VII- TEACHING GRAMMAR

Grammar is critical to the English language, it forms the basis the English language,
influences the tone and shapes ideas. Most importantly for your students of English it is
a key marker of mastery. Being able to master the complexities and subtleties of
English grammar, has been the headache of many a student. Mastery of grammar will
see you students grow in confidence and encourage them to practice independently.

How to Teach Grammar: A Guide for TEFL Teachers

Are you looking for a way to teach grammar that will engage your students and allow
them to have fun?

Grammar lessons can be tricky for a variety of reasons. They can be boring. The
grammar might be too challenging for the students. The teacher sometimes feels
overwhelmed when trying to present and explain all those complex rules.

And often, teachers don’t want to teach grammar lessons because they just don’t seem
to be that much fun. The students have to sit quietly and listen to a lecture on the
present perfect, for example, before they actually get to do anything.

How to Teach an ESL/EFL Grammar Lesson

So let’s look at a way to plan and teach a grammar lesson that is both effective and
enjoyable. We’ll go step-by-step through a teaching process that will really involve your
students in the lesson and help them understand the rules—without long, complicated
explanations.

Stage 1: The Lead-in

Instead of saying, “today we’re going to learn some grammar,” start your lesson by
getting students engaged in an interesting, relatable topic. Think about a situation in
which the grammar you’re teaching is likely to occur, and get students thinking about
that—not about the grammar itself just yet.

For example, for a lesson on the causative structure (to have something done), you
might consider that it would be easy to use this structure when talking about rich people
or celebrities, who can afford to have a lot of things done for them. If you’re using a
course book, you can also just use whatever topic is presented on the page. In order to
get students involved, pose a direct question. For instance, you could say, “Who is your
favorite celebrity and why?” Then let the students discuss their thoughts in pairs for a
few minutes.

Stage 2: Present the Grammar

The key to introducing the grammar is that it should be in context. Instead of just saying,
“Now we’re going to learn the causative,” you want to show students examples of the
causative structure that are somehow related to what they discussed in the lead-in.

After the lead-in about celebrities, you could give the students a picture of someone
famous, like David Beckham, along with several sentences about him written in the
causative structure (it’s ok if you have to make these up!):

David Beckham has his meals cooked for him by an special chef.

He got his favorite suit made in Paris.

He has his car washed every day.

In doing this, you’re presenting the grammar in a way that has meaning and relevance;
the students can start to understand what the structure means and why it’s used,
because they can relate it to a real-life topic they were just discussing.

Stage 3: “Teach” the Grammar

Your goal is to for students to be able to use this grammatical structure. And in order to
do that, students need to be taught the meaning, form, and pronunciation of the
structure. For many teachers, this is where the lecture starts. They think it’s their job to
tell the students all of this information. If you’re not careful, this stage can turn into a
long, teacher-fronted ramble that the students struggle to follow. Looking for a better
way?

Try a Guided Discovery for Teaching Grammar

A guided discovery is a worksheet or activity that helps students understand a particular

grammar structure. The magic of a guided discovery is that it prompts the students to
figure out the rules on their own, instead of being spoon-fed the information by the
teacher. This means the students will be more engaged, more empowered, and
ultimately more invested during the learning process. Here’s how a guided discovery
works:

 Use the same context and examples from earlier in the lesson. In this lesson
about the causative, for instance, you would use the photo and sentences about
David Beckham. Put these at the top of your guided discovery worksheet so
students have clear examples to use in their exploration of the structure.
  Next, create leading questions and short exercises that help the students
understand what the structure means, how it’s used, and how it’s formed.

Let students do the guided discovery worksheet in pairs or small groups so they can talk
through the exercises together. Walk around and monitor as they do this, answering any
questions that come up. Once students have finished working on the guided discovery
in their pairs/ groups, go over the answers as a class. In doing this, you’re just
confirming the answers that the students already figured out. They basically just taught
themselves!

Stage 4: Practice the Target English Grammar

Now the students need a chance to practice what they’ve learned. Here are a couple of
fun, interactive practice ideas for the causative structure:

Try out this Survey Activity

Have the students write two or three questions they would like to ask all of their
classmates, using the causative structure. For example:

How often do you get your hair cut? (more adverb of frequency activities here)

If you could have your living room re-painted, what color would you choose?

Would you rather have your house cleaned for you or your meals cooked for
you?

Let the students choose what they want to ask. As they write their survey questions,
monitor to help them and correct errors as needed. Then tell the students they need to
collect data from all the other students on the questions they wrote. They should all get
up and mingle, asking each other student in class their questions and recording the
answers.

Consider a Gallery Walk

A gallery walk involves putting pictures or prompts around the room and letting students
walk around discussing each one- just like in an art gallery! For this lesson on the
causative, you could post pictures of famous people around the room, and let students
go from picture to picture, speculating about what each celebrity has done for them.

By using these techniques, you’ve effectively helped students with the grammar, but
you’ve made it engaging and interactive. Well done!
VIII- TEACHING VOCABULARY

Vocabulary is the partner to grammar. Grammar form the structure and relationships of
the language, whilst, vocabulary adds the ideas and imaginary. Both are required to
function together in order to express ideas and make ourselves understood. Building
vocabulary enables students to first express their ideas and later, refine their
expression. Mastering the use of new and varied vocabulary enables students to truly
and fully express themselves in both formal and social settings. Your goal as is to help
students move from a translation based through process to one of understanding words
(and ideas) in their English form.

Words are ideas, the way we understand ideas varies greatly, based on our cultures,
experiences and paradigms. Learning to understand words and all their varied,
meanings, ideas and emotions, can be a challenge for students. Your goal ought to be
to help students develop their ability to fully understand words in their English form,
rather than borrow the translated ideas from their native language.

4 Components of Effective Vocabulary Instruction

Vocabulary instruction might be the most studied facet of education because it has
implications across the disciplines and subject areas. With all of that research comes
just as many methods, strategies, and pedagogies. It’s enough to confuse even the
most seasoned educator.

There are, however, some universal truths to how students can best acquire word
knowledge. According to Aradhana Mudambi, a principal in the Providence (Rhode
Island) School District, these are the four components that are included in any
successful vocabulary strategy.

1. Word Connection

Students need to be able to connect the words they are trying to acquire with words and
concepts with which they are already familiar. According to research Mudambi
conducted while at Harvard, lessons that related new words to existing concepts were
judged to be the most helpful among any other vocabulary strategies.

When embarking on a school wide vocabulary strategy, organize the new words into a
monthly coherent theme. Have classes post their evidence of learning, such as graphic
organizers or pictures displaying the new words, in the hallways so students can start
making the connections to the new vocabulary as they move around the school.

2. Significance

The practice of defining unfamiliar words with other unfamiliar words is useless, yet that
is what the common dictionary often does for a young student. The target vocabulary
word has no significance to the student because the definition is also lacking in
significance. Definitions should be written in age-appropriate language and
accompanied with other tools with which the student can attach significance, such as
pictures and narratives.

Warmup time is great for these kinds of activities. Break up the desired vocabulary into
chunks of a word or two per day (provided with a friendly definition, of course). Then
give students time to draw, write, and organize their thoughts about the word(s).

3. Context Clues

When a student is drowning in an ocean of unfamiliar words, it’s often context clues that
serve as the life preserver. But what if they were a lifeboat instead? We often use
context clue strategies that only provide a sentence or two with no effective narrative.
The truth is that if we provide a more complete narrative structure that serves as a
series of context clues, the target word is more likely to be moved into long term
memory.

Instead of a list of vocabulary words with definitions, consider organizing the words into
a longer narrative structure. Then, not only are you providing deeper context clues, but
you also have enough real estate to practice other strategies.

4. Word-Rich Environment

One-and-done is simply not effective when it comes to vocabulary instruction. Mudambi

says students should be exposed to a new word at least six times, if not more. But
repetitive strategies are also ineffective. Students should encounter the unfamiliar words
as naturally as possible. That comes from a word-rich environment where words and
literature are king.

This is why the word wall is such an effective tool. Students naturally find themselves
looking at the wall multiple times during the day. In a school wide approach, that word
wall needs to be in the cafeteria or the main entrance. Instruct your teachers to draw
attention to the wall as much as possible, asking for the students to work with the words
each time.
IX- TEACHING PRONUNCIATION

“A pause in the wrong place, an intonation misunderstood…and the whole conversation

went awry” -E.M. Forster

Pronunciation is a common concern of students. Being affair of speaking English often

stems from a fear of mispronouncing words. Your best strategy as a teacher is to
encourage students to speak and express themselves first, then focus more specifically
on pronunciation. The strategy helps students build their confidence and eliminate fear
of speaking. An important practical step to take is to ensure the classroom is a safe
environment for ‘mistakes’. Students ought to be supportive rather than picking-on the
those whom struggle with pronunciation. Fostering a welcoming, safe space for
students to experiment with new words and pronunciations will be vital.

Mentioning pronunciation in the ESL classroom opens up a whole can of worms. The
trick with being an ESL teacher is that all the concepts you’re teaching are intuitive to
you. You know how to do it all. You’ve been speaking English for a long time, perhaps
since birth or early childhood, and you’re really, really good at it.

It’s one thing to explain sentence structure, grammar patterns and vocabulary usage.
Even the most complicated details still follow rules and patterns. When it comes time to
teach English pronunciation, you’ve got to explain how sounds sound, why different
letter combinations make different sounds, how to produce those sounds with your
mouth, tongue, teeth and throat—and, to boot, English pronunciation is notoriously
irregular and funky.

Not to mention, students can have trouble hearing their own accents, and may not even
be able to recognize a pronunciation problem.

The 10 Elements of Proper English Pronunciation

1. Vowels

English vowels are often mistaken as simple by ESL students. Just “A, E, I, O, U.”
Vowels can actually be the most complicated aspect of English pronunciation to learn
and to teach. The English language has 44 sounds, 20 of which are vowel sounds.
Even the simple vowels are anything but simple. Simple vowels are often referred to as
“short” vowels. The letter “a” all by itself can be pronounced several ways. Try saying it
in these English words:

apple all father

(And, of course, the way English speakers say these words varies depending on their
background and their particular accent.)

The letter “a” in these three words represents three distinct simple vowel sounds.
Simply teaching your students that a particular letter represents a particular sound
generally does not work with English, though it may with your students’ first language. If
you want to say a word that has two vowel sounds, the vowels can no longer be simple
vowels. Instead, when combined they become a diphthong. (See the explanation of
diphthongs below.) In various letter combinations, “a” becomes part of a diphthong and
takes on a new sound. For example:

may mate wait

Or it sounds as a different diphthong such as in

hair wear

and another one again in words such as

ear

They all sound different. So how can you explain to your students how to pronounce the
different vowel sounds?

Even if you haven’t learned phonetics, and you are not very comfortable with the
symbols, a Phonemic Chart can help you because it has “hints” or words to tell you
what each sound is. You can point your students to the chart, too, and they don’t have
to learn the symbols (although they often find that it’s fun to do so!)

Just looking at the simple vowels on the chart, their positions on the chart give clues
about how they’re pronounced. So if we just use the “hints”:

ship sheep book shoot

left her teacher door

Basically, the relevance of the rows and columns is:

In a very generalized sense, moving from left to right on the chart the vowels are formed
from the front to the back of the mouth. Forming a sound at the back of the mouth just
means the raised part of the tongue is further back. In general, from left to right the lips
will need to be increasingly more rounded. Moving from the top row to the bottom row of
the chart, the mouth becomes more relaxed and open.

With this information, now try saying each of the words in sequence and feel for yourself
how your mouth moves. This may help you to explain to your students how to correct a
particular mispronunciation. Let’s look at some main vowel problem areas:

ship and sheep

Many languages do not make this vowel distinction, and often have a simple vowel that
is pronounced somewhere between these two, usually a bit closer to “sheep” than to
“ship.” There are a number of “minimal pairs”—two words with different meanings that
are identical other than this vowel sound difference—using these two sounds, so you
need to teach your students to make the distinction both in speaking and listening.

Ask them to move the sound forward in their mouths, closer to the tips of their tongues,
to make the “ship” sound. Then ask them to lengthen the “sheep” vowel sound to
accentuate the difference. Practice this until they get more used to it.

book and shoot

Again, many languages do not have the distinction between these two vowel sounds,
and most commonly have a simple vowel that is partway between the two, slightly
closer to the “shoot” sound. However, you may be aware that in some dialects of
English (especially northern England), the distinction between these two sounds is
somewhat blurred. Words such as “room,” for example, can be said with either sound.
Other words, such as “moon,” are only ever pronounced the one way.

There are not a lot of minimal pairs using these two sounds. A few are “pull” and “pool,”
“full” and “fool” and “look” and “Luke.” In order to develop good, clear pronunciation, you
should encourage your students to feel the difference. Again, lengthening the “shoot”
sound when practicing can help.

her and teacher

The sound in “teacher “is often referred to as “schwa.” It is the most common vowel
sound in the English language. This is because it can be represented by almost any
vowel sequence in written language. For example:
teacher collar doctor measure zebra

garden fossil lion circus

The schwa is always in an unstressed syllable. And many (but not all) vowels in
unstressed syllables become the schwa sound. This is one of the things that makes
English spelling difficult, because in normal speech you can’t hear the specific vowels in
the unstressed syllables. The vowels in the schwa sound are mostly always pronounced
with a short “u” sound, as in “uh.”

This is particularly difficult for students whose first language has a different stress
system or an almost phonetic spelling system.

The sound in “her“ is very much like the schwa but it is longer and can be stressed. This
is what students sometimes resort to when they are struggling with the short, weak
schwa. While these two sounds do not seem to present themselves in significant
minimal pairs, it is important for students to be able to correctly pronounce the “schwa”
because it is so common in English.

“left” and “hat”

The sound in “hat” does not occur as frequently as you might expect in other languages,
and many students struggle with it. Some students will tend to replace it with the sound
in “left”—which is found in pretty much all other languages. Teach your students to
practice dropping their jaws, opening their mouths a little, and lowering their tongues to
find the new sound.

“hat” and “up”

Sometimes when struggling to pronounce the “hat” sound, students will come out with
the “up” sound because it is more similar to a sound produced in their first language. In
fact, in some English dialects (such as in northern England) words which elsewhere
have the “hat” sound is pronounced with the “up” sound. But a common problem with
the “up” sound is the fact that it is most often written with the letter “u.” This causes
students to expect to use the vowels which form the sounds in “book” or “shoot.” (Again,
some dialects of English do pronounce words such as “up” and “umbrella” with the
sound that is in “book.”)
Help your students to distinguish between “hat” (which is an open, front vowel) and “up”
(which is an open, mid vowel), but also make sure they don’t get confused by the letter
“u” in the written form.

2. Diphthongs

A diphthong is two vowel sounds that glide together and become like one long vowel,
taking up only one syllable together. In some languages this doesn’t occur, and
adjacent vowels must form two syllables (often separated by a “glottal stop,” which is
like a catch in the throat). Some languages only allow diphthongs in special positions
such as the end of a word. It is uncommon to have as many diphthongs, or the same
diphthongs, as we have in English.

Students learning English will often either:

 Shorten them (like saying “kek” for “cake”).

 Split them into two short sounds.

So if your students are having difficulties with diphthongs:

Make sure your students are aware of which two sounds make up the diphthong. This is
clear from the chart, but not always obvious from the spelling of the words. Help your
students to blend the two sounds smoothly together, and don’t worry if the sound seems
a bit long. They will only occur in stressed syllables when a lengthened vowel sound is
acceptable. Make a fun activity of practicing long diphthong sounds.

3. Consonants

The consonants are actually quite a bit simpler than the vowels. There are generally six
types of consonants:

 Plosives (sometimes called “stops”) are formed when the air is stopped at a
particular point in the mouth and then suddenly released. These are: p, b, t, d, k,
g.
 Fricatives are made by allowing the air to pass through a narrow gap causing
friction. These include: f, v, th, s, z, sh, h and the sound of “si” in “television.”
 Affricates are basically plosives that blend into fricatives. These are the sounds
at the beginning of “cheese” and “joke.”
 Nasals are sounds that vibrate through the nasal cavity. These are “m,” “n” and
the sound usually written “ng” as in “thing.”
 Liquids and laterals. These are the sounds “l” and “r.”
 Semi-vowels. There are two of these: “w” and “y,” as they sometimes work as
vowels and sometimes as consonants.
Generally, there are three main points of articulation, or places in your mouth where the
sounds are made. These are:

 Right at the front of your mouth, using lips and/or teeth, and/or tongue. (p, b, f, v,
th, m, w)
 Behind your teeth with the tip of your tongue against the ridge behind your teeth,
or further back against your palate. (t, d, s, z, sh, n, l, r)
 In the back of your mouth near your throat. (k, g, ng, h)

Let’s look at some consonant problem sounds for ESL students:

The liquids and laterals, “l” and “r.” Try saying these two sounds yourself, and work out
what you do with your tongue. With “l” your tongue actually touches the roof of your
mouth and the air rushes past on either side (hence the “lateral”). If you have Asian
students, you will need to point this out to them, get them to practice and then have a
signal or hand sign to help them to notice the different sounds when they are listening
as well as when they speak.

Liquid “r.” Issues with “r” sounds go far beyond trouble distinguishing “l” and “r.” There
are many different “r” sounds in English. Among English accents and dialects there are
some who trill the letter “r.” There is also the difference between the rhotic accents
(American and Canadian) and non-rhotic accents (others). For some of your students
there may be significant differences between the various “r” sounds in their first
language. As a result, your students may flap, trill or retro-flex the “r” sound in English.
The difference is all about where the tip of the tongue goes and how it moves while
executing the sound. Maybe you could have a lesson where you all practice making the
sound. Working with a small mirror may help students to work out what it is that they are
really doing with their tongues.

