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New Inside Out Preintermediate Teachers Book

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2K views222 pages

New Inside Out Preintermediate Teachers Book

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neide Out | Sue Kay, Vaughan Jones, Helena Gomm, Peter Maggs & Chris Dawson Pre-intermediate Teacher’s Book FA MACMILLAN Contents Student's Book contents map Introduction Practical methodology '* Teaching pre-intermediate students ¢ The top 10 activities for preintermediate students * Anecdote tasks *# Key concepts in New Inside Out The Common European Framework and New Inside Out TEACHER'S NOTES 1 Name 2 Place 3 Love Review A 4 Shopping 5 Fit 6 Job Review B 7 Eco 8 Education 9 Smile Review C 10 Lifestyle 11 Animals 12 Incredible Review D RESOURCE MATERIALS Contents Teacher's notes Photocopiable worksheets Sample e-lesson iv vi «xiv xiv xv Xx wai XXXVI nN 20 30 34 54 63 66 75 84 93 97 106 15 124 129 132 151 Docabulary & Qronunciation @ Tense view los ok ie © Family. Description. Names yeemember names at partie Focus on: names {© ee you s good language learner? © Long vowel sounds ih fo (@ Lectalkng about somebody who {is important to him @ Countable and uncountable nouns. se/sch- erg. Quantity expressions © Wina dream holiday fortwo! Places ina city. Adjectives to describe DP ebisg’s cg bert places. Countries, nationalities. lLecation (© Emma taking about the bt” pace she has ever vite Focus tie nel phe: Saying where you @ Word ste: counties, rationaites atom (@ red an Edna aking about @ Past simple and continuous. Adverbs tt alonlp preoes ere a © Retationship expressions, Narrative (DO Telinga vor Linking © The Hollywood director and the linkers. cing adjectives res Nate Ametcan iar Sat © Revenge is weet Dinner by post @ Iegular verb: sound groups reece eee! Review A Pages 2,2 Grammar / Vocabulary /romancation review re oon 28 ‘Pape 3031 Mending & Listening Weng aratve te Speaking * Son: Stnd By Me 4 Shopping yng prees (© Wat people ely want fr thir @ Adverbof equ. eb with two peer “Anecdote: The last time you birthday “objects Verbs followed by ing form ae: bought somebody a present (@ Eddie tatkng about the lst ime ‘or tonite. Present simple and 55 ‘Aides sorpng fg esse toot ‘onsinuoas © Calocton: ebm f arf {© shopping tends and habs @ Twomen talking about shopping © Men's or women's fashion? © The a price of sion set phrase: dates shop ‘te. Clothes and accessories Focus on verbs sed with clothes © Plural nouns fe © fad © Areyou dangerously unit? @ Comparative and supetatves, © Ta aking about her © Phrasal vets experiences of spor at school Haw +adtve/adve. Sport (© Advertisers dacssing sports Numbers sa Foci on: verbs use with sports © 16 ways to destess © Schwa fin English expressions © Lager cabs ‘ef peste: Giving instructions =e @ Four people taking about their @ Permission and obligation (can hve). caren Present perfect ime ‘upto no oF alan © Charlotte Dutton: rom pst simple fished ime) a. Sanus aeonne © jjobe. Cllcatione (woe) shoul. Of5ce © Nightmare jobs ssripment @ terview with a store owner Focus om: werk and ob (© Kim tatkng about er friend's Fast pariples (regular verbs): vowel = sound Useful phrases: Presenting yourlt Review B Pages 56, 57: Grammar Vocabulary! Pronunciation review = Pages 58 58 Reading & Listening, Wiiing (description) & Speaking * Song: Suspicious Minds Units & topics Try @eading & Listening texts @rammar, Docabulary & Oronunciatio © Climate change march © Subject questions Dynamic and © Environmental sues (@ Fourpeople taking about why they __sfative meanings. ature forms: © Wiring rport are protesting (6) ging teat pepent continous © Wotunser work © How green ar you? © Climate change. Opinions DO Niaing writen © Welcome to Original Volunteers Focus one and hae got suggestions. Linking sentences (6) @ Two convertion about yolunering @ Word stress word ending in tn ‘Useful phrases: On the lephone 8 Education © school experiences © Training tobe geisha © Permission and btigation ould / aaa Anecdote: Your favourite school @ Andy talking about his favourite 0 shld and mat for advice rearaae subject schoo subject © Education and teining page 68 © Changes in society © Tre generations * Focus on: words sed with dation © What makes successful date @ Two generations talking about @ Word stress: schol subjects D0 Personal ete changes in sais Contractions in informal weting, (How to meet the parents (© Aman meets his giiend’s parents © tre pert gitend boyfriend Useful phrases: Giving your opinion pene ~ smiting suite andthe word sues © Vers followed by in-form. for and Soh © Describing character with you sine. Present perfect simple and page 76 © Holidays © Whatsina smite? conto peal ole eae SSE TT © ce Charter