IT WORKS IN PRACTICE Teachers have so much useful experience to share with each other.

This is a selection of readers’

suggestions, tips, and techniques that have worked for them in the classroom - and could work for you!

 What I learnt last they chose and where they have written
their names. Higher level students can
student flips over the card (hence the
‘omelette’!) to show the other students,
week ... be asked to explain or discuss their scoops it up and keeps it. The winner is of
At the beginning of the week ask choices. This can be followed by a course the student with the most cards.
students to write down three words whole class activity where the teacher But this is only the beginning! On
they learnt last week. They then walk says: ‘Put your hands up if you drew a subsequent days the activity can be
around the class telling each other circle, a square, a triangle.’ Or: ‘Who repeated but with the English word face up.
wrote their names on the left, on the
the words they learnt. Students at a higher level can be asked to
right, inside the figure, outside, at the
Simon Phipps provide a whole sentence including the
top, at the bottom ...’.
(Ankara, Turkey) target word in order to win. In fact there is
Alejandro Martínez
(México City, México) no end to the follow-up work that can be
done with these cards. They can be added
 Where I went on to or selectively reduced. Stories can be
holiday ...  A question of choice made up to include a random selection of
This is something that has worked for lexical items. And so on. The cards can be
When I want to correct an oral stored in a small box and used again and
me. All you need is a set of holiday mistake, I give the learner the again. They encourage student autonomy,
postcards. In order to practise the
option of the wrong and the right frequent recycling - and they require zero
simple past tense I ask my students to preparation by the teacher!
choose a postcard. When they have
expressions, for example:
Jon Taylor
made their choice, I tell them to Learner: She don’t like parties. (San Sebastián, Spain)
imagine that this was where they went Teacher: She doesn’t like or
on holiday. I then ask them to write a she don’t like?
postcard to other students in the class Learner: She doesn’t like
 Yellow card
describing their imaginary holiday. parties. In Italy everyone’s favourite pastime
Maria Terdimou is football (known as ‘soccer’ in
(Heraklion, Crete, Greece) This enables the learner to realise America). With my teen class if one
the mistake s/he has made and to of my students becomes a bit
repeat the correct expression.
 Ice breaker - with a Jana Koubova
boisterous, I admonish him or her
with a yellow card. If they continue,
touch of grammar (Zlin, Czech Republic)
they get a red card. I don’t expel my
This activity has two objectives: one is
students but I do give them sets of
for students to get to know each other;
the other is to introduce or review
 Spanish omelette irregular verbs to copy as extra
prepositions of place. Here is an activity for revising vocabulary homework!
Draw three figures on a board: a with monolingual classes at all levels. It is Maria Lamkin
square, a circle and a triangle, and then so simple I can hardly claim to have (Gaeta, Italy)
give the following instructions: ‘Choose invented it but I have called it ‘Spanish
one of these figures and draw it on a omelette’. (You can change this to French,
blank sheet of paper. Write your first Czech or Japanese omelette according to IT WORKS IN PRACTICE
name (or the name you like to be called)
somewhere either inside or outside the
your students’ first language.)  What works well for you in the
On small slips of paper or card ask the classroom? Everyone who teaches
figure. In other words, you can write your students to write down the lexical items you has something to share. This is an
name inside the figure, outside, at the want to practise. These may be from the opportunity to talk to your colleagues
top, at the bottom, in the middle, on the world-wide. We are looking for
course book, their notebooks, past exam
right, on the left, above the figure or practical ideas. They may be simple,
papers and so on. On the other side of the
under it ...’. sophisticated, well-tried or original.
card ask them to write down the appropriate
If the aim is to introduce the meaning They may take a line or two to
of some of the prepositions, the teacher
translation. Dictionaries can be used if
explain, or require several
can pause after each phrase while necessary (with teacher guidance).
paragraphs. Write to us soon -
pointing at the figures on the board to Collect the slips of paper or cards and
please remember to include your
show what the preposition means - an arrange them on the table with the name and address. If we publish your
example of ‘comprehensible input’. translation facing up. In turn students contribution, we will extend your
Students can then get into groups of choose a card and give the correct English subscription by one issue.
four or five to tell each other which figure equivalent. If the teacher nods approval the

