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Secondary English

Unit 15:

Beyond the textbook

Introduction ...................................................................................................... 1

Learning outcomes .......................................................................................... 3

1 Using pictures ............................................................................................... 4

2 Using newspapers ...................................................................................... 12

3 Using other resources ................................................................................. 17

4 Multilingualism and the language classroom .............................................. 20

5 Summary .................................................................................................... 22

What next? ................................................................................................. 23

6 Resources ................................................................................................... 23

Resource 1: Using pictures in the English classroom ................................. 23

Resource 2: Using newspapers.................................................................. 24

Resource 3: Using other resources ............................................................ 24

Resource 4: Further reading ...................................................................... 24

7 Related units ............................................................................................... 24

References .................................................................................................... 25

Acknowledgements ........................................................................................ 28

Except for third party materials and otherwise stated, the content of this unit is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution licence: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/.

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Introduction

Description Photo of a textbook.

The textbook is the most common resource for English teachers, and it is easy to see why. The benefits of textbooks are that they:

provide a structure and a syllabus for different levels of ability

ensure that students in a school, district or state follow the same syllabus

maintain a level of quality in learning materials, if they have been tried and tested

can provide a variety of content (for example, poems, stories, articles, etc.)

save on the teachers’ preparation time

can provide language support for teachers who are not confident about their own English

can introduce new teachers to ideas and materials

can be visually appealing, with colourful pictures.

(Richards, undated)

English textbooks are not only useful for teachers. When students have their own textbooks, they have a record of their English lessons, and can refer back to them at a later date. Textbooks help students to learn independently.

Textbooks also have some limitations:

The texts that are included in textbooks often use literary language. This means that students may not read or listen to more contemporary or colloquial language that may be of use outside the classroom or for future work or studies.

The topics addressed in textbooks may not be of interest to students and may not relate to their lives (see TDU 3, Getting your students to

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speak English). This may mean that the students do not engage with the texts or the associated language.

Some textbook exercises focus on language only (vocabulary or grammar), and do not encourage students to think critically and creatively.

The content of each lesson or chapter may not be sufficiently varied to maintain the interest of the teacher and their students.

Depending solely on a textbook can limit the teacher’s creativity in the classroom. Teachers can develop their skills by complementing the textbook with additional resources.

Pause for thought

Think about the textbooks that you use to teach English. Answer these questions with a colleague, if possible.

1. Is there sufficient variety in the layout of the lessons or chapters? Or is it the format the same in each?

2. What kinds of text are included? Are they all literary? Are there any other kinds of texts? Are there any examples of more contemporary or colloquial English?

3. What kinds of topics are covered? Are they of interest to young people? Are they relevant to their lives?

4. Are there examples of exercises or activities that encourage students to think critically and creatively?

5. Are there any useful notes for teachers? Does the textbook explain how to teach the content?

Textbooks therefore have some limitations. If students are exposed only to textbooks, they may not always engage fully with the topic of the lesson, may not learn other kinds of language that will be useful to them in future lives, and may not be encouraged to think critically and creatively as much as they should be. The NCERT states that ‘[c]urricular freedom cannot exist in the presence of a single prescribed text’ (2006, p. 22).

The English textbook is often the only source of exposure to the English language in many schools. While it is a useful resource for both teachers and students, it can be very beneficial for teachers to exploit additional resources for language learning purposes.

In this unit, you will consider simple classroom activities that use resources – such as pictures, newspapers, TV programmes, and other languages – in addition to those of the textbook. These activities will encourage your students to engage more with their English lessons, while exposing them to other kinds of English and helping them think more critically and creatively.

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Learning outcomes

After studying this unit, you should be able to:

explain the benefits of using resources other than the textbook in the English classroom

use pictures and newspapers in the classroom to promote language learning

design questions and activities that make students think more critically

exploit resources outside the classroom (e.g. TV programmes) for language learning purposes

promote multilingualism as a strategy for learning English and other languages

use a range of resources as the basis of project work for assessment purposes.

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1 Using pictures

Description Photo of a picture on a board.

Pictures are a very valuable resource in the language classroom. They can be used at different levels in a variety of ways. Read some of the ways that teachers use pictures in their English classes.

Figure 1 Three teachers explain the ways they use pictures in their English classes

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Description This is an illustration of three speech bubbles. The first reads ‘I often draw pictures on the board. Sometimes I do this to explain a word that students don’t know but usually I draw pictures to get my students to talk and think. For example, I often draw a picture related to a traditional story. As I draw, the students have to guess what the story is, and then tell the story. I’m not very good at drawing, but I try not to worry about it. Sometimes the drawings make my students laugh, and keep them guessing more!’ The second reads ‘There are many pictures in the English textbooks, which illustrate a text such as a piece of prose or a poem. I ask my students, ‘What can you see in the picture?’ and then encourage them to use as much English as possible to describe what they can see. This encourages the habit of using English in the classroom! I also say to students: ‘Look at the picture again. This picture is about the text. What do you think the themes of the text are?’ This helps students to understand the prose or poem better when they read it.’ And the third reads ‘I often use pictures which I have cut out of newspapers and magazines. If the picture is a simple one, I describe it and ask my students to draw it. ‘With my more advanced students, I divide them into groups of four or six students. I give a picture to one member of the group to describe to the others, who have to draw it. In this way, students practise listening and speaking. Pictures from newspapers and magazines can be very useful for discussions, or generating ideas for a piece of writing, as they are often topical and relevant to student’s lives.’ End of description

Pictures can help students to:

learn and remember new words and phrases

understand a text

practise speaking and listening

They can also provide a stimulus for discussions and writing activities. (See TDU 3, Getting your students to speak English, TDU 8, Helping your students to listen to English and TDU 12, Teaching literature for some examples).

Pause for thought

The teachers in Figure 1 use pictures drawn on the board, pictures found in the textbooks, and pictures from newspapers and magazines. What other kinds of pictures are there that you could use in the classroom? Write down some ideas.

Compare your list with the one below, and add any examples that you have thought of:

photos taken with a camera or mobile phone

images found on posters (bought or ones you have made yourself)

film posters

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drawings created by you or your students

pictures or illustrations found in a book or from the internet.

There are pictures and images almost everywhere around you. You can use many of these in your classroom. Remember that you are interested in the image, and so pictures don’t need to be from English language newspapers, magazines or books.

Description This is a student’s drawing of Kanha Kisli National Park.

In this part of the unit, you will consider an activity in which a teacher uses an image from a local language newspaper as a stimulus to get students thinking creatively. First, you will read a case study, and then you will do two activities.

Case Study 1: Mr Arvind uses an image as a stimulus for creative writing

I teach English to Class IX and I am trying to employ some new strategies in my classroom in order to move beyond the textbook. Let me tell you about an activity I did in my class recently. I saw an advertisement in my local newspaper from the National Programme for Control for Blindness, which was about eye donation.

(SRM University, 2013)

Description This is an image of a poster for the 28th National Eye Donation Fortnight.

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I cut the advertisement out, and stuck it on a piece of chart paper, and then walked around the classroom, making sure that each student was able to see the images (it was not important for them to see the text). As I walked around the room, I asked the students some questions and they responded. I encouraged my students to speak in English where possible and taught them some new words, for example ‘flame’. I began by asking some questions about the advertisement in English:

Description

This is a photograph of a man with speech bubbles surrounding him. The speech bubbles read ‘What can you see inside the flame?’, ‘What are these pictures for? Are they for a story or news article?’, ‘What can you see in the picture?’, ‘What is this advertisement about? How do you know?’ ‘What kind of images and language are used in advertisements?’ and ‘What is the best advertisement that you have seen?’

Now that students understood the advertisement, and had discussed the kinds of images and language used in advertising, I asked them to make an English advertisement for the National Programme for Control for Blindness about eye donation. Before they began working on their advertisements, I wrote some key points on the board:

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Description A picture of a board with writing on it. It reads: ‘Include an image in your advertisement. It should be simple but powerful’, ‘Include a slogan in your advertisement. It should draw people’s attention, and give the key message’ and ‘Include some text in your advert. It should persuade people to sign up for eye donation’.

I organised my students into pairs and told them to design an advertisement together. I gave them 15 minutes to do this in class, but you could also set this as homework to be worked on individually. As they worked, I walked around the room helping them with any language problems and ideas. I encouraged them to be creative, and to make their advertisements attractive and persuasive.

When my students had finished their English advertisements, I asked them to exchange and read each others’ work. At the end of the lesson, the students handed them in, and I graded them for assessment purposes. I stuck some of the advertisements onto chart paper and hung them on the wall. They have made an attractive display for the classroom, and I often notice students looking at them. It has increased my students’ awareness of the issue of eye and organ donation.

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Activity 1: Try in the classroom: using an image as a stimulus for creative writing

Description This is an image of an Amul butter advertisement. There is a cartoon of a person and a panda both jumping and kicking. The text reads ‘Black belt, Yellow butter!’ and ‘Amul Pandas 2 ur taste’

In Case Study 1, the teacher used an advertisement from a local newspaper to inspire his students to create their own in English. It is easy for any teacher to find a similar resource in a newspaper. Follow the steps below and try using the activity in your classroom:

1. Find a local advertisement. It could be from a newspaper or magazine, or even a photo of one taken with your mobile phone. You could download one from the internet (for example, Amul adverts)

2. Show the advertisement to your students in class, and ask them questions about what they can see and what they advert is for. Ask questions about the kinds of images and language used in advertising. It can help your students if they think of adverts that they have seen and like. Use as much English as possible at this stage, and encourage your students to use it too.

3. Put students into pairs and tell them to design their own advert in English. Tell them to include an image, a slogan and some text. Give them a suitable time limit (for example, 15 minutes).

4. As they work, walk around the room and help with language problems and ideas.

5. Get students to exchange and read each others’ work. They could vote on which advertisement is the most persuasive.

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This activity:

makes effective use of images and text from the local environment

gets students talking and thinking critically and creatively about a topical issue, and one that may not be found in a typical textbook

gets students to practise speaking and writing in English, and to use persuasive language

is useful for multilevel classes – students can work in pairs and support each other, and each student can work to their own ability.

Pause for thought

After trying this activity with your students, think about the following questions:

How easy was it to find and choose an advertisement?

How did students respond to your questions? Were they able to think critically about advertisements?

Your students designed advertisements. What were they like? Did they surprise you?

What would you do differently next time?

Continuous and comprehensive evaluation (CCE): projects

Description CCE Logo

Projects are an important way of assessing students, and can form part of their overall grades (see TDU 14, Assessment of learning). You could use the advertisement that students make in this activity for 14 assessment purposes, focusing on the oral and written contributions made by each student, and also how they have collaborated with each other. You could extend the project by asking students to collect advertisement from various sources (such as billboards, wall notices, pamphlets and newspapers), and analyse the use of language in them. Advertisements from many languages can also be used.

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Activity 2: Using pictures in the English classroom

Here are some tips for using pictures in the English classroom. Read through them, and choose one thing that you can do.

Improve your drawing skills. Learn how to draw some simple pictures. If you really can’t draw, remember that many of your students can. If you want something to be drawn on the board, ask a student.

As you read newspapers and magazines, cut out interesting photos, pictures and advertisements, and keep them in a file. Remember that the newspapers and magazines can be in your own language.

If you have a mobile phone that can take pictures, take some of text or objects that might be useful in the classroom (for example, of advertisements or signs using English words, or images that would illustrate a text or poem).

Paste pictures onto chart paper and build up a collection for your school. You can use them in different classes, and share them with other teachers.

Display interesting pictures and images in your classroom, and especially display any illustrated work that has been created by your students.

Ask your students to bring in an interesting picture or photo, and get them to talk or write about the image.

Remember that your English lessons are not art classes. If you ask students to draw or illustrate something, remind them that they need to work quickly and that that will not be assessed on their drawing skills. Make sure they understand why they are drawing.

You can find links to resources for using drawings and pictures in teaching English in Resource 1.

Pause for thought

Which of the tips did you choose to do?

Do you think it made a difference to your lesson? How?

How did your students react?

Look at the tips again. Which one will you try next time?

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2 Using newspapers

Description This is a photograph of a selection of Indian newspapers.

In Case Study 1, the teacher used an advertisement from a local newspaper. You may find access to English-language newspapers where you live or work, or you may only have access to local language newspapers. Newspapers can be a very useful resource for the classroom, regardless of the language used in them, because:

they are readily available and reasonably cheap

they have varied contents: advertisements, photos and other images, headlines, letters, stories, and articles about many different topics

the content is likely to be more up-to-date and of interest to your students than typical textbook material

they expose students to different kinds of language from the textbook, and, if in English, to ‘real’ or ‘authentic’ English (that is, not specially written for language learners).

Read Case Study 2 to find out how a teacher uses a local news story with her class. This is followed by an activity about designing questions to make students think, and an activity that you can try in your classroom.

Case Study 2: Ms Halima uses a local newspaper to engage her students

I teach English to Class X. At one of our training sessions, we were told about using resources in our classrooms such as the radio, television and newspapers. I teach in a rural area and so it’s difficult for me to use the radio

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or TV in the classroom, and it’s not always easy to find an English-language newspaper.

The local news was full of a story about some animals from the nearby forests coming into a local village. The villagers had been upset, and they had killed some of the animals. The students were very interested in this story, and I thought it would be useful to capture this interest for English lessons! I decided to make use of the newspaper story, even though it was in Hindi. I could ask about it in English, and it could provide a stimulus for other English activities!

I bought a copy of the newspaper, and took it into my class. I asked one of my students to read the story aloud to the whole class. Then I asked my students, in English, “What is the article about?” There was a response from the corner of the room and the voice said, “Madam, it is about how humans and animals have conflicts.”

I then wrote some questions in English on the board:

Description A picture of a board with writing on it. It reads:

1. Why do wild animals come to places where humans live? 2. Do you think humans have the right to kill wild animals when they enter

villages? 3. How can we protect these animals from humans? 4. Do we need new laws to protect animals? 5. There are people who make a living from the forest and its products.

Should they be driven out of the forest or should they be allowed to live in the forests only?

I made sure that students understood the questions, and then I put my students into groups of four. I told each group to choose a secretary who would be responsible for making notes. I told each group to discuss the

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questions, and to write down their opinions in English. I gave them ten minutes for the activity. As students discussed the questions, I walked around and listened to what they were saying. They mostly spoke in their home language, but used English when they were discussing what to write. I provided language and support as the groups worked.

After ten minutes, I asked the secretaries of each group to give an answer to one of the questions. I decided not to ask each group to give an answer to each question, as it would take a long time, and students might lose interest. As it was, the groups gave their feedback quickly, and they had opinions about the topic. It was very successful. Next time, I will ask students to bring in a copy of a news story that they have found interesting.

Activity 3: Encouraging critical thinking

Description Image of a thought bubble.

The activity in Case Study 2 is useful for the classroom because it focuses on a story that is interesting, and therefore engaging, for your students, and because it encourages them to think critically about contemporary issues that might affect their lives.

In this activity, you will need to think of a number of questions that will encourage your students to think and express opinions about a topic. For example:

Do you think we have the right to kill wild animals when they enter villages?

How can we protect these animals from humans?

Do we need new laws to protect animals?

Choose one of the following news stories, according to the age and ability level of your students:

A story about Kudankulam nuclear plant in Tamil Nadu producing electricity again after years of not being used.

A story about 20,000 Indians applying for a one-way trip to Mars in order to start a new colony.

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What questions could you ask to get students thinking critically about these topics? Write down three or four questions that are appropriate for your class. Make sure the questions are not only about the contents of the story, but encourage students to express opinions. When you have finished, compare your questions with some suggestions below.

Can nuclear power be ‘safe and secure’?

Is nuclear power necessary for the welfare and economic growth of India?

Nuclear firms say that they will pay huge sums of money in case of an accident. Can money compensate for ill health or loss of life?

Do you live near a nuclear plant? If so, how do you feel about it? If not, how would you feel?

Why do you think so many people want to leave India to live on Mars?

Do you think it would be difficult to live on Mars? Why?

Would you like to live on Mars?

Where would you like to live? Why?

Some of these questions are more difficult than others, and are more appropriate for higher classes. Even so, lower-level classes should be encouraged to answer questions that make them think. Answers could be spoken or written, depending on the level of your class. Either way, there will be language mistakes. Try not to focus on these too much, as the aim of this activity is to engage students and encourage critical thinking. Remember that students need to speak and write English to become fluent, and remember that you can take notes of common mistakes and deal with them later.

Activity 4: Try in the classroom: a news story

In Case Study 2, the teacher used a local news story as a stimulus for a speaking and writing activity. Follow the steps below to do this activity in your classroom.

1. Find a news story that you think your students will find interesting and will have opinions about. Make sure that the story is not too long and that it will not cause offence to class members.

2. Take the story into class and ask one of your students to read it aloud. 3. Ask your students some questions about the story, to make sure that

they have understood it. 4. Write some questions on the board about the topic of the story, rather

than the details of it. These questions should encourage students to express opinions. For example, if the story is about a train crash, the questions could be about personal and public responsibilities for safe travel. Think about how you tackled Activity 3 to help you with this.

5. Organise students into groups of four, and give them ten minutes to discuss the questions and note their thoughts in English. Each group selects a secretary to take notes.

