Holist ° gramm teaching Rod_Bolitho argues that the whole is more than the sum of the parts. espite developments in views of language as ‘communication and an emphasis on the four skills in statements of objectives and learning outcomes, the traditional, Latin-derived grammatical syllabus lurks on or just below the surface in most coursebooks and syllabus documents, often alongside functions, topics, text types, Jexical fields and other interwoven elements, The grammatical syllabus tends to be presented atomistically as a series of Tanguage structures, often with verb forms as the backbone. Almost any coursebook at elementary or intermediate {evel will furnish examples of this kind of organisation, as does, rather isappointingly, the recent Core Irentory {for General English, published by the British Council and Eaqual, which bases its conclusions on the levels specified in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). Atomisation ‘There are clearly some persuasive reasons for the retention of an atomised approach to the grammatical syllabus: teachability, learnability and testability probably being the main ones. However, there are also reasons to question its validity and usefulness, and I'd like to go into these in slightly more detail here: 11 Staging the grammatical syllabus can be a block to communication. Do we really want to hold students back from, say, using the passive to conceal the ‘doer’ of an action, or the future continuous to express the continuity of an action from the present to a point in the future, until they have reached intermediate level (BI on the CEFR scale) or even higher? 2 Ttemising the grammatical syllabus favours serialist learners and can disadvantage holistic thinkers. It misses an opportunity to help learners to gain a ‘big picture’ view of how various grammatical phenomena work. 3 Some grammatical categories are, at best, rationalisation and, at worst, distortions of how language really works. They may be pedagogically convenient but often lack face validity beyond the ‘confines of the classroom. A good example is ‘reported speech’ with all its associated rules: wonderful for torturing, Jearmers in sentence-level exercises and tests requiring transformation but, as was pointed out so eloquently by Dave Willis ‘na recent ETp article, itis essentially a non-category which causes far more trouble to learners than it is worth. 4 Our traditional fixation with the verb system tends to ‘overgrammaticalise’ teaching and learning, and to neglect the power of lexical units, and in 4 + Issue 73 Morch 2011 + ENGLISH TEACHING professional + wruw.otprotessioncl.cam + tf particular adverbials, in expressing time or modal meaning, for instance. 5S Itemising the grammatical syllabus seems to lead to a great deal of teaching and testing at sentence level, with gap-fil and multiple choice often dominating as exercise types. The sentence is another convenient pedagogical tool: itis easy to distribute sentences around the class to make sure everyone gets a turn; a sentence can be written up on the board quickly. However, grammar at sentence level often bears little or no resemblance to the way it works in real connected discourse, which is, of course, far less easy to deal with in textbooks and in classroom settings. The result is that Jeamers may not actually work with grammar at text or discourse level until they are relatively advanced, or (worse still) until they are confronted with it in real communicative contexts Alternatives ‘There are alternative ways of approaching grammar for learners at different levels. Let us start by focusing on ways of looking more holistically at modal ‘meaning. Modal verbs receive intensive treatment in most coursebooks, and the nuances of meaning that they carry can ‘create a headache for both leamers and teachers, Once again, there is an overconcentration on verbs (here: may, might, could, should, etc) as the basic building blocks. I should like to offer an alternative view of modal meaning based on consideration of key text types, accompanied by activities aimed at getting learners to think about the way English speakers and writers often cloak or emphasise their true intentions by resorting to modal expressions — by ‘no means all of them verbs. Awareness-raising ‘On pages 5 and 6 there is 2 photocopiable activity for learners at intermediate level. ‘The approach in this activity is based on raising awareness, which involves the learners in ‘interrogating’ a familiar text type (a horoscope) to find out how modal meaning can be expressed. Most learners (and teachers!) feel pleased to discover that modality is all about the attitude of a speaker or writer towards what they wish to convey, and that its expressed in many ways other than just through modal verbs. While « horoscope text can't possibly express every type of modal meaning, the range it offer is wide enough to ilustrateseveral different ways of expressing probability, possibility, certainty, obligation and necessity. Interestingly, close study of this kind of text also reminds us that the vast majority of statements about the future are modal in nature and, in particular, that willis a ‘modal verb expressing a high level of probability or even certainty, and not a marker of a so-called future tense, However, the main advantage is the potential that a horoscope offers for looking at the ‘big picture’ of modality in an integrated way, rather thari bit by bit. Adverbs Adverbs such as probably, possibly and ‘perhaps, and phrases such as ‘there's a chance that. “is likely to...’ and “there's ‘no need to.., all complement the modal verbs and extend the nuances of meaning available to a speaker or writer. Some languages, Russian for example, make extensive use of adverbial phrases, often in preference to modal verbs, to express attitude, It makes sense for teachers to build on this by equipping learners with a selection of adverbs to enable them to communicate effectively, before going into all the complexities of the modal verb system, where the learners’ mother tongue often (as in German) works a little differently from English in the way it carves up meaning. The introduction early on of such adverbs and adverbial phrases also gives a set of conceptual ‘hooks’ to hang the modal verbs on ‘when they are finally introduced. Angles There are other text types which yield different angles on modal meaning. A set of regulations, such as schoo! rules oF house rules in a hotel or guesthouse, will provide a broad view of ways of expressing obligation, Engagement with the self- assessment framework in the CEFR, for example, will quickly familiarise learners with ways of expressing ability. Looking at business reports will throw up ways of recommending or expressing necessi in a more or less urgent way. Listening to certain types of dialogue, such as KKK T hope this working example has served to illustrate the main point of this series | of articles, which is to highlight the discussing options for the weekend or for | a shopping trip, will also raise learners’ awareness of the way we express nuances of attitude through intonation. In each of these cases, the text is best accompanied by the sorts of questions exemplified in the activity below, aimed at raising awareness and helping learners to make connections between form and meaning, difference between traditional grammatical syllabuses that still break the language down into bite-sized chunks, mainly to make it appear ‘teachable’ and ‘learnable’, on the one, hand, and syllabuses and teaching approaches that look at the big picture in order to see more clearly how the smaller parts actually work on the other. ‘The traditional approach generally leaves the learner to assemble the parts in order! to arrive at sense-producing utterances or pieces of writing, There is a kind of ‘acquiescence in the approach that is built ‘ona ‘bottom-up’, serialist-based “word > phrase > sentence > connected discourse’ sequence, and it is the last step which is often so difficult for learners, not all of ‘whom are able to synthesise bits of language into a coherent whole. ‘Understanding the difference outlined above is a step towards finally shaking off the legacy of the teaching of Latin and Ancient Greek. Thanks to corpus analysis tools developed through ICT, we are now much more able to see and ‘work with the big picture of language at whole-text and discourse level, and this, should be gradually changing some of the views that have traditionally dominated language pedagogy. In these articles I will examine several areas of language from a ‘top- down’, holistic perspective to see what difference this can make to success in earning, In Issue 74 I will offer a model for working with time and tenses. GD ‘Common European Framework of Reference for Languages Council of Europe 2001 North, B, Ortega, A and Sheehan, S Core inventory for General English British Council and Eaquals 2010 Willis, D ‘Reported speech - rules, what rules? English Teaching Professional 70 2010 