English Teaching Professional Number 90 2014-01

Issue 90
January
2014
The Leading Practical Magazine For English Language Teachers Worldwide
Pronunciation matters
Robin Walker
Take ve
Chaz Pugliese
Get on board
Louise Guyett
Seven into one

Olga Makinina
practical methodology
fresh ideas & innovations
classroom resources
new technology
teacher development
tips & techniques
photocopiable materials
competitions & reviews
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1
Contents MAIN FEATURE EAP
PRONUNCIATION MATTERS 4 REINVENTING THE INVENTIVE 44

Robin Walker emphasises the importance David Heatheld pays homage to Mario Rinvolucri
of intelligibility by adapting his ideas for academic writing
FEATURES TEACHER DEVELOPMENT
BEYOND THE TASK 8 SIGNIFICANT OTHERS 55

James Pengelley reveals why repetition rules Mark Krzanowski explains what a SIG
can do for you
TAKE FIVE 12
Chaz Pugliese interviews Adrian Underhill MOTIVATIONAL MANTRAS 57
Douglas Williams suggests ten strategies
PREPARING STUDENTS FOR EXAMS 2 13 to perk you up
Eva Modr paves the way for the C & G ISESOL
DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT WITH 16 TECHNOLOGY

YOUR COURSEBOOK 3
Rachael Roberts considers comprehension exercises GET ON BOARD 58
Louise Guyett offers three pronunciation activities
STARTING A CRITICAL DIALOGUE 18 for the IWB
Valerie Sartor demonstrates creative use of texts
from different genres FIVE THINGS YOU ALWAYS WANTED 61
TO KNOW ABOUT: IWBs
OVER THE WALL 25 Nicky Hockly weighs up the worth
Alan Maley warns of impending doom of the interactive whiteboard
MAKING THE MOST OF MELODY 29 WEBWATCHER 63

Lesley Lanir mixes music and language Russell Stannard embraces e-portfolios
SEVEN INTO ONE 34

Olga Makinina prompts her students to plan a trip
REGULAR FEATURES
TEXT MESSAGES 2 46 IT WORKS IN PRACTICE 38
Nick Dall points out practical ideas for
teaching texting
LANGUAGE LOG 40
John Potts
DO WE NEED TO KNOW THIS? 51
Emilia Siravo appreciates the authenticity of
REVIEWS 42
corpus language
SCRAPBOOK 48
TEACHING YOUNG LEARNERS TALKBACK! 53
HOW DOES YOUR GARDEN GROW? 22 COMPETITIONS 41, 64

Merve Oaz delights in the diversity of her students
Includes materials designed to photocopy
www.etprofessional.com ENGLISH TEACHING professional Issue 90 January 2014 1

Editorial
I
would like to thank all those readers who took part in in which he asks ve questions to people in different areas
our recent survey. Your replies to the questions made of ELT, beginning with Adrian Underhill. James Pengelley
fascinating and instructive reading, and I have compiled believes everything should be done twice; Louise Guyett
quite a long list of the topics that you would like to see has devised three interactive pronunciation activities;
addressed in future issues of ETp. Im pleased to say that I Douglas Williams has ten mantras to keep teachers
have articles waiting in the wings on many of these topics, motivated; and Olga Makinina develops a series of lessons
and these will appear in the year ahead. Pronunciation to appeal to seven different types of learners.
came high on many peoples wish-lists, so they will no
Finally, Alan Maley thinks our days are numbered and gives
doubt be pleased to see a new series on the subject by
his choice of books to read to help us as we rush headlong
Robin Walker, beginning in this issue with our main feature
towards disaster.
Pronunciation matters.
In our poll of favourite sections of ETp, It Works in Practice Dont forget that as a subscriber to ETp, you
came out top yet again. I am often short of items to put on have access to the full content of our website
this spread, and it is clear that readers really do appreciate at www.etprofessional.com, where you can nd
quick ideas which they can implement immediately and videos, blogs, a bookshop with discount deals
which they know will work because they have been and a complete archive of articles from previous
submitted by fellow professionals. So why not get in touch issues of the magazine.
with something that has worked for you?
I will also be trying to increase the number of photocopiable
materials that we provide, as the survey revealed that these
are particularly valued. Beginning in this issue, we have a
photocopiable worksheet based on the Scrapbook, and we
have plans for a new series of articles with worksheets to
begin in March. Helena Gomm
Editor
Elsewhere in the magazine, you will nd that numbers
[email protected]
feature quite prominently. Chaz Pugliese starts a new series
Rayford House, School Road, Hove BN3 5HX, UK
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reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted without prior permission in writing from the publishers.
2 Issue 90 January 2014 ENGLISH TEACHING professional www.etprofessional.com

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M A I N F E AT U R E
Pronunciation
matters
I
Robin Walker argues f you ask students which areas of on many occasions. And the more I
learning English matter most, struggled to get words out of my mouth,
for more emphasis on a theyll inevitably include the less willing I was to try to do so.
pronunciation. If you ask teachers, In general, when learners nd a
neglected area. you get much the same response. But if word difcult to pronounce they avoid
you look more carefully at what actually using it. As teachers, we frequently
happens in the classroom, youll interpret this as limited vocabulary
discover that all too often pronunciation rather than poor pronunciation. I spent
is usually done on an ad-hoc basis, that over 20 years teaching English for
it is not usually programmed in the way tourism, and always asked my nal-year
that grammar or vocabulary are, and students to give a short presentation on
that it is quite often relegated to an tourism management as part of their
add-on activity for when there is time
in the class, or dropped altogether when
there isnt. Poor pronunciation
This is a sad state of affairs because can have a very
pronunciation matters, and it matters a
lot. In fact, rather than being peripheral serious effect
to learning English, it is absolutely
central to the learning process. Indeed,
on everything else
poor pronunciation can have a very we try to do in the
serious effect on everything else we try
to do in the English language classroom, English language
as we shall now see. classroom
1 The impact
oral assessment. At their level, the word
on speaking infrastructure is hard to avoid in a
The rst and most obvious impact of presentation like this, but for Spanish
poor pronunciation is on speaking. speakers of English it is also very hard
Saying a word or a name, only to be met to pronounce. Some of my students
by the blank stare of the listeners would go to considerable lengths to
incomprehension is immensely avoid the word in their presentations,
frustrating for learners. and initially I would complain of their
We know this, of course. Were limited vocabulary. Similarly, the word
teachers. But it is easy for us to forget usually is hard for many learners
just how serious the impact of poor because of the / / sound. The more
pronunciation is on our learners uency adept students wisely avoid usually
and condence, which is why we need altogether, preferring to say normally
something to jog our memories from instead. But once again, they are
time to time. This happened to me avoiding a word because of
recently when I was travelling in Poland. pronunciation problems.
My lack of condence in my Many learners also avoid grammar
pronunciation left me hopelessly dumb structures that they nd hard to

pronounce. A classic example of this is frees the brains processing power for process new data that arrives, which
third conditionals. These are not other aspects of listening. means that they lose the thread of the
conceptually difcult for most learners, At the level of full phrases, poor text as a whole.
and they dont cause too many problems pronunciation skills can mean that On identifying a student as having
with written practice exercises. But they listeners do not capture the signicance problems with listening, we often
are noticeably absent from most of specic patterns of sentence stress. prescribe additional extended listening
intermediate learners spoken English. For example, if we asked a group of work for that student. But unless the
This is usually because the contractions, students working on an exercise Whos underlying pronunciation problems are
vowel reductions and consonant clusters nished? (with the stress on nished ) we dealt with rst, this additional listening
in a sentence like If Id know about would expect the students who had work will only create further failure, and
English consonants, Idve learned completed the exercise to raise their will conrm the learners view that they
Chinese instead are actually very difcult hands. In contrast, if we were to ask dont understand spoken English.
to articulate. Faced with the signicant Who hasnt nished? with the stress on
pronunciation difculties of English hasnt, we would hope that the students 3 The impact
third conditionals, learners either avoid who were still working on the exercise
the structure altogether, or simplify it to would raise their hands.
on writing
things like If I know, I learn Chinese. If the impact of poor pronunciation on
Can we blame them? No. Can we help speaking and listening feels familiar to
them? Yes. Do they need more grammar Perhaps the most most English teachers, the idea that
exercises? No. Do they need help with signicant impact of pronunciation can impact negatively on
pronunciation? Yes. writing will probably come as a surprise.
poor pronunciation However, one of the major headaches
2 The impact for learners of English is the absence of
on listening occurs any clear, simple relationship between
on listening at the level of how words are spelt in English and how
The second obvious problem of poor they sound in speech.
pronunciation is its impact on listening. extended rather than In another of my Polish adventures,
The most immediately tangible issue micro-listening I had to travel to a city that was called
here is that learners either fail to identify Wooch, or at least that is the way it
the sounds, words or phrases of English, seemed to my inexpert ears. Try as I
or they confuse them with others. At the In my own experience, whenever I might, I couldnt see the name of that
level of individual sounds, for example, ask that second question, I inevitably see city on the indicator board at the station
poor recognition leads to confusion students raising their hands who have in Warsaw. This was hardly surprising in
between words that differ by only one nished the exercise. This would suggest retrospect, since the name I was looking
sound (minimal pairs). Classic examples that these students dont perceive the for was d z.
are tree and three, or hat, hut, hot and stress on hasnt, or that they perceive the My invented spelling (Wooch) was the
heart, but there are countless more. stress but fail to give it any product of my poor understanding of the
In the 80s and 90s, of course, we were communicative value. Either way, their soundspelling relationships in Polish.
told that learners would use context to raised hands tell me that they are That is to say, it was a problem of poor
solve any ambiguities between minimal wrongly constructing meaning around pronunciation skills. The same thing
pairs. More recently, however, research the main verb nished. That is to say, happens with students learning English,
has supported the need for learners to their poor pronunciation skills have and apart from the issue of missing
be able to distinguish clearly between impacted badly on their understanding trains, invented spellings make it
individual phonemes, either because, as of meaning at sentence level. impossible for learners to check new
Jennifer Jenkins asserts, lower-level However, perhaps the most words in a dictionary. Try looking up a
learners fail to make appropriate use of signicant impact of poor pronunciation word like photograph, for example, if you
contextual clues, or because, as John on listening occurs at the level of think it begins with an f. Find the word
Field points out, automatic recognition extended rather than micro-listening. city, if you think it begins with an s.
of individual sounds and whole words Faced with a long recording of one or In addition, invented spellings nd
even two minutes, say many learners their way into students written work
seem to switch off. As their teachers, we although, as teachers, we seldom see
Faced with the become aware of this when we see their pronunciation as the origin. Some of
signicant pronunciation eyes glaze over or their faces go blank. these invented spellings can create real
What is happening here is that because words that have a totally different
difculties of English of poor pronunciation skills, these meaning from the intended word. My
third conditionals, learners are having to use too much of Year 2 tourism students regularly
the processing power of their short-term described one of their regions most
learners either avoid memories in the recognition of prized sh dishes as Hake in crap
individual sounds or complete words in sauce. The most signicant difference
the structure altogether, the ow of speech. As a result, their between crab and crap is the longer
or simplify it short-term memories simply overload, vowel in crab. Spanish, however, does
and this in turn leaves them unable to not have the vowel length distinctions of

sound trace of that word as it is being
Pronunciation sent around the phonological loop can
suffer decay. Words that are subject to
Pronunciation: the heart
of the matter
matters decay are not sufciently well-processed

to be dealt with by the central executive
when they get back there (if they get
It should be obvious by now that I
rmly believe that pronunciation is not
just another aspect of learning English.
English and so, although I was saying back there at all), and so they cannot be Rather, it lies at the very heart of what
crab correctly in class, my students were sent off to the long-term memory for we do, and neglecting it can have very
perceiving crap, and this was carrying permanent storage. serious implications for our learners
through into their written work. The overall outcome of these events chances of making adequate progress in
Less embarrassing, perhaps, was the in the short-term memory is that after a all other areas. Weve seen in detail how
regular appearance of festival at the short while, the reader has no recollection this is true for each of the four language
beginning of a series of points in the of what they have just read. Too many skills, but similar arguments can be
for-and-against type essays my Year 3 words were lost in the phonological loop made for the impact of poor
students were required to produce: and failed to reach the long-term pronunciation on the teaching/learning
Festival, I want to talk about the memory. Because of this, the reader has of grammar and vocabulary. One recent
advantages of tourism. Festival, we need to go back to the beginning of the text grammar book, for example, includes a
to look at the history of tourism. Try as I and start again. As with listening, it is all CD of pronunciation exercises directly
might, I couldnt work out where they related to each of the grammar areas
had got this use of the word from. covered in it. Similarly, good
Eventually, I asked a group of students Recent research coursebooks and good ELT teaching
about it, only to be told that it was a shows that poor materials tie vocabulary work into
phrase I used constantly at the pronunciation practise.
beginning of my classes. The light went pronunciation has a
on I was saying rst of all, and they
were hearing festival.
very serious impact on
reading, especially for In future issues of ETp I will consider a
4 The impact number of different aspects of teaching
learners from beginner pronunciation, beginning with
on reading pronunciation for young learners, and
to intermediate level
Although we expect poor pronunciation going on to pronunciation for teenagers.
to impact negatively on speaking and I will then discuss what we can do with
listening, and we can soon see how it too easy for us, as teachers, to spot poor the learners mother-tongue
might impact on writing, many of readers and to try to help them by giving pronunciation in the English class, and
teachers Ive worked with initially nd it them additional reading activities. But nally take a critical look at some of the
hard to see any relationship between these wont be effective if we dont get to technology that is now available to help
pronunciation and reading. However, the root of the problem, which is poor learners with their pronunciation.
recent research shows that poor pronunciation. Hopefully, through these ve articles
pronunciation has a very serious impact ELT author and Oxford University but most importantly, through your
on reading, especially for learners from applied linguistics researcher, Catherine application of their contents we can
beginner to intermediate level. Walter, has worked on the problems of put pronunciation back into ELT
When we read a text, we process the L2 reading for some time now. She classrooms in a principled, meaningful
words on the page or screen in our surprised a lot of experienced teachers way.
brains short-term memory (sometimes with the conclusion to her talk on L2
also called the working memory). This reading at the 2008 IATEFL conference. Field, J Listening in the Language
processing is controlled by the central Later, in an article published in Speak Classroom CUP 2008
executive of the short-term memory, Out! (the newsletter of the IATEFL Jenkins, J The Phonology of English as an
which sends the words around a Pronunciation Special Interest Group) International Language OUP 2000
phonological loop in order to prepare she repeated her argument that Walter, C Teaching phonology for reading
comprehension Speak Out! 40 2009
them for their storage in the long-term everything we currently know about the
memory. As the words go around the way we read in a second language
suggests strongly that teaching phonology Robin Walker is a
phonological loop, we say them aloud teacher, trainer and
inside our heads. This is known as will help L2 learners to read better. In materials writer. He is
sub-vocalisation. the same article, she went on to say that editor of Speak Out! the
newsletter of the IATEFL
As you read this article, you are the sorts of activities that pronunciation- Pronunciation SIG, and
actually saying the words to yourself conscious teachers have been using for is the author of Teaching
the Pronunciation of
inside your head as part of the process of decades will be useful for developing L2 English as a Lingua
storing them. Because you are an expert reading comprehension skills: activities Franca, an OUP
teachers handbook.
user of English, this process is automatic like minimal pair recognition activities,
and completely efcient. However, activities for recognising stress patterns
research has shown that if we dont know and dictations of sentences containing
the correct pronunciation of a word, the confusable words. [email protected]

Are you looking to get noticed at
IATEFL?
We will, once again, be giving out the ever popular
ETp teacher resource bag from our stand at IATEFL.
We can include an item for your business or

organisation into this years bag.
As there are a limited number of items allowed in

the bag, please book early to avoid dissapointment.
For more information, or to book one of the

available slots, please call
Helena hughes on 01536 747333
or email [email protected]
IN THE CLASSROOM
Beyond
the task
T
James Pengelley ask-based Learning (TBL) has the students to negotiate meaning
become the main player in with their own resources.
explores the benets of recent methodological 3 The language needed to do the task is
strategies. It has formed the analysed, discussed and improved.
task repetition. basis of the current trend away from
form-driven approaches to teaching, as 4 The task is repeated, to allow an
it gives primary importance to the use opportunity for the students to
of language to achieve the develop monitoring skills.
communicative goals of a task, rather Provided the task itself is well-dened,
than merely to the production of a this is arguably a very good framework,
discrete number of correct forms. not just for TBL, but for an array of
Since its rise in popularity, there has teaching approaches that promote
been much comment on the importance uency ahead of accuracy and, in fact,
of task cycle repetition, in which an may have signicantly wider-reaching
initial task is followed by a noticing applications in the development of a
stage, or perhaps a more explicit more generalised framework that
language analysis stage, and then the promotes the development of
students are encouraged to perform an communicative competency.
identical, similar or parallel task
giving them an opportunity to Doing it again
implement, improve and practise the
same language. The argument here, as I have been developing a uency-then-
proposed by Peter Skehan, Scott accuracy routine using Community
Thornbury and Jane Willis, is that Language Learning (CLL) with my
completion of the rst task leads to current group of students. CLL is a
familiarity with meaning, which means student-centred approach based on
that when the students move on to the psychotherapy principles, with the
second, similar or identical task, they primary aim of reducing the anxiety
have more cognitive resources available associated with language learning, and
to devote to form manipulation and ultimately developing communicative
self-monitoring, and a greater long-term uency. A typical CLL lesson follows a
awareness of the linguistic forms needed chooserecordreect cycle.
to convey appropriate meaning more The students work in small groups
precisely. and decide on a topic they would like to
The fundamental features of this discuss. The conversation is recorded,
procedure may be summarised as utterance by utterance, with the students
follows: putting any questions they have to the
teacher, who immediately reformulates,
1 An authentic communicative task is
models, drills and encourages them
chosen. throughout the process. The class then
2 The teacher takes a back-seat role in reects on the strengths and weaknesses
the rst attempt at the task, allowing of their completion of the task; the

conversation is transcribed and
analysed, where appropriate. Feature Task 1 Task 2
This is where the traditional CLL
lesson stops the transcript and/or
context being the focus for more Discourse management
production or explicit form practice in Range
subsequent lessons. However, some
people, including Scott Thornbury, have Frequency of showing interest 2 6
suggested that recording the conversation
Accuracy
again after the language analysis stage,
so that the second attempt can be Inappropriacies of showing interest 7 1
compared with the rst, may have huge
benets for the students condence and Fluency
the development of desirable features of Average time per utterance 9.94 seconds 9.17 seconds
language production (particularly features
of effective discourse management). Total pauses 16 4
If the essence of the communicative Broken utterances 3 0
task is considered to be a stage in which
students are able to negotiate and create
Grammar
Recording a Range
conversation again after Present simple 18 18
the language analysis Future (going to) 1 1
stage, so that the Adverbs of degree 1 1
second attempt can be Subordination 0 0
compared with the rst, Coordination 2 7
may have huge benets Accuracy

Ratio of errors to total words 6 : 105 6 : 105
their own hypotheses about meaning
whether or not reformulation and input
from the teacher comes immediately and Phonological management
in the midst of, or following completion
of, the task it is plausible to Range
hypothesise that in order to maximise Frequency of effective intonation/stress 7 7
the benet of a uency-then-accuracy
approach, a repetition of the task cycle Accuracy
is necessary and conducive to improving Phonemic errors : total words 16 : 105 6 : 105
both uency and accuracy.
Catherine Doughty and Elizabeth Intonation errors : total clauses 6 : 18 3 : 18
Varela note that the use of reformulation Sentence stress errors : total sentences 17 : 8 7 : 10
or recasting in CLL may only inuence
the lesson in as far as providing a shift
of emphasis on the importance of
accuracy. However, I would argue that it formed the basis of my experimental the rst task as a dictation, and then
may instil a stronger sense of ownership practice for my DELTA Module 2 reected on, with relevant language
of errors in individual learners and assignment. highlighted. This language included use
develop monitoring skills if it occurs as of coordinating conjunctions and
Method effective intonation across sentences.
a part of the rst task (as opposed to
post-task) provided it is done in a The experiment was conducted with a The conversation was then re-recorded,
supportive and sensitive way. group of Colombian adult elementary and compared to the rst task according
students (in week six of a twelve-week to the grid above.
course) who were joined by the school It was predicted that, due to the
An experiment receptionist to make the numbers up to nature of CLL and the use of immediate
To test the effect of task repetition in a six. They were invited to choose a topic reformulation, structural complexity
uency-rst approach and to explore its they wished to discuss, which was then would not be a true reection of the
potential benets beyond the realm of recorded utterance by utterance. The benets of task repetition in CLL, as
TBL, I designed a CLL lesson, which dialogue was transcribed at the end of Martin Bygate has shown it to be in TBL.

idea is that in the rst task, negotiation
Beyond of meaning is the primary focus, and in

the second, the students have more
the task cognitive resources available to self-

monitor and to attend to and
incorporate highlighted language from a
language analysis stage. Importantly,
Rather, elements of discourse and This is your magazine.
these benets actually extend beyond
phonological management would be
simple measures of linguistic accuracy We want to hear from you!
improved in the second task cycle, as
and include essential (yet too often
negotiation of meaning had been
neglected) features of communication
effectively dealt with in the rst.
such as communicative and
phonological competency.
Results
The results of this experiment are IT WORKS IN PRACTICE
The transcripts and recordings of both Do you have ideas youd like to share
intended only as an exploratory
tasks were analysed, using raw data and
suggestion to highlight the extent of the with colleagues around the world?
basic ratios based on Bygates
potential benets of extending the concept Tips, techniques and activities;
investigation of the benets of task
of the communicative task and the simple or sophisticated; well-tried
repetition in TBL. Because of the nature
benets of task repetition beyond those or innovative; something that has
of the conversation that the students
established by proponents of TBL to all worked well for you? All published
produced, it was not possible to
uency-then-accuracy approaches. contributions receive a prize!
establish the benets of a full range of
discourse management strategies (asking Write to us or email:
follow-up questions, for example) and Bygate, M Effects of task repetition: [email protected]
these gures are intended only to serve appraising the developing language of
as indicators of the broader potential learners In Willis, J and Willis, D (Eds)
Challenge and Change in Language
that task repetition may have, and to
encourage further investigation.
Teaching Macmillan Heinemann 1996
Doughty, C and Varela, E Communicative
TALKBACK!
focus on form In Doughty, C and Do you have something to say about
Analysis Williams, J (Eds) Focus on Form in an article in the current issue of ETp?
These results suggest that task repetition Classroom Second Language Acquisition This is your magazine and we would
may be a powerful tool for improving CUP 1998
really like to hear from you.
the following elements of performance, Skehan, P Second language acquisition
Write to us or email:
all of which produce a better effect on research and task-based instruction In
Willis, J and Willis, D (Eds) Challenge and [email protected]
the listener:
Change in Language Teaching Macmillan
Effective management of Heinemann 1996
communication strategies. Suan Chong, C Dogme Presentation
given at the IATEFL conference, Harrogate
Writing for ETp
Smoother, more continuous delivery, 2010 Would you like to write for ETp? We are
and developing familiarisation with Thornbury, S Awareness, appropriation always interested in new writers and
natural pace of speech. and autonomy English Teaching fresh ideas. For guidelines and advice,
Professional 40 2005 write to us or email:
Development of an awareness of Thornbury, S Reformulation and
sentence complexity. [email protected]
restructuring: tasks that promote noticing
ELT Journal 51 (4) 1997
Greater grammatical accuracy.
Phonological accuracy, especially over
Underhill, A Sound Foundations: Learning
and Teaching Pronunciation Macmillan
It really worked
longer phrases and sentence structures. 1994 for me!
(Crucially, it is these suprasegmental Willis, J A Framework for Task-Based
Did you get inspired by something
features which are considered by Learning Longman 1996
you read in ETp? Did you do
Adrian Underhill to be primary in the something similiar with your students?
phonological management of spoken James Pengelley is
currently a teacher at Did it really work in practice?
discourse.They are notoriously the British Council in Do share it with us ...
difcult for learners of English to Hong Kong, having
manage and, as Chia Suan Chong previously worked in [email protected]
Australia, Thailand and
points out, are often neglected by Colombia. He is an avid
mainstream materials.) swimmer, baker and
consumer of vast ENGLISH TEACHING professional
amounts of dark Pavilion Publishing and Media Ltd,
chocolate, and loves
the occasional
Rayford House, School Road,
discussion on dealing Hove BN3 5HX, UK
Improvements in the accuracy of with phonology in the Fax: +44 (0)1273 227308
classroom.
language use have been demonstrated by Email: [email protected]
[email protected]
Bygate in TBL task cycle repetition. The

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TAKE
In a new series, Chaz Pugliese poses ve questions
to people involved in the world of ELT. In this issue,
he talks to Adrian Underhill.
FIVE
Adrian Underhill is a teacher, trainer and
consultant; he is a past president of IATEFL
and author of Sound Foundations, published
by Macmillan.
1 Adrian, perhaps not many people

know that, in addition to being a
teacher, youre also an accomplished
music, its the space and timing between
the notes that makes melodies what they
are, as much as the notes themselves.
magnicent game! I dont teach very often
these days, but if I did, I wouldnt use a
book, I would use games. If I had to use a
jazz guitarist. The rst question Id book, it would be only as a route map. I
Silence is free, it allows us teachers to
like to ask you is: What have you think spontaneity is more meaningful for
wait, reect, before leaping in, and it
learnt as a teacher from being a jazz the students. Spontaneity doesnt mean
allows students to rehearse, reformulate,
musician? no structure, anything goes. It means
listen to their inner voice. Silence offers
allowing the students the right space,
I think I have learnt something about the working structure to the lesson, and
without providing too many rules, knowing
listening to what other people are saying reminds us to search for the least that is
how to adjust the structure. Facilitators
and doing. Theres a big link between enough in all class interventions. One
have a nice phrase for this, it is called
music and language, and I think that in intervention, plus holding a certain space,
holding open the space.
listening carefully to music, and to can be more powerful and effective than
individual notes inside fast phrases, Ive two interventions and quicker, and less
been helped to listen to how people
articulate speech: things like sounds
exhausting.
Theres another type of silence which is

4 Your denition of teacher
development is Being the best
teacher I can be. Would that also
within a cluster, pitch, rhythm, emphasis.
loaded, not comfortable, impatient, apply to yourself as a musician?
The second thing is that I think jazz, and somehow judgemental rather than
Yes, were all learning beings; were all
perhaps all music, gives you the skill of watching and waiting. Everyone has
hard-wired for learning. If you put a
boldness, of condence to jump in, even experience of that and even brings it to
toddler down in the middle of the room,
if youre not quite ready. When playing class, and we have to rediscover the rst
youll see how theyll head for the thing
jazz, you cant just lean the ladder and kind, which is part of creativity.
that offers the right amount of challenge.
climb up it when you are ready.
They wont go for something too easy or
Sometimes you have to climb the ladder
before knowing where to lean it. Part of
this is knowing that you will make
3 Could teaching without a
coursebook be compared to
playing jazz, in that jazz musicians
too difcult; they know what they have to
do to get in the zone. Personally, I love
the act of nding myself a learner,
so-called mistakes and thats another dont normally follow sheet music?
experiencing myself as a learner. I think it
thing, mistakes are part of performance
They may not follow the sheet music, but is synonymous with living.
and, in language, they are part of both
there is still the effect of that sheet music
creativity and learning. Caleb Gattegno
there in the background, providing the key,
used to say that mistakes are a gift to the
syllabus. Jazz has taught me to love
tempo, number of bars, feel, etc. And this
provides the structure within which the
5 What are you working on right
now?
mistakes and to encourage them, not to Im interested in the notion of systems
musician improvises. And I think this may
be dismayed by them. and system thinking, which is a way of
be similar to teaching a lesson, in that you
looking at things to help us to make
have a lesson plan but, hopefully, you do
2 Jazz great Miles Davis famously
said Music is the silence
between the notes. Is silence
not follow the plan too closely because,
as the lesson unfolds, it becomes a living/
sense of things that seem too messy and
complex to make sense of! It steers us
towards different kinds of solutions,
learning interaction, not a pre-scripted
important in the ELT classroom? characteristically involving less control
exchange. Thus the teacher departs from
and more connection. So, yes, Im
Of course. The trouble with language is the plan just as a jazz player does from
interested in participatory yet control-free
that its associated with speaking, lling the sheet music, but both plan and sheet
ways of getting things done. And this is
the airspace. Yet silence is the most music are needed to provide a framework
relevant to teaching, staffroom, schools,
underused resource in the classroom, so to contain the improvisation. This is what
management, and leadership. And jazz
no one gets respite from the clamour to makes games so attractive and creative.
playing, too!
look inside, to reect for a few seconds, Take football: there are very few rules, just
to touch base with their learning. Lack of Get the ball down there and dont touch Chaz Pugliese is an independent trainer and
silence is exhausting, and can take the it with your hands. And try to do this more author, living in Paris, France.
shape and meaning out of a lesson. With often than the other side. And what a [email protected]

T E S T I N G & E VA L U AT I O N
Preparing
students for
exams 2
Eva Modr gets her students ready for the City & Guilds ISESOL exam.
C
ity & Guilds (CG) exams including the sample videos of the banana skins: areas of language that
require fewer exam skills than spoken exam. Check that you know what your students dont know yet, possible
some other language tests. the criteria for your target level are (and misunderstandings, etc. Think about the
Students who possess balanced for comparison, also the criteria for one expected outcome. What vocabulary,
speaking skills at any level from A1 to C2, level above and one below). Find out grammar and phrases do your students
as dened by the Common European what is assessed in each part of the exam. need to learn before they can complete
Framework, stand a very good chance of While some language schools will be this part successfully?
passing the CG ISESOL (International able to offer a lot of know-how in the
Spoken English for Speakers of Other form of books, seminars and tutors, in 3 Study the syllabus with
Languages) exam at that equivalent others you may at least nd a colleague or the students.
level. The main enemies are usually fear two with some experience of the exams Next, introduce the practice papers to
stemming from a lack of familiarity who can help you. You should also locate your students. Make sure they have their
with the exam format and insufcient your nearest City & Guilds centre, who own copies to work with. Encourage
practice. will be able to answer your questions. them to add notes and to underline or
So, how can you prepare students to highlight successfully accomplished
feel comfortable in the exam situation? 2 Swallow the syllabus. parts, as well as any questions deserving
How can you incorporate exam practice Study a sample exam (practice paper) further attention. A working copy of the
into a textbook course? Glossa, a and the level descriptors from the City practice papers helps the students to
leading language school in Prague, & Guilds ISESOL Qualications own the exam. On the big day, they will
Czech Republic, has been a CG- Handbook which are relevant to your know exactly what words the stranger in
approved testing centre since 2004. students target level. The handbook is front of them will use to give the task
Hundreds of learners have been available from the CG website. instructions. Nevertheless, dont forget
successfully prepared for CG exams Highlighting the interlocutors parts and to tell your students that the topics and
there, and this article aims to share the reading them out loud are strongly questions will be different.
Glossa teachers know-how with other recommended. Imagine you are First, give your students a tour of
teachers who hope to get their students performing the exam with one of your the practice paper, explaining or letting
through the CG exams. students, pausing to let the imaginary them nd out who says what, and what
candidate speak. Make sure to time the each part looks like. Practise the rst
1 Do your homework. parts. This will help you to get two questions (Spell your surname and
Naturally, you will have to start by accustomed to the situation, so that you Where are you from?). After that, let
familiarising yourself with the exam. Go can help your students do the same. You them answer a few further questions in
through the website information on the will develop a feel for how long, or pairs, and then have them mark all the
CG website (http://www.cityandguilds.gr/ rather how short, each part is. You will questions with smileys and frownies or
en/ESOLqualications/oraltestsISESOL), be better able to predict potential points, according to their individual

Preparing Topic: Animals
ISESOL part Possible questions/topics

Level: CEF B1 Achiever
students for 1 * What is your favourite animal? Why?
exams 2 * Is there an animal which you are afraid of? Why?

* When you were a child, did you have a pet? What? Why not?
* How often do you go to the zoo?
preference or preparedness. Discuss * Do you think you will have a pet in the future? What?
which parts they nd easiest and
hardest, and why. These rst impressions 2 * I am a vet. You have brought your pet to me. I start:
often reect your students needs very
So, what seems to be the problem?
accurately, both in terms of language
* I am your neighbour. I start:
learning and psychological training, so
Your dog is barking all the time! Could you do something about it?
do listen carefully.
* I am your neighbour. You have found a stray cat in front of the
4 Do it in small doses. house. You start.
Working on exam preparation little by
3 We have to choose the best present for our friends birthday.
little, part by part, is denitely better
(The options in the pictures involve some of the animals the
than trying to cover it all in one or two
lessons. Over time, the students will get students know.)
more used to the exam format, and will
actually remember what they are 4 Animals in your town.
expected to do in each section.
It is easy to incorporate a bit of 6 Proceed part by part.
exam preparation into each lesson. You
can do so by assigning part of your You will nd exam tips in the ISESOL Tell them not to worry about time.
lesson time for ISESOL, using the Qualications Handbook. Below are Keeping track of the duration of the
practice papers and parts of the some of the most important ones. parts is not their problem. Explain that
ISESOL Qualications Handbook. In each part, the candidate may be while they are speaking, the interlocutor
However, if you are using a regular stopped by the interlocutor once the is probably scribbling down the minutes
coursebook, you will probably nd that time assigned for this part is up. Assure and seconds as part of the role of
there are many speaking activities which your students that this does not reect timekeeper, not making a record of their
closely resemble the CG exam format. the quality of their performance. mistakes.
All you have to do is tell your students,
or later elicit from them, which part of Part 1 Candidates should answer the questions in a natural way. They
the exam any given task corresponds to. shouldnt give a pre-prepared speech. One or two sentences will do.
Sometimes an activity may require only
a small change (setting a time limit, Part 2 The conversations are not supposed to be longer than two to four
creating the rst line for a conversation,
turns. (You may like to draw a simple picture with six bubbles to help
etc) in order to make it match the exam
your students realise how short the expected outcome is.)
more closely.
5 Extend the practice Part 3 A frequent mistake is that the candidate dominates the discussion and
opportunities. pushes their own solution to a task. (Teach your students to ask for the
interlocutors opinion and to listen and react to it.) The assigned time
Even if there are few ISESOL-like
may not be enough to reach agreement, but that doesnt matter, as
activities in your coursebook, practically
any topic introduced by any coursebook long as the candidate has done what they can while demonstrating
offers immense possibilities for exam rich and appropriate language.
practice.
You can create exam-format Part 4 Candidates should make the most of the 30 seconds before speaking,
questions yourself, and/or involve your whether they prefer jotting down key words, outlining a rough
students in creating them. Afterwards, mind-map, or playing the beginning of their speech in their head.
they can swap their questions between
pairs, answer them and share feedback. Students who fear a lack of ideas need to learn the magic word
As a small illustration, lets look at because, eg I dont know what to say about animals in my town,
some possible questions for the topic of because animals are not very important for me. Many people have
animals at B1 level. dogs and cats, but I have never had a pet because my parents dont
For a higher level, the topics could like animals. I often see people walk their dogs in the street, and I dont
involve conservation, drug testing on like that because ...
animals, even reincarnation!

7 Teach the students to 9 Let the students do the between present, past and future).
work. Afterwards, go through the notes with
disagree and improvise.
each student, praising them,
In parts 2 and 3 of the exam, the student You dont always have to be the one who
encouraging them to identify the
will have to interact with the interlocutor. prepares the exam format tasks. After
mistakes on their own, helping them to
The conversations may easily die away if your students have seen some examples,
enrich their vocabulary where suitable.
the two parties agree on everything too you can ask them to prepare questions
Tell the student whether they would
easily. This will lead the candidate to on a new topic. They can also work in
pass this part or not, and why, and
display insufcient speaking skills. How pairs and assess each other, guided by
assign areas for improvement.
can the interlocutor know that the your questions: Did your partner speak
candidate speaks brilliantly, if all they for the whole minute? Did he stop a lot, or
hear is Sure, no problem, Yes, I agree, Of did he keep talking? Did he use the past
course, go ahead, etc? Promoting tense correctly? This way, the students Having taken advantage of the tension,
negativity can be facilitating. Here is an will get used to the actual assessment you can always lower it. If time allows,
example: criteria, all of which should be shared let your students make fun of the exam
with them. at least a couple of times. This will help
Excuse me, could I use your phone for In class or at home, the students can to dissolve fears and boost condence.
a moment? say or write exam-shaped monologues You can achieve this by changing the
Version A: Of course, no problem. or dialogues, practise them alone or in framework. The otherwise innocent
Version B: Actually, Im not sure about pairs, or even memorise them as long conversation starting, Im your
that. How long are you as it sounds natural in the end. neighbour. I start. Ive run out of coffee.
planning to speak? Could you lend me some, please? can
10 Raise the tension. bring some laughs if you rst show
The second version obviously creates the them a picture of the neighbour who is
As the exam approaches, the students
necessity to explain, negotiate and a scary-looking man, a gorilla, the
get more nervous but also more open to
stipulate, which means that the student Prime Minister, or perhaps a little baby.
taking the practice seriously. Now is the
has more opportunities to impress. Assign an absurd topic for Part 4, such
best time to practise the whole exam in
The most important tip of all is: as Transport in Antarctica or The
pairs under the teachers supervision,
Speak! Dont pause for 20 seconds importance of wearing green.
using other sample papers. It is important
trying to remember a word. Say it Hopefully, the smiles your students
at this stage to give your students some
simply. Say something different, even if wear while preparing will appear again
detailed individual feedback. If you
it is not true. Or just skip it and keep when they receive their certicates.
cannot cover the whole exam with every
talking. To put it cynically, what you say
student, make sure you hear at least one Eva Modr has taught
is not important; what matters is the fact
part from each candidate, giving thorough English in Prague, Czech
that you say it, and the way you say it. Republic, since 1997.
feedback, both written and oral. She has introduced
How do you do that? Simply take a many colleagues to
8 Keep feeding back on lot of notes while each student is ESL through seminars
the format. speaking. Pay attention to both the
and personal tutition
at Glossa language
As with any speaking practice, your good language (rich, natural-sounding, school. An experienced
interlocutor, she has
students will prot from your close elegant, correct) and the relevant errors helped over 100
monitoring and feedback both (eg pre-intermediate students may not candidates to prepare
for the ISESOL exam.
immediate and delayed, individual as well be able to use the future perfect, but
as mixed (you write up on the board what [email protected]
they need to be able to distinguish
good and bad chunks of language you
have heard, without saying who said
what; then elicit what is correct and how C & G ISESOL: Test Overview
the incorrect chunks should be corrected).
The key is to use the exam format in The City & Guilds tests in General throughout the year, with test dates
class over and over again, while referring English are made up of International being decided by the approved
back constantly to the exam structure: ESOL (IESOL) and International examination centres.
Which part of the exam is this? How Spoken ESOL (ISESOL) tests. IESOL, The ISESOL test can be taken at six
many questions will they ask you? the written examination, covers the levels: A1 to C2 (known as Preliminary,
Referring your students to the sample three skills of reading, writing and Access, Achiever, Communicator,
tests helps them absorb the format and listening, while ISESOL tests Expert and Mastery). The task types
understand the requirements and speaking only. The spoken and and number of tasks differ from level to
possible pitfalls of each part. written examinations can be taken level, but there are four basic parts:
Encourage them to start an exam independently of each other and at 1 Personal information, 2 Social
portfolio and collect additional sample different times, which allows for situations, 3 Exchange of information,
papers, topics and questions, as well as specic preparation of the different 4 Topic presentation. Candidates are
useful functional language marked 1, 2, skills. Both the IESOL and ISESOL assessed on accuracy, range,
etc for the respective parts of the exam. tests can be timed exibly pronunciation and uency.

RESOURCES
Do something
different
with your
coursebook 3
Rachael Roberts continues her series on adapting your coursebook to suit your classes.
In this issue, she does something different with comprehension questions.
O
ver the last few years, people 1 Use a warm-up activity to introduce on the other hand, is highly personalised.
have been starting to ask, as the topic. No two people will understand a text in
Catherine Walter did in her 2 Present a set of comprehension exactly the same way, because we all bring
presentation at IATEFL in questions, using true/false, multiple our own experience, knowledge, attitudes,
2008: Is teaching reading skills mainly a choice or something else that isnt too and so on to everything we read.
waste of time? Walter suggested that most open-ended. So, what could we do with a text in
learners already have perfectly adequate the classroom that might reect real-life
3 Get the students to read the text and
reading skills, which they can quite easily reading more accurately?
answer the questions.
transfer across to L2. Do we, in fact, need
to teach learners to skim and scan, or is 4 Conduct a follow-up discussion and/or Student-set questions
it patronising and unnecessary? do some language work. Let the students set their own questions
In my experience, many learners do Let me say now, I think that this is a before they start reading, based, perhaps,
not actually have very good reading skills perfectly good formula. It works, and I on the title and/or any illustrations. The
in their rst language and, equally, many use it myself. However, while I obvious benet to this is that it should
do not seem able to transfer them understand why coursebooks want to increase their motivation to read. Of
automatically. So I would still be in present clear, unambiguous activities, course, the answers to their questions
favour of activities which help learners to which follow a set pattern, I think we may not, in fact, be in the text, but that
develop, or at least transfer, these skills. can enliven our classes and engage actually reects real-life reading pretty
I also believe that learners need to students more by trying to do something well, and while theyre looking for the
have a task or a reason to read, and that a little bit different from time to time. answer, theyre reading.
comprehension questions can, at least
partially, provide this. And good Collaborative reading
Alternatives to
comprehension questions can guide the Another possibility is to get your
learner through the text, helping them to comprehension questions students to read collaboratively, in small
make sense of it. One of the problems with comprehension groups. Im not suggesting reading
Having said this, it cannot be denied questions is that they obviously only aloud (though there are some arguments
that coursebook readings tend to follow focus on specic parts of the text, chosen for this), but reading one paragraph at a
a fairly established formula: by the materials writer. Real-life reading, time and then discussing with the rest of

the group what they think they have Using visuals this reects a lot of English language
understood so far. This is known as a Depending on the kind of text the exam tasks, but Im pretty sure its also
think aloud task because we are getting students are reading, you could also ask very popular because it doesnt take up
the students to articulate the reading them to respond in a more visual way. For much space on the page! You could do
process to each other. any kind of narrative, a good approach is something different by asking your
Tony Lynch says of this process: to ask the students to highlight the main students to rewrite true/false statements as
My experience is that think aloud tasks events and then work together to produce questions before they read. This will have
make some learners aware of textual a time-line. Generally, they wont entirely the benet of encouraging them to think
clues which other learners in the group agree on the time-line which is even more carefully about the information they
have recognised, which would pass better, as this means they will be forced need to nd, and the added bonus of
unnoticed in individual reading. to negotiate their answers, thus thinking working on question formation, which
A slightly more structured way of more deeply about what they have read. many students nd tricky. Less condent
doing this is something called reciprocal For a descriptive text, you could ask students could write closed yes/no
teaching. In this version (taken from the students to draw a picture or diagram questions; more condent students could
Sara Cotterall), a different person is of what is being described: a scene, for write open-ended wh-questions.
chosen to lead the discussion after each example, or one of the characters. They Alternatively, once the students have
paragraph, using four main points: can then explain their pictures to a nished reading a text and answering a set
Clarifying any problems partner, revealing how the picture relates of true/false questions, you could get them
Stating the main idea to what they read in the text. to rewrite the text so that the opposite is
Alternatively, the students could true. For example, imagine the true/false
Summarising the content of the
draw a picture which has a deliberate statement is Delilah was very happy about
paragraph
mistake, such as making a character tall her present and the text says Delilah was
Predicting the likely content of the when the text describes them as short. absolutely delighted with her new car.
next paragraph The pictures can then be put on the wall The answer would obviously be true.
The great thing about getting students to and the students can go around But as a follow-up, the students
read as a discussion task is that you are identifying the deliberate mistakes. could then change the text so it reads,
given an insight into the workings of their Students sometimes feel embarrassed for example, Delilah was bitterly
minds how they are approaching about displaying their drawings, and you disappointed with her cheap second-hand
reading tasks. This can then help you could, of course, use pictures from the car. This activity leaves lots of room for
decide where they might need further help internet or magazines instead. However, creativity, and also acts as a further
or guidance with developing their skills. it is nearly always much easier to produce check on comprehension of the text.
a picture than to nd one, and I nd You could limit it to rewriting a few
Summarising that, so long as I am relaxed about my sentences, or you could get the students
Summarising seems to have fallen own (very) amateur drawings, my to rewrite the whole text, which should
somewhat out of fashion, but it is students usually are too. then tell a very different story.
actually one of the very best ways of
seeing whether students have really Using comprehension
understood the key points of a text. Whatever coursebook you use, there are
Students can start to learn to summarise questions differently
likely to be a lot of comprehension
by carrying out reading tasks where they As well as swapping the comprehension questions. I dont think youre wasting
match summaries or headings to questions for a different kind of activity, time with them, but any activity done in
paragraphs. This is, in fact, already quite you could still use the questions given, the same way every time can become a
a popular form of comprehension task. but do something different with them. little tired and shabby. Maybe its time to
Once they are familiar with this task, reboot your comprehension activities,
ask them to write their own heading or Predicting rather than booting them out!
sentence for each paragraph, Comprehension questions should always
summarising the main idea. Finally, they follow the order of the text and, as they Cotterall, S Developing reading strategies
can select the most important ideas and are supposed to check comprehension through small-group interaction RELC
use these to write a paragraph of the main points, they usually provide Journal 21 (2) 1990
summarising the whole text. a kind of summary of what the students Lynch, T Communication in the Language
As they become more procient, the are going to read. You can take Classroom OUP 1996
students could be asked to summarise a advantage of this by asking the students Rachael Roberts is an
text for different audiences. For example, to read the comprehension questions ELT teacher, teacher
to make it suitable for a child, someone rst and then use them to predict the trainer and materials
writer, and has published
from a very different culture, and so on. content of the text. You could even ask a number of coursebooks.
This means that they have to think them to write their own version of the She is particularly
interested in ways of
about what background knowledge the text from these questions, before reading exploiting published
reader would need to understand the the original to compare with their ideas. material, and has a blog,
www.elt-resourceful.com,
text which is a good way into thinking with more practical ideas
about how they themselves use their Rewriting and downloadable
material.
background knowledge to build Comprehension questions are often
meaning as they read. [email protected]
written as true/false statements. Of course,

IN THE CLASSROOM
Starting
a critical
dialogue
F
Valerie Sartor rom kindergarten to college, engagement with texts from a variety of
teachers use texts from a range cultures. The project helps the students to
teaches her students of genres, from classical interact creatively with texts in different
literature to hip-hop lyrics, to genres, and contributes signicantly to
more than literacy. instil much more than literacy in their an appreciation of registers, particularly
English language students. English texts the academic register.
of different genres can encourage
aesthetic appreciation, while at the same Establishing a dialogue
time casting light on the cultural and
aesthetic norms embedded within them. My philosophical framework as a teacher
Moreover, by comparing and contrasting is underpinned by the work of Paulo
the way texts from various genres are Freire, whose main objective was to
constructed, both structurally and promote a classroom culture
stylistically and by a critical reading of characterised by liberation and authentic
the texts our students can also validate dialogue. As a teacher, I strive to create
their own cultural identities, while a learning environment that allows for
gaining an insight into those of others. multicultural identity development
This, in turn, encourages both creativity amongst culturally and linguistically
and a sense of social justice. diverse students. I believe this learning
In this article, I will discuss a environment must not be oppressive, but
multi-genre research project used as part should allow the students to pursue
of an ESL reading course as a way to solutions to the problems that matter in
support and amplify the students critical their daily lives, to question the status quo
and to feel empowered to play a role in
social responsibility.
The learning When Freire talks of dialogue, he
does not simply mean talking passively
environment should with others; the word refers to active
allow the students to engagement. For example, he would
argue that we need to analyse what we
pursue solutions to the are being told by the media and engage in
problems that matter a dialogue with it, rather than accepting
uncritically the message that is being
in their daily lives broadcast. He sees such dialogue as key
to positive social change. Teachers, too,

must strive to nd ways to promote feelings towards research because the
authentic dialogue to help their students In the course of their content is immediately relevant to their
to develop their global identities. lives and interests.
Freire argues that dialogue has many studies, the students
benets: it allows for true cooperation can discover what Setting it up
between both individuals and groups,
which is helpful for tackling the is important to them, It was important from the beginning to
problems of society; it can create unity present texts in a variety of genres to
as a step towards serve as models for culturally diverse,
among both individuals and groups,
which can eventually lead to liberation understanding socially aware and technically sound
from oppression; it allows individuals writing. We searched for excerpts from
and groups to become organised and to
who they are world literature, international
stay organised; and it allows for newspapers, poetry journals, songs and
differing cultural groups to synthesise genres and ultimately represent those various online sources. We asked our
their own unique characteristics into perspectives in their own writing by the students to conduct searches as well. In
something new, such as new ideologies employment of different genres within a class, we read and discussed the texts
or discourses that make social equality portfolio of work. together; at times, I would divide the
attainable for more people. Getting Offering students the chance to class into small groups and ask them to
individuals and groups together is only engage with diverse genres, such as evaluate the texts and then present their
possible through authentic dialogue, for poems, job applications, letters to a mini-analysis to the class in a series of
dialogue allows people to come together friend, postcards, etc encourages them to short talks. I did not formally test the
of their own free will and not through become more culturally aware, as well as students on the texts, but I did create
deceit or force. more competent in English. Students are vocabulary cards, and we played some
able to interact with forms of writing that matching games to help them learn new
are found in daily life, which differ greatly words. We also played with short pieces
The banking from traditional educational texts, such of text in the form of scrambled
sentences, and we changed story
model creates the as essays or research reports. They draw
endings, rewrote obituaries, and added
upon their own cultural funds of
misconception that knowledge to produce a portfolio of work or edited songs and poems.
that demonstrates their ability to produce After three weeks, I explained that
the teacher has they now had to begin to research their
writing in differing modes and genres.
all the information The multi-genre research project also chosen topics and produce a portfolio of
gives students choices. In the course of work based on this research. I began
and power their studies, they can discover what is what Donald Graves calls writers
important to them, as a step towards consultations: meeting with students
By moving away from a banking understanding who they are. Giving individually regarding their research
model of education where the teacher students choice also has the advantage of
deposits information into passive being a powerful motivator. As Camille It was important to
student recipients and moving toward a Allen and Laurie Swistack point out,
dialogical style of education, we can help those who have more choice over what present texts in a variety
our students to create and strengthen they can write and research tend to
their own voices. The banking model think more deeply about the topic they
of genres as models for
creates the misconception that the have chosen, produce richer writing and culturally diverse, socially
teacher has all the information and produce more creative nal products, all
power and that the students are ignorant because they have more motivation. aware and technically
and powerless. But with a dialogical style A nal signicant benet is that sound writing
of education, both teachers and students the multi-genre research project
learn from one another. demonstrates to the students that
conducting research and presenting the topics and giving them a checklist of
A multi-genre research ndings can be highly empowering and things they had to include in their
rewarding. Our students are the people portfolio and details of how it should be
project who will make vital decisions about the presented (see page 21). I then scheduled
The multi-genre research project allows future of society, so they need to be a weekly class session in the library, to
teachers and students to work well-informed about global issues. Giving give them time to do their research. In
interdependently within the concepts of them the opportunity to do research and the middle of the semester, I checked the
Freirean critical pedagogy, all the while gain knowledge of global issues gives students progress, offered comments,
engaging in an in-depth study of texts them a feeling of empowerment and and asked each of them to make sure
from a variety of cultures and genres. enhances their sense of cultural identity. that a peer had also signed their checklist
The students research a particular topic, Most students nd typical, traditional and commented on their work. As they
as in a traditional research paper, but research papers uninteresting and worked on their projects, we also worked
consider multiple perspectives on the unmotivating. However, a multi-genre as a class through texts in various genres:
topic by studying texts in different research project creates a change in their short stories, book reviews, poems

his project addressed the legality of
Starting euthanasia. Another student with an
artistic background chose to portray her Running this project was challenging
a critical topic (the life of Frida Kahlo) in images

as well as text. She drew sketches,
imported graphics and PhotoShopped
and took careful planning. I needed to
nd ways to support in-depth research
dialogue her images with a keen, artistic eye.

Another student used hip-hop lyrics,
among the students and to source
example texts in many different genres.
In the end, however, I found the process
(sonnet, haiku, free verse and couplet), which she modied, together with an extremely rewarding. The project
songs, argument essays, newspaper embedded music track, to express the engaged the students in critical and
articles (editorial, news, features, racism of US Homeland Security toward reective thinking; their English
complaints and obituaries), cartoon Arab visitors after 9/11. Allowing prociency increased signicantly; they
captions and academic essay abstracts. students the choice to engage with many collaborated both in class and outside;
Our work on abstracts also included a genres demonstrated that opinions can and everyone produced a portfolio that
brief examination of the structure of a be voiced in many different modes. It exceeded my expectations. What more
formal academic essay. During the nal also revealed the keen political and could a teacher ask for?
week of class, the students made personal interests of the students.
individual presentations on their topics: Using a portfolio format helped Allen, C and Swistak, L Multigenre
they could choose to explain their process everyone to discipline themselves by research: the power of choice and
and what it meant to them personally, offering a broad structure to frame their interpretation Language Arts 81 (3) 2004
using any type of media, or they could work. One student presented her entire Freire, P Pedagogy of the Oppressed The
present their project in PowerPoint project digitally, creating in effect an Continuum Publishing Company 1990
format, taking a more academic stance. e-book. Another created a book in Graves, D Writing: Teachers and Children
On the nal day, the projects were placed traditional Chinese format, with the at Work Heinemann 2003
around the class, and students from script and imagery running vertically
other classes came to view them and rather than horizontally. Some students Valerie Sartor is an
educational researcher,
listen to the authors presentations. This used digital software to create both an currently doing eldwork
last class was a festive event, offering online as well as a paper project. in Inner Mongolia, China.
She has been a US State
public validation to the students, as well If I do this project again, I might Department Fellow and a
as snacks and cold drinks to everyone. also ask my students to keep a reective Castetter Fellow. Her
interests include the ESL
journal to record their progress. I believe classroom and policies
this would result in higher-quality work concerning international
Evaluation on subsequent projects, as the students bilingual education.
The multi-genre research project was a would be able to analyse their past
great success: my students not only failures and successes and see how they
gained higher levels of English literacy, could improve next time. [email protected]
but also learnt to take responsibility for
their own learning and to explore a
variety of texts and media. Moreover,
they were actively engaged in helping
and teaching each other and were highly
motivated. I found that I was serving as
a guide rather than as an authority
dispensing information.
I learnt that giving students choices
is crucial to authentic learning. Allowing Welcome to the
the students to choose their topics and
genres motivated them and meant that ETp website!
their interest was sustained to the end of
the projects. Giving them a choice gave
As a subscriber to ETp, you have full access to our website.
everyone in class the freedom to reect Browse through our archive of Watch videos and read blogs
upon what they felt passionate about, downloadable articles from previous by award-winning blogger
and this freedom helped everyone to feel issues ideal for inspiration or Chia Suan Chong.
that their chosen topic was of value. research.
Allowing a choice of genres was also Download our guidelines for
crucial. I was amazed by the creativity Add your opinions to ongoing contributors and think about the
and the scope of the genres used by discussions, and comment on articles article that you could write for the
several students. One student not only that you have read. magazine.
chose traditional text genres such as Visit our bookshop for Renew your subscription online
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made a video that caught the attention of and discounts. single issue.
his classmates and our school director;

Starting a critical dialigue Portfolio checklist
Please submit six complete compositions, each in a different genre. Please include a sheet at the front
The genres we have studied include: short stories, book reviews, of the whole portfolio to show the
poems (sonnet, haiku, free verse and couplet), songs, argument essays, date that this portfolio was
newspaper articles (editorial, news, features, complaints and obituaries), presented to a peer for evaluation,
cartoon captions and essay abstracts. You may also expand on these and the dates (minimum of two) that
genres. it was presented to the teacher for
editorial consultation during the
The portfolio must have a table of contents in APA style, generated
semester.
in Word.
Each composition should have a title, with a subhead noting the The peer and the teacher will write
genre. For example: Georgia OKeefe: A narrative feature from a comments beside the dates,
newspaper about her art show (journalism) concerning the strengths of the
portfolio.
The portfolio must be typed, unless the teacher agrees to an
alternative script. Put your initials next to the following
items before handing in your
The target audience and tone should be varied. For example, one
completed portfolio:
essay may be in the rst person addressed to a friend (eg a letter
about the death of your dog); another will be formal (eg an obituary _____ All submissions have been
of a famous person). revised at least once, after
You may experiment with structure and content, but you may not someone has seen them and
use offensive or pornographic text and/or imagery. commented.
One piece should be reective and should discuss why you chose _____ I have used the Word
this subject, and what you learnt from it. In the reective essay, spellcheck facility.
answer these questions: What is the big picture concerning the
essays you selected? What was the process of writing and revising? _____ I certify that the writing is my
How do the essays collected in the portfolio demonstrate your own, unless it is cited or
creativity and your writing strengths? What areas of your writing and quoted.
creativity will you continue working on?
_____ I have thought carefully
One composition must be a narrative of 1,000 to 3,000 words.
about this project and tried
One composition may be poetry, lyrics or a form of multi-media that to be creative in organising
is approved by the teacher after a writers conference. and compiling it.
One piece should offer a logical and well-supported argument, or it
can be a persuasive piece in which you, as author, take a stand on a _____ The length of my portfolio
topic or issue or propose a solution to a problem. is 12 double-spaced
typewritten/printed pages
You should include one piece of your own choosing; feel free to
(or equivalent, approximately
show us your best, your most experimental, your most impressive,
4,500 words), distributed
your most creative writing.
among the six pieces.
You may incorporate as many images as you wish, as long as they
are placed in the text with aesthetics in mind.
The portfolio should be bound in some way.
The portfolio will be offered at the end of the semester for public
scrutiny and praise.

Howdoesyour
gardengrow?
O
Merve Oaz exhorts us nce upon a time, in a land of Sunower always enjoyed the beauty
great gardens, there were around her while she was walking along,
to cherish our owers. countless numbers of owers and Bellower accompanied her by
with different colours and murmuring sweet melodies. Snapdragon
shapes. Sunower, Bellower and was always in a rush and he usually ran
Snapdragon were three of these to school. Lets learn more about these
beautiful owers. They used to bloom three little owers once they got to the
and grow under the bright light of their classroom ...
teacher, Mrs Sun. Every morning, they
used to wash their petals with the drops Sunower
of dew and, dancing in the morning Sunower always wanted to see what
breeze, they headed to school. was going on around her. She turned
her head towards her teacher Mrs Sun
as she moved. When she could see Mrs
Sun, she used to ip her beautiful
blonde hair proudly. Anything that
reected light was a work of art for her.
She thought that each colour in the
rainbow gave a different meaning to the
objects it painted.
Whenever Mrs Sun wrote
something on the board, Sunower
wanted to copy it all down, neatly and
legibly. She used to get quite confused
when Mrs Sun asked her to repeat
something after her. If there was a word
card she could read from, repeating was
much easier. If not, she used to try her
best to visualise the words in her mind.
Then she could pronounce them easily.
Sunower loved reading. Because
she read very fast, she could nish many
stories in a short time. She could
remember every little thing she had
read, even its position on the page.
When her friends asked where an

activity was, she could nd it in the something new. This was his favourite
book immediately. There was one thing way of learning. While studying at
she was not happy with. If Mrs Sun home, he would read things aloud and
explained something orally, she would imitate Mrs Sun.
often miss some parts of it and she Bellower always
would soon completely forget what she took a very active
had heard. part in class
discussions, and
Bellower he managed to get
Bellower was Sunowers best friend. good grades for most of his
They always used to play together in work. Unfortunately, he did not
the schoolyard. Whenever there was a like writing and maths lessons at all.
group game, Sunower and Bellower Even a little sound could cause
were always the champions. him to lose concentration.
Bellower loved music and often These classes were not as
murmured and hummed. Whenever exciting for him as music
Mrs Sun turned to face the class, she lessons.
would see Bellower moving his lips.
She sometimes scolded him for this. Snapdragon
Bellower loved speaking and he was Snapdragon wriggled all
very talkative, but he never wanted to the time and he couldnt sit still without
make Mrs Sun unhappy, so he always dgeting. He used to play with his hair
listened very carefully to his teacher. He or swing his legs while listening to Mrs Helping our
was all ears when Mrs Sun explained Sun. When he was reading, he always owers to grow
followed the lines of the text with his
I hope you enjoyed reading about these
nger. He also kept moving his hands
sweet owers. Do you think you know
and arms when he was speaking. He
any of them? You may even think that
loved raising his hand to answer Mrs
you or your students share some of
Suns questions and he never cared
their features. As you will have realised,
about whether or not he had the
the owers in the story represent young
correct answer. He knew that
learners with different learning styles.
Mrs Sun would never get angry,
Sunower is a visual learner,
even if his answer wasnt right.
Bellower an auditory learner and
Snapdragon would jump up
Snapdragon a kinaesthetic learner. Just
immediately to volunteer for
like these owers, our students all have
drama activities and he
different features, likes, dislikes,
found roleplays great fun. He
weaknesses and strengths. What we
also loved the card games Mrs
should do as teachers is to get to know
Sun prepared for them. Once,
the owers growing in our classrooms
Mrs Sun made them practise
well, so that we can take the best possible
the multiplication table by
care of them. We should strive not to
using some cards, and Snapdragon
let them fade, and give them the chance
loved this activity.
to bloom and grow in their own way.
The only problem he had was with
Here are some ways we can nurture
his writing. His handwriting was very
our own crop of owers:
untidy: too thick and scratchy. He was
good at learning through the experience Remember that not all owers
of doing an activity. Although he always are red:
found it difcult to remember small We should always bear in mind that
details, Snapdragons instincts were our students have different
strong. personalities, skills and abilities. As
Rebecca Oxford explains: While many
language learners benet from visual
imagery, others have aural (sound-
oriented), kinaesthetic (motion-oriented)
or tactile (touch-oriented) learning style

iStockphoto.com / kasiap / _Vilor / tamara_kulikova
Dont be afraid of re-arranging Zoltn Drnyei and Tim Murphey:
Howdoesyour your owers:

You cannot learn a language without
Teachers who share warm, personal
interactions with their students, who
gardengrow? communicating. When our students

do not have the chance to use and
practise the target language outside
the school, our job is made more
respond to their concerns in an
empathic manner and who succeed to
establish relationships of mutual trust
and respect with the learners, are more
preferences and therefore benet from difcult. To compensate, it is important likely to inspire them in academic
linking verbal material with sound, that we should provide them with matters than those who have no
motion or touch. This should be taken many pair- and groupwork activities personal ties with the learners.
into consideration in all stages of which focus on communication.
learning, evaluating and assessing. Heather McKay and Abigail Tom state
Allow each type of ower to nd that the use of different groupings
its own path: (eg whole class, small groups, pairs
Natalie Hess acknowledges that it is and individuals) is one of the features
difcult to provide for individual learning of a properly balanced lesson.
styles. This is especially true in very Support your owers in each
large classes and those where the As Mrs (or Mr) Sun, Im sure you are
phase of their growth: touching the lives of your owers and
students are at different levels. To Never forget that age matters.
ensure that all our students participate helping them to gain new skills so that
According to Robert DeKeyser: they can improve themselves. With the
in classroom activities, we need to young children are characterized as
encourage and motivate them. encouragement and condence they
haptic and manual. They do better if gain in your lessons, nding the path to
Making them believe in what they can they respond to verbal stimuli with body
do will open a new path in front of follow will be much easier. I hope the
movements ... As they age, learners owers blooming in your gardens will
them. Instead of forcing them to do develop a preference for a visual and/or
mechanical activities with no purpose, be as colourful as the rainbow, so that
auditory learning style. Gaining an they will make a difference to other
allowing them to discover their hidden understanding of the nature and
talents will change the atmosphere of young lives in the future. I know that
abilities of different age groups will the process of growing is challenging
our classrooms. All this may take denitely have a positive effect on
some time, but the results will be great. and stressful but remember: April
the lessons we design. showers bring May owers!
Enjoy the beauty of your Let your owers enjoy their
owers: growth: DeKeyser, R M (Ed) Practice in a Second
As teachers, we may sometimes be Learning a language is not possible if Language: Perspectives from Applied Linguistics
tempted to skip activities which are and Cognitive Psychology CUP 2007
the students feel nervous or anxious.
based on different learning styles. We should help our students to Drnyei, Z and Murphey, T Group Dynamics
However, if we can spend some time in the Language Classroom CUP 2003
cope with their fears and to believe
on selecting a range of the right Grifths, G and Keohane, K Personalizing
in themselves. As Griff Grifths and Language Learning CUP 2000
activities to give each and every Katy Keohane point out: If learners
student a chance to shine, this will Hess, N Teaching Large Multilevel Classes
feel that what they are asked to do is CUP 2007
make our lives easier. The best thing relevant to their own lives, and that their McKay, H and Tom, A Teaching Adult Second
to do is to let the students express feelings, thoughts, opinions and Language Learners CUP 299
themselves and share their ideas knowledge are valued, and crucial to the Oxford, R L Language Learning Strategies:
with their peers. This will help them success of the activities, then they will What Every Teacher Should Know Heinle &
gradually improve their critical be fully engaged in the tasks and more Heinle 1990
thinking skills. Students can be more likely to be motivated to learn the target
active in language classrooms when language. This way, they will be
Merve Oaz has been
involved in teaching
teachers are aware of the impact of enjoying their journey. since 1998. She is
learning styles and design their currently afliated with
Oxford University Press,
lessons accordingly. Not only will the Love your owers and treat Turkey, as a teacher
teacher improve the quality of their them well: trainer and educational
consultant. She is also a
own teaching but, by implementing a Developing a good rapport with the materials developer and
range of activities involving all types students is extremely important. It maintains a blog at
www.merveoaz.net.
of learners, they will also help the affects each step of the lesson and She has an MA in TEFL
learners to develop their less- has an impact on classroom and holds the ICELT.
dominant preferred learning styles. management as well. According to [email protected]

Over
the
wall ... Alan Maley
sees the writing
on the wall.
Green energy, nuclear power, desalination,
I
t is 50 years since Rachel Carsons 10 Billion
landmark book Silent Spring appeared geo-engineering and a second green
the rst major wake-up call for Stephen Emmott takes as the starting revolution are all either unfeasible or
environmental action on a global scale. point for his book the fact that by 2050 cures which are worse than the disease.
Since then, awareness of humanitys the Earth will be supporting a population Radical behavioural change would need
negative effect on the environment has of about 10 billion, maybe more. He then radical government action, yet politicians
been regularly raised. There have been 18 explores the implications: As our numbers are currently part of the problem, not part
international summits, the International continue to grow, we continue to increase of the solution ... despite 20 years of
Panel on Climate Change has published our need for far more water, far more food, pledges to tackle carbon emissions, we
ve reports, and the Club of Rome has far more land, far more transport and far just keep on emitting more carbon. The
generated enough publications to ll a more energy. He then leads us through the book is short and devastatingly simple.
library, yet no substantial coordinated consequences of this in pressure on land The charts are chilling: almost all show an
action has been taken to rein in the and water resources, species extinction, exponential increase round about now,
headlong gallop toward planetary loss of forest, etc, with some interesting whether of rates of species extinction,
disaster. facts: It takes around 3,000 litres of water ocean warming, growth of cars, oods in
It is also just 50 years since the rst to produce a burger. He moves on to our Asia, res in America or global carbon
Chinese atomic bomb was detonated, addiction to fossil fuels. Contrary to emissions. By the way, Emmott is not
marking the beginning of nuclear popular belief, there is no immediate some kind of eccentric: he is a professor
proliferation. Some progress was made in danger of our running out of them. The of computational science and heads a
1970 when the Nuclear Non-proliferation danger lies in our continuing to use them. Cambridge research lab.
Treaty was signed, and the USA and One result is that climate change is
accelerating. The global carbon cycle, on
USSR began to scale back their nuclear
which the fragile and complex balance of
The Burning Question
arsenals. However, since then, the
number of states with nuclear weapons the worlds eco-systems depend, is being The Burning Question by Mike Berners-Lee
has continued to expand, increasing the destroyed, and at an accelerating pace. and Duncan Clark offers a more detailed
likelihood of nuclear war, whether by Quite apart from the increase in extreme and nuanced take on the same issues. The
design or accident. weather, this will lead to degradation of foreword, by Bill McKibben, emphasises
One way or another, then, the soils, depletion of water resources and that two degrees is the maximum
prospects for the future of humankind widespread famine and disease. Emmott temperature increase the Earth can
look pretty bleak. It seems appropriate, examines two possible ways out of our support, which means we can only safely
therefore, to review just a few recent predicament: technology and radical burn another 565 gigatonnes of carbon.
publications touching on these issues. behavioural change. In his view, none of Yet there are 2,795 gigatonnes left in the
the main technical solutions is feasible. ground! We have ve times as much oil

Nuclear War and words in Gone with the Wind: I cant
Over Environmental
think about that right now. If I do, Ill go
crazy. Ill think about that tomorrow and
the Catastrophe I dont believe it. You cant prove it.
wall ... The rst half of this book consists of Noam
Chomskys interviews with Laray Polk on a
Anyway, what can I do about it?
I believe we should not short-change
range of issues, including the environment our students by pretending that things are
and nuclear weapons. Chomsky has long other than the way they are. Remember
been a radical critic of the US government, the fate of the frog in Charles Handys
so it is not surprising to nd some book The Age of Unreason: If you put a
and coal and gas as climate scientists
trenchant views expressed here. Whether frog in water and slowly heat it, the frog
think is safe to burn. The rest of the book
he is discussing the role of the US will eventually let itself be boiled to death.
expands on this uncomfortable fact. In
Chamber of Commerce in lobbying against We too will not survive if we dont
Part 1, The problem of abundance, it
environmental controls, or that of the respond to the radical way in which the
shows how carbon extraction is increasing
President in condoning nuclear weapons world is changing.
exponentially, with no internationally
agreed limitations in prospect. In Part 2, development in some countries while
condemning it in others, or that of the Berners-Lee, M and Clark, D The Burning
Squeezing the balloon, it shows how fuel Question Prole Books 2013
economies get absorbed in the upward Pentagon in funding university research,
Briggs, R When the Wind Blows Penguin
curve of consumption. Governments he is unremittingly damning. In some
1983
pursue contradictory policies of minimising ways, this weakens his case, since he
Carson, R Silent Spring Crest Books/
the demand for fossil fuels while sometimes comes across as carping and
Houghton Mifin 1962
simultaneously maximising the supply. repetitive. This does not lessen the force
Chomsky, N and Polk, L Nuclear War and
And this is exacerbated by the growth of of his argument, though. Environmental Catastrophe Seven Stories
population and of afuence. In Part 3, The second half of the book Press 2013
Whats stopping us? it examines the comprises a number of documents Club of Rome see www.laetuspraesens.
reluctance of those owning carbon assets relating to the issues in the rst half. org/links/clubrome.php
to write them off, the failure so far to These include the top secret transcript of Emmott, S 10 Billion Penguin 2013
implement carbon capture and storage, a telephone conversation between two Handy, C The Age of Unreason Arrow
ranking US ofcers in 1945, where a Books 1990
general is trying to cover up the radiation
effects in Hiroshima and Nagasaki by Alan Maley has worked in
ascribing them to thermal burns: they the area of ELT for over
40 years in Yugoslavia,
just got a good thermal burn, thats all. Ghana, Italy, France,
Perhaps the most poignant document is a China, India, the UK,
Singapore and Thailand.
letter from a leader of the Marshall Since 2003 he has been a
islanders affected by US nuclear testing. freelance writer and
and the problem of a continuing belief in It reads: I realize now that your entire consultant. He has
published over 30 books
growth at all costs. The great global career is based on our illness. We are far and numerous articles,
slumber, is a key chapter. Awareness of more valuable to you than you are to us and was, until recently,
Series Editor of the
the magnitude of the problem is still For me and the other people on Oxford Resource Books
insufcient. And humans are good at Rongelap, it is life which matters most. for Teachers.
refusing to think about the unthinkable, For you it is facts and gures. [email protected]
especially when there is massive As a postscript to the nuclear issue,
sabotage by vested interests. Part 4, Not you could do worse than read When the
just fossil fuels, looks at other major
sources of global warming, especially
Wind Blows by Raymond Briggs. This
cartoon-strip story of a nave, gormless
Writing for ETp
agriculture and deforestation. Part 5, What old couple attempting to continue their Would you like to write for ETp? We are
now? offers six possible strategies to normal life in the aftermath of a nuclear always interested in new writers and
counteract the crisis. But none of them is strike is both very funny and utterly fresh ideas. For guidelines and advice,
convincing, since all depend on everyone terrifying. write to us or email:
taking responsibility and acting. Unless [email protected]
we do, the books cautious optimism that
things might somehow turn out well is no It really worked
more than whistling in the dark to keep As teachers focusing exclusively on
our spirits up. It ends on a question: language, we may nd ourselves trivially
for me!
we could keep on as we are, ignoring or correcting Bush Juniors pronunciation of Did you get inspired by something
playing down the risks and putting nukelar. As educators, we are up against you read in ETp? Did you do
responsibility for action elsewhere that the power of denial, apathy and wilful something similiar with your students?
would mean taking a monumental gamble distortion of the facts by powerful vested Did it really work in practice?
with our childrens future, and a species as interests. Reactions range from Oh, not Do share it with us ...
intelligent as ours surely wouldnt do that. that again! How many more times do we [email protected]
Would it? have to do pollution? to Scarlett OHaras

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IN THE CLASSROOM
Making the most

of melody
Lesley Lanir is moved by music and believes that students are too.
M
usic plays a signicant using a different instrument, mixing musical arrangement is interrupted, the
part in all our lives, and genres, using unconventional phrasing, brain areas which process language
research shows we are changing the pattern of sound and structure become activated, conrming
attracted to musical unfolding chords one note at a time. that musical and linguistic operations
sounds from birth. Istvn Winkler and This builds tension and forces our brains take place in similar areas of the brain.
his colleagues found that babies as to try to predict what will be played Besides similarities in structure,
young as two or three days old can next. Levitin asserts that these musical elements and brain-processing areas,
detect musical beats, and Marcel modications surprise and tease us both music and language require
Zentner and Tuomas Eerola discovered neurologically, keep us mentally alert complex, higher-order thinking processes,
that infants are, in fact, more reactive to and provide a neural work-out in many including attention, organisation and
the rhythm and tempo of music than areas of our brain, thereby encouraging short- and long-term memory retention.
they are to speech. Considering this creative, exible thinking.
innate attraction, perhaps teachers Music and language
should view songs as a valuable teaching Music and language
resource and incorporate selected pieces
learning
regularly in their lesson planning. Several studies demonstrate a link Levitins assertion that the human mind
between music and language. Both are acquires new knowledge more quickly
arranged linearly, using syntactic rules when it is presented in the form of a song
Why is music so or denite sequences of notes, arranged with a rhythm should alert our attention
attractive to humans? with the purpose of expressing an as teachers. Modern discoveries about the
Musician and neuroscientist Daniel intended message. Both are processed parallels between language and music
Levitin, professor of psychology at neurologically, component by could explain why early humans realised
McGill University, Montreal, Canada, component, with specic neural circuits that setting words and stories to music
says that group sing-alongs release the handling different elements, such as made them easier to remember; the
hormone oxytocin, which raises feelings pitch, duration, loudness and timbre. internal constraints of music, its structure
of trust and social bonding. His work With language, the brain rst perceives and metre and the poetic elements of
demonstrates our ability to recognise its notes: the sounds phonemes lyrics, such as alliteration and rhyme, all
melody, and how music stimulates the which inherently contain a number of encourage memorisation. This is an
pleasure areas of the brain, producing a the aforementioned musical elements. important point that Suzanne Medina
feel good neurotransmitter called Moreover, ndings show that when a demonstrated when she investigated the
dopamine. Levitin explains that musicians use of songs in language acquisition and
instinctively exploit the way our hearing memory retention. The idea that learning
systems and brains perceive music by
Musicians instinctively a language through music is automatic,
using a variety of ways to produce exploit the way our easier and more enjoyable, because
surprising, rewarding and pleasurable songs are repetitive and consistent, is
sounds. These arrangements are not brains perceive music also echoed by Elizabeth Gatbonton
necessarily composed, however, with any by using a variety of and Norman Segalowitz.
conscious consideration of the effects So, using music to aid language
they may have on our cognitive processes. ways to produce learning may not be an original idea, but
How do they do this? Musicians what is new these days is the availability of
create interest by using unvarying notes
surprising, rewarding an enormous musical database provided
and unexpected notes, by unpredictably and pleasurable sounds by digital recording, technological
stopping the rhythm, repeating a melody advancements and internet accessibility.

to have in their lessons. This is preferable can be played again several times to
Making the most to asking for free suggestions from the
students, which may be rejected, leaving
provide reinforcement. To add variety,
the students can be asked to create
of melody the students feeling disappointed.
However, they can be given the task of
illustrations of key vocabulary or scenes,
bring costumes or make masks for
Teachers and students essentially have a nding favourite songs which include homework, all of which can be used to
huge and convenient song archive and examples of a particular structure or playact the story of the song.
language resource at their ngertips. It topic that is being studied in class. Preparation is an important part of
shouldnt be difcult for teachers to The song list does not necessarily have song use. The following techniques will
encourage their students to get into the to be limited to current popular artists. increase the childrens understanding of
habit of using this ready-made teaching Many students still listen to The Beatles, the lyrics and aid vocabulary acquisition:
and self-learning tool. Kevin Schoepp, Simon and Garfunkel, Bruce Springsteen Familiarise the children with the
Director of Educational Effectiveness at and Michael Jackson, for example. content of the lyrics before they hear
Zayed University, UAE, refers to studies At all language levels, teachers the song.
by Jim Little in 1983 and Liz Domoney should consider providing linguistic and
Share experiences on the topic of the
and Simon Harris ten years later, which, extralinguistic support. Linguistic help
song in order to activate their prior
decades before the digital explosion, found can include pointing out cognates, familiar
knowledge.
that popular music was a major source words, how intonation conveys meaning,
of exposure to English for students and giving native language support in the Explain the main idea without
outside the classroom environment. form of translations. Extralinguistic help summarising the lyrics completely.
can be given through gestures, illustrations Read the lyrics while pointing to
Songs in the classroom and photographs, and by relating lyric relevant pictures.
content to the students prior knowledge. Use contextual clues and images to
Improving attitudes towards
explain new vocabulary.
learning Children
In addition to the benets of using songs English classes for elementary school Teenagers and adults
in language learning detailed above, children are mostly based on oral work, Older students have wider vocabularies,
there is the necessity, often mentioned so these young students need stimulating better listening abilities, advanced
by Steven Krashen, of creating a relaxed language exercises in order to keep them thinking skills and more life experience,
classroom atmosphere which will lower focused. Songs should be chosen for enabling them to understand a wide
the students affective lters. Once their their storyline in the same way that variety of songs. As a result, songs
affective lters are lowered, students can stories are chosen. which cover a range of topics can be
adopt a positive attitude towards learning The melody must be easy, so as not used, not only to review or introduce
which will increase their information- to tax the childrens memories and to vocabulary and grammar points, but
processing capabilities. allow them to focus on the lyrics. The also to provoke discussion on culture,
By using appropriate songs on song should encourage activity but not relationship issues and topics related to
suitable topics, teachers can both create be over-energetic; movement, gestures, family and society.
a comfortable classroom atmosphere dancing or acting are all recommended,
and use the songs to teach language as long as the activities allow the focus In general, songs used in language
structures and vocabulary. to be on language learning. Illustrations classes should be clear and not too fast;
In addition, music can be used as a and photos add interest and help they should be memorable, with subjects
socio-emotional aid to encourage memory retention. and word choices that take the interests
students to share and discover songs Research shows that learners and backgrounds of the language
with their peers. Songs can introduce respond differently, depending upon learners into consideration.
students to their classmates likes and whether the music they hear is familiar
preferences and provide a common or unfamiliar. Introducing the melody
ground for discussion. They can also rst makes pedagogical sense because,
Activities
encourage quieter students to join in a when humans are concurrently exposed Songs provide good material for a wide
discussion. Taking time to discover their to several new stimuli, they experience variety of language activities, not just
students musical tastes shows interest in secondary task overloading; such listening. A song can be taught by rst
the students needs and, by doing so, cognitive overstimulation may prevent handing out the lyrics, looking at the
teachers can begin to create a classroom language learners from focusing on the grammar and the sentence structure,
climate that encourages learning. point of the exercise. noting particular vocabulary items and
To avoid this, consider preparing the going on to analyse the theme and
Choosing the music to use children beforehand. The song can be content. Some of these exercises can be
Students should be involved in the choice introduced covertly weeks before you assigned for homework, so the students
of songs, but there has to be a modicum intend to use it in class. For example, it arrive ready for the listening activity.
of control. Teachers can post a list of can be played at the beginning of a lesson Once they have listened to the song and
classic and popular songs, chosen while the children are entering the gained an understanding of the meaning,
according to the age, language level and classroom and getting ready for the lesson. class or small-group discussions can
mind-set of their students, and ask the In the couple of weeks after a song take place on the topic of the song,
students to vote for those they would like has been used as teaching material, it perhaps focusing on prepared questions.

Here are some other types of Here are some activity ideas for melody detection skills are strong. Using
exercises you can use with songs: improving phonologcial awareness skills: music in English teaching entertains and
Gap-ll or cloze Substitute some of the rhyming words relaxes.
with a gap. The students listen and ll Songs can motivate students to
True/false questions
the gaps. practise specic language structures or
Ordering activities, where lines have to learn targeted vocabulary items. If chosen
be put in the correct sequence Highlight the rhyme; show how
carefully, they provide a platform for
changing one sound can alter the
Dictation representing authentic language in context
meaning.
Adding a nal verse and make selected grammar points more
Add more rhyming words to the accessible and understandable. Teachers
Changing pronouns from he/she to common sound family in the song. can take advantage of the students
you/them
Provide word cards that students have common interest in music by
Finding the antonyms/synonyms of to match to the correct sound family. incorporating songs of all kinds into
chosen words lessons in order to encourage language
Count word syllables to show how the
Replacing words with synonyms rhythm of the song is created. learning. If students sense that classroom
Identifying tenses material is relevant to their lives and
Produce a list of what rhymes and
interests, and that teachers have taken
Finding repetitive words what doesnt, and discover why.
notice of their specic interests, they will
Circling adjectives, connectors and enjoy their English classes more.
other relevant vocabulary
In summary, the use of music in class: Gatbonton, E and Segalowitz, N Creative
Authentic teaching offers a change from routine automatization: principles for promoting
Authentic language is dynamic and uency within a communicative
classroom activities; framework TESOL Quarterly 22 1988
ever-evolving. It is composed of many encourages a positive attitude towards Krashen, S Principles and Practice in
contractions, and in natural speech, words language learning; Second Language Acquisition Pergamon
are seldom pronounced individually. For Press 1983
this reason, many students have difculty allows the discussion of attitudes and
feelings about topics; Levitin, D J The music of my mind: a
deciphering spoken language. Song neuroscientist examines the recipes for
lyrics exemplify contractions in context. promotes creativity and imagination; listening ecstasy Paste Magazine 2006
In addition, new words and phrases are generates a relaxed atmosphere; Levitin, D J Do you hear what I hear?
continually being added to the language; adds diversity and pleasure to The Wall Street Journal 2008
some teachers may not be familiar with learning; Levitin, D J Why music moves us Nature
these and may not, therefore, include 464 2010
them in spoken exercises. Songs can plug increases the students interest in Medina, S The Effect of Music on Second
this gap, by allowing the students to language; Language Vocabulary Acquisition
listen to and see many examples of unites student interests by way of Longman 1993
popular colloquial expressions, which mutual song choices and musical Medina, S Acquiring vocabulary through
they may meet outside of the classroom. interests. story-songs MEXTESOL Journal 26 (1)
2003
Not all popular songs follow
In addition, music can add value to Schoepp, K Reasons for using songs in
accepted language conventions. Those
language learning by: the ESL/EFL classroom The Internet
whose lyrical structure does not follow TESL Journal 7 (2) 2001
the normal grammatical rules and providing authentic, memorable and
rhythmic language; Winkler, I, Haden, G P, Ladinig, O, Sziller, I
language patterns can be compared with and Honing, H Newborn infants detect
the appropriate structures or matched allowing exposure to informal and the beat in music Proceedings of the
with songs that offer the correct version colloquial language; National Academy of Sciences 2009
of the structure. Language learning can advancing language appreciation Zentner, M and Eerola, T Rhythmic
happen through noticing the differences through exposure to sentence engagement with music in infancy
and changes taking place in language. Proceedings of the National Academy of
patterns; Sciences 2010
Such comparative exercises are
presenting an interesting way to focus
attention-grabbing and provide anchors
on sounds, specic words and Lesley Lanir is a
which allow the teacher to point out to
connected speech; freelance writer, lecturer
the students the differences in language and teacher trainer who
registers, correct grammatical structures, exemplifying automaticity and has been involved in
teaching English for over
various synonyms and unusual phrasing. uency; 20 years. She specialises
supplying a memorable context. in learning disabilities
and foreign language
Focused teaching Music is an art form to which many learning. She has a BA in
English and Education,
Songs can be used specically to build students can relate. Research shows that the CTEFLA/RSA and an
MA in Learning
up phonological skills by drawing music stimulates many regions of the Disabilities. Her website
attention to the rhythm and rhyme of brain and especially activates our reward is www.foreignlanguage
learningdifculties.com.
the lyrics, word stress, particular and pleasure circuits. It is widely known
that our memory for music and our [email protected]
phonemes and syllables.

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IN THE CLASSROOM
Seven
nto
T
one
Olga Makinina
incorporates multiple
eachers often complain that it
is difcult to engage students
and keep them active. It seems
that no matter how many
sometimes irrelevant topics; others argue
that the students are simply not motivated
enough to work. Quite a few instructors
have turned to Howard Gardners theory
intelligences in one entertaining tasks are incorporated into of multiple intelligences ie that differing
the lesson, there will always be some cognitive abilities form the basis for
multiple project. learners who seem distracted and differences in student learning styles and
incapable of acquiring new information. preferences to explain the reason for
Some professionals blame school curricula problems in teaching and motivating
for being overloaded with complex and learners. Gardners theory is widely known
and implemented, so I will omit further
explanation, beyond introducing his
original denition of seven intelligences:
We are all able to know the world
through language, logical-mathematical
analysis, spatial representation, musical
thinking, the use of the body to solve
problems or to make things, an
understanding of other individuals, and an
understanding of ourselves.
In this article, I will address the
problem by showing how you can
incorporate all seven intelligences (plus
the naturalist intelligence which Gardner
added at a later date) into one project.
Many teachers tend to concentrate on
two or three intelligences only, which
excludes students who have a different
predominant type of intelligence, so in
my teaching I try to compensate for this
deciency by introducing a range of
activities. What follows is an example of
a series of activities spread over several
lessons on the topic of travelling around
the USA, which is suitable for a class of
iStockphoto.com / 13spoon
intermediate-level students. The

intelligences involved are verbal-linguistic,
visual-spatial, logical-mathematical,
bodily-kinaesthetic, interpersonal,
intrapersonal, musicalrhythmic and
naturalist.

Day 1 3 Deciding on a route and website of the US Department of
choosing transport Homeland Security for guidelines on
Travel planning allowed and prohibited items (www.tsa.
Intelligences:
1 Choosing destinations gov/traveler-information). They can then
Visual-spatial, naturalist, interpersonal
Intelligences: add other items of their choice to the
The students look at a map of the state list. Each student is asked to limit their
Visual-spatial, naturalist, interpersonal they have chosen and decide on the luggage to one bag to be checked in (up
A week prior to the lesson, each student order in which they will visit their four to 18 kilos) and one carry-on bag
is asked to choose one state in the destinations and their mode of transport (according to most US airline websites,
United States that they would like to between them (for example: bus, train, this might be a briefcase or shoulder/
visit and which they have to try to taxi, bike or plane). They have to take laptop bag). After completing their list,
persuade their classmates to visit. Each into account the time it will take to get the students exchange them with a
student makes an illustrated three- from one place to another, the cost of partner and discuss their choices.
minute presentation (using online travel and the convenience (how many
resources such as www.prezi.com, transfers, what time of day, etc). The
www.kizoa.com or www.animoto.com) students are encouraged to use List of items
which gives the name and location of additional web resources to help with sweater air mattress
the state they have chosen, what it is their choice. For example, websites such jeans roller skates
famous for, information about the as www.greyhound.com and coat bottle of juice
weather and the natural scenery, www.coachusa.com contain useful
cherry jam book/journal
sightseeing places, etc. information about bus routes and
In the lesson, the students work in schedules in several US regions toothbrush souvenir knife
groups of four to hear each others (predominantly the East Coast). towel evening dress/suit
presentations and discuss their photos. toothpaste large bottle of shampoo
Each group then chooses one state that Day 2 comb aerosol hair spray
they are going to visit and four places in
this state that they want to see. Travel and arrival skin lotion pyjamas/nightgown
1 Choosing things to pack body spray waterproof jacket
2 Working out a budget camera cans of meat
Intelligences:
Intelligences: Logical-mathematical, interpersonal hairdryer nail polish
Logical-mathematical, interpersonal umbrella manicure scissors
The students are given a list (see
The students are given a certain time opposite) of things that can be useful computer pillow and blanket
period for their trip, for example ten while travelling. Each student selects radio
days, and a maximum amount they can those things which they consider most
spend, for example 4,000 dollars per necessary. After choosing the things they
person (to include the cost of a return are going to take, they decide what will 2 Orientation at the airport
ight to the USA and all in-country go in their check-in bag and what in
Intelligence:
expenses). their carry-on bag, and they have to pick
Visual-spatial
They do an online search to nd the out those things they will put in
prices of hotels, restaurants, entry transparent plastic bags to carry The students are given around 20 airport
tickets to sightseeing places and travel through security. They are warned that signs to interpret. These are displayed
tickets. Then they ll in a budget chart they must be careful when choosing, on the classroom walls, and the students
(see the example below) for their group, because the list contains some things are given a numbered list of their
adding further rows as needed for the which are not allowed in hand luggage. meanings, eg 1 telephone, 2 luggage
expenses they envisage. The students are advised to check the lockers, 3 information, 4 meeting point,
etc. Their task is to match each picture
with the appropriate number.
Expenses Places to visit in California
3 Dealing with problems
Los Angeles Stanford Monterey San Francisco
Intelligences:
Transport Verbal-linguistic and interpersonal
Each group is given an example
situation that they might encounter.
Food They discuss the best way to respond
and they create and roleplay three- to
ve-minute dialogues for the situations.
Hotels Example situations:
When you were boarding the plane to
Entertainment the US, the ight attendant offered to
(tours, shopping, etc) check in your carry-on bag free of
charge because of the lack of space

Seven
2 Singing
Intelligences:
Visual-spatial, verbal-linguistic and
nto one
inside the aircraft. At the baggage
musical-rhythmic
The students learn to sing an American
folksong. You will need to nd a
recording of one and prepare printouts
claim in the US, you nd that your of the lyrics. The students rst listen to a
carry-on bag has not arrived. You recording of the song or watch a video
have to go to the airline ofce and tell of it being performed, and take note of www.yola.com, www.weebly.com and
them about your problem. What will any familiar words. They then listen to www.wix.com). During the lesson, the
you say to get them to nd and deliver the song for a second time, following students present their work to their
your luggage as soon as possible, since along with the printed text and classmates.
you will need to travel to a different identifying any unfamiliar words. As an extension, you could get the
city soon? During a third listening, they try singing students to nd pen-pals through various
along. After practising at home, they language exchange websites (for example,
You have arrived at your hotel and
come to the next lesson ready to sing in www.busuu.com). They may be able to
found that they have no record of
chorus without the recording. Videos of start corresponding with Americans
your reservation. All the rooms are
various American folksongs (for who wish to learn their language, and
currently occupied. You have no
example, The House of the Rising Sun) can share these presentations with them.
written evidence proving that you have
are available on YouTube and you can
reserved the room because you made
download the lyrics from the internet. 2 Cooking
your booking on the phone. What will
you say to the hotel clerk? 3 Intelligences:
Creative email writing Verbal-linguistic and bodily-kinaesthetic
Intelligences:
Day 3 Prior to the lesson, each group of
Intrapersonal
Cultural experiences students is asked to nd a recipe for a
The students are asked to write an email traditional American dish. They cook it
1 Dancing to their friends or family, describing at home for the rest of the class. They
Intelligence: what they have seen and found out then bring their dishes to class and
Bodily-kinaesthetic during their imaginary trip around the exchange recipes.
US. The email has to include the
Prior to the lesson, each group of
following components: a funny,
students is asked to prepare to teach the
dramatic or romantic story that could
rest of the class three steps of a popular
have happened while travelling, and a This sequence of lessons, which can be
American dance (for example, country
description of the differences and modied for different prociency levels,
and western dance, contra dance, whip
similarities between their country and allows you to engage students with
dance, West Coast swing, etc). The
American culture, people, traditions, etc. different learning styles in a
preparation includes nding a short
instructional video of a dance (for collaborative group project, which
example, the shim sham at www.youtube. Day 4 encourages productive interaction and
com/watch?v=bjfM4Wrj9UI) and Sharing cultures the development of strong interpersonal
selecting three easy dance steps that can communicative skills. I hope that you
1 Telling ones own story will nd it useful for motivating your
be taught in approximately ten minutes.
In class, the students watch the video Intelligences: students to become more involved in
and teach each other how to dance. Intrapersonal, interpersonal, verbal- their lessons.
linguistic (possibly also musical-
rhythmic and visual-spatial) Gardner, H The Unschooled Mind: How
Children Think And How Schools Should
Before the lesson, the students are told Teach Basic Books 1991
that if they go to the US, they are likely
to meet people who are interested in Olga Makinina has
their countrys culture and sightseeing an MA in Teaching
International Languages
places. In groups of four or ve, the from California State
students put together a ve- to seven- University, Chico, USA.
She is now doing a PhD
minute presentation describing places of in Applied Linguistics
interest in their country or town, their and Discourse Studies
traditions and holidays, and giving at Carleton University,
Canada. She has
interesting information about worked as an instructor
themselves and their lives. They have the of English as a foreign
language and Russian
option of creating a traditional in the USA and Eastern
presentation (using PowerPoint or Prezi) Europe.
or using a website (for example, [email protected]

More tested lessons, suggestions, tips and techniques which have all
worked for ETp readers. Try them out for yourself and then send us your
own contribution. Dont forget to include your postal address.
All the contributors to It Works in Practice in this issue of ETp will receive a
copy of In Company 3.0 by Simon Clarke, published by Macmillan. Macmillan
have kindly agreed to be sponsors of It Works in Practice for this year.
Self-guided interviews
This is a very motivating activity that before passing their sheet to the student order in which they would like to answer
draws upon the students interests and on the right. They read the sheet they them. At this point, they can also choose
knowledge. It allows them to practise receive and write a question that they to omit some questions, if they feel they
question formation, interviewing and would like to ask the new famous gure, cant answer them, or would not like to.
organising. It is student-driven and before passing the sheet on again. This Finally, in pairs, (possibly in front of
suitable for learners from pre-intermediate continues until the sheets have circled the the class, in mock chat show format), the
level upwards. class and are back with their owner. To students swap sheets and interview each
The students sit in a circle. On a sheet avoid confusion, the students should other, one person taking the role of the
of paper, they write the name of a famous imagine that the famous people are all interviewer, one the celebrity.
person (the person can be alive or dead alive and being interviewed in the present. This activity can be followed up by
or even ctional) whom they are interested in The teacher then tells the students getting the students to write a prole of
and know something about. They then write that they are going to imagine they are their person, using the questions as
two or three sentences about the person, as their famous person and that they are prompts, or a piece of writing saying why
if they were explaining who they were to going to be interviewed, using the they are particularly interested in the
someone who knows nothing about them. questions on their sheet. Aided by the individual, and what they would ask them if
Each student then writes one question teacher when appropriate, the students they had the opportunity.
that they would like to ask their famous check that the questions are written Tim Ashurst
person if they were interviewing them, correctly, before numbering them in the York, UK
Making exam classes challenging and fun

I have developed some downloadable Do expressions/idioms work in Spanish Write part of a composition in class in
materials and worksheets to make and in English? (I teach in Spain) groups beginning, middle or end and
Cambridge exam-level classes more fun. Noticing similarities and differences compare with the original text.
I have grouped the materials under four between L1 and L2 in context. Composition dictogloss reconstruct and
headings. compare with the original.
Translating song lyrics.
Learner autonomy Back translation from reading texts + Target reader photos who are you
SWOT questionnaires repeat follow-up noticing activity. writing to?
throughout the year to help students Composition overview of task-type and
analyse and work on their own strengths Collocation dictionaries
analysis.
and weaknesses. Find a better word for [x] in the
dictionary. Register: moving from formal neutral
Learning strategies and course informal language equivalents.
expectations questionnaires let the Guess the word from its synonyms and
students take responsibility for their usage. If you would like to download these
progress and set realistic goals for Explore a word through student-made materials and worksheets, go to this
themselves during the course. gap-ll exercises. wiki and have a look
Use of L1 www.b1toc2materials.pbworks.com.
Writing
Questionnaire on attitudes to the use Draw a story put pictures in order or Its all there to share!
of L1 in class. guess which story is represented in the Elspeth Pollock
Student-made vocabulary tests. pictures. Seville, Spain

Food for talk
Speaking is probably one of the most daunting challenges Act on CO2
language students face. How can we expose them to authentic www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnaKb7yZAi4
audio-visual material that will break communication barriers and Content areas: Sources of energy: oil, gas, coal. The environment
get them speaking English? and global warming. Show in two parts:
I have found TV adverts helpful for a number of reasons. Not only Part 1: How we waste electricity
are they boredom-proof the average lasting just 30 seconds Part 2: How we can adopt energy-saving measures
but they are also catchy and certainly entertaining. Here are The Lexus GS Hybrid 120 Heartbeats
some of the benets TV adverts offer: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ht-_CxBB-kc
They expose learners to authentic language in natural Content areas: Protecting the environment. The effects of
situations. adrenaline on heart rate and blood ow.
They expose learners to a variety of voices, accents, dialects The next three adverts are good for focusing on natural language
and cultures. and giving examples of different voices, accents, dialects and
The topics are familiar and relevant to personal experience. cultures.
They provide a situational and visual context to language
interactions. Nespresso What else?
They provide scaffolding to help students understand www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfyeXrdZZ1o
linguistic meaning. Language: Adjectives
They arouse curiosity. Discussion topics: Misconceptions; describing people and things
They encourage critical thinking. Coca-Cola for everyone
They are motivating. www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcCSa77mzWk
They provide a break from classroom routine. Language: Nouns and adjectives for describing people; synonyms
There are adverts covering every possible language and and antonyms
content requirement, and the fact that they are short makes Discussion topics: Describing oneself, family members, friends, etc
them easy to select, manipulate and prepare.
Weetabix Fuel for big days
Here are some adverts and suggested activities you can do with www.youtube.com/watch?v=4x1s60tXJtQ
them. All the adverts can be used to present and practise topics Language: Everyday activities; family members; have to for
and vocabulary, encourage extensive and intensive listening and obligation; present simple for habits/routine
stimulate discussion of attitudes and feelings. Discussion topics: My worst/best day; a day in the life of
Hamlet cigars (the commercial set in a photo booth) The next two adverts both have adaptations of Gloria Gaynors song
www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlYMID5qCdE I will survive.
Activity: Running commentary
The students sit in pairs, with only Student A facing the screen. Weetabix: Driving Instructor
Student A describes what is happening in the ad. Student B then www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0mq-gdGfg4
relates what they have understood. The students then switch Weetabix: Vet
roles and repeat the activity. Together, they will produce a more www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ho9ZrHBdnvo
precise description of the advert. Activity: Play the version of the song sung by the driving
Activity: Discussion instructor, then ask the students to write their own version of I will
The slogan of the advert is Happiness is a cigar called Hamlet. survive for a vet. When they have nished, play the second advert
Here are some discussion topics based on this: for them to compare with their versions.
What does happiness mean to you? Language: Jobs and related words and expressions; conditionals;
When youre feeling down, what do you do to cheer yourself imperatives; various verb tenses
up? Discussion topics: Risky jobs; my ideal job
Should smoking be banned in public places?
In order to ensure there are no hiccups caused by a poor internet
Should tobacco advertising be banned?
connection in class, I recommend downloading adverts from
The next three adverts are useful for CLIL, as they contribute to YouTube using a simple freeware application called aTube Catcher.
information in the content areas common to CLIL courses. They This downloads video and converts it to the format requested for
provide scaffolding to help students understand linguistic viewing ofine. Get it from http://atube-catcher.softonic.com.
meaning, and encourage the development of critical thinking Remember that by bringing variety and fun into learning you will be
skills. creating a relaxed classroom atmosphere which will, in turn,
Sprite Camo TV commercial optimise learning.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3paXOX2JqE Stephanie Williams
Content areas: Physical properties of materials: colour, texture, Barcelona, Spain
shape. Animals and camouage the hunter or the hunted? [email protected]

LANGUAGE LOG
Homophones, eggcorns
and mondegreens
John Potts shows how the wrong word can upset the apple tart.
W
hile reading online recently about the trial of the 5 Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was
corrupt ex-mayor of Detroit, I came across this time to present the present.
arresting (sorry) account: 6 When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.
Federal agents who poured over bank accounts and credit 7 I did not object to the object.
cards said Kilpatrick spent $840,000 beyond his salary during
8 The insurance was invalid for the invalid.
his time as mayor. His defence attorneys subsequently
9 There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.
attempted to portray the money as generous gifts from
political supporters. (Independent 11 October 2013) 10 They were too close to the door to close it.
I had two competing thoughts an image of oods of agents 11 The buck does funny things when the does are present.
descending on his nancial records, versus an urgent 12 To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.
question: What did they pour over those accounts? before 13 The wind was too strong to wind the sail.
the penny dropped and I mentally corrected poured to pored.
14 After a number of injections, my jaw got number.
Unless, of course, the various agents batted at each other
for possession of those incriminating data, in which case 15 Upon seeing the tear in the painting, I shed a tear.
they pawed over them? On second thoughts, probably not. 16 I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.
Some of these examples illustrate the phenomenon of
shifting stress: object (n) and object (v), for example, where
The internet is a rich source (sauce?) of such mistakes, and
the word stress is placed on the rst syllable in the noun and
over the years Ive collected a few. For example, I came
the second in the verb. English has plenty of those, too. And
across the following in the online Telegraph earlier this year;
number 6 has that interesting past tense form of dive dove
it seems that if descending from the nobility is what youre
that is chiey found in North American varieties of English.
after, youd be better off in Geneva:
I lived in Basle and found it OK a bit pricey but wages
were good too. I have to say I found Geneva a bit dull and However, back to my title. The existence of homophones is
boring, but Basle was OK, no heirs and graces and you well known, but what about eggcorns and mondegreens?
could get a good kebab there. (Telegraph 13 June 2013) The former is a term coined in September 2003 by the linguist
Geoffrey Pullum, in a blog called (coincidentally) Language
Two of my favourites are towing the line (not to be confused
Log (http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll). The choice of the
with pulling your wait), and giving free reign to ones
term was in response to an earlier post by another linguist
imagination, or even giving free rain to it.
discussing an American woman who wrote eggcorn for acorn
(probably as a result of her regional pronunciation).
The example words are all homophones: words that sound The key to eggcorns is that they seem (to the speaker/
the same but are spelled (or spelt) differently. Not to be writer) to make acceptable sense in the original context
confused with homographs these are spelled the same which takes us back to towing the line, giving free reign,
but sound different. English has plenty of homographs, as etc. Whats more, their user can often come up with a
attested by one of those humorous emails that does the plausible-sounding explanation for their creation a sort of
rounds every now and then, and which Ive received from improvised etymology, if you like.
many students over the years. Heres a shortened version:
1 The bandage was wound around the wound.
Eggcorns abound. Weve probably all come across texts that
2 The farm was used to produce produce.
refer to a nerve-wrecking experience, or waiting with baited
3 The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse. breath for something to occur. There are websites dedicated
4 The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert. to them Ive included some web addresses at the end of

LANGUAGE LOG: Homophones, eggcorns and mondegreens
this article. A disconcerting one (to me) is describing a op

as a damp squid. Jeremy Buttereld took that as the title of There are entire websites devoted to collecting and listing
his book about English, in which he devotes a few pages to examples of mondegreens, some of which are more
the topic. His data show that the eggcorn just desserts is evocative than the lines they mishear. Smith quotes what
now actually more frequent than the correct version (just are claimed to be the most frequently submitted examples:
deserts), as are miniscule (properly minuscule) and straight- Gladly, the cross-eyed bear (mishearing of a line from a
laced (strait-laced). Still in the minority (for the moment) are hymn: Gladly the cross Ill bear), Theres a bathroom on the
preying mantis, slight of hand, chaise lounge, beknighted, at right (mishearing of Creedence Clearwater Revivals Bad
someones beckoned call and in one foul swoop. A bizarre Moon Rising: Theres a bad moon on the rise) and Scuse
image is conjured by working hammer and thongs to meet a me while I kiss this guy (mishearing of Scuse me while I kiss
deadline. Ill leave you to puzzle that one out at your leisure. the sky, from the song Purple Haze by Jimi Hendrix).
Buttereld, J Damp Squid OUP 2008

Mondegreens are, if anything, even more beguiling. The
Smith, G Music and mondegreens: extracting meaning from
word derives from the mishearing of the lyrics of a song.
noise ELT Journal 57 (2) 2003
According to an article by Geoff Smith in ELT Journal, it was
If youre curious to learn more, try these websites:
coined in 1954 by Sylvia Wright, a writer for the Atlantic
http://eggcorns.lascribe.net
Monthly. He continues:
www.macmillandictionaries.com/MED-Magazine/June2010/
Here she confessed to mishearing a line from an old Scottish 58-Web-Watch-Print.htm
ballad called The Earl of Murray by Thomas Percy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mondegreen
Ye highlands, and ye lawlands, http://grammar.about.com/od/mo/g/mondegreenterm.htm
Oh! whair hae ye been? and this YouTube clip of 30 mondegreens in four minutes
but, be warned, occasionally the misheard language may be
They hae slaine the earl of Murray,
offensive to some:
And hae layd him on the green. www.youtube.com/watch?v=6p6rV3OKcjw&noredirect=1
She heard the last two lines as they have slain the Earl
of Murray and Lady Mondegreen. Hence the term John Potts is a teacher and teacher trainer
based in Zrich, Switzerland. He has written
mondegreen, meaning a specious ... interpretation of and co-written several adult coursebooks, and
is a CELTA assessor. He is also a presenter for
an aural message. Cambridge ESOL Examinations.
Geoff Smiths article is well worth reading in full, and it
focuses on attempts by advanced learners ... to identify
[email protected]
words while transcribing song lyrics.
3 23 21 18 9 1 1 17 6 18 25 24 23 12 COMPETITION RESULTS
V O Y A G E E Q U A T I O N
18 23 18 20 13 24 19 21
A O A H X I M Y Congratulations to all Barbara Dumas, Harrogate, UK
26
R
1
E G
9 18
A
2
L
22
C
5
P
26
R
24
I
19
M
18
A
2
L
those readers who Rachel Glanville, Cardiff, UK
24 18 2 2 23 22 18 25 1 23 23 successfully completed Laura Gormley, Dublin, Ireland
I A L L O C A T E O O
18 25 15 3 18 22 10 18 2 12
our Prize Crossword 60. Sabine Liberto, Seuzach, Switzerland
A T W V A N D A L N The winners, who will Nicolas Ochsner, Kaiserstuhl, Switzerland
12 22 18 26 18 3 18 22 23 18
N C A R A V A N O A each receive a copy of Kevin Sales, Elngen, Switzerland
25 26 18 21 25 22 18 25 18 the Macmillan English Moritz Schneider, Bad Zurzach, Switzerland
T R A Y T C A T A
18 269 11 23 12 1 16 12 1 1 2 Dictionary for Advanced William Tice, Oberwil-Lieli, Switzerland
A R S O N E K N E E L Learners, are: Linda Weber, Windisch, Switzerland
14 22 8 11 23 11 2
F C Z S O S L Astrid Wimmer, Birr, Switzerland
1 14 14 24 22 24 1 12 25 1 15 1 6
E F F I C I E N T E W E U 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
2 23 18 2 18 7 18 11 25 1 26 26 E L V J P U B Z G D S N X
L O A L A B A S T E R R 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26
4 1 18 12 11 2 25 22 26 18 3 1 F W K Q A M H Y C O I T R
J E A N S L T C R A V E
18 2 24 26 24 22 20 11 16 12 23 15 24 12 9 21 23 6 26 11 1 2 14
A L I R I C H S K N O W I N G Y O U R S E L F
24 23 15 2 23 20 1 18 26 24 11 25 20 1 7 1 9 24 12 12 24 12 9
I O W L O H E A R I S T H E B E G I N N I N G
2 1 18 26 12 1 12 10 1 18 26 1 23 14 18 2 2 15 24 11 10 23 19
L E A R N E N D E A R E O F A L L W I S D O M Aristotle

Reviews
we are now), an ideal self
Teacher Development in Action: (who we would like to
Understanding Language become) and an ought to
Teachers Conceptual Change self (who we feel we are
by Magdalena Kubanyiova
expected to become).
Palgrave Macmillan 2012
Chapter 4 presents a
978-0-230-23258-7
model integrating the ideas
so far explored. The
This is a courageous book. Rather than
Language Teacher
trumpeting a success story, it documents
Conceptual Change Model
and analyses the failure of a project
is explained in some
designed to radically restructure teachers
detail. Essentially, unless a
conceptual understanding of their teaching.
teacher has some vision
The study lasted one year and was
of who they want to
conducted with eight volunteer teachers in
become, feels they are
Slovakia. Although all were well-qualied
implicated personally at
and initially highly-motivated, the course
a deep level, can
did not achieve the transformative effect
recognise that there is a
hoped for. The book is a frank and
dissonance between
determined attempt to nd out why.
where they are and
The introductory chapter puts the
where they want to be,
study in context. It is written for anyone
and then systematically
working with or researching language
engages with it, there
teachers. Chapter 2 reviews the work on
will be no change in
teacher change and reveals that for all the
their beliefs.
many studies conducted, the yields have
The methodology
been disappointing, and that the eld
of the project is
remains confused and poorly organised.
outlined in Chapter 5, along with
And all too often, words are not matched
information about the Slovak context and
by deeds: embracing the language of language teacher self and simply slid off
detailed biographies of the eight teachers
change does not always imply embracing them like water off a ducks back. Another
involved. The combination of formal
its mindset. The author argues for a more subject (Couldnt agree more ) was
input, classroom observation, eld
rigorously theoretical framework for convinced that she was already doing
observation, formal and informal
teacher cognition research. what the course was advocating. Hence
interviews, detailed eld notes and
In Chapter 3, she examines Theories there was no sense of emotional
student focus groups yields a thick
of Learning and Change in Psychology. dissonance, no problem to confront, so
description for analysis.
She looks specically at Attitude change, no change resulted. The new was
Having cleared away the theoretical
Conceptual change and Possible selves assimilated into the old on the
undergrowth, we now come to the
theory. She outlines two routes to attitude assumption that it was the same. Others
nitty-gritty part of the book, which for
change: the systematic, which involves (Nice but too scary ) sensed in the
many non-specialist readers will be the
effort and a willingness to engage deeply message of the course a threat to their
most interesting and accessible.
with the change, and heuristic, which is a sense of self. They felt threatened by the
Chapters 6 to 9 document in detail the
short-cut based on prior experience, discrepancy between what I do, and
different reactions of the eight subjects/
knowledge and beliefs, mood and what the course says I ought to do.
teachers to the course. Three metaphors
feelings. The impact of the heuristic route Chapter 9 explores the development
emerge: Nice but not for me, Couldnt
is generally supercial and temporary. of one teacher in ne detail, and reveals
agree more and Nice but too scary. The
This links with conceptual change, which that the process is not linear but cyclical.
main concerns of one group of subjects
can either involve assimilation or This teachers trajectory involved a
(Nice but not for me) were centred
accommodation. Assimilation involves number of U-turns and false starts, yet
around their expertise in the subject
simply adopting a new idea without it ultimately, she did emerge as someone
matter and maintaining a positive
really impacting on our current state, for whom the course had made a change.
self-image, rather than in engaging with
whereas accommodation involves a deep Her realisation Ive got to teach
the new concepts. The programme did
process of self-questioning. Possible differently offers hope for her future
not, therefore, implicate their ideal
selves theory posits an actual self (who development.

Reviews
The nal chapter explores the Students will nd the focus
metaphor of teacher change related on listening and speaking
to complexity theory. To account for quite challenging but
it, we need to take into consideration incredibly helpful. The
the multiplicity of factors and their opportunity to interact with
varied inter-relationships. Kubanyiovas the speakers on the CD by
conclusion is: If you want to walk on means of cunningly-
water, youve got to get out of the conceived exercises, where
boat. To do this we need to inspire a the speakers words are
vision, rock the boat by provoking given and the student is
dissonance and spread a safety net. provided with short clear
This book will primarily be of interest instructions about how to
to teacher trainers and researchers, but respond, will also be very
teachers will also nd much to reect on, welcome to those with
especially in the sympathetic and detailed few opportunities for
analysis of the human data. speaking practice. The
Alan Maley fact that they can repeat
Fordwich, UK the activity again and
again until they are
Subscribers can get a 12.5%
happy with their
discount on this book. Go to the ETp
performance will be a
website and quote ETPQR0114 at
great condence
the checkout.
booster, I believe.
There is plenty of helpful
advice and information in this book and I
Key Business Skills
think that students at B1 to C1 level of
by Barry Tomalin listening section giving the opportunity to
the CEFR will nd it extremely useful.
Collins 2012 hear the skills being used, a business
Kelly Davies
978-0-00-748879-7 practice section with the key language
Bournemouth, UK
accompanied by speaking and
This book is aimed primarily at students vocabulary practice, and a business Subscribers can get a 12.5%
looking for a self-study business writing section with tasks associated with discount on this book. Go to the ETp
communication course, but it would also the unit topic. This part ends with a website and quote ETPQR0114 at
make a useful resource for any teacher- reection section to encourage students the checkout.
led business English course. It has 12 to record what they have learnt and to
units divided into four key skills areas: make plans for how and when they will
networking, presentations, meetings and implement their new skills.
negotiations. Each unit is then subdivided At the back of the book is an answer Reviewing
into two parts, which follow the same
basic structure in all the units.
key to the activities, the transcripts of all
the listening material and a business le,
for ETp
Part A has: aims (unit objectives), a which gives additional reference material Would you like to review books
quiz to activate prior knowledge, a for some sections of the units. or other teaching materials for ETp?
brieng section presenting the target Books with a rigid unit structure, We are always looking for
communication skills, a listening section although very easy to nd your way people who are interested in
with the opportunity to interact with a around, often risk appearing rather dull writing reviews for us.
speaker on the accompanying CD, a and inexible. However, I think there is Please email
business practice section, which presents plenty of variety in the tasks and activities [email protected]
key language and gives speaking and to avoid this accusation. It is also for advice and a copy of our
vocabulary practice, and a business important for a self-study book to be very guidelines for reviewers.
culture section, with information on how transparent in its structure so it is easy for You will need to give your postal
the target communication skills may differ students working on their own to navigate address and say what areas
in various international situations. their way through the different sections of teaching you are
Part B has: a brieng section to and to locate the material that is most most interested in.
present the target skills in this part, a relevant to them quickly and easily.

EAP Reiventing the
inventive When it comes to academic writing, David Heatheld doesnt think
its necessary to reinvent the wheel.
T
eachers of academic writing face Each exercise is proposed for all levels, Each activity is suggested at all levels,
a mountain of unimaginative ranging from beginner to advanced. ranging from beginner to advanced.
published resources of little Each activity is suggested at all levels,
Get the students to say the sentence
relevance and interest to the ranging from low to advanced.
aloud, focusing on clear pronunciation,
particular students they meet in the
and tell them that they are going to Each activity is suitable at all levels,
classroom. Disengaged students plough
change the sentence one word at a time, ranging from low to advanced.
through repetitive assessment-based
without changing its essential meaning.
exercises, and are obliged to turn out Each activity is suitable at all levels,
formulaic pieces of writing which bear Rub out one word and tell the students ranging from low to high.
little resemblance to what they will that a replacement word is needed. Each activity is suitable at all stages,
actually write in their university studies. When a student suggests one, write it ranging from low to high.
In order to nd ideas that give their in the space. Ask the student to read
the sentence aloud and the class can Every activity is suitable at all stages,
students the chance to manipulate text in
either accept or reject the new word. If ranging from low to high.
a meaningful way, teachers of academic
writing simply need to raid more creative they accept it (and you agree), remove Example 2
and inventive resource books which do another word from the sentence. The
Each exercise is proposed for all levels,
not have an academic focus. Many ideas class should end up with a new
ranging from beginner to advanced.
are easy to adapt to the academic sentence, where most words are
different from the original. It should be Each exercise can be done by all levels,
context and can even bring life to those
a paraphrase with minimal change in ranging from beginner to advanced.
materials which teachers and students
may be required to use. meaning (see Example 1 below, which Each exercise can be done at any stage
The four activities suggested here are shows one of several ways in which the in the learning process, ranging from
adapted from books written solely or in sentence could change). beginner to advanced.
part by Mario Rinvolucri, a highly Once the students have got as far as Each exercise can be done at any stage
inventive, inuential and prodigious they can, ask them to dictate the original in the learning process, however much
creator of teaching resources. The sentence to you and write it below their knowledge students have.
common theme is that each activity is nal sentence so they can compare All the tasks can be done at any stage in
learner-centred and provides a framework them. Tell them they can now paraphrase the learning process, however much
which makes it possible for the students the sentence again, but this time they knowledge students have.
to develop as writers of academic can remove and replace chunks (see
English. Each activity builds up the Example 2 below). Substituting chunks
students awareness of conventional may seem more challenging at rst, but
2 Sentence
structures in academic writing at it soon becomes clear that it is a more deconstruction and
sentence and paragraph level, through effective approach to paraphrasing. reconstruction
investigative and playful techniques.
The beauty of this exercise is that the (Adapted from Silent sentence in
These activities can make up part of
students are in charge of the building of Grammar Games)
an academic writing class. They are easy
the new sentence, with the teacher Write a complex sentence on the
to adapt for use with any level, and work
acting as guide. board, of the kind that your students
best if they are repeated at least once
during a course. Example 1 need to practise in their academic
writing. For example:
(The underlined words are those that the
1 Remove and replace teacher erases at each step of the process.) According to recent research, the
average foreign language teacher
paraphrasing Each exercise is proposed for all levels,
currently takes up at least 70% of
(Adapted from Rub out and replace in ranging from beginner to advanced.
talking time in the classroom; only 30%
Grammar Games) Each exercise is suggested for all levels, remains for the students, which does
Write a sentence on the board, of the ranging from beginner to advanced. not appear to make sense in a situation
kind your students need to practise in Each activity is suggested for all levels, where most learners want to achieve
their academic writing. For example: ranging from beginner to advanced. increased uency.

The class have to edit this sentence 3 Reordering chunks in 4 Reordering and
until only one word remains. In each
turn, they can remove up to three
a sentence analysing a paragraph
words in a row. Words cannot be (Adapted from Text reconstruction in (Adapted from Analysing a formal letter
added, changed or put in a different Letters) structure in Letters)
order. The sentence must always make Write a sentence, suitable for the level of Before opening the coursebook or
some kind of sense, even though the the class, on the board. This example is handing out a text, choose a paragraph
meaning may change. from the introduction to Letters: with about six sentences from the text
Here is one way the process could EFL has been characterised for much you are going to use. Ask the students
work, using the example sentence: of its lifespan by a healthy wish for to tear or cut a piece of blank paper
Student A: Remove recent. innovation. into the same number of strips as there
are sentences.
Erase recent and replace the word with Divide it into chunks:
an underscore line. EFL has been characterised / for much Dictate the sentences in a jumbled
of its lifespan / by a healthy wish / for order, one for each strip.
Student A then reads out the sentence
innovation.
minus recent. Put the students into pairs or groups of
Check that all the other students are Now erase the sentence and write up three and ask them to:
happy with the deletion. In this case it the chunks in a jumbled list: Guess what the relationship is between
works. for innovation the sentences (ie that they are from the
for much of its lifespan same paragraph).
Student B: Take out language teacher.
by a healthy wish
Guess the type of text the sentences
Erase language teacher and replace EFL has been characterised
come from (eg that they come from a
with a longer underscore line.
Ask the students to work in pairs to say compare and contrast essay about
Student B reads out the rst part of the and write the original sentence. education in Japan).
sentence without language teacher and
Before opening the coursebook or Read each others slips and help each
realises (or other class members
handing out a text, choose two other to correct any errors and ll in
realise) that it is not possible because
sentences of roughly equal length from any missing words.
foreign is not a noun and it is not
possible to change it to foreigner within the model text you are going to use. Put the sentences in the correct order (by
the rules of the game. If no students looking for logical progression of ideas
Give out copies of one complete
notice this, just write the words back in and discourse markers/reference words).
sentence to the students on one side of
yourself (after all, you are the expert) the classroom and the other sentence to Guess the main ideas in the preceding
and invite another deletion. the students on the other side. Ask the and following paragraphs (they can be
students to make sure they understand asked to write their predicted ideas of
Once all the text has been removed,
the meaning of the sentence, and then the next paragraph and then compare it
ask the students to copy the underlined
to divide it up into chunks, as you did with the original).
spaces and the punctuation onto a
piece of paper. The fact that the spaces with the example, and to list the chunks Choose two or three chunks of language
are of different lengths (according to of their sentence in a jumbled order on that they want to record and use in their
the lengths of the words they replaced) another piece of paper. own writing.
will help many students remember the Tell the students to exchange their lists The students now read and study the
sentence in the next stage. with the students on the other side of whole text with the paragraph in context.
In pairs, the students reconstruct the the classroom. Explain that they should
sentence on paper, by taking turns to try to reconstruct the original text from
add up to three words at a time. the chunks they have received. Tell So, how about taking a fresh look at the
them they need to focus on meaning as many inventive ideas available, and
Note: It doesnt matter if the sentence the well as grammar. They can work reinventing them for your academic
students reconstruct is different from the individually or in pairs, as they prefer. writing class?
original, as long as it works in its meaning
and grammar. After a minute, stop everyone and let
them put questions to the students in Burbidge, N, Gray, P, Levy, S and
Further suggestion: Each time you make Rinvolucri, M Letters OUP 1996
the other half of the classroom about
a deletion, mime putting the removed the meaning of the sentence, so that Rinvolucri, M Grammar Games CUP 1985
words somewhere strange as you say they can check their answers. David Heatheld is an
them, eg in a pocket, under a book, into a English teacher,
particular students ear. This will help They now nish reconstructing the international storyteller
visual-spatial and/or kinaesthetic learners sentence before looking at the and teacher trainer. His
coursebook or text to compare what latest book, Storytelling
to retrieve the words from their memory. With Our Students, will
they have written with the original. be published by DELTA
Extension: Encourage the students to in April 2014.
build up a completely new sentence Note: This activity can be repeated during
following a similar structure to the initial the course and, instead of individual
one. sentences, pairs or groups of sentences
or short paragraphs can be used. www.davidheatheld.co.uk

WRITING
Text messages 2
Nick Dall tells us how texting can be taught.
I
n Issue 89 of ETp, I discussed the communities, so it goes without saying One word of caution, though: some
shortcomings of existing ELT that the students should know all of the published examples of this kind of activity
materials on text messaging and, words in it. not only have commonplace expressions
relying heavily on a corpus study (eg Y dont u call?) but also include others
by Caroline Tagg, I highlighted six key a) Pelmanism which are really only representative of
features of real text messages. This This is a simple pelmanism game, niche texting communities, such as
article describes a selection of tried and requiring the students to match full teenagers (eg w8n 4 U). The danger
tested activities which help students with forms with re-spellings. You will need a here is that the students will think this is
both recognition and production of set of cards like those below. They are how all English speakers compose text
more authentic text messages. Teachers turned face down. The students then messages. I believe its ne to include a
can mix and match the activities, take turns to try to nd pairs. At the end few unusual examples, as long as you
according to their students needs. of the game, the student with the most later have a discussion about how useful
pairs is the winner. such expressions really are, and when it
1 Formal or informal? might be appropriate to use them.
you u
Formal messages usually contain full
forms, standard punctuation and
to 2 3 Leaving words out
measured greetings and sign-offs. for 4 Ellipsis is extremely common in text
Informal messages can exclude any or messages. Fortunately, its also quite
all of these features. This activity gets be b logical: in my experience, students
the students thinking about this understand and learn to use ellipsis
are r
distinction, and should result in them relatively quickly. Once they know which
sending more appropriate texts. see c types of words are commonly omitted,
The students are asked to categorise this three-step activity takes them from
sample text messages as either appropriate your ur recognition to production:
or inappropriate in style. Each message yes yeah Put full texts and their shortened
is printed on a mini-ashcard, and the equivalents on different ashcards,
students form two piles of messages. This tomorrow tomo and give each student one ashcard.
activity must be done in pairs or small They then have to nd their partners.
groups, as it is vital that the students what wot
This serves as a brief introduction to
justify their choices to their peers. about bout further practice.
Here are two examples for
comparison, the rst appropriate and night nite Give the students shortened texts to
the second inappropriate: write out in full. This gives them an
youre ur understanding of the mechanics of
Morning John, v sorry but trains delayed. ellipsis.
Gonna be a few mins late. See you soon. though tho
Give the students full texts and ask
hiya boss v sorry but trains delayed because cos them which words can be removed.
gonna be a few mins late cu. XXX. This is the nal step before authentic
going to gonna
In a feedback session, the students and the production.
teacher discuss which words or expressions want to wanna
are inappropriate, and together they decide 4 Lexical chunks
how they can be improved upon.
b) Translation Caroline Tagg compiled wordform
Another activity that works well is getting frequency lists which can be extremely
2 Re-spellings the students to translate text messages useful to teachers when composing
The following two activities make use of with re-spellings into full sentences. This sample messages or when getting
a core list of 17 commonly re-spelt appeals to most students, as it is precisely students to compose their own texts. Ive
words. This short list unlocks the door what they need to do when they receive put together three top ten lists, which
to all but the most esoteric texting English-language text messages in real life. can be used for a variety of activities.

Three-word phrases Four-word phrases Five-word phrases 6 Freer practice
The students should now be ready to
1 have a good do you want to hope you had a good engage in a freer-practice activity where
they send each other text messages in as
2 let me know have a good day just to let you know authentic a manner as possible. They could
actually use their phones, though this
3 see you soon let me know when see you in a bit requires them having each others numbers
and enough credit to send messages.
4 a good time hope you had a let me know when you If this seems too much to ask, I use a
paper-based activity where the students
5 do you want let me know if did you have a good send and reply to each others messages
on folded slips of paper: Student 1 writes
6 how are you have a good one let me know if you on the top half and Student 2 responds
on the bottom half. I usually provide
7 let you know had a good time looking forward to seeing you
scaffolding for the rst couple of
messages, with a template like this:
8 a good day to let you know happy new year to you
Message:
9 happy new year have a good week to let you know that Hi Dave Im sorry, but _________________.
Please tell the boss ___________________.
10 give me a what you up to hope you have a good
Response:
OK Mark, ____________________________.
a) Complete the chunk chunks they have been working with. By Let me know ______________________.
Use one of the lists above, and white out giving them messages to respond to, you
one word in each chunk. In small create a new but related context, thereby Thereafter, I give the students blank
groups, the students use their knowledge steering them away from the tendency to templates, taking care to ensure that
of texts and texting to try to guess the reuse the chunks in exactly the context they know not to write more than 160
missing word. Over a few lessons, all in which they were initially presented. characters. This means that even the
three lists can be treated this way. weaker students can send two messages
Feedback is straightforward: just give each, while the stronger students can
5 Response tokens send as many as they want.
the students the completed list, which
can then be used in follow-up activities. Response tokens are a polite way of When the students have nished
acknowledging a previous text before writing a message, they hold it above their
b) Choose the right chunk moving on to a fuller response. They head and I deliver it. I really like the fact
Make enough copies of ten gapped typically come at the beginning of a that this simple design automatically pairs
messages (they should ll an A4 page) message: students of similar abilities: fast nishers
so that every student has a set. A: Hiya, thanks for getting the milk. xx end up writing to other fast nishers, while
The students cut their top ten lists B: No problem. When are you getting slower students also write to each other.
up and put the chunks in the gaps. For home? x As homework, I invite the students
example: to send me a text message asking
The students attention can be drawn to something about the course. I respond
Hiya. Not sure if I can make tennis. response tokens (followed by fuller to every message I receive.
Ill let you know tomorrow. turns) in pairs or longer chains of
Conduct feedback with the whole class. authentic text messages. They could
I would like to thank Alex Tilbury for his help
Once everyone agrees on the answers, write appropriate responses to messages, during the process of researching and writing
the students glue the chunks to their A4 making use of response tokens, followed this article.
sheet. This way, they each get a written by fuller turns. A simplied list of
record of the ten chunks in context. response tokens, with explanations, Tagg, C A Corpus Linguistics Study of
should be given to the students as a SMS Text Messaging University of
c) Explore the possibilities language reference, either before or after Birmingham 2009
Once you have put a few examples on the activity. Here are some common
the board, the students can brainstorm response tokens: Nick Dall has taught and
lived in Italy, Argentina,
possible permutations of semi-xed yes, yeah, ya Bolivia, Vietnam and his
expressions, in small groups. For example: native South Africa. His
ok, okay interests include
Do you want to meet + time + place yshing, languages,
no, nah, nope American ction and
expression (eg tomorrow morning at no problem wine. He currently
school )? divides his time between
oh writing and teaching, but
this is the rst time he
d) Using the chunks ha, haha, hahaha has written about
lol teaching.
As a follow-up activity, ask the students
[email protected]
to respond to text messages using the mm, mmm

A recent subject of these pages involved the interpretation of facial expressions. Harder still can
be the interpretation of words, when they hide meanings which are at odds with their face value.
Euphemistically yours ...

Euphemisms are polite words or phrases Consider the sad tale of Fred, a man Dealing with embarrassment
used in place of expressions that are, for killed by euphemism: use the facilities, use the rest room,
some reason, considered unpleasant. In the When the delivery company restructured, powder your nose, go to the bathroom
world of euphemism, people beat about there was a urry of downsizing and they = use the toilet
bushes, go round the houses and generally let most of the more experienced staff lose your breakfast/lunch/dinner
skirt around the subject. There can be go. They gave as the excuse for putting = throw up
various reasons for this curious behaviour: Fred out to pasture the fact that he was pass away, depart this life, fall asleep
To talk about things which are chronologically challenged, in both = die
considered embarrassing, eg death and senses of the term.
bodily functions. Not being a senior citizen, Fred was Making things sound less negative
To make things less negative than they too young to get a pension, but he failed downsize, put someone out to pasture,
might otherwise sound. to nd another job as a freight let someone go = re someone
A desire not to give offence to a forwarding facilitator or a sanitation not very clean = really dirty
particular group of people, eg the old, engineer, and so, while he was between under the weather = sick
the overweight (this is often referred to as jobs, he turned to a life of crime a
not doing so well = very sick
political correctness). move which proved to be ill-advised.
A desire to make things (eg jobs) sound First, he tried burglary, but he soon a bit shaky = of really poor quality,
more important than they are. discovered he was too vertically unreliable
challenged and big-boned to climb up pre-owned = used, second-hand
In each case, the normal expression which
is replaced by the euphemism is walls and squeeze through peoples person of interest = crime suspect
considered in some way unacceptable, windows easily and his spell as a ill-advised = a seriously bad idea
inferior or vulgar. In the same way that the get-away driver for a gang of bank
being economical with the truth = lying
Victorians extended their rigid dress code robbers was short-lived when his
between jobs = unemployed
to inanimate household objects and used pre-owned vehicle turned out to be a bit
lace frills to cover up the legs of items of shaky. Within a short time, the police had Avoiding offence to certain groups
furniture (which they also referred to as identied him as a person of interest and big-boned, curvy, portly = fat
limbs, considering legs too vulgar a word), he was down at the station being
chronologically challenged = late (or old)
so we dress up perfectly ordinary and economical with the truth about his
vertically challenged = short
sensible terms to make them sound a bit involvement with the gang.
The kitchens at the police station senior citizen, experienced = old
more acceptable to our own delicate
sensibilities and the assumed sensibilities were not very clean and, after eating a Making things sound more important
of others. ham sandwich, he started to feel a bit than they are
However, there are other euphemisms under the weather. He asked to use the
freight forwarding facilitator = lorry driver
which have the opposite intention: they are facilities, where he lost his lunch. A few
sanitation engineer = dustman
an intentionally less pleasant way of hours later, he was still not doing so well,
referring to something, used for comic so he was admitted to hospital, where, Making light of serious subjects
effect, often to make light of a serious sadly, he passed away. Poor old Fred is push up daisies, croak, kick the bucket
subject. now pushing up daisies. = die

With the greatest respect ...
Everett Collection / Shutterstock.com

We British have a reputation for trying to maintain
politeness at all costs. Whether or not this is true,
it sometimes means that we avoid saying what
we really mean. In fact, this art form has become
so highly developed over the years that the
subtleties are now part of ordinary speech and
are assumed to be understood by all. While this
is ne most of the time, it can lead to a certain
amount of confusion when people of other
nationalities or non-native speakers are involved
in the conversation. It must be particularly
frustrating for those attempting to do business
with us! Here are some examples:
What the British say How other nationalities may interpret it What is really meant
We have a slight problem. They have a small problem. We are in trouble!
I hear what you say. They accept my point of view. Youre wrong!
With the greatest respect ... They are listening to me. You are an imbecile.
Thats not bad. Thats good. Thats bad.
That is a very brave proposal. They think I have courage. Youre insane.
Quite good. Quite good. Disappointing.
I would suggest ... Think about it its your decision. Dont think about it just do it!
Oh, incidentally ... This isnt very important ... The whole point is ...
I was a bit disappointed. It doesnt really matter. I was livid!
Very interesting. They are interested. Obvious nonsense.
I will bear it in mind. They will probably do it. Theres no way I am going to do that!
Im sure it was my fault. They think it was their fault. It was your fault!
You must come for dinner. I expect an invitation soon. Goodbye for ever.
I only have a few minor comments. They have found one or two small errors. This is a load of rubbish.
Could we consider other options? They havent made a decision yet. Your idea stinks.

Beneting from ne views of the Hampshire countryside ...
Traditional culprits of misleading language are British estate Here are some examples in a worksheet that you might like
agents, who over the years have found many ingenious ways to use in class. Cut out and jumble the cards and see if your
to gloss over the less attractive aspects of their wares. students can match up Estate agent speak with the correct
English translations.
Estate agent speak Translation Estate agent speak Translation
In need of some The property hasnt been updated since Conveniently Set on a busy road, next to a pub and
modernisation the 1970s; the plumbing doesnt work; located above a 24-hour take-away burger bar.
and the place needs completely
disinfecting.
A cosy cottage in a The property is tiny and the nearest Tremendous scope Demolition would be advisable.
rural location shop is half an hours drive away. for improvement
An easy-to-maintain There is really nothing big enough to A real blank canvas Demolition is imperative.
living space require maintenance.
Reduced The owner is desperate to sell as no A garden at A dark and damp basement at,
one has even been to see the property underneath a garden which is owned
for nine months, let alone put in an by someone else in the building and to
offer. which you have no access.
Within easy reach Gangs of noisy teenagers will gather Low-maintenance The previous owners have concreted
of local schools outside your house at lunchtime and rear garden over the garden.
toss litter over the fence into your
garden.
Ideal as a buy-to-let The property is in such an undesirable Full of character On most of which you will bang your
investment area that there is no way you would features head.
actually want to live in it yourself.
A three-bedroom A two-bedroom house with a cupboard A stunning southerly The other three sides of the property
house that is just large enough to t a outlook benet from views of a sewage works,
mattress on the oor. a recycling facility and a sheet-metal
factory.
Set within a purpose- The property is right in the middle of a Sea view If you stand on the toilet and hang out
built residential vast housing estate with a notorious of the window, you can just catch a
development reputation for drugs and gangs. glimpse of the sea between the
gasworks and the high-rise ats.
Excellent transport There is a motorway or a busy railway Deceptively A mirror completely covering one wall
links line within ten metres of the property. spacious makes the living room appear twice the
size it really is.
Unexpectedly The previous buyer pulled out at the Located in a vibrant You would be ill-advised to venture out
re-available last minute when the survey revealed area at night.
that the property was about to fall
down.
50 Issue 90 January 2014 ENGLISH TEACHING professional www.etprofessional.com Scrapbook compiled by Ian Waring Green
IN THE CLASSROOM
Do we need
to know this?
I
Emilia Siravo nds that n his 2007 TED talk, Sugata Mitra thought to be proper) English.
quoted the late Arthur C Clarke Throughout this English grammar
corpora bring a touch of stating: A teacher that can be purication phase, I taught and reinforced
replaced by a machine should be. grammatical rules prescriptively.
reality into language lessons. Although Clarkes comment is very true, On one cold December morning, my
given we live in the age of information pedantic choices were questioned. I had
and technology, we cannot underestimate decided to dedicate an entire lesson to
the importance of using computers to teaching the difference between will,
embellish (not replace) our teaching going to and the present continuous for
practice. future plans. During a grammar exercise
Corpus data, which is now available
online through various websites, provides
language teachers with essential Corpus data provides
information that can rene course teachers with essential
curriculums and can increase relevance
in the classroom. In a talk for The New information that can rene
School on corpus linguistics in 2012,
Randi Reppen stated that corpus data course curriculums and
can provide insight into language where can increase relevance
intuitions often fail or, worse, give us the
wrong information. This article describes in the classroom
why corpus research is essential in
language classrooms, and highlights
how it can be used to supplement on this topic, a bright and eager student
classroom learning. inquired, Emilia, do we really need to
know this? Of course, Markus, I
retorted. But he continued, Are you
Ensuring relevance really saying that you would have
Although I have spoken English all my life, difculty understanding what I meant if
I had never even heard of the grammatical I said I am visiting instead of I am
rules governing the use of will and going going to visit? Once again, I was quick
to for making future arrangements until to respond with a Yes and continued
I went on a CELTA teacher training referring to our grammar book, stating
course. When I rst learnt these rules, I that one was used for a future plan and
was mortied, ashamed and frustrated. I the other for a future intention, and that
felt grammatically robbed, and I wondered there was a difference. But he pressed on:
why I had not learnt these things before. But do people really use this when they
Embarrassed by my lack of speak? I lied and convincingly said what
grammatical knowledge, I briey became in reality I did not believe: Yes, those
an English grammar fundamentalist who speak English well certainly do.
reading grammar books became my I reected for days and months on
favourite hobby, and my students were Markuss question and on my response
exposed to what I failed to know for so and I still do so now. Initially, I thought
long the rules of proper (or what I that listening to native speakers would

Shaping the curriculum coursebooks provide very clear-cut rules
Do we need Theoretical grammatical rules may still
regarding how the four conditionals
work. However, David Maule and, later,
to know this? serve a purpose and certainly should not

be completely ignored. However, to avoid
being overly prescriptive, these rules must
Christian Jones and Daniel Waller show
that these rules are not reective of reality.
In fact, Maule used his own set of data
offer proof that these rules reected be checked with how language is really
reality. However, during a summer visit to prove to his students that their books
used. Corpus data helps provide this grammatical rules were limiting. While
to New York City, I listened intently to insight. Had I used corpus data to
random conversations between native some critics, like Penny Ur, questioned
research the use of will, going to and the the extremity of Maules ndings, in her
speakers, and heard endless violations present continuous for talking about the
of these prescriptive rules! Appalled, I response to Maule, Ur did recognise the
future, I might have found that the importance of making our students
turned to the BBC and read news prescriptive rules I was preaching do not
transcripts from their website, hoping aware of the many types and forms of
necessarily apply in either spoken, conditionals (beyond what is prescriptively
that the BBCs English would prove that written, academic or general discourse.
these rules are indeed valid. I was presented in coursebooks). Corpora are
In fact, corpus studies, such as that by invaluable tools for doing this.
saddened to see the same grammatical Biber, Johansson, Leech, Conrad and
violations. At this point, I felt utterly Finegan, show that, regardless of the
confused. I no longer knew what to teach rules, will is used in most situations that
Teaching vocabulary
my students, and questioned whether I express the future. Corpus data can also be an essential
should teach prescriptively (by the source for teaching vocabulary. For
book) or descriptively (as used). example, for one of my lessons I used a
Upon reection, I realised those To avoid being overly corpus to research how the word actually
students who questioned my pedantic is used in American English. According
rules were absolutely right. They did not prescriptive, theoretical
to COCA, actually is ranked as the 396th
need to know these rules, because the grammatical rules must most commonly-used word in American
rules did not reect their reality. Instead English and has over 124,000 occurrences
of using class time to teach relevant, be checked with how in COCA, with the majority of these
frequent language items, I had wasted being in speech. COCA also shows that
hours teaching rules that were irrelevant. language is really used
use of the word actually is on the rise.
Corpus data resources also provide
Providing insights Tony McEnery and Andrew Wilson a KWIC (Key Word in Context) facility
While the battle between prescriptive and assert that non-empirically-based teaching that gives teachers and students
descriptive teaching is likely to continue, materials can be positively misleading and additional information regarding how a
corpus data can at least provide some corpus studies should be used to inform word is used in different registers. For
interesting insights into what we should the production of materials, so that the example, using concordance data one
be teaching. A corpus is a collection of more common choices of usage are given can see the typical patterns, various
language usage in various registers, and more attention than those which are less meanings and common collocations for
corpus linguistics attempts to capture common. While using corpus data as part the word actually.
how language is actually used in the real of my action research, I realised that I Having vocabulary frequency,
world. Prior to the internet, this data was spent most of my class time focusing on connotation and usage patterns helps
assembled manually. With the ability of rather questionable grammatical topics, teachers prepare what to teach and also
computers to manage, collect and analyse while avoiding highly frequent language helps learners become more aware of
data more efciently, corpus data and usage. For example, I noticed that in all vocabulary and its various meanings
research has boomed in recent years. my lower-intermediate groups, I never and uses in different registers.
There are various corpus data sets reviewed the 12 most commonly-used
which can be used for research. These lexical verbs (say, get, go, know, think,
include the Corpus of Contemporary see, make, come, take, want, give and While using corpus data may seem
American English (COCA), the British mean and the irregular usage of most of time-consuming and daunting, I believe
National Corpus (BNC) and the them in the past, even though, according teachers should incorporate some
Longman Corpus of Spoken and to Douglas Biber and Susan Conrad essential elements from it in the
Written English (LSWE). According to (cited by Reppen), these 12 verbs classroom. These may include:
its website, COCA contains more than account for about 45 percent of
450 million words of text and is equally occurrences of all lexical verbs. As Biber 1 Thinking about choosing
divided among spoken, ction, popular and Conrad point out: In many cases, corpus-certied coursebooks
magazines, newspapers, and academic we simply dont notice the most typical Recognising the importance of corpus
texts. Similarly, the BNC has over 100 grammatical features because they are so data, leading publishers have started
million samples of written and spoken common. Using corpus data helps us including it in their textbooks. When
language, while the LSWE has about 20 avoid these mistakes. selecting a new coursebook, look for a
million words from four registers. In addition to informing the Corpus certied symbol on the front
Together, these tools can provide curriculum, corpus data can help raise cover. While this should not be the only
valuable insight for language teachers. language awareness. For example, many criterion for selecting a coursebook,

using one where the author has thought
about language relevance and frequency
is clearly important.
Biber, D, Johansson, S, Leech, G, Conrad,
S and Finegan, E Longman Grammar of
Spoken and Written English Pearson
TALKBACK!
Education 1999
2 Enabling students to use
Jones, C and Waller, D If only it were true:
I
think it is rather simplistic to
corpus data themselves the problem with the four conditionals
abandon the whole idea of
While some teachers may hesitate to ELT Journal 65 (1) 2011
repetition because it takes time
teach their students how to use corpus Maule, D Sorry, but if he comes, I go
databases, learning how to track ELT Journal 42 (2) 1988 away from students and reduces
vocabulary, to check a words usage, McEnery, T and Wilson, A Corpus their motivation to speak as
meaning and form and to derive its Linguistics: An Introduction Edinburgh Nicholas Northall claims in Echo,
University Press 2001
connotation by using relevant corpus echo, echo ... (ETp Issue 88).
data will provide students with a more Ur, P Response to Sorry, but if he
I can see that it sounds
comes, I go ELT Journal 43 (1) 1989
complete insight into the target language. nonsensical simply to repeat what
As a minimum, teachers should consider Online resources
a student says, as in his example,
promoting the use of online databases Mitra, S How kids teach themselves TED
Audio podcast retrieved from www.ted. but there are certain advantages
(such as Google and, in particular, the com/talks/sugata_mitra_shows_how_kids_ to repetition:
Google Ngram Viewer) to check word teach_themselves.html
and phrase frequency. Google is not as Reppen, R Corpus linguistics Video of
The teacher can correct or
rened as either a corpus such as COCA talk given at the New School in February clarify what the student said.
or the BNC, but it can provide some 2012 retrieved from www.youtube.com/
watch?v=Qf46lOnMCfs Students hear a native-speaker
additional insight on vocabulary usage.
level of pronunciation.
3 Avoiding prescriptive teaching Corpus data sources
www.wordandphrase.info/analyzeText.asp Hearing their own words
At the very least, teachers themselves http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/
reected back gives the
should try using corpus data so that they www.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/
speaker a chance to conrm or
are reminded that there are no black and
white rules in English. I did a great qualify what they said.
Emilia Siravo is a
disservice to my students when I presented freelance ESL teacher in
Zurich, Switzerland. She Maybe even more useful than
them with supposedly hard and fast has CELTA, DELTA I, straight repetition is paraphrase,
rules for talking about the future. These DELTA III and SVEB
saying the same thing in a
certications, and
rules do not necessarily reect reality recently graduated from different way. This can help the
and, as English teachers, being aware of The New Schools MA
TESOL Program, class in various ways:
the languages various shades of grey receiving the 2013 Award
helps reinforce the fact that we should for Academic Excellence. The students hear different
be guides who help foster meaningful ways of expressing themselves,
communication, rather than police extending their vocabulary or
ofcers who enforce language rules. [email protected]
varying their sentence structure.
The student who is speaking
feels listened to and
encouraged. After all, if the
teacher takes the time to
rephrase what has been said,
this can be gratifying for the
student concerned.
Welcome to the Finally, repetition or paraphrase
ETp website! can help slower students to
formulate their own contribution
As a subscriber to ETp, you have full access to our website. to the conversation or discussion
Browse through our archive of Watch videos and read blogs when the teacher opens it out to
downloadable articles from previous by award-winning blogger the class.
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research. Lets not throw the baby out with
Download our guidelines for
Add your opinions to ongoing contributors and think about the the bathwater echoing has its
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TEACHER DEVELOPMENT
Signicant
others
Mark Krzanowski brings like-minded people together for special purposes.
SIG
stands for special share ideas with teachers working in the in developing countries). The SIGs most
interest group, a same eld but in different countries recent success lies in its contribution to
community whose around the world is especially valued. the creation of the Ivorian English
members work together to discuss their Membership numbers differ Teachers Association (CI-IATEFL),
particular eld of concern and expertise, according to the nature of the SIG. The whose main interest lies in ESP and
to promote best practice within that eld Business English SIG probably has which has just been conrmed as an
and to produce solutions to any issues that around 500 members, whereas the ESP IATEFL afliate. Its newly-elected
arise. Within the IATEFL organisation SIG has approximately 350. president is, himself, a member of the
there are around 15 SIGs, which bring IATEFL ESP SIG. This association is
together teachers with a particular The ESP SIG bound to set new ESP trends in Cte
interest in, for example, teaching young dIvoire and in West Africa.
learners and teenagers, business English, The aims of the ESP SIG, of which I am Over the last eight years or so, the
pronunciation, ESP, and materials a member, were set out in 2005. The ESP SIG support network has gone
development. Members of IATEFL are main objective was to disseminate good from strength to strength, and it now
asked to choose one SIG, which they practice in ESP through its membership unites colleagues across all the
can join as part of their membership fee. and to promote models of ESP excellence continents. In addition, over the last
Additional SIGs may be joined for a fee. to ELT professionals in the UK and three years, close links have been
(Within TESOL, the teaching abroad. Its aims include: established with its TESOL counterpart,
association based in the US, there is a to raise better awareness of ESP in the TESOL ESP IS.
similar system of interest groups, known countries where it is not yet fully The SIG embraces both ESP in its
as ISs or interest sections.) developed; general sense as well as its special
to organise systems of support for variations, eg English for Work, English
The IATEFL SIGs fellow ESP practitioners; for Occupational or Professional
Purposes and, last but not least, English
ELT professionals enjoy being members to support individual or for Academic Purposes (EAP).
of IATEFL SIGs for a variety of organisational projects which may not
reasons. Possibly the most important are prove feasible without the SIGs Publications
that it gives them a chance to recommendation; Collaboration with Garnet Education
consolidate their specialism within the to provide consultancy and relevant has seen the publication of three topical
wider eld of ELT, to network with educational advice; ESP SIG edited books (see page 56). As
fellow professionals who share their former Co-ordinator of the ESP SIG, I
experience in a specic area, to share to organise joint events with edited all three books, and the new Joint
expertise and benchmark good practice organisations of a similar interest or Co-ordinator, Dr Prithvi Shrestha, is
and to promote the interests of prole. currently working on a fourth book.
colleagues and potential colleagues In attempting to meet these aims, the Garnet Education also sponsors the ESP
across the globe. SIG members nd this ESP SIG has been very active. It has SIG journal (The Journal of Professional
last item particularly appealing. reached out to developing and emerging and Academic English) which is
IATEFL is, as its name proclaims, an countries (the second book published by published bi-annually and replaces an
international organisation, and the the SIG in partnership with Garnet earlier newsletter. This journal has been
opportunity to get in contact with and Education is devoted to ESP and EAP particularly successful in reaching out to

TEACHER DEVELOPMENT
access some of the information about talks delivered on this day are given by a
Signicant the SIG on the website, but full access is

granted only to members of IATEFL
range of international ESP and EAP
experts, normally representing tertiary
others
traditionally disadvantaged voices from
who have selected the ESP SIG as one
of their chosen SIGs.
Members of the SIG can contribute
to its books and journals with articles,
and further education as well as the
private sector. These talks are selected by
the SIG committee, who pay particular
attention to achieving a balanced
emerging and developing countries and and can propose talks to be delivered at geographical spread. Since 2007, the ESP
providing a forum in which they can SIG events. SIG has also held regular pre-conference
express their views. events (PCEs), each of which is devoted
Members of the ESP SIG receive Events to a particular theme. Below you will see
free copies of the books and the journal. Every year, the ESP SIG hosts its own an abbreviated Call for Papers for our
There is also a website (http://espsig. day during the IATEFL annual PCE at the IATEFL conference in
iate.org) redesigned and maintained by conference. Every effort is made to ensure Harrogate in April this year.
Dr Semih Irfaner from Bilkent University that such a day is democratically devoted
(Turkey). Non-members are able to to ESP and EAP topics the six or seven
Being part of the ESP SIG, and of any

CALL FOR PAPERS IATEFL SIG, means not being alone,
but knowing that you are part of a very
IATEFL Annual Conference HARROGATE: vibrant and inclusive network of
like-minded experts and practitioners. In
25 April 2014
addition to conferences and events, there
English for Specic Purposes (ESP) are ways of sustaining contact with
Special Interest Group (SIG) fellow members electronically and online,
be it webinars or email discussion groups.
Pre-Conference Event (PCE)
The growth in new technologies and the
Theme: ESP and learning technologies: What can we learn? rapid expansion of their availability
throughout the world make it certain
that lively ESP activity takes place 24/7
One of the future themes proposed by the use of learning technologies is an anywhere and anytime!
the IATEFL ESP SIG members and the emerging eld in ESP, it deserves a
participants who attended the ESP SIG platform for ESP practitioners to Krzanowski, M (Ed) Current Developments
PCE in Liverpool in 2013 was the use discuss it and the ESP Pre-Conference in English for Academic, Specic and
Occupational Purposes Garnet Education
of technology in ESP. Event (PCE) would seem an ideal space
2008
for this discussion. Krzanowski, M (Ed) Current Developments
Responding to this suggestion, the
in English for Academic and Specic
ESP SIG committee would like to make We expect that this theme will bring Purposes in Developing, Emerging and
this the theme of the ESP SIG PCE to together a diverse range of researchers Least-Developed Countries Garnet
be held in Harrogate in April 2014. and practitioners in professional and Education 2009
There have been a number of academic English to share views and Krzanowski, M (Ed) Current Developments
in English for Work and the Workplace:
conferences and events where practices which are applicable to other Approaches, Curricula and Materials
research and good practice in terms ESP contexts. Garnet Education 2012
of learning technologies and language More information on joining IATEFL SIGs
Proposals for papers should follow the can be found at www.iate.org.
learning have been shared. However,
standard IATEFL conference proposal
the use of learning technologies for
format (Title: 10 words, Abstract: Mark Krzanowski is
English for Specic Purposes (ESP) Editor-in-Chief of the ESP
60 words, Summary: 250 words). SIGs journal. He was the
is rarely talked about. ESP SIG Co-ordinator
Please submit your proposal to from 2005 to April 2013.
In addition, the use of learning He is based at the
Aysen Guven University of Westminster,
technologies in both professional and UK, where he is Lecturer
([email protected]) in English Language,
academic English contexts has the
and Prithvi Shrestha TESOL and Linguistics in
potential to provide administrators, the Department of
([email protected]). English, Linguistics and
trainers and teachers with a rich Cultural Studies. He is
also Senior Adviser in
source of information that can enhance Our PCE will be held on ESP and EAP for Garnet
the teaching and learning of ESP. As 1st April 2014. Education.
[email protected]

TEACHER DEVELOPMENT
Motivational mantras
Douglas Williams has ten timely tips for teachers.
W
eve all had days when we 4 Be realistic with your aims. 9 Become a student yourself.
question what we do, doubt In many teaching situations, the chances By learning another language, you
ourselves as teachers perhaps are you will be teaching one class or increase your ability to empathise with
even consider quitting altogether. Here are learner for a short time, so setting the situation your students face. Take
some motivational points to remember achievable objectives is key. To avoid every opportunity to learn about your
after a bad day in the classroom; their disappointing yourself and your students native languages in class, too.
aim is to guide the disaffected teacher students, make it clear what they can
back to a positive mindset and, expect to learn (or acquire) in the time 10 And nally ... dont work too
ultimately, more job satisfaction. that you have available. hard!
Limit the amount of time you spend
1 Value your contribution. 5 Mix it up. preparing classes by using this time
Whoever the student is, you can teach Variety is the spice of the ELT job, more efciently. Re-use or adapt existing
them something. Even the strongest whether it be in materials, correction materials, and if creating new materials,
advanced student can learn new techniques or classroom layout. Adding set a deadline and stick to it. Some of the
vocabulary, work on their pronunciation variety will avoid the common best lessons Ive taught have used either
and develop their skills. Conversely, an Groundhog class syndrome, where you no traditional materials or those Ive
absolute beginner with seemingly no get into a predictable cycle of doing the whipped up in a panic with ten minutes
language learning aptitude (perhaps the same kinds of activities every lesson, using to go! Mark with a correction code or
most challenging kind of student) will the same lesson shape or methodology. focus on particular types of mistake,
show progress if the correct approach is Both you and your students will benet politely decline students requests to
chosen by the teacher and they are from breaking the routine. mark work unrelated to your lessons and
given enough time. think carefully before adding students as
6 Be open to humour. friends on Facebook! Aside from the risks
2 Dont take all the blame for a Take every opportunity in class to have of appearing unprofessional, if your
bad class. a laugh with your students. Encourage students start seeing you as more a
It may seem obvious, but the success of the spontaneous anecdotes. Dont rush past friend than a teacher, unfortunately
class depends not only on you; it depends funny mistakes students make; often there will always be some who will try to
on the students as well. Whilst reection by these are the most memorable parts of take advantage of that.
the teacher on what has happened when the lesson and can be valuable in terms
things go wrong is essential for improving of language feedback.
rapport with a class and meeting their
needs, for teachers to put responsibility 7 Be prepared for criticism. So, at the end of a bad day, just remember:
for the learners achievements solely on Its a difcult balancing act at times, and theres no such thing as the perfect teacher.
themselves is dangerous. The ip side of its often a case of keeping most students The best we can do is to walk into every
this, of course, is that you cant take all happy for most of the time. If a student class with optimistic assumptions, pay
the credit for a good class! complains about your class, dont sulk attention as much as possible to our
about it and hold a grudge; respond students needs and regularly evaluate
3 Look for the positive aspects our own performance.
positively by talking to them one-to-one
of the job, not the negatives. and nding out the root of their
Yes, the pay is low and the students can complaint. Be approachable and Douglas Williams is a
freelance trainer for the
drive you mad, but moaning about those attentive, or they will have no choice but London School of English
things day in day out in the staffroom is to go over your head to your superiors. and, since starting his
rst TEFL job in 2006, has
a real morale-killer. Although I can taught in Indonesia, New
sympathise with a heart-felt complaint 8 Develop, dont stagnate. Zealand and the UK. He
holds the Cambridge
from a fellow teacher, its important not One reason for feeling demotivated as a DELTA and is currently
to let negative vibes be the norm. teacher is the uncertainty of what can taking an MA in ELT and
Applied Linguistics at
Remind yourself that you are making a come next on your CV. There are Kings College London,
difference and doing a creative, numerous avenues for continuing your UK. His academic
intellectually stimulating job. Find interests include
professional development, from speaking assessment, learner
positives in the teachers you work with, at conferences to getting an article autonomy and technology
bounce ideas off each other and learn in the classroom.
published in a teachers magazine or taking
from your colleagues. [email protected]
on further responsibilities in your school.

TECHNOLOGY 1 Phonemic Back to
the board
Get on
This is, of course, based on the well-
known activity Back to the board, but
instead of writing the words on the
board, the teacher can prepare an
interactive version for the IWB, using
the target language written in phonemic
script.
1 Create a table with the same number
of cells as words you want to test.
board
2 If you are preparing the lesson on the
board itself, you can use the IWB pen
to write the target lexis in phonemic
script in the cells of the table. If you
are using a computer or laptop to
prepare your lesson, then you could
use an online IPA typewriter, such as:
www.e-lang.co.uk/mackichan/call/pron/
type.html.
3 Next, highlight all the cells, right click
L
Louise Guyett ast year, the college that I work and select Add cell shade. This will
for had interactive white add shading on top of all the words so
suggests three interactive boards (IWBs) installed in all that they are no longer visible.
of the classrooms. All the
ways to practise sounds and teachers were provided with training as 4 Finally, choose a shape from the tool
we were now required to use them in bar (I like the star best). Once the
the phonemic script. class. At the time, I was undertaking shape is created, click on it and select
action research on how I could integrate Innite Cloner. This means that the
the use of the phonemic chart and script object, in this case the star, can simply
in my lessons. In the latter stages of the be replicated or cloned an innite
IWB training, we were encouraged to number of times by touching it and
share ideas on how we could build dragging it to the desired location on
activities for the IWBs to use in class. So the screen. Use this to keep the scores
I decided to think about how I could use for the teams. (See Diagram 1.)
the features of the IWB to create 5 Divide the class into two teams and
activities for practising pronunciation have them sit in two semi-circles
and the phonemic script. facing the board, with two students
I developed the following three (one from each team) sitting facing
ideas, which are all based on well-known their team with their backs to the
classroom activities. board. Ask any of the students to
Diagram 1
choose a cell by calling out the
column letter and the row number, for
example B2. Click on that cell to
remove the shading and the word
underneath will be revealed. The
teams of students then have to explain
the word to their teammate at the
front who cant see it, without saying
the revealed word. The rst person to
guess the word correctly wins a point
for their team. This point can be
marked by moving a star into the
column that represents that team.
This is a great activity for revising
vocabulary at the end of a lesson,
especially if you have included the
pronunciation while introducing the
language earlier in the lesson.

3 Activity builder
The Activity builder feature on the
SMART Notebook 11 is very easy to
use and it allows you to create
interactive activities based on
categorising. For pronunciation, it can
be used for any sounds that your
students are having trouble with, voiced
and unvoiced sounds, and is an excellent
way to practise minimal pairs. You
choose the sounds and words you would
like to focus on, according to your
students needs and level.
First, prepare one circle for each of
your chosen target sounds. Next, write
the words on the board; its best to
organise them as shown in Diagram 3, as
you can later use this as your answer page
when the activity has been completed.
Next, select the rst circle. Select the
puzzle icon on the left-hand bar, click
on Activity Builder and then on Edit
(see Diagram 4).
Diagram 2
2 Sound maze
board run
This idea for this activity came to me in the
middle of a lesson while my students were
completing a vowel maze from Mark
Hancocks Pronunciation Games. The maze
focuses on the long vowel sound / /. The
learners have to nd a path through the
maze to the Finish, only moving through
spaces that have words containing the
target sound. Before the lesson, I had
scanned a copy of the maze onto a
SMART Notebook 11 le so that, during
the feedback session, the students would
have a visual to refer to for correction.
While I was monitoring the students, I Diagram 3
had the idea to change the way we would
give feedback. So I cloned the maze and
put one copy on each side of the board
(see Diagram 2). The students were
divided into two teams and formed two
lines in front of the board. The rst student
in each team ran to the board and made
the rst move on their maze. They then ran
back and passed the pen to the next player,
who ran up and made the next move.
They continued in this relay style until
one team reached the Finish. We then
checked both teams answers and drilled
any problems. The learners were highly
engaged and the competitiveness
generated motivation.
Warning: This activity might not work
on older models of IWBs, where it is not
possible to use more than one pen at a time. Diagram 4

Get on
board
Highlight all of the words that
belong to the rst circle, in this case / /,
and drag them into the top box in the
Activity Builder that says Accept these
objects. In the box underneath (Reject
these objects), click Add All Remaining
(see Diagram 5).
Then click on Settings, add your
desired animations and click Done (see
Diagram 6).
Repeat the same process for the second
circle and the words that belong there. Diagram 5
Finally, scatter the words around the
page at random (see Diagram 7).
Increase participation by nominating
a student to come up to the board. The
student has to choose a word and put it
in the circle they think it belongs to. If it
is correct, the word will disappear or
swirl (depending on the animation you
chose) and if its incorrect, the word will
bounce back. As with the two activities
described above, you can make this
competitive by dividing the class in half
or putting the students into pairs. Each
pair has to come to the board and
choose one word to move into the
correct category. If they get it right, they
win a point and choose another word. If
they get it wrong, the next pair comes to
Diagram 6
the board.
Provide a link to the answers so that the target words missing or with one then have to read them to another pair.
when the activity is nished, the learners item from a minimal pair. Read the This is great for receptive and productive
can have the answers conrmed (see sentences out, and the students have to practice.
Diagram 3 on page 59). decide which word it is. Likewise, you
You can follow up this activity by can have them work in pairs to write
giving the students some sentences with sentences with words missing, and they As always, variety is fundamental, and
overusing the IWB can lead to a loss of
novelty. However, supporting your
pronunciation lessons with activities
such as these can motivate and engage
your learners.
Hancock, M Pronunciation Games CUP

1995
Louise Guyett has been

teaching in Kaplan
International Colleges,
Dublin, Ireland, for over
ve years. She also
manages the colleges
self-access centre. She
has recently passed her
Trinity Diploma in TESOL
and has developed a
huge interest in
phonology.
Diagram 7 [email protected]

TECHNOLOGY
In this series, Nicky Hockly
explains aspects of technology which
Five things you always wanted some people may be embarrassed to
to know about the
IWB
(but were too afraid to ask)
confess that they dont really
understand. In this article, she looks
at IWBs (interactive whiteboards).
1 What are IWBs?

So, to answer our question, people in
all the above situations are using IWBs.
exchange tips. This needs to be ongoing,
rather than a few one-off sessions. There
The term interactive whiteboard pretty are also some useful IWB resources freely
much says it all. An IWB is a board which
can usually be found at the front of the
3 Why are IWBs so popular?
available on the internet. For example,
take a look at those provided by the
class, either mounted on the wall or This is a good question. IWBs are an European Union-funded Interactive
free-standing. Its white, and its connected example of an educational technology Technologies in Language Teaching (iTILT)
to a computer and projector. The that has largely been imposed in a top project, which includes videos of IWBs
interactive part refers to the fact that IWB down way. In other words, they are often being used effectively, a handbook and
software allows the teacher (or students) to introduced into schools as part of a IWB materials: www.itilt.eu.
touch elements projected onto the board, management (or government) decision,
and to move them around with a special
electronic pen, or even with a nger.
rather than because of pressure from
teachers or students. Research into the
actual potential of IWBs to improve
5 I dont have an IWB. Should I
have one?
Actually, its easier to see an IWB in action As youll have gleaned by now, Im
than to describe it. If youve never seen or learning remains contentious. Simply put, personally not convinced they are worth
used one, watch any of the demonstration there is no conclusive proof that having the investment. IWBs are expensive, and
videos at www.itilt.eu/advanced-search. an IWB in your classroom results in your they also require a signicant investment
students learning better. However, schools of time in teacher training if they are to be
2 Who uses IWBs?

and publishers were quick to jump on
board (as it were) IWBs, perhaps because
used well. With the rise of mobile and
handheld devices, IWBs are starting to
Well, lets rst look at where and when the board idea is one that is fairly easy appear redundant. One can easily have
IWBs started being used in schools. They for teachers to accept and integrate into an interactive classroom with a teacher
rst appeared in large numbers in primary classroom practice. Another reason IWBs device (smartphone, tablet or laptop)
education in the UK in the early 2000s. continue to be popular with management is connected to a standard projector.
Partly as a result of political decisions (the that, by having them, a school appears to Interestingly, publishers are now producing
New Labour government wanted to be be using the latest technology which, it less IWB course content, and are moving
seen to be doing something for education), is assumed, will somehow automatically towards providing courseware online, which
and partly owing to pressure from IWB lead to better learning. can be accessed by teachers and students,
manufacturers, boards started being both in and outside the classroom.
installed in schools all over the country.
Other countries soon followed suit, with 4 I have an IWB in my classroom,
but Im not sure how to use it.
What should I do?
So my advice is: if you have a budget,
rather than spending it on expensive
government-funded initiatives putting hardware, invest it in training your teachers
IWBs into state schools in many parts of Youre not alone. Many schools (those and developing their digital literacies.
the developed world. with the necessary resources) have IWBs That way, they are ready for a wide range
IWBs started to feature in English installed in classrooms, so they are a reality of technologies, and are equipped to deal
language teaching in the early 2000s, too. for many teachers. However, stories abound with an ever-changing digital landscape.
The best-known implementation in ELT was of IWBs collecting dust in cupboards and in After all, todays cutting-edge technology
funded by the British Council, with IWBs corners, while teachers continue to use the is tomorrows obsolete piece of junk. In
introduced into many of their teaching standard non-interactive board. Research the words of cyberculture expert Howard
centres worldwide. Publishers were has shown that continuous training and Rheingold: If you want to keep up, dont
encouraged to produce IWB-compatible support is needed if teachers are to use try to keep up with the technologies.
courseware, and they obliged by producing IWBs effectively. Using them effectively Keep up with the literacies that the
electronic versions of popular coursebooks means not just manipulating pre-packaged technologies make possible.
to display on IWBs, and to take advantage IWB courseware from publishers, but also Nicky Hockly is Director of Pedagogy
of the interactive features these offered. learning how to use the IWB as a digital of The Consultants-E, an online
teacher training and development
These days, many primary and hub and a space for sharing students consultancy. Her most recent book
secondary schools, universities and other digital work, which they can produce on is Digital Literacies, published by
educational institutions (such as private Pearson. She has published an
digital devices. e-book, Webinars: A Cookbook for
language schools) have IWBs installed in If you are not receiving support in your Educators (the-round.com), and is
some or all classrooms that is, when the institution to learn to use your IWB, you currently working on a book on mobile
and handheld learning. She maintains
institution can afford what can be a very can suggest holding regular short teacher a blog at www.emoderationskills.com.
expensive piece of hardware. development sessions to share ideas and [email protected]

www.tesolconvention.org
Webwatcher Russell Stannard takes us
from blooging to e-portfolios.
E
-portfolios is a word you hear quite often these days. It Portfolios produced by LiveBinders can be shared, so a
comes up in much of the literature produced by the student can allow the teacher and other students to leave
European Union, and I see that several of the British comments, ask questions, etc. So again, thinking of the layout,
Council courses for teachers are assessed via an e-portfolio. the student can organise their portfolio in such a way as to
display clearly the comments and suggestions from other
Assessment blogs students or the teacher. E-portfolios, by their very nature, are
My interest in e-portfolios really developed out of the work I was formative assessment tools as their production is a process, and
doing with blogging while at the University of Warwick. We were the students can re-write, edit, change or adapt them as they
using blogs as a way of assessing our students on the MA in ELT develop. Here, I am concentrating on a situation where each
course. The students were producing a lot of digital content student produces their own e-portfolio but, of course, an
mind-maps, videos, cartoons, chats, audio recordings, etc and e-portfolio could also be a group-based project.
we got them to embed all the content into a blog and then write
about what they did and how they might apply it in their own Live binders
teaching context. Blogs have come a long way since the One of the best features is the LiveBinders button. You can add it
text-based blogging tools that people used before the to your browser (you simply drag it from the LiveBinders website
introduction of Web 2.0. They now have much greater potential when you sign up) and then when you want to add any content
as they allow for all sorts of content to be embedded into them. from the web into the one of your e-portfolios, you simply click
I realised that, in essence, these students blogs were a form on the button and add it into any of the binders you have
of e-portfolio. They were a digital record of all their work, created. It really is a one-click process.
covering a broad range of skills that were developed during the Of course, e-portfolios dont have to be just for students. I
course, and they offered information about the students could produce an e-portfolio of all the work I have done in ICT. It
progress to a wide range of stakeholders. The student could could include links to my presentations on YouTube, links to my
show the blog to a future employer as proof of their ICT skills; the blog, to my training videos, pictures from talks, uploads of articles
audio recordings could be proof of their speaking skills; the chat I have written and even the podcasts I have made. It can be
and collaborative content could be used as examples of how updated whenever and wherever, and could be a useful way of
they work in groups; the written commentary in the blog could be bringing all my work in ICT together in one place. It would be very
evidence of their written work. It was all online, in one place and useful for potential employers, especially as I have recently gone
easy to share and even re-purpose. freelance! An excellent example of an e-portfolio of that type is
the one produced by Shelly Terrell (www.livebinders.com/play/
LiveBinders play/202342?present=true) which includes a mass of pages and
However, there are more specic tools on the internet that could tabs relating to all her work in the domain of ICT and education.
be used for the purpose of creating an e-portfolio. One of these
tools can be found at LiveBinders.com. In its basic form, the tool
is free and allows the students to keep a whole range of digital LiveBinders is not that hard to use. It doesnt have an especially
content inside an electronic binder, which is organised by tabs modern look and feel, and it could do with a bit of an update.
and sub-tabs (rather like menus and sub-menus). The students However, it really is a quick and easy way to bring together a
could have examples of videos they have produced, articles they huge range of digital content in one place. I have provided some
have written, audio they have recorded, texts they have read, etc free help videos (see below) to take you through everything you
all in one place. What I especially like is the whole range of need to know.
layouts that the students can choose from, allowing for really
interesting ways of organising their work. Help videos for using LiveBinders:
One example is the divided screen layout. The students can
http://www.teachertrainingvideos.com/binder/index.html
upload a text they have written on the left-hand side of the
screen and their commentary on the text on the right-hand side.
Russell Stannard is the founder of
They could do the same with a video, uploading a video on one www.teachertrainingvideos.com,
which won a British Council
side of the screen and then, perhaps, adding an audio ELTons award for technology. He
commentary on the other side. They can combine the resources is a freelance teacher and writer
and also a NILE Associate Trainer.
in all sorts of ways. As a result, over the duration of a course, a
student can build up a digital record of various artefacts they
have produced and display them in the portfolio. It can be used Keep sending your favourite sites to Russell:
for assessment and as evidence of the skills they have acquired. [email protected]

Prize crossword 63 VERY FREQUENT WORDS
*** To protect someone from
* One of two organs that ll
with air when you breathe
A document with your
name, address, etc and
ETp presents the sixty-third in our series of prize attack * The quiet noise made by sometimes a photo
*** A member of an army a clock every second A strong fear of something
crosswords. Once you have done it successfully, let
*** Owned by someone else * A door that leads out of A strong but pleasant smell
your students have a go. Send your entry (completed
before you a public building An old word meaning you
crossword grid and quotation), not forgetting to
*** Frightened * The son of your brother A serious infection of the
include your full name, postal address, email address
*** To move quickly on foot or sister lungs
and telephone number, to Prize crossword 63, ENGLISH *** To try to nd something * A small picture on a A soldier from the
TEACHING professional, Pavilion Publishing and Media by looking carefully computer screen that you Australian and New Zealand
Ltd, Rayford House, School Road, Hove, BN3 5JR, *** Important or serious click on to open a program Army Corps
UK. Ten correct entries will be drawn from a hat on *** The Heart ___ a Lonely LESS FREQUENT WORDS Someone who looks after a
10 April 2014 and the winners can choose one of Hunter (novel by Carson A pile of wood for burning large building, such as a
these titles: Macmillan Collocations Dictionary or McCullers) a dead body at a funeral school or ofce
Macmillan Phrasal Verbs *** The whole physical Abbreviation for company Someone who looks after a
Plus. Please indicate your structure of a person or Loud enough for people to golf course
choice on your entry. animal hear Used for saying you should
*** A table you sit at to write Abbreviation for north-east pay attention to what follows
12 4 10 10 4 8 20 7 4 9 26 9 8 26
or work Relating to horses A short piece of trumpet
M *** A thought you have about A long stick with a at end music to announce a special
8 4 26 25 4 25 24 19 how to do something for rowing a boat person or event
22 8 10 25 4 26 9 26 3 15
FREQUENT WORDS A prex that gives a word To treat someone without
** Something that looks or the opposite meaning respect (informal)
7 3 13 10 15 7 20 16 7 1 4 seems different from what it is Any serious disease that The distance round
4 10 15 20 17 26 8 20
** A curve in a road spreads quickly and usually something thick and round
** Your hand when your ends in death Abbreviation used before a
1 14 8 9 15 22 4 3 10 7 17 15 26 ngers are closed tightly A former wife or husband date that is not exact
19 7 22 26 7 9 1 14 9
** The reason you do A poem about a particular Fish eggs eaten as food
something event or person For each year (abbreviation)
7 6 9 7 4 25 13 26 24 8 13 4 1 ** To use your teeth to bite The ability of a substance A feeling of strong dislike
15 1 8 1 14 26 23 12 1 7
food into small pieces to stretch and then return to between people
** An ancient story about its original shape A playing card with only
25 26 6 26 20 25 24 12 7 2 8 9 gods, heroes and magic A pattern made of many one symbol
4 7 26 20 12 4 13 11 20 26
** The meat from a cow small coloured pieces of A pleasant rising and falling
N FAIRLY FREQUENT WORDS stone or glass pattern in music or speech
21 26 20 25 21 8 13 13 21 13 * Someone who has more Abbreviation used when An informal word for a
10 6 4 22 13 13 3 14 8 21 4 7
than a million pounds or you are explaining exactly military or medical operation
dollars what you mean by Abbreviation for street
26 10 7 22 13 4 1 4 13 11 25 26 22 18 * Very suitable something Computer technology to
A
9 1 5 9 11 26 26
* Soft hair on the body of A piece of electronic make computers think like
some animals equipment that produces humans
17 9 26 26 20 18 26 26 3 26 9 6 15 9 * Interesting or exciting light, used especially in A computer program that
because of being unusual computer screens works automatically,
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 * Part of a song that is A wheel in a machine that especially one that nds
A M repeated several times makes something turn information on the internet
14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26
N 23 14 26 20 26 5 26 9 11 8 20 26 4 22 13 14 4
To solve the puzzle, nd which letter each number represents. 20 18 4 20 17 7 10 4 18 26 13 14 26 20 22 8 12
You can keep a record in the boxes above. The denitions of

26 21 8 25 11 4 22 20 13 13 14 4 20 18 4 20 17
the words in the puzzle are given, but not in the right order.
When you have nished, you will be able to read the quotation. George S Patton

IELTS develops
the skills that
students need
at university
IELTS puts
people rst
The face-to-face interaction in speaking tests
prompts the most realistic performance from
the candidate.
IELTS recognises the skill our stakeholders
are looking for: the ability to communicate
in real-life situations.
Over 2 million IELTS tests were taken in the
last year in over 130 countries around the world;
each test centre offers unparalleled customer
service and support.
For further information

visit www.ielts.org
Help your students develop
Find out how at www.macmillanenglish.com/life-skills

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English Teaching Professional Number 90 2014-01

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Issue 90

The Leading Practical Magazine For English Language Teachers Worldwide

Seven into one

fresh ideas & innovations

tips & techniques

competitions & reviews

For young learners

#   

Online Placement Testing

Automatically marked with instant results.

Computer adaptive: presents questions

PRONUNCIATION MATTERS 4 REINVENTING THE INVENTIVE 44

FEATURES TEACHER DEVELOPMENT

BEYOND THE TASK 8 SIGNIFICANT OTHERS 55

DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT WITH 16 TECHNOLOGY

MAKING THE MOST OF MELODY 29 WEBWATCHER 63

SEVEN INTO ONE 34

TEACHING YOUNG LEARNERS TALKBACK! 53

HOW DOES YOUR GARDEN GROW? 22 COMPETITIONS 41, 64

Includes materials designed to photocopy

www.etprofessional.com ENGLISH TEACHING professional Issue 90 January 2014 1

Rayford House, School Road, Hove BN3 5HX, UK

Tel: +44 (0)1273 434943 Email: [email protected]

Carole Blanchett, Mainline Media

2 Issue 90 January 2014 ENGLISH TEACHING professional www.etprofessional.com

Teaching Lessons in Your

188 pages ISBN: 1-898789-14-7 12.95

4 Issue 90 January 2014 ENGLISH TEACHING professional www.etprofessional.com

www.etprofessional.com ENGLISH TEACHING professional Issue 90 January 2014 5

matters decay are not sufciently well-processed

6 Issue 90 January 2014 ENGLISH TEACHING professional www.etprofessional.com

We can include an item for your business or

As there are a limited number of items allowed in

For more information, or to book one of the

8 Issue 90 January 2014 ENGLISH TEACHING professional www.etprofessional.com

stage, so that the Adverbs of degree 1 1

second attempt can be Subordination 0 0

compared with the rst, Coordination 2 7

may have huge benets Accuracy

www.etprofessional.com ENGLISH TEACHING professional Issue 90 January 2014 9

Beyond of meaning is the primary focus, and in

the task cognitive resources available to self-

10 Issue 90 January 2014 ENGLISH TEACHING professional www.etprofessional.com

The Lake School of English Oxford

Summer Courses at Oxford University

Creative Teaching in the Primary Classroom

1 Adrian, perhaps not many people

Theres another type of silence which is

12 Issue 90 January 2014 ENGLISH TEACHING professional www.etprofessional.com

www.etprofessional.com ENGLISH TEACHING professional Issue 90 January 2014 13

ISESOL part Possible questions/topics

students for 1 * What is your favourite animal? Why?

exams 2 * Is there an animal which you are afraid of? Why?

14 Issue 90 January 2014 ENGLISH TEACHING professional www.etprofessional.com

www.etprofessional.com ENGLISH TEACHING professional Issue 90 January 2014 15

16 Issue 90 January 2014 ENGLISH TEACHING professional www.etprofessional.com

www.etprofessional.com ENGLISH TEACHING professional Issue 90 January 2014 17

18 Issue 90 January 2014 ENGLISH TEACHING professional www.etprofessional.com

www.etprofessional.com ENGLISH TEACHING professional Issue 90 January 2014 19

a critical topic (the life of Frida Kahlo) in images

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