Handouts

Monday, 12 September 2011

Videos

Most of the ideas for this session were taken from an OUP pdf puclication called using video in the classroom.
I was sent this by a colleague some weeks ago, but I cannot find where it was published or who in fact was the author, please if you know can you tell me so I can give this the full referencing.
Anyway below find these excellent 10 ways of using video in the classroom by person unknown and poublished by OUP.

10 ways to use video clips in class

With today’s classroom equipment, it’s easier than it’s ever been to use video when we teach. TVs and DVD players are well established as class resources, but we can use other equipment such as data projectors and interactive whiteboards to play video clips too.

Projecting clips onto a whiteboard or using an interactive whiteboard is very similar to how you would use a television, but the great advantage is that you can write on it while the video plays! So don’t forget about these as options for your class.

In this article, I’ll give you 10 different activities for using with video in your lessons – but first, a question:

Why use video?

The obvious answer is that it’s enjoyable. Watching TV or a video/DVD

is familiar to most of your students, so you can probably expect them

to look forward to watching a clip in class.

However, there’s much more to it than simply enjoyment. Here are

some more reasons why video is a useful tool for the classroom:

Provides a different focus, which motivates students

Rich source of language

Lends itself to many activities

Reinforces language

Helps develop listening skills

Provides exposure to culture, cultural gestures and so on

Also:

Unlike listening to a CD, a video clip provides visual clues - students can see gestures accompanying speech, and this helps to understand meaning

Video clips set their own contexts both for a topic and (in terms of the classroom) for

language

Visual content provides a shared common knowledge – not all students will understand a

listening the same way, but everyone can see if the man’s coat is blue

Now let’s look at ten simple activities that you can use to exploit video clips in your lesson. I hope you find them useful, and I’d love to hear your feedback. Good luck!

Tip Tips

1. The Name Game

Aim: to practise and revise vocabulary

Play a DVD clip and pause it.

Ask students to shout out the things they can see on the screen.

If you wish to do it word by word, point to the things (i.e. words) you want to revise

This can become noisy, so an alternative is to ask students to write a list of what they see.

If you are using an IWB, you or the students can write the words on the paused video clip, labelling the clip like a picture.

2. Run and touch

Aim: to practise and revise vocabulary

You will need plenty of space for this activity!

Ask students to come to the front of the class

Put them in teams, ask each team to stand in a line.

Play the DVD and pause it.

Shout the name of something that appears on the screen.

Students at the front of each line have to come and touch the word. The first student to do it gets a point for their team. The students then go to the back of the line and the game repeats with the

next students from each team.

To give the students more control, get them to say the words they’ll run for.

3. Covered screen

Aim: to set the context of the lesson, or for language work such as models of deduction

If you are not using an IWB, you will need something to cover the screen (paper, card etc.)

Paused Picture

Find the piece of the DVD you wish to use and pause it. Don’t let students see it.

Use the spotlight feature in the IWB to spotlight an area that makes it hard to guess what the whole picture is.

Ask the students to guess what they are looking at. This is where the target language can be used, e.g. ‘It could be a restaurant.’

After the students have guessed, move the spotlight to another part of the picture and ask the students again.

Repeat until the students guess correctly, then reveal the picture.

For follow up, you can do ‘the name game’ activity above.

Sound

Use the screen shade feature in the IWB to cover the screen.

Tell the students you will play the DVD and they have to listen and guess where the DVD clip is set.

Play the DVD - screen shade hides the picture so the students can only hear

Stop the DVD and ask the students to think about where the DVD is set (or who are the people, how are they feeling, what the place is like and so on).

As with Paused Picture, you can ask students answer using the lesson’s target language.

IWB

TIP

4. PREDICTION (1)

Aim: to encourage speaking (or you can use it for a specific language aim)

Play the DVD and pause it before something ‘important’ happens.

Ask the students to discuss questions such has what they think is going to happen, what is the person about to do, how it will end and so on.

Play the DVD for the students to confirm their predictions.

If you are using an IWB then you can prepare the questions before the lesson and then display them on the board as a visual reference.

5. PREDICTION (2)

Aim: Similar to Prediction 1, but students see the beginning and end of the clip –

not the middle. This way they have to predict (speculate) what has happened.

Play the first part of the clip then stop it. Ask students to discuss what they’ve seen.

