Teaching TeenagersHerbert Puchta Herbert Puchta ts been involved In English Langue Teaching since the early 1970s. He har a PAD in Language Teachion Pedagowy and has cowriten & number of success ful textbooks and resource books Ineuding Conrad a Company (lot younger learners) Ceatwe Grammar Practice (in the Pilgrims Longman Resource Books series) and Pictures in Action, Herbert is Master Prac. tiioner of Neuro.tanguistie Progam ming and has lal workshops and ‘seminars in many dillerent countries fon the application of payeholog ‘al and neurological ndings to the language elassrovin, He is currently Professor of English at the Padogo ‘lsche Akademie in irae and is 80 Involved in a research, project on the learning styles snd strategies of young learners. Michael Schratz Michael Sehrate trained as a teacher in lower and upper secondary ed: tation and got his doctorate in Edu tation and Psychology. He worked in Bristol (UK), teaching German in secondary schools and adult educa: tion classes, In Austria he taught English in various kinds of schools and became involved in_ teacher training and textbook writing. As {8 meimber of a Council of Europe expert group he was involved in evaluation projects in a number of countries. He has conducted qualita: tive esearch on communication and personaly in language learning and hag published several books and tiles on foreign language metho- ology. He is currently Associate Professor of Education at the Uni= versity of fansbruck, Contents ‘Thanks “ Preface vi Introduction 1 Unit Young peopleand pets 6 Teaching communicatively na traditional case Unit 2 Nightmare 2% ‘Stadens on thelr wey fo cooperative leeming Units. Pressure 0 in erasual and power way t0 text reception and production Unit & Housework I Developing atstening comprehension exercise into a real language encounter Units Class contract co Aclss and ther teacher decide (on their own ground rales Unite Feetinge 8 Developing auareness about ‘emotions and empathy with others Unit7 Poetry alive 85 Stirauatng interaction, creativity ‘and depth Unit The theatre ofthe absurd o* Creating an understanding of absurdity = in everyday tie and on sioge Unit Text workshop with CALL no Fis steps into the word of word processing Bibtiogrepby im Index 34‘THANKS ‘We would ike to thank ‘The students in the tral classes whose enthusiasm, spontanety and ‘energy we hope will be atleast partly evoked for you as you read this book. ‘The many colleagues In stalbeoms and teachere* workshops whose comments snd feedback we found 20 help Edith Rainer, our typist, who never lost her patience through all our many rewrites. Uwe Mader of Langenscheldt-Longman for his encouragement and support. Robin Davis, who ~ having read the German version of this book ~ remarked that It was a pty that it cldn't exist in English. Mario Rinvoluer! for his suppor in general. Also his judgment that ‘our book contained ‘lesson plans and historical accounts and jucy litle bits of comment that rise lke Venus Irom the waves’ sehich greatly en couraged us to press forward withan improved version in Enlis “Tessa Woodward for her comments ox one chapter antl a helpfl tele phone conversation about It, Kim Cooley and the late Traey Terell of the University of California, ‘San Diego, who provided us with an Ameriean perspective, Brist Viney for her comments ard questions. Seth Lindstromberg for his valuable support and involvement ia all the sllferet stages ofthe manuseept. tis mainly due to Seth that the English version reads so much better thar the German original Herbert Pacha Trofiach, Austria Michael Sorot2 anes, Austria Apri 1902 Preface ln Teaching Teenagers Herbort and Michad present nine ‘units’ each one being a sequence of FFL activities which develop three mutually sup- porting Kinds of sks: Inguistc, socal and learning, These sequences fre ones that you can adapt to work with other texts and topies than the ones featured here. Additionally, each unit tells the story of how 3 parteular sequence of activities unfoided ina real class, Thus, the books ‘eritten targely In story form. Ic also Inclides verbatim transcripts trom key lesson stages, photographs from the tal classes, copies of materials sed, teachers" comments an the lessons snd samples of stent writing (he original wording of which has been copie in elearer handwriting). In the context ofthe Plgrims Longman series this book has the special purpose of demonstrating how individual activities and techniques can bbe woven together across several successive class meetings in order to work towards longterm goals. Along the way. Teaching Teenagers ollers up a wealth of teacherly know-how. Just one example of this ls {sing music pe a kind of bookmark in-a sequence of atutios (See Unt 7, pages 8 and 91) Read and enjoy. ‘Se Lindsromberg Canterbury, 1982Introduction BEGINNINGS ‘This book is the result of a long process whose starting point was our ‘widespread discontent with Ufe at the challface' in secondary schools ‘Nong with many colleagues and teacher trainees, we wondered why ik was a0 hard to achieve a good learning atmosphere among teenagers in schools, In particular, why were liveliness, humour and flashes of inspiration much more common in groups of adults than in groups of young people? And why should communicative language leaching work uch more smoothly with adults than wit teenagers? ‘On the face of it, there were cleat answers, Teenagers are often much less mativated to foarn, After all, the goa and ends seein much more distant. Additionally, teenagers typically have a low awareness of the Social skills baste to cooperative interaction Tt began to scem to us that there were ways of addressing both these roblem areas. Firstly, it seemed probable that ~ by linking language {caching more closely to students’ everyday experience ~ teacher could make the end goals of language learning seem nearer and more mo- tivating, Secondly, we realised that walle communicative Tanguage learning depends on students possessing asic social sil, it also fosters ‘these same sil ‘We drew two main conclusions from these thoughts. The way forward lay in making our language teaching more personally relevant, na word, more “humanist Additionally, « seemed tous that the effectiveness of ‘communicative language learning in a given class of teenagers ousht to row snowball fashion, provided a teacter is able to surmount initis, ‘ilcuties in intoduetng ‘There seemed, though, to be # third obstace to Introduelng cosnmu nicative language learning in secondary schools. Ths was: how=could communicative methods be made compatible with a clearly delined guste syllabus? We wondered If these three obstacles were as real and formidable tas they seemed on the surface. We decifed to fad out. We began by Tooking closely at the instances where larguage teaching worked well a teenage classes. Our approach was to ty first of all to observe and scribe in detail the steps involved in ths or that method oF technique and then to judge whether i worked oF not. We decided to leave the Inatter of trying 10 understand why something worked or not tl iterwards, We are sure, now, that this enabled us Yo see mare dating ‘ut lesson observations and to come to sounder cotchisions afterwardFollowing on from these observations we planned nine activity se ‘quences, lasting Several hours each, which would ase a humanistle teaching methodology. Although all of the sequences, oF units, share a basic set of alms (eg. making costent personally relevant), we designed ‘each one to deal particularly with ane or two problems less well-covered in the other units. Thus, for example, Unit | describes how we tackled the basic problems of ‘show to introduce humanistic language learning to students familar ‘only with traditional teaching ‘¢ how to make a mundane tape imeresting After plancing these tral units, our next step was to look for teachers willing to try out our idess and allow us to sit in and record what happened, Doris Fries, Angela Horak and Andrew Skinner took up the challenge and, thanks to them and their students, the next period of ‘observation was enjoyable as wel a frit. On the basis of what we learned trom these first teal, we taught several of the unite ourselves with classes of our own, The final stage was the analysis and discussion of our mass of obser- vation notes, photographs, audiorerordings (oth ofelasses in seesion and of lnter-views with teachers and students), samples of students’ written ‘work and, nally, comments otra by colleagues and trainee teachers to ‘whom we had deseribed the units and shown our observation nates ‘Tne end result i ths book, e dstilation of what we experienced and what we have learned ‘THE SETTING OF THE TRIAL CLASSES All the teaching took place within the Austrian school system. One sit Unit’ 8 The shear of the absurd, was done with an advanced class fof seventeon- and elghteen-yearolls. The rest of the units were Wlalled With lower intermediate thirteen 0 fourteen-year-olds. The schools we ‘worked in approximate to the British comprehensive or the American And Canadian high school ORGANISATION OF EACH UNIT Each unit bepins with a summary ofthe unl’s alms, the language areas and oll covered, the time it took, the level an size ofthe trial cle, the materials used, the background and rationale and the sequence of ac- tities followed. The main part o each unit & a step-yestep deserip- tion of what actually happened in the class, along with comment and explanation. Given the huge amount of interesting material we had fathered during the tral, we hal to make some very hard decisions [About shat to Include. Our basic aims have been to give a concise, use fol and honest account of whet reilly happened in our classes ae well as to describe methods and techniques that you can adapt and apply in PROCESS IN TEACHING AND LEARNING \When teachers tak about teaching amorg themselves they often focus ‘on the what rather then the how. They sy things lke, ‘How far have you gota Unt X?' of We did upto Exercise V" How they used this materials {ypically unmentioned. Obviously, iis easy to think of teaching i terms. ‘ofa countable quantity of words, structures and so forth ts dieu, ‘on the other hand, to characterise it in terms of process. Yet as litle discussrd as it i In comparison with language content, the provess of teaching and learning is vital. For one thing, the process by which new Information is presented or encountered is a fundamental factor in how easly ths information can be recalled ‘So what the Veaching/eaening process and what makes it bad or 000? In our view, process in teaching anc leralng is princlpaly 2 matter Of the quality of communication between teacher and students and, es Pecially, between students I the pariipants are being both frank and onsklerate, independent yet cooperative and are speaking wilingly and ‘comprehencibly to particular lsteners about things that matter to them both, then the quality of communication i high ‘Our attention to detall in describing snd presenting Instances of au thentie classroom communication stem from this view and fs designed ta clarity how to raise the qualty of communication, However, ft not ‘our aim to preseribe rig procedares for managing the teaching/lesening process. What we do hope to oller is 2 range of wellcontextualised Insights that can help you focus on the fow of teaching, whatever your ‘STATEMENT OF BELIEFS There ie a concept, long-established inthe Germantanguage literature on pedagogy, which translates nto English as “social leasing’ and which Linderles our fadamental view about our vocation as language teachers. consists of the following belies “The successful and socially well integrated learner possesses a set of bles and atutudes waleh might be called ‘cooperative indepent- fence In learning’ This is the ability to fearn either independently or cooperatively, according to the situation. It Is one of the most In portant result ofa successful education © A student's progress towards cooperative Independence in learning ls a longterm goal, requiring continu, patient and thoughtful mot vation from teachers, '# To attain cooperative Independence, students need to fee! able 10 share thee feelings within the context of reglar Instruction. Such sharing is essential if students are to develop the ability to empathise This, in tur, is prerequisite to understanding others’ behaviour and reacting with tolerance and humanity ‘© Allparticipants, teacher and students, should be able to give eachTEACHING Teewngens other feedback in nonjudgmental way, s that students are able to ‘openly diseuss their own and exch other's behaviour and its motives land consequences. Additionally. a steady flow of feedback among and from learners is hugely important to teachers in gauging the appr pracy of content and process oftheir teaching, This is why student teacher, tencher-atudent and student-atudent teedback plays such large part in our method ' Stucents should be involved & the discussion and negotiation of Instruction processes and of group interaction in general. In this book, we call such discussions metadisessions to distinguish them from discussions about language or ather topics, Having a voce inthe {etermination of process is an important element In learner inde- pendence and, in our experience, greatly fosters constructive attitudes nd behaviour Ellectve foreign language Fearang can alaays foster language ability ‘and socal lla simultaneously. © Communicative language teaching can work within the contest of a ‘lesely delined syllabus. Indeed, most of the time spent on non ‘communicative activities is ine and opportunity wasted Its true that teenagers are oiten less motivated than both younger children and adults. Aso, they frequently present outright scipline probiems. This is partly due to teachers having misted epportanties to build beges between what they want t0 or have to teach and their Students’ worlds of thought ard experience. Is, however, almost never too late to construct these bridges. By dolng so YoU can, by degrees, bring apathetic and unruly students into full and wing participation In lassroom learning. All ofthese beliefs have been stengthened by our work in connection ‘with making this book ‘WHO IS THIS BOOK FOR? ‘© It principally concerns teaching foreign language to teenagers, rmalnly, though not exclusive, in longterm, nonintensive pro. grammes of instruction. However, many of the methods and tech niques described here ae also of direct relavance to teaching adults ln more intensive programmes. ‘© The provision of broad and definite contests renders. Teaching Teenagers an. accessible resource for preservice and. beginning teachers. Ibis also useful reading for people on practice-based EFL teacher training courses, or for students working as language assistants ‘+ Roaders undertaking a more theoretieal course of training, perbps at a university of other staterun institution, wil find that this book Provides a bridge hetween the world of pedagogical theorising (eg about the merits of humanistic approaches) and how things actually turn gut in aparteular classroom on a particular day ‘© Experienced teachers wil find the book helpul, not ust fo ts diverse Insights atthe level of approach and method but also for its sustained and convincing exposition of how humanistic teaching can be com bined with autsané-blts language work © Bilingual teachers of monolingual classes oF groups wil find that the tase ofthe use ofthe mother tongue Incass gts realise attention, ‘= State school teachers everywhere will ind this book addresses the ‘most fondasental sues ofthis situation in a challenging ay, HOW TO USE THIS BOOK ‘The units n tis book can be read In any order. Beginning or preservice teachers may find Ir easiest to start with Unit 1 Young people and pets, 35 Wt is this unit which deseribes the gradual implementation of the com rmunicative approach in 4 class that tad been taught: nomcommt- nicatively for theie frst two years of Exalsh. In particular, itis the begining of a strané of thought running throughout the Book. that is, how group cooperation can be encourage and can motivate the stadents ‘more and more However, in reading the book, remind yourself that we are not asking you to urn your Ideas about teaching, mich less your personal teaching fyle, upsidedown from one day to the next. We are suggesting a de etion in hich to gradaily broaden your approach to teach fe star by trying out activity Types and techniques that seem to fit best, with your present teaching style ‘+ Keep careful track of your students’ reations, and your own! {© Hycu choose to implement only individual elements from uni, vead through the whole ofthe unit fn queston first ln order to get a clear ‘den ofthe orginal context. ‘© Belore you teach a whole unit, earefuly plan any adaptations to suit the level and interests of your class, Run through the procedure ‘mentally as if you were actully In you" class watching it being taught for were ‘up front” teaching I yoursell. Maintain a nomjudgmetat attiude while doing this. Avoid quick reactions like, “This will never ‘work in my class" Instead, make note of any potentially dificult ‘phases and adapt what you ate planning to do accordingly. We predict that each time you try out and take on board new technique or succeed with a aew type of activity, more of the other fetivitles in the book will seem feasible and appealing, and that (ying them out will increase your confidence and ability to plan for long tera: social learning as well a short-are linguistic alms.UNIT 1 Young people and pets Teaching communicatively in a traditional class ever ‘Upper elernentary intermediate ine metas Twenty our thiteen-tofeutoen yearolt ler intermediate lenners th tid ysirofEngish thee tye san a week Living the groundwork for deeper communicate atk and gone rising suonis’ inerest in Engh: improving teacter-stusant agpoct. deveining ugar’ capac for empty: tegument maving a Muna nuage ree and aie Present simple: expression of lies and dabes; orl Raney; basic langue for Specsting about prope and things ening rasdng wing we - Stage) Posteo pieuras of yourgpsene peta'and nemes. with nbes 9.1.1 p10 Heniout of questions about teacher (p12, 0.13) Students” photos 6! set: OMP vanepaoncy of handout of a evada ‘rupert i. 17,618 S.oge 12: Hendout of ptuee of aia Fa. 19.6.2 Stage 13. Hendon of vst ngage ig 110 9.22 Sage 14: Head bout resets arimae Fg...» 22) Stago 15: Posto strut deussion Fig. 1.12-1.¥9, op 22-4) ‘Stone 16: Papert, sczsor, ue. pers and pictus for making postrs (students an brig in poles. Lefvar i of walgsaer can be used to make L potted elloges ea om oer be obtaned fs she BACKGROUND AND RATIONALE Sooner or later every teacher inciined to using communicative methods laces a new class deadened by their eaperience with poor tesching, thie silsaion you have to do @ great deal of carelul groundwork belore ‘yu ean begin a suecessful programme of communicative teaching. This Unit looks at some ofthe stages along the way, aswell asthe rewards at the end of this preparatory period, “The students we worked with were In the top stream in an Austrian state school and were in their third year of English. Ther classes to date hha all ben conducted ina very traditional manner. At the beginning of the school year there had been a change of teacher, which presented the new teacher with a whole range of problems arising trom differences In approach and rnethod. "The new teacher, the one we worked with throughout this tial unit, had this to say: From the beginning ! had problems because my students were plain nt uses to specking Eralsh ip class They had trouble undestanding me whe spoke ng, Above al wae imple fo ge am to speak Erglsh with eoch other forth me. But noticed tat they were fully capab of using Engl in shot rate plays and insulted factions stations lke asking the nay’ avd shoeing fan thei witan dlasswark and homeware wos OF if they wee gen dehy dineated ass such 23 gaping execs: ‘But when it come fo Oeste wring, the meagre abies fll to pieces, They had no fath ata in ths ably to produce Engin Ths came out especaly the way thay were always renching Tor te ektanoi. and, 35 esa, any anemot to put thew Geman into Engish rosy rested txts that sey werent english tn the light of this assessment and our own observations, we decked to ensure that our approach would give every student some means of relating to the topic of Voung people and pets’. This meant that a narrow focus on particular language or funetionl points could not be foremost in ‘ur planning. Instead, we chose the broader objectives of (1) ralsing our Soden interest in English in general, and (2) improving the relator: Sip between the students and thelr tezcher. We decided that in order te achieve this we needed (3) to create a leaning atmosphere that was as relaxed as posible. ane! (#) to improve both the students” listening ‘comprehension and their ability to pariclpate in simple Interactions fm Faglish. We hoped that when this groundwork had been laid, our students could begin to draw on theie passive knowledge of English This, wwe were sure, rust be considerable even If it was almost entirely dormant and warecognised. ‘The fist step towards achleving these objectives was a phase of pre paration for communicative learning. This lasted about ten hours and Inches:‘¢ Activities for the creation of a lowanxlety environment a8 in, for ‘example, Brandes and Philips 1977, Canfield and Wells 1976, Lee 1973, Legutke and Thomas 1991 and Moskowitz 1978 ‘Standard taskilstening exercises as In, lor example, Blundell and Stokes 1981, ‘= Conventional communicative activities with clear frameworks, clear tasks, and integration of sls. ém Important step here was the fist use of pair and groupwork. During this stage we observed tne class closely. To make the students ‘more aware of their learning processes and to remove any element of seereey regarding our presence, we discussed with them, in German, ‘what we ad been noticing in the cass upto that time. Here ts what the group's regula teacher had to say about the situation at the end ofthis stage: 1 have 10 say that the siuation inthe dlss rather quickly and cram linproved. You can actualy fel how te students enjoy the eons new hey ‘begun te have fon. Theyveresliea that they can eves digs 9 the orgy Arg, ig hy want 0, ely wt owe, ad ty ae ‘her hae been some problems, Thee wer, for example, ovo boys in the case who quite cbvousy dd ot want to go along with others. They spent st of te tine us siting either doing absolutey nothing oF sigoeing and making faces, ‘tf antes that ths made me Bo angry dl anus Because Feat get them tte me uty they wean cocperate I begae to kok fer the cause of Ie problem in sof. The aks n Gams were especialy important. Fav one thing, rig these tals was able to present certain bis ofEngish interaction fre Bke Pardon, Excuse me, could you 52) thal agai?, Would you spel st word, please, Wna's in Germariénglh? In sation, stucents te soon becan {0 0k about the problems when they noticed tor they coud oth get “ympathenc hearing. Most interest, the students al say that they've eeried {uit fer nthe las few weeks ond hat they can exeressthamseles in Engish ‘much beter now. 1 was against this background and rationale that we began to introduce ‘our model unit, Young peaple and rets UNIT SUMMARY Lesson 1 1 Moving tarde mare effective groujwork ‘The students mateh pictures of ehidren with pictures of ferent homes, ‘Then they match pictures of animals with the children and ther homes, 2 Rapport bridging the gap between teacher and stedents ‘A hanc-out guldes speculation about the teacher's home and possible pes. oy YOUNG PEOPLE Ang Pers 3 luterviewing the teacher ‘Students ask the teacher questions and compare his or her answers with tholr guesses. Lesson 2 4 Poofing and analysing reason for keeping pes Students think of and note dawn reasona for keeping or not keeping et 5 Dialogue bei In pairs, students bulld dialogues from their pro and con notes, possibly sig supplementary language provided in substitution tables, Lesson3 6 Personalisation In pas, stadents ask eaeh other about having or not having a pet. 7 Guessing about someone else Pairwork: everyone notes down clues that they think suggest why thele partner does or doesnt have a pet. Partner A with eyes closed, Istens to Partner Bs rationales’. and B then swap roles 1 Meta-tceussion A discussion of Stage 7. Lesson 4 - 9 Contentoienedgroupwor: preparing for roleplay Groups discuss pets and compose group reports based on a model text Each group chooses another group to readout thelr report 10 Roe plays The group reports provide the sti 11 Content and process evaluation AA discussion of Stage 10 to raise important points about content and {group Interaction, 4, role, al dynamics for role plays Lesson 5 12 Rellection The students look at drawings of animals, close thelr eyes, and think of situations in their ves where they are invoved with these animals 13 Paifroup discussion of ectings Students recard the strengths oftheir likes and dislikes ofthese animale by drawing symbols (eg. a heart) on a handout, and then diseuss thee likes and disikes in pats or group,14 Retloction Students discuss in palrs how they would react in encounters with a ferent animale Lesson 6 15 Discussing belies and feelings Class and teacher discuss received attitudes and bases 16 Poster presentation Students ereate posters on this theme and display them in class, Preparation A the beginning ofthe unit ask students te bring fram home any photos ‘or drawings they may have al current oF former pets. Keep these na sale place unl needed t Stage 9 1 Moving towards more effective groupwork ‘The teacher began by asking the students to work in groupe and to mate the young people on the poster (ace Fig.l foram example) with the pets land homes. This placed them i a situation which encouraged then not ‘nly Co justify their decisions but also to se the language of argument Yes, but... /Iecan't... bocause../ There Isnt enough.» 50. hese de thay live? The alm was to give the students experience inthe process of reaching group decisions. The rightness or wrongness oftheir solutions was not 2 consideration. We did not expect them to speak English right away. We took it for granted that the groups would only gradually develop a way of negotiating decisions and expected thatthe students would find Ustening 48 dificult as speaking. Its a good idea in weakor groups to present important formulae, ot structures, on a poster or on the board. Even so, some groups will ave trouble negotiating a decision either because the task is unfamiliar, oF because they make no attempt to form a consensus. An option a this Point Is to remind the group that (3) the two questions of ‘Who lives where” and "What pets have they got” nced to be discussed as separate issues, and (b) that everyone in the group must agree before they can record their decision “The process of reaching a group decision did not go well In every group. Given what we knew about the elas this was no surprise, and we hhad agreed tblorshand with the teacher that he would, a¥ inconsp= ‘cuously as possible, take notes on student behaviour. What we wanted was a simple account of who was doing what, to help us learn more about the class dynazie To fact the teacher went further and his account turned out to be quite revealing, Here is how he summarised His notes ater the less. What suprised me most was how wel the group work went forthe mast par. left up to the staceras how they should arangethemscles Sut than thare were prot again wth Kand Pw made a pint of showing thei unwtingnes © work wath tno gis who were ao lore. Bae fo pesire of time Ii tant fo tty to dea th the problem then and thee 20 | ust put the four of them 9 group. The reat vos though that al four of them spoke nothing but Geran and the 110 boys were repsotey disruptive and conspicuous oubesoms ne thing ¥ noticed was that thee of te ive groups cared on thar discussion alnost complete Engish. The eter te groups general spoke German but (hanged to Enaish 9 | poroxche “About fie minutes tors ne endothe wasn i seemed tome tht ny pon 0 share my cbsenations with my cass nas si 8 good ie, We had ut fs comparing the ests ofthe groopwerk. During the greupwerk arose | a time fot only t© note down observasons but abo to tok about the orm of Fesback ston 2 tation the mide of the cas and ake around. What 590 fin Geman vas someting ie this 1 ee today 20 ete down 3 few though {hat came fo me wile you were ding gcypIHork. Tike 0 ead them #0 your row and hope that you vl nk about ft I don't want to single anyone cut for fae or crc because I don? tank weutd be 2 good isd ta tak ab0ut things ke that ty. We could oo tho late if you mart could ae the cron, In thr eyes but wetted @ whe, faelig tat the growing ence was good sn "Than began tora Is 0 tense tha att my vos quai.(EACHING TEENAGERS ‘scene 1: | 23k you 10 form groups. am pleased this happens quite smoothly. Two bays and 1 ais, however, ae stil alone. And when task ther to fxm a group Frotice thatthe twa boy are not to happy about this though they oot [Sy anything t me, their manner and cetain muttered remark, doubtless hurt tothe two gir Betray tei unlingnes. wonder how we can get fo the point vere we can all acepe each other.” 7A Took around the de of stents ‘ls me that my words have had some effect. The students look thought Sane are lating at me, thers have ther ‘ead: down, Icontioue “scene 2: During the group phase thse grou soeak practalyeothing but English 1 can tel the exresans on tar memos aces that they ae real) i= oiled and enjoy expressing theres Ergtsh One Grup speaking German, When 1 aporosch they a! look uneasy and quily say something in Engish “Aopareniy the English lasts only as fng 3am neatly. wonder how we ean oet {a the point where we ae al speak Eroih even whon lam net around ike sme sertof insnector Even iit s very ait the Beginning.” This was the end of the Hrst lesson. It seemed that it was, after al, possible fora communicative activity to capture the attention of most of the members of the class provided the task was suficlently clearly structured. As for the few exeeptiors, the teacher didnot staigheaway try to stop them using German, Instead, he wed to observe and take notes oa what was happening around him as carefully 3s he could Reading these observations back tothe lass enabled his to express his view of hv things had gone. It seemed as well that the class could sense their teacher's commitment to the Few approach. For the moment, this seemed enough. However, as a class becomes accustomed to thinking about such process Issues, they wil respond more and more readily to Invitations to come ia with commen's of thelr own. Sventually, fullscale metadiscusslons In which the consequences of this or that feature of Instruction process or group interaction can become a feature of every unit 2 Rapport: bridging the gap between teacher and students How well the students already know a teacher may depend on the location of the school, Since our school is ina ange city, the students in the teal new litle about their teacher. In order to inevease the rapport between them and the teacher we decided to make them better acquainted with him. First, he asked his students to note down thelr preconceptions about him ~ where he lived, ishobbies and interest, his Mesiyl, etc. This they did mostly in the framework of the hand-out shown ia Figure 12. Figure 13s an example of one student's notes. (We ‘do not normally collect students notes ofthis sort, but inthis lesson we ‘id, by prior agreement with the students.) + Doseu lak yourtecer asp? ‘Wen pa te poe? ‘Wp woul eke? ake es, stout wre youn ees abouts style ‘eso ofhoat from, anal gen.) | + Thun ak your teacher Mae notes Be dog. + cat J think te fives in abung: gelaw 45 rooms, Amalt-ganden, big-torrace, big, ganclen, . oe geese awe 8 3 Interviewing the teacher ‘The fist fw student questions were prompted by the notes on the hand. cts, Then the students independently decided to find out more about their teacher by writing down further questions. Here, in corrected fora, fare Some of their questions: ‘Are you mated? Fave you got chien? > you often have erable with your children? 1 your cron speak Eatin? wie are your hoties? tat ind of muse da you ke? eat oul ye a7 your cian wanted fo have an expensive pet?‘eaguna TEENAGERS ‘Then the students readout their questions In turn, and were answered by the teacher. The students took notes of his answers and compared ‘hem with their guesses 4 Pooling and analysing reasons for keeping pets In order to elicit possible reasons ‘or keeping pet and in order to refer back to the students discussion of young people and pets in the previous lesson, the teacher wrote the folowing on the board and asked the students to comment oni John Talo, 13.46 rath nsec problem: dog He then asked, ‘What does al this tol us about Jot?” “The students first speculated about the meanings ofthe various notes and symbols ané then went on to bulld a story orally, reformulated as follows: Joti Taylor is thiteen years of He ies in aft in London. He kes sports ond he poy footbsl. doesnot ike sche Ferhat bong for hin or he ad {at School. He hates spinach. He fond of pets, but he dows ie cas. He has 9 protien becouse he wants to havea dog, But his parents don't alow that. J pals, the students then notet down various reasons why someone ‘might Or might noe want to have a dog. Alter few minutes the teacher elicited these and wrote them on the Board as they arose, For homework, the students were asked to write down reasons for and against Keeping soine other sort of pet. Figure I shows what one student wrate about keeping a parrot ~tannet goth the family on fetidanys yo muust clean the parse 5 Dialogue building ‘The nest step was to use the pro and con notes (eg. Fig. 1.4, along with the language of argument trom Stage 1, as raw material in latogue Bulding. This Tecyeling of language paterns increased students 0. curacy, an the highlighting of these particular patteras drew students" atteniion tothe existence of viewpoints diferent from their own This paved the way forthe roleplay in Stage 10 Figure 5s an example of one pair's (uncorrected dialogue Aeaping a deg AT think the agis very gd guard for the hause ard the B: J dant think 0, Because the dag needa let of space A: We hada tig hese and it is not a problem, B Tee we and his food too (Tis 10 true The olay wats the Lefomere B. Thats right. Bud a deg nesds aad tr the holidays the canact go usth the family bn book aftee ham. A The clog can go with me or he is\alme and guarts the horse The dog teas things OK, thats ri tohave everyone mave toa new seat away from thelr partnes. Otherwise pairs often continue rebearsing or tying to finish their dialogues while 3 : 4 Yor yung ag, Stat at hen Learnt thn ha oder 5 ‘Bf ‘Parrot | ‘This is how these dialogues were actually built: Dan i 2 ace ingen rece 7 gopnrok ga rand for tency pote | people in thelr dlalogue woud talk bow. Trg dale ac re ond or fay Ietping out waging he adv a Wie te pas a ied thei dns, they were ake nt * to come up front and act them out from memory. Cos ~ a parrot cots a Lat of mane, Comments: We often find that It 1s more difficult for students to read ~ needs a Lot of tiene 1 dislogues out loud than act them out. Additionally, it ts often a good idea Fawe {he fst palrs are ‘on stage6 Personalisation “This stage only lasted three or four minutes, with the learners asking each ‘other questions like Have you got a pet? Wiat is? What do you call 1? ow old i it? How big i i? What color isi? Where does i live? What does Beforchand, the teacher hed pointed out the following: * I'someone answered ‘No, there should be no further questions. ‘© They should not go into detail about ay they had a pet since th would be dealt with in the next stage. 7 Guessing about someone else [Mtr reeticting the varios pros and cons thet ceme up in Stage 4, the teacher asked the students to note down clues hich suggested why thie partners di or dlda't have a pet and, after that, to note down their ‘own feasons for having or not Rating a pet. To keep students from Tooking at thelr partner's notes, the teacher stressed that their notes ‘were going to be sed asthe bass forthe flfowing ati Then Partner A, with eyes lased, listened to Partner B siowiy read out ther guesses about A's reasons for keeping a pet The rationale for asking speakers 10 speak slowly and lsteners to sit, with eyes closed is follows: ‘"ieis important forthe Isteners to hear everything cleary ‘With eyes closed, Isteners seem more likely 10 notice and refeet on ‘what they hear about themselves. All thls ereatés a good bass for students to realise: ‘when they hear an accurate guess 1 that they are partiipating in real communication in a foreign language. ‘And moments like this may well 4o more than anything else to st late tnterest in leaaing English, Figure 1.6 shows one pai's notes about why one of them, Markus, hasn't got a pet Why have J not got a pet? donot like animals in the fla inl oie nee | on do J want a pee? I Lhe animals. I would the to have a pel, because muy parents say not ‘The notes clealy show the dliference between how Markus sees his cown situation and how his partner imagines. Whereas Markus would Indeed lke to have a pet But cannot Because his parents abject, his partner thinks he is indferent and does not want to do the work invalved In keeping one. In our experience, students frequently do not know sich ‘details about each other, despite spending considerable time together ia school, Consequently, there is much more potential for information ‘exchange in simple activities ike this than one might think 8 Meta-discussion In this stage, class and teacher reviewed ther experiences in the previous stage The teacher simply asked the students to lay thelr notes out on their tables so that everyone could stroll aroutd, read them and recall their earlier thoughts and feelings. Following this ‘read-waliread-walk’ phase, the teacher brought the ‘whole class together and elicited -easons why people had guessed right and wrong, Was there some basis for infersuce? Or were guesses simply guesses? This meta-discussion phase (conducted in German) raised a number of interesting issues. For example, the teacher relerred back to the eyeslosed listening activity in order to find out the students reactions to it and to make them aware of the importance of eon- centration, Here tan extract from the mete discussion: Student 1 Whar hagoened with us ws that me had waiten exactly the seme ‘ings, Bond me Teacher. Realy? Student 2 ant open my eves though ts intesting when you've got your ayes ose! Yeureim suspense abot what your porter thnks Of ou Student 2 forme twas ke tly"ACHING TEENAGERS Teacher student 3 Teacher student 3 student 4 students Teacher student 2 Teacher student 6 Teacher student 6 Teacher sSugent 7 Teacher students Teacher stucert $ Teacher student S student Teacher Teacher Students student 9 Stdent7 i you ae your porter have the same ting for eveything? ves party. Coutt you spat up abit pease? | mean, we fad alo of the sare things because we know each other aly wal. Tafien comes araund fo my place. bu Thad the feeling anyry that i as ke my partner cous rac my mid. But we cit ‘have as much the same a [51 se 52} et Yes, but we got some things night, eventhough we don't Know each other so well in. Yes. ust ted to imagine | wos you and sa some of my gusset wore righ, Could you ty fo think back to when F asked you to close your eyes? What cd you think of thar? Ieheoed 1 as realy able trax that way 1 you mean you become somstow camer? Ie as the same for me, but somehow | kept wondering what my baer thought orden nk about me That means you started o thin about yourse? ‘Yes, but | cn’ realy have enough tne for that. When fstrted to concentrate, you wanted us to something lee again al fr thet | hd 9 moke Some notes. 15. Soy, Lat notice you nad fhe. wien usa ke ts as So carious about what M would write that cou’ t concentrate a al on what thought about hin, Iwas 2 fle bit afd ofthat since we don't know each other vey wel hat you mighe think was a. sly my asking you to dose your yes but then it have the moreson that "ound rely nice so sferert \ihat do you moan, diferent? {as ae fo gia my arterion to Fst 1... ase rom that fm Seve? Yes: ght Js vice fo. Other times you never fsten so consciously t0| papi 1 noticed thot forthe fist te (n't even want 19 try to speak German, Norell ven | am loking at who tam taking to! alas ‘autanaticaly speak Geman evn though | dont ike to. Maybe Decause we altays peal Gernan evenwuhere eke, dir break for eral, Then lets alays st around wi our ees cose faughted) id any pair actus speak Geman duro tis phase? No. a each other) {as time! even ka speaking Sng after the lesan, even doing the bree Fr even noice Last tie we even spoke 0 ach other in Engl lf during vlebal 1 act though rede able “youNG sorte AND ers Metadiscussions ofthis kind give the teicher the chance to discover hhow the students experienced a certain exercise or teaching phase and ‘what problems they encountered. They hap learners become aware of hhow diferent individuals react to the same task. This helps to develop fempathy; that Is, it fosters their ability i put themselves Into other people's shoes, a vital socal shi. Meta discussions also play a role In Falsing awareness of learning processes, as can be seen in the part where Studeat stated that he had noticed for the first time he had nat even wanted to try to speak German. Growth in awareness of ways and stages In earning is essential if students are to come to foal responsible for thei ‘own learning 9 Content-oriented groupwork: preparing for role plays ‘The teacher brought out the pictures and photos the students had brousht in at the beginning of the unit. The students formed groups showed each other ther materials and talked about themselves and their ets: reasons for having or not having ther, thelr ates to pets, thelr Problems with pets or with getting pets, and 0 orth, ‘Mter this discussion each group wrote @ report on their findings about each other (numberof student, pets, opinions, etc). The teacher ‘encouraged everyone fo supplement ther reports wiih visuals. An ‘example text presented on an OND teansparency served a8 & model or these reports (se Fg 1.7, Report (Group A) Dhoys and 2 girts in our group have pets, Petra. fi anit “have o pet because her parents Say ‘no’ Thesg, | ue in aAmall flat. But she umuld like Yo Rave at fetta hamster. Her Parents are very Stic. Tom, bean't want a pet. He thinks pets are disgust hohe hes vat rg eAegaing Alt the others # As ench group finished Its report, they exchanged it with another group Flue 37 for silent reading. This was to underline the communicative character 0! the writing In order to inerease the motivation to produce good, readable reports, the teacher took care to say in advance that they would be shredheya reenacens - _ Comment possible, tn actives ke ti, each group shouldbe able to ‘el att seed its bg sn ered nd fad nt ng tom wt deide whch other group wl re and vac t the repor this lst fo gum on before casos ate scan a on och the roupe mae tar choice nthe Hh ofthe questions Car Ths prob todo yt fat tht ey oe ot a 0 + thi rou knows the eas abouts 2 aug? tls bite lay speaking fr marr 0 By on ao 3 nich ine ferent view us esa group? Such fatings also came out clearly inthe Ivelydiscusion flowing The text produced in the al class Rig. 18) sa clear example ofthe thetole play. ett part of which wasn Engl Ag he Importance aceite the alias ig 1.8) 2 ent exams of he tte ln wth the stants” evrydny Ines as evident. This eats ‘rooted in the students’ everyday lives. In our experience, such anchoring + from the later phase of the meta-discussion which took place in German. tr realy Is essen for aay Clasroom aces to wort at thelr Sloss mymota tn anys syst te on se sa hen Foe ey aS a sa nym duno et Sto ae soil events Tie paricualy te of oe plays, whieh were sate ee rs ue That was eat ny ihe nant stage a te nt asp me and Teacher But your mane esl as ress fr eng agaist you haga — - pet Gort se? : sunt 2 96 onde led tha co. Tat dt bas want can ot te Ture hoy: tn wo. grown hav cg da. The ethan Revert ape eating ht ays Sta ms pet, wart a pob Vihis dy i sal and Hanon fas cans Bieta wong big 12 Reflection Hack Tell wank aa. Diente, The teacher next asked the students 10 think about the ves of th therefore Wolf is ad. Borty unnt a dog, but his inints shown Ture L3."The aim was to evoke oer felted grandma ts iM cod a dog ts too feud for she ‘experiences and memories to stimulate vosabulary recall and generally Sr the stents more inlved. To crease conceration, the tether Asked the students fist to Took closely at each picture, then to close their ‘owen ‘eyes and think for a full minute. This silent reflection time Is nor a mere Ebelishment but a Important element Ir the preparation forthe next 10 Role plays activag. Fach group now read the group report they had been given and from it derive the framework for @ role pny. Here Is an example of such Iramework, based on the report in Pare 1.7 . Setting: At the brais ebl in Peta’ orly j fol Pr, br paren he rancor Dyna: Pata manta pet members of ely sigue for and against i ‘ter a very brief discussion period (Rept short to prevent pate pants from trying to remember nee word for word), exch grup per J formed thet ole pay in ont ofthe whole class. The amount of content and language brought out earlier in the unit enabled each player to Figuee 1 Participate realistically inthe discussion, 11 Content and process evaluation 13 Pair/group discussion of feelings This what the teacher had to ey about Stage 0: “The techer asked everyone to express the strength of thelr likes and tes fascinating to bsene how terol pers eed wth he prs they had sles by drawing a Hear, star and other symbols in the boxes under {alen on Th ay toy spe tee ace hee pcan eeoi att the pictures in Figure 19 (hese symbols were the same as those inACHING TEENAGERS Fig. 1.1. Then, after giving out the handout shown tn Figure 1.10 the teacher asked students to form pairs or small groups and discuss each ‘other's strengths of fecing about the animals, 14 Reflection 2S = oi sar] Es (ox Alter a few minutes, the teacher handed out a copy of Figure 1.11 to leach student, He gave the lass a minute or soto try to understand how to read it, afterwards inviting suggestions and asking checking questions to ensure that everyone understood how to interpret I. Then, everyone hhad a few more minotes to fill out-In the teacher's words: | asked everyone to stand, mil about and find out how Seer! others would react, owng led out o worksheet mysal parciated in this phase too, in order 10 5ee ow they got on. I struck me Inthe fst minutes tha | had pahgps not explains clearly enough how the input romps fram the worksheets were to be sed 30 1 intertupted the atnty 10 point out the use of the word H. After that things began 10 90 well wi evenyne partpatng in very vel fashion athough | nodced tat the students were not anays abl o express themsehies in Englth. (noted, for example the following exchange: Student 1 you finda spice in your han, ow do you oct? Student 2 (don't il fed YOUNG PEOPLE AND PETS ‘Student 1 You eed? Wo Student 2 Yes Teed Student 1h German) You can't mes that, you can't me tat ‘Aternards, | tld the class that | thought the activity hadn't ane at all wel ‘because ofall the loses into German, but several students quickly pointed out that pat of te istuctns on the eiginal woshee had baen in Geman 9, The moral here seems to be that while use of the mother tongue Is ‘sometimes unavoidable for vital communicative needs to be met, overuse (Of the mother tongue by the teacher ean be quite counterproductive at ‘other times. If at all in doubt about whic language to use, we try to use the target language. 15 Discussing beliefs and feelings In the trial class, the teacher first presented various stimuli on posters (eg, Figs. 112 and 1.13). These were intenced to involve the students in a ‘iscussion oftheir attitudes to certain annals. “The teacher tried to make sure that everybody understood the posters ‘and then afowed a few minutes for students to think and note down thie ideas. Filly, Ne elicited their reactions to the stimulus statements, encouraging them to use language prestnted on the posters they ‘wished, Some students recounted thelr experiences with animals. Stories fame up about stray pets, animals being. tormented and confit encounters with animals (one girl had been biten by a dog). Everything svas in English n gwe 12 ftTescuiNa TEENAGERS DO YOU AGREE? "Fol, write down wit you think [ves | no © Spiders have no ight lve, ‘© Cus never kil otter animals (Flies so want 10 ive 19 The he sma’ ener 1 Armouse cannot be sp The teacher then asked the students to write down their thoughts on the whole unitup to this pot. Here are some oftheir thoughts 1 We realy leat to use the foreign unquage and iC was a fot ease thon we though. t's fu fo ty 10 speak only Enis 1 We sometimes forgot about the stuaten. Speaking Enalih seemed natural rowares the and of he unit. ‘© The atmosphere in oss improved © lot We row kaw each oxher and our teacher betar 1 We have fost ur fear. We alvays knee that our English was ful of ristaks, ‘but we don’ way about it foo much any more Tttink it ws ver hat we took +cs topic, on it interertiing > “es Spek pupils think ae rea Eoerspoly Hinks spiders ane uggly o¥hos fad spon are lovely. | spake a en ee hat hae J Like thet topic Because J Like aft atornes 16 Poster presentation This alt was rounded off by making and displaying posters on the theme fof young people and pets. Tis final stage involved students viewing and Ciscussing each others’ worle - ¢ free speaking activity that offered Students the opportunity to practse both the language and the soclal sls that had been emphasised aver the course ofthe unit, RETROSPECTIVE “These were the teacher's main comments just alter the lose ofthe unt 1 I hak' though be able to pick up ths approach so quick 1 vam now very much aware thatthe sci specs of leaming 2 foreign language are at enc at important a the purely Ingusicones. 11 think one ofthe most important concusons Ihave dann from the experince fs that ti woryimotan for me a a teacher to stay consistent with my as. 1 think, in he past | always gave up to cay «Fa deftly go on teaching in this way. thok | now have teas on we ‘make my lessons mare motivating both fr me and my stants. ‘And these were his comments atthe end ef the school year: ‘Alot has changed in my teaching since fst stared to ty these eas out. think Ihave Become more aware of what Is gong on under the surface. [tend to think ‘mare in tens of teaching English 2s an opportunity for real communication that Invokes my students personaly. t alsa ivoles re personaly a fo ane thik ies an ongoing process. fam now thinking a lot more about ny on role as. each, ‘Tam more swore of wien and hows I wart to take responsi fr the lering IOC OF students and when and how | want To shift responsiy fom Inyo 0 my leamers 1 have ako gone thvough ghases of doubt ance | stared ‘change my teaching ~ at various points! was worried about the fact that My SRudents made 29 many makes, but it jst stowed me thot n my pred teaching I had not given my leaner enough opportunity to use English fo real ‘communion and therefore hed never got 3 pitur of the real anquege lve ‘Another thing that was necessary was f point eut tomy studens thatthe fact thatthe lest ad Become more fun aif not mean tht eventing els ad 0 change somehow foo. It sti important for them fo lea vocabulary, for ‘ramp, prepare forts, bring ther home assignments and so on and 0 forth (Ge thing strikes me: reaching inthis wey meats @ le of work, But when Ikeave acbssat the end af lesson Inst alnays fel that my energy lvls igher han ‘twas before wantin. Soin way fal get mare than faveUNIT 2 Nightmare Students on their way to cooperative learning (ever — Lower nermediat + re Shows acs “Twenty thtoon: to foutoen-yearlés in ther fourth yoar oF English; the ty ins - - ‘Bulking bei soci sila encouroging students to ea ndopendondy but with 2 senaa of responsi misting stent’ feelings of Inguiste madoquecy: e° Ccourging students {0 spook about tee own ines end exoacance neds students to the ovalision of staden-studant interaction; contesting essing and managing oe by and epling tenn frhor woe (ral fenoy,Kserng, wnting:recing pace of Inguige fr expacsngcvo cating decisions tue fr trainstrming (opine Fg 2.1 28 ‘anc-ut of eaing txt Mgt. 30) Poster oc OHP wansparency t werd ist Fig. 22 p31) Handent of picture wath Bark speech bubbles F923, 32t ‘Observation shoot Fa 24 3) Sts96 Mede! intent pont 36) rage 12: Photos pus, magesnes nevsnspas, fella pers, solssors, ue, large sheets papar fr mating cotoge BACKGROUND AND RATIONALE Social skills learned in the language classroom ean be of value in stu- {dents relations with people In general. An example from our experience ‘springs to mind: Tn the mid-I970s 1 (HP) had a class of lower stream twelveyearold boys. tried a miling activity with them. lasked the boys to sand up, ‘walk around, mingle and brielly interview several classmates in turn, ‘They were rowdy and the activity was plain failing. After afew minutes | broke it off and asked the boys to sit with me ina circle. Taaked then) how they had felt during the activity, trying to find out why they had behaved as they hd. Interestingly, they Began by complaining about ‘ech other, about how the others had been too noisy and how they had been josted, bumped into and otherwise distracted. Atypical complaint zan like this: ‘Hannes came up to ask me a question, but started by ‘elbowing me. This made me angry. Ard this kind of thing kept happening” {pointed out to them that i an English-speaking person wants to attract someone's attention they do s0 by saying "Excuse me'.I wrote Excuse me ‘on the board and before the next milling phase [reminded them that this was what they should say’ when they wanted to attract someone's attention. And in fact during the second milling phase the boys were very carehl to Go this, to use the words Exzuse me. The activity worked ‘uite well despite the fact that these same boys, when talking to each other in their mother tongue during class breaks actually did jostle each ‘other in just the way that had made them soangry during the frst miling Phase, ‘This example shows one way in which the foreign language class ean become an arena forthe development ofa basic element of cooperative bbeiaviour, in thls case, appropriate use of apolite phrase. Of course, Ue newly learnt behaviour will not automaticaly transfer into the learners everyday behaviour. On the other hand, we have seen many clear xaniples ofthis happening. Hesides, what isthe alternative to trying? UNIT SUMMARY Lesson 1 1 Brainstorming Use a pleture of somebody asleep In bed to activate students’ 2 Reading Suudeats read the text CNightmare). 23 Getting he students toa Present & word list on an OHP transparency, poster or the board Students select three words and link them orally in a sentence Or two {© explain the situation described inthe text,“eacunne Teenacans, 4 rays of tho assotations Remove the wordlist. The students offer their own interpretations of the station in the text. Losson2 ‘5 Dialogue bung ‘Students work in pats to createa dialogue. Bach student takes one of the roles given Inthe text. 65 Roleplay ehearsal, ‘Students get together in groups of four. Within the foursomes, fist one pale and then the other act out heir role play with the other pair observing. Guided by an observation sheet, the observing. palr evaluates the roleplay of the other par 7 Reaching 2 decision about the ole plays Each group decides which palr will act out their role play in front of the whole class. Thls decision is based on evaluation and feedback stimulated by the observation sheet ire Students present their role plays to the whole class. 9 Writing minitexts ither present text leadAns or hand out a model text to guide students in producing minitexts of thelr own, Students read out thelr texts to the lass, 10 Exor conection and text collage Students publish thelr texts as collages of minitexts, drawings, photos, ‘newspaper clippings and whatever else. 1 Brainstorming Brainstorming isa familar tecniqu: fr liciting and, toa certain extent, presenting vocabulary on a given theme. Ii also useful fr stimulating interest in theme fr its own sake, (See De Bono 1970 fora discussion of brainstorming in reative thinking.) "A typical brainstorming begins with the teacher writing a word or plirase’on the board, or by showing a pictare or, asin this case, by rawing one You can then ask the students to sll out any word associated with the prompt os so0n as l occurs to themand without woreying about how is linked to the prompt. You, or one or more of the students, write the elicited vocabulary on the board as quickly as possible and with n0 calticism or correction whaever. When you have a far number of words fon the board, there are many ways to proceec. Just. give two examples; 1 Invite students, individually, in paits or in small groups, to write the words down on a sheet of paper in categories which they then explain and justify to the rest ofthe class. 2 Rub out al the words and then ask the cliss to ty to recall them. As you reelicit the vocabulary, you ean revate it (including corrections Of spelling and so on) in-a way that demonstrates the connections between words For the tral class, we chose a third option. To help trigger off the brainstorming we planned forthe teacher to draw the figure of someone asleep in bed (Fig.2.1) which would lead into the text ‘Nightmare’ in Stage 2. This was done on a large sheet of paper with about 15 em along the right edge folded back to hide the words the teacher had written there earlier (see Fig 220n p. 31), Chore sony seroconver) Usually, for a brainstorming ike this to succeed with an inexperienced class, the teacher needs to assume the zole of facilitator. Here fe ai ‘example from another class of how this can workEAGING TEENAGERS ‘escher Look here! file Beginning craw de pleture) Whats A? Stadent is a bee Teacher What do ou tink of when you see a bec? stadent Slop Teacher OX: Sleep for example. Why doe't you write down some other wor hat come f you mind whan you think of bed? During the elcting of diferent associations students learn how the same plcture can stimulate diferent interpretations. This is no stall oF obvious thing. If the growth of cooperative independent learning Is your ‘aim, then itis essential frst of al that students become aware that Lillerent people have diferent perceptions, However, the demands of 2 brainstorming phase may well exceed students’ ability to express themselves in the foreign language. So you ay need to supply. among ‘other things, the interaction language necessary If students are to be able to work together in English. Thatis, expressions such as What does ‘mean? What do we do now? or Wht was tha again? 2 Reading Jn foreign language teaching, texts ate very often used only at the cognitive level, with affective conskderations being neglected. ‘That is, some teachers view texts purely as a means of preseating or practising target structures or vocabulary rather than as stimulh that get the learners personaly involved. lo the tral class, ehen we asked students to read the text our sim was to expt the affective potentil of our text by showing how it could have quite dillerent interpretations for diferent people. The text we used was as fellows: Nightmare 1 the mile of the night hare woke yp. At fst he lay there, Kenna, hal seep. He wasn't really sure hat it was. Sometimes was far away, Sometines it Mos near ~ that wes what had woken him. And occasional if Was ery eco Inde Now he wos eal ake ‘Carle ule the beclothes ove is bead. Now he could haar nothing except the sound of is bere bea ands bveathing, ut he couch’ fal alee again because he krewt was sl there. Afra whe, the smal of warm bedng, swarm pyjamas. and his warm si became too much forhim Sen be threw back the ‘overs and sat up in Be. ecouc' see anching inthe dines, but al fa sudden he cred out ud Panic overcame him. After 3 vine te lt i head sip back on the plow He ante f0.go fo slegp again. ut e cut’ stop thinking. 50 he decided to wake op Wison, is brother, wha wes legngin the net bed 3 Getting the students to talk ‘The teacher now unfolded the right flap of the poster to reveal a list ‘of words he had written earlier (as in Fig. 22). (These could also be presented on an OP transparency.) By way of examplé the teacher selected tree words - robber, money, Jost = and sald sentence using these three words: ‘Last night I lost my ‘money because a robber came intothe hotel He then asked each student to select three words from the list and ‘make upto three sentences speculating abaut Charie's situation, Heres an uncorrected transcript of part ofthis stage: Teacher Pik ou tee words to explain Charles wees Sugent 1 Fie thay ™ pain. Teachet _Vihat do you mean by that? Student 1 chink charted bithdoy and he went up. Suddenly be saw a great fire and he ft in Teacher Did he get ino the fie? ssugent 1 Yes. Student 2 Mother ~ marks = homework: 1 tink he's got @ badd mark fer homework and the mother wos ang Teacher She got angy see Scent 2 Uy face ~ robber: think Chae seat of rebbee with an uly face. And than he woke up because te reste had an gl face Ssucent 4 Fight = lth face there vere wo man iho hated each other ac so they hd 2 fight and te Might was so terre that ane ofthe men fst is face ceaseTEACHING TEENAGERS _ Teacher Avery bud chew wasn't? Student’ Chale ~ fanainess ~ mother Charke wasn't here and har mother suddenly et fonetnes. Student 6 Fes ~ schoo! ~ marks: Chale got bad mas and he flew ffom the school Teacher Oh, he had to leave school, yeu mean? Student 6 And his problem was he eat to le Student 7 Birthday = fire ~ school On Charlie's thay there was a fre the shoal So he creat about tat Student 8 Pop muse fre fh When fe is dancing to pop music his blood gets Inthe fire he fs in is thoughts aay. 4 Analysis of the associations ‘The teacher took down the poster, s0 tat the stents could not see the ccoluma of prompt words, and then asked thom to make new sentences ‘bout the character inthe picture (Challe) without necessarily using any ‘of the prompt words. Here are some of the students (uncorrected) Interpretations: Teacher What are the problems Char might have? Student 1 I hink Chad has qvaralled wih is fend Student 2 J dik he had afcuties with is parents Student 3 | hink he had problems with his teacher Student Perhaps he wi gti Student 5 J think Chare as got problems with himself becouse he's grown Student 6 Perhaps he's last his find, 5 Dialogue building The teacher put the students Into pars and gave each palr a handout Gig. 22), They carred on the story from the point where Charlie had ‘woken up his brother Wilson by fil inthe speech bubbles. i somerhirg. Gfun mel iokrane In our class, the activity worked like this: Partner A filed In the fst “speech bubble for Wilson and then passed the hand out on to Partner B ‘who filled in the first speech bubble for Cherie. Partner 8 then passed ‘the hand-out back to Partner A who filed inthe second speech bubble for ‘Wilson and soon. ‘That Is, the number of coples equalled the number of student pais ‘Another way of doing this tivity, which doubles the amount of writing {and involvement in the role play for everyone and greatly reduces the amount of tine spent walling Tor a partner to finish writing, fs the "TWO: ‘way Role Play’ Frank and Rinvoluer! 1988, 9, 118). Fach student has & hhand-out and everyone begins by filing out the same speech bubble for the same character. Everyone then passes thely sheet to the person on their left (lor example) and then fils inthe fist speech bubble for the other role. When they have done this they pass the sheet back to the person they go it rom who then fils in the second speech bubble forthe first character to speak and 80 00, 6 Role play rehearsal ‘The dialogues developed in the writing phase served as a foundation for 8 role play. The teacher divided the class up lato groupe of about fou. In ‘ezch group one palr acted out the role pay wile the other pair observed, with an observation sheet (see Fig. 24). Aller each role play, the group discussed it using he structures provided on the observation sheet. Then the palrs switched roles. Such observation guidelines not only direct students’ attention to the issue of error correction (which may just bea matter of simply imitating the teacher) but also and more importanly, they help students to develop a better awareness of communicatively appropriate expressions, ‘This guidance also helps students to identify with the roles that they are playing. (An evaluative phase further encourages such development) When organising role plays lke this, you will need to ensure that students doing the role plays do not read cireely from the hand-outs they fled out tn the previous stage since reading outloud typically leads torrathe sited intonation. ‘You will probably have to adapt the observation taskesheets wo used to sult the requirements of your own class, However, the sheets shouleTEACHING TEENAGERS. always include some stimull to nondinguistic evaluation. The observers ‘should watch non-verbal behaviour inthe roleplay, soit might be help {to draw attention to the importance of body language (mime, gesture, ‘movements, ec). Some discussion beforehand vill, of course, be ne. ‘essary inthe ease of students who are not used to evaluating thelr own and other students’ performance i groupwork. Even s0, some students find it dificult to participate effectively in such evaluation phases, a= we hhave learned from some teachers who have experimented with this type of activity, ‘you want to tackle these issues with your students you need, again, patlence and a willingness to discass things frankly. 7 Reaching a decision about the role plays Using thelr observations of the role plays, the groups decided which par would act out the role play between Charlie and Wilson In front of the whole class. The alm of this decision phase was to help students to develop their ability to evaluate their own performance ~ an ability ‘which is essential if essons are t» become less teacher centred without degenerating into chaos. The following uncorrected transcript shows how much the difering iewpoints of individual students ean influence this decision making Student 1 an K ware very god but speaking too fast Teacher Yes, we could haraly fallow, but it was a very nice calogue, It was a +) good daiogue Student 2 Ws het mune? [hat does munter meen?) Teacher | Vis. Student 3 ic was ey wis Tey had z vy nice dale Student 4 They spoke too fst Teacher Yes think they were ait i excited Stadent 5 Geferring to diferent grou twas the same with you, mast Swas very nervous Student 6... but hay English wes ve good 8 Role plays ‘This stage, the acting out of the role plays, was a kind of publication of the work done in all the previous stages of the unit, The step-by-step preparation for the final role plays gave che performers ample oppor- {unity to perfeet their language and get over much oftheir stage fight ‘The thorough preparation also seemed to give the performers the contdence to go beyond their exller scripts and to include expression fl frther anxieties, expectations and fantasies NowrwaRe Given this level of potential personal involvement, it is well worth devoting plenty of attention to staging. Get the audience to sit quite lose to the players. Ask the students to serurch together in a horseshoe around the centre ofthe action. fit is not possible to move chairs nto {this arrangement, students caa sit on the floor or on thelr desks. The lirst time you organise a role play of this sort, include a discussion phase In ‘whieh you and the students agree on a set of symbols (eg. © or 7) 50 that ia future lessons, you ean minimise preperformance chaos by simply drawing the appropriate symbol onthe board to show the seating arrangement you want, Encourage students to get into position quietly and also remember to positively reinforce Instances of cooperation bY praising the students involved, 9 Writing mini-texts 1k is very Ukely that students watching the role plays will recall ex periences related to the ones they are seeing portrayed. l you observe the role plays, the ‘audience’ and their reactions careluly, you wall ind role plays a rich source of stimull for further work such a8 text writing ‘You can eapitalise on topies and emotions figuring inthe role plays by noting down (on the board, etc.) ad hoc tet leadins. These are words, phrases or sentences which ery eu for completion and elaboration inthe form of a story, leter. description, etc. depending on the leadin you choose ‘Some ofthe text leasing used inthe tral dass were: ent came home th oer dy. Fist! cui not baleve my ees! The students completed these lead-ins individually to produce short pieces of narration, description or evaluston, often showing a high degree of spontaneity and creativity. Becaie they were short, students were able to produce them in class. Figure 25 is an example of one of these minstexts. (We learned this technique rom Hans Eberhard Plepho.) owe 28 3 Fucks dp, What wast? Thore wah a. loud. rose. Tha rho the he wr, i cal not | Last Friday J ums watching TV. After half an hour J fell ae 2 auch se Snyurns and then T heard a a wise Aaid, Shot. But D was Atlt abure. Now J brew - folly was sill onTEACHING TEENAGERS If your students are not used to writing texts even of this length, you ‘can hand out a short model text tat they can Identily with. For young ‘people, this offen means that they can Imagine the text having been ‘written by someone of thelr ov age. Hyou make sure that students study it carefully before beginning to wee, working with the mode! generally results In effective transfer of the everall structure ofthe text as well as (of important bits of language. Here is a model text we used in a dilferent trial clas, together with a plece of student writing based on it (Fg. 26), When t came home the other day, I wes very enous. fd gota bad resin my test at school. I couldnt tell my parents about it The folowieg night | had 2 Strange dream, scent wake up. on know whare | wae 1 Tooked around. Pe Sis dak. Somebody asin reon All my schoo! stuff nas fying 69 the foe. [A over tao someting, Who wast? w0s scared f0 death strted 0 Shout Bu then found cut who it was: Parker, my tet. When I came home the other dlay Tuma very nervous. T got abad mack in muy test at Achoot and 1 could not tell muy parents about ik. The following night T had a stvange dream, 1 went to steep. When You do not show the test to your parents then comes a big spider and takes you. T got up and said: "Tis wos a ghost, and T uns very much afraid af ib. T took my test and went uxth it to arents and showed rug parents ey saad," OKAY but you must learn very much for the next tust. Go to sleep. “T said:,, Good night father, Gout night mu” L Good night Sue [A drawback of working from & model text alter a roe play (instead of from a text lean) f that students tend to draw on the text rather than fon their own experience, for content, which lessens their emotional involvement in the writing. The greater the afective depth of the role plays, the greater this disadvantage is icely to be. Text leadns, being ‘much less explicit than model texts about overall text structure and language patterns, seem to stimulate rather than restrict creative in- terest. Even so, if the model text Is Interesting enough and reiates to the students’ world of experience, then the reslting minttexts can sti show a good measure of creative involvement 10 Error correction and text collage You can deal with written errors in the minitexs either during the writing or afterwards, as seems best. I you, the student or other students mark corrections on the text, students should rewrite the texts to froducea ar copy. They can hen spay these or as them art the In the final lesson of the trial class students produced a text collage consisting of thelr corrected, rewritten minitexts and various wsuals ‘whieh they elther made or chose. Suitable vsuals ean include drawings, Photos, pictures from magazines, newspaper cppings and so forth.) ‘This mode of presenting texts can have a postive ellect on learning 4s it increases student motivation to produce texts of quality for pres- ‘entation to the elass, and for eventual evaluntive comment. That i, the collage presentation ean lead to a final discussion phase, with teacher and students standing ie front of the collage. You can stimulate die- cussion by-asking questions such as: "Who do you thiak had the most {earful experience?’ etc. Part ofthe text collage produced by this clas is shown in Figure 27. gerneTexcnc Teewacens, Variation We hope we have shown here how a particular sequence of activities ‘worked with teenage learners. The individual activites ean be adapted to ‘many other topics or used in adult classes too. For example, tW0 of Michael's tranoes have adapted part ofthis sequence of activites to fit the topic of the generation gap’ nan upper intermediate clas, This sa revised version of thel lesson summary 1 Activation of arsociations Present a photograph showing a farent and a chil in a eonfrontationsl situation I such a photograph ie dificult to get hold of, an alternative ts to present the twa following sentences in speech bubbles: "My parents don' understand meat all” “When ! was young, I ew how to behave” 2 Brainstorming and discussion Ask students to callout thei associations. Collect them on the board and discuss. 3 Reading ‘Hand out the extract fromm Your Mother (Collange 1987) given below. 4 Preparation and rehearsal of ole plays Ask students to build a role play as suggested in the unt, Possible roles ‘ould be a child and a parent, or two parents, who have just read the extract. 5 Presentation ofthe role plays . Students act out their role plays with evaluation and comment as suggested above. ity? Fr hooves sake ay? ity cant yu ever tun out the lighter shut the coor whan you leave 2 oom? ity can't you ever put back a ictonary ora telephone boak wien youve used them? Why do you atnays make te perc bias and notenads disappear which hove been carefly placed by the telephone oF the kitchen to write down important messages or shopping iss? Why do you never replace the rol ofoaper without ging 9 thought dhe next occupant ofthe batroom? hyd you throw you jackets ar cats on tothe fui instead of puting them an a coathanger? After all you con't say we haven't sso, stresed, emohsssed repeated time 200 time again, in every possible tone of voice: Don't forget, puri anay’.. PUT TT AWAY. DONT FORGET. DON'T FORGET, PUP IT AWAY... PUTT AWAY, on’ FoRGer ‘OF coune i boring ting up and thinking about posession, but if you inagiact therm they get thar vn back br geting ay, tren oot ‘As were not yet ing in the robot ea when, accord {0 your scence fiction books, these machines wl take over eeegthing from ut, our manual tasks cur ‘memmoses, even cur brains ~ 1 get led withthe tings you haven't done ‘ying you cant find I have 10 lo0k for: as sappeated, got fst or been ‘Stolen have to replace it ‘fm your mother, not your dally. 1 realy don’t see why’ shoul sog aviay at tedious te jobs we you ie preted on your bed fr hours, ftenng to your musi. i stk of picking wp your ‘things from a over the place, and ted oF rong your shirs becouse You're 29 good ati, Mum Pw had enough of taking bak the motes to the bottle bank dnd of ising the Baginnng ofthe TV frm Bacau | as ish ting up the kethen: Hove ing about to, uciraneUNIT 3 Pressure An unusual and powerful way to text reception and production leva Lewacntrmecate + Tine 2-3 hours war oass Tweny-20ven fourteen-yacolds in ther fourth yer of English vee ity mente lessons eck ams Creating expeionterational reference poins price to reading, rising mat ‘tion for reading aenetising stents fo feesngs expresses or implied et anaying 20 euthr’s tenons; buicing affective inks between @ racing and 8 ‘weing a2e Vlangeage arse aa aie ral hsey: ating; writing: vocal keyed to text and topic Irae ‘88 |" Rope (6-107 lng, depending on dss sash Stege:and-ots of weeding texts wit aoe (Rolex Chao’ angNormal Even, 0. 46-7) Stage Blitece ee BACKGROUND AND RATIONALE ‘One thing authorities now agree on ie that understanding a written (or spoken) text ls an active and creative procs, in which the reader (or Tistener) continually tries to make sense ofthe text in terme of what they already know. In this view, understanding a text according to a writer's (Gr speaker's) intention is only possible if (at least) part of the waiter’s and reader’s perceptions of realty overlap. Thus, a text describing a cold ‘winter Is bound to remain remote ia many respects to readers who have lived al their lives ina tropical country. But even i the content of a text js within the feamer readers’ world of experience, we eel it is essential 3 teachers to help them animate relevant life experience and to guide tem In applying this experience in the reading of foreign language texts In this unit we describe how we tried to make the students’ encounter with a potentially difficult authentic reacing text a8 mesningiul as possible. Taking a eue from Steviek’s (1976) assertion that language earning isa total human experience’, we desided specially to support the reading work with a good deal of relevant inclass experience, UNIT SUMMARY Lesson 1 “1 Activation of experience: The Cro inthe Nooss ‘Students stand together in a group, close their eyes and quietly con- ccentrate on thelr sensations. Encicle the group with a rope and steadily tighten it. 2 Braiestorming onthe board The students leave the circle and write words for thelr feelings/sss0- ‘citions on the board 4 Exploration of the experience ‘The students comment on the words on the board, discuss the pressure situation Gtage 1) and bring in more personal associations, 4 Stactring vocabulary Structuring and extenston of the vocabulary on the board. Using a hand- fut, the students mark emotive words negitive oF positive, note asso- Ciatfons with similar sttuetions, ete Lesson2 5 Reading th texts Tests: Roller Chaos’ and ‘Normal Event’. Reading tasks: The students match emotive words to situations described inthe tex. They rellect on the texts and compare their approach.TEACHING TEENAGERS. eter the rope 6 Follow-00 Discussion of the experiences brought out in tage Lesson 3 1 Textproduetion ‘The students complete text leadins dlsplayed on the board or on posters 8 Text publication ‘The students’ texts ae displayed. Everyone circulates freely and reads 9 Feedback Each student shares their feelings about thelr texts with one oF more fellow writers 1 Activation of experience: The Crowd in the Noose’ ‘The teacher asked the class to stand within a sevensmetre length of rope laid in'a large loop on the floor. The teacher grasped both ends of the rope and pulled them together to erclose the group, Without being asked, ‘a couple of students helped the teacher rase the rope, so that it enciecled the whole group at waist level. The teacher's voice was calm but delinite a he sald Would you close your eyes now, please? Whatever you fee ‘or notice now, don't open your eyes. Just concentrate on your felings. Don’t open your eyes."A few students began to giggle, but suddenly fll ‘lent as the teacher quietly sald, Try to concentrate on your feelings, Don't open your eyes’ The groxp remained silent as'the teacher tightened the loop, at first just croveding the students a bit closer together but finally pressing them tightly together and pulling them back and forth. 2. Brainstorming on the board “Think of one oF more words that have to de with your feelings or withthe situation here. Then leave the eile and wiite your words on the board Saying this, the teacher gradually loosened the rope and brought the pressure phase to an end. One student after another slipped under the rope, went to the board and wrote their word for expressing thelr ‘enotional experience 3 Exploration of the experience ‘The teacher asked the students to say something about these words Asking questions such 2s Who wrote -.?/ What do you mean by ..? / What are the words you krow and what are the words you don' know? the teacher guided this phase and encouraged students to speak. The ‘communicatively natural management of the discussion by the teacher ~ without error correction ~stimblated comment, explanation, elaborations and questions, as we see here: Teachar What about lovely? Who wrote that? Sudent 1... Thad aleve fling viben we were aso Teacher together you mean? Student 1 Yes Teacher Interesting, So you oid not mind thot O16 you al have posive feelings? Students ome, hestaing) Yes Yeacrer_ Could you dese your feelings 2 btenere? Tell me vitat was posite ‘burt them, Student 2 dink we all were ane bi parson. tink: We all waren the orc and the cece was 50 than 2.» Thana, ot sing, 2 wal round us and, | thin, wea ike tobe in Ye das and a, we ae 8 big QOD Teacher Fanteste nd who wrote light? student 3 Teacher _ What do you mean ty that? Studer: 3. £7... when J clsed my eye, Ia 0 fealing af small... was ut | sas notin mean (snot othe mele of the ie Teacher So you ci fel the pressure sa much? Student ane The students were thorougily involved ~ not just cognitively, but ‘emotionally a well ~ and had the opportunity to air beth postive and negative feelings. Student 4 Alf were inthe ctl, nobooy was ov $0 Ifa very good, alo the Teacher Eeyone did the same, mm. Sodent 4 We ware a fence, oessune“excina reewncens, Teacher And when you fl the pressure? When you felt the otters pushing? You were so quiet. Was that cause ofthe camera? Students No Teacher Why then? Student 5 think we know the fling. Because we all go to school by bus or by tram. So itwas nothing... tink twas not anew feeling 1 think tas nt new feng weal pushin the tam ands, it was not Teacher D9 you alvays ose your eyeson the tam? students (ugh) Teacher | mean, ty f0 think of the station once more. When | asked you to close Jour eyes and wine all of @ sucien you cout Fee ths ressure... and the others cet yousaf ‘student 6. hint I as alo a negative feling because don't know what would ‘come now and then was Bete | know tat should wnte don the nora onthe blackboard... Ten fle OK Student 7 (tink you wanted to lus Teacher Realy? daughs) Student 7 No, But. es Ree afraid Indeed, activities lke “The Crowil in the Noose’ can trigger quite powerful memories: Student & to the hospital... my erandlather was in hospital and there are fr... sometimes 9 many pecole, and have the eaing is oo smal Teacher Do yeumean vitor? Student 8 Yes wists ander. Teacher. patents. Student 8 Yes and doctors as wel Teacher gut thar’ bad tit? Student & Yes, in the big roams, thar reso many beds vith Patent Teacher. pants Student..." and patios, yes, and thee are so many people so when I would lke 10 seep tats home ane parson to one bed I OK. but at ten to.cne ea. That's foo mary ‘This recollection by one student caused others to recall similar experiences: Student 9 theif there als many pace Teacher Where? Student 9 theif think war Kid about the asp n the atl ae ite labich ae big and thee ae se mary people ther and Us was the feeling hod st. Teacher _ Which you lst ad here vinen you were al packed toga? Student 9 Yes when a 99 tothe blckcara Teocher Gh, Jae. That wae ke going ost of he it Student 8 Going aut af he it. And ths was the ane negative feling sun Teacher Theonly negative? Student 9 Yes. The ont. ‘The teacher elicited further associations and comments by aking ‘questions lke 1's there any other situation you are reminded of ‘© What's positive or negative for you on the board? {© What does the word.” remind you of? *® Did you have any other positive or negative feelings? ete ‘Again, our alm was to evoke a maximum ol emotive memories relevant to the topic area in order to make it easer for the students to re- ‘experience the realty behind a text that decls with similar feelings. Our underlying assumption was that the association of emotions and clear images with the words and structures of which the text ie composed ‘would greatly feiitate their retention in longterm memory. 4 Structuring vocabulary ‘Most authorities on vocabulary fearing baliove that people can lesen ‘words faster f they encounter them in arrangements that reflect aspects ‘of their organisation in the minds of native speakers. Figure 3.2 shows how graphies can suggest mental grouping according to positive/negative ‘fecling’. Graphic structuring lke this also alerts the students to fner deals of spelling, cllocation and meaning. "nthe trial class the teacher rewrote the words thatthe students had ‘written on the board In diferent categories and asked the students to ‘think of more words for each category. Stations ‘wedng ceremony shoe pany facto sata pop concert sco bus stop ina} fone tote office trtfijom queue atthe atport uring neh Dour Jon FeatingsTEACING TEENAGERS. (| ee 5 Reading the texts We hoped that the affective emetlonal) work done #0 far would nove be of use to the students in their reading of ‘Roller Chaos’ (Fig. 33) and "Normal Event’ (Fig. 3.4). “The teacher began by stressing tothe class that during the fist reading of each text they should not try to understand every word. To make students feel more comfortable with thelr limited comprehension of the texts In the beginning, the teacher set tasks which concentrated students’ attention on those parts of the text where the meaning most Important for interpretation is imoked rather than stated. The function of the boxes and arrows on Figure 3.3is to alert students tothe presence of ‘suc implications. ‘Accordingly, the tasks were: 1 Read Tet Tad match te flowing were with the boxes inorder to describe the feelings ofthe people i the various situations: bless pfu angry destracive strong strct weak enthusasne aggresive ‘od happy bed Text 2 and find our what the wr ofthis letr thinks about pop concerts (i) vat he thinks about artcls lite Rater Chaos Fs ne am Das San. Sse, CUP 578.10 Meni feud on ace spot to Worcs “ike “*untontoligier ard 1S baba Bet iS tes in my aioaeree, gop concecs have lot of tee “uae mayan se Seco ‘ora, loys vets anna ney oie ara e sieimersla, Tanck att on (ener ki ae geie) ‘The main aim was to encourage students to focus on just those passages in Text I which sugyest emotical experiences. These oceut Particularly where the writer ofthe text describes the emotional and/or physical pressure that various people were exposed to. And this 1s, of Course, the reason why, atthe beginning othe leson, the students were physically involved in 2 pressure experience, or it was inthis stage that the teacher prepared the students for tie subjective element of the eter’ reportage. Working through the specfe instances mentioned in {he two texts (with several relerences back tothe pressure stage ad the subsequent discussion) helped the learners to compare thes. 6 Follow-on In the followon work (done in a teachevied plenary, or whole group session) Uhe students compared the words they had put inthe boxes Here, what was Important was not that students had particular right answers but that they explained why they had written the words they hnad. This led Into a erica! analysis of tte intentions of the writers of cach of the two tests: Studer 8 Thre are two tous. The fst is negaie and Teacher What do you mean —‘negathe’? Sudan 9. This newspaper writes negate about the pan concert. They Teacher How can you soy that they ute negative)? Sent @. They say most mere armed out screaming ard sobbing. That means that they wore very aggressive Teacher Aha. Let me just wnte down ancitay wo (artes egresive on the board). | see your point. And thin there's something ake tat tes {you perhaps that they wntenegaivey about Be pop concert Student 3 Sue The Ror Chaos Teacrer Pardon? eressune“eqcuve TeEwacens _ — Student 3 ‘Chaos Teacher Aly chaos. Yes Student 4. Police washable. They coud not do anything. Teacher (ures ev words onthe bosrd) Helpless, chsos. And what about the Student 1 think this wes pop fon and he writes to a magazine... er... 8 newspaper sat he does Ike the fact He thinks i al wrong what they sy Teacher nd what do you think? Stucent 6 I's@ Bt... er... There ave ome pop groups like... J, they are not 0 aggresive, but in some concerts in Landon ori New Your 050 The fans are vey aggressive 7 Text production White the students had been reading, the teacher had written on the board a number of text leadans which scemed likely to encourage transfer ofthe theme of eroweding ino everyday experience: hy feng nthe cone was 1 When ft the others se tome, 1 The fst werd thet cme tomy mind as 4 The pushing end pressing remaned me of 1 iene the pressure, t wanted to * Foften fel pressure ach student chose one of the text lachins and completed it to make a short text thus moving from text reception to text production. Figure 55's an example of one of these text. My fooling in the erowl was gooel and rot = “ oD” The reason why J had a good foclag is that all members where ia ‘the cercle and nobeoly una out of tt. Jé gore ma the Jeoling that we are alf fesenda soc that thurn iz nobly alone The other fooling was net gout, because J throught for amament about a 8 Toxt publication ‘The students’ texts were put up in suitable spots around the classroom, Set far enough apart for everyone to be able to wander around the room and read them without crowding. This mode of publication seemed particulary appropriate here, as texts so rel In emotional content need to be read privately. was up to the students how many texts they read and how long they spent reading them (ive minutes inthe tral class), This was In line with ‘ur long-term aim of movement towards independence in tearning 9 Feedback ‘The teacher then asked the students to give feedback to one of more fellow writers onthe language and content of tele piece of writing, Here is an extract from one feedback conversation (about a eilferent plece of writing from that in Fg, 35): Student 1 You write. fl ood and bad... but fel you cant fe! good and bad a the same cine Student 2. Yes... know wht you mean, but ft bad bacause it was hot art don't feel goad when Ie ht and felt good because ne were a ‘ogee Student (ods n alow woe) think some pple woul tke to make some- ody angry... That's geod because we were altogether. You ere have the sare fing, but! hin waa ho. think the lace was too sma Student 2 Yes tats ht CONCLUDING DISCUSSION When you tell your students exactly what to read (and possibly also ‘exactly when to read it), you ate depriving them of the whole natural process of deciding to read something, sesing what there Is to read, forming images of what the different choices might contain and, finally, ‘choosing something to read on the basis of these speculative images, I 's important ~ and possible - to compensate for this oes. One purpose ofthis unit has been to suggest some ways of doing this in class; that is, hhow to generate and exploit Interest im and experience with a text tople belore the text Is encountered, Another purpose has been to suggest a method of organising eitial analysis ofa text ‘rationale for this method Is that asocation of vocabulary with clear ‘mental Images of situations “(including an emotional dlinension) is ‘now well known to Increase memorabilty, and s0 learning. tn addition,‘enenia TeENAcens, attention tothe emotional mension ofa tet increases the quality of any Student writing which Is based on that text, Regular attention to this ‘dimension raises the quality of student writing generally as i inclines students to write with more ofa ew to having an effect on a reader. The ‘publication’ activity also has its longterm pay-off in students writing with heightened awareness of the need to be Intligible and Interesting fora specific readership, Variations: Again, tke al! our units, this one can be adapted to diferent levels, age {groups and needs, and also different texta, One colleague, who teeches Ina quiet ural district, used The Crowd inthe Noose’ activity to prepare her class fora text about a trafic jam in New York, a text whlch she fet ‘would otherwise strike them as to2 emote to be of interest. Here i another activity which like "The Crowd ia the Noose’, har a strong emotional Impact that can be exploited to prepare a class you ‘ow fairly well for any test abou! personal change. (We learnt this from (Gund! Kutschera, a trainer in Newo-Lingulstlc Programming) 1 Toll everyone that they are (literally) going to go for a half-hour walk with a purpose but no destination 2 Tell them to ask themselves the following three questions while they are gone 1 Where am ? (= The present stage of my developmen © Where am I going? ¢ What are my alms?) * What do I need to fearn in order to get there? (« What knowledge and ablities do need?) Make sure that everyone is clear about the significance of ac question. 4 Tell them that instead of tying to answer the questions in words, they should steoll around and allow thelr subconscious to notice of Imagine, for each question, an cbject (e-, a stone ora leaf or a natural property (ex the warmth of the sun or the colours of the rainbow) ‘which symbolises an answer. 4 Ask your students to bring their objects back to clas, i possible, When they return, ask them to form groups of three. In turn, each student reports their findings while the other two, by asking ques tions or otherssise encouraging the reporter to elaborate, try to learn as much a8 they ean about the reasans for each choice of abject oF property, (Of course, every participant must maintain a strictly nonjudgmental stance. Students often report galning deep and surprising Insights About themselves and each other. Mm UNIT 4 Housework Developing a listening comprehension exercise into a real language encounter (ever Intermedinte + Frame 8 hous (RAC CTASS Twent2ight fourteen: tofitesnyearcis inthe auth yor of English the ity minute lessons a weet Taos - Malin cessioom Istening aes rolvar, teresting and motivating: Sensis ing studanes tothe sua of ste itenng: nawng tam # stent too ole Psy guiding students wands the lornstion of beter fee communication el, specteaty te mackaies of turtaba: encounging stems to tak about their cpio and fetngs Kagan ree ands Cra ney: Hstonings wing: seadng, scour Fenuras ine tnt: vocabulary keyed to txt and top te ‘Stage I> Handcut of strest map en shopping Ist Fg 4.1, 5 Siage2.Audioesecote rom Teak Lustaning (Bund od Stokes 1981) ‘tape 5: Display of stotrsents on paper or OFP vansporercios (Fig. 46,0. SB and-ut ef seucures to use escurson (ables on p89), postr ol expresions une in trating lpia i. 48, p60) Stage 8: Handout of model acup ecerip &0) Siage 10: Hanous of grit fi. 4.7. 9.62) and ‘Capman Family Coney ig aa08)“excame resnncens a BACKGROUND AND RATIONALE Nowadays it Is easy for teachers to provide varled practice in the listening ski. Both eoursebooks and skills books offer wide range of listening materials for earners of allevels. However, these materials ~ 3s potentially interesting in content as they may be —are aten remote rom the concerns of students, particularly oaes learning in a nom-Engish- speaking country, One of our alms here has been to show how students ean be brought to see what thei reality has in common with that presented ina recording set in a forega culture. ‘We will also try to show a way of exploiting a text tha is inguistically ‘above the level of your students ~ a way that enables them to finish the listening encouraged by their suecess at hearing the most important Information, and that also moves on to useful speaking practice UNIT SUMMARY Lesson 1 Presistoning scone setting ‘Students speculate about hanet-out (nap and shopping Hist, se Fig. 4.1) 2 Presentation ofthe litoning text Students extract key bits of information from a listening text (Blundell and Stokes 1981) and label shops shown on the map. 3 Taking on oes Role plays (teacher-studonts; students-teacher, students-students) Lesson 2 Bridging the gap tothe studots’ word iit or present necessary vocabulary List it on the board. Then rub it ‘out and rewrite it in a structure suggested entirely, oF partly, by the Students. The students write simple sentences which they expand and ‘uid nto text, 5 Contentorented qroupwrk Students discuss some provocative statements presented in speech bubbles. If necessary, hand out sheets whieh provide use(ul language structures anc/or produce a poster showing language that ts useful In ‘aciitating turntaking in group discussion. Lesson 3 6 Reporting on the group discussions ‘Given an imaginary group report as a model text, the groups report the results of their discussions to the whole class 1 Preparing role plays Students imagine family situations which feature solutions to same of the problems raised so far. They then prepare role plays based on these imaginary amily situations. 8 Roleplay ‘Students present thelr role plays tothe class. Lesson 4 9 Process evaluation Students discuss the solutions shown inthe role plays and diseuss their Invtole experiences, 10 Tex presentation Present the ‘Chapman Family Contract’ to show the kinds of solutions that a family might reach. Give out a grid to guide the students In drawing essential information from the text Unit 5 Cass conact, shows how to develop work done inthis unit ane apply itto personal interaction Inthe class 1 Pre-listening scene setting aay gett tae Hb apts bor ones Ope te Bayne, leat warpayer =: HousewoneTEACHING TEENAGERS. ‘The teacher began by handing out a copy of a map and a shopping list, (Fg. 41) and encouraging the students to speculate about the use to ‘whieh they would be pit. She accepted their contributions appre- atively, avoiding such stereotypical teacheriike behaviour as the echoing of student contributions (eg. Teacher: What's this map. 7Students"A 7 Teacher:"A mp). 2 Presentation of the listening text Fist the teacher asked the class to predict what the Hstening text was going to be about When they had made thelr guesses, she asked the Students to label the buildings on the map as they heard clues in the recorded dialogue, Here is the tapsscript of the dialogue Fiona OX Judy, Ie got the it here Em... now, dyou think there's anyhing suo Foca soy Fiona sud Fiona sud Fiona uty dud Fiona os Fiona sy Foca sy Jug ‘he you nena? No, that’s eveything actualy. You don't mind going, Fiona, do you? Not lke shopping and ancy, he to find ny wy around hare a ele bi ‘Oh, thar’ emandous then. Wal, shall we just un hough the shopping Ist v0 mate sure you know where al the shops are? Good idea Fi. O, hare goes, the fst hing ve got coe lve white {oat Now, where shal get tha fom? Yes ifyou get that from the baker's... fem the baker's) so that's ice snd eh Yes, OK, erm... Dowd get thee form here? Wel not very far You just 9 down New Soeet, which s where we ae, (es) aed is onthe other sie ofthe oad onthe comer oF High Set and New Steer, soi en the ket Good, Fine. Got that... and ea pound of apes. Nw, where's you sual buy your anoles? AL the greengrocer’s (Uv you know the one t's vary very close. t's exc to the baker’... actualy Before you gett the baker's (Op the lt-nand se of New Srect?™ ight 105 onthe same se of te 005 asthe baker's OK erm... 3 pound of cheese Yes you ge tha fram the C-ap where theres plenty of choke rom the Co-op. (es) Mmmm ‘And again that's quite easy fo get ta. (Mim) You go Fight the way down ew Steet unt yu get tthe High Stet. Oh, 50s onpaste That's ight. and (tr huh) the Co-op ison the oer ste of the road just ‘oppasite New Steet ard you can't miss Yes, OK, So, that's er... cheese a the Conop F..-box of sues Now, vehere would you lke me 1 ge! these trom? Probably the chamist bes, he chemist, mn) shoul think. fs usualy cheaper there (OK) And that's on tis side of the road, 50 you just go down New Steet and is nthe rght ison... aga an the comer of High Steet and New Stet just anpeite the baker's ona Ohyes. Yes, remembey. Ye Fine Em. anda rge tube of toot Er. shal get that from the chemist 95 wo? Judy Probably best, yes. save you te roa Fona OK Fine And er” oh the. yes, the loa newspaper, Sudy Yes get that om the newsagents Fiona Yes, right Judy Now, that iin the High Steet Ces on the opposte comer tothe Co-op Thee’ very smal sretn between Fiona Oh tink ve sen it (Ys) Yes, is actualy on the commer. Judy 1¢5on the camer opposite the Coop ~ quite a sal shop. ona. Fine. And ls ofa ama leer. an sir eter, ludy Ah, yes: New ifyeu get that rom the Pst Office (mney) which i ext the Conop the other ae, There's he Fiona Next to the Coop Judy Yes, 50's on High Stet (Yes) andi’... heres the Post Office, then the oop, and then over the oad are the newsagent’ So there's those Yee shops in the hgh Steet Fona Right then. Wel, be of now: did That's love. Thanks very mach Fora OK See ou in hal an hour os. day OF See pou oer Fens Bye ey Bye - Bundt ands Stes, Tak ting, CUP 181 26.76 Alter the students had Istened to the dialogue once, the teacher gave them a minute to compare their labels in pairs. When she asked if everything was clear, some students said they dit not agree about their labels so the teacher decided to play the dialogue a second tie, Normally, when we hear someone speaking, we ate. already in possession of clues which give us a framework for interpreting what we heat. For example the setting who they are, what they might want andl so on. The copy of the map and the shopping list not only provided some of this framework, but also helped to make the students aware of basic language items in the dialogue which they would deed to know about later on (eq street names and shopping goods). (The tapeseript of ‘the dialogue was never shown to the students) ‘The listening activity prepared the students for the role play by giving ‘them a model for each of the two roles. nthe following stage the students remembered the models and thus identiied with them,‘TEACHING TEENAGERS. 3 Taking on roles [Now thatthe students were familar with the gist and key language in the listening tet, the roleplay work began: Teacher We ae at Jud/'s house naw I do the shopping for you. o you can sand me shopping now. Are ou 200)? students Yes. {eather What do you want me to getforyou? Student 1 fof of bread Teacher Where can get that? Student2_ Atte baker's You must 90 down the {At this point oral practice with the dialogue was very controlled ~ ke ‘drill 0 fact. Nevertholess, it was meaningful and communicatively relevant, and began the process of role identification, ‘Beginning dialogue work in this fashion tends to foster authenticity In Intonation, look and gesture. You will probably need to intervene ‘occasionally with corrections, but these should be ina style as close as possible to the style of the dialogue Itself. (This is sometimes called ‘natural response correction) Teacher Where do you usu uy your apes? Student At the greengrocer’s. Teacher Where's hat? Student Before you geting tothe bakers Teacher Ah Before get 9 the baker's, ind the toothpaste? Student (always buy toothpaste bythe chemist, Teacher At the cham’, you mean? Student Af the cham’ yes [Next the roles were swapped, with the teacher taking the one thatthe students had taken before. Then the students practised the dialogue in pairs, all at the same time. In each pair one student used the map as a ‘memory aid In giving directions tothe student who had the role ofthe stranger. Comment: Some teachers are araid that in an activity like this students ‘will make masses of mistakes and even, in a sense, be practising error ridden language. However, you can view an activity like this as an ‘opportunity for you to circulate among the students and listenin, in forder to form a clear Idea of the dilficuties with both the language land the task, The can be lnvaluabletn deciding what you need to retesch fn order to help students to overcome their most common, mast basic ‘or most easily changeable errors. ousewon 4 Bridging the gap to the students’ world ‘The teacher then asked the students whether any of them ever did the ‘shopping or helped with other household chores. Tals involved the elicitation and presentation ofa certain amount of new vocabulary which the teacher wrote on the board. When the necessary vocabulary had been elicited, the teacher cleaned the board and then reclicited the ‘same vocabulary after asking the students net to look at any notes they had taken. As they recalled the vocabulary, ie teacher, with their help, srouped words Into small collocations and orcered them as shown below: Household chores Equipment wash thedihes —— dlshuasher Iron thecloshes vacuum deaner sweep the oor stove rocner thecorpets —_spimier a thecooking on wate the flowers oan the windows Adjectives mend the comes nevsting ‘mow the lawn necessary {sy up the rooms eful make the beds sles go shopeing tt bby the table sly ~ Piepho (1882, pp. 11 I suggests a simple procedure whereby students who are given such structured lst of vocabulary can move Ina veatively short time to production of meaningful texts. The fist stop here was, that the teacher asked the students to produce simple sentences, asin Figure 4.2, using words from the list they wished, Lt Eat decanter It’s for girls. ‘The students then expanded these simple sertences by adding in words {Gomeuimes, often and sual) provided by the teacher (eee Fig. 43). J rometimes help my brother to bake a cake} never de the cleaning. My mother tally makes vhe bed in my room.Teagan TEENAGERS, Figure AS Next they added the words and, but, therfore, thar's why and for. Tis resulted in longer sentences but ones stil not too demanding in terms of grammar and text structure (See Fig. 44) Howse work is nat very intersting. That iswhy, Tnover hela my methon Bat on Lundiup: I usually make the broakfest for Chall family, therefore pug ethan tikes Sundays much, kast Sunday f cud not Haake he breakfast, bose} twas itt in ed T had 3b flu By putting their thoughts down on paper, the learners rehearsed Janguage they would need in disesssion later on. 5 Content-oriented groupwork Next the teacher displayed statements which were related to familar ‘aspects of students tives, These statements were writen on large sheets ‘of paper in the form.of speech budbes (see ig. 48) ‘The teacher organised the students into groups of fve or six, saying that in a couple of minutes they should discuss the statements in the speech bubbles. In order to prevent group discussion from floundering ‘oF drifting into the mother tongue, the teacher gave each student a hand- ‘out showing the language most useful for the discussion, The discs sion phrases were presented inthe form of substitution tables: ooy | faleo | me wnat te| git |sidis|not | problem fr| my mother mother) | sometines| ny tami. japiy rather) has to de al wrk [oer oy | does notrep ‘ink its| potvigk| thatthe] git | need potash up ox does not go shopping. alnays 1 Tee | he with ——|esualy —doare... |? ‘Bo you |somerimes| go. hardly ever Naturally, it Is impossible to completely predict what students are song to want to say in euch discussions Ve tried, however, to make our hhandouts as useful as possible by composing them to reflect the class's ‘interests and language level “The teacher made sure that everyone understood all this language, gave them ime to select what they wanted to say and then asked the roups to begin thelr discussions. “Teonage learners need encouragement in turm-taking If some are not to dominate and others to be let out of grow discussions. A display such as the one shown in Figure 4.6 can figure ineegolar training in turmtaking, Here isan excerpt from the lesson transcript Student 1 alnays helo my motrin the Kt ‘Studer 2 hin is ot OK thar the mother does the housewevk alone. aivays ‘ot always, but sometimes helo my meer. What do you tin. 5? Surtrt 3 Yar, 00. Bit dons to washup. Strlent 4 think ts nt fawn the father cone home rom work he oniy wane to havea rest. thnk he can hep the othe and the children with the hrausencrk Student 2 And you A? Stent § J lean the shoes forall my mathar ard my father. Student 3 Thar rot cant* reach Teenacens Teacher Why do you think thats no ight? Student 2 The fther make it dr. Student & (o Student §) You con't dt think tha’ ot ht Student Yes Student 3 F think thats ty. Egon. | [herve | Ebzomemee a] EERE So! [aerepeme —)«SOO[Reraonramaegeie? 6 Roporting on the group discussions Aer the discussions ln groups, the teacher asked the students to write feports on the process well asthe results of thelr dacussons, She laid the groundwork for this by gving out @ model geoup report. This Served two main purposes, shoved Now to summatie the content ol fiscassion and it also ingicated important elements of discussion a8 & process, Tat, besides being a mage fr language, length and forma, Tigured in «campaign lo make students avare ofthe preconditions and ‘names of suceestl communtation. ere isan example of report created by one ofthe group inthe tral, cuss For us the dcusson was very intersting. We don't think that evrything that people said about housenork 1s ight We all understond what dhe two mothers ‘2 ut same of us ao do ot help cur mothers 3 al. We sr poblems with fur Engish in the ascusson, bur Sometimes it was cifeult to undestand exch other 7 Preparing role plays ‘The students read out thelr group reports tothe whole class, Aterards the teacher summarised the main points of conflict and then put the Students Into groups again and asked thes to maging family situations in which solutions to the confilets would be possible, The teacher also asked each group to prepare a cle play based on these situations, She Houseworx reminded them they would need to decide the roles and the setting and also develop a rough plot Once the students decided these things, they practised their role plays in thelr groups. (ee the discussion of how a roleplay can be bull up in Unit 1, Stages 9 and 10.) 8 Role play Here i an excerpt from one roleplay: Student 1m the grandmother Student 2 Ym Angela. Student 3 fim Perr. Student Fm 6ve Student 5 And the mother, Student 3 Someane must go out with the doa Student F danke to.ge outwith te dog This gander work Student 1 7hisis your work Student 4 Oh no" Angel, you must go out with te dog. Student2 I must mae the beds. ‘Studant 3 ke 0 make the beds. Student 5 (enters) What's the matter? Stop thot me. Student 4 Fr... she don't. e don’? ket wath theca, Student You mes wash theca. You must aun the windows, You must go aut ith the dog and you must make te beds Student 2. must wash the widows? We Rave ten vinous inthe hase! Student 3 Wash the car? fanneyen) Student 4 don't want to make the beds. Student 1 (ighing) OK 99 out withthe dog 9 Process evaluation In the metadiscussion that followed, the tescher and class talked about what it was like for students to play people in situations diferent from thelr own. Then teacher and students decided whether and how the role plays suggested workable solutions to the problems that had come up earlier in the group discussions in Stage 5, ‘As i happens, the role plays do not usually include real solutions to the problems they are built around. Theee are typeally repressed or falsely solved by means of traditional avoidance strategies. For example, In the excerpt above, nobody actually ald they were willing to do the housework Instead of looking for a fair solution and dealing frankly With matters of conflict, tie grandmother offers a pseudo-solution by volunteering to do the chores, which, of course, makes It unnecessary for any of the other members of the family to change thelr behaviour You can work to change the altitudes that underke these peewdo-[TEACHING TEENAGERS solutions by elicting the consequences of the different behaviours Involved and by gulding your class In a consideration of the attitudes and behaviours in terms of fairness v. tradition, (It may be necessary to tlscuss these questions inthe students’ mother tongue, their command ofthe target language is stil weak) The insights students gain from these éiscussions have the long-term potential to transfer tothe elassreom and result in more considerate and cooperative interaction. 10 Text presentation In order to indicate a possible alternative solution toa problematic family situation, the teacher handed out 2 grid to complete (Fig. 4.7) and then the ‘Chapman Family Contract’ Fig. 4.8). The assumption was that the reading would be easier forthe students because the issues it raised had been thoroughly contextualised in the preceding stages of the unit. CONTRACT for the Chapman Family usec. 2 aebees fe nity ~ yun nd old ~ mat do she sinus sen bave a sight to being Seiends tons wtenver ehey eosin: 2A be fae sisosds Fon bp ‘0098, ceacor "Fong FopmandNS, tial worker) Shan Lap e908 8, 98 compat 2 ‘Neen Chapman (2960 14 1 hiok 00d | ] In think es ee | ‘The students’ task was to enter the key elements of the charter nto the grid. As wells focusing the students’ attention on the main topics of, the charter, the grid provided them with key expressions which they could use i the subsequent group discussion (eg. I thitk I Is fle that the children inthe family are allowed to etay up as long as they want to) ‘The grid also helped students to break up this syntactically complex text into simpler units and later proviced them witha framework for writing of their owa (as in Ure following un ‘AMter reading and fling out thele gris, the students discussed the charter in groups. This brought together all the threads ofthe unit so far: the students’ own experiences, the solutions and suggestions given in the chatter and thelr experiences In the role play and the metadiscussioa stages. CONCLUDING DISCUSSION ‘The main threads of the sequence of activiles described above are as follows: Firstly, we have tried to show how stimulation of students’ alfective Interest in atopic can have pay’olls in produetive work (here, preparation for and performance of role plas) after alistening activity ‘Secondly. we have shown how in aur til class a listening ged was used forthe dual purpose of (a) encouragingstudents to listen lor the key messages ina listening text and discouraging them Irom overstretching themselves by trying to hear the exact wording throughout, and (0) providing a framework for structuring an prompting follow-on role lays. Another strand in this unit has been the importance of active listening, ‘hat is listening with Identiicalfon, with a vew to eventual participa By identifying with the roles of the speakers in the recorded Hstening (Gage 3) and drawing on thelr own experiences at home (Stage 1), the students gtadvally became able, and’ wiling, 10 express thelr own Opinions and feelings. Especially in Stages 8 and 9 (conflict resolution), i{EAcHaNG TEENAGERS ‘was important for students to listen with inoolvement Pike and Selby (1988, p. 125) putt this way: ‘Listening requires a combination of hearing lwhat another person says and active involvement in what she is saying. ‘They cast interesting light on this cotion of active, or empathi, listening through an analysis of the meaningful components of the Chinese character for listen Figure 4.5). ye (Giese Say, ia Tosca, Sob! Laver Hod Suge 1856.12 {A similar perspective on listening is evident in the following extract from Momo’, a story by Michael Ende. Both the Chinese character and the story can stimulate fll classroam meta-dllscussions on listening -Mosmo could lst in such 2 way that worried and indecive people knew thar ‘wn minds from ane mament tthe nat. or shy people fet suddenly canient ‘and 31 ease or donnhearted pecole ft happy aed hep. nd if someone fle that is fe hod been an utter fare, ano thot he hese wes ony one areng Imilions of wholly unimparant people who could be reploced as easy a braten inoupanes, he woul go and pour out fis heart 9 Momo. Ad, eve a Fe poke, he would come fo realize by sms mysterious means that he wes absolutely lwreng: that there was any ene parson ike himsat in te whee word, a that Consequenty, he mattered t0 the ved in hs avn particular nay Such wes ‘oomo's alent for Istering. iret nts, Moma, Poa 1988p. 1810 UNIT 5 Class contract A class and their teacher decide on their own ground rules TC cass Twont-two twee to tinaon yar he ed year of Engh; fee fy inns Bling up tho mut! west routed for cseusion of feelings normyconcesas from teachers: davelging empty, enecureing rlecton on classroom cles on bohaviouts:senstising students obs actors cone relation ‘Stags 2 Cape of dot and don'ts thi cen ben ‘Stage 2: Pape or students to enw signs on Sape3. alutack Sage Substtuton tppers Stage 5: alutace [Sage 8:_ Two lage sheets a paper forthe cas entact Je Fg 53, 9.7 large Bank gape spac bubs, flBACKGROUND AND RATIONALE It might ot fist appear artificial to have students use the frign language to alscuss such things as how they fe! about tar dss and t might, 28 We ‘2pps2r demotvatng for stents fuze the farign language t0 express such Eingsas te itatin cong aort ame: ter Wee about re ard We have, however, noticed in our work with students that despite their dats with the foreign language and with presumably unfemiliar dicoure ‘customs, they have often participated in dizusion nthe foreign Tongue with ‘100 interest: the primary canteen was aluays meaning and content net the language se {Bbc ana W tan, Kassnzosach Koaruntanies Unter esp und Anvegung. Qt ud je 197.108 ‘Our experience strongly suggests that Black and Butzkamm ate eight. (Once English has been established as the main mediuin of communication ‘uring the English lesson, itis quite possible to take the here and now of the classroom as a source for talking points, not just from time to time, Dut as a matter of course. In fact, we have frequently seen that students, Doth adults and adolescents, often find that there aro some topics itis easier to discuss in English than in their mother tongue. For example, in talking about feelings, students may find that using the foreign language enables them to express thoughts which, if the mother tongue were used, ‘would go against certain taboos. Use of the foreign language seems t0 five some students the feeling that the discussion staking place beyond the reach of these taboos. a plauaing this unit we wanted to test our assumption that, by building up trust in the classroom, we may be able to create a climate that ‘encourages students to express the feelings that they have in these taboo areas, We decided to begin by making students avare of the constraints fon them in everyday Mfe and thea move toa discussion of interaction in the classroom and the constraints involved there. Finally, by getting students to reflect on thelr roles and behaviour, we hoped to lead some to modify their classroom behaviour forthe Deter ‘Additionally as in the previous unt, a deeper alm was to help students: © learn to deal with confit openly’ by understanding the feelings, at titudes and hehaviour of others ‘develop the habit of considering if er how to modify thelr own be haviour in order to lessen contict, UNIT SUMMARY Lesson 1 Brainstorming Confront the students with signs bearing do's and don'ts, They respond spontaneously 2 Drawing ‘Students draw additional signs on sheets of paper. 3 Focusing onthe topic Ina quiet period students ponder the messages in these signs. Students write do's and don'ts on prepared speech bubbles Lesson2 5 Countor- arguments In pairs oF groups, students select one speech bubble and use it as the beginning ofa vale play dialogue. Students write down their dialogues. 6 Conflict dialogue ‘The students present ther role plays tothe whole class, Lesson3 7 Widening tho topic resent the ‘Chapman Family Contract’ as an example of possible so- lutions in one contlet area (S00 Fig 48, p.65, 8 Cont arent groupeork ‘The prompts from the grid help In eleiting suggestions for a ‘class contract’. nitialy, students note down points individually, then in groups ‘a abasis fo futher work Lessons 4 and 5 9 Class patament Ina whole group session students discuss and select the suggestions and then Incorporate them into a final copy of a class contract which ‘everyone signs It ls put onthe wall for permanent display. 1 Brainstorming ‘The teacher presented. or rather confronted, the class with a collage of ‘everyday signs that say what to do and whst not to do. The example in Figure 8:1 comes from a magazine article about the proliferation of signs that children ae faced with dally‘TeAguine Teenacens Fie. = Ts Sp ice ‘Sg vette Flom Unser Kd 19799.79 At first the teecher was silent and waited for students to comment Spontaneously. When comment tegan to flag, he quickly put these prompts on the board: 1 ink es nto that 1 understand wny Fink chicren shouldbe alowed 2 Gronnyps often He waited patiently and gave stucents lots of time to think and speak 2 Drawing When comment showed signs of dving up, the teacher passed out large sheets of paper and asked students to draw other signs that they saw in their daily lives, both inside and ouside school. He stressed that what he hha In mind was not carefully dravn works of sigr-painter’s art ‘One by one, the students presented theie drawings to the class. Each dime, the ‘audlence” speculated about why the speaker had drawn that particular sign. The speaker either sald “Yes, that's what I meant” or explained what it was that they actually did mean, ational: The alm in asking for more constraining and prohibitory signs was not to favite students to rebel against every constraint on thelr ‘behaviour, but to begin to make them aware that constraints can be more for less sensible and to set the stage for later discussion of how some could be modiied 3 Focusing on the topi After all the students had presented their signs, they stuck them on the wal. The teacher then asked them to ponder the sign fora while and to tty to think of other constraints ané prohibitions affecting them in their dally lives. After soliciting, and briefly discussing their contebutlons, the teacher then focused the éscussion on thelr Ives In school. He began by asking for complete silence, stressing that since was essential for what thoy wore about to do. He thea asked them to close their eyes and think back to and brielly rolive insehoo! experiences of constraints ane prohibitions. Comment: It can be a Ite dificult to manage a sucessful reflection time with a class that has never tried this kind of thing before. Younger students especially can have difficulty at first in setting down to this Kind of activity. They wil probably be unusedto taking thelr own feelings And attitudes seriously (much lea discussingthem, even tn thelr mother tongue), and 30 may find it quite dificult to be quiet in the beginning ‘They may gigale, be uncooperative or even disruptive Tm such a case it can be a good Idea eter ater or right then and there to bring the students felings out into the open. Take care to be non- judgmental and to clearly show your clas that you take their comments Seriously. Such whole class discussions can end in understandings which you and the students can reler back to later. One way of doing this 's to wrlte a symbol or word on the board and tel students to remenaber the discussion they just had whenever they see it written on the board The result can be much more desirable than that you coud achieve by latervening verbally. One symbol we have use fs shown in Figure 52TeAQHING TeenAGERS, owes 4 Defining norms In this stage the students reported the experiences they had recalled during the reflective phase. For this they used basic langage presented na substitution table on a poster (see Fig. 5.3). Though he did help with language the teacher added no evaluative feedback. The teacher then handed out large blank speech bubbles made of paper and asked the students to fill them i, In English, with do's and ‘don'ts, He stressed thatthe seatexces should be writen In large letters 0 they could be read from a distance. Here are the (corrected) state ‘ments thatthe students wrote: tis fxbien to walk on the gras Chien are ot alowed fo smoke hn schoo (Children are not alowed fo shout a thar parents Chiron must nat wear shoes the essa (Chien must not tlk during the lesson Boys haven right to say as are sy Chien are often nat atone to chew gum, Chien have no right tel tek pareats that hey she nat speak at dinner. Chien are not alowed 1 say what tay want a choo ‘Cidre ee pot alowed to go out afte nine 0 eck. ‘Cigren are not awed to talk during most lessons ‘arma, cilren ae ns alone ta othe sme dings a8 gros. 5 Counter-arguments [Next the teacher and students stuck the speech bubbles up on the walls around the class. The teacher then put the students into pais (groups fof four also work). Fach pair selected one or more spesch bubbles which had an emotional impact on one er both of them. Then they used what was written in (one of) their speech bubble(s) as the beginning of a jalogue which they then worked out and wrote dawn. When these were finished and had been rehearsed to the point where both partners agreed how It went, they wrote it down turn-dytuen on other speech Dubble cutouts as shows in Figures. Children ane not allowed ta go out afr 4 obfock Te summer it int: dank ‘at this time and thine unnt ter see. in Che cinema, end untill Yoctock. A bot The neat step was further rehearsal (In palrs of the fisted dialogues in the speech bubbles. Comment: With a class that has never done this kind of work before, it helps if you and the class compose one speech bubble dialogue together before pairs or groups write thelr own. One way of doing this isto stand at the board eliciting Ideas for fling in one bank speech bubble. When ‘everyone agrees on what to putin the bubble, you or a secretary’ can fill itin and stick t onthe board. You then move tthe next bubble 6 Conflict dialogue The pairs now acted out the dialogues infront ofthe whole class.TEACHING TEENAGERS 7 Widening the topic In our experience, such role plays hardly ever feature such an amicable ending as in Figure 54. What comes to light is very often a reflection fof the conflicts students have in their everyday lives but which they so not really know how to resolve. Accordingly, inthe teal class, the teacher followed on from the role play stage by summarising the dilficulties involved In solving confit. He then guded the discussion on to other conflict areas such as the family, games and sports. The teacher and class discussed possible solutions to some of these conflicts. AS ‘often happens, students made the point that people can avoid conflict if they follow certain rules. ‘A the class had already done the unit on ‘Housework’ the teacher was able to refer back to the ‘Chapman Family Contract” Pig. 48, p.63), ‘whose function of establishing rules by group consent the stadents were ow better equipped to appreciate, Ita similar unit has not been dove, hhand out this contract along with the accompanying grid (Fig. 47, p. 62). ‘The class can, at tis point, work en the contract following the procedure outlined in Stage 10 of Unit In our class, students and teacher discussed the possibilty of com posing something similar to the ‘Chapman Family Contract’ for guiding personal interaction in class, 8 Content-oriented groupwork “The teacher asied the students.to, work individually at fist, and note down any Ideas they had for points that should be Included In a class contract, Then he asked the stulents to work in groupe and lst the problems they encountered in personal interaction in the class. He Stressed thatthe aim was to find realistic solutions to these problems and that this would demand some willingness to compromise. The search for solutions began with a ‘secretary’ In each group jetting down members contributions under these headings which the teacher had written on the boards Problemsin ourélss Things wedo nor lhe ules we'd kev hove Groupwork like this moves aloag faster Ifthe secretary records on tributions in keyword form. To exemplily ths, the teacher gave the fellowing explanato (fr example. am not too happy 260% the fc that aay aks such 9 ong tie ot the Begining ofeach son 1 let ate hoeware backs (Tescher ‘est board and fotes down ‘Csseem orgensaten” the problem ck ‘a Calc here kes oo much tne under te Tings we So not he Iodng) $0 2 rae 7 lke to suggest woud be tat everbody put ther Iromework Book on my desk cringe bask befoe the lon actualy Ss (Tencher nner ‘Hemanore onder bf zn’ nh hr coun) cuss conrRAct ter suggesting this procedure, the teacher also told the group that they would have tine towards the end of the ativity to work together to prodhice a summary oftheir thoughts in sentence form. Figure 5.5 is an excerpt from the ideas written down by one group. Note that the language that students needed for this had already been ‘worked with, particularly in the activites based on the ‘Chapman Family Contract. We would like to chew Chewing - gum We have ta speak english The students have ne right to tel us off Students Have to speak English too. The students should. hear to th teacher 9 Class parliament A spokesperson from each group read thelr conclusions out tothe whole ‘lass, With the teacher a8 faclitator (a student ean sometimes assume this role), the whole cis discussed the conclusions presented by the varlous groups. [Language which students might need In order to participate effectively in such a group discussion might be: | 900d J think 1 veel nes cn wot | IB. 1 dan agrs with what you said about {on tink fs 3 good ea fe The hing ont Jen wnylaot |e... we so sould shoudeAoqune Teewacens ‘hla tert ‘r'swont in econ) ‘The teacher then recorded on a large sheet of paper whatever the whole class had agreed should bei the class contract. A cass secretary rewrote this preliminary draft a: neatly as possible on another large ‘sheet of paper. Everyone, the teacher inchided, then signed the contract (Gee Fig. 5.6), which was thereafte kept on prominent display. oh tte estore te ‘ieee > Te sues ti CONCLUDING DISCUSSION ‘The Students involved In this tal unlt learned that the organisation of their class was not determined solely by the school. They learned that they-could discuss and decide ox important detals: They also learned ‘that they could do this n English In general, once students begin (o see that the nature and quality ‘of classroom interaction is, n important respects, thelte to decide, discussion of classroom rules aud whether and how they should be regulated ean become a regular Teature. Our experience is that a pre- requisite for this stage is a climate of trust, In this nit, we have ted to deseribe the implementation of several mesns of working towards realisation of such a climate ~ tat is, creation of silence for students to think in, directed meditation, reflection on past experiences, nom Jdgmentalistening and tranktess about one's own position and responsibilities. ‘As forthe contract, It fs import been gained 0 tick to, otherwise nothing has Mm UNIT 6 Feelings Developing awareness about emotions and empathy with others iver ome intrmediate hows (Tan ss “hi foreen-yarld in tei yer of English: Heo Hymns fess @| Tas Estpisting Inks bewean students fogs sot he worl and thecal of he lengiage es: propaing students to Tak abot fedings in Engin: ceveloing| Stadt! end yer ewe ait o tke clssmatertudens'eosngssoiousty aageage ae ds rat fuency, intonng: wing: functions and vecabtery for the exxession doecrinion of fons Stage |» Pictures of poste xpressing dierent emotons; Blutack Stage? Handautef substi we 6.78), Staged. Handaut of agra Fe. 83, . Stage&: Recorded fotening text Rondo. to ig. 64, pt Stage6: Handout of eagrsn Fig. 65.BACKGROUND AND RATIONALE Like all the other activity sequences described in ths book, this one was ‘designed to encourage students to reveal something of theit real thoughts and concerns inthe foreign language classroom. More specifically, we wanted to show how to establih a link between the students own feelings about the world and the realty ofthe language class. Although mainstream language teaching methodology has come ‘around to the view that the feelings of individual stadents ae important land must be taken into consideration, i stil seems that one’s personality asa student is rarely congruent with one's personality outside class, UNIT SUMMARY Lesson 1 1 Brainstorming Present some magazine pictures or photographs of people expressing lllerent emotions. 2 Spoculting about reasons for elings Groups discuss one picture and ty to agree on the feelings ofthe pers ‘or people shown in the pictures and the reasons why they have these feelings. Lesson 2 13 Towards tho learners’ own flings Present a ist of situatons likey to have emotional impact and words for feelings. The students select some ofthe situations and note down some ‘of the feelings they associate with Liem, 4 Analysis offeotiags In palrs or groups students compare and discuss their wor from Stage 3. Lesson 3 5 Presentation of listening text Students listen to a text. A grid Is used to guide the students towards an ‘understanding ofthe feelings imple in this text 6 Thinking backetioton ‘The words for feelings that the sudents have written in the grid are translerred to students own experiences. 1 Reporting ‘The students report on the insights they gaited in Stage 6. Lesson 4 £8 Dialogue building Working in pairs, students select one ofthe original magazine pletures, ‘They write a dialogue between the person or one of the people In the picture and some other person. The dialogue is written inside speech bubbles. 9 Roleplay ‘Studlnts det the role plays out infront ofthe whole class, 1 Brainstorming ‘The teacher had brought a selection of photos and magazine pictures of people in the grip of powerful emmotioas. She began by fing them tothe board. Among the photographs were ones stemming from recent well known events, such as wars and other catastrophes, as well as sporting events and a royal wedding ‘To make i easier for the students to interpret the visuals, the teacher fist gave them a couple of minutes Just to look atthe pictures. She then ‘posed questions like the following ‘© What has happened to her/himytem? What's her/hisAhetr problem? ‘© What about her/himythem? ‘© What has happened? © Doyou iow why ..? Comnent: If your students are used to preparing materials at home for their English classes, you can ask them to coleet and organise the display of visuals themselves. One advantage is that the students are better prepared for and more in the mood for what you have planned for them, ‘They lear too that you take them seriously snough to use materials they hhave made or gathered. We suggest, though that you do not shift al the work of visuals collection onto the students since the process of finding and choosing visuals often suggests new ways of using them, ‘The more current the event that a photograph relates, the clearer students" interpretations ofthese photographs tend to be. On the other hand, i there ate some pictures which they are not able to connect ‘with any particular happening students are more able to exercise thelr imaginations. And this in turn tends to lead to the kind of divergence ‘of opinion that stimulates discussionAca TEENAGERS sseunos 2 Speculating about reasons for feelings | In plenary, the students discussed what they thought the reasons were | Problems for the flings on people's faces, This began to bring students" own Youn, memories and associations out eto the apen, In order to feed in useful language the teacher asked students to refer to a substitution table {Gresenable onthe board ora and) os problems wt her mam. hscey este bent sad ha gota new cot wal ste |, Jevohing she | mas heoe» good ke | | taint Viet 1® lena” |®° Hie. | has wana bce ol snow aso at hems pocket mane. roe afaid of. rasmno pet. era i fs gota bad mak ‘Aer this, the clas moved on to a plenaty dscusion of one ofthe photographs in detail. As the discussion developed, the teacher briefly Faeroe ‘summarised students’ comments on the board hext to the photo, The Students then continued the discussion in groups by speculating about hhow the people in the other photos felt and what might be running Uiough thelr minds. Each group discussed one picture, and when they hha finshed ther discussion, the 3roup secretary went to the board and ‘wrote a summary of ther discussion next to thee picture, The following sums up one group's interpretation of a photograph of a zather sorrowiublooking boy : . he is aione * his ified doesn’ ove hin 1 fas problems ~ has nobody tak 1 {© prodiens at schootuth parents 1 no contact mith they people ‘has problems aking about his felis * haemo werk As a follow-up activity and a conclusion to this stage, the teacher asked the students to write a short text about a new photograph, which they nad to select themselves: 3 Towards the learners’ own feolings ‘The aim ofthis stage was to guide the students In a shift of focus from the feelings of other people to stuations of emotional impact that the students themselves Might have experienced. The teacher begaa this work by noting on the board) sitations and leelings which she thought her students might have experiencad (Figs. 6.1 and 6.2). 2 hon ING Wo, Poin, en a affetet surprised fet oe Stonisheg 9 a a ied 2 %& yoo Hag ed seared coast Mong ML ay bored tonely * Fn een, 84 8, Gs e In order to equip students with more et the words that they might need to discuss thelr feelings the teacher asked them to close their eyes and think of themselves in one of these situations, Alter a mingle oF $0 ‘of reflection, the teacher asked thei (0 put thelr feelings into words (German oF English) She noted these on the board in English and quickly ‘defined them for those who dint know them [Next she gave each student a diagram (Fig. 63). The students wrote fone ofthe situations the teacher had presented along each of six rays, as In the diagram. After taking some time to reflect, the students wrote an adjective i the ehrele at the end of each ray to describe the felings they \would Ravel they were in that situation,TEAChNa TEENAGERS, 4 Analysis of feelings ‘The sims of this stage were (1) :0 help develop in the students the habit of taling about ther flings In the foreign language and @) to help them to ind out about each other's flings and attitudes 50 a8, to foster the mutual understanding essential for social earning in proups, the stents compared the fecings that they thought they would have inthe diferent stuatins. As we had hoped, this triggered Zetive discussion not only about what they had written down, bt also ‘bout situations they actualy found themselves intel everyday ives, Teresa transerpt rom one of te group dlscussions ‘Student 1 How do you fel wien you tee ables with your parents? ‘Studeot 2 (fe! scored Student 1 Why? Student 2 Because they are anar. Student 1 What do ya do then? Studeat2 /g9 to my oom, Student 1 Why? Saunt 2 fant to ply my recor Student 1 Bo you fel good then? Student 2 Yes Student 1 And your parents? Student 2 ike them, Bo you ke your parents? Student 1 Yer 5 Presentation of listening text ln this stage, the teacher's alm was to present atypical textbook dialogue Ina way that would help the students to understand the probable emo- tions ofthe characters inthe dialogues, Example listening txt Guest Wha’ thst buling over there? fsa tractor factory. They also make al ins of machinery. {Guest Ad hat building over thera? That's another fctry Rares, TVs and 0 Guest tthe facto, too? That wes a fatey. They made clothes. But they closed down, Guest interest ty mother and my father workin a ates factey. iy father worked ina eae factory. Guest Wortea? Ac the mament he out of work Guest Thats ery bad, HE Popr er Bradt ltl, Cn ontanaeFigleotawar fis Kes 5-10 ‘aim 175 60 ‘This dialogue figures in the textbook as + means of introducing the past simple tis followed by exercises designed to give students con rolled practice with these verb forms. But there isa danger that students ‘will see any text used mainly or merely as vehicle for presenting certain linguistic forms as emotionally empty, for when a teacher uses a text in this fashion the feelings expressed in it wil almost certainly be left untapped. Take for example the expression ol sympathy inthe lat line of the dialogue above. One person's father is out of work, But few teachers will even scratch the verbal surface to get a the emotional source In order to make the students aware of the emotional !mpllcations in the dialogue, the teacher handed outa grid rlerring to relevant seetions In the text. (Fg. 64 shows such a gri filled out by one of the students Inthe tral lags) First, the teacher set students the task of filing in the grid. This they could either do during the listening or from memory allerwards. Finally, using thelr notes in the grids, the students reported their taterpretations to the whole class. This led to a discussion of cillorent perceptions and interpretations PERSON [FEELING [REASON] co quest surprised | parents’ jobs airnn | Gorman bay | excited pnd | ang yea | Ted person father unsure froovied | aut of work |4 vel behvour to ter vera peomince. Se sed the kare 6 Thinking back/Reflection to close their eyes and visualise ‘their’ dialogue in action as vividly as. Ne the stats oo the vray enone om the compe rosie She aan eto foe be pcos nee Fee ee set nena cece eee ea aa cao a ee lg atheists naar arene ons and al en ing hat they were aly ln Ore mae Say cae hn era (1) hun worried I — 7 problems? . ‘Oh. Pm sony 7 Reporting | coat 1 Yh go pate i= felt sappy | because 10 your teacher, --—-——— wield joss SSiuraty ot feet wy — a biaogu tung owes ‘The students, working in pairs, selected one of the pictures used in Stage I and wrote 4 dialogue between one or more of the people shown In the pleture and some other person not inthe picture Inthe tla class the teacher eephasised that the students’ behaviour Jn the rale plays should be appropriate for the roles they were playing, In particular, she tried to encourage the students to match thelr not 9 Role play Next, the students acted ther dialogues out infront ofthe whole class"TEACHING TEENAGERS CONCLUDING DISCUSSION Some teachers report that thelr students are reluctant to make the personal commitment necessary fcr such activities to work. Our ex perience has been that the aloof and sceptical behaviour of these Students often stems from a desire not to be taken in by teachers, the Girect representatives of an institution they dislike. Additionally, many more students now than previously have been alfected by the moral And emotional dislocation resulting ‘rom the disintegration of traditional Values and communities. Al that car be done ls to accept these attitudes land respect these students’ need for distance. Fortunately, there Is Imost always a strong underlying desire In these students to get thelr feelings out into the open. And, as It happens, your class may actually turn otto be the only forum some of your students will have. However, itis essential that anrone applying a humanistic metho- ology appreciates how an institutlenal setting threatens some students. Don't approach a refusal to cooperate naively. Accept it for what It Is, fot, for example, as motiveiess behiviour or a protest against You as persoa.Ityou don’ treat it as genuine, students are most unlikely to make the next steps. Very often these are towards respect for what you ate Laying to achieve an, finally, to agreement wit Mmm UNIT 7 Poetry alive Stimulating interaction, creativity and depth (ever od 2Shows ma ASS “Twentysigh fouraen- to tee-ynarldsin thal fouth yor of English tes ty saute nerore 3 week (aw Sensing students to the expressive power of pooty: stimulating creativity tough atetion to atmosphere: engaging students tank but eppronits rs of etecion an er a ony of ter wig Bud of age ae ood is ‘ra exprssions; wring polite expression of opinion Foams by English-speaking cision ekspayed on bore Fecotded adatve muse aymbote ples drew on lage sheets of ars, sao, oti pens, megane, give, Bi tok Ervelapes ioe for eo sent[TEAGHING TEENAGERS BACKGROUND AND RATIONALE Any poetry that students encounter in the classroom, is usually the ‘work of famous writers. There ae obvious dificulies in using literature ‘ofthis sort in lowerevel classes. For one thing, the language is very lkely to be too complex: for another, itmay be dificult to bring students to see the relevance ofthe content to ther own world of experience. In this unit we demonstrate a different approach to working with Poetry, one which exploits the ability of young people to merge thought {and emotion to produce language of special clarity, frankness and ex: pressive power. Additionally, in looking through the poems written by ‘the students in the trial class, we fied them convincing evidence that [poetry is uniquely sulted to the expression of personal identity, a matter ‘of particular concer to adolescents. We have also found that having Students write poetry In clas is an excellent way of inereasing thelr willingness to be spontancous and ereative on other, more common situations of language production. ‘The particular questions that shaped our aims In this unit were as follows: 1s It possible for inclass student waiting to be as emotionally ex pressive as that which students can produce in the daily ives out Side class ~ things ike diaries, short stores and letters? «© Schools allot considerable time to formal writing. Can some of this time beled with real iterary creativity? # Can we bridge the gap between students' own worlds of experience and the concerns of schoo! fe through poetry? Ts ttrealy possible for students to write poetry ina ford taniguage? '© We mentioned earlier that students are sometimes more able to die ceuss matters in depth and wehout inhibition inthe foreign language. Does this apply to poetry? We decided to find the anewers. We resolved, though, to scrupulously avold avert correction of error as teenagers are very quick to notice ‘whether, despite ltty words abcutereative expression, teacher's main concern is stil with ngulstic accuracy, UNIT SUMMARY Preparation 1 Sersiisationo poetry Students read display of poems written by English-speaking children, Lesson 1 2 Creating the mood Play soft meultative music as you put half a dozen generative posters up con the wal, 3 Creating posters and poems Students spit into groups and begin working on their posters. After a period of rellection on the posters, the stulents write poems suggested not only by the poster but also by the process of creating Kt. Students then sign their poems, 4 Ending he lesson Ooneealing the poems Each student puts thelr poem in an enveloze which ts sealed, ccllected and stored Lesson2 5 Reading ethos pooms Start the nest lesson with the same music as before. Hand the sealed ‘envelopes oat to the class at random, The students open the envelopes and read the poems within, 6 Emotional feedback Each student writes a letter to the author ofthe poem they have read. Lesson 3 Pt the poems and perhaps also the feedback letters on the poetry board, 17 Evaluation ‘You and the students evaluate the unit. Students waite feedback texts on the unit and read them out tothe whole clas. 1 Sensitisation to poetry In beginning this sequence we tried to make tt pain to the students that ‘the term ‘poem’ is not restricted to higbly polished works of art but that poetry comes In a great varity of forms and can be about all kinds of hinge ‘Our way of reinforcing and developing ths message was to present poems written by English-speaking children. We arvanged a selection of poems from magazines and books on a dispay board (see p.9 for some ‘Suggested sources of similar poems) 2 Creating the mood Here are the teacher's recollections of how te frst lesson began es the bresk paiod between two lessons, There was angering tension fom the previous maths son. The maths teacher was sisting at her ek Posy POETRY ALETEACHING TEENAGERS correcting afew romsining assignments The ferm thomeroon) teecher presse his ‘way through the turbulence in adr ‘0 make an announcement. The schol bell “ucdenly sled and the mats cache imped up ana Tt the room. tho midst (of ts pandemonium 1 set about fing six posters to the wall. The students, ‘mearoile showed unmistakable sens of confusion inthe presence of three ‘ferent teachers As they dct krew which was charge and might sudseniy [a7 ordering them about. Fay, tha other teachers lef sratched on a cape (of soft meditative muse, payed an the pes of Fen. A different and calmer ‘atmosphere seed on the room. Afra couple of minutes, when everyone had ‘aimed dow, | faded the marc ut Before! could speak, ane of the students suck up a conversation: Student Know what we are ging toa, Teacher Do you? Student Yes, we spesk about Teac About you? Student No, not about me. mean about eventody myst The teacher now spoke to the whole class, asking them to look at the symbolic pictures he had just put up (Fig. 7.1). After awhile he said:"You see all the materials? Td Uke you ‘0 get together in groups of equal size. Choose a poster and stand right front of t. You can play with words Stick pictures on the poster, writewords, and draw. l's better i'you don't tall alot! He gestured towards the sheets of paper, cards, seissors, pens, ‘lagazines and glue set out on a table 3 Creating posters and pooms ‘Stimulated by the musi, the students began working. The teacher broke in brielly: ‘Concentrate on the drawing on your poster. On the cards write the words that come to your mind when you look at your postr. Stick them on the poster anywhere you lke. You can also write on the poster, fr draw, or cut pictures out of the magizines and stick them on — whatever you want. think i's better not to ask questions.” He then started the muse again, Gradually the process of shaping the posters created a powertlly motivating dynamic. The more developed the posters became, the more ‘creativity they evoked. Ths came out clearlyin the extract from what one student wrote about this stage in the flnal evaluation on page 53, From time to time the students stood back trom thelr posters to took at what they had done and to form an impression of it. The teacher did ‘ot intervene fn ay way. [As groups finished their posters, the teacher gave them time to look at others" posters and to watch other groupe who were still working ‘This began the transition from the movement and spontaneity involved in creating the posters to the state of calm and reflection needed for oem writing The teacher asked the students to react to thelr own posters in the form of a poem. He reminded them of the fre structure ofthe hiidren’'s poems on the display board, ‘The writing of poems took up most of We last fiteen minutes oF 50 ofthis lesson. ostay AUVETEACHING TEENAGERS. 4 Ending the lesson / Concealing the poems Belore ending the lesson, the teacher asked the students to sign their poems, Interestingly, their feelings of authorship and identification with {thelr work were so strong that not one student signed thelr sheet at the top as they normally di at schoo While this was going on, the tescher handed out envelopes and asked tach student to put thelr poem into one but without marking the en elope in any way. The teacher then collected the envelopes and kept them until the next lesson, ‘The students involved in this tal lescon seemed to be reassured by the fact that their poems were thus carefully kept from public scrutiny at this stage. We had, however, asked the students if i was OK il we Published their poems later on. One oftheir poems is shown in gure 7-4. Sime Leases Mere daw , Wouctol you be me Prosnll once Sgt! Tian To Ging to be endl 2 habe nib ncosor to weep! 5 Reading others’ poems Te Is sometimes quite difficult to establish links In theme and content between lessons that take place some days apart. In the tial class we used the same instrumental music In the 2ext lesson as in the first nt order to re-evoke the mood In which the posters and poems had been created ‘With this music inthe background the teacher handed out the sealed ‘envelopes containing the poems and told the students to hand back te envelope with the poem inside if they happened to get their own, Excitement began to build as students realised what was happening — that not only was someone else going to be reading thelr poem but they were going to be reading someone else's. The euspense seemed fo heighten their alertness and contribute enormously to their in vvelvement and motivation. ‘They opened the eavelopes and read the poems in silence, 6 Emotional feedback [A recent approach to working with literature in school classrooms is to read a text notin the light of an expert's (probably the teacher's) in. terpretation of it, but rather to encourage personal interpretations, The teacher then tries to elaborate and retin all these individual inter pretations by staging activities which encourage students to compare and ‘contrast thelr interpretation with those of thelr colleagues and otherwise discuss and think about them, Ita inte spet of thls approach that the teacher sald: Write a letter to the poem's author. Write down what you think about the text, what you feel when you ead it. It willbe interesting forthe writer to learn what you lke about his or her poem. Feel fee to cele, £00. The students then each wrote a letter and gave it to the author ofthe poem they had read. One such letter is shown in Figure 7.5 and relates to the poem in Figure 7.4 Dear Manida.!!! uk grr cy ng, Yu ge nat agied facing, | trop you hese a el Snails hase ha selon ton Pek vee toed not weap. hack you Race ong Pent tos area Lovely gil ance | Lhe you very much‘TeACyNG TEENAGERS, Meanwhile the teacher cleared the display board to make way for the ‘class's poems which were then pinned Up for al to sce. Then after the fauthors had had time to read and think about the letters they had re- ‘ceived, everyone was free to stand up, move around and talk to both to ‘the student whose poem they had read and to the one who had given them a eter. Comment: As these examples indicate, the students reseted tothe poems seriously. Additionally, since ther actualy did have something to say to the authors, they saw this writing task as having a real and vivid communicative purpose. ‘Students shouldbe iree, of course, to withhold thelr work from ‘publication, but in our experience when an atmosphere of trust has been developed, fw ever do, 7 Evaluation (ur experiences in doing units ike this have convinced us that they not only deepen students" understanding and appreciation of literary texts in general, hut that they also give them useful insights Into processes ‘whereby they themselves can creste real pieces of at. To faciitate such growth in perspective, the teacher concluded this unit by asking his Students to produce a written evaluation of It and what they had ex perienced, Figure 7. shows a typeal expression of how enjeyable prac tically al the participants found ths work. My fovalist tersan. He Fat we got posto Wilh topics. We stuck thom, on the unll and Mr Puckta gave us felt pens Now he suitched on the cassette recorder. It ura 1 gout music to feat abmut the topic. The topic. of oun group was “S” And row we urote feeling -umdn and things witch we tought on the poster. 3 think that uaa the Best English Corson, because we tyene able to wrote ow feelings on the poster, Sut the ideas about poetry vr also gant. We wrote. the poetry also aut Pion awe topic. Now the pooors ang hanging on the wall in oun class, $0 that cach pupil could read thern. J hope we unit smone "supen-Cersons’. The Coston was gore for myself, 40 J think Another student wrote: In the beginning lt ot good. I couldnt think about words, but ten minutes later 1 had vnten aed wnten and J ddh't Knew vite to stop. Th was @ good fealing ‘This Is typical for the frst time we try a unit like this. Students may well have no confidence in their ablities to create anything at ell. How: ever, these abilities do not le far beneath thesurlace. CONCLUDING DISCUSSION ‘Teachers have frequently asked us how we introduce the idea of poems and get a cass working. Actually, n the tral class, students set to wore fn their poems in a matter-obfact manner with very tle in the way of stage managoment on the tescher’s part. AP important factor here was probably the amount of careful preparation leading up to the creative ‘writing phase. A display of poems had eon prepared and students haa hhad an opportunity to see what was there; in Stage 1 the teacher had sensitised her students to aspects of poetry which go beyond the stereo- typical features of rhyme and rhythm, such as personalisation of content. ‘The purpose of Stage 3 was to build an atmosphere conducive to creat: Ivity. Fnaly, the teacher was working within an_overall_ approach designed to foster students’ confidence in thelr abilities to express themselves generally. Suggested texts ‘The following are good sources of children's poems for inlusion on the dlsplay board deseribed in Stage I: Blshen E (ed) The School that i Like Penguin Books Ltd 1969 Cadbury's Book af Chidren's Poetry Beaver Books 1987 Dutt, A Thar’ life CUP 1879 Godwin, N (ed) Families and Friends, Town Li in Stor, Poem and Piture ‘O’Brien Educational 1978 Grossman, F Gating fom Here to There: Writing and Reading Poetry Boynton/Cook 1982 Linketter,& Kids Say the Darndest Tings Prectice-al 1957 Moskowitz, G Caring and Sharing in the Foreign Language Class Newbury House 1578 Opie, land P The Lore and Language of Schoolhitdren OUP 1959 och, K Rose Where Did You Get That Red? Rendon House 1973 Swan, M Kaleidoscope CUP 1979 and Spectrum CUP 1978 Shaw, # You Krow te Aunty Nelly? Wolfe 1970a UNIT 8 The theatre of the absurd Creating an understanding of absurdity - in everyday life and on stage ——— ‘Upper inermecino + “wentysk seventeen to elghtsenyserole in thei eighth your of Ena toe ‘eyminie lossons ¢weck mms Making Reroture personaly relevant to students: encouraging stunts 29 tak soit ther ew of th le on thew pew the wok; developing 3 tear theory liom the stasons! own sights: sensing lnrners to tbe sitforonce between conten and proces in up. (iapnage eas a ‘easng,ealysing ad escussing nary tors; vost ink to text ae ‘Siage 1! Handout of resdng text (Samuel Becket inthe “Aga of Gat”, Fg 81,98) ‘Stage: Noe ets pects of per Siape& _Blvtack o Slotpe lage sheets of separ Stages 6-7 Lage shoots of piper Stage Auso-ecoring of Wing fr Godot, selection of works by Becket ‘ating passe tom Wting for Godot. Tek Cards 8, Cis. 82- £84 p. 101-2, OHP vanesrencies: obvenmton ahora 8, pC Sage 10 Smal pees of paper rage 11 Handouts summering cussion (Fig. 8.11. 108) BACKGROUND AND RATIONALE (One of our aims in planning the sequence of activities we describe below was to find a way of developing an aspect of literary theory from students’ insights. We believed that this eculd only have the effect of ‘encouraging students to think more broadly and independently about ‘ther works of llerature they mlght read later on thet own, ‘The tople we settled on was Samuel Beckett and the theatre of the absurd, We decided to begin with a secondary tex (atext about a text) in ur tia class, since texts ofthis sort are sometimes found in advanced coursebooks. Also, the text we chose ~ because It touched both on the writer and his work - seemed to offer a general introduction tothe topic. “Another reason we chose this text is that many teachers like working With texts of this sort for the following reasons: (I) they often appear In coursebooks and supplementary materi with ready-made notes ‘on current events (here the commemoration of Beckett's seventyilth birthday); @ they often cover a wide topie in a compact form; and (3) they typically come with glossaries. In lac, trainee teachers in Austria are often asked to work with secondary texts by their trainers who feel that they are easier for an untrained teacher to work with because of the commentary that is supplied. Unfortunately, secondary texte tend to be rather dry compared with the Iterature they deal with. However, it ‘occurred to us that using a text that seemed rather flat on the surface, ‘would be a good test of our method. UNIT SUMMARY 1 Preparation Hond out the text ‘Samuel Beckett in the *Age of Godot" some days before starting the unit in lass. Lesson 1 2 Creating an absurd station Begin the fist lesson by behaving absurdly, 5 Collection of impressions Students note down thelr impressions on cares. 4 Cateporisng impressions In groups, the students swap cards, discuss, and categorise them, 5 Presentation af analysos ‘The groups present their findings by artanging their ened on large sheets of paper or producing mind maps. Summarise the students reactions on the board,TEACHING TEENAGERS. Lesson 2 6 Analysing the txt In small groups the students read excerpts from the text and analyse them using the categories Facts, Thais, and Reasons. Lesson 3 1 The groundworfor theory Collect the results ofthe groupwork and present them on a poster or on the board. Eliet a summary of the characteristics of the theatre of the absurd 18 Experiencing Hterature 1 Contentorientedgroupwork ‘Students work in small groups on diferent tasks. Some scan complete works, some read more closely, and some listen to representative passages 82 Processorented groupwork ‘A ‘process’ observer site with each of the contentoriented literature groups. Lesson 4 2 Process evolution The process observers report. Discussion follows, 10 Content evaluation Suudents from the content groups present thelr findings. Lesson 5 11 Diseyosng the ideas express in tha txts Using the findings of the groupe, slong with conclusions from the dls cession in Stage 7, elicit and discuss the ideas behind the theatre of the absurd, 12 Refacing on avoryday experience Students diseuss the ways in which thelr everyday if, including schoo! eis absurd “THe THEATRE oF THe ABSURD 1 Preparation ‘The text we chose is reproduced on page 88. We noticed immediately that it dees nothing to explain or exemplify ebsurdity a key element of its topl. In particular, the writer approaches tis issue in a way we thought unieely to connect with our students’ own worlds of experience Because of this we decided to introduce the text in away that got them twexperience absurdity frsthond ‘Following institutional tradition we handed the test out to the students, a few days before the planned Inclass exphitation and asked them tO ead it, sing adietionary when necessary. 2 Creating an absurd situation ‘The beginning of the lesson seemed an ideal time to stage our planned experience of absurdity since classes tend to commence ina ritualised fashion. We hit on the plan of having the ‘eacher go against his es tablished ritual in every respect possible. “The teacher commented: |i’ find ate 0 behave absurdly in the iroductory phase. What would the students think? Mornay | take ovat care to establish rapport. But fay | Doha totaly cferenty, My ‘Good evening’ wan I valkes into the cass = ‘nae morning ~ cat realy oem to bother my students. te they ta aware of thi greting tual? ‘What an intresting snc’ said a | approached my des Ths had tham pricking up ther ear. ‘Whee & th captain?” asked next. Now thay looked realy arpa. “Oh, el, You're unde thecal said nad, without adkresing anyone drecty, behaving as 1 was syed. I could See that they ‘were geting more and more perplered. Ym hungry,” fackied. Some of the Students ware now looking thoroughly flunmored. In onder to stop anyone ‘offering me their lunch 1 queky asked, 's hs the bar” AF this, there was some laughter and despite myself | almost joined in. | wheeled round and out of the he asdestec one student, “A cink? Fr thesy” He was completely lost for words. "Where your teday boar” | aked another student. Iwas inthe roore ow # was fon, The rest of the clas looked atthe student and roared wth laughter oak achantage of the foct that ation had been momentary diverted avay from me and picked up the das register, inking nto the ar ritual. ‘Oh the mernoril stone fo the ded | 380 38! reached my dest. 1am tute sure dhe students had ro cea what | Was tig to get ace f tem, But then wl should they comprehend absuciy? 1 ebxed aed opened thereat ‘here's Godot?” asked. An ahalonk crosted te faces of ane or two stents (Or wos jut imagining is? she missing? cormued - jst a glad that that absurd game of mine hal tus comet an end, OF course, was difcut for students to interpret sich odd behaviour ln a teacher. But now it was a matter of getting them to recall their reactions of astonishment, perplexity, and incomprehensionTeAcuins reenaoens Samuel Beckett in 2s3c2 the “Age of Godot” i Ars Wore tama rt Tare, A 1981 3 Collection of impressions Without actually teling the students what the aim of Stage 2 was, the teacher now elicited and pooled expressions of what people had felt about iFirst, he handed out eards and asked the students to jot down {heir impressions on them anonymously Fe stressed to the class that It was weryimportant for them to have a bit of quiet thinking time before they joted down their impressions. (Students are often not used to such quiet phases, so teachers should take care to give them suficlent time to actualy form and note dovn ‘detalled recollections ~ not just a half a minute or so but three to five minutes.) After this reflection time, the teacher asked the stents to put thelr cards face down on their desks for collection. As we thought that most of these impressions would be of an motional nature, we thought ‘that geting them down on paper would help clarify them and show the diforence between thelr expectations of what would happen i the lesson and what actually did happen. We saw this as an essential introduction to the subject of absurdity. Here ae some ofthe impressions written on the eards: tas cacy, lesson is extraordinary, 0 sens, nansense, astonishment, feeling of fonfision, strange, sly, sly person, lesson fs not happiness, humour, funn, fenteraining, bck humour, surpse, extroordhary, gotecu, unreal ex ‘operated senseless, surestste absurd, com totaly hanged sition, fn (00d, $ = down, phanastustpid, depressing, feeling of bang teased, ste ‘good lnguage experiment, GB has lst 2 great actor with MS, simple norms ‘madness, excited, enoye the stuatio, sme and be hapey. ‘These notes served as as basis for analysis inthe following stag. 4 Categorising impressions “The alm of this stage was to analyse the shdents impressions for sink Tarts and contrasts, ‘The teacher put students in groups of stout five. He gave each group cards he had collected previously, saying: Look at the cards, These are {ome students’ impressions. Tm sure you can put them in dilecent ‘roups somehow in some elastes, particularly when the level of Eni isa bit lower, you will need to gulde students more exslietly about erteria for ea iegorising, for example, personal reactions/esings, contents and Interpretation ‘Naturally, the groups were supposed to vork in English. In upper-level classes lik ours tis is seom a problem.Teach TEENAGERS 5 Presentation of analysos Alter categorising the individual impressions, the groups presented thelr findings tothe whole class. As presentation aids, come groupe stuck thelr cards on a large sheet of paper. Other groups, Instead of sing the cards themselves, drew mind maps. In both caaes, the groupe referred to thelr posters during their presentations. Alter the presentations, the teacher ‘Grew things together by pointing ou cases where groups reached similar conclusions or eategorisatlons or stingy diferent ones. Comment: The group presentations and the teacher's summary were Intended to help the students to reflect more vividly on thelr own and others’ experiences of absurd situations. And this reflection, we hoped, ‘would help the students to make sense of the text “Samuel Becket in the "Age of Godot” 6 Analysing the text Since a detailed analysis of the whole text would obviously take a fong time, the teacher assigned diferent blocks ofthe text to diferent groups ‘of three students each, The teacher sked each group to make notes, on & large sheet of paper, under three headings: Fac in te fext (What is said Jn your paragraph}, Personal thous (What occurs to you when you ‘think about these facts?), Reasons fr thoughs (Why do ihese thoughts come to mind?) I students are not used to approaching a text in this way, the result at first can be a bit rough. Even so, It kmportaat to begin encouraging students to read with greater awareness of a text's elfects on their thoughts and emotions and most students soon get better at separating what they reac ina text from what the text makes them thine of 7 The groundwork for theory ‘The teacher now clicited the diferent groups’ findings and put them togetiter under the three headings on large sheets ol paper. This was In ‘order to begin the move from the shidents' own views towards a deeper ‘consideration of Hecketts work in the following stage. 