English Teaching Professional Magazine 84 PDF

ENGLISH Issue 84
January
2013
Tprofessional
EACHING
The Leading Practical Magazine For English Language Teachers Worldwide
By teachers, for teachers

Peter Watkins
Mixed-ability teaching
Susan Purcell
In it up to your ears
Mark Hancock
Lessons from wikis

Stephanie Ashford
• practical methodology
• fresh ideas & innovations
• classroom resources
• new technology
• teacher development
• tips & techniques
• photocopiable materials
• competitions & reviews
w w w . e t p r o f e s s i o n a l . c o m
Contents MAIN FEATURE BUSINESS ENGLISH PROFESSIONAL
BY TEACHERS, FOR TEACHERS 4 PLAYING THE GAME 49

Peter Watkins makes teachers the masters Louis Rogers lightens up his business classes
of their own development
ENGLISH FOR TOURISM 52
Phil Wade experiences the expansion of travel
as a teaching opportunity
FEATURES
MIXED-ABILITY TEACHING 8
Susan Purcell gets to grips with getting the TEACHER DEVELOPMENT
best for everyone
WRITE ALL ABOUT IT! 53
OWNERSHIP OF LEARNING 12 Emilce Vela gets her trainees writing articles
George Drivas recommends personalised
report cards WHAT DOES A DIPLOMA TUTOR DO? 56
Ana García-Stone describes the daily life
NON-NATIVE TEACHERS 16 of a Diploma-level trainer
Paul Bress explains why he enjoys teaching
English to teachers
TECHNOLOGY
STRATEGIES FOR COMMUNICATION 17
Emily Edwards looks beyond the LESSONS FROM WIKIS 58
one-to-one classroom Stephanie Ashford and her students produce
a guide to German tax law
FROM RESEARCH TO REALITY 1 20
Magnus Coney starts putting theory into practice FIVE THINGS YOU ALWAYS WANTED TO 61
KNOW ABOUT: MOOCS
OVER THE WALL 25 Nicky Hockly looks at free online courses
Alan Maley analyses the reading experience
WEBWATCHER 63
THE MERIT OF THE MESSAGE 29 Russell Stannard Intervues his students
George Woolard charts a change of focus
ACADEMIC SKILLS 34
Tim Strike and Magda Tebbutt give advice REGULAR FEATURES
on the critical needs of EAP students
IT WORKS IN PRACTICE 38
IN IT UP TO YOUR EARS 1 46
LANGUAGE LOG 40
Mark Hancock sets up his students
John Potts
for authentic listening
SCRAPBOOK 42
TEACHING YOUNG LEARNERS REVIEWS 44
COOKING UP FUN 22 COMPETITIONS 41, 64

Chris Roland shows how shifting students’
expectations reaps rewards
INTERNATIONAL SUBSCRIPTION FORM 32
Includes materials designed to photocopy
• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 84 January 2013 • 1

Editorial
M
ost people recognise that learning is a life-long English – and he celebrates the opportunities this
endeavour – and, certainly, one that doesn’t provides and the dedication and enthusiasm of his
stop when you become a teacher. Several of students as they take advantage of the chance to take
the contributors to this issue look at how teachers can go their knowledge of English to new levels.
on learning and how we can all contribute towards helping
Looking at learning from the point of view of the student,
each other along the developmental path.
Emily Edwards recognises that it needs to continue both
In our main feature, Peter Watkins praises the way that outside the classroom and when an English course is
teachers further develop their skills, share ideas and give over. She tries to ensure that her one-to-one students are
support to their colleagues through workshops, action equipped to improve their language skills even further in
research, peer-observation and shared reflection initiatives, the outside world.
and shows that even those teachers who are working for
Mark Hancock also considers the reality of the learners’
institutions that don’t offer much in the way of professional
experience of English outside the classroom, and he
development programmes can help themselves and each
examines how we can best prepare them for the
other to grow.
variations in pronunciation they are likely to encounter
Ana García-Stone continues our series on the different when faced with authentic speech.
roles available to people within the teaching profession
with a look at the duties and responsibilities of a Diploma-
level tutor. The commitment and energy required of
teachers pursuing a Diploma course in order to enhance
their professional development is clearly matched by that
required of those who train them! Helena Gomm
Editor
Paul Bress points out that his language students are often
helena.gomm@pavpub.com
teachers – non-native teachers who want to improve their
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2 • Issue 84 January 2013 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •

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M A I N F E AT U R E
By teachers,
for teachers
Peter Watkins sees that teachers are doing it for themselves.
S
chools and other institutions lessons, but they also teach other encode practical advice in a non-
often pride themselves on the teachers through talking about teaching judgemental way. What’s more, the
professional development and classroom experiences. Teachers interactive nature of conversation brings
opportunities they provide for clearly value talking to each other about to the fore the social and collaborative
their teachers. This provision is their professional concerns, so what is it possibilities for learning. You are not
obviously a good thing, although in about these staffroom conversations struggling alone, but pooling knowledge
reality what is actually provided may that makes them so important? and ideas with colleagues to your
vary enormously in both quality and Well, the conversations you engage mutual benefit.
quantity. At an institutional level, in with a colleague are typically non- So even if you are the newest
teacher development (TD) is often seen judgemental. Instead, they are based teacher in the staffroom, the chances
as a programme to be implemented: around mutual respect and empathy, are that you are already a teacher
designed by senior staff to be consumed and such empathy is possible because of educator because you talk about
by less senior staff, measured in teaching and, more importantly, you are
workshops and observations. probably promoting a principled model
These programmes are of value Teachers value of teacher learning that is:
when they inspire teachers to ● reflective
experiment and when they encourage
talking to each other ● practical
reflection on teaching. This is because about their professional ● non-judgemental
TD is a process, not a product, and that ● localised
process happens as long as teachers are concerns, so what is it ● empathetic
prepared to be thoughtful about their ● collaborative
own teaching. Put simply, we develop as about these staffroom These are sound principles on which to
teachers by teaching and thinking about conversations that makes base TD, so let’s move on to look at
our teaching. how they can be put into operation in
Organised TD activities that address them so important? programmes designed by teachers, for
the needs of teachers, encourage critical teachers.
reflection and bring people together to
talk about areas of common interest the shared knowledge of the teaching
situation – you teach the same kinds of
Principles in practice
can be an enormous support to this
developmental process. And teachers learners and classes, with the same Reflective practice is a very pervasive
don’t need to wait to be offered such a kinds of materials and resources, and model of TD and is certainly nothing
programme, or just take what they are therefore experience similar triumphs new. John Dewey, for example, was
given – they can do it for themselves. and failures. By talking about these promoting reflection in the 1930s. It
Here’s how. shared situations, the knowledge that should be noted that reflective practice
emerges is relevant to the teaching is sometimes interpreted differently by
context in which you work. different people, but we need not worry
Core principles Another feature that makes these too much about the subtleties of such
First of all, it’s important to remember conversations between teachers so interpretations for our purposes. We can
that if you are a teacher, then you are valuable is that they often have practical simply take it to mean a teacher
almost certainly already a teacher outcomes, typified by phrases such as thinking critically about the practice of
educator. Not only do teachers teach ‘When that happened in my class, I ...’ or teaching. For some people, this might
themselves through reflecting on their ‘Have you tried ...?’. These phrases be quite a structured process, with

prompts to recall critical incidents and
time set aside for writing a journal An example workshop
entry, for example. For others, critical
thinking may be achieved by thinking Using word bags
through a lesson, or part of a lesson, Explain
while walking home from work. ● Learners have a better chance of ● The learners work in pairs. Give
Such practices are undoubtedly remembering new vocabulary when each learner three words from the
useful, but reflection does not have to be a it is recycled. bag. They have to elicit the words
solitary experience. Reflecting with other from their partner by describing the
● Word bags, where a small bag or
teachers can also be highly beneficial. Not meanings or other associations.
envelope is used to keep slips of
only do we gain insights that we may not
paper with words and phrases written ● Give the learners some nouns from
have seen ourselves, but it also allows for
on them from previous lessons, can the bag. Brainstorm adjectives
ideas to be jointly constructed. Something
be a useful way of achieving this. and/or verbs that collocate with
which starts as a tentative suggestion
each one.
proposed by one teacher can be teased ● Word bags can give the teacher
out, added to, reformulated and options for flexible, short activities ● Ask a different learner each lesson
developed by others. So, how can we during lessons. to choose the words that should be
promote opportunities for such shared put into the bag from that lesson.
reflection? Here are two ways: Demonstrate
● At the beginning (or end) of a
● Show how you begin a lesson by
● First, find another teacher or two that lesson, take five or six words from
asking the learners to guess which
you feel comfortable working with. the bag and elicit each word from
words from the previous lesson you
Agree that after you have all taught the learners by giving the meaning.
have put into the bag.
your next lesson(s) you will make a
● Take five or six words at random Evaluate
note of something that went well and
from the bag, check the meanings Invite your colleagues to comment
something you think could have been
and ask the learners to use these on the activities you have shown
done better. Get together with your
words in a short narrative that they them and share their experiences
colleagues and describe the incidents
write with a partner. and ideas.
in as much detail as you can (you may
want to make a few notes soon after
the lesson so that you remember
learners to think and process what you New ideas give us opportunities to
clearly). Taking each incident in turn,
have said. Silence also acts as a prompt experiment (and reflect) and also
allow your colleagues to ask as many
for others to ‘take the floor’ and speak, prompt us to re-evaluate what we
questions as they want about what
and you may find that the learners will currently do. If your school does not
happened and, together, try to explain
fill the void and talk themselves. So already have such a programme, then
why things went well or badly. Can
you could experiment with using more create a workshop yourself! Look at the
you replicate the things that went well
silence at different stages of your outline of an example workshop in the
in other situations, with other classes?
lesson. Using more silence in class is box above. You might start by trying
If things didn’t go so well, can you
just an example to help you think of out these ideas yourself in class and
think of any alternative actions that
your own ideas. Choose something then presenting them. You can
may lead to a better result next time?
that is interesting and relevant to you. comment on your experience of using
This process of deciding what
Again, working with colleagues that the activities and, of course, you can
incidents to report, describing them
you feel comfortable with, either each adapt the session by including your own
and accounting for them, is a
try a different experiment or all try the activities or disregarding any ideas that
collaborative, reflective activity.
same one. When you are ready, get you don’t like or don’t want to talk
● Another way of promoting joint together and discuss what happened. about. Or you could take a completely
reflection is to experiment with new Would you consider using the different teaching technique but follow
teaching techniques. Try using a technique again? Does it need minor the same basic stages of explain,
technique or strategy that you have alterations to make it work better? In demonstrate and evaluate.
not used before, or do not frequently what situations might it be useful? Or Standing up in front of people you
use. You can probably think of lots of should it be discarded totally? know is not always easy, but you will
things you would like to try out in the probably find that your colleagues are
classroom, but to start you thinking, extremely supportive and also grateful
here is just one suggestion. We have
Workshops for your ideas. However, if you would
probably all experienced asking a Programmes aimed at supporting TD feel more comfortable, you can share
question and unless someone answers can include many elements, but perhaps the responsibility by presenting jointly
immediately, in our anxiety to keep what many teachers first associate with with a like-minded colleague. Don’t put
the lesson moving, we fill the silence TD are workshops on a particular area pressure on yourself to lead a particular
by speaking ourselves. This is a of teaching, provided by the school or number of workshops, just try to
natural response, but experiment with institution. These may be organised and address issues that you are interested in.
disciplining yourself to remain silent. led by a designated person and they are It’s very likely that your colleagues will
The silence will create space for the often a valuable source of new ideas. be interested in similar things.

usually takes the form of teachers colleagues, although you could be more
By teachers, investigating very local, context-specific
issues. Like most research, action
ambitious and choose to present them
to a wider audience.
for teachers research begins with the identification

of a problem or a gap in knowledge.
Let’s take an example. A teacher
Reading
Reading will inevitably be part of action
Observation feels that her learners are not saying as
much in pair- or groupwork as might be research because you start that process
Another traditional part of a school- by looking for principled solutions to
organised TD programme is observation. expected. To find an answer to this
problem, she reads about speaking/ problems, but reading is also a useful
When such programmes are imposed on way for teachers to stimulate their own
teachers, they can sometimes feel like an listening activities and, from that
reading, concludes that by allowing development in its own right. Again,
exercise in quality control, with teachers this can be done in a collaborative and
feeling defensive and ‘playing safe’, preparation time before pair- and
groupwork, the situation may improve. reflective manner. For example, you
ensuring that they are observed teaching could set up a small reading group
a class they feel comfortable with and She acts on this plan and allows five
minutes of thinking and preparation whereby you and colleagues read the
teaching a lesson that they are confident same text and then arrange a time to
will proceed as planned. However, time before a groupwork activity. The
teacher then observes the results of this discuss the key issues it raises and what
observation programmes can offer a lot relevance they have to your teaching
more than that. action. After that, she reflects on the
results, perhaps by asking herself context. You could find a text by
A peer observation programme, looking through some back issues of
where observations are reciprocated with questions: Did the learners participate
more? All of the learners? Some of them? ETp! Alternatively, you could find a
someone you trust and whose opinion variety of texts, all on the same subject
you value, can be very useful. First of What would be the effect of increasing
planning time further? This final – such as approaches to teaching
all, there is a benefit to watching other reading – and have each teacher read
teachers as well as being watched. You one, before coming together to share
can pick up techniques your colleagues what everyone has learnt in a jigsaw-
use, as well as getting a sense of what A peer observation
style activity.
lessons feel like from a learner’s programme, where
perspective. Remember that being non-
judgemental and showing empathy were observations are
two of the core principles (above) that we TD is not a product that is given to a
wanted to include in a TD programme – reciprocated with teacher. Instead, it is a naturally
and nowhere are these more important
than when observing others. The
someone you trust and occurring process within all of us who
are prepared to think critically about
observer must always be supportive, whose opinion you value, teaching. However, teachers can come
constructive and aim to address the together to take part in organised
issues that are important to the teacher can be very useful activities that will support this process.
being observed. When this is the case, There are great advantages to
observations can give a teacher feedback programmes that are organised by
on new ideas they are experimenting with question may lead to another round of
research. Notice that there is a cycle teachers for teachers because this ensures
or areas of teaching they find difficult. that relevant issues are addressed.
This can be genuinely developmental from the identification of a problem
through planning, acting, observing and So if your institution does not
and contrasts with the defensiveness already organise a TD programme, or
that is often associated with more top- reflecting.
Action research is an ideal way for you would like more of it, why not try
down models of observation. some of the ideas outlined here? ETp
If the peer observation programme teachers to find answers to the
is of a reasonable size, it is a good idea questions they want answering, whether
for teachers to get together and share those questions concern learners or Dewey, J Experience and Education
teaching techniques. As in any other Collier 1938
the good practice that has occurred.
This can be achieved by a number of form of research, there is no reason why
observers introducing activities in turn a researcher has to work alone. You Peter Watkins is a
could work with other teachers to principal lecturer in
(‘I’ve asked Jay to talk about the practice ELT at the University of
activity I saw in her lesson’) and then the address common concerns in your Portsmouth, UK. He is
school or area. As with any research, the author of Learning
teacher concerned describing what they to Teach English (Delta
did and the rationale behind it. the results should be made public, if Publishing) and is the
possible. This allows people both to co-author (with Scott
Thornbury) of The
learn from what you have done and also CELTA Course (CUP).
Action research to comment on what you have done.
Let’s move on to slightly less-well- This sort of peer review adds rigour to
known TD activities. Action research the research process. ‘Making public’ in
fits in with the notion of teachers taking this sense would be achieved by, for
peter.watkins@port.ac.uk
control of their own development and example, sharing your results with

IN THE CLASSROOM
Mixed-ability
teaching
M
Susan Purcell ixed-ability teaching is All classes contain learners with
still a challenge for many different personalities, different styles of
suggests some strategies English teachers, and the learning, different interests, and so on,
need to develop strategies which means that virtually every class
to meet everyone’s needs. to deal with this situation, therefore, you teach will be mixed ability. Don’t be
remains pertinent. As the name alarmed! This means that you are
indicates, a mixed-ability class is one already dealing with the challenge. There
that includes learners of different are, however, some specific strategies
abilities, who thus progress at different that you can put into practice to ease the
rates. The reasons for the differences in task of coping with a very mixed class.
ability are complex; it is not merely that
one student is ‘brainier’ or more
talented at learning languages than No matter how
another. A number of different factors
contribute. These include: good a coursebook
● Differences in motivation: highly- you are using, some of
motivated learners will make more
progress than reluctant students.
it will be irrelevant to
● Differences in physical ability/ your students
disability: students who can’t hear
very well, can’t move around very
easily or who are dyslexic will be at a Wean yourself away
disadvantage. from coursebooks
● Differences in personality: outgoing Coursebooks are not written with your
learners, who are willing to ‘have a go’, students in mind, nor anybody else’s
will make faster progress than learners students for that matter. No matter how
who are frightened to open their good a coursebook you are using, some
mouths in case they make a mistake. of it will be irrelevant to your students.
Exercises in standard coursebooks are
● Differences in preferred learning
often prescriptive and limited – if it is a
styles: some people learn best when
gap-filling exercise, students are obliged
they see something written down,
to fill in the gaps supplied by the author
some prefer to hear the language,
and/or publisher; there may be ten
while others learn by doing things for
sentences in an exercise, but some
themselves. If lessons are biased
students will need double that number
towards one style of teaching or one
before they absorb the point, and so on.
type of activity, some learners in the
Coursebooks are tools to help you
group will be at a disadvantage.
do your job. They should never become
● Differences in interests: what turns your master. By all means follow a
one learner off might fascinate and coursebook, but don’t stick slavishly to
stimulate another. it. Don’t worry about omitting

dialogues, texts and exercises that are finish. Yet if you stop the activity before
irrelevant to your students’ needs. Even You need to identify the weaker members of the class have
better, adapt the texts and exercises in finished, those students probably won’t
the book, using them as resources or for the key, or core, have fully assimilated the key teaching
ideas, but substitute vocabulary and point.
situations that will be more relevant to
language, the big If the whole class is doing a listening
your learners. The book exercises can be ideas, the main comprehension task, or individuals are
given for homework, as reinforcement doing a reading comprehension, instead
for the less able and as extension work principles, the key of having just one exercise based on the
for the more able in the class. concepts – whatever text have several and tell your students
they can choose which one(s) they do.
Prioritise core language you like to call them – These different exercises can include
something easy, eg true/false questions,
It is tempting to aim your lessons at that you require all the multiple choice or putting ticks on a
somewhere near the middle of the class. grid, as well as more difficult activities,
Don’t! This strategy is frustrating for
students to acquire
eg identifying missing words, answering
everyone – half the class will find the questions in English, summarising or
work too difficult and the other half all suggestions – just the vocabulary you giving an opinion on what they have
too easy. So, what is the solution? You consider ‘core’. The other suggestions read or heard. In practice, the stronger
need to identify the key, or core, won’t go to waste – it’s always good to students may well have completed all the
language, the big ideas, the main find out about your students, and you exercises while the very weakest are still
principles, the key concepts – whatever can include these suggestions in struggling with the true/false or ‘tick the
you like to call them – that you require activities you devise for the stronger words you hear’ exercises. However, the
all the students to acquire by the end of learners at some future date. advantage of giving every student the
the lesson. Over and above that, you
will offer the more able students
extension work (based around the
Vary the format of
questions It is when students
teaching point), which will stretch them,
while offering those who may be Weaker students often get used to being are working individually,
struggling plenty of practice at the basic the last in the class to be asked
or core level, which will stretch them. A questions, after everyone else has had a
in pairs or in small
listening exercise, for example, could go. To avoid embarrassing these people, groups that differences
consist of columns asking for time of change the order in which you ask
departure, train destination, type of questions. You can do this effortlessly in ability between them
train – this would be the ‘core’ language by changing the question form. Some
– but there could be an extra column on
will become more
questions are easier than others, and if
the students’ answer sheets headed ‘Any you start with a very easy question, you apparent
other information’ to challenge the can ask a weaker student first for a
stronger learners (information to change. The questions I went to France
complete this column might include on holiday, and you? I went to France on same sheet with all the exercises is that
delays, or that the train divides en route, holiday; where did you go? and Where nobody knows what anyone else has or
for instance). did you go on holiday? all lead to the hasn’t done. Go through all the exercises
same answer, yet make varying demands when checking the answers; in this way,
Use your learners as on learners. The first format is the weaker students won’t feel embarrassed.
easiest because you are modelling the Similarly, for a pairwork speaking
a resource correct verb form – the learner just has exercise, you can give each pair the
Let’s imagine the teaching point is to copy. No help is given in the question same cue card. There might be six or
hobbies or likes and dislikes. You have form Where did you go? – the learner eight conversations to roleplay, but only
decided to dispense with the coursebook has to remember to change the verb the first four will be ‘core’ – the
and, instead, use hobbies and leisure- form and has to remember what the minimum amount of practice you want
time activities suggested by your correct form is, so this question is more everyone in the class to have. Roleplays
students. Everyone can contribute here; suitable for a more able student. five and six will be slightly more
there is a ‘level playing field’ – there are challenging, and roleplays seven and
no ‘wrong’ answers. The weaker or less eight will be very challenging. Tell your
confident learners can offer swimming
Offer a range of
students you don’t expect them to finish
or football, even if other members of activities the lot. In practice, the weaker students
the class are offering white-water rafting It is when students are working will take all the allotted time over the
or toxophily. Acknowledge every individually, in pairs or in small groups core dialogues, whilst the quicker
contribution, briefly explain new and/or that differences in ability between them students will race through these.
difficult words, but don’t get will become more apparent. Some However, instead of getting bored
sidetracked, don’t write everything on students will finish a task very quickly waiting for the slower ones to finish,
the board and don’t feel obliged to use and get bored waiting for the others to they will be able to continue practising

will struggle to reproduce the modelled for them, whilst stronger students may be
Mixed-ability vocabulary and grammatical structures.
It is better to avoid the use of words,
using be mad about, be a big fan of, not
too keen on or whatever is appropriate
teaching and particularly of full sentences, on a

cue card and instead use symbols,
pictures or diagrams – just clear enough
for them. Everyone can go out of the
class having learnt something new, so
the demands will have been equally
at their own, higher level. No one gets to provide a hint or a prompt. All the A challenging for all the students, and they
bored, and no one gets embarrassed or students could be given a copy of an will all have been equally stretched.
is made to feel that they are ‘behind’ the actual form (eg a hotel registration
rest of the class. form) with the instructions ‘Fill in this
form’, and then it is up to them how
they get the relevant information. A Mixed-ability strategies boil down to
Manage the configuration whole range of options is possible, some two key principles:
of pairs and groups more difficult than others, but none is ● Know your students.
When dividing the class into pairs or wrong in the context: Your nationality, ● Know your material.
small groups for practice activities, it please. Are you American? What
nationality are you? What is your Knowing your students means knowing
might seem easier to match students of
nationality? Where are you from? Which their strengths and weaknesses, knowing
similar ability. There are several
country are you from? A smiley face who needs more practice in grammar, in
disadvantages to this strategy: the same
given as a prompt can elicit The party forming questions, in verb forms, etc.
students always work together, and
was good. I liked the party. I enjoyed the Knowing your material means knowing
weaker members of the group may not
party very much and What a great party! which of the two roles in a pairwork
learn very much. It can also be
as well as the trickier I enjoyed the party activity is the tougher; which are the
detrimental to class cohesion and good
immensely and other versions. more difficult words in a reading
atmosphere, with students only too well
Broadly speaking, using open-ended passage that some students may need to
aware of where they belong in the
activities, where learners have a choice have explained to them; which
pecking order. On the other hand,
in what to say or how to respond, will vocabulary is likely to be unknown or
pairing weak with strong can be
benefit the weaker members of the class confusing; and what irregular forms are
frustrating for the stronger, daunting for
more than prescriptive guidelines and likely to crop up. You can then offer
the weaker, and also means that the
instructions. individuals the support they need,
same students always work together.
whilst stretching and challenging them
In many pairwork activities, one role
at an appropriate level. In this way, you
is much easier than the other; one Offer support will ensure that your lessons meet the
person may have to ask a lot of Give support, but allow the students the needs of all your students. ETp
questions (in a job interview roleplay opportunity to take only as much as
situation, for instance) while the other they need. You might give out an Susan Purcell is a
person needs only to give one-word exercise where they have to fill in freelance teacher and
former teacher trainer.
answers or use more simple English. If missing words, for instance. The answers She is the author or co-
pairs are organised at random, or could be jumbled up at the bottom of author of Mixed-Ability
designed so that people have different Teaching in Language
the page for the students to refer to if Learning, Language
partners each lesson, you can give the they wish. Tell them in advance that Games and Activities
‘easier’ role to the weaker student, at and Teaching Grammar
ideally you would like them to answer Communicatively, all
least for the first round of the activity. the exercise without looking at the published by CILT.
This can be done in a very relaxed way jumbled-up answers, but they are there
as you hand out the roleplay cue cards. if they need them. purcellsusan@hotmail.com
Give the appropriate card to each
student or, if both roles are on one
sheet, say as you hand them out ‘You’re
Keep the class informed
A’ or ‘You’re B’. No one will realise that Remind your students frequently that
your allocation of roles is anything but they will not necessarily always TALKBACK!
random. understand everything. Do you have something to say about
Make sure that they know what you an article in the current issue of ETp?
Avoid the written word expect from them individually (this This is your magazine and we would
comes back to the concept of ‘core really like to hear from you.
in speaking activities language’). For instance, the objective
Write to us or email:
A roleplay in a book might say (in might be that everyone must learn and
English or the learners’ own language) use three new words or phrases related ENGLISH TEACHING professional
‘Ask for her nationality’ or ‘Say you to likes and dislikes; that is, new words Pavilion Publishing and Media Ltd,
enjoyed the party immensely’. Faced with for them – it doesn’t matter whether the Rayford House, School Road,
these words on the card, most students other students know the words or not. Hove BN3 5HX, UK
cannot help trying to use the words Weaker students will reach their Fax: +44 (0)1273 227308
nationality, enjoy and immensely in their objective if they learn and practise enjoy, Email: helena.gomm@pavpub.com
questions and responses. Some students prefer and detest, if those are new words

T E S T I N G A N D E VA L U AT I O N
Ownership
of learning
P
George Drivas ersonalised learning is a model The ideal situation, then, would be
where, according to David one where teachers and learners (and
recommends personalising Hargreaves, ‘students are offered their parents) operate within a learning
a customised package of activities environment driven by pedagogy rather
report cards. and programmes to meet their individual than systemic priorities, where they
needs’. Hargreaves goes on to identify reflect on and analyse educational events
five core elements that characterise the rather than just keeping a record of
student for whom learning is them, where they construct and work
personalised: Engagement, Responsibility, with a syllabus that reflects individual
Independence, Maturity and Co- learner needs rather than one that
construction. These characteristics itemises formal requirements and,
support and enable learning in ways finally, where they prioritise and assess
that extend beyond the classroom and goals set by individuals rather than by
shift the balance of ownership from the external authorities or examination
teacher to the student. bodies. This would entail a system that
Ownership is a legal concept widely is geared towards mass customisation
recognised across a variety of cultures rather than mass production. (For an
and societies. It brings with it rights and extensive discussion of this, see the work
responsibilities, risks and rewards for all of Ted Kolderie and Tim McDonald.)
stakeholders – in education, these
stakeholders are teachers, learners and Standards and goals in
(in some cases) their parents. Yet, the
characteristics listed above are not an
syllabus design
inherent part of human behaviour; they A syllabus is the road map used by
may require training. Furthermore, they stakeholders to plan their educational
need equal degrees of commitment from journey. It consists of three elements:
all sides, together with a range of ● Content – the subject matter that
systems that support and promote them. needs to be acquired
● Competences – the processes to be
used for the acquisition and
Ownership brings with it application of knowledge
rights and responsibilities, ● Skills – the abilities required to
progress and develop
risks and rewards for
The syllabus sets the standards against
all stakeholders – which teaching and learning are to be
assessed. The former must provide
in education, these are opportunities for content, competences
teachers, learners and skills to be acquired, nurtured and
developed. The latter must provide
and parents evidence that the required level of
success has been achieved.

the profile of individual learners and ● It needs to convey a manageable load
The ideal situation their goals. In addition, learners and of information, ie to concentrate on
teachers would be trained to evaluate points that interest both teacher and
would be one where the and assess themselves (and possibly their learner.
peers). Self-evaluation and self-
learners are consulted assessment engage learners and teachers
The ideal situation would be one where
teachers and learners meet for a
when we set goals and by helping them think about the time and feedback session before a specific
effort invested in the educational process, milestone in the course and not only
select the activities that their own strengths and weaknesses and during or, most commonly, after a
possible remedial actions.
will help them reach particular activity. This would enhance
ownership and engagement.
the desired level Feedback and
consultation Report cards
In most typical educational Feedback is an integral part of the A report card communicates information
environments, the syllabus is translated educational process. Stakeholders need to about a learner’s performance. In most
into a universal set of goals for all hear what other participants think and cases, it is issued by the school to the
learners. Teachers plan lessons and how much they value their contribution. learner or the learner’s parents at regular
design activities for their assigned classes It gives insight into preparation and times during the period of teaching. A
of learners which aim at achieving these performance; it provides suggestions typical report card uses a grading scale to
goals. As a result, ownership of learning about alternative courses of action and indicate the quality of the learner’s work.
lies with the teacher or, even more may lead to changes in expectations and Grades achieved in class contribute to
dangerously, with the syllabus designer. beliefs. However, in real life, feedback this grading scale. As such, the report
Furthermore, the individual learners sessions tend to be sporadic and
may feel excluded from a process in unsystematic. High achievers are often
which they should have an active role. excluded for the sake of those learners Feedback gives insight
The ideal situation would be one who seem to need additional support.
where the learners are consulted when Spending time on actual teaching is given into preparation and
we set goals and select the activities that priority over time dedicated to feedback.
The extent and detail of the advice
performance; it provides
will help them reach the desired level, a
level determined by personal or given is directly proportionate to the suggestions about
professional requirements. time available and the importance given
to it by the stakeholders. alternative courses of
As a result, learners pay attention to
Evaluation and the result and not the process involved
action and may lead to
assessment in a particular activity. The next time a changes in expectations
Evaluation and assessment in education comparable activity is assigned or
are the processes used to measure undertaken, very little change occurs in
success. They usually identify how well learner attitude and teacher behaviour. card is basically a tool for providing
teachers and learners are performing, The same difficulties surface, and assessment and feedback. Used properly,
how much of the prescribed syllabus the indifference settles in. it helps learners and teachers to evaluate
teachers are delivering and how much of The term communications protocol is their work and plan the next steps in
it the learners are acquiring. In most usually used to refer to the transfer of order to achieve their goals. It can also
cases, the tools used are in the hands of data between electronic devices. enhance productivity and accountability.
the teacher or syllabus designer, and the However, just such a protocol (a set of It is becoming increasingly important
results are communicated to the learners rules defining feedback exchange for report cards and for teachers, in
as grades, posssibly with additional between learner and teacher) is needed general, to provide students with
comments in the form of advice or in the educational context. This comments about their performance which
criticism. protocol needs to have the following relate to certain established standards,
This approach commonly creates characteristics: such as those set by the Common
antagonism rather than collaboration, ● It needs to focus on and address European Framework of Reference for
distinguishes learners as either achievers specific aspects of the work at hand. Languages. These standards can reflect
or underachievers and stresses a broader spectrum of educational aims
● It needs mutual agreement between
weaknesses over strengths. The tools and often use descriptors to define goals
teacher and learner in terms of its
used in measuring performance are also and map a learner’s progression towards
frequency and length.
subject to evaluation: a project may be a final goal. Descriptors (often referred
deemed easier than a test and a ● It needs to use a common language, ie to as ‘can do’ statements) describe what a
standardised test easier than an essay. that which both learner and teacher learner is capable of doing. These ‘can
The ideal situation would be one understand. do’ statements are always positive: they
where both learners and teachers were ● It needs to use a ‘full-duplex’ mode, ie describe what learners are able to do,
actively involved in selecting evaluation feedback flows in both diretions not what they cannot do or do wrongly.
and assessment tools that would match between teacher and learner. This helps all learners, even those at the

points out any difficulties or This meeting is documented in the
Ownership inconsistencies in the resulting
prioritisation and lists the activities
report card, which is kept as part of the
learner’s portfolio. Figure 2 on page 15
of learning that are most suitable for each goal,

together with the assessment
methods. The learners can express
shows a sample page of a personalised
report card. The descriptors were
prioritised by the learner and there is
lowest levels, to see that learning has their preferences at this point, and space for self-assessment in the ‘My
value and that they can attain language add activites or assessment methods goal’ columns, as well as space for
goals. Similar statements can refer to to this list – or delete them. teacher assessment. The report would
and assess not only content, but also ● Again, using an online survey tool, contain similar pages for listening,
learning strategies and skills. the learners prioritise the descriptors speaking and writing.
The report card, therefore, can use individually and print a copy of the
such statements to itemise goals for 6
results in preparation for a
each subject area in terms of content, Steps 1–5 above are repeated until the
consultation with their teacher. At
competences and skills. It ranks them in learning period is completed and/or the
this point, the learners can also take a
terms of preference, rates them in terms learning goals have been achieved.
learner profile test, such as the one at
of progression over a period of time Figure 3 shows the back of a report card
www.learning-styles-online.com/
and indicates whether the learner is where the performance rating codes are
inventory/questions.asp to identify the
moving in the right direction. explained and where there is space for
ways in which they feel they learn
dates and signatures that document the
better. They can also print a copy of
Personalised report consultation meetings.
these results. During the consultation
cards with the teacher, they discuss the
results of the survey and the test,

Report cards can be personalised in the
mapping their course of action – the
following way: A personalised progress report card can
number and frequency of activities,
help learners develop and adopt a more
1 number and frequency of assessment
active role in their learning. It can
The teacher ensures that there is a methods, etc. Both documents are
influence teachers to become more
syllabus available which describes and finalised and kept in the learner’s
active and systematic in providing
defines its components – content, portfolio for reference.
advice and feedback. It can help
competences and skills – with 3 stakeholders define and set specific
descriptors covering manageable units goals as well as monitor the learners’
Once the consultation meetings are
of knowledge for different levels of progress and take action when
completed, the teacher produces
proficiency, preferably in the learner’s necessary. The personalised progress
individual report cards. Where possible,
native language. These descriptors report card requires a change in format,
the teacher also puts the learners in
itemise the points necessary to achieve layout and content to reflect and take
groups according to their goals and/or
the course goals. They need to be advantage of digital reality and
profiles, making sure to offer as many
focused, mutually agreed and pedagogical developments. ETp
suitable and appropriate learning and
understandable. They also need to be
assessment opportunities as possible.
matched to a range of activities that
correspond to different learner profiles. 4 Hargreaves, D Personalising Learning,
Next Steps in Working Laterally Specialist
Furthermore, they need to be linked to The learners self-assess their Schools Trust 2004
methods of assessment and evaluation performance in each of the areas listed Kolderie, T and McDonald, T How
that produce accurate results. and their achievement of each of their Information Technology Can Enable 21st
goals. They also express their Century Schools The Information
2
preferences for the assessment tasks and Technology and Innovation Foundation
As a class, the teacher and the learners 2009
methods. During interim consultation
review the descriptors that are to form
meetings – feedback sessions initiated
the goals for a specific time period – a
by either the learner or the teacher – George Drivas is
week, month or academic term. Once Director of Studies at the
these points are raised, progress is Department of Foreign
everybody is satisfied that they
discussed and any necessary Languages at Doukas
understand what is to be achieved, there School, Athens, Greece.
adjustments to the course are decided. He is an inspector for
are two options available:
the Evaluation and
● Using one of the many online survey 5 Accreditation of Quality
in Language Services
tools available (eg Google Docs) the Finally, the teacher assesses each (EAQUALS) and a
teacher produces a survey so that the learner’s performance and achievement certified assessor for the
European Foundation for
class as a whole can decide what they for each of the descriptors listed. Quality Management
would prefer to deal with first, During a consultation meeting at the (EFQM). He is also the
author of Education,
second, etc. (There is an example of a end of the agreed period of time, the Learning and Training in a
survey relating to listening in Figure 1 teacher and the learner discuss Digital Society, published
by Express Publishing.
on page 15.) In a follow-up outcomes, how well specific goals have
been achieved and possible next steps. gdrivas@doukas.gr
consultation meeting, the teacher

What are your 1 Listening. Indicate the order in which you would like to deal with the points below.
priorities this
1 2 3 4
term?
I can generally follow the main points of
extended discussion around me.
I can follow a lecture or talk within my own field.
I can understand simple technical information,

such as operating instructions for everyday equipment.
I can follow detailed directions to a place of interest.
I can understand the information of recorded messages
Thank you for taking the time

to fill out this survey.
Finish survey

Figure 1
An example survey

Figure 2
A page from a personalised report card

Figure 3
The back page of a personalised report card

IN THE CLASSROOM
Non-native teachers
Paul Bress delights in having overseas teachers as his students.
W
hen students go overseas for an But let’s not forget that improving their these students are teachers themselves,
English course in, say, the UK, English is precisely why they’ve chosen to they will be able to acquire the language
the USA or Australia, they are do their course! They want their trainers input with hardly any practice. You may,
usually highly motivated to achieve a lot to pinpoint what they should work on. indeed, find some NNTEs who have this
in a short space of time. When non- Trainers can give specific feedback extraordinary aptitude, but most will need
native teachers of English (NNTEs) do to each NNTE to enable them to see a regular reminding of what they’ve learnt.
so, they are likely to be even more pattern in what they need to work on in In short, it is not a good idea to cover too
highly motivated. This is their golden future. Here are some examples of much ground, because then the learning
opportunity: their chance to catch up on possible feedback: experience may be unsatisfactory.
how the language has changed since their You need to make a clearer distinction
5 Set homework tasks.
last visit; their chance to be reminded of between strong forms and weak forms.
their strengths and weaknesses in You need to use conventionally Some trainers will not take advantage of
English; their chance to fine-tune their acceptable collocations. the fact that their NNTEs are now in an
communicative performance. Against this You need to adapt your register so that English-speaking country. It is important
background, how should trainers go you indicate the amount of unease that to make the most of this situation! The
about improving NNTEs’ language there is in a situation. NNTEs will be surrounded by language as
skills? Let’s look at five possible ways. Note: This exercise can be done again soon as they leave the class: newspapers,
and again, which makes the feedback magazines, websites, people talking to
1 Input new words/phrases that them, people talking to each other, etc.
you give to any individual more
they probably haven’t heard before. effective than if it is only done once. The best homework task you can set is to
Your class of NNTEs will probably ask them, each day, to note down three
have an advanced knowledge of English 3 Get them to take part in difficult words or phrases (heard or read in an
vocabulary and phrases. However, it is simulations – and give feedback on authentic context) which they have never
possible that they may have neglected to their performance. encountered before. First, they have to
keep up with recent changes in English. Basic simulations (eg buying a cup of guess what the words or expressions mean.
They have not, perhaps, watched TV coffee in a café) aren’t that difficult to set Then they have to check the meaning in
programmes or read newspapers, up, but, clearly, these would be too easy an English-English dictionary. Finally,
magazines or websites in English. As a for a class of NNTEs. Therefore, trainers in class, a selection of NNTEs can
result of this, their English may be need to set up much more demanding choose one of their items, tell the class
beginning to sound a little archaic. simulations. The NNTEs should be asked about the situation, and say whether
This is why it is important to teach to do things they probably might want to their hypotheses were correct or not.
useful new words/phrases very regularly do in their own language, for example
on the course. One way of dong this is making unusual requests such as:
as follows: ● Asking for one restaurant meal to be Some trainers hold the view that
● Write a list of new words and phrases put on two plates – for two people to teachers are the most difficult people to
(eg twenty-four seven) on the board and share teach. They may say that teachers have
ask the NNTEs to discuss their meanings. ● Asking to borrow a stranger’s mobile unrealistically high expectations of their
● Get the NNTEs to read the (same) phone trainers. Maybe they will even want to
words and phrases in natural-sounding ● Asking a stranger in a railway station compete with their trainers. In my
contexts. to look after a bag for five minutes experience, though, when a group of
● Ask the NNTEs what these (same) After you have watched the simulation, NNTEs realise that their trainers know
words and phrases mean, using carefully you can give feedback on how successful how to facilitate their learning (in the ways
worded concept questions. they were at communicating appropriately suggested above), they are likely to be ETp
● Give the class a concept statement for in an awkward situation. You can then
each new word or phrase – to reinforce provide ample opportunity for further Paul Bress lives in Herne
Bay, UK, where he works
the meaning. oral practice, so that the NNTEs go as a part-time teacher of
● Elicit a target sentence with each away feeling that they have achieved English to overseas
students and also writes
target word or phrase. something important. novels. His novels are:
The Man Who Didn’t Age,
2 Get them to express opinions on 4 Review the language you have The Dysfunctional Family,
For Adults Only and The
difficult topics – and give feedback covered every day. Check-out Operator, all
on their performance. Some trainers of NNTEs tend to treat published by Fast-Print
and available on Kindle.
Some trainers will be somewhat wary of their students as if they had miraculous
paulbress@talktalk.net
guiding NNTEs towards better English. learning powers – thinking that, because

IN THE CLASSROOM
Strategies for
communication
I
Emily Edwards n Issue 83 of ETp, I discussed lessons, can be all they need to give them
ways of planning for one-to-one the confidence to communicate more
prepares her one-to-one lessons, and how to design a effectively in English. Therefore, it is vital
syllabus using a variety of (in my opinion) to help your student
students for life outside frameworks. So, assuming that you have develop strategies that will allow them to
already found out your student’s tackle tasks themselves in the future, after
the classroom. interests, needs and goals (using needs their lessons with you have ended. It is
analysis) and planned a series of lessons, also really important to keep one-to-one
we will now look at some strategies for lessons enjoyable, fun, communicative
making the one-to-one learning process and varied, so that the student has the
communicative, fun and enjoyable – for motivation to continue to develop their
both the student and the teacher. language skills as effectively as possible.
Classroom reality General strategies

One-to-one teaching should, in theory, be So, what can one-to-one teachers do to
all about focusing on one student’s needs. prevent problems arising? I think there
It should, therefore, be very learner- are several useful strategies which can
centred: meaning that the lesson content help in general:
is tailored exactly to that student, who
● Encourage the student to be
also has some control over the topics and
responsible (along with you) for the
materials used. However, in day-to-day
learning and content of the course by
planning and teaching, I’ve found that it
asking them to bring something to
can be easy to forget this and, despite
the lesson that they are interested in
having a learner-centred syllabus
discussing, reading or editing, eg an
planned, the teacher may just find and
email they wrote recently.
use something that is convenient to
photocopy, such as a set of textbook ● Use frameworks to make learning as
exercises, which may not be that relevant flexible as possible, and adapt them to
to the student. Another common the student’s needs as you go. (An
problem is that the student may develop example would be a series of speech
an over-reliance on the teacher, seeing bubbles showing the start of a
them as a ‘fountain of knowledge’, conversation, which the student then
rather than as someone to guide their has to continue.)
learning process. Student demands and
● Plan activities that will make the
expectations of one-to-one lessons are
student work and think hard, and
normally high (as, arguably, they should
which don’t need lengthy teacher
be) but can sometimes be unrealistic,
explanations, eg task-based activities.
which may lead to the teacher doing all
the work and too much talking, with the ● Get your student to perform the tasks
lesson then becoming teacher-centred. they will need to do in the real world, eg
The fact of the matter is that many giving a presentation, writing an email,
one-to-one students only want or need asking for travel information – and
lessons for a limited time. This is because then give them feedback on this task,
a short spurt of attention on a student’s such as a list of sentences to correct
key weaknesses, as provided by private or words to practise pronouncing.

list) or make their own questions using over learning in the same way that western
Strategies for vocabulary learnt recently. culture does. Of course, in this case it is
communication Writing:
Get the student to do some writing for
not a good idea to force a student to
adopt new techniques which they are
uncomfortable with, but to help them
● Record the student during speaking homework, and then underline any
learn English as effectively as possible,
practice, then play back the recording important mistakes during the lesson,
taking into account their preferences,
and pick out things to work on, eg which the student should then correct
likes, dislikes, needs and wants. Here are
pronunciation of certain words/sounds (this teaches them to notice their own
a few strategies I have used successfully
or inaccurate use of collocations. errors). I think it’s also very useful to do
with one-to-one students:
short writing exercises in the lesson to
● Get shy or low-level students who are encourage written fluency. ● Use review worksheets to revise
nervous about speaking to plan language which has been learnt recently.
questions or even dialogues (for Language focus (Worksheet 2 on page 19 is an example.)
homework or with you in class); then Vocabulary:
● Encourage the students to develop
practise them together. Writing down There are many different techniques for their own ways of recording and
what they want to say first can give recording and revising vocabulary that learning vocabulary outside of lessons,
some students a lot of confidence. comes up in lessons. See Worksheet 2 on which suit their learning styles.
page 19 for an example.
Specific strategies ● Use self-evaluation checklists after
Grammar: any skills-based exercise.
It can also be helpful to think about The best way I’ve found to work on
strategies relating to each skill or language grammar in one-to-one lessons is simply ● Encourage the students to edit their
focus to add variety to the lessons, so to get your student to speak or write, own writing (rather than correcting it
here are some that I have often used: and then draw their attention to their yourself).
most frequent (and most inappropriate)
Skills work mistakes, using a table like this:
Reading:
Ask your student to read a short text in What you said What you should say Here, then, are five steps to help keep
class and then summarise the content to your lessons communicative, fun,
Your hairs are very Your hair is/looks enjoyable and as useful as possible:
you, using their own words. Encourage nice! very nice!
them to focus on understanding the 1 Base your lessons closely on your
general meaning first, and then target student’s needs, goals and interests.
individual lexis they found problematic. It is important for students to have a
record of these corrections, to look at 2 Encourage your student to bring
Listening: later. You could then choose this material to the lessons which is interesting
Get your student to watch an online grammar area (in this case, uncountable and relevant to them (rather than
news report for homework, to look up nouns) to work on in the next lesson. something you have selected yourself).
any new vocabulary themselves and
then to prepare a summary to present in Pronunciation: 3 Pick some strategies from those
the lesson (see Worksheet 1 on page 19). Record your student (eg giving a mentioned above to work on skills and
If they didn’t understand something presentation or answering a question). language in different ways.
from the report, you could watch it Afterwards, play back the recording and 4 Aim to help your student develop
again together to clarify difficult get them to identify words and phrases
strategies for learning English that will
vocabulary or expressions. Another which are not clear; then work on the
allow them to continue improving by
technique which helps develop your pronunciation of these.
themselves after your lessons finish.
student’s listening and conversation
5 Be flexible! This is the most
confidence is to teach strategies for Learning strategies
asking for clarification when they don’t important rule for making one-to-one
One other aspect of learning I try to cover lessons work well – be prepared to
understand (and then get them to use
with one-to-one students is learning adapt to what your student brings along
these on you). For example:
strategies: teaching them ways of studying and wants to do that day. ETp
Asking someone to Checking that you so that they can continue to develop their
repeat something understand English proficiency independently after
Emily Edwards works
they finish having lessons. The ideas of as a senior teacher at
Sorry? So ... learner autonomy and self-directed English Language
Company, a language
Sorry, what was that? So you mean … learning have been well researched over school in Australia. She
the last 20 years, and are now often seen has recently completed
Sorry, could you say So what you’re the Cambridge Delta as
that again, please? saying is … as central aspects of language learning. well as an MA in Applied
Although I am definitely in favour of such Linguistics, and her
particular interests are
theories and like to encourage my students syllabus design,
Speaking: to be autonomous, it is also important to motivation, EAP and
teacher training.
Get the student to decide on the consider the student’s native culture, which
e.c.edwards@hotmail.co.uk
questions they want to discuss (from a may not value independence and ‘control’

