learning vocabulary is a challenge for learners

7/27/2019 Learning Vocabulary is a Challenge for Learners

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Learning vocabulary is a challenge for learners, partly because of the size of the task, and partly

because of the variety of vocabulary types to be learned, including single words, phrases,

collocations, and strategic vocabulary, as well as grammatical patterning, idioms, and fixedexpressions.

Richards (1!"# and $ation (%&&1# list the different things learners need to know about a word

before we can say that they have learned it. 'hese includeJ'he meaning(s# of the word

J)ts spoken and written forms

J*hat +word parts it has (e.g., any prefix, suffix, and +root form#

J)ts grammatical behavior (e.g., its word class, typical grammatical

patterns it occurs in#

J

)ts collocationsJ)ts register

J*hat associations it has (e.g., words that are similar or opposite in

meaning#

J*hat connotations it has

J)ts fre-uency

'o these we could add whether a word has a strategic use and if it has any special uses

that are different in registers such as conversation or academic writing. o we can already see howimportant it is to use a corpus in order to give our learners all the right information they might needto master a word or phrase.

)t would be unrealistic to teach everything there is to know about a word the first time it is presented

to students / and any such attempt would make for some very tedious lessons. 0bviously we need tomake choices about how much we teach on a first presentation. or example with the word

like, in addition to its sound and spelling we might choose to teach only one of its meanings (to

en2oy, find something to be pleasant#, with one grammatical pat tern (

Lessons for the 3lassroom are influenced by factors such as fre-uency, usefulness for the classroom,and+learnability / how easy the item is to learn (and teach4#.

*e can also take each type of knowledge from the list above and make students aware of its

importance and usefulness in building up their knowledge of a word. or example, we can focusoccasionally on how to express opposite or similar meanings for a set of vocabulary we are teaching,

show students what is useful to learn about the forms of nouns or verbs, or how prefixes and suffixes

can help build vocabulary knowledge -uickly. 5iving students practice ) manipulating thesedifferent areas of knowledge teaches useful learning strate gies they can apply to learning other

vocabulary. *e should also encourage students to look at learning the various meanings of an item

of vocabulary a a gradual, incremental process, and show them how they can come back to a


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word they have previously +learned to add more information about it, such as other meanings, or

how to create an opposite meaning using a prefix. 6ee

chmitt (%&&.78nother issue to consider is which vocabulary we want students to be

able to use when they speak and write (their

activeor

productive

vocabulary#and which we want them to be able to recognize and understand but not nec

9

essarily produce (their

passiveor

receptive

vocabulary#. 6ee :elka (1!#.7

tudents often feel frustrated that they can understand more than they canproduce, but explaining this issue of active versus passive knowledge as a normal

part of learning can be reassuring. *hen you assign vocabulary lists to learn,why not include some passive vocabulary items and discuss with students which

items they need to learn +for understanding and which they need to learn

really well so that they can use them. (;ut be sure that in practice or testingactivities, students are re-uired to remember and use only the active vocabulary

productively.#

8dditionally, even from the elementary level, it is important to include

in vocabulary lessons not 2ust single words, but also larger +chunks such ascollocations, phrases, or expressions, even whole sentences, as well as strategic

vocabulary 6see

8s we said earlier, there is a lot to learn about vocabulary in terms of its range,the sheer number of words and phrases to learn, and the depth of knowledge

students need to know about each vocabulary item. :aterials can help studentsin two broad areas irst, they need to present and practice in natural contexts the

vocabulary that is fre-uent, current, and appropriate to learners? needs. econd,

materials should help students become better learners of vocabulary by teachingdifferent techni-ues and strategies they can use to continue learning outside the

%&


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'eaching @ocabulary

classroom. 'here is a vast amount of research into how learners learn best and

how teachers might best teach. 'he next section presents some key principlesthat we can follow to help students learn vocabulary more effectively.

'eaching

vocabularyin

class

ocus on vocabulary5ive vocabulary a high profile in the syllabus and the classroom so that students

can see its importance and understand that learning a language isn?t 2ust about

learning grammar (0?Aell 1!#. )t may be worth teaching students an easier

formulation of *ilkins?s (1!%# view that +without grammar very little can beconveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed.

0ne of the first vocabulary learning strategies for any classroom is

how to ask for words you don?t know in Bnglish, and how to ask the meaning

of Bnglish words you don?t understand, so phrases like +*hat?s the word forin Bnglish>, +=ow do you say

>, and +*hat doesmean>

are useful to teach at the basic levels. 8s students progress, another useful strat

9egy they can use is to paraphrase +)t?s a kind of

, +)t?s like a

, and

+)t?s for9ing C etc. ocusing on these strategies puts vocabulary learning

firmly on the classroom agenda.

8n important vocabulary ac-uisition strategy which $ation (%&&1#calls +noticing is seeing a word as something to be learned. )n this view, know

9

ing what to learn is a necessary prere-uisite to learning. 'eachers can helplearners get into the habit of noticing by making clear in classroom instruction

and homework assignments which items should be learned, what each item is (a

single word, a phrase, a collocation etc.# and for what purpose (active use or pas

9sive recognition#. 8nd materials can help teachers in this in the following

ways

JDroviding clearly marked vocabulary lessons

J:aking the target vocabulary set stand out, including focusedpractice and regular review

J5iving lists of vocabulary to be learned for the lesson

tructured vocabulary notebook exercises which are designed to make


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students focus on a particular vocabulary set or feature are a good way of devel

9

oping this noticing strategy.0ffer variety

'omlinson (1E# suggests a number of principles for developing success

9ful materials. 'he first of these is that +:aterials should achieve impact. =e

suggests that this can be done with unusual and appealing content, attractive

presentations, and variety. 'eachers can use different ways to present vocabu9

lary including pictures, sounds, and different text types with which students

Lessons for the 3lassroom

%1can identify stories, conversations, web pages, -uestionnaires, news reports,

etc. )n each of these contexts, topics should be relevant to students? interests.

imilarly, practice activities should vary and engage students at different levels.

'hese should range from simple listen9and9repeat type of practice throughcontrolled practice to opportunities to use the vocabulary in meaningful, per

9sonalized ways. 0ffering variety also means catering to different learning styles,

and as 'omlinson notes, some students may use different learning styles for

different types of language or in different learning situations. o this meansoffering activities that sometimes appeal to learners who are more +studial

and +analytic (those who need to analyze the language and to be accurate in

their use of it# as well as learners who are +experiential and +global (those

who are less concerned with accuracy as with learning whole chunks of lan9

guage# and catering to students who prefer to learn either by seeing, hearing,

or doingsomething.

Repeat and recycle

Learning vocabulary is largely about remembering, and students generally needto see, say, and write newly learned words many times before they can be said

to have learned them. ome researchers have suggested various numbers of

encounters with a word for learning to take place, ranging from five to up to

twenty 6see, e.g., $ation (1F Rott (1#F 5hadirian (%&&%#7. ome sug9

gest that an impressive amount of learning can take place when students learn

lists of paired items (Bnglish word and translation e-uivalents#F others suggestthat this method of learning does not aid deeper understanding of the words

or help develop fluency. =owever, most agree that repetition is an important

aid to learning and that having to actively recall or +retrieve a word is a moreeffective way of learning than simple exposure or 2ust seeing a word over and

over (


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and again researchers agree that forgetting mostly occurs immediately after we

first learn something, and that the rate of forgetting slows down afterward 6see

5u (%&&G#7. 'he implications for the vocabulary classroom are self9evidentReview vocabulary as often as possible in activities that have students actively

recall words and produce them rather than merely see or hear them.

Drovide opportunities to organize vocabulary0rganizing vocabulary in meaningful ways makes it easier to learn (chmitt

1!F


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or example, in learning the vocabulary of countries, students can

JListen to the names of countries and repeat them

J)dentify the countries they know in Bnglish, and add new ones

Jay which languages people speak in different countriesJay which countries are near their own, or which they havepersonal connections with (

)?m from

.

.

.

F :y brother lives in

.

..

,etc.#, or which they would like to visit

8t this point, a useful step is to take time to organize the new vocabu

9lary in some way that allows students to +notice and bring together the target

words as the basis for a communicative activity or to have a clear record for

review purposes, or both. tudents often write translations above new words in

their textbook and these can be spread around the pageF an organizing activitylike the one shown in igure E helps systematize their note taking and provides

further personalized practice.

Lessons for the 3lassroom%

3omplete the chart with languages and countries.

3ompare your answers with a partner.) can speak

.

.

.) can?t speak

.

.

.

) want to

go to.

.

.

Dortuguese


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a little Bnglish

Iorean

8ustraliaigure

E

8 vocabulary9organizing activity.(rom

'ouchstone

#:ake vocabulary learning personal

Related to the point above, materials should provide opportunities for students

to use the vocabulary meaningfully, to say and write true things about them

9selves and their lives. tudents should be encouraged to add vocabulary they

want to learn, too. 8nd if the experience of learning is also en2oyable, so much

the better4 0ne note of caution is that personalization may be more appropriate

for some students than others. )n a large study of vocabulary learning strategiesused by students at different ages, chmitt (1!# reports that younger (2unior

high school# students found that personalization was less helpful to them thanthe older students in university and adult classes.

Aon?t overdo it4

8nother important point is not to overload students / there are limits to howmuch vocabulary anyone can absorb for productive use in one lesson and this

will be affected by how +difficult the words are and how much students are

re-uired to know about them 6on the notion of difficulty, see Laufer (1!#7.

)f vocabulary sets ever seem too daunting for students, allow them to choosewhich items they want to prioritize.

Jse strategic vocabulary in class

ince the classroom may be the main or only place that students hear or useBnglish, it?s important to include in lessons the strategic vocabulary we identi

9

fied in Dart 1 (see pages E/1!#, as it makes up so much of spoken vocabulary. )fthe textbook doesn?t include this as part of the syllabus or contain presentation

and practice activities like the ones on pages 1K/1!, it will be up to the teacher

as the most experienced user of Bnglish to find ways to introduce this type of

vocabulary in class. )t might be useful here to look at the different types of talk

%K

'eaching @ocabularythat happen in classrooms, which *alsh (%&&"# divides into four +modes

managerial, materials, skills and systems, and classroom context, each of which

has different teaching aims and can include different functions.

J:anagerial

mode

refers to the way teachers organize the class and


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move between activities. )n doing this, it?s possible to use a range

of basic discourse markers for starting, concluding, and changing

topics, such as8ll right0kay, o, Let?s start, Let?s move on.

8lthough *alsh sees this type of talk primarily as the

teacher?s, as the one who organizes and manages what happens inthe classroom, there are aspects of managerial talk that students

can usefully learn to help them organize pair and group work (

0I,let?s change rolesF 'hat?s it, we?re finished

#, or to interact with the

teacher in order to change the way the class proceeds (

3ould youexplain that again, please>

#.

J

:aterialsmode

refers to the talk that takes place when teachersand students are doing an activity in the materials. 'his includes

eliciting answers from students, checking and explaining answers,

and giving feedback on answers. )n this type of talk, it would beuseful for teachers to model different kinds of responses when

evaluating students? answers (

'hat?s rightF Bxcellent

# and whenseeking clarification (

Mou mean

.

.

.

>F

=e went where>

#.

Jkills

and

systemsmode

is the largely teacher9directed talk

that goes on when the teacher is trying to get students to usea particular language item or skill and will involve the teacher

in giving feedback, explaining, and correcting. )n this mode

teachers can model phrases for reformulation (

) mean


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.

.

.# and for

organizing and staging information (

$ow,.

.

. irst of all,

.

.

.

#.

J3lassroom

context

moderefers to the type of language learners

use when they are talking about their personal experience orfeelings / sometimes called +freer practice activities. =ere the

teacher?s role is to listen and support the interaction, which is the

most like casual conversation that learners will engage in. 'eacherscan support these +conversations by teaching all the types of

strategic vocabulary identified on pages 1K/1! in this booklet,

in order to help students manage their own talk, relate to other

students respond, and manage the conversation as a whole.ee also :c3arthy and *alsh (%&&G# for an overview of the four

modes and the ways that teachers can teach and promote natural conversational

language in class.

Ideas for pre-teaching vocabulary

1 3ategorising is often a good approach, as it should get the learners to engage with the

meaning of the words. )f the words aren?t related in terms of meaning you could always getthem to categorise into Nwords ) know?, Nwords ) am not sure about Nand Nwords ) don?t know?.

Aone in pairs, this should lead to peer teaching and you can monitor and then help with any

still causing difficulties.

% 3onnecting words ask students to choose two or more words and phrases from those youwant to pre9teach and write a sentence using them. 'his will only really work if the words are

at least half known though.

G Dredicting 8sk students to make predictions about the text using the words given.

Aepending on the words and the students this could range from guessing the topic, to guessingthe attitude of the writer, to guessing the answers to the -uestions they are going to answer.


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K Jsing the context of the text Dull out some sentences which contain the words you want to

pre9teach and put them up on the board with gaps. 5et the students to decide which words go

in which gaps.

O )f appropriate, matching the vocabulary you want to pre9teach with pictures. Relatively easy

these days, pictures are a great way of providing the context which would otherwise bemissing.

)f you do decide to pre9teach (and there are, as we have seen, arguments against it#, make surethat the words and phrases are useful and contextualised and that the time spent pre9teaching is

worth it for what the students will get out of the process.

Dlease see the previous post on selecting authentic reading materialsif this is an area which

interests you, or the next one on reading tasks. )?ll be adding another post on exploitingreading materials next week. )f you want to receive the next post by email, the button is on the

right.

P*all dictionaryP

'his is a good way to help kids learn and review their vocabulary. )t really helps them with the

alphabet and spelling.

Drocedure

Drepare a colourful piece of paper which can be used as a background for the wall

dictionary.

ew %" pockets on it (or use gluesticky tape# and label each pocket with a letter of the

alphabet.

8sk the children to prepare sets of letter cards by writing the %" letters on some small

pieces of paper. 'hey put their letters into the pockets as soon as they can.

*e can use this wall dictionary at any time to practise spelling.

or example, divide the class into three or four groups. 'hey listen to words and then

choose letters from the pockets to spell the words.
http://elt-resourceful.com/2012/03/26/tips-on-selecting-effective-authentic-reading-materials/http://elt-resourceful.com/2012/04/06/what-kind-of-reading-tasks-might-be-worthwhile/http://eltresourceful.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/park-and-ride.jpghttp://eltresourceful.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/carpooling.jpghttp://eltresourceful.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/road-pricing.jpghttp://elt-resourceful.com/2012/03/26/tips-on-selecting-effective-authentic-reading-materials/http://elt-resourceful.com/2012/04/06/what-kind-of-reading-tasks-might-be-worthwhile/


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0f course, you can make several wall dictionaries so that students can play at the same time

without fighting.

P'he *ashing LineP 9 teaching clothes vocabulary

'his is a good vocabulary activity to use with younger learners.

'o teach the names of clothes, ) have my students cut a page of a newspaper in the shape of a

hat, gloves, trousers, etc. 'hen, using a washing line and clothes pegs, ) ask my students to

hang their pro2ects on the washing line. :y students repeat the names of the clothes after me.

8fter teaching the vocabulary of clothes, ) ask them to close their eyes while ) hide some of theclothes. 8 few seconds later ) ask them to open their eyes and name the missing clothes and

then to find them.

'opical news stories are a great source of teaching material.

'his article presents different ways to exploit news reports in the classroom and focuses onraising the level of involvement and participation that the students have in the lesson.

election criteria

;efore reading

irst reading

econd reading

Language focus

ollow up

ources

election criteria

)t is important that you choose your news article wisely. Mou should consider the followingcriteria.

8ppropriacy of topic

*ill your students be interested in the topic> *ill it be upsetting for some students> )sit suitable for the age group>


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Length

;e careful to avoid articles that are particularly long. Reading a news report in a second

language is demanding, and if the article is too long it will discourage students. )f thenews report is lengthy, do not be afraid of editing. 'he style of news articles often

means that entire paragraphs can be omitted without affecting the overall sense of the

piece.

Language content

;esides the general interest in the topic, this may well be the most important selection

criteria. Aoes the article contain a useful lexical set (crime, money#> 8re there some

good grammar exponents (past perfect, reported speech# or interesting syntax andsentence style> 'hese will provide the basis of your language work on the text, how can

the language be exploited>

5enerative>

3an you think of a good way to follow up the basic textual work> Aoes the topic lend

itself to discussion or role play> 3an you practise the language further>

'ask suitability

*hen working with authentic material there are issues concerning the authenticity of

the tasks. 'he most authentic task is for students to simply read the article. 8lthough we

usually look to exploit the text a little more in the classroom, it is important to keeptasks as realistic as possible.

;efore reading

'here are many things to do before students begin reading to generate interest, buildconfidence and to facilitate comprehension.

)ntroduction exercises'hese are used to raise awareness of the topic, activate knowledge and current language. 'he

following activities could be used.

Discussion questionnaire

o tudents discuss -uestions related to the topic

Quiz

o 'his can test their knowledge of the topic or peopleplaces featured in the article

Pictures

o Aescribing or discussing pictures that relate to the topic


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Dre9reading 8ctivities

'hese are activities that are directly related to the text, rather than the topic in general

Students predict the story from the headline

o 'he students may need dictionaries and you should be careful of puns and

double meanings. tudents should work in pairs, and feed back ideas to theboardteacher.

Students predict the story from a picture accompanying the article

Dredict vocabulary

o 0nce students know the topic of the article, they predict words that they think

they will read. 8gain, feed back these predictions to the board. 8s students read,

they should tick the words they find. *hich pair predicted the most words>

Vocabulary selection/sort

o )n this activity, the students are given a group of words, some of which are fromthe article, others are not. 'he students decide which ones are from the article.

0bviously, they need to know the topic of the article.

Sentence selection

o 'his is the same as vocabulary selection, but students sort sentences instead.

irst reading

'he first reading activities should avoid a large number of detailed -uestions. ;y the end of the

reading the students should be able to give a brief summary of what the article is about, whatthe main points are.

Check pre-reading ideas story/!ocabulary prediction"

#sk one or t$o questions for general understanding

o 'hese -uestions should focus on the main point of the article

Put the te%t in order

o tudents are given the article which has been cut into sections. *orking with a

partner they have to reassemble the article. ;e sure to make sensible cuts, so

that either the sense of the piece or the language syntax can be used to put thestory in order. $ews texts can often be put in several possible orders, so be

careful 9 utilise dependent prepositions, pronouns and clauses.

&ap fill

o Remove lexis or clauses from the text. tudents try to put the words in the

correct places


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econd reading

'he second reading should lead to a detailed understanding of the article.

#sk more detailed comprehension questionso 'rue or false

o 3hoose the best answer, a, b or c

o *hich paragraph saysQ

o *hat do these numbers refer to>

o *hat do these people think>

'nformation (ransfer

o tudents complete a table or chart with information from the article

)ake questions

o tudents read the article and write comprehension -uestions for other studentsto answer. 'his is best done in pairs.

Language focus

'his is the time to exploit the article for its language content. $ews articles are rich sources of

vocabulary, and also provide good grammar exponents.

@ocabulary

*e%ical setso 8n article may provide vocabulary associated with particular topics 9 money,

crime, politics. tudents either search the article for members of a given lexical

set, or you could provide them with a sorting activity which uses words from thetext.

Deducing meaning from conte%t

o 'his is a key skill for students to develop. Bither ask students to give definitions

of certain words or you could give them choices or a matching exercise (matchthe word to a definition# students can then check their ideas with a dictionary (if

there is time#

Student +,e$s *anguage ,otebooks+

o $ews articles often use vocabulary that may be referred to as 2ournalese, and the

studentsP understanding of this register needs to be developed.


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5rammar

0ften a news article provides good examples of grammar 9 for example the past perfect. )n this

case, asking students to put particular events in chronological order leads to further work onthis verb form.

entence structurestyleAraw students attention to well9crafted sentences, or ask them to find sentences that they think

are good or interesting examples.

ollow up

'here are lots of opportunities to extend the work done on the article, and to use a different

skill such as speaking or writing. 'his gives students a chance to use the language they have

learnt from the text.

Role play based on text

o e.g. an interview with a protagonist from the story

Aiscussion of topicideasargument of the text

Aesign something task

o e.g. following an article on a new housing initiative, students plan a dream

house

Research pro2ect

o e.g. following an article about =omelessness in JI, what is the situation in the

studentsP own country

*ritingo e.g. the next dayPs story, someone involved in the news event writing to a friend

Aebate

3omparison activities

o 8 topical story will appear in several different places, and comparing how

different sources deal with the news event can be very revealing. 'his could

focus on contentstylecritical analysis of reportersP attitudespolitics

8 comparison with the same sub2ect in the studentsP own press 8 comparison with radio or '@ reports on the same event

8 comparison between different newspapers e.g. a -uality paper and apopular paper.

ources

$ewspapers and current affairs magazines


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o Bnglish language newspapers are available worldwide. :ost papers also

provide an online service

)nternet

o ;;3 Learning Bnglish

www.bbc.co.ukworldservicelearningenglishindex.shtml 'his site has three new news stories a week of different types 9 5eneral

news, business news and music news. 'he stories are provided with

glossaries and you can listen to the news story as well 9 this is very

helpful if the language is not familiar to you.

o 'his web site

Lesson plans with news articles are available in the download section

Radio

o 'he ;;3 *orld ervice

www.bbc.co.ukworldservice has schedule and fre-uency listings

'@

o ;;3 *orld

o atellite '@

Revisiting texts

ubmitted by 'B Bditor on % :ay, %&1% 9 111O

*e often encourage our students to infer words from the context as they read and, as a result,

they fail to notice useful lexis in the texts we use.

'his is especially true in case of chunks consisting of the words students already know. orexample, students may be familiar with run and risk but not know the collocation run a risk.

=owever, since the meaning is transparent they will probably +glance over it when meeting it

in the text. 'his series of activities is aimed to draw students? attention to the useful lexis in thetexts.

'he text ) use is taken from theLearnBnglishwebsite and can be found by following thislink

(page %#. 'he activities can be adapted for any text or dialogue (reading or listening#.

8ctivity 1 Bxtract useful lexis

8fter students have become familiar with the content of the text, ask them to silently underlinethe following

1. 8n expression which means +to watch without giving all your attention (para.1#

%. 8 chunk which means +almost did not touch books (para. 1#.

G. 8d2ective H noun collocation which describes a person who is very interested in something
http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/sites/podcasts/files/MagazineArticle%20Ten%20years%20without%20books.pdfhttp://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/sites/podcasts/files/MagazineArticle%20Ten%20years%20without%20books.pdf


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and does it regularly (para. %#

K. $oun H noun collocation which means +opinions (para. G#

O. 8 two9part verb which means +searched (para. G#

". 8dverb H ad2ective collocation in which the adverb which usually means +not alive means

+very (para. G#

!. 8 chunk which means +it cannot be easily explained and you don?t know why it happened.

(para. K#

E. 8 chunk which means +you need a lot of time to deal with something (para. K#

8nswers

1. have half an eye onQ%. hardly turned a page

G. avid reader

K. points of view

O. hunted out". dead serious

!. for some reason

E. take a long time to get through

:ake sure you give students a paragraph number not to make the activity unnecessarilydaunting.

8fter they have underlined the lexis you think should be pointed out, tell students to comparewith their partners in pairs or groups, then check with the whole class.

'his activity not only highlights useful lexis but also sensitizes the learner to the kind oflanguage they should notice while reading.

8ctivity % Reconstruct the text

8 week later you can give students the same chunks and multi9part verbs as above (you can

also add more# and ask them to recall why they were mentioned in the text and retell the story

using the them. 8nother variation of this activity is to get students to put the chunks in thecorrect order as they appeared in the text.

8ctivity G *hat do they stand for>

5ive your students the text or part of it with the chunks you focused in earlier lessons replaced

by initials, for example, p.o.v. for +point of view. 8sk students in pairs to recall the chunks.


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)f they find it difficult, you can provide definitions (like in activity 1# =ere is a part of the same

text taken from paragraph O with initials instead of some collocations and multi9part verbs.

orking life $as hard to get used to after so much theory. 't $as the end of books for me.(here didn+t seem to be much in books that $ould actuallyg. t. d.. (o do things you had to

ans$er the telephone and $ork a computer. ou had to t. a.and speak to people $ho $eren+tat all interested in philosophy. ' didn+t stop reading0 you can+t a!oid that. ' read all day. 1ut no

books c. m. w.0 only manuals and pamphlets and contracts and documents. )aybe most peoples.their n.for stories and ideas $ith (V and0 tot. t. t.0 it $as all ' needed for ten years. 'n those

days ' only had a book 2o. t. g.2 for the duration of aeroplane flights. #t first ' $ould come

home and $atch (V o. d.(hen0 ' mo!ed the (V so ' could $atch it from bed. ' e!en rigged up as$itch so ' couldt.it o.$ithout getting out of bed. (hen0 one fateful day0 my (V broke and my

landlady t.it a.

8ctivity K 3orrect the teacher

'he teacher is usually the one correcting language in class. =owever in this fun activitystudents and teachers reverse the roles students correct the +mistakes the teacher makes.

Read the text aloud and deliberately change the chunks that you have focused on earlier. or

example, +8s ) write this, ) have my eyes glued to an old ames ;ond filmQ (instead of +)have half an eye on#. :ake a short pause after the wrong chunk to allow your students time to

think and produce the correct chunk.

'eacher +) suppose ) was a lazy readerQ of literature between the ages ofQ

tudents 8vid reader4

houting out is encouraged here, however you can also get your students to write the chunksindividually and then compare with partners. =ere is the same excerpt as in the previous

activity with +wrong chunks.

orking life $as hard to get used to after so much theory. 't $as the end of books for me.(here didn+t seem to be much in books that $ould actually help me in life. (o do things you

had to ans$er the telephone and $ork a computer. ou had to go all o!er the $orld and speak

to people $ho $eren+t at all interested in philosophy. ' didn+t stop reading0 you can+t a!oid

that. ' read all day. 1ut no books entered my life0 only manuals and pamphlets and contractsand documents. )aybe most people satisfy their need for stories and ideas $ith (V and0 to tell

you a lie0 it $as all ' needed for ten years. 'n those days ' only had a book a!ailable for the

duration of aeroplane flights. #t first ' $ould come home and $atch (V $hile eating. (hen0 'mo!ed the (V so ' could $atch it from bed. ' e!en rigged up a s$itch so ' could close the (V

$ithout getting out of bed. (hen0 one fateful day0 my (V broke and my landlady remo!ed it.

8s you can see from the order of the activities above, they move from receptive, where

learners merely guess or recognise chunks of language, to more productive, where they are

encouraged to actually produce the language.


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3onclusion

Reusing texts for language work does not re-uire much preparation on the part of a teacher butit provides students with a valuable opportunity to recycle new lexis. 8ctivities such as

described above encourage students to focus not only on the meaning but collocations and

lexical chunks, and promote increased attention to the language in general. 'hey also extendthe +lifespan of coursebook material and remind students of the importance and benefit of

going back and reviewing the previously studied material.


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Activity 1- TEACHING REAING

ANCA I!ANA CRI"TINA

The Goals of Reading and the #asic Reading Co$prehension "trategies

0ne of reading goals is to develop s? awareness of reading process and reading strategies by

getting s think and talk about how they read in their native language. tudents are allowed topractice the full repertoire of reading strategies by using authentic texts. tudents are encouraged to

evaluate comprehension and self9report of their use of strategies.

;y raising s awareness of reading as a skill that re-uires active involvement , and by teaching them

reading strategies , instructors help their s both to develop the ability and confidence to cope withcommunication situations they may encounter outside the classroom. )n this way they give their s

the foundation for communicative competence in the new language.

'he final definition of reading proposed by 5rabe implies three ma2or components which determine

the essence of this kind of speech activity in general. 'hese are *=M we read, =0* we read and*=8' we read. 0r, in other words, when defining the phenomenon of reading we should touch

upon the purposes and motivation for reading, the process of reading itself and that text or material

which we read. )f at least one of these aspects is ignored or disregarded the whole definition ofreading becomes not ade-uate and insufficient. 8t the same time, according to 5rabe all these basic

components of reading are also really diverse and heterogeneous. or example, he explains that the

purposes of reading (that is *=M we read# may include learning, evaluating, integrating orsearching for some concrete information, as well as skimming and reading for general

comprehension or entertainment. =owever, in most cases reading is aimed at achieving several

purposes at the same time, / for instance, rather often we read not only for learning or integratingsome important information, but also for our own pleasure (probably, this trend can be easily

observed when we read something for the work which we like, or when we prepare for apresentation at a conference or seminar because of our own initiative or decision, and so on#.

'he process of reading (or =0* we read# is also very diverse and complex. )n this connection5rabe differentiates several reading +subprocesses which, in his opinion, are typical of reading in

general. ) absolutely agree with 5rabe?s statement that, independently of the goals of reading, any

time limits, complexity of a text or any other specific peculiarities of a concrete case of reading thisprocess always implies those subprocesses and characteristics at least to some extent. or example,

when reading any text we always need to interpret the author?s words and ideas from the point of

view of our background knowledge and interaction with the author. *hile reading a new text weconstantly evaluate it in terms of the strategy and purpose of reading, our reaction to the text we are

reading, and so on. 'he same is about all other aspects of the process of reading indicated by 5rabe.

=owever, different characteristics of the process of reading are very flexible depending on thepurposes of reading this or that text, as well as its complexity, content, volume, etc. or instance,when we have to learn and memorize some important information from a big and complicated text

we read it much slower and change our strategies of reading much more often than when we read a

literary text for entertainment or when we 2ust need to understand the general idea of a story, articleor some other kind of text. o it means that the process and goals of reading are closely

interconnected with each other.

)t is obvious that the choice of a text for reading (that is *=8' we read# directly depends on


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our purposes of reading. )t?s logical to assume that when we need to learn something new we are

likely to select, for example, some text9book, a popular science book or a magazine containing the

necessary articles and other materials, tasks and exercises, etc. 8t the same time, when we are goingto conduct some academic research we usually resort to different scientific works, monographs,

reference books and 2ournals related to the necessary field(s# of study. 8nd when we read 2ust for

entertainment, probably, we?ll prefer to read a novel, love story or any other literary text, or somefashion magazine, a newspaper with crosswords, 2okes and anecdotes, and so on. 8lthough,

certainly, in some cases the material for reading may coincide, / for instance, both students and

researchers may resort to text9books and scientific monographs, as well as reading a newspaper maybe done both for getting familiar with some current political, cultural and any other kinds of news

and 2ust for entertainment. =owever, in all these cases we choose what to read on the base of our

concrete goals and needs. 8s it was shown before the content, language, structure and volume of a

text influence the process of reading it as well. or example, depending on its complexity and lengthwe can read it -uicker or slower, more or less intensively, using different strategies of reading, etc.

8ll this proves the fact that the purposes of reading, the process of reading itself and the materials

which we choose for reading in every concrete situation are really closely interconnected with each

other. 8t the same time, all these basic components of reading influence the choice of this or that

strategy which we use while getting reading a new text or different parts of it. )n his work ;rowndistinguishes several basic reading strategies which we should take into account while teaching

reading (and then / writing on the base of the texts read by students# at our lessons (including

scanning, skimming, using semantic mapping or clustering, using graphemic rules and patterns to aidin bottom9up decoding, and so on#..

Lesson plan

Superhero HighTopicStory: Superhero High

AimsTo practise:

SS

SSSSS S

SSSSS

SS SS SS

S S S SS S Age groupPrimary


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LevelA1/A2Time

9 minutes appro!imately"aterials

1#Story: Superhero High

http://learnenglish$i%s#&ritishcouncil#org/en/short'stories/superhero'high2#

Activity sheet( ans)ers an% transcript *or the story +log'in to

Learn,nglish -i%sto access.http://learnenglish$i%s#&ritishcouncil#org/sites/$i%s/*iles/attachment/stories'superhero'high')or$sheet'*inal

'212'11'1#p%*http://learnenglish$i%s#&ritishcouncil#org/sites/$i%s/*iles/attachment/stories'superhero'high

')or$sheet'ans)ers'212'12


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'#p%*http://learnenglish$i%s#&ritishcouncil#org/sites/$i%s/*iles/attachment/stories'superhero

'high'transcript'*inal'212'9'

2#p%*0#Song: Amaing superheroeshttp://learnenglish$i%s#&ritishcouncil#org/en/songs/amaing'superheroes#Style'a'

hero gamehttp://learnenglish$i%s#&ritishcouncil#org/en/ma$e'your'o)n/style'hero

Lesson plan

ntro%uctionn this lesson( Ss )ill &e intro%uce% to the popular story 3Superhero High4# Ss )ill)atch the story(S SS SS SS SS S

SS SSSSS S SS SS S SS SS S

Proce%ure


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1# ntro%uce thetopic+5 mins.

Sho) a picture o* Superman or another *amous superhero# ,licit his name an% his

6o& +superhero.# 7o they $no) any other superheroes82# ocus onvoca&ulary+1mins.

As$ Ss )hat he %oes/)hat special po)ers he has that ma$es him a superhero# hatother super po)ers %o they $no)8or e!ample( super'strength( !'ray vision(invulnera&ility( *lying( immortality( etc#;rainstorm i%eas an% )rite them on the &oar%#

Play a game: Ss )or$ in groups o* +or 0 or 5.#


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As$ Ss complete as much as they can o* part 2 o* the activity sheet: put the eventsin the story in or%er# Tell Ss in a%vance that they are going to see the story againan% so they %on?t nee% to remem&er everything#

Play the story again# Ss

chec$ orcomplete part 2# >hec$ ans)ers as class## @evie)ing thestory+5 mins.

As$ Ss )hat )as their *avouriteclass in the story an% hol% a class vote# Play thestory all the )ay through# A*ter each page o* the story(as$ uestions a&out the it(an% as$ Ss to tell you )hat happens ne!t#=ou coul% give points *orcorrect ans)ers#5# ,!tension:planning o)nsuperheroschool+1'

2mins.

Tell Ss to imagine that they go to Superhero High#As$ them )hat classes they)oul% li$e to have every%ay# =ou can re*er &ac$ to the list on the &oar% *rom stage2( an% encourage Ss to a%% more# They can use their imaginations

Bthe superpo)er classes %on?t have to &e tra%itional super po)ers# They coul%come up )ith(*or e!ample( the 3Ho) to ma$e all the teachers &e nice4 classC

* you )ante% to )i%en the voca&ulary area( you coul% tal$ a&out euipment# As$ Ss)hat euipment helps Ss at Superhero High to see through )alls +glasses.#;rainstorm i%eas *oreuipment that coul% help Ss in %i**erent super po)er classes+e#g# a cape in the 3Ho) to *ly4 class( or *lo)ers an% chocolates in the 3Ho) to ma$eall the teachers &e nice4 classC.#

Lesson plan


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theAmaingsuperheroes song)ith your Ss#D# Settinghome)or$

+5mins.

or home)or$( Ss coul% )rite in more %etail a&out one o* their super po)er classes(e#g# a&outthe teacher( the euipment( the e!ams# * Ss have internet access athome( they can )atch the story again( or listen to the song# They coul% also try thisStyle'a'hero game

)here they can %esign a superhero( an% even print the hero they%esign to &ring to class ne!t time#urther rea%inghttp://)))#teachingenglish#org#u$/teaching'$i%s/tips'using'stories

>ontri&ute% &y@achael @o

learning vocabulary is a challenge for learners

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