Issue 106

September
2016

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The Leading Practical Magazine For English Language Teachers Worldwide

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Hearts and SOLEs

ed
Varinder Unlu

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Teachers and learners
together
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Jenna Williams
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No smoke without fire

Wayne Rimmer
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Running in the family

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Ian Adkins
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• practical methodology

• fresh ideas & innovations

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• classroom resources
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• 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
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Contents MAIN FEATURE BUSINESS ENGLISH PROFESSIONAL

HEARTS AND SOLES 4 TEACHING NEGOTIATION 1 38

Varinder Unlu leaves the students to their own devices David Tedone tackles a difficult but important aspect
of business

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FEATURES
TEACHER DEVELOPMENT

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TEACHERS AND LEARNERS TOGETHER 8
Jenna Williams makes the most of Ma-ori magic NO SMOKE WITHOUT FIRE 48

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Wayne Rimmer takes on teacher burnout
TEACHERS AS LEADERS 11

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Paul Bress thinks it’s time for teachers to take the lead ANYONE FOR QUIRCLING? 50
Pete Clements and Sarah Smith describe how

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SALAAM ALEIKUM 12 Quality circles help their CPD
Mark Fletcher offers help for teachers of
Arabic-speakers SOMEBODY’S WATCHING YOU – AND ME! 53
Clare Fielder promotes two-way peer observation
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CONVERSATION BINGO 16
Jamie Clayton presents a game to set
students speaking
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MAKE YOUR OWN FOUR-PAGE BOOKLETS 18
Stephanie Hirschman folds worksheets into four
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TECHNOLOGY
FEATURING FILM 2 54
Kieran Donaghy has ways of using different genres

CACOETHES SCRIBENDI 27 of short films

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David Greenslade instils in his students the

urge to write FIVE THINGS YOU ALWAYS WANTED 57
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TO KNOW ABOUT: RESEARCH INTO

TECHNOLOGY AND LANGUAGE TEACHING
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THE LLL TECHNIQUE 32

Anna Kamont looks at listening through the prism Nicky Hockly discusses what conclusions, if any,
of the lexical approach research brings
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PREDICTABLE PATTERNS 45 WEBWATCHER 59

Simon Mumford puts the emphasis on the Russell Stannard feasts on the new features of
Academic Word List Google Forms
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TEACHING YOUNG LEARNERS REGULAR FEATURES

INSPIRING IDEAS 20 IT WORKS IN PRACTICE 36

Ben Moorhouse generates writing from realia
REVIEWS 40
RUNNING IN THE FAMILY 22
Ian Adkins suggests a fun dictation SCRAPBOOK 42

PICTURE PUZZLE 60

Includes materials designed to photocopy

• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 106 September 2016 • 1

 Editorial
D
o we need teachers any more, or would our
students be better off studying on their own
with computers? In our main feature, Varinder
Unlu describes an experiment, inspired by
Sugata Mitra’s ‘hole-in-the-wall’ computer method of teaching
improve their practice. They describe their experience of
‘Quality circles’ – or ‘Quircles’ – which encourage teachers to
take responsibility for their own professional development by
forming study groups and working on research projects
together.

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children, in which adult students were left to create their own
Wayne Rimmer looks at the physical and emotional wear and
SOLEs (Self-Organised Learning Environments) and find

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tear that the role of a teacher can bring. His article on burnout
answers to questions via online research.
has some sound advice for the seriously stressed.

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This has led me to choose for this issue some of the other
Finally, in his Scrapbook, Ian Waring Green gives further
articles submitted to ETp recently on the role of the teacher –

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thought to the role of the teacher, and whether books or
with some interesting results.
computers could ever provide a successful substitute for the

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Jenna Williams gives a fascinating account of how primary human interaction between teacher and student. His
education training in New Zealand led her to embrace Ma-ori photocopiable worksheet celebrates the influence that caring
principles of teaching and learning, which highlight the sharing teachers, often unknowingly, can have on their students.
of personal information and view the role of both teacher and
students as one of teaching and learning together.
an
Paul Bress, on the other hand, calls for teachers to take a
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leadership role. He maintains that direction and purpose from

a teacher who is clearly in charge is what students crave.
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Pete Clements and Sarah Smith work in an institution that Helena Gomm
Editor
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encourages its teachers to explore their roles through

helena.gomm@pavpub.com
in-service teacher training and to undertake action research to
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Rayford House, School Road, Hove BN3 5HX, UK

Tel: +44 (0)1273 434943 Email: info@etprofessional.com

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Editor: Helena Gomm Published by: Pavilion Publishing and Media Ltd,
Rayford House, School Road, Hove BN3 5HX
Editorial Consultant: Mike Burghall
© 2016, Pavilion Publishing and Media Ltd
Designer: Christine Cox
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2 • Issue 106 September 2016 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •

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Support
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your students
to realise
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their goal
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IELTS resources
for teachers
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• Download classroom activities, skills

development, tips and sample papers
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• Sample writing scripts and speaking

interviews with examiner comments
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• A full IELTS test for reading and

writing with CD and answer keys
• IELTS Scores Guide and DVD &
Official Practice Materials available
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IELTS Australia and Cambridge English Language Assessment
Hearts and
M A I N F E AT U R E

SOLEs
I dM
Varinder Unlu pilots a
course in Self-Organised
Learning Environments with
a group of adult students.
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n April 2014, at the IATEFL in parts of the world where education
conference in Harrogate, the is not available?
closing plenary was given by
One of the things that Professor Mitra
Professor Sugata Mitra. It was
talked about was SOLEs (Self-Organised
an
titled ‘The future of learning’, and it
Learning Environments). The concept is
was about his research into minimally
quite simple. You have a class or group
invasive teaching. This research began in
of learners in an environment which
the villages and urban slums of India
ing

does not resemble a classroom. You give

when Mitra installed an internet-
them some computers to share and ask
connected computer in a hole in the wall
them a ‘big question’. The learners are
that separated his office from a city slum
not given any instructions on how to
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and waited to see what would happen.

answer the question; they are only told
With no previous experience, no
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that they need to find the answer and

knowledge of English and no explicit
then present their findings at the end.
instruction, the children from the slum
They have to self-organise into groups
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soon learnt to browse the internet. Mitra

or pairs, and the teacher can either sit at
has since been developing his ‘hole-in-
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the back of the room or leave for the

the-wall’ computer method with
duration of the research element, only
schoolchildren around the world.
to return when the students give their
presentations.
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Controversy Mitra’s plenary split opinion in the

Mitra’s IATEFL plenary was a audience, with half storming out at the
controversial one, as there was a end and taking to their blogs and
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suggestion that teachers may become Twitter to vent their dissatisfaction and
obsolete in the future. However, that was anger, and the other half still in the
just one part of his talk. There were auditorium on their feet, giving the
Pa

many other interesting and important speaker a standing ovation.

issues raised. For example:
Is education preparing our children
for the future?
How can we change the way we do
things in schools in order to help our
learners become more autonomous
and independent?
What is the role of the teacher?
How can we provide good education
Inspiration
The three things I took away from
Professor Mitra’s talk were these:
1 Good education (including good
teachers) should be available for all
– no matter where you live in the world.
2 Teaching conditions should be good,
even in the remotest and most
deprived parts of the world.

4 • Issue 106 September 2016 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •

3 Teaching methods and approaches
need to change to reflect the ever-
changing world we live in. Everything
around has changed, but our schools
are still stuck in the 1900s. We’re not
preparing our children with the right
kind of skills/education that they need
to survive in today’s world.
With so many people against Mitra’s
ideas, and many suggesting that there
was a neo-liberal, anti-teacher agenda
being set, I became increasingly intrigued
and interested in finding out more about
his work. In the 25 years I have been
working in ELT, I have observed a lot of
teaching – some so good that it has
brought tears of joy to my eyes, and
some so bad that I have wanted to
apologise to the students afterwards for
putting them through such torture. And
of course, there’s the ‘it’s not me, it’s the
students who don’t know how to learn’
scenario. How does the old adage go? A
bad tradesman always blames his tools.
In the same way, bad teachers always
blame their students.
Questions
So can SOLEs work with adult language
learners? Does the teacher need to be
ever present and visible to the learners for
them to learn effectively? How are we, as
teachers, preparing our learners for the
future? Are our students’ needs and
motivations the same today as they were
30 years ago or even 20 years ago? Do all
students really need to be proficiency
level to be able to communicate
effectively with each other? Is it true that
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native speakers are becoming less efficient
at communication in the business world
because non-native speakers of English
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have developed their own ways of
expressing themselves to each other? Is a
bad teacher better than no teacher at all?
With all these questions, and many
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more, in mind, I suggested to Professor
Mitra and his SOLEs team that we try
his method with language learners. We
Pa
decided to put together a SOLEs pilot at
International House, London. This had
to be handled very carefully and
sensitively. Our teachers are highly
experienced, motivated and innovative,
and most are CELTA and DELTA
teacher trainers. By setting up this pilot,
was I suggesting that I supported a
teacher-less classroom? A meeting
between Sugata Mitra, James Stanfield
(one of the other professors at SOLE
Central who would be working with me
• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 106 September 2016 •
on this pilot), the teachers and the
school director was set up to answer
questions. Once this had been done,
James and I started working on how we
would set this pilot up. James had never
worked with language learners before,
and I was only just learning about
SOLEs.
It took eight months of planning,
and what follows is what happened.
Considerations
There were a lot of things to think
about: the students, the teachers, the
classroom, the big questions and the
lessons.
1 The students
The students were enrolled through our
teacher training department. They had
ed
to be new to the school and not
attending any other English lessons at
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IH or elsewhere. They were all living in
London and paid a minimal fee to
attend lessons. There were 19 of them in
total, all pre-intermediate level and from
different parts of the world.
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2 The teachers
One was very experienced, DELTA-
ing
qualified and doing an MA TESOL; the
other was a newly-qualified CELTA
teacher with about three months of
teaching experience.
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lis
3 The classroom
The classroom was cleared of all desks
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and chairs, and we furnished it with soft
seating, coffee tables, plants and a tea/
coffee station. It also had four laptops,
pens, poster paper, a board and IWB for
the students to use.
4 The big questions
We came up with 20 big questions that
the students would be asked to answer
each day. Examples include What caused
the financial crisis in 2008, and can we stop
it happening again? England, France, Spain
and Italy all used to have a global empire.
What was their purpose and why do they
no longer exist? and How did life begin?
5 The lessons
We decided that we would run the
lessons from Monday to Friday for four
weeks. Each lesson was 90 minutes long,
and every lesson was filmed, so that we
could watch what happened when the
teacher was out of the room. Both
students and teachers were asked to
keep a journal, writing down their
thoughts whenever they wanted to
during the course. (The students were
not great at doing this, even in their L1.)
Both teachers kept a record of how they
felt after each lesson.
Preoccupations
One of our main worries was that our
subjects were adult students. They had
all been through an education system in
their own countries, and they would all
have fixed ideas of what the teacher’s
role should be and what a typical lesson
td
should be like. There was also the
question of self-organising. In Mitra’s
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work with children, the participants
organised themselves into groups
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without any instructions to do so.
Would this work with adults? Would
they come together as one big group,
or would they arrange themselves into
smaller groups?
A meeting was arranged with the
students a week before we started the
course, and I explained to them that the
lessons were going to be different to
anything they had had before. However,
no information was given to them about
the way in which the classes would be
different or what they were going to be
doing. They were asked to take a
placement test, which they would take
again at the end of the four weeks to
compare results.
The course
Feeling apprehensive, nervous, excited
and unsure about what the students’
reactions would be and whether they
would engage with the questions or not,
we started the first class. The teacher
was desperate to pre-teach some lexis.
He argued that these were pre-
intermediate students, so how would
they understand the question they were
being asked? I managed to convince him
that pre-teaching lexis was not possible
in the context of this experiment.
Surprisingly, the students worked out
the meaning of the unknown words in
the question together. We told them they
had 40 minutes to find out the answer
and that we would return for them to
present their findings. The learners were
initially all quite shocked when we left
them. However, what we found when we
returned to the classroom was quite
incredible. The students had self-
organised into small groups and were
busy working on their presentations.
5
Hearts and
SOLEs
They actually asked for more time to
finish their work. Their presentations
were good, with all the groups
producing different, interesting answers,
and everyone participating. As each
group presented their answers, the
teacher encouraged questions from the
other students.
The following two lessons followed
the same pattern but, by the fourth
lesson, I sensed a little frustration from
one student in particular. I asked him
what was wrong and he quite clearly was
not happy without a teacher. He also
thought the lessons needed more variety
and needed to include error correction
and work on pronunciation. We
responded by changing the Friday lesson
from answering a question to finding
three apps that would help the students
improve their pronunciation.
Unfortunately, the student who was
unhappy did not attend this lesson. He
came back for one more day before
giving up, and was the only student to
drop out of the course.
In weeks two and three, we decided
to introduce a Cambridge Advanced
English (CAE) reading and a CAE Use
of English paper. Sugata Mitra gives
reading texts to the children he works
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with. The only condition he imposes is
that the text has to be four levels above
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the students’ comprehension level. We
left copies of the papers in the room and
asked the students to complete them.
ion
Again, they organised themselves into
groups and did the tasks. To our
amazement, the groups got almost all
the answers right. Yes, they were
vil
working collaboratively and using the
internet, but these were pre-intermediate
students answering advanced-level exam
Pa
questions correctly!
As we reached weeks three and four,
we found the presentations becoming
longer and more sophisticated, with
every member of each group eager to
speak. We also found that the students
engaged productively with all but one of
our big questions. The one they didn’t
like was ‘Identify the best and the worst
place to live in the world, giving reasons to
justify each location’. Their presentations
of their findings in response to this
6 • Issue 106 September 2016 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •
question suggested that they hadn’t
researched anything; they just gave us
information about their hometowns or
favourite places they had visited. It is a
question which will always produce very
subjective answers, and, interestingly, it
is one that features in a lot of ELT
coursebooks in a unit on travel.
Findings
As the weeks progressed, we saw all the
learners’ confidence and fluency soar,
and at the end of the four-week period,
we received feedback like this from the
students:
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‘I believe the course has been good for
improve my English. Maybe I make the
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same mistake of before, but I learnt new
words and I’m more confident speaking.
ed
I think my speaking is more fluently than
before and I’m happy about it!’ (Matteo)
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‘Because it is a good opportunity to
speak. I didn’t think of economics,
history or something in English before.’
(Tamayo)
an
‘It teach us to speak in public, learn
about all kind of topics.’ (Raffaello)
The two teachers involved in this pilot
ing
also changed their views about what the
teacher’s role should be, choosing to
apply what they learnt from this to their
own teaching by reducing their level of
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intervention and allowing their students
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to work more independently.
The results of the placement test
taken by the students at the beginning
This is your magazine. We want to hear from you!
It really worked
for me!
Did you get inspired by something you read
in ETp? Did you do something similiar with
your students? Did it really work in practice?
Do share it with us ...
For guidelines and advice,
write to us or email:
helena.gomm@pavpub.com
and the end of the four weeks showed
very little improvement. However,
assessment bodies would confirm that
even with regular teaching, there would
not be a significant difference in students’
test results after a four-week period.
There are still a lot of questions that
need answering about using the SOLEs
approach with language learners. For
example: How do we measure progress?
How do we incorporate all four skills and
td
pronunciation? What is the teacher’s role?
The main thing that has struck me is
that the SOLEs concept is not about
technology replacing the teacher. It’s
about questioning and redefining the
role of the teacher in the 21st century.
The full report on this pilot is available to
read at http://ihlondon.com/news/2016/
ih-london-publishes-latest-report-on-self-
organised-learning-environments.
Varinder Unlu has worked
in ELT for 24 years in all
contexts, from private
language schools to
further and higher
education, teaching
students from six to 80
years old. She has been a
DOS/Academic Manager
since 2002 and has
worked at International
House, London, since
2010. She is also a teacher
trainer for both Cambridge
CELTA and Trinity TESOL.
She is currently doing an
MA TESOL.
Varinder.Unlu@ihlondon.com
TALKBACK!
Do you have something to say about
an article in the current issue of ETp?
This is your magazine and we would
really like to hear from you.
English Teaching professional
Pavilion Publishing and Media Ltd,
Rayford House, School Road,
Hove BN3 5HX, UK
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 C U LT U R E
Teachers and
learners together
Jenna Williams explains how an understanding of Ma-ori pedagogy
has influenced her teaching.
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ife pulls one in unexpected
directions at times. After
having worked for 15 years in a
variety of countries, I found
myself enjoying four years of teaching
children at what was then the École
Française de Mascate in Oman so much
that I decided to study primary
education. Unfortunately, I could not
qualify as a primary school teacher in
Oman. Having done some research, I
found that New Zealand seemed to be at
the cutting edge of primary maths and
literacy, and I moved there with my
family while I did my Graduate
Diploma in Teaching (Primary) in
Wellington. It was an eye-opening year
for all of us. My daughter discovered
b
her sporty side, my husband got his fill
Pu
of rugby, and an eighth of my course
was in Ma-ori pedagogy.
A holistic view
ion
As we all know, the term pedagogy simply
refers to the methods or activities of
teaching, and it generally includes the
vil
teacher and learner, the situation and
context as well as concepts about how
learning takes place. However, Ma-ori
Pa
pedagogy and learning theory take a
deeper, more holistic view of education;
it is perhaps most similar to a Vygotskyan
view, where the socio-political as well as
cultural aspects of learning must also be
carefully considered.
Obviously, in the context of New
Zealand, this use of Ma-ori ways is
entirely relevant. Every primary
classroom ideally reflects the country’s
embedded biculturalism as dictated by
the Treaty of Waitangi (1840). This
8 • Issue 106 September 2016 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •
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treaty, which has not always been
© busenda / Getty Images
honoured, sets out that Ma-ori and
Pakeha (those of European decent)
dM
cultures must be seen as equivalent
partners and representatives of the land
(as neither is indigenous to New
Zealand). This is achieved through the
use of Ma-ori (which was made an official
an
language in 1987) or English in the
teaching of most subjects in primary
schools (that is, they are not generally
ing
taught as separate languages in English-
or Ma-ori -medium schools), following
Ma-ori pedagogical methods, as described
h
below, and using daily classroom routines
lis
which reflect and are familiar to both
cultures (like ‘coming to the mat/wha- riki’
to share ideas and take the register).
I believe that learning about these
approaches has significantly influenced
my own subsequent teaching of English inclusive learning communities where
(even outside the New Zealand context) each person feels that their contribution is
valued and that they can participate to
by raising my awareness of how culture
affects learning and allowing me to offer their full potential. This is not about
a greater pastoral realm, which might be people simply getting along socially; it is
of interest to other teachers and benefit about building productive relationships
between teacher and students and among
many language teaching environments.
students, where everyone is empowered to
learn with and from each other.’
Ako
One of the most basic concepts of Ako in ELT
teaching in Ma-ori culture is ako, which I am sure most English teachers
describes teaching and learning as a recognise this truth in their own
relationship grounded in reciprocity. Put classrooms, as most would admit to not
simply, it recognises that even in their knowing everything, and are aware that
traditional roles, the teacher is also a learners bring a great deal of knowledge
learner and the learner is a teacher, as with them. However, acting on this truth
each brings knowledge to the classroom. has brought a depth to classroom
The New Zealand Ministry of relationships that I had not known
Education describes it like this: before. I have found that revealing much
‘Embracing the principle of “ako” more about myself, my life and views
enables teachers to build caring and than I had previously has led to my
learners feeling more comfortable and
willing to share more about themselves
in return. In addition, I ensure that I
model tasks I have asked the students to
do, either beforehand or after they have
tried a similar task. Furthermore,
although I had always been happy to say
‘I don’t know – finding out is homework
for both of us’ in response to challenging
English questions, now I seem better
able to stop and listen: appreciating my
students’ lives, interests and ideas more.
After all, what is the purpose of
acquiring a new language, if not
learning and teaching new concepts?
Tuakana/Teina
This concept stems from both ako and
family kinship (wha- nau ngatanga).
Tuakana means older sibling (brother or
sister) and teina means younger sibling.
It simply refers to the way older children
guide younger children through their
learning and development. When I lived
in New Zealand, this Ma-ori way seemed
to have been brought into most primary
classrooms, as they were usually
comprised of children from two year/
grade levels (such as Years 3 and 4 or
Years 5 and 6 being taught together).
This concept pushes the idea that
learners arrive with knowledge to the
point that they should take
responsibility for teaching and expect to
learn from one another. This is common
practice in many Ma-ori communities
and is encouraged in both families and
classrooms in New Zealand.
Tuakana/Teina in ELT
As Arapera Royal-Tangaere has pointed
out, the tuakana/teina relationship has
ion
similarities to the scaffolding that
language teachers use to support learners
in applying previously-acquired
knowledge to new situations or problems.
vil
I think this idea is regularly used in ELT
classrooms, but perhaps not as
deliberately as described above. We often
Pa
use ‘think, pair, share’ in our lessons
but, having studied and taught in New
Zealand, I tend to make this more
explicit. For instance, I ask my students
to give presentations on subjects they are
proficient in and I keep records of which
student is best at a particular language
point (our ‘expert’), using that student to
guide those who may have difficulty with
it. This peer-teaching relationship has
proven an excellent way to reduce teacher
talking time and offers other approaches
• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 106 September 2016 •
or explanations to the language points
being taught.
I apply this principle even further
with regard to using the ‘flipped
classroom’ approach, something I have
recently become very interested in. In this
method, videos or teaching materials
learnt or studied at home are used to
work through exercises in the following
lesson. I have adapted this slightly by
asking half of the class to study one set
of rules or concepts and the other half
another or related set, so that in the next
lesson they teach each other as they work
through exercises or discuss an issue.
Deficit thinking
While not a Ma-ori pedagogy, the focus
placed during my training course on the
idea that a teacher’s (or even a school’s)
ed
assumptions about students can often
predispose one learner towards success
dM
and another to low achievement and
disengagement was enlightening. Though
encompassing more than racism or
classism, ‘deficit thinking’ is rooted in a
teacher’s (school’s or system’s) prejudice,
an
either conscious or subconscious, of a
learner’s potential, and it is often based
upon factors such as race, class or
ing
income level. As Carolyn Shields and
her colleagues point out, the fact that
mainstream schools in many countries
receive extra support for those ‘identified
h
by some form of at-risk label (poverty,
lis
single-parent homes, home language other
than English, minority culture)’ often
means that such ‘schools do not look at
b
issues of disparity or discrepancies in
Pu
achievement from a critical perspective,
opting instead for programs already proven
to be ineffective in altering inequities’.
This is an example of a ‘pathologising’
practice, in that ‘while administrators
might want to reject deficit thinking, they
are often put in the uncomfortable position
of having to identify large numbers of their
students in deficit terms in order to attract
funding to meet student needs’. Focusing
on these concepts raised my awareness of
how often I had assumed that my own
view of a classroom and its practices was
common to my students (even though I
had taught in more than ten countries
td
by that time). I often worked for
organisations like the British Council or
L
International House, where we were
meant to create an ‘English’ culture in the
classroom and in the teaching centre as a
ia
whole. Although these issues potentially
have a far greater impact in mainstream
education, studying them made me think
about how I had not considered them
working as an ELT teacher outside my
own country. I knew the cultures I had
lived in were different and that the
learners wanted me to create a positive
environment for their learning, but I had
never been put in the position of a
student in such a situation.
Our first lecture in our ‘Kura 301’
course was a shock. What I expected to
happen in a lecture theatre of 100 people
did not occur. The two hours were
comprised of four different lecturers each
speaking about and showing us pictures
of themselves and their lives. Later I
learnt they were giving their mihimihi.
This is a formal Ma-ori introduction that
precedes any meeting or exchange and
explains where you are from and who you
are; it links you to the land, mountain,
river, sea, tribe, sub-tribe, whakapapa
(genealogy) and marae (village). When
the lecture ended, the Pakeha student
sitting next to me said ‘Did you get any
notes?’ and others said ‘What a waste of
time’. Walking home, it hit me that the
experience had felt strange because I had
not known what to expect or what was
expected of me. I realised this might be
how it feels for students of other cultures
in my own classroom. I understand now
that some Ma-ori students find it difficult
to learn from someone they do not know,
because if everyone knows each other’s
background, then everyone starts on an
equal footing.
Deficit thinking in ELT
While the effects of teacher expectations
(and how they are communicated) on
9
Teachers and
learners together
student performance has been
researched widely in mainstream
education, there seem to have been only
a few isolated studies done with regard
to ELT. However, an article by Iakovos
Tsiplakides and Areti Keramida offers
some suggestions to ELT teachers,
proposing ideas similar to those I learnt
on my course: ‘Teachers need to show
their students that a) they care for them
and are committed to their progress and
b) they are willing to listen and value
their opinions and feelings [and] c) they
put priority on collaboration, rather than
competition among students.’ Their
practical suggestions include creating an
atmosphere where all the learners feel
valued, promoting cooperative learning
and peer teaching, while encouraging a
classroom climate in which mistakes are
b
seen as opportunities and a part of the
Pu
usual acquisition process. The use of
appropriate praise is also highlighted;
they term ‘effective praise’ as that which
avoids comparison with others, focusing
ion
instead on effort and specific strong
points. They also maintain that criticism
should aim at explicit ideas about how
vil
students can do better, rather than
focusing on what went wrong.
Wha- nau and Hauora
Pa
As suggested above, collaboration and
community (as represented by wha- nau,
or family) are dependent upon both the
individual’s wellbeing (hauora) as well as
that of the wider community. Therefore,
group learning and the utilisation of
individual members’ particular skills to
achieve common group goals is valued
by Ma-ori culture. Moreover, there is
recognition that the whole of each
person’s wellbeing is reliant upon
10 • Issue 106 September 2016 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •
addressing the distinct needs of that
person. In one model, described by
Mark Laws and his colleagues, an
individual’s wellbeing is equated to a
house (whare), which will become
unbalanced without one of its walls or
roof beams. The whare is built on the
land (whenua), where roots are planted,
and walls, representing physical
wellbeing (taha tinana) and social
wellbeing (taha wha- nau), support the
roof, which symbolises mental wellbeing
(taha hinengaro) as well as spiritual
wellbeing (taha wairua). Paora Stucki
applies this holistic model of health to
education, suggesting that it helps
teachers focus on ‘engaging the whole
student, not just their cognition’.
Wha- nau and Hauora in ELT
As many of my classes are together for
ed
at least one academic year, I find that
building a sense of family, mutual
dM
responsibility and trust has meant that
the students, from a variety of cultures
and nationalities, find common, shared
interests. These have helped them develop
friendships even outside our English
an
class. They have learnt to rely on one
another for information and often ask
each other for help, even without my
ing
direction. Now that we are nearing the
end of the year, this occurs frequently as
they have also started teaching each other
h
information about their other subjects.
To initiate this, I ask the students to
lis
write me a letter of introduction (‘Tell
me something special about yourself’)
that lists the things they feel they are
very good at, as well as what they feel
they need to learn. While these are not
read aloud (particularly at the start of
the term, this can make teenagers feel
awkward), I do take note of each person’s
strengths, knowledge and desires. As time
goes on, awareness and use of these little
points at ‘teachable moments’ can add
depth to discussions and allow the
students to gain confidence in themselves
and each other. In addition, knowing
these details about my students allows me
to see each one as a whole person, not
just another student in my English class.
Over time, it becomes easier to see when
a student is having an off-day or has had
some success. This climate of caring also
encourages learning as the students see
their teacher as contributing to,
motivating and applauding their success
or that of the class as a whole.
In conclusion, I would say the major
benefit my increased awareness of Ma-ori
pedagogy has had is that, even though I
have taught for more than 20 years, I feel
more engaged than ever in the learning
and teaching that occurs in my classroom.
This has had enlightening repercussions
for both my students and myself.
Why not consider sharing more
about yourself and where you are from
with your students, while allowing them
to teach you a thing or two? The results
might surprise you.
td
Notes:
My apologies to readers from New
L
Zealand, as these concepts go far deeper
than I have been able to explain here.
My thanks to Craig Rofe at Victoria
ia
University of Wellington for advice on this
article.
Laws, M, Hamilton-Pearce, J, Werahiko, H
and Wetini, T A ‘The new role of the
Wa-nanga educator’ https://akoaotearoa.
ac.nz/download/ng/file/group-3740/
n3756-the-new-role-of-the-wananga-
educator---laws-hamilton-pearce-
werahiko--wetini.pdf 2010
Ministry of Education, New Zealand
Government ‘Curriculum Guidelines for
Teaching and Learning Te Reo Ma-ori in
English-medium schools: Years 1–13’
http://tereoMa- ori .tki.org.nz/Curriculum-
guidelines/Teaching-and-learning-te-reo-
Ma- ori /Aspects-of-planning/The-concept-
of-ako 2009
Royal-Tangaere, A ‘Ma-ori human
development learning theory’ In Te Whaiti,
P, McCarthy, M and Durie A (Eds) Mai I
Rangiatea: Ma- ori Wellbeing and
Development Auckland University Press
1997
Shields, C, Bishop, R and Mazawi, C
Pathologizing Practices: The Impact of
Deficit Thinking on Education Peter Lang
2005
Stucki, P ‘A Ma-ori pedagogy: weaving the
strands together’ Kairaranga 13 (1) 2012
Tsiplakides, I and Keramida, A ‘The
relationship between teacher expectations
and student achievement in the teaching
of English as a foreign language’ English
Language Teaching 3 (2) 2010
Jenna Williams works
in Canterbury, UK, for
Stafford House
International and CATS
College (both part of
Cambridge Education
Group), where she
teaches EAP and IELTS
preparation to students
preparing to enter UK
universities.
jwilliams@staffordhouse.com
 IN THE CLASSROOM
Teachers
as leaders
Paul Bress revisits the role of the teacher.
t the time of writing, the United
Kingdom is in turmoil. The UK
electorate has just voted in a
referendum to leave the EU. Everything
is now in doubt. What is going to
happen to trade, investments and
migration? Nobody knows for sure. In
my opinion, in the campaign leading up
to the vote, the electorate weren’t told
the facts. As a result, decisions were
based on misleading rhetoric. The
politicians involved in the campaigning
didn’t provide the kind of responsible
leadership that a country needs.
I would like to postulate that our
classes need leaders too – teachers who
‘grasp the nettle’ and state clearly the
journey they want to take their students
on. Is this not one aspect of teaching
that has been rather ignored? I’d like to
suggest six potential ways in which
teachers can be more leader-like – and
thereby give their students that sense of
direction that most of them crave.
Pu
1 Create a meticulously-crafted
syllabus/course, based on a rigorous
ion
needs analysis.
The document you produce to outline
your syllabus or course should include all
the features of language: the four skills,
vil
grammar, vocabulary, idiom, phonology,
register, etc, written in language that the
students can understand, and designed
Pa
realistically, so that the level of difficulty
nudges up over the weeks. A recycling
element should be built in, too. If your
students do not have the chance to access
such a document, it’s highly likely that
their spirits will sink and their attention
will wander.
2 Say at the beginning of each lesson
what the lesson objectives are and
how they fit into the overall course.
Stating your objectives at the start helps
• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 106 September 2016 •
to connect each individual lesson to the
grand plan (students can’t be expected
to do this for themselves). So a teacher
might say: ‘Today you’re going to learn
to fix up business meetings on the phone.
ed
If you look at your syllabus [for Monday
July 23rd at nine o’clock], you can see
dM
this. On this course, you’ll be learning
many tenses. The tense today is called the
present continuous. Right …’
I think it’s important to keep jargon
to a minimum, but most students seem
an
relieved when they’re told the names of
the tenses they’re learning. By providing
this information, the teacher is more
ing
likely to motivate than to demotivate.
3 Ensure that all the students have
the same opportunities to speak
h
(during the whole course).
lis
I’m aware that this is a rather contentious
area. Some teachers will say: ‘Well, some
b
students like to speak, but others don’t.’
There may be some truth in this, but it’s
still important to give everyone the same
opportunity. It’s all too easy to ignore the
quiet ones. Often, they just need a little
encouragement, and it’s the teacher’s
duty to supply this.
4 State clearly whether the language
your students use is acceptable.
Another contentious area! Of course it’s
not a good idea for teachers to correct
their students constantly. But there are
key times in a lesson when it’s important
to focus on accuracy. These are:
During the presentation phase
During the controlled practice phase
Students need to know what’s acceptable
English and what isn’t, and teachers
really need to know this themselves and
spell it out with extreme clarity.
5 Confront behavioural problems.
There are a million and one ELT contexts,
and many of them will not involve
behavioural issues. However, if these do
arise, teachers need to be prepared to take
action and intervene. If a student is
behaving badly, you should tell them to
stop doing whatever it is. If the student
doesn’t stop, it’s a good idea to confront
them after the lesson and explain that
their behaviour is not acceptable. Don’t
raise your voice, but be firm and make it
clear what the consequences will be if
the bad behaviour continues.
6 Give your students the chance to
td
discuss the things they aren’t happy
with (both in class and one-to-one).
L
You might think that this advice goes
against effective leadership. But the kind
of leadership I’m advocating is
ia
consensual, not dictatorial. Even the
strongest political leaders need to be
aware of the opinions of their ministers
and their electorate. So, if the majority
of students in a class say that the pace
of learning is too slow (or too fast), it
seems sensible to me to adjust this. In
fact, if a teacher ignored this important
student input, this would be a sign of a
weak leader! Teachers need to provide a
clear sense of direction, but they mustn’t
be blind to the effectiveness (or
ineffectiveness) of their teaching.
Those teachers who have been involved
in ELT for a few decades will have
noticed that many changes have
occurred: in methodology, in the
description of the language they teach
and, of course, in technology. But maybe
the most important change has been in
the role of the teachers themselves. The
trend has been for them to become
‘facilitators’ and ‘empowerers’. I’m
wondering whether this development has
gone too far. Shouldn’t teachers now
take on the mantle of leadership?
Perhaps that would help to instil more
confidence in their students.
Paul Bress lives in Herne
Bay, UK, where he teaches
English to overseas
students, writes novels
and paints. His novels are:
The Man Who Didn’t Age,
The Dysfunctional Family,
For Adults Only, The
Check-out Operator and
Life Swap, all published
by Fast-Print and
available on Kindle.
paulbress@talktalk.net
11
 IN THE CLASSROOM
Salaam
aleikum
G
Mark Fletcher offers eneralisations about
ed
Arabic-speaking students
some suggestions for tend to ignore the range of
dM
national, cultural, linguistic
teachers of Arabic speakers. and individual differences amongst them.
However, I hope it is useful to show that
there are some challenges that Arabic-
speaking students whose current level is
an
IELTS 3/CEFR A2 or below are likely to
share. For example, they have probably
not have had the same exposure to
ing
printed English or Roman text as
students from elsewhere. As a result, they
may be less familiar with text features
h
such as the occurrence of common letter
combinations, spellings and punctuation
lis
– things that many learners from western
countries take for granted.
b
Moreover, traditional L1 reading
instruction in Arab countries, especially
Pu
in the more conservative countries of
the Middle East, values ‘sight-word’
memorisation above ‘discovery’ and
ion
deductive approaches. Tentative research
indicates that many Middle Eastern
students at the level given above show
little facility with the use of an Arabic
vil
dictionary, read hesitantly in their own
language, and regard themselves as
‘weak’ in Arabic studies. It is, therefore,
Pa
not surprising that such students display
a low level of writing skills in English.
Anecdotally, it may be that the
initial L1 reading approach contributes
to problems often associated with
dyslexia, but these problems are
obscured in our classrooms by an
assumption that the students are
struggling with a combination of a
culturally different mode of/attitude to
learning plus an alphabetic script
diametrically opposed to our Roman
12 • Issue 106 September 2016 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •
one (in terms of script direction, absence
of written short vowels, etc).
There are some big issues here, but
with empathy, clear focus on remedial
and developmental teaching and
learning geared to the needs of Arabic-
speaking students, plus a very positive
outlook and insistence on work being
done properly, we can help such learners
make more effective use of their time
with us.
The Arabic language
td
‘High’ or ‘classical’ Arabic, which in a
simplified form is known either as
L
Standard or Modern Literary Arabic or,
usefully, as ‘Pan-Arabic’, is essentially a
written language. Indeed, it is the only
ia
form of written Arabic. All educated
Arabs can read and write it, but nobody
speaks it as a first language. There are
many ‘low’ or colloquial varieties of
spoken Arabic, mutually intelligible but
showing strong regional differences in
pronunciation, syntax and vocabulary. I
am told that the difference between the
Arabic of Marrakesh and Baghdad is
greater than you would find when
comparing spoken L1 English from
different countries.
Recurrent errors in written English
are likely to be due to interference from
classical/Pan-Arabic. Recurrent errors in
spoken English may well be due to
interference from the particular
colloquial Arabic of the speaker’s
mother tongue.
One major task for English teachers
is to help lower-level Arabic students
progress from seeing writing as an evil to
be avoided, and to reach the point where
it becomes an enjoyable experience of
success: the written expression of
ordered thoughts in controlled English.
Some problems with
writing
Here are some features of the Arabic
writing system that tend to affect a
student’s ability to write in English:
1 The flow of Arabic writing from right
to left may cause spasmodic inversion of
letters, especially in consonant clusters
(eg hepled, Egnland, durnk, jakcet, etc).
2 Arabic has no capital letters. This
may cause omission of capitals, use of
capitals in the middle of words and
eccentric semi-capitalising (eg our
country is now a REPUblic).
3 Punctuation is a relatively recent
innovation, not subject to standardised
usage and often only inserted when
necessary to clarify meaning. This makes
it difficult for Arabic-speaking students
to grasp the formal requirements of
English, which seem arbitrary to them.
4 The use of paragraphs is not standard
practice in Arabic. There is no
indentation. Sentences tend to be long,
and it is usual to begin each sentence on
a new line. This means that students
need to learn a new system of layout
and acquire the skill of writing in
organised paragraphs.
5 Brackets are often used in Arabic to
signal quotations and/or for emphasis.
This may lead to students wrongly
putting them around important words
and phrases.
6 Because of the difficulty of choosing
the correct prepositions in English,
Arabic speakers may look for the
equivalent prepositions in their mother
tongue, leading to sentences like I
congratulate her for her success.
7 In Arabic, unlike English, abstract
words are preceded by a definite article.
Students may, therefore, produce sentences
like I have the happy memories of him.
8 In English, items in a series are
separated by commas, with and used
before the last item. In Arabic, every
item is separated by wa (and), so
students tend to say things like I bought
a bag and a tie and a book and a hat.
9 Arabic has ‘invisible’ vowels, as short
Pu
vowels are not written (except in the
Koran and primary school textbooks).
This may lead to omission of letters
ion
representing vowels (eg sevrl, lft, killd,
frst).
10 Arabic speakers tend to rely heavily
vil
on consonants in order to recognise
English words, and they will tend to
confuse words with similar consonant
Pa
clusters, eg basket and biscuit, grill and
girl, stupid and stopped, difficult and
different, trout and throat, build and
boiled, blew and below, broad and abroad,
cough and caught, trough and truth.
11 In spelling, the consonant structures
are usually preserved, but vowels are
often incorrect or omitted. The reason
for this would seem to be that, whereas
in Indo-European languages, a stable
root plus additions combine directly to
give related meanings (eg produce –
• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 106 September 2016 •
reproduce – producer – product), in
Arabic, the root is in three consonants
which are combined differently to give
meaning within a ‘family’. For example,
the root k-t-b gives maktaba (library),
ketaab (book) and kataba (he wrote).
The root d-r-s gives mudarris (teacher),
madrasa (school) and darrasa (to learn).
Until an Arabic-speaking student
understands that vowels are not of
minor importance in English, the
natural response is to ignore them and
jump to a guess! Hence preserve is seen
as prsrve, which is guessed as pressure.
Some solutions
Here are some practical suggestions for
foundation work with low-level Arabic-
speaking learners.
In general, it is a good idea to put
ed
marks in the margin of the students’
written work to indicate lines where
dM
there are errors, but get the students to
identify and correct the errors
themselves. Always insist that they then
re-write perfect versions of their texts.
an
1 Syntax
Problem: The non-application of
fundamental principles.
ing
Example: My friend Abdullah Wednesday
he play football.
Suggestions:
h
Concentrate on a small number of
lis
basic areas; this can eliminate a huge
number of errors. Demystify basic
sentence structure. Teach the students
b
that ‘A sentence is some words with a
subject, a verb, (maybe some other
words) and a full stop’.
2 Spelling
Problem: Students often misspell
high-frequency words.
Example: yestarday, exampul, bracts
(practice), mestiks
Suggestions:
Give lots of copying practice and test
spelling frequently.
Use a ‘100 top words’ frequency list as
a starter*.
Provide exercises which require the
students to concentrate on noticing
contrasting vowels. Give them words
with gapped vowels (eg l_ng_ _g_) to
complete.
Explain the illogicality of English
phonology/spelling. Be tolerant. Make
a game of it, but ultimately insist on
accuracy. Dictations are useful, especially
when the students mark their own work
or a colleague’s against a master version,
and then the teacher checks it. Set it up
as a competition – you lose points if
the teacher spots an error that you
didn’t find when you checked the text.
Draw attention to common letter
sequences (eg ch, sh, spr, ure, etc) and
roots with prefixes and suffixes (eg
build, re-build, builder, etc).
Draw attention to words with silent
td
letters (eg edge, knife, listen), words
which have the same sound
L
represented by different letters (eg
ocean, fashion, patient, Russia, sugar)
and words which have different
ia
sounds represented by the same letters
(eg rough, through, though, bought).
Use minimal pairs games to help the
students differentiate between p and b,
f and v, and ch and sh.
Minimise confusion by being very
careful about the clarity and
consistency of your own board writing.
3 Punctuation
Problem: Confusion about use of
commas and full stops, and
inappropriate use of capitals.
Examples: Not many people drink beer
with Alcohol. but there are a few.
First the cows grazing in the field. Because
you need a lot of milk and good milk.
Suggestions:
Give lots of practice in copying.
Get the students to search for errors
in their own writing.
After correction, get the students to
write out a perfect version of a text.
4 Grammar
Problem: Arabic-speaking students
intending to take the IELTS exam find
themselves exposed to and expected to
use constructions which give variety and
contribute to readability when they
haven’t mastered basic tenses or word
order. As a result, the teacher doesn’t
know where to start with correction.
Example: The tabel gives breakdown of
the difrent types of family wer live in
poverty in Australia in 1999.
Suggestions:
Give a massive amount of daily
practice. For example, get the students
to write a simple diary entry by hand
13
Salaam
aleikum
every day. Then get them to type it up,
as a way of consolidating accurate use
of limited language before moving on.
Introduce prepositions gradually and
ensure that the students build up lists of
them, together with examples of good
usage. Use ‘fill in the blanks’ exercises
to practise and test preposition use*.
Some problems with
speaking, reading and
motivation
1 Spoken performance
Problem: Confident students tend to
neglect accuracy as long as there is some
communication, whereas that
communication could be so much better
with some training. Also, and this is a
general learner problem, even a
presentation with good content becomes
almost unintelligible because of poor
delivery.
Suggestions:
Train the ear to hear the melody of
English. Give, and monitor strictly, a
lot of line-by-line ‘listen and repeat’
pronunciation and intonation work,
using functional English dialogues.
Have the students create texts (My
b
country, My hobby, etc). Guide them in
marking these texts as scripts to be
Pu
read aloud, indicating intonation and
timing, especially pauses and emphasis.
Practise these in the way that a director
ion
works with an actor until they can be
read or delivered with excellent impact.
2 Reading
vil
Problem: Anyone whose L1 has a
consistent spelling and pronunciation
system, as Arabic does, must find
Pa
English a nightmare to decode.
Suggestions:
Give high priority to reading, using
large quantities of simple texts. Set
reading assignments for homework.
Have the students read aloud, to build
fluency and to help them
subconsciously assimilate and increase
familiarity with common words, word
order and grammar. Reading for
information grows out of this.
14 • Issue 106 September 2016 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •
For students having particular
difficulty with reading, try using a
tinted plastic overlay to reduce the
disruptive black/white contrast on the
page. This can facilitate lateral eye
movement and enhance fluency.
3 Motivation
Problem: Less confident students are
often reluctant to speak in English.
Sometimes a group of Arabic-speaking
students studying within an
international environment will, possibly
because of language difficulties, socialise
with each other, rather than mix with
students of other nationalities. Those
who are on long-stay courses find it
difficult to recognise that they have
made progress.
ia
Suggestions:
ed
Work on ways of initiating
conversation.
dM
Give help on question formation – not
just on how to form them linguistically;
also work on ways to stimulate the
imagination and engagement required
to ask questions. For example, get the
an
students to write three questions about
a picture which a partner cannot
answer with Yes or No.
ing
Use material such as questionnaires
with strong national, personally
familiar cultural content for the
h
students (rather than a global focus),
lis
eg ‘Weddings in my country’*. Then
use this as the basis for broadening
the discussion. Try keeping content
interest high by using texts in Arabic
and getting the students to produce a
précis or language exercises in English
based on them.
See if being invited to host a social/
cultural event significantly increases
motivation and the sense of belonging
amongst Arabic-speaking students.
Have an overview of your course
content available as a reminder of
achievement to date and an indication
of progress to come.
Insist on checking, and this probably
means instructing in the first instance,
that notes/worksheets, etc are kept in
a well-ordered way and work that has
been completed is available to be
referred to later.
Be aware of cultural factors. I recently
did a small piece of research on what
some Gulf students found most
difficult about learning English in the
UK. I expected an answer related to a
linguistic point such as those above, but
the response was ‘Having girls in the
class and not knowing how to behave
with them’. A male student from the
Levant would not have given the same
answer. However, as a result of that
initial comment, a high-achieving,
long-term student has produced, in
Arabic, a briefing paper and video for
newcomers to our school, covering the
expectations of the school (punctuality,
homework, taking responsibility for
your learning, etc), aspects of living in
td
a host family, and guidance on having
an enjoyable and safe social life.
L
Develop in-class information-finding
strategies which necessitate the use of
smartphones, rather than trying to
ban them.
Recognise that in our present world
situation, developing understanding,
communication and respect amongst
all our global citizen students is an
especially important and rewarding
part of our job as teachers. That
requires most of us who have not lived
in an Arab country to be prepared to
do some learning.
* Examples of these are available on
request. Please email helena.gomm@
pavpub.com if you would like copies.
Mark is not an Arabist, but as a teacher
over the years, he has been concerned
that students coming to study in the UK
from the Middle East often struggle, and
that this might partly be due to teachers,
like himself, not having much experience
of how to identify and address their
problems.
Acknowledgements: Ian Johnson of
Hilderstone College, Broadstairs, UK, for
a guideline article ‘Special students,
special needs’ in ETp Issue 57, July 2008;
Fadi Yarak, General Director of Education
Republic of Lebanon and colleagues in
the Ministry for expert comment; and
Ahmed Al Noumas from Kuwait (and SES,
Folkestone) for the student voice.
A founder member of
the IATEFL Teacher
Development SIG, Mark
Fletcher is a teacher,
trainer, artist and author
of over 40 ELT resources.
He pioneered brain-
friendly learning (www.
brainfriendlylearning.org),
was chair of the Society
for Effective Affective
Learning (SEAL), and
enthusiastically promotes
concepts of global
citizenship.
markfletcher100@yahoo.co.uk
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td
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L
ia
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dM
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 IN THE CLASSROOM
Conversation bingo
Jamie Clayton gets his students speaking – rather than just ‘doing speaking’.
G
etting students to see the
learning potential of
conversations and, therefore,
getting them to talk to each
other can be problematic.
As teachers, we move away from the
coursebook, making supplementary
materials, using multi-media, setting
tasks and prompts and supplying useful
functional language, all in an effort to
help our students speak. But rarely do I
personally get the feeling that the
students are truly invested in speaking
activities. Rather, they are often ‘doing
speaking’ because I asked (or begged)
them to.
It’s confusing, then, when most
students claim to prioritise speaking in a
needs analysis.
Faced with this conflicting situation,
I retreated, trying to understand
speaking in class from the students’
point of view (see the box above).
To attend to these questions and
concerns, I decided that I needed to do
the following:
Put the learners in charge of topic
b
choice, timing and interaction patterns.
Pu
Allow for real language learning, not
just vague speaking skills practice.
Make teacher input and intervention
ion
relevant to the students.
Demand more of myself as the
teacher than simply listening.
vil
With the help of insightful classroom
reflections from Anthony Gaughan and
Pa
Hugh Dellar, I devised an activity called
‘Conversation bingo’.
Conversation bingo
Setting up the topic
Elicit between seven and ten topics
from the students and write them in a
list on the board.
Go through the list, one topic at a
time, asking the students to raise their
hands if they are interested in talking
16 • Issue 106 September 2016 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •
Questions I asked myself
Why is this the topic?
Why do I control everything?
What are the students actually
learning?
How am I helping them to learn
ed
language?
Why is there no public record of
these classroom conversations?
dM
about each one. Write up the number
of votes for each topic. The topic with
an
the most votes becomes the topic of
the lesson.
ing
Setting up the activity
Tell the class they are going to play
‘Conversation bingo’. Give each
h
student a 3x3 bingo grid. In each
square, the students write a word
lis
about the chosen topic. They should
do this alone, and keep what they have
written secret. Allow a few minutes for
them to do this.
When everyone has finished, ask for a
volunteer to explain how you can win
at bingo. If no one knows, then explain
yourself (the first person to get three
words in a line and shout Bingo wins).
Tell the class that ‘Conversation bingo’
is a little different and explain the game
as follows:
– A volunteer starts by saying one of
their words and crossing it out on
their grid. If anyone else has the same
word – or a very similar word – they
can also cross the word out on their
own grid.
– Each word should provoke
reactions, questions, comments and
related anecdotes – this is the point of
the activity, so make sure the students
are aware that the ensuing
conversation is their responsibility:
not yours, because you will be busy.
What I imagined my students were
saying to themselves
td
I’m not interested in this topic.
L
Why can I only talk to the people in
my group?
ia
Why are there time limits?
Linh said something but I missed it.
Is the teacher actually listening to me?
I’m just talking, not studying.
I wish I knew how to say …
Monitoring conversations
After each word is called out, let the
conversations run. Facilitate and take
part as appropriate. However, your
main job is to note down things that
the students say. These may be errors,
examples of language that is OK but
could be improved, upgraded or made
more precise, as well as examples of
good language use to which you want
to draw everyone’s attention.
Working with learner output
When each discussion has died down
naturally, find a space on the board
and write up some of your notes.
Boardwork should be written exactly
as it was said by the students – errors
and all.
It’s helpful to remember who said the
language on the board, inviting that
person to explain when they said it
and what it means (to contextualise it
for the other students) before you get
to work on the language. The box on
page 17 explains what this work
involves.
Adaptations for reluctant
speakers or teens
1 Allow one minute after each new word
has been called for the students to plan
in written form their questions,
comments or related anecdotes.
 Teacher’s job What that means Examples