5 Rod Bolitho is Academic Y director at Norwich Institute for Language Edueation, UK. Bofore that, he spent *7 years at the University Collage fof St Mark and St John in Plymouth. His most Fecent book Is Trainer Development, co- ‘authored with Tony Wright. rodbolaa@yahoo co.uk Ye Holistic grammar teaching Modal meaning El Find your own horoscope in the text. How would you describe the tone? Choose ‘one or more from these options: advisory » definite © warning '® negative © prescriptive © provisional/conditional * positive '® pessimistic/downbeat © tentative/hesitant © urgent * optimistic/upbeat Give reasons for your answer. Why does the tone vary from ‘one star sign to another? Now scan the other horoscopes and find ‘examples of the following ‘communicative functions: © expressing probability © expressing possibilty © expressing certainty * expressing necessity «© expressing obligation © suggesting/recommending © teling/ordering How were you able to identify these functions? [El is modal meaning expressed ‘only by modal verbs? Give examples from the horoscope text to support your answer, Make a poster covering as ‘many aspects of modal meaning as you know about. IMustrate it in any way you tke. If you wish, include comparisons and contrasts with ways in which your own language expresses modal meaning. + veww.etprofessional.com + ENGLSH TEACHING professional »lesue 78 March 2011 + &Bole Holistic | Tanguage teaching to concentrate on verb - grammar | teaching W Rod Bolitho gets his students out of their seats to demonstrate time and tense. hy do so many leamers of English find verb tenses confusing and difficult to master? Why are mistakes with verb tenses usually regarded as ‘serious’ errors, which learners feel bad about? Why do so many coursebooks have so many exercises focusing on verb tenses in isolation or in contrast? Why | do learners continue to make mistakes with verb tenses even after countless | encounters with these coursebook i exercises? t This second article in my series on | holistic approaches to grammar addresses these questions and offers a practical alternative to textbook- dependency for teachers and learners in any classroom setting Tenses: love them or | hate them ‘One of the most pervasive legacies of Latin-based syllabuses for English language teaching around the world is the love-hate affair which teachers and learners have with our verb tense system, Even the most progressive coursebooks have a thinly disguised -underlying syllabus progressing from the present tense, in some kind of sequence ‘which gradually enables learners to talk and write about past events and future plans. Verb forms are presented one by | one, without clear connections between them and with an assumption that this kind of ‘drip feed” approach makes it | ', easier for learners to.assimilate them, However, this patently neglects the fact that all learners from the age of around 12 upwards already have a well- developed and integrated tinderstanding of time and a méans of expressing.time relationships in their mother tongue, Added to this is our tendency in forms, which often leads to the kind of confusion that teachers are so familiar with, for example when German speakers use the present perfect to talk about past time or Romance language speakers overuse will + infinitive to refer to the future, on the grounds that it somehow parallels the future “tense” that exists as a verb form in their respective mother tongues. Also, and maybe significantly, English is one of the few languages that has two separate words - time and tense — for the two related concepts. German Zeit, French temps, Spanish tiempo and Russian vremya, for exampke, all refer to both time and tense. as though they were a single concept. Tense and time ‘The model I present here builds on a basic understanding that almost all languages somehow conceive of time and divide it up in the same way. There are three reference points (present, past and future), and four periods of time {the past before a given point in the past, the period between a given point in the past and the present, the period between the present and a visualised point of time in the future, and the period beyond that point in the future). An alternative but complementary way of looking at this overall picture was presented 35 years ago by David Wilkins and referred to in my ‘own overview in 1984 of the same area: Present time ct Pest time Future time Past Future Past Future ‘seen seen seen fromthe fromthe —_fromtho past future future Because of our serialist tendency to | deal with one topic at a time when teaching grammar, we tend to neglect the holistic, ‘big picture’ opportunity that this model presents us with. Here is a very simple, low-resource procedure + wurw.etprotessionsl.com + ENGUSH TEACHING professional + tee 74 May 2011 « BZmee Holistic grammar teaching which allows you to work with the whole picture in your classes: Put three chairs at the front of the class, facing the students and at least a metre apart from each other. © Get three students to sit on the chairs. The one in the middle represents the | present, while the one on the middle | student's right represents 2 point of time in the past and the one to the middle students left a point in the future. Explain this to the class. © Stand behind the middle chair and remind the class that this is always our starting point for expressing time. We always sec it initially from where | we are at any given moment. ‘This basic set-up is enough to give | learners a visual representation of the conceptual framework they already have available when they refer to time. It | allows a teacher to help the learners to vse make the all-important connections they need to make in order to talk and write about events and plans in their lives, to narrate, predict, project into the future or relive the past. Below are some ways of doing this, The only other aids you will need are a long stick, such as a broom handle or a golf club, and a few labels and bits of paper. Example 1 Teaching aspect | The tense-bound approach adopted in most syllabuses ignores the opportunity ‘we have to teach the progressive aspect as -& concept. There is nothing structurally complex about combining parts of the | verb to be with the -ing form of any main verb. The difficulty for many learners is that there is no exact equivalent verb form in their own language, and the notion of ‘progressive’ has to be expressed by different means. Here is a simple procedure, which enables you to | make useful and logical connections: © Stand behind the middle chair, holding the long stick horizontally over the BE - tssuo 74 May 2011 + ENGUSH TEACHING professional + wrwew.otprotessional. head of the student. Make an obvious statement like ‘We are all sitting in Room 5'. Ask the students to confirm that this is true. Ask them if this is a temporary or a permanent situation (use the mother tongue with an elementary class — understanding the concept is the key here). Explain that the stick represents the period of time over which this statement applies. It has a beginning and an end. This gives you a platform for teaching the progressive aspect in the same or future lessons, but start with the present, The stick symbolises ‘continuousness’ ‘* Now hold the stick horizontally over the head of the student representing the past, Make a statement such as “This time last month J was working in ‘my garden’, followed by ‘How about you? What were you doing this time last month?" This will elicit answers such as ‘Twas lying on a beach’ or ‘I was playing with my friends’. Practise for a while, ‘© Use the same procedure for the future progressive: ‘Look into the crystal ball, What will you be doing this time next year?" Contrast the simple and progressive aspects of the present perfect like this: © Ask the students representing the present-and the-past to hold the stick: ‘The ‘past student’ should hold it by one end while the ‘present student? should hold it near the other end, but allowing it to project slightly into the “foture’. Ask the class a question such as ‘How long have we been sitting ‘ere?’ or even “How long have you been Jearning English?’ This foregrounds time expressions such as for 20 minutes, and allows the students to ‘grasp the notion of ‘continuousness’ as well as ‘unfinishedness’, which are central to the uses of this aspect. © This time without the stick, whisper a question to the ‘present student’, such a8 ‘How many times have you been abroad?’ Make sure no one else hears you. Then ask the student to give a gencrally audible short answer, eg “Four times’. Tear a piece of paper into four pieces and place them on’ the floor between the present and the past. Ask the class to guess what the question was and what the bits of Paper represent. Reinforce this by asking whether the ‘present student” might go abroad again, just to make 4s | sure they know thet you are again dealing with unfinished tishe here, ‘© These two steps, ag presented here, would suit x class necding a revision of the present perfect, but the same visual set-up could be used for you to present the simple and progressive aspects for the first time, with you as the teacher talking to the class about ‘yourself initially, © You can make an easy link to the simple past by moving the ‘past 2 student's" chair directly over the ‘most recent’ piece of paper (the one closest to the present) and asking ‘When did you last go abroad?” @ You can establish a link to the future by asking the ‘future student’ to take cone end of the stick and the ‘present student’ to hold the other end near the tip, but with a bit projecting into the past, while working on statements such | as “We'll be sitting here until 17 o'clock’. Example 2: | Highlighting time adverbials Some languages do not have a system of verb tenses. Mandarin Chinese, for example, has a basic verb form and expresses tine differences by means of adverbials. It is naturally reassuring for such students to know that English is alBo rich in time adverbials, For beginner students, they can also be a communicative lifeline because they help them to express what they mean even if they are not yet familiar with the | tense system, Yet how many | coursebooks offer students a good range of ‘survival’ time expressions? Try | this procedure as a starter: | © Give out a dozen or so time adverbials | in large print on labels, one each, to students around the class. (A typical selection for an intermediate class might include in @ day or two, last Wednesday, since Christmas, recently, always, this time last year, soon, until the end of term, many years ago, before I started to learn English, after I leave school and for a tang time now:) © Ask the students with the labels to | think carefully about the time each expression refers to and then to come to the front and stand in the position | on the thrce-chair model which best suits it, Invite the class to comment | from their perspective. This is an | initial concept check.© With a good intermediate class, you can ask the students to make statements about their own realities including their respective time expressions, thus making the link to verb forms. © At some point, this set-up will also enable you to stress that it is only 2 real or understood time expression that makes it possible for the present progressive form to refer to a future arrangement, eg ‘What are you doing this evening?” This explodes the | dangerous myth that the present progressive form isin itself a way of expressing the future, Example 3: | Correcting students’ mistakes. Very often, teachers hand corrected written work back to their students without dedicating class time to any sort of follow-up. The three-chair model offers a practical means of working remedially, cooperatively and practically | on time reference problems without too | many wordy explanations. You can base this on a symbol-based way of | correction, where a T draws attention to a tense or time reference mistake. The procedure is simple: i © A student has written something like “Tam living in my flat since four'years’ + and has a 7"in the margin next to it. | © Ask the student to read this aloud | and to come to the front and stand in position to indicate the time she is referring to (in this case, between the present and the past). Ask her if she needs the stick (the class will soon | help her if she is in doubt). © Ask her to self-eorrect (by now'she | should have a clear association | between form and time reference) ‘Once again, encourage the class to support her and to help her to correct both the verb and the time adverbial : kkk | What I have described here is just a short selection of the many activities that can be based round this model. It is ‘worth pointing out some of the ' potential benefits it offers: © In contrast to timelines, which are two-dimensional and which some students find rather abstract, this model is three-dimensional and enables the students to enter it physically in order to work on time reference. It also redefines front-of- class territory as shared learning space rather than teacher-dominated space. © It appeals to both visual and kinaesthetic learners, and is readily accessible to learners at any level. It can be used both to present and practise language, and also for remedial work. See a La J Te) ‘projessional BURR mu Loe MCR mC ae ou ti id s TT WORKS IN PRACTICE ‘© Itis low-tech, quick and easy to set up and soon becomes familiar to students, Do you have ideas you'd like to share with colleagues around the world? Tips, techniques and activities; ‘simple or sophisticated; well-tied oF innovative; something that has ‘worked well for you? All published contributions receive a prizet Write to us or email: editor@etprofessional.com ENING) Do you have something to say about an article in the current issue of ET? ‘This is your magazine and we would ‘© The most valuable point for me is really like to hear from you. that it provides a holistic view of time | Write to us or email: in a strong and immediate way. editorGetprofessional.com starts from the whole an+works Writing for ETp towards understanding of the parts of | a system of time reference, rather | Would you like to write for ETp? We are ‘always interested in new writers and than leaving students to build up their own whole by assembling the parts, | | | ttesh ideas. For guidelines and advice, a wiite to us or email: @ Itis potentially jargon-free, and enables the students to make direct links between concept and language without resorting to complex metalanguage; this is especially valuable to students who are not naturally academic or analytical ‘© The students representing past and future can be moved closer to or further away from the present to represent close or distant points of time. We do this conceptually all the time in communication, using time adverbials to define the distance we wish to express, ‘which is what traditional syllabuses and coursebooks do. Even if Tam working on, say, the simple past or the past perfect, I will keep the ‘future student’ in the model in order to emphasise the need to see time and tense in relative terms. QD editor@etprofessional.com Visit the ETp website! Tne ETp website is packed with practical tips, advice, resources, information and selected articles. You can submit tips | | orarticles, renew your subscriation or simply browse the features. Boltho, A The whole salam’ Practical | | English Teaching 4/4 1984” i Wikins, D Notional Sylabuses OUP 1876 | od Bolitho is Academic Director atNarwich | Institute for Language Education, UK. Previously, be spent 17 yours at the University Golloge of St Mark and SSt John in Plymouth. His most recontbook | Trainer Development, co-authored with Tony Wright www.etprofessional.com Con oats rofessionat cence acl con ee ee ca PO18 BHD, UK Bnd rodbolsa@yanoo co.uk + wwnw.etprofessional.com + ENGLISH TEACHING professional « texue 74 May 2011 » B®Holistic grammar teaching i Rod Bolitho views the importance of voice. What do our learners need to know about voice? Why do so many | coursebooks and teachers make such a | big issue of the passive asa structure? ‘Are we making it more difficult for | Jeamers than it really is? | here is nothing structurally difficult about the passive voice in English, Once learners have explore this area in greater depth and to | set learners thinking about it instead of responding mechanistically kkk Each of these activities is designed to push learners far beyond the immediate ‘comfort zone of formulaic transformation exercises and simple rules of usage. They ‘®eommand of the-parts of the-=~are designed to be mulled over and | verb so be and the form of the past participle (V3), they have the means at their disposal to construct passive forms. And yet, for decades, structural syllabuses insisted dogmatically on | providing for teaching the passive tense by tense, and for practising it by asking learners to transform active sentences into the passive. Recent coursebooks shave begun to focus much more on-the uses of the passive in English, and this is an important step forward as some Tanguages use the passive less than. English does, making use of other ‘options such as impersonal constructions (German man and French on, for ‘example, and third person plural or a reflexive, as in Russian). However, very | few courscbooks explore reasons for the choices of voice that writers and speakers | make as a text unfolds and, still less, the wider notions of ‘activencss’ and ‘passiveness’, which have the equivalents in all languages. Here on pages 13 and 14 is a straightforward sequence of activities (plus keys) at upper-intermediatc level designed to YB + tesue 75 July 2019 « EWoUISH TEACHING professional - www.etprofesstonal.com + discussed in pairs or groups in order to help the learners to work towards a ‘fee!” for how English speakers make decisions about active and passive use. To do this, they need to work on whole texts like those in Activities 1 and 2, where the writer has made considered choices, but they will also benefit from becoming, aware of how ‘activeness’ and ‘passiveness' underlie aspects of the lexical system, as in the third activity. All this implies thinking and talking about English, and if this means that some of the discussion takes place in the mother tongue, that should not be a problem. It 4s the quality of the thinking and talk that counts in cases like this. od Bolitho is Academic Biroctor at Norwich Institute for Language Education, UK. Previously, he spon co-authored with Tony Wright. Todbolea@yahoo co ukActivity 1 Look at the following text and answer the questions -e ‘ + alongside it. What happens when you press the ‘Start’ button on a photocopier? {1 does he wr gece te eaer | directly here? : Inside a copier there is a special drum. The drum acts a lat like a balloon ~ it can be charged with a form of static electricity, Inside the copier there is also a very fine black powder known as toner. The 2 Why does the writer choose the passive in these two cases? rum, once it is charged with static electricity, can attract the toner particles, a SEES RNY CAN erat The toner PACES, The drum, or bel, is made out of photoconductive material. 