6. Walk around the room and support students where necessary and encourage them to use English where possible.

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7. After ten minutes, ask the secretary of each group to give their answer to one of the questions.

Pause for thought

After trying this activity with your students, think about the following questions:

Were your students interested in the story that you selected?

How easy is it to think of questions for your students to discuss?

Did your students give different opinions? If not, how can you encourage them to express their opinions in the future?

Make this activity a regular feature in your classroom, asking a different student to bring in a news story each time. See Resource 2 for links to online newspapers and more information about using newspapers in the English classroom.

Continuous and comprehensive evaluation (CCE): another idea for a project – a class newspaper

Description CCE Logo

One possible long-term project is the production of a class (or school) newspaper. Students are briefed about the aim of the project and the possible outcome. They discuss the plan and decide on the various activities and contents of a newspaper by analysing available newspapers. Students allocate work among themselves and decide who:

takes interviews

reports events like festivals, accidents, etc.

writes the draft news items

edits the news items

writes the finalised newspaper out by hand or by printing using a computer.

They work to collect data and develop the newspaper within the given time frame. The newspaper should be published with illustrations, pictures, etc. and distributed around the school or local area.

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3 Using other resources

In this unit, you have considered the use of pictures and newspapers in the English classroom. These are just two resources among many. In this part of the unit, you will consider the use of other resources in the English classroom.

Pause for thought

Look at the list of different resources below. For each resource, decide if you use it often (most classes), sometimes (once a month, for example) or never, and put a tick in the relevant column.

Resource Often Sometimes Never

Board and chalk or pen

Textbooks

Other books (library books, for example)

Pictures, photos or drawings

Posters

Newspapers and magazines

Audio files (such as songs)

Radio programmes

TV programmes

Real objects

Mobile phones

Computers and the internet

Look at the table and think about the following questions. If you can, discuss your answers with a colleague:

Which resources do you use often? Do you use them in different ways?

Which resources do you sometimes use? Can you use them more often? How?

Which resources do you never use? Would you like to use them? How can you make this possible?

Are there any other resources that you use that are not in the list? Add them.

It is likely that you use resources such as the board, chalk/marker pen and textbooks often, and you may sometimes use resources such as pictures and

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newspapers. You may find that other resources, for example radio and TV programmes, are more difficult or impossible to use in your school. This can be a pity, because they can be very motivating for your students: they can engage and interest them, stimulating their critical thinking and creativity.

Read Case Study 3, about a teacher who uses a TV programme in an English lesson – even though he cannot show the programme in class. Read the study and note what he does. The case study is followed by an activity for you to try in your classroom.

Case Study 3: Mr Kiran uses a local TV series in an English lesson

I read the Position Paper of the National Focus Group on Teaching of English (NCERT, 2006). It discussed the need to expose students to many different texts in order to learn language. It also discussed the need for ‘authentic’ texts that are not written for learners, but are for general readers and audiences. On page 14, the paper stated: ‘With older learners, radio, print or television news or news features can be used.’ I had successfully used some news stories with my students, and wanted to use a TV programme.

The TV series Malgudi Days (based on the stories written by R.K. Narayan) was being broadcast again, and I knew that the stories would be interesting for my Class X students. What’s more, while the dialogue was in Hindi, the programme was subtitled in English, and so my students would be able to read authentic English text and follow the story quite easily. It wasn’t possible to show the programme in the classroom, but I realised that students could watch the programme at home – and we could discuss the programme afterwards in the class.

At the end of a lesson one day, I told my students to watch the next episode of Malgudi Days, and made a note on the board of the time and the channel. The next lesson, most of them had watched the episode, and they were excited. I organised the students into groups of four, and asked them to quickly discuss what had happened in the episode, as some of them hadn’t been able to watch the programme.

I asked my students to name (or imagine) some of the characters who live in the fictional village of Malgudi. I wrote the list on the board, and I asked each group to choose a different character from the village. Once each group had chosen a character, I told them that they were script writers for a television company, and that they had to write a new episode of the story. I told them that they did not need to write the script, just the storyline of the episode, like this:

Episode 3: Thanappa is the village mailman who knows everyone and knows everyone's business by virtue of reading out to the recipients the mail he delivers. Over the years he becomes good friends with Ramanujam and his family. He watches Ramanujam's daughter Kamashi grow up and meets

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Ramanujam's brother. When Kamakshi comes of age, Thanappa helps the family find a suitable match by telling them about a failed matchmaking attempt involving another family in Malgudi. The young suitor and Kamakshi are compatible and the wedding is arranged for the 20th, the last day before the young man leaves for two years of training. If the wedding isn't held by that date, it won't take place at all. Two days before the wedding, Thanappa is given an urgent letter to deliver to Ramanujam informing him of his brother's serious illness. Thanappa goes to the house, but amidst the gaiety of the wedding preparation, decides not to deliver the letter. The next day a telegram arrives informing Ramanujam of his brother's death. Thanappa again delays delivering the message. The wedding proceeds. Two days later Thanappa delivers the bad news to Ramanujam, with his sincere apologies.

(Wikipedia, 2013)

I gave my students twelve minutes to write a paragraph or two in English explaining what happens in their character’s episode. Once they had written their storylines, I asked each group to read out their story to the whole class. They enjoyed listening to each other’s stories, and I think we have found one or two students who might be TV script writers one day!

Activity 5: Try in the classroom: using a popular TV series

In Case Study 3, Mr Kiran used a popular TV programme as a stimulus for a creative activity. Try the activity in your classroom:

1. Find out what TV series your students like watching, and ask them to watch an episode at home. This may not be necessary, as you may find that your students have already watched the latest episode!

2. Put your students into groups of four and ask them to briefly discuss what happened in the last episode that they watched. This helps them to remember the programme, and it makes sure that anyone who doesn’t watch the programme understands what is going on.

3. Tell your students that they are going to decide what happens in the next episode. Each group must write the storyline in English.

4. When students are ready, ask them to read out their storylines to the rest of the class.

5. Ask students to vote on which storyline is the best.

Pause for thought

After trying this activity with your students, think about the following questions:

What kinds of storylines did your students write? Were you surprised by their imagination and creativity?

Could you do this activity with other kinds of TV programmes?

You can find links for using other resources in Resource 3.

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Continuous and comprehensive evaluation (CCE): another idea for a project – writing a TV script

Description CCE Logo

Once your students have written storylines for an episode of Malgudi Days, they should try writing the script (or part of the script) for the episode in English. Students could then perform their scripts in front of the class, or even other classes in the school.

4 Multilingualism and the language classroom

You have probably noticed that the resources in this unit use a mix of local languages and English. In Case Study 1, the teacher used an advertisement from a local newspaper; in Case Study 2, the teacher used a news story that is in a local language; and in Case Study 3, the activity was focused on a Hindi TV series. The teachers used some English (for example, to ask questions), and they also used their home language. Students carried out discussions using a mix of their home language with English, where possible, and wrote in English.

In TDU 1, English around us, you learned about the benefits of a multilingual society in a country like India, and how this can help language learning. It makes sense for English teachers to exploit the resources and languages that can be found around them. Read what two teachers do to promote multilingualism in their classes.

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Description Two speech bubbles. The first speech bubble reads: ‘I get my students to use phrases such as “Welcome”, “Good morning”, “How are you?”, “What did you have for breakfast?” in any of the languages available in the classroom, including English. For two weeks the language might be Tamil or Punjabi, then the following two weeks it might be English or Bengali. This encourages students to respect each other’s languages, and to see language learning as a positive activity. It also helps to build their confidence in language learning.’ The second speech bubble reads: ‘I ask my students to collect the scripts of different regional and national languages. They copy the scripts on to chart paper and this is displayed on the wall. This makes my students aware of the diversity of languages in India, and it also helps them to appreciate the aesthetics of the scripts. For example, some scripts are written from right to left and some from top to bottom. Did you know that India has over 2000 languages which belong to five families of languages?’

Pause for thought

Think about the following questions:

How many languages do your students speak as a whole group?

Which languages are the most popular?

Which languages are the least popular?

Carry out a survey of your group. Did you guess correctly? Were you surprised by the results?

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Continuous and comprehensive evaluation (CCE): projects promoting multilingualism

Description CCE Logo

Organise your students into groups of five. Give each group one of the following activities:

Collect some folk songs in a language from your local village or area and translate some of them into English. You can collect the songs by talking to local people.

Find proverbs in English and translate them into a local language or vice versa.

Find one or two folk stories in a local or other Indian language and write a parallel text. A parallel text is a book where one page has the story in one language, and then the opposite page has the same story in English.

Watch a film in an Indian language and write a review in English.

In doing these projects, students have to talk to peers, teachers and elders in the village in order to collect songs, proverbs and stories. They will also develop their strategies in translating and interpreting, which may be useful in later life.

5 Summary

In this unit, you have considered the benefits and limitations of the textbook, including your own. You have explored using pictures and newspapers in the classroom, including as a stimulus for creative writing. You have also considered basing an English lesson around a TV series. You have seen how these activities can encourage students to think critically, and how local language resources can be exploited in the English classroom. You have also considered the value of promoting multilingualism. You have also read about ideas for different projects that students can do for assessment purposes.

What key things have you learned in this unit? Write three key things that you have learned.

You have had the opportunity to try some activities out in the classroom.

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Which activities have worked well with your students?

Which activities did not work so well? Can you make any changes to make them work better?

Which activities will you continue to use?

What next?

If you would like to find out more about using pictures in the classroom, go to Resource 1.

If you would like to find out more about using newspapers in the classroom, go to Resource 2.

If you would like to find out more about using other resources in the classroom, go to Resource 3.

For further reading, see Resource 4.

6 Resources

Resource 1: Using pictures in the English classroom

For help with drawing in your classroom:

‘A teacher’s guide to blackboard drawing’ (MacErland and Peyton, undated)

‘How to draw animals’ (Braddock, 2012a)

‘How to draw cats, dogs and birds’ (Braddock, 2012b)

Here are some links to pictures that are useful for English teachers:

‘eltpics Flickr photostream’ (Flickr, undated)

‘In pictures’ (The Guardian, undated)

‘In pictures’ (BBC, undated)

Flashcards are pictures of words or objects. They are particularly useful for lower-level students:

ESL Flashcards

‘Using flash cards with young learners’ (TeachingEnglish, 2004)

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Resource 2: Using newspapers

Here are some links to English-language Indian online newspapers. They can also be useful for images:

The Times of India

The Indian Express

Hindustan Times

NDTV

The BBC also has news about India.

Here are links to news stories for learners of English and teachers:

BBC Learning English

‘Classroom materials’ (The Guardian, undated)

Articles about using newspapers in the English classroom:

‘Teaching materials: using newspapers in the classroom 1’ (Clandfield and Floord, undated)

‘Using news articles’ (TeachingEnglish, 2010a)

Resource 3: Using other resources

‘Using the board’ (TeachingEnglish, 2010b)

‘Articles on resources’ (TeachingEnglish, undated)

‘EFL lesson plan’ (Film English, 2013)

Resource 4: Further reading

‘High school teachers’ – articles about critical thinking (The Critical Thinking Community, undated)

‘Critical thinking’ (Alberta Education, undated)

‘Creative and critical thinking in language classrooms’ (Kabilan, 2000)

7 Related units

TDU 1, English around us: You can learn more about English in a multilingual society in this unit.

TDU 14, Assessment of learning: You can learn more about projects and their role in assessment in this unit.

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References

Alberta Education (undated) ‘Critical thinking’ (online). Available from: http://education.alberta.ca/teachers/aisi/themes/critical-thinking.aspx (accessed 2 January 2014).

BBC (undated) ‘In pictures’ (online). Available from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in_pictures/ (accessed 2 January 2014).

BBC (2013) ‘Kudankulam: India nuclear plant begins operating’ (online), BBC, 22 October. Available from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-24619985 (accessed 23 December 2013).

BBC Learning English, http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/ (accessed 2 January 2014).

BBC News: India, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world/asia/india/ (accessed 2 January 2014).

Clandfield, L. and Floord, D. (undated) ‘Teaching materials: using newspapers in the classroom 1’ (online), onestopenglish. Available from: http://www.onestopenglish.com/support/methodology/teaching-materials/teaching-materials-using-newspapers-in-the-classroom-1/146510.article (accessed 2 January 2014).

The Critical Thinking Community (undated) ‘High school teachers’ (online). Available from: http://www.criticalthinking.org/pages/high-school-teachers/807 (accessed 2 January 2014).

Film English (2013) ‘EFL lesson plan’ (online). Available from: http://film-english.com/tag/efl-lesson-plan/ (accessed 2 January 2014).

Flickr (undated) ‘eltpics’ (online). Available from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/eltpics (accessed 2 January 2014).

The Guardian (undated) ‘Classroom materials’ (online). Available from: http://www.theguardian.com/education/series/classroom-materials (accessed 2 January 2014).

The Guardian (undated) ‘In pictures’ (online). Available from: http://www.theguardian.com/inpictures (accessed 2 January 2014).

Hindustan Times, http://www.hindustantimes.com/ (accessed 2 January 2014).

The Indian Express, http://www.indianexpress.com/ (accessed 2 January 2014).

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Kabilan, M.K. (2000) ‘Creative and critical thinking in language classrooms’ (online), The Internet TESL Journal, vol. 6, no. 6, June. Available from: http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Kabilan-CriticalThinking.html (accessed 2 January 2014).

MacErland, S. and Peyton, V. (undated) ‘A teacher’s guide to blackboard drawing’ (online), Working Papers in Development, VSO. Available from: http://www.eslmonkeys.com/book/teacher/blackboard_drawing.pdf (accessed 2 January 2014).

NCERT (2006) National Focus Group on Teaching of English Position Paper (online), New Delhi, NCERT. Available from http://www.ncert.nic.in/new_ncert/ncert/rightside/links/pdf/focus_group/english.pdf (accessed 23 December 2013).

NDTV, http://www.ndtv.com/ (accessed 2 January 2014).

rediff.com (2011) ‘Amul ads in 2011: must-see hits!’ (online), 8 June. Available from: http://www.rediff.com/business/slide-show/slide-show-1-amul-ads-in-2011-must-see-hits/20110608.htm (accessed 2 January 2014).

Richards, J.C. (undated) ‘The role of text books in a language program’ (online), Cambridge University Press. Available from http://www.cambridge.org.br/authors-articles/articles?id=337 (accessed 23 December 2013).

SRM University (2013) ‘28th National Eye Donation Awareness Fortnight’ (online), 5 September. Available from: http://www.srmuniv.ac.in/node/8218 (accessed 6 January 2014).

TeachingEnglish (undated) ‘Articles on resources’ (online). Available from: http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/articles/resources (accessed 2 January 2014).

TeachingEnglish (2004) ‘Using flash cards with young learners’ (online), 24 February. Available from: http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/using-flash-cards-young-learners (accessed 2 January 2014).

TeachingEnglish (2010a) ‘Using news articles’ (online), 8 January. Available from: http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/articles/using-news-articles (accessed 2 January 2014).

TeachingEnglish (2010b) ‘Using the board’ (online), 17 March. Available from: http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/articles/using-board (accessed 2 January 2014).

TeachingEnglish (2012a) ‘How to draw animals’ (online). Available from: http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/tips/how-draw-animals (accessed 2 January 2014).

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TeachingEnglish (2012b) ‘How to draw cats, dogs and birds’ (online). Available from: http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/tips/how-draw-cats-dogs-birds (accessed 2 January 2014).

The Times of India, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/ (accessed 2 January 2014).

The Times of India (2013) ‘Over 20,000 Indians apply for one-way trip to Mars’ (online), 11 December. Available at http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Over-20000-Indians-apply-for-one-way-trip-to-Mars/articleshow/27216167.cms (accessed 23 December 2013).

Wikipedia (2013) ‘Malgudi Days (TV Series)’ (online), 15 November. Available from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malgudi_Days_(TV_series) (accessed 23 December 2013).

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Acknowledgements

The content of this teacher development unit was developed collaboratively and incrementally by the following educators and academics from India and The Open University (UK) who discussed various drafts, including the feedback from Indian and UK critical readers: Kim Ashmore and Rama Meganathan.

Except for third party materials and otherwise stated, the content of this unit is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution licence: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/.

The material acknowledged below is Proprietary, used under licence and not subject to any Creative Commons licensing.

Grateful acknowledgement is made to the following:

Book Covers: English Class X: Edited by S.P. Gupta and Revised by K.D. Upadhyay, Banwari Lal Kaka & Sons (Publishers) PVT. Ltd. Noida, Gautam Buddha Nagar (UP) 2012-2013; Interact in English (Main course book) Class X: Centra Board of Secondary Education. Preet Vihar,Delhi - 110092 (2011)

‘Using pictures’ image: © rickerbh, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/.

National park: photo taken by Kim Ashmore.

National Eye Donation posters: http://www.srmuniv.ac.in.

Activity 1: Amul butter advertisement, http://www.amul.com.

‘Using newspapers’: Indian newspapers photo by Shanankumar, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en.

CCE logo: http://www.cbse.nic.in.

Clip art: used with permission from Microsoft.

Every effort has been made to contact copyright owners. If any have been inadvertently overlooked, the publishers will be pleased to make the necessary arrangements at the first opportunity.