Resources Excel English

New Ideas For The English ClassroomŠ

Excel English Language School, The Hall, 8 Muswell Hill, London N10 3TD t: +44 20 8 365 2485 f: +44 20 8 442 1143 e: web@excelenglish.co.uk www.excelenglish.co.uk

INTRODUCTION As an additional extra to the course, we offer this information pack that has been designed to compliment the sessions in which you have participated. The pack includes some extra information about the topic of each individual session, the theories that underpin some of the sessions, more activities to try out in your own classroom and a review of some of the material that you have already covered.

Furthermore, we would like to remind you that you will have access to the Excel English Online learning platform where you can participate in a large number of lessons pitched to your level, as well as a whole host of activities designed around real-life news stories.

Once again, we would like to say thank you for attending the New Ideas In The English Classroom course. We hope that you have found the course extremely valuable and that you feel armed with a large number of new activities to try out with your students.

We wish you a safe journey home and best wishes for your future career.

Kind Regards The Teacher Training Team

LEARNING STYLES The Eight Intelligences Emerging from cognitive Research documenting the extent to which students possess different kinds of minds and therefore learn, remember, perform & understand in different ways, Howard Gardner of Harvard University created the concept of Multiple Intelligences in 1983. Gardner identified seven distinct intelligences that an individual possesses. These are: Linguistic Intelligence A student with a high Linguistic Intelligence understands best through words and learns best from classroom activities, such as collecting lexical chunks from multimedia sources, writing CVs, film reviews, horoscopes etc.

Logical-Mathematical Intelligence A student with a high Logical-Mathematical Intelligence learns best through numbers and/or by reasoning and learns best from classroom activities, such as, discovery grammar tasks, sequencing parts of a story/dialogue etc.

Spatial Intelligence A student with a high Spatial Intelligence understands best through images and pictures and learns best from classroom activities, such as picture dictation, spot the difference, storyboarding and advert/story etc.

Bodily-Kinaesthetic A student with a high Bodily-Kinaesthetic Intelligence understands best through physical awareness and learns best from classroom activities, such as vocabulary grab, stations, charades etc.

Musical Intelligence A student with a high Musical Intelligence understands best through rhythms & melodies and learns best from classroom activities, such as limericks, jazz chants, drilling etc.

Interpersonal Intelligence A student with a high Interpersonal Intelligence understands best through talking out ideas with others and learns best from classroom activities, such as ‘Find someone who...’ activities, writing & performing dialogues in pairs etc.

Intrapersonal Intelligence A student with a high Linguistic Intelligence understands inner processing and exploration and learns best from classroom activities, such as (re-)writing personalised stories using the target language, comparing/contrasting themselves to characters from text/video etc.

Since the original listing there was a great deal of discussion as to other possible candidates for inclusion.

Subsequent research looked into three particular possibilities: Naturalist Intelligence; Spiritual Intelligence; Existential Intelligence. Gardner concluded that the first of these merited inclusion.

Naturalist Intelligence A student with a high Naturalist Intelligence understands best through environmental features and learns best from classroom activities such as, Classifying Flora & Fauna, Reading texts on the Environment etc.

Nb. Every person possesses all of the intelligences above but to varying degrees.

Implications for Teachers As every student has different intelligences, and therefore learns in differing ways, the teacher has to try to incorporate a mixture of activities into every lesson to accommodate all learning styles.

Please refer to your portfolio for examples.

It is also extremely important that teachers are aware of their own intelligences as this can have a large impact on lessons. Eg teachers whose weakest intelligence is spatial tend to do less spatial activities in the class usually dismissing them as not very good etc.

Activities for the Classroom There are an infinite amount of activities that can be used in the classroom – too many to be mentioned here. Please have a look through your portfolio & this CD-ROM for activities that cater to different learning styles (some of which you may use regularly & some you may never have used before).

DEVELOPING LISTENING SKILLS Listening – More Important Than You Think During our everyday life, listening is the skill that is used more than any other (even if you are one of those people who like the sound of their own voice!): o o o o

Listening Speaking Reading Writing

45% 30% 16% 9%

However, this is not reflected in the amount of time spent on each skill in the classroom, with teachers generally doing more work on speaking than any other. This bias towards speaking activities is unlikely to change as it meets the large majority of students’ expectations when they attend an English language course. This in itself is not really a problem so long as the listening activities done during class time actually teach listening.

Problems with the typical listening lesson As can be seen above, listening is the most important skill, but it is the hardest to teach well.

Unfortunately, the typical listening lesson (Introduce the topic of the listening - Listen for gist - Listen for specific detail - Use the listening as a springboard into a speaking activity), that all teachers have done many times in the past, and will continue to do so long into the future, is more a test of listening and does not actually teach it. A list of the problems of the typical listening lesson can be found in your portfolio.

Listening Activities for the Classroom Below are a few activities that can be used in the classroom to teach listening, some of which are taken from other sessions from the course.

1.) Speed Control (Dictation Session) Mirrors real-life as students are able to stop the listening and ask to go back and repeat things they did not hear.

2.) Shouting Dictation (Dictation Session) Gives students the opportunity to practice their ability to focus their listening

3.) Telephone Activity (Pronunciation session) Allows students to practice discriminating between different sounds

4.) Banana (Pronunciation session) Gives students practice of the use of intonation to convey meaning 5.) Live Forever (Using Songs session) Raises students’ awareness of the use of contractions in natural speech : 6.) Students take control Follow the traditional listening lesson, but instead allow the students to control the recording. Like the Speed Control activity, it more mirrors real-life in that the listener can ask for something misunderstood to be clarified 7.) The background While students are listening to the recording in a standard listening lesson, play another recording over the top so they have to focus their listening while doing the gist/specific detail tasks.

8.) Whose turn?

Allow the students to listen to a recording of a dialogue. While they are listening, stop the recording from time to time & ask them if they think the speaker has finished speaking. This simple activity emphasises the link between listening & speaking by recognising intonation clues that someone is going to finish speaking (i.e. in conversation we listen to intonation changes from the speaker to know when to speak ourselves).

9.) Discrimination quiz Give students a few pairs of sentences that sound extremely similar when spoken at normal speed (see the examples below). Then dictate one sentence from each pair and ask the students to tick which one they think they heard. This helps students to start discriminating between the similar sounds caused by natural speech.

REVISITING DICTATION Dictation Despite the generally negative perception of dictation, there are ten good reasons for using it in the class, ranging from the students being active during the exercise to calming groups down, which can be found in your portfolio. For maximum benefit and student enjoyment, it is important to not use the traditional approach (teacher chooses and slowly dictates a text to the students) and use dictation in ways that are more enjoyable/beneficial to the students.

Activities As well as the activities that were undertaken during the session (hand outs of which are in your portfolio), here are a few other dictation activities used by the teachers here at Excel English.

 Shadow Dictation/Telephone Dictation This is a very good activity for organising your students for an otherwise ordinary dictation. It also has the benefit of students having to listen without any visual clues (e.g. mouth movement, gestures, etc.) like if you were listening on the telephone. o Place the students in pairs and get them to sit together back to back (one student facing the front of the class and the other facing the back). o Give a text to each student facing the front of the class and ask them to dictate it (without turning around) to their partner who must write it down. o Once finished, the students work together and check what has been written.

