ELTA Newsletter January February 2016

Newsletter Vol. 10, No. 1 | January-February 2016

ELTA

ISSN 1820-9831 (Online)

ELTA Newsletter • January - February 2016 • Volume 10, No. 1

ELTA Newsletter ISSN 1820-9831 (Online) ELTA – English Language Teachers’ Association Nemanjina 28, 11000 Belgrade Serbia + 381 (0) 63 210 460 + 381 11 36 11 644 ext. 110 elta.kancelarija@gmail.com Olja Milošević, ELTA President serbia.eltapresident@gmail.com

Editor-in-Chief:

Maja Jerković, Vocational Medical School, Zrenjanin, Serbia Co-editors: Milena Tanasijević, English Language Lecturer, Belgrade Metropolitan University, Serbia Branka Dečković, Vocational Medical School, Kragujevac, Serbia Milica Prvulović, PhD candidate, Faculty of Philology, University of Belgrade, Serbia Zorica Đukić, The School of Pharmacy and Physiotherapy, Belgrade, Serbia Bojana Nikić Vujić, MA, The School of Pharmacy and Physiotherapy, Belgrade, Serbia Vicky Papageorgiou, ESL Instructor, Metropolitan College, Thessaloniki, Greece Proofreaders: Zorica Đukić, The School of Pharmacy and Physiotherapy, Belgrade, Serbia Bojana Nikić Vujić, MA, The School of Pharmacy and Physiotherapy, Belgrade, Serbia Editorial: Vicky Papageorgiou, ESL Instructor, Metropolitan College, Thessaloniki, Greece Cover designer:

Marija Panić, ELTA - English Language Teachers’ Association, Belgrade, Serbia Website: http://elta.org.rs/elta-newsletter/ Send your submissions electronically to: newsletter.elta@gmail.com

The authors bear full responsibility for the content of their articles.

ELTA Newsletter is published bi-monthly.

Send your submissions electronically to: newsletter.elta@gmail.com

ELTA Newsletter: January – February 2016

Dear all, It’s the beginning of a new year and here we are again, the editorial team and our writers, presenting the first issue of 2016, always trying to provide all of our readers with useful and great reads.

In the ​ Borrowed From column, we are proud to host ​ Philip Kerr’s article in which he discusses a contentious issue, which is whether or not we can use the learners’ own language in English language classes. In the ​ Academic Corner​ , you can read ​ Miljan Janković’s ​ article about ​ adjectives – a major word class in English.

In the ​ First Aid Kit column, there are 2 contributions. The first one is ​ Eva Buyuksimkesyan ​ from Turkey, who suggests some ideas about pairing and grouping students when organising speaking activities for them. In the second article, T atjana Jancić ​ a ddresses ​

the difficult problem of motivating learners.

Larissa Albano explains what she considers to be the ten signs of an influential teacher​ i​ n the ​ What English Means to Me Column.

In the ​ IT column​ , ​ Vicky Papageorgiou discusses her experience studying for her PGCE in Technology Enhanced Learning.

Zorica Đukić’s ​ lesson plan has a more than intriguing title: ​ My name’s Bond, James Bond! and was her final project for the iTDi course she attended a few months back :“Rethinking the Other Language(s) in the English Language Classroom“.

For the ​ ELT Flash Section​ , ​ Sanja Tasić ​ reports on the past ELTA conference in Belgrade (last May), ​ Svetlana Gavrilović on the ​ The Who Dunnit Quiz ​ that was organized at the Užice Grammar School last November. Also, ​ Ana Štrbac and Vladimir Perić ​ reflect upon the cooperation between the Students’ Cultural Centre - Kragujevac and the Secondary Music school “Dr. Miloje

Milojević” from Kragujevac and the workshops-seminars which resulted from this cooperation.

Last, in our ​ Students’ Corner​ , ​ students ​ Nikola Bojčić and Doroteja Vukašinović wrote 2 articles, one about their ​ experience attending a MOOC on ​ English language on the FutureLearn platform and the second one about the importance of having ‘learning buddies’ and how this can improve your speech significantly.

Finally, the​ ​ Upcoming Events​ ​ are a great reminder for all the future ELT events!

We sincerely hope you will enjoy reading our first issue for 2016. If you feel inspired to write for us and get some of your own work published, do not hesitate to contact us at​ n ​ewsletter.elta@gmail.com​ .

We would also love to thank ​ Olivera Ćatić ​ for being a devoted, hard-working fellow member of ELTA Editorial team. We wish her success in pursuing other professional interests.

All the best,

ELTA Editorial team

‘You can’t use the students’ own language if you don’t speak it yourself.’ ‘True, but they can!’

Philip Kerr, Vienna, Austria

Keywords: ​ language teaching, dictionaries, ​ own language activities​ , mismatch

Is it OK sometimes to use the learners’ own language in English language classes? The question remains a contentious issue in discussions on social media about language teaching, but there is actually nothing contentious about it at all. The jury returned its verdict a long time ago. Succinctly summarising the findings of research, Guy Cook1 has said that ‘the use of translation in teaching has no substantial arguments against it, and much to recommend it’. Don’t just take his, or my, word for it – check out the research2 yourself. good use can be made of the A more useful question to ask concerns not ​ whether​

learners’ own language in English classes, but ​ when​ , ​ how​ and ​ how much.​ The answers

are not straightforward and will depend on a host of considerations, including the age and level of the learners, the objectives of the course that the learner is following, and the institutional context. In some contexts, such as a private language school in the UK, it would seem impossible to make use of the learners’ own language. ‘You can’t use the students’ own language if you don’t speak it yourself,’ you might think. ‘You can’t use the students’ own language if there are lots of different languages in the class,’ you might add. Both observations are true, but what matters more in a language class is not what you, the teacher, can do, but what they, the learners, can do and do do. Like it or not, they will use their own language. Part of the teacher’s job is to help them to do so in ways that are supportive of their English language learning.

1 2

​ This was during a plenary talk at the IATEFL 2007 conference in Aberdeen. ​ The fullest summaries of research can be found in Hall, G. and Cook, G. (2012) ‘Own-language use in

language teaching and learning’ ​ Language Teaching 4 ​5 pp. 271 – 308 and Ellis, R. and Shintani, N. (2014) ​ Exploring Language Pedagogy through Second Language Acquisition Research​ . Abingdon: Routledge pp. 225 – 248

Published with the courtesy of the author 5

The most useful tool for any language learner is probably a dictionary, whether print or online. Teachers can help their learners by making them more aware of the range of dictionaries3 that are available and by showing them how to use them well. Here’s one way of doing this in a multilingual class. Next time you mark some written work, underline those words or phrases where the learner would benefit from checking what they have written in a dictionary.

Dear Sir or Madoms, I saw your advertisement in newspaper I am very interested in your advirtisement as spend three months on a sailing trip around the world.

I’m 22 year old of ​ ages​ . I had a job as tourist and have the qualification of First certificate.

I would like to have experience of meeting different countries people It is good way to langage​ . learn other ​ I can talk other countries people in English.

If I ​ accepted ​ to join, It would be n ​ice​ for my future.

Because I would like to go university in England next year.

Please Do not hesitate to ​ contact with​ me if there is any information if you want to know.

I can attend an interview in the any time if It is ​ convinient ​ to you.

Yours, faithfully In class, hand back the written work and allocate some time for everyone to use dictionaries to try to improve their work. After some time working individually, the learners can work in pairs or small groups, comparing what they have learnt. Round off

​ Most learners prefer bilingual dictionaries and there are some very good ones. It used to be thought that monolingual dictionaries were better for learners, but research has shown that a good bilingual (or semi-bilingual) dictionary can be more helpful.

3

Published with the courtesy of the author 6

the activity with a whole-class discussion about the relative merits of the different dictionaries that people have been using. The next time you do this with your class, encourage them to use a different dictionary. For most major languages there will be a reasonable selection of free online bilingual dictionaries, and some are a lot better than others.

Many learners, at some point in a lesson, will want to check the meaning of an English word in a dictionary, or find the English equivalent of something in their own language that they want to say or write. Depending on the moment of the lesson, there’s every reason to allow this, but it is also an opportunity to practise one of the most basic skills in using a bilingual dictionary. It’s called ‘cross-checking’: learners look up a word and find a translation, and then look up the translation to check if it translates back into the same word. Here’s an example from a Spanish­English dictionary: convenient​ = ​ conveniente​ (in Spanish) conveniente​ (in Spanish) = ​ suitable​ / ​ advisable When there is a mismatch (as above), it should be clear that the two words (​ convenient​ and ​ conveniente​ ) are not direct equivalents. More exploration of meaning is needed!

Another extremely useful and increasingly popular tool is a free digital flashcard system such as ​ Quizlet​ for studying vocabulary. Learners will benefit from classroom time being devoted to the preparation of flashcards (with one ‘side’ of the flashcard containing a translation of the English word or phrase into their own language). This can be done in multilingual classes, and lots of practical ideas can be found at ​ my blog​ . Make sure you check out the comments after this blog post!

One of the oldest and most useful language classroom activities – reverse (or ‘back’) translation – also works well with multilingual groups. In this, learners translate something in English into their own language. Some time later (in a subsequent lesson, for example), they translate it back into English, before finally comparing their new translation with the original. In the second of these translations (back into English),

Published with the courtesy of the author 7

learners should work in pairs or small groups. The fact that they are working from texts in different languages adds to the learning potential of the activity!

What kinds of texts can be worked on with the reverse translation technique? The possibilities are almost limitless, but there are three that I have used successfully. The first is a paragraph from a text that the learners have been working on: allow five to ten minutes at the end of a lesson for everyone to translate this into their own language.

Collect in the papers and hand them out again in another lesson for the reverse translation work. The second is to use a model text (or parts of it) for a particular written genre: this is especially valuable for anyone preparing an exam with a written component. The third is a grammar exercise (such as a gap­fill).

Here, then, are just a few ideas for exploiting the learners’ own language in multilingual contexts, where there is no shared language besides English. In many contexts, another shared language, and this increases enormously the range of however, there ​ is ​

possibilities. In both high schools and universities in France, for example, there will often

be a number of students in any given class whose own-language is not French, but who have a reasonable level of proficiency in it – indeed, it may be good enough for them to follow the rest of their studies (other academic subjects) in French. At the very least, we need to know about our students’ language backgrounds and their learning preferences.

A policy of English-only in English language classes is not an ideal we should be aspiring towards. Our ideal should, rather, be the most optimised use of the resources that are available in order to promote English language learning. One of these resources will be the learners’ own language, so we need to be asking how to make best use of it, rather than how to avoid it.

The article first appeared on ELT News TEA (May 22, 2015) ***** Philip Kerr is a teacher trainer, lecturer and materials writer who lives in Vienna, Austria. His publications include the coursebook series ‘Straightforward’ and ‘Inside Out’ (Macmillan) and ‘Translation and Own-Language Activities’ (Cambridge University Press), which won the English Speaking Union / Duke of Edinburgh Published with the courtesy of the author 8

Award in 2015. He blogs about technology and English language teaching at https://adaptivelearninginelt.wordpress.com/​ .

Published with the courtesy of the author 9

Adjectives – A Major Word Class in English Miljan Janković, Secondary Music School ’’Josif Marinković’’, Zrenjanin, Serbia

Keywords: ​ description, possession, numeral, order, degree

Adjectives are the word class which is used to describe some nouns or pronouns in order to present their characteristics (colour, shape, size, origin, who they belong to, etc.). In English, they have the same form for all the three genders and the same form for singular and plural.

They can appear in the form of single words or as compounds. They can even be used after some linking verbs (e.g. ​ be,​ ​ seem)​ to convey the full description of the sentence subject(s) and/or object(s). Also, most of them have the same forms just as pronouns themselves and that

is why adjectives are often called ​ “adjectival pronouns”​ . It is important to mention that adjectives

are different from pronouns because they describe and determine nouns in a much closer way.

Pronouns always stand independently. ­

What ​ movie are you talking about?​ BUT​ ​ What​ did you hear about that accident? (an adjective) (a pronoun)

As in all other languages, there are several kinds of adjectives in English: ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Descriptive adjectives:​ a ​ beautiful ​ girl, a ​ fresh​ apple, a ​ new​ book, an ​ old ​ man;

Possessive adjectives:​ m ​y​ notes, ​ your​ glasses, ​ their ​ pens, ​ our​ parents, ​ her​ dress;

Interrogative adjectives:​ W ​hich​ boy?, ​ What​ book?, ​ Whose​ house?;

Demonstrative adjectives:​ t​ hat​ woman, ​ those ​ children, ​ this​ book, ​ these ​ chairs;

Relative adjectives:​ w ​hat ​ story, ​ which​ pencil, ​ whose​ sweater;

Indefinite adjectives:​ e ​verybody,​ ​ anyone,​ ​ nothing,​ ​ something​ , ​ no one,​ ​ anywhere;​

Exclamatory adjectives:​ W ​hat​ a ​​ story!, ​ such ​ a ​n​ interesting movie;

Quantitative adjectives:​ m ​uch​ sugar, ​ no​ m ​ore​ lies, ​ many​ students, ​ a lot of​ money;

Numerals:​ o ​ne​ child, ​ twenty​ pounds, ​ the first ​ prize, ​ thirty ​ pages, ​ zero​ calories;

Adjectives derived from personal names:​ t​ he French​ language, ​ European​ league.

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Descriptive adjectives (also known as ​ describing adjectives​ ) describe nouns and pronouns

emphasizing their main characteristics and almost all of them can be compared: ​ blue sneakers, a ​ golden​ necklace, ​ rainy​ days, ​ subtle ​ verses, a ​ happy​ song, a ​ sad ​ man.

Participles are one special kind of descriptive adjectives since they can describe nouns in two ways: ​ the present participle describes the source of an impression (​ a terrifying movie)​ whereas

the past participle describes those affected by that impression (​ terrified audience)​ . People and

living things can be both the source of impressions and the affected ones but non-living things (objects) can only be the source, never the affected ones.

-

I am reading an ​ exciting​ book.

Look! There is a ​ broken​ tree!

I’m ​ interested​ in buying that tent.

We were ​ impressed​ by the concert held least night.

There are ​ three​ groups of descriptive adjectives in English: -

Simple adjectives​ : a ​ good boy, a ​ bad girl, a ​ nice day, a ​ slow car, a ​ big house, a ​ small tree, etc.

-

Derived adjectives​ : a ​ beautiful girl, a ​ golden ring, a ​ sunny afternoon, a ​ rainy night, etc.

These adjectives are derived by adding various suffixes to nouns (here: ​ beauty​ , ​ gold,​

-

sun​ , ​ rain​ ).

Complex adjectives​ : a ​ well­known story, a ​ good­mannered family, a ​ green­eyed child,

etc. Such adjectives may include an adjective, adverb or a noun combined with either a present or past participle. This depends on the verbs which are used in the sentence – a present participle is used with active verbs but a past participle is used with the passive ones.

-

That was an excellent ​ house­warming ​ party. ​ BUT ​ He refused a quite

well­paid ​ job.

Many different kinds of descriptive adjectives are formed by ​ adding different kinds of suffixes to other kinds of words, such as: a) “-ful”​ (added to nouns): You have got to be very ​ careful​ !

b) “-ese”​ (added to the names of cities or countries): ​ Chinese ​ food mostly consists of rice.

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c) “-an”​ (added to personal names): The ​ Shakespearean ​ style is popular in literature. d) “-able”​ (added to verbs or nouns): There are many ​ valuable​ rings. e) “-ible”​ (added to Latin words): There are no ​ visible ​ ghosts.

f)

“-ive”​ (added to verbs): What a ​ possessive​ person.

g) “-ic” (added to the names of countries, surnames and foreign words): This is an ​ artistic peace.

h) “-y”​ (added to nouns and verbs): It is a ​ sunny​ day outside.

i)

● j)

“-less”​ (added to nouns and verbs): Is this some kind of an ​ endless​ road?

Some of these adjectives can be derived this way yet have a ​ positive ​ meaning: This is a ​ priceless​ necklace!

“-ly”​ (added to nouns): I like “Casper, the ​ Friendly ​ Ghost”.

k) “-ish” (added to nouns, adjectives and adverbs): At “​ British Airways”, they have the best offer. l)

“-ous”​ (added to nouns): A lion is one of the most ​ dangerous​ animals.

m) “­al ”​ (added to nouns where the final “e” is lost): ​ Natural​ juice is the healthiest.

n) “-some”​ (added to nouns and verbs): This has been such a ​ tiresome​ class! o) “-fold”​ (added to numbers and “many”): Proteins have ​ manifold ​ functions.

p) “-en” (added to the constructive nouns): There are not any ​ wooden chairs in my classroom.

q) “-ed” (added to nouns): ​ Talented children are to attend extra-curricular activities in schools.

r) “-like”​ (added to nouns): He is such a ​ childlike ​ man.

There are also several ​ prefixes which can be added to ​ adjectives in order to achieve a ​ negative (or opposite) meaning: a) “un-”​ : Our new neighbor is a very ​ unfriendly​ person. b) “dis-”​ : There are a lot of ​ dishonest p ​eople today.

c) “in-”​ : It is an ​ inexpensive ​ dress and that is an ​ invaluable​ ring! d) “im-”​ : What ​ impolite​ behavior!

e) “il-”​ : There is a lot of ​ illegal ​ trade today.

f)

“ir-”​ : She is so ​ irresistible!​

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Descriptive adjectives differ from other adjectives because of their use. There are a few different ways of using them, such as: a) ATTRIBUTE​ (a descriptive adjective is always put before the noun):

-

I have a ​ new​ watch.

They saw a ​ beautiful​ child.

Mary has never seen such a ​ nice ​ person.

b) ADDITION TO OBJECT​ (the result of an action is presented formally this way):

-

This snow has been keeping us ​ cold​ for weeks.

He learned the lesson ​ correct​ .

They saw their parents ​ crying​ .

c) VERB COMPLEMENT (adjectives are also put after the verbs that demand supplement; some of the adjectives sometimes have to be put after the verb which only depends on the situation and such verbs are the ones which need addition – ​ “linking verbs”​ ):

-

This sandwich tastes ​ good​ .

You look ​ unhappy.​

Don’t be ​ sad​ .

The regular position of descriptive adjectives can be changed occasionally but it causes a grammatically incorrect sentence. They can stand after the main noun only if there are some more adjectives. In that case, it is a group of adjectives as in the following examples: -

A car, ​ new​ , ​ nice​ and ​ blue​ , was in front of our house.

I saw her all ​ beautiful​ and ​ smiling.​

Participles, especially the past participle, can stand either before or after the noun. If a past participle is before the noun, it is an attribute; otherwise, it just marks a kind of an action: -

heart.

He left her! Now she is the one with a ​ broken​

Have you seen any of the ​ brought ​ presents?

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-

The area ​ divided​ into five parts caused satisfaction.

This book ​ translated​ into English sounds good, too.

Furthermore, descriptive adjectives can be put after the noun but only if that noun is an object.

In that case, an adjective would be an addition to the object: -

Paint your house ​ white!​

Get your CD player ​ repaired​ !

They must be put after the pronouns ​ something / anything / nothing:​

-

A: Have you found anything ​ necessary ​ there?

B: I found nothing neither ​ necessary ​ nor ​ useful​ .

C: Wait! I think there is something ​ interesting ​ over here!

Descriptive adjectives can be replaced with some other kinds of words and those are mostly nouns, groups of nouns, adverbs or groups of other words. Used this way, they form an attribute and their place is just before the main noun which is being described.

-

I do not like to wear ​ winter​ clothes.

The ​ US​ Constitution has never been changed in total.

Jenny attended a ​ two­hour​ concert last weekend.

The ​ Thanksgiving Day​ celebration is the one of the oldest one in the US.

All of those words used instead of adjectives can stand either separately from the main noun, even together, or at least they can be hyphenated.

-

Most of the school chairs are made of ​ wood​ .

Every room must have a ​ waste­paper​ basket.

There are some situations when adjectives can be derived from nouns. Sometimes, they can have some other meaning beside the main one.

-

There is a ​ stone garden​ wall. ​ BUT​ There is also a ​ stony​ road beside it.

We have a ​ glass​ table in the living room. ​ BUT​ He has got a ​ glassy​ look in his eyes.

Do you remember the time of the ​ gold fever?

Hollywood.

BUT ​

That was the ​ Golden Age of

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-

They bought her a ​ silver​ ring. ​ BUT​ Look! What a ​ silvery​ room!

She adores wearing ​ silk​ dresses. ​ BUT​ She has got ​ silky​ (​ silken) ​ hair.

The following is one of the most important characteristics of descriptive adjectives –

comparison of adjectives​ . Adjectives may often have ​ three degrees of comparison:​ ​ positive​ ,

comparative​ and ​ superlative​ .

-

He made some ​ big​ hits. She made ​ bigger ​ hits than him but we have ​ the biggest ​ ones.

Your house is ​ small​ but his is still ​ smaller​ than yours; I think Jane’s is ​ the smallest​ .

To stress the rules of comparison, it is necessary to mention that there are two ways of comparing the adjectives in English: I Comparison by adding the suffix ​ “­er” ​ to make the comparative and ​ “the + ­est ​ suffix​ ” to make the superlative: -

It’s too ​ cold today and it is ​ colder than yesterday; they even say that Friday is going to be the coldest​ day this week.

He is said to be a ​ clever boy who is ​ cleverer than most of boys his age; in my opinion, he is ​ the cleverest​ boy in his class.

There are also some changes which can occur during the process of comparison: a) If there is an ​ “­e”​ at the end of an adjective, it disappears when adding the suffixes:

-

She had ​ large success. It was ​ larger than anyone else’s. I believe that it was ​ the largest success of the year.

b) If there is a ​ “­y” at the end of an adjective, it is changed into ​ “­i” after which the suffixes are added:

-

I was so ​ happy for my marks but my mother was ​ happier than me. After all, I still think that my best friend was ​ the happiest.​

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c) If there is a monosyllabic adjective, the final consonant doubles if there is a short vowel before it:

-

It is too ​ hot a day today! It is much ​ hotter ​ than yesterday but tomorrow is going to be ​ the hottest​ day of this May.

Bisyllabic adjectives can be compared this way as well, especially those which second syllable is stressed and those are the ones that end with ​ ­er​ / ​ ­le​ / ​ ­y​ / ​ ­ow​ / ​ ­some​ .

-

His children are very ​ polite​ . Their children are ​ politer than his but they say that our children are ​ the politest​ of all the others’.

I was not ​ able to do it but Marco was. I think that Jane was ​ abler to get that job done but she thought that Jack was ​ the ablest​ person for it.

II Comparison with the words ​ “more” (for the comparative) and ​ “the most” (for the superlative):

adjectives compared this way are certain ​ bisyllabic adjectives and those with more than two

syllables. Those bisyllabic adjectives are those ending with ​ ­ish​ / ​ ­ive​ / ​ ­ic​ .

-

This is a ​ comic book but that was a ​ more comic movie. Actually, this cartoon was ​ the most comic​ .

Jamie is an ​ addicted person to TV. Jenny is a ​ more addicted girl to music but Lucy is ​ the most addicted​ woman to shopping.

Jackie is a ​ beautiful girl. Heidi is a ​ more beautiful girl than Jackie but Jessica is ​ the most beautiful​ girl I’ve ever met.

The comparative form is used to show that someone or something has some characteristic more or less emphasized than the other. The word ​ “than” must be put after it and the other

person or thing goes at the end of the construction. Conversely, in order to emphasize that somebody has some characteristic more expressed than somebody else, ​ “the comparative of superiority” ​ can be used.

-

Holly is ​ smarter​ than all the other friends of hers.

Nick is ​ smaller​ than his younger brother Peter.

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Yet in order to stress that someone’s characteristic is less expressed than someone else’s, ​ “the comparative of inferiority” ​ should be used.

-

Your garden is ​ less big​ than I thought it was. o

o

Meaning 1: Your garden is ​ not as big as​ I thought it was.

Meaning 2: Your garden is ​ smaller than ​ I thought it was.

If two (or more than two) people or things are compared about a characteristic, they: a) may have it in the same measure and therefore ​ “the comparison of equality” should be used or b) may not have it in the same measure so ​ “the comparison of inequality” has to be used.

The adverbial constructions ​ “as … as”​ and ​ “not as/so … as”​ are used in these cases: -

John is ​ as tall as​ his friend Tom.

My brother is​ as funny as​ my best friend.

He is ​ not so tall as​ his friend.

She is ​ not as funny as ​ my sister.

The comparative degree is also used to express ​ the contrast​ : -

Is the ​ lower​ Nile navigable? (This implies that there is the ​ upper​ Nile as well.)

*Note:​ If there is no real comparison, the comparative degree is not used in English.

There are also some comparatives of the adjectives of ​ the Latin origin.​ When they are

compared, they need a particle ​ “to” after them (​ superior to​ , ​ inferior to​ , ​ senior to​ , ​ junior to​ , anterior to​ , ​ posterior to​ , etc.).

-

The Principal is in a ​ more superior​ position ​ to​ other school teachers and employees.

If there are a few people or things with the tendency towards emphasizing that only one of them all has some characteristic expressed the most, ​ “the superlative degree” is used. There is always the definite article ​ “the”​ before it.

-

This is ​ the smartest​ boy in our class.

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-

Today has been ​ the hottest​ day this spring.

The adjectives which superlative degrees need ​ “the most” can even stand with only ​ “most”​ , but only if those adjectives are in the position of the verb compliment.

-

This has been a ​ most ​ educational lesson. (This ​ “most” can be treated in meaning as “very”​ .)

As there are ​ “comparatives of superiority and inferiority”​ , there are also ​ “superlatives of

superiority and inferiority”​ .

-

This is ​ the best​ song I have ever heard! (Superlative of superiority)

It was ​ the least​ boring class today. (Superlative of inferiority)

There are also some ​ exceptions​ : a) Some adjectives ​ do not​ get compared:

-

You are the ​ right​ person in the ​ right​ place at the ​ right​ time!

Have you read “The ​ Daily​ News”?

b) Some monosyllabic adjectives (e.g. ​ like​ , ​ real​ ) can be compared with ​ “more/the most”:​

-

Jenny is ​ more like​ her mother than her father.

Her story is ​ more real ​ than his.

c) Some can be compared either way depending on the situation:

-

He is ​ more clever​ than her. ​ BUT​ We are ​ cleverer​ than them.

(The first one is used to stress the difference.)

-

Today is ​ the pleasantest day of the week. ​ BUT Today has been ​ the most pleasant day of the week.

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The very important fact is that adjectives are always compared with ​ “more/the most” if they present some of the characteristics of a person or a thing.

-

Fruit is ​ more healthy​ than candy.

Green eyes are ​ more desirable​ than black eyes.

In English, there are some adjectives which are not compared either way. They have completely different forms to emphasize the comparative and the superlative forms. Those are the adjectives of the ​ “irregular comparison”​ . There are a few other kinds of adjectives beside the

descriptive ones. Their comparative and superlative degree forms can be derived from nouns, adverbs or prepositions. Some of them do not have both the comparative and superlative degrees, whereas some of them may have a double positive degree and/or a double superlative degree.

POSITIVE

COMPARATIVE

SUPERLATIVE

west, western

/

westernmost

south, southern

/

southmost, southernmost

north, northern

/

northmost, northernmost

east, eastern

/

easternmost

up

upper

uppermost, upmost

under

/

undermost

out

outer, utter

outmost / outermost, utmost / uttermost

in

inner

inmost, innermost

end

/

endmost

fore

former

foremost, first

back

/

backmost

top

/

topmost

These adjectives’ superlative form is formed by adding the suffix ​ “most” to the positive form.

Some of them do not have the comparative degree, as presented. These are all “specific”

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adjectives of the irregular comparison but there are also “ordinary” adjectives which can be compared this way.

-

Nick is a ​ bad​ pupil, Jeremy is ​ worse​ than him but Tom is ​ the worst​ one.

Jackie is a ​ good​ singer, Brenda is ​ better​ than her but Kelly is ​ the best​ one.

My school has ​ many pupils, yours has ​ more pupils than mine but hers has ​ the most pupils.

-

There is ​ much sugar in my tea; your tea has ​ more sugar than mine but his has ​ the most sugar.

-

I have made ​ little progress this semestre. Chris has made ​ less (lesser) progress than me but Janet has made ​ the least​ progress.

NYC is a ​ far​ city, Denver is ​ farther b ​ut L.A. is ​ the farthest​ city in the US.

We were ​ far from reaching the mutual agreement. The more we talked, the ​ further

counter-arguments appeared. That was the meeting when any solution was ​ the furthest point of our exhausting discussion.

Beside these adjectives, there are also a few of them that can be compared either regularly or irregularly (e.g. ​ “late”​ and ​ “old”​ ): ●

late – later / latter – the latest / last (“​ latter” means ​ “the other” or ​ “the second one

mentioned”​ ; the superlative forms mean ​ “the last one in a row / the newest one” and ​ “the last one in a row / the previous one” ​ where both forms are quite similar in meaning):

-

I like both movies “The Crossroads” and “Maid in Manhattan” but I prefer the ​ latter​ one.

What is most worn by ​ the latest​ fashion? ​ BUT​ We saw each other ​ last​ week.

●

old – older / elder – oldest / eldest ​ (the forms ​ “older / the oldest” can be used in any kind of comparison by age but ​ “elder / the eldest” are only used to compare members of the same family by age):

-

He is ​ older​ than the girl I know. ​ BUT​ ­ I am his ​ elder​ brother.

20

-

He is ​ the oldest in his class.

-

member.

Father is usually ​ the eldest

The form ​ “elder” does not need ​ “than” where ​ “older than” must be used combined to emphasize that someone is older than somebody else.

It is similar with ​ “little”​ : if some people’s ages are compared, the forms ​ “smaller / the smallest”

should be used. Bur, the comparative form ​ “lesser” is only used if some things are compared by value, importance, size, etc.

-

She is such a ​ little​ girl; she is ​ smaller​ than her friends.

BUT -

Drinking is one of ​ the lesser​ vices.

Possessive adjectives represent another group of adjectives. They include the following forms: ​ my​ , ​ your​ , ​ his​ , ​ her​ , ​ its​ (singular forms) and ​ our​ , ​ your​ , ​ their​ (plural forms).

-

This is ​ my​ house.

Is it ​ your​ dog?

That was not ​ his​ problem.

It is not ​ her​ business.

Our​ teachers are very good.

Are ​ your​ parents taking a nap now?

Those are ​ their​ cousins.

“Your” has also an old form which is not used today – it is ​ “thy” (for singular) and ​ “thine” (for plural). These forms are used in literature and they can be mostly found in Shakespeare’s plays.

Possessive adjectives are not always translated. This happens when they stand before the names of clothes or body parts instead of the definite article ​ “the”​ .

21

*Note: ​ Possessive adjectives must not be mixed with possessive pronouns which are as follows: mine​ , ​ yours​ , ​ his​ , ​ hers​ , ​ its​ (for singular) and ​ ours​ , ​ yours​ , ​ theirs ​ (for plural).

-

This is ​ my​ house. ​ BUT ​ This house is ​ mine.​

Those are ​ our​ teachers. ​ BUT​ Those teachers are ​ ours​ .

There are ​ demonstrative adjectives ​ which include: ​ this​ , ​ these,​ ​ that and ​ those but also ​ latter​ , same​ , ​ such​ , ​ former​ , ​ the other​ , ​ the very with two old forms – ​ you (for singular) and ​ younder (for

plural).

-

Have you read ​ this​ book?

Have you seen ​ these ​ notebooks?

Why did you do ​ that​ awful thing?

I brought all ​ those​ photos of mine.

A demonstrative adjective ​ such can be used before the names of people or things no matter whether they are singular or plural.

-

Such​ pupil deserves to be given praise.

Such​ peoples have very interesting history.

The demonstrative adjectives ​ this / that / these / those can be used before the people, things or

events. ​ This / these mark the closer ones (judging from the time / place point of view) but ​ that / those​ mark the farther ones.

*Note: Demonstrative adjectives must not be mixed with demonstrative pronouns; they have the same forms but are used differently. Demonstrative adjectives are put right before the nouns whereas demonstrative pronouns are put separately from the nouns they are combined with.

-

This​ book is not mine. (an adjective) ​ BUT​ ​ This​ is not my book. (a pronoun)

Those friends of ours are the best. (an adjective) ​ BUT ​ Those are our best friends. (a pronoun)

22

Apart from the afore-mentioned groups of adjectives, there is yet another one – ​ interrogative

adjectives​ . There are three interrogative adjectives in English – ​ what / which / whose.​ There is

one common thing to them all – they can be used even before the people or things.

●

“What”​ can mean ​ “which one / what kind”​ :

-

What​ difference does it make?

What​ movie did you watch last night?

What​ person are you talking about?

●

“Which” is often used in situations while facing some choice and it can mean ​ “which

(one) of”​ :

-

Which​ day of the week do you like most?

Which​ Sting’s song do you like best?

Which​ foreign language would you like to learn?

●

“Whose”​ must be put only with a person and always refers to ​ possession:​

-

Whose​ sweater is this?

Whose​ child is that boy over there?

Whose​ movies do you like most?

These interrogative adjectives are also ​ relative adjectives​ . There are also some compound words derived from those, which are formed by adding the suffix ​ “­ever”​ .

-

Take ​ whatever​ movie DVD you want!

23

-

Whichever flower makes you happy, buy it!

-

Whosever sweater this is, I will take it!

Sentences with compound words can be said in a different way, using ​ “no matter…”​ : -

Whosever​ sweater this is… = ​ No matter whose ​ sweater this is…

Whatever​ you do… = ​ No matter what​ you do…

Exclamatory adjectives are another group of adjectives: ​ “such (a / an)” and ​ “what (a / an)”​ .

These forms are used only with the countable nouns which must be singular.

-

What a​ beautiful baby girl!

She is ​ such an​ honest person!

The forms ​ “such” and ​ “what” are only used with the uncountable nouns but also with the countable ones if they are plural.

-

What​ interesting information!

Thanks for ​ such​ good advice!

What​ beautiful eyes you have!

Quantitative adjectives form a special group of adjectives and some of them can also be included in the group of ​ indefinite adjectives since they do not necessarily refer to a specific

quantity or number. Those are as follows: ​ some​ , ​ any​ , ​ much​ , ​ many​ , ​ most​ , ​ (a) few​ , ​ no​ , ​ every​ ,

each​ , ​ a lot of / lots of​ , ​ either​ , ​ neither,​ ​ several​ , ​ both​ , ​ all​ , ​ certain,​ ​ enough ​ etc.

All these adjectives can be divided into ​ two​ groups: I​ Adjectives of ​ indefinite quantity:​ ​ some​ , ​ any​ , ​ much​ , ​ little​ and II​ Adjectives of ​ indefinite number​ : ​ many​ , ​ few​ , ​ several​ , ​ both​ , ​ all​ .

24

●

“Some” is used in affirmative sentences with both the countable and uncountable nouns.

When it is used with the singular countable nouns, it often means ​ “a kind of” and in that case, it can be used before the people or things.

-

I would always find ​ some​ reason for not going there.

When it is used with plural nouns, it often means ​ “a couple / certain number of” as well

as ​ “a kind of”​ .

-

I go to my village every summer where I have ​ some​ friends.

If it is used with the uncountable nouns, it marks a definite quantity of something.

-

I’ll put ​ some​ sugar in my tea.

It may also be used as an adverb and, in that case, it stands before a number and means ​ “on average / approximately”​ .

-

I haven’t been here for ​ some​ twenty years.

It is mostly used in affirmative sentences but it can also be used in the interrogative ones when the positive answer is expected.

-

May I have ​ some​ tea? –Yes, dear. Help yourself.

●

On the other hand, in every other situation, ​ “some” is substituted with the form ​ “any”

which is used in interrogative and negative sentences. ​ “Any” can also be used in affirmative sentences and mean ​ “whichever / whatever / no matter which/what”​ .

-

You can go home ​ any ​ time you want.

25

However, the original use of ​ any is in interrogative and negative sentences where it can be put together with both the countable and the uncountable nouns.

-

Has he got ​ any​ sisters or brothers?

It is also used to change ​ “some”​ when it is used in the If­clauses and indirect questions.

-

If you have ​ any​ money, you can give it to your sister.

She asked me if I wanted to buy ​ any​ new clothes.

If it is used before adjectives, it is used as an adverb. That adjective is often in the comparative degree.

-

He will not leave ​ any​ sooner than midnight.

●

“No” is used with both singular and plural nouns in order to emphasize the negative meaning. It is also used with both the countable and uncountable nouns as the negative form of ​ “some” ​ as well as to determine adjectives and/or adverbs.

-

She’s ​ no​ teacher!

You’re ​ no​ good!

●

“Much” is used with the uncountable nouns to mark quantity. Its comparative degree form is ​ “more” and the superlative is ​ “(the) most”​ ; in spoken English, ​ much is not used

frequently. There are some phrases used instead of it, such as: ​ a great deal of​ , ​ a good

deal of​ , ​ a lot of​ , ​ plenty of​ .

-

Their life is fulfilled with ​ much​ happiness.

There is ​ plenty of​ money in his pocket.

26

●

“All”​ has a few different uses:

1) To present quantity: Have you eaten ​ all​ the cream?

2) Together with common nouns: ​ All​ children like ice cream.

3) With contemplative (abstract) nouns: Could you give her ​ all​ your love?

4) As an adverb: You are ​ all​ dirty!

●

“Both” means ​ “this one and that one together” and does not always have to stand with a

noun; instead, there can be a demonstrative adjective like ​ “this” or ​ “that”​ , the definite article ​ “the”​ or even some prepositions like ​ “of”​ .

-

Take ​ both​ books with you.

Both of​ them must be punished!

●

“Either” means ​ “this one or that one” or even also ​ “both” in some cases. There is always a singular noun following it.

-

Either​ shop is full of expensive clothes.

We can play ​ either​ tennis or squash – I don’t mind at all!

●

Contrary to it, there is also ​ “neither” ​ which means ​ “none of”​ . There is a singular noun following it as well.

-

Since we do not have any oil, ​ neither​ car can be used.

Neither​ of you is welcome in my house any longer!

27

●

“Many” is used with the countable nouns to present their number but it is often substituted with phrases like: ​ a great many​ , ​ a good many,​ ​ a lot of / lots of​ , ​ a large

number of​ , ​ plenty of since it does not refer to a specific number of the objects in question.

-

There are ​ many​ bars of chocolate on the shelf.

There are ​ many​ good teachers in my school.

There is a form ​ “many a”​ which is especially used with the singular countable nouns.

-

I have seen this movie ​ many a​ time.

It was raining ​ many a​ day.

●

“Little” appears in two forms: the mentioned one and as ​ “a little”​ . They are both used with

the uncountable nouns and they present an indefinite quantity of the nouns in question but there is a big difference between them:

** little = too little, not enough; ** a little = little, not much BUT STILL enough​ .

-

I have ​ little​ sugar. (I do have it but not enough to make some good tea.)

I have ​ a little​ sugar. (I have it and it is quite enough to make some tea.)

●

Similar to these, there are also ​ “few” and ​ “a few” which are both used with the countable nouns. They are also similar in form yet different in meaning:

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** few = some, not many, but not enough; ** a few = some, not many, BUT STILL enough​ .

-

Marco has ​ few​ friends here. (He has friends but he would like to have more.)

Marco has ​ a few ​ friends here. (He has friends who make him quite happy.)

Numerals are another special group of adjectives which are divided into ​ two large groups – cardinal and ordinal numbers​ . ●

Cardinal numbers

Numerals (numbers) from ​ 1 to ​ 12 have unique forms. Numerals from ​ 13 to ​ 19 are formed by

adding the suffix ​ “­teen” to the cardinal numeral (number). Those numerals are called ​ “teens”​ .

While forming the numbers ​ 13 or ​ 15​ , there are some changes: ​ five + teen = fifteen​ , ​ three + teen

= thirteen​ .

Numbers such as ​ 20​ , ​ 30​ , ​ 40,​ ​ 50​ , ​ 60​ , ​ 70​ , ​ 80 and ​ 90 are formed by adding the suffix ​ “­ty” to the

cardinal number. There are also some exceptions: ​ 20 – twenty​ , ​ 30 – thirty​ , ​ 40 – forty​ , ​ 50 – fifty and ​ 80 – eighty​ . When these numbers are used to express a period of time, the name of that

period is plural: ​ 1950­1959 – the fifties​ , etc. The numbers in-between are formed by adding the

numbers ​ 1​ to ​ 9​ to those numbers from ​ 20​ to ​ 90 ​ with ​ a hyphen​ between the two numerals.

-

I am ​ nineteen​ years old.

He is ​ twenty­five​ years old.

They are both ​ forty​ .

She is in her ​ teens​ .

The numbers over ​ 100 and ​ 1000 are formed by adding the conjunction ​ “and” between the numbers instead of a hyphen.

-

That man died when he was ​ a hundred and two​ years old.

There were ​ a thousand and five hundred​ participants at the marathon.

29

If there is a year in question, that number is divided into two parts with two numbers each and they are read like that.

-

19‖73 – ​ nineteen ‖ seventy­three​ ​ BUT​ 2003 – ​ two thousand a ​nd ​ three

*Note: In contemporary English, the years from 2000 onwards can also be read by dividing the number into two numbers. ­ 20‖10 – twenty ‖ ten Phone numbers are read number by number: -

200­42­337 – ​ two­DOUBLE 0­four­two­double three­seven

-

445­777­82 – ​ double four­TRIPLE seven­eight­two

Number ​ “0”​ is written in a few ways: ​ cipher / zero / naught / O /әʊ /​ .

Numbers can be both adjectives and nouns. As adjectives, they can stand with ​ hundred /

thousand / million​ .

-

Three thousand​ fans attended that concert.

One million​ people were killed during the war.

As nouns, they can get the plural suffix ​ “­s” but only in combination with ​ hundred / thousand / million​ . In other words, those three numbers can be pluralized.

-

Millions of​ people watched the match last night.

Thousands of​ letters came to that address.

Before ​ hundred / thousand / million / score / dozen,​ there is always an indefinite article ​ “a” which means that they are generally singular.

-

I bought ​ a dozen of​ magazines yesterday.

Have you ever seen ​ a thousand ​ fans altogether?

Numbers can be also used as adverbs, such as: ​ once​ , ​ twice​ , ​ three times/trice​ , but all other

numbers are added the word ​ “times”​ after them.

-

I have been here only ​ once.​

30

-

I’ve seen this movie ​ four times​ .

When a number is deducted from a bigger one, there is always the phrase ​ “out of”​ : -

Only ​ five​ pupils ​ out of​ t​ hirty​ could do that exam completely.

●

Ordinal numbers

Ordinal numbers are formed by adding the suffix ​ “­th” to the cardinal number with the definite article ​ “the”​ before them. There are also three exceptions, such as: ​ 1​ , ​ 2​ and ​ 3​ .

-

The third (3rd ​​ ) prize goes to Lilly Adams, ​ the second (2nd ​​ ) prize goes to Sandy Lloyd and ​ the first (1st​ )​ prize goes to Mary Jean!

Numbers from ​ 10​ to ​ 90​ become ordinal the same way but the final ​ “­y”​ first becomes ​ “­ie”​ : -

th​ 40​ – ​ the fortieth

-

th​ 70​ – ​ the seventieth

Ordinal numbers can be used in a few different ways: a) Fractions:

-

You have already eaten ​ two­thirds ​ of pizza.

That mistake took ​ three­fifths​ of the point.

b) Daily actions:

-

We go to the supermarket every ​ fourth​ day.

They visit their grandparents every ​ second​ weekend.

31

c) Dates ​ (there are two ways of reading them):

-

I was born on​ the twelfth of​ December. / I was born (on) December ​ the twelfth​ .

d) Chapters in books ​ (there are also two ways of reading them):

-

You can find the details in chapter ​ eight.​ / It is not in ​ the fifth​ chapter.

e) Names of the kings:

-

What do you know about ​ Charles the Fifth ​ (​ Charles V)​ ?

Could you tell me something about ​ Queen Elizabeth the First (Elizabeth I)? ​

There are often ​ some / any / no before the numbers and that can be heard almost all the time.

That position cannot be changed.

-

There are ​ no two​ men having the same fingerprints.

Those twins differ in ​ any one ​ characteristic. (They are completely the same.)

That concert was attended by ​ some three thousand​ people.

Some adjectives are called ​ emphasizing ​ adjectives​ . They can be divided into ​ two major

groups – ​ restrictive (​ chief​ , ​ first​ , ​ specific​ , etc.) ​ and intensifying adjectives (​ extreme​ , ​ real​ ,

total​ , etc.). ●

The first group includes the adjectives which are used to stress something special and unique:

32

-

Give me a ​ specific​ explanation for your behavior!

●

The second group includes the adjectives which can be used as a way of reinforcing the meaning of the nouns being described:

-

That party was an ​ utter​ disaster!

●

The adjectives from the first group will always be put before those from the second one:

-

Her term paper was the ​ only complete ​ work this semestre!

One important characteristic is ​ the position and order of adjectives before nouns. If there

are a few adjectives before a noun, it is very important to have a correct order. The first one, which is right next to the noun, is the one that determines that noun best.

-

She has ​ beautiful blue​ eyes.

Who is that ​ strange big​ man?

If there are a few kinds of adjectives, the descriptive one is always the first in the row and next to the noun.

-

I bought ​ some new colored​ magazines to read.

Where have you bought ​ all those big ​ strawberries?

When there is a number, it is always after the possessive or some other adjective.

-

Their ​ two​ children are very polite.

Those ​ three​ men are totally drunk.

Ordinal numbers are always before the cardinal numbers.

33

-

My ​ first two​ days in Greece were the best.

Their ​ second three​ weeks in London were not as good.

In case there are more than two adjectives before a noun, the order is as follows: Opinion – Size – Physical quality – Age / Time – Shape – Colour.

-

It was a ​ lovely​ l​ ong​ h ​ot​ summer.

She wore an ​ elegant​ t​ iny​ n ​ew ​ r​ ound ​ b ​right red​ hat.

Also, if there are some additional qualities, the order is as follows: Location – Origin / Source – Material – Type – Purpose. ­ They visited ​ distant​ , ​ African​ , ​ tourist​ , ​ camping​ attractions. *Note: ​ This is a usual order of adjectives which means that sometimes there can be a few other possibilities.

When there are a few different kinds of adjectives, they cannot always be put together before a noun. In that case, there are some changes: -

These my two friends adore “Friends”! ​ BUT INSTEAD ​ These two friends ​ of mine adore “Friends”!

When a noun is determined like this, the article is not necessary at all but when there is one, there are also some changes: -

A my good friend is always here for me. ​ BUT INSTEAD ​ A good friend is always here for

me.

Punctuation is another aspect which is important and, occasionally, quite problematic. The reason for this is that some adjectives, which belong to different groups (categories), can switch places within sentences and therefore make rather confusing environment for clear and correct punctuation. However, there are a few basic rules to follow: ●

between two or more adjectives of different types: No punctuation​

34

-

He likes ​ good old Hollywood ​ movies.

●

A ​ comma is necessary between two or more adjectives of the same type since they can switch places:

-

They do not like to travel to ​ unknown, strange, awkward​ places.

●

A conjunction ​ “and” is needed between two adjectives of the same type, especially colours:

-

I just adore my ​ blue and yellow ​ sweatpants.

●

If there are three or more adjectives of the same type, even colours, a ​ comma is needed between the first two and ​ “and” ​ between the second two adjectives:

-

Government should take care of all the ​ financial, political and social issues in the country.

Different word classes can be used as adjectives. A nationality used as an adjective is right next to the noun unless there is some other adjective that could determine that noun better: -

I had ​ my​ f​ irst Spanish​ lesson yesterday.

You have ​ the Greek national​ flag in your room.

35

If there is a noun or gerund used instead of an adjective, they are right before that noun: -

What a ​ beautiful summer​ hat!

Where have you bought ​ those running ​ shoes?

The most important fact is that an adjective that determines a noun best is always right before the head noun which is being described: -

He saw an ​ attractive blonde­haired young ​ lady!

I bought ​ seven round red​ oranges.

Adjectives can be even used as nouns. In that case, they may have the collective meaning but, generally, a determinative and individual (single) meaning as well.

-

Blue​ does not suit you.

Living in a strange city​ is for ​ the​ emotionally ​ strong​ .

As seen in the latter example, some adjectives used with the definite article ​ “the” before them can be used as nouns referring to specific groups of people.

-

The rich​ do not necessarily have all.

As mentioned, ​ the past participle​ can be used as an adjective but can also be used as a noun.

-

There are dozens of ​ ruined​ houses.

All ​ the accused​ are in jail.

What is common to all those ​ “non­adjectives” is that they mostly do not have ​ “­s” for the plural but there are still some cases with it: -

There are lots of ​ savages​ in jungles.

Big cities are full of ​ criminals​ .

Every student is afraid of ​ orals​ .

Adjectives derived from the names of states always have the definite article in order to determine the name of a nation. These adjectives end up with ­​ sh / ­ss / ­ch / ­se​ .

-

The English​ are fond of tea.

The Swiss​ have the tastiest chocolate with fresh Alpine milk.

36

-

The Dutch​ are famous for their beer.

The Japanese​ are famous for their developed technology.

The names of individuals are formed this way as well: -

Almost every single ​ Englishman​ likes tea.

Five ​ Frenchmen​ visited our country last summer.

Adjectives derived from the nouns and used as the names of states have the same form for an individual and for the whole nation but they do have ​ “­s”​ at the end.

-

I am Serbian.

-

We are Serbians.

-

An American adores hamburgers and Coca­Cola.

-

There are some Americans in Serbia.

-

A Brazilian can dance most beautifully since Brazilians have a great sense of rhythm.

-

Can you speak Russian? Of course you can, you are Russians!

“One” is used after descriptive adjectives mostly in order to escape the repetition of the same noun. The use of it is possible only with the countable nouns and its plural form is ​ “ones”​ . Both forms need the definite article ​ “the”​ somewhere before them.

-

Which cake would you like? –​ The​ fruity ​ one​ , please!

Her dresses are very long! Don’t buy ​ the​ same ​ ones​ !

“One”​ is not used with the superlative degree because the noun is clearly determined.

-

Of all the essays, mine is ​ the longest​ o ​ne​ .

Of all the flowers in the garden, that orange rose is ​ the most beautiful o ​ne.​

There can be a situation when a personal name is used after ​ “one”.​ Then it means ​ “some”​ .

-

This was sent by ​ one Marc​ . (We are not quite sure which Marc exactly.)

“One” can be even used as an indefinite adjectival pronoun in which case it is means ​ “the only one”​ or also ​ “some”​ .

-

The ​ one​ real good thing is that I have finally finished my work.

37

References: Berežljev, Ljiljana, ABC engleske gramatike: Easy Way to Learn English Grammar, YU Concorde, Užice, 1997.; Mihailović, Ljiljana, Gramatika engleskog jezika: Morfologija i Sintaksa, Naučna Knjiga, Beograd, 1986.; Petković, Desanka, Gramatika engleskog jezika za osnovnu školu, Zavod za udžbenike i nastavna sredstva, Beograd, 1996.; Yule, George, Oxford Practice Grammar Advanced with Answers with Practice-Plus CD-ROM, Oxford University Press, 2006

***** Miljan Janković graduated from the University of Niš, Faculty of Philosophy, in 2008; he was granted a scholarship by the Municipality of Zaječar during his studies; he is interested in language studies, translation, seminars, interactive learning, writing and research in the field of his profession; he has translated various documents, papers, theses, books; he attended numerous seminars in order to improve his professional skills to make further progress in his career; he has worked in a number of schools which helped him develop strong interpersonal skills and level up his know­how.

38

Motivating your learners – challenges and how to address them Tatjana Jancić, EFL Teacher, Serbia Keywords​ : motivation, challenges, active learning, strategies, relationship

Low motivation in learning English language can be caused by various factors and it can be identified even in students who do relatively well in school. Initially, the underdeveloped awareness of the importance of learning and speaking a foreign language may result in the lack of interest accompanied by assuming a passive recipient role in the learning process. Moreover, compared to previous generations, few learners take an active interest in pursuing knowledge. That passive attitude brings about reluctance to take responsibility for their learning. Add to all that the absence of sufficient input and stimuli at lower levels. Finally, a problem specific to Serbian schools is the negative attitude towards English language and Western culture due to the media campaign and politics.

However, there are some approaches that can stimulate intrinsic motivation. First, building a good relationship with your students based on mutual respect and trust is of crucial importance in teaching. Once such relationship is established, they pay more attention when you talk about the ensuing benefits of learning English and exploring its related cultures. Moreover, once they see you are genuinely interested in their learning and that you believe in them, they want to achieve more and do their best. As a teacher, try to show them that learning English (or anything else for that matter) is about exploring the world, expanding horizons and developing as a person.

Setting the example is an excellent way for students to look up to you and motivates them to try to reach higher. Therefore, always emphasize it is "we" in the classroom and not "I " and that you learn as well through helping them learn. For example, I even enrolled in the British Council "Exploring English" course with some of them so that we could share our learning experience. We discuss their learning needs on a regular basis and what and why they want to accomplish. When encouraging them to be active learners, you can resort to different strategies, one of them being the Edmodo classroom – an opportunity to do something outside the box and take responsibility for their own learning. Or, they can be asked to present a topic in a way they would like to have it presented for/to them. As for their negative attitude

39

towards English, try to teach them to look beyond the stereotype and open up their minds. Discuss the role of the media in today's world, watch clips, compare and discuss. Sometimes I bring in an occasional native speaker or the A-SMYLE exchange students to talk to them about the Anglo-American culture and lifestyle.

Those who embrace all that, no matter how reluctant or suspicious in the beginning, become highly motivated since their mindset has changed which what learning is all about – changing the mindset. Consider your aim achieved. *****

Tatjana Jancić has

been

an EFL

teacher

for 17 years.

She

has also

been

working

as a teacher trainer and a material writer. Above all: constant learner, traveller, photographer, thinker and humanist. Totally enjoys doing drama in English with her students. Motto: "Life is to be enjoyed, not to be wasted on meaningless competitions".

40

The Ten Signs of an Influential Teacher Larissa Albano, ​ Larissa’s Languages, Italy Keywords : ​ influential teacher, inspiration, knowledge, positive

As teachers we need to be always inspiring, but who inspires or has inspired us? Who we are depends on who taught us in the past. I wrote down a couple of names but then I realized my teaching persona has been shaped by teachers of other subjects as well. No matter what they teach, their role is crucial because teachers lead students through the arduous journey of learning. Thus, I drew up a list of features my best teachers shared. ●

They have a comprehensive knowledge of the subject they teach. They are always ready to learn more and develop their skills.

●

They repeat a positive refrain. “Well done”, “Smile at life and life will smile at you”, etc. are examples of expressions my favourite teachers would often repeat during their lessons.

●

They move. An influential teacher does not sit down all the time. They change their position to monitor students and get their attention.

●

They tell anecdotes. Teachers are educators and students can learn from their life experiences.

●

They smile. There is nothing better than learning with happy, cheerful teachers.

●

They wear particular accessories or clothes. It does not mean they are fashionable.

They have the habit of wearing a special item you will always associate with them.

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They care about students as people. They respect their students and they provide them with everything they need (including pens, pencils and tissues).

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They make students learn from their mistakes. Being strict about mistakes or telling off students for making one will not prevent them from making it again. Influential teachers encourage students and use their mistakes to teach them.

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They are themselves.They do not pretend to be someone else, their attitude is the same inside and outside the classroom.

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They are not scared of being judged by their students. Influential teachers are democratic. They let their students give feedback about their teaching performance in order to improve themselves.

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To sum up, influential teachers are those who keep stuck in your mind because with them you learnt more. Never say influential teachers are just teachers because it is like saying Clark Kent is just Superman.

*****

Larissa Albano is a CertTesol certified English teacher. She started working in the language industry in 2009 as one-to-one language tutor in a school of languages in Rome and set up her own language studio in her hometown in 2011. Since then she has been teaching children, teenagers and adults in small groups. She teaches without the support of course books because she prefers using the GTD method which involves the following three key elements: GAME, TECH and DAILY LIFE. She believes in the continuing professional development, thus, she attends several seminars and webinars related to teaching English as a foreign language and interacts with a highly qualified PLN. Larissa loves sharing her teaching ideas and experiences with other teachers all over the world by blogging on ​ www.larissaslanguages.blogspot.com . Her blog won the British Council Teaching English Award For Innovative Teaching Ideas http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/featured-blogs twice and has been nominated for the best teaching blog by several websites such as Macmillan http://www.macmillandictionary.com/love-english-awards/index.html and Edublog edublog http://edublogawards.com/2014-awards/best-teacher-blog-2014/​ .

Her motto is ​ MAKING MISTAKES IS BETTER THAN NOT TRYING AT ALL!

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Studying for the PGCE in TEL (Technology Enhanced Learning) Vicky Papageorgiou, English instructor, Metropolitan College, Thessaloniki, Greece

Keywords: ​ online course, technology enhanced learning, learner to learner interaction, tutor to learner interaction, community building, transformative experience

In the recent years, there has been a dramatic increase in the use of technology tools in learning as well as an increase in the uptake of online courses. Trying to keep up with these advancements, I believed that what I deeply needed was a theoretical/academic background that would help me improve my knowledge about the technological tools available for us trainers as well as help me shape my decisions better about which ones and how I could include in my teaching routines.

Deciding to attend a course in TEL at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David was a wise choice, mainly because the way the course itself was structured and run provided me with a great example of what I was there to learn .

Simply put, what we mean by the term ‘technology-enhanced learning’ (TEL) is the communication and information technological tools that can be applied to learning and teaching. Yet, what this term really means is still not very explicit and there does not seem to exist a ‘shared understanding’ of it. This is why, although the term ‘enhanced’ is used widely, this is done ‘in an unconsidered and unreflected way so that its meaning was opaque and/or ‘taken for granted’ (Kirkwood; Price, 2014).

In my view, trying to understand the meaning of technology ‘enhanced learning’, I would have to reflect back to specific instances of the learning process during this course. The ones that, in fact, played a key role to my understanding of it, because our learning process did not depend merely on learning about the different technological tools that we could use in a classroom. That was only one part of the course. The main aspects of the course were far more interesting. I would divide

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them then in three such ‘instances’, specifically: 1. Learner to learner interaction, 2.

Tutor to learner interaction and 3. Building a community.

Learner to learner interaction The first one was the communication between the learners. During the course there was some variety of communication methods available to all learners, mainly through the discussion forum, another time through an audio conference and later via twitter, emails. The main platform remained the forum though and most participants did participate lively. While asynchronous discussions can be very convenient especially for adult learners who can only participate in a limited way weekly, there is also some opposition against it, underlining possible problems such as ‘forced participation … and low levels of user involvement’ (Motteram and Forrester, pp. 284). A more lively discussion that could take place in a more informal way would have been welcomed by everyone, for example via instant messaging or video conferencing. In this way, there would be a feeling of ‘immediacy and intimacy’, resulting in more involvement (Rice, pp. 451-484) and would also have been expected by most of the learners as a natural consequence of building up relationships with each other, similar to the ones in a physical classroom.

Undoubtedly, online learning is not a utopian model. There are several problems and technology can also mean that it goes along with some ‘challenges’ because, as Ferreday and Hodgson point out (2008), participation can also be seen as ‘tyranny’.

One of these problems is that the learners were provided with too much information at times, and there was not always enough time to learn and practise all this new information. Since the group forum was the main way of communication and participation, there were participants (including myself) that did not respond to the reflective tasks within the time limits given but only later. As a result, there was no response to these late posts by other participants, leaving them with a feeling of exclusion or with an obligation to apologise constantly for not being prompt in their replies. Once writing a post, there is the expectation of a dialogue and when this does not occur, disappointment follows. Not being bound by space and time makes online learning convenient for busy professionals like us, yet it seems that, no matter how many the obstacles, interaction remains an essential as well as a much expected part for the learning process to be fulfilled.

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Tutor to learner interaction Teaching online is a particular way of teaching and it requires certain skills. The tutor has to be a mentor and a facilitator and not so much a role model. He/she needs to “take a back seat and gently guide the learners in their process by monitoring the discussion and entering it to prod participants to look at the material another way or to gently steer the conversation back on course” (Palloff and Pratt in Easton, 2003).

This interaction, in fact, progressed in a well-orchestrated manner (from the tutor being more active in the beginning to a gradually smaller involvement to nearly zero involvement in the end of the course), making this an interesting indeed process to watch. The tutors guided us, the learners, in a constant participation, which translated from a dynamic accumulation of knowledge (acquisition) to increasing discourse and communication, in activities that went beyond accumulating knowledge and all this within the context of a community of which the learners were an integral part (Sfard, pp.3). In other words, we were engaged in constant action, with the role of the tutors gradually becoming more distant, giving way to our achieving greater learning independence. All this culminated in the second term, when the tutors stepped back and gave us the freedom to lead the way: the pilot activity, during which part, we were asked to take fully charge of our learning, prepare the pilot activity and arrange for it to be reviewed by the rest of the participants, allowing and encouraging us to claim ownership of our learning. A kind of ‘scaffolding’, therefore, that later was evident to all of us.

The greatest role though that the online tutors of this course played was the social role, the one of building a positive community spirit, without which the previous achievement would not have been fulfilled.

Building a community Vygotsky (1978) says that to build our own cognitive process, collaborative learning is necessary. Collaboration, in fact, was evident during the whole course, first as an encouragement by the tutors but very soon after, a friendly and civilized atmosphere was built among group members and it became something ‘natural’. In a learner-centered model, like the one applied in this course, the focus is on developing collaborative skills as well as high-order thinking. The best way to support the learners in achieving these is through creating a feeling of community among them (McPherson et al., 2004) and the tutor. Since this is a very demanding context

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(building a collaborative environment), the role of the tutor is very important since he/she needs to be particularly committed and skillful in all this (Thorpe, 2002).

Yet, this model allows also learners to experience feelings of acceptance and involvement, willingness to learn, greater motivation to learn and, most importantly, to develop a feeling of learner control (Cornelius White & Harbaugh, 2009). This latter function, the learner control, which in other words means that the learners are in control of their interaction with the other learners, the tutor and the content, was indeed very clearly demonstrated in this course. The degree of learner control escalated progressively through the course until the last months of it where the role of the tutor was that of a mere observer of the learners claiming ownership of their learning.

Transforming the learning experience Paulo Freire once said : ‘“Education either functions as an instrument which is used to facilitate integration of the younger generation into the logic of the present system and bring about conformity or it becomes the practice of freedom, the means by which men and women deal critically and creatively with reality and discover how to participate in the transformation of their world.” (Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed) My question after finishing this course was if and how this experience has changed my way of thinking, my way of teaching. Only a positive answer can be given because even if, from time to time, the ‘dark’ sides of participation prevailed, or technology breakdowns hindered the process and caused frustration and disappointment, the realization was that this whole experience caused me to question the various concepts in discussion and that triggered, what Jack Mezirow calls (2000), a transformative experience. Allowing ‘change’ to take place means that now, when thinking about applying technology in the teaching process, what I take into consideration is the balance between ‘individual’ and ‘collaborative’ learning, the mapping of the activities but most importantly the building of a community between my learners and encouraging them to reflect and question their own learning process. While it seems overly sophisticated, the realization of any change through learning results in a feeling of fulfillment and the empowerment of the learner, on one hand, and the transformation of the tutor/trainer into a different and greater role.

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References: Cornelius-White, J. H. D., & Harbaugh, A. P. (2009). Learner-centered instruction: Building relationships for student success. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Easton, Susan E. (2003). Clarifying the Instructor’s Role in Online Distance Learning.

In

Communication

Education.

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2,

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87-105.

DOI:10.1080/03634520302470 Ferreday, D. J., & Hodgson, V. E. (2008). The tyranny of participation and collaborating

in

networked

learning.

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from

http://www.networkedlearningconference.org.uk/past/nlc2008/abstracts/PDFs/Hodgs on_640-647.pdf​ [accessed on 6 May 2015] Freire, Paulo. (2000) Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York : Continuum Kirkwood, Adrian and Price, Linda (2014). Technology-enhanced learning and teaching in higher education: what is ‘enhanced’ and how do we know? A critical literature review. Learning, Media and Technology, 39(1) pp. 6–36. Retrieved from http://oro.open.ac.uk/36675/1/TEL%20in%20Higher%20Education-What%20is%20e nhanced%20and%20how%20do%20we%20know.pdf Mezirow, J. (2000). Developing Concepts of Transformative Learning: "Learning To Think Like an Adult: Core Concepts of Transformation Theory" In Mezirow, J. (Ed.) Learning as Transformation: Critical Perspectives on a Theory in Progress. San Francisco,CA : The Jossey­Bass Higher and Adult Education Series.

Motteram, G. & Forrester, G. (2005) Becoming an online distance learner: what can be learned from students' experiences of induction to distance programmes?

Distance Education, 26, 3, 281­298.

Rice, R. (1993), Media Appropriateness: Using Social Presence Theory to Compare Traditional and New Organizational Media, Human Communications Research, Vol.19 No.4, pp.451­484.

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Sfard, A. (1998), On two metaphors for learning and the dangers for choosing just one, Educational Researcher, Vol. 27, No. 2 (March 1998), American Educational Research

Association.

[online]

Retrived

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http://edr.sagepub.com/content/27/2/4.abstract​ [accessed on 20 October 2015] Thorpe, M. (2002). Rethinking Learner Support: the challenge of collaborative online learning.

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http://www.c3l.uni-oldenburg.de/cde/support/readings/thorpe02.pdf [Accessed on 20 October 2015).

Vygotsky, L. (1978). Mind in society: the development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge, MA

Vicky Papageorgiou is a foreign language teacher (English, Italian, Greek) with approximately 20 years of experience with mainly adult learners. For over 15 years she has been preparing students for English language exams of various exam boards. She holds an MA in Education (Open Univ. of Cyprus) and an MA in Art History (Goldsmiths College, UK) and she has recently completed her PGCE in Technology Enhanced Learning at University of Wales Trinity Saint David. She studied in Greece, Italy and the UK but also participated in an international project for the McLuhan program in Culture and Technology for the University of Toronto, Canada. Her fields of interest are ESL and Art, Educational technology, critical thinking, use of video. She is currently based in Thessaloniki (Greece) working as an English instructor at AMC College for the past 6 years, preparing students for IELTS, teaching ESP and General English. She is a member of the ELTA Serbia Editorial team.

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My name’s Bond, James Bond!

Zorica Đukić, Secondary School of Pharmacy and Physiotherapy, Belgrade, Serbia Keywords:​ own language activities, translations, free online dictionaries, Google Translate

Introduction: In November 2015, an international group of teachers enjoyed a great month of learning with the iTDi team (​ International Teacher Development Institute).​ and Philip Kerr, the mentor. As the final project for the excellent course “Rethinking the Other Language(s) in the English Language Classroom“, teachers/students were asked to submit a lesson plan with some of their own language activities included. The lesson, based on the reading activity from Headway Pre-intermediate with some of Philip Kerr's brilliant ideas incorporated soon after one of his live sessions, went really well.

Level:​ A2/B1 Time:​ 45 minutes Language objectives: ●

To raise students’ awareness and develop their understanding of learning tools that are available to them (e.g. free online bilingual or bilingualized dictionaries, and automatic translation software such as Google Translate)

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to introduce some own language activities suitable for learning a foreign language

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to expose students to adapted extract from the James Bond spy story, “The Man with the Golden Gun“, by Ian Fleming

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to introduce new vocabulary

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to practise speaking and recycle the Past Simple and Past Continuous Tenses

Materials: Copy a short paragraph (about 100-120 words) from the text, and paste it into Google Translate. Translate it into your own language. Print enough copies for the students. Prepare the reverse translation of the same paragraph in English as well. Write down jumbled translations of a few new words from the text on the flip chart (in advance).

Step 1​ (5 minutes)

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Write down the name James Bond on the board. Give students some time to decide in pairs what they know about him before eliciting their ideas. Note down some of the suggestions given in feedback. Encourage students with some new words: fights, beautiful women, special effects, car chases, cool, handsome, masculine.

Step 2​ (5 minutes) Invite students to look at the film posters in the coursebook and say if they have seen any.

You may ask about the main actors that the posters show. Ask students to compare the titles of the films in their own language to the original ones. Find out if they are similar, even direct translations, or entirely different. Introduce the concept of a “good translation“, which is very rarely literal, and the importance of understanding the message.

Step 3​ (15 minutes) Refer students’ attention on the pictures of the story in the coursebook and invite them to predict the plot. Then tell them to check their predictions by scanning the extract and underlying words they are not familiar with. Meanwhile, have jumbled translations of the new words written on the flip chart. When students finish reading, ask them to find the equivalents of their underlined words on the flip chart. Invite a volunteer to add the English match next to the words in their own language.

Ask students if their predictions were right. Elicit a few sentences from the class with the description of what is happening in the story.

Step 4​ (15 minutes) Give each student a piece of paper with the translated paragraph into their own language.

Ask them to read it silently and tell you what it is. Very soon they start laughing, and the majority will guess correctly that the source is Google Translate because they are familiar with the app. Focus their attention on the mistakes that are made. Philip Kerr suggests that the teacher reads it aloud in a humorous way, with gestures and tone of voice, in order to highlight the mistakes. Point out that it is easy for us to spot the errors because it is our mother tongue and that it is not the same with translations in English.

Give students a piece of paper with the reverse translation. Get them to open their coursebooks and compare it with the original. Ask them to work in pairs, evaluate the translation and say what kind of errors they notice. They might report the following: mistakes in the word order, tenses, prepositions, punctuation, articles, object pronouns, phrasal verbs,

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idiomatic expressions, words with more than one meaning, rare words, informal or formal style.

Point out that IT has been constantly changing. Although it can be dangerous to rely on translations of this kind, it is worth exploring the possibilities since translation apps have been developing as well. In search of meaning and understanding of the message, it is definitely better to use them than not, but we should be extremely careful and critical.

Step 5​ ( 5 minutes) For their homework ask students to translate another paragraph from the text (they may use Google Translate or any other bilingual dictionary) but they have to write the best translation in their own language on a piece of paper. Next time just collect the homework and wait for a few lessons before you give them their own language versions to translate back into English.

Handouts: Headway Pre­intermediate, “The Man with the Golden Gun“ ­ original At 3.30 he was dreaming, not very peacefully, of three black-coated men with red eyes and angry white teeth. Suddenly, he woke up. He listened. There was a noise. It was coming from the window. Someone was moving behind the curtain. James Bond took his gun from under the pillow, got quietly out of bed, and crept slowly along the wall towards the window.

Someone was breathing heavily behind the curtain. Bond pulled it back with one quick movement. Golden hair shone in the moonlight. "Mary Goodnight!" Bond cursed. "What the hell are you doing here?"

Google Translate into your own language У 3.30 је сањао, не баш мирно, три црне обложене људи са црвеним очима и љут белих зуба. Одједном, он се пробудио. Слушао. Било је бука. То је из прозора. Неко се кретао иза завесе. Џејмс Бонд је пиштољ испод јастука, добио тихо из кревета, и увукла се полако дуж зида према прозору. Неко је тешко дисао иза завесе. Бонд га повукли са једном брзо кретање. Златна коса сија на месечини. "Мери Лаку ноћ!" Бонд проклет. "Шта радиш овде?"

Google Translate – reverse translation At 3.30 he dreamed of, not just quiet, three Črnile coated with people with red eyes and angry white teeth. Suddenly, he woke up. He listened. It's the noise. It's out the window.

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Someone was moving behind the curtain. James Bond pistol under his pillow, quietly got out of bed, and crept slowly along the wall toward the window. Someone was breathing hard behind the scenes. Bond pulled him with one quick motion. Golden hair shining in the moonlight. "Mary Goodnight!" Bond cursed. "What are you doing here?"

***** Zorica Đukić has been teaching English ​ as a Foreign Language (EFL) for about 30 years,

having taught students from 5 to 75 years of age. Currently, she is working at the School

of Pharmacy and Physiotherapy in Belgrade with ​ teenagers, the age group she finds most challenging. Having taught approximately 4000 students in her career, she still remains passionate and enthusiastic about her job.

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“A Taste of 21st Century Teaching”, ELTA conference report Sanja Tasić, Primary School ‘Jovan Aranđelović’, Crvena Reka and Primary School ‘Ljupče Španac’, Bela Palanka

Keywords​ : ELTA conference, report, RELO, new technologies, sharing experiences

ELTA conference 2015 was beneficial for me in many ways. Professionally, it meant a lot of new ideas to think about and many new activities to try out when I go back into the classroom.

Personally, it meant meeting some dear colleagues again, and a wonderful feeling of belonging to the community of people who love their job and are ready to develop professionally.

Receiving sponsorship from the Regional English Language Office for attending this conference also included my obligation to hold a presentation about it at my school. This was quite a challenge, as Primary School ‘Jovan Arandjelovic’ in Crvena Reka is a small school where there is only one more English teacher. I decided to figure out what it is that I learnt at the conference that is useful for teachers of all subjects. And it appeared to be quite a lot.

I held my presentation in June, when the school year was over, so almost all teachers came. I talked about plenaries and sessions in chronological order, so I started with Deborah Healey's 'Intelligent Use of Technology in the Classroom.' Together with many useful links, I shared with my colleagues an idea that although we live in the Internet era and most of our students use information technologies, they very rarely know how to use them to improve their learning. We also agreed that we, the teachers, need to acquire a higher level of knowledge about modern technologies, constantly work on improving it, and learn new things. We talked about the possibilities of using the IT classroom more, and the ways to deal with possible issues.

The next plenary at the conference was Rob Dean's 'Conventional wisdom or complete madness? Questioning common beliefs in ELT methodology'. English teachers often stick to the

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widely accepted principles: teachers should never use students' mother tongue, students shouldn't read aloud, write down anything or do written assignments in class, but this presentation suggests considering whether these principles are at all times wise. For teachers of other subjects, I gave the task to think of common beliefs in methodologies of their subjects and think about whether there are some cases when it could be better to disregard them.

George M. Chinnery and Gergo Santha's session '#What’s trending? #ELT' provoked a discussion both at the ELTA conference and at my presentation. The question was: If you had $50.000 to spend on improving education, what would you spend it on? Ideas were various, but no one was sure which ones were the best. It's definitely worth giving a thought.

Ivana Banković's session 'Reader’s Theatre' was useful for all language and class teachers.

Asking students to read from a script rather than memorize the text of a play was taken with approval, as it lowers the anxiety some students might experience.

The second conference day started with Hugh Dellar's plenary 'Technology and principles in language teaching'. At the presentation at my school, my colleagues loved the following ideas: ‘Using tech is not the same as good teaching’ and ‘Ask yourself if a non-tech way may better’, something we often tend to forget.

The session that I attended afterwards was Jasmina Sazdovska’s ‘DIY Online Materials’. She suggested two ways of using technology in the classroom: to support existing materials or use DIY complete lessons, stressing the importance of a careful selection of materials that can be found online. She also gave a very good example of how different activities can be drawn from a single YouTube video.

The activities at her presentation were engaging and motivating, and most of them can be applied in teaching any subject. I shared some useful links with my colleagues as well: http://www.cartoonistgroup.com/search/advsearch.php​ for using cartoons, http://www.wordle.net/create​ for making word clouds and http://worksheets.theteacherscorner.net/make-your-own/crossword/​ for making crossword puzzles.

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Paul Dummett’s plenary ‘The power of the image’ was on the reasons why we should use pictures: to elicit an emotional response, engage and interest, support understanding of discourse, extend knowledge of the world, stimulate discussion, and make learning last.

Biljana Radić Bojanić’s plenary ‘Developing digital literacies in the English language classroom: a critical view from Serbia’ raised some very important questions when it comes to using technology: not all schools are equipped with computers, not all schools offer constant and free access to computers for their students, not all schools offer free Internet access to their students. Also, not all families can afford a computer or have reliable Internet connection. Other important issues are internet safety, children playing games to kill time and attitudes towards technology found in the students’ homes.

I chose to attend sessions entitled ‘Roma Culture in ELT: Towards an inclusive classroom’ and ‘Teaching multi-grade classes at the beginning of your career’ because they coincide with my teaching situation. In both sessions, and also at my presentation, we discussed what could be the benefits and what could be some drawbacks of these situations. Exchanging experiences is of crucial importance here, as we can help one another in order to be more successful in dealing with some issues that may arise in teaching in multi­cultural or multi­grade classrooms.

Nathan William Meyer’s ‘How to educate today’s students? Make them teachers!’ suggests how to use flipped classroom effectively, because independent learning promotes: concept interaction, sourcing and retrieval of information, analysis of sources for credibility, cross referencing skills and active, empowered learning.

The last plenary, Rakesh Bhanot’s ‘The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to ELT-some lessons learnt from 42 years in the profession’ was the proper closing of the conference, making us think how to apply what we learnt in those two days, and we did learn a lot.

I am sure that all English language teachers who attended this conference can hardly wait for the next one, to be involved in a unique experience of learning, sharing and contemplating on some thought­provoking questions that every ELTA conference brings.

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*****

Sanja Tasić ​ has been an EFL teacher for twelve years, a teacher trainer for two, and she has

recently become an ELTA regional coordinator. She graduated from the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Nis, Serbia. She works at ​ Primary School ‘Jovan Aranđelović’, Crvena Reka and ​ Primary School ‘Ljupče Španac’, Bela Palanka​ . She is particularly interested in teaching

young learners and applying ICT in class.

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The Who Dunnit Quiz Svetlana Gavrilović, Užice Grammar School, Užice, Serbia

Keywords​ : quiz, crime stories, reading, fun

th The fact that students of Užice Grammar School love quizzes was confirmed on 25​ November

2015 when sixty-nine of them (twenty-three teams) took part in yet another one. It was called ‘Who Dunnit?’ and based on eight short crime stories that everybody had to read before the competition. We made a selection of both classic and contemporary crime stories, which included: ​ The Tell­Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe, ​ Accident ​

by Agatha Christie, ​ Lamb to the

Slaughter by Roald Dahl, ​ The Case of Lady Sannox by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, ​ The Hands of Mr Ottermole by Thomas Burke, ​ Eyewitness by Ed McBain, ​ Impersonating Elvis by Polly Nelson

and ​ Death by Scrabble by Charlie Fish. The competition itself consisted of eight elimination games, which was an unpopular but necessary requirement since we had a full house at the school auditorium.

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During the exciting two-hour contest, the teams, eager to win, moved up and down the scoreboard, helping themselves all the time to home-made cookies, popcorn and Coca-Cola, to improve their performance, of course. In the end, the fourth-graders won, with a team of second-graders and a team of third-graders as the runners-up. For the umpteenth time, the sponsors of our quiz were The English Book and Pearson.

Last but not least, apart from the obvious fun element of the competition, the most important thing about it is the fact that students were made to read (there were about forty pages of good literature) and think about something that was not Facebook, Instagram or mobile phones.

‫٭٭٭٭٭‬

Svetlana Gavrilović has been teaching English for over twenty years now. She is currently working in Užice Grammar School.

‫٭‬I certify that I have the right to publish these photos.

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Seminars­ workshops­ Building the Bridges between Languages via Literature Ana Štrbac, Students’ Cultural Centre, Kragujevac; Vladimir Perić, Secondary Music School “Dr. Miloje Milojević”, Kragujevac

Keywords​ : workshops, CLIL, literature

The Students’ Cultural Centre - Kragujevac and the Secondary Music school “Dr. Miloje Milojević” from Kragujevac started their cooperation with the idea to follow the proposed recommendations of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological development – which proposed a cooperation between institutions of primary and secondary education and (cultural) institutions for the mutual and communal good (in this case the cooperation would be between the Students’ Cultural Centre _ Kragujevac - and the Secondary Music School “Dr. Miloje Milojević” from Kragujevac and Radio Kragujevac­ local radio station).

We decided to cooperate in the fields of social sciences (The English language, the Serbian language)- since we have the resources for that (the library at the Students’ Cultural Centre - with more than 2500 books in English, Serbian, German, Spanish…language courses and ESOL exams preparations books which we at Student`s Cultural Centre offer, also cultural events that we can present and offer regularly - literature workshops, art gallery exhibitions, folklore and drama club…)

On the other hand, since these are the students of Secondary Music School, we decided to offer them some interesting multimedia resources– audio, visual elements that would enrich their musical education and language experience.

We were guided by the idea of integrated learning method (CLIL) - learning through a comparative analysis of the literature elements in the two languages, with the similarities and differences clearly defined. We also wanted to show that a cooperation between teachers of different subjects is valuable and desirable, with its utmost effect - the students’ benefit.

Learning about the literature and teaching literature not only in our mother tongue , eg. the

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Serbian language but in the English language as well, enhances the students’ reception and acquisition of the target language (numerous theoretical researches prove that a language is best learned through reading novels, texts, and poetry in the language).

On the other hand, the elements of the world and society we live in could not be disregarded - multimedia presented in different forms and shapes - artists inspired by the famous literary works are also mentioned here (painters, directors, music bands, movies…).

The themes chosen were obligatory literature units, prescribed by the curriculum of the Serbian language and literature, but these themes were also interesting for the subject - the English language and literature because of the authors (Poe, Milton, Shakespeare).

Up until now, we have organise seven literature workshops (in a two-year time period) at the Students’ Cultural Centre premises, at the American Corner Kragujevac, at British Council, Belgrade, and British Corner, National library Kragujevac.

The initial idea to have monthly workshops covering certain literature themes was fully realized.

After each presentation, the students who participated (teenagers, aged 15 - 17 - first, second and third graders) had the opportunity to drink tea - in accordance with the English tea drinking tradition. They were informed about the resources of the Students’ Cultural Centre (library, language courses, literature workshops, drama and folklore clubs…).

The events – workshops were covered by social media groups - SKCs facebook page, FILUM facebook page, official SKCs website. ​ ( http://www.skckg.com/wsw/index.php?p=171).

Also, we think that the Project is valuable because it shows the good practice examples - the cooperation between institutions, the students’ involvement and practical application of the gained knowledge.

The seminars target English language and Serbian language teachers, as well as all others who might be interested in integrated learning, eg. Integration and interaction between subjects with the best possible outcome. The final aim is to show the examples of good practice to the teachers, to give them ideas, to encourage them to try similar activities - to encourage a positive

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can do ​ attitude. As a special task, at the conclusion of each seminar, there will be a task given

to teachers - a theme unit from their subject curriculum - the idea how that can be presented in multimedia and which proposed institutions might be included in their project.

The workshops were and are realized by : Ana Štrbac​ , MA English language teacher (Students’ Cultural Centre) Vladimir Perić​ , PhD Serbian language teacher (Secondary Music School “Dr. Miloje Milojević”, Kragujevac) Slavica Dimitrovska​ , English language teacher (Secondary Music School “Dr. Miloje Milojević”, Kragujevac) Nataša Matić​ , announcer and author at Radio Kragujevac, local radio station Dina Vojvodić​ , musicologist

Seminar – Correlation workshop 1- Intertextual surrounding of the poem - ​ The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe (March 23rd 2014)

The presentation was held at the Students’ Cultural Centre under the working title - Intertextual surroundings of the poem - ​ The Raven ​

by Edgar Allan Poe. The subject was presented in a

multimedia - prezi presentation in English (Romanticism and Gothic literature, characteristics of the Gothic literature in America, famous works of gothic literature, the raven - as a symbol through centuries and personal associations, raven-word family definition, the poem - in English - rhyme scheme and the sound and rhythm of the poem (examples with stressed and unstressed syllables), the poem-theme and summary, the raven - as a source for video and audio inspiration – music cover by the rock group “The Alan Parsons Project” and the gothic band “Omnia”, a video adaptation used at American drama colleges by Peter Bradley).

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At the final part of the class, the students had the task to find audio elements in the poem, gothic elements and a motive of a dead beloved one in the poetry of Edgar Allan Poe and in poetry of Serbian poets of romanticism ­ Đura Jakšić, Laza Kostić and Jovan Jovanović Zmaj The purpose of the workshop was building the bridge between two languages- English and Serbian via common and different elements in literature and poetry, specifically gothic and literature of romanticism of two countries.

The students were of the third grade level, with their 11th year of learning English, so their performance in total was good. They could easily interact in English - ask questions, give answers, analyze, compare - the general impressions both from the teachers` sides and students were highly positive and motivational for further studying and researching of the subject. The students especially stressed the idea that this kind of presenting and teaching gave them

insight into the subject from various perspectives which definitely enriched their

experience.

The students were previously prepared by the Serbian language teacher, who instructed them giving the basics regarding the Romantic movement in literature, explaining the gothic elements with a special metric analysis (rhyme scheme) of the poem The Raven and a mutual English and Serbian motive in literature- a motive of a dead beloved, both with the Serbian poets and American ones (differences, similarities).

The prezi presentation, prepared by the English language teacher, presented to students can be found at the following link : https://prezi.com/zmbkoz9wstfd/edgar-allan-poe-the-raven/

Correlation workshop 2 ​ ­ Radio show ­ “Književna partitura”` (Literature overview)

As a consequence – in order to apply their knowledge practically, the students had the task to investigate the subject – the "Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe - on their own and to present their findings and create a sequel of a radio show - “Književna partitura” at a local radio station. This

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was completely instructed and directed by the Serbian language teacher, with the professional assistance of the announcer of the show ­ Ms. Nataša Matić.

"Književna partitura" is a radio show which sublimes literature and music - therefore the metaphor in its name. Students research links between music and literature, between writers and composers, e.g. pastorale, and very often the connection between so-called “high” (classical) art and popular art is presented in the show. The benefit for the students is great - along with the gaining skills in a publicist functional style, they practice and improve their diction actively through the form of speaking practice.

The complete radio show, realized and created by 2nd grade students (Music school “Dr. Miloje Milojević”) Kragujevac, can be found at the following link: https://soundcloud.com/ana-milivojevic-strbac/the-raven-radionica-2-gavran-knjizevna-partiturano-4​ . ***** Ana Štrbac ​ - MA in English language and literature. (English language teacher and Sci/tech

translator). 15 years of practice in teaching English and translating various conference papers (medicine, economics, geography). Mainly teaching adults and teenagers - General English, ESP, Business English. Attendance at various national and international workshops and seminars for English language teachers. Experience in online teaching and ESOL exams preparations. English language teacher at Students’ Cultural Centre in Kragujevac.

​ Vladimir Perić graduated in 1999 from the Faculty of Philosophy in Novi Sad (Serbian language and literature department). He was the chief editor of the periodicals “Stanje Stvari” (Novi Sad, 1996-2001), “Nasleđe” (Kragujevac, 2009) (M51), and from 2013 he is chief editor in the national literature periodical “Koraci” (M53). He got his PhD in literature in 2013 at the Faculty of Philology and Arts in Kragujevac. He is a Serbian language and literature teacher at the Secondary Music School “Dr. Miloje Milojević” in Kragujevac, and with his students he realizes weekly shows ­ “Književna partitura” at local radio station ­ Radio Kragujevac.

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FutureLearn for the future Nikola Bojčić, II­5, student at Secondary School of Economics and Trade, Vranje

There are many English language courses where we can learn the language, speak it without any obstacles, learn grammar, but there is one to which I really paid attention. It is an English language course on the FutureLearn platform, opened for 6 weeks. During that time I learned a lot of things for free. I worked in the following way: 1. Every day I would spend 1 hour on the platform and it was enough to learn about British culture and language.

2. The first week I went with active and passive sentences and this is the basis for further work. We talked about the English language throughout the world and all of us sent our comments to Martin, the admin.

3. We continued with talking about music, listened to the SoCo music, doing grammar exercises.

4. We talked about the UK, the bright state in the west, about its climate, industry, tourism and density of national parks, the British books and poets.

5. We learned about Shakespeare, the famous Globe Theatre in London.

6. The communication is the biggest problem of our time, we have worked on it and did exercises for better conversation and I learned about comparative and superlative forms in English.

7. We continued on global pollution of the world, biodiversity and ecological communities in Britain, we talked about companies, industries and Richard Branson, their best­known businessman and investor.

8. I learned about the most famous national parks of England's Lake District.

9. Besides famous Shakespeare, I have learned about many more British poets, and one of them was Dylan Thomas, Welsh poet.

10. I learned a lot about British literature and archives throughout the history of famous battles and victories of the British people.

11. Finally, I learned about the Wee Man sculpture, the Eden project, a device that uses bones for mobile phones and MP3 players, its teeth being a computer mouse, with its ears made of satellite dishes and the brain made of computer components.

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Although I knew a lot of things about Britain, after a few days I learned so much more regarding its culture, ethnicities, language, factories and cultural sites. The aim of this course is to learn about British culture and their way of life. My impressions are that this is one of the better courses in English, because you need only 1-2 hours a day, without spending money. It costs nothing and gives good results. Try it and see for yourselves!

Learning Buddies Nikola Bojčić, II­5, student at Secondary School of Economics and Trade, Vranje

The most common problem with learning a foreign language is verbal communication. People are able to understand what others say, but when it's their turn to speak, they tend to make a lot of grammar and vocabulary mistakes.

To speak English well, it takes a strong will, work and a little luck. I had theoretical knowledge, knew all tenses, knew when they were used, but when I had to apply them in practice – disaster! I did not know how to start a sentence without being confused. I started first with ''written communication" and recorded all my thoughts in a notebook, but after two months of such practice, I thought: "Why don't I speak the way I write?" So I began.

In the beginning, I found speaking hard, but I did not bother to get better. I thought knowing grammar was enough. Then I started communicating with a friend from school on social networks out of boredom, but after a few weeks my speech significantly improved. I did not care about grammar accuracy anymore, it was important only to communicate my ideas. We talked about everyday topics. If she asked me something, I answered in English, not caring about the errors I made. We were constantly practicing, trying to be positive and not let mistakes affect our confidence.

The aim of such practice was to improve our language in everyday situations and in the business environment. When we learn using this kind of method, it is less important to think about grammar and errors, it is more important to feel relaxed and

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confident. Grammar rules are a big deal for school tests, but meaningless in this conversation.

What I have learned using such a method of learning English language is the following: -to express myself in English without any interference freely, clearly and precisely. ­to express my thoughts and ideas fluently.

For those who want to improve their English, the most efficient method is finding a learning buddy, strong will and determination to succeed.

STUDENT TIP: PEER LEARNING

Doroteja Vukašinović, II­5, student at Secondary School of Economics and Trade, Vranje

My friend Nikola attended a course on the Future Learn and started reading some downloadable papers on Academia. He wanted to improve his English but since that wasn't enough; he asked me if I could practice English with him on social networks during our summer break. We would decide on a topic and then think of the words and ways to express ourselves on a given topic. He says he has learned new words and improved usage of tenses. Now I can say that he has improved his knowledge and I have benefited as well – I got to practice and tutor someone at the same time. I think that everyone can set some time for such activities and try this, because you can only benefit and lose nothing. You don't waste your time. If you want to improve your English this is the right way for you. It pays off and you can learn more than you already know.

***** Nikola Bojčić and ​ Doroteja Vukašinović both attend the Secondary School of

Economics and Trade in Vranje. They are both in the second grade. When they grow up, they want to become lawyers. Nikola is rational and over-achiever. Dora is fun and creative. They both like English and learning in an unusual way. Together they make a great combo.

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Their English teacher is Tatjana Jancić.

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​ ELTA Newsletter​ January – February 2016

UPCOMING EVENTS

● ● ● ● ●

Conferences Seminars / Trainings Competitions Summer Camps Webinars

CONFERENCES

* Call for papers still open for some of the conferences, check it out

rd​ ✓ 23​ IATEFL Slovenia Conference

Date: 3­6 march 2016 Place: Terme Topolšica For more, follow the link​ : ​ IATEFL Slovenia

✓ TESOL 2016 – International Convention & English Language Expo – Reflecting Forward Date: 5­8 April, 2016 Place: Baltimore, Maryland, USA For more, follow the link​ : ​ TESOL 2016

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​ ELTA Newsletter​ January – February 2016

th​ ✓ 24​ Annual HUPE Conference

Date: 8­10 April 2016 Place: Hotel Ivan ­ Solaris Beach Resort Šibenik, Croatia For more, follow the link​ : ​ HUPE Conference 2016.

✓ IATEFL Birmingham 2016 Date: ​ 13th­16th April 2016 Place:​ I​ CC​ , Broad Street, Birmingham, B1 2EA For more, follow the link​ : ​ IATEFL Annual­conference Birmingham­2016

th​ ✓ 14​ ELTA Serbia Conference – ​ One Child, One Teacher, One Book, One Pen can Change the World

Date: 20­21 May 2016 Place: Singidunum University Belgrade For more, follow the link: ​ ELTA Conference

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​ ELTA Newsletter​ January – February 2016

SEMINARS / TRAININGS

✓ Creativity in the English Language Classroom (1 day seminars in 15 towns in Serbia)

Date: November 2015 – February 2016 Place: Velika Plana, Beograd, Sremska Mitrovica, , Kruševac , Užice, Valjevo, Pirot, Kragujevac, Kikinda, Šabac, Leskovac, Novi Sad, Sombor, Vranje For more, follow the link​ : ​ Creativity

✓ Towards Better Understanding 8 Date: autumn 2015 ­ spring 2016 Place: 16 towns in Serbia For more, follow the link: ​ TBU

✓ On­line courses – International Teacher Development Institute For more, follow the link: ​ iTDi.pro

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​ ELTA Newsletter​ January – February 2016

COMPETITIONS

For students

✓ HIPPO Competition Registration: online Registration ends: 6.02.2016.

For more, follow the link​ : ​ HIPPO

SUMMER CAMPS

✓ SOuL Camps for Teachers Dates: ​ July 31st – August 7th 2016 and 11th – 18th August 2016 Places: ​ Penzión Roh, Lubina, Stará Turá and Eco­Center “Radulovački”, Sremski Karlovci, Serbia For more, follow the link​ : ​ SOuL Camps

✓ SOL Programmes for Teachers in Devon

Date: Summer 2016 Place: Devon, UK For more, follow the link​ : ​ SOL Pragrammes

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​ ELTA Newsletter​ January – February 2016

✓ SOL Programmes for Students Date: Summer 2016 Place: Devon, UK For more, follow the link:​ SOL Programmes

WEBINARS

✓ Macmillan webinars Macmillan webinars

✓ OUP webinars OUP webinars

✓ SEETA Webinars SEETA Webinars

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