teaching techniques for modern teachers of english (2013, sample)

TEACHING TECHNIQUES FOR MODERN TEACHERS

OF ENGLISH

ASPA

Silvia Pokrivčáková

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TEACHING TECHNIQUES FOR MODERN TEACHERS

OF ENGLISH

ASPA

Silvia Pokrivčáková

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© 2013 Silvia Pokrivčáková All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval

system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, information storage or otherwise in accordance with the Act No. 618/2003 on Copyright and Rights Related to Copyright (Slovakia), without the prior written permission of the author and the publisher, except for brief quotations in review articles and academic works.

Reviewers: Doc. Zuzana Straková, PhD. Mgr. Eva Reid, PhD. Proofreading: Ciarán Chapman, B.A. ISBN 978-80-89477-10-4 EAN 9788089477104

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction 7 Teaching approaches, methods and techniques

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Algorithms 15 Association-based activities 17 Brainstorming 19 Classifying/listing activities 20 Close exercises 21 Demonstrating visuals and

objects 22

Dialogues 24 Dictations 28 Discovery techniques 30 Discussions 32 Drama techniques 34 Drills 36 Explaining 38 Extensive reading 41 Field trips 45 Games 47 Group work 51 Individual study 53 Information gap activities 54 Interviews 57 Jigsaw activities 60

Lectures and presentations 62 Mind maps 64 Minimal pair techniques 65 Mnemonic aids 67 Outlining 70 Performing poetry and prose 71 Picture dictations 72 Picture dictionaries 73 Problem-solving activities 75 Project work 77 Questionnaires 79 Quizes 81 Role plays 83 Reading aloud 84 Skimming and scanning 86 Situation and simulation

techniques 88

Songs, short rhymes and tongue-twisters

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Substitution tables 92 Translating 93 Word puzzles 95 Useful classroom language

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Bibliography 98 Glossary 102

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Symbols and abbreviations used [...] – (symbols in square brackets) pronunciation transcription of words ALM – Audio-Lingual Method Am. – American English CEFR – Common European Framework of Reference for Languages GTM – Grammar-Translation Method L1 – a mother language, native language L2 – a foreign language S - student Ss - students S1 – student 1 S2 - student 2 S3 - student 3 T - teacher TEFL – teaching English as a foreign language TPR – Total Physical Response

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Introduction

The handbook Teaching Techniques for Modern Teachers of English was written primarily as a response to requirements addressed to me by many in-practice and future teachers of English as a foreign language I have met as the teacher trainer. Although there are many excellent textbooks and manuals for teachers of English available in bookstores, the teachers often keep asking for a simple, compact and user-friendly manual introducing basic teaching techniques applicable in foreign language classes. The present handbook is an attempt to satisfy this need.

The handbook presents 41 teaching techniques used in teaching foreign languages which have been proved to be both most frequent as well as exceptionally effective. They were selected and designed with non-native teachers of English in mind and most of them were adapted to the needs of teenage students. Every teaching technique and activity in the book has been tried and tested in real monolingual classrooms.

The main aim of the publication is to provide the teachers of English with the basic “package” of teaching techniques as instruments of effective and attractive teaching. Each chapter is organized as “a profile” of a particular technique and consists of its basic characteristics, followed by recommended procedures and easy-to-use examples or model activities. I decided not to provide scientifically precise and detailed characteristics and all possible subtypes and variations of described teaching techniques. On the contrary, my intention was to keep it as simple as possible. Each profile introduces just a basic variant of the technique which can be easily and flexibly changed and used in hundreds of different ways according to the momentary objectives of the teacher and his/her students´ needs.

The handbook may be used independently or as a complement to the textbook Modern Teacher of English (2010, 2012).

Acknowledgements During my nearly 20-year-long teacher-training career I have met hundreds of university

students and in-service teachers of English who inspired me to write the book in the first place. They have been providing me with their optimism, interesting ideas and tips for many years. I am very grateful for that and I hope that this “flow of wisdom” never dries out for me.

I would like to thank all those in-practice teachers who, when asked, did not hesitate to help me and took their time to try and test the activities in this manual. I would also like to thank the reviewers, doc. Zuzana Straková, PhD. and Mgr. Eva Reid, PhD. who read the drafts and added numerous invaluable insights and comments. Third, I would like to commend the great job done by the proof-reader Ciarán Chapman, B. A.

And most important, I – like in all my previous works - must once more express my sincere thanks and respect to my husband and sons for their love and support, and seemingly never-ending patience.

Author

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TEACHING APPROACHES, METHODS AND TECHNIQUES

There are three terms which are crucial for the work of every teacher - teaching approach,

method and technique. Since over recent decades there has been continuous confusion in comprehending these terms and various authors have defined them in different (and sometimes rather contradictory) ways, we need to explain how they are understood and used in this manual.

A teaching approach is the broadest term. It integrates the theory of how languages are

best taught and learned (e.g. behaviourism, cognitivism, constructivism, etc.), philosophy of education (educational idealism, scholasticism, pragmatism, existentialism, etc.), and teaching principles the teacher tends to follow.

Principles of traditional education

↔

Principles of modern, progressive education

Education as struggling for the perfect and absolute

Accepting the child´s individuality

Discipline as adaptation to social rules Discipline as cooperating and supporting Learning as receiving and grasping Learning as creation or discovery Memorizing Problem solving Intellectual development and mental training

Independent thinking, social and emotional training

Learning for future use Learning now and here (through current experience)

“Bending” a child Guiding a child Gap between school and real life Connection between school and real life

outside the school

As examples of teaching approaches, the natural approach, the behaviouristic approach, the aural-oral approach, the cognitive-code approach, the constructivist approach, the communicative approach, and the reading approach can be named.

A teacher´s personal philosophy of education affects not only his/her approach to teaching, but also the selection of a dominant teaching method and related techniques.

A teaching method is a systematic way of teaching a language (= tactics of teaching). It

integrates several teaching techniques, activities, and procedures. Foreign language education disposes of a wide range of specific teaching methods, such as the audio-lingual method, the direct method, the grammar-translation method, total physical response, the silent way, the communicative method, etc. Some teaching methods reflect particular approaches to teaching languages and learning theories (e.g. aural-oral approach → the audio-lingual method, natural approach → the direct method, etc.). The term is sometimes used synonymously with the term “teaching technique,” but not in this manual.

A teaching technique is a specific procedure for carrying out a teaching activity. Some of

the most frequently used teaching techniques in foreign language education are explanation, demonstration, drill, dictation, lecture, performing dialogues, role play, quiz, questionnaire, etc. The term is sometimes used synonymously with the term “classroom activity,” but not in this manual.

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An activity is a general term for any classroom doing or action that requires students to be active and use their language competences practically. The term is often used synonymously with an exercise or a task.

A task is a learning goal to be achieved by a particular activity or exercise, e.g. to practice

new vocabulary, to solve a problem or produce a product.

The ambiguity in defining and using these terms is emphasized if they are used by Slovak users, since the term “teaching method” is very frequently used rather inappropriately as a translation of Slovak “vyučovacia metóda”. To avoid any further problems, correct translations of these terms are given in the following table:

English term Slovak term

teaching approach

didaktický prístup

teaching method

metodika vyučovania

teaching technique

vyučovacia metóda

activity, exercise

cvičenie

task

úloha (v zmysle poslanie, povinnosť)

Tab. 1: Terminological ambiguity: approach, method, technique A modern teacher is expected to be able to use a wide variety of teaching techniques to

facilitate the learning needs of all students. He/she should: - be well informed about the basic principles and methodological procedures of as many

teaching techniques as possible; - be well informed about students, their learning styles and preferences to be able to select

the most appropriate techniques that would attract and support students; - be able to adapt the generally recommended procedure of a particular teaching technique

to the current situation in the classroom; - have a battery of teaching materials for various teaching techniques.

Ideally, the teaching technique itself should: - enable students to discover or gain new knowledge; - facilitate learning processes; - be natural and as close to real life outside the school as possible; - be appropriate to the students age and proficiency level; - be attractive enough to motivate students to learn further; - help students develop their logical thinking; - be economical (students should be able to reach educational objectives in as short time as

possible with as little effort as possible); - be flexible (adaptable for various groups of students and teaching objectives); - promote individualized learning.

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The teaching technique the teacher decides to use should not require more effort than necessary. Otherwise, it would lead to the loss of students´ motivation (e.g. when introducing a word “house” it would be much more effective just to show students a picture of any house than using a verbal explanation or definition from a monolingual dictionary). On the other side, the teaching technique must be in accordance with teacher´s individuality and his/her skills. If the teacher is not good in delivering long speeches, he/she most probably would not be good in giving long lectures and presentations. In such cases teachers need to limit using those techniques until they improve their own skills.

CLASSIFICATION OF TEACHING TECHNIQUES

I. Teaching techniques according to the amount of teacher´s control

a) Controlled techniques: The teacher controls the student´s language completely.

Controlled activities focus on language accuracy, practicing correct language (including pronunciation) without any mistakes. They are more frequently used in the initial stages of learning a foreign language (beginner classes) since they provide students with the correct models of language. When practicing controlled activities, students usually use only language “pre-scripted” by the teacher or a textbook. They have no chance to choose the language structures or vocabulary on their own. They do not express themselves and they do not need to be creative at all because “the teacher is putting the words into their mouths!” (Byrne, 1992, p. 4). The intention is to enable students to gain control over the vocabulary or structures they learn as quickly as possible.

Example 1: The teacher presents a model and asks students to repeat it (students repeat sentences given by the teacher, no matter whether they are true or false):

T: Please, repeat: I always wash my hands before eating. Ss: I always wash my hands before eating. T: Again, please. Ss: I always wash my hands before eating. T: Great. Now... usually. I usually wash my hands before eating. Ss: I usually wash my hands before eating. T: OK. Never. Ss. I never wash my hands before eating. (laugh) T (smiling): You know it´s not very nice. OK. Now... often. Ss: I often wash my hands before eating.

Example 2: Dictation The teacher dictates a text and students have to write it down word by word without any change, not even the slightest modification. Any change would be considered a mistake.

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b) Guided techniques: Once the students gained some communicative competence in a foreign language, the controlled techniques should give way as soon as possible to more meaningful and real-like interaction. While using guided techniques, the teacher has got less control and students are allowed more freedom. They give students more opportunities to use their own words and expressions, to add something personal and to create something on their own. The students are allowed to complete an exercise in more than one way (but still within defined frame and guidelines). The amount and type of their input still remains considerably limited.

Example: Writing a message

Read the “skeleton” of the message and fill in the missing words.

Hi Bruno! I am writing to you from ................................................................ . I am here with ............................................ and ................................................... . We came here by .............................................. . The journey was ................................. We will stay for .................................... . We plan to ............................................, ........................................., and ................................... . Can´t wait to tell you all the news when we come back. Yours,

........................................................

c) Free (communicative) techniques: focus on meaningful and spontaneous communication which is based on the free flow of language and ideas. These teaching techniques are the closest to real communication in real life. The teacher´s control is very limited if not non-existent. To fulfil the task, students need to use their own creativity, fantasy, personal knowledge and various language competences. The teacher never knows what is going to be said in the class.

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II. Teaching techniques according to the logical processes they dominantly involve:

a) based on comparison (e.g. discretion drills, minimal response pairs); b) based on deduction (e.g. some substitution activities and grammar drills), c) based on induction (e.g. discovery techniques), d) based on analysis (e.g. classifying techniques), e) based on synthesis (e.g. projects, all free activities), f) based on analogy (e.g. classifying techniques).

III. Teaching techniques according to the dominant learning style they support: a) verbal techniques (work with written texts, verbal explanation, etc.); b) visual techniques (using visuals, demonstrations, etc.); c) audial techniques (lectures, discussions, interview, role plays, listening activities, etc.); d) kinaesthetic techniques (crafts, projects, some games, etc.); e) logical techniques (mind maps, using diagrams, schemas, outlining texts, etc.); f) emotional techniques (performing literature, using songs, games); g) social techniques (discussions, dialogues, role plays, group work, etc.).

IV. Teaching techniques according to the stage of the lesson: a) motivation techniques (brainstorming, discussion, interview, guessing meaning, etc.); b) exposition techniques (explanation, lecture, demonstration, etc.); c) fixation TTs (quiz, substitution tables, fill-in exercises, etc.) d) evaluation (interview, oral exam, dictation, writing essay, etc.) V. Teaching techniques according to the foreign language competences they

help develop: a) techniques used to develop vocabulary (association-based activities, classifying words); b) techniques used to develop listening skills (dictations, listening for a gist); c) techniques used to develop speaking skills (role plays, discussions, drama techniques); d) techniques used to develop reading skills (skimming, scanning, outlining); e) techniques used to develop writing skills (outlining, dictations, project work); f) techniques used to develop grammar knowledge (drills, substitution tables).

No classification of teaching techniques is precise or absolutely unambiguous. A

particular foreign language competence or skill may be developed by various teaching techniques and a particular teaching technique may be used to develop various language competences in various stages of the lesson, focusing on the various learning styles of students.

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GENERAL TEACHING TIPS Always provide students with essential language. Keep activities simple. Always give clear instructions. Make sure your students always know

what they have to do. Keep it dynamic – do not allow activities to go on for too long and

students to get bored. Whenever it is possible, get the students to interact. Get everyone to join in. Listen to both students´ opinions and their language. Always provide feedback (not necessarily correction).

THE MOST COMMON CAUSES OF POTENTIAL CHAOS IN THE CLASSROOM

Students do not understand the purpose and relevance of the activity.

Students fail to understand instructions and they do not know what to do.

Students cannot remember what to do.

The teacher and students waste too much time by organizing the activity, e.g.

which colour pencil should be used for underlining answers or who should be

with whom in the group.

The activity or materials look too childish or boring.

The activity is too complicated.

There are not enough materials to go round the individuals, pairs or groups.

The materials used are not complete (some pieces are missing, etc.)

(adapted from Willis, 1983)

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ALGORITHM

An algorithm [ˈælɡəˌrɪðəm] is a prescribed procedure (or formula) for solving a problem.

Some algorithms, such as a recipe to prepare coffee, are used every day. Most computer programs consist of algorithms.

Algorithms in teaching English can be used only in the situations when a general, unambiguous procedure with strict rules is applied, e.g. creating plural forms of regular nouns or rules for pronunciations of suffixes added to regular verbs. Example: Spelling algorithm inspired by the activity in the textbook Caravans (Schoephoerster, 1988, p. 1)

There are only a few ready-

made algorithms for English language teaching. However, teachers may easily prepare algorithms as effective teaching aids or ask students (especially those with a dominant logical learning style and interests in ICT) to create their own algorithms so their learning would be easier. In such a case, designing an algorithm becomes a teaching technique that leads students to see English language as a system with its rules. The ultimate aim is to create so-called “elegant algorithms“, i.e. algorithms that are very simple, user-friendly and require the fewest steps possible.

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Recommended procedure

1. The teacher explains to the students what an algorithm is and

presents them with examples of very simple algorithms.

2. The teacher explains also the meaning of the shapes used in the algorithm diagrams:

= start/stop; = step in the procedure; = remify yes or no.

3. The teacher has students recall the rules of a language element

that is going to be the object of algorithming.

4. The teacher asks students to create their own algorithms.

5. Students explain and check their algorithms.

Model activities

Pronunciation of past tense suffixes

The activity may be used as a follow-up activity after the presentation of correct pronunciation of past tense suffixes: -d/-ed. 1) Explain to the students what an algorithm is. Present

examples of very simple algorithms. 2) Have students recall rules of using English articles (e.g. from

the grammar section of the textbook). 3) Ask students to create their own algorithms.

Remembering correct pronunciation

1) Brainstorming: Ask the students how they usually learn correct

pronunciation of new English words. Write the elicited answers on the board in the form of a spider diagram (possible answers: searching a correct pronunciation in a dictionary, transcribing, using dictionaries with recording of correct pronunciation, learning pronunciation from songs and movies, repeating the words loudly after the teacher, etc.).

2) Explain to the students what an algorithm is. Display examples of very simple algorithms.

3) Ask students to work in pairs. 4) Ask students to agree on one technique of learning correct

pronunciation and then create their own algorithms for the chosen technique.

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ASSOCIATION-BASED TECHNIQUES

The techniques use verbal, visual or audial memory to create word association in the

student´s mind. The technique is based on psychology where the term "association" refers to a mental connection between two or more entities (pictures, sounds, tastes, smells, words, mental images, etc.). The connection in the student´s mind may be based on the obvious similarity between those entities or on the student´s experiences, knowledge, beliefs, etc. Associations are highly individual.

The technique is very useful to create highly personalized memory aids while learning new vocabulary. It might also be used as a valuable starting point for class discussions (see mental association model activities).

A. Visual associations

ch mney

ase

nake gg

B. Audial associations

shower pronounce [ʃaʊə] prolonging and emphasizing sound [ʃ] that resembles the sound of falling water in the shower

snake pronounce [sneık] prolonging and emphasizing sound [s] that resembles the sounds made by snakes

clap repeat pronouncing the word [klæp] and accompany it with clapping hands

murmur have all students in the group pronounce the word [ˈmɜːmə(r)] repeatedly in random tempo to create the effect of a murmur of a crowd

C. Mental association While activating mental associations, we ask students to think about their ideas associated

with some words. Example:

1. The teacher introduces the activity:

T: I'm going to say a bunch of words. I want you to write down the first thing that comes to mind. Later we are going to discuss your answers. Ready?

2. The teacher reads a group of 5-6 words, e.g. a night, a house, a cloud, sweet, etc. Between

reading the words the teacher waits 30-45 seconds for students to finish their associations. The period should not be too long – students should write really the first thing in their mind.

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Possible associations:

3. After reading out all words, the teacher asks students to share their associations. The most

interesting associations should be discussed with the class, e.g.:

T: Eva, why did you think about chocolate while hearing a night? What is the connection between a night and chocolate?

Eva: Because I usually have a cup of hot chocolate before I go to bed.

***** T: Jacob, what connection can you see between a house and a spider? Jacob: In my grandmother´s old house there are millions of spiders.

Model activities Association dictionaries The teacher asks students to create their own visual-association and audial-association

cards throughout a given period or a whole school year. Students collect their cards and organize them in alphabetical order. At the end of the period each student has his personal dictionary.

Class vocabulary lists Each student thinks of a topic that must be familiar enough to other students (family life,

vegetarians, sport, etc.). Each student writes his/her topic down on paper (each student must have a different topic) and adds one word or phrase associated with that topic. Students then simultaneously pass their papers to their neighbours who add their words or phrases (each student writes down one word/phrase on each paper). This continues around the class until each paper comes back to its author. Students then check their lists and understanding of all words.

