I was teaching a group of Upper Intermediate adult learners on Tuesday and for some reason we looked at the value of numbers briefly (million, billion, etc). The learners mentioned that they wanted to review the value of billion as it was different between the UK and the USA. Here is what Oxford Dictionary mentioned about the value of a billion:
In British English, a billion used to be equivalent to a million million (i.e. 1,000,000,000,000), while in American English it has always equated to a thousand million (i.e. 1,000,000,000). British English has now adopted the American figure, though, so that a billion equals a thousand million in both varieties of English.
The same sort of change has taken place with the meaning of trillion. In British English, a trillion used to mean a million million million (i.e. 1,000,000,000,000,000,000). Nowadays, it's generally held to be equivalent to a million million (1,000,000,000,000), as it is in American English.
US Debt Visualized website
I was left on Wednesday wondering how to introduce this topic of a million, billion and trillion. I remember looking at an Infographic about the size of a ten thousand dollars to around 114 trillion dollars. The Daily Infographic is a wonderful website that reviews statistics, finance and consumption using images and it has some wonderful prospects for Upper Intermediate or Advanced learners. I looked online for the dollar Infographic and found it eventually on the US debt visualized website. There was a lot of information so I decided that I would print out the raw images and cut these up. The accompanying text would also be copied and pasted into Word and will also be cut up. What I ended up doing was handing out the images in groups of three to four students first and getting groups to guess the value of the ever increasing size of money. Next, I decided to handout the accompanying text and learners had to match the text with the images (a sort of jigsaw activity). Before checking answers, I got each group to compare their answers with another group and then elicited the correct answers. It was a wonderful activity and it really brought on a new opportunity to review large numbers and it was also more visual.
When reviewing the lesson, quite a boring subject (introducing numbers) was brought alive by the use of an Infographic image and the accompanying text. After the main activity, there was a discussion about US Public Debt and whether the USA will face a total credit meltdown, as those are experiencing in Greece currently. Nevertheless, I have found that some of the Infographic websites have some wonderful illustrations and hope to use these in the future with various other classes.
Nevertheless, have you used Infographics in your class? How did you use them? Would you consider using them in IELTS preparation classes?
When I was leaving to go to Romania, a few weeks before I decided to get myself a MacBook Air. Soon afterwards, I found that Apple had released the free iBooks Author and decided to download this. I was toying with the idea of creating a free book containing many lesson ideas and then decided that an eBook that focused on Dogme ELT would be most appropriate (considering that my MA dissertation was on this subject). Having a keen interest to publish a book about teaching in South Korea, I thought this would be good practice to write for a new platform. I have managed to test the eBook on the iPad 2 at the British Council in Romania and the content is impressive and I particularly like the scroll bar at the bottom of the page which a reader could use when looking for lesson ideas. Essentially, this eBook is free for all iPad users. I shall be incorporating an iBooks badge that will be linked to the eBook and do hope to receive feedback. For those people that do not have an iPad, there is also a PDF version available to download below. Nevertheless, this raises the question whether books aimed for language teachers, or course books for this matter, should be published for a range of tablet devices. There is nothing stopping authors bypassing the major publishers and trying to self-publish and market their own books. However, publishing with reputable publishing houses does offer the author little worries other than just writing the book and allowing the editors and publishing team to market and distribute the books. I look forward to reading further eBooks published by other ELT professionals and seeing what the community can offer and produce.
When I was flying to Romania, I packed all my things the evening before but when I arrived at the airport, I had picked up my son's passport. However, when I was waiting for the taxi to bring my passport up to Heathrow Airport, I was thinking how suitable this situation would be in the classroom to promote and develop conversation for unexpected situations. It kind of reminds me of the Mr Bean at the Airport scenario:
After a week, I planned my first lesson and decided to include this as a typical 'dictogloss' activity. 'Dictogloss' is best described by Wajnryb (1990) as something that is borrowed from the more traditional dictation activity, where learners "jot down familiar words as they listen ... then pool their resources to reconstruct their version of the original text" (ibit. pg.5). Thus, I decided to write a short piece involving me getting the wrong passport for learners to listen to in class and for them to recreate their version of the incident. After students have, within groups, recreated the incident in their own words (with the possibility of reviewing grammar or certain phrases: for example, a group of learners wanted to look at the difference between "The flight was supposed to leave at ..." and "The flight was due to leave at ..."), there is the option to get students to guess what happened next (and the language of modals is a usual indicator for language here). Finally, there is an opportunity for more exploratory teaching (aka. Dogme ELT discussion) from this topic but I hope the following lesson plan offers some further ideas for your classroom.
Aim of Lesson
To get learners to listen, note down and reconstruct a story that the teacher has prepared.