Worksheet 1: Listening homework
For homework, listen to a news report from one of the following websites about a topic you are interested in.
1 BBC Learning English: a British website for people who are learning English
www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/general/sixminute
2 ABC news: an Australian news website
www.abc.net.au/news/#tab=video
3 CNN news: an American news website
http://edition.cnn.com/video/
As you listen, take notes. You can listen as many times as you need to.
Afterwards, look up new vocabulary in a dictionary. Then complete the information and summary here:
Story topic: ....................................................................................................
New vocabulary:
Summary of story:
......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
Worksheet 2: Recording and revising vocabulary

1 Write down five new words from today’s lesson in the table. Then find their meanings (use a dictionary if you’re not
sure) and write an example sentence.
Word (include word class and stress) Meaning Example
prioritise (v) to put things in order according to how Every morning, I prioritise my tasks for
important they are the day ahead.
2 Last lesson we talked about your company – look at the diagram and write down the words from last lesson
in the different areas, adding new labels as you go.
managing people
to report to sb (v)
I’m responsible for ...
My job
My boss
My company
marketing manager (n)
performance review (n)
to work on sth
Verbs connected to solve sth
with work
to deal with sth
..................................
to manage sth
to prioritise sth

IN THE CLASSROOM
From research
to reality 1
Magnus Coney starts a new series on putting theoretical insights to practical use.
L
et’s say I have a photo of a bread, kneading dough). In contrast, we connection to the present, a point which
man and I have two groups of rarely have these ready-made associations is often ignored when teaching this
people, A and B. I show the for people’s names, unless we know item. Similarly, when introducing the
photo to Group A and tell someone else with the same name. past perfect you would compare it to
them the man’s name is Baker. I show This concept shows us one reason the present perfect and highlight how
the photo to Group B and tell them that why personalising a lesson is so effective. they are both looking back from a
he is a baker. The next day, I ask Group We need to find out what the students particular point (present perfect: before
A if they remember his name, and I ask already know, and help them ‘hook’ the now; past perfect: before then).
Group B if they remember his job. new knowledge onto these existing links.
Which group do you think is more Vocabulary
successful at remembering? Reality The traditional way for students to
practise vocabulary is to keep word cards
Grammar in a vocabulary envelope and regularly
Research One way of giving the students a review the cards, which is known as
As teachers, you may have guessed from reference point for a new grammar item maintenance rehearsal. To make it more
personal experience that Group B finds is to highlight the equivalent structure in effective, the students need to make
it much easier to remember the man’s their own language (see lesson outline A associations with the new words, such as
job than Group A finds it to remember on page 21 for an example). In a recent images or personal memories, and recall
his name. But why is this? lesson, I gave my students a translation these during their practice sessions. This
The Baker/baker paradox is based on activity with some discussion questions is known as elaborative rehearsal. The
various research findings (eg those by to elicit the use of the present perfect more associations a student can make,
Cohen and by James, Fogler and Tauber), for unfinished events in English and its the stronger the memory trace will be.
which showed that people remember equivalent in Italian. This allowed them Students could be encouraged to
names less well than other information to connect their existing knowledge of make and learn collocations of words
such as jobs and hobbies. Although the the form used in their own language they already know, such as heavy rain or
findings are sound, the reasons behind the with that used in English to express the reach an agreement. This is often a more
paradox are still open to debate. However, same concept, and avoid the common useful vocabulary-building strategy than
the generally accepted explanation is that error ‘I live in Milan since three years’. simply teaching progressively less
everything in our memories is linked to Another common approach is to common/useful words. You could also
something else, so when we are told contrast the new area with another highlight the existence of collocations in
someone is a baker we make a range of grammar item. The only caveat here is the students’ own language – many don’t
associations (big white hat, smell of to make sure it is a grammar item they realise the concept exists, and may not
already know, rather than contrasting believe its importance (‘But why can’t I
We need to find out two or three new items with each other. say “hard rain”? You understand me!’ ).
I would also suggest looking at forms
what the students already sharing the same tense or aspect. In the Skills
know, and help them aforementioned lesson, I contrasted the Most of the sub-skills we teach in skills
present perfect with the present simple lessons (inferring meaning, asking for
‘hook’ the new knowledge (rather than the past simple), as the clarification, using background
onto these existing links similarities are clearer – they are both knowledge, skimming/scanning, etc)
present tenses, so they both have a also exist in the students’ L1. As with

collocation, it is useful to highlight this so
the students can make the associations Lesson outlines
with English. This can be done by
providing a task in L1 followed by a list A Introducing the present perfect interviewer has to guess which answers
of reflection questions. See lesson are true.)
1 Ask the students to brainstorm what they
outline B for an example of introducing know about you. Give them prompts, 8 The students make new pairs and tell
conversation skills by observing them in pictures, etc if necessary. their new partners what they have found
the students’ L1. out. For example: Marco has played the
2 Prepare a text about yourself, similar to
guitar for three years.
the one below. You could dictate it to the
students, get them to do a dictogloss, a For homework, you could ask the students
running dictation, or just give it to them to translate their texts back into English (if
When it comes to planning your lesson, you asked them to translate the original), or
there is a wide range of options, so here and ask them to see what they were right
about and what they didn’t know. write a similar text about themselves.
is a brief list of things to consider:
I’m an English teacher at Phoenix School
● Is there a similar or equivalent concept of English. I’ve lived here since 2007 and I
B Conversation skills
in the students’ L1 to compare this to? love it. I’ve been a teacher for 15 years, 1 Put your students into groups of three.
● Is there anything in their L1 to and before that I was a musician. Outside Give a copy of the checklist below to one
contrast this with? work I like playing the piano and going to person in each group (the observer). Tell
the theatre. I’ve studied Italian for a long them to put a tick whenever one of their
● Have we studied anything that could partners does something on the list.
time, but I’m not very good! I live near the
be linked to this? town hall with my wife, Sarah. We’ve been 2 Divide the class in half. Tell all the groups
● Could the students relate the new married since 1998. in one half to speak in English, and all the
language to a recent news story? 3 Get the students to translate the text into groups in the other half to speak in their
own language. Give the two students in
● Could I relate to it to their interests? their L1 (optional). Ask them to compare the
grammar being used in English with that each group who are not observers a
I’ll end with a one-sentence summary used in their own language. For example, speaking task, such as talking about their
for any skimmers and scanners: Italian learners will notice that they use the weekend.
People remember new things better if present simple with da where English uses
Conversation checklist:
they can connect them to something they the present perfect with for/since.
● Ask a question.
already know. ETp 4 Elicit the meaning and form (in this order)
● Give extra information when
of the present perfect. You could take
answering a question.
Cohen, G ‘Why is it difficult to put names example sentences from the text and give
the students concept-check questions to ● Show interest/surprise (Really? Wow!
to faces?’ British Journal of Psychology
81 1990 discuss in pairs. For example: Do I live here etc).
now? When did I start teaching English? ● Make eye contact when you are
James, L E, Fogler, K A and Tauber, S K
‘Recognition memory measures yield speaking.
5 Do a couple of practice activities for
disproportionate effects of aging on meaning and form. For meaning, I give the ● Talk for a long time.
learning face–name associations’ students pairs of sentence beginnings, ● Connect what you say to what your
Psychology & Aging 23 2008 partner said (A similar thing
one with the present perfect and one with
Useful links the present simple, to match with possible happened to me ...).
www.cdl.org/resource-library/articles/ endings. For example: ● Introduce a new topic (A strange
memory_pt3.php Barack Obama is … President of thing happened to me on Sunday ...).
www.human-memory.net/processes_ the USA since 2008.
encoding.html Barack Obama President of the 3 Stop the activity and ask the observers to
http://actr.psy.cmu.edu/papers/59/ has been … USA. share their results with the other two
MemCog81.pdf members of the group.
Then get them to practise the form. Some
www.psychologytoday.com/blog/mental- kind of gap-fill or word reordering activity 4 Reorganise the class so they are in pairs,
mishaps/201002/large-mocha-without- would work here, perhaps using more one from a group that spoke English and
name one from a group that spoke in their
sentences about you (students are usually
www.spring.org.uk/2011/12/why-peoples- interested in finding out about their teacher). mother tongue. Ask them to compare and
names-are-so-hard-to-remember.php discuss their results.
6 Give them a list of personal questions,
http://elinharding.wordpress.com/ such as: What do you do? Do you have a 5 Elicit the differences between their L1
2012/02/05/why-are-names-so-hard-to- and L2 conversations. Ask the students
pet? Do you play a musical instrument?
remember/ to choose one or two ideas from the
Ask one of the students to interview you,
using these questions. When you answer, checklist that they want to use more.
Magnus Coney
completed his CELTA in make sure you include the present 6 Repeat the original speaking activity in
2005, and since then has perfect. For example: Yes, I’ve had my cat English in new groups of three,
worked in London and for six years. Ask the students what they incorporating their chosen ideas. The
Italy. He is currently very
excited about finishing noticed about your answers. observer records as before, then they
off his final DELTA change roles.
module, specialising in
7 Give them some time to prepare their own
one-to-one teaching. answers to the questions. Then they 7 You could then go on to focusing on a
interview each other in pairs. (You could specific area and teaching appropriate
tell the interviewees they have to say yes language, such as discourse markers or
to every yes/no question, and the question forms.
mag_nus@hotmail.com

TEACHING YOUNG LEARNERS
Object shift
Cooking
Things out of their place are much
more interesting than things in their
place. Things that wouldn’t otherwise
be outstanding in their own setting can
generate enormous interest within the
walls of the class. This year, I’ve had my
students form a human chain and pass
round a bag of cat litter, repeating: ‘It’s a
bag of sand, here you are’. The novelty
up fun
of the item drives the functional
language of giving and receiving. I do
the same with a computer lead, a water
melon and an egg.
Once a year, I’ll walk about the city
taking photos of streets and buildings
and then project them in class. The
children jump up to tell me where each
place is or that their grandmother lives
in the block of flats in the background
of the picture. They don’t get that
excited when they walk down those
Chris Roland stirs the ingredients of an actual streets. It’s the shift at work.
What’s normally ‘out there’, is suddenly
engaging and motivating lesson. ‘in here’ with us.
I take internet images of the
I
would like to suggest that the Are we having students’ favourite characters such as
defining parameters of any primary the Monster High gang. Using
English classroom activity are the fun yet? PowerPoint, I add speech bubbles from
interplay between three key Having observed many children in many their mouths with everyday questions I
dimensions: firstly, the micro-mechanics classes, I have come to the conclusion want my students to practise. They then
of our task design (see my article in that fun is movement. Children need take turns to ‘talk to’ the characters.
ETp Issue 79); secondly, the language movement. I’m talking here about more Just playing Disney Channel songs in
content or linguistic aims of the activity; than vigorously-led renditions of ‘Head, class creates an enormous stir. This
and thirdly, the fun element as shoulders, knees and toes’. I’m talking year the most popular film was
experienced by the learners. That’s about the movement of, to and from Lemonade Mouth. If you want to know
micro-mechanics, language and fun. states and situations, abstraction, norms what is ‘in’ now, just ask your students.
These three translate respectively into and expectations. Fun is change. Object shift works both ways, too.
concerns about a) how we are going to We are, above all else, I believe, For this reason, your students get much
get an activity to work, b) what it is creatures of contrast. We are fascinated more excited when they see you in the
going to teach in terms of English, and by the contrasts that happen as we local supermarket than they do when
c) why the learners will want to do it move from one thing to another. If you they see you in the classroom.
for the duration we have planned – or ask an adult why they enjoyed a certain
at all. experience, they’ll tell you ‘Because it Text shift
All three dimensions can be was fun’. If you keep pressing them with Writing in the activity book is fine, but
manipulated, but it’s the last one that is ‘But why?’ for long enough, they’ll tell the moment our students get the
often least talked about, perhaps you it was because it made a change, it chance to transport text elsewhere,
because we don’t see fun as something was something different, something they’re off! They delight in writing on
that can be analysed. We see enjoyment they don’t usually do or get the chance the board. If an exercise can be done in
as spontaneous and unpredictable, and to do. They’ll be describing a shift. the book, it can be done on the board.
so we’re often left guessing: Will they So it’s in terms of shifts that I’ve Why not harness their natural energy
like this? Won’t they like it? How will it go chosen to label the broad set of and let students come up in turn and
down? categories that has arisen as I’ve tried to copy the answers onto it – as well as
In this article, I’d like to go briefly identify the most salient opportunities doing the whole exercise in their books?
beyond the surface of activities to the for experiential movement in some of Combining object and text shift, I
underlying what and why of fun. my regular class activities. give each of my seven and eight year olds

a small potato and have them draw instructions that I drop through a small were hit and their total scores. They
faces, hair and arms on it with a hole and then perform the specified get to break general rules, provided
permanent marker. Then they use the task when they’re out. they do it in the way that I’ve outlined.
marker pens to write a description of I let one student sit in the teacher’s This might seem an odd place for
their potato on a plastic plate. Do they place and the rest in chairs round the me to mention songs, but most of what
ever come to me saying: ‘Teacher, I don’t outside of the room. The one in my my own learners enjoy about songs
want to draw on a potato. I don’t want to chair nominates a classmate, asks them seems to be the chance for expression
write on a plastic plate’? No, they don’t. a question from the board and then, if that, outside of the song, might be
the reply is good, shouts ‘Beep! Beep!’ received as strange by their peers. A
and everyone moves to the seat on class song might allow them to curl up
their left. This way, they all get to sit in in a ball as if they were a tiny caterpillar
the chair at the front and ask a egg, to stalk around the class like an
question and to move around the class. Apache hunting with a bow or to make
We’re playing with each child’s journey monster noises at the end of each
through the lesson in terms of where verse and thus break some customary
they are and what they can see. but unspoken norms.
Rule shift Incentive shift

When we break a rule, we are taking I give my students a paper tissue and a
an action and driving that action piece of coloured chalk. I then tell them
through an expectation that has been they’re going to do a ‘gentle dictation’.
formalised, externalised and officially It’s gentle because as they write down
established. the ten words I dictate, they’re not
You can’t play football in class allowed to rip the tissue. Each time they
Spatial shift normally, but once a year we clear out do, they have to write the word again.
In a class where ten children were the chairs, put someone in goal and let The imposition of temporary pressures
sitting around two long tables pushed the others take penalties with a such as ‘false’ rules like these, time
together, I said: ‘These are the exercises – squashed-up tin foil ball to practise: ‘She restrictions and rewards, I have labelled
numbers 3, 4 and 5. If you want to, you can shoots’, ‘She scores!’, ‘She misses!’ ‘Good ‘incentive shift’. Competition is the shift
go under the tables to do them.’ Half of save!’. You can’t normally throw things towards being ‘better than they
the students immediately disappeared. in class, but once a term, to recycle presently are’ that children desire
Children like small spaces. They like vocabulary, I project various images of because, by winning, their status is
crawling under or through things. vocabulary items onto the board and elevated over that of their peers.
Sometimes I’ll bring a box into class – a each image is given a numerical value. Recognition is the same shift towards
long one that’s open at both ends – and The students take turns to throw being better than they presently are, but
invite them to crawl through it. As they ‘sticky slime’ toys at the images, with through praise from somebody else.
do so, they have to pick up some their classmates recording which items
Role shift
A shift in roles allows students to shake
off their assigned place in the world’s
hierarchy. A student reading a line from
a text then nominating the next reader
from their classmates experiences a
radical shift in the power dynamic.
When they take ages deciding who to
pick, it’s worth remembering that this
may be the biggest decision they’ve
been asked to make all day.
Early finishers can become teachers.
They get to move about the class and
help their classmates, earning helping
points as they do so. Some students
never finish early. They can be given a
special piece of information that they
have to go round and teach to the
others.

Picture shift For us teachers, this works well and
Cooking This is movement towards being an

observer. Pictures, photos and moving
images on a screen allow students to
is a huge reason to plan fun intentionally
into our lessons. It’s the return to that
default point that forms the majority of
up fun assume the role of lookers, to be

entertained. Images can be taken from
the web to supplement any language
item in a coursebook and create
parallel picture dictionaries. The glow
the work that ‘we need to get covered’.
Let’s not forget, either, that many
primary workbooks are now written in
a way that means the children do enjoy
doing them in their own right.
Reality shift of the projector screen has an allure So we don’t have to be planning
Here’s a chance to superimpose a and a focusing energy all of its own – earth-shatteringly new things every
fiction over the reality of the class. but let’s remember that part of this class. That there exists a reasonable
Often it’s playing a part in a suggested allure is because of the relative lack of possibility of something different
fiction – a roleplay. If that suggested natural sensory input (we’re inside not happening will often be enough to tide
fiction seems appealing, as might outside). Still images without audio have our learners over till it actually does.
pretending to be shopkeepers and the advantage that they don’t drown As I mentioned above, fun is only one
customers, then students will run with out the students’ own voices and they of three very important dimensions to
it. If they are given supplementary also leave space for their imaginations, the class. What is intrinsic to an activity
props and acting areas, then even rather than reducing them to creative is the language tied to it. Perhaps the
better. This might be a corner of the passivity by providing everything – activity is the language. Equally essential
class to construct their shops in and movement, storyline and audio – which are the nuts and bolts of the lesson, the
tables and chairs to make the counters is the case with cartoons or movies. micro-mechanics: where the input points
– thus, through fiction, they create and will be, how we keep children on task
control their own child spaces. It could Unexpected shift and what chance there is to practise.
be pretend money and flashcards to In a way, this is an umbrella shift and
‘buy’ and ‘sell’. Creativity is a shift from mother to them all. Provided it is
the unreal, allowing our students to accompanied by the reassurance of a
take elements from their own fictions structured task, the unexpected will be The above shift parameters are ones
and realise them not only in drama but welcomed by your students. We need that I regularly work along, sometimes
also in their pictures, writing and our expectations to be constantly proven consciously, sometimes intuitively, when
spoken sentences. wrong. This is relief from the monotony creating activities that I think my students
of our own predictive capacities. will enjoy. Obviously there are many
Elemental shift According to the German philosopher more, and what I have described are only
An elemental shift constitutes basic Arthur Schopenhauer, it’s even the deductions based on observations from
contrasts in the weather and our unexpected jar between different my own classes. If the idea of shift as an
immediate surroundings. It is what concepts (namely a generalisation and underlying element of fun appeals to you,
makes a cool breeze so refreshing or a an exception to it) that makes us laugh I invite you to keep an eye out for when
sunny morning so delightful. It is also when we hear a joke. In fact, Arthur and where those contrasts and transitions
smells and colours, moving clouds, himself would probably tell me I’ve done animate students in your classes. Once
leaves, shadows and people. When our nothing more here than over-generalise we’re noticing and recognising such
students look as if they are desperate his ‘theory of the ludicrous’ to include transitions, then we can start to plan
to get out of our class, it will normally objects and rules. He was a clever man, for them – and then we’re in the right
be for want of this type of stimulation. If but he didn’t teach eight year olds. zone to cook up some serious fun. ETp
there’s a garden or a playground in our
school, we can actually take them out. If Schopenhauer, A The World as Will and
not, we can at least play with sensory
Shift back Representation, Volume II Dover Press 1958
elements. We can build large colourful The assertion that fun can be tiring or
that we don’t really want too much of Chris Roland is based at
wall displays. We can turn off the lights ELI in Seville, Spain. He
and do an activity in the dark or with it may seem counter-intuitive, but all has previously worked at
the British Council
torches. We can design activities that these shifts away from our default centres in Barcelona and
involve the students looking out of the positioning are tiring. That’s why Damascus and at Active
Language in Cádiz. He is
window and describing what they see. students are often happy to settle currently interested in the
For interior classrooms, we can take it down after an activity that’s a little bit areas of task design, the
logic that teachers and
to the level of the imaginary and ask ‘out there’ and do something from the students run on and how
them to complete the sentence ‘From workbook. In a way, they’re relieved to they talk to each other.
my perfect window I can see …’. return to the stability of the familiar. chris.roland@gmail.com

Over
the
wall ... Alan Maley reflects
on what it means to be
a reader.
eading is a majority skill but a ‘argues unapologetically for the paramount go of your own way of telling yourself the
‘R minority art’ – or so novelist

Julian Barnes claims.
This is my second article to review books

importance of books and reading in a
fast-moving, dislocated, technology-
obsessed world’.
world and allow someone else to do it for
you.’ But, ‘the second pleasure is
awareness, wakefulness: the capacity to
For Zadie Smith, the discovery of see, feel and consciously register all that
on reading, but it needs no apology,
reading was her escape route from a is going on around you and inside you ...
given the importance of reading, both as
council estate into higher education and What I’m talking about then is a pleasure
skill and as art. And interesting new
a career as a novelist. The poet Blake that combines relaxation and effort,
books on reading continue to appear.
Morrison offers us Twelve Thoughts About immersion and detachment, letting go and
Indeed, there are so many of them
Reading. He reminds us that ‘When a poem being vigilant – consciously savouring …’.
currently that, in order to do justice to
or story is working, we don’t just identify He has an eloquent conclusion which
them, I shall devote both this and my
with the persona …we become them’. He goes to the heart of reading: ‘… the
next article to this subject. I will also
goes on to say that ‘The therapeutic excitement of reading is the precarious
quote more extensively than usual, as the
element in writing doesn’t come from one of being alive now … and reacting
writers so often express themselves more
pouring things out … but in finding the from moment to moment … to someone
eloquently than I ever could myself.
right words, ordering the experience, and else’s elusive construction of the
making the story available to others’. precarious business of being alive now.’
Carmen Callil, the founder of Virago Looking at reading from a writer’s
Books, describes her exploration as a perspective, Mark Haddon advises:
nine year old of her dead father’s vast ‘Select the right words and put them in
and eccentric library. ‘Books of peculiarity the right order and you run a cable into
Stop What You’re Doing and wonder sat on those shelves.’ She the hearts of strangers. Strangers in
describes how she founded Virago to China, strangers not yet born.’ And of
and Read This! make available to others ‘books that readers, he says: ‘Reading is primarily a
This is a collection of ten essays, mostly by needed to be published, books forgotten symptom. Of a healthy imagination, of
fiction writers and poets such as Jeanette or neglected … perfectly certain that our interest in this and other worlds, of
Winterson and Blake Morrison, and some there were thousands like me who would our ability to be still and quiet, of our
reading researchers like Maryanne Wolf buy and read them’. ability to dream during daylight.’
and Nicholas Carr. It is an inspirational Tim Parks, in Mindful Reading, makes
book where each writer describes and a case for a more attentive kind of
explains the importance reading has had reading as against the rush to gobble up
for them in their personal and professional words. He refers to the pleasure of
lives. As stated in the Foreword, the book enchantment. ‘It is a wonderful thing to let

has chosen. The chapters offer a steady
Over progression from Close Reading, through
A Reader on Reading
the Words, Sentences, Paragraphs,
Narration, Character, Dialogue, Details,
I found this book by Alberto Manguel
slightly disappointing. For one thing, the
wall ... Gesture, and she rounds off with a lovely title is misleading. It is made up of articles
and essays, some of them published
chapter, Learning from Chekhov, and an
inspiring chapter to encourage the faint- previously. Many of them are not really
hearted, Reading for Courage. about reading except in the most tenuous
Her choice of texts is wide-ranging sense. The style and content is more
In his essay, Michael Rosen re-visits and includes both classic authors, from than a little recherché and precious,
Great Expectations as read aloud by his Jane Austen, George Eliot, Chekhov, sometimes narcissistically self-absorbed
father. And Jane Davis, working for The Melville, von Kleist and Flaubert, through as he displays his undoubted erudition.
Reader Organisation, gives an modernist writers such as Joyce, Nonetheless, there are some rewarding
inspirational account of her community Hemingway, Beckett, Katherine chapters, including In Praise of Words, A
work in the Get Into Reading programme Mansfield, Henry James, Kafka, Elizabeth Brief History of the Page and How
(see http://thereader.org.uk/get-into- Bowen, Henry Green and Virginia Woolf, Pinocchio Learned to Read. Reading
reading). She makes a powerful case for to contemporary writers such as Alice White for Black deals with translation
the redemptive power of reading together Munro and Philip Roth. The texts are so issues, and St Augustine’s Computer with
among deprived and sometimes severely skilfully chosen and her commentary so the tension between books and the
disturbed people. illuminating that I found myself wanting to internet, as does the final chapter, The
My personal favourite is Jeannette go back and re-read these works again End of Reading. One of the most
Winterson’s essay A Bed. A Book. A (or in some cases, as new discoveries, to powerful chapters is The Perseverance of
Mountain. This is a passionate, persuasive read them for the first time). Truth, about the need to resist political
and eloquent statement of the need for pressure on writers to conform and
books. ‘A book is a door; on the other validate lies. He is similarly critical of
side is somewhere else ... To cross the authority in other chapters, too. I will
threshold of a book is to make a journey in close with a quote from one of them.
total time. I don’t think of reading as leisure ‘ “Be sensible and good,” the Blue Fairy
time, or wasted time and especially not as tells Pinocchio in the end, “and you’ll be
downtime.’ For her, too, books were an happy.” Many a political slogan can be
I can only offer a flavour of the book by
escape from a deprived childhood and she reduced to this inane piece of advice. To
a few quotes. From Sentences: ‘… I’ll hear
is adamant in her claim that ‘… we need step outside that constricted vocabulary
writers say that there are other writers they
words not empty information. Not babble. of what society considers “sensible and
would read if for no other reason than to
Not data. We need a language capable of good” into a vaster, richer and above all
marvel at the skill with which they can put
simple, beautiful expression yet containing more ambiguous one is terrifying,
together sentences that move us to read
complex thought that yields up our feelings because this other realm of words has no
closely, to disassemble them and
instead of depriving us of them’. boundaries and is equivalent to thought,
reassemble them, much in the way a
This is a book I shall want to return emotion, intuition.’ ETp
mechanic might learn about an engine by
to. It warrants re-reading. If you only read taking it apart.’ Or Dialogue: ‘… dialogue
one book this spring, make it this one! usually contains as much or even more Barnes, J ‘My life as a bibliophile’
Guardian Saturday Review 2012
subtext than it does text.’ Her discussion of
dialogue in Jane Austen and Henry Green Callil, C, Carr, N, Davis, J, Haddon, M,
Morrison, B, Parks, T, Rosen, M, Smith,
really helps us get inside those texts. Z, Winterson, J, Wolf, M and Barzillai, M
She takes an appropriately Stop What You’re Doing and Read This!
independent view of style guides and Vintage Books 2011
rules for writers: ‘If the culture sets up a Manguel, A A Reader on Reading Yale
Reading Like a Writer series of rules that the writer is instructed University Press 2010
In Reading Like a Writer, Francine Prose to observe, reading will show you how Prose, F Reading Like a Writer Union
explains that she ‘learned to write by these rules have been ignored in the past, Books 2006
writing and, by example, by reading and the happy outcome. So … literature
books’. This kind of writer education ‘often not only breaks rules, but makes us Alan Maley has worked in
involves a kind of osmosis’ rather than realise that there are none.’ the area of ELT for over
40 years in Yugoslavia,
formal instruction, and requires us to ‘put Whether you are a reader, a teacher Ghana, Italy, France,
every word on trial for its life’. So this book or an aspiring writer, this book will reward China, India, the UK,
Singapore and Thailand.
is an extended exercise in close reading, your reading of it. It is absolutely superb, Since 2003 he has been
which assists us both in becoming more and made me wish I had had the author a freelance writer and
consultant. He has
practised readers and, if we aspire to it, as my teacher. published over 30 books
in developing as better writers, too. and numerous articles,
and was, until recently,
Her method is to focus on a Series Editor of the
particular aspect of the writer’s craft in Oxford Resource Books
for Teachers.
each chapter, and to offer perceptive
commentary on the extended texts she yelamoo@yahoo.co.uk

M E T H O D O L O G Y
The merit of
the message
W
George Woolard hy do second language Approach advocated by Michael Lewis
learners often achieve argues that we can achieve this by
advocates moving on from native-speaker-like fluency adding a focus on word relations, such
but not native-speaker-like as collocation, to our teaching.
a key word approach. vocabulary selection? The sentence I must
make sure I catch the opportunity to speak
English when I’m in Scotland came from a
A key word approach
Chinese teacher who had just arrived in In Issue 40 of ETp, I set out the
the UK, and is an example of ‘possible’ argument for a key word approach to
language. The sentence is grammatically teaching collocation in which the typical
well-formed and communicates collocations of the most frequently
effectively, but it sounds odd to native- occurring nouns in English are
speaker ears. Native English speakers presented through a series of standard
say take the opportunity, not catch the exercise formats. Below are two excerpts
opportunity. How, then, do we lead from exercises designed to highlight
learners towards native-speaker selection some of the common verb and adjective
and actual language? The Lexical collocations of the noun problem.
1 Verb + problem
Complete the sentences using the correct form of these verbs.
appreciate have ignore solve tackle wrestle with
1 We’ve been _________ a few problems with our dishwasher recently.
2 No one has _________ the problem of what to do with nuclear waste.
3 We can’t afford to ignore the problem of global warming. We need to _________ it
head on.
4 I fully _________ your problem, but we simply don’t have the resources to help you.
2 Common adjective collocations

Choose the more natural collocation from each pair.
1 Excessive drinking seems to be a _________ problem among teenagers in
particular. (growing/rising)
2 There are a number of reasons why Ben was turned down for the job, but the
_________ problem was that he didn’t have the right experience. (simple/basic)
3 One of the most _________ problems facing cities today is noise pollution.
(pressing/important)
4 Underage smoking is a very _________ problem, which we need to address
urgently. (serious/large)


exercises proved popular with my
The merit of A message approach
Michael Hoey suggests that we work
students:
the message towards an understanding of grammar

rules and word meaning through
increasing encounters with specific
One of the most pressing problems
facing cities today is noise pollution.
The next step is to get the learner to

Shortcomings instances of language. The fact that notice how grammar and vocabulary
native speakers generally find it easier work together to create a framework for
Although the key word approach is
to give examples of the use of a word conveying a specific meaning or
successful in helping students to
than to give a definition of it would message. In this case, we have:
increase their knowledge of common
seem to support this view. It also One of the most pressing problems
collocations in English, in practice the
explains the difficulty native speakers facing ... is ... .
approach has a number of drawbacks.
sometimes have in producing a natural This structure now becomes the main
First, the gap-filling format of the
example of use when faced with a focus, and I shall refer to it as a message
exercises directs attention to general
totally new word in their own language. frame. It is more specific than the
word relations: eg verb + noun (face +
For example, try writing a sentence with general linking of the words face,
problem) and adjective + noun (pressing
abashed, which is defined in the pressing and problem that the key word
+ problem). However, this kind of
dictionary as ‘embarrassed or ashamed format encourages. The learner can now
knowledge does not automatically
about something you did’. How see clearly the grammar pattern that
guarantee that the learner will generate
confident do you feel about what you’ve binds these collocations together to
actual language. One of my students
written? The fact is that a definition of create a platform for conveying a
produced the sentence I face pressing
a word is an abstraction or specific meaning or message. This
problems with my ears, which sounds
generalisation from specific instances of combined focus on grammar and
distinctly odd, as we do not normally
use of that word and, if we have had no vocabulary contrasts with the ‘slot and
use face and pressing to describe
experience of these, we will feel a little filler’ frames that outline general
personal problems. By providing only
uncomfortable with what we produce. grammar patterns of the sort I’ve ... but
one example of use, the key word
We are in the shoes of the second I haven’t ... yet, which lack a specific
exercises give no idea of other possible
language learner, unsure of a word’s focus on particular content words.
contexts of use. Furthermore, simply
collocations, grammatical environment
knowing that problem collocates with
and contexts of use. 2 Chunking the message
the verb face and the adjective pressing
It seems to me, then, that there may
will not guarantee that the learner will Once we have identified a message
be some practical advantage in exploring
combine them to produce sentences such frame, it is then modified to present
the idea that second language learning
as One of the most pressing problems other likely messages to the learners.
follows the direction of learning outlined
facing the world today is global warming. For example:
by Hoey. This is like asking you to reverse
The level of abstraction that the key
the way you use a dictionary or a One of the most pressing problems
word gap-filling exercise format
grammar reference book. Normally, we facing the world today is global
encourages means that learners tend to
go to a dictionary to find out the meaning warming.
pay insufficient attention to grammar in
of a word or to a grammar reference One of the most pressing problems
the example sentences being used to
book for a description of a grammar facing big cities today is the lack of
highlight collocations. One cannot
pattern, and then we note how it is affordable housing.
assume, as I did, that they will
exemplified through an example of use.
automatically notice the grammar. One of the most pressing problems
What I am suggesting is that we reverse
Another of my students produced the facing our economy today is rising
this approach and make the example of
sentence I have problems in my car inflation.
use the primary input to learning.
recently, having failed to notice from the This allows the teacher to give the
We are in some sense still following
worksheet example that the present learners further examples of actual
a lexical approach as input to learning
perfect continuous tense was needed, language.
is driven by meaning, but the unit of
and that problem is followed by with and
meaning now in focus is something
not in. Appropriate tense, word order 3 Personalising the
larger than that associated with the
and prepositions are equally important message
word, with what we would intuitively
in helping the learner to produce actual
call a message. Put simply, the word salt The next stage is to encourage the
language, and these features are likely to
has meaning but Could you pass me the learners to explore and personalise the
go unnoticed unless attention is
salt? is a message. Our way forward, message frame to produce their own
explicitly directed to them.
then, is to move the focus from a word messages. One of my students chunked
The key word approach was designed
to a message. the message in the following way:
to balance the negative outcomes of
giving too much prominence to One of the most pressing problems
grammar, but it seems to create its own
1 Framing the message facing Poland today is high
problems by giving too high a priority to Applying these considerations to the unemployment among young people.
the word. What is needed is an approach key word exercises, we begin with a This gives the learners an opportunity
which highlights both collocation and focus on a specific example of use. The to say what they want to say, and to
grammar at the same time. following example from the collocations find out from a teacher or other

informed source if their examples are In the second message frame (B) the ● there is explicit focus on both
acceptable or not. In addition, it should student is not only learning that the collocation and grammar;
lead to more effective learning as we are present perfect continuous tense is used ● we are able to present a range of similar
more likely to retain and practise what to describe an event which started in the messages by chunking the message
we want or need to say. past and is still happening or related to frame to show what other messages
the present, but that it is also a structure native speakers are likely to produce;
An exercise framework commonly used with the word problem.
● the learners have the opportunity to
To facilitate a message approach, we explore and personalise the message
provide exercise frames of the following Integrated input frame, which helps them to say what
kind to guide learning. The three steps, The message focus framework proposed they want to say, and also to find out
Framing, Chunking and Personalising the here means that we no longer present the what it is not possible to say.
message, can be renamed for transparency learners with practice exercises consisting
of meaning: YOU CAN SAY, YOU of unrelated sentences organised around
CAN ALSO SAY and CAN I SAY? a specific vocabulary area or word:
Scott Thornbury questioned the
I’ve been having problems with my car
MESSAGE A usefulness of the Lexical Approach
recently.
1 YOU CAN SAY: ‘because practising teachers will have
One of the most pressing problems Excessive drinking is a growing little interest in a set of principles that
facing my country today is traffic problem among teenagers. have few or no clear implications for
congestion. Nobody has solved the problem of classroom practice, or that can only with
what to do with nuclear waste. difficulty be operationalised’. As it will
2 YOU CAN ALSO SAY:
The full extent of the problem became
be you, the practising teacher, who will
clear later.
decide if there is any merit in a message
facing my country today is _____ .
approach, why not try it for yourself ?
air pollution from heavy industry or a general grammar pattern such as First, select any reading text or listening
the rising crime rate cleft sentences: transcript from your current
the lack of affordable housing coursebook and find some useful
The thing I like best about Scotland is
overcrowding in big cities language in the text that has not already
the food.
high inflation unemployment been exploited by the comprehension,
The easiest way to get to London is by
3 CAN I SAY? plane. grammar and vocabulary exercises that
Think of other things you might want to accompany the text. Then, follow the
The most popular sports played in the three-step framework outlined above to
say using this message frame:
UK are football and tennis. create some message-based exercises. In
facing my country today is _____ .
One of the most pressing problems my experience, the reading and listening
facing the world today is overpopulation. texts in coursebooks are heavily
facing the world today is _____ . Instead, all language practice exercises are underexploited for their language
The most pressing problem facing _____ message-based. The focus is on holding learning potential. ETp
today is _____ . specific elements of grammar and
vocabulary steady while making small Hoey, M Lexical Priming: A New Theory
MESSAGE B of Words and Language Routledge 2005
changes to the message communicated:
1 YOU CAN SAY: Lewis, M The Lexical Approach LTP 1993
I’ve been having problems with my Thornbury, S ‘The Lexical Approach: a
facing the world today is global journey without maps?’ Modern English
central heating recently.
warming. Teacher 7 (4) 1998
2 YOU CAN ALSO SAY: One of the most pressing problems Woolard, G ‘Noticing and learning
We talk about having problems with facing big cities today is the lack of collocation’ English Teaching Professional
devices, people, our health and in affordable housing. 40 2005
particular places. Woolard, G Messaging: Beyond a lexical
The most pressing problem facing approach in ELT The Round (www.the-
I’ve been having problems _____
our economy today is rising inflation. round.com) 2012
recently.
with my car with my neighbours This framework ensures that the
learning and practice of grammar and George Woolard has
with my ears with my health taught in Greece,
at school with my boss vocabulary is always integrated. A Malaysia and the UK. He
grammar lesson is always a vocabulary is the author of Lessons
at work with my washing machine with Laughter, Grammar
lesson, and a vocabulary lesson is with Laughter and the
3 CAN I SAY? always a grammar lesson! Key Words for Fluency
collocation practice
Think of other things you might want to In summary, the main advantage of books, all published by
say using this message frame: beginning with a focus on a message Heinle ELT.
I’ve been having problems _____ and not with a general grammar pattern
recently. or a particular word is that the
_____ been having problems _____ approach is more likely to lead to
recently. gcwoolard@gmail.com
native-speaker-like language because:

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ESP Academic skills
Tim Strike and Magda Tebbutt highlight essential needs
and ways of mastering them.
E
nglish is undoubtedly the most partly because they are ignorant of the time, use other sources. To practise
dominant global language. Its referencing rules, students copy large referencing skills, it is a good idea to
lingua franca status is clearly chunks from existing materials or sources get the students to write essays
indicated by the large number of and claim them as their own. As difficult using these authentic sources in
international students visiting English- as it is to do so, this habit needs to be class time and under supervision.
speaking countries in order to study the discouraged and good habits need to be
More information on how to tackle
language and to gain university instilled in its place in the students’ study
plagiarism can be found at
qualifications. According to government patterns. This can be done in a variety of
www.plagiarism.org.
statistics, Australia, for example, granted ways, depending on a teacher’s teaching
191,619 student visas in the programme style and the class they teach. Here are
year ending March 2012. A large some suggestions: Dealing with sources
proportion of these international students Introducing the skills of summarising,
1 Access the website of a university of
come to Australia to study on degree paraphrasing and directly quoting other
your choice and find that university’s
programmes. However, although there sources is vital for students who intend
referencing guide (eg, www.csu.edu.
are a number of general English to go on to study at university. Working
au/division/studserv/my-studies/
coursebooks, there are few good EAP with authentic material, doing online
learning/guides/referencing). Although
coursebooks and, in our experience, research and brainstorming possible
styles do differ from one institution to
most centres are forced to create their ideas for essays is a good way to show
another, this will give a good example
own programmes and materials to teach the students that there are ways to use
of how to cite the most common
academic skills. authentic sources without copying and
sources correctly. Use this guide to
This article suggests different ways in pasting from them. Exercises practising
create a handout which is tailored to
which teachers can facilitate their these skills might include:
the specific needs of your students
students’ preparation for future study at
and will ensure that they fully ● Getting the students to compare
university. It also proposes the teaching
comprehend referencing rules. It is examples of articles that have been
of several essential academic skills of
crucial to make the students aware of paraphrased wrongly and then in a
which students often have little prior
the existence of these websites and correct way. A great website showing
knowledge. These include the avoidance
to teach them how to use them examples of both is http://writing.wisc.
of plagiarism – proper referencing
effectively. edu/Handbook/QPA_paraphrase.html.
techniques and the importance of
summarising, paraphrasing and citing 2 Another way of introducing set rules ● Bringing a variety of authentic texts to
other sources when writing – competent on how to reference properly and class, demonstrating how to
note-taking skills, essay structuring and, avoid plagiarism is to do it through a paraphrase them properly and then
finally, giving effective oral presentations. ‘running dictation’ activity. The getting the students to paraphrase a
How many of us have read a student students work in pairs, one the sample text and do a peer review.
essay that is either completely illiterate or runner and the other the writer. The
is entirely ‘cut and paste’ from a website runner in each pair comes to the front Structuring essays
and thought to ourselves: How can I of the class and has to memorise
In our experience, many students start
remedy the situation? sentences from a text giving
writing essays immediately they are given
information on what constitutes
the title, without unpacking the topic and
Referencing skills plagiarism and then has to return and
thinking about it carefully. Teachers
dictate them to the writer. Halfway
The most practical way to prevent your should make students aware of the need
through, they swap roles.
students from committing blatant to plan and draft their essays.
plagiarism is to teach them when and 3 Any practical exposure to correct It is important to train students to
how to reference properly. referencing and, therefore, avoiding think for themselves. This can be done
In the era of advanced technology plagiarism is very useful. Allowing the by showing them how to brainstorm,
and with a wide variety of resources and students to work with authentic produce mindmaps, create flow charts,
sources available on the internet, it is sources such as newspaper articles, and so on. Initial practice should be done
challenging for us teachers to control and online journals and books which on familiar topics in order for the
discourage students from incorrectly include proper referencing will raise students to focus on the process of
using materials that are available there. their awareness of how it is possible planning and thinking for themselves.
Partly because it is a lifetime habit and to think for yourself but, at the same Students need to be shown how to use

wh- questions to generate ideas, how to structure for their notes in order to make
identify key subtopics and how to them more effective. Here, we will Make the students
develop a proper plan by devoting some distinguish between two different kinds of
time to thinking about the topic of their note taking: note taking from lectures and aware that the structure
essay. In this way, they will gain note taking during preparatory reading
confidence and realise that they are and research for assignments.
of a presentation is no
capable of mapping out a topic for different from that of
themselves, instead of turning Lectures
automatically to the internet or to other It is crucial that students attending
any other written work
students’ essays for ideas. lectures given by a native speaker have a that they produce
The key to writing a good essay is range of strategies which will enable
structure, even if it is as simple as them to follow what is said and sift out
introduction–body–conclusion. Simple the information they need to make notes
learning how to be selective and
and short writing exercises will make on. If students have some understanding
systematic and making sure that they
students aware of the significance of and appreciation of the way in which
understand the overall purpose of a text.
topic sentences within paragraphs and of lecturers structure their talks, they are
Of course, they also need reminding that
paragraph structure as a whole. The more likely to be able to extract and
they will have to use proper referencing
introduction of general statements and make notes on the most important
techniques when they turn their notes
thesis statements will help them organise information. Teachers should make sure
into writing, so the information they will
their essays, once the initial planning is their students pay careful attention to the
need for this will have to be compiled
done. Alice Oshima and Ann Hogue’s lecturer’s introduction and conclusion
whilst the research is being done and
book Writing Academic English is a great and to the way the lecture is divided into
should form part of their notes.
source of activities and ideas on how to different sections. Listening for signpost
write paragraphs and essays, and it words (first, then, next, however, etc) will
help students understand the pattern of
Making presentations
the lecture. Another fundamental skill that needs to
EAP teachers need Other important elements which can be taught before students enter
assist a student’s understanding of a mainstream tertiary education is the skill
to teach their students
lecture include an awareness of the of delivering oral presentations. Teachers
to use a logical meaning of body language and the ability need to make sure that their students
to recognise phonological cues, such as know how to design a presentation using
structure for their volume, speed and repetition. Teachers PowerPoint or other presentation
notes in order to make need to draw these to the attention of software, and understand the structure of
their international students. a presentation and the use of key
them more effective One worthwhile thing that EAP transitional phrases.
teachers can do to prepare their students
for university life is to provide a lot of Presentation design
stresses the need for coherence and practice in listening to and taking notes The necessary information can be
cohesion in paragraphs. Like any other on lectures and encouraging them introduced in the form of a list of ‘golden
skill, writing an essay is a process which actually to attend authentic lectures (if rules’, including consistency in font size
develops in stages. Revision and available). Where materials to do this are and type, not overcrowding the slides
proofreading are important stages that not available in their coursebooks, with too many pictures, making sure any
are forgotten and overlooked by most teachers need to be prepared to do some images match the message of the
students. Teachers should provide their research themselves in order to find presentation, etc. (These guidelines can
students with proofreading handouts with supplementary materials. David Beglar be found on many websites.) The 6x6x6
checklists to ensure that all the elements and Neil Murray’s book Contemporary rule – no more than six words per line; no
of the essay have been considered and Topics is a good example of a resource more than six lines per slide and no more
checked. which shows students how to follow a than six lines without a visual – is also
More information on how to teach lecture and provides practice. common and should be taken as a guide
essay writing skills can be found at
to discourage students from putting too
http://elearning.insearch.edu.au/skills/ Reading and research much information on slides, rather than
Writing.asp.
When taking notes while they are reading taken literally. It is important to
and doing research for assignments, emphasise that the PowerPoint display is
Note taking students will find it more productive to not itself the presentation: it should be
Many international students don’t follow follow set patterns, such as identifying used to support the presentation.
any particular formula for note taking key topics and subtopics and arranging
and, as a result, their notes are random their notes under different headings, Presentation structure
and ineffective. EAP teachers need to highlighting main ideas, etc. Other skills It is a good idea to make the students
teach their students to use a logical that need to be introduced include aware that the structure of a presentation

Academic skills Other things worth mentioning to the
students are the common dos and don’ts
of giving an oral presentation, such as ENGLISH
is no different from that of any other
written work that they produce in their
academic life. Point out that the
awareness of body language, maintaining
eye contact with the audience and Tprofessional
EACHING
controlling intonation and speed.
introduction–body–conclusion pattern is There is more information on how to
still important. Following this structure teach oral presentation skills at
This is your magazine.
will help the students establish a logical www2.elc.polyu.edu.hk/CILL/tools/prespl We want to hear from you!
progress of thought and structure in their an.htm.
presentations.
As well as teaching the basic
introduction–body–conclusion pattern, it
may be worth pointing out, too, some
Academic skills such as essay writing, IT WORKS IN PRACTICE
note taking, avoiding plagiarism,
more unconventional ways of opening a Do you have ideas you’d like to share
summarising and giving oral presentations
presentation in order to create interest in with colleagues around the world?
sometimes tend to be overlooked in
the topic. These may include: Tips, techniques and activities;
favour of the macro skills of listening,
simple or sophisticated; well-tried
● using a picture or an image; reading, writing and speaking – even on
or innovative; something that has
● using an amazing fact that shocks or specific EAP courses. However, it is
worked well for you? All published
surprises; preparation for an academic life involving
contributions receive a prize!
writing essays, reading and analysing texts
● using a personal story or a case study. Write to us or email:
critically, attending lectures and making
The body of the presentation needs to be presentations that our students expect us helena.gomm@pavpub.com
designed in order to reflect the key to provide, and we need to teach them
points. A logical structure that subdivides
topics into sections is a good idea, and
these skills in order to give them any
chance of success in the academic TALKBACK!
students should be taught how to select world. The purpose of this article is to Do you have something to say about
relevant information to support their offer alternatives to existing curricula and an article in the current issue of ETp?
ideas and opinions. Again, they need to highlight the essential academic skills This is your magazine and we would
be reminded that proper referencing is that need to be taught. ETp really like to hear from you.
just as important in an oral presentation. Write to us or email:
The students need to be taught to Australian Government Department of
Immigration and Citizenship ‘Student visa helena.gomm@pavpub.com
check and make sure that their
program quarterly report’ retrieved from
conclusion summarises the main points www.immi.gov.au/media/statistics/study-
and reinforces their main argument. pdf/student-visa-program-report-2012- Writing for ETp
03-31.pdf 2012
Would you like to write for ETp? We are
Key transitional phrases Beglar, D and Murray, N Contemporary
always interested in new writers and
Students sometimes lack the skills to Topics: Advanced Listening
Comprehension Longman 1993 fresh ideas. For guidelines and advice,
develop their ideas or to arrange the flow write to us or email:
Oshima, A and Hogue, A Writing
of their thoughts in a logical and Academic English (3rd ed) Pearson 1999
comprehensible way. Teaching them helena.gomm@pavpub.com
some common transitional words may
help. A list of useful signposts, such as
firstly, then, next, last but not least, etc is
It really worked
a good start and can be used in for me!
conjunction with a list of linking words. It Did you get inspired by something
is advisable to practise the use of these you read in ETp? Did you do
in the context of short presentations on something similiar with your students?
basic familiar topics. As always, the more Did it really work in practice?
practice the students get, the better. Not Do share it with us ...
only will this help them gain confidence helena.gomm@pavpub.com
Magda Tebbutt is the Academic Manager at
in presenting, but it will also enhance the MIT Language Centre, Melbourne,
their general fluency in English. Giving a Australia, and Tim Strike has held various
academic positions at the same institute.
presentation in front of an audience can They both have over 15 years’ experience ENGLISH TEACHING professional
teaching ESL and tutoring tertiary level Pavilion Publishing and Media Ltd,
be a daunting prospect, so incorporating students. Throughout their careers they have Rayford House, School Road,
giving presentations into as many tasks been actively involved in creating and Hove BN3 5HX, UK
developing GE, EAP and IELTS curricula.
as possible (eg after writing a report or Fax: +44 (0)1273 227308
mtebbutt@mit.edu.au
essay) can help the students gain Email: admin@pavpub.com
tstrike@academic.mit.edu.au
confidence.

