ENGLISH Issue 59

November

Tprofessional
2008

EACHING
The Leading Practical Magazine For English Language Teachers Worldwide

The write stuff

Viv Midlane

The sudden specialist

Robin Walker

Managing the very young

Joanna Gruchala

See you at the coffee stand!

Darren Elliott

• 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 TEACHER DEVELOPMENT

THE WRITE STUFF 4 PLUS ÇA CHANGE 46

Viv Midlane puts the case for reassessing Peter Wells reflects on a letter he wrote 25 years ago
our attitude to student writing and on how not much has changed since then

SEE YOU AT THE COFFEE STAND! 49

Darren Elliott has some sensible suggestions
FEATURES
for attending conferences
A TOOLKIT FOR TEACHERS 8
Stephanie Hirschman offers some multi-functional
lesson plans for teaching the four skills TECHNOLOGY

DOG DAYS 12 WICKED WIKIS 52

William Chaves Gomes slots in some Margaret Horrigan shows how teachers can
spontaneous language practice unleash the power of the wiki

RUDE STUDENTS 16 USING WEBQUESTS 55

Paul Bress gives advice on dealing with the Carina Grisolía demonstrates the benefits of
socially challenged internet-based projects

PHONEMIC PLAYING CARDS 18 WEBWATCHER 57

Paul Charles creates a playful resource for Russell Stannard suggests there are many more
teaching pronunciation ways to use YouTube than you may think

I THINK, THEREFORE I LEARN 2 28

Tessa Woodward looks at the questions
REGULAR FEATURES
teachers ask
ACTIVITY CORNER: 25
A PROCESS APPROACH TO 29 THREE PROBLEM-SOLVING ACTIVITIES
TEACHING CULTURE Jon Marks
Guo Yan wants to meet her students’ needs and
expectations PREPARING TO TEACH ... 38
Could
DIFFERENTIATION 2 36 John Potts
Doug Evans lists some practical ways to provide
different activities for different learners EYE ON THE CLASSROOM: 50
OBSERVATION BY CHECKLIST
John Hughes
TEACHING YOUNG LEARNERS
NORMAN’S HAT 59
MANAGING THE VERY YOUNG 23 Rose Senior
Joanna Gruchala tackles the challenge of
very young children IT WORKS IN PRACTICE 40
REVIEWS 42

BUSINESS ENGLISH PROFESSIONAL SCRAPBOOK 44

THE SUDDEN SPECIALIST 34 COMPETITIONS 39, 60

Robin Walker offers comfort for teachers working
within other people’s fields of expertise
INTERNATIONAL SUBSCRIPTION FORM 58
Includes materials designed to photocopy

• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 59 November 2008 • 1

Editorial
S
everal of the articles in this issue reflect the
influence that other people have had on the
writers, once again demonstrating how helpful it
is when we share our ideas with fellow teachers.
Paul Charles was inspired by Adrian Underhill’s
wonderfully logical layout of the phoneme chart to
create a series of playing cards which will help students
understand how to pronounce the various sounds. We
have provided some photocopiable blanks so that you
can create your own. (Incidentally, in the Reviews
section you will find information about some
commercially available cards for children showing the
mouth positions in the form of monsters.)
Darren Elliott finds inspiration every time he attends an
ELT conference, while William Chaves Gomes had his
notion of the teacher’s role in the classroom turned
around by exposure to the idea of Dogme, as
propounded by Scott Thornbury. He now includes a
‘Dogme slot’ in his lessons where all the language input
comes from the students and their needs.
For Guo Yan, too, it is the students themselves who
ENGLISH PO Box 100, Chichester, West Sussex, PO18 8HD, UK
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2 • Issue 59 November 2008 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •
provide the inspiration. Concerned that culture courses
were not giving the students exactly what they needed
or expected, she conducted a survey to find out how
best their expectations could be fulfilled.
Peter Wells’s muse is himself, or, more accurately, his
younger self. He has discovered a letter he wrote as an
assignment during a teacher training course, which
reflected teaching styles and methodologies of the day.
Curiously, some things don’t seem that different from
what happens in classrooms today, nearly 25 years
later!
Finally, our three contributors to the Technology section
enter the ultimate space for sharing information and
ideas: the web.
Helena Gomm
Editor
helenagomm@etprofessional.com
Email: info@etprofessional.com
Web: www.etprofessional.com
Published by: Keyways Publishing Ltd,
PO Box 100, Chichester, West Sussex, PO18 8HD
© 2008, Keyways Publishing Ltd
ISSN 1362-5276
Subscriptions: Keyways Publishing Ltd,
PO Box 100, Chichester, West Sussex, PO18 8HD
Printed by: Matrix Print Consultants Ltd,
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Número de Commission Paritaire: 1004 U 82181.
Prix à l’unité = EUR14.75; à l’abonnement (6 numéros) = EUR59.
Directeur de la Publication: Sarah Harkness
Cover photo: © iStockphoto.com / Soubrette

The
M A I N F E AT U R E
write
stuff
Viv Midlane champions student writing.
A
s is often the case, it began
with accountants. Around
6,000 years ago, in
Mesopotamia, trade and
commerce evolved to a point where
information became too complex to be
retained in any one individual’s
memory, and so it needed recording to
put it beyond dispute. The ancient
bookkeepers hit on the idea of keeping
records using a stylus to make marks in
soft clay tablets. By doing so, they
accidentally invented history, considered
to be the tracing of man’s development
seen through the evidence of written
records.
Writing moved slowly from early
inventories and manifests into the
realms of the imagination and of
creativity. Around the third century BC,
the Epic of Gilgamesh was recorded on
clay tablets, the oldest example of
written poetry to survive. Gilgamesh is
the written record of an older oral
tradition, the epic learnt and relearnt by
generations of storytellers, to be recited
to new audiences. Maybe those ancient
bards saw the writing down of
Gilgamesh as heralding a worrying new
technology, a threat to their traditional
working practices!
4 • Issue 59 November 2008 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •
Across the centuries the mechanics
of writing, the process by which
readable marks are made on a medium,
also developed. The Egyptians were
using papyrus by the third century BC,
with modern paper being developed in
China two centuries later. Ink has a
similarly ancient history, traceable to
sixth-century China. But for millennia
the only means for a permanent record
to be made of people’s lives and
spiritual aspirations, or their business
transactions, was through the laborious
process of hand copying. This changed
around the year 1440, when Johannes
Gutenberg established his printing press
at Strasbourg. Now, what had been
written could be duplicated and passed
amongst many readers. Despite
attempts to put this genie back in its
bottle, mankind had set out on the path
to mass literacy.
A change in practice
Anyone over 40 has witnessed massive
changes in the mechanics of writing. I
sometimes tell my English for Academic
Purposes (EAP) students about the
process of writing an assignment as an
undergraduate student in the early
1980s. I explain that I would plan the
assignment, then write a first draft,
check it and edit it. I then started again,
rewriting a fair draft on fresh paper,
which was then handed in. All this by
hand, on lined A4 paper with a
ballpoint pen. I had a permanent callus
where the pen rubbed against my finger.
At one stage I acquired a manual
typewriter, but gave up using it because
every time I made a mistake I had to
retype the whole page.
This process contrasts with how
word-processing allows us to write. For
modern students, the delineation of
stages in the writing process is not fixed
in the way it was for pre-ICT
generations. Today we still teach EAP
students the model of generating ideas
through brainstorming, making a plan,
writing a first draft, checking and
editing before writing a final draft. But
in practice, with word-processing, these
A piece of writing is
now never absolutely
finalised in the way
that it was when
handwriting meant
that late changes
involved creating an
entire new draft
stages tend to flow into each other;
brainstorming with free writing or the
making of lists evolves into an outline;
outline points expand into paragraphs;
we juggle these about, experimenting to
find a logical and consistent sequence of
ideas and information; we keep writing
until we have nothing more to say and
all our points have been made, or, more
likely for most students, we’ve
completed the required number of
words. After we’ve filled the blank
space, we can start editing: looking for
better ways of saying what we mean,
taking out irrelevancies or repetitions,
adding new points, examples or details.
I suggest to my students that, because
of this process, a piece of writing is now
never absolutely finalised in the way
that it was when handwriting meant
that late changes involved creating an
entire new draft. Then, one would
accept the final draft as complete, its
message carved as in stone. But now,
where writing exists in electronic form
and tweaking text is so straightforward,
it is possible, indeed tempting, to
continue tinkering indefinitely. For
modern students, as for people who
write for a living, only the approach of
deadlines need ever end this process.
I could also tell my students how
giving every employee access to word-
processing changed the world of work. I
could explain how in my first job, when
I needed to write a letter to a client, I
had to pass a hand-written draft to the
typing pool. The typed version would
return for signature three days later, by
which time, invariably, the client had
phoned, circumstances had changed,
and the letter was never sent. I suspect
my students listen to this stuff
indulgently, much as I did to my
grandfather’s stories of seeing the first
motor car in his village. Today’s office
workers not only do their own typing,
but that letter never even gets printed; it
goes out as an email.
A change in pace
The psychology of writing has also
changed with the mechanics of how we
make marks to record information,
thoughts or ideas. I’m writing this
article using voice recognition (VR)
software, which I’ve used over the last
five years or so. Voice recognition can’t
produce an exact and accurate
transcription every time, and never will
be able to. It regularly produces howlers
– I cherish ‘Soul Food University’, my
VR system’s invariable transcription of
‘Salford University’. However, my
experience is that VR has become more
reliable in recent years; it is now
possible to dictate long passages with
no transcription errors, and it is
extraordinary the range of words the
But now, where
writing exists in
electronic form and
tweaking text is so
straightforward, it
is possible, indeed
tempting, to continue
tinkering indefinitely
• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 59 November 2008 •
The stuff of successful writing
● Free the imagination.
Use visualisation techniques to get
students writing creatively.
● Write little and often.
Even in the EAP classroom, where
the aim is to achieve competency in
writing longer pieces, students
benefit from frequent short writing
tasks where they write one or two
sentences.
● Bring writing back into the
classroom.
We learn on teacher training
courses that class time should
be for communication. Writing is
communication. Don’t set
assignments in class and leave
students to work in silence, but
do aim to devise collaborative
classroom writing activities.
● Make it interactive.
Have students write to and for
each other. For example, in a
business English or a Skills for Life
class, study the language of job
advertising and get groups to
create job adverts together. Then
class members can apply for each
other’s vacancies. Follow up this
activity with roleplaying of
interviews, then writing letters
of appointment or rejection.
system will recognise (including
Gilgamesh!). I use a headset microphone
for dictation, leaving my hands free to
make corrections using the keyboard.
Using VR radically speeds up my
writing, but there is a trade-off.
However fast your typing or
handwriting is, these methods of writing
involve a time gap between formulating
ideas into words and these words
becoming readable on screen or paper.
During this gap, valuable pre-editing
goes on, with redundant ideas filtered
out as they hit the bottleneck of
transcription speed. With VR, this gap
is reduced to the time it takes to
formulate thought into coherent
language and speak it, and the effort
expended in getting ideas down is
reduced. As a result, I find that voice
recognition makes me overwrite; every
idea possible goes in the first draft and
editing takes longer.
● Make it regular.
Get students to write diaries or blogs,
read them and provide feedback.
● Engage the students’ enthusiasm
for technology.
Create class blogs or wikis, set task-
based activities where students email
each other or the teacher, or devise a
game where no one is allowed to
speak and responses must be sent
by SMS text.
● Vary formality and feedback.
Apply the same approach to fluency
and accuracy in writing as you do to
speaking. Encourage communication,
and pick up on systematic errors.
Analyse student work regularly with
the class, looking at how features
such as syntax, grammar and spelling
can be improved, but do not overdo
this, and never let it become
intimidating. Audiovisual equipment
such as data projectors and video
OHPs are very useful for this type of
activity, allowing you to share student
writing with the rest of the class.
● Mark it.
Setting students writing involves
asking them to put extra effort into
their studies. Make sure that you mark
work conscientiously and return it
promptly.
A change in
communication
Whether the writer is a clerk counting
the bushels of wheat in Pharaoh’s
granaries, a medieval monk copying
Saint Matthew’s gospel, an
administrator writing an email or an
EFL student working with a partner to
create a guide to the city where they’re
studying, writing remains a means of
communication. The essential difference
between oral and written
communication has always been that
writing allowed communication between
people separated in space and time.
Commentators on computer-mediated
communication – CMC – describe this
ability as asynchronous communication.
New means of communication fostered
by the internet – such as online chatting
or forums – have meant that we now use
writing far more for synchronous !!!
5
 The
write
stuff
!!! communication. This is leading to the
growth of new literacies.
If writing is such a fundamental
means of communication, why is it often
ignored in the communicative classroom?
Of the four basic skills, why is writing
the one we are most tempted to neglect?
Why do some teachers seem to believe
there is something old-fashioned, even
reactionary, about teaching writing and
encouraging students to write? ‘Oh, I
want to teach my students to speak,’ I’ve
heard teachers say. ‘My classes are about
communication. Writing gets in the way.’
Ouch. Without developing writing
skills, students are not getting the full
communicative picture. And yet we
encounter EFL teaching contexts where
students barely write at all: on a
summer course, young students work on
posters and guides, but never write a
full sentence; at an executive training
centre, students are asked to produce
bullet-pointed slides for a PowerPoint
presentation, but otherwise write
nothing.
It may be thought that integrating
writing into the learning process
increases the workload for teachers and
students. Sometimes we are faced with
massive teaching loads; setting and, all
importantly, conscientiously marking,
student writing may seem more than we
can cope with. However, making writing
part of learning helps with workflow,
indicating language areas to work on,
helping with the lesson planning
process, and providing the spark for
activities such as peer review, which
become part of classroom routine.
An important point we must never
forget is that not all students of English
come from affluent, well-educated and
literate backgrounds. ESL teachers
working in community contexts
regularly encounter students who are
not literate in their first language. The
aim for these teachers may be to provide
such students with the basic mechanics
of how to write at all, rather than
6 • Issue 59 November 2008 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •
assuming that these are understood, and
that writing can be part of widening
language learning.
A change in attitude
Writing has another, fundamental role
in language teaching. Aside from its
inherent, communicative value, it reveals
to teachers a student’s interlanguage –
their emerging version of the language
being learnt – in ways that speech never
can. Everybody feels exposed when
speaking a foreign language. Have you
ever been in a country where you don’t
speak the language and have been
approached in the street by someone
asking a question? They probably just
want directions, are asking the time, or
maybe it’s market research, but your
instant reaction is to close down the
Why do some teachers
seem to believe
there is something
old-fashioned, even
reactionary, about
teaching writing
and encouraging
students to write?
interaction as quickly as possible. This
gets both parties out of an awkward
situation and saves face on both sides.
Many students do this all the time.
They have well-developed strategies for
closing down interaction, which
unfortunately sometimes come out in
class. These may include:
● Saying they’ve understood and the
activity can move on when they
haven’t and it can’t;
● Single word answers;
● Echoing words used by the other
party or parties to the interaction;
● Body language, such as nodding, or
non-verbal sounds.
Of course, the canny classroom teacher
is aware of these strategies, and evolves
techniques to get round them. One
which works well with a class that’s
been together a long time and is relaxed
with each other and with their teacher
goes like this:
Teacher: Yosuke, do you understand
what this sentence means?
Yosuke: (Nodding) Oh, yes, I understand!
Teacher: Great! But I’m not sure Carla
understands. Could you explain it to her,
please?
Yosuke: Oh. Sorry, Carla, actually, I’m
not so sure!
Teacher: (Laughing) OK, let’s go through
it again!
Obviously, this little technique should
be used only when the result will be
everybody smiling and where learning
the new language point will be
reinforced, and avoided if there’s any
possibility the student being put on the
spot will feel vulnerable or threatened.
Writing puts students in a position
where they can’t use close-down
strategies; they have to participate fully
in communication. Despite our best
intentions, in a teaching and learning
situation where no writing happens, we
never really get to grips with what is
going on ‘under the hood’ of a student’s
language. Maybe we slow down the
communicative flow in class in order to
concentrate on accuracy, but we can
never deal with each and every
grammatical or syntactical slip our
students make in speech, or our classes
would grind to a halt. It is only through
interaction with students through their
written work that we can examine in
detail the mechanics of their
interlanguage, revealing their strengths
and weaknesses and showing up what
they really know and understand about
the language. Getting students writing is
vital in every classroom, and not just in
EAP classes, or those where students
are preparing for examinations. What is
needed is a change in our attitude to
writing, seeing it not just as a support,
or a means through which language is
learnt, but as a vital component of the
communicative purpose in itself. ETp
Viv Midlane is a
freelance EFL/EAP
consultant and
materials writer who
has taught in Greece,
Belgium and Italy and
for various universities
in the UK. He is
currently developing
online PhD study skills
materials for the
University of Salford.
viv_midlane@yahoo.co.uk
 S K I L L S
A toolkit
for teachers
W
Stephanie hen you’ve just started
teaching, skills lessons
Hirschman presents can seem difficult.
Problems posed by
some simple and effective coping with the resources, equipment
and classroom management overshadow
lesson plans. the real aims of the lesson, ie giving
students practice in the skill and
teaching them strategies for taking their
comprehension/production abilities to a
higher level of competence. Every
teacher needs a toolkit of simple and
effective lesson plans which they can use
again and again with different groups
and materials. Here are some ideas you
can employ in a skills lesson with
virtually any resources (including your
coursebook) to ensure that your lesson
aims are achieved – and all in ten stages
or fewer!
Speaking
Many speaking lessons follow the
present–practise–produce model, and
ideally you would like to listen to the
students speaking in the final activity and
offer them some feedback on their use
of the target language. Unfortunately, it
rarely works this way in reality. It is
usually impossible for you to monitor
all the students in the short time they
will be speaking and it is often
disappointing that they haven’t used the
target language much (or at all) because
they are so worried about what they are
going to say. These problems can be
reduced by asking the students to
perform the speaking task twice, and
also by incorporating a stage where they
reflect on their own performance.
8 • Issue 59 November 2008 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •
Materials needed
You will need a speaking task you wish
the students to do, eg tell a story, give a
mini-presentation, talk about a picture,
roleplay, etc (this can be from a
coursebook).
1 Model the speaking task yourself.
If you are going to ask the students to
make notes (see stage 2 below), put some
minimal notes for your speaking on the
board so they can see how you turn key
words and phrases into full grammatical
sentences. Make sure you successfully
accomplish the task yourself in terms of
the length of time you speak, your use of
target language and the points you cover,
and ask the students some concept-
check questions afterwards.
2 Set the speaking task and allow the
students a short time to think about
what they’re going to say. If you want,
they can make some written notes of
key words, but not full sentences. You
can refer to the notes from your
demonstration to prompt them.
Every teacher needs
a toolkit of simple
and effective lesson
plans which they can
use again and again
with different groups
and materials
 3 Set up the speaking pairs in
whatever way seems convenient to you.
While the students speak, you can
monitor and make notes for later
feedback. (Try to note successes as well
as failures!)
4 When the students have finished
speaking, put this list on the board:
How did I do?
● Target language – did I use it?
● Pronunciation – was it clear?
● Organisation – did I include too
little/enough/too much information?
Was the order logical?
● Other grammar – did I make mistakes
in any area not covered by the target
language?
● Other vocabulary – did I use a range
of vocabulary accurately?
5 Tell the students they are going to
repeat the speaking task with a different
partner. Explain the items on the board.
Ask the students to think about their
speaking, discuss their performance with
their original partner and choose one
area which they would like to improve
the next time. (They can’t pay attention
to more than one area at a time so they
really must stick to one choice.)
6 Then get each student individually
to tell you which area they have chosen.
(You may be able to use your
observations from monitoring to inform
your reactions to these choices – for
example, some students think their
grammar is terrible, but their
pronunciation is really the worst
problem. If so, tell them!)
7 Set up some new pairings and
repeat the task. While the students
speak again, you can monitor some
more and make notes for later feedback.
(You might even be able to check
whether one or two students have been
successful in their chosen areas for
improvement.)
8 Briefly get some feedback from a
couple of students on whether their
speaking was better the second time.
9 Elicit more feedback about the
content of the speaking by asking a
couple of students some brief concept-
check questions about what their
partner said.
• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 59 November 2008 •
10 Give feedback yourself on the board,
focusing first on the target language of the
lesson, and then on any other important
areas. For example, you can write up a
mixture of sentences you heard, some
correct and some incorrect, and ask the
students to comment on them. Make sure
you end with some praise for students who
used the target language, or were
otherwise successful or were engaging to
listen to.
Listening
Listening lessons can make students
anxious, especially if the experience of
listening seems more like a test than a
journey towards understanding. Students
really need to focus on strategies for
boosting their comprehension, and this
lesson plan helps them to develop the
ability to piece together clues to arrive
at (more or less!) sensible conclusions.
Listening lessons
can make students
anxious, especially
if the experience
of listening seems
more like a test than
a journey towards
understanding
It is interesting for students to see
that some class members hear almost
everything but understand very little,
while others hear only a little and
understand a lot. This procedure can be
used with virtually any material (it
works very well with songs) and you can
then move on to focus on further
comprehension questions, vocabulary
related to the topic, a grammar or
pronunciation point, or a discussion.
Materials needed
You will need a recorded text –
monologue/dialogue/song, etc – with a
tapescript, and some accompanying
exercises (eg a gap-fill, multiple-choice
questions, short-answer questions, etc.
These can be from a coursebook).
1 Help the students tune in to the
recording by putting two or three very
simple questions on the board, eg How
many people are speaking? Are they
American or British? Where are they?
For a song, the questions could be Is it
modern? What kind of music is it? Is the
singer a man or a woman?
Then play just a short piece from the
beginning of the recording and elicit the
answers to the questions.
2 Put the headings Certain and
Uncertain in a chart on the board and
ask the students to copy it onto a piece
of paper.
3 Explain that they will listen to the
full recording and should take notes of
any words or phrases they hear, but they
must write them on the chart in the
place which corresponds to how certain
they feel about what they actually heard.
4 Play the full recording while the
students make notes and then allow
them to compare ideas in pairs or small
groups.
5 With the whole class, check and
record ideas on the board – certain first
and then uncertain, maybe one idea per
student. Make sure they know that you
are only acting as their secretary at this
point: when you write something on the
board it may or may not be correct.
You will need to leave this information
on the board for the rest of the lesson.
6 Ask the students to discuss in pairs
or groups what is happening in the
listening. They can give a general
summary or a detailed one, depending
on how comfortable they feel.
7 In a class feedback session, ask the
students to justify their ideas about the
content of the listening, using the
information on the board. Act as a
facilitator and encourage discussion and
argument between the students. Don’t
give them all the answers.
8 Tell the students they are now
going to complete a written exercise
based on the recording. You can use any
exercise to accompany this – a gap-fill,
multiple-choice questions, short-answer
questions, etc. This may be the original
exercise from the coursebook or
something you have prepared yourself.
Give them time to read the exercise and
answer any questions they can from
memory. !!!
9
 A toolkit
for teachers
!!!
9 Play the recording again for the
students to complete the exercise. Then
ask them to compare answers in pairs.
Play the recording once more if
necessary and then check the answers
with the class.
10 Ask the students to comment on
their notes from the first time they
listened and their guesses about the
content of the listening. What didn’t
they hear and why not? Was it a
question of the pronunciation, the
vocabulary or a complete
misunderstanding of the context? If
necessary, you can always listen again,
with the students looking at the
tapescript.
This lesson can stand alone, or if you
wish to extend it, you can go on to focus
on some other aspect of the text: further
comprehension questions, vocabulary
related to the topic, a language point
(including pronunciation) or discussion.
Reading
It is often difficult for students to engage
with a reading lesson because they may
lose confidence in their individual ability
to relate to or adequately understand
the text in a reasonable amount of time.
This problem can be overcome by
allowing the class to predict the content
of the text and write their own,
personalised comprehension questions.
Once these questions have been
answered (or not!), you can either end
the lesson or ask them to focus on your
own agenda for the text.
You can reassure
the students that
predicting the content
of a text is a sub-skill
which is acquired
through practice
10 • Issue 59 November 2008 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •
Materials needed
You will need copies of a text that you
want the students to read; this could be
from your coursebook or a newspaper. It is
helpful if the text has paragraphs marked
A, B, C, etc, or has line numbers indicated.
1 Put the headline or title of the text
on the board and explain any unknown
vocabulary. Hand out any
accompanying pictures but don’t let the
students see the text yet. Elicit the topic
of the text and a very general prediction
of what it will be about.
2 Ask the students to work in pairs
or small groups and to write two to five
questions that they are interested in and
that they think they will be able to
answer after quickly reading the text.
You can prompt them with question
words: who, when, where, etc. Monitor
and assist with ideas and grammar.
3 Ask the students to choose their
favourite/best question and put one or
two different questions from each pair
or group on the board, subtly correcting
any grammar mistakes. (You should
have a maximum of six questions.)
4 Give out copies of the text, set a
time limit and ask the students to read
the text quickly so that they can say
simply whether or not the questions on
the board can be answered. No
dictionaries should be used.
(Note: They should not try to answer
the questions at this point, but just say
either Yes, the text contains the answer
to this question or No, it doesn’t.)
5 Ask the students to compare their
answers in their pairs or groups and
then check with the class which
questions can be answered. You can
further confirm where the answer is, eg
in paragraph C or in line 22.
(If their questions were not very
successful, you can reassure the students
that predicting the content of a text is a
sub-skill which is acquired through
practice.)
6 Ask the students to re-examine the
text and highlight the information they
need to answer the questions. Tell them
they can use dictionaries in moderation
but only to answer the questions on the
board. They don’t need to write the
answers, but they should be prepared to
talk about them.
7 Ask the students to compare their
answers in their pairs or groups and
then check the answers with the class,
recording ideas on the board in note
form. Ask the students to put the
information into their own words as
much as possible.
8 Ask the students to rate the text as
follows and get feedback:
● How interesting is the article
(1–5 points)?
● How much do you understand (in %)?
● Did you read any new information?
Was it surprising? Was there anything
you disagree with?
This lesson can stand alone, or if you
wish to extend it, you could go on to
exploit some other aspect of the text. You
might want to ask further comprehension
questions, focus on new vocabulary
related to the topic, pick out a particular
language point or initiate a discussion.
Writing activities can
give you a valuable
opportunity to pay
attention to each of
your students and to
give really meaningful
personalised feedback
Writing
Writing activities can give you a valuable
opportunity to pay individual attention to
each and every one of your students and
to give really meaningful personalised
feedback. Students often want to have all
their mistakes corrected, but this is time-
consuming for you and it gives them too
much feedback (often in an unintelligible
form), which they can’t make use of. By
using the following technique regularly,
you can train students to write
effectively and to appraise their own
work critically. It must be used after you
have set the task and students have
completed their writing.
Materials needed
You will need a writing task where
students have already produced a piece
of work belonging to a particular genre
– eg a story, a formal letter, an e-mail, a
composition, etc. All the students must
have worked on the same task.
1 Elicit what makes a piece of writing
successful. Students will say that a lack
of grammar mistakes is important, but
try to extract some other ideas as well.
2 Write COAST vertically on the
board. Then ask the students to say
what they think the letters stand for and
give some extra information:
C = content , ie did you write about the
correct topic? If the task asks you to write
about a holiday and you write about
your grandmother, then the content is
inappropriate, regardless of accuracy.
This also includes word count. If the
task asks for 120 words, then 80 words is
inadequate and 250 words is too much.
O = organisation, ie paragraphs and
proper use of linking words.
A = accuracy and range, for both
vocabulary and grammar.
S = style, ie formal, semi-formal,
neutral, informal.
T = target reader, ie what effect will it
have on the person the writing is
intended for? What will that person feel
like doing after reading the text? Will
they understand the writer’s ideas? Will
they be able to take appropriate action
as a result?
3 Tell the students they are going to
read each other’s writing and give
feedback in four of these categories.
(Students cannot give feedback in
accuracy and range – that’s the teacher’s
job!)
4 Decide how you will organise the
feedback. You can either ask the students
to exchange written work with a partner
or you can type up and photocopy one
student’s work for everyone to read. If
you do this, keep it anonymous. This also
works well if the students work in pairs
so they can discuss their feedback.
5 Add two or three criteria to each
COAST heading relating to the specific
writing task which your students
undertook. The examples here are for a
transactional letter of complaint to a
hotel where the writer recently stayed.
You will have to write appropriate
criteria for every writing task you use in
this way, but it doesn’t take long!
• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 59 November 2008 •
C = content
● Wrote about specific problems
experienced during a visit.
● Gave details of the visit (dates,
room number, staff names, etc).
● Asked for a refund and an apology.
O = organisation
● Used appropriate letter layout with
addresses, greetings and closing.
● Used paragraphs.
● Used linking words.
S = style
● Formal – no contractions, phrasal
verbs, etc.
● Expressed strong feelings without
being impolite.
T = target reader
● The hotel manager can understand
your feelings and the reasons for
these feelings.
● The hotel manager will want to
apologise and offer you a refund or
some other financial compensation.
● A positive comment: ....................
6 Ask the students to copy this onto
a piece of A4 paper and tell them that
they will use this paper as a checklist to
mark a classmate’s work. Also tell them
that in addition, they should write a
positive comment in the final section.
7 If they are not marking
anonymously, tell the students to begin
by putting the name of the writer, their
own name and the approximate number
of words in the text at the top of their
sheet of paper. They should then read
the text. If they feel the writer has
successfully fulfilled the listed criteria,
they can put a tick next to them. If not,
they should put nothing. They shouldn’t
correct any mistakes. Remind them that
they must add a positive comment at
the end. This can be any supportive and
appreciative comment, such as:
● Good spelling
● Excellent vocabulary
● Funny story
Give them a few minutes to complete
their feedback. Monitor and help as
necessary.
8 If you asked all the students to
read the same text, you can check their
ideas with the class. Otherwise, you can
ask students to return the feedback to
the writer so they can see how they did.
Monitor and assist with any queries.
9 Now collect the written work and
the feedback sheet and staple them
together. Tell the students that you will
read the writing, check that the feedback
was accurate and maybe add some
remarks of your own, and correct some
of their mistakes. Outside of class time,
when you mark the accuracy and range,
focus on a few serious mistakes only.
Highlight the errors on the text itself and
then write some general comments, eg:
● Be careful with articles.
● Remember to use past tenses when
describing past events.
● Learn to spell these words ... (and list
words for students to learn).
10 The next time the class meets, return
the corrected written work and feedback
to the students, allowing them a few
minutes to see what you have written
and ask any questions they may have. If
you like, they can write a second draft
incorporating any necessary changes.
###
Using these lesson plans regularly will
have two positive effects. Firstly, once you
get to know the procedure of each lesson
plan, you will be able to relax a bit so
that you can focus more on the students
and less on the delivery. Secondly, you
will be training the students to work
more productively by asking them to
assess their own work in the productive
skills of speaking and writing, and by
allowing them to approach materials at
their own level in the receptive skills of
reading and listening. ETp
Stephanie Hirschman is
American and teaches
teenagers and adults at
Sussex Downs College
in southeast England.
She also teaches Latin
to primary school
children. She is
interested in helping
teachers and learners to
develop habits and ways
of thinking which make
lessons more effective.
stephanie.hirschman@gmail.com
Writing for ETp
Would you like to write for ETp? We are
always interested in new writers and
fresh ideas. For guidelines and advice,
write to us or email:
editor@etprofessional.com
11
Dog days
M E T H O D O L O G Y