Sub-Aims of Lesson
To review grammar, phrases and lexis involving the airport. To prompt discussion involving unexpected situations or accidents.
Level of Learners
This activity works best for any level from Pre-Intermediate or above, preferably teenagers or older.
Progression of Lesson
1. Start the lesson by telling students that you are going to tell a short story and that they need to just listen.
2. Once you have finished the story once, get students to individually write down any words or phrases that they remember (no sentences just yet).
3. Read the story for the second time and get learners to make a note of any other phrases or words that they remember.
4. Next, tell students that they need to individually write their version of the story in their own words (either the first person or third person is fine, as long as they can recreate the story and it reads well).
5. Once students have written their story, group students into pairs or small groups and nominate a team leader. The team leader is responsible for writing the final version of the story.
6. When students have written the story, hand out a copy of the story to the learners so that they can compare any differences.
7. Monitor students and their writing for any key differences with regards to grammar or phrases and note anything on the whiteboard.
8. Review and scaffold any differences if necessary.
9. The next part of the lesson is to get students to work in their groups to predict what happened next in the story. Note down any of their ideas on the whiteboard before revealing.
10. OPTIONAL - If you wish to incorporate discussion in the classroom, you could learners (if they are willing) to share their experiences of an unexpected situation that has arisen during their travels. As with Dogme ELT, monitor and scaffold language that has emerged during the classroom conversation.
What I wrote for the 'Dictogloss' activity is available to view below. It would be great to hear your ideas regarding 'Dictogloss' and whether you have incorporated a similar lesson before. The best thing about 'Dictogloss' is that it is very materials-light and promotes recycling vocabulary and reconstructing a story after several attempts. The students feel a sense of achievement afterwards and it is highly motivational.
On Thursday 2nd February, I was flying to Romania for the first time. I packed everything the night before and checked that the taxi would pick me up. I woke up at 3 o’clock in the morning for my taxi would collect me at four thirty. I arrived at HeathrowAirport at 6 o’clock in the morning and was checking in. The flight was due to leave at 9:45am but I realised that I didn’t have my passport: I had my son’s passport!
I arrived in Romania last Thursday having decided to work for the British Council in Bucharest. I know very little of Eastern Europe and I consider it a challenge to extend my professional experience (having not taught any Romanians). When I arranged for the taxi to collect me and take me to the Airport from Eastbourne, I remember checking everything but I didn't check my passport. It turned out that I picked up my son's passport without checking and had to arrange for my passport to be driven up to Heathrow. My passport arrived at the Terminal 45 minutes prior to my departure and ran straight through security and to the flight gate. Hopefully, this is the first and only mistake for my posting in Bucharest (but this is a great lesson plan for a future discussion "what happened next?" lesson). On the flight, I was approached by a person and he asked me by name (apparently he knew me) and introduced himself as the Director of the British Council in Romania. I don't know how he recognised me but it was a good introduction to the country.
I arrived at Bucharest Airport and was greeted with lots of snow. It was cold and icy and the driver took me to the car where I could put all my luggage in the boot. The Director of the British Council was collected. After about an hour, I arrived at my temporary accommodation and unpacked. I was later called by my line manager and go out with staff for an evening meal. Everyone was so friendly and helpful. All the staff at the British Council have helped me get into a routine and assisted in getting me a mobile phone and offered invaluable advice. The next few days were a bit of a blur where I went to the Centre, received a formal induction and met various staff.
I now have my first class tomorrow and have planned these today. Obviously I am naturally nervous but I know that I will get into a routine. I have been offered different types of classes: Young Learners, Adults, University, etc. The British Council in Romania is offering the equivalent of the CELTYL Extension Course offered by Trinity and hope to do this course. I have met some teachers that are currently studying their Masters, which brings memories back of assignments, etc. I am very busy but I hope to update readers on my experiences in Romania and offer an insight to teaching in a Eastern European Country.
Here is my first lesson plan for 2012 and something related to "Old Wife's Tales". I created this lesson after watching a video on YouTube about Fan Death. For those that might be unfamiliar, Fan Death is described by Wikipedia:
Fan death is a widely held belief in South Korea that an electric fan left running overnight in a closed room can cause the death of those inside. Fans sold in Korea are equipped with a timer switch that turns them off after a set number of minutes, which users are frequently urged to set when going to sleep with a fan on.
The Korea Consumer Protection Board (KCPB), a South Korean government-funded public agency, issued a consumer safety alert in 2006 warning that "asphyxiation from electric fans and air conditioners" was among South Korea's five most common seasonal summer accidents or injuries, according to data they collected.
When I first arrived in Korea, I found it very funny that Koreans would not bat an eyelid and tell me off if I kept my air-conditioning on in my closed apartment (especially over the summer months when it was quite hot and humid). Anyhow, the lesson plan is below:
Aim of Lesson
To learn, discuss and share more about popular UK and additional country's "Old Wife's Tales".
Level of Learner(s)
This lesson is aimed for learners at levels of Intermediate or above (B1+).
Progression of Lesson
1. Start the lesson by writing on the whiteboard: "An apple a day keeps the doctor away" and ask learner(s) if they have heard of this saying. This should activate learners' schema and provides a good example of an 'Old Wife's Tale'.
2. Ask learners if they have a similar saying from their country and transcribe their examples on the whiteboard.
3. Tell students that they will be re-writing sentences and there are eight sentences which need to be reformulated and handout the following below. Advise students that they must complete the handout individually.
4. Monitor students to see if they are working well. Once students have finished, start pairing students together and get them to check their reformulation in small groups/pairs.
5. Elicit from learners the sentences and transcribe their answers on to the whiteboard. Check for errors and encourage self-correction from the learners.
6. Once the correct sentences are on the whiteboard, ask learners which sentence they think is true or false (all are false apart from the last one). Try to ask learners why they think some are true or false. Some language may emerge so be flexible for following the class.
7. The next part of the lesson is to show a video about "Fan Death" and a common Old Wife Tale from South Korea. If there is a learner from South Korea, get them to explain what Fan Death is (but they may not be familiar with this - so a bit of understanding is required).
8. Show the video below:
9. Get students to talk about the video and whether they think Fan Death is true or false. Korean learners may be quite direct in their opinion of fan death so some sensitivity is required but hopefully the video will encourage some debate in the subject. Some language that may arise from the discussion could include: asphyxiation, vortex, etc. The best thing about the video is that it is a cartoon and takes quite a funny look at Old Wife's Tales.
10. Finish off the lesson to talk about funny beliefs and get students to share their country's beliefs. Perhaps you could start off by providing an example that British people will not walk under a ladder as it is considered bad luck.
Have fun and enjoy the lesson and I look forward to hearing further ideas about how the YouTube video could be incorporated in lessons. I am aiming this lesson to share cultural ideas and beliefs in the effort that it improves understanding with the learners in the classroom.
I can't believe it. The year has literally flown by and I sit with wonder with a cup of coffee thinking about what I have actually done with the time. Having read Mike Harrison's blog post reflecting on his 11 posts from 2011 (challenged by @yearinthelifeof), I thought I should take up Adam Simpson's challenge and write about 2011: it would offer some aspect of reflection and highlight what has been achieved during the past 12 months. So without further ado, here is a reflection of my top 11 blog posts from 2011.
January MA ELT - Assignments Complete: This was a brief blog post that reflected upon my studies at the University of Sussex and it is quite nice to look reflect on what I was focusing on during the beginning of the new term. It is nice to look back and take stock of the Advanced Practical Teaching course (with my Dogme experimental observed lesson). It is nice to see that I had posted/achieved what I planned to focus on: posting about the IATEFL in Brighton, wrote further book reviews. Unfortunately, it was rather ambitious to write a weekly ELT related blog post and this was not fully exploited.
February Pronunciation & Language Learning: This is one of my favourite blog posts this year and I continue returning to it to retrieve the same lesson plan (Pronunciation Phone Numbers) for my own YL/Adult classes. It is successful and the learners love doing this lesson again and again. It is also useful for readers to learn more about pronunciation and get some idea about pronunciation aims from the perspective of learners as it also included a little research analysis.
Using Newspapers in Class: This was an earlier blog post in February and it was reflection on the use of newspapers in the classroom as I had a formal observation at the University of Sussex as part of one of my courses. In this blog post there were some images of my Teaching Practice portfolio and the materials that I prepared in class. Also included in the blog post was the PowerPoint that I prepared for the lesson and all necessary materials that were required so that other readers could do this lesson if necessary.
March Unplugged Teaching Practice - Formal Observations: During March, I was focusing on Dogme ELT for my Teaching Practice and it was the first ever time that I attempted a Dogme-related lesson. Furthermore, I was having it being recorded and was also observed ... so the pressure was on. In this blog post I included my formal lesson plan, a video of Scott Thornbury, a self-evaluation of the lesson as well as a poster promoting a Dogme talk by Luke Meddings. I suppose had it not been for attempting the Dogme lesson, I would not have researched Dogme ELT for my dissertation.
April The 2011 IATEFL Brighton Conference: Life As A Steward - Day One: Having applied to volunteer as a Steward at the 2011 IATEFL Brighton Conference, I was requested to attend a training morning at the weekend and then start stewarding for the start of the conference. It was a wonderful chance to meet so many people that I met in the twittersphere/blogosphere. I always remember so many boxes piling up by the entrance in preparation for the rest of the week. Thankfully, they all had disappeared the following day.
