Archive for the ‘Error correction’ Category
Monday, September 15th, 2008
Posted in Becoming a Director of Studies, Business English and ESP, Business English games, CELTA, Complaints, Cross cultural training in EFL, Cultural differences/ cultural training, EFL management, Email, Error correction, Grammar, Grammar games, Language of negotiation, Needs analysis, Onestopenglish, Passives, Photocopiable worksheets, Present continuous/ present simple, Present tenses, TEFL, TEFL career planning, TEFL certificate, TEFL games, TEFL reviews, Teacher training, Teaching, Teaching qualifications, Teaching young learners, Telephoning, Text messages (SMS), Usingenglish, Writing, links, pre-school/ kindergarten/ very young learners | 2 Comments »
Monday, September 1st, 2008
It was a quiet month (if you don’t count the sound of the cicadas), but that will just give you the chance to read all of them for once, starting with a new series of “well balanced…” articles on Usingenglish.com:
A well balanced use of L1 in class
A well balanced use of error correction
And back here in TEFL.netland
15 ways to prepare for the CELTA etc
15 ways to do needs analysis
Academic Vocabulary in Use review
And not one of mine but edited by me
Imagine That (Mental Imagery in the EFL Classroom) review by Darren Elliot
If that isn’t enough for you (and how could it be?), you could have a look at the same post for July, my newly updated list of links to my stuff, or my newly updated worksheet pages with links to stuff by category.
Finally, if you like any of my stuff, you’ll love ELTgames.com, from the ever fab Jon Marks- it is a lesson to all the rest of us about what a truly professional TEFL internet could be.
Tags: Links, Reviews
Posted in Business English and ESP, CELTA, ELT publishing, ELTgames.com, English for Academic Purposes, Error correction, Error correction games, Materials, Needs analysis, Self-study materials, TEFL, TEFL career planning, TEFL certificate, TEFL games, TEFL heroes- Jon Marks, TEFL.net, Teaching, Using L1 in class, Usingenglish, links | 1 Comment »
Thursday, June 12th, 2008
BIELT- The British Institute of English Language Teaching, set up with the goals of establishing a framework of professional qualifications and a professional code of practice. It failed.
BULATS- EFL testing euphemism for “bollocks”
Cloze- (more…)
Tags: ELT jargon
Posted in BULATS, Eliciting, Error correction, Grammar, Linguistics, applied linguistics and SLA, TOEFL, TOEIC | No Comments »
Thursday, May 1st, 2008
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…
Posted in Body language and gestures, Body language in the classroom, Business English and ESP, Cross cultural training in EFL, Cultural differences/ cultural training, Difficult sounds, EFL exams, EFL management, Error correction, False friends, Functional language, Graded readers, Grammar, Learner training, Lesson observations, Listening, Materials, Medical and pharmaceutical English, Online articles, Peer observations, Photocopiable worksheets, Problem students, Pronunciation, Pronunciation games, Reading, Requests, TEFL, TEFL games, TEFL.net, Taboo topics, Teaching English Abroad, Teaching English in Japan, Travel and tourism, Usingenglish, Vocabulary, links | 3 Comments »
Monday, December 17th, 2007
Will get onto combining grammar mistakes and Xmas lessons in a bit, but first:
I’ve become a bit of a cultural relativist in my old age, even accepting stuff that drives other people nuts like Japanese English, but this time of year seems to bring out the grumpy old traditionalist in me. The fact that there’s been quite a lot of telling about an English Xmas in my lessons could be just because Japanese students tend to love that kind of stuff (maybe because anything that mentions the rest of the world is an escape from Japanese reality at the same time as being a reinforcement of why Japan is different and special). What seems to reflect something deeper is the fact that I’ve found myself actually correcting them on the “errors”of how Xmas is done in Japan- several times on the same points to different classes! Apparently these are the things that happen in Japan that test my limits of acceptance of difference and stir as much deep discomfort in my soul as female circumcision or animal cruelty: (more…)
Posted in Christmas lessons, Cultural differences/ cultural training, Cultural relativism, Error correction, Error correction games, Find someone who, Grammar, Grammar games, TEFL games, festivals and celebrations | 3 Comments »
Thursday, December 13th, 2007
Stephen Fry gets heavy with the grammar correction (not recommended viewing for CELTA trainees!)
Room 101- Grammar Bullies (recommended viewing for 74 year old Applied Linguistics professors)
Posted in Error correction, TESOL | 2 Comments »
Thursday, October 4th, 2007
When I first came to Japan, I was confidently expecting not to understand a thing, having already heard how fiendishly difficult the language and its writing system were and having experienced how difficult the Japanese found speaking in English. From the moment I landed, I was pleasantly suprised how much English I saw and heard everywhere- but I quickly found that it was at least as difficult to understand ‘Japanese English’ as it was to work out how many syllables there were supposed to be in ‘Irrashaimase’. And there started a little obsession with Japanese English that hasn’t finished 4 years and two books on Japanese English later. Here are my excuses for my continued fascination:
· Understanding Japanese English can help you to communicate at least as much as the Japanese you find in the ‘Japanese for Busy People’ textbooks. In fact, up to 10% of words in everyday Japanese conversation are in some way derived from English (more…)
Posted in Error correction, Japanese English/ Waseieigo/ Engrish, Japanese language, TESOL, Vocabulary | 2 Comments »
Friday, August 24th, 2007
According the the IHT, font of all wisdom, the Chinese are asking people to dob each other in for making mistakes in English:
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/08/22/opinion/edterril.php
I’ve always been a bit of a classroom discipline fascist, but even I think that is going a bit too far…
In other Japan or teaching related news, the British are soon going to be taking on the salaryman habit of reading rape manga on the train, apparently:
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/08/21/arts/gnovel.php
Japanese Railways show that Anglo-American short termism hasn’t reached some parts of the economy yet, with a plan to introduce a new train by 2025 (by which year Virgin Trains in England are also planning to get today’s departure from London Euston to its destination in Glasgow):
http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200708230070.html
Either that, or it was yet another quiet news day in Japan…
Meanwhile, in Malaysia Gwen Stefani does cover her body (but not her mouth, unfortunately) and her concert goes off without scandal:
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/08/22/arts/peepthu.php
The article doesn’t say, however, if she kept to the rules saying female performers may not “…jump, shout,…or throw things are the audience”. Made me wonder how ALTs (Assistant Language Teachers) in Primary schools would cope under the same restrictions, but lack of time means I will have to keep that repressive fantasy to myself for the time being…
Posted in ALT, Error correction, TESOL | No Comments »
Friday, August 17th, 2007
Posted in Alternative teaching techniques, Business English and ESP, EFL exams, Email, Error correction, False friends, IELTS, Online articles, Pairwork and groupwork, Paragraphing, Punctuation, TEFL, TEFL games, TESOL, Teaching, Telephoning, Travel and tourism, Writing games, links | No Comments »
Monday, August 13th, 2007
They avoid using the expression in this IHT article on the Japanese government policy on getting people to dress down for the summer, but I think it is a good opportunity to continue my occassional “Japanese English” series of posts:
Japanese English Compound Nouns Expressions
Which of these ‘Japanese English’ expressions would you find in the Oxford English Dictionary? Which wouldn’t you find but a native English speaker might guess the meaning of anyway? Which would definitely need explaining? How would you explain them?
Walkman/ Paper driver/ Salaryman/ Anime / A short short/ Hello work/ J-pop / Golden week/ Pair look/ Recruit suit/ Long seller/ Cosplay/ One man bus/ Karaoke/ A sayonara homerun
Choose the correct explanation for what Japanese people mean when they use the Japanese English expressions below (the other explanations are what English native speakers might think the expressions mean the first time they hear them):
Cheek dance = people who are dancing very close/ a person who is moving their face as they swish water around in their mouth after they clean their teeth
High teens = young people who are taking drugs/ people who are between 15 and 19
A girl hunt = when men go out to pick up women/ the time women go out to look for men
No make = the time when you wear no lipstick etc./ a product that has no branding
Season off = a holiday that is very long/ the time when most people don’t take a holiday
A cutter = a knife that you use on paper / a person who takes out bad scenes from movies
A nighter = a baseball game that takes place after dark/ a person who spends all evening in a disco
High miss = a young lady who is tall/ an older lady who isn’t married
Home drama = a soap opera or a domestic accident
Easy order = a semi-tailored suit or a drive through take out restaurant
Health meter = bathroom scales or a blood pressure monitor
Free talking = a hands-free phone or an open discussion
A magic pen = a marker or something that writes with invisible ink
Non pro = being an amateur or being against something
To crank in = to start an old car or to start shooting a film
A meat shop = a pickup bar or a butcher’s
A plus driver = an elderly motorist or a Phillips screwdriver
A TV game=a quiz show that is on TV or a video game that you can play on your TV
A mini theatre= a cinema that seats few people or a home entertainment system
Business and technical English
Without using any words in the expressions, explain what any one of the Japanese English expressions below mean. When your partner thinks they know which one you are talking about, they will say the number of at that expression. Tell them if that was your intention.
1. cool biz
2. An OL
3. CM
4. salary loan
5. The dollar shock
6. The oil shock
7. Golden hour
8. Minus driver
9. Symbol mark
10. Excellent company
11. Base up
12. A Y shirt
13. Pocketable
14. Order made
15. Building money
16. An OB
17. Tunnel company
18. paper company
19. a one man president
20. main bank
21. Image up
22. Country risk
23. a non bank
24. image down
25. name value
26. minus image
27. cost down
28. level up
Answer key
Cheek dance = people who are dancing very close
High teens = people who are between 15 and 19
A girl hunt = when men go out to pick up women
No make = the time when you wear no lipstick etc
Season off = the time when most people don’t take a holiday
A cutter = a knife that you use on paper
A nighter = a baseball game that takes place after dark
High miss = an older lady who isn’t married
Home drama = a soap opera
Easy order = a semi-tailored suit
Health meter = bathroom scales
Free talking = an open discussion
A magic pen = a marker
Non pro = being an amateur
To crank in = to start shooting a film
A meat shop = a butcher’s
A plus driver = a Phillips screwdriver
A TV game= a video game that you can play on your TV
A mini theatre= a cinema that seats few people
1. cool biz: Dressing down for the summer
2. An OL: Office lady- a female office worker
3. CM: Commercial message: An ad
4. salary loan: A loan from a consumer loan company
5. The dollar shock: When the yen was revalued
6. The oil shock: When the price of all suddenly went up
7. Golden hour: prime time
8. Minus driver: a normal screwdriver
9. Symbol mark: a logo
10. Excellent company: a blue chip company
11. Base up: a pay rise to your or everyone’s basic pay
12. A Y shirt- a white shirt- a business shirt
13. Pocketable- portable/ fits in your pocket
14. Order made- custom made
15. Building money- making monet
16. An OB- old boy
17. Tunnel company- a paper company
18. paper company
19. a one man president- a manager who makes all the decisions on their own
20. main bank- …that your company does business with
21. Image up- improving your image
22. Country risk- a risky country to invest in
23. a non bank- other sources of credit
24. image down-
25. name value- the value of a brand name etc.
26. minus image
27. cost down- reducing costs
28. level up- improving the level
Posted in Error correction, False friends, Japanese English/ Waseieigo/ Engrish, Learning Japanese, TEFL, TESOL | No Comments »