Fricative “th.” Many students are unfamiliar with this sound, and in a half-hearted
attempt to create it they usually end up sounding out a “t” or “d.” To correctly produce
the sound, it is vital for them to stick the tip of their tongue right out between their teeth.
At first they may think that you are kidding! Get them to work with a partner and/or a
mirror to make sure that their tongue is actually visible between their teeth. Or you can
get them to put a piece of paper or their finger right in front of their lips and make sure
their tongue touches it while they practice the sound.

Consonants using lips and teeth. Sometimes students get confused between “v” and
“w.” You need to make sure they realize that for “v” (and also “f”) their top teeth should
be resting on their bottom lip, whereas for “w” their lips are merely close
together.Sibilant Fricative “s.” This sound is common to every language, and so it
shouldn’t cause a problem. But sometimes you might find that your students are saying
it with a slight lisp, or making it sound more like “sh.” Try saying these sounds yourself,
and you will realize that by simply moving the tip of your tongue further forward or back
the sound is changed. Too far forward will cause a lisp, further back is where the “sh”
sound is formed. Let students try making the different sounds by moving their tongue tip
around.

4. Voicing

Some sounds are made using our voices, and some are not. Vowels are always voiced,
but not all consonants are. To tell which is which, simply place your fingers gently on
your voice-box as you speak and feel the vibrations there. These consonants are
voiced: b, d, g, z, m, n, ng, l, r, w, y, “-si-” (television), “j” (joke). There is also a voiced
“th” (this). These are voiceless, or unvoiced: p, t, s, k, h, th, sh, “ch” (cheese).

Students who have a problem with the unvoiced “th” will also struggle with the voiced
version. Try saying these words:

“bath” and “bathe”: The “th” in the first word is unvoiced, in the second one it is voiced.

“cloth” and “clothes.”

“the,” “then” and “that”: The “th” is voiced at the beginning of these common words, but
in “thanks,” “theory” and “thick” the sound is unvoiced.

There is no easy rule about when to voice the sound, it is simply a case of becoming
familiar with the words. But the first step is to make sure that your students can make
both sounds accurately. Consonants are affected by the sounds around them, because
there are some situations where it is uncomfortable or very difficult to pronounce an
unvoiced consonant next to a voiced consonant or surrounded by vowels.

For example, the simple past tense verb ending is “-ed,” but when spoken it doesn’t
always have the voiced “d” sound. If the verb ends in an unvoiced consonant (e.g.
“wash,” “pick”), the “-ed” sounds like “-t” (although it is still written the same). Just try
saying “washed” or “picked” to hear that “-t” sound I’m talking about. This aspect of
pronunciation is generally practiced as part of a grammar lesson, but it helps to make
students aware of the general principle.

It is also nice to discuss how many English dialects or accents tend to use voiced
consonants where others would use unvoiced. For example, some might pronounce
“better” as “bedder.”

5. Aspiration
Some plosive consonants (e.g. “p”) are aspirated. That means that there is a little puff of
air after the sound.

To test this, you can ask students to hold a sheet of paper up in front of their mouths
while they say words with plosive consonants such as “paper.” They should notice that
the first “p” has a puff of air, but the second one does not.

In English the aspiration is not significant. There are no minimal pairs where it makes a
difference in meaning, and we tend to aspirate at the beginning of words but not in the
middle or end. If we are making a point or trying to accentuate something we may add
aspiration, without affecting the meaning. However, in other languages the aspiration
may be more relevant. If students say a word such as “paper” without the expected
aspiration, it can sound like they are instead using the voiced consonant “b.” It can
sound a little confusing, so it is worth explaining aspiration to your students and
practicing it with them.

6. Unreleased Consonants

The consonants at the end of words are often not “released.” For example, if you say
the word “stop,” you close your lips on the final “p” and keep them closed—unless you
are very excited, in which case the final sound might burst forth along with saliva and
exasperation. Some Asian languages have a very strong CVCV (consonant, vowel)
pattern, and for native speakers of those languages this is a problem. They tend to add
extra vowels rather than allow a word to end in a consonant, especially an unreleased
one. Thus “Get up!” comes out as “Geta upa!” These students need to be taught to relax
and let the consonants stay unreleased.

In other languages (e.g. Malaysian), when the final consonant is a plosive it is only
present in the written form, neither sounded nor released. These students need to be
encouraged to make the effort to actually form the final consonant and make some
sound from it.

7. The Sounds Between Words

When the final consonant is unreleased, it generally reappears at the start of the next
word…if that next word starts with a vowel. Thus, in naturally-spoken English, the words
all run into one another. They may form a continuous stream right up until the end of the
phrase, clause or even sentence. While this makes listening (and understanding)
difficult for language learners, it is also important for second language learners to learn
to speak this way too. Students need to move from speaking word by word to speaking
in whole chunks of language. That is how fluency is attained!
Teach pronunciation of words in context. Once they can pronounce a particular word,
practice saying it next to other words. So now that expression “Geta upa!” should
become “Getup!” Practice dictation. Speak your mind, say one complete thought (e.g.
clause or phrase) at a natural pace, all in one go, and let students try breaking it down
into words. Get them to do the same in pairs.

8. Syllable Stress

Incorrect stress is not only uncomfortable, but it changes the meaning of words. In some
languages, syllable stress is almost irrelevant to meaning. However, in English,
changing the stress can change the meaning of a word and the grammatical structure of
a whole sentence. For example:

desert, desert, dessert:

These are three different words, with the same consonants and vowels, but the stress
changes the meaning.

permit, permit:

These two words are clearly related in meaning. However, the first one is a noun (a
piece of paper) and the second one is a verb (the action of allowing something). There
are many other words like this. While native speakers of English can generally
understand a word even when the stress is misplaced, it can be very uncomfortable or
confusing to listen to.

With long words in English which have added prefixes and suffixes, the stress often
changes from the base word. This can also change the vowel sounds as they move
from stressed to unstressed syllables. For example:

photo, photographer, photography, photographic.

*Note: Notice how the”o” sound changes quality (from a diphthong as in “show” to a
simple vowel sound as in “on”) depending on whether or not it is in the stressed syllable.

This can be very confusing for language learners, and distressing when they are faced
with reading aloud a text which contains a number of long multi-syllable words. There
are some rules (although they naturally also have exceptions) which you can teach your
students to practice and increase their confidence in saying long words.

For example:

Stress falls on the third-last syllable in words ending in a consonant plus “y” (but not “-
ly”).
Stress falls on the third-last syllable in words ending in “-ize.”

Stress falls on the third-last syllable in words ending in “-ate.”

Stress falls on the syllable just before “-ic” or “-tion”/”-sion”/”-cion”/”-xion”

Although learning these rules may not help students at the moment when they are
about to say a word, if they are preparing themselves to read something aloud they can
practice new words until they are familiar with them.

9. Sentence Stress

English is generally considered to be a stress-timed language. While for linguistic

purists this is not hard and fast, it does demonstrate an important difference in English
compared to other languages which are syllable-timed. What it means is that the
number of important words in a sentence will determine how long it takes to say the
sentence, rather than the overall number of words. The little, unimportant words are
mumbled through quickly in between the important words.

So, for example, the following sentences all have the same important words (in capital
letters), and adding in the other words/syllables does not make the sentence any longer
when spoken:

SAM LIVES in a NICE, OLD HOUSE.

SAM LIVES in a LOVEly, OLD HOUSE.

SAM’s been LIVing in a deLIGHTful, OLD HOUSE.

SAM’ll be LIVing in a deLIGHTful, VicTORian cotTAGE.

In each of these sentences there are five stressed syllables, and so they essentially
take the same time to say. Try clicking your fingers to the beat as you say the stressed
syllables.

Secondly, in English, the deeper meaning behind a statement is in the stress. Exactly
the same sentence can hold a different meaning depending on how it is stressed. Take
this sentence for example:

HAVE you seen my new red car? (Really? Have you actually seen it?)

Have YOU seen my new red car? (Because everyone else has seen it.)

Have you SEEN my new red car? (You’ve heard about it, but have you seen it?)

Have you seen MY new red car? (There are lots of cars out there, this one is mine.)
Have you seen my NEW red car? (Yes, I had one before, this is my new one.)

Have you seen my new RED car? (I have several new cars, this is my red one!)

Have you seen my new red CAR? (It matches my other red toys.)

Students can have great fun dramatizing these sentences.

Ask your students to try stressing the right syllables in these sentences to get the
correct meaning:

David stole the money, not Mike. (Stress “David” and “not.”)

David stole the money. He didn’t have permission to take it. (Stress “stole.”)

I haven’t seen the film, but David has. (Stress “I” and “David.”)

David stole the money. He didn’t touch the jewelry. (Stress “money.”)

Mike’s birthday is on the 28th, not the 24th. (Stress “8th.”)

10. Intonation

Even students who achieve a high level of accuracy in their general pronunciation of
sounds and words can still struggle with intonation. Although not a tonal language (like
Chinese, for example), English has a particularly musical intonation, going generally
higher and lower than others.

Listening to a native English speaker trying to speak another language and using
English intonation can send speakers of that language into fits of laughter. So when
they try to use English intonation, they actually feel a little embarrassed and often end
up sounding rather flat!

The theory of English intonation is complicated, and not really necessary to learn to
develop good intonation skills. It’s better to use immersion, and get students to listen to
and copy as much natural English speaking as possible—including the intonation. The
high point, or peak syllable, comes at the end of an utterance, so this is where the
drama happens. When focusing on the intonation for a particular sentence, always start
at the back end. For example:

The sentence is: “Making my own pancakes every day is such a chore!”

Try saying it with attitude!

In this case the peak syllable is “chore,” so the pitch here should be high. Also “such”
should be high, as well as maybe “own” and “every.”
Now to practice:

“…chore!”

“… such a chore!”

“… every day is such a chore!”

“… my own pancakes every day is such a chore!”

“Making my own pancakes every day is such a chore!”

Choose a favorite line from a movie, and let your students have a lot of fun!

X- YOUNG LEARNERS

Kindergarten and primary students (under 11 years old) are mentally geared towards
learning new languages. Their skills can be developed very fast if they are engaged and
motivated in the correct manner. However their age also presents obstacles and
challenges to you. How to best focus and motivate younger students will be a constant
struggle, but the rewards can be truly great. Those whom learn a language at an early
age will fare much better than those whom wait until their teen or twenties to begin
learning.

(Kindergarten through 5) Introduction, Expanded Narrative

Younger learners are those from about 5-10 years of age or from Kindergarten to Grade
5. Teaching younger learners is different from teaching adults. Younger learners are
social, active, and creative. Younger learners need to have opportunities to physically
move during class and to play. As they play, they learn and practice social skills,
including communication and language skills. They are curi- ous and usually willing to
learn another language. Because their cognitive abilities are still develop- ing, they deal
better with language as a whole, rather than with rules about language. Since they are
still in the stage of developing their native language rules, they are able to generalize
and create their own rules about a second language as they use it. Given that their
cognitive and motor skills are still developing, they have stronger oral skills than literate
skills, so this strength can be used in teaching a second language. To do so requires a
lot of repetition and clear directions.

Younger learners also have a shorter attention span than adults, which suggests that a
variety of short activities during a class would be better than one long activity. However,
as they get older, children’s attention span becomes longer, their motor skills develop,
and they are able to do more reading and writing.

Module focus some teaching techniques and strategies to use with younger learners:

 Create a warm, friendly, and comfortable classroom. Be sure that desks, chairs,
tables, and black- boards are suitable for the children’s size. Materials posted on
the walls or bulletin boards should be at their reading level.
 When giving directions and explanations, be clear and simple. Set up predictable
classroom routines and put children in charge of them (according to their age).
Be sure that the transitions between activities help children understand what they
are to do.
 Use lots of different types of activities that require different types of participation
and different skills.
 Include much oral repetition during activities.
 Use language as a whole, integrating different language skills in each activity.
 Set up the classroom space and create activities that give children the chance to
move around and allow for different activities to go on at the same time.
 Set up activities to enable children to work together in groups, which allows for
practice of com- munication and negotiating skills, and to balance serious work
with work or learning play that is fun.

Some characteristics of young learners:

 They are social. They are learning to socialize as well as learning through
socializing.
 They need to be physically active.
 They learn through play.
 They need lots of repetition and clear directions.
 They are “me” focused and respond emotionally to learning activities.
 They are naturally curious and usually willing to learn.
 Their cognitive and motor skills are still developing.
 The rate of development is different in individual children.
 Their oral skills are more advanced than their literate skills.
 The have a short attention span, which becomes longer as they get older.
 They are able to formulate their own language rules from comprehensible
language input.

When teaching young learners, there are some elements in the class that treated
properly can make a difference. Sometimes we plan wonderful lessons but when it
comes to practice they turned to things very far from the expected ones, the answer to
this could be in how we do simple ordinary things that can make a difference like the
way we give instructions, the use (or lack of use) of body language and group work.
We’re going to have a closer look to these points.

Giving instruction: this is something we do in every single class. However, sometimes

the way we do it influences the class in a positive or negative way. For example, if
instructions are not accurate, students can lose interest or feel frustrated which can
generate a negative environment. If instructions are clear, children feel confident and do
the tasks. But how can we give instructions properly?

Here some tips:

 Use simple language: it is easy for children to get the idea of what you want
from them if you use words that are familiar to them. Avoid long explanations.

 Divide the instructions in different steps: it is better for children to get the
information little by little and not altogether. Give the information they need for
each task and not more than that because they can get confused. For example,
“open your book on page 15” and once they do it, go to the next instruction.

 Use gestures: this will help to reinforce the message and if students don’t get
the meaning of words, gestures can make meaning as well.

 Model what you want students to do: This is a way to show vividly what you
want them to do minimizing gaps.

 Ask questions to check comprehension: These questions should be yes or no

questions or option questions like: “Are you doing this in pairs or individually?”
“Will you write or discuss?”. Avoid using questions like “Do you understand?” or
“Is it clear?” because students tend to answer “Yes” even if they don’t
understand.

 Body Language: Another key element in the young learners’ class is the use of
gestures. There must be a correspondence between your oral message and your
gestures. This is a powerful tool to help visual learners to build confidence. For
instance, you can use gestures to reinforce vocabulary like action verbs. Instead
of translating, you can explain their meaning by using gestures. A good way to
involve kinesthetic students would be to ask students to use gestures themselves
to show comprehension.
 Another aspect to consider when dealing with body language is facial
expressions. Smile during the class to help students feel confidence. Even if they
make mistakes, beware of your facial expressions so they don’t feel discouraged.
A warm smile can let them know that they can do it and they become aware that
mistakes are part of the process. This will motivate students to participate in the
class. Eye contact is also something to consider because by making eye contact,
students feel you are with them. You should move your eyes from left to right and
vice versa. If you fix your eyes on one student only, the rest of students could
feel ignored and rejected, so make sure you look at all sides in the classroom.

 Group Work: Another key in the classroom is group working. If we agree that
language is a system of communication, we should teach it accordingly. It means
in a language class, students must communicate. An effective way to do so is
through pair and group work. When asking students to work in groups, it is
necessary that all members of the group have a role and a clear task. For
example, a student can be in charge of taking notes, another one to ask
questions, another to answer, etc. This is important because first they will use the
language; second, they will feel involved, third, they will learn by doing, and
fourth, they will learn, not only from the teacher but also from their peers.

All of these are key elements that can make the young learners class a space for
interaction and learning. By adapting these tips in our classrooms, we can give our
students the chance to get the best from each language classroom experience in a
student centered environment where they feel confident to express themselves
XI- ADULT LEARNERS

Adult students require completely differ approaches to younger students. There is not
one typology for adult learners, as they choose to study for different and often very
personal reasons. Adult learners construct their identity and respond to teaching in
different ways to younger students. Whereas with younger students the notion of
authority still influences social relations, adults form relations on respect and mutual
reciprocity. Adult students can be characterized broadly as having a more keenly
developed understanding of social relations and perceptive skills. Adult learns are able
to spot a mile off a teacher ‘winging-it’.

The following ideas may help you understand better teaching adults.

 Adults Decide to study English. Every minute of their study is a choice, motivated
by individual reasons.
 Motivated by achievement. Adult learners intend to use English as a tool for a
particular purpose. Understanding those goals is key, to delivering results.
 Adults will take responsibility for their learning. Their time and effort come with an
opportunity cost. For good or bad this is a reality.
 Because of the above factors they seek proven and demonstrated education
methods.
 Adults do the calculus, though they will generally take study seriously that does
not mean to say your course will always be The Most important thing in their
lives.
  Adults are busy people; they have commitments outside of the classroom. They
will often be balancing and juggling many different commitments. As such they
look maximize their time and get their desired results fast.
Adults seek help in their studies; a trusted guide to ensure they are on course
and lead them through new challenges. Adult learners are more discerning,
knowledgeable and aware of what Good Teaching is and is not. They require you
to develop a teaching style that is respectful and confident, without being
arrogant or overpowering. You should consider teaching adults as a partnership
with the aim of achieving the student’s goals.

The following are teaching strategies that can be particularly effective when addressing
some of the unique characteristics of adult learners;

 Give space for adaptation. Adults are more worldly and experienced, give them
space to express their ideas and experiences and they will naturally seek to fill
that space. This will motivate them to use the language and will producing
meaningful exchange of ideas. Use open scenarios and offer time for questions.
 Respect is important. Be wary about how you treat your students, as adults we
have established expectations of respect and how we like to treated. Manners
and curiosities are important, don't over-estimate how important the need for
building relationships based on mutual respect and dignity is to the successful
outcome of your classes. Your best option is to lead by consensus and results,
rather than authority as a ‘teacher’.
 Be open to a challenge. Words are ideas, teaching words requires teaching
ideas, culture and paradigms. These will in some cases conflict with the culture,
beliefs and assumptions of your students. Be accepting of local customs, habits
and culture: your job is not to be a reformer. Explain differences in a calm,
neutral and understanding way. Focus on the commonalities (of which there are
much more) rather than differences. Be ready to be questioned, probed for
explanations and deal with them correctly. Where there is a difference of opinion,
focus on your task as a language teacher, rather than a proselytizer of culture or
opinion. Your goal is to facilitate conversation, discussion and opinion-sharing in
a friendly open and safe way.
 Help all your students reach their goals. Adult learners understand better their
own goals than younger students. They will have a clear and identifiable goal
they are working towards. Don't let your classes be dominated by the interests of
 one faction or your own interests. With adults especially learning the language
serves a personal goal, stick to that goal as much as possible.
 As we become older we become more established in our ways. We understand
better how we learn and how we can work at our best. Be sure to vary the
methods, styles and activities you use, in order to cater to all your students
different ways of learning. It is often harder for older students to learn in ways
they do not like.
 Relevance is important. Be sure your material is suited to students goals. Adults
will be able to communicate their goals to you before the class begins (either in
English or their native language). Ensure your materials match their goals and
interest. Focus on using a relevant context, scenario or activity to improve their
understanding of new language.

Teaching adults can be very interesting. It allows you to keep your finger on the pulse of
the culture and society in which you are teaching. Conversations and discussions
become more meaningful as ideas are exchanged rather than just given by the teacher.
Teaching adults can seem like an ordeal to newer teachers or those unfamiliar with
teaching. However, it is a challenge that can be well managed and overcome of you are
prepared and able to stay confident and organized until you get to know your students.
adult learners are motivated by their diligence and motivation, learning how best to tap
into their energy, will yield great results.

How to Get Your Adult Learners Talking

Distribute Questions

This is a very simple method. After a reading exercise, one will generally ask students
about the text at hand. Sometimes it can be tempting to ask everyone generally, but a
great way to get specific people to speak (particularly those who are quite shy) is to
single them out and ask the question. This might seem simple, but it is something many
teachers forget.

Role Plays

It cannot be stated enough how important a role play is within the world of language
teaching. Practical language use is practiced within these exercises, and therefore it will
allow the students to use what they know in a more creative manner. These can
generally be quite a lot of fun.

Find an Interesting Topic

Getting a topic which is somewhat controversial might do well to stimulate debate in the
classroom. An example would be if one were speaking about, say, immigration, some
people might be interested in speaking their mind about this particular topic. Be careful,
however, as sometimes one might touch on a sore or sensitive point to monitor what
kind of materials are used in class.

Ask Them About Themselves

Everybody enjoys speaking about themselves. If one is teaching a business class, then
this will undoubtedly be a great opportunity to inquire as to what job everybody does.
Maybe you could go around the room and question everybody in turn about their role
and responsibilities. Since people enjoy speaking about themselves in general, you will
get a lot more conversation from them this way.

Encourage Them to Ask Questions

Try and encourage students to ask questions about various topics themselves. For
example, one might say, “And why do you think Sonia did this...?” Usually directing it at
a person will help. Ask them why they think a particular verb form is correct, and instil in
the students that asking questions will lead to better proficiency within the language.

Teaching Pronunciation

Sometimes, depending on where you are teaching, students may not be pronouncing
certain words in a correct manner. Different languages have different phonetics,
therefore one needs to be sure that the students can speak in a way that is as close as
possible to that of a native speaker. Pronunciation classes can also be a lot of fun.

Debates

Holding a debate in class is a great way of getting the students to talk a bit more.
Sometimes the topics can become somewhat heated, and this will encourage them to
use their newly acquired skills more creatively.

News Story

Similar in the way to a debate, discussion over a particular topic of current news will
allow students to express their views. This may not work for all students, of course, so it
is important to ask them.
Turn to Your Neighbor

Probably one of the oldest methods. Students who split up into pairs find that they are
obliged to talk. In order to ensure this, keep walking around the class until the end of the
exercise and make sure that everyone is speaking.

Take a Class Poll

Ask a question about a particular topic and take a poll. An example could be, “Should
the government fund student tuition?” Students can then air their views and discuss
them.

Eye Contact

If a student is particularly stubborn, a good idea would be to keep eye contact until they
say something. This usually makes them feel uncomfortable and that they are obliged to
speak. It works wonders for most students.

Name Saying

When asking questions, for example about a text, be sure to say the name of a
particular student. This way they will know that you are addressing them and will have
to reply accordingly. Do this on students who happen to be shy and don’t speak much in
class. It will give them an opportunity to speak which they can’t refuse.

What Do You Think...?

Similar to the previous one, every now and then stop when reading an article if an
important issue is raised and ask the students’ opinions on it.

Explain to Me…

Trying to get the student to explain a particular topic you have just explained will set the
wheels in their head in motion. Of course, one can help them along, but it is important to
make sure that the student does most of the talk.

Summarize

Finally, a really good way is to get the students to summarize a particular topic in their
own words. This may be a challenge for beginners, but overall is can help in their
practice of speaking.
XII- TEACHING AUDITORY LANGUAGE SKILLS

The goal many students will be to hold a conversation with a native speaker. This can
seem like a great challenge to many learners, whom will study for years to reach that
point. The flexibility of conversation is a difficult thing to master, understanding and
responding to various inflections, expressions and turns of phrase offers and challenge
to any non-native speaker.

