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Hasdeu” of Cahul
COURSE NOTES ON
ENGLISH DIDACTICS
CAHUL 2012
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
INTRODUCTION………………………………………..3
TRADITIONAL METHODS…………………………….20
COMMUNICATIVE METHODS………………………..27
INNOVATIVE METHODS………………………………33
TEACHING LISTENING……………………………….40
TEACHING SPEAKING………………………………..46
TEACHING READING…………………………………53
TEACHING WRITING………………………………….57
TEACHING PRONUNCIATION……………………….63
TEACHING VOCABULARY…………………………..65
TEACHING GRAMMAR……………………………….71
TEACHING WITH VIDEO……………………………..81
BIBLIOGRAPHY……………………………………….94
APPENDIX………………………………………………95
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INTRODUCTION
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teaching skills and techniques where the teacher is required
to direct or orchestrate the learning activities of the class.
It is very important for a student to understand the
importance and social value of his future profession (job)
as a teacher. The present course is meant to help the
students to acknowledge these values.
It is intended for students who have practice in
schools and high-schools. The aim of the course is to help
students to realize the main objectives of his lesson and to
teach students different methods of teaching English in
order to make theirs and learners’ activities more efficient.
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DIDACTICS-THE GENERAL THEORY ON THE
EDUCATIONAL PROCESS
Topics:
1. Object of study
2. English Methodology- a branch of specialty didactics
3. Social and educational factors
Didactics studies:
-the educational process as a cognitive and formative one;
- the educational system;
- the didactic principles;
- the content of teaching;
-the methods of teaching;
-the didactic technology-the curriculum
- the teacher-student relationship, the teacher’s roles;
-school architecture;
-the process of evaluation.
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English Methodology, Geography Methodology, Biology
Methodology, etc. Since this course intends to prepare teachers
of English for their pedagogical trainings, English Methodology
will constitute the primary source for instruction.
6
TYPES OF COMPETENCES
Communicative Area
7
3.5. selecting ideas from a text and arranging them into an appropriate
scheme
Cultural Area
Social/multicultural competences show the learner’s
ability to acquire the knowledge, skills and attitudes
8
necessary to increase the cross-cultural awareness
concerning the allophone country(traditions, holydays,
historical, cultural personalities, etc. This group of
competences places the learner within a multidimensional
world where there are different races, nationalities, peoples.
Graduating from secondary school the learner will show
knowledge in geographic, historic, social, cultural
peculiarities of the allophone countries, awareness in
foreign language and literature importance as means of
national and international communication, the recognition
of different cultures integration within the context of socio-
economic globalization.
Graduating from secondary school the learner will posess:
a)interlinguistic competences based on the foreign
languages studied.
b)terminological competences based on the domains of
languages studied
c)intercultural competences based on the languages
studied
For example:
1. identifying and respecting the norms of verbal and non-verbal
communication while interacting orally and in written form
2. Identifying some elements of the systems of education of English
speaking countries (timetable, school subjects, school activities,
vacations
3.Knowledge of simple literary texts which belong to the culture of
English-speaking countries
4. knowledge of some cartoons for children –their structure , characters,
actions, -and identifying the ways of expressing attitudes and feelings
5.indentifying the general meaning of traditional songs
6. knowledge of famous people of the target language community
7. cooperating with classmates to fulfil some study activities showing
responsibility respect and tolerance in the course of communication
Comparison Area
9
Interdisciplinary competences constitute a system of
knowledge , skills, attitudes, and values acquired during the
learning process beginning with the secondary school when
the learning of foreign languages and other subjects related
to them takes place. These competences formation let the
learner notice, identify, evaluate similarities and differences
among the grammatical, lexical, semantic, orthographic
systems of the studied languages, among the terms used in
the studied languages, among the linguistic, social-cultural,
and civic interference blanks.
For example:
1. Comparing fairy tales characters in English speaking countries and
Moldova
2. Comparing some topics of poems and songs for children in English
speaking countries and Moldova
3. Comparing structures and content of cartoons for children in English
speaking countries and Moldova
4. Comparing the ways of explaining the rules of games and giving
instructions in a standard language
5. Comparing the ways of giving an address.
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material and sometimes be able to identify by himself the
didactic means necessary to carry out the given tasks with
self-formation and self-evaluation aims.
Learning about interlinguistic and intercultural
similarities and differences
1. Identifying simple expressions similar to the ones in the
students’ mother tongue in simple written and spoken
sentences
2. drawing and explaining a plan
3. drawing pictures and collages in the course of study activities
4. correctly writing and pronouncing numbers in the course of
study activities
5. making a full description of pets
6. listening to and interpreting songs for children
7. employing non-verbal means of communication- body
movements, facial expressions and actions-through active
games
8. memorizing and reciting rhymes, short poems and simple
dialogues fluently and with proper intonation.
Community Area
1. identifying the ways of behaviour and speech acts which are related
to various communicative situations: at the library
2. identifying and respecting certain forms of written interaction
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THE CONTENT OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE
TEACHING
Topics:
1. The first component- four language skills.
2. The second component- linguistic component
3. The third component- methodological component.
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the syllabus. On the other hand, linguistic material for example
phonology grammar, vocabulary is carefully selected for this
purpose. The selection of the linguistic material is very
important. For example minimum vocabulary, grammar has
always been one of the most important and difficult problems to
be solved.
3. Methodological component.
The third component of what to teach is a methodological
component. Pupils’ should be taught how to learn the foreign
language how to work at the subject to attain the aims. For
example how to memorize words and keep them in memory,
how to perform drill exercises in the most effective way, how to
perform creative exercises which require a personal approach on
the part of the pupils.
So the content of foreign language teaching involves three
main components:
1. Psychological habits and skills which ensure the use of the
target language as a means of communication in oral (listening,
speaking) and written (reading, writing) forms.
2. Linguistic component- language and linguistic material
which should be assimilated to be used in language skills.
3. Methodological component- the techniques which pupils
should acquire, to learn a foreign language in a most effective
way.
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7. The principle of individualization.
14
2. The structural-functional approach- when material is
arranged in structures.
15
approach to language learning is achieved with the help of
explanation, drills, clarification exercises, argumentation and
examples. The pupils should acquire the rules of the language in
order to be able to follow these rules in the act of communication
and the teachers’ tasks is to help the pupils in this respect.
Preceding to psychological peculiarities or foreign language
assimilation and taking into account the basic progress of
thought, we may come to the conclusion that in order to master a
foreign language, pupils must have a lot of practice in listening,
speaking, reading and writing. As for the mother tongue, we can
not eliminate it- we should use it as a means of teaching
whenever it helps pupils in acquiring knowledge necessary for
developing habits and skills.
Conscious approach in foreign language teaching implies the
pupils’ understanding of the materials they are to learn to be able
to transform it and to apply it in communication in the target
language.
Transformation is connected with pupils’ abilities to make
the material fit to any new situation and new tasks.
Comprehension is achieved:
1. through situations in which the material is used.
2. through contexts and other linguistic means(synonyms,
antonyms, definitions)
3. through translations into the mother tongue
4. through visual presentation(pictures, objects, gestures)
5. pointing out some features which are characteristic for
this amount of material
6. through creating so called orientation, to be able to
perform a necessary action with the material.
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Psychology- activity is now generally considered to be the main
characteristic of cognitive progress. Activity arises under certain
conditions. The pupil should fulfil a need to learn a subject and
have necessary pre-required sets created for a satisfaction of this
need. The main sources of activity are:
-motivation
-desire
-interest
So in foreign language teaching it is necessary to stimulate
pupils’ activity by involving them in the act of communication in
the target language either in oral or written form.
If pupils are not involved in communication and remain on
the level of performing drill of exercises, they soon loose their
interest in the subject and become passive at the lesson. It is
pupils who should work and not the teacher during the lesson.
Some ways to solve these problems are:
1. work in unison.
2. mass work when pupils are invited to listening to a text,
to read a text silently, to do some exercises in written form when
they learn for themselves and do the same work.
3. work in small groups when pupils are divided into four –
five groups and each group received a special assignment either
reading or speaking the work results in conversation between
group I and the class, group II and the class.
4. work in pairs.
5. individual work in programmed instruction when each
pupil can work with the programme he receives either through
visual or auditory perception at his own pace.
6. The principle of visualisation.
This principle has always been very important for long
learning since the gaining of knowledge begins either with
perception or with what has been formally perceived with
previous experience.
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Visualization may be defined as a specially organised
demonstration of linguistic material and language behaviour
characteristic of the target language with the purpose of helping
the pupils in understanding, assimilating and utilising this in
connection with the task set.
Since pupils acquire a second language in artificial
conditions visualisation should be expanded.
Visualisation allows the teacher to create natural conditions
for pupils of oral and practical activities and free conversation.
Visualisation can be used in teaching under various aspects of
language: phonology, vocabulary, grammar and the development
of four language skills.
The use of visualisation makes foreign language lessons
emotionally coloured and increases pupils’ interest.
Visualisation implies an extensive use of audio-visual aids
and audio-visual materials for presenting and memorizing the
linguistic material and for developing oral and written language
although they are to be used differently according to the stage of
instruction, the age of pupils, etc.
In foreign language teaching in schools it is necessary to
follow the oral approach as it is the one that allows the pupils to
deal with the language in its primary functions as a means of
communication.
7. The principle of individualization.
This principle is of great importance since the subject is an
essential one and according to the curriculum each pupil should
acquire habits and skills the syllabus sets.
Some individuals in a class learn more rapidly than others,
sometimes an individual enters in a period of fast learning,
sometimes enters in a period of poor-learning.
The teacher should assess the progress of each individual and
find the way how to manage the classroom activity so that the
slowest learners are not depressed by being left behind and the
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fastest and most able learners are not frustrated by being held
back.
Individualisation in foreign language teaching is achieved:
1. through the use of individual cards compiled by the
teacher who is aware of pupils’ ability.
2. through the use of the programme, materials when
each pupil can work at his own pace.
3. by special selection of exercises for each group of
pupils in class, bright, average and full.
4. by the use of additional material
5. by arranging pupil’s communication in the target
language so that each pupil can do his best as a participant of
different activities.
So in order to apply the principle of individualisation in a
foreign language the teacher should be familiar with the class
with its individuals.
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FOREIGN LANGUAGE TEACHING METHODS
Topics:
1. Approach. Method. Procedure. Technique
2. Traditional Methods
3. Communicative methods
4. Innovative Methods
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Traditional Methods of Teaching
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2. Reading and writing are the major focus; little or no
systematic attention is paid to speaking or listening.
3. Vocabulary selection is solely on the reading texts
used, and words are taught through bilingual word lists,
dictionary study and memorization. In a typical Grammar-
Translation textbook the grammar rule are presented with their
translation equivalents, and translation exercises are presented.
4. The sentence is the unit of reading and language
practice. Much of the lesson is devoted to translating sentences
into and out of the target language.
5. Accuracy is emphasized, students are expected to
attain high standards in translation.
6. Grammar is taught deductively- that is, by presentation
and study of grammar rules, which are then practiced through
translation exercises.
7. The student’s native language is the medium of
instruction. It is used to explain new items and to enable
comparison to be made between the foreign language and the
students’ native language.
8. Although the Grammar-Translation Method often
creates frustration for students, it makes few demands on
teachers. It is still used in situations where understanding literary
texts is the primary focus of foreign language.
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3. Oral communication skills were built up in a carefully
graded progression organized around question-and-answer
exchanges between teachers and students in small, intensive
classes.
4. Grammar was taught inductively.
5. New teaching points were introduced orally.
6. Concrete vocabulary was taught through
demonstration, objects, and pictures, abstract vocabulary was
taught by association of ideas.
7. Both speech and listening comprehension were taught.
8. Correct pronunciation and grammar were emphasized.
These principles as seen in the following guidelines for
teaching oral language are still followed in contemporary Berlitz
schools:
- never translate: demonstrate.
- never explain: act.
- never make a speech: ask questions.
- never imitate mistakes: correct.
- never speak with single words: use sentences.
- never speak too much: make students speak much.
- never use the book: use your own lesson plan.
- never jump around: follow your plan.
- never go too fast: keep the pace of the students.
- never speak too slowly: speak normally
- never speak too quickly: speak naturally.
- never speak too loudly: speak naturally.
- never be impatient: take it easy.
In the Direct Method the four language skills are taught from
the beginning, but a special emphasis is placed on speaking.
Classes often start with the reading aloud of a specially graded
text which introduces the lesson’s vocabulary and grammatical
structural. Practice follows with exercises such as guided
conversation, where the teacher asks questions on the students
answer using full answers.
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Teachers sometimes complain that it is time consuming to
mime vocabulary, when a simple translation would do. Some
words are difficult to mime. It’s necessary to use the common
sense in the question of translation.
c) Audiolingual Method.
This method was influenced by behavioural psychologist
who believed that foreign language learning is basically a
process of mechanical habit formation like when training an
animal to do something. To do this, it’s necessary to follow a
three-stage procedure where the stages are: stimulus, response
and reinforcement. For example: signal-light –stimulus; the rat
presses the bar-response; tasty food- reinforcement.
1. The entry of U.S.A into the Second World War had
significant effect on language in America. To supply the U.S.
Government with personnel who were fluent in foreign
languages (German, French, Italian, Chinese, Japanese, etc.) who
could work as interpreters, code – room assistants, and
translators, it was necessary to set up a special language training
program. The Government commissioned American universities
to develop foreign language programs for military personnel.
Thus the Army Specialized Training Program was established in
1942. Fifty – five American universities were involved in the
program by the beginning of 1943. The objective of the army
personnel was for students to attain conversational proficiency in
variety of foreign languages. Since this was not the goal of
conventional foreign language courses in the US, new
approaches were necessary. Linguists, such as Leonard
Bloomfield at Yale, had already developed training programs a
part of their linguistic research that were designed to give
linguistic and anthropologists mastery of American Indian
languages and other languages they were studying. Textbooks
did not exist for such languages. The technique Bloomfield and
his colleagues used was sometimes known as the “informant
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method”, since it used a native speaker of the language – the
informant – who served as a source of phrases and vocabulary
who provided sentences for imitation, and a linguist, who
supervised the learning experience. The Army Specialized
Training Program lasted only about two years but attracted
considerable attention in the popular press and in the academic
community. But the linguists who developed ASTP were not
interested primarily in language teaching. The “methodology” of
the Army Method, derived from the intensity of contact with the
target language rather than from any well – developed
methodological basis. It was innovative mainly in its underling
theory. However, it did convince a number of prominent linguists
of the value of an intensive, oral – based approach to the learning
of a foreign language. Linguists and applied linguists during this
period were becoming increasingly involved in the teaching of
English as a foreign language. America had now emerged as a
major international power. There was a growing demand for
foreign expertise in the teaching of English. Thousands of
foreign students entered the United States to study universities,
and many of these students required training in English before
they could begin their studies. These factors led to the
emergence of the American approach to ESL, which by the mid
– fifties had become Audiolingualism.
Distinguishing features. In the Audio-lingual Method, skills
are taught in the natural order: listening, speaking, reading,
writing. Audio-lingual classes begin with a dialogue, which
introduces the lesson’s sentence patterns. The students memorize
this dialogue, then practice grammar in drills such as listen and
repeat, substitution, chain, and transformation. Accuracy in
pronunciation is emphasized and fostered through minimal pair
drills where students learn to differentiate between sounds such
as the vowels ‘ship’ or ‘sheep’, ‘hit’ and ‘heat’, ‘bit’ and ‘beat’.
Lessons are sequenced according to grammatical complexity.
Translation, considered to cause interference from the mother
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tongue, is not allowed. Learning is tightly controlled by the
teacher, who follows the text closely. So, in the Audio-lingual
Method:
1. Foreign language learning is basically a process of
mechanical habit formation. Good habits are formed by giving
correct responses rather than by making mistakes. By
memorizing dialogues and performing pattern drills the chances
of producing mistakes are minimized. Language is verbal
behaviour – that is, the automatic production and comprehension
of utterances – and can be learned by inducing the students to do
likewise.
2. Language skills are learned more effectively if the items to
be learned in the target language are presented in spoken form
before they are seen in written form. Aural – oral training is
needed to provide the foundation for the development of other
language skills.
3. Analogy provides a better foundation for
language learning than analysis. Analogy involves the processes
of generalization and discrimination. Explanations of rules are
therefore not given until students have practiced a pattern in a
variety of contexts and are taught to have acquired a perception
of the analogies. Hence, the approach to the teaching of grammar
is essentially inductive rather than deductive.
4. The meaning that the words of a language have for the native
speaker can be learned only in a linguistic and cultural context
and not in isolation. Teaching a language thus involves teaching
aspects of the cultural system of the people who speak the
language (Rivers 1964:19-2).
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Communicative Methods
27
Meaningful Not Limited Central feature
Communication important
Pronunciation Not Target Target
considered native-like Comprehensible
Use of Central Forbidden Used when
translation feature necessary
Sequencing of Follows Follows Follows
lesson linguistic linguistic learners’ needs
complexity complexity
Teacher- Teacher- Teacher-
Teacher
student centred centred
facilitates
Roles student-to-
student
interaction
Attitudes to Accuracy Accuracy Errors part
errors emphasized emphasized of
Learning
Process
Balance of Reading Listening Skills taught
language skills and and according to
writing speaking learners’ needs
emphasized emphasized
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Communicative Language Learning
29
This method was developed by James Asher, a
professor of Psychology and encourages teachers to teach
the language through physical activity. Involving the use of
gamelike movements the Total Physical Response method
is intended to reduce learners’ stress, to create a positive
mood and to facilitate learning.
The comprehension skills development is under the major
focus, in other words the comprehension abilities will
precede productive skills in learning the language. The
teaching of speaking must be delayed until comprehension
is achieved. Skills are acquired through listening and
teaching emphasizes meaning rather than form.
Distinguishing features:
Skills are taught in natural order
Learners are given different commands
After the first stage students will be ready to speak
After the second stage they will be ready to direct other
students
This method is useful and fun and is recommended to be
used with beginners.
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1. The Comprehensible Input Acquisition where input is
the language that students hear or read and is based on
learner’s previous experience in a context at a higher level.
2. Natural Order Hypothesis that stands for teaching
languages in a consequent order(from simple to
complicated).
3. The Monitor Hypothesis promotes the idea that
acquisition and learning intermingle in the process of
production ability to produce utterances and to correct
them.
4. The Affective Filter
Not only the comprehensible input is necessary for
foreign language learning but also the affective factor that
functions as a block that prevents language to be acquired.
The lower these affective filters(negative emotions such as
anxiety, fear, stress) are the more probable the learners will
be successful in passing over the barrier of communication
while learning the target language.
