Saturday, 10 November 2012

Communicative Learner-Centred Grammar

This was the title of a Cambridge English Teacher webinar presented by Peter Lucantoni and what follows is a summary of what he had to say.

What is 'grammar'?

Grammar is a set of rules for combining words to express meaning. It is the system of a language. Words are given 'labels' to help us to identify their grammatical roles.

In communicative language teaching:

There needs to be an active involvement in the learning process (both by teachers and learners).
Examples from texts need to be isolated and used as a basis for tasks.
Tasks should focus on both the concept (meaning, semantics) and the form of the target grammar. As teachers, we are often guilty of focusing on the structure and mechanics rather than the meaning.
Students should be encouraged to find other examples and work out the rules for themselves.

Jack Richards:

'Communicative language teaching can be understood as a set of principles about the goals of language teaching, how learners learn a language, the kinds of classroom activities that best facilitate learning, and the roles of teachers and learners in the classroom.'
(CLT Today - Cambridge University Press 2006)

Goals depend on context

Everyone learns in different ways; therefore, classroom activities will differ according to context, country, facilities available, class size, etc.

CLT is not a 'method'

CLT is best considered as an approach (Richards and Rogers).
Teachers are free to interpret the 'rules' of teaching.
A wide variety of classroom techniques are feasible.
It should move us away from learners who are 'structurally competent' but 'communicatively incompetent' - i.e. students who know the grammar, but can't apply it to communicate.
Grammar is important, but we need to find a balance.

However....

'....it's clearly not possible to engage in purposeful communication in a language without being able to formulate the structures of that language as well.'
                                                                              (McDonagh & Shaw 2000)

As teachers....

'....it's essential for us to interpret the rules and strike a balance between consolidating structures and developing communicative competence in our English as a second language students.'
                                                                                           (Lucantoni 2002)

'Language without grammar would leave us seriously handicapped.'
                                                                      (Rob Batstone 'Grammar' 2000)

Why is this?

Batstone said that there are three stages in language learning:

Noticing - an active process in which learners become aware of structure and notice connections between form and meaning. (An appropriate activity here would be to give students a text and get them to highlight the grammar.)
Structuring - when the new grammar pattern becomes internalised. This is a cognitive process which requires controlled practice.
Procedurising - making the grammar ready for instant and fluent use in communication.

Classroom Activities

1. Who do you think could........?

This activity practises question forms and modals. It uses the unit structure/s, but it also provides reading and writing skills development in a communicative and learner-centred manner.

You need two pictures of people - male/female, young/old. Give these people names.
Hold up the first picture and ask students to tell you anything they like about the picture - age, hobbies, background, etc. It doesn't matter what your students say - you are just activating the language they have.
Give students the 'true' information. e.g.:

Name:         Amina
Age:            26
Home:         Casablanca
Hobbies:      Loves music, plays piano
Job:            Doctor
Speaks:       Arabic, English and a little Japanese
Other:         Dislikes pets
Dream:        To fly to the moon

You can reveal this information bit by bit to invite reaction, to raise interest and to engage the students.
Show the second picture. Students now know exactly what they have to do. They'll be interested and excited.
Give the real information:

Name:          Hasan
Age:             65
Home:          Fez
Hobbies:       Stamp collecting, weightlifting
Job:              Accountant
Speaks:        Arabic, Greek
Other:          Vegetarian, can't drive
Dreams:       To go to China, to own a Ferrari

All the information is made up, but don't tell the students this - let them believe that it's true.
Display the two pictures and ask, 'Who do you think could.......?' e.g.:

                           .........help move heavy furniture?
                           Hasan.
                           Why?                                      Because he likes weightlifting.

                          ..........advise you about your health?
                          Amina - because she's a doctor.

                          ..........drive you to the airport?

                          ..........play you your favourite song?            etc.

Ask questions based on the biographies.
Students need to tell you why.

You could adapt and extend this activity in several ways:

Use other modal verbs, e.g. 'Who do you think might.....?'
Use other structures, e.g. 'Who do you think is going to.........?'
Use other tenses, e.g. 'Who do you think has..........?'
Make the reading element more challenging by putting it in a text (you could even combine the information about two people in one text).
A homework extension could be to find two pictures, write biographies about them, write questions based on the biographies and then exchange information with another student in the next class.

2. The world

This activity provides a good opportunity for extra-curricula work - it is good for revising geographical lexis.

Listen to the words.
Think about in which country you can write them. e.g. 'scuba diving' - Red Sea. It doesn't matter where students decide to put the word, but they must be able to give reasons why.
Discuss with a partner.

You will need to give students the functional language:

                                 Where did you put 'scuba diving'?
                             I put scuba diving in the Red Sea.
                        Why?
                             I chose the Red Sea because....
                        I agree/ I disagree because....

Show the students a world map.
Students write the words you're giving them on the map (or, better still, use post-it notes).
If there is no map available, ask students to write the word you give them and write the place next to it.

The idea here is to link the lexis from a unit with a grammar structure.

3. Mistakes maze

This activity gives learners an opportunity to focus on identifying grammar mistakes in order to get through a maze.

For example:

IN: Have you ever eat fish?
(This is an incorrect answer, so exit using the red arrow)

Yes, I have eat.
I've drunk never coffee.
His been to China.
They've never done that.
I've lived here for 13 years.
Said has lived in Kuwait for 2009.
She have tried many times.
No, they hasn't.
Have they been to America?

If students answer correctly, they will pass through every number once only.

This maze can be used to test any grammar point - just make sure you replace correct answers with correct answers and incorrect ones with incorrect ones.

You can focus on a group of mistakes of a particular type or take them from your students' own writing.

Sunday, 28 October 2012

Digital literacy in English teaching - an #eltchat summary

Image from GregFalken.com

This is a summary of the #eltchat which took place at 12 noon on 24th October, 2012. The full title of the chat was:

How can we increase teacher knowledge and awareness of digital literacy in English teaching? To what extent is it affecting/will DL affect how we teach English?

The chat was lively and thought-provoking, as usual, and was expertly moderated by @Shaunwilden and @theteacherjames.

http://www.diglit.soton.ac.uk/conference/

What is digital literacy?

We began the chat with a definition of DL supplied by @theteacherjames courtesy of wikipedia!

DL is the ability to effectively and critically navigate, evaluate and create information using a range of digital technology, and recognising your own contribution towards developing the knowledge base both socially and academically.

@esolcourses suggested that knowing how to apply DL is another important aspect, adding that it is as much about knowing when not to use technology as it is knowing how and when to use it.

http://www.library.illinois.edu/diglit/definition.html

What does DL bring to the classroom and why should we teach it?

This was a question raised by @efl101. @teflgeek added the concern that the problem is often 'information overload' with not enough time to critically evaluate it. We should, therefore, be teaching 'critical digital literacy' and helping students to determine which tools they should use out of the infinite number they could use. It was generally agreed that it is better to use a limited range of tools effectively than lots of tools half-heartedly. With this in mind, 'top ten lists' (e.g. 'The Top 10 Note-Taking Tools') are not very helpful - one tried and tested, highly recommended tool is far better! As @BobK99 pointed out, 'Look at this great tool, now look at this one' gives us a situation where we have solutions without problems which is a complete waste of time!

@the teacherjames asked if we actually need to teach DL or is it enough to simply be aware of it? @MrChrisJWilson wondered whether teaching DL can get in the way of the language focus. @David_Boughton felt that we should equip our students with English and nothing more. I think most contributors, however, felt, as I do, that teaching DL is necessary and that it can and should be taught alongside and integral to teaching EFL (as a type of CLIL, for example). @teflgeek commented that if students are going to interact with the language in a primarily digital way, how is it not our responsibility to teach DL? As teachers, @Shaunwilden also reminded us that we need to be aware of the issues raised by sending students online and telling them to google something. It is our responsibility to teach them how to discern what is 'good' information and how to stay safe when using technology. @esolcourses is of the opinion that DL ought to be embedded into EFL courses as we need to be equipping our learners with 21st century skills. Being competent in DL is a means to an end, both for us as teachers and for our students.

Several #eltchatters felt that we need to start with our students and their aims and only use technology if it is relevant to the lesson, but others suggested that, in today's world, technology is ubiquitous and is, therefore, relevant in all circumstances.

@bcnpaul1 pointed out that if we don't teach DL, we end up with lots of copy-pasted work handed in, which is a waste of time for everyone! @esolcourses agreed and added that we'd be setting our students up to fail, especially where plagiarism is concerned.

How do teachers become digitally literate?

By joining online teacher communities, such as #eltchat.
By learning from their students!
By incorporating digital literacy into teacher training courses.
By appointing 'digital leaders' among students to promote technology use and DL.
By colleagues modelling technology use during seminars on non-technology subjects so that they can see how it can be used effectively.

How does DL affect the way we teach English?

@teflgeek asked the question, 'Have we got to the point where technology requires a different pedagogy, or can we continue to overlay the technology on top?' @esolcourses answered that she felt that the core pedagogy is much the same, but that technology affords a lot more scope for learner autonomy.

@teacherphili alluded to the different types of DL that we could/should be teaching, but we ran out of time to discuss them - the subject of another #eltchat, perhaps?!

Links

British Council's Teaching English page on DL with links to further videos via @bcnpaul1
The Australian Government's view on digital pedagogy via @teflgeek
Teaching with technology: a basic checklist via @esolcourses
Integrating technology on teacher development courses by @Marisa_C (via @esolcourses)
Nicky Hockley's conference presentation on DL via @teflgeek
Links from a talk on DL via @Shaunwilden
Ethics and digital youth by Howard Gardner via @Julian_LEnfant
Good DL resouces on @TheConsultantsE 's site via @esolcourses
Copyright, plagiarism and digital literacy by Sue Lyon-Jones
The Digital Human - a BBC Radio 4 podcast via @the teacherjames

Thursday, 25 October 2012

Towards Developing Critical Thinking Skills in Young Learners

This is a summary of a webinar hosted by Cambridge English Teacher and presented by Herbert Puchta on October 10th, 2012.

The 'attention-grabbing' approach to teaching

Even very young children are able to think, attend and remember, but their thinking, attending and memory are very reactive. Children growing up today are subjected to sensory overload constantly. Television, for example, is fast-paced, loud, full of movement, and has colourful, constantly changing scenes. As a result, today's youngsters have very short attention spans.

'Reactive learners' need fast-paced, sensory bombardment to learn even very simple information. This leads to the teacher being an entertainer which is totally exhausting.

Learning as a 'self-directed activity'

Children increasingly learn to direct their attention, memory and problem-solving skills on their own.
Children gradually take more and more responsibility for their own learning.
Children acquire the mental tools to help them think better.

So,

Tools of the mind (mental/cognitive tools) help to extend a child's cognitive capabilities.
Tools of the mind reduce the workload for the teacher.

Why teach thinking skills?

Children need to face the challenges of a changing and unpredictable world.
They need problem-solving and decision-making skills to meet unexpected problems and tackle them.
School curricula tend to promote systematic, error-free learning - correct answers, assimilation of facts, teacher's assessment.

The importance of divergent thinking

Divergent thinking (as opposed to convergent thinking) is extremely important - students need to learn that there is not necessarily one right answer. You can teach this by asking questions like:

Write down as many different uses as you can think of for:

a button
a brick
a blanket

Here, you are encouraging children to think outside the box.

What does critical thinking involve?

Working out whether or not we believe what we see or hear.
Finding out whether something is true.
Arguing one's case.
Identifying when we need more information.
Selecting information for a specific purpose.

There is always a connection between critical thinking and creative thinking. Both are higher order thinking skills.

Problem solving cycle

Gather and organise information
Define the problem
Generate approaches to solve the problem
Make an action plan
Monitor, check, evaluate
Communicate solutions
Transfer the problem solving skills learned to other problems

What thinking skills can we teach at the same time as we are teaching language?

A typology of thinking skills areas to be taught with EFL for young learners

Making comparisons
Categorising
Sequencing
Focusing attention
Memorising
Exploring space
Exploring time
Exploring numbers
Creating associations
Cause and effect
Making decisions
Solving problems
Creative thinking

Practical examples

1. Where's Tom?

This is an example from Herbert Puchta and Marion William's book 'Teaching Young Learners to Think'.

It focuses on the 'exploring space' skill. To develop this skill, students need:

a reference system to understand and control the space they live in.
a sense of position, distance, direction, proximity and dimensions.
the ability to imagine a change in position. This is necessary for hypothetical thinking - the ability to imagine another viewpoint.

2. Cars and bicycles

Draw a Venn diagram and ask the question:

What is the same and what is different between this pair of objects?
Examples:    car and bicycle
                   tree and flower
                   chair and table
                   banana and pineapple

The focus here is obviously on the skill of making comparisons, the basic building block of decision making. This kind of activity can be introduced at beginner level. Simply asking the question, 'What colour's my jacket?', for example, activates language, but it doesn't require any thinking on the part of the respondent. As teachers, we need to encourage thinking.

3. Missing information

Give three texts - three party invitations, for example, - each one with a missing piece of information (time, place, date, etc.). Students have to work out what is missing rather than the more usual task of answering questions on what is there.

4. Listen and imagine

Tell students to close their eyes and then play them a piece of music. Then ask them to draw a picture inspired by the music or write down a list of words they would associate with it. They then have to explain their picture or choice of words to a partner or small group.

Here, we are encouraging creative thinking, which, as we have already heard, is an integral part of critical thinking.

5. Cause and effect

Give students a statement and ask them if there is a cause and effect relationship in it. For example,

Jane doesn't play any musical instruments. Therefore, she isn't a musician.

This kind of task is suitable for intermediate level students. They have to question whether or not there is enough information to establish a cause and effect relationship. If not, what other information is needed? The attention to detail required here is a great exercise for students.

To conclude:

Quoting Vygotsky's model:

Learning moves away from the goal of getting the answer correct to getting the answer correct because a specific process was used to get the answer.

Further information:

Follow @herbertpuchta on Twitter
www.herbertpuchta.com
facebook.com/herbertpuchta.elt
Teaching Young Learners to Think

Tuesday, 23 October 2012

IELTS Writing - a British Council, Saigon, Teachers' Workshop

This is a summary of a workshop I attended at the British Council in Ho Chi Minh City. It was presented by Ian Kitching and the subject was the IELTS writing test.

Overview of IELTS writing

The test comprises of two parts:

Task 1 20 minutes 150 words

Academic - describe information from a chart, graph or diagram or describe a process.
General - write a letter based on a given situation. The candidate needs to use his or her imagination and creativity.

Task 2 40 minutes 250 words

Academic and general - write an essay. The form is usually 'advantages/disadvantages' or 'to what extent do you agree with this opinion?'
For an advantage/disadvantage essay, the candidate needs to present both sides whereas for an opinion essay, he or she can choose to agree, to disagree or to present a balanced view.
The most important thing with task two is to read the question properly and analyse it: sometimes it's a two-part question, in which case both parts must be answered.
The idea with task two is to present a written argument or case to an educated reader with no specialist knowledge of the topic.
The candidate should use his or her own ideas, knowledge and experience and all arguments should be supported with examples and relevant evidence.

What are the examiners looking for?

Scripts are given a band score from 1 to 9 under each of four criteria and the final mark is an average of the bands given. The criteria:

Task achievement/response - this looks at content and ideas. How fully is the question answered? In task one, how effectively does the candidate identify key features and give an overview or respond to all points in the task? In task two, how effectively does he or she analyse the argument and present an opinion? Is all the content relevant? Did the candidate write the minimum number of words?
Coherence and cohesion - Is the writing organised into paragraphs? (It's a good idea to advise candidates to leave a line between paragraphs for clarity.) Does it follow logical stages? Are sentences fluently linked together? Is there a range of cohesive devices? Is there use of reference and substitution?
Lexical resource - Is the vocabulary used accurately? Is there a wide range or is there repetition of the same words? Can the candidate use less common or idiomatic language appropriately? (The latter is needed to achieve a score above band 6.)
Grammar - Is the grammar accurate? Is there a wide range of structures? Are there complex sentences or mainly simple ones? (Even if students make mistakes, it's better for them to try than not.)

Teachers can use the public version of the band descriptors to advise students what they need to do for the band they require.

Task One Sample Graph

Task One Academic IELTS

1 Hints and tips

Underline key words in the question.
Analyse the graph and plan an answer.
Paraphrase the question - if candidates just copy the question word for word, then those words are deducted from the word count and they could lose marks for not having written enough. For example, 'The table below shows consumer durables (telephones, refrigerators, etc.) owned in Britain from 1972-1983' could become 'The chart gives information on how the ownership of consumer goods changed in the UK between 1972 and 1983.'
Practise paraphrasing the question many, many times!!!
The answer should include an overview, either at the beginning or the end - if this is missing, the candidate can not score higher than a band 5. The overview should describe the general trend and note any exception.
Key features of the chart need to be commented on. To do this, it is best to look for things that can be grouped together (e.g. things which are similar in terms of large increases, small increases, no differences, etc.).
Decide on what to leave out - not everything needs to be described.
Use comparatives and superlatives when describing the chart.
Analyse model answers and look for common phrases (e.g. The most notable feature shown by the data is that......).
Check the word count - an examiner will look at every piece of writing and judge whether the candidate has written the correct number of words (words per line multiplied by the number of lines). If he or she thinks it is close, every word will be counted. On the examiner banding guidelines, there are clear rules on what is a word and what is not. Hyphenated words count as one word.
Task one should be organised into three or four paragraphs.
Write a short conclusion, but DO NOT give an opinion - e.g. Overall, the chart shows....

2 Problems for Vietnamese learners

No experience of analysing charts
Inability to structure sentences correctly
Problems using passive voice to describe processes
Errors with subject-verb agreement
Lack of lexical range
Missing connectors/linking words
No clear grouping of ideas which adversely affects the overall structure

3 Skills needed

Analysing quickly - overall trends; can the data be put into groups?; what are the extremes?; what are the exceptions?; what information is not worth mentioning?
Editing - judging how much to include, organising into paragraphs, giving an overview.
Proof reading - correcting mistakes, looking for repetition of language.

4 Language areas

A range of tenses
Paraphrasing
Describing trends - the number rose, there was a slight fall, it levelled off.
Comparatives, superlatives and other ways of contrasting - higher than, the most significant change, it did not change to the same extent as....
Discourse markers - however, similarly, in contrast, turning now to the figures for the UK...., overall we can see that....., in conclusion.
A range of lexis to avoid repetition - e.g. the data shows, this amount demonstrates, the total number represents.

5 Activities to use in the classroom

Analyse model answers and use them as a basis for exercises.
Practise paraphrasing the question.
Practise identifying key points from charts, graphs, etc.
Jumble the paragraphs of model answers and get students to put them in the correct order.
Give students a list of statements about a graph or chart and get them to decide if they are major points, minor points or irrelevant. Should they be included or not?
Match a graph with the correct description.
Match vocabulary with the same meaning - e.g. a significant increase, a sharp rise.
Take the linkers out of a model answer and get students to complete it as a gap fill.
Use bad texts to find and correct errors or to re-write.
Give a continuous text to students and get them to separate it into appropriate paragraphs.
Get students to highlight the linkers in a text and then write a new text using the same linkers.

Task Two Academic IELTS

1 Problems for Vietnamese learners

Inability to understand the question
No opinions or ideas to write about
A lack of experience and knowledge to support ideas
Mistakes when writing complex sentences - e.g. when using relative clauses
Incorrect (or no) referencing (pronouns)
Problems with paragraphing (no topic sentences or clear purpose)

2 Skills needed

Understanding the question to avoid irrelevant or tangential answers (candidates must stay on topic).
Brainstorming ideas and examples quickly.
Selecting and organising the main points.
Writing enough in the time - underlength answers are quite common in Vietnam.
Writing concise and relevant introductions and conclusions.
Proof reading - self correction.

3 Language areas

Cohesive markers - firstly, secondly, however, another advantage is..., on the other hand, the main argument against x is.....
Using relative clauses (and other clauses) to avoid predominantly simple sentences.
A range of grammar and vocabulary to avoid repetition - a good knowledge of synonyms and antonyms can help here.
Correct use of language for addition (also, in addition, furthermore), contrast (however, nevertheless, even though), and result/consequence (so, therefore, leading to....)
Collocations - particularly prepositions (involved in -ing, prevent from -ing, responsible for/to)
Agreement of singular/plural.

4 Activities to use in the classroom

Use real questions to practise with.
Practise highlighting keywords in the question.
Rewrite questions.
Match simple questions to IELTS questions.
Give students a sample answer and get them to write the question.
Group discussions to generate ideas.
Practise brainstorming topics and selecting the best points.
Cut up paragraphs and re-order a model answer.
Deconstruct sample answers to analyse the language used.
Read to widen content and vocabulary knowledge of unfamiliar topics.
Write introductions as a group.
Antonyms and synonyms matching activities.
Prepositions and verb collocation activities.
Self-correction and peer-correction activities.
Work on cohesive devices - with gap fills, for example.
Label the purpose of the paragraphs in model answers.
Use running dictations.
Replace linkers with another one with the same function.

Online resources to help you teach IELTS writing

Sunday, 23 September 2012

Teaching vocabulary - an #eltchat summary

This is a summary of the #eltchat held at 12noon BST on Wednesday 19th September, 2012. The full title of the chat was:

'How should we approach vocabulary teaching and learning? Is there a place for rote learning? What is the current thinking about it?'

I have to say that I didn't vote for this topic, mainly because it was up against my suggestion of 'first lesson ideas'. As it turned out, my subject won the vote and was discussed at 3am my time here in Vietnam so I missed it! Instead, I found myself involved in a very interesting chat session on teaching vocabulary and came away with lots of food for thought. It was expertly moderated as usual, this week by @Shaunwilden and @theteacherjames.

Rote Learning Vocabulary - the Pros and Cons

We began by discussing rote learning and it soon became clear that we had a difference of opinion as to the effectiveness of the method.

@teflerinha told us that she had had success with rote learning when she was learning Polish and Portuguese, particularly when using small 'crib' cards. These cards can be created by using quizlet or other similar websites. She also said that level is relevant - beginners need more rote learning because there is less context available. @ElkySmith added that rote learning is easier at low levels because of the concrete nature of the vocabulary. @louisealix68 reminded us that some students prefer rote learning ('musical intelligence') and told us that it had really helped her with German. @rliberni suggested that rote learning can be made more fun by creating chants, songs and raps.

Personally, I have never had much success with rote learning, either as a learner or a teacher. This opinion was shared by @cioccas. @michelleworgan also questioned its long-term effectiveness, especially with YLs.

Several contributors, however, gave the link to an article by Paul Nation on why rote learning works, although it was pointed out that Nation himself admits that, once learned by rote, students have to use the new vocabulary in context in order for it to 'enter deep store'.

Clearly, there is a place for rote learning with some students, but it is not ideal for all learning styles.

Other Ways of Teaching Vocabulary

Most #eltchat participants agreed that we need to keep students engaged in vocabulary learning by finding other teaching methods, rather than just asking them to learn word lists. Some of what follows has a basis in rote learning, but is much more interesting and effective.

Giving students context is vital to help them remember new vocabulary.
@rliberni reminded us that translation has a part to play.
@LizziePinard advised us to use quizzes and games where possible, bingo and pelmanism, for example. She suggested that, 'if you increase the depth of processing, the lexis becomes more memorable'. This can be achieved by getting students to use more than one kind of processing - identifying, manipulating, classifying, etc.
Use pictures and diagrams: for example, put house vocabulary into an outline of a house. Combining vocabulary with visuals is always a powerful way to present and, later, recall vocabulary.
Get students to use vocabulary in a personal way to make it more memorable.
Give regular vocabulary tests or weekly revision sessions.
Get students to create word search puzzles for other classmates to solve.
Use mnemonics to make rote learning more fun - all those of us who learned 'the colours of the rainbow' or 'the planets in the Solar System' this way will never forget them!
Favourite games for teaching and revising vocabulary include 'Taboo', 'Outburst', 'Say my Word', 'Blockbusters' and 'Call my Bluff'.
Use all of the senses to help students remember new vocabulary - think about the sounds and smells associated with words.
Get students to create weekly vocabulary posters which are then displayed on the wall as a permanent visual reminder. Later in the course, these posters can be used in memory games, sentence building, story telling, etc.
Encourage students to read as much as possible in order to increase their vocabulary.
Writing is one of the best ways to revise vocabulary.
Encourage the use of vocabulary notebooks and urge students to be creative with them - word trees, pictures, use of colour, etc.
Get students to prepare wiki pages on a specific topic at home - these can then be referred to both in and out of class.
Don't overload students with masses of new vocabulary at the same time - 'small amounts often' is the way forward for @ElkySmith, both when presenting new words and revising what has already been covered in class.
Synonym posters in the classroom, which students add to during the course, are a great way to expand vocabulary. This works just as well with mind maps which can be built on.
Co-operative or half crosswords are great for teaching vocabulary.
Remember not to limit vocabulary to words - lexical chunks are particularly useful.
Make students think about how words behave and not just what they mean.
Teach vocabulary through reading texts, where students underline the words they don't know and then use them in their own sentences.
Use drama activities - for example, students make up a mime using narrative verbs learned and their classmates have to call them out.
Teach students to understand meaning from context when reading and listening.
Get students to watch films in English with English subtitles so they are getting the vocabulary through both visual and auditory channels.
Use TPR, particularly with YLs, to help memorise directions, body parts, emotions, requests, imperatives, adjectives, etc.
Teachers need to remember to reuse new words as much as possible in class - students pick up on this and try to do the same.
Use songs, as long as you explain what the lyrics mean!
Relate challenging vocabulary to songs or popular films or TV shows. The example given by @Teachersilvert was using 'Friends' to illustrate 'freak out'.
Only teach relevant vocabulary - words and phrases students will need. Good dictionaries will tell you how frequently a word is used - this online example from the OUP is particularly good: http://oald8.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/oxford3000/
Have a 'word of the day' for students to use correctly in class (or even a 'chunk of the day').
Revise as much as possible. A good tip is to have a vocabulary bag and use it for constant recycling activities. This was suggested by @jobethsteel. I would endorse this - we use them in our department and if a teacher is a few minutes late for class, it's so easy for a colleague to go in and do a quick vocabulary revision exercise using the 'word bag of the week'!!

Conclusion

As with all EFL teaching, there is no 'one size fits all'. Rote learning has its place, but it doesn't work for all learners (or teachers!). The key is to use a variety of approaches, tasks and activities in order to provide multiple experiences of, and exposures to, new vocabulary. Whether you use rote learning or not, students need opportunities to notice new words and lexical chunks as well as situations where they need to use them.

Links

Kim's Game to help students memorise new vocabulary via @AlexandraKouk
Using thematic grouping to teach vocabulary via @teflerinha
Apps to help learn vocabulary via @jobethsteel
'Beyond Backs to the Board' - a prezi on teaching vocabulary by @ElkySmith
@leoselivan's blog about teaching vocabulary as recommended by @elawassell, @cioccas and @teflerinha
Vocabulary revision with post-it notes via @theteacherjames
1000 free vocabulary games via @AlexandraKouk
A seminar by Paul Nation on vocabulary teaching via @ElkySmith
Triptico - a free app for teaching vocabulary via @Teachersilvert
Concordancers via @teflerinha
Lexical priming via @AlexandraKouk
Scaffolding via @AlexandraKouk
Textivate - great for getting students to think about how sentences fit together and to focus their minds on form and meaning of words
'The English we Speak' BBC podcast - good for teaching new vocabulary/chunks because students love to be able to reproduce what they've heard (via @worldteacher)
Short booklet on teaching vocabulary from CUP via @AlexandraKouk
Games for learning vocabulary via @HOSNA_ELT

Sunday, 16 September 2012

How do we generate language from a topic? - A practical example

A picture is worth 1000 words

This was the title of a webinar presented by Adrian Tennant as part of the MacMillan series. What follows is a summary of the session.

Adrian began by telling us that two or three 50-word texts should generate five or six hours of teaching. This was quite a surprising claim and had us hooked from the off!

We were then shown that we don't even need 50 words. For example, we should treat a picture as a text. Remember the saying: 'A picture is worth a thousand words'.

Another place to start would be with a newspaper headline. For example.

Youth Badly Hit in Jobs Market

The ambiguity of headlines like this make them rich pickings for language analysis:

Who or what does the word 'youth' refer to ?
What is a jobs market?
How was/were the youth hit?
Who or what hit the youth?
What was the youth hit with? etc., etc.

This could easily be adapted for low level students:

Young People Can't Get Jobs

Here, you could focus on modals, negatives, the verb 'get', and so on.

A five or six word text can generate 15-20 minutes of teaching and/or discussion, so how much more can be generated from a 50-word text?

With a 50-word text, you can

pick up on collocations and do vocabulary matching exercises
isolate the grammar - tenses, comparatives, etc.
teach a particular part of speech - adjectives, articles, prepositions, etc.
highlight referencing words - like this, this kind of, these, they, etc.

An example of a short text

Usually in course books, the higher the level, the longer the text. Remember:

size

doesn't

matter!!

Short, complex texts can be much more useful than longer ones.

What else can you ask students to do with a short text?

You can ask students to paraphrase or summarise the text.
Use it to increase vocabulary. For example, you could get students to replace every adjective with a synonym, thus teaching them to avoid repetition in their own writing.
You can use the text as the basis for a class discussion.
You can ask students to generate questions from the text for their classmates to answer.
You can get students to prepare two-minute presentations based on the text.

What is the difference between using short texts and using a coursebook?

The texts are bite-sized.
The language emerges from the topic, NOT the topic from the language.

There are thousands of topic-based lessons for all levels freely available on the internet, covering subjects such as: crime, family, weather, politics, travel, work, relationships, environment, culture, education, transport, etc.

Remember!

There is no such thing as an authentic text in an EFL classroom. The minute you take a text into class, it loses it's authenticity! There are only authentic tasks!

How do you create a topic-driven lesson?

Choose a topic.
Find (or write) short texts about the topic. These can be like short newspaper articles.
Start looking for the language - DO NOT try to write a text to illustrate a grammar point or a particular type of vocabulary. The text should never be contrived - the language should emerge from a naturally-written text.
Design your activities - don't forget to record audio versions of your texts to be able to add listening activities.
Always have the topic at the forefront of your mind.

Extension activities

Higher level students can generate their own texts (this is good for error correction, too).
Texts written by higher level students can be used in lower-level classes.
Give students a similar text to the original as a gap-fill - articles, linkers, etc.

Conclusion

The most important thing is getting students to notice language through exploring and analysing a text. We need to teach students how to learn and give them the curiosity and the tools to take control of their own learning.

Further reading

'Uncovering Grammar' by Scott Thornbury

Saturday, 11 August 2012

#ELTchat - We'll Be Back!!

This is an article written by Marisa Constantinides (@Marisa_C) and published first on her blog. It explains the loss of our #eltchat domain name and her plans for the future of the website. I am proud to re-publish it here and am looking forward to #eltchat's 'new term' in September!!

#ELTchat: the loss of eltchat.com – Plan B

For the last - well, almost two years now, since September 15 2010, #ELTchat has kept us on our toes and forged hundreds of professional and personal relationships amongst its followers who turn up on Twitter every Wednesday to talk about topics they have suggested and voted on - a community of peers which was created by a small group of colleagues - which grew and grew some more and became something that counts as an important part of our continuous professional development.

Like many great ideas, it didn’t hit just one person but several.

And that is how #ELTchat was created.

The website to keep up the communication of its members, a base and repository of our ideas was one of the first things we all thought of creating – the wiki came later.
Andy Chaplin was keen to join the moderation team and help with podcasts and technical stuff; he was quick to buy eltchat.com and announced the good news to us after the fact.

A few months later, right after TESOL France 2011, he suddenly disappeared – some say for reasons of health.

We never found out for sure.
We never received a single word of response to our emails.

eltchat.com was and still is registered in his name.

And yesterday we lost it

On August 8 the domain expired and we have no way of taking over unless it goes up for sale again; it was very sad that Andy Chaplin did not find it appropriate to renew.

The news is really upsetting.

The work we have put in on this website cannot be told in a few simple words – but it has been a labour of love and we have got so much out of it that we have never regretted one single moment

We are pretty upset at the behaviour of this individual – disappointment is one big understatement.

But we trust that our community of #ELTchatters, our PLN for short, will again gather round the new domain which we have purchased – eltchat.org

It will take us a few days to put the website back on its feet

And all will be as it was before – all the posts in place all your thoughts and comments, all the polls and great summaries which got us on the shortlist of the ELTon Awards nominations

We will be back with a vengeance

We are not just a website – we did not get on the ELTon awards shortlist as just another website!!!

We are a great community of teachers and we have a Plan B!

See you all in September!!!

Marisa Constantinides – Shaun Wilden

Andrea Wade

P.S. We would greatly appreciate it if any of you belonging to this great community of teachers, teacher educators, bloggers, #ELTchat followers, reposted this on your blog

If you decide to do this, please add your name to the post under ours.

World Teacher