Methodology in English Language teaching has taught me to bring students of any one class together to receive instruction together, translating this to a multi-level class has, at times, been a challenge. I enjoyed teaching a successful diploma lesson with differentiated materials and felt a great sense of relief at being able to bind the class to teach a multi-level grammar lesson, (Please see below for my successful diploma differentiated materials).
differentiatedmaterials
Teaching Elementary Students
Whilst teaching a recent class struggling to understand the mass of vocabulary facing them I added vocabulary images to pre-exisiting materials to allow students to quickly understand the lexis and move on to comprehension questions: please follow the link to view the adapted materials:– elementary. Students answered questions rapidly and easily, building on their existing English Language skills.
Teaching Learners of Non-Latin Languages
I have recently been teaching an Intermediate class of mixed nationality students, many of whom did not use a Latin script in their first language, the course book used was Cutting Edge and although it is not a text heavy course book the students were confounded by the constant input of new information and unclear instructions. To combat the problem I adapted the materials available by supplementing them with materials I created offering a more explicit explanation of the coursebook’s content. The pages below are taken from Cutting Edge Intermediate, Question 2a, vocabulary and listening, asks the students to complete expressions by linking two lists of words.
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Although this might seem a simple task for a native speaker the words are likely to be very confusing to EFL students. I offered the students explanations through a supplementary image sheet, I created; (please see the following PDF socialbehaviour). The image sheet allowed students to complete the exercise easily and to learn new expressions. Students were also given supplementary vocabulary sheets, (please see the following pdf Manners), for the vocabulary the scanned exercises below – Talking about Norms and Customs. These small adjustments made a considerable difference to the students’ understanding allowing them to complete coursebook tasks and exercises thoroughly and accurately.
A later unit of Cutting Edge Intermediate featured gadgets, (please see below), a subject of great interest to the same Intermediate class.
I was aware of another gadget based set of exercises in New Inside Out Intermediate, (please see below) and thought it would be ideal to supplement my coursebook.
I felt the page above, although extremely useful, was too text heavy and likely to confuse the class, I therefore adapted the page to spread over two pages, allowing students to slowly focus on the rich content. I also offered a single vocabulary supplement sheet (please see the attached pdf gadgets) to focus the students’ attention on more simple vocabulary used in the activities and allow the learners to use some of the more complicated language forms used to describe what things were made of or their appearance, the exercises acted as revision to the students, the majority of whom use the language forms used in the workplace.
Teaching Phrasal Verbs and Idioms
Phrasal verbs can often be an anomaly for foreign students, at times, causing great confusion for learners who often believe the original meaning of one of the words in a phrasal verb will always apply, looking at words individually instead of in their full multi-word verb meaning. Idioms can also cause confusion as idioms in students’ own languages may be slightly similar or extremely different. Worksheets such as the following, War of the Roses (please see the following pdf waroftheroses), from Mary Glasgow scholastic are excellent to use in class but the volume of phrasal verbs and idioms make the exercises difficult to complete accurately. To offer clarity I created some phrasal verb and idiom cards, (please see the following pdf waroftherosescards,) where students match images to idioms and multi-word verbs before they complete the worksheets, which the learners manage to finish very successfully.
Teaching Colloquial English and Slang
These kinds of activities often involve a lot of colloquial language and can be used to supplement grammar and skills courses when students need more lighthearted activities. Four internet based listening lessons (from the website OneStopEnglish, please see follow the link for an example episode4coventgarden) that are ideal for this kind of activities are fun and informative for young adults visiting London or the South of England. As the lessons contain a lot of colloquial terms and slang which is likely to be unfamiliar to the Upper-Intermediate students’, I created four simple pre-teach vocabulary worksheets to supplement these appealing lessons, students match vocabulary to descriptions and images before completing please follow the four links below;
covent-garden
camdenptv
kingsroad
nottinghill
Quizzes and General English
When teaching students more relaxed lessons I aim to teach a magazine style lesson, encouraging the learners to remain immersed in English without pushing too hard or encouraging them to learn from a syllabus. I supplemented three quizzes, sourced on the internet from my schools’ subscription with pre-teach vocabulary (PTV) sheets that I created; experience taught me that around ten images is an ideal number for Pre-teach vocabulary but as the food quiz had such unusual vocabulary the students’ were given a single supplement sheet. Please follow the links below for the quizzes and PTV sheets that I created. The photograph image below can be used as a visual aid on a computer tablet to avoid having to use the medals as realia:
fitnessquizptvmgfitnessquiz
envptvpdf mgenvirnomentquiz
foodquizptvfoodquiz
Harmer, J. (2007) How to teach English, English Pearson Longman. Essex, Chapter 11.
McGrath, I. (2013) Materials Evaluation and Design for Language Teaching. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. Chapter 4 Coursebook-based teaching: adaptation,
Islam, C & Mares, C. (2003) Adapting classroom materials. In Tomlinson, B.. (ed) Developing materials for Language Teaching London: Continuum. pp.86 – 100.
Maley, A. (2011) Squaring the Circle – reconciling materials as constraint with materials as empowerment. In Tomlinson, B.. (ed) Developing materials for Language Teaching London: Continuum. pp.86 – 100.
Tomlinson, B. Matsubara, H. (2010) Research for Materials Development: Evidence for Best Practice. London: Continuum.
Tomlinson, B. (2008) English Language Learning Materials, A Critical Review. London: Continuum.