William Chaves
Gomes invites us to do a
little Dogme in our lessons.
A
s a student of English, I was
taught for two hours a week
by very experienced teachers
in an excellent language
school, which could afford to provide
me with loads of materials and tried to
reproduce ‘real-life situations’, some of
which, I now realise, bore little
resemblance to real life at all. My
teachers followed the coursebook and
did what they believed was best –
something pretty natural, I would say.
When I started my own teaching
career in a very modest language
school, a good 12 years ago, the
coursebook was basically all I had with
which to teach the language. As a
novice teacher, I had to rely heavily on
my creativity and my perception of each
student by interacting with them in
order to fill classroom time.
Because of the lack of varied
material, the interaction between my
students and me was really intense, and
I still remember talking to them about
things that came up in the lessons but
that, in fact, had no connection with the
topic of the book or the topic of the
lesson. These unexpected conversations
with my students used to leave me with
a horrendous sense that I was simply
padding the lesson out.
Little did I know that what I was
doing was real teaching!
A materials teacher in a
materials world?
My ‘nightmare’ ended with the
development of technology and the
wonderful range of teaching resources it
put at a teacher’s disposal. There are
now downloadable activities, resource
packs, CD-ROMs, catch-up CDs, to
name but a few. From the moment I
had access to these resources, my
lessons were never the same! However, I
was no longer a human being genuinely
interacting with my students: I had
become a mere materials operator.
Even though materials play an
important role in language teaching,
what has been noticed recently is an
over-dependency on them at the expense
of the learning opportunities that can
happen between people in the
classroom. It was not until I started the
DELTA course that I was observed by a
tutor who diagnosed my dependence on
materials and my tendency towards
over-planning. And that was when I was
introduced to Dogme ELT.
The role of the
Dogme teacher is to
be attentive to the
students’ needs and
responses and to
maximise language
learning opportunities
The term derives from the Dogme-
95 Collective headed by Danish
filmmaker Lars von Trier, who believed
that the art of making cinema had been
destroyed by the high-budget and highly
technological Hollywood-style
productions.
In a similar fashion, Scott
Thornbury suggests that the absence of
materials fosters interaction in class and
allows language to emerge out of the
communicative needs, interests and
desires of the people in the room: thus
Dogme ELT.
The role of the Dogme teacher is to
be attentive to the students’ needs and

12 • Issue 59 November 2008 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •

responses and to maximise language
learning opportunities by drawing their
attention to the characteristics of the
language which emerges. By interacting
with the students, the teacher works
with the language that comes up,
helping students reformulate it or
providing them with the next level of
the language they need, a process which
relates to Stephen Krashen’s input
hypothesis (i + 1).
I made sure that I
included unplanned
moments (Dogme
slots) in my class
to make room for
language emergence
and reformulation
Knowledge is, therefore,
constructed, instead of being imposed
or transmitted by the teacher. In other
words, language and grammar are not
acquired: they simply appear, given the
appropriate conditions. Hence, there is
no right order in which grammar
structures should be learnt.
Slots for surprises
I was once teaching a group of
elementary students on a freezing day in
London when it started sleeting. An
Algerian student was overjoyed to see
for the first time what he called ‘snow’.
Then a Swiss student in the group
explained to him that it wasn’t snow,
but sleet. In a six-minute conversation,
lexical items such as snow, sleet, hail,
hailstorm, flurry and grammatical
structures such as there’ll probably be
more snow later, I think there won’t be
any … tomorrow and it will definitely, it
possibly won’t emerged. These words
and structures are not normally part of
an elementary syllabus, but were
perfectly pertinent and relevant for that
lesson.
I believe that designing an entire
‘Dogme syllabus’ or letting students
dictate the content of a whole course is
somewhat utopian. In fact, materials are
powerful and effective tools in fostering
the learning process. However, from the
moment I got acquainted with Dogme,
I made sure that I included unplanned
• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 59 November 2008 •
moments (Dogme slots) in my class to
make room for language emergence and
reformulation.
Slots for situations
Having Dogme slots in class also
increases motivation because students
can use the language they have in a non-
threatening atmosphere to talk about
real problems and to get real answers.
Because they don’t feel threatened
during this informal talk – as it doesn’t
seem to be something the teacher has
planned – students feel at ease trying to
get their message across. Meanwhile, the
teacher can silently diagnose the
language and lexical gaps to target in
follow-up work.
If students are learning the language
in an English-speaking environment, a
Dogme moment in class is a marvellous
opportunity for them to use ‘real-life
language’ learnt outside the classroom
and to get feedback from the teacher on
whether that language is appropriate for
a particular situation in class. Also, it is
an opportunity to share cultural
differences between countries and learn
informally from other students while
interacting with them.
A Dogme
moment in class is a
marvellous opportunity
for students to use
‘real-life language’
learnt outside the
classroom
Dogme slots in class are also highly
beneficial for those who are in a non-
English-speaking environment. Much of
what teenagers want to know – slang
and informal expressions, for example –
is not easily found in books. So, Dogme
slots in class not only bridge this gap,
but also motivate students to participate
in the lesson and, consequently, lead to
less disruptive behaviour.
As for adults, who tend to be
reluctant to speak and afraid of having
their poor English exposed, a Dogme
slot is a boost to their confidence
because they suddenly realise that they
can actually communicate in situations
beyond those given in coursebooks. The
Much of what
teenagers want to
know – slang and
informal expressions,
for example – is not
easily found
in books
teacher becomes somebody who is truly
interested in what they have to say,
rather than a mere mistake corrector.
Simple Dogme activities
I still have a lot to learn and experiment
on with my students, but the following
activities have worked beautifully in my
classes and I believe they will probably
inspire you, too!
Lower levels
1 My world
This is a very good Dogme slot for
showing your students that you are
interested in their countries. It is also
useful for diagnosing problems with
question formation.
If you teach a multinational group,
write the countries the students come
from on the board and ask them what
they would like to know about one or
two of the countries. Have them write
appropriate questions in their
notebooks.
Then get the students to ask and
answer the questions about their
countries, while you make a note of any
language gaps.
If you teach a monolingual group,
you can adapt the activity and write on
the board the different cities the
students come from or the area in the
city where they live.
2 Free time
Ask your students what they did at the
weekend or before coming to class.
Involve all the other students by asking
if they did the same thing or if they
would consider doing it. I’ve noticed
that this activity tends to generate
language for recommendation, such as
it’s worthwhile, I strongly recommend, it’s
well worth a visit. But again, it depends
on the class. !!!
13
 Dog days
!!!
Higher levels
1 Complete the sentences
Write on the board a series of prompts,
like the following:
● I will …
● … is the most disgusting thing I’ve ever
seen.
● I can’t stand … because …
● You wouldn’t see me dead …
● I can’t …
● I wish I could … because …
You can either work with the whole
class or split it into smaller groups. Ask
the students to complete the sentences
any way they like. This sort of activity
generates a lot of language for the
teacher to work on because of the range
of possibilities provided by the
unfinished sentences.
Alternatively, if you want to work
on writing skills, ask the students to
write the sentences in their notebooks.
2 What’s on today?
Ask the students to report on something
they saw on TV or read in the newspaper.
Involve the other students in the class by
asking them if they saw or read about it
and what their opinion is. You can also
give students follow-up work by asking
them to write a short summary about
what was on the news that particular day.
3 Me, not me!
Write a number of words, such as dogs,
robots, soaps, rap, marbles, arguments, X-
Factor, etc, at random on the board and
ask the students if those words relate to
them in any way, and, if so, why. Again,
lots of grammar and lexical items can
emerge from this activity.
By using
Dogme slots in
class, the focus is
directed away from
the teacher and onto
the students, giving
them more to say
14 • Issue 59 November 2008 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •
Whichever activity the teacher chooses
or whatever Dogme moment arises in a
lesson – either planned or genuinely ENGLISH
unplanned – it is the teacher’s
responsibility to orchestrate that
moment well so that all the students get
Tprofessional
EACHING
involved in the same topic and give their
contributions. This is your magazine.
With the language that emerges put We want to hear from you!
on the board, the teacher can work
afterwards on form and pronunciation.
The meaning will already be clear: after $
all, it came from the students’
communication needs. Finally, it is a IT WORKS IN PRACTICE
great idea for the students to copy the Do you have ideas you’d like to share
language into their notebooks so that with colleagues around the world?
they have a written record and so that Tips, techniques and activities;
that rich class moment doesn’t fade away. simple or sophisticated; well-tried
or innovative; something that has
### worked well for you? All published
My intention when I wrote this article contributions receive a prize!
was to reinforce Scott Thornbury’s ideas Write to us or email:
of Dogme ELT but also, and perhaps
iwip@etprofessional.com
mainly, to encourage teachers to include
Dogme slots in their classes so that real
communicative needs and language
emerge. By doing so, the focus is directed TALKBACK!
away from the teacher and onto the Do you have something to say about
students, giving them more to say. Also, an article in the current issue of ETp?
I would invite teachers to look critically This is your magazine and we would
at the activities in their coursebooks
really like to hear from you.
and feel free to reject them, if necessary,
Write to us or email:
in favour of more meaningful and
quality time in class. And, above all, to talkback@etprofessional.com
listen to what their students have to say!
I’d like to end this article with a
quotation from David French: ‘It is Writing for ETp
more rewarding to talk about real lives, Would you like to write for ETp? We are
real opinions and real experiences than always interested in new writers and
invent opinions or take on an invented fresh ideas. For guidelines and advice,
role.’ ETp write to us or email:
French, D ‘The Dogme discussion group’ editor@etprofessional.com
IATEFL 3 2000
Lightbown, P M and Spada, N How
Languages are Learned OUP 1994 Visit the
Nield, D ‘Spirit of Dogme’ English
Teaching Professional 41 2005
ETp website!
The ETp website is packed with practical
Thornbury, S ‘Teaching unplugged’
www.teaching-unplugged.com/ tips, advice, resources, information and
descriptions.htm selected articles. You can submit tips
or articles, renew your subscription
William Chaves Gomes or simply browse the features.
has taught and trained
teachers in Brazil and in
England. He is an oral www.etprofessional.com
examiner for Cambridge
ESOL and currently
works at Cultura Inglesa
São João del Rei in
ENGLISH TEACHING professional
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wichago@hotmail.com
 IN THE CLASSROOM
Rude students
Paul Bress tackles the issue of anti-social behaviour.
H
uman beings are essentially
social animals. There are those
who like to spend their lives
seeking nirvana in caves, but, for most of
us, happiness arises out of the ability to
fit in with those around us. Some people
are lucky enough to have been well
socialised as infants, but the less
fortunate have not been encouraged to
mix with others and have not been made
aware of what is acceptable behaviour
and what isn’t. This lack of socialisation
may result in racist or sexist behaviour.
Socialisation in the classroom
If students have not been well socialised,
they may exhibit a number of different
undesirable behaviours:
● They constantly seek attention.
● They never contribute anything to a
class discussion.
● They are often negative or aggressive.
● They constantly interrupt other
students when they’re speaking.
● They often say things which aren’t
connected with the existing
conversation.
● They like to show off.
Just one of these behaviours is likely to
have a very negative effect on the rest of
the class, but if a student exhibits all of
these behaviours, the most likely
scenario is that the student will be
shunned, and the class will be extremely
difficult to teach.
Students who fit in
Let’s look at students who do know how
to behave in a group. What do they do –
whether as a result of lucky genes or
successful socialisation – to fit into a
group? I’ll divide their behaviour into
‘non-talking behaviour’ and ‘talking
behaviour’.
1 Non-talking behaviour
Students who know how to fit in always
listen carefully to what other students
say. They always wait until the other
students have finished speaking before
they join in the conversation.
16 • Issue 59 November 2008 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •
2 Talking behaviour
Those students who know how to fit in
make a point of making relevant
contributions to a conversation, and they
don’t ‘hog the floor’. Their contributions
will be positive ones, and their tone will
be calm. If their contributions involve
some reference to a personal experience,
the reference will be a modest one.
In short, socialised students are
sensitive to other students in class both
when they are listening and when they
are speaking.
Students who don’t fit in
Teachers can do two principal things to
help students to fit in: a) praise
‘functional’ behaviour and b) raise
awareness of the effects of
‘dysfunctional’ behaviour. In the grid
below there are some examples of
possible language a teacher could use.
In the event of serious ongoing
problems, it is a good idea for a teacher
to take a ‘problem’ student aside after
‘FITTING IN’ SKILLS PRAISING
Listening I like the way you listened
carefully to what Maria said.
Waiting Well done! I noticed you
waiting patiently for Harumi
to finish speaking before you
said something.
Connecting You’re keeping the
conversation topic going
well!
Contributing It’s good to hear you express
your opinions!
Being positive/calm I thought that that was a
really useful contribution.
Being modest I liked the way you didn’t give
too much detail about your
competition victory!
every lesson to discuss specific examples
of that student’s behaviour that the
teacher has noted.
###
It is obvious that most language students
attend classes in order to learn grammar,
vocabulary, phonology and the four
skills. They may, in addition, have a
particular motivation for communicating
in a specific area, eg business English or
English for Academic Purposes.
However, for whatever reason they’re
studying, they will probably need to be
able to converse in a group (both during
and after their studies). Some students
will be excellent at this, some reasonable
and some dire. Teachers need to be able
to help the socially ‘dysfunctional’
students to converse more effectively
and behave more appropriately in a
group. If they can do that, the students
in question will have learnt much more
than just English. ETp
Paul Bress works both
in the fields of personal
growth and ELT and
has published very
widely in both areas.
Paul is a life-long, non-
stop learner – he learns
more from everyday
experience than from
formal research. His life
coaching website is
www.bemycoach.co.uk.
paulbress@talktalk.net
ENCOURAGING AWARENESS
I noticed that you were looking at your
watch while Maria was speaking. What
do you think she thought about that?
Did you know that Harumi hadn’t
finished speaking? What do you think
she felt when you interrupted her?
Did you think the conversation topic
was finished? What can you do instead
of just changing the direction of the
conversation like that?
Do you have any opinions about this
topic? Do you think that we would like
to hear them?
Are you feeling angry? Do you think
that the classroom is a good place to
show your anger?
I’m happy for your success, but do you
think you need to go into so much
detail? Do you think the group will
appreciate the fact that you talk so
much about your achievements?
 P R O N U N C I AT I O N

Phonemic
playing cards
Paul Charles puts his money where his mouth is.