Noticing good Writing good things that the students said verbatim, I work a lot. I’m always ...............................
language leaving gaps for the students to fill in, drawing attention and ............................... .
to good language.
Answer = stressed, overworked

Correction Writing errors and inviting the class to correct them. I very like eat seafood.

Drawing attention to pronunciation issues common A squeeze of lime

to the group, eliciting and marking more accurate
pronunciation and drilling with the class.

td
Language Writing language that is not wrong, but could be better, I’m the director in my company. I’m the
upgrade more natural or more precise, and inviting the students company director.

L
to try to improve it.

ia
ed
Language Exploiting chances to elicit and expand a little Last week
clam crab
expansion lexical set, based on something a student said. I went to
seafood

dM
a seafood
restaurant. oyster shrimp

2 Assign a few ‘Questioner’ role cards to 4 Reflection

an because of lacking a certain speaking
different students. These students are strategy (eg hesitation devices for holding
Ask the students to discuss these
responsible for asking a question after onto turns). Ask the students to decide
questions:
ing

each word is called. These role cards get
passed around after each discussion.
3 Tell the class that you are taking notes
what the speaker could have done at this
Did you enjoy this activity?
moment of difficulty.
What language did you learn?
What errors did your teacher correct?
h

on their language, but also assessing What are your favourite pieces of new
their participation. That their score will language from the lesson? Conversation bingo has the learners at
lis

contribute to their overall grade for the What was easy/difficult about this its core. It motivates by putting them in
course. Or that the class will be activity? charge of the topic and responsible for
b

rewarded with a small treat (M&Ms Are you happy with your speaking the emergent content. The teacher
work well!) at the end of class if performance? Why/Why not? What facilitates language learning by working
Pu

everyone contributes at least two could you have done better? How could with student output. This combination
questions and two comments during you have done this? affords language learning opportunities
the activity. Would you like to do this activity directly at the students’ point of need,
ion

again? Why/Why not? within the most relevant of contexts:

that chosen by the learners.
Extension activities How might this lesson help you in
future conversations in the real world?
1 Reporting on the https://hughdellar.wordpress.com/
vil

conversation 5 Memory test 2012/07/26/further-thoughts-on-level-

Get the students to look at the board
and tell each other about the
Pa
material-and-how-to-make-things-stick/
Get the students to close their eyes for a
http://teachertrainingunplugged.com/
minute. Erase some of the words from

conversation they had. They then write
a summary of the conversation.
2 Quiz
Ask a few questions of the type Who
said they ate seafood last night? Invite
the students to write a few similar quiz
questions.
3 Roleplay
Negotiate a roleplay appropriate to the
topic with the students.
basic-training-index/how-to-get-learners-
the board to create a board gap fill. Hand talking-and-capitalise-on-what-they-say/
out marker pens, and ask the students to
come to the board to fill the gaps. Jamie Clayton teaches,
studies, trains, drives
6 Notebooks in crazy traffic, eats
and lives well with his
Get the students to add vocabulary and wife in Ho Chi Minh
City, Vietnam. He has
structures to their language notebooks. also taught in the UK
and Spain.
7 Speaking strategies
Record parts of the conversation, then
listen back through with the students and
identify moments in which they struggled jamiecamarao@googlemail.com

• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 106 September 2016 • 17

 RESOURCES
Make your
own four-page
booklets
ed
A dM
Stephanie few years ago, I started to
teach a weekly upper-
Hirschman finds fun intermediate class on the
productive skills of speaking
in folding.
an
and writing for exams. I was not given a
coursebook; instead, I was expected to
put together a syllabus of lessons from a
ing
range of sources, including resource
books and exam materials. I started to
collect and adapt the materials I wanted
to use, and I soon realised that the
h
students would need their own copies of
lis
the materials to work with during the
lesson. I fell into a routine of creating
worksheets based on published
b
resources using Microsoft Word and, as
Pu
I was doing this, I became interested in
how best to arrange the material on the
page. I wanted the layout to reflect the
staging of the lesson, which often
ion
followed a ‘Present – Practise – Produce’
progression. I also wanted the materials
to look professional and to save paper. I
vil
came up with a simple format which
satisfied all of these requirements, and
which I now return to again and again.
Pa
This format is shown below. The
material is all photocopied on one sheet
of A4 paper, printed double-sided.
When it is folded, it produces a four-
page booklet.
page 4 page 1 page 2 page 3
side 1 side 1 side 2 side 2
left right left right
Layout of a four-page booklet
18 • Issue 106 September 2016 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •
td
L
ia
Page 1:
Pre-input activities
This page is for the things that happen
before the main language input of the
lesson. There is a title at the top and I
clearly acknowledge the source of any
photocopied material just below in a
smaller font size. What follows depends
on the lesson, but generally includes
some of the following:
A warmer activity – eg ‘Can you
remember ... from the last lesson?’;
information exchange questions for
pairwork, eg How did you sleep last
night?; a pronunciation activity.
A lead-in activity – eg a class survey
or discussion questions relating to the
topic of the day’s lesson; vocabulary
to pre-teach; a prediction activity (eg
a picture or questions) related to
future input, such as a listening or
reading text, which follows on page 2.
Learning objectives; these can be
referred to again at the end of the
lesson, to check if they have been
achieved.
When I hand out the worksheet to the
class, I always instruct them not to open
the booklet yet.
Page 2:
Language input
This page is for the text that we are using
as language input. A reading text, if not
too long, can be reproduced here. Often
the text incorporates exercises, eg the
students have to insert missing sub-
headings in order to check that they have
read for main ideas, or words are gapped
to check if the students have read for
detail. If the text is too long to fit onto this
page, it can be reproduced separately and
handed out to individuals or to pairs to
share, or copies could be displayed on the
wall, perhaps for a read-and-run activity,
or on the whiteboard, using a projector. A
listening tapescript could be displayed,
if required, in any of these ways. If the
text itself is not included on page 2, I put
some comprehension questions here.
Page 3:
Target language focus
This area appears just to the right of the
language input, so it is easy to refer
from one to the other without having to
turn the paper over or unfold it. In this
area, the activities concentrate on the
target language, and include:
Explanation of the rules/vocabulary –
this could include inductive or
deductive activities which refer to the
input text.
Controlled practice – gap fill, correct
the mistakes, word reordering,
sentence prompts, etc.
Page 4:
Post-input activities
To get to this page, the students have to
close the booklet. This makes it ideal for
activities which involve remembering
previously-taught rules or vocabulary,
and for checking comprehension. I ask
my students to use this as an
opportunity to test themselves on what
they have learnt, and I allow them to
open the booklets to check their ideas if
ion
they need to, before we check the answers
as a class. This page includes:
Freer practice – sentence prompts or
vil
discussion questions designed to
promote production of the target
language.
Pa
A homework task – I also set out the
homework here, including instructions
to include a specific number of items
of target language (eg Write a book
review using three to five linking words
from today’s lesson and underline them).
Advice on creating
booklets
Play with the margins and with the font
size until everything fits where you want
• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 106 September 2016 •
it to go. Remember that you are fitting
two pages onto one side of A4 so the
font size needs to be big enough for the
students to read. You can get away with
14, but 16 is better. If your photocopier
is cooperative, you can make double-
sided A3 booklets instead. This will give
you lots more space. This is your magazine.
When printing, page 4 has to come We want to hear from you!
first! Then the other pages come in
order. Instruct the photocopier or
printer to do two pages per sheet and to
print double-sided.
Make sure you have time to fold all IT WORKS IN PRACTICE
td
the booklets before class starts! Do you have ideas you’d like to share
with colleagues around the world?
L
Tips, techniques and activities;
simple or sophisticated; well-tried
I have to confess that I don’t always
ia
or innovative; something that has
make four-page booklets for my lessons, worked well for you? All published
because the lesson content doesn’t
ed
contributions receive a prize!
always break down easily into four
sections. However, I have found that it is
TALKBACK!
dM
always worthwhile thinking about page
breaks for any format of worksheet,
especially to hide something that you Do you have something to say about
don’t want the students to see just yet, an article in the current issue of ETp?
eg a text, if you are making predictions
an This is your magazine and we would
about it, or to provide opportunities for
really like to hear from you.
concealing information in order to test
or check comprehension. If that’s not
It really worked
ing
possible, another option is simply
folding the paper so that the students
don’t read ahead of themselves in the
for me!
h
lesson. Did you get inspired by something
you read in ETp? Did you do
lis
Stephanie Hirschman is
a Curriculum Leader in something similiar with your students?
the International Dept at Did it really work in practice?
b
Sussex Downs College
in Lewes, UK. She Do share it with us ...
Pu
teaches teenagers and
Reviewing
adults, co-ordinates the
summer school and
works in the languages
self-access centre. She
has also worked as a for ETp
Development Advisor,
providing teaching Would you like to review books
support to colleagues or other teaching materials for ETp?
across a range of
subjects. We are always looking for
people who are interested in
stephanie.hirschman@sussexdowns.ac.uk
writing reviews for us.
For guidelines and advice,
write to us or email:
helena.gomm@pavpub.com
PICTURE PUZZLE English Teaching professional
Answers Pavilion Publishing and Media Ltd,
Rayford House, School Road,
Hove BN3 5HX, UK
mentor, coach, adviser, tutor, guide
Fax: +44 (0)1273 227308
Theme: Synonyms for teacher
Email: info@etprofessional.com
19
Inspiring ideas
Benjamin Moorhouse suggests ways of stimulating creativity by generating
things to write about.
W
hile marking a mountain
of assignments from my
teacher trainees, I
started looking around
my desk for distractions. I soon found
some – the array of things that could be
used to stimulate ideas for writing with
young learners:
a water bottle
Write an article about the
importance of water conservation;
design a poster to encourage people
to bring their own bottles; create a
story called ‘The day I left my water
bottle at home’.
some money
b
Write a thank-you card to someone
Pu
for birthday money or a present;
write a story about the day you
found $1,000; write a shopping list
for a class party.
ion
a computer
Produce an informative report about
schooling in the past and now; write a
vil
description of your favourite hobbies.
a chocolate bar
Pa
Write a report on healthy eating;
write a description of your favourite
food.
One of the most common concerns I
hear from teachers is that their
students have difficulty generating ideas
during writing lessons. The students
stare at their blank pieces of paper and
nothing comes out. When they do
write, their ideas tend to be simple and
rather boring.
20 • Issue 106 September 2016 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •
ed
I’m sure we would all agree that
young learners are full of creative, magical,
dM
wonderful and amazing ideas; we just
have to help them get their ideas out!
However, rarely do the writing tasks we
set stimulate our students’ imaginations.
As Pauline Gibbons has pointed out,
an
to make a writing task successful and
meaningful, our students first need to
know what they are writing (genre), who
ing
they are writing for (audience) and why
they are writing (purpose and context).
Once they know these key elements,
h
you need to ensure that they also know
lis
something about the topic and that they
are interested in what they are writing
about.
The aim of this article is to stimulate
your creativity, so you can help your
students stimulate theirs! It will give
some practical ideas on ways to generate
ideas for writing and make students
excited about writing in English.
Stimulating ideas
for writing
Sheena Cameron and Louise Dempsey,
in their great book on writing, give a
number of suggestions for things that
we can use to stimulate ideas for
writing: photographs, short videos, real
experiences, letters, articles, debates/
discussions, drama activities, realia (real
objects), exemplars and questions. In
this article, I will discuss four of these
(photographs, real experiences, letters
and realia) and look at how they can be
used effectively with young learners.
td
L
ia
1 Photographs
In English language teaching, we often
use photographs and pictures to teach
vocabulary, but there is so much more
that we can do with them. As Jeremy
Harmer says, a picture’s ‘ability to
transport students to different worlds means
that they can also be used to incite students
to creative flights of fancy’. We can use
photographs to take our students to
faraway places outside the classroom,
such as an enchanted forest, a deserted
beach or another country or world.
By showing an interesting
photograph, and through good
questioning, we can trigger our
students’ imagination and creativity.
When using photographs, I always
start with simple questions, eg What can
you see? I then move on to What can’t
you see? What do you think happened
before this scene? What could happen
next? If this is a part of a story, what part
is it? What would you do if you were there?
All the time, I am writing the students’
ideas on the board, so that they can use
them later. With the teacher acting as a
scribe, you take all the pressure off the
students, and they only need to give
ideas. Soon you won’t be discussing the
photograph at all; instead, you will be
exploring your students’ imaginations,
and they will be excited about writing
their ideas down.
There are plenty of places where
you can get stimulating and thought-
provoking photographs. Try Flikr.com,
where the photos are often ‘creative
commons’ and can be used freely. The
National Geographic website is also a
great source.
2 Real experiences
Real experiences are easy to write about
as they are fresh in the students’ minds.
There is always lots to talk about, and
students are generally keen to share with
others what they did. Young learners love
contributing information about their
personal or shared experiences. Also,
students have lots of ideas and knowledge
of the topic if they really did it!
If you are teaching English in primary
or secondary school, make the most of
the different school activities and events
you have, such as sports days, camps
and picnics. Students can write accounts
of what they did, to share with other
classes or their parents.
Every year in my previous school,
we would get the students to write
about the school picnic and sports day.
I made sure to take lots of pictures of
the events, to help stimulate the
discussion before the writing task.
3 Letters
These days, it is rare to send or receive
letters (even emails seem to have
become more functional and less
personal). This adds to the mystique
and excitement a ‘real’ letter brings.
What a great way to start a writing
lesson than with a letter from a
Pu
storybook character or celebrity, asking
for advice or help. Your students can
brainstorm ways to help and write
ion
letters back to the character.
In a unit on giving advice, you could
read the wonderful picture book No,
vil
David! by David Shannon. Before you get
to the end, tell the class that you have
received a letter from David’s mum,
Pa
asking for help and suggestions on how
David should behave. For example:
Dear Class …,
Your teacher told me that you are all well-behaved students. Please can you give
me some advice?
My son David is naughty every day. I don’t know what to do. How should David
behave? What should I tell David?
Many thanks,
David’s mum
• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 106 September 2016 •
You can then read the book again,
pointing out David’s bad behaviour and
brainstorming ideas to help David’s
mum, before the students draft their
letters. After the students have ‘sent’
their letters, you can write a response
to the class from David’s mum, thanking
them for their advice.
A great resource for letters is the
book The Jolly Postman or Other People’s
Letters by Janet and Allan Ahlberg. It is
quite an old book now, but it has not
lost its appeal.
4 Realia
Realia, just like pictures and photographs,
ed
is often used in the ELT classroom to
teach vocabulary. However, it can be
used for much more than that. Realia
dM
can be used to bring real life into the
classroom. As Adrienne Herrell and
Michael Jordan point out, it allows
students to see, hear and smell an item
an
that is being explored.
Weird or wacky realia – the sort of
thing you can find in joke or novelty
ing
shops – always gets children excited.
Take, for example, something like an
umbrella hat. You can discuss its use and
why someone would have invented it.
h
Then brainstorm other problems we
lis
might have in the world, and get the
students to design an invention to solve
b
the problem. They can write a
description of it and why they invented
it. Afterwards, they can ‘pitch’ their
ideas to their classmates and/or make a
classroom display of their inventions.
This article has given suggestions on
ways to stimulate ideas and develop
creativity with your young students.
However, we always need to remember
that English language students have
added challenges: not only do they need
to generate ideas, they also need to
tackle the linguistic demands of writing
in English.
It is important that we create a
positive environment for writing. As
Cameron and Dempsey assert, we need
to ensure that all ideas (even the wacky
ones!) are valued and respected, that
we value the writing process and not
td
just the final product, that we give the
students time to write, and that we
L
provide them with the tools and
resources they need to be successful.
ia
We also need to demonstrate our own
excitement and passion for writing: this
will ensure that our students are
excited and passionate, too!
Cameron, S and Dempsey, L The Writing Book
– A Practical Guide for Teachers S & L
Publishing 2013
Gibbons, P Scaffolding Language, Scaffolding
Learning 2nd edn Heinemann 2015
Harmer, J How to Teach Writing Pearson 2004
Herrell, A and Jordan, M 50 Strategies for
Teaching English Language Learners 5th edn
Pearson 2015
Benjamin Moorhouse
is a lecturer of English
language education in
the Faculty of Education,
The University of Hong
Kong. He has extensive
experience teaching
young EFL learners.
His research interests are
L2 homework, L2 literacy
and teaching young
learners.
benmoorh@hku.hk
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:
helena.gomm@pavpub.com
21
Runningin
the family
Ian Adkins has his students up on their feet for a fun dictation.
R
unning dictations motivate
young learners and get them
out of their seats and engaged
in reading, writing, listening and
speaking. They are sometimes known as
‘wall’ dictations, and have been
described by Scott Thornbury as
‘non-testing’ dictations. One of the
earliest appearances of the running
dictation was in an activity called ‘The
messenger and the scribe’ by Paul Davis
and Mario Rinvolucri.
The exchanges arising from a
running dictation can be quite complex
and useful in producing genuine
b
communication.
The aim of the activity described in
Pu
this article is to review vocabulary for
family members. It leads on to further
practice where the students talk about
ion
their own families. Young learners have
limited life experience, and it can be
difficult to find a topic area which is
vil
suitable for a whole class to engage
with. This topic appears in most young
learner coursebooks, and the activity
Pa
can be used to reinforce or review this
useful language area.
Preparation
Prepare a series of worksheets as
follows (there are photocopiable
versions of Worksheets 1– 4 on pages
24–26):
Worksheet 1 has a Venn diagram, as
shown in Figure 1.
22 • Issue 106 September 2016 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •
L td
ia
ed
Worksheet 2 has images of the family or Both). (Please ensure that the following
dM
members, as shown in Figure 2. words are included, as they are used in
These need to be cut out to produce the running dictation later: grandchildren,
ten separate cards. uncle, aunt, niece, nephew and cousin.)
3 While one student or a team of
an
Worksheet 3 has a family tree, as
shown in Figure 3. students is placing/writing the words on
the board, the rest of the class copies the
Worksheet 4 has images and
words onto their worksheet so that the
ing
information about the family
whole class is locked into the same stage.
members, cut into separate cards as
shown in Figure 4. 4 Brainstorm more family vocabulary
and add this to the diagram.
h
Keep a copy of the completed family
5 Divide the class into pairs and give out
lis
tree in Figure 5, which acts as an
one set of family images (Figure 2) and
answer key.
one copy of the family tree worksheet
Procedure (Figure 3) to each pair. Place the
information about the family (Figure 4),
1 Draw a simple Venn diagram on the
cut into separate cards,
board, as shown in Figure 1. Mark the
around the room.
two larger areas ‘He’ and ‘She’ and the
smaller middle area ‘Both’. If possible,
use images to reinforce this, as shown in
Figure 1. Give each student in the class
a copy of Worksheet 1, which contains
the same Venn diagram.
2 Give the students some family
vocabulary (mother, father, brother, sister,
etc). These words could be written on
slips of paper or on sticky notes. The
students have to place or write them in Figure 2 (Worksheet 2)
the correct areas of the diagram (He, She
6 Use the family tree worksheet to
He
Both
She
explain that the students have to
complete the family tree, using the
information from the cards displayed
around the room and the one family
member who is already on the
Figure 1 (Worksheet 1) worksheet (Albert).

Hello, my name is Victor.
I am Albert’s father and I have
got four grandchildren.
Hello, my name is Jane. I am
married to Victor. I have got
two children: Albert and Helen.
I have got four grandchildren.
To ensure that this activity works well,
there are some points to bear in mind:
Set some rules, eg no shouting from
the other side of the room, no
Hello, my name is Mark.
I am Sandra’s uncle. pointing at the pictures.

Make sure the runners don’t block

each other while running or trying
to see the texts.

Albert Make sure the texts cannot be seen

Hello, my name is Anne.
Lisa is my niece.
Hello, my name is Sandra.
Mark is my uncle.
td
Hello, my name is John.
I am Helen’s nephew.
by the person writing, but that the
distance to ‘run’ is fairly short.

L
Keep the texts out of sight in a room
with limited space. For instance, you

ia
could have a piece of paper on top
that needs to be raised each time the
Hello, my name is Helen. Hello, my name is Lisa. Hello, my name is Tim.

ed
I am Sandra’s aunt. I am Albert’s niece. John and Sandra are
my cousins.

students look at it (during which time

Figure 3 (Worksheet 3) Figure 4 (Worksheet 4) their backs will be blocking the text

7 The students work in pairs. Student
A has to write a family member’s name
in the tree and choose the correct
picture to go with it, according to
Student B’s instructions. Student B has
to go to the cards around the room,
read the text about one person, note
dM
from the seated people), have the texts
depend on their proficiency level, as on the classroom wall just outside the
they should only be speaking in English. classroom, or have the texts facing
Once everyone has finished, use the away from the seated people.
image in Figure 5 to check answers and
an If the class gets too noisy, put the
give feedback.
students into groups and get them to
9 The students then draw their own stand in lines between the texts and
ing

what that person looks like and come
back to transmit the information to
Student A. The students change roles
family tree and explain this to their the students who are doing the
partner. writing. Each group relays the
10 Finally, the students swap partners dictation along the line to the writer,
h

and explain their family tree to a new ‘Chinese whispers’ style. They
after one minute.
change places in the line after each
lis

partner.
8 Give the students plenty of time to part has been dictated.
finish this activity; the time taken will
The materials shown here have been
b

adapted from a version designed for an

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interactive whiteboard. If you are

interested in the original materials, they
can be downloaded from https://goo.
ion

gl/7mcXir, along with the worksheets.

Victor Jane
Davis, P and Rinvolucri, M Dictation: New
Methods, New Possibilities CUP 1988
vil

Thornbury, S An A–Z of ELT Macmillan 2010

All images © freepik.com (www.freepik.com/
free-vector/family-tree-icons_791396.htm)
Pa

Ian Adkins is a teacher

at the British Council
Anne Albert Helen Mark Madrid Young Learners
Centre. He has taught
in Spain for 20 years,
and his main interests
are autonomy and
self-access for young
learners. He is
currently studying for
an MA (TESOL) at
NottinghamUniversity,
UK.
John Sandra Lisa Tim
Figure 5 (Answer key) Ian.AdKins@britishcouncil.org

• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 106 September 2016 • 23

 Worksheet 1
Family vocabulary
He She
Both

L td
ia
ed
Worksheet 2 dM
an
h ing
b lis
Pu
ion
vil
Pa

24 • Issue 106 September 2016 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •

 Worksheet 3

L td
ia
ed
dM
an
h ing
lis

Albert
b
Pu
ion
vil
Pa

• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 106 September 2016 • 25

 Worksheet 4

L td
ia
Hello, my name is Victor. Hello, my name is Jane. I am Hello, my name is Mark.

ed
I am Albert’s father and I have married to Victor. I have got I am Sandra’s uncle.
got four grandchildren. two children: Albert and Helen.

dM
I have got four grandchildren.

an
h ing
lis

Hello, my name is Anne. Hello, my name is Sandra. Hello, my name is John.

b

Lisa is my niece. Mark is my uncle. I am Helen’s nephew.

Pu
ion
vil
Pa

Hello, my name is Helen. Hello, my name is Lisa. Hello, my name is Tim.

I am Sandra’s aunt. I am Albert’s niece. John and Sandra are
my cousins.

26 • Issue 106 September 2016 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •

Cacoethes
WRITING
scribendi
C
ed
David Greenslade acoethes scribendi is Latin for
‘the urge to write’. An urge to
shows how a simple write is something that
dM
students often seem to lack,
technique generates an but then how much writing do we
ourselves do as language teachers? Sure,
irresistible urge to write. we write on the board, we write a lesson
an
plan, we write an email, but how often do
we write the kind of autobiographical or
descriptive paragraph that we expect
ing
from our students?
In this article, I hope to share a
technique by which I consistently
manage to persuade my students to
h
write until they reach a point where they
lis
don’t want to stop.
The key to writing
b
Pu
There is an almost guaranteed key to
getting students to write: exploiting the
fact that they enjoy the writing process
when it comes from a deeply motivating
ion
source, a source that lies within each
student: their world, their experience,
their physicality.
vil
Subject matter
Subject matter is a primary prompt.
Pa
However, any subject matter, no matter
how straightforward, requires context. A
good technique is the ‘four-word trick’.
Asking the students to write just four
words may not sound like much, but
some students actually dislike using a
pen. Getting them to write four words is
a crucial stage towards overcoming this
dislike and encouraging them to write at
greater length.
Grandparents
The topic of grandparents is a rich one,
• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 106 September 2016 •
L td
ia
and most people have four to write
about. (Should a student claim not to
have any grandparents, I ask them to
think of their neighbours instead.)
I put the students into pairs and ask
them to write down the names of their
grandparents. I then tell them to talk
about all four grandparents with their
partner. In this way, they generate a
narrative. Next, they each circle only one
of their grandparents and explain why
they’ve chosen that particular individual.
The narrative thus becomes richer.
Only after this much preparation are
the students invited to write perhaps 100
words on their chosen individual. Very
often, many students find they have a
great deal to say, and bringing the
writing session to a close becomes a
pleasant challenge. The students’
paragraphs almost always grow beyond
100 words.
An object
I ask the students to think of four
objects in the kitchen – this usually
prevents them all choosing IT gadgets.
Again, I only ask for four simple names,
written clearly in a list, though it’s
surprising how many students cannot
easily think of four. They share their list
with the student sitting next to them,
explaining why they have chosen these
objects.
An object is more difficult to write
about than a person and so needs extra
contextual support. Once this support is
given, the writing comes quite easily.
Again, the ‘four-word-trick’ is the secret
that turns the key.
The students each choose one object
out of their four and tell their partner
27
Cacoethes
scribendi
why they have selected it. The object is
then put at the centre of a very simple
mind map, as in Figures 1a and 1b.
The students respond orally to the
four contextual question words in the
map (see Figure 1a), telling their
partners more about their selected
objects. They then add simple comments
to the map (see Figure 1b). When they
have done this, four more contextual
question words are added to the map, as
in Figure 2a, and the students speak
again in response, adding their own
information to the map (see Figure 2b)
as they wish. The process centres on
writing basic words down. These have to
be basic, otherwise enthusiastic writing
will not follow. The important thing is
that, whatever their level, the students
are using English in a precise and
focused manner. Once ‘off the leash’,
they tend to write far more information
than they divulged while speaking.
The reasons why a student may have
chosen their objects are often
unexpected. This background, however,
does not surface without the oral stage
of telling a study partner why an object
is significant. Speaking builds up
significant subject-matter tension, as
there is usually more to share. Spoken
questions prompt replies and these
replies persuade the students that they
b
have a surprising treasure trove of
material to divulge.
Pu
When the teacher sees that spoken
enthusiasm is ripe enough for a move to
writing, the students are asked to work
ion
Who?
vil
Pa
Where? microwave
What for?
Figure 1a
28 • Issue 106 September 2016 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •
individually to produce paragraphs. The
topic and procedure is of such simplicity
that they tend to pay a lot of attention
to the basics of spelling, vocabulary and
sentence pattern. The students realise
that they carry a lot of autobiographical
knowledge, and they take care to convey
it, becoming alert to the logic of using a
topic sentence with supporting points. I
often display this structure using a coat
hanger diagram (see Figure 3). Students
generally have a great desire to share
aspects of their life story and, when
carefully guided by this simple device,
they are happy to do it in writing.
Because of its simplicity, students
find this exercise very satisfying and
often go beyond the eight basic
sentences made possible by the mind
map diagram they’ve made. The subtle
aim is for them to write as much as they
ed
can as they portray their object within
domestic and autobiographical contexts.
dM
An accident
This is a very rich topic, and the only
condition I impose is that the accident
should not involve death. Such a story
an
would be much too solemn, and a
preparatory ‘safe-space’ discussion as to
the nature of the potential accident
ing
narrative is essential. Usually, students
are sensible enough to choose an
accident (often a childhood incident)
h
that isn’t going to result in a distressing
story. Here, a thorough preparatory oral
lis
stage becomes quite important.
The students begin by reflecting on
the nature of the accident which they
will talk about with a partner. As a
prompt for them to write down four key
words, I tend to use the headings
Context, Incident, Reaction and Result.
How much? Where?
It is in the kitchen.
We bought it at Asda.
Figure 1b
However, depending on the class, these
headings could elaborated by the teacher
and made more sophisticated.
The students then get into pairs and
share their words and their stories. This
initial sharing is usually fairly chaotic. A
second telling (to a different partner)
structured around question words
(Who? When? What happened and how?)
usually controls the story and makes it
less headlong and breathless.
At this point, I ask some students to
tell their partner’s story to the class. The
student whose story is being told thus
td
gets a chance to hear their own story
narrated aloud, and mentally edits or
L
corrects it – especially if the narrator’s
recollection of it contains mistakes. It’s
a good idea to hear as many storytellers
ia
as possible so that the room becomes
full of narratives.
I elicit a full list of key question
words from the group and put them on
display: Who? What? When? Why?
Which? Where? Whose? How many? How
much? What time? What next? and so
on. The students are then given the task
of writing the story of their accident,
taking as much or as little time as they
need. Topic sentences and concluding
sentences become quite significant in
this task, and the students need to think
carefully about organising their
preferred time-line of events and the
emotional content.
Writing about an accident is a more
powerful, complex and advanced writing
task than, for example, writing about
your grandparents, and it does require
sensitivity. It becomes a pathway to
more ambitious writing. Accident
narratives steer a student towards a
critical moment of context (a moment
Who?
I bought it with my friend.
microwave How much?
£35.00
What for?
To warm my soup.
 Who? Who?

Which? How often? Which? How often?

Panasonic Panasonic Sometimes / Every day

Where? microwave How much? Where? microwave How much?

Why? When? Why? When?

I don’t like cooking. In the evening. I don’t like cooking. In the evening.

td
What for? In the morning. What for? In the morning.
Figure 2a Figure 2b

L
of ‘trauma’ within time, place and As with the earlier examples, using a

ia
relationships). The skills acquired mind-map diagram helps build a
persuade the writer that they can now narrative foundation. For a memoir

ed
tackle other opportunities of descriptive, (which an accident is) the cue phrases
reflective and journalistic memoir. In my are more complex, but of the same

dM
experience, if the preparation is order: Who (were you with)? Where
thorough, a great deal of enthusiastic (were you)? What (happened)? Why
writing follows. The urge to write is (did it happen)? How (did you respond)? This is your magazine.
stronger than the fear of making What (was the outcome)? What (did you We want to hear from you!
mistakes. I’ve done this task with learn)? and so on.
overseas students, home students,
an
schoolchildren and adults, and it works
with all groups.
TALKBACK!
ing

Other promising topics for writing
include: the contents of my wallet/
handbag; what is depicted on my
country’s banknotes (students are often
h
Do you have something to say about
an article in the current issue of ETp?
This is your magazine and we would

really like to hear from you.

surprisingly knowledgeable about this);
lis

the week I left home; my first mobile

phone, first laptop, first bicycle, etc. It really worked
Each of these topics does, however, for me!
b

require constructive oral preparation

Pu

Did you get inspired by something

using the ‘four-word-trick’ as a starting
point. Without first noting down their
four words and doing the speaking
ion
you read in ETp? Did you do
something similiar with your students?
Did it really work in practice?

stage, students are likely to be nervous

of plunging into a writing task, and Do share it with us ...
certainly won’t have the desired ‘urge to
write’ (cacoethes scribendi). Reviewing
vil

for ETp
Would you like to review books
Pa

or other teaching materials for ETp?

We are always looking for
David Greenslade
currently teaches at people who are interested in
Cardiff Metropolitan
University, UK. He has a
writing reviews for us.
PhD, and while teaching
in Oman he wrote
Ibtisam al Habsi and her
English Teaching professional
Zanzibar Court, Pavilion Publishing and Media Ltd,
published by the Omani Rayford House, School Road,
Ministry of Heritage and
Culture in 2013.
Hove BN3 5HX, UK
Fax: +44 (0)1273 227308
Email: info@etprofessional.com
Figure 3 dgreenslade@cardiffmet.ac.uk

• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 106 September 2016 • 29

 ETpedia 1,000 ideas for English
language teachers

L td
ia
ed
dM
an
1,000 creative tips, techniques, questions, thoughts
and ideas on common teaching and classroom issues.
ing

by John Hughes
an essential resource
h

Bringing you
lis

■ Tips to aid and inspire practice

■ Ideas on good preparation and planning
b

■ Ways to help with classroom management

Pu

■ Suggestions for lesson topics

No matter what level you teach, the age of your students or the classroom setting,
ETpedia is your perfect teaching companion.
ion

Content includes:
■ Introduction ■ Listening ■ Vocabulary
vil

■ Preparation and ■ Reading ■ Pronunciation

planning ■ Writing ■ Teaching contexts
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■ In the classroom ■ Resources ■ Further development

■ Speaking ■ Grammar ■ Technology (TBC)

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 LISTENING
The LLL
technique
N
Anna Kamont ot a single English language
class passes without the
prioritises the lexical listening skill being
ed
practised. If this practice is
potential of listening tasks. not in the form of teacher–student or
dM
student–student interaction, it comes
from classroom listening materials,
perhaps accompanying a coursebook or
produced by the teacher, or from
authentic listening resources such as film
an
clips or podcasts.
The standard procedure
ing
However, it seems that the bulk of
listening practice that English language
students receive comes from coursebook
h
listening comprehension tasks, usually
lis
tightly linked to activities practising
other skills, all combined under one
lexical umbrella topic. Numerous
b
techniques on how to handle such
Pu
activities are described in professional
literature, predominantly divided up
according to the most commonly-
applied stages of teaching listening:
ion
1 Pre-listening (a stage which sets the
scene, and where techniques focus on
vil
pre-teaching any vocabulary which
might hamper understanding);
2 While-listening (techniques employed
Pa
at this stage encompass both listening
for gist and listening for detail, usually
taking the form of completing
comprehension check exercises);
3 Post-listening (the stage where
answers are checked and any difficult
language points are explained).
Valuable as it is, this standard procedure
often gives the impression that the only
reason for listening is to answer
comprehension questions. In other
32 • Issue 106 September 2016 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •
words, if administered solely in a ‘pre/
while/post-listening’ way, coursebook
listening tasks seem to act primarily as
tests of the students’ existing listening
skills. As such, they often contribute
little to general language development,
apart from a few minutes of target
language exposure and the teaching of a
handful of unrelated lexical items from
the pre-listening stage.
Since the advent of the
communicative approach, more emphasis
has been placed on teaching skills than
on directly teaching language, and it
td
seems to me that, as a result, listening
texts are frequently insufficiently
L
exploited, with teachers only scratching
the surface of the lexical ‘iceberg’ hidden
within them. Many assume that the
ia
vocabulary included in a text is only
necessary in so far as it helps to answer a
particular comprehension question, and
that learners should ignore unknown
words because it makes the whole
listening process more ‘authentic’
(making them accustomed to only
grasping the gist of the texts they hear).
The lexical approach
I am a devoted believer in the lexical
approach to language teaching. As such,
I have come up with a technique which
looks at coursebook listening material
through the prism of the lexical
approach. Essentially, the lexical
approach aims to explore the lexical
environment of the entire course
material, whether it be reading texts,
writing, loose exchanges during breaks,
incidental language items coming out in
speaking practice, or listening activities
which the students are exposed to inside
and outside the classroom.
When you examine coursebook
listening comprehension tasks in the
light of the tenets of the lexical
approach, as well as bearing in mind the
latest findings concerning the workings
of human memory, it is immediately
apparent why these tasks have a great
potential for introducing and activating
lexis. Being didactic in nature,
coursebook listening materials are
usually full of language which:
contains lexical items chosen in
accordance with the level
requirements;
includes a manageable (for the
students) number of completely new
vocabulary items or collocations;
 has its lexis embedded in a dialogue or
story which is easier to recall than
decontextualised words from a
discrete vocabulary activity;
is usually thematically bound with
other skills practised in the unit;
reoccurs in other sections of the book
(other listening tasks, reading, videos,
etc) so that learning it guarantees
better comprehension of upcoming
tasks;
is convenient for active revision (eg by
gapping the listening script, asking the
students to retell the story, rebuilding
the story on the basis of the key
words, etc).
Yet in order to extract all these
advantages from coursebook recordings
and, thereby, not only train the students
to deal more effectively with future
listening challenges, but also to make the
development of a receptive skill a
significant contributor to their productive
repertoire, a new approach is needed.
Over many years of working with
different coursebook listening tasks, I
have devised a technique which I refer to
as the ‘triple L’ technique (LLL), which
stands for Listen, Learn, Listen.
The LLL technique
The triple L technique is a three-stage
process which starts with listening to the
text and performing the first (general)
comprehension check activity. This is
followed by the learn phase, which not
only clarifies challenging lexis but also
Pu
helps the students notice and learn
language which will be useful for them
in later speaking activities. The
ion
technique closes with the second
listening, this time involving a detail-
focused comprehension check exercise.
This practises the listening skill as a
vil
whole, serves as additional exposure to
the language which has just been learnt
and also offers productive consolidation
Pa
practice.
Stage 1: Listen
At the beginning of the LLL cycle, the
students, after first being familiarised
with the context of the listening task,
listen to the recording and do a general
comprehension task which places
emphasis on understanding the gist of
the text or its parts, rather than focusing
on its details. As a rule, during this stage
the students listen to the recording once.
• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 106 September 2016 •
items which follow lexical or
Listening vocabulary grammatical patterns (collocations
1 Seaside holidays and colligations) which are
counterintuitive because of the
a holiday resort students’ native language (in the case
boiling hot of monolingual students) and, as
get a suntan such, have a negative effect on both
spoken and written accuracy.
on the beach
If the text is divided into separate parts,
at the seaside
different contextual sources of the
Rather you than me!
vocabulary could be emphasised on the
Sounds like my idea of hell! board by explicitly dividing vocabulary
items into separate sets, each reflecting
2 Holidays in the mountains
the content of an individual part of the
td
gentle slopes recording. For example, if the students
are to listen to two conversations about
L
What are you up to later?
holiday destinations, one about the
stunning views
seaside, the other about holidays in the
ia
I’m scared of heights. mountains, the vocabulary could be
OK, fair enough! grouped on the board by giving each set
ed
a heading which will function as a
Figure 1 Linear presentation of lexis general umbrella topic (linear
presentation, see Figure 1), or the teacher
dM
In the meantime, the teacher writes on could create graphically organised sets
the board all the language chunks which (eg mind maps, see Figure 2).
they would like the students to be able This heading-based way of
to use actively. This list could include:
an presenting vocabulary from a listening
potentially guarantees better retention,
completely new vocabulary items;
as the students tend to recall first the
vocabulary items which are recognised whole context of the listening text, here
ing
passively, but which the teacher would a conversation, and from there they
like the students to activate; arrive at a single lexical item. This
Listening vocabulary
h
lis
a holiday resort
b
boiling hot
get a suntan
seaside holidays on the beach
at the seaside
Rather you than me!
Sounds like my idea of hell!
gentle slopes
What are you up to later?
stunning views in the mountains
OK, fair enough! I’m scared of heights.
Figure 2 Lexis presented in mind maps
33
The LLL
technique
cognitive path reflects the mind map
created in the students’ brain – a more
general topic is branched out into
separate paths, each of which provides a
lexical label for a concept presented in
the recording.
Stage 2: Learn
This stage makes use of the initial
comprehension task as well as the lexical
material now on the board. The teacher
asks the students to report on their
findings and give their responses to the
questions posed in the general
comprehension check activity. While
individual students give their answers to
the questions, the teacher elaborates on
their responses in a way that allows for
natural incorporation of the vocabulary
items presented on the board. The
students also get the chance to hear the
target items in connected speech, which
will enable them to recognise them more
easily if they occur in future texts. Since
research suggests that correct
pronunciation of new words has an
impact on retention and activation, the
teacher might also want to reinforce new
lexis by asking the students to repeat the
expressions from the board aloud. At
this point, the students could also copy
b
the items from the board into their
notebooks.
Pu
Stage 3: Listen
After focusing on the target language,
ion
the students move on to a more detailed
task, which gives intensive listening
skills practice. However, a more detailed
comprehension check is not the only
vil
objective of the last stage of the cycle. A
second purpose is to reinforce the target
vocabulary and enable the students to
Pa
pick out the words studied in the Learn
stage from a stream of speech, use them
to answer the set questions and, by
means of all of these steps, embed this
previously unknown or unnoticed
language in the context of the topic,
facilitating its future retention.
After the second listening, the
teacher asks the students for their
responses to the second task, but insists
that they use all the relevant words and
expressions from the board in their
34 • Issue 106 September 2016 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •
answers, at the same time clarifying any
doubts or misunderstandings.
If the lesson plan allows for it, this
stage could be followed by a
communicative activity which will give
the students the opportunity to use the
new vocabulary from the listening
material (and all the other relevant items This is your magazine.
introduced before the listening task) in We want to hear from you!
an open communicative task, such as a
discussion or an interview on a similar
topic.
IT WORKS IN PRACTICE
td
Do you have ideas you’d like to share
The triple L technique might appeal to with colleagues around the world?
L
those teachers who feel that their Tips, techniques and activities;
students do not take full advantage of simple or sophisticated; well-tried
the listening material they get access to
ia
or innovative; something that has
in class. The technique suits didactic worked well for you? All published
materials best, as it focuses on those
ed
contributions receive a prize!
lexical features of a text which are
intended to be used actively later by the
TALKBACK!
dM
students. Although authentic material
has high lexical richness, the nature of
the language may make it too Do you have something to say about
challenging as material for LLL. Thus an article in the current issue of ETp?
teachers may find it most effective to
an This is your magazine and we would
alternate the type of techniques applied:
really like to hear from you.
LLL for coursebook-based listening
It really worked
ing
comprehension tasks, with relevant,
level-suitable vocabulary;
General listening comprehension
for me!
h
techniques (eg pre-teaching of Did you get inspired by something
vocabulary) for authentic listening you read in ETp? Did you do
lis
material, or listening material with something similiar with your students?
arguably lower lexical usefulness (eg Did it really work in practice?
songs, literary pieces). Do share it with us ...
Such an eclectic approach to listening
provides not only variety but also more Reviewing
fruitful outcomes, as it allows the
students to practise the skill itself, to for ETp
learn the value of noticing in language Would you like to review books
learning and, simultaneously, to trigger or other teaching materials for ETp?
some key memory processes, We are always looking for
contributing, at the end of the day, to people who are interested in
better vocabulary retention. writing reviews for us.
Anna Kamont is a For guidelines and advice,
teacher trainer, and an write to us or email:
EFL teacher working
with adult learners.
She is a reviewer for
helena.gomm@pavpub.com
The Journal of Teaching
English with
Technology. She has English Teaching professional
published articles on Pavilion Publishing and Media Ltd,
ELT, mainly on the role
of memory in language Rayford House, School Road,
learning, technology in Hove BN3 5HX, UK
ELT and improving
accuracy. Fax: +44 (0)1273 227308
Email: info@etprofessional.com
kamont.anna@gmail.com
 NEW !