3 Who made it? Is it important to know? Here are the actual steps involved in making a photocopy: 1 The surface of the drum becomes charged. Sd 4 Why ‘becomes charged’ and not just “is charged’ here? 2 An intense beam of light moves across the paper that you have placed 5 Why the active voice again here? on the copier's glass surface. Light is reflected from white areas of the paper and strikes the drum below. 3 Wherever a photon hits, electrons are emitted from the photoconductive ‘atoms in the drum and they neutralise the positive charges above. Dark 6 Look at the three verbs in this sentence. Why does the writer switch from active to passive and then back? areas on the original (such as pictures or text) do not reflect light onto the drum, leaving regions of positive charges on the drum's surface. 4 The negatively chatged, dry, black pigment called torier is then spread ‘over the surface of the drum, and the pigment particies adhere to the 7 Do these adjectives imply that the toner and the paper are charged during or before the process? Can you ‘see the ‘hidden passive" in them? Positive charges that remain. 5 A positively chafged sheet of paper then passes over the surface of the drum, attracting the beads of toner away from it. 8 Can you see why this is sometimes called a ‘telescoped passive’? Can you find two more examples in the text? 6 The paper is then heated and pressed to fuse the image formed by the toner to the paper's surface. ‘And your photocopy is reddy — all in a few seconds! 9 Why is the passive used so often in this kind of text? " Activity 2 Look at this short newspaper extract and answer the questions alongside it, 1 Why is the passive used in Tiger murdered in Arunachal Pradesh On January 7, a tiger was poisoned and bled to death of the report? by inhabitants of Namuk, a village 30 km from | 2 What does the first sentence tell Siang district in Arunachal Pradesh, On January 8, us that is not in the headline? the tiger was brought to the village, where an | 3 who brought the tiger to the environmental activist caught it on eamera before its coat was removed and presumably sold. ‘There is rumoured to be a flourishing trade in liger skins and other body parts in the area, but villagers refused to conficm this. They claim that the tiger was Killed to protect their farm animals from attack. The focal police superintendent promised a full investigation into this illegal activity, saying ‘If village on January 8? Who removed its coat and sold Why doesn't the journatist these people? headline and in the first sentence the are belioved to have been kiled 1s tis vague or precise? Why does the journalist choose a passive Construction here? Would a writer in your language use the passive here? .. never even get reported.” Why not just. are never reported"? What does ‘get add here? it? name 4 Why does the journalist start the second paragraph with a passive construction: ‘There is rumoured Who do you think the journalist actually spoke to at first hand, and which parts of his report 2 in smglers are involved, they will be severely | fanpage se tmepeconerees _ seemt0 be based on hearsay? punished under the Forest Act” How can you identity this Over 200 tigers are believed tohave been illedin | 5 Why the switch to he acive attterence? India in the last twelve month, Activists are trying | lee with They cla 40 Wty do you think journalists to help local people to understand that this rate of slaughter cannot be maintained if the tiger is to survive, Far too many cases never even get reported, {second paragraph}? Do we “ to know? find the passive so useful? 6 Who will punish the smugglers. ened + wwrevetprofessional.com + ENGUSH TEACHING professional «issue 75 sly 2001 + 13 B >bead Holistic grammar teaching B Activity 3 . Which of the nouns and adjectives in the list opposite have a ‘passive 2) loot b) drinkable ¢} trainer 4) employee flavour’ about them? Try to use a. passive construction to define each ) incredible 1) manager 9) patient 1h) unrepeatable ‘of thom and an active construction to define the others. When you have i) travel agent i) addressee k) soluble D) trainee . finished, think about words like these = in your own language, and how they | m) payee '8) manageable | 6) vietim ») tolerable are expressed and defined. Do you notice any differences? (it may be best to do a couple of examples with the whole cfass to get them started.) Key to acti ies Please note that in many of these cases there may be no absolutely right answer. The process of thinking and discussion that learners go through is far more important than the final answers they come up with. Activity 1 To attract the reader's interest. To provide an informal and personal way into the descriotion of a technical process, Probably because the ‘agent’, or doer of the action, simply isn't important here, We don’t know and it's not important to know. KE: emphasises acminge of state {very common in scientific and technical contexts) TE 7o re-engage the readers and to remind them that this is something they do regulary. IG The choice here seems to be mainly stylistic; it alows a ready sequencing of three interconnected phases in the process, withthe electrons as the subject of the second and third main verbs and ‘therefore the main focus for a ead TE hey were charged before this, ‘stage. You can spot the ‘hidden’ or underlying passive if you extend the ‘noun phrase into a clause in each case: “The toner which has been negatively charged ..’ and ‘The sheet of paper which has been positively charged .." EE sometimes also called a ‘telescoped relative’ it can be readily expanded to ‘the image which has been formed by the toner’. The other examples are: ‘a very fine black powder known as toner’ and ‘the actual steps invotved’. (Note: Learners often find it dificutt to “build this “telescoping writing as itis not an option in many other languages. This is why itis good to take every opportunity to raise their awareness of it in texts iike this.) El eecause tis a description of 2 brovess in which the doer of an action, or agent, ie usually imelevant to Understanding. Activity 2 ‘To keep the focus on the main ‘character’ in the story in this case the tiger. More detait on the way the tiger died ‘and who was responsible. ‘We don’t know and the journalist doesn't name those responsible, for any of the following reasons: a) he doesn't actually know exactly who did these ‘things: b) he believes the names to be LUnimportant and irrelevant to the story; phe knows, but he is protecting himsert from legal action or revenge by not revealing the names. Possibly because he doesn't know, cr wants to protect, the source of these rumours. FE Possibly because he is reporting exactly what the villagers said to him. He seems to be sure of his ground here. ‘There is no need to include an agent here ~ there is an assumption that every reader will be familiar with the way the law works. itis deliberately imprecise. The writer doesn't have aecass to exact statistics but still wants to make the point, and so covers himself by using the passive ‘are believed to have been kiled HE A citicuit one to answer, but the vse of ‘get’ seems to make the passive more ‘dynamic’ here, almost as if he is accusing his fellow journalists of ignoring an important issue on the ‘grounds that kiling tigers has become ‘30 common as to be uninteresting. IE He seams to have spoken to some villagers and to the police, and Has used the active voice to report what they sai ‘even quoting the police superintendent's ‘exact words. Much of the rest of the report seams to be based on second- hand information and, here, he uses the passive to protect himself and to indicate a greater degree of uncertainty. For many ofthe reasons stated above I can be used to protect ouroes, to protec the wafer orto focus ‘on the main character or incident in the story, eapecialy where the doer of an action s unknown or not relevant. Activity 3 - ‘Some examples will sutice here: ‘© A trainee is someone who is being trained. + Ifa substance is soluble, it can be dissolved. A victim is someone who has been attacked, hurt or killed. © A travel agent arranges journeys and holidays. 44. -toove 75 ty 2011 + ENGUSH TEACHING professional - wwvw.ctorofessional.com +Ew Holistic grammar | teaching 4 Rod Bolitho reports on ways to report speech, ‘ery often we all need to report, in speech or in writing, what someone has said or has written. When we do this, we arc concemed with meaning and also with our interpretation of the words we wish to report, and we have a number of choices open to us. These choices operate in similar wai almost any language. We can be more of less formal, more or less truc to the original spoken or written words, closer or more distant in the position we take up as ‘reporter’; we can choose to condense and summarise or to give a detailed representation of the original, wwe can display an attitude towards what has been said or written as we report it. ‘These choices are realised either grammatically, lexically or stylistically or, as often happens, through a mixture of all three. The resulting output is often complex and sophisticated in nature, a fact which becomes evident only when we investigate ways of reporting in their ‘natural habitat’, namely in spoken or written reposts. ‘The idea that there is a set formula for reporting which plays out at sentence level, as many coursebooks and grammar books would have us believe, is not only an oversimplification but a fallacy — as Dave Willis pointed out in a recent ETp article on the same topic (lssve 70). Once again, itis only through taking a more holistic look at Botha 73 towards a clearer view of how the process works in real communication. Here are three examples of what this | might mean in an intermediate-level | class; Activity El Ideally this should be based on jg7—"F *tecording of the dialogue between two teenagers (sce below) and with an accompanying transcript. Listen to a dialogue between two British teenagers sitting together om a train, and answer the following questions: a) Is their conversation easy for you to understand? Why/Why not? by De they seem to be close to what * they are reporting or more distant? What tells you this? ¢) Is their language formal or informal? 4) Is there a similar way of reporting in °” your language? ‘Asa learner of English, would you speak in the same way as the two girls? If you did, would it sound natural? Emma: ... thank goodness, no more school this week! Megan: Yeah! A whole weekend with no silly rules. Emma: | just didn't get what old Wellsy different ways of reporting that we edge wanted from us in the English class. You be + wew.etprofessional.com + ENGLISH TEACHING professional « Issue 76 September 2011 « 37mh Holistic teaching remember, when he said we have to write a critique of that passage in Lord Jim. So | Tturn to Elena and I'm like ‘What does he mean’? and then Wellsy goes, ‘Do you have a question, young iady?” Megan: I remember Emma: ... and I'm lke ‘Doesn't he even know my name?" Megan: But why didn't you ask him to explain about critique? Emma: | dida't say anything ’cos | don't want to sound stupid. And, remember, then Martha's mobile goes off and Wellsy ‘908s, ‘Don't you know the rules about mobiles?’ and Martha's ike: ‘Sily old ool,” you know, under her breath, and he goes, ‘What did you say?" and then Martha pipes up, ‘I said | was sorry, sit” How ooo! was that? (Transcribed by the author on the basis of a conversation overheard on a train it Greater London - the names are fictional) ‘Comment Increasingly, and whether purists like it or not, learners of English are going to be exposed to this very informal spoken style of reporting on conversational exchanges. Learners will be better equipped to recognise this if it is dealt with in this kind of ‘awareness-raising’ way in class, As the second question suggests, they would be well-advised not to imitate it directly until they are very sure of themselves in terms of register and appropriacy. Activity A As you read the newspaper article opposite, answer the questions beside it ‘Asa teacher, you may want to relate the ten questions to the following factors that govern a writer's choices in an article like this: © a need to be cautious about the detail of the report (questions 1, 3, 4) © summarising what someone has said (2, 5 and, in part, 9) Wildlife activist reported murdered’ by poachers Alan Crosby Nairobi Less than a year after telling journalists and colleagues that his life was in danger?, a well- known conservation activist has reportedly® been executed by poachers inthe Samburv/Laikipia region of Kenya. Peter ‘Onyango, who has spent a lifetime working tirelessly to preserve Kenyan wildlife, especially elephants, is believed to have caught the group ‘of poachers in the act of Killing a mature elephant, almost certainly for its ivory. ‘According to local sources®, Onyango’s 27-year-old son was with him at the time, but he managed to escape unharmed. The exact circumstances of Onyango's murder are not known, but local police reports indicate that two bodies were found at the scene, though the second one ‘has not been identified’®, The local commissioner of police bas promised a full enquiry into the events surrounding the deaths.” _v=z.At an international conference on wildlife conservation in Entebbe ten months ago, Onyango spoke of his mission and his fears.® ‘Commercial interests continue to threaten big game in Africa, whether it is the demand for ivory or just hunting safaris which make a fot of money for the organisers. I believe passionately in the need to keep our wildlife balanced and protected, and I'm prepared to go to any lengths to ensure that this happens. Sure, I've had death threats from gangs who would rather have me ‘out of the way, and one day they will probably get ine, but until they do I'll devote all my ‘waking hours to conservation.” * Onyango’s wife Margaret said she was‘deeply saddened” at the news of her husbands death, but that she was immensely proud’ of him and that’ Kenya needs more brave men like him’.® ‘A 2008 survey by the Kenya Wildlife Service reported’? that there were at least 7,468 elephants in the Samburw/Laikipia region, representing 5% increase on the last survey conducted in 2002. This is probably the most fitting tribute to Peter Onyango’ life’ work. [BEL - tssve 78 September 2011 + ENGUSH TEACHING professional + wwwe.otprofessional.com 1 Why not just Wildlife activist murdered by poachers”? : 2 Is the journalist reporting Onyango’s exact words ‘here? How do you know? 3 Is Alan Crosby completely sure of his story? 4 Js this a fact or hearsay? How do you know? Why is ‘believed’ in the passive here? 5 Is this @ report of someone's exact words? Why doesn't Alan Crosby identify his sources for this part of the account? 6 Why are these words quoted in inverted commas? 7. What do you think were the police chiefs exact words? fs it important to know? Why does Crosby choose ‘promised’ as a reporting verb? 8 Why is this next section of the report in direct speech? Does it make a difference to the reader? 9 Why this mture of direct and indirect speech here? 10 What exactly is being reported here?6 © summarising and interpreting what someone has said (7) «establishing distance between the writer and what was said (1, 2, 3,4, 5, 6) © a possible element of scepticism on the writer's part (6) © establishing closeness between the reader and what was said (8, 9) | © summarising something written (10) Comment ‘An example like this can’t cover all aspects of reporting but it does highlight the choices writers have available to them when putting a report together. This cannot be studied or practised at single-sentence level. And coursebooks often blithely ignore ‘common discourse-level reporting devices such as according to... and reportedly, Moving from this kind of awareness of how the reporting of speech works to a ‘way of practising it at whole-text level is | challenging, but here is an activity T have used successfully: Activity El This activity involves simulating a press ‘conference. Ask-an able.and.cenfident student to research the life of a well- known personality, either contemporary ‘ot from history (Wikipedia is fine as a source here as we are not concerned with absolutely watertight facts). Ask the student to make detailed notes, to | find a photo or portrait of the person concerned and to be ready to ‘be’ that personality in the next class. Enlarge the portrait to at least A3 size and display it to the class on a flip-chart easel at the start of the next class. The student playing the role should remain outside ‘the room. Tell the class that they are __ reporters and that the personality will soon be available to answer their questions for just ten minutes. Give them ten minutes to prepare their questions. Tell them they will need to take notes on the answers they get. The student playing the ‘personality’ then ‘comes in secretly and sits behind the ‘easel so that the class can’t see who it is. Chair the press conference and ensure that the questions are fair and not too | challenging. Afier ten minutes, bring the conference to a close aud debrief — this is important, especially for the student who played the role. Ask how they felt about being in role and ask the press | corps how they perceived the porsonality. Ask them to form groups and agrce on how to report the press. | conference, Set a realistic word limit, Give them the following guidance: Decide what you want to report exactly, and what you want to summarise, BB Decide on any reporting verbs you i might need to interpret the | interviewee’s words ED Was there anything that’you found hard to believe? Decide how to | distance yourself when you report this : ‘Was there anything emotionally , interesting in the interviewee's responses? Decide how best to | report this, © Think of a good headline for your article, and a good opening and i closing. ‘Asa variation, you can ask the groups. to produce a spoken report on the press | conference for TV or radio. kek Once you develop an understanding of the ‘big picture’ view of reporting, the artificially created grammatical category of ‘reported specch’ becomes completely redundant, and you can focus on a much more communicative and productive perspective focusing on ‘ways of i reporting’ what people say and write. QD Rod Bolitho is Academic Director at Norwich Institute for Language Education, UK. Previously, he spont 17, ‘years at the University College of St Mark and St John in Plymouth. His ‘most recent book is 3 Trainer Development Sve CHIRAC RLOUBOTEED .. CePA | fe TT 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: editor@etprofessional.com Writing for ETp ‘Would you Tike to write for ET? We are always interested in new waiters and fresh ideas. For guidelines and ‘advice, write to us or ema editor@etprofessional.com ‘Do you have something to say about an article in the current issue of ETD? - This is your magazine and we would really like to hear from you. Write to us or email: editor@etprofessional.com ~ Reviewing for ETp Would you like to review books or other teaching materials for ETp? We are always looking for people who are interested in ‘writing reviews for us. Please email helena.gomm@pavpub.com for advice and a copy of our guidelines for reviewers. You will need to give your postal address and say what areas of teaching you are most interested in, « wruw.etprofessional.com + ENGLISH TEACHING professional + seve 76 Septembor 2011 « 3be | connected with a' widespread belief e e among learners that skipping an article, or getting one wrong in English, is not a |) major crime and, in any‘case, isnot | O 1S J rather than as elephants, such as verb tenses or modal auxiliaries. i However, the correct use of articles in English is often vital to good I a I } ) I } ) relatively low level. The problem is that many teachers have simply never been taught to engage fully with grammar at @ |) discourse level. Here is a very simple awareness-raising exercise, which can be ‘used with a lower-intermediate class: | ENTS Botta ‘ : GRAMMAR | in spoken English. It may also be going to interfere with communication: articles are seen as irritating mosquitoes | communication and there are systertis which can be teachable, even at @ 1 Read ‘this short text and answer the: questions that follow. i Rod Bolitho determines a strategy for teaching determiners in discourse. A tomadot is a very strong rotating wind. Tonadoes? are often caused by very time I ask practising i teachers about the grammar topic they least like teaching, ‘the responses nearly always, Tnchide articles (long with lexico- ‘grammatical items such as prepositions and phrasal verbs), When I pursue this further and ask why they dislike | teaching articles in English so much, J get comments like these: © ‘Bocause they're messy.’ © ‘Because there doesn't seem to be @ | system - you need to keep coming -back to them." ‘Articles are used in different ways in >My tanguage.’ | ©2"The rules don't always seam to be | Zright when you listen to native speakers.’ '¢ ‘Our textbooks don't really help much | with articles.” | © Honestly, don't know how to teach them.’ [did a fun exercise based on metaphors for grammar topics with a mixed- nationality group of teachers, and an Anstrian colleague declared, ‘Articles in | English are like mosquitoes in your | Bedroom; just when you think you have ‘got on top of them and you relax, one | comes back and bites you!” 1 « tsaue 77 November 2011 + ENGLISH TEACHING professional + warw.etprotessional.com + : Attacking articles Alll of the above comments are understandable for different reasons. But underlying each of them is one of .. ‘two broad issues: 1 Teachability ‘You can't parcel the topic up and teach it in a lesson or a series of lessons — as | you can with, say, the present perfect or ‘comparatives and superlatives, topics which can conveniently be presented and practised at sentence level within a PPP paradigm. This has led, at worst, to large-scale avoidance of articles by } textbook authors and, at best, to token ‘treatments of the topic in easily identifiable and ‘practisable’ contexts such as geographical names (definite article with rivers, seas and oceans but zero article with street names, castles and palaces and mountains; definite article with superlative adjectives, etc). 2 Leamability ‘Many teachers I've worked with confess to never having mastered the topic | themselves. This may have its roots in a lack of correspondence with L1. Slavic Janguages, for cxample, get along very nicely without articles, and even the most advanced Russian or Polish speakers of English often show a cavalier disregard for articles, especially thunderstorms over land or at sea. ‘They can destroy almost anything in their path. The tornadoes? that hit parts of the mid-west of the USA recently were the strongest this century. 1 Why isa used here? 2 Why is there no article here? 3 Why is the used here? Now write a short text about tsunamis following the same pattern. ‘You may need these words to help you: wave; earthquake. ‘The thrée questions can be discussed and answered in L) if necessary, as awareiless-raising is not about practising = here“it is about engaging the learner cognitively with the basics of the article systein. The practice exercise on tsunamis is a chance for the learners to check whether they have understood the system, and to understanc value in communication. It is also, of course, a first step towards zeinforcement Dealing with determiners But to stop here would be just to seratch the surface. Articles are part of a bigger subsystem, operating at discourse level, gencraily covered by the term determiners.| Determiners are used in front of nouns to | refer to something specific or something of a particular type, They include articles, demonstrative pronouns (this, these, that, those), possessive adjectives (my, you, his, hier, its, our, their), so-called “generat determiners (eg some, a few, both, each, any) and adjectives which function as determiners (eg next, ast). Here is an exercise at intermediate level, which draws attention to the importance of determiners this time in spoken English, Dre Tn} Work in pairs. Read this conversation aloud. Does it make complete sense to you? What words could you add to make sense of it? When you have decided, read your new version atoud and see how it sounds now. Traveller Hello, is this lost property office? Clerk Yes, can i help you? Traveller {left mobile phone on train morning. Clerk train? Traveller 6.30 from Liverpoo! Street to Norwich. Clerk Can you wait moment, please? Traveller. Sure. - Clerk No, nothing was found on tran, Traveller Oh dear! Maybe someone found It and liked it. Do you think there is hope? Clerk You never know! week someone handed in wallet day after finding it (based on a roa! conversation overheard in the customer service office at Norwich station) ‘The exercise draws attention to the way a conversation between two people is built up as collaborative discourse, with meaning dependent on clear and ‘unambiguous use of determiners. With a weaker class, the conversation could be presented as a gap-fill, but this would deprive the learners of the opportunity | to compare the impact of the two versions when spoken, and it would be | Jess cognitively demanding. In a stronger monolingual class, awareness | conversation into their own language to ‘can be further raised by translating the trigger a discussion about contrasting | ways of marking meaning in English ) and LI : Deconstructing discourse i 1 Ata more advanced level, thereisa | need to look into markers of all types in © order to locate articles and determiners ina much more comprehensive view of the way discourse is constructed and of the key role of some of those little mosquitoes. This kind of exercise is best based on an authentic text. | aed | Work in pairs. As you read this diary entry, answer the questions alongside. We were camped in the square!, watching ‘events unfold in front of our eyes. There were people with banners? and others shouting slogans. The side streets were blocked off by militia with shields and | | batons. They were mainly ust standing there, watching. This was different from last ‘time, when they charged at all the demonstrators and lashed out with their sticks‘. Maybe they understood that this Gemonstration$ was going to be peaceful. Maybe they were just aware that everything | | was being captured by TV crews from all | | ever the world, i What we saw next® was evidence of that?. Some of the women In the crowd went up to the militia officers and gave them flowers, | can’t imagine that | | nappening back then®. Some of the officers | | actually put the flowers'® in thelr uniform ‘butlonholes. Then, fr some reason, my part of the crowd started to surge forward | | and t began to feel seared. I don't really remember much after that™t ... | | Grom a friend's diary, edited and reproduced here | with permission) Referencing " ‘© Anaphoric reference is indicated by word (@r word) refering back to ‘something earlier in a text ‘© Cataphoric reference is indicated by a word or words relating to ‘something later in a text. ‘© Exophoric reference is indiéated by ‘a word or words referring to an idea ‘or information which is beyond the text but usually assumed to be 7 understandable to the reader. 1 What does the writer assume about the reader? How do you know? 2 Was everybody carrying a banner? How do you know? ‘3 What does the writer assume here? 4 Which word is echoed by ‘sticks’ here? & Which denioristration? ~ * 6 What does this draw the reader's attention to? 7 Evidence of what? 8 Specific flowers? How do you | know? 9 When? How do you know? 410 Specific flowers? How do you” know? 41 After what? This activity raises awareness of the | complex web of meaning at discourse | level, and it contains examples of different kinds of reference (anaphoric, | cataphoric and exophoric) as well as a. | range of other ways of creating | cohesion in written discourse, including the use of articles and determiners. kkk A staged teaching approach over an extended period might move through the three stages illustrated by the examples in this article, starting at basic. level with the article system embedded in ‘mini’ discourse contexts, moving into + www.otprofeasional.com + ENGLISH TEACHING professional + eque 77 November 2011 + 43.Holistic grammar teaching Ki a wider range of contexts for 4 determiners, and from there to a study |) with advanced students of the different ways in which discourse is ‘stitched together’ to ensure that itis coherent. Working at discourse level is more | challenging than working at sentence fevel, but it enables the leamers to see the big picture and to deconstruct as a basis for constructing their own meanings, rather than requicing them to | build up meaning ftom sentence level without support or guidance, Activities like these are best tackled collaboratively, giving the learners the chance to compare ideas and, | importantly, to talk about language. | Key to activities Activity A <1 -~-1-Because this is a general-statement. 2 Because this refers to all tomadoes. 9 These are specific examples of | tornadoes. » Clerk Activity 8 Traveller Hello, is this the lost property office? Yes, can | help you? | eft my mobile phone on the train this morning, Traveller Clerk Which train? Traveller The 6.30 from Liverpoo! Street to Norwich. Clerk Can you wait a moment, please? Traveller Sure. Clerk No, nothing was found on that train. | Traveller Oh deart Maybe someone found it and liked it. Do you think there is any hope? Clerk You never know! Last week someone handed in a wallet the day after finding it Activity C 1 As this was part of a daily blog, the writer assumes that the reader knows which square she is roferting to as the square. The reference is to shared knowledge beyond the hits of the text. (exophoric reference) 2 Probably not. The word others which toltows indicates this. tt refers back to people. (anaphoric reference) 3 Again, the writer assumes that the reader is aware of the meaning of the time reference: the last time. (exophorie reference again) 4 batons: an exaniple ofa ‘synonym used to achieve lexical cohesion. . 5 The one she is now describing ~ this (expressing immediate closeness) rather than that (which would express | distance}. 6 What we saw next draws the reader's attention to what is about to follow. (cataphoric reference) 7 evidence of that points back to the previous sentence. (anaphoric "| reference) 8 Definitely not. There is no article or determiner here. j 9 A vague reference to former times or | perhaps simply to the last i demonstration. (either anaphoric or exophoric reference) i 10 This time we know which flowers (the | definite article makes this cleat) - the | ‘ones the women gave them, | (enaphoric reference) i 11 After the crowd began to surge. {anaphoric reference) Rod Bolitho is Academie Director at Norwich Institute for Language Education, UK. Previously, he spent 17 [years at the University Sollee of St Mark and t John in Plymouth, His most recent book is" Trainer Development, ENGHISH|T EACHING DrOfessional CMGI . COGS TO,GHEIES | CEE ROE | Grubtiomxibstiriam G& TT 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 emai editor@etprofessional.com Writing for ETp Would you Eke to write for ET? ‘We are always interested in new writers: and fresh ideas. For guidelines and advice, weite to us or email: editor@etprofessional.com Do you have something to say about an article in the current issue of ET?” This is your magazine and we would sealy like to hear from you. Write to us or email: editor@etprofessional.com Reviewing for ETp - Would you like to review books o other teaching materials for ETp? We are always looking for people who are interested in writing reviews for us. Please email helena.gomm@pavpub.com for advice and a copy of our guidelines ‘or reviewers. You will need to give your postal address and say what areas of teaching you are most interested in 414. «19510 77 November 2011 + ENGLISH TEACHING professional + wurwetprotessional.com +Holistic ~ grammar teaching & Rod Bolitho considers our teaching of ‘if’ clauses is nothing if not iffy. he tyranny of form over meaning is still a reality in many English language classrooms around the world ‘There are some very understandable reasons for this: teachability, convenience, deep beliefs about grammar and how it should be taught, Jingering structural organisation in textbooks and supplementary materials, | teachers’ own uncertainties when | confronted with the shock of real Janguage in real contexts, to name but a | few. The result, inevitably, is collusion by teachers in ways of making English seem simpler and more formulaic than it really is. Nowhere is this more evident than in the case of conditional sentences, frequently (and misleadingly) referred to as ‘if-sentences’. Many textbooks still deal with them in the time-honoured way, using three, or sometimes four, categories: Type 4: If J have time (present tense), T'll go (Future tense) to the doctor's tomorrow. ‘Type 2 If I had more time (past tense), | L would go (conditional tense) to the doctor's, Type &: If I'd had more time (past. perfect tense), Id have gone (past conditional) to the doctor's yesterday ‘Type Zero: If you heat water to 100°C + (Present tense), it boils (present tense). seus 78 Januar 2012 + ENGLISH TEACHING professionals www.ctprotessional.com + 43 Tris easy to see the superficial attraction of this categorisation. It is neat and tidy, and it has a kind of built-in discipline which appeals to teachers as a way of determining what is right and what is wrong in learners’ speech and writing. But it contains both oversimplifications and fallacies: ‘There is no such category as the ‘future tense’. Grammarians are now | pretty much agreed that there are only two fenses in English (present and past), and that views of the future are essentially modal. Thus, in the Type 1 example above, will sa modal verb, which in this context expresses a degree of likelihood, For more on this, sce my article on modal meaning in Issue 73 of ETp. Gi The verb in the ‘if’ clause in the ‘Type 2 example may look like a past tense, but there is nothing past about its meaning. As can be seen more clearly in utterances beginning ‘If J were you for example, what we are dealing with here is the subjunctive form, used to express hypothetical meaning, in this sentence with the communicative effect ‘of making the visit to the doctor's seem less likely. Referring to the verb as ‘past tense’ is not only wrong, but also serves to make understanding and learning far ‘more difficult for students with a ‘mother tongue (eg German) which still ‘has an overt subjunctive form inHolistic grammar teaching ‘Spanish to join their team in Ecuador. 