Nominalisation part 2 - Cause and Effect

I posted a lesson a while ago about nominalisation after coming across the zombie video via Jennifer MacDonald's blog. I've used this nominalisation lesson a couple of times now with different groups and it has gone over quite well. As I mentioned before, there has been a lot of debate about nominalisation (I've even come across some exercises teaching writers how to undo the damage caused by nominalisation) and I can see the merits of both sides. However, many of my students tend to write (perfectly fine) sentences like this:

The government needs to spend more money on education 

Giving them the option of coming up with an alternative sentence, such as below, is no bad thing.

Government spending on education needs to increase.

Quite belatedly, I've come up with a short little lesson to follow up the previous nominalisation lesson. This one focuses on using nominalisation when writing about cause and effect (there is also a very tiny bit of "noticing" of hedging language). 

As I read back over this post and the excessive use of the word nominalisation, it occurs to me that the post itself would make a very good substitution lesson :)  

Click here for the Lesson PDF. 

Does Ted count as a Podcast?

Outside of teaching, I've only really gotten into listening to podcasts in the last year or so. My colleague tipped me of to This American Life which I've started listening to on the way to work. Along with Graham Norton, Slashfilm and Second Captains, I'm pretty much sorted for sitting in traffic listening. 

So its only now, about ten years after everyone else, that I've started to think about using them. The problem with the ones I listen to myself is that they are too long to use in class. Today, I spent a good chunk of the day looking around for podcasts that were shorter. The six minute English podcasts from the BBC are really good, cover a lot of topics and include transcripts. But I can't use them too often for fear that the students get a bit bored with the structure of the talks. 

This led me to think about Ted. I posted before about using Ted.com as a homework activity that would then fit into the following class. I tended to use these talks as homework because most of the classrooms I teach into don't have a projector installed. Wouldn't it be nice if you could just take the audio from a Ted talk and use that in class? You've probably been doing this for ages but this was a revelation to me. Sure enough, on many of the talks, you can download the audio as an MP3. (I've only just noticed how the speaker in the talk was literally pointing out how blindingly obvious this was.)

Here is a lesson I did to use with this talk by Kelly McGonigal on the topic of stress. The first part is vocabulary based and encourages students to play around with the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. Then there is a bit of a reading around the topic of stress with some discussion. This then leads to the Ted talk, again with another vocabulary exercise. It is a fairly vocab heavy lesson but I've been feeling lexical lately. 

I hope you find it useful and if you have any comments or suggestions, I'd really appreciate it. Also, if you happen to know of any good podcasts, please let me know. 

Click here for the Lesson PDF

5 ways to use Mentimeter

I can't for the life of me remember who recommended mentimeter to me. I think I came across it while surfing blogs or it may have been through Twitter. Either way, whoever you are, thank you so much. I used it yesterday in class and really enjoyed it.

If you haven't come across it, mentimeter lets you conduct surveys in real time. You pose a question (it only takes a few seconds). The bit where you put in the question looks like this

Your audience/class goes to a webpage, types in a six digit code and then answers your question. It is kind of like the ask the audience thing in Who Wants to be a Millionaire.

So yesterday, I was talking to a group of students for the first time. As part of their course, they have to do a needs analysis of their own learning. So I posed the question, which of the four skills do you think is your strongest. One by one, their answers start popping up on the screen, until it looked like this.

So then I can ask them to talk about why they think this is. It was a bit gimmicky but as an introduction to thinking about their strengths, it was fun. Plus, nice to have a visual representation that everyone has different strengths (or at least different perceptions of strengths - although in saying that, the first answer to pop up was listening!).

So then I posed an open ended question. I explained that they could think about it over the weekend and then I waffled on about something or other. When I turned around, they had already answered the question. 

 So that was pretty cool. 

Of course, for it to work, you really have to have a projector in  your classroom, and for the students to have internet access on their phones. 

However, if you're lucky enough to have those, I was thinking you could use it in these 5 ways:

1. If you are in an exam preparation class, you could use it to hold a vote about which part of the exam to do for that Friday's mock exam (e.g. reading, listening, writing).

2. If there is a particularly tricky question, you could use it to see how many people got it right or not (really just a fancy alternative to a show of hands).

3. It generates graphs, graphs based on their opinions. Might make IELTS writing part 1 more interesting. 

4. The students could collaborate and use it to carry out in class surveys. They could then use it for presentations or writing up reports based on the data. In that sense it is kind of like a simplified version of survey monkey

5. If you are having a classroom debate, you could pose a question at the start of the class (something like - do you agree with such and such - yes no). Then have the in class debate. Then repeat the survey and see if the opinions have changed. 

Any other thoughts on how to exploit this would be most welcome.

Questioning the coursebook

Hugh Dellar posted a while back about the generalisations regarding specific cultures that pervade a lot of ELT coursebooks. You can read his post here. I was struck by one criticism he made of a particular coursebook - that there was a piece of text that spouted some stereotypes followed by comprehension questions that essentially reinforced the message from the text. Hugh was making the point that this kind of thing is widespread and therefore, there is scope for trainee teachers to be made more aware of cultural sensitivity.

I found myself thinking - given students are likely to spend a lot of time with coursebooks - perhaps we can turn the problems of a coursebook to our advantage. Perhaps we can use the coursebook in ways that go beyond its intended purpose. That we could use the familiarity of the coursebook as the first step in a conversation about critical thinking.

Often, when encouraging students to think critically, I use resources like online articles, newspapers, blogposts. But perhaps the coursebook is the natural starting point for students to start challenging a text in English. Throw in a question or two that have nothing to do with the task being asked of them - the purpose being simply to encourage thinking beyond the coursebook.

• Who do you think wrote this? 
• Why do you think he wants you to learn this vocabulary/grammar?
• Why do you think there is so much colour on this page?
• Why do you think there is a cartoon here?
• In this reading about cultures around the world, do you think it's really true what they say about people in......? If its not true, why do you think they're saying it?

At higher levels, a lot of texts for examinations tend to be newspaper style reports on research. As well as getting students to answer multiple choice questions, match headings and fill in gaps, why not throw in a few questions that challenge the content of the text.

• How do you think they found out that 70% of people think this, or do that?
• Where do you think this research was carried out? Do you think the results would be true for every country?
• What do you think is the purpose of this text - to persuade you; to educate you; to frighten you?
• This article on car usage paints a very negative picture. Do you think there is another side to the story?
• Why do you think so many of these articles are about stress? What does this say about materials developers?

On a lot of listening CDs you often find actors pretending to be non-native speakers. I always found this a bit odd, and kind of offensive, but perhaps there is scope for introducing a tiny bit of critical thinking here.

• Do you think that person is really from ........?
• Why didn't they just find someone from that country?

Or even just trying to infer something about the people speaking on the CD. 

• Did you think he sounded a bit annoyed? 
• A lot of these professors seem to be men - why aren't there more female professors on this CD?
• Where are all the Irish people on this CD?

Or with speaking exercises - encouraging students to consider whether the question might be leading them slightly. I often see these really loaded questions in books - Do you think children today spend too much time playing video games? Wouldn't it be nice to hear a student answer no, not enough actually to this question? 

Correcting written work

Coming back to work after two weeks of freedom and cake eating is always difficult. Coming back to work to face the pile of corrections you put off is a trauma. Instead of getting stuck into it, I've found myself thinking a lot about correcting written work over the last few days - the value and the best way to go about doing it. It can be a bit of a depressing rabbit hole to disappear down - the what is the best approach conundrum - but I'll do anything to put off correcting.

This article by Jay Schwartz argues the case for using correction codes (e.g. Sp = spelling mistake). I'm not a fan. The idea seems good but it never seems that workable. For it to work, you have to spend a lot of time indoctrinating students into the code. And even then, it can be confusing or unhelpful. Sp is fine - grab a dictionary - but if you write WW (wrong word), are the students really going to figure out what the right word is? Surely when they were writing, they thought the word they chose was the right one. Is a WW going to be all that helpful? How do they know the new word is better than the old one? If they show the correction to you, do you then write another WW if it isn't the word you had in mind? And are students really motivated by these codes? I wonder.

I believe Truscott kicked things off by calling for error correction to be abandoned - that it doesn't work and is demotivating. This article  by Ronald Gray offers a very thorough overview of research into the effectiveness of grammar correction, most of which finds that specific grammar correction (be it highlighting mistakes, using correction codes or specifically identifying and correcting the mistake) doesn't really work. But like most teachers, it can be hard to put down the red pen. How will they know its a mistake if I don't tell them? Sure, I can point out stuff about paragraphing, topic sentences, etc., but can I just stand by and watch a verb be conjugated like that?

In this video, Jeremy Harmer discusses the sensitivity of correcting errors; the judgements teachers need to make in deciding whether to correct or not. This talk relates to error correction of spoken English, but the sensitivity around correction equally applies to giving feedback on written work.

Scott Thornbury makes interesting points here in relation to general error correction (as well as leading a discussion here on what constitute errors and how to deal with them). One specific suggestion he makes which could be directly applied to written error correction is to...

"Recast it.  Reformulate the learners’ interlanguage productions into a more target-like form. This is not the same as correction. It is simply a way of indicating “I know what you’re trying to say; this is how I would say it”."

I like this. But sometimes, I am not sure what they are trying to say.

In short, I find correcting stressful because I am not sure of the best approach; because I have a lot to do and little time to do it; and because I have to balance the approach I take with the students' expectations. Saying that, I find it helpful to think less about correction and more about goals.

• Am I correcting simply to establish a grade or give a student an idea of their level? 
• Am I correcting for the purpose of helping them to improve their language skills? 
• Or am I correcting because another human being has tried to communicate something to me and rather than correcting, my goal is to offer a human response to what they have written?

Of course, really, I should be first asking myself, what was the student's goal in writing this for me. This then informs the way in which I respond to what they have written. If a student writes looking for a grade, and I don't give one, that could be demotivating. If the student wants feedback, and I don't give any, that could be demotivating. But if a student wants some form of human reaction, if their goal was to communicate, and I give a cold assessment of their grammar mistakes, that is arguably the most discouraging response I could offer.

So generally, I find the safest option is to give a bit of all three. Give them a grade. Point out an error or two (perhaps using the recasting method Thornbury suggests). But most importantly, respond to it. If there is an idea that I like, I say so. If there is something that I disagree with, I say why. If I don't understand something, I (kindly) ask them to explain to me. If I think of a related topic they might be interested in, I suggest they check it out.

I'd be very interested to hear how other people go about correcting/giving feedback.

Happy New Year.

End of the year ramble/book review

As a teacher, there is often a temptation to spend all your time thinking up ways to help other people exercise their brains, while neglecting your own. I noticed last year, when I was teaching students from a certain country, that I was always banging on about the importance of reading, while at the same time doing very little myself. If Einstein was right when he said example is the only way to teach, then it is no wonder that so few paid attention to my bumptious ramblings.

This year, I think I have fared a little better. I managed to get through, and enjoy, a few more books than last year:

Hellhound on His Trail is about the assassination of Martin Luther King and the hunt for James Earl Ray. It's essentially written like a thriller but because it's historical, you feel a bit smarter than if you read a Michael Connolly book.

The Beatles Tune In is about the minutiae of the Beatles' lives up until 1962. The amount of detail is overwhelming at times. You get the impression that if Paul McCartney ever wanted to find out what happened to that pair of argyle socks he lost in 1959, all he'd have to do is check out the index, look under socks; then socks owned by Paul McCartney; then go to the subheading socks lost and once he'd found the year, hey presto. Enjoyable, if daunting; the 400 pages or so that span Stuart Sutcliffe's life are worth the price alone.

