English Teacher Article Classroom Language:

The teacher coming into a room full of students

"Can someone take this CD player and plug it in? Thanks." [hold it up as if you are offering it to someone, and look towards the socket or hold the plug and mime plugging it into something]

"Can someone hold the door open for me?" [stop with the door supported on your back, then maybe make straining noises like you are trying to squeeze through]

"Hi everyone. Just let me put my things down here and we'll get started."

"Morning. Not many people here yet? / Where is everyone?" [gesture looking at empty seats and then as if searching for those people in the corners of the room]

"Is this the right room? Mrs Andersen's class?/ Top set English?/ English club?"

"Hello again. Mr Smithers is still sick"/ "Yes, (it's) me again!"

The students coming in

"Okay everyone, file in quietly and take a seat please" [use two arms to show the slowness and straight lines of the route into the room]

"Upper Intermediate 1? Yes, this is the right class. Come (on) in."

"Hi. Come in. Take a seat/ Sit anywhere you like/ Can you sit somewhere different from last week?/ "Can you sit near the front?"

"Please put your homework into the tray as you come in"/ "Homework in the tray, everyone"

"Please put your bags on your pegs/ in your desks/ on the back of your chairs/ on the stage/ in a pile by the door/ in your lockers" [mime putting or hanging the bag, then point at position]

"We're going to do pairwork, so you need to sit closer to each other" [gesture two hands pressing something together]

"Sit in your usual teams/ the same teams as last lesson"

"Boys on the right and girls on the left" [point at some boys, and then where they should be, etc]

"Sit on the floor/ on the mats/ on the rug/ in the story corner"

"Take a flashcard as you come in, they are for the first game"

"Line up in order of age/ height/ the date of your birthday/ in alphabetical order"

"Can the last person in close the door?"

"As you come in, ask the next person their name and say 'Come in please' and 'Thank you'" [gesture hand coming from your mouth towards the other person, and then back from them to you]

"Knock on the door and say 'Can I come in?'" [mime knocking with knuckles]

"Entrance drill! Today's question is 'What colour is your bag?'"

"Line up against the wall and then you can come in" [show the line where you want them to stand, and then mime squeezing up into that space]

Greetings

"Okay everyone, stand up please. Jimmy, that means you too. Right. Good morning everyone/ Good morning class/ Good morning boys and girls/ Good morning children... Okay, just 'good morning' is right too, but I want you to say 'Good morning class. Good morning teacher.' like we practiced last week. Can you do that? Okay, one, two, three. Much better, but remember that the 'or' in 'morning' is a long sound, oooooooooor" [gesture something very long coming out of your mouth with your right hand] "Oooooor... Good. Moooooorning.... Okay, (that was) maybe a little too long, ha ha! Morning... Great. So, let's do the whole thing one more time from the start. Good morning class... Much much better. Okay, sit down please"

"(Good) morning/ afternoon/ evening"/ "Hello/ Hi"

"Merry Christmas"

"Happy New Year"

Introductions

"My name is Mr/Mrs/Ms Kim. I'm your new English teacher/ I'm your English teacher this year/ this term/ today. (Can you ask me some questions, e.g. where I'm from and my free time?)"

"I'll just introduce myself first"

"I've got five lessons with you each week."

"I'm covering for your usual teacher (today/ this week). He/ she has a cold"

"I'm new to this school, so please be nice to me, ha ha!"

"Your last teacher told me you are the best class, so I hope that is true!"

"Can you all introduce yourselves to me?"

"Can you tell me and the rest of the class two or three things about the person sitting next to you?"

"Let's introduce ourselves, shall we?"

"This is my name at the top of the board, it's pronounced..."

Taking the register (= roll call)

"Who is absent today? / Who isn't here today?" [looking around class at/ for empty chairs whilst holding class list in hand or miming doing so]

"Oh, John's away. Does anyone know why? Is he ill?"/ "What's the matter with Stefano today? / What's wrong with Jim today?"/ "Where's Tony? He didn't look very well yesterday, so maybe he's sick./ In this weather, maybe he's gone to the beach." / "Does anyone know where Hyo Young is?/ Any idea why Hyo Young is absent?"

"So everyone is here except..."

"So, only two people away."

"Let's take the register."/ "Let's check to see who is here."

"Remember to answer 'I'm here'"

"Is everybody here?"/ "Is anyone away?"/ "No one absent today?"

"So, Su Young isn't back yet. Does anyone know when she'll be back/ what has happened to her/ if she's dropped out of the class?"

"There are a few empty chairs. Who is missing?"

"Not many people here today. Is there a bug going round?"

"Oh yes, Juanes said he was going to miss this lesson, didn't he? Can any remember where he said he was going?"

"Let's see if everyone is here"

"Listen while I call your names"

"Shout out 'present'/ 'here' if you are here"

"No? Is he/ she absent today?"

"Let's all count to see if everyone is here - girls first, then boys." [mime counting on fingers]

"Who's the class monitor this week? Rocky? Rocky, can you count how many people are here please?"

Initial chitchat

"How are we all today?"/ "How are you (today)?" / "How are things?" / "How's life?"

"Did you have any trouble getting here? I heard there were problems on the Central Line"

"You all look freezing. Is it still snowing outside?/ How's the weather outside now?"