FRAMEWORK
FRAMEWORK
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from

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Framework: Academic Writing and Critical Thinking
provides a structured approach to the improvement
of academic writing. It develops the student’s writing Academic
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• The Framework approach makes use of ‘thinking
frameworks’ and ‘writing frameworks’. These
Writing and
frameworks help students to plan their writing
(essays, reports, and articles). They encourage
students to first reflect on a topic, and then plan and
Critical

Publishing
organise their ideas.
• Writing skills.Students develop skills such as:
organising different types of essay; writing a report;
Thinking
describing graphs, tables and charts; referring to
sources and avoiding plagiarism.
• Critical Thinking. Students develop skills such as:
looking at both sides of an argument; defining terms;
commenting objectively on data; solving problems and
Student’s Book
evaluating solutions; building strong arguments.
• Language. Framework reinforces the language of
academic writing, focusing on: sentence building,

Richard Harrison
subordination, describing data, using ‘tentative’
language, and reporting and paraphrasing.
• Level. Framework is a low-intermediate to
intermediate course aimed at:
IELTS – 4.5 to 6.0
CEF (Common European Framework) – B1 to B2
Framework provides a useful supplement for the
academic writing component of IELTS Academic.

td
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Teacher’s guide: ISBN 0-000-00000-0
Richard Harrison

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on Twitter • provides a structured approach to the improvement of academic writing

ed
• encourages students to think clearly and critically
• helps students to plan essays, reports, and articles using ‘thinking frameworks’
and ‘writing frameworks’

dM
Framework focuses on:
• Writing skills: organising essays; writing reports; describing graphs, tables and
charts; referring to sources and avoiding plagiarism.
• Critical thinking skills: looking at both sides of an argument;
an defining terms; commenting on data; solving problems;
and building strong arguments.
Level: a low-intermediate to intermediate
course aimed at: CANFORD PUBLISHING
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TEFL Books 175x101 MET_Half.indd 2 27/04/2016 16:48

 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.

The activities in this issue are taken from the Norwich Institute
of Language Education A–Z activity card set, which focuses on
the NILE trainers’ favourite activities for practising different
skills in the classroom. Remember, you can access these cards

td
in their original format, plus further examples, at www.nile-elt.

L
Back row: Thom Kiddle, Tony Prince, Tom Sarney
Front row: Carole Robinson, Johanna Stirling, com/news/launch-of-the-nile-a-z-activity-cards/534.
Alan Pulverness, Maria Heron

ia
Behind the words Knowing me, knowing you

ed
Focus: Writing/Speaking Focus: Phoneme practice
Level: B2 upwards Level: A1 upwards

dM
Key language: Speculation Key language: Lexical sets, questions
Aims Aims
To develop awareness of ‘inner speech’ To practise pairs of easily-confused phonemes
To develop spoken/written fluency skills To practise vocabulary
an
To practise language of speculation To practise question forms
Procedure Procedure
ing

1 Tell the students they are going to watch a man and a woman
getting to know each other.
2 Show the balcony scene from Woody Allen’s film Annie Hall, without
the sound. Use the clip at www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2wA4jNAha8 as it
h
1 Ask two groups of students to collaborate on
drawing a caricature of a person on a poster-sized
sheet of paper.
2 Give each group one of a pair of phonemes that

has the subtitles from the original scene blacked out. have been causing confusion.
lis

3 Ask the students to think about what the characters are saying. 3 Ask each group to invent a first name and surname

4 Show the scene again, this time with the sound. The students for their caricature that both feature their phoneme.
b

compare the dialogue with their predictions. The students add the names and the IPA symbol
4
Pu

5Divide the students into two groups: A and B. Group A produces to their caricature.
thought bubbles for Alvy (Woody Allen). Group B does the same for 5 Each group creates a number of questions and
Annie (Diane Keaton). Tell them to consider how what you think may answers about their character (eg What newspaper
ion

differ from what you say. does he read? What sport does he play?). They should
6 The students from Group A find partners from Group B and try to create answers that include the target phoneme
exchange their ideas. (eg Bunny Lunt reads The Sun and plays rugby.).
6 The groups then take turns to ask their questions
vil

Show the clip at www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMozdI8mhZk, which

7
has the same scene with subtitles. of the other group.
7 Answers which include the target phoneme are
Repeat Steps 2–6 with another film or TV clip showing two
8
Pa

people in a conventional social situation. added to the poster.

Tip 1: The dialogue from Annie Hall includes a number of slang/
colloquial expressions (yo-yo, what a jerk, hang in there)
whose meanings the students should be able to infer from
context/co-text.
Tip 2: The activity could be adapted, using any suitable film or TV
clip, for lower-level learners.
Tip 1: This can be run as a competitive activity,
with groups gaining/losing points depending
on the accuracy of their suggestions.
Tip 2: With classes who are familiar with the IPA,
the groups can gain extra points for adding
phonemic spelling to correct answers.

Tip 3: An extension activity could be added for groups of four, Tip 3: Lower levels may need revision of present
with two speakers and two ‘shadow’ speakers voicing the simple question formation and/or appropriate
speakers’ thoughts. lexical sets (eg food, drink, sports).

36 • Issue 106 September 2016 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •

 Lost voices Flower writing
Focus: Writing/Speaking Focus: Writing
Level: B2 upwards Level: A2 upwards
Key language: Exchange pairs, Key language: Topic vocabulary
question-and-answer routines Aims
Aims To develop writing skills in a controlled manner
To develop fluency skills and build confidence To practise specific phrases and vocabulary
To practise language for social/personal interaction To focus on organisation of ideas in writing
To practise question forms
Procedure
Procedure 1 Ask the students to suggest a
1 Select a video clip from a movie or TV drama with two or topic for writing (eg ‘my favourite
three characters in a normal social situation (eg friends in a film’). Have them draw the outline

td
restaurant, family members at home). of a flower (see illustration) and
2 Tell the students that they are going to watch a short scene
write the topic in the middle.

L
from a movie without any sound. Their task is to try to understand 2 Get the students to write
the situation and the relationships between the characters. They sub-themes for the topic in

ia
will be asked to create a dialogue for the characters. each of the petals of the flower.
3 Play the clip without sound two or three times, so that the
They can work together at this

ed
students have time to watch closely and make notes of their ideas. stage, deciding on key language.
3 The students add to their petals by writing down more
In pairs or small groups, the students exchange their ideas
4

dM
and write their own dialogue for the scene. related words.
4 Tell the students that each petal will be a different
The pairs or small groups take turns to re-enact the scene
5
with their own dialogue. paragraph of a piece of writing.
5 The students work alone to structure their writing,
The class votes for the most likely/most dramatic/funniest
6
an
with information about the target audience and genre
dialogue.
given by the teacher. They use the language in the flower
7 Finally, play the clip again, this time with sound, for the to help build the text. The teacher monitors their work
ing

students to compare with their versions. and provides support.

Tip 1: Encourage the students to work on appropriate 6 The students peer correct and work on re-drafting the
gestures and body language for their own dialogues. texts they have produced.
h

Tip 2: With more advanced classes, a more dramatic Tip 1: As a warmer, the students can write the
lis

situation (eg an argument or a police interrogation) sub-themes but not the main topic, and guess
may be more motivating. each other’s topics.
Tip 3: Both the students’ dialogues and the original dialogue
b

Tip 2: This activity can be adapted to different levels,

can provide the basis for focusing on conversational asking for simple sentences (A1) or complex
Pu

behaviour. text (B2).

ion

Progressive deletion
Focus: Phonology students repeat the phrase, following the model of connected
Level: A1 upwards speech, stress, etc.
vil

Key language: Any 5 After each repetition of a phrase, delete a word or words
Aims (you can either delete content words or grammatical function
To develop spoken accuracy and fluency words, depending on your focus). You are reducing the visual
Pa

To vary lesson pace
To build confidence
Procedure
1 Write a series of target phrases or expressions on the board.
2 Ask the students to predict stress, weak forms and any
examples of connected speech which occur in the utterances.
3 Model the phrases so that the students can check their
predictions and examples.
4 Number the phrases. As you call out the numbers, the
support available for the students. They should continue to
repeat the phrase with all the words.
6 Continue the activity until the board is blank and the
students are repeating the expressions with no visual support.
7 Get the students to reconstruct the phrases from memory
and compare these to the original utterances.
Tip 1: Vary choral and individual drilling.
Tip 2: Speed up the drill to increase energy levels.
Tip 3: Use clapping or tapping to keep the correct rhythm.

• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 106 September 2016 • 37

BUSINESS ENGLISH professional
Teaching
negotiation 1
David Tedone creates a ‘community of practice’.
N
egotiation is one of the
most popular areas of
interest for business ESP
students, yet, at the same
time, it is the one that presents them
with the most difficulties. Nearly
everyone who wants to communicate
effectively in international business feels
that they need more training in
negotiation. As such, no business
English curriculum would be complete
without some focus on this serious, and
sometimes feared, communication
function. Many books, articles and
other sources of information offer useful
strategies, advice and case studies.
Nonetheless, many attempts to ‘teach’
negotiation in business ESP courses
invariably fail to take into account the
many dimensions of negotiation, which
raises intercultural, pragmatic and
b
situational discourse issues, far beyond
what a cursory business English lesson
Pu
seemingly can provide.
A community of practice
ion
Teaching negotiation is complicated by
considerations of language use, strategy,
cultural values and discourse styles.
vil
Many textbooks for English-language
learners opt for lexical approaches, but
fail to introduce the learners to other
Pa
important aspects of this business
communication. Indeed, the topic may
be impossible to ‘teach’ but, instead,
lends itself to what James Paul Gee
called ‘apprenticeship’ approaches to
language learning, where the learners
model language use and practise in
structured and unstructured roleplays.
Such techniques, however, represent
only first steps toward developing useful
skills, and ESP instructors ultimately
need to introduce and build a
38 • Issue 106 September 2016 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •
‘community of practice’ for students
who want to improve their international
business negotiations.
The term community of practice, first
ed
used by Jean Lave and Étienne Wenger in
1991, describes how people learn through
dM
interaction and participation in groups.
The concept was borrowed by the field
of pragmatics and has come to refer to
participants in a specialised speech
group, in this case business negotiation
an
in a language-learning course. Istvan
Kecskes defines communities of practice
as ‘social groups composed of individuals
ing
who come together for shared purposes
that are organized around, for example,
social, familial or professional goals’. In
h
the case of business ESP students, the
individuals are English learners, involved
lis
in international business negotiations in
lingua franca situations. As a result, many
of the normally accepted and understood
conventions of English may not be
accessible to or followed by them, so the
business ESP teacher needs to provide
opportunities not only for practising
language, but also for understanding
pragmatics and discourse styles. Such
practice needs to be meaningful to ESP
students, not just attempts to mimic
standardised western discourse styles.
Therefore, the first rationale behind
establishing a community of practice
within an ESP course to develop
language and negotiation skills is that the
students will learn more effectively and
meaningfully through participation and
repeated practice in the speech activity.
Zoltán Dörnyei observes that there
is a ‘growing recognition that almost
every aspect of language acquisition and
use is determined or significantly shaped
by social, cultural and situational factors’.
This is the second rationale behind
establishing a community of practice
within an ESP course: so that the
students will learn more effectively and
meaningfully by developing awareness
of how social situations influence and
constrain communication.
Establishing a
community of practice
The idea of ‘practice’ in a socially-defined
group, characterised by a specific goal,
emphasises the importance of repeated
td
and diverse participation in a speech act
– in this case, a negotiation. Doing this
L
kind of practice as a classroom activity
mirrors the way all speakers actually
ia
develop skills and expertise and earn
membership in the many speech groups
that they belong to. It also suggests that
acquiring communicative competence in
international negotiations is a process,
relying on significant and repeated time
on task, and adding language, pragmatics
and discourse features in line with the
dynamic development of a student’s skill.
Therefore, a community of practice
focuses on case studies and roleplays so
that the students can learn by creating a
domain of best practices, a core of
shared knowledge, and a community
through ongoing collaboration – as
explained by Étienne Wenger and his
colleagues.
Many of the suggestions in this
article are based on my experience of
teaching a series of business ESP courses
in Tokyo, Japan, over an eight-year
period, as well as teaching business and
negotiation lessons at schools in the US
and Italy. I used the idea of a community
of practice to teach negotiation skills in
the Tokyo programme because of the
need to introduce more complex features
of negotiation, such as strategies,
cultural values and pragmatics. The
curriculum for the five-course Business
English Communication programme
dedicated more than 30 percent of the
class time to negotiation activities, or
closely related exercises such as decision-
making and problem-solving meetings.
Throughout the 50 classes and 125 hours
of study, the students actually
participated in dozens of negotiations,
taken from real-life case studies. These
got progressively more complex and
required more creative and critical
output from the students. So, embedded
within the curriculum was a community
of practice designed to introduce the
BUSINESS ENGLISH professional
students to the complexity of negotiating
in a foreign language, and allowing them
opportunities to practise, observe and
debrief their performance.
In lower-level courses, roughly
low-intermediate and intermediate, the
students might use more structured
exercises and simpler case studies,
including some focus on language
phrases, in their negotiations. As the
students progress into the high-
intermediate and advanced levels, with
some negotiation experience behind them,
the case studies might become more
complex, with less instructor scaffolding
provided to guide them. Instead, the
students should be encouraged to follow
their own strategies and begin to build
their own discourse systems. That way,
the students would ideally progress from
language-phrase-based negotiations,
through analyses of negotiation contexts,
to considerations of strategies and the
effects of cultural values, to an awareness
of discourse features of negotiation in
international situations.
Sample negotiation roleplays
(low-intermediate)
(Courtesy of the UCLA Extension
Business English Communication
Program)
1 Your company needs to improve the
computer skills of 50 employees. Should
you hire a teacher, send the staff to a
computer school or use another method?
2 Recently, younger employees at your
company seem to lack motivation and
have low morale. What should you do?
3 You are the vice-president of human
ion
resources. Several employees in finance
have told you that the CFO is using
‘insider trading’ to make money. What
vil
should you do?
No matter which course level, however,
all the students should be encouraged to
Pa
interact in classroom activities that
enable them to roleplay, argue positions,
reflect on outcomes, debrief, discuss
issues raised by the negotiation and
write reports for further reflection. In
doing so, the students can develop an
awareness of social, linguistic and
functional needs in negotiation through
practice in collaborative classroom
activities. In effect, the cycle of activities
shown in Figure 1 frames the
negotiation exercises.
• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 106 September 2016 •
Write Input
Reflect and discuss Roleplay
Debrief
Figure 1 Cycle of activities
‘Input’ may be language phrases,
lingua franca versus standard business
register, protocol in negotiation meetings,
ed
strategies, cultural values, pragmatics and
discourse styles. In ‘Reflect and discuss’,
dM
the students are encouraged to challenge
the input concepts, whether they are
strategic or cultural considerations, based
on their experience or independent
research they have done.
an
Negotiation: definitions
and difficulties
ing
Many students are wary of negotiating
because it has many negative
h
connotations. Moreover, it is often hard
to define and frequently misunderstood.
lis
So, working up a definition is a good
place to start. In addition, based on
b
cultural views, students might have very
different understandings of what is
Pu
meant by negotiation. Ron Scollon and
his colleagues note that some people,
based on their cultural orientation, may
view a ‘negotiation’ as a process of
ratification of a proposal, instead of the
western idea of arguing a position and
bargaining.
Negotiation is also seen as difficult,
even dangerous and risky, in the sense
that one can lose something of value. It
seems difficult, because it calls up images
of competition and confrontation, not to
mention tricks and traps for the gullible
and inexperienced.
Many students think of price
bargaining as negotiation. That is, the
buyer offers a price, and the seller
counters with another until the two sides
settle on a mutually acceptable figure.
Some writers argue that we negotiate all
the time, and that it is a central feature
of communication, so the idea of
negotiation is actually quite familiar to
all speakers. In contrast, however,
business negotiation, or more formal
negotiation, can be characterised as two
or more parties in a meeting, exchanging
objects or actions that have value, in
order to reach a deal.
Perhaps it is easier to define what a
negotiation is not. If one encounters a
negotiator who refuses to budge in a
give-and-take situation, then it is not a
negotiation in the western sense. So, the
td
operative word is ‘tradeables’ – in order
to have a negotiation, there must be
L
some expectation and opportunity to
trade objects or actions. If a partner is
ia
unwilling or unable to engage in
give-and-take, then it is not a negotiation.
In my next article, I will look at using
structured roleplays to help the students
identify the functions of various
elements of the language of negotiation,
and introduce issues related to
negotiating in a lingua franca, as well as
strategies and tactics.
Dörnyei, Z Research Methods in Applied
Linguistics: Quantitative, Qualitative, and
Mixed Methods OUP 2007
Gee, J P ‘Literacy, discourse and
linguistics: introduction’ Journal of
Education 171 1989
Kecskes, I Intercultural Pragmatics OUP
2014
Lave, J and Wenger, É Situated Learning:
Legitimate Peripheral Participation CUP
1991
Scollon, R, Wong Scollon, S and Jones, R
Intercultural Communication: A Discourse
Approach (3rd edn) Wiley-Blackwell 2012
Wenger, É Communities of Practice:
Learning, Meaning, and Identity CUP 1998
Wenger, É, McDermott, R and Snyder, W M
Cultivating Communities of Practice
Harvard Business Press 2002
David Tedone is
Professor of Global
Business at Musashino
University, Tokyo, Japan.
He has an MA in Applied
Linguistics from the
University of
Massachusetts Boston,
USA, and in 2010, he
was named a
Distinguished Instructor
at UCLA Extension.
davidtedone@hotmail.com
39
Reviews
ETpedia Business English:
500 Ideas for Business English
Teachers
by John Hughes and Robert McLarty
Pavilion Publishing and Media Ltd 2016
978-1-911028-20-8
The appearance of 500 Ideas for
Business English Teachers is good news,
both for teachers starting out in business
English and for the more experienced. It
is packed with tips, ideas and activities.
The 174-page, A4 wire-bound
resource book contains 50 units, and is
divided into five main parts. After a brief
introduction, the first major section is
entitled ‘What is business English?’. It
clarifies several different business
English contexts, such as in-work and
pre-work, one-to-one and small
groups. The next section is called
‘Preparation and planning’ and
includes tips on carrying out a needs
analysis, the principles of course
design and assessment. We then
move into the main body of the book.
‘Activities for business topics’
provides activities for working on
areas like marketing, sales, culture,
technology and management. The
longest section contains 16 units
and looks at ‘Business
b
communication skills’ such as
presentations, meetings, socialising
Pu
and negotiations. Although the final
section is called ‘Business
language skills’, it actually covers
ion
a wide range of areas, including a
focus on grammar, vocabulary
and pronunciation; various
aspects of business writing, including
vil
emails; a look at authentic materials, tests
and examinations and, finally, ways of
continuing professional development.
Pa
This is a very practical book, and can
easily be dipped into for help in planning,
inspiration and off-the-shelf material. The
ideas vary in length from short tips to
longer activities or, in some units, lists of
useful functional exponents and
expressions. The ‘10 ways to use
frameworks’ unit in the ‘Business
communication skills’ section is especially
useful, providing diagrams which help
students organise their thoughts. The
‘Three-way discussion’ framework, for
40 • Issue 106 September 2016 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •
example, can help structure a fluency
activity on agreeing and disagreeing. In
the same section, I’m delighted to see a
good amount of space devoted to the
skill of negotiating, as this remains a
daunting area for many business English
teachers whose students are often
experienced negotiators.
The book is full of hidden delights
such as ‘The time capsule’ activity, where
the students brainstorm ten items to
include in a time capsule which will tell
people in the future about their company.
Such activities often require minimum
ed
dM
an
ing
h
lis
preparation and can yield a high output in
terms of language practice and fluency.
There’s a great set of quotes in the ‘Sales’
unit, and a well-designed mind map built
around the word security in the ‘Business
vocabulary’ unit. The unit on ‘10 types of
useful authentic materials’ is full of ideas
for exploiting company websites,
newsletters, reports and videos, as well
as using infographics. The unit on graphs
and charts mentions using screen-
capture software, such as Jing. Teachers
may well be inspired to explore this and
the other online tools mentioned, like
Snagit and Brainshark.
The 30-page Appendix is a highlight
and really worth investigation. It contains
a wealth of support materials, such as a
sample needs analysis form. I love the
‘Collocation pelmanism’ activity. There
are useful phrases for meetings and
discussion on cards, which can be cut
out and used as prompts. Especially
helpful is a set of coloured business
td
cards for roleplays, although exploiting
these to the full will require a colour
L
photocopier. The simple information-gap
activity ‘Describing trends on graphs’
ia
allows the students to complete a graph,
and then use it in pairwork. The post-
presentation feedback form has
ten areas to comment on. I
wouldn’t find this so easy to use
myself, but teachers are clearly
at liberty to use their own
feedback forms, or adapt the
suggested formats here to suit
their own context. One
worksheet which is missing is a
feedback sheet to use with the
students after a fluency lesson
– business English students are
keen on receiving such feedback
on their mistakes.
The book contains many short
contributions and quotes from
well-known practitioners (myself
included!); these written
equivalents of ‘soundbites’ offer
useful pieces of advice. The use of
colour in the book is rare, so when
it is used, it is quite striking and
effective, such as the pie-chart in
the unit on business grammar and
the illustration of graphs and charts
in the unit of the same name. On the
one hand, it’s nice to include ten
extra ideas from the companion volume
ETpedia; on the other, it feels a bit too
much like marketing.
I very much welcome the appearance
of this book. It is a kind of ‘one-stop’
guide, and it will be especially useful to
those starting out on the road to
becoming a business English teacher.
Pete Sharma
Rochester, UK
Subscribers can get a 12.5% discount
on this book. Go to the ETp website
and quote ETPQR0314 at the checkout.
Reviews
Authentic Listening
Resource Pack
by Mark Hancock, Annie McDonald
Delta Publishing 2014
978-1-905085-88-0
Listening tends to be one of the most
challenging skills for students to develop.
This is often because of the fact that, while
learning the language, they are exposed
to large numbers of carefully scripted and
very well-articulated recordings, but when
they have to listen out in the real world,
what they hear does not always live up to
their expectations. Not only does the
variety of accents of both native and
non-native speakers often baffle our
learners, but a number of other
pronunciation features, such as connected
speech, false starts and hesitation can
also pose a threat to their understanding.
Authentic Listening Resource Pack
might be just what students need to get
tuned into real English. The aim of the
book is to expose learners to various
speakers of English and, by doing so, as
the authors put it, ‘broaden their accent
repertoire’. The tasks have been carefully
designed to scaffold the students, so that
they can better understand natural spoken
English, build up their confidence and, as
a result, acquire the tools to develop their
listening skills autonomously.
The book consists of 45 stand-alone
lessons, using a wide range of text types
such as chats, adverts, discussion, radio
interviews, etc. There are numerous
ion
themes, from lighter topics, such as
cooking, to more serious ones, like
neuroscience. The lessons are divided
into different parts, depending on the
vil
topic, but all follow a pre-, while- and
post-listening structure. Every fifth lesson
is devoted to a different aspect of
Pa
pronunciation, such as weak forms of
pronouns and auxiliary verbs, as well as
other features not always mentioned in
coursebooks: for instance, the glottal
stop, false starts and variable vowel
sounds. I found these lessons particularly
useful and enlightening for my students,
as they had time to focus on and analyse
one aspect of spoken English and
pronunciation at a time.
All the lessons are photocopiable, and
the answer key to all activities and full
• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 106 September 2016 •
scripts are provided at the back
of the book. The audio files and
videos for the listening activities
come on three CDs, which can
be played on a computer, an
MP3-embbeded CD player or a
DVD player. The book also gives
a website address and provides a
PIN number, should the students
td
want to go online to download the
full version of the radio interviews
L
used in this resource pack.
There is also a ‘Map of the
ia
book’ section, which is a real
timesaver, as it helps the teacher
ed
quickly identify and locate specific
topics or pronunciation features
they might want to work on with
dM
their classes.
I had plenty of opportunities to
try this book with different classes
and several levels. What I have
an
noticed is that, although it is
recommended for CEFR B1 and B2
students, my intermediate students features should not be highlighted and
found it extremely difficult. A encouraged at lower levels. Trying this
ing
considerable number of the activities material for a few weeks led me to
proposed in the ‘Pronunciation for conclude that it is the complexity of some
listeners’ sections went way over their of the exercises that makes it rather
h
heads. I found myself having to adapt demanding for an average B1 learner.
many of them and guide the students This, however, by no means lessens the
lis
through the tasks a lot more, and much value of the material. Quite the contrary.
more slowly. I am not saying, however, This is an excellent and well-planned
b
that the book doesn’t work with B1 book which no doubt does help students
students. That was just my experience
Pu
become more aware of natural spoken
trying it out with mainly Asian and English and eventually improve their
Middle-Eastern students who often listening skills. I thoroughly recommend it.
struggle with simple words and spelling, William Chaves Gomes
and who were then faced with an activity, London, UK
for example, asking them to rewrite the
fragment ‘anaw sojuss the lifestyle’ into Subscribers can get a 12.5% discount
standard English (and also just the
on this book. Go to the ETp website and
lifestyle). Some activities were equally quote ETPQR0314 at the checkout.
challenging for some of my B2 students.
I also tried it with advanced students and
it worked really well. One of the reasons
why I think the C1 group benefited more Reviewing
from the lessons was the fact that they
could actually reflect on their current for ETp
listening skills and take on board
Would you like to review books
straightaway what the book suggested.
or other teaching materials for ETp?
In my experience, unless the teacher
adapts certain activities, the book in its We are always looking for people who
present format is more appropriate for a are interested in writing reviews for us.
strong upper-intermediate/advanced For guidelines and advice, write to us
group. This doesn’t mean, though, that or email: helena.gomm@pavpub.com
awareness of natural pronunciation
41
W A substitute teacher?
e all enjoy the idea of learning something on
our own. The old ‘Teach Yourself ...’ books
capitalised on it, and I myself have succumbed
to that pipe-dream on more than one occasion.
I still have a copy of Teach Yourself Arabic on my shelves – it’s
right next door to a large volume entitled Russian Made Simple.
Not that I should ignore the contribution that the Russian book
has made to my life – I can fluently, and with a reasonable
accent, produce the phrase ‘I’ll show you where the crayfish go
in the springtime’, which is always a hit at parties …
DIY learning
This dream of self-education is not always restricted to
amateurs: I remember one occasion (several years ago, let it be
said) when I witnessed a singularly inexperienced man from a
gas company looking for a leak in the kitchen with an illustrated
manual in one hand and a lighted taper in the other! Fortunately,
ing
he did not find the leak; that job fell to a senior colleague with a
more orthodox approach …
Music seems to be a particular favourite target for the notion
h
that you can learn anything from a book. There used to be a
lis
publication that said you could learn to play the piano in seven
days, ‘and amaze your friends’. The amazement might well be
b
true, if horror and sheer disbelief are included as types of
Pu
amazement.
In a brief search, the quickest boast I can find talks about learning
ion
the piano in six weeks or less: ‘Many people wish they could sit
down at the piano and simply play, their hands flying over the keys
as melodies pour out. With this simple, achievable program that’s
vil
possible … in just six weeks!’ The promise is made that in that
time the pupil can quickly and easily learn the necessary skills.
Pa
Hmmm – and just how many of those would be desirable ones,
I wonder!
I speak with a certain bias here – as a teacher of piano and organ
myself, I know all too well the professional ease with which
untended pupils can acquire bad habits. I use the analogy of
attempting to make a plain sponge cake, and finding that several
rather plump and juicy sultanas and currants have found their way
into the final creation. Trying to remove them at this late stage will
inevitably result in the destruction of the cake …
42 • Issue 106 September 2016 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •
Computers, now: could they be the teachers of the future? After
all, you have the seductive graphics, the catchy little tunes, and
the apparently ubiquitous ‘Great job!’ when you have managed to
td
write the date correctly on three separate occasions. Computers
L
exhibit the apparently infinite patience of the good teacher –
though it has to be said that they demand the same from you, as
ia
you wait for the ‘Not responding’ message to disappear and the
lesson to resume. But will the much-vaunted Artificial Intelligence
ed
ever enable the computer to deliver those all-important teacherly
skills: the raising of the eyebrows or the sideways glance, either of
dM
which is worth a webinar in itself?
There are programs which try to interpret facial expressions, but
as for delivering them, I have my doubts. Most teachers that I
an
know have that vital weapon in their armoury: the Teacher’s Look.
Not, I suggest, quite the same when delivered by Digital Dave on a
13-inch computer screen …
A substitute translator?
One area where the intervention of teachers would seem to be
essential is that of languages. I have often gone to European
websites and, when my knowledge of French or German or
whatever language has been exhausted, have resorted to the
‘Translate this page’ button. Well, if you accept that ‘translate’ in
its broadest sense means merely alter or change into something
else, it’s doing what it’s supposed to. Beyond that, well, here are
some examples of signs where the Magic Button has been used
instead of real linguistic knowledge:
Office of mayhem evaluation
(a large lit sign outside an impressive office building)
To take notice of safe – the slippery are very crafty
Lookoutknockhead
(at least it’s graphic!)
Here’s something from the website of a French estate agent.
I pushed the translate button, only to get:
‘On the 1st floor, a bearing serving two spacious rooms,
a bathroom/WC, and a room of water.’
Hmmm.
 Excuse me? Some years ago, I taught a group of ‘special needs’ teenagers.
During a lesson they read a text and one of the boys came across