• ENGLISH TEACHING professional • 33

 T H E W AY W E D O I T What would you do if I sang out of tune? If_______ , I shall not live in vain.
Would you stand up and walk out on me? Give room for practice, let their
Two secondary teachers describe Lend me your ears and I’ll sing you a song, imagination run freely. Writing a poem in
activities that have worked for And I’ll try not to sing out of key. a foreign language is, after all, a success!
Play the tape with the text masked. Ask
them in the classroom. the students to write down what they If sentences through problem-solving
hear. When necessary, play the tape Give each student a card with a

If clauses again. In small groups students compare

their texts, then the original can be given
to them.
problematic situation on it. Elicit ‘If I
was in this situation I would...’ Ask them
to reflect on the problem individually,
M ost students of English find if
clauses very difficult to use in
everyday speech. Even advanced
Creative students might like to write
their own song:
and after two or three minutes share it
with the rest of the group. Together they
students make mistakes. Here are some What would you do if _______ ? try to find a solution to their problems.
suggestions and activities that have Would you _______ and ______ ? By the end of the class they don’t worry
worked for me. They are successful _______ and I’ll _______ about if sentences any longer.
because they are amusing, creative, and And I’ll try not to _______ Here are some situations with which
make you forget you are actually using I have had great success:
difficult grammar structures. If sentences through poetry 1. Just before Christmas your five-year-old
Do not translate if sentences; teach The American poet Emily Dickenson son is told that Santa Claus does not exist.
them functionally. There might be (1830-1886) wrote this short poem: 2. Your neighbour is a curious old lady
similarities with the grammatical If I can stop one heart from breaking who keeps a record of everybody in the
structures of other languages but they I shall not live in vain; block. Lately, you’ve noticed your letters
do not always fit. Emphasise the If I can ease one life the aching, arrive opened.
speaker’s attitude: certainty, possibility, Or cool one pain; 3. You are waiting in a queue to phone
probability etc. Once you have been Or help one fainting robin from a public phone. The person in the
through the presentation focus on Unto his nest again, booth has just finished. Being in a rush,
practice. Most students don’t like to talk I shall not live in vain. he has accidentally left his wallet in the
grammar, they prefer to practise it. The text can be used both for booth. As she steps into the booth the
presentation and practice. Focus on the next person puts the wallet in her bag.
If sentences through music written structures, but do not forget to 4. You bought two seats for a show and
This exercise proves to be especially elicit meaning as well. You can ask you arrived late. Your seats are taken,
useful for audio-visual learners. The questions like What does the poet mean? the lights are out, the show has started
song you choose must be entertaining, When will she be happy? Do you think and there are no seats free.
easy to sing and the singer intelligible! she lives in vain?
The Beatles’ With a little help from my Students can complete the if clause Julianna Zvelde-Fejir is Hungarian
but lives in Romania. She has been teaching
friends is a good suggestion. with their own ideas. English for five years.

Evaluation questionnaire Evaluation questionnaire

1. How do you judge the work done in this school year?
excellent K very good K good K disappointing K
T he article by David Nunan Getting Started with Learner-Centred
Teaching (ETp Issue Three) encouraged me and told me that
what I am trying to do when I teach is valuable.
2. Did you find any problems?
3. Which topics do you remember best?
I teach in a state secondary school in Italy. My students’ ages 4. Which topics did you like best?
range from fourteen to nineteen. I use a similar questionnaire on 5. Which ones did you dislike?
learning styles and strategies at the beginning of the school year in 6. Which topics would you have chosen instead?
order to better plan the curriculum and adjust my teaching style to 7. Which methods did you prefer or find most useful?
my students’ needs. As a final evaluation of the course, at the end of Number them 1-6:
the year, I give out the following questionnaire. It has been pair work K group work K
extremely useful for me to understand several things: individual work K listening to the teacher K
- the relationship between me and my students (Do they trust me watching videos K project work K
and are they relaxed enough to tell me the truth?) listening to tapes K discussions K
- their appreciation of the course contents 8. Were the teacher’s explanations and instructions clear
- their awareness of their learning process and useful?
- their awareness of the teaching objectives and techniques. 9. What have you learned that you didn’t know before?
I analyse their answers and take them into account while 10. What did you improve?
planning for the next year. I believe the curriculum should be a reading skills K vocabulary K
collaborative effort between teachers and learners. Of course, between speaking skills K listening comprehension K
the ‘getting started’ and the ‘final’ questionnaire there should be a grammar accuracy K self-correction K
wealth of work in class which goes towards the autonomy and the something else .... K
active involvement of the students in their own learning processes. 11. In what areas do you think you need to work more?
12. What do you suggest for the same class next year?
Manuela De Angelis teaches English in Falconara, Italy.

34 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional •