experiential learning is used to refer to a wide range of

educational approaches in which formal learning (in institutional contexts) is integrated

with practical work and informal learning... " (Kohonen 22). Further, the process of

experiencing something itself can be characterized as „…a linking process between action

and thought“ (Beard, and Wilson 18). Relating to learning by doing, it can be perceived

that „…foundation of much learning is the interaction between self and the external

environment, in other words the experience (Beard, and Wilson 19). Therefore, teachers

need to make sure students get enough external stimuli during their time in the classroom.

Coursebooks usually do not offer such activities as their authors, creating their materials

for large and varied audience, cannot foresee their users´ possibilities hence leave this

role up to a teacher who is aware of the context and should be able to decide appropriately

what can be done to make the course more experiential and thus more effective.

Based on the previous paragraph, implementation of experiential learning into classes is

likely to lead to positive result of students. Experiencing things help people remember

things better: we are said to remember: „20 % of what we read, 20 % of what we hear, 30

% of what we see, 50 % of what we see and hear, 70 % of what we see, hear, and discuss,

90 % of what we see, hear, discuss and practice“ (Dale qtd.in Semerádová). Beard shares

the same opinion: „The more senses we use in an activity the more memorable the

learning experience will become because it increases the neural connections in our brains

and therefore will be more accessible“ (Beard, and Wilson 7). Therefore it is indeed useful

to bring senses to classes and substitute for them if not present in coursebooks. What can

44

be drawn on the quotes above is the uslelessness of learning about language, rather than

giving students chance to try things out: „…people learn more by doing things themselves

rather than by being told about them“ (Scrivener 21). Putting these principles into

practice, teacher could be thinking for instance like this: „I need to ensure that I allow my

students practical experience in doing things“ (Scrivener 21).

In addition, there is a parallel between experiential learning and some important issues

discussed earlier in the thesis, such as personalisation, involvement, body movement,

variety: „Active engagement is one of the basic tenets of experiential learning:

experiential learning undoubtedly involves the ´whole person´, through thoughts, feelings

and physical activity“ (Beard, and Wilson 2). It is therefore visible how complex all these

aspects are.

Although there are clear benefits, there are some aspects that prevent teachers from

implementing experiential techniques in their classes: „classroom time constraints,

difficulties with assessment, and lack of training in how to meet course outcomes

experientially“ (Knutson qtd in Sobotka). However, after devoting certain amount of time

to searching for information and practical ideas on how to use experiential learning

activities, the outcome is bound to bring its benefits in terms of students´ learning progress

and the extent to which they enjoy English lessons. See lesson plan 2.3 for an example of

adjusting a coursebook exercise in an experiential way.

3.11 Autonomy

Autonomy is a rather new concept, yet it has been proved that promoting autonomy in

classes is beneficial: „One way of helping students to sustain their motivation is to give

them, as far as is feasible, some agency … which means that students should take some

responsibility for themselves, and that they should … be the ´doers´ in class“ (Harmer

"How To Teach English" 21). Providing students with enough opportunities to act

autonomously can therefore influence their results positively. Ur describes the same

concept by referring to it as individualization as „…a situation where learners are given

a measure of freedom to choose how and what they learn at any particular time (implying

less direct teacher supervision and more learner autonomy and responsibility for

learning), and there is some attempt to adapt or select tasks and materials to suit the

individual” (233). This chapter investigates the topic further so that the reader can, based

45

on proper understanding of this issue, adjust coursebooks accordingly to promote

autonomy.

Firstly, switching to autonomous learning is likely to be rather difficult task due to

traditional roles that are deeply rooted in them. Teachers usually have control in terms of

choice of activities, correcting errors and learning itself, whereas students are passive and

follow his or her teacher without any responsibility for learning (Sheerin 3). „This is liable

to hinder learning because of lack of involvement and self-investment in the learning

process on the part of the student“ (Sheerin 3). Harmer also admits that taking

responsibility for learning „…may be difficult for some students from certain educational

backgrounds and cultures who have been led to believe that it is the teacher´s job to

provide learning“ (Harmer "How To Teach English" 21). He goes on to explain that the

transition into more autonomous learning needs to be done slowly as imposing is likely

to have the opposite effect, and provides an example how to start introducing activities

promoting autonomy gradually rather than suddenly and by force: „At first we will expect

them, for example, to make their own dialogues after they have listened to a model on an

audio track. Such standard practice (getting students to try out new language) is one small

way of encouraging student involvement in learning“ (Harmer "How To Teach English"

21). Further, he suggests a few more practical ideas, for example assigning tasks such as

exploring some language issues by students themselves rather than having them explained

by a teacher, reading for pleasure, looking for their own resources, using dictionaries etc.

The fact that each student is an individual and that there are notable differences between

them has already been described in a chapter 3.2. After mentioning some of them, for

example psychological and personality differences, different study habits, motivations

and purposes, Sheerin argues that „the evidence for the existence of psychological,

personality, and motivational differences between students is overwhelming and it is this,

perhaps, more than anything that provides one of the the strongest reasons for introducing

some measure of individualized instruction in order to cater for, and indeed exploit, these

differences“ 6). He proposes an idea of setting up a self-access centre (a place that would

promote autonomy) or introducing self-access work in the classroom: „This can be done

by setting up semi-permanent activity corners“, where each corner would be concerned

with a specific area of language (Sheerin 23). These can be based on commonly used

46

materials such as coursebooks, yet adjusted in a certain way: „Books or workbooks can

be cut up to form small, self-contained units of work…“ (Sheerin 23).

It is noteworthy that some students know little about learning processes and are not aware

of possible learning strategies that could help them achieve better results: „It may be

useful to help students become more aware about how they are learning, to reflect on this

and to explore what procedures, materials, techniques or approaches would help them

learn more effectively“ (Scrivener 21).

By adjusting coursebook exercises adequately, teachers can aim at supporting learners’

autonomy and self-reliance. There are indeed coursebooks that realize the importance of

this issue and by using certain type of activities promote students´ independency off

teacher. For instance, Face2Face series includes a summary section at the end of the

student´s book where students are often instructed to go and check their answers to

different exercises on their own. (see appendices to lesson plan 2.6). If a particular book

used is not keen on such approach, teachers can adjust the instructions suggested perhaps

in a teacher´s book and ask students to search for correct answers in dictionaries or at

home instead of a peer comparison or a whole-class check. Another way of encouraging

development of autonomy is assigning students tasks to carry out outside of the classroom

because „homework creates an autonomous learner“ (Painter 9). Compared to learning

that happens in classes, „work done alone, or occasionally in pairs or small groups,

outside the classroom, is a different form of learning, where the learners can decide for

themselves how to tackle the tasks, in ways which suit their own preferred modes of

learning“ (Painter 3). However, having dealt with the importance of variety in chapter

3.3, although a coursebook contains parts that promote autonomy, it is necessary to

change the stages of the particular exercises so as not to make the classes monotonous.

The same applies to homework that should be made interesting, varied and useful.

Despite the huge promotion autonomous approach receives from various sources, that is

not to say that teachers cannot enrich students by their contribution. Learners „…can

benefit from the knowledge and skills that teachers bring without necessarily losing their

independence“ (Sheerin 197). The author suggests that the ideal learning environment

combines expert help and direction, group-directed learning and self-access facilities

(Sheerin 197).

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To sum up, adjusting some coursebook exercises from time to time to make them support

independence of students, increase their motivation by making them an equal partner in

the learning process, and to cater for their individual needs is expected to be extremely

valuable.

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4. In practice

Needless to say, adjusting coursebooks is an action that should be implemented to

teachers´ preparation on daily basis. Nonetheless, apart from everyday teaching which is

mainly dealt with in the previous chapters, this chapter provides other examples of this

approach that works with coursebooks selectively or not at all in practice.

When organizing an experiential course, coursebooks are not expected to be a part of it

as they symbol the traditional schooling system which does not support real life

experience, creativity, fun etc. As addressed in chapter 3.10, the main focus is on

engaging learners´ senses, so the content should be created based on this principle.

Similarly, when summer schools or camps are organized, it is expected to learn the

language in a freer and more fun way rather where the content can be adapted to particular

groups, their interests and abilities, rather than following a neutral material. Nevertheless,

in my opinion, the inspiration can definitely arise from a coursebook, the activity of

which, when adjusted appropriately, might be very well suitable in all kinds of contexts

even outside of a traditional classroom, for example in experiential courses or summer

schools. Therefore, the ability to adjust coursebooks comes in handy even when teachers

are expected not to use books at all, as they can serve at least as an inspiration for a good-

quality activity.

From the commercial sector, two Brno-based businesses are worth mentioning. None of

them uses coursebooks in their classes. Firstly, it´s Nina English, the founder of which is

Nina Hanáková, a Czech English teacher who offers mainly experiential courses and

courses for women that always run without books. On the issue concerning the use of

coursebooks in the classes, she says:

I don´t want to teach from books anymore. In today´s world, where almost

everyone has internet access, they are simply not needed. And I decided to set

myself and my students free, to give the students freedom in what they want to

learn.

Many people refer to coursebooks as something that gives the course a

structure. But how can everyone’s life be the same, people are not interested in

the same things. And life doesn’t go from 1 to 20, it’s not linear, it’s chaotic. So

instead I guide students to set their language goals, I help them create a study plan

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and that’s their structure. And we focus on the process, the journey, much more

than the results. This way the students fall in love with learning, they start

understanding it’s their responsibility to acquire knowledge, they naturally start

surrounding themselves with resources that fit their individual needs and the

change happens right there. To me, coursebooks represent the old system, they are

in the way, no need for them really. ("Nina on Teaching without Textbooks and

Being a Teacher to Remember")

Secondly, it is TeachMe that provides classes without coursebooks. The information on

their website states:

We are not fan of ordinary lessons with boring books, we believe in interactive

content created and customized by our lectors. The grammar and vocabulary is presented

in tablets and available to you at anytime anywhere. You don't need to carry any

textbooks and you can study even from home in case you can't attend your lesson.

Each unit is usually created based on the linguistic needs of the group and involves

current interesting topics. That's how we influence the popularity of our content; in the

end it is always interesting for the group. ("TeachMe the best language school in Brno")

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PRACTICAL PART

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1. Lesson planning

This chapter deals with issues connected to lesson planning related to the practical part

of this thesis.

The process of lesson planning is based on procedures suggested by Harmer, Ur and

Scrivener, namely topics of pre-planning, planning itself, staging, creating clear aims,

changing lessons and reflecting. Refer to my Bacherlor thesis lesson planning chapter

(Polášková) as the information there is still valid and served as a base for lesson planning

in this diploma thesis as well.

On top of that, all aspects addressed in chapter 3 of this thesis need to be taken into

consideration when planning lessons and possible adjustments allowed to be done in order

to make the lessons as effective as possible.

1.1 Lesson plans template

As for the common template for the lesson plans in this thesis, its form changed slightly

from the one in the Bachelor thesis and therefore is included bellow with comments on

each section:

Lesson plan: Name of the lesson plan is provided here.

Focus: Main focus of the lesson is written here. Each of the seven lesson plans in this

thesis deals with different language areas: listening, reading, speaking, writing, grammar,

vocabulary, pronunciation, in order to illustrate the possibility of adjustments in all these

areas.

Activity: References to specific SBs, WBs and TBs the exercises of which are adjusted

are provided here. All lesson plans are based on published materials which are, for various

reasons, adjusted.

Type of adjustment: Brief mention of a type of adjustment is provided here so that the

reader is informed on this matter. More detailed analysis of the type of adjustment and

the reasoning comes later.

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Overall aims Aims of the adjusted activity

This sections describes aims of the whole

units that each adapted exercise is taken

from.

Aims of specific adjusted activities and

exercises are provided separately here.

Activity:

STAGE STAGE AIM TIME

Name of each stage Aims of a particular stage Time expected for carrying

out the activity.

Procedures are described here, referring both to Ss and T and classroom activities

- Additional information or examples

Reflection and Explanation:

Type of adjustment: This sections informs the reader about the adjustments made in

particular exercises in more detail, providing reasons and referring to the theoretical part.

REFLECTION:

Each stage is reflected on separately, containing a description of what happened in the

classroom that was based on a particular lesson plan.

Suggested improvements: Suggestions in this section are created based on the reflection

from the class. It either proposes actions in order to improve specific procedures from the

lesson described above or provides extra tips independent off the reflection from the

lesson.

Overall summary of the above suggested improvements: This section briefly summarizes

the suggestions related to each stage of a lesson

As for the aims, sometimes, depending on the character of the exercises, overall aims and

aims of the adjusted activities can be very similar or differ greatly. The extent of

adjustments made depends on various factors, from personal needs of learners to time

allowance which can be very limiting and extending exercises sometimes nearly

impossible. However, the opposite situation is also very likely to occur. In my teaching

practice, I have experience with being assigned exercises for 90 minute lesson that could

53

easily be done within 20 minutes. In such situations, teachers may find adjusting skills

and ideas extremely useful.

1.2 Practical information

There are several shortcuts used throughout the practical part of the thesis:

S/ Ss – student, students

T/Ts – teacher, teachers

Qs - questions

SB – Student´s book

TB – Teacher´s book

WB – Work book

Also, teachers are supposed to monitor all the time, although the lesson plans do not

mention this directly. I consider it automatic that a teacher is available, monitors students´

activity and helps around.

In regard to the coursebooks, the lesson plans are based on Face2Face and New English

File series that I work with mostly in my teaching and because a certain syllabus needs to

be adhered to, those two series were chosen in order to be able to pilot the activities.

However, the suggested adjustments are examples that are widely usable and adaptable

to similar exercises in other coursebook series.

As for the sources of adjusted activities, my own ideas are used. However, the activities

might already exist somewhere else without me being aware of it or I might have got

inspired while reading some methodological books without realizing it. For instance, to

give an example of different sources providing similar ideas, the video activity in lesson

plan 2.3, stage 3, is inspired by my participation on a workshop focused on using video

in classes held in Brno in 2014 by Daniela Clarke. Similarly, Scrivener (353) describes a

very similar procedure in his Learning teaching.

Furthermore, it needs to be stated that the suggested adjustments in the lesson plans do

not imply that the particular coursebook is bad. Sometimes they are simply not suitable

in its raw form in a particular teaching context. In this view I agree with Harmer, who,

while suggesting some alternative treatment of coursebooks, says that „none of the

activities suggested here are better than the ones in the coursebook; they are simply

54

different. Indeed, these activities may not appeal to some teachers at all, which is exactly

the point. It is up to individual teachers and their students to decide how and when to use

different sections of a coursebook“ (Harmer “How to teach English”149).

1.3 Background

The lesson plans presented in this thesis were piloted between October 2016 and March

2017. The adjusted activities were used with different groups of adult students (between

4-10 students in a group) in a language school P.A.R.K. School of English in Brno, the

Czech Republic, and in a language school ISE in Tenerife, Canary Islands.

Due to high flexibility of the adjustments made to the coursebooks and their specific

exercises, the character of classes is not specified within each lesson plan. They can be

used with different kinds of groups irrespective of their exact number or nationalities.

55

2. Lesson plans

2.1 Listening TIME BANDITS

2.1.1 Lesson plan

Focus: LISTENING

Activity: New English File advanced, SB p.26/3d (see appendix 1a), TB p.42-43(see

appendix 1b),

Type of adjustment: listening exercise adapted

Overall aims Aims of the adjusted activity

- Ss practice listening skills

- Ss practice linking

- Ss practice speaking skills and

discuss their time management

- Ss get ready for the following

vocabulary topic of time

expressions

- Ss practice listening skills

- Ss communicate in English in

order to fulfil a task

- Ss’ curiosity is awaken by creating

an information gap

Activity:

STAGE 1 STAGE AIM TIME

Reminder

- Ss understand the

essential information for

the following task

5-7 min

T asks Ss about the radio programme they should already be familiar with from

exercise 3a and elicits answers:

- What are time bandits? (people that waste our time = something negative)

56

- What is the programme about? (people call there to talk about their time bandits)

- Why is there the expert? (to give them advice how to deal with time bandits)

T elicits examples of possible time bandits to make sure Ss understand (e.g.

teachers speak too long about something seemingly useless)

STAGE 2 STAGE AIM TIME

Divided listening

- Ss practice listening skills

- Ss communicate

15 - 20

T divides Ss into 2 teams and explains the task:

- Experts - listen to the recording of people calling to the radio, sharing their time

bandit problems and create possible solutions/ advice for them how to deal with

these

- Callers - listen to the experts´ advice and try to create the time bandit problems

for each suggested solution

T asks one member of each group to repeat the instructions to check Ss understand

T takes 1 group to a different place and plays the recording where the callers speak

-> T comes back to the original classroom and plays the other recording where the

experts speak

T monitors between classrooms if Ss take notes, discuss the issues or need some

help with the task

STAGE 3 STAGE AIM TIME

Comparison - Ss - Ss are curious about the

other team’s ideas and want

to listen to them

- Ss have fun comparing

answers with each other

10-15

57

Ss gather together in one place with their ideas

T asks Ss callers to read their version of the first problem and Ss experts read their

solution for that -> they can but do not have to match -> the process continues

until Ss callers discuss all their problems with Ss experts

STAGE 4 STAGE AIM TIME

Comparison - recording - Ss are curious about the

original recordings and

want to listen to them

- Ss have fun comparing

ideas with the recordings

10-15

T plays the whole recording once -> Ss compare their ideas to the original ones

T plays the recording again

- stopping after each caller, eliciting what the problem was there and what problem

Ss created and if it matched

- stopping after each expert, eliciting what the advice was there and what solution

Ss created and if it matched

STAGE 5 STAGE AIM TIME

Discussion - Ss practice speaking skills

/ - T rounds up the topic

10-15

T puts Ss in pairs or small groups and asks them to discuss their time bandits and

how they deal with them

Whole class check – each group says what they were talking about

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2.1.2 Reflection

Type of adjustment:

A ‘reminder’ stage as a sort of pre-listening activity has been added to remind Ss of

important information necessary for the following task. The SB introduces the

programme, focuses Ss´ attention on pronunciation practice, and then jumps directly to

the listening exercise which could be quite confusing for Ss without shifting their

attention back to the programme in more detail. Therefore, it has been compensated for

by checking if Ss remember the programme and understand its point.

As for the main listening activity, TB suggests that Ss listen to the callers first, discuss

the possible experts´ opinion and then listen to what they say. Although there is nothing

wrong with such procedure, it has been adapted to make it less usual to Ss. Moreover,

making Ss more active and involved during the listening is likely to be more effective

(see chapter 3.5) In this case, splitting the task, involving Ss and including their own ideas

creates natural information gap and thus curiosity to listen to people speaking, be it their

classmate or the original recording, not only because the SB says so. Stages 2, 3 and 4 are

therefore adapted to achieve the above described desired result.

The last stage is based on the TB without any change. However, due to the previous stages

that involves Ss more than if the exercise had been carried out in the usual way, they are

likely to find it easier to speak about their own time bandits.

REFLECTION:

STAGE 1

This stage ran as planned, it was a good idea to remind the Ss about the programme and

some key point necessary for the following activity.

STAGE 2

It needs to be stated that this stage is quite technologically demanding as T needs two

separate spaces (or organize the activity differently in case there is only 1 classroom

available) and two devices to play the recording to two groups. I was lucky to have two

different classrooms available and I played one recording from my laptop and the other

from the school radio. Also, depending on Ss, it may be difficult to manage leaving them

59

alone in class (danger of being too noisy or speaking L1 while doing the task which is not

desired). Luckily, this was not my case as I had a nice group of sensible adults.

Overall, the stage ran as planned, the classroom management was successful and the Ss

carried out the required task. However, the process could have been more effective if the

following issues had been avoided. Basically, the class was divided randomly, although

there were some small differences between the Ss. As for the tasks, I consider the one of

the experts, who were supposed to create some advice, easier, because they had s certain

base to build their opinions on. On the contrary, the callers´ role seemed more

complicated as they only heard the advice, out of context, and had to show more

imagination, creativity and language competence to connect the ideas well. What

happened was that some weak Ss struggled slightly in the challenging callers´ group while

some strong Ss from the experts´ group were not as challenged as they could have been

in the other one.

Another point is connected to sequencing. I believe it would have been useful if the Ss

had been asked to take notes on what they hear first, then had consulted that with me, and

only then had been told the following steps. This would prevent some strong students

already working on the task (e.g. creating advice) and the others not being sure what the

listening was about and thus not being able to participate equally.

