module 7&8 tefl notes

Practice Activities

Drilling (Controlled Practice): A good way to practise a new word is by using drilling. You can choose to do a whole class drill or you can go around the class and get a student to repeat after you individually. Notebook: Then it's time for your students to record their work in their notebooks. Most of the time students will do this automatically. However, it's a good idea to remind them and get them to make notes of any board work, especially new words. Pronunciation (Controlled Practice): When you introduce new vocabulary, it is crucial to teach the students the correct stress and intonation of the word. You can help students with their pronunciation by writing the syllables on the board and showing the students where the stress should be. You should also drill the new word. Dictionary: Ask your students to use a bilingual dictionary to look up new words and make a note of them. Vocabulary Matching Game: Create some cards with pictures and words on separate pieces of card. Ask the students to match the words with the pictures. YouTube: Play a YouTube video and ask the students to write as many words as they hear. Image Gap Fill: Give students an image of, for example, a classroom or an office and ask them to label the things they see. Map: Ask students to draw a map of their journey to school/work. Then ask them to give directions to someone who does not know the route. Students as teachers: This is a great lesson. Whenever I use peer-to-peer teaching, I am always impressed with the standard of the lesson. Ask the students to prepare a mini lesson on a new word using whichever way they wish to introduce the new word. This could include synonyms/anonyms, a presentation or realia. Splat: Splat is a super game. Write the keywords on the board and ask two students to come to the front. Read out the definition and the first person to splat the word wins, i.e. swat it with a fly swatter. This is a very good game for reviewing vocabulary. Ball and spelling game: This is a good game. Throw a ball to one of the students and say the new word. The student has to spell that word. The student then throws the ball to another student when she has finished. Pictionary: This is a very good game. Ask one of the students to come to the front of the class and show him the target word. Then get him to draw the word and the rest of the class guesses the meaning. Drama: Firstly, create a list of target words. A good lesson to practise drama is to create a soap opera. Divide the group into small groups and ask them to write a short soap opera using some of the target words on the list. This is a great fun activity. Memory games: Show a picture on a PowerPoint presentation on a topic you are covering in the class, e.g. an office. Find an image on the Internet and display it on your PowerPoint. Show the image for a few minutes and then remove it. Ask the students to try and remember as many of the objects as they can. Get them to write them down. You can have a competition to see who remembers the most words. M&M Game: Firstly get a load of M&Ms. List a number of topics you have studied during the last few weeks. Give each topic a colour corresponding to a colour of the M&Ms. Then divide the class into small groups and give them a handful of chocolates. The students can eat the chocolate if they can think of a word associated with each colour. For example, the topic 'travel' is given a red colour. If the group has received 7 red M&Ms, they must think of 7 words associated with travel. They can eat each of the red M&Ms after they have written down the words. Group Mind Map: Think of a topic and create a mind map on the board. Next, give each of the groups a few topics on a piece of card and get the groups to create their own mind maps by brainstorming new words. Allow them to use dictionaries or the Internet if it's available. Others: Crosswords Matching pictures to words Anagrams Antonyms Word Searches Mind Map We have mentioned 'mind map' above. Here is what you need to know about mind mapping: Mind mapping: Mind mapping is an excellent tool for planning a lesson, topic or activity. Once your aim and objectives are set, a useful step is to list all the topics that your session might cover. Mind mapping produces all ideas as they come, with no attempt to evaluate or categorise. It is an excellent alternative to outlining (listing and categorising), and gives you unlimited potential for creativity. This technique will help you to generate ideas faster and with greater flexibility. It will enhance your ability to design, organise and remember your material, while encouraging more spontaneity and originality in your delivery. In the early 1970's, Dr Roger Sperry, a Nobel Prize-winner in physiology and medicine, did pioneering research which lead to the popular notion of 'left-brain' and 'right-brain' thinking. The left hemisphere (side) was found to be primarily responsible for processing logic, language, details, mathematical reasoning and analysis, while the right side deals with rhythm, colour, spatial relationships, imagination and synthesis. Unfortunately, our education grooms us from an early age to over-emphasise the 'left brain' activities. Reading, writing and mathematics are the first three subjects most of us study. If you excel in these you are considered 'intelligent'. Creative talents are often frowned upon and stifled. Teachers will often assemble a factual topic, offer it in a step-by-step fashion, concentrating on detail and assume it will be well received. But while a topic must, of course, be based on informative, well-organised material, it needs other elements to make it compelling, such as variation in pacing and plenty of vivid verbal and visual imagery. Why? Researchers have found that the brains of audience members tend to focus on the body language, rhythm and imagery of the speakers rather on the words they say. These 'right-side' elements are more appealing than the words themselves. It follows, therefore, that if you are to make your topic engaging and memorable, you must use your whole brain - integrating imagery and intuition with logic and analysis. The Mind Map, invented by Tony Buzan, is a very effective method for planning a topic and subsequent teaching sessions. It encourages you to use the `brain patterns' of your mind by presenting the information as a special kind of diagram. How to mind map: On a large sheet of paper, start your map by writing your topic, or drawing a picture of your topic, in the centre of your paper. Pictures help to enhance your ability to think creatively. Look at your sketch and start printing key words at the end of lines radiating from your central image. Key words can be generated faster than complete sentences used in outlines without sacrificing meaning. Print one key word in the circle or box at the end of each line. Draw further lines and key words radiating from the previous key words. Even if a word seems ridiculous or irrelevant, put it down and keep the process flowing. This must all be done in as short a time as possible. If you get stuck, choose any key word on your map and immediately print your first association with that word - even if it seems totally irrelevant. Colours, pictures and codes can be used for emphasis. When you feel you have generated enough material, take a look at the result - all the ideas for your topic are spread across one page. Having given your right-brain the spotlight as the generator of these ideas, shift the focus and now use your left-side to put your map in order. You will begin to see relationships which will help you to organise and harmonise the topic you are planning. The danger of making lists and outlines is that outlining imposes order prematurely on the process of thinking, thereby interfering with the speed and range of our idea generation. It is a lopsidedly 'left brained' technique. So, try mind mapping if you want to drive your creativity. If you have never done this, check out examples on the internet. Example: Here is one we used for our initial thoughts on the advantages and opportunities gained from learning English. It's nothing fancy and isn't meant to be. It gave us the stimulus. We came up with these thoughts in half a minute or so, far quicker than we would have done by jotting our thoughts down in a list.

