Issue 5 - IH Journal

ThelHJournal
of education and development
ISSUE NUMBER 5
A P R I L I 9 9 8
C O N T E N T S
Editorial
MatthewBarnard
From A LanguageLearner'sDiary
Scott Thornbury
5
Cognitivers. Communicative:What A Shift In FocusCanDo
Igor Manko
I
Warm BeerAnd The Okey-Cokey
DavidAIbery
12
The Ben Warren IH Trust Prize 1998Short List
t5
GrammarIn A Task-Based
Framework
Philip Kerr
I6
Transigence
and Transaction:The Response
VariousContributors
20
LettersTo The Editor
VsriousContribulors
24
Fructo-Linguistic
Pedagogies
Damien Parrott
26
And Answers
Questions
28
PracticeNetsI
GavinDudeney
30
Top Sites
GavinDudeney
3t
X Y Z Ampersand
Cathy Ellis
32
Remembering
LanguageTravelling
Brita Haycraft
34
OlntemationalHouseLondon 1998
Publishedby IntemationalHouseLondon
Editedby Matthew Bamard
Design:Matthew Bamard
ISSN1368-3292
til/|il.fEID!
N
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ANT TIME (but by Tuesday ''st September 1998 for inclusion
in the next issue) to:
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TheIH Journalof EducationandDevelopment
InternationalHouseLondon.
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LondonWl V 9FL
Fax:
e-mail:
00 44l7l495 0689
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ond Developnrcnlarecirculated
Two frce copiesof the lnlernationalHouse,)ournaloJDduccttion
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pleasecontactCentral Department. Singlecopiesarc alsogivento membersof thc lH London
Teachers'Centre. In both instancesfurthercopiescanbe boughtdircctly from the BEBC
Bookshop, 106 Piccadilly,LondonW1V 9FL, Tel/Fax:00 44 171 493 5226
E-mail: [email protected]
I l i t / t t i c u t t r t L ' t n i t !] l t ] 1 1 . \ t . l a t t l t t l t tl i l f t t l t t ( . t l i ! ) ] ir 1 t 1 t/l ) L r r . l L t t t t t , ' n l
articles
informationaboutnewcourses
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new titles appearingfrom IH
authors
oUesiions...
Ond OnSWefS
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tlOKl/yO t///tPF t/OAOO
PeoPle on the rnove
projects
neweducational
new courscs
etc.
All articles and information gratefulty received.
Please send hard copVr and preferably copy on disk:
Word for lVindows 2,6 or 7
ANT TIME (but by Tuesday ''st Septeflbet 1998 for inclusion
in the next issue) to:
The Editor,
TheIH Journalof Educationand Development
InternationalHouseLondon.
106Piccadilly,
L o n d o nW 1 V 9 F L
Fax:
e-mail:
00 44l7l495 0689
[email protected]
Two frce copiesof the lnternationalHouse.lournalof Dducatiottand Developnenlarecirculated
to all IntemationalHouseschoolsin the organisation.Ifyou haveproblemsreceivingthcsc,
pleasecontactCentral Department. Singlecopiesarc alsogiven to membersof thc lH London
Teachers'Centre. In both instancesfurthercopiescanbe boughtdircctly from the BEBC
Bookshop,106Piccadilly,LondonW1V 9FL,Tel/Fax:00 44 171,4935226
E,-mail:[email protected]
t t / t t i c u t t r t i t n i t ! ] l t ) 1 1 . \ .t l a 1 ! J 1 t 1tti l [ ' t l t ( t t l i ! ) t i t 1 t ] t l ) , ' r r . l t , 1 t t t ' t t t
Editorial
Geniuses and enthusiasts
The architectGumbril Seniorin Huxley'sAntic Hay referredto the teachingprofessiol as 'the last
rclugeof feebleminds with classicaleducations'.It would, he went on to say,bc an excellent
professionif everyonewho went into it was asmuch interestedin teachingas fte was in lls job:
'It's
theseundecidedcreatureswho ruin it by drifting in. Until all teachersare geniusesand
enthusiasts,
nobodywill leam anything,exceptwhat they teachthemselves,.
It's a fu'ny thi'g, but it seemsto me that a grcatmany of the enthusiasts
within our professronare
just thoscpeoplcrvho drifted in. PrivatescctorELT thriveson thosewho perhapsstarted
olf
secingteachingas a sort ofstopgapor a ticket to travel;but r.vhether
it's the infectiousdedication
and inspirationofour initial training,or the thrill ofthose first yearsrvorkingabroadsunounded
by equallyeagcrcolleagues,
they end up being far fromjust casualpractitioners.And what of thc
gcniuses?Givcn the numberof r.vcighty
joumals aroundandthe queuesof academicstrying to
get lnto prlnt to cnsurethcir continuedaccommodation
in Ivory Towers,thereis no apparentlack
therecither. But thcreis a problem,and that is the continuingantagcnismbetwecnthe geniuses
andthe enthusiasts
rvhichoften stemsfrom a lack ofmutual respcct.How can the enthusiasts
be
surethat u'lratthe gcniusesaresayingis worth listeningto? A colleagueof minc, Rodney
Blakeston,suggestsissuingthem all with a brief questionnaire..
when clidyou lastleachu
Iunguuge?llrltendid tou last leorn a laiguage as a beginner?How much ofrecently handed
down theoryand ntcthodologywould haveremainedintactif the geniusesit.rvolvedhad beenable
to answer'lastmonth'to thcscquestions?
This discussioncropsup throughoutthis issucofthe IHJED, alongrvith any numberof cxamples
of idcasand thoughtsfrom the enthusiasts
witl.rinour organisation.ScottThombury,rvho somc
might classifyas an enthusiastic
genius,clearlydemonstrates
his ability to passthe Blakeston
Test,with his accountofa recentlanguageleamingexperienccwhich hasa grcatdealto o ffer
tcacllersand trainersalike, Igor Manko highlightsone ofthc failingsof con.rmunicative
teaching
and David Albery questionsthe teachingofculturc as it is tacklcdby somecourscbooksand
teacllcrs.The argumentsreally get going in the rcsporlscs
to this year,sIntemationalHouse
TeachcrTralningConference.I'herearepracticalideasin this issueas well - from the highertech
tips on usingthe World Wide Web, to the somewhatlower techtips on bananasin the classroon.
Allcl rve havesomedelightfulmemoriesfrom Brita Haycraftwhich offer someinsiehtsinto horv
nranyof us endedup rvherewe aretoday.
Having enthusedso much aboutour profcssion,I can't hclp feelingI havedeliberatelyavoideda
recuningand ratherfundamcntalqucstion,which is whethcrELT is really a professionat all. The
shcernumberof arliclesaroundthat questionthis rvouldseemto suggestthat it isn't (how mar.ry
piecesdo you coureacrossdiscussingrvhethermedicineor larvareprofessions?).But that,s
anothcrstory;Bravc Nerv World, perhaps.
l\Iattherv Barnard
Director of Studies.IH London
l l t . / n t . t l l t ! t ) ) l t l l / o u . ' : < . l q u i t r to! l l ) L ! u t L t t i t n
r r n r ll ) e t . t l u i n t r n t
A D V E R T I S E M E N T
INTERNATIOI\AL HOUSE DIPLOMA
EDUCATIONAL MANAGEMENT
DISTANCE
TRAIN'NG
This course is designed and run by experienced educational
management practitioners from throughout the International House
worldwide network of schools. It draws on InternationalHouse
London's 15 ycars of expcriencern running successfulDistance
TrainingProgrammes.
EIGHT MONTH MODULAR PROGRA.N,IME:
o
.
.
.
managingyourself
managingothers
systemsmanagement
educationaland organisational
management
Reading,guidcdassignments
andprojectwork will allow pafticipants
to examineandreflectworkingpractice.
NEXTCOURSE
BEGINS
1998
SEPTEMBER
The averageworkload for parlicipantsis estimatcdat between15 and
20 hoursper module. The feesfor the coursewill be fI050. Feescan
be paid by bank transfer.
PARTICIPANTPROFILE:
Participantswill be existing or potential educational managers working in an ELT
context. Participantsshould normally be graduates with a minimum of 5 years
experiencein ELT.
Much of the course work to be submitted for assessmentis task-based.so
candidatesneed accessto an ELT institution for the purposesof researchand
information-gathering,and to enablethem to completethe assignedtasks.
FORFURTHER
INFORMATION
CONTACT
HOUSELONDON,106PICCADILLY.
LONDONWlV 9FL
MAUREEN
MCGARVEY
AT INTERNATIONAL
Tht' Inlcrntli,tnal lloLtsc ,Jorrrtu! tl l:),lLt.ulit)ntnt! I).1\'t'l(fr)1(ni
FROM A LANGUAGE LEARNER'S DIARY
In February and March of last year, Scott Thornbury, of IH Barcelona, was
in his nativeNew Zealandrunning a Diploma course,and took time off to
ottend a weeklyMaori class. Theseare ertractsfrom the diary he kept.
LessonI
The usual apprehension as when any new
groupingof peopleare aboutto meet - like a party
- i'ear of ariving too early and having to make
conversatlonwith a total unknorvn,rvho you may
be stuck with for the rest of the evening. As rt
happens,P. and I time it quite well; neither first
nor last to arrive. Room very small for numberof
pcople(15) and quite a lot of initial kerfuffle *ith
chairs. We sit round a table,and with no room to
move.
I rr'ondcr (over-optimistically, as it
happcns) horv the tcacher will manage group
work.
Teacher is incredibly young but seems relaxed.
'l'hen
she introducesherself - Julict - and tells us
that she hasn'tactually done a coursebefore,has
only substjtutedfor other teacher'sabsences. I
admirc hcr candour but am cross and
disappointed:great start. This rs not thc way to
rnstrllconfrdencelAt lcast she rs Maori, although
not a bom Maori-speaker(is anyone'/)
We rntroducc ourselves and our reasons fbr
war'rtlng1ctleam Maori. A range of types, ages
rnd motivcs. Trvo of the older rvomen did a
courseiast),car,but got lost. There'sa doctorrvho
nceds somc ![aori in his u,ork, and a young
poiiccman rvho I assumehas been sent along in
the namc of interracialrelations - thcsc are the
onl),t\\'o \.ho sccm to havean instrumentalreason
'I'hen
lbr being here.
there is Ben, a Maori
himseli, and a bonc-carver,rvho knew a bit of
M a o r i r v l r e nh c r v a sa k i d b u t ' l c t i t g o ' , a n d h i s
daughter. Tirini.
lntegrJtive mottvation,
clcfrnitely. lhe lest of us. rvrthout so nruch as
sa.vlr.lg
it, subscribcto a 'feel-good' factor - a
mrxtureof curiosityand guilt has impelledus, and
no\\'\\'e hope to f'eela bit better about it. People
ere rmpressedthat P., the only non-NZer and a
tcnporary visitor, shouldbe bothered.
No book - but rvell prepared handout rvhich
rncludesall the lessoncontent. Once formalrties
rre over. lcssonbegrns.'iLh a,karakla or prayer,
beamedup on OHP. Interesting.Don't knorv what
i1 r.neans:perhaps "lf u,e don'1 understand,God
hclp us". l)ronunciationpracttceof tricky sounds
llI
follows. We sort of drill them, by repeatingthe
sounds,althoughthereis no obviouscue to do this
from her. Shelaughsand blusheswhen peopleare
\wong, as though it rvereher mistake,and makcs
no attempt to correct them. In fact, she says
"Good". We do somc work on greetings, reading
from the handout. This is obviously fanriltar
tenltory to most, and people take opportunlty to
shorv off by asking, "Can you say...?" etc.
Teacherseemsvery happyto be distracted,andwe
don't get to anyrvherenear the cnd of the material
in the handout. We finish with a song - again,
u,ords on OHP, no translatlon,but most seem
familiar wilh it. We standup to sing along - I feel
a bit self-conscious
singinguncomprehendingly
in
sucha confinedspacervith total strangers.
Lcsson2
'I'hrs
We start r.viththc prayer.
time Jay (rvho I
have discoveredis an ESL teacher) solicits a
translationby asking,politcly, if'te aroha' means
1ovc, It does. The prayertranslatcsas: 'Oh Lord/
(iivc to us/ The strength,the knowledgeand the
love/Foreverything/Amcn'. Nice r.vayto begin a
lesson.
Review of iast lcsson - she has us practisethe
greetingsr.vitl.r
our neighbour,taking turns, gotng
round thc classpair by pair. This x'ay I guessshe
can control and check but it rvould be nice to go
i n t o c l o s e dp a i r s .
Into the lesson proper, neatly presentedon a
handoutrvhich she talks us through: 'What's your
name?what'shis namc' etc. Immediatelyrun inio
ovcrload trying to grapple with complicated
possesslvepronoun system, kinship terms, and
unfamiliar word order. Juggling three balls at
once- drop many. Shehas us askingeachotherin
threes - 'What's your name?, her name'j her
father'sname?'ctc, but again only lets one group
speakat a time. Lot of laughterwhen Ben asks
Tirini "What's your father's namc?"
Notc
importanceof laughteras a release:uhat in real
life might just raise a smile, in class is hugely
lunny. Finally, Jay suggests we continue in
'ciosed
tbrees' and Juhet seemsto realisethat it
makessense:she scemsto be learningto teachat
lttt,:ntttti/)nol l/oLrsc.lorr ul t,l hlucttitn
rtnrl l)Lrc.ltIntr:nr
the same time as we are learning the language: a
shared voyage of discovery!
Her lack of
assertivenessis in fact a blessing as it allows us to
take someinitiative.
Different personalities starting to emerge policeman and his girlfriend form a tight pair,
supporting each other but not very friendly to
anyone else. Nora (older woman) happy to make
a fool of herself, fluffing her lines and having a
good laugh... End with song.
Lesson3
Prayer. Revisionof last lesson. Numbers I - 20 we were meant to study these and some obviously
have (P. and I spentall week chantingthem). She
sets up a bingo activity to do in pairs - this is the
first indication of a consciously applied activity
t)?e. i'm surprised how well it works and how
much I like doing it - I've never done this in class
before (as a teacher) but will definitely take it on
board.
More personal information language. Then it
'I
becomesclearthat this come from... My father's
name is ... My mother'sname is...' etc is part of a
ritual geeting routine called a mlir, used, for
example, dunng the welcoming ceremony on the
marae. This is a brilliant way of contextualising
personalinformation, and we all set about wnting
and rehearsingour own nllrrs with a venegeance.
We choose our own mountain and river, but are
challenged to come up with a waka - the canoe
that first brought us to NZ.
Perhaps Air
NewZealandflight 197? We are to rehearseour
mihis for homework and to 'perform' them in the
next class.
Song - we are now more emboldenedto ask for
translationand she is happy to accede.
Lesson4
Julict is late to class - her flat was broken into.
There is genuineconstemation - starting to realise
how much we like her. Also {irst absencetoday Peterthe doctor is not here. Is this the beginning
of the end for him?
There are two
counterweighted dynamics - the inner group
bonding (we talk now before lesson and on the
way down in the lift) - while the same time there
is a fraying of the outer circle as people break
away.
We perform our mihi - I offer to go first since no
one else does,and managequite well, with only
one or two stumbles. I am really chuffed, but
Tht' hrtcnru|ionoI llrtu:t'Jottrul
wonder if I would be able to 'turn it on' on the
marae- i.e. in 'real' life. I havethe appearance,
in
a classroom,ofbeing a good languageleamer,but
know from experience that this does not hansfer
well away from the nest (Maori immersion
schoolsare calledlanguagene.v.s,incidentally). I
am (in technical terms) an active-studial R?e
learner (as opposed to active- experiential,for
example): the classroom provides a secure
environmentthat is relatively nsk-free. Outside in
the real world my ego is too impermeable- 100%
second-language-proofed.
Lesson5
Prayer. Review. Input. Song:thereis something
very satisfying about thts predictable structurc - a
sort of rhythm is set in motion from the outset. I
would criticise these lessons,if I were assessing
them, as lacking pace and a sense of urgency
(amonglots of other things). But, looking around
the class,I seeno indicationof borcdom - in fact
the pace seems well- judged given both the
learning styles, motivations, time of day, and
general ambience of this class. Thcre doesn't
seemto be a greatdeal of urgencyabout leaming
to speak Maori, and people are happy to stop
everything to discusssome quirk of the languagewhy a monkey should be called a 'makimaki' or
whether it is nght that women should be not
allowcd to dance the lrnfta. Maybe that's wby
Peter dropped out, since his rs an instrumental
r a t h e tr h a nv a g u e l yi n t e g r a t r vm
c o t t \x l l o n .