IT WORKS IN PRACTICE More tested lessons, suggestions, tips and techniques which have all worked for ETp readers.
Try them out for yourself – and then send us your own contribution. Don’t forget to include
your postal address.
All the contributions to It Works in Practice in this issue of ETp come from participants on
a teacher training course in Ethiopia and were coordinated by Sandy Willcox. The contributors
will each receive a copy of Teaching English Grammar by Jim Scrivener, published by Macmillan.
Macmillan have kindly agreed to be sponsors of It Works in Practice for this year.
Flashing flashcards
The aim of this activity is to learn or
review nouns and verbs. You will need
two sets of identical flashcards for
the two teams, with words on one
side and definitions of those words
on the other, and a set of pictures
which represent the words on the
students’ flashcards for yourself.
● Divide the class into two teams.
Give each member of each team one
flashcard with a word on one side
and the definition of the word on
the other. Both teams get the same
set of flashcards. Allow the students
a few minutes to read the words and
their definitions.
● Hold up a picture of a word. The
The contributors: Sandy Willcox, Teferi Bora, Eyasu Endashaw, Adinaw Abuye and Caitlin Miles
member of each team with the
pictured amongst other participants on a teacher training course in Ethiopia
matching flashcard must stand up
and call out the word. The one who
is quickest to stand up with the
correct flashcard wins a point for
their team. The winner must then
read the definition out loud to the
class, then put down the flashcard
and write the word (with correct
spelling) on the board, from
memory.
The competitive element of this activity
engages the students. Furthermore,
the game includes reading, speaking,
writing and listening – the full
spectrum of language skills.
This game can easily be scaled up,
with students receiving more than
one flashcard each.

Swat a word Past tense folding game
This activity is useful for teaching verbs and nouns. This activity teaches irregular past tense sentences, using a
You will need approximately ten pictures of words childhood game consisting of creating a fun story through
you want the students to learn. folding and passing round a piece of paper.
● Hold the pictures up one at a time, saying the word ● First, review the rules for regular and irregular past simple verbs.
and then sticking the picture on the board or wall ● Give each student a piece of paper with a section folded over at
(or ask a student to do this). the top. Tell them not to unfold this section – unbeknown to
● Divide the class into two or more teams and give them, each piece of paper has the name of a student hidden
each team a fly swatter. The team members take underneath the folded part. The students are then prompted to
turns to hold the fly swatter. write a sentence using went: He/She went to ... and are
encouraged to complete it creatively with the name of a place,
● Call out a word. The person with the swatter finds
such as the moon or the garden. They each write their sentence
the corresponding picture, runs up and swats it. The
below the folded part, and then refold the paper to cover their
first student to swat the correct picture wins a point
sentence. They then pass their paper to the person on their left.
for their team.
● In the next round, the students are prompted to write what the
● To play this game using more advanced vocabulary,
person wore (eg a running suit or a wig), and then they fold
have the students find suitable synonyms for
their paper again and pass it to the left. The next sentence says
common words from the academic word list. Write what the person took. The students complete their sentence, fold
words from the list on cards placed around the and pass their paper.
room. The teacher or a student ‘caller’ calls out a
● In the final round, they write what the person did there, and
word from the synonym list. The teams search for
then pass their paper to the left.
the word on the wall, run up and swat it. Team
members may consult each other, and this generates ● Each student then unfolds the story they have received and reads
discussion about word meanings. it to the class, using the person’s name (from the top of the
piece of paper) and the appropriate pronoun.
This activity results in highly amusing stories. Additionally, it
Matching words and definitions ensures that the students practise writing correct sentences in the
past tense. They also read aloud in English, which enables the
You will need two identical sets of flashcards, each
teacher to make corrections to the sentence structure or
with a word written on one side and a definition and
pronunciation.
example sentence on the other.
IT WORKS
● Divide the class into two teams, A and B, and give
each team a set of flashcards. Allow the students
time to study their words and definitions.
● Team A then place their cards in front of them with
IN PRACTICE
the definitions face up. Team B place their cards in
front of them with the words face up.
● A student from Team A reads out a definition – the
person in Team B who has the matching word says it
Do you have an idea which you would like to contribute to our
(and also possibly writes it correctly on the board
It Works in Practice section? It might be anything from an
from memory).
activity which you use in class to a teaching technique that
● A student from Team B then reads a word and the
has worked for you. Send us your contribution, by post or by
student in Team A with the definition reads the
email, to helena.gomm@pavpub.com.
definition and the example sentence.
All the contributors to It Works in Practice get a prize! We
This activity is even better if the students make the
flashcards themselves. It can be used with basic especially welcome joint entries from teachers working at the
vocabulary, but works well with more advanced same institution. Why not get together with your colleagues
vocabulary (eg words on the academic word list) which to provide a whole It Works in Practice section of your ideas?
cannot be communicated by means of a picture. We will publish a photo of you all.

LANGUAGE LOG
Stranded prepositions
John Potts charts the intricacies and idiosyncrasies,
the contradictions and complications that make the English language
so fascinating for teachers and teaching. In this issue, he suggests that the
position of prepositions isn’t something about which to get overexcited.
My flat was broken into. Someone broke into my flat.
I
n 1672, the English poet, playwright and critic John
Dryden published his essay ‘Defence of the Epilogue’, in
My flat was broken into. My flat was burgled.
which he criticised the line from Ben Jonson’s Catiline
(1611): ‘The bodies that those souls were frighted from’ However, sometimes this will sound very clumsy, make the
with the comment: ‘The Preposition in the end of the style far too formal for the speaker’s/writer’s purpose, or
sentence; a common fault with him, and which I have but appear merely pedantic:
lately observ’d in my own writings.’ What are you thinking about? What are you contemplating?
It seems that since then, John Dryden’s observation on What are you thinking about? About what are you thinking?
what he considered to be poor literary style has become an
entrenched ‘rule’ of English grammar, despite being no
such thing or, at most, a question of ‘elegant’ and The issue is complicated by phrasal verbs, where the verb
‘inelegant’ syntax. Note, too, that Dryden was criticising its is complemented by adverbial particles such as up, into,
use in a literary text (on a very classical subject, the Catiline down, etc (which resemble prepositions in form, and are
conspiracy in ancient Rome). Incidentally, Dryden also often mistaken for prepositions). In the case of phrasal
criticised Shakespeare’s style for the same reason. verbs, reordering the words to avoid a final ‘preposition’
(strictly, a final particle) is impossible:
Winston Churchill is supposed to have given his own
verdict on this ‘rule’ when some Cabinet papers were If you don’t know a word, look it up.
returned with a final preposition ‘corrected’ by one of his When you meet a new word, write it down.
civil servants. He is said to have written in the margin: ‘This All one could do in such cases would be to avoid the
is nonsense up with which I will not put.’ Unfortunately, this phrasal verb entirely:
now appears to be an apocryphal story, one of the many
If you don’t know a word, refer to a dictionary.
witticisms attributed to Churchill but most likely not actually
When you meet a new word, make a note of it.
made by him.
Some phrasal verbs comprise both a particle and a

No matter, the principle remains: there’s nothing inherently
preposition, eg look forward to, look up to, look down on,
ungrammatical about ending sentences with prepositions.
so even if we avoid the final preposition, the particle still
We may, of course, object on grounds of style and/or
remains:
elegance of syntax.
That’s something I’m looking forward to. That’s
To avoid the problem (if indeed it is one), we can re-express
something to which I’m looking forward.
a sentence in order to avoid a final preposition by using
‘equivalent’ verbs, or through active/passive transformations That’s the man she’s going out with. That’s the man with
(although there will inevitably be greater or lesser whom she’s going out.
differences of meaning, force, connotation, etc): Or as Churchill might (apocryphally) have said: That’s
What were you afraid of? What frightened/worried you? something forward to which I’m looking and That’s the man
out with whom she’s going.
The discrepancy was looked into. The discrepancy was
investigated.

LANGUAGE LOG Stranded prepositions
While preparing this article, I did some internet research, sentences with prepositions, as in example 1a; it includes
and found two excellent scholarly articles online, both prepositions at the end of clauses too – see example 1b.
written by Dr Nuria Yáñez-Bouza of the University of Interestingly, few people today seem overly concerned
Manchester in the UK. Here are the links, if you are about the latter – it’s the former that excites them.
interested in knowing much, much more about how the
Notice, too, that whereas 1a can be rephrased by moving the
‘rule’ developed after Dryden:
preposition to a pre-position: To whom are you talking?, 1b
● www.let.leidenuniv.nl/hsl_shl/preposition%20stranding.htm cannot. In this case, it can be rephrased by an active/passive
● www.llc.manchester.ac.uk/research/new-research/lel/ transformation: Someone shouted at me for being late at
nuriayanez-bouza/Fileuploadmax10Mb,127649,en.pdf work, or by the substitution of another verb: I was scolded/
reprimanded/criticised/rebuked for being late at work.
Here is a brief extract from the introduction to the first
article above: As we saw above, the first rephrasing raises all the issues
associated with the choice between active and passive,
‘(1a) Who are you talking to?
while the second raises all the lexical issues associated
(1b) I was shouted at for being late at work.
with connotation, force, register and so on.
The construction illustrated in (1) above is generally known
as preposition stranding, which Denison ... defined as the
syntactic phenomenon whereby a preposition is left in a
In conclusion, avoiding a postponed preposition may cause
deferred, ie stranded, position at or near the end of a clause
even more problems than it is intended to solve, and since
without any immediately following object. It must be noted at
the ‘stranded preposition’ isn’t in any case a grammatical
this point that there is a close link between the occurrence of
rule but a matter of style (and perhaps elegant syntax), it is
stranded prepositions and informal discourse situations, since
usually better to leave it where it is – generally, it isn’t
style has been one of the primary reasons for grammarians
anything to worry about. Which is a good note to end on.
to criticise the phenomenon in question: preposition
stranding has always been used more frequently in informal John Potts is a teacher and teacher trainer
based in Zürich, Switzerland. He has written
style and spoken language; it is “one of the outstanding and co-written several adult coursebooks, and
features of our language” and “is so natural ... that we have is a CELTA assessor. He is also a presenter for
Cambridge ESOL Examinations.
extended this usage beyond its original boundaries”.’
johnpotts@swissonline.ch
Notice that the issue extends beyond ending merely
COMPETITION RESULTS
15 1 2 19 6 23 1 26 1 15 5 21 14 Congratulations to all Christiane Anderson, Petersfield, UK
M E D A L C E R E M O N Y
1 25 21 18 5 1 25 1 25 2 those readers who Pilar Guzmán, Salamanca, Spain
E I N G O E I E I D successfully completed Shona Hagger, Vergiate, Italy
3 5 26 23 8 3 19 6 25 10 15 19 21
T O R C H T A L I S M A N our Prize Crossword 54. Anastassia Ivanova, Tallinn, Estonia
26 3 25 1 26 19 19 26 3
R T I E R A A R T The winners, who will Aimée Laurent, Calais, France
1 6 11 19 12 2 19 6 6 14 each receive a copy of Evangeline Morrisson, Bergen, Norway
E L F A X D A L L Y
7 5 6 3 26 19 17 14 23 the Macmillan English Caroline Perget, Weymouth, UK
B O L T R A V Y C
13 19 16 25 3 1 18 5
Dictionary for Advanced Roger Trett, Samutprakam, Thailand
J A P I T E G O Learners, are: Tim Wilkins, Glasgow, UK
20 16 26 1 6 19 3 25 5 21 5 21 5
U P R E L A T I N G O N O Sally Young, Manchester, UK
7 5 2 14 5 26 5 3 7 21
B O D Y O R O T B N 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
25 2 19 21 20 21 9 20 25 1 3 E D T K O L B H Q S F X J
I D A N U N Q U I E T 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26
6 7 10 4 25 21 26 2 5 3 Y M P V G A U N Z C W I R
L B S K I N R D O T
1 19 26 4 5 22 5 21 1 25 26 3 8 1 25 15 16 5 26 3 19 21 3 3 8 25 21
E A R K O Z O N E I R T H E I M P O R T A N T T H I N
1 19 3 9 20 25 16 25 1 25 18 25 21 6 25 11 1 25 10 21 5 3 3
E A T Q U I P I E I G I N L I F E I S N O T T
17 20 16 1 19 21 5 7 5 3 26 25 20 15 16 8 7 20 3 3 5 23
V U P E A N O B O T R I U M P H B U T T O C
7 1 1 10 24 19 12 21 7 19 3 8 1 5 15 16 1 3 1
B E E S W A X N B A T H E O M P E T E Pierre de Coubertin

SCRAPBOOK Gems, titbits, puzzles, foibles, quirks, bits & pieces,
quotations, snippets, odds & ends,
what you will
that we
out this time of year
ere in the UK, it is ab
H ter, esp eci ally wh en that

get very bored with win
means cold, wind and
what is now euphem
was simply
istically How cold is it
In the Old Days, this
called ‘precipitation’.
referred to by the partic
ular flavou r of the de
can
scending
refer to
in Canada?
t term precip itat ion
stuff – now, the blanke for eca ster
We saw that Canada claims one of the coldest temperatures
the unwary we ath er ever, but Canada is a vast country and attitudes and stamina
rain, but also covers ure as sle et, hail
of mind/tem pe rat vary – as this temperature gauge demonstrates.
against such changes r!
a combination of all fou
and snow or, indeed, pla in ab out our
Degrees
we are to com
However, justified as those places
Celsius
need to bear in mind
weather in the UK, we llenge. When
+25 Visitors from Miami turn the heat down slightly.
se a really serious cha
where the elements po tic thought +20 Australian visitors take their sweaters off.
tance, cast a sympathe
it comes to rain, for ins i, in the +10 You can see your breath. Vancouver residents shiver
the city of Cherrapunj
to the inhabitants of e rainfall is
uncontrollably.
ia, where the ave rag
easternmost tip of Ind yea r, the rainfall +5 Italian cars don’t start.
er 40 feet). In on e
some 12.7 metres (ov en long periods 0 Water freezes.
nically, there are oft
exceeded 85 feet! Iro ople often have -5 Maritimers put on T-shirts to keep warm. Politicians begin
in the dry season, pe
of drought there and, suitable for to worry about the homeless. British cars don’t start.
eral miles to get water
to travel on foot for sev -10 Water freezes in Toronto. Vancouverites weep pitiably.
drinking or washing. destruction Manitobans eat ice cream on the patio. Maritimers go
stuff, as witness the
Weather is fearsome Sandy
swimming.
rms such as Superstorm
wrought by Atlantic sto release more
-15 You can hear your breath. Politicians begin to talk about
utes, a hurricane can
last October. In ten min s combined.
the homeless. Montreal water freezes.
rld’s nuclear weapon
energy than all the wo ge to the
-20 French cars don’t start. You plan a vacation in Mexico.
vide a special challen
The extremes often pro for later this
Your cat insists on sleeping in your bed with you.
rney is being planned
world’s explorers: a jou the
-25 Too cold to ski. Manitobans do up their top buttons.
Ranulph Fiennes across You need jump leads to get the car going.
year which will take Sir air tem peratures
s of its winter – the -30 American cars don’t start. People in the Yukon put on
Antarctic in the depth 90 degrees
ation-stretching minus T-shirts to keep warm. Too cold to skate.
will drop to an imagin e wind on top
likely to be a gale-forc -35 German cars don’t start. Your eyes freeze shut when you
Celsius, and there is
blink. You can cut your breath and use it to build an igloo.
of that! Newfoundlanders get their tongues stuck on metal objects.
-40 Your cat insists on sleeping in your pyjamas with you.
Politicians actually do something about the homeless.
Records Ottawans shovel snow off their roofs. Japanese cars don’t
start.
While we are on the
subject of temperature -45 Too cold to think. You need jump leads to get the driver
some surprising record s, there are
s: going.
The highest recorded -50 You plan a two-week hot bath (if you could only thaw the
temperature on Earth
Valley, USA, on July 10t was in Death water). The St Lawrence River freezes over. Swedish cars
h, 1913. It reached 56.
7°C (134°F). don’t start.
If you are not a hot we
ather person and you -55 Vancouverites disappear. Maritimers put on sweaters.
somewhere cold, how r ide a of bliss is
about going to Snag, Other Canadians put on overcoats. Your car helps you plan
the temperature dropp Canada, where
ed to minus 63°C (minus your trip south, but won’t start.
February 3rd, 1947. Thi 81.4°F) on
s record is second onl -60 Parliamentary hot air freezes. People in the Yukon close
Antarctica, where the y to Vostock in
temperature plunged the bathroom window.
(minus 128.6°F) on Jul to min us 89.2°C
y 21st, 1983. -70 Hell freezes over. Polar bears move south.

e th e r it ’s fu n n y o r n o t Trust nature!
Wh t we can cope with lar
ge quantities When it comes to weather, nature has
Often the only way tha
to joke abou it. t
of unpleasantness is a few more clues to offer.
see the
sterdam, and you can
the main street of Am Animals and birds
If you are standing in it is abo ut to rain. If you
er of the Ce ntr al Ra ilway Station, it means There are people who believe that they can predict
clock tow raining.
er, it means it is already
can’t see the clock tow y bad.
the weather, particularly the likelihood of rain, by
r: ‘Radio reception ver
p’s cap tain rad ioe d a lighthouse keepe -O- R-R -E-
observing the behaviour of animals and birds. It is
A shi r replied, ‘W-E-T-H
ase spe ll ou t we ath er report.’ The keepe ‘Oh de ar,
thought, for example, that if cows are lying down in
Ple d-in-command ,
then said to his secon a field, cats are purring and washing themselves or
P-O-R-T.’ The captain had in a long time.’ birds are flying low, then rain is imminent. It may
of weather I’ve
that’s the worst spell of
d holding a short length seem unlikely that the weather can be predicted in
farmer standing in a fiel
A rambler, seeing an old old countr y wa y of tell ing the this way, but there are scientific explanations for
rope for?’ ‘Ah, ’tis an
rope, asked, ‘What’s the do es it wo rk?’ asked the ramble
r. many of these beliefs.
mer. ‘An d how
weather,’ replied the far ut, it’s win dy. An d wh en it’s Most animals are vulnerable to environmental
r, ‘when it swings abo
‘Well,’ replied the farme changes that humans often can’t detect. Swallows
wet, it’s raining.’ d flying low may indicate that the air pressure is
said to gauge the win
ers on the Ea ste rn Isles of Scotland are e egg … dropping. Falling pressure may affect the digestive
Island chickens lay the sam
dit ion s by the num ber of times that their system of cows, making them less willing to graze
con
and causing them to lie down. Static electricity may
increase the grooming activities of cats. In addition,
Predicting the weather the calls of some birds, including crows and geese,
have been known to increase in frequency with
Old wives are credited with muc falling atmospheric pressure. Deer and elk
h and varied wisdom (what abo sometimes react to wind and air pressure by
poor old husbands?), and the subj ut the
ect of weather is no exception. coming down from mountains and seeking shelter.
Some of these tales have a grea
ter or lesser element of truth – Some species – from rabbits to rattlesnakes and
however, have none. See if you others,
can tell the difference in the ones even certain species of fish – may feed more before
below: Is there any truth in them
or not? a storm so they can then seek shelter.
1 Red sky at night, sailor’s delight.
Red sky in the morning, sailor take
warning.
Plants
2 Some flowers close up as humidity levels rise, and
If the moon is blue, there’ll be a
clear view. this may well be so that rain won’t wash away their
3 If a snail trave
ls clockwise, you can be sure of pollen. It has also been observed that the leaves of
a hard frost.
4 Rainbow in the some types of tree curl up just before a storm.
morning gives you fair warning.
5 If a beech tree’
s shed leaves lie with the underside
upwards, People
there will be sunny days to come. Some English people gauge the chances of rain by
6 Ne’er cast a clout afore May is out. the clarity with which they can hear distant church
bells. This makes some sense because it is a fact
that the higher the humidity, the better sound travels.
changeable climate. to
year in the UK’s notoriously
likely already passed from the west A drop in barometric pressure often affects
the high-pressure region has most
often be ill-advised too early in the is red in the eastern morning sky,
then people with joint diseases, bad teeth, recently
can
some layers of winter clothing – approaching (sailor’s delight). If the
sky
healed broken bones, or corns and bunions,
ving
6 Casting a clout – that is, remo would indicate that clear weather
is
et bringing pain or pressure to those areas of the
inevitable sooner or later. weather, this type of red sky at suns
5 Only true in so far as sunny days
are
in from the west generally brings
fair body and causing them to say that they feel ‘in
ng
west towa rds you. at night). Since high pressure comi their bones’ that it is going to rain.
sky
indicates that rain is moving from
the sunset even redder than usual (red
the
ow particles nearer the earth, making
from west to east, a morning rainb
northern hemisphere moves most
ly the air sinks. This sinking air bring
s the
nt,
Insects
weather in the mid-latitudes of the an area of high air pressure is prese It is known that cicadas can’t vibrate their wings
. If
rainbow will be in the west. As the wavelengths (the oranges and reds)
a blues), leaving only the longer when the humidity is very high, giving rise to the
east, any shower which results in
prediction that their silence means that rain is
and
4 In the morning, when the sun
is in the wavelengths of light (the violets
particles filter some of the shorter
3 Nice idea, but utterly unsubstan
tiated.
dust, salt, smoke and pollution.
These approaching. Flying insects are more active when
2 No truth in it at all. lower atmosphere, which contains the air pressure drops and they stay closer to the
warning for sailors. shines through much more of the ground, so they appear to be swarming before a
brings clouds, rain or storms, a is because as the sun sets, its light
clear, there is often a red sunset.
This rainstorm.
may follow. Low pressure usually cially
the east, and an area of low press
ure 1 When the western sky is espe
Answers
Scrapbook compiled by Ian Waring Green

