IT WORKS IN PRACTICE More tested lessons, suggestions, tips and techniques which have all

worked for ETp readers. Try them out for yourself – and then send us
your own contribution.

All the contributors to It Works in Practice in this issue of ETp will

be given a copy of Macmillan Words of the Year. Macmillan have
kindly agreed to be sponsors of It Works in Practice for this year.

 Chocolate Clauses
 Joinedupspeech
Here is a technique I use for
Here is a simple method for encouraging learners to use
encouraging students
connected speech, and thus to make their spoken language
to use evocative more natural. Imagine, for example, a student in class has
descriptive language. said in a disjointed way, ‘One of my friends is visiting me this
First, I take an weekend.’ Write up the utterance on the board with the words
empty box of chocolates that should run together in speech next to each other, ie:
to class. (I often let the students smell it Oneof my friendsis visitingme thisweekend.
to encourage them to imagine the contents.) This is a method that I have found works very well. It’s also
Then I dictate the names of a couple of the useful for Spanish-speaking students, who tend to put in an
chocolates. The students have to work together to extra vowel sound between words. For example, if a student
says, ‘I come from eSpain’, this would be written on the
come up with a short description of these chocolates – the sort
board as:
of flowery description you find on the inside of the box.
I come fromSpain
I feed in vocabulary where and whenever necessary. More often
to discourage the insertion of the extra vowel sound.
than not, the learners have to use a relative clause, such as
‘It’s a soft, creamy chocolate which melts in your mouth’ or ‘... Mark Almond
Canterbury, UK
which is covered with thick fondant chocolate’.
After the students have read their descriptions out to each other,
I give them the manufacturer’s leaflet and get them to compare
their descriptions with the official ones. I stress the fact that
 It works in EAP, too
This is a good activity to use with students who have to
their description may be just as good as, or even better than, the attend lectures in English.
official one, but that the manufacturer’s language can probably
teach us something in terms of grammar. Ask the students to work in pairs. Tell them that you are
going to read a text to them once only, and that they must
The students underline all the reduced relative clauses used in take notes as they listen.
describing the chocolates, saying whether they are active or
Read out the text – it is a good idea to start with
passive, and then go on to rewrite their own descriptions using something short that has a narrative style.
reduced relative clauses, eg ‘a soft creamy chocolate covered in
thick fondant chocolate’. Ask the students, in their pairs, to reconstruct as much of
the text as possible.
The lesson also highlights adjective order and issues of
With short passages, their reconstruction should be fairly
countability and uncountability – When do we say chocolate, close to the original, giving practice in writing correct
when a chocolate? As a follow-up exercise, the students ask each sentences and using new vocabulary. Longer passages will
other what their favourite and least favourite chocolates are and give practice in listening for gist, deciding what is
why. Finally they name and write a description of their own ideal important, paraphrasing and summarising. It is also a
but imaginary chocolates. useful study skill for students to see the value of working
with a partner soon after a lecture to reconstruct and
At the end of the lesson it’s not a bad idea to have something enhance each other’s notes.
chocolatey to hand out for all their hard work! Sandy Willcox
Annette Margolis Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Latina, Italy

42 • Issue 43 March 2006 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •

 Cultural inventory
As teachers in Japan, we have frequently Cultural inventory
been asked to work with high school and How would you describe your culture?

university students who are planning to Names: .............................................................. ..............................................................

go overseas on home-stay programmes. .............................................................. ..............................................................
When the first group we worked with
returned from their month’s stay in Answer these questions:

Australia, we called them together to 1 What is the most traditional 6 How would you describe
ask how everything went and what we clothing in your culture? your culture’s traditional
could do to improve the language art?
training of the next group we would
send.

Our students said that they were all set

and ready, linguistically and
psychologically, to ask many questions
about Australian culture, history, etc but
2 What is the most important 7 What is something that is
were shocked and horrified to discover holiday or festival in your difficult for people to
that their hosts wanted to ask them culture? understand about your
questions about Japan and Japanese culture?
culture and history. Now, some students
said they could handle such questions
with their ambient knowledge of Japan,
but they did not have the necessary
vocabulary to discuss their answers in
English. Other students were, like many 3 What is the name of a 8 What is a cultural dish
young people everywhere, simply not famous historical person that visitors may not
adequately knowledgeable about their from your culture? like very much?
own culture or history.

To address both of these issues, we

started to create lessons geared towards
getting students ready to address
questions about their own cultures in
English. We have tried to make our 4 What are the personality traits 9 What is the most
activities and exercises applicable to any that are valued in your culture? traditional sport that is
culture and any country. Here is a played in your country?
worksheet which we call the ‘Cultural
Inventory’.

Students work in pairs or small groups,

or individually, and can use the
worksheet as a first step in a research
and presentation format. It lends itself
5 What is the most important 10 How would you describe
to a variety of methods of use and has
thing that other cultures your country’s
been very successful for us in getting have borrowed from traditional music?
our students thinking about their own your culture?
cultures. We have also used this with
adult students who were preparing to
accept home-stay students into their
own homes.
Patrick and Aya Dougherty
Himeji, Japan

• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 43 March 2006 • 43