aes Pat DO Taveldog. tisting © Thailand: land of sles vi Points, Using adverbs of atitude _ @% On holiday in Thailand eae eae ee ‘or tinfitve (with change in © Living in Thailand sos Useful phrases: Using body idioms semen sens Review € ‘Pages 84 85: Grammar / Vocabulary / Pronunciation review ge 64 Pages 86 87: Reading & Listening, Writing (paagraphing)& Speaking * Song: Money 20 Lifestyle @ Ltaiyis © How not to die before you git old @ sel Future tine dunes ater when, porate © Food and cooking @ Atclephone enquiry soma. ase fo Food Anecdote: The fittest/healthiest —@ 104 things to do with a banana © Collocations, Food and cooking. Cars rs non you know (0 Josh taking about the fitest/ Focus on: words used with deving age 88 © cas ealthist person he knows © Vowel sounds and speting Aneedoe Your dream ar © Myfintcar DO Neratve Linking @ Pat's dream car : ods ie, during ‘Useful phrases: dom with food 44 Animals © Aims © Avimal atitudes @ Defining relative clauses, Unreal © Moral dilemmas @ Thrce prope talking about animals conditions Asaclah pospon ta they the /itike © Asimats. Adjective + preposition © Giving opinions. © Tree stores about animals Focus on ha Linking: giving examples © Peopleaking abou their pets __@ Homophones artes) (© "Mandy aking about he fiend’ pot ‘Useful phrases: Polite requests © sang cincences © wo Lars; Word part © Past perfect. Passives wil and might Anecdote: The most increible @ The coolest hotel inthe word for faar possibilty ‘pling youve ever seen © Curr talking about the mast Collocation with ne ma, td © Tre ftuce incredible bullding he's ever seen The weather D0 Desptin 2 (© Nort ote weather forcast Focus on cllocations with 38, buuling Tent organisation, The Ole ace ak, ke Prepon phrses ” Useful phres:Excliming Review D ages 12,11: Grammar /Voeabulay / Pronunciation review page 112 Pages 14,15 Reading & Listening, Weng naratve linker) & Speaking * Song Have A Dream Pairwork:Stadent A pape 16 * Pairwork: Student B page 121 * Grammar Extra page 126 + Recordings page 10 + Phonetic symbols 6 Speling page 138 » Imola eb page 19 Practical methodology Teaching pre-intermediate students In many ways, pre-intermediate is the one of the more rewarding levels to teach. Students have seen most of the basic structures and have a core vocabulary enabling them to ‘get by’ ‘n most situations. The teacher can therefore assume a certain amount of knowledge and this helps the pace and flow of the lesson. On the other hand, there are still plenty of new language areas to explore. The key to success at this level is how to strike the right balance between forward progress on the one hand and the consolidation of ‘learned! language on the other. If you go too fast, there's the risk that the students’ more basic errors become permanent ‘fossilised’ errors, If you go too slowly, the students are likely to become bored, demotivated and disenchanted with the whole process. In New inside Out Pre-intermediate we've tried to get this balance right. Students are challenged to explore ew grammar and vocabulary, but they mix this with important recycling and consolidation work in more familiar areas. A relentless focus on meaning, and in particular how students can make their own meanings With the language, is built into every stage of the learning process. It's this core feature of Inside Out ‘which helps students maintain their enthusiasm and ‘motivation. Right from the start Every teacher has their own way of setting up their classroom, interacting with their students and conducting their lessons. Here ae a few things that we have found useful to bear in mind, The right atmosphere It’s important to do everything you can to create a supportive learning environment. Start by memorising, cevery student's name and learn as much information as you can about them. Make sure students learn each other's names too and that they al get to know things about each other early on in the course, Think ‘of appropriate ways you could help foster good classroom dynamics. For example, you could nominate « ‘homework partner’ for each student. They'd then be responsible for collecting handouts or passing on lesson notes or homework instructions when their partne absent, Pay attention to how you respond to students both individually and collectively. Make sure you find time to chat to individual students or small informal groups of students before or after class, More formally it’s a good ‘dea to devote at least one lesson per term to counse! your students individually and discuss their progress. « Ey Even at pre-intermediate level students are often shy and under-confident about speaking in class, As anyone ‘who has learnt a foreign language will know, it takes ‘a great deal of courage to open your mouth and say something in the very early stages of a course. Yet ‘we know thatthe sooner you start, the more practice you get, the more confident you feel and the easier it becomes. For this reason, students are encouraged to work in pairs and groups so they can rehearse the language in private rather than be immediately required to speak in the more intimidating arena ofthe class. Always give your Students time to think. If perfectly ‘normal to have moments of silence while students absorb and process new information, write down new vocabulary from the board, or think about their answers. Don’t be afraid of the pregnant pause! The right environment Your classroom might be the only exposure to English that students get, Make that exposure as rich as you can by decorating the walls with maps and posters. Here are some further ideas: ‘+ Stick up useful formulaic phrases. For example, Can _you spell that please?, Can you repeat that please? or What does XXX mean? ete ‘+ Keep a wordbox’ on your table where words or phrases that come up in the lesson are recorded ‘on strips of paper and put in the box. Invite the students to record the words for you. They can then be used in a variety of quick revision games in subsequent lessons. Alternatively, you could institute the ‘class scribe’ idea. One stucent in the clas i given the role of recording any new language that comes up during the lesson that isn’t necessarily the target language ofthat lesson. This record is then photocopied for everyone in the class, including the teacher, who can use the data for revision activities. The role of class scribe is rotated ‘+ Introduce your students to simplified graded readers, Many of them now come as ‘talking books’ with CDs. This is invaluable input. Get your students hooked on books! ‘= Use English in the classroom. I's very tempting to slip into the students’ language ~ particulary if you are teaching in a monolingual situation. Try only to use LI as an absolute lat resort: an occasional quick translation or brief explanation. ‘Students will always benefit from help with learning. strategies. Here are some thoughts: + Spend time encouraging students to experiment with how they record words and phrases from the lesson. Get them to draw the word rather than translate it. They're then associating the word with the concept rather than with another word. Make sure they note the part of speech - verb, noun, adjective. Tell them to find away of noting the pronunciation ofthe word, either using phonemic scrip in the back ofthe Students Book) or by developing their own system. Ask them to write complete personalised sentences putting the new wort or phrase in a real context and thereby making it more memorable. ‘+ Adictionary isa very important language learning tool and most students will buy one. Usually students prefer a bilingual dictionary as this provides them with a quick translation of the ‘word they need. Spend time showing them all the other information that a dictionary can give them, in particular the phonetic symbols. Work with The right amount of practice In our experience, the most successful lessons consist of a manageable amount of new input, and then a lot ‘of meaningful practice. For this reason, we've tried to provide maximum practice activities in New Inside Out, ‘both in the Student's Book and in the other supporting. ‘components. But there is never enough time in the lessons alone. Always set homework, even if it's just reading a chapter from a reader, and make homework feedback or correction an integral part ofthe lesson. The top 10 activities for pre-intermediate students ‘These tried and trusted activities can be used as lead-ins, warmers, filles, pair-forming activities, or for revision and recycling. Most of them require very little ‘or no preparation and can be adapted to cover a wide variety of different language points. You may be familiar with some of the ideas and others may be new. In any ‘event, we hope they provide a useful extension to your teaching repertoire. They certainly get used and re-used. in our own classrooms! " It’s always useful to have a stock of small white cards and access toa stock of pictures, Magazine pictures are ‘deal, and cag be filed in alphabetical order according to topics, 1 Board bingo Aim “This activity is good for revising any type of vocabulary Preparation Write down twelve to fifteen words you want to revise ‘on the board. Procedure ‘+ Ask the students to choose five of the words and. write them down. When they've done that, tell the students that you're going to read out dictionary definitions of the words in random order and that they should cross ut their words if they think they hear the definition. When they've crossed out all five words, they shout Bingo! Make sure you keep a record of the word definitions you call out o that you can check the students’ answers. + Ifyou teach a monolingual class, you could read out a translation of each word rather than an English definition. Alternatively, you could turn itinto a pronunciation exercise by working on the recognition of phonetic script. Hold up cards with phonetic transcriptions of the words in random order. Students cross out their words if they think they've seen the corresponding phonetic transcription. 2 Standing in tine Aim ‘This isa great way to review names after Unit 1. Preparation None. Procedure Askall the students to stand up and then line up in alphabetical order according to the first letter of theic first name, Show the class where the line should begin, (Once they've lined up, check that they're inthe correct order by asking them to take it in turns down the line to say My name's ‘© Here are some more criteria for different line-ups. 1. Alphabetical order according to their surnames ot their mother’s or father’s first name, or a random selection of words that you want to revise written on cards (they say the words out aloud and line up according to the first letter). 2 Numerical order according to age or age of ‘mother, or age of youngest member oftheir family, or number of cousins they have (most/ fewest), or number of times they've been to London, ete. 3 Distance order (furthest/nearest) according to distance they live from the school, or distance they were born from the school, or longest distance they have ever walked, cycled or driven, ete 4. Time onder according to the time they got up this morning, or the time they went to bed lst night othe time they started work, or their favourite time ofthe day, ete 5 Spelling order according to long words they know. Give each student a letter of the word you ‘want to revise and ask them to sort themselves ‘out into the correct order to spell the word. Here's a selection of words you might want to revise from Unit 1: colleague, exercise, fashionable, neighbour, signature, technique, et. 6 Word order according to a sentence with atleast eight words int. Give each student a word ‘and ask them to sort themselves out so that the sentence makes sense, 3 Battleships Aim Torevise vocabulary. Preparation Each stuclent will need two grids of 10 squares across and down (see below). Graph paper is ideal for this activity Procedure Demonstrate the activity by drawing a blank grid fon the board. Think of a word or words you want to wevise and write them onto a different grid on a piece of paper, but do not tll the students what they are yet. You should write the words horizontally, one letter per square, as shown below. piy|ilaimials | [ tive gitovies alr(e lilo [s[s Teli [o the [s | 12345678 9 10 ‘+ Now tell the students that there are some words hidden in the grid. Explain that they need to find the squares with letters in them, Tell them to guess squares by giving letter and number references. For example, C-2, F-10, -4 etc. When a student ‘guesses a square with a leter in, write the letter in the square--They can guess a word when they think they know what itis. Continue like this until they've found al the words. ‘+ Now ask the students to work in pairs. First, they should draw two grids. One of them should remain blank, and on the other they need to write down, six words, but without showing their partner, Either you can let the students choose their own ‘words from the ones they've learnt recently, or else you can give them a topic. For example, write six nationalities / jobs / classroom objects / weather conditions / animals. ‘+ When they've written their words, tell the students to take it in turns to name a square on their partner's ‘grid. If there's a letter in the square, their partner should say what the letter is and they should write it in the blank grid. ‘+ Assoom as they think they know their partner's word, they can guess. If it's wrong, they miss a tum, 4 Category dictation Aim This activity can be adapted to review almost any vocabulary It can also be used to review certain ‘pronunciation and grammar points, Preparation ‘Choose the language you want to review and devise a ‘way of categorising i into two or more categories. Procedure ‘Write the category headings on the board and ask the students to copy them onto a piece of paper. Two simple categories is usually best. More than three can get complicated. Then dictate the words (10-12 maximum) slowly and clearly, and ask the students to write them down in the correct category. * For exaniple, you want to revise jobs from Unit 6, your categories nllght be jobs you do inside and jobs ‘you do outside. So, write the following on the board land ask the students to copy it down. * Then dictate the words: e