May Teaching Unplugged - My First Video: This was a blog post focused on my Dogme ELT Teaching Practice from March 2011, which was recorded. Having received the entire recording of my lesson, it was really useful to watch it back and look at how the lesson developed. Over the following two months, I edited the video to a more manageable viewing of eight minutes. It was so nice to share this with my readers.
August Dogme for Elementary Japanese Learners: Whilst I MA classes had finished, I had some time to write my dissertation (which was focused on Dogme ELT) as well as teach part-time. I was provided the opportunity to teach at the University of Sussex with Japanese Learners that had visited for two weeks. It was so nice to incorporate my research in the classroom and decided to share a case of emergent language with Japanese Elementary Learners. I have used this example within many teacher training workshops ... so it is an incredibly important blog post that I hold close to.
September Dogme ELT - Dissertation Short Summary: Having completed and submitted my Dogme ELT dissertation, I decided to share an abridged version for all those people that helped directly or indirectly with my research. It provides readers the opportunity to view a short summary of the dissertation and offer ideas for their research (if they are undertaking an MA or other related course).
October iPad Game Lesson Plan: "Jetpack Joyride": Having read (prior to reviewing the book) "Digital Play", I was inspired to create a lesson plan that included some form of game. It was a challenge but I decided on an iPad game called "Jetpack Joyride" and also included a video that was available to watch on YouTube. I used some of the images of the video on the basis of a storyboard. I used this in class the following day and the Young Learners were really receptive and enthusiastic to use a game in class.
December Zeitgeist 2011: A Lesson Plan: My final blog post for this challenge has to be the Zeitgeist 2011 YouTube videos that I decided to use as a basis for a lesson plan. It received some interest from my PLN and appeared to prompt a conversation-driven, materials-light approach to teaching. I used this lesson with my private language learners and although they are teenagers, they were incredibly motivated and keen to share about their experiences during 2011. It seems fitting to have this lesson included as a final of my eleven best blog posts.
Naturally, there are many blog posts that I would like to include in this list but the above the best eleven posts during 2011. Nevertheless, I look forward to 2012 and am wondering what the next year will bring in terms of achievements but you can rest assured that I will be sharing my experiences, thoughts, lesson plans and book reviews in the future. The biggest event in my diary for 2012 is my IATEFL Talk on Dogme ELT in the Classroom on March 23, so I look forward to seeing you all in Glasgow in a few months time. Finally, I would like to wish all my readers a very Merry Christmas and all the best for the New Year.
As 2011 draws to an end, it is a time of reflection, consideration and possibility for the future. This lesson plan is aimed at B2-C1 level students and may work with selected teenagers, but it may be more successful with adult learners. Possible language which may emerge could be associated with reflection and talking about the past (There was a Tsunami in Japan, There were the Arab Springs during 2011, etc) as well as talking about what the future might bring (In 2012, I would like to ..., In the next 3 months, I want to ..., etc).
As with all material, it is suggested to be sensitive to the learner's background and choose examples to scaffold that are appropriate: perhaps the talking of natural disasters might not suit Japanese learners. However, learners may have a story to tell and I suppose you are the teacher that knows your learner better than anyone and can make the choices that are suitable and appropriate for your learners.
Context & Introduction to Topic
When starting the class ask students:
what they have achieved during 2011
what is their most memorable event during the year
what was the most surprising element of 2011
learner or teacher resolutions for 2012
Monitor language for correct tense usage, monitor language as well as boarding and scaffolding emergent language
Zeitgeist 2011 YouTube Video
Tell learners that they are going to be watching a video but put learners in pairs or small groups
Describe to each pair or group of learners that before they watch the video, they need to work together and think of five important events that happened in 2011
Elicit possible important events during 2011 from the learners and write their suggestions on the whiteboard
Tell learners that they are going to watch a video that is related to 2011. The learners need to watch the video and check to see if any of their suggestions are in the video.
Play the video.
Once the video has been played, ask learners to mention what events that were suggested (and transcribed on the whiteboard) are in the video.
Elicit any other important events from 2011 the learners and add these to the whiteboard (if the learners can remember some of the other important events in the video).
Play the video for a second time.
Discussion Time
Once several events from 2011 have been written on the board, tell students that they are going to be working in groups and have to re-order the events in importance (one being the most important and the last one being least important). All learners within the group must accept the order of importance.
Monitor learners for suitable or potential language that could be used to scaffold (I think ... is the most important, Why do you think ...?, What do you think?, etc).
After learners have completed the re-ordering activity, get several groups together and to compare results with the potential to debate.
Allow sometime once the debate/discussion has finished for feedback and error correction.
As ever, any feedback on this lesson plan would be greatly appreciated.