"(Did you have a) busy day at work?"

"I see we have a few new faces. Can you briefly introduce yourselves to the class?"

"Long time no see, Julietta. How was your holiday?/ Does anyone have any questions for Julietta about her holiday?"

"(Did you have a) good weekend? Did anyone do anything different/ interesting/ exciting?/ John, you said you were going to.... How was it?"

"Did you enjoy your holiday?"

"Did anyone notice my haircut/ tan/ sunburn/ broken arm/ new suit? Any questions (about my evening/ weekend)?" [point at noticeable thing]

"Vlad, you wanted to ask me a question. Can you ask it now?/ Can you ask that question to everyone in the class?"

"You (all) look tired/ hot/ cold"

"Is it hot/ cold/ humid/ snowing/ raining outside (at the moment)?" [mime rain or snow falling from sky, fanning yourself, or shivering]

"Are you (all) feeling better today?"

"(Have you )had a haircut?" [mime scissors with index and middle finger cutting hair]

"(We are all) dressed up smart today, aren't we? (Is there) any special reason?"

"I was sorry to hear about..."

"Did you hear about...?"

"Are you looking forward to...?"

"I can hear quite a lot of sniffing/ sniffling. Is there a cold going round/ does everyone have a cold?"

Waiting to start

"I'm waiting for you to be quiet/ to settle down/ We won't start until everyone is quiet." [cross arms and look impatient, maybe tapping foot]

"Please stop talking and be quiet" / "(Can everyone please) settle down so we can start." [arms out with palms down, moving slowly up and down]

"(Everyone be) quiet please!" [index finger in front of lips, or zip across lips with thumb and index finger]

"Okay, I'm glad you're excited, but let's calm down a little, shall we?"

"Yes, okay, we'll play the Stations game, but you have to sit down quiet and then doing the normal greetings first."

"I'm still hearing some noise at the back"/ "What's going on back there?" [stretch your neck and/ or stand on toes and look in that direction]

"We have the same thing every week. What am I waiting for?... For you to be quiet, that's right."

"They'll be plenty of time for speaking/ games once the class has started."

"... or would you prefer to start by checking your homework instead?"

Getting started/ getting down to business

"So, let's get started, shall we?" [maybe clapping hands together once]

"I could talk about that all day, but I think we should study some English, shouldn't we?"

"Are you ready (to start/ to learn English)?"

"English time! (No more Korean!)" [point at poster or those words written on the board if you have them]

"Is everybody ready to start?"

"I hope you are all ready for your English lesson."

"I think we can start now."

"Let's begin!"/ "Let's start!"/ "Let's rock and roll!"

"Now that everybody is here..."

"I was going to start the class by..., but it's too hot/ you all look too tired/ there aren't enough people/ the equipment isn't working. So, let's move straight onto..."

"I don't think we need a warm up game today, do we?"

"Can anyone remember what we did last week/ in the last lesson/ this morning?

"I told you to prepare something for the beginning of this lesson, didn't I? It looks like some people have completely forgotten about it. Oh well, your loss. The people who did do it will find the next part really easy"

"Whose turn is it to choose the starting game/ song/ the language point for the ball game?"

Unusual starting tactics

"Catch!" [really throwing something or miming it]

"Is no one going to ask me what I'm doing?"

"The first person to the front of the room gets a sweet/ doesn't have to do any homework tonight"

"What's this?"

"One point to Sebastian for being quiet"

"Who wants a sweet?"

Stating your aims

"Now I'd like you to continue asking and answering questions about your weekend/ your hobbies, but using the structure on the board/ but as a game"

"I'd like to start the lesson by revising what we did last lesson/ seeing how much you remember from last week"

"I'd like to start the lesson with a pop quiz/ a warmer/ some revision/ some pairwork speaking"

"The aims of today's lesson are.../ are at the top of the board"

"Today, we are going to..."

"As I explained last week, today is the day for the final test/ presentations/ course feedback questionnaires"

"Today, we're going to do something a bit different/ unusual/ strange. This is to.../ Why we are doing it will become clear later on." /"This may seem a little unusual, but it's all part of the plan!"

"Today/ In this lesson/ This week we'll learn how to ... / we will study.../ we will practice ... (from last week)"

"The aim of this class is (to) ..."

"I know we don't usually start by checking the homework/ by doing a song, but we are going to move onto..."

Lateness

"Where have you been?" [gesture tapping watch or look at clock]

"We started ten minutes ago. What have you been doing?"

"What time does the class start?... And what time is it now?"

"Sorry, we are in the middle of a listening exercise. Can you wait outside for two minutes until we finish?"

"Did you miss your bus?"/ "Are there still problems with the underground?"/ "Did you get stuck in traffic?"/ "Did you have problems getting a taxi (in the rain)?"

"Did you oversleep?"/ "(Is your) alarm clock broken (again)?"

"Don't let it happen again."

"It's okay, but come in quickly/ quietly so we can get on with class"

"Don't worry, but try to be on time next time"

"You missed the progress test, so you'll need to do that another time"

"You can do the part you missed for homework"

"Can someone explain what we are doing to Jose Maria?"

"Where were we?"/ "Right, let's get back to/ get on with..."

Tests

"Today is the test, remember. So, I want you to come in without speaking and take out just one pencil and one eraser. No books and no pieces of paper. Got it? How many books are you allowed?... No, Sabrina, not a hundred. Yes, okay, a thousand, very funny. Seriously. How many books?... Yup, zero, none, nowt. When you've got your pencil and eraser out of your bag, put your bags at the back of the classroom. Ready? Quietly, come in one at a time."

"Any questions before the test starts?"

"Today's the test, but we'll do something else for 10 or 15 minutes to give other people a chance to get here"

Things to think about/ Discussion questions for teachers

• What stages above wouldn't you bother doing in your classes, e.g. initial chitchat in a large class, low level class or very young class?
• What order do you usually do the stages that you do? Could you do them in a different order?
• Which of the phrases in each of the stages you do use above is the right language level for your students? Is each one also suitable for their age, polite enough etc? If not, how could you change it?
• Pick at least 5 sentences above that are totally unsuitable for your classes. Why are they unsuitable? What kinds of classes and situations might they be suitable for? What could you say instead in your classes?
• How could you make each of those phrases easier to understand, e.g. what gestures could you use and what language could you add to your syllabus?
• Once your students get used to that phrase, how can you make it more complicated in order to boost their level but still making sure they understand?
• Is there any way of getting students to use the same phrases with each other?
• Do you do any of the stages above in L1 rather than English? What do you think students' reactions to you switching to English would be? How could you make that transition easier?
• Many of the sentences above have natural conversational grammar rather than traditional written grammar, e.g. "Alarm clock broken?", which a native speaker is probably more likely to say rather than "Is your alarm clock broken?" What do you think about using these kinds of sentences?
• There are also some examples of more difficult and idiomatic words and phrases like "nowt" and "How are things?" that students would probably still understand from the context. How do you feel about using these in your classes?
• If you use natural sentences at natural speed students will hopefully learn to guess the meaning from context, to accept not understanding every word, and to remember language in longer stretches rather than word by word. They might, however, never understand what the individual words are and might never be able to tie it in with the language on the syllabus. Which of these are more important for your students, do you think?
• Some people like to start English class in exactly the same way as the other classes so that students take it seriously, and other teachers like to start it in a more relaxed and friendly way to set the atmosphere that they need for an interactive, communicative classroom. Which thing is more important to you? Is there any way of combining the two things?

Where did the Moon Come from?

exercises

transcript

Royal Wedding

Royal Wedding

Королева Єлизавета та принц Філіп одружилися 68 років тому. Вітаємо із річницею!

Єлизавета ІІ стала першим британським монархом, який прожив у шлюбі так довго.

Річницю весілля королева та її чоловік святкуватимуть у вузькому колі рідних.

Принцеса Єлизавета познайомилася з принцом Грецьким і Датським Філіпом в 1939-му році. Тоді майбутній королеві було лише 13 років.

Принц Філіп на той час був морським кадетом і йому було доручено супроводжувати дочок короля Георга VI під час відвідування Дартмутського морського коледжу.

Разом зі своєю майбутньою нареченою Філіп тоді зіграв в крокет. Пізніше - в роки війни - вони стали писати одне одному листи.

Пара побралася 20-го листопада 1947-го року у Вестмінстерському абатстві.

Аби придбати тканину на пошиття весільної сукні для Єлизавети ІІ довелося скористатися розподільними картками. Адже у ті важкі повоєнні часи був період жорсткої економії.

В день свого весілля парі подарували близько 2,5 тисячі подарунків.

Тут можна подивитися хайлайти з королівського весілля:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/events/elizabeth_iis_wedding

У Кембриджі замість російської мови безкоштовно вивчатимуть українську

Як повідомляє UAPOST.US, у Кембриджському університеті (Великобританія) в програмі додаткових безкоштовних курсів російську мову замінили на українську.

За інформацією кафедри славістики університету, крім основної програми, що передбачає вивчення української та російської мов (на платній основі, бакалаврат), додаткові безкоштовні курси пропонують розширене вивчення української (замість російської, як було раніше), а також польської мов.

Викладання української на різних рівнях складності почалося зі стартом осіннього триместру (Michaelmas Term). Програма україністики пропонує студентам Кембриджа безкоштовно оволодіти українською мовою на трьох рівнях - початковому, середньому і вищому.

Після проходження всіх рівнів, слухачі курсів повинні розуміти українську лексику та граматику, точно використовувати слова, читати оригінальну літературу, а також знати культуру України. В кінці року слухачам потрібно скласти тест на вміння розпізнавати на слух українську мову, а також здати письмову роботу, яка перевіряє знання граматики та навички пояснення українською.

Що ж, вважаю, що це прекрасний вибір! До речі, раніше Кембридж відкрив магістерську програму для студентів з України. Навчання перших студентів з України почалося в жовтні 2011 року.

Stories for Kids

Games For Teaching English Writing

Games For Teaching English Writing - for Children

Categories - Create 4 or 5 categories (fruit, insects, verbs, school subjects..). Say a letter and the students write a word in each category that begins with this letter. The first team to finish - with all words spelt correctly, wins.

What if? is a game for intermediate and above, young learners. It's good for practicing conditionals. Ask the class a conditional question. For example: "What would you do if you saw an elephant outside your school?" You could elicit possible answers: "I would tell my friends," etc.

Then divide the class into 2 groups. Group one writes questions on pieces of paper. Group two writes answers on pieces of paper. "I would..." Then all the questions are put into one box or bag and mixed up. All the answers are put into another box or bag and mixed.

Then students take out a question and answer and read them aloud. Usually there are some amusing answers to questions.

Writing contests are simple to do in class, and children often love them. Divide the class into teams. How many depends on the size of the board. The students line up at the board. The first member of each team has a marker/piece of chalk.

Ask a question, and the students must race to answer it in writing. When they become better, you could give the students an answer, and they write the question. Points are given for the first team to write the correct answer.

Remember that many of the games for teaching English, mentioned here, also work as games for teaching English spelling.

Games for Teaching English Writing - Children &/or Adults

Writing True/False Statements The first time this activity is carried out it is the teacher who needs to write. The second time the students can do the writing themselves. Write statements on the board - some true, some not. Some can be ridiculous, especially if you are teaching children. Some can be obvious, although with more advanced groups it's a good idea to include statements that require some thinking about, to increase interest in the activity.

Some example sentences could be: "Polar bears live at the South Pole," "Hamlet was written by Dickens," "Dogs always cook cats." Anything you want that suits the age and level of the class. Students must comment orally first, then in writing, about the sentences. For example: "Dogs never cook cats. They chase them," etc. Once the students understand, they can write their own statements, and respond in writing to those of other students.

Dictation can become a game-like activity when practiced in a variety of ways, and when interesting material is used. There are many types of dictation, and it's important to vary the way it's done. Here are two that students often enjoy.

Running dictations are when pieces of text are stuck to the classroom walls, and teams (divided into runners and readers, and writers, who must remain by the board to write what the others on their team tell them. It's a good to give different students the role of writer a few times. The teams must copy the writing on the wall accurately.

CD dictation can also be fun. Draw the controls of a CD player on the board. Stop, Play and Go Back are enough. Explain to the students that they can control what you say by giving the above commands to you. Then read a short piece of text you have written or carefully chosen for the level of the students.

Read at a natural speed. The students must tell you to stop and go back etc, so they have time to write what you say. They can ask you how to spell the word, but nothing else. When the students are used to the activity they can complete the final sentence for themselves.

Consequences is an old game, and is best for intermediate students. All students have a piece of paper. They all must write a name. The first name must be male for all, or female for all students. A famous person is best. Students then fold back the paper, hiding the name, and pass their paper to the next student (who should not look).

Then the students write 'met' followed by a female name (if the first name was male), then they fold the paper again, and pass it on to the next student. Next they must write a location, what they said, and last, 'The consequence was...'.

Then the papers are unfolded and read aloud. You may have, "Barack Obama met Hello Kitty in the pub. He said 'I love hamburgers.' She said 'What day is it?' The consequence was that they drove to Alaska." A little crazy, but this is generally part of the fun.

Teens and listening skills

Listening can be tricky for our learners, especially if there aren’t any visual clues to help with the meaning or if there are several speakers, background noises or different accents to contend with. However, there are activities we can do and strategies we can develop in order to enable our learners to become better listeners.

The Listening skills practice section on LearnEnglish Teens helps teenagers to improve their listening skills for their school studies and English exams. There are activities for a range of levels from A1 to B2. Find out more about CEF levels here: learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/cef-levels

Here are some classroom tips and ideas to help your teenage learners to improve their listening skills.

Before listening

We can help our learners with listening activities by activating their schemata or background knowledge, arousing their interest in the topic or preparing them linguistically before they listen.

1. Mini whiteboard word roses
We can prepare learners linguistically with an activity like this one. Write the topic on the board in a circle. Each group has a mini whiteboard and makes a word rose by writing down words around the circle that are connected to the topic. They can try and group the words according to meaning. Then they pass their word rose to another group who adds words to it or writes synonyms next to words. It’s useful for learners to focus on synonyms as speakers will often use synonyms so as not to repeat the same word. If you don’t have mini whiteboards a big piece of paper will work just as well.

2. Pre-teach key words
If there are some unknown key words in the listening text it can be useful to pre-teach them. There are different ways of doing this. You could give a few words to each group of students and they use a dictionary to write definitions and find out the pronunciation before teaching the words to their peers. Or you could put the definitions around the classroom and students have to go and find the definitions for their group’s words.

Another way is to put the key words on the board (I also include key words that may be familiar but have tricky pronunciation to prepare students to listen out for them). Write the key words with the part of speech, word stress and any tricky sounds. Then give definitions of the words in random order. Students listen to the definitions and say the word.

You could also prepare students for familiar words with tricky pronunciation with a game of taboo. Write the words on cards and they have to define the word using synonyms or definitions but without using the word itself.

3. Talk, talk, talk
Before listening, students could carry out a speaking activity (roleplay, questionnaire or discussion) based on the topic of the listening text. If there are opinions given in the text, the speaking activity will give them an opportunity to come up with some of the language in the text before they listen. If you tell them the topic, students could even write their own questions for a questionnaire. Pictures related to the topic can also be used to generate discussion.