Lesson structure

Introduction: Introduce yourself and write the lesson aims on the board and explain clearly what your plans are for the lesson. Warmer: Use a warmer to get students acclimatised to the lesson. Presentation: You can use two different methods when you present a grammar lesson. Deductive: The deductive approach means that you present the rule you are teaching and then give examples to help students understand. Inductive: The inductive approach means that you give students some examples of the grammar rules to explore and then get them to work out the rules. Practice: You will now practise the new rules with some controlled practice activities. Production: This is the stage of the lesson where you give students a chance to practise without the control. The aim of this part of the lesson is to let your students try to extend their knowledge and use the target language in a freer, more creative way. Summary and Reflection: Summarise your lesson and reflect on the lesson by asking students what they enjoyed or what went well. Cooler: End the lesson with a fun, positive activity. Let's now carry out a closer inspection of each of these parts of a lesson.

Unit 2: Teaching Vocabulary

When we teach new vocabulary we need to consider the following: Teach and practise words in the spoken form first or students will attempt to pronounce the words as they are written. New vocabulary needs to be introduced in context and also practised. Teach the students about syllables in words and the intonation of a word. Practise the spelling of words. Revision of words so that words are not forgotten. This is termed 'recycling'. Use concept-checking questions to check the understanding of a new word. Present new vocabulary in a memorable and fun way so that students can remember the words. Ways to introduce new words memorably and in a fun way: You can introduce a new word by speaking it, by showing it visually by using an image or drawing, by using realia or by kinaesthetically using your body or gestures to illustrate it. Remember: You will have many different types of learner in the classroom, so you should try all the different ways of introducing the new word. Draw a picture on the board and ask 'What is it?' Bring in real objects (realia) Mime or act it or get one of your students to mime it. Say it. Use a synonym or similar word. For example: 'What word has a similar meaning to 'broad'?' Use an antonym (opposite) word. For example: 'What is the opposite of the following: 'short', 'thin', 'old'?' Use a gap fill sentence. For example: We fly to different countries in a________. Get students to look it up in a bi-lingual dictionary or a monolingual dictionary. All of these different ways to introduce new words give you the opportunity to play games with your students, which they and you will enjoy. This is also an excellent way for checking if the students have understood the new word. It's also crucial to use different methods of checking from the ones you used to illustrate the example. Here are tried and tested ways to check the understanding of new words: Word games and puzzles Picture compositions Word sets Filling in tables Learning new vocabulary is crucial to the success of speaking a language. Many of the textbooks you will be using will contain much of the basic vocabulary you will need. However, new vocabulary will arrive each time you teach. We would like you to confidently present the new vocabulary, let students practise using it and then let them get creative with it in your fun and safe learning environment. You can use your reflection techniques to create a deep learning classroom. Gestures and Mime We mentioned gestures and mime in the section above. Let's examine these in more depth. When teaching a class, on many occasions you can use simple phrases to direct the learners: That's right. That's not right. Who's next? But you can also convey many instructions, requests, invitations and corrections by using various types of gestures and mime. Gestures and mime spark interest and encourage participation. So, in addition to your voice, you could use your hands, your eyes or, more frequently, a combination of both. Such gestures and mime can be simple and effective and will encourage the students to speak, thereby reducing teacher talking time (TTT), and they will also save time. Obviously the set of gestures and mime that you develop will have to be recognisable to the learners to avoid confusion, so they will need to learn them. Gestures and mime can be used very effectively in teaching certain words. For example, the difference between 'shy' and 'confident' would be quite difficult to explain in simple language to a beginner class but could be demonstrated very simply in a few seconds with mime. Students generally enjoy seeing their teacher acting out a word or miming an expression and it can add a sense of enjoyment to a class. If they laugh at your mime or gesture, all the better, because it will be more memorable! Using gestures and mime is important when it comes to vocabulary. You can use them to elicit certain words and phrases. If you teach very young students, it is also common to associate gestures with words to help students remember vocabulary better. Using the same gesture every time you say a particular word or phrase will help these students associate the two. Gesture/mime example: If you have just finished a section on feelings, make a list of feelings on the board and have students choose a slip of paper from a hat. Each slip of paper should contain a sentence such as You are happy or sad or confused etc. Students should keep their sentences a secret. Have one volunteer at a time mime the chosen sentence while the rest of the class tries to guess it. To check individual comprehension, you can use the same basic idea but instead turn it into an interview activity where students have a sheet of paper with all the emotions listed as well as their secret emotion. The idea is that students go around the classroom miming and guessing emotions in pairs and getting a student signature for each emotion. When you go through the worksheet as a class, you can have students read aloud from their worksheets sentences like Jane is sad and ask Jane to mime being sad for the class. Some gestures you could use to encourage speaking and participation: Encouraging a response from the student group: with a smiling, open-eyed look, draw your hands to yourself as you would when asking a group to come closer to you Instructions: Gestures for giving instructions might include, for example, a finger moved from left to right to show that something is wrong with the sentence, and that the student should try to correct it. This might be accompanied by a slight screwing up of the eyes. Listen: The gesture for listen might involve cupping a hand around one ear with a raising of the eyebrows to denote a question. Quieten down: Quietening the class down could be achieved by moving both hands up and down with the palms facing downwards, again with the eyebrows raised. Correction: Gestures can be equally useful when giving immediate corrections to learners' speaking errors. A letter T made with both hands can indicate the wrong tense has been used or that the article the is missing. An inverted V made with the index and middle fingers of one hand with the index of the other used as a bar across it to form an A could mean wrong subject-verb agreement (e.g. he live here). One very common set of gestures is used by teachers to show the required tense - pointing forwards with one finger means a future tense, pointing down to one's feet means present tense, while indicating over one shoulder with the thumb means past tense. All of these different gestures can initially be taught by giving the instruction orally along with the gesture - learners will soon get the point. Of course, you can add to these and develop your own catalogue of gestures. Be careful with some gestures: Very few gestures are universally understood and interpreted. What is perfectly acceptable in the UK or Thailand may be rude, frowned upon, or misleading in other cultures. Here are some useful examples: Beckoning with your index finger. This means come here in the UK but not in the Middle or Far East, Portugal, Spain, Latin America, Japan, Indonesia and Hong Kong. It is more acceptable to beckon with the palm down, with fingers or whole hand waving. Pointing at something in the room using your index finger. It is impolite to point with the index finger in the Middle and Far East. Using an open hand or your thumb is more acceptable. Making a V sign. This means Victory in most of Europe when you make this sign with your palm facing away from you. If you face your palm in, the same gesture means get lost or worse. Forming a circle with fingers to indicate OK. Although this gesture may mean OK in the U.S.A. and other countries around the world, there are some notable exceptions. In Brazil and Germany, this gesture is obscene. In Japan, this means money. In France, it has the additional meaning of zero or worthless. Patting a student on the head. This is very upsetting for some Asian students. The head is the repository of the soul in the Buddhist religion. Children from cultures which are influenced by Buddhism may feel uncomfortable if their head is touched. Passing an item to someone with one hand. In some Far East countries, this is very rude. Even a very small item such as a pencil or business card must be passed with two hands. In many Middle and Far Eastern countries it is rude to pass something with your left hand, which is considered unclean. Nodding your head up and down to say Yes. Take care in some countries. In Bulgaria and Greece, nodding your head up and down means 'No'. Let's look at how you can teach vocabulary using the PPP technique: Introduction: Introduce yourself and write the objective on the board, telling the students what they are going to learn in today's lesson. Warmer: You will start the lesson with a warmer activity to engage the students and get them feeling more relaxed. Present: Present the new vocabulary and add context. You can present new words using any of the following: Realia Miming it Drawing it Using a flash card Using synonyms or antonyms Putting the word in a sentence Defining it Getting the students to look it up in a mono-lingual dictionary or bi-lingual dictionary Checking understanding using CCQs Presenting new words to a class of students can be lots of fun. Some people like to do it visually, some aurally and some kinaesthetically (by moving around). Let's consider some solid ways to present new words and elicit information from the class. Realia: Realia means using real life objects to introduce new words. You can bring in a few objects or you can use the physical objects that you can see in the room like your watch, clothing, school bag, table, etc. Mime: This is huge fun. You can act out a word. It's good for presenting abstract words like 'happy' or 'sad' or 'thinking'. Flashcards and Images: Flashcards have images on the front and the meaning on the back of the card. They are good for all levels. Drawing it on the board: Draw a picture on the board or get the students to draw a picture on the board. Pictionary is a super activity for this stage of the lesson. Making a sound: This is just what it is and it's great fun. Good for animals. Antonyms and synonyms: These are words which have the opposite and similar meaning, respectively. Putting the new word in a sentence: completing a sentence with a missing word. Looking it up using mono-lingual or bi-lingual dictionaries. Giving the students a text and getting them to read and highlight words they don't know. This is a good way for students to understand new words from context. Working in pairs, ask students to try to identify new words from a text. Don't forget to use positive language when you are eliciting information. Practice: How can we practise new vocabulary? Drilling: Model and drill the word. A good way to practise a new word is by using drilling. You can choose to do a whole class drill or you can go around the class and get a student to repeat after you individually. Then it's time for your students to record their work in their notebooks. Most of the time students will do this automatically. However, it's a good idea to remind them and get them to make notes of any board work, especially new words. Production: Let the students get creative, using a freer form of practice activity in real life scenarios. Summary: End of lesson, and a reflective element creating the process for deeper learning. Cooler: Cooler to finish. When we teach a new word we need to consider the following: Meaning Usage: how is it used? Form: is the word a noun or an adjective? Pronunciation: how do we say it? Stress and intonation. We will explore this fully in the next module. Let's explore these.

