Using Xtranormal.com with EFL young learner classes (a great way of doing dialogue writing etc, with link to worksheet)

18 fun activities on the topic of amusement parks (a fab topic with kids and teenagers, tied in with feelings vocab, videos etc)

23 uses for pelmanism and SNAP

Yet another 15 ways to make writing interactive (including writing game ideas)

32 variations on pelmanism

You could also take a look at yet another 30 minutes of my life wasted on navel gazing:

Alex Case does the Six Questions bit on the TEFLtradesman blog

And just to show that I’m willing to share the limelight just a little, here are a couple of articles and blog posts by others that I found interesting this month:

A linguist on the origin of Michael Jackson’s “ma ma se, ma ma se, ma ma coo sa” from the Language Log

Limits to Krashen’s ego? from The Linguist on Language

A review of the latest David Crystal book Just A Phrase I’m Going Through from Literal Minded (including my new favourite linguistics quote- 

“The early teens is a crucial period for language development. It’s a time when the child explores a vast number of linguistic worlds, and builds up a lexicon for talking about sex, politics, music, TV programmes (radio, in my day), sex, woodwork, stamps, sex, cars, boats, trains, planes, sex, and a great deal else” (p. 23)

My feud with DC seems to be over btw, in case you still can’t sleep nights fretting over that

A critical piece on Dogme being critical or not by Scott Thornbury (not on the critics of Dogme, which might be another piece and hopefully a chance to spread further the rumour that I got into a fight with ST)

And plenty more that I can’t track down, so you’ll have to waste your own freetime following Onestopblogs to find them…

Since my (half serious because I was losing half of every day on Onestopblogs and half a joke prompted by a classic cartoon) post Are there already too many TEFL blogs? I’ve made the mistake of taking my question seriously (hopefully none of my readers ever fall into that trap). I’ve come to the conclusion that there are indeed too few, because there are too many.

Was tempted just to leave you with that koan to chew on, but will try and clarify now I’m here.

My vision is a TEFLweb where Google is quicker, easier and more likely to come up with something relevant and good quality than the teachers’ room bookshelves. Frankly, that is not presently the case. The quality issue will eventually sort itself out by people linking to the good stuff and ignoring the bad, but the first stage is sheer quantity. You may be thinking that sheer quantity of TEFL articles and worksheets is the problem rather than the solution, but because we have already passed the point where one person can keep on top of everything that is out there, that is why we all need to get blogging and make Google the TEFLers’ number one lesson planning tool. My other hope is that TEFL writers will also use Google and whatever we post as a resource to improve their textbooks etc.

“I have a dream…

… but that could just be due to last night’s kimchi”

More serious attempts at blogging about blogging coming up soon

“When our students produce accurate question tags, we feel we and they have succeeded. When they fail to do so, we feel that they have failed. Unfortunately, if we measure success in this way, when language programmes are usually characterized by failure rather than success” pg 16

“What most teachers have learnt from experience is that learners fail to learn a great deal of what they are supposed to learn, but that they also learn a great deal which they have not been taught. There is, however, evidence from research and from our classroom experience that instruction does help learners to approach their task more efficiently as they struggle with the complexities of language” pg 23

“The important thing in a teaching context is to devise a methodology which has the following six features:

- an acceptance that the aim is to support general language development rather than to teach discrete language items;

- a recognition of the fact that learners are engaged in building a meaning system;

- the provision of opportunities for learners to improvise with the language they already have;

- incentives for learners to refine their language to meet different communicative demands;

- classroom procedures which will encourage learners to think carefully about how language is structured and how it is used;

- ample exposure to spoken and written texts to provide opportunities for learners to explore the language for themselves” pg 215

“It seems that the basic ordering of elements in the noun phrase is acquired fairly easily by learners, as errors in this aspect of structure are relatively infrequent. But unless they are given guidance and encouragement, learners often fail to take full advantage of the potential of the noun phrase, particularly with regard to postmodification” pg 34

And a nice simple definition of collocations:

“We say that words ‘collocate’ if they occur together more frequently than one might expect” pg 45

Food for thought (and hopefully comment).

academic discourse- learning how to slag off other researchers

adjunct- a “bad cop” ADoS

attitudinal adjuncts- cheeky Sergeant Majors

broad negative adjectives- descriptive words used by typically dour and almost indecipherable Yorkshiremen and people from the Black Country

closed classes- ones the DoS is too scared to observe

communicative competence- also “communicative/ competence”, the choice between employing someone who has spent all their time learning the language and someone who can actually do the job

Cutting Hedges- the first book really built around task based learning, it caused lots of excitement among teachers but became less popular after student complaints about the tedium of weeding, collocations etc.

declension- what you can do when you finally find a toilet

discourse markers- board pens used to exaggerate your gestures (a common TEFL technique)

dummy subject- a TV programme about idiots, e.g. Big Brother

ellipsis- the way in which words are linked together. It comes from the shortened form of “’kin hell, shut yer lip, sis”

fixed phrases- euphemistic ways of saying your pet or husband has had the snip

frames- made up excuses for sacking teachers

grammatical devices of orientation- torture equipment to cut down on errors

grammaticalization- trying to stop speaking pidgin English when you go back home and so sounding like a right pretentious twat instead

measurers- people who are always comparing their own “fan club” or haul of gifts at the end of term with the other teachers’

modal verbs- short for “modern yodelling verbs”

partitives of location- house parties

partitives of time- happy hour

passive voice- the tone used by teenagers who are forced to drill, act something out or sing along

pattern grammar- knitting irregular past tenses etc into a scarf to make sure you remember them forever

pedagogic corpus- boring students to death with collocations

perfective- from “perfect defective”, a teacher who makes up with their lack of social life with excessive dedication to their classes

polywords- a beginner’s syllabus that is designed to stick to things even parrots can say

postmodifications- changing the written aim of your observed lesson quickly after you try it out on another group

productive features- your encouraging but slightly desperate facial expressions as you try to force language out of shy students

ready made elements and chunks- the before and after of a Supersized MacDonald’s meal

relexicalisation- going through your lesson plan and replacing half the words with TEFL jargon

semi-modal verbs- as used by lower middle class social climbers in semi detached houses, e.g. “May I…?” when they mean “Could I…?”

sentence adverbials- forcing students to learn adverb word order as a punishment

sentence adverbials- ones used to tell you how long you will be in the clink (see the introduction to Porridge for textbook examples)

sentence builders- construction workers with a criminal record

stative verbs- as used by those Washington fat cats

subordinating conjunctions- handcuffs etc.

time adverbials- using a stopwatch to test how long students can talk about the past or future without actually saying when

vague language- student utterances that vaguely resemble language

zero article- pointless reading matter, e.g. anything on MSN or in The Daily Mail

More attempts to make this jargon even more difficult to learn the real meanings of can be found here.

*When I say from that book, obviously I don’t mean these definitions are from that book…

How to Prepare for IELTS Writing (printable PDF booklet from City University of Hong Kong)

Good Luck IELTS IELTS Writing Tips

Your IELTS Guide IELTS Writing Tips

A Teacher’s Odyssey IELTS Tips and Writing Makeovers

And here are some of my own tips, very briefly:

For both tasks

- Read the questions carefully and underline the important words

- It must be clearly legible, but there is nothing wrong with crossing out (rather than erasing), adding words above the line with a little arrow to show where the word should go, or even inserting whole lines with an arrow, as long as it is very clear what you mean

- Avoid one sentence paragraphs, with the possible exception of the first paragraph of Task 1 or the conclusion of Task 2 if you have already given your point of view in the introduction and you are running out of time

- Try to use words and expressions other than those that are written in the questions, but don’t worry about it too much

- When you are doing practice exams at home, recreate the exam conditions as closely as possible. Don’t look at the question until you are ready to start writing, don’t take a break between Task 1 and Task 2, and don’t use a dictionary or write it on a computer

- If you have longer to prepare for the exam, it is worth doing the first few practice papers on a computer to learn from SpellCheck. Make sure you write down its useful spelling corrections and learn them

- When you have finished a timed task, look at the model task, look in your textbook, use your dictionary etc to see how you could have written it better. If you are going to give it to a teacher to check and they won’t actually be giving you a mark, give them a rewritten version so that they can concentrate on correcting the things that you have missed

For Task One

- Spend three or four minutes planning, and write a paragraph plan with very brief notes. This will help you analyse the main points to avoid this:

- Avoid describing the information point by point

- Make sure you check any times on the axes and use the correct tenses. For a line graph, it is likely to be Simple Past but could be Present Simple if it is something that repeats every day

- Possible paragraph structure: (1) Explain what the diagram(s) or graph(s) represent, with possibly some information such as what the axes represent. Try to use different words to those on the question sheet. (2) Explain what the things represented have in common, the general trends, or the most important information (3) Explain how they are different, some things that are different to the general trend, or some less important information (4) You don’t need to bother with a conclusion unless you are under length, so you can usually stop at paragraph 3. If you do need a conclusion, summarize what you said before in different words.