Nonetheless, all the Ss did the task well and enjoyed the process.

Suggested improvements:

T should consider the division of the class in advance to divide Ss appropriately. Also,

the instructions to stage 2 are better to be divided into two separate steps for better clarity.

STAGE 3 + STAGE 4

These comparing stages were overall very amusing for all the Ss and generated lots of

interest and involvement as intended. Yet, it would have been even better if all the Ss had

spoken equally, because the groups of experts and callers tended to have their

spokespeople.

Suggested improvements: T should make sure all Ss talk equally – this could be told in

advance, so that Ss are ready for that and perhaps take their own notes.

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STAGE 5

The last stage served as a convenient summary of the whole topic and gave the Ss chance

to express themselves on already familiar topic which they did very well. I believe that

the amount of ideas of possible time bandits inspired them to identify their own and might

have as well helped them with their solution.

Overall summary of the above suggested improvements: T needs to be careful when

dividing Ss into groups and later letting them speak, making sure they all get an equal

chance. Also, the progressive instructions, rather than all presented at once, are likely to

be more effective.

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2.2 Reading HOROSCOPES

2.2.1 Lesson plan

Focus: READING

Activity: New English File pre-intermediate, WB p. 25 (see appendix 2a), no TB

instructions

Type of adjustment: article replaced, vocabulary and pronunciation practice added

Overall aims Aims of the adjusted activity

- Ss practice language items dealt

with in the SB unit 3B (grammar

of predictions, opposite verbs,

pronunciation, reading skills)

- Ss learn vocabulary and

pronunciation of star signs

- Ss practice reading for gist and

detail

- Ss practice speaking

- Ss move around

Activity:

STAGE 1 STAGE AIM TIME

Lead-in

- Ss get talking and

interested in the topic

- T finds out if Ss know the

vocabulary connected to

signs of zodiac and what

their opinion on horoscopes

is

5-7 min

T says something about her: ´I´m creative and shy, I was born in March´ -> T

elicits the connection: ´I am pisces´ and shows a picture with the sign

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T asks Ss if they know their sign, what they think about horoscopes, if they read

them and believe them /whole class discussion/

STAGE 2 STAGE AIM TIME

Vocabulary +

pronunciation drill

- Ss learn new vocabulary

and its pronunciation and

use it to talk about

themselves

10 - 15

T holds up a picture of a star sign (pictures prepared and cut in advance, see

appendix 2b), demonstrates loudly its correct pronunciation and Ss repeat -> this

process repeated twice

T holds up a picture without saying it -> Ss say it on their own

T demonstrates the following activity by asking one of the Ss: ‘What star sign are

you?’ -> T writes the Q, the elicited answer and some useful vocabulary and

phrases connected to the topic on the board on the board (see appendix 2c)

Ss work in pairs, ask each other about their sign -> T monitors and correct errors

Whole class check: each S says what star sign his/her partner is

STAGE 3 STAGE AIM TIME

Reading Weekly horoscope - Ss practice reading for

gist and for detail

- Ss practice speaking skills

- Ss change activity by

moving around

12-15

Each S gets a sheet of paper with all the signs and weekly horoscopes (see

appendix 2e), finds their sign and has a minute to read about their own (only!)

sign to remember as much as they can (reading for gist)

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Ss get Qs they need to find answers to (see appendix 2d) by mingling around,

asking each other and describing their horoscope

Ss go back to their seats -> answers checked together, if some Qs are not

answered, Ss scan through the text quickly to do so

STAGE 4 STAGE AIM TIME

Consolidation - Ss revise the vocabulary

and structures learnt

- free speaking practice

10-15

T shows Ss the pictures of the signs one by one, Ss say the right name

T put Ss in groups and asks them several Qs, e.g. what experience they have with

people born under a particular sign, if they know what characteristics hey are said

to have etc.

T elicits what each group has been discussing and invites the other ones to share

their experience, express agreement/disagreement

T assigns HW: Ss find another horoscope in English for their sign and will reflect

on it the next lesson – if it came true or not

2.2.2 Reflection

Type of adjustment:

The reading exercise based on a WB has been replaced by a similar activity, yet more

relevant to students´ interest as it contains all star signs and is therefore more likely to

interest more learners who can find their own there, unlike the activity in the book which

only contains half of the signs of the zodiac. For the importance of presenting relevant

topics, refer to chapters 2.2.1 and 3.4. Also, the benefit of the adjusted activity also lies

in its authenticity (see chapter 3.4) as it has been taken from a real website providing

horoscope with minor changes only.

The vocabulary and pronunciation drill has been added as the same chapter in the SB does

not deal with the star signs at all, therefore Ss are not expected to have any previous

knowledge of them.

64

Furthermore, finding answers to the Qs while mingling and talking to real people who

represent the signs is likely to lead to a better result as the task is thus more personalised

(see chapter..), compared to a set of Qs in the WB about a few signs of zodiac.

REFLECTION:

STAGE 1

As this was a covered lesson, it was rather difficult to predict the students´ level and

knowledge. Nevertheless, except one of the Ss (strong), nobody knew the desired

vocabulary – the signs. The first few minutes of the class communication were rather

diffident as the Ss were not sure what kind of answer I want from them, which is natural

given the fact they did not know me and were overall overwhelmed by a sort of ´new´

feeling towards me. Therefore, it took rather long for the Ss to come up with the

connection of me being shy and born in March. However, as soon as they guessed the

topic of the lesson (after I flashed the picture of pisces), they immersed into the

discussion.

Suggested improvements: T can ask a few Ss about their characteristics, both good and

bad, and the month they were born. Seeing a list of personality adjectives corresponding

to months can make Ss discover the connection faster.

STAGE 2

Although the Ss were repeating the new words well, they were uncomfortable with not

knowing the spelling. The task was focused mainly on the pronunciation which is tricky

with these words, but the Ss did not realize this aim on their own. Therefore, I should

have made it clear at the beginning.

Also, between the initial part when the Ss were learning the vocabulary of the signs and

the one when they were supposed to use the word to talk about themselves was too long

a break for them to remember the words. They should have been made use the words as

soon as they learnt it or they should have seen the written form to remind them. Many of

them asked me how to write their sign so I ended up writing a few of them on the board

anyway.

Suggested improvements: T can avoid refusing to write the words and thus upsetting the

students slightly if he/she makes the goal of pronunciation practice clear. Also, Ss should

65

use the newly leant words as soon as they learn them. Perhaps, a dictation of the signs is

a good idea.

STAGE 3

Firstly, the Ss were eager to find out about their horoscope. Motivated by their curiosity

and the time limit, they all started reading quickly. Some weaker students had problems

finding their sign as they were not able to match the pronunciation form and the spelling.

However, at this point, they were able to pronounce their sign perfectly, even though it

was a difficult one (e.g. Aries) they would probably otherwise have a problem with if

they had learnt the spelling first. The students had many questions concerning vocabulary

– the text should have been made much easier which was difficult to predict, though, as I

did not know the particular class before covering it. This made some students unhappy

(because of not being able to understand their horoscope) and the whole process rather

lengthy.

Consequently, the doubts about the vocabulary affected the following part where students

were supposed to mingle, tell each other about their horoscope and answer the Qs on a

piece of paper. While this was expected to be the loudest and the busiest part, the Ss were

rather quiet and tried to get out of the task by working in two big groups, where only 1

person was speaking, instead of small groups or pairs. The Ss also forgot their horoscopes

and needed to check the paper often.

Suggested improvements: Texts needs to be graded to Ss´ level so as not to discourage

them. T needs to make the mingling process more organized and clear, so that Ss know

what kind of interaction is expected from them. Also, it would be a good idea for Ss to

tell their partner about their horoscope first so as not to forget about it during the mingling

part.

STAGE 4

At this point, the Ss were finally happy seeing the written form of all the signs and got

involved in the discussions about their own personal experience with horoscopes and

stereotypes connected to particular signs.

66

Overall summary of the above suggested improvements:

The most important point concerns the question whether or not to provide the written

form of new vocabulary. It either needs to be provided of made clear to Ss that this activity

focuses on pronunciation. Any texts presented to Ss need to be graded to their level which

can positively influence the stage 3 – both the reading and the mingling activity.

67

2.3 Speaking DREAMS

2.3.1 Lesson plan

Focus: SPEAKING

Activity: New English File pre-intermediate, SB p.35/4. (see appendix 3a), TB p…(see

appendix 3c)

Type of adjustment: lead-in added, extra speaking practice added

Overall aims Aims of the adjusted activity

- Ss practice reading and listening

skills

- Ss review tenses from the previous

Files (present, past, future)

- Ss practice sentence stress

- Ss learn verbs + prepositions

- Ss revise tenses and practice them

in a communicative and creative

way

- Ss focus both on accuracy and

fluency practice

- T provides variety and satisfies

visual learners

Activity:

STAGE 1 STAGE AIM TIME

Lead-in video

- Ss get speaking and

interested in the topic

- Ss revise the grammatical

tenses

10-15 min

T plays a short dream-like video (see appendix 3d) to Ss and asks Qs to elicit

present simple and present continuous answers, e.g.: What is happening now?

Where is he? What is he doing? What does he do? Does this happen often?

T asks Ss to watch the video again but as soon as it finishes, Ss close their eyes

and continue the dream in their mind for a minute in silence -> Ss discuss how the

68

story continued for them /in pairs/ -> T asks Qs to elicit past simple and continuous

answers, e.g.: What did you see around? What were you doing?

T asks Ss what the dream could mean and elicits answers in present/ future tense

the way a psychoanalyst would say it, e.g.: You are scared of something in your

life. You will have a bad luck.

STAGE 2 STAGE AIM TIME

Picture dreams - Ss practice the

tenses in a controlled

way

- Ss get ready for the

following activity

10 - 15

Ss do task in SB p.110 and p.114 (see appendix 3b) in the same way as suggested

in the TB without any adjustments:

- Ss A uses pictures to describe their dreams while Ss B listen, put the ideas in

order as Ss A talk about them and then provide analysis of the dreams based on

the hints provided -> Ss swap roles

STAGE 3 STAGE AIM TIME

Video dreams - Ss practice fluency

- Ss practice a variety of

tenses in an imaginative

and unusual way

- Ss have fun

10 - 15

T puts Ss in new pairs facing each other and explains that only one S from each

pair can see a screen and explains the task:

- S ´dreamer´ who can see the screen is having a dream and has to tell his/her

partner what is happening

69

- S ´psychoanalyst´ who cannot see the screen is paying attention to what the S is

saying because his/her role is to analyse the dream

T plays a short video (see appendix 3e) without sound and Ss ´dreamers´ from

each pair who can see the screen start describing everything they see to their

partners e.g.: There´s a tree, I´m walking in a forest…

T elicits from the Ss ´psychoanalysts´ that the description of the dream was too

confusing and they need to listen to it again -> T plays the video again and the

task is repeated: the Ss ´dreamers´ describe what is happening, Ss

´psychoanalysts´ listen

T elicits from the Ss ´psychoanalysts´ that they would like the Ss ´dreamers´ to

summarize what the dream was about -> Ss ´dreamers´ do so using the past tenses

Ss ´psychoanalysts´ analyse the dreams and give the Ss ´dreamers´ a feedback on

what the dream means -> Ss use present/future tenses -> T ask all the Ss

´psychoanalysts´ about their ideas to summarize it

T plays the video this time for both the ´dreamers´ and the ´psychoanalysts´ with

the sound

Ss swap roles and places and the whole process is repeated with a different video

(see appendix 3f)

2.3.2 Reflection

Type of adjustment:

As the overall aim is focused on the topic of dreams and tenses review (SB p.35/1-3,

present simple and continuous, past simple and continuous, going to, will), the aim of this

lesson is to revise these tenses in connection to the same topic, yet in a freer way.

Before starting the exercise 4 on p.35, a lead-in has been added to get Ss in the mood,

make them thinking about the topic of dreams again and revise the tenses dealt with in

the previous lesson or stages (depending on the time management). The TB does not offer

any ideas on lead-in here which is understandable as it is an activity from the middle of

the books and it is expected to be done together with the other exercises on the page.

However, because the double page can be split in any way, which is a case here, it is

70

important to start the second part in an appropriate way rather than focusing Ss on the

exercise directly. The importance of the focus on the topic is addressed in chapter 3.4 and

lead-ins in chapter 3.1. A video has been chosen here as Ss do not have a chance to watch

something in classes that often and they have already had a general discussion about their

opinion on dreams, and their dreams from the previous night before starting exercise 1 on

p.35. Apart from that, the video has been implemented to impress Ss, engage them and

make them enthusiastic about the lesson (the importance of involvement is addressed in

chapter 3.1). The video lead-in is though through in a way so that it recycles and reminds

Ss of the tenses to be reviewed (the importance or recycling dealt with in chapter 3.8).

Furthermore, engaging their senses and emotions intensively, which is expected while

watching the videos that are rather frightening, makes the activity experiential (refer to

chapter 3.10)

The exercise 4 on p 35. is planned without any change. It is a good step between the first

activity, where T elicits the language and sort of guides Ss and the following video

activity which does not provide any language support and it a completely free practice.

A video activity has been added after exercise 4 on p.35 in order to practice the skill of

fluency in the context of the same topic. The aim is also to interest Ss, introduce an

activity that is new to them, and thus likely to excite them more as variety make the

learning process effective (refer to relevant chapters 3.2, 3.3, 3.4)

REFLECTION:

STAGE 1

The Ss got immediately immersed in watching the video and ended up being a bit

disappointed that it lasted such a short time. Although it was said in advanced that the

video was going to be really short, it might have not been pointed out clearly enough for

every S to realize the importance of paying attention from the beginning since it would

finish so quickly. The discussion based on their imagination that continued the story

generated interesting ideas many of which were similar. In the later part, when I elicited

the analysis of the dream, the Ss were not quite sure whether to interpret the ´common´

part or the dream their partner told them about.

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Suggested improvements: T needs to make sure Ss know the video only lasts around a

minute and are ready to watch it properly. Also, the rules of the ´analysis´ need to be

clarified to avoid ambiguity of instructions.

STAGE 2

The stage 2 ran well as planned, the Ss used the pictures as a model for some creative

dreams. This task was good as it allowed each S work on their own pace- strong Ss could

create more sophisticated stories while the weak Ss simpler ones, adjusting it to their

level. However, not all strong Ss bothered with creating amazing stories although they

had the language possibilities. Also, some Ss (mostly the strong ones) finished much

faster that others so it might have been a good idea to make the task more challenging for

them.

Suggested improvements: T needs to cater for the individual needs of Ss, predict who

might need more support and who can do the task in a more complicated way. For strong

Ss, only the topics of the dreams can be left, e.g. ´Having a bath´ and they can be asked

to create their own interpretation. T needs to monitor carefully and encourage strong Ss

create more complicated stories so as not to finish earlier than weaker Ss.

STAGE 3

For the sake of variety, pairs were changed here. It is dealt with the importance of varying

working pairs in chapter 3.7. The explanation of the rules was rather lengthy but it was

made sure by asking comprehension Qs about the process that the Ss understood them

well. If they had not, it might have had a bad impact on the whole activity. Nevertheless,

it might have been a good idea to demonstrate the task instead of the wordy explanation.

The first round of the activity was rather quiet as the Ss were shy to start speaking. When

the first S started describing the video, the others were curious and therefore listened for

inspiration and by the time they started their own description, the video was over. Instead

of eliciting from the Ss ´psychotherapists´ that the description of the dream was too

confusing, it was elicited that their client was too shy to speak and they should encourage

him to tell them more. The task was then kept, yet the story around was adapted due to

the situation. Then, the video was played again, this time with all the Ss describing it.

Both the part when the Ss were supposed to summarize the dream using past tenses and

the part where the other Ss provides the analysis or prediction ran well and the tenses

72

used were generally correct. In the end, the Ss ´psychoanalysts´ were very curious about

the actual video and most of them were surprised as they imagined it differently based on

the description of their partner. We also compared these differences which was not

implemented in the lesson plan. The second round, after the Ss swapped the roles, was

considerably better as everybody already knew exactly what to do so there was no silent

phase at the beginning.

Suggested improvements: T can demonstrate the video activity (e.g. with a S) to save

time and make sure all Ss understand. This might also help during the first round of

dreams description when Ss are unsure about either the task or their abilities and are afraid

to speak loudly. In order to cater for that, T can play several random videos and ask

everybody speak at the same time and describe what is happening. That could serve as a

good preparation activity for stage 3 and would give Ss more confidence and an idea what

is expected from them.

Overall summary of the above suggested improvements: T has to take into consideration

Ss´ pace and make the instructions as clear as possible, for example by demonstrating

activities.

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2.4 Writing COMPLAINT

2.4.1 Lesson plan

Focus: WRITING

Activity: Face2Face advanced, SB p.93/5, 6, 7 (see appendix 4a), TB p.106 (see appendix

4b)

Type of adjustment: task replaced, more practice added

Overall aims Aims of the adjusted activity

- Ss learn how to write a semi-

formal/ formal complaint

- Ss learn some typical phrases

- Ss practice spelling of –ible/-able

words

- Ss learn how to use connecting

words for cause and effect

- Ss revise the phrases to be used in

a letter of complaint

- Ss are able to construct a letter of

complaint from given phrases

- Ss are ready to write a letter of

complaint on their own

Activity:

STAGE 1 STAGE AIM TIME

Lead-in

- Ss get talking and

interested in the topic

- T finds out Ss´ experience

with complaints

5-7 min

T ask Ss to discuss /in pairs/ what was the last time they complained about

something (not only formally, e.g. ´about the weather´, ´about a difficult

homework´) -> each pair shares their answers with the whole group

T elicits other personal experience or possible situations to complain about

something

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STAGE 2 STAGE AIM TIME

AZ quiz phrases - Ss revise phrases for a

letter of complaint

- Ss have fun

10 - 15

T prepares a game inspired by a Czech TV competition called AZ quiz -> T needs:

- a playing grid + counters in the same shape but different colours (see appendix

4d)

- Qs based on phrases from the previous lesson -> T deletes some parts, prints and

cuts them (see appendix 4c)

T divides Ss in pairs/small groups, give each pair a playing grid, counters in 2

different colours and the Qs -> T explains the rules:

- the aim of the game is to connect 3 sides of the triangle, Ss take turns competing

for the squares that lead to the sides

- each S decides what square he/she wants -> takes a Q and if the answer is correct,

he/she can put the counter there, if not, a grey counter is placed and can be chosen

later

- to check if the answers are correct, the table with the Qs can be placed on

different pages and printed out double-sided to that there is an answer on each

side of the the Q and Ss can check it on their own OR the other player can check

the correctness by referring to the list of phrases from the previous lesson OR

another S can have a role of a moderator

STAGE 3 STAGE AIM TIME

Complaint task - Ss practice using the

phrases in context while

creating draft

- Ss write the complaint

10 - 15

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T writes a situation (=a complaint task) on the board (based on the Ss´ experience

discussed in stage 1)

Ss /in pairs/ apply the phrases they revised in stage 2 in this situation:

- Ss construct the letter from the pieces of paper containing the phrases, moving

them around and adding relevant information to create a kind of draft

- Ss copy the sentences from the draft on a piece of paper in a form of a complex

text

STAGE 4 STAGE AIM TIME

Swaps and peer review - Ss become more aware of

some important features of

a letter of complaint

10-15

Pairs of Ss swap their letters of complaints with other pairs -> Ss read them, write

down any comments, check especially for the items mentioned in exercise 6b and

focus on the use of phrases

Ss tell the comments to each other and discuss how to improve the letters

T summarizes the stage by eliciting some important points and assigns another

letter of complaint for HW the task of which is based on another Ss´ experienced

discussed in stage 1

2.4.2 Reflection

Type of adjustment:

A lead-in has been added to remind Ss of the topic of complaints discussed before and to

give T an idea what experience they have with situations they could complain about.

A revision of phrases from the previous lesson has been added to practice the phrases in

a fun way in a form of a game. Benefits of implementing games into teaching can be

found in chapter 3.9.

The task in exercise 5 is to be replaced by another one related to Ss´ experience more than

the one presented in the SB. T finds out about it in the first stage. Making the task more

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personal to that Ss can identify with it is likely to have a positive effect on the learning

process (see chapter 3.5). Therefore, T can get inspired by the responses of Ss in the first

stage and apart from monitoring during the AZ quiz activity, he/she has time to create the

task which is more suitable than the one in the coursebook. Based on the knowledge of

one´s Ss, Ts assume to what extent they would be able to identify with the issue the task

would ask them to deal with and adjust it appropriately.

Exercise 6 remains the same and exercise 7 is slightly adapted. Ss are also asked to write

a letter of complaint, yet a different task is provided to make it more varied.

REFLECTION:

STAGE 1

Stage 1 ran well, but the Ss did not remember many recent situations they have

complained about, so many of them discussed possible reasons to complain about in their

life in general. However, that was the aim in the following sequence of this stage, so the

two tasks were actually combined together, but it did not affect the process in any way.

The most common problem to complain about most Ss shared was based on an on-line

purchase of some products that did not reflect the real description.

Suggested improvements: Ss can discuss what they have recently complained about as a

class so that they hear their classmates´ examples, which may make them realize their

own situations and generate more ideas for the discussion. The pair discussion would not

come until Ss would be asked to create other general examples. Therefore, the class

discussion could precede the pair discussion.

STAGE 2

The Ss were divided into a few groups of two and one group of three people. As all of

them were familiar with the Czech AZ quiz game, it was easy for them to understand the

rules. Overall, they enjoyed the game with the practice of the phrases included. Some

pairs were quicker and therefore asked to mix the cards and play again, which meant that

in the meantime another pair finished playing and started to play again. If this procedure

was kept, it would result into never ending activity, so it was stopped after more or less

15 minutes, the winners of the unfinished games based on the number of counters placed

on the grid. This caused some dissatisfaction as everybody wanted to finish the game

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properly. If the time limit had been clearly given at the beginning, this situation could

have been avoided.

Also, having conducted this game in several other contexts (both Czech and Spanish

language school), practising different language points (e.g. irregular verbs, phrases,

sentence transformation in exam courses), its great potential needs to be underlined.

Nevertheless, Ts cannot rely on all Ss understanding the rules clearly as not everybody is

familiar with the TV competition.

Suggested improvements: T should explain the rules clearly before conducting the game,

mentioning maximum time limit it can be played.

STAGE 3

The situation presented was one where Ss bought something on the internet and there was

a problem with the product ordered. As the situation the task was based on has been

discussed before (in stage 1), the Ss started constructing their letter almost immediately,

brainstorming ideas in pairs. In my opinion, if the task had not been changed, some pre-

writing preparation would have been necessary to give the Ss ideas what to write about.

Even so, they would not manage to identify with the problematic situation as well as with

the one they were more likely to encounter in their life.

Although the stage was overall all right, there were some aspects of it that could have

been better, for example the way the Ss were constructing the letter. The Ss had the

phrases from the previous activity on small pieces of paper so that they could move them

around, but they were not allowed to write directly on them so that they could be reused

again. Some Ss put them in order they wanted to use them and only discussed how they

would continue the sentences. However, by the time they got to the point of writing the

letter, they forgot some of the sentences. Therefore, it is important to make sure Ss are

taking notes during the process of constructing the letter which I failed to do.

Suggested improvements: Although the task created for the purposes of this was

successful, T can also ask Ss to help to create the task, which would lead to an increase

of Ss´ participation, thus motivation and autonomy, the benefits of which are addressed

in chapter 3.11.

To provide good conditions for Ss while planning their letter of complaint, it could be

solved as follows:

78

- Ss can write directly in the small pieces of paper given that the T allows it and

there is plenty of space for the rest of the sentence

- Ss can use a sheet of paper/a mini white board to place the pieces of paper with

the phrases there and continue the sentences in the space (see appendix 4e)

STAGE 4

Although the Ss were curious about other Ss´ essays, they found it difficult to point out

some errors, perhaps because they wanted to be tactful but most probably because the

areas to focus on had not been discussed in advance which should have been the case.

Also, as the instructions said to be focused on the areas dealt with in the previous lesson

(spelling of suffixes, connecting words), some Ss marked low score on them but that was

not actually fair as the Ss were not instructed in the previous stage to focus on these.

Instead, they focused mainly on the correct use of the phrases from the AZ quiz game,

not the use of connecting words from the previous lesson.

Suggested improvements: This suggestion goes back to the stage 3 as not mentioning

some criteria there the Ss would be assessed on influenced the stage 4: T needs to make

sure Ss are well informed about the focus of the whole task, not only a part of it. Based

on this information, the stage 4 should begin with repeating these criteria so that Ss know

what to focus on when commenting their peers´ letters.

Overall summary of the above suggested improvements: Overall, T can foster for a

successful fulfilling of the tasks by providing clear instructions and rules, and thinking

some key procedures in advance before presenting them to Ss.

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2.5 Grammar INDIRECT SPEECH

2.5.1 Lesson plan

Focus: GRAMMAR

Activity: Face2Face intermediate, SB p.125/6 (see appendix 5a), no TB instructions

Type of adjustment: grammar exercise adapted, a few items for further practice added

Activity:

STAGE 1 STAGE AIM TIME

Verbs revision walk

- Ss revise reporting verbs

- Ss get activated

7-12 min

T spreads reporting verbs from exercise 6 on pieces of paper (see appendix 5b)

around the classroom -> Ss walk around /in pairs/ and discuss their meaning

Whole class check: T elicits examples for each verb by giving orders, e.g.:

T: Invite me for something! -> Ss: Would you like to go for a drink?

STAGE 2 STAGE AIM TIME

Mini white boards

- Ss practise using

reporting verbs

15 - 20

T takes the sentences from exercise 6 (see appendix 5c) and distributes them to Ss

Overall aims Aims of the adjusted activity

- Ss learn reporting verbs

- Ss practice reading and listening

(In the lesson corresponding to the

extra practice)

- Ss revise reporting verbs in a fun

and personalised way

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Ss are divided into a few teams of two and compete with each other: Ss take turns

reading the sentences aloud and everybody has to rewrite them using a particular

reporting verb (still visible around the classroom from the previous activity), e.g.:

Team 1: Don’t trust him.

All teams need to write: He warned me not to trust him

After 1 minute, T asks all the teams to flip the board -> Ss compare their answers

and decide which one is correct -> points given if correct

At the end of the activity, points for correct sentence transformations are counted

and winners selected

STAGE 3 STAGE AIM TIME

Tell each other - Ss create personalised

examples with the reporting

verbs, freer practice

7-10

Ss create similar sentences as in the previous stage, direct them at each other

across the classroom, the targeted person report the sentence and other Ss report

the situation:

Jan: Martin, I will always help you with your homework!

Martin: He promised to always help me with my homework.

Ss: Jan promised Martin to always help him with his homework.

STAGE 4 STAGE AIM TIME

Indirect bubbles - to combine knowledge

and practice of indirect

speech and reporting verbs

10-15

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T hands out the bubbles worksheet (see appendix 5d) and tells Ss what to write in

the first bubble in a full sentence, including their name somewhere around bubble,

e.g.:

T says: ‘Where do you live?’

Ss are expected to write, e.g.: ´I live in Brno. – Jan ´

Ss pass the bubble sheet around (T says through how many students) -> Ss

transform it into regular indirect speech and each tells the class about the person

whose sheet they got, e.g.:

If Martin gets Jan´s sheet, he says: ´Jan said/told me he lived in Brno´

T asks if it is possible to report such sentence by using one of the reporting verbs,

and asks a new question with a different tense for the second bubble -> Ss write

their answer and name in the following bubble, pass it around, create an indirect

sentence. This process is repeated until the class runs out of bubbles.

2.5.2 Reflection

Type of adjustment:

The activity is based on an extra practice page in a SB and it has been adapted so as not

to carry out the task in a traditional way these grammar exercises are treated. Simply

asking Ss to write the answers to the exercise is not likely to engage them as much as a

game-like form of it is (see chapter 3.1 and 3.9). A lead-in has been added at the beginning

the aim of which is not only to revise the reporting verbs but to make students move

around the classroom, which is in general beneficial for Ss (as discussed in chapter 3.9

and 3.10). Moreover, the freer practice added has been personalised so that the students

could make a personal connection with the particular grammar point and therefore get

involved more and remember better (see chapter 3.5) The last activity added to the end

summarizes two close grammar points together (the reporting verbs + indirect speech)

and thus rounds up the topic.

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REFLECTION:

STAGE 1

The Ss we walking around the classroom as planned, however, it would have been better

to spread the verbs on the corridor instead as the classroom is too small and the students

could clearly hear each other, which, as a result, decreased the challenge of the task.

However, they appreciated the opportunity to get up and do some movement. In my

experience, they always do, for that reason I always try to implement these kinds of

activities. What is more, Ss become less sleepy and get activated more, which was also

the aim of this stage.

Suggested improvements: T needs to make sure the place for an activity is suitable,

otherwise its potential might not be fulfilled.

STAGE 2

This stage was really successful as it was probably the first time the Ss were working with

the mini white boards. All of them enjoyed writing on it and I am almost certain I would

not be able to see such enthusiastic faces if I only asked them to write correct answers to

the grammar exercise to their book. However, there is something that could have made

the stage even more effective. Each pair/team could have solved the sentence

transformation they were given on their own, having it checked by me before the actual

activity, so that the Ss could tell the correct answers to each other later. Also, there were

some arguments about the exact form of the transformed sentences. If a S said ‘Don’t

forget your homework‘, the answers varied especially in the use of personal pronouns,

e.g.: ’He reminded me/us not to forget my/our homework’, sometimes even ‘Jan

reminded Martin not to…’ when a particular S was looking at another one when saying

the sentence. It had to be explained additionally that all forms are possible as long as the

reporting part is correct.

Suggested improvements: Ss have to be completely sure about the rules to avoid later

argument about small differences. If each pair is responsible for their sentences as

suggested in the reflection, it would increase students’ contribution and involvement in

the classroom and raise their autonomy by being independent off the T (the benefits of

autonomy are discussed in chapter 3.11).

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STAGE 3

Stage 3 ran smoothly as the Ss had a good controlled practice of the same item in stage

2. The Ss usually used their own sentence from the previous activity for inspiration of the

new sentence. Although that meant each S did not create a variety of examples, at least

there was one from each.

Suggested improvements: Instead of asking Ss to create any example, T can actually base

the task on the sentences from stage 2 as Ss are likely to use them of inspiration anyway.

However, to vary the sentences produced by Ss, T can pass the sentences around so that

each S has a new sentence.