4. Word clouds
Word clouds are a fun, visual way to design a prediction activity. There are several word cloud generators available online such as worditout.com or tagxedo.com. One possibility is to put the complete audio text into a word cloud generator, although it can be more effective to take out all the non-content words such as articles, prepositions and pronouns. The more frequently the word appears in the text, the bigger it appears in the word cloud, so students can see immediately which words are important in the text and can start to make predictions. Then, they can look at the smaller words and make predictions about their relevance in the text or write questions about them they’d like answering. Another option is to select a few key words and put them into the generator. Students predict the significance of the words in the text or discuss what they already know about them.

5. Task tips from the teacher
As listening activities can be tricky for students, there are a few tips and pointers we can give our students to help them concentrate all their energy on listening and understanding, for example:

• Tell students how many speakers there are and how many times they’ll hear the audio.
• If you’re creating your own listening tasks, make sure the tasks follow the same order that the information is delivered in the audio. Also, make the completion of the task as simple as possible so that the students concentrate on what they’re listening to rather than getting bogged down in the task itself. Tasks such as circling or ticking the correct answer, matching information, putting pictures or statements into order or completing simple tables is easier than making lots of notes or writing long sentences while listening.
• Give students time to read the task before they listen so they know what information to listen for and can start making predictions about the language.
• If there are dates, times or big numbers in the task, encourage students to say them to themselves before they listen to mentally prepare themselves for this type of information.
• Most importantly, encourage your students to stay calm and to continue listening. There may be parts of the text they don’t understand, but they shouldn’t stop and worry about the parts they don’t understand. They should carry on listening and continue with the next part of the task.

While listening

Listening effectively in another language involves using both top-down and bottom-up listening strategies appropriately. We often use top-down listening strategies the first time we listen to get a general idea of the text. Activating schemata and making predictions about the text prior to listening (see ideas in ‘Before listening’ section) will help learners develop their top-down listening strategies as they listen to confirm their predictions and expectations about the text. Bottom-up listening strategies involve a closer understanding of the text, so activities that encourage our listeners to understand specific details or focus on specific sounds or language will help them develop these strategies.

1. Songs
Songs are a very motivating way of encouraging students to listen. Make a playlist at the start of term of your students’ favourite songs that you can then use in class over the school year. There are hundreds of activities you can design to use with songs, for example give students a word cloud of the lyrics and get them to predict the content of the song. Then, they listen and circle the words they hear in the word cloud and afterwards you could ask them to join words together that appear in the word cloud to make complete lines from the lyrics. Or how about getting your students to design their own listening tasks for their chosen song?

2. Clips
Short clips from films or TV series are very motivating for teens and can form the basis for a number of viewing activities for both bottom-up and top-down listening activities. You can use subtitles to help reinforce the sound–spelling relationship or design activities where first the students listen with the screen covered or watch without sound and predict the content. The visual aspect also allows you to focus on body language or paralinguistic features that convey meaning.

3. Dictation 
As well as audio or video recordings, the teacher is a valuable listening source in the classroom. Different types of dictation activity can be used to help learners develop their bottom-up listening skills. It helps them to break down chunks of language into individual words and reinforces the sound–spelling relationship.

4. The teacher is an MP3 player
This is a very simple dictation activity that enables the speed of a dictation to go at the students’ pace. Choose a short text to dictate (perhaps the introduction to a reading text or even a set of listening comprehension questions) and the students give you instructions; ‘play’, ‘stop’ and ‘go back’. When they say ‘play’ you begin dictating and they write down what you say. Carry on speaking until they say ‘stop’ and ‘go back’. Then you repeat the last part and continue until they say ‘stop’ again.

5. Telephone
A fun way of encouraging students to listen for specific detail and to listen to each other is through a game of Telephone. Prepare some sentences; these could be a series of requests or even a set of discussion questions. Students are divided into groups of about five or six and stand in a long line, one behind the other – there should be the same number of students in each team, so if one team is uneven, rotate a student to stand out of each round. The teacher shows the students at the back of the line a sentence which is written down. They whisper it to the next student, who whispers it to the next and so on until it reaches the student at the front. If the sentence is a request, the student at the front could carry out the request and the first one to do so correctly wins a point. Or the first student to write the sentence correctly on the board wins a point for their team. Then the student at the front moves to the back and you repeat the process until all students have had a turn being at the front of the line.

6. Growing story chains
Everyone has a story to tell about something. Getting students to share their own stories is a great way of personalising a topic, encouraging them to listen to each other and developing their speaking skills. In this activity students work in groups of four or five. Before they begin telling their stories, elicit examples of adjectives, adverbs and time references and write them on the board. These will help students add extra details when retelling the stories. All students jot down a very basic true story with minimal detail which should be no longer than three sentences. Then, one student tells their basic story to the group. The next student retells this story, but adds some extra detail. The third student retells the story including the extra detail, but adds even more detail, and so on until the last student tells the final version of the story with the most detail. They have to listen to each other to make sure none of the details are missed out. At the end they can compare the final version with the first version and see how much the story has changed. Then the whole process is repeated with the next student’s basic story.

7. Break it up – How many words?
The nature of speech means that we often use contractions and weak forms when speaking and sometimes it can be difficult for learners to decipher the exact words in these chunks of language. However, sometimes it is important to employ our bottom-up listening skills to identify these details and to be able to break down the continuous flow of speech into individual words. Select some sentences that include contractions or weak forms. Say the sentences at natural speed one by one or play the recording. Students listen and decide how many words are in each sentence and hold up the corresponding number of fingers. This also gives you an idea as to which students are able to hear the exact number of words and which aren’t. Follow up by eliciting the words onto the board. If they can’t hear some words, leave a gap on the board, replay or say the sentence again until you elicit the missing word.

8. Correct the teacher
If there’s one thing teenagers love doing, it’s correcting the teacher. Once students are familiar with the content of a story they have read or listened to, retell the story with mistakes. They shout ‘stop’ when they hear a mistake and have to correct you.

9. Active listening – Information gap
Learners can also develop their bottom-up listening skills by listening to each other. We can encourage active listening between our learners by carrying out information gap activities such as picture differences where they look at different pictures without showing each other, and communicate the information they have to each other and find the differences. Learners will need to use active listening strategies such as asking for repetition, clarification or indicating when they don’t understand.

After listening

After listening we can focus on specific language or pronunciation or integrate the skills with follow-up activities.

1. Shadow reading
This is a fun activity that helps learners develop their intonation. Choose a short dialogue or a short section from a longer dialogue they have listened to. Once learners understand the content of the dialogue, they can focus on the intonation patterns. If there are two speakers, divide the class into As and Bs. Play the recording - As speak along with speaker 1 and Bs speak along with speaker 2. By speaking at the same time as the speakers on the recording, learners mimic the same intonation patterns, stress and rhythm exactly. Then repeat the process twice more, but turn the volume down each time. Finally learners say the dialogue without the recording and you should find that they copy the intonation.

2. Content and non-content words
A useful activity to highlight learners’ awareness of which words are the important words to listen out for is to give them a copy of the audio transcript. Select a section and learners divide the words into two groups: content and non-content words. To help them do this, elicit the kinds of words that tend to be content words (nouns, adjectives, main verbs, etc.) and those that tend to be non-content or grammatical words, the words that glue the conversation together (articles, prepositions, pronouns, auxiliary verbs, etc.). They could also look at the transcript and identify the words that enabled them to answer the listening tasks. This will also highlight the fact that sometimes a more ‘grammatical’ word could be a content word, for example a negative construction that informs us that someone doesn’t do something or doesn’t like something. Follow up by playing the dialogue again and listening for the stressed words, which should largely coincide with the content words.

3. Spoken language features
Give learners a copy of the audio transcript and get them to identify and highlight features of spoken language such as hesitations, e.g. err..., um ...; exclamations, e.g. ‘Really?’, ‘No way!’; and examples of ellipsis or words that are missed out of natural speech, e.g. ‘You going now?’ instead of ‘Are you going now?’

4. Roleplay
Choose two or three of the characters from the listening text and students continue the dialogue, imagining what they would say to each other. This is a good way of developing creativity and imagination as the dialogue goes beyond what is in the text.

Extensive listening outside classroom

As well as developing listening strategies in class, we can encourage our learners to develop their extensive listening outside the classroom by listening to songs, watching their favourite TV series or films with the subtitles in English or listening to podcasts.
 

By Samantha Lewis

Keeping students' attention and stopping them from getting distracted is a big challenge.

Keeping students' attention and stopping them from getting distracted is a big challenge.

Here are some reasons why students’ attention may wander and ways to keep your classes on track.

• Keep in control. Anticipation is the best form of teacher defence so keep scanning the room, making eye contact with all students. You will catch those who are starting to fidget, look out of window or chat to their mates. Then you can react accordingly before the noise level has distracted everyone and created a situation.

• Keep in tune with the class. Don’t just glide along with the best. If one student answers your questions this is not proof that all the others are following what is being discussed. Aim for responses from as wide a sample as possible. Don’t just accept answers from the 3 or 4 class leaders or you will leave the rest behind.

• Keep checking understanding. Try not to use questions like “Do you understand ?” or “Has everyone got that ?” Students are notoriously wary of admitting they haven’t understood, especially if their peers are feigning comprehension! Use further questions to see if they have understood the concepts.

• Keep demonstrating. Attention wanders when they don’t know what to do and are too afraid to admit it. Keep your instructions to a minimum and demonstrate what to do rather than giving lengthy or detailed explanations. If nearly half of them are clearly unsure and starting to flounder or chat in their mother tongue, take action. Call on the pairs who are doing the task successfully to demonstrate their work as an example for others then try again.

Changing the paceHere are some tried and tested techniques for changing the pace of the lesson to keep students awake.

• Chant. Select a weekly chant which rouses students. Students stand or sit, clap along or snap their fingers and repeat the rap you have devised. This can be a quotation for higher levels or a sentence construction covered by lower levels. Make it short, snappy and fun.

• Drill. Use some quick fire questioning around the class and involve as many as possible. Then get the students to do the questions as well as supplying answers. Use visuals as prompts for this questioning.

• Play a game. Do a 10 minute revision game involving everyone pooling ideas, words or questions. Even a spelling game for beginners does the trick. Word association or memory games work well!

• Give a dictation. They do have to concentrate here ! It might be just a short piece of text or a list of words .It could be some lines from a song in the charts.
• By Clare Lavery

Merry Christmas !!!!!

Having Fun with Dialogues

Many learns need controlled speaking practice. They can gain confidence in speaking through using scripted dialogues.

Sometimes these tasks can be repetitive in a main textbook or written with adults in mind. Here are ways to encourage them to make their own dialogues and to experiment with the language they know.

Using familiar dialogues/dialogues based on language recently studied.

If you use course book dialogues or similar conversations as a starting point this can give students:

• confidence - they do not have to strain to understand new items or words
• reinforcement - a chance to review and re use the functional language presented by their teacher.

It gives you:

• a useful source of material in an emergency. Lift a dialogue and then do something fun with it.
• a useful filler activity if you run out of ideas or suitable material.

Things to do with dialogues:

1. Chop them up

Jumble sentences and students have to reorder them within a time limit. Then use the dialogue for pronunciation practice or as a model to invent another.

• Mix up 2 short conversations and ask students to unscramble them. Students then choose one to perform.

• Put pieces of a dialogue on 5-8 slips of paper. Each student in the group reads their slip of paper without showing it to anyone. Ask students to decide if they might have a reply to a question, for example.

• Either place students in groups to pool their knowledge and write the dialogue. It doesn't have to be word perfect, just the meaning needs to come across.

• Or ask students to practice saying their "piece" with the tone they think appropriate (can cause laughter!).Then ask students to circulate and to say their bits. If they meet a person who seems to have a part of their sequence they can form a couple. Set a time limit and walk around listening. Decide when to stop the game and then put students in pairs, small groups or just do the task as a whole class: reconstruct what you think the dialogue is about. This can lead to different interpretations and lots of creative thinking to fill in gaps. Remind them that there is no right answer!

Play the above task with 2 line dialogues for even beginners after a few weeks of English. They enjoy finding their partner and then perform their piece which may be as simple as 'How are you Mr. Jones?' 'Oh, not too bad, and you?'

2. Damage them

• Create artificial raindrops/coffee spills or smudges in dialogues. It works best if you use a bigger print size than usual (18-20). Always have a top copy and a damaged one for yourself. 
• Half blanked out words (like a slight tear down the side of the dialogue) encourages learners to guess from the context what is missing.
• Miss out key items in the dialogue which students need extra practice on, such as prepositions, auxiliaries etc. Ask students to insert the missing bits. Increase the level of difficulty by removing the spaces so they have to identify what and where items are missing.

3. Dictate them

Do not focus on dictating word for word but rather give students selective dictations which help to involve them in the content. It is a good technique to use if you are without a tape and tape recorder too.

• Students take notes of key words or key verbs the split classes into 2 with one half making notes on a specific aspect of the conversation and the other half noting down expressions or key words. Put students in pairs or small groups to reconstruct the dialogue and act it out.

• Read one side of the conversation and give them time to make notes of possible replies or words by the other person in the conversation. Emphasise that it is up to their imagination and there is no one correct answer. Then put students in pairs to work out a dialogue using their pooled notes.

4. Add nonsense

• Take out key words. Mix them up and put them back in the wrong places. Students will have fun making sense of it all. Challenge pairs or groups with a time limit.

• Misspell 5 items. Can students spot the mistakes? Give a time limit and focus on key items you want to revise.

5. Ask them to create their own conversations

• Based on a short story they read with you. Ask them to imagine a key conversation between characters in a specific part of the story. This gives them a framework.

• Based on a song: The singer is singing to a specific person. Imagine the conversation they have following the song.

• From an advert on video. Show a sound off video of an advert and ask students to brainstorm a dialogue and write the script in small groups. How does their script compare to the original?

• From a photo story (see teen magazines - also in your host country). Blank out the speech in the bubbles and ask them to be story writers for the lesson. The group with the best story win! They can pass around their versions and read each others.

British Council Clare Lavery

Information Communication Technology in Education

         Globalization and technological change—processes that have accelerated in tandem over the past fifteen years—have created a new global economy “powered by technology, fueled by information and driven by knowledge.” ^[1] The emergence of this new global economy has serious implications for the nature and purpose of educational institutions. As the half-life of information continues to shrink and access to information continues to grow exponentially, schools cannot remain mere venues for the transmission of a prescribed set of information from teacher to student over a fixed period of time. Rather, schools must promote “learning to learn,” : i.e., the acquisition of knowledge and skills that make possible continuous learning over the lifetime. ^[2] “The illiterate of the 21st century,” according to futurist Alvin Toffler,“will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.”

Concerns over educational relevance and quality coexist with the imperative of expanding educational opportunities to those made most vulnerable by globalization—developing countries in general; low-income groups, girls and women, and low-skilled workers in particular. Global changes also put pressure on all groups to constantly acquire and apply new skills. The International Labour Organization defines the requirements for education and training in the new global economy simply as “Basic Education for All”,“CoreWork Skills for All”and “Lifelong Learning for All”. ^[3]

Information and communication technologies (ICTs)—which include radio and television, as well as newer digital technologies such as computers and the Internet—have been touted as potentially powerful enabling tools for educational change and reform. When used appropriately, different ICTs are said to help expand access to education, strengthen the relevance of education to the increasingly digital workplace, and raise educational quality by, among others, helping make teaching and learning into an engaging, active process connected to real life.

However, the experience of introducing different ICTs in the classroom and other educational settings all over the world over the past several decades suggests that the full realization of the potential educational benefits of ICTs is not automatic. The effective integration of ICTs into the educational system is a complex, multifaceted process that involves not just technology—indeed, given enough initial capital, getting the technology is the easiest part!—but also curriculum and pedagogy, institutional readiness, teacher competencies, and long-term financing, among others.

This primer is intended to help policymakers in developing countries define a framework for the appropriate and effective use of ICTs in their educational systems by first providing a brief overview of the potential benefits of ICT use in education and the ways by which different ICTs have been used in education thus far. Second, it addresses the four broad issues in the use of ICTs in education—effectiveness, cost, equity, and sustainability. The primer concludes with a discussion of five key challenges that policymakers in developing countries must reckon with when making decisions about the integration of ICTs in education, namely, educational policy and planning, infrastructure, capacity building, language and content, and financing.

MM Publications допоможе МОН провести ДПА з англійської

MM Publications допоможе МОН провести ДПА з англійської

Додати заголовок

Міжнародне видавництво MM Publications допоможе Міністерству освіти і науки забезпечити проведення державної підсумкової атестації випускників з англійської мови в 2016 році. Про це йдеться у повідомленні прес-служби МОН.

У Міністерстві освіти і науки зазначають, що допомога у проведенні випускного іспиту буде надана у рамках реалізації спільного проекту з розробки ДПА для учнів 11-х класів на 2016 навчальний рік між МОН та MM Publications.

У МОН зазначають, що видавництво MM Publications має значний досвід створення системи оцінювання рівня володіння англійською мовою в багатьох країнах світу, що дозволить провести неупереджене тестування старшокласників українських шкіл за європейськими стандартами.

Згідно з домовленостями, MM Publications забезпечить Міністерство освіти вимогами та специфікаціями, необхідними для розробки змісту екзаменаційних завдань для державної підсумкової атестації з англійської мови, проведе пробне тестування та надасть методичну підтримку навчальним закладам.

Подальша співпраця між МОН та MM Publications включатиме реалізацію багатьох спільних проектів, таких як організація всеукраїнських конкурсів для учнів та вчителів англійської мови, підтримка літніх мовних таборів та проведення методичних семінарів в регіонах України з метою ознайомлення вчителів з сучасними методиками викладання.

освіта. ua

Проект закону «Про освіту»

У старшій школі вивчатимуть від 6 до 8 предметів

Сьогодні у старшій школі вивчається 14 різних предметів, а після ухвалення законопроекту «Про освіту» їх буде не більше 6-8. Про це, під час брифінгу, що відбувся у Кабінеті Міністрів України, повідомив заступник міністра освіти і науки Павло Хобзей.

За словами Хобзея, зараз міністерство працює над базовим законом «Про освіту» та паралельно проводить роботу над законопроектом «Про загальну середню освіту».

«Закон має окреслити певні рамки тієї школи, яка б задовольняла потреби батьків, учнів, суспільство і, безумовно, вчителів», - підкреслив заступник міністра.

Він зазначив, що у проекті закону «Про освіту» закладені поняття як структури школи, так і її тривалості. Законопроектом пропонується впровадження 12-річної школи, а структура школи складатиметься з початкової – 4 роки навчання, базової – 5 років та старшої – 3 роки.

Заступник міністра зазначив, що саме до старшої школи додається один рік навчання - дванадцятий.

«Якщо ми сьогодні порівняємо одинадцятирічну школу, зокрема, базову, старшу, то один рік навчання було додано до початкової. Сьогодні за показником параметру часу навчання учні основної і старшої шкіл навчаються менше на один рік, ніж за часи радянської школи, бо там була шестиденка», - пояснив Хобзей.

На його думку, раніше не вдавалося запровадити 12-річну освіту тому, що не було зміни мережі навчальних закладів. Сьогодні старшу школу пропонується відокремити від основної та провести зовнішнє незалежне оцінювання всіх випускників основної школи.

«Частина учнів, які матимуть кращі академічні здобутки, продовжать своє навчання в новостворених академічних ліцеях», - зазначив Павло Хобзей. Такі однопрофільні ліцеї навчатимуть учнів старшої школи у містах, багатопрофільні - у сільській місцевості.

Заступник міністра підкреслив, що одна із проблем школи, на яку всі нарікають сьогодні – це багатопредметність.

«Зараз у старшій школі вивчається 14 різних предметів, у новій старшій школі їх буде не більше 6-8. Учні обиратимуть профіль та ті дисципліни, що їм потрібні, а також рівень, за яким вони будуть навчатися», - зазначив Павло Хобзей.

Він також додав, що після завершення реформи децентралізації та адміністративно-територіального устрою старша школа підпорядковуватиметься районам, а початкова та основна – громадам.


Освіта. ua