ENGLISH Issue 60

January
2009

Tprofessional
EACHING
The Leading Practical Magazine For English Language Teachers Worldwide

Confidence tricks
Malcolm Griffiths
Mixed ability or
mixed blessing?
Marta Essinki
Meet the Twitterati
Nicky Hockly and Gavin Dudeney
From ‘me’ to ‘my profession’
Duncan Foord

• practical methodology

• fresh ideas & innovations

• classroom resources

• new technology

• teacher development

• tips & techniques

• photocopiable materials

• competitions & reviews

w w w . e t p r o f e s s i o n a l . c o m
Contents MAIN FEATURE BUSINESS ENGLISH PROFESSIONAL

CONFIDENCE TRICKS 4 SELF-SERVICE DEVELOPMENT 27

Malcolm Griffiths suggests ways in which John Hughes provides paths for business English
teachers can both acquire confidence and inspire teachers to pursue professional development
it in their learners

TEACHER DEVELOPMENT
FEATURES
FROM ‘ME’ TO ‘MY PROFESSION’ 49
AN AUTHENTIC DEBATE 8 Duncan Foord circles in on professional development
Geoff Perrin considers the ‘authentic versus standard’
question and champions spoken prose

TECHNOLOGY
MIXED ABILITY OR MIXED BLESSING? 12
Marta Essinki looks at the practical and positive MEET THE TWITTERATI 57
implications of differentiated classrooms Nicky Hockly and Gavin Dudeney recommend
that we start tweeting
WICKED RHYMES 15
Mark Almond describes how he got his INTO THE BEEHIVE 59
students rapping Sotiria Koui combines textbook and technology

I THINK, THEREFORE I LEARN 3 18 WEBWATCHER 61

Tessa Woodward gets her students thinking Russell Stannard finds a new favourite website
in two different directions for listening materials

THAT WORD! 20
Alice Chan tackles the technicalities of that
REGULAR FEATURES
BALANCING ACT 29
Purificación Sánchez combines the teaching ACTIVITY CORNER: 37
of language and literature THREE EARLY-ELEMENTARY
COMMUNICATION ACTIVITIES
TALKING ABOUT VERBS 34 Jon Marks
Johanna Stirling believes we need to terminate
our current terminology PREPARING TO TEACH ... 40
Permission, warnings, obligations and prohibitions
THE READING EXPERIENCE 46 John Potts
Bruce Milne thinks a coordinated effort is needed
to get students reading EYE ON THE CLASSROOM:
SNAPSHOTS OF A LESSON 52
DON’T TAKE IT PERSONALLY 56 John Hughes
Paul Bress reveals the reasons for teachers’
reactions PITFALLS IN TEACHING LISTENING SKILLS 63
Rose Senior

IT WORKS IN PRACTICE 42
TEACHING YOUNG LEARNERS
REVIEWS 44
MEET THE PARENTS 23
Caroline Linse advocates paying particular attention
SCRAPBOOK 54
to parental involvement COMPETITIONS 41, 64

Includes materials designed to photocopy

• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 60 January 2009 • 1

Editorial
T
he first month of the year is traditionally a future behaviour may be influenced by an
time for looking forward and looking back, understanding of the past.
hence the name January, derived from
Looking in two different directions also implies an
Janus, the two-headed god of beginnings and
ability to combine different elements, and this idea,
endings in Roman mythology. The latest article in
too, is reflected in this issue’s articles. Purificación
Tessa Woodward’s series on thinking is, therefore,
Sánchez discusses how literature and language
appropriate to this time of year as it recommends
teaching can be successfully combined, while Sotiria
that we encourage students to be both forward-
Koui unites textbook and technology to give her
thinking and backward-looking in their management
students a more rounded experience.
of their learning.
Whatever your viewpoint or the direction in which
Duncan Foord also recommends, if not a change of
you are facing, I wish you a prosperous and
direction, at least a development of the direction in
successful year ahead.
which we look for professional development:
beginning with ourselves and then moving further out
in concentric circles to our students, our colleagues,
our institutions and, finally, our profession as a whole.

Paul Bress suggests that we look back at our Helena Gomm

childhoods for clues as to why we react to students Editor
helena@helenagomm.co.uk
in the way that we sometimes do, and thinks that our

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2 • Issue 60 January 2009 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •

 M A I N F E AT U R E
Confidence
tricks
Malcolm Griffiths is certain that confidence
is key in the classroom.
E
very day in our lessons, we
teachers have to pull off a big
confidence trick: if we want
our learners to make progress
in their learning, one of our most
important jobs is to give them the
confidence they need to feel positive
and successful. This is why coursebooks
are graded at different levels and, where
possible, teaching groups are, too. It is
also why a sensitive teacher may try to
give a simplified explanation such as
‘The present continuous – that’s for what
you are doing now’ to an elementary
learner, rather than to present the full
syntactical context and all the various
aspects of use.
The dictionary describes confidence
as ‘the quality of being certain of your
abilities or of having trust in people, plans
or the future’. This is surely something
that is also important for teachers
themselves, as well as learners. But just
who pulls off the confidence tricks for
the teacher and how can it be done?
The question of
confidence
No one ever said teaching was an easy
job. There are plenty of studies to show
that less successful teachers are often
the ones who are less confident, not
really sure how to move forward and
who never manage to feel fully on top
of their role. Those who don’t have
confidence are more likely to suffer
from early burn-out and won’t stay very
long in the profession. ‘I couldn’t cope
with the pressure; I didn’t really know
what I was doing and I had no support’
are often given as reasons for giving up
4 • Issue 60 January 2009 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •
teaching. On the other hand, those who
do stay on and become dynamic
teachers, whose classes really brim with
creative energy and learning, will
probably have plenty of confidence in
their own ability. In fact, they often face
exactly the same problems as the others,
but they have been able to find ways to
move on.
My own experience in teacher
education seems to bear this out,
especially in my current role, working
with teachers who definitely find
themselves with real challenges to their
confidence: little or no training in
teaching skills; often very little chance
to develop their own English beyond the
most basic level; few or even no
resources – school buildings and
classroom furniture are often a rarity;
and, in addition, there are constant
concerns about personal security. It
would be easy to say that few teachers
in Afghanistan have much to smile
about, yet a surprising number still do
manage to get that buzz which keeps
them motivated, just like teachers
Dynamic teachers,
whose classes
really brim with
creative energy and
learning, will probably
have plenty of
confidence in their
own ability
anywhere. The British Council project
I’m working on, called ‘English for
Teaching: Teaching for English’, aims to
support so-called ‘marginalised’ English
teachers – here you don’t have to look
far to find those – in eight countries in
Central and South Asia. Helping
teachers to pull off the confidence tricks
they need in order to enjoy their work
and to make the most of the very
difficult conditions they face is one of
the main aims of our project. It is also a
major focus in the ‘Classroom English’
training materials which we are using,
and on which this article partly draws.
Gaining confidence
So, if confidence is vital for a teacher,
and can be found in teachers working in
widely different contexts, where does it
come from and how can we gain it? It
may be useful to start by thinking about
what can give us the confidence to do
our job well. This applies to any job, of
course, so I’d like to start outside the
field of teaching and think about a few
other professions, as we might well be
able to learn from them.
As an example, what gives
professional footballers the confidence
they need to play well? Perhaps one key
factor would be belief in their own
ability – knowing that they have the
necessary skills and can employ them
under pressure. They will also be
confident if they can trust their team-
mates to perform well, too, and if they
understand their own role in the team;
and naturally, they probably won’t feel
confident unless they’ve had plenty of
practice and training with the team and
unless they feel fit and well at the start
of the match. Perhaps you can see
similarities with a teacher’s role here.
! I’d like to take two more very
different professions –surgeon
and long-distance bus driver, but before
reading on, please take a minute to
consider what you think the factors are
that would bring confidence to people
in these professions.
For surgeons, we might talk about the
following: confidence in their ability;
thorough knowledge of the subject and
techniques and the flexibility to apply it
as needed, years of training and lots of
practice at carrying out operations.
A confident long-distance bus
driver, as well as feeling well-rested and
knowing the bus is in good condition,
will need to have had plenty of training
and ideally, will possess a good
familiarity with the roads.
So, let’s turn to teachers. I think
there is a lot that we, as teachers, can
learn from looking at these examples:
many of the concepts are very close to
what we need to do and how we need to
feel when we’re working with a group of
learners.
Amongst other factors, a teacher’s
confidence can come from:
● knowing the subject;
● knowing how to teach the subject;
● having students who want to learn
and can learn;
and it can be gained by:
● teaching lessons the students like and
learn from;
● preparing well for each lesson;
● having had training;
● believing in the students;
● preparing lessons that are interesting
and enjoyable.
Sharing confidence
Since, after all, the job of teaching is
very much a two-way process and
depends on a two-way relationship with
the learners, we also need to think
about the learners themselves. As I said
at the beginning, one of the main things
the teacher needs to do is to help the
learners become confident – firstly, as
participants in the difficult process of
learning a language, and secondly, as
independent and confident users of the
language.
!
Again, before reading on, please
try to think for yourself what
factors might give confidence to
students of a language.
There are, of course, many possible
answers to this, but here are some ideas:
Language learners will be confident if
they:
● know they can succeed;
● enjoy the lessons;
● like and trust the teacher;
and they can get confidence:
● by having the experience of doing
well;
● by experiencing enjoyable lessons;
● if the teacher shows interest in the
students.
Two teachers
Turning now to how this does or
doesn’t show itself in the everyday
reality of the teacher’s work, I’d like to
compare two teacher profiles and see if
their levels of confidence are different.
Teacher 1 describes herself in these terms:
I mostly follow the textbook: I don’t
need to plan anything else.
I keep to the activities and language
points that I know.
I prefer students who don’t ask me
questions.
I speak the students’ first language
quite a lot because they won’t
understand if I speak too much
English.
And this is Teacher 2:
I like it when students ask questions.
I often prepare in a lot of detail for
the beginning of the lesson, and then
I can relax a bit later.
I give the students lots of time for
individual work or group- and
pairwork.
I like to try out new activities and may
use different things with different
classes.
It seems that Teacher 1 feels the
need to be in control all the time and is
worried that things might not go
according to plan – perhaps she fears
that if that happened, she wouldn’t
know what to do and perhaps would
panic. Her students will have less
freedom to learn in their own way, and
they’ll also lack the vital opportunities
to feel the pleasure of success from
hearing and understanding a lot of
English in their lessons. It seems
unlikely that they’ll have a positive
experience of learning and they may
feel inhibited. So, I think we can say
that this teacher lacks confidence.
Teacher 2, on the other hand, shows
many signs of being confident in her
role. She seems to have found ways to
be relaxed in the classroom, but still
remain in control. She is prepared to
give up some of this control because she
is still fairly sure that she can achieve
something positive in the lessons. She
wants the learners to enjoy the
• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 60 January 2009 •
experience, and wants to keep them
involved and stimulated. This
confidence, both in herself and in her
learners, is likely to lead to more positive
learning. She has probably achieved this
by careful preparation, and plenty of
experience which she has learnt from.
Two ways
To go back briefly to our earlier
example: when thinking about the two-
way nature of teacher–learner
relationships, I was reminded of a
surgeon I met recently who was
preparing to carry out a small operation
on me. He was clearly highly-experienced
and his confident air gave me the
confidence I needed to have in him. I was
surprised, though, when he said, ‘You
know, doctors and surgeons get better at
their job when they get older.’ (He was
well into his fifties, I expect.) ‘They start
to get ill more often themselves and so
they also need to start seeing doctors and
having operations!’ Perhaps he was
talking about the same kind of two-way
experience which teachers have with their
students: they have all been on the
receiving end of teaching, having been
learners themselves. And, if they are
good teachers, they will continue to learn
from their students whenever they go
into the classroom. The ability to
continue learning and so to stay aware
of what’s happening with the learners is
also going to be a very strong factor in
building up professional confidence.
One query
So far I haven’t made much direct
mention of the help that teachers may
need and look for: clearly many
teachers, if they are lucky enough, will
have someone else they can turn to for
support and this will be a major factor
in building up confidence (it is also
probably an entirely new article!).
If they are good
teachers, they will
continue to learn
from their students
whenever they
go into the
classroom

5

Confidence
tricks

However, increasingly, teachers who are
fortunate enough to have access to the
internet are turning to the web,
particularly teachers’ sites, as a source
of support. The question below
appeared recently in the Talk section of
www.teachingenglish.co.uk:
Mike, Cambodia
Hello. My name’s Mike. Although I
have been teaching English for nearly
two years, I sometimes still feel
nervous in front of the students. Is
there anything I can do about this?
Thank you.
Any advice or ideas for Mike?
Do you feel nervous in class?
What do you do?
Six answers
! Before reading what other visitors
to the site suggested, why not
spend a few minutes thinking about it
yourself. What advice would you give a
teacher who suffers from nerves?
Now compare your thoughts with what
other people in different parts of the
world have said.
Jill, USA: I used to be nervous
speaking in front of people. I finally
lost these feelings when I started to
care so much about my students that
I stopped thinking about my
embarrassment. I totally focused on
them and their needs and problems
and how I could best help them.
Being very well prepared always
helps, too. Good luck!
Ursula, Peru: My first suggestion
would be to be always prepared for
your class. The more prepared you
are, the more confident you will feel.
Try to anticipate things. We teachers
have to know our students pretty well
so that we can anticipate anything
that may come up in class. You have
to give them a lot to do so that you
get time to breathe and think about
the next thing to do.
6 • Issue 60 January 2009 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •
Shamsullah, Afghanistan:
I try to imagine the lesson in my head
… to see myself in various situations,
what I’m going to say, and the faces
of the students.
Demostene, Brazil: To be
nervous at the beginning is a natural
feeling. I have been teaching for
about 40 years and I still have such
feelings when beginning a new
group. You have to be confident and
have a well-prepared lesson. I mean,
prepare it in great detail for the first
ten minutes. This will raise your
confidence. Good luck!
Jiri, Czech Republic: From my
own experience:
a) build your overall self-confidence
(might be sports, training in your
subject, ...)
b) find what situations made you feel
nervous or relaxed and avoid the
bad ones and go more often to
those good ones. Don’t worry, be
happy :-) !
Domício, Brazil: When you
know a lot about your subject matter,
there is no reason to be anxious.
(Adapted from www.teachingenglish.org.uk/
talk/questions/nervous_teacher.shtml )
Teacher tricks
And finally, here’s a summary of some
ideas for feeling confident and avoiding
nerves.
Teachers’ confidence tricks
1 Care about your students: find out
about them.
2 Focus on what the students say
and do.
3 Anticipate things: know the students
well; know the material well.
4 Before you start, imagine yourself
in the classroom teaching the
lesson.
5 Prepare in more detail for the
beginning part of the lesson.
6 Build your own self-confidence –
eg through sport or social activities.
7 Know yourself: what situations
make you nervous or relaxed?
Personally, my favourites from this
list are number 1 – caring about
students so that there’s a genuine two-
way relationship – and number 4 –
being able to form a mental picture of
yourself teaching confidently. In fact, if
I can, I try to picture in my mind a
movie of myself in the actual teaching
situation. I find this especially useful if I
am preparing for a challenging or
complex task. Trying to see the
students’ actual faces and hear their
voices and rehearsing what I need to say
– especially in terms of the speed and
pitch of my voice – are all techniques
that have helped me get through
situations that might otherwise have
been scary, such as speaking to a very
large audience. Admittedly, I found
conjuring up this movie quite a strange
thing to do at first, but I soon got used
to it.

I think most people probably do get
nervous at some stage about some
aspect of their professional role, but
these aspects are likely to be different
for each of us. As a result, we will find
different approaches more or less
helpful. So, if lack of confidence is a
problem that you sometimes face, I
suggest you try out for yourself any of
these techniques that may be new to you
and see what effect they have. You may
be pleasantly surprised! ETp
References
‘Classroom Language’: a teacher-training
course produced by the British Council
2008. This material is being used as the
basis for the project ‘English for
Teaching: Teaching for English’ which the
British Council is running with the
Ministry of Education and with ELTAA.
TeachingEnglish website:
www.teachingenglish.org.uk
Malcolm Griffiths
currently works on
teacher education
projects for the British
Council in Afghanistan.
Throughout the 1990s,
he worked with teachers
and teacher educators
in the Czech Republic,
and prior to going to
Afghanistan, he was a
freelance trainer and
consultant in China,
Egypt and Iraq and also
for the British Council in
the UK.
malcgriffiths@hotmail.com
 M E T H O D O L O G Y
An
authentic
debate
I
Geoff Perrin speaks up found Chris Rühlemann’s article
‘Authentic versus standard’ in ETp
in favour of speaking prose. Issue 57 a very stimulating read.
As a teacher trainer, I am myself
often surprised at how quite experienced
teachers of English tend to be unaware
of the fact that spoken language has a
grammar all of its own, radically
different from – but not inferior to – the
grammar of written language, and
Chris has performed a valuable task by
dealing with the topic in such an easily
accessible and well-argued fashion. I
hope he won’t mind, then, if I take up
one or two of the points he raises and
possibly disagree with him – after all, as
teachers of English, we no doubt all
hold the view that discussion and
debate can only be a good thing!
Debate
Perhaps I misunderstood the point that
Chris was trying to make in his article,
but I did get the impression that he
largely attributes our current awareness
of the essential differences between
spoken and written discourse to the
advent of corpora in the fields of
linguistics and applied linguistics.
Actually, I think many of these insights
have been around for many years and
8 • Issue 60 January 2009 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •
also available to teachers: all they needed
to do was look in the right places and
read the right things! For example, over
40 years ago, David Abercrombie
pointed out that when engaging in oral
work with their classes, most teachers
are in fact encouraging the production
I am often
surprised at how
quite experienced
teachers of English
tend to be unaware of
the fact that spoken
language has a
grammar all of its own
of what he called ‘spoken prose’. This
he did not necessarily feel to be a bad
thing: first of all, it means that written
work is reinforcing what has already
been covered orally, and secondly – as
Chris himself observes – we do at least
have a fairly comprehensive model (or
models) of the written language,

I certainly
wholeheartedly
subscribe to the
potential which
text corpora and
concordancers have
for the language
classroom
something which is probably still not
true of the spoken language, even today.
The last point is important: Pit Corder
established many years ago the very
basic principle of applied linguistics
that ‘what we cannot describe, we cannot
teach systematically’.
Before I move on: I certainly
wholeheartedly subscribe to the potential
which text corpora and concordancers
have for the language classroom. I’m
not sure, though, that I would entirely
accept Chris’s argument that ‘using
corpora in class … places high demands
on the corpus skills of the teacher and
the learners’. My own experience in
running workshops in this field suggests
that there is a basic core of knowledge
and skills which can be picked up fairly
quickly. After all, applied linguists can
sometimes draw on the findings of
descriptive and theoretical linguists
without necessarily understanding all
the arguments and fine points of detail
which those findings imply.
Argument
The examples or features of non-
standard English which Chris includes
in his article seem to me to be a pretty
mixed bag. Whilst cos as a short form
for because probably catches the
attention of most foreign learners sooner
or later and can be regarded as fairly
uncontroversial and international, innit
is surely a rather different kettle of fish.
This, I would guess, is largely restricted
to British English and, within that
geographical location, predominantly
occurs in the speech of London and the
south-east of England. And here we
have the gist of the whole argument:
whilst the written language can be
regarded as standardised because it is
largely the same across all the English-
speaking countries of the world (leaving
aside comparatively trivial differences
with regard to spelling and some lexical
items), speech is subject to wide
variation in so many domains (regional
and generational, to name but two) and
transient phenomena (‘in’ words and
expressions and catchphrases which
remain in vogue for a year or two).
Faced with so many competing ‘models’,
it makes sound didactic sense, I would
suggest, to opt for the only standard
one we have, and one which remains
relatively stable and unchanging over
time – that for the written language.
There is also an issue here of what
we might term ‘learner credibility’: the
foreign speaker of English who has only
progressed as far as B1 on the European
Framework of Reference, yet at the
same time is liberally lacing his English
with innits and I says, is likely to bring
more than a few smiles to the faces of
his native interlocutors! Erring on the
side of the over-formal and producing
spoken prose has the advantage that the
learner is going to be recognised for
what he or she is – a foreign learner.
Again, a final point before I pass on
to the next section: rather than focusing
on specific instances of grammar or lexis
as Chris has done, I think advanced
foreign learners might be helped to
make their English more native-like by
considering general tendencies which
differentiate spoken from written
discourse (for example, phrasal verbs,
where the written language might prefer
the more erudite-sounding verb of
Latin origin, or the distinctive linkers
and pause fillers – you know, you see, as
I was saying – we use when speaking).
This comes within the area of language
awareness – talking about the language,
as opposed to teaching a specific lexical
or grammatical feature of the language.
Erring on the
side of the over-
formal and producing
spoken prose has the
advantage that the
learner is going to
be recognised for
what he or she is –
a foreign learner
• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 60 January 2009 •
Issues
Perhaps the only point on which I am in
serious disagreement with Chris – as
opposed to just disagreement! – is his
assertion that ‘in teaching the spoken
language, it seems necessary to replace
SE [Standard English] by the model that
actually underlies conversation, namely
conversational grammar, sometimes
referred to as ‘spoken grammar’. Firstly,
as I have already suggested, what
descriptions we do have of spoken
language seem to me to be too patchy to
merit the term ‘model’ and thereby to
provide the basis for a convincing
pedagogic grammar. Secondly, and
perhaps even more importantly, is it
really a teaching issue? Surely it is more
of a learning issue? Most people around
the globe who need English for work
probably do not need to perform to
native or near-native level when
speaking, and for them, spoken prose
What descriptions
we do have of spoken
language seem too
patchy to merit the
term ‘model’ and
thereby to provide the
basis for a convincing
pedagogic grammar
(the norms of the written language) is a
perfectly adequate level of attainment
to be aiming for. For the minority of
people who do need to reach near-native
level because they are permanently living
and working in an English-speaking
environment, the situation is rather
different. The German, French or
Italian business executive who is posted
for five years to his company’s overseas
branch in my home area, the Essex–East
London border (heaven forfend!), may
well find the occasional innit (not to
mention ainit and ain’t it !) creeping into
his own English when he is sitting and
having a pint with colleagues and
friends. But this will be a matter of
learning, of acquisition, not of formal
teaching. Thirdly, I think we must also
distinguish here between a receptive and
a productive command of the language.
I am all for students being able to 
9

An
authentic
debate
 recognise and understand the kinds of
features Chris is talking about, and this
can probably best be achieved via an
appropriate programme of listening
comprehension exercises. But being able
to recognise and understand certain
linguistic forms does not imply any need
or desirability of using them in one’s
own spoken production.
Discussion
The immediately preceding discussion
takes us naturally to the relationship
between language and context of use. As
many writers over the years have pointed
out, in acquiring our mother tongue as
children, we simultaneously learn the
rules for use – for example, we develop
an intuitive feel for the fact that our
teachers in school must be addressed in
more formal language than that which
we employ in talking to our parents at
home. This ‘feel’ relates to whole
speaking styles and modes of address as
much as it does to individual words.
The problem for the foreign learner
meeting an informal word or expression
for the first time is that he or she does
not always appreciate what restrictions
might apply to its use, or whether in
some circumstances it might even be a
taboo word. Ironically, Chris Rühlemann
furnishes a good example of what I
mean, but it is not among the examples
which he discusses. I refer to the word
poxy in the sentence There’s her poxy
car keys. Back in the 1970s, when I was
still living in England, I might have
characterised the rules of use for this
word as follows: ‘Adjective of choice for
young males to express annoyance or
dissatisfaction. Out-of-bounds for
women, and in no circumstances to be
dropped into the conversation during tea
at the vicarage’. It is hard to see how a
foreign learner, encountering this word
for the first time in a text, can be fully
aware of its restricted range of use. It
seems to me that the role of the teacher
in such cases, especially when it is an
instance of strong language or language
with sexual overtones, is not to
encourage learners to go ahead and use
10 • Issue 60 January 2009 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •
it, but to counsel caution and recourse
to safe alternatives from the standard
language. Whilst possibly unfair, it
remains a simple fact of foreign
language learning and use that what
might just about still be deemed
tolerable coming from the native, strays
the wrong side of the line when
produced by a foreigner. Once again, we
see the value of language awareness
phases in the lesson to deal with issues
like non-standard forms, without
actually putting them forward as models
for imitation. I would probably have few
qualms in such a phase about treating,
say, the status of the f*** word in
modern British society, but I can see
little sense or benefit in devising
roleplays as a channel for my students
actually to use the word themselves.
What might just
about still be deemed
tolerable coming from
the native, strays
the wrong side of the
line when produced
by a foreigner
In moving beyond language to
consider the different situations and
contexts in which it might be used, we
are also entering that domain which has
featured so prominently in articles in
language teaching journals around the
world over the last couple of years –
that of the inter-cultural. Essentially, we
are looking here at the very basic issue
of how best to survive in a foreign
culture, and as I have already suggested
above, I feel myself that slavishly
imitating the behaviour of the locals –
be it linguistic or otherwise – is not
always necessarily the best strategy to
adopt, and that there is something to be
said for leaving at least a part of one’s
‘foreignness’ on display. Contrary to the
popular adage, by no means the worst
advice which one might give to a learner
of Italian would be ‘When in Rome,
don’t always do as Rome does!’. To
employ the two key terms which opened
this discussion: almost by definition,
only the native can be authentic; the
foreign learner must more sensibly opt
to remain standard.
Danger
Possibly the most valuable service which
Chris Rühlemann has performed is in
providing a timely reminder of the need
to be circumspect when correcting what
we perceive as error in our students’
speaking. The first feature he cites –
there’s followed by a plural complement
– is an excellent example of the danger
we sometimes run of ‘correcting’
features which millions of natives
around the world are using all the time.
For those teachers who also work as
oral examiners, the obligation to remain
abreast of the constantly evolving spoken
language is even greater, since a failure to
do so poses a threat to the validity and
reliability of the entire evaluation process.

Summing up, then, I would like to
thank Chris Rühlemann once again for
initiating the discussion on what is a vital
topic for all teachers of English as a
foreign language, and one, as we have
seen, with wide-reaching implications:
starting from what appeared to be a
question of simple linguistic competence,
our examination of the issues has taken
us via communicative competence to the
still wider field of inter-cultural
competence. As I said at the outset, I
might not agree with all the conclusions
Chris draws from the features he has
described, but then if everybody agreed
with everybody else all the time, we
would not need the wonderful forum for
discussion and debate which ETp
provides. And at the end of the day,
differing views and a discussion of those
differences are always a sign of the rude
health of any profession. Innit! ETp
Abercrombie, D ‘Conversation and
spoken prose’ In Studies in Phonetics
and Linguistics OUP 1965
Corder, S P Introducing Applied
Linguistics Penguin 1973
Geoff Perrin is
Head of Teacher and
Examiner Training at the
German Government
Language Centre
(Bundessprachenamt)
in Hürth near Cologne.
Among his main
professional interests are
language testing –
especially the assessment
of speaking – and the use
of text corpora and
concordancers in the
classroom.
geoffperrin@web.de
 IN THE CLASSROOM
Mixed
ability
or mixed
blessing?
Marta Essinki offers some
practical help with differentiation.
B
y the very nature of the
institutions where we work, we
are given classes, not
individuals. However, as
teachers, we often find ourselves
oscillating between relating to our class
as a homogenous group, and being
aware that these classes are made up of
individuals with their different
characteristics and needs. Treating them
as one group may feel like the obvious
solution, but by doing so, it is easy to
forget that taking into account students’
individual needs can make for more
interesting learning and teaching. Until
recently, I myself had to some extent
ignored differences between students,
imagining my dream class as a uniform
group with the same ability and needs,
who would then inevitably achieve the
same progress. My move to teaching
ESOL (English for speakers of other
languages), where the concept of
difference is discussed and valued a lot
more, has made me reconsider. Practical
suggestions for incorporating our
students’ differences into our everyday
12 • Issue 60 January 2009 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •
teaching may lead us to an
understanding of the rewards this more
individualised approach may reap,
without necessarily requiring extra
preparation work for us as teachers.
Mixed-ability classes
In English language classrooms the
world over, there are discrepancies in
learners’ abilities. This is particularly
apparent in primary and secondary
schools, where students are grouped by
age rather than level. These differences
are felt all the more in larger classes.
But even in more focused EFL or ESOL
contexts, where students are grouped
after an assessment of their level, there
is always a range of abilities, however
accurately the placement is made. The
bottom line in any of our teaching
contexts is that whilst thinking of our
students as a group for practical
purposes, we also have to recognise that
this group is made up of individuals who
will, naturally, have different strengths
and weaknesses for a range of reasons.
Mixed-ability students
Having seen that the term mixed ability
inevitably applies to all classes, to a
greater or lesser extent, we should also
remember that this term can just as well
be used to describe individual learners,
and that it refers to more than just how
‘good’ or ‘bad’ they are at English: a
student who may be a confident speaker
may not be so good at writing; similarly,
a student who has an excellent awareness
of language just might not be interested
in making progress.
This is because our students are
influenced in their learning of English
by a whole range of factors, including:
● Linguistic ability
● L1 (mother tongue) and
social/cultural background
● Prior learning, educational background
and awareness of the learning process
● Motivation, reasons for learning and
wider life goals
● Learning styles, preferences, interests,
age, maturity and gender
● Learning speed and attention span
● Other individual concerns, such as
dyslexia, physical disabilities or
emotional problems
● Distractions, problems and
responsibilities, and the impact of
these on attendance.
Differentiation
If these factors seem far away from the
reality of your teaching, think of
something you recently said to a
colleague about your students. Can you
identify how what you were describing
corresponded to these factors, even if
you were not directly using the specific
terms outlined above?
Here are some comments I made to
a fellow teacher about a class we share:
● ‘Fidel’ is pretty good at speaking. He
always picks up on any new words I
use, but he still uses so many Spanish
words.
● ‘Tomoko’ doesn’t speak in class, though
her grammar is very strong and she
really likes those activities where she
has to analyse texts.
● ‘Fatima’ misses many classes, and
when she comes, she’s late. She’s
worried about her kids. It’s like she’s
not really interested in learning.
In just a few words, I mentioned factors
relating to our students’ linguistic
ability, L1, awareness of learning,
motivation, learning preferences and
distractions, thus highlighting some of
the differences and similarities between
certain individuals in this group. It is
these differences and similarities which
are essential for recognising and
addressing students’ needs, and
ultimately ensuring each student has a
successful learning experience.
So if we see our 12 or 20 or 120
students as individuals with different
needs, does that mean producing as
many individualised lesson plans and
materials? Fortunately not! What I
suggest involves more impact, but much
less work. In our everyday lessons and
activities, we can use differentiation
techniques which address and cash in on
each student’s differences. You may find
that you already do many of these
things intuitively. However, by doing
them with more awareness, by building
them into the variety and routine of
your lessons, you may find that the
different needs of your students are no
longer something to hide under the
carpet.
Here are some suggestions for better
taking into account the different
students in your class, in a wide range
of teaching contexts.
Differentiation techniques
The ideas, approaches and techniques
described below are intended as starting-
points for you to try out and build on,
without extra preparation. Over time,
you may find that you automatically
incorporate differentiation into your
teaching style, to the benefit of all your
students.
1 Getting to know your students
It is essential at the start of any course
(and regularly throughout) to spend
time getting to know your students and
their needs. With a better picture of
your group, you can start imagining
what will happen in your classes. For
example, how you will deal with
learners with the same L1, with
latecomers or with any individual who
seems to be particularly slow at reading.
● Listen and take notes as students do
getting-to-know-you activities,
helping you build up individual
profiles.
• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 60 January 2009 •
● Ask your students to write you a
letter introducing themselves and
their reasons for studying. Many
students respond well to this private
communication. It also gives you an
idea of their writing ability.
● Allow your students to get to know
you, as much as you feel comfortable
with. Share personal anecdotes,
insights into your character or your
life outside school. This pays back
well in terms of getting them to do
likewise.
● Personalise activities whenever
possible, asking students for their
opinions and encouraging them to
share their experiences and
aspirations.
● Ensure you get to know the shy
individuals. Chat before class or
organise a one-to-one session with
them. Encourage them to talk to
classmates by grouping them carefully.
● Train your students to sit in different
places every class, next to different
people.
● Keep a (confidential) page with notes
about your students, (preferably with
photographs if you have a big class or
many classes). Try to structure your
comments using the factors identified
above.
2 Addressing the class
In teacher-centred moments,
considering the class as consisting of
different individuals may seem difficult,
but there are ways of involving
everybody.
● As language teachers, we regularly
intersperse our teacher-talk with
questions to students. Think more
carefully about the questions you ask
and to whom. If certain individuals
dominate, nominate (use a student’s
name) to give everybody a chance.
Ask less confident students easier or
yes/no questions; get stronger students
to answer the open-ended questions
or to explain the answer another
student has given. These questioning
techniques are essential differentiating
tools.
● Supplement your teacher-talk by
putting written prompts on the board.
This supports weaker listeners,
stimulates more linguistically-aware
students (who might notice a
collocation or the spelling) and
reassures learners who like to know
where they are going.
● Similarly, appeal to more visual
students by emphasising points with a
piece of realia, a picture or some
exaggerated body language.
3 Grouping the students
Grouping students is a great opportunity
for using differences to everyone’s
advantage. There are no set rules: by
actively considering how students will
work best together, you are valuing
them as individuals.
● Group learners according to
differences but also similarities. For
some activities, for example a
grammar exercise, stronger students
could work with weaker ones to help
them, with the stronger students
consolidating their knowledge by
explaining it. But also consider
situations where stronger and weaker
students are separated so they can all
work at their own ability level.
● Try pairing or grouping students
according to other factors: students’
interests, maturity, experiences or
attitudes (again, deciding whether to
group them by similarities or
differences).
● There are often opportunities for re-
grouping, after a group activity. For
example, to brainstorm ideas about
music, students could initially be
grouped according to age, but could
then be re-grouped into mixed-age
groups, generating interesting
discussions.
● Consider having permanent
groupings to draw on when
appropriate. A colleague of mine uses
a ‘buddy’ system: if someone is late or
misses a class, their partner helps
them catch up. With my mixed-ability
class of teenagers, I have two main
grouping systems. The football teams
(Arsenal, ManU, Chelsea – names
chosen by the students!) are mixed-
ability and mixed-age. However,
sometimes the students also work in
colour teams (green, red, blue), which
are divided by ability. Although I use
other groupings too, there are
situations when it is practical to fall
back on these set groups, and
students respond well to the sense of
routine this creates. 
13

Mixed
ability
or mixed
blessing?

4 Focusing on language
For grammar, vocabulary and
pronunciation, think in terms of the key
knowledge which all students need. This
might be using comparatives, but with
individuals understanding and applying
this construction with differing degrees
of fluency, accuracy and confidence.
● Appeal to different learner-types by
varying the ways you present the
target language. Use guided discovery
and other student-centred approaches
to develop individuals’ involvement
with the language.
● Encourage students to ‘notice’
language in any written or oral text,
training them to choose items and
chunks that are interesting or useful
for them.
● Build up a collection of activities
which recycle the particular target
language in different ways. Use these
to challenge stronger students,
support weaker ones or occupy fast-
finishers. Differentiated extension
activities need not require
preparation: train stronger students
to mark the stress on new words;
students with literacy problems can
copy out sentences.
● Refer to the students’ L1, eliciting
from them any differences or
similarities between the target
structures in English and in their own
language. Even without necessarily
referring to all the languages in a
multilingual group, doing this appeals
to and raises the students’ linguistic
awareness. Organise one-off sessions
where students choose a grammar
point of difficulty for their L1 and
then share what they have learnt with
the class.
● Maximise opportunities for
personalising learning. Your students
might record themselves making
polite requests, choose how to present
14 • Issue 60 January 2009 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •
the vocabulary items on a poster or
select their own presentation topic.
Encourage them to compile lists, say,
of their common spelling mistakes or
false friends. The students can then
test each other regularly.
5 Providing skills tasks
There will be divergence in skills ability
across the class, and between each
student’s own four skills, so provide
tasks where students can progress
accordingly.
● Use differentiation in two ways: same
task for everybody (eg writing a
horror story) but different outcome
(some students will write longer/
shorter/more complex/accurate
stories); or different tasks (listening
to a longer extract/with
prompts/tapescript) with the same
outcome (eg listening for detailed
understanding of a radio report).
● Many activities can be differentiated
without preparation, just careful
consideration. For example, allocating
roleplay roles by ability, interests or
age.
● Write up prompts for a reading or
discussion, arranging the seats so that
only the weaker students can see the
board, or have post-its with
challenges for stronger students. For
dictation activities, provide sentence
outlines to support less literate
students.
● Pre-empt early finishers by providing
slower students with support (check
them at the beginning, give time
limits, push them on). Slower students
could do less of the task, or choose
five out of eight questions to answer
(early finishers can then do them all).
Faster students’ answers may be
incomplete or inaccurate, so train
them to check. Correct faster
finishers’ answers, then get them to
correct their classmates’ work.
6 Managing learning
Students should feel they are making
progress at their own pace, but should
also be encouraged in developing their
areas of interest.
● At the start of a course, the students
could identify three things they want
to achieve and how. Allow them some
class and homework time, using
counselling sessions to ask them
about progress.
● Vary class feedback techniques (stick
corrected versions round the room;
give each student one answer) and
train students to assess their own and
each other’s progress. Use checklists
from which students choose aims at
the start of lessons and then assess
their progress at the end.
● Remember that students have
different expectations of you as a
teacher, so discuss feedback and
error-correction methods openly and
consider how directly to express
feedback to each student. When
correcting written or oral work, do so
at that individual’s level, identifying
errors enough to be challenging
without being discouraging.

By employing these techniques, you will
realise that your students’ linguistic,
cultural and personal differences are
what creates interesting learning and
teaching. True, you may encounter
initial resistance or surprise when you
ask students to do things differently.
Explaining to your students that you are
thinking of their individual needs will
quickly turn the tables. Some might
even start intuitively using
differentiating techniques themselves,
such as going through a text for new
words if they finish early, or asking a
partner to explain something they have
missed.
Next time you have a new class, or
an old one, open your eyes and ears and
consider the students as a group of
mixed-ability individuals. By
recognising and playing on their
differences, you will be developing
individuals who are more interested,
motivated, challenged, aware,
collaborative and independent. Your
students’ reactions will show that
individual differences are more than a
mixed blessing, they are a blessing in
disguise! ETp
Marta Essinki teaches
EFL, ESOL and literacy
at Ealing College in West
London, UK, where she
is also involved in
Professional
Development. Before
that, she was an English
teacher and trainer with
the British Council in
West Africa. She is an
IELTS examiner and has
written for the BC/BBC
teachingenglish website.
marta.essinki@gmail.com
 W R I T I N G Rap songs …
● use current informal everyday language,

Wicked
including slang and swear words;
● have a strong rhythm and beat which
suit stress-timed languages such as
English;
● contain lots of examples of connected
speech and opportunities to practise
it because they are spoken at a
natural pace, eg the assimilation in

rhymes
could you …? –/kPdjP/;
● provide lots of scope for learners to
experiment with prosodic features
such as pitch, pace, volume and tone;
● allow students to play and be creative
with language and pronunciation,
which can be empowering for them;
● are usually about subjects which
young people can relate to, eg

Mark Almond gets his
students slapping, clapping
and rapping.
I
was recently charged with
providing a weekly one-hour
creative writing class for a group
of young adult learners over the
course of a ten-week term. Having
exhausted my initial ideas of getting my
students to write the obvious kinds of
texts, such as mini sagas, poems, haiku,
short stories and sketches, I thought it
might be interesting if I tried to get them
to write a rap song, which they managed
to do in one of these one-hour lessons.
For the uninitiated, rap music,
which is spoken rather than sung, began
on the streets of New York in the 1970s
and reflected African-American,
Jamaican-American and Latino street
culture. As it developed over the
decades, rappers such as Dr Dre and
more recently Eminem, Plan B and
Bubba Sparxxx have been using their
songs as a platform to sing about their
own personal life stories. By the 1990s,
a sub-genre known as gangsta rap was
born. Gangsta rap tends to be more
controversial in that many of the songs
are about rival gangs, violence, sex and
drugs. However, what is undoubtedly
true in my own experience is that many
young people from almost all cultural
backgrounds seem to enjoy and to be
able to relate to rap music, which is the
initial reason I thought I’d tackle it in
my classes. More often than not, when I
ask students what is on their iPods, it’s
rap music. As I started developing my
ideas and material, I soon realised that
there are other valid pedagogical and
linguistic reasons why embarking on
this could be useful and enjoyable.
relationships, possessions, family,
school, social issues and politics.
Many young people
from almost all cultural
backgrounds seem to
enjoy and to be able
to relate to rap music,
which is the initial
reason I thought I’d
tackle it in my classes
I soon discovered that learners often lack
the confidence and self-belief that they
can write anything creative of reasonable
quality in a foreign language, not least
because they claim they struggle to
produce such texts in their first
languages, so I had to design a procedure
that allowed for maximum support and
guidance. This is what we did:
Step 1:
Lead-in
We had a brief brainstorm on the roots
and history of rap and exactly what
constituted a rap song. Features
students suggested included the fact
that they are spoken rather than sung,
they are often about personal and socio-
economic issues, they often contain
swear words, they have a strong beat
and rhyming scheme, they can be 

• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 60 January 2009 • 15


Wicked
rhymes
 misogynistic and they are graphic. We
then went on to discuss some well-
known rappers such as Eminem and
Snoop Dogg and how their songs
reflected their own personal lives, eg
Eminem sings very negatively and
aggressively about the way he was
brought up by his mother.
Step 2:
Vowels, consonants and
consonant clusters
We then launched into a possible basic
structure for a song. I thought the most
accessible and achievable approach was
to introduce rhyming couplets, ie the
last word of the first line rhymes with
the last word of the second line, and so
on. As this requires the ability to
distinguish between and produce sets of
phonemes, I found that I needed to
improvise brief remedial minimal-pair
exercises. For example, I wrote on the
board pairs of sentences that contained
potentially confusing words, such as:
My husband is a lawyer.
My husband is a liar.
I read one of each pair and asked the
students to identify which one I had
chosen. After four or five of these, I
asked individual students to continue
and act as teacher. This remedial work
served as a useful lead-in to the rhyming
work we were about to do.
I then asked the students, working
in pairs, to find rhymes for why and they
suggested words like die, goodbye and
high. During this entire stage, we
referred to phonemic charts for help.
I then wrote some consonant clusters
on the board (bl, fl, pr, thr, dr, sm, gr,
tr) to see if the students could produce
words with these which rhymed with
why. They came up with suggestions
such as fly, dry and try, all words which
are relatively easy to incorporate into a
story within a single context. Going
through this process also helped
demystify the phonemic chart as learners
could see that so many phonemic
symbols (consonants) resemble letters of
16 • Issue 60 January 2009 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •
the alphabet and that they often have
Phillip Burrows
the same sound value.
We then repeated the exercise with
consonants in final position. I gave
them the word told, which they rhymed
with old, cold and gold.
Step 3:
Word stress, sentence stress
and connected speech
We then moved on to a discussion of
how rappers (and indeed all of us in
everyday speech) have to squeeze and
stretch words to fit the rhythm of speech
as English is a stress-timed language. We
played the following game:
● With everyone standing up, start
beating a rhythm in 4/4 time by
slapping both thighs (count 1),
clapping your hands (count 2), clicking
your right fingers (count 3) and
clicking your left fingers (count 4). The
students gradually join in until a
comfortable pace is found.
● Say your own name on the right-
finger click and a student’s name on
the left-finger click. That student says
their name on the right-finger click
comfortably, we gradually sped up until
and any other student’s name on the
we were going at breakneck speed!
left-finger click, and so on. If anyone
We discovered that as the line got
makes a mistake, they sit down and
longer, we had to squeeze and connect
are out of the game. The person to
words to fit the rhythm and create a
their left continues into the next round
natural flow of speech. For instance, I
until there are only two people left
noted on the board how and is
standing. It’s very important that the
pronounced /Pn/ and then becomes
rhythm flows. This forces students to
/öPn/ and how we use the intrusive w in
squeeze and stretch each other’s
you and me /ju*îPnmi*/ and intrusive j in
names to fit the rhythm – quite a
me and /mi* jPn/, etc. This also
challenge if a student’s name is
consolidated their awareness of the fact
Eleptheria!
that fluent speakers of English often
● We then adapted Adrian Underhill’s pronounce phrases such as want to and
idea from his book Sound going to as wanna and gonna. They were
Foundations where students, still now able to appreciate why this happens.
slapping and clapping out the rhythm,
build up the line: You and then me Step 4:
and then him and then her.
Group composition
Round 1: You (slap thighs) me (clap)
him (right click) her (left click) The next step was to start writing a
Round 2: You and (slap thighs) me
song. I thought this would be best done
and (clap) him and (right click) her
initially as a group on the board. As a
(left click)
class, we constructed a verse (consisting
of two sets of rhyming couplets, ie four
Round 3: You and then (slap thighs)
lines) by firstly deciding on a theme and
me and then (clap) him and then (right
then answering prompts, which I
click) her (left click)
provided. The class decided they wanted
We repeated each round of the game three to write about unrequited love. Below is
or four times to ensure the students were a much-abridged version of the
able to keep up. (It’s important that the dialogue which we used to construct the
same pace is used for each round.) When song. I tried to minimise my own
we were all reciting the whole line intervention as much as possible, but if
one of their suggestions didn’t clearly
communicate a message, I offered help.
You may have to steer the students quite
carefully at this stage in order to
produce a fairly coherent story.
The parts in blue are the emerging
song. The rest are my oral prompts and
the students’ suggestions:
Teacher: Yesterday I saw my dream
girl …
What’s her name?
Student: Her name’s May.
Teacher: OK.
Yesterday I saw my dream girl
May.
What did I do?
Student: Talked to her.
Teacher: OK. What rhymes with May?
Student: Say.
Teacher: So … I didn’t …?
Student: I didn’t know what to say.
Teacher: Excellent. So we’ve got:
Yesterday I saw my dream girl
May, but I didn’t ... know what
to say.
Mmm, we need a word in the
space. Any ideas?
Student: Really?
Teacher: Good.
Yesterday I saw my dream girl
May, but I didn’t really know
what to say.
What did you do next?
Student: I tried to kiss her!
Teacher: So I [miming walking] …?
Student: Walked up to her.
Teacher: Good … and tried to …
[miming kissing]?
Student: Kiss her.
Teacher: Good … where did I try to
kiss her?
Student: On the lips.
[I quickly realised that’s a hard word to
rhyme.]
Teacher: Or maybe on the … [pointing
to my cheek]?
Student: Cheek?
Teacher: Great. How did it make her
feel?
Student: Angry.
Teacher: And what rhymes with cheek
and how did the kiss make
me feel?
• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 60 January 2009 •
Student: Weak?
Teacher: Good. So we’ve got:
Yesterday I saw my dream girl ENGLISH
May, but I didn’t really know
what to say. I walked up to
Tprofessional
EACHING
her and tried to kiss her on
the cheek. It made her angry
but made me weak.
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We want to hear from you!
Of course this isn’t the sort of poetry
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Literature, but that wasn’t the aim. We
had enormous fun putting it together

and the students were simultaneously IT WORKS IN PRACTICE
getting useful pronunciation practice. Do you have ideas you’d like to share
The final challenge of this stage was to
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rap the verse within our ‘slapping and
Tips, techniques and activities;
clapping’ routine as described above. To
simple or sophisticated; well-tried
do this successfully, we had to play
or innovative; something that has
around with the pronunciation and stress
worked well for you? All published
a little, eg stretch the vowel in know in
contributions receive a prize!
the second line and quickly run together
the words tried to kiss her on the cheek, Write to us or email:
which became /traâdtPkâsPrInöPtÜi*k/ iwip@etprofessional.com
with weak forms and an intrusive /r/.
Step 5:
Free writing
TALKBACK!
Do you have something to say about
The final stage was for the students to an article in the current issue of ETp?
write their own rap song about a topic This is your magazine and we would
of their choice. This is quite hard work,
really like to hear from you.
so I told them they only needed to write
Write to us or email:
two verses. When it came to performing
them (not essential if your students are talkback@etprofessional.com
reluctant, but a shame if they don’t), a
couple of students provided backing
scratching and drumming sounds, which Writing for ETp
added just a little authenticity! Would you like to write for ETp? We are
always interested in new writers and
 fresh ideas. For guidelines and advice,
write to us or email:
All in all, the students and I felt that
this was a very worthwhile mini-project, editor@etprofessional.com
which we found highly enjoyable and
satisfying. They realised they could be
creative in a foreign language and that Visit the
they do have the power to take ETp website!
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Mark Almond is a selected articles. You can submit tips
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and Language Studies at or simply browse the features.
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areas of interest are in
teaching methodology,
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language classroom and ENGLISH TEACHING professional
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mark.almond@canterbury.ac.uk
17
 IN THE CLASSROOM

I think, therefore I learn 3

Tessa Woodward helps her students with forward and backward thinking.

(Agenda, Apologies, Minutes of the last
‘Everything has been thought of
meeting, Points for discussion, AOB) or a
before, but the difficulty is to think
sports match (Bully off (from hockey),
of it again.’
First half, Second half, Extra time, Final
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
whistle), etc, depending on the interests
of the group.
The students are thus working from the
general to the more specific and get the
idea of what paragraphing is and how it
works. If, later on, they notice that in
fact first lines of paragraphs are often
not indented, they can add a question

I
n this series of articles, I have been
looking at practical, everyday steps
we language teachers can take to
ensure that there is a climate in our
classrooms that supports thinking,
rather than knocking it on the head!
Here, I’ll look at ways of framing
lessons or modules of work by
encouraging students to look forwards
to upcoming work and then later to
look back at work done.
mark to that first point on their concept
Concept map… map.
a true Advance Organiser
Using a board, handout or other
display device, you can build a concept
Looking back
map to show an overview of the work Just as we can encourage students to
coming up. Let’s imagine you have a look forwards to orient themselves to
writing class and you want to help the what is coming up, so we can provide
students understand and use time and tasks to help them look back
paragraphing successfully. You could to see what they have learnt. Here are
use the visual below: some ideas for encouraging this.

PARAGRAPHS
The intensely
social atmosphere What they What they What they What they
look like are for contain don’t contain
of a normal language
class does not suit .............................. .............................. Topic sentence
.............................. Irrelevant sentences
..............................
everyone Supporting sentences ..............................
.............................. .............................. ..............................

.............................. .............................. Lexical variation

Looking forwards
The idea of ‘Advance Organisers’ is
attributed to cognitive psychologist
David Ausubel. Advance Organisers are
devices used when introducing a new
topic to enable learners to orient
themselves to what is coming. They help
a learner relate new learning to what is
already known. They are very simple to
use. Here are some ideas that work
towards Ausubel’s aim.
‘Menu’ on the board …
simple listing
Keep one part of your board – a column
on the left, say – for a list of topics that
will come up in the lesson. You can have
fun with the menu theme by writing the
items up under headings; for example,
Starter, Main course, Dessert or Coffee.
Once students have got used to the idea
and have learnt the vocabulary of meal
courses, you can switch the metaphor to
another, such as the business meeting
..............................
You can then take one or more parts
of the diagram and elicit what the
students already know about it/them. In
the same lesson, or over several lessons,
you can give the students examples of
topic, supporting and irrelevant
sentences, lexical variation, writing tasks
involving un-jumbling sentences, and so
on. As learning points are dealt with, the
students can add them to their notebooks
under the bubbles of the concept map.
Thus, for example, under the bubble
What they look like, they can write:
– First line indented
– You write to end of lines
– You hyphenate long words
– Last sentence can finish anywhere on
the line
– Not too short
– Not too long
..............................
Solo reflection
Some people can think well in public,
enjoying listening to other people and
bouncing ideas around. But the
intensely social atmosphere of a normal
language class does not suit everyone.
Some students need quiet time to
organise their thoughts. So, it can be
important to build quiet time in after a
block of work in class. You can give
tasks that encourage private thinking:
● ‘Think back over what we have done
in the last half hour and prepare one
comment and one question on it. You
have four minutes.’
● ‘Sort the new words and phrases on
the board according to theme (or
register or word class, etc).’
● ‘Write down two actions you will take
as a result of today’s lesson.’

18 • Issue 60 January 2009 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •

● ‘Write down the last learning point in the learning points, you can reflect on
your own words in your learning log why this is.
notebook.’
● Draw three columns on the board
Silent reflection can be used before a labelled What? How? and Why? For
piece of work, too, for the students to each part of the lesson, elicit from the
remember what they already know students what the learning point was,
about a subject. how it was dealt with and why it is
important. Write this up. For example:
Group mapping
Here are some ideas you can use with What? How? Why?
whole classes.
Past simple Teacher’s So we can
● Ask the students to think back on the Reg and funny story ask people
lesson and pick out three key words irreg verbs about her about
or phrases that represent something (oral) holiday recent
important for them. They should and our adventures
write these down. Then ask them to questions
about it
read their words and phrases out loud
round the class. As the students read
out different things, they will jog the ● Finally, ask the students to complete
memories of other students and show and discuss the following:
you, the teacher, what they found Today we looked at ..... and ..... .
memorable in the lesson. If you In what ways are these the same?
notice they have missed out some of In what ways are they different?
Ausubel, D Educational Psychology –
A Cognitive View Holt, Rinehart and
Winston 1968
Woodward, T ‘Mapping the work done’ In
Ways of Working with Teachers TW
Publications 2005
Tessa Woodward is a
teacher and teacher
trainer at Hilderstone
College, Broadstairs, UK.
She also edits the
Teacher Trainer journal
for Pilgrims, UK. She is a
past president of IATEFL.
Her latest book is
Headstrong, published
by TW Publications.
Tessaw@hilderstone.ac.uk
Writing for ETp
Would you like to write for ETp?
We are always interested in new writers
and fresh ideas. For guidelines and
advice, write to us or email:
editor@etprofessional.com

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• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 60 January 2009 • 19

 G R A M M A R The conjunction that (also known as a
‘complementiser’) is one of the most
widely used conjunctions for

That
introducing subordinate clauses.
Subordinate clauses beginning with that
can be used as the direct objects of a
number of transitive verbs, such as
realise and said, as in sentences 5 and 6.
They can also be used as post-modifiers
of adjectives or nouns, giving further
information about the adjectives or
nouns in question, as in sentences 7 and
8. Overgeneralisation of the use of that

word!
and inadequate understanding of the
structure of complex sentences are
probably the major causes of the
problem.

Should we spend time

on that?
In order to help students overcome the
problem, many teachers simply tell them
not to use the conjunction in embedded

T
Alice Chan chooses eachers with students at
clauses beginning with a wh- word (eg
intermediate or even advanced
what, how, why, and even whether). This
to concentrate on a levels will probably not find
rule of thumb is certainly practical, and
sentences such as these unfamiliar:
may also be very useful as it is quite
common conjunction. 1 I don’t know that what I should easy to remember: there are only a few
do next. wh-words in English, and the spelling of
2 these words gives students very obvious
He will tell me that which I
hints and serves as a good reminder of
should do and which I should not
the rule. However, students may not
do.
know the reason why the conjunction
3 I still remember that how the cannot be used in such constructions.
scene was when I was young. As that is such a high-frequency
4
conjunction, many students may use it
Some people may ask that why
without paying conscious attention to
Hong Kong suffered from this
its function. In my opinion, teachers
crisis.
need to awaken their students’
The addition of a superfluous awareness of the function of that and
conjunction (ie that) before a wh- clause the structure of a complex sentence if
(eg what I should do next; why Hong they are to help them gain full control
Kong suffered from this crisis) in of such structures.
complex sentences is a very common
feature of the writing of secondary and That all depends ...
even university ESL students. It is not
That, like many other subordinating
difficult to understand why students
conjunctions (eg although, because, as,
tend to add that in such sentences: they
unless), is used to indicate the dependent
are used to using the conjunction to
status of a clause. The addition of that
link a subordinate clause and a main
to an independent clause turns it into a
clause (sometimes known as a matrix
dependent clause. Before the addition of
clause) in sentences such as:
the conjunction, the original clauses can
5 I didn’t realise that she was stand alone. This means that the
unhappy. original clauses can be simple sentences
6 in themselves. For example:
Peter said that he was angry.
9  She was unhappy.
7 I am happy that he has decided
to quit. 10  He has decided to quit.

8 I had no idea that he had lost With the conjunction added, the
his car. resultant clauses cannot stand alone.

20 • Issue 60 January 2009 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •

 11 That she was unhappy.
12 That he has decided to quit.
Do you remember why we often ask
students to add that to a clause to avoid
constructions with an independent
clause as the subject?
13 He has decided to quit annoys
me.
It is precisely because of the status of the
resultant clauses (dependent) after the
addition of the conjunction that they are
used as subordinate clauses attached to
main clauses in complex sentences.
14  That he has decided to quit
annoys me.
15  I am happy that he has
decided to quit.
Because of its subordinator function,
the conjunction is not used to introduce
clauses which are dependent. Wh-clauses
(eg embedded indirect questions) like
the following are dependent and cannot
stand alone as independent clauses or
simple sentences:
16 What I should do next.
17
Why Hong Kong suffered from
this crisis.
Adding that to such dependent clauses,
as in sentences 1 to 4, is thus
inappropriate. If students are made
aware of the subordinator function of
that and the status of the clause to which
it is attached, they should understand
why sentences 1 to 4 are unacceptable
while sentences 5 to 8 are correct.
It may be argued that many students
have problems even with the correct
structure of complex sentences involving
wh- interrogative clauses, producing
sentences with unnecessary subject–verb
inversion, as in the following:
18 I don’t know that what should I
do next.
19
He will tell me that which
should I do and which should I
not do.
Requiring students to determine the
acceptability of using that by referring
to the status of the wh-clauses used in
these constructions seems too
demanding, even confusing. Their
decision on whether or not to use the
conjunction may be influenced by the
incorrect embedded clauses what should
I do next and which should I do and
• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 60 January 2009 •
which should I not do. These clauses are
independent and can stand alone as
simple (or compound) questions, so can
that be added to make them dependent?
That is the question
Putting the subject and verb in indirect
questions in the wrong order is a
developmental error found not only in
L2 learners but also in L1 learners. It
can be seen as an inevitable stage in the
developmental sequence of interrogative
acquisition. Many ESL learners keep
making this error, in writing, in spoken
discourse or in both, despite their
conscious knowledge of the correct
structure. To help ESL students tackle
this problem is not an easy task, and the
problem would be better dealt with
separately from the misuse of that.
Students who have a good grasp of the
correct structure of indirect questions
should not find it difficult to
understand the misuse of that as in the
analysis outlined above.
The rationale underlying
my suggestions here
is that learners should
be made aware of the
nature of the problem
and the function of
the conjunction
Another strategy that teachers can
adopt is to address both issues in the
discussion of complex sentences. A
complex sentence consists of a main
clause and one or more subordinate
clauses. Clauses such as what should I do
next are independent. The order of the
subject and the verb needs to be changed
to turn them into dependent clauses.
Once this has been done, that is not
needed, because the clauses have already
been made dependent. Whatever the
approach, the rationale underlying my
suggestions here is that learners should be
made aware of the nature of the problem
and the function of the conjunction.
There still remains the issue of
sentences such as the following:
20
I am not sure that who is
coming.
21 I know that who has left.
That is complicated
In sentences 20 and 21, the embedded
indirect questions who is coming and who
has left without the subordinator that
seem to be capable of standing alone, as
there are independent questions which
have the same structure. Because the
wh- words act as the subjects of the
questions and no subject–verb inversion
is necessitated at all, the structure of the
questions remains the same, whether
they are used as independent questions
or as dependent embedded questions.
This surface structural equivalence may
be seen as a complication to the analysis
of that I have proposed in this article. In
my opinion, ESL teachers should discuss
this structural equivalence as a special
case of indirect questions when students
have successfully mastered the proper
use of that and of the structure of
complex sentences.
That’s it
In the teaching of grammar, we often
come across exceptions to whatever
generalisations or explanations we offer
to our students. Does that mean that we
should not teach these concepts? I think
it is more important for students to
understand the nature of a problem and
the rationale for its solution, despite
possible complications, rather than
simply to remember ‘easy’ rules without
complete understanding of the
situation. ETp
I would like to thank Dr Jackie Lee for her
invaluable advice and suggestions on an
earlier draft of this article.
Alice Y W Chan is an
Associate Professor at
the Department of
English, City University
of Hong Kong. Her
research interests
include second
language acquisition,
English grammar,
English phonetics and
phonology, and
lexicography.
enalice@cityu.edu.hk.
Visit the ETp website!
The ETp website is packed with practical
tips, advice, resources, information and
selected articles. You can submit tips
or articles, renew your subscription
or simply browse the features.
www.etprofessional.com
21
 TEACHING YOUNG LEARNERS 
Meet the
parents
Caroline Linse has ten
C
hildren are learning English
as a Foreign Language at
tips to help teachers younger and younger ages,
either because the local
connect home and school. educational authority has decided that
it is a good thing to do or because
individual parents feel that it will help
their children later on in life. As a
teacher of young learners, I know that
the younger the child is, the more
involved the parents are likely to be.
For purposes of comparison, consider a
five-year-old learner who comes to
school and is delivered to the
classroom door by her mother. This is
in sharp contrast to a teenager who no
longer needs his mother to escort him
to school and may well, in fact, be
serving in a caretaking role himself by
dropping off a younger sibling at a
kindergarten along the way.
When I give workshops about
home–school connections, I often ask
teachers whether it is harder to deal
with the children or with their parents.
There is usually a bit of nervous
laughter, and then frowns, followed by
the acknowledgement that creating and
maintaining positive home–school
relationships is a very difficult task. In
my experience, most programmes
designed to train teachers of English to
young learners in EFL contexts do not
prepare teachers to deal with parents.
• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 60 January 2009 •
Over the years, I have developed
some techniques to open up
communication channels and create
positive connections between myself
and the parents of my learners. The list
given here contains some simple
suggestions for working with parents.
These will need to be adapted for
different situations and contexts, but
the general principles will apply to a
host of young learner settings.
Creating constructive
connections
1 Compensate for
language differences
You may not speak the home language
of your learners and the parents of
your learners may not speak English. If
this is the case, you will need to utilise
different techniques to determine the
best way or ways to communicate with
the families of your pupils. For example,
you might need to ask others to help
with translation or interpretation.
Perhaps a teacher who is bilingual could
help by translating and interpreting in
exchange for your help with
proofreading. Bilingual school
secretaries or administrators may also
be willing to provide assistance.
Children with L1 and L2 literacy
skills can translate general information
into their primary language and take
the translation home, together with the
note written in English by the teacher.
This strategy works well with learners
who are emotionally mature enough to
translate a message into English. It is
important to remember that the tone
of the message and specific information
may change a little bit with the
translation.
2 Provide specific
feedback to parents
Whenever you talk to parents about
one of your learners, be sure to give
specific information about the child.
Specific feedback is more valuable than
general platitudes. It takes more time
to formulate a comment with specific
information, but it shows that you care
about the child. 
23
 TEACHING YOUNG LEARNERS
Meet the

parents
It is very easy to say:
‘Monica is doing really well in school.’
However, instead, you might want to
tell her parents why you think that she
is doing well in school:
‘It is a pleasure to have Monica in class.
She always cooperates very well with the
other children. She always follows
instructions and helps other children who
may not understand exactly what they are
supposed to do.’
The same principle holds true when
conveying information about a problem.
The parents may dismiss what you are
saying about Tommy if you simply state:
‘Tommy is just plain lazy.’
However, they are likely to be more
willing to listen and work with you if
you provide specific information such as:
‘Tommy sat and looked out of the window
for half an hour before he started doing
his work. He worked for five minutes and
then looked out again for another 20
minutes. Finally, when he started working
again, it was time for him to go home.’
3 Remember that the
parents’ job is to
defend their children
Early on in my career, I felt that the
parents of my learners would always side
with their children regardless of whether
or not their children were wrong. I
remember confronting one mother
about her daughter Linda’s very messy
habits. Linda’s mother told me that Linda
was merely creative and that she didn’t
want to stifle her daughter’s creativity.
A few weeks afterwards, I noticed that
Linda was becoming tidier and tidier.
According to Linda, her mother had
spoken to her and given her some
suggestions about how to be neater.
24 • Issue 60 January 2009 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •

I was very puzzled as to why, on the
one hand, Linda’s mother had defended
Linda, but on the other hand, had shown
that she agreed with me by helping Linda
overcome some of her untidiness. A
senior colleague explained that parents
are supposed to stick up for their own
children and when they don’t, you, as a
teacher, have cause to be concerned.
Once I acknowledged that it is a parent’s
responsibility to defend and protect their
children, I immediately viewed parents
differently, seeing them as advocates for
their children rather than as my
adversaries. Although I still had, and have
to, deal with challenging parents, now I
have a better appreciation of their
perspective. As a result of my
understanding, I have even said to parents:
‘I know that your job is to support your
child and your child should be grateful that
you are doing that for her.’
4 Set aside time to talk
with parents
Parents appreciate teachers who are
accessible. I usually keep Wednesday
afternoons as a time when I can have
face-to-face or telephone conversations
with parents regarding routine matters.
If something that is not urgent comes up
during the week, I schedule a time to
talk on Wednesdays. Until I did this, I felt
guilty because I wasn’t always accessible
to parents. For urgent matters, I feel that
it is important to talk to parents as soon
as possible and I will make time after
school or in the evening for a telephone
call. I give out my home phone number
and I have found, without exception, that
parents have not abused the privilege of
Phillip Burrows
being able to reach me directly.
I personally try to avoid
communicating with parents by email. I
feel it is acceptable to use email to set
up a time to talk, but I don’t like using
it to discuss information about a child.
One of my concerns is confidentiality
and the fact that the internet is not
completely safe. Another larger concern
is that the forward button is too easy to
press. I can write something to a parent
and if they misinterpret it, or if I wasn’t
clear, the parents can easily forward it
to their friends or even my supervisor.
5 Check your grammar
and spelling before you
send anything home
Some parents may actually base their
evaluation of a teacher’s overall
performance on their use or misuse of
the English language. Some may believe
that their child’s teacher is a poor
teacher because he or she made one
tiny little grammar or spelling mistake. I
remember working with a native-
English-speaking teacher in rural Alaska
whose supervisor wanted to fire him
just because there were a couple of
minor spelling errors on the bulletin
boards that he had put up in his
classroom. The school principal felt that
the parents would be justified in
criticising this teacher if they saw these
errors. The teacher, who was an
excellent teacher, learnt to double
check all the written work that he
produced, prior to sharing it with the
children and their parents.
Since parents can be unduly harsh, I
am extra cautious with grammar,
 TEACHING YOUNG LEARNERS
spelling and punctuation when I send
things home or put things up on the
wall. For example, although many
people consider it acceptable to end
sentences with some prepositions, I
always avoid them when producing
materials that parents will see.
6 Consider learners and
parents when you
assign homework
Homework can be a very strong link
between home and school. Different
cultures and different schools approach
it in different ways: some expect it in
primary schools, while other shun it. If
your school has a policy of setting English
language homework, then be sure to
choose carefully any tasks that you assign
for children to do away from school.
Parents can become understandably
frustrated if they studied English
themselves for 12 years but can’t
understand what their eight year old is
supposed to do. All tasks should be
very clear. It is important that the
parent can look at the page and see
exactly what the child has to do – for
example, answer simple questions
about a story. You also need to make
sure that the children know exactly
what they are supposed to do. If the
homework is to complete a workbook
page, then the children should have
done the first item at school so that
the task is simply a continuation of
what was started in the classroom.
7 Make sure that every
child’s work is displayed
When I first started teaching, I
neglected to put two pieces of
Rinaldo’s work on the bulletin board.
There was one piece of his displayed,
but all the other children had two
pieces there. Rinaldo’s mother noticed
this and felt very sad. It was an
unconscious oversight, but I felt a little
bit guilty because Rinaldo’s work was
messy and didn’t look quite as pretty as
the other children’s work. I have since
used picture-style frames made out of
construction paper as a way to make
even the most untidy piece of work
look attractive.
• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 60 January 2009 •

8 Showcase all the
children during
performances
Children in pre-schools, kindergartens
and primary schools often perform in
plays, choral readings, concerts or other
presentations for their parents. These
provide teachers with an opportunity
to showcase what their students have
been learning in the classroom. Parents
want to see their children participating
in the performance and will be very
disappointed if their child isn’t very
actively involved. However, there are
always some children who are afraid to
perform, especially in a foreign
language. Shy children could be given
small walk-on parts or could be
assigned responsible backstage roles,
such as set designers. Their names can
then be prominently listed in the
programme.
9 Send ‘happy grams’
home
When I was in middle school, my
science teacher sent a happy gram to
my mother saying how well I was doing
in school. It was a note with smiley
faces that praised me for the special
biology project that I had done. My
mother, an educator herself, was a little
mystified when she received the note
because she had never heard of such a
thing. However, she was really pleased
that I was doing well and that my
teacher had taken the time to write
and tell her about my good work.
10 Enjoy your contact
with parents
I try to have fun when working with
the parents of the children in my
classes. I genuinely enjoy hearing them
tell stories about their children: a funny
word that their son said at an
inopportune time or a description of
an elaborate paper airplane that their
daughter has just constructed. I find
that if I give parents an opportunity to
talk about their children, I am more
likely to be able to understand and
nurture the child that they have
entrusted to my care. ETp
There are a number of different
organisations which provide
information on how teachers and
parents can cooperate together as a
means of providing collaborative
support to children. If you wish to
learn more about creating links
between home and school, you may
like to explore the websites of the
following organisations:
The Parent Teacher Association
www.pta.org
The PTA was established in the
United States at the end of the 19th
century as an organisation dedicated
to advocating and lobbying on behalf
of children. Parent teacher
organisations in other countries have
used it as a model.
The National Confederation of
Parent Teacher Associations (UK)
www.ncpta.org.uk
The NCPTA has over six million
members in England,Wales and
Northern Ireland and other
countries through the world. The
aim of this registered charity is to
promote home–school connections
and links.
The National Association for the
Education of Young Children
www.naeyc.org
This organisation is dedicated to
improving the wellbeing of all
children. Emphasis is placed on the
educational and overall development
of children up to the age of eight.
NAEYC provides criteria and
suggestions for establishing and
maintaining positive relationships
with the families of learners.
Caroline Linse is a senior
lecturer in TESOL at
Queen’s University,
Belfast, Northern Ireland,
where she teaches on
the MSc TESOL and
International EdD TESOL
programmes. She has
also written materials for
children and is the author
of Practical English
Language Teaching:Young
Learners, published by
McGraw Hill.
c.linse@qub.ac.uk
25
B USINESS E NGLISH professional                                
Self-service
development
John Hughes proposes an action plan
for specialist teachers.
B
usiness English teachers, like
all teachers, can benefit from
attending training sessions.
When we set aside time to
hear a colleague’s presentation of a new
idea or have a workshop to explore
classroom challenges, it helps us on
various levels. These sessions can not
only help our understanding of teaching
and learning as well as improving our
teaching skills, but they also bring
teachers together. Business English
teachers in particular spend a great deal
of time working without contact with
peers, so a training session also serves a
crucial social and networking function.
The problem of training
Though we may accept the value of
group training, the reality is that
creating space in a daily timetable for
formal training is very difficult. Full-
time teachers are often busy people,
struggling with many hours of teaching,
not to mention a home life!
For business English teachers, access
to formal training presents a particular
problem. Firstly, many in-company
teachers are self-employed and work
without the support of a school or
colleagues. They themselves are often
their only resource. As a result, they have
to actively seek training opportunities, not
to mention paying for them. On the other
hand, if you are a teacher employed by a
school, you might spend time travelling to
reach a client off-site, so time is at even
more of a premium. Finally, for the
school which wants to provide training,
there is the logistical problem of teachers
working in different places at different
times, so fixing a time for everyone to
come together is problematic.
• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 60 January 2009 •
The problem for trainers
If your school does regularly succeed in
bringing all business English teachers
together in one place at the same time,
then the trainer is faced with various
considerations. By its very nature,
business English, which is needs-driven,
demands that a teacher become familiar
with different areas of professional
content (eg accountancy, law, marketing,
etc) whenever a new student is being
taught. In addition, business English
classrooms tend to vary in format (one-
to-one, mini- or large-group teaching,
distance training, etc) so different teachers
need training in dealing with different
contexts. As a result, the training and
support required by even a small team
of teachers will vary enormously. In one
training session you could have Teacher X
who needs help with a one-to-one course
in the fashion industry while Teacher Y
has a class of 30 pre-work 18 year olds
studying every aspect of business. Added
to that, there will be teachers with ten
years of experience as against teachers
with ten weeks of experience. Delivering
a training programme to satisfy such a
broad range of needs and interests will
always be challenging for the trainer.
Schools might do
well to support their
business English
teachers with a policy
that emphasises
personal development
over formal training
From training to
development
While I would never suggest that
business English departments scrap
their formal training sessions, I do think
that teachers may often be better served
by being given the tools and skills to
nurture their own development rather
than ‘waiting to be served’.
The terms teacher training and
teacher development are often used
interchangeably, but there are essential
differences. In teacher training, the
emphasis tends more towards an
‘expert’ trainer delivering the content.
With teacher development, the teachers
themselves tend to decide what they
need to learn. They draw on their own
experiences, and information can be
gleaned from a number of sources such
as websites or by informally chatting to
colleagues. In business English terms this
can also include reading business journals
or taking a business-based qualification.
Teacher development is also more flexible.
Teachers are able to set their own
timetables for study so, for example, that
long bus journey to the factory can be
spent reading up on an aspect of teaching.
To make a clear distinction between
training and development is, of course,
an oversimplification and suggests they
are separate entities. Clearly, there is
room for both, working in tandem, but
schools might do well to support their
business English teachers with a policy
that emphasises personal development
over formal training. Such a policy
might include the following:
Mentoring: An experienced teacher is
assigned to help and support a newer
teacher.
Classroom observation: Teachers
observe each other’s lessons.
Teachers’ room: In the room where
teachers gather to prepare lessons, access
is provided to materials such as teacher
resource books or business journals. Part
of a notice board is given over to ideas
for lessons, or a new article (perhaps
from ETp) is placed there each week.
Conferences: Teachers are offered the
chance to attend conferences.
Resource building: If a teacher is
working on a very specific area of
business or ESP, they could file some of
their specific materials in case a similar
field of business is taught in the future.
As well as serving other teachers, this 
27
 B USINESS E NGLISH professional                                

Self-service Teacher development action plan

development
 also means that the teacher in question
will gain from the experience of
designing materials for use by others.
They will also have access to the
resources that their colleagues produce
if they inspire others to do likewise.
A ‘teacher development
Which of these do you already do to help your business English teaching?
Tick and give any details.
1 I often formally meet colleagues to share
ideas about teaching business English.
2 I often informally meet colleagues to share
ideas about teaching business English.

action plan’
One way to start on self-development is 3 I subscribe to a journal with ideas for business English teachers.
to work with the action plan opposite.
You begin by answering questions 1 to
4 I have a favourite ELT website I visit to get ideas.
12. Then in 13 and 14 you think of your
own ideas for development. If possible,
compare and share your suggestions 5 I sometimes write an article or send in an idea to a journal/website.
here with colleagues. Assuming that
there are a few which you haven’t ticked,
choose only two to start implementing 6 I attend workshops/teacher training at my school.
initially. Choose one which can be done
within the next month and then select
one which can be a longer-term aim 7 I attend external workshops/conferences (eg BESIG).
(over six months).
If your school is able to provide
formal training, why not have a session 8 I sometimes give workshops to other teachers.
on development and fill in the action
plan together? When participants tick 1
9 I participate in online teachers’ forums / discussion chats.
to 12, they can tell each other about
their answers in order to share ideas.
Answers for 13 and 14 will also provide 10 I observe peers and invite them to observe me.
plenty of discussion and generate ideas
between colleagues. After a few months,
come together again and report back on 11 I subscribe to a business magazine to improve my knowledge.
how well you’ve all been able to
implement the action plan. ETp
12 I sometimes team-teach with a more experienced teacher.
Ur, P ‘Teacher training, teacher
development’ English Teaching
Professional 8 1998 Write two more ideas for things you do already to develop or perhaps
Head, K and Taylor, P Readings in Teacher could consider doing. Ask a colleague for their ideas, too.
Development Heinemann ELT 1997
13 ___________________________________________________________________
Thanks to Rebecca Turner for her comments
and feedback on this article. Rebecca
originally co-presented with me on this topic at 14 ___________________________________________________________________
BESIG Berlin 2007 and IATEFL Exeter 2008
and developed the action plan with me.

John Hughes is a Plan of action

freelance author and
trainer. He is a co-author Look at any of the ideas you have not ticked.
of the new Business
Result coursebooks
Which can you put into action?
(OUP) and writer and
executive producer of the ● I can put idea ______ into action in the next month.
Business English teacher
training DVDs which
accompany the Business ● I can put idea ______ into action in the next six months.
Result teacher’s books.
jhnhghs@msn.com

28 • Issue 60 January 2009 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •

 L I T E R AT U R E
Balancing act
L
Purificación iterature has always had an
important role in traditional
Sánchez offers language classrooms, and it is
still an important component
models of activities to of language teaching courses in many
countries. However, there are two
integrate language and distinct ways to treat literary texts when
teaching languages. The first involves an
literature. emphasis on analysis of the language
used in a text, the other is the
exploitation of the text from a literary
point of view, with a greater focus on
meaning. I believe that a balance of the
two is necessary: texts are a useful
source of language in action, yet their
use in the language classroom does not
offer enrichment to the student unless
the message of the text is also
considered. In this article, I should like
to present a series of activities aimed at
keeping the balance between these two
approaches, showing that both can be
integrated within the same scheme.
Different models
As Ron Carter and Michael Long have
pointed out, various models have been
suggested for the teaching of literature
to ESL and EFL students: the cultural
model, the language model and the
personal growth model.
The cultural model is the most
traditional approach to teaching
literature. In this model the literary text
is used to study literary movements and
genres in their historical and social
contexts. This model is often rejected
nowadays for teaching language since it
is essentially teacher-centred and does
not offer much opportunity for
language work.
The language model is more learner-
centred. Here, the literary text can be
used to focus on grammar or
vocabulary, in the same way that these
aspects are presented in coursebooks or
in stylistic analysis. However, this model
proposes a somewhat ‘reductive’
approach to literature, since its
• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 60 January 2009 •
linguistic activities are completely
disconnected from the literary aspects
of the passage, and could, in fact, be
used with virtually any text.
Finally, the personal growth model
offers a middle way between the cultural
model and the language model, since
the text is used both to study the
language and also to explore the
cultural context. Students are
encouraged to express their own
opinions, feelings and personal
experiences so that an interaction
between the text and the reader takes
place. This model relies on the ability of
literature to move people, and takes
advantage of that potential to offer a
richer learning experience to the
students.
Students are
encouraged to express
their own opinions,
feelings and personal
experiences so that
an interaction between
the text and the
reader takes place
The model I suggest here draws
mainly on a combination of the
language model and the personal
growth model, attempting to make the
enjoyment of literature possible for the
students whilst also exploiting it to
foster their linguistic abilities.
Different stages
In reading comprehension work, three
stages are usually recommended to
make the text more accessible and more
interesting: pre-reading, while-reading
and post-reading. The pre-reading 
29

Balancing act
 activities help prepare the learners for
what they are going to read. While most
of the ones I recommend are interactive,
with tertiary students this preparation
could take the form of a lecture. The
while-reading activities help the
students understand the text, and more
teaching than lecturing will be involved.
The students may first be asked to do
an easy scanning or skimming activity,
and then a task requiring more
thorough comprehension. The post-
reading activities help the students to
connect what they have read with their
own ideas and experiences, just as we
often do in real life, and perhaps also
help them to move fluently from
reading to another classroom activity.
This stage is where creative responses to
the text can be made.
Pre-reading activities
These activities are designed to
stimulate the students’ interest and
generate vocabulary relevant to the text
they are about to read. My main
purpose when using such activities is to
create interest in the story, to familiarise
students with the environment, the
characters and some of the words that
are in the text and to activate their
background knowledge of the topic,
encouraging them to think about the
ideas and vocabulary they are likely to
encounter. As Jeremy Harmer points
out, the most interesting text can be
undermined by boring and
inappropriate tasks, and the most
commonplace passage can be made
really exciting with imaginative and
challenging activities.
At this stage I usually use two or
three warm-up activities chosen from
the following list:
1 Ask the students to make some
predictions about the theme of the
novel, play or poem, based on its
title and the date of publication.
2 Brainstorm some words related to
the topic of the text.
3 Get the students to look at a
picture related to the novel, poem
or play they are going to read
(perhaps the front cover of the
novel or an illustration from a
poem) and describe it.
30 • Issue 60 January 2009 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •
4 Ask the students to make some
predictions about the topic after
reading the first line of the novel,
play or poem.
5 Read some sentences taken from
the novel, play or poem to the class
and ask them to guess something
else about the text, using any
further information you give them
about its author.
6 ability to understand new material.
Present some words (the most
common, several verbs from the
text, the personal pronouns, etc)
and ask the students to say
something they expect to find
about the novel, poem or play.
7 Show a video recording of the
passage to be studied, if such a
thing exists.
As the students
interact with the text,
they will improve their
skills naturally and will
develop confidence
in their ability to
understand new
material
Many of the activities I use to create
interest in the story are prediction
exercises. The aim of these is to make
intelligent guesses about what a text
contains, using only a small sample of
it. Jeremy Harmer suggests that by
giving students ‘hints’ so that they can
predict what is coming, they will
become better and more engaged
readers. Where television or film
adaptations of a novel exist, showing a
video recording is a good way of
increasing the students’ motivation to
study the text.
While-reading activities
These activities are designed to make
the most of the text: facilitating
understanding of the plot, the
characters, vocabulary, language and
style. They involve developing and
improving vital skills, including
identifying main ideas and supporting
details, increasing overall reading
proficiency, guessing vocabulary from
context, using a dictionary
appropriately, identifying the different
functions of language, and critical
thinking. Students are given the
opportunity to practise and master
useful vocabulary encountered in the
text through discussion and groupwork.
As the students interact with the text,
they will improve their skills naturally
and will develop confidence in their
Again, I use a wide variety of activities
for this stage. Here are some examples.
1 Get the students to match words to
definitions.
2 Explore the functions of the
language used in the text.
3 Present some words and their
corresponding dictionary entries
and ask the students to decide
which meaning best fits in the
context.
4 Ask the students to underline
words belonging to the same lexical
field.
5 Get the students to choose
synonyms for some words and to
suggest a title for each paragraph
of a text or each stanza of a poem.
6 Have the students complete a table
using information from the text.
7 Ask the students to complete
sentences to demonstrate
comprehension.
8 Give the students some jumbled
sentences from the text for them to
put in order.
9 Ask the students which of the
characters they think is the most
active, passive, intelligent, etc.
10 Get the students to note down any
lexical areas which might take on a
symbolic meaning in the story.
11 Have the students search through
the text to find characteristic traits
of the author or of the period to
which the work belongs.
Research has demonstrated the value of
multiple readings (see Davies and
Pearse), especially where each reading
serves a specific purpose. As the
students read the passage for the first
time, for example, they should be
encouraged to identify unfamiliar
vocabulary. During a second reading,
they may focus on language and style,
and so on.
I make the assumption that
vocabulary is essential for the
understanding of a text and so for me
this is the first point to be taken into
account. However, I find it is usually
best not to present meaning through
translation first. I think it is better to
present it through definition, a
technique that involves the students
more and helps them to remember
words better. However, presentation and
initial practice of new vocabulary items
is seldom enough. They need to be
continually used by the students so that
they become part of their language
store.
It is important to study texts for the
way they use language, to learn new
It is especially
important that students
should be allowed to
express their feelings
about the topic, thus
provoking personal
engagement with it
and the language
vocabulary and to focus on the
functions of language. But the meaning,
the message of the text, is equally as
important, particularly if we use it to
teach literature, and we must give
students a chance to respond to its
message in some way. It is especially
important that they should be allowed
to express their feelings about the topic,
thus provoking personal engagement
with it and the language.
To help students understand the
plot, they might do, for example, a
sentence completion activity. I often give
them the beginnings of sentences about
the story which they have to complete.
In the case of Jane Austen’s Pride and
Prejudice, two of these might be:
Elizabeth will not accept Mr Collins’s
marriage proposal because ...
Mr Bennet will not support his wife on
this matter because ...
This is a way of helping the students to
understand cause-and-effect
• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 60 January 2009 •
relationships in the story. To benefit
from this activity, they need to refer
back to parts of the text, think about
the implications of the information or
comments that are contained within it,
and consider the author’s purpose and
tone. The aim is that they should form
their own ideas and opinions on
different aspects of the topic under
discussion. The students can work on
these questions as individuals or by
discussing them in small groups. They
are encouraged to practise the
vocabulary they have learnt as they do
this.
Other activities which I use, such as
completing a table, deciding which
adjective fits best with the main
characters, and so on, are literature-
focused and help students appreciate the
text better.
I usually find that four or five while-
reading activities are sufficient, provided
that they are well-chosen, but more
activities could be used, depending on
the goals of the teacher.
Post-reading activities
As Jeremy Harmer asserts, since any
reading text is full of sentences, words,
ideas, descriptions, etc, it doesn’t make
sense just to get students to read it and
then discard it to move on to something
else. Good teachers integrate the
reading text into interesting class
sequences, using the topic for discussion
and further tasks, and using the
language for study and later activation.
Through the use of post-reading
activities, creative responses to the text
can be elicited from the students.
Paul Davies and Eric Pearse suggest
a range of useful activities for this last
stage, such as:
1 Discussing what was interesting or
new in the text.
2 Debating the topic of the text if it
is controversial.
3 Doing tasks on the language or
structure of the text.
4 Summarising the text, either orally
or in writing.
In addition, I like to use the following:
5 Writing the previous or the next
scene of the text.
6 Purposes, mainly biology.
Re-writing a poem as a narrative
text.
7 Explaining what you think will
happen next.
I often find that asking the students to
summarise the text orally and then to
produce a written summary for
homework is a good way of activating
the language they have learnt.
Summarising the text orally gives me a
chance to check that the text has been
fully understood and asking them to
produce a piece of written homework
gives the students the opportunity to
respond to the text in a personal way.
Writing in an English language class
may be handled in different ways for
different purposes. The aim of the
commonest type of writing practice is
to consolidate the learning of functional
or grammatical items. In my classes, I
encourage the students to explore the
world the author creates in the text and
to respond to it; they can also explore
their own ideas and feelings in their
writing.

I have described here a number of
activities that allow teachers to use
literary texts for teaching both language
and literature, demonstrating that a
balance of the activities is possible. I
hope I have demonstrated that both
approaches can be integrated within the
same scheme, keeping a balance
between language and literature and
creating integrated language and
literature work which is interesting,
enjoyable and satisfying for the
students. ETp
Carter, R and Long, M Teaching
Literature Longman 1991
Davies, P and Pearse, E Success in
English Teaching OUP 2000
Harmer, J How to Teach English
Longman 2007
Purificación Sánchez
studied English and
German at the University
of Salamanca, Spain,
and then joined the
English Department
at the University of
Murcia where she did
her doctoral dissertation
on the translation of
stage directions in
Shakespeare’s plays. Her
main areas of writing and
research include teaching
English through literature
and English for Specific
purisan@um.es
31
 G R A M M A R Verb 2, Verb 3; V1, V2, V3; or First,
Second, Third form.

Talking
V1 V2 V3
(or Verb 1 or (or Verb 2 or (or Verb 3 or
First form ) Second form ) Third form )

see saw seen

be was/were been
walk walked walked

about
When asked why they used the
terminology they chose, they said that it
was clearer and less confusing for the
students, easier to pronounce, logical
and more visual.
In other words, the main reason for
using I/P/PP seems to be external, led
by history and publishers, whereas the

verbs
Johanna Stirling puts
the case for some sensible
terminology and provides
some ammunition for taking
action.
See, saw, seen. What do you call these
three forms of a verb?
Is see the infinitive, base form, first
form, Verb 1 or something else? Saw
might be past simple, past, Verb 2 or
remote form. And seen is most likely
past participle or Verb 3.
The problem
I asked 37 teachers from around the
world about the terminology they use
when talking about these three verb
forms, and found that about two thirds
of them usually spoke of infinitive, past
and past participle (I/P/PP). This was
certainly a majority, but not as high as
you might expect, given that all of the
(UK published) coursebooks that I
examined used this terminology. This
suggests that for a third of the teachers,
the terms used in the coursebooks are
different from those they are using to
describe and discuss language structure
with their students.
It was very interesting to note that
most of the teachers using I/P/PP
terminology said they did so because it
was in the books that their students used,
because it was what they had been taught
themselves or because their students were
already familiar with those terms.
On the other hand, 28 per cent of
the teachers preferred a more numerical
representation (V1–3), that is, Verb 1,
users of V1–3 seem to have considered
what is most useful for their students.
This is by no means a criticism of those
preferring the more traditional language,
as many of them make the point that
they consider it easier for students if
they use terminology that is consistent
with their textbooks. Some respondents
actually said they would prefer to use
V1–3 if only it was in the books.
The case
So what is the solution to this problem?
For all teachers to use the more
traditional terminology in order to be
consistent with their coursebooks? I
think not.
And why the preference for V1–3?
Or rather, what is wrong with the
traditional I/P/PP terminology? Let’s
take the forms one by one.
Verb 1
What is the infinitive of bought? Is it buy
or is it to buy? Some teachers insist it is
the first, some the second and others
confess to confusion themselves! If you
are discussing the sentence It’s important
to recycle vocabulary, would you say
something like ‘important is followed by
the infinitive, not the -ing form’? If so,
you would be using infinitive to refer to
to recycle. So there is some ambiguity
about what an infinitive really is, whereas
V1 is definitely only the verb, not the to.
If we want to include the to, then we say
so: ‘important is followed by to and V1,
not the -ing form’. No confusion, then.
Verb 2
Past simple is a dreadful name for Verb
2! For me, this is the strongest reason for
not using the more traditional
terminology. Consider these sentences in

34 • Issue 60January 2009 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •

terms of the tense of the verb in bold
and the time-frame to which they refer:
Tense Time-
frame
If I lost my mobile, life
wouldn’t be worth living!
I wish I didn’t have such
big feet.
It’s time I was on my way.
A: Hello. Can I make an
appointment to see
Dr Harris, please.
B: Certainly. What was
the name again?
Now, there may well be ways to justify
to students of English why we use
something called past simple to talk
about the present or the future. But it is
much easier and more logical to say we
use V2 (which also happens to be the
form that we use to make the past
simple tense). Let’s not give our students
any more ammunition for saying that
English is completely illogical.
Verb 3
The case for V3 is simple. Most of my
students can neither pronounce nor
spell past participle! Some try to shorten
it to pp, but then what is to distinguish
it from present participle, or even present
perfect or past perfect? And again, don’t
you wince if you have to explain that we
use the past participle to make the
future perfect? More ammunition!
The verdict
English grammar is confusing enough
without these imprecise, inaccurate and
unpronounceable words to deal with. As
1, 2 and 3 are, in this case, devoid of
meaning in themselves, they cannot
mislead. Most students soon become
aware of irregular verb lists that are laid
out in three columns. If we call the first
column 1, the second 2 and the third 3,
that shouldn’t seem too illogical to
anyone. It is visually very clear.
This terminology is not new. I learnt
these names when I took my Diploma
back in the early 1990s. It made an
awful lot of sense to me and I started
using V1, 2 and 3 when discussing and
describing grammar with my students.
So did many of my colleagues in my
school in the UK. And we still do.
According to my survey, usage does
appear to vary somewhat depending on
• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 60 January 2009 •
the context. Those teaching in Western
European countries tend to use I/P/PP,
as students use it to describe their own ENGLISH
language, whereas a teacher in Turkey
said V1–3 was no problem there. In my
own experience of teaching mixed-
Tprofessional
EACHING
nationality groups, I do indeed find that
most students are more familiar with This is your magazine.
the traditional I/P/PP terms, of course, We want to hear from you!
but it takes a very short time to explain
the V1–3 terminology and students
seem to accept it and start to use it 
readily. But then I have to go on to
explain that it will be different in the IT WORKS IN PRACTICE
books they use and this is where they Do you have ideas you’d like to share
get confused.
with colleagues around the world?
Teaching materials are our tools and Tips, techniques and activities;
we want them to do what we want them simple or sophisticated; well-tried
to do. They should facilitate rather than or innovative; something that has
dictate language learning, and they
worked well for you? All published
should present systems and patterns as
contributions receive a prize!
transparently as possible. In this case, I
Write to us or email:
believe they are working against us.
When the tail starts wagging the dog, iwip@etprofessional.com
we have to take action!

I would like to call on materials writers
TALKBACK!
Do you have something to say about
and publishers to reconsider the
an article in the current issue of ETp?
terminology that they present so that it
reflects what is most user-friendly for This is your magazine and we would
students and teachers. Yes, there may be really like to hear from you.
some initial blank looks from students Write to us or email:
who have grown up with I/P/PP. But a editor@etprofessional.com
very short explanation will put that
right. Maybe there should be a
transition period, as is sometimes seen Writing for ETp
when a country changes its currency or
Would you like to write for ETp? We are
measuring system – both terms are
always interested in new writers and
given and then the traditional ones are
fresh ideas. For guidelines and advice,
gradually phased out. But I think we
should just jump in and go for it. 1, 2,
write to us or email:
3 … ETp editor@etprofessional.com
If you agree that these terms need changing,
please join my (at present) one-woman
campaign for V1–3, or indeed react against it,
Visit the
on the English Language Garden website at
www.elgweb.net.
ETp website!
The ETp website is packed with practical
Johanna Stirling is a tips, advice, resources, information and
freelance English
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teacher trainer, materials
writer and presenter.
or articles, renew your subscription
She worked for Bell or simply browse the features.
International for 20 years
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trying to put over the Fax: +44 (0)1243 576456
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Email: info@etprofessional.com
johanna.stirling@gmail.com
35
Activity
corner
Three early-elementary communication activities
With so little language at their disposal, it
can be difficult to generate a lot of
autonomous speaking practice with
elementary students, especially in the early
stages of a course. By autonomous, I
mean speaking practice which the student
initiates, rather than simply taking a cue
from the teacher in the form of question-
and-answer drills or from simple pairwork
information exchanges, etc. The three
activities here aim to give students at the
very lowest levels an opportunity to feel a
little more in control of their communication
in English, to express their personalities
and to exchange real information.
1 And the question is ...
Time: A minimum of 15 minutes
Preparation: Copy page 38 and cut it up
into cards. There are twenty cards on the
page. You can vary the number of cards
used to suit your teaching purposes. For
example, if you have 18 in the class, you
could give out one card per student or
copy the page three times and give out
three cards each. Extract any cards which
will not be suitable (for example, remove
the two cards on can if you haven’t yet
covered that with the class).
Method
1 Ask the students to complete the
questions on their cards in writing. Check
everybody’s work, and help with suggestions
or corrections as necessary. You may be
surprised at your students’ ingenuity at
making a little language go a long way in
order to ask interesting questions, but if not,
it doesn’t matter: basic, boring questions are
very much a part of everyday English, too!
2 Tell the students to stand, move around
the room and find partners. Student A asks
a question and Student B answers. Then
the roles are reversed. When the
exchanges are complete and they have
used up all their questions, the pairs
separate, find new partners and repeat the
activity. Monitor as they do this and make
a note of any problems and any particularly
successful exchanges.
• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 60 January 2009 •
Jon Marks offers three thematically-
linked communication activities
3 When everybody has spoken to
everybody else (or you’ve brought the
activity to a close), have a feedback
session, giving the results of your
monitoring and focusing on any language
problems that occurred.
4 If the class enjoyed the activity, you
could repeat it a little later on when they
have covered the simple past. Write out
another version of page 38, but this time
with all the questions in the past: Was …?
Were …? Where was …? Did you …? etc.
2 And the answer is ...
Time: A minimum of 15 minutes
Preparation: Copy page 39 and cut up
enough cards to give one to each student
(it doesn’t matter if some are duplicated).
Remove any which will be unsuitable (for
example, remove In this town if the
vocabulary is likely to be unfamiliar).
Method
1 You may like to drill the class briefly on
the target language before the main
activity. This is:
● Questions in the present simple with to be:
Are you …? Is he …? Are they …? etc.
● Questions in the present simple with
do/does: Do you …? Does he …?
Do they …? etc.
● Can you/he/she …?
● Where is/are …?
● Where do/does …?
2 Give each student a card. They then
stand and circulate, finding a partner to
work with. Point out that the cards they
are holding have answers to questions.
Their task is to think of possible questions
to which these could be the answers.
3 Student A gives their answer. Student B
must think of a suitable question that
could be followed by that answer. Then
they reverse roles. Monitor as they do this
and make a note of any problems and any
particularly successful exchanges.
4 When the exchanges are complete and
they have used up all their answers, the
pairs separate, find new partners and
(two with photocopiable cards)
with an element of innovation.
repeat. Continue until everybody has
spoken to everybody else or it’s time to
finish the activity.
5 You may like to end by having a
feedback session, reporting the results of
your monitoring and focusing on any
language problems that occurred.
3 Countries quiz
Time: Fifteen to 30 minutes, depending on
the class size
Preparation: None
Method
1 Write the following question beginnings
on the board. You may need to teach the
word flag, perhaps with a drawing. For a
faster activity, omit one or more questions.
1 What is the capital city of …
2 What language do they speak in …
3 What colour is the flag of …
4 Who is the president of …
5 Which country is … from?
2 Organise the class into teams of two to
four students. Each team must come up
with a completed version of each question.
Question 5 can be a famous person or a
type of food or anything else suitable. Visit
the teams and check their work.
3 Round one is about capital cities. Team
A asks Team B their question. If Team B
can’t answer, other teams get the chance
to answer instead. Then Team B asks
Team C, and so on. Keep the score on the
board if you wish.
4 Use the other questions for rounds two
to five.
Jon Marks is an ELT writer
and editor, based in Italy.
Recent publications include
the Puzzle Time series and
IELTS Resource Pack (both
DELTA Publishing) and three
titles in A & C Black’s Check
Your English Vocabulary
series. He is currently
developing teenager courses
for China, and also draws
the Langwich Scool cartoon
in ETp.
j_g_marks@hotmail.com

37
 And the question is ...
Is ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ?

Are _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ?

Where is __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ?

Do you ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ?

What’s _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ?

When do __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ?

Do you have _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ?

Can you ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ?

Where do _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ?

Is your _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ?

When ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ?

Do you like _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ?

What _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ?

Is this ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ?

Who is _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ?

Do you live _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ?

Where are ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ?

Can ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ?

Is that ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ?

Who are ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ?

38 • Issue 60 January 2009 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •

 And the answer is ...

Yes, I am. No, I’m not.

No, I don’t. Yes, I do.

It’s not here. I don’t know.

No, he can’t. In New York.

Yes, they can. Yes, she does.

No, she doesn’t. No, they don’t.

Yes, they are. In Japan.

Here. In this town.

• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 60 January 2009 • 39

 D E S I G N E D T O P H O T O C O P Y

PREPARING TO TEACH ...

Permission, warnings, obligations and prohibitions
John Potts warns us of dangers we should be aware of and pitfalls we must try to avoid.
Ai You can/may use your dictionary with this worksheet. Cii Teacher: You mustn’t use your dictionary
Aii You can’t/may not use your dictionary during the test. during the class test.

Bi Be careful – school crossing ahead. Di The examination board says we have to

write our compositions in ink in the exam.
Bii You should fasten your seat belt.
Dii We don’t have to do our classwork in ink
Biii Mind your head! – we can use pencil if we want to.
Biv Beware of the dog! Ei Don’t park here!
Ci Teacher: You must use your dictionary with this worksheet. Eii No trespassing. No photography.

MEANING
FUNCTION
USE
Ai and Aii give/refuse permission. Ai gives permission Ai and Bi Today, can is Biii is also generally spoken,
When expressing permission, can/can’t and says what is familiar and common in though it may sometimes be seen
and may/may not are interchangeable allowed. spoken and informal in written form (eg Mind the gap on
in meaning in modern English; Aii refuses written language, while London Underground platforms).
however, for some speakers there are permission and says may is often considered
Biv is usually written (on a sign).
differences in use (see below). what is not allowed. more polite and/or formal
and written. Some Ei is spoken and neutral/informal
Bi, Bii, Biii and Biv all identify Bi, Bii, Biii and Biv speakers prefer may for written (eg in leaflets, guide books,
problems or situations that need to be express strong advice reasons of politeness. etc).
acted upon or avoided. and warnings.
Bi is generally spoken, Eii is written (on a sign), but may
In Ci, the obligation is imposed on the Ci and Di express an
though it may also be also be represented visually by
speaker’s authority (here, the teacher). obligation.
used in leaflets, etc. pictograms.
In Cii, the prohibition is imposed by Cii, Ei and Eii
the speaker (here, the teacher). express a prohibition.
CONCEPT QUESTIONS
In Di, the obligation is imposed on Dii offers an option to
someone else’s authority (here, the do something or not. Ci Teacher: You must Di The examination board
examination board). use your dictionary says we have to write
with this worksheet. our compositions in ink
In Dii, there is no obligation – we
PRONUNCIATION
Can we use our in the exam.
needn’t write in ink and are free to
In Ai, the modals are dictionary? (Yes.) Can we write in ink? (Yes.)
choose.
quite weak. Is it compulsory? (Yes.) Is it compulsory? (Yes.)
Ei and Eii say what is forbidden. In Aii, can’t is usually Do we have any Do we have any choice?
Note that not all signs using No … are stressed, as is not in choice? (No.) (No.)
prohibitions: No vacancies means that may not. Who says so? (Our Who says so? (The
there are no rooms available, not that teacher (the speaker).) examination board (not
vacancies are forbidden! In Bi, careful receives a
the speaker).)
strong stress, and the
Cii Teacher: You mustn’t
intonation may rise at
use your dictionary Dii We don’t have to do our

FORM the end of the sentence.

Ai, Aii, Bii, Ci and Cii contain In Bii, Biii and Biv,
modal verbs. the content words are
Bi, Biii, Biv and Eii contain usually stressed (here,
imperatives. seat belt, head, dog).
Again, the intonation
Di and Dii are formed with have +
may rise at the end of
full infinitive (= with to)
the sentence, especially
Eii is formed with No + gerund/noun. in Biii.
during the test.
Can we use our
dictionary? (No.)
Is it forbidden? (Yes.)
Do we have any
choice? (No.)
Who says so? (Our
teacher (the speaker).)
classwork in ink – we
can use pencil if we
want to.
Are we forbidden to use
ink? (No.)
So we can use it? (Yes.)
Is it compulsory? (No.)
So we have a choice?
(Yes.)

40 • Issue 60 January 2009 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •

 D E S I G N E D T O P H O T O C O P Y

PREPARING TO TEACH ... Permission, warnings, obligations and prohibitions

SITUATIONS
Rules and regulations Put the students into small
groups and supply them with coloured marker pens and
A4 paper. Ask them to design signs and notices (with
graphics if possible) for the classroom (eg No smoking/
Switch off your mobile phone/English only! etc).
Extension 1: You can ask them to make further signs for
hospitals, libraries, gyms, etc.
Extension 2: Younger students may enjoy making signs
for crazy rules.
Highway code Make worksheets of traffic signs –
you can find them by searching for ‘traffic signs’ at
Google Images (http://images.google.com) or at
www.direct.gov.uk/en/TravelAndTransport/Highwaycode/
Signsandmarkings/index.htm. Alternatively, search
Microsoft Clip Art for ‘traffic signs’
(http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/clipart) and then copy
and paste them into a Word document (eg right turn only,
no entry, give way/yield, pass either side, parking, ice,
roundabout, queues likely). The students work in pairs
and express the signs appropriately. Then pool their
language and see how many different ways the signs
can be expressed.
Extension: You can use other pictograms (eg no
photography/ice creams/dogs, etc) – again, you can get
these from Microsoft Clip Art or Google Images.
Job description Make a worksheet of key words
relating to jobs (eg uniform, overtime, English,
drive a lot, telephone, customers, meetings, etc).
The students work in pairs to ask and answer
questions formed from these prompts (eg Do you
have to wear a uniform?).
John Potts is a teacher
and teacher trainer based
20 Questions The above activity can be turned in Zürich, Switzerland.
into a ‘Twenty questions’ game. Student A has a He has written and
job card (eg flight attendant), and Student B tries co-written several adult
coursebooks, and is a
to guess the job on the card by asking yes/no Joint Chief Assessor for
questions using have to. Student A can answer the Cambridge/RSA
CELTA scheme.
using only Yes, I do/No, I don’t.
johnpotts@swissonline.ch
Everyday life quiz Make a quiz or a
questionnaire about everyday life in a particular
country/culture with questions using have to
(eg Do you have to be 18 before you can drive a
car? Do men have to do military service?). The
students can do this in groups, or as a walk-
round activity. If you have a multinational class,
pool the answers in open class. If your students
are mostly from one country, do some internet
research beforehand and find out the answers for
the UK, USA, Australia, etc, and see if/where
things are different.

COMPETITION RESULTS
8 23 21 14 6 11 Congratulations to all Beverly Aimanoshi, Mando, Nigeria
J U P W E D those readers who Annie Altamirano, Salamanca, Spain
20 7 23 5 17 6 3 23 5 2 6 25
B O U N C E H U N G E R successfully completed Edi Daddoli, S Giovanni Valdarno, Italy
15 17 25 6 22 21 our Prize Crossword 30. Maria Fucci, Latina, Italy
K C R E T P The winners, who will Asenka Kramer, Zagreb, Croatia
26 6 25 7 16 15 6 18 6 22 7 5
Z E R O S K E L E T O N each receive a copy of Isa-Sabine O’Nyons, Köln, Germany
19 9 18 25 16 the Macmillan English Victoria Paleologou, Thessaloniki, Greece
M I L R S Dictionary for Advanced Anne Radowick, Incheon, South Korea
16 6 18 13 9 16 3 16 22 12 9 25
Learners, are: Francisca Salazar de Jesús, Cadiz, Spain
S E L F I S H S T A I R
4 7 22 1 12 22 Elizabeth Anne Snyder, Radlett, UK
X O T Q A T 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
16 21 7 25 22 20 23 16 9 6 16 22
S P O R T B U S I E S T Q G H X N E O J I V D A F
14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26
18 22 13 9 5
L T F I N W K S C L M B P T U Y R Z
11 9 16 12 2 25 6 6 19 7 10 6 22 7 16 6 6 14 3 12 22 9 16
D I S A G R E E M O V E T O S E E W H A T I S
17 20 7 22 6 6 9 5 13 25 7 5 22 7 13 7
C B O T E E I N F R O N T O F O
21 9 18 18 7 14 18 6 5 2 22 3 5 6 16 5 7 16 6 5 6 6 11
P I L L O W L E N G T H N E ’ S N O S E N E E D
22 6 5 24 22 7 16 12 17 7 5 16 22 12 5 22 16
T E N Y T O S A C O N S T A N T S
22 25 23 2 2 18 6 George
T R U G G L E . Orwell

• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 60 January 2009 • 41

  IT WORKS IN PRACTICE 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.
It Works in Practice in this issue of ETp was written by Julie Blake,
inspired by Teachitworld contributors whose activities and
resources can be downloaded for free from www.teachitworld.com.

 Songs
Singalonga Morrissey?
Working with songs and their lyrics is a tried and tested crowd-
pleaser. It serves all sorts of purposes: adding intrinsic interest
by bringing popular culture into the classroom; giving rein to
different learning styles; and facilitating exploration of more
diverse kinds of language, including the non-standard, the
figurative and the playful. You can work with the raw material
in all kinds of ways, according to the age or stage of your
students: singing along, interpreting meaning, getting
students to write their own songs, exploring metaphor,
discussing different musical styles and tastes, and so on.
Songs by The Beatles have a long-established place in this
tradition, but other songs which can be used very productively
in class include:
● ‘Everybody Hurts’ by REM. This has a sensitive topic which
needs to be handled carefully, but the lyric is lexically
simple and it is a theme teenagers can discuss with great
integrity and interest.
● ‘Ironic’ by Alanis Morissette doesn’t give a good definition
of irony, but it consists of a series of lovely vignettes that
can be discussed – Has anything like this ever happened to
you? – and offers potential for development into longer
narratives or anecdotes.
● ‘A Little Time’ by The Beautiful South is relatively simple,
quite humorous and great for focusing on tag questions!
Mostly, the more teenagers are appalled by your choice of
music, the more likely they are to bring in their own favourite
songs written in English, which will keep you in lesson material
for months!
One song which often appeals to moody teenagers because it
is quite dark is the Morrissey song, ‘The First of the Gang to
Die’. You can download a fantastic, free resource (submitted by
Simon Green), based on this song from www.teachitworld.com/
attachments/10150.pdf. This gets maximum value from the
song and lyrics, with activities to explore sound patterns in the
lexis; close listening; dictionary work; discussion about gangs,
love, crime and young people, through exploring the song’s
meaning and interpretation – and it offers the opportunity to
sing along.
 Games
Games are always useful in the classroom. They come in all
shapes and sizes, are very popular with students, and reach
parts of the brain other activities struggle to reach. You
could try adapting a popular TV quiz show format or board
game, or a traditional card or word game, but for something
already prepared, try some of the games available on the
www.teachitworld.com site. Here are two that your students
might enjoy.
You say aubergine ... I say eggplant
Make sets of domino cards, each with a British term at one end
and an American one (not the American equivalent of the word
already on the card) at the other end. Put the students into
small groups and give them a set each. The students’ task is to
match the British and American equivalents in a domino-style
chain. Sticking your dominoes onto stiff card or getting them
laminated will give you a resource that you can use again and
again.
You can download Helen Magner’s domino cards for free from
www.teachitworld.com/attachments/9298.pdf.
Divine definitions
Whether this idea is based on the long-running old BBC TV
programme Call My Bluff, or a commercially-produced family
card game called Chicanery, or whether both were adapted
from a longer-running classroom activity (or older parlour
game), who knows? It is certainly a classroom classic and in
this version it is played to develop understanding of common
media buzzwords such as think-tank and catch-22 situation.
Divide the class into four teams and give each team dictionary
definitions of six media buzzwords. Their task is to invent two
inaccurate definitions. The teams then take turns to read all
three definitions out and the other teams have to guess which
is the correct one.
Lots of good vocabulary learning is to be had with this game,
and if your students enjoy it, you can adapt it to work with any
set of words you like.
Go to www.teachitworld.com/attachments/9750.pdf to
download Lucy Palmer’s worksheets and materials for this
activity.

42 • Issue 60 January 2009 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •

 Discussions
Working with material where there are important decisions to
be made can spice up a lesson nicely, especially if the content
is carefully selected to match student interest. At higher
levels, having to justify one’s own ideas or opinions can help
to encourage more developed spoken contributions, supported
by sentence prompts where appropriate. Working with
contentious material can also encourage students to develop a
commitment to a particular position, which is helpful in
engaging them in careful listening and in encouraging
thoughtful responses.
At lower levels, you can keep it simple by limiting the cut and
thrust of spontaneous debate, with students preparing and
presenting specific position statements or decisions, and then
being given an opportunity to vote for the best.
Where would you live?
Put on the board the question If you had to live in another
country, where would you choose? Then give the students a list of
factors that might help them decide. For example:
● climate
● cost of living
● crime rate
● education
● economy
● military service
● political system
● religion
● standard of living
● environment
●
treatment of all citizens
● food and drink
You could invite them to add to this list of factors.
Ask the students (working first individually and then in groups)
to rank the factors in order of importance. This will generate
discussion about the relative importance of the various points.
At www.teachitworld.com/attachments/9438.pdf you will find a
resource submitted by Paul Bress, which you can download for
free and use to do this activity. It first uses a series of images to
help students focus on the factors that might influence their
decision on where to live, and gives associated vocabulary. There
are then worksheets for students to use to complete the ranking
exercise and suggestions for further related tasks.
 IT WORKS IN PRACTICE Do you have ideas you’d like to share with colleagues around the world? Tips, techniques and activities;
simple or sophisticated; well-tried or innovative; something that has worked well for you? All published
contributions receive a prize! Write to us or email: iwip@etprofessional.com .
• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 60 January 2009 •
Vote for us!
Divide the class into two political parties, the Right to Freedom
party and the Law and Order party. Give each group a worksheet
to discuss and complete, outlining their (invented) policies on
taxation and spending, industry and employment, crime,
immigration, health, education, environment and anything else.
Having established their policies, the class is re-divided, this
time into pairs formed of one person from each party. Each has
to explain and justify his or her party’s policies.
Go to www.teachitworld.com/attachments/9749.pdf and you can
download for free Lucy Palmer’s worksheets for each of the
parties to complete. There are also further teacher’s notes for
this activity.
Save my dog!
And now for something rather less serious. Give each of your
students one of ten role cards (you can add more for larger
classes, or get the students to work in pairs or small groups)
which outline information about a dog and its owner. Here is an
example:
Owner
Natasha Kendrick – Natasha is 13 next week. She
loves her dog. Two years ago she was out with the dog
when she fell, broke her ankle and couldn’t move.
Maisie ran to raise the alarm.
Dog
Maisie – Maisie is 11
and she’s a Jack Russell.
© iStockphoto.com / Eric Isselée
She has been the family
pet since Natasha was
small. She loves the family.
She is intelligent, friendly
and loyal.
The only problem is that all of the dogs have become infected
with a rare virus and there is only enough serum to cure two of
the ten dogs. Get the students to discuss which of the dogs
should be saved.
Ten role cards for this activity, teacher’s notes and other
materials, submitted by Mike Ellwood, can be downloaded for free
from www.teachitworld.com/attachments/9238.pdf.
43
Reviews
Compelling Conversations
by Eric Roth and Toni Aberson
Chimayo Press 2008
1-4196-5828-X
Teachers looking for an alternative to
traditional textbooks will want to get a
copy of Compelling Conversations. This
book originated as a series of worksheets
that were used to replace a textbook in
an advanced conversation class. One of
the authors, Eric Roth, put these
worksheets together as a way of
motivating students to speak. In his own
words, ‘Why should we just talk about the
weather and become bored when we
could explore our lives, times, passions
and challenges?’
Compelling Conversations is
comprised of 45 chapters, each devoted
to a topic. The book starts with basic
topics, such as family, home, eating and
drinking, then gradually progresses to
more complex ones, such as handling
change, choosing leaders and finding
heroes. What makes this book winningly
unique is its departure from standard
language-learning fodder such as
dialogues and grammar charts. Instead,
the authors put together lists of intriguing
questions and thought-provoking
quotations to inspire conversation.
In my own teaching, I have found
questions and quotations to be highly
effective for promoting student
discussion. Questions are useful in that
they require a response from the listener.
Asking them also helps students master
the tricky rules of the interrogative.
Quotations are brilliant flashes of wit
expressed in the shortest space possible,
often just a sentence or two. The authors
have compiled a formidable range of
quotations by famous people from
Napoleon and Aristotle to Tom Cruise
and Sylvester Stallone. Some will have
students roaring with laughter (‘My
movies were the kind they show in
prisons and airplanes because nobody
can leave.’ – Burt Reynolds), while others
require careful introspection (‘Love is not
just looking at each other; it’s looking in
the same direction.’ – Antoine de Saint-
Exupéry). The authors also add some
wise proverbs here and there. My two
favourites were ‘Recite “patience” three
times and it will spare you a murder’ and
44 • Issue 60 January 2009 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •
‘When money talks, truth keeps silent’,
which are from Korea and Russia.
The chapters are fleshed out with
vocabulary lists of ten or more words
related to the main topic, as well as some
short assignments designed to help
students explore the topic more fully. The
book contains numerous suggestions for
learners to make the most of the
material. These include brief tips that
appear every few chapters, such as ‘Be
tolerant’, ‘Be curious’, ‘Make good
mistakes’ and ‘Have fun’. In the first
chapter, Getting Started, the authors
remind students to encourage and
support each other as they use the
material. In following chapters, they are
told to skip questions, use the questions
as springboards, and add their own
questions and quotations.
A nice bonus for teachers is a page
of tips and advice. It provides a number
of suggestions for using the book in
class, including asking students to share
proverbs from their home countries, and
assigning students to develop a roleplay
based on a quotation or a proverb. As
the authors put it, ‘Teachers can use the
materials in “Compelling Conversations” in
many ways. We’ve written no direction or
suggestion in stone.’ More teacher support
is provided on the accompanying website,
www.compellingconversations.com, and
Eric Roth’s blog on the Amazon.com
website.
In sum, Compelling
Conversations is a
recommended resource for
teachers who want to make
their conversation classes more
learner-centred. It should be
especially appealing to those
who wish to escape the
confines of the Presentation-
Practice-Production approach
and do without a formal
grammatical or functional
syllabus. It reflects both
authors’ considerable
professional experience,
and would be a notable
addition to any English
teacher’s bookshelf.
Hall Houston
Luzhu, Taiwan
Teaching Chunks of Language
by Seth Lindstromberg and Frank Boers
Helbling Languages 2008
978-3-85272-056-2
According to the authors, this book is for
‘EFL/ESL teachers working with
teenagers and young adults who would
like to become fluent and expressive in
English’.
A ‘chunk of language’ is defined as a
sequence of words – idiom, proverb,
collocation, phrasal verb, etc – ‘which
native speakers feel is the natural and
preferred way of expressing a particular
idea or purpose’, and which is stored in
the mental lexicon as if it were a single
word. So ‘time will tell’, for example, is a
chunk, whereas ‘time will show’ isn’t, and
neither is ‘the future will tell’.
Confident and accurate use of
chunks is an important contributor to
fluency, and to success in exams; the
challenge for teachers is to find ways of
predisposing learners to notice and pay
attention to the meaning and exact
wording of chunks, commit them to
memory and recall them for spontaneous
use, and this is the challenge that this
very welcome book addresses.
Chapter 1 introduces the rationale
and layout of the book, and gives a hint
of the linguistic and applied linguistic
background.
Chapter 2 consists of 14 ‘basic chunk
Reviews
teaching activities – initial steps towards
memorisation’ which help students to
notice chunks and become aware of their
form, meaning and function.
Chapter 3, ‘Teaching sets of chunks:
helping students remember them’, offers
17 further activities to encourage the
deep mental processing necessary for
retention and recall. Learners are asked
to use personal associations, physical
actions and imagery, to pay attention to
sound patterns such as rhyme and
alliteration, and to consider how
figurative meanings of chunks have
arisen from literal ones.
Chapter 4, ‘Reviewing and quizzing’,
contains 12 procedures to strengthen
memory and build multiple associations.
There are photocopiable materials for
use with most of the activities.
One particularly interesting feature of
the book is that it acknowledges a need
for explicit memorisation – rather an
unpopular idea in recent approaches to
language teaching – and suggests ways
of making memorisation motivating,
efficient and effective.
There are nowadays, of course, more
and more lexical chunk activities in
coursebooks and vocabulary practice
materials, but this is, as far as I know, the
first book of its kind, giving teachers a
• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 60 January 2009 •
variety of ready-made, but adaptable,
‘chunk’ lessons, based on current
cognitive linguistic accounts of
learning. If you want to read more
about this background, there are
some suggestions in the bibliography.
In a word – or in a chunk, rather:
highly recommended!
Jonathan Marks
Leba, Poland
Damp Squid
by Jeremy Butterfield
OUP 2008
978-0-19-923906-1
When Eats, Shoots and Leaves,
Lynne Truss’s clever book on the
use and abuse of punctuation,
came out, I received five copies for
Christmas. It was, after all, the ideal
present for an editor. By the time you are
reading this, I expect I may well have
received several copies of Damp Squid,
too! It is one of those absorbing books
that look into the workings of the English
language to find out how and why it
behaves as it does. Drawing on the
wealth of information provided by the
Oxford Corpus, the vast and ever-
growing collection of electronically-
held texts used for compiling Oxford
University Press’s dictionaries,
Jeremy Butterfield presents a
fascinating collection of facts and
figures on vocabulary size, word
origins, spelling, meaning, idiomatic
phrases, word groupings, and so
on. He does this in a lively and
entertaining style, with examples,
anecdotes and quotations
interspersed with statistical
evidence from the Corpus.
I was particularly interested
in the chapter on ‘Usages
people hate’, which contains
many of my own bugbears.
Corpus evidence reveals how
powerless those who bemoan
the ‘sloppiness’ of much
current usage are when it
comes to turning back the
tide of language change. For
example, it shows that
disinterested is about 25%
more common than
uninterested, yet 50% of the time, those
who use it don’t mean ‘impartial’, they
mean ‘not interested’. The frequency of
the word usage itself in the Corpus
(ranking just above considerably more
exciting-sounding items such as Friday
night and casino) might suggest at least
that people are interested in the niceties
of language. However, as the author
points out, frequency data is not enough;
we need to look at how a word is being
used, and, sadly, if we examine the
usage of usage, we find that it occurs
more frequently in phrases such as
energy usage and phone usage than in
the context of language use.
The chapter on idiomatic phrases
benefits from interesting comparisons
with the corresponding idioms from other
languages, which may be conceptually
similar but with different wording, or may
reflect an entirely different cultural
experience. So, for the Spanish, things
may move at a tortoise’s pace rather than
a snail’s pace, but the idea is much the
same. Yet, when a man retires, he cuts
off his pigtail (a custom in bullfighting)
rather than hangs up his boots.
This is a book which can be read
from cover to cover or dipped into from
time to time. However you approach it, I
feel sure that you will find something of
interest on every page.
Helena Gomm
West Meon, UK
45
 R E A D I N G
The reading
experience
For Bruce Milne, getting students to read extensively is a collective responsibility.
‘The best way to improve your
knowledge of a foreign language is to go
and live among its speakers. The next
best way is to read extensively in it.’
‘Wide-ranging reading is probably the
most efficient way of extending students’
acquaintance with the language ...’
T
he two quotes above make
quite vigorous claims for the
value of extensive reading for
those learning a foreign
language. Is it really ‘the next best thing
to living among its speakers’? Is it ‘the
most efficient way of extending students’
acquaintance with the language’? It
would be almost impossible to
substantiate these claims empirically,
but many theorists, methodologists and
classroom practitioners would adopt a
similar position. The case for extensive
reading is well known:
● Extensive reading consolidates
current knowledge of vocabulary and
grammar.
● It allows acquisition of new language
to take place – grammar, vocabulary,
expression, register, discourse, style, etc.
● It can help students to develop their
writing skills.
● It caters for the students’ own interests.
● At its best, it can help develop cross-
cultural awareness.
It is my firm belief that extensive
reading is crucial for students who are
getting stuck at an intermediate plateau
and is the only real way for them to
develop into upper-intermediate and
46 • Issue 60 January 2009 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •
advanced students. Obviously, my own
language learning experience has shaped
my beliefs, but when I started to read
magazines, thrillers, love stories, crime
fiction and newspapers in French, my
feel for the language, my receptive
vocabulary and my structural
competence all developed immeasurably.
I think we all recognise that glowing
feeling when we read something and
instantly know what it means, even if
we have never seen it before. To take a
topical example, if I see le changement
de climat, I recognise it immediately as a
It is my firm
belief that extensive
reading is crucial
for students who are
getting stuck at an
intermediate plateau
lexical chunk I can add to my passive
and active vocabularies, and yet if you
had asked me what was the French for
climate change, I would have struggled.
(You will correctly infer from this that I
have lost the reading habit in French!
Readers may like to see if they know
expressions such as climate change,
greenhouse effect and carbon footprint in
the foreign languages they have learnt.
Those who read the media in a foreign
language should have no trouble.)
The quotes I started this article with
are well weighted with authority. The
first was written by Christine Nuttall
(author of Teaching Reading Skills in a
Foreign Language) and the second by
Chris Brumfit – a well-known and
prolific EFL author and methodologist
of his time. The depressing fact,
however, is that these quotes were
written in 1982 and 1979 respectively,
and yet I believe the majority of English
language teachers are still not doing
enough to promote extensive reading
with their students. A caveat here –
what do I mean by ‘extensive reading’?
Intensive
At the beginning of my teaching career,
most passages in ELT textbooks were
there to give some sort of context for the
study of grammar and vocabulary. In the
classical grammar-translation method, of
course, they were there principally to be
translated. Publishers and authors have,
in recent years, done a lot to improve
matters by the introduction of interesting
and relevant authentic texts that students
can genuinely enjoy and respond to.
These texts have been accompanied by a
host of while-reading activities, which
mainly serve to help the reader and to
test comprehension. However, it is still
common practice for the texts to be used
as a basis for grammatical and lexical
analysis after the initial response to the
meaning. This will usually involve a
very close intensive reading of the text,
which has its place but which does not
constitute extensive reading. (The
amount of time students are exposed to
reading material is also a relevant factor.
Most current ELT textbooks have one
reading per unit – maybe 12 passages in
a book designed for 120 hours of study.
This is not enough!)
Extensive
Dubin, Eskey and Grabe, while making
a plea for reading lessons, make the
point well:
‘The point of the reading class must be
reading ... not the reinforcement of oral
skills, nor grammatical or discourse analysis
and not the acquisition of vocabulary.
Improvement in any of these areas can
make reading easier, but none of them is
reading and none contributes directly to the
one legitimate goal of such a class ... the
development of genuine reading habit.’
Extensive reading, then, is the
development of a genuine reading habit:
a regular time when students immerse
themselves in language ideally slightly
above their current level. They should
relax into their reading, avoid the
temptation to look up words or puzzle
over grammatical difficulties and let the
language seep into their skin. Yes, say
the teachers – easily said, but for many
students it is not in their culture to read.
This is a fair point, but how often do we
explain to them the value of reading?
How much effort are they prepared to
put into their learning? It may not be in
their culture to write much either, but it
doesn’t stop us asking them to produce
essays, reports and emails. Most
musicians I meet don’t want to practise
endless scales and arpeggios, but no self-
respecting music teacher would think to
let them off this task. Brumfit follows
on from the quote above with this:
‘There are two necessary
requirements for the establishment of
enthusiastic reading habits in students.
The first is access to appropriate books
… the second is enthusiasm and
commitment to reading by teachers.
Neither requirement is enough on its own,
but in combination, as many schools have
shown, the results can be spectacular.’
The role of the teacher
The role of the teacher is crucial and
does indeed require commitment and
effort. Steps teachers can take to
encourage extensive reading have been
well described elsewhere (see works by
Hedge and Greenwood), but include:
● starting a short story in class and
getting the students to finish it for
homework;
• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 60 January 2009 •
● using extracts from films of books to
whet the students’ appetites;
● setting up a class library with readers,
magazines, etc and getting students to
review books for each other;
● having a designated reading period
(for those on extensive programmes);
● using tutorials to monitor students’
reading and to make recommendations;
● explaining to students how they will
benefit from extensive reading.
Many institutions have, however, left
these matters solely to the teacher. What
about those that support teachers? Can
the school managers help? Can
publishers help?
Students should
avoid the temptation
to look up words
or puzzle over
grammatical difficulties
and let the language
seep into their skin
The role of the school
I have always found it a little strange
that the ‘observed lesson’ and student
feedback are almost the only
mechanisms that school managers use
to evaluate teacher performance. There
are many other questions I would like
to ask myself about a teacher, such as
the nature of the homework tasks they
have been setting (and the constructive
feedback given on these tasks), the
amount of testing that goes on, their
approach to pronunciation, etc. It might
be interesting for Directors of Studies to
look at student files to see how well they
have been trained in recording work or
to note the quality and relevance of any
handouts. Two questions should be:
What steps have you taken to promote
extensive reading with your students?
What evidence have you got to show this is
happening? There needs to be a culture of
promoting extensive reading within an
institution and the Director of Studies
should ensure that there are written
guidelines for teachers to show them
what is expected. Regular in-service
sessions should show both experienced
and inexperienced teachers ways of
promoting extensive reading. Perhaps a
teacher with an interest should be
appointed to lead sessions and to
coordinate the sharing of experience.
Students at different levels could be
given short lists of books that are
recommended (or even required) reading.
The role of the publisher
If we really believe that extensive reading
is so important, could not publishers
add short stories in their entirety as
supplementary material within a
coursebook. The coursebook is so often
seen by some students as the crucial
medium of instruction – complete that
and they will learn English – that if
extensive reading material were to be
included, it might carry more weight in
students’ eyes. Could not the workbooks
which accompany coursebooks contain
extensive reading material? How about
making available on the internet on a
regular basis short stories, magazine
articles, etc, all graded for level?

I’m sure readers will think of other
ways teachers and institutions can help
promote extensive reading and I would
welcome their suggestions on these
pages. It is a joint challenge – but at the
moment, students are being done a
disservice by our collective failure to get
them reading. ETp
Brumfit, C J ‘Readers for foreign language
learners of English’ ETIC Information
Guide 7 The British Council 1979
Dubin, F, Eskey, D E and Grabe, W (Eds)
Teaching Second Language Reading for
Academic Purposes Addison-Wesley
1986
Hedge, T Teaching and Learning in the
Language Classroom OUP 2000
Greenwood, J Class Readers OUP 1988
Nuttall, C Teaching Reading Skills in a
Foreign Language Heinemann 1983
Bruce Milne has been
involved in language
teaching for over 25
years, initially as a
teacher of French in the
UK state school system.
Since then he has been
working in ELT as a
teacher, trainer trainer,
materials writer and
academic manager.
He currently works for
Bell International in
Cambridge.
Bruce.Milne@bell-centres.com
47
 TEACHER DEVELOPMENT
From‘me’to‘my profession’
Duncan Foord’s concentric circles define our development as English teaching professionals.
W
e go to workshops, learn from
each other, train, read, study,
reflect, experiment, and so on
and so on, but what really makes us
change as teachers? How can we make
sense of the diverse events, actions and
circumstances that contribute to what is
usually referred to under the umbrella
term teacher development?
To answer the first question, I did
some research to find out what teachers
themselves thought had contributed
most to their development. To answer
the second, I propose a model which
aims to apply an organising principle to
the diversity and range of development
possibilities open to teachers.
The research
I sent an email to all the teachers I know,
asking them what they thought were the
three most important factors, events,
activities or moments in their development
as teachers. On page 50 you can read some
edited highlights from their responses.
! Before reading them, you might
want to think about what your
answers would be to this question.
The results
The question was phrased to elicit events
or activities which teachers felt had the
most impact on them. I naively imagined
that I might get a result from this along
the lines of a ‘top three most-mentioned
activities’. Nothing of the kind. Responses
were very diverse and there was definitely
no clear winner. I have given each quote
a heading, but they are not in order of
frequency. Nor was there any category
which was mentioned significantly more
times than any other.
The five circles model
In order to understand and talk about
teacher development more easily, I
propose a ‘five circles’ model which
organises developmental activity into
five categories. These can be represented
in five concentric circles.
● The first circle, the inner circle,
contains activities involving the teacher
working alone. We can call this circle me.
Reading this article or reflecting on a
• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 60 January 2009 •
my profes
class we have taught a nd
Me
d my sch
would be examples. M
e a n
● The second is me an
d my colle
y
ag ents
d m st
Me
and my students.
ue
M e an
ud
Development in this Me
circle would include
getting feedback
from students about
our teaching or trying
out new material with Five circles for teacher
them. development
● The third circle is me and my
colleagues. Activities in this circle might
include peer observation, team teaching
and staffroom support.
● The fourth is me and my school. This
includes activities such as teachers’
meetings, carrying out projects and
interaction with management and other
members of staff.
● The fifth circle is me and my profession.
Examples of activities in this circle
include attending and presenting at
conferences, membership of professional
communities and writing for publication.
! Here is another task to help you get
a feel for the model. Look again at
the list of teacher development activities
and influences referred to by the teachers
quoted on page 50. Which of the five
circles does each belong to? You may
find that some fit more than one circle.
Five reasons for five circles
● They cater for the diversity of teacher
learning styles and teacher contexts in
ELT by emphasising the fact that
development can be individual as well as
collaborative. This is important as many
teachers work in isolation from other
teachers or in schools where there is a
limited culture of collaboration. A lot
of important development can be done
on your own and, in fact, this is
probably the best place to start.
● They reflect increasing levels of
challenge. As the community you work
with broadens, the more you require
interpersonal, leadership and time
management skills to carry forward
activities. Working with others,
especially at institutional level, offers
sio greater challenges (and often a
n
oo
l
correspondingly greater sense of
achievement).
● They provide memorable
s
categories for teachers to refer to
when discussing their
development. As you can see from
the teacher responses in my research,
there is a substantial diversity in the
way teachers develop. It is useful to
be able to map this diversity.
● They offer a potential pathway for
teacher development. Obviously our
development as teachers doesn’t move
strictly chronologically through the circles,
but the more experience we have, the more
likely we are to work more in the outer
circles. The model helps us to see the range
of possible scenarios for development,
understand how they might differ, and
identify possible strengths and weaknesses.
● They create a ripple effect. A seemingly
small event or action at the centre of the
circles can have repercussions all the
way to the edge. A reflection on our
teaching (circle one) can end up as a
published article (circle five), as is the
case with this contribution to ETp!

Given that we can’t be sure exactly how
much, or in what way, developmental
activities will make us change, I propose
we adopt an approach of ‘organised
intuition’. The important thing is to
take action, but thinking about how it
all fits together might help us to direct
and understand our efforts better.
And talking of doing things, there is a
‘circle one’ activity on page 51 called ‘Do
it yourself development’ for you to try.
Duncan Foord is Director
of Teacher Training at
OxfordTEFL. He is based
in Barcelona and is
author of The Developing
Teacher, soon to be
published by DELTA
Publishing, and co-author,
with Lindsay Clandfield,
of The Language
Teacher’s Survival
Handbook, published by
iT’s Magazines.
Duncan@oxfordtefl.com 
49
 TEACHER DEVELOPMENT

From ‘me to ‘my profession’: Teacher responses
What do you think were the most important factors, events, activities
or moments in your development as a teacher?
In-service training
In-service training workshops offered by the school
This was first in the role of attending the workshops and in
the latter years in the role of presenting the workshops.
This has been useful because I feel that when a group of
teachers gather together to discuss their own development
and ideas about teaching, the exchange of ideas and
sharing of knowledge empowers everyone concerned.
Formal training
Taking the Trinity Diploma in TESOL
I felt that I had reached a stage in my career where I
needed to have a greater understanding of the ideas and
theory behind EFL and a chance to put these ideas into
practice. The Diploma inspired me to continue developing
as a teacher and gave me many ideas for future career
directions.
Experience
Time in the classroom, ie time with the students I teach
Building rapport and understanding. Experience develops
you. What works and what doesn’t and most importantly
what works with who. Know your audience! It’s not rocket
science.
Role models
Bosses, ie people with more experience than me
Not necessarily bosses, but people you can look up to. I
guess that means experience again! Learn from your elders
and those wiser than you. I had no theoretical or practical
preparation, only the models of my favourite teachers.
Classroom experimentation
Thinking up new ideas for the classroom and trying out
ones that I read about
As a teacher, it is easy for me to get stuck in a rut doing
things exactly the same way as I’ve always done them. In
general practice, I find out early on what works and then go
with the same formula again and again. This soon becomes
tedious for both teacher and students. Therefore,
experimenting keeps me moving forward personally and
professionally.
50 • Issue 60 January 2009 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •
Reading
Doing further reading related to teaching, TEFL and the
English language
I find that about half of all the reading I now do is based in
the above areas. I enjoy knowing more and more about the
world of TEFL and the English language and being able to
employ this knowledge in the classroom.
School support
The active support of the institution I work for
One school paid my full tuition to do the Diploma. Another
paid for teachers to go to TEFL conferences. Others
sponsored development workshops, etc.
New job/role
Mentoring
The key element in my development as a teacher was to
become a mentor for novice teachers at the school where I
was teaching in Dublin.
Young learners
Feeling lost
This year, for the first time in ages, I’m out of my depth
again. A wonderful feeling to be learning afresh how to
teach. Teaching four year olds is a particular challenge, and
I’m nowhere near mastery of it yet.
Staffroom support
Other teachers
First in Oxford, then in London. Staffroom support was
great there – lots of ideas, lesson plans, etc came from my
colleagues.
Failure
Negative feedback
Initial work as a teacher trainer was a little disheartening and
certainly a ‘bringing down to earth’. Course feedback from
trainees along the lines of ‘Johnny’s [a colleague] feedback
was excellent, fantastic support and a wealth of ideas. When
I moved to Bob’s group [me!], it wasn’t so good’, but it didn’t
take long to improve the feedback. Remembering the mantra
‘You are perfectly capable of doing this. There is nothing to
stop you’ helped me through the feelings of inferiority.
TEACHER DEVELOPMENT

From ‘me to ‘my profession’: Do it yourself development

Planning a start to your development

One way to start thinking about teacher development is to ask yourself what you don’t like about your work and plan
some changes, some ‘DIY development’. As with decorating your apartment, you need to start somewhere.

Procedure
1 Look at the table below and make a list in the left-hand column of things you dislike about your job,
inside and outside the classroom. Here are some examples:
● Spending so much time marking homework
● My long journey to work
● My salary
● The coursebook I use with my upper-intermediate class

I don’t like ... Can I change?

 ? X

2 Read through your list and, for each item, decide if you can change it and put a , ? or X in the column beside it.
 = Definitely can change ? = Maybe can change X = Definitely cannot change

3 Now look at the X items and think about them again. Be more optimistic. Change at least one of them to a ?.

4 Choose one of the  or ? items and complete the table below.

Write the item and then write some notes on how you will make the change.

I don’t like ...

How will I change this?

When?

How?

Who will be involved?

5 You have just created your own teacher development activity. Good luck with it.
When you have done it, create another one. Keep going!

• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 60 January 2009 • 51

 Eye on the
classroom
4 Snapshots of a lesson
A picture is worth a thousand words, so the saying goes, and it
may well be true for classroom observations, too. As observers, our
tendency is to observe and then immediately try to put into words
our interpretation of what is happening. Then, when we meet the
teacher afterwards to give feedback, we report back on what we’ve
written and probably add even more interpretation to the events.
The advantage of simply drawing and sketching what you can
see is that you are observing rather than interpreting. At different
stages of the lesson, you can focus on one particular aspect,
sketch it, and then afterwards with the teacher you can look at
what happened and interpret it together.
Below are some examples of what can usefully be drawn in a
lesson. An observation form on which such sketches might be
made is given on page 53 – these examples would come from the
Snapshot column of this form. Different ways in which the form
can be used are described at the end of the article.
Class layout
At different stages of the lesson you can draw the layout of the
class to show the position of the teacher and students. The
sketch below indicates that the students are working in pairs.
Whether it is intentional or not that the teacher seems to be
withdrawn from the activity can be discussed afterwards. You can
agree to draw the layout every five minutes of a lesson or at every
change of stage. By building a sequence of such images, you get
a full picture of how the layout altered – this often indicates
changes in pace and variety of tasks.
__________________
T
SS SS
SS
SS SS
Interaction
In this next sketch, as before, the observer has noted the
classroom layout, but she has also added lines to indicate
interaction between the teacher and students. In this case, the
teacher is focusing all his attention on the students near to the
front of the class and to his right. An observer could describe
such tendencies in feedback afterwards, but by being shown the
__________________
T John Hughes is a freelance
SS SS SS SS
SS SS SS SS
SS SS SS SS
SS SS SS SS
52 • Issue 60 January 2009 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •
A regular series by John Hughes,
with practical ideas for observing teachers
in the classroom and an observation sheet to
photocopy and use straight away.
diagram, the teacher will get a much clearer idea of what is
happening, or not happening in this case! You could use a similar
technique to monitor interaction between students.
Boardwork
The board can tell us a great deal about our lesson, so having an
observer copy down what is on it throughout the lesson is very
useful. Again, you could agree to have them copy it every so often
to show the development of the lesson. Some boardwork images
can highlight the fact that the teacher needs to organise and plan
the board more carefully or can also show how well a teacher
manages board use alongside the stages of a lesson.
Snapshot sketches
On a final technical point, you might be wondering why, in this
age of digital photography and film, you need to draw the
classroom. Well, it is true that a digital camera is quiet and if you
take a snapshot every few minutes of, for example, the board, you
will build a good record of events and can easily flick through the
images afterwards. However, in my experience students get
nervous and distracted when a camera enters the room. Also, it is
not really good for capturing the full image of something like
classroom layout, as you never seem to get the whole class in the
frame. Making a video of the lesson is another option, but then
you will need to operate the camera and move it around, and so
you will only be capturing certain aspects of the class. It also
requires a great deal of time to watch it at the end and find the
key moments for discussion. Pencil and paper still remain
preferable for this kind of observation.
The snapshot observation form
Make several copies of the form on page 53 as it is hard to
predict how many you might need during a lesson. Agree
with the teacher what you are observing for and write this at
the top. You can also agree if you will sketch at regular
intervals of time or whenever you feel it is relevant. When you
sketch, indicate the approximate time in the lesson or the
stage of the lesson plan in the first column. In the notes and
comments column on the right of your drawing, you can
write information such as which exercise was being done.
Alternatively, you might note down a question to ask the
teacher afterwards about this stage of the lesson.
teacher, trainer and author.
He has worked in Austria,
Poland, Italy, Malta and the
UK. He currently lives and
works in the USA.
jhnhghs@msn.com
 Snapshot observation form
Observation of ............................................................................................................................................................................................

Stage/time Snapshot Notes/comments

• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 60 January 2009 • 53

SCRAPBOOK Gems, titbits, puzzles, foibles, quirks, bits & pieces,
quotations, snippets, odds & ends,
what you will

Word wonders front A matter of interest

O. Put three letters in
1 Take the letters ERGR them,
e three letters behind
of them, and the sam A businessman walks into a bank in London and asks to speak
glish word.
to form a common En to the manager. He says he is going to Europe on business for
t?
2 Which of the following wo
rds is the odd-one-ou two weeks and needs to borrow £7,000. The manager says the
SIKA ZEBU bank will need some kind of security for such a large loan.
IBIS IBEX ORYX
the spaces and So the businessman hands over the keys to a Rolls Royce
3 Here is a quotation with all parked on the street in front of the bank, and the manager
is the quotation?
vowels removed. What agrees to accept it as collateral for the loan. An employee then
HCHCFHSNMS
MNCNNTBTCRFLNT drives the Rolls into the bank’s underground garage and parks
4 Supply the missing vowe
ls to give six six-letter it there.
names of countries. Two weeks later, the businessman returns and repays the
W MXC PNM
BLZ CND KWT ML £7,000 together with the interest, which comes to £19.67. As he
4 Belize, Canada, Kuw
ait, Malawi, Mexico, Pan is leaving, the manager says, ‘Of course, we are very happy to
(Oscar Wilde) ama
3 ‘A man cannot be too have had your business, and this transaction has worked out
careful in the choice of
2 Ibis, which is a bird.
All the others are mamm
his enemies.’
very nicely, but we are a little puzzled. While you were away, we
1 underground als.
Answers checked you out and found that you are a multimillionaire.
What confuses us is why would you bother to borrow £7,000.’
To which the businessman replied, ‘Where else in central

Mistaken identity London can I park my car for two weeks for £20?’

A man was waiting in

a queue at a superm
arket

What is it?
when he noticed that
the woman behind him
smiling at him and ha was
d just raised her hand
to wave.
riddles?
He was rather taken
aback that such an att Can you solve these
woman would be wa ractive case, from
ving to him, and altho
ugh her 1 It is taken from a mine an
d shut up in a wooden
face was vaguely fam by almost
iliar, he had no idea wh sed, and yet it is used
might know her from, ere he which it is never relea
so he said, ‘I’m sorry
you know me?’ , bu t do everybody. What is it?
at are they?
re you leave behind. Wh
2 The more you take, the mo
To his surprise, she rep no more than
I thought you might be
lied, ‘I may be mistake
n, but 3 It has been around for mi
llions of years, but it is
the father of one of my it?
children.’ a month old. What is
to a car, and
4 It goes with a car, comes
with a car, is of no use
The man’s mind shot
back to the one and without it. What is it?
he had been unfaithf only time yet the car cannot go
ul to his wife. ‘Goodne re than you do.
said, ‘Did we meet at ss!’ he
5 It belongs to you, but oth
er people use it far mo
Frank’s stag party in
Newport?’ He then co What is it?
ntinued, ‘When I got
out of the down a
police station and go
t back to the hotel roo 6 What can go up a chimne
y down, but can’t go
had gone.’ m you
chimney up?
‘No,’ she replied, ‘I’m
your son’s English tea 6 an umbrella
cher.’ Answers 1 the lead of
a pencil 2 footsteps 3
the moon 4 noise 5 you
r name

54 • Issue 60 January 2009 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •


Law of Cat Inertia
A cat at rest will tend to remain at
rest, unless acted upon by some
outside force – such as the opening
of cat food, or a nearby mouse.
Law of Cat Motion
A cat will move in a straight line,
unless there is a really good reason
to change direction.
Law of Cat Magnetism
All blue and black sweaters attract
cat hair in direct proportion to the
darkness of the fabric.
Law of Cat Thermodynamics
Heat flows from a warmer to a cooler
body, except in the case of a cat, in
which case all heat flows to the cat.
Law of Cat Stretching
A cat will stretch to a distance
proportional to the length of the nap
just taken.
Law of Cat Sleeping
All cats must sleep with people
whenever possible, in a position as
uncomfortable for the people
involved, and as comfortable as
possible for the cat.
Feline Physics
Law of Cat Elongation
A cat can make its body long enough to
reach just about any counter top that
has anything remotely interesting on it.
Law of Cat Obstruction
A cat must lie on the floor in such a
position as to obstruct the maximum
amount of human foot traffic.
First Law of Energy Conservation
Cats know that energy can neither be
created nor destroyed and will, therefore,
use as little energy as possible.
Second Law of Energy Conservation
Cats also know that energy can only be
stored by a lot of napping.
Law of Refrigerator Observation
If a cat watches a refrigerator long
enough, someone will come
along and take out something
good to eat.
Law of Random Comfort
Seeking
A cat will always seek, and
usually take over, the most
comfortable spot in any
given room.
Law of Bag/Box Occupancy
All bags and boxes in a given room must
contain a cat within the earliest possible
nanosecond.
Law of Furniture Replacement
A cat’s desire to scratch furniture is directly
proportional to the cost of the furniture.
Law of Cat Landing
A cat will always land in the softest place
possible, often the mid-section of an
unsuspecting, reclining human.
Law of Cat Uninterest
A cat’s interest level will vary in inverse
proportion to the amount of effort a human
expends in trying to interest it.
Law of Cat Composition
A cat is composed of Matter + Anti-Matter
+ It Doesn’t Matter.

Autoantonyms
An autoantonym is a word
CHUFFED pleased, delighted displeased, disgruntled
with two meanings which
DUST remove dust sprinkle with dust
are opposites of each other.
The word may have several INFLAMMABLE flammable not flammable
other meanings, but only the INHABITABLE habitable not habitable
two contradictory meanings
INSCIENT ignorant having secret or inward knowledge
are significant and give an
autoantonym its curious LEFT remaining gone away
quality. LET to permit to hinder, to prevent
OVERLOOK ignore inspect
© iStockphoto.com / Florea Marius Catalin

The word cleave, meaning

both ‘to split apart’ and ‘to PRESENTLY now later
join together’, is a perfect QUITE completely, absolutely to a partial extent, somewhat
example.
ROCK a sure foundation, a swaying or tilting movement
How many of these do you anything immovable
know? SANCTION authorisation, aid or coercive measure intended to discourage
encouragement
SCREEN to conceal from view to display (a film, etc)
TRIP to move lightly and nimbly to stumble

• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 60 January 2009 • 55

 IN THE CLASSROOM
Don’t take
it personally
Paul Bress reflects on why teachers may sometimes overreact.
1 A student asks the teacher a
question in order to check what he
has to do. The teacher reacts
angrily, accusing him of not paying
attention.
2 Two students don’t listen to a
teacher’s instructions as they are
quietly chatting about what they did
the previous night. The teacher
feels ignored and shouts at them.
3 A student carries out a roleplay in a
diffident, lacklustre way, and the
teacher snaps at her, berating her
for her lack of enthusiasm.
! Stop for a moment. Do you
recognise any of these situations?
Maybe, maybe not.
Could you give any examples of
situations in which you have overreacted
to incidents that have occurred in class?
Quite probably, I expect.
Pondering the problems
What causes us to overreact like this in
class? There are two terms used in
psychodynamic therapy which may be
relevant here. One is transference. This
means that someone reminds us of a
figure from our past or an incident that
took place in our childhood. When
we’re with this person, we re-experience
feelings of, say, fear or love.
Transference is an unconscious process;
we are not aware of experiencing it.
The other term is projection. If we
project, we assume that someone is
thinking, feeling or intending something
that they are not. For example, we may
think that a female student is trying to
suffocate us with her ‘motherliness’,
when, in fact, she’s simply being kind
and helpful.
56 • Issue 60 January 2009 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •
● If we look at example 1 (at the
beginning of this article), the teacher
thinks that the student is trying to
provoke a fight and feels a degree of
anger that is unconnected with the
student’s real motive.
● In example 2, the teacher desperately
wants to be noticed and acknowledged
as being important, and feels snubbed
by the two chatting students. Perhaps
these students represent the teacher’s
parents, who used to ignore their
child’s screams. But the truth is that
the students are simply sharing a few
quiet words together.
● In example 3, the teacher wants to
make a mark, to feel their own
importance manifested in a very
polished roleplay. The ‘shoddy’
performance of the student may
remind the teacher of their own
powerlessness as a young child. What’s
actually happening, though, is that
students often have their own anxieties
concerning taking part in roleplays,
and this may be why their performance
in a roleplay is not exactly inspired.
Of course, it is sometimes difficult to
distinguish between emotions which are
to do with a real person in the here and
now and emotions which are to do with
key people in our childhood who are
represented by the people we are teaching.
Such things do not lend themselves to
scientific proof. Moreover, we probably
all experience a degree of projection and
transference in class every day.
Pre-empting the problems
A problem arises when we go through
periods when we feel our psychological
‘buttons’ being pressed very often and
for long continuous periods. If we sense
that this might be happening to us, it is
important, firstly, to try to monitor how
we behave in class. At the end of each
lesson, we could fill in this log:
What the student(s)
did/said
What I did/said
What I thought was
going on
What was actually
going on
What I could do
next time
This pro-active step should help us to
get a handle on our classroom
behaviour. However, if it fails to do so,
we could perhaps ask to be observed by
an empathetic, and insightful, DOS,
ADOS, teacher trainer or senior teacher.
They could fill in the log, too, and we
could compare results afterwards. The
discussion needs to be positive and
forward-looking, and should allow time
and space for emotions to be
experienced and expressed.

Poor old teacher, eh? We surely have
enough to think about already – what
with planning lessons, meeting students’
needs, playing a variety of roles every
day in class, marking work, attending
staff meetings, and constantly having to
come up with ideas for self-development.
And now we have to consider whether
we might be behaving inappropriately in
class because of our early childhood
experiences! But, in my opinion, this
issue of transference and projection can
have a huge impact on our teaching, and
we do all need to be aware of the
possibility. If we aren’t, we’ll be poor
role models and we’ll be giving our
students unhelpful messages about
appropriate ways to behave. ETp
Paul Bress works both
in the fields of personal
growth and ELT and has
published very widely in
both areas. Paul is a
life-long, non-stop
learner – he learns
more from everyday
experience than from
formal research. His life
coaching website is
www.bemycoach.co.uk.
paulbress@talktalk.net
 T E C H N O L O G Y
Meet the
Twitterati
M
Nicky Hockly and ySpace, FaceBook, Flickr
... by now most of us have
Gavin Dudeney heard of these internet
sites, and probably have
introduce us to instant some idea of what they do, especially if
we have teenage children. They are
social networking. examples of ‘social networking’ sites,
places where (often younger) people
have personal webpages on which they
share photos and links, compile a list of
‘friends’, leave each other messages and
generally ‘hang out’ online – hence
social and network.
However, just when you thought
you’d got to grips with the latest
buzzword – social networking – along
comes another one: instant social
networking (ISN). How is this different
from social networking proper? It’s, well
... instant. This means that
conversations between users take place
in real time, a bit like a combination of
messenger-style text chat, mobile phone
text messaging (SMS) and blogging.
Indeed, instant social networking is also
known as ‘micro-blogging’.
Explanation
How does instant social networking
work? First, you open a free account
with an application such as Twitter 1
(http://twitter.com) on your computer.
You then need to add people to your
• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 60 January 2009 •
social network – your ‘friends’. You can
then send out a short message which
basically answers the question What are
you doing? Each message can be a
maximum of 140 characters long – in
this sense it is similar to SMS text
messaging, as you need to be brief.
Your message immediately goes out
to the people in your network – these
are the people who ‘follow’ you (in
Twitter parlance) – and you will get
responses appearing on your computer
screen immediately, depending on who
Instant social
networking is
instant – this means
that conversations
between users take
place in real time
is online and twittering (as it were). You
can also have ‘tweets’ (Twitter messages)
sent to your mobile phone – handy for
when you’re running late, or for keeping
in touch with a group of friends
without sending individual text
messages from your phone.
Sticking to the set question (What
© iStockphoto.com / pixhook
are you doing?) can lead to a continual
stream of inanity of the I’m having a
cup of tea, I’m checking my email, I’m
looking out of the window variety, but in
our experience people tend to be more
creative, and ISN can have a number of
useful applications if used creatively. 
57

Meet the
Twitterati
 While writing this article, we ‘tweeted’
our social network, asking people to
type one thing they like about Twitter.
Within eight minutes, we had 17
answers – all limited to 140 characters.
Here are some of them:
● The immediacy – not having to log in
to keep up-to-date.
● It’s very democratic. I have some
famous people on my list and even
got a tweet from one of them once.
● I like the discipline of condensing
thoughts into short sentences.
● It’s like having all your colleagues
with you on your mobile – handy!
Application
How else could one use Twitter? Well,
we recently ‘attended’ a CLIL conference
in Spain by following the tweets of a
colleague who was there. Watching him
condense keynote presentations into a
set of short summaries was both
fascinating and informative.
It’s also extremely
stimulating to be
part of a network, no
matter what sort of
environment you’re
teaching in, and a
great way to make
friends and to feel
connected to them
And perhaps it is this facet – of
contact with a network of like-minded
professionals from around the world,
and being able to tap into that pool of
knowledge and experience within
seconds – that makes tools such as
Twitter so useful for professionals in
any field. We can get instant answers to
any questions, problems or issues that
we may have, and it’s a great source of
58 • Issue 60 January 2009 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •
personal anecdote, as we’ve seen above.
It’s also extremely stimulating to be
part of a network, no matter where you
live or what sort of environment you’re
teaching in, and a great way to make
friends and to feel connected to them.
And you don’t need to be online or
connected to Twitter all day long to
benefit. We started by opening Twitter
for just a few minutes a day – once in
the morning and once in the evening for
about ten minutes a time – although we
quickly found it quite addictive! Twitter
saves any ‘tweets’ you may receive, even
if you are offline, so that when you log
in, you can catch up.
Potential
What other potential does ISN have for
teachers and even for learners? We
tweeted our network the following:
Name one way you could use Twitter
with your students. Here are some of the
suggestions we got back:
● Get news flashes on Twitter, eg from
CNN or the BBC.
● Send your student network an idiom
a day to learn – or phrasal verb ...
● Monolingual groups, send them a
sentence to translate into English.
● Get instant feedback – eg on a class
presentation.
● Social chit-chat for class members out
of class time.
● Students can keep in touch after a
course is over if they live in different
countries.
Drawbacks
What about the drawbacks? Twitter can
feel a bit intrusive at first, at least until
you learn how to use it so that it suits
your work schedule best. After all, you
don’t want continual interruptions while
you’re connected to the internet, even if
they are from friends. Twitter has plenty
of configuration options to control how
you interact with it, and it’s worth
reading the ‘help’ pages when you first
get started. Another thing to bear in
mind is that if you have tweets sent to
your mobile phone, this can be
expensive. As with any social
networking tool that ‘pushes’ content to
you, you need to spend some time
learning how to manage the data, and
working out your relationship with it.
So, is Twitter the Next Big Thing in
technology for teachers? Or it is just
another example of social bandwagon
jumping – here today and gone
tomorrow? Probably neither, but it’s a
tool your younger students may already
know and use (and love!), and, as with
any tool that can promote
communication in English, either in or
outside the classroom, it’s worth
knowing about and exploring. Try it out
for yourself, tweet us at dudeneyge and
let us know what you think! ETp
1 Twitter is currently the foremost ISN application,
but also in the running are Pownce
(www.pownce.com) and Jaiku (www.jaiku.com).
http://gnuosphere.wordpress.com/
2008/01/28/questioning-twitter
Here you will find an interesting
discussion on the merits of Twitter.
http://web20teach.blogspot.com/
2007/08/twitter-tweets-for-higher-
education.html
This has information on using Twitter in
higher education.
http://twittervision.com
Go here for a graphical version of
Twitter using GoogleMaps.
http://tweetscan.com
This has a search interface for Twitter.
http://franticindustries.com/
2007/04/04/all-twitter-tools-and-
mashups-in-one-place
This is a collection of Twitter
applications for Mac and Windows.
Gavin Dudeney and Nicky Hockly run their
own online education consultancy, The
Consultants-E (www.theconsultants-e.com).
Their book How to Teach English with
Technology, published by Longman, won the
2007 Ben Warren International House Trust
Prize. Their online training course ICT in the
Classroom was awarded a 2007 British
Council Innovation in ELT award and has
recently been developed into the first Cert
ICT: Certificate in Teaching Languages with
Technology, validated by Trinity College
London. They also run the first online Cert
IBET: Certificate in International Business
English Training, jointly validated and
managed by English UK and Trinity College
London.
nicky.hockly@theconsultants-e.com
gavin.dudeney@theconsultants-e.com
 T E C H N O L O G Y
Into the
beehive
Sotiria Koui encourages
her students to open their
books and switch on their
mobile phones.
• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 60 January 2009 •
I
f you stop for a minute and take a
look at the busy buzzing world of
technology around you, you will
get a good sense of the extent to
which all of us are using technological
gadgetry in our everyday lives to look
for information, communicate or simply
enjoy ourselves. Though some use
technology reluctantly and others
eagerly, eventually we all learn to use it
because of its pervasiveness in our
social, personal and working lives. The
benefit of this is that we develop life-
long learning skills.
As a result, by integrating the use of
technology, including CALL (Computer
Assisted Language Learning),
systematically into an ELT syllabus, we
can offer students the chance to develop
both linguistic and vital life skills.
Technology
Increased use of technology,
particularly CALL, in the classroom
has several advantages:
● We can shift from a teacher-centred
to a learner-centred approach.
● The students’ motivation is increased.
● Both language and life skills are
enhanced.
● Authentic and purposeful
communication is promoted.
● Different learning styles are catered for.
● Authentic materials are used to
transfer knowledge into wider
contexts.
● Both individual creativity and group
cooperation take place.
Textbooks
For years now, the dominant approach
in teaching has been the Communicative
Approach, where the emphasis is on
getting one’s message across, real-life
contexts are simulated and the focus is
on fluency, with accuracy taking second
place. Yet, this methodology, even in the
best cases, has been constrained by the
unreal environment of the classroom.
Authentic communication simply cannot
take place without having a real purpose
in mind. As Alan Maley has pointed out,
communication tasks should be achieved
‘through the language rather than simply
with exercises on the language’.
Furthermore, communicative teaching
has never really had the appropriate
tools to achieve its purpose. The most
colourful and interesting textbooks do
not offer an incentive strong enough to
make shy or indifferent students interact
with the others. Moreover, textbooks
rarely reflect the wide range of language
usage. Lack of authenticity and purpose
Though some use
technology reluctantly
and others eagerly,
eventually we all learn
to use it because of its
pervasiveness in our
social and working lives
in communication, lack of interactive
tools and time pressures may hamper
our efforts to teach English in a natural,
non-bookish way. I should like to
suggest that technological resources,
used in tandem with a textbook, can
bridge successfully the gap between
accuracy and fluency.
Ideas
With computer-based resources or other
gadgets, such as mobile phones, we can
create exciting, meaningful and effective
lessons. Here are some suggestions:
● Use mobile phones for a five-minute
warm-up activity at the beginning of
the lesson. Ask the students before
the lesson to take photos or brief
videos on their mobile phones of
things, persons or events that they
would like to talk about. These could 
59

Into the

beehive
be anything from their aunt’s new-
born baby to the volleyball team’s
trophy. The lesson starts with one
student presenting their images and
the others asking questions. This
makes an excellent ice-breaker.
● Use a word processor to have your
students write a story, comic or play.
As they act out their stories, take
pictures with a digital camera to
make illustrations to paste into their
stories. Then use the Audacity
freeware or any other sound-
recording software to have your
students record themselves so they
can make an audio book.
● Use Hotpotatoes (again, this is
freeware) to get your students to
create revision exercises for dictation
or grammar.
● Get your students to do some
research on a specific topic on the
internet and then to use PowerPoint
or Voicethread to make presentations
to the rest of the class.
● Organise an email exchange with a
class from a school in another
country.
There are millions of things we can do
with technology. However, successful
integration of technology with textbook
use requires a systematic approach with
clear targets. Research has shown that
the occasional and sporadic use of
technology, just as happened when
video was first available for classroom
use, does not bring about the desired
progress.
Integration
Before we start designing a syllabus that
integrates textbook use with CALL and
other technologies, we need to do the
© iStockphoto.com / Oktay Ortakcioglu
following:
1 Define our aims. A specific and
realistic number of both short- and
long-term aims will help us maintain
our focus on what we want to achieve
by using technology and thus will give
us better control over the outcome.
60 • Issue 60 January 2009 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •
2 Opt for a gradual integration.
Implementing a radical change in
teaching methods can trigger adverse
reactions. This is why it is best to
change the curriculum gradually,
piloting the CALL syllabus with one or
two classes at a time.
3 Plan outcomes and design tasks.
Our tasks should place the teacher in
the role of facilitator and guide and the
students in the roles of researchers and
decision-makers. We also need to design
task-based activities and not exercise-
oriented ones so that, as Alan Maley
puts it, ‘the skills will be integrated
rather than isolated’.
4 Use a variety of means. Simply
supplementing a coursebook with a CD-
ROM, as is commonly done nowadays,
may seem to be an easy and efficient
way to bring technology into the
classroom. However, commercial ready-
made CD-ROMs leave a lot to be
desired. They may offer an abundance
of visually-appealing exercises with
feedback and error correction, but they
are mainly designed to drill grammar
and revise vocabulary. They also cater
to a broad market and are not tailored
to our students’ specific needs. What we
could do instead is to use ready-made
CD–ROMs for self-study, but also
employ some authoring software so as to
create tailor-made exercises to practise
other skills such as reading or listening.
Then we design task-based activities or
projects utilising tools such as Word,
PowerPoint, and the internet. These tools
allow linguistic knowledge to be applied
to wider contexts, purposefully fostering
creativity and interaction.
Results
After the lesson is over, reflection and
modification are required so that we can
improve our lesson plan for next time.
We need to decide whether or not we
have achieved our aims. However, if
reflection on goals and evaluation of
progress is done only by us, the
teachers, then students may fall into the
misconception that CALL lessons are
just ‘happy hours’, a chance for some
fun. Assessment and reflection also need
to be done by the students, therefore,
because this gives them scope and
motivation to work harder. This could be
done in the form of a class discussion, or
by completing short sentences such as
What I can do is ..., I know ..., I should
remember to ..., and so on.
Planning and implementing an
integrated approach to teaching with
both textbooks and technology entails a
considerable investment of time and
energy. It is, therefore, important to
ensure that there is growth and
continuity. To achieve this, we need to
have all the teachers participating and
being involved at some level. As a result,
some kind of in-house training will be a
vital part of the whole procedure.

CALL is not just another theory of
teaching English, but a tool that can
supplement any methodology efficiently
so as to bring about better results and
better learners. Above all, it is a tool
that can build bridges which connect
our classrooms with the students’ world
and with the global community. The
classroom thus becomes an integral part
of the huge, buzzing, live, interactive
beehive that is our world. ETp
This article is based on a presentation given
at TESOL Macedonia-Thrace on learning
technologies.
Maley, A ‘A rose is a rose, or is it? Can
communicative competence be taught?’
In Brumfit, C (Ed) ‘The practice of
communicative teaching’ ELT Documents
124 Pergamon Press 1986
Sotiria Koui has taught
English to all levels of
students, from beginners
to advanced, and all age
ranges, from primary to
adult, in England, Greece
and the Netherlands. She
is currently working as a
CALL coordinator and
teacher trainer. Nothing
gives her more pleasure
at work than seeing
students enjoying
themselves with her
tailor-made CALL tasks.
roulakoui@yahoo.com
Webwatcher
Web
f someone were to ask me what my favourite ELT website is
I for learning English I think I would say that it was
www.breakingnewsEnglish.com. This site has a fresh news
article every couple of days, along with a sound recording of the
article and then a mass of worksheets that teachers can use in
class or students can work with alone. My students love the site
and I am still amazed at the work that goes into it. However, I
now have a second favourite listening site ...
www.elllo.org/english/home.htm
I don’t think I have ever found so much free, well-produced and
clearly-organised content on one site. There is so much to write
about that I am going to break it up into sections.
Interviews
If you click on the Interviews button at the top, you will come
across a page which offers listening material divided into five
versions. Each version has interviews and discussions to listen to
and transcripts to read, but some also have quizzes, additional
exercises, etc. To the left of the five version icons you will see the
numbers of the interviews available in each particular version.
Just click on the numbers and the choices will appear on the
screen. For example, choose number 900 from Version 5. This is
a discussion between Paul and Katia on lending money to
friends. You can simply listen and follow the text, but if you click
on Printable Lesson to the right, you can also download and print
out some exercises (great both for teachers to use in class or for
students to use at home), and if you right-click on the MP3 links
(also on the right-hand side), then you can download the listening
file. You can also click on Audio Notes to get explanations of the
grammar and vocabulary in the dialogue. Again, if you right-click,
you can also download these. That is not all, though. Click on
Audio Slide Quiz and the same audio is turned into an interactive
quiz, where you listen to snippets and then answer questions.
Videos
Now go back to the home page and click on the video index.
This gives you access to a whole host of videos in which people
talk about various topics. You can print out the transcripts, and
there are normally short quizzes students can do to check their
comprehension. This is great for students to work on alone so
that they can get some extra listening practice.
Games
So, with over 900 interviews and all the video material, you
might think that that was it. In fact, this is only the start. There is
also a whole section on listening games. These are pretty
simple, usually just involving clicking on pictures, etc, but they
are easy to use, completely free and very well organised. Again,
you can access the transcripts.
Even more ...
It goes on and on. There is practice material for the TOEFL
exams (click on STeP). There is a news section, which turns
• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 60 January 2009 •
Russell Stannard wonders if he
has found the second best listening site on
the internet for English language students.
recent news reports into listening activities. There are other
sections to explore, such as Situations, Mixer, Talking Points and
even Songs, and each section has loads of material. With the
Songs section, for example, you can listen and follow the lyrics
at the same time. I could go on and on ...
Training video for Elllo
I have created a training video (http://trainingvideos.hscs.
wmin.ac.uk/greatListening/index.html) to take you through
all the different sections. Be patient if it takes a while to
download: it will really help you to get the best out of this site.
www.listen-and-write.com
Continuing with the theme of listening, but offering something
very different, this site provides a fantastic dictation tool which is
ideal for independent study. Students can listen to stories (many
are news stories at different levels of difficulty), and then listen to
the same story broken down into parts. They then try to write
out what they hear. The software automatically checks if they are
correct or not. The great thing is that it will repeat the same part
as many times as a student needs and it won’t get bored or
angry! Once one part has been completed successfully, it moves
on to the next.
When you open the site, just click on one of the stories. It
will immediately start loading ready for you to listen. You can
listen to it first to get the context and then, below, you will see
the same story in segments. Just click, and the first segment will
be read out for you to type in the space provided. If you find the
dictation too difficult, there is plenty of help. There are two hint
buttons, one that gives you the first letter of the next word, and
one that gives you the whole word. You can also choose to work
through the dictation as either sentences or words. Choosing
words is much easier as it is rather like a gap-fill activity and you
don’t have to do the full dictation. If you sign up to the site, you
will be given a detailed breakdown of your score and
performance.
This is a great tool to show to your students, who can easily
use it at home. I really recommend that you give it a try. Again, I
have created a series of training videos to help you.
Training video for Listen and write
Go to http://trainingvideos.hscs.wmin.ac.uk/listenWrite/
index.html for a series of videos that will take you through
the site and show you how it works.
Russell Stannard is a principal lecturer at the University
of Westminster, UK, where he teaches using technology
on multimedia and TESOL courses. He also runs
www.teachertrainingvideos.com, a website that trains
English teachers to use technology. He has just won a
Times Higher Education Award for Outstanding
Initiatives in Information and Communications
Technology (ICT) for this website.
Keep sending your favourite sites to Russell:
russellstannard@btinternet.com
61
 In this column Rose Senior explains why certain teaching techniques and
class management strategies are effective, and identifies specific issues that can assist
all language teachers in improving the quality of their teaching.

Pitfalls in teaching
listening skills
hanks to the widespread Students panic when, having focused their listening tests or practice tests, each

T availability of tape recorders and

CD players – and to the large
number of recordings and
accompanying exercises designed for
classroom use – language teachers can
give their students the opportunity to
develop their listening skills in class.
Students can listen to English spoken by
different types of people with a variety of
accents, in a range of formal and informal
situations, and for a variety of
purposes. However, we need Listening to people the context.
to be aware of certain pitfalls.
speaking in a foreign
The first is purely practical.
Listening to people speaking language and trying to Many students believe that
in a foreign language and grasp what they are
trying to grasp what they are
saying is challenging at the saying is challenging try, they seem to mishear
best of times. Listening to at the best of times
disembodied voices emerging
from a machine at the front of the room –
particularly if the equipment is clunky or
the recording indistinct – makes
understanding the spoken word even more
difficult. Unlike self-access centres (where
students can stop, rewind or fast forward
at will), language classrooms are places
where listening is a whole-class activity
with everyone listening collectively to the
same material. Teachers, standing with
their fingers poised over the control
buttons, can easily misjudge their students’
listening needs. They may start the
recording before everyone is ready,
interrupt the flow by over-using the ‘pause’
button, expect students to scribble
answers while the recording is still playing,
or fail to give students the opportunity to
check their answers. They may also keep
students waiting while searching for a
particular spot on a tape when rewinding.
The second pitfall relates to students’
beliefs about how the brain processes
auditory information. Many students hold
the commonsense view that understanding
continuous speech is a matter of ‘catching’
individual words as they are spoken,
interpreting the meaning of each one in turn,
and then stringing all the meanings together
so that total understanding is achieved.
attention on an early part of the text, they
lose the overall thread and miss key pieces
of information presented later on. They do
not realise that effective listeners listen in
strategic ways, intuitively developing a
holistic understanding of the nature, content
and direction of what is being said. By so
doing, they can listen more effectively and
with less effort, identifying key items more
readily and guessing the meaning of missed
or partially-heard words from
A third pitfall relates to
the nature of spoken English.
their hearing is faulty
because, however hard they
certain words and not hear
others at all. What is going
on? The answer is that most English words
are pronounced differently in connected
speech from how they are spoken in
isolation (which is why recorded messages
of individual items, such as flight arrival
times, sound so unnatural). In spoken
English, words flow into each other, often
joining up and changing their
sound values. An additional In spoken English,
distinguishing feature of words flow into each the value of feedback. One way
traditional varieties of English
is that they are spoken with other, often joining up their impressions of the overall
a regular beat, like music, and changing their level of difficulty of each listening
with the stress falling on key
words in sentences and on
sound values
individual syllables within words. As a
result, unstressed words, such as of, and
and to are either pronounced differently or
else compressed to a point where they
virtually disappear (as in, for example, a
cuppa tea, fish ’n chips or I wanna go
home). Until their attention is drawn to
these key features of spoken English,
learners can remain confused, particularly
when in their own languages equal weight
is given to all syllables.
An important way of ensuring that
listening activities are regarded by students
in a positive light is to remember that,
unless we are administering formal
listening activity should have a teaching
rather than a testing focus.
Once we have accepted that our role is
to help our students to develop their
listening skills – rather than simply to judge
their performance – we can adapt listening
activities in ways that offer additional
support and encouragement. To increase
motivation and encourage strategic
listening, we should always encourage our
students to predict the kinds of information
they are likely to hear. If the content is
challenging, we might let them work in
pairs, comparing notes and sharing their
answers before the recording is replayed.
Alternatively, we might do a listening as a
whole-class activity, playing the recording
several times and gradually developing an
understanding of the content of the listening
by writing on the board words and concepts
‘captured’ by individuals. If we sense that
the class needs to listen to sections of the
text a further time, we can ask for a
consensus view on whether or not to replay
it. If we feel that students might benefit from
seeing a transcript of the recorded material,
we can make it available to them after the
listening task has been completed.
Finally, we should recognise
of encouraging students to reveal
text is to ask for a show of hands
on what percentage they think
they understood: 90%? 75%? Perhaps
only 50%? Alternatively, we can ask the
students to estimate the level of difficulty
of each exercise on a scale of one to ten.
Gauging our students’ impressions in this
way helps us keep in mind the pitfalls
involved in teaching listening skills. ETp
Rose Senior is a conference presenter
and teacher educator. She is the author
of The Experience of Language Teaching,
published by CUP.
rsenior@iinet.net.au

• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 60 January 2009 • 63

 Prize crossword 33
ETp presents the thirty-third in our series of prize
crosswords, and this one, again, has a very different
format. Try it … and maybe win a prize! Once you
have done it successfully, let your students have a go.
Send your entry (not forgetting to include your full
name, postal address and telephone number) to
Prize crossword 33, ENGLISH TEACHING professional,
Keyways Publishing, PO Box 100, Chichester, West Sussex,
PO18 8HD, UK. Ten correct entries will be drawn from a hat
on 10 March 2009 and the senders will each receive a copy
of the second edition of the Macmillan English Dictionary
for Advanced Learners, applauded for its unique red star
system showing the frequency of the 7,500 most common
words in English.

5 7 13 20 18 19 23 11 19 19 16 18 13 18 20 16 8 14 19 22 1 7 3 19 10 19

13 22 11 2 5 15 14 16 6 13 9 12 19 13 18 5 13 7 4

18 24 13 6 5 1 1 18 24 13 4 19 1 21 20 16 19 15 26 20 16 8 11 20 18 24 13

26 7 5 11 19 6 3 12 14 19 26 24 1 11 8 24 26
.
7 13 3 20 1 16 1 26 24 20 16 8 Percy Bysshe Shelley, A Defence of Poetry
O
9 7 26 16 19
VERY FREQUENT WORDS ** Feeling excited and worried, or slightly
12 11 26 26 19 7 21 14 20 19 18 *** An amount of money or a judgment afraid
given by a court of law ** Large tables at an exhibition, where
19 5 9 13 2 *** A system of broadcasting organisations offer information or services
information and programmes that ** To express strong approval or
16 19 7 10 1 11 18 17 19 12 7 13 people can listen to admiration for someone or something in
*** Chess pieces that can move in any public
25 20 11 20 20 13 11 direction ** Very sad, worried, or angry about
*** Gets pleasure from something
1 7 8 13 16 3 7 19 18 18 19 18 *** Not anything
*** Puts on clothes FAIRLY FREQUENT WORDS
9 24 2 19 18 20 19
*** The area outside towns and cities, * A food made by mixing flour, fat and
with farms, fields and trees water, rolled flat and used for making pies
18 19 26 26 19 19 18 26 13 16 3 18
*** The things that make something * Flying insects with large colourful wings
happen * In a straight, standing position
*** To hold something’s weight so that LESS FREQUENT WORDS
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
it does not move or fall – A liquid that you use for washing your
O *** To make lots of quick small
14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 hair
movements up and down, or side to – A long, soft, comfortable chair for two
side or three people
*** To study a subject or consider an – An African animal like a horse with
To solve the puzzle, find which letter each number idea or plan carefully black and white stripes on its body
represents. You can keep a record in the boxes above. – A unit for measuring weight, equal to
FREQUENT WORDS
Three letters are done for you. Start by writing these ** A large bowl fixed to the wall in a 28.35 grams
letters in the other boxes in the crossword where their bathroom for washing your face and – A vehicle that you sit on to travel over
numbers appear. The definitions of the words in the puzzle hands in snow, with long pieces of wood instead
are given, but not in the right order. When you have ** A large musical instrument with of wheels
finished, you will be able to read the quotation. pipes of different lengths, played by – Least willing to work or to do any
pressing keys activity that needs effort

64 • Issue 60 January 2009 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •