All posts by Raimo J

I am a 66-year-old retired teacher of English who wishes to share some of the key ideas on communicative teaching of languages with you. I taught English in a teacher training school in Finland over 40 years, 30 years of it as an IB coordinator.

About me and the blog, Communicative teaching (CLT)

MY HISTORY AS A LEARNER AND TEACHER OF ENGLISH

31.10.2025 Raimo J Leave a comment

I still remember the fear when I decided I have to change the way I’m teaching English! What if I make a fool of myself? What if I become a laughing stock in the school and in front of the parents?

That was in the autumn of 1986. All that fear was gone in a week when I saw what was happening in my classes.

Over the last 50 years language teaching has gone through some major changes aiming at better and better teaching and learning. Even if the methodology has been drastically changed many teachers are are still unsure how to make the changes needed. How to apply the principles of communicative language learning (CLT).

We all want our students to enjoy our lessons, to speak and write English well, or whatever language we are teaching. We want to help and encourage our students to reach their full potential as language learners and human beings.

I remember the fear I had when I changed my style of teaching. What if I make a fool of myself? What if I become a laughing stock in the school and in front of the parents? But I wanted to do my job well and I had no other choice than take the risk. I told my students about my plans and the reasons for the changes I was about to make and they agreed to give it a try. And we never went back to what the lessons used to be like.

The basic questions are still the same: What is the best and most effective way to teach and learn a foreign language? What kind of language lesson would I myself enjoy?

The translation method was used up to the 1970’s: translating texts from English into the mother tongue and vice verca focusing on grammar with a very limited view on other language skills.

I myself am a child of this period, graduated from high school in 1973 and could not speak English at all when I started to study English at Oulu University in Finland. I never heard the teacher speak English freely, we students never spoke or heard recorded English in class, no recordings were available, hands were raised for the answer and we stood up, answered and sat down one at a time. We were nice students who could stand the process since we knew of nothing better.

Until – we realized the new German teacher’s methods were effective: a lot of reading aloud in class, dealing with the chapters properly in groups and spending two hours a week in the language lab speaking German, recording and listening to ourselves speaking. Hely Laitinen, the teacher, was 20 years ahead of her time. Six German lessons a week for two years – and I can still speak German even if I learnt it 50 years ago and have not used it very much. One of the miracles of my limited brain capacity.

It was actually amusing that when I got in the university to study English and Swedish I could not speak the languages more than at an elementary level since we had not practiced speaking at school and there was no other source available in those days. Of course I Iearnt to speak both langauges quite well in a year but still, I was 19 years of age at that time. What a waste! Still, it is a comforting story for my students: It is never too late to learn to speak a language!

In the early 1980’s the audio-lingual method was introduced in Finland, which meant a step forward towards real usage of language and developing speaking, listening and writing in particular. New methological approaches were introduced and teachers started to use English recordings, students timidly spoke for a few minutes in each lesson and writing tasks were given to the students. Nevertheless, the full potential of CLT was not understood.

I did my compulsory one-year teacher training in 1979 – 1980 in a training school in Oulu in northern Finland. The teaching methods were very teacher-oriented even if there were glimpses of students working in pairs and groups. After the teacher training I taught English, Swedish and Finnish in a local prison and was a part-time teacher in a couple of other schools until I got a permanent position as a teacher trainer in English in Oulu University teacher training school.

In the 1970s suggestopedia developed by Georgi Lozanov brought many new ideas into language teaching even if it was considered to be too different a style to be used continuously. Thanks to suggestopedia we started to eliminate the barriers of learning aiming at more relaxed lessons where all human senses were made use of while the students were working in pairs or groups. Music and language games were made use of. The students felt relaxed and were not afraid of making mistakes when speaking and working together. I personally felt better thanks to the changes but I was still not pleased.

My hometown Oulu by the Gulf of Bothnia, northern Finland

It was an in-service course in southern Finland that changed my style of teaching permanently. On the way back to Oulu I had an incredibly illuminating discussion with professor Irma Huttunen who had been one of the lecturers in the course. She had recently finished her doctoral thesis on autonomous learning and I was absolutely fascinated by her ideas and what she had learnt while applying the ideas in her own classes.

I spent the weekend developing the new approach to the texts in the English books and how the time in the class was to be spent. On the following Monday morning I had a double lesson with senior high students and I said to them that I hated much of what we did in my own lessons and that I wanted to try out something new with them. I explained what I thought was wrong in our system and what and why I was going to do with them in the future.

We agreed on a two-week trial period and would come back to the old style if the new style turned out to be disasterous. We never went back. It was 1986 and most of the principles I came up with at that time served me until I retired a couple of years ago. Of course there have been many methological advances since then but the student-centred approach is still valid today.

In the 1990’s it was finally realized that English and languages in general are to be learnt with true real-life skills in mind: the principles of communicative language teaching became more and more popular. Teachers realized that they have to teach not only all the language skills but also about the culture of the target language as well as study skills. The emphasis on speaking skills was a natural consequence of student-oriented methods. Luckily, the ministeries of education in most countries have understood the same things and the skills are also tested in the final exams, which forces teachers to these these skills in class as well.

Still the biggest changes were seen in classes themselves:

The teachers’ role began to change and they were more organizers of the lessons than the ones actually speaking and teaching all the time. Their job was to make learning possible as faciliators of learning.
Students were not evaluated only on the basis of exams but their activity level and participation in class was also taken into account. Learning for life, not for grades and exams, was acknowledged.
The third change was the introduction of the use of computer programmes and modern technology in lessons.

Turku Teacher Training School – renovated six years ago

The 21st century has seen this tendency taken further in many ways:

classes and methods have become more student-oriented
the objectives for language learning lessons now cover all skill areas
time is devoted to enhance the students’ study and social skills
the teacher has become more an organizer of learning than the one who talks about the language
assessment is not based only on tests and exams
learning strategies and styles, how to learn effectively are actively taught
instead of memorization we now emphasize understanding and application of the language
modern technology and the internet are made use of and they provide us with plenty of opportunities in distance learning
even final examinations are taken via the internet in many countries

The internet became a valid source for new information and publishers introduced computer materials that were directly linked to the textbooks used. Even exams can now be taken in special exam locations at a time chosen by the students themselves. The goals set for the 21st century are becoming reality.

Yleinen

INQUIRY-BASED LEARNING

31.10.2025 Raimo J Leave a comment

In principle inquiry-based learning (IBL) means that student groups use critical thinking and try to answer a question or solve a problem by using the target language every step of the way.

The success of an IBL task depends more on the teacher’s ability to foresee and eliminate the problems that might emerge rather than the students themselves. If the students are accustomed to working in groups, inquiry-based learning is a natural way to bring some challenging change in the lessons.

What the students learn in doing an IBL task is much more than in an ordinary English lesson:

social skills by working with other students,
leadership and participants roles,
being critical about sources and other people’s opinions,
argumentation, reading comprehension and presentation skills,
evaluating the work and final product of their own and others … and
real usage of English as a by-product of it all
in brief, SKILLS NEEDED IN REAL LIFE

In practice an IBL task is very simple to realize following the recommended stages below.

Step 1: Study a chapter or two in your textbook related to the future IBL question or topic. This way you introduce some of the vocabulary and ideas needed. This is the foundation for the IBL task.
Step 2: At the beginning of the IBL task introduce the IBL task as a special kind of group work and explain the stages and time frame of the task.
Step 3: Divide the class randomly into groups and appoint a good reliable student as the leader for the group to guarantee assistance and work ethics within the group.
Step 4: Formulate the question(s) to be answered or introduce the problem(s) to be solved. This is the stage where you have a lot of options. See my discussion on them below.
Step 5: The students search for sources of information or the teacher gives the sources to them. The students discuss and analyse the task-related matters in the sources and are critical about the ideas presented.
In principle, the sources should be in English (or in any target language). In some groups the sources may be at least partially in the mother tongue but the the group should talk in English.
Step 6: The students decide how to present their findings to the other groups. At the time of presentations everyone comes in the front and everyone has to say something.
Step 7: Evaluation of the IBL task can take place in many ways. See my comments on it below.

WARNING: At first the teacher may be disappointed with the findings and presentations but remember that the PROCESS IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN THE PRODUCT.

In other words, in CLT terms the students use English as a tool and they have a real communicative purpose in trying to answer the question. The whole process of finding information, discussing it and presenting it will teach them a lot of English but other skills as well.

When the focus is directed away from traditional language learning, the students make use of all potential ways of learning in a relaxed rewarding atmosphere. You, as a teacher, simply have to rely on the effectivity of this kind of group work and you will see the effects in the long run.

In task-based learning (TBL) we typically rehearse coping with various everyday situations or how to use a particular grammatical structure in a real-life stuation.

In inquiry-based learning (IBL) the topic in focus could be just about anything and even if it is mostly presented as a question or a set of questions, it could be a problem or issue that needs in-depth research. Sometimes a statement or a provocative argument may be under scrutiny.

The whole class can work on the same question, or the question can be divided into sub-questions for each group or every group has a different topic altogether. Whatever makes sense to the teacher or/and the students will do.

Sometimes teachers mix TBL and IBL tasks but I don’t think it really matters if the students use English actively all the time. For example, we might first practise various situations at a hotel being a customer or someone working there and right after that lesson have an IBL group task on ‘What kind of hotel would attract more tourists to our hometown/region?’ It may well be that some of the issues came up already in the TBL sessions.

Class management

AFL, Observation with Criteria, Self-/Peer-Observation

31.10.2025 Raimo J Leave a comment

Over the years I have developed a habit to observe my students constantly. What is new in CLT principles is to teach the students how to observe themselves and others using a criteria form. Then I compare my observations with theirs in development discussions.

The final aim is, of course, that observation becomes automatic and no form is needed in the end. It becomes a life-long habit.

Topics for this article:

Why should we observe individual students? Beliefs!
How can we do it in practice?
What is meant by observation criteria?
And what is a development discussion?
What kind of positive phrases can I use in it?

The procedure in class observation is very straight-forward:

First we observe and look at the criteria, then we assess what the strengths and weaknesses are, give feedback and lead the student to decide what needs to be done.

I believe that …

doing systematic class observation does not increase the teacher’s workload; it simply reveals where the problems might lie, it can easily be done if we use student-centered methods
if the students learn to think about themselves as learners, they will take school more seriously but they need to know exactly what we expect from them (what to observe + get criteria to do it)
self-observation will lead to the development of many skills that are not evaluated in school reports (needed in life-long learning)
the use of observation criteria is needed maybe 3 times in the first year and later on once or twice in development discussions with the student
the use of observation criteria soon becomes an automatic tool to guide the discussion in groups how to study and treat others
the focus should not be in filling in the criteria form but in applying the ideas while studying
once we know where our weaknesses lie, we can start finding a remedy for them; observation, analysis and concrete actions are needed to make the change

5 Class observation and self-/peer-observation

In fact, my final aim is that self- and peer-observation become so automatic that no forms are needed any more.

In the previous article we dealt with points 1 – 4 below and now we will focus on points 5. to 8.

Formative tests and ‘Quizzes
Questioning techniques
Differentiation= Mixed-ability class techniques
Discussing learning styles and strategies
Class observation and self-/peer-observation (which serves as the basis for assessment)
Observation rubric /criteria opened up
Performance appraisal / Development discussion
Effective feedback – tips and phrases

The order of AfL points 5. – 8. is a bit complicated because they are so much intertwined. The logic in class runs roughly as follows.

Observation – can be done by anyone (the students themselves, peers, the teacher or some outsider)
Observation done by other students – peers – is extremely valuable for both parties provided it is done respectfully (See below what the feedback form may be like)
Observers must know which skills to observe (4 areas! See below)
Observers must be trained to use the criteria stating the ideal goals and the form to be used must be a simple by-product of the lessons
Observers should be able to give constructive feedback
The ones who were observed and given feedback to must be able to take actions to improve their performance (See the next article on effective Feedback)

Let’s look at these points one by one.

Class observation can be done by anyone in the classroom but it is useless if it is not followed by criteria-based feedback that shows how the students can improve their performance.

Observation is constantly done by the teacher but students can and should be trained to observe each other (peer-assessment) as well and while doing that they will learn to make observations of themselves, too (self-assessment).

Did anyone ever gice you feedback or discuss with you about your a) Language proficiency, b) Study skills, c) Social skills, d) Attitude and motivation? You are very lucky if you answered ‘Yes’.

Observation requires a lot of time and the only way to arrange it at school is to use student-oriented methods; get the student groups working and start observing.

“What am I supposed to observe? How can I make it more systematic?” you ask. They are the four things above. Let’s have a look at them now.

6 Observation rubric/criteria opened up

At first glance one might assume that the teacher’s job is only to observe the students’ language proficiency level in speaking, listening, reading, writing, grammar and vocabulary. Sorry, that is not enough.

Nevertheless, if our aim is to develop the students’ whole personality and prepare them for the future there are four things to observe: a) Language proficiency, b) Study skills, c) Social skills, d) Attitude and motivation

The problem with rubric / criteria forms is that they tend to be too difficult to use and that is why teachers stop using them soon. Therefore our forms should be very simple but still give enough useful information.

The form below is an example for a self- observation form. It can be in English or sometimes in mother tongue as well. If you change the wording from ‘I’ to ‘‘The student =St’ you can use the same form when you as the teacher observe and assess the students.

So, the idea behind this form is to make the students assess themselves first and then the teacher makes his/her collective mark in a different colour pen. Language skills are placed last on purpose since we want the focus to be on AfL. The scaling is up to the teacher (A –E, always – never, Excellent – Needs improvement etc.)

An example of a self-observation form for junior high students.

You may need to formulate a form of your own. Some things always overlap.

A = always, B = often, C =sometimes, D = seldom, E = never

Study skills	A	B	C	D	E
I always study hard at school and at home.
I always do my homework by myself.
I use very many ways to learn English better.
I know how to use dictionaries and the internet.
I always finish the tasks given to us.

Social skills	A	B	C	D	E
I co-operate very well in pairs and groups.
I am kind and always follow the class rules.
I help others willingly and ask for help too.
I control my own and other students’ behaviour.
I encourage the shy and quiet ones.

Motivation and attitude	A	B	C	D	E
I want to work hard alone, in pairs and groups.
I try to find new ways of learning English.
I want to learn English outside school as well.
I practise speaking alone and with others.
I read, write and listen to English in my free time.

Language skills	A	B	C	D	E
My spelling is nearly free from mistakes.
My writing is logical and convincing.
My vocabulary is excellent.
My pronunciation is very good and clear.
My speaking is fluent and with good ideas.
My listening skills are very good.
My reading skills are excellent.
I can use grammar taught to us very well.

A = always, B = often, C =sometimes, D = seldom, E = never

So explain them beforehand that you want to have a short discussion (development discussion) with everyone alone so that you learn to know them better and will be able to teach them better. They should be open and express themselves freely.

Expressions for the strengths of your students:

The expressions below can be softened but adding ‘I am under the impression that …’…’ ‘I have got a feeling that …’ ‘I think …’ ‘I am very pleased that …’ ‘It seems to me that …’

‘I think …’     You participate enthusiastically in discussion.
‘I’ve got a feeling that …’   You are superior in dividing work in your group.
‘I am very pleased that …’ You listen to and follow directions well.
‘It seems to me that …’   You express ideas clearly and logically.

The form below is another example of the form the teacher could use to observe each student. This could be used in senior high classes (even in mother tongue if the teacher finds it more appropriate).

SOCIAL SKILLS

You have a delightful sense of humor.

You demonstrate leadership skills.

You are well-liked by your peers.

You enjoy dramatization and encourage the others.

You exhibit great organizational skills.

You seem to have found your own ways of learning with others.

You have demonstrated increased social skills, such as helping others.

You ask for responsibilities and follow them through.

You are learning to be cooperative when working in groups.

You are developing more positive ways to interact with others.

STUDY SKILLS

You are becoming a good listener and your notes are superb.

You are using your time efficiently despite your hobbies.

You do neat, thorough work and follow the deadlines.

You have demonstrated a desire to work more independently.

You seek information independently.

You are developing concentration skills.

You are developing consistent work habits, such as …

You are gaining academic skills, such as using effective learning strategies.

ATTITUDE AND MOTIVATION

You take more and more pride in your work.

You are showing enthusiasm for learning English.

You have developed a positive attitude toward learning English.

You are becoming self-reliant.

You really seem to enjoy learning and speaking English.

You are gaining self-confidence and your comment are constructive.

You demonstrate initiative and ask relevant questions.

LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY

You have shown noticeable improvement in speaking and reading.

You have shown steady progress in vocabulary learning, for instance.

You write fascinating stories and your pronunciation is music to my ears.

You have become much more fluent over the last few months.

You use English correctly both in writing and speaking.

You have an expansive knowledge of cultural aspects.

You comprehend tasks quickly and use language well.

You have advanced in spelling and using intonation.

Remember that the students will forget your words quicker than the feelings this situation evoked in them.

See the next articles on how to deal with observation and positive constructive feedback! And how to avoid the pitfalls in giving negative comments!

Writing

31.10.2025 Raimo J Leave a comment

I believe there is a red line from our hand to our brains that tremendously enhances learning and memorization.

The funny thing about writing is that we cannot actually teach writing. We cannot get into the head of the writer. Still, we can guide our students indirectly.

How important are various language skills to a man in the street? Of course it depends on their work, background and interests. Still, I think most people would agree that reading, speaking and listening are more used than writing in our everyday lives.

If the argument above is true, we may conclude that the importance of writing is overrated in schools. Nevertheless, the matter is not at all a simple one. There are many new ideas that have been applied in teaching writing over the last 20 years thanks to CLT principles and writing skills have always been valued highly.

Some CLT principles to be followed in teaching writing

Students are made to write minor stories from the very beginning even if their vocabulary and grammar may be limited. The idea is to force them to think about English and combine what they know in a new way.
In mixed-ability classes the teachers have to use differentiation; i.e. offer the students tasks that correspond to their proficiency level. I suggest one way to do it in the next article following the CLT principles: 1) mechanical, 2) semi-communicative and 3) communicative tasks
The students are taught strategies and given models on good writing practices. They are also advised how to give feedback to others which also makes them think harder about their own writing.
The students are given the evaluation criteria, it is analysed and the students get to know what is required from them. Our job is tell them how to move on to the next level in Flow of ideas, Fluency, Content/Message, Language and Accuracy.
The type of texts we write at school today are very versatile and the days when we only wrote essays is over. These writing tasks can be made use of later in life too.

The other articles on writing in this unit are …

Writing	Teaching beginners writing, differentiation
	Basic principles, using criteria, giving feedback and writing in pairs
	Dictation, benefits and challenges
	How to use the evaluation criteria for written tasks
	The structure of an argumentative essay
	Returning the essays in style

Writing skill is vital not only because of getting written messages through but also for the development of our thinking skills.

Basic points to consider about teaching writing skills

There are many factors that speak in favour of teaching writing.

First of all, of the four language skills above writing is the most demanding one to teach. Why? Because the formulation of ideas, sentences, paragraphs and whole texts takes place solely in the minds of the writer and we can only indirectly affect the process of writing.
Secondly, after a lot of oral activities and a planning session, writing is often the final stage in dealing with a particular topic. We have to gather information, read, speak and listen about the topic before it makes sense to write about the topic. As a result, writing tasks are highly valued in final exams even up to university level.
Just like speaking writing is taught from the very beginning by taking small steps ahead at a time: first copying words and short clauses, changing them a bit and gradually ending up writing sentences and texts of our own.
For the teacher marking essays is considered to be one of the most demanding and time-consuming parts of the work at school. Luckily in most countries the marking is done against a criteria which also serves as a guideline for teaching.
There are ways how we can ease the workload of teachers in marking papers and there are ways how we can have a systematic approach to improve the quality of students writings and essays. Besides, some pieces of students’ writings do not need to be marked officially at all.
In real life after school few people write essays because we mostly write e-mails, instructions and specific workplace texts. This is why we nowadays teach various text types and practise writing them as well. Writing practices are much more varied these days than they used to be and therefore they are also more motivating.
Finally, we have to admit that writing is a skill that develops thinking skills more than any other skill because it requires careful time-consuming planning, being logical and systematic, justifying our views and opinions and many other things.
All in all, we can conclude that writing has a vital role in the teaching of any foreign language. It is up to the teacher to decide how much time should be devoted to writing, where is takes place and how it is integrated into ordinary lessons.

Florence, in Italy, has inspired many writers with its fascinating history.

Class management, Listening, Pronunciation

CLASS PHRASES with rising intonation and positive feedback phrases

31.10.2025 Raimo J Leave a comment

Listen to the recording and repeat the phrases. Pay attention to the intonation!

Using the correct intonation in class

By intonation we mean the changes in speaking melody produced by the rise and fall of the voice.

Now we will practise rising intonation in yes/no-questions, requests and encouragements.

The wrong kind of intonation may change the meaning completely. The point is that the intonation carries the final meaning through.

Compare: ‘The film was interesting.’ with a falling and rising intonation. If you don’t sound interested, the film was actually boring in your opinion.

Classroom phrases with rising intonation

Some basic yes-no questions with rising intonation

Are you ready now? Let’s go in the class, shall we? Are you feeling cold? Is anybody absent today? Are you all here now? Does anyone know where Ali is? Is he often late? Does anyone have his phone number?

Is everybody ready to start? Any problems? Anything to ask? All clear? Have you finished? Is that clear? Any questions? Did you do your homework?

Can you hear me better now? Is the volume loud enough? Is the text font big enough? Has anyone got scissors? Is it my turn? Err, any volunteers?

Some basic requests with rising intonation

Open the door, please. Stand up, please. Please sit down. Take out your textbooks. Look at this photo, please.

Encouraging the pupils and students with positive feedback

Good. Very good. Fine. Well done. Right. Quite right. That’s right. That’s it. I like that.

Fantastic! Marvelous! Brilliant! Awesome! Outstanding! Wonderful! Magnificent! Superb!

Yes, you’ve got it. Yes, you seem to have got the hang of the idea. You did a good job there. Well done, all of you. That sounded very good to me. Wow!

That was a great presentation. Congratulations! Take your time. We are not in a hurry. Better luck next time! Never mind, you did just fine.

What did you put in number 7? ‘come’ Well, not exactly. Sorry but you can’t use that word here. Not quite right but you almost got it. You’re almost there. Could be, it depends. You’re on the right track. You’re very close. Try again!

There’s no hurry. This is a nasty point. Have another try. Are you sure? Look at the word order. Have a guess if you don’t know.

That’s better. That’s more like it. You’re getting better and better every week. Keep up the good work! You’ve made a lot of progress this year.

Yleinen

Development discussion, Feedback forms and positive phrases

31.10.2025 Raimo J Leave a comment

Did you ever sit down with your English teacher to discuss your learning? I did not. Still, it would have meant the world to me! No feedback, not even once! It would have meant the world to me!

This article will deal with 1) Development discussion, 2) Giving positive feedback, 3) Observation and feedback forms and 4) Phrases to be used in giving feedback

Development discussion

When you have observed and followed the progress of the students for a few months it is beneficial to have a short discussion alone with each student about his or her attitudes toward English and English lessons, his or her skills and future goals in English or mother tongue if needed.

In Finland we call it ‘Development Discussion’. I think the connotation attached to the term ‘Development Discussion’ is more positive than ‘Performance Appraisal’ even if they basically mean the same thing. Explain to the students beforehand what it is all about and why you are having it. Give the rest of the class independent work while you are running these discussions.

You need about 3–5 precious minutes per student if you have prepared yourself and the students well. Preparation means filling in the obserbvation form in advance:

The student fills in the form introduced in the article ‘AfL, Observation with Criteria, Self-Assessment‘ (ok even if done in the mother tongue).
The teacher fills in the same form but ‘I’ has been replaced with ‘you’. It is the sample form you find below (meant for junior high classes and needs to be modified for other classes).

Depending on the student the focus may be on one or more of the four skill areas: Social skills, Study skills, Attitude/Motivation and Language proficiency. If you are giving feedback on one skill only, two to three minutes per student may be enough. The others are working independently during that lesson.

Collect the observation forms and other evaluation papers before the development discussion since it may give you some background knowledge of the students’ self-esteem as an English learner. Make your markings on the student’s observation sheet.

There is no harm done if the development discussion is done in the mother tongue if the level of the students requires that. Make the situation relaxed, encouraging and eliminate fear. ‘I’m on your side’ atmosphere. You are teaching human skills, not only English!

How to be tactful and give positive feedback

Give some positive feedback first on any of the skill areas to make the student feel happy and relaxed. Don’t voice the negative points but let the student say them and try to solve the problem.
Let the student reveal his/her self-assessments. It is better you do not show your assessment form to the student until the end of the discussion. Why not? Because the student will stop analyzing his/her assessments, if you do.
If the student does not know what to say, turn the challenging issue to a question and ask the student’s opinion about it: “You marked ‘homework’ with C, why? What can you do about it? Is there anything you are not pleased with in your group or pair work?” etc.
If the students cannot suggest a solution, send I-messages which will reveal your caring attitude; Asking for clarification: “Am I right in saying that you find homework boring?” or Expressing concern: “What I worry is that it seems hard for you to work if there is too much noise in the class.”
Avoid words like ‘but, however, nevertheless, nonetheless‘. They bring the positive feedback to zero. (This is surprising but psychologically true!)
Teachers often pay too much attention to assessing language skills only. The other skills may give you a real chance to praise the student for his/her efforts. Repeat the most positive feedback at the end. And encourage genuinely.

Remember that the students will forget your words quicker than the feelings the discussion evoked in them.

Observation and feedback form to be used in the development discussion.

N.B. This is only a sample and you need to modify it for your own purposes and classes. For some classes it may be in mother tongue.

A = always, B = often, C =sometimes, D = seldom, E = never

Study skills	A	B	C	D	E
You always study hard at school and at home.
You always do your homework by yourself.
You use very many ways to learn English better.
You know how to use dictionaries and the internet.
You always finish the tasks given to you.

Social skills	A	B	C	D	E
You co-operate very well in pairs and groups.
You are kind and always follow the class rules.
You help others willingly and ask for help too.
You control your own and other students’ behaviour.
You encourage the shy and quiet ones.

Motivation and attitude	A	B	C	D	E
You want to work hard alone, in pairs and groups.
You try to find new ways of learning English.
You want to learn English outside school as well.
You practise speaking alone and with others.
You read and write English in your free time.

Language skills	A	B	C	D	E
Your spelling is nearly free from mistakes.
Your writing is logical and convincing.
Your vocabulary is developing well.
Your pronunciation is very good and clear.
Your speaking is fluent and with good ideas.
Your listening skills are very good.
Your reading skills are excellent.
You can use grammar taught to you very well.

A = always, B = often, C =sometimes, D = seldom, E = never

Making the feedback a positive experience.

The comforting comments below can be made to an individual or to the whole class.

Remember that you have not done this before. All of this takes time.
Let’s keep things in perspective – what you did today was a very demanding thing to do and still you managed so well.
Remember this skill is a hard one and nobody can do it straight away. There simply are so many things to take into account.
You already master points A, B and C so all you have to do is to get the last thing done the way you want it and that’s it.
I remember when I was trying to do this for the first time. It was nowhere near of what you accomplished here.
Most people I know struggle with the same issue and with a bit of an effort success becomes routine for you. Practice makes perfect!
What I encourage others to do is that they speak the whole presentation aloud many times at home. Nervousness is natural but we can fight it back by rehearsing the lines aloud at home.
The way you handled the moment when you lost the trail of your thought was great and natural.
It seems to me you know what to do better next time. Right?
Now I think you know how to deal with these issues next time, don’t you? So what’s your action plan for the next presentation? You seem to be improving fast now.
All in all, the way you are improving as a class is just wonderful. I’m truly proud of you.

Modified heavily from ‘Which kind of observer are you’ by Luke Prodromou IATEFL Newsletter 2004

Class management

Qualities of good and bad teachers

31.10.2025 Raimo J Leave a comment

Golden or rotten memories of our own teachers will never disappear!

The golden memories of the teachers that we used to look up to will never fade away. Maybe we even tried to copy the ways of teaching of that person at the beginning of our career.

My favourite teacher happened to teach history. Later on at the university I realized he had five essential qualities:

He was … credible = he meant what he said and was a convincing , there was no pretending
He was … reliable = he followed his principles and rules consistently, we mostly knew what his reaction would be like
He was … empathic = he was on our side and fair in all situations
He had … emotional intelligence = he could sense our moods and emotional states and knew which strings to pull
He was … knowledgeable = he knew what he was teaching us and had the skill to get the message through to us

I always looked forward to the lessons since he had the ability to make the lessons fascinating with his stories, explanations and big cardboard pictures or slides. He had a great sense of humour and the first exam question was always a joke. He also played the guitar in a band and we sometimes sang songs in his lessons too.

Thanks to him I still believe that lectures can be an effective way of learning. Sad to say but good lecturers are hard to find. Lecturing is a skill most of us don’t have. Besides, students of today are often too impatient to listen to someone talking too long. That is why I always recommend student-centred methods which also guarantee better learning outcomes.

Pictures of this kind were the ones that stirred our imagination in the 1960s and 1970s. No computers, no overhead projectors. Some bad quality slides occasionally.

In spite of his old-fashioned teaching methods of the 1970s we enjoyed the captivating lessons and loved our history teacher because …

he gave us clear rules of behaviour and we knew exactly what we could do and were not allowed to do in his lessons, he even told why he insisted on those rules
he actually managed the class well and we felt the discipline was not harsh, we felt safe with him
he treated all of us the same no matter how good we were in history, he had some magical way of knowing if a weak student knew the answer and encouraged that student to reply
he was interested in us as individuals and kept on advising us while he was going around the class while we were working
he made clear from the very beginning that there were no bad answers and no-one was to be bullied or teased no matter what
he had a great sense of humour and the stories and jokes helped us to remember the big picture too
he was patient with us, guided us to grasp the main points of the lesson
he respected us and our opinions and raised his voice very seldom and

Above all we felt he was on our side, always ready to help us. Secondly, he was fair in his decisions and marking.

It is sad if the lesson means walking on thin ice!

Unfortunately we also had some bad teachers whose memory will never vanish either. In brief, what I am trying to convey to you is that in the end we teachers are measured at many levels and it is most unfortunate if we are remembered in such a negative light as I still after more than 50 years remember some of my teachers.

My worst school memories are from elementary school at the age of eight. I started to dislike my woodwork teacher because …

he beat me in front of others when I accidentally dropped a plane (a tool used for levelling wood) on the floor
he had very strict military-like discipline in class and he kept on shouting at us
he lost his temper easily and mocked students in public, he was a bully himself in modern terms
he controlled us with fear and used verbal or physical abuse
he believed in the power of physical punishments, sadly enough I did not dare to tell my parents about this incident
he told us once what to do and ignored our questions if we did not understand what to do or how to do it

Another bad memory concerns my class teacher at the same time in the elementary school.

she favoured one boy in many ways and we thought it was wrong but had no guts to tell her so
she got rid of a boy representing a minority group because he could not resist eating our colourful crayons, we never got to know his destiny

In the final year in the sixth form we had a hopeless physics teacher.

he had no authority in the class and the whole lesson was always a chaos
he entered the class, started talking and kept on talking even if we were not listening or learning anything
he did no care if we followed the lesson or learnt anything, the noise was awful and some of the boys were playing cards to pass the time away
he had no respect for us and neither did we for him, I shut my ears and read the physics book to learn at least something

The teacher can help us to build our tower of knowledge and behaviour or smash it down!

Yleinen

TEACHING reading aloud and PRONUNCIATION

31.10.2025 Raimo J Leave a comment

Up till now … during the text-based lesson

The students have studied the chapter at home in advance
We have checked homework exercises
We have worked orally on the new words of the next chapter
We have listened to the chapter and checked understanding of the text
NOW we have to read the text aloud
Deepening the understanding of the text
Doing oral activities, written exercises or underlining text in class

The teacher or a good recording is the best model for pronunciation. Believe in the power of imitation, students repeating after the model.

Why reading at this point? Simply because now we understand the text properly and there is no point in reading something you do not understand.

Why reading aloud? Simply because we have to practise pronunciation and we remember things better if we say them aloud. And because at the same time we develop our listening skills too.

Teaching beginners is exciting and rewarding because if you work your way through systematically you can quickly see and hear the progress in the students pronunciation and speaking.

I love teaching pronunciation and I am very ambitious in doing that. See my articles on English under vertical heading ‘Pronunciation’.

Who is going to teach pronunciation if it is not done at the school? Rehearse it in every lesson.

The following points will help you to improve the quality of your students’ pronunciation.

The teacher him/herself is the best and most flexible model in pronouncing a new language because he/she can adjust the speed of reading aloud to the level of the students.
Remember that beginners need a model they can imitate and a lot of repetition. Believe in the power of repeating/imitating after you or the recording. Students shadow what they hear while looking at the text.
Start a new textbook chapter by reading aloud the words in isolation with your students, preferrably having a list with the English words and their translations in mother tongue. Why? See vocabulary section! LINK
When reading the words aloud make sure the sounds and stress are correct. If not, have them repeated altogether.
Beginners cannot repeat very long utterances so when reading texts divide every sentence into smaller bits (breath groups) in a natural way. Even intermediate students benefit from this kind of reading.
Finally read the whole sentence. However, remember that if the sentences are too long, students easily get frustrated and give up reading altogether.
Young children in particular and some adults are amazing in how quickly they learn to pronounce English beautifully.
These days it does not matter if you speak British, American or some other accent as long as it is clear and understandable.
Little by little you can give up the breath group reading, cutting the sentences to smaller units, and let the students repeat whole sentences.
Having listened to the chapter of the textbook senior high students should be able to read on their own or in pairs or groups.
Try not to correct the pronunciation of individual students, especially when they are talking freely in pairs of groups. Otherwise they may get scared of talking and stop talking.
Finally, at an appropriate stage you can reveal the secrets of the use of weak forms and basic intonation patterns in English. By now your students master most of these things thanks to reading aloud and imitating the models.

Finally let me remind you of five different ways of reading a text aloud with the students.

Read after the teacher (recommended for beginners, read in short sections, not whole sentences).
Read after a pre-recorded model (CD etc., maybe the most widely used style).
Read in pairs or groups without a CD or model (for advanced students).
Read out aloud alone at your own pace (hilarious to listen to).
Read the sentence and the teacher or CD will repeat after you (great fun if the model reading has been listened to earlier).

I remember the very first lesson in 1978 when I started doing my teacher training: To my surprise, after listening to the tape the teacher asked the senior high students to read the text aloud at their own pace. First it sounded cacophonic but suddenly the freedom given to the students was all music to my ears. The teacher warned the students ‘One minute left,’ and of course everyone did not finish at the same time but it was ok because, as the teacher later told me, the matter had been agreed upon at the beginning of the course. Nobody’s feelings were hurt: the time given was used effectively and it is only natural that some read faster than others.

Grammar

TEACHING YOUNG BEGINNERS GRAMMAR, the lexical approach

30.10.2025 Raimo J Leave a comment

At its best lexical approach means teaching grammar as chunks, set phrases which serve as models which help memorization. Combining chunks with real-life situations leads to real communication.

Teaching grammar to young beginners using the inductive method is not very common because the ability of youngsters to understand conceptual explanations and rules is often limited to the very best pupils in the class.

Therefore, in mixed-ability classes teachers tend to use the lexical approach in teaching grammar with occasional use of the deductive method. In both cases there is a lot of emphasis on chunks that serve as structure models.

My transparencies/slides below are from the 1990s. My apologies for what they look like but never mind. What you see on them is still valid even today.

Luckily the number of ‘demanding’ grammatical structures is not very big in the early years of teaching a new foreign language and most structures taught can be learnt as ’chunks’ ; i.e. word combinations, words, set phrases or set structures. In these cases there is usually minimum reference to any rules and the learning of structures is similar to that of mother tongue: a lot of oral repetition and practice as well as using examples as models.

Even if some early CLT enthusiasts were not eager to teach grammar at least here in Finland we never gave it up. Nevevertheless, communicative language teaching brought along a significant change in teaching grammar: CLT principles emphasized the idea that grammar was not to be taught in isolation but combined with real-life situations where natives actually use the structures.

Applying lexical approach in situations

I remember how I struggled with my low-achievers in the early 1980s. In those days we still divided our age groups into three streams according to their proficiency level.

How was I supposed to make my students use grammatical structures in situations that resemble real-life situations following CLT principles?

Gradually I developed a strategy that seemed to work, my own version of situational grammar. Sorry about the shape of this slide from the 1980s. I had to cut of the dirty bits from it. Result of my treasure hunt and how I got going.

Why am I having this approach now? Because it gives you some perspective to my line of thinking and besides everything below is still valid today!

At a restaurant – chunks ‘I’d like to …’ , ‘I’ll have …’

Sometimes I had to use even Finnish translations on the transparency to make sure the weakest ones understood what they were saying. But still, they went on talking! The menu is probably from book series SIIE. Say It In English (WSOY).

Looking at a ‘real’ menu made the students realize the importance of ‘food vocabulary’. You had better not order something you do not like and still have to pay for it.

First I made a long list of real-life situations such as ‘at a restaurant’, ‘at a supermarket’, ‘at a police station’, ‘in an interview’ ‘explaing about future plans or past event’, ‘comparing things’ etc.
Secondly, I thought which structures were typical of these situations and gradually I ended up in having a list of situations with grammatical structures. ‘shopping – comparative and superlative forms of adjectives’, ‘at the police station or in an insurance company – was/were + -ing form – describing what was happening at the moment’
Thirdly, I realized that dramatizing the real-life situations was the only way to get close to reality at school. So, I told my students about the new ideas and why I’d like to try them out with them. In practice we chose role-play as our main method for dramatization. But …
Fourthly, I was pretty sure that I could not throw my low-achievers to these situations without suitable pre-tasks and proper preparation. Role-play was going to be the final stage of the practice.
Fifthly, I had to plan carefully the stages to be taken before the role-play. Sometimes it was a piece of cake since the students already knew the ‘chunks’ on the basis of the previous chapter in the textbook and could apply it right away.

At a dinner table – practising ‘could’, ‘would’. ‘ ‘d’ and ‘should‘

The chapter related to the 1st conditional was studied in class.
The exercise below was done in pairs at least twice. As you can see it is barely semi-communicative since most of the ideas are given ready-made.
But there was an element for communicative creativity since the students were allowed to replace the words in the box with words of their choice if they wanted to.
Finally we practised a similar situation at a ‘restaurant’ with real menus and a waiter/waitress taking orders with a white towel round the arm. Some of the key phrases were reflected on the screen with an overhead projector to help the weakest ones.

This kind of role-play is highly motivating since everyone understands that they will face a similar situation if they travel abroad. This exercise is also an example of ‘hidden differentiation’ where the weaker ones can hang on with the help of the advanced students. The continuation of the exercise below shows how the teaching of grammar and situations can be combined with extensive learning of vocabulary. A lesson like this will never be forgotten

With the advanced groups we went a bit further. Each 4-person group in class collected a vocabulary list: ‘cookware’, ‘kitchen utensils’, ‘kitchen verbs’ , ‘names of dishes’, ‘fruit, berries and vegetables’, ‘kitchen gadgets’ ‘spices and ingredients’ and made an exercise for the others to practise those words.
We went to the school cookery class to actually open the drawers and closets and cabins to check if we really memorized the ‘kitchen’ words.
Next each group made some food with ingredients they had brought from home (45 min) and we had a ‘RESTAURANT’ where we could dramatize the the highlight of the previous lessons, some students as clients and the others as waiters switching roles half way through.

Applying lexical approach in grammatical pre-tasks

It is rather common among CLT language teachers to start teaching a grammar point with a pre-task where the students use the new structure in an oral activity and have not got a clue about the rule they are applying. Usually the activity involves the use of a lexical chunk directly linked to the new grammar point. If the situations are ‘realistic’, the pair work or role plays, for example, can be very effective.

Games like ‘The Hot Ball’ or ‘Find someone who …’ are ideal as a pretask for a new grammatical point since the students get to use the structure up to 30 times correctly before the rule is formulated.

Pre-task: The hot ball game – the perfect tense

The teacher writes the sentence below on the board or screen

‘I have been to England/ Sweden/ Italy/ Germany/ Spain ...’

The chunk to be learnt, the perfect tense structure, is ‘I have been to …’
The students who are in a circle are supposed to say the same sentence by replacing the underlined country with any other country.
The teacher throws a small ball to the next student, whose attention is on the ‘hot ball’ so that it does not ‘burn’ their hands. So there is no time to worry about the sentence.
The student says his/her sentence and throws the ball to someone else.
Note that what the students say do not have to be true and … means they can use their creativity to make the answer more commi´unicative.

The chunk ‘I have been to’ serves as an introduction to the perfect tense and can be replaced later on by ‘I / We have had a dog/ two cats / a red car/ a summer cottage …

Similarly you could introduce many other structures ‘I’d like to …’ without any talk about the 1st conditional, superlative forms etc.

Pre-task: ‘Find somone who …’ – the perfect tense

Instructions for the students:

Find someone who can answer ‘Yes’ to your question. Write the name in the second box. You can use the same name only once. You have max 5 minutes for the task.

1 Have you seen any movies this week?
2 Has your dad or mum done sports today?
3 Have your classmates spoken to you this morning?
4 Has your math teacher ever been late?
5 Has your friend ever bought you a present?
6 Have your granparents ever picked you up from school?	Anne
7 Have you talked to the head of the school today?
8 Has anyone given you money this week?
9 Have you been abroad this year?	Raimo
10 Have you told your parents a joke this month?

So this is the ‘Pre-task’:

The students get this paper and walk about in the room asking these questions.
It may be hard to get ‘Yes’ answers to some questions and that is why many questions have to be repeated many times.
The key idea is that the students will have used the new structure correctly a lot before it is actually taught.
And there is no chance to make mistakes.
At the end the ‘results’ are explained in groups:’Raimo has been abroad this year.’

Pre-task: ‘Be able to’

This pre-task from the my early CLT years shows how a mechanical exercise can be changed to demand something more than reading aloud. In this case the student has to make links like ‘camera -photos’ ‘skates – ice-hockey’.

Besides students should be encouraged to make similar sentences creatively by replacing the words in the boxes with their own words. I should have added three dots … after the red boxes to indicate any words the students can come up with. Effortless differentiation!

Writing

THE STRUCTURE OF AN ARGUMENTATIVE ESSAY

30.10.2025 Raimo J Leave a comment

Teach this 1 – 3 – 1 structure of an argumentative essay properly and your students will never be in trouble with their essays.

If the student gets criteria-based feedback on his/her writing task, they will know which areas they are good at and which areas require much more work. In this article the focus is on the strategies how to improve ‘Content/Message’ and ‘Logical, convincing structure’ in writing an argumentative essay.

Is there a commonly accepted good logical structure for argumentative essays?

Yes, there is …

and it is the one often taught in British and American universities. The 1 – 3 – 1 essay: An introduction, 3 separate paragraphs and a conclusion. As simple as that. Not quite.

Of course, this is not the only model to be used and there may be various traditions in your country BUT this is a foolproof way to build up a logical and coherent argumentative essay.

	Introduction
Paragraph 1	Paragraph 2	Paragraph 3
	Conclusion

This formula is useless unless you as the teacher are able to open it up little by little to your students. Once they learn it, they will never forget it. And are grateful to you when sitting in their rocking chairs.

The students have to be taught what the ‘ideal’ logical structure of each 5 paragraph is like. Ok, let’s have an example.

Topic: Can we stop global warming? Note that there is no ‘correct’ answer to the question and the reader is not supposed to give the grade on the basis of to what extent he/she agrees with the writer. The whole point is how well and convincingly the writer can argue for his/her case.

Theoretically the writer has many options, positions to take:

‘Yes’, we can stop global warming … Reason/Means 1, Reason 2 and Reason 3
‘No’, we can’t stop it … Reason/Because 1, Reason 2 and Reason 3
‘Well, it depends …’ No, because we don’t … 1, Yes, if we … 2 and Yes, if we … 3

In other words, the writer has to take a position/stand, have a clear opinion on the matter, decide if his/her answer is Yes, No or Maybe if …

If the topic is a yes/no question, you position is ‘yes’, ‘no’ or ‘undecided’ Can we stop global warming?
If your topic starts with a question pronoun, you give 3 ideas or reasons. Why have we not been able to stop global warming?
If your topic is a statement, you treat it as a yes/no question Global warming can be stopped if people really want to do it

Back to our example: If we are optimistic then we will take position ‘yes’ and come up with 3 reasons why we think global warming can be stopped: 1) Giving up fossil fuels, 2) Public opinion has changed and 3) Modern technology is improving

There are other possible reasons and any of them will do if our arguments or opinions are backed up with convincing evidence. Note that this time we have to know quite a lot about global warming and conservation of nature to be able to argue convincingly.

The introduction, 1st paragraph

Now that we have our position clear ( = YES, we can stop global warming) and we have three means how to do it, we can formulate our ‘main argument’ = ‘thesis statement’: Global warming can be stopped if we drastically reduce the consumption of fossil fuels and if we make use of the latest technology in energy production and affect the opinions of the genearl public even more than we have done so far.

Where do we place this main argument? ANSWER: At the very end of the introduction! WHY? Because its purpose is to reveal our position and this is the most memorable place.

Is there a formula to built up the main argument/thesis statement?

Ye, there is. Thesis statement >>>>

Topic + your position (for, against or undecided) + 3 reasons (stated but justified only in the paragraphs)

Understanding that ‘position’ simply means the writer opinion about the topic is the key in the formulation of the main argument.

It is quite interesting that in the Finnish tradition we are used to keeping the main argument hidden till the end of the essay, which is just the opposite to the British and American tradition.

I have noticed that many of my student are ashamed of revealing their main argument at the end of the introduction because they think it should be something mind-blowing. No, it does not have to be anything special. What is required is logic, clarity, coherence and convincing proof/examples.

Should	we allow seventeen years olds get a driving licence?	Topic question
Main argument >>>	We should allow those who are seventeen to get a driving licence under special circumstances. (position ‘yes’ and ‘no’)	1 reason against + 2 reasons for
How do	people find happiness in life?	Topic question
Main argument >>>	People find happiness by fulfilling their dreams, if they feel they are loved and respected and if they are allowed to make their own decisions. (3 ideas/reasons)	Idea 1 + idea 2 + idea 3

If the main argument is at the end of the 1st paragraph, the introduction, what comes at the very beginning of the essay itself ?

Here you have a few options: You can have a general comment on the topic, like ‘Over the last 20 years there has been a lot of controversy if global warming is actually taking place or if it is caused by human actions or not . …

OR use a (provokative) example ‘The home island of three hundred people, Takavu Island, was washed away last week and there was a narrow escape for the inhabitants thanks to a U.S. military vessel sailing nearby. The reason for …

The structure of paragraphs 2, 3 and 4

By now we have worked out the structure of the 1st paragraph: general background comments on the topic and our main argument which consists of three reasons why we answer ‘Yes’ to the topic question ‘Can we stop global warming?’

All three paragraphs have only one purpose: They try to convince the reader that the main argument is true. Therefore each paragraph is a partial proof for the main argument.

Where do you place the topic sentences? The topic sentence is the very first sentence of each paragraph (2, 3 and 4).

Paragraph 2: Topic sentence Fossil fuels are regarded as the worst polluters on earth and if we manage to reduce the use of them ...

And what comes after the topic sentence? Reasons and justifications or an example for having this argument. Restriction on the use of coal in China, the USA, Russia – producing fuel from waste materials …

And at the end of the paragraph: All in all, when we finally succeed in making more and more use of renewable energy …

Paragraph 3: Topic sentence One of the most significant things speaking in favour of us being able to stop global warming, pollution and destroying our planet if that more and more people are truly worried about … and they demand a change in our attitudes. Reasons and justifications or an example for having this argument. The recent rise of the green movement and the Green Parties in the western world is a sign of hope. Even advertizers … And at the end of the paragraph: In brief, awareness of the state of our planet and the desire to take actions …

Paragraph 4: Topic sentence There is no denying that the demand of energy will most likely not decline but modern technology offers us many promising solutions. Reasons and justifications or an example for having this argument. For example, the use of solar energy, geothermal energy and wind turbines has increased immensely over the last two decades. Cars running on diesel or petrol are likely to be replaced by electricity run vehicles …. And at the end of the paragraph: To sum up, the change in people’s attitudes towards … and the great advances in ‘green’ technology …

The structure of the conclusion, paragraph 5

It is quite interesting that the introduction begins with a general background idea and ends with a specific main argument with a clear stand or reader’s opinions on the matter.

For example: The use of fossil fuels has been criticized for decades. (= general background idea) … At present the consumption of fossil fuels is on the decrease thanks to the green movement, development in technology and change in people’s attitudes. (= the main argument)

In contrast, the conclusion begins with a specific rephrasing of the main argument and ends up with a general idea, often with a wider perspective to the topic.

For example: More and more people have realized a change is needed and they have joined the green movement and are forcing politicians to consider the transition to the use of alternative sources of energy. (= a rephrase of the main argument) … The dream some conservationists had decades ago is becoming reality. It will be a narrow escape but the human race will be able to stop the destruction of this planet. We have no other choice left!

The language in the conclusion has to be precise and concise. No need to use summing-up phrases like ’All in all’ or ’As pointed out earlier’. An effective quotation may make your essay stand out from the others.

The reader will most likely feel glad if you manage to end the essay with a positive convincing tone, encouraging them to take action or read more about the topic.

If you want to play safe with the conclusion

rewrite the thesis statement and the topic sentences using other words
in other words, you paraphrase the arguments and the evidence you presented
do not repeat details or give brand-new information, use consice language

Overall importance of what you have written

Don’t write any new information. Your essay conclusion is about summarizing the thesis and statements.
Don’t share personal thoughts unless you write a first-person opinion piece.
Don’t restate each and all the details. You have body paragraphs for that.
Don’t just restate the thesis if you can provide some further – not new! – sophistication to original ideas.

The 1 – 3 – 1 structure of the essay

Introduction
General comment at the beginning or a mind-shaker example
The main argument = Thesis statement: At the end of paragraph 1 expressed in one sentence
topic + your position (= opinion on the topic) + 3 reasons / ideas

The magical three paragraphs:
3 paragraphs defending the main argument
3 topic sentences to start the paragraphs
3 reasons, ideas or examples to support the main argument

Conclusion: rephrase the main argument (and expand the horizon)

A summary of the structure of a good argumentative essay

	Introduction General background comments on the topic + the main argument as the last sentence of the paragraph
Paragraph 1 starts with a topic sentence + reasons/proof why the topic sentence is true	Paragraph 2 starts with a topic sentence + reasons/proof why the topic sentence is true	Pragraph 3 starts with a topic sentence + reasons/proof why the topic sentence is true
	Conclusion Rephrasing the main argument

There are quite a great number of things to remember when you are writing an argumentative essay, aren’t there? See if you can answer the questions below without consulting the pages above.

Is there any difference if the essay topic is a yes/no – question, starts with a pronoun or is a statement?
How do you start and argumentative essay?
Where do you place the main argument = the thesis statement?
What does the main argument consist of? (= Which parts does it have?)
What is meant by your postion in the essay?
How do you start paragraph 2, 3 and 4 and what else is included in them?
What is the structure of paragraph 5, the conclusion?
How can you make the conclusion sound more interesting?