Sing and Your're Winning Plzen and Zlin

Songs

•          Songs are fun, lively ways to present and practise new language.

•          Don’t only use a song once, use them frequently for lesson warm ups or endings to help students remember the language.

Warmer – Song titles

•          Think of all the songs you can with _____ in the title.

–        a girl’s name

–        Day of the week

–        A colour

Or whatever the topic of your lesson is.

Ideas

·         Respond to the song - Play two or three songs ask if students would, turn up, or turn off radio, why? 

·         Respond to the song 1 – ask students to do certain action when they hear words that are in a specific category.

·         Respond to the song 2 – ask students to do mines when they hear words that can have mimes.

·         Singing the song  - always great to get students to sing the songs, try taking out words each time they sing it or try singing in rounds, one group starts singing The next group joins in after the first line etc.

·         correcting the mistake – give the students the lyric of the song with some mistakes, they listen and correct the mistakes, a nice way to reuse gapfills.

·         draw the song – students draw the meaning of the song and describe their pictures to their partners.

·         Grab Game / Bingo write words from the song on pieces of paper. Listen to the song and when you hear the words on the paper try to grab  the piece of paper. The person with the most pieces of paper at the end of the game is the winner. Or Draw a bingo grid, students write in words. Play song, students cross off words they hear.

·         Respond to the song - Listen to the song and imagine...The group who is singing, how many, male or female, ages etc. How are they feeling? This can lead to a ‘book ‘ project or a ‘poster’ project about their imagined band.

·         Respond to the song - Listen to the song and think about what advert / film it comes from. A Again this can lead to a poster or project  work.

·         Matching  songs and pictures – find some pictures and display them, play some songs and ask students to match the song to the picture. You could use countryside scenes, towns, people etc etc etc.

·         News Song – a homework task, ask students to find sings that go with news stories in the news at the moment. get them to devise a radio station running order, summary of news then song then another news point then song.  

Plzen - Use adapt extend

Reading

• Dictogloss – read part of the text at normal speed, ask students to write down key words. Compare with a partner, repeat if necessary, ask students to reconstruct the text. (It does not have to be word perfect just get the same meaning.) This shows students how they can reconstruct meaning from key words. Use the information in the text to predict what comes next and then get students to read the rest.  
• Running dictation – put lines from the text around the room. Students read the text and come back to their partner to dictate it, they then swap roles. Once they have all the lines they try to put them in order to recreate the text. This helps students to thing of the order of the text. Use the information in the text to predict what comes next and then get students to read the rest.  
• Correct the errors – revisit the text in a future lesson by reading a part of it with mistakes the students need to correct the mistakes. Ask students to put their hands up when they hear a mistake and award a point for the one who can correct it first. If you want you can ask the person who put their hand up if they want to answer themselves or nominate someone else to answer from a different team.

Listening

• What do you know? –Before students listen (or read) ask them to read the comprehension questions and work out what they already know about the text from the information contained in the questions.

§  What questions would you ask? – Before the students listen (or read) ask them to write their own questions they would like answered.

• Stop  - during the listening allow students to ask you to stop the recording when they feel a but lost. Stop it, give them a minute in pairs and then start again.
• Sentence Finishing – have the ame first clause 5 times but each time end it with a different conjunction, although, however, so etc. Ask students to finish the sentence.
• Text language – use mobile phone speak in your lessons. Have students work out what the sentences mean and then rewrite them in proper English.

Writing

The idea of twitter in the classroom interests me. 140 character or fewer is quite challenging. IT makes students really think about how to say something clearly and concisely. Try it.

Gareth's Speaking CEFR A2 B1 B2

B2

• Can initiate discourse, take turns when appropriate and end conversation when he/she needs to, though he/she may not always do this elegantly.
• Shows a relatively high degree of grammatical control. Does not make mistakes which lead to misunderstanding.
• Can correct most of his/her mistakes
• Has a sufficient range of language to be able to give clear descriptions, express viewpoints and develop arguments without much conspicuous searching for words, using some complex sentence forms to do so.
• Has a good range of vocabulary for matters connected to his field and most general topics
• Can interact with a degree of fluency and spontaneity that makes regular interaction with native speakers quite possible without imposing strain on either party.
• Can pass on detailed information reliably

B1

• Communicates with reasonable accuracy in familiar contexts; … Errors occur, but it is clear what he/she is trying to express.
• Can initiate, maintain and close simple face-to-face conversation on topics that are familiar or of personal interest.
• Has enough language to get by, with sufficient vocabulary to express him/herself with some hesitation and circumlocutions
• Can keep going comprehensibly, even though pausing for grammatical and lexical planning and repair is very evident.
• Knows enough vocabulary to talk about family, hobbies and interests, work, travel, news and current events.
• Can make the other person understand the points that are most important.
• Can correct mix-ups with tenses or expressions which lead to misunderstandings provided the interlocutor indicates there is a problem.

A2

• Knows enough vocabulary for familiar everyday situations and topics, but need to search for the words and sometimes must simplify what is said.
• Has a limited repertoire of short memorised phrases covering predictable survival situations; frequent breakdowns and misunderstandings occur in non-routine situations.
• Uses some simple structures correctly, but still systematically makes basic mistakes - for example tends to mix up tenses and forget to mark agreement; nevertheless, it is usually clear what he/she is trying to say.
• Can use simple techniques to start, maintain, or end a short conversation.
• Can construct phrases on familiar topics with sufficient ease to handle short exchanges, despite very noticeable hesitation and false starts.
• Has sufficient vocabulary to conduct routine, everyday transactions involving familiar situations and topics.
• Can communicate what he/she wants to say in a simple and direct exchange of limited information on familiar and routine matters, but in other situations he/she generally has to compromise the message.

More details - http://www.coe.int/t/DG4/Portfolio/?L=E&M=/documents_intro/Data_bank_descriptors.html

Main blog

Welcome to the handouts branch of my EFL blog.
Find the main blog at oupcz.blogspot.com for lots more.
Or have a look around here.
Cheers
Gareth

Primary Homework Session

Ok, So who's done their homework

Homework! Groan work! Put it down and moan work!

(Homework, Oxford Resource Books for Teachers. Lindsay Painter)

Why do we set homework?

Of course a simple answer to this is ‘because we have to’ but actually homework is really important for both us and our students.

We have to remind students that they can’t just be taught English they have to learn it. And they can’t do that just in 90 minutes 2 times a week. Homework is about using the language and learning the language outside the classroom. It is not an assessment it is something that helps students get exposure to English.

Homework can help us as teachers to diagnose the students need and also prioritise classroom time; setting the students things to do that they don’t need support on.

But we need to be careful when we set homework, we need to make sure we are consistent.

These are the golden rules of homework that people suggested as I went around Poland.

1.Students should see the usefulness of homework.

2.Tasks should be relevant, interesting and varied.

3.Different tasks may be assigned to different ability/learning style groups.

4.Homework should be manageable in terms of time

5.Homework doesn’t need to focus on a written product.

6.Increase learner involvement and motivation by encouraging students to contribute ideas and design their own tasks

8.Tasks should be challenging but achievable.

9.Find out how much time, what facilities they have, and what their preferences are.

10.Homework should consolidate classwork, it should not replicate it.

11.Home is the outside world and tasks which are nearer to real life use of language are appropriate.

12.If homework is set, it must be recognised, and feedback given.

13.Motivating students to do homework is an ongoing process

14. Don’t lose the homework

15. Reward students who do their homework so it is clear that homework should be done.

16. Homework can look forward to the next lesson as well as looking back.

The Homework Book by Lesley Painter, referred to earlier, has some nice questionnaires about homework that you can ask your students to do as homework to find out about them.

Lindsey Painter’s book I mentioned earlier has a rich seam of ideas for homework, such as the photographing English idea or the Dog Ate it idea.

So when we set homework we can look forwards and prepare students for the next lesson... or look back and review what we have already done in class.

We could use the OUP website  or the multi-rom to give interesting homework or set little research projects that would interest the students.

 

Remember how self study differs from Homework. We suggest rather than set self study.

But we can encourage it by using the website or multi-roms in class... but introducing readers or using dictionaries... either the books or the discs.

 

 

So remember…

· Homework is a chance to practice English outside the classroom

· Homework shouldn’t be assessment

· It should be a chance to consolidate what’s been done in class

· It can be chance to look ahead and prepare for future lessons

· We hope that it isn’t something copied from a classmate 3 minutes before the start of class.

