Classroom Ideas

IH Journal Issue 38 Autumn 2015

Reducing L1
by Anthony Ash
During my CELTA, I was told I should never revert to the learners L1 nor let the
learners speak it. I think my tutors said this because they viewed the English
Language Classroom as a place where all opportunities of speaking English should
be maximised. Of course, making the most of opportunities to practise English
doesnt mean L1 has to be completely banned from the classroom.
In fact, the current trend is encouraging a move
towards incorporating L1 effectively into the
classroom. For example: Woolard (2013) states
in his book Messages that there should be a
reintroduction of forms of translation into the ELT
classroom and the coursebook series Outcomes by
Hugh Dellar and Andrew Walkley includes several
translation activities.
However, although there is a clear place for the L1 in
the classroom, it is also true that many teachers, of
both Young Learners and adults, struggle with their
learners overusing L1. Asking for a clarification of a
lexical item or trying to make sense of a grammatical
structure by translating it are both examples of
effective use of L1 this sort of engagement with the
language should be encouraged. However, sitting
chatting in the L1, making jokes, and not trying to
use English to complete exercises or games is what
I call in this article unnecessary uses of L1. It is such
uses which I hope the three classroom ideas below
can help to tackle.
Over the years of teaching, I have come across
numerous approaches to reducing L1 - some have
been significantly more effective than others.
However, there are three which are noteworthy,
largely due to their universal application: whether
you teach an adult group or a group of 8 year olds,
these three should help.
1. The Point Slider
This could be something which you draw on the
board or something physical you bring to each
lesson. It is a vertical scale with 100 points starting
from 0 and going up in 10s. You start each lesson at
the same point every time, e.g. at 0 or at 50 or at 100.
I would recommend starting at 50 as this allows for
the most effective use of the slider, which is to award
points for good behaviour, and most importantly for
good use of functional English, and to deduct points
for poor behaviour. You could also deduct points if
learners use L1 unnecessarily in the classroom e.g.
talking to their friends in L1 instead of working on
the task.

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The slider has two major advantages: it allows for

other classroom rules to be applied to it, e.g. not
doing your homework could result in points being
deducted as well as shouting out or not putting your
hand up; it also promotes a sense of team spirit on
a whole class level, with learners egging each other
on to do well and to use English to gain more points.
This is significantly reinforced with a tangible prize
at the end of a certain number of lessons, e.g. some
chocolate or an extra long break if the group has
reach 1000 points by the end of 15 lessons.
The major disadvantage, however, is there may be
a learner who persists in using L1 as they do not
see the need to conform to the group spirit and
are willing to sacrifice class points for their own
amusement.
2. The P Card
The P card (so named after my learners mother
tongue when I was teaching in Poland) is somewhat
of a red-card system. A teacher has a card, often red
in colour, with the letter P on it. When a learner uses
L1 unnecessarily during a lesson, they are given
the P card. The aim of the game is not to have the P
card by the end of the lesson, as the consequence
might be a shorter break, more homework or a
forfeit. After a lesson the horror of this card is quite
quickly established, among both adults and Young
Learners, and the effect is anyone who gets the card
will usually listen out carefully for someone else
speaking L1 in the lesson in order to give the card
to them. The big advantage of this is that instances
of L1 usage which the teacher would often miss
through being concentrated on the lesson are
picked up by the learners themselves. This helps
to place a certain level of responsibility into to the
learners hands. The potential disadvantage is a
learner viewing the P Card as a token of freedom: if
I have this I can therefore use L1. To my experience,
this attitude quickly disappears when they see the
consequence is more homework or no break. Some
professionals may view this as punishment but it is
no more a punishment than reducing points for bad
behaviour, which is often well-received as a form of
classroom management, especially with YLs.

Classroom Ideas
3. Team Points
In my opinion, this is the most effective system.
Although it was an idea which I originally put
together for use with my Young Learner classes, it
works perfectly well and very effectively with teens
and adults.
One of my Young Learner groups has nine students,
with each learner belonging to one of three teams:
The Tigers, The Pandas, and The Koalas. At the
beginning of each lesson the team names are
on the board with three points. If a member of a
team answers questions, uses English well and
participates, the whole team is awarded points;
if a team member uses L1, does not have their
homework or misbehaves, the whole team loses
points. The team members do not have to sit
together; they do not even have to work together: it
is only important that they know which team they
belong to and who is in their team. They always
remain members of their given team.

IH Journal Issue 38 Autumn 2015

learner is awarded points for outstanding English,

the other teams desperately want to do the same
and will start to show off. Amazingly, this has exactly
the same results for adults as it does for children:
the rivalry among the adult team is impressive and
a team member is badly scorned for using L1 out of
fear of losing points. However, with the adult groups,
I let them choose their own team names.
And the disadvantage? I have yet to find one.
Asking learners, be it politely or sternly, to refrain
from speaking L1 will be temporarily effective at
best of times. However, giving them something to
play for, recognising and awarding their good use of
English, will see a reduction in the unnecessary use
of L1.

References:
H. Dellar et. A. Walkley (2014) Outcomes.
New York: Cengage Learning

The greatest advantage of this approach is that

it builds a great sense of team spirit. The team
members support each other and look to each other
for good performance to gain more points. When a

G. Woolard (2013) Messages. The Round.

Anthony Ashs ELT career started with the CELTA at IH Wroclaw in 2011. He
has since taught in the UK, Germany, Poland and Argentina. He did the Delta
at IH Newcastle in 2014 and is currently the Assistant Director of Studies at IH
Buenos Aires. His interests include Linguistics, Teacher Training and Professional
Development, which he regularly blogs about at http://eltblog.net.

So You Think You Can Write?

by Anya Shaw & Veronique Ward
Once upon a time there was a teen class who hated writing; a teacher, Chris,
and a page from English File Upper Intermediate. What followed was a tale of
overcoming adversity, trial and error, competition and ultimately, inspiration.
And so the IH Belgrano 50 Word Story writing competition was born. (50 words)
What are 50 Word Stories?
The 50 Word Story is, well, pretty self-explanatory
really. Its a story, and it has to be exactly 50 words
long - no more, no less. Contractions count as two
words. Considering that even short stories are a good
few pages long at the very least, writing something
in 50 words is no mean feat. Think about it: 50 words

to convey passion, drama, emotion and humour; to

write a beginning, a middle and an end; too engage
the reader, and compose a clear narrative that will
make a lasting impression on them.
50 Word Stories are really quite addictive.
Theyre short, theyre snappy and they tackle all

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