Oxford basics classroom english

Huong dan Giao vien cach su dung ngon ngu tieng anh trong lop. Cac tinh huong trong lop. Most importantly, however, the book offers a framework for teachers who may lack training and support. The hope and expectation is that such teachers will begin by following the suggestions for using classroom English quite closely, but that, as their confidence and proficiency increases, they will adapt and add to their repertoire of classroom language.

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How to use classroom English

1.2 Teaching classroom English

2.1

Part Two

Starting the lesson

2.2 Pronunciation and repetition

2.3 Activities in class

2.4 Working alone and together

2.5 Boardwork

2.6 Working with books

2.7 Cassette recorder and video

2.8 Games and songs

There is a formidable range of materials published worldwide for teachers of English as a Foreign Language However, many of these materials, especially those published in English-speaking countries, assume that teachers using them will be working with smallish classes and have abundant resources available to them Also many, if not most, of these materials make implicit

culturally-biased assumptions about the beliefs and values of the teachers and learners

This situation is ironic in view of the fact that the vast majority of English as a Foreign Language classrooms do not correspond at all

to these conditions Typically, classes are large, resources are

limited, and teachers have very few opportunities for training and professional development Also, the cultural assumptions of

teachers and learners in many parts of the world may vary quite significantly from those of materials writers and publishers

This book shows how, with no sophisticated materials or

equipment, teachers can capitalize on the ways English can be used in the classroom to establish routines, give instructions, and evaluate performance Classroom language has the advantage of being a highly authentic use of language: there is a real

communicative need for it It also allows for almost unlimited repetition in a natural context: classroom instructions are part and parcel of every lesson, so there is no need to invent contexts

of use In this way the language gradually becomes absorbed unconsciously by the students Much classroom language can also

be linked to actions, as in Total Physical Response: ‘open your books’, ‘get into groups of four’, ‘look at the picture’, etc This close link between saying and doing can help further strengthen the acquisition of language items

Most importantly, however, the book offers a framework for teachers who may lack training and support The hope and

expectation is that such teachers will begin by following the

suggestions for using classroom English quite closely, but that, as their confidence and proficiency increases, they will adapt and add

to their repertoire of classroom language

This is an im portant book: one of the few attempts to address the problems of the 'silent majority' of teachers worldwide who have little or no training, and few resources to work with

A L A N M A L E Y

Assumption University

Bangkok, Thailand

Who is this book for?

Classroom English has been written to help teachers choose the

right words and phrases when they want to use English to give instructions, ask questions, make comments in the classroom, and encourage their learners to respond in English

W hen we began writing the book, we were thinking of the

teachers we had trained to teach English None of them were

specialist teachers of English, and m ost of them had few

opportunities to learn and use English themselves They all taught learners who were beginners— either complete beginners or

learners who were in their second or third years of learning

English To help these teachers, we have tried to use easily

understood English We have also tried to write the book as if we were talking directly to the teacher In this way, we hope the book will be friendly and easy to use

What is in the book?

The book is divided into two parts In Part One, there are two chapters about giving classroom instructions in English These chapters are not about the theory of teaching; they are about what

you can do in the classroom.

Then, in Part Two, you will find all the language you need to give the most comm on classroom instructions, ask simple questions, and make brief comments to your learners in English Also, where appropriate, we have added replies that you can teach your

learners to use We have chosen the simplest ways of saying

things To help you find the expressions you need, we have

divided Part Two into sections, each containing a different type of classroom activity And sometimes we have added a ‘Language note’ to give extra help with words which we know cause

problems

How to use the book

We suggest that you read Part One before you look at Part Two It may be very tem pting to tu rn immediately to Part Two, but please don’t Part One is designed to help you use Part Two as well as possible

Also, we suggest that when you have read each chapter, you stop and think about your classroom, your learners, and your teaching You could ask yourself if you already do the things that we talk

will become even more confident If you don’t, then you could ask yourself which things would improve your teaching Then you could think about how to start doing them You will probably find

it easier and better to change a few things at first, then gradually change a few more— and so on Changing everything at the same time could be very difficult for both you and your learners If you are teaching English for the first time, then we hope that Part One will help you make a good start