1 got the fob and ! was all ready to go. 1 went home and told my mum | was going to work in South America. She was upset but said ‘f that's what you really want to do ..”. Later, my dad came home and when | told him the news, he exploded. He told me I was going to go to university, not South ‘America, and I'd better get used to the idea! Can you guess what | did? They'll have no problem guessing! Now invite the learners to think back to a turning point in their own lives (something they were gaing to do but which didn't happen) and to talk about it in pairs, Stress that they should oniy speak about something they feel comfortable with, After afew minutes, ask a couple of volunteers to tell the class about their turning points, and reinforce this use of was going to. ‘Ask them to keep their own stories in mind and retum to your own story in this way: | Loften wonder where I would be now if I | had taken that job. Perhaps I'd have made a million. Maybe I'¢ stil be in Ecuador. But I'm really very happy that 1 became a teacher. “Then turn to your volunteers and ask ‘them to speculate in the same way, helping them as necessary to express these purely hypothetical notions about past and present. Finally, get them al back into pairs to share their ‘What if. thoughts. This activity is particularly suited to a more mature class at intermediate level or above, It makes a deep-level connection between the use of was going {0 to express something incomplete or unfulfilled, and the kinds of hypothetical meaning usually expressed through Type 3 conditionals, This connection is not found in coursebooks B and yet it is such a valuable ‘hook’ for earners to hold onto and work with, kkk Taking a meaning-based and holistic view of areas of language like this helps Jeamners to think about how they can. find ways of expressing what they want to express, rather than worrying them constantly about rule-based accuracy. English, especiaily in its spoken form, remains a very badly-behaved language, and raising learners’ awareness of ways in which people communicate is a very important element if the process of guided acquisition that will eventually Iead to fluency. GD ‘Rod Bolitho is Academic Director at Norwich Institute for Language Education, UK. Previously, he spent 17 years at the University College of St Mark and ‘St John in Plymouth. His ‘most recent book is Trainer Development, ‘co-authored with Tony Weight. ENGLISH projessional Pavilion Publishing (Brighton) Ltd, PO Box 100, Chichester, West Sussex, PO18 8HD, UK Fax: +44 (0)1243 576456 Email: info@etprofessional.com Visit the ETp website! “The ETp website is packed with practical tips, advice, resources, information and selected aticles. You can submit tips ‘or articles, renew your subscription or simply browse the features. www.etprofessional.com & TT 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? Al published contributions receive 2 prize! Write to us or em: editor@etprotessional.com Writing for ETp Would you tke to write for ET]? We are always interested in new writers and fresh ideas. For guidelines and advice, write to us oF email: editor@etprofessional.com BEB + tosue 79 denvary 2012 » ENGUSH TEACHING professional» www.ctpretessional.com + 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, Write to us or email: editor@etprofessional.com Reviewing for ETp Wiould you like to review books or other ‘teaching materiats for ETp? We are always looking for people who are interested in writing raviews for us. Please email helena.gomm@pavpub.com for advice and a copy of our guidelines for reviewers. You will need to give your postal address and say what areas of teaching you are most interested in.contexts such as this. And once again, the verb would go in the main clause is modal in nature, expressing a lesser degrec of likelihood than the will in ‘Type 1 El The same set of distinctions applics in the Type 3 example, which is firmly rooted in the past, and may express regtet or just a reason for not doing something. The verb in the “if” clause is not a simple past perfect, but a past subjunctive; the main clause expresses here an unfullitled intention and is, once again, modal in nature. Breaking the rules Many would argue that it is better to teach a system first and deal with ‘exceptions later, and there may be some truth in that. But the system outlined above seems in many cases actually to be an impediment rather than an aid to some learners, and often only adds to the verb tense neurosis that many of them develop while grappling with English, In any case, ail the evidence in samples of spoken language points to the fact that native speakers prioritise meaning over form, and do not hesitate to break so-called rules in order to ensure that they are understood. ‘Learners need to be prepared for examples like these (from my own data) 1 If manage to get a baby-sitter, 1 would consider coming 2 Id have shouted to you if I'd have seen you! 3 If you'd got down to work when F told you 10, you wouldn't be in this mess row. But there’s more to this than just verb choice and rules about sequence of tenses. A more generous view of ways of expressing conditions can bs picked up from study of a dialogue like this one (you might like to try the task for yourself): Adentify and comment on the conditions expressed in this text. Husband: We need to talk about our holiday. Have you got a moment? Well, if you could just wait a moment ... OK, I don’t mind as fong as we can get the booking | Husband: 2 Wit done soon. You know welll have to pay the top rates > uniess ... Wife: .. know, | know ... unless we book at least three i months in advance. That's all right provided that we're absolutely sure about where we want to go. That's exactly why Fwant to talk to you. To be honest, Vm not sure whether | want 10 go to Benidorm again. Husband: J wouldn't mind a change either. OK, suppose we decide not to go to Benidorm, what are the | alternatives? You know! won't be happy it | don't get ‘my sun, Sea and sand! Well ... Iwas wondering about Greece this time. Husband: Wife: Greece? After I've spent the last two years going to Spanish evening classes! {twas just an idea. OK, I think about Greece but on one condition, Husband: Wite: What's that? That you learn the language this time! | (transcribed and slightly adapted from a | conversation overheard in a staftroom in the UK) Even a quick scan reveals seven or eight | different ways of expressing conditions, all of them common enough in contexts like this one, and some of them structurally quite straightforward. The whole conversation revolves around conditions within the framework of an informal negotiation between husband and wife. Yet the fixation with ‘Sf? sentences alluded to above tends to squeeze out the teaching and learning of | items such as provided that, on condition that, as long as and suppose at intermediate level, and to defer them until much later stages of learning ~ that is if they are taught at all. The : same applies to features such as the seemingly incomplete Jf you could just wait a moment... which is, in fact, a perfectly complete and understandable utterance of a type which is very 4 frequent in spoken discourse, It is worth exposing intermediate learners to this kind of text and getting them to identify and think about these different options in a context which is familiar and readily comprehensible. Aworking hypothesis The element of hypothesis which is part and parcel of so-called Types 2 and 3 conditionals can be activated and practised in a number of ways, but here are two examples to work with in the intermediate or upper-intermediate classroom. Spiit the class into groups of three or four. Give each group a hypothetical situation in the form of a question on a slip of paper. Here are some examples: © On what conditions would you try ‘bungee-jumping? ‘© On what conditions would you go white-water rafting? ¢ On what conditions would you fet @ stranger into your home? ‘On what conditions would you report a fellow-citizen to the police? . Give each group ten minutes to work ‘out a number of conditions and then tet | thom report to the class, expressing their conditions in at least threo different ways. The listeners are allowed to ask questions beginning with Would OF Wouldn't... (eg Wouldn't you feel scared? Would you take your mobile phone with you?). In the next example, quite manageable in an intermediate class, there is potential for discussion to emerge and develop within a natural and ‘whole’ hypothetical context which will in itself be familiar to learners, especially teenagers. Turning points ‘Think of a turning point in your own life and be ready to talk about it to your learners in the form of a personal anecdote. Here's an example: When ! was 18 and was about to leave ‘school, I went for a job interview with a cotton company in Liverpool. They wanted someone with a qualification in + wwn.etprofeastonal.com + ENGUSH TEACHING professional + Issue 78 January 2012+ 24