T
he mark of a great air is somehow blocked. The layout of often the case, learning by doing is the
sportsperson is the ability to the monophthongs in the chart is based only approach with real merit. Unlikely
make difficult things look on the mouth’s shape when each is as it may sound, plenty of fun can be
easy. To take something I had formed, more closed for the top row, had moving from sound to sound,
knowingly marginalised in my teaching moving to open on the bottom. inventing new ones, and vainly trying to
and, within an hour, turn it into a Pronouncing those on the left, the lips make one vowel sound while the mouth
passion bordering on obsession must be are pulled back and the tongue pushed is in the natural position for another.
one sign of an inspirational trainer. forward. This slides into the reverse Next comes the logical step of
Some time ago, Adrian Underhill did arrangement (lips forward and tongue combining these sounds, appreciating the
exactly that for me, and I’m sure I’m back) as the four sounds in each row are feel of diphthongs, and suddenly being
not the first person to say this. produced. Feel the difference in the able to mimic various accents by playing
movement between the two sounds in the about with vowels. Finally, there are the
A change of heart word she /i*/ compared with shoe /u*/, consonants. Where there are voiced and
for example. Try it for yourself! As is so unvoiced versions of exactly the same
Before this revelation at a conference in
Devon, UK, I imagine my attitude to
teaching pronunciation was sadly
common. My Director of Studies said
that the phonemic chart had to be
displayed, but I had similar feelings
towards the chart as to the patch of
wall it covered. Actually, I was even
more negative, because people rarely
ask awkward questions about blank
wall space.
At Adrian Underhill’s workshop,
though, the wonderfully logical layout
of his chart finally became clear to me.

A change of chart
Understanding the significant differences
between sounds (phonemes) and stress
patterns is critical to successful
communication in English.
Monophthongs, diphthongs and
consonants are, of course, separated in
the chart. When we pronounce vowels,
the flow of air is shaped but not impeded Phoneme chart from Sound Foundations by Adrian Underhill.
by the mouth. To form a consonant, the Chart © Adrian Underhill & Macmillan Education, 1994, 2005

18 • Issue 59 November 2008 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •

mouth movement or shape (the vast
majority), they are always side-by-side in
the chart, like /t / and /d/. There is much,
much more as well. For example, try
sliding between /l/, /n/ and /r/, feeling the
tongue’s subtle but crucial movement.
Imagine the difference a similar
awareness could make to students
struggling with these distinctions.
Learning about the
sounds
In the same way we English teachers
have to learn about a language we
already ‘know’, I found myself, for the
first time, learning about the sounds
that were the most familiar in the world
to me. And while I apologise for a
whirlwind couple of paragraphs, as I
said, it has become a near-obsession.
The harmony of exhaled air, lip and
tongue movements just reading this
sentence out loud is extraordinary.
I also began to appreciate fully the
benefits of this chart in the teaching
and learning process. Crucially, this
wasn’t even a grudging acceptance. It
involved full participation, childish
enthusiasm and a fair amount of
daftness and laughter. Since then, I have
spent countless hours copying and
adapting Adrian Underhill’s methods,
and trying to develop my own ideas.
When I left Europe for an Ethiopian
teacher training college, I enjoyed an
even more striking reaction, and saw
genuine, positive effects.
Teaching the sounds
There, with a glaring lack of exposure to
native speaker English, and an education
that mostly involved lectures to classes
of 100 or more students, two inevitable
problems occurred. The first was weak
pronunciation. This was compounded
by the more serious second problem – a
total lack of confidence when speaking
English. These issues are clearly not
limited to Ethiopia, Africa, or even the
developing world.
There isn’t space here to describe in
detail the methods that originally
inspired my interest (although the
classic book Sound Foundations goes a
long way towards doing this and I
would thoroughly recommend it). My
own contribution has been to develop a
set of games with playing cards showing
the phonemes, their type (consonant,
monophthong or diphthong) and their
• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 59 November 2008 •
position in the chart. Several cards are
reproduced on page 20 and there are
blank templates for you to photocopy
and produce your own on pages 21 and
22. At the bottom of each card is an
indication of the position they occupy
in Adrian Underhill’s phonemic chart.
The inclusion of this information is
crucial, as I have tried to explain above.
Without it, they are a random – if still
potentially useful – set of symbol cards.
Where necessary, I have found that the
best way to model sounds is to make the
correct shape with the mouth, but
silently, and encourage the students to
do the same, then voicing the most
comfortable sound in each position.
That way, you can elicit the ideal model
from the students. Alternatively, some
of the sounds lend themselves to a
description of the face shape (smile
The games can
inspire confidence
and overcome the
students’ reluctance
to try to change
their pronunciation
habits
widely for /i*/ or open the mouth as far
as possible and try to smile for /æ/.)
Sound association can also work (you
are at a football match and have just
seen your team hit the post – /u*/, or
you are a sulky teenager and your
mother has told you to wash up – /Q*/).
It is worth spending some time on this
at the very beginning of the course.
The games work best if
monophthongs, diphthongs and
consonants are each printed on different
coloured card. When they work well,
they can inspire confidence and
overcome the students’ reluctance to try
to change their pronunciation habits.
Most of all, like many games involving
the chart itself, they can inspire
downright silliness. In a country where
learners are too often forced into the
role of passive observer, this is
invaluable. I really hope you and your
students enjoy the cards, and develop
some new and exciting games of your
own. Here are five of my favourite
activities.
1 Memory
Objectives: To familiarise students
with the sounds of English, and help
them think about pronunciation in
terms of phonemes rather than letters.
To highlight where different sounds
commonly occur in words.
Players: This game can be played
individually, in pairs or in groups of
three.
Procedure
● Twenty-seven of the cards are laid out
face down in three groups (consonants,
monophthongs/diphthongs,
consonants). Use fewer cards for
lower-level groups, where only a few
of the sounds have been introduced.
Useful cards for the first group of
nine include /C/ /b/ /h/ /s/ /f / /r/ /l/
/k/ /m/
Useful cards for the second group
include /æ/ /J / /I / /a*/ /Ÿ/ /Ê*/ /Q*/ /e/
/u*/
Useful cards for the third group
include /d/ /n/ /t / /z / /b/ /Ñ / /dú/ /Ü/
/p/
● The first player turns over one card
from each group, aiming to make a
word. After each turn, the cards are
turned back over and the next player
or team has a go.
● Players try to memorise the position
of each card, and receive a point for
each word they make.
● In groups of three, players can work
in teams, with one set of nine cards
each to memorise.
Obviously, the cards used can be
changed according to the class. Players
could also be asked to spell the word
they produce or use it in a sentence for
bonus points.
2 Countdown
Objectives: Similar to ‘Memory’.
Players: This is a whole-class
alternative to ‘Memory’. Students can
work individually, in pairs or in teams.
Procedure
This game is similar to a UK television
game show of the same name. The
students ask the teacher for consonant,
monophthong or diphthong (or just
consonant or vowel) and the teacher
picks each one at random and attaches
it to the board until nine symbols are !!!
19
 Phonemic
playing cards
!!! displayed. The winner is the student or
team that can construct the longest
word within a time limit (1–5 minutes).
Have several rounds, using different
symbols. Bonus points can be awarded
as above for spelling a word or using it
in a sentence.
It is a good idea to duplicate cards
for the most useful sounds, such as the
schwa /P/, and remove some of the least
common, such as /ŸP/.
3 Clap-Clap-Click-Click
Objectives: To encourage instinctive
recognition and production of English
sounds. To build familiarity with the
phonemic symbols.
Players: Ideally, ten students or more.
Procedure
The players stand in a wide circle. Each
student takes one phonemic playing
card and places it face up in front of
them. This phoneme is ‘their’ sound. If
the cards are too small to see, the
students can copy their allotted sound
onto a piece of A4 paper.
Using a slow 3/4 rhythm, everybody
hits their knees twice (one and …), claps
their hands twice (two and …), clicks
the fingers on their left then their right
hand (three and …), and repeats.
Once the regular rhythm is
established, the student to the teacher’s
right says his or her own sound on the
first finger click, and somebody else’s on
the second finger click. The player
whose sound this is becomes the new
nominee and does the same, using his or
her own sound on the first click and a
different player’s on the second. If
students fail to recognise their sounds
or lose the rhythm, they are eliminated.
Gradually speed up the beat. The last
player remaining is the winner.
4 Phonemic hangman
Objectives: To help recognition of
symbols and production of sounds. To
encourage students to think about
words or phrases in terms of phonemes.
Players: Three or more.
Procedure
One player thinks of a word or phrase
20 • Issue 59 November 2008 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •
related to a recent topic. If necessary,
Vowels: Monophthongs
they look it up in a dictionary to find
i*
the phonemic script. As in standard
hangman, the word is marked out with
dashes on the board, but in this version,
each dash represents a phoneme rather
than a letter. The student should also
mark the primary and (if applicable)
secondary stress. The other students
nominate phonemes by making the
sound and, if necessary, showing the
corresponding card. The game is won
and lost like normal hangman.
5 Phonemic sardines
Objectives: To tune the students’ ears
âP
into sounds and word stress. To work Vowels: Diphthongs
on forming sounds. To construct words
using phonemic symbols.
Players: More than six, split into equal
teams of three to seven students. Note:
more than one set of cards may be
useful.
Procedure
The first team thinks of a word with the
same number of phonemes as there are
players per team (eg, if there are five
players, the word number / ÷nJmbP/
could be used). If only one set of cards
is being used, it must also be a word in
p
which no sound is repeated. If students
are new to the phonemic chart, they Consonants
could draw words with the correct
number of phonemes from sets
prepared by the teacher. The other team
has the phonemic cards. (In large
classes, it works better to scatter all the
cards on the floor in front of the team.)
A player from the first team says the
chosen word. The players from the
second team then have 30 seconds to
find the corresponding cards, take one
each and stand in a line with them in
order. The person with the stressed
sound holds their card up higher or
stands on one leg. Points are awarded
for the phonemes and stress, and the
teams then swap roles. Underhill, A Sound Foundations
Macmillan 1994
One example card from each group is Paul Charles is a
shown here. There are another 12 blank teacher and freelance
writer. He has taught
cards on the following pages; six for and trained in Spain,
consonants and six for vowels. These England and with VSO
in Ethiopia. He has
can be photocopied as many times as
just started an MEd in
necessary. Copy all the symbols from TESOL at Exeter
University, UK. His
the chart onto the photocopied cards,
main interests are
mark each sound’s position in its pronunciation,
section of the chart, and enjoy the authentic materials
and communicative
phonemic fun! ETp methods.
paulcharles79@yahoo.co.uk
 Phonemic playing cards
Vowels: Monophthongs Vowels: Monophthongs Vowels: Monophthongs

Vowels: Diphthongs Vowels: Diphthongs Vowels: Diphthongs

!!!

• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 59 November 2008 • 21

 Phonemic playing cards
Consonants Consonants Consonants

Consonants Consonants Consonants

22 • Issue 59 November 2008 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •

 TEACHING YOUNG LEARNERS
Managing the
very young
Joanna Gruchala gets her pre-school classes well organised.
T
he aim of this article is to
identify the key issues facing
teachers in pre-school
classroom management. We
need to be aware of the problems that
may surface during a lesson, and, at the
same time, we need to support the
children’s development by organising
the classroom space and setting up
activities in such a manner that the
lesson will contribute to the fostering
of both social skills and social maturity.
Surroundings
First of all, as Wendy Scott and Lisbeth
Ytreberg point out, the surroundings in
which very young learners participate
in an English lesson need to be pleasant
and attractive. This means they need to
be bright and decorated with items
which are familiar to the children,
thereby helping them to feel secure and
self-confident.
There is no doubt that the layout of
a classroom influences the atmosphere
of a lesson. When dealing with very
young learners, it is important to
ensure that it provides them with
constant opportunities for interacting
not only with the teacher but also with
the other children.
Another feature of classroom layout
is that there need to be different areas
clearly defined within it. There might be,
• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 59 November 2008 •
#############
for instance, some space for working at
desks in one corner of the classroom,
and a carpeted area for kinaesthetic
activities in another. Moving from one
part of the classroom to another helps
the children to anticipate what is going
to happen. It also has a positive effect
on their motivation, as they experience
what Genevieve Roth calls ‘a sense of
change and of doing something different
and new’.
Discipline
The next issue to consider relates to
discipline. This is a very difficult aspect
of working with very young learners,
who tend to be emotionally unstable
and incapable of controlling negative
emotions such as anger. Children may
be aggressive towards other learners
without any particular motive. They are
also at the initial stage of understanding
the concept of cause and effect, and
therefore are not able to anticipate the
results of their own and other people’s
actions. For this reason, teachers need
to be very careful when grouping
children and should pay particular
attention to preventing any possibility
of accidents, especially during physical
activities involving the whole class, such
as performing a boisterous song or
miming actions which require large
gestures.
There are some forms of behaviour
which are caused by the developmental
stage which the children are at. These
can, therefore, be anticipated by a
teacher. For instance, children of
around three years old often try to
assert their independence and affirm
themselves by means of negative
behaviour. Resistance to adult authority
is characteristic of most children at this
age, and therefore very young learners
may be especially difficult to manage.
They may flatly refuse to take part in an
activity or may become aggressive and
have sudden tantrums and whims.
Play
Negative behaviour is not the only issue
which needs to be dealt with in terms
of the social development of young
learners. Of course, the major activity of
young children is play, and thus it seems
natural for a teacher to include aspects
of this in any lesson plan. However,
some knowledge of social development
in relation to how learners play is
essential. Teachers need to know that
before the age of five, children cannot
really participate in associative or
cooperative games. It is also important
to recognise that some of the youngest
children, especially those who have not
experienced any kind of formal pre-
school education, may not have learnt !!!
23
 TEACHING YOUNG LEARNERS
Managing the
very young
!!! to take turns. This has implications for
English language teachers, who cannot
expect four-year-old children to
participate in pair- or groupwork. They
also need to realise that very young
learners have very specific concepts of
possession and, at the earliest stages,
are often unwilling to share and may
react very aggressively if another child
reaches for an item they consider as
belonging to them alone.
Actions
In addition, teachers need to be aware
of how their own actions may
contribute to increasing difficulties with
managing very young learners. For
example, engaging children in a new and
extremely lively activity just before one
which requires them to regroup and
concentrate may result in a chaotic
transition stage with the children being
nearly impossible to handle. Such
problems may be prevented at the
lesson planning stage and by employing
regular lesson routines as
recommended by Genevieve Roth.
Another aspect of the discipline
issue concerns managing individual
discipline. As mentioned above, one
stage of a child’s social and emotional
development may be characterised by
negative behaviour and a desire for
individual attention. At this stage, it is
common for a child to disrupt an activity
or refuse to participate in it. When it
happens that a single child or just a few
children are disruptive, teachers can
often still continue to lead the activity if
they approach the disruptive child and
simply signal, for instance by sitting next
to them or placing a hand on their
head or shoulder, that they are causing
a problem.
Carers
Instead of simply reprimanding a child,
it is often beneficial for the teacher to
suggest to the child how they could
change their behaviour so that it
24 • Issue 59 November 2008 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •
#############
becomes acceptable. However, whilst
teachers who care about the safety and
wellbeing of the whole class often focus
their attention on the disruptive
members for the sake of the whole
group, this can be counterproductive.
Children may turn to bad behaviour as
a method of gaining the teacher’s
attention and interest. For this reason,
it is often a good idea to get the carers
of more disruptive and aggressive
learners to participate in a lesson with
them. (By ‘carers’ here I mean either
the parents, babysitters, etc who bring
the children to English classes – if they
have stayed to observe the lesson – or
other teachers, for example those who
have more regular charge of the
children in question.)
One stage of
a child’s social and
emotional development
may be characterised
by negative behaviour
and a desire for
individual attention
Activities
As mentioned above, very young
learners are often not at a stage of
social development which allows them
to work successfully in pairs or small
groups. As a result, activities are
typically designed for the whole class.
However, in order to stimulate the
learners’ social skills, teachers working
with children aged five and six need to
start introducing activities which
involve elements of getting the learners
to interact in small groups or pairs.
Roleplays and games of this type may
act as a stimulus to bringing social
interactions to a higher level. During a
lesson, there will also be a number of
activities which require the learners to
work individually. Lessons with young
learners tend to be teacher-centred
because maintaining the learners’
interest and motivation demands
constant changes of activity, each one
typically lasting only a few minutes.
Vanessa Reilly and Sheila Ward point
out that in the course of a 30-minute
English lesson, there are usually no
opportunities for free play as the
teacher is required to expose the
children to as much language as
possible. That is why in many classes,
even when children are engaged in
individual work, such as arts and crafts,
there is usually a song or a chant audible
in the background. Not only does this
increase the learners’ exposure to
English, but it also reduces the level of
their noise and relaxes the children.
###
In short, then, several factors need to
be taken into account when managing
classes of very young learners. Firstly,
the physical surroundings in which
learning is to take place are important
as they need to create a pleasant and
encouraging atmosphere. It is essential
to plan the arrangement of the
classroom: division of a classroom into
different areas is beneficial. Secondly,
one of the crucial aspects of managing
very young learners involves handling
discipline problems, which, due to the
children’s developmental stage, are
likely to arise in a typical lesson. Thirdly,
activities should be designed to move
the children on in their social
development and to provide a balance
of activity type within the lesson. ETp
Reilly,V and Ward, S M Very Young Learners
OUP 2000
Roth, G Teaching Very Young Children: Pre-
school and Early Primary Richmond Publishing
1998
Scott,W A and Ytreberg, L H Teaching
English to Children Longman 1994
Joanna Gruchala is a
Polish teacher of English.
She currently teaches
students of all ages and
levels in Gdynia, Poland.
Her professional
interests are in teaching
young and very young
learners.
joanna_gruchala@o2.pl
Activity
corner
Three problem-solving activities
Here are three free-speaking practice
activities based on problems and
solutions. They can be used at
intermediate level and above. The oral
components of some exams (for
example, part three of the Cambridge
ESOL First Certificate speaking paper)
are partly based on discussing problems,
so these activities would be especially
suitable for classes preparing for such
exams.
1 What’s best?
Time: A minimum of 15 minutes
Preparation: Make one copy of the
handout on page 26 for each pair of
students or group of three. Cut it up into
cards if you wish.
Method
1 Put the students into pairs or threes and
ask them to discuss the questions in the
first box. (To match the FCE format, they
should speak for three to four minutes in
total, but of course the conversations
could be longer or shorter.) Monitor and
assist anybody who is struggling.
2 Reorganise the class into new pairs or
threes so that everybody gets the chance
to work with as many other students as
possible. The new pairs or threes then
discuss the questions in box 2, and so on.
Continue until all seven boxes have been
discussed, or stop after fewer than seven,
as required.
3 Have a feedback session, focusing on
any language problems that you noticed
while you were monitoring the students.
Follow-up for exam classes
1 If your class is preparing for an exam
such as FCE, which features a problem-
solving task, put the students into pairs,
and ask each pair to choose one of the
problems.
2 Ask the pairs to write some ideas (but
not a script) for a short dialogue featuring
two students discussing the problem in
• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 59 November 2008 •
Jon Marks offers three photocopiable,
thematically-linked communication
the exam. The language should be as
varied and adventurous as possible.
3 When the dialogues have been
completed, ask several pairs to volunteer
to perform their dialogues for the rest of
the class. The class then comment on
whether they think the dialogue would
impress an examiner or not, and why.
2 What’s the
problem?
Time: 20–30 minutes
Preparation: Copy and cut out the cards
on page 27. If any of the cards are
unsuitable for the class for cultural
reasons, omit them.
Method
1 Divide the class into 12 groups of two
or more students. If you have fewer than
20 students, omit cards as necessary.
Give one card to each pair or group and
ask them to discuss the problem. Their
task is to come up with a good solution.
Monitor, and if necessary remind the
students that the purpose of the activity is
to practise speaking rather than to finish
as quickly as possible.
2 When everybody has finished, get each
pair or group in turn to describe their
solution without mentioning the problem.
The rest of the class listen, and try to
guess what the problem was.
Alternative method
Use the cards for a speaking activity with
a more traditional format. Each small
group receives a pile of face-down cards.
One member of the group takes a card
and reads it out. The other members of the
group must each propose a different
solution. The reader of the card then
chooses the solution they think best, and
the person who suggested it ‘wins’ the
card. Then another student takes a card
from the pile, and so on.
activities with an element of
innovation.
3 What’s wrong?
Time: 20–30 minutes
Preparation: None
Method
Brainstorm local problems with the class.
For example, there might be too much
traffic in the town centre, nowhere for kids
to play, not enough affordable housing, etc.
Write the most suitable ideas on the board.
Avoid any politically sensitive issues.
1 Get the class to vote on which one of
the problems on the board they would like
to discuss.
2 Put the students into pairs or small
groups. Each pair or group must come up
with a proposal to solve the problem. Visit
the pairs/groups, and prompt proper
discussion of the topic rather than instant
consensus (reminding them, if necessary,
that the purpose of the activity is language
practice rather than actually solving the
problem). If you get the impression that two
pairs/groups are going to come up with the
same idea, see if you can steer one towards
a slightly different version of that idea.
3 When the discussion stage has run its
course, ask a member of each pair/group
to explain their proposal to the rest of the
class. Write very short summaries of these
ideas on the board.
4 Have a class vote on the proposals
(students can’t vote for their own proposals).
Find out which idea has the most votes.
5 With smaller classes, you may like to
have a whole-class discussion on the
subject and any related issues.
Jon Marks is an ELT writer and
editor, based in Italy. Recent
publications include the
Puzzle Time series and IELTS
Resource Pack (both DELTA
Publishing) and three titles in
A & C Black’s Check Your
English Vocabulary series.
He is currently developing
teenager courses for China,
and also draws the Langwich
Scool cartoon in ETp.
j_g_marks@hotmail.com
!!!
25
 What’s best?
1
nurse waiter bus driver chef
flight attendant police officer nanny
How difficult would it be to do these jobs without training?
Which would be the most difficult?

