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Yleinen

TEACHING reading aloud and PRONUNCIATION

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Up till now … during the text-based lesson

  1. The students have studied the chapter at home in advance
  2. We have checked homework exercises
  3. We have worked orally on the new words of the next chapter
  4. We have listened to the chapter and checked understanding of the text
  5. NOW we have to read the text aloud
  6. Deepening the understanding of the text
  7. 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.

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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
  4. When reading the words aloud make sure the sounds and stress are correct. If not, have them repeated altogether.
  5. 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.
  6. Finally read the whole sentence. However, remember that if the sentences are too long, students easily get frustrated and give up reading altogether.
  7. Young children in particular and some adults are amazing in how quickly they learn to pronounce English beautifully.
  8. These days it does not matter if you speak British, American or some other accent as long as it is clear and understandable.
  9. Little by little you can give up the breath group reading, cutting the sentences to smaller units, and let the students repeat whole sentences.
  10. Having listened to the chapter of the textbook senior high students should be able to read on their own or in pairs or groups.
  11. 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.
  12. 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.

  1. Read after the teacher (recommended for beginners, read in short sections, not whole sentences).
  2. Read after a pre-recorded model (CD etc., maybe the most widely used style).
  3. Read in pairs or groups without a CD or model (for advanced students).
  4. Read out aloud alone at your own pace (hilarious to listen to).
  5. 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

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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.

  1. 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.
  2. 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’
  3. 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 …
  4. 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.
  5. 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!

Reading

Strategies to be used before, during and after reading comprehension exams

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There is no hope of improving reading skills until the reasons for NOT UNDERSTANDING the text are identified by the students themselves and they commit themselves to overcome the problems.

It is essential for teachers to realize that the process of decoding someone else’s messages is not the same with everybody. We are all different and depending on our background and style of learning we process information differently. Our problems in reading may also vary drastically.

Just like listening, reading skill is hard to teach because we have no control of the process in the reader’s mind. Still, we can affect the process indirectly by giving advice and guidance. The general CLT principle which is in favour of a great amount of input resulting in good results needs to be supported by teaching strategies on how to prepare for reading comprehension exams and how we can learn from our mistakes in taking exams.

If you are teaching senior high students, I suggest you go through the whole process once with your students and then get feedback from them if it turned out to be worth the time spent on it.

  • Strategies are dealt with the students before an exam
  • You, the teacher, study how the returning of the exam is to be arranged
  • Arrange a student-centred lesson to return the exam
  • Show the students the ‘heureka’ type of comments to be used

Strategies / tips for students in a reading comprehension exam

Let’s have a look at some strategies that are useful when students take a reading comprehension exam. Some of them are actually the same as in listening exams. Still, learning to apply the strategies does not take place over night. It also requires some practice.

Throwing the students one text or exam after another and assuming that massive input will automatically improve reading skill does not necessarily lead to success with everybody. It is better to teach the students how they should approach an ordinary or an exam text.

  • Relax your body. Take a couple of deep breaths! It will calm your nerves. Being nervous won’t help you.
  • Read the whole text through at first but do not stop even if you do not understand the text perfectly. This way you will have a better idea about the topic and structure of the text.
  • If the logic of the text is good, you can easily spot the main ideas and sentences. The rest of the text is justifications of the arguments or examples.
  • Start working on the questions only if you read the whole text first. Many ideas open up if you know the exact topic and the perspective of the writer.
  • Once you understand the topic and the questions, you can guess many things they talk about. If you use common sense and your background knowledge on the topic you may find it helpful.
  • Read the questions carefully and focus only on them.
  • Most of the information in the text is not needed. It may be irrelevant.
  • Don’t panic if you see new words. Try to guess what they mean. Very often you need not know the meaning of new words at all.
  • Be aware and watch out for extreme words like ‘never’ ‘only’ ‘always’ ‘anyone’. They are often too strong.
  • Link ideas that have the same meaning. For example: If the idea in the text is expressed “He used to go fishing on Saturdays and Sundays.” the same idea is in the answer booklet as “He was in the habit of catching salmon and trout at weekends.”
  • So the most common technique is just to express the same idea in other words.
  • If your exam consists of multiple choice tasks, use elimination technique. For example: Choice A was not talked about at all, Choice B is wrong because they said ’everybody’ which is not true, Choice D is wrong because ‘chance’ means different from ‘change’… SO the right answer has to be Choice C. You have now eliminated the wrong answers and you will answer C (even if you may not know exactly why).

Strategic tips for the teacher about returning an exam

  1. Have an exam for the students and when you return it devote a whole lesson to go through the exam in detail, every question and every alternative. I explain the process in detail in the next article.
  2. Demonstrate with the first two questions how the analysis is done and then let the students discuss the other questions in groups. Have star students leading the discussion without lecturing the right answers. See my next article.
  3. Don’t interfere with the group discussions but take notes on the problems the groups do not seem to solve well. Answer the students questions at the end of the lesson and point out your own observations.
  4. Now the students should have a vague idea what the reasons for the mistakes are. In other words, they may have identified some of the problem areas.
  5. Now that the students are motivated to hear more it is time to have another lesson where you go through my strategy tips for an exam. Show the tips one by one on the screen and let the students ask questions on them. Give the list as a handout after the discussion with my copyright. Let them have it even in exams.
  6. If you think your class will not be able to discuss these matters in English, let them use the mother tongue to make sure the messages get through.
  7. Make each student write in English what they have learnt over these two lessons and what they are planning to do to overcome the difficulties.
  8. Show them my ‘heureka’ comments on the screen as models of the kind of comments you are looking for. See below!
  9. Collect the comments and give feedback on them in the 3rd reading comprehension enhancement lesson.
  10. Now you have done your job: you gave your students the tools for improvement. Nevertheless, they are the ones who have to start working. Probably making use of the other strategies that I have been talking about.

The students have to come up with ‘heureka’ realizations like …

  • Ah, I think I worry too much about words I have never seen and stop reading because of them and get frustrated. SO, next time I will try to guess the meanings or maybe the word is not important at all or knowing if the word has a positive or negative meaning on the basis of the context is enough.
  • Ah, ‘carry out’ and ‘realize’ can sometimes mean the same OR ‘no adequate funds’ is the same as ‘not enough money’ or ‘lack of sufficient resources’. SO, my problem is vocabulary and learning many ways to say the same thing.
  • Ah, I stumble over the same structures over and over again. Shortened sentences, never heard. Wow! ‘Having left for downtown’ is a shortened sentence meaning the same as ‘When I had started to drive towards the city center’ SO, I have to study grammar more because I always stop at this kind of structures and do not get the meaning.
  • Ah, my mistake is that I start reading by translating the text word by word. SO, I have to stop translation tactics because it is too slow. Working through mother tongue will not do. I have to learn to think in English.
  • Ah, I have been too much in a hurry. I usually start by reading Question 1 and then look at the text without knowing what the whole text is about. SO, from now on I will read the whole text through first without stopping even if I do not understand everything at first. This way I will get an overall picture of the topic and the main ideas.
  • Ah, I never realized that some sentences are more important in a paragraph than others. SO, spotting of the main sentences in a paragraph seems to work for me. I will worry about the details much less this way.
  • Oh, no. All these years I have been trying hard but nothing seems to work. I thought I was just stupid. Now that you told about dyslexia and its symtoms I think I may suffer from it. SO, Thanks. I will contact the special teacher and see if he can help me.

Having a talent rarely takes anyone to the top. Reaching excellence in anything requires very hard work, 10 000 hours of work, they say. Maybe that is the total number of hours needed to master a foreign language ‘perfectly’. I am still counting ...

Up to 10 percent of students suffer from some form of dyslexia, reading and writing difficulty. Luckily these days students have the courage to admit they have these problems and special teachers are trained to help them.

The text in the next article is an example of how a mature 16-year-old might be able to process a reading comprehension text. I believe that if the students are able to apply the strategies and tips given in my previous articles in this ‘test’ they will become better readers. And writers too since good writers will anticipate the reactions of their readers.

You will find the sample exam in the next article and correct answers with a ‘mature’ reader’s comments in the final article of this Reading Unit.

Communicative teaching (CLT), Grammar

TEACHING GRAMMAR THE OLD AND CLT STYLE, comparison

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They say 7 is a lucky, godly number. I am not supertitious but I have 7 reasons that speak in favour of the CLT approach to teaching grammar.

Benefits of teaching grammar in CLT style

  • The use of pre-tasks reduces anxiety around the new structure.
  • After the pre-task the structure feels familiar and easier to learn.
  • Using the inductive method activates the brains and enhances learning.
  • Practice is not limited to mechanical written exercises but taken further with versatile oral exercises.
  • Working and checking the tasks together in groups the students teach and help each other in a relaxed atmosphere.
  • The final aim is to have truly communicative activities such as role plays.
  • Grammar is seen as a tool, not as an aim of its own.

Grammar in the old daysCLT ideas on Grammar

PRE-TASK, very rarely used

PRE-TASK, commonly used

Frequent oral tasks before the rules of a new structure are introduced,
Students use the structure 15 -30 times in a few minutes.
They get a feeling they already know the structure.
No great possibility to make mistakes thanks to models or ready-made sentences.

INTRODUCING THE RULES Deductive method
Rules voiced by the teacher
Little student involvement
Comparison with mother tongue
Lexical approach with beginners

INTRODUCING THE RULES Inductive method
Teacher-guided process
A lot of student involvement
Comparison with mother tongue
Lexical approach with beginners

PRACTICE OF THE STRUCTURE
Mostly written exercises which get systematically more and more demanding.
Mechanical exercises, very seldom even semi-communicative
Everybody is doing the same exercises, no differentiation.
Oral exercises are limited to mechanical drills in class or language labs.
Exercises are mostly done alone or supervised by teacher, checked with the teacher too.

PRACTICE OF THE STRUCTURE
Both written and oral exercises which get systematically more and more demanding.
Written exercises which start from mechanical ones, turn semi-communicative and finally fully communicative.
Students can often decide which difficulty level they prefer.
Oral exercises follow the same logic, differentiation is used
Exercises are mostly done and checked in pairs or groups.

One has to be realistic and admit that in many classes this would be as far as many students are able to go. If they understand the rule and can apply it both in written and oral exercises of various kind, you as their teacher can be proud of them. Most importantly the students recognize the structurein all situations and can use it in speech as well.

Let’s think about the previous article and the way I used to teach the present tense passive voice once again. I will show you now how to turn the mechanical exercise to a communicative one. The example below combines written and oral communication and would be one way to end the teaching of the structure.

How can we turn the practice of the present tense passive voice more communicative?

  • First of all, the inductive formulation of the rule is best done slowly with the teacher in charge to give everyone time to think about the matters.
  • Secondly, exercises such as 1 – 4 in the previous article can be done in groups with a star student as the leader of the group and the others give the answers.
  • Thirdly, the teacher has to think in advance of a situation where natives would use the present tense passive voice structure. The most obvious situation is describing a process or a series of events where things happen but we do not need to know who does it.
  • Fourthly, the groups do an oral practice by taking turns in explaining a process: What happens to cars in their life time? How to make fashion clothes? How to make your greenhouse plants grow well? How to drive a car or plan a journey?
  • Fifth, the group decides on the process to be described in writing:

A couples of examples of the kind of sentences required are needed as models.

  • What is done in a local McDonald’s during an ordinary day to serve the customers well?



  • What is done before my day in the riding stable is done?

    • What is done?
  • Other topics: playing football or icehockey / at home or school
    • …    		The place is cleaned between 5 and 7 a.m.
    Kitchen preparations for the meals are done before opening.
    The doors are opened at 9.00.

    I am taken to the stables by my dad round four p.m and the horses are groomed before the lesson. We are given other chores too to do before we are allowed to saddle the horses. etc.

    • Models like above are needed to stir the students’ imagination and to give them an idea of what they are supposed to do.
    • Sixth, the descriptions are checked by the teacher while the writing process is going on. Finally the descriptions are read aloud in front of the class, each student reading at least one sentence. The ideas can be challenged by the other groups if they think something essential was ignored.

    Make coming in front of the class a habit. Yes, it is scary at first but not so much any more after twenty trials. After two and a half years a very shy IB-student of mine took all of us by surprise when she wanted to give a presentation on ballet. No-one knew she was a ballet dancer but when she got in the front and made us copy her movements explaining what is done in a ballet practice and why, she became a shining star in the very last lesson we had together. She finally found her confidence in doing what none of us was able to do. I will never forget the smile on her face and the courageous memory she left on all of us. And the brilliant example of using the present tense in the passive voice. Yes, I feel like a wet blanket now. Mixing grammar with brilliance. But grammar is important, right?

    Communicative teaching (CLT), Grammar

    THE DODSON BILINGUAL METHOD

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    Is there a method that allows the teacher to use the mother tongue in teaching English without feeling guilty? Yes, there is. The Dodson bilingual method.

    Slow learners and beginners share one disadvantage: they do not understand the exact meanings of sentences unless they are explained in the mother tongue. Most teachers probably try to speak as much English as they can but sometimes they have no other choice than resort to their mother tongue.

    The only time when I have been using the Dodson bilingual method in teaching languages was in the mid-1980s when I taught Swedish to complete beginners. The method itself was developed by Professor J. Dodson, a Welshman, and even if it was not widely used and accepted I think it is worth introducing here. For slow learners this method is excellent in getting them to use the new language from the very beginning.

    The Dodson method is sometimes linked with the oldfashioned translation method but that is unfair because the students do not actually do a translation but they learn the phrases by heart after repeating them after the teacher and making changes in the phrases. It is actually very close to the lexical approach.

    The time phrases in Example 1 below may seem simple and even childish but if you could do these exercises in Japanese, Arabic or Persian, would you not be proud of yourself! A lot of input and repetition at the right level with the help the mother tongue helps the students tremendously.

    Example 1, learning to tell the time: It’s eleven o’clock. / It ‘s two thirty / It’s fifteen past four / It’s twenty to ten (4 basic phrases visible on the screen)

    Stage 1: Pre-task: BINGO numbers 1 – 30

    Stage 2: The students read the 4 basic phrases above aloud after the teacher who gives the meaning in the mother tongue.

    Stage 3: Then the teacher says one of the same phrases in the mother tongue BUT changes one or two underlined words in it and the class says the phrase in English in chorus. I’ll repeat: The teacher uses the mother tongue but the students don’t!

    Model visible: It’s eleven o’clock.
    Teacher says the phrase in the mother tongue:
    Kello on 10. Kello on 7.
    Kello on 12.    		Students say in English in chorus:
    It’s ten o’clock.
    It’s seven o’clock.
    It’s twelve o’clock.
    Model: It’s two thirty.
    Kello on 5.30.
    Kello on 10.30. … etc.    		It’s five thirty.
    It’s ten thirty.
    Model: It’s fifteen past four.
    Kello on 13 yli 7.
    Kello on 25 yli 3. … etc.    		It’s thirteen past seven.
    It’s twenty-five past three.
    Model: It’s twenty to ten.
    Kello on 5 vaille 8.
    Kello on 25 vaille 11. … etc.    		It’s five to eight.
    It’s twenty-five to eleven.
    Finally all four patterns in a random order
    Kello on 10 vaille 7. Kello on 6. Kello on 11.30. Kello on 7 yli 9.    		It’s ten to seven.
    It’s six o’clock.
    It’s eleven thirty. It’s seven past nine.

    Stage 4: The students work in pairs either doing what the teacher just did or writing times on a paper and the pair responds to it.

    The next stage would, of course, be going through additional time phrases such as It’s eleven o’clock. /It ‘s two thirty = It’s half past two / It’s fifteen to four = It’s a quarter to four etc.

    The main points in me using Dodson’s method ran as follows:

    • Decide if you need to have a pre-task to do some revision (numbers, days of the week, months, verbs, adjectives etc.)
    • Choose the key phrases you want to teach in advance, decide which word(s) you wish to change and write down the other words you wish to use in the phrases.
    • The Dodson method is rather hectic for the teacher who has to bang in the mother tongue phrases rather quickly.
    • Short utterances and sentences serve as units of teaching.
    • Grammar is not emphasized and structures are learnt as lexical items, pretty much like in the lexical approach.
    • Natural situations and dialogues in them serve as a starting point and then we proceed the narrative texts on the same topic.

    Example 2: A situation in a shop.

    Stage 1: The whole dialogue and all options are repeated aloud after the teacher.

    Stage 2: The teacher says the phrases in the mother tongue and the students say them in English, about 40 phrases. In a good class you can skip this stage.

    A: Good morning /afternoon. I’m looking for a silver ring / a colour TV / a blanket / jeans / running shoes. How much is it / are they?
    B: Well, it depends on the size and quality. 50 dollars / 600 euros / 45 pounds / 38 dollars the cheapest ones / 80 pounds for the best ones.
    A: Ah, this one looks/ these ones look very nice / beautiful / very warm / modern / wonderful.
    B: Yes, you are right. It comes from Britain / India / China / from a nearby factory / from abroad.
    A: Fine. I’ll take this one / these ones / the black model.
    B: Okey, how do you want to pay? 50 dollars / 600 euros / 45 pounds / 38 dollars / 80 pounds. In cash or by credit card?
    A: In cash, here’s the money / By credit card. Here you are.
    B: Thank you sir / madam. And welcome back again.

    Stage 3: The students read the dialogue in pairs picking up any green items they want or replace them with their own words and ideas ( = the last idea is the simple automatic way to differentiate the learning situation)

    Stage 4: The students work in pairs and write a similar dialogue but make a lot of changes in it and the dialogues are later on circulating in the class and read by the others.

    There is not much ready-made material like this available but in some classes this technique may be worth the extra trouble it causes in planning. My memories from these classes are still pleasant and the response from students was very favourable.

    Class management

    Four types of learners, implications

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    Are you a green, blue, grey or a red learner? What about your students? Are you able to take learner profiles into account in your lessons?

    Source: many ideas modified from a http://www.pedanet.com/rauma article in Finnish on differentiation ‘Eriyttäminen’

    I have already dealt with the first two items below so in this article the focus is on learner profiles and the ways we can take them into account in our lessons.

    • Learning styles: auditive, visual and kinesthetic or a combination of them. THIS ARTICLE is an expanded view to learner styles!
    • Learning strategies: each of us finding the best ways we can improve our language skills; i.e. what techniques to use to learn new words or how to become a better speaker, etc.
    • Learning profiles: due to our personalities and personal characteristics we respond to situations in different ways – something that both we and our teachers should recognize

    All students are different and they also learn in different ways. Consequently, one starts to wonder how on earth we can teach them in the same class if they all have their own style of learning.

    In CLT methology we believe that the answer lies in

    • student-oriented methods and practices in class
    • well-planned lessons even if the teacher remains in the role of organizer
    • and above all the students being taught and becoming aware of what kind of learning styles, strategies and profiles there are
    • then it is up to the students to choose the best ways for them to learn the language better

    In other words, we first teach our students these things and then the students will try out any methods, styles or strategies that appeal to them and seem to work for them.

    After all, the students themselves are the best judges in how they learn best but they need to know what options/choice they have.

    The means how we learn a language does not matter that much but the final practical outcome does. In my school years I learnt more English from songs than ever at school. Everybody’s route is a bit different.

    Still, it is very interesting to consider for a moment what the four learner categories below have to offer and how we could take them into account in class.

    Read through the learner profiles and think if you have students like it and if you have been able to take them into account in your everyday teaching. Maybe you find yourself in one of the profiles. I found myself to be mostly a red learner with some blue characteristics. In reality we may all be a different combination of these features.

    My own conclusions on how to apply this information are at the end of this article.

    Green learners …

    learn by doing and experimenting
    lose interest if the content is too theoretical
    get irritated if there is too much pondering
    like to move about in class, holistic learners
    learn well from models and practical applications
    need an adult to guide them
    like action as well as pair and group work
    can organize practical things
    need very clear instructions
    like to work with their hands

    Blue learners ...

    like to discuss and argue
    demand to have reasons and justifications for everything
    can learn new things even if they talk at the same time
    noise does not bother them
    are active and quick in actions, like pair and group work
    like to move about in class but do not disturb
    learn if they are allowed to talk a lot
    like to work and sit on a sofa, on the floor but not at a desk
    are verbally skillful and alert all the time
    are critical about the tasks given

    Grey learners ...

    observe others and stick in the background
    ponder upon issues from many angles
    are visual and learn from pictures and drawings
    do not like to be in the centre of attention or in a hurry
    do not like noise, need peace and quiet around them
    are conscientious and careful with their work, good imagination
    need a lot of time, lack of time makes them anxious
    get nervous in exams and are under-achievers in exams
    are slow in raising their hands due to pondering on various views
    like learning in small groups with students who are like them

    Red learners …

    are theoretical, analytical, systematic and logical
    want to know exact details, ask; why? what if?
    question, ponder on and analyze information
    find it difficult to describe feelings
    are perfectionists who like to work alone, self-directed
    learn best when solving problems or in doing projects
    thinkers who are often deep in their own thoughts
    demand very clear and logical instructions
    appreciate discussions and clearing up background information
    like to have order and safety around them

    Practical implications of applying learner profiles

    The principles below are derived from the CLT methology and from the learner profiles. See if they make sense to you as well.

    1. I always have my instructions on the screen in addition to saying them aloud.
    2. I use a lot of pair and group work because of effective learning and to allow discussions and to encourage the shy ones to interact socially with the others to boost their self-esteem. Laughter and humorous comments in class are music to my ears.
    3. I constantly justify and give reasons why we are going certain things in class. At the same time I reveal my beliefs and the students can challenge them.
    4. I randomly vary the composition of the groups to make it possible for the students to get t know each other and to allow them to move about to another table and hope they will express their feelings a lot.
    5. I go to help the students who seem to need my guidance even if they are in a group. I follow eagerly even heated discussions in groups and say my own opinion or point out a new thing to them or acknowledge not being an expert in the matter.
    6. I control the volume level in the classroom and sometimes allow the students to go and work in the corridor or school library. I let my students listen to music using their headset while working individually.
    7. I explain grammatical terms and theoretical terms in layman’s style and I am pleased with low-achievers if they can express themselves in speech or writing using a model which they more or less simply copy.
    8. I use visual stimuli (photos, videos and youtube), recorded textbook or internet materials to serve auditive learners and try to keep the kinesthetic learners busy by giving them minor chores and allowing them to move about in the room every now and then.
    9. I insist little by little that every student comes in front of the class with his/her group and says something during the presentation: one sentence leading to a five-minute talks on their own.
    10. I always tell the students how much time they have for a task, warn them when the time is running out and tell them not to worry if they did not finish the task. As long as they work hard I am pleased.
    11. We practise for all exams in a special lesson so the students know what kind of questions will be asked and they have a chance to ask me to clarify things they have not understood. All of this to relieve exam anxiety.
    12. I tell the perfectionists that the grades are not the measure of man and that failing is normal in life, not something to be ashamed of.

    Yleinen

    ENGLISH CONSONANT SOUNDS, s-sounds, vowel comment

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    Yes, S-sounds (if pronounced well) sound good. Rely on the power of imitation!

    BACKGROUND ON SOUNDS

    The sounds used in every language and even in dialects vary but the main thing for teachers is to realize that the best way to learn the sounds of any language is to have a good model speaker, listen carefully and then repeat the sounds and words that include these sounds over and over again. The students simply imitate the way the teacher says words.

    If you feel it is necessary you can check the meanings of the 150 words in the lists.

    There is usually no need to explain the systems of every language in detail. Still, in some cases the sounds may be completely new to the students and if imitating is not the solution, the teacher may have to explain how the sound should be produced.

    For example, the English th-sound: place the tip of your tongue under your upper teeth and blow the air out, at the same time place your hand in front of your mouth and feel the air coming out: that is the th-sound. The th-sound can be voiceless or voiced. In words ‘thin’ ‘thick’ ‘through‘ /th/ is voiceless. Now place you hand on your throat and produce the same sound so that there is vibration on your throat. Like in ‘this’ ‘that’ ‘those’.

    COMMENT ON VOWELS

    So far we have pointed out that we need to work systematically in teaching English pronunciation. The order of doing things was introduced and suggested in the previous article.

    You may be wondering why we do not talk about the pronunciation of vowels. The reason is simple: vowels are used in all languages and the differences in pronouncing vowels are easily learnt by imitating a good model.

    Besides the following exercises include a great number of vowels that are practised simultaneously. All we need to do is to emphasize the difference between short and long vowels as well as those in diphtongs (combinations of two different vowels) since the difference sometimes changes the meaning of the words. The time for each s-sound is indicated after the list in case you decide to practise the sounds little by little.

    Let’s practice the English s-sounds by repeating the words in the audio file below. PRESS the button and ask your students to repeat the words!

    English s-sounds, oral practice

    Time: 0:00- 0:36 N.B. Voiceless /s/, meaning no vibration on your throat and voiced /z/, meaning you can feel vibration on your throat. Otherwise the sounds /s, z/ are pronounced exactly the same. And the same goes with the other s-sound pairs below.

    / s /  see, say, sing, song, seem, stay, still, some, same, slow, summer, sin, sleep, small, save, son, side, sentence, Sunday, second, six, Saturday, sad, saddle, less, lost, almost, case, face, perhaps, peace, pass, last, hats, rats  (voiceless, no vibration on throat) Time on the recording 0:37-2:01

    / z / is, zoo, rose, his, hers, zero, has, easy, zebra, lazy, crazy, as, does, dogs, busy, noise, noisy, zoom, zone (voiced, feel the vibration on throat) Time 2:02-2:50

    We often use this sound when we ask someone or our kids to be quiet, shh   / ʃ /  ship, she, shop, short, sure, shut, shoe, shore, shoot, shine, should, push, finish, wash, rubbish, station, ocean, fish, punish, wish, mention, machine, condition, relation                  (voiceless, no vibration on throat)  Time 2:51-3:45

    / ʒ /  garage, vision, treasure, explosion, invasion, measure, usual, pleasure, decision, occasion (voiced, feel the vibration on throat) Time 3:36-4:15

    / θ / and / ð / sounds are both always written with  th. Place the TIP of your TONGUE UNDER your UPPER TEETH and produce the sound by blowing air between your tongue and upper teeth. This sound is actually easy: just air coming out of your mouth.                              

     / θ /   thin, thing, think, thought, tooth, three, thirty, thank, earth, both, path, cloth, bath, faith, something, Thursday, thief, health, wealth, death, month (voiceless, no vibration on throat) Time 4:16-5:04

    / ð /   this, that, there, those, they, them, these, than, father, together though, brother, further (voiced, feel the vibration on throat) Time 5:05-5:38

    We often use this sound when we make the sound of a noisy steam engine train.      / t ʃ  /    cheap, chair, church, change, chance, rich, picture, future, catch, much, watch, kitchen, chief, each, beach, reach, question, fortune, teach, change, touch, March          (voiceless, no vibration on throat) Time 5:39-6:29

    / dʒ /  jump, page, joke, strange, imagine, danger, journey, soldier, June, July, January, village, language, manage, cage, large,  age, just (voiced, feel the vibration on throat) Time 6:30-7:12

    Yleinen

    The weak forms – how to use them

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    One more trick to sound like native speakers: Learn how to use the ‘weak forms’ of some basic words!

    There are about 30 weak forms in English. They are very common words that are pronounced differently from what people are usually taught. are > /ə/ must > /məs/ etc. Let’s learn to pronounce them like natives do and you will be much closer to native rhythm and flow of speech.

    Why should we bother to teach weak forms to our students?

    • The most important reason is that it will improve the rhythm and flow of our students’ speech. It is one of the keys to native level speaking.
    • Secondly, having done this exercise you will most likely realize that you need this information in listening exercises too.
    • Thirdly, once you are aware of the existence of the weak forms you will understand why you sometimes miss even simple messages.
    • Fouthly, it only takes less than one lesson of your time and then the students can practise the system on their own.
    • N.B. First practise slowly and then after a while like native. You will find the pronunciation weird in the beginning.
    • Once the sounds of English have been learnt and practising breath group reading is on its way, our next aim towards native speaker pronunciation is to use ‘the weak forms’ of some 30 basic words. Most of them are auxiliary verbs, pronouns or prepositions.

    The words to be weakened are: am, are, is, was, were, be, do, does, has, have, had, can, will, shall, would, must, and, as, but, he, his, her, us, them, that, than, some, at, for, to, from

    The ‘weakening’ process basically takes place by changing the quality of vowels or leaving out sounds. Here we go …

    • The original vowel sound in these words is pronounced as / ə / or / i / : were > wə, are > ə
    • Sometimes the / ə / sound is so short that you can barely hear it: can > k(ə)n, some > s(ə)m
    • The initial /h/ sound is left out altogether; he > / i: /, her > / ə: /
    • One or many sounds are not pronounced at all: would > /d/, and > /n/
    • The weak forms below have little meaning and therefore they can be pronounced ‘carelessly’.

    I had personally never noticed the system until it was taught us at the university. For instance, are > /ə/ must > /məs/ he > /i:/ etc.

    Learn more about the weak forms in the audio file below. Using the weak forms is the natural way to pronounce these words in most cases.

    And now move on to the Oral Practice of the weak forms. Press the button and hit the road.

    It is good to be aware of the existence of the weak forms. Having done this exercise you will most likely realize that you need this information in listening exercises as well and you can skip these little words that carry very little meaning and focus on the key word of each sentence.

    However, it is important to use to use at least some of these weak forms while speaking in English. It will improve the rhythm and flow of your speech.

    Before we start practising we need to point out that any of these words may be in a (stressed) position where they MUST be pronounced in their strong form.

    For example:

    I saw that boy yesterday. Tom has two sisters and I have one. Are you tired? Yes, I am.

    A: You weren’t there in time. B: Yes, I was. Five minutes early, in fact.

    Let’s now read the strong form and the weak form and then the examples in bits and finally the complete utterances

    Examples
    am əm
    ‘m    		When am I to come?  Why am I the first one? Am I the last one? I’m over here. I’m very happy now.
    are     ə, ər They’re late.  When are you coming?  Are you quite sure? II  (before a vowel >)   We’re all very tired.  They’re always happy to see you. 
    is      s / z / izMy cat’s sleeping. Jim’s very hungry. Jane’s not at home. The bus is coming. The change is bothering me.
    was      wəz I was in London. He was ill yesterday. She was angry with the boy.
    were    wə(r)We were in the park. They were cheerful. You were in a disco?
    be            bi Don’t be so sad!  I’ll be right back.  You might be right.
    do           də Why do you often come late? Why do you like her so much?
    does      dəzWhy does he write like this?  When does the train leave?
    can   k(ə)n I can do that.  She can play golf well.  They can come any time.
    will       ‘lI’ll be back soon.  We’ll show you the way.  They’ll be starting the show soon.
    shall        ʃəlI shall be there in a minute. We shall overcome the problem. Don’t  worry!
    must məs         I must go now. We must phone her at once. We must not forget the date.
    and   (ə)nyou and I / the girls and the boys / Go and find the kids at once.
    us        əz  
    		Tell us what happened.  He told us a straight lie.  Show us the way, please!
    he      i: Does he play tennis? Did he win the match? I know he’s not at home.
    his   iz 
    		I met his brother yesterday.  Tom and his sister are waiting for you.
    her      ə We met Jane and her parents last night. We saw her at a party.
    has  s / z / əzShe’s got two cats.  Jim has seen the film.  He has found the key. / (after s-sound> əz )  The place has changed a lot. / The bus has arrived.
    have    v əvThey’ve learnt the lesson. We’ve got two minutes more. The kids’ve got to come with me. The boys’ve known it all along.
    had   d ədThey had taken the test. We had forgotten it. (after a consonant > əv) The men had eaten at eleven. The kids had  gone swimming..
    would   ‘dHe’d like to come with us. We’d like to show it to you
    as            əzas good as new / as soon as possible / Do as he says.
    but      bətBut I knew it.  He said it but I didn’t believe him.  But why not?
    that  ðətHe admits that he did it.  She claimed that we had often been late.
    than     ðən    better than anyone / Your car is much faster than mine.
    some   səmsome butter /some milk /some of us / I’ll meet her some other day
    at    ətat school / at the station / at home / We met her at the railway station.
    for fə fər for me / for me and you / Save some of the cake for the children, too          fər  (before a vowel)  for all of us / for everyone / She bought the shirt for Evelyn.
    to      təto London / to me / Give it to me.  He’s coming to Leeds soon.
    from    frəmfrom London / From me with love to you. He’s coming from Leeds.

    TO SUM UP, here are my recommendations to improve your students pronunciation

    • practise the sounds of English little by little
    • make the pupils pronounce textbook words separately in lessons
    • make them read the texts in smaller units / in breath groups
    • practise the use the weak forms to get to the right rhythm in English
    • introduce the concept of ‘intonation’ and encourage the students to imitate the models (See more about intonation in ‘Classroom phrases’)