Unit 6: Pronunciation

One of the most difficult parts of learning English is the pronunciation of a word because sometimes a word looks nothing like how it should be said. When teaching the pronunciation of new vocabulary, you should try to teach stress and intonation, and use phonemic charts. Stress and Intonation We will discuss this fully in the next Module. We will focus on Phonology in the next module 'Teaching Phonology'.

Unit 4: Usage

The words, functional expressions and grammar structures we choose to use are determined by the situation we are in and/or what we want to communicate to our listener(s). Usage is interconnected with meaning. Usage answers the question: When or why is the vocabulary, functional expression or grammar structure used?

Unit 5: Form

Unit 5: Form Your learners must be able to understand the meaning of a word, the usage of a word but also the form of a word. With regards to form, this means that a student must understand whether the piece of vocabulary is a verb, a noun, and adjective or something else. Teaching your learners the difference between words will depend on two things: Position: Position and use in a sentence: Let's look at an example with the word 'show', which can be used as a verb or a noun: The teacher showed the student how to answer the question. The teacher took the students to a Broadway show, 'Sleep No More'. Prefixes and suffixes: If you add a group of letters to the beginning or end of a word, this will change the meaning of the word. For example: The word 'appears' becomes 'disappear' when the prefix 'dis' is added. The word 'comfort' becomes 'comfortable' when the suffix 'able' is added. The best way to teach the form of a word, similar to the way for teaching meaning, is to add context to your lessons and activities.

Unit 5: Pronunciation

It's critical to convey the phonology or the sound of a piece of lexis/grammar to learners as the native speaker will often pronounce words in different ways from the learner. For example, most native speakers would pronounce 'should have' as one word or as an abbreviated word 'should've'. Students will have never heard this sound before and you will need to practise this using drilling and repetition.

Unit 3: Meaning

Concrete words can be identified through one of the five senses (taste, touch, sight, hearing, smell). These words are quite straightforward to teach because you can show students these words visually or give them an object to touch. These words are specific. Abstract words cannot be identified using the five senses; they represent ideas or feelings. Therefore, in order to teach abstract words you will have to act or mime or show specific images and video to convey their meaning. For example, when explaining the meaning of 'sadness' or 'happiness' you could draw happy and sad faces or act out these feelings. Words with more than one meaning: In English, words with more than one meaning are common and are confusing for learners. Being able to tell the difference will depend on you adding context to your lessons. Generic words: These are words that give a general meaning to a collection of items like 'furniture'. You will have to teach all of these meanings. It's worth noting that the more specific words a learner uses, the more descriptive and detailed his language will become. Therefore, teaching more specific words will enrich a learner's vocabulary.

