IH Journal: Issue 54

Issue 54 makes interesting reading with articles dealing with multilingual/plural-lingual approaches and 'pull-out' English as an Additional Language (EAL) support in British international schools.

For IELTS preparation teachers, there is a treasure trove of lesson activities for all four language skills.

Read the IH Journal (Issue 54) here.

Here is the direct link to my article - Reflection on teaching Young Learners. Thank you to Adam Lewis for introducing me to Colourful Semantics by Alison Bryan! This is an approach to clarifying language that provides a systematic link between syntax and semantic meaning.

Feedback on writing tasks in large classes

This post stems from a conversation I had with my colleague over a pint a few months ago. We were talking about ways of giving feedback on students' writing that are considered sufficient for large classes.

When teachers have a small class of learners to work with, it is relatively easy to give each individual detailed feedback. Some teachers use correction codes, whereas others may provide comments along the lines of 'good points' and 'things to work on'.

In large classes, however, this approach is time-consuming at best and impractical at worst. What I usually do is to read through each student's written work first - it usually takes me a minute or two to read a 250-word essay or article. This gives me a brief idea of a student's strengths and weaknesses. Then I spend another few minutes or so writing my overall comments. In a class of 15 students, it usually takes less than two hours.

To deal with language errors, I select sentences from various students' written work - both good examples and sentences with errors - and compile them in a single Word document. In the next lesson, my students discuss these sentences; they often recognise their own writing! This discussion task is a form of delayed error correction with peer correction in the feedback stage.

IH Journal: Issue 53

To complete my current sub-skills series, I discussed ways of encouraging language learners to use cohesive devices in writing.

Issue 53 makes interesting reading with articles dealing with the latest developments in ELT: artificial intelligence (AI), plural-lingual classrooms, and Brexit's effect on the landscape of ELT in Europe.

How can teachers convert extrinsic motivation to intrinsic motivation? I've been trying to seek answers to this question, and I've found one in Christopher Walker's article.

Read the IH Journal (Issue 53) here.

Here is the direct link to my article - Developing the Sub-skill of Using Cohesive Devices in Writing.

Encouraging students to use complex sentences in speaking

How can teachers encourage students to use complex, more advanced grammatical structures in speaking?

Over the years, I've come across various classroom ideas ranging from giving students a checklist of target language items to tweaking the task requirements so that students have to produce certain advanced grammatical structures.

I've also heard some teachers complaining about the contrived nature of the above ideas. While these may force students to produce the target advanced grammatical structures in the lesson, students are unlikely to be able to use such structures naturally once they leave the classroom. What's the missing link then?

If language production involves formulation of mental ideas prior to realisation of such ideas with language, teachers need to connect grammatical structures to their use(s).

Here are four ways in which students can use complex grammar or sentences in speaking:

• add information about someone/something using the (non-defining) relative clauses;
• give examples using the conditional structure;
• introduce contrast by using subordination or concession (e.g. Although and Despite), rather than co-ordination (e.g. But and However); and
  
• give opinion using the 'which'-relative clause in the tail part of an utterance.

 

Teaching students with dyslexia

I've just been to a webinar by Boelo van der Pool, who was invited by International House World Organisation to talk about dyslexia and ADHD.

Here are some key ideas I was able to take away:

• Although there is no international agreement on certifying dyslexia, it is believed that around 10-15% of the population have varying extents of this 'learning difference'.
  
  
• Language learners with dyslexia may process information more slowly; they tend to be creative as they think outside the box rather than follow the conventional way of interpreting ideas.
  
  
• To target the way in which dyslexic learners process information, teachers can adapt written texts by:
  
  1. aligning the text left, not justify
  2. using a less fancy font, such as Arial, Tahoma or Verdana
  3. increasing the font size slightly
  4. increasing the line spacing, e.g. 1.5 instead of 1.15
  5. further dividing a text into shorter paragraphs by topic or idea
  6. using a plain, non-white background colour (or recycled paper for the whole school!)
  
  In short, textual information should be presented in a way that is easier for both dyslexic and non-dyslexic learners to locate. (No cramming!)
  
  
• Other techniques that aid dyslexic learners include using visuals to aid learners' understanding of a text and using colour coding consistently.