STAGE 4

Although this procedure may seem rather complicated, after initial doubts concerning the

rules, the activity ran smoothly and the Ss enjoyed it. The procedure repeated, only the

tense changed so that the Ss got practice with all possible direct-indirect speech tense

transitions. However, the same (strong) Ss tended to say aloud their answers first which

served as a good example for the others who, as a result, repeated the same structure, only

changed the instruction. On the other hand, everybody was happy as the quick Ss could

work on their own pace and the weak ones did not have to worry about making a mistake

while only repeating it.

Suggested improvements: To make it more effective and equally challenging for

everyone, T can nominate a new S to start with the sentence for each new bubble in order

to avoid the same Ss saying their sentences first and thus lowering the challenge for the

weaker and not so confident ones.

Overall summary of the above suggested improvements:

It needs to be made sure that the rules are clear from the beginning of the activity so as to

prevent some delays and unclarities which could possibly put Ss off. If the exercises are

done differently, through a game, and an element of personalisation added, it is likely to

be very successful.

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2.6 Vocabulary TPR

2.6.1 Lesson plan

Focus: VOCABULARY

Activity: Face2Face intermediate, SB p. 74/exe. 1 (see appendix 6a), TB p. 110 (see

appendix 6d)

Type of adjustment: lead-in added, vocabulary activity adapted, personalized practice

added

Overall aims Aims of the adjusted activity

- Ss learn vocabulary of body

movement and connecting words

- Ss practice reading and listening

skills

- Ss learn and remember well

vocabulary connected to body

movement

Activity:

STAGE 1 STAGE AIM TIME

Brainstorming lead-in

- To get Ss thinking about

the main topic

- To find out what

vocabulary Ss already

know

3-5 min

T writes „Body movement“ in the middle on the board and asks Ss to brainstorm

anything that comes to their mind

(If T is not getting the answers he/she wants or does not like the idea of

brainstorming, he/she can ask more specific Qs, e.g. How do you react when you

see a sad movie? -> I´m sad, I cry etc.)

85

STAGE 2 STAGE AIM TIME

Vocabulary

- Ss learn new vocabulary

and its pronunciation

- peer work and autonomy

(check the correct answers

on their own based on a

key)

5 - 7

Ss look at the table (see appendix 6b) and check the words -> underline the ones

they don’t know (they can also discuss them with their partner)

Ss check the correct meaning of the pictures at the back of the book (see appendix

6c)

T drills the Ss in the correct pronunciation (Ss repeat after T)

STAGE 3 STAGE AIM TIME

TPR responses - Ss remember the

vocabulary

- T changes the usual lesson

procedure

7-10

T says each word and asks Ss to do the action, e.g. „Cry!“ -> Ss pretend to be

crying

T writes two of the body movements on the board together with YES and NO

T asks Ss simple yes-no Qs -> Ss answer by doing the particular action

E.g.

YES: smile, NO: yawn

T: „Were you born in Brno?“

S: pretends to be yawning if the answer is no

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T changes the body movement vocabulary for YES and NO after a few questions

so that all are practised by Ss

STAGE 4 STAGE AIM TIME

Discussion - Ss use the newly learnt

words in context

- Ss create personal

examples

10-15

Ss create general Qs and ask each other as suggested in the TB, E.g.: When do

people cry?

Ss create personalized examples using some of the words (they might not be

comfortable talking about their experience with crying, therefore they can

choose), E.g. The last time I cried was last week when I saw a sad movie. I usually

shiver when I wait for the night bus. -> Ss /in pairs/ swap their papers and check

for mistakes -> T asks what they learnt about their partner

2.6.2 Reflection

As can be seen from the suggested procedure in the TB, the exercise is quite direct and

short: Ss are supposed to look at the vocabulary and check at the back of the book if their

expectations of the meaning of the words were right. Then, T is supposed to

check/explain/demonstrate the meaning and make sure the pronunciation is correct.

Although the procedure does not differ much, the major focus of the adjusted one is on

pronunciation. Focus on the meaning comes at stage 3, where Ss are supposed to act out

the particular body movements. To make sure Ss remember the words well, TPR (total

physical response) activity has been added. Good knowledge and remembering of these

words is likely to make understanding of the following reading and listening exercise

(which are not part of this lesson plan) easier and therefore more effective. Compared to

the suggested procedure when Ss only look at the vocabulary, check the meaning and

repeat each word after T, the adapted one allows them to experience a different treatment

of a common exercise Ss are used to working with as the presentation of vocabulary this

way prevails in Face2Face coursebook. The same format of exercises is one of the

87

disadvantages of using coursebooks discussed in chapter 2.2.2 To avoid the negative

impact it has, it is important to introduce variety of tasks which is dealt with in chapter

3.3. Therefore, an element of experiential learning and body movement has been added

which is important and likely to have a positive effect on their learning process and keep

the items deeper in memory as discussed in chapters 3.1 and 3.10)

The following step is a discussion in pairs, using these newly learnt words in questions

and answers, talking generally about when people do these particular body movements.

At stage 4, this part of the procedure is kept. A personalised part when Ss use the new

words to talk about themselves rather than in general has been added. Depending on time

possibilities, this could be also left for HW, as a kind of conclusion of the chapter, or as

a revision of the words the following lesson. Benefits of personalisation can be found in

chapter 3.5. This personalised practice is implemented here as no further practice of the

words from exe 1 is present further in the unit. In the later steps, an article about body

movements and a listening exercise follows. The focus is then on connecting words and

fails to recycle the previously introduced vocabulary items in a personalised way. The

importance of recycling is addressed in chapter 3.8.

REFLECTION:

STAGE 1

At the beginning, the Ss were not quite sure what exactly is meant by ‘body movement’,

put word ‘go’ on the board and there was a small pause as they could not think of another

way of moving one’s body other than going/ walking. I had to help by shifting their focus

on other parts of body as well. When somebody else said ‘hold’, other words started to

add up. In the end the only one word in common with the table was ‘smile’

Suggested improvements: To make the process of brainstorming smoother, T should

make sure that Ss understand that all parts of the body can do some kind of movement. T

could also give one example to demonstrate what kind of words he/she has in mind.

STAGE 2

As the Ss were used to using this corusebook and this type of self-checking exercises

repeated throughout the book many times, this part ran as planned without any problems.

It was kept without any changes due to its great potential to have a positive impact on

learners´ autonomy, an issue addressed in chapter 3.11.

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STAGE 3

Stage 3 was the most enjoyable part because of the TPR adjustment of the vocabulary

presentation, which, based on the Ss’ faces, was probably something new and unusual to

them. It was obvious that at the beginning of the activity that the Ss had the need to look

at the board and at their peers as they did not remember the meaning of the two body

movements written on the board. However, after a few questions asked, they became

more confident with their answers.

Also, it was very impressive to observe how unnatural some of the movements associated

with YES and NO were but the Ss had to demonstrate them anyway. E.g. if YES is

represented by smile and NO by frown, it is something natural as these body movements

are likely to accompany these reactions. On the other hand, when YES was represented

by crying and NO by laughing, it is not so natural.

Suggested improvements: If Ss enjoy the activity, T can let them create their own YES-

NO Qs and list of responses for each other. That would increase the involvement and thus

bring positive learning results. Refer to chapters 3.1 and 3.11 to find out about benefits

of involvement.

STAGE 4

During stage 4, the Ss practiced the newly acquired language rather well. However, some

struggled with creating the sentences with a personal connection. They tended to use only

one type of a sentence structure or tense, not a variety as I had imagined. This should

have been specified more precisely in advance.

Suggested improvements: T needs to specify before Ss start creating sentences that each

should be a little different. A possibility is to brainstorm and put on the board some

structures that could be used so that Ss can choose from a variety of options. E.g. The last

time…, I usually…, I think I will…, when somebody…, etc. This way Ss can really focus

on the newly learnt words and how to use them in context rather than how to make the

whole sentence sound good and different from the others.

Overall summary of the above suggested improvements:

T needs to make sure his/her instructions are clear, ideally by demonstrating the desired

activities. Ss can be involved in the process of creating Qs to increase their active

89

participation. In order to keep the attention on the vocabulary items, which is the aim, Ss

need to provide guidance so as not to distract Ss´ focus and overload them with other

tasks.

90

2.7 Pronunciation OUGH

2.7.1 Lesson plan

Focus: PRONUNCIATION

Activity: F2F intermediate, SB p.77/ Help with pronunciation section (see appendix 7a),

TB p. (see appendix 7c)

Type of adjustment: activities omitted and adapted and added

Overall aims Aims of the adjusted activity

- Ss learn vocabulary connected to

health problems and phrases for a

doctor´s visit

- Ss practice listening

- Ss practice pronunciation of

´ough´

- Ss become aware of different

pronunciation of some words with

similar spelling

- Ss are able to pronounce these

words well and identify their

sounds

- Ss have fun practising this

Activity:

STAGE 1 STAGE AIM TIME

What do you know?

- Ss remember all ´ough´

words they know

- T finds out what Ss

already know

3-5 min

T give Ss 2 mintues /in pairs/ to write down all the words containing spelling

´ough´ they know -> Ss look at other pairs´ words and see if they know them too

Ss spell/write the words on the board and try to pronounce them

91

STAGE 2 STAGE AIM TIME

Words and sounds - Ss learn differences

between pronunciation of

similar words

- Ss revise sounds and its

symbols

10 – 15

Ss /in pairs/ look at exercise 1b (see appendix 7b) and check which words they

know and how they are pronounced

T plays the recording twice - for Ss to check and then to listen and repeat

T shows Ss sounds that the words contain on pieces of paper and ask how they are

pronounced and elicits example words

T distributes the words from 1b written on pieces of papers and asks Ss /in small

groups/ to match them to the correct sounds -> whole class check

(see appendix 7d)

STAGE 3 STAGE AIM TIME

Board races - Ss practice their sound

awareness, pronunciation

and spelling

- Ss have fun

15-20

T divides Ss into two teams, puts them in two rows in front of the board and

explains the rules of board races: Ss in the first rows of each team come to the

board, carries out a particular task to be specified later, goes to the back of the row

and the second S is now ready to go to the board. The quicker S to do the assigned

task correctly has a point for the team.

92

BOARD RACE 1 (sounds - level 1) - 6 sounds previously practiced are stuck on

the board, T says a word, Ss need to catch the word containing it and pronounce

it again correctly

BOARD RACE 2 (sounds level 2) - T only shows Ss a word on a piece of paper

without saying it out loud, Ss need to figure out its pronunciation on their own,

identify the sound, catch the right one and pronounce it correctly

BOARD RACE 3 (dictation) – T dictates a word, Ss need to write and then

pronounce it correctly

Point are counted and a winning team announced

STAGE 4 STAGE AIM TIME

Sentences - Ss practice the words in

context

- Ss create their own

examples

12-17

Ss read sentences in exercise 2 /in pairs/

Ss try to create similar sentences so that they make sense or are about themselves

Ss read them to their partners and then swap and read their partners´ sentences

aloud

Each pair reads the best/funniest sentences aloud for all Ss

T finishes the lesson with these words: Well done! Although it was a tough lesson,

we got through it! We ought to practice though, because there´s never enough!

2.7.2 Reflection

Type of adjustment:

The first exercise has been omitted in the plan as it would be likely to confuse Ss rather

than help them, based on my knowledge of the class. Instead, the focus is on what Ss

already know and the aim is to focus their attention on the words containing ´ough´ letters

93

directly, rather than through other activities (focused on the sounds) they might not see

much connection to yet.

The initial sequences in stage 2 are the same as suggested, but followed by sound

recognition practice which was added to the plan. Although the sounds are identical as in

exercise one, the task was presented in a different way. The sounds are introduced to Ss

through colourful pieces of paper they are also asked to work with later in the matching

task. That experience makes it more probably that Ss connect the correct sounds to the

words. Moreover, the adjusted task provides a hands-on experience as it is movable and

satisfies visual learners who can appreciate the colourfulness (see chapter 3.2).

Moreover, a set of board races has been added for Ss to practice the sounds, pronunciation

and spelling in a fun, yet effective way. Getting Ss out of their seats can have a positive

effect on the learning process (see chapters 3.9 and 3.10) as well as practicing a particular

language point through games (see chapter 3.9).

The last stage focuses on using the practised words in context (already suggested one in

the SB) and on top of that makes Ss think of their own sentences. This is a useful part as

there are enormous benefits of personalisation (see chapter 3.5).

REFLECTION:

STAGE 1

The students found it rather difficult to come up with words containing the assigned

letters. They wrote down some irregular past forms, some of them well: ´thought´,

´bought´, some of them incorrectly: ´tought´, ´cought´.

STAGE 2

The Ss knew most of the words but pronouncing them correctly was rather challenging.

Due to a previous practice on sounds and its symbols, it was not a problem for them to

match the correct symbols with the words.

STAGE 3

Stage 3 went very well as everybody, however still unsure of the pronunciation and the

sounds, enjoyed the competitive game. However, at first, it was not made clear that it is

only the first S who is allowed to be active at the board and that the other members of the

team cannot advise them. Also, there were several pauses during the game due to unclarity

94

of rules. For example, during the board race 2, Ss sometimes managed to identify the

sound, but did not pronounce it correctly. Therefore, the whole point should not be

deserved and assigned. The other team then demanded a chance, but that would not be

fair as they were not the first to select the sound correctly. Fortunately, this game was

played with adults who did not care that much about the points and it was decided to give

half a point to each of the teams if a similar situation occurred. However, the above

described situation could spoil the game with a group of younger learners as it would

come across as unfair and put them off.

Suggested improvements: The rules need to be thought through well in advance and Ss

informed about them to prevent possible misunderstandings during the game. A possible

scoring for board race 2:

- First S touches the correct sound and pronounces the word correctly – 3 point

- First S touches the correct sound but pronounces the word incorrectly – 1 point

- First S touches the incorrect sound but pronounces the word correctly – 0 point

- First S touches the incorrect sound and pronounces the word incorrectly – 0 point

- Second S corrects the mistake of the first S – 1 point

STAGE 4

Already quite confident due to the previous pronunciation practice, the Ss enjoyed

reading the sentences that resembled tongue-twisters at times. Creating the personalised

sentences was rather difficult for them, though, as the selection of the words was not very

big. However, when they found out their partners were going to read them out as well,

some of them regretted not making the sentences more difficult.

Suggested improvements: Based on the experience from the classroom, it might be useful

splitting the task for the Ss – create a sentence about themselves and creating a sentence

for their partner to read out loud.

Overall summary of the above suggested improvements:

T should think about the rules well so as not to kill Ss´ enthusiasm by breaking up the

activity in the middle.

95

Conclusion

The aim of this thesis was to introduce the topic concerning adjusting coursebooks in

favour of students and quality of lessons.

The theoretical part explored the academic field, investigating what experts and

methodologists in the field opine in relation to the use of coursebooks in general and in

terms of their adjustment. The practical part presented ideas of how to carry out the

adjustments to coursebooks in practice in form of lesson plans. These were piloted with

groups of adult learners and consequently reflected on, including suggested

improvements where necessary. The areas dealt with in theoretical and practical part are

connected and the references between them given in the text.

The following conclusions can be drawn:

Weighing up the pros and cons of coursebook use, the methodologists studied for the

purposes of this thesis are in agreement that the advantages prevail over the

disadvantages. Not only do coursebooks provide framework and save time, they are also

a convenient and appealing package for both students which may positively influence

other aspects, such as involvement, interest and autonomy. On the other hand, if overused,

coursebooks can turn into irrelevant materials which can result in being perceived as of

no interest from the point of view of students, and thus negatively influence the whole

learning process. There is also danger of teachers´ teaching skills declining if adhering to

coursebooks´ instructions solely. However, the above described drawbacks can luckily

by compensated for by making adjustments. Thus, a kind of selective use of coursebooks

where its advantages can still be benefited from and possible insufficiencies balanced,

seems to be an ideal approach towards its use.

All studied sources dealt with in this thesis acknowledge the importance, necessity and

enormous benefits of adjusting coursebooks in teaching English. The most underlying

argument is that authors of coursebooks usually create them for wide audiences without

knowledge of individual differences and needs of learners in particular classrooms.

Therefore, it is the responsibility of teachers to assess if a particular issue to be dealt with

is appropriate in a specific context or if learners would benefit from something else better.

Consequently, relevant adjustments need to be made.

96

These evaluations of materials in order to find out the suitability of a particular material

should be done on daily basis, because although the selected coursebook is of a good

quality and is mostly well suitable, there are likely to be times when the material need to

be adjusted, even slightly. Apart from the day-to-day adjustments, there are occasions

when coursebooks are usually dealt with alternatively, either being adjusted in some way,

or replaced completely. To recapitulate these events that were also addressed in chapter

4, this approach can be especially useful when preparing for a summer school, summer

camp or an experiential course.

The practical part took all essential aspects dealt with in the theoretical part into

consideration and used these principles in practice when conducting the activities from

the lesson plans. The following reflections proved their quality as the adjusted activities

were successful and enriching in terms of learning. The stages that did not run as smoothly

as expected only point out the importance of teachers being flexible which is also closely

related to the issue of coursebook adjustments.

In terms of my professional development, I greatly appreciate having dealt with this topic

as having been concerned with both the theory and practice of adjusting coursebooks

benefited me to a great extent. I hope the issues addressed in this thesis can be useful for

teachers or students who, like me at the beginning, feel unsure or even negative about

coursebook use in classes. I personally believe that if a balanced approach where

coursebooks are used with respect to learners´ needs is adhered to, teaching and learning

is bound to be successful and enjoyable by everybody involved.

To bring the paper to an end, based on all the evidence presented in this thesis, adjusting

coursebooks is indeed an important action that should be implemented to lessons by all

teachers in order to encourage teaching and learning as effective as possible.

97

Resume

This thesis was focused on use of coursebooks in teaching English, especially adjusting

them in favour of learners, so that the teaching and learning would be as effective as

possible. The theoretical part explored methodological field connected to mainly

advantages and disadvantages of coursebook use and all important aspects that should be

taken into consideration when adjusting coursebooks. The practical part presented seven

lessons plans where the principles discussed in the theoretical part were implemented. It

was then reflected on the process of the activities being piloted and possible

improvements suggested.

Resumé

Tato bakalářská práce byla zaměřena na použití učebnic při výuce anglického jazyka,

zejména na jejich úpravu ku prospěchu studentů tak, abych proces učení učitelů i studentů

byl jak jen nejefektivnější. Teoretická část zkoumala metodologické pole týkající se

hlavně výhod a nevýhod použití učebnic, a důležité aspekty, které by měly být vzaty v

potaz při upravování učebnic. Praktická část prezentovala sedm plánů hodin, kde byly

využity principy z teoretické části. Následně byly posouzeny všechny procesy těchto

naplánovaných hodin a navržena možná vylepšení.

98

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Appendices

Appendix 1: Listening TIME BANDITS

Appendix 1a: New English File advanced, SB p.26

Appendix 1b: New English File advanced, TB p.42-43

Appendix 2: Reading HOROSCOPES

Appendix 2a: New English File pre-intermediate, WB p. 25

Appendix 2b: Star sign pictures

Appendix 2c: Teacher´s notes

Appendix 2d: Qs for Ss + correct answers

Appendix 2e: Horoscopes

Appendix 3: Speaking DREAMS

Appendix 3a: New English File pre-intermediate, SB p.35Appendix 3b:

Appendix 3b: New English File pre-intermediate SB p.110 and p.114

Appendix 3c: New English File pre-intermediate TB p.54

Appendix 3d: movie: Kytice, time: 0:09 – 0:10

Appendix 3e: Sherlock series, hounds of Baskerville episode, time 0:00 – 00:43

Appendix 3f: movie: Sherlock: the abominable bride, time: 34:40 – 35:26

Appendix 4: Writing COMPLAINT

Appendix 4a: Face2Face advanced, SB p.93

Appendix 4b: Face2Face advanced, TB p.106

Appendix 4c: AZ quiz Qs – a letter of complaint phrases

Appendix 4d: AZ quiz grid + counters

Appendix 4e: Mini white boards letter draft

Appendix 5: Grammar INDIRECT SPEECH

Appendix 5a: Face2Face intermediate, SB p.125

Appendix 5b: Face2Face intermediate, SB p.125/6: Reporting verbs

Appendix 5c: Face2Face intermediate, SB p.125/6: Sentences

Appendix 5d: Indirect speech bubbles

Appendix 6: Vocabulary TPR

Appendix 6a: Face2Face intermediate, SB p. 74

Appendix 6b: Face2Face intermediate, SB p. 74/1 – adjusted exercise

Appendix 6c: Face2Face intermediate, SB p. 147 – self-checking part

Appendix 6d: Face2Face intermediate TB p. 110

Appendix 6e: TPR activity - Qs

Appendix 7: Pronunciation OUGH

Appendix 7a: Face2Face intermediate, SB p.77

Appendix 7b: F2F SB p.77

Appendix 7c: F2F TB p.114

Appendix 7d: Sound practice

Appendix 1: Listening TIME BANDITS

Appendix 1a: New English File advanced, SB p.26

Appendix 1b: New English File advanced, TB p.42-43

Appendix 2: Reading HOROSCOPES

Appendix 2a: New English File pre-intermediate, WB p. 25

Appendix 2b: Star sign pictures

Source: pictures taken from www.usadultliteracy.wordpress.com/tag/zodiac/

Appendix 2c: Teacher´s notes

1) The signs of the zodiac + PRONUNCIATION

Aries /ˈeə.riːz/ beran

Taurus /ˈtɔː.rəs/ býk Gemini /ˈdʒem.ɪ.naɪ/ blíženci Cancer /ˈkæn.sər/ rak Leo /ˈliː.əʊ/ lev Virgo /ˈvɜː.ɡəʊ/ panna Libra /ˈliː.brə/ váha Scorpio /ˈskɔː.pi.əʊ/ štír Sagittarius /ˌsædʒ.ɪˈteə.ri.əs/ střelec Capricorn /ˈkæp.rɪ.kɔːn/ kozoroh Aquarius /əˈkweə.ri.əs/ vodnář Pisces /ˈpaɪ.siːz/ ryby

2) USEFUL WORD AND PHRASES

zodiac /ˈzəʊ.di.æk/ zvěrokruh

sign znamení sign of the zodiac znamení zvěrokruhu star sign hvězdné znamení

horoscope /ˈhɒr.ə.skəʊp/ horoskop

daily horoscopes denní horoskopy What sign are you? What's your sign? What's your star sign? Which sign of the zodiac were you born under? What sign are you? -- I'm a Gemini. Do you read your daily horoscopes? My horoscope said I could meet someone interesting today. People born under the star of Leo can be selfish, but also generous

Appendix 2d: Qs for Ss + correct answers

Who will have more work to do? (Aries) Who will be extremely romantic this week? (Taurus) What shouldn’t Gemini people forget? (say no) Who will receive an unexpected package? (Cancer) What should Leo people do if they are single? (find a partner) Who is advised to take care of their belongings? (Libra) What should Scorpio people do when being stressed? (Relax and breathe) Whose relationship will become deeper? (Sagittarius’) What/who shouldn’t Capricorn people ignore? (family) Why are Aquarius people advised to look good? (somebody may be a partner) Whose career may spoil some plans? (Pisces´)

Appendix 2e: Horoscopes (text adapted from www.everydayastro.com, pictures

taken from www.usadultliteracy.wordpress.com)

Aries (21.3. - 19.4.) A co-worker might be away, and this could increase the amount of work that you have to do, making you

stressed, especially if you aren't familiar with the work. Don't try to do it all at once. A family member you haven't heard from for a while could phone unexpectedly, and you could spend a happy half hour talking.

Taurus (21.4. - 20.5.) Today you could feel especially sensual. Sex and romance are likely to be on your mind. Romantic novels

and movies may seem especially appealing now, as could cozy beds and warm baths. Plan a romantic evening with the special person in your life, perhaps a special dinner with candles at home.

Gemini (22.5. - 20.6.) A small accident might happen at home today, Gemini, but don't worry. It will definitely provoke more

laughter than harm. You will want your house to look great, because a close friend or lover could come to visit. Don‘t forget that it is OK to say no to things you do not feel comfortable about.

Cancer (23.6. - 22.7.) An unexpected package could arrive, possibly shipped from far away. Try to solve the mystery! Friends or

relatives that you do not expect could suddenly show up, and you might get busy organizing a party for the last minute. Don t́ forget to take it easy, Cancer!

Leo (24.7. - 22.8.) This week you will think of ways to make a little extra money to prepare to move ahead with your life and

ambitions. Your friends or a partner might disagree but be ready to stick to your guns. In the evening, plan some time alone with your partner or get out and look for one if you're single.

Virgo (24.8. - 22.9.) The festive atmosphere around you makes you passionate and causes intimate feelings that bring friends and

couples closer together. Optimism and enthusiasm should fill the air. If there is something you are trying to achieve, Virgo, go for it!

Libra (24.9. - 22.10.) A card, email, or phone call could come from a sibling or other relative this week. Perhaps this is a good

chance to have a serious talk with this person, but don't get into argument! You might want to go out and do a little shopping, but be careful and take a good care of your handbag.

Scorpio (25.10. - 21.11.) Your friend may get into trouble and this might worry you, but you need to leave him/her alone for now. You

could have some urgent tasks to complete, but the streets and shops may be full of impatient people. Relax and breathe deeply!

Sagittarius (23.11. - 20.12.) A love relationship could take on a higher and more spiritual aspect during this period, creating a desire for

your souls to bond. The planetary atmosphere brings you closer together, and you may experience a closer sense of intimacy.

Capricorn (23.12. - 19.1.) You may feel an unexpected urge to write, paint, draw, or compose some music. Just do it because inspiration

can vanish very quickly. Your friends and family members want to spend more time with you, so don't ignore them, Capricorn!

Aquarius (22.1. - 18.2.) You've been very busy, professionally and socially, and now you're probably longing for a quiet time. If you

have a partner, you should schedule some time alone with the special person in your life. If you are single, don't be surprised if someone new appears on the scene. Make sure you look your best!

Pisces (20.2. - 19.3.) You want to spend some time alone with your partner this week, Pisces, but your or your honey's career issues

could get in the way, so you might not be able to spend any time together now. Contact with friends could also be

frustrating since everyone is busy.

Appendix 3: Speaking DREAMS

Appendix 3a: New English File pre-intermediate, SB p.35

Appendix 3b: New English File pre-intermediate SB p.110 and p.114

Appendix 3c: New English File pre-intermediate TB p.54

Appendix 3d: movie: Kytice, time: 0:09 – 0:10

Appendix 3e: Sherlock series, hounds of Baskerville episode, time 0:00 – 00:43

Appendix 3f: movie: Sherlock: the abominable bride, time: 34:40 – 35:26

Appendix 4: Writing COMPLAINT

Appendix 4a: F2F advanced, SB p.93

Appendix 4b: F2F advanced, TB p.106

Appendix 4c: AZ quiz Qs – a letter of complaint phrases

I am writing to inform you that...

I am writing regarding... To whom it may concern

I would like to express my dissatisfaction with

I am afraid to say that...

I am writing in order to complain...

...did not live up to our expectations

It left us feeling extremely dissatisfied

To our great disappointment

As a consequence of it, ...

(the hotel) was supposed to provide...

... did not reflect the description

We believe that we should receive some form of compensation

We believe that we are owed an apology

I feel that a refund would be appropriate

… further actions will be taken I am afraid that if these conditions are not met

If this matter is not resolved quickly/ satisfactorily/ promptly…

I look forward to receiving your explanation of these matters

I look forward to receiving a satisfactory reply within 7 days

... I will be forced to take this further

To w…….. it may c……… I am w…… r………….. I am w……. to i…….. y……. that...

I am writing i… o……. to c……..

I am a…….. to s……. that...

I w………….. like to e……….. my d…………….. with

To our g……. d…………………….

It l……… us feeling e…………….. d………………….

...did not l…… u…… to our e……………….

... did not r……… the d………….

(the hotel) was s………….. to p…………..

A…. a c……………….. of it, ...

I f…….. that a r………. would be a……………

We b………….. that we are o……….an a……………..

We b……….. that we should r………… some f……….. of c………………….

If this m………….. is not r………… quickly/ s…………. / p………….

I am a………. that if these c………… are not m…..

... further a………… will be t……………

... I will be f……… to take this f…………

I look f………… to r………… a s……….. reply w……. 7 days

I l………… forward to receiving your e………….. of these m………….

Appendix 4d: AZ quiz grid + counters, source: created by me

Appendix 4e: Mini white boards letter draft

Appendix 5: Grammar INDIRECT SPEECH

Appendix 5a: Face2Face intermediate, SB p.125

Appendix 5b: Face2Face intermediate, SB p.125/6: Reporting verbs

Appendix 5c: Face2Face intermediate, SB p.125/6: Sentences

Appendix 5d: Indirect speech bubbles

INVITE AGREE SUGGEST

ADMIT THREATEN OFFER

PROMISE REMIND REFUSE WARN

OK, let´s buy a new car! Why don´t we go to cinema?

I won´t apologise. I´ll pay for dinner. I´ll pay you back soon.

I stole my money. If you don´t give it back, I´ll tell the police.

Would you like to go for a drink? Don´t trust him.

Don´t forget to pay the gas bill.

Appendix 6: Vocabulary TPR

Appendix 6a: Face2Face intermediate, SB p. 74

Appendix 6b: Face2Face intermediate, SB p. 74/1 – adjusted exercise

Appendix 6c: Face2Face intermediate, SB p. 147 – self-checking part

Appendix 6d: Face2Face intermediate TB p. 110

Appendix 6d: TPR activity - Qs

YES: smile NO: frown, YES: shiver NO: laugh, YES: wave NO: yawn, YES: cry NO: scratch, YES: blush NO: stretch

Were you born in Brno?

Do you like Brno?

Do you like Prague?

Have u ever been to London?

Have you ever lived in a foreign country?

Would you like to travel around the world?

Are you a student?

Do you want to study at university?

Did you like English at school?

Do you like English language now?

Can you speak any other language?

Do you like Czech cuisine/food?

Have you ever cooked anything exotic?

Do you eat fruits or vegetables every day?

Do you drink fresh juice at least once a week?

Are you a vegetarian?

Do you have a pet?

Do you like dogs?

Do you like cats?

Would you be afraid to have a spider or a snake?

Have you ever seen a seahorse?

Have you ever seen a penguin?

Do you do any sport?

Do you watch sport on TV?

Have you ever played handball?

Appendix 7: Pronunciation OUGH

Appendix 7a: Face2Face intermediate, SB p.77

Appendix 7b: F2F SB p.77 Appendix 7c: F2F TB p.114

Appendix 7d: Sound practice

7