Word-associations game The class is divided into groups. Each group is given a list of words. Individual students

take turns saying words somehow associated with the given words. The students must explain the associations. If any of the associations are not accepted by other groups, they are out of the game.

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BRAINSTORMING

Brainstorming is one of the problem-solving techniques, used to generate fresh ideas,

involve the whole group, and encourage creativity. The teacher asks a question and students provide possible answers, e.g. The crocodile would be a great pet because... ; A bad day is when... .

Any response from students, even the most nonsensical, is equally welcomed, praised, and recorded. The teacher is just a motivator encouraging students to produce as many responses as possible. Quantity is needed and criticism is not allowed.

Brainstorming is usually used as a motivation technique before the main activity. It is a

valuable starting stage of project work.


1. Choose a subject that is attractive but familiar and simple enough to talk about. Good brainstorming does not require students´ writing.

2. Ask the students to give their suggestions on how the problem could be solved. Encourage them to share any opinion or suggestion by pointing out that they will not be criticised or evaluated.

3. Encourage “free-wheeling” – the less ordinary an idea, the better. 4. You or a chosen student should write the answers on the board. 5. After writing down enough responses, the group decide which of them may be

used immediately and which might be improved and combined. 6. Follow up: The students write down a plan of action coming from brainstorming

outcomes.

Model activity

A Talent Show

1. Introduce the idea of organizing a talent show in the class. 2. Ask students to give their suggestion which actions are needed to organize such

an event. Write their opinions on the board. Keep encouraging them to give as many suggestions as possible.

3. After gathering suggestions ask students to discuss and agree on the best ones which might be really used.

4. Organize students´ ideas in the form of a mind map. 5. Ask students to prepare a detailed plan of organizing a talent show. 6. If possible, organize a talent show in the class.

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CLASSIFYING/LISTING ACTIVITIES

Classifying or listing activities are very frequently used while consolidating foreign

language vocabulary by organizing new words in various types of groups and categories. These activities are useful also because they help develop cognitive functions as comparing, analysis and synthesis. They might also be used as activities for very early beginners to learn spelling by copying words in their written forms.

A. Forming groups of words

1. Give students a set of objects/ pictures/ flashcards with written words in a foreign language. 2. Ask the students to classify them according to: their size; their colour; countability; whether

they are safe or dangerous; whether they are edible or not; their use, e.g. the scissors and a knife are for cutting; what they are made of, etc.

3. Variation: Give the students a set of random pictures and ask them to set their own criteria

of classification. Encourage them to apply as unusual criteria of classification as possible, e.g.: whether they can put them in their pockets or not; whether they can throw them to somebody without hurting him, etc.

B. Putting words in categories

shirt, milk, yellow, rat, cereals, rose, juice, beaver,

water, orange

Divide the words from the box into categories: a) food, animals, cloths, colours; b) countable nouns, uncountable

nouns, adjectives; c) 2-syllable words, 3-syllable

words, 4-syllable words. Using all words from the box,

create as many sentences as possible.

Put the words from the box in alphabetical order:

C. Grading The students are asked to put items in

order of size, preference, importance, etc.

Arrange these words in order from the least ..... to the most ..... . 1. big huge large enormous 2. arctic chilly cold freezing 3. whisper murmur howl shout 4. annoyance fury resentment rage 5. slim lean thin skinny

D. Listing activities

While completing listing tasks, students are asked to put the set of words into either correct sequence (e.g. numbers in a written form, days of a week, month of a years, etc.), or to put the selected group of words in alphabetical order, e.g.:

shirt, milk, yellow, rat, cereals, rose, juice, beaver, water, orange

CLOZE EXERCISES A cloze exercise is usually a passage of a text in which certain words are omitted. The

students are asked to complete the text. It requires them not only to understand the passage, but also to choose appropriate items from their store of linguistic knowledge and communicative competences.

If a close exercise is used as a testing technique, each 15th or 16th word must be omitted no matter what part of speech it is or what is its position in the sentence (the rule of “the n-th word”).

By fulfilling the cloze exercise task, students manifest their: - reading skills; - writing skills; - grammar knowledge; - richness of personal vocabulary.


1. Choose a text of 300-450 words appropriate to the students´ level of proficiency. You must be sure that the students would be able to read it and comprehend it without serious difficulties.

2. Leave the first two sentences intact and then delete at least 1 word in each sentence (the best way is to omit words of all word categories, e.g. nouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, numerals, conjunctions, etc.). You may indicate the word category in the brackets within a gap.

3. List the omitted words and save them as a key. 4. Make copies of the adapted text and pass them to the students. 5. Ask them to read a text and fill in the gaps. 6. Check the students´ answers. A correct answer = the word originally used in the

authentic text.

Example Fill in the gaps the words you think are missing.

Owls are birds which are mostly are solitary and nocturnal. They hunt small mammals, insects, and other birds. .......1....... a few species specialize in hunting fish. They are found in all regions of the Earth ........2......... Antarctica, most of Greenland and some remote islands. Owls are ......3...... by their small beaks and wide faces. Although owls ....4...... binocular vision, their large eyes are fixed ....5...... their sockets, so they .......6 (modal verb)....... turn their entire head to change views. Owls can .......7..... their heads and necks as much .......8 ..... 270 degrees in either direction.

Key: 1 – Although; 3 – except; 3 – characterized; 4 – have; 5 – in; 6 - must; 7 – rotate; 8 - as

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DEMONSTRATING VISUALS AND OBJECTS

Demonstrating (from Lat. „demonstro" – I show) is a teaching technique based on

showing (usually the teacher) and observing (the students). Real objects, pictures, cards, diagrams, schemes, time lines, etc. may be shown in the foreign language classroom. The teaching technique is usually combined with other teaching techniques, such as lecturing or explaining.

There are only 2 rules to follow: 1. The teacher should not bring too many objects because of the risk of distracting the

students´ concentration levels; 2. The demonstrated objects must be visible or available for everybody (the first and the

last row of desks).


1. The students familiarize with a demonstrated object/picture. 2. The students analyse the object/picture through observing, comparing,

classifying, etc. 3. The students summarize the results of their analysis (generalization).

Bringing real objects to the classroom creates the opportunity to include all of the

students´ senses into learning, which is always an extremely effective way of introducing new knowledge. At the same time, real objects create a bridge between school and real life. If it is impracticable to bring real objects to the classroom, visuals (pictures, photographs, drawings, and flashcards) – by combining verbal and visual learning styles – will have a very good impact as well.

Model activities

Human Graph This activity is an example of a total group response task. It might be used as a follow up

of the interview or questionnaire activity with scaling questions. Students physically take a stand on an imaginary graph or continuum

For example, students are asked how often they read internet texts (news, articles, blogs) written in English. The first student who answers “everyday” stands as a borderline point in the beginning of “the human graph”. The first student who answers “never” stands at the other end of “the graph”. The rest of the class take their positions in a line depending on their answer and without comment.

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Living sentences

1. Choose a model sentence, e.g. Maria is going to cook dinner. 2. Have each word written on a separate piece of paper (I recommend colour papers of A4

size). One paper should bear a dot as an ending mark. 3. Ask as many students as there are parts of the sentence + 1 (here 7 students) to choose the

paper for each and create a sentence. They need to stand in correct order (word order) and hold papers in front of the class.

4. Then the teacher asks one more student to take the paper with a question mark (?) and replace the student who holds the dot.

5. Now the students need to re-arrange their positions to demonstrate the correct order for a question.

This activity is recommended in the classes of dysgraphic and dyslectic students since it gives them a chance of concrete visual demonstration not only of the final version of the sentence, but also the process of altering the word order for questions (students clearly see that to change the word order, those holding words “is” and “Maria” have to change their positions).

After students understand the principle, the activity may be organized as group work or a game.

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A: Excuse me, miss. B: Hello. May I help you? A: Yes, please. Can I have an apple

pie and a cup of milk? B: Of course. Here you are. A: Thank you very much. Good bye.

DIALOGUES A dialogue is an activity usually structured as a short conversation between two people

and functioning as a language model (Dobson, 1992). Dialogues help show the students how

a foreign language is used in context. Moreover, they also enable students to see how gestures and other nonverbal means may be used to clarify or reinforce the message in the foreign language they might not be very confident with.

Byrne (1992, pp. 23-24) suggests the following criteria for dialogues to be suitable in

language learning: 1 The language should be relevant (helping students to improve their communication

skills). 2 The language should be appropriate (including short and contracted forms,

hesitation markers, etc.). 3 The situation should be realistic and relevant. 4 The structural (grammar) or functional items should be limited. The item in the

dialogue should be adequately exemplified, but not repeated so often that the language sounds unnatural.

5 The lexical items (vocabulary) should be limited. 6 The dialogue should not be too long. 7 The dialogue should be interesting.

Textbooks of English usually provide a full range of scripted dialogues as either models

of everyday communication (for pronunciation drills or conversation exercises) or using grammar structures in communicative context (grammar exercises). Students are usually asked to perform them by simply reading aloud. However, there are many ways in which dialogues might be used in the classroom effectively. Considering the amount of students´ freedom to use their own language and to create language structures on their own, a dialogue may be used as:

a) a controlled activity: students just perform dialogues already presented to them either in a sound or written form;

b) a guided activity: students first perform dialogues that have been presented to them and then create their own variations;

c) a free activity: students create their own dialogues on a selected topic first and then perform them.

A. Controlled dialogues Within this category, performing dialogues is a controlled listening and speaking activity

since students do not create their own language. Instead, they just “copy” the language pattern (pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar) given to them in the form of either listened to and/or scripted dialogue. Performing dialogues in this form should be used only for a short time during the initial learning of a foreign language. Later, they should be followed up or transformed into guided or free activities.

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1. Pre-listening: the teacher asks the students to discuss the topic beforehand, e.g. they may:

- predict the content, situation, atmosphere, reason for the dialogue based on the accompanying picture;

- list the vocabulary they expect to appear in the dialogue; - guess the meaning of new words the teacher chose from the dialogue, etc.

2. Listening to the dialogue: students listen to the recording at least twice;

3. Listening to and repeating individual lines (the teacher may follow the pattern from choral repetition when the whole class repeats through half class repetition, to the group, pair and individual repetition).

4. Practicing and performing the dialogue: Students act dialogues in pairs or groups. One or two can be chosen to perform for the class.

Audio-lingual dialogue It is a special type of controlled dialogue used as a basic technique the Audio-lingual

Method (developed in 1950s). The method is based on behaviouristic belief that learning is a result of conditioning (remember Pavlov´s “the Salivating dog experiment”?). An ability to communicate in a foreign language is seen as a series of habits that have been acquired by over-learning.

The audio-lingual dialogue combines correct pronunciation and syntax pattern drilling. The students are expected to use the structure for other sentences with different content but with the same pattern. The risk growing from this technique is that some students manage to perform audio-lingual dialogues without understanding what they are actually saying. The communicative aspect of learning is thus ultimately weakened. Therefore the technique should be used only as an additional technique when either extra-pronunciation exercise or syntax pattern drill is felt necessary.


1) Tell the class what the dialogue is about to begin. 2) Play the first sentence of the dialogue (at a normal speed) at least three times. 3) Ask students to repeat after the recording (never with it). No single pronunciation

error or a deviation in the sentence structure may be tolerated – correct all students´ errors immediately.

4) Follow the routine for all sentences of the dialogue. 5) Then use drills (as many times as necessary), usually from full chorus through half

chorus and pair performing to individuals. You may use also a backward build-up by having students repeat by syntactic chunks from back to front.

6) Students form pairs and perform the dialogue. 7) Play the dialogue again. 8) Select two individuals to act out the dialogue by heart in front of the class.

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B. Guided dialogues While using guided dialogues, students are given a pattern of a dialogue, though they are

allowed to use, to some extent, their own language and create their own content (they may continue the dialogue, alter it, change the participants, etc.).

The recommended procedure described below (adapted acc. to Byrne, op. cit, pp. 25-26) might seem to some teachers too complicated and too time consuming, however, performing dialogues in this way gives students more opportunities to act in a wider mental contexts and actually experience it.

The recommended procedure

1. Establishing the setting (what is happening before the dialogue?). If a dialogue is accompanied by a picture, the teacher may, for example, ask students to revise what they know about the characters (their age, sex, relationship, etc.) and about their situation (when and where the dialogue is set, what has happened just before the dialogue, what is happening during the dialogue, etc.)

2. Establishing a personal link with the situation (the teacher may ask whether students have ever been in the same situation, what happened then, etc.).

3. Pre-teaching selected items such as key vocabulary and expressions (it might be useful to display them in a written form and keep them displayed during after-listening phase – steps 8-10).

4. Setting a listening task by giving clear instructions and asking the students to listen carefully (1st listening).

5. Reinforcing (2nd listening). The teacher may ask students to read a text silently while they are listening.

6. Checking comprehension by a set of carefully prepared questions. During this step the teacher may explain cultural background or colloquial expressions, if present.

7. Asking the students to listen to the individual lines of the dialogue and repeat. The teacher may follow the pattern from choral repetition (whole class) through half class repetition, to the group, pair and individual repetition.

8. Students practice the dialogues. They act out dialogues in pairs or groups. One or two can be chosen to perform for the class.

9. Allowing the students to improvise and create their own versions of the original dialogue. One or two can be chosen to perform for the class.

Variations Open dialogue In open dialogues, the students are provided only one half of the dialogue (person

A´s lines) and they are asked to invent the other half (person B´ s lines). Altering dialogue After finishing step 8, students are given a set of pictures or a list of key words to adapt

the model dialogue by using them.

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Disappearing dialogue After finishing step 8, when students are familiar with the dialogue, the teacher presents it

on the board (the best way is to use a ppt presentation or an interactive board) and deletes some parts. After each repetition the teacher deletes more and more parts. The students repeat the dialogue trying to fill all the gaps.

C. Free dialogues These are dialogues generated and scripted by students themselves. The teacher may

initiate the creation of new dialogues traditionally by setting a topic or in various more interesting ways: - students create a dialogue inspired by a picture they choose from the pile of pictures

provided by the teacher; - students watch a scene from a film or video without the sound and later they are asked to

write a dialogue for it; - students are given various comic strips with the words deleted and they have to fill the

empty bubbles.

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DICTATIONS Dictation is a teaching activity where the teacher reads a selected text aloud and the

students are asked to write it down accurately word for word. No innovations or alterations are allowed.

All sorts of texts can be dictated, e.g. consisting of single words, expressions, individual sentences or full paragraphs. The proper taking of dictation assumes a certain level of proficiency: the students cannot write dictation without understanding the majority of the dictated text. The students or the teacher later check their own texts against the original and correct the errors made. Dictation is rather popular among teachers since it requires very little preparation. On the contrary, it does not belong to teaching techniques most favoured by students who consider it to be too boring, too difficult, and too stressful.

Dictation may be used for two purposes:

a) as an evaluation technique it has been confirmed to be reliable and valid by many researchers. Heaton, for example, claims that "the integrated skills involved in tests of dictation include auditory discrimination, the auditory memory span, spelling, the recognition of sound segments, a familiarity with the grammatical and lexical patterning of the language, and overall textual comprehension" (Heaton, 1988, p. 17).

b) as a global teaching technique it enables students to improve their accuracy and fluency in all four skills, although authors mostly point to empirically proven positive effect of dictation on listening comprehension skills (Takeuchi, 1997).

How to dictate preparation: It may be in the form of a short discussion about the topic of

the dictation. 1st reading: Read the text aloud at almost normal speed and with a clear

(not exaggerated) intonation. Do not hesitate and do not shorten words. Read all syllables (e.g. do not, cannot).

pause: Give students the time to think about the text, to ask questions, etc.

2nd reading: Read the text aloud again, now divide sentences into logical chunks (meaningful units of words). After reading the last part of each sentence repeat the whole sentence in one piece.

3rd reading: Read the text aloud for the last time with a natural or slightly slower pace and clear intonation. Again, do not shorten words and read all syllables.

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6 LESS FREQUENT TYPES OF DICTATION Running dictation The teacher cuts the text into

sentences and places them around the room (only short texts are suitable for this activity). She splits the class into groups or pairs. Each group must have one runner and a designated writer. The runner has to go around the room and read the sentences - committing them to memory - they are not allowed to touch the paper, take the paper back to the group or shout the sentence across the room. Once they think they can remember the sentence, they return to the group and repeat to them what it said. The writer of the group writes down the sentence as it is dictated; if the runner forgets part of the sentence, they are allowed to go back to the paper and re-read it (same rules apply). The group can then elect another runner and a writer and they have to find another sentence. The group then has to put the sentences in the correct order (inspired by Hand, online).

Living tape recorder The teacher draws basic tape recorder

controls on the board (a play button, a rewind button, a pause button and a stop button). He/she becomes a “living tape recorder”. One student is asked to stand near the board and to control the 'tape recorder' while the teacher reads the dictation. Other students usually try to call out to ask the “controller” to “press” one of the buttons but the teacher strictly obeys only the button controller student. The author of the activity warns that it is a little chaotic at first but it is great after that (inspired by Scrivener, online).

Shared dictation The teacher cuts the text up and

distributes one line to each of the students. They then take turns dictating their sentence while the other students listen and write it down. Then the teacher gives them a copy of the full text to compare with their own (inspired by Lightfoot, 2005).

The 'bad cold' dictation The teacher tells the students that even

though he/she has a bad cold today, he/she is going to do a normal dictation. He/she asks them to be tolerant and if he/she has to cough and they are not be able to hear a word they should fill in any good word that fits the space, e.g. the teacher dictates: “It is a very nice day. I am going to wear a ...(cough)... T-shirt,” and students may fill in any adjective they think as appropriate (inspired by Scrivener, online).

Whispering dictation The teacher chooses a short text (the

best are very short stories consisting of 5-7 sentences, not isolated sentences). He/she reads the text to the students. Then he/she divides students to pairs (student A + student B) and tells them he/she is going to read the text again, speaking some of it loudly and whispering other parts. Students A should only write down the loud parts, students B the whispered parts, leaving gaps for missing text. The teacher reads the whole text – speaks the first meaningful unit of a sentence, whispers the second, speaks the third, whispers the fourth, and so on. After finishing he/she asks students in pairs to complete the text. The teacher gives the pairs the original text of dictation and asks them to check completeness and accuracy of their own texts (inspired by Deller, Rinvolucri, 2002, p. 92).

Democratic dictation The teacher lets the students choose

the text, or decide how many times it should be read and who should read it. The “dictator” then follows all general rules of dictating (inspired by Scrivener, online).

Dictation in mixed-ability classes The teacher gives weaker students

skeleton versions of the text to be dictated, with gaps for them to fill in as they go along (inspired by Lightfoot, 2005).