Part Two, as we said, contains the most common classroom

expressions in English which you will need with beginners By

‘beginners’, we mean learners in their first three years of learning English You can turn to Part Two whenever you need to, but we suggest that it will be most helpful when you are planning your lesson You will know the expressions you want to use and which

of them you want to give in English, so you can tu rn to the

appropriate sections to check on the correct expressions to use For example, you may want to use English to give the learners

instructions about getting ready to use their coursebooks, so you would turn to Section 2.6, ‘Working with books’, and check that what you want to say is: ‘Take out your books, please’ and ‘Open your books at p age , please’

You will see that some of the expressions have a word or phrase in brackets, for example, ‘Tell me in [the name of your language] what you have to do’ or ‘[Name], collect the books, please.’

Obviously, these are occasions when you would put in the words which you want to use You will also see that we have added the words ‘Teacher’ and ‘Learner’, or ‘Learners’, before some

expressions This is to indicate where the learners need to give answers to the teacher’s questions Some expressions appear in two

or more sections That is because we thought it would be easier for you to have all the language you need for a particular type of activity in one place This means that you don’t have to look

through all the sections for the expression you want to use

Finally, we want to remind you that these are all quite simple expressions As your learners become better at using English, you will be able to change some of the wording For example, you will

be able to put some instructions together to make one longer

instruction— ‘Take out your books and open them at p age ,please.’ So really, Part Two is a starting point for you It provides you with simple instructions in English that you can use with beginners If you are not very confident at first, this section will give you confidence You can start with a few instructions, then use more, until finally you begin to use instructions not given in this

book But please don’t confuse your learners with more

instructions in English than they are ready for

That’s all we want to say as introduction We hope that this book will help you in your work, that you will enjoy your teaching, and that your learners will enjoy learning English

B R Y A N A N D F E L I C I T Y G A R D N E R

Part One

How to use classroom English

We thought it would be a good idea to start this book by looking at two basic questions you will need to ask yourself: ‘Why should I use classroom English?’ and ‘How much classroom English should I use?’

W hat we want to do in this chapter is to put together the most

im portant answers to these questions Many of you will have heard the answers before, but we hope that bringing them together here will be a useful reminder for you For those of you who are less experienced, we hope that this chapter will give you a good

introduction to the topic For everyone, we hope that the chapter will help discussions in your schools

Why should I use classroom English?

Using English as much as possible in your classes will emphasize to your learners that the English lesson is very different from any other lesson in the school day It will help to m aintain a good

‘English-speaking atmosphere’, and this will help your learners focus on learning and using the language

Also, if you give them instructions, ask questions, and make

comments in English, the learners will have to listen carefully to what you say all the time This will keep them thinking in English You only use a language well when you think in it and don’t have to translate everything in your head before you speak So it is

im portant, from the early stages of learning, to avoid translation as

m uch as possible and make the learners think in that language

W hen you use classroom English, you are helping that process

As well as listening carefully to you, the learners have to do

something in response If you say to a girl ‘Come to the board, please’, she has to leave her place and move to you This means that she is both thinking and doing something— in other words, she is

an active learner To learn actively is better and more effective for the learner than learning passively (for example, when learners just sit and listen to the teacher) Active learning is better because it links words and phrases to actions, objects, ideas, and people in a strong and positive way This helps the learners learn and

remember

W hen you give an instruction or ask a question in English and the learners do or say something in reply, they quickly realize that they can understand something in English This gives them a feeling of success and will help improve their confidence Remember how

im portant a feeling of confidence is when you are learning a

language Feelings of success and confidence will help your learners

How to use classroom English - X — ■

overcome the difficulties in learning a foreign language If you keep using the same instructions, questions, and comments, even the weaker learners will begin to understand— and this will help their confidence too

Also, it will increase your own confidence as a teacher, because you will see that the learners understand you and that they are learning

to use English You will feel very satisfied when you don’t have to keep changing from English to your own language and back to English again It will show you that the learners are making

progress and that they really are thinking in English And don’t forget that saying something in English only saves time To say it in English and then to repeat it in your own language takes twice as long!

How much classroom English should I use?

Some people, and this includes some head-teachers, feel that

teachers and learners should never speak their own language in English lessons But any teacher of English knows that this can cause problems There is an im portant place for the learners’ first language, especially with beginners and with young learners To start with, you know that beginners will not understand you if you say everything in English For example, if they don’t understand your instructions, they won’t know what to do and they will

become confused and stressed If your learners are confused, they may decide that English is too difficult for them and will stop trying Certainly, if your learners are stressed, they will stop

enjoying English and this will become a real problem for you You know that everyone learns better when they enjoy their lessons

W hen learners stop enjoying them, they will have more difficulties

in learning the language and they will become more difficult to teach This will be especially true for the weaker learners When learners stop trying to learn, their behaviour in class may become a problem

Younger learners will definitely be confused if their teacher

suddenly refuses to speak their own language Think how confusing this will be for a young child One m oment, the teacher is talking normally Suddenly it’s an English lesson and the teacher refuses to speak the child’s language To the child, the teacher has become a different person This will be a very difficult experience for him or her

So, too m uch English too quickly may be bad for the learners’ confidence and for the way they learn But if you translate all the

How to use classroom English

classroom English you use, this will also be bad For example, you give the instruction ‘Take out your books, please’ Then you

translate it into your own language Then you say ‘Open your books at page twenty-six, please’ and again you translate Very quickly the learners may stop listening to the English because they know you will give a translation In this way, you may create lazy learners All the positive things we have talked about may

disappear The learners will stop taking an active part in lessons They will stop thinking— and especially thinking in English They will get into the habit of translating everything, and, as we have already reminded you, this is not the best way to learn a language.Instead of giving instructions in English and then translating them into your own language, you should be choosing between English and your own language It is better to give some instructions and make some comments in English and some in your own language But which? When is it better to use English and when is it better to use your own language?

When should you use English?

You should aim to use English for all simple instructions,

questions, and comments You will see that all the expressions in Part Two are linked to things which learners will often have to do

or say in English lessons This is the language that will keep the lesson running smoothly in English If you use it, then we believe your learners will benefit

When should you use your own language?

You will need to use your own language when the situation in your classroom requires more complicated language than that provided

in Part Two For example, an activity may be too complicated to explain clearly in English, or you may have a problem in your classroom which cannot be handled using the language presented

in Section 2.10, ‘Classroom control’ Also, it may sometimes be appropriate to use your own language to compare its grammar and vocabulary with that of English, or to talk about life in an English- speaking country such as Britain or the USA And you may

sometimes need to check that your learners have understood your instructions in English (see Section 2.9, ‘Checking understanding’).The best advice we can give you is to plan when you will use

English and when you will use your own language We suggest that you make these decisions at the same time as you plan your lesson You can ask yourself these questions:

W hat classroom language do I need to use?

Which classroom language is simple and could be in English?

How to use classroom English 1.1

■ Which classroom language is more difficult and needs to be in

my own language? (For example: Is there a complicated task which needs careful explanation in my own language? Do I need to explain anything about gram m ar or vocabulary in my own

language? Do I need to check understanding in my own language?)

W hen you have made your decisions about which language you will use and when you will use it, make notes for yourself in your lesson plan We suggest that you write down the times you will use your own language and assume that everything else will be in English

O f course, using your own language is a part of the process of teaching the meaning o f words But we strongly advise using translation only when every other m ethod has failed It is

im portant to make the learners think, so you should try using pictures, actions, descriptions, and so on, and only use translation

if these don’t work

Teaching classroom English

In Chapter 1.1, we said that the instructions, questions, and

comments contained in Part Two are the ones you will often use in English lessons But before they can be used, the learners will have

to learn to recognize and respond to them That means you will have to teach them So there are two more questions which you will need to ask yourself: ‘W hen do I teach classroom English?’ and

‘How do I teach classroom English?’

When do I teach classroom English?

In lessons in other subjects, the teacher gives instructions in the learners’ first language At first, most of the instructions which you will give in English lessons will also be in the learners’ first

language and will be the same as they hear in other lessons But there are a few simple instructions, and also greetings and

comments, which can be given in English right from the first

lesson We believe that learners can begin to learn classroom

English from very early in their course There will be no problem as long as you choose language which will occur frequently in your lessons and which can have the meaning demonstrated easily For example, ‘Open your books at page twenty-six, please’ can be

demonstrated by opening your own book, showing the page to the learners, and pointing to the num ber on the page

Choosing instructions

W hen you plan your first few lessons, ask yourself what

instructions you will be giving Also ask yourself which of these instructions you will be giving in every lesson Then ask yourself which of the instructions have movements connected with them For example, think of instructions like ‘Sit down, please’, ‘Come to the board, please’, or ‘Take out your books, please’ These

instructions are easy to teach and easy for the learners to

understand and to learnt because the meaning is obvious from the movements The meanings are also obvious because of the context (everything that is going on in the lesson at that time) Next select three, four, or five simple instructions from those you have just chosen Three to five instructions are enough for a class of

beginners These will be the ones you will give in English All the other instructions you will give in your own language

Exactly which instructions should you choose? Well, you have already begun to make a choice by selecting instructions which you are going to use frequently and which have movements connected

to them These next ideas might help you in your final choice

Teaching classroom English MMMNMI 1.2mm nHNRMHB

We suggest that you choose instructions which are not linked together For example, choose only one instruction about using books If all five instructions you choose are about using books, then you will probably confuse a lot of the learners They will mix

up the instructions and get the meanings confused It will be much easier for them if there is just one instruction about books Also, if you spend tim e teaching five instructions about books, you will be spending so m uch time on this one stage that it will break up the flow and completely unbalance the lesson So, for example, you could choose one instruction about boardwork, one about

pronunciation, one about working with books, and two about activities in class

Another suggestion to guide your choice o f instructions is to

choose those that are at the beginning of a sequence For example,

‘Sit down, please’ comes before ‘Take out your books’, and ‘Come to the board, please’ comes before ‘Write [a word] on the board, please’ If you choose something at the beginning of a sequence, you can build new instructions onto it later in the course

Just a final word about not giving the learners too many new

instructions Remember that you will also be introducing the

learners to questions like ‘W ho hasn’t got a book?’ (Section 2.6) and comments like ‘Well done!’ and ‘Try again’ (Section 2.11) So the learners will be getting used to questions and comments as well

as instructions Please don’t give them too many at once!

Introducing classroom English

So, in your planning, you have chosen the instructions which you will say in English The next question m ust be at what stage in the lesson do you teach them? For example, do you teach them all at the beginning o f a lesson? The answer to that is definitely ‘No!’ We suggest that you teach each instruction at the point in the lesson where you use it for the first time Why? Well to start with, it links the words to a real situation which is happening now— so it is natural Also, we always learn best when the need to learn is

obvious to us By teaching the instruction at the point in the lesson where you use it for the first time, you are making the need to learn

it very obvious The same thing is true for questions and

Teaching classroom English

interrupts the flow of a lesson less than teaching everything

together It avoids the learning of the new expressions becoming more im portant than the lesson itself The new language is there because it is appropriate— it is in context

Finally, by spreading the learning out in this way, there is less

pressure on you and the learners It can be quite stressful for

teacher and learner to have a concentrated ‘new learning’ session at the start of a lesson!

How do I teach classroom English?

W hen you teach learners a new classroom English expression, it is best to teach it in the same way as you would teach any new

vocabulary This will mean making the meaning clear to the

learners, and practising the expression and the learners’ response It will also mean emphasizing and practising the new expression in the next lesson

W hen you are showing learners the meaning of new expressions, you will be relying on context, hand movements, and

a clock, to teach ‘m orning’ and ‘afternoon’

Hand movements

Many instructions can be made clear by the use of hand

movements For example, your learners may be standing at the start of the lesson In this case, you can easily introduce and use the instruction ‘Sit down, please’ by using your hands to show that you want the learners to sit Put both your hands out flat in front of you and move them down a few inches You can then practise the instruction by asking one of the learners, in your own language, to stand up Then say in English, using the same hand movement,

‘ [Name], sit down, please’

Another instruction that it is useful to introduce early in the course

is ‘Listen!’ This is easily demonstrated by putting your hand behind your ear You will probably find all that is necessary is to say ‘Listen!’ two or three times with the action, and then wait for silence

1 2

Teaching classroom English —I — ■ dLmm

Here are some hand movements which we have found useful:

‘Sit down, please.’