Lesson6
B e c a u soef s o m ea d m i n l s t r a t i vrcc a s o nw c a r e i n a
differcnt room today, with much more space amazing the effect it has - feehng of novelty and
emanclpatron.
Pairspracticeof prepositions- where is the chair?
etc. Even in this new room it's very difficult to
come up with many examples- if only we had a
rvall chart or two to work from. I now always tr1
and cngineermyself to sit next to Jay, because
she knows how to make thc bcst usc of pairwork
time, being a teacherherself, I suppose. Other
studentsjust stop when they've donc their bit following the script but not departrng liom lt to
play with the lamguage. (Of course,I've noticed
this in my own classes). Instead, Jay and I
manage to recycle the recently studied vocab of
partsof the body, and combincit with prepositions
to ask questionslike 'rvhere is my mouth?' and
'where your
is
knee?' It makes perfect senseto
usl
ttJ [']tlu&tIhn !tnd D,,\'(IolDl i..tlI
L e s s o n7
Peter is back! But the class rs splrt betweenthe
quick and the dead. Poor old Nora - she'sfinding
it all uphill (exceptthe songs- it tums out sheu'as
a primary school teachcr and taught these songs
hersell). I'.and I are among the quick - but we
don't let on that we spent all last rveekend
practising as rve drove to Okarito and back asking each other inane qucstions like 'what
colour js that shcep?'as we drive along. (I even
made my first Maon joke: "What colour is the
sheep?" Ansrvcr: Ma (white). "What does thc
shccp say'?"Answer: Maaaa). But this srmply
supports my conviction that you can't learn a
languagein the classroom,at leastnot at the rate
of trvo hoursa rveek- the classroomrs really a pit
you check in for a changeof oil before
stopr.vhere
h c r d r n co l l ' r ! r r n t o t i n d a n y e x c u s et o l l s e i l .
D o n ' tl o s er t . u s ei t .
We have also been trying out Paul Natron'sword
card technrquc (Maorr rvord on one srdc,
lranslatlonon the othcr - test yourseif in both
directions- L2-Ll, Ll -LZ - test each other, keep
shufflrngthem). As Nation says,it doesn'tseent
to matter $,hcther the u'ords are semantically
linked or not - in t'actthe more randomthc bettcr,
as this rcallv tcsls your po*,cr and speedof recall
rnore than ii' you are aiready situatcd in a
p a r t i c u i alrc x i o a la r e a .r . e .i t ' s m u c h m o r e l i f e - l i k e
to have to recall numbersout of ordcr, and more
lile-like still to recail a number in the contextof
talking aboutsheep.
the formulae by rnaking them sound like
somethingin English or Spanish.So 'ker te pehea
koe?' (How are you'l) starts off like 'Que te
parece?'and the answer- 'kei te pai' soundslike
Katie Pie.)
I wonderif a lexical approachwould work here. I
am curious because of the description Murray
gaveme of /ls Maori teacher:"We just do masses
ofwords - arounda theme,for example,lamily, or
food etc. We have to leam thesebefore the next
lesson. Then rve come back and havc a
conversation- about t'amily, food etc, and we use
the rvords. Thc teacherfeedsin the grammarthat
we need to stick the rvords together". Murray
thinks the techniqueworks and wonders rvhat I - a
languageteacher- think of it. PureMichael Lewis
is all I can say. I certainly feel that all thrs
possesslve
pronounbusinessis a rvasteof time - rf
we wereever to useMaori in real life contexts,the
contextitself would clarify the rcfcrence. What I
rvould prefer would be a canter through thc
grammar,but with massesol vocab to get going
rvith. Community Language Learning, I am
convinced,would get us therequicker.
l,esson9
Our last lesson! It's not the cnd of the course(one
more lessonaftcr this) but P. and I are going back
to Spain. (Nora is amazed: "What, you both live
in Spain,rvhat a coit.rcidence
! " ). I am gcnulnely
sorry that it is over. I I'eel rcal rvarmth to the
group,and attributeit mainly to Juliet,her charm,
u,amrth,enthusiasm,and principally her pnde ir,
L e s s o n8
thc languageand r',,hatit stands for. It hasn't
As much as I am reconcrledto .Tuliet's
method(or
really matteredthat she is totally unformcd as a
lack of it) I am fiustratedby the nrfpickincss of
teacher- if anything, it has endearedus to her
lhe conlcnt of thc lessons- constantlygrappling
more than if she u'ere a technicalwhrzz. And it's
rvith nicctiesof grammar(the pronounsystemfor
not really thc languagewe havebccn leaming,but
cxample)which remindsme of IQ test rubrjcs: If
something about a people, and also something
'Ko
l , a i t a u t a n a ' m e a n s ' W h oi s y o u r s o n ? ' a n d about ourselves,as pakeha in a country that is
'Ko rvai
o n an t a t u a ' m e a n s ' W h oa r eh i s p a r e n t s ' 1 ' , arvkwardlycoming to termswith rts ethnrclty. All
horv rvouldyou say 'Who are their childrcn?' ctc.
the more reasonrvhy I regret having to miss thc
It doesseemthat, in real time, thereis no rvaythat
classexcursionto the marae- I'll neverbe able to
the complex decjsionsyou have to rvork through
performmy mihr rn real operatingconditions! But
(rs rt :n),. yours, hrs'?is it singular,plural or dual?
I did use some Maori outsideof class: I went to
rs it a big thing or a small thing?) could bc
visrt Ben in his shopto buy a bonependantfor my
opcratronallsedin time. But nor does practice
brother. "Kei te pehea koe?" I asked, self'seem to help automatisefluid production if you
consciously. "Kei te pai!" Ihat rvasthe long and
ckrn't a)rcady knorv it.
The altematrve the short of it, but it rvas something. And u'orth
mcmorising torntulatcchunks- rvell that'sflne ibr
all that slog tkough the pronounsystemS
tl'rcnrihl exprcssions,u4rich are formulaic almost
by dcfinition - you leam it by heart- but thcrc are
JLrsttoo nranychunks - my little sister,your eldcr
brothcr.his two cousinsetc. (I remembersomeof
li!t lnl.tttt/ttot? l llrttrc.l'ttrlttl
i , J l ) , l L t ( t ! t i t ) ti t n t l l ) r \ . , , 1 t ) u i r l
COGNITM
vs. COMMUNICATIYE: ll/hat a shift offocus cun do.
Igor Manko, of International House Kharkiv (Ukraine) takes a look at some
commonproblems occurring in monolingualclassesand suggestssomepractical
exercisesto avoid LI interference.
nyone who has taughta monolingualclasswill have experiencedit: you spendhours and hours
introducing and practising apparently simple structuresand lexical items, and as soon as you set
lIthe studentsloose on some freer, more communicativeinformation exchange,they seem to forget
it all. Examples of the sort of thing that they can come up with range from the more or less universal 'It
'From
very likes me' (for 'I like it very much') and
where you (are)?', to the more uniquely Russian
'Includelight!' (for'Tum
the light on'). In all thesecasesLl is accountablefor the error.
A
A
When the communicativegoal is uppermostin the mind leamerstend to go for the nearestready-to-use
meaning-pattem' for communication that their minds offer - the L1 one, of course - and trace it word for
word, It doessoundlike English to the leamer,and the meaningought to be genuinelyconveyed.But on
the other, receiving end of the communication seesaw,Ll mental models can interfere in a much more
'It's
subtle,not to say devastating,
way. A remarklike
not that' could be interpretedin any one ofa dozen
'l
ways by a Russianspeaker,eachfurther from the intendedmeaningof mean somethingdifferent' than
the 1ast.
he theory says that to communicate
successfully,the recipient selects a
meaning-pattern
resemblingthe message
and appiiesit to decodethe meaning. The closer
the two models are, the better the recipient
understandsthe message. Thus to deal with the
problem we need to form authentic meaningpattems that work both ways: in language
production and language comprehension.
However, wrthin the communication exchange
frame. where the successof communicationis
all that counts, authentic meaning-pattems are
only achievedby chance.
Books on teaching methodology suggest a
number of tools to deal with the problem - from
the old and respectable (not to say oldfashioned) translation exercises, to the more
sentence-based
sophisticated Silent Way
activities. What I have to offer is a selectionof
leamer-centred, cognitive activities wrthrn
dialogue and story formats where thc
information exchangeis not so much a focus as a
means of re-creating an authentic piece of
language. This helps leamers internalise
genuine languagc models and form authentic
Englishmeaning-pattems
to preventL1-tracings.
Because more is required from students to
completetheseactivities,the material is graded
substantiallylower than the level of the learners.
games.
M o r e o v e r .u n l i k e . s a y . c o m m u n i c b t r o n
which are normally more closelyassociated
with
'I
a certainlevel, activitiesof this kind can be used
at a wider range of levels and can be easily
adaptedto a level or preceof targct languageby
choosinga more appropriatepiecc of materialto
work on.
T h i s i s n o t t o s a yt h a tt h e s ea c t i v l t i e sa r eu n i q u e .
A frequent reader of ELT resource books rvill
recall some of Paul Davis & Mario Rinvolucri's
Grammar Games and Dictations,Alan Duff &
Alan Maley's actlvities from Literature, and
probablya lot more besrdes.What I had in mrnd
was to suggesta more systematrcshift from
communlcatlonto re-creotron,as a means to
achieve language authenticit) and fight Ll
tracings within the communicative approach
framework.
The activities suggestedhere are all in either
story-telllngor dialogue formats. They can be
done using either rwitten or taped texts. Fuller
planswrth samplematerialswill all be available
on the IH Aflliates rvebsrte.so I will limit
myself here to describingsome easy-to-follow
stagcswhich can be adaptcdaccordingto your
own materialandyour students'needs.
I Edwaftl Snpir (in Language and The Grummuian and his
Languoge) uscs the tern tneatting pattern to describe ho\t in
dilferent languages a given ided \+ill bc conre)ed thtaugh
dLllerent language strucuoes (cf notherinJo\r,
belle-nerc.
Schweigernnrter) and hov inconparabb' the human experiencc
a.cuntulit.d in dtllerc,tt Ianguagcs is stru(trrcd
h(' /t1l.t ( lbnal I lousr'./ouruuI ol ['.rlu(.(tLit)n
u n(/ l)crt !olntL:nt
STORY FOR\{AT
Narration is certainly one of the most frequent
types of speakingactivity in the learner-centred
classroom. It is very motivating and provides
plenty of opportunityfor practice. Unfortunately
rt rs precisely the motivatlon and involvement
that distractthe studcntsfrom controlling therr
speechand resultin Ll meaning-pattems.Ifyou
have ever taught Past Perf'ector Future rn the
Pastto studcntsrvhoscL1 doesn'tprovide them
rvith a simrlarmodel. you'll know what I mean.
The story fbrmat acttvttiesoffered here involve
studentsin a nteaninqfuland anaiyticalexchange
rvhich rs at the same timc absorbrng and
motrvating,and has the advantageof a built-in
control:nechanism.
F r o m C l u e st o S t o r l ( l )
L
Choosea lairly short story appropriateto the
course/levelof class yotr are teaching and
put all thc verb phrasesfrom the story onto
the board in thc order and form they appcar
rn the oli{rnal tcxt. Ask the studentsin
palrs/groupsto tnvent a story using these,
then gcl them to sharctheir storiesrvith thc
orJrcrParrs/groups.
2. Rub the verb phrasesofT the board and u'rrte
rl)
: rl l
the
k.y
toplc
rvordslsubjects/objects/timc
rcferences ctc.
rn the order they appearin the original text.
C;etthe studcntsto alter their storiesusing
both lists. (You might want to changethc
ordcr of the second list to ntakc the task
tnore challengrng for more advanced
sludents,or considcrleaving the list of verb
phraseson one side of thc board to help out
lorver levels). Ilave the studentscompare
thcir storicsrvith the otherpairs/groups.
3. Grveout the orisinal story or play the tapeto
col:rtpare.
4. Follorv-up: Get thc studentsto retell the
original story, u,ith one studenttalking and
their partner follorving the text and
proviclintany nccessaryhelp/correction.
Nolcs;
Staee 1 provides studentswith thc set of vcrb
phrasestn cn in the naturalorder,thus settingup
thc sequcnce of events that are still to be
guessed,'invenlcd.As they have to follorv the
grvcn order ot events, they are kept on traok
elen ltilc
rnventing most of the story for
I n e n t s c te\s. .
li). llilr]t1llt.tlui
Stage2 brings the studentscloserto the origrnal
story. While rearranging/altenngtheir stories
they have to stick to the onginal order of verb
plrrasesthusmemorisingtite 'scenano'.
Stage 3 and the fol)orv-up help eliminate
possiblegrammar/vocabularyenors and better
fix the scenario and thc models/meaningpatterns.
From Clucs to Story (2)
i.
F o r t h i s a c t i v i t y y o u ' l l n e e d t o c h o o s ea
number of different stories. Give eachpair
or group of studentsclues to one story on
cards(thesecould be in thc lbrm of words,
pictures or sentences)and ask them to
producea story of their own (in this instance
deciding on thc order. details etc. for
themselves). The various stories are then
sharedwith partnersfrom otherpairs/groups.
2. Givc out the original storiesfor the students
to comparewith the oncsthey havcmadeup.
While readrng,get thcm to reordertheir clue
prompts.
3. Onc studentfrom a pair/group(A) nrigrates
to anotherpartner and tries to guess thetr
story from the cluesnorv aranged according
to the storiesgiven by thc teacher. B is to
listen and nudge A in the nght direction
throughconection.
4. As and Bs swaprolesand repeatstage3.
Notes:
Giving studentsthe original stories aftcr their
own storles are creatcd and shared is a vcry
impofiant part of the activity. otherwisethe L1
tracingswon't be corected. The cluesyou give
shouldbe obvious enoughfor the studcntsto be
abic to createa story almostexactlythe samcas
the originalthat they get in stage2.
Storvrvise
In this activity a short story ts tapedbackrvards,
r.e. the last sentence first, the penultimate
sccond,etc. 1'hc original first sentcncecomes
last. Studentslisten and without taking notcs1ry
to reconstructrt in the naturaJorder (another
listeningmay be necessaryrvith lower groups).
Then the reconstructedvarrant is shared with
other pairs/groups.Ftnally thc original story is
playcdthe rrght rvayround.
Note: If studcntsomit sentencesrvhich they can
not placein the story while rcconstructingit may
lltrt.:t .iottt ltl t.l !1,!utrttitr rtnrl /),,1.1i)ln1t.tll
be usefui to wrlte an omitted sentence on the
board and ask students to place it in the story
whereit seemsappropriate.
DialogueCard Game
Follow-up: After the original story is played,
studentsare asked to rvrite it down as close to
the text as they can, then these are checked.
Altematively, students can be given original
storieswith gapsto fill.
Preparation: Choose a longrsh dialogue that
contains target language/grammarstructuresand
put eachremark on a separatecard. Divide the
cards into sets A and B accordrngto ti.retrlo
srdesofthe diaiogue. PreparehandoutsA and B.
eachwith one side of the cntire dialoguern the
correctorder.
DIALOGUE FORMAT
i.
Within the dialogue/conversation format,
recognisingthe speaker'sintention is no lcss
importantthan getting the rvordingright. Split
Diaiogueand DialogueCard Game deal wlth the
former, puttrng studentsto very creative rvork of
follorving a speaker'smrnd. Dialogue dictatton
concentrates
on the rssueof rvording.
SplitDialogue
1. Give two groupsof studentsalternativesides
of a dialoguecontalningtarget language(an
effort to put lt on tape wrll pay off as rt will
allorvthc studcntsto hear the pronunoratron/
intonatjon,but a written or printed handout
may do as rvelJ). Ask them to reconstruct
the otherside.
2. Parr up sludentsiiom different groups and
instructthem to act out the part which they
rcconslrurcle
i rd. e . S t u J c n tA r r r l l b c g i r e n
one srdeon tape and askedto rcconstructand
Allow further
act out the other).
improvementsof the dialogueat this stageas
they hear the othcr sidc, but instruct the
sludenls lhrl tlrey crn only use the
parts.
reconsffucted
3. Play the entire dialogue. Asscss studcnts'
dialogues in terms of appropriatenessof
languagcuscd.
