Exam Preparation: 'The truth and nothing but the truth' in IELTS Speaking

I was preparing a student for IELTS Speaking earlier this week. We worked on his spoken fluency and spent a great deal of time expanding his range of productive vocabulary.

At first, I used the techniques of rephrasing and upgrading from Thornbury's Dogme Approach. It seemed to have worked by the middle of the week. This student would always hesitate and search for language before he spoke more fluently on repeating the same task.

However, candidates don't get a second chance in IELTS Speaking test. They must be able to perform well on the spot. So I decided to introduce another technique. Using a topic-based approach, we looked at the vocabulary banks of some Advanced-level coursebooks. With substantial pre-task lexical input, this student should be better able to use a wider range of collocations and a more precise set of vocabulary. Perhaps you can already tell what I'm going to write next by my choice of 'should'.

Finally, I introduced yet a new technique which I had never tried before teaching this student. I asked him to lie to me - give me 'false' responses to a set of Part 1 questions - and he shouldn't say anything true about himself or others. Eureka! This did the trick of liberating his formulation process; he was subsequently able to speak more fluently. I guess it's easier for most people to talk about something they already know but more demanding to invent ideas when they're speaking. The opposite holds true for this student!

Note: Candidates need not say what they honestly think in IELTS Speaking. It is a test of one's language ability.

IH Journal: Issue 50

The IH Journal has been relaunched! The most recent Issue 50 coincided with the 70th anniversary of International House World Organisation.

The articles I'm most interested in reading are those on ChatGPT, Project-Based Learning, and English as a Lingua Franca. I've been thinking about all these topics recently.

As a first-time contributor, I felt like shouting all the way across the channel to Fleet Street for help! Here comes a big thank you - and congratulations - to Chris the journal editor!

Read the IH Journal (Issue 50) here.

Here is the direct link to my article - Developing Word Recognition Sub-skills in Listening.

Personalising YL classroom management

Personalisation is often discussed in the context of motivational theories. The received wisdom is that learners will perceive greater usefulness of lesson practice if they can use language relevant to their real-life needs.

The usual way

My default position, which is influenced by my British upbringing, is to refrain from imposing blanket classroom rules on my students. I have instead explored various ways of implementing classroom management:

• Teens - I usually ask my students to discuss what kind of classroom environment they would enjoy, so that they can learn effectively and achieve their end-of-year goals.
  

• YLs - I usually ask my students what is good and what is not so good for their classroom.

The result is more or less similar across all classes - my students almost always come up with generic rules, such as 'listen to the teacher' or 'be nice'.

Personalising rules

Every class has a different set of characters.

For quieter Young Learners or Teens groups, any explicit classroom management would be an unnecessary step for the teacher. In fact, I didn't have to use any when I taught a KEY for Schools class of five young teens last year.

For energetic and lively groups, I find it works more effectively when I respond to specific challenging situations by adding new rules. This is what I mean by personalising them.

• With a Teens PET for Schools class, we negotiated a deal of using more games in exchange for less disruptive chattering in the students' first language. Those students who earned themselves a bad name last year have become more willing to participate in lesson activities. Chattering is tolerated so long as it does not impede task achievement or make the whole class feel cliquey. (I also focus on the positives and ignore the petty negatives with a disapproving stare.)
  
  
• With YLs, rules have to be devised on the spot as we encounter any new challenging situation. Such new rules include 'going to the washroom once', 'leaving the classroom for water breaks once', and 'English only for five minutes' among others. 'One person speaks at a time' is also helpful - except in pair or group work. Those YLs who keep talking randomly are now better at understanding when they are supposed to listen.
  

Both the teacher and the students are happier now.

Tribute to Her late Majesty

Queen Elizabeth II was a great role model for our country. Her dedication to service, as well as stoicism in times of uncertainty, sustained modern Britain throughout the large part of the twentieth century, carrying the nation into the twenty-first. She witnessed the transition from Empire to Commonwealth, suffered losses of some of her closest family members, and saw the transformation of the United Kingdom from the analogue to the digital age.

I have come to this world as Her late Majesty's subject, in a hospital named after her, and in a land that was her realm. Thank you and rest in peace. God save the King.

(It was some time in 2012 when I was on a Virgin West Coast train from Manchester to London. As the train was travelling south of Milton Keynes, a Deutsche Bahn locomotive suddenly caught up with us. Then one of the passengers remarked loudly, 'that's the Royal Train!')

When first-language English speakers aren't understood abroad

It was a mild late August morning, a welcoming break from the heatwave earlier in the week which saw temperatures going up to 32 in Berlin. I decided to stop by the main railway station, Berlin Hbf, on my way to catch a flight from Brandenburg Airport. For those of you who aren't familiar with this station, it's essentially a shopping mall with perpendicular sets of platforms at both the lowest and the highest levels. There are plenty of eateries to choose from too, which is a stark contrast with monotonous train stations in Italy.

Now came the embarrassing part: instead of saying ich hätte gern Falafel Wrap und eine Tasse Tee (German: I'd like falafel wrap and a cup of tea), I ordered my lunch in English. The poor German-speaking lady at the till heard 'cuppa tea', which is the way people usually say it in the UK. Little did I know she actually got confused and made me a cappucino!

I double checked with her, but she responded in English: 'sorry, we don't have "cuppa tea" here.' I instantly regretted it - why didn't I just speak in German and, what's more, I should have said 'tea' or 'cup - of - tea'!

Communication is all about understanding what others say and getting yourself understood by others. Some of my students (and I suspect many more to-be learners out there) say they want to speak with a 'British' or 'American' accent. Firstly, which British accent would they really like to learn? There are some 50 different British-type accents on top of the non-geographical RP. Secondly, if students mostly use English in a lingua franca environment, and they rarely need to communicate with first-language speakers, what's the point of winding up your interlocutors with a traditional but incomprehensible accent? I'm not suggesting that teachers should deny language learners of the opportunity of adopting a traditional English accent, but the realistic goal should be intelligibility regardless of which accent students choose to be their model.