Reviews
Academic Objectives series, is aimed at
Improve Your Spelling
the upper-intermediate to advanced-level
in English
by Meryl Wilkins learner, and focuses on analysis of texts
NIACE 2012 and critical thinking. It aims to help
978-1-86201-554-8 students to develop the abilities to
summarise, paraphrase, integrate
Many English language teachers different ideas and incorporate
will be familiar with students who quotations into their own writing.
find spelling difficult. Meryl Don’t be put off by the rather dark
Wilkins’s Improve Your Spelling in generic textbook cover. Open the book
English is designed for ESOL Entry up and you will find that each unit starts
Level 2 or elementary EFL with a bright and interesting visual lead-
learners. The student’s workbook, in activity. These activities work as
which has an audio CD included, thought-provoking introductions to each
can be used as a classroom unit’s main theme and the subsequent
resource by the teacher or as a self- series of exercises. All the themes are
study guide by the students. There broad-based and are coupled nicely
is also a teacher’s guide available. with those in Rogers’s book Reading
The workbook contains 22 units, Skills in the same series. These
each focusing on a specific spelling themes have been chosen for their
pattern, such as double consonants. relevance to the students’ needs: the
Each unit is presented in the same book starts with a unit entitled
way over four pages, starting with a Education and there are further units
text which contextualises the target on the themes of language learning,
language. Exercises to encourage the culture and leadership, as well as
students to notice words follow, more universal topics, such as crime,
together with a series of gap-fill personality and ethics.
exercises to practise spelling and a lesson plans and tips on how to use the Every page encourages the students
section on learning how to learn. There is material in class. It seems to be aimed at to make their own choices and form their
an answer key for all the exercises. The novice teachers or volunteer teaching own opinions on the issues at hand
CD has audio recordings of dictations, assistants, so I would not expect a through a wealth of different exercises.
sound discrimination exercises of minimal qualified English teacher to gain much
pairs and gap fills. from it. However, it is available as a
Overall, the book is well presented Kindle edition, a move which I, as a
and the repetitive structure of the units member of a nomadic profession,
will make it easy for students to navigate. can only wholeheartedly support.
What really appealed to me was a short Gudrun Stummer
section in each unit on exceptions to the Manchester
presented spelling pattern, alerting
students (and teachers) to words which
do not fit the pattern. Additionally, I Writing Skills
believe the audio recordings are useful as by Louis Rogers
they can also be used for pronunciation DELTA Publishing 2011
work. On the other hand, the book does 978-1-90508-558-3
not contain a great amount of material,
and all the exercises could easily be put Writing, never an easy task for
together by a teacher. It would not, English language students to
therefore, be a book that I would master, becomes even harder
necessarily select to take with me for a when they are required to focus
teaching assignment. However, it would on the skills needed to produce
be one that I would recommend to well-formulated academic
individual students or which I would be assignments. In Writing Skills,
grateful to find in a school library. Louis Rogers sets out succinctly
The teacher’s guide contains a and with great clarity to help
discussion about the structure of the students to tackle this daunting
student’s workbook, as well as example challenge. The book, in the Delta

Reviews
These exercises can be as simple as students and employing good opening
matching up the correct word to its activities. Unfortunately, it moved into
definition, or as challenging as deciding the arena of assessing performance
whether to agree or disagree with and testing. By the time they reach
statements such as ‘Bribery is the university age group, which the
sometimes necessary for business’. books are directly aimed at, most
Having tried out several of the units students – particularly in Taiwan
on one of my writing classes, I found where I teach – have had an
that my students enjoyed matching up overdose of examinations and don’t
pictures and deciding whether or not wish to spend too much time
one could identify a criminal type simply analysing their pros and cons. In the
by appearance. They also enjoyed unit on culture, it was the over-
thinking about personality traits and emphasis on writing that was a little
discussing who would make a good off-putting. The author uses
leader. I did find, though, that they got pictures so well that it is a shame
bogged down in the book’s rather this unit wasn’t based more on the
excessive focus on vocabulary usage. I visual arts.
feel that several of the exercises would In Reading Skills, Louis Rogers
be more stimulating if they actually got has again produced an extremely
the students engaged directly in the well-organised coursebook for a
writing process itself. This was one reasonably high-level
drawback of the book. However, I found undergraduate or post-graduate
that as the units take many hours of student of English. Its strong
class time to cover, cutting out some of emphasis on critical thinking
the exercises and interspersing them with provokes the students to examine texts
short spurts of five- to ten-minute writing On opening the book, the parallels in depth, questioning their logic, bias and
activities seemed to do the trick and continue: the universal themes of crime, even their validity. A great complement to
bring the students back into the picture. personality and ethics, and student- Writing Skills, it is easy to cross-reference
Writing Skills is very well organised based themes such as education, between the two. It is also, I believe, a
and often thought-provoking. The nice language learning and culture are all laid valuable addition, in its own right, to the
thing about its overall concept is that it out in identical order. I wondered whether set of skills needed for academic
does not lay down any hard and fast Louis Rogers had cleverly pulled a fast achievement.
rules of exactly how to construct an one: Had he managed to get exactly the Andy Starck
academic essay. Instead, it makes the same book published twice, simply by Tainan, Taiwan
students think for themselves about what the substitution of the word Reading for
skills they can utilise to create a better Writing in the title? How many other titles
piece of academic writing. could he bring out in this series?
Andy Starck Of course, it did not take long to
Tainan, Taiwan discover otherwise. This really is a book Reviewing
very much focused on the higher-level for ETp
reading skills of text analysis and
Would you like
interpretation rather than academic
Reading Skills to review books or other
writing. The author does, however, make
by Louis Rogers teaching materials for ETp?
DELTA Publishing 2011 clever use of similar techniques in both
books. These are apparent in the use of We are always looking
978-1-90508-556-9
excellent little appetizers at the beginning for people who are interested
Reading Skills is a mirror image of its of each unit: beautifully integrated visuals in writing reviews for us.
sister book Writing Skills, both in the coupled with great lead-in exercises to Please email
Delta Academic Objectives series. Its get the students thinking about their own helena.gomm@pavpub.com
dark cover, the overall layout, the table of personal preferences, examining other for advice and a copy of
contents and even the unit headings are people’s thoughts on the subject and our guidelines for reviewers.
spitting images of the other title. At first formulating initial opinions. You will need to give your postal
glance, there seems to be nothing at all The only blips in the book are in the address and say what areas
to tell the two apart bar the colour of the focus of two of the units. The first is the of teaching you are most
cover graphic and the title itself: identical very opening unit on education, obviously interested in.
twins by any other name. totally relevant to both teachers and

P R O N U N C I AT I O N
In it up to
your ears 1
L
Mark Hancock istening is a feared skill. There experience: by listening to a massive
is nothing to grab hold of – amount of authentic English, they
helps his students to the message sweeps past in an eventually get used to it. If they don’t
instant and is gone. No give up along the way, that is. Another
prepare for the reality of wonder that coursebooks are usually approach – a supplement, rather than
accompanied by audio texts which are an alternative, to experience – is to make
authentic speech. clean and tidy. The students need all the the variations less unforeseen. In other
help they can get. But authentic, words, we can help to raise the students’
unscripted speech is usually ‘messy’ – full awareness of how pronunciation varies
of simplifications and reductions, and in connected speech and across accents.
delivered in a huge variety of voices and In this way, when students encounter
accents. At some point in their learning, these variations in real life, they come as
students have to confront this reality less of a surprise.
and, when they do, it often comes as a In this article, I will present some
shock. ‘Why do they speak so fast?’ they ideas for awareness-raising in the
complain, as the stream of speech flows classroom, first for connected speech
by in a jumble of meaningless syllables. and then for accent. The follow-up
article in the next issue will deal with
Not like it is in the dictionary ways of working with authentic
At the root of this problem lies recordings in the classroom.
pronunciation. Students often learn –
and then expect to hear – the ‘citation Preparing for connected
form’ of words. This is the
pronunciation given in dictionaries: the speech
way the word would be said in isolation, It’s very disheartening when, as a
in a standard accent such as RP listener, you discover that you can’t even
(British) or GA (American). The reality, tell where one word stops and the next
of course, is different, and there are one starts. Somehow, you expect there
massive variations in the way that a to be a gap, as there is in writing. The
word is pronounced. The sources of this cartoon on page 47 is intended to raise
variation can be classified into two awareness of this problem in a very
kinds: variation according to context concrete way.
and variation according to speaker. The This way of writing the dialogue
first involves aspects of pronunciation displays how a listener can fail to
which fall broadly within the category identify word boundaries. In particular,
of connected speech. The second relates it shows how the consonant at the end
principally to accent. of one word may often seem to move to
the following word, in a process John
Awareness-raising Field calls ‘re-syllabification’. For
How can students learn to cope with example, the d at the end of bruised
such unforeseen variations? One way is sounds as if is at the beginning of the

next word, so that arms sounds like
Phillip Burrows
darms. It is good for students to be
aware that this happens.
In the kitchen
The following mis-spelling is a useful
way to introduce some other features of
connected speech: sol tum pepper.
Ask the students to suggest what it
could mean (salt and pepper) and then
suggest why it has been written wrongly.
Guide them towards awareness of the
following features:
A Consonant move: The t of salt has
linked to the following and.
B Weak vowel: The vowel of and has
been reduced to schwa.
C Consonant cut: The d of and has
been elided.
D Consonant change: The n of and has
changed to /m/ under the influence of
the first p in pepper.
Having introduced these features, you
could give further practice with a seem unintelligible to us for a couple of a moment when you think he says
noughts and crosses game. In order to moments. But as soon as we realise that hock and hole. Then you realise he
win a square, the students must identify their nose is blocked, we adjust our ears said rock and roll – every time you
what the phrase is, and then explain accordingly and have no further trouble. expect an initial /r/ sound, he
why it has been wrongly written, with produces an /h/. Again, you adjust
reference to processes A–D. Flexible listening your expectations and accommodate.
Adjusting for ‘blocked nose speech’ is
With regard to accent, flexible listening
an example of flexible listening, or
a loafer a napple is your students’ objective. One
sol tum accommodation. Much the same kind
slice ana approach is simply exposure – the more
pepper of adjustment may happen with accents.
bread norange accents a student has been exposed to,
Here are a couple of examples:
the more flexible their listening is likely
● You are speaking to a woman from the to be. But, as with connected speech, we
north east of England, and you think may enhance experience with awareness-
wom frozum fruik
you hear I’ve forgotten my caught. raising tasks.
potato peas cake
After a moment, you realise that she
meant coat, not caught – in her accent, Vulnerable sounds
words like coat, boat and cold sound First of all, we can alert our students to
a tinna like caught, bought and called. You
greem sick the fact that not all the sounds of
sweek adjust your ear accordingly and
beans eggs English are equally variable across
corn accommodate to her accent. accents. In the tables below, I have
● You are speaking about music to a identified ten sounds which are
A Consonant move B Weak vowel
man from Brazil. You are puzzled for especially vulnerable to variation:
C Consonant cut D Consonant change
Preparing for accent FIVE VULNERABLE VOWELS

variation 1 /æ / 2 /G* / 3 /Ê* / 4 /I / 5 /PŸ /
Try saying this aloud, and try to work
out what it means: had bad fast laugh walk hot shop cold slowly
cat dance bought not go
Died o’clock odd a budday bordig
It’s nine o’clock on a Monday morning, as
said by someone with a cold. We know FIVE VULNERABLE CONSONANTS
this because all of the nasal consonants
have been replaced by their nearest non-
1 /r / 2 /h / 3 /t / 4 /C / 5 /ö /
nasal equivalent – on account of the rare hear waiting think though
speaker’s nose being blocked. When we reader hair waiter faith mother
meet someone with a cold, they may

take you get on first reading these
In it up to
I once had a friend called Fred
limericks is similar to the sensation you Ooo wore is at in bed
get on hearing an unfamiliar accent, When ee took off is at
your ears 1 and the subsequent adjustment is

similar, too.
I head a good friend called Pet

They said, ‘Look at that –
Ee asn’t an air on is ed!’
(Clue: vulnerable consonant 2)
Listeners need to be flexible in their
Whose ket set on the met
expectations of these sounds. Here are
Pet was said
some examples of accents with variations
When yer clumsy old dead
on these sounds: Field, J Listening in the Language
Set on the ket on the met Classroom CUP 2008
Vulnerable vowels (Clue: vulnerable vowel 1)
1 had, bad and cat may sound like head,
Mark Hancock has been
bed and ket in New Zealand English. I met a fat lady called Reader an English teacher since
Who drank her milk by the leader 1984, working in Turkey,
2 This vowel sound is long in RP, but Brazil, the UK and now
She said, ‘I’ll get fadder in Spain. He has an
short in many other accents, such as MSc in teaching English
But what does it madder –
that common in the north of England. from Aston University,
My belt is already a meader UK. His books on
3 This vowel sound is significantly pronunciation include
(Clue: vulnerable consonant 3) English Pronunciation
different in RP and American English. in Use Intermediate and
For example, walk sounds a little like I once had a friend called Jaw Pronunciation Games,
both published by CUP.
wok in American. Who slept in a hall in the snore He also regularly
His caught was all’d uploads pronunciation
4 This vowel is different in RP and material and articles
And his feet were saw called onto his website: http://
American. For example, hot said by an
That he walk with a frawzen tour hancockmcdonald.com.
American sounds like heart spoken by
mark@hancockmcdonald.com
an RP speaker. (Clue: vulnerable vowel 5)
5 This vowel sound is not a diphthong

Answer key
in north-east English and Scottish. For
example, cold sounds like called. Task 1 Task 4
Vulnerable consonants Patient: Doctor, doctor, I’ve got a I had a good friend called Pat
1 In RP, /r/ is only pronounced before a toothache, an earache, sore eyes, Whose cat sat on the mat
vowel. In other accents, such as Scottish bruised arms, a stomach ache, and I Pat was sad
and American, it is pronounced in all fart all the time! When her clumsy old dad
positions. Sat on the cat on the mat
Doctor: I see. Perhaps you’d like to
wait in the corridor. (eg New Zealand accent)
2 /h/ is dropped in informal speech in
many native and non-native accents. I met a fat lady called Rita
Task 2
3 /t/ between vowels sounds like a /d/ in Who drank her milk by the litre
1 salt and pepper (see the explanation
American. For example, waiting sounds She said, ‘I’ll get fatter
in the article)
like wading. But what does it matter –
2 a loaf of sliced bread (weak form of My belt is already a metre.’
4 and 5 These sounds are absent from of, consonant cut from end of sliced) (eg American accent)
the speech of many English speakers,
both native and non-native. They are 3 an apple and an orange (linking of
an to the following word) I once had a friend called Joe
replaced by alternative sounds. For Who slept in a hole in the snow
example, think may sound like tink in 4 one potato (consonant changed to His coat was old
Irish, fink in cockney and sink in /m / at the end of one) And his feet were so cold
French-accented English. That he woke with a frozen toe
5 frozen peas (consonant changed to
/m / at the end of frozen) (eg North-east England accent)
Accent limericks
Accents are of course something you 6 fruit cake (consonant changed to / k /
I once had a friend called Fred
hear, not read. However, it is possible to at the end of fruit)
Who wore his hat in bed
raise awareness through the written 7 green beans (consonant changed to When he took off his hat
medium. The following limericks are /m / at the end of green) They said, ‘Look at that –
written in four different ‘accents’. Give He hasn’t a hair on his head!’
your students the vulnerable sound tables 8 six eggs (linking of final consonant
on page 47 and ask them to work out of six to the following word) (eg Cockney accent)
what the limericks mean – and then to 9 a tin of sweet corn (weak form of of,
identify why they were wrongly written. consonant change at the end of
In each case, one of the ten vulnerable sweet)
sounds above has mutated. The double

B USINESS E NGLISH professional
Playing
the game
Louis Rogers doesn’t see why business students shouldn’t have some fun.
T
he image portrayed by some with a business English learner. or company reports to read. This can
business English coursebooks However, others may have integrative sometimes lead to a lack of motivation
is that the world of work is all motivation, meaning they want to as a lot of time can be spent on material
corporate – that it consists of understand the language better out of that seemingly has little relevance to the
men and women in dark suits in very interest in a society or culture. person’s actual needs.
formal settings and that everyone is Business English courses are typically Many learners see the bigger picture
involved in high-powered decisions. needs-driven and are based around a in that increased English skills could
Whilst this element of business clearly needs analysis done at the start of the enhance their CV in general – they may
exists, there are a great many more course. Sometimes, however, the needs have a future position that requires
people who need English to do their job and the motivation don’t match up. more English – or they may simply see
but are not involved in the corporate the benefit of improving their English
side. Teachers new to business English for their own private use outside of
may find that the first books they are
In many cases, work. This could then mean that the
given to use in class can create a games can prove need is occasional emails and calls in
somewhat unrepresentative view of English but the motivation encompasses
what business English is. In particular, it to be a useful revision ‘I could use English more on holiday’.
can lead them to abandon some of the tool, a way of changing All this means that learners often
lighter side of their repertoire from respond well to different tasks and
teaching general English, such as the pace of the lesson approaches being employed. Some
communicative games. Obviously, as and a way of motivating teachers worry that a communicative
some settings are more formal than game does not match a formal
others, the appropriateness has to be the learners environment. However, providing a
judged. However, in many cases, games welcome change in pace – as long as the
can prove to be a useful revision tool, a game has a clear learning outcome –
way of changing the pace of the lesson Many people are told to learn English by can work very well.
and a way of motivating the learners. their employers, perhaps because of a
merger, a takeover or a new international
contract. Such situations create anxiety Variety
Motivation in the company management and Changing the pace of a lesson and
In terms of motivation, business engender the feeling that their employees varying the types of task that the learners
English learners may have instrumental need better English skills. This may be are required to do is a valid technique to
and/or integrative motivation. By the case and a lot of the employees’ use in any class. This has been shown to
instrumental, I mean wanting to learn a roles will now need to be conducted in be particularly true when listening to
language for the purpose of a goal, such English, but it can also be the case that monologues in lectures and presentations.
as a job, graduation or to get a visa – they will have a very sporadic need for Several studies (for example, those by
and perhaps this is the type of English in their new roles – an Fry, Ketteridge and Marshall and by
motivation most obviously associated occasional email or phone call in English, Wankat and Oreovicz) show that the

Playing Noughts and crosses
the game This activity can be used

exactly as it is here or it can
be adapted to review
1 Divide the class into two teams and check
that everyone knows how to play noughts and
crosses by modelling and playing the basic
human brain’s capacity for focused grammar, vocabulary and game on the board or on a piece of paper.
attention to a lecture is between ten and phrases you have been
2 Once everyone is clear on how the basic
30 minutes, with maximum concentration teaching during your course.
of not more than 20 minutes. After this game is played, explain that they are going to
It is particularly useful to
period of time, learners struggle to play noughts and crosses, but that they will
keep the error-correction
concentrate. However, this is not just have to answer questions to be able to place a
section flexible in order to
true in situations where a monologue is nought or a cross on the board.
focus on typical errors made
being delivered; it also applies to other 3 Write the noughts and crosses board (see
by learners in your class. If
classroom activities. Whilst any good
you are in a monolingual below) with the categories on the board. Ask
ELT coursebook should arguably be
offering variety – and may include game- setting, you could also base Team A (crosses) to choose a category. The
like activities – games are often avoided these on typical errors made middle square, labelled Free choice, means
in ESP classes. However, Verzat, Byrne by speakers of the learners’ they can choose any category from the board.
and Fayolle found that games were an L1, such as commonly 4 Once Team A has chosen a square, read
effective tool in corporate training in confused phonemes or
the instructions and the question to the
general – not simply in business English words commonly
teaching. They found that a pedagogical learners. (You may want to model one as an
mistranslated (false friends).
approach incorporating games example first.)
This particular activity could
enhanced the learners’ teamwork and 5 If Team A gives you the correct answer,
be used with intermediate
interpersonal skills.
learners, but similar place a cross in the square. Then switch to
activities can be written Team B and repeat steps 3 and 4. Continue
for any level. until one team gets three in a row.
The use of games, then, in this
traditionally ‘sensible’ area of ELT may
enhance learning, and it will certainly
provide a variety of approach. The
activity opposite and on page 51 is
essentially a framework that could be Describing change Adjectives Present perfect /
adapted for any group or class. The Past simple
exercise can simply be changed or
tweaked to match the learning
objectives of your course. ETp
Fry, H, Ketteridge, S, and Marshall, S

A Handbook for Teaching and Learning in
Higher Education (2nd ed) Routledge 2002
Verzat, C, Byrne, J and Fayolle, A
‘Tangling With Spaghetti: Pedagogical
Past simple Free choice Error
Lessons From Games’ Academy of
Management Learning & Education 8 (3) pronunciation correction
2009
Wankat, P and Oreovicz, F ‘Breaking the
15-minute barrier’ ASEE Prism 12 2003
Louis Rogers is a Course

Tutor at the University of
Reading, UK. He is the
author of Reading Skills
and Writing Skills, in the
DELTA Academic Giving Collocations Telephoning
Objectives series, and
the Intermediate and your opinion phrases
Upper-Intermediate
Business Result Skills
for Business Studies
workbooks, published
by OUP.
l.j.rogers@reading.ac.uk

Describing change Giving your opinion
Say: I’m going to read you a sentence. In the part where I say Write one of these phrases on the board for the learners to
‘beep’, you need to complete the gap or gaps with the correct complete:
preposition.
1 from my p _ _sp_ ct_ _ _
1 The percentage of satisfied customers has decreased
2 I agree with you up to a p_ _n_
___________ 20 per cent to 60 per cent in the last year.
2 Unemployment has fallen ___________ 4 million ___________ 3 I couldn’t _g_ _ _ more
3.5 million this year. 4 yes, b_t
3 Money spent online has fluctuated ___________ 3.7 and 5 I’m not s_ _ e about that
4.1 billion pounds per year.
6 as far as I’m c_ _ c_ _n_d
4 The number of people following the company on Twitter shot
___________ to 10,000 in just three days. Answers 1 perspective 2 point 3 agree 4 but 5 sure
5 The company’s revenue now stands ___________ over $10 6 concerned
billion dollars annually.
6 CD sales have plummeted ___________ 90% in some markets. Collocations
Say: I’m going to read you a verb and two nouns/noun phrases.
Answers 1 by 2 from, to 3 between 4 up 5 at 6 by
You need to tell me which noun or noun phrase is the correct
collocation.
Adjectives 1 put forward a my instincts b an idea
Say: I’m going to read you an adjective. You need to tell me
2 reach a a consensus b an outcome
which of the following it can describe: food, city or people.
Some words can describe more than one thing. 3 avoid a confrontation b all the options
4 make a your mind up b a conclusion
1 cosmopolitan 3 plain 5 crowded
2 outgoing 4 sociable 6 ancient 5 weigh up a between two things b all the options
6 trust a my instincts b confrontation
Answers 1 city/people 2 people 3 food/people 4 people
5 city 6 city/people Answers 1 b 2 a 3 a 4 a 5 b 6 a
Past simple / Present perfect Telephone phrases

Say: I’m going to read you two sentences, one in the past Write one of these phrases on the board for the learners to
simple and one in the present perfect. You need to tell me complete:
which one is correct.
1 Can I ______ ______ ________ calling?
1 a I worked here since 2002.
2 Can you __________ __________ line?
b I have worked here since 2002.
3 Can I _________________ a message?
2 a I have been an accountant for a decade now.
b I was an accountant for a decade now. 4 Can you __________ __________ to call me back?
3 a He has founded the company in 1989. 5 Can you ________ ____________ your name, please?
b He founded the company in 1989. 6 I’ll _________ ___________ you through.
4 a This meeting has gone on too long. We need to finish soon.
Answers 1 ask who is / say who is 2 hold the 3 take / leave
b This meeting went on too long. We need to finish soon.
4 get him / get her 5 tell me / give me 6 just put
5 a Did you write the report yet?
b Have you written the report yet?
Error correction
6 a I didn’t see John all morning and it’s after lunch now. Say: I’m going to read a sentence to you that has a
b I haven’t seen John all morning and it’s after lunch now. grammatical mistake or a vocabulary mistake. Try to correct
Answers 1 b 2 a 3 b 4 a 5 b 6 a the mistake.
(Alternatively, you write the sentences on the board.)
1 I can’t stop. I’ve got some meeting at three.
Past simple – pronunciation
Say: I’m going to write a regular past simple verb on the board. 2 I’m so relieved. Someone has been found my USB.
You need to decide if the ending is pronounced – /âd/, /d / or /t /. 3 This is the most tasty dish I’ve ever eaten.
1 consulted 3 answered 5 laughed 4 She work in the IT department.
2 posted 4 shipped 6 stayed 5 I’m so busy I’m not going to finish this on five o’clock.
Answers 1 /âd/ 2 /âd/ 3 /d/ 4 /t / 5 /t / 6 /d/ 6 Can you check my email? I think I might have done a mistake.