Fast forward the DVD (preferably so the students cannot see).

Play the end of the clip.

Ask the students to guess what happened in the middle – elicit some ideas.

Play the whole clip for students to confirm their predictions.

6. Make your own quiz

Aim: to practise questions

Students watch a DVD clip.

After it has finished, ask them to write questions about the visual content of the clip,

e.g. what colour was the man’s sweater?

Students share their questions.

Students try to answer the questions from memory, then by watching the clip again.

TIP

7. What are they thinking?

Aim: to test listening comprehension (students react to what the characters say)

Play the DVD and pause it when there are a few characters on the screen.

Ask the students to think about what the characters have said and what they might be thinking.

Write down their suggestions on the board.

Ask the class to discuss which are the best suggestions and why.

Draw ‘thought bubbles’ from the characters’ heads - ask students to write their ideas in the bubbles

If you play the clip without sound, you can draw speech bubbles instead of thought bubbles.

8. Body language

Aim: to show the importance of body language in communication

Choose a clip where there is a lot body language – an argument, for example.

Make sure the sound is switched off.

Play the clip and ask the students what they think is happening, what the characters are saying.

Remind them to look at the body language of the characters.

Students share their ideas.

Play the clip again with sound to see if anyone is correct

TIP

9. Overdubs

Aim: to practise understanding functional context

An overdub is when we ask students to replace the video dialogue with dialogue of their own. To do this you need to play the clip without the sound.

The students watch a clip and make notes on what they think is happening.

After the clip, students work together to decide on the dialogue (the size of the group depends on the number of characters in the clip).

When students are ready, the clip is replayed and the students ‘act out’ their dialogue.

Students decide which group has the best dialogue.

Play the clip again with audio so students can hear the original dialogue.

Check your IWB for a recording facility – students might be able to record their own dialogues

Try the internet to find a free voice-recording program

10. Subtitles

Aim: to test comprehension

You will need an IWB for this activity.

If you do not object to using L1 in the classroom, you can ask students to translate the dialogue in the clip, then write the translated dialogue as a subtitle.

As with overdubbing, your students can use subtitles to present an alternative dialogue.

There are a number of websites that can help you to add subtitles to video clips found on

the Internet.

Final tips for using video clips in class

Keep extracts reasonably short

Encourage active viewing through tasks

Prepare appropriate tasks for before, during, and after the clip

Play the clip before the lesson so you know how the technology works

Remember that video clips can have a cultural bias

Remember copyright – if you are using a clip from the Internet, it may be illegal to download it

Brains

Thank you to those of you who chose my brains session at the recent 'Signposts' conference.
I hope you enjoyed it, I think it is a fun session to deliver but I also think it has a very serious message.
Here are my thoughts.

Different people do the same task in different ways. In the session we tried the memory activity, the colours activity and the maths. It was interesting to observe different facial expressions and the different way people wrote lists or the way they read the colours from board. It shows that we all have different ways of doing things, but do we remember this as teachers. When we give a activity to our students we tend to expect them to do it our way.

Remember how you felt doing the maths or the second memory activity, that stress can lead to disruptive behaviour.

The brain is a complicated organ, it works in a myriad of ways and although different parts are responsible for different things the brain work bests when it is asked to interact. In general we can say that:

1. Limbic system - emotions, survival instincts

2. Cerebellum - movement, posture, balance

3. Brain stem - breathing, heartbeat, etc.

4. Frontal lobe - reasoning, planning, emotion

5. Occipital lobe - visual processing

6. Parietal lobe - movement, orientation, recognition

7. Temporal lobe - auditory, memory, speech

So I asked you if you had ever

 been told off for chewing gum in class

 fallen asleep in class

 felt an urge to run out of a classroom

 had an argument with a teacher

 been told off for daydreaming

 been told off for humming or singing in class

 been told off in school for the way you look

But I also wonder if you have ever had it happen to you as a teacher, so have you

 told off a student for chewing gum in class

 had students fall asleep in class

 had a student run out of a classroom

 told off a student for daydreaming

 told off a student for humming or singing in class

 told off a student in school for the way they look

Obviously there is nothing wrong with telling students off for these thing but we should probably consider why they are doing it.

The brain needs oxygen to help it work, therefore we need to air our classrooms, and encourage good posture and movement to help the brain process oxygen.

