If there is righteousness in the heart, there will be beauty in the character

If there is beauty in the character, there will be harmony at home.

If there is harmony in the home, there will be order in the nation.
When there is order in the nation, There will be peace in the world.

1.- THE CHANGING WORLD OF ELT IN A NUTSHELL

Ways to present a conversation exercise

“On the topic of presenting a conversation exercise, most contemporary language teacher trainers would
react with surprise. What? Presenting conversation exercises? Why that is so démodé.

It seems that language teaching methodologies keep changing. In the inter-war period (1920-1950) it was all
grammar-translation. Next, the fad was ALM -Audio-lingual Method - (1950-1980), a reaction to grammar-
translation. The focus of ALM was the internalization of "dialogues" or conversations. ALM followed a
five-step program (CIRVS): (1) establish Comprehension, (2) provide a model for imitation, (3) use
Repetition to the point of memorization, (4) Variation, or the substitution of different tenses, vocabulary, etc.
into the original dialogue, and (5) Selection, using the memorized fragments to satisfy the user's own
linguistic needs.
Unfortunately, it was the rare teacher who got to steps 4 and 5.
The last couple of decades have seen the rise in popularity of the communicative approach. This seems to
focus more on the don'ts than the do's: (1) Don't use the target language as an object of study; use it as a
vehicle of communication. (2) Don't teach vocabulary; work with concepts. (3) Don't teach grammar (never
require the rote memorization of rules), let the student acquire his own grammar.(4) Don't teach
pronunciation: the student's own pronunciation is the best for him as long as it is comprehensible to the
greatest number of persons not sharing that accent.(5) Don't give tests, scaling is preferred to testing.(6)
Don't use lesson plans, teach students, not lesson plans. (7) Don't use textbooks, you know your own
students' needs better than any publisher. (8) Don't teach the micro skills as separate elements; it's a living
language and one only performs autopsies on the dead. (9) Don't allow any of the native language to creep
into the classroom. And (10) Don't teach; empower your students to take responsibility for their own
learning.