4. Get studcntsto act out the original dialogue,
sidcsA and B in tum.
2.
l.
4.
5.
6.
Divide studentsinto As and Bs and give out
sets A and B respectivciy. I'ositron the
studentsso that As and Bs facc each other
but can not sce each othcr'scards.Estabiish
'lhey
Who is to start the conversationoff.
then have to chose an appropriatccard to
stafi/continue the exchange. each time
readrngthe selcctedcard to the partnerand
p u t l r n gr t r n f r o n to f t h c m .t h u sb u r l d i n tgh c i r
srde of the conversation. Teil the studcnts
that thcy arc allowed to rearrangethe cards
rf they are stuck, but that they cannotread
eachother'scardsand haveto go throughthc
conversatjon oraliy to decrde horv to
proceed.
If you see that the studentsare persrstently
c o n l u s i n gt h e o r d e r o f c a r c l sy. o u c a n h e l p
them by playing partsoi'thc clialoguc.
Alier the dialogue is complcted, play the
tapeand help thc studcntsmake correctro:.rs.
Collectthe cardsand grve handoutsA and B
to studentsA and B rcspectrvely.Get them
to act the dialogue out - As can read their
part whcrcaslls havc to rvork liom memory.
StudcntsA thcn put their handoutlacc dorvn
rnd Bs crn rerd tlrcrr.a. lhey repertlhc
r i ^ r .. . , , , ,r' . . . . , ,f, L.t ., ,L ,r, .d r. , r u t . s t u d e nntesc d
u'u'ul-ur.
l,ru
l(
morc rvork on thrs, have As and Bs srvap
handoutsandrepeatstagcs4 and 5.
lrinally, As and Bs shouJd repeat thc
oonversationwrthout any reterencc to thc
handouts.
Dialoguedictation
Note: Onceboth sidesof the draloguehavebeen
given somc thought and the intentions of the
speakersare clear, stage4 is very importantfor
intemalisrngthe languageassociatedwlth the
intentions.Stressand intonationcan be focussed
on here.
Foilorv-up:
With a lower-levelclass,give a handoutrvith the
dialoguervith gapsto frll in.
10
I hc lntonotiotul
1. I'lay a dialogueu'ithoutpausmgand ask onc
group of studcnlsto Jot down onc srdeof the
dialogueand the secondgroup the other.
2. Have them con.Iparenotes rvithin their
groupsand sharethe informatron.
3. t'air up studentsfiom dillerent groups and
have them act out the entire diaiogue from
their notes (allowing improvenents as they
hearthe otherside).
l /ott:t.JorrrnLtlol I:)ltrLtiitt,tt uttd I)o clol,nctit
4.
Regroup as at the start and play the dralogue
for a second time.
Allow further
c o r r e c t i o n sa/d d i t l o n st o t h e i rn o t e s .
5. Repeatstage2.
6. Have students repeat stage 3 with different
partners. Repeat stages4, 5, 6 until the
draloguewhrch the studentsare producing
soundsauthentic.
7. Tell the students to swap parts in the pairs
and help eachother act out the other side of
the dialogue.
Note: In spitc of the fact that this activity
involves the least preparation, it is very
motivating (rf you don't forget to have students
choose new partners each time they do the
pairwork) and productive. Throughout students
are assessingthe language in terms of its
communicativeappropriateness,
and the models
eventuallybecomefirmly fixed.
Follow-up:
l.
Write on the board substitutions for a
number ofwords. Get the studentsto repeat
the dlalogue changing these words wherever
they feel it appropriate/possible.
2. After a round of this, add more words from
the dialogue to the list on the board and ask
students to repeat the previous stage with
new partners. Repeat this step until the
dialoguehas changedsubstantially.
3. Rub everything off the board and ask the
students to act out the original dialogue this time without notes.
4. Now either have studentsswap pans or patr
them up so that As work with As, and Bs
with Bs. to act out the dialogue one more
time.
Somesumming-up considerations:
More olten than not the leamer is not aware that the languagethat he/she is producing ts traced from the
Ll mental background. Errors of this type are formed at the pre-verbal stageof speechproduction which
rs rvhy they are hardcr to exorcise. The approachshown in this article is not an immediate remedy. but
Justanothermeansofdealing wrth the problem.
Obviously the problem of Ll -tracings is not confined to the sort of Russian-speaking
monolingual
classroomI had in mind when devising these activities. It probably exists in a less explicit form in
multilingualgroupsas well. It would be interestingto dealwrth it intemationally.
The activities offered in this article aren't meant to representcomplete lessonplans. It's very much up to
the teacherto work them into the lessonswhen they see fit. I would suggestthat they be used within the
communicative lesson frame whenever there is a need.
The activities representa variety of forms and ways within a cognitive approach frame and are meant to
show how easily various materials can be transformedto serve the purpose. Ideally they should trigger
teachers'owninvention,as only the teacherknowstheir students'preciseneedsG
The
rnal
of
ON
Selectedextracts,accompanyingmsterials andfurther
referencessoon to be available ot the IH website
Tht'I tarrntionulHoutt'JorrnruloJElu<ution tnd Developrnul
WARM BEER AND THE OKEY-COKEY
In thislookat someof theissuesinvolvedin teachingculturewith language,
David Albery, teacherand trainer in IH London,exploressomeof the
problemsand oJfersqn alternetivesolution.
It is widely acceptedthat traditions,customs,ways of life and culturally specific views of the
world are all reflectedin the languageof a particularsociety. It could be arguedthen, that to
understandthe true meaning of a languageand to use it fully, you also have to understandthe
culture and tl.rervorld view that it expressesand reflects.
jnce the 1930s, when Edward Sapir and
put forward their
Bcnjamin Whorf
hypothesisthat the languageof a society
determines how the users of that language
perceivethe world (that language,in effect,shapes
one'srvorld view by providing the categoriesyou
need to establisha world view), there has been
much written about the relationship between
languageand culture and the implications of this
for languageteaching. Europeaneducationpolicy
statesthat cultural awarenessand understanding
should be part of foreign languageteachingand
that the world view that members of a culture
shareneedsto be made explicit to learnersof the
language(Byrarn 1994, Barro et al 1993) and
Valdes (1986) among many others,believcsthat
"... it is virtually impossibleto teach a language
rvithoutteachingculturalcontent".
It is perhapsthis generalacceptance(unconscious
or otherwise) of the rntegral part that culture has
to play in the leaming and teachingof a language
that leadsso many EFL course books and teachers
of the English language to employ materials,
situationsand topics that are culturally basedin
their British/North American/Australian origin
and include cultural information along u-rth the
l r n g u r g el h e y i n l e n d1 of o c u so n .
There are,of course.problemswith this inclusion
of culturally spccific information in ELT. The
'linguistic
first is the popular charge of
imperialism'. English is now usedby millions of
people outside its original geographical
boundariesto convey ideas, traditions, customs
and rvays of life which are very different from
English-speaking
cultures(Alptekrn and Alptekin
1984). In this case, it rvould seem more
appropriate to teach English with a vlcw to
f'ulfilling the student's own needs rather than tn
"relation to situationsand that are imposed by
12
'I'ht
motivationsand idcologiesnot his own" (tsrumfit
I 980 in Alptekin and Alptekin 1984).
Quite apartfrom this objectton,the problemfaced
by teachers and course book writers is what
cultural information they might include when
teachingthe language. Is relerenceto the State
Opcning of Parliamentmore or less useful than
referencesto warm beer and cricket pitches on
summerevcnings? This is possibly irelevant to
studentsstudying,Jiving and workrng abroadbut
questionssimilar to thesemight wcll be relevant
to the large groups of students rvho makc
prolongedvisits to an Enghsh-speaking
countryto
Ieamthe ianguage.If culturalreferencesare to be
'taught'as an integral part of the language,thcn rve
need to be clear about what we mcan by'cultr.rre'
and, more particularly,what cultural information
rve might useiully rnclude in the tcachingol the
Janguage.
l]re first reason for the difficulty in defining
culture and deciding *.hat to rnclude in course
books and the classroomrs that the conccpt of
culture is one whrch everybody in a nation
believes they understandalthough many people
have not particularly thought about it. let alone
cxamined the conccpt closely. Members of a
culture undcrstandit intuitrvely but this is not
necessarilywhat rs requiredif the conceptis to bc
When
exphcitly addressed rn tcaching.
encouraged
to defineculture,peoplemay mention
the arts,more specifically,the'high'arts and they
may include litcralurc in this. In the case of
Brrtain,they might also talk of the faditions of a
nationwith particularreferenceto the ceremonial.
Others will taik of custom and might mention
Clristmas, weddings or buying everybody a drink
on your birthday. Stili otherswill rncludethe rdea
of personalspace,not staringat peopleon the tube
andnot complarnrng.Somcpeoplemrght speakof
luti.:rnutiottul IlottsL'Joumul ol l:"(llk1ttie'tuud l)ct,t:loPnt'ut
the Civil Servrce, the Education System, the
Legal System, The Palace and other national
institutionsthey seeas somehowrepresentative
of
the nationas a rvhole.
The list is endlessand largely stereotypical,the
stereotypechosendependingon the age, sex, race
and classof the person asked. It is importantto
realisethat the definitroncan be vast and is by no
means constantand thrs is especiallytrue of a
multi-racial, multi-religious, class-boundnation
such as Britain. Teachersand coursebooks need
to select from all of the above when including
cultural infomration in their teaching and
materialsand this selectionmight be basedupon
t h c i r o r rn p e r c e p t r o n o f t h e c u l t u r e . t h e r r
preferences rvrthrn the culture or, for ease of
choice, on the more stereotypicalor institutional
aspects. While this might be useful in termsof the
languagethat studentscome acrossin textsusedin
class (the English pub. humour, Buckingham
Palace,Politics - the okey cokey even) and uscful
in terms of the languagethe teacherchoosesto
introduce(buyrng a ticket for the theatre/football
match.visitlng a gallery and so on) and the topics
Pretty stlcky wicket,
wouldn'ayou say?
Coodness! fiandleson's
8ot nothlng on thls chap
- did you see the spin
on that? lt, be open
5eason now, you mark my
wotds, naven,t seen
anyone bowl a maiden
over like that since
that tlme at fords,
l{hlch remlnds me, wilt
you bejolning us in the
box next week or are you
ofi to nentey? noping
to Invite a couple of
debs that I ran into at
the last nreel. Annray,
oft to the t€ntl my
round otd boy C and T, or *ould
you ratnet
sample some
of thls Old
Speckled
nen?
m
Y)
HU
the teacherchoosesto include (women's issues,
the environmentand so on) it might not be useful
in termsof the languagethe studentscome across
in their experiences in the English-speaktng
environment given that neither the course book
nor the teacher can choose or even necessarily
predict the'culture'the studentsmay be exposed
to,
This is where anotherdefinition of culture comes
into play; 'the rvaysofpeople' (Lado 1957). 'fhis
definition aliows for all the areas mentioned
previously but also encompassesthe everyday,
social situationsthat studentsfind themselvesin;
the behaviour of people, These are culturai
situationsthat the coursebook and/or the teacher
cannotfully prcdict but which are all importantto
the studentsin their understanding
and leamingof
the language.Brooks (in Valdes 1986)suggestsa
long list of topics that might usefully be included
wben studying culture from this more 'personal'
perspectivel. Hughes (in Valdes 1986) contrasts
questronssuch as 'How do you tell right from
wrong?' with 'What laws must you obcy'/ Who
makesthem?' and saysthat the fbrmer will leadto
a more real understandingof the culture and its
valuesthan rvill the latter. The problemwith both,
however, is that although thcy might get away
from the institutional or the teacher'spersonal
perceptions,they still 1ry to predict what the
studentsneedto know aboutthe cultureand do not
necessarilyallorv for the cultural sltuations,the
cxpenences,
that the studentshave rn the Englishspeakingenvironment.
So, if we are to include 'the behavrourof people'
in the cultural information available to students
rvhen studying the languageand, further, if we are
to includethis in such a way that rt is studentied
and drarvs on their expcriencesof the culture,
rvhatis to be done? An approachthat hasb€enput
forward (most recently, as far as I knorv, by Celia
Robertset al of ThamesValley University)is the
idea of incorporating ethnographicstudles tnto
languageleaming.
ru
tLLI,
(l
One of the key featuresof thrs approachis that
studentsneed to be made aware that they are
themselvesculturallybound and becomeawareof'
their own values (perhaps here Brooks and
I
Brooks' listof'hors cl'oeutt.esin the language
classroom' includc a vast arral, ofitcms for
consirleration,from greetings and farewells to
cosmetics,from home to odrljobs and earning power
Ihc lntauntinal
lloust .l,;ti tttl ol lilu<.Lrtionunr! [)a,t.lrtpntt:nt
13
Hughes'ideas,mentionedearlier,might be useful)
so that they begin to see the culture in which they
find themselves on its own terms and do not
necessarilytransfer their own cultural knowledge
or their preconceptronsof the English-speaking
culture. Once this is established.
the studentsare
encouragedto become 'researchers'of the culture,
the social interactionsthey experience,including
the behaviour of people in those situations and the
languageused. To this end, the studentsmrght be
asked to choose which srtuation/interactionsthey
wish to research (breakfast with the host family,
an eveningrn the pub, travelling on the tube) and
then rvouldbe cncouragedto producea task whrch
would help them focus on the situations/
interactions they experience (I use the word
'experience'
herebecauseI believethat the needto
carry out such research might actually encourage
students to engage more with the situatron/
interaction rather than simply observe it). The
task mrght include rvho speaks to whom, when,
how often,who intenupts whom, how and so on.
It might also include commenting on the body
languageused,the intonation,the volume and so
on. And, of course,it would include how all thrs
cultural informationis expressedand reflectedin
the languageused.
When the research has been completed, the
students might share the information and the
Ianguagethey have obtained with other members
of the group and with the teacher. The language
used in those situations/interactionscould then be
focused on in class either by the students
themselves, the teacher or, more probably, a
combination of the two. The studcntsmrght then
take the languagethey have leamed and their new
understanding
of how this languageexpresses
and
reflects the culh-rrethey have experiencedand go
back into that situationand engagewith it morc
f u l l y t h a nr h e ym i g h t h a v eo t h e r w i s e .
Whether the approach outlined above is practical
in termsof teachingand whetherrt is an approach
that would appeal widcly to studcnts on shorl
Enghsh-language
coursesremainsto be seen. To
ny knowledge, it has only been tried at
InternationalHouse London in a very limited
capacity (albeit with a favourable responsefrom
the teacherand studcntsinvolved). Howevcr,I do
feei it rs a viable altemative or a worthwhile
additionto coursesand matenalsthat may present
only a limitcd view of cuiture (however
interesting)- a view, at that, whlch is pre-selected
or at least interpreted/or the studentsrather than
b-l'them S
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Alptekin C. and Alptekin M. (1984) "The Questronof Culturern EFL Teachingin non-English
SpeakrngCountries"rn ELTJ Vol. 38 No. I Jan 1984pp 14-26
Barro A,, Byram M, , Grimm H, , Moegan C. and Roberts C. "CulturalStudresfor Advanced
LanguageI-earners"in Languageand Cultureed.by GraddolD. ThompsonL. and Byram M. (1993)
Clevedon:BAAL and Multilingual Matters.
Brooks N. "Culturein the Classroom"in CultureBound: Bridging the CulturalGap in Language
Teachinged. by ValdesJ. (1986) CambridgeUniversifyPrcss
Byram M. "Residenceabroad- fieldwork in pre-serviceteacherdevelopment"in Triangle l2 (1994)
Paris:Didier-Erudition
Fishman J. A. (1960) "A Systemization
of the WhorfianHypothesis"in Communicationand Cultureed.
(1966)
by SmithA. G.
Holt, Rinehartand WinstonInc.
HughesG. IL "An Argumentfor cultureanalysisin the secondlanguagcciassroom"in CultureBound:
Bridgingthe CultureGap in LanguageTeachinged. by ValdesJ. (1986) CambridgeUnversityPress
Kramsch C. (1993) Contextand Culturein LanguageTeachingOxford lJniversityPress
Lado R. (1957) LinsuisticsAcrossCultures UniversityofMrchigan Press
Valdes J. (ed) (1986) CultureBound: Bridging the CulturalGap in LanguageTeaching Cambridge
UniversityPress
Referencehas also been made to a lecture on culture and ethnographicstudy given by Celia Roberts of
ThamesValley University at TheInstitute of Education, Universily ofLondon, 1995 and to documents
produced hy Roberts C. et al concerning ethnographicstudiesand Ianguagelearning (TVU).
14
'lhe
lttcrnoti<nnl llout
Journal ol lilucatiou ruul [)cycktlrnerrt
BEN WARREN INTERNATIONAL HOUSE
TRUST PRIZE
SHORTLIST 1998
'I'he
Ben Warren International House Trust Prize was establishedin memory of Ben Warren, founder of
the IntemationalHouse group ofschools in Catalunya,who died in tragic circumstancesin 1991. This
prtze of f2,000, rvhich was first awardedin 1997,is given for outstandingwork in the field of language
teachereducation.
The panelofjudgcs is madeup of:
Jereny Hanner, best selling ELT author
Jonathan Dy kes,Barcelnna
Tony D4Lf, Central Departntent
Elaine Smith, Central Department
Thereare five publicationson thc shortlist:
This book developsthe theoreticolposition set out in the author's highly acclainecl
The Lexical Approach
and adds net+,insights and comprehensiyesuggestionsto enable teachersto take the approach
di"ectb, into the clossroom.
VERY YOUNG LEARNERS
VanessaReilly & SheilaWard. Ot.lP
Pdrt otlrc ResourceBooks for Teachers-relies,1/rrsbook contains advice and idcasfor
tL'achingchildren aged 3 to 6teurs. As y'ell as hcluding manv ideasfor teaching
specific funguagepoints and topics, there is alsctadvice on
chi.lddevelopmentand lessonplanning.
AI]OUT LANGUACE
Scatl addrcssesthe.luestion 'Iyhat is it that a teachcr needslo know about English in order to teach it
el/ectitel;" arul developsteachers' awarenasso;fthe language through a tide range of ktskswhich involve then
itt analysing English to discover its underlfing system. llith full key antl commentary',
this book can be used on treini g coursesor for self-sntdy.
TASKS F'ORTEACHER EDUCATION
-.{ REFLECTI\E
Rosie Tanner & Catherine Green,
Addison Wesley Longman
APPROACH
For pre sen'ice ond in sen'ice teacherso./English as a foreign or secondlanguoge *-orking
vlth d trainer. Thts book aims to developtrainees' awarenessdboul leuching
and about themselvesas tedchers,and to help thenfn.l the ov,n nqtural orul
mosreffcctttctcochingstylc.
AC'TION RESEARCH FOR I,AIiGUAGE
EACHERS
Michael J. Wallace.CtiP
A pru<'tical guide for teachersu'ishing to det'e/optheir professional erpefiise by iwestigating
thetl o\tl tedcling in a srstemdtic en.l organised way. This book helps teachersdesign and
intplatncntresearchprojects derivedfro t thelr normal practice which should ensura
that results are o{dirc(:t rcleNanceto them.
Ih< lntt,uttrtknal I]ousc Jotttul
t,l l)lu<tt!ion tnl
l)cvcloput:nl
15
FNAMEWONK
IN A TASK.0ASEO
GR,AMMAR,
SecondIanguageacquisition researcherstell us that it is unrealistic to expect
predictedlearningof specificitemsof grammarto occur. If studentsaren't going
to learn whatwe teachthem,doesthis meanthat we shouldn't be teaching
grammarat all? Philip Kerr, Director of Studiesin InternationalHouseLondon,
takes a look al grammar in a task-basedmodel of languageteaching..
Many teachersconceive of their teaching as a
variety of quite distinct lesson types, or types of
lesson segments. Typically, these include the
grammaror vocabularylesson,and'skills' lessons
- reading,wnting, speakingand listening. These
lessontlpes may be integrated: indeed, a standard
DTEFLA lesson would include more than one
segment, held together by a unilying toptc.
Syllabuses(both in schoolsand coursebooks)and
teachers' course timetables reflect this
of languageteaching.
conceptualisation
According to this model, grammar is taught in
'skills'
grammarlessonsand skills are taught in a
lesson. However, second language acquisltlon
researchsuggeststhat much of the gmmmar that ls
taught in a grammar lessonis not leamt, and that it
'skills' lesson that students, in
is during a
strugglingto expressor decode meanings,will
push their interlanguage (i.e. their grammar)
forward. This insight led some teachers to
abandon all up-front grammar teaching and to
concentrate exclusively on a more holistic,
integrated skills approach. More recently,
however, the pendulum has swung back with the
aclmowledgement that a focus on language
systems - grammar, lexis and phonology - will
benefit the leamer. *'ill increase thc potential for
leaming, even though it may be unrealistic to
assumethat leamrng of particular discrete ttems
will occur.
In a task-based framework, such as that put
forward by JaneWillis, a communicative task (i e.
involving a language skill) is at the centre of the
lcsson,but languagefocus activities(also known
activities)follow on lrom
as consciousness-raising
this. In the illustrations of such activities that
follow, the intention has been to ensure that there
is an opportunity for the three leaming processes
that MrchaelLewis suggestedwere indispensable
for ianguageleamingto take Place:
l.
t6
o b s e r v a t r oonl l a n g u a g eb. o t h i n c o n t e x ta n d
in isolation
'/'ht
2. hlpothesisingaboutthe language,and its rules
and pattems
with the language.
3. experimentation
The approach may be crudely likencd to shotgun
teaching. Even ifnone of the shot actuallyhits lts
target,at least the leamer is more arvareof what
she is up against.
'I'he
illustratron on the following pages is from
Unit 1 of Listening Intennediale by Dunn and
Gruber(OUP, 1987). In this lesson,studentswork
in pairs or small groupsand try to match a list of
countriesto geographicaloutlines from this list
They then listen to some native speakers
performing the sametask. The publtshed material
stopsthere. The languagefocusactivitiesherearc
all based on the tapescript of this cxerclse.
Teacherscan decide how many or how few of
theseexercisesthey want to use, and the ordcr in
whrch they are done rs of little importance
Although these activities are presentedhere as
photocopiablematcrials,many could be managed
very simply using the board or by giving
instructions verbally and asking students to
underline parts of the tapcscript. As teachers
become more famtliar wrth this approach and
more skilled at analysing the languageof texts
suchas these,many of thc activitiescan be made
up on the spotor at leastrvith very little plannlng.
Some of the activities focus on areas of grammar
(such as future verb fbrms) that are standardfare
in coursebooks;others are areas of vocabulary
(such as adjectrval opposites) which are also
lamiLarl still others are concemed *'ith language
points which occupy that fuzzy teritory between
grammar and vocabulary. Teacherscan decide for
themselves which languagc areas are most
appropriate for particular leamers on particular
courses,but for languagcfocus activitiessuch as
theseto have maximum etfect, it is important that
leamers are exposed to as wide a range of
languagesystemsas possible.
!ntt:rnulitnul l lotrsL'.lrturnolr.tlIirltrtolttttt atLd I)tt,t ktl,tntttt
H e r ea r et e n c o u n t r i e sC
. a ny o u i d e n t i f yt h e m ?C h o o s ef r o m t h e l i s t b e l o w .W h e n
you have finished,listento Steve and Liz playingthe game. What are Steve's
answers?
Argentina
tran
Ni g e r i a
n
@t"
Denma rk
lraq
Norway
England
Japan
Portugal
India
New Zealand
Sw e de n
1>t
l
N
( Hr"J
L$Vsd.
France
Korea
S p ai n
I
\,'r'/
( Y
a
t )
V
Tapescript
5
t0
l5
l0
25
l0
35
Woman Right,we ve got ihis litlle gam€ lhat we'd llke you lo
p l a y . E m . . . t s g u e s s i n gc o u n l e s f r o mt h e o u t l i n e s
Man Oh lhals go ng lo be hard
Woman Yes, yes il m ght be. I mean, we've helpedyou out by
g v i n gy o u a c h o i c e. .
Man Oh yes see.
Woman
So that makes it a bll easier.
Man Oh we I, that s not quile so bad lhen I thlnk l ll play
W o m a n Y o u l h a v ea , y o u l l h a v ea g o w i l y o u ?
M a n l l l h a v ea g o .
W o m a n R i g h t W h a td o y o u t h n k o f n u n r b eor n e ,
Man Righl,nLrmberone Well, lhat's .. lhat's a good one to
slart with becauseI know lhat one, I th . . At leasl I think I do I
think thal s Denmark,becausethere's lots of islandsa I over
thepace lth nkI
recognse that as Oenmark
Woman So you re going to go for Denmark?
M a n Y e s ,g o t o r D e n m a do( n n u m b e ro n e
Woman Righl OK.
M a n N o w n l m b e r t w o ,t h a ts o h . . T h a ls q u i l ea n o d do n e .
r l s l o r g a 1 d l h i , r* i l h L he r s l a ' l d so t l
Woman [,lmm
M a n . . . t h e e f t h a n ds l d e ,s o l h a l m u s lb e t h e s e a s l d e ,a n d
perhapsihe land side's lhe other side. So, think that s up ln
S c a n d i n a v iaag a i n S o l m g o i n gt o g u e s sN o r w a yf o r t h a to n e
Woman Righl, and what do you make of numberthree?
Man Erm
W o m a n A n o t h e rf u n n ys h a p e
M a n T h a l s a f u n n ys h a p e .E r . . . A o a i nI l h i n k t h a t ' s a
comp etely difierenlpad of lhe wo.ld Don't knowwhlch ls land
and wh ch is sea on thal one. Let s have a look at th€ guesses
can have. I th nk l l guess Porlugalfor nunberthree.
Woman Right Yes it could be couldnt it?
Man Could be. I m not very sure aboutthat though Now
numberfour. lv4mmm... That s an odd shape,
that s a squarewith a bit laken out on the bottom. ll looks like
it s all a .... all a land border ratherthan a coasl because
they?e a funny shape for coasts Nlmmm. no, l'm goingto
have 1oguess again.Call that one Spain I think for number
Woman Numberfour,Spa n. Right.
M a n M m m . . .n ! m b e r l i v e . W e l , l h a t s a n o l h e .d i f U c uol tn e .
That'sjust a bit like the olher one only upsidedown Squaish.
n o l m u c hs e a M m m . . . W h a t a r 6 r n yc h o i c e sa g a i n ?N o , l ' l
guess Koroe for that one
Numberfive I think s Korea
Woman Numberliv€, Korea OK.
M a n M m m . . I h o p el h e y ? eg o n g l o g e t e a s i e r t, h o s e . w a s .
quile dimcLrll.
W o m a n I t h i n kt h e yd o g e t e a s l e ra c l u a L t y( l a u g h s )
M a n G o o d A h y e s w e l it h e ya c t u a l l yd o . N u m b e rs i x ,t h a t. . . I
think lhat s easy b6c€us€thats Lik6a kiangle upsidedown.
Lols of coestlne. so I'm qoing to guess Indlaforthat one.
Woman Righl.
Man Indiafor numbersix Now numberseven'sthe besl one of
lhelot.
Woman Thal shouldn'lpos6loo many probtems.
Man No. Shouldn'lpose too many problemsthere i think
numberseven s England
W o m a n W o w l W e l l ,w e i l s e e t y o u ? e r i g h t a b o utth a lo n e .
Repfoduced
byp€rmisson
of OxlordUnrversily
Press,iromOxtofd
Supplenenlary
Ski{s:Lislaning
/.termediale
byVvane Ounn& Oiann
[email protected] verslyPress1987
7'ht, ht tcrut t it nol I I o ust' J o rutul of filu cLtt ion t nd D et cl opntenI
17
vtTtE1
1, Look:
4. Look:
You'll have a go, will you? (1.| | )
let's have a look at the guesses I can
have. 11.35/36)
That's a good one to start with. (1.15/7 6)
I know that one. (1.16)
That's quite an odd one. 11.23/24)
That's another difficult one. 11.49/5O)
I'm going to guess lndia for that one.
(t.60/67)
We'll see if you're right about that one.
(t.68/69)
Completethe sentencesbelow with one of
these words:
baby
laugh
chance
rest
heart attack
word
Have a
if you're feeling
tired.!
Peoplewho smoke are more likelyto have
p e o p l ew h o d o n ' t .
a _than
l ' l l h a v ea
with him in the
morning.
D o y o u t h i n kl h a v e a
of
w i nn i n g?
We all had a
wnen we
went out last n ight.
She's going to have a
the end of the summer.
2. Who says 'right' more often - the man
or the woman?What does it mean?
Play the game again with a partner.Stop
the game when you both feel happy
saying'one'!
5. Look:
(l think) that's Denmark (1.77)
l'm going to guess Norway for that one.
1.28/29)
(l think) I'll guess Portugal for number
three. (1.36/37)
I'll guess Koreafor that one. (1.52)
The man uses presenttense, 'WILL', and
' G O I N GT O ' t o m a k e h i s g u e s s e s . W h a t
verb forms did you use when you played
t h e g a m e?
Do you know any other words that can D E
usedin the same way?
Look at how 'well' is used in lines 49, 5 8
and 68. Does 'well' mean the same
'right'?
6. Match the opposites:
boring
easy
even
soft
hard
funny
difficult
odd
tl.4)
(1.33)
{1.49)
{1.23)
3. Look:
Oh well, that's not quite so bad then. (1.9)
That's quite an odd one. (1.23/24)
Those were quite diff icult. (1.55/56)
' R a t h e r ' o f t e nm e a n st h e s a m e a s ' q u i t e ' .
ls it possible to use 'rather' in the
examples above instead of 'quite'?
18
Now check the line referencesfor t h e
words on the right. What are t h e
opposites for these words as they a r e
usedin the text ?
'111.,
I le Mlit)nol Il0u.rt .lotuttLt/rl l')rlL!.tttit)n
tntl l)(clt)prtr'til
continued...
7. 'lS' or 'HAS' or somethingelse?
10. Look at these words:
It's guessing count es from the outlines.
square{1.43)
s q u a r i s h( 1 . 5)1
t.2/s)
That's not quite so bad then. (1.9)
Let's have a look at the guesses lcan
have. 11.35/36)
Number seven's the best one of the lot.
(.63/64)
Can you think of other words that losethe
f inal 'e' when a suff ix is added?
Lookat the linesof an old pop song:
You'reso squarc-but,baby, ldon't care.
8. Look:
There's lots of islands all
place. (1.| 8)
Lols oI coastline (1.60)
ovet
the
Completethe f ollowingsentences:
I need lots o{
to improve
m y s p e ak r n g .
Lots of
. (at the end of a
letter)
He likes it with lots of
a n ot e m o n .
It's a big, airy room with lots of
There was lots of
at the
meetrngabout our plans for the future.
I t ' s a s m o o t h drink with lots of
9. Look:
What's the opposite of 'square' in this
sense?Which of the following things do
you think are square?
tninspotters
people over 30
smoking dope
1 1 . W h i c h o f t h e f o l l o w i n gp r e p o s i t i o n s
can you find in the text ?
inside-out
back - to - front
upside- down
on - and - off
lmagine someone in this room wearing
clothes that are inside-out,back-to-front
and upside-down
!
1 2 . F i n d e x a m p l e so f ' T H A T ' i n t h e t e x t .
For each example,decide if it is possible
to replace'THAT
w'i t h ' T H I S o' r ' l T ' .
Number seven's the best one of the lot.
il.63/64)
F i n de x a m p l e so f ' l T ' i n t h e t e x t . F o r e a c h
example,decideif it is possibleto replace
' l T ' w i t h ' T H I S o' r ' T H A T ' .
W h a t d o e s ' o f t h e l o t ' m e a n ?C h e c ky o u r
idea by looklngat these examples.
13. Which is correct ? lf you're not sure,
checkyour answers.
.
.
o
.
.
.
The most stylish of the lot is Alfa
Romeo's new Spider.
I was sick of the lot of them.
I'm sick to death of the lot of you.
He was the worst of the lot - no
q uestion.
lhr.' IntcnLttionol IIou.v.h*rutI
We've helpedout you / you our. (1.5/6)
I think that's Denmark / Danmark.
( r . 71 )
.
.
lt's long and thin / srrn with little
i s l a n sd . ( 1 . 2 4 )
What are my chooses / choices ?
(r.51/52)
oI l)lututirtn ttntl DttclopntnI
19
TRANSI1ENCE
&
TRANSACTION
LANGUAGEANALYSIS:
PRACTICES
AND PROGRESS?
