Best ways to support

intermediate students
Robin Walker
Oxford University Press
Global webinars
17
th
J uly 2013
Best ways to support
intermediate students
ENGLISH FILE third edition - Professional Development 2
Q1 Where are you teaching?
a) in the UK.
b) in a country where English is an official language.
c) in a country where English is regularly used for
study and business but is NOT an official
language.
d) in a country where English is mainly a school
subject, with few opportunities to use it outside
the classroom.
Best ways to support
intermediate students
ENGLISH FILE third edition - Professional Development 3
Q2 Who do you teach?
a) (almost) entirely intermediate-level students.
b) mostly intermediate-level students.
c) the works beginner to advanced.
Best ways to support
intermediate students
ENGLISH FILE third edition - Professional Development 4
Q3 How long have you been teaching?
a) less than 5 years.
b) 510 years.
c) 1015 years.
d) more than 15 years.
Best ways to support
intermediate students
ENGLISH FILE third edition - Professional Development 5
1. Mapping the plateau
Best ways to support
intermediate students
ENGLISH FILE third edition - Professional Development 6
How do our learners
perceive the
plateau?
1. Mapping the plateau
a) Ive seen this before
b) I need more words
c) Im loosing control
d) Im making more mistakes than ever
e) I can get by but
f) Im afraid of flying
g) Im lost without you
Best ways to support
intermediate students
ENGLISH FILE third edition - Professional Development 7
1. Mapping the plateau
Best ways to support
intermediate students
ENGLISH FILE third edition - Professional Development 8
Re-present old grammar
English File third edition Intermediate 8B
2. Grammar on the plateau
Best ways to support
intermediate students
ENGLISH FILE third edition - Professional Development 9
Extend known structures
English File third edition Intermediate 10A
2. Grammar on the plateau
Best ways to support
intermediate students
Professional Development 10
Activate grammar
English File third edition Intermediate 2A
2. Grammar on the plateau
Best ways to support
intermediate students
ENGLISH FILE third edition - Professional Development 11
TIME TO CHAT
Grammar on the
plateau
2. Grammar on the plateau
Best ways to support
intermediate students
ENGLISH FILE third edition - Professional Development 12
CLK lots of new vocabulary in known topic areas
3. Vocabulary on the plateau
Extend vocabulary
Teach high frequency words
+ verb phrases
Teach lexical chunks
Teach vocabulary and
pronunciation together
Best ways to support
intermediate students
ENGLISH FILE third edition - Professional Development 13
Extend vocabulary
3. Vocabulary on the plateau
English File third edition Intermediate
Vocabulary Bank Personality
Best ways to support
intermediate students
ENGLISH FILE third edition - Professional Development 14
High frequency words and verb phrases
3. Vocabulary on the plateau
Best ways to support
intermediate students
Professional Development 15
Lexical chunks
3. Vocabulary on the plateau
Practical English
Episode 5
English File third edition Intermediate 9B
Best ways to support
intermediate students
ENGLISH FILE third edition - Professional Development 16
TIME TO CHAT
Pronunciation on
the plateau
4. Pronunciation on the plateau
Best ways to support
intermediate students
ENGLISH FILE third edition - Professional Development 17
Pronunciation for getting off the plateau
4. Pronunciation on the plateau
Key consonants
Clusters
Word boundaries
Linking
Sentence stress & rhythm
Vowel length
Word stress
Best ways to support
intermediate students
ENGLISH FILE third edition - Professional Development 18
Sound level
English File third edition
Intermediate 6B
4. Pronunciation on the plateau
Best ways to support
intermediate students
ENGLISH FILE third edition - Professional Development 19
Sentence
level
English File third edition
Intermediate 5B
4. Pronunciation on the plateau
Best ways to support
intermediate students
ENGLISH FILE third edition - Professional Development 20
Sentence level
English File third edition
Intermediate 9A
4. Pronunciation on the plateau
Best ways to support
intermediate students
ENGLISH FILE third edition - Professional Development 21
5. Learner independence
They need to improve
independent learning
skills and not only
English language skills
@andrea_rivett
successful learners ...
make a combination of formal
self-instruction with an
attempt to immerse
themselves in a
communicative setting.
Qing Xu
Best ways to support
intermediate students
ENGLISH FILE third edition - Professional Development 22
5. Learner independence
TIME TO CHAT
Learner
independence
on the plateau
Best ways to support
intermediate students
ENGLISH FILE third edition - Professional Development 23
5. Learner independence
STUDY LINK
Best ways to support
intermediate students
Professional Development 24
4. Learner independence
Best ways to support
intermediate students
Professional Development 25
4. Learner independence
Best ways to support
intermediate students
Professional Development 26
4. Learner independence
Best ways to support
intermediate students
ENGLISH FILE - Professional Development 27
5. Learner independence
Recording
progress
off the
plateau
Best ways to support
intermediate students
ENGLISH FILE third edition - Professional Development 28
6. Psychology for the plateau
Measuring progress
Perhaps what defines the
plateau feeling cant be
measured in language skills
proficiency or years but in lack
of progress
As they progress it
becomes much harder for
them to notice real
improvements
Maybe the problem is
how stds are measuring
their progress
Best ways to support
intermediate students
ENGLISH FILE third edition - Professional Development 29
6. Psychology for the plateau
Goal setting
1+6
2
3
4+5
Best ways to support
intermediate students
ENGLISH FILE third edition - Professional Development 30
6. Psychology for the plateau
Believing
Best ways to support
intermediate students
ENGLISH FILE third edition - Professional Development 31
6. Psychology for the plateau
Believing
Best ways to support
intermediate students
Professional Development 32
4. Learner independence
Best ways to support
intermediate students
Robin Walker
Oxford University Press
Global webinars
J uly 17th, 2013
Thankyou!
BestWaystoSupportIntermediateStudents
EnglishFilethirdeditionProfessionalDevelopmentWebinar
robin@englishglobalcom.com
http://oxford.ly/englishfile