 Silent Letters This activity works well with all levels and gets the students to use elision (not pronouncing letters) as well as having a communicative element. o Dictate a list of single words to the students (make sure they all have a silent letter such as answer) o Once the students have checked they have spelt the words correctly, ask them to underline the letter(s) that are not pronounced in each word. o Students discuss their answers in pairs and then check their suggestions with the teacher.

This activity can be altered to get students to underline word stress instead.

 The Senses This is a great activity if you want your students to revise a relatively large group of mainly nonabstract words. o Ask the students to each draw a table with four columns like the one below. o Tell the students that you are going to dictate some words and that they should write each one down in the column that correspond to their first sensory impression. o Dictate the words to the students o Students work in pairs and compare where they have written the words and why.

 Banana Dictation This is a good way of making a gap-fill more fun, and if it is done well can help students think about collocations. o Find a text suitable for the level of the students and remove words (about 10) from the text and replace them with a gap (if possible, remove words that are part of a collocation). o Dictate the text to the students. Every time you reach a gap, you should say ‘banana’ o Once finished, students check together to check they have all written the same thing. o Ask the students to work together in pairs to decide what the missing words could be. o Take feedback and give the students the correct answers if necessary.

PRONUNCIATION Why do we need pronunciation?

Pronunciation is regularly overlooked in the classroom, or given a brief section during a lesson in favour of more speaking activities. However, it is an essential ingredient when teaching any language as it infuses all language activity as shown below: Speaking – Obviously, poor pronunciation when speaking can lead to misunderstandings. Furthermore, even if the message was fully understood, despite the poor pronunciation, it is likely to do so only through significant effort on the part of the listener.

Listening – Again, quite straightforward, if the students are unaware of the correct pronunciation of words, their ability to listen & understand the message would be diminished.

Reading – Less obvious than the previous two skills is the effect of pronunciation on reading. When reading silently we voice the words in our heads. If a student were to continually mispronounce a word they read repeatedly in a text, that incorrect pronunciation would likely become fossilised. This would result in the student possibly being misunderstood when speaking or cause the student to not fully understand when listening.

Writing – As with reading, when we write we voice the word/sentence in our heads before writing it down on paper. This repetitive nature of voicing words in our head could lead to fossilisation.

‘Pronunciation provides a third dimension that gives volume and body to vocabulary & Grammar’ (Adrian Underhill speaking at the English UK conference 2012).

Pronunciation activities with an Eye on Multiple Intelligences Here are some extra pronunciation activities that were not mentioned in the session, connected to the multiple intelligences.

Bodily/Kinaesthetic

Ball toss

Rubber band activities Knee bending / Body language Feather puffing

Have students say a word or phrase as they toss a ball to a classmate across the room. They should match the falling arch of the ball with the falling intonation pattern and lengthened vowel. E.g. ‘Hippopoooootamus’ / He plays the guitaaaaar. Throw the ball as you begin the word and hold the stressed vowel until the other student catches the ball.

Give each student a rubber band. Have them stretch it to highlight word stress or vowel lengthening.

Have students bend their knees to show intonation, clap for sentence stress, or any other body movement with a supra-segmental feature.

Hold a feather in front of your mouth to illustrate the difference between aspirated and non-aspirated stops.

Logical Mathematical

 Categorization activities

Give the students cards with words on them. Put the cards into groups based on the vowel sound.



Have students match intonation patterns with sentences



Have students match intonation patterns with words.

Ask the students to discover the pronunciation rules for themselves.

Language analysis



Listen to authentic language to determine rules for sentence stress.



Listen to interviews to determine rules for intonation.

Intrapersonal Self-monitoring

Have students take responsibility for their own learning and improvement by keeping a pronunciation portfolio, responding to tapes or videos of their speech, and keeping detailed records and goal-setting contracts.

Reaction & Reflection

Combined with the self-monitoring, reaction & reflection make the backbone of a successful portfolio which the students can develop over the course of the semester.

Interpersonal Make a pack of cards that feature minimal pairs. Make four cards (blue, green, yellow and red) for each word.

Games

Hot Seat Peer Review



Go Fish – play it like the original game. Students must both hear and say words accurately (‘Do you have any bears?’).



Contrasts – Put students in small groups and choose one in each group to be the dealer. The dealer places one card face-up, in front of a player.

The player must say, with the correct focus stress, what the card is. Use regular stress rules for new information and focus stress to show contrasts. If the player gets it right, they keep the card. The student with the most cards at the end is the dealer for the next game. o

This is a red bear (new info – no relation to the previous card)

o

This is a BLUE bear (colour contrast only)

o

This is a blue PEAR (object contrast only)

Have the class get in a circle and pair off. Label students ‘A’ & ‘B’ alternating.

Give each of the ‘B’ students a different pronunciation feature to listen for. Have the ‘A’ students give a prepared mini-presentation (30 secs – 1 min) to the ‘B’ students. ‘A’ students repeat their presentations with 3 different ‘B’ students. At the end of the exercise, the ‘A students will have feedback from 3 separate peers.

Musical 

Use quarter notes and eighth notes to get across the concept of word stress and reductions.



Use notation to show pitch/intonation change in sentences



Do a sentence/intonation matching activity in pairs. One student hums the intonation pattern, and the other picks out the sentence that matches (Sentences should have the same number of syllables. Only the intonation should be different.



Students have humming ‘conversations’. See how much meaning they can convey to each other using only intonation. They’ll be surprised! Or give one student a list of questions to ask and the other can hum the answer.

Use Musical Notation

Hum or use Kazoos

Songs can be used for a lot of purposes:

Sing or listen to songs



Linking and blending.



Contractions.



Word and sentence stress.

Spatial Use lots of wall charts

Make charts with the basics of pronunciation (rules for word and sentence stress, intonation patterns, consonant and vowel charts, common reductions, examples of linking and blending).

The teacher can model this in front of the class and let the students work in pairs.



Mouth (don’t speak) words to practice vowels, having students watch lip and jaw position.



Mouth words to practise minimal pairs with certain consonants. This also works with vowels, too.

Lip reading activities

Colour-coded feedback

The student records himself/herself reading a short passage. When the student submits the tape/CD, make sure you get a copy of the script. On the copy use one highlighter (e.g. yellow) to indicate stress problems, another colour to indicate sentence stress errors etc.

Naturalistic Nature Poetry

Use poetry which invokes natural images to stimulate the naturalist intelligence.

E.g. ‘Who has seen the wind?’ by Christina Georgina Rossetti.

Word stress or Syllable Scavenger Hunt

Put the students in groups and send them outside for a specified period of time.

Tell them to find as many things in nature with 1,2,3,4 or more syllables or with certain word stress patterns as they can.

ROLE-PLAY & IMPROVISATION Role-play in the EFL Classroom It is widely agreed that learning takes place when activities are engaging and memorable. Therefore, roleplays are an essential ingredient in a successful English course. The main reason for using role-play is: o o o o o o o

It’s fun and motivating Practice for real life situations.

Speaking and listening skills used.

To recycle previously learned vocabulary.