TheInternational House
Teacher Training
Diana England of IH Torres Vedras as/<s
for further
Conference1998wasa
clarif.cation about what trainers are reully up to
tremendoussuccess)
following Philip Kerr's talk basedon his recent researcl.t.
sttrqcti ng porticipa nts and
A deliberateuseofthe plural and questionmark,and a
speqkersfrom uound tlre
deliberatereferenceto Louis Alexander'scoursebook.Why
globe. Here are someof
do so many CELTA timetablesseemto be stuckin the same
the reactionsto what
old mould of dealingwith LA atomistically,linearlyandvia a
participsnts
transmission
modeof leaming? Given the vastanount of time,
moneyandconsultationthat hasgoneinto revampingthe CTEFLA,
heurd.
why did the majority of timetablesthat Philip referredto still dealwith verb
phrasegrammar(modality, narrativetensesetc.)? Philip's talk left me wanting to lctow more
abouttl.rerationalebehind some of thesetimetables: four of them madeno mention of the tcrm
LA (eitherasLanguageAnalysisor LanguageAwareness).Why? How was languagework being
dealt with? One had six sessionson vocabulary. W1latdid they deal with? Maybe these
timetablesare tlie exceptionsthat prove that changesin pcdagogicalconstructsand trainingstyle
andprocessaretakingplace,albeitat a slowerpacethanUCLES rvasperhapshoping for..
A PERSONAL RESPONSEFROM
MARTIN PARROTT
The onl1,conferenceI con remember where every
sessionI attendedwas really worlh the eJJbrt.
Three of llle sessionsI attended were given by
academics; HenD, Il/iddowson, Dave Willis and
Guy Cook. None of tlrcm disappointed; I was
infonned, entertained and challenged. And at
times I was made angry. Angry? The three
acadetnics,it seemedto ne, nade questionable
(and disparaging) assumptions qbout what
happensin languageclassrooms,and in each case
thefundanental assL{nptionwas lhol teachersdo,
or haye done, whot they (the academics)and their
colleaguesltave excrted teachersto do.
Ile are ernergirtgfron a period when applied
linguistshave been telling us that learning takes
place through 'negotiatingnteaning',and that the
ftrnction of a teacher is to sefle up authentic
language data ctnd to organise actit'ities in which
leorners interact. Their new message is tlut
authentic language data and interaclion are not
enouglt; llrat teachers need to help learners to
20
'lht
notice linguislic form and to guiclethenr in the v,a1,
thq) pay attentionto this. Gur-Cot k ussunrcdthst
teachers Jbcus on lunguage only a.r a
transacliulol tool, and that we should e.\ploit
linguistic'play'.
The reality, of course, is thot sensitiye teachers
have alwal's nnderated theory' occording to the
rteeds, demands and interests of their learners.
ll/hilc the p,ululutn oJ tpplittl Iinguistic.sswing.s
.fi'orn side to side, tlrcy stay closer to the rniddle
(and rattonul!) ground, sometines guiltily
atniding lhe ertrente.sond excessesoJfashionable
applietl linguistic orlhodoxy. So,while academics
vere ddNoLating a purely connnunicative
classroom,teachersaly,ttt-sattended to fonn - just
as still longer ago (but within n.,' o.,rn tesching
Irfetine)
we
exploitetl opportunities fo,
commaricotion when audiolingualism is sttpposed
to have ruletl. To my knowledge, teachers have
always exploitedopportunities.for linguistic pla1,.
Wet nnde ne most ungry was Henrylliddowson's assumptiott that (native-speaking)
language teachersare ignorant about the systerns
'as
o/ English
a foreign language' and dismissive
ltttcrnotrutut! ll<rlse Journal .,1 I,:dlaliliou atLd I)ct'clr1p1n417
of theoretical linguistics. Native speakers can't
uoke themselvesinto non-native speakers,but, in
my experience,native speaking teachers are ayid
languagelearners and analysts and researchersof
tlrcir learners' Ianguages and linguistic strengths
and dfficulties in learning English. I strongly
contest the assumptionthat language teqchersare
eitlter lessknowledgeableofforeign languages or
- in many cases - of theoretical linguistics tltan
many ofour colleaguesin university departments.
The very fact lhat so many teachers gave up this
weekendto attend the conferencetestif.es to their
commitment lo continue to learn. Teachers, il
oppears, are happy to sit at the.feet of academics
and - rather too gullibly sometimes - to accepl
what lhey have lo say. Come on academics! Give
up some of your oh)n time, not just to speak ot
conferenceshut to join our classes and see what
really happens. You could even try teachi g
English yourselves!
BUTTHEYAtt TOVEDETMER!
Mark lYilson, ol IH Sebastirin,wonders wltetlter the two exlremes in the authenticitr-/artif ce argument
are really sofar apart, and if they might not be missing thepoint altogether.
TlToughout the conferencethere was much talk about authenticity and artificiality. At one point, torvards
the end of a panel discussion,therewas an intervention{iom the floor (literally - it was a real bums-oncarpetjob for many of us) to thc effect that however unrealistic, artificial and otherwisepassl it may now
seem, most teachersof a certain generationrecall Eimer's phone call to his mum from Streanlirc
Departures("We've done everythingtogether!")as, dammit, somethingstudentsenjoyed,remembered
and learnedfrom.
Of the speakersI saw at the conference,I-lenryWiddorvsonand Guy Cook spokeofhow languagethat has
been concoctedthrough artifice, or languagewhich has no overt communicative purpose or transactional
valuecan be a greatinvestmentfor leamingas long as it avoidsdullness,encourages
playfulness,insprres
engagement.On the other hand, Dave Willis, JaneWillis, Michael Swan and Paul Robertsall showed
difi'erentrvaysin rvhich 'real languagc'data can usefully and interestinglybe usedas a sourceof'stuff
fbr teachersand learnersto work on.
But are thcrcreally two campshere- the Arties versusthe Auths? As the sedimentsiowly settlesafterthe
mental shake-up the conferenceso refreshingly provided, it seems to me that 'authenticity' and
'artificiality' both terms are magnetsfor invertedcommasbecauseno two commentatorsseemto mean
exactly the same thing by them - need not really be in oppositionat all. If the tcrms are side-stepped
altogether,we nright considerinsteadthe locationon the following diagramof the languagewe use for
teachingpurposesand the classroompracticeswith which we approachit:
ENGAGING
WORTHWIJILE
INVESTMENT
WORTHWHILE
REHEARSAL
(not necessarily
realrs/lc)
(tendingtowardsrealiszr)
DULL
Wc simply needto stay abovethe'horizon', in areasA and B, applyrnga suitablebalanceof the engaging
ttnd plal,ful (invcstment) and lhe engaging aru| lifelike (rehearsal)- I borrow this 'investment-rehearsal'
tlichotomyfrom Widdowson). The CommunicativeApproachmay have rescuedus from the Grammar
'lranslation
strongholdin area c, but its unfortunatelegacy has been, as Guy cook pointed out, an
lntransigent'authcnticis best' ethos in some quaders,landing us with worrisome frequencyin areaD.
And that's a countryElmer ain't nevervisited.
RESPONSE
IhL'/ntttltrtirnul
Ilout< .lotrnt,t!ol liLlu((tfun (nd DAclepntL, l
t u t r n u e so v i n t d l
21
AJier one of the le.ssir{ornntive talk...
e t a n d i n q i n t hr ae i n ,
whyremark onth ef acLNhaf,
y a u rn e i q h b o u r i e w e t ?
(namernd addresssupplierl)
TRANSIGENCE
ANDTRANSACTION
Roger Hunt, Director ofStudies TeacherTraining IH London and Conference
Organiser,has hissa1,...
Thc Conferenceaddressed
the issueofhow languageis described,prescribed,and even invented
for purposesof teaching,teachertraining and coursebookwriting. Onc of thc centralissuesthat
emergedwas the use of authenticlanguageas a startingpoint for syllabusdesignand consequent
teaching.
Hcnry Widdorvson'sopening plenary and almost immediately attackcd the use of authentic
languagein the classroom(and the Cobuild project in particular for advocatingthe use of
authenticlanguage). Hc showcd an article from The Independentwith the headline 'lt Takes
'quaff'
'wassail'in
Bottle to Cross Channel'and words suchas
and
the text, and suggestedthat
thescmight be somewhatincomprehensible
to lcamersof Englishand not vcry uselul shouldthey
happento leam thern. As teacherstend to be quite sensiblcin their selectionoftext and choiceof
vocabularyincludedin their lessons,I thoughttheservereunrealislic,cxtremeexamples. Some
membersofthe audiencesighedaudiblyat this affrontto their intelligencc.
Widdowsonhad a lot to say about
all sorts of things, including
pedagogic valency and ludic
language,but thc main point he
made that I personally found of
parlicularintcrest,was that teachersneedto havea specialistknowledgeof their subject- for us,
the Englishlanguage- if thcy are to haveprofessional'authori1t' (this might roughly translateas
respectin the eyes of their peersand studentsand, indced,self-respect).He irnplied that this
specialistknou'ledgeis easierto acquireif rve can define languagein simplc, clear terms rather
than altemptingto grappler.viththe intricaciesof authenticlanguagc. Descartessaid much the
sametl.ring- a subjectis easicrto study (and acquirea specialistknowledgeo1) if you break it
dorvninto its componentparts. This also ties in with Chaostheory,paft ofrvhich, thc scicnccof
complexity,states"'fhe scienccof complcxity... is the studyof how complcx systcms,govemed
by simple ruics, produceorder". In our caseI would like to suggestthat 'complexity' is the
languagerve teacl't;tlie 'simple rules' rve give are,still, essentiallythe structuralistdescriptionsas
fomulated by l-eonardBloomfield et al in the 1930's (at leastfor most courscbookwriters and
teachers);
and'order' is the professionalauthority,the spccralistknowledge,to r.vhichWiddowson
alludes.
22
//tt llt'-.rnuiowrl llotr:;tJotrtnttl ol liltt:ati,tt
ttrrl l)et,,,lol,tntttl
My main problemwith all of this is that,while I agreethat any teachershouldpossesa specialist
knowledgeof his or her subject,it seemsto me that a lot of the rules or descriptionsof language
are wrong, or at best incomplete. It would be a relativelysimple thing to come up with some
slightlymore accuraterules and descriptionsif we look at real languageuie ofthc type typifiea by
such projects as cobuild (leaving out the 'wassails' and 'quaffs' for obvious reasons). I
appreclatethat most leamers use the languageto communicatewith other non-native speakersof
Englishbut I expect they hear and read quite a
bit of the authentic,native speakervariety in
therr work, at the cinema etc. and would not
mind understandins
it a bit bctter.
3{ 1{:Jr
Widdorvsonalso suggestedthat linguisticshas to meet the condition of releyanceand that this
relevanceis achievedby currentlinguisticdescriptions,At leastthis is my understanding
of what
he said. I agreethat relevanceis vital. I do not agreethat currentdescriptionsare as relevantas is
claimed. Following are someexamplesthat I hopewill supportmy view.
l. Conditionals
3. Someand any
Classify thefollowing examplesof
conditionalusing the traditional '0', '1st',
'
2nd',' 3rd' categories
:
o Has he anived yet?
I don't know, but if he has,we're in
trouble.
. Ifyou'll take a seatI'll call Sir Edward.
o What do you think you'd be doing if you
hadn't come on this course?
. Ifhe's arriving at six he'll havealready
left.
2. Tenses
Considertraditional rules of tenseforms and
their usesand how theserelate (or not) to
thefollowing:
r
She'll havedonethat yesterday- she
a)waysdoesir on Sundays.
fthefunre perfect?)
.
She'll be lying on the beachnow.
(Thefuture continuous?)
,
Well, I was going tomorrowbut...
(thepast continuous?)
The car won't start- said sittingin the
car. (thefuture simple?)
o
How do/don't theseexamplesft the 'rules'?.
o Aly bus goesthere flom here.
o Do you want somecake?
o I cancome any day next week.
In conclusion
My conclusion
to this shortarticleis simply
to restatewhatI havesaidalready.Any rule
we giveto students
shouldbe accurate;
the
simplestway to ensureashigh a degreeof
accuracyaspossibleis to work from
examplesof the languagewe speakandwrite
ratherthanstartingwith contrivedexamples
whichmay not evenexistwith any degreeof
significantfrequencyin reallanguageuse
(youmightliketo listenout for examples
of
the'3rd' conditional
in realuse- research
hasit thatthis form virtually neverhappens).
Nextyear'sconference
is provisionally
titled
Confuence.Thethemeis themeeting
(confluence)
oftheoryandpractice,
notjust
linguistictheorythis time but
methodological
theoryandpracticeaswell.
Al occasionfor academics
andpractitioners
to standup andstatetheir caseslG
NtrXTYFAR'SCO\FERE\CE \lILL TAKEPIACE N IH LONDON
O\ FEBRUARY
5TII. 6TH {\D 7TH. I HOPETO SEBYOUTHERE.
ThelntantcttionalIkru!i(.Jo1o1ul
o.fEdu.utionund Drralopnt:nl
23
Dear Matthew,
I enjoycdthe editorialin lssue4, in which you asked"Can we
pinpointsomcintrinsic/lrrressthat we all share?"and suggested
that the answer is no: "Our ability to react and adapt to
idiosyncrasy
is our strength".
and are
Twrns usuallysee the differencesbetweenthemselves,
puzzled that others teachers,friends and even sometimes
family - contusethem. Similarly, IH teachersare often arvareof
what makes them different from one another, and are puzzled
that outsidersmay seenot this,but their similarity.
I came lnto III as an outsider,and would argLrethat - at least
historically - there has been an identihable /lrcss that
characterises
teachingin the organisation: lively classrooms
rvherelessonshave a definite shapeand identifiable,discrete
linguistic arms, rvhere there is a high degree of learncr
intefaction,and rvhere leaming, typically, involvcs a high
degreeof 'fun'. The origin of the 1,4resslies not only in thc
kind of training that teachersreceive,but also in the lact that
selectionused to be made from among those who obtaineda
GradeB (earlierknorvn as a 2.1 or 2A) or higher. Thosc rvho
did well on courseswere thosewho had engagingpersonalitics
and clear classroommanagem€nt,who were ablc to learn (or
rinlearn) quickly and rvere able to perforn (in however
superficially a leamer-centred rvay) within the vcry nanow
constraints and artificial environment afforded by teaching
practice, berng able to establishrapport abnormally fast and to
be unintimidatedby the presenceof observers. Now that lH
selectioncriteda are broader,it falls to Directorsof Studiesto
help many of their nerv teachersto develop the qualities rvhich
singleout the high flyers on our courses.
If this /hes.i in teachingis lesseasyto recognisein 199U,it is
not because it is less distinctive but because it rs n'lore
widespread.The proliferatronofCELTA courses(basedon the
IH model) and the universalcunency of Hearlwriy(the book
n'hich so pcrfectlycnslrrinesthe valuesand practicesof ./lnr:-rs)
and it cloneshave extendedlftnes.routside IH, and in a sensethe
rvorldis i'ull of non-lH schoolswhich copy the lH model.
In your edilonal you refer to McDonalds ("the mother of all
multinationals")and suggestthe "we take things a little furtirer
and that we are happy to e the same yet different". I would
argue that the comparison with McDonalds is an apt one.
McDonalds has its close imitators (such as
Burger King), and thousands more distant
imitators - independently owned burger
restaurants and chains of restaumnts
throughout the world copy some but not ail
aspects of McDonalds, ranging from the
decor to the menu, from the standards of
hygiene to the style of service. In a sensethis
is good:the exampleof McDonaldshasled to
a universal raising of standardsin the burger
sector of the fast food industry. But whereas
quality restaurants of many different kinds
have continuedto exist and to develop,the
'III effect' has tended to reduce variety in
teachingstyle and method,and contributesto
a decreasein institutionalsensitivityto local
circumstances
and tradition.
IFI (and now CELTA) teacher training has
alwaysproscribeda wide variety of practices
( e . g . t e a c h e rt a l k r n g . e x p l r r n i n g m e : n i n g .
bilingual teaching, reading aloud, silent
study. rntc lcaming) end il. contrnuinU
emphasison discretelanguageobjectivesstill
prec)udes
the use of a variefyof materialsthat
in other circumstances
are palpablyeff'ective.
Twenly five years ago, long bcforc I had
hcard of III, I uscd a courscbookcailed (l
think) Ile Engltsh lfe L/sc by ll.A. Close.