To hold an easy, free-flowing conversation requires; listening, speaking and thinking

skills to be synthesized we rely on our conversation partner to use words, ideas and
ways of speaking we are familiar with, so as to be understood. Beyond our words and
ideas, we are also sharing emotions and impressions about our subject matter. We
naturally communicate in a complex way, seeking to teach students to understand the
subtle complexities of conversation is difficult without practice. Practice is key, learning
to respond creatively to dynamic conversation is based largely on confidence and prior
knowledge.
Developing students confidence in their abilities will help greatly. Modern learning often
centers around mobile phone translators, which are often counter intuitive to free-
flowing conversation. Conversation dies as soon as phones are pulled out, the human
connection is lost, replaced with an anaesthetic blank pause. Developing your students
listening and speaking skills in the classroom provides a safe environment for them to
build their skills for the real world. The next video from the British Council demonstrates
ways to teach speaking skills to English language learners. Now we’ll look at teaching
methods to develop your students’ listening skills.
XIII- TEACHING LITERACY SKILLS – READING & WRITING

“The written word is the greatest achievement of mankind…”

There is nothing more fulfilling and rewarding as spending

a quiet moment lost in a good book. English literature has
spread greatly in past decades and has enjoyed a
resurgence in the modern internet era. Making use of the
written word both online and in hardcopy books, will be an
integral part of your students learning. Reading is an
independent and often personal activity, making well
suited to individual practice. A teacher cannot rely on
students alone to learn reading skills. Guidance must be
offered as to how to extract the many and varied
meanings of the written words and subtext. Leaving
students to learn reading alone, opens them to possibly
learning incorrect habits and misunderstanding texts.
Comprehension: The Goal of Reading

Comprehension, or extracting meaning from what

you read, is the ultimate goal of reading. Experienced
readers take this for granted and may not appreciate the reading comprehension skills
required. The process of comprehension is both interactive and strategic. Rather than
passively reading text, readers must analyze it, internalize it and make it their own. In
order to read with comprehension, developing readers must be able to read with some
proficiency and then receive explicit instruction in reading comprehension strategies
(Tierney, 1982).

General Strategies for Reading Comprehension

The process of comprehending text begins before children can read, when someone
reads a picture book to them. They listen to the words, see the pictures in the book, and
may start to associate the words on the page with the words they are hearing and the
ideas they represent. In order to learn comprehension strategies, students need
modeling, practice, and feedback. The key comprehension strategies are described
below.

Using Prior Knowledge/Previewing

When students preview text, they tap into what they already know that will help them to
understand the text they are about to read. This provides a framework for any new
information they read.

Predicting

When students make predictions about the text they are about to read, it sets up
expectations based on their prior knowledge about similar topics. As they read, they
may mentally revise their prediction as they gain more information.

Identifying the Main Idea and Summarization

Identifying the main idea and summarizing requires that students determine what is
important and then put it in their own words. Implicit in this process is trying to
understand the author’s purpose in writing the text.

Questioning

Asking and answering questions about text is another strategy that helps students focus
on the meaning of text. Teachers can help by modeling both the process of asking good
questions and strategies for finding the answers in the text.

Making Inferences
In order to make inferences about something that is not explicitly stated in the text,
students must learn to draw on prior knowledge and recognize clues in the text itself.

Visualizing

Studies have shown that students who visualize while reading have better recall than
those who do not (Pressley, 1977). Readers can take advantage of illustrations that are
embedded in the text or create their own mental images or drawings when reading text
without illustrations.

Strategies for Reading Comprehension: Narrative Text

Narrative text tells a story, either a true story or a fictional story. There are a number of
strategies that will help students understand narrative text.

Story Maps

Teachers can have students diagram the story grammar of the text to raise their
awareness of the elements the author
uses to construct the story. Story grammar
includes:

 Setting: When and where the story

takes place (which can change over
the course of the story).
 Characters: The people or animals
in the story, including the
protagonist (main character), whose
motivations and actions drive the
story.
 Plot: The story line, which typically
includes one or more problems or
conflicts that the protagonist must
address and ultimately resolve.
 Theme: The overriding lesson or
main idea that the author wants
readers to glean from the story. It
 could be explicitly stated as in Aesop’s Fables or inferred by the reader (more
common).

Retelling

Asking students to retell a story in their own words forces them to analyze the content to
determine what is important. Teachers can encourage students to go beyond literally
recounting the story to drawing their own conclusions about it.

Prediction

Teachers can ask readers to make a prediction about a story based on the title and any
other clues that are available, such as illustrations. Teachers can later ask students to
find text that supports or contradicts their predictions.

Answering Comprehension Questions

Asking students different types of questions requires that they find the answers in
different ways, for example, by finding literal answers in the text itself or by drawing on
prior knowledge and then inferring answers based on clues in the text.

Strategies for Reading Comprehension: Expository Text

Expository text explains facts and concepts in order to inform, persuade, or explain.

The Structure of Expository Text

Expository text is typically structured with visual cues such as headings and
subheadings that provide clear cues as to the structure of the information. The first
sentence in a paragraph is also typically a topic sentence that clearly states what the
paragraph is about.

Expository text also often uses one of five common text structures as an organizing
principle:

 Cause and effect

 Problem and solution
 Compare and contrast
 Description
 Time order (sequence of events, actions, or steps)
Teaching these structures can help students recognize relationships between ideas and
the overall intent of the text.

Main Idea/Summarization

A summary briefly captures the main idea of the text and the key details that support the
main idea. Students must understand the text in order to write a good summary that is
more than a repetition of the text itself.

K-W-L

There are three steps in the K-W-L process (Ogle, 1986):

1. What I Know: Before students read the text, ask them as a group to identify what
they already know about the topic. Students write this list in the “K” column of
their K-W-L forms.

2. What I Want to Know: Ask students to write questions about what they want to
learn from reading the text in the “W” column of their K-W-L forms. For example,
students may wonder if some of the “facts” offered in the “K” column are true.

3. What I Learned: As they read the text, students should look for answers to the
questions listed in the “W” column and write their answers in the “L” column
along with anything else they learn.
After all of the students have read the text, the teacher leads a discussion of the
questions and answers.