6 things beginning with R

Scott Thornbury
• Routine
• Reading
• Repetition
• Register
• Reference
• Rote learning
Routine
Pre-reading

1. Do you know anyone who has changed their career for

something completely different?

2. What is the odd-one-out in this group of words? Why?

tap leak tools discipline

van apprentice plumber

While reading
Read the text quickly and answer these questions.

1. What did Jo do before?

2. What does she do now?
3. Why did she change?

 
Re-reading
Why are these words important in the text? Ilkley, mother-in-law,
French, apprentice

Post-reading
Complete these sentences from the text with the correct form of the
verb in brackets:

a. I was a French teacher, but I [become] _______ very

unhappy with what was happening in schools.

b. I [always like] ________ the idea of being a plumber,

because it’s such a useful job.

Response to the text

Would you like to change your career? If so, what to? 

Reading
Possible purposes for reading a text in class:

• to teach/develop the skill of reading

• to use the text as a medium for introducing/

reinforcing new language, eg grammar, vocabulary

• to use the text as a model for writing

• to use the text as a springboard for discussion, role

play etc
Possible purposes for reading a text in class:

• to teach/develop the skill of reading

• to use the text as a medium for introducing/

reinforcing new language, eg grammar, vocabulary

• to use the text as a model for writing

• to use the text as a springboard for discussion, role

play etc
Possible purposes for reading a text in class:

• to teach/develop the skill of reading

• to use the text as a medium for introducing/

reinforcing new language, eg grammar, vocabulary

• to use the text as a model for writing

• to use the text as a springboard for discussion, role

play etc
Possible purposes for reading a text in class:

• to teach/develop the skill of reading

• to use the text as a medium for introducing/

reinforcing new language, eg grammar, vocabulary

• to use the text as a model for writing

• to use the text as a springboard for discussion, role

play etc
Possible purposes for reading a text in class:

• to teach/develop the skill of reading ?????

• to use the text as a medium for introducing/

reinforcing new language, eg grammar, vocabulary

• to use the text as a model for writing

• to use the text as a springboard for discussion, role

play etc
L2 readers need a minimum threshold level of
general L2 language competence before they
can generalise their L1 reading abilities into L2.
Where proficient L2 learners are good readers in
their L1, the consensus view (based on a wide
range of research studies and teachers’
observation) is that reading abilities can, indeed,
be generalised across languages even in the
case of differing scripts.

Catherine Wallace, ‘Reading’. In The Cambridge

Guide to TESOL, 2001, ed. Carter, R., and
Nunan, D. (CUP)
L2 readers need a minimum threshold level of
general L2 language competence before they
can generalise their L1 reading abilities into L2.
Where proficient L2 learners are good readers in
their L1, the consensus view (based on a wide
range of research studies and teachers’
observation) is that reading abilities can, indeed,
be generalised across languages even in the
case of differing scripts.

Catherine Wallace, ‘Reading’. In The Cambridge

Guide to TESOL, 2001, ed. Carter, R., and
Nunan, D. (CUP)
The Language Threshold Hypothesis argues that
students must have a sufficient amount of L2 knowledge
(i.e. vocabulary, grammar and discourse) to make
effective use of skills and strategies that are part of their
L1 reading comprehension abilities….

Readers usually cross the threshold whenever they

encounter L2 texts in which they know almost all of the
words and can process the text fluently.

Grabe, W., & Stoller, L. Teaching and Researching

Reading. Longman, 2002
Repetition
DEATH OF THE POET

This year the night air is licking me

the roof of my hive clean out of honey.
broke open to the sky
This year
my bees buzz the roof of my hive
like anxious flies gave up

will they learn to feed on and let everything

absence? down.

my combs are filling Does it matter

with dark space. that the moon is pouring
through my holes? 
Forget selling myself
to the first sweet tooth
that sniffs along (Dorothy Porter)
DEATH OF THE POET

This year the night air is licking me

the roof of my hive clean out of honey.
broke open to the sky
This year
my bees buzz the roof of my hive
like anxious flies gave up

will they learn to feed on and let everything

absence? down.

my combs are filling Does it matter

with dark space. that the moon is pouring
through my holes? 
Forget selling myself
to the first sweet tooth
that sniffs along (Dorothy Porter)
1. What is the overall organisation of each text?
For example, how many parts do they all
have?

3. What grammatical features are common to

each part? For example, what tense is used?
What pronouns? What modal verbs?

3. Can you find any words or phrases that are

repeated across the different texts?
Register
Headline
Finding
Research
Headline
Finding:
present tense
“you”
Research:
past tense
“they” =
researchers,
experimental
subjects
 North Americans tend to spend more time
East Asians are more likely to scan the background
Scientists believe this may help to explain
faith in a pill can prompt your brain to release
help could be at hand
Butterbur ... is likely to be licenced across the rest
research published

Research published in the Proceedings of the National

Academy of Sciences suggests....

Research published in Nature shows that….

…according to research published in the Journal of

Neuroscience.
X + colleagues + studied/measured etc

Richard Nisbett … and his colleagues studied the eye

movements….

Andrew Lilley … and colleagues measured the respiration

rate …

Andreas Schapowal … and colleagues found Butterbur

extract was….
Repetition (again)
(1) A draft version of the honey bee genome
has been made available to the public - a move
that should benefit bees and humans alike.

(2) The honey bee (Apis mellifera) is multi-

talented. (3) It produces honey, pollinates crops
and is used by researchers to study human
genetics, ageing, disease and social behaviour.

(11) The genome's publication is good news for

beekeepers and victims of bee stings alike.

(23) This is the first time that the amassed

sequence data have been made publicly
available. 
Reference
Honeybees have an elaborate language of dance to pass on 
news about the best places for nectar. Their more solitary 
cousins, the bumblebees, were always supposed to forage 
for themselves. They don’t, according to Elli Leadbetter 
and Lars Chittka of Queen Mary, University of London, 
reporting in Current Biology. The bumbles follow other 
bees. The two researchers tested their “volunteers” with a 
choice of artificial flowers where another bee was already 
at work. But they copied each other only when they knew 
nothing about the flower species they were visiting. When 
the petals looked familiar, they made their own decisions.
Honeybees have an elaborate language of dance to pass on 
news about the best places for nectar. Their more solitary 
cousins, the bumblebees, were always supposed to forage 
for themselves. They don’t, according to Elli Leadbetter 
and Lars Chittka of Queen Mary, University of London, 
reporting in Current Biology. The bumbles follow other 
bees. The two researchers tested their “volunteers” with a 
choice of artificial flowers where another bee was already 
at work. But they copied each other only when they knew 
nothing about the flower species they were visiting. When 
the petals looked familiar, they made their own decisions.
Honeybees have an elaborate language of dance to pass on 
news about the best places for nectar. Their more solitary 
cousins, the bumblebees, were always supposed to forage 
for themselves. They don’t, according to Elli Leadbetter 
and Lars Chittka of Queen Mary, University of London, 
reporting in Current Biology. The bumbles follow other 
bees. The two researchers tested their “volunteers” with a 
choice of artificial flowers where another bee was already 
at work. But they copied each other only when they knew 
nothing about the flower species they were visiting. When 
the petals looked familiar, they made their own decisions.
Rote learning
“An actor acquires lines readily by focusing not on
the words of the script, but on those words’ meaning
– the moment-to-moment motivations of the
character saying them – as well as on the physical
and emotional dimensions of their performance ...
Good actors don’t think about their lines, but feel
their character’s intention in reaction to what the
other actors do, causing their lines to come
spontaneously and naturally.”
Q: Who is the bees’ favourite singer?
A: Sting!

Q: What goes zzub, zzub?

A: A bee flying backwards!

Q: What bee is good for your health?

A: Vitamin bee!

Q: What's more dangerous than being with

a fool?
A: Fooling with a bee!

Q: Why do bees hum?

A: Because they've forgotten the words!
• Routine
• Reading
• Repetition
• Register
• Reference
• Rote learning