- If you need to combine information from two different graphs etc, you can use one paragraph for the most important information from each, but it is better to divide it up in another way (as long as an idea of how to do so comes quickly and doesn’t make your planning time drift over 5 minutes)

- Remember that the information on the graph or diagram is simplified and that you’ll need grammar like articles in your writing

- Make sure that you practice all the types of tasks that could come up, including flow charts and tables of figures and tasks that include more than one source

- Don’t interpret the data unless they ask you to (very rare), just stick to describing it (but see first point above)

- Leave one or two minutes for editing

- Under no circumstances go over 20 minutes, as Task Two is more important. Get up to the minimum number of words, edit if you can, and move on

For Task Two

- Always write a brief plan, using about 5 minutes for this stage

- Brainstorm your ideas and try to organise them into paragraphs. If you don’t have enough pros or cons to make a paragraph, you’ll need to write a one sided argument (unless the question specifically asks for both sides). Make sure you still organise the ideas into clear paragraphs by making links between different ideas. The quickest way of doing this is often just to circle ideas to put them together.

- If you are going to give a one sided argument, state if you agree or disagree in the first paragraph (introduction). This doesn’t need to be your real opinion, just the side that you came up with most ideas for in the brainstorming stage. The conclusion can be difficult for this format, you basically need to just summarize what you said before (in different words and very briefly) and emphasize your point of view.

- If you are going to write a pros and cons, don’t give your view until the conclusion.

- The first few sentences of any Task Two should restate the question, analyse it and/ or say why it is topical, interesting and/ or important. The final line of the introduction should say what is coming up (basically explaining the paragraph structure)- this shows how important planning is!

- Avoid introducing one or two new points in the final paragraph unless you are desperate to get up to the minimum number of words in time. If that is the case, if you have done a one sided argument you can write “Although there are many counter arguments such as…” If it is a pros and cons essay you can write “Due to the arguments given above and other relevant factors such as…, my view is that…” In both cases, just list points rather than expanding on any of them (which would make them worthy of a paragraph of their own).

- There are no points for good ideas, only for language. As soon as you have enough ideas to make a piece of writing, write!

Tips only mainly for those needing very high marks

- Try to avoid repeating language, use synonyms etc to avoid it

- Avoid phrasal verbs (but sometimes there is no non phrasal verb way of saying something, in which case it is okay)

- Try to use academic English (although you can get perfect marks without being very academic and formal, it can’t hurt and shows a high level)

- You can use British, American or Australian English and even mix them up a little if you like, but try to make your spelling etc as consistent as possible, e.g. don’t write “kilometer” and then “centimetre”

Yes, that was very briefly! I could (and do) go on for much longer than that in my classes…

Agreement? Disagreement? Comments below please:

- The TOEIC was originally set up by specific request of the Japanese government who wanted to promote communicative English in a population of salarymen that they were convinced only knew grammar (although to be honest they don’t seem to know that very well either). Someone balked at the cost and/ or complication of a really communicative test, i.e. one that included writing and speaking for all candidates, and so this is the test that we got. Same thing happened in 2006 with the “new” (aka “blink and you’ll miss the changes”) TOEIC. Have you ever met a student who improved their communicative English by studying for TOEIC? Have you ever met a student who didn’t suffer from the opposite effect due to studying for TOEIC? Me neither

- ETS was forced to change the test due to the number of complaints of people with perfect TOEIC scores who were employed and then found to be incapable of using the language in business communication. However, all the changes that really would have changed that disappeared due to bureaucracy within ETS and/ or companies who were unwilling to pay for what they said they wanted

- ETS lets local agents set the price of the institutional TOEIC (ones that are done in company etc), and they charge whatever they can get away with. The Koreans are lucky enough to have a government that has introduced the competing TEPS test, making TOEIC IP in Korea much cheaper than in Japan. Ditto in places like France, where this is the reason why the TOEIC IP is popular but individuals taking the TOEIC is very rare indeed

- Although the new test includes Australians and Brits, they aren’t allowed to say anything that isn’t also correct in American English

- The format of the TOEIC was actually decided by the CIA in order to stop the Japanese and Koreans getting too good at English and so totally beating the Americans in business

I have reasons to believe that one of the rumours above is false. Comments on which ones you don’t believe or know for a fact to be fiction below please

Business complaints case study (only my second attempt at a case study, so let me know what you think)

Mini meetings about cultural differences in the workplace

Going to countable uncountable travel mimes

Food countable and uncountable grammar presentation and speaking (with discussion of recipes and international foods)

Guess who wrote it (revision game, suitable for young learners or high Elem adults)

Change chairs if game prompt cards

Crazy appearances pictionary

Crazy food and drink pictionary

And if you liked those last three or are teaching the same book as me, have a look at Challenges 1 Worksheets

1. A university pre-sessional course (making sure that it is actually run by the university rather than being hived out to a subcontractor or, worst of all, being a totally separate summer school that just happens to be using that building. Note also that wages seem to be going down rapidly for these jobs)

2. A regular all year school rather than any kind of temporary centre, and if not a centre that is connected to a permanent one (these might be able to find you accommodation in a student house, for better or worse, if having somewhere to stay is one of the selling points of a residential summer school).

3. A summer school in another country, e.g. British Council summer school or even a summer camp. I did one in Turkey for 25 pounds a week (plus bed and board and beach) and it was still a better experience than doing one in the UK

If none of those are possible or desirable

4. A non-residential summer school

Having said all that, being restricted to quarters like a solider under court-martial is a great way of saving money even when the pay is less than other summer school options. So, if that is your preferred option, look out for these:

5. A summer school connected to a permanent school that is British Council accredited (the British Council summer school accreditation is much much less demanding)

6. A summer school with managers that have come from the main centre rather than been recruited especially

7. A summer school that asks for TEFL qualifications for all teachers (mine had PE teachers who also had to teach English)

8. A summer school with the same DoS as last year

Other things you might want to consider

-How many weeks they can offer and maybe guarantee, and maybe if past August is possible

-How much notice you have to give to quit (in case you get offered a September job at short notice)

-Food

-How many people you will be sharing a room with

-Transport connections

-Whether it will be possible to do anything or get out of there during your minimal time off

- Having to wear school T shirts and take groups of 15 kids with identical backpacks around London museums

Things that mean nothing

-The building it is in, e.g. being based in a well known or expensive private school or Oxbridge college

-How much they charge the students

-A well known name

-Size

Ways of making sure you can get the better jobs

Diploma or MA, or if not a B in your CELTA

First aid or lifesaving certs

Sources on summer schools (can’t comment on the accuracy on individual schools, but gives you an idea of what to try and avoid generally)

TEFL Blacklist on AEST

TEFL Blacklist on EF College Oxford

The TEFL Tradesman- How to double your money at summer school

The TEFL Tradesman- Summer school Saturnalia Revisited

EL Gazette (totally viewable for free online- lots of stories of being paid under the national minimum wage etc recently)

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This post was a special request from a reader, so have tried my best despite only having done one UK summer school myself. Other requests or suggestions for the topics of posts gratefully accepted- just leave a comment here or email me through the “Contact me” button. Would also of course be interested in your own recommendations and warnings re summer schools below.

www.xtranormal.com – students can make an animated “film” from the script just by typing in the dialogue and choosing characters, backgrounds, actions, sound effects etc. (hattip to Darren Elliot at Teacher Development Blog)

www.pimpampum.net/bubblr – students choose Flickr photos and add speech bubbles to them (hattip to the Macmillan English Campus blog Connect2MEC)

I’ll be giving some ideas of ways you can use Xtranormal for other things in my later post, but this example of a Bubblr picture story made me think that it might be a good first stage for writing with young learners and teenagers too.

Tips on how to do something similar if you can’t access the technology also coming, but any similar links or other ideas welcome here in advance too.