DISCOVERY TECHNIQUES (GUIDED DISCOVERY)

Using discovery techniques is inspired by some modern approaches to foreign language

teaching and learning (e.g. task-based learning theory) which advocate students’ active participation in language teaching and respecting their learning autonomy. The technique is close to student-centred approaches and those which enforce analytical and critical thinking of students.

Discovering techniques are based on inductive learning because students need to discover new knowledge. This is opposite to the traditional approach where knowledge is usually passed on to the students. Along with the fact that discovery techniques make learning more memorable, they also help students become more independent and better prepared for practical life.

Deductive approach

(from general to particular)

1. The teacher introduces a general rule.

2. Students learn the rule (e.g. by heart).

3. Students practice the rule on a set of exercises (drills).

Inductive approach (from particular to general)

1. The teacher presents a number of

examples. 2. Students compare the examples and

try to find a rule. 3. Students formulate a general rule.

In addition to many advantages, discovery techniques also have some risks:

- They are rather time-consuming and some teachers are not patient enough to wait for their students to come to the result.

- Comparing the time necessary for the techniques and immediate results gained in the classroom some teachers might conclude that the techniques are not effective enough and not worth to be used in the classroom.

- They might be frustrating for students with less developed analytical thinking.


1. Collect a sufficient quantity of examples. 2. Provide students with the examples and ask them to compare them. 3. Guide students to discover a rule by asking questions and giving

instructions, e.g.: “Find contrasting examples, Explain what is different and why”, etc.

4. Students identify the structure and formulate the rules for making it. 5. Students write down the rule as a summary.

The example of a discovery technique, inspired by the textbook Caravans

(Schoephoerster, p. 11), is provided below.

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DOUBLING A CONSONANT 1. Look at the words in the first box. We call them derived words because each is made

of a base word and an ending. Endings are written for you. Fill in each missing base word on the line:

walk + - ing = walking ............. + - ing = sleeping ............. + - ed = stayed ............. + - ed = finished ............. + er = teacher .............. + er = recorder ............. + - y = messy ............. + - y = shorty ............. + - ish = greenish ............. + - ish = yellowish

2. Did the spelling of base words and endings in derived words change or did it stay the

same? 3. Sometimes, though, the spelling of a base word changes where an ending is added.

Look at the words in the second box and fill in each missing base word on the line:

............. + - ing = shopping ............. + - ing = stopping

............. + - ed = mopped ............. + - ed = hugged

............. + - er = planner ............. + - er = hotter

............. + - ing = foggy ............. + - ing = funny

............. + - ing = putting ............. + - ing = runner 4. Can you see any change in each base word? If yes, circle it. 5. What is the change? 6. Compare the base words in both boxes above. What is common for words in the

second box? When should we double the last consonant before adding the ending?

Summary: When we write, we often add endings to base words. We double the last

consonant before adding the ending when

..........................................................................................................................................

..........................................................................................................................................

........................................................................................................................................ .

Key: We double the consonant before adding an ending if a base word consists of just one syllable, one

vowel in the middle and one consonant at the end.

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DISCUSSIONS

The simple instruction “Discuss....” can be found in the English language textbooks very

frequently. However, teachers keep complaining about not knowing how exactly to manage discussions in the classroom. They usually have difficulties to set and keep discussions running. Moreover, not all students feel comfortable enough to discuss fluently on any topic in front of both their classmates and the teacher. It is the main reason why discussion was included into this manual.

A discussion (together with role plays and simulation techniques) is one of dialogic techniques based on the existence of information/opinion gap between communicating partners (see Information gap activities). Discussion on a particular topic is very frequently used as a motivation technique before reading or listening activities. To discuss is not only to ask and answer questions. In reality, it is something else and more.

Three basic types of classroom discussions may be recognized: a) small-group discussions, b) large-group discussions, c) debate. A. Small-group discussions

For this type of discussion the class is divided into several smaller groups where students discuss freely and after some time they present their outcomes to the whole class.


1. Give the students an appropriate warm-up (both information on the topic and language features, new vocabulary, etc.).

2. Let students choose from several topics or suggest their own topic. 3. Decide about the form for the outcome (a list of possible solutions, a final decision

in a written form, individual reports on the topic, etc.). 4. Define timing for discussion (not more than 5 minutes). 5. Divide students into groups and let them discuss the topic. (Let them know they are

allowed to refuse to continue in discussion if they become feeling uncomfortable or discussion gets too personal).

6. After discussion students need a chance to present their outcomes (e.g. in front of the whole class).

7. After discussion is over (or during another lesson), give feedback on pronunciation and grammar.

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B. Large-group discussion A large-group discussion requires a very well prepared chairman. He/she should be

prepared to discuss any issue related to the discussion topic. The chairman may be a teacher or one of the students.

The chairman´s tasks include (Bligh, 2000; Brookfield, Preskill, 2005; Davis, 2009; Forsyth, 2003; Kustra, Potter, 2008): starting the discussion: with a provocative question, a common experience, using

visuals, recently read ideas, a controversy, eliciting information from the students’ “real life”, etc.;

facilitating the discussion by asking questions: e.g. by asking general questions; keeping eye contact with the whole class not only students who talk; by controlling „excessive talkers“; by asking for examples and illustrations; by allowing for pauses and silences to think; by encouraging and recognizing students’ contributions, etc.;

dealing with disagreements and conflicts: the chairman may help clarify what seems to be the disagreement by listing the pros and cons visually, conflicts must not be ignored;

reflecting on the discussion and providing a summary: at the end, the chairman should provide a summary and conclusions of the discussion; Who was active? Who was passive? What did the students learn?


1. The students are initially presented with a provocative question or a problem. 2. They are asked to present their own opinions, views and beliefs on the matter. 3. The chairman takes notes on a board as an outcome of the discussion. 4. The chairman concludes the discussion by stating a summary.

C. Debates The form of a debate is very close to that of a discussion. Students create two groups with

conflicting views and their task is to come to an agreement/conclusion.


1. Introduce the topic. It must be controversial. 2. Ask students to form two teams: “pros” and “cons”. 3. Give the students sufficient time for preparation of their arguments. 4. Ask both teams to appoint “a speaker”. 5. Set a one-minute limit for presentations of both teams. 6. Allow teams to ask questions and answer them (5-minute limit). If the debate

turns too loud, only speakers are allowed to speak. 7. After five minutes of discussion, stop the debate. Summarize both teams´ points.

Ask students to make notes.

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DRAMA TECHNIQUES

The term drama technique usually covers all teaching techniques which include

performing texts in a foreign language (e.g. dialogues performing, role plays, situation techniques, etc.).

In this manual drama techniques are understood more narrowly. They are techniques of drama as an art that might be used effectively in English language teaching and learning. They include dramatic plays, improvisations, story enactment, tableaux (small groups of students create a frozen picture of the scene), and thought-tracking (after playing their parts in a scene the students try to express each character's thoughts and feelings). Drama techniques in this sense integrate foreign language education and drama education. The special bonus they offer is the development of the students´ personal affective characteristics such as their emotional and aesthetic feelings.

Drama techniques provide experiential learning of a foreign language since students need to experience both a text and a foreign language not only through their speech, but also through their body movements, gestures, mimics and emotions.

The sources most frequently used for drama techniques in a foreign language classroom include: fairy/folk tales and myths, poetry, children's books, short plays (extended lists of play scripts in English suitable for children and young people

to perform may be found at http://www.creativedrama.com/plays.htm or http://www.lazybeescripts.co.uk/youththeatre/index.htm).

Drama techniques in foreign language teaching can be organized in various forms and to

a various extent: performing literary texts (see the chapter on Performing poetry); staging of a scene during an English lesson in front of the class, full-scale staging (school ceremonies and events), theatre classes: regular theatre classes as an extracurricular activity.

How to set up a school play? 1. Select a play. 2. Audition students for various roles. 3. Organize a stage crew (who will handle sound,

lighting, props, costumes and other technical details).

4. Organize rehearsals with actors, and arrange for stage crew members to practice their duties.

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Model activities Pantomime charades Students sit in a circle. The teacher says the formula: "I am thinking of a word that .......” followed by a description of the chosen word. The students who think they know the word raise their hand. The one student who is called on goes into the centre of the circle and pantomimes his guess. The others students in the circle try to guess what is mimed. Once the mime has been guessed, the teacher reveals whether it is the right word meant in the opening formula. If it is, the round is over and a new word is picked. If it is not the right word, another volunteer comes into the circle to act out his/her guess. The game continues until the initial word has been correctly mimed and the mime correctly guessed (Buchanan, n.d., online). Alphabetical charades The teacher starts with the formula: "I am thinking of a word that starts ... (a letter) ... .” Rhyming charades The teacher starts with the formula: "I am thinking of a word that rhymes with a ball” (pen, boat, hair, food, etc.). Storytelling As its name suggests, while applying this teaching technique students are telling stories to the audience. Students are asked to listen to each other, or to listen to recordings of storytelling (e.g. children´s stories/fairy tales read aloud/performed by professional actors) and to identify techniques they could observe and use in their own storytelling. Among others, students practice the use of voice (words and sound effects), facial expression and bodily gestures, mimes, and keeping contact with the audience (Farmer, 2010). Story dramatization The teacher together with students chooses a suitable children or teenage book with an attractive story. The students later take turns to read the book aloud to the whole class. The class is split up into groups and each group is assigned a short section of the book. Each group creates the scene given to them (they also set up „a stage“ and costumes using only objects available in the room). Finally, groups perform their scenes before the whole class in the same order as they occur in the book. Frozen pictures (Living statues) After reading a literary text/a poem/an article or watching a picture/a photo, the groups of students create “frozen pictures”. While still „acting“, living statues are asked and should be able to answer (with made-up answers) the following questions: Who are you? How old are you? What are you doing here? Why are you here? What are your relationships with the other characters? Later the frozen pictures may be developed into short animated situations.

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DRILLS

Drill work is a teaching technique based on rapid repetition and is mostly used to practice

oral production or grammar knowledge of a foreign language. Although drill work is a very mechanical and strictly controlled activity, it is very useful

in the initial stages of learning foreign languages. It can give students some confidence in using a foreign language. Because of its repetitive nature, it gives students a sense of familiarity and safety. Moreover, most drills can be practiced as pair or group work.

However, drills have some limits which, if overused (used too frequently or for a too long period), might lead to unwanted consequences (students might get bored or used to mechanical using of language instead of communicating). If accuracy is too strictly controlled, it might lead to mental inhibitions and fear of speaking.

Types of drills

A. Repetition (pronunciation) drills

Students repeat after the teacher while imitating the correct pronunciation of sentences.

T: I like reading books. S1: I like reading books. T: We like reading books. S2: We like reading books. (...)

B. Transformation drills

The students change one form of a structural item to another one, e.g. informative sentences to questions, singular forms to plurals, present tense to past tense, etc.

T: I like reading books. She... S1: She likes reading books. T: They... S2: They like reading books. (...)

C. Substitution drills The students imitate sentences after

the teacher and then change the parts the teacher points to.

T: I like reading books. (Then he

shows a picture of newspapers). S1: I like reading newspapers. T: (shows a picture of a magazines) S2: I like reading magazines. T: (shows a printed internet blog text S3: I like reading internet blogs. (...)

D. Chain drills If the students find a simple repetition

too difficult, the teacher may use one of the chain drills. While practicing forward chaining, the teacher starts with pronouncing only the first word or meaningful unit of the sentence and then building it up by adding the remaining parts one by one as follows:

I... I would... I would have gone.... I would have gone to the party.

While practicing backward chaining,

the teacher starts with the last unit of the sentence as follows:

...party ... to the party ... gone to the party ... would have gone to the party ... I would have gone to the party.

E. Jazz chants A good example of making drilling and imitating more attractive is practicing jazz chants

(see the series of jazz chants collections by Graham, 1978, 1979, 1986, 1988, 1993, 1994, 2002). Jazz chants are either groups of familiar expressions or short poems, the rhythm of which is created by frequent repetition of some language chunks or sentences. Some sources of jazz chants provide recordings of suitable music as a background. Through practicing jazz chants students quickly acquire the typical rhythm and sound of English (jazz rhythm of iambic pattern), practice correct pronunciation and intonation, and learn to use some familiar expressions or sentences automatically.

For example, the teacher may divide the class into two halves - A and B. They pronounce

the lines of the following dialogue respectively for several times, loudly and with increasing speed (Graham, 1986):

A: Hi! How are you? B: Fine. How are you? A: Hi! How are you? B: Fine. How are you? A: Hi! How are you? A: Hi! How are you? A: Hi! How are you? B: Fine. How are you?

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EXPLAINING Explaining is a teaching technique by which the teacher provides students with spoken

explanations of the matter that is to be learned (notions, definitions, principles, rules, procedures, etc.). For many teachers and students direct explanation is a fundamental teaching technique because it is often used if all other techniques failed or they would be too time-consuming. Paradoxically, to explain well is one of the hardest tasks the teacher can face.

To make an oral explanation more memorable... start from what your students already know, break explanation into a small logical steps; keep it brief and ensure that students understand you; if appropriate, support your explanation with visual aids and diagrams; use a lot of clear examples in context; allow students to ask questions (in their mother tongue, too).

Basic models of explanations

A. Isolation-distortion model of explanation

(Source: Harmer, 1992, p. 63) Study the following model where the teacher needs to explain the use of suffix –s with

the verbs in the third person.

1) Introduction: The teacher orally introduces a model sentence “Robert plays the guitar” in a normal tempo with neutral stress and intonation. He/she may repeat the sentence several times. Then he/she presents it in written form (on a whiteboard, interactive board, flashcard, etc.).

2) Isolation: The teacher isolates a particular element of the model (here the verb “goes”). 3) Distortion: The teacher distorts this element showing its “mechanics”. He/she may back

up this stage by using a graphical representation. 4) Return: The teacher returns to the isolated element. 5) Repetition: The teacher repeats the model sentence again (inspired by Harmer, pp. 62-

63). In reality and in front of students´ eyes and ears this rather complicated abstract scheme

goes like this: T: Listen... Robert plays the guitar .. Robert plays the guitar ... (he writes a sentence on

the whiteboard) ... listen ... he plays ... plays ... play ... [z] ... plays .... play ... [z] ... (in this point the teacher may highlight the suffix graphically on the whiteboard) ... I play ... you play .... he plays the guitar ... Robert plays the guitar.

Robert plays the guitar.

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B. Explanation-accurate reproduction model

(Source: Harmer, 1992, p. 62)

1) Lead in: during this stage the new language in an appropriate context is introduced. 2) Elicitation: the teacher tries to see whether students can understand and produce the new

language. If they do, further explanation would be just a waste of time. In such case, the teacher may proceed directly to the stage 5 Immediate creativity. Even in this case elicitation is very important, since it positively motivates students showing them they can do something new. If students are not able to produce the new language, the teacher moves to the explanation stage.

3) Explanation: the teacher shows how the new language is constructed. He/she may use various techniques, such as: visual demonstrations, verbal explanation in a foreign language, verbal explanation in the mother language, giving definitions, drills, etc.

4) Accurate reproduction: students are asked to repeat and practice one or more models. 5) Immediate creativity: When both the teacher and students are confident enough that the

students can produce a new language correctly, they are asked to manifest their newly gained knowledge and create sentences on their own (inspired by Harmer, pp. 60-62). Example 1:

T: Peter´s mother is a teacher. Linda´s mother is a cook. Patrick´s mother is a shop assistant. Rebecca´s mother is a nurse.

T: Is there anybody else whose mother is a nurse? (no response) Do you know any nurse? (no response). Do you know who a nurse is?

Ss: No. T: It is a person who helps a doctor. She works in hospital. (The teacher may use a

picture of a nurse). Do you know now who a nurse is? Ss: Yes! T: So, repeat after me: [nɜ:s] Ss: [nɜ:s] T: Rebecca´s mother is a nurse. (The teacher writes a word on a board). Please,

repeat 3 times. Ss: Rebecca´s mother is a nurse. Rebecca´s mother is a nurse. Rebecca´s mother is a

nurse. T: Peter. Peter: Rebecca´s mother is a nurse. T: Eva. Eva: Rebecca´s mother is a nurse T: Everybody, what is Rebecca´s mother´s job?

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Ss: (She is) a nurse. T: Can you create 3 sentences with the word nurse in it? Ss: A nurse is good. A nurse helps doctors. I don´t like nurses.

Example 2

T: Look through the window. Can you see it? It is going to rain. Please, repeat: It´s going to rain.

S: It´s going to rain. T (writes the sentence on the board:

It is going to rain. It means the future situation is starting or clearly on the way. Please, repeat again: It is going to rain.

Ss: It is going to rain. It is going to rain. It is going to rain. T: Look, it´s raining already! We often use the expression “it is going to” for plans.

For example, I am going to teach you this expression. You are going to learn new things. Tell me three other things you are going to do in the near future.

Ss: We are going to write in English. I am going to visit my granny today. I am going to sleep. (Laughing).

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EXTENSIVE READING Extensive reading (or free reading) is a teaching technique based on a large amount of

reading which is expected to widen the student´s vocabulary and improve his/her general communicative skills. Students may read magazines, documentaries or literary texts. While the teacher cannot control the entire process of reading, there are many ways how to check its outcomes (follow-up activities).

Frequently used sources for extensive reading include:

- authentic magazines, originally intended for children and teenage native readers, e.g. National Geographic Kids, Highlights for Children, Sesame Street, Spider, Mad, Jane, Supergirl, Discovery Girls, Boys Life, J-14, Seventeen, Teen Voices, Rolling Stones, Twist, M Magazine, etc.;

- adapted magazines for learners of English as a foreign language, e.g. in Slovakia the following magazines are published: Kid, Hello Kids, Ready for English, Hello, Friendship, Teen, Spotlight, etc.;

- adapted classics (readers) provide famous literary texts re-written in accessible language (usually levelled from A1 to C2 levels). Their reading helps students improve their reading skills and foster their reading confidence. They often contain the sections of ready-made vocabulary and grammar activities.

- audio-books are recordings of originally printed books. They may be used for very effective multi-sensor learning when the student listens to an audio book and follows along in an actual book. In this way students not only improve their reading and listening skills, but also widen their reading/listening vocabulary and pronunciation/spelling skills (they receive a correct pronunciation and spelling of the word in the same moment). Understandably, if students listen to an audio-book while doing something very far from reading, e.g. touring a city or practicing in a gym, this cannot be considered as a reading activity at all.

Model activities

Picture books Student are asked to create an illustrated version of a story. Comic book production Groups of students are asked to turn a story they have just finished into a comic book

(complete with dialogue bubbles). Mapping a book

Students create a map highlighting the places described in the story. Book glossary Students may work individually or in groups. They are asked to prepare a glossary of

twenty or more words or expressions that are specific to the book they have just completed. Each word from the list should be defined in the following structure: a word → transcription of a correct pronunciation (from a dictionary) → definition, explanation → example sentence from the book.

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Word hunt book summary This activity focuses mostly on phonic, spelling and lexical characteristics of words.

Students search the story for words and/or sentences of various categories, e.g.: the longest word in the story, onomatopoeic words, three- and more syllable words, words with a silent e at the end, a word with a doubled final consonant before the suffix has been added, a word with a silent e dropped before the suffix has been added, rhyming words, synonyms, antonyms, metaphors, etc.

Character search puzzle Students work in groups. Each group creates a word search puzzle which includes the

names of characters from the book they have finished. Then the groups exchange their puzzles with others in the class so that every group has a brand new puzzle to solve.

Interview with a character Each student composes six to eight questions to ask the main character of the book they

have just finished. One of the students is called out to play a role of the character. Other students ask him questions in the form of press conference interview.

Prove it in six minutes! This activity develops the students´ presentation skills, as well as encourages them to be

effective and systematic. Each student has only 3 minutes for his/her oral presentation of a book report where he/she is expected to share information about the book's author, setting, plot, main characters and his/her personal opinion on the book he/she has just finished. The rest of the class have another 3 minutes to question the presenter about the book. The presenter needs to prove in these 6 minutes that he/she did read the book. If he/she is successful in proving it, he/she is excused from filing a written report about the book.

Book quiz Students can work individually or in groups. They create quizzes to check their peers’

comprehension of the book they just completed. The quiz should include various types of activities (fill-in-the-blank, true or false, or multiple-choice questions) including dramatization and non-sense tasks.

Outlining

By completing this activity students develop their text orientation skills and recognize the hierarchy of ideas the text offers (see also chapter on Outlining). The teacher needs to prepare students for outlining first, e.g. by providing guided outlines (see the example in the following page). Later students should be able to outline the text individually.

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A BOOK REPORT

Book Title: ............................................................................................................ Author of the book: ......................................................................................................... Author of the report: .....................................................................................................

Brief Summary ............................................................................................................................................... ............................................................................................................................................... ...............................................................................................................................................

Setting

...............................................................................................................................................

...............................................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................... Main Characters

A. .......................................................................................................................................... B. .......................................................................................................................................... C. ..........................................................................................................................................

The Plot (A Timeline)

A. .......................................................................................................................................... B. .......................................................................................................................................... C. .......................................................................................................................................... D. .......................................................................................................................................... E. ..........................................................................................................................................

My Favourite Parts of the Book A. .......................................................................................................................................... B. ..........................................................................................................................................

My Personal Opinion of the Book

..............................................................................................................................................

..............................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................

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A Book Report Sandwich The technique´s innovation lies in the fact that students need to produce a book report on

the book they just have finished reading in a form and shape of a sandwich, a cheeseburger or any other layered meal. Each layer of a meal (cut out from a sheet of colour paper) corresponds with a part of the book report structure, e.g.: 1 - a top slice of bread (light brown paper) = the title and the author of the book 2 – lettuce (green paper) = a brief summary of the book 3 - onion (white paper) = setting 4 - tomato (red paper) = main character (s) 5 - cheese (yellow paper) = plot 6 - ham (dark brown paper) = my favourite part 7 - bottom slice of bread (light brown paper) = name and class of the student

Parts of the report may be layered and stapled as a book (Picture A) or glued one under the other so they all are visible (Picture B). The book sandwiches/cheeseburgers should be then displayed in the class on a bulletin board. Students may, whenever they want, go through the reports and choose the book they would be interested in. (for more detailed instructions see http://www.uniqueteachingresources.com/cheeseburger-book-report.html)

Picture A Picture B

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FIELD TRIPS

A field trip is a very popular out-of-school and experience-based teaching technique. It should not be only a fun day away from school, but also a great occasion to connect the concepts learned in classroom with the real life.

Unfortunately, it is not always possible for all learners of English to travel to some English speaking country to observe the life and experience language there. Still, there are many opportunities to experience English in monolingual environment as well. For example, the teacher may organize a field trip to a close museum, castle, gallery, natural landmark, zoo or any cultural monument and ask guides there to provide them with the tour and printed materials in English.


To foster the connection between a field trip and classroom study, the teacher needs to:

- discuss the purpose and educational goals of the trip with the students beforehand; - ask students to do “pre-research” of the site, e.g. by reading tourist information in

English, searching on the internet, or watching videos; - prepare and organize the field trip responsibly; - provide students with tasks to complete, e.g. project tasks, worksheets (see the model

work sheet Creature features for the ZOO visit), puzzles, KWL charts (see below), etc.;

- check during the trip whether students follow instructions; - organize follow-up activities, e.g. ask students to create a class book or bulletin

board/website with photos and texts, design posters, display memorabilia, write thank-you notes to site guides, etc.

Examples

A KWL chart Prepare a worksheet with the table of three columns. The first “K column” displays what

the student already knows. The “W column” represents what the student wants to learn and the “L column” summarizes what the student learned on the field trip. The students complete K and W columns before leaving for the field trip. The L column is completed when they return.

K

I already know W

I want to learn L

I learned

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CREATURE FEATURES

Humans come in a remarkable variety of shapes, sizes and colours. So do animals. Find and write down English names for animals at the Zoo that ...

... are higher than you .... are white

... are shorter than you

..... are yellow

... could fit in the palm of your hand

... are orange

... have two legs

.... are red

... have four legs ... are green

... have many legs ... are colourful

...have no legs

... have spikes

... have fur

.... have spots

... have scales

... have stripes

.... have feathers

.... have both spots and stripes

...have shell ... live underground

... need a large area ... come from desert

... need a small area ... come from rainforests

... live alone

... live in colonies

The worksheet is inspired by Creature Features Scavenger Hunt worksheet created and used by Smithsonian National Zoological Park (available at http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Visit/PlanYourVisit/ActivitySheets/Scavenger_Hunt_Creature_Features2011.pdf)

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GAMES There is not a more attractive teaching technique for students than a game. It brings very

positive emotions such as fun, amusement, and enjoyment to the classroom. Along with its communicative element (players need to fulfil the task as well and as quickly as possible), Harmer points to its therapeutic effect (Harmer, 1992, p. 101). It can be used at any stage of teaching. Its efficiency may be emphasized if the students are asked to create their own games (e.g. board games).

Three rules to follow in all games 1. Players need to finish a game, the task must be fulfilled. 2. Players are active – nobody can play a game while sleeping. 3. There are fixed rules which cannot be modified during a game.

Types of games in foreign language education:

verbal games (Tic-Tac-Toe, Word Bingo), memory games ( pairs, in Slovakia known as “pexeso”), cumulative games (I went for my holiday...), guessing games presented in this manual are very similar to the “yes-no”

interviews, but here the students guess the correct answer and for each correct guess they gain points. Students may play as individuals or as teams (examples: The Magic Bag, Guess who I am, Guess where I am, Pardon me, who am I?);

creative games involve student´s creativity (Mystery stories); board games involve figures or pieces moved or placed on a "board", according to

a set of rules. These rules can be based on strategy (chess, Monopoly) or chance (e.g. rolling dice).

Examples Tic-Tac-Toe (Noughts and Crosses)

1. Draw a noughts and crosses table on the board. Fill in 9 language items depending on the material you teach (here 9 irregular verbs in their infinitive forms).

say buy tell

do make see

read go stand 2. Divide the students into two teams: one is “the noughts” and the other one is “the

crosses” team. 3. The teams make turns to choose a language item (here a verb) from the box and use it in a

sentence (here the players need to make a correct sentence while using the chosen verb in the past tense).

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4. If the team produces a correct sentence, rub out a verb and put in the team´s mark (a nought or a cross). If not, leave the table unchanged.

5. The winning team is the one to get a horizontal, diagonal or vertical line of noughts or crosses.

Notes: The game can be used to practice any language items and you may ask the players to

formulate sentences in any form (question, negative sentences, commands, etc.) and tenses (present perfect tense, present continuous tense, etc.).

After some time and if the students enjoy the game, you can divide them into smaller teams or pairs to continue.

Depending on the objectives of the lesson, the table may contain any other language elements: nouns, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, etc. Word Bingo This is a great activity to practice vocabulary and develop listening skills.

1. Display/write down on the board 12 words from the vocabulary you want your students to practice.

reading dictation listening

lecture spelling explanation

writing algorithm speaking

dramatization correcting crossword

2. Explain that each student needs to draw a table with six windows into his/her notebook. 3. Each student chooses 6 words from the original list and fills them in his/her own table. 4. Tell students to listen carefully and if they hear any word in their tables, they should cross

it out immediately. 5. Read the words from the original list loudly and in random order. 6. The winner is the first student with all his/her six words crossed out.

The Hangman This is a very popular paper and pencil guessing game, useful

while developing vocabulary and the skill to spell new words. One player thinks of a word, phrase or sentence which is represented by a row of dashes (number of dashes indicates the number of letters). Other players try to guess the word. If players suggest a letter which occurs in the word, the first player writes it in all its correct positions. If the suggested letter does not occur in the word, the first player draws one part of the hanged man. The game is over when either the word or the hangman is completed.

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Pairs (pexeso) Students need to look at the set of cards with words or pictures (each picture/word is on

two identical cards) for a while, then they turn them face downwards and mix. Students try to find pairs of pictures. They get 1 point for each pair found.

I went for my holidays... This game is one of cumulative games. They are frequently used as a means of practicing

vocabulary. The players have to remember the sentence they hear and add a new word or a new chunk at its end. The winner is the last person who can repeat the whole sentence with all previously added parts and who can add a new part. Players may play individually or be divided into teams.

Example

S1: I went for my holiday to London and I saw the Buckingham Palace. S2: I went for my holiday to London and I saw the Buckingham Palace and the

Millennium Eye. S3: I went for my holiday to London and I saw the Buckingham Palace, the Millennium

Eye, and the National Museum. S4: I went for my holiday to London and I saw the Buckingham Palace, the Millennium

Eye, the National Museum, and the Big Ben. S5: I went for my holiday to London and I saw the Buckingham Palace, the Millennium

Eye, the National Museum, the Big Ben, and a lot of ridiculous people. S6: I went for my holiday to London and I saw the Buckingham Palace, the Millennium

Eye, the National Museum, the Big Ben, a lot of ridiculous people, and black cabs. The magic bag The teacher brings to the class a bag or a box (may be decorated by students) filled with

various objects or pictures. The teacher explains it is The Magic Bag/Box and what is in it (e.g. school accessories or pictures of fruit). The teacher reaches into it and picks out one object (or a picture). The players have to ask yes-no questions to guess what object or picture the teacher has in his/her hands. The winner is a student or a team that guesses more objects (1 point = a correct guess).

Guess who I am Students pick out pictures of celebrities or paper strips with names of famous people.

They take turns in sitting on “the hot chair” where they are asked by the rest of the class yes-no questions about the said celebrity. The winner is a student or a team that guesses more celebrities (1 point = a correct guess).

Guess where I am The teacher/the chosen student thinks of a special place all students know (famous cities,

holiday resorts, fantasy places like Narnia and Neverland). The players ask him yes-no questions to guess the place.

Pardon me, who am I? The teacher sticks on students´ foreheads paper strips with names of celebrities. No

student knows what name is stuck on his/her own forehead. Students need to move around the classroom and ask other students yes-no questions to discover who they are.

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Mystery story Each student is asked to take a piece of paper of A6 size (if there are 12 students, they

will need 12 papers). Students are told they are going to write

mystery stories nobody knows the ending of yet. They are given a series of 5 questions they must answer in order:

Who? Where? What was he/she doing? What did he/she say? What did he/she do after that?

Each student writes the answer to the first

question and folds the papers over so that the next students cannot see what has been written. Then the first students pass their papers to their neighbours on the right, and so on.

When all the questions have been answered, the last students unfold their sheets of paper and read their mystery stories.

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GROUP WORK

Group work is not exactly a teaching technique; it is more a particular form of classroom

management used for certain teaching activities (role play, discussion, situation and simulation techniques, projects, surveys, etc.). Students do not work individually or as a class; instead, they create smaller groups of 3-6 students who must cooperate closely to fulfil the task. Along with fostering interpersonal relationships in the classroom, group work provides a good opportunity for students to talk to peers in a less formal and stressful setting which might be extra-beneficial for shy and introvert students.

If group work is organized appropriately, it:

- actively involves all students; - promotes positive interdependence; - makes students more responsible for their own learning; - frees the teacher to teach more effectively; - generates more student talking time than any other teaching technique (c.f. Gołębiowska,

1990, p. 6); - improves social skills of students; - is beneficial also to the development of face-to-face interaction; - improves group and class dynamics.

Ways of grouping Groups can be formed using various criteria (the cue is to vary these criteria regularly to

avoid schematism and boredom). The students could be grouped according to: - their level of proficiency; - alphabetical order of their names, - their position in the classroom, - colour of their hair, eyes or clothes, - their favourite drink, etc.

Teaching tips when setting up a group work

1 Always give clear instructions.

2 Make sure everybody knows what they are supposed to do.

3 Give a time limit for each task. It is always useful to warn the students a minute or so before the time is up.

4 Let students appoint a group reporter (if the task requires it).

5 Ask students to take notes for later reporting and written follow-up work.

6 While students work, contribute only when asked.

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Examples Gesturing numbers

1. The class is divided in groups of 3 students (A, B and C). 2. The teacher gives each group a card with a

random sequence of numbers from 1 – 10. 3. Only the student A can see the card. He/she

indicates the sequence of numbers on it by showing his/her fingers to the student B (student B faces student A).

4. Student B says the number of fingers he/she can see.

5. Student C, who sits with his/her back turned so he/she cannot see either of his/her partners, listens to the numbers student B is saying and writes them down.

6. The teacher checks whether the sequence of numbers written by the student C is the same as the sequence on the card given to the student A (inspired by Harmer, 1992).

Team Member Teaching

1. Each member of the team is assigned a portion of the task (e.g. study various habits related to celebrating St Patrick´s Day; 1 student = 1 habit).

2. Each group member teaches the others about his/her piece. 3. Together as a group they prepare a poster and later they present it to the rest of the class.

Cross-groups It is another way on how to maximise student´s activity and participation. It is a more

complicated version of the previous activity. 1. Imagine that there are 4 groups of four members. 2. Each member of the team is given a letter A, B, C, or D and is assigned a portion of the

task (e.g. reading 8-10 sentences of the text). 3. Students fulfil their tasks within a group and then each group member teaches the others

about his/her piece. 4. Together as a group they prepare a report about the task´s outcomes. 5. Then groups re-form so the members holding the same letters (As, Bs, Cs and Ds) create

new groups. Here they report the finding of their original groups to the members of the new group.

Group 1 A B C D Group 2 A B C D Group 3 A B C D Group 4 A B C D

Reporting

Group A

Group B

Group C

Group D

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INDIVIDUAL STUDY Generally, the individual (independent) study is understood as an alternative teaching

strategy whereby students work independently at home, according to a written agreement and under the supervision of tutors. However, the individual study may be provided also in the form of supervised individual study of the text during class period or after school (as a part of some extracurricular activities, e.g. an educational trip).

Students may study various sources like textbooks, books, journals, internet sources, encyclopaedias, dictionaries, TV and radio programmes, documentaries, movies, etc. Along with developing listening and reading skills, they develop also their self-study skills, which is an important preparatory activity for the university study. The individual study usually makes students use various learning strategies, such as taking notes, recognising the main and supporting ideas in the text, organizing the hierarchy of information, outlining the text, etc. The teacher here acts as a facilitator providing help and support.

The recommended procedure 1. The teacher develops the learning assignments. 2. The teacher loans appropriate materials to students, e.g. a magazine article and

worksheets with the tasks to be completed. 3. The teacher checks to make sure that the students understand the learning

assignments. 4. The teacher instructs the students how to best proceed in getting the learning

assignments completed. 5. The teacher checks, responds to and discusses possible problems which occur

during students´ work. 6. The students present their results. The teacher (along with students) checks the

correct answers.

Individual study with worksheets While learning about the political system of the U.K., the teacher provides students with

the encyclopaedia article and the schema of the U.K. political system, as well as worksheets with a set of questions and tasks. She then asks students to search information either in the encyclopaedia article or on the internet and completes the worksheet tasks.

Learning cells Students work in groups (3-6). Each student is given a different material/article on the

same topic or a different piece of the same material/article. Students read their pieces and then one by one need to present the essence of the material to their partners in the group to complete the overall task.

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INFORMATION GAP ACTIVITIES

In real life people do not communicate for nothing, usually there is some reason to do it.

One of the most frequent reasons for communicating is the existence of an information gap (one of communicators seeks a piece of information from the others).

Modern foreign language pedagogy distinguishes several teaching techniques that were designed to create an information gap situation in the classroom. These techniques (role plays, discussions, questionnaires, etc.) are expected to trigger a real communication in the classroom. Either the information gap between communicating partners in the classroom is set and maintained, or students are provoked to advocate/discuss two different views while using various possible forms of expression.

Information gap activities are very important in teaching foreign languages since they are close to real-life situations. To fulfil the task, students have to interact, to create questions and answers and share information.

There are two basic forms of information gap activities: a) student A has information student B is required to gain it. It means the student B must ask

questions to get the information from the student A. b) both students A and B have got different pieces of information they need to mutually

share (e.g. half-crossword). Example

Students A and B are sitting back to back. Student A is given a picture. He/she describes it in a foreign language to the student B whose task is to draw his/her own picture as close to the original one as possible.

Information gap activities rules

To prevent the failure of the activity, all the students should follow three basic rules:

1. Do not show your activity card to anyone. 2. Do not reveal all the information at once. 3. Speak English.

The best way of making students remember these rules is to write them on all activity cards or on their backsides.

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Model activities Half-dialogues The dialogue consists of one half of a

conversation, the other half is left blank. The students´ task is to complete it either individually or in pairs. A: Excuse me, miss. B: ............................................................ A: Yes, please. Can I have an apple pie

and a cup of milk? B:............................................................. A: Thank you very much. Good bye.

Spot the difference Students work in pairs. Each of them is

given a set of two very similar pictures (Picture A and B) with only a few differences. They cannot see each other´s picture. Students take turns in describing their pictures and asking questions and together they try to find all differences. The teacher may find many ready-made commercial versions of this activity in magazines or puzzle books.

Half-charts The students work in pairs. Each of the partners gets a half chart with information about 4 people. Some information is given, some is missing. Each student needs to form appropriate questions and ask their partner to get the missing information. After completing the chart, the pair discusses which person would they like to invite for a Friday party and explain why.

THE FRIDAY PARTY Chart A

Name age from occupation hobbies Anna María Argentina romantic books and movies,

walks 27 a banker Eric Dallas cars, cowboy shows 23 a vet

Chart B

Name age from occupation hobbies 21 waitress Jannet Danmark skating, scouting, cooking 16 a business

school student

Fred Berlin volunteers in an animal shelter, skiing

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Half-crosswords An attractive information gap activity may be easily designed if you turn a regular

crossword puzzle into a speaking activity for pairs. Each student in a pair is given a copy of the crossword with half the words already filled in (A and B sheets). The student A needs to ask student B about the words that are missing in his/her half of the crossword and vice versa. Combining their words will complete the crossword. While answering their partner´s enquires, the students are not allowed to say the words directly. They have to give explanations or hints so that their partners can guess the word. The teacher may help them by presenting a list of hints in the worksheet together with a half-crossword

Group A Across 1 – bad 4 - angry 7 - secret 8 – fall 9 – rustic 11 – beet variety 13 – timely 15 – explode 17 – yearn 18 – charge 20 - number 21 - decayed Group B Down 1 - aimless 2 – produce obtained 3 – failure 4 – drink 5 – possess 6 – time 7 – secure control of 10 – calculate 12 – sceptic 14 – pool 15 - pair 16 – restricted 17 – mislaid 19 – member

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INTERVIEW The interview belongs to the group of dialog-based teaching techniques (along with the

creation of dialogues, role-plays, questionnaires, etc.) when students are asked questions about their personal opinions and attitudes. The interview should be used only if the students have already gained the vocabulary and language structures necessary for a particular oral performance. That is the reason why it is most frequently used as a technique to fix/practice language skills. It activates students and is beneficial especially because it enlarges the student talking time in the classroom. It also requires a precise teacher´s preparation and a well-developed ability to manage the class.

Most typically, one student who is willing to be interviewed is asked to come and sit on the chair in front of the class. Other students (interviewers) interview the student (the interviewee) asking him/her about his/her personal opinions, experience, plans, beliefs, etc. The teacher needs to ensure that there is a mutual respect, acceptance, and sense of security in the class/group. Still, the interviewee must have the way to escape the question he/she considers too personal or uncomfortable (e.g. answering: “I pass on that question,” etc.). Members of the group take turns to ask an interviewee as many questions as he/she wishes to answer.

Various types of interview

A. Yes-No interview The class/group is allowed to ask only the questions that can be answered by yes and no-

answers. In this way the activity focuses on creating questions by interviewers. The activity is used also as a part of the game Guess who/what I mean! (an interviewee thinks about a famous person or an object that is known to everybody in the class and the class then asks questions to find out whom or what the interviewee means).

B. Twenty questions The class/group is allowed to ask only 20 questions. This requires asking only

meaningful questions since the class/group wants to find out as much as possible with a limited number of questions. After 20 questions another member of the group is interviewed.

C. Guided interview Sometimes it is difficult to get students to create and ask questions freely. They need

some hints and the teacher can provide them in various forms. Variation 1: The teacher prepares interesting questions in advance and students are asked

to choose one of them from “a magic hat”, bag or pot. Examples of questions: What are 5 places you would like to visit? What is your favourite TV show and why? Variation 2: Members of the group write their questions in advance following the rules

which had been given by the teacher or had been negotiated among students before the activity got started, e.g. all questions must contain the new grammar structure or words from newly learned vocabulary.

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Variation 3: The teacher prepares a set of cards with random single words, e.g. head, dishes, morning,

tree, sport, China/Chinese, board, shark, etc. Students – interviewers pick up cards. The first question of the interview has to contain

the chosen word. Then interviewers continue freely in the interview – depending on/developing the first interviewee´s answer.

Example: clue word – dishes Interviewer: Do you do dishes in your house? Interviewee: No, I don’t. Interviewer: Who does dishes then in your house? Interviewee: My mother does. Interviewer: Do you help with household at home? Interviewer: Yes, I do. I water plants and do vacuum cleaning. (etc.)

D. Chorused interview

1. Choose a topic of an interview interesting for the whole class. 2. Choose an interviewer and an interviewee (students may do it themselves or by drawing

lots). 3. Divide the rest of the class into two groups. 4. Arrange the class so that both the interviewer and interviewee sit in the centre facing each

other. One group of students is going to sit after the interviewer, the second group after the interviewee.

5. Tell the two groups that they should chorus whatever is said by the person in front of them.

6. The interviewer asks questions (the group behind him chorus them) and the interviewee answers (with the group behind him chorusing these). In this way, the whole class is

actively involved in the interview technique. Moreover, the talking time of students increases enormously since each student produces language (either by creating sentences or repeating them). The students need to be more attentive, they need to listen carefully and then produce language correctly (inspired by Deller, Rinvolucri, 2002, p. 80).

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E. Reported interview 1. Students work in pairs. Each of them gets a worksheet with 2 parts: part 1 consists of a

set of questions, part 2 of unfinished sentences related to the questions. 2. Student A asks the student B first, then the student B asks the student A. The

interviewer has to listen very carefully. 3. When both partners have been interviewed, they fill in part 2 of the worksheet. If they

cannot remember the correct answer, they can ask the question again. 4. After finishing sentences the teacher selects 2-3 students to report about their partner’s

answers.

INTERVIEW

Part 1 Ask your partner the following questions. You may elaborate if you wish. Where were you born? How many brothers and sisters do you have? Do you have any pet? If yes: What is it and what is its name? If no: What pet would you like to have if you could? What is something your family likes to do together? Who is your oldest relative? How old is he/she? Who is the boss in your family? How would you know? ... Part 2 Fill in the gaps. Then inform the class about your findings. My partner has............................. brothers and ....................... sisters. He/she ............................. a pet. Its name .................................. . Something the family likes to do together is ....................................................................................... My partner´s oldest relative is ................................... He/she is .................... . In my partner ´s family ....................... is the boss.

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JIGSAW ACTIVITIES

Originally, the jigsaw puzzle is a type of puzzle consisting of numerous small, often oddly shaped and interlocking pieces. Each piece usually has a small part of a picture on it and when complete, a jigsaw puzzle produces a complete picture.

In pedagogy, a jigsaw activity is a cooperative learning strategy as well as a teaching technique based on the use of the strategy. In both cases, and when used in teaching foreign languages, the students need to cooperate closely and communicate in a foreign language to fulfil a task together (to complete a dialogue, a text, etc.). It is a kind of information gap activities.

In addition to language improvement, jigsaw activities help improve problem-solving skills and develop social relationships in the classroom. Jigsaw activities may be organized at two levels:

A. as activities with jigsaw/jumble materials which need to be put into the correct order by students (jumble activities),

B. as a type of small-group work with a specific pattern.

Model activities

A. Work with jigsaw materials (jumble texts to be read, jumble song lyrics, jumble letter writing, etc.)

Listening to/reading jigsaw sentences Students act individually. Each of them is called out by a teacher and told a different part

of the sentence. Then the students have to organize themselves into a ‘human sentence’ with a correct order of its parts. Each student then says his/her part aloud.

Listening to/reading jigsaw dialogues (texts)

The class is divided into pairs or small groups. They listen to a conversation (text) in a foreign language which is presented piece by piece in a jumbled order. Their task is to reconstruct the original conversation (text).

Listening to/reading a jigsaw story Students work in groups. Each student listens to a different part of a story. Later they

have to retell their parts to the rest of their group. Then they discuss what the correct order of the parts is and what the story is about.

Jigsaw writing about a picture The class is divided into 4 groups. Each group is given one piece of a picture which was

cut-up into 4 pieces. The groups are asked to write down descriptions of their respective pieces of the picture. The groups should not look at other pieces. When ready, all groups read their descriptions aloud. Then they try together to work out what an original picture looked like.

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B. Jigsaw group work It is very similar to cross-groups activities described in the chapter Group work. The

class is divided into 4 groups and they need to share some information to be able to complete a task (information-gap activity). First, students are divided into “home” groups and are appointed the group task and individual tasks (usually marked as A, B, C and D). Then they work in “expert groups” with students of the same “label”. They again listen to or read the appointed part of the text the other groups do not have. They discuss and help each other to complete the individual task. Later, they re-create “home groups” and share the notes. Students are able to complete the group task only if all members of all groups have been successful in completing their own tasks and in sharing their results with others. The model jigsaw activity for the group of 12 students is provided below.

READING IN JIGSAW GROUPS

1. Select three appropriate texts with four paragraphs. Make three copies of each text and in

each copy label the paragraphs as follows: A= the first paragraph, B = the second paragraph, C = the third paragraph, and D = the last paragraph. Cut them so you will have twelve separate paragraph strips in total.

2. Prepare a graphic organizer of the texts (e.g. a chart, a spider diagram, etc.).

Paragraph A Paragraph B Paragraph C Paragraph D Main idea

Details

3. Practice any pre-reading activities with the students to focus their concentration, brush-up

necessary vocabulary or recall grammar structures they will need to comprehend the texts and complete the task.

4. Divide students into three “home” groups. Distribute the graphic organizer and four

paragraph strips (A, B, C, and D) to each of them. Students distribute the strips A, B, C and D and thus become “experts” A, B, C, and D.

5. Students regroup so as to put all of the strips of the same letter into one group.

A A B B C C D D A B C D

6. Have the students read the paragraphs in their “expert” groups. They should discuss the

paragraph and answer the questions: What is the main idea of the paragraph? What details support the main idea? The students take notes.

7. The students come back to their “home” groups. Here they share information about their

respective paragraphs. The group together fill in the graphic organizer. 8. After home groups completed their tasks, recap the task in the class as a whole.

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LECTURES AND PRESENTATIONS

Lectures and presentations are one of the most challenging teaching techniques for

teachers as well as for students. They encourage to prepare and deliver (a teacher), as well as to receive and process (an audience/students). The risky side of lectures and presentations is that if managed poorly, they result in a passive listening audience and loss of their concentration (research has shown that after 10 to 20 minutes of continuous lecture, assimilation falls off rapidly).

Lectures and presentations are used almost exclusively within the explanation phase of the lesson, when a new piece of knowledge is presented and shared.

They are not very suitable for students at the beginning stages of foreign language learning. They work best with intermediate and advanced learners. Teachers should start applying lectures and presentations at least at secondary schools to prepare their teenage students for their future academic life (higher education) or practical life (e.g. presentation skills in marketing, soft skills of managers, etc.).

Various models of lecture/presentation management may be applied: lecture/presentation by a teacher; lecture/presentation by a guest speaker (a specialist, a parent, etc.); lecture/presentation by a student; lecture/presentation by a group (panel) of students, etc.

Teacher´s duties if lectures/presentations are delivered by students: 1. to define in advance clear instructions and parameters of a good speech or presentation

(timing and structure/form); 2. to set clear and objective criteria of evaluation; 3. to give lecturing/presenting students sufficient time for preparation; 4. to set the time limit clearly; 5. to allow and facilitate the questions from or discussion with other students.

School lectures and presentations must be designed so as to be DECIMA:

D - dynamical (e.g. by changing demands on students every 10-15 minutes and requiring student participation);

E - efficient (students should learn new knowledge as quickly as possible); C - clear (understandable); I - interesting (this depends on the level of teacher´s presentation skills); M - memorable (it should be logically structured and contain hints for better remembering); A - appropriate (respecting the level of students´ proficiency).

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Teaching tips

1. State the objectives at the beginning of the lecture/presentation. The audience needs to know what they are expected to achieve (e.g. After this lecture you should be able to...).

2. Organize the lecture carefully and logically (e.g. from general to particular). 3. Display the outline at the beginning and then continue to show it to the audience after

each meaningful part of the lecture/presentation. 4. Continually explain links between the parts of the lecture/presentation. 5. Use a lot of clear examples in context. 6. Provide at least 3 short summaries of the previous parts throughout the

lecture/presentation. 7. Choose the amount of information and visuals wisely (too many usually means too bad). 8. If possible, include humour, jokes, famous quotes, etc.

Additional tips how to keep students´ attention during a lecture

Filling the partial outline The listeners are provided with a partially completed outline and they are asked to fill in

the missing parts after each part of the lecture/presentation. Completing worksheets The presenter prepares a worksheet with various simple tasks (true/false sentences, fill-in

exercises, ordering items, mind mapping, etc.). The listeners listen to the lecture/presentation and they are asked to fill the worksheet during a lecture/presentation.

Comprehension tests and quizzes The presenter prepares a short test with yes-no questions to check students´

comprehension after the lecture or after its each meaningful part. Polls on the topic The presenter takes polls on various topics related to the lecture/presentation. Listeners

may use thumbs-ups (= I agree) or thumbs-downs (= I disagree) to indicate their opinions. Using polls does not only break monotony, it also shows the audience that the presenter cares about their opinion.

Extra tips

Move and talk naturally. Try to smile.

Keep an eye contact with the audience. Move around and go to the back

of the classroom, even while you are speaking. Give the audience a problem to solve.

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MIND MAPS

Mind mapping is originally a tool for organizing ideas that fuses together key words and pictures (Buzan, Buzan, 1996). Mind maps enable students to structure, organize, and better memorize their own thoughts or new information. It can be used as a teaching technique as well, mostly for students with dominant visual and logical learning styles. As a teaching technique it is highly valued by cognitive pedagogy since it stimulates memory by creating strong associations. It also develops students´ logical thinking, creativity, and imagination. Nowadays, several mind mapping software applications are available (e.g. iMindMap).


Take a large sheet of paper. Draw a central image (usually an ellipse) with the topic written in it. Draw at least four thick branches coming outwards from the central image (it is

advised to use a different colour for each branch). Write key words along these branches. Draw additional branches that extend from your main branches and write more key

words (sub-topics). Keep expanding the mind map outwards with additional branches and sub-topics.

(Source: Foreman, 2009, online)

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MINIMAL PAIR TECHNIQUES

A minimal pair is a pair of words with different meaning, and which differ in no more

than one sound (no letter), e.g. thick – tick. Practicing correct pronunciation of words in minimal pairs help students better recognize differences in both sounds and techniques of their articulation. The following recommended procedure was inspired by Murphy (1984, p. 42).


Differentiation Recognition Imitation Producing the contrast

1 Differentiation: The teacher says an identical pair or a minimal pair of word. Students

have to decide whether the words in the pair were the same or different. The teacher says... The students answer...

thick - tick different thick – thick same tree - three different

2 Recognition: Students are asked to recognize words from pairs when they are heard in isolation and not in a pair.

1. The teacher labels one sound “1” (here [th]) and the other sound “2” (here [t]). 2. Each student is given two cards – one with “1” and the other with “2”. 3. The teacher reads one of words from a minimal pair and the students have to show

a card which indicates which sound they hear – sound “1” or sound “2”. The teacher says.... The students show...

thick 1 tick 2 true 2

3 Imitation: The students should be able to produce the sound.

1. The teacher says one word from the minimal pair.

2. The students repeat first chorally, then individually.

4 Producing the contrast: students are expected to produce both the sound and its contrast in a minimal pair.

1. The teacher says a word of a minimal pair.

2. The students repeat the word and produce the contrasting item of the pair.

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THE SELECTED LIST OF USEFUL MINIMAL PAIRS

d – t d - t b-p

dime - time

deer - tear

doe - toe

bud - but

bed - bet

wed - wet

cab - cap

cob - cop

cub - cup

b-p b-v f –v

ball - Paul

bet - pet

Ben - pen

bet - vet

berry - very

boat - vote

fan - van

fine - vine

v – u ɵ - δ k - g

vile - while

veal - wheel

thing - ding

there - dare

birth - bird

come - gum

buck - bug

back - bag

tʃ - dʒ tʃ - ʃ tʃ - ʃ

choose - Jews

chunk - junk

cheap - Jeep

choose - shoes

chop - shop

cherry - sherry

butch - bush

batch - bash

ditch - dish

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MNEMONIC AIDS Mnemonic devices are excellent tools for better memorizing. Some of them are a part of

students´ folklore. Different types of mnemonics can be distinguished according to the technique they were created by: ordering words in easily memorable sentences, rhymes, acrostics (words made from first letters of the words in the list or sentence), and visual mnemonics.

However, a fun exercise is to have your students try to create their own mnemonic devices for various topics.

Examples

A. Using words/letters in easily memorable sentences

a) Mnemonic for remembering the position of “since”:

Since to say when something started.

b) Mnemonic for remembering every letter of the alphabet

THE QUICK BROWN FOX JUMPS OVER THE LAZY DOG.

B. Rhymes

a) Mnemonic rhyme to remember the

number of days each month:

Thirty days hath September, April, June, and November; All the rest have thirty-one Excepting February alone:

Which hath but twenty-eight, in fine, Till leap year gives it twenty-nine.

b) Mnemonic rhyme to remember numerals (Mumford, 2009, p. 18):

It´s a for only one,

But for more, use some. In the negative it´s not any, For two or more, not many.

c) Mnemonic rhyme to remember when Christopher Columbus discovered America:

In 1492 Columbus Sailed the Ocean Blue

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C.Acrostics

a) Mnemonic for remembering coordinating conjunctions: F - for A - and N - nor B - but O - or Y - yet S – so

b) Mnemonic device to remember three uses of Present Perfect (Mumford, 2009, p. 18):

What do you do to a plant that has grown its pot?

RE-POT IT.

RE = Repeated Event (e.g. I have seen him several times). POT = Period Of Time (e.g. I have washed the dishes). IT = Indefinite Time (e.g. I have met him).

c) To remember Past Continuous/simple (ibid.):

www(w), isp. = While we were (waiting), I saw Peter.

d) Mnemonic devices for remembering names of planets:

Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto.

My Very Earnest Mother Just Served Us Nine Pickles. My Very Elegant Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas. My Very Easy Memory Jingle Seems Useful Naming Planets.

e) Mnemonic for remembering the order of visible colours in the colour spectrum:

R – red, O – orange, Y – yellow, G – green, B – blue, I – indigo, V – violet.

Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain f) Mnemonic for remembering the basic needs of the human body:

oxygen, carbohydrates, vitamins, fats, minerals, protein, water

Oh, Can Venus Flies Make Pretty Webs!

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D. Visual mnemonic a) Visual aid to remember a passive voice

Ps = 2B + V3 → Passive = “to be” + verb, its third form

b) Visual to remember the difference between “stop to do” and “stop doing something”

Stop 2 do something. → 2 means that the sentence involves 2 actions: one we stop and the one we start.

c) Visual device to remember number of days of months:

Clench your left fist. Start from the knuckle of the little finger. The raised knuckles can be seen as the 31-day months, the dips between them as the 30-day months and February. The knuckle of the index finger is a turning point, marking both July and August.

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ELECTRIC CARS Introduction (What is an electric car? Which aspect I am going to write about?)

A. Pros 1. ... 2. ... 3. ...

B. Cons 1. ... 2. ... 3. ...

Conclusion (Should people buy them or not?)

OUTLINING

In language teaching, two basic types of outlining can be distinguished:

a) outlining students do after reading a text in a foreign language, b) outlining students do before writing their own texts. Through practicing both types of outlining students learn about the hierarchy of the

written text, they acquire the skills necessary to distinguish between the main ideas and their supporting details.

A. Outlining after reading


1. Read the text to get a general idea of the text. Examine the length and genre of the text. Think about the author.

2. Read the text again. Now slower and in detail. 3. Preview introductory and conclusion paragraphs. 4. Identify the main idea or the purpose of the text (the topic sentence)? Usually it is

expressed in the introductory paragraph. The title can help as well. 5. Identify the main ideas of each paragraph (supporting sentences). The supporting ideas

should be related directly to the topic sentence. 6. Formulate the concluding idea (usually stated in the concluding paragraph). What was

the author´s intention? What is the conclusion the author offers?

B. Outlining before writing

Outlines for texts students are going to write should be brief and very clear and should be preceded by extensive reading, classroom discussion or brainstorming. As Raimes states (1983, p. 116), the outline should be “a device to guide the writer and not something to lock him into a cage that he couldn´t escape from if he wanted to”.

1. State the topic sentence. Complete the introductory paragraph.

2. State at least two supporting sentences. Each of them will be a base for body paragraphs.

3. Read the first supporting sentence. Add at least two examples to prove it. Complete the first body paragraph.

4. Read the second supporting sentence. Add at least two examples to prove it. Complete the second body paragraph.

5. If there are more supporting sentences, follow the pattern and complete another paragraph.

6. Write down the concluding sentence. Develop it to the final paragraph.

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Tips for students 1. Read through your poem silently.

Think about its meaning and atmosphere.

2. Think about the narrator – what is he feeling? What meaning is he trying to get across? What does he look like? How do you think he moves (slowly, quickly, proudly...)?

3. Think about how you can best portray the narrator through your voice, body movements and facial expressions.

4. Underline the key words that need emphasizing. You may mark your copy of a poem as a musical composition with marks such as "slow down," "louder," whisper," "stomp foot," etc.

6. Practice, practice, practice.

7. Record or videotape yourself to watch the dramatic effect of your interpretation. Think about what else can be improved.

PERFORMING POETRY AND PROSE Performing poetry and prose is one of the teaching techniques rarely used in foreign

language classrooms, applied mostly in rare occasions when preparing for recitation competences, school cultural programmes, school performances, etc.

In short, it is a teaching technique where students orally interpret poems or prose in a foreign language. The technique goes under the umbrella term “drama techniques” since it integrates foreign language learning, developing skills to express emotions (through theatre techniques), keeping social interactions, and learning about values of the target culture.

Performing poetry and prose differs from performing drama (see the chapter Drama techniques) in its material subtlety and the need of more intense suggestiveness. Students do not need a full stage or complete costumes (usually it is enough to wear a scarf and partial make-up). The lack of material equipment is then replaced by more intense suggestiveness of the interpreter´s voice and non-verbal expressions (eye contact with the audience, stance, postures, gestures, etc.).

Rich material including short poems and a complete guide for teachers (Norris, online) may be found online at PoetryTeachers.com.

Tips for teachers A. Prepare and practice voice emphasis exercises

through which students learn the importance of varying volume, rate and pitch of their voices: 1. Select a set of short poems and stories. 2. Have your students read them aloud. Then ask

them repeat it several times, each time emphasizing different words, i.e. saying them louder, slower and more dramatically than the other words in the poem;

3. Discuss with students how the meaning of the poem changes as different words are emphasized.

4. Explain to your students that they are the people who can decide which words to emphasize.

B. Include facial expression exercises

Through them students learn how to express different emotions through different facial expressions;

C. Teach them how to use body movement and gestures Explain to your students that they should avoid any nervous movements like swaying side to side, shifting their weight foot to foot, or crossing their ankles. Instead, they might want to use their bodies to help them express the meaning of the performance by their body movements (see Pantomime charades and Frozen pictures activities in the chapter Drama techniques).

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PICTURE DICTATIONS The fundamental principle of this teaching technique is that the students listen to and

follow instructions given by a teacher, another student or recording (a flawless English pronunciation of a dictating person is a necessity!). It is one of the basic TPR techniques: students need to listen carefully without any verbal response and they respond to the listened to language by doing something. The technique helps develop skills necessary for listening for gist. Moreover, it is popular among students with various dominant learning styles (visual, audial, kinaesthetic, artistic, etc.).

Several types of picture dictations are frequently used in foreign language classrooms: picture and colour dictations; completing a picture, drawing or completing a map, following a route on a map, etc. Teachers may find a countless number of ready-made activities on the professional internet pages.


1. Have a simple and easy-to-draw picture students cannot see. 2. Elicit vocabulary from the students or pre-teach new vocabulary they will need

to know to complete the activity (e.g. in the middle/top/bottom of the picture, in the corner...).

3. Explain that you are going to describe a picture and all they have to do is listen carefully and draw what they hear you describe (or follow your instructions and draw a route).

4. Describe the picture slowly and repeat each instruction at least twice. 5. To make the activity more communicative, you may deliberately give imprecise

instruction. Students then need to ask questions to draw a picture. 6. Compare the students´ products.

Example

T: There is a small house in the picture. S1: Where is the house? In the centre? T: No it is in the right bottom of the picture.

There is a lake on its left. There are two ships on the lake.

S2: Is it a big lake? Does it go to the left edge of the picture?

T: Yes, it does. S3: Where exactly are the ships?, etc.

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PICTURE DICTIONARIES Picture dictionaries are dictionaries where the meaning of foreign language words is

explained through visual means. Using them in the class is a highly effective way of introducing new vocabulary in a visual context (c.f. Pokrivčáková, 2012, pp. 74-75).

Picture dictionaries have a very important advantage of being able to be used effectively also by weaker students or students with learning disabilities (dysgraphia, dyslexia), as here finding a word and connecting it with its meaning is not dependent upon being able to read longer texts, spell, or order letters alphabetically.

Students may use either published picture dictionaries (there is a wide range of dictionaries available in the bookstores for all age groups, language proficiency levels and professional groups, e.g. picture books for architects or physicians) or they can be asked to create their own picture dictionaries (individual, group or class picture dictionaries).

Creating picture dictionary

The teacher may introduce a habit in the class that whenever a new

“important” word appears or is mentioned in the class, students must prepare a dictionary entry for it. They are asked: 1. to mark the card/a A4 sheet of paper with the initial letter of the

word,

2. to write a word correctly (+ they may add the transcript of its correct pronunciation),

3. “to draw a word” or to paste the picture from a magazine, 4. to bond the entry with other entries in a form of a book or scrapbook.

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Practicing various activities with published picture dictionaries in the classroom prepares the students for the use of dictionaries during their independent study without teacher´s control. The following activities were inspired by Case, 2009.

Model activities with published picture dictionaries

Picture dictionary search The teacher chooses one word that is in the picture dictionary (e.g. an elephant) and

students compete to be the first person to find it somewhere in the book. The teacher may also set a time limit (e.g. 30 seconds) and a category of words that are in the dictionary (e.g. Find as many words of three letters as you can. Find as many words containing the sound [θ] as you can, etc.), and students race to do it within the set time limit.

Ranking words Students are asked to rank the words on the selected page according to their difficulty,

length, likeability or any other criterion. This activity leads students to think about words and their meanings deeply and to compare them on various levels. Some criteria (likeability) require a lot of logical reasoning and personal involvement. This helps students to personalize a foreign language and remember new words quickly.

Page sentences Students are asked to create a sentence using as many of the words on the chosen page of

a picture dictionary as they can. The teacher may ban words the students over-use (e.g. and). Page stories Students are asked to create a story using at least one word from the selected page of a

picture dictionary in each sentence. They may complete the task individually, in pairs, in groups or taking turns in the class.

Guess the page The teacher or a student opens the book at random and describes the page they can see.

Other students have to guess which page it is. To make this activity more communicative, other students may be allowed to ask a limited number of yes-no questions (e.g. in the form of 20 questions game).

Find a difference The teacher or a student describes a random page from the picture dictionary. He/she

deliberately says one thing that isn’t true. The winner is the student who spots that false thing first.

Find a detail Each student chooses one small detail from the illustrations on the selected page of a

picture dictionary (they can copy it through tracing paper and show to other students, e.g. a group of stones, a small bird in the background, a red button on a dress).

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PROBLEM-SOLVING ACTIVITIES Human life is full of problems. To survive means to be able to solve everyday problems.

Developing the skill of solving problems thus should not be excluded from learning foreign languages.

Developed problem solving skills include the students´ abilities to use experience, knowledge, and facts to solve problems effectively.

Problem solving generally occurs in four stages: 1. identifying a problem, 2. looking for possible solutions, 3. choosing the best solution by using critical thinking processes, 4. carrying out the solution. The attempts to apply teaching techniques based on problem solving in English language

classrooms are justified by the belief that if the problem situation is set in English, students will think about it and communicate the solution in a foreign language. The problems of two types are used most frequently: linguistic and logical problems.

Simplest examples of problem solving activities suitable for English language classes are riddles.

A. Riddles

Where was Bill when the light went out? (in the dark) How many mice can you put in an empty cage? (One. After that, the cage is not empty.)

What is full of holes and holds water? (a sponge) Which hand do you use to stir soup – the right one or the left one? (Neither one. You use a spoon.)

B. Linguistic problems

SLOOBIE

In this activity (Lucantoni, online), students look at a text which contains ‘nonsense’ words, and try to make sense of it from a grammatical perspective. In addition, they use their knowledge of grammar in order to create the story:

A sloobie is a brumpting silop which draches in a layod. It okuls from Klooblie, a zert in Fring. In order to ning a sloobie, the layod is larted by a ticfrous layoder.

Use these words: country, fish, dancing, river, comes, Asia, lives

Hints: 1. A sloobie is a brumpting silop. 2. It draches in a layod. 3. It okuls from Klooblie. 4. Klooblie is a zert in Fring.

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C. Logical problems (Logic puzzles) These activities are recommended for foreign language classes; as they are given in

English it is expected students will think in English to find a solution. The first activity on this page is a typical example of logical-reasoning problem. The second is the example of a "logic grid" puzzle. In this type of puzzle students are given a series of categories (here names of players, composers and musical instruments) and an equal number of options within each category. Each option is used only once. The goal is to figure out which options are linked together. Each puzzle has only one unique solution, and each can be solved using simple logical processes.

Alim and The Sultan

Alim was very poor but very clever, too. One day he met the Sultan who was very bored and depressed.

Alim said: “I can make you laugh. I am the best liar in the world.” The Sultan answered: “You can´t make me laugh, but if you tell me a really big

lie, I will give you 1000 golden dinars”. “OK”, said Alim, “it´s great since ten years ago my father lent your father the

same sum and he never got his money back. Now I can get them back!” “You liar!” yelled the Sultan. “That´s the biggest lie I´ve ever heard! I will have

you beheaded!” Question: What happened? Did the Sultan pay Alim?

Solution: The Sultan had to pay. If he thought Alim was a good liar, he owed him 1000 dinars. If he thought it was not a lie, then he had to pay off his father´s debt.

Musical Recital At a musical recital five students (John, Kate, Larry, Mary and Nick) performed five

musical pieces. Two by Bach, two by Mozart and one by Vivaldi. There were three violinists and two pianists. Each student performed only one piece, and played only one instrument. Find the order of the students, their respective instruments and the composer, with the following conditions:

1. The composers were not played consecutively. Vivaldi was played last and Mozart was

played first. 2. There was one piano piece that was played between two violin pieces, and two violin

pieces between the first and last piano piece. 3. There were no piano pieces by Mozart. 4. Kate played third. 5. John played a piece by Mozart, and was immediately followed by Nick, who played the

piano. 6. Mary did not play a piece by Vivaldi.

(Source: http://www.brainbashers.com/puzzles.asp) Answer: 1 = John played Mozart on the violin, 2 = Nick played Bach on the piano, 3 = Kate played Mozart on the violin, 4 = Mary played Bach on the violin, 5 = Larry played Vivaldi on the piano

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Example

Create a class magazine The class is divided into

pairs or groups of students. Each pair/group is given a partial task, e.g. to be responsible for completing one section of the magazine: news, stories, anecdotes, jokes, puzzles, quizzes, classroom humour (e.g. funny mistakes made during English lessons), etc.

PROJECT WORK

Project work (or simply a project) is a student-centred teaching technique which is

characterized by the fact that students need to use their personal creativity and work independently to generate a final product (a report, a presentation, a lecture, a book, a magazine, etc.). It is a large-scale teaching technique that involves research and provides students with opportunities to gain meaningful experience.

Project work is organized in three stages: 1 planning, 2 implementation and end-product creating, 3 evaluating.

The teacher plays many roles when organizing project work: he/she is an organizer,

coordinator, motivator, facilitator, a participant in project activities (to some extent) and a monitor. Despite all these roles, the irony of organizing project work lies in the fact that the more passive the teacher appears to be, the more successful the project is in terms of students ́autonomy and independent learning (Fried-Booth, 2002, p. 18).

How to organize project work

1. Set general aims. 2. Define language aims (what language should be used, which language items,

vocabulary, etc.). 3. Define an end-product. 4. Set a time frame (at least deadline). 5. Recommend information sources. 6. Set criteria of evaluation. 7. Let students work independently (with your monitoring from background). 8. Ask students present their end-products. 9. Evaluate.

Other possible appointments

Create a brochure for international students at your school. Plan a school talent show. Plan a class field trip. Publish a barrier-free guide of your city for people in wheelchairs. Organize a quiz contest for the class about English culture.

Continual monitoring is an important role of the teacher when applying project work in his/her classes. Fried-Booth (2002) suggests 4 ways of monitoring project work:

A. Review sheets are work sheets with questions that should focus the students´ attention on language items they have acquired through working on the project. The sheets may be given to students at the end of the lesson with project work or, if a project takes longer time, regularly after several lessons.

Project topic:

Name:

What new vocabulary have you learned this week? What can you say in English that you could not say last week?

What have you read this week? What have you listened to this week? ...

B. The individual error monitor is used with individual students. The teacher checks the

student´s errors made in his/her speaking or writing and makes a list of them. Then the student is asked to correct the mistakes.

Project topic:

Name:

Error

Correction

... ...

C. Peer-monitoring is the same as individual error monitoring but here students monitor and

check other students. The teacher only facilitates their activity.

D. Categorizing errors is rather time-consuming but brings important benefits to both the teacher and the student. When conducting individual error monitoring, the teacher categorizes the mistakes into groups, e.g. spelling mistakes, word-formation mistakes, syntactical mistakes, etc. It gives both the teacher and the student better direction where to focus their future teaching and learning. Project work is a great means of integrating knowledge from several school subjects or

fields of human knowledge. What should be emphasized is that in the language classroom project work should give the students opportunities for close to real life communication. As Byrne (1991, p. 96) has it, project work should help them fulfil broader educational objectives, such as: research skills (searching and categorizing various information), social skills (cooperating in the group), and developing digital literacy (using internet sources, using ICT when creating and publishing a final product). The later named aspect of project work is emphasized by Cimermanová (2011) who introduced the collection of project work activities that integrate learning English as a foreign language and developing digital literacy skills, e.g. creating and publishing English calendar by means of MS Publisher, editing a movie clip via MS Movie Maker, etc.

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QUESTIONNAIRES

If used in popular magazines, questionnaires like “Are You a Good Friend?” or “What Type of Person Are You?” are widely read and filled-in. People just love to discover something new about themselves and people around them (even if the questionnaire is not very reliable). There is no obstacle to using this entertainment form of survey in the English classroom as it is a highly effective teaching technique for developing students´ listening and speaking skills.

If used in a language class, questionnaires encourage foreign language communication in a realistic situation. Students interact directly in a foreign language. They not only provide their own input (highly personalized language when answering questions of the questionnaire), they are usually eager to ask their peers and learn new facts about their lives and opinions. Questionnaires thus provide maximum students ́ talking time because the activity time is spent entirely by their asking and answering questions. During that time they ask and answer the same questions multiple times by which they drill language structures in a meaningful, relatively natural, and still amusing way.

The follow up of the class questionnaire may be the reporting of their findings to the class orally or in a written form.


1. Preparation (pre-speaking)

- revision of relevant vocabulary and grammar structures, - explanation of new vocabulary and language structures (if needed), - explaining rules (students need to move around the classroom and talk to each

other but they need to keep it down). 2. Activity (speaking)

- students ask their partners questions of the questionnaire and make the notes. At the same time they answer questions of their mates if asked.

3. Follow-up (after-speaking) - students are asked to review their findings and report them to the class.

Model activities

What do you like watching? Ask your classmates and discover what the most popular movie genre in your class is.

Use the questionnaire from bellow and fill in symbols: + = likes, - = dislike, 0 = cannot say.

Name cartoons sci-fi horrors romances westerns thrillers music/ dance movies

Anna + 0 - + - + 0 Bruno 0 0 - + - + + Caty 0 + + - + + 0 Dana ... ... Dudo Write down 5 sentences about yourself and your classmates.

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A Questionnaire: Do You Have Your Lucky Charm? (Lesson plan)

1. Pre-speaking a) Discuss with students shortly about superstitions and lucky charms. You may ask the

following questions: - Do you believe in superstitions? - Can you give any example and explain its meaning? - Do you believe in lucky charms and talismans? - Do you have any? - What is it? - Where do you have it from? Did you get it from somebody? - What does it help for?

b) Write the last three questions (written in bold) on the board to be displayed during the activity. If needed, write down or have the students to write down on the board the interesting words and new vocabulary that appears during the opening (motivation) discussion.

c) Give the students questionnaire forms (1 copy to each student) or have the students to copy them quickly from the template.

d) Ask students to read the first line of the questionnaire as a model and then ask them to fill the second line about themselves.

2. Speaking Students have 10 minutes to choose 4 other classmates, ask them appropriate questions and

fill the form with their answers.

3. After-speaking Ask the students to summarize their findings with the help of the model summary for Ricky

(the activity was inspired by the writing exercise in Gerngroβ, Puchta, Schratz, 1986, p. 21).

Do you have your lucky charm?

Name What? Where/who from? Helps for?

Ricky a coin found it in the street

when he has a test

You

...

Model summary for Ricky:

Ricky´s lucky charm is a coin. He found it in the street while he was in Rome. It helps him when he has a test.

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QUIZES A quiz is a dialogic teaching technique. It also might be considered a written type of an

interview or a teaching technique very close to a questionnaire. However, questions in the quiz do not ask about the interviewee´s opinions and preferences but they are related to his/her factual knowledge.

The quiz integrates developing reading (students read instructions and questions), writing (if students write down their answers) or speaking skills (if students present their answers orally). Moreover, it can be used both to find out about students´ general knowledge and to practice various grammatical items. Students are usually fond of quizzes, especially if they are organized in the form of class competition. Another benefit quizzes bring to the classroom is that the weak students might be successful in them.

Recommended procedure 1. Set the context (the topic of the quiz). 2. Set the rules (timing, number of points for correct answers, possible shoot-

outs, etc.). 3. Create teams or divide the class into groups. 4. Give the students the quiz sheet or ask them questions one at a time. 5. Check the correct answers and allocate points following the rules. 6. Name a winner. 7. If students enjoy the activity, ask them to formulate 2 other tasks or prepare an

entirely new quiz for their classmates.

To make a quiz more entertaining and to relieve possible stress from competition, you may mix in several nonsensical questions, e.g.:

1. Give the first name of Elton John. 2. Would you ask William Shakespeare to:

a) build your house; b) lead an army, c) write a play, d) drive a plane? 3. How many commandments (approximately) was Moses given? 4. Six kings of England have been called George, the last being George the

Sixth. Name the previous five. 5. Can you explain Einstein´s theory of relativity (answer yes or no). 6. Who wrote Beethoven´s Fifth symphony?

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Example

QUIZ

STRANGE NAMES IN THE U.S.A. Look at the map of the United States and find the names of the following places: 1) a lake that you can eat your dinner with; 2) a white river that you can drink; 3) three places with numbers in their names; 4) a place with the name of a big animal with horns; 5) three cities with the same names as in the U.K.; 6) a place named after a man who discovered

America; 7) a place in Colorado with a tricky name no one knows; 8) a place in Alaska where they do not like horses; 9) a place in Arkansas where they like everything oily;

10) two scary places in California where they probably like zombies

Key: 1-Grand Forks, 2-Milk, 4-Buffalo, 6-Columbus, 7-No Name in Colorado, 8-Deadhorse, 9- Greasy Corner, 10- e.g. Deadman Crossing and Deadwood.

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READING ALOUD

Reading aloud was once a very popular teaching technique, mostly among teachers. Nowadays, it belongs among techniques condemned by modern language pedagogy because of several reasons:

- Reading aloud is not natural. It requires reading every word in the text. Natural reading means silent reading of meaningful chunks without the need to read and understand every word.

- While reading aloud, the student pays attention to producing correct pronunciation rather than to comprehending the meaning of the text.

- Reading aloud is rarely used in practical life. The skill is used only in a few professions (e.g. broadcasters). That is why students usually see it as a waste of time.

- For students of other nations to read aloud in English is rather difficult because it usually means using different reading skills. English has 26 letter but 46 phonemes and there are no strict rules how to read which vowel and syllable (c.f. Straková, Cimermanová, 2009, p. 21).

- Only a few students are able to read aloud without mistakes. Most of them usually stumble through the text and the “final product” is not enjoyable for either the reader or his/her “audience” (classmates). Moreover, the reading students usually feel embarrassed, which leads to their loss of motivation.

- Only certain texts are suitable for reading aloud (mostly literary texts). - Reading aloud slows the lesson down. Only one student is “active” at the time and the

others do not pay attention or become bored. - Reading aloud in fact does not develop students´ reading skills. It is rather a test of

correct pronunciation. If the teacher decides to use reading aloud as a teaching technique, he/she should choose

texts intended for vocal performing and practice techniques close to Reader´s Theatre performance (a specific style of theatre in which the actors read the text and use vocal expression to depict the story). Look at the following example of a tongue-twister short story and imagine how funny the students´ efforts may be to read it aloud pronounce it quickly and correctly:

Model activity

THE CHAP WITH CAPS

There once was a chap that sold caps. After walking all day, the chap with caps was ready to collapse, so he had a nap. But when he awoke, the chap with caps was taken aback... His caps were gone! All that was left was the cap on his head. He looked up to discover... chattering monkeys had snatched his caps!

“Rats!” the chap thought, “I need my caps! Perhaps if I set a trap, I´ll get them back.” The chap set a trap, but, alas, he did not get his caps back. So he hatched a plan: he offered to trade them the caps for a cape with a map on the back. But the chap still did not get his caps back.

(Source: pbskids.org and studyzone.org)

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ROLE PLAYS A role play is a communicative activity when learners play somebody else and they are

told what to say and how to react. They are instructed (usually but not necessarily in the form of a role card) who they play, what opinions they are going to present and what they know that is unknown to the others.

In role plays, students are assigned various roles which are very likely to appear in a student´s real life. Role plays imitate life and students may practice a wide range of language features together with their sociolinguistic competence (appropriateness of communication). But the teacher should remember that some students, especially teenagers and adolescents, do not find it easy and funny to act in front of other people.

Recommended procedure 1. Introduction of the activity, description of the situation. Stating what the product

of the role play will be, e.g. a decision, a plan, or something else. 2. Distribution of role cards that describe the roles and possibly introducing new

vocabulary items or grammar structures. 3. Giving students time to prepare individually or in groups. The students first

discuss the activity (usually in their mother tongue). Then they work out the situation and what exactly they are going to say. (Optional intermezzo: The teacher interrupts students and provides them with the opportunity to ask questions about the language necessary for their roles.) Students continue in their preparation.

4. Students present their role plays. If it was a part of the task, they report on the outcomes of their role plays. The teacher does not correct any errors.

5. Summary: Discussion on the outcomes of all role plays. 6. After the role play is over (or during the following lesson), the teacher gives

feedback on pronunciation and grammar.

Examples A. A motorist and a policeman

A motorist You were caught speeding. Now you are trying to talk your way out of getting a ticket.

A policeman You caught a driver who was speeding 20 km/h over the speed limit. You are giving him a ticket of 60 euros.

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B. An actor and journalists

An actor: You are a world-famous actor who is meeting a bunch of journalists at the press conference. They are going to ask you questions about your latest movie/project. Funny and fabricated answers are allowed.

A journalist: You are going to interview a world-famous actor about his latest movie. Ask him about anything related to his work.

Variation: This version of role play might work as an attractive after-reading activity.

After reading about an interesting person, one of the students acts as a person from the text and the other members of groups play journalists.

Extra tip: Emergency role cards

If there are more students than roles in the activity, the teacher can always use the

emergency cards that are universally applicable and suitable for practically all role plays. Gołębiowska (1990) suggests the following examples of emergency cards. It is obvious that using some of them may cause unexpected communication situations and a lot of fun:

You are not quite sure what the whole conversation is about but you feel the need to participate since you like the sound of your voice.

You cannot make up your mind. First you support one side, then another/the other.

Contradict everything the person on your right says. You think the person on your left speaks too loudly. Without asking explicitly (you are too shy), try to make that person speak more softly.

Confirm everything the person on your left says.

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SKIMMING AND SCANNING When reading is mentioned in foreign language classroom, both teachers and students

usually think about reading for comprehension. However, depending on the purpose of reading, the reader may choose from several reading strategies the one that will be most effective in the particular situation. If comprehension of all the text in a word-by-word manner is not necessary and the reader needs a quick grasp of the text (either searching for particular information or a main idea), skimming and scanning as reading strategies may be more practical and more effective.

A. Skimming is a strategy of rapid reading when the reader needs to identify the main ideas of a text quickly. Skimming works well when they have lots of material to read in a limited amount of time (which is the situation not foreign to any students). Skimming which is three to four times faster than normal reading is useful when you want to see if an article may be of interest and worth of later, more detailed reading.

Basic rules of skimming a) The reader should not read every word in the text. Instead, he/she should look at a

text/paragraph as a whole, noting key words and ignoring minor ones. b) During skimming, great attention should be paid to the title, subtitles, subheading,

illustrations, and summary of the text. c) At the same time, subtitle and both first and last sentences of each paragraph in the

text are very important, too. The reader should pay attention to organizers such as numbers, letters, or transition words like first, second, next, moreover, however, on the contrary, etc.

d) When filling the after-skimming test, the reader should focus only on the information in the text. Even if he/she does not agree with the text´s ideas, he/she must not let his/her different opinions interfere.

Skimming skills can be trained easily. In regular intervals the students should be asked to

read a text (a carefully selected authentic text with a clear structure or any text from the textbook) very fast (1-2 minutes according to the length of the text) to find only the main ideas of the paragraphs and the whole text. After reading the text, students are given a short test in a form of multiple choice tasks with three distracters and one correct option for each.

Read the text quickly (1 min.). Circle the correct option. The main idea of the first paragraph is... a) .... b) .... c) .... d) .... The main idea of the second paragraph is... a) ... b) ... c) ... d) ...

The main idea of the third paragraph is... a) ... b) ... c) ... d) ... The main idea of the text is... a) ... b) ... c) ... d) ...

B. Scanning is a reading strategy students may use when reading a text and seeking particular words, names, dates, facts, etc. Scanning involves moving the eyes quickly down the page while paying attention only to the selected language items. It helps if the reader keeps the image of the language item in his mind at all times and is not afraid of skipping over large section of the text without even reading them. Scanning as a skill could be trained easily as well.


1) Choose a text (a carefully selected authentic text or any text from the textbook). And give students its copies. Each student needs one copy.

2) Let students to read the text first for general comprehention (a gist). 3) Ask students to find and circle in a red pen as many occurrences of a certain

language item (a consonant blend, a word, a number, etc.) as possible. 4) Set a time limit (e.g. 2 minutes). 5) Let students read the text again and complete the task. 6) Who finds all language items or the number closest to the real number, is the winner. 7) You may continue by seeking the other language item and students will mark it in a

different colour.

Variation: Choose a 1-page text and one word within it that occurs there only once. Write the word

on a board. Ask the student to find the word. The winner is the first person to find the word and be able to read the whole sentence with that word. You may repeat the activity with other words till students are interested.

To train scanning skills effectively, the teacher should vary genres of scanned texts

(magazine articles, advertisements, pages from dictionaries, blogs, short stories, poems, song lyrics, cook recipes, etc.) and language items to be searched for. Scanning skills can be also tested by multiple choice tasks focused on facts mentioned in the text. The example below is a scanning test after reading the entry “Cat” at wikipedia.com

Read the text quickly (2 min.). Answer the questions.

Cats were sacred animals in... a) ancient India b) ancient China c) ancient Rome d) ancient Mesopotamia.

The world record for the largest cat is a) 16.6 kg b) 18.2 kg c) 21.3 kg d) 24.4 kg

Cats lose heat by evaporation through their a) skin b) mouth c) tongue d) paws

Skimming and scanning are basic skills necessary for the so-called rapid reading

competence. To learn more about developing the competence or to find other interesting tips to train skimming and scanning, see Mistrík, 1980.

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SITUATION AND SIMULATION TECHNIQUES

Situation (simulation) techniques belong to dialogic techniques, together with dialogues

and role plays. The only difference between role plays and simulations is that here students do not play roles of somebody else, presenting ideas they were given in role cards; instead, they act as themselves and present their own ideas, opinions and beliefs. Simulation provides students with more freedom to express themselves and not limit their language by any means.

The most important condition for these teaching techniques is to create a make-believe situation in the classroom. Students then show how they would react and interact in a particular situation. It makes the technique more personal and emotionally loaded.

Situation must be: 1. clear and easy for students to understand (it would be a waste of time for both the teacher

and students to explain an extremely complex situation in order to get simple language). 2. capable of generating many verbal responses.


1. Explain what the objectives of an activity are. 2. Divide the students into groups. 3. Set a situation (on a card or on a board). 4. Revise useful vocabulary and language structures, including nonverbal aspects. 5. Let students act. 6. Provide feedback/evaluation. Do not point to students´ mistakes however serious they

were. Instead, you may ask acting students the following questions: Did you reach any decision? How did you feel? Do you evaluate the activity as successful? What could you do differently if the activity is repeated?

Examples Situation 1 You are in your friend´s room. You

were sitting on a chair. When you stood up you suddenly realized that you were sitting on your friend´s favourite sunglasses and they are now broken.

Situation 2 You have won a competition. The prize

is that for a day you can use the services of the company named “Anything is possible”. Decide what you would like the company to do for you.

Situation 3

Student A Students B At the cinema you have just

discovered that another person is sitting in your seat. Your task is to win your seat back.

You are watching a movie at the cinema in your seat and suddenly another person comes and wants your seat for himself/herself. Your task is to retain the seat.

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A specific type of situation technique is improvisation. When practicing improvisations, two or more students interact without any special preparation. They are given a situation with several clues and they are expected to act it out immediately. The technique is suitable only for classes with students of higher proficiency levels in a foreign language.

Examples of situations for improvisations: A student is explaining his failing test to his parents. A group of friends are organizing a surprise party. Teacher´s roles Although during situation techniques students are very active and the teacher seems to be

“in the shadows”, he/she must not be passive. He/she needs to circulate along the class, monitor a language used, observe possible problems, encourage when needed, provide advice and prompts, helping if asked to.

During the evaluation of acts, the teacher may provoke discussion and allow other students to express how they liked simulations/improvisations and how they would improve them.

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SONGS, SHORT RHYMES AND TONGUE-TWISTERS

Using short and highly structured literary forms such as songs, short rhymes and tongue-

twisters in foreign language classrooms is generally considered to increase effectiveness of learning and motivation of students. They are expected to loosen stress and bring laughter, amusement and enjoyment into the class (for more see Homolová, 2010). However, at least in the case of teenagers the teacher should ask about his students´ preferences to avoid awkward situation when nobody in the classroom is willing to participate.

They all may be used as pronunciation drills, grammar structure drills, exercises to practise rhythm and stress in English, exemplary material to learn about Anglophone culture (for more details on cultural aspects of literary texts see, Žemberová, 2010, pp. 26-28); and memory-fostering exercises.

Songs All three types of songs (traditional songs, art songs and popular songs) may be used,

depending on an educational purpose. Young learners love action songs which require dancing, movements, or mimes to be performed while singing. To practice a particular grammar structure the teacher may choose repetitive songs where that structure is repeated over and over again. Intercultural competence of students may be developed through learning some special occasion songs which are sung only on certain holidays or festivals (e.g. Christmas songs and carols).

Very frequently teachers of teenagers choose popular songs to make learning more attractive, enjoyable and to point to the connection between foreign language learning and real life outside the school.

Short rhymes Short rhymes are ideal for use in the foreign language classroom due to their musical

quality (vivid intonation), regular rhythm as a determining aspect, humorous play with sounds (alliteration, onomatopoeia, and other sound patterns) and meaning of words (homonymy, puns, etc.). They are great means for practising correct pronunciation, rhythm and stress in English (for more details see Pokrivčáková, 2008). Suitable rhymes on various topics with teaching tips can be found at many websites for teachers and parents, e.g. mywordwizard.com, bestteenpoems.com, etc.

The effective follow-up after listening and their performing is to ask the students to create their own short rhymes.

Recommended procedure to present songs and short rhymes

1. Pre-teach vocabulary and grammar structures. 2. Play the song to students (at least twice). 3. If the objective is to practice pronunciation or learn the song by heart, repeat the

lyrics chorally, emphasizing the rhythm (by clapping hands, tapping on the desk, etc.).

4. If students are not expected to learn the lyrics by heart, ask them to complete after-listening activities (possible after-listening activities: explain the mood of the song, listen and draw the story, listen and mime the action, true/false sentences, fill-in gaps exercises, substitution exercise, retelling the lyrics, etc.).

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Tongue-twisters Tongue-twisters represent a special form of word game and are often included in English

language textbooks (c.f. Reid et al., 2012). They usually appear in the form of phrases, sentences or short rhymes that are very difficult to articulate properly. The largest collection of English tongue-twisters is available at: http://www.uebersetzung.at/twister/en.htm.

Performing tongue-twisters in the classroom may be for students both enjoying and stressful. Therefore, the teacher should stop any traces of unhealthy competition or mockery if some students are not successful enough in their performance. It is better to change the activity immediately and focus on creating tongue twisters (the following model activity was inspired by Phillips, 2001, p. 39).

CREATING TONGUE TWISTERS

1. Decide what sound or sounds are to be practiced, e.g. [b]. 2. Model an example of a tongue twister which contains the selected sounds.

A big black bug bit a big black dog on his big black nose! 3. Write up some words that contain the sound to be practiced.

big, black, ball, bit, but, bat... 4. Ask the students to add as many words with the same sound as they can think of. 5. Ask the students to create a sentence using as many words from the board as

possible. They may use other words, too, to make sentences grammatically correct.

A black bat bought a big ball.

6. To make the activity more interesting, you may ask students to look at the words on the board again and group rhyming words. Then they should create a simple rhyming tongue twister.

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SUBSTITUTION TABLES Substitution tables are visual aids where a group of model sentences are arranged in the

way so that students can see clearly how a particular grammatical item is structured. By their help students are able to create complete correct sentences by modifying a model sentence. Modifying here means substituting one word or phrase with another. Substitution tables may save a lot of teacher’s time that he/she would otherwise spend through verbal explanation of grammar rules.

Examples

I You Peter

Rebecca We

Children They

should shouldn´t

go to the party. steal. do more exercise. be late to school. tell lies. go out for a meal in the evening. drink coke. try harder.

Do Does

I you Dad

Mom we

teenagers

like

visit social networks? eating outside? playing computer games? reading blogs? watching thrillers? dancing boogie-woogie?

Activities with substitution tables

C. A visual aid to present a new grammar item After finishing the initial presentation the teacher asks students to follow a model structure and to create as many new sentences as possible (inspired by Clandfield, online, p. 15).

D. A model for drilling The teacher displays a substitution table and asks students to read the true or false sentences from it (inspired by Clandfield, online, p. 15).

C. Key sentences for writing a story The substitution table is displayed and the teacher asks students to write a short story using at least 4 sentences from the table.

D. A take off for a game The students are divided into two groups. A partially filled substitution table is displayed and the teacher asks students to fill in missing words or to add new items. The team who fills in/adds a correct item get a point.

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TRANSLATING Translating is one of the oldest techniques in teaching foreign languages. It was used in

ancient times and was a skeleton principle of the traditional Grammar-Translation Method. Modern foreign language methodology is not so eager to use translating as a main

teaching technique (when translating from mother to foreign language and vice versa students use different mental processes and communicative skills than those necessary for fluent communication in a foreign language) and some methods completely abandoned using mother tongue and translating in foreign language classrooms.

Recently, it has been proved by many research studies that translation may be a highly effective technique when explaining some grammar points (especially those that do not occur in students´ mother tongue). Nowadays foreign language pedagogy tries to find the wise compromise between traditional, mechanical word-to-word translating and more creative and attractive ways. The following model activities represent such compromise called “communicative translating”.

Model activities

WHAT´S IN THE NAME?

Ask students to translate the famous people´s names in the box into their mother tongue, e.g. Louis Armstrong = Ľudovít Silná ruka, George Bush = Juraj Krík.

Ask students to come up with similar activity in reverse – using names of famous people in their own language, e. g. Slovak poet Ján Smrek = John Spruce (inspired by Clandfield et al., 2009, p. 12).

Steve Wonder Katy Perry Chris Brown

Clint Eastwood Britney Spears

Tom Cruise Nicolas Cage Usher

Elizabeth Taylor Will Smith Sting

Sandra Bullock

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PLANTING WORDS 1. Choose a popular song with the lyrics on the appropriate level for students. 2. Adapt the lyrics by translating some words into the students´ mother language (“planted

words”). Prepare a sheet with the adapted lyrics and make enough copies for all students. 3. Distribute the copies of the adapted lyrics in the class. 4. Tell the students they are going to read a text with some words in their mother language.

Their task is to hunt these words and translate them back into English. 5. Play the song so the students can check their choices. 6. Follow up: Ask the students to prepare similar activity with other songs for their

classmates (inspired by Clandfield, 2009, p. 15).

Michael Buble: Domov

Another letný deň Has come and gone away do Paríža a Ríma But I wanna ísť domov Mmmmmmmm May be surrounded by A miliónom people I still cítim all alone I just wanna ísť domov Oh, I miss you, you know And I’ve been keeping all the listy that I wrote to you Each one a riadok or two “I’m fine baby, how are you?” Well I would poslať them but I know that it’s just not enough My words were chladné a plytké And you si zaslúžiš more than that Another lietadlo Another slnečné place Mám šťastie, I know But I wanna ísť domov Mmmm, I’ve got to ísť domov

Key

Another summer day Has come and gone away In Paris and Rome But I wanna go home Mmmmmmmm May be surrounded by A million people I still feel all alone I just wanna go home Oh, I miss you, you know And I’ve been keeping all the letters that I wrote to you Each one a line or two “I’m fine baby, how are you?” Well I would send them but I know that it’s just not enough My words were cold and flat And you deserve more than that Another aeroplane Another sunny place I’m lucky, I know But I wanna go home Mmmm, I’ve got to go home

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WORD PUZZLES Word puzzle is a term that covers both word games and language problems to be solved.

They are generally designed to test students´ knowledge of language and their ability to use it, or to explore some qualities of the language. Moreover, psychologists claim that solving word puzzles keep human minds young and sharp. In any case, they should cause joy and entertainment.

Foreign language teachers can choose from a huge number of ready-made word puzzles (see web pages like wordplays.com, wordgames.com, games.com, brainbashers.com, etc.) or they may prepare activities on their own by using various on-line accessories (see e. g. application puzzle-maker.com, puzzlemaker at discoveryschool.com, etc.

Students do not only like to solve word puzzles, they also love to create them for their

classmates. A good idea is to organize a word puzzle competition for all classes at the school. Types of word puzzles Crosswords usually have the form of a square of white and shaded squares. The player

solves the verbal or visual cues, formulates the suitable words and then fills them in the white squares. The teacher and student may choose from various types and shapes of crosswords:

Source: crossword-puzzles.co.uk Patchwords are crosswords where fields with two letters are eventually organized in the

style of patchwork to fit together and create words.

Source: patchwords.org

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Cryptograms are illegible texts constructed by simple-substitution ciphers where each letter in an original document was changed to another letter in the alphabet. To decipher the text students need to be able to recognize a pattern and know grammar and vocabulary of a language. See the webpage Cryptograms.org.

Lipograms are texts in which particular letters are avoided. Students are asked to

imagine that they are writers for a famous magazine. They are going to rewrite a chosen text from the textbook but since one of the keys on their keyboards is broken they have to avoid that letter.

The more common letters must be avoided (e.g. a, e, s, p), the more difficult the task is. Students need to have developed vocabulary and grammar knowledge to complete the task. The activity is even more effective if the students are allowed to use their monolingual dictionaries or dictionaries of synonyms. (To motivate the students, as a rather extreme example of a lipogram the entire novel written without the most frequent vowel in English “e” – E. V. Wright's Gadsby (1939) - might be mentioned.

The goal while solving wordsearches is to find all the words hidden inside the grid of letters. Words may be organized in 8 directions, hence the origin of the Slovak term osemsmerovka. See the webpage Word-searches.org.

Source: kidscanhavefun.com

The special type of word puzzles are activities based on arranging letters into words and many of them are produced by toy producers, e.g. Scrabble.

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USEFUL CLASSROOM LANGUAGE

Here we provide the list of very simple and probably the most frequent phrases used in English as a foreign language classrooms to help pre-teachers and beginning teachers communicate in English as a working language from the very beginning of their teaching practice.

The sentences are written in their bare form. We recommend warmly adding any expression of politeness (Could you...?, ... please) to make communication in the classroom more appropriate.

Act the dialogue. Ask and answer in pairs. Be quiet. Close your books. Come to the front. Create groups of three/four/... . Do exercise .... for homework. Fill in the chart. Learn by heart. Listen and say/repeat after me. Listen to the/this dialogue. Look at this. No talking. Open your books. Put a tick in the right column. Read the/this text silently/aloud. Sit next to... Speak English. Spell it. Work individually/on your own. Work in pairs. Work quietly. Write the answers in the worksheet/your notebooks.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Best Teen Poems. Available at: www.bestteenpoems.com

BLIGH, D. A. 2000. What’s the point in discussion? Portland, OR: Intellect Books. Brainbashers. Available at: www.brainbashers.com

BROOKFIELD, S. D., PRESKILL, S. 2005. Discussion as a way of teaching. 2nd edition. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

BYRNE, D. 1991. Teaching Writing Skills. Longman. BUCHANAN, M. Fantastic Plays for Kids. Available at:

http://www.childdrama.com/rhyme.html BUZAN, T., BUZAN, B. The Mind Map Book: How to Use Radiant Thinking to Maximize Your

Brain’s Untapped Potential. Plume. CASE, A. 2009. “Picture Dictionary Games and Activities”. TEFL.net. Available at:

http://edition.tefl.net/ideas/games/picture-dictionary-games-and-activities/ CHRISTENSEN, C. R., GARVIN, D. A., SWEET, A. (eds.). 1991. Education for Judgment: The

Artistry of Discussion Leadership. Boston: Harvard Business School. CIMERMANOVÁ, I. 2011. Using Technologies in Teaching English. Prešov: Prešovská

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GLOSSARY

accuracy: quality of learner´s output which is correct and without mistakes

achievement test: a test which tests the progress students have done during a course

action research: research carried out by teachers, most often in their own classrooms. The research aims are specific to their own needs and teaching environments

active listening: a teaching technique in which students listen and show their comprehension by their (immediate) responses

activity: any classroom doing or action that requires students to be active and use their language competences practically, in this book used synonymously with the term “an exercise”

adapted material: teaching material produced by arranging authentic material so it was suitable for language students of a particular proficiency level

additive bilingualism: learning a second/foreign language without weakening or losing the mother tongue

aim: what the learner is expected to achieve

appropriacy: quality of students output which is suitable for a particular situation, e.g. choosing appropriate vocabulary and style for writing a formal letter

assessment: in this book dividing students into categories according their success in learning a foreign language and appointing them with marks (1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or A, B, C, D, E, Fx)

audio-lingual: related to the audio-lingual method (ALM) which is a teaching approach based on behaviouristic theory of learning. The approach sees learning a foreign language as creating habits through repetition, drills, practice and memorization of sentence patterns in isolation from meaningful contexts

authentic material: samples of unabridged language which was originally intended for native speakers (magazine articles, internet blogs, literary texts, etc.)

behaviourism: a psychological theory of learning that believes that language learning takes place through forming habits: if learners hear and repeat the language frequently enough, they learn it automatically through reinforcement of correct response

bilingual education: education in which students receive information in two languages (e.g. Slovak as a mother language and English as a foreign language)

bilingualism: the ability to communicate in more than one language

chant: a simple repetitious rhyme

checking question: a question used to see if learners understand

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choral repetition: the imitation of a language model by an entire class

chunk: a longer unit of language that is often perceived as a single unit, e.g. as a matter of fact, going home

closed question: a question that limits the number of possible correct answers

cloze test: an objective test in which students restore the words that were systematically omitted

cluster: the sequence of language elements of the same quality, e.g. consonant cluster (first, split)

code: a system of signs used for communication, e.g. language

code-switching: the ability to change codes (languages) while communicating. For example, students can create utterances using elements of two or more languages, e.g. Dnes som raňajkoval bread and butter, and an apple.

cognate: a word in one language that resembles the word in another language and has the same meaning, e.g. police (EN) - polícia (SK); cassette (EN) – kazeta (SK); semen (EN) – semeno (SK); banana (EN) – banán (SK)

cognitive: related to processes of thinking, e.g. remembering, understanding, classifying, etc.

collocation: the co-occurrence of language elements in a language system, e.g. make mistake (not do a mistake)

communicative competence: the ability to recognize and produce a (mother, second or foreign) language appropriately, accurately and fluently in various setting and situations

communicative language teaching (Communicative Approach): teaching a foreign language through communication and for communication

competence: the ability to use a particular language element (e.g. linguistic competence, pragmatic competence); acc. to Chomsky knowledge of language

comprehensible input: language that a learner is exposed to and can understand

content-based teaching (CBT): foreign language education programmes in which lessons are organized around subject matter rather than language points

context: communicative background

cross-curricular: linking two school subjects, e.g. English and math

cue (prompt): what a teacher says to elicit a response from a learner. It may be verbal, visual, mimed, numerical, etc.

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decode: in this book it means getting and comprehending a message from a text written/spoken in a particular language system

deduction: the cognitive (learning) process in which a rule is formulated first and then followed by examples

diagnostic test: a test that identifies student´ strengths and weaknesses

dialogue: a communicative exchange between two speakers

dictation: an activity in which a text is read out aloud and the learners try to write it down as accurately as possible

Direct Method: a method where learners are exposed exclusively to a foreign language, both through a native-speaking teachers and authentic materials

distractor: the option with an incorrect answer in a multiple choice task

drill: a controlled speaking activity based on repetition of a model

eliciting: getting responses and answers from students

encode: in this book it means putting ideas into a particular language system

error: imperfect learner´s output caused by lack of knowledge, overgeneralization of the first language interference

ESP: English for specific purposes, English which focuses on a specific field of knowledge, e. g. English for social workers, English or ICT workers, etc.

evaluation: obtaining information about students´ strengths and weaknesses in a foreign language communicative competence (through testing, examining, observing, etc.).

examination: a method of evaluation

exercise: any classroom action that requires students to be active and use their language competences practically, in this book used synonymously with the term “an activity”

false cognate: a word in one language that resembles the word in another language but has a different meaning, e.g gate (EN), gate (SK)

feedback: giving students information about their progress, an evaluative response

finely-tuned input: input precisely adapted to the level of learners

first language: mother tongue, native language

first language interference: the effect of student´s mother language on his/her foreign language production, frequent cause or errors in student´s output

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fluency: quality of a learner´s output which is spoken without unnecessary pauses, repetitions, false starts, etc.

foreign language: a language different from a mother tongue that is not used as an official language in the environment, country where a student lives, e.g. English for Slovaks who live in Slovakia (in this book a synonym of a target language)

formula: an established sequence of words or sentences students use automatically without understanding each word, e.g. greetings

gist: a general or main idea of a text

global test: test of a student´s general knowledge of a language, e.g. dictation, if used as a test, tests student´s listening skills, his/her knowledge of spelling, syntax, word formation, etc.

grading: organizing vocabulary, language structures and forms from the simplest to the more complex

Grammar Translation Method (GTM): foreign language teaching approach which emphasizes deductive teaching grammar rules and their use in translation exercises

group work: independent work of students organized in groups

immersion: replacing a mother language by a foreign language in its everyday using

information gap: the activity where one person has information that another person seeks

input: language that a learner is exposed to

interaction: two-way communication between people by gestures, signals, listening, speaking, reading, writing, etc.

L1: mother language, native language

L2: (in this book) a foreign/target language

language acquisition: a mental process, unconscious, “natural” learning a language (acc. to Krashen)

language learning: conscious, usually formal and organized learning a language

learning style: a preferred way of learning, e.g. visual, audial, kinaesthetic, etc.

meaningful drill: a drill which cannot be performed correctly without understanding of the meaning of what is said

mechanical drill: a drill in which understanding is not necessary, e.g. pronunciation drills

mind map: a diagram that shows how a topic can be organized

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minimal pair: a pair of words that differ only in one phoneme, e.g. bed/bad

mistake: a slip of tongue in a learner´s output caused by lack of concentration, etc.

mixed-ability group/class: a group containing a mixture of students with different skills, some of them with learning difficulties and disorder

multiple choice task: a task where students are offered several options of answers (a,b,c, d...) from which several are distracters and usually one (or more) is a correct option

native speaker: a person who has learned a language from an early age and who has full mastery of that language

open question: a question with unlimited number of correct answers

output: language produced by a student

overgeneralization error: an error caused by using a rule in a context where it does not belong, e.g. *She haved two books

overlearning: continuing in practicing something after required proficiency has been achieved so as to reinforce the skill or knowledge

pair work: independent work of students organized in pairs

performance: using a foreign language in listening, speaking, reading and writing

personalized activity: practice of a foreign language production when students incorporate their personal feelings, opinions, ideas, beliefs, etc.

portfolio: a collection of learner´s work and products, usually used to evaluate the students´ progresses

progress test: a test given during a course to see how learner´s competences have developed

prompt (cue, hint): what a teacher says to elicit a response from a learner

reader: a book with simplified language for a language learners

roughly-tuned input: input on a slightly higher level than a level of learners

scaffolding: providing a carefully selected and structured support for learning

scanning: a technique of rapid reading when a reader seeks only particular details, e.g. names, numbers, or facts

second language: in this book, a language different from a mother tongue that is used as an official language in the environment, country where a learner lives, e. g. English in India or English for Slovaks who live permanently in Great Britain)

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skimming: a technique of rapid reading when a reader tries to find a gist (main idea) as fast as possible

target language: a language learners are aiming to learn (in this book synonym of a foreign language)

task: a learning goal to be achieved by a particular activity or exercise, e.g. to practice new vocabulary, to solve a problem or produce a product

teaching approach: is a way of teaching committed and related to a particular theory about language or learning (e.g. Oral approach, Communicative approach, Natural approach, etc.)

teaching method: an organized set of teaching techniques and activities, e. g. Audio-lingual method, Suggestopaedia, The Silent Way, etc.

teaching technique: is a specific procedure carried out in the classroom to reach an educational objective

Total Physical Response (TPR): additional language teaching method combining listening to a language and responding with appropriate physical action to spoken instructions

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NOTES

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NOTES

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NOTES

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NOTES

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Scientific Board of ASPA Publishing

Prof. PaedDr. Alena Hašková, PhD.

Dr. József Horváth, PhD.

Prof. PhDr. Jaroslav Kušnír, PhD.

Prof. PhDr. Eva Malá, PhD.

doc. PhDr. Katerina Veselá, PhD.

PhDr. Božena Horváthová, PhD.

Prof. PhDr. Anton Pokrivčák, PhD.

Doc. PaedDr. Silvia Pokrivčáková, PhD.

Doc. Zuzana Straková, PhD.

Doc. PhDr. Anna Zelenková, CSc.

Prof. PhDr. Tibor Žilka, DrSc.

Title: Teaching Techniques for Modern Teachers of English Author: Silvia Pokrivčáková Extent: 197 861 characters [5.50 quires/AH] Edition: 1st edition Published in 2013 by ASPA ISBN 978-80-89477-10-4 EAN 9788089477104

ASPA

ASPA

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Vydavateľstvo ASPA ponúka

Academic Writing: Writing Research Papers in English for Slovak and Czech Students Carol L. Ruppel – Katerina Veselá 2010. 160 strán. ISBN 978-80-89477-03-6 Úspešná vysokoškolská učebnica akademického písania pre slovenských a českých študentov.

Teaching English Through Children´s Literature Ivana Žemberová 2010. 152 strán (A4). ISBN 978-80-89477-02-9 Publikácia určená pre učiteľov anglického jazyka a literatúry ako aj študentov učiteľstva, pokrývajúca oblasť vyučovania angličtiny pomocou detskej literatúry. Obsahuje výsledky jedinečného výskumu realizovaného na slovenských školách a množstvo praktických námetov pre učiteľov.

Texts and Contexts Anton Pokrivčák 2010. 80 strán. ISBN 978-80-969641-8-5 Učebnica určená pre študentov anglického jazyka a literatúry na vysokých školách venovaná problematike staršej americkej literatúry (Poe, Melville, Hawthorne, Whitman, Dickinson a i.).

Stratégie učenia sa odborného jazyka v blended learningu Božena Horváthová 2011. 159 strán. ISBN 978-80-89477-05-0 Vedecká monografia, ktorá prináša výsledky výskumu z oblasti blended learningu v cudzojazyčnom vzdelávaní.

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Modern Teacher of English, 2nd edition Silvia Pokrivčáková 2012. 2. vydanie. 160 strán. ISBN 978-80-89477-08-1 Obľúbená publikácia pre učiteľov angličtiny, ktorí chcú držať krok s najnovšími trendmi v didaktike angličtiny. Je vhodná aj ako vysokoškolská učebnica pre študentov učiteľstva anglického jazyka a literatúry.

Teaching ESP in New Environments: CA-CLIL Katerina Veselá 2012. 113 strán. ISBN 978-80-9-89477-06-7 Vedecká monografia, ktorá integruje nové výskumné poznatky z oblasti vyučovania angličtiny pre špecifické účely (ESP) a metodiky CLIL.

Translatológia aj pre netranslatológov: Rozmýšľame o preklade Zuzana Tabačková – Stanislava Gálová 2012. 152 strán. ISBN 978-80-89477-09-8 Praktická príručka pre začínajúcich prekladateľov a vysokoškolských študentov, ktorých štúdium zahŕňa aj základnú prekladateľskú prípravu.

Objednávajte na www.aspa.sk ([email protected]) alebo www.martinus.sk

Algorithms

Association-based activities

Brainstorming

Classifying activities

Close exercises

Demonstrating visuals and objects

Dialogues

Dictations

Discovery techniques

Discussions

Drama techniques

Drills

Explaining

Extensive reading

Field trips

Games

Group work

Individual study

Information gap activities

Interviews

Jigsaw activities

Lectures and presentations

Mind maps

Minimal pair techniques

Mnemonic aids

Outlining

Performing poetry and prose

Picture dictations

Picture dictionaries

Problem-solving activities

Project work

Questionnaires

Quizes

Role plays

Reading aloud

Skimming and scanning

Situation and simulation

techniques

Songs, short rhymes and

tongue-twisters

Substitution tables

Translating

Word puzzles

teaching techniques for modern teachers of english (2013, sample)

Documents