How would computers respond to students’ excuses, which can an unknown word, crow, and asked me what it meant. At the same

provide some of the most rewarding moments in teaching? time I was busy explaining something to another student, so I
made short work of it and said the Lithuanian word for it: varna.

td
‘Where is your homework?’
After some time, the same question followed. I thought about his
‘It’s still in my pencil.’

L
poor hearing and repeated louder: varna!
‘Where is your homework?’
Within seconds I heard the very irritated, nervous voice of the
‘The dog ate it. We had to chop it up really small and smear it

ia
student. I turned around and saw that his face was red and he
with cheese, but he really did eat it.’
almost shouted out: ‘I really don’t know the word, I can’t find it in

ed
One of the best excuses I ever had was given when it became the dictionary!’
apparent in a piano lesson that no work had been done that

dM
Uh-oh! The Lithuanian word varna, for the English crow, is an
week. When the eight year old was challenged, she simply
insulting word for a gullible, not very smart person. The poor soul
replied ‘Well, my sister had a new rabbit’. Perfect!
thought I called him ‘a crow’ for not knowing the word!
(From Onestopenglish)
an
A celebration
ing

of teachers
h

‘I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think.’

Socrates
lis

‘The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The

b

superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.’

Pu

William A Ward
Mark Fletcher

Sound familiar?
ion

‘The children now love luxury. They have bad manners,

contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and

Give me patience! love chatter in place of exercise.’

vil

Socrates
How would a computer deal with either of these situations
‘When you study great teachers ... you will learn much more
Pa

described by teachers?
from their caring and hard work than from their style.’
‘Who discovered Pikes Peak?’ I asked an eighth-grader. William Glasser
He shrugged.
‘That disapproving look was back in her eyes. Her teacher
‘All right, here’s a hint,’ I continued. ‘Who’s buried in Grant’s face. The one that could make you squirm from ten paces,
Tomb?’ even if you were innocent. And I hadn’t been innocent for
‘Grant?’ he asked tentatively. years.’

‘Good. Now, who discovered Pikes Peak?’ Laurell K Hamilton, Circus of the Damned

‘Grant!’ Scrapbook compiled by Ian Waring Green

• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 106 September 2016 • 43

 A memorable teacher
1 Read the following story.
Some years ago, a sociology professor at an
American university gave a group of graduate
students the following assignment:
Go to a slum area of the city. Identify 200 boys
between the ages of 12 and 16, and investigate their
2 Which of these best reflects the meaning of
the story?
a Research predictions are invariably wrong
when they predict life chances, because they
don’t take individual circumstances into
consideration.
b Teachers who are strong on discipline can

td
background and environment. Then predict their prevent their students from doing bad things
chances for the future.

L
and improve their life chances.
After consulting a range of social statistics and c Teachers who really care about their students

ia
talking to the subjects selected for the study, the have a much greater influence over their lives
than they may ever realise.

ed
students compiled their report. Their conclusion was
that 90 percent of the boys would spend some d Children from slum areas who are encouraged

period of their lives in prison.
Twenty-five years later, another group of students
was given the job of testing the prediction. They
went back to the same area. Some of the boys in
the original study – by then adults – were still living
ing
dM
to move away have better life chances than
those who stay.
an 3 Make a list of the three people (apart from
your parents) who have had the biggest
influence on your life so far. Share your list

there; a few had died; some had moved away. with a partner, and discuss why these people
However, the students eventually managed to track have been so influential.
down 180 of the original 200. They found that only
h

4 Work in pairs. Discuss what makes a good

four of the group had ever been sent to prison.
lis

teacher, and write down five adjectives

Why was it that these men, who had grown up in an (eg patient, kind) to describe your perfect
area that was notorious as a breeding place for teacher. Join another pair and share your
b

crime, had such a surprisingly good record? In adjectives. Try to choose five that you all agree
Pu

interview after interview, the researchers were told: on. Then join another group. Share your list of
adjectives again, and see if you can choose
‘Well, there was this teacher ...’.
five that you all agree on.
ion

They investigated further and discovered that, in

75 percent of the cases, the teacher was the same
vil

woman. The researchers traced her to a home for

retired teachers and went to visit her. They asked
Pa

her how she had exerted such a remarkable

influence over the boys she had taught, and whether
she could give them any reason why all her former
students remembered her so well.

‘No,’ she said. ‘No I really couldn’t.’ And then,

thinking back over the years, she said pensively –
more to herself than to her interviewers – ‘I loved
Mark Fletcher

those boys ...’.

44 • Issue 106 September 2016 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •

Predictable
P R O N U N C I AT I O N
patterns
Simon Mumford makes the Academic Word List less stressful and more meaningful.
J
ohn Murphy emphasises that
word stress is an important but
neglected aspect of pronunciation,
particularly in the teaching of
academic vocabulary. He notes that
learning correct word stress is a complex
process that requires practice in the
classroom, and he recommends focusing
on the various stress patterns. This
article gives some activities for
practising the word stress of items in the
Academic Word List (AWL). The aim is
to make drilling and repetition both
motivating and meaningful.
Pu
Word stress minefield
This activity focuses on the most
ion
common stress pattern in polysyllabic
AWL words, ie three syllable words with
the stress on the second syllable (o0o).
vil
commitment contradict commission
diminish analogy resourceful
Pa
objective equipment exporting
perception presuming specific
initial researcher formula
refinement projection location
revealing reluctant impacted
quotation perspective incentive
generate illegal selection
• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 106 September 2016 •
L td
ia
ed
dM
Procedure before the suffix to be stressed, thus
Drill the pattern: external, inducing,
an changing the stress pattern of the root
inhibit, migration, occurrence, percentage. word (eg history – historical). The
Give the students grids like the ones on following activity practises the shift
the left below in which all the words follow caused by the suffix -ity.
ing
this pattern except one. Working in pairs,
the students take turns to say a word from Procedure
one grid until all nine have been said. Read the dialogues in the box on the
Careful thinking is needed, because the right below with a volunteer student
h
player who chooses the odd one out is the facing you at the front of the class.
lis
loser. At the end of each game, elicit the The student takes A’s part, and you
different word, practise its pronunciation, read B’s part with exaggerated
and, if appropriate, ask who won in surprise, taking a step backwards on
b
each pair. Note that the exceptions are the stressed syllable. Moving
highlighted below, but should not be backwards not only shows surprise,
shown in the classroom versions. but also symbolises the stressed
syllable moving down the word. Say
Word stress shift all the lines this way, and then let the
students practise in pairs in the same
Many suffixes, such as -ive, -ior, -ical way, taking turns to be A and B.
and -ish, require the syllable immediately
A: It’s not sustainable. B: What, no sustainability?
A: It’s not valid! B: What, no validity?
A: It’s not visible! B: What, no visibility?
A: It’s not ambiguous! B: What, no ambiguity?
A: It’s not adaptable! B: What, no adaptability?
A: It’s not accessible! B: What, no accessibility?
A: It’s not uniform! B: What, no uniformity?
A: It’s not variable! B: What, no variability?
A: It’s not available! B: What, no availability?
A: It’s not compatible! B: What, no compatibility?
A: It’s not creative! B: What, no creativity?
45
Predictable Sentence
with can
Word
with con-
Same or
different
Explanation

patterns I can help. context

sound?

different Can is weak, but con- is the

Word stress gap fill stressed syllable.

This activity uses a system of small and Can he find it? conceive same Both are unstressed/weak.
large Os to demonstrate the stress I can. consequent different Both are stressed, so both have
patterns of words. The large O in each their own full vowel sound.
pattern represents the stressed syllable;
each unstressed syllable is represented You can send it. consent same Both are weak. Can send and
by a small o. consent sound very similar.

Can I come? consist same Both are weak: come is the main
Procedure

td
verb, -sist is the word stem.
Give out copies of the exercise below,

L
without the stress marked in the words in
the box. Drill these words. Then ask the strong or weak, depending on whether
Mouth shape Vowel sound
students to use six of them to fill the gaps or not this syllable carries word stress.

ia
symbols
in the sentences, matching them with the Compare constant, concept, consequent
appropriate stress pattern. Encourage and concentrate with conclusion, confirm,

ed
Rounded lips:
sub-vocalising, saying words aloud, or consent and confer. In the AWL, as an
Long o (or) sound
even tapping out stress patterns in order initial syllable, con- is more often
as in door / /

dM
to arrive at the answer. Finally, ask unstressed, so it may be safer to assume
individual students to give the answers, that it is weak unless otherwise known;
Lower jaw open:
paying attention to word stress. similarly can is typically unstressed.
long a sound
Key: 1h, 2i, 3l, 4f, 5k, 6a Both weak forms have the unstressed
as in day / /
vowel sound: / /.
an
a regulatory g incorporated
Procedure A smile:
b justifiably h economical short e sound
c inevitably i environmental After the necessary explanations, the
as in pen /e /
ing

students work in pairs to do the task,

d institution j differentiate
filling in the last two columns of the table
e visualise k specifiable Slightly open mouth:
above. (The answers and explanations
f contextualise l culturally short i sound
are given in blue in the table above, but
h

as in pink / /
should be deleted from the version given
lis

1 It would be good to have classes of to the students.) Encourage them to say

only five students, but it’s just not Partially rounded lips:
and compare the sounds in each pair.
oo0oo. long u sound
Finally, check the answers and drill the
b

2 Many ooo0o problems are caused as in blue / /

pairs with the same sound, eg Can he ...?
Pu

by cars and lorries. / / conceive / /.

3 Western Europe and Asia are 0ooo Match the words and stress patterns
very different; they have distinct
Stressed vowel mouth 1 facilitation a * *
ion

social values.
4 The famous artist used fashion
shapes 2 displacement b * *
trends of the 1920s to o0ooo her In the following exercise, the students
3 enormous c * **
work. identify the vowel sound of the stressed
vil

syllable, shown as a symbol representing 4 transformation d * *

5 The criteria were difficult to explain
the shape of the mouth.
because they were not really
5 mutual e * * *
Pa

oo0oo.
6 A new 0oooo body has been
created to ensure road safety.
Con- and Can
Generally, the auxiliary verb can is weak
if a main verb is present, as in Can I help
you? or I can help, but otherwise it is
strong, as in Can you? and I can. In the
AWL, there are over 30 word families
beginning with con-, which can also be
Procedure
6 incorporate f * **
Drill the five vowel sounds shown on the
right, encouraging the students to touch 7 prevention g **
their lips to increase their awareness of
mouth shape. Then give out the 8 contemporary h * ***
matching exercise. The asterisks
9 investigate i **
represent unstressed syllables, and the
symbols show the position of the 10 manipulate j * *
stressed vowel and its mouth shape. Let
the students work alone, saying the 11 distinction k *** *
words aloud to themselves. Check the 12 relevant l ** *
answers, and then practise the words as

46 • Issue 106 September 2016 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •

a class. Finally, draw the symbol/stress
pattern for each word on the board as
cues for the students to say the words
from memory.
Key: 1k, 2b, 3a, 4l, 5g, 6c, 7d, 8h, 9f,
10e, 11j, 12i
One-word dialogue
In this dialogue, each turn is a single
AWL word. Prepare two versions, one
with word stress marked (as below), and
one without.
Procedure
word stress. Here are some that may
Student A
appeal to your students.
In a job interview, assume a confident
attitude, and try to differentiate Beneficial has fish (fici) as the main
stress.
yourself from other candidates by
emphasising your special qualities. Coherent has here as the main stress.
Don’t forget to mention your ability to Big is the big stress in ambiguous.
work cooperatively, but also stress
Item starts with the emphasised
your individuality. Don’t make
i- sound in i-Phone.
unjustified claims about your
capabilities, and don’t say anything Highlight has the higher stress on
that is open to misinterpretation.
high, the lighter stress on light.
Impress the interviewer with your Intermediate has the stress in the

td
flexibility, professionalism and your middle, which is the meaning of the
Demonstrate the dialogue with a psychological stability, too. And word.
volunteer student. Note that the subject

L
whatever you do, avoid making Verbs that begin with exp- (expand,
is dramatic, so words should be given
controversial statements, and never export, expose) often have the stress
added emphasis. Then ask the students

ia
underestimate the importance of on the second syllable. The first
to practise in pairs, first with the version
dressing appropriately. syllable (ex-) can be thought of as
below, then with the version without

ed
anonymous, as in Mr X.
word stress marked.
Student B Some words can be either nouns (n) or
verbs (v), eg conduct, contrast, extract.

dM
A: Explosion!
In a job interview, assume a confident
B: Location?
Alphabetically, n comes first, v second;
attitude, and try to differentiate
the noun has the stress on the first
A: Unconfirmed. yourself from other candidates by syllable; the verb on the second.
B: Injuries? emphasising your special qualities.
an
Don’t forget to mention your ability to
A: Minimal,
work cooperatively, but also stress
B: Survivors? your individuality. Don’t make Word stress is important, because even if
ing

A: Removed. unjustified claims about your students know the written form of words,
capabilities, and don’t say anything they will not be able to comprehend or
B: Trigger?
say them effectively if they don’t know
that is open to misinterpretation.
A: Unidentifiable. the stress pattern. Therefore, word stress
h

Impress the interviewer with your

B: Theory? should be considered a key aspect of
lis

flexibility, professionalism and your word knowledge, especially when dealing

A: Random. psychological stability, too. And with the structurally complex forms of
B: Evidence? whatever you do, avoid making the AWL.
b

A: Inconclusive. controversial statements, and never

Pu

underestimate the importance of

B: Investigation? Jones, D English Pronouncing Dictionary
dressing appropriately. (15th edn) CUP 1991
A: Commencing.
Kenworthy, J Teaching English
ion

B: Outcome? reads the text, while Student B listens. Pronunciation Longman 1990
A: Unpredictable. When A reads the AWL words, marked Murphy, J M ‘Attending to word-stress
in italics, B checks the word stress. If it while learning new vocabulary’ English for
B: OK, sufficient. Specific Purposes Journal 23 (1) 2004
vil

is correct, B allows A to continue, but

Murphy, J M and Kandil, M ‘Word-level
if not, B corrects A, and then they
stress patterns in the academic word list’
Reading aloud change roles and texts, and start again System 32 (1) 2004
Pa

from the beginning. They continue in

In this activity, the students check this way until one student is able to say
each other’s ability to say words with the whole text with correct word stress. Simon Mumford has
taught English in Izmir,
the correct stress and also compete with Note that primary stress is marked in Turkey, for nearly 30
each other to be the first to be able to pink, and secondary stress in blue. At years. He currently
read a whole text aloud with the teaches EAP to
the end, ask for a volunteer to read the first-year students at
correct stress. whole text aloud, and do any further Izmir University of
Economics. He is
necessary practice. interested in all areas
Procedure of writing, including
Put the students into pairs. Student B material and test
has the second text opposite with the Word stress mnemonics writing, and editing
academic articles.
stresses marked; Student A has the text Some students find mnemonics useful
without the stresses marked. Student A for helping them to remember aspects of simonmumford@gmail.com

• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 106 September 2016 • 47

TEACHER DEVELOPMENT
No smoke
without fire
Wayne Rimmer addresses burnout: a problem
that is all too common for teachers.
A
n important part of teacher
development is being aware
not only of your strengths,
but also of your
shortcomings. The problem is that, while
many teachers are able to reflect on their
classroom performance, they lack
awareness of issues outside the
classroom which are detrimental to their
well-being and, ultimately, their
performance: an unhappy teacher
cannot be a good teacher. Taken to an
extreme, these welfare issues culminate
in burnout, which is much more difficult
to deal with than poor boardwork!
What is it?
What exactly is burnout? The
b
psychologist Christina Maslach defines
it as a combination of emotional
Pu
exhaustion, depersonalisation and a
sense of personal failure, measurable on
a ‘Burnout Inventory’ which she has
ion
devised. (Google it to see the original
and adaptations.) Emotional exhaustion
is the feeling of being overwhelmed by
people and tasks, to the extent that you
vil
can’t cope; depersonalisation is a loss of
initiative and interest in your work;
personal failure comes across as a sense
Pa
that you are contributing little or
nothing, and are stagnating in your
personal development.
Burnout should not be confused
with mere stress, which is an inevitable
part of work and life and can have
positive effects: sportspeople often feed
on it for their best performances. While
stress is short-lived, burnout is a
long-term phenomenon, and the
consequences are always negative. Stress
tends to be associated with critical
48 • Issue 106 September 2016 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •
events or situations, such as having one
ed
of your lessons observed or having a lot
of marking to do at the end of term,
while burnout just goes on
dM
accumulating. Perhaps the worst thing
about experiencing burnout is that there
is no end point in sight, unlike with
stress: that observation will soon be
an
over, the marking will eventually get
done. A range of health symptoms from
depression to insomnia results, and
many sufferers either have to take
ing
periods of extended leave or they get to
the point where they have to quit their
job – possibly even the profession.
h
lis
Who is at risk?
Anyone in any job is at risk from
burnout, but English language teachers
seem particularly vulnerable. In many
contexts, remuneration and job security
are low (see Ros Wright’s report in ETp
103 on the plight of teachers in France),
creating a general anxiety. In addition,
many organisations don’t offer their
teachers enough support in dealing with
the demands of an educational model
increasingly driven by performance
standards, whether that be test results or
student retention figures. The in-house
training that does exist tends to focus on
methodology and not the hygiene
factors* confronting teachers in their
day-to-day working lives.
Is it inevitable?
Depressing stuff so far – but there is
nothing inevitable about burnout.
Treated as an illness, prevention is
better than cure, and the first step is
awareness. The diagnostic
questionnaire on page 49 is an adapted
and slimmed-down version of
Maslach’s Burnout Inventory, tailored
to an ELT context. Do it yourself first,
and then share it with a group of
colleagues. This is a sensitive topic, so
it is recommended that you respect
your colleagues’ right to privacy and
discuss general issues raised, rather
than individual responses and scores.
What can you do?
td
The next step should be to address those
L
areas where you are vulnerable, and
some suggestions are offered below:
ia
1 Look after yourself
If you are in poor physical condition,
this will have an impact on how you
work and feel. Exercise can make a
massive difference: it not only keeps you
fit, but it also lets you switch off
mentally and unwind. If you join a
group of like-minded people, there is
also a social aspect, too. Everyone knows
the benefits of exercise, but there are lots
of excuses for not doing it. The typical
schedule of an English teacher is far
from ‘nine to five’. Split shifts, with both
early morning and evening lessons, are
par for the course, so it can be difficult
to find a time slot for exercise. And the
chances are that when you’re free, the
people you want to do sport with aren’t,
and vice versa. Still, it is worth carving
out three or four times a week when you
can do something, whether that’s a jog
from your flat, a visit to the gym between
lessons or cycling to school. Make the
most of the days you do have off to be
more ambitious.
Nutrition is important too, but
teachers’ stop-start timetables encourage
over-indulgence in none-too-healthy
snacks and fast food. Regular meal times
can be hard to follow. For those teaching
in the evening, it is asking a lot to get
home at ten o’clock and prepare a
nutritious meal. In any case, late full
meals (after nine o’clock) are poor
preparation for sleep. You need at least
one proper cooked meal a day, and it
makes sense for this to be lunch if you
finish late. Diligent teachers use days off
to prepare a batch of food to refrigerate
and last the whole week. Being organised
is healthier, and it saves money, as relying
on food outlets turns out expensive in
many parts of the world.
TEACHER DEVELOPMENT

Dave’s ESL café (www.eslcafe.com). You

Are you at risk of burnout? could also consider setting up a mentor
system, whereby more experienced
To what extent do you agree with these statements? Give each one a mark teachers act as counsellors, not managers,
from 0–5 (0 = I never do or feel this; 5 = I constantly do or feel this). either on a permanent or ad hoc basis. In
I skip meals and breaks. the teacher development literature,
mentoring is often seen as a function of
I sleep more than ten hours a day or fewer than six. teacher training, but it can have a
I have to catch up with work in my free time. valuable pastoral role. It is also useful to
talk to people outside the workplace, as
I wake up and don’t want to go to class. their non-teacher perspective may be
I have conflicts with people at work. insightful.

td
The key is to develop a discourse
I do not enjoy teaching any more.
with someone you trust. They may not

L
My students do not appreciate me. be able to solve your problems, but
talking is therapeutic in itself.
I see my classes as groups of students not individuals.

ia
I am reluctant to take on new roles or challenges.

ed
I am indifferent to how much progress my students make.
The topic of burnout is so significant
My teaching has stagnated. that it should be addressed as part of a

dM
I feel I have no future in my present position. teacher education programme. Teachers
should be able to identify the signs in
I question why I became a teacher. themselves and others and be able to
I have not done any professional development activity for a long time. an take precautionary steps. Organisations
should also take responsibility for
I worry about losing teaching hours.
making the teaching environment as
least conducive to burnout as possible,
and they should have mechanisms to
ing

What does your mark mean?

deal with those who do experience the
50–75 You are at high risk of burnout and need to make some drastic changes to
symptoms. Teaching is all about people,
your work and lifestyle.
and the priority of any educational
h

25–49 You are at medium risk of burnout and need to monitor your situation carefully. organisation worth joining should be to
lis

protect its most valuable assets – the

0–24 You are at low risk of burnout and need to continue this positive direction.
teachers.
b

* hygiene factors (a term coined by

2 Change something if you teach general English to adults, psychologist Frederick Herzberg) are
Pu

There is often a point where something consider branching out into EAP (English those aspects of a job that may not in
has to give if you are to avoid burnout. for Academic Purposes); if you like themselves provide an employee with job
It’s debatable whether you can change working with young learners, perhaps satisfaction, but whose absence is likely
ion

yourself – character and values tend to
be deep-rooted – but you can change
your circumstances. There are lots of
opportunities beyond teaching which
vil
you’ll be suited to very young learners to make an employee feel unhappy.
(pre-school). All this might mean more
work, not less, but a change can definitely Maslach, C ‘Job burnout: new directions
be as good as a rest. in research and intervention’ Current

Directions in Psychological Science 12 (5)

can give you a new direction and refresh 2003
you professionally. These include 3 Talk
Wright, R ‘My teacher is rich … or not!’
management, teacher training, materials There remains something of a stigma in
Pa

English Teaching Professional 103 2016

writing, examining and ELT research.
Most of these allow, even require, you to
keep teaching, so you won’t be losing a
skills set but gaining another. Also, most
of these directions are very accessible. For
example, few ELT managers have specific
qualifications in that area: they are former
teachers, just like you, who have been
promoted.
Staying within teaching, the
globalisation of English means that the
contexts for instruction are widening. So,
admitting you need help, so it’s not
surprising that many teachers prefer to Wayne Rimmer has
suffer in silence. There is also the fear taught English in Russia,
Germany, Thailand,
that, by unburdening yourself, you are Moldova and the UK. He
exposing your weaknesses to your has recently contributed
to the Cambridge
employer. This is unfortunate, because English Empower
the simple availability of a sympathetic coursebook series.
listener can be crucial. One advantage of
technology is that there are online
platforms for teachers to express concerns
and solicit advice anonymously: a
wrimmer15@gmail.com
well-known example is the chatroom on

• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 106 September 2016 • 49

TEACHER DEVELOPMENT
Anyone for
quircling?
Pete Clements, Sarah Smith and their colleagues
learn the benefits of quality circles.
T
his term, at our British
Council centre in Bangkok,
Thailand, we’ve experimented
with a different form of
teacher development programme – with
great success.
What needed to change
and why
Last year, we performed an informal
evaluation of our training and
development programme. We came to
the conclusion that there were plenty of
CPD opportunities for teachers,
including peer observation schemes,
weekly INSETT (in-service teacher
training) sessions, swap shops, and
funding for qualifications such as the
Pu
DELTA. However, whilst the funding
options and less formal training
opportunities (such as the swap shops)
were popular, we felt that more could be
ion
done to encourage teacher participation
in the INSETT programme. We
considered these issues:
vil
Although it is mandatory to attend at
least two INSETT sessions per term,
Pa
our teachers normally have the
freedom to choose which sessions they
attend.
INSETT topics are normally decided
by the management.
INSETT sessions are often
management-led, although teachers
can volunteer to deliver the training.
Many recent INSETT sessions have
focused specifically on how to deliver
in-house products. These have limited
50 • Issue 106 September 2016 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •
ed
application outside our school
network. Furthermore, these sessions
dM
are of high importance to the centre,
so they are often made compulsory.
This means that teachers may forgo
other training sessions to attend these.
an
The fact that teachers have to attend a
quota of training sessions each term is
in some ways positive. However, it can
mean that they become reluctant to
ing
attend sessions outside mandatory
hours, as these would be unpaid.
Moreover, some teachers simply don’t
h
have the time.
lis
Attendance at certain INSETTs
during the latter part of 2015 was quite
low. Based on informal staff feedback
b
and our own experiences, we put this
down to lack of interest in certain
topics, the ‘top down’ management-led
nature of the training and sometimes
poor scheduling. We felt that if our
teachers had more control over the
mandatory aspect of their professional
development, this might foster more
collaboration, engagement and teacher
autonomy.
How we changed it
A blog post from Sandy Millin provided
some good ideas for alternative training
methods (https://sandymillin.wordpress.
com/2015/11/15/alternatives-to-the-
friday-aftenoon-seminar/). We chose to
create a ‘Quality circle’, which was a
variant on Sandy’s account of action
research projects. Our idea was for the
teachers to choose an ELT-related topic,
undertake some action research on it
and report their findings to the group
during an hour-long meeting. The aim
was not only to share ideas, but to
encourage more reflection and
engagement in classroom practice.
Topics would be decided by the whole
group, and specific tasks devised should
the teachers wish for more direction. We
hoped to cover two topics per term, each
across a five-week period.
How we got the group
started
td
There were a few things to consider
L
when introducing our Quality circle:
1 Choosing the participants
ia
We had five teaching centres in
Bangkok, and over 100 teachers in total.
If we invited every teacher to
participate, they would have to complete
tasks in groups. Could we guarantee
that all those who wished to participate
would commit wholeheartedly to the
tasks? Also, was it viable for teachers to
collaborate across centres?
We decided first to approach a select
few teachers. These were chosen on the
basis of their evident commitment to
professional development. Some were
seen as highly collaborative in the
staffroom, some were active
contributors during INSETTs, and some
were undertaking further training or
voluntarily delivering training. The
teachers appreciated us approaching
them directly and recognising their
dedication, so they were pleased to be
part of the circle.
2 Motivating the participants
Some participants were highly motivated
from the outset. However, to encourage
engagement in every topic, we found
that we needed a further incentive. Our
management allowed the meetings for
our teaching group to count as part of
the teachers’ mandatory training quota.
The fact that the group was teacher-led,
with no intervention from senior staff,
certainly added value.
Another thing we modified was the
image. INSETTs can be quite serious
affairs, and don’t necessarily foster a
feeling of camaraderie. We played
around with a name and ended up
calling it the ‘Quircle’, which the
teachers found geeky and, dare we say it,
quite charming! Quircle quickly became
a verb, with those who love quircling
TEACHER DEVELOPMENT
calling each other ‘the Quirclers’! It
might sound silly, but it really did help
garner enthusiasm amongst the
participants.
3 Sharing the findings with
others
The Quircle had to benefit all the
teachers at the centre, not just those
involved. We decided to summarise the
findings from the group via a newsletter.
We figured that this would not only help
other teachers to learn about the
research undertaken, but also enable
them to find out more about how the
group functioned. As a result, they
might then be more willing to
participate voluntarily. We took
extensive notes during our workshops
and wrote these up, making sure we
acknowledged the contributions of
individual teachers.
4 Selecting topics and tasks
Although the teachers were free to
suggest topic areas to research, as
administrators, we chose to assign a topic
for the first meeting. This helped us to
explain clearly what we expected the
teachers to do, and how they should share
their findings. We chose to look at the use
of ICT in the classroom, because some
teachers had already mentioned wanting
to develop in this area. In the box on this
page you can see three example tasks
(out of the eight used in the session).
These tasks were devised with
certain criteria in mind. We aimed to
address current issues and trends related
to our topic – in this case, we thought it
would be interesting to evaluate some
ion
popular ICT-related classroom tools
that have been mentioned recently
within the blogosphere and
twittersphere. Furthermore, we aimed to
vil
bridge the gap between theory and
practice by offering some tasks that
involved reading ELT literature. We felt
Pa
that this is too often overlooked, and
that offering small, manageable reading
tasks might encourage the teachers to
consider some of the pedagogical issues
that underpin our practice.
The teachers were asked to sign up
for their preferred task. Despite
providing some guidance, we allowed a
degree of flexibility with regard to how
the teachers approached their task. For
example, a task might require them to
experiment with a particular ICT device
• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 106 September 2016 •
Task 1: QR codes
Research what QR codes are and
how they can be used in the
classroom. Trial an activity using QR
codes with any class/level of
students. Briefly explain:
How you made the codes
What activity you did
How the activity went
Any problems you encountered
Give your overall thoughts – are QR
codes useful or not?
Task 2: Kahoot
Trial Kahoot in a young learner class
ed
(https://getkahoot.com/). Give a short
presentation, explaining:
What Kahoot is and how it works
dM
What activity you tried with the
class
How the activity went
an
What problems you encountered
Task 3: A little light reading
ing
Choose a chapter from Language
Learning with Technology: Ideas for
Integrating Technology in the
Classroom by Graham Stanley (CUP,
h
2013).
lis
Summarise and present (10 mins) any
interesting points made in the chapter
b
regarding the application of ICT in the
classroom.
Pu
in the classroom, but it was down to the
teacher to decide how to do this – the
type of learners, the type of activities,
the phase of the lesson, etc.
5 Presenting the findings
We knew that not all the teachers would
feel comfortable sharing their findings
with the group in the form of a
presentation. On the other hand, some
teachers who were inexperienced at
delivering INSETTs might feel that
short presentations in front of their
peers would help develop their
confidence. We chose to offer a range of
feedback types, depending on the tasks.
For example, some teachers could
choose a task which involved producing
a handout that summarised their
findings, others might prefer to choose a
task involving a demonstration, or
others might opt for a presentation.
Either way, the task outline was merely
guidance: the teachers could adapt it as
they wished.
6 A long-term goal
The idea of the Quircle was driven by a
longer-term goal. We wished to create
similar development groups or special
interest groups within our centres, which
the teachers would administer
themselves. This aspect of our work is
td
ongoing, but having this as an aim has
given the project clear direction from the
L
outset.
ia
Did it work?
Session 1
After five weeks of the teachers working
on their tasks, we agreed on a suitable
time and held a workshop. In keeping
with the ICT theme, we wrote each
participant’s name on a spinning wheel
(see http://wheeldecide.com/) to
determine the order in which they would
present their findings, and we gave each
one ten minutes to present, chat or go
through their handouts.
The teachers had done a sterling job
with their tasks, and most of them had
so much to share that they took the
floor for 20 or 30 minutes. It was great
to receive so much valuable information,
but this meant that not all the
participants had enough time to share
their ideas and the workshop went on
for 90 minutes instead of 60. Although
the teachers were happy to be there, we
were aware that our timing was
ambitious, given the nature of the tasks,
and we started to think of ways to make
the procedure more concise.
At the end of the first workshop,
with teacher-centredness being the key,
we asked the participants to think of a
theme for the next round. They chose
‘learner training’ and ‘sense of progress’,
and this time we didn’t write up tasks
for it. We wanted to give them free rein
to take the topic in whatever direction
they wanted.
As the workshop had gone on for so
long, the teachers suggested working in
small groups on the next topic, and we
divided them into groups for young
learners, teens, adults (general English)
and adults (academic English). Again,
we gave a five-week period and pencilled
in a workshop for the end of term.
51
TEACHER DEVELOPMENT
Anyone for
quircling?
We collated all the information into
a newsletter and made sure we
acknowledged all the teachers who had
contributed. We sent this out to all the
teachers in all the Bangkok centres and
to the British Council coordinators
throughout the South East Asian region
to distribute at their centres. This way,
the participants got lots of positive
feedback for their contributions, which
increased their motivation. In fact, after
sending out the newsletter, we recruited
more Quirclers and others who were
Quircle-curious and wanted to sit in on
the workshop.
Session 2
Before the next session, we had a lot of
emails from the participants, asking for
more guidance with their tasks or asking
for relevant resources: an indication that
our initial task sheet was useful and
something we needed to bring back.
At the second session, we imposed a
time-limit for each participant, but this
didn’t stop us running overtime again.
One idea from a Quircler was to do a
‘pecha kucha’ style delivery, where each
presenter has to present 20 slides, each
for exactly 20 seconds (for more details,
Pu
see www.pechakucha.org/).
This was a good idea, but it didn’t
really work for those who had handouts,
and others felt that it was too
ion
demanding. Clearly, we need to work on
this, especially as more and more people
have expressed interest in joining.
vil
A couple of teachers sat in on the
Quircle to see what it was all about. This
is great for those who want to
Pa
participate but perhaps don’t have the
time beforehand to contribute. However,
we did open the floor for questions and
comments, which encouraged greater
participation for all.
What next?
Our first term with the Quircle was
successful, but there are still areas that
need improvement. As more and more
people express interest in joining the
Quircle, we really need to work out a
52 • Issue 106 September 2016 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •
Get quircling!
Would you like to start your own
action research group? Here are a
few tips …
Keep it teacher-led. Don’t act as a
trainer, just as a facilitator.
Give the teachers control of topics
and content, but support and
provide tasks if necessary.
Offer a variety of ways for the
teachers to share their findings.
Formally and informally recognise
the contributions that teachers
make to the group. This will keep
ed
them motivated.
Cultivate a group mentality –
dM
experiment with an interesting
name.
Get as many teachers involved as
possible – this could be through
an
active participation or just by
keeping them in the loop by
sending out newsletters and
allowing them to sit in on sessions.
ing
Slowly hand over the facilitator role
to interested participants, or
encourage them to create spin-off
h
groups – eg a special interest
lis
Quality circle, focused on exam
preparation or very young learners.
b
way of dealing with timing. One idea is
to encourage the teachers to approach a
task in groups, but this may not appeal
to all. Another idea is to set up stations
in the workshop room. Half of the
teachers could sit at the different
stations, ready to talk about their
research, and the other half could mill
around, choosing the specific topic(s)
they’d like to hear more about. After 30
minutes, they could switch places. This
change in delivery mode would mean
that the teachers wouldn’t necessarily
create flipchart presentations, but might
discuss their topics more informally in a
‘question and answer’ format.
Providing tasks for action research
is also a contentious issue for us. If we
were creating a truly bottom-up
teacher-led group, then the teachers
would be free to research whatever they
liked (but within a given theme).
However, it seems that complete
freedom actually creates more work for
the teachers, and some of them
struggled to find direction, resources
and a specific focus. It seemed more
motivating for them when they chose a
task from the list, so even though we
are dictating their focus, they still have
an element of choice. But does this still
emulate the top-down approach to
INSETTs we were trying to move
away from?
td
L
The success of the Quircle has led to
ia
quality circles being set up for line
managers, and ideas for a new group to
be set up across centres in South East
Asia. Such plans are in their infancy,
and we envisage teething problems with
the latter, regarding scheduling and
video-conferencing. We have some plans
to create a wiki page where participants
can upload their research, presentations
and handouts, and engage via forums.
This would also be a place where we can
store our newsletters and provide task
sheets and links to outside sources.
Wherever the current project leads, it
has certainly highlighted what can be
achieved through teacher-led
professional development.
Pete Clements has
taught in South Korea,
Spain, Vietnam,
Thailand and the UK. He
has recently completed
the Trinity DipTESOL.
His interests include
data-based teacher
development,
supporting new
teachers and using
authentic listening
materials in class.
He currently works for
the British Council in
Bangkok, Thailand.
You can visit his blog
at https://eltplanning.
wordpress.com.
pgclements27@gmail.com
Sarah Smith has taught
in Senegal, Japan,
Ecuador, the UK and
Turkey. She is currently
working for the British
Council in Bangkok. She
is interested in teacher
training, experimenting
with new approaches to
teaching pronunciation,
and materials writing.
She is also a new
contributor to Pete’s
blog.
sjsmith.is@gmail.com
TEACHER DEVELOPMENT
Somebody’s
watching you
- and me!
Clare Fielder recommends peer observation
as an excellent means of CPD.
I
know that even just hearing (or
reading) the words peer observation
puts the fear of God into some
people, and conjures up nightmarish
observations and evaluations that had to
be endured on initial training courses.
But that was then. And this is now. And
peer observation can be a very useful
tool to use to enhance your development
as a professional teacher.
Peer to peer
Peer observation can be ‘either way
around’, so to speak. So either you can
observe one or some of your peers
teaching, or you can invite one or some
of them to come along and observe one
of your lessons. The main difference
between this and observed lessons on
training courses is, of course, that now
you are peers, on a level, not judging
each other and giving grades – so it is a
ion
non-threatening and (hopefully) far less
scary set-up altogether.
One key advantage of this kind of
CPD activity is that it is local – you don’t
vil
need to travel anywhere apart from your
normal place of work, and it is free. Of
course, it might take some careful
Pa
planning to fit it into your schedule, but
where there’s a will there’s a way. And a
boss or DoS who cares about their staff
should be understanding of your
endeavours and at least try to
accommodate you – if you ask nicely!
Observing
Observing your peers gives you a clearer
idea of what actually happens in your
colleagues’ classrooms, and it may serve
as a more concrete basis on which to
• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 106 September 2016 •
ed
base your reflections and considerations
concerning your own teaching. The
dM
information gained is probably much
easier to work with than theoretical or
abstract descriptions of teaching
practices in textbooks and other
resources; and it is much more authentic
an
than the ideal scenarios you might
otherwise be led to imagine when
thinking about other teachers’ lessons.
ing
Being observed
Likewise, being observed and getting
h
feedback from a trusted colleague might
give you a fresh perspective on your own
lis
teaching practice, and help you identify
more areas you would like to develop.
b
The danger, of course, is that the
colleague you ask might fall into the
Pu
‘expert’ role and try to get you to do
everything their way. Aim to
stay constructive and reflective when they
tell you their thoughts on your lesson;
ask them to remain neutral, too. You
could ask them just to describe what
happened: hearing how someone else saw
your lesson might already give you
enough food for thought. Or if you’d like
a slightly more evaluative opinion from
them, make sure you always ask for
justifications and don’t simply accept that
‘their way is best’. It is your CPD journey,
so make sure you stay in control of it!
Being effective
To make peer observation most effective,
provide tables for the observer(s) to
complete, or ask them just to note down
whatever occurs to them. It is important,
though, to have something to base the
post-observation discussion on – this can
be formal or informal, whatever suits you
best. However, I would suggest that you
choose some sort of focus before you
start. Especially if you want to work with
a colleague and observe each other’s
lessons, it should be clear from the outset
what the focus and purpose of the
observations will be. Some example
aspects I’ve looked at through peer
observation include:
clarity of instructions for tasks 
td
response to/feedback on students’ oral
contributions
L
explaining aims of activities
encouraging oral participation
ia
how many times I say OK (actually
worryingly often, and for about 500
different things!)
Structuring peer observation around a
basic framework, with phases such as
Reflect – Plan – Evaluate – Act, can
ensure that it has an impact on your
development. So reflect on your own
teaching and an area you’d like to focus
on developing, plan to observe/be
observed, evaluate the findings of the
observations, and try to act on them and
implement what you have learnt. This
process will obviously be cyclical:
reflecting again on how well you’ve
applied what you learnt, and using
observations to evaluate this, until you’re
happy and would like to move on to
focusing on another area of your CPD.
Ultimately, peer observation does not
need to be scary and, indeed, it can be one
of the easiest ways to promote your CPD.
Involving your peers in observations
means opening up lines of communication
about your teaching practices, and that
is developmentally very important and
beneficial for all of you.
Clare Fielder works as an
EAP lecturer and teacher
trainer at the University of
Trier, Germany. She has
an MA in German and
Translation, as well as the
Trinity TESOL Diploma.
Her key interests are
teaching methodologies,
translation studies and
EAP. As part of her
professional development,
she also hosts a blog,
which can be found at
clareseltcompendium.
wordpress.com.
fielder@uni-trier.de
53
 TECHNOLOGY
Featuring film 2
T
In the second of his series on he increasing ease of creating
short films has led to new
how short films can be used genres which can be easily and
successfully exploited in
critically and creatively in language teaching. In this article, I am
going to explore these new genres and
language education, suggest how they can be used in the
language classroom.
Kieran Donaghy looks
Branded shorts
ed
at new short film genres.
Branded shorts are short films which
have been created for a company,
dM
organisation, product or brand. They
are a fusion between advertising and
entertainment. As they are generally
funded by a brand or company, they
an
have large budgets, which allow them to
use well-known directors and actors and
expensive production techniques. As a
ing
result, they are often very slick and look
spectacular. They are highly effective in
the language classroom, as they grab
and hold the students’ attention, have
h
first-rate acting and innovative
lis
narratives. The fact that these short films
are trying, directly or indirectly, to
promote or sell something means that
b
they are often controversial, and this
Pu
makes them excellent prompts for
discussion and debate.
You can see an example of a branded
short film at http://bit.ly/1Y2jzUq.
ion
Exploiting branded shorts
1 Tell the students they are going to
vil
watch a short film which is actually an
advertisement for a company or product
Pa
54 • Issue 106 September 2016 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •
– a ‘branded short’. As they watch, they
should decide what type of company or
product is being advertised.
td
2 Show the film.
L
3 Divide the class into groups of three
or four. The students discuss what type
of company or product they think is
ia
being advertised, giving reasons to
support their opinions.
4 Hold a feedback session on their
ideas.
5 Show the film a second time, pausing
it when the advertiser’s name or logo
appears in the closing credits. Ask the
students what they know about the
company or product.
6 Hold a plenary session based on
these questions:
How does the film support the brand?
What is the film saying to the audience
about the company or product?
Why is advertising increasingly using
short films?
Social shorts
Social shorts are short films which deal
with social themes such as poverty,
homelessness, discrimination, racism,
sexism, etc. They are sometimes
commissioned by non-governmental
organisations or charities to raise
awareness of a particular social
problem. Although they usually lack the
large budgets of branded shorts, they
are often very gripping, because they
deal with the type of issues which relate
to students’ lives, and are very dramatic
and emotional. They foster student
engagement and enthusiasm to
communicate.
You can see an example of a social
short film at http://bit.ly/1zYBXlY.
Exploiting social shorts
1 Write the name of the issue you’re
going to talk about (eg poverty) on the
board.
 2 Pair the students and ask them to tell
each other what they know about this
issue.
3 Hold a feedback session, and write
up on the board the things the students
know about it.
4 Tell the students they are going to
watch a short film about this issue but
that, first, they should tell their partner
what they expect to see in the film.
5 Show the film and ask the students to
see if their predictions were correct.
6 Ask the students how the film made
them feel.
7 Divide the class into groups of three
or four, and dictate the following
questions:
Is this issue a big problem in your
country?
What are the main causes?
What can governments do to prevent it?
How do you feel when you see or read
about this issue?
Is this problem a ‘hidden’ issue for your
society?
The students discuss the questions in
their groups.
8 Hold a plenary session on the issue.
Short documentaries
Short documentaries are non-fictional,
factual short films which are mainly
narrative-based. There has been a huge
increase in the quantity of short
Pu
documentary films in the last few years.
You can find examples on virtually any
theme you may want to cover in class,
ion
and they are an excellent medium for
introducing a topic in a concise and
engaging manner.
You can see an example of a short
vil
documentary film at http://bit.ly/1ooRbQj.
Exploiting short
Pa
documentaries
1 Tell the students the topic of the
short documentary and ask them to
discuss these questions:
What do you know about this topic?
What would you like to know about the
topic?
2 Tell the students they are going to
watch a short film about the topic. As
they watch, they should note down any
information they already know and any
• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 106 September 2016 •
information which is new for them.
3 Show the film.
4 Put the students into pairs and ask
them to discuss how the film made them
feel.
5 Hold a plenary session to discuss the
topic.
Music shorts
Music shorts are films which are created
to accompany a song. Normally, a
record company contracts a film director
to create a visual narrative which reflects
the lyrics of the song. The singer or
different members of the band often
appear as actors in these shorts. As they
have large budgets, they look very
beautiful and tell engaging stories.
ed
As students often like the singers
and bands, they are motivated to watch
the film.
dM
You can see an example of a music
short at http://bit.ly/1emK4wM.
Exploiting music shorts an
With a music short, the teacher can
exploit and highlight the rich visual
details of the film before exploring the
lyrics.
ing
1 Tell the students they are going to
watch, but not hear, a short film. As
they watch, they should try to remember
h
the story the film tells.
lis
2 Play the film with the sound off.
3 After the students have seen the film,
b
ask them to make some notes on what
they saw.
4 Put them into pairs and ask them to
try to reconstruct the story together.
5 The pairs then retell the story to the
rest of the class.
6 Tell the students that the film was
made to accompany a song. Ask them
to predict some of the lyrics of the song.
7 Play the film with sound, and ask the
students to note down any words or
expressions that they understand.
8 Put the students into small groups
and ask them to try to reconstruct the
lyrics together. Show the film again to
help them.
9 Finally, show a version of the film
which displays the lyrics, so the students
can compare their lyrics with the actual
lyrics.
Viral shorts
© iStockphoto.com/MarsBars
Viral shorts are films that become very
td
popular through being shared rapidly and
widely on the internet, typically through
L
video-sharing websites like YouTube and
Vimeo, and via social media. As they have
ia
a universal appeal and emotional content,
and are often funny, strange or powerful,
students respond strongly to them, and
they are excellent prompts for discussion
and debate.
You can see an example of a viral
short at http://bit.ly/1g6TT6O.
Exploiting viral shorts
Here is a simple and engaging way to
exploit a viral short:
1 Ask the students to think of any
examples of viral films which they have
seen, and to discuss why these films are
so popular.
2 Put the students into groups of three,
and tell them that they are going to
watch a viral film. Their task is to
analyse it within their group and explain
why they think it went viral.
3 Show the film and give the groups
time to discuss it.
4 Hold a plenary discussion based on
these questions:
Why is the film so popular?
Who does the film appeal to?
Would they share the film?
Infographic shorts
Infographic films are animated
representations of information, data or
knowledge. As they present a lot of
information in a meaningful, easy-to-
understand and attention-grabbing way,
they are highly effective in the language
classroom.
Students are more likely to understand
quite complex information presented in
this way, so these films are effective
prompts for both written and oral
55
Featuring film 2
communication. For example, the students
can discuss the most interesting/surprising/
predictable information or data in the
film, or write about what conclusions
they drew from it, using the evidence
they found to support their conclusions.
You can see an example of an
infographic film at http://bit.ly/1jc4j6d.
Exploiting infographic shorts
1 Ask the students to note down ten
pieces of information or data as they
watch.
2 Tell them to write ten questions for
the pieces of information they wrote
down.
3 When they are ready, the students
ask their questions to a partner.
Animated lectures
Animated lectures are film lectures created
by pairing leading experts with talented
animators. As these intellectually-
challenging but enjoyable films deal with
interesting topics and make complex ideas
much easier to understand, they are very
effective teaching tools. Students
understand much more, as comprehension
is facilitated through the input of audio,
text and attractive animation.
The films foster communication, as
they engage and capture the attention of
the students.
b
You can see an example of an
Pu
animated lecture at http://bit.ly/1ePRqdt.
Exploiting animated lectures
1 Tell the students the subject of the
ion
animated lecture.
2 Put them in pairs, to discuss the
following questions:
vil
What do you know about the subject?
What would you like to know about it?
Pa
3 Get feedback from the whole class.
Write a list on the board of some of the
things they already know and some they
would like to know.
4 Tell the students that they are going
to watch a lecture on the subject. As
they watch, they should notice if any of
the things they know or would like to
know are mentioned.
5 Show the video and get feedback
from the whole class.
56 • Issue 106 September 2016 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •
6 Tell the students they are going to
watch the video a second time. As they
watch, their task is to tell you to pause
every time there is some information
they already know, and every time one
of the things they wanted to know is
mentioned.
7 Show the video a second time.
8 In small groups, the students discuss
the topic of the lecture.
Split-screen shorts
Split-screen shorts are films with a
visible division of the screen into two
halves, with different moving images and
different action in each half.
You can see an example of a
split-screen short film at http://bit.ly/
1JYmJXM.
ed
Exploiting split-screen shorts
dM
Here is a simple activity which shows
how split-screen shorts can encourage
students to talk about similarities and
differences:
an
1 Tell the students they are going to
watch a split-screen short film in which
they will see different action on the two
halves of the screen. As they watch the
ing
film, their task is to identify similarities
and differences between the action they
see on the two halves.
h
2 Show the film.
lis
3 Put the students in pairs, to discuss
the similarities and differences they saw.
4 Ask them to write five sentences,
comparing what they saw on the two
halves of the screen.
5 Play the film again. Pause at each
scene, and ask the students to compare
what they see on the two halves.
Response films
Response films are created in response
to a branded short which has ‘gone
viral’. These films normally criticise or
parody the content and message of the
original film, and are often humorous
and hard-hitting. The fact that they
offer another perspective on a theme
means that they are excellent tools for
developing critical thinking skills and
encouraging students to be wary of
taking the media at face value. They
make us aware that, when we watch a
film, we are often being manipulated by
the director.
You can see an example at http://bit.l
y/1GtGDBy. (This was made in response
to the viral short at http://bit.ly/
1g6TT6O.)
Exploiting response films
Here is an effective activity to encourage
students to think critically about viral
short films:
1 Find a branded short and a response
film produced as a result. Introduce the
theme of the branded short that the
students are going to watch.
td
2 Pre-teach any necessary vocabulary.
3 Dictate some discussion questions and
L
ask the students to discuss them in pairs.
4 Divide the class into small groups,
ia
and tell them they are going to watch a
short film on the theme which they were
discussing.
5 Show the film and ask the students to
think about:
how it made them feel;
their opinion of it.
6 Tell the students that the film was
commissioned by a company. Name the
company and find out if they know
anything about it. If not, give them
some information. Ask if they still feel
the same about the film, knowing that it
was commissioned by a big company.
7 Tell them that a film-maker has made
a new film which criticises or parodies
the original film in some way – a
‘response’ film. Ask them to predict ways
in which the film-maker may have
criticised or parodied the film.
8 Show the response film and get
feedback from the students on how it
criticises or parodies the original.
In the next issue of ETp, I will look at
ways to use short films to teach
vocabulary.
Kieran Donaghy is a
teacher, trainer and
award-winning writer.
He is the author of the
methodology book
Film in Action (Delta
Publishing). His website
Film English http://
film-english.com won a
British Council ELTons
Award for Innovation in
Teacher Resources in
2013.
kieranthomasdonaghy@gmail.com
 TECHNOLOGY
Five things you always wanted to know about
research into technology
and language teaching
(but were too afraid to ask)
1
How much research is there?
The short answer is ‘lots’. Computers and
digital materials first appeared in English
language teaching back in the late 1980s,
so we have a rich research tradition,
stretching back several decades. Of
course, hardware and software have
developed and changed significantly
during this time, but teachers have always
wondered whether technology actually
helps their students learn – or not.
2
What does the research say?
Does technology help learning?
The short answer is ‘it depends’.
Unsurprisingly, it is extremely difficult to
make comparisons across contexts, where
research studies are carried out with very
different groups of learners, using a range
of different technology tools, with widely
differing aims and task types. For example,
imagine a blog research project carried out
with a group of US primary students in
order to improve their literacy and writing
skills1; imagine a research project that
examines whether a group of Iranian
university students learn academic
vocabulary better with SMS texts than with
dictionaries2; and imagine a research
project in China and Scotland based on a
ion
computer game that provides adolescent
students with oral prompts in order to
develop their speaking skills3.
vil
These are all real research projects,
taking place in very different learning
contexts with very different students.
Pa
Comparing these studies to each other is
problematic. At the same time, trying to
generalise results from very small-scale,
one-off action research projects that may
be underpinned by more or less robust
research methods is also questionable.
3
So what do these research
studies tell us?
Each of these studies had very different
objectives, followed different research
procedures and yielded different results.
• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 106 September 2016 •
The blog project used a case study
methodology to look at the writing skills
development of one learner in a class of
elementary students. The researchers
found that the blogging curriculum
developed her writing skills, increased her
confidence as a writer and improved her
written language. So a positive result (for
ed
one student) overall.
In the Iranian SMS vocabulary study,
a class of 28 EAP students received ten
dM
words and example sentences twice a
week via SMS, and were exposed to a
total of 320 new words. A control group
studied the same vocabulary, using a
an
dictionary. Post-test scores showed an
improvement in vocabulary learning for all
the students, but no significant difference
between the two groups. However, a later
ing
test showed that the SMS group were
able to recall more vocabulary than the
dictionary group. Another positive result.
h
4
Do most research studies show
lis
positive results?
The computer game study compared the
b
uptake of the game software by two
Pu
separate groups of teenage students and
their response to it: 48 learners of English
in China, and 28 learners of French in
Scotland. The two groups showed
different levels of motivation. The Chinese
students reported increased positive
attitudes, whereas the Scottish students
reported increased anxiety levels and
decreasing positive attitudes. A follow-up
study4 highlighted limitations in the
speech recognition software: the system
frequently had significant difficulties
recognising what the students said. So
mixed results overall in this study.
Sometimes, studies on exactly the
same area (such as learning vocabulary via
SMS) show differing results – in some cases
it appears to be effective, while in others
it doesn’t seem to make any difference.
However, it’s worth bearing in mind that
research studies tend to be self-selective.
Researchers often only publish studies
that show positive results, and although
In this series, Nicky Hockly
explains aspects of technology
which some people may be
embarrassed to confess that they
don’t really understand. In this
article, she reviews what some of
the research says about using
digital technologies in language
learning and teaching.
they try to avoid it, they are inevitably
biased towards positive outcomes.
td
All of this means that it’s difficult to
make sweeping generalisations such as
L
‘technology helps students learn English
better’ or even ‘regular SMS texts help
ia
university students learn academic
vocabulary better’.
5
Where does this leave us?
For me, the important point to take away
is that we need to be critical users of
digital technologies, and critical readers
of research in the field. We need to be
particularly wary of technocentric views of
technology that claim that the latest
hardware/software/game/app/program
will somehow magically help our students
learn English ‘better’. In short, we need to
be critically aware consumers of new
technologies – both as users ourselves,
and as teachers interested in using digital
technologies with our own learners.
1
Gebhard, M, Shin, D S and Seger, W ‘Blogging
and emergent L2 literacy development in an
urban elementary school: a functional
perspective’ CALICO Journal 28 (2) 2011
2
Alemi, M, Sarab, M and Lari, Z ‘Successful
learning of academic word list via MALL: mobile
assisted language learning’ International
Education Studies 5 (6) 2012
3
Morton, H and Jack, M ‘Speech interactive
computer-assisted language learning: a
cross-cultural evaluation’ Computer Assisted
Language Learning 23 (4) 2010
Morton, H, Gunson, N and Jack, M ‘Interactive
4
language learning through speech-enabled
virtual scenarios’ Advances in Human-Computer
Interaction (www.hindawi.com/journals/ahci/
2012/389523/) 2012
Nicky Hockly is Director of
Pedagogy of The
Consultants-E, an
online teacher training and
development consultancy. She
is the prize-winning author of
several books, most recently
Focus on Learning
Technologies to be published
by OUP later this year.
She maintains a blog at
www.emoderationskills.com.
nicky.hockly@theconsultants-e.com
57
 ER
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Webwatcher
Google Forms 2016
Google Forms is one of those technologies with a real ‘wow’ factor,
and I have written about it before in Webwatcher. However, there
have been some big modifications recently – and new features are
always a game changer for teachers and students. For example,
the new version includes self-checking quizzes, which can be
extremely useful for doing formative feedback with your students.
What is Google Forms?
Google Forms allows you to produce online surveys and
questionnaires very quickly. Once you have written the questions,
you click on a ‘Send’ button and the software generates a link to
the questionnaire which you can share with your students, fellow
teachers or whoever. They just click on the link and fill in the
questionnaire. The great thing is that all their answers are
automatically collated and, at the click of a button, you can see
all the answers, nicely organised into graphs and tables. One
good thing about Google Forms is that you can include pictures
and even video along with the questions, so the questionnaires
can be quite media rich, too. This is an example of where using
technology clearly offers greater opportunities than the paper
alternative: easy production, easy distribution, easy collation of
data, and a variety of media.
What can Google Forms do?
I use this technology a lot. For example, whenever I am running a
ing
teacher training course, I send out a questionnaire to the
teachers in advance so that I can gather information about their
use of technology and what they are hoping to learn. I also use it
h
for feedback at the end of my courses.
Not only that, but each year I use Google Forms to survey all
lis
the teachers who use my website. I also have an ongoing
questionnaire on my newsletter, which gets filled in by hundreds
b
of teachers; I open this up and look at the responses every day.
Pu
In the past, when I have taught language courses, I have used it
for learning about the students at the start of the course, for
gathering feedback during it and even for action research when
testing out new ideas. In fact, since the tool is free, you can even
ion
get the students to make their own surveys and questionnaires,
and I have done that too.
What are the new features?
vil
The new version of Google Forms has a more intuitive format,
which looks less ‘busy’ and is easier to use. You can now
produce quizzes that are automatically corrected, so it is great
Pa
for formative checks and tests.
You need a Google account to make use of Google Forms.
You then go to your Google Drive and click on ‘New’. This
provides you with a drop-down list of tools. First click on ‘More’
and then choose ‘Google Forms’. There is one key thing to
remember with the new version, and that is to click on ‘Settings’
(the cog to the right) and then select ‘Quizzes’.
Within ‘Quizzes’, there are a number of options to choose
from. My recommendation is to opt to release the marks
immediately (though I would only do this for formative work, not
high-stakes assessments) and I would also uncheck ‘Correct
answers’ so that the students aren’t shown the correct answers
and can re-do the quiz if they want to.
• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 104 May 2016 •
Russell Stannard is
impressed by the new version of
a favourite technology.
Simply click on the ‘Save’ button and you will be ready to
start creating a quiz.
First, click and add a title to your quiz and then type in a brief
description below. Now click on the + sign on the right, and you
can add your first question. You can change the question type
easily by clicking on the drop-down menu to the right. A whole
range of question types is available, but remember: only
questions with a clear answer work with the quiz feature. The
td
software cannot mark long pieces of student-created text or
paragraph-type questions. Now type in your question and, for
L
multiple-choice questions, add your options. You need to click
on ‘Add option’ to add more options.
Now the big difference with the new version is that you will
ia
need to add your answers, too. Click on ‘Answer Key’ and click
on the option that is the correct answer. You also need to allocate
ed
the points for the question. You also have the option of providing
feedback by clicking on ‘Add Answer Feedback’. You can add in
dM
feedback for the correct and incorrect answers. That is it; your
first question is ready.
Don’t forget you can also add video or images, so the quiz can
be used for comprehension work. If you do use videos and images,
make sure you have clear instructions. I tend to add the videos
an
below the question and so in the question I write ‘Watch the video
below and answer the following question’. It does take a bit of
getting used to, in terms of formatting and organising the questions.
One thing about Google Forms is that when you start to use
it a lot and get confident with it, you realise it is actually very
flexible. For example, I use the ‘Title and Description’ button to
add text that I want my students or teachers to read. You can
also add links into the descriptions and questions, so you can
get your students to access anything from the internet, too. Once
you are confident with the basics, you can be pretty creative with
your surveys and quizzes.
Remember, too, that your students can make their own quizzes
and questionnaires. I really like this, as it means that not only will
the students be processing a lot of English, they will also be
learning to use a technology that is widely used in industry.
Help video
Here is some help to get you started. The first set of videos
shows you how to use Google Forms in general, and the
second looks specifically at Google Quizzes.
How to use Google Forms: www.teachertrainingvideos.com/
microsoft-google-prezi/google-forms.html
How to make Google Quizzes: www.teachertrainingvideos.
com/microsoft-google-prezi/google-quizzes.html
Russell Stannard is the founder of
www.teachertrainingvideos.com,
which won a British Council
ELTons award for technology. He
is a freelance teacher and writer
and also a NILE Associate Trainer.
Keep sending your favourite sites to Russell:
russellstannard@btinternet.com
59
 PICTURE PUZZLE
Find the words hidden in
the photos and identify
the common theme.
Hint: photos that are joined
together are part of the same
word; complete words are
separated by a space.
Can you puzzle it out?
The answers are on page 19.
(This idea is taken from The Independent

td
newspaper’s ‘Get the picture’ column.)

L
ia
ed
dM
an
h ing
b lis
Pu
ion
vil
Pa

60 • Issue 106 September 2016 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •

Save the date

L td
ia
ed
“ A real boost at
the end of a long

dM
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teaching year! an
ETp Live! returns Saturday 24th June 2017
ing

Old Ship Hotel, Brighton, England

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lis

ETp Live! brings winner of

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Pu

the practical approach

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of English Teaching ETp Live!
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professional magazine to in 2015

this one-day event, with
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“It was really useful, stimulating

seminars, workshops and and practical, with lots of ideas
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on enabling professional
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of intelligent content with
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