A great ESL study plan - from a source in Italy!

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SOCRATES Program

Grundtvig 2 Action

TEAM

"Training of Educators of Adults in an intercultural Module”

	Escuela Oficial de Idiomas de Murcia: Extension Molina de Segura

TABLE OF CONTENTS

A  Foreword 1          A little advice on learning grammar ………………………… 2          Listening 2.1       Listening Comprehension ……………………………………… 2.2       Listening Comprehension: Sample activities ……………… 2.3       Using Audio and Video Documents: a little advice for teachers 2.4       Audio document ………………………………………………… 2.5       Video document ……………………………………………… 2.6       Listening Activities ………………………………………………. 2.7       Listening comprehension: a little advice for learners ………. 3          Reading  3.1       A little advice on reading comprehension ……………………… 3.2       Reading Activities  …………………………………..………… 4          Speaking 4.1       A little advice on Speaking ……………………………………… 4.2       Speaking Activities …………………………………………… 5          Writing 5.1       A little advice on written expression …………………………… 5.2       Writing Activities …………………………………………………….

3 4 6 8 11 13 14 17 21 23 25 31 32 49 51

A  FOREWORD

This booklet is the outcome  of the efforts of several teachers belonging to different nationalities,  different  experiences and working environments. They joined TEAM – Training of Educators of Adults in an Intercultural Module and when the project was accepted by the European Community, they met in Naples, Italy, and planned the work for their first year of collaboration.

The activities gathered in the following pages are based  on  techniques constantly used by the various groups and which have  proved effective. Many of the activities suggested, some of which were discussed in a second meeting in Turkey, have been already tested on students.

All the teams involved in “TEAM” hope that their collaboration will go on in the incoming year, as fruitful as it has been so far.

A little advice on learning grammar

1.      Why learn grammar?

¨       Grammar is not an end in itself; it’s a means of communicating. What’s important is to « get the message across », in speaking or writing, learning all the grammar rules by heart does not mean you will know how to use the language correctly.

¨       BUT that doesn’t mean you can forget about learning grammar because without it what you say and write wouldn’t make any sense at all!

2.      How?

¨       Review the work done in class with your teacher, and try to go further: do exercises on the same grammar point but with other activities.

¨       For speaking practice, it’s more efficient to do guided speaking exercises than simply do written exercises. Cassettes and CD’s often have “replace the word” exercises during which you can record yourself and listen to your production to correct any mistakes.

¨       For writing practice, don’t just do repetitive « replacement » exercises for grammar points you already know. Try to vary the exercises and to attempt less-guided activities.

3. What should you do when you have problems?

¨       Try to analyze what the problem is. Is it because you have not fully understood the rule or forgotten to apply it? In the first case re-read your class notes, look the rule up in a grammar book, or ask your teacher for further explanations. In the second case, practice using that rule, do more guided exercises, and then more open activities.

¨       If you get « stuck » on a particular exercise, re-read the instructions to be sure you know what is expected of you.

¨       You can look at the correction sheet that has probably been provided with the exercise.

¨       Ask the teacher to help you.

¨       Don’t hesitate to look in a grammar book to find more information on how a language is structured.

¨       Talk with the other students about your difficulties; they may have suggestions that can help you.

3.      How should you evaluate your progress?

¨       Analyze your mistakes by category: conjugation, word order, complex sentences, etc.°

¨       If you are correcting yourself after you make a mistake, then that means you have already made a lot of progress because you are aware of the problem and how to correct it.

¨       Ask other students to correct you, and (gently) do the same for them.

4.      Some mistakes to avoid…

¨       Refraining from speaking with the excuse that you make mistakes: if small children were afraid to speak we’d all be mute! It is by speaking that one learns to speak.

¨       Saying « I’m very bad at grammar! » You should say, « II have some problems with (conjugation, relative clauses…) » This will help you concentrate on solving those problems.

¨       Trying to correct all your difficulties at the same time. You should concentrate on one or at most two problems, and when you have improved, move on to another one.

Listening Comprehension

1. Definition

Listening comprehension is a communicative activity.

The listener’s objective is to understand; it is represented by the task to be done during or after listening (for example: reply, carry out instructions, decide, etc.)

This objective will determine what the listener will listen for.

2. Why practice listening comprehension?

Such practice is more than just developing the capacity to understand a lot of phonetically and grammatically correct sentences. It is above all the development of a skill.

Therefore, beyond simply concentrating on the linguistic elements of a message (recognition of morpho-syntaxic, lexical and phonetic phenomena) it is necessary to reactivate listening strategies which come naturally in the native language (observation, use of personal knowledge, drawing conclusions, and so on) and to develop appropriate learning techniques.

3. Supporting documents

If the students are to become familiar with a broad range of real-life expressions used in varying communicative contexts, they must be asked to work with a large variety of supporting documents, particularly authentic documents, which means documents that have not been produced specifically to teach a foreign language.

It is also necessary to have numerous criteria for choosing these documents (duration, communicative context, type and number of speakers, accents, faster or slower speech, etc.)

4. Methods

The different learning « sub-objectives » mentioned in point 2 imply different types of training, and thus different types of activities. Below are some examples:

A. Detailed comprehension activities

            a. Concerning linguistic aspects in the document (grammar, vocabulary, phonetics)

·      Recognition of specific linguistic items (e.g. verb forms, connecting words, etc.)

·      Partial transcription (recognition of familiar items, acquisition of new items, familiarization with certain characteristics of the codes of spoken language)

·      Grammar/vocabulary anticipation

·      « Correcting » the transcription (mistakes, omissions, additions with respect to the audio document)

·      Phonetics

            b. Concerning the subject of the document

·      Full or partial transcription of the text

·      Listening for specific information

·      « True/false » questions

·      Semantic anticipation

B. General comprehension activities

·      Anticipating the general subject after hearing the title or beginning of the document.

·      Anticipating the theme after being shown different visual clues

·      Preparing a list of questions before listening

·      Summary in the student’s native language

·      Filling in a listening chart

·      Pre-listening questions

·      Post-listening questions

C. Task listening

·      Any activity that simulates a « natural » listening context in the native language, in which one listens « in order to do » (e.g. carry out instructions, make decisions, etc.)

Listening Comprehension: Sample activities

1. Activities for detailed listening comprehension

1.1. Word lists

. Provide a list of previously-studied words found in the document, in the order they appear. The students underline them as they listen (one or two passages with no pauses.)

. Provide a list of previously-studied words found in the document, but not in the order they appear. The students underline them as they listen (two passages with no pauses.)

. Provide a list of new words found in the document, but not in the order they appear. The students underline them as the listen (two passages with no pauses.)

. Provide a series of words of which not all can be found in the document, and not in the order they appear. The students underline them as the listen (two passages or more, but with no pauses.)

1.2. Recognition of the various items

. List, but not in the order of appearance, all the sentences that make up the document. While listening, the students must number the sentences in the correct order of appearance (two passages, with no pauses.)

. Same as above, but this activity concerns word groups.

. Same as above, but this activity concerns individual words (to be used with very short recordings only.)

1.3. Partial transcriptions

. Give the transcription of the document, replacing some words or groups of words by multiple choices. The students will check off the correct choice as they listen (several passages with pauses.)

. Give the transcription of the document, replacing some words or groups of words by dotted lines. The students should fill in these blanks as they listen (several passages with pauses.)

. Give a partial transcription of the document, and provide the students with a few minutes to allow them to try to guess what should be in the blank spaces. Then discuss all the suggestions together as a group before listening to the document (two or more passages with pauses.)

. Provide only the transcription of the start of each sentence. The students should complete the sentences, either first by guessing before listening (cf. previous activity) or directly while listening (several passages with pauses.)

. Give the transcription of the first sentence of the document ONLY. The students should write down the rest of the document as they listen (several passages with pauses.) This activity should only be done with very short recordings or extracts.

1.4. Mistakes in transcriptions.

. Give a transcription containing extra words or phrases with respect to what is recorded. The students should underline these “intrusions” as they listen (one or two passages with no pauses.)

N.B. The « extra » words should not render the script illogical or ungrammatical.

. Provide a transcription in which some words from the recording have been omitted. As they listen, the students should mark the places where there are missing words in the script. Then they should listen again to fill in the missing words.

N.B. The words omitted should not render the script illogical or ungrammatical.

. Provide a script with mistaken information with respect to the recording. The students should underline and/or correct these mistakes as they listen.

N.B. The mistakes should not render the script illogical or ungrammatical.

2. INFORMATION RECOGNITION ACTIVITIES

2.1. True/False

. Provide in L1 (mother tongue) as series of statements about specific elements in the recording. After listening, the students mark TRUE of FALSE for each of these statements.

. Provide in L2 (target language) a series of reworded statements about specific elements in the recording. After listening, the students mark TRUE or FALSE for each statement.

2.2. Summarizing

. Provide in L1 a summary containing some erroneous information with respect to the recording. The students underline and or/correct these mistakes as they listen.

. Provide in L1 a summary containing extra information with respect to the recording. The students listen to the recording several times with pauses, and then underline the “extra information” in the summary.

. Provide in L1 a summary in which some information from the recording has been omitted. The students listen to the document several times with pauses and complete the summary.

. Provide the same types of summary as in the previous exercises, but in L2.

2.3. Factual questions

. Before listening to the recording, provide, in L1, a series of questions about facts that will be given in the recording. The students answer the questions after listening.

. Same as above, but the questions and answers are in L2 (this activity is more specifically for advanced levels.)

. Divide the group into two subgroups. Give each subgroup a different recording, which may be accompanied by the script. Each subgroup prepares a series of factual questions on their document and submits them to the other subgroup. Allow the groups to listen to the unknown document, then work together to discuss the answers.

. Same as above, but this time each subgroup receives a different part of a single recorded document.

2.4. Listening tables

. Before listening, provide a table or chart about factual elements in the document. The students should fill in the table as they listen.

. Divide the group into two subgroups. Before listening, provide each subgroup with different listening tables or charts (i.e. concerning different parts of the document.) Compare the filled-in tables after listening.

. Divide the group into two subgroups. Give each subgroup a different document (or a different part of the same document) and ask them to prepare a listening table for the other subgroup.

3. GLOBAL COMPREHENSION ACTIVITIES

3.1. Guessing games

. Provide a « patchwork » of different beginnings from various radio or TV programs (10 seconds each) and ask the students to guess what sort of program it might be.

. Write the title of the document on the board and ask the students to guess what the topic or theme might be, or the words / expressions they expect to hear. List these suggestions on the board and then have the students listen to the documents to see how close their guesses came.

. Same as the previous activity but have the students listen to the beginning of the recording.

. With a video or DVD do the same activity but show only the first few seconds of the scene, without sound.

. Have the students listen to a recording (for example, a song) and ask them to suggest several possible titles.

. Have the students listen to or watch a document and ask them to make up a title.

3.2. Listening tables

. Provide a very general table: who, what, when, where, why, how?

. Based on the credits of a video document (e.g. a TV film or series) ask each student to « follow » one of the characters in particular and to note down as much information as they can about the character while they are watching.

3.3. Puzzles

. Divide the group into two subgroups. Subgroup A listens to the beginning of a document, and subgroup B listens to the end of the same document. Each group then relates what they heard, and all the students try to imagine what could be in the part of the document that was not heard.

. Have the students listen to a document that is recorded in a different order from the chronological one. The group should then agree upon a possible chronological order. (This activity is particularly interesting with video documents but requires pre-recording preparation beforehand.)

. Divide the group into two subgroups. One subgroup watches a video document without the sound and the other listens to the soundtrack without the images. Then the groups work together to suggest how each part goes together.

. Show only the end of a video. The group should guess the beginning and then see the entire document to verify their guesses.

Using Audio and Video Documents: a little advice for teachers

1.   Before using in class

1.1. Recording an authentic document

·         Check that the electrical connections are in good working order, that the equipment is « ON », and that you have the right station, channel, Website…

·         Set the counter on «0000 »

·         Use good quality cassettes or CDs/DVDs when making the original recordings

·         Do a test recording first (especially for video or DVD)… and don’t wait until the last five minutes before the program is to be aired to do this test...

·         If at all possible do not record more than one document per cassette or videocassette (or at least per side if two-sided.) The problem does not arise with CD and DVD as the sectors can be set up for easy changeover.

1.2. Labeling/filing the document … so you can find it more easily when you need it

·         Create a summary sheet for each document, including sources and dates

·         Enter the same reference number or title on this sheet as has been written on the cassette, CD, DVD… and make sure the reference appears directly on the document support media as well as on its protective box or sheath.

·         Using a numbered filing system helps make inventories easier…

1.3. Preparing the document for classroom use

·         Whenever possible make a separate copy to avoid overuse of the original recording.

·         Listen to or watch the document in full, and as often as necessary, in order to investigate several different teaching possibilities

·         Make a complete transcript of the dialogues (unless the document is very long), which you should keep with the document file.

·         Set up several activities from this document, preferably word-processed.

2.   While using the document in class….

·         Just before the start for the class, if necessary, advance the tape or disc to the document or place in the document that you wish to work with

·         Explain the lesson’s objectives and the instructions, using an example if needed. Briefly summarize the document unless this itself is the activity. Give these explanations in the student’s native language if you feel this will help them to understand.

·         Unless the document is very long, have the students listen to or watch it completely at least once before starting the task, in order to temporarily recreate a real-life listening/viewing context and to allow them to be aware of the difficulties they must overcome and the work to be done.

·         Don’t forget that listening comprehension in a foreign language requires a huge amount of concentration, so the task must not last longer than 30 minutes for detailed listening and at most one hour for extensive listening, for example watching a film. More often is better than too long.

3.   After in-class use

·         Rewind the audio/video cassette, either to the start of the tape or to the beginning of the document used for the activity.

·         Note down in the training log which activity was done, with the reference to the document and any useful observations about how the activity was carried out or any other notes that may be useful to another teacher.

·         Verify any corrections made to the transcript or to the supporting document so that the resource library will always have clean and useable documents on hand for the staff and students

·         File the audio/video document, its transcript, and the specific documents for the activity, in their place in the library.

Audio Document

Name:

First name:

Date:

Title of document used:

v  First listening : global comprehension

What is the subject of this document?

v  Second listening : word recognition

Ø  Proper nouns :

Ø  Words repeated several times :

Ø  Letters and numbers :

Ø  Words and expressions related to the subject :

v  Detailed listening:

Ø  Write down the first sentence in full :

Ø  Write down the second sentence in full :

Ø  Write three other sentences of your own choice:

-

-

-

Self-test

1.    What I understood well from this document:

2.    Problems I had while working with this document:

3.    What I can do to improve my listening comprehension.

Video Document

Name:

First name:

Date:

Title of document used:

v  Before watching this document

Look at the title. What sort of document do you think this is? (a documentary program, a film, a T.V. news program, a serial, etc.)? What do you think the subject will be?

v  The presentation or credits

What do you think is going to happen next?

v  Part 1

Watch this part without taking notes.

Now answer the following questions (you may watch Part 1 several times if necessary to answer all the questions.)

a) What sort of document is this?

b) Who are the characters?

c) Where does the story or event take place?

d) When does this take place?

e) What do you think will happen next?

v  Part 2 (and 3, and 4, etc.)

 At the end of each part, write a short summary of what happens, and try to imagine what will happen next.

v  At the end of the document

What did you think of this document? Did you enjoy it? Why?

Note down 10 key words that you heard in the document. Why are they important to understanding the subject?

Self-test

1.    What I understood well from this document:

2.    Problems I had while working with this document:

3.    What I can do to improve my listening comprehension.

 

Listening Activities

EXERCISE 1

TITLE OF THE ACTIVITY “ONE THEME, VARIOUS SONGS”

STUDENTS’ LEVEL B1 upwards

Objective : Make learners think more about  how a same general theme is presented in many different ways and many different approaches by different songwriters. Being confronted with those various approaches, they can become aware of the fact that even within the same country, nation and “culture”, there are many different ways to see things and to analyze them. Examples of themes : freedom, love, nation, nature, a political event, etc. Outside its obvious interest in listening practice (“detailed comprehension”), this type of activity helps learners know more about different songwriters and singers of a same country and culture, and helps them enrich their vocabulary. Material needed : 3 songs on the same theme, by 3 different singers (choose well distinguishable singers – different generations or opinions, men and women, different musical styles) Duration (approx.) : 1 hour maximum. Number of participants : Sub-groups of 3 to 5 learners in semi-autonomy for the listening part, and then whole group. Description of the activity : 1.    Explain the objective of the activity, and the different phases. Give the titles of the different songs, the names of the songwriters and singers, as well as the general theme of the songs. Ask the group to think of possible words or phrases related to that theme, and to explain the reasons for their choice. Write down the words on the board. 2.    Phase 1 : detailed comprehension. Each sub-group chooses one song and tries to write down the lyrics full detailed comprehension technique or with the help of parts of the transcript, depending on the learners’ level). The teacher passes from one group to another in order to help them when necessary. 3.    Phase 2 : Each sub-group chooses the words or sentences they think express the singer’s opinion on the theme, and agrees on the best way to present their choice orally. 4.    Phase 3 : Each group presents its analysis of the song(s) they had to listen to, and has the other participants listen to the parts of the songs illustrating the analysis. The different presentations can lead to group discussion about the different approaches of the same theme, and possibly to a debate about the learners’ opinions on the theme. 5.    Teacher gives the whole transcript of all the songs. Learners can then listen to the songs with or without the transcript.

EXERCISE 2

TITLE OF THE ACTIVITY : « LOTS OF STRANGE WORDS… »

STUDENTS’ LEVEL A1 upwards

Objective : Right from the beginning of the learning process, the aim of this activity is to develop learners’ awareness of the criss-crossings of words between different languages. This activity can be done during the very first class sessions, since it is not as difficult as it seems to be. Learners usually see it as a game : it is funny for them to discover how words from their own language can be « mispronounced » by foreigners. They also discover that the same is true for their mother tongue, and that all languages are made of « cross-cultural mixtures ». Material needed : Any oral document in the target language, in which various words from the learners’ mother tongue appear. Duration (approx.) : 15 mn maximum (learners are beginners, and listening comprehension is a very tiring and demanding activity). Number of participants : Whole group. Description of the activity : 1. The teacher explains the aim of the activity : detailed comprehension, in which learners, while listening to a document, will have to try and recognize various (teacher says how many) words from their own language. 2. Learners listen to the first sentence. The teacher asks if they recognized a word of their own language. If there is none, teacher passes on to the next sentence. If there is one and someone finds it, the teacher asks the person to try and pronounce it in the « foreign » way, just as it is pronounced in the document. If there is one and nobody found it, have them listen to the sentence again. If nobody finds it,  give a clue, until someone comes up with the right word. Write the word on the board. 3. Every time there is a « mother tongue » word in a sentence, teacher does the same thing as in 2. 4. At the end of the activity, ask the learners to try and pronounce the words written on the board as they are pronounced on the tape. 5. Write on the board other mother tongue words « adopted » by the target language, and ask students to pronounce them as they think a native speaker of the target language would pronounce them.

EXERCISE 3

TITLE OF THE ACTIVITY : “WHAT DO THEY THINK OF US ?”

STUDENTS’ LEVEL B1 upwards

Objective : Develop learners awareness about national stereotypes. What they might think about target culture and about people talking the target language is thus put into question. Material needed : Radio or video interviews of various people from the target culture expressing their opinion about the  learners’ mother culture  : “The French / Germans / Italians / …/ are …” Duration (approx.) : Depending on the duration of the interviews (45 mn maximum). Number of participants : Whole group, or, if there are many interviews, various sub-groups of 4 to 5 learners. Each sub-group will listen to 2 to 3 interviews. Description of the activity : 1.  Before listening to the interview, ask  the learners to express their opinion about the target culture : “Give 3 adjectives defining the Americans / Italians / Japanese / …”  Write all the adjectives on the board, without  discussing the learners’ opinions. 2.  Listening comprehension activity : ask the group or the sub-groups to listen to the various interviews and  to write down the different opinions expressed about the learners’ culture. 3.  Learners compare all the opinions expressed by the different people interviewed, and say if they agree or not with those opinions. Have them justify their points of view : “I agree, we really are like that, because…” or “no, I don’t agree, we’re not like that, because…” 4.  At the end of the debate, get back to the words written on the board, and ask the learners if they still think the same about the target culture. Lead them to discuss the notion of national stereotypes, and if possible, of stereotypes in general.

EXERCISE 4

TITLE OF THE ACTIVITY : “WHAT A STRANGE COUNTRY !”

STUDENTS’ LEVEL B1 upwards

Objective : Develop learners awareness about cultural differences. What they might think about target culture and about people talking the target language is thus put into question. Material needed : Radio or video interviews of various people from the target culture answering various questions on the theme  : “When you first visited France / Italy / Spain / …” (learners’ home country), what surprised / schocked / interested you most ?” Duration (approx.) : Depending on the duration of the interviews (45 mn maximum). Number of participants : Whole group, or, if there are many interviews, various sub-groups of 4 to 5 learners. Each sub-group will listen to 2 to 3 interviews. Description of the activity : 1. Listening comprehension activity : ask the group or the sub-groups to listen to the various interviews and  to write down the different opinions expressed by the people interviewed. 2.  Learners compare all the opinions expressed by the different people interviewed, and say if they agree or not with those opinions. Have them justify their points of view.

Listening comprehension: a little advice for learners

1. Why practice your listening comprehension?

¨       To identify information you need and learn to listen for it.

¨       To get used to different accents, deep or high voices, speech patterns and speed

¨       To memorize the pronunciation and meaning of unfamiliar vocabulary, and their intonation.

¨       To recognize new expressions.

2. How?

¨       Choose a variety of documents (dialogues, news programs, stories, etc. – accents from different regions – audio and video documents.)

¨        Define your learning goals: if you think you have trouble understanding the general subject of a conversation or a document, you should concentrate on listening for gist with longer documents, preferably videos or DVDs. If on the other hand you have special problems understanding specific word or expressions, work more on detailed comprehension. In both cases you should use the task files we have provided you to select your listening comprehension documents.

¨       Listen to or watch the document through once, to try to grasp the subject and try to guess what sort of document it is (documentary film? News? Telephone message?), who is speaking, to whom, about what.

¨       Listen or watch again, little by little, noting down any information you need, or trying to understand more in detail.

¨       Take note of indications supplied by the speaker’s tone of voice (sad, happy, hesitant, aggressive…) or, with visual documents, from the images and texts that accompany the spoken information.

¨       Try to anticipate what will be said.

¨       Try to guess the meaning of words and expressions that you do not know, from the context and with the help of what you do understand. Just because you can’t understand everything, does not mean that you have understood nothing!

¨       Set yourself realistic goals, and do not try to spend two consecutive hours on a single document (unless it is a film that you have taken a fancy to!), or a single exercise.

3. What should you do when you have problems?

¨       « I don’t understand! Why »

à WHAT do you not understand? A word? A sentence? The whole thing? Ask yourself these questions before you give up!

à  If you get « stuck » on certain words or passages, try guessing them from the context. You can also look words up in a dictionary.

à  If after listening several times you still feel you have not understood, listen again with the help of the transcript (if provided), then try to analyze why you did not understand.

¨       «They speak too fast! »

à If you are working with a dialogue, look for differences between written and spoken language (for example, in English : « I don’t know » often becomes « Ah dunno. »)

à Try to locate the linking words and the separations between words.

à Work with short documents, read the scripts provided, then listen to the document and apply what you have understood with the help of the script.

¨       « They have a weird accent! » (Ndt : I love this complaint. When this turns into whining, I sometimes say: “So do you. We are not going to let a little thing like that bother us, are we?”)

à Listen to the document and read the transcript at the same time. Try to hear the differences in the speakers’ pronunciation and the one you are familiar with. Take note of these and try to imitate them so that you will hear them more easily next time.

¨       «There are too many new words!”

 à If you can’t manage to recognize the key words then the problem is related to your listening skills but to a lack of vocabulary. Take advantage of the document to learn those new words (see also the document “A little advice on learning vocabulary »).

4. How should you evaluate your progress?

¨       Try to measure how quickly you understand documents of equal difficulty.

¨       Make sure you have correctly analyzed your problems – talk with your teacher.

¨       Go back after a few weeks and listen again to or watch a document that seemed difficult for you.

5. Some mistakes to avoid…

¨       Trying to understand at all costs: even in their native language, people do not understand everything they hear, but we can usually « reconstruct » the meaning due to the context or to elements that we do understand.

¨       “Knocking yourself out” trying to understand a document that is just too difficult for you. Better to put it aside for the moment, and to choose another document, fore example one on a subject you like better and are perhaps more familiar with. You can always come back later to that document that gave you problems.

¨       Using the “crutch” of subtitles in your native language when watching TV, DVDs or videos. With these you concentrate so much on reading the subtitles that you cannot listen correctly, miss most of the story and in the end have not done much to improve you listening skills!

¨       Giving up! Keep in mind that learning a language is not done in a short time and that acquiring a good level of listening comprehension requires determination and regular practice! Better to practice a little every day (15 to 20 minutes) and be able to concentrate correctly, than one 2-hour lesson every month!

A little advice on reading comprehension

1. Why practice your reading comprehension?

¨       To identify the information you need and learn to look for it.

¨       To improve your vocabulary (words and expressions.)

¨       To learn to guess the meaning of unfamiliar words and expressions with the help of the context.

¨       To memorize the spelling of new words.

2. How?

¨       Choose a variety of documents (newspaper/magazine articles, extracts from novels, instructions, advertisements, etc.) and identify the type of document chosen.

¨       Define your learning goals: if you think you have trouble understanding the general subject of written texts, you should concentrate on reading for gist with longer documents. If on the other hand you have special problems understanding specific word or expressions, work more on detailed comprehension. In both cases you should use the task files we have provided you to select your documents for reading.

¨       Set yourself realistic goals, and do not try to spend two consecutive hours on a single document (unless it is a book that you have taken a fancy to!), or a single exercise.

¨       Read the document through once, to try to grasp the subject.

¨       Note any titles or subtitles, the paragraph structure, illustrations, etc. All these items will help you to understand the document.

¨       Try to guess the meaning of words and expressions that you do not know, from the context. Just because you can’t understand everything, does not mean that you have understood nothing!

¨       Look up key words in a dictionary if you do not know them. Careful: do not just take the first definition of the word for granted; make sure you have the right definition or translation! Sometimes your dictionary can be your worst enemy!

¨       Try to anticipate what will be mentioned in the following paragraphs. Use any connecting words to help you.

3. What should you do when you have problems?

¨       « I don’t understand! Why »

à WHAT do you not understand? A word? A sentence? The whole text? Ask yourself these questions before you give up!

à  If you get « stuck » on certain passages in the text, try to look for the problem.

à If it is a word you do not know, make sure you have found the right translation in the dictionary!

 à If you have a problem due to the structure of a sentence, dissect your sentence: look for the main verb, then the subject, and the complement. Word order varies from one language to another; make sure that you are familiar with the rules for this.

4. How should you evaluate your progress?

¨       Try to measure how quickly you understand documents of equal difficulty.

¨       Make sure you have correctly analyzed your problems – talk with your teacher.

¨       Go back after a few weeks and reread a document that seemed difficult for you.

5. Some mistakes to avoid…

¨       Trying to understand at all costs: even in their native language, people do not understand everything they read and some words (particularly scientific and technical words) can be unfamiliar, but we can usually « reconstruct » the meaning due to the context or to elements that we do understand. For example, if you read a sentence like: “These photos are bonzer beautiful!”, you can easily guess what the word « bonzer » probably means, via the context.

¨       Systematically translating word for word. Better to try to understand the general sense of the sentence or text.

¨       Looking up every word in the dictionary. This is tedious and time consuming and you generally lose the general idea in the sentence or the text.

¨       Giving up! Keep in mind that learning a language is not done in a short time and requires determination!

Reading Activities

EXERCISE ONE

Presentation of the activity	Introduction of the text topic by the teacher
Type of activity	Reading
Duration	2 Hours
Instruments	Handouts, the whiteboard
Number of students	20
Students’ skills	Beginner
Language used	English
Students’ outcomes	·        Ss learn new vocabulary. ·        Ss learn new structures. ·        Ss learn about new topics (The Titanic, air pollution, etc.) ·        While the T is reading, the SS improve their pronunciation.
Way(s) used to motivate the students	·        Before delivering the handouts, the T asks some questions about the topic to arouse the SS’ interests. ·        The T gives some background information on the topic. ·        The T pre-teaches the key words that will appear in the text
Way(s) used to help the students to learn to learn	·        The T gives an assignment and makes the SS rewrite the whole story in their own words. ·        The T gives an assignment and makes the SS make up new sentences about their daily lives using the new vocabulary that appears in the text.
Evaluation of the activity	·        The SS improved their pronunciation. ·        The SS learned new vocabulary & structures. ·        They learned about mew topics and their general knowledge improved. ·        The answers were wrong with a percentage of 10 %. ·        The SS were successful in rewriting the story in their own words. ·        The SS were able to understand the text after the T gave the key words.
Additional comments	The SS had difficulty in writing for a limited topic like in item iv. so our proposal is like that: The T gives an assignment and makes the SS write a free-topic composition using the new vocabulary that appears in the text.

Organization of the lesson

1.      Pre-Reading activities:

i.                    Ss look at the picture(s) and guess what’s happening.

ii.                  Ss tell  their guessing to the T.

iii.                The teacher teaches the key words that will appear in the text (Pre-teaching vocabulary)

2.      While-Reading activities.

i.                    Teacher reads the story slowly to emphasize the pronunciation.

ii.                  Ss read the story silently.

iii.                Ss write the key words which they remember from the text (a kind of summary).

3.      Post-Reading activities.

i.                    The SS answer the questions about the text.

ii.                  The T explains (translates when necessary) the unclear parts of the text.

iii.                The T gives an assignment and makes the SS rewrite the story in their own words.

iv.                The T gives an assignment and makes the SS make up new sentences about their daily lives using the new vocabulary that appears in the text.

IN PRACTICE

Pre-Reading activities:

i.                     Ss look at the picture(s) and guess what’s happening

 

FIRST STORY

A Special Christmas Present

David wants to buy a Christmas present for a very special person, his mother. David's father gives him $5.00 a week pocket money and David puts $2.00 a week into his bank account. After three months David takes $20.00 out of his bank account and goes to the shopping mall. He looks and looks for a perfect gift.

Suddenly he sees a beautiful brooch in the shape of his favourite pet. He says to himself "Mother loves jewelry, and the brooch costs only $l7.00." He buys the brooch and takes it home. He wraps the present in Christmas paper and places it under the tree. He is very excited and he is looking forward to Christmas morning to see the joy on his mother's face.

But when his mother opens the present she screams with fright because she sees a spider.

ii.                  Ss tell  their guessing to the T.:

“There is a Christmas tree and chameleon”,

“The spider is looking at us”,

“The spider is walking”, etc.

iii.                The teacher teaches the key words that will appear in the text (Pre-teaching vocabulary) Such as “special, person, Christmas, pocket money, bank account, take out of, mall, gift, brooch, jewelry and joy”.

2. While-Reading activities.

i.                    Teacher reads the story slowly to emphasize the pronunciation.

……………………………………………………………………………….…………

………………………………………………………………………………..…………

………………………………………………………………………………..…………

ii.                  Ss reads the story silently.

………………………………………………………………………………..…………

……………………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………………………

  

iii.                Ss write the key words which they remember from the text (a kind of summary).

Such as; Christmas, present, pocket money, bank account, shopping mall, gift, brooch, buy, wrap, joy, scream, fright and spider.

3. Post-Reading activities.

i.                    The SS answer the questions about the text.

Read the text and answer the questions.

1                    What does David want to buy his Mother?

            a) a special birthday present

            b) a Christmas present

            c) a spider ring

2          Who does David get his money from?

            a) his pet

            b) his mother

            c) his father

3          How much money does David have in the bank?

            a) $20.00

            b) $5.00

            c) $l7.00

     4     What does David buy his mother?

            a) a ring

            b) a brooch

            c) a spider

5          What does David do with the present when he takes it home?

            a) he gives it to his mother

            b) he wraps it in Christmas paper

            c) he is very excited

6          Why does David's mother scream?

            a) because the present is beautiful

            b) because she doesn't like Christmas presents

            c) because she thinks she sees a real spider

7          Why does David buy a spider brooch?

            a) spiders are his favourite pet

            b) he loves Christmas

            c) to scare his mother

8          Where does David put the present on Christmas Eve?

            a) under his pillow

            b) under a spider

            c) under the Christmas tree

Write the correct answers in the gaps. Choose your answers from the box.

bank     brooch     mall     money     opens     paper     present     spider     tree

David saves up his pocket to buy a Christmas for his mother. After three months, he takes $20.00 out of his account and goes to the . He buys a beautiful for his mother. He wraps it in Christmas and places it under the Christmas . But when his mother the gift, she screams, because she sees a .

ii.                  The T explains (translates when necessary) the unclear parts of the text.

Unclear parts:

·        He is very excited and he is looking forward to Christmas morning to see the joy on his mother's face.

·        But when his mother opens the present, she screams with fright because she sees a spider.

These  sentences are explained and translated into mother tongue.

iii.                The T gives an assignment and makes the SS rewrite the story in their own words.

Here are some examples of rewriting the story.

• David goes to mall. He takes present . Her mother opens present . She screams . She sees a spider.

• David wants to buy a Christmas present for a very special person, his mother. David takes $ 20 out of his bank account . After he goes to shopping. He takes brooch . He is very excited. Christmas morning to see the joy on his mother ‘s face . But his mother looks present , she screams because she sees a spider.

• David goes to the mall. He takes Christmas present his mother. He gives present his mother . His mother be happy.

iv.                The T gives an assignment and makes the SS make up new sentences about their daily lives using the new vocabulary that appears in the text.

• I go to the mall. I buy to the Spiderman toys in the mall. I tear paper. I see brooch in the mall. I say It is a nice brooch.
• I go to school. I come to house. My father gives pocket money. I watch Spiderman. I plant tree in the garden. I buy paper to my lesson. I open the door my room. Sometimes I see a spider in my room and I scream.

SECOND STORY

Two sisters and the cat

Mrs Wilson and Mrs Smith are sisters. Mrs Wilson lives in a house in Duncan and    Mrs Smith lives in a condominium in Victoria. One day Mrs Wilson visited her sister. When her sister answered the door Mrs Wilson saw tears in her eyes. "What's the matter?" she asked. Mrs Smith said "My cat Sammy died last night and I have no place to bury him".

 She began to cry again. Mrs Wilson was very sad because she  knew her sister loved the cat very much. Suddenly Mrs. Wilson said  "I can bury your cat in my garden in Duncan and you can come and visit him sometimes. Mrs. Smith stopped crying and the two sisters had tea together and a nice visit.

It was now five o'clock and Mrs Wilson said it was time for her to go home. She put on her hat, coat and gloves and Mrs Smith put the dead Sammy into a shopping bag. Mrs Wilson took the shopping bag and walked to the bus stop. She waited a long time for the bus so she bought a newspaper. When the bus arrived she got on the bus, sat down and put the shopping bag on the floor beside her feet. She then began to read the newspaper. When the bus arrived at her bus stop she got off the bus and walked for about two minutes. Suddenly she remembered she left the shopping bag on the bus.
[Story by Laurie Buchanan]

1)      Read the text and answer the questions.

1               Where does Mrs. Smith live?

□  in a condominium in Duncan

□  in a condominium in Victoria

□  in a house in Duncan

2               Why is Mrs. Smith upset?

□  because her sister came to see her cat

□  because her cat died

□  because Mrs Wilson was sad

3               What did Mrs. Wilson do?

□  take the cat with her on the bus

□  put her gloves in the shopping bag

□  prepare dinner for her sister

                                

4               Who did Sammy the cat live with?

□  Mrs Wilson

□  Mrs Smith

□  Mrs Wilson and Mrs Smith

                                

5               What time did Mrs. Wilson go home?

□  when the bus arrived

□  at 5 p.m.

□  after she walked for two minutes

                                

6               How did Mrs. Wilson go home?

□  walked for two minutes before she caught the bus

□  read a newspaper on the bus

□  took a bus

                                

7               What did Mrs. Wilson forget?

□  the newspaper

□  her handbag

□  the shopping bag

                                

8               Where did Sammy die?

□  in Mrs Smith's house in Duncan

□  in Mrs Wilson's garden

□  in Victoria

 

2)      Type the correct answers in the gaps. Choose your answers from the box.

answered     arrived     asked     come     died     got     knew     lives     loved     put     remembered     said     saw     stopped     took     visited     waited     walked

Mrs Wilson and Mrs Smith are sisters. Mrs Wilson in a house in Duncan and Mrs Smith lives in a condominium in Victoria. One day Mrs Wilson her sister. When her sister the door Mrs Wilson tears in her eyes. "What's the matter?" she . Mrs Smith said "My cat Sammy last night and I have no place to bury him".
She began to cry again. Mrs Wilson was very sad because she her sister the cat very much. Suddenly Mrs. Wilson said "I can bury your cat in my garden in Duncan and you can and visit him sometimes. Mrs. Smith crying and the two sisters had tea together and a nice visit.
It was now five o'clock and Mrs Wilson it was time for her to go home. She on her hat, coat and gloves and Mrs Smith put the dead Sammy into a shopping bag. Mrs Wilson the shopping bag and to the bus stop. She a long time for the bus so she bought a newspaper. When the bus she got on the bus, sat down and put the shopping bag on the floor beside her feet. She then began to read the newspaper. When the bus arrived at her bus stop she off the bus and walked for about two minutes. Suddenly she she left the shopping bag on the bus.

A little advice on speaking

1.   Why practice speaking?

Language is communication and, though communication may take place in several ways, speaking is certainly one of these ways, maybe the most important one, no matter if you need the language to ask for a cup of tea or to report your ideas at a conference.

2.   How?

It would be nice if we could join some mother tongue speakers and talk to them, but, as this is  not likely to happen, we must exploit the opportunities offered by our school environment  or rely on  our determination to learn and proceed through trial and error.

3.   What should we do?

First of all, we should not be shy or nervous. Often, even people who are good at listening, reading  or writing, do not trust their oral competence and are mediocre speakers. We should keep in mind that speaking is like jogging. The first few times we do jogging, we must stop or rest and we feel out of breath. But, day after day, we find that we can cover a longer distance and we feel less exhausted at the end. Mistakes must not discourage us. We must go on trying. In a conversation with a native speaker, he will take for granted that his partner is not perfect. No one ever is, even in one’s own language. If you are talking to a school friend, he will not care about your mistakes; if your teacher is listening to you, he/she will appreciate your determination to get better To get as much practice as possible, get into the habit of talking to yourself. It may be difficult  or it may sound strange, but it will give you the opportunity to repeat things over and over again till you are satisfied with your performance.

Try to record yourself : listening to yourself later on will help you discover your weak points and also check your progress.

4.   What kind of practice?

Look for grammar exercises dealing with your weak points. They are not usually communicative at all, but they will get you into the habit of using some structures without having to think of their formation for too long.

You can also try to make short summaries, relate simple events, describe pictures.

Whatever you do, remember to speak in a loud voice as if you were really speaking to a person.

5.   What mistakes not to make

§  Don’t be shy or tense

§  Don’t  despair if you can’t remember the right word. How often does it happen in our own language and nothing terrible happens?

§  Don’t stop talking just because you can’t remember a word. Try to use another  one or use gestures

§  Don’t forget that listening to your partner is important. He may suggest the correct form or the word you need as in most cases a conversation implies cooperation.

§  Don’t worry if, while speaking, you feel that your speech is not highly organised or linear. Speaking is not like writing. Listen to conversations in your own language, you will notice that they often appear confused, but communication does not fail.

 

 

Speaking Activities

EXERCISE  1

Presentation of the activity	The teacher tells the students that they will do a group work for the activity and to form groups of three.
Type of activity	Speaking
Duration	2 Hours
Instruments	Handouts-pictures
Number of students	24
Students’ skills	Beginner
Language used	English
Evaluation of the activity	·        The SS improved their feeling of self-confidence by learning to describe the things they see. ·        The SS learned new vocabulary & structures. ·        They learned about new topics and their general knowledge improved.
Way(s) used to motivate the students	·        Before delivering the pictures, the T asks some questions about the SS’ interest of clothes, fashion, etc. ·        The T gives some background information on the topic. ·        The T pre-teaches the key words that will possibly be needed.
Way(s) used to help the students to learn to learn	The T gives a short in-class assignment and makes the SS describe their favourite type of clothes.
Additional comment	Ø  You can make it into a competition, when the winner is the group to finish first; mistakes can be penalized by adding half a minute to their time. However, if you have a very competitive group, the activity might turn into chaos with students hurrying and interrupting one another. Ø  It's best done with pictures of people of the same sex and preferably same age/height/build so that students should really concentrate on the clothes.
Students’ outcomes	·        Ss learn new vocabulary. ·        Ss learn new description styles for clothes. ·        Ss feel free to use the language due to the group work feeling.

IN PRACTICE

4. Pre-Speaking notes:

1.      Tell the students to form groups of three.

2. Give each group member a different copy of the pictures and tell them that they mustn't show their pictures to each other.
3. Tell them that some people appear in all versions, some in only one or two. Their task is to describe the clothes the people in their pictures are wearing and find who else in the group has got the same picture.
4. To make checking answers easier, tell them to write the name of the student in the group above the picture who's got it too.

Look at the pictures of people here. Your partners have got some of them, but everybody has got a different set. Describe the pictures to your partners and try to find who has got which picture. Then write the name of your partner who has got the same picture at the top.

Look at the pictures of people here. Your partners have got some of them, but everybody has got a different set. Describe the pictures to your partners and try to find who has got which picture. Then write the name of your partner who has got the same picture at the top.

Look at the pictures of people here. Your partners have got some of them, but everybody has got a different set. Describe the pictures to your partners and try to find who has got which picture. Then write the name of your partner who has got the same picture at the top.

EXERCISE  2

Presentation of the activity	Introduction of the topic by the teacher. After warm-up discussion, The teacher tells the students to form groups of 5-7 and, gives each student a role card, and explain that they are a family planning a holiday.
Type of activity	Speaking
Duration	2 Hours
Instruments	whiteboard, role cards
Number of students	24
Students’ skills	False beginners
Language used	English
Way(s) used to motivate the students	·        Warm-up questions (the T asks some questions about the topic to arouse the SS’ interests- for example, going on holiday and where to go?) ·        The T gives some background information on the topic. ·        The T pre-teaches the key words that are possible needed fort he discussion in the group.
Way(s) used to help the students to learn to learn	The T gives an assignment and makes the SS make up new sentences about their holiday dreams using the new vocabulary appeared during discussions.
Students’ outcomes	·        Ss learn new vocabulary. ·        Ss learn about giving ideas. ·        Awareness of suggestion structures.
Evaluation of the activity	·        The SS improved their pronunciation. ·        The SS learned new vocabulary & structures. ·        They learned about new topics and their general knowledge improved. ·        It helped their speaking skills within a group.
Additional comment	If you think it's necessary, you might want to revise phrases and structures used in arguments. ·        The argument is livelier if there are more (at least 6) students in a group. ·        If you can't form groups of 7 (which would be ideal), start leaving out roles from the end, starting with the neighbor (the least necessary). ·        This activity usually generates heated arguments; in some cases I even had to intervene when students started getting too rough on one another ...

IN PRACTICE

1.      Give each student a role card, and explain that they are a family planning a holiday.

2.      Ask them to study their cards for a minute or two and prepare themselves for the argument.

3.      Ask the family members to introduce themselves, without revealing their tasks.

4.      Ask the father to open the family discussion.

5.      The activity ends when they've come to a conclusion where to go.

6.      You can ask the students to read out their cards at the end and compare how much of their goals they were able to reach.

The mother You want to go to some exotic place like China or Peru, for at least three weeks. Unfortunately, you can’t stand your brother-in-law - he should stay at home.	The father Your idea of a holiday is something relaxing, short and cheap. Going abroad is so tiring. You like your brother very much - why not take him and his wife, too?
The 16-year-old son You don’t want to go with your boring family anywhere - but if you have to, it should be as short and as close as possible.	The 18-year-old daughter You want to go to the sea for at least two weeks, by plane, of course - and bring your boyfriend, too - this is the most important.
The 13-year-old son You’ve never flown in your life - you very much want to try it. You like big cities where there are a lot of interesting things to do.	The father’s brother You want to go with your brother’s family wherever they go - and take your wife as well.
The neighbour You don’t want them to go away, because they always ask you to look after their house, and you hate it.	(Other family member if it is necessary fort he group number)
The neighbour You don’t want them to go away, because they always ask you to look after their house, and you hate it

EXERCISE  3

Presentation of the activity	The teacher tells the students that they will do a group work for the activity and to form groups of three.
Type of activity	Speaking
Duration	2 Hours
Instruments	1 set of job cards (optional)
Number of students	26
Students’ skills	Elementary
Language used	English
Way(s) used to motivate the students	Teacher writes the word JOBS on the board and tells the students that s/he is going to leave the room for 5 minutes. While the teacher is gone they have to fill up the whole board with words connected to this theme. They can use their dictionaries if they like. The teacher nominates a student as the secretary; gives them the board marker or chalk and leaves. Comes back after 5 minutes (or before if you think it’s too long) and goes over what they have written.
Students’ outcomes	Students review jobs and job related vocabulary and practice oral fluency talking about different jobs for their partner.
Evaluation of the activity	·        Raising students’ awareness of jobs by helping them discover work conditions of different jobs is something difficult but very useful. It also gives the students some ideas for their future interest. ·        The SS learned new job-related vocabulary & structures (comparatives). ·        Physical actions make the activity lively and the atmosphere energetic.
Additional comment	Materials-free version: This activity can be done without the cards in two ways. Write the names of the jobs on the white board and tell students to copy them down for their groups and add three more. Have students decide on ten or twelve jobs on their own in groups. The advantage of doing this ranking exercise with cards means that while students are speaking they can physically move the order about.

IN PRACTICE

Pre-Speaking task 1 – Warm-up (as explained above)

Pre-speaking task 2 – Group formation

Tell the students that they are going to do a listening activity related to jobs. They must change places with another student if the sentence you read out to them is true for them.

Read out the following sentences and stop when you think people have moved around enough. They then form groups of three with the new people they are sitting next to.

Change places if…

· You have a job. · You have a job that you like. · You have a job that you don’t like. · You use a computer at work. · You have a mobile phone for your job. · You work at night. · You would like a different job.

Speaking task – Talk about the cards

Give each group a set of job cards (minus the blank ones). Tell them to put them face down on the table. Students take it turn to pick up a card and say something about the job. Put some helpful language on the whiteboard for them to refer to:

A ….works in a ….

A … has to be a very …. person

A … works early in the morning/at night

This is a good/bad job because ….

Allow this stage to go on until students have said something about each of the cards.

Clarify vocabulary problems (e.g. attorney at law=lawyer) during this stage.

Now give out the blank cards and ask them to write a job on each one. They should have a total of 12 different job cards.

Speaking task 2 – Rank the cards

Now tell the students to imagine that their partner/friend could have one of these jobs.

Which one would be the best? Why? Give an example for yourself and write it on the board. Then tell the students the rules for the speaking activity (you could also write these on the board).

1. Put the cards in order from best to worst job for your partner/friend.

2. Decide in your group what is the best order and why.

3. Talk only in English.

When they are finished, ask a couple of groups to explain their order.

JOB CARDS

                                 

EXERCISE  4

AGES AND AGEING

Presentation of the activity	Training speaking skills and raising students’ awareness on a social problem
Type of activity	Speaking
Duration	90 minutes
Instruments	Worksheets
Number of students	25
Students’ skills	Intermediate
Language used	English
Students’ outcomes	Improve their ability to exchange opinions Improve their conversational ability and knowledge of vocabulary
Evaluation of the activity	The activity can improve the speaking ability of the students who are free to speak without too much direct control of the teacher who does not take part in the discussion but acts as an organizer. At the same time the activity may help the students to become more aware of  a serious social problem
Additional comment	As the activity deals with many different points it may be interrupted at any of these points if the teacher notices that attention is flagging

 

ORGANIZATION

 

Warm Up:

The teacher will ask the whole class about the everyday lives of old people

(activities, family life, social life, etc.). She/he will ask the students to think of their oldest living male and female relatives using two adjectives to describe each one of them.

In pairs Ss can discuss their relationships and feelings toward these people.

Time needed: 15 minutes

Phase one:

Help for old people

The teacher will speak briefly about what help is  provided for old  people by the government in Britain and what benefits they have The teacher will try to introduce vocabulary the students may need.. She/he will then ask the students to compare English benefits to those in Spain.

Then she/he will invite the students to think of attitudes  to old people. In small groups the students will talk about this particular aspect of the topic.

Time needed:30 minutes

Phase Two:

Pros and cons

The students will then speak about the pros and cons of old age homes.

The class can be divided into groups of 4 where two people will be in favour and the other two against, or with the whole class.

Time needed: 30 minutes

 

Phase Three

Discussing vocabulary

Time needed: 15 minutes

 

AGE AND AGEING - STUDENT’S WORKSHEET

 

The following worksheet may be  used to help focus the students’ attention on some particular points and prevent them from being  too vague and from getting lost in their discussion. The guidelines on the worksheet will be particularly useful for Phase One and Two.

 

i.       What can you say about the everyday lives these old people lead?

 

ii.      In pairs think of your oldest living male and female relatives and use two adjectives to describe each one of them. Mention your relationship with these people and what your feelings are towards them.

Phase One

In Britain anyone over the age of sixty can have a Senior Citizens Railcard which allows them to buy train tickets at reduced prices.

A.    Describe any special help that people over 65 get in your country (as regards travel or anything else).

 

B.    What, in general, are the attitudes towards old people in your country? Choose the best answer:

·        They are respected and helped.

·        They are neglected by a society that prefers the young, the beautiful and the modern?

C.   What happens to old people in your country when they can’t look after themselves any more?

·         They are looked after by their families.

·         They spend their old age in special homes for old people.

Phase Two

Pros and cons

D.  In groups of 4-5 discuss the pros and cons of living in old age homes.

      Speak about this from your own family experience if applicable. Take the following points into consideration.

·        Is it becoming more accepted for old people to be put in these homes nowadays?

·        When you reach this age would you prefer to live with your children, be taken care of in your own home or be placed in an old age home?

·        Discuss what you plan to do when you retire.

E.    Which three things do you most look forward to about old age?

Which three things do you least look forward to about old age?

F.     Vocabulary: What do you think some of the following expressions about age mean?

1.    He’s getting on a bit.

2.    She’s pushing 40.

3.    He`s no spring chicken.

4.    She’s in her prime.

5.    He’s well past his “sell-by” date.

6.    She’s got one foot in the grave.

7.    She’s just a babe in arms.

8.    He’s rather young for his age.

9.    He’s over the hill.

G.    While the students discuss the various points, the teacher moves from group to group paying attention to wrong forms the students may be using. Her/his observations may suggest some remedial work in a following lesson.

EXERCISE  5

TYPICAL ANGLO-AMERICAN FESTIVITIES

Presentation of the activity	Speaking and learning about festivities in  the foreign country
Type of activity	Speaking, listening and reading activity
Duration	50/60 minutes
Instruments	Tape recorder or OHP, worksheets
Number of students	20, 25
Students’ skills	From lower intermediate to upper intermediate
Language used	English
Students’ outcomes	Ss revise vocabulary; Ss train their ability to relate facts and organize a little speech in a linear way; Ss train their ability to exploit the context when dealing with words.
Evaluation of the activity	This type of activity is fairly relaxing as the content is not too “academic” or committed. The fact that the teacher has apparently no strict and direct control on the students also helps the learners to get involved without being too tense.
Additional comment	The activity has different steps and some are easier than others. This may help involvement as even the weaker students may feel they can take part in the conversation.

ORGANIZATION

Warm up

The teacher asks the students a few questions in order to focus their attention on the topic and to check what they know about the topic. He/she uses this phase also to introduce  vocabulary the students  may need later on.

Types of likely questions  to ask:

-          Do you know when Halloween is?

-          Do you know where the word comes from?

-          Do you know when it is celebrated, where, why?

Time needed for the warm up: no more then five minutes

Focusing on Halloween

A)    The teacher writes on the blackboard some of the words from the Halloween vocabulary list  and asks the students whether they know the words. Then the teacher  gives the students the worksheet with the Halloween vocabulary and invites them to go through it to check whether their explanations were right and explains meanings when it is necessary.

B)    The teacher gives the students the worksheet with the missing words  and tells them that  they must fill in the gaps. The teacher  points out that  rhyme or their own knowledge  may help them  to fill in the gaps  if meaning fails. This can  be done in pairs.

C)    The teacher gives them 15 minutes to complete the sentences.

D)    After the students have completed their task, the teacher asks for a few answers at random  and then plays the tape to help the students check whether their answers were correct. Time needed: 10 minutes

From Halloween to other  American or British festivities

E)    Give the students a list of celebrations and ask them to decide whether they are American, British or both. The little discussion needs 10-15 minutes.

Follow up 

F)    The teacher asks the students to form small groups (three or four people) and to talk about an   important festivity in their own country. They will have 10 minutes to decide what to say. The groups also choose a spokesman who will tell the whole class  what festivity his/her group has chosen to speak about.

Exercise

1.       Look at the list of celebrations and decide which are British, American or both

-          Thanksgiving

-          Mother’s Day

-          Boxing Day

-          Guy Fawkes’ Night

-          Independence Day

-          St. Valentine

-          Christmas Eve

-          Labour Day

2.       Do you know when these festivities are held? Why? Are they important? What is done in each case?

3.       Is any of these festivities held in your country as well?

4.       In groups choose a festivity of your country, talk about it in groups and then  describe it to the whole class

Halloween Vocabulary

Halloween	N	a holiday celebrated on October 31 in which people dress in scary costumes
to carve	V	to cut with a large knife
pumpkin	N	a large, orange vegetable associated with Halloween
Jack-o-lantern	N	Americans traditionally cut out scary faces in pumpkins and put a candle inside. These pumpkins with faces are called "Jack-o-lanterns." Jack-o-lanterns are made to scare away evil spirits on Halloween.
costume	N	scary clothing or disguises worn on Halloween
"trick or treat"		On Halloween, children go from house to house and say "trick or treat." This phrase means give me candy or I will play a trick on you. Families usually give the children candy. If the children don't get candy, they sometimes play mean tricks like breaking the house's Jack-o-lantern or putting soap on its windows.
a costume party	N	a party where everyone dresses in scary costumes
bobbing for apples		This is a traditional Halloween game. You put apples in a barrel of water and people try to take the floating apples out of the water using only their mouths.
a skeleton	N	a body of nothing but bones
a ghost	N	the spirit of a dead person which appears again
a ghoul	N	an evil spirit which takes bodies from graves and eats them
a goblin	N	an unkind spirit which plays tricks on people
a witch	N	a woman with magic powers (usually evil)
a warlock	N	a man with magic powers (usually evil)

Little Monsters (Gap-Filling Exercise)

KEY

Choose your and carve it right, For tonight is the night of fright. A most dangerous eve is , Disguise yourself from dangers unseen. Beware! The witches and prepare their brews, Deadly mixtures and magic stews. Those without should run and hide, Or, better yet, stay inside, For the darkest night is the night of fools, Souls unprepared for bone-eating , Ghosts and who seek to annoy, Or, perhaps, even destroy. Listen! Hear the sounds of laughter and little feet, As they threaten you with "." Give them candy, they will go away. Lock your doors and pray That the candle stays lit, And the devilish children quit.

Choose your and carve it right, For tonight is the night of fright. A most dangerous eve is , Disguise yourself from dangers unseen. Beware! The witches and prepare their brews, Deadly mixtures and magic stews. Those without should run and hide, Or, better yet, stay inside, For the darkest night is the night of fools, Souls unprepared for bone-eating , Ghosts and who seek to annoy, Or, perhaps, even destroy. Listen! Hear the sounds of laughter and little feet, As they threaten you with "." Give them candy, they will go away. Lock your doors and pray That the candle stays lit, And the devilish children quit.

 

EXERCISE  6

NATIONAL STEREOTYPES

Presentation of the activity	Discussing an comparing national stereotypes
Type of activity	Speaking
Duration	60 minutes
Instruments	Worksheets, blackboard
Number of students	20, 25
Students’ skills	From intermediate to advanced
Language used	English
Students’ outcomes	Students improve their descriptive adjective vocabulary; Ss revise words and structures; Ss discuss perceived differences between nations Ss become aware stereotypes may have a negative influence on people.
Evaluation of the activity	Easy to organize; it usually motivates students who find the topic amusing and relaxing.  It can be exploited at different levels
Additional comment	Be careful in a multi-ethnic class

ORGANIZATION

Warm up

Write the word 'Stereotype' on the board and ask students what the word means. If students are not sure of the meaning,  ask them to finish the phrase, "All Americans..." or something similar. Time needed: 5 minutes at the most.

Phases of the speaking activity

1.     Once students have understood  what a stereotype is, ask a few volunteers to mention two or three  stereotypes about their own country.

2.     Include a few provocative stereotypes of your own at this point in order to get students thinking about the negative or shallow aspects of thinking in stereotypes. Example: American food is fast food.  Americans love guns. Spanish are lazy, British are….

3.     Ask students to divide into pairs, give them a list of adjectives and invite the students to choose two of the listed adjectives to describe each nationality. Tell them that they will need to explain the reasons  for the adjectives provided.

4.     Go through the sheet asking several students to explain the reasons for their choice. Ask other students whether they agree or disagree to promote conversation. Time needed for this phase: 25 minutes

 

Going deeper into the topic

5.     Once you have finished your discussion of stereotypes, ask students why stereotyping can  often be bad and which stereotypes of their own country or region they do not like. Give them a quarter of an hour to think and discuss in pairs or small groups, then ask them to explain what their ideas are. Time needed on the whole: 30 minutes

 

Follow up

6.      If time allows or if you think it useful, have students compare their own region or country to another one. Ask them to include various stereotypes, as well as examples from their own experience that either confirm or refute the stereotypes they mention. This can be given also as a homework to prepare for the following class – either   orally or in writing – to  help memorise vocabulary.

Worksheet

Choose two adjectives that you think describe the nationalities listed below. Choose two countries of your own to describe.

punctual tolerant romantic respectful hard-working emotional

outgoing nationalistic well-dressed humorous lazy sophisticated

hospitable talkative sociable serious quiet formal

aggressive polite rude arrogant ignorant casual

American	British	French
Japanese	____________	____________

 

A little advice on written expression

1.      Why practice your writing?

Like oral expression, writing is a form of production. Training to improve your writing ability in a foreign language has two main purposes:

¨       Learning to produce written documents for everyday use (letters, administrative documents, fax, e-mails, post cards, and so on) ;

¨       Setting in your memory the items learned in class, by writing them (new vocabulary, grammar structures, idioms, etc.)

2.      How?

¨       There are two types of written activities :

-          Guided writing, which is useful in memorizing items that have been studied, and reusing them in a quasi-automatic manner. For example, grammar exercises in which you are asked to re-use the same conjugation several times, so that you will become familiar with it.

-          More open activities, for which you will be asked to use your imagination. Before you start a task of this type, ask yourself some questions: « What is the use of the text I am going to write? Who will be reading it? » because you will not write the same document to apply for a job as you would write to a friend from your holiday home or for your colleagues if you have taken notes at a meeting. Then note down (in your native language) the main points you want your reader to understand. You can, if the text is to be rather long, make a more complete outline of your planned document. Only then should you begin writing your text. When you have finished, always take the time to re-read your text and correct any errors.

3.      What should you do when you have problems?

¨       For guided activities, first go back to what you have studied in class. If you still do not understand what is asked of you, or why you have made mistakes, look for extra explanations in a grammar reference book (your teacher can give you advice on which books would be suitable.) To check your answers, look at the answer sheet which you have probably received along with the task.

¨       For more open activities, you can exchange your document with another student in your class. Each student should give an objective opinion abut the other’s work.

¨       Re-read your text with one goal at a time. First check for grammar mistakes, then improve the style, then try to simplify or perhaps look for different words, etc.

¨       Again with the goal of an objective examination of your work, you should put it aside for a few days if you can, and then edit it again. You will most probably find possibilities for improvement.

4.      How should you evaluate your progress?

¨       For each text you have produced yourself, ask yourself, “Have I done what as expected of me?” For example, if you had to write a letter requesting information, did you ask the right questions? Were you clear? Did you indicate the receiver?, etc.

¨       Study the remarks your teachers made, not in an overall manner but by category:

-          style

-          morphology

-          syntax

-          vocabulary

-          spelling

-          logical sequence of ideas

-          etc.

¨       Note the categories in which you think you have made progress.

5.    Some mistakes to avoid...

¨       Don’t write your text in your native language first and then translate it. This is the best way to produce an unintelligible document!

¨       Be simple. Even if you feel that your sentences are too short, or that your vocabulary is too “basic”, if you remain simple you will at least be sure that your readers will understand what you wanted to say. “Elegant style” will come with time and practice.

Writing Activities

EXERCISE 1

An exercise in coherence and cohesion

Presentation of the activity	Training in coherence and cohesion
Type of activity	Writing Speaking in the second  part of the lesson
Duration	60 minutes
Instruments	Photocopies; OHP
Number of students	25
Students’ skills	Beginners
Language used	English Italian in the second part of the activity
Evaluation of the activity	Positive for practically everybody
Additional comment	To make this activity really successful the foreign language teacher needs the support of the mother tongue  teacher. A badly organized text in English  usually means that the student lacks coherence and cohesion in his /her own mother tongue, too. If the two teacher collaborate, giving similar exercises, the effect goes deeper and is permanent
Students’ outcomes	The students improve their writing skills  by changing a list of sentences into a proper text.

Organization of the lesson

Warm up: The teacher revises quickly the past tenses of the irregular verbs in the passage by asking the students to do a quick fill-in exercise as, for example,

Write the missing form:

break
	bought
put
hear

After checking the answers quickly by asking students at random, the teacher makes sure that the students know the words which may cause problems and writes them on the blackboard if they are not known.( Ex: What does a plane do when it reaches destination? Where do you keep your coins, you can break it when it is full, etc.)

Time : 10 minutes

Writing phase: the teacher gives the handouts and explains to the students that they have to turn the list into a coherent text by linking the sentences, avoiding repetitions, etc.

Time given: 20 minutes

Checking phase: The teacher asks a student to read  his/her first paragraph and writes it on the OHP. The teacher goes on till the end of the story and then asks the students if they are satisfied  with  the text they can read. Suggestions are encouraged.

As the students’ linguistic competence is not high, this final discussion is more productive if the students’ native language is used.

Time: 30 minutes.

TEXT FOR EXERCISE 1

I have exploited an article published on December 31,2005 to make an example of this technique. The original article talked about a 16-year-old American boy who is following a course on journalism and decided to go to Baghdad to get first hand knowledge of what is going on in that country.

This is how I turned the article into a “shopping” list:

Farris is 16

Farris is American

Farris’ parents were born in Baghdad

Farris studies journalism

Farris wanted to see Baghdad

Farris wanted to check how people live in Baghdad nowadays

Farris wanted to write about Baghdad

Farris broke his money box

Farris bought a ticket to Kuwait City

Farris landed in Kuwait City

Farris phoned his parents

Farris’ parents implored Farris to go back

Farris tried to cross the border

Farris hired a taxi

The taxi driver asked for 250 dollars

The taxi driver took Farris to Baghdad

Farris reached Baghdad on Christmas day

Farris  went to a hotel for Western people

Farris couldn’t speak the language at all

It was very difficult for Farris to communicate

Farris decided to go to the Associated Press

The reporters heard Farris’ story

The reporters were shocked

The reporters phoned the American Embassy

Farris was put on a plane

Farris flew back to America

Farris’ parents were angry

Farris’ parents were relieved.

EXERCISE  2

The following exercise is a further step along the line of coherence and cohesion.

This practice is  an obvious more difficult activity as the students have to read and understand the text, add  the information they think more appropriate to fulfil  the teacher’s request and choose how to fit it  into the text they were given.

Presentation of the activity	Training in coherence and cohesion
Type of activity	Writing
Duration	Two  hours
Instruments	Photocopies
Number of students	25
Students’ skills	Lower intermediate
Language used	English (Mother tongue)
Evaluation of the activity	Positive as the students have to think, and decide by themselves , what is important to make their story more attractive and they find it challenging.
Additional comment	Last time I used this particular passage, I noticed that four or five students added rather than integrated information; moreover, a couple of students wrote very long descriptions when they were asked to say something about the people involved. Their language was correct, but the outcome not particularly successful.
Students’ outcomes	The students improve their writing skills  and are guided towards creativity .

Organization of the lesson

Warm up: the teacher asks if they have read about thefts or burglaries and if they remember what happened . This is to introduce the topic, but ,above all, to revise vocabulary or give them words which may be of help in their writing.

Time: 5 minutes

Writing phase: The students are given the handouts and explained what they are asked to do. The teacher makes it clear that the new information must be integrated in the text.  Quantity is much less important as too much may lead away from the story itself

Time: 50/55 minutes

Before the following lesson the teacher makes photocopies of  a text  written by one of the  students, which he does not think particularly successful in its organization.

He gives the students a few minutes to read it  and then encourages them to say what they find negative, and also positive, in the text and asks them  to suggest useful alterations.

If necessary, the students can use their native language to discuss their opinions as in this case the focus is “improving writing skills” rather than improving their knowledge of the foreign  language.

Time : 60 minutes.

ORIGINAL TEXT FOR EXERCISE N. 2

This is the text I started from (a translation from a short Italian article)

An old woman was in her little jewellery shop in the main square of a little town in Sicily.

It was almost lunch time and she was getting ready to go out to have lunch when two elegantly dressed men rang the bell. She had seen no customers throughout the morning  and so she opened the door feeling quite  glad. But when the men came in, she was shocked.: one of them took a gun out of his pocket  and threatened to kill her if she didn’t give them money and jewels. There was nothing in the till  so they ordered her to open the safe.

She went to the safe; she tried and tried but she couldn’t remember how the lock worked. The two thieves got more and more nervous but it was obvious they couldn’t do much.

Then, all of a sudden one of them shouted: “The police!” A police car had stopped not far from the shop. The thieves grabbed a few jewels from the shelves and walked out trying to look as normal as possible.

The trouble was that, days later, the woman was still unable to remember the combination.

TEXT GIVEN TO THE STUDENTS

This is  passage as I gave the students:

A woman (say something about her) was in her little jewellery shop in the main square  (state where the shop was)

It was almost lunch time and she was getting ready to (state what she was going to do)

when two men (say what they looked like and what they did)

She had seen no customers throughout the morning and so she opened  the door (say how she felt).

But when the men came in, she was shocked:  (say what she saw) and threatened to kill her if she (state what they wanted her to do)

There was nothing in the till so (write what you think they said)

She went to the safe; she tried and tried, but she couldn’t remember how (complete the idea)

The two thieves (state how they felt) but it was obvious they couldn’t do much.

Then, all of a sudden, one of the men shouted:   “The police!”

(Say where the policemen were and what the two men did).

The two men went out trying to look as normal as they could (Say what happened when they went out).

The trouble was that, days later, the woman was still unable to remember the combination of her safe.

EXERCISE N. 3

LEADING STUDENTS TO CREATIVE WRITING

As a teacher I believe that it is of great importance  for the students to use their knowledge of the foreign language in a  creative way. Tests, multiple choices, most comprehension questions,  grammar exercises of all sort do not necessarily enable the students to use their knowledge outside the schoolroom environment. This is why I insist on using exercises  which may help students use structures and functions   without  the guidelines of clear-cut exercises. Moreover, I believe that it is not bad for people in general, and for younger people in particular, to use imagination. As a consequence I often  give my classes a starting point and ask them to go on in the way they think best.

In this particular case, I started from an article in a newspaper and I used the task for a writing test. There were 23 15-year-old students in the class.

Presentation of the activity	Practising writing skills encouraging  independence and creativity Writing a conversation
Type of activity	Writing speaking and reading skills involved as well
Duration	Two  hours
Instruments	Photocopies
Number of students	23
Students’ skills	Lower intermediate In this particular case the students need to know past tenses and negative and interrogative forms.
Language used	English
Evaluation of the activity	Positive as the students have to rely on themselves and their knowledge to make the text interesting.
Additional comment	·          It is difficult to mark the papers as the teacher may be  given very nice texts, very natural and pleasant to read, but with many grammar mistakes; on the other hand,  the teacher may receive  texts which are correct, but very stiff. ·          The teacher must pay attention to the kind of language the students will have to produce; I mean, if the activity needs a second conditional or a duration form,  but they haven’t learnt them yet, the exercise will not be successful from a linguistic point of view.
Students’ outcomes	The students  are trained in their writing skills  and are guided towards creativity .

 

 

TEXT USED FOR  EXERCISE N. 3

This is a true story. It is about Farris Hassan, a 16-year-old American boy of Iraki origin. His parents were born in Baghdad. He is studying journalism and he decided to go to Baghdad to check how people manage down there. Without telling his parents he bought a ticket to Kuwait City and phoned home only after he landed there. His parents were shocked and implored him to go back; instead he tried to cross the border. It was impossible and so he hired a taxi. For 250 dollars the taxi driver accepted to take the boy to Baghdad where he left him outside a  hotel for Western people. Farris immediately understood that it was impossible for him to communicate with anybody: apart from his clothes  he looked Arab but he didn’t  know the language at all and, if people understood he was American, his life might be in danger. So, after a couple of days, he decided to go to the Associated Press. The reporters phoned the Embassy and he was put on the first plane to America. When he met his parents they were angry but immensely relieved.

TASK GIVEN

Write the conversation between the boy and the reporter from the Associated Press. Begin like this:

(An untidy, dirty room. A man is working at a computer. Farris knocks on the open door)

Farris: Can I come in?

   

ORGANIZATION

Warm up:  the teacher asks the students if they have heard the story of an American boy who wanted to go back to his country of origin. If the students haven’t , he tells them a few things and encourages them to guess what happened ( how did he go to Iraq?  How did he get the money? Could he speak the language? How did he survive? etc.). This is to revise vocabulary which  may be useful to understand the reading and to complete their task.

Time : possibly not longer that 5/6 minutes

Then the teacher gives the handouts with the passage and the task.

The teacher invites the students to read the text and  explains what they are meant to do

Time: 10 minutes for the reading.

Writing phase: one hour and forty-five minutes.

EXERCISE N. 4

Using pictures to train writing skills

Presentation of the activity	Using pictures to train writing skills
Type of activity	Writing
Duration	Two  hours
Instruments	Photocopies
Number of students	25
Students’ skills	Intermediate
Language used	English
Evaluation of the activity	Positive as the students have to think, and decide by themselves how they want to develop their text and how  to make their story more attractive.
Additional comment	·          I often use this technique and I have noticed that if I include in the instructions 3 or 4 sentences the students must integrate in their own stories, the exercise is more successful. The danger to avoid is that  they just write a description of the set of drawings which would not be particularly satisfactory. ·          It is also important to think what kind of structures the students might need to know in order to  write an acceptable story.
Students’ outcomes	The students improve their writing skills  and are guided towards creativity .

ORGANIZATION

Warm up:  the teacher shows the first pictures and asks simple questions to focus the students’ attention and elicit ideas (for example, Who is he? Where does he live? What does he do? Did he do anything special yesterday?)

This phase is useful also to remind the students of useful vocabulary or to introduce some words they may have to use.

Time:  10 minutes

Writing phase: the teacher hands out the pictures  and explains the task.

Time given for writing: one hour and fifty minutes

These are the pictures  I gave the students. They come from a very old book but the instructions are my own exploitation.

 

Write the story of this  man. Begin like this

Once upon a time a poor farmer……..

Include in your story:

a)      One day, very early in the morning….

b)      On the way home he fell asleep and dreamt…..

     c )   Suddenly, he woke up and……..

Write your own ending as if you had a fifth picture (for example, how did his wife react? What had happened while he was away?, etc.)