8 Experiencing literature ‘The plan was to confront the class with a number of pleces by Sarmuel Beckett in a way which would fester independence In approaching his work. 21 Comentoriotedgroupwork ‘The teacher divided the class into three “content” groups, spaced as far away from each other as possible, Each group received dierent tasks, ‘This was not only so that more of Becket’s vork could be looked atin the short period of time avalable, but also, and equally importantly, in ‘order to create opportunities for cooperative interaction. in addition to these groups, the teacher ereated a fourth, process evaluation’ group ‘whose role sceseribed later in 8.2 (p.108). Fst, here Is what each ofthe three content groups did in our trial aes. Group A Group A got a cassette recorder and a recorded passage from Waiting for Godot. We had selected a passage we thought was (@) typical of the work as a whole, (0) gave a fair picture of theliterary merits ofthe play. and (€) was not too demanding. This passage starts on page 12 of the 156 Faber and Faber paperback edition with Wun: Where wa 1. and ends with ‘spaces: [had a dream. on paze 15. The tasks shown on ‘Task Card A (ig. 82) were designed to encourage listening for gist. TASK CARD A: | Listentothisentact fom Becket Wet for Gro S MEANING STYLE T PRESENTATION OF CHARACTERS Zsiruation TEANGUAGE Note: Ws ane to sare these points in your sro, Group 8 Group B roceived a selection of books containing whole works by Beckett “Task Card B (Fig, 83) indicates general features students had to skim for The main aim here was simply to give some members of the class the opportunity to see and hold the actual books, since physical encounter ‘with works of literature Is an experience not to be underestimated in ts Importance for getting students to read these works on their own ott of interest, Additionally, this kind of broad, preliminary cootact i also ‘extremely important In enabling students to form an impression of a ‘writer's style and the overall structure of a work However, this skim reading was by no means meant t0 take the place of intensive reading. ‘This was to come later on, ‘TASK CARD B: | Look a these pays by Bectet and discuss their STRUCTURE = CHARACTERS (how mony. sames..) “SETTING (where do te ake pace?) gue 82Teachine reewacens Foe Sieup a Group € Group C were given a reading passage from Waiting for Godot. Again we chose a passage typical of the text a3 a whole, but interesting and not too dificult linguistically. This passage followed on irom the passage «given to Group A, running from page 16 to 19 ofthe same edition (rom ‘was: Don't tell me? to ‘wanna At his horse). They also received 4 task card (Fig. 84) to help focus their reading om particular aspects ofthe text TASK CARD C: | Look atihissassage om Basker's Waiting for Gado SMEANING ostyLe "PRESENTATION OF CHARACTERS CsITUATION TTANGUAGE ‘The teacher asked the students in each group to record thet ndings ‘on ONP transparencies so that they could share them with the whole class later (in Stage 10), ‘Note: there are more than about fiteen students in the class, you can ‘make more than three groups and clther give some groups the same task or have the extra groups working with new passages in ways srlar to those indicated on Task Cards 4 and C. {THE THEATRE OF THE ABSURD {82 Prososs-orionod groupwork ‘The fourth group (Le. the ‘process evaluation’ group) consisted of three students, each of whom fad the job of obserag one ofthe three content ‘roups at work ‘The teacher gave each member of tis group a handout to guide them ‘observing how the ‘content” people interacted, what they did, and how they expressed themselves. The teacher tock particular care to stress thatthe observers were not ‘deputy teachers" and that thelr observations ‘were not in any way going to be used to determine anyone's grade. ‘The observation sheet (Fig. 8.6) reflects, in its fourth section, our ‘experience that observation and evaluation work best if observers ee encouraged not simply to record what they see but to identily with the group they are observing as uch as possible [ onseavaTion cuanr: Sone } [acres ow iswork doe? LANGUAGE USED ucneyfpobems ‘onsen eR'sFeeLives Woulé you ikem wrk wih | Desi your gs 4 9 Process evaluation Alter the ‘content groups had finshed working through thei task cards the three observers briefly came together and shared thelr observa tions. They then reported tothe whole class This led toa very interesting slscussion both of language and the social aspect of the groupwork“TeaGiane Teenacens. Powe as 10 Content evaluation ‘Next the students in the ‘content’ groups made oral presentations, with reference to OHP transparencies ofthetr notes. Presentations of this sort are sometimes difficult to manage. Some students in the ‘audience’ tend to lean back and switch off. If this hhappens, the reporting phase becames tedious for everyone. In order to stimulate the listeners to actively participate, the teacher distributed comments on slips of paper. The messages on the sips Pigure &7) were Intended to provoke interest and comment, we] | gaeussion! Em | \ | S68 you can say | | goveagues? \ | S2terhiag iinportan . | The teacher had prepared these slips during the previous stages and hha fitted them to particular students and haw they seemed to be re- ‘acting. t was very important hereto strike the right tone, since messages like these are unlikely to work if students perceive them as commands, What you can say to one student you cannot say to another, 30 you need to know your class fairly well at tis stage, However, the stimull shown here seemed to work sell with ths class, Figures &&-8.10 summarise ‘what the ‘content’ groups came up with, ‘GROUP A: Vetoncd to an extract fom Sockets Walting for Godot pp. 21-18 0"... hod dream. Meaning relation to Bie: Vacimir explains to Esvagon the stuaton in the sible — wether two thew have been darned to hl or have ben saved by God ‘Sie ‘aiogue form: question-ansner / expesive sve / fast shythm / eveneay language net composed no abstractons~ sme cle ~ ckamattc effet paracers Fstragjon: ignorant, not religious, forges eveything lair: educated, explains the station to exragen Siuation two amps ae quaieling, they go on wating Her Godot wih shoul save ‘them from death of hl ~ they then go weltng for Godot at ate tht ha ne leaves, And thy agen ‘quarrel whether is tree ora bush Thay waited yesterday, today, tomorow” find 20 an ‘than thay stop ting snd ane of them wants oes but he ether does nat alow him todo 0 | = aser of impasse no way oto this deoresng situation | language ~ reduced ... alogue, language of despaing resignation and hopelessness, 2nd language of quarling ~ they sometimes tak at cre pupae = he uses not only language but alo musical lerestsTeach TEENAGERS Fowess Fowea0 [ Grove 6: looked at three plays by Beckett and discussed them, vi. Waiting for Godot Endgame, Al'That Fall Godt Endgame Al That) Stucure vagecomedy twa | playinone act | radio ploy acs-radio pay | radioplay | stong, vid dialogue logue form slalogue form | form=one act Characters Eragon Homm ‘ie Rooney / Chis / Viadiie lor Neyer ft Lucky Fonz ogg “Tommy We Barely Aboy Nell iiss Fi Oot Rooney persons) persons) | (10 persons) Sering — counay ad rk, grey 00m | our allay osed cartons | station, ural sounds Main eas. metaphor about the ature of human fe, | tmoseen moray play | GROUPE: looked et a passage rom Bocket's Waiting for Godot 9p. 16-18 (NB: continuation of Group A's etree] ‘Meaning stuation of despa, hapless, problem of hanging 02, Vira seagon camimentng on Gedat~Esagonon Viadiir Soe ‘ey short stogues, many stage drecbons ‘many passages of ron back humour, many repettions sitfeu language Presentation of characters lagi an opts; wants to wat or Godot Estregon hopeless pessimist, Nas gre up, wants to commit suckle imwnediately Siustion Confit tesween Fsragon and Vadmie Language reduced language no comblete sertences, but not colo ‘These summaries clearly show how many of the critical fsues were noted by the students themselves. In fact, they cover the basics of Beckett's work and the theatre of the absurd pretty well. Agtin, the teacher had not lectured and had given outao subject matter hand-outs. 11 Discussing the ideas expressedin the texts “The clas, in plenary, talked about the ideas expressed inthe literature of the theatre of the absurd and how these ideas were expressed, ‘The teacher acted as faltator by unobtrusively adding relevant background Information to points brought up by the silent, Soame ofthe ideas diseussed were ‘the sense of man’s alienation thecrucly of existence 4 the futlty of conventional objectives © the futility of man's strugete 6 the stcong ve of fantasy. ‘The teacher recorded the results ofthis stage later and worked them ‘nto handouts (see Fig. 8.11; "Common Factors ofthe Absurd” and "Points Looked Por), so that the studente had a zelerence for later study and 12. Reflecting on everyday experience A work of literature can be gripping, even in the classroom, if students find it contains reflections of their own everyday life and experience. It can be more gripping stl f they realise tht they car read literature nat simply for élversion oto take In facts (as for an exam) but to enhance and, perhaps, even restructure their perceptions of reality. And s0 the teacher began this lial stage of the unit 9 reminding his students of the feelings and experiences they had bad ia the very lst, ‘absurd! stage He then ashed the class to spend a few miautes thinking silently about ‘what they found absurd in their own Hives This led afterwards to lively, and at times emotional, discussion. The notes in Figure 811 (The Absurd ‘im our Personal Everyday Lives’) show the gst ofthis final activity‘TeAcyaNG TeenAceRS. Fgwreatt ‘rece oem ie Sa i o CONCLUDING DISCUSSION Literature is well known as a stimulant to sentiment and reverie Additionally, for old and young readers alle its power to stimulate caurlosity in one’s own ile, identty, surroundings gives It considerable potential to motivate growth and change. it seems, though. increasingly Ghificult to get students Interested in reading the classies. The impact 0! "TV, fm and wideo on the reading habits of young people In particular is | | “Tie WEATE oF Tue AnsuRD notorious (as are its profound and widespread consequences on teaching land learning In genera). In our view, the conpetition from the modern visual media makes It absolutely vital that teachers attempting to use Iterature should place great weight on enhanchg the learning atmosphere jn their classrooms, on involving their students in active learning and on bridging the gap betwoen the world ofa waiter and that oftheir students. We believe that this isthe only viable alternative to just glving up on Imerature inthe foreign (or native) language cass. ‘We are certainly not proposing that teachers abandon the classes and teach instead some kind of literature forthe masses with heavy doses of sentimentalty and sensationalism. What we are advocating Is a general attempt to link language learning to the processes of growth in the [personal identity of young people and to take account of (I) thelr need for learning materais to have personal significance, (2) the importance of arousing their curiosity, and (3) the Importance of dealing with Issues of conflict. The use of literature, especially quality Wterature, i in many ways ideally suited for this enterprise. Good literature is, for one thing, ‘much richer than bad literature in the range of feelings, views, kinds of behaviour and situations it portrays. However, it may help to choose erature read by young people of similar ages in English-speaking countries. The probiems and concerns are more likely tobe similar but with an Intriguingly diferent perspective. As one student recently re- ‘marked tous, I don't want to read about pensioners. Idont want to reed about middleaged people. .” Baseally, teachers need to explore ways of encouraging learners to ‘take erature in, not as If they were empty vessels, but rather as ‘whole people, and to enter into this or that imaginative world. For this to happen, learners must be able to see connections between thelr own ‘world and that ofthe writer ~ thelr routes to new destinations need to be lined with fandmarks. As Ruth Cotin once put (1981, p. 165). Almost any topie can be of interest to learners provided they have some means of ‘eating to it and havent just bumped into it ike some object inthe dark” ‘We hope we have shown how a topic as remote (probably) asthe theatre ‘of the absurd ean be linked to the world of young language learners, ‘Suggested reading Bassnett, Sand Grundy, P Language through Literature Longman 1983. Carter, Rand Long, MN The Web of Words: Exploring Literature Trough “Language CUP 1987 Collie J and Slater, J Literature in the Language Classroom: A Resource ‘Book of ldeas and Actes CUP 1987 Maley, A and Dutt, A The Inward Ear: Poetry in the Language Classroom ‘CUP 1989 Maley, A and Moulding, $ Poem into Poem: Reading and Wrtiag Poems tw Students of Bngish CUP 1885 ‘Tomlinson, B Openings Lingual House 1986a UNIT 9 Text workshop with CALL First steps into the world of word processing Intrmadat ~vepe inrmecins ‘me ‘fourday spacial couse wth fou fy ve mint lassen per doy raareass “Twelve fourtaonyar-ld in the fourn year of fearing Engh ‘ams Mating CALL part of hursniste Ipnquape leaming: fanalving stodents with hardvare and werderecesing stwave; highightng wring a prosses and omeotoying wating ae prosuet, (isagsag eras ona Use of computers and wortprocossing software; letoring: speaking: wing roan ‘tape 2; Semple software fog. Zale Honey dike Stage: Handout of agra Fp 91,9. 116) Stages: OP; cutuppleuros fom ples story Wigs 82-07, pp. 117-20 a loos of apa witha ver small Nolen santero Soy cut up on Separate pieces of popor F998, p 121) skeleton tox on igo shel of aber. 122) Siage 0: Bhesck model tox to readout ip 124; sft muse Stage 7 Fourtce forcetation Stage Four copes of ext For cet Slage Genco of ivasgas (3 129) Stop 11: Paper sisson ge “Text WoRksWor WTLCALL BACKGROUND AND RATIONALE Falth seems to have been growing lately that the computer will bring about a revolution in the foreign language classroom and that students! problems with accuracy and vocabulary learring, as well as those of low motivation, have at last found their remedy. 4 critical look at mast CALL software, however, suggests the reverse. For one thing, drilland-practice Software seems to predominate, and this is nothing les than a revival of old-style programmed learning or, Inthe words of Chistian Holzmann, “aril an kil ‘Teachers in favour of working with such programs frequently point cout their students’ high motivation to use thom and suggest that this Alone is sulficlent reason to turn on the machine. But plainly motivation isn’t enough of a justification, After al, a great many people, not least teenagers, are easily captivated by gambling machines, whose pedago- alcal value we nevertheless doubt. There Is zis0 good reason to believe that this motivation tends to be shortalved and ls prone to lade rapidly ‘when the computer is a fixture in other acool subject to, ‘There are, to be sure, programs that can foster improvemest in the target language. especially programs involving the reconstruction of texts (eg. Quartext by Higgins and Johnson), These programs help learners to develop an awareness of the features of good text, in particular cohe- sion and coherence. There are also a few goud simulation programs for Involving leamers in communicative Interactions, with the computor being mainly a source of stimuli “Generally though, CALL. and humanistic teaching/learaing have 30, lar eccimed to be two very dilleren things, Atieat, tis far iota obvious hhow to integrate regular use of computers into language learring with- ‘ut violating the basic principles of Rumanise leaning - especially the Importance accorded to non-superficial amas interaction, However, one area in language teaching where we think the computer can be very helpul Is writing, sill sadly neglected in many foreign language classrooms. and not least in. communicative and humanistic ‘ones. At Brooks and Grundy have observed: ur cuture rypealy chooses to foxger that senting i to with mastering 8 process Instead! sve think of fand vale) writing any 282 prosuct ~ 50 that the ‘perfect’ poem or completed excay are halS up ae trough they were al that writing 1. Sours hardly a surprise that more or les al the acing materials for serous 0” ore advanced lamers teat wating asthe anajsisand sabsequert imitation of 8 ‘model tent. And i's easy to see why the teaching of reading and wating wien Seen as tut based acti, have not sppesied othe humane mewement ‘fick and P un, Desert: ices ue Pracons or ‘Aovness va ein sae, is E888 ‘One common feature of productoriented writing i judging learners by the number of ercors they make, For example, writing gures pro: minently in testing. But testing 1s not teaching. Ife want £0 help oorEAC eenacens learners to improve in accuracy and seltexpression we need to go further. Lis in allowing learners to focus on the process of writing and the process of learning through writing that the computer offers real a vantages, Very much 8s professional writers do, learners can hammer ia a fret draft ofa text, without worrying about errors, and then get feed- back on what they have written fom their teacher andjor classmates, With the feedback in mind, learners can go back to their screen and process thelr texts. These further drafts ean be done in various stages {and in various methodological forms. The possibilty of getting the Corrections on to paper immediatay and being able to make any further changes without having to rewrite the whoe text fosters in lamers a playfol and experimental attitude tewards their own texts. Consequently, in setting up this trial unit we focused on using the ‘computer primarily to facilitate process-oriented writing. Unlike the other ‘units in this book, we did not design this unit to be taught over several ‘separate, short lessons, but as an option during four days of a project ‘workshop (ith four fortyfive minuto lessons per day), Such “project ‘weeks’ a5 they are sometimes called are normally held about once a ‘year in many European schools, They allow teachers and students to focus on an area of teaching and learning without the constraints of thelr ‘everyday timetables. This permits deeper and more prolonged work in the chosen area, However, the workshop outlined here could also be done as a series of lessons, or you could ust try parts of it. Because of Usis we have decided to present the individual stages of the whole ‘workshop as separable modules. As it happens, most of these are ‘practicable even without a computer ~ it's just that the redraing takes Tonger with pen and paper. ‘SUMMARY OF MODULES A Gotting to know the computer {1 Mapping the wook 2 CALL word game Introduce and, if necessary, expla. relevant CALL words, Quickly delete the words from the board or cover them up. The students kein as many words as they can recall, 3 Componomt words ‘inite a word on the board. The students form as many words as they can with is leters. 4 Lloking eters Present a diagram (sce Fig. 9.1) ané students find as many hidden words as possible, aL ‘Teer wonesHor wT. CALL B Writing activities 5 Apictur story Students find & new ending to a given story. Prompt: an Initial (or last) sentence {6 Aguided fantasy and text production Guide students Into and out of a fantasy. The students write a narrative test based on thelr fantasies. 1 uadeoptone dita ‘The claes forms four groups and each group selects a caller. The four callers stand in the four comets of te room. Each group stands in the ‘comer opposite its caller. All the calles dictate to thelr groups at the ‘same time who key in thelr text 8 Sogging dictation Four eoples ofthe same text are stuck in the opposite corner from each ‘group. Joggers have to run to thelr text and back to thelr group, re ‘member as much as they can and dictate the text bitwise to their group. C Further writing activities 9 Wing amini-saga ‘The students writea text of exactly fity words 10 Wing poety Give 8 key word, and students collect assaeistons starting with each letier of the key word or write a tree poem. 11 Workshop newpaper Students compile a newspaper. The newspapers are photocopied and distributed among learners and their colleagues. ‘Stops towards process orientation These activites were each done several tines during the workshop, ‘whenever the teacher felt they were necessary 1 Evaluative txts Sudents write their feelings about exch stage end about the whole ‘workshop. 2 Drak wrtng ‘The students write atist draft and print it out. They get feedback from their classmates andjor from the teacher. The focus ison the process of Incorporating this ledback into a new drat, ot so much on the text as 2 firsteime product‘TEACHING TEENAGERS 2 tete-iscuesions When necessary, the teacher ge's the students away from the computers for discussion about the progress of thelr work or the cours. 4 Display oftexts ona toad andforina workstop newspaper Each student can also take home a selection of texte from thoce displayed, ‘A GETTING TO KNOW THE COMPUTER ‘This frst phase was absolutely essential in our class since the students ‘were completely unfamiliar with computers. The aim ofthis introductory phase was twofold: (1) acquisition of basic computer hancling sl, and {@) making sure that students had the language needed later to talc about ‘computing matters in Eglish, act thelr mother tongue. 1 Mapping the week ‘The teacher asked the twelve students of this group to sit in acitele in the imide of the classroom. There were three computers along esc of the longer sides of the room. The teicher gave the students a bref overview fof what the next four days would entall He stressed the fact thet they ‘were supposed to speale English as much as possible and added that this Feaqulted some new words and pirases, 2 CALL word game ‘The teacher wrote the following words and expressions on the board and ‘Wied to elicit their meaning fromthe learners: ejboaed ‘monitor osne eps fie ro dale word promsor cursor toinsert pointer ‘olood to rint out Mogoy dk ‘oppein sk dive ‘yg error ‘When clthera student or the teacher had explained each item, he asked the students to remember as many of them as possible without writing anything down, aad then abruptly erased them all. He put the students In pairs and showed them how to switch on the ‘computers and install thelr wort-processing software. Since none ofthe Students had had any experience with computing or word processing and hardly any of them knew how to type. we had selected very simple software. (This was ZAVATEX, 2 word-processing package especially Gesigned for use with beginners. combines the functions of a simple (ypenriter with the basic advanlages of a word processor. It was writen by Peter Zavarsky.) ‘The teacher now handed outa floppy diskto each pair of students. The pais lft the circle of chairs in Uae middle and, clearly intrigued, begen their encounter withthe new machine. I was sUrprising how easy It was for them to take the first step, Within a few minutes all the stadents had successfully installed the software. ‘The teacher announced @ vocabulary game through which the students ‘would lear the basic fnetions of the word-arocessing software ‘The students had to type in a6 many ofthe words as possible thatthe teacher had written on the board at the beginning of the lesson, ‘The winners would be the pair that successully printed out the largest number of words. There was no time limit because working with a com: pater forthe frst time irequently puts users under a certain amount of Dresgute which we didn't want to add to. Paks could ak fr help from the teacher whenever they wanted, Stimulated by the competitive nature of the activity, the students started typing away. The teacher walked from pair to pair but without intervening. After a short time students started asking questions such a “What can we do? We have just made a typing error, How can we correct it?" “We want to go into the next line. How can we do that” ‘We had four words on the monitor alreagy. They have all gone” (This Dale had deleted ther fle) “We want to print out our words. Can you 2elp us, please?” “We have forgotten the fo infront of oad. Rowean we Insert” ‘The teacher reminded the students to adi their names before or alter theie texts and, after a quarter of an hour or so, all the students tad hhanded in their printouts, The teacher checked them quleKly and announced the winners. “The teacher then began the Instructors for the next activity, but noticed that hardly any of the students were paying any attention, Most ‘wore playing around with thelr Keyboards. Ths gave the teacher a bit of fright, Maybe the game they'd just done kad been too simple and they ‘were bored? Maybe it would have been bettr to give them a minilecture about how to handle the computer and start right away with ‘teal work” He ventured the question: Teacher How do you feo! about what we have deen doing? Student 9 fs fine Student 2. Yes, great fn Student 3 (hough tweculd take a lt lgar to oun ro write with 9 computer ‘The students scemed totally unaware of the teacher's anslety. They were hooked on the new medium and thelr speed in coming to grips with FR appeared to have deepened ther fascination, The teacher was greatly relieved {o learn that they were actually enjoying the work. What he ‘ecided for himself, however, was to get the students away from their ‘computers and sitting in the middie of the room whenever he needed‘eacia Teenacens ther attention. Indeed, this strategy proved very helpful inthe following three days. And, unlike shouting or scolding the students for not paying attention, i preserved everyone's good humour. "The following two activities are additional games that aim at improving the students’ word-processing skils. 3 Component words ‘The teacher went to the board and wrote the word breakfast. He asked the students to type in as many words as possible using the letters ofthe word on the board. Again, no tne limit was sven, but this time the ‘Students were not supposed to printout thelr word lists. ‘When everyone bad ished, the teacher asked one pair ater another to read out a word from their ist Pair l tarted with Freak. The teacher ‘wrote it on the board to allow the students to check spelling. He then asked every pair who had this word in their ist to delete it from thelr Screen, This was to familiarise theclass with the move for deleting word ftom a text. This went on until only one pal sill had any words on Uhlr 4 Linking letters To give the students further practice teacher handed outa dagram Fg 9.1) wort processing skills, the students’ tack was to make as many words as possible from the letters that ink up for example, et, aun, red, send, et. B WRITING ACTIVITIES 5 A picture story ‘The next activity did not, initially, involve use of the computer. Its purpose was twofold: (1) to get the students away from the sereens (or 8 ‘while, and (to prepare them forthe text production to come, First the teacher told the class he was going to brielly present the {rst picture ofa pictre story onthe OHP. He put the pieture (Fi 82) on the OHP and switehed ton fr maybe hala sacond. ‘@cempces, Put andM Sowa. "Tee tear mann Wars he Sioy, Fae 82 ‘The students were surprised at the brevity ofthe glimpse, and even mote surprised when the teacher asked themvhat they had seen, A short period of silence followed. Then a few people started guessing Student 1 shin as sowing Teacher Snowing? Soy, it wast snowing ot ak Student 2 Sahin | saw oom Teacher Ahg. What art of room was? Student 2 0 ieo, Sturent 3 fon know hin a ning oom. Student & A bathroom? (Teacher gestures No} Student 5 chiens room? Student 6 iaybe 2 garage Student 7 A bedioom?