When Adrienn Szlapak wrote to me asking whether I might be interested in writing a post of the IATEFL YLTSiG blog, there was only one possible answer and it was: YES!
Today, the post is out. You can find it here.
Happy teaching!
#eflteacher
All you need is… a picture. Vol. 3
This episode is going to be devoted to the older students, juniors, teenagers and adults and those of the higher levels, from B1 upwards.
All of these activities were inspired by the approach in the visual based speaking tasks of the Cambridge exams. I use these activities frequently at the beginning of the ‘unit’, to introduce a new theme, to ease us into it and to start with some freer speaking activity, that, really, does not have any specific linguistic requirements or a very formal framework. Not to mention that by the way, my students get an opportunity to practise and develop their exam skills, in a slightly more relaxed way.
All of these activites are deeply rooted in my professional laziness because even though I have to devote some time to the picture selection, that is, really, the only time investment beacause the task is usually a one sentence instruction and, to be perfectly honest, most of the ideas listed below were created during the lesson, as a follow-up and an extension of the regular Cambridge ‘similar or different’ task.
Usually, my greatest helper while preparing these activities is google search engine. I type in the key words and I look through the images until I find these four, six or eight that match the idea that I have in mind. They can be saved in a document or displayed on the screen (powerpoint or Miro). I save them and keep them for later because they are always recycled.
Frequently, I start the cycle with the simplest of the activities (‘Choose two to compare’) and I follow-up with a wider discussion (‘Have you ever…?’) or any other combination but, naturally, these can be used on their own. All of the activities can be done with the whole class or in pairs.
- Talk about your favourite photograph: students choose the photograph that they really like, they describe it and justify their choice
- Talk about your least favourite photograph: students choose the photograhp that they like the least, they describe it and explain why they don’t like it
- Choose two pictures for your friend to compare: students choose two of the pictures to compare them, to look for similarities and differences, very much like in the B2 speaking part of the Cambridge exams. The fact that there are more than two pictures allows for the activity to be repeated a few times, over and over, in pairs or with different partners. The longer the activity takes, the more interesting arguments appear and the more creative the answers.
- Choose two pictures for your friend: students work in pairs but in this case they choose two pictures for their partner to compare. It makes the activity more interesting as it is easier to avoid all the obvious choices and this way more interesting contributions are generated.
- Have you ever done that? This is the activity in which we use all the pictures at the same time. Students ask each other the question about all pictures, one by one.
- Would you like to? This is another activity that can be used with all the pictures. Students ask each other questions related to the situations in the pictures, but more focused on the future.
- The comparatives: Another activity in which students discuss all the pictures, going over the list of questions and choosing the pictures that somehow stand out. The set is closely related to the theme of the photographs. For example, in a lesson devoted to health and health problems we looked at these four pictures and we answered the questions: Choose the most serious problem, the least serious problem, the most common problem, the easiest to deal with, the least unpleasant for the doctor, the least unpleasant for the patient, the most expensive to treat, the least expensive to treat, etc.
- What happened before? What will happen afterwards? This is a cool actvity that I adapted from the latest editions of New Cutting Edge Advanced. Students choose their favourite pictures and discuss the before and after, almost telling a story.
- Ask a question: students work in pairs, they ask their friends questions related to the pictures, they have to use different pictures and different question words and they need to a different word each time: What? Why? Who? Where? How many? How much? What kind of? When? How often?
- It reminds me of: students work in pairs, they talk about all the pictures. The talk about their associations, memories or references. It can be a free activity or it can have a theme of: books, films, songs and personal memories.
Make sure you also have a look at the first two parts of this series. You can find them here and here.
Happy teaching!
Adults learning from kids. Or how I accidentally formulated my teacher beliefs
I have already been writing about ‘the shock’ of a teacher of YL going back into the adult EFL classroom in an earlier post ‘What an old dog learnt?‘.
A message to the parents
Two weeks ago, after one of the lessons, I sat down to write to the parents about the homework, the upcoming test and some feedback. It was just a lesson and a busy one because we were doing a lot of preparation for the test. ‘Nothing special’ you might say because we didn’t have any amazing activities, no ‘fireworks’ or ‘surprises’, only a lot of hard work and practice. And yet, somehow, the lesson was just beautiful, so great, in fact, that I decided to write about it to my educational parents, too. I just wanted to tell them that the kids were amazing (they are!) and that we had a speaking activity and it all went very well. ‘You know, I wish I could show our group to some of my adult students to show them what communication might and should look like‘, I typed, and it was only then that I did sigh, in awe at my own wording and the very idea.
Oh, how I wish I could do just that.
What would my adults see…
First of all, they would see children of different ages, aged 10 in this group, but also 3 or 17 in my other groups, kids studying together, in groups or individually. If they came, they would be surprised at the level of English the kids already have at this point. Or, rather, as a proud teacher of my kids, I hope they would be impressed. Just a little bit.
I would also hope that they could notice how comfortable the kids feel in their other language version. It is not an accessory that you carry around in your hand, a tool that you try to use although you are not quite sure how to. Nor is it a costume that you have to put on and become something else, a dragon, a princess, a cat, something that you are not. On the contrary, I would love them to see how, regardless of the age and the level, English can and does feel like the second skin. Something that is just you, the other version of you but also the very self that you are.
I would love my adults to be inspired by the open-mindedness and the general attitude to anything that is new and out of the box, especially the readiness to see, to try, to experiment. That does not mean that everything that I bring into the lesson and everything that I dump at them, grammar, tests, exam preparation, all the games are welcomed with the open arms and everyone, but absolutely every single person jumps at the opportunity of diving in. It is absolutely not the case. My kids are ‘normal’ kids who get tired, who have lots of homework, who sometimes, I bet you, would be doing something else entirely, not the things we are dealing with in the classroom. And, consequently, they are looking for the ways out, for the ways of cutting the corners, for taking a time out. Which, to be honest, is something that I secretly admire them for, although I will never own up to it. But, even so, overall, they are ready for a challenge.
I would love to the adults to notice the egalite as one of our rules and standards that everyone has the right to and that everyone has to learn to accept, because, indeed, sometimes this is something that we have to work on, although for kids the reasons are slightly different. The younger kids are developing their social skills for the first time, as it were. The adults hide either behind their personality or good manners or, perhaps, the corporate culture that might be developing the habits in some relation to the hierarchy in the company. Although here, I don’t know, I am just guessing.
Last but not least, it would be very interesting to have my adult students see that the teacher is not some kind of an air traffic controller, deciding who goes next but more of a head chef, the individual, who, although fully present and involved, is only keeping an eye on the process and making sure that the food is made and served or, in other words, that the aims are met. What is more, and very closely related, is that everyone gets to execute their freedom of speech, or in simple and less grandiose words: that people talk whenever they have something to say, not only because the teacher asks a question and when she does it.
I have no idea why but with every word typed up here, it started to feel more like typing up a teaching manifesto, my own teaching commandments almost. I can promise that I will leave it here as it is and I will get back to it in a few weeks to see if it still feels like that and if I still believe in it.
As a result…
The truth is that I wouldn’t really do it. The kids’ need to stay protected, in the precious coziness of our online classroom and without any ‘invasions’ from strangers. The adults, on the other hand, might not appreciate having their teacher suggest that their new role models in communication are some ten-year-olds. Everyone will stay in their own classroom and I will just continue doing my job and learning from observing and reflecting on two different environments and types of lessons.
And using them as a source of inspiration for new activities, like this new series on the blog Discourse Development. Here’s to hoping that staging, scaffolding and practising will lead to automacy and to the development of new habits and even my adults, all my adults, will be interacting with more freedom and ease.
So far, there have been four but I got a feeling that there will be more coming up
- Discourse Trick #1: Linking words and developing discourse
- Discourse Trick #2: One-minute essays
- Discourse Trick #3: Sentence adverbs
- Discourse Trick #4: All your thinking hats
There is definitely more to come!
Happy teaching!
How (not) to train a teacher? A personal story
Here is a post from an experienced teacher trainer and a recruiter looking back at her own teaching career and the beginnings of it. With a tiny little bit of surprise and a dash of delayed horror because, all these years ago, if I had been the one taking me on the job, I probably wouldn’t have offered myself a position, and certainly not on these conditions. I certainly would have had some serious doubts whether I should consider myself as a candidate.
What I would like to see in a newly qualified teacher of YL?
Generally, the experts Sarah Rich (2017) and Sandie Murão (2015) highlight three areas which should be included in YL teachers’ education:
- the knowledge of the English language
- the knowledge of the English language methodology appropriate for children
- the knowledge of child development
These means some specific documents such as university degrees, language exams and teaching qualifications which will largely depend on the law and the education system in each country. On top of that would come all the personal characteristics that a teacher working with young learners should have such as resourcefulness, creativity and enthusiasm. And a real interest in working with children.
What did candidate Anka Z. have to show on her application for the first teaching job?
In short, not much.
I had graduated from the university with a degree in History, having spent the previous three years in the libraries of Wroclaw, leafing through the newspapers and magazines of the 1950s and, somehow, I had managed to pull off getting a masters in History writing about jazz. Something to be proud of and I was. Even today, when I open my MA thesis, I am happy with it and with the distinction that it earned me, although, obviously, there is no way in which it could have been of any use in the EFL classroom.
One saving grace was the fact that since I always wanted to teach, when it came to choosing specialisation, from the two options of a) an archivist and b) a teacher, I went for the latter and, as a result, I did two years psychology and pedagogy (aka memorising theories to pass the exam) and two months of the pre-service teaching practice. This was something because it gave me a chance of spending two months at two different schools, working with real students and being supervised by real teachers and it gave me a taste of what teaching might be about. The methodology of these two subjects, history and English as a foreign language, could not have been different but at least I had a chance to perform in front of a bunch of kids. Officially, I was a trained teacher. Of history.
It was also a happy coincidence that somewhere in-between the historical research fits, I found time to fall in love in English, Hamlet and that I started to read the English poetry and prose in the original version and, eventually, realised that there is something in the world which brings me more joy and happiness, more than history. For that reason, starting from year 3 of my university studies, I started to spend my student’s grant on the English classes in a private language schools and on exams. And even before I got my MA degree diploma, I was already a happy owner of the CAE Pass (B) certificate.
What could also be added on the assets side of the balance sheet, was definitely the state of the educational system in the country, the legislation, the demand for teachers of foreign languages at the time. They had just changed the curriculum for the primary and the secondary schools, English was introduced as the main foreign language from the age of 7 and there were no teachers. At the time when I was starting, the schools were given a permission to recruit university graduates with the relevant pedagogical training and the relevant subject knowledge, which, at the time, in case of the English language teachers was the level of B2+ aka FCE.
This is how I was hired as a full-time permanent contract teacher with all the benefits and perks.
Was I ready?
No, I was not. I had spent two months preparing lesson plans, delivering lessons, reflecting and working with the feedback I was getting. However, getting ready for discussing the ancient Rome with the primary school children and the WWI with the teenagers has got very little to do with getting your head around preparing for teaching the same kids and adolescents to speak in a foreign language.
There is no doubt that I entered the classrooms in my first week and month of teaching absolutely unprepared, relying mostly on my passion for English and on some naive (but useful) enthusiasm.
A teacher is born and raised
When I was reminiscing of the beginnings of my career, already as an experienced teacher and a trainer, I was somewhat surprised to realise that there was no mentoring programme in place. We had the informal head of the English language department, a lovely teacher Gosia who until this day is my dear friend but her help and support were based on her own personality traits, a kind heart and friendliness, rather than on a formal set of procedures. It took the form of the conversations in the teachers’ room and the joint participation in some of the projects, events and workshops.
It was the school policy for the headmaster to observe the teachers but he himself was not a teacher of languages so, really, he could not offer any real support related to the aspects of teaching English.
I survived the first month, somehow and soon enough, on the 1st of October, I started studies on the part-time BA in the English language and literature.
Perhaps it was justified, to some extent, because, when I was starting I had already enrolled on the one of the subjects that we were offered was the EFL methodology. The progress was taking place and, at the same time, my university mentor never had a chance to see me in the classroom, with my students, in action and, although, I did benefit from that, as a trainer, I cannot say that it made a real difference to my teaching. Interacting with my peers and sharing ideas was definitely more beneficial and now, thanks to the university, I had not only the two colleagues at my school but about 40 other teachers from the whole region.
Today, it feels like the teacher was simply expected to manage and to get on with the job.
Where the real learning and development happened…
…was in the classroom, of course. It was by a sheer coincidence that in my first year of teaching I was given 5 classes of year 1 of the middle school (another coincidence with the changes in the structure of the Polish school system), 3 of them divided into two groups. All of these students were of the same level and all of them were using the same coursebook, Open Doors 1, from OUP. That meant that every lesson that I had to prepare I had to teach eight times. It worked amazing well on a few levels.
First of all, this has seriously reduced the preparation time which, for a newly qualified teacher, in the first year of a full-time work, with about 30 academic hours of teaching a week, was god-sent. I could devote time to lesson preparation knowing that I was investing in 8 lessons, not in one and it was definitely much more manageable than planning 30 different lessons.
Even more importantly, that also meant that I had a chance to each the same lesson eight times in a row. Even if I hadn’t wanted, I would have been forced to reflect on how the same set of activities worked with different groups, some of which were bigger, some of which were smaller, some of which were more dilligent, some of which were less motivated, all of which were mixed ability groups, with a different ratio of weaker and stronger students.
Naturally, the lesson plan and the activities were changing and were being adapted as I went from lesson 1 to lesson 8 of the round and it was getting better. It is quite likely that by the time I got to teach it for the eighth time, it was a DELTA-worthy lesson. And even if it wasn’t, it was a much better lesson plan and I was a better, more experienced teacher.
And they lived happily ever after…
Well, I suppose they did. I got my BA in English and I stayed in a state school for five years. Then I left the country and finally got to do my CELTA course in London and then I left to travel and teach here and there and everywhere and to become an ADOS, a trainer, a blogger and all the other things that I am today.
This journey also makes me think of all the happy coincidences on the way and all the things that contributed to my becoming a teacher and staying in the profession. Inevitably, what follows are all the alternative scenarios that could have but did not happen. What if I had got different classes and what if I had to teach 30 completely different lessons every week? What if Gosia had not been there but some other not so pleasant and not so kind colleague? What if I hadn’t started my second degree straight away? What if I had had some horrible students in my first groups? Where would I be today? Just curious)
Happy teaching!
References
Sarah Rich (2018), Early language learning teacher education, in: S. Garton and F. Copeland (eds), The Routledge Handbook Of Teaching English To Young Learners.
Sandie Murão (2015), Play and Language Learning, IATEFL YLTSiG.
Crumbs # 50 Vyacheslav or about getting ready to tell a story
Ingredients
- a group of A2 or A2+ kids preparing for the Cambridge Flyers or the Cambridge KET exam
- a set of the storytelling pictures from the exam writing materials
- a piece of paper and a pen
Procedure
- The teacher displays the visuals on the screen and tells the kids that they will be used to tell a story.
- The teacher asks the kids to look at the visuals and decide what their character is going to be called. Everyone writes the name down on their piece of paper.
- The teacher tells the kids to write down ten numbers, 1 – 10, and, when everyone is ready, to write ten things that they can see in all the pictures. These can be only nouns or a selection of nouns, verbs, adjectives etc.
- The teacher asks the kids to decide what kind of a story they are going to tell: a happy story, a sad story or a scary story. Everyone decides and draws a relevant smiley at the bottom of their list.
- The teacher divides the kids into pairs and sends them into breakout rooms to tell their stories. They have to use the name, all ten words and they have to make sure that their story has the mood they have chosen for it.
- Back in the common room, the kids give the group a summary of their story (‘It is a story about a boy who…’)
Why we like it
- The main aim for me in this particular lesson was to show the kids that even such uninspiring illustrations as the ones we used (and sadly, they were really boring this time) can be a start of a fun storytelling activity and that the final product’s quality depends only on the writers that is us.
- We are preparing for a progress test and a mock test and I am hoping that an activity of that kind will get the students ready for the independent work during the test itself. Looking at the visuals and making the list helped the students think of the words that they see and it helped to assure that they will be closer to getting to the required wordcount (35 words). If they have ten on their list already 30% of the way there. It also gave them the time necessary to really look at the pictures and to start thinking of what might be happening.
- From the word ‘Go’ the stories became personalised because the character got a name and became six different boys instantly, Fred, Bob, Tom and Vyacheslav among them. (‘Anka, but why Vyacheslav?‘ ‘I am not sure. I looked at him and I just thought he looks like a Vyacheslav‘).
- Deciding how the story will end in the beginning also helped to shape it. It was the first time we did it and for that reason I only offered three options: a happy story, a sad story and a scary story but that list can be easily extended. We shared how we were planning to tell the story before we went into the breakout rooms and among our six stories there were three happy stories, one sad story, one scary story (mine) and one ‘ill story’ because one of my students decided that his character is going to catch a cold in the end. Anyway, from the very beginning the kids knew where they were taking their Fred and their Bob. They also knew that their partner’s story will be a bit different so, hopefully, they were more interested in listening to it. There was some variety in the group so I could put them up in a pair whose angle was different.
- It can be easily done in the classroom but it works amazingly well in the online classes and this is how it came to be. I wanted to avoid sharing the visuals and wasting time on opening them.
- It is easy and it can be a speaking activity in its own right or it can work as a story-writing preparation task as it was in our case. Consequently, a set of three pictures can be used (Flyers and KET writing tasks) or a set of five pictures (Flyers speaking tasks).
- As a potential follow-up, the kids can write the story for homework.
- Next time (and there will defnitely be another round of this activity), I am going to add a more communicative element that will give them a proper listening task and that will give them an opportunity to interact with their partner’s story such as retelling the story they have heard in the breakout rooms, creating a title for their partner’s story or continuing it (‘The next day…’). I know that choosing the best story is sometimes suggested with this kind of an activity but, to be honest, I am not a fan. Not everything needs to be a competition.
I am a lazy teacher and why you should be, too!
Two weeks ago I was invited to present at the monthly meeting of the Teacher – Mentor Learning Community which was founded by Anna Kashcheeva who, over the years, has been my fellow teacher, ADOS, trainer, my trainee and my trainer and supervisor. Oh, what a lovely list))
I prepared a session on laziness, one of my professional passions. The session went well, the audience were amazing and I got a lot of positive feedback. We were not recording but the presentation was followed up by a post on the community’s blog and you can find it here. Once you get there, don’t forget to have a look at all the other posts and materials.
Happy teaching!
Crumbs #49 Linking words and developing discourse
It is actually funny that this particular post makes an appearance as only the third one in the series, although it should definitely be the Number One as I do it with my youngest students and with the lowest levels. That is the Beginning of Discourse.
Ingredients
- A set of cards with some opinions or statements.
- With my offline groups we also use a dice with a linker assigned to each number (i.e. 1 = but, 2 = because, 3 = for example, 4 = and, 5 = so, 6 = or)
- A model sentence for presentation, i.e. It is raining.
Procedure
- Presentation starts with the model sentence on the board or on the screen and the teacher introducing different linkers with different follow-up sentences, for instance ‘It is raining…’ ‘…because it is November’, ‘…but I am going to the park’, ‘…so I am not going to the park’, ‘…and it is cold’ and so on, for the kids to understand the meaning of the linkers and the differences between them. Depending on the age, the number of linkers can be limited to the most basic ones i.e. because, and, but. The others will be added later.
- Controlled practice: kids try to come up with their onw follow-up ideas, still working with the same model sentence and different linkers. This is done together, as a whole class, for the teacher to be able to monitor closely.
- A slightly freer controlled practice activity can go towards students using a selection of other simple sentences.
- Freer practice is the first activity that is done in pairs or small groups. If this is an online class, one of the students opens the cards, reads one of the sentences. The other student chooses the linker to use and only then the first student continues the sentence. Afterwards they swap. If this is an offline class, the kids work with pairs and with a pile of cards with these sentences and they use the dice to decide which linker to use. The dice is also an opportunity to award points as the number is not only the linker they should use but also the number of points they get in this round.
Why we like it
- It is definitely one of the activities (or topics) that, for me, personally, are the breakthrough and the first step in the transition from the baby English, pre-A and A1 level towards more linguistic freedom and fluency. Instead of ‘I like apples’, we get ‘I like apples because they are yummy’ or ‘I like apples but I don’t like pears’ or, even the simplest ‘I like apples and bananas’.
- First of all, it leads to more production since the students are producing two sentences instead of one in the form of a complex sentence and they get more power as regards the profile and the angle of the message. It is not only ‘I like apples’ and it can develop this into ‘I like apples but only fruit. I don’t like the apple pie or the juice’, ‘I like apples so I buy them every week’, ‘I like apples but I didn’t like them when I was a child’ and ‘I like apples but my brother likes watermelon’ taking the entire conversation towards providing details, comparing the present and the past or including other subjects in it.
- Naturally, sometimes these basic and more complex linkers are included in the coursebooks and they do include great practice activities. However, I like to introduce it early in the game, when the students are ready, regardless of the curriculum. This set of activities allows for a lot of flexibility and it is easy to use with a variety of levels, age groups and topics.
- I have started including all the key words in the name of the activity for the sake of my online kids working in the breakout rooms, only partially supervised. When we practice in the common room, I leave the key words on the side of the screen or in the chat, for the kids to remember. It is a little bit more challenging in the breakout rooms. But, with the key words in the name, the kids can still see it even in the breakout room. The teacher only need to work a bit on developing the habit on remembering about them and on paying attention to them.
- The student or the dice making decisions about the linking word to use makes it a bit more challenging but also a bit more fun. It is also a guarantee that a wider range of linkers will be used, rather than ‘but’ or ‘and’ in every single round.
- The main sentence can be further extended if we ask students to produce not one but two or three sentences or if the other student is required to comment on what they have heard.
Here you can find the two other posts in the series on developing discourse through sentence adverbs and via one-minute essays. There is also one of the older posts on the many ways of developing discourse for the youngest students.
Happy teaching!
Milestones: 15 000 views on the blog. A reflection)
Today is the day: 15 000 views of my blog, almost on the blog’s birthday. Soon it will be three years since I started the life of some funky socks and some dragons. To be honest, I do not have any (as in: ANY) idea whether 15 000 should generate a ‘WOW’ or an ‘Oh dear!’ from me. I suppose, it is something close to nothing compared to millions of views on youtube or TicToc. On the other hand, perhaps, it is not so shabby for an educational EFL blog…I tried to read some clever articles related to the online presence and tools but got bored very quickly and decided that since that is not my bread and butter, earning my keep, but rather my Nutella that I splash out on from the regular salary, I will not bother anymore. Instead, here are some things that I have learned and found out about based during that 3-year-long and 15 000-views-rich journey with the socks and the dragons.
- I like writing and I like writing about teaching. This blog has given me an opportunity to publish everything that I want to publish and when I want to publish it, without having to wait for the editor-in-chief answer. As a writer, I have written hundreds of contribution letters and I have received hundreds of rejection letters (actually, a recjection is pleasant, normally the publishers do not reply at all) and it is such a joy just to have the idea, to give it shape and to publish it here.
- It has helped to improve my writing. That is easy. The more you do, the better you get and that, certainly, has been the case here. Or so I hope.
- I have got a better understanding of the content that I want to publish here. I have also developed the skill of finding the best format (Dare I say ‘the best genre’?) for the things that I want to include. Not all the posts are the same and it is not only about putting the ideas into words.
- As a result, it has allowed me to produce some real articles that have actually been accepted by some real editors-in-chief and published, for the joy of having your name in print and, also, sometimes, for the joy of some monetary rewards.
- I have made huge progress in the area of proofreading and editing. It is not perfect yet but I have worked on creating a routine and a procedure and I do not hate it as much as I used to.
- I have realised that the visual side of the blog is very important to me. I love taking photos for the blog, selecting them to match the posts. I enjoy working with images a lot.
- The blog is a fantastic incentive to experiment with the activities, to record the events in the classroom and to keep my eyes open in class. Last but not least, I have improved the way of keeping notes from and organising the materials I produce.
- And then – there is my audience. They usually keep quiet, not really commenting but they are here. You are here, dear readers. It is also my guilty pleasure to check the traffic and t find there Canada, Tunisia, Israel, Russia, Spain, Egypt, Malyasia, Australia, Korea, Japan, Poland, Singapore, Belgium, Estonia…I love to find the returning visitors and every comment is like a little Christmas. Thank you for being here.
The top 10 posts (A.D. 2023) are these:
- Colourful semantics: about the uses of the speech therapy tools in the EFL world
- Teaching English through Art: Why you might want to start?. Self-explanatory.
- Crumbs #10: Silly pictures: One more of the speech therapy tools that I love using in my YL classes
- The invisible student and why you might want to have one? (Pasha, my boy, you are doing great!)
- All you need is…a picture: one of my favourite posts ever written, about the multiple uses of visuals in the EFL classroom with young learners and not only.
- A to Z of homework for Very Young Learners: all the basics related to why and how to deal with the homework for the youngest students
- The first VYL lesson survival kit: I like the thought that, maybe, thanks to that post, some teachers our there went into their first lesson a little less panicky, a little less stressed and a little less anxious.
- About the human behind the words: aka about me
- Much Ado About Nothing: realistic flashcards vs illustrations and the EFL world. Oh, this one I am really proud of. It is a perfect case when I was researching to learn.
- Crumbs #6 The easiest craft in the world or don’t you just love a circle About one of my favourite craft activities.
Instead of a coda
Blogging is not quite for free. Once a year I have to pay ‘the rent’ for the privilege of residing here, on this platfrom. Every year, when the day is approaching, I sit down to have a serious conversation with myself along the lines of ‘Are you happy with how it is going?’ and ‘Do you still want to do it? Can you commit yourself to one more year of typing, researching and sharing ideas?’
I think I do. Until the next post, then!
Happy teaching!
Crumbs #46. Case studies aka My new favourite thing
Preface
It’s been almost ten months since I took on more adult classes. I still teach my kids but the balance of adult EFL to YL EFL has definitely been tilted towards the adult classes. While I take a lot of pleasure in teaching 18+, I am hoping that this is only a temporary fixture because I miss my classroom and my carpet. At the same time, YL or not YL, I still get ideas and I want to share them. So, here we are – the first post in the Category: Adults.
Case studies in the EFL. A bite of theory
‘Case studies, a form of task based learning (TBL), allow teachers to implement the communicative approach: the central focus is on completing a task, and students use language as a tool to communicate their ideas instead of doing language exercises to practise a grammar point or lexical item’. This definition comes from Christine Roell’s 2019 article (see references) and it is a piece I’d recommend to anyone who is looking for some theoretical input and ideas on creating and using case studies in the EFL.
There are many arguments for including case studies but for me, personally, the priority has to be given to the fact that they create an opportunity for the development of a variety of skills, the language itself but also critical thinking, organising information and team work (Daly, 2002). Among the disadvantages that Roell mentions, the most important one would probably be the time and the effort that needs to be invested in finding, researching and preparing a case study for the class use.
According to Roell, a case study lesson follows the following six stages: introduction of the situation (relevant information, background, the necessary vocabulary), analysis of the additional information, discussion in small teams, presentation of ideas, teacher-led feedback session and reflection, both on the case study itself and the procedures in the lesson. In the article you can also find some valuable notes regarding the creation and implementation of a case study in the lesson.
Case studies in my classes aka the notes from a beginner case study creator’s diary
- An indispensable connection to reality as all the case studies that I write and use have been taken from the real life, either from the news or from my personal experience. On the one hand that means that the case study is realistic, based on the facts and numbers. On the other hand, that automatically introduces ‘the answer’, which is not only a reward for the students but also allows for another layer of the feedback session: not only the students’ ideas, reflections and solutions but also the opportunity to analyse their ideas against the real life developments. These ‘real’ case studies were definitely a lot more popular among my students than the made-up case studies from the few coursebooks that I have used recently.
- A more obvious focus on the target language use which I try to create, in order to give the students a chance to practise specific structures or vocabulary. Naturally, he students have a lot of freedom, however, the case studies are introduced in the freer practice part of the lesson and they come with the Structures To Use section.
- The bare minimum as regards the data to analyse. This, partially at least, has been due to the implications of the lesson format (online, limited lesson time, corporate clients who very rarely have time to do the homework etc). I have been choosing only the case studies that do not require any extensive reading and that can still be effective and generative even with a small number of facts and figures.
- The element of surprise as the actual details, ie names and brands are kept secret until the very end of the activity, in order to make sure that the students focus on the situation and the processes, rather than on specific names. It is also to ensure that they are motivated to discuss and debate, rather than just look up the events online.
- The adaptability as an added bonus. So far, as demonstrated below, it has been possible to smuggle particular case studies into different lessons, by changing the angle and the target language to use. This means that the time invested in researching and designing the case study really pays off for the teacher.
- A wider audience. It has been suggested by Daly (2002) that the most important target customer for the EFL case studies are the advanced Business English students but this has not been my experience. If adapted and staged properly, they can be used with the low B1 students and I have used them successfully with the Business English students, with the general English students with the corporate background and in general English ‘regular’ classes, too. The reason for that is that the students had a lot of background knowledge and could relate to the situation not only as the CEO of a company but also as the film audience members or the pizza restaurant customers.
5 case studies from my classes
Most of the ideas below come from my adult EFL classes in the last two months.
Case study: Kanye West and Addidas
Source: the news and especially the two posts, here and here.
Lessons: We have used it in lessons to discuss risk and risk management, brand image and reputation and general values. The main grammar structure here was the first conditional as the students discussed from the point at which no decision has been made yet.
Case study: Domino’s Pizza
Source: Domino’s Pizza Turnaround available on youtube created with the owners and Domino’s employees and the analysis of a great, albeit risky, marketing campaign in 2009.
Lessons: We have used it in lessons to discuss marketing and advertising (EAP) as well as in the BE and general English students in lessons on: risk, brand image and reputation. As regards grammar, our main focus were modal verbs for deduction, giving advice, conditionals.
Case study: Starbucks and racism
Source: the news such as the Guardian and here
Lessons: This was the main case study we used in the lessons on brand image and reputation and, as regards the language, our main focus was the language of advice.
Case study: The Shawshank Redemption
Source: the wikipedia and the related articles such as this one
Lessons: This is a really fascinating case because, after over thirty years after its release, it is still one of the popular films ever despite the fact that, initially, it was considered to be a flop. We used it in the lesson devoted to risk management and the focus was the first conditional (‘Imagine you are the CEO of the studio. What will you do?’) and the second conditional, with the contemporary twist (‘What would they do today, in 2022?’).
Case study: Famous people
Source: The news, unsourced, google images for the photographs of some famous representatives for the following professions: a chef, a sports coach, a ballerina, a politician, a writer, a CEO. The only trick here is to choose the names that the students in your country are less likely to be familiar with and the photographs that show them in their private life. The real names and professions of all the people involved are kept secret until the very end of the activity.
Lessons: This is one of my favourite activities that I have managed to adapt to the needs of my older YL students. It got inspired by an activity that I saw in one of the Rewards Resource Pack, only the original activity did not include the element of reality. For that reason, I have decided to use my own ‘characters’. With the teens and juniors, the main language focus is the modal verbs for deduction and the vocabulary necessary to describe the character and the personality. With the adults, we extend it towards a discussion on stereotypes and the ways of overcoming them. Here is an example of the set that I have used with my adult students in Poland.
References
Peter Daly, Methodology for using case studies in the Business English classroom, The Internet TESL Journal, III / 11, 2002, available online
Lynne Hand, Using case studies in the ESL classroom, LeoNetwork, available online.
Christine Roell, Using a case study in the EFL Classroom, English Teaching Forum, 2019, available online
Happy teaching!
DIY peer observations aka Where to find videos to observe YL teachers in action
This is part II of the series, devoted to lessons with Young Learners aka Kids aka younger primary classes aka children aged 7 – 9 years old.
First part of the series, DIY observations with pre-schoolers, can be found here.
A few tips from the trainer
- Choose the focus for the observation: classroom management, behaviour, staging, storytellings, songs, chants, literacy, working with big groups, students’ production, spontaneous production, interaction patterns, routine, variety, gestures, classroom management, timing and many many more.
- Think of yourself as an observer, look for the strong points and the areas to improve. There is always something!
- Be a kind observer! Remember that no matter what you are watching, the teacher WAS on tenterhooks because the lesson was filmed and that the whole filming adventure might have affected the teacher’s and the kids’ behaviour.
- But don’t forget about your standards. I would not want to imply that all of these are great lessons that would get Above Standard if the lesson was assessed. They are not. In some cases, I have highlighted some of the strong points that got me especially interested. Everything else is up to you.
- More than anything else, please remember that whatever was filmed, it is only a part of a lesson and we have no chance of finding out what happened before and after.
- Think about your particular context (your institution, your group, your classroom, your country and your culture), would this activity and this approach work? Why? Why not? Can it be adapted?
- If possible, watch the video again, after some time has passed or after you have had a chance to use some of the activities or approaches in practice. Are your impressions the same?
- If possible, watch it with some other teachers, too! It is fun to find out what others think about it and sometimes we learn more from people that we disagree with!
- I have tried to include a variety of contexts and countries of origin and I am hoping to be adding to this list when I find some more videos.
The videos
- A lesson from a Polish primary school in Gosciejow, year I, 24 minutes, about 20 kids. It looks like a typical lesson for year 1 beginners. It includes hello, revision, some movement, new vocabulary presentation and practice, and a focused task. The teacher provided a lot of exposure and controlled practice of the target language in this lesson.
- A lesson from a Polish school in Dabrowka, year II (recorded in September at the start of the academic year), 34 minutes. It looks like a typical lesson with that group, with their own routine. About 20 kids. It seems to be an open lesson, there are some parents in the classroom. There is some evidence of the class routine (hello, table time, movement, storytelling).
- A lesson from a Polish school in Tarnowo, year III (presumably), 34 minutes, about 20 kids. It is a revision lesson, with some favourite activities that the kids are already familiar with which can be used with different sets of vocabulary.
- A year 1 lesson from Almaty, Kazakhstan, 15 kids, 27 minutes. The lesson includes the following stages: Hello song, new vocabulary introduction and practice, reading and writing, , a video story, coursebook work, evaluation, feedback and the theatre based on the story, the final song. The video finishes with the commentary from the teacher, very interesting but in Russian only. According to the teacher, the main aim was to reinforce the new vocabulary, skills development and teaching values (work and play).
- A year 1 lesson from Nanjing, China, 36 minutes, over 20 kids. It is great to see how the teacher is using the gestures to praise, to instruct, to model, to teach vocabulary and grammar. He is also trying to introduce the vocabulary and immediately do something with it, although I am not quite sure if it is the kids’ very first lesson. The teacher is using some Chinese, alongside gestures and the presentation to clarify the concepts and ideas and the class rules. The lesson includes the following stages: hello, rules, warm up, alphabet, song, new vocabulary and structure, practice, goodbye. The video includes some subtitles to help clarify what is going on in class.
- A year 1 lesson from Kaluga, Russia, 38 minutes, about 10 students. The stages of the lesson: hello, introducing the lesson topic, pronunciation practice, hello role play (pairwork!),r revision, song, new vocabulary presentation and practice (vocabulary and vocabulary used with structures), a video, practice, song, literacy, literacy craft, writing, stickers and goodbye. It is great to see that the teacher always prepares the kids for the activity (ie the kids revise and drill the numbers before the song). I also found it interesting to see how much L1 is used by the teacher and what the purpose of it is, for example a short poem / riddle to help the kids remember the words in English. The teacher also explained a lot in Russian, presumably to help the kids feel more comfortable with the activities ie the pronunciation practice.
- A year 2 from Moscow, Russia, 41 minutes, 5 students. It is some kind of an open lesson. The stages of the lesson in the video: the lesson plan, tongue twisters, reading (cartoon), vocabulary revision, movement, literacy, riddles, homework. It is good to see that the teacher encourages using the vocabulary and structures and that they try different interaction patterns (whole class, individual, whole class vs one student).
- A year 1 lesson from Vietnam, only 20 minutes, about 20 kids in the room. It is a shortened version of the lesson (colour and fruit), but we can still observe the main stages: hello, hello song, new vocabulary introduction, practice and literacy, song, new vocabulary part 2, practice games, song. The group is quite big but the kids are using boards + chalk and they put up for the teacher to see their answers. It is also good to see that the teacher is using the new words individually and in sentences and that the abstract topic such as colours has been combined with something more real as fruit.
Happy teaching!