1.2 Teaching classroom English

‘Watch and listen.’

‘Everyone, ’

(This movement can also be used to pick out a group, using the expression: ‘This g ro u p , ’ or ‘Now, this g ro u p , ’)

‘Say it louder, please.’

‘Say it quietly, please’

‘Say the whole sentence, please.’

14

1 2

Teaching classroom English

Demonstration

Another way of making instructions clear is by demonstration

‘Take out your books’ is easily demonstrated by taking your own books out of your bag and then gesturing to the class to do the same Again, it is worth practising this action with the whole group and then with individual learners

expressions they will learn very quickly Others will take longer.When the learners are confident with an expression, introduce a new one In the case of instructions, we suggest that it is very

helpful for the learners, and for you in your teaching, if you link the new instruction to the old one In other words, build onto the instruction which the learners are confident with For example, your learners are confident with the instruction ‘Open your books

at page ’ We suggest you build on that confidence by taking thelearners on to the next instruction in the sequence So, when the learners have opened their books, what do you want them to do? Perhaps it is to look at a picture, so you would teach them ‘Look at the picture, please’ And then you might ask them to point at an object in the picture This building process should be used as often

as possible Learners will find it helpful because of the logical

pattern that the instructions make And you will find it helpful because the new English instructions are grouped naturally at particular points in the lesson

O f course, it won’t always be possible to teach all new instructions

in this way There will be times when there is no instruction which will follow on logically, or when you won’t be using another

instruction in the sequence, or when you need to introduce a new sequence The best plan, though, is to try to build step by step whenever possible

We also suggest that you try to teach the use o f ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ by using them yourself as often as you can So use ‘please’ with your instructions and then, when the learners have responded and

Teaching classroom English

the action is complete, you can say ‘Thank you This will help the learners to acquire the typically British and American habit of using these expressions frequently

Comments

In Section 2.11, ‘Teacher comments’, we have arranged the

comments in groups ranging from the most to the least positive

We suggest that you start by teaching the most positive comments because, especially early on, you need to encourage the learners as

m uch as possible Good examples to choose are ‘Good’, ‘Very good’, and ‘Well done’ We suggest you use these comments from the first lesson onwards— accompanied by smiles! W hen you want to use new expressions, you could build on the positive comments by adding ‘That’s better’ and ‘That’s nearly right— try again’

How to check understanding

We have talked about introducing a new expression when the learners seem confident with a familiar one But how do you check that all the learners understand the expression you taught before? The main way is through observation

The m ost im portant thing, when you give the learners an

instruction, is to observe and see if they do what you say If you see some learners hesitating, looking to see what other learners do, and only then doing what you have asked, this means that they have not fully learnt the instruction Another sign that not all of them have understood is when some learners tell others what to do, probably

in their own language Also, look at the learners’ faces Do they look as if they understand? O r do they look puzzled, or doubtful,

or blank— or even panic-stricken?

If not all the learners have understood, repeat the instruction more slowly, remembering not to change the words And remember, too, not to translate it If the learners still need help, go back to using hand movements or demonstration to rem ind them of the

meaning It is im portant, though, to give the learners time to hear

an expression and to think what to do or say Responses will not always be immediate You will know when a learner has fully

understood and is really confident with an expression because the

response will be immediate.

Another way of checking understanding is through language In Section 2.9, ‘Checking understanding’, we provide expressions you can use to do this through language Learners can be taught to respond in English to questions like ‘Is that right?’, and to ask if they do not understand something It may be necessary for the