Each chaptercontaineda substantlaltext, a
set of comprehensionquestionsand a set of
e\ercisespractisingand extendinglanguage
points \vhich happenedto arise ln the text.
Wc readthc textsaloud in the class,discussed
them and $,entthroughthe exercises;
students
\\,rotc about thcm lbr homcrvork. At other
times, indepcndcntlyof thc coursebooks.rve
also listcned to tapes, students prepared
presentationsand cliscussecl
then. \'e read
poen.rs! did
drills
and rvorked trn
pronunciation. The lessons\vere untidy. I
talked a lot. and students tended to talk
directly to ne or to the whole class rather
than in groupsand pairs. The lessonsand the
style of teachinglvere distinctlyun-IH. And
yet, I defy anyone to prove that learnersleam
morc effectiYely in
the lH rvay. The
intellectualcontent oi the materials vastly
outrveighedanything to be found in modcrn
glossy coursebooks,and the lessonshad a
seriousness
and a rhythm that would still suit
nany learnersbettcr than the pacy. visuallyorientatedrvorld of 1990s (and indeed 80s
and 70s) IH cloning. Would lcssonsof this
type be acceptablein the IH/CEI-TAr'DEL'fA
shaightjackct'l NO.
Am I knocking ll{? Not really. IH has very
substantially contributed to the raising of
standards
in F,LT aroundthe globc. But let's
/ ltt ltttcnrotiotLtt!l lqttsL.JotLro I ol lidrrL:atitntont{ l )tt t lop;nett
not kid ourselves. At the same time as raising standards,we
have promulgated a panicular way of teaching, which is often
confusedwith this raising of standardsbut which is in fact quite
separatefrom it. This way ofteaching has diminished diversity
and individuality, even though long-term survivors in the
professionoften move beyond it in thet own teaching(but
g€nerallynot in their teachertraining). Moreovcr,this '*,ay' of
teaching has been transplantedto educational and geographical
contextswhere its appropriatenessis at best dubious.
sensitive, talented teachers flounder in a
coursebecausethey were unable to srvallow
the IH way? Many of them had already been
- and perhapsstill are - popular and effective
tcachers.
But their idiosyncrasy was
unacceptable to us, and their strengths
unrecognised and untapped within the
objectives and format of the courseswe run.
Ask them to 'pinpoint some intrinsicllness'
and I bet they can!
I was lucky. When I cameto work in IH, a non-IH diplomain
TEFL under my belt, I rvas able to adopt the IH way of doing
things and to bccome a successrvithin the system. During my
yearsas an IH teachertrairer, horvever,horv oftel have I seel
,ir, ,:'
*r
{*
j'r
"rt
rli
4
::
I
Dear MattherY,
f
t
t,
,r:
i!
Martin Parrott
February1998
{t
1l
.ii
{r
1r
I
;}
{,
11, ,i
.;
rmpossibleto leave,and working in Spainwill mean
you gainmuch both personallyand professionally.
A new book hasjust come out called
Teaching English in Sprzln,by Jenny
paft of a seriesof what are
.Tohnson,
so far 5 books on teachingEnglish in
various parts of the world, published
by ln Print Publishing. It is full of
facts, hints, and helpful advice lor
teacherscomingto Spain,aboutliving
and working teaching English in
Spair.r,along with some help rvith
what to teachand how to teach.
About the book:
Spain l.ras been one of the most
popular destinationslor teachersof
English for many years. Although it
is now a fully-fledgedmember of the
EuropeanUnion, tl.rereare still many
aspectsol Spain which are new and
suryrisingto Europeansgoing to live
therc, lvhile non-Europeanswill also
fecl Spain's uniqueness within
F u r o p e . C r r l t u r a l l yS p a i n i s a
fascirratingand appealingdestination,
a place to leam about and leam from.
Its peoplc arc warrn and welcoming,
\\'rlh a passion for life which is
contagious.A year or more living in
Spain rvill delight and tluill you,
indccd for nrany it has become
This book is aimed at teacherswho feel they would
like to try Spainas a place to begin or continuetheir
teachingcareers. It provides a range of practical
informationaboutliving and teachingEnglishin this
unique country. Part I is all about finding work
teachingEnglish: qualifications,job opportunities,
bureaucracyand how to go about looking for rvork.
Pat12 is all about living in Spain, with advice for
beforeyou go, help for when you first arrive, and a
largc amount of information about everyday living
and Spanishculture,the history, geographyand the
Spanishway of life. Part 3 goes into teachingthe
Spanish people: the Spanish as students, the
problcmsthey have with English Language,rvhat to
teach and how to teach it. There are also six
appendiceswhich give additional information on
various areas,as well as some interviews and casc
studiesof teachersof English living and working in
Spain.
Jenny Johttson
(Author)
Dear Jenny,
So what you're trying to say is, could you have a bit
of freeadvertising?
Matthew
I hc ItitL) htti)nal l /outt ./ourwrl r,f l),luatli0n unt/ l)ttt,lttpnL,nt
25
FRUCTO-LINGUISTIC PEDAGOGIES
Of the manyfringemethodologies
in ELT someof the mostchallengmg
are thosebasedonfructo-linguistics. Here Damien Parrot| of IH Viseu,
discusses
a new approachwhich hascometofruition with hisyounger
learners.
Ithough still in the early stagesof researchand development,an exciting new
methodologyis emergingin second-language
teaching. This is most commonly
known as thefruity approach. In this article I want to give a quick overview of
current theory, and then describethe experiencesthat my col'leagues
and I have had with
one aspectof the approach:bananas.
THEORY
The fruity approachis developingas a less
refined but more substantialversion of the
juicy method,which seepedinto ELT theory
a few yearsago but never really took root.
The juicy method was, as Crombie and
Sutcliffe have pithily descnbedit, "watery"
and "in necd of a bit nrore bite". The basic
theorieshowever,are the same;to propagate
leamir.rgvia a natural processof branching
structuralism, that
given
nourishing
conditionswill cventuallyblossomand ripen
into a complete and organic system of
lingua-bites. Nonetheless,'fiuity teaching'
is neverto be thoughtofas exclusive.It was
realised early on that the growth of the
'fruity leamer'is
best serwedif the approach
is not nr.lrturedin isolation, but is grafted
onto exrstingmethodologies. In pafiicular,
Dunn has argued that the multi-sensory
approach",.. continucsto give scant regard
to tirerole of tastein the perceptivereception
of new lexis, and fails to titillate the tongue,
which is surely of vital import in the
production of language.". Miller and
Snoijinkhavealsomadea casefor addingan
eighth intelligencetype to thc theory that
cites seven diflerent neurological systems
tluough rvlrich people leam. Are you a
'gastronomic'
leamer?
At the moment it is thought that all fruits
have a valid role in the classroom,although
tomatoes remain a little controversial.
26
However, much more is known about
bananasthan anlthing else. Martins first
highlighted their importance ir.r the work,
Language,Freud and Banarzas.She applied
Freud's theoriesabout the 'phallic fruit' to
language,suggesting a subconsciouslink
between bananas and the Language
Acquisition Devrce. As Dowie recently
observed,"You're not a lad without one".
Others, such as Matos and Horshall, have
linked them to our evolutionas a species.
and seenthe act of peeling as a biological
metaphorfor the discoveryof speech. "We
are the arliculatemammal", wrote Greer.rleaf,
"and rvhileotherprimateseatthem [bananas]
with the skin on, we havc leamt to uncover
the fruit hiddenwithin". However,the most
persuasive'bananal'idea is perhapsthe one
derived from Adamson and Griffiths
identificationof the bananaas one of seven
'intrinsically
funny foods'. As Hayes said,
"As long as you've got a banana you're
laughing".
PRACTICALLY
I fimt used bananasto spice up a role play
with a multi-lingualgroup of adults. I went
into the class with a standardlessonabout
telepl.roneconversationsand a mystenously
bulging bag. When I'd explainedthe roleplay, I took out a couple of bananasand at
once they becametelephones. The fun we
had made the role-plays much more
7ht lntcrnotiouul llc.trrL Journal al I.)tltu:otioututi l)t't,t:lolttncttl
animated and expansive than they might
havebeen.
immediatelydrowned in a generalwave of
doubt. The bananawas in my pocket. I took
up a Clint Eastwoodpose, whipped it out,
rvaggled it meaningfully and asked the
question again. Every hand sl.rotinto the air
above a mock-terrifiedfacc. As I realised
that I had just succcssfullymenaced the
entiremob with
a banana( !?!),
the possibilities
suddenly
Sincc then I've used the idea severalmorc
times, and it alrvays works well, Most
rccently I used it witl.r a group of fifteen
beginnersagedbetweennine and ten. These
students
advanced
maraudcrs and I
have had to leam
all sofis of tricks
and tactics to
keep
therr
If you chop the
attentior.r. The
end
off
a
last thing that I
banana,
thc
had uscd to try
pattem of seed
and lbcus thenr
insrde the fruit
r.vasa big, blue,
is often a clear
'Y'.
plastic, comedy
You can
hammer.
The
use bananasfor
problemrvasthat
fortune telling
EVERTEODTYWAS AFRAIP.
it rvas a bit too
(and
so
big and conrical,
practrsll.lg
and they cnded
futurc tcnses).
Afier i,/i//i,me Kd. Sr.amlinc EnglishCHanley& Vincy tr7E, OUp
up doing lar
Students ask
rnorc marauding than usual. Then. by
Yes/Noquestions,if the bananashowsa 'Y'
chance,I discoveredthe teffor that bananas
t h ea n s w eirs ' y e s ' ,o t h e n v i siet ' s ' n o ' .
caninspire.
lf you poke a needle into an unpeeled
As usual I had a coupleof bananasir.ra bag,
banana,waggle it from side to side, and do
n'aitingto becometelephones.
this scveral times at different points down
the banana,you can prc-slicc it. Go into a
Unfortunatelyone of my studentsrealised
class,peel your bananaand get them to ask
s'hat they rvcre, and started to sho
questionsabout how you magically slicedit
'bananas!'just
as I r.vasabout to laur.rch
into
insidcit's skin.
somethingmuch more seriousand impofiant.
T ike r good ErrglishIanguageteacher.I
If aftcr all thrs you suddenlyhave a lot of
decidcd to incorporate the distraction. I
bananasyou don't know what to do with,
jt
pullcd out a bananaand stafied to u'ave
makc a length-waysslit ir.r some of tirem,
around and usc it to point at people. A
leavingthe skin on. StLrffthc slit rvith sliccs
lnol]]entlater.los6was talkingagain. "Hey,
of mars bar. Wrap the bananasin foil and
.losel".I said.he lookedat me, and suddenly
put them in the ovcn, or better still a firc.
I u,asno longerpointing a bananaat him, but
Afterten minutesthey'll be delicious.
a smokin' six-shootcr. "Pow, I said.
"Arghl" he said, and died dramatically.
Thc point is that, as with everythingelseyou
SudclenlyI had cveryone's attention, and
can takc into a classroont,the possibilrties
rliraculouslvit didn't go away. At one point
are endless. Why not challengeyourself?
I asketlthcnt if they wanted to sing a song.
See how many dilferent thir.rgsyou can do
Sonre did, but their enthusiasm was
with a bananain one lesson.{'}
wrll-Y FIA>Thlo Bnnnn
l l t c I ' t l t t t t r i l r r r t i t ! l l t ) t t . \ . . l t ) | t I t t l t ) i l . t i u t t t ! l t ) J ti t n t l l ) f | L l ! j p
i nl
2,'
The apparentillogicality of the spelling of
English has a simplc explanationin that it
becamemore or lessfixed five hundrcdyears
ago, just ahead of the change in
pronunciationknown as the Great Vowel
Shifi. Knowing this makesit no ersier ro
help students grasp the complcxity of
Englishspelling,but it momentarilysatisfies
thosewho want to know why writtcn English
is not phonetic. It is not so casy to explain
why the spelling of English has not been
refomred,but the issue makes for a good
classdiscussion.
TheColumnfor peoplewith
something
on theirminds...
A chanceto air the questionsthat
navevexedYou,and helpout
othersin a state of vexation.
Prcase
addressall corresoondence
to: Q&A,TheEditor,IHJournaletc.
etc.. TheEditoracce?tsno
responsibilitv
for the contentor
accuracvof what follows.
Beforegoingto the new batch,
nerearesomeresponses
to
queriesin previouslssues:
Sir,
ln thcQ&A section
of Issue4
Derin Kent gave an exampleof a
helpfui spel)inghint rvherereaderswere told:
"ltop It,'pr. ri1, ' ,,r,. uherethe magic'e'
can serl'c to ntakc the vorvel long".
Unforlunately this examplc is misleading.
Firstlv, this is a pronunciationhint rather
than a spclling hint, and secondly,the
distinctionsignalledby the differentspelling
is diphthongization,not lcngtheningof the
'
'
I orre].I ip rrp \'s i rf( ralp . for exrrnplc.
Thc long vou,cl, r' ri:p /, involvcs another
spelling.rcr?.
2u
lhL Itt,'rnirit,ttrtl /lotrtJt,ttrtili
Yours,
DermotF Murphv
ThamesValley University'London
Having siftedthe evidcnce
provrdedby A.H. (IHJED 4
Novenbcr 1997),tentatively
defendingthc tcachingof crir.nevocabulary,
it secmsto me that what he's rcally got is a
prinralaciccasefor morcsyslentirtic
teachingof metaphoricallanguage.Like
A.H., I've beenkeepingnty cardsclosetcr
my chestur'rlilnow.hut I feelrhalit's my
tum to lay thenron the tabic. Crime
vocabularymay be seenby nranyas a rvild
card,but metaphoricalcxpressions
have
corneup h-umpsfbr nte on many an
occasion,not only rvith advancedstudents.
I'm suremany teacherslike to keep
somethingr-rptheir sleeve,and this to mc is
the acc. I don't think teachingshouldbe a
matterof seeingwhat otherpeopledo ancl
following suit, or, lor that matter,of simply
reshLrlfling
rvhatthe coursebookprovides. I
bct students
rvorrldfeclthcy rvercgc ing a
much betterdeal if they rvereallorvedto
gamblervith the languagcmore and engagc
their rmagination.
Yours Poker-facedly,
SI,M
I H I-ondon
o! l)titt:litt'it t1)ttl )tj, i.)|)] \'ul
I recentlycompleted
a training
coursein BritainandI wasstruck
by thenumber
wearing
ofteachers
waistco-ats.I wonderedif this had any
pedagogrcal
value andwhetherit was the
sameabroad.What I'm askingis, do I need
to buy one beforestartingmy firstjob?
Yours,
RecentlyQualified Fashion Victim
Newcastle
Funny you should say that. I was vtorking
'frends
on a Current
course with a colleague
in III London some time ago, and despitettll
our ef.fortsto imbue the edgerparticipants
with best theory arul pructice from our
comhinedexperienceof ELT, they seentedto
get the inpression that it was all down lo
waistcoats,7'intberlandboots and Blu Tack.
Perhups \rttt.\| ( o(tIs comc wi Ih expcri cncc.
Try investingin Illu Tackfor now. Ed.
providegreat
I klow conferences
opportunities
for stimulating
the
mind,swapping
teaching
or
professionalstogetl.rer,networking and
gencrallyhaving a good time - my DOS tells
me everytrme shegoesaway. But what do
they achievethat can't be done for
considerablylessexpenseby e-mailand inhousemeetings?Can any school,given the
currenteconomicclimate,justify sending
staffto distantcontinents,wtth all the
cxpcnscof fl igltts.accommodation.
restaurants
and so on, to saynothingofthe
effectthat their absenceoughtto haveon the
schoolthey're leavingbehind? It seemsto
nle that theremust be betterways ofkeeping
up-to-date,aswell as marketingourselves,
that*'ould benefitmore of a school'sstaff
lhanthcscjollies.
Yours.
Disaffected,
IH Poland
I was recentlyobservedby my
DOS andwascriticisedfor doing
a PPP lesson.Whilst I accept
that a-totofpeople fail to seeany valuein
this approachany more, whcn I askedwhat I
wassupposedto do, I was told to try a more
'Turn
task-based
approach.
the lessonon iI's
head', shesaid 'Do the roleplayfirst - this
will create the needfor the ktnguuge- then
give themthe language'. Isn't that Test
Teach Test? What's the difference?
Yours,
Mystified,
(nameand addresssupplied)
- is thatwe canput a manon
Il t ' . . l I| Why
,:
the
moon,cloneanynumberof
Il l::,.:
I I
l
, l
rid theriorldolsmallpox
I \<
I anrnrals.
ila ffin. burwe stillcan'tlakcoura
subscription
to theIHJED?
Yours,
Vexed
Non-IH school,Holland
Hmrnm...Asfar as I knowIH staff weren't
actually involved in aryt of 1l1sexantplesyou
quote. Not to say that v)eeren't capableof
suchachieyements.
It'sjust thut tllesethings
taketime. Sorry. Contactthe BEBC
bookshopfor now. Ed.
Why is theDTEFLAbeing
changed
to DELTA? Does
anyoneknow of a single
alreadyheardof plenty of disadvantages)?
Yours,
Prospective
Candidate,
lH Hungary
Iht ltttt,nLtrIitntl IILturt.lirrttLtI oj |)Ju(1!|i)n (ntl l)tt t,IrtTtnti,nt
29
PRACTICENETS - T
In this new series,Gavin Dudeney - Webmaster
for International House Barcelona presentsa practical ideafor using the ll/eb ulongwith a guide to a few usefulsites.
on preparinga songclass. Youcanfind an example.ftnished
PracticeNetsI concentrates
sonp class at http://www.ihes.com/NetWorld/b lur.html.
It's an old, old story:teachergoesinto classarmedwith Dave Dee,Dozy, Beaky,Mick and Titch
cvery useofthe PresentPerfectand,30 minuteslater,thc classis
songwhich amply demonstrates
in revolt over such old-fashionedaural stimulation. In a fit of pique, the teacherchallengesthe
studcnts- "We11,why don't you bring in a songthen?" A few dayslater,the poor teacherstaggers
Extreme,The Fluff Trvins and God
out ol classrvitl.rarmfuls of the latestCDs by Deathmaster
krorvs rvhatelse. Later, at home, s,4refinds that none of the CDs have lyrics, and tlle next few
to transcribethe rvords.
daysaretakenup playing and re-playingeachsong,trying desperately
tsnterthe nerv improvedNeteachcr[g) who simply spendstwenty minuteson the Net and u'alks
arvayrr ith a collectionof pcrfectlycraftedsong*'orksheets.So rvhat'sthe secrct,and horv is it all
you'Ilneed:
donel Forthis session,
1.
2.
3.
4.
Accessto the Intcmct
Thc IntcmationalLyrics Seruer- http://www.lyrics.ch
Yahoo!> Entefiainment> Music > Artists scction- http://rlr'vlv,-vahoo.com
A lvord processor
For the purposcof this afiicle, I'm going to assumeyou'reusing Windov,s.htternetErplorer and
Word- themost commoncombinationof softrvarc- and that you'rcreasonablylamiliar rvith horv
they rvork. If this is not the case,the altemativesall rvork in a similar fashion,so clon'tdesparr.
and forgiveme nty Microsoft-slantedsoftwarecl.roice.First we're going to stafi up thc software
and word proccssorrunning. If you'reusing
we'Il be using,so make sureyou haveyour bror'vser
Wintlot,s95, you car.rhavethem both going at the sametime and you'll be ableto srvitchbctween
then,by c)ickingon the iconson the taskbarat thc bottomofthe screen.Now to get thc lyrics...
Go to http://rvrvrv.lyrics.chand click on the Searchbutton. When you get to thc searchpagc,
you cancntcrl/-tist,/llhum or Song,or any combinationof the tlrreesearchcriteria. Ifyou havc a
look at tlrc cxanrplesong I'r,c prepared,yodll seeI enteredBlur in lhc Artist sectionand rvaited
for rt to give nrea list of Blur songsit had - when the list cameup I chosc You'reSo Greal and the
lyrics appcarcdon tlle screen. When you'vegot to this point in your brorvser.click on the Edit
menuand chooseSelectAll, then click oncemorc on thc samemenu and chooseCopl- You tlorv
havcthe lyrics copied.
Click on your rvord processoron the taskbarat the bottom of the screenand once it appearson
screen,chooscthe Edit menu and click on Paste. The lyrics should now bc pastedinto your
documcnt.Norvall rvc needis to find a photoof thegroup...
Click back onto your *'eb browser,using its icon on the taskbar. Co to http://rvlvlv.y'ahoo.com
and cltck on the music option (it's a small sub-optionof the Entertainmentsectiondown on the
lefthand side). Oncc thcre,click on the Artists option(the first on the left) and then entcr.B/lrrtn
the searchfielc1at the top of the pagc. Make sureyou selectthe Search only in Artists option.
then click the grey Search button. You'I1now bc presentedwith links to plenty of pagcsabout
30
l ' h L! u t L r n o t i o t r t ll l o r : t ' J r ' t . t t r i t t'lt l l . d t r t t t i i t , t rt t t t r lI ) r ' t t l o l ' t t t t t t
BIur. Chooseone which looks, from
the description,as if it might contain
photosof the group and find a suitable
picture.Onceyou havethe pictureon
screen,click on the picture with the
right mouse button, and then choose
the copy option.
Click back to your word processor,
right click somewhereon the pageand
choosethe pasteoption. You should
now have the picture somewhere
alongsidethe lyrics. Now I'm afraid
I'm going to have to leaveyou to find
out how to move the picture around.
Of course.you'll alsowant to spruceit
up a bit, make a gap-fill or correctthe
mistakes activity, and a few more
things,but essentiallythat'sit
TOPSITES
Ask Jeeves - http://www.askjeeves.com
l f y o u ' r e t i r e d o f u s i n g s e a r c he n g i n e sa n d n e v e rf i n d i n g
w h a t y o u w a n t , p a y a v i s i t t o t h e f i r s t o f a n e w b r e e do f
s e a r c ha g e n t sw h i c h u s e ' r e a l l a n g u a g e ' . N o w , i n s t e a do t
h a v i n gt o t y p e o b s c u r ec o l l e c t r o n so t w o r d s t o f i n d w h a l
y o u w a n t , y o u c a n s i m p l yt y p e a q u e s t i o n . T r y " W h y i s
t h e s k y b l u e ? " ," W h e r e c a n I f i n d p i c t u r e so f c a t s ? ' , ,e t c .
Y o u ' l l f i n d p l e n l y o f e x a m p l eq u e s t i o n so n t h e o p e n i n g
Page to get you started.
Com - httpil lwww.hollywood.com
A n i d e a ls i t e f o r t e a c h e r sw a n t i n g t o d o a c l a s s- o r
p r o j e c t- a r o u n dt h e t h e m e o f c i n e m a . l t h a s p l e n t yo f
H o l l y w o o dg o s s i p ,n e w s a n d r e v i e w s ,a s w e l l a s a n
e n o r m o u sm u l t i m e d i ad a t a b a s ef e a t u r i n gm o v i e t r a i l e r s ,
c l i p sa n d s t i l l sf r o m l i l m s , e t c . A n d i f y o u d o n ' t f i n d w h a t
you want there, try the lnternet Move Databaseat
htto: //www.imdb. com.
You car find a finished song
worksheet at the address in the
introductionabove. I took the lyrics to
tl.resong from the International Lyrics
,Server,and,a photo and biographical
information from one of the sites I
found in Yahoo! The biographical
informationlras bccn made into an
information gap activity, whilst the
song lyrics have been tlped
incorrectly for learners to correct. A
speaking activity and homework
assignmentfollow on from the song
itself.
This worksheet was put
togcther for demonstrationpurposes
only, so pleasc don't write to me
porntrngout how terrible it is! lf you
have problerns with this activity,
plcase feel free to write to me at:
[email protected] I'll
seeif I canhelp.
its-onlina- http://its-online.com
In the nert edition of Practice
Nets yte'll be looking at a site
v,hich is an ideal replacement.for
tlte dull textbook presentation of
raported speech and functions .for
Green Travel -
giling advice. Seeyou then &
'l
lf you teach young Iearners,and they're getting bored
w i t h t h e c o u r s eb o o k , t r y v i s i t i n gi t s - o n l i n ef o r s o m e u p r o - t h e . m i n u t es h o r t a n d f u n a c t i v i t i e s . T h e r e a r e h u n d r e d s
o f g r e a t l e s s o np l a n s ,i n t e r a c t i v eq u i z z e s ,t a l k s e c t i o n s
a n d p o n p a lp a g € st o c h o o s ef r o m , w i t h n e w m a t e r i a l
a d d e de v e r y w e e k .
The World Service
://bbc.co.uk
T h e B B C p a g e sh a v e a w e a l t h o f i n f o r m a t i o nf o r t e a c h e r s
a n d s t u d e n t s ,f r o m l e s s o np l a n s . i d i o m p a g e s ,l e s s o n si n
s l a n g /e t c , , t o a t e a c h e rs e c t i o n l o o k i n ga t t h e l a t e s t
a p p r o a c h e st,e a c h i n gt e c h n i q u e sa n d i d e a st o b r i g h t e nu p
y o u r c l a s s e s . F o r t h o s e l i v i n g a b r o a dt h e r e ' s a l s ot h e
chance to listen to live radio: Radio 5 Live!
(http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio5/live/live.html).
NetWorld- http://www.ihes.com/NetWorld
Netwo d was set up as a site for lH afJiliateschools
u s i n g - o r w a n t i n g t o u s e - t h e l n t e r n e ta s a t e a c h i n g1 o o l .
I t ' s s t i l l q u i t e y o u n g . b u t t h e r e a r e a l r e a d ys o m e u s e f u l
r e s o u r c e st,r o m l e s s o np l a n s w i t h a c c o m p a n y i n g
worksheets to a copy of our lnternet Explorer Favourites
( a k a N e t s c a p eB o o k m a r k s I)r o m t h e I n t e r n e tC l a s s r o o ma t
l H B a r c e l o n at o d o w n l o a d a n d e n j o y . H e l p y o u r s e l f ,o r
s e n d s o m e t h i n gt o b e a d d e dt o t h e s i t e .
A g r e a t r e s o u r c ef o r t e a c h e r sl o o k i n gI o r i n f o r m a t i o na n d
a c t i v i t i e sb a s e da r o u n dt h e t h e m e o f t r a v e l . T h e G r e e n
T r a v e ls i t e s p e c i a l i s e isn ' E c o - T o u r i s m ' a n dh a s a
w o n d e r f u lc o l l e c t i o no f h o l i d a y sa r o u n dt h e w o r l d , w i t h
p h o t o s ,m a p s , p e r s o n a a
l c c o u n t s ,l r a v e l l e rg o s s i p ,e t c .
There's also a VeaI What Kind of Traveller arc YouT qutz
t o g e t t h e b a l l r o l l i n g ,a n d t h e o p p o r t u n i t yt o s e n d a n
electronicpostcard from some of the destinations.
ht l n t tttlt t i on o l ll o utt .lqr tut l o./ &l u(. t t it)n o n(l / )r\'r'l opntcn l
3l
Anotherfeature articlefrom Cathy Ellis,
of IH Barcelona,consideringsomeof the
intricacies of the Englislt language
Whcn it comes to analysing language it's often the simplest'looking
rvords which are among the most subtle and and is no exception. If
you add to that the intricaciesof but, it's pretty obvious that thesetiny
pimples on the epidemrisof the Ilnglish languagehave plenty up their
collectivc (or conjunctive'?)sleeveto mislead us, given half a chance.
To start with the more straightfonvardone, and is an example of a
connectiveor co-ordinatingconjunction(you knerv that, of course)and
as sLrchis used to join two syntacticunits of the sarnekind. So l'ar, so
good. As long as your units are of the sar.nekind, 1'ou can't go hr
rvrong here. And can also, horvever, have certain interesting
'Slte
inrplications:
ran Jbstcr otd.tr.ller' implies progression,tlcrcasing
's/re
(in this case) speed;
ren o cl ren otd rart implies great dulatiott
'shc
(on arrd on and on): so
rau tntl r.rn, fasler anrl./ir"s/et''istr't lust
coruecting ideas.it's adding speedand tirrre(the poor u'oman, uhoet'er
'/bl
ntiles unrlntilcs ttnd
slreis, must be exhausted).Or rlaybe she ran
'Do
'rlles
here the inrplicationis of greatquantity or a great nuntbcr.
thut agai and I'll kill tctu!'- and here irrplies causation,i.c. ilyou do
that again, the result lill be death. And rvhat airout this one: "Thr:re
are maidens and there are maidens,but that wasn't onc of tlte best".
You may well be rvonderrngabout the provcnanceof this, so perbapsI
should add hastily that it's from a rvcary crickct commentator(yes, that
kind of ruaiden) during a West Indies cricket tour after yct another
mnless over on the part of the England batsmen. Here's anothcr
example, lron Ilobert Brorvning (1855): "Alack. there be roscs and
roscs, Johnl". The idea is to expressa difference of qualrty between
things of thc semenanlc or classancllhcrc arc cxamplesclatingfiom as
long ago as thc l6th ccntury up to thrs. liom a recent edition of 77re
Nctt,Yorker: "Thcrc $,crc ways to stcal and $.aysto stcal" (i.e. sonreo1'
them rvorkccl,some of lhcm tlidn't, or.somc of thenr had class.somc of
them didD'tctc.).
aKlp
ers
axld
l2
Ilt. l,ti'rn
On the rvhole then, and sccmsto be a lairll uncoltroversial littlc rvold
cxcept in three areas. fiirst. can yoLr begrn a sentcncc wit]r and'?
Ansrvcr - 1'es. l'his, says Robert BLrrchflelcl,is a prohibition rvhich
"has bccn cheerfirily ignored by standardauthors lrorn Anglo-Saxon
state that therc is in thct no such
timcs onrvards"and other rel-erences
rulc and add that as long as the secondsentenceiutroducesa nerv tdea
ard has its own subject,there'sno problem. Second - shottld you put a
comma bcibre and? Ansrver - no, if the lnd joins rvords or short
phrases;ycs, if the phrasesare long or if the and joins trvo clauses.
'to
'to
ln to dosoDtelhi -g or
try-and clo
Tlrird - rvlrich is morc corcct:
sulething' ? Argun'rcntscontinue to rage about the validitv oi the
second construction, as they do about so many things (the split
infinitivc, the danglingmodifier, the true identity of .lack the Rrpper...).
In 1942, Bric Parlridgc consiclcrcrlits tse "an astonishingly frequent
error" but it scelnsto bc u,idcly acccptednow. although recentresearch
'tt
'
to is thc nrorc frcqucnt of thc trvo in the proponion
has shorvnthat
ofthrec to one (yes. thcre really arc pcoplc sho sit arouud collectirtg
'r'l
and
anclcollaling this kincl ol'statrstic). It's intcreslingto llote that
titati
l l ( . r t t ( . / r ) : t l t i c lt ) l | : | | | | . u i i | , I t i l t t ! i ) t - \ , , l t ) l , i i i . \ i
rlr.,'isnot possiblein the 3rd person:while 'l alwaystn, and
travel light'sounds fine, 'Slre(rl\yavstriesand trawls light'
or, rn the p^st, 'l{e always tried ond travelled /lglrt'sound
decidedlyodd. The same double possibilityexistsrvith
otherverbsaswell as try, whereand canbe usedin placeof
an inflnitive of purpose,such as cone, go (,'Nov'you've
gorteand done it!'). hurn, up, stay, stop. In thesecases,
thirdpersonandpastarebothpossible.
