english teaching

TEACHINGENGLISHENGLISHTEACHINGprofessionalprofessional

Issue 72 January

2011

• practical methodology

• fresh ideas & innovations

• classroom resources

• new technology

• teacher development

• tips & techniques

• photocopiable materials

• competitions & reviews

The Leading Practical Magazine For English Language Teachers Worldwide

CLIL: the nature of the beastMary Spratt

Is the Bard barred?Mark Almond

Choosing tunesMartine Ashmore

Which side are you on?Adam Brown

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

CLIL

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TEACHER DEVELOPMENT

TEACHER PLUS 48Sue Leather tells teachers how to become writers

LEARNING COACH 2 50Daniel Barber and Duncan Foord improve studentperformance by putting the focus on out-of-class learning

TECHNOLOGY

THE WEB IS THE WAY 54Andrea Paschoal demonstrates how technology canenhance teacher development

FIVE THINGS YOU ALWAYS WANTED TO 57KNOW ABOUT: WORD PROCESSINGNicky Hockly advocates a little more style and substance in the presentation of teacher-made materials

WEBWATCHER 58Russell Stannard is impressed by three interactivewebsites

REGULAR FEATURES

PREPARING TO TEACH ... 38Vocabulary (1)John Potts

SCAFFOLDING 59Rose Senior

IT WORKS IN PRACTICE 40

REVIEWS 42

SCRAPBOOK 52

COMPETITIONS 39, 60

INTERNATIONAL SUBSCRIPTION FORM 30

MAIN FEATURE

CLIL: THE NATURE OF THE BEAST 4Mary Spratt considers it crucial to distinguish between CLIL and ELT

FEATURES

IS THE BARD BARRED? 8Mark Almond issues an invitation to Shakespeare

PICK UP A PRONOUN 12Jackie Lee tackles a grammatical point that can be problematic

LEARNING DISABILITY 6 16Lesley Lanir analyses the process of writing and spelling

CHOOSING TUNES 22Martine Ashmore outlines her criteria for music choices

LITTLE AND OFTEN 23Paul Bress suggests a systematic approach topronunciation

OVER THE WALL 24Alan Maley recommends books with warnings for our world

EAP: AN ALL-ROUND CHALLENGE 4 27Ruth Bancroft teaches her students to synthesise

MAKING WORDS STICK 32Darius Langhoff samples strategies for learning vocabulary

WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON? 35Adam Brown hedges his bets

PICTURE CARD ACTIVITIES 44Simon Mumford creates activities using cards

TEACHING YOUNG LEARNERS

CROSSING THE RUBICON 20Patrick Lagendijk recounts a life-changing teaching experience

Includes materials designed to photocopy

Contents

• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 72 January 2011 • 1

Contents

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2 • Issue 72 January 2011 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •

On a final read-through of the articles in this issue,I was struck by the trouble to which teachers willgo to make learning as easy and pleasurable for

their students as possible. Rose Senior sums up theprinciple in her article on scaffolding, outlining the wayteachers can provide support for learners and graduallyremove it as they become confident of their own abilities– in the same way that construction workers erectscaffolding as a support, only removing it when thebuilding can stand on its own.

Simon Mumford supports students’ learning by makinghis own materials. He has a variety of games up hissleeve which use illustrated vocabulary cards to get hisstudents speaking and interacting in class. Nicky Hocklyalso looks at the materials teachers make for their classesand recommends a little extra work on their wordprocessing skills to give a better quality of presentation.

In a detailed attack on a specific linguistic problem,Jackie Lee pins down exactly what it is about pronounsthat some students don’t understand. She workssystematically to tackle the issue and get her studentsfirst to understand the function and use of pronouns andthen to employ them successfully.

For Martine Ashmore, too, the devil is in the detail. Ratherthan simply using popular songs to fill the odd spare fiveminutes in a lesson, she analyses potential songs closelyto ensure that a song will not only resonate with thestudents, but that there is a learning point, the lyrics areclear, the content suitable and that even the length andproportion of words to instrumental sections areappropriate.

Paul Bress goes that extra mile in ensuring that hisstudents attain a reasonable level of intelligibility in theirpronunciation. He recognises that it is not enough forthem to be intelligible to their teachers and fellowstudents in class; they have to learn to hold their own outin the real world.

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Developing Oral Fluency for Teachers of Adult Learners Comenius Database Code: UK-2010-1017-021

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M A I N F E A T U R E

CLIL:the nature of the beast



Mary Spratt sets CLIL and ELT side by side for a close comparison.

CLILis being put forwardmore and more asan alternative to

ELT, and many teachers are askingthemselves: What exactly is CLIL?Should I be using it with my classes? Thisarticle aims to provide readers with somepointers for answering these questions.

We will start by defining CLIL andELT.

DefinitionsCLIL (content and language integratedlearning) is an approach to teaching andlearning in which school subjects aretaught and studied in a second(third/fourth) language. So it is differentfrom foreign language teaching, as inCLIL a foreign language is the vehiclefor a form of subject-based teaching. Inother words, while language and subjectlearning are both the aims of CLIL, themain focus of the lesson is the subject,not the language.

This is a ‘hard’ form of CLIL, butnot the only form. In practice, CLILexists in different guises on a continuumwith content-based ELT at the softerend and bilingual education focusingexclusively on learning subject matterthrough the medium of a foreign

This article will refer to CLIL astaught at the mid point on this diagram,ie with the dual aim of subject andforeign language learning. I will use theterm ELT (English Language Teaching)to refer to learning or teaching theEnglish language as a tool forcommunicating in daily situations orabout daily, social or professional needs,and in ways which may follow a varietyof methodologies, eg task-basedlearning, PPP, the lexical approach, thecommunicative approach.

AimsBroadly speaking, the aims of CLIL areto improve both the learners’ knowledgeand skills in a subject and their

language at the harder end. We couldshow this continuum, as follows:

language skills in the language thesubject is taught through. Language isused as the medium for learning subjectcontent, and subject content is used as aresource for learning the language. Theaims of CLIL are often specified interms of Do Coyle’s ‘four Cs’:

● Communication: improving overalltarget language competence;

● Content: learning the knowledge andskills of the subject;

● Culture: building interculturalknowledge and understanding;

● Cognition: developing thinking skills.

The aims of ELT, as often stated incourse descriptions and syllabuses, areto enable learners to learn thestructures, vocabulary and skills neededfor a particular purpose. This purposewill sometimes be related to some formof English for Special Purposes, but ismore often related to daily or survivalneeds and topics of general interest.

The different aims of CLIL and ELTlead to different classroom experiencesin terms of teaching methodologies,content for learning and language use.They also involve different contexts forlearning. Let’s look at these.

Focus onsubjectlearning

Bilingualeducation

CLIL

Focus onlanguagelearning

Content-basedlanguage teaching

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The language taught in CLIL is

primarily related to thesubject being taught and to the learning

of academic learning and thinking skills

Classroom experiencesMethodologyThe methodology employed for CLILgenerally focuses on developing in aninteractive way the knowledge, skillsand cognitive abilities involved insubject learning. Language is taughtmainly through acquisition, thoughwith some overt support through theuse of scaffolding devices such asspeaking and writing frames and wordglossaries. Methodologies in ELT varyalong the cline of more to lesscommunicative, with language taughteither by acquisition or focus on form,depending on their point on the cline.Many ELT classrooms combine the two.

ContentThe content of CLIL lessons variesaccording to the subject being taughtthrough CLIL, eg geography, physics,music. However, it will centre on thefacts, information and skills of thesubject, subject-related concepts and thecognitive skills required to learn aboutthe subject’s concepts. In ELT, contentis generally related to the learners’ dailyand survival needs and general interests,particularly at lower levels, withsometimes a more ESP focus, such asEnglish for academic purposes orEnglish for business, taking over at moreadvanced levels, and a more content- ortopic-based focus at primary level.

LanguageThe different content of CLIL and ELTresults in different types of targetlanguage and language use in theclassroom. In CLIL we see:

● a predominance of subject-relatedvocabulary;

● language for exploring, discussingand writing about the subject matter;

● language for employing cognitiveskills (eg defining, giving reasons foropinions, evaluating, hypothesising,drawing conclusions, exemplifying);

● language for carrying out learning skills(eg locating information, interpretinginformation, classifying).

Much of the language taught in CLIL isrelated to the development of cognitiveacademic language proficiency (CALP).

Language is not graded across aCLIL syllabus and, if they are focusedon, grammatical or structural patternsoccur in the context of achievingparticular academic functions, eg the

use of the passive voice to report on theprocedure in an experiment, or the useof the past tense to relate a past eventin history or geography. These patternsdo not form the building blocks of asyllabus and are not usually subject to‘controlled’ or ‘freer’ practice, but maybe introduced through scaffolding.

In ELT, the language focused onmay be the grammar, functions, skills orvocabulary relevant to dealing withtasks, daily situations or an ESP focus.Language itself or language skills areoften the starting point for lessonplanning, and daily contexts, tasks ortopics are provided to give the languagemeaning and relevance. The language islikely to be graded to a greater or lesserextent, and is likely to form the basis forthe syllabus and its progression.

We can see from the above thatthere are significant differences betweenCLIL and ELT. To recap, CLIL focuseson teaching a subject. It uses languageas a vehicle for doing this and themethod of learning language ispredominantly acquisition. Thelanguage taught in CLIL is primarilyrelated to the subject being taught andto the learning of academic learningand thinking skills. It tends not to begraded and does not determine thecontent or progression of the syllabus.

ELT, on the other hand, generallyfocuses much more on linguistic formsand meanings than CLIL and onpractising them in the classroom. It doesnot generally concern itself with teachingcognitive or learning skills or the factsand figures of a subject (with exceptions,mainly at primary level). The main focusof ELT lessons generally remains whatit always has been, ie language itselfand/or using it. The language it teachesis usually related to daily survivallanguage and interests, is likely to besubject to some form of grading andforms the building blocks of the syllabus.

ContextsLet’s look at these factors in the contextsof teaching CLIL and ELT: where, howoften, by whom and materials.

Where?CLIL operates primarily in compulsorylearning settings. ELT is taught incompulsory learning settings, too, but itis also widely taught in language schoolsettings, spanning a greater age rangethan CLIL and learners with a widerrange of immediate and/or identifiableneeds for the language.

How often?The time allocations given over to thestudy of CLIL differ widely, fromimmersion contexts, in which studentslearn all or most of their school subjectsin a second language, to drip-feedcontexts, in which learners learnperhaps just one school subject in asecond language for a few hours a weekand possibly for a limited period. Incompulsory schooling, ELT tends to betaught for approximately three hours aweek, while at tertiary level or in languageschools this can vary considerably.

By whom?In terms of teachers, CLIL can be taughtby either a subject teacher or a languageteacher. Sometimes in certain schoolsettings, language and subject teacherscooperate through team teaching toteach a particular subject. Keith Kellyhas suggested that ideally a teacherteaching CLIL would have this profile:

● has subject specialism;

● is proficient in the L2;

● uses CLIL methodology;

● uses language-appropriate materials;

● integrates content and languagelearning during lessons;

● has the skills needed to plan CLILlessons;

● is able to identify the languagedemands of subject materials;

● is familiar with aspects of CLIL taskdesign;

● participates in professionaldevelopment.

ELT teachers, on the other hand, aregenerally required to have proficiency inEnglish, knowledge about the Englishlanguage and a grounding in ELTpedagogy and methodologies. We can seethat the abilities suggested for a CLILteacher, even if ideal, go well beyondthose required of an ELT teacher.

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[email protected]

Mary Spratt is an ELTconsultant, trainer andwriter. She works inteaching, teacherdevelopment,assessment, materialswriting and ELTresearch. She is theauthor or co-author ofELT coursebooks andsupplementary materials,works on the CambridgeTKT tests for teachers,and is a member of SueLeather Associates.

MaterialsFinally, in terms of materials, there is awealth of ELT materials availablecommercially, catering for different ages,contexts of learning and learningpurposes. CLIL, which is younger thanELT, is yet to be supported by a similarrange of materials. The large differencescurrently existing in teaching contexts, egage of uptake, subject area and amountof time allocation, no doubt makecommercial materials less easy to produce.

EffectivenessBesides knowing what makes CLIL andELT intrinsically different, teachersthinking of adopting CLIL may alsowant to know more about itseffectiveness as compared with ELT.While ELT is able to boast many successstories, it has also been criticised (forexample by Pérez-Vidal) for not beingable to provide in the classroomsufficient exposure to or interaction withthe foreign language to allow sufficientlanguage processing to take place, andfor tending to be quite superficial in itstopic content. These shortcomings aresaid to lead to demotivation of learnersand insufficient cognitive engagementwith the language.

Here are some of the claims thathave been made for CLIL:

● CLIL does not negatively affectlearning of a content subject; it canenhance it. (Zarobe)

● CLIL can enhance languageproficiency. (Ackerl; Hutter andRieder-Beinemann)

● CLIL can enhance students’motivation, language retention,involvement and risk taking. (Coyle)

● CLIL may help those boys who seelanguage learning as ‘something thatgirls do’. (Baetens Beardmore)

These claims have been made not justby the above researchers but also bymany others, and they are based onstudies of CLIL in action. For reasonsof space, we can’t go into them anyfurther here.

Other researchers, though, haveexpressed concern about CLIL,suggesting, for example, that learningsubjects in L1 rather than L2 producesbetter exam results, greater progress insubject learning, better learner self-perception and self-esteem and greaterclassroom participation. There are alsoconcerns that CLIL takes time from L1learning at primary level, leavingchildren unsure in their mother tongue;that weaker learners are disadvantaged;and that teachers may sometimes haveinsufficient L2 proficiency to teachCLIL effectively.

These findings on the effectivenessof CLIL seem contradictory, but whenyou look at what experts suggest leadsto a successful CLIL experience, it isclear that much hangs on how it isimplemented. John Clegg has puttogether a list of 12 factors needed forsuccessful implementation of CLIL.Among them are the need for language

Ackerl, C ‘Lexico-grammar in the essaysof CLIL and non-CLIL students: erroranalysis of written production’ VIEWZ,Vienna Working English Papers 16(3)2007 (www.univie.ac.at/anglistik/ang_new/online_papers/views.html)

Baetens Beardmore, H CLIL Symposium,IATEFL Conference, Cardiff, UK 2009

Clegg, J ‘Education through a secondlanguage: conditions for success’ CLILConference Proceedings NorwichInstitute for Language Education 2009

Coyle, D A ‘Developing CLIL: towards atheory of practice’ Monograph 6 APAC2006

Coyle, D A ‘A vision for CLIL: past,present and future action’ handout fromCLIL Conference, March 2nd, Anglo-European School, Bishop’s Stortford, UK2007

Graddol, D IATEFL CLIL debate, Cardiff,UK 2005

Hutter, J and Rieder-Beinemann, A ‘Theeffect of CLIL instruction on children’snarrative competence’ VIEWZ, ViennaWorking English Papers 16(3) 2007(www.univie.ac.at/anglistik/ang_new/online_papers/views.html)

Kelly, K www.factworld.info/clil/cafe/090122/index.htm

Pérez-Vidal C ‘The integration of contentand language in the classroom: aEuropean approach to education (thesecond time round)’ CLIL AcrossEducational Levels Santillana/Richmond2009

Zarobe, Y ‘CLIL in a bilingual community:similarities and differences with thelearning of English as a foreign language’VIEWZ, Vienna Working English Papers16(3) 2007 (www.univie.ac.at/anglistik/ang_new/online_papers/views.html)

upgrading of teachers, training teachersin specialist pedagogy for working withlow-L2 learners, ensuring quality ofliteracy and cognitive development inL1 in the early years, partly re-orientingtraining of language teachers towardsteaching of language for subjectlearning, starting CLIL only after someyears of good initial L1-mediumeducation, writing textbooks with L2-medium learners in mind, spending a lotof money on implementing CLIL andgiving yourself ten years for it tosucceed.

David Graddol, the author ofEnglish Next, has said of CLIL: ‘there isa potentially large downside to it. Inmany countries they just don’t seem to beequipped to implement CLIL. When itworks, it works extraordinarily well, butit is actually quite difficult to do well.My feeling is that it may actually take 30or 40 years for a country to really to pullthis one off.’



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To my mind, ELT teachers thinking ofadopting CLIL need to know the natureof the beast, evaluate their own skillscarefully and look hard at whether thelearning environment they and theirlearners work in can support a CLILprogramme.

There are concerns that CLIL takes time from L1learning at primary

level, leaving childrenunsure in their mother tongue

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L I T E R A T U R E

Is the Bard barred?

Is the Bard barred?

Mark Almond invites

Shakespeare into his

classroom.T

he inspiration for this articlecomes from the frequentreaction I get from languagelearners and teachers I’m

training or doing workshops with, whovisibly recoil when I suggest we work ona Shakespearean text. Admittedly, theyusually relax a little when I assure themwe won’t be studying it in any kind ofacademic way but, rather, we will bephysically dramatising it as a group.Nevertheless, there is still a reluctance.Of course, this reluctance comes as nosurprise because, for many years, theperpetuating myth that Shakespeare’splays and sonnets are the exclusiveproperty of literary academics haserroneously led many to believe that hiswork is incomprehensible, impenetrableand, as a result, dull and irrelevant inthe 21st century!

In this article, I hope to debunk thismyth and demonstrate that Shakespeare,broken down into manageable chunks,can be interesting, enormous fun andrelevant to all ages. Most importantly, hislanguage and stories can be exploited inmany ways in the language classroom todevelop learners’ general communicativecompetence ... and, dare I say it, enjoyedin a way Shakespeare intended: as aphysical and multi-sensory experience,rather than an inactive and academic one.

Shakespeare and his worksThe time from the Elizabethan age(1558–1603) to the middle of the 17thcentury was a period when Englishunderwent radical changes, particularlyin its influences from other languages. Infact, in this period more than any other

in history, more words were borrowedinto English from Latin, French,Spanish and Dutch than ever before orsince. The peak coincided with the timeShakespeare really flourished,1590–1610, when approximately 3,000words were borrowed from Latin alone.This is reflected in one calculation thatsuggests that Shakespeare used 17,677words in his works, of which one tenthhad never been used before. To illustratethe extent of Shakespeare’s impact on,and creative input into, English, it isestimated that he coined around 2,000words, countless expressions and madearound 3,000 puns.

Working with ShakespeareThe important thing to remindourselves of is that a great number ofthe words and expressions introducedby Shakespeare still enrich Englishtoday. For example, where would we bewithout the following?

to gossip well-behaved (adj)to undress to torture retirement (n)to puke to negotiate manager (n)

to hurry to grovel fashionable (adj)critic (n) to line your pockets

to lay it on thick in my mind’s eyeto be somebody’s flesh and blood

Even though not everyone was a fan ofthe Bard (the Irish playwright GeorgeBernard Shaw famously wrote, ‘There isno eminent writer whom I despise soentirely as I despise Shakespeare when Imeasure my mind against his. It would bepositively a relief to me to dig him up andthrow stones at him’), there can be nodoubt that with a suitably enthusiasticapproach by the teacher, Shakespeare

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Example quotes

What’s in a name? That which we calla rose

By any other word would smell as sweet.

(Romeo and Juliet)

Now is the winter of our discontentMade glorious summer by this sun

of York;And all the clouds that lour’d upon

our houseIn the deep bosom of the ocean

buried. (King Richard III)

If music be the food of love, play on;Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting,The appetite may sicken, and so die.

(Twelfth Night)

Is this a dagger which I see before me,The handle toward my hand?

Come, let me clutch thee.I have thee not, and yet I see thee still.

(Macbeth)

All the world’s a stage,And all the men and women

merely players.They have their exits and their

entrances,And one man in his time plays

many parts,His acts being seven ages.

(As You Like It)

can be made appealing to learners. Thisis not just because of the colourfulwords and phrases he has given us, butbecause he was also an exceptionalstoryteller. Many of the themes andcharacters that make up his plays arejust as relevant and interesting today asthey were over 400 years ago, and theyshould certainly be of interest to mostof our learners. These themes includeambition, royalty, sex, death, violence,nature, love, greed, racism, alcohol,family relationships and evencannibalism! So, are Shakespeare andthe 21st-century communicativelanguage classroom natural bedfellows(another Shakespearian coinage)? I thinkthey should be – if handled thoughtfullyand carefully by the teacher.

Working with studentsIn this section, I will draw on myexperiences of how I have exploitedcertain extracts from plays in theclassroom and how I have used them todevelop my learners’ appreciation ofShakespeare’s classic texts throughphysical, multi-sensory drama exercises,as well as for work on pronunciationand general speaking skills. I personallydon’t feel any kind of scholarly literaryanalysis belongs in the communicativelanguage classroom, but I have foundthat guiding learners throughmanageable exercises with short extractsfrom the original text works wondersfor their confidence and motivation,and their creative output too. As will beseen, more oral communicative benefitsand extended speaking practice can beachieved through working with originalthemes, narratives and characters buttransposing them into a modern context.

A good place to start is to look atthe rhythm of the blank verse (versethat doesn’t rhyme) in whichShakespeare often wrote. This is callediambic pentameter. An iamb is an

unstressed syllable followed by a stressedsyllable, as in the word pretend forexample. A line of iambic pentameterhas ten syllables, arranged into fiverhythmic units or metres; it should bespoken like this: ti dum ti dum ti dum tidum ti dum or ‘To be or not to be, that isthe question’. (This is generally true,though not all examples fit neatly intothis pattern.) This rhythm reflects thenatural rhythm of English, and it isuseful to explore and play with it in aphysical way with learners. You firstneed to clear a space in the classroomand ask the students to stand up. Play apiece of current pop/rock music in 4:4time and ask the students to dance to it,but off the beat (some might feelembarrassed, so they can shut their eyesif it helps). This is both difficult andfunny. Then ask them to move or dancein time to the music – wait for the sighsof relief! This simple exercise illustrateshow awkward and unnatural it feels tomove off the beat and demonstrates theimportance of natural-sounding stressedand unstressed features of speech.

Working with sentences Let’s now look at how we can exploitshort pieces of original text. Giveindividual students short well-knownquotes (see the examples in the box onthe right) to work with, and do thefollowing:

Ask them to repeat their quote andmove around the space simultaneouslyvarying the tone according to yourinstructions. For example, you can askthem to say it angrily, excitedly, lustfully,or giggle it, chant it, gasp it, etc. Youcan also get the students to say theirline like a cowboy, a Martian or a kungfu fighter, complete with appropriatemovements and facial expressions.Ensure they don’t rush their lines. Theyshould enjoy it and take ownership of itas this brings fun into the work andhelps demystify Shakespeare.

Choose quotes that are easy toexternalise. As students mill around thespace repeating their quote, tell themthey should try to externalise as muchof it as possible. For example, using thequote from Julius Caesar ‘Friends,Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears!I come to bury Caesar, not to praisehim’, each key word (the onesunderlined) can be literally mimed withgestures and movement that signify the

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meaning. The theory behind this exerciseis that externalising the languagephysically like this helps studentsinternalise it and make it meaningful.

Get the students to work withlonger stretches of original text. Thiscan be challenging but also veryrewarding. For example, they can beasked to work in small groups and toprepare and perform a dramatisation ofa piece of verse or a sonnet. Thewitches’ spell in Macbeth works verywell for this because of its rhythm as

3

Many of the themes and characters that

make up Shakespeare’splays are just as relevant

and interesting today as they were over

400 years ago

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Mark Almond is a Senior Lecturer in theDepartment of Englishand Language Studies atChrist Church University,Canterbury, UK. His mainareas of interest are inteaching methodology,the use of drama in thelanguage classroom andacting techniques forcreative teaching. Hisbook Teaching Englishwith Drama is publishedby Keyways Publishing.

Background: Macbeth is a businessmanworking for an important IT firm. He isgood-looking, young, ambitious and hasmade many profitable deals for thecompany. He’s also quite wealthy (hehas the latest BMW, a big house incentral London as well as a countryestate in Wiltshire, and he only wearsdesigner clothes). His wife is also youngand ambitious and she wants herhusband to replace the old managingdirector, who is very old-fashioned andboring. Unfortunately, the managingdirector has two sons whom he wants totake over from him when he retires. MrsMacbeth is interested in the occult andknows various psychics and mediumswho have prophesied that her husbandwill one day be managing director. Shetakes her husband to see one of them.

well as the characters and theme:‘Double, double, toil and trouble; fire burnand cauldron bubble. Fillet of a fennysnake, in the cauldron boil and bake, eyeof newt, and toe of frog, wool of bat, andtongue of dog’, etc. In addition todevising a ritualistic movement, thestudents also need to adjust and varytheir volume, pace, pitch and tone tocreate a suitable atmosphere. They canalso devise some possible sound effects(eg howling wolves). Another thing theymust consider is who will deliver whichlines of text and which lines will be saidin unison. One group I worked withspent two minutes coming into thespace, making eerie noises and gettinginto position before delivering a singleline of text. It was spellbinding (pardonthe pun)! They completely tookownership of the text.

Working with scenesI have used the following activities formore extended work that has stretchedover a series of lessons. These activitiesallow the learners time to consider anddiscuss the themes, empathise with thecharacters and transpose the work ofShakespeare into a modern context.

Give the students a scene in theoriginal language and a jumbled-upcurrent English equivalent. Their job isfirst to match them up. They then, insmall groups and working with themodern text, prepare and dramatise thescene transposing it to a more recentsetting. For example, using Macbeth,Act 3 Scene 3 when Macbeth has hisbest friend Banquo murdered, theymight choose to have the action takeplace outside a nightclub rather than acastle, on motorbikes rather thanhorses, etc. It’s a murder scene andnotoriously difficult to stage so carefuldirection from the teacher may benecessary to make it unrushed, aestheticand convincing.

Working more broadly on thethemes of a play in a modern context,you might set the scene as shown in theboxes above for the students toimprovise around. To gain maximumbenefit, take them through some

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characterisation exercises beforehand,bringing depth and conviction to theirparts (see my book, Teaching Englishwith Drama, for lots of ideas). Sufficienttime should be spent in discussion, andthe improvisations should be staged andrepeated after feedback from theteacher and other groups. This couldeven develop into a piece of creativewriting.

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I hope this goes some way to inspiringyou to try out some Shakespeare inyour language classes, if you haven’talready. The ideas presented here areessentially drama in the sense that theyrequire the students’ physical and multi-sensory engagement, the emphasis on

almost all drama work being on groupcohesion and collaboration. I havefound that students are incredibly proudand motivated when they have tackledShakespeare, and they soon realise justhow accessible and relevant his body ofwork is today.

Scene 1Improvise a scene around the visit ofMr and Mrs Macbeth to the medium. IsMr Macbeth cynical or is he a believerin the occult?

Scene 2Improvise a scene between Mr andMrs Macbeth after the visit to themedium, in which Mrs Macbeth urgesher husband to kill the managingdirector and take over the whole firm.

Scene 3Improvise a scene in which Mr and MrsMacbeth invite the managing directorto dinner and dispose of him by theend of the evening. How do they killhim and dispose of him?

Scene 1 (Father and mother)Father: You are arranging Juliet’smarriage and are pleased that youhave found a suitable husband for her.Tell your wife about the man you havechosen. You assume she will also bepleased with your choice. You thinkJuliet might be a bit young to getmarried but believe you have made agood choice. However, you let yourwife do most of the talking.

Scene 2 (Father, mother and Juliet)Juliet: Your parents tell you about theman they have chosen to marry you.You are worried and anxious aboutthis. You refuse to marry the man theyhave chosen because you have alreadysecretly married Romeo. Don’t tellthem this, though! You are a bitfrightened of your father. Yourrelationship with your mother is muchcloser.

Is the Bard barred?

Is the Bard barred?

MacbethWork in groups of four: Mr and Mrs Macbeth, the medium, the boss.

Romeo and JulietWork in groups of three: Juliet, Juliet’s father, Juliet’s mother.

ETp

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

Pick up a pronoun

Pick up a pronoun

Jackie Lee discusses

effective methods to teach

an often neglected grammar

point.

Recent observation of a traineeteacher’s lesson on personalpronouns has made me feelthe need to explore ways to

teach and learn this basic grammaticalconcept effectively. To some people, theforms and meanings of pronouns arenot difficult to master. Owing to this,perhaps, not many coursebook writershave put much effort into the design ofeffective and interesting languageactivities on this topic. The exercisesfound in many coursebooks andgrammar exercise books usually includetraditional blank-filling or multiple-choice questions, as in these examples:

Discussing the problemAccording to Michael Swan, studentsoften need to get used to building astructure before they are ready to use itmore freely. Learners can benefit fromsome undemanding ‘mechanical’exercises, which enable them toconcentrate on one thing at a time.However, the weakness of drills is thatthey cannot keep the students’ interestand attention for long, and that theyusually focus only on forms (eg He is asubject pronoun and him is an objectpronoun) and meanings (eg She and herare used for girls and women), but notoften on the use of the particularlanguage expression (eg pronouns are akind of substitution which make writingand speech concise and coherent). Iexamined several grammar activity booksto see what advice ELT experts give toteachers on the presentation and practiceof personal pronouns. Surprisingly, it ishard to find a discussion of this topic.This suggests that the teaching ofpersonal pronouns is an under-researched area, despite the fact thatmany learners have problems with theiruse. According to Gao and Ko, althoughpupils in Hong Kong are taught aboutpronouns in primary school grades 3 or4, teachers are often troubled by the factthat a number of learners, includingthose at the secondary level, are stillconfused about the English pronounsystem. As part of their research with agroup of primary grade 5 teachers, Gaoand Ko conducted pilot interviews andpre-tests with four classes of studentsand found that most of them had an

Nevertheless, there are students whohave problems with pronouns, and weneed to find more engaging ways ofteaching them these structures andhelping them to use them accurately.

Fill in each blank with a suitablepersonal pronoun.

Susan is a teacher. __________ teaches Putonghua.

David and Tom are brothers.__________ live in Kowloon Bay.

Read the following conversationbetween Susan and Jane. Circlethe appropriate pronouns.

Susan: Jane, I bought a new hatyesterday. Let (I / me / mine) show (it / its / her) to you.

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impoverished understanding of Englishpronouns. The students relied on theposition of pronouns in a clause todifferentiate subject pronouns andobject pronouns, and had difficulties inunderstanding the meanings andfunctions of they and it. Furthermore,the pupils were not willing to usepronouns in writing, and used full nounphrases instead, as in Mary … Mary …Mary … rather than Mary … she … she … . In my own recent study ofsecondary students’ writing, grammaticalerrors such as ‘We brought he to find himmother’ and ‘I was waiting for my mumbut I couldn’t see him’ were common. Ifeel that the mismatch between thelearning needs of students and theavailability of effective teaching resourceson pronouns should be addressed.

The following is a discussion of someeffective ways to teach these commonlyused language items.

Discovering solutionsAn effective way to teach grammar isthrough learner discovery. It is importantto allow students to discern languagefeatures through the manipulation ofappropriate data. Use of the variationpattern of contrast (see Lo and Pong fordetails) can allow learners to discover theEnglish pronoun system by themselves.Here I will illustrate how teachers canmake use of two different versions of atext to help learners understand the useof pronouns. The text chosen can beany passage which includes a variety ofpersonal pronouns. I have chosen thechildren’s classic The Emperor’s NewClothes for my illustration.

First, the teacher can show thestudents Version 1 of the story (see Text1, Version 1), which has all the pronounsreplaced by their corresponding nounphrases. The students are thenencouraged to discuss what is wrongwith the text. This activity can helpthem understand the use of pronouns –

pronouns make statements less repetitivewhile showing how the entities of aclause or a series of clauses areconnected; without pronouns, the writingwill become verbose, unnatural anddifficult to read. With elementarystudents, the teacher can then show theoriginal story (Text 1, Version 2), and askthe students to compare the two texts,and identify and classify the pronounsused. Intermediate students can be askedto rewrite Version 1 using pronouns.When this re-writing is complete, theteacher can encourage them to comparetheir story with Version 2. Through thiscomparison and contrast activity,students can come to understand thatcorrect use of pronouns is essential forconcise and coherent writing.

Students also need to understandthat pronouns are used to substitute forlonger expressions referring to entitieswhich have been mentioned in a text. Inorder to facilitate this, the teacher canshow another text containing pronounswithout clear referents (see Text 2,Version 1). The students can be asked tounderline all the pronouns and see ifthey can find the antecedents. Failure tofind the antecedents will allow thestudents to perceive how important it isthat there should be a relationshipbetween antecedents and pronouns.(Version 2 is a more comprehensibletext with a better mix of nouns andpronouns.)

It is important to allow students to discern language

features through themanipulation ofappropriate data

Furthermore, students need to betaught that there are some contexts inwhich pronouns should be avoided, forexample when they give rise toambiguity, as at the beginning of aparagraph and when two or moredifferent things or people have beenmentioned. To help students understandthis, the teacher can present them withthe following sentences for comparisonand contrast, and invite them to give anexplanation for their preferred version:

Jack and Peter were colleagues. He wentto work in his car with him every day.

Many years ago, there was anEmperor who was so excessivelyfond of new clothes that theEmperor spent all the Emperor’smoney on the finest suits. TheEmperor did not trouble in the leastabout the Emperor’s soldiers; nor didthe Emperor care to go to thetheatre or out hunting, except whenthere was a chance to show off theEmperor’s new clothes. The Emperorhad a different suit for each hour ofthe day. Just as you might say ofany other king or emperor, ‘TheEmperor is sitting in the Emperor’scouncil’, people used to say of theEmperor, ‘The Emperor is sitting inthe Emperor’s wardrobe’.

Text 2 (Version 1)

The following day he found a jobwith him, who agreed to give him acream cheese for his work. In theevening, he took it, and went homewith it on his head. By the time hegot home it was completely spoiled,part of it being lost, and part mattedwith his hair. ‘You good-for-nothingboy,’ said she, ‘you should havecarried it very carefully in yourhands.’ ‘Next time, I will,’ replied he.

The following day Jack found a jobwith a farmer, who agreed to givehim a cream cheese for his work. Inthe evening, Jack took the cheese,and went home with it on his head.By the time he got home the cheesewas completely spoiled, part of itbeing lost, and part matted with hishair. ‘You good-for-nothing boy,’ saidhis mother, ‘you should have carriedit very carefully in your hands.’ ‘Nexttime, I will,’ replied Jack.

Many years ago, there was anEmperor, who was so excessivelyfond of new clothes that he spent allhis money on the finest suits. He didnot trouble in the least about hissoldiers; nor did he care to go to thetheatre or out hunting, except whenthere was a chance to show off hisnew clothes. He had a different suitfor each hour of the day. Just as youmight say of any other king oremperor, ‘He is sitting in his council’,people used to say of him, ‘He issitting in his wardrobe’.

Text 1 The Emperor’s New Clothes

(Version 1)

Text 1 The Emperor’s New Clothes

(Version 2)

Text 2 (Version 2)

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Down the ladder*Materials:A worksheet (see page 15) with columnsand rows of words: the number ofcolumns and rows can be increased formore advanced students.

Procedure: 1 The game can be played individuallyor in pairs.

2 The player has to connect words toform a grammatical and meaningful

2other players have to judge whether it iscorrect or not. If it is grammatical, theplayer can keep the cards. If not, theyhave to give a pair of previously-matchedcards to the next player.

A player who cannot find a matchhas to put one of the cards from theirhand on the table, face up, and the nextplayer then has a turn.

The game continues until all thecards have been matched correctly. Thewinner is the one who has the mostcorrectly-matched pronouns.

Jack and Peter were colleagues. Jackwent to work in his car with Peter everyday.

By engaging the students’ inductivereasoning processes, the teacher canhelp them to work out the rules and theusage of the target language itemsthemselves.

Doing gamesA number of ELT experts have writtenbooks and articles on how to use gamesin the classroom. I agree with MichaelSwan that learning grammar effectivelydoes not mean that we have to rejectdrills completely. What we can do isredesign the traditional exercises in acontext that encourages interactionbetween students in the form of games.While both have the value of enablingstudents to concentrate on one thing ata time and form language patternhabits, the advantage of language gamesover traditional drills is that the formerinclude the elements of challenge,amusement and surprise, which cansustain the students’ interest and enliventhe learning atmosphere. I should like todescribe two games which can be usedfor pronoun practice.

FishingMaterials:Sets of 50 cards made up of matchedpairs of sentences with pronoun gaps andtheir corresponding pronouns (see theexample opposite). Each sentence maycontain more than one pronoun gap.

Procedure: 1 Put the students into groups of threeor four.

2 Ask one student in each group toshuffle all the cards and put ten cardsface up on the table.

3 Tell them to distribute the remainingcards to the other players.

4 Explain the game: The first player triesto match a card in their hands with a cardor cards on the table in order to make agrammatical sentence. The player has toread the resultant sentence aloud and the

1

Pick up a pronoun

Pick up a pronoun ‘______ dear Mr Bennet,’ said ______ wife to ______

one day, ‘have ______ heard that Netherfield Park is

let at last?’

Mr Bennet replied that ______ had not.

‘Don’t ______ want to know who has taken it?’

cried ______ wife impatiently.

‘It is very likely that Mr Bingley may fall in love with

one of ______ daughters, and therefore you must

visit ______ as soon as ______ comes.’

‘______ are all silly and ignorant like other girls;

but Lizzy has something more of quickness than

______ sisters.’

‘Mr Bennet, how can ______ abuse ______ own

children in such way?’

Examples of cards for ‘Fishing’

Sentences Pronouns

(Adapted from Pride and Prejudice: www.pemberley.com/janeinfo/ppv1n01.html)

my

his

him

you

he

you

his

our

him

he

they

her

you

your

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Jackie F K Lee is anassociate professor inthe Department ofEnglish at the Hong KongInstitute of Education,where she is responsiblefor teaching grammarcourses to pre-serviceand in-service studentteachers. Her researchinterests includelanguage variation andgender studies.

Gao, X and Ko, P ‘Learning study forprimary school English teachers: A casestory from Hong Kong’ Changing English16(4) 2009

Lee, J ‘Playing with words: Usinggrammar games in the classroom’Modern English Teacher 15(2) 2006

Lo, M L and Pong, W Y ‘Catering forindividual differences – building onvariation’ In Lo, M L, Pong, W Y andChik, P (Eds) For Each and Every One:Catering for Individual Differencesthrough Learning Studies Hong KongUniversity Press 2005

Swan, M ‘Teaching grammar: Doesteaching grammar work?’ ModernEnglish Teacher 15(2) 2006

* This idea is adapted from ‘Sentence Drop’ athttp://freelanguagestuff.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/untitled-49.jpg.

sentence by going down a grid andchoosing one word only in each row.(For example: This box is ours. This dogis ours.)

This Her He

dog box is

called is has

died Peter ours

3 Alternatively, more advanced studentscan be provided with a grid with severalpronouns interspersed with blanksquares and encouraged to write inwords to form their own sentences (eg I didn’t buy my bag in London) tocomplete a grid, as below. The completedgrid can then be given to their classmatesfor the Down the Ladder game.

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Instead of traditional teacher-frontedlessons with a lot of teacher talk andmechanical drills, teachers shouldconsider creating a more relaxinglearning environment with learner-

centred discovery activities. Grammarteaching should not just focus on formand meanings: students should also beguided to understand the use ofdifferent structures. It is hoped that theabove discussion of how to teachpersonal pronouns may give teachersand coursebook writers insights intohow to design new ways of teaching oldtopics.

The Peter I Our Their

girl brilliant has didn’t principal

gave took buy done performance

his made my her us

pills them a bag geography

in speech the project after

lunch London finally stars yesterday

I

his her us

them

Reviewing for ETpWould you like to review books or

other teaching materials for ETp? We are always looking for people who are

interested in writing reviews for us.

Please email [email protected]

for advice and a copy of ourguidelines for reviewers. You will need

to give your postal address and say what areas of teaching you

are most interested in.

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

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

write to us or email:[email protected]

ETp

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

LearningdisabilityLearningdisability 66Lesley Lanir reflects on

the orchestration required

for writing and spelling.A

nna, 12, sits quietly lookingat her notebook. She hasn’tstarted to write yet andprobably won’t complete one

sentence before the lesson ends. Whenshe does put pen to paper, she positionsherself strangely, holds her pencilawkwardly and produces disorganisedcompositions with erratic handwriting,poor spelling and margins that start atone centimetre and end up as five.Writing is more than a challenge for her.

Anna is not alone. Writing involvessimultaneously combining numerousphysical and mental processes and, as aresult, a great number of students findacquiring this skill problematic. Forinstance, they need to control a pen,retrieve vocabulary, form letters,remember spelling, grammar and syntaxrules and organise their thoughts on apiece of paper. No wonder learningexpert and paediatrician Dr Mel Levinecalls writing ‘one of the largestorchestras a kid’s mind has to conduct’.

Writing difficulties are known asdysgraphia – a disorder characterised byproblems with handwriting, spelling andcomposition. Its sources have not beenfully identified due to the neurological

and cognitive complexity involved in thewriting process. However, it is clear thatcertain brain dysfunctions do affect theneuro-developmental functions whichare employed in the writing process.

Although we cannot perform brainimaging in our classrooms, identifyingdifferences in handwriting, spelling andcomposition can help teachersunderstand the source of the problem.Each of these three key skill areas isdiscussed below and the discussion isillustrated by a table listing the commonproblems that emerge in our lessons,their possible neurological or cognitivedevelopmental basis – and the possibleeffects they have. Each table is followedby strategies for helping students andmy favourite teaching suggestions.

HandwritingBefore even moving their pens, studentshave to identify letters from theirsounds, recall their appearances and,only then, prepare themselves toposition their pens on the paper.

Besides difficulties in recalling andremembering letter shapes and wordconfigurations, many students shy awayfrom writing because they havedifficulty coordinating the differentmuscles needed to form letters, whichmay cause them to have an odd pencilgrip, to position their paper at a strangeangle or to produce untidy handwriting.

Strategies for helpingAwkward pen grip● Allow students to choose their

preferred writing instrument.

● Mark the correct finger position onthe pencil/pen with an elastic band orpiece of coloured sticky tape.

● Provide a diagram of the correct pengrip.

1

Weaknesses in:

Awkward pengrip

Incorrect letterorientation

Poor letterformation

Slow pace andlack of fluency

Spatialorganisation

levels of attention

spatial awareness

sequencing abilities

language

memory

grapho-motor/ fine motor skills

Handwriting • Common problems

(Adapted from Levine)

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Poor letter formation and incorrectletter orientation● Check directionality and correct letter

formation.

● Encourage the students to:– form letters with their index finger

on sand paper;– trace over faint letters or letters

made of dots;– practise writing similar letter forms

together, such as c, s and o; m andn; u and w, etc.

Slow pace and poor fluency● Keep practising forming the most

frequent words and phrases.

● Break up writing assignments intosmaller chunks.

● Hand out notes or copies of materialpresented.

Spatial organisation● Use graph/maths paper to practise

writing the letters in one square (a, c,e, etc) or two squares (b, d, f, etc).

● Make sure margins and lines areemphasised.

● Delineate the area within which thestudent has to write.

If symptoms persist, sessions with ahandwriting specialist or an occupationaltherapist may be necessary.

SpellingProducing correctly spelled words is amammoth task for students withlearning differences. Even thoughEnglish orthography is 87 percentreliable, many speech sounds in Englishare represented by multiple Englishspellings. In addition, theunaccommodating ‘schwa’ sound, thenumber of homophones and the factthat the same letters and lettercombinations can be pronounceddifferently can cause problems. So it isperhaps unsurprising that nativespeakers, as well as EFL and ESLstudents, have trouble mastering theEnglish spelling system.

Strategies for helpingLetter–sound system● As with teaching reading, practise

letter-to-letter combinations usingmulti-sensory techniques, taking intoconsideration phonological and visualsimilarities as mentioned in myprevious article (ETp Issue 71).

2

● Use ‘phoneme sound out’: thestudents place a counter or bead onsquared paper. As they say eachphoneme of a word, they move thecounter across the squares. After this,they can write the word in the squaresand say the individual sounds outagain as they do so.

For all types of other spellingproblems● Practise common spelling rules one at

a time. For example:– q is always written as qu;– no common English words end in v.

The letter v is usually followed by e;– to make the sound /k/, use k before

i and e, but c before o, a and u.

● Focus on morphological awarenessand rules. For example, work onsuffixes and prefixes since they arestable and meaningful word parts.Practise:– common grammatical suffixes (-ed,

-s, -es, -ing, -er, -est);– the three major rules for adding

endings to base words: the doublingrule (running), the drop -e rule(coming), the change y to i rule(studied);

– suffixes such as -en, -ly, -y, -ful, -less, -ment and -ness, most ofwhich also signify the part ofspeech and will help develop alarger vocabulary;

– the most common prefixes, such aspre-, sub-, re-, mis- and un-.

● Group words with some memorablesimilarity. For example:– common word families, to highlight

sound patterns and digraphs: -ake, -ay, -eat, -ill;

– words with the same roots: two,twice, twelve, twenty, twin.

● Drill sight words and frequent words:the, was, here, there, because, how,who, etc.

The student:

1 looks at, says and writes the correctversion of the target word in Column 1.

2 looks at and says the word and copiesit into Column 2.

3 looks at and says the word and foldsunder or covers Columns 1 and 2.

4 says the word and writes it in Column 3.

5 reveals Columns 1 and 2 and checksColumn 3.

6 if the word in Column 3 is correct,copies it into Column 4, if not, copiesthe correct version from Column 1.

Repeat the sequence at least three times,whether or not the student is successfulthe first time round.

● Teach the 12 most common verbs andtheir conjugations: say, do, see, take,get, know, make, want, go, think,come, give.

● Introduce large amounts of ‘overlearning’. For example: – highlighting or underlining the hard

parts of the word;– using mnemonics – for example,

there: – ‘here’ is in there; their – ‘he’and ‘I’ are in the middle, etc;

– breaking the word down orpronouncing it in a strange way. Forexample, because – be, ca, use;

– using exercises such as the one inthe following example.

For a ‘write and repeat’ exercise, providea table like this with no more than fivetarget words to practise:

Weaknesses in:

Incompleteknowledge of

letter–sound system

Lack of awareness of common letter

sequences

Overall inaccuracy

Incorrect application of spelling rules

levels of attention

spatial awareness


language

memory

Spelling • Common problems


1target word

2copy

3remember

4rewrite

was

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LearningdisabilityLearningdisability 66

CompositionAs students write, they must retrieve therules for handwriting, spelling, grammar,punctuation and capitalisation, call onsemantic memory, remember andorganise their ideas and suspend themtemporarily in working memory whilecreating sentences. This multilayeredtype of parallel processing draws heavilyon cognition, mental energy and activeworking memory resources.

Strategies for helpingMain ideas● Teach the students that a ‘topic’ is

usually the title they give a passage andthe ‘main idea’ is the most importantthing they have to say on the topic.

● Provide two topics and two differentmain ideas for each writing activity andallow students to choose which onethey want to write about. For example,if one of the topics is ‘holidays’, the twomain ideas could be: 1 My favouriteplace to go on holiday is … and 2 I likeactivity holidays because … .

● Give topics and provide a visualhierarchy showing how to reach amain idea. For example:

3

● Give short model paragraphs with themain idea highlighted. For example:

The students rewrite their sentences andcreate a paragraph using as manycohesive devices as they can. Eventually,they internalise basic sentence structuresand progress to producing their ownsimple paragraphs.

Here is another example of a veryeffective exercise:

Correct use of language structures ● Help students to grasp the basic word

order in an English sentence and givethem practice in writing simplesentences and joining them togetherto form paragraphs by using anexercise such as the example below,adapted from one described by LouisAlexander. (This exercise also practiseshandwriting, awareness of grammarin context, reading comprehension,grammar constructions, spelling,paragraphing skills, frequently usedvocabulary and cohesive devices. Itinvolves repetition, is structured, self-teaching, self-checking, safe andconfidence building.)

Capitalisation and punctuation● Make sure your students know how

to write all the capital letters.

● Have the students perform tasks thatpractise one new punctuation rule ata time.

● Have the students circle or highlightthe punctuation or capitalisation usedon an example page, then on theirown pieces of work.

Organisation and layout● Provide clear templates to guide

students how to produce acomposition. For example, on page 19there is a partial example of a basictemplate that can be adapted:

Weaknesses in:

Lacks focusand main

idea

Incorrect use of

languagestructures

Disorganisedstructure

Poorvocabulary

Inaccuratepunctuation

andcapitalisation

Inappropriatelayout

levels of attention

spatial awareness


languague

memory

higher-order thinking

Composition • Common problems

Paragraph creation

a) Read the following paragraph. My name is Anna. I am 13 years old. I am happy because today isMonday. On Mondays I always goswimming with my brothers. Wealways eat pizza. Tom is a very goodswimmer. Dan likes to dive into thepool. My brothers are my bestfriends. They are fun to be with.

b) Write the answer to the followingquestions using full sentences.1 What is your name?2 How old are you?3 Why are you are happy?4 Where do you go on Mondays?5 What do you eat?6 Who is a good swimmer?7 What does Dan like to do?8 Who are your best friends?9 Who is fun to be with?

c) Rewrite your sentences and jointhem together using some of thefollowing connecting words:actually, and, because, after, then, in fact.

Sentence rewrites

1 Read the sentence.2 Choose the correct option and circle it.3 Rewrite the full sentence underneath.4 Write your own sentence ( I ...).

1 He (don’t always does / don’t alwaysdo / doesn’t always do) his homeworkbefore going to bed.

a) Rewrite: ________________________

b) I _______________________________

2 They (don’t always does / don’talways do / doesn’t always do) theirhomework before going to bed.

a) Rewrite: ________________________

b) I _______________________________


The internet is the world’s largestcomputer network, providing easyaccess to information. Today, from yourcomputer, you can enter a shop in onecountry, ‘talk’ to a friend in a secondcountry and send an email to someoneelse in a third country. Topic: The internet Main idea: The internet provides easyaccess to information all over the world.

favourite hike

Holidays

activity holidays

camping

hiking

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Lesley Lanir is afreelance writer, lecturerand teacher trainer whohas been involved inteaching English for over15 years. She specialisesin learning disabilitiesand foreign languagelearning. She has a BA inEnglish and Education,CTEFLA/RSA and an MAin Learning Disabilities.

Alexander, L G A First Book inComprehension Precis and CompositionLongman 1965

Carreker, S ‘Teaching spelling’ In Birsh, J(Ed) Multisensory Teaching of BasicLanguage Skills Paul Brookes 2005

Graham, S, Harris, K R and Loynachan,C ‘The spelling for writing list’ Journal ofLearning Disabilities 27(4) 1994

Levine, M Developmental Variation andLearning Disorders Educators PublishingService 2001

Levine, M A Mind at a Time Simon &Schuster 2002

Moats, L C ‘How spelling supportsreading: And why it is more regular andpredictable than you think’ AmericanEducator 2005/06

A wealth of teaching suggestions can befound on the internet, for example at:

www.righttrackreading.com/phonemiccodeactivities.html

www.spellzone.com/ (a site for which youhave to pay but, nevertheless, brilliant)

www.enchantedlearning.com/rhymes/wordfamilies/

Achieving writing proficiency in asecond or foreign language requiresconsiderable amounts of effort for somestudents. In order to provide a saferlearning environment for strugglingwriters, where possible, begin byproviding the followingaccommodations:

● Break assignments into a series ofmanageable steps and evaluate eachstage.

● Extend the time allowed for writtenresponses.

● Permit word processing.

● Allow electronic dictionaries.

● Ignore spelling errors when grading.

● Test orally or agree to studentshanding in recorded versions of theircompositions.

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This is the last article in this series, theaim of which was to create awareness oflearner differences, offer useful tips andencourage greater interest and furtherinvestigation into the subject of learningdisabilities and differences – an area thathas fascinated me for over 20 years.

Writing template

1 Topic: Holiday

2 What words can youthink of?blue waterbeach swimfood snorkelnice funtasty eat

3 Group your words:sea: blue, beach, water,swim, snorkel restaurant: food, nice,tasty, eat

4 Organise your wordsa) nouns:

sea, restaurant, food,beach, water

b) verbs: swim, eat, read,snorkel

c) adjectives: tasty, blue, fun

TALKBACK!TALKBACK!

ENGLISH TEACHING professionalPavilion Publishing (Brighton) Ltd,


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

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IT WORKS IN PRACTICE�


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Visit the ETp website!

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

or simply browse the features.

www.etprofessional.com

Your story 1 Title: My holiday

2 Introduction a) General statement

My favourite holiday place is ...

b) Main idea. What do you want to write about?It is my favourite place because there are manythings to do there.

c) List three things that support your main idea.

3 Paragraphs 1, 2, 3a) Topic sentence: Use the items listed in c) above.

b) Supporting sentences: List three things thatsupport your topic.

c) Concluding sentence

4 ConclusionTake your general statement and main idea andreword them.

5 Connect your ideas to make your writing flow. Usewords such as:in addition, but, however, because, also, next,furthermore, such as, therefore.

ETp

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��TEACHING YOUNG LEARNERS

Crossing theRubiconCrossing theRubicon


Patrick Lagendijk logs his unordinary experience

of an ordinary class.

Ithought I’d try to write down someof my impressions from teaching myyoung learners class today. My aim istwofold: to better understand the

classroom mechanics that led to myown ‘Rubicon’ experience, where achange in attitude on my part and thestudents’ has permanently transformedour working relationship; and also toencourage you to share your thoughtswith me in the hope that theseexperiences may become moreregularly a part of our lives as teachers.

A matter of ageIt was the first time I had feltcomfortable teaching that particularclass (incidentally, I have never feltcomfortable teaching young learners,and have even spectacularly failed atteaching pre-schoolers). I have oftenwondered why this should be so – whya grown man should feel ‘at the sharpend’ with a group of youngsters. Couldit be that my maturity already puts meat a disadvantage? That to understandchildren compels from one a mentalreadjustment, even a sort of lobotomy?At the same time, I am endowed – dueto my advanced years – with the gift offoresight, of self-reflection and ofreason. (However, I can all too easily becriticised for denying the existence ofthese in my students – in fact, I amoften taken by surprise when they

respond with what would normally beconsidered ‘adult’ behaviour. More onthis later.) I therefore have theresponsibility to plan their time in theclassroom, to justify the choices I makeand to reflect on what I believe to havehappened.

A matter of timeI decided in this lesson to focus on time– understanding and telling the time. Ichose as a context some commoneveryday rituals which would alsorecycle past irregular forms (eg Thismorning I woke up at 5.30). We hadalready touched on the topic of time inthe previous lesson, but I felt that thestudents needed more practice, and Iwas not at all convinced that they allhad understood certain key phrases.And so I quickly devised a lessonaround telling the time – though I mustadmit from the outset that the actuallesson was far removed from the lessonplan, which turned out to be hopelesslyinadequate anyway.

I started by informing the class thatthey would be drawing a story abouttheir teacher. Their ears pricked up. Ithen drew six blank clocks on theinteractive whiteboard (IWB) and toldthem that I would be dictating sixdifferent times. I then asked individualstudents to come up to the board anddraw in the hands according to the

times I dictated. (With hindsight, itmight have been a good idea to havethem copy the clocks on paper andwrite out the times individually, as thiswould have allowed me to checkwhether certain learners were havingdifficulty or not.)

Having got the six times displayedon the board, I projected six differentsentences on the IWB about what I had done the night before and thatmorning. I asked them which timematched the first sentence and saw asea of hands. I asked a few studentsbefore someone gave me the ‘right’time (it didn’t matter that they got theright answer, only that they tried – inso doing, they were latching a sentenceonto a time for later recall). I crossedout the corresponding clock and didthe same with the following sentences,each time checking the previously

crossed-out clocks, thus making surethat the students remembered how tosay the previous times.

I then blanked the IWB and elicitedthe sentences just by pointing to theclocks. This showed me that thestudents had ‘internalised’ the sentences.But had I really checked that they hadunderstood what the sentences meant?

As a means of consolidating theinformation and checking theirunderstanding, I repeated what I hadsaid initially about getting them to drawa story about me, and I allocatedsentences to individual students. I thengave them paper and crayons/felt-tippens and asked them to draw a picturefor their sentence (see page 21 for anexample), including a clock showing thetime as well as the sentence itself.

I had already touched on the topic of time with this class in the previous lesson,

but I felt that the students needed more practice

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��TEACHING YOUNG LEARNERS

(I had already turned the IWB back on,although I am unsure this was needed.)They did this willingly – and particularlyenjoyed drawing their teacher wakingup! Once they had finished, I displayedthe story on the wall.

I now wanted to move on to theproduction stage of the lesson. Iprojected four jumbled questions onthe screen which the students duly un-jumbled (eg What time did you go to bedlast night?). With hindsight, it might havebeen better to elicit the verb form,instead of giving it to them (eg Whattime __ you __ to bed last night?). Thiswould have had the advantage, I think,of focusing their attention on form (asopposed to word order), which wouldhave provided a contrast to theprevious affirmative sentences.

Alea iacta estOnce they had un-jumbled thequestions, I instructed them to work in pairs and ask their partner thequestions, noting down the answers. Ihave in the past met with someresistance to pairwork, so I waspleasantly surprised that they obligedso willingly, not because they wereusually insubordinate, but because theydisplayed those very grown-up qualitiesalluded to above. I cannot emphasisethis enough, and will remember this asmy own Rubicon. What they did thenwas not so much obey my instructionsas evidence trust in my decisions, notto mention trust in themselves andrespect for each other as learners.Having seen what they are capable ofonce, I shall certainly expect more ofthem in future.

The lesson ended with somecorrection of their written texts. Thiswas done with too much haste, and Ican think of countless reasons why andhow this could have been moreeffective. Never mind, I’ll incorporate arevision slot in our next lesson. Theythen hole-punched their sheets ofpaper and filed them in their individualfolders (this, by the way, workswonders as separate pieces of papertend to metamorphose into paperaeroplanes).

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There you have it: a lesson that onpaper looked pretty average and whichlacked much forethought took on a lifeof its own in that very class at that verytime. Which brings me to the future.We (the class) could of course revertto simply opening our books and goingthrough exercise after exercise, spicedup with some entertainment inbetween. However, because discipline isless an issue now than it was before (Iassume that all young learner classesundergo teething problems in thisarea), and because the students and Ihave now experienced self-discipline inaction, I believe that the class will takeon a new collective identity. The lessonhas reaffirmed in me a need to tap into

the students’ beings, warts and all. I amthinking of using international timezones to expand our time theme – andto do this through project work, maps,presentations, arts and crafts, song anddance, drama: all the available means atmy disposal to awaken their creativityand work with me through language.

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Patrick Lagendijk hasreached another ‘Rubicon’in his professional life – forten years a Krakow-basedteacher, he is moving toMalaysia with his family tohelp train primary schoolteachers in rural areas.Patrick would like toextend his thanks to thekids in Primary 4 at theBritish Council in Krakow,Poland, for making thisarticle – and the move –possible.

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Choosing tunesChoosing tunesR E S O U R C E S

Martine Ashmore has suggestions for selecting songs for students.

Songs are a ready source ofauthentic language. They can beexploited in countless ways to

practise any of the language skills, andstudents enjoy learning through them.But with millions of recorded songsavailable, how do you go about choosing,and what should you keep in mindwhen selecting a song for your lesson?

Why are you using the song?Having a clear purpose in mind, and notjust ‘doing’ a song to fill a spare fiveminutes, is essential. Adult classes maysee a song as a waste of their time if youdon’t choose and plan your materialcarefully. You’ll find interesting teachingpoints in most songs, so if you’relooking for something to kick-start theweek or bring a bit of life to a lessonafter a weekly test, you might considerchoosing a song based on a recently-covered topic, or a topic you’d like tointroduce next. Alternatively, you mightwant to present or revise a grammarpoint, in which case you might have tosearch a bit harder to find somethingfitting. Search engines are a useful placeto begin in most cases. The languageskill you want your students to practisewill also affect your choice of song: aslower tune will be often be preferredfor listening tasks; longer songs are wellsuited to practising reading; repetitivelyrics are great for teaching structuresand pronunciation.

Are the lyrics grammaticallycorrect?Many native speakers use non-standardforms of English, and songwriters are noexception, so lyrics may be grammatically‘incorrect’. There is debate over whetherthis is actually important. It may be anissue when teaching lower-level studentswho are still trying to learn basicstructures correctly. At higher levels,however, although reinforcement withcorrect forms remains necessary, as longas the students are made aware of the‘mistakes’, this can actually become partof the learning process. For example, youcould ask the class to spot and correct

the errors, and say whether they’ve heardthem before. Students can also considerwhy the lyrics were written that way. Wasgrammar sacrificed for rhythm or rhyme?Is it something to do with the artist’sbackground or culture?

Is the content appropriate?Native speakers often express themselvesthorough expletives, so songs are likelyto contain them. As long as you knowyour class well enough to be sure theywon’t take offence, there shouldn’t be aproblem using songs that include a littlelewd language. If you feel it’s at allinappropriate, choose another song.

But how about discriminatorylanguage? Here, presentation is key.Consider the messages students receivein the following alternative ways ofpresenting a gangster rap song withracist or homophobic language:1 A discussion lesson on the influenceof popular music in promotingdiscriminatory beliefs.2 ‘Doing’ the song as a gap-fill at theend of a lesson for a little extra listeningpractice.

The first would be an appropriateuse of such a song, giving a clear anti-discrimination message; the secondwould not.

Are the words clearlyenunciated?It is important to listen carefully to a songbefore deciding on its appropriateness forthe classroom. Skimming through thelyrics alone could mean you overlooksomething, such as an overpoweringbacking track that obscures the words,or a singer who doesn’t enunciate well.Remember, it isn’t always easy even fornative speakers to make out song lyrics.The clearer the lyrics, the better; although,as always, appropriateness for thelanguage classroom often depends moreon the task set. For a reading activitythis wouldn’t be an issue, but it couldspell disaster if students are attemptingto complete a cloze. However, usingsongs that the students perceive to bemore ‘difficult’ can build confidence. As

long as the words you choose to deletefor the cloze can be clearly heard, thosearound them will be less importantbecause the students have a copy of thelyrics to follow.

Are there any long instrumentalpassages?Another reason why it is essential tolisten to a song before using it in class isso that you can check for longinstrumental breaks – in the middle of asong these can cause students to losefocus and become bored. But if the trackis perfect in every other way, there areways around this. One idea is to have aquestion prepared, such as Whichinstruments can you hear now? Anotherpossibility is to tell the students aboutthe break beforehand and give them anon-language activity to do when itcomes along, such as playing air guitar/piano/drums. Just make sure you knowwhen to get them back on task in timefor the remainder of the song!Instrumentals in song introductions orlead-outs are easily skipped through orchatted over with the volume reduced.

Will your students be intothe song?Bringing songs you personally enjoy toclass might mean you’re moreenthusiastic about the lesson, but it’snot necessary for you or the students tolike the songs you use. Being able tounderstand songs in another language isa great achievement for most learners, nomatter what the genre or who the artist.If you’ve carefully designed challengingand interesting tasks around the song,your students will always appreciate thelesson – even if they (or you) wouldn’tpersonally listen to the music outside ofclass. Discussing opinions of the songalso makes for an interesting conclusionto the lesson, so in a way it’s better if noteverybody agrees they like it. Havingsaid that, you’ll be flavour of the monthwith a class of teenagers if you create alesson around what happens to be oneof their favourite songs!

[email protected]

Martine Ashmoremanages the websitetefltunes.com, whichpublishes song-basedlesson plans for ELT. She has taught Englishacross Europe and Asia,and has been passionateabout teaching throughmusic since an inspiringlesson given on a CELTAcourse at British StudyCentres, Oxford, UK.

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P R O N U N C I A T I O N

Little and oftenLittle and oftenPaul Bress offers a blueprint for teaching phonology.

When a non-native speaker ofEnglish endeavours to speakEnglish to a native speaker, the

latter may react in any number of ways.They may feel at ease, wary, impatient oreven nonplussed. The closer the speaker’sEnglish is to the listener’s, the more likelyit is that the communication betweenthe two of them will flourish. Thesounds coming out of a person’s mouth,then, will contribute significantly to thesuccess of the interaction.

To teach or not to teach?In my experience, English teachersexpress a wide range of opinions aboutthe teaching of phonology. Some say it’scrucial; others say it’s a waste of time.Some say it should be part and parcel ofthe everyday teaching of oral language;others say that specific lessons (or largeparts of lessons) should be allocated toit. Personally, I think that the ‘little andoften’ approach works best. This may bebecause it mimics L1 acquisition. Asbabies and toddlers we didn’t really havephonology lessons – instead we justheard our weak efforts repeated back tous, better, by our parents.

Occasionally, though, the case can bemade for out-and-out phonology lessons.For one thing, such lessons appear tohave face validity – students invariablysee the point of them. Also, it is possiblethat a group of students can lag behindin phonology, while doing fine in otheraspects of communication.

Focus on phonologyHow can the teacher best help thestudents? Here are some ideas:

Help the students to understandsome of the principles ofEnglish phonology.

If you don’t help your students to seesome of the frequently occurring patternsof English, they may be less likely toguess how they need to say something.Conversely, if they know that the Englishlanguage has some predictable features,

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they will be able, for example, to put thestress on one syllable of a polysyllabicword, and put the stress on a tonicsyllable in a sentence. You can encouragestudents to be analytical as well as beinggood mimics of the models you provide.

Encourage students to practisenatural examples of English.

I know it is quite common for studentsto have to repeat funny phrases like‘Peter Piper picked a peck of pickledpeppers’. I suppose this must have somehumour value. But I also think that itcan lead to disaffection amongststudents. They know that in real life theywill never want to say anything like this.It is better to invent simulated authenticdiscourse that incorporates the targetfeatures. For example, ‘Where are Sarah’sparents?’ would be a good target sentenceif you wanted to encourage practice ofthe diphthong sound in where.

Be honest about how intelligiblythe students are speaking.

Teaching phonology is a fast-moving,multi-skilled task. For instance, at somepoint you will have to jump frommodelling to listening. And, when youdo the latter, it is quite easy to feeloverwhelmed by the pressure to givevaluable feedback in a short space oftime. But this feedback is vital. Ifnecessary, take a little time to considerhow the lay speaker of English wouldreact to what you have just heard. Youprobably understood it because you areused to hearing your students’ English,but would someone in the street haveunderstood it? You could give thestudents a score of 1–5 to show howintelligible you think they are.

Guide students if they are havingdifficulty with pronunciation.

Of course you can’t just evaluate thestudents and then leave them in thelurch. You now have to facilitateintelligible pronunciation. For example,if your students are struggling with thevowel sound in bird, you can first ask

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them to repeat the schwa after you, thento elongate it to the target sound vowel,then to say the whole word. Then youcould ask the students to say the wordfive times in a row. Eventually they willfeel more confident making that soundso that it can be understood.

Give the students the chance topractise individually and in pairs.

While you are of critical importance in aphonology class (as a provider of modelsand shaper of utterances), students willwant to practise with a looser rein after afew minutes have passed. That is why it isgood for them to practise saying the targetlanguage in pairs. This could involveinteraction between them or simply onestudent speaking while the other listens.At the end, some students might wantto ask you about the mechanics of howa particular sound is made.

Get students to practise in freerspeaking situations

If you end the lesson at this point andsend your students out into the ‘realworld’, their chances of communicativesuccess with the target sound would beslim. That is why it makes sense to set upa freer communicative activity before theend of the lesson. One thing you can do isto ask pairs of students to write dialoguesincorporating the target sound – but onlyin a natural way. Then they could rehearsethe dialogue, enact it and then try sayingit without reading (perhaps even in frontof class). It doesn’t matter if they forgetsome words or phrases: at least they willhave had some practice saying the targetsound in a simulated authentic setting.

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[email protected]

Paul Bress lives inWhitstable, UK, wherehe works as a part-timeteacher of English tooverseas students andalso writes novels. Hisnovels are: The ManWho Didn’t Age, TheDysfunctional Family,For Adults Only and TheCheck-out Operator, allpublished by Fast-Printand available in Kindle.

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Over the wall ...Alan Maleyconsiders greedand need.

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All the titles reviewed here tacklethe consequences of theheadlong rush of humanitytowards its own annihilation.

Of course, there have been plenty ofprecursors, from Veblen’s Theory of theLeisure Class (he invented the phraseconspicuous consumption), Galbraith’sThe Affluent Society in the 60s, throughSchumacher’s Small is Beautiful,Packard’s The Status Seekers and TheWaste Makers and Tenner’s Why ThingsBite Back, to Meadows et al’s The Limitsto Growth and its updates. More recently,Lovelock’s Gaia books have continuedthis critical tradition.

Affluenza: The All-Consuming EpidemicAffluenza is defined as a disease: ‘apainful, contagious, socially-transmittedcondition of overload, debt, anxiety andwaste resulting from the dogged pursuitof more’. According to John de Graaf etal, ‘the affluenza epidemic is rooted in theobsessive, almost religious quest foreconomic expansion that has become thecore principle of … the American dream’.The book is in three parts: Symptoms,Causes and Treatment. Part 1 is rich incase studies and examples of stress,family dysfunction, communitybreakdown, exploitation of children by

advertising, environmental damage, etc,all attributed to the greedy pursuit ofmaterial goods. Part 2 attempts to unveilthe causes of the disease, though this isperhaps the least satisfactory part of thebook. Essentially, affluenza is contractedwhen industrial productivity requires us toconsume the goods produced in ever-increasing quantities, leading to a cultureof greed and waste, where the keywordsare more, faster, bigger, and where‘efficiency’ is procured at the expense ofhuman well-being. In Part 3, there aresuggestions for treating the disease:slowing down, ‘voluntary simplicity’ (seehttp://voluntarysimplicity.org.uk amongmany others), group action, better design,more contact with nature, resistance (seewww.adbusters.org) and political action bygovernment, such as reducing statutoryworking hours. Although the book isbased on the United States, the diseaseit describes is now so widespread that itclearly affects us all.

Enough: Breaking Freefrom the World of ExcessThe theme of voluntary frugality is takenup in Enough: Breaking Free from theWorld of Excess. John Naish contendsthat we need to learn to live in a ‘post-more’ way if we are to avoid global andpersonal catastrophe. He examines the

consequences of too much information,too much food, too much ‘stuff’, too muchwork, too much choice, too much chasingafter ‘happiness’ (the ‘fulfilment industry’ –I found this chapter particularly rewarding)and too much growth. For each category,he makes practical, commonsensesuggestions for reducing excess to a morebalanced and sustainable mode of living.He recognises the schizophrenic reactionof the majority (‘Yeah! It’s scary. Whatever’),warning that ‘our entire society is fillingits ears with sand’. Yet he is cautiouslyoptimistic: ‘all the higher-level humancommodities that we might increasinglyvalue as status symbols – such as time,space, leisure, balance, energy andautonomy – are now becomingincreasingly scarce and precious’. Wehave to hope that he is right.

Willing Slaves: How theOverwork Culture isRuling Our Lives The consequences of the consumeristeconomy for conditions of employment areexamined in much greater detail in WillingSlaves. Madeleine Bunting ‘seeks todisentangle how the dictates of the market,with its cult of rationalism and efficiency,extend into people’s individual lives’. Thebook focuses on Britain, which has oneof the world’s highest hours-per-week

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[email protected]

Alan Maley has worked inthe area of ELT for over40 years in Yugoslavia,Ghana, Italy, France,China, India, the UK,Singapore and Thailand.Since 2003 he has been a freelance writer andconsultant. He haspublished over 30 booksand numerous articles,and was, until recently,Series Editor of theOxford Resource Booksfor Teachers.

working practices (without correspondinglyhigh levels of productivity so,paradoxically, more = less!). The book hasfive parts. In Part One, she analyses howwork has encroached on life in a 24/7world: the way work has intensified so thatworkloads have increased as peoplebecome ‘totally accessible’ through mobilephones and the internet, and the cynicallyunethical way employers have hijacked theemotional commitment of workers to theirjobs. In Part Two, she considers thoseresponsible for pressurising workers inthis way. This includes a description of‘missionary management’ – ‘give us yourhearts and minds and we will give your lifemeaning’! This, she asserts, amounts tothe ‘commodification of human beings’.Government, too, is held responsible forthe imposition of a ‘measurement culture’,involving endless inspections, targets anddocumentation, which has imposedgreater levels of work and stress than everbefore, and has led to the emasculationof professionals in many fields, especiallyhealth and education. Part Three looks atwhy we accept this without organisedprotest against it, and Part Four details thehuman costs in terms of stress-relatedsickness, the care deficit for children andthe old, and the erosion of humanrelationships brought about by overwork.Part Five offers some discussion ofpossible solutions, including individualopting out, trade union pressure andmore enlightened management. The finalchapter, ‘The Politics of Well-being’,considers measures the government mighttake to develop a ‘wisdom ethic’ toreplace the ruthless logic of the market.

Faster: The Accelerationof Just About EverythingJames Gleick’s book documents thespeeding up of life in virtually all itsaspects. He takes us on a rollercoasterride from compulsive button-pushers inlifts, through the development of watchtechnology, the global synchronisation oftime, the speeding up of the stockmarket, the growth of telephoniccommunication, the exponential growthof computing capacity and technologicalchange, the triumph of the soundbite, theshaving off of milliseconds in sport, thesaving of nanoseconds in manufacturing,the reduction of sleep (and of sex – 30minutes a week on average!), fast food,the culture of overwork, multi-tasking,remote-control TV zapping, three-secondcommercials, the farce of customer

support telephone lines, and much more.Although he does not adopt an overtlycritical stance, there are many tellingquotes along the way: ‘there is nothingso boring in life … as the boredom ofbeing excited all the time’; ‘a restlessclientele’ existing in Saul Bellow’s‘unbearable state of distraction’. In thefinal chapter, he quotes Stephen JayGould: ‘If we continue to follow theacceleration of human technological timeso that we end in a black hole of oblivion,then Earth and its bacteria will only smileat us as a passing evolutionary folly.’

In Praise of Slow: How aWorldwide Movement isChallenging the Cult ofSpeedBy contrast, In Praise of Slow describesthe gathering momentum of theworldwide movement to counteract the‘time sickness’ which afflicts our society.Carl Honore describes the trends towardsa more humane and pleasurable lifestyle(a tempo giusto) in a number of domains:slow food, with its positive effects on theenvironment and health; the newurbanism, reinventing cities to reduce caruse and increase social contact; mind-body movements promoting whatKundera called ‘the wisdom of slowness’;alternative/complementary medicine, withslower, less-invasive effects; slow sex,which fosters improved relationships;slowing down work so that working less =working better; slowing down the freneticpace of leisure activities through moreslow-paced activities like gardening,knitting (yes, knitting), cooking, music,art, and reading; raising children in amore relaxed way by making space forunstructured free play, ‘slow schooling’,rationing TV, etc. There is an excellent listof related websites at the back of thebook for those who would like to followup on any of these topics. The style isdiscursive and anecdotal but themessage is well-conveyed and deliveredwith a degree of realism. ‘Even when welong to slow down, we feel constrainedby a mixture of greed, inertia and fear tokeep up the pace.’ But, as Gandhi oncesaid, ‘Speed is irrelevant if you aretravelling in the wrong direction.’

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What relevance might this all have for usas teachers of English? Surely, aseducators, we have a social responsibility

to our learners? There need be nothing‘holier than thou’ or sanctimonious aboutthe way we do this. There are real limits –to resources, to time, to life itself – sounless we can help our learnersunderstand the importance of substitutingless for more, smaller for bigger, slowerfor faster, restraint for cupidity, theconsequences for humanity are bleakindeed. Some, like James Lovelock,contend that it is already too late – Gaia isalready in terminal decline. Even if he isright, we can do something to slow downthe rate of that decline and to postponethe day of our own extinction.

Reviewed books

Bunting, M Willing Slaves: How theOverwork Culture is Ruling Our LivesHarper Collins 2004

de Graaf, J, Wann, D and Naylor, T HAffluenza: The All-Consuming EpidemicBerrett-Koehler 2005

Gleick, J Faster: The Acceleration of JustAbout Everything Vintage 1999

Honore, C In Praise of Slow: How aWorldwide Movement is Challenging theCult of Speed Orion 2004

Naish, J Enough: Breaking Free from theWorld of Excess Hodder and Stoughton2008

Further reading

Galbraith, K The Affluent Society MarinerBooks 1958

Lovelock, J The Revenge of Gaia AllenLane 2006

Meadows, D H, Randers, J andMeadows, D L The Limits to Growth: The30-year Update Chelsea Green 2004

Packard, V The Status Seekers McKay1959

Packard, V The Waste Makers McKay1960

Schumacher, E F Small is Beautiful Blondand Briggs 1973

Tenner, E Why Things Bite Back:Technology and the Revenge ofUnintended Consequences Vintage 1997

Veblen, T Theory of the Leisure ClassPenguin Classics 1994


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EAP An all-round challenge 4Ruth Bancroft sees synthesising as an essential academic skill.

Writing a synthesis, orsynthesising, may soundlike a daunting task tostudents, but in reality it is

a skill which most students in highereducation intuitively practise at somelevel. In preparation for an assignment –an essay, a report, a dissertation or anoral presentation – students should readextensively over a range of sources andselect and begin organising relevantinformation. Crucial to this is the processof seeing connections in the literaturebetween ideas, opinions, arguments,evidence and data. Authors may presentsimilar information or share commonviewpoints; in contrast, they may differ,offer an alternative interpretation, disagreewith, contradict or even criticise oneanother’s position on the issue. To writeeffectively and persuasively, studentsneed to demonstrate that they have readwidely and have understood differentperspectives. They should not simplysummarise their sources, but shouldstructure their writing so that both similarand conflicting information is presented ina balanced and coherent way.

A synthesis should:

● accurately report information fromsources;

● clearly identify the sources;

● be organised in such a way that thereader can instantly see where theinformation from different sourcesintersects and overlaps;

● help the reader understand the issuesin greater depth.

A first stepTo help develop this skill in my EAPwriting classes, I first try to ensure thatthe students practise paraphrasing andsummarising from a single source. L2students, other than very advanced ones,often have little instinct for paraphrasing

in English, which is not surprising. Thetemptation to copy the author’s wordingand, of course, to plagiarise is all toostrong. It is important, therefore, tofamiliarise the students with paraphrasingtechniques, the variety of ways we canlink sentences and the correctreferencing procedure.

A simple illustrationBefore attempting to write their ownsynthesis, it helps my students to see asimple model (see Box 1 on page 28). Itell them that they should first study thenotes taken by the writer of thesynthesis. I ask them whether they cansee any similarities or points of contrastbetween the four sources. (Which authorsmostly agree/disagree? About whatexactly?) They then try to organise theauthors’ points on paper by groupingthem under headings such as Benefitsand Problems or by constructing a mind-map. Whichever method they prefer, it iscrucial that the students should carefullyrecord who said what. Note-taking skillsare clearly very important for EAPstudents so they should be givenpractice not only in writing conventional,linear notes but in mind-mappingtechniques as well. The latter can bemore suitable for more complex texts andmay, in fact, make the students aware ofless obvious connections between ideas.

In the synthesis which follows thenotes (at the bottom of Box 1), the writerbegins by introducing the topic to thereader. Then she clearly sets out some ofthe arguments for and against the use ofgenetic engineering in food production bybringing together the points she hasnoted in her reading.

A first taskMy next step is to have the studentswrite a synthesis based on some shortextracts from different publications on acommon theme (See Box 2 on page 28).First, the students need to understandand express in their own words thepoints made by the various authors. Theycan do this in pairs, explaining theauthors’ ideas to each other and

discussing whether there is anyagreement between them and, if not, inwhat ways they disagree. They couldthen follow this by taking some notes ordevising a simple mind-map. They shouldnow be sufficiently prepared to write ashort synthesis. Remind them that theirparagraph will need a brief introduction.

At the top of page 29 is an exampleof a successful synthesis to give thestudents a model for how this task mightbe done. Note that it is important todistinguish the writer’s own words fromthe information derived from the threesources. I have colour-coded thesynthesis to show which informationcomes from each of the sources in Box 2.

A further taskAs an optional, follow-up exercise, I findthat students benefit from looking closelyat the way the writer of the synthesis hasparaphrased the original sources. I askthem, for example, to take the secondsentence in the extract from Jenkins:

‘In Britain, the cheapest energy source iswind power and, because the market andtechnology are already in place, it doesnot need a significant financial investmentto develop on a large scale.’

and to compare it to the paraphrase:

‘Jenkins (2008) … points out that windpower is the least expensive fuel inBritain and any major expansion of theindustry would not be very costly asthe market and technology are alreadyestablished.’

I then ask them to say how the writer hastransformed this sentence. There arevarious techniques that can be identified,such as:

Using synonymous words andphrases (as far as possible)

● the cheapest � the leastexpensive

● because � as

● in place � established

● need a significant financialinvestment � be very costly

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synthesise: to combine separate elementsto form a coherent whole

synthesis: the complex whole so formed

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Box 2 • Wind power

You have been given a writing assignmentcomparing and evaluating differentrenewable forms of energy. You are currentlydiscussing the potential use of wind powerin Britain and need to say something aboutits cost. You have found three articles whichrefer to this, and you have highlighted therelevant information.

1 Read the extracts identifying similar aswell as contrasting points.

2 With a partner, try to explain in yourown words the points of view of thethree writers.

3 Make notes (linear notes or a mind-map).

4 Using your notes, write your synthesisby bringing together the ideas from thethree sources.

5 Make sure you clearly indicate yoursource using a variety of ways (egdifferent reporting verbs).

6 Don’t forget to paraphrase as much aspossible.

Source A – S Bevan 2008‘In reality, wind is only a form of solar power,so it has similar, huge advantages over othersources of energy: it is clean, plentiful andfree.’

Source B – R Hughes 2007‘Although it is free, the cost of generatingelectricity from wind is higher thanproducing power from fossil fuels and evenatomic energy (if nuclear clean-up costs areexcluded).’

Source C – T Jenkins (chief executive of theBritish Wind Energy Organisation) 2008‘Britain is the windiest country in Europe,and coastal wind farms are therefore afeasible source of power. … In Britain, thecheapest energy source is wind power and,because the market and technology arealready in place, it does not need asignificant financial investment to developon a large scale. … It has been estimated inindependent studies that wind power couldcontribute 20% to electricity generation by2020 and, compared to other sources,would only add 5% to bills.’

� � �

Box 1 • Genetic modification

These are notes a student has taken from four different sources onthe benefits and possible harmful effects of using genetic engineeringin food production.

Rowlands (2002)

● higher crop yields

● land more efficiently used

● can be grown in difficult conditions: poor soil and bad climate

● cheaper to grow and transport

Owens (1999)

● increased production

● will grow on unsuitable land in harsh climatic conditions

● food has better flavour, appearance

● long shelf life

● more nutritious

Rees (2003)

● more resistant to pests � therefore don’t need chemicals

● less nutritious (because better taste, appearance)

Powell (2004)

● genes can spread to other plants and damage ecosystem

● ‘superweed’

● could reduce number of species or make extinct

● can cause allergies – inadequate research

Look at how the writer has expanded these notes into sentences,found both similar and contrasting points in the texts and linked themin the following paragraph. In other words, the writer has synthesisedthe ideas. Note how she refers to the sources.

The application of genetic engineering techniques to the massproduction of food is a controversial issue. While there are numerousbenefits to be gained, there are also concerns about the undesirableside effects which may result from genetically modified (GM) plants.Owens (1999) and Rowlands (2002) state that crop production issubstantially increased and that there is more efficient use of land.They point out that this is because land which was previouslyunsuitable for cultivation can be used for GM crops and that they cansurvive extreme climatic conditions as well. The crops are also moreresistant to disease and therefore require fewer chemicals (Rees,2003). The food products are claimed by Owens (1999) to havebetter appearance, taste, more nutritional value and a longer shelflife, thus reducing costs. Rees (2003), on the other hand, disputesthe nutritional content of GM food, arguing that this is largely lost inthe effort to improve its taste and appearance. One of the maincriticisms of Powell (2004) is that GM crops can harm theecosystem by contaminating other nearby plants and possiblycreating a ‘superweed’. This could even lead to the eventualextinction of some natural species. He also points to worries aboutpossible allergic reactions in consumers, an area where moreresearch is needed.

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[email protected]

Ruth Bancroft hastaught EFL, ESL andEAP for over 30 yearsin Greece, Germany,the USA and the UK.She is currentlyteaching academicskills to internationalstudents on the in-sessional programmeat the University ofReading, UK.

Changing the order of ideas

In the original sentence, the cause(because the market and technologyare already in place) precedes theeffect (it does not need a significantfinancial investment to develop on alarge scale). In the paraphrase, theeffect (any major expansion of theindustry would not be very costly)precedes the cause (as the market andtechnology are already established).

Changing a verb phrase into anoun phrase

For example: to develop on a largescale � any major expansion ofthe industry

A further stepTo get more realistic practice, studentsneed to read longer texts (ideallyauthentic), where they have to selectinformation that is relevant to a particulartopic. For example, with a class ofstudents all studying economics, I haveused extracts from two economicstextbooks on the effects ofunemployment on the individual, on theeconomy and on society. After readingthe two texts, I have the students work inpairs on constructing mind-maps to

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illustrate the key points made by the twoauthors (who incidentally were in generalagreement with each other but haddifferent emphases). Collaborating onmind-maps can, in fact, be beneficial forstudents as the discussion andnegotiation involved can stimulate theminto thinking and understanding inalternative ways. My students found thisa useful (and enjoyable) activity as itrevealed that there was a cause andeffect pattern in the multipleconsequences of unemployment. Thisgave them a logical structure to basetheir synthesis upon.

The end product – writing thesynthesis – is still going to be challengingfor many but, by gradually building upthe strategies involved, with practice,students will feel more confident abouttackling it.

There are conflicting arguments onthe advantages of using wind togenerate power, particularly on thematter of its cost. One view isthat, compared to other forms ofenergy, wind power, like solarpower, greatly benefits from beingclean, abundant and free (Bevan,2008). Wind may be free, butHughes (2007) has claimed thatit is more expensive to produceelectricity from wind than fromfossil fuels and even from atomicenergy. This is, however,disputed by Jenkins (2008), thechief executive of the British WindEnergy Organisation, who pointsout that wind power is the leastexpensive source of energy inBritain and any major expansion ofthe industry would not be verycostly as the market andtechnology are already established.He adds that, according toindependent research, by 2020,only 5% would be added to bills if20% of electricity was producedfrom wind power.

A sample synthesis

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V O C A B U L A R Y

Makingwordsstick

MakingwordsstickDarius Langhoff presents an overview of

vocabulary learning strategies.

The multilayered issue of L2vocabulary acquisition can berepresented through a modelcomprising four parts: learner,

task, context and strategy. Theseconstituents have been subjected toempirical research with the focus on task-dependent guessing strategies, dictionarystrategies, note-taking strategies, roterehearsal strategies and encodingstrategies. Researchers have either lookedimpassively for the strategies that achievethe best results, or argued that the choiceof a successful strategy hinges on thetask, the learner and the learning context.This article endeavours to demonstratethat learning new words involves complexprocesses and requires further researchto better our understanding of how newwords are learnt and retained.

A model for learningLanguage learning in general andvocabulary acquisition in particular areproblem-solving tasks at different levelsof complexity. When learners comeacross challenging tasks, they adoptcertain strategies to overcome theproblem. Linguists, teachers and

psychologists have long been interestedin the effectiveness of the variousstrategies they use. Researchers havecome up with several vocabulary-learning models, which have been fusedinto a more general person–task–context–strategy model.

PersonLearners introduce into the learningsituation a broad spectrum of individualdifferences that influence the pace oflearning and the ultimate degree ofsuccess. The factors which determine howlearners handle tasks are: age, gender,intelligence, prior knowledge, motivation,personality and cognitive style.

TaskA learning task can be as broad asmastering another language, or asnarrow as remembering the meaning ofone word. In general terms, the conceptof a learning task includes the materialswhich provide the language input andthe goal the learner is trying to achieveby using these materials. Different sortsof materials and differing task aims andlevels of difficulty call for differentlearning strategies.

ContextThe learning context refers to thelearning environment: the socio-cultural-political space where learningtakes place. The learning context mayencompass teachers, classmates, theclassroom ethos, family support and thecurriculum. Learning contexts influencethe ways in which learners approachlearning tasks. A learning strategy ofvalue in one learning context may proveuseless in another.

StrategyA learning strategy is the course ofaction a learner tries in order tocomplete a language task. A strategycommences when learners analyse thetask, the situation and their own L2proficiency. Then, they proceed toselect, deploy, monitor and evaluatetheir actions, and decide whether theirplans and actions need be modified.Language learning strategies should bedifferentiated from language-usestrategies: the former include, forexample, memorising; the latter involvesuch things as writing and speaking.

Person, task, context and strategy areinterconnected and co-function in theprocess of learning. An analysis oflearning strategies requires knowledge ofthe person-task-context configuration ofthe particular learning situation. Thereare strategies which are more task-dependent and others which are moreperson-dependent or context-dependent.The first type tends to predominate insecond language teaching and learningand will be dealt with in detail below.

Task-dependent learningstrategiesIt seems sound to claim that theprincipal aim of vocabulary learning isto bridge the gap between knowing aword and using it. In other words, thepurpose is not only to remember newwords but also to know how to usethem in a variety of contexts. Evidence,such as that collected by Rod Ellis,suggests that the knowledge aspect (itsbreath and depth) requires consciousand explicit learning mechanisms, whilstthe skill aspect draws mostly on implicitlearning and memory. In short,vocabulary learning strategies ought toinclude strategies for ‘using’ as well as‘knowing’ a word.

Since the majority of L1 vocabularyis learnt through incidental exposure

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rather than through direct instruction, itseems plausible that lexical acquisitionin L2 might follow the same route. Thistheory brings with itself a number ofquestions:

Does guessing meaning lead tovocabulary learning?Clear evidence shows that children learna large proportion of their L1 vocabularyincidentally, even accidentally, fromhearing and seeing. A similar mechanismoperates in L2 contexts, but, as MargotHaynes points out, learners aresometimes conspicuously incapable ofguessing the meaning of an unknownword appearing in a text or discourse.Two conclusions may be drawn from this.Firstly, that L2 learners, owing to theirinadequate knowledge of the targetlanguage, are generally poorer guessersand less effective incidental learners.Secondly, that L2 beginners, who lackbasic skills in the target language, areoften condemned to ineffectual attemptsat incidental vocabulary learning.

How many exposures are neededto learn a word?There some discrepancies in theresearch that attempts to answer thisquestion. Some researchers, such asPaul Nation, postulate that between fiveand 16 exposures are necessary to learna word from context. Others, such asPaul Meara, put forward a 0.01hypothesis (1 uptake for every 100exposures), arguing that L2 learners arenot usually exposed to large quantitiesof spoken or written discourse. Despitethese considerable differences,researchers agree that the necessarynumber of exposures depends onfactors such as the conspicuousness ofthe word in a text and the number ofcontextual clues.

Is incidental learning more effectivethan intentional learning?Although incidental learning is moreclearly the primary means ofvocabulary learning in L1 contexts, itdoes still have a role to play in L2vocabulary learning. Nevertheless, aprerequisite for successful incidentalvocabulary learning through reading isactual reading ability, an ability L2beginners may possess to a limitedextent. This problem is exacerbated ifthe second language has an entirelydifferent orthography. Moreover, whenthe amount of target language input is

small and reading materials are scarce,exclusive reliance on incidental learningis doomed to failure. It is no surprise,then, that a combined approach provessuperior to incidental vocabularylearning alone: explicit lexicalinstruction in conjunction with self-selected reading brings better results.This is particularly true at beginner orelementary level, where incidentallearning must be coupled with thesupport and reinforcement of explicitlearning and teaching. A combinationof techniques is, however, also effectivewith advanced L2 learners.

How useful are dictionaries?Teachers and lexicographers have for along time debated whether dictionariesshould be used in the languageclassroom and, if so, what dictionariesshould be used.

It is common knowledge that adictionary is one of the first things thatstudents purchase. It is their dictionariesthat they carry around, not grammarbooks. However, empirical research intothe usefulness of dictionaries is onlybeginning to emerge. So, is it better to usea dictionary when looking for meaning,or to try guessing from context?

Studies of the efficacy ofdictionaries in lexical acquisition haveusually been carried out in L1 settings,and have compared the contribution ofdictionary definitions to contextualguessing. In general, the results appearto favour contextual guessing. However,as Susan Knight observes, these resultsare questionable, as the students underinvestigation who engaged in contextualguessing read not only unadapted texts,but also texts accompanied bydefinitions and examples, being thusexposed to dictionary-like situations.Again, a combination of strategies maybe more productive than either exclusivedictionary use or contextual guessing.

If dictionaries are to be used, afurther question concerns what kind ofdictionary is preferable: bilingual ormonolingual? The stance of mostlinguists and teachers is thatmonolingual dictionaries should be used.However, monolingual dictionaries tendto be circuitous in their definitions. Forexample, the words encourage, favour,foster, foment, provoke, instigate, urge,etc are all used in each other’sdefinitions. Monolingual dictionaries forlearners tend to use a restricted definingvocabulary, usually about 2,000 words,but this pre-selected lexical set isfrequently of little use to students belowadvanced level. I feel that what is neededis a new generation of bilingual referencebooks, which present students with fullersemantic, grammatical and stylisticinformation, and with more examplesand usage notes, things typically absentin traditional bilingual dictionaries.

Vocabulary learningstrategiesNote-taking and memorisationWhen dealing with the meaning ofunknown words, learners make notes innotebooks, write on cards, in themargins of texts or between the lines. Ofcourse, the exact form of those notes isunique to each learner, and so is theirusability. Differences in how newvocabulary is recorded may distinguishthe good learner from the poor one.

One of the first problems learners haveto solve is how to memorise large numbersof new lexical items. The commoneststrategy here is to repeat the newexpressions over and over until they areremembered. Thus a substantial amountof research has focused on vocabularyrehearsal and identified four influentialfactors: the number of repetitions requiredto memorise a word list; the optimalnumber of words to be learnt at onetime; the timing of the repetition; andloud versus silent repetition. � � �

Clear evidence shows that children

learn a large proportion of their L1 vocabulary

incidentally, evenaccidentally, from hearing and seeing

At beginner or elementary level

incidental learning mustbe coupled with thesupport of explicit

learning and teaching

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� � � An unexpectedly large amount ofnew lexis seems to be learnable within arelatively short time span. When thewords on a list are ‘easy’, that is to sayof high frequency, lists containing 100or even more lexical items can bestudied at one time. Empirical studiesshow that repeating aloud helpsretention far better than repeatingsilently. The ear assists the eye in thelong-lasting retention of vocabulary.This has been attributed to the fact thatthe ear can split sound into constituentsimple sound waves, whereas the eyecannot split light into constituentelectromagnetic waves.

Encoding and vocabulary learningRepeating word lists is just onevocabulary learning strategy; there areothers which centre on deeper processesinvolving memory, form, meaning anduse.

The use of mnemonics is onetechnique which has recently attracted alot of attention, though mnemonicshave been used as a memory aid sinceantiquity. Probably the best-knownmnemonic technique is the keywordmethod, where a foreign word isremembered through linkage to akeyword, a sound-alike native word(acoustic link), or a look-alike nativeword (visual link).

However, mnemonic strategies forlearning L2 vocabulary are not withoutflaws:

● Mnemonic techniques rely on theretention of paired associates, whilean L2 lexicon hardly resembles anordered collection of L1–L2 lexicalcouplets.

● The mnemonic approach stresses arigid one-to-one relationship betweenform and meaning, while in realityone lexical item stands for multipledimensions of meaning.

● Mnemonic techniques tend tooverrate the referential meaning of a

word, often at the expense of itsgrammatical properties.

● Abstract words, because of their lackof tangible referents, are unsuitablefor mnemonic strategies.

● The success claimed for mnemonictechniques in facilitating long-termretention is defined as being correctrecall after two weeks underexperimental conditions; in real life,retention needs to go infinitelybeyond a two-week period.

Word-formation: focusing on formLexicographers are particularlyinterested in form: their work is basedon the thesis that the etymologicalbackground is important to learners. Itis certainly true that knowledge ofGreco-Latin roots can often helpstudents predict what a given Englishword means and why it is spelt the wayit is. This knowledge may also helpthem remember it through a realisationof how its present meaning evolvedfrom that of its original root. Learnersmay benefit also from affixation:splitting a word into its componentparts lays bare its roots; learners mayalso recognise the meanings andfunctions of suffixes and prefixes andhow they contribute to the meaning ofthe whole word.

Semantic networks: focusing onmeaningOur knowledge of vocabulary learninghas expanded recently due todevelopments in lexical semantics. Theparadigmatic versus syntagmatictreatment of the mental lexicon hasinstigated new perceptions of thesemantic field. Applied linguists designsemantic networks, maps and grids inwhich words are connected byintertwined meanings. Such strategies,although potentially too prescriptive,may be of benefit to learners.

� � �

Today, vocabulary learning is betterunderstood thanks to the pioneers in thefields of incidental vocabulary learning,memorisation and mnemonic techniques.But there are still unanswered questions,and the following three points are whatI consider to be the most importantissues for future research:

1 Research efforts have mostly beendirected towards discovering the ‘best’ [email protected]

Darius Langhoff is anESL instructor workingin teacher trainingcolleges in UpperSilesia, Poland. He isalso a translator ofscientific literature inEnglish, German andPolish. In his free time,he plays the guitar anddraws.

Ellis, R Modes of Vocabulary LearningBlackwell 1994

Haynes, M ‘Patterns and perils ofguessing in second language reading’ InHuckin, T, Haynes, M and Coady, J (Eds)Second Language Reading andVocabulary Learning Ablex 1993

Knight, S ‘Dictionary use while reading’The Modern Language Journal 78 1994

Meara, P ‘Vocabulary acquisition: aneglected aspect of language learning’Language Teaching and LinguisticsAbstracts 13 1997

Nation, I S P Teaching and LearningVocabulary Heinle & Heinle 2001


strategy for vocabulary retention,ignoring the diversity of strategiesstudents actually employ.

2 Quite a lot of emphasis has been puton incidental vocabulary learning,overlooking the potential of intentionallearning.

3 Research into vocabulary learningconducted in the linguistic tradition hasconcentrated on the product (what islearnt or is to be learnt) rather than onthe process of acquisition (how thingsare learnt).

The choice and effectiveness ofvocabulary learning strategies dependon the task, the learners and thecontext. In future, researchers may wantto identify strategies which help learnersacquire multi-word expressions or whichare specifically applicable to students atdifferent levels of proficiency. Inaddition, the contextual perspectivemust not be underestimated in oursearch for the perfect strategy.

Successful vocabulary learningcomprises far more than the presentingand retaining words. A steady L2vocabulary growth nurtures itself whenlearners apply strategies aimed more atthe use than at the retention of words.What is now needed is a developmentalmodel which will recognise the intricatecomplexity and diversity of lexicalacquisition.

Makingwordsstick

Makingwordsstick

ETp

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� � �

L A N G U A G E

Which side are you on?


Adam Brown nurtures the non-committal.

Learners often believe thatwriting, particularly academicwriting, is or should beobjective – often because we,

as teachers, tell them that subjectivityshould be avoided. However, we veryoften set general essay topics thatrequire learners to give their opinions.That is, we ask for the pros and cons oftopics that clearly have two sides to theargument, such as arranged marriages,vegetarianism, jogging, the nuclear/extended family, euthanasia and thedeath penalty. Any final opinion fromthe learner is valid, provided it issupported by evidence, with someargumentation about why the writercomes down on one side or the other.This involves evaluating the merits ofdata and arguments. Such materialcannot be presented wholeheartedly, asit often represents conflicting andcontradictory points. The process ofarguing for claims that you agree with,and distancing yourself from those thatyou disagree with or feel are weak, canbe achieved by hedging.

Hedging your betsHedging is the process of limiting yourcommitment to the truth of what youare writing. For instance, we could writeJogging leads to injuries of the joints.However, that would imply that alljogging necessarily results in injuries,which is clearly an overstatement. It is,therefore, normal in English to addhedging expressions such as maycontribute to injuries, occasionally, ifcarried out without adequate stretchingand coaching, some types of jogging, etc.

That is, we are toning down the strengthof a statement, or our commitment toits truth, from 100 percent. Hedgingexpressions have, therefore, also beenreferred to as language that is cautious,tentative, non-assertive, non-committal,mitigating, qualifying, softening,distancing, indirect and protective or,more negatively, evasive, apologetic andvague.

Such hedging is common in Englishwriting, as shown by the followingextract from a New Zealand Heraldreport about the recall of faulty cars byToyota:

‘Ideas being considered includewarranties of as long as ten years andrebates of thousands of dollars pervehicle that would start in March, saidthree executives from retailer groupswith Toyota franchises. … Incentivesmight help Toyota keep customers as ittries to recover from recalls linked tounwanted acceleration that includedabout eight million vehicles worldwide.’

Note that the warranties are as long asten years, that is, some of them may beten years, but many may be less. Therebates are thousands of dollars; thiscould mean $2,000 or $20,000, a widerange. The modal verb in would startshows that this idea may not beimplemented. This information isattributed to executives from retailergroups; the writer is thus being defensivein case it proves not to be true oraccurate. Incentives might help Toyotakeep customers, but, there again, theymight not. The recalls are linked tounwanted acceleration; this ‘link’ doesnot mean that unwanted acceleration

inevitably results. The problem relates toabout eight million vehicles; we do notneed to know the precise figure.

Sitting on the fenceIt has been found that learners ofEnglish are often not taught suchhedging expressions in English and are,therefore, poor at writing with thecorrect amount of hedging. Often, theystate personal opinions and biaseswithout any hedging, as if they werefacts. As Skelton expresses it, ‘It isimportant for students to learn to beconfidently uncertain.’

Nevertheless, it is likely that hedgingexists in all languages. The academicinvestigation of hedging has flourishedsince the 1980s, and Schröder andZimmer refer to studies in manylanguages.

There may be interculturaldifferences in the amount of hedgingexpected and used. Academic writing byBritish researchers is often guarded,reserved and hesitant, as if in deferenceto readers who may disagree with them.However, to readers from other cultures,this may appear to be sitting on thefence. Similarly, British speech maycontain more hedging than othercultures. For instance, contestants onthe British version of TV show TheApprentice are likely to state, ‘I think wedid a pretty good job in thecircumstances’, while their Americancounterparts often avoid all hedging:‘We did an outstanding job.’

There are also differences in hedgingdepending on the kind of writing. Wehave already said that, despite

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� � � impressions to the opposite, hedging isa common feature of academic,including scientific, writing. However,similar amounts of hedging would beunacceptable in user documentation orrequirements specifications, which needto be precise, unambiguous and direct.

Hedging in writingHedging is particularly important inacademic, scientific and business writing.The majority of writing in academicand technical fields is in English, and itis, therefore, important that researchershoping that their work will be read bythe global academic community are ableto express it well in English.

It is especially important to use thecorrect amount of hedging in academicwriting. We have just said that using nohedging means that material is statedtoo boldly, in black and white terms –and life is not like that. On the otherhand, the reverse – using too muchhedging – may lead to a piece of writingthat gives the impression of beingvague, ambiguous and not statinganything of any substance.

Hedging in speakingWhile the main focus of this article iswritten language, hedging clearly alsoexists in spoken language. Alex Casetakes the chief executive of Wimbledontennis club to task for being too vague inthese remarks quoted in the InternationalHerald Tribune in June 2007:

‘We take very seriously being a sort ofworld-class event, hopefully. … And to adegree there’s always been those peoplewho have said it’s a bit cloistered.Maybe with the roof off, I don’t know, itis going to get people more excited.’

Note the hedging expressions: sort of,hopefully, to a degree, a bit, Maybe, Idon’t know.

There are various features of spokenand nonverbal language that can affectthe hedging strength of an expression,but which obviously do not apply inwriting. Appropriate intonation, speed,facial expression, etc can turn atentative ‘You might be right …’ into amore confident ‘You might be right!’

Practice in hedgingThe following exercises can be used withstudents to enhance their understandingof hedging and to increase theirproductive vocabulary of hedgingexpressions.

Exercise 1One context in which the appropriateamount of hedging is important is the‘recommendations’ sections of reports.Writers may believe that somerecommendations are essential, butothers are simply suggestions. One wayof showing this is the choice of modalverbs. Arrange the following in order ofthe strength of the recommendation.

a) The present photocopier should bereplaced.

b) The present photocopier could bereplaced.

c) The present photocopier ought to bereplaced.

d) The present photocopier must bereplaced.

e) The present photocopier can bereplaced.

f) The present photocopier has to bereplaced.

g) The present photocopier might bereplaced.

h) The present photocopier may bereplaced.

AnswerThe following order represents myintuitions, and what is found in grammarbooks: (strongest first) must, has to,should, ought to, may, could, can, might.Since the writer cannot usually force thereader (often the writer’s manager) tocarry out the recommendations, shouldnormally represents the right level ofhedging. Note also the use of the passivewithout the by … phrase (be replaced):the writer can state what needs to bedone, rather than who needs to do it.

Exercise 2Arrange the following expressions offrequency on the scale below. You mightlike to use the frame: Such behaviour …leads to breathing problems.

a) at times

b) frequently

c) generally

d) hardly ever

e) often

f) on occasion

g) rarely

h) seldom

i) sometimes

j) usually

k) more often than not

l) now and again

AnswerAgain, the following order representsmy intuitions: (most frequent first)generally, usually, frequently, more oftenthan not, often, sometimes, at times, nowand again, on occasion, seldom, rarely,hardly ever.

Hedging expressions

● Modal verbs: would, may, might,could, etc (See Exercise 1 below.)

● Lexical verbs: appear, seem, tend,look like, think, believe, doubt, besure, indicate, suggest, assume,estimate, claim, etc

● Modal adverbs: probably, certainly,conceivably, likely, unlikely,apparently, seemingly, arguably,possibly, definitely, clearly, perhaps,maybe, without a doubt,undoubtedly, to a certain extent,tentatively, presumably, etc, andtheir related adjectives (probable,certain) and nouns (probability,certainty)

● Modifications to nouns: a strong/good/definite/slight/remotepossibility

● Adverbs of frequency: often,generally, sometimes, seldom, etc(See Exercise 2.)

● Numerical expressions: most,some, few, a lot, etc (See Exercise 3.)

● ‘Approximate’ words:approximately, about, around, or so,etc

● Attribution: according to, based on,on this evidence, the passive (it isbelieved), etc

● Imprecise expressions: kind of,sort of, as it were, if you will, like, ifyou like, etc



always never

most frequent least frequent

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[email protected]

Adam Brown teachesin Auckland, NewZealand. He haspreviously taught inthe UK, Thailand,Malaysia andSingapore. His mostrecent publication isSounds, Symbols andSpellings, publishedby McGraw-Hill.

Exercise 3Arrange the following numericalexpressions, on the scale below. Youmight like to use the frame: ... PremierLeague teams are foreign-owned.(There are 20 Premier League teams.)

1 a couple of

2 a few

3 a handful of

4 a lot of

5 few

6 half a dozen

7 many

8 not many

9 one or two

10 several

11 some

12 three or four

AnswerAs before, the following orderrepresents my intuitions: (most first) a lot of, many, several, some, half adozen, a handful of, a few, three or four,not many, few, a couple of, one or two.

Exercise 4In each of the following pairs ofsentences, the first carries no hedgingand often sounds too assertive. Whatlinguistic device does the second onecontain, and what is the effect?

1 a) Women make good drivers.b) It is said that women make good

drivers.

2 a) It is a good idea to start again.b) I think it is a good idea to start

again.

3 a) Mary has red hair.b) Mary has reddish hair.

4 a) A penguin is a bird.b) A penguin is a sort of bird.

5 a) The play was good.b) The play was OK.

6 a) There is a mistake in the invoice.b) There seems to be a mistake in the

invoice.

7 a) It’s 5.32.b) It’s half past five.

8 a) That child is ugly.b) That child is not particularly cute.

Answers1 Using it is said (attribution to a third

party) allows the writer to be lessassertive, avoiding implying that theyare claiming it is true.

2 I think (a lexical verb) reduces theforce of the statement.

3 The suffix -ish shows that the hair isnot red, but only somewhat red.

4 While to a zoologist a penguin istechnically a bird, to lay people it isnot a prototypical bird. Sort of (anexpression adding imprecision) showsthis.

5 OK is a weaker adjective than good,and shows less wholeheartedapproval.

6 There is a mistake in the invoice mightbe construed as criticism, accusingthe listener of making a mistake.Seems (a lexical verb) softens thisimplication, perhaps saving face forthe listener.

7 We seldom need to be precise to theminute, unless we are catching atrain, etc. Half past five is a vaguerexpression, extending, say, from 5.25to 5.35.

8 Ugly is blunt here and could offend.Using not with the opposite adjective(cute), especially with the adverbparticularly, softens the effect, is morepolite and could be called aeuphemism.

Exercise 5The following are real pieces oflanguage from the Collins WordbanksOnline corpus. Identify the hedging inthem.

1 Blood pressure also tends to rise asyou get older.

2 Darjeeling and Boudhanath wereprobably the two best spots outsideTibet for news of that country.

3 Italians appear to be no longer votingaccording to ideology.

4 Has the suggestion been made thatperhaps there might be a better way ofdoing this? Maybe public financing?

5 With hindsight I think I would probablydo the same again.

6 Salaries and bonuses may be forcedup as clubs attempt to tie their bestplayers to long-term contracts. Butprices should come down for the firsttime since Alf Common’s day.

Case, A ‘English and the English inWimbledon’ www.tefl.net/alexcase/category/teaching/tefl/functions/hedging 2007 (retrieved February 2010)

Collins Wordbanks Onlinewww.collins.co.uk/Corpus/CorpusSearch.aspx(retrieved February 2010)

Schröder, H and Zimmer, D ‘Hedgingresearch in pragmatics: A bibliographicalresearch guide to hedging’www.sw2.euv-frankfurt-o.de/Publikationen/Hedging/zimmer/zimmer.html 2000 (retrieved February 2010)

Skelton, J ‘The care and maintenance ofhedges’ ELT Journal 42(1) 1988

all no

most least

7 The feeling of well-being caused by afew pieces of chocolate or a glass ormore of wine can, he declares, belinked with resistance to ill health. ‘Amodest indulgence may have abeneficial effect,’ he says.

8 I would guess it would be somewherein between $400 million and $800million.

Answers1 tends (a lexical verb)

2 probably (a modal adverb)

3 appear (a lexical verb)

4 suggestion (a lexical noun), perhaps (amodal adverb), might (a modal verb),maybe (a modal adverb)

5 think (a lexical verb), probably (amodal adverb)

6 may, should (both modal verbs)

7 a few (numerical expression), or more(an approximate expression), can (amodal verb), he declares (attributionto a third party), linked (a lexicalverb), may (a modal verb), he says(attribution to a third party)

8 would (a modal verb), guess (a lexicalverb), somewhere in between(imprecise expression), $400 millionand $800 million (a huge range).

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


John Potts considers some of the components of teaching new vocabulary items.

PREPARING TO TEACH ...Vocabulary 1

Language analysis: four things to consider

FORM – this refers to how a word is spelled (or spelt!), howplurals and derived words are formed, etc.

MEANING(S) – this can be very complex, as one ‘word’ mayhave very different meanings (and in fact be different words– and hence appear as separate headwords in a dictionary).Moreover, the same word may also perform differentgrammatical functions, eg fake can be a verb, noun oradjective.

PRONUNCIATION – the basics are sounds and word stress.

GRAMMAR – for example, is a verb regular or irregular? Is anoun countable or uncountable? Is a word followed by aninfinitive, a gerund or something else? Is a phrasal verbseparable or not?

Choosing which words to teach: two things to considerEspecially at lower levels, it is important to decide how usefulwords are for the learner.

FREQUENCY – some words are met and used far morefrequently than others, and form the basis of a corevocabulary. Learner’s dictionaries often highlight thesewords (eg by using a colour code).

RANGE – some words also have a wider range and are,therefore, more useful at lower levels: for example, heavyversus weighty, thin versus slender, red versus scarlet.

Connotations and collocationsSome words have special associations or connotations: forexample, home has connotations that house does not. Wordsmay have different connotations in other languages, leading topotential problems for learners.

Collocations are the combinations that a word may frequentlymake: for example, heavy traffic/rain/duty/weather, etc. Again,these are often not the same in other languages, and some areidiomatic (eg make heavy weather of something).

Language awareness: more things to consider

DEGREE OF FORMALITY AND APPROPRIACY – somewords are inappropriate in some contexts, eg at a formalmeal you wouldn’t say that the food is yummy.

1

2

1

4

3

2

1

REGISTER – some words are used by particular professions(eg in legal or financial English), or in particular social contexts(eg with young children: tummy rather than stomach).

VARIETY – the main two varieties covered in learnerdictionaries are British and American English. Coursebookstend to be written in one variety, though they maysometimes refer to the other. Learners may have had moreexposure to one variety than another, and so may haveproblems when meeting the other. Teachers, too, may notalways be sure about words from different varieties –compare these words in British and American English: vest,braces, pants, suspenders.

CURRENCY – some once-common words are now dated oreven obsolete, such as gramophone player or musket, whileothers have changed their meaning significantly with time –wireless, gay, jet.

False friends, true friends1 Mistakes may often be due to L1 interference, resulting in

false friends. For example, a typical mistake made byspeakers of many European languages is to think that actualmeans ‘now, current, topical, contemporary’, etc.

2 In addition, learners may use English words (or English-lookingwords) that have been taken into their own language – butwhich don’t have the same meaning in English. For example,a handy (= mobile phone, cell phone), a beamer (= digital orvideo projector) or a dancing (= club, disco, etc).

3 Learners may confuse two similar-looking words in English,for example: economic and economical.

4 On the other hand, sometimes words may be very close or evenidentical to the learners’ L1, and so they can be compared.

Vocabulary in contextLike grammar structures, vocabulary items benefit from having acontext for them to make sense. Here are some approaches:

1 Reading texts provide the context for the new items, andstudents can develop skills that allow them to makereasonable guesses at their meaning.

2 Pictures, diagrams and other visuals can be very helpful,especially at low levels.

3 Putting new words into meaningful phrases or sentences isimportant, otherwise learners may just have lists ofcontextless words.

4 Personalising new words is also very helpful as an aid tointernalising meaning.

2

4

3

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

COMPETITION RESULTS

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 3 4 5 8 6 9

10 11 3 4 10 10 12

13 3 14 15 16 10 6 4 2

17 3 5 6 18 19 20 11

6 21 10 5 3 22 3 10 13 4

10 6 15 3 3 4 10 6

7 10 4 10 23 3 13 11 17 10 2 2

3 23 5 10 1 6

4 20 10 19 9 12 2 5

5 13 6 1 17 3 23 10 2 24

10 10 2 24 25 13 3 20 24

24 4 4 6 8 10 24 13 6

2 12 23 10 13 10 15 6 13

24 3 26 11 13 3 7 3 4 5

2 7 24 15 3 3 3 13 19 24

P S E N T I M E N T F I B

A C E N A A U

R E Z K V A I N S

L E T I Q Y D C

I H A T E W E A R N

A I K E E N A I

M A N A G E R C L A S S

E G T A P I

N D A Y B U S T

T R I P L E G A S O

A A S O J R E D O

O N N I F A O R I

S U G A R A K I R

O E X C R E M E N T

S M O K E E E R Y O

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

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

P S E N T I M F B A C U R

Z K V L Q Y D H W G O J X

7 3 4 24 8 8 3 22 22 24 13 20 2

10 13 3 5 21 3 9 3 2 5 7 3 4

M E N O F F E W W O R D S

A R E T H E B E S T M E N

Congratulations to all those readers who successfullycompleted our Prize Crossword 42. The winners, who willeach receive a copy of the Macmillan English Dictionary forAdvanced Learners, are:

William Shakespeare

José Luis Rupérez Aguado, Madrid, Spain

Suzanne Brems, Coshocton, USA

Bojana Djindjic, Belgrade, Serbia

Michele Garcia, Castelnuovo Don Bosco, Italy

Ana Beltrán Hetherington, Andújar, Spain

Valerie McCabe, Gosnells, Australia

PREPARING TO TEACH ... Vocabulary 1

Word fields, lexical setsGrouping words into topics or fields is often considered helpful(although this is somewhat controversial, with some authoritiessuggesting that a group of similar or related words can confusethe learner).

1 topic-based: for example, words connected with food. Thisapproach can be made quite specific: for example, wordsconnected with cooking and eating food.

2 concept-based: for example, different verbs of seeing (eggaze, stare, peep, wink, blink).

3 stem words and derived words: for example, words derivedfrom the verb apply, such as application, appliance, etc.

Word building, word formationA related approach to the one immediately above is to focusspecifically on how words are built using affixes (prefixes andsuffixes).

1 paradigm approach: for example, receive/receptive/reception,deceive/deceptive/deception.

2 affix approach: for example, adjective � noun using -ness(calm � calmness, flat � flatness).

3 antonyms: using affixes to make opposites (eg impersonal,hopeless, non-smoking).

4 topic approach: for example, a table of words relating topersonal qualities and characteristics.

Clarifying and checkingAs with new grammar items, it is important to clarify and checkthe meaning of the new vocabulary, for example by asking a setof concept questions. These should be prepared in advance –they’re very hard to think up on the spot! Keep them few, shortand simple – with equally brief answers.

For example: Ann took effective action to solve the problem.

1 What kind of word is this? (An adjective.)

2 Is it a positive or a negative quality? (Positive.)

3 Did her action work? (Yes.)

4 So the problem was solved? (Yes.)

There are many other ways of clarifying and checking – by usingrealia and visuals, for example, or by using a dictionary (whethera learner’s dictionary or a traditional translation dictionary).

There will be more on using dictionaries in part 2 of this article:plus ways of practising, recycling and recording vocabulary.

John Potts is a teacher and teacher trainer based inZürich, Switzerland. He has written and co-writtenseveral adult coursebooks, and is a CELTA assessor.He is also a presenter for Cambridge ESOLExaminations.

[email protected]

Sarah Marshall, Bangor, UK

Alistair Ratcliff, Cádiz, Spain

Sharon Roberts Sibson, Caernarfon, UK

Betty Taylor, Dorking, UK

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�� IT WORKS IN PRACTICEIT WORKS IN PRACTICE

Towers of funBy introducing numbers at

an early stage in your young

learner English classes, you

are putting in place a

structure on which your

students can expand their

vocabulary, and providing a

base for a variety of games

and activities.

Building towers is a fun

game. With the children

seated in a circle on the

floor, place a pile of

coloured wooden blocks in

the middle of the circle.

Everybody takes turns to roll

a large dice and then collect

the corresponding number

of blocks in order to build a

tower. The children become

engrossed in building their

towers, with the highest one

being the winner. There is

equal enjoyment afterwards

as each tower is knocked

down. The final tidy up of

returning the bricks to a bag

or box, ordered by colour,

introduces and practises

further vocabulary.Emma Saul

Essertines sur Rolle,Switzerland

� Basket caseThis is a game that can be played bystudents of intermediate level andabove. I usually play it with three teamsof five students each, but the numberscan be varied. The aim is to have somefun whilst practising the presentperfect tense. You will need to preparein advance three copies of a readingtext whose focus is the present perfect,with twice as many words orexpressions as there are students oneach team blanked out. Each blankshould have a number. You will alsoneed some small plastic balls (one foreach missing word or expression foreach team), pieces of paper and threelarge waste-paper baskets. Write themissing words/expressions on paperand attach them to the balls with tape.

Divide the class into three teams, A, Band C. Each has a basket labelled withthe letter of their team. The basket isplaced two metres away in front ofthem.

Each set of balls should be laid on thefloor behind each team, at least onemetre away. A line should be drawn onthe floor (or it could be an imaginaryone) where the students have to standto throw their balls in the basket.

The students need to read the text andfind quickly the ball that carries thecorrect word or expression for each

�

More tested lessons, suggestions, tips and techniques which haveall worked for ETp readers. Try them out for yourself – and thensend us your own contribution.

All the contributors to It Works in Practice in this issue of ETpwill receive a copy of Meetings in English by Bryan Stephens,published by Macmillan. Macmillan have kindly agreed to besponsors of It Works in Practice for this year.

blank. They then write the number ofthat blank on the ball and throw it inthe basket. Set a time limit for them todo this. If they miss the basket, theyhave to retrieve the ball, return behindthe line and throw it again.

At the end, check the contents of thethree baskets. The team with the mostcorrect answers wins. In the case of atie, the team which finished first wins.

Variations: The text can be written on the board ordisplayed via PowerPoint.

There can be more than three teams orfewer, depending on class size, and thenumber of the members of a team canvary. However, the number of blanksshould always be double the number ofthe members of each team.

If the teams are not of equal size, theteam with an extra student will need anextra couple of distractor balls, carryingwords that cannot be used to fill in anyof the blanks. When they identify adistractor ball, the team should write Øon it and then throw it in the basket.

This game can be used for practisingother grammatical structures, writing(adding topic sentences to appropriateparagraphs) or vocabulary.

Mohammed ArroubHoms, Syria

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Students’ postersMy first-year students in the faculty ofchemical and food technology inBratislava, Slovakia, end their Englishlanguage course with an examinationin the summer term. One part of theiroral exam involves presenting a posteron a scientific topic. The students canchoose any technical topic they areparticularly interested in, preferablyrelated to chemistry. Most of thematerial they use is taken from theinternet, encyclopaedias and chemistrytexts. After the examination, we keepthe posters in the department, so eachyear there are hundreds of postersleft. We tend to display the best in theclassrooms, while others serve asexamples of good and bad work for thenext generation of students. Some,unfortunately, end up in the bin.

As this seems such a waste, this yearwe have decided to keep almost all theposters (with topics relevant to ourcourses, eg oxygen, fractionaldistillation, wine production, coffee,the water cycle, the environment, etc).We have found various ways of usingthem as additional teaching materials.

�

Syrian whispersIf possible, clear all the desks and chairs to the side of theroom. Ask four students to leave the classroom and dividethe remaining students equally into four groups, A, B, Cand D. (With smaller classes you can have fewer groups andsend fewer students out of the room.) Ask the students toput Post-it notes on their foreheads indicating the letter oftheir group. They should then mingle together and moveround in the classroom.

Assign a group to each of the students outside theclassroom and give each a sentence to memorise. They thenhave to rush into the classroom looking for the members oftheir group (as indicated on the Post-it notes on thestudents’ foreheads). They have to whisper their sentence,once and once only, to one of them who, in turn, hurries towhisper the same sentence to another member of the

�

This has required some preparation,mainly cutting them into sections,removing the titles supplied by thestudents and sorting them according totopics and needs. Here are the ideas wehave come up with for using them:

Vocabulary practice

Teaching new and unknowntechnical terms, expressions andtheir meaning. Determining the key words (with the correctpronunciation) is very importantpractice for our students, alongwith giving definitions of newwords in English.

Grammar practice

Students have to identify structures typically used intechnical language, such aspassives, participial phrases, timeclauses, nominal compounds, etc.

Reading skills

Articles are chosen and exercisesprepared for reading comprehension(eg true and false, gap fill, wholesentences removed from a text thathave to be matched up, etc).

3

2

1

group, and so on till all the group members have heard thesentence. The listening student may not ask for clarificationbut has to do their best with what they have heard. When astudent has delivered the sentence to another member oftheir team, they should sit down so it is clear how manygroup members are left. The last student from each group hasto go to the board and write down the sentence as they heardit. At the end of the game, there should be four sentences onthe board, equal to the number of groups. The winners arethose whose sentence most closely matches the originalwhich you gave to the student outside the classroom.

This game might sound easy, but in reality it is quitechallenging: students often mis-hear some words in thesentence and end up with a totally different sentence.

Riyad al HomsiHoms, Syria

Writing skills

To practise summary writing, someposters are kept intact, with just theabstracts at the beginning and theconclusions at the end removed.Working in pairs, the students have to write a summary and/or abstractfor each poster.

Describing diagrams,

graphs and pictures

The graphs, charts, pictures anddiagrams included in the posters areideal for practising descriptions. Thismeans that we no longer spend hourssearching for suitable visuals intextbooks for the students to describe.

I would like to emphasise how easy it isto motivate students just by getting themto work with materials that have beencreated by fellow students the previousyear. They are always eager to see indetail what the posters look like, andthey realise that they must be properlyprepared – not just for the exam butbecause they will be used later by a newgeneration of students.

Magdalena HorakovaBratislava, Slovakia

4

5

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ReviewsMultilevel and DiverseClassroomsby Bradley Baurain and Phan Le Ha (Eds)TESOL 2010978-19311-8565-3

Although there is a sense in which everyclassroom in the world is ‘multilevel anddiverse’, the contexts collected in thisbook really do stretch those parameters.This review aims to give enough of ataste of the contents to allow people tofollow the modest words of the editorsthat ‘you [the reader] are the best judgeof what is useful and relevant’. The 16chapters all differ in their context, thefocus of the lessons and, of course, theinventiveness of the teachers. Reading oftheir enthusiasm and innovation makes iteasy to agree with one of thecontributors, Karla Garjaka, who believesthat ‘teachers are the single mostimportant resource in any classroom’.

Multilevel and Diverse Classroomsfollows the practice of the TESOLClassroom Practice Series by groupingthe chapters under broad headings, inthis case three. For me, the very generalsection headings (Standing before a seaof faces, Spurring creativity andimagination and Expanding theboundaries) were less of a guide tocontent than the clear chapter headings.Thus a quick skim across the titles ineach section reveals chapters on oralactivities (Section 1), using iPods (Section2) and self-access (Section 3).

The geographical spread ofcontributions is wide, although there is abias towards Asia. In the first sectionthere are accounts from China, thePhilippines, Thailand and a chapter withideas collected from the experiences ofits three authors in the Middle East, Asia,Central America and Africa. This chapterhas a list of realistic suggestions fordealing with management problems inlarge classes, written in the format ofchallenges and responses. I look forwardto passing on these suggestions togroups of in-service teachers in Asia.

It is probably the innovative ideaswhich will attract readers more than thecountry of origin, since these ideas seemtransferable to many contexts. As anexample of the range, the five chapters ofthe second section have ideas for using

a combination of general principles andspecific suggestions, such as one forremembering names. The summary ofprinciples he developed could beadapted to suit other contexts.

Some chapters are presentedgraphically. For example, in Chapter 3Doris Christopher and Roland Niez reportfrom the Philippines on group projects,showing samples of students’ work plusa diagram explaining the languagerelationships in that country. For readersconcerned about how to grade suchinnovative assignments, the markingrubric is attached.

The book is likely to attract manygroups of readers. Classroom teachers(or those who sponsor them) looking fora cheaper alternative to attending aconference in another city could form areading group to discuss how the ideasmight apply in their context. Irecommended the collection to universityteachers in Vietnam recently, and lookforward to doing the same with groups ofteacher trainers. I also plan to use it as atextbook on a future course for teachers,treating the chapters as case studies,with tasks to guide readers through them.

Marilyn LewisAuckland, New Zealand

television commercials,photography, iPods, art andonline comics. Although mostcontributors are either teachersor teacher educators, BillZimmerman, author of ‘Onlinecomics: Writing, reading andtelling stories in English’, isdescribed as a journalist andnewspaper editor as well as avolunteer ESOL teacher withbasic literacy students. Hisstudents are fortunate to havesuch creative opportunities.

For some readers it willbe the learning focus that ismost important in selectingwhich chapters to read first.As the descriptors show,we are a profession whichenjoys acronyms. The thirdsection starts with achapter by Roby Marlinaabout working with first-year university students in Australiastudying EIL (English as an InternationalLanguage). It continues with ideas forteaching academic reading and writing totheology students in India from IrisDevadason. Then comes Karla Garjaka’scontribution about her class in the USA,described as being for CLT (culturally andlinguistically diverse) students, followedby an account of a pre-university EFLclass in Vietnam (from Le Van Canh andNguyen Thi Thuy Minh) which focuses onacademic writing. Chapter 16, by GaroldMurray, is about self-access facilities at aJapanese university, while in the finalchapter Jo Bertrand reports on teachingbusiness communication to two differentgroups in China.

Each chapter starts with a literaturereview before presenting the contextfollowed by a detailed account of theideas. References for these reviews aremostly grouped alphabetically at the endof the book, although some authors alsohave some titles listed after their chapter.A look at a couple of chapters will give afurther taste for the details. In Chapter 2,Alan Seaman from the USA takes up thechallenge of spending a sabbatical at aChinese university, where 60 students perclass is the norm and the furnitureconsists of ‘rows of bolted-down desksand chairs’. His response is explained in

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ReviewsTeaching the Pronunciation ofEnglish as a Lingua Francaby Robin WalkerOxford University Press 2010978-0-19-442200-0

In language teaching, we often assumethat the objective is to enable thelearners to communicate with nativespeakers, perhaps in a country where thetarget language is spoken. In the contextof English as a Lingua Franca (ELF), thisassumption is no longer valid. With ELF,the objective is to enable the learners tocommunicate internationally, notnecessarily with native English speakersand not necessarily in a country whereEnglish is spoken. This new objective hasimportant implications for languageteaching generally, and pronunciationteaching in particular, and it hasgenerated a large amount of researchand theorising. Robin Walker’s new book,Teaching the Pronunciation of English asa Lingua Franca (TPELF), is intended tobridge the gap from this research andtheory to actual classroom practice.

TPELF does not assume that readersare already familiar with ELF, and the firsttwo chapters are dedicated to filling inthe background. Chapter 1 explains thenew role of English as a medium ofinternational communication, andsuggests that the goal of pronunciationlearning in this context is mutualintelligibility rather than approximation tonative-speaker norms. Chapter 2summarises the lingua franca coreconcept as developed by JenniferJenkins. This core is an inventory of thefeatures of pronunciation which areessential to ensure international mutualintelligibility. It also lists the featureswhich are non-essential and those whichactually make a speaker less intelligible.Walker makes it clear that this coreshould not be regarded as finished anddefinitive, and this is a very importantpoint. I think that teachers could refer tothe core for guidance, but they will alsoneed to use their own judgement in itsapplication. I personally would still teachsome of the features that the corecurrently leaves out.

Since it was published in 2000,Jennifer Jenkins’ book The Phonology ofEnglish as a Lingua Franca (OUP) has

provoked a lot of controversy,and many teachers haveexpressed concerns aboutadopting an ELF approach topronunciation teaching. InChapter 3, Walker outlines themost frequently expressedconcerns and responds to them.He goes on to point out thebenefits of adopting an ELFapproach. In particular, I wouldhighlight the new positive role itimplies for the learners’ mothertongue and for non-nativeteachers. I think it is very good todiscuss teachers’ worries abouttheir own accents openly, instead oftrying to pretend the issue doesn’texist. In Chapter 4, Walker presentssome practical classroom techniquesfor teachers following an ELFapproach. Some of these aretraditional pronunciation teachingfavourites, such as minimal pairs anddrills. The author also includestechniques which are more commonlyassociated with speaking practice ingeneral rather than pronunciation work,such as information gaps. The reason forthis is that a key aspect of the ELFapproach is accommodation. In real-lifeinteraction, learners are going toencounter a wide range of differentaccents, not just an idealised standardEnglish, and they need to be flexibleenough to accommodate to thesevarieties. Here, communication tasks areadapted to provide practice in this vitalaccommodation skill.

The chapter concludes with a sectiondedicated to the problems andpossibilities of adopting an ELF approachin a classroom where all the learnersshare the same mother tongue. I wasvery pleased to see this because, on thesurface, it would seem almost impossibleto get a group of students to use Englishas a lingua franca when they alreadyhave their own L1 as a lingua franca.Again, the author is tackling a keypractical issue head on instead ofpretending it doesn’t exist.

The new positive role for the learners’L1 mentioned earlier is expanded inChapter 5 in glorious detail. Experts fromaround the world have contributedspecific details about ten different

languages, which are particularlypertinent to ELF learners. This will be avery useful reference resource forpronunciation teachers. Finally, Walkerconcludes in Chapter 6 by consideringthe implications of an ELF approach forsyllabus planning and assessment. Thislatter is vital, since it would be grosslyunfair to teach ELF and then test fornative-speaker-referenced pronunciationfeatures. Many pronunciation featureswhich are regarded as errors in atraditional ELT context are considered asaccent variations in an ELF approach,and accent variations do not need to becorrected or penalised.

TPELF is accompanied by an audioCD featuring interactions in Englishbetween pairs of speakers from a rangeof different L1 backgrounds. The authormakes reference to these conversationsthroughout the book and this helps tokeep the practical reality of the issuesclearly in focus – we are not talking aboutimaginary beings in a theoretical world,but real people communicating usingEnglish as a lingua franca. Indeed,practicality is the keynote in this valuablenew addition to the literature onpronunciation teaching.

Mark HancockMadrid, Spain

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Picturecardactivities


R E S O U R C E S

Simon Mumford

cuts and pastes his way

to success.P

acks of small picture cards areeasy to make and use, and theycan be a very effective teachingresource. Picture cards have

many different uses, and they areespecially useful for group games, whichcan be either cooperative or competitive,depending on your students’ preferences.

To make a set of cards, simply draw,photocopy or cut out a series of picturesand mount them on stiff card, laminatingthem if possible so that you can reusethem easily. This is well worth theinvestment of time because you will findthat the more games you play with them,the more new ideas you will have and thecards will quickly become tatty if notmounted on card or laminated. There aresome photocopiable cards on page 45which you can use to start you off. Beloware some activities which you can dowith them.

It is worth noting that the potentialambiguity of the cards is an advantage– and is where picture cards score overword cards. The students will have tonegotiate and reach agreement on astandard interpretation of what some ofthe cards represent. In ‘Alphabeticalorder’, described below, the studentswill need to decide which word eachpicture represents in order to negotiatetheir place in the line. For example, doesthe cloud picture represent a cloud orrain? Moreover, some degree ofambiguity can increase the flexibility ofsome activities. For example, in ‘Card

story’, the card which shows two peopledancing could be interpreted in differentways, leading to ideas such as ‘Then shewent dancing where she met a nice boyand danced all night’ or ‘The next dayshe went to a friend’s birthday party’,‘He went to a disco’ or even ‘They wereso happy they danced all night’.

Alphabetical orderGive each student in the class one card.Ask them to stand in a line inalphabetical order according to the firstletter of the object shown on their card.The students stand up, show each othertheir cards and find their place in the line.Using the photocopiable cards on page45, for a class of 20, bird will be next tocamel at one end, and toothbrush nextto yacht at the other. Once they are inposition, students next to each other cantalk about the objects in their pictures.

Spelling with cardsCopy two sets of cards for each group offour or five. Cut one set up and deal thecards equally. Put the other set as asingle sheet in the middle. One studentstarts by saying a letter of the alphabet,eg h. Anyone who has an objectcontaining the letter h must put it ontop of the corresponding picture on thesheet. Then the second student saysanother letter, and so on. The winner ofthis game is the last person to hold acard. For a longer game, tell the studentsthat they only have to play a card if theobject on it starts with the chosen letter.

Card definitionsCopy two sets of cards for each groupof students. Cut one set up and deal thecards. Put the other set as a single sheetin the middle. The first player puts acard face down in front of them. Theothers call out an object from the sheet.Each must choose a different one. Thefirst player then defines the object onthe card they put down, eg A small pieceof metal we can use for buying things. Ifa student thinks this matches theirchoice, they claim the card. Then thenext person chooses and plays anothercard, and so on. Stop the game afterfive minutes or so. The student with themost cards is the winner. There are twoimportant rules: the player defining thecard they have played must not say thename of the object, and anyone wronglyclaiming a card is out of the game.

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Simon Mumford hasbeen teaching in Izmir,Turkey, for 23 years. As well as classroomactivity design, he isinterested in academicwriting. He is on theorganising committee of an international ELTconference to be held at his institution, IzmirUniversity of Economicsin March 2011.


� � � Remembering cardsStage 1: Spread out a set of cards, faceup, for each group of students. Oneplayer says the name of an object. Thefirst person to put their hand on theappropriate card claims it, putting itface down in front of them, and thensays the next word. Continue like thisuntil all the cards are gone.

Stage 2: The students take turns to tryto remember who took which card, egJohn, have you got the bird? I think youtook the party, Marie. If correct, theytake the card and keep it in a separatepile, and it cannot be asked for again.When all the cards have been found, thestudent with the most is the winner.

Grouping cardsThis game can be done in groups or as awhole-class activity. Copy enough cardsfor each student to have four. Thestudents have to collect four objects thatform a set. For example: round things(hat, coin, clock, football ); things thatcollocate with black (horse, bird, hat,cloud ); things connected with travel(horse, camel, car, shoe); objectsbeginning with c (clock, car, cloud, coin),or h (horse, house, hat, hammer); thingsmade of wood (tree, violin, yacht,hammer); activities (football, dancing,riding, sailing). The students mingle,describe their cards and swap them ifthey agree. A dialogue might go like this:

Student A: I’ve got a horse, a hat, ahouse and a cloud. Whathave you got?

Student B: I’ve got a hammer, a coin, abird and a present.

Student A: I’ll swap a cloud for ahammer.

Student B: OK. / Sorry, I want to keep it.

When the students have completed aset, they show it to the teacher, and thensit down. Some students may not beable to finish, so don’t let the activity goon too long.

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Card storyDeal out one set of cards for eachgroup of four or five students. Theytake turns to play their cards to buildup a story. For example:

Student A: One day Jane was riding herhorse.

Student B: It began to rain.Student C: So she went home.Student D: She was hungry, so she had

some toast.

And so on.

Card cues Give the students the structure youwant them to practise, eg I’d rather have(a) _________ than (a) _________because _________ . Put a set of cardsface up on the table for each group.

The first student takes two cards andmakes a sentence using the structure, egI’d rather have a violin than a bird,because you don’t have to feed a violin.Continue round the group. The studentskeep the cards they use and so it getsmore difficult as the choice of cards isreduced. Encourage the students to becreative. This format can be used topractise many structures. For example:

● (A) ___________ is more useful than (a) ___________ because ___________ .

eg A toaster is more useful than acamel because camels can’t maketoast!

● If I had (a) ___________ , I’d need (a) __________ too, because __________ .

eg If I had a horse, I’d need moneytoo, because it’s expensive.

● You can’t (verb) (a) (noun) with (a) (noun)

eg You can’t clean a shoe with atoothbrush.

Guess the storyWithout telling the others, each studentmakes up a story including the objectson four cards drawn at random. Othersin the group look at the cards and askyes/no questions until they find thestory. For example: tree, present, clock,horse.

Was the present a clock? Was thepresent for the horse? Was the horse apresent for someone? Did the horsefind a clock? Did someone tie the horseto the tree? Did someone find thepresent under a tree?

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Card conversationsPut the students in groups of four. Theyeach draw two cards without the othersseeing. They have a conversation forthree or four minutes, into which theymust introduce their objects as naturallyas possible. At the end, the studentshave to guess what is on the otherstudents’ cards.

It’s not what it seems!Tell the students that they are at anauction and that each has £10,000 tospend. Auction several objects in theclass, giving the card to the buyer, andkeep a note of who bought what. Aftera few items have been sold, tell thestudents what they have really bought,eg You bought a picture of a cloud for£10, but it was by Picasso and is worthtens of thousands. You bought a housefor £10,000, but it’s really only a doll’shouse. You paid £100 for the present, butthe box is empty! The coin went for £20,but it’s actually a collector’s item.

Put the students in groups and givethem five or six cards each. Tell them tothink of a surprise like this for some ofthe pictures and make some notes. Thenone person from each group goes toanother group with the cards andauctions them. (Teach: Do I hear £100?Who’ll give me £300? £500 anyone? )When all the cards have been sold, theauctioneer tells the stories behind theobjects.

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Picture cards are a flexible resourcebecause they provide the benefits ofvisual aids in a playing card format andthey can be dealt at random, picked up,put down, swapped and collected. Theresult is a potentially unlimited numberof activities for work on vocabulary anddefinitions, spelling and the alphabet,structure practice, listening and fluencypractice.

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+ Looking for new experiences within the profession?

+ Interested in different ways of developing beyondthe classroom?

+ Hoping for tips on how to extend and enrich yourprofessional life?

Teacher plus

Writing a graded reader

Teacher Plus is a series which focuses on specific areas in which you can

step outside the strictly teaching sphere.

Sue Leather has some tips for teachers who want to try their hand at creative writing.

Do you like the idea of writingstories? Earlier in this series, Iwrote about getting into writingfor publication, suggesting that

it could be a good move for teacherslooking for new challenges outside theclassroom. For this article on writing agraded reader, I’ve gathered ideas fromextensive reading experts about the joysof writing fiction for learners.

What are gradedreaders?Graded readers are books especiallywritten for language learners. They helpstudents to read systematically by movingfrom easy to more difficult language.They are called ‘graded’ because theycome in levels, and each level is carefullycontrolled in terms of vocabulary,grammar and sentence complexity. Inmany ways, they can be seen as a kindof bridge to the reading of booksintended for first-language readers.

Graded readers allow students toaccess extensive pieces of text, writtenwith the aim of providing reading forpleasure: stories, in other words. Theidea is that, if the books are at the rightlevel, students can just read and enjoythem, without having to struggle throughincomprehensible language. They can beexisting stories which are adapted, ororiginal stories written specifically forlanguage students. Many teachers arefamiliar with adapted versions of novels

by writers like Dickens or Austen, andmay use them as supplementary materialinside or outside the classroom. In recentyears, though, there has also been aninteresting growth in original fictionwritten for adult and young adults, and anumber of publishers are now producingoriginal work by writers in our profession.

Whether it’s an adaptation of anexisting novel or an original, there isplenty of research to support the ideathat extensive reading is really effective inhelping people to learn a second language.A good short survey into the research canbe found in ‘What is the secret of extensivereading?’ by Philip Prowse, series editorof Cambridge English Readers.

Why write a reader?Writing a graded reader can be astimulating way to develop both yourwriting skills and your professional profile.It can also be profitable. In many parts ofthe world, graded readers of all types arewidely used in and out of the classroom,and there is a huge world market forthem. Many of the big publishers, andsome smaller ones, produce at least oneseries. An additional attraction is thatgraded readers tend not to go out of printas quickly as some other books – one ofmine has now been in print for 20 years,for example – so the chances of gettingroyalties on your work for years to comeare high. Furthermore, the publication ofreaders as e-readers, downloadable to

devices such as Kindle, is only likely todiversify and enhance sales. All in all,there are plenty of reasons to have a goat writing a reader!

Exploring the genreAs with other types of publishing, a goodway of getting an idea of the field is to dosome research. Have a look throughpublishers’ catalogues and websites andfind out what kind of graded reader lists arebeing published by the different publishers.Then go to a good ELT bookstore, ifpossible, or go online to find yourself agood collection of readers from differentpublishers’ lists – and read! Learner fictionis a genre in itself, different in some waysfrom other types of fiction writing, and mostpeople have to study it at least a littlebefore they can write it successfully.

Alan Maley, board member of theExtensive Reading Foundation andsuccessful reader-writer, suggests: ‘Towrite a reader that will grip your audienceand make them want to read you to theend, you need a strong plot, a smallnumber of credible and engagingcharacters, and some realistic-soundingdialogue.’ This may be true to an extentof all fiction, but since the secondlanguage reader has limited access to thelanguage, there are some aspects ofnarrative writing that need special focusand attention. Features like a compellingopening, showing action rather thantelling the reader about it, hooks at theends of chapters and lively dialogue areparticularly important in graded readers.

Hooks at the ends ofchapters and lively dialogueare particularly important

Graded readers help studentsto read systematically bymoving from easy to moredifficult language

In many parts of the world,graded readers of all typesare widely used in and outof the classroom

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Adaptation or original?There’s no one answer to the question ofwhether it’s better to adapt or write anoriginal story – it depends on you as awriter. I started with adapting a few storiesand moved quite quickly into writingoriginal fiction. Now I only write originalfiction because I find it personally mostrewarding. However, many writers onlywrite adaptations and find that immenselyrewarding, too. As Jennifer Bassett, serieseditor of Oxford Bookworms, remarkedabout adaptations in a discussion in theIATEFL online forum on extensive reading:‘Adaptations these days are no longerconfined to the great classics, thecanonical works. There are retellings ofmodern novels, genre novels, and storiesby writers from the Outer Circle1.’Jennifer is currently working with Asianand African authors to retell their storiesfor language learners. This gives anindication of the breadth of the field.

The story’s the thing One thing is for certain: whether you arewriting adaptations or originals, a keeninterest in storytelling is essential. Gradedreaders go beyond being simplyschoolbooks. As Jennifer Bassett says,‘The story’s the thing. Writing in areduced code does not mean taking ateacherly approach to writing a gradedreader.’ Rob Waring, series editor ofHeinle Cengage’s Page Turners, agrees.He says it’s about ‘helping readers seethe text as a whole, ensuring richness tobuild connections and consolidateknowledge – and helping them to forgetthey are reading’.

How do writers find stories? Talkingabout original stories, successful reader-writer Antoinette Moses advises writers:‘Stories are all around us, they are therein the people we meet and observe, inthe stories we read in newspapers andthe issues that make us angry. Whatwriters do is keep notes. We keep notesall the time and jot down anything that isinteresting. And we make connections.So we observe someone, place them in asituation and begin to ask questionsabout them. From that we build ourstories. So, we never start from zero,there are always ideas buzzing about.’

Getting startedHow do you start? Many people get intoreader-writing almost by accident. PhilipProwse’s story is not untypical. He says:‘I first got into writing readers when I wasteaching in a secondary school in Egypt.The class reader was “The GrandBabylon Hotel” by Arnold Bennett, a storyof intrigue among 19th-centurymillionaires in a hotel in London, andculturally about as far from the lives of my16-year-old students as possible. So foreach chapter I wrote short dialoguesdramatising the plot and the studentsacted them out. A visiting teacher trainerfrom the UK came to observe and askedme if I’d be interested in writing for a newseries of readers he was starting. I wasinterested and have been writing readerson and off ever since!’

There are many ways to find a way in.One thing you can do is to find out whichof the publishers are looking forproposals, find out who the series editoris, and contact them. Most publishers’

websites will have a list of contacts. Writing original learner fiction has

certainly brought a very rewardingdimension to my professional life. If youfeel that you would like to have a try ateither an adaptation or original fiction, Ireally recommend it.

1 The ‘Outer Circle’ is a term coined bysociolinguist Braj Kachru for contexts whereEnglish is spoken as a second language, forexample in countries such as India.

TALKBACK!TALKBACK!



Tips, techniques and activities; simple orsophisticated; well-tried or innovative;

something that has worked well for you?All published contributions receive

a prize! Write to us or email:[email protected]

Writing for ETpWould you like to write for ETp?

We are always interested in new writersand fresh ideas. For guidelines and

advice, write to us or email:[email protected]

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


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

or simply browse the features.www.etprofessional.com


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PO18 8HD, UK



Sue Leather is a trainer,educational consultantand writer. She hasdelivered talks,workshops and coursesin over 25 countries forthe British Council andother organisations. Shehas published a numberof original readers forCUP, OUP andMacmillan Heinemann,among other publishers.She is currentlydevelopment editor forthe Heinle CengagePage Turners series.

[email protected]

ReferencesLeather, S ‘Writing learner fiction asprofessional development’ Folio 12(1)2007

Leather, S ‘Four tips for writing a reallygood original reader’www.eltlinkup.org/sueleatherart.html

Maley, A ‘Extensive reading: why it isgood for our students … and for us’www.teachingenglish.org.uk/think/articles

Prowse, P ‘What is the secret ofextensive reading?’www.cambridge.org/elt/readers

Useful websiteswww.extensivereading.net www.erfoundation.org

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

Learning coachLearning coach 22Daniel Barber and Duncan Foord advocate shifting the focus in the classroom away from

teaching towards greater learner independence. In the second article of their series on learner coaching,

they look at coaching learners in reading and listening.

We made the point in ourfirst article that studentswho practise their Englishoutside class on a regular

basis are likely to make more progressthan those who don’t. An obvious pieceof common sense, maybe, but how dowe make this common sense commonpractice? Students and teachers tend toconcentrate on what happens in the twoor three hours-per-week class time theyhave together and not the 100-plusremaining hours of waking time whichthe students could potentially directtowards practising their English. Asteachers, we need to think about learningplanning, not just lesson planning.Consider this: by dedicating 2–3 percentmore of waking time to English, studentscan effectively double their progress!Any impact will be far greater than justhaving a successful lesson. So what canteachers do to help make this happen?

Reading and listeningindependentlyReading and listening lend themselvesnaturally to independent practice. Youneed someone else to have a conversation,but you can read and listen on yourown. Here are six ways we thinkteachers can encourage students to do alittle more work on listening andreading outside class:

Encourage the students to build upand share reading and listeningresources. Let them try them out in classtime. At the end of this article you willfind a list of websites where students canfind listening and reading material, someauthentic and some designed specificallyfor learners. Students tend to pick up onrecommendations from their peers moreeagerly than those from their teachers, soprovide ‘sharing slots’ during lesson time.

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Incorporate student choice. Ratherthan getting everyone to do the samething, encourage the students to choosefrom a range of options. For readingpractice, for example, they can beencouraged to find a website related toan interest they have. You can helpthem identify their key words for Googlesearches.

Bring to class simplified readers,books specially modified for learners ofdiffering levels, and lend them out tothe students. If you’ve ever finished abook in another language, you’ll knowhow motivating it is.

Use the course workbook if yourstudents have one. They usually comewith further reading texts and thesedays most have a CD, too. Completingexercises can be very satisfying becauseit provides systematic written evidenceof the students’ work and because itoften links with and directly reinforceslanguage covered in class.

Explain the rudiments of reading andlistening task design, so that the studentsunderstand key concepts and can usethis rationale to make their own tasks:

● It’s easier to tackle texts on subjectsyou like and are interested in.

● If you think about what you alreadyknow before you read or listen, you’llunderstand it better.

● Give yourself a reason to read. A taskhelps you focus.

● The first task should help you get thegeneral idea; you can get the detailsthe second time you read.

Provide clear step-by-step proceduresto support and structure independentpractice. You can find some examplesbelow. You’ll notice they put into practicesome of the concepts just mentioned and

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2 they can be used with a range of texts.It’s always a good idea to do a practicerun in class, just as it’s a good idea tobring in a laptop to promote any onlineactivities you recommend.

Sample activity 1Authentic internet reading 15 minutes

RationaleThis is a simple procedure to encourageyou to practise your reading, a little at atime and often. The idea of thisprocedure is that you don’t worry toomuch about how you read or what youlearn exactly, you just read.

Step 1Find a website relating to an interestyou have (a site in English, of course).You may already have some favouritesites. For example if you like football,you could go to the site www.uefa.com.

Step 2Spend 15 minutes looking around thesite and reading bits that interest you.Refer to the top tips for reading on theinternet (see page 51).

Step 3When you have finished, record whatyou have done in a log. This can be ane-document or a notebook. It could besimply a few sentences to say what youread and perhaps a note of anyvocabulary you have learnt.

Sample activity 2Make your own reading orlistening task30 minutes

RationaleThis is a more structured activity thanthe one described above and encouragesyou to prepare and give yourself a

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

[email protected]

Duncan Foord is Directorof Teacher Training atOxfordTEFL. He is basedin Barcelona and isauthor of The DevelopingTeacher, published byDELTA Publishing, andco-author, with LindsayClandfield, of TheLanguage Teacher’sSurvival Handbook,published by iT’sMagazines.

[email protected]

Daniel Barber is ateacher and teachertrainer. He has workedin Mexico, Oxford,London and Barcelonaand is now a teacherand trainer at ActiveLanguage in Cádiz,Spain, where he helpsrun English classes andTrinity Certificatecourses.

reason to read or listen. You predictwhat you are going to read or hear andask questions before you start.

Step 1Find an online magazine, newspaperarticle, interview, news report, etc,relating to a topic you’d like to knowmore about. Think about the topicbeforehand. Write down, in fiveminutes, as much as you can about it.

Step 2In the next five minutes, write somequestions on things you would like toknow about the topic.

Step 3Now read or listen to the text. Tick anyof the information you already knew.

Step 4Read or listen again, and this timeanswer any of your original questionsthat you can from the information inthe text.

Step 5Read or listen for the third time. Makea list of things you have learnt.

Sample activity 3Learning from listening tosongs in English30 minutes

Step 1Choose a song you want to understand(see the list of song websites on the right,or use a song from your own collection).

Step 2Listen to the song twice and, as youlisten, write down some of the words orphrases you hear (or think you hear).

Step 3Find the lyrics of the song (search onthe internet for ‘dancing queen lyrics’,for example).

Step 4Listen again to the song and follow thelyrics. Check to see if what you wrote iscorrect.

Step 5Read carefully through the lyrics anduse a dictionary or Google translator tounderstand the words you don’t know.You may find a translation of the lyrics inyour language. If so, use that to help you.Make a note in your vocabulary documentor vocabulary notebook of words youthink are useful for you to learn.

Step 6(Optional) You can post a short commentabout the song on YouTube. Respond tosomething someone else has posted orsimply say why you like the song or thesinger/band.

Sources for reading

The list of websites that may be usefulfor learners is practically endless andever-changing. You and your studentswill have a better idea, so treat this asa tiny sample of the possibilities.

http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_PageThis is a version of Wikipedia designedfor school students so it is easier tounderstand.

www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/language/wordsinthenewsThis has up-to-date news articles withglossaries and other support forstudents.

www.nationalgeographic.comThis is a good example of a largewebsite with engaging and accessibletexts that might interest students.

Sources for listening and songs

YouTube, Grooveshark and SpotifyThese are free sources of music.

www.subingles.comThis is a Spanish site that offers songswith subtitles (and exercises).

http://lingual.netHere you will find a range of types ofvideo (documentaries, cartoons, etc)with subtitles.

www.elllo.orgThis site has lots of types of listening(conversations, opinions, etc) withsubtitles.

www.euronews.netLook here for up-to-the-minute newsclips with transcripts (in severallanguages).

Top tips for reading on the internet

● Aim to understand the mainmessage of what you read.

● Use Google translator or adictionary to look up a few wordsif you think they are important tounderstanding the meaning orinteresting for you to learn. Whenthe translator is activated on yourcomputer, you can see atranslation of a word when youhover over it with the mouse. Asksomeone to help you activate it ifyou are not sure yourself.

● Remember to practise actuallyreading! Don’t spend a long timelooking at images. This is yourEnglish time.

● Make a note in your notebook or acomputer document of useful newwords you find.

● If you have the opportunity, tellsomeone about what you read inEnglish. Re-telling andsummarising what you have readwill help you remember it.

Top tips for listening to songs

● Listen to songs you like.

● Start with songs you think will beeasier to understand.

● Don’t worry if the vocals are notalways clear. Native speakers findit hard to catch all the words of asong when they hear it.

● Use the written lyrics and atranslation if there is one availableto help you understand.

● Listen a couple of times withoutthe lyrics to give yourself theopportunity to understand andpractise your listening skills.

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

quotations, snippets, odds & ends, what you will

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

what you will


The pianist Oscar Levant tells the story of how he was

playing one evening when a woman arrived late and

proceeded to distract the audience by walking directly

down the centre aisle:

‘I stopped my performance of a Poulenc piece and began

choreographing her walk by playing in time with her

steps. She hesitated and slowed down; I slowed down,

too. She stopped; I stopped. She hurried; I hurried. By

the time she reached her seat, the audience was in

hysterics and the matron in a state of wild confusion.’

Folk, but no folkIn August 1980, Joan Melu, a Romanian folk singer,broke all existing records for the smallest-everaudience. Effortlessly pushing aside the previouscontenders, he drew an audience of none whatsoeverfor a concert of what he described as his own styleof country and western.

Arriving on stage at the Capitol Theatre, Melbourne,Australia, in dark glasses and casual clothing, hegazed down on 2,200 empty seats and gave a two-hour show which overran by 30 minutes due toencores.

Mr Melu performed throughout as if people werethere. Coming back on stage after a 15-minuteinterval, he announced over the speaker system:‘Ladies and gentlemen, Joan Melu!’ Towards the endof the performance he asked: ‘Hey, everybody! Doyou want to hear my new one?’

After the show, he said that he was a little nervousbeforehand, but felt very satisfied with the way it hadgone. ‘I love this life,’ he commented.

Final flingModern medicine’s mostdramatic contribution to operawas surely that made in 1961 by a party of local medicalstudents recruited to play thewalk-on firing squad in the lastact of Tosca at the SanFrancisco opera house ...

The students, chosen forheight rather than stageexperience, knew nothing of the opera or its plot, and theproducer had little time to briefthem. He wasn’t worriedbecause they didn’t actuallyhave to sing. Five minutes beforethe start of the dress rehearsal,he gave them their instructions:‘You’re a firing squad. Just followthe officer. Slow march on intime to the music, line up andwhen the officer lowers hissword, shoot.’

‘And how do we get off?’ onestudent enquired.

‘Just wait on stage and, at theend, exit with the principals,’was the reply.

The dress rehearsal ran out oftime and never reached the finalscene so, on the first night, theSan Francisco audience sawTosca end in an unusual way.

When, at the tragicdenouement, the firing squad

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marched slowly on, itsmembers were momentarilyconfused by the fact thatthere were both a man and awoman on stage. However,when Cavaradossi steppedbravely in front of them, theydecided he must be the onethey had to shoot. Yet as theylined up their sights, theynoticed he kept nodding in aconspiratorial way towardsthe woman. So, as the officerdropped his sword, theyswung their rifles through 180degrees and shot Tosca.

They were clearlydiscomforted when sheremained standing and theyheard Cavaradossi, nowdirectly behind them, hit thestage as he dropped. Theygawped nervously as Toscarushed to him as if he werestill alive, and then screamed.And they began to growpanicky when they heard theshouts off-stage and sawTosca mount the battlements.Then, as she flung herself off,they remembered their finalinstruction. As the curtainslowly descended, theyrushed upstage and flungthemselves after her.

As fast as you likeComposer Gabriel Fauré was once asked what

the ideal tempo for a song should be. ‘If the

singer is bad,’ he replied, ‘very fast!’

In time, not on time

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Musicalmultiple choiceWhich American wrote Rhapsody in Blue?a) John Williamsb) Gary Gershwinc) Vaughan Williamsd) George Gershwin

Which Norwegian wrote the Holberg andPeer Gynt suites?a) Felix Mendelssohnb) Edvard Mendelssohnc) Edvard Griegd) Christian Grieg?

Which Frenchman wrote the opera Carmen?a) Haydnb) Bizetc) Offenbachd) Stravinsky

Which Austrian was regarded as thegreatest classical period composer?a) J Strauss IIb) J Strauss IIIc) J Strauss IVd) Mozart

In music scores, which language isuniversally used by all musicians, whatever their nationality?a) Englishb) Spanishc) Italiand) Russian

In ordinary music staves, how many lines are there?a) threeb) fourc) fived) six

In music. the instruction ‘tacet’ means that you should:a) leave the hallb) play more quicklyc) play more loudlyd) not play at all

The world-famous series of concerts known simply as ‘The Proms’ are held in which UK concert hall?a) The Royal Festival Hallb) The Royal Albert Hallc) The Queen’s Hall d) The O2 Arena

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Cutting criticsNovelist Alexandre Dumas, calling upon the composer RichardWagner, made some self-deprecating remarks about his ownignorance of music, which he had once defined as ‘the mostexpensive of noises’, but his pleasantries were listened to with sucha humourless stolidity that he went home in a huff, and wrote hiscontemptuous protest against ‘Wagnerian din inspired by the riot ofcats scampering in the dark about an ironmonger’s shop’.A similarly savage criticism was once made of a pop singer, whosevoice was described as sounding like ‘a pet shop burning down’!The critic Bernard Levin was also prone to the cutting remark in hispieces: one hapless soprano was ‘like a yak clashing its tonsilstogether’. Even the great were not immune from his pen: a recital by Vladimir Horowitz (the great pianist who was renowned forexhibitions of his prodigious technique) was, apparently, ‘less to dowith Beethoven, and more to do with an exploding sewingmachine’, whilst British composer Frederick Delius was written offas ‘the musical equivalent of blancmange’.Ethel Merman once remarked about Cole Porter: ‘He sang like ahinge.’

The Duke of Wellington, replying to a question from the Russianambassador on whether Beethoven’s Battle Symphony was like theactual battle of Victoria, said ‘By God, no. If it had been, I shouldhave run away myself.’

Don’t play with your food!

The Vienna Vegetable Orchestra comprises

between ten and 20 players, who began

performing on instruments made from carved-out

carrots, aubergines, pumpkins and other

vegetables in 1998. The orchestra was founded

by Jörg Piringer, whose own instrument is a

‘gurkaphone’ horn made from a hollowed-out

cucumber, a bell-pepper bell and a carrot reed.

After each performance, the vegetable

instruments (which take several hours to make)

are thrown into a large pot of soup for the

musicians and audience to enjoy a second

helping.

(www.gemueseorchester.org is well worth a visit!)

Answers 1d; 2c; 3b; 4d; 5c; 6c; 7d; 8 b

Scrapbook compiled by Ian Waring Green

Missing in action

One night before a

concert, the conductor

became ill and could not

go on. The management

didn’t know what to do,

until a viola player came

up and said, ‘I’m also a

conductor and I know this

show. Let me conduct!’

So they did, and

everything went well. The

next night, the regular

conductor was back, and

when the violist sat

down, his neighbour

turned to him and said,

‘Where the hell were you

last night?’

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T E C H N O L O G Y

The web is the way

The web is the way

Andrea Paschoal

considers the role of

technology in teacher

development.

To me, continuous professionaldevelopment often seems tohappen in a closed universe,either through in-service

training or a TEFL course. Havingattended CELTA training and DELTAtraining myself, I believe that on thesecourses a lot of the learning happens bysharing experiences and reflectingtogether as a group. However, goals arethen limited to what is presented anddiscussed within a limited group ofpeople: tutors and trainees. Wouldn’t itbe great if we could exchange thoughtsand ideas with thousands of otherteachers and learn about differentteaching contexts anywhere in the world?This is where technology comes in.

One of the most important aspectsof technology is that it is easy, fast andcan shorten distances – even more so inrecent years, with the web changingfrom a context defined by text-basedcontent and interactions to one in whichall forms of media are supported.However, for many of us technology isvery student-centred; we often think ofWeb 2.0 tools or interactive websites asbeing solely for the students’ benefit,but in fact there is a lot out there tocater for teachers’ needs, too.

The references below are obviouslybased on my own experience andpersonal choices, but they are by nomeans exclusive, and you can researchmany more opportunities.

PeersIf you feel you need to brush up onlearning strategy theories or you haverecently thought about trying some form

of alternative assessment with one ofyour classes but don’t quite know howto do it, then you may find a freeteacher training course developed by theUniversity of Oregon helpful. It consistsof good quality video material, completewith viewing tasks and observationchecklists to help EFL teachers. A rangeof teachers from various different partsof the world have been filmed workingwith their classes and reflecting on theway they teach. I always find observingmy peers teaching is a great way toreflect on my own teaching and learnnew ways of doing things.

ExpertsLet’s face it, getting to grips with all thenew web tools and sites can bedaunting. There is so much out therethat sometimes all we want is someonewho knows what they are talking aboutto tell us what is really worth investingour precious time in. Well, Nik Peacheyis one of these people. He is a freelancelearning technology consultant and hasa blog and a channel on YouTube where

We often think of Web 2.0 tools or

interactive websites asbeing solely for the

students’ benefit, butthere is a lot to cater for

teachers’ needs, too

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you can watch various tutorials onmany of the web tools that are around.His blog is constantly updated and youcan find materials and advice on the useof new web tools and social mediawebsites in education. This is anexcellent resource for helping teachersinterested in developing and buildingnetworks for professional developmentor maybe setting up a class project. Infact, Nik Peachey’s main aim is topromote and expand the educationalpotential of new technologies througheducational principles.

CoursesContrary to popular belief, the majordrive for enrolment in distance learningis not a question of physical access but,rather, having the time to work througha course of study at a pace of one’s ownchoosing. Moreover, online content canbe uploaded and revised quickly andeasily, which makes online learningmore interactive and potentially moreup-to-date than content developed forother media.

This move towards distance learninghas been evolving for some time now,but it all came together with thedevelopment of user-friendly coursecontent management systems, such asMoodle, which provide an environmentin which teachers and learners cancreate and update their course contentwithout the aid of web designers.

The focus of online learning on thereal world gives an opportunity tocreate activities that are project- andclassroom-based, instead of working onthe assumption that theory can simplybe applied. Online learning thusprovides us with tools and resources to‘theorise from practice’, plus the abilityto learn and utilise feedback fromothers sharing the same job and facingsimilar issues.

QualificationsGetting a professional qualification suchas the Diploma in English LanguageTeaching to Adults, or DELTA, isnormally quite a big step for anyteacher. It involves a lot of commitmentand personal investment of time andmoney. So, it is worth leaving behindyour preconceptions gathered from bothformal and informal experience of thevirtual environment, and consideringapplying for a distance DELTA.International House London and the

British Council run a distance DELTAcourse and it is available in the form ofone integrated module or severalindividual modules which are separatelycertificated. You will still need tocommit to 3–15 hours per week,depending on how many modules youtake. There is, however, plenty ofsupport online, such as video tutorialsof how to access features of the websiteand an initial orientation course. Youwill also have a local DELTA tutorassigned to help you and give you allthe support you need. You can find outmore at www.thedistancedelta.com.

ExamsFor me one of the most stressful timesduring my DELTA course was theactual exam. Unluckily for me, I onlyrecently found out that if you arealready doing a DELTA course and feel

slightly anxious about the exam,International House Online(www.ihonlinetraining.net) has created anexam preparation course which aims toreview the key areas needed to answerthe DELTA examination questions. Itprovides tasks to give you practice ofeach question and to help youunderstand what makes a pass answer.

The same organisation also runscourses on teaching business English,one-to-one teaching and other subjects.

ManagementIf you are already involved in ELTmanagement or, like me, are ready totake up this new challenge,International House London offers anonline course in education management.This course consists of several shortsubject-specific management trainingmodules, such as ‘Observation andgiving feedback’ and ‘Managing

change’. Although the materials areonline, the modules are delivered in aclass with a course tutor, so it’s a goodway of easing you into the e-learningworld. What’s more, if you completefour modules and their respectivewritten assignments, you can carry 20credits towards the distance learningMSc in TESOL which is offered byAston University.

The Aston Masters programme hasfour strands (TESOL, TESP, TEYL,EMT). It is open to internationalstudents as long as they are proficient inEnglish. If you want a bit of a changefrom teacher training jargon, they alsooffer a distance MSc in appliedlinguistics. Aston’s postgraduate-leveldistance learning programme is over 25years old, which probably makes themone of the most experienced providersof off-campus learning programmes inthe UK.

� � �

JournalsThe concept ofwriting a journal forself-reflection may beknown to most of us. In ajournal we are free to write whatwe want without restrictions, to addressissues without fear of criticism, anddoing so will lead us to reflect on howto do things differently should similarsituations arise again. Thus, writingjournals provides us with an organisedapproach to our development as criticaland constructive professionals.

If you have been nodding inagreement through the last paragraph,then it’s time you learnt about Penzu, afree online diary and professionaljournal with a focus on privacy(although you do have the option ofsharing your thoughts with those youchoose to). This is ideal for post-lessonobservation reflection and peer

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www.diako.ir


observation feedback, too. The greatthing about this online tool is that itspaper-like background feels authentic,plus it is really easy to use and veryintuitive. You can access it wherever youare and add photos, insert tags, links, etc.It is a fantastic tool, though I have toconfess that I haven’t converted to it 100percent: I still find enormous pleasure intaking a pen to paper and noting downmy thoughts on real paper. Nevertheless,I do use Penzu for making summaries ofarticles I have read or to record whatwas done in class. It is simple and user-friendly and it makes writing online aseasy as writing on paper.

E-portfoliosThe simplest starting point is to consideran e-portfolio as an expansion of thepaper-based portfolio, except the onlineversion allows you to edit and shareyour work anywhere and with anyoneyou wish to. In fact, an e-portfolio has amuch broader scope as it allows you toinclude a large number of onlineresources, such as documents, images,blogs, etc. The way most e-portfolioswork is not so different from many ofthe social networking websites such asFacebook or Myspace, the differencebeing that with an e-portfolio likeMahara (www.mahara.org), you canpersonalise your space and it iscompletely user-centred, allowing youto choose how you present yourself tothe world. Mahara is an open-source

Andrea Paschoal is aDELTA-qualified EFLteacher and has workedas Head of Teaching forEmbassy CES, Oxford,UK. She started herteaching career in Braziland moved to Oxford in2007. You can follow heron Twitter: AndreaTEFL.

[email protected]

http://oelp.uoregon.edu/shaping.htmlhttp://nikpeachey.blogspot.comwww.youtube.com/user/NikPeacheywww.thedistancedelta.comwww.ihonlinetraining.netwww.aston.ac.ukhttp://penzu.comwww.mahara.org

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The web is the way

The web is the way

application and it was developedspecifically for education, but it also hasa resumé builder, which allows you tocreate a digital CV by enteringinformation in a very intuitive processthrough a variety of guided fields onthe website. After setting up yourMahara page, you can then share thisinformation with anyone you select:colleagues, friends, employers or evenprospective employers.

� � �

Whatever you choose to invest your timein, it is important to keep in mind thatalthough the web provides a near limitlessmeans for increasing our knowledge, itcan be a little overwhelming. It is crucialthat we learn some new study skills tohelp us find our way around the weband benefit from all the thousands ofpossibilities and contexts it offers. Forinstance, it is important to gain anunderstanding of what is more usefulrather than what is more easily accessed;we should also spend time learning thebasics of online tools which can help ustackle the collaborative tasks involvedin most online courses – this may evenbe something as simple as learningabout email and chatroom etiquette.Remember, a good teacher is first of allan excellent student!

TALKBACK!TALKBACK!






Tips, techniques and activities; simple or sophisticated; well-tried or innovative; something that has worked well for you? All published

contributions receive a prize! Write to us or email:

[email protected]

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


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T E C H N O L O G Y

Five things you always wanted to know about

word processing(but were afraid to ask)

In this series, Nicky Hockly

explains aspects of technology

which some people may be

embarrassed to confess that they

don’t really understand. In this article,

she invites you to take a closer look

at your word processing skills.

Contact Nicky at [email protected] let her know of any ICT areas you’d like her toexplore in this series.

Nicky Hockly has beeninvolved in EFL teaching andteacher training since 1987.She is Director of Pedagogyof The Consultants-E, anonline training anddevelopment consultancy.She is co-author of LearningEnglish as a ForeignLanguage for Dummies (JohnWiley & Sons) and TeachingOnline (Delta Publishing). She maintains a blog atwww.emoderationskills.com.

1 What is word processing? Isthat like Microsoft Word?

A word processor is a computer programthat allows you to create, edit, formatand save documents. So yes, it is likeWord. Word is part of the Microsoft (MS)Office suite of tools, and is probably thebest-known and most-used wordprocessing program. Other wordprocessors include Writer, which is partof the free, open-source OpenOfficesuite, and TextEdit, the word processingprogram for Mac computers.

Even teachers who claim to becomplete technophobes are usuallyfamiliar with a word processing program,and that program is usually MS Word.

2 Apart from the basics, what isthere to know?

These days, most people with computersknow how to edit, format and savedocuments, at the very least. But thereare a number of other features that arenot as commonly known, which can bevery useful. Here is a short checklist.How many of these word processingfeatures do you know how to use?

● copy, cut and paste text;

● format text by using bold, underlineand italics, and change font, text sizeand colour;

● align paragraphs, indent, change linespacing and margins;

● use tools such as the spell andgrammar check, and the thesaurus;

● insert images from your computer harddrive, from Clipart, and from theinternet;

● create tables and columns;

● insert headers, footers and pagenumbers;

● use track changes and insertcomments;

● create templates, macros and forms.

3 How are these wordprocessing functions relevantto teachers?

Many of the functions in our checklistabove are straightforward and easy tolearn, and they can help teachers in anumber of ways. They can help youmake attractive and professional-lookingworksheets. They can help you providedetailed, clear feedback on word-processed homework for your students.They can save you a lot of time inpreparing quizzes, questionnaires andtests.

4 How exactly could I use someof these functions in myteaching?

Let’s take my first point above: makingattractive and professional-lookingworksheets. Imagine that you want to doan activity in which you show students aholiday postcard. They need to read thetext and guess which country you sent itfrom. You could create a word-processeddocument using tables as a postcard.Insert an image from the country;underneath add some lines of text in ahandwriting font on the left, add a fewlines for the address on the right, andinclude an image of a stamp from Clipart.You could then get students to createtheir own postcards, by giving them ablank template of this table. Studentsthen choose and insert their own image,and create their own text. The results lookwonderful and can be displayed aroundthe classroom or electronically on a classblog, or even a school website.*

Knowing how to use track changesand inserting comments means that youcan correct your students’ (word-processed) homework very clearly. Trackchanges will show the exact changesthat you have made to a text, such asadding an s to a word such as buys in he buys, or rewriting something collectcorrectly. Adding a comment in themargin of the text via the ‘insert

comment’ function can help studentscorrect their own work. You could addcomments like Check your tenses here orWrong order of adjectives or I like yourideas here, and so on.

Templates and forms can help youcreate quizzes and tests for students,including multiple choice, cloze tests,drag and drop, etc. Once you havetemplates for these test types, it’s asimple matter to change the content forsubsequent quizzes or tests, and this cansave you time.

5 How can I learn to do morethings with word processing?

One of the great things about the internetis that you can use it to learn aboutalmost anything. You will find literallyhundreds of tutorials on things like howto create tables in Word, or how to createa template. And this goes for whateverword processor or version of it you arecurrently using. Simply google a phraselike ‘how to create a template in [Word2007]’ and you will get hundreds of hits. Ipersonally prefer video tutorials, in whichsomebody talks you through what theyare doing. I watch and pause the video,while I try out each step myself on aWord document. You will find lots oftutorials about word processing functionson sites like YouTube, Vimeo, Ustream,OurMedia or BlipTV.

*Thanks to Valentina Dodge for the ‘postcardsfrom tables’ idea.

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Russell Stannard is a Principal Teaching Fellow at theUniversity of Warwick, UK. He won the Times HigherEducation Award for Outstanding Initiatives inInformation and Communications Technology in 2008,TEFLnet Site of the Year in 2009 and a 2010 BritishCouncil ELTons award, all for his websitewww.teachertrainingvideos.com.

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

You can find out about these three sites in more detail bywatching these videos at the following site:

www.teachertrainingvideos.com/3gems/index.html

Every so often a website comes along that is trulyoutstanding and which deals with a key issue inlanguage teaching. Amazingly, I have recently comeacross three such great websites. The first helps

students to learn song lyrics in English; the second deals withwriting; the third is an interactive newspaper. All these fantasticsites have some remarkable features that will really surprise you.As usual, I have produced a set of training videos to help younavigate your way through them. The links are at the end of thearticle and it is worth watching the videos to find out aboutsome of the extra features that all these sites offer.

www.lyricstraining.comThere are plenty of lyrics sites on the web, but I have never seenone like this before. There are lyrics in a whole variety oflanguages, including English, Spanish and French, together withvideos of songs being sung by the original artists. The idea issimply to learn the lyrics of a song by completing them withmissing words as you listen. The gapped lyrics appear on thescreen as subtitles to the video. Once you have chosen a song,you can choose the level you want to work at. The harder the level,the more words are gapped. The songs are also graded by howdifficult the vocabulary is and how difficult it is to hear the words.

As you play each song, the site clearly marks the line you areon, and if you do not complete the missing word, the song willstop and wait for you. If you want to listen to that particular lineof the song again, then you just press the backspace key onyour computer and it will play the line again. If you can’t workout the answer, then simply press your tab key: the word willautomatically be filled in for you and the song will continue. Youcan also use your computer’s arrow keys to move up and downthe song. If you want to hear the whole song and see all thelyrics then click on the ‘Withdraw’ button. You can go right backto the start by clicking on the ‘Restart’ button.

If you sign up (the site is free at the moment), then it keeps arecord of your scores (how many words you filled in correctlyand the time it took you). It also records all the words you hadproblems working out, and you can see these by clicking on the‘Vocabulary’ button.

This site is well constructed and well laid out, and it includesmany up-to-date songs. So if you know your music and want toimpress your students, it is a great site to use in class. It is alsoan absolute must to recommend to students to use in their owntime – they will really enjoy being able to learn the lyrics of theirfavourite singers. I tried to do ‘Love the Way You Lie’ by Rihannaand Eminem. Following Eminem is not easy!

www.writingfun.comThis is a much-needed site on writing and it is highly interactive.Click on the ‘Enter here’ button and then choose from thedifferent text types on the right-hand side. A new page will loadand you will see a quick presentation that goes through thestructure and format of that particular text type. Now click on

the ‘Examples’ button below to see some great examples ofactual written work produced by students and related to thattext type. The great thing is that these examples (normally six foreach text type) go from ones produced by really young learnersto those written by quite high-level students. This is a lovelyfeature and very useful as it makes the tool really flexible anduseful at a variety of different levels. If you hover your mouseover the tips on the right-hand side, you can see how they relateto the actual examples.

The site works really well on an interactive whiteboard. Click on‘Blank Organizer’ and get the students to review the structure. Ifyou want to look at another text type, then click on the menubutton. There are loads of text types and examples. It is awonderful website and very well thought through.

www.thewclc.ca/edgeThis is another superb site that is made in Flash. Just click onany of the newspapers shown on the home page and aninteractive page will appear. There is a whole variety of differentthings you can do. Sometimes you can listen to the news beingread out. You will notice that the text changes colour as it isbeing read to you, and most articles have related activities, someof which are aimed at provoking discussion and can easily beused in class. Some of the listening content is accompanied byanimations, too. The exercises related to the articles are all veryinteractive and include oral as well as text instructions, which is areally nice feature. There is so much variety in the content of eachnewspaper that it is hard to describe exactly what you will get. Isuggest that you go to the site and play around with it; I am sureyou will find great material to recommend to your students oruse in class. If only all websites were like this!

WebWebwatcher Russell Stannard

mines more internet gems.


Visit the ETp website!The ETp website is packed with practical tips, advice,

resources, information and selected articles. You can submit tips or articles, renew your subscription or simply

browse the features.


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they set their students. If the task requiresstudents to write a story in which theydescribe what happens in a series of pictures,the class can first focus collectively on thepictures, with the teacher eliciting what ishappening and writing key words andexpressions on the board. The students canthen repeat the story orally before retelling it inwritten form. If the task requires the studentsto write more creatively (such as writing amystery story starting with the words Onedark night …), the teacher can get the class inthe mood by drawing or projecting pictures onthe board (ghosts, witches on broomsticks,full moons, etc) and brainstorm with theclass words and phrases that individualsmight like to use in their own stories.

If the task is to write an essay followinga specific format (such as the ‘advantagesand disadvantages’ or the ‘compare andcontrast’ essay), students can brainstormideas relevant to the given topic in smallgroups. In discussion with the class, theteacher can then write the information on theboard, logically grouping similar or contrasting

points or arguments under relevantheadings, using columns, boxes,arrows, and so on. The informationon the board can then function asan essay plan, guiding the studentstowards sequencing their essaysin logical ways and deciding

which pieces of information should beincluded in which paragraph.

In conclusion, the term scaffolding is auseful one since it reminds us of theimportance of providing supportiveframeworks for the learning tasks that weset our students. Without the support ofscaffolding, students may well approachtasks in a hasty, slapdash manner. Withappropriate scaffolding, however, they arelikely to complete challenging taskssuccessfully and to a higher standard.

In this column Rose Senior explains why certain teaching techniques and

class management strategies are effective, and identifies specific issues that can assist

all language teachers in improving the quality of their teaching.

Scaffolding

Rose Senior is a language teacher educatorwho runs workshops and presents atconferences around the world.

The literal meaning of the wordscaffolding is one with which weare all likely to be familiar: a systemof temporary structures put up to

assist in the construction of buildings,which is removed when no longer needed.

In the mid-20th century, a famouseducational psychologist gave the wordscaffolding a figurative meaning, using it todescribe the way in whichparents intuitively supporttheir children’s intellectualdevelopment throughtheir everyday speech:continuing to talk aroundparticular topics untilrelevant concepts have been grasped. Likeits physical counterpart, which can beremoved as soon as construction workershave no further use for it, this figurativescaffolding can be removed when it is nolonger needed to support learning.

In education, the term is used todescribe the range of strategies that teacherscan use to ensure that learning tasks aremore achievable. In language classrooms,scaffolding offers students valuable supportin the development of all four ‘macro-skills’(listening, speaking, reading and writing).

With listening tasks, for example, it ishelpful to provide tables, grids, schedulesor diagrams to be completed so that thestudents are guided towards what preciselyto listen out for. If a recording containingannouncements of airline arrivals anddepartures is played, for instance, thestudents can be required to fill in the gaps ina chart where certain arrival and departuretimes, flight and gate numbers, etc havebeen omitted. This will help them to listencarefully for specific numbers – and perhapsto distinguish between easily confusednumbers such as fourteen and forty.

With speaking tasks, students canusefully be given roleplay cards or cuecards so that they are not lost for wordswhen required to participate in interactivetasks with classmates. These props can beremoved, of course, once the studentshave rehearsed their dialogues and havethe confidence to speak unaided. In mixed-

ability classes, confident students can beencouraged to interact without support firsttime around.

It is now increasingly recognised thatproficient readers access the meaning oftext by building up a global understandingof what they are reading as they go along –rather than by decoding the meaning ofeach individual word in turn. If teachers wish

to give their students practicein reading skills development(rather than have them examinewritten text for other purposes,such as grammatical analysis),a range of scaffoldingtechniques can be used at the

pre-reading stage. Teachers can have theirstudents examine the title of the reading –or look at a picture related to it – and predictwhat the text will be about; they can havethem focus on the meaning of key wordsthat will appear in the text; they can havethem examine the overall organisation of afactual or argumentative piece of writing(identifying the topic sentence andcontrolling idea of eachparagraph) before readingit right through; they canhave them guess how astory will end, and so on.Scaffolding techniquessuch as these, which givean idea of the content of reading passageswithout giving too much away, placestudents in a state of reading readiness,thereby making reading tasks both moreinviting and more readily achievable.

Of all the macro-skills, writing is theone that requires the most extensivescaffolding. This is not surprising. Sittingwith a blank piece of paper (or a blankcomputer screen) in front of you, knowingthat you are required to produce a setnumber of words but not knowing where tostart, is a daunting prospect for anyone. Forlanguage learners, who must also identifyappropriate English words and phrases withwhich to communicate effectively, thesituation is even more challenging.

There are many ways in which languageteachers can scaffold the writing tasks that

Scaffolding offers students valuable supportin the development of all

four ‘macro-skills’

Of all the macro-skills,writing is the one that

requires the mostextensive scaffolding

[email protected].

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Prize crossword 45

To solve the puzzle, find which letter each number represents. Youcan keep a record in the boxes above. The definitions of the wordsin the puzzle are given, but not in the right order. When you havefinished, you will be able to read the quotation.

22 19 2 21 7 19 12 9 2 14 2 18 5

26 10 16 7 15 2 15

7 20 7 26 4 23 26 16 25 12 6 7 14

9 5 12 13 11 2 1 12 4

12 8 20 20 1 2 12 20 12

24 9 26 16 21 3 15 16 11 12 2 26

15 13 16 11 23 15 11 19 16 12

19 2 15 11 7 2 24 24

18 12 7 10 16 14 24 15 14

21 12 17 2 10 12 13 11 7 19 19

26 2 7 7 12 14

11 12 18 23 12 26 16 14 11 12 22 26 7 19

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

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

L

T

Ten correct entries will be drawn from a hat on 10 March 2011and the senders will each receive a copy of the second editionof the Macmillan English Dictionary for Advanced Learners,applauded for its unique red star system showing the frequencyof the 7,500 most common words in English(www.macmillandictionary.com).

ETp presents the forty-fifth in our series of prizecrosswords. Send your entry (completed crosswordgrid and quotation), not forgetting to include yourfull name, postal address and telephone number, to

Prize crossword 45, ENGLISH TEACHING professional, Pavilion Publishing(Brighton) Ltd, PO Box 100, Chichester, West Sussex, PO18 8HD, UK.

T

L

VERY FREQUENT WORDS*** A preposition of place *** Possibly the most common verbin English*** The system by which a country’strade, industry and finance areorganised*** The opposite of in*** A male pronoun*** A pronoun of indeterminategender (in two places)*** ‘___ are not amused!’ (QueenVictoria)*** To change position or causesomething to change position*** ‘The quality __ mercy is notstrained’ (Shakespeare)*** A word used to connectpossibilities in a list*** Including or affecting the wholeworld*** A reward for being successful in a sport or competition*** To place something in a particularposition*** A modifier used to suggest thatsomething has only a little of a certainquality*** Something given to someone tomark an achievement*** A plural object pronoun*** To be in a position in which yourbody is flat*** An affirmative answer

FREQUENT WORDS** A serious diseasethat destroys the body’simmune system** The back part of thefoot** Something done orsaid to make peoplelaugh** A vehicle for carryinggoods

12 4 15 9 7 11 16 2 14 16 13 11 1 12 18

2 13 11 23 2 20 12 26 24 15 19 20 12 7 23 2

14 20 1 16 9 1 5 2 15 9 7 14 15 13

12 11 2 9 1 7 14 22 12 11 1 12 20 2

26 19 4 Nelson Mandela

FAIRLY FREQUENT WORDS* A sudden shaking movement of theground* Forming an essential part ofsomething and needed to make itcomplete* Characterised by beauty ofmovement or style * The beginning of something,particularly something bad* To make changes to a text in orderto improve it* A slang expression meaning thateverything is all right

LESS FREQUENT WORDS– A compartment for one animal in astable– An acronym for an organisation thatmonitors diseases around the world– To reduce the intensity of something– Also known as– Similar to something– An organisation offering help toalcoholics– A baby’s bed with high sides, oftenmade of wood– The person someone used to bemarried to or used to have a romanticrelationship with– A long pointed tooth that someanimals have– An unpleasant young man whobehaves badly in public– A long stick with a flat blade usedfor rowing a boat– Shortened version of a Latin wordmeaning work, used to identify aparticualr piece of music– A strong alcoholic drink fromGreece– Serious or sad– An organisation of independentstates formed in 1945 to promoteinternational peace – Deplorable

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