Unit 6: Concept Checking

Concept Checking Questions are questions you will need to ask to check if your students have understood a new word or structure. You will need to use CCQs during the Presentation Stage to check your learners' understanding. As you know, it's really important to ask more than 'Do you understand?' Let's consider some examples: New words: 1. Shirt 2. Chair 3. Hair Let's see what sort of Concept Checking Questions you could ask to check whether your students have understood these words. 1. Shirt Teacher: Am I wearing a shirt? Student: Yes. Teacher: Is it blue or white or another colour? Student: It's blue and white. Teacher: Does it have long sleeves or short sleeves? Student: Long. 2. Chair Teacher: Can I sit on it? Student: Yes. Teacher: How many legs does it have? Student: 4. Teacher: What colour is it? Student: Blue. Teacher: What is a chair for? Student: Sitting on. Teacher: How many chairs are in this room? Student: 25. 3. Hair Teacher: What colour is my hair? Student: Brown. Teacher: What kind of hairstyle do I have? Student: Short. Teacher: What do I wash my hair with? Student: Shampoo Teacher: How many times a week do I wash my hair? Student: Never, once, everyday... Concept checking questions are for checking the understanding of your students when you are presenting any new material.

Unit 4: Meaning

Once you have shown the students the form of your grammatical structure, you must try to explain the meaning. It's important at this stage to add context, elicit information and use CCQs to check understanding. Let's consider the following example sentence: You should have eaten more food before the examination. This sentence is saying that the person did not eat enough food before she took the examination and it conveys a sense of regret, meaning that if she had eaten more she would have done better in the examination. There are two aspects of meaning. First, what is the literal or 'essential' meaning of the word, phrase, functional expression or grammar structure? Second, what does it mean in the context it's being used in? For example: He's wearing a red shirt. (red=colour) His face is red - he's been lying on the beach too long. (red=sunburnt) He was a well-known red. (red=political affiliations and beliefs) Meaning is the mental image/comprehension that is generated by the grammar or vocabulary. Students connect the grammar structure with the meaning. For example, the past tense signals events in the past. Once the teacher has presented the structure, he should talk about the meaning too. It answers the question: What meaning does the vocabulary, functional expression or grammar structure have in the (specific) context? When you explain meaning in the Presentation stage, it's crucial to use your teaching aids. These could be flashcards, video or a little bit acting or using gestures to convey the meaning. Usage The words, functional expressions and grammar structures we choose to use are determined by the situation we are in and/or what we want to communicate to our listener(s). Usage is interconnected with meaning. For example, Good morning! is a greeting we use with friends, family, our boss, etc. when we see them before noon. If we say Good morning! to a family member as he gets up in the afternoon (because he was out late the night before), we are being ironic and perhaps indicating a bit of disapproval. We would probably not say this to our boss when she comes in late. Usage answers the question: When or why is the vocabulary, functional expression or grammar structure used?

Unit 3: Form

Presenting the form of a grammar structure is critical because it gives you an opportunity to show the student how the grammar is constructed. For example: You should have eaten more food before the examination. We can show that this sentence is constructed by using: Should + have + past participle of the verb.

Unit 7: Concept Checking Questions

You will need to ask Concept Checking Questions to check if your students have understood a new word. As you know, it's really important to ask more than 'Do you understand?' Let's consider some examples: New words: 1. Shirt 2. Chair 3. Hair Let's see what sort of Concept Checking Questions you could ask to check whether your students have understood these words. 1. Shirt Teacher: Am I wearing a shirt? Student: Yes. Teacher: Is it blue or white or another colour? Student: It's blue and white. Teacher: Does it have long sleeves or short sleeves? Student: Long. 2. Chair Teacher: Can I sit on it? Student: Yes. Teacher: How many legs does it have? Student: 4. Teacher: What colour is it? Student: Blue. Teacher: What is a chair for? Student: Sitting on. Teacher: How many chairs are in this room? Student: 25. 3. Hair Teacher: What colour is my hair? Student: Brown. Teacher: What kind of hairstyle do I have? Student: Short. Teacher: What do I wash my hair with? Student: Shampoo Teacher: How many times a week do I wash my hair? Student: Never, once, everyday... Concept checking questions are for checking students' understanding when you are presenting any new material.