The Black Dahlia is a fictionalised account of a famous murder that took place in Los Angeles in the 1940s. The book has an incredible amount of energy and is almost pugilistic.

Various books by Denis Lehane. Gone, Baby, Gone and Mystic River are staggeringly good; Moonlight Mile a little less so.

I mention all of this for two reasons. The first is that I am on Christmas holidays now and so my thoughts on teaching are more ponderous than practical.

Secondly, I think making the effort to read a lot more has benefitted my students. I have absolutely no evidence for this but I'd put a very small amount of money on it being true. It may be because I am more alert and zen if I spend my lunch break reading rather than playing Blastbilliards. Or perhaps it is because my time away from the class feels longer, richer, from stepping into a book for twenty minutes and forgetting about correcting. At the very least, I can delude myself into thinking that the sight of me reading a book somewhere on campus might be the thing to push a student over the edge and into a library.

I would be very curious to hear how other teachers keep their brains ticking over.

Happy Christmas and all the best for 2015.

The old school Interactive Whiteboard

The title of this post is a bit misleading. I've never used a proper interactive whiteboard. I was in a room with one before, but it was switched off. So really, my interaction with it didn't go much further than this. I've heard loads of wonderful things about them but I've done most of my teaching on this kind of whiteboard.

You can write on both sides, you can move it anywhere you like, you can stand on the side bit to make yourself taller, you can hide behind it. I absolutely adore these beauties and thought it might be interesting to share a few ways in which we use them in class so that the students can interact with them a bit more.

1. Vocabulary revision

To do this, you would need a whiteboard on wheels, lots of board pens and vocabulary to revise. I split the class into two groups and set the board up in the middle of the room so there is one group either side, each student with a pen. They then have 10 minutes to write vocabulary we have studied that week up on the board. The catch is that each word/phrase has to be in a sentence.

After the ten minutes, they then have 5 minutes to check the grammar/spelling for their group's sentences. Then I turn the board around and they check each other's work. If they decide the word was used correctly, they tick it. If they decide it was used incorrectly, they mark it with an X. By the end, we have a total score.

Finally, both groups can argue the score the other group has given them. If they believe a sentence marked incorrect is actually correct, then they can argue and try to get it changed. It tends to get chaotic (and the board ends up looking a bit manic) but is very enjoyable.

2. Writing

If I've asked the students to do a short writing in class, say a paragraph on a particular topic, I can duck behind the board and write up a sample while they're working away. Because they can't see what I'm writing, they don't get distracted. Later on I can use that sample as a dictogloss, a running dictation, a way to demonstrate a particular structure/technique or just let the students mine it for language (inevitably they will take a photo of it).

3. Listening

Students who are taking an IELTS exam will probably have to write down some numbers or spell somebody's name in part 1 of the listening test. I sometimes duck behind the board, write up some numbers/awkward names and read them/spell them out for the students to jot down. Because they can't see my mouth it makes it a bit trickier. Because I can't see them, I am less likely to change my pace to accommodate them. Then I can turn the board around and let them see how they did.

4. Graphs

Sorry, this is another IELTS example. It's really just a variation on something that I came across in John Marks' IELTS Resource Pack. In that book, there is an activity where one student has to describe an IELTS Writing Part 1 style graph to their partner, who then draws it. With the whiteboard you can divide the class into two groups, one group either side. One person from each group stands at the board with a pen while their colleagues describe the graph to them (don't let them use body language). After a certain amount of time, you can flip the board around and see whose graph is closest to the original.

If your whiteboard is attached to the wall, you probably haven't read this far. If you're lucky enough to have a state of the art interactive whiteboard, then please let me know what I'm missing out on. But if you have a whiteboard on wheels and legs, I hope there was something of use for you in this post.