The brain needs security, we need to feel safe and comfortable, if we feel threatened we tend to respond either with flight or fight, we either run away or cause trouble. Therefore the classroom should be non-threatening, encourage students by saying things like it is not important if you don’t get it right, just have a go! Award students for trying as well as succeeding, see previous blog.

Some learners need visual stimulus, when they don’t get it they tend to go it alone and lose themselves in their own worlds. So we need to ensure we have visuals, visualisation exercises, drawing activities etc.

Teachers tend to like students working in silence, personally I can’t stand it as a learner. So I tend to hum to myself. Teachers can occasionally play music in the class to encourage those more musical learners.

I have only touched on a few things here, but it is interesting to think how we can feed the brain with different activities to encourage a holistic response.

So these are the basic ingredients to a brain friend lesson

Our frontal lobe is longing for logical organised lessons and courses. That means a logical structure in the lesson, rues and formulas to analyse and recycling in the lesson

Our Occipital lobe is longing for visuals and a chance to visualise.

Our limbic system wants to be able to express itself in a safe environment whcih values the input it can make

Our brain stem, cellebrium and parietal lobe movement to keep us awake and alert

Finally we need variety to allow us to stimulate our brains in a range of ways that will aid learning and kep us awake and keep us from running away.

Wednesday, 24 August 2011

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 I hope you enjoy playing with Oxford English Online and I hope you use it with your students.

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.

Saturday, 28 May 2011

Oxford Teacher's Day for Language Schools - Technology Session

Digital Solutions

Exploring digital options for teaching from Oxford

Technology in the Classroom

Classroom Presentations and Lesson Activities

ITools / iPack / Website

iTools and iPack are materials designed for use on the interactive whiteboard, the data projector or a computer screen. It used material from the book so you can display the pictures from the book, display grammar presentations, go through exercises or use the tapescripts plus much more. It saves planning time for the teacher as it is ready made material and saves classroom time too.

More information: www.oupeltpromo.com/interactive

The Oxford University Press Websites has lots of interactive activities and games, these could be used in the classroom with small groups around a computer or be set as homework or suggested as self-study.

More information: http://elt.oup.com/students/?cc=gb&selLanguage=en

Homework and Self Study tools.

Online Skills Practice – this is extra skills practice for students to do at home. They receive a code oin the books (New English File, some Exams titles) and can either work through the tasks on their own or give the code to the teacher who will assign work as homework through the free Oxford Learner Management System.. Easy to use, instant voice recorder for speaking practice plus much more.

More information: http://www.oxfordenglishtesting.com/defaultmr.aspx?id=3568

iTutor

A digital component of the course book, iTutor has digitalised content from the course book plus new interactive activities and grammar presentations. Ideal for blended learning solutions or to allow students to work at their own pace to revie and review what has happened in class.

More information available soon.

iWriter

A digitial writing aid that comes with the OALD multi-rom. iWriter allows students to explore sample texts and then helps to guide students through a writing assignment, giving hints on planning, structure and editing.

More information: http://www.oup.com/elt/local/global/promotion/oald8/video01?cc=pl

Remember you can say in contact with OUP in a number of ways.

www.oup.com/elt/teachersclub

twitter: @OUPOELTGlobal

facebook: www.facebook.com/oupeltglobal

youtube: youtube.com/oupeltglobal

blog: oupeltglobalblog.com

Oxford Teacher's Day for Language Schools - Business Session

Business is Booming

practical activities for the business English classroom and beyond.

Word of the Day

Aim: to review vocabulary from previous lessons

Teacher gives each student a word at the beginning of the lesson.
Students don’t show each other the word.
Give students time to look up word.
Student has to try to use the word as many times in the lesson.

Extension – Students try to guess each other’s words.

Video Commentary

Aim: to practice giving presentations.

Brainstorm information about the subject of the video.
Watch the video – sound down, make notes of what you can see.
Work in pairs, write a commentary.
Perform the presentation over the top of the video.

Alternative – if you have a large class get each pair to write a different minutes worth of commentary.

Video Bingo

Aim: to review vocabulary, to listen for specific words.

Put words from script on the board.
Ask students to draw grid and put in words
Play video, students cross off words when they hear them.

For one – one – give students words from script in jumbled order, get student to number the words in the order they hear them.