So much, then, for and. Now let's try and,/toseeif we can
make any serseout of but. I supposeyou think that'sa
cor.rjunctron
too, and it often is, but it startedout lrfe as an
adverband preposrtion
$,ith the meaningoutside,u,lthoul
andretainsthtsmcaningin the Scottishexpression'bll crrrl
Der' (ncaningthc outerancliuter roonrsof a cottage,bul
beingthe outerroom and llea the inner). Wcll, rvell. Its
r n o s l c o r l u I r o nl l s c i s 3 s I c o n j u n c t r o n
. i o r r r i r 1t3r ro
c o n t 1 3 s l l r s) gy n t r c t i cu n i t s .l s i n a r e n r l r l r r r . r d eb y a
visiting friend "lle's a vegetarianbut he's lnterestedin
cooking". Q,Jocomment).The ConciseOxfordDictionary
llsts ten sepantemeaningsfor but, some of them rather
literaryor old-fashioned
in style,and in many of rvhichit
actsas a prepositionratherthan a conlunction,but it can
also (surprise,sruprise) be advcrb, negative relative
pronoun, noun and verb. t'\o kidding! Here are so|ne exan'rples:'Butfor hinr, I would hoye tlrowned', 'l've
eote notlling lrut breud and cheese', 'Shc did uothirtgbut complah'- all with the meaning of exceJt or 114or
'She
is hut u cltilcl nteaningo111,:'lt never roiu.sbut rt pours'\\rll\ thc senseof wltllout thc result thot ard
/or;
'The
last hut one','Tlte ext llouse rrl nto'rncaning cxcepl or lf the ncntioned nunber v,ere exclurlerl. Lnd
then there'sbut as a noun and but as a verb. "But that's impossible!" you cry. "Norv but me no br.rts!"I
coulter, "and lcss of your ifs and butsl"
-fherc
are three little questiol.rsto be answeredabout but. The first tu,o are the same as for and. and the
answersare thc sarre. ('Plren" -ed.). The third is wl.retherbut should bc follorvedby an objcct or subjectlhen
the rueaning is ercepl as in 'Thev hed all escoped but ([or) her/she' and 'All but her/she had escaperl'. A 11ew
rcltrence sourceI llave discovered,one Dr. Onions, rvhosesimple explanationsbrings tearsto thc eyes of even
t l r c r r r " s ll r r | d e r r e d5 t a l l s l l c \ - g i r t l t e r r g| lrgl r t r r t r l r i r n ss. l a t ( . \i t \ e r y c l c a r l y . H c s a y s b u t a c t s f , s I p r e p u r l l l o n
hcre atrd like other prcpositionsgovcms the accusativeor object. So his vote rs for 'but
fot. her'. But All but
her lrud ttccrpul 'l or "l'hc boy .\toed on the hurnitg deck,/Il/henc'eoll but him hact./led"/ A bctter explanatiol
scerISto be to put the oblcct rvhen it comes at the end of the sentenceand the subJectin the miclclle. So. 'I,cl,
hod oll cscapcd but.for her' and 'All but she had escapetl' and The boy str.totlon the btrrning deck,/ lt/lrcnce all
had fled but for hirt'. Thafs better (I think).
Lastly, atrothetcouple of littJecuriositiesabout but. 'l he exprcssionsccu/cttttttotbut and cau't help bn. The
llrst secmsto have the same meaning rvhetherpositive or negativeis used, for example in this front The Suntlay
Trnrcs "...scttirg a standardothers can but hope to follow" 'carrol but hory' rvould do as well. It seemsto
lotur a double negative$ith but. The other expressionis onc rvhicl.rEric Partridgc says is "positively clumsy
:Lncishould bc avoided" and others agree. 'Millions ofhcarts could not help but thrill in response'(rrust havc
sorlrcthrngto do rvith thc Royal Farnily). In this case,ifs a triple negative. It should read 'Millions of hearts
thrilled in response'. I don't know, doesn'thave the sanrering to it of helplessnessin the face of an irresistible
lblce. sorncltorv.
,qrlv\\'a\'.Jtrstttr caseyou're still wonderiDgabout the relevanceof the title, this & is the anper.santland tt tsed
to conre3t the end of the alphabetso that childrcn reciting their ABC would finish'X,Y,Z and per se and'. per
'\c rrrcarrs lt.t ltsel/' n Latin, and u'ith time lhis 'tnd per se arrrl' becameshortenedto 'an'rpersand',giving the
srsn rts r']ilrl]c. I he only other thing to say on the subjectis beware of thc redundantbutl What's the redundant
'
, . r | * , r l J t r \ J l l . ie \ p l a r nb. u t . . .r h J t ' cr r r o t h esr r o r -l.l,
'I
ltt ln/r'rurtlronal Ilott:c .lrttttal oj l:.rlu(tttion!tntl l)flflt)l)t]](nl
33
REMEMBERIN6
TRAVELLING
LAN6UA6E
Brita Haycraft, co-founderof InternationalHouse and inspiration to
manyover theyears, looks bsck on a varied and glittering life and sends
somepostcardsJiom thepast.
olling off the IH staff roll as I did in July 1997,I norvreflecton the many good thingsthat
havecomemy way, mostof themthroughbeinga teacherof English.Had I stayedin Srvederr,
EngJish
might still havebecomepartof my life asmy parentsrvercinvolvedin othercountries
and languages,
and they passedthis on to me. But *'ould I havehad the chanceto live and work in
fabled fbreignplaccs? And rvould there have been the adventuresand Iln if a cenain intrepid
Englrshnrrn
crllcdJohnhadnot whirledintomy lrfe.'
y Noldic horizonsstarledto broaden
during the six years rve lived in
SoutrremSpain back in the 50s.
going back therel'eelslikc comrng
Norvadays
home. Folkloren'as still very much alive at
that trmeand could bc rvitnesscd
cvcry day in
the city of Clordoba:the regularcries of the
vanous streetscllcrs,the srngingand guitar
strumming, the laden mules rn cobbled
alleyrvays,
the little errandboys rvho ran rvith
messages
likc they do in operaseven though
mosthomeshadtelephones.
An clderly cleaning-womanbecame our
'maid'.
Shesaid shc knov how to look after
Englishpeoplebecauseshc could make tea.
Sl.relvouldplacethe shoppingon her headand
rvalkbehindme dorvnthe street. I persuaded
hcr to rvalksidebv sidcbut the head-carrying,
shesaid,r.vas
easierlbr her back. NeitherJohn
nor I couldmakeourselves
call Micaela'tu',
as it seenri:d
disrespectlul
to sonreone
her age.
Shetold us that in all her lit-eshehad ncvc:
beencalled'usted'(thepoliteword of address)
and I think it norvpleasedhcr. Shc calledme
'la Seilorita'and
John the uncxpectcdand
chaming'cl Seiiorito'.Shetalkedto us in the
third person"ll/cnld lu Sefinritalike this?",
", just asrvc did in
"fIas lhe Seiiorito
.finished.2
Srveden.She never stoppedbusyinghcrself,
andkneu,evcryaspectof nrindinga household
to perf'ectron.
nrakingmc wondcr rvherethe
myth aboutlazy Andalucians
stemmedfrom.
She could have Sr:ndayso11,rvc told her.
"What for?" slre rvondered,"Well, to spend
trmc at vour housc and relax". Micaela
l4
'/lrt
ltttt,rnutiotrrtl llt..lt:t.Jortrnrl
hesrtated,
thenacccptcdthe oI}'er.But still she
rvouldoften linger,and we realisedthat home
to hcr rvasa crampcd,dark, damp coupleof
roomsoff a patio,wlth no mod cons. These
shesharcdrvith her daughter,son-in-lau,,
their
littlechildandonebachelor
son.
A fcx' of our classcsrvcrc given in people's
homcs. Whathomesl Picturean entrance
past
massrvervoodendoors u,ith gleamingbrass
studs,a marble Iloor taking you up to an
cxqulsrtervrouglrt-iron
gateopenedby a maid,
neatin capandapron,rvhotvouldleadthervay
through one sumptuouspatio aftcr anothcr,
past playing fountains.undemeathtlorvers
trailingfrom uppcrgalleries.Many doorsand
tapcstrvcurtainslatcr, I $'ould entel'the.rdl.jll
rvheremy pupil rcceivednte, and our lessolr
\\'ouldstaft.
decadclater,rve are in Ron-tc,sctting
up an lntemationalIlouse in Dottore
Zappa's ne*ly lound palazzo. Our
lamily are lodgingat the krp of this spiendid
vrlla and rye havc had to get accustomcdto thc
contincntalhabit of risrng a1 darvn in order to
get our children to school in time. Every
momlng at hall past seven we zoom along tlre
ring road and rnto the hlstoric Borghese
gardens to thc french lycee. Dcsprte its
bcautiful position, the lycee has a forbidding
and sullcn atmosphcrc.
fhe day before
Katinka's tenth birthday she and her whole
class have to do two hundred lincs lbr somc
trivial misdemcanour.To comfbrl her ."vehavc
hcr birthday picnic in thc Clolosseum. Wc
rvander in, climb to a top ticr and lay out the
'l litil,tiit,u
iltLi I)rt,loltitii,/tl
spreadon the ancientstonein gloriousautumn
sunshine.
colonisedus in 1840, we'd still be nomads
today".
decadeslater.in subzeroJanuary.
flt..
| .lolrran.l I are luggingour crsesand
aboutbetweenaeroplanes
I floundcring
airport
for 'intemal' flights.
at the Moscorv
Unable to decipherthe sparsesignposts,we
almost board a plane to Novosibirsk by
mistake. Managingto avoid this unexpected
detourto Siberia,rvc boardour flight to Alma
Ata andwithin tbur hourswe arein themiddle
of Asia, disembarkinginto a sort of country
br.rsstationwherepassportcontrol1ssummary.
In the hall beyond,a scoreor so of men in fur
hatsand bootsstandrvaitrng. Tall, rvith dark
rvavy hair and GhengisKhan eyes,they look
formidablc, but thcy greet therr travellers
warmly. Onc is holdinga placardrvhrchsays
'John and Brita. Welcome to AIma Ata'.
Beaming,he saysin lrnghsh"l'm Talgat. I am
Verypleased
to meetyou".
e had had a glimpseof life behind
the Iron Curtainback in 1974on a
summer coursein hilly Slovakia
'Living
nrn by Bill
English Stntcture' Allen.
For two weekswe all lodged,had mealsand
classes
in a pleasantresidence.We soonmade
friends and conversationnevcr halted: the
Slovak teacherswanting to try out their
Englishand hearaboutlife outside,us visitors
wantingto gleanIife inside. Oneday at tableI
wanted to know why the whole town was
f'estooncdrvith red banners- u'as there a
festivalor sometliing? "Oh, I don't knorv.
They'reahvayshangingup banners"cameone
answer."'fherewas someuprisingthirty years
ago,I think" said another. "What upnsing?"
askeda third. A shorl animatedexchangein
Slovakbroke out round thc tablc. Then the
subjectrvaschanged. Later, thc third young
rvomansoughtme out amid the bunksrn the
dormitorieswhere the aftemoontutorial rvas
due. She wanted to apologise for her
ignorance,
and,in formal style,she reeledoff
that thrs rvas the commemorationof a very
importantuprisingby their communistheroes
againstthe German oppressors. She then
otrl.r cry rcd rn lhe thce...
nrshcLi
reccptionliom a
Whata shangeandrvonderi'ul
total stranger in the depths of the Asian
continent. And it's just bccausewe arc
'lhis
canonly happcn
bearingEnglishto them.
peoplesin the rvorldand I
to English-spcaking
am so luckyto be in on the act. Talgatsayswe
are the hrst Englishpeoplehc has ever met,
yet somehowhe is the Sorosappointeein this
rvildemess. IIe explainsthat as our Kazakh
visaswill only arrive the followrng moming
with the SorosNerv York group,we'd better
stay a$'ay trom our stylish hotel and lodge
u'ith him lbr the night. He drivesus through
thc city rvhicli glimmers in the snorv and
boastsa magniticentwhite mountainrangefor
a backdrop. We get to a plcasanthousing
c5trlc \\ ith ehildren tobogganingin its
playground,rather like in Sweden. Talgat's
t\\'o-roomIlat is humble,rvith a Clhineseair
eboutlt. llis rvil'elooks completelyChinese.
But the food sened is lamb and couscous- a
N{uslim banquet. Talgat plays us his one
Beatleslecordand showshis book of Somerset
\{aughamshortstories.We talk into the small
hours,in I-rcnchto his rvrtb, as that is her
lirrcirn language.Their little son can only
spcrk Russian, he says apologetically,
lci.rLrse.alas. rvhat use is Kazakh? "]'hc
g:rvcus cducation.If they hadn't
l{L;s-ilrns
lt
l t , t . t . . t t ,r . t l l l ' . '
.t,,'
,,'|
nothersummercoursewe joined took
placein Kenya. Perhapsthis rvasmy
most amazingexperienceof all, rvhat
rvith the blatantdemandsfor gifts Johnfaced
from the Ministry of Educationcontact,oLlr
last-minute rescue from being lodged
separatclyin bare dormrtoncswhich ended
rvith us beinglvhiskedawayto a divine safan
hotel instead, and the horrendous street
shootrngrvhich took placejust after we had
left a party at the Bntish Council rep's
residcnce.Most mcmorable,though,was the
coursewc were runningfor forly Kikuyosand
Lr.ros,all trainersof primary schoolteachers
and inspectors
of primaryschools.Johnand I
staycdup late to leam all forty unusualnames
by Day One. This brokethc rce at once. Not
thrl the) rverehostilcor sceptical.Quitethe
opposite. These fairly senior people rvere
! ' ' , . , t r' ' " , t ' t | | l , t . | ! ' t 1
't!
l5
friendly,well-informedand courteous,unlike
theircreepyMinistryof Educationsuperior.
They responded with interest to our
programmeand when we gave them the
habitualSpanishlcsson,they masteredit in no
time- We were surprised,but, interestingly,
they explainedthat it was just like English.
They liked our dernonstration
of visual aids
but mentionedthe problem in a class of a
hundredchildrenand one trce to displaythe
rtems...I'Iowever,
thev amiablytook.Tohn's
polntaboutrealia- sand, stones,clouds,birds,
hyenasand the likc. Thcy told us true storics
about their daily life and the dangersthat
lurkedif everthey spentthe nightawayfrom a
township.A tcacherwealthyenoughto own a
brke was readl' prey for bandits. Our
Europeanmethods suddenly seemed
rather trivlal to us, and we told them
it rrrs rcally we who were leaming
from them. They protestedand said
that they loved the Enghsh languagc
a n d l i l e r a l u r e r n t l r rc r e l g l i n s t
national demands to change to
S u a h i l ia s t l t en t c d r u mu l ' l n s l r u c t i o n
at primary school level. I wondered
at this extraordinary devotion of
theseex-subjccts,none ofwhom had
ever bccn to Bntain!
drsappointing
having to seethe Frenchscene
through a mistrustful [nglish filter.
Scandinavians,
fortunately,areallowedto love
theFrench,unhrndered
by history.
In Paris, in the fabulousPassageDauphine
premises,John made the most of the theatre
potentialwith regularteachingcabarets
in both
Englishand French,and dramaperformances,
too - Tony Duff playing an unforgettably
moving Hamlet. But more of this in John's
own memoirs,dueout in the autumn.
In that experimental climate my first
pronunciation
workshoptouk place. I hacl
alreadynotedthe witheringareaof speechcare
and had for some yearsbeen tryrng to grow
pronunciationplants in the classroom,but it
was not easywith so many
ancient weeds to dig up.
Still, this pursuithasproved
ever inspiringand ennching
to my teachrng.
hu-fJ*u.^
arre"
n$ffieryr
Ar
ERt-""'EASR
f,ApA,t VgnNrK
haveneverceasedto
feel Swedish. ln fact
it hasonly heightened
o!
r.as'AxN,,.4
'r6spov
Fett'w9F ttEttlts,
TESF,@tf
"E'{',".niin
the experienceof coaxing
mercurial, glittering-eyed
children rn Cordoba to
produce their
English
prepositions,
observing
obedient studentslearn in
gloomy, rvintry Leningrad,
quick{hinking
watching
Moroccans eagerly fomr
scntencesin English in a
classroom in Casablanca.
My own dearhomelandhas
fadedinto the distance,as if
viewed through the wrong
end of a pair of binoculars,
but I often give it thanksfor
makrng me, and relish my
luck as a playerin this great
Englishgamc.
c5!t!!n"rFAi6v,.
lfly',!!"!,r"",
lt#ofiffrn+r,
*irnqoliixAR4
ow manypcoplefathomthe
uniqueness
of havingtheir
language and country so
rvidely known? Imagine Srvedish
being campaigned for by a
tDLrlgKTH4N.""
populationnearthe equator! Of all
the world's languages,
it could only
have been English, or perhaps
French.Pcoplefrom so manyplaces
abroadhave told me, as a Srvede,
horvmuchthey love Englishand the
people.I knorvhow they feel - I f'eel
the same.The only time we seemto
part companyis in France,another
home country for me, where the
othenvise charming British can
sometimcstum into blinkeredBrits.
In Paris,rvhcre we lived betrvcen
197I and 1972, trying to put IH
Parison its feer,ir wrs sometimes
s:?ry'i
ucux
36
'l'hank
you IH, and thank
youJohn.S
Tlte lntt:rnutiotLtl llotttcJo!.!| el ol l)fuLttritut otul I)tt'tk,t,ntcut