B USINESS E NGLISH professional
videos, roleplays – anything you think
English for tourism

Phil Wade takes a trip into an expanding area.
your students would find useful.
Coursebooks are generally based on
authentic (or near-authentic) texts, which
are adapted and given exercises to help
the students understand them and to
enable them to produce similar language
W
hen you are an English speaker training related to their work. Employers
for themselves. Having your own bank
travelling abroad, you realise may be looking for courses for individual
of tourist-related resources to use as the
how important English has staff members, groups of staff or even
basis of lessons pays off. You can source
become as a means of communication for a whole department or office.
authentic resources yourself for free and
in hotels, tourist information centres and
Needs they have the advantage of being about
shops all over the world. It is the means
The diversity of jobs within the industry the area where you live. This is invaluable
by which countless non-native speakers
means that the students’ needs are as students will not be doing activities
communicate with each other, so you
incredibly varied. If you teach at a based on a fictional place in a book, but
may encounter a local French guide
university, you will probably deliver a set on their own city and their place of
using English with a monolingual group
course. However, if you work in a language work. Have a look on your local tourism
of Italians or a multilingual group of
school, you could have ten students from information website. This will often be in
Spanish, Austrians and Dutch. Anyone
different sectors of the industry in one English and will have links to everything
who has been on a plane will have
class or even ten students with the same in the area that is related to tourism.
encountered English on airport signs
and used to make announcements. We job to teach on a one-to-one basis and,
although their jobs may be the same, their
Creating materials
can safely say that English is the Once you have your resource arsenal,
language of tourism. needs may all be slightly, or extremely,
you can create your own materials. A
different. If you teach at a company, the
two-minute YouTube video dialogue on
Courses boss may not have a clear idea of what the
booking a hotel room is perfect for
The utilisation of English by any staff need and the objectives might just
anyone whose job involves reserving
industry is great news for business be a vague ‘improve English customer
accommodation. Accompany it with
English teachers. Where there is demand service’, ‘learn English for my job’ or
some basic comprehension questions,
for English, there are students, and where ‘be able to take all bookings correctly’.
functional language work and a similar
there are students, there we should be. So it may be up to you to design and
roleplay set-up and you have a great
English for Tourism takes many forms. propose an entire course.
lesson. A reading based on descriptions
Degree courses in subjects like ‘travel and
Choosing materials of local hotels, together with vocabulary
tourism’ have been run for many years,
The first step in course creation after work on facilities, topped off with short
but these are now expanding to include
doing needs analyses and/or diagnostic presentations, would be ideal for
more specialist courses, such as tourism
tests is to source materials. You may find a students who book those hotels on a
management, often with a strong
coursebook – or several – but probably daily basis. All this could be done with
business element. Growing numbers of
not one that is entirely suitable for the worksheets or on a basic blog such as
business and tourism courses are now
department head of a tour operator or for Google’s Blogger, where you can embed
delivered in English. And why not? If
security checkpoint staff at an airport. It videos, audio and your own quizzes.
English is the international language of
business and tourism, then students is possible that such titles will be published
in the future if there is sufficient demand,

should be immersed in it from the start.
but at the moment most of the books on The tourism industry is a fascinating
Clients offer can be fairly generic, aimed at mass area to work in and is perhaps the best
Tourism is a huge industry, consisting of a audiences. You may find, therefore, that reflection of the international role of
web of inter-connected public and private only a couple of units are suitable for each English – a role which looks set to
sector companies. At the top are the local student or class. The answer may be to continue expanding and opening up more
government departments, dealing with build your own resource arsenal: exciting opportunities for teachers. ETp
international exchanges and further ● English for tourism books Choose
education establishments. Then there are two or three books that have enough Phil Wade has a Business
degree, a PGCE, the
tourist information centres and airports. material to meet varied requirements CELTA, MA TESOL and
In the private sector, there are tour and jobs. Look for essential functional DELTA Module 3. He is a
qualified Cambridge
operators, travel agencies, hotels, guides, language and relevant speaking and examiner and online
shops, restaurants ... in fact, anyone writing activities. teacher. He has 14 years’
teaching and course
offering services or products to tourists. ● Grammar and vocabulary books A management experience
Many people working in the tourism good business grammar book and an in schools, universities
and companies. He
industry find that they need to learn English for tourism vocabulary book currently teaches business
English. Some will have studied general are worth their weight in gold. English, trains teachers
and writes materials.
English at school or college, but now feel ● The web Look online for tourism-
philawade@gmail.com
that they require more specific language related exercises, audio recordings,

TEACHER DEVELOPMENT
Write all about it!

Emilce Vela recommends sharing your experiences.
● Getting started
H
ave you ever thought of writing determining the editorial requirements;
about your teaching experiences ● Preparing to write Table 2 was for analysis of a chosen
– those successful lessons you ● Producing an article article, with the aim of identifying the
usually talk about with colleagues, or the structure and organisation of ideas. I
techniques which have gone gratifyingly Getting started also used one of my own articles as an
well and which you think are worth example to demonstrate the kind of
using again? Many teachers with an During my introductory talk to the structural analysis that I was expecting.
interest in professional development like participants, I explained the process we All these activities were followed by
to read about proven techniques, would follow. I then put them into feedback sessions and discussions of the
methods or experiences, which can help groups and distributed sets of teaching different professional magazines studied,
them enrich their own teaching. magazines for them to browse through the articles which had been read and the
However, few dare write about and share and comment on in their groups. I features which had been identified.
their own experiences, mainly because included some magazines which
writing an article for a professional contained my own published articles in
order to make the challenge ahead seem Preparing to write
magazine seems intimidating: something
reserved for ‘experts’. This is a shame more achievable and more real. My basic aim for the second stage was
because writing is not daunting if you My primary aim was to provoke to get the participants to start thinking
approach it in a systematic way – and emotional engagement – I knew that the about writing and planning their articles.
everyone has something they can share. idea of writing articles about personal I prepared guidelines for them to follow
teaching experiences might not be and I also provided examples of relevant
attractive to all the participants. However, articles from magazines and other
Writing articles having direct contact with the magazines, resources, plus activities from books on
I was recently given the opportunity to seeing their visual appeal and finding that writing. The goal was to guide the
train a group of teachers in writing they had familiar and interesting contents teachers into examining introductions,
articles. My starting point was to establish had a significant motivational effect on all conclusions, titles, the development of
the general goals of the course: to engage the teachers. They were immediately keen topics, the organisation and relationship
the teachers in an interesting professional to work on the first task: a close analysis between ideas, the use of vocabulary
challenge; to encourage them to assume of the magazines and particular articles (including specific jargon) and grammar.
responsibility for their own writing; to within them. I handed out worksheets The activities in the books on writing
challenge them to express their opinions with tables for them to complete when were originally designed to prepare
and experiences; and to help them reading, analysing and comparing the language students for exams. However,
produce an article suitable for publication magazines. The tables below show the with some adaptation, they were useful
on the college website and which might be features the teachers were asked to for getting the teachers to identify the
submitted to a professional magazine. identify. Table 1 was for general analysis particular features they would need to
I put together a plan with three stages: of the magazines, with the aim of include in articles on teaching English.
Table 1
Name of source Organisation Topics Layout Style Length Author
(sections and (what authors (arrangement (design, visuals, of articles (experience of
contents) write about) of the piece format) (number of pages) teaching, career,
of writing) country of origin)
Table 2
General information about the chosen article
Title Author Country Type (opinion, Aim(s) Source, Students’ Area of Length
experience, issue, date of age or level concern
etc) publication of English
Specific information about the chosen article


TEACHER DEVELOPMENT
Write all about it! General

Article checklist
Be interesting. Think about the reader. Specify your aims. Consider the layout.
I encouraged the teachers to aspects Organise and plan. Make it relevant. Keep to the required length. Choose an
produce checklists of the main features appropriate title. Address the reader directly. Write in a lively style. Be vivid and
to consider when writing their own descriptive. Appeal to the reader’s imagination. Edit your work: look at grammar,
articles. An example is shown opposite. spelling and punctuation. Re-read your article as if you were unfamiliar with the text.
Be prepared to rewrite sections. Think about the purpose and tell the readers about
While the teachers were working on
the topic and content. Move from general to specific information.
the activities, I encouraged them to start
thinking about the topics, experiences Specific Title
or opinions they could write about, the aspects Be short and pithy. Summarise the central idea. Use well-chosen words:
structure they would use and the aspects adjectives, nouns, past participles, gerunds, imperatives, questions.
they would need to consider in order to Introduction
produce a good piece of writing. Be relevant and to the point. Interest the reader and establish a good relationship.
Use more than one sentence, but keep to the main point.
Follow a regular format with established conventions. Achieve credibility. Start
Producing an article from the general and move to the specific. Address a problem of general interest.
Signal the topic early on. Announce in advance what and how. Give an indication
Although the participants were already
of the structure.
familiar with the process of writing, I Body
encouraged them to read an article on Make the paragraphs serve the larger organisational structure.
writing by R K Singh and Mitali De Use headings to structure the article.
Sarkar. This article proposed a three- Make sure each paragraph supports the heading.
stage writing process, together with the Orient the readers to help them follow the connections.
use of a questionnaire for analysing one’s Ensure each section fits into the whole.
Conclusion
work; I asked the teachers to produce
Give the reader a sense of closure.
one of these and to use it when drafting, Start from the specific and move to the general.
revising and editing their articles. Re-read and revise.
The summary below shows the main Use more than one sentence.
ideas they extracted from the article and
some of the items in their questionnaire. on any final corrections and suggestions colleagues’ contributions. The participants
After producing the first draft of before the final editing process. reported that they had appreciated the
their articles, the teachers used their process of peer correction and considered
checklists and questionnaire to work on it valuable. I, too, gained satisfaction
revisions. In class, they exchanged articles from the course, having achieved the
with their colleagues and engaged in Everyone really enjoyed writing about a goals I had originally set and having
peer-correction. They also produced rewarding teaching practice and sharing it contributed towards the empowerment
organisational plans of the articles they with other teachers. When the time came of the other teachers, as well as their
read to show to the writer of the article to share the articles in class, I noticed the professional development. ETp
in order to check if the structure matched pride each participant felt when their
the author’s purpose. The articles were own article was under discussion and Useful reading
submitted to me so that I could work the respect and interest paid to their
Cory, H Advanced Writing with English in
Use OUP 1999
Stages of the writing process
Miller, T and Parker, D ‘Writing for the
Pre-writing Knowledge of the subject, ability to organise one’s writing and linguistic reader’ English Teaching Forum 35 (1)
competence. Organisation of the main ideas in order to develop a framework for 1997
writing and assembly of illustrations, graphs, tables, etc. Singh, R K and De Sarkar, M ‘Interactional
process approach to teaching writing’
Writing Giving shape and linguistic expression to the formal organisation. Consideration English Teaching Forum 32 (4) 1994
of the layout: heading, subheadings, tables, diagrams, graphs, images. Stephens, M New Proficiency Writing
Pearson 2002
Post-writing Consideration of the processes of self-correction and peer-correction. Use of a
questionnaire-cum-checklist. Re-examination and feedback. Production of final Emilce Vela teaches
draft for editing. English at primary level
in state schools and at
Questionnaire tertiary level at Del
Carmen Teacher
1 What is the writer’s main contention/point/idea? Training College in San
2 What is the main idea in the first paragraph? Is the main idea appropriately placed in the first Rafael, Mendoza,
paragraph? Argentina. In addition,
3 Make an outline of the writer’s central ideas. she is a National Public
Translator of English
a) Do you think the writer’s reasoning is sound and logically presented? and does freelance
b) Is the ordering of information within various paragraphs, and within the whole article, translation work.
appropriate?
emivela@yahoo.com.ar

TEACHER DEVELOPMENT
the classroom in order to develop their
What does a own teaching style. There is a fine line

between discussing a person’s teaching
style and their personality, and it’s
Diploma tutor do?

important to be aware of that.
Recommendations
As far as I know, there are no training
courses for trainers and I started training
Ana García-Stone delves into the duties of a Diploma trainer.
by giving INSETT sessions in my
teaching centre on my particular area of
W
hen I decided to become a I may observe two different candidates in
interest which, at the time, was preparing
teacher (after some years of any given week and will have to arrange
teenagers for Cambridge ESOL exams.
working in different fields), I both pre- and post-observation meetings.
But how do you even start to write
realised I had made absolutely the right At Diploma level, it is the candidate
teacher training sessions? I would
career choice, and that the classroom who leads the post-observation meeting
recommend that you attend sessions given
was where I wanted to be. Later, I but, as a tutor, I have to give a clear
by others and go to teachers’ conferences.
wanted to extend my professional indication of whether or not the
See what ways of presenting suit your
practice but I knew that I didn’t want to candidate has passed (for assessed
own style and use them! Adapt ideas that
leave the classroom – so I started lessons) as well as feeding in ideas and
you see other people using. If you have
teacher training. Since then I have making suggestions for the future.
the opportunity, talk through your
continued to do both language teaching It is vital to have a well-developed
sessions with more experienced trainers.
and teacher training. In this article, I questioning technique to help the
Experiment and ask for feedback.
will discuss the roles of a trainer candidate analyse the lesson they have
If you work at a centre which offers
tutoring teachers at Diploma level and taught and to develop their self-
Certificate or Diploma qualifications,
the qualities needed. I will also awareness. Once the meeting is over, I
then there will be procedures in place
recommend a path into teacher training. can start to write up the feedback, and I
for selecting and training tutors. I think
try to send this to the candidate as soon
Roles and requirements that in order to deliver training at
as possible. On Diploma courses, the
Diploma level, it is advisable to have an
Many of the roles of a teacher trainer candidates are encouraged to
MA in TESOL or Applied Linguistics,
are similar to those of a teacher, so, experiment and this can lead to them
although this is not essential.
depending on the context or situation, suffering a crisis of confidence: they feel
you will need to be: motivator, mediator, they no longer know how to teach. In
quality controller, chairperson, fact, the questioning of old habits and
The longer I train, the less I think there
presenter, counsellor and many others. established ways of working can be vital
is a ‘right’ way to teach, so it is
The difference is that your audience are in bringing about a ‘re-structuring’ of
important to encourage the trainees to
your professional peers, and training is their teaching, which will contribute to
reflect on what they do and to develop
more about changing behaviour – or at their development.
their own style. Unlike many teacher
least challenging it. Candidates on Diploma-level courses
trainers, I also teach language students
As a trainer, it is easier to talk about have to submit written assignments, so I
throughout the year, so I am able to
a typical week rather than a day. The give feedback on written work. The
bring my own classroom observations
table on page 57 illustrates what a nature of this feedback depends on where
into the training room. I believe good
typical week may look like. At the we are in the course. At the beginning, it
classroom practice is based on reflective
moment, I am working on a face-to-face will be on ideas, and I may question what
experience with a theoretical
Diploma course so I regularly give they say, give suggestions for academic
underpinning, which in turn benefits the
input. I have to ensure that I am up-to- reading or suggest tasks they could carry
language learner. ETp
date on theory, that I have a firm grasp out in class; at a later stage, I will give
of all the information/concepts I am feedback on the assignment itself and Ana García-Stone is a
teacher and teacher
going to present and that the session is may limit myself to a few comments or trainer at the British
at the right level for that group of suggest some re-writing. Finally, I am Council, Madrid, Spain, in
the Young Learner
trainees. In addition, I have to make responsible for marking the final versions Teaching Centre. She has
sure that I present my material in an of assignments I have not supervised. worked on Diploma-level
courses as well as short
interesting and lively way. At Diploma The qualities a teacher trainer needs courses in the UK,
level, the input is dense, and trainees are also coincide with those required of a Lisbon, Vietnam and India
and in different teaching
also expected to read extensively around teacher, in that you need to be organised, centres in Spain. She is
the topics, so trainers must expect be a good communicator and listener, be currently the Lead Tutor
flexible, have developed self-awareness, on a face-to-face Trinity
challenging questions. Diploma course and is
I also observe trainees, and often I etc. However, as a trainer it is important Orientation Course Tutor
have a lesson consultation with them to empower your trainees and to give on the Distance Delta.
before they write their final lesson plan. them the confidence to experiment in Ana.Garcia-Stone@britishcouncil.es

A week in the life of a DELTA tutor
Day Task Notes
Monday ● Check emails and arrange to meet two Candidates have one lesson consultation before each observation and are
candidates for lesson consultations expected to bring a fairly complete lesson plan. As a tutor, I often question the
aims of activities, staging, etc, and the consultation is more developmental than
directive.
● Check materials for INSETT session I have been invited by another teaching centre outside Madrid to give an INSETT
session, which I enjoy as it gives me the opportunity to meet other teachers.
● Lesson preparation As I teach from 6.30 to 9.30 pm I have to prepare for two different groups of
● Teach for three hours learners, one lower-intermediate and the other at FCE level.
Tuesday ● Give INSETT session at a different As the teaching centre I am visiting is outside Madrid, it involves quite a lot of
teaching centre travel, but the session goes well and is enjoyable.
● Lesson preparation
● Teach for 1.5 hours Back in the classroom, this time with an advanced class.
● Check and catch up on emails Electronic administration!
● Read lesson plan before observation and At Diploma level, lesson plans are long and have to be read with care. At times,
make notes as well as write questions to the questions for the pre-observation meeting are related to information that
ask candidate might be missing or the fact that I cannot see from the lesson plan what will
happen in the classroom.
● Pre-observation meeting with candidate Candidates are often nervous as this meeting is held before they go in to teach
off-site the observed class, so it is important to be positive about the lesson.
● Observation (1 hour) On the Trinity Diploma, observed lessons are 60 minutes long. I try to sit where
I can see both the candidate and the learners.
Wednesday ● Lesson consultation with a candidate A different candidate this time, and I always enjoy these consultations as it is a
creative process.
● Check material for a Diploma session on This is a session I have given before, but I often make changes based on my
syllabus design own observations or as a result of any reading I have done on the topic. Once
● Make photocopies of materials and I’m satisfied, I can make copies of the materials, etc.
handouts for session
● Write up feedback from a candidate As well as filling in a mark sheet, we give our candidates written feedback on
observed last week their lesson, which may be two to three pages long. Candidates find this useful
and I try to include pointers and suggestions.
● Check and catch up on emails The never-ending electronic housekeeping.
● Teach for three hours Back in the classroom.
Thursday ● Give input session on syllabus design I like to arrive well before an input session, to re-read the material and then to
(1.5 hours) arrange seating and perhaps also decide how to group the candidates.
● Oral feedback with the candidate I saw I am worried about how this feedback will go as the lesson did not go very well.
on Tuesday However, the candidate has good self-awareness so the feedback is very
productive.
● Teach for 1.5 hours Back in the classroom with my advanced learners.
● Check and catch up on emails I meet with the Diploma course leader and check whether I will lead any part of
the meeting. We also discuss course developments as well as any candidate
● Prepare for tutors meeting on Friday issues, in this case the failed assessed lesson.
Friday ● Diploma tutors meeting (three hours) We have one meeting a term so there is usually a lot to discuss. This is Term 2
so it generally involves responding to any perceived problems with the course
and discussing candidates who may be having problems with the work.
● Consultation with trainee Diploma tutor We have two new tutors this year and I am mentoring one of them. He is due to
on two sessions he is going to give give two sessions, so he is presenting his session plans to me and we discuss
the content.
● Lesson preparation Back in the classroom with a group of lower-intermediate 12 year olds for an
● Teach for three hours intensive three-hour class.
● Drink with colleagues Much needed – it’s been a long week!

T E C H N O L O G Y
Lessons
from wikis
I
Stephanie Ashford n discussions about the use of The syllabus
digital technology in language
teaching, wikis are praised for The ‘English for Taxation and
reports on a taxing project.
their versatility and opportunities Accounting’ syllabus advocates a task-
for collaborative learning. However, a based approach that draws on the
common complaint is that it can be students’ understanding and experience
difficult to get students to participate of their profession. Many students get
and to sustain their interest. exposure to English during their
I recently put this to the test when training, where they find themselves
supervising a wiki project with a group dealing with clients who have little
of tax law students. The aim was to knowledge of German, or who speak
create an English-language guide to good German but are grateful for
filing a tax return in Germany. The explanations in English of specialist
project is work-in-progress and ready to terms, some of which have no direct
hand over to a new group of students, English equivalents.
so now is a good time to take stock and According to Amna Bedri, the goal
draw lessons from the experience. This of ESP is ‘to help learners acquire a
account can be seen as a progress higher level of competence in their chosen
report, with some reflections on ESP field than the average native speaker’.
and advice for teachers interested in
trying out similar projects. While a passive
knowledge of specialist
The students
The students involved in the project were
vocabulary is useful
in their second year of studies in for tax consultants, an
accountancy and tax law at the Duale
Hochschule Baden-Württemberg ability to communicate
(DHBW), a German university that in plain English
provides vocational degree courses in
business studies and the social sciences. is crucial
Students are employed throughout their
studies, with academic terms alternating This goal is certainly relevant in another
with periods of workplace training. course I teach, ‘English for Auditing’.
Those who do English as a compulsory Auditors typically work in teams with
subject are expected to reach a target other auditors, so their English needs to
level of C1 on the Common European be at a level that enables them to ‘talk
Framework scale in their professional shop’ (peer to peer). Tax consultants, in
context after 126 classroom hours, plus contrast, deal with clients who are non-
the equivalent in self-study. Most of the expert, so while a passive knowledge of
students taking the ‘English for Taxation specialist vocabulary is useful, an ability
and Accountancy’ course will go on to to communicate in plain English is
become qualified tax consultants. crucial.