2
a city apartment a sea-front flat an old house in the country
a modern suburban house a really big camper van
What are the advantages of each of these places to live?
Which would be best for a family with young children?

3
email fax letter personal meeting telephone
What are the advantages of each of these forms of communication?
Which is best for business communication?

4 cat dog chimpanzee rabbit fish mouse bird

A family with two teenage children want a pet.
They live in a ground-floor flat with a small garden.
What would be the advantages and disadvantages of each of these?
Which would be the most suitable?

5
cookery computing first aid judo
car mechanics art creative writing
These evening classes are offered by a local adult education centre. Unfortunately, for financial
reasons, they have to cut three courses. Which four should stay?

6 luxury hotel simple hotel youth hostel caravan

tent staying with a local family
What are the advantages of each of these places to stay while on holiday?
Which would be best for a family with young children?
Which would be best for a young couple?

7 kindergarten primary school secondary school

university language school driving school
Bob is 22, and has just finished university. He would like to teach.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of careers in these institutions?
Which would be the easiest? Which would be the most satisfying?

26 • Issue 59 November 2008 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •

 What’s the problem?
The door of this room is locked and
you can’t get out. There are no other
people in the building.
Ten minutes before a really important
job interview, somebody spills coffee
all over you.
You really have to pass an English
exam. You did a practice test
yesterday, and got 30%. The exam
is in two weeks’ time, and the pass
mark is 60%.
You need to make a journey of 1,000
kilometres very urgently. You have no
money. It’s not safe to hitchhike.
You are in a city far from home with
no money, cheques or credit cards.
You don’t know anyone. It’s getting
late. You need somewhere to spend
the night.
• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 59 November 2008 •
You are walking in the country. In the
distance, a car stops. A man gets out
and hides something in the vegetation.
The car leaves. You go to the place,
and pull out a suitcase. It’s full of
money.
For a joke, your friends take all your
clothes and leave you standing naked
in the town centre at 11 o’clock in the
morning.
You arrive at an airport, and realise
that you’ve left your ticket and
passport at home.
You are in a country where you don’t
speak a word of the language. Your
money, credit cards and passport
have just been stolen.
You have just pulled the front door of
your house shut, and realise that you
have left your keys inside.
27
 IN THE CLASSROOM
I think, therefore I learn 2
Tessa Woodward looks at the questions teachers ask.
W
e probably ask hundreds of
questions in the process of a
month’s teaching! One way of
classifying the questions we ask is by
the answers they require. So, for
example, we could frame a question to
require a brief, specific answer:
‘What class of word is “yummy”?’
Or to require a wide-ranging answer:
‘What did you do last weekend?’
Some people call the narrow-answer
questions ‘closed’ or ‘convergent’ and the
broad ones ‘open’ or ‘divergent’. You’ll
see that both the questions above start
with the word What. So we can say for
sure that it is too simple to imagine that
questions starting with what, when, where,
who, etc always get dull, unthinking
responses or that those starting with
what if, why or how necessarily lead to
interesting answers. It’s the content of
the question, rather than its form, that
is the key to stimulating thinking.
However, it is pretty clear that lots
of narrow questions (whatever word
they start with) will elicit lots of short
answers and so may require less thought
on the students’ part.
Answering our own questions
Teachers who are inexperienced and shy
of silences, or those who are really keen
to get through lots of material, will ask a
question or two (or more), one after the
other, and, after waiting just a couple of
seconds, will answer the question(s)
themselves! Once students get used to
this and realise that they are not really
expected to attempt an answer, they will
switch off. No thinking necessary there!
Wait-time
Wait-time is when the teacher pauses in
class and … er … waits!
There are two different situations
when wait-time is invaluable. Firstly,
just after you have asked a question.
Secondly, after you have received an
answer. Thus …
Teacher: What do you notice about the
sentences in this story?
Pause
Student 1: They’re all short.
Pause
28 • Issue 59 November 2008 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •
Student 2: There are no commas or
anything.
If we wait after our own questions
and also after student contributions, we
give the students time to think.
Research tells us that good wait-time
will get us more and longer answers
from more students, who will also start
to build on each other’s contributions.
If you find pausing hard, try the
following:
● Notice your breathing and gestures
and keep them relaxed.
● Count ‘One Mississippi, two
Mississippi …’ up to five, slowly.
● Look calmly round the classroom.
● Mentally check that your own question
was a well-worded, clear and relevant
one.
Echoing
Echoing is when a teacher repeats what a
student has just said. Here is an example:
Teacher: What do people do to prepare
for a job interview?
Student: Wear a suit.
Teacher: Wear a suit.
Echoing is a really hard habit to
break. If we are even aware that we do
it, we imagine that we are dong it for all
sorts of good reasons, such as to confirm
to a student that their answer is a good
one, to repeat it loudly enough for others
to hear or to model pronunciation. But,
in fact, echoing increases teacher talking
time, hands control of the conversation
back to the teacher, discourages students
from bothering to speak up and
supplants praise or encouragement. It is
very unnatural in ordinary conversation
and, in the context of this article, it
hardly encourages thinking!
If we realise we have got into a real
habit of echoing, what can we do? Well,
we can ask a quiet student to speak up or
ask a nearby student to repeat it more
loudly. Or we can acknowledge the
student’s contribution or, yes, you guessed
it, we can practise using wait-time!
Follow-up questions
Unlike teacher echoing, follow-up
questions can really move thinking on.
They are encouraging prompts that help
a class to fill out answers that are not
quite right or not full enough. They can
involve rephrasing the original question,
making it simpler, or can involve briefly
reviewing previous information for
students to help them recall it.
Brown and Wragg, amongst others,
have suggested that follow-up questions
be asked in a gentle way or so that a
task is seen as a fun or interesting
challenge. Here are some examples:
Can anyone give me an example of that?
Can you tell me the difference between
those two?
Is there another possible reason?
Now, remember what we said yesterday
about ...? How does that fit with ...?
Linking back to previous
contributions is a good way to follow
up as well:
What did Sari just say?
Good … so Maria said it means starting a
new topic. Juan said it’s informal. So now
what does it have in common with …?
This encourages students to listen to
each other and validates previous
contributions.
Finally …
What I am suggesting, then, is that we
notice the kinds of question we ask,
make sure we ask a variety with plenty
of open-ended ones, lengthen our wait-
time, use it in two different places and
use skilful follow-up questions and links.
Checking these everyday classroom
routines is pivotal in helping students to
understand, think and contribute. ETp
Brown, G and Wragg, E C Questioning
Routledge 1993
Fisher, R Teaching Thinking Continuum
2008
Lindstromberg, S ‘Teacher echoing’
Teacher Trainer 2(1) 1988
Tessa Woodward is a
teacher and teacher
trainer. She also edits
the Teacher Trainer
journal for Pilgrims, UK.
Her latest book is
Headstrong, available
from Hilderstone
Colllege, St Peter’s,
Broadstairs, Kent
CT10 2AQ, UK.
Tessaw@hilderstone.ac.uk
 C U LT U R E
A process approach
to teaching culture
Guo Yan consults her students to find out what they want.
A
lthough some researchers
and teachers remain
sceptical about the role of
culture in language teaching,
the majority assume that some form of
cross-cultural training is inevitable in any
English course. However, the literature
on the subject seldom mentions the
students’ attitudes to the teaching of
culture. This article looks at what
students in tertiary education in China
have to say, and examines whether
current teaching practices meet their
expectations and needs.
Questions and answers
A questionnaire (adapted from the
research of Zhang Bei and Ma Lan) was
used to survey students’ perceptions of
cross-cultural communication and culture
teaching in college English. Altogether
there were five questions on cross-cultural
communication (see Table 1) and six on
culture teaching (see Table 2). For each
item, three to five choices were listed
and students were required to tick the
one that they felt most accurately
reflected their views. The questionnaires
were administered in regular class time
to 258 students from five universities in
Hubei province of central China. The
results are shown on pages 30 and 31.
Although a small number of
respondents had no thought of ever
making foreign friends, the vast
majority (81.8%) were pretty optimistic
that they might make friends with either
native speakers of English or people
who use English as a second or foreign
language. Conversational topics were
most likely to be personal interests and
cultural matters. The problems they felt
they would face were overcoming
diverse cultural backgrounds, choosing
the right words, understanding other
• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 59 November 2008 •
people’s attitudes, and learning to
tolerate different value systems in order
to achieve mutual understanding.
Moreover, they considered lack of
understanding of other cultures,
unfamiliarity with the pragmatic rules
of English use and inability to make use
of communicative strategies as potential
hindrances to establishing deep
friendships with foreigners.
The students
deemed competence
in using English to
talk about their own
Chinese culture as
equally important
Most of the respondents expect to
use English for work and in cross-
cultural communication within China.
As a result, they expressed the view that
learning English and information about
British and American culture was
definitely not enough. They deemed
competence in using English to talk
about their own Chinese culture as
equally important. They would like
teaching materials to focus on a variety
of cultures, including their own. As for
the cultural course British and American
Cultures, 37.6% (mainly those who
indicated that there was no such course
on offer in their school) had very
positive attitudes toward its potential
role in improving their cross-cultural
communicative competence. However,
more than half (53.5%), mainly those
who indicated that they had actually
taken the course, stated that it was only
moderately helpful.
Provision and practice
In the teaching of English to non-
English majors at universities and
colleges in China, culture is generally
implicitly embedded in two courses, an
‘integrated skills’ course and a ‘listening
and speaking’ course. The content of
both courses is topic-led. When covering
a topic, teachers often supply some
related cultural information about the
people, the country, the background,
etc. Thanks to a series of reform
policies, recent years have witnessed the
incorporation of more cultural content
into the curriculum of college English.
In many universities, non-English majors
take additional courses like British and
American Cultures, Appreciation of
British and American Movies, British
and American Literature, etc. The
underlying rationale is that culture is
the background and context of a
language and by plunging students into
the sea of the target culture(s), they will
be better motivated and their language
skills will be enhanced.
However, in the courses mentioned
above, students are simply exposed to
superficial second-hand knowledge of
geography, education systems, customs,
festivals, etc. Moreover, the end-of-
course assessment concentrates mainly
on checking the students’ ability in
memorising and understanding cultural
knowledge. The students’ own Chinese
culture is used only for providing
reference to the target cultures. As a
result, when it comes to talking about
Chinese culture in English, students
often feel at a loss. Overgeneralisation
or oversimplification of information
about culture also occurs, which in turn
leads learners to form stereotypical
perspectives about the target cultures
and their people. !!!
29
 A process approach
to teaching culture
!!!
Expectations and reality
By comparing students’ perceptions and
current teaching practice, we found that
students expect to acquire the skills that
will enable them to identify other
people’s attitudes, to choose the proper
vocabulary for expressing their own
meaning, to use appropriate
communicative strategies, and to
understand the pragmatic meaning of
what people say to them in English. In
reality, current teaching practice ignores
such expectations and needs and appears
merely to impart impractical cultural
knowledge to students in a passive way.
This is, in essence, a ‘product’ approach
to the teaching of language and culture.
In this approach, the target culture is
regarded as a product, waiting to be put
into the students’ minds. This fails to
facilitate the students’ individual
initiatives, to instill creative learning or
to provoke critical thinking.
The teaching of culture needs to
consist of more than mere
familiarisation with different social,
political and religious circumstances in
the target culture. Cultural knowledge
by itself cannot guarantee students’
smooth communication with speakers
of English in real-life situations. Rather,
it is intercultural communicative
competence that plays this crucial role.
The students also expressed the hope
that they could improve their competence
in English in order to talk about their
own Chinese culture. This, too, is largely
ignored in current teaching practice.
Although the students’ native culture is
introduced in comparison and contrast
with the target culture, it does not appear
sufficiently part of the course materials as
to guarantee its inclusion when any topic
is presented. In other words, it serves only
as a near-invisible backdrop for the
presentation of British and American
cultures and seldom comes to the front of
the stage, leaving students no opportunity
to learn systematically how to talk about
Chinese culture in English. As cross-
cultural communication is by nature
two-sided, the students’ lack in this
ability is a big obstacle to developing
their intercultural communicative
competence. The students themselves
have clearly realised their shortcomings
in this respect and would like culture
teaching materials and textbooks to
incorporate their native Chinese culture.
Bridging the gap
What can we do to bridge the gap
between students’ expectations and our
teaching practice?
Firstly, we need to realise that
culture teaching is not a product, but a
process. More emphasis should be
placed on having students discover
cultural data as a learning process rather
than having it ‘fed’ to them as static
information. In other words, as both
Claire Kramsch and Linda Quinn Allen
point out, culture teaching and learning
should be a process of discovery in
which students explore aspects of the
target culture, reflect on the fruits of
their explorations and create relational
meanings of their own based on

Cross-cultural Choices Number of Percentage

communication students (Total)

1 In my opinion, any foreign A British or American people who use English as their mother tongue. 124 48.1%
people I will have contact
B people who use English as their second language. 55 21.3%
with or make friends with
now or in the future will C people who use English as a foreign language. 32 12.4%
be ... D There is only a remote possibility that I will have contact with foreigners. 47 18.2%
2 Topics of conversation A daily greetings. 30 11.6%
with my foreign friends B hobbies and interests. 132 51.2%
are usually ...
C learning a new language. 19 7.4%
D cultural exchange. 71 27.5%
E current affairs. 6 2.3%
3 Any misunderstandings A different habits of conversing. 33 12.8%
between me and foreign
B different personal experiences. 9 3.5%
friends are usually caused
by ... C different communicative competence. 17 6.6%
D different language speaking habits. 48 18.6%
E diverse cultural backgrounds. 151 58.5%
4 My biggest problem when A I am not able to use appropriate words to express ideas. 116 45%
communicating with B there is no interesting topic to talk about. 25 9.7%
foreign friends is that ...
C I don’t know how to use appropriate body language. 29 11.2%
D I am not sure about the foreign friend’s attitudes. 41 15.9%
E we have diverse value systems. 47 18.2%
5 The difficulty of setting up A I lack adequate understanding of the other person’s culture. 82 31.8%
deep friendships with
B I lack adequate understanding of the pragmatic rules of their language use. 56 21.7%
foreigners lies in the fact
that ... C I lack communicative strategies. 59 22.9%
D I am not tolerant of other cultures. 25 9.7%
E Other reasons. 36 13.9%
Table 1

30 • Issue 59 November 2008 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •

 Culture teaching Choices Number of Percentage
and language use students (Total)

1 I think if I learn a foreign A this will be enough for cross-cultural communication. 25 9.7%
language and about its
B it will not be enough. I still need to master competence in using English to talk
culture, ... 229 88.8%
about my own native Chinese culture.
C native Chinese culture is irrelevant. 4 1.5%
2 I like English culture A embody the culture of the USA. 65 15.2%
teaching textbooks that ... B embody British culture. 22 8.5%
C embody Chinese culture. 15 15.8%
D embody a variety of cultures. 156 60.5%
3 I think that English culture A the target culture(s). 38 14.7%
teaching materials should B Chinese culture. 27 10.5%
focus on ...
C a combination of the target culture(s) and Chinese culture. 97 37.6%
D multicultural integration. 96 37.2%
4 I think the cultural course A helps learners get knowledge of British and American cultures so as to enhance
97 37.6%
British and American cross-cultural communication.
Cultures ... B gives learners little help in English language learning and cross-cultural
23 8.9%
communication by imparting knowledge of British and American cultures.
C to a certain extent motivates learners and helps them in English language
138 53.5%
learning and cross-cultural communication.
5 I hope my English A my need for cross-cultural communication. 73 28.3%
proficiency will match ...
B my needs for my future job. 111 43%
C my need for my personal development and dreams. 63 24.4%
D my need to pass examinations. 11 4.3%
6 I think I will use English in A professional translation or interpretation. 5 1.9%
the future for ... B cross-cultural communication in China. 60 23.3%
C making a living in an English-speaking country. 8 3.1%
D further study or an academic exchange or visit abroad. 48 18.6%
E needs within the work field. 137 53.1%
Table 2

reflections on both the target culture
and their native culture. Conducting
portfolio projects is a good approach as
it can involve students in more active
learning experiences and more
student–student and student–teacher
interactions. In addition, the process of
each student’s learning can be evaluated.
Secondly, we should integrate the
target culture(s) and the students’ own
culture. We must help our students
attain sufficient knowledge and expertise
in English to talk about their native
culture. If possible, the concept of the
target culture should be broadened, so
that it is not simply confined to British
and American culture. Nowadays,
English is an international language and
is essentially the first choice in
communication between people from
different speech communities and
cultural backgrounds. If these diverse
cultures can also be touched upon, it
will be easier for both parties to
establish mutual comprehensibility in
communication. Martin Cortazzi and
Lixian Jin recommend developing Allen, L Q ‘Implementing a culture portfolio
multicultural content teaching materials project within a constructivist paradigm’
by making use of both international Foreign Language Annals 37(2) 2004
target culture language materials and Cortazzi, M and Jin, L ‘Cultural mirrors:
source culture language materials which material and methods in the EFL
draw on the students’ own culture. classroom’ In Hinkel, E (Ed) Culture in
Second Language Teaching CUP 1999
### Kramsch, C Context and Culture in
Language Teaching OUP 1993
By investigating students’ perceptions
and examining current practice for the Zhang, B and Ma, L ‘An investigation of
the cultural content in college English
teaching of culture, we found that to coursebooks’ Foreign Language World 4
some extent the students’ expectations 2004
and needs are not being met. A product
approach to culture teaching cannot Guo Yan is a lecturer in
satisfy students’ needs in regard to their the School of Foreign
future use of English because it merely Languages of Huazhong
University of Science and
transmits a limited range of cultural Technology in China. Her
information. The students’ native culture, current research interests
are applied linguistics and
which is an indispensable component of translation studies. Her
cross-cultural communication, is largely most recent publication is
Autonomous English
ignored. In response to these problems, a Learning among
process approach is suggested and it is Postgraduate EFL
Learners in China: A
proposed that multicultural materials, Study of Attitudes and
particularly involving content on the Behaviors, published by
Asia TEFL.
native culture, need to be developed and
shirleyg917@yahoo.com.cn
included in courses on culture. ETp

• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 59 November 2008 • 31

B USINESS E NGLISH professional % % % % % % % % % % % % % % % % % % % % % % % % % % % % % % % %
The sudden
specialist
Robin Walker has suggestions for the non-specialist teacher faced with specialised needs.
O
ne of the most unnerving
moments in the career of
many teachers of English is
the arrival of their Director
of Studies or Head of Department to
tell them that they are going to have to
teach a group of agricultural engineers,
architects, chemists or business studies
undergraduates. Mostly trained in
humanities, teachers new to English for
Academic Purposes (EAP), English for
Special Purposes (ESP), or Business
English, quite naturally feel intimidated
by the prospect of teaching with texts
that can be characterised by dense
technical vocabulary and often obscure
field-specific concepts. Though we now
know what FAQs are through using the
internet ourselves, we may be less at
ease on encountering FABs, GDSs,
SWOT or yield analyses.
Common features
But before we hand in our notice and
look for work elsewhere, it is worth
remembering that at the heart of all
specialist Englishes there lies a core of
common features that, as professional
language teachers, we are experts in.
The most important generic features are
familiar terrain for us:
Grammar
Although genre analysis and other related
studies have revealed certain differences
between different specialist Englishes,
especially at discourse level, the actual
grammar that students of any field will
need is remarkably constant. None of the
grammar taught up to upper-intermediate
level in general English classes would be
out of place in an ESP or related
34 • Issue 59 November 2008 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •
environment, and we are trained experts
in teaching this grammar.
Skills
We are also experts in guiding students
to high levels of competence in each of
the four language skills, and although
some situations would need us to focus
more on writing than on speaking, say,
we are experts in determining the exact
balance of skills work that each student
or group requires.
Functions
Once again, our expertise from teaching
exam or general English leaves us
perfectly equipped to help our specialist
learners to achieve the fluency they all
desire when putting forward a tentative
idea, agreeing a price or rejecting an
argument from a peer.
At the heart of all
specialist Englishes
there lies a core of
common features
that, as professional
language teachers,
we are experts in
We should also not lose sight of the
fact that many people in academic,
professional or business contexts will
need to make presentations, to negotiate,
to travel and to socialise. All of this
implies having strong communication
skills in English, and once again, there is
nobody better than the trained language
teacher to assist the learner in gaining
these skills, or in optimising in English
the communication skills they already
possess in their mother tongue.
Despite all of the above, teaching
English for any specialist purpose can
still generate difficulties, and it is to three
of these problems, and to potential
solutions, that we now turn our attention.
Problem 1: It’s a completely
new specialism for you.
With English now a lingua franca in
many academic, professional and
business environments, our own
profession will be called on more and
more to give classes to groups studying
one or other of a constantly expanding
range of specialisms. Here there are two
relatively simple courses of action we can
take in order to gain at least a minimal
understanding of the specialism’s basic
concepts and terminology:
1 Use the internet to check the
meaning of new concepts/terminology.
In particular, for simple but adequate
explanations try wikipedia.com and
answers.com.
It is also usually possible to find the
English translation of a wide range of
terms on the internet.
2 Use Amazon, or a similar online
book supplier, and buy an undergraduate
introductory coursebook on the
specialism in question, in English
and/or the students’ mother tongue, if
you can speak this. Such introductory
coursebooks, though not exactly ‘light
reading’, are usually conceptually well
within the intellectual limits of any ELT
professional. As a bonus, these
B USINESS E NGLISH professional % % % % % % % % % % % % % % % % % % % % % % % % % % % % % % % %
textbooks will also provide:
● additional reading material;
● (probably) additional activities and
mini-research projects at the end of
each unit or chapter;
● (possibly) addresses of websites with
authentic related material – websites
of professional bodies, companies, etc.
Problem 2: Your class has
students from a variety of different
professional backgrounds.
1 Openly discuss the impossibility of
teaching to the needs (especially the
lexical needs) of one specialism only,
and so justify a ‘broad’ approach.
Explain that you will base your lessons
on the generic features of all specialist
Englishes, namely:
● grammar;
● functions;
● competence in the four skills.
2 Having justified a broad approach, get
your students to prepare PLDs (Personal
Learning Dictionaries) of the vocabulary
specific to their individual professional
or vocational fields. Of course, they will
probably not have taken full responsibility
for their vocabulary work before, so you
will need to use general English
vocabulary at first in order to train
them. Eventually the PLDs will become
so personalised that even when two
students share the same specialism, their
dictionaries will frequently be quite
different. However, as a general rule,
each entry into a PLD should include:
● the headword (the English term the
student hopes to learn);
● a translation into the student’s L1;
● pronunciation – this can be the
official IPA transcription, and/or a
personal notation based on listening
to the word on a CD-ROM, an online
dictionary, to you, etc;
● grammar (especially where this is
different to the L1 grammar of the
same word);
● an example of use from an authentic
text (and perhaps an example
invented by the student);
● an explanation of meaning written by
the student, plus, if the student chooses,
an explanation from a technical
dictionary, or from Wikipedia.
• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 59 November 2008 •
It is useful to collect the PLDs from
time to time to check that the students
are maintaining them properly. If a
student’s explanation of the meaning of
a term is not clear to you, get them to
re-write it, or to explain it to you in
English until you do understand. This is
quite a demanding exercise, but has
obvious benefits both for you, as you get
to understand technical vocabulary, and
for the student, who practises using it.
3 Teach your students sufficient
presentation skills for them to be able to
prepare and give mini-presentations
about terms or concepts from their
specialism. These should last about five
minutes, and, initially, the use of
PowerPoint should be discouraged;
learners need to concentrate on the
language they need rather than on the
‘fireworks’ of modern digital
presentations.
Problem 3: You don’t have a
dedicated coursebook for a
specialism you have to teach.
There are various ways we can respond
to this situation, which is not at all
uncommon. Three simple but effective
responses are:
1 Shared reading comprehension.
Get your students to bring in authentic
texts and/or to search for texts on the
internet. Ask them to read their texts
and to prepare questions (and answers!)
on the content of the texts. Support
them as they prepare the questions,
primarily with language, but also by
reminding them of the types of reading
comprehension question that they might
like to use. Prepare copies of the texts
and the answer sheets, or put them on
the institution’s website. Students then
choose texts and questions written by
their peers and work on them. Where an
author and user disagree about the
answers, you can join them and ask each
one to justify their opinion in English.
2 Jigsaw reading. Get your students
to look for texts on the internet that
they can download as Word files. Ask
them to reformat their texts so that
there are clear spaces of approximately
5–6 blank lines between the paragraphs.
Make copies of these reformatted texts,
keeping a copy of the original text as
the answer sheet. Cut the copies up so
that your students then receive a ‘jigsaw’
version of the text, with each paragraph
on a separate slip of paper.
Invite your students to read the
paragraphs and put them back in the
right order. This can be done
individually, in pairs or threes. On
confirming the answer to the order of
the paragraphs from the answer sheet,
take the opportunity to point out how
cohesion is maintained in the text
through the use of reference, ellipsis,
conjunction, etc.
3 Cloze. Get your students to look
for texts on the internet that they can
download as Word files, and then delete
every ninth or tenth word (less often, if
you have weaker students). Print out
and copy the texts and give them to the
students to complete.
A variation on deleting every nth
word, is to delete certain grammatical
elements (articles, prepositions,
pronouns, etc) or to delete vocabulary
central to the specialism the text
belongs to. You can also vary the
difficulty of this ‘cloze’ activity by:
● giving all the missing words in
alphabetical order in a box below the
text;
● giving all the missing words and one
or two ‘distractors’ (ideally, the right
word but the wrong part of speech, eg
patient, patiently and patience, where
only patience is correct).
###
In short, whilst in no way underestimating
the magnitude of the task of preparing
a course in a specialist English, we
should not forget the skills and
professional expertise that we possess as
language teachers, and which we too
easily take for granted in a world that
still has not understood just how vital
the English teaching professional is to
modern life. ETp
Robin Walker is a
freelance teacher trainer
and materials writer.
He taught ESP at the
Escuela Universitaria
de Turismo de Asturias
(Spain) for over 20
years, and is co-author
of the Tourism title in
OUP’s Oxford English
for Careers series.
walkerrobin@wanadoo.es
35
 IN THE CLASSROOM
Differentiation 2
Doug Evans continues his look at catering for mixed-ability classes.
I
n Part 1 of this article, we discussed
the principles of effective
differentiation and looked at some
examples of differentiation-
friendly assessment. Here, I would like
to make clear the distinction between
differentiation and accommodation and
provide examples of how a teacher might
present various differentiated lessons.
Differentiation versus
accommodation
Confusing differentiation with
accommodation is a common mistake.
Accommodation describes certain
actions and strategies which, when done
consistently and effectively over a period
of time, can in a major way effect very
positive change in how students can
access and synthesise information.
Differentiation is an ongoing process
that isn’t achieved simply by allowing a
student extra time on a quiz, for
example. In its essence, differentiation is
the practice of meeting a wide variety of
student needs within a class of differing
abilities, motivations and background
knowledge. Effective differentiation uses
ongoing assessment throughout a unit
of work, ensures that classroom tasks
are at an appropriate level, and requires
frequent teacher interaction.
Accommodation strategies certainly are
an important part of differentiation, but
if used in isolation they are simply
accommodations, nothing more.
The following are all valid
accommodations, which can have
considerable positive effect in all
classrooms, but many are particularly
suited to the ELT classroom:
Classroom management
● Use direct, small-group instruction.
● Provide additional time for previewing
materials or completing tasks.
● Encourage and plan for cooperative
learning within heterogeneous groups.
● Provide task choices according to the
students’ learning preferences.
36 • Issue 59 November 2008 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •
Environment
● Consider the environment – a student
may benefit from taking a test in
another room.
● Allow students to move around, sit
on the floor, work in the hallway, etc,
as appropriate.
Materials
● Vary materials by reading level.
● Vary materials by student interest.
● Provide recordings of some materials.
● Use a variety of levels of materials.
● Use worksheets and tasks that have
problems which go from easier to
more difficult with different starting
points for different learners.
● Provide non-testable, supplementary,
‘keep going’ tasks for those who
finish more quickly.
● Provide copies of notes.
● Use texts and handouts with key
concepts already highlighted.
● Provide or pre-teach key vocabulary
for the next day, week, or unit.
● Provide multi-language resources and
materials. Have some materials available
in the students’ native language.
● Before a lesson, provide a structured
outline or graphic organiser for the
students on which they can fill in
blanks and jot notes while listening.
● Provide paper options – lined, unlined,
graph with different square sizes,
raised lines, or different coloured ink.
● Use enlarged print.
● Use different coloured paper for
handouts for organisation and
reading contrast.
● Give the students a colour-coded
timeline for large projects.
● Provide something concrete upon
which students can anchor their
learning. Items that they can grasp,
manoeuvre and manipulate can
provide a welcome, and at times
necessary, sensory alternative to
learning by lecture or coursebook.
Instructions
● Simplify instructions. Minimise unclear
language and directions and use
pictures to illustrate whenever possible.
● Demonstrate, model and act out
instructions.
● Record instructions on tape.
● Repeat your instructions and ask the
students to repeat them, either to the
whole class or to a classmate.
● Write instructions and homework tasks
in clear handwriting, either on the
board or on post-it notes to give to the
students. If you display instructions in
the classroom, put them in the same
place and write in a consistent manner.
● Use graduated rubrics. At times,
students with different skill levels and
starting points may be given rubrics
and tasks with somewhat different
outcomes in order to challenge them
at their appropriate levels.
● Break down long tasks into smaller
steps. Instead of giving certain
students all of the information at
once, give them the first part only.
When they finish, they can ask for the
second part. Another option is to
provide a checklist for the student to
cross off completed steps.
● Delete some options. If a particular
student is consistently unable to keep
up with certain tasks, it may be
because they are being overwhelmed
by too many choices. By removing
some steps or options, a student may
be more able to focus better on the
targeted outcomes.
● Post assignments on weblogs.
Teacher behaviour
● Modify your tone of voice.
● Modify the pace of instruction to
allow the students to speed up or slow
down as needed.
● Adapt and vary your level of
questioning as per Bloom’s Taxonomy.
The six levels of Bloom’s cognitive
domain (knowledge, comprehension,
application, analysis, synthesis,
evaluation) are of particular interest to
teachers who differentiate. However,
the often-overlooked affective domain
(receiving, responding, valuing,
 organising, characterising) has a very
high potential for personalising and
enriching the educational experience
individually or within a group.
Feedback
● Videotape lessons for later review.
● Provide consistent feedback. Effective
differentiation relies on there being
assessment tasks and frequent teacher
interaction throughout a unit of
work. Because a teacher may have a
number of varied outcomes targeted
within a class, in a differentiated
setting it is of particular importance
to communicate with the students on
their progress throughout a lesson or
unit. This feedback ensures that the
information and targets are at the
most appropriate levels.
Testing and assessment
● Present different parts of a test
separately.
● Record test directions and questions
on tape.
● Give students testing options, such as
oral testing, tape recorders, take-
home tests, different orders of
questions, open-book tests.
● Provide additional time for taking
tests.
● Provide options for expressing
mastery. Some students might want to
present their information using
PowerPoint. Some might prefer to
write an essay. Others may choose to
write something from the perspective
of a character in a story.
Differentiation in action
The following are examples of how a
teacher can use a variety of differentiation
techniques in the ELT classroom. They
are designed to meet targets, while at
the same time providing student choice.
1 Tic-Tac-Toe
Ask the students to choose three tasks
to complete which make a line in any
one direction, as in the grid below.
Write and submit a letter to the Using at least five new
editor of a local newspaper. vocabulary words, write a
greetings card.
Write two legitimate suggestions Write directions on how to
for improving the school and say get from Trafalgar Square
why they are needed. to Piccadilly Circus.
Describe how a fish is like a Write about a time when
tree. you felt sad.
• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 59 November 2008 •
2 ELT menu
Present your tasks as if you are in a
restaurant. Let the students choose
whatever ‘dishes’ they like.
Main dishes (pick two)
1 Read the story and then complete
the grammar questions on pages 44
and 45 of your textbook.
2 Create a Venn diagram showing the
similarities and differences between
the two main characters.
3 Create a timeline of ten major
events in the story.
Side dishes (pick one)
1 Interview someone who was alive
during the 1960s.
2 Write an acrostic poem using the
word juxtaposition to give the first
letter of each line.
3 Make a recording of an imaginary
radio broadcast from a reporter
embedded in a combat situation.
Desserts (pick one)
These can be done for extra credit if
the main and side dishes are done to
the chef’s (your teacher) satisfaction.
1 Listen to Bob Dylan’s The Times They
Are-A-Changin’ and write a one-page
essay on how it relates to the story.
2 Visit the Vietnam War Museum.
Write or tell about your experience.
3 Your choice (with your teacher’s
approval).
3 A grammar-focused lesson
These tasks all provide for student
choice while still keeping the students
focused on the desired outcomes.
1 Read pages 30–31 of your textbook.
Answer the questions on page 32,
choosing either the odd- or even-
numbered questions.
2 Pick any three red cards from the
reading card catalogue and work on
them with a partner.
3 Find any five objects in your house
that represent five of the new
vocabulary words on page 39. Take a
Write out the rules of your
favourite card game.
Imagine you are the main
character in your favourite book.
Describe a typical day in your life.
Write an imaginary conversation
in which you give advice to
someone who is being bullied.
picture of each on a digital camera. Use
them to write a short story of 8–12
lines. Alternatively, draw the objects.
4 Using the computer in the library, go
to http://a4esl.org/phrasalverbs/html,
read through steps 1–4 and complete
the task.
4 Reading prompts
An important aspect of differentiation
(and good teaching practice in general) is
self-reflection. After a selected reading,
questions such as those listed below may
help the students understand the story in
more depth, link targets to the students’
own experiences, and provide the kinds
of tasks that can help them gain a better
understanding of their own learning
styles and preferences. The teacher
could provide a selection of these kinds
of questions and the student would
choose one to write about. The next
time, the student would pick a different
question so that they would be able to
reflect on their own learning from a
variety of different perspectives.
% If I could interview someone in the
story, I’d interview ...
% Something in the story that is similar
to my life is ...
% Something that is very different from
my life is ...
% I became curious when ...
% I liked this story more/less than (a
previous story) because ...
% I was reminded of ... when ...
% I understood (a character) when ...
% I didn’t like it when ... ETp
Bloom, B ‘Taxonomy of educational
objectives: the classification of
educational goals’ Handbook 1: Cognitive
Domain Longman 1956
Costa, A Activating & Engaging Habits of
Mind ACSD 2000
Cummings, C Managing to Teach
Teaching Inc 1996
Tomlinson, C ‘Differentiating instruction –
why bother?’ Middle Ground 9(1) 2005
Tomlinson, C How to Differentiate
Instruction in Mixed-Ability Classrooms
ACSD 2001
Doug Evans is an
English as an
Additional Language
teacher and
department head of
Student Support
Services at ACS
Hillingdon International
School in London. He
has been a teacher in
the USA, Japan,
Poland, Russia and
South Korea.
dougevansishere@gmail.com
37
 D E S I G N E D T O P H O T O C O P Y

PREPARING TO TEACH ...

Could
John Potts’s explanations of a multi-functional modal go swimmingly.

Ai The pool was crowded and I couldn’t swim properly. Di That could be the lifeguard, standing over
there.
Aii I could swim when I was four.
Dii It couldn’t have been a good party if everyone
Bi My mum said we could go for a swim in the left early.
afternoon, but we couldn’t go straight after lunch.
Ei You could be more careful with my iPod!
Bii Could I go to the pool this afternoon, please?
Eii You could have told me that the pool is closed
Ci Swimming could be dangerous immediately after for the summer!
eating.
Fi The pool could be open all year, I suppose.
Cii We went swimming whenever we could.
Fii He could have told me that the pool is closed
Ciii The pool was tiny and could hold only a few
for the summer.
swimmers.

& MEANING & FORM & USE

Ai refers to physical
(in)ability to do something
in the past. Note that in
affirmative sentences,
physical ability is
traditionally expressed by
was/were able to (eg I was
able to load the program
quite easily). However,
some native speakers
nevertheless use could in
such sentences.
Aii refers to an acquired or
learnt ability in the past.
In Bi, the subject
allowed/forbade someone
to do something in the past.
In Bii, the subject asks to
be allowed to do
something in the present.
Ci says that swimming is
inherently dangerous – it is
potentially dangerous –
under certain conditions.
Cii refers to potential
ability in the past.
Ciii refers to the inherent
capacity of the pool in the
past.
Di refers to the likelihood
that it is the lifeguard.
In Dii, the speaker
assumes that it wasn’t a
good party, based on the
evidence.
In Ei, the speaker
criticises someone for
not being careful (in the
present).
In Eii, the speaker
criticises someone for not
informing her/him (in the
past).
In Fi, the speaker isn’t
sure whether the pool is
open all year or not.
In Fii, the speaker isn’t
sure whether someone
informed her/him or not
Note that sometimes could
refers to the past in a real
sense (eg Aii), and
sometimes could has a
hypothetical sense and
may refer to the past,
present or future,
depending on the context
(eg Bii, Ci, Di and Ei).
All the sentences contain could,
which is a modal auxiliary verb.
Like most modals, could is
followed by the infinitive without
to. See Issue 58 for more
information on the form of
modals.
& FUNCTION
Modals are frequently
associated with functions, and
any modal may express a
number of different functions.
Could has many functions:
Ai and Aii express ability
(whether physical or an acquired
skill).
Bi and Bii express, refuse or
request permission.
Ci, Cii and Ciii express
inherent capacity or potential.
Di and Dii express likelihood,
speculation, assumption and
deduction.
Ei and Eii express
counterfactual situations – the
reality is the opposite.
Fi and Fii express uncertainty.
Bii is usually considered more
polite than Can I …? Note that
the reply usually uses may or
can: Yes, of course you
may/can. No, you can’t.
Ei and Eii are more informal
and spoken.
Fi and Fii also tend to be
more informal (more formal
contexts prefer may or
expressions such as it is
possible that, there is the
possibility that, etc).
& PRONUNCIATION
In rapid fluent speech, could
is often pronounced quite
weakly.
In Ei, the main stress is on
careful to emphasise that the
other person is not being
careful.
In Eii, the main stress is on
told to emphasise that he or
she wasn’t, in fact, told.
In Fi and Fii, the main stress
is on could to emphasise the
speaker’s uncertainty.

38 • Issue 59 November 2008 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •

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

PREPARING TO TEACH ... Could

' CONCEPT QUESTIONS ' SITUATIONS

Ci Swimming could be dangerous
immediately after eating.
Is swimming always dangerous?
(No.)
Is eating and then swimming
dangerous? (Yes, perhaps you’ll
get cramp.)
Is it certain that there’ll be a
problem? (No, perhaps nothing
will happen.)
But doing this does contain a
risk? (Yes.)
Eii You could have told me that the
pool is closed for the summer!
Did you know that the pool is
closed? (Yes.)
Did you tell me? (No.)
Was that right or wrong of you?
(Wrong.)
How do I feel about that?
(Annoyed, angry perhaps.)
Fii He could have told me that the
pool is closed for the summer.
Did he know that the pool is
closed? (Yes, probably.)
Did he tell me? (I’m not sure,
I can’t remember.)
Talent competition Make a
questionnaire that asks about
the age when students learnt
to do things (eg swim, ride a
bike, speak another language,
use a computer, etc). The
students ask and answer in a
walk-round activity. Then pool
the results with the whole
class to find who could do
what at the earliest age (eg
Maria could swim when she
was three).
Speculations For this, you’ll
need a largish photo – if
possible make an overhead
transparency (OHT) of it. The
photo should be ‘busy’ –
people doing things, many
details, etc (not just an empty
beach!). Cover the photo/OHT
completely, using either post-
its or smallish pieces of paper.
Remove one and ask the class
to speculate about the picture,
using could be, could be
doing, etc. Progressively
remove more post-its and
elicit further speculation at
each stage until the class is
(almost) sure – then they
should use either it must be
… or it is ... . (This activity can
also use the modals may and John Potts is a teacher
and teacher trainer based
might.) in Zürich, Switzerland.
He has written and
co-written several adult
Polite requests Make some coursebooks, and is a
‘situation cards’ (eg in a post- Joint Chief Assessor for
the Cambridge/RSA
office, in a hotel, in class, on a CELTA scheme.
train, in the street, at johnpotts@swissonline.ch
someone’s home, etc). Give a
set, face down, to pairs of
students, who take turns to
turn over a card and make a
request appropriate to the
situation (eg Could I borrow
your dictionary, please?). The
other student should respond
politely (eg Yes, of course you
can. No, I’m afraid not.).
Variation: This can also be
played as a board game
(rather like a Monopoly board,
with counters and dice) with
students in groups of four.

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• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 59 November 2008 • 39

 $ 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.

All the contributors to It Works in Practice in this issue

of ETp will receive a year’s subscription to Onestop CLIL,
Macmillan’s new CLIL resource site. Macmillan have
kindly agreed to be sponsors of It Works in Practice for
this year.

$ Hungry crocodiles $ Two fun games

This activity makes use of the cardboard
circles that you often get underneath pizzas
and is an alternative to putting them in the
recycling bin. It is a great activity for
reviewing newly-learnt vocabulary with
young learners and is always popular with
my students.
Draw pictures of vocabulary items grouped
in categories on the pizza circles. For
example:
Food – cake, apple, bread
Drink – water, juice, milk
The body – hand, knee, leg
The circles are then laid down randomly on
the floor and become stepping stones across
an imaginary river. Two to four ‘crocodiles’
are appointed and they lurk in the river,
while a volunteer attempts to cross, saying
the words on the stones as they step on each
one. If this student hesitates or makes a
mistake, the crocodiles move forward slowly
(at a signal from the teacher) while other
classmates help from the sidelines to prompt
the student to say the words correctly. If too
many mistakes are made or there is too
much hesitation, the crocodiles get their
prey. However, with the help of their friends,
I find that most students manage to cross
the river successfully!
Bernadette Cross
La Forêt, France
Here are two ideas for games which you can play in class.
Headline Call My Bluff
Call My Bluff is a television game once popular in the UK in which two
teams take turns to present three definitions of unusual words, two of
which are false. The opposing team has to try to identify the correct
definition. I play a version of this game with my students, using
magazine and newspaper headlines.
Many UK tabloid headlines are extraordinary, perhaps the most famous
being Freddie Starr Ate My Hamster – the story, later discredited, in the
UK newspaper The Sun, alleged that comedian Freddie Starr had eaten a
live hamster in a sandwich! However, there are others that are more
easily accessible, such as:
● I’ve Tried Every Diet There Is
● I Live on the QE2
● I Want to Dance Like Gene Kelly
I ask teams of students to take turns to find and present three
headlines and their corresponding article summaries, one of which they
have made up. The headlines can come from English newspapers or
magazines which I bring in. Alternatively, they can find them on the
internet. The opposing team has to try to spot which story is false.
Superhero
Set up a dramatic disaster scenario, get your students to devise one, or
produce one as a class with the students suggesting ideas and you
helping to formulate it into a workable example. Write this up on the
board. Then put the students into groups and ask them to work
together to invent their own superhero who can deal with this disaster.
Get them to write a description of their powers and how they would
solve the problem. The students could draw a picture if they wish. The
class can then vote for the best one.
Annette Margolis
Latina, Italy

40 • Issue 59 November 2008 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •

$ Orderly boards
Most teachers use the board routinely in their classrooms;
many will even say they find it hard to teach without one!
However, most don’t think in advance about what precisely
they will put on the board, much less what their board will
look like at the end of a specific lesson. It is important to
realise that whatever you write on the board, students will
copy it down. Therefore:
● Think what, think when and think where.
● Know why everything that’s on the board is there.
● Don’t let errors stay on the board.
Here are three common problems with the way teachers use
the board and one solution:
1 Some teachers write everything on the board, from
directions for activities to homework assignments to
sentences from the previous homework which students
are going over in class. This wastes the time it takes to
write these things on the board, without necessarily
adding any value to the lesson. It also risks making
students overly reliant on the board for information that
teachers of other subjects tend to deliver orally.
2 Sometimes teachers ask students to put up on the board
their sentences or paragraphs from a specific activity for
everyone to look at together. Again, this takes up a great
deal of classroom time for arguably little payoff.
Moreover, it often consists of a few students finding
chalk, finding space and writing on the board while the
majority stare at their backs. In addition, student
sentences almost always contain errors, and teachers are
faced with the dilemma of leaving the errors on the
board (for other students to copy down) or else
correcting every single error, even those that are beyond
the focus of the lesson at hand.
3 Other teachers put things up on the board at random
throughout the lesson, resulting in an incoherent jumble.
Not having a clear plan for your board risks obscuring the
$ IT WORKS IN PRACTICE Do you have ideas you’d like to share with colleagues around the world? Tips, techniques and activities;
simple or sophisticated; well-tried or innovative; something that has worked well for you? All published
contributions receive a prize! Write to us or email: iwip@etprofessional.com .
• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 59 November 2008 •
underlying logic and organisation of the lesson. As a
result, students may mistakenly focus on tangential
points, or may conflate two different aspects of the
lesson into one.
The solution? In every case, the solution is to plan your
board ahead of time – when you plan your lessons. Just as
you think about what directions you’re going to give
students for different activities, or how long activities will
take, you should think about what your board will look
like, when you’ll be writing on it, and why.
Try asking yourself these questions when planning your
lesson:
1 What will my board look like at every step of the lesson?
2 Why am I writing these things on the board – what does
actually seeing them add to the lesson?
3 When will I write things on the board?
4 What will students be doing while I write on the board?
5 What will the board look like at the end of the lesson?
6 Where are the different components of the lesson in
relation to each other – in columns, sections, etc?
One practical tip is to make a note on your copy of your
lesson plan, handout or coursebook about what you will
put on the board and when. Some teachers use a different
coloured pen to remind themselves that they’re going to
put this information up on the board; others use an
abbreviation (such as ‘B’) for what goes on the board next
to the relevant part of their notes.
Ultimately, you have to make clear to yourself what you are
writing on the board: where, when, and why. If it’s not
clear to you, it certainly won’t be clear to your students.
Marnie Reed, Christina Michaud
Boston, USA
41
Reviews
Monster Phonic Fun
Word Families
www.creative-english.com 2008
Monster Phonic Fun consists of
two packs of laminated playing
cards, which can be used to
teach children to produce sounds
correctly. Each pack has 56 cards,
giving practice in 14 sounds, and a
leaflet with instructions for a game
that can be played with them. A
reference list of the target sounds
also appears on this leaflet.
Each card has four words which
contain the target sound, printed
underneath a picture of a monster with
the mouth and tongue in the position
needed to create that sound. (The
monster pictures also often include
illustrations of at least some of the words
in the lists.) One word on each card is
printed in bold, with the target sound
highlighted in red. The game consists of
trying to collect an entire set of four
words (ie four cards) containing the same
target sound by asking another player if
they have a particular word.
The Level 1 pack introduces basic
sounds, including the short vowels, / tÜ /
42 • Issue 59 November 2008 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •
and /Ü /. The Level 2 pack includes
more complex sounds made up of
more than one letter, such as the / f / in
photo and the / ÜPn / of action.
Games that can be played with
these cards are not limited to the one
suggested on the accompanying
leaflet. Creative teachers will find
many ways to use them,
perhaps getting students to
make up stories containing the
words on the cards in their
hands.
A colleague tried these cards
with a nine-year-old Russian boy
and they were a great success.
Although the monsters, with their
exaggerated mouths, may appear
a little grotesque to adult eyes,
they were a hit with this
particular child, who was soon
clamouring to ‘play monsters’ in
every lesson. His teacher remarked
that monsters are always a favourite
with children and that card games
involving monsters are sure to go
down well. The only drawback she
could see was that the words were
printed at the bottom of the cards and
so were concealed when held in the
child’s hand. However,
the layout probably
reflects the developers’
concern to teach the
correct mouth positions for
the words via the monster
pictures, and the position
of the words on the cards
was not considered an
insurmountable obstacle
to playing the game
successfully.
Word Families is a
vocabulary-teaching game
also involving a pack of cards. As with
Monster Phonic Fun, the cards each have
an illustration and four words, one of
which is printed in bold. The difference is
that here the words are grouped
according to categories rather than
sounds, eg sports, animals, transport,
colours. Again there are two packs of
cards, one at a higher level than the
other. In the higher-level pack, more
abstract concepts are introduced. A
similar game is recommended on the
accompanying leaflet, ie collecting four
cards in a set by asking other players if
they have a particular word. Once again,
teachers are not limited to this and the
cards would lend themselves to many
other possibilities. The Word Families
illustrations are attractive and, as with
Monster Phonic Fun, the cards are
laminated and durable.
Ian Mainwaring
Harrogate, UK
Reviews
Doing Task-based Teaching
by Dave Willis and Jane Willis
OUP 2007
978-0-19-442210-9
This is a practical guide to designing and
using activities and sequences of
activities in the context of task-based
teaching. The early chapters provide
accessible explanations of the basic
principles which lie behind a task-based
approach, and a very comprehensive
contents section enables you to head
straight to a topic or area that interests
you. The introduction gives a concise but
helpful overview of exactly what is to be
found in each chapter, and I found this
invaluable for navigating my way around
the book, which is a very rich resource of
ideas and example activities for use in
almost any situation. One of the most
interesting sections is Chapter 10, in
which the authors answer a series of
frequently-asked questions about task-
based teaching, questions which they
have collected from teachers all over the
world in the last ten years.
Many task types and ideas for
activities are described, and it is
refreshing that in addition to each
description there is an account of how
real teachers in a variety of contexts
actually tried the activity in their
• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 59 November 2008 •
classrooms. This lifts each activity out of
the realm of ‘another idea that sounds
good in a methodology book’ into the
‘here is an activity that will really work for
me’ category.
There are also ‘reader activities’
throughout the book, which encourage
readers to reflect on what they have read
and to relate it to their own situations,
thinking about ways in which they could
make the suggestions work for them.
One thing in particular that caught
my eye was the way the authors
demonstrated how any topic can give
rise to a series of tasks that may be
divided into categories corresponding
to different cognitive processes:
listing, ordering/sorting, matching,
comparing, solving problems, sharing
personal experiences and projects and
creative tasks. This gave me a wealth of
ideas for planning activities for the topics
chosen for one of my advanced classes.
Tim Franks
Zagreb, Croatia
Oxford Word Skills (Basic level)
by Ruth Gairns and Stuart Redman
OUP 2008
978-0-19-462003-1
This is the first in a three-level vocabulary
series, equally useful for work in class or
for self-study. It equates to the Council of
Europe’s A1 to A2 levels and includes the
ubiquitous I can ... as part of its chapter
headings in a further link to the Common
European Framework – one that is
perhaps becoming rather déjà vu for
teachers and materials writers alike
(though not necessarily for students) and
fits more easily with material for younger
learners than for those of more advanced
years and skills. Nevertheless, this is a
thoroughly likeable book, which offers
comprehensive vocabulary presentation
and practice in 80 themed units, which
are themselves grouped into themed
modules, such as places, study and
work, holidays, social English, etc.
Presentation of new words is done by
illustration (clear drawings and
photos), definition, example, or a
combination of all three. The words
themselves are chosen from a list of
3,000 developed by OUP using a
corpus and information supplied by a
panel of experts on teaching and
language study. This list is based on
frequency and usefulness to learners and
the evidence suggests that these are
words which should be a priority for
teachers and learners. Special ‘spotlight’
sections focus on particularly important
words and common usages and help to
distinguish between words which seem
similar but are used in different ways, eg
tin and can.
Also included with the book are a
CD-ROM, containing oral pronunciation
models of all the vocabulary together
with further practice exercises, and a
handy piece of laminated card, attached
to the inside front cover, which can be
removed and used to mask parts of a
page so that students can test
themselves on the words they have
learnt. At the front are notes for the
teacher on how the book can be used in
class and a ‘starter’ unit provides clear
illustrated instructions for students on
how to use the book and how best to
learn new words. Equal weight is given to
presentation and practice and there are
frequent opportunities for revision.
Inevitably, many of the exercises are gap-
fills, but the authors have clearly made
considerable efforts to vary the exercise
types as much as possible and to include
those in which a personal response can
be made.
Melinda Mathieson
Worthing, UK
43
SCRAPBOOK Gems, titbits, puzzles, foibles, quirks, bits & pieces,
quotations, snippets, odds & ends,
what you will

A dangerous Coincidence?
diet? # Abraham Lincoln was elected to Congress in 1846.
o labradors went to the
A man who owned tw dog
# John F Kennedy was elected to Congress in 1946.
large bag of Winalot
supermarket to buy a the qu eue at
was standing in # Abraham Lincoln was elected President in 1860.
food for them. As he ked if he
man behind him as # John F Kennedy was elected President in 1960.
the checkout, the wo
had a dog. # Both were particularly concerned with civil rights.
ve a
r that no, he didn’t ha
On impulse, he told he ag ain ,
# Both their wives lost children while living in the White House.
the ‘Winalot Diet’
dog, he was starting e the last
bly shouldn’t becaus # Both Presidents were shot on a Friday.
adding that he proba l.
’d ended up in hospita # Both Presidents were shot in the head.
time he had tried it, he ged to
out that he had mana
However, he pointed an int ensive Now it gets really weird ...
e he woke up in
lose 50 pounds befor ine s and
to several ma ch
care ward, hooked up # Lincoln’s secretary was called Kennedy.
in both arms.
with intravenous drips # Kennedy’s secretary was called Lincoln.
a perfect
r that it is essentially
He went on to tell he d yo ur # Both were assassinated by Southerners.
it works is to loa
diet and the way that d sim ply # Both were succeeded by Southerners named Johnson.
Winalot nuggets an
trouser pockets with He
time you feel hungry.
eat one or two every # Andrew Johnson, who succeeded Lincoln, was born in 1808.
d was nutritionally
maintained that the foo .
# Lyndon Johnson, who succeeded Kennedy, was born in 1908.
s going to try it again
complete and so he wa
s # John Wilkes Booth, who assassinated Lincoln, was born in
eryone in the queue wa
By now, practically ev 1839.
story.
enthralled by the man’s # Lee Harvey Oswald, who assassinated Kennedy, was born in
d up in
asked if he had ende 1939.
Horrified, the woman d.
he had been poisone
the hospital because # Both assassins were known by their three names.
ting in
because he’d been sit
He told her no, it was r hit him .
# Both names are composed of fifteen letters.
fleas when a ca
the road scratching his
# Lincoln was shot at a theatre called ‘Ford’.
# Kennedy was shot in a car called a ‘Lincoln’ made by ‘Ford’.

Syllable surprise # Lincoln was shot in a theatre and his assassin ran and hid in a
warehouse.
Find a word that # Kennedy was shot from a warehouse and his assassin ran and
has one hid in a theatre.
syllable, until yo
u add one
letter to the en # Both Booth and Oswald were assassinated before their trials
d, when it could take place.
suddenly has th
ree syllables.
And finally ...

# A week before Lincoln was shot, he was in Monroe, Maryland.

Answer are – area
# A week before Kennedy was shot, he was with Marilyn Monroe.

44 • Issue 59 November 2008 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •

 Invention
Missing Name an ancien
money used in most pa
t invention, whi
rts of the world
ch is still
today,
into a hotel. that allows peop
Three people check le to see throug
manager and go h walls.
They pay £30 to the
nager suddenly
to their room. The ma
room rate is £25
remembers that the Answer A window

The troll toll

llboy to return
and gives £5 to the be
way to the
to the guests. On the
sons that £5
room, the bellboy rea You are on your way to visit your
would be difficult to
three people so he po
share among
ckets £2 and
grandmother, who lives at the end
Amazing
paragraph
of a long valley. It is her birthday,
n. Now each and you want to give her some
gives £1 to each perso
got back £1. cakes that you’ve baked.
person paid £10 and
and all
So they paid £9 each
, Between your house and her Study this paragraph
lly wrong
totalling £27. The house, you have to cross seven words in it. What is vita
bridges, but under each bridge ng in it is
bellboy has £2, with it? Actually, nothi
lives a troll! Each troll, quite rightly, admit that
totalling £29. wrong, but you must
insists that you pay a troll toll.
Where is the n’t just zip
Before you can cross their bridge, it is most unusual. Do
missing £1? you have to give them half of the through it quickly, bu
t study it
k, you
£2 went to the bellboy. cakes you are carrying, but as they scrupulously. With luc
are kind trolls, they each give you
should spot what is so
£27, £25 went to the
manager for the room
back a single cake.
back £1, so they now and
d all words
particular about it an
have only paid £27. Of
Originally, they paid £30 this
, they each received
what it
Answer Be careful wh
at you are adding tog
ether. How many cakes do you have to found in it. Can you say
leave home with to make sure that d try
is? Tax your brains an
you arrive at your grandmother’s
rd or a
again. Don’t miss a wo
Ten by ten house with exactly two cakes?
symbol. It isn’t all tha
t difficult!

Each of the following

clues refers
with two cakes after every bridge.)
contain all of the other
to a word that begin
and you receive one back. This leaves you letters.
s with ten. required to hand over half of your cakes, contain the letter E, tho
ugh it does
Can you find them all Answer The paragraph
?
Answer Two. (At each bridge you are does not

1 Inclination
2 Delicate, gentle or sore
3

4
A sinew

A racket game
Fizzy or still, sir?
A man in a restaurant asked a waiter for a glass, a dinner plate, some
5Capable of being stretc water, a match, and a wedge of lemon. He then poured enough water
hed
6 Between onto the plate to cover it.
baritone and alto
7 Stretche ‘If you can get the water on the plate into this glass without touching or
d tight
moving the plate, I will give you £200,’ the man said. ‘You can only use
8 Insubstantial the match and the lemon to do this.’
9 A place to live A few minutes later, the waiter walked away with £200 in his pocket.
10 An opinio How did he do it?
n held to be true

vacuum, which sucked in the water through the space between the glass and the plate.
et down over the match. As the flame used up the oxygen in the glass, it created a small
tenement or tent 10 ten
7 tense 8 tenuous 9 Then he put it in the middle of the plate and lit the match. Next, he placed the glass upside-
tennis 5 tensile 6 tenor
cy 2 tender 3 tendon 4 Answer First, he pushed the match into the lemon wedge, so that it would stand straight.
Answers 1 tenden

• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 59 November 2008 • 45

TEACHER DEVELOPMENT

Plus ça
Perhaps I should explain that
foreign language learning has
changed a bit since you and I were at
school. You can’t just go in and say,
‘Turn to page 81 and do Exercise C.’
They don’t actually have a textbook

change
at all. (Teachers are now forbidden to
use textbooks; they’re supposed to
produce their own materials. What
they actually do is to nick bits of
other people’s textbooks, and pass
them off as their own, which is what
I’ve done here.)
So all the students need is paper
and pen. They will have everything
from the Oxford English Dictionary
(on microfilm, in Arabic) to
autographed copies of the complete

T
works of Edmund Spenser, but try to
Peter Wells reveals he following letter was written
as an assignment on my ignore this. You will have the attached
that there is nothing new Master’s course in Applied script and a tape-recorder with the
Linguistics, amazingly, some tape in it, ready for use. Don’t worry
under the sun. 25 years ago. We were asked to write
clear instructions for an ESL lesson for
an imaginary colleague, using materials The large
from a current textbook. To my eye,
ESL teaching in the UK and many other
video-camera staring
countries is spookily similar to what it at you from the back
was then, with the possible exception of
the departure of chalkboards! left-hand corner is
Mr Sinaga, who will
The Common Room, be in New York, or
24/3/83 Jakarta, or somewhere
Dear Bill, in between
I wonder if you remember that
night when, on the way back from
if the tape recorder doesn’t work. The
the rugby club end-of-season ball,
students all have at least two each,
you said you’d always wanted to have
one in their sandwich box and one in
a go at teaching English, and, if ever I
their briefcase. Sometimes, when they
needed a stand-in, you’d be willing to
have a business appointment, they
help me out? Well, here’s your
just send their tape-recorders to class.
chance. A very important bridge
I try to discourage this, as it makes
appointment has suddenly cropped
pairwork difficult. (The large video-
up, and, for reasons well known to us
camera staring at you from the back
both, I can’t ask the Principal for yet
left-hand corner is Mr Sinaga, who
another night off. I’ve got this class
will be in New York, or Jakarta, or
called Intermediate English for
somewhere in between. He will hear
Business and Administrative Purposes
most of what you say, but his answers
at 7.30. According to the timetable,
may be a bit slow if the satellite is in
all you’ve got for that evening –
the wrong place.)
tomorrow, that’s Tuesday 25th – is
Advanced Applied Micro-Metallurgy II The object of this lesson is to help
at 8.30. So, here’s the info. these chaps to learn to listen to and

46 • Issue 59 November 2008 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •

 TEACHER DEVELOPMENT

understand English as she is spoke. This

Phillip Burrows
is the rationale behind the inclusion of,
among other things, the word ‘erm’,
which I hope didn’t have you rushing
for your Pocket Oxford. (Come to
think of it, it’s probably a unit of
measurement in micro-metallurgy!) No,
the ‘erm’, together with other
atrocities such as ‘Uh-huh’ and ‘Mm-
mm’ and grammatical cockups like
‘is due at … to come’ have been
carefully inserted by the actors to
make the tape sound spontaneous.
Don’t for goodness sake run away
with the idea that we actually try to
teach the students to talk like this.
You have to draw a fine line here,
and you can easily be misunderstood.
Ever since a lesson when I pretended
to give my name on the phone, Mr
Chang (not one of our brightest
students) has persisted in addressing
me as ‘Mr Erwells’. In fact, when
playing the final version of the tape,
you should try, as far as possible, to
persuade them to turn off all the
other tape-recorders, otherwise they
tend to go home and learn the whole
thing off by heart. (Mr Daud, second
from left, second row, has an ‘Mm’ was a real word, like ‘examiner’ foresee a spot of bother when you get
additional micro-recorder hidden in or ‘toilet’, but you just try learning to the afternoon, as the tape clearly
the earpiece of his glasses, which he Arabic or Japanese and you’ll see uses the British GMT, non-decimalised
activates by rubbing his left nostril.) what I mean. or ‘Fahrenheit’ times, as opposed to
what these guys are used to, but you’ll
The thing is, natives (and we’re all Anyway, you get in there at 7.30
just have to take this in your stride. Try
natives, you know) don’t talk like (don’t be late; they’re very busy men,
to avoid them getting their computers
grammar books – ‘la plume de ma they’re paying 30 pounds an hour
out at this point, as many of them are
tante’, etc – a fact which has gone each for this course – not that I see
plugged into the mains and tend to
unnoticed for the past two thousand much of it – and you’ll have 20 digital
fuse the power points throughout the
years and which WE ARE HERE TO stopwatches on you from the moment
entire college if they’re all turned on
PUT RIGHT. Everybody erms – as Pope you step in) and GET THEM INVOLVED
at once. Mark this page ‘Monday’.
said, ‘To erm is human’ – but other right from the start (our tutors were
Then get them to do another one –
natives (don’t actually use this word, very keen on this) by asking them to
this won’t take long, as most of them
by the way; last time someone used it draw a big box with 13 horizontal
have the new photocopier
the African Nationalists hijacked the lines in it. Just for a little bit of
attachment to their fountain pens
language laboratory) erm in different spontaneous practice you can ask them
(Mr Kim’s plays the South Korean
ways from us. So our aim is, gently what they think it is. Most of them will
national anthem). The second page
and without too much explanation, guess it’s an office block, factory, etc,
should be headed ‘Tuesday’.
to introduce our students to the and you have to be a little bit careful
Great British ‘Erm’, by helping them as nasty fights can develop over Now you’re ready for Phase One.
to concentrate their attention on the discussions as to whose block/factory is In this, your aim is to get them to
bits that mean something – generally the biggest. What you have drawn is, pick out all the things the Principal’s
separating the wheat from the chaff, in fact, a page from a secretary’s got on in those two days. They’ll
so to speak. It may seem incredible to diary, and you can make this clear by probably find it a bit difficult,
you that anyone could think that beginning to write in the times. I can especially the names, but after all !!!

• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 59 November 2008 • 47

 TEACHER DEVELOPMENT
Plus ça
change
!!! they’re going to meet a lot of names
in their careers, mumbled, spat or
squeaked, so they’d better get some
practice now. They can work in pairs,
and try to work out what they’ve
heard. On the whole they’ll use
English for this, as, on their arrival,
during the fleeting couple of minutes
when in obedience to childhood
habits they treated me as a master,
rather than a servant, I got them
seated so that no two people who
share a language sit together. Now
they have got their places so well
organised (leather chairs, big desks,
flush toilets, etc) they don’t want to
leave them. For this phase you will
not use the tape. You will read the
tapescript, in correct English, NO
‘ERMS’, fairly slowly, hammering the
important bits. I have jotted down for
you the sort of thing they should
come up with.
Two additional points about this
reading:
1 You may decide to indicate the
respective parts by writing
‘Secretary’ on one side of the board
and ‘Principal’ on the other, and
running between them. This is fine,
provided you do not have them too
far apart, but DO NOT READ THE
SECRETARY’S PART IN FALSETTO.
There are three reasons for this
that I can think of straight off.
a) You have one smouldering but
extremely militant feminist,
hitherto included under the general
heading of ‘chaps’, who will fight
to the hilt any suggestion that
secretaries are ever female.
b) You have at least one
fundamentalist from a country
where the penalty for any form of
effeminacy is immediate and
extremely nasty.
48 • Issue 59 November 2008 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •
c) In Chinese, pitch has semantic
meaning, and Mr Chang, as I have
already indicated, is not one of our
brightest students. It would be an
unfortunate reflection on our
college if he were to make a
practice, in his future career, of
rolling his eyes, and raising his
voice an octave every time he was
called upon to utter adverbial
clauses of time.
2 I have not heard this tape, actually,
so I don’t know how ‘Japanese
agent’ is pronounced. It may be
‘Japanıese agent’, meaning an
agent who deals with things
Japanese, or ‘Japanese ıagent’,
meaning an agent who happens to
come from Japan. What it means,
either way, I’ve no idea. Anyway,
the point I wanted to make was, BE
VERY CAREFUL HOW YOU SAY
‘JAPANESE’. Mr Sato, who sits in
the front row, owns most of Surrey,
is a judo black belt and has a short
temper. Nothing serious, just a little
word of warning.
By the way,
the correct name
for artificially tape-
recorded dialogues
like these is ‘authentic
materials’
For Phase Two we use the tape-
recorder, and the object is to get the
students to assign days to the items
of business already mentioned. In
order to break them in gently (by the
way, the correct name for artificially
tape-recorded dialogues like these is
‘authentic materials’), you will have
to use the pause button on the
machine, and stop the conversation
after each speech.
As a matter of fact, there is no
pause button on the machine, and
even if there was, it probably
wouldn’t work. The best way to do
the trick is to turn the thing on and
off at the mains. The power point is
behind the radiator on your right, so
all you have to do is to lie down
under the sink, and reach behind the
radiator with your right hand. On the
whole, it’s better to stay there for the
whole of the phase, rather than
standing up and getting down again,
and it’s not usually very wet. I know I
could use one of the students’
machines, but it’s humiliating to
admit we can’t do any better,
especially as they’re paying so much,
so I pretend that my posture is part
of a New Method.
Finally, Phase Three (by the way,
some of them start having their
saunas around this time – it will be
nothing personal. I usually have a
sheet of blotting paper to protect my
lesson notes, and keep my chalk in
my pocket, as NOTHING IS WORSE
THAN SOGGY CHALK). Phase Three is
the full unexpurgated tape, and the
full unexpurgated timetable.
Well, I hope you enjoy yourself.
They’re really a great bunch, but if
you do have any trouble from any of
them, Mr Ne Win (left back corner) is
always happy to lend me the
enormous sabre-toting eunuch he
keeps under his desk. Mr Win speaks
no English whatsoever, but he will
pass the course with flying colours as
long as this arrangement continues.
Let me know how you get on. I’ll
do the same for you any time,
provided you don’t leave anything
nuclear bubbling on the Bunsen!
Cheers,
Pete
Peter Wells has taught
English for over 40 years
in Africa, Asia, England
and the Middle East.
He and his wife are
currently Assistant
Professors at Kansai
Gaidai University, Japan.
Peter’s interests include
assessment, extensive
reading, discourse
analysis and EAP.
pandmwells@hotmail.com
 TEACHER DEVELOPMENT
See you at the
coffee stand!
Darren Elliott considers how to get the most out of conferences.
C
onferences are a fantastic way to
get out of a rut, to blow away
the cobwebs, to come into
contact with new ideas and new people,
and to find new approaches to old
problems. For those of you in the UK,
and possibly beyond, the IATEFL April
conference is likely to be one of the
major events in your professional
calendar. However, this isn’t the only
conference; there are many other
significant opportunities to get involved
with people in our fields throughout the
year and across the world.
The larger conferences, in particular,
can be quite daunting for the first timer
– and also exhausting. Here are a few
ways in which you can maximise the
benefits.
Wear good shoes
Being comfortable will help you
concentrate. A good bag is also very
important. You will want access to pen
and paper, the conference programme
and, possibly, a bottle of water and some
nibbles. You will also need somewhere to
put the various handouts, flyers and other
materials you accumulate throughout
the day. Many conferences give out bags
at registration, which can be useful as
long as you decant some of the
advertising material to a locker or hotel
room for later, more leisurely, perusal.
Plan ahead
Most medium-to-large conferences will
have several plenary sessions, and will
then split into smaller seminars or
workshops held in different rooms.
There can be some tough choices to be
made in deciding which to attend, so it
is better to think about it in advance.
Going through the programme, making
a note of the times and room numbers
of the presentations you really want to
• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 59 November 2008 •
see and slipping this note into your
pocket can save time later.
Be flexible
Just because you went through the
programme with a highlighter on the
first morning and noted down your
personal schedule, it doesn’t mean you
have to stick to your original plan. You
might have your interest piqued in one
presentation, which then leads your
thoughts in a different direction. You
may hear especially good things about
one presenter. You could fall in with a
group of interesting colleagues who
suggest a change of tack. Remember,
you didn’t carve your timetable on a
tablet of stone; you just jotted it down
on a piece of paper.
Take a break
Seeing seven presentations in a row for
three days straight is not especially
conducive to reflection and development.
Have a coffee with the nice person you
met in the last session, and have a chat
about what you heard. After all, meeting
people with different perspectives and
experiences is one of the benefits of
attending conferences. Having a look
around the publishers’ exhibition area
can be advantageous, too – you can
pick up free samples of textbooks and
promotional gifts, such as pens. The
books which are on sale are sometimes
discounted at the end of the conference
so the sales staff don’t have to box them
up and take them all home again, so it
is worth paying a visit to the exhibition
towards the end of the final day.
Be sociable
Get out and about – see a new place and
meet new people. Many old hands enjoy
conferences mainly for the prospect of
meeting up with colleagues they only see
once or twice a year. Don’t be afraid to
strike up a conversation with the person
next to you. Also, I always think it is
considerate to go up and say a quick
‘thank you’ to the presenter after a session.
Try something different
Rather than seeing a series of
presentations in only one or two fields
of interest, a conference is an
opportunity to open your horizons to
something that you don’t usually
approach with enthusiasm. Not usually
thrilled by corpus linguistics? Maybe
this might be the time to re-evaluate.
Something I’ve discovered is this: if
you hear someone is a good presenter
you should go and see them – no matter
what they are presenting on. Ask your
colleagues if they have seen anyone
particularly interesting; most veteran
conference goers will have a list of
names not to miss (and maybe one or
two to avoid – but let’s not go there!).
After the conference
You will probably return from the
conference laden with papers, ideas and
energy. The general reinvigorating nature
of a conference visit is in itself a
wonderful reason to go, but if you don’t
want the feeling to peter out, you need to
manage what you have learnt carefully
and realistically. Look at your own
context and consider what will actually fit.
Make a detailed plan of how you would
like to implement change, either in your
own classroom or institutionally. Like the
sarong you bought on holiday in Bali,
what seems marvellous at a conference
may simply not work when you get back
home. But if you are pragmatic, you
should be able to implement the good
ideas and develop as a teacher.
###
I hope these suggestions help you to get
the most out of the next conference you
attend. And if you see me at the free
coffee stand, please say hello! ETp
Darren Elliott has been
teaching English since
1999 and has taught and
trained teachers in the
UK and Japan. He is
currently working at
Nanzan University in
Nagoya, Japan. His main
interests are teacher
development and
learner autonomy.
darrenrelliott@yahoo.co.uk
49
 Eye on the A regular series by John Hughes,
with practical ideas for observing teachers

classroom in the classroom and an observation sheet to

photocopy and use straight away.

3 Observation by checklist
( Fulfilling criteria
Anyone who has taken a formal teaching
qualification with assessed teaching
practice will recall the stress of having an
assessor at the back of the class, ticking
and scoring a set of criteria. Alternatively,
you might have had visits from your
director of studies to check up on how
your lessons are going. They will probably
have had a form with a set of criteria that
might have looked something like this:
(1 = excellent, 2 = good, 3 = satisfactory,
4 = not satisfactory)
The lesson ...
The danger with such forms is that this
kind of ‘observation by checklist’ presents
teachers with a set of hoops through which
to jump; you’re teaching to suit the score
sheet rather than teaching the students. It’s
even possible to be able to leave a training
course or a classroom with the feeling that
you can ‘do’ all these things on the
checklist and yet you still have a long way
to go – teaching is so much more complex
than our assessment forms might suggest.
Observation for assessment
and development
Score Having said all that, observation for
example, effective classroom management.
This process of pre-observation discussion
also helps to demystify observation for
assessment and gives a sense of teacher
and observer working together.
An observation checklist
However, checklist observations don’t
have to be purely evaluative. They can
also be highly developmental. For even
greater joint-ownership in the process, you
can use them for peer observation. There
is an example form on page 51 which you
can copy and use with another teacher. It
bases the observation on five criteria.

had clear aims and objectives.
...................................................................
had clear sub-aims.
...................................................................
had a variety of relevant activities.
...................................................................
had logical staging and progression. ___
...................................................................
fitted into the context of others
lessons (before/after).
...................................................................
The teacher ...
achieved their stated aims.
...................................................................
was well prepared for the lesson.
...................................................................
used clear boardwork.
...................................................................
had a good rapport with the students. ___
...................................................................
dealt with errors appropriately.
...................................................................
managed the class effectively.
...................................................................
responded to individual needs.
...................................................................
used a variety of interaction patterns. ___
...................................................................
___ assessment can be beneficial when used
Agreeing the criteria
alongside other criteria for measuring the
The observer and teacher meet before the
success of a whole school. (For example,
lesson, discuss what the five criteria will be
___ British Council validation includes many
and write them on the form. If the observer
other forms of assessment when it
is experienced or has observed the teacher
___ assesses schools – not just teacher
before, then some criteria should be at the
assessment.) Similarly, the teacher trainer
prompting of the observer. However, the
or director of studies using a score sheet
teacher should also think about areas they
type form can also make the process
wish to work on or focus on with a
developmental as well as an assessment.
particular class or type of lesson. Here is
( Less is more an example of five criteria developed by a
___ First of all, it’s important to consider how teacher and observer before a lesson. The
the form is designed and used. One tip is teacher wants to focus on presenting a
to keep this kind of observation form to a new grammar item:
page, if possible, and certainly not more
___ than two pages at most. One reason is Agreed criteria
that an observer will find it hard to observe 1 The teacher engages the students
whilst at the same time trying to find the with an interesting lead-in.
___
relevant criteria on pages 3, 4 or 5! Then,
2 The teacher elicits the target
when you come to give feedback, the
___ process will become bogged down in language point from the lead-in task.
paperwork and a system of scoring which 3 The teacher uses concept questions
can often fail to reach the heart of what effectively to check understanding.
really mattered in the lesson.
4 The teacher provides a variety of
( Transparency relevant practice activities after the
___
There’s also the issue of whether teachers clarification stage.
see the criteria by which they are
5 The teacher uses clear instructions,
___ measured. Even if they are allowed to see
which include demonstrating a task
the form before teaching (which you would
as well as explaining it.
hope they would do), it might not be
___
transparent. It is worth having a meeting
with a teacher or group of teachers to study This example shows how this kind of
the form and discuss exactly what each observation can work at a very detailed
criterion really means. This allows time for step-by-step level, as well as taking a
everyone to agree on what is meant by, for broader, global view of the lesson.

50 • Issue 59 November 2008 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •

Criteria can also be very personal to the
individual lesson. Imagine, for example,
that a teacher wonders if they are
responding fully to all the students.
Perhaps there are two students who are
always sidelined by more demanding
members of the class. In this case one of
the criteria could read, The teacher
responds to individual needs with
particular attention paid to Raul and Sonia.
Defining your scores
Once the criteria have been defined on the
form, the system of scoring can also be
defined. In the section entitled Definition of
scores, the observer and teacher decide
on what 1 to 4 mean and write this in.
They might decide that a standard system
such as 1 = excellent, 2 = good, 3 =
satisfactory, 4 = not satisfactory is fine.
However, you can also define scores with
a description like this:
1 = You did this really well and there’s
nothing to worry about.
2 = This was fairly good, but let’s keep
working on it.
3 = This was OK, but let’s keep this
criterion for the next observation.
4 = Let’s do some work on this outside
of the lesson.
With the criteria and scoring system
agreed and written on the form, the
teacher and observer are ready for the
class. The observer scores the criteria and
also makes comments at the bottom of
the page, which should give further details
on the reasons for the scores.
After the observation
After the lesson, teacher and observer
meet to discuss the criteria. (Teachers
could also score themselves before such a
meeting, based on what they thought of
the lesson.) At the end of the feedback
session, they draw up another set of
criteria for the next observation using a
similar form. If the teacher has scored 1
(high) then they can probably leave out
this criterion and put in a new one. Any
criteria that scored 3 or 4 (low) probably
need to remain on the next form. In this
way, the teacher sees a clear progression
from one observation to the next and the
checklist approach becomes a motivating
developmental tool, instead of an ordeal
by assessment.
John Hughes is a freelance
teacher, trainer and author.
He has worked in Austria,
Poland, Italy, Malta and the
UK. He currently lives and
works in the USA.
jhnhghs@msn.com

Observation checklist
Teacher: _________________________________________________ Date/time of lesson: ____________________________________________

Observer: ________________________________________________ Details of class: ________________________________________________

Agreed criteria: Score

1 _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________

2 _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________

3 _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________

4 _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________

5 _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________

Definition of scores:
1 = _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2 = _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3 = _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

4 = _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Comments and explanation of scores for criteria 1–5:

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 59 November 2008 • 51

 T E C H N O L O G Y
Wicked
wikis
T
Margaret Horrigan here is just something about
the internet that attracts. Let’s
wends her way through a face it, there is surely not an
individual among us who can
wonderful world. claim never to have surfed the net at
least once in their life. The internet
opens doors, it both educates and
belittles. The cocktail is intoxicating! So,
just imagine for one moment that you
have the ability to create your own site –
a site that you can have up and working
in a couple of hours at the most; a site
where your students can access
handouts, videos, PowerPoint
presentations, mp3 recordings, etc, all
from their home. Imagine the potential!
First things first, however. How do
you get this site up and running?
Getting started
A wikispace is a type of site that enables
the creator and designated ‘members’ to
upload files in most formats. This is
great news for teachers because it gives
you the opportunity to have all your
teaching materials online. In order to
create a wikispace, you must first create
a space. All you need to do this is go to
www.wikispaces.com and follow the
instructions. (I have created a wikispace
for this article, which is available at:
http://eflwikiworld.wikispaces.com. It
took me only ten seconds to do this.)
Editing your wikispace
In the top left-hand corner, you will see
a link labelled Manage Space. Once you
have clicked on this link, you will be
provided with a list of options. I would
advise going to the Look and Feel
option first. This is where you can set
52 • Issue 59 November 2008 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •
the colours of the text, background and
links. You can also upload a logo or
picture to be shown on all the pages.
You may have to modify the logo or
picture you want to upload as it must
be 150 x 150 pixels or smaller. The logo
or picture is automatically embedded
with a link to return to the homepage of
your wiki. Now you are ready to
personalise the space.
Creating your pages
Click on the picture or logo you have
uploaded and you are ready to go. At the
top, you should find a button labelled
Edit This Page. This is your homepage,
so think about what you want to say,
who you are saying it to, and how you
are going to say it. You can add as many
new pages as you need by clicking on
the New Page link below your logo or
picture. The Edit This Page option works
in exactly the same way for every page
you create. Remember that the more
pages you create, the more links you
may need to create to access these
pages. I say may, as you might want to
A wikispace is
a type of site that
enables the creator
and designated
‘members’ to upload
files in most formats
consider rotating pages – this simply
means that as a course develops, you
may activate or deactivate links to pages
in order to keep the space fresh and
keep the visitors coming back for more.
Creating links
Under the Home link, you will see
another link called edit navigation. This
is basically where you go to create your
perennial menu. This is what visitors
will see and will use to move within the
site. If you click on the edit navigation
link, you will be presented with a page
where you can type in the titles to the
pages that you want to be visible and
accessible all the time. Once you have
created these pages, decide which of
them you want your visitors to have
access to. Highlight the title you want to
link to a specific page, go to the toolbar
 Wicked
wikis
!!!
What now?
A wikispace has an enormous number of
practical applications. The old student
language lab, study centre or self-access
centre is really no longer needed. If
students can access tasks set by their
institution online, this means that the
only use of such physical spaces within a
school is for exam practice which involves
listening. Most other material for exams
is available online. Wikis are especially
useful if you are teaching private lessons
– you can create your own online
language laboratory or study centre.
Students who are absent from lessons
can easily catch up with lessons they
have missed if the teacher has created a
wikispace. It may not be ideal that
students are absent, but as educators we
want them to learn regardless. And
surely, facilitating busy people in the
real world by making lessons accessible
online can’t be bad for business either.
The students who do come to class
are provided with study options which
broaden their contact with English.
Videos allow them to hear other accents,
expose them to different cultures and
often provide some humour.
What next?
Here are just a few ideas for things
which can be done with a wiki.
Quizzes
In order to get the students familiar
with the wikispace, you could post an
initial quiz which students complete and
bring to class. The quiz content should
be based solely on where to go and what
to do, in the context of your wikispace.
Once you have created your basic quiz,
it can be used with all your classes.
Listening
Some of the tasks I set my students are to
watch a video and post a comment,
which they then print out and keep. The
higher the level, the more interaction
between students occurs, as they post
their comments and read other people’s.
This is what many young people are
spending their free time doing, so why not
harness it for the language classroom?
A short video or audio segment can
54 • Issue 59 November 2008 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •
be used as a dictation. The teacher
doesn’t need to insist on an exact
transcription of what was heard, though ENGLISH
Tprofessional
EACHING
perhaps there should be an insistence on
correct grammar and spelling. This type
of task is excellent for university
students or business classes, where
attending meetings or lectures and This is your magazine.
taking copious notes is the norm. We want to hear from you!
Reading
Upload any text you have found which
can be used legally and for free, and set $
a task on the page where the file is
uploaded. You could even set up a
IT WORKS IN PRACTICE
jigsaw reading task. Just remember to Do you have ideas you’d like to share
make the instructions clear. with colleagues around the world?
Tips, techniques and activities;
Presentations simple or sophisticated; well-tried
Upload a PowerPoint presentation and, or innovative; something that has
as a homework task, get the students to
worked well for you? All published
write a summary of it. Getting students
contributions receive a prize!
to expand on notes is the basic task here.
Write to us or email:
Considerations iwip@etprofessional.com
I find it best to upload text documents
in pdf format, but this may simply be a
personal preference. You can make any TALKBACK!
Word document into a pdf by going to Do you have something to say about
www.pdfonline.com/convert_pdf.asp. an article in the current issue of ETp?
However, do remember to check that This is your magazine and we would
what you are uploading from another
really like to hear from you.
source is not protected by copyright. I
Write to us or email:
generally use the rule of thumb that if the
material is from a reputable site you can talkback@etprofessional.com
use it. A disclaimer can often help here.
This basically states that any material
which you have uploaded will be removed Writing for ETp
if you have broken any copyright laws Would you like to write for ETp? We are
and are duly notified of this. always interested in new writers and
fresh ideas. For guidelines and advice,
###
write to us or email:
Wikispaces are certainly teacher- and
student-friendly. The feedback I have had editor@etprofessional.com
on the spaces I have created has always
been positive. Now let’s hear your ideas!
Simply go to the wiki which was created
Visit the
for this article and post whatever ideas ETp website!
and comments you can. Remember, the The ETp website is packed with practical
link is http://eflwikiworld.wikispaces.com. tips, advice, resources, information and
On this wiki, you will find a few tasks selected articles. You can submit tips
which I have already set for you to do. ETp or articles, renew your subscription
Margaret Horrigan is or simply browse the features.
a DELTA, CELTA and
CELTYL trainer and a www.etprofessional.com
teacher of EAP courses
at the LUISS University
in Rome, Italy. She
holds an MA in applied ENGLISH TEACHING professional
linguistics and is Keyways Publishing Ltd, PO Box 100,
currently the head of
teacher training at Chichester, West Sussex, PO18 8HD, UK
International House Fax: +44 (0)1243 576456
Rome.
Email: info@etprofessional.com
hollymarg@gmail.com
 T E C H N O L O G Y
Using
WebQuests
A
Carina Grisolía spins WebQuest, as defined by the
originator of the activity,
some internet activities for Bernie Dodge, is ‘an inquiry-
oriented activity in which
her students. some or all of the information that
learners interact with comes from
resources on the Internet’. Essentially,
students are given a task or series of
tasks to do, which requires them to
collect information from different
internet websites and process and
organise this information in order to
create a final product. This could be
anything from the answers to a list of
Phillip Burrows
• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 59 November 2008 •
questions to an essay. Dodge developed
the activity in 1995 and it has since
become popular with teachers in many
different disciplines. So what is the
structure of a good WebQuest, how
useful is this type of activity in the
language classroom, and is it feasible to
create your own?
The instructions need
to identify clearly the
steps the students
should go through in
order to accomplish
the final task
The structure
Introduction
A good WebQuest will begin with an
introduction, which motivates the
students, introduces the topic, sets the
stage for the whole activity and provides
any necessary background information.
Instructions
The students have to be told what the
end result of the WebQuest will be,
what task they must perform and what
their end product should be. The
instructions, therefore, need to identify
clearly the steps the students should go
through in order to accomplish the final
task and should provide scaffolding for
organising the information gathered
during the activity. !!!
55
 Using
WebQuests
!!! Resources
A clear list of the online resources the
students will need to access in order to
perform the task needs to be provided.
Given that websites often disappear, the
teacher needs to check before the
WebQuest begins that all the sites
required are still current.
Evaluation
Students should be told in advance how
their performance on the WebQuest will
be evaluated.
Conclusion
A final summary should set out what
the students have accomplished by
completing the WebQuest. This may
also provide information on additional
opportunities for extending the activity
or doing further reading or research.
The benefits
Here are some of the advantages of
using WebQuests with language students.
● WebQuests are extremely motivational
as students are always keen to use the
internet.
● They are beneficial from a pedagogical
point of view because they are
challenging and they require students
to be autonomous and to take an
active role in the learning process.
● WebQuests involve exposure to a
variety of forms of input, the use of a
wide range of strategies to process
language and content, and the
requirement to produce an end
product.
● They promote interdisciplinary work
as the content may come from other
areas of the curriculum.
● They are practical activities, which
provide students with situations in
which real-life skills can be exploited:
something may need to be created, a
problem may have to be solved, an
issue may have to be debated,
collaboration and negotiation with
other members of a group may be
required, etc.
● WebQuests are a good use of time
and resources and encourage good
56 • Issue 59 November 2008 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •
organisation and presentation of
work.
● They generally involve groupwork,
which promotes teamwork and
cooperation with others. This helps to
generate a good atmosphere in the
classroom.
● They are good for the development of
cognitive processes; students have to
analyse, organise, compare, deduce
and transform information in order
to create something new.
● They can be used to teach reading
strategies and to promote the
development of reading comprehension.
A WebQuest model developed by María
Isabel Pérez Torres finds a correlation
between current approaches to teaching
reading strategies and comprehension
and WebQuests, as WebQuests provide
for the different stages of the reading
process, with pre-reading, while-reading
and post-reading activities. We might
equate the introduction and the task-
planning stage of the WebQuest to the
pre-reading stage; the consulting of the
web resources to the reading stage,
and the completion of the WebQuest
task and the evaluation and
conclusion to the post-reading stage.
● They provide opportunities for
vocabulary acquisition, both as the
students look for the relevant
information to perform the task and
through any explicit lexical tasks which
may be set by the teacher. (Isabel Pérez
Torres suggests the inclusion of
reading and vocabulary workshops
within the structure of the WebQuest
to ensure that reading and vocabulary
skill acquisition is maximised.)
● They enable students to engage with
authentic material and meaningful
content in the target language.
Designing your own
WebQuest
There are plenty of ready-made
WebQuests available, which teachers can
use. Simply type WebQuest into any
search engine and you will find a list of
them. However, many teachers prefer to
design their own in order to make them
relevant to their students’ interests and
abilities. There are several factors which
you need to bear in mind if you decide
to produce your own WebQuest:
● the age, level, and linguistic ability of
the students
● the vocabulary which will be needed
to complete the task
● the teaching context into which the
WebQuest is to fit
● the strategies to be practised
● the genre of the texts to be used
● the content
● the linguistic and non-linguistic
objectives
● the available web resources.
It isn’t necessary to be a webpage
designer in order to create a WebQuest
as there are several sites that will help
you do this by following a series of easy
steps. Try http://webquest.org/index.php
or www.a-virtual.net/wq. Before you
begin, however, it is important to decide
on the following:
● the WebQuest topic
● the task you want your students to
perform
● the process you want them to go
through to accomplish the task
● the resources you want them to use
● the method of evaluation that you
wish to employ.
###
In my experience, WebQuests are good
for stimulating the students’ motivation
and they enjoy them because they are
fun to do. They provide a high level of
interaction and foster learner autonomy.
They also boost reading comprehension
and vocabulary acquisition
development. ETp
Dodge, B ‘Some thoughts about
WebQuests’
http://webquest.sdsu.edu/about_
webquests.html
Pérez Torres, M I Diseño de WebQuests
para la Enseñanza-Aprendizaje del Inglés
como Lengua Extranjera: Aplicaciones en
la Adquisición del Vocabulario y la
Destreza Lectora Editorial de la
Universidad de Granada 2006
Carina Grisolía has wide
experience of teaching
English at primary,
secondary and tertiary
levels in Argentina. She
also runs workshops for
teachers and teacher-
training courses and
has published several
articles related to
English language
teaching and learning.
etr14ingles@gmail.com
Webwatcher
Web
YouTube is overlooked by many teachers, who think it is just a
site for younger people to upload their weird and wacky videos.
In part this is true, but it is also the repository of an enormous
collection of varied and fascinating videos, many of which can
be incredibly useful to teachers.
Teaching presentations
There are some superb example presentations on YouTube,
which you can show to your students as both good and bad
models.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXILI9Q1jIw
In a recent lesson, I got the students to watch this video a
couple of times and then to work in groups and discuss all the
things the presenter did wrong. It created some laughs and a
useful list of what not do to when presenting.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFJg1T2hMk8&feature=related
I put the students in groups to watch this one. (It is broken up
into two parts, showing first a bad and then a good presentation.)
I asked them to make a list of the ways in which the woman had
improved her presentation the second time she gave it. I then put
the students into larger groups so that they could compare their
ideas. Again, it gave them a useful insight into what to do and
what not to do in a presentation.
YouTube tip Key Presentations into the YouTube search
engine, and you will be amazed just how much there is.
Interviewing stars
It is nice for students to listen to interviews with people they
know and are interested in, especially when you are working
with younger students. YouTube has an incredible number of
interviews with pop stars, actors and people from the world of
entertainment. If you want something more serious, try searching
for interviews with politicians or writers.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilWLk9T9e-k
This is a typical chat show interview with pop star Rihanna. I got
the students to listen to the interview and then make their own
comprehension questions. YouTube allows me to access right-
up-to-date artists and interviews. Try searching for a few artists
and you will be very surprised what you can find. I have used
interviews with Madonna, Tom Cruise (talking about
Scientology), Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and Jennifer Lopez.
YouTube tip Key the name of any fairly well-known person
into the YouTube search engine, followed by the word
interview. Then click on search.
Helping your students with their exams
If you want to give your students some tips for their exams, then
YouTube can definitely help. Try keying in IELTS or TOEFL. It is
surprising just how much material there is available.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=56WFNiQBOb8
What about this for starters? It is just one of many example
interviews from the IELTS interview section. It provides a superb
resource for helping the students really understand the oral
exam and what questions they might be asked.
• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 59 November 2008 •
Russell Stannard goes down the
tube and gets inundated with good material.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJg138YlwvA&feature=related
The help offered by YouTube goes further than an oral exam.
There are also lots of videos giving tips on all parts of the
exams. Try this video to watch and listen to a woman giving tips
on the TOEFL exam.
Experiencing live lectures
When I teach on EAP courses, I like to give the students the
chance to experience what a live lecture is going to be like when
they study at university. There are many examples of live
lectures on YouTube. You can use the videos to get the students
to listen and take notes.
YouTube tip Key Lectures in [subject] into the search
engine. You will find a large number of different topics and
an incredible range of lectures.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=tc8Asv7EK9c
I used this lecture/discussion just this week, as it is very topical.
It deals with the credit crunch and was excellent for my
economics students who are on an EAP course.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2VxreFE-Gc
In this lecture a teacher talks about how to approach a Masters
or PhD dissertation. It is great because students get a taster of
what a university lecture might be like in English, and, at the
same time, learn about writing a dissertation.
Teaching methodologies and ideas
Recently a reader contacted me and asked me for good material
for learning about teaching methodologies. I did a few searches
on YouTube and couldn’t believe what I found! There are talks
given by many writers, like Scott Thornbury, Adrian Underhill and
Jeremy Harmer, and loads of material on communicative
language teaching, pronunciation, grammar, Suggestopedia,
language games, etc. In fact, I was completely inundated with
material and it is going to take me years to get through it!
Teaching grammar
www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtwDhKso2No&feature=related
Suggestopedia
www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXaRZQmtwSY
Scott Thornbury on repetition
www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzGhw8NOcrI
Day in the life of an ELT teacher in China
www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxdGYlK9leY
Training tip For more ideas about YouTube and more in-
depth information about loading your own content, try out
my training video: http://trainingvideos.hscs.wmin.ac.uk/
youTube/index.html
Russell Stannard is a principal lecturer at the
University of Westminster, UK, where he teaches
using technology on multimedia and TESOL courses.
He also runs www.teachertrainingvideos.com, a
website that trains English teachers to use technology.
Keep sending your favourite sites to Russell:
russellstannard@btinternet.com
57
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 In this column Rose Senior explains why certain teaching techniques and
class management strategies are effective, and identifies specific issues that can assist
all language teachers in improving the quality of their teaching.

Norman’s hat
I
n this issue of ETp I’d like to do
something slightly different: tell you
about a particular student I taught a few
years ago. As teachers, we all have vivid
memories of the classroom behaviour of
certain individuals – particularly when those
students have played on our emotions by
irritating, challenging, frustrating or
amusing us. Norman (not his real name)
was different: a model student who kept
himself to himself and did not cause any
trouble at all. Why do I remember him?
Because of his change of hat – and heart.
The class was composed
of 19 students enrolled in a
As teachers, we all anyone would like to share any
15-week pre-university have vivid memories personal experience of not being on the following day, my eyes went
intensive academic English
programme. My job was to
of the classroom waited for a few moments.
teach academic study skills. behaviour of certain Eventually one student slowly
The class contained students
from ten different countries,
individuals
spread across four continents: the People’s
Republic of China, Hong Kong, Indonesia,
Thailand, Korea, Italy, El Salvador, Sierra
Leone, Liberia and Ethiopia. Norman was
from Africa.
On the first day of term I noticed him
sitting at the back of the class. A tall,
handsome young man with gleaming black
skin, he sat, head bent and shoulders
hunched. He wore a faded sunhat with a
floppy brim that hid his eyes from view. He
appeared chronically shy and, if ever I
required the class to swap seats for
speaking tasks, he would scuttle back to
his familiar seat as soon as he could. Every
day he came to class wearing the same
battered old hat, which appeared to offer
him protection, not only from other class
members but also from me (since I was
unable to establish eye-contact with him).
Adhering to one of the principles of
class-centred teaching, that of balance, I
did my best to make the class into a
metaphorical ‘level playing field’ in which
everyone was equal. I made a point of
praising low-key students. I let it be known
when self-effacing students did better in
mini-tests than higher-profile students. I
read out examples of good work from a
range of class members. I tried to be
inclusive in everything that I did so that no
one would feel left out. But despite my
best efforts, Norman remained isolated
from the rest of the class.
One day, approximately two thirds of
the way through the course, Norman did
something that ended his self-imposed
isolation. The class had just listened to an
audio-taped recording about Australia being
a multicultural country that welcomed
newcomers. By this point in the course, I
had got to know the class and judged that
we trusted each other enough for me to
take a slight risk. I asked if
made welcome in Australia. I
raised his hand. It was Norman.
Would he like to share his story
with the class? Yes, he would.
One day, Norman had boarded a
crowded bus and had sat down next to an
elderly Australian, who had turned to him
and said, ‘You blacks should go back to
Africa where you belong!’ ‘Really?’ said
Norman, who was a scholarship student
intent on returning home after
completing his studies. ‘Australia
I sensed that they
belongs to Australians, not were behind me as I of the class. He
foreigners!’ continued the man.
‘You were born in Australia,
praised Norman for his volunteered
then?’ inquired Norman. ‘No,’ polite, controlled and I asked the class and
admitted the man, ‘I was born in
Northern Ireland.’ ‘Oh, so you are
appropriate responses behaved
a migrant,’ said Norman quietly. ‘All
countries in Africa are at war,’ continued
the man, ‘and they have civil wars too –
using knives as weapons!’ ‘That is
interesting,’ said Norman, who had a good
knowledge of European history. ‘I
understand that your own country is only
now at peace after many years of civil war.
And I did not know that knives were any
worse than bombs at killing innocent
people.’ The man replied lamely to this
statement and the conversation ended.
Norman had made his point.
The rest of the class listened intently as
Norman recounted how he had replied to
the racist comments of the man on the
bus, and I sensed that they were behind
me as I praised Norman for his polite,
controlled and appropriate responses.
Perhaps other students in the class had
had experiences similar to Norman’s, but
had not known whether or how to respond.
This being the case, Norman had shown
them one way of dealing with the situation.
When we teachers enter our
classrooms, we tend to let our eyes sweep
across the room – subconsciously on the
look-out either for the usual troublemakers,
or for students about whom we are worried
or curious. When I entered the classroom
immediately to the back of the room in
search of Norman. He wasn’t there. Then
my eyes drifted towards the front of the
room, where I noticed two students deeply
engrossed in conversation. One of them
was a Chinese boy and the other one was
– or was it? – Norman. I had to look twice
because Norman had replaced his battered
sunhat with a brightly-coloured baseball
cap, which he wore fashionably reversed,
with the peak at the back.
For the remainder of the course,
Norman entered more
fully into the collective life
answers to
the general questions that
in more
extroverted ways. He sat
in different seats on different days and
soon had a small circle of friends. Most
significantly of all, Norman continued to
wear his baseball cap – an object that
appeared to be symbolic of his new-found
confidence. And he would look me in the
eye whenever I addressed him. ETp
Rose Senior is a conference presenter
and teacher educator. She is the author
of The Experience of Language Teaching,
published by Cambridge University Press.
www.rosesenior.com

• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 59 November 2008 • 59

 Prize crossword 32
ETp presents the thirty-second in our series of prize
crosswords, and this one, again, has a very different
format. Try it … and maybe win a prize! Once you
have done it successfully, let your students have a go.
Send your entry (not forgetting to include your
full name, postal address and telephone number) to
Prize crossword 32, ENGLISH TEACHING professional,
Keyways Publishing, PO Box 100, Chichester, West Sussex,
PO18 8HD, UK. Ten correct entries will be drawn from a hat
on 10 January 2009 and the senders will each receive a
copy of the second edition of the Macmillan English
Dictionary for Advanced Learners, applauded for its unique
red star system showing the frequency of the 7,500 most
common words in English.

13 8 23 22 22 16 13 20 23 15 8 20 13 10 11 16 13 20 4 11 26 1 23 9 1

’
23 4 5 10 3 26 3 19 20 23 22 2 26 20 1 18 10 26 23 22 20

’
19 20 23 22 2 26 20 17 26 11 11 18 23 6 11 14 20 17 10 20 26 20 23 13 10 11

20 26 20 20 26 2 8 12 11 26 1 16 9 23 26 21 19 20 9
.
8 11 1 15 20 22 10 23 19 18 11 11 William Wordsworth, Resolution and Independence
M P O
25 20 20 1
VERY FREQUENT WORDS ** To burst with a lot of force and with
18 16 13 7 20 1 6 26 16 1 15 20 *** A large number of soldiers a loud noise
*** An official document that gives ** To press something firmly with your
11 11 12 20 someone permission to do or use hands
something ** To produce something useful, such
14 11 8 13 23 9 11 24 2 16 13 21 *** A number of different things that are as information or evidence
of the same general type FAIRLY FREQUENT WORDS
20 11 26 11 20 9 16 *** A prize that is given to someone who * A large bird that kills other birds and
has achieved something animals for food
26 23 9 15 20 8 16 13 20 9 13 20 *** Chosen from a group * A mountain that forces hot gas, rocks,
*** Does not agree to an offer, proposal ash and lava into the air through a hole
17 20 23 20 17 20 8
or request at the top
*** In addition to the usual or expected * An officer of high rank in the army
21 11 8 7 22 1 20 22 16 26 20 1
amount * Arranged so that things or people that
*** Inside or further towards the centre are similar are together in one place
of something * To formally make something, such as
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
*** Particular subjects or types of activity a complaint or a claim
O *** The structure that supports a road,
14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 * Tricked into believing something that
railway, or path that goes over a river, is not true
P M
over another road, etc
*** To find the exact size, amount, LESS FREQUENT WORDS
To solve the puzzle, find which letter each number speed, etc of something, using a – A large animal with a long neck and
special tool or special equipment one or two humps
represents. You can keep a record in the boxes above.
– A liquid that you use for washing your
Three letters are done for you. Start by writing these FREQUENT WORDS hair
letters in the other boxes in the crossword where their ** A situation in which someone does – Good to eat because it contains a lot
numbers appear. The definitions of the words in the puzzle not have enough money to pay for their of liquid
are given, but not in the right order. When you have basic needs – The middle, yellow parts of eggs
finished, you will be able to read the quotation. ** Completely typical – Wanted (like an effect you want to
** Solid food made from milk achieve)

60 • Issue 59 November 2008 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •