Archive for the ‘Teaching materials’ Category

I’ve been reading “English as a Lingua Franca: Attitude and Identity” (hence “the ELF” of the post title) by Jenny Jenkins, and although its a much easier read than that Pseuds Corner book title might make you think, the main reaction so far is “Who cares?”

To summarize 37 pages in 37 words, the concept of English as a Lingua Franca is that as more and more English is used between non-native speakers a new variety or varities of English are being created that are just as valid and important as Glaswegian English or even RP and SAE- and much more relevant than those forms to most students studying English. So far, so fascinating- if we are in the process of the language and teaching changing, you can probably tell from the post below that I’d be happy to have something to shake things up. The important little grammar word here, though, is “if”.

Let’s see what Prof Jen Jen has to say about it: (more…)

Hopefully it’s just Mayday bank holiday rather than my lack of effort TEFLtasticwise recently that has seen a sudden drop in my number of views, but if only to make myself feel better I thought I’d give a list of where I’ve been making much more effort elsewhere, with links:

TEFL.net Idea Thinktank

15 fun ways to switch students onto graded readers

15 fun gapfill tasks

15 fun job application practice tasks- CV writing, cover letter, interview practice, HR vocabulary etc.

TEFL.net articles

15 common misconceptions about Business English and ESP

15 cultural differences in the Japanese classroom

15 more cultural differences in the Japanese classroom

15 criteria for a good cultural training lesson

15 more criteria for good cultural training lesson

15 important cultural differences in the classroom

15 more important cultural differences in the classroom

Onestopenglish (Macmillan) articles

Motivating teachers whose Business English students miss class

UsingEnglish articles for teachers

Why your students overuse their dictionaries- with solutions

70 characteristics of a good grammar presentation- possibly the longest article on this subject ever!

Why your students don’t want to do pairwork- with solutions and some pondering about whether they might not sometimes be right

Why your students still make mistakes with grammar they know well- with solutions and a call to relax when there are no solutions

The advantages and disadvantages of peer observations- with how to exploit the advantages and avoid the disadvantages

Things to put in a Self-Access Centre or Student Library- with tips on how to do it on the cheap

Why do my students question me?- with solutions

Why your students have problems with listening comprehension- with solutions

UsingEnglish.com articles for students (teachers might also want to have a look at what I am writing about them)

Why does my teacher make me read silently?

Why doesn’t my teacher correct all my mistakes when I’m speaking?

Why does my teacher make me learn the phonemic script?

UsingEnglish photocopiable PDF worksheets

Travel English pairwork B and V

Business and technical English easily confused words

CAE Reading Part Two match the quotes

TEFLtastic worksheets (pain in the arse to print out but worth the effort)

English for job applications/ HR worksheets

Cultural training worksheets for EFL classes

Requests and offers functional language review

The Roots of Medical English LP and 4 worksheets

And that’s it for TEFL stuff. The other thing I’ve been busy with is my wedding speech for the day after tomorrow, which could well mean that May will be an even less busy month in TEFLtasticland. Anyone fancy writing a guest piece or feeding me a story to keep the 1700 viewers I get on a good day entertained until I get back into the flow? If so, try the “Contact me” link on the right…

17. Find the graded reader extract blind
Students are given several extracts from graded readers that the teacher has brought into class. Without opening the books (and usually without obvious clues like character names), the students have to guess which of the books each extract came from. They can then open the books, flick through and check. You can then discuss which books sound most interesting and give each student one book they like the look of to take away.

16. Find the graded reader extract race
This is similar to Find the Extract Blind, but students can open the books and have to race to find each extract as quickly as possible. (more…)

As a blogger and writer of articles on the internet whose technical knowledge stops at Word, as usual I feel half chuffed at churning out so many articles, including a good one here and there, and half guilty at creating so much work for those who can name a programming language more recent than BASIC. So, with many thanks to the tech sorts who made this possible and without further ado, here are the new bits and pieces on the web that I’ve been associated with:

The TEFL.net review pages I edit now allow comments on any of the titles reviewed there, which is a fabulous idea which I wish had been mine.

On TEFL.net too, there is a new Idea Thinktank of practical teaching games etc, on which I have about 12 (!) articles including 15 Fun Things to do with a Whiteboard (yes, that’s a whiteboard rather than an interactive whiteboard- showing my age??) and the 15 Most Fun Pronunciation Games.

As if that wasn’t enough, I’ve also got some slightly more weighty ones up on the rejigged TEFL.net TEFL Articles Page, including Easy Ways to Improve Your TEFL Career.

And on Usingenglish.com in March:

Election- Second Conditionals speaking practice

101 IELTS Speaking Part Two Tasks about sports and hobbies

Why your students speak L1 in class

Why your students don’t do their homework

101 IELTS Speaking Part Two tasks about people, places, actions, things and times

Setting up workshops for teachers

Business English tense review

Business English silent letters and syllables

The language of trends spot the difference

I also had a review of a couple of BULATS books out in MET magazine this month, should you have a copy handy and fancy a look.

“Hi Alex

Just been looking at the worksheets and lesson plans you´ve reproduced.  You´ve certainly been busy, great work I will be using quite a lot of them.  I was checking through to see if you had any specific to Legal English, as I am currently teaching a group of five lawyers in Spain.  If you have anything or know any good links to other websites I´d really appreciate your help.

Thanks very much.

Cheers
Sarah”
———-

“Hi Sarah
 
Thanks for your nice comments. I’m afraid I’ve never taught lawyers (the nearest I got was immigration officers), but do you mind if I post your email to see if any other readers have suggestions?
 
Thanks
 
All the best
 
Alex”
———

“Hiya

Thanks for your quick response.  Yes, you can post my email if you like.

saludos
Sarah”

—

So, any help at all gratefully received by me and Sarah. Please! Pretty please!

callipygian:

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Still ruminating on the details my next big post, which will be “Why you should take the latest TEFL research with several buckets of salt”, but thought I should reassure my faithful reader(s?) that I haven’t abandoned you in the TEFL wilderness in the same week as Katie from TEFLlogue found a good man and hung up her TEFL blogging boots for good.

While I have been maintaining radio silence on TEFLtastic, I’ve been busy working on my two new blogs, JapanExplained (of which the English Words from Japanese explained, Japanese Education Explained  and Japanese Company Names Explained pages might interest TEFLers and other language buffs) and QuoteJapan. I’ve also written loads more new stuff for UsingEnglish.com and put new Medical English worksheets and Business English and ESP games and worksheets here on TEFLtastic, including most as pdf for easy killing of trees with the photocopier.

You’ll be most excited to hear, though, that I will soon be available in your pocket. I’ll let your imaginations go on that one for a while before I give any details…

Talking of the power of imagination, I actually have no evidence at all on Katie de Teflogue’s love life, but the TEFL world needs some good gossip I reckon. I’m picturing her man coming into the English school halfway through class, picking her up and sweeping her out of a life of drudgery like Richard Gere in “An Officer and a Gentleman” (as also featured in the Simpsons episode where Marge takes bowling lessons)…

And there’s more! As much as I complain about TOEIC, it seems to have caused such a creative (?) outpouring that I’d even forgotten I’d written half of these. Think of the articles as my Kublai Khan:

TOEIC FAQs

How to choose a good TOEIC class and TOEIC teacher

100 Ways to Improve your TOEIC Listening

Those are all designed for students, although they could also help teachers give their students the right hints. Lesson plans, game ideas and tips for teachers all in the post below.

Despite the attempts of some textbooks to use more stimulating listening activities like jigsaw listenings, stories in episodes that end at suspenseful moments, comic dialogues etc, turning on a tape is still the most likely action to make some of your students either sleepy or panicky. As well as adapting drier listening texts to incorporate more fun textbook activities like those just mentioned, there are plenty of things you can do to make a listening text less boring and less difficult for your students. These can be divided into things they do:
1. Before listening
2. Before class
3. While listening
4. After listening

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“What do you know about the Silent Way?”

“Not much,…

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