{eAcuNG TEENAGERS Fou Teacher Rote Student 5 | ould se ng dong’ Teacher Aha. What's tht? Whatd you think? student bel? Teacher What sort of bel? Student 5 A church bet Teacher | No Student 8 Ah, Somebody camero vt wos the doortll nd think man ands ‘woman were seeing in bed and they were wakeup by the bal Teacher You are right. Somebody was sleping. Butt was ony 2 man, and he 49s woken up by the doce, twat ist though, Look “he teacher put the second picture (Fg. 9.8) on the OHP. He had covered it with a sheet of paper in which there was a very small hole ‘As he moved the sheet slowly over the transparency, details of the bictre appeared sappenred, nd reappeared This rigged off sry ot guesses, Student 6 J dink it the newspaper boy. Teacher gestures No Student 3 V¢hin now ft Te manos skeping to long. Teacher Ah, he has oversept you mean Student 3. Yes and 50 a man fam hs ad, rom whecw he works, has come Studeet?2 Acoliague Student 3 Yes, a colleague has cme and wants to wake him up, Pally the teacher removed the sheet of paper and showed the whole plctur, together with the ist one, tothe class Teacher ke you to close your eyes now. imagine that you can see the next ‘1 pictures of he sty. giv you two or tree minutes ‘The students closed thelr eyes. Some of them had already begun to rest on their arms, others sat with thelr backs straight. All remained Bent. After two or three minutes the teacher started agi, Teacher Well perhaps you know how the story continues. Don't te us anything about what you imagined steel ke you fo 95k me ‘questions about the next etre to fi out whats them. OK? (Srudents nod their hens) Teacher What about Petre 22 What happened? only answer wit "Yes or ‘ho Student 9 Has the man spoken to theice cream man? Teacher (Goes 1 the bowrd and notes dovn) i he man ..? Stosent 9 Oh yes soy. Did he speak to hin? Teacher Yes Student 9 Di he tel him to. go ava)? Teacher No. Stadent 10 Dis the man shout at hin? Teacher No Sadent 4 Has the man buy some ie ream? (Escher pont 10 the prompt Od ‘heman 2) (Ab. Di the man. uhh. bug Teacher buy Stodent & buy some ice ream? Teacher Yes ‘The same procedure was applied withthe next picture and finally the teacher presented Pictures 3 and 4 tothe clase (Figs. 8.4 and 9.5). no guessecre TEENAGERS ‘ext worrswor win caus | Foes fs rue “The teacher then asked the students to concentrate on the whole set of “The teacher then sliced ofthe OHP and asked the students to get pietures fora short time and, while the OHP was still on, asked them to sit together in pairs and think ofa pessible ending tothe story. The teacher in groups. He gave each group a set of slips of paper which he had ‘asked several pats about thelr endings. Then he presented Pictures 6 Brepared belore the lesson (ig 98) ‘nd 6 igs. 6 and 9.7 on the OHP, to general amusement. Fioweoe‘exci TEENAGERS ‘Without asking the students to read the story out, the teacher col lected the slips of paper. The teacher then presented the following skeleton text ona large sheet of paper stuck up on the boar: eas fascinating to watch the students begin reconstructing the text, In groups of two or three with no insruetion trom the teacher A similar activity Storyboard’) can be found in Morgan and Rinvoluer's Voenbulary (1988). I could of course be done of a Word processor witha text reconstruction program Alter the students had reconstructed the text, the teacher asked them to go back to their word processors and write a story beginning with the sentence: ‘Next Sunday Mr Frum was woken by the ice cream man’s belt again..." In pairs again, the students started wrting their texts, Whenever a pale fished, the teacher got them to print out their fist drat and he checked It for errors. To encourage habils of redralting and sellcorrection, he Underlined problematic aress in penci, adding margin notes or abbre- viations such as V for vocabulary, SP for spelling, G for grammar. The students then went through thelr texs agai, trying to correct them on the screen. By the second draft most students had successfully corrected about twothirds of their errors. The teacher pointed out the remaining errors inthe same way. When their texts were ready (ater three drat, in ‘most cases), the students fixed them toa display board and then strotied Fouese round reading each other's texts. Figure 9.9 shows one o thei storie: Next Sunday te Frum was voken by the ice cream man's belt again. He got up ond looked out of the window, te got very angry. Then he Guletly went into the kitchen. There fe took a Goul. of honey. He tient back to his bedroom and opened the window. Without Looking foun he spilted the honey aut of the nindow. He didn't see that the ice eresm man wos not there any mere. There wax now the postman standing, The postwan shouted, “What's this? Ughh, honey! Katt 3 onent and I'LL caUt the police. They'll take you to prison.” Five Binutes Later the polize arrived. The policeman looked up to Mr Frun*s window, oun at the postman anc suddenly he Began to aug Here the fist day ended. There was general voleing of surprise (Irom the teacher, ourselves and the students themselves) at how quickly they had got used to the computer work The attention pald by the teacher to clarity of instruction and the variation of activity seemed to have played a role in this. Particularly helpol in maintaining focus and pace seemed to be the practice of getting learners into a new seating Arrangement well away from thelr computers during phases when ine structions were being given, Te-was also surprising to see how many of the errors in thelr stories they were able to correct themselves inthe second drat In ac, very few errors remained to be corrected by the teacier after the third draft, 6 A quided fantasy and text production At the beginning of the second day the teacher started with an evalua. tion of the first day. He asked the students to write a short account of the first day's activites, including their ow feelings about them ti they wanted to, Again, these tex were pik on the display board. After everyone had read thelr colleagues’ texts, the lass sat In a discussion ede Teacher Well you have red the other texts now. What's your reaction? Student 1 Fine / think ts vary good what we de hee Teacher What sit you ike about? Student 1 think itis good wat me hove more ie fr what we do than normaly Irs good because we can eal ako spe0k about our fxs for example. Student 2 Fike the wnting together Irs good because you «have not @ good ie U helps me and then | hia something again and soc. Teacher What Vike alot & the fat that you seem to ty fo tak English al the Student 3. You buts cific... uth... yest Fie a xt ad then I as away Teacher _You'reon you ott? Di you dee? ‘Student 3. Yes, mean don't krow. We dot delete It was ust... a. Teacher Gore? ssugent 3 Yes. Teacher Ad 0 what yu oa? Student & We have wt it gan arid then we have est it agoin, Teacher Ohno! Student 4 Yes, and then we spoke ao of Geran, ‘The teacher used this discussion phase a a leacin to the next writing activity: wetting a text in connection wth a fantasy tp, “Teacher ike to read out to you now 9 txt ata student in one of my cases ‘wrote a few years ago, This stent sas fourteen, ike most f you Ta ike yu to tent ths tert and then 6 Bee you to gus wat kind ‘of stuaton th writer ofthis text wes in before he or she wrote ths test{eACa TeENacens (tarts reading) It was 2 quit day. | was walking and dancing through a meadow. The sun was shining and many birds were thing through the ar. Sometines eaves fom trees were cing around me. ‘Bur 3s not happy. was 2d rd hnking about a problem. looked down on the ground. There was aie river {stood there fora while ard thought about te problem, Then went fon. and after some tine I started runing though 3 wet meadow ‘Suddenb, 1 sv a rainbow. The sun was shining way and when | ‘ould fee! the warmth of te sun on my skin, 1 began to feel happy agai. [aid not think of ny problem ary more. ‘The teacher silently waited for the class to react. One of the gts started things of Student 1 Teacher Stodent2 Teacher stvcent 3 Student 2 Teacher Stadent 3 Teacher student 3 Teacher stusent 4 Teacher students - Student 5 Teacher stucent S| Teacher studens Teacher Was this agit ora boy which wrote this text? hat do you think? Can you guess? I mean what do you think? What ind of person was this? 1 think i was gi. And Inna boy isnot $0 romantic 1 tink she has 3 vary good ~unh~ whats Vastelungsrat English? Imagination Why do you tink tis gir? thnk a boy can ako have th {n't know. 2hink gn aremore romantic. (eughs) (fo 53) Do you sometimes have such fantasies? Dayar? Yes vay often When? {laughs othe maths lesson. Ando the Enghsh lessons? - - Yes tough) When is boring. Then thik of hadays ad Hoge af Thor's very practical. You jst hove @ daychaem and you forget the ‘word around you? i thatthe same with exeybo0)? Yes. sometimes... (ever students atthe sae tne) ‘newer make 2 daydream 1am very. eats, Down earth Yer {see Wel, what I cid with the cass the gi was in vido wrote this {ext nas that! payed seme music to them ard I told them someting, ‘ind ofa soy, you know... if you want to we can do the same th Would you ke thar? ves, (95 switched on the caste recorder, soft music gent wats into the roo) Wt your eves open o sed... alow yourself us to fous ‘on your siting postion... nd vile you are doing this. Becoming ‘are of any changes you'd ike f0 make. harder 19.» rand (903 bit deeper. maybe you an wisi you are listening. tts tape... jst foes onthe thy of your breath. without mating ie Faster ox sewer... fst Bon ait comes and goes.» and while you {are doing this. maybe youcan imagine... whe you ae Istenig the sound of tis mus... jist to relx. that whenever you Breathe THAT WORKSHOP WAT CALL ‘cut... Jou are geting rid of al the stress that you might fel libreas whenever you beeathe In... you can imagine that you are ‘aking up fresh new energy now that els ou t.. fle and ‘enjoy. ght now. ‘And wile you are doing this... your ow te and at your nn pace... you might want fo join in cn ashort fantasy... 3 place. where you can realy ear. ght now... and thi pce. los ou to become calm and reed... 2 you go there... and R's 9 vary special place... just for you... and vile on the one hand you ae ‘ening to ths music... on the other naybe you an maine Now what ts place is gong tobe ke. and onl you know. fou can s20 any colours ia your place... if the cours are bight or dark ‘2nd nobody ele krone... what ele tee in this spac place. if this place & 9 the open ai... or mybe in 8 room and only you Jinow... bile you can posibly see tings very char... F rather vagueh-- what you can ear thre. in ts seca place. wre you can reine... maybe i's the sound ofthe wind... ov sme Kind of| ‘music... soft and warm... filing you pace now. of maybe 2 human voice... singing or taking te you... and while you con possibly see and hear things thee. ou can now become aware of your feaings... of joy and relaxation... and you know... that aherever you are... this place thee jst for you... and you are totally sa there. now .. and nobady eke knows... what you'd lik 0 take with you fom ths loc... on 3 day ke ody... maybe 3 thing... oF 2 sound... oF jst a fing... to remind you of the speobI experiences you hive hid... while you-are new... vey sony... at your on pace... begining sow to comeback to your ‘asssoom... and open your ejes ain... and maybe suetch a litle... with 3 special festing of fesess and fy... and while you {ae fstenng to the numbers going dewaerds... from ten to ane Inow.-you'l know that ths Yatasy fs ished when you Dear the number One. tan... nine. CFE... SEVEN. Sin. Fe, four. tres... tno.” one ‘As time went on, the students seemed to have relaxed more and more ‘Once, a boy started to gale and seemed to disturb the gil sitting next to him. When the teacher noticed, he stood ip for a minite and pit is hand on the boy's shoulder. The boy looked up towards the teacher, ‘obviously feeling gulty and ai the same time finding It dificult to repress his need to laugh. The teacher just smiled at him supportively and this ‘evidently allowed the boy to relax again. Reactions like this are quite normal during a clases first experience with a fantasy journey. We have found in numerous classes, however, that It guided fantasies are done ina earing and respectful way, they ean help ‘to improve trust tn a class. Furthermore, trey can be of great help in ‘developing creativity, language competence an seltesteem. ‘Aer the guided fantasy the teacher suggested thet the students‘Teacina TEENAGERS ‘| write atest about thelr experience. One student ata time worked atthe screen while the other sat and watched. The teacher also suggested (1) that each writer should consult theie partner in case of any language problems, and @) that after the writer had printed out the first draft they should give it to their partner for correction and consult the teacher ‘only alter the second draft had been printed Figure 9.10 fs an example of a text created by a student. The Wind 1 thy igh up thecuah the sky Buddenty i” hese tye water splashing Tne river ie full of Life ana power fo She sky fold waren eoteur Alter nishing writing, the students stuck their texts up on the walt ‘and everybody was asked to read at least five athe test, Then followed 8 whole class discussion in a big circle. Because each learner had read ‘only some of the texts, when one learner commented on a text, other ‘students (who had not read this tex!) asked questions about it Thus, ‘besed on the principle of inforuation gape, the discussion was quite animated. ‘Alter this discussion the students wrote another evaluative text about ‘what they lked and didn't like about the second day. Figure 9.11 ie an ‘excerpt {rom one student's accourt ofthe guided fantasy, 7 Quadrophonic dictation ‘The third day began with a surprise for the teacher. Siting in a circle with the class again, he wanted tc say what he had planned for the day. But things turned out differenti: Teacher Of; just ike 10 tll you what we are going odo toy. Student 1 Are we witing again tox? Cacia expression suagesting that Student 1 is fed we) Teacher What do yeu mean? Don'you ike the txts you have writen? Student 1 Oh yes. Nor this. t mean eal ke ts project. But not wring al he tine Teacher So? Student 2 Tao think so 1 think we should ply 2 game again. That was ven’ good on Monday. Teacher You meon the vocabulary games we layed? But! wanted to do these ties ith you tt lp you to ean to write othe computer very ‘uc Students Yes can we play this game again? Teacher You'd ike the same game again? Wouldnt this be boring? Student 3. No, that would be goed. Or another game. Doesn't mater. Then we an wt a tert agaln. But not wnte xs al the tne, This 8 wey whats ansuengen in Engh? Teacher Teng Student 3. Ybs ad s0 we want ting things andalo funy things Alter the class had played the game ‘Component words from Stage 3 agin (his time It was grandlather instead of breakfas), the teacher Introduced some new gaines that the stucents seemed {0 enjoy enor ously, First came two diferent types of dletation, ‘When the students heard that they wore going to wre a dietation, they thought the teacher was teasing because they had asked lor some thing fan, Only after the teacher promised thatthe two dictations would indeed be fun and totally diferent from the ‘normal dictations they did in {thelr German cass, did they acquiesce, Thsts what followed. ‘The teacher divided the clas ito four groups of three. Fach group sat Jn front of one of the word processors placed in each of the four corners of the room. The teacher asked each group to send him one member as their ‘aller’ and explained thatthe caller should be someone who as Guite ciled at reading out loud. Them be asked each of the four callers to stand in the corner of the room opposite the other members of thelr sroup ~the writers “The teacher then handed out four diffrent texts of about the same length and roughly the same level of language ~ one text to each caller. Each caller now had to give this dictation & his or her own group. The teacher told the groups that they would get points both for speed and for good spelling Each ofthe four callers at the same time, then started to dictate their text to thelr ewn group. Although this migh! sound like a recipe for total chaos, the Initial Confusion subsided alter just a few seconds. By then, fetch set of writers was able to tune Into thet own caller and so titer ‘most ofthe interference “The rales ofthis activity are ‘© The group that fishes fist gets four pois from the teacher, the one ‘who finishes second three and so on ‘¢ Each group gets tne to correct ther tex, which they then hand intoHeaclune reenscens ‘the teacher. The teacher checks the spelling, awarding a maximumn of ten points for a Hawless dictation and subtracting one pola for each speting mistake '¢ The polits for speed and spelling are then added and indicate the winner ‘Comment: Competitions frequently have a negative influence on the 2o- al atmosphere of a class. We have found, however, that this form of ‘competition avolds unproductive rvalry which could easily arse within the groups ifthe focus was on speed only. Since each group his time to go through their text together, the odd weak speller in the group ‘cannot became a scapegoat, since itis up o everybody to contribute to a Mawes text. ‘This form ofa dictation has three main objectives: ‘© The element of having to filter aut one listening source from back ground noise stretches students’ abilities to listen attentively to fellow Students in English, © T increases the students’ awareness of the need for cooperation ia group work. © helps practise speling ina natural way. Italso has great potential for fun, 8 Jogging dictation ‘The students liked the activity above so much thatthe teacher decided to try another dictation. This time he aimed at inereasing the students ‘concentration, thelr ability to remember and, again, their awareness of the need to cooperate with each othe ‘The activity Involved each group selecting a ‘jogger. The teacher put up four identical texts, one in each corner of the room, with each group having their text in the opposite corser, “The rules of this activity ae: {At the starting signal the joggers each race to their test. They cannot remove it, but have to try to remember as much of itas they ean, word for wor, ‘© They run back to thetr group, detate what they can remember and then go backeto their text again and try to remember some more. ‘Points are ziven for spelling and speed of completion. It helps to write on the board or stick up on posters the names of English pronunciation, marks, so the joggers ean describe punctuation without falling back into the mother tongue. Thi is important, because the wish to finish frst could easily lead to the students using the langusge they eel most at ease with. For the same reason icalso helps to display oF write on the board essential language such as: Sony, I didn’ ge the word ‘her “..; Can you repeat ths, please etc. (See Davis and Rinvolicr! 1888 for other dictation activities) C FURTHER WRITING ACTIVITIES ‘The fact that the teacher readily gave in to the students’ suggestion for «games cheered them up immensely. The games themselves brought the ‘energy level back up, s0 thatthe students were ready for further writing activities, 8 Writing a mini-saga ‘The first ofthese writing activities was writing a mink-saga. This a literary form that had its beginnings ina competition un by the Sunday Telegraph Magazine, These are the rues: ‘¢ Each mintsaga mast have exactly ity words, no more, no less, ‘The ite cannot have more than five additional words ‘© The mint-saga can only bea story~not a prem, joke, or anything else. Here is an example: Inthe Name of Prograns The Boat vilge was ‘ing. Theres no Indus," comptoned es Inhabitants, ‘cur young people "re eng. The developers ‘moved in factories blened (0ut g2s and motorways ate Ineo the hedorows They ave desoyed the beaut We ‘must esepeto the unspied countered the ‘new community and moved an, ‘The production of minisagas Is ideal for introducing students to process writing since it combines tightness and clarity of structure with ‘wide scope for creativity. {in particular, because they are short and spare, i s easy for students to attain an overview of thelr structure. And the correction and rewriting Involved tends to be quite manageable, even Ir the beganing First the teacher presented a photocopy ofa minisaga a= an exemple and then explained the form, Then, as a furher prelude to writing the teacher suggested several general topics (eg ‘vampires’ love’ horror, “arewell). in some cases it helps to presea, in addltion, a group of TexT WonesHon wT CALL,“eAghne Teenacens, | ‘words ina scatter pattern for each topic) The students then worked in pairs to produce the first draft oftheir mint-saga. which they then revised ‘with input from the teacher. Final versions of al the mintsagas were then dlsplayed inthe classroom, Here is one fourtesn-year-old's mia-saga on the topic vampires (ne day an old and uaiy vampire want back 10 the ci. Fist he want 0 the ‘raveyard because he wanted fo vst Neo nds, When they sow him they =a “Our ld tend! Le's have apary! Let's goto the hospital and dink same botes oft” ‘Gan Wg 1p. 1-21 10 Writing poetry Day 4 siarted with another activity the students seomed to ike lot ist the teacher asked ther fo come tothe board and write words which they associated with a given word oF phrase, in this case leumting English ‘Then the teacher asked them fit to write the word vetialy down the leftof ther screen and then writ, orizontaly, 2 word or words on each line starting withthe first letter ven. Agua, the leamers enjoyed the ‘opportunity to play around with larguage ina way which made it possible for them to delete and replace words much more alten and easily than ‘with pen and paper. ‘A popular varation was writing down their thoughts and feetings about 4 given topic (eg. “computers? in poetic form, Figures $12 and 8.13 are ‘examples ofeach idea, : not fanbook End" of che Eratish Lesson Enregulae vero TEXT WORKSHOP WIT CALL Bi"tonseines 7¢ 35 toring 11 Workshop newspaper When the teacher suggested that the studems put together a newspaper containing some ofthe texts produced during the workshop they reacted ‘enthusiastically. In order to save time, this was done ln rather old fashioned way, with no attempt at ‘desk top publishing, which would ~have demanded software and software skis lar above the competence of the Tearners inthe trial class, First, students decided on the texts they wanted to be ‘published’, cout them out and pasted them on Ad shee's. These were then photo- ‘copied, togetner with a cover created by one studeat with artiste fal ally. copies of the newspaper were distributed to the students who hhad taken part in projects other then the testomriting workshop. This proved very valuable. On the one hand, the workshop paper amounted to 4 selfassessment for the participants on their work, and on the other hhand they had something to show their classmates involved in other projects. CONCLUDING DISCUSSION Following our workshop, the trlal class began to use the computer as a ‘wring tool in thetr regular English classes. There were some problems, ‘though a the teacher commented Several tines, hen I wanted to use the computer Wb thee was a calleague who sone it for er cass 0. The fact that we Rave eave aut regia elaro07m and move tothe computer in jst fo a ftwrute lesson meaas that we faeTEACHING TEENAGERS ‘uit aft of time. The resting tine pressure doesnot facilitate an atmosphare of creat. Sometimes we'd jst ke to use a word processor for 8 very short period af tne, but there's no pent in moving the whole costo the campute lab for tat $0 ist got te leamers fo dhe wring by hand. This ie a typical practical obstacle to the integration of computer work into langhage learning. Obviously, It is a matter of finance as to ‘whether there can be computers {maybe lap-tops) readily available for luse In every classroom, But without such ready and flexible avallability, the temptation exists ~ when one does have the use ofa computer room — to use the computers so intensivey that they control language learning and, ultimately, threaten to dra Hof interest. Our advice isto break up ‘computer work with plenty of non CALL activity. BIBLIOGRAPHY Alias, B (ed) 1985 The Book of fn’ Sagas Guernsey Press Beckett, $1988, Waiting for Godot Faber & Faber Beckett, § 1958, Endgame Faber & Faber Beckett, 1958, All That Fall Faber & Fabor Black, C and Butzkamm, W 1977 Klassengespriche ~ Kommuniativer “Unterich: Betspiel und Anregang Quelle und Meyer Blundell, Land Stokes, J 1981 Task Listening CUP Brandes, D'and Philips, H 1977 Gamesters’dandbook = 140 Games for Teachers and Group Leaders Hutchinson Brooks, Aand Grundy, P1988 Designer Writing Principles and Practices for ‘Advanced Level Writing Classes Pilgrims Canteld, and Wells, H'C 1976 100 Ways to Shhiance SelfConcept In the ‘Classroom Prentice Hall Cohn, R 1981 Von der Peychoanalyse zur themenzenterten Ineraktion ‘lett-Cotta Collange, ©1987 tm Your Mother Arrow Davis, P and Rinvolueri M 1988 Dictation CUP. De Bono, 1970 Lateral Thinking: A Textbook cf Creativity Penguin Ende, M 1884 Momo Penguin Frank, C and Rinvoluct, M 1989 Grammar in Action: Awareness Actiities ‘or Language Teaching Pretice Hall GGeengross, 6, Puchita, Hand Schatz, M 1988 What's the Story? Spectra Higgins, J and Johnson, M 1988 QUARTEXT Longman Holamann, C1989 "Washu fruit and vampires - Minisagas im Englischunterrcht tn: Unser Weg, vol | pp 19-21 ~ Lee, WR 1979 Language Teaching Games and Contests OUP Legutke, M and Thomas, H 1991 Process and Experience in the Language ‘Classroom Longman Morgan, J and Rinvoluer, M1986 Vocabulary CUP Mostowits, G 1978 Caring and Sharing in the Foreign Language Class: A Sourcebook on Humanistic Techniques Newbury House Prepho, HE 1982 ‘Grundbaustein ~ Reizbegrif, RoSduschung, Retencurticulum? in Zesprache Englisch, vol 3 pp 27—31 Piepho, HE and Bredelia, L (eds) 197% Contacts ~ Integentes Engischlehnver fir die Klassen 5-10 Karp Pike, G and Selby, P 1988 Global Teacher, Global Learner Hodder & Stoughton Stevick, EW 1976 Memory, Meaning and Methoo Newbury House ‘Swan, 1978 Specrure CUP Zavarsky, P1983 Zavatex, Wordprocessing Program Pldagogische ‘Academie des Bundes, Graz, Austria wLocanein,TEACHING TEENAGERS INDEX alfective learning, 20,37, 40, 46,63, argument, language f, 10,15 brainstorming, 25,27, 26-30, 41 3, 65, 67-8, 75, 77 class contrat, 67, 724 clas parliament, 67, 73-4 communicative activities, 8, 12 communicative teaching/learaing, 14,7 preparation for, 6,7-8 ‘cooperative independent learning. 3,30 Crowd in the Noose activity, 41,42, 44,59 dlalogue bullding 9, 15,28, 32-3, 67, 70-1, 7,823 dictation, 10,118, 126-8 discipline problems, 4, 1-12 ‘drawing, 21, 67, 68-8, 89 ‘empathy, developing eapacity tor, 3,6, 19, 64,65, 75, error correction, 28, 38,87, 43, 86 ‘evaluation ‘content, 9, 20-1, 96, 104-7 process, §, 20-1, 53,60, 61-2, 87, 92-8, 96, 108 everyday experience, linking language teaching to, 129,23, 26,48, 69,95, 107 faelitator, teacher as, 29, 73,107 feedback, 4, 42,49, 70,87, 91-2 112,113 feelings, discussion of, 9, 21-2, ‘254, 45,51, 65,65, 75, 75, 7380 sapling exercises, 7 sroupwork, 8,9, 10-12, 19-20, 22, 28,28, 38, 52, 8-60, 62,67, 2, 16,87, 89,94, 95,95, 99-108, 121-2, 127-8 guided fantasy, 113, 128-6 humanistic teaching/learning, 1, 2, ‘5,110,111 Integration of sil, 8 learner independence; , 26,100 learning atmosphere, 1, 7,85, 108 learning process, 3 awareness of 819,25 listening activities, 8,16, 1,52, 58-5, 63-4, 75, 76,81, 101, 128-5, 127-8 erature, 86,91, 94, 95,96, 100, 101, 108-9 rmete-discussions, 4,9, 12, 17-19, 21, 61, 62, 64, 114 snling activity, 27 model tests, 619,26, 28, 367,51, 52,60, 10 ‘mather tongue, use of, 5, 8,11, 25,27, 62,65, 128 motivation, 1,3, 4,5, 19,37, 40,91, 108,111 music, using, 85,86, 87, 88,89, 91, 110,124 2, natural response correction, 56 ‘egotlating decisions, 11,34 newspaper, student, 13, 11,181 nonjudgmental attitude, 45,50, 9,74 | note making, 12,14, 16,23, 95,98, ‘observation sheets, 26, 38-4, 108, ‘observations, sharing with cls, 12,103, observing other students, 33,108, Dalework, 8 9,14, 15, 18, 22,28, 29, 32, 33,85, 6, 67,70, 71,76, 114-16, 120, 12, 126 personalisation, 8,16, 93 posters, making 610,24 87, 89 ‘apport, establishing, 67,8 12-13, 9 readhwalicread-walk activity, 17 ‘reading activites, 27, 80,40, 41, 46-8, 4,97, 101-2, 103, reflection, 9, 10,21, 2-8, 65, 68, 74, 76,89, 96,98, 107 role play, 7,15, 20-1, 26,28, $8-5, 38, 51,82, 5,55, 56, 60-1, 62,65, 57.7122, non-verbal behaviour in, 20-1, 36,83 seltassessment, 131 selLcorrecion, 122 ‘Socal learning 3,80, 103, Social bile, 14,19, 24,26, 27 ‘speech bubbles filling in, 32-8, 65, nvex ‘spelling, 122, 128 stil for discussion, 23-437 substittion tables, 39, 65, 7, 75, 78,82 syllabu, linking communicative teaching 10, 14 text analysis, 47-8, 49, collage, 28, 37 discourse features in, SL leads, 85, 37, 42,48 publication, 42,49, 50, 92, 122, 123,126, reconstruction of, 11, 122 turmtaling 51,52, 59-60 Two-way Role Play activity, 33 vvocabultry, 21,25, 25, 29, 41,45, 49,51, 52,57, 75, word games, 112, 114-16, 127 ‘word processing, 10, 114-16 wweting ‘a pleture story, 190,113, 117-23 asa process, 110, 11-12, 113 Grafts, 12,113, 122-8 from skeleton text, 10, 122 sroup reports, 9, 19- 20,52, 60 ‘ln-sagas, 110,113, 128-80 minis, 28, 35-7 poetry, Bi-7, 89, 93, 113, 130-1