Why the wiki? German tax authorities, we agreed on a ● Wiki glossary for income tax returns
writing process based on division of This is a German–English glossary I
The idea for the wiki project came labour. Each student would be responsible have developed with my students over
about after the students had done an for a different form, writing line-by-line the past few years. It consists of
improvised roleplay in which a tax instructions and explanatory notes. They vocabulary specific to the German
consultant helps a client to complete an would send the teachers a first draft for income tax return. Students can
income tax return. One student pointed correction, and then incorporate a suggest further items and translations,
out that English translations of the polished version into the wiki. the only rule being that a teacher vets
cover sheet and the various supplements At the time of writing, the ‘course’ the translation before it is added to
would be useful references when has the following features: the glossary.
advising English-speaking clients.
At the time of writing, there are no ● News and announcements This is ● Downloads and links These include
official English translations of these useful for kicking off a project, pdf files of the forms needed for
forms. One student managed to locate making announcements, giving completing a tax return, a guide to
an in-house translation of the cover updates on progress and bringing a using wikis, a guide to completing the
sheet, but it contains too many project to a close. Communication is UK tax return, a guide to completing
language errors and inconsistencies to one-way, so replies are not possible. a US tax return form (IRS Form
be useful. In any case, a translation ● Discussion forum This is designed for 1040), the form itself and a web link
alone would not be enough. What my interaction. Anyone enrolled can post to ‘Your Tax Form Explained’ (Bill
students need is a guide that contains a topic, and anyone can reply. For Bryson).
not only instructions for completing the example, one student raised a I encourage the students to refer to the
form (eg Enter your expenses for …) but question about the translation of US and UK guides to get a feel for the
also useful explanations for taxpayers certain specialist terms. A colleague target language. The UK guide is
unfamiliar with the German tax system. invited discussion on the verbs the interesting for its use of plain English,
Having established the need for such students were using for instructions and can be compared with the US
a guide, I proposed that we pool our (fill in/out, put in/provide/enter, etc), equivalent in terms of structure,
expertise to produce one together. The asking them to explain their choices content, vocabulary and register. ‘Your
students would be the authors and tax and their preferences regarding Tax Form Explained’ is a parody,
experts. My role would be that of British or American English. showing how not to write a guide!
language consultant. When I broached
the idea of a wiki, they seemed willing ● Wiki team This is a grid which shows
to give it a go. who is doing what on the project. The Assessing the progress
My experience with wikis is limited. students enter their names next to the It was initially assumed that the project
I have found them useful in course names of the forms they wish to deal would be finished by the end of term.
management, but was sceptical about with, on a first-come-first-served basis. This turned out to be unrealistic, for
their benefits in teaching. The idea of As more students join the project, new various reasons.
using wikis for peer editing seemed forms and new roles can be added. Firstly, I underestimated the scope
promising, but I needed a suitable ● Wiki guide to filing a tax return This and scale of the undertaking. I had not
pretext. A practical guide that students is the main document. It starts with anticipated the number of forms
could use at work and share with an introduction to filing a tax return involved and how much time we would
colleagues, however, was an opportunity in Germany, followed by line-by-line need to deal with language points. Also,
not to be missed. It also appealed to instructions for completing the various with more students joining the project
two of my colleagues, who were forms. Using a grid layout suggested mid-way, it was not possible to set
teaching parallel courses and who by one of the students (see below), the milestones for the various stages. Some
brought their own students on board. ‘authors’ enter information with page students were unclear about what was
and line references, instructions and expected of them and produced
Setting up the wiki explanatory notes. My comments and translations rather than guides.
queries are colour-coded in blue. The first-come-first-served principle,
A wiki is a website or online document
that can be edited by its users. Setting
up a wiki requires access to a learning Page Line Instruction Explanatory notes
management system (LMS), such as
1 1 Put in your Taxpayer Number. Leave this blank if you have not
PB Works or Moodle. Using an LMS (taxpayer number? tax number?) yet been assigned one. The tax
requires little more than web browsing authorities will do this for you.
and word processing skills. My first step
was to set up a ‘course’ on the 2 32 Put a cross if you have income You will also need to fill in
university’s Moodle platform and then from agriculture and forestry. Attachment 7. (Supplement?
enrol the students and teachers. This Form?)
was straightforward, but I was grateful
2 48 Enter expenses paid to builders, Only enter labor costs, not costs
for technical support once the wiki
eg for renovations, repairs, for any materials used. (labour?
began to take shape. maintenance and modernisation BE/AE consistency needed.)
After learning from my students measures. (modernization?)
about the number of forms issued by the

deadlines are met), with you as
Lessons What next?

The term is over and the students are
supervisor and language consultant.
● Consider offering the project on a
from wikis
back in their companies. I explained
that it was unrealistic to expect them to voluntary basis. In this way, nobody
produce a definitive guide in just a few feels coerced. If the project is
months, and they can reasonably imposed on a captive audience in a
whereby the students enter their names assume their contribution to the project compulsory course, it could fall flat.
next to the document of their choice, to be over. The plan is to build on the
has worked reasonably well. Latecomers ● Make sure the students see the point
guide with a new group of students, of using a wiki rather than some
inevitably had to make do with more while encouraging the ‘pioneers’ to
limited choices. In some cases, students other resource. Demonstrate how to
remain involved. use it in class, discussing benefits and
teamed up to work on a particular As well as extending the glossary
form, with certain individuals putting in pitfalls.
and paying closer attention to language
more work than others. Also, where points, there are further roles that ● Consult the experts (see references)
students produced an impressive students could adopt, for example for guidance on user-friendly software
amount of writing, teachers struggled writing a section with general tips for and getting the most out of wikis.
with the amount of correction involved. non-German speakers paying tax in
It soon became clear that more than Germany for the first time.
just light editing would be necessary. Decisions also need to be made as
This raised the issue of our role as If you have any tips to add, do let me
to how the guide might be published.
language teachers. How much time can have them! ETp
This could be in the form of an e-book,
we be expected to spend on correction, or it could even be developed into a
and what level of accuracy are we website, run by the students themselves.
Bedri, A M quoted in ‘Assessing English
aiming for? for Accounting’ by Evan Frendo in
Ideally, the project members will have ‘English in the Workplace’ IATEFL
A lot more work is needed before suggestions of their own. symposium 2010 (http://english360.com/
the guide is of a publishable standard. blog/2010/04/thoughts-from-the-iatefl-
Some sections are missing, and english-in-the-workplace-symposium)
numerous language points need to be Lessons learnt Bryson, B ‘Your Tax Form Explained’ in
dealt with. For example: Reflecting on how I would do things Notes from a Big Country Black Swan
● expressions that can be translated in differently next time, I am reminded of 1999 (also at http://xo.typepad.com/
the saying ‘A good workman never blames blog/2004/07/your_tax_form_e.html)
different ways, depending on context
his tools’. Where things did not go as Dreger, S ‘The wiki way’ English Teaching
or taste
smoothly as expected, the reasons have Professional 67 2010
● explaining expressions for which there ELT chat on using wikis:
more to do with project management
is no direct equivalent in English http://eltchat.com/2011/11/28/using-
than technology. My colleagues agree
● creating consistency in the use of that, on the whole, the project has been
wikis-in-elt-eltchat-summary-09112011/
verbs in instructions Video on wikis: http://www.youtube.com/
worthwhile, so I conclude with some watch?v=-dnL00TdmLY
● creating consistency in register and tips for teachers interested in doing
style similar projects:
Stephanie Ashford is
● using commas in the right places ● Choose a project that is interesting Director of Business
English at the Duale
Use of the discussion forum was and worthwhile in its own right. Hochschule Baden-
Württemberg in Villingen-
disappointingly low. This could be Ideally, the impetus will come from Schwenningen, Germany,
because the questions asked on it were the students, who are more likely to and is an experienced
contribute if they see how it benefits ELT materials writer.
not specific enough, or because the She has just embarked
students did not see any point in them at work. on a doctorate that
combines her interests
responding. It could also be because ● Help the students with their English. in linguistics and higher
some students see it as the teacher’s job This may seem obvious, but they do
education policy.
to provide the answers. want to see that their English is
Stephanie_ashford@mac.com
The glossary was also neglected. I improving.
could have encouraged the students to
refer to it more often, rather than ● Check that the students see the point
supplying corrections myself. Also, only of collaborating. If they know what It really worked
two students suggested words to add to others can contribute, they will be for me!
the list. Regular prompting would have willing to pool their expertise. This
Did you get inspired by something
helped. also applies to teachers.
you read in ETp? Did you do
The UK and US guides offered
● Agree on goals, roles and milestones, something similiar with your students?
valuable models, but were underused.
as you would in any project. Did it really work in practice?
Rather than simply inviting students to
Do share it with us ...
refer to them, it would have been more ● Resist the temptation to micro-
effective to analyse and compare them manage. Some tasks can be delegated helena.gomm@pavpub.com
in class beforehand. to the students (eg ensuring that

T E C H N O L O G Y
In this series, Nicky Hockly
explains aspects of technology
Five things you always wanted to know about
which some people may be
MOOCs
(but were afraid to ask)
embarrassed to confess that
they don’t really understand.
In this article, she reveals what
a MOOC is.
1 MOOC? Another acronym!

What does this one stand for?
weekly topics and deadlines. Depending on
the MOOC one takes, the learning materials
may take slightly different forms. The
range of free online courses being offered
by reputable educational institutions –
whether they are xMOOCs or cMOOCs –
A MOOC is a Massive Open Online
Course. And it does what the name more connectivist-orientated MOOCs – or and people who would like to can take
suggests. It’s a course which is free of cMOOCs – tend to have little or no content part in courses for free.
charge (open) to as many people who as such. Instead, there may be a few
want to sign up (often a massive number)
and it’s run online. Although such
suggested weekly online readings or videos
to watch, and learning develops through
the participants discussing the contents
5 Are there MOOCs for ELT?
courses have been around for a number There are several MOOCs about
of years, they have only recently started or collectively solving issues, with educational topics of interest to any
to appear in the mainstream and particular emphasis placed on the online educator. Recent offerings include a
educational press, with free online conversations that can develop via forums, MobiMOOC on mobile learning, a PLENK
courses being offered by the likes of blogs, weekly video-conferencing sessions MOOC about developing PLNs (personal
Stanford and Harvard universities. One and social network channels, such as learning networks), a Games MOOC
can now read heartwarming tales like that Google+, Facebook and Twitter. Other looking at educational games, and
of the student from Kazakhstan who took MOOCs may have more formal learning EdFutures, a MOOC looking at how
a Stanford MOOC in computer science, content, such as access to recorded technology is transforming higher
received a certificate and then landed a lectures and specially created content, education. Stephen Downes’ Online Daily
plum job (http://goo.gl/mr4MS). with automatically graded exercises and site (www.downes.ca/news/OLDaily.htm)
quizzes, and the online conversations may is a good source of information about
not be the main focus. These are the so-
2 Where does the MOOC
movement come from? called xMOOCs. Typically, any MOOC will
have a core of active learners, and a larger
upcoming MOOCs in education.
In the field of ELT, probably the
closest that we currently have to MOOCs
The term MOOC emerged around 2008
body of ‘lurkers’ (passive onlookers). The are the open online courses offered by
via a group of academics in Canada.
xMOOCs run by Coursera, Udacity and edX SEETA (South Eastern Europe Teachers
Early courses developed from an interest
can offer certificates of completion, and Associations: www.seeta.eu). These short
in ‘connectivism’ as a learning theory
possibly some sort of assessment. What courses (or mini-MOOCs) last a week or
(social learning based on networks and
one doesn’t get, though, is a university two, are offered by well-known ELT
conversations), and how Web 2.0 could
‘degree’ from any of these MOOCs. experts, and can attract several hundred
facilitate and enhance these connections.
However, MOOCs remained fairly unknown teachers. Past offerings by SEETA include
until in 2011 Stanford University ran one
in Artificial Intelligence, which attracted
4 Is there a downside?
courses on mobile learning, using video,
using digital games and digital literacies
thousands of sign-ups. Shortly after this, Given the high percentage of lurkers and (I blogged about my own experiences of
companies such as Udacity, edX and dropouts on MOOCs, there is some running the mobile mini-MOOC for SEETA
Coursera appeared. Udacity offers MOOCs debate about whether the participants at www.emoderationskills.com/?p=444 in
for Stanford University, edX for MIT actually ‘learn’ anything, and how (or 2011). All of SEETA’s past courses are
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology) indeed whether) this learning should be archived and available on their website,
and Harvard University, while Coursera is assessed. Typically, one will benefit from a where you can also keep an eye out for
a consortium of international universities MOOC to the extent that one is prepared upcoming free courses. Happy MOOC-ing!
(33 at the time of writing) offering to contribute, so a certain amount of self-
Nicky Hockly has been involved in EFL
MOOCs in a wide range of disciplines. discipline is needed to get anything out teaching and teacher training since
of the experience. There is also some 1987. She is Director of Pedagogy of
The Consultants-E, an online teacher
discussion about how these MOOCs can
3 How does a MOOC work? sustain a business model – after all, they
are offered for free. The xMOOCs are
training and development consultancy.
She is co-author of How to Teach
English with Technology, Learning
You pay no fees to take a MOOC – English as a Foreign Language for
sometimes seen as thinly-disguised Dummies, Teaching Online, and
they’re free. There will be a handful of Digital Literacies. She has published
marketing by institutions offering samples
tutors/facilitators and thousands (or even an e-book, Webinars: A Cookbook
of their traditional course content for free for Educators (the-round.com),
tens of thousands) of students. They can and she maintains a blog at
online. But the fact is that there is a wide
run over several weeks or months, with www.emoderationskills.com.

Webwatcher
Web eaders who follow my Webwatcher articles will know that I am
Russell Stannard gets his
students recording themselves.
transport, food, nightlife, dress, relationships (neighbours, friends,
R very keen on tools that can develop discussion and oral work
outside the classroom. I am especially interested in those that
allow students to record themselves speaking and to share their
family), timetables, cleanliness, noise and pace of life.
Next, I put them into groups of three and allowed them to
share their experiences and opinions. At first, they kept wanting
recordings, either as emails or embedded in blogs and wikis. One to break into Japanese, but once they got talking, I think they
problem with many of the tools I have focused on so far is that they were quite surprised about just how much there was to discuss
are not very good if you want to do a threaded discussion (a chain of and how much they could say in English.
submissions, linked in sequence). However, I have recently been
working with Intervue (http://intervue.me/), which offers some
Getting ready to record
I asked the students to take notes on the things they wanted to
real opportunities for threaded discussions and collaborative
talk about and to plan and structure their thoughts. I moved
stories. It is free, very easy to use and has a nice interface.
around the class, giving help where needed. I then explained
What is Intervue? that they should rehearse making their recordings. I re-grouped
Intervue allows you to create an account on its website (this is them, and each student in turn practised by telling the rest of
very simple to do) and you can then post questions for your their group what they were planning to talk about. Again, I
students to log in and answer. You write the questions up as moved around the class, took notes and then gave feedback.
text, but the students’ answers are videoed using a webcam
(nearly all laptops have webcams these days). Of course, you
Getting on with it
Finally, the students made their recordings. There were three
don’t need all the students to have their own webcam; for the
computers, one for each group. The students took turns to
activity described below, I only needed three computers in the
record their answers while the other two members of their group
classroom for my nine students.
listened. The recordings were better than I had expected – and
Getting started quite clear, despite the background noise. However, not all the
Once you have set up your Intervue account, decide on a topic students managed to finish their recordings in class time, so
and write some questions for the students to answer. I decided to some did them afterwards.
do a trial run with a group of Japanese students living with host
families in the UK. My topic was ‘Differences between Japanese
What were the results?
This was a surprisingly good lesson, and some students told
and English culture’. The questions that I wanted the students to
interesting stories. One student, for example, was surprised to
think about included the following, which I put on the site:
discover one day that her next-door neighbour had a key to her
1 What differences have you found between the way people live
host’s house and had come in unexpectedly to leave some milk and
in Japan and in the UK?
bread. Another talked about how calm life was in Warwick compared
2 What places have you enjoyed visiting in the UK, and why?
to her home town. For feedback purposes, I simply listened to their
3 What have you missed about Japan?
recordings, took notes and provided general comments. I could
4 What has been the best thing about your experience so far?
have set up a peer-feedback situation, with each student listening
I decided that I would tackle the first question in class. I wanted
to another student and then leaving their own comment.
the students to work in groups, brainstorm and discuss ideas,
prepare a basic framework for recording their answers and then
actually do the recordings in lesson time. I wanted to see how
Sadly, I didn’t teach this class again, so I never got the chance to
easy or difficult it would be to get them to make their recordings
do more recordings. I would love to have done a threaded story, for
in the lesson – and also whether doing so would change the
example. Since the videos are added to the screen in order, one
class dynamic. It took well over an hour in the end, but I was
student could start a story and the next student could then continue
really pleased with the results.
it. Alternatively, you could make the first video, getting the students
Getting the students started to watch and add their comments, with each student responding
First, I got the students to log onto the Intervue site and I showed to your video and also to the previous student’s post. ETp
them the four questions I had posted, explaining that I wanted
them to record their answers to the first question in the lesson. I have made some help videos for using Intervue, which will
To stimulate interest, I began by talking about my own show you step by step how to use it. You can find these at:
www.teachertrainingvideos.com/intervue/index.html
experience of living in Spain. I wrote some key areas on the
board (background to my life in Spain, friends, family, timetables, Russell Stannard is a Principal Lecturer in ICT at the
priorities) and then spoke about them for about ten minutes. I University of Warwick, UK, where he teaches on the
MA in ELT. He won the Times Higher Education
tried to provide lots of concrete examples and anecdotes about Award for Outstanding Initiatives in Information and
life in Spain and the UK. Communications Technology in 2008, TEFLnet Site of
the Year in 2009 and a 2010 British Council ELTon
Getting ideas award, all for his popular website
www.teachertrainingvideos.com.
I then asked the students to think about the differences they had
noticed between life in the UK and in Japan. We first brainstormed Keep sending your favourite sites to Russell:
russellstannard@btinternet.com
some areas they might like to consider. They came up with

Prize crossword 57
ETp presents the fifty-seventh in our To solve the puzzle, find which letter each number represents. You can keep a record
series of prize crosswords. Send your in the boxes below. The definitions of the words in the puzzle are given, but not in the
entry (completed crossword grid and right order. When you have finished, you will be able to read the quotation.
quotation), not forgetting to include
your full name, postal address and telephone number, VERY FREQUENT WORDS LESS FREQUENT WORDS
to Prize crossword 57, ENGLISH TEACHING professional, *** A period of seven days – Smaller or less than you need
Pavilion Publishing and Media Ltd, Rayford House, *** The process of making information or – A tall evergreen tree with red wood
School Road, Hove, BN3 5JR, UK. Ten correct entries ideas known – An old word used to draw someone’s
will be drawn from a hat on 10 April 2013 and the *** A negative answer attention to something
*** To start an organisation, company, etc – A long thin fish that looks like a snake
senders will each receive a copy of the second edition
*** A plural pronoun – A list giving details of all the things in a
of the Macmillan English Dictionary for Advanced
*** Bigger or more than is usual place
Learners, applauded for its unique red star system
*** To put food in your mouth and swallow it – Able to be everywhere at the same time
showing the frequency of the 7,500 most common
*** Used in front of the name of man – A large black bird or a chess piece
words in English (www.macmillandictionary.com).
*** The number of years someone has lived – A herb used to flavour food
– To give someone information about
FREQUENT WORDS
4 25 1 1 21 17 2 4 5 18 2 25 17 3 something
W ** To change something slightly in order to
– Despite a particular fact, situation or
16 22 7 25 5 12 25 18 22 improve it
quality
** To make a formal choice between two or
22 16 5 18 2 26 22 16 22 22 – So stimulated by something that you
more issues, people, etc
15 26 16 22 5 18 17 16 25 25 20
behave in a silly way
** An amount of a drug that has been
– Describing a process that you repeat
2 16 16 22 7 11 22 4 18 2 12 22 1 measured so you can take it
again and again, using the results from
** To behave in a particular way because of
19 22 5 18 16 7 24 17 the previous stage
something that happens to you
– A small infected spot on the face
10 25 4 22 15 5 16 14 22 4 18 2 4 ** To make a soft knocking sound
L – A member of a small group that runs a
** To make changes to a document
22 10 2 18 22 18 2 11 country or organisation
** A wild cat with yellowish fur with black
– Full of busy activity
2 1 2 17 12 22 17 18 25 16 13 stripes
– A tall plant with large purple, yellow or
** To feel sorry that something has
5 26 22 12 22 22 22 white flowers and long pointed leaves
happened
– A feeling of admiration and respect for
5 9 16 22 22 8 22 15 25 7 22 ** To turn to ice
R someone
16 25 2 16 2 7 22
** A small group of people with power and
– A small wheel that forms part of a
influence
5 4 6 21 5 2 17 18 5 1 22 17 15 machine
** A period of time with particular
– To spoil a reputation or image
14 17 25 16 22 26 16 22 18 characteristics
– To move suddenly in a different
5 15 23 21 7 18 22 10 FAIRLY FREQUENT WORDS direction
* Able to be believed or trusted – An abbreviation for numbers
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 11 16 25 26 16 22 7 7 3 5 7 5 10 10
W L
14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 16 2 26 14 18 25 17 10 13 2 18 3 22 17
R
18 25 17 18 25 25 10 25 17 26
James Thurber

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ENGLISH Issue 84

By teachers, for teachers

Lessons from wikis

• fresh ideas & innovations

• tips & techniques

• competitions & reviews

BY TEACHERS, FOR TEACHERS 4 PLAYING THE GAME 49

TEACHING YOUNG LEARNERS REVIEWS 44

COOKING UP FUN 22 COMPETITIONS 41, 64

Includes materials designed to photocopy

• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 84 January 2013 • 1

ENGLISH Rayford House, School Road, Hove BN3 5HX, UK

Designer: Christine Cox ISSN 1362-5276

Advertising Sales Manager: Subscriptions: Pavilion Publishing and Media Ltd,

Carole Blanchett, Mainline Media

2 • Issue 84 January 2013 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •

4 • Issue 84 January 2013 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •

• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 84 January 2013 • 5

for teachers research begins with the identification

6 • Issue 84 January 2013 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •

8 • Issue 84 January 2013 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •

• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 84 January 2013 • 9

teaching and particularly of full sentences, on a

10 • Issue 84 January 2013 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •

12 • Issue 84 January 2013 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •

• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 84 January 2013 • 13

of learning that are most suitable for each goal,

14 • Issue 84 January 2013 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •

I can follow a lecture or talk within my own field.

I can understand simple technical information,

I can follow detailed directions to a place of interest.

I can understand the information of recorded messages

Thank you for taking the time

• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 84 January 2013 • 15

16 • Issue 84 January 2013 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •

Classroom reality General strategies

• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 84 January 2013 • 17

18 • Issue 84 January 2013 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •

Story topic: ....................................................................................................

Worksheet 2: Recording and revising vocabulary

Word (include word class and stress) Meaning Example

• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 84 January 2013 • 19

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Rule shift Incentive shift

• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 84 January 2013 • 23

Cooking This is movement towards being an

up fun assume the role of lookers, to be

24 • Issue 84 January 2013 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •

‘R minority art’ – or so novelist

This is my second article to review books

• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 84 January 2013 • 25

26 • Issue 84 January 2013 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •

2 Common adjective collocations

• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 84 January 2013 • 29

the message towards an understanding of grammar

30 • Issue 84 January 2013 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •

• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 84 January 2013 • 31

Six issues per year

Includes airmail postage

1 Digital Subscription (online access only)

2 Print and Digital Subscription

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