To improve fluency Experimentation with status (register/style).

Encourages quieter students to speak more.

In addition to these reasons, students who will at some point travel to an English-speaking country are given a chance to rehearse their English in a safe environment. Real situations can be created and students can benefit from the practice, while mistakes can be made without drastic consequences.

When doing any role-play students need three basic pieces of information to do the activity successfully.

These are: o Who they are o Where they are o Why they are there

Activities Below is a list of pair or group improvisations. They are easy to set up as they require minimal preparation.

Pair Improvisations  The Small Ad – For sale/To rent/Friendship. Student A has seen a classified advertisement in the paper. He/she can decide the subject of the advertisement for him/herself. He/she then chooses any other student (Student B who has placed the ad) and calls him/her about it. E.g. “I’m calling about the car you have for sale...”

 The Hypochondriac – Student A is a hypochondriac determined to have as many pills as possible.

He/she consults student B who is a doctor strongly against giving out pills willy-nilly.

 The Career Counsellor – Student A has lost his/her job and consults a career counsellor (Student B) about a suitable new profession. Lots of questions and advice (modals).

 The Clairvoyant – Student A consults a clairvoyant (Student B) and asks questions about love life, health, money, etc.

 The Pearly Gates – Individual interviews with St. Peter to gain permission to heaven.  The Tourist – Student A goes to another country (or planet) and calls home to tell student B all about it.

Group Improvisations  The Fire – A detective or journalist interviews witnesses (one of whom may be a suspect) about what they saw/heard/did. This activity uses lots of questions and the past simple.

 The Amnesiac – Student A is in bed in hospital, having lost his/her memory. The other students are medical staff, police officers, visitors (family, friends, etc) who try to bring memory back.

 Press Conference – Group of journalists interview a politician, sportsperson, film star, etc.  The Extra-terrestrials – Two female aliens have come to Earth. Their appearance is totally human and their mission is to procreate because they need to repopulate their planet. They find lots of men and ask them discrete questions to test them and find suitable mates. They must be careful not to reveal the truth to the males because this will frighten them.

 Teachers’ Meeting – Teachers discuss imaginary students to decide who should continue next year. One teacher is the ‘chairperson’ and has a list of students (“Now we’ll discuss Erika...”)

ICT in EFL WWWebquests.in.EFL What is a Webquest?

A webquest, as implied by the name, is an inquiry-based, on-line learning activity where students gather information from a variety of internet sources and then apply the new knowledge to explain a concept. By integrating technology into classroom instruction, students experience real-life learning which can be more motivating than traditional book-based activities. During this activity students work in co-operative groups, dividing tasks or research areas among themselves, so that everyone participates in a groupassigned role. Webquests can be designed to be an effective use of student time by being organised and focused on using information instead of searching for it. The objective of the activity is to promote ‘transformative’ learning outcomes, accomplished through the reading, analysis, and synthesis of webbased information.

A real webquest...  Is wrapped around a do-able and interesting task that is ideally a graded version of things that native speakers do as citizens or workers.  Requires higher level thinking, not simply summarising. This includes synthesis, analysis, problemsolving, creativity and judgement.  Makes good use of the web. A webquest that isn’t based on real resources from the web is probably just a traditional lesson in disguise.  Isn’t a research report or a step-by-step science or maths procedure. Having learners simply distilling websites and making a presentation about them isn’t enough.  Isn’t just a series of web-based experiences. Having learners go look at this page, then go play this game, then go here and turn your name into hieroglyphs doesn’t require higher level thinking skills and so, by definition, isn’t a webquest.

Specific task guidelines and/or rubrics are provided from the beginning of the webquest project, so that all students are aware of exactly what is expected of them. A well-designed webquest activity presents students with access to a plethora of resources that have been pre-screened by the webquest’s creator.

This structure and clarity discourages students from straying from the task at hand and encourages accountability. The first part of a webquest is the introduction. The next part describes what students will do. Then there is an itemised list of tasks and how to carry them out. There is usually a list of links to follow to complete the activity (but not always).

Why are they used?

With the focus of education increasingly being turned to differentiated instruction for mixed ability classes, teachers are using webquests more frequently. Teachers are able to provide multiple websites to use as reading content, allowing students to use the resource that works best for their level of understanding. More advanced students are able to research a topic deeply, while other students are exposed to the same websites. Students can then utilise the appropriate information for their abilities in order to complete the webquest. Providing a choice of final product to demonstrate understanding is another form of differentiation embedded into a webquest.

Webquests also help to address the different learning styles of each student. Those who enjoy working independently will have time to do so, while those thriving on group work will be given the opportunity to share what they have learned. Text-based activities can be supplemented with a range of sound, video and image resources and the number of activities associated with a webquest can reach almost any student. Various intelligences will come into play in the course of the project, not least of which will be logical-mathematical.

‘The more meaningful, the more deeply or elaborately processed, the more situated in content, and the more rooted in cultural, background, metacognitive and personal knowledge and event is, the more readily it is understood, learned, and remembered.’

(Iran-Nejad, McKeachie, and Berliner, 1990).

Webquests extend the students’ thinking to the higher levels of Bloom’s taxonomy; analysis, synthesis and evaluation. Webquests also support a variety of instructional and cognitive practices, such as critical thinking and problem solving, through authentic assessment, cooperative learning, scaffolding and technology integration. Teachers may incorporate webquests into their instruction to introduce a unit or to conclude a unit, as a culmination activity. Webquests may also be used to foster cooperative learning through collaborative activities with a group project. Teachers use webquests to encourage independent thinking and to motivate students; thus increasing learning. Finally, webquests can be designed to help enhance students’ technological competencies.

‘Webquests are reflective, fluid, and dynamic. They provide teachers with the opportunity to integrate internet technology into the course curriculum by allowing students to experience learning as they construct their perceptions, beliefs, and values out of their experiences.’ (Beane, 1997).

The webquest activity is a useful tool for enhancing the development of transferable skills and helping students to bridge the gap between school and “real world” experiences. Webquests provide a practical way for students to acquire information, debate issues, participate in meaningful discussions, engage in role-play simulations, solve problems, and, perhaps most importantly, become connected and involved learners.

Where can I find one?

Webquests on various topics can be found online. Technologically, creating a webquest can be very simple. As long as you can create a document with hyperlinks, you can create a webquest. That means that a webquest can be created in several Microsoft programs. They can even develop more sophisticated versions using web editors like Microsoft FrontPage or Dreamweaver. These tools allow learners to complete various tasks using other cognitive tools (e.g. Inspiration, MS Word, Powerpoint, Access, Excel and Publisher). http://webquest.org/index-resources.php http://questgarden.com/author/examplestop.php http://bestwebquests.com/bwq/listarea.asp?wqcatid=3&edid= http://zunal.com/index-matrix.php?Curriculum=103&Grade=104 http://school.discoveryeducation.com/schrockguide/webquest/webquest.html

Websites Further to the websites in your portfolio, below is a list of other websites the teachers at Excel English use regularly.

 www.isabelperez.com – a large selection of lessons and activities to use in the classroom.  www.teachitworld.com – A large selection of lessons to use with students. Unfortunately, you have to pay to become a member.

 http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page - If you want students to use Wikipedia for research, or a reading task, but you are worried the language level may be too high from the class, you can change the language to simple English (make sure the students do not ‘”accidentally” 0change the article into their firs language). This will give them the same information but using much simpler, easier to understand language. Not all pages have the option of simple English, so check before you decide to use it.

 www.4tests.com – a large number of free practice exams for the main internationally recognised English language exams.

 www.examenglish.com – more of the same.  http://www.flo-joe.co.uk/ - and some more.  http://www.grapheine.com/bombaytv/index.php?lang=uk – be creative and have fun adding subtitles to movie clips and emailing them to each other.

 www.spellingcity.com – students can create spelling tests, play games or create their own tests based on language they have learnt.

 www.listen-and-write.com – online dictation. www.cambridgeenglishonline.com/Phonetics_Focus - many games and activities for practicing pronunciation.

 www.videojug.com – Over 60,000 ‘how-to’ videos. Can be used to add an extra dimension to a topic in the course book.