Functions Mill Dril

Aim; to drill phrases – pronunciation practice.

Give out the sentences on a slip of paper.
Students stand up and move around. They say their sentence, then swap paper and move on.
Repeat activity this time students need to respond to the phrase their partner says.

For one-one – take it in turns to read the sentences from a pile of paper.

Alternative – have questions and replies and the students find their partner.

Party Quirks

Aim: to add fun to a role play.

Set up a role play , assign students roles
Give students a ‘hidden quirk’.
Ask them to do the role play but try to act it with the hidden quirk. Their partner has to guess the quirk.

Madlibs

Aim: to add fun to a gap fill, to get students to read through words when doing a gap fill, to get students to think about how knowing the part of speech can help with them do a gap fill

Choose a suitable text - either make gaps or use the existing gaps
Read out the parts of speech that are missing and ask students to write down their own words.
Show student the text and ask them to put the words in the text and read it.
The do the gap fill as you normally would.

Reflection

Aim: to get some feedback on your teaching in an informal way to help you plan lessons that suit your students.

· Ask the students to review what has been done in the last few lessons.

· Ask them to rate what they found useful, not very useful, what they liked, what they didn’t like.

· Get feedback.

Sunday, 15 May 2011

Motivating difficult teenage learners - The Handout

Motivating difficult teenage learners.

When I started writing this session I was aware that teenagers learning English in secondary or vocational schools might be a bit difficult to motivate but I don’t think I was ready for quite the amount of problems that you teachers face. Some of the words you used to describe your learners included: lazy, irresponsible, talkative, bored, satisfied with themselves, easily annoyed (touchy, absent minded, seemingly uninterested in anything, the list went on and on and 90 percent of the words were negative.

So the big question is how to motivated students that are physically present but mentally absent.

Maybe to answer that we need to consider why the students are not motivated in the first place.

Again your responses were interesting. This to me was quite sad, a lot of you said that the students came from ZS with a lack of knowledge and with a lack of belief that they can learn. They have been branded a failure and so they live up to their label. They feel they ‘have to’ learn English but they don’t know how to and can’t see the point. Another interesting point that came up is that they are not suited to the classroom. They are more practical than academic yet we confine them to desks and rows and books and pens, things they are not comfortable with. They are doers not thinkers maybe our lessons should reflect this.

So how can we motivate? Well for me I think taking interest in them as humans is the most important. Trying to organise the room to look like the workplace or to suit their learning style. Make learning fun with achievable tasks, so the students can see that they are learning. I think variety is also important; games, songs, computers, practical activities all help to motivate. Showing that English is relevant in their lives, either by turning activities into work related activities or getting them to use English (bringing other non-native speakers of English into the classroom either digitally or physically might help.)

One teacher in Teplice said that we can use ourselves to motivate the students; our enthusiasm for English, our love of it can motivate the students, our lesson plans can also motivate, the praise and encouragement give the students is essential, okay they might not be perfect but if they do things and make an effort then we should praise them. Our expectations of them should be on two levels; we should encourage them to do well and not write them off as failures but then we should be realistic internally and not expect too much of them.

To finish off here are the points I ended the session with.

Fluency vs accuracy

The eternal debate – but important here, correcting too much can demotivate but lack of correction can reinforce the feeling of lack of learning. On the other hand language does not have to be perfect to achieve the aims, I think students of this type should be encouraged to use English as much as they can, without fear of mistakes.

Easy or Difficult

Sometimes it is good to make things a little easy for the students to they feel they can do things and it builds confidence. However if things are too easy they will get demotivated. Also never tell them it is easy, because if they can’t do it then it makes them feel stupid.

Comfort Zone or challenge.

With young learners teachers talk about routine so students know what is coming and that is good for adults too. But if things are too familiar and too comfortable maybe students will become complacent. So taking students out of their comfort zone now and again will help students to develop their learning experience.

Language or Skills

As we have said the students will be covering language that they have covered before, so focussing on skills will help them apply their knowledge and also assimilate other language that they are exposed to. It is more real world use of language too. In real world we don’t conjugate verbs we use the language to read or listen or write etc. Having said this students often think learning English is learning new grammar points so it is motivating to do it.

Beyond the Classroom - Breaking down the four walls

Beyond the Classroom - Breaking down the four walls