Be flexible!

From the Author:

Dear All,
The blog has been permanently moved to teflreflections.wordpress.com This post can be found here: http://teflreflections.wordpress.com/2014/04/29/be-flexible/

I'm not going to publish anything on the blogspot address any more, and I'll delete the blog within a week or two.So if you'd still like to follow my posts (I hope you do), please visit the wordpress version and click follow there: teflreflections.wordpress.com You can also find regular updates on the posts on the new blog's FB page by clicking here.
Thanks for reading and commenting on the posts here, and I hope to see you soon on wordpress.
Best,

Marek Kiczkowiak

Teaching mixed ability - some tips

From the Author:

Dear All,
The blog has been permanently moved to teflreflections.wordpress.com This particular post can be found under: http://teflreflections.wordpress.com/2014/04/20/teaching-mixed-ability-some-tips/ I'm not going to publish anything on the blogspot address any more, and I'll delete the blog within a week or two.
So if you'd still like to follow my posts (I hope you do), please visit the wordpress version and click follow there: teflreflections.wordpress.com You can also find regular updates on the posts on the new blog's FB page by clicking here.
Thanks for reading and commenting on the posts here, and I hope to see you soon on wordpress.
Best,

Marek Kiczkowiak

I wish - a lesson plan

This is a lesson plan I used recently with a 1-1 Up-Int student to introduce and practise wishes in the future, present and past. We'd revised all the conditionals, so 'wishes' seemed like a logical continuation, because of both a conceptual and a grammatical link. The class went down really well so I thought I'd share it here with you together with some reflections on the benefits or lack thereof of using gap-fills as controlled practice.

 

Reading:

IDEA: choose any topic that you think will go down well with your student(s). I chose Berlusconi, because the student is Italian and we'd had a few chats about the politics there, so I knew he'd be interested. In addition, Berlusconi's scandalous life lends itself nicely to the grammar point, as you'll see below.

1.    Schema activation: Do you know who Berlusconi is? What is he (in)famous for?
2.    Text Orientation: Read the title. What scandals might the author mention?
3.    Gist reading: Read the article quickly. Were any of your predictions correct? Which scandal is the biggest/most shocking in your opinion?
4.    Post reading discussion: What do you think about Berlusconi's life and political career? How do the scandals make you feel? How do you think other people feel about Berlusconi and his life?Do you think Berlusconi regrets his past behaviour and mistakes? (IDEA: apart from a natural follow up to the text, this short discussion is linked to the next stage in which the new language is introduced)

Berlusconi's scandals – timeline

1990 Berlusconi found guilty of lying in court about his membership of subversive masonic lodge Propaganda 2. Conviction extinguished by amnesty, one of two from which he will benefit.
1995 Eight-month-old government falls after he is deserted by his ally, Umberto Bossi. For many, it is the end of a novel political experiment. But, after seven years in the wilderness, Berlusconi returns to power in 2001.
1998 Berlusconi gets a two year, nine month sentence for bribing his firm's tax inspectors. The conviction was later overturned and the case was "timed out" by a statute of limitations, something that gets him off the hook in five other trials.
2002 Acquitted of false accounting following a change in the law by his own government. The same thing happens three years later.
2004 President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi refuses to sign a bill which weakened independence of judiciary.
2007 Oggi magazine publishes "Berlusconi's Harem", with photos of him hand-in-hand with several young women at his villa on Sardinia.
2008 A former topless model, Mara Carfagna, becomes equal opportunities minister in his fourth government.
2009 Berlusconi's wife, Veronica Lario, announces she is leaving him because he "consorts with minors". The prime minister is found to have attended the 18th birthday party of an aspiring model and actress. The same year sees the release of a recording allegedly made by a prostitute in Berlusconi's bed.
2010: Investigation opened into the prime minister's "bunga bunga" parties and his relationship with a young Moroccan, Karima el-Mahroug.
2011 Berlusconi put on trial for allegedly paying a juvenile prostitute.
by John Hooper, The Guardian, Friday 14 October 2011 19.20 BST

I wish...

a) Above you discussed different opinions about Berlusconi and his life. Read the ones below. Did you mention any of them? Do you agree with them? Why (not)?:
1.    I wish he wouldn’t lie.
2.    I wish he were a better politician.
3.    I wish he hadn’t got into so many scandals over the years.
4.    I wish Berlusconi would change his behaviour.
5.    I wish he retired from politics forever.
6.    I wish he had gone to jail.

b) Do the sentences 1-6 above talk about real possibilities or dreams? Which sentences talk about (some sentences can go into more than one category):
•    the present
•    the future
•    the past
•    an annoying present habit

c) How do you make wishes:
•    the present/the future: I wish + _______
•    the past: I wish + __________
•    an annoying present habit: I wish + ________

d) Do you have any wishes about Berlusconi’s life? You can base your answers on the article from the previous side.

e) Imagine Berlusconi decides to repent publicly and asks people to forgive him for his scandals. What wishes do you think he might make?

f) Think about other people or things that annoy you now or annoyed you in the past, or things you would like to change. Use wishes to talk about them. You can use the ideas below.
•    your job
•    celebrities
•    TV commercials
•    the weather
•    sports
•    politics and politicians

Comments and Reflections:

As you can see, I decided to omit the standard "fill-in-the-gaps" controlled practice. This was because I wanted to see how useful and necessary it is to have this stage. 99% of course book lesson will have it, and we incorporate it into lesson plans without often thinking why we do it.

Supposedly, it should have a positive impact on the learner's performance in more open and communicative activities. But how often have you done a gap-fill and moved on to a freer speaking practice and the learners were still struggling, making the same mistakes, etc. as if they hadn't had any controlled practice? Very often the move from accuracy to fluency just doesn't work.

So instead I asked the student to make his own wishes about Berlusconi (see point d)). In a sense the activity was still quite controlled and guided, but much less so than if we had done a gap-fill. The student had to think both about the content and the language, which raised the procedural demands and made him process the language more deeply. It was also a natural response to the text and a natural follow up to the discussion. The student, I hoped, was also going to generate far more language than in a simple gap-fill.

The results were quite encouraging. The student produced a variety of sentences using the TL (correct and incorrect grammatically). I would say as much as he would have if he had done a traditional controlled practice before.

After the lesson I stumbled upon an excellent blog post by Luis Otávio Barros: "Life Beyond Gap-fill?", in which he raises doubts about the benefits of gap-fills as controlled practice. It was interesting to see that my initial "experiment" and hunch was in a sense backed by his article.

Of course, the need for controlled practice and the amount/degree of it, might depend on an individual/group. However, as Luis argues in the article, we should re-think why we do gap-fills and whether they are perhaps better alternatives or short-cuts to production.

In my next classes when I teach a language point, I'll also try to circumvent the traditional gap-fill stage using some of the ideas described above and in Luis' article, and see what the results are. I'll keep you all posted.

Correcting writing: 8 practical ideas

From the Author:

Dear All,
The blog has been permanently moved to teflreflections.wordpress.com THis particular post can be found here: http://teflreflections.wordpress.com/2014/04/10/correcting-writing-8-practical-ideas/ I'm not going to publish anything on the blogspot address any more, and I'll delete the blog within a week or two.
So if you'd still like to follow my posts (I hope you do), please visit the wordpress version and click follow there: teflreflections.wordpress.com You can also find regular updates on the posts on the new blog's FB page by clicking here.
Thanks for reading and commenting on the posts here, and I hope to see you soon on wordpress.
Best,

Marek Kiczkowiak

3rd conditional - lesson plan

From the Author:

Dear All,
The blog has been permanently moved to teflreflections.wordpress.com This particular post can be found here: http://teflreflections.wordpress.com/2014/04/02/3rd-conditional-lesson-plan/ I'm not going to publish anything on the blogspot address any more, and I'll delete the blog within a week or two.
So if you'd still like to follow my posts (I hope you do), please visit the wordpress version and click follow there: teflreflections.wordpress.com You can also find regular updates on the posts on the new blog's FB page by clicking here.
Thanks for reading and commenting on the posts here, and I hope to see you soon on wordpress.
Best,

Marek Kiczkowiak

Do you understand?

In one of my last posts I discussed different techniques which can be used for clarifying meaning of new language. Here I wanted to talk about the next likely stage, that is checking understanding.

I entitled the post "Do you understand?" because it's perhaps the most natural, yet the least welcome, way to find out whether your students have understood the explanation or not. And if you've done CELTA , then you know that it's THE persona non grata of language teaching. But I'll come back to this point later and first start with the more "acceptable" techniques for checking understanding:

1. CCQs: 

   The teacher asks a question or a series of questions which focus on the underlying meaning of the target language, and check if the student has grasped the concept. Keep the responses short so more students can participate, and less demand is put on their production, e.g. I bumped into a friend yesterday. CCQs: a) Did I meet a friend yesterday? (YES) b) Was it planned? (NO) c) Was it an accident? (YES)

2. Timelines:

   Very useful when dealing with expressions where the tense is the problematic bit (although can be culturally dependant), e.g. I've been teaching for 6 years.

3. Clines: 

   Useful for any language concepts which can be ranked, e.g. frequency adverbs, modal verbs for probability, degrees of reality/imagination, although it can be tricky to decide on the exact degree (e.g. I love, I'm crazy about, I'm keen on)
   

4. Personalisation: 

   Standard CCQs can be followed by something more personal, i.e. a question which uses the target language or one which elicits a response with the target language. For example, for the verb to ban you could ask:
   
   • Should the government ban smoking in public places?
   • Is banning soft drugs a good idea to prevent their use?

5. Extension: 

   Students finish a prompt given by the teacher; they’ll only be able to finish if correctly if they understand the concept, e.g. CC although:
   
   • T: Although it was raining...
   • S1: ...we went out.
   • S2: ...we went for a walk.

6. Translation: 

   This is normally frowned upon, especially on initial TEFL courses. However, if you speak students’ L1, it can sometimes be useful to translate in order to dispel any doubts. L1/L2 comparisons can also be a useful tool, raising students’ language awareness of similarities and differences between the two languages. It's also very quick and relatively unambiguous.

7. Do you understand?

   Well, technically this question is persona non grata and all CELTA candidates have a really hard time avoiding it. Probably because it’s the most natural thing in the world for god’s sake! Of course, it is not to say that it should be our only concept checking technique. Having said that, if we know that our students usually speak up when they don’t know something, asking do you understand? can:

• tell us when our previous concept checking has failed and we need to re–clarify
• save us time by avoiding unnecessary CCQs

Do you use any of the techniques more often than others? Are there any you use which I haven't put on the list? Would love to hear from you in the comments section.

In the next post I'll present a few activities in which you'll be able to try out and practise some of the techniques described above, so stay tuned! :)

If you're teaching lexis soon, check out this post on clarifying meaning and this one on recycling vocabulary.

For now, you might find these two sources useful:

• Workman G. 2005. Concept Questions and Timelines. Chadburn Publishing

• Darn S. and White I. 2006. Checking understanding. http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/articles/checking-understanding

Shakespeare boom - a reading lesson.

In one of my previous posts I blogged about using literature in EFL and gave an example lesson plan based around Hamlet's soliloquy. I also said I would post a lesson plan I tend to do before the actual soliloquy class as it provides a good introduction to Shakespeare and his plays - so here it is. Not as soon as I promised it would land here, but better late than never.

I've tried to follow the tips for designing better skills lesson which I blogged about here in: "Let's bring back the TAPES." I built in reflection stages into the lesson plan, because I believe that whenever possible we should give our learners the tools they can use outside the class to better tackle similar texts (Techniques-oriented). I used authentic material and tried to make the tasks authentic too (Authentic). The tasks are Purposeful and fit into the overall lesson aims, so the learners should feel a sense of achievement. Finally, I tried to make the tasks Engaging by for example, getting the learners to read the text for the information chosen by them (see Task 2).

This lesson is suitable for any level from Intermediate above, although certain exercises might need adapting (see IDEAS)and more, or less, scaffolding depending on the students' level. It takes approximately 120 mins.

And please do comment below if you have any ideas how to improve/change the lesson plan. I'd also love to hear how it went down with your students.

Primary lesson aims:

• to introduce students to Shakespeare and his plays
• to show students how to read and understand a difficult text through reflecting on the process
• to practise inferring the meaning of difficult words from context

Lesson procedure

Task 1 Discussion

In pairs/threes discuss these questions:

• What do you know about Shakespeare?
• When and where was he born?
• What made him famous?
• Do you know titles of any of his plays?
• Have you ever seen Shakespeare on stage?

Task 2 Reading/Speaking

You are going to read parts of Shakespeare’s biography: prepare a list of facts that you would like to find out more about. Read the text quickly to find ONLY the information you’re interested in. Exchange the information with your partner.

(IDEA: you can use any bio note you think will do the trick. I tend to cut it up into paragraphs and set them up around the room so that students have to move around and quickly look for the information. Set a strict time limit so they don't end up reading everything in detail. This activity is supposed to raise their curiosity and motivation as they read the text to find the information THEY are interested in.)

Task 3 Gist reading

Read the text below quickly. Don’t stop on difficult words. You have 1 minute. Answer the question: Is Shakespeare and his works still popular nowadays?

(IDEA: you should be strict about the time limit. The text is very challenging, but the students should be able to answer the gist question. You can scaffold it by asking: Will you read the whole text? Will you stop on difficult words? Where are you likely to find the main idea?)

Task 4 Reflection #1

Discuss these questions:

• Did you have time to read everything?
• Why did I ask you to read so quickly?
• Were you able to understand the main idea of the text?
• Is such reading similar to how you sometimes read in your mother tongue (e.g. when you don't have much time)?

Task 5 Gist reading #2 (paragraphs)

Read the statements below and decide if they adequately summarise each paragraph. Remember you don’t have to read every paragraph in detail. Look for its main message or summary. And don’t stop on difficult vocabulary.

• Paragraph 1: Most scientists think there is a Shakespeare boom.
• Paragraph 2: Shakespeare has always been and still is present in the literary canon.
• Paragraph 3: Shakespeare’s plays are still incredibly popular. 

Task 6: Reflection #2

Discuss these questions:

• How was the second reading different from the previous one?
• Was it more difficult or easier?
• Was it necessary to understand all the words?
• Where in the paragraph can you usually find the main idea?

Task 7: Reading for implicit meaning

Answer these questions by choosing the correct option: a), b), c) or d). There is only ONE correct answer. Before you start reading, underline the key words in the questions and the answers.

1.     The comical impact of the soliloquy scene was: a) part of the film   b) was due to Branagh acting skills c) was not intentional d) made everyone in the audience laugh

2.     According to the text the mountain backdrop: a) looked artificial  b) greatly impressed the writer c) was not part of the scenery d) looked very real

3.     After the soliloquy: a) loud laughter could be heard b) the audience remained silenced c) everyone was in awe d) a few people laughed even though the scene was not meant to be funny

4.     Shakespeare’s recent popularity: a) is due to the re–introduction of his plays into school curricula b) is not going to be long–lasting c) is derided by experts interviewed by the author d) is only the author’s biased opinion

      5. Shakespeare: a) is only widely read by academics b) is thought to have been very tall c) is for Harold  Bloom only a minor writer d) is criticised by some thinkers, while others see him as having similar political views to their own 
(IDEA: if you're pressed for time, you might want to set this task as HW. Be prepared to guide your students. For example, point out to them how they should first eliminate the answers which are illogical. Using their schemata will also help (i.e. we know that the play is serious so the answer that seems more likely in 1 is c)

The text: "Shakespeare boom" by David Gates (Newsweek, 30th December 1996)

At a press screening of Kenneth Branagh's four–hour–long “Hamlet”, we ran into a colleague during the intermission. The lights went up after Branagh had bellowed out the “How all occasions do inform against me” soliloquy, with martial music blaring, in front of a bogus–looking mountain backdrop. Under all the din, a few titters had been audible. “Well”, said our colleague, “this ought to put a stop to the Shakespeare boom.” Maybe, maybe not. But we were relieved that somebody else thought there was a Shakespeare boom. So many of the scholars we’d interviewed had given us the old horselaugh. The Bard is back? Was that our angle? (Par 1)

The truth is, he never went away. A couple of years ago the multiculturalists had supposedly frog–marched him out of school curriculums. Yet in his native England, every kid must now read two plays and take a national exam; no mass suicides reported. In the United States he's still studied in more than 90 percent of high schools. In universities, postcolonialists, feminists and specialists in “queer studies” rope him in as either a fellow subversive or No. 1 whipping boy. While the writer whom critic Harold Bloom has pronounced “the center of the canon” may never again bestride the narrow world like a colossus, he gets around OK for a 400–year–old. (Par 2) 

In New York the week before Christmas you could see three new Shakespeare films–not counting “Hamlet”, which opens Christmas Day. Former Royal Shakespeare Company director Trevor Nunn offers a handsome, splendidly acted „Twelfth Night.” Al Pacino's “Looking for Richard” is half “Richard III” and half a film about filming „Richard III.” And Australian director Baz Luhrmann's post–MTV „Romeo & Juliet” has car crashes, gun battles and Mercutio as a black drag queen. In London they're building, on the original site, a replica of the Globe Theatre, where Shakespeare's own company performed–and he himself supposedly played Old Hamlet's ghost. Already more than 300,000 people have attended performances in the uncompleted structure. This month an organization of travel journalists voted it the top tourist attraction in Europe. (Par 3)

Task 8: Inferring meaning of difficult words from context

Look at paragraph 1. Find the words: to run into and to bellow out.

Use the 4 step method to work out their meaning and match them to the definitions a) to c):

a) to meet by accident

b) to shout in a loud voice

4 step method: Working out meaning from context:

1.     Think about the wider context of the text and the paragraph.

2.     Look at some words that come immediately AFTER and BEFORE the difficult word. Do they give you some clues about the meaning?

3.      Identify the part of speech and think of a synonym that could be used to replace the difficult word.

4.     Finally, check the meaning in a dictionary. Was your definition similar?

Now read the text more carefully and find the words which mean:

1.     fake, not real (par 1) __________

2.     a loud confused and unpleasant noise which lasts for a long time (par 1) __________

3.     to laugh nervously often knowing you shouldn’t be laughing (par 1) __________

4.     a loud and usually derisive laugh (par 1) __________

5.     a position from which something is viewed (par 1) __________

6.     to force sb to move forward by holding their arms behind their back (par 2) ________

7.     strange, unusual (par 2) __________

8.     to persuade sb to do sth for you (par 2) __________

9.     trying to destroy or damage sth, especially an established political system (par 2) __________

10. sb or sth that is blamed for problems caused by others (par 2) __________

11. to sit or stand with a leg on either side of an animal or object (par 2) __________

Now in pairs cover the words or the definitions and test each other on the vocabulary. Do you know how to use those words in a sentence?

Task 9 Controlled speaking: vocabulary activation

Retell the text to your partner. Use as many words from the text as possible. You get 1 point for each correctly used word. Who got more points?

(IDEA: you could use some more activities to review and practise the words 1-11 using one of the activities I described in my post about recycling lexis. For alternative or additional ways of clarifying meaning of difficult vocabulary, if the context and definitions are not enough, you can check this post.)

Task 10: Reflection #3

• When reading a difficult text for the first time, should you focus on the main message or the details?
• How was each reading task different and how can you use this approach to read at home?
• Is it necessary to understand all the words to be able to understand a text?
• When you're reading in your mother language and you see a word you don't know, what do you do? Do you immediately look it up in a dictionary?
• How can context help you understand the meaning of unknown words?

Task 10 Speaking/Discussion

• Is Shakespeare also popular in your country? Why (not)? 
• Which plays have you seen or read? Which would you like to see or read? 
• Why do you think Shakespeare’s plays are still so popular after 400 years?
• Do you have an author in your country who is very popular?
•  Do you like movies based on books or plays? Why (not)? Which have you seen?

Clarifying meaning

From the Author:

Dear All,
The blog has been permanently moved to teflreflections.wordpress.com This particular post can be found here: http://teflreflections.wordpress.com/2014/03/01/clarifying-meaning/ I'm not going to publish anything on the blogspot address any more, and I'll delete the blog within a week or two.
So if you'd still like to follow my posts (I hope you do), please visit the wordpress version and click follow there: teflreflections.wordpress.com You can also find regular updates on the posts on the new blog's FB page by clicking here.
Thanks for reading and commenting on the posts here, and I hope to see you soon on wordpress.
Best,

Marek Kiczkowiak

Teaching 1-1: The first class

The first class can be crucial for how the rest of the course pans out. It will set the tone. Especially in a 1-1 setting. After all, there's just the two of you. So the first set of aims to bear in mind is affective:

• build rapport (break the ice, get to know each other)
• motivate the student
• set the tone for the future classes (learner-centred, relevant, enjoyable, useful)

The next set of aims concerns generating the course content, as well as the objectives and goals. The key principle of 1–1 teaching is that “the student is the syllabus” (Osborne 2005: 3). So as much as possible, the content/topic of the class should be based on students preferences, or even generated by the learner. So ideally what you want to establish in the first class is:

• what the learner wants to know (wants)
• what the learner doesn't know (lacks)
• what the learner needs to use their English for (needs)
• what topics and activity types the learner enjoys (preferences)

All this should ensure that the course aims will be relevant, realistic and achievable.

Uff! Seems like a hell lot of work for one class. So how the heck do I go about it then?

As you can imagine, bringing and using a course book in the first class, even if one has been assigned one by the Academic department, is probably not the best solution, albeit a very tempting one. After all, you might not feel at ease coming in with nothing to the first class. Something which can prompt and focus the discussion may come in handy.

Below are some ideas for activities which involve very little prep and materials, and which can help you go about achieving the two sets of aims discussed above in a communicative way:

1. Spidergram – write down key words or phrases which are answers to some questions about you (e.g. hobby, favourite dish, etc.). Afterwards the student writes down the phrases connected to their lives. This can be done on small separate cards which are turned one by one or all on one piece of paper/whiteboard. Student tries to guess the question. NOTE: It helps to a) identify student’s lacks b) upgrade their lg c) it is also a great ice–breaker and stimulus for further discussion. Modify the content according to the student’s level (i.e. only present simple questions) 
2. Topic cards – cards with everyday topics face down. You/student turn the first card around and use it as a stimulus for discussion. NOTE: a) encourage the student to ask you questions (apart from the obvious communicative purpose, it also can serve as a diagnostic) b) if you already know something about the student, you can tailor the topics to match their interests, knowledge, job, etc. 
3. Life Circles – divide the whiteboard/piece of paper into three parts: past, present and future. Put some ideas in each part related to your life. The learner does the same. Apart from being a good ice–breaker and GTKY, the activity helps elicit varied lg, which can serve to identify student’s lacks. As above, it's a good idea to encourage the student to ask you follow up questions. 
4. True/False – write some facts about yourself on pieces of paper. Try to make them as interesting as possible. Write at least one false sentence. The learner does the same. Turn the cards one by one. Ask questions to identify the false one. You both try to pretend all sentences are true. See who’s a better liar. It serves well to check question formation. 
5. Needs analysis – a questionnaire which prompts the learner to express their course needs and expectations can be of excellent use for the first lesson.
6. Meaningful objects - often 1-1 teaching takes place at student's workplace, their or the teacher's house. Use this as an opportunity to select some objects that are meaningful for the student, or can be used as springboard for discussion.

NOTE: all of the above, apart from their affective and communicative purposes, can be used diagnostically, i.e. identifying student’s language lacks for immediate or subsequent remedial work (you can find some ideas on how to deal with emerging language and offer on-the-spot practice here). They can and should be adjusted to the student’s level. Ease the student into the idea that they should ask questions as well as you. After all, the above are all discussion activities.

Have you got any favourite activities for the first class? Looking forward to your comments.