· We hope the students think it isn’t pointless

· It is a chance to diagnose the needs of students

· Sadly it is something that is done on the tram on the way to school but we’d like it not to be.

Cyprus Speaking

Testing or assessing learners can be very useful, it can provide teachers with useful feedback on the abilities of their class, inform their choices on how to develop the syllabus and allow teachers to reflect on their own teaching. This formative assessment can be a beneficial part of the teaching process. However students often see tests as negative and cause stress, this is because they receive a grade and everyone from their peers to parents can see how good or bad they are at a subject. If we are assessing just to award a grade it is known as summative assessment, to see what the students have achieved.

 (18 out of 210 teachers said they liked doing tests when they were in school, and about 7 said only in the subjects they liked.)

Another problem with testing is the affect the test has on our approach to teaching.

Testing for young learners should reflect the teaching methods developed for young learners or the washback of the test.

·         In class we tend to use a range of different activities to reflect the different learning styles in the classroom.  Yet test still seem to be based around pen and paper task such as gap-fills, dictations and translation. Therefore testing we should think of how we can change our assessment process not our teaching techniques.

Testing should not negatively affect the methodology used in the class.

·         The danger of testing is that it can dominate our classroom teaching. If the end of course test is a multiple choice test then the classroom could become dominated by multiple choice activities, taking away the creativity of the teaching and learning process.

What to do with the results?

In my opinion, students should not be compared to other students in the class. Their results should reflect what they can do and what they need to work on rather than how well they did compared to Jiri or Eva etc.

Test should be fair and should be measured against a set of criteria (criteria referencing), so the students can understand the results in terms of their own strengths and weaknesses.

If we compare students with other students in the class (norm referencing), we are giving the message that they are not as clever as someone or cleverer than another which fails to celebrate an individual’s achievement. Even a student with a low mark has achieved something and can be told what they can do.

How do you assess?

If we test we need to make sure we have clear criteria we are testing against. I find that the CEFR provides good ideas to help us.

We need to make sure that our tests are not too broad, if we pick up on every mistake then the students will end up on minus marks. A more global approach is needed, based on task achievement and communication.

In the session we assessed Martina and decided on the criteria ourselves. In almost all the groups we decide on the following things.

Did the student complete the task effectively?

Did the student use appropriate language?

Was it easy to listen to or did it put a strain on the listener?

Did the student have effective coping strategies?

Was the pronunciation clear and effective?

For practical activities just think about what makes a good speaking exercise. If it generates language and allows students to speak then it is an effective testing task. What we want are tasks that involve the students so they are thinking about that and not about the test.

So sorting things into categories, saying if you agree or disagree with something, comparing pictures, etc. are all good ways of generating language.

To conclude  a quote.

‘Assessment should serve teaching and learning by providing feedback to you and the students, encouraging a positive classroom atmosphere, and promoting and maintaining a strong motivation for learning English.’

 Assessing Young Learners, Sophie Ioannou-Georgiou and Pavlos Pavlou, Oxford Resource Books for Teachers.

References

Assessing Young Learners, Sophie Ioannou-Georgiou and Pavlos Pavlou, Oxford Resource Books for Teachers.

Teaching Young Learners , Ana Maria Pinter Oxford University Press.

Listen Carefully

Use pictures to introduce main characters

Ask students questions about the characters, how they feel, are they good or bad, what noise they make?

Use pictures and ask students to predict the story

Use words and phrases from the story and ask students to predict the story.

During Listening

Ask students to make noises or do actions connected with the character.

Stop regularly and ask students questions about what they have heard.

Allow students to stop you and ask you questions.

Play bingo or grab games to encourage students to listen for key words.

Have students listen with their eyes closed. when you stop ask them  to draw what they heard.

Read the story with mistakes, ask the students to correct the mistakes.

After Listening

Have students create one scene from the listening – a photograph.

Have students make a poster from the point of view of one of the minor characters.

Use text speech or Facebook statuses to review the story.

Ask students to bring story up to date – Cyberella  William Twitter etc.

Ask students to recreate the video by acting it.

Watch out on the blog for a glossary of text speak.