WARMERS & FILLERS The Purpose of Warmers & Fillers Warmers are an essential ingredient of lessons as they help create a positive atmosphere for learning (see portfolio) which lowers students’ affective filters leading to them being able to absorb more information.

Warmers can also be used as ice breaker in a new class, to activate schemata or revise & recycle previously taught language.

Lessons can feel quite long for students and as such they tend to slowly switch off as the lesson moves on.

This is where fillers are used to reinvigorate the students. They are short 2-3 minute, fast-paced activities that allow the students to take a short ‘break’ from studying.

Warmers Memory game The teacher writes an incomplete sentence on the board, e.g. ‘I went to the shops and bought...’ The teacher then says the sentence and adds an ending, e.g. ‘I went to the shops and bought a banana. The teacher then encourages the first student to add to the sentence. Then the second student further adds the sentence & so on.

E.g.

STUDENT 1 - ‘I went to the shops & bought a banana & 4 apples’.

STUDENT 2 - ‘I went to the shops & bought a banana, 4 apples and some milk’ STUDENT 3 – ‘I went to the shops & bought a banana, 4 apples, some milk and a steak’ .....and so on...

When a student cannot remember, they are out of the game. The winner is the last student remaining.

Question Mingle Before the class, prepare some questions either using language from the previous lesson or based on the topic of the previous lesson. If you are feeling extremely smart, you could try to prepare questions about the topic of the lesson using the language from the previous class. Give the questions to the students who must mingle and ask their questions to as many people as possible in a given time limit (between 5 – 10 minutes). Students then sit down and feedback any interesting answers to their partner or to the whole class.

Backs to the Board Before the class, prepare a list of words that the students have previously learnt. Split the students into two groups and place two chairs in front of the board. One student from each group comes to the front and sits in the chairs facing towards their group so they cannot see the board. The teacher then writes a word from the list on the board and the team must explain it to their team member at the front of the class who must shout out the word they think is written on the board. The first person to shout out the word gets one point for their team. Repeat the process with different group members coming to the front of the class until all the words from the list have been used.

Fillers Fizz, Buzz Put the students in a circle and tell them that they are going to go around the circle and try to count to 100. However, every time they come to a number that is a multiple of three (e.g. 3, 6, 9...) the must say ‘Fizz’ and if the number is a multiple 5 (e.g. 5, 10, 15...), they must say ’Buzz’. If the number is a multiple of both three and five (e.g. 15, 30, 45...) they must say ‘Fizz Buzz’. Encourage the students to do this as quickly as possible. If a student makes a mistake or takes too long thinking about what to say then they are out. Continue until there is only one student remaining.

Board Race Although this activity is used for language practice, the energetic nature of it makes it ideal for use as a filler. Split the groups in two, split the board into two by drawing a vertical line down the middle and give a board pen to one member of each group. Say a word (it can be a recently learnt word, if you like) and the penholder from each group runs to the board, writes a sentence with the word (the group can shout out suggestions) and sits down again. The first person to sit down (and with a correct sentence, of course) gets a point for their team. Repeat the process with different group members coming to the front and writing sentences on the board. The winner is the team with the most points at the end of the game.

USING AUTHENTIC DVD/VIDEO DVD/Video Activities Using authentic DVD/video can have many advantages but caution must be taken as there are many features of authentic material that can cause problems for students (mentioned in your portfolio). As well as the activities mentioned during the session, here are a few more that the teachers at Excel English use on a regular basis.

 Dubbed Movie This is a great activity that is similar to the eavesdropping activity from your portfolio as one of the senses is removed. It also allows the students to be extremely creative while using language they have previously been taught. o Play a scene from a film with the sound off. o Students write a dialogue in pairs/groups of what they think is being said. o Play it several times silently. Then play it with each group ‘dubbing’ the scene. o Eventually, play the scene with the sound up for them to compare. o Students vote to give an ‘Oscar’ for the best performance.

 Be the Narrator This is a fun activity that allows students to use action verbs in a different context. o Select a video segment depicting a series of actions. o Note down the verbs. o Give students the base form of the verbs & the students write/call out the past tense form. o Students watch segments and then write a step-by-step summary of what happened. o Watch again to check.

 Jigsaw program This activity is similar to the Scene Prediction activity from your files with the added bonus that students also have to predict what has happened as well. If you can get hold of two copies of the same DVD, it makes this exercise easier to do as the two groups can watch their movie extract at the same time (in different locations, of course). o Select a scene that is about 5 minutes long. o Split the class into two groups and allow only group A to watch the first 2½ minutes. o When they have finished, allow only group B to watch the second 2½ minutes. o All the students from group A discuss what will happen next and all the students from group B discuss what happened before. o Pair the students (one from group A and one from group B) and share their answers

ENCOURAGING SPEAKING SKILLS Speaking in the Classroom In many EFL classrooms across the world, a sizeable chunk of lesson time is dedicated to speaking work, and a large proportion of these speaking activities are carried out with the intention of practicing a grammar structure or an area of vocabulary that has previously been taught. However, speaking is a skill in its own right, which includes its own sub-skills that need to be taught and practiced just like grammar and vocabulary.

By its nature, speaking is a messy, recursive process that does not follow the structure as neatly as when using it to practice grammar and vocabulary. In reality, sometimes we want to interrupt someone to interject or sometimes we need to bring a conversation back to a topic mentioned earlier. The main way to do this is using a ‘sentence head’, which include words or phrases that help us express what we are going to say as well as signposting the listener as to what they are going to hear. Below is a table with an example of a few sentence heads that can be used in speech:

Sentence head     

Sorry, but…

Excuse me for interrupting, but…

Can I add something?

I’d like to say something if I may.

Can I add here that…

    

Anyway, …

In any case, …

To get back to what I was saying, …

As I was saying (earlier), …

Where was I? Oh, yes…

    

I think…

In my opinion, …

I am of the opinion that…

I believe…

As far as I’m concerned, …

    

I’ve heard…

They say…

I heard on the grapevine that…

Apparently, …

Have you heard …

Purpose

Interrupting

Returning to the topic

Giving your opinion

Passing on info you’ve heard, but you don’t know if its true

    

What I mean is …

What I meant was …

Let me put it another way …

What I’m saying is…

What I’m trying to say is …

Clarifying what you have just said

This is not an exhaustive list of the sentence heads used in English conversation by all means, but it highlights that there is another area of language that needs to be focussed on and practised otherwise students will not sound natural, even if they use the grammar perfectly.