The Acquisition Theory gave birth to the Natural
Approach.
31
possible when using the following the I+1 formula that
stands for having an input before passing to another stage.
Learners’ emotional state and attitudes constitute the
filter that impedes or blocks the input. In order to increase
the language input, these affective filters should be low, in
other words motivated students have better results, those
who are self confident are likely to be more successful
because their level of anxiety and stress is low and they are
not afraid of making mistakes, of feeling discomfort, of
looking silly, of being criticized, of participating actively in
the learning process.
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group work are used to generate communication in
activities such as problem solving, filling information gaps,
questioning, making surveys, etc.
33
Teach me and I remember,
Involve me and I learn.
In the Silent Way learners are actively responsible for
their own learning. Learning a language is seen not as a
process of habit formation like in the Audiolingual Method,
but rather a process whereby the learners discover the rules
of the target language and then applies those rules to
understand and use the language. Mistakes are considered
as a part of the process of discovering the rules and the
teacher should not interfere in the process by correcting the
learners' mistakes.
Distinguishing features:
All four language skills are taught from the beginning,
though reading and writing are sequenced to follow what
has been produced orally. Special charts are used to teach
pronunciation. First, there is a sound-colour, each one
representing a sound in the target language. The teacher
and student point to blocks of colour on the chart to form
syllables, words and sentences. Second, there are word
charts containing words whose letters are colour coded in
the same way as the sound-colour chart. The teacher and
students make up sentences, point to words on the chart and
read the sentences they have written or told. Third, there
are sounds of the language with their spelling. For example
“ay”, “ea”, “ei” and “eigh”, which are all different spellings
of the sound [ei] in English, they are listed and colour-
coded together.
Cuisenaire rods(bits of wood varying in length and
colour) are used to introduce vocabulary and structures. At
the beginning level they can be used to teach numbers and
colours(“take two red rods”). At the intermediate level they
can be used to teach comparatives(“the red rod is longer
than the blue one”, the prepositions(“ the green rod is
above the yellow one”), the difference between the definite
34
and indefinite articles (“take a/ the red rod”) with the help
of the finger technique. At a later stage they can be used to
teach conditionals (“If I had a red rod I would give it to
you”).
The Silent way is designed to be used with small
groups of learners. Teachers using this method usually
undergo intensive training in its techniques and philosophy.
The usefulness of this method consists first, in the fact that
the knowledge the learners discover for themselves is
retained and owned in a more permanent and meaningful
way than are materials which have been packaged and only
require students to memorize them. Second, there is the
idea of peer coaching in a non-competitive environment.
Having presented the material, the teacher stands back and
lets his students experiment with the rules and generate talk
in English. The teacher’s role during this group work is to
make sure that the group atmosphere is open to the
contribution of all its members.
35
struggle to master another language. By being sensitive to
the learners’ fears, the teacher can turn their negative
energy of these fears into positive energy and enthusiasm to
learning. The relationship between the learner and the
teacher and among the learners themselves, therefore, take
on great importance.
The following procedures are typical in a CLL class:
1. Translation. Learners form a small circle. A learner
whispers a message or a meaning he or she wants to
express. The teacher translates it into the target language
and the learner repeats the teacher’s translation.
2. Group Work. Learners may engage in different tasks such
as small group discussion on a topic, preparing a
conversation, preparing a summary of a topic for
presentation to another group, preparing a story that will be
presented to the teacher and the rest of the class.
3. Recording. Students record conversations in the target.
Language.
4. Transcription. Students transcribe utterances and
conversations they have recorded for practice and analysis
of the linguistic forms.
5. Analysis. Students analyse and study transcriptions of the
target language sentences in order to focus on particular
lexical usage or on the application of particular grammar
rules
6. Reflection and observation. Learners reflect and report
on their experiences as a class or group. They usually
consist of expressing feelings-sense of one another,
reactions to silence, concern for something to say, etc.
7. Listening. Students listen to a monologue involving
elements they might have elicited or overheard in class
interaction.
8. Free conversation. Students engage in free conversation
with the teacher or with other learners. This might include
36
discussion of what they learned as well as feelings they had
about how they learned.
Like the Silent Way, CLL is a method which works best
in small groups and which requires special training for its
teachers. It also includes useful principles which can easily
be implemented during the lessons. You can lower the
stress of your students by making your goals and
expectations clear, by coaching your students in
examination strategies, and by providing lively activities
which make learning funny. CLL encourages learners to
produce their own materials. Helping the students to write
their stories which are then published in the school
magazine, organizing them to write and act plays or skits,
and developing project work, the teacher may accomplish
two goals: to give students a sense of ownership and pride
and to sidestep the problem of trying to teach with few or
inadequate textbooks.
Suggestopedia
Suggestopedia is a method developed by the Bulgarian
psychiatrist educator Georgi Lozanov. Suggestopedia is a
specific set of learning recommendations derived from
Suggestology-a study concerned with the systematic study
of the nonrational and/or nonconscious influences that
human beings are constantly responding to. Lozanov
believes that the power of suggestion(learning a foreign
language successfully) is in desuggestion(lowering
students’ psychological barriers to learning). He has
developed the process of “desuggestion” which is designed
to promote a relaxed frame of mind and to convert learners’
fear into positive energy and enthusiasm for language
learning. So before we suggest, we must desuggest a lot.
Distinguishing features:
37
In Suggestopedia great attention is paid to environment.
The seating is as comfortable as possible, the light is not
harsh, Baroque music plays on the background. Colourful
posters and charts are pinned on the wall. The posters show
attractive sights in the target language country. The charts
contain grammatical information which in causal readings
the students will absorb without conscious effort. This is
called peripheral learning. The Suggestopedia teacher’s
tone is always calm as students are reassured that language
learning is easy and fun. The Suggestopedia lesson consists
of three stages:
1. Deciphering-the teacher introduces the grammar and the
vocabulary.
2. Concert session-that is divided into two substages
a) active-the teacher reads the text at a normal speed
and students follow;
b) passive-the students relax, close their eyes and listen to
the teacher reading the text calmly. Music is played in the
background.
The left column of the text is given in the target
language; the right column is in students’ mother tongue. c)
Elaboration- students finish what they have learned with
dramas, songs and games.
For homework, the students are asked to read the text just
before going to bed and on getting up in the morning. The
teacher leads the class in role play, question and answer and
other activities based on the text. During these activities
students are invited to use their imagination and to take on
new names and new personalities in the target language.
They are encouraged to visualize themselves as successful
people in their new identities with exciting jobs and good
standing in the society.
Having described briefly some of the methods of
teaching English as a foreign language, we may conclude
38
that no one is sufficient on its own. Whiled teaching,
different learning styles should be taken in consideration;
especially those you feel working best with your students in
different surroundings. The main thing is that your students
should be interested in learning the language.
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UNIT II: STUDYING LANGUAGE SYSTEM
Topics:
1. Teaching Listening
2. Teaching Speaking
3. Teaching Reading
4. Teaching Writing
5. Teaching Pronunciation
6. Teaching Vocabulary
7. Teaching Grammar
8. Teaching with Video
TEACHING LISTENING
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process/challenge ongoing message, creative/ active
perception and linguistic knowledge.
Ana Gorea distinguishes two types of listening:
a)casual listening-listening with no particular purpose(for
example listening to the radio while doing homework)
b) focused listening-listening for a particular purpose, to
find out the information that we need to know(for example
listening to a piece of news on the radio, listening to
someone explaining how to operate a machine, or to do
some job). In this situation we listen much more closely.
Jeremy Harmer proposes two other types of listening:
a) extensive listening- where the teacher encourages his
students to choose for themselves what they listen to and to
do so for pleasure and general language improvement. It
will usually take place outside the classroom, in the
students’ home, car or on personal stereos as they travel
from a place to another.
b) intensive listening –listening to taped material during the
lesson at the teacher’s choice or provided by the
coursebook.
If the teacher decides to give students a listening task it
is necessary to take the following steps:
1. prepare the students for what they are going to hear;
2. never ask the students just to listen;
3. make sure the tasks you ask students to do are realistic
and varied as possible;
4. introduce the topic(predict what it is going to be about);
5. pre-teach the vocabulary;
6. give guiding questions before listening;
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8. vary the question types you use with the students;
9. train the students not to expect to understand every word
they hear;
10. vary the types of listening(tapes, videos, teacher, other
students, visitors, conversations, announcements, songs,
news broadcasts, weather forecasts, poems, etc.).
If the teacher uses recorded material, he must make
sure that the quality of tapes is good, that the recorder
functions well, that there is electric power in the classroom
when he intends to use it.
There are some advantages and disadvantages in using
intensive listening:
a) advantages:
- variety of voices, native speakers;
-recorded material is useful for listening to dialogues,
interviews;
-the cassette can be stopped and played back;
- taped materials are extremely portable and readily
available;
-most coursebooks include listening exercises, cassettes,
and tapescripts.
b) disadvantages:
- in classrooms with bad acoustics listening may be
difficult;
-listening is more difficult as there is no eye contact, no
clues, no gestures, no lip movement;
-everybody has to listen at the same speed, a speed dictated
by the tape, not by the listeners;
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- offer visual support;
- encourage whole-message listening;
- encourage listening for specific details;
- communicate real meaning;
- require listener response
Tony Lynch in “Listening” proposes the following
listening tasks:
Listen and do
During or after listening students are asked to perform
some non-linguistic actions: numbering a drawing,
completing a map, ordering items in a list, matching items,
labelling, ticking.
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Partial text provided and students have to anticipate the next move or
outcome. What will Mrs. X say next? How will Mr. Y respond? How
will the story end?
Pre-Listening Activities
Pre-Listening is the period of time before the teacher
presses the button “play” on the tape- recorder or before the
material is read. The teacher must prepare very well if he
wants to hive students a listening task.
Mr. Underwood in “Teaching Listening” (1989)
suggests the following pre-listening activities:
-looking at pictures and talking about them;
-looking at a list of items/thoughts;
-making lists of possibilities/ideas, suggestions, etc.;
-reading a text;
-reading through questions (to be answered while
listening);
-labelling;
-completing part of a chart;
-predicting/speculating;
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-pre-listening language
-informal teacher talk and class discussion.
While-Listening Activities
45
-using information for problem solving and decision
making activities;
-jigsaw listening;
-identifying relationships between speakers;
-establishing the mood/ attitude/ behaviour of the speaker.
Post-Listening Activities
Post-listening is the period of time after the teacher
presses the button “stop” or finishes reading to students.
Here are some post-listening activities:
-role-play/simulation;
-dictation;
-summarizing;
-reproduction;
-decision-making activities.
TEACHING SPEAKING
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Among the elements of spoken production, are the
following:
1. Connected speech: effective speakers of English need to
be able not only to produce individual phonemes of
English(as in saying I would have gone), but also to use
fluent “connected speech” (as in I’d’ve gone). In connected
speech sounds are modified(assimilation), omitted(elision),
added(linking r), or weakened(through contractions and
stress patterning).
2. Expressive devices: native speakers of English change
the pitch and stress of particular parts of utterances, vary
volume and speed, and show by other non-verbal means
how they are feeling. They allow the extra expression of
emotion and intensity.
3. Lexis and grammar: spontaneous speech is marked by
the use of a number of common lexical phrases, especially
in the performance of certain language functions. Teachers
should therefore supply a variety of phrases for different
functions such as agreeing or disagreeing, expressing
surprise, shock, or approval.
4. Negotiation language: effective speaking benefits from
the negotiatory language we use to seek clarification and to
show the structure of what we are saying. We often need to
ask for clarification when we are listening to someone else
talk. A useful thing teachers can do is to offer them phrases
like “I’m sorry I didn’t quite catch that”, “I’m sorry, I
don’t understand”, “Could you explain that again,
please?”.
When speakers do not know a word or just cannot
remember it, they may employ some or all of the strategies
to resolve the difficulty they are encountering:
1. Improvising: speakers sometimes try any word or
phrase that they can come up with in the hope that it is
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about right. Such improvisations sometimes work, but they
can also obscure meaning.
2. Discarding: when speakers simply cannot find words for
what they want to say, they may discard the thought that
they cannot put into words.
3. Foreignising: when operating in a foreign language,
speakers sometimes choose a word in a language they
know well(such as their first language) and ‘foreignise” it
in the hope that it will be equivalent to the meaning they
wish to express in the foreign language.
4. Paraphrasing: speakers sometimes paraphrase, talking
about something for cleaning the teeth if they do not know
the word toothbrush , or saying that they are not happy with
somebody when they want to say that they are really fed
up. Such lexical substitution or circumlocution gets many
speakers out of trouble, though it can make communication
longer and more convoluted.
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3. On-the-spot information processing: quite apart from
our response to others’ feelings, we also need to be able to
process the information the moment we get it. The longer
the pause between the information is got and the response
is formulated, the less effective we are as instant
communicators. However, it should be remembered that
this instant response is very culture-specific, and is not
prized by speakers in many other language communities.
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1. Predict the picture
You may tell your learners that you have a picture but
don’t show it to them. You only say that there is a man, a
woman and a train in the picture. The learners must find out
exactly what the picture is about by asking questions. You
can answer only Yes/ No questions, but you can help by
giving hints(for ex: you still don’t know where the train is).
After that you can draw the picture on the board as the
students describe it. And then show the real one. With
senior learners you make take a more complicated picture,
show it to the class for an instant, then ask questions of the
type: Where do you think the action takes place? What
have you seen in the picture? Everybody is given the
opportunity to say what he thinks he saw in the picture.
After everybody gave his opinion show the picture to the
class and describe it, letting the learners give their opinions
of what they think it suggests.
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though the teacher should foresee what vocabulary the
students might need and present the words beforehand. In
the end the teacher may give the glue. The most important
thing about such an activity is that everybody has the
chance to participate in the discussion. Guessing is not
central though. It’s a wonderful way of practicing grammar,
such as Present Progressive, Present Perfect, etc.
5. Photos
Any photos can also serve as means of developing
speech habits. They may be photos of learners’ families, old
photos with their grandparents, etc. They may speak about
the people in them, the way they look like, the way they are
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dressed, what relations are among them, when the photo
was taken, what was the occasion, etc.
6. Guessing
Guessing is a perfect way of making learners ask
questions and practice grammar. The teacher, may for
example want the learners to repeat asking general
questions in the Past Simple Tense. The teacher says:
“Yesterday I went somewhere and I did something. Guess
where I went and what I did”. Learners take turns in asking
questions of the type: “Did you go to the market? ”Did you
go to the hospital?” The teacher might have thought that
she went to the bank to pay some bills. If students guess
quickly the activity might be continued by asking how the
teacher went to the bank. “Did you go by bus? Did you go
by bike?” The activity may be often repeated and students
themselves have the role of the ones who think of
something to be guessed.
8. Miming
Miming is another way of guessing especially when
practicing Present Progressive. One student mimes an
activity and the rest have to guess the situation: opening a
can, changing the light bulb, etc.
9. Unfinished sentences
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It’s a source of beginning a conversation. Students are
given a list with unfinished sentences and picking any at
their choice they have to develop it into a discussion. The
sentences might be composed according to the age, pupils’
abilities and the taught topics.
TEACHING READING
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reading: there is something we want to find out, some
information we have to check or clarify, some opinions we
want to match against our own. David Nunan in Designing
Tasks for the Communicative Classroom adopts some other
purposes: to obtain instructions on how to perform some
tasks for our work or daily work, to act in a play, play a
game, do a puzzle, to keep in touch with friends by
correspondence or to understand business letters, for
enjoyment or excitement, to find out how a story develops
“What will happen next?”
We do not usually begin reading with a completely
empty mind, we have some idea of what we are going to
read about. We will usually have some certain questions in
our mind (things we want to know) and we may also be
able to make a number of predictions or guesses (things
that we expect to find out).
Newspaper headlines, book titles, chapter headings
often make us think about the text before we begin to read.
If, for example, we have a newspaper headline “Plane
Crashes in Desert” we think that the article will probably
give details of the crash, explain how it happened, what
caused it, etc. Then we ask questions that we may have in
mind: Which desert? Where? Any survivors? How did it
happen? Whose fault? Which airline? Was anyone I know
involved? Questions and guesses make us want to read
(because we want to know the answers), and they also help
us read( because we are looking for particular information).
As we read, we can partly predict what we will find in the
text.
It is important to give reasons for reading and to give
the students information so that they want to find the
answer to. This can be done in two ways:
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- be giving a few questions to students to think about as
they read and discussing the answers afterwards (they are
called guiding questions or support questions.
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words which you want to teach before the students read the
text.
- first reading
1. Set a task to assist overall understanding
(question,task,etc).
2. The students read the text.
3. Feedback.
- Second reading
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Teaching Basic Reading
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understand how a piece of writing comes into being. A big
concern of researchers into second language writing has
been to identify these mental operations, and a number of
research methods have been used to do this: interviews,
observation, audio and video recording. The writing
process was recursive and generative, with pupils re-
reading their work, assessing it, reacting, and moving on.
The greatest disadvantage of teaching writing is that many
pupils hate the writing process. Some of them think that it
is not so important to write an information or an exercise in
their copybooks. From their point of view, it is easier to
circle the correct answer in their books, or to try to
memorize what teacher says than to put down the
information. Many pupils think that writing takes a long
time to be taught and beginning with the first steps in
studding a foreign language, teachers should know how to
attract pupils’ attention and to make the rules easier to be
understood. Pupils learn to write letters, words, and
sentences in the target language more successfully if the
understand what they write, have good patterns to follow,
and make a lot of attempts in writing what they are
satisfied that the work is well done. The most important
thing is that we should teach pupils depending on their age,
interests and level. We can identify the range of written
products that any particular group of pupils needs. For
example, in English the convention and stile of formal and
informal letters differ, and both may differ in format and
style from letters written in the pupils’ native language.
And many pupils enjoy the change to be creative with
writing. We can give beginners to write simple poems,
intermediate learners we can give a dictation, and for
advanced learners it is better to write an essay.
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First of all, before writing an essay we should take into
account the four stages of writing an essay which are:
Prewriting, Writing, Revision and Publishing. Ron White
and Valerie Arndt want to stress “that writing is re-writing;
that re-vision – seeing with new eyes – has a central role to
play in the act of creating text”.3
Beginning with Prewriting, we have to be sure that we
have chosen the right theme for the right person or a group
of pupils, because we cannot give the beginners the same
themes we give to advanced learners. The reason is that the
beginners don’t have a sufficient rich vocabulary to make a
good essay which can be written by the advanced learners.
And again, we cannot give to the four grade pupils the
same themes as we give to seven, ten, or twelve grades
pupils.
Discussing with pupils, teachers have to find an interesting
theme for the essay. For example, for the four grade
teachers can give pupils to write a short essay about their
best friend, or about their pet. Beginning with the seventh
and eighth grades, we can give pupils the possibility to
choose from such themes as: “My ideal place”, or “The day
I will never forget”. Even at these ages (13 – 15), pupils
don’t have a large experience of life. They will have to
imagine or to think maybe of something impossible. For the
eleventh and twelfth grades the best themes for essays can
be:
- If I were millionaire
- The diseases of the XX-th century.
- Drugs.
Let’s analyze the last one:
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Theme “Drugs” is too general and it can be difficult for
pupils to speak about it, that is why teachers can give some
options as:
- The relation between infected people and the
others.
- Diseases which are connected with drugs.
Pupils can choose one option given by the teacher or to
write their own subthemes.
Some pupils do very well on essays. If they have
learned how to read essays questions, if they have had
experience organizing their thoughts quickly, if they have
had quick editing skills, they were likely to succeed. It is
good for those pupils who are familiar with these skills, but
many pupils, still have no idea of how they should write an
essay. Many times this happens because the questions are
not clear for pupils and some of them are ashamed to ask
their teacher for explanation. Well – constructed essay
questions often use a series of code words that pupils must
understand: describe, discuss, compare, contrast, explain,
comment…..If teachers see that pupils are confused with
understanding these words, they have to explain and
analyze them, by giving examples. The most common
mistake is that almost all pupils do not taught the theme
they have chosen. In this case the help of the teacher is
inevitable. When pupils ask questions, teachers have to
help them. If a pupil do not understand the key – word
describe the teacher have to give some examples which
involves this term. These themes can be given for little
children.
- Describe your mother’s appearance.
- Describe your first day at school.
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But if the key – word is not understood by the 12-th grade
pupils, they may be ashamed to ask for explanation. The
role of the teacher is to be sure that all pupils understand
about what they have to write. If they do not understand the
word comment, the teacher has to ask questions which
involves this word. For example, she can ask pupils to
comment on the following proverbs:
- Never put of till tomorrow what you can do
today.
- The proof of the pudding is in the eating
- Practice makes perfect
If the teacher shows her authority and does not want to
explain questions to pupils, she does nothing instead of
creating a barrier between whole the whole class and
herself. When pupils try to give some of their ideas,
teachers have to support them and to encourage them by
saying that their ideas are good. Many studies support the
need for active participation by pupils in the writing class if
affective learning is to take place. Pupils have to think of
their own ideas, to invent, to discover, write and analyze.
They must develop themselves some kind of authority,
because when pupils write about personal experiences, they
are the only one who really know what happened.
A very enjoyable activity that involves productive
skills of writing and speaking is based on free writing. At
the beginning of each lessons the teacher gives pupils not
more than five minutes to write everything that comes to
their mind in that moment. It can be simple words, word
combinations or sentences. All pupils have to start at once
and end when the teacher says. After the given period of
time, the teacher asks some pupils to tell to the rest of the
class what they had written about. It is very interesting
because all pupils think in their own way and no one of
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them do not think at the moment in the same way. The
contents of their written work almost depends on their
mood and feelings, some of pupils may write about what
they want to eat; another, where they would like to go;
others, of their friends and family. Some pupils may be shy
to read what they have written, but the teacher has to
encourage them.
Another kind of exercises that involves the writing
process is dictations. In a way, dictations are difficult for
those pupils who do not have enough knowledge in words
spelling that is why dictations cannot be given to the
beginners. Dictations are a valuable exercise because it
trains the ears as well as the eyes, it fixes in the pupils’
mind the part of each sentence pattern, because the teacher
dictates a text part by part. Dictations can be of different
forms and the way they are conducted. It can be visual
dictations, dictation drill, self – dictations. After a long
studding of mistakes made in dictations, the teacher can
give those tests. But in testing pupils’ skills in writing the
teacher should use those kinds of work with which pupils
are used and which they can do because they must be well
prepared before they begin to write the test. Each pupil
should feel pride in a way when they are completing tests.
Whenever pupils are writing, the teacher can walk round
the class, looking what pupils are doing and putting a dot at
the end of those lines that contain mistakes. The pupils
have to find mistakes and correct them.
Anyway, the progress in writing a foreign language
is possible in condition that pupils have enough preparation
for writing, because it is impossible to teach someone the
rules of writing if he/she does not have the elementary
knowledge of writing. In order not to create a dislike from
pupils’ side, the teacher has to use some visuals and
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modern technology, and to explain how they influence the
writing process.
TEACHING PRONUNCIATION
Topic:
1. Pronunciation issues.
Pronunciation difficulties.
2. When to teach pronunciation ton.
1. Pronunciation issues. Almost all English language
teachers get the students to study grammar and vocabulary,
practise functional dialogues, take part in productive skill
activities, and become competent in listening and reading.
Yet some of these teachers make little attempt to teach
pronunciation.
However, the fact that some students are able to
acquire reasonable pronunciation without specific
pronunciation classes and exercises should not blind us to
the benefit of a focus on pronunciation in our lessons.
Pronunciation teaching not only makes students aware of
different sounds, but can also improve their speaking
immeasurable.
2. Pronunciation difficulties and problems. Two
particular problems occur in much pronunciation teaching
and learning:
- What students can hear: some students have great
difficulty features which we want to reproduce. Speakers of
different first languages have problems with different
Englipeaking sh sounds (/b/; /v/; /ð/; /θ/) they don’t have in
their native language.
There are two ways of dealing with this: in the first
place we can show students how sounds are made through
demonstration, diagrams, and explanation. But we can also
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draw the sounds to their attention every time they appear on
tape or in our conversation. When they can hear correctly
they are on the way to being able to speak correctly.
- The intonation problem: for the most teachers the most
problematic area of pronunciation is intonation. Some of us
find it extremely difficult to hear “tunes” or to identity the
patterns of rising and falling tones.
The fact that we may have difficulty recognizing
specific teaching does not mean that we should abandon
intonation teaching altogether. One of our tasks is to give
the students opportunities to recognise moods and
intentions either on tape, or through the way we model
ourselves to them.
3. When to teach pronunciation. Teachers have to
decide when to teach pronunciation into a lesson sequence.
- Whole lessons: making pronunciation the main focus of a
lesson does not mean that every minute of the lesson has to
be spent on pronunciation work. Sometimes students may
also listen to a longer tape, working on listening skills
before moving to the pronunciation part of the sequence.
Sometimes students can work on vocabulary before going
on to work on word stress, sounds, and spelling.
- Discrete slots: some teachers insert short, separate bits of
pronunciation work into a lesson sequence. Over a period
of weeks they work on all the individual phonemes either
separately or in contrasting pairs. At other times they spend
a few minutes on a particular aspect of intonation, say, or
on the contrast between two or more sounds.
-Integrated phrases: when we model words and phrases we
draw our students’ attention to the way they are said; one of
the things we want to concentrate on during an accurate
reproduction stage is the students’ correct pronunciation.
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PRESENTING VOCABULARY
Topics:
1. Presenting vocabulary.
2. Developing a variety of techniques for the teaching
vocabulary.
3. Vocabulary expansion.
1. Presenting vocabulary.
The development of an ability to communicate in
English must be a major goal of any effective course or
lesson. For any approach to work, certain conditions are
essential, such as dynamic lessons and motivation. In this
chapter will be discussed about the importance of
vocabulary in communication or expressing certain
information and the need to give adequate attention in
teaching its items’ meanings.
In spite of the fact that for many years vocabulary
was neglected, the modern human experience showed that
really teaching vocabulary involves more knowledge and
skill than many teachers think. For this reason, this chapter
is made up to draw teachers’ attention while teaching
vocabulary at the words meaning, their use in
communication, their pronunciation and spelling and to
suggest ways of dealing with them- shorter saying- how
can vocabulary be understood and presented.
This chapter provides an overview of linguistic
approaches to the analysis of the English vocabulary
system and uses insights from this analysis to develop
principles for the learning and teaching of vocabulary.
-Say the word clearly and write it on the board.
-Get the class to repeat the word in chorus.
-Translate the word into the learners’ own language.
-Ask the learners to translate the word.
-Draw a picture to show what the word means.
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-Give an English example to show how to the word is used
in context.
-Ask questions using the word.
To teach the meaning of a word is best in a context
and can be introduced by showing real objects such as
“window”, “door”, etc.
New words may be introduced by showing pictures,
which may be drawn on the board, such as “tree”; “cow”;
“tractor” etc. or found in books and magazines.
Sometimes words may be presented by miming,
using actions and facial expressions, such as “sneeze”,
“stumble”, and “smile”.
Words may be presented in a context. For example:
Houses are buildings. This school is also a building.
Sometimes it is easier to introduce a new word in a
simple sentence instead of giving complicated
explanations.
A combination of techniques is also good to show
the meaning of a word. To introduce the word “smile” we
may draw a picture, use the facial expression.
Using pictures is interesting and learners can
remember words easily. Facial expression give meaning
clearly.
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learners experience a ‘tip of the tongue effect’, recalling
something of the word but not its precise form. Yet other
words exist in the memory but prove difficult to recall. Let
consider learners’ mother tongue, for instance. There will
be items which learners are able to recognise and
understand, but which they find difficult to recall or do not
know sufficiently well to use accurately. 30 There can be
other items which learners understand, but do not use,
perhaps because they occur in contexts or types of
discourse which are alien to them.
In the language learning situation, must be stressed
the importance of decision- making by the teacher about
which items are worth learning for productive use and
which are only useful for purposes of recognition. This
decision- making has several implications; the teacher will
need to select what he feels will be most relevant for the
students’ productive vocabulary and this, in turn, will affect
his treatment of those items in the classroom. Clearly, the
teacher has a great responsibility since his knowledge of
the complexities and usefulness of the items is likely to be
superior to the students’ knowledge. Nevertheless, the
learner may be in a much stronger position to decide
whether an item is worth acquiring productively. 31 It is also
worth stating at this point that the learner who perceives the
vital personal relevance of an item may well acquire it
whether the teacher pays great attention to it or not.
Conversely, the learner may consciously or subconsciously
reject items which the teacher is trying to teach him.
Very often this transition of an item from a student’s
receptive (passive) vocabulary to his productive (active)
one is a gradual process. Repeatedly hearing or reading the
item over a period of time is often the most common way in
which this transition takes place. In the classroom, teachers
may at times be attempting to speed up this process by
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‘making an issue’ of the item: thus clarifying its meaning
and form and encouraging controlled practice.
Dividing vocabulary into productive and receptive
categories in this way may seem rather artificial and indeed
in many cases the decisions to be made are by no means
clear- cut. Nonetheless it seems useful to bear the
distinction in mind and to strive towards selectivity based
on the students’ needs and learning environment.
Since vocabulary consists of a series of interrelating
systems and is not just a random collection of items, there
seems to be a clear case for presenting items to a student in
a systematised manner which will both illustrate the
organised nature of vocabulary and at the same time enable
him to internalise the items in a coherent way. Semantic
field, or, as they are commonly called in pedagogical terms,
lexical sets, are made up of sets semantically similar items.
These fields may range from very broad categories, such as
‘life and living things’ to smaller areas such as ‘kinds of
man’ (e.g. man, gentleman, fellow) or ‘kinship relations’
(e.g. son, daughter), and clearly the same item will occur in
different fields. ‘Man’ may occur in a semantic field with
‘types of servant’ or ‘human gender’. From the teacher’s
point of view, too, many of the groupings listed bellow are
convenient. Lexical sets, for example, form useful ‘building
blocks’ and can be revised and expanded as learners
progress; they often provide a clear context for practice as
well.
The groupings bellow consists of different types of
semantic fields as well as phonological and gramatical
sets.32 Clearly, some groupings are more appropriate at
certain levels that at others.
Items related by topic
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One of the most common and useful groupings found in
course books e.g. types of fruit, articles of clothing, living
room furniture, etc.
Items which are similar in meaning
These are items which are easily confused e.g. pretty,
lovely, attractive. Also to be included within this grouping
are commonly taught sets such as ‘ways of walking’ (e.g.
limp, tiptoe, amble, etc.) or ‘ways of looking’ (e.g. peer,
squint, glance, stare, etc.).
This type of group needs to be handled extremely carefully;
the items need to be contextualised properly, and it is vital
to highlight to learners the differences between items as
clearly as possible. One common danger is that grouping
items in this way may force teachers into including items of
different levels of usefulness or frequency.
Items which form ‘pairs’
These can be synonyms, contrasts and ‘opposites’ e.g.old/
new, buy/ sell, lend/borrow, obstinate/ stubborn.
Contextualisation is essential here.
Items along a scale or cline, which illustrate
differences of degree
For example describing an essay- excellent/ very good/
good/ satisfactory/ weak
human age- a child/ a teenager/ an adult
The meaning of items within a scale or cline is obviously
relative; for example, a hot day is not the same as a hot
furnace, but this rarely causes confusion in context.
Items within ‘word families’
It is often possible to group items of vocabulary to illustrate
the principles of word building, the meanings of prefixes
and suffixes and the related phonological difficulties:
e.g. biology- biologist- biological
psychology- psychologist- psychological
or pleasant- unpleasant
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helpful- unhelpful
friendly- unfriendly
Items grouped by (a) grammatical similarity and
(b) notional similarity
This can be particularly useful at lower levels when dealing
with areas such as adverbs of frequency or prepositions, but
may be just as relevant at later levels to group together
nouns with irregular plurals, or words expressing
probability or possibility (e.g. There is a good chance
that…, He’s likely to…, It’s bound to…).
Items which connect discourse
There are a variety of different types of connectives which
act as ‘signposts’ in discourse and can be grouped and
treated as lexical items. The grouping of sentence
adverbials used in listing, for example, could include ‘to
begin with’, ‘in the second place’, ‘last of all’. In a similar
type of grouping, one might find items such as ‘unless’,
‘otherwise’, ‘or else’, ‘provided (that)’ which are related in
that they impose some form of condition.
Adverbs ending in ‘+ ly’ (e.g. unfortunately, happily,
surprisingly) are also important connectives, but may not
cause as much difficulty as the examples above e.g. He ran
out of cash. Fortunately, he had his American Express card
with him.
This is an extremely important area since an understanding
of these ‘signposts’ is vital in comprehension, and unless
they are understood, contextual guesswork may become
almost impossible.
Items forming a set of idioms or multi- word verbs
Certain sets of multi- word verbs or idioms can form
coherent groups e.g. to ring up, to call up, to get through, to
ring back; out of sorts, under the weather, on top of the
world.
70
Items grouped by spelling difficulty or
phonological difficulty
This can be approached within a topic area e.g. food
vocabulary- menu, pie, vegetable, recipe, tough meat,
steak.
Items grouped by style
This may be a useful way to distinguish between items
which are neutral or colloquial: cigarette= ciggy, toilet=
loo.
Similarly to deal with British and American English:
petrol= gasoline, pavement= sidewalk, lorry= truck.
It may therefore be most useful to see vocabulary
knowledge as a scale running from recognition of a word at
one end to automatic production at the other, with the help
of different contexts. However, knowledge of some words
will remain at the recognition end of the continuum and
will be called on in reading and listening but might never
become part of learner’s productive ability. This
characterisation of vocabulary knowledge is complicated
by the phenomenon of forgetting: this can happen quite
rapidly if distracting activities interrupt effective storing of
the word, or more slowly if the word has been stored in the
memory but it rarely encountered or used. There are
various reasons why people remember some words better
than others: the nature of the words themselves, under what
circumstances they are learnt, the method of teaching and
so on.
TEACHING GRAMMAR
71
Grammar plays an important role in the process of
foreign language learning because in order to understand a
language and to express oneself correctly one must
assimilate its grammar mechanism. Moreover, no speaking
is possible without the knowledge of grammar, without the
grammar mechanism formation. If a learner has acquired
such a mechanism, he can produce correct sentences in a
foreign language. Still the role of grammar shouldn’t be
overemphasized when we refer to the communicative
approach in teaching and though we cannot deny the
syllabus requirements the amount of grammar rules should
be strictly structured according to the learner’s age, level,
needs, and allotted time. Too much grammar may lead
young and beginner level learners to demotivation as they
have to learn many abstract rules and constantly practice
the structural patterns which they may find scary, boring or
frustrating. The research surrounding grammar is often
conflicting. On the one hand, one can learn to communicate
in a language without the language being taught
grammatically. On the other hand, once one has reached a
certain level of performance or competency, grammar
becomes more important. So the aprroaches proposed
below are contrastive but worth considering.
72
with explicit information about rules and their functions
and they are guided to figure out the grammatical structures
and reinforce their forms in drills and other types of tasks.
These manipulations are mechanical as they do not require
much effort on the part of the learners being mostly under
teacher’s control.
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One way of teaching grammar to beginners is to use
minimal grammar but to show patterns and help these
students see that there are patterns, so that when they get to
more intermediate and senior levels of learning they will be
able to transfer the word ‘pattern’ to the label of a grammar
concept.
74
It is a kind of balanced approach which combines the
product teaching with its focus on grammatical
forms with the process teaching which emphasizes
self-expression of the grammatical forms in
meaningful context. This approach means guiding
the learner’s attention to grammar and designing
tasks which enables them to develop the skill of
using and attending to grammar. It is for this
reason that the approach is called “teaching
grammar as skill”. More explicitly, learners are
given words which they gradually combine in
order to “grammaticize”.
Irrespective of the perspective of teaching grammar,
the goals are achieved only when the learners are able
to produce grammar correctly in their own contexts in
the process of communication this is why grammar
teaching shouldn't be restricted to «product” or
“process” only, exploring grammar as skill will increase
efficiency and productivity thus enhancing creative
thinking.
III. Teaching Grammar Stages
The process of teaching a foreign language has
several stages which are best represented by Jeremy
Harmer who has designed a general model for teaching
grammar, vocabulary, etc. These are: Presentation,
Practice and Production. During this process both:
teachers and students assume certain roles.
1. Presentation
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Presentation is the stage at which students are
introduced to the form, meaning and use of a new
piece of language. At the same time as learning
how the language is constructed, they learn what
it means and how it is used. As a whole, at this
stage they learn how to put the new syntax, words
and sounds together. So it is very important for
the presentation to be a good one. In Teaching and
Learning Grammar Jeremy Harmer enumerates
the characteristics of a good presentation which
should be: clear, efficient, lively and interesting,
appropriate for the language that is being
presented and last but not least productive.
During the presentation stage the purpose is that
of recognition: hearing/reading and
understanding. Students must hear the structure
correctly. That is why the teacher can check by
repetition, question/answers or translation(very
limited) and the students are supposed to
understand the structure only roughly. Here are
some ways of presenting grammatical structures
and functions:
a) Modelling -the teacher gives a clear spoken
modelof the new structure with normal speed,
stress or intonation. The teacher can give this
model a number of times, then ask the students
to repeat it in chorus or individually.
b) Isolation-teachers frequently isolate parts of the
sentences they are modeling in order to give
them special emphasis. This might be done for
more complicated structures using color,
highlighters, etc.
c) Explanation is another technique appropriate,
even it is abstract and makes use of technical
76
words (metalanguage). Explanations in students’
mother tongue should be avoided as much as
possible. For beginner and elementary students
isolation and visual demonstration of grammar
on the blackboard could be done by means of
diagrams, charts, drawings, underlined words,
boxes, arrows, etc.
d) Time-Lines-a favourite technique for many
teachers who introduce verbal tenses to
intermediate and advanced students.
e) Visuals-teachers may use cards, handouts,
pictures, slides and other video workshops to
introduce a new grammatical pattern.
f) The Finger Technique- pointing out fingers that
stand for parts of speech, parts of sentence,
contracted structures or other patterns in order
to visually demonstrate the ne grammatical
structures formation and use.
g) Discovery Technique-students are given
examples of language and asked to find out how
they work. This might function better with
intermediate to advanced students because they
are asked to discover the rule rather than be told
what it is requires a good vocabulary as well as
the appropriate skills. This is done in certain
steps:
77
1.3. Drawings-this technique is actual with young
learners, for ex. Marking the adverbs of
frequency with squares.
2. Practice
78
For ex: Let’s +verb
Teacher: Let’s play tennis
Students: Let’s play tennis
b) Substitution-under the form of drills it gives the
students more freedom of choice even if it remains
very controlled language practice:
For ex: Let’s +verb
Teacher: You want to play football
Students: Let’s play football
c) Single Word Prompts
For ex: Let’s +verb
Teacher: Cinema
Students: Let’s go to the cinema
d) Prompts on the Blackboard may be organized
and written under the form of charts or simply in a
sequence of words like this:
8 o’clock-get up-breakfast
Bus stop-bus-empty-surprised
School-closed-remembered-holiday
All these activities are fairly mechanical ways of
getting students to demonstrate and practice their
ability to use specific language items in a controlled
manner. There are also other activities more
meaningful and more enjoyable designed so that
students work together, exchange information in a
purposeful and interesting way. These are:
Interaction Activities. They are of different types:
a) Information Gaps- The students work in pairs.
They may ask each other questions in order to fill in
maps, forms in order to close the gaps in the
information which they both have.
b)Charts/Grids are very useful to promote
interaction between students. In order to complete
them the students have to question each other and
note down the replies appropriate for this technique.
79
c) Games-various kinds of games have been used in
language teaching for a long time and they are both
useful and highly motivating for young learners
especially.
d) Multiple Choice –students have to choose the
correct answers from a number of alternatives.
3. Production
Many activities appropriate for the practice stage
can also apply successfully to the production one.
The difference is that the first ones provide a
mechanical practice while the latter ones give a
more meaningful communicative practice. Here are
some typical examples of activities used during the
production stage:
a) Knowledge Quizzes-they can be used to practice
various grammatical items but the most common
ones are those based on comparisons. For ex: What
is the highest mountain in the world? Students
answer the questions either orally or in writing
preferably in complete sentences. For ex: Mount
Everest is the highest mountain in the world. They
can be put in pairs or in groups and do the quiz with
a time limit. This kind of practice can take the form
of a contest, thus becoming more enjoying and
motivating.
b) Questions/Answers using a structure/a picture/ a
situation/a text
c) Sentence Writing-students are asked to write their
own sentences for applying different structures:
-Sentences about a picture using a particular verb
tense;
- sentences to finish if clauses, For ex : If I
were you,…
d) Building sentences from key words
80
e) Word Order-students are given jumbled sentences
which they have to unscramble. For ex:
At/gets/Margaret/home/half past six/usually.
f) Guessing what someone is miming-this is a good
productive exercise for orally applying new
grammatical patterns
g) Personalization- the students use the new
grammatical structures to say things which really
mean something to them or to apply the acquired
knowledge to their situation for example saying
things about themselves, what they do, where they
live, speak about their daily programme, etc. using
the new grammatical pattern.
Irrespective of the activities the teacher chooses for
the production stage they should be oriented from
controlled to less controlled or freer practice so that
the students are able to “grammaticize” when they
communicate in English.
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90
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
1
Taba, H. (1962) Curriculum Development: Theory and Practice New
York: Harcourt Brace.
2
Stern, H.H. (1983) Fundamental Concepts of Language Teaching
Oxford: Oxford University Press.
3
Tyler, R. (1949) Basic Principles of Curriculum and Instruction New
York: Harcourt Brace.
4
Lawton, D. (1973) Social Change, Educational Theory and
Curriculum Planning London: Hodder and Stoughton.
5
Wheeler, D. (1967) Curriculum Processes London: University of
London Press.
6
Stenhouse, L. (1975) An Introduction to Curriculum. Research and
Development. London: Heinemann
7
Nunan, D. (1988) Syllabus Design Oxford: Oxford University Press.
9
Eltis, K. and B. Low (1985) A review of the teaching process in the
AMEP, Canberra.
10
Alcorso, C. and M. Kalantzis (1985) The learning process and being
a learner in the AMEP, Canberra.
11
Willing, K. (1985) Learning Styles in AME. Sydney: NSW AMES
12
Nunan, D. (1985) Language Teaching Course Design: Trends and
Issues. Adelaide: National Curriculum Resource Centre.
13
Candlin, C. (1984) Syllabus design as a critical process Oxford:
Pergamon.
14
Long, M. (1985) Modelling and Assessing Sound Language
Acquisition. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
15
Skillbeck, M. (1984) School-based Curriculum Development.
London: Harper and Raw.
16
Nunan, D. The Learner-Centred Curriculum A Study in Second
Language Teaching. Cambridge University Press.
17
Prabhu, N. (1983) Procedural Syllabuses Singapore.
18
Willis, D. (1990) The Lexical Syllabus: A New Approach to
Language Teaching. London: Collins.
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3
3
APPENDIX
Appendix 1.
You may need it while planning your lessons
All by myself
I don't need anyone at all
It will be mine
No one can take it from me
You'll see
You think that you are strong, but you are weak
You'll see,
4. I have never…
6. My children will…
Case N1
Anna, a forth form pupil, surprised and shocked the children in the class because of the long
dangling earrings she was wearing. At first, the teacher decided to ignore this, hoping the children
will soon ignore it also. However the subdued but excited noise continued. Everyone wanted to
touch and see the earrings.
Vocabulary:
Dangling- hanging or swinging loosely
To subdue- overcome, quieten, or bring under control (a feeling or person)
Case N1
Anna, a forth form pupil, surprised and shocked the children in the class because of the long
dangling earrings she was wearing. At first, the teacher decided to ignore this, hoping the children
will soon ignore it also. However the subdued but excited noise continued. Everyone wanted to
touch and see the earrings.
Vocabulary:
Dangling- hanging or swinging loosely
To subdue- overcome, quieten, or bring under control (a feeling or person)
Case N1
Anna, a forth form pupil, surprised and shocked the children in the class because of the long
dangling earrings she was wearing. At first, the teacher decided to ignore this, hoping the children
will soon ignore it also. However the subdued but excited noise continued. Everyone wanted to
touch and see the earrings.
Vocabulary:
Dangling- hanging or swinging loosely
To subdue- overcome, quieten, or bring under control (a feeling or person)
Case N2.
John’s first day in school went smoothly. On the second day, another child sat in the place John
wanted. John refused to sit in any of the vacant places and was given the choice of sitting down at
another place or standing. He chose to stand. His parents came to school several times in the next
few weeks, very distressed that all John did at school was stand.
Vocabulary:
Smoothly- Without problems or difficulties:
Vacant- not occupied; empty:
Distressed- Suffering from extreme anxiety, sorrow, or pain:
Case N2.
John’s first day in school went smoothly. On the second day, another child sat in the place John
wanted. John refused to sit in any of the vacant places and was given the choice of sitting down at
another place or standing. He chose to stand. His parents came to school several times in the next
few weeks, very distressed that all John did at school was stand.
Vocabulary:
Smoothly- Without problems or difficulties:
Vacant- not occupied; empty:
Distressed- Suffering from extreme anxiety, sorrow, or pain:
Case N2.
John’s first day in school went smoothly. On the second day, another child sat in the place John
wanted. John refused to sit in any of the vacant places and was given the choice of sitting down at
another place or standing. He chose to stand. His parents came to school several times in the next
few weeks, very distressed that all John did at school was stand.
Vocabulary:
Smoothly- Without problems or difficulties:
Vacant- not occupied; empty:
Distressed- Suffering from extreme anxiety, sorrow, or pain:
Case N2.
John’s first day in school went smoothly. On the second day, another child sat in the place John
wanted. John refused to sit in any of the vacant places and was given the choice of sitting down at
another place or standing. He chose to stand. His parents came to school several times in the next
few weeks, very distressed that all John did at school was stand.
Vocabulary:
Smoothly- Without problems or difficulties:
Vacant- not occupied; empty:
Distressed- Suffering from extreme anxiety, sorrow, or pain:
Case N2.
John’s first day in school went smoothly. On the second day, another child sat in the place John
wanted. John refused to sit in any of the vacant places and was given the choice of sitting down at
another place or standing. He chose to stand. His parents came to school several times in the next
few weeks, very distressed that all John did at school was stand.
Vocabulary:
Smoothly- Without problems or difficulties:
Vacant- not occupied; empty:
Distressed- Suffering from extreme anxiety, sorrow, or pain:
Case N3.
Paul, a senior in high school, must outsmart every adult with whom he comes in contact. His need
to feel superior is so strong that he spends hours plotting how he can achieve his goal. He goes to
the library to look up definitions and information of irrelevant subject matter, and confronts the
teacher with questions like: “What kind of dress did Josephine wear when she married Napoleon?”
Since the teacher cannot answer this question, Paul proceeds with his information and proves his
superiority to the whole class.
Vocabulary:
Senior- Of a more advanced age:
Outsmart- Defeat or get the better of (someone) by being clever or cunning:
To plot- Secretly make plans to carry out (an illegal or harmful action):
Irrelevant- Not connected with or relevant to something:
To confront- Come face to face with (someone) with hostile or argumentative intent:
To proceed- Begin a course of action:
Case N3.
Paul, a senior in high school, must outsmart every adult with whom he comes in contact. His need
to feel superior is so strong that he spends hours plotting how he can achieve his goal. He goes to
the library to look up definitions and information of irrelevant subject matter, and confronts the
teacher with questions like: “What kind of dress did Josephine wear when she married Napoleon?”
Since the teacher cannot answer this question, Paul proceeds with his information and proves his
superiority to the whole class.
Vocabulary:
Senior- Of a more advanced age:
Outsmart- Defeat or get the better of (someone) by being clever or cunning:
To plot- Secretly make plans to carry out (an illegal or harmful action):
Irrelevant- Not connected with or relevant to something:
To confront- Come face to face with (someone) with hostile or argumentative intent:
To proceed- Begin a course of action:
Case N3.
Paul, a senior in high school, must outsmart every adult with whom he comes in contact. His need
to feel superior is so strong that he spends hours plotting how he can achieve his goal. He goes to
the library to look up definitions and information of irrelevant subject matter, and confronts the
teacher with questions like: “What kind of dress did Josephine wear when she married Napoleon?”
Since the teacher cannot answer this question, Paul proceeds with his information and proves his
superiority to the whole class.
Vocabulary:
Senior- Of a more advanced age:
Outsmart- Defeat or get the better of (someone) by being clever or cunning:
To plot- Secretly make plans to carry out (an illegal or harmful action):
Irrelevant- Not connected with or relevant to something:
To confront- Come face to face with (someone) with hostile or argumentative intent:
To proceed- Begin a course of action:
Case N4.
Michael, a bright, soon-to-be fifth former, confessed to his teacher that in his view school was no
fun, the teachers were not good, summer should last forever and dogs were lucky because they
didn’t have to go to school. The teacher protested that school was important. But Michael, who
didn’t share the teacher’s opinion, answered with a one word question “WHY???”
Vocabulary:
To confess- Acknowledge something reluctantly, typically because one feels slightly ashamed or
embarrassed:
To share one’s opinion-to agree
Case N4.
Michael, a bright, soon-to-be fifth former, confessed to his teacher that in his view school was no
fun, the teachers were not good, summer should last forever and dogs were lucky because they
didn’t have to go to school. The teacher protested that school was important. But Michael, who
didn’t share the teacher’s opinion, answered with a one word question “WHY???”
Vocabulary:
To confess- Acknowledge something reluctantly, typically because one feels slightly ashamed or
embarrassed:
To share one’s opinion-to agree
Case N4.
Michael, a bright, soon-to-be fifth former, confessed to his teacher that in his view school was no
fun, the teachers were not good, summer should last forever and dogs were lucky because they
didn’t have to go to school. The teacher protested that school was important. But Michael, who
didn’t share the teacher’s opinion, answered with a one word question “WHY???”
Vocabulary:
To confess- Acknowledge something reluctantly, typically because one feels slightly ashamed or
embarrassed:
To share one’s opinion-to agree
Case N4.
Michael, a bright, soon-to-be fifth former, confessed to his teacher that in his view school was no
fun, the teachers were not good, summer should last forever and dogs were lucky because they
didn’t have to go to school. The teacher protested that school was important. But Michael, who
didn’t share the teacher’s opinion, answered with a one word question “WHY???”
Vocabulary:
To confess- Acknowledge something reluctantly, typically because one feels slightly ashamed or
embarrassed:
To share one’s opinion-to agree
Case N4.
Michael, a bright, soon-to-be fifth former, confessed to his teacher that in his view school was no
fun, the teachers were not good, summer should last forever and dogs were lucky because they
didn’t have to go to school. The teacher protested that school was important. But Michael, who
didn’t share the teacher’s opinion, answered with a one word question “WHY???”
Vocabulary:
To confess- Acknowledge something reluctantly, typically because one feels slightly ashamed or
embarrassed:
To share one’s opinion-to agree
The Unicorn in the Garden by James Thurber
reprinted from
Fables For Our Time
Once upon a sunny morning a man who sat in a breakfast nook looked up from his scrambled eggs to
see a white unicorn with a golden horn quietly cropping the roses in the garden. The man went up to the
bedroom where his wife was still asleep and woke her. "There's a unicorn in the garden," he said. "Eating
roses." She opened one unfriendly eye and looked at him.
"The unicorn is a mythical beast," she said, and turned her back on him. The man walked slowly downstairs
and out into the garden. The unicorn was still there; now he was browsing among the tulips. "Here, unicorn,"
said the man, and he pulled up a lily and gave it to him. The unicorn ate it gravely. With a high heart, because
there was a unicorn in his garden, the man went upstairs and roused his wife again. "The unicorn," he
said,"ate a lily." His wife sat up in bed and looked at him coldly. "You are a booby," she said, "and I am
going to have you put in the booby-hatch."
The man, who had never liked the words "booby" and "booby-hatch," and who liked them even less on a
shining morning when there was a unicorn in the garden, thought for a moment. "We'll see about that," he
said. He walked over to the door. "He has a golden horn in the middle of his forehead," he told her. Then he
went back to the garden to watch the unicorn; but the unicorn had gone away. The man sat down among the
roses and went to sleep.
As soon as the husband had gone out of the house, the wife got up and dressed as fast as she could. She was
very excited and there was a gloat in her eye. She telephoned the police and she telephoned a psychiatrist;
she told them to hurry to her house and bring a strait-jacket. When the police and the psychiatrist arrived
they sat down in chairs and looked at her, with great interest.
"My husband," she said, "saw a unicorn this morning." The police looked at the psychiatrist and the
psychiatrist looked at the police. "He told me it ate a lilly," she said. The psychiatrist looked at the police and
the police looked at the psychiatrist. "He told me it had a golden horn in the middle of its forehead," she said.
At a solemn signal from the psychiatrist, the police leaped from their chairs and seized the wife. They had a
hard time subduing her, for she put up a terrific struggle, but they finally subdued her. Just as they got her
into the strait-jacket, the husband came back into the house.
"Did you tell your wife you saw a unicorn?" asked the police. "Of course not," said the husband. "The
unicorn is a mythical beast." "That's all I wanted to know," said the psychiatrist. "Take her away. I'm sorry,
sir, but your wife is as crazy as a jaybird."
So they took her away, cursing and screaming, and shut her up in an institution. The husband lived happily
ever after.
New York
Tennis
Internet
grandmother
yesterday
lesson
car
student
Egypt
Microwave oven
Michael Jackson
snow
computer
rose
love
encyclopaedia
Watch
St.Valentine’s day
mouse
chocolate
School
Mobile phone
Credit card
Shakespeare
MIMING ASSIGNMENT
A delicate cat who steps into mud and tries to clean her leg
it was friday and it was pauls big business trip to new york in america/he got up at 5 am got dressed
had a cup of coffee and read the newspaper/ at 6 am a taxi arrived to take him to london airport
paul locked the door and put his bags in the taxi but he left his briefcase in the house his business
papers his money his credit cards his plane ticket and his passport were all in his briefcase luckily
the taxi driver asked paul if he had his ticket paul ran back into the house and got his briefcase but
this time he ran out of the house and left his keys inside.
it was friday and it was pauls big business trip to new york in america/he got up at 5 am got dressed
had a cup of coffee and read the newspaper/ at 6 am a taxi arrived to take him to london airport
paul locked the door and put his bags in the taxi but he left his briefcase in the house his business
papers his money his credit cards his plane ticket and his passport were all in his briefcase luckily
the taxi driver asked paul if he had his ticket paul ran back into the house and got his briefcase but
this time he ran out of the house and left his keys inside.
Continue the story:
That day when Julia came back from work, she knew
something was different.
Define the concept:
An ALIEN is…
Help the author of this letter by giving advice:
Problem Page
Dear Mary,
I recently broke up with a man I loved and he married another girl. I have been going out
with someone else ever since. He’s 29 and I’m 26. Now he has asked me to marry him and I
suppose I would be mad to refuse. But I don’t love him, though I’m fond of him. I live in a
small village so I’m unlikely to get another chance. I don’t want to be left on the self. My
mother says love grows if you marry someone who is good to you. Do you think she’s right?
Miss P.J. Suffolk
Problem Page
Dear Marry,
I have been living with my boyfriend for two years. I’m now pregnant and having a dreadful
time with my family because they are trying to pressure us into getting married. I cannot
accept their reasoning that it would be for the good of the child. By the time the baby is of
school age, marriage will be a thing of the past anyway. When will people accept a more
liberal outlook on life?
Ms K. O’M