These sentence heads, as well as other parts of speech, can be practised using discussions, quizzes, questionnaires, problem-solving activities, etc. As long as the activity is adapted for your students and meets the criteria for a successful speaking activity (from the session), all of the activities mentioned are beneficial for speaking practice.

ERROR CORRECTION In the classroom, there is not a high enough exposure to the language to wait for the changes that naturally occur in order to correct output while learning our L1. As a result, it is imperative that teachers use error correction to raise students’ consciousness of their mistakes to compensate for this lack of exposure.

Error Correction Activities From your session handouts, it is clear that there are numerous ways to give error correction. Below are a few of our teachers’ favourite error correction activities at Excel English not covered in the session.

Mingle Correctly This is an excellent activity for reviewing recently taught language and caters well to those with high Interpersonal, Bodily-Kinaesthetic or Linguistic Intelligences.

 During the previous lessons make a note of any incorrect utterances you hear.  Before the class write each incorrect utterance on a separate slip of paper, ensuring that there are enough for each student.

 Give the students one slip each and tell them it contains a sentence with a mistake.  Ask the students to work alone and try to correct the sentence.  Once they think they have corrected the mistake, they mingle and show other students the   

changes they have made.

If the other student agrees with the correction, they write his/her name on the slip of paper & move on to another student. If the other student does not agree with the correction, they must sa Once the students have discussed their sentences with 5 – 6 different classmates, ask the students to sit down again.

Students then write their incorrect sentence on the board, how they corrected it and how many others agreed. The teacher then tells the students if they are correct.

Gallery Feedback This is a good way of giving error correction for any writing students have done. It caters to those with linguistic & bodily-kinaesthetic intelligences.

 Once students have completed a piece of writing in class, pit them up around the room.  The students then walk around in pairs (like art critics) looking at all the pieces of writing and   

making a note of any mistakes they think they have read while the teacher does the same.

One pair of students writes the mistakes they have noted down on the board and how to correct it.

The others decide if they are correct or not before the teacher tells the students if they are correct.

Repeat the process with other groups who have noted down different mistakes.

In Pairs This activity helps deal with mixed ability classes and is a slight adaptation of the traditional ‘write the incorrect sentences on the board and ask the students what is wrong’. Such an approach leads to the strong students shouting out the answers while the weaker students stay quiet and do not really engage in an extremely important stage of a language lesson. It caters to linguistic & interpersonal intelligences.

 After monitoring a speaking activity, write any mistakes heard on the board.  Put students into pairs and ask them to discuss what they think the mistakes are.  Teacher monitors and checks that all students are engaged in the activity and gives a helping hand where necessary.

 Only once that stage is finished and all sentences have been discussed by all students, take feedback from the class.

Correction Symbols Using correction symbols (see example below) to correct students writing not only give the student the opportunity to think about the mistakes they have made (as opposed to just being given the correction and never looking at the piece of writing again), it also allows students to engage in the process of writing (mentioned in the Writing section of the CD-ROM). Most importantly, it lightens the marking workload for the teacher.

Using correction symbols appeal to those students with Linguistic, Spatial (if you use symbols or colours) and intrapersonal (it will raise students’ awareness of their common mistakes).

 At the beginning of the course, give each student a copy of the   

correction symbols you will use. Also put a few up on the walls of the classroom.

When students hand in a piece of writing they have done in class or for homework, do not correct any mistakes, just highlight them using the correction symbols.

Return the piece of writing to the student who looks through (in class or at home) and tries to correct the mistakes before returning it to the teacher.

Repeat the process once more. Before correcting anything that is still incorrect.

Although it seems like a lot more work than the traditional marking method of correcting everything that is wrong, putting only symbols on a piece of writing instead takes no longer than 2-3 minutes (unless it’s a very long piece of writing).

THE LEXICAL APPROACH & COLLOCATION The Lexical Approach In 1993, Michael Lewis, in his book The Lexical Approach, challenged the traditional view which divides language into grammar and vocabulary. Instead, he argued that language consisted of a large number of chunks that are used by native speakers which, when combined, produce continuous coherent text.

Although grammar is still important to language teaching, Lewis suggested that language is arbitrary, and that using vocabulary to fill slots in grammar structures to convey messages will lead to mistakes, as can be seen below: I think so I hope so

> >

I don’t think so I hope not (I don’t hope so)

Although ‘I don’t hope so’ is grammatically correct, it is not what native speakers would say and thus incorrect. Therefore, teachers need to focus more on the generative power of lexis in their classes and reduce the hours spent teaching and revising grammar structures. Lexis can be divided into four basic types.

 Single Words – These are extremely familiar as they conform to the old-fashioned notion of   

vocabulary and constitute by far the largest group of the four.

Collocations – These are the “readily observable phenomenon whereby certain words co-occur in natural text with greater than random frequency”. E.g. make a mistake, bitterly disappointed, etc. (see session hand out for more information on these) Fixed Expressions – These are comparatively rare and many of which are verbless. They cannot be changed by the addition of any other word. E.g. By the way, Many Happy Returns, etc.

Semi-fixed Expressions – These occur widely in spoken and written language and are different to Fixed Expressions in that they allow for variation. They can be split into the sub-groups below: o Almost Fixed Expressions, which allow minimal variation: It’s/That’s not my fault o Spoken sentences with a simple slot: Could you hand me …………………., please? o Expressions with a slot that must be filled with a particular kind of slot-filler: I haven’t seen you + time expression with for or since o Sentence heads which can be completed in many ways: What really annoys me is…..

Despite all being important in the teaching/learning of the language, special attention should be paid to the role of collocations and their importance within the language.

The Importance of Collocation Knowledge of collocational appropriacy is part of the native speakers’ competence. Therefore, if our goal as teachers is to improve our learners’ language proficiency, then teaching collocation needs to play a major role in the syllabus.

Without a good collocational competence learners seem to make little, if any, progress in their language proficiency and constantly make the same mistakes. One way of dealing with such errors is to provide students with rules although the patterns that occur, however, are not always logical from the students’ point of view. We can say ‘fast food’ or ‘a quick shower’, but it is not possible to say ‘quick food’ or ‘a fast shower’. Furthermore, the relationships between word partners are not equal and typically one partner suggests the presence of the other more strongly than the reverse: ‘premature’ suggests ‘baby’ more than ‘baby’ suggests ‘premature’. Consequently, it is the headword, usually a noun, which dictates the

collocation. For instance, the opposite of ‘strong’, in a general sense, is ‘weak’ but when ‘strong’ is collocated with particular nouns, such as ‘cheese’, the meaning alters. The opposite of ‘strong cheese’ is ‘mild cheese’ and not ‘weak cheese’. It is evident, then, that teaching rules for this area of language would lead to students over-generalising, which would lead to further incorrect collocations.

Alternatively, learners could be exposed to several different examples. Despite language occurring in context, the main disadvantage of this approach is that it is very gradual and requires a great deal of exposure. Therefore, to make this approach more beneficial to learners, teachers need to include activities that promote noticing and raise learners’ consciousness.

Activities for Collocations Below are a few activities that our teachers at Excel English use regularly when teaching collocation.

There are many more suggestions for activities in Implementing the Lexical Approach (1997) by Michael Lewis.

Sorting activities For example using the verbs ‘make’ and ‘do’ Students are given a number of words which they have to sort.

Make

Do

dinner

the shopping

a mess

homework

Spot the ‘odd one out’ apply for, catch, create, get, hold, lose, A JOB This activity works best if the ‘odd one out’ is a collocate that learners use incorrectly.

Guess the word (higher levels) Give/dictate lists of words to students for them to decide what the words are which collocate with all the others dangerous, desperate, common, born, hardened CRIMINAL Dominoes (good for consolidation) Students have to match the dominoes into meaningful sentences. At higher levels try getting the students to make their own dominoes.

Pellmanism (good for consolidation) Students turn over cards two at a time, memorising where they are, looking for collocations.

Noughts and crosses Students choose a square on the grid and the teacher gives a word. If the students can think of an appropriate collocation they win the square.

TASK-BASED LEARNING Problems With PPP There are a number of techniques that can be used when teaching. However, during an initial teachertraining course, most teachers are introduced to the PPP lesson structure, which would proceed in the following manner.

 The teacher presents an item of language in a clear context to get across its meaning. This could 



be done in a variety of ways: through a text, building a situation, a dialogue etc.

Students are then asked to complete a controlled practice stage, where they may have to repeat target items through choral and individual drilling, fill gaps or match halves of sentences. All of this practice demands that the student uses the language correctly and helps them to become more comfortable with it.

Finally, they move on to the production stage, sometimes called the 'free practice' stage. Students are given a communication task such as a role play and are expected to produce the target language and use any other language that has already been learnt and is suitable for completing it.

However, this approach is an extremely simplified approach to language learning. It is based on the idea that you can present language in small blocks, adding more lesson by lesson. Research shows that we cannot predict, or guarantee, what the students will learn and ultimately a wide exposure to language is the best way to ensure that students will acquire it effectively. Restricting them to single pieces of target language is unnatural. These problems associated with PPP are removed when using a TBL lesson structure. Information about which is in your portfolio.

The Advantages of TBL over PPP  Unlike the PPP approach, the students are free of language control. In all three stages they must     

use all their language resources rather than just practising one pre-selected item.

A natural context is developed from the students' experiences with the language that is personalised and relevant to them. With PPP it is necessary to create contexts in which to present the language and sometimes they can be very unnatural.

The students will have a much more varied exposure to language with TBL. They will be exposed to a whole range of lexical phrases, collocations and patterns as well as language forms.

The language explored arises from the students' needs. This need dictates what will be covered in the lesson rather than a decision made by the teacher or the coursebook.

It is a strong communicative approach where students spend a lot of time communicating. PPP lessons seem very teacher-centred by comparison. Just watch how much time the students spend communicating during a task-based lesson.

It is enjoyable and motivating.

Lesson Plan Outlines Below are a couple more TBL lesson plan outlines to add to those that were already covered during the session.

Perfect Day Out This is an enjoyable activity that will give students practice using future tenses. It also gets students to practice phrases used for sightseeing o Pre-task – Put the students in pairs and brainstorm all the activities that a tourist can do in your city and write them on the board. o Task – Tell the students that a tour group are coming to your town/city on Saturday for only one day and they want to see the most of the city in that time. Put the students in groups of 3 or 4 and ask them to plan a ‘perfect day out’ together. Encourage them to include means of transport from place to place, meals and things to do and see. o Planning - Students then formally write up their rough notes into a plan that they will present.

Encourage the students to use sequencers, linkers and relative clauses to make their writing flow more naturally. o Report – Students read their plan and they take a vote as to which is the best (Nb They cannot vote for their own plan).

Test Each Other This activity allows the students to review all the language they have studied so far on their course. This is a very useful activity before having to do an official test set by the teacher/the exam board. o Pre Task – Get the students to work in small groups and think of all the different question types they can remember from past language tests they have taken. Take feedback and write the suggestions on the board. o Task – Put students into two groups. Ask group A to decide which 10 points they think would be good to test from the first half of the material they have covered on the course so far. Ask group B to do the same with the second half of material (E.g. If the students have recently completed unit 8 in the course book, give group A units 1-4 and group B 5-8). Now ask the groups to create questions that will review the language points. o Planning – Write up all the questions onto a new piece of paper so that there are no errors/crossing out. Monitor and give the groups help where necessary. When the students have finished, make sure they have enough copies for each student from the other group. o Report – Give the test sheet to the other group and allow them to complete the tasks they have set. Finally, split the students into pairs (one from each group) where they will check each others’ answers and give the necessary feedback.

SONGS in EFL “Songs are an important aspect of culture, representing the history, folklore and current idiom of a country. Adults sing at religious services, bars, listening to the car radio and some even sing in the shower (You know who you are). Songs have become an integral part of our language experience, and if used in coordination with a language lesson, they can be of great value. Singing can build students’ confidence by allowing them to enjoy a degree of fluency in English before they have achieved it in speaking.”

Why Use Songs in the ELT Classroom?  Affective reasons – Teachers have long recognised the need for students to have a positive attitude in regard to learning. Songs lower the affective filter and promote language learning. Eken (1996) states that songs can be used to: o To present and/or practise a language point, lexis, etc. o To encourage intensive and extensive listening. o To stimulate discussion of attitudes and feelings. o To bring variety and fun to learning. o To encourage creativity and use of imagination. o To provide a relaxed classroom atmosphere.

 Cognitive reasons – The main cognitive reason for using songs in the language classroom is that it presents opportunities for developing automaticity due to the fairly repetitive and consistent nature of songs.

 Linguistic reasons – Some songs are excellent examples of colloquial English. Students will encounter such informal language throughout their lives and using songs can prepare them for the genuine language they will be faced with.

Ideas for Using Songs in the Classroom Topic Introduction Course books generally introduce language and practice skills through topics and songs are a great for certain topics, especially, love, jealousy, friendship, money and many others. You can give the song in cloze form or simply the whole thing just for an introduction. You can then follow this up with questions related to the song as a way of activating the students’ schemata.

Relaxing Relaxing is great for opening a class, as long as it’s not early in the morning, which might put the students to sleep. Play a slow song and have students close their eyes. While they are listening, guide them through an “imaginary” trip such as to an island, or through the mountains. This activity works especially well in classes after break/lunch times when students don’t really want to be back in class. You’ll be surprised by the results.

Background Music A lot of teachers play background music while students are doing an activity but how about having very soft music on in the background throughout the whole lesson? It works by relaxing the students, making them feel more comfortable in class and making the atmosphere a little more informal. Just choose a calm collection of songs and let them play at a low volume throughout the class. Classical music tends to work best for this as there are no lyrics for students to be distracted by. If you have an interactive whiteboard connected to the internet, go to www.youtube.com and type in “classical music for studying” in the search field – you will find good compilations that last more than 60 minutes, thus removing the need to change track from time to time.

Synonyms Choose a song with useful vocabulary for the level of your class. Change some of the words in the lyrics to a synonym (e.g. if the word ‘big’ is in the lyrics, change it to ‘large’ or ‘huge’ etc.). Give students a copy of the altered lyrics and ask them to listen to the song and correct any mistakes they hear. Students then check with their partners. If you need to, you can play the song one more time. After the listening, ask the students if they noticed anything about the errors (answer: synonyms). In pairs, ask the students to think of more synonyms for those used in the song. Take feedback and write the suggestions on the board.

Students could then be encouraged to make their own activity using a song that they like.

Stand Up Choir For this activity you need a song with lines (or individual words) that are repeated regularly. Before class make a copy of the lines (or words) that are repeated throughout the song. Give one to each student, ask them to listen to the song and when they hear their line (or word), they have to stand up & then sit down again. Repeat this a few times until they know when their lines come in the song. Now listen again, but this time they have to sing their line when they stand up – for those who don’t want to sing, encourage them to lip-synch instead.

USING LITERATURE & THE ARTS An Easily Accessible Resource With the invention of search engines, such as Google™ and many others, it only takes a matter of moments to find a copy of a painting, cartoon or piece of literature. As long as the necessary precautions are made (such as sourcing the material correctly) and the teacher meets the copyright guidelines set out in their place of work, there is an overwhelming wealth of material at your fingertips to be used in the classroom.

Activities Below are a few activities that can be used in the classroom when using literature and the arts that the teachers at Excel English use regularly.

Surreal Conversations This activity does not use any existing pieces of art, using a piece of art created by the students instead.

Caution should be taken when doing this activity and should only be used with students that are quite creative as it is quite surreal.

 Draw a palm tree on the board (it doesn’t matter which side). Elicit what it is and then tell the students that they are going to continue adding to the picture to create a ‘beach scene’

 Students come to the board one at a time and each add an item to build up the scene. (Inform    

them that they cannot draw any people) Once finished, put the students in pairs and tell each pair to choose two items from the board (but not tell the other pairs).

Tell the students that, with their partner, they are going to write the dialogue between the two items.

Students write the dialogue while the teacher monitors & helps with language if needed.

Students perform their dialogue in front of the class and the others must guess which two items are talking.

What’s The Story?

This activity uses an extract from a piece of literature (any piece is fine as long as you feel your students would enjoy it) and gets students to use the text in an enjoyable way thus raising their interest and giving them a purpose to read before actually reading.

 Split the students into two groups.  Write up two words from the extract on the board and ask group A to predict the story.  After one minute, stop group A and write two more words from the extract on the board. Ask   

group B to continue group A’s story including the two new words.

Again, after one minute, stop group B and write two more words from the extract and give group A another minute to continue the story including the new words Repeat this process a few times.

Now give the students a copy of the extract and ask them to read through and see if any of their suggestions are similar to the story.

The Art Buyer This activity can be used after students have been taught vocabulary of art gives students a lot of speaking practice. As well as art vocabulary, students also need to use language of suggestions when deciding on their bids for the secret auction.

 Choose 5 – 10 pieces of art (depending on the size of your class), put them up on the wall around  

the classroom and then put the students in pairs.

Tell the pairs that they work for a gallery as buyers. Ask them to walk around with their partner and discuss each piece when they see it. Tell the pairs that once they have finished, they must decide which two pieces of art that they would like to buy for their gallery.

If more than one pair has chosen a specific piece of art, they must hold a secret auction (decide how much they would like to pay for a certain piece and write it on a piece of paper). The highest bidder gets the piece of art.

Variation: Put a selection of everyday items (such as a stapler, a pen, etc.) on the table and get pairs to discuss them as though they are a piece of installation art and then decide which 2 items to buy for their own gallery.

My Picture Similar to the previous activity, this gives the students practice of making decisions. This activity, however, is more personalised.

 Display five pictures around the room and number them 1-5.  Ask the students to walk around the classroom and decide which picture they most associate with   

themselves and why. (Students must not tell each other which picture they have chosen).

Once seated again, put the students in pairs. Ask each pair to write the names of all of their classmates.

Pairs discuss which picture they most associate with each classmate and why.

When finished, take whole class feedback to check answers. The winner is the pair who have got the most correct answers.

WRITING Approaches to Teaching Writing There are three approaches that can be used when teaching writing to students, which are mentioned below.

 Product Approach The main focus of this approach is correct language use (the product) and has been used by any teacher who has asked students to record sentences using a recently taught grammar point so they have a written record or has given a writing task that gives the students the opportunity to practise the recently taught structures. As this approach focuses on correct language use, the writing is almost always followed by an error correction stage

 Process Approach Critics of the Product Approach highlight that writing is a messy, recursive, convoluted and uneven process. Writers plan, revise, anticipate and review throughout the writing process, moving back and forth among the different operations involved in writing.

The main focus of this approach is on the process of writing itself, rather than a fixed linear approach such as the earlier Product approach. Unlike the Product approach, which is more interested in the written outcome, the Process approach focuses on the thinking processes that are involved with writing. A Process based lesson would get students to: 1.

2.

3.

4.

Plan Write a first draft Edit (reflecting & revising) Final Version

As mentioned before, writing is a recursive process and as such the stages above do not have to be followed in order & can be revisited at any time throughout the process. It is likely that many drafts will be written, edited & re-edited before a final version is produced.

 Genre Approach The main focus of this approach is the effect a piece of writing has on the reader. This is based on the idea that writing is aided by understanding the salient features of these genres such as the differences in style and language and layout. The genre approach teaches that people reading a discursive essay for example, expect it to start with a question and then explain why the question is valid. Next, they would expect the writer to present a number of differing arguments before giving their own opinion in the conclusion. A piece of writing that does not follow the expected layout or schematic structure for the expected context of communication could lead to an unsuccessful piece of writing.

The approaches above do not have to be used exclusively for a piece of writing. In fact, it is extremely common to use at least two, if not all three, in conjunction with each other. For example, if a teacher was teaching a formal letter of complaint they could: 1.

2.

3.

Do activities that highlight the main features of a formal letter of complaint (Genre Approach).

Get students writing sentences practising the language they learnt in the first stage (Product Approach).

Students plan, write a first draft, edit, etc. their own letter (Process Approach).

Activities Below are a few activities that can be used in the classroom when teaching writing, all of which require a communicative element.

Freewriting One of the most difficult things about writing, even in our first language, is where to begin. The main purpose of this activity is to generate ideas as part of the planning stage once the students are familiar with the structure and language of the piece of writing they are being taught. o Give the students the writing task you want them to complete and give them a few moments to make a few notes of information they would like to include. o Tell them that they are going to now write their piece as fast as possible, without stopping.

The idea is to write down whatever is in their head, even if it’s something unrelated to the task (stream of consciousness). o Give them a 5 minute time limit and allow the students to do the task. Make sure no students are stopping to think what to write next. o Once finished, ask the students to swap their writing with a partner who reads through and underlines any salient points that would be useful to include in the writing task. o Students then do the writing task, using the freewriting text to help them.

Sentence by Sentence A simple activity (very similar to freeze writing from your portfolio) in which the students work collaboratively to create a piece of writing. The information in the text can then be used as the basis of the main piece of writing you wish the students to do. o Dictate the first one or two sentences of the text that you would like students to write. o Ask the students to write the next sentence to the piece of writing. o Students pass their writing to the person on their write who reads what has been written and writes the next sentence, o This process is repeated until the piece of writing is completed. o Students then use the information/sentence structures that they feel are useful to complete the main writing task.

Cut-up sentences/paragraphs As mentioned earlier each genre of writing can have a different structure that would be expected by the reader. This activity raises awareness of the structure for the writing you would like the students to do. o Make copies of an example text and cut it into paragraphs. o Give one set of cut-up paragraphs to each pair and ask them to put the paragraphs into the order they think is correct. o Give out the example for students to check and then elicit the purpose of each paragraph. o Students then use this information when doing their own piece of writing later in the lesson.

Silent Conversation This activity is part of the Product Approach and as such focuses on correct language usage. It is best used as a controlled practice stage for new lexis or grammar. o Once the students have been presented with the form and function of the new language put them in pairs. o Give each pair some discussion questions based on the topic of the lesson, and which will elicit usage of the newly presented language. o Tell the students that they are going to discuss the questions with their partner. However, they are not allowed to speak and can only write their conversation. o While they are having their ‘conversation’, the teacher monitors and corrects any incorrect language usage.

ACTIVITIES FOR READING The importance of Reading Learning the meaning of a new word or grammar point is a process of gradual approximation - The first time we encounter a new word/grammar point we make assumptions as to its meaning from the context it is set in. However, as we encounter the word/grammar point again and again, these assumptions are refined until we feel comfortable using it. The period between the first encounter to feeling comfortable to use the word/grammar point, which even occurs in our first language, is called initial fuzziness.

Therefore, passive knowledge of the language (i.e. can understand the lexis/grammar when reading/listening but unable or uncomfortable producing it) is vastly larger that active knowledge (i.e. can understand and use the lexis/grammar comfortably) as those words/grammar points have not been encountered enough times.

Reading then, gives individuals the opportunity to encounter words/grammar points (in L1 or L2) repeatedly and in differing situations, thus allowing them to move from passive to active knowledge.

However, this movement from passive to active is subconscious and will only occur if the text is not too challenging and the individual is reading for pleasure. Therefore, for maximum effect, it is recommended that students are encouraged to read books/articles one level below their true language level (e.g.

Intermediate level students should read pre-intermediate texts) outside of the classroom.

Reading in the classroom In order to read effectively, readers have to be able to call upon some, or all, of the sub-skills listed below.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

Having a purpose to read.

The ability to predict content at the sentence/paragraph level.

Share similar schemata to the writer.

The ability to skim for gist.

The ability to scan for specific detail.

The ability to work out unknown vocabulary from context.

The confidence to leave any unknown vocabulary that cannot be worked out from context.

The ability to infer meaning and recognise the writer’s assumptions.

The ability to distinguish opinion from fact.

The above is by no means an exhaustive list and contains the more important sub-skills that teachers should focus on to help students achieve mastery in the skill of reading.

Reading Activities Below is a list of activities that can help teach students some of the sub-skills mentioned above.

Gist Activities  Supply a text with several titles and ask the students to skim and decide which title best fits the text. The titles must not differ in subtle ways, or careful reading would be needed  Supply a text with a list of topics and ask the students to skim and choose which topics are dealt with in the text.  Supply several texts (some dealing with topic X, some not) and ask the students to skim and find those that deal with topic X.

Specific Detail  Read a word from the text and students must race to find the word and shout out the word before it in the text.

Dealing with or leaving unknown vocabulary  Provide the students with a text from the course book that has words blanked out. Once the students have done the skimming and scanning activities provided, ask the students to work in pairs to decide what the missing words are from context.

Inferring meaning from context.  Choose a text (it could be from the textbook) and then prepare a set of questions. Ensure the questions ask for information that is not directly in the text but can be inferred. E.g. if the text has a line in it that reads, ‘...he was nervous as this was the first time he had holidayed abroad...’, you could include a question such as, ‘Was this his first holiday?’. Although it is not mentioned directly, we can infer that this was not his first holiday.

\

COHERENCE & COHESION Coherence & Cohesion Cohesion is achieved when a text is connected logically. This can be achieved by:

       

Repetition of words - Using the same content words throughout a text Word chains - Using words from the same lexical set throughout a text Tense agreement - Using similar grammatical structure/tenses throughout a text Pronoun reference - Using words (e.g. ‘he’, ‘she’, ‘it’, etc.) to avoid repetition Article reference – Using ‘the’ the 2nd time something is mentioned Substitution – Using an auxiliary verb to avoid repetition Ellipsis – Leaving out words to avoid repetition Linkers – Specific words used to connect two sentences or clauses (e.g. ‘However’, ‘Furthermore’, etc.)

Coherence results from the interaction between the reader and the text. In other words, if it feels logical and easily makes sense to the reader, it is coherent.

They both play an important role in the overall mastery of a language and therefore students should be given time in class to practise them. Below there are some activities we recommend to give students practice of both coherence and cohesion.

Questioned writing  Split the class into two groups.  Tell students that they are going to write & present a short one-minute speech about any topic that is of interest to them, but first they must make a few notes to help plan the writing.  Once students have had enough time to prepare notes they write ONLY the first sentence of their presentation.  They then pass the sentence to another member of the group who reads it and writes a question about any information he/she would like to know based on what they have already read.  The presentations are returned to their writer who looks at the question and writes the next sentence to their presentation as an answer to the question.  They then pass their presentation to another student in the group who writes a question based on what information they would like to know next.  Again the presentation is passed back to the writer who then writes his/her next sentence which again must answer the question.  Continue this process until the presentation is complete.  Together, groups look through all their presentations together and ‘neaten them up’ by adding cohesive devices where necessary.  Students then perform their presentations for the other group who vote on the best presentation, and vice versa.

Rogue Sentences  Hand students a text that has one or two sentences that do not fit in the text.  Students read it and decide which is the unnecessary sentence and why.

Sentence Insertion  Give students a text that has had one or two sentences removed.  Write up on the board the missing sentences and ask students to read and decide where they go in the text and why.

Different Subjects  Split the class into two groups and explain that individually they are going to write the description of a process.  Students in group A each write the process from the point of view of the thing being processed (eg bread). Students in group B each write the process from the point of view of the people who process it (e.g. bakers).  Once students they have completed their writing, they find a partner from the other group and compare the differences between the two texts.

Poetic Lexis  Give students a topic (e.g. money) and ask them to brainstorm any language related to the topic.

Write up all suggestions on the board until you have about 15 words.  Explain to the students that they are going to write a poem about the topic and that they must use all the language from the board (repetition of words is fine).  You could further restrict the students by insisting that the poem can only be 20 lines long, and that each line can only have a maximum of 6 words.  Students write their poem and then read them to the class.  At the end, student vote on their favourite poem.

What’s the connection?  Hand out a text that has been split into individual sentences (but still in the correct order).  In pairs, the students read the text and decide how the sentence connects to the one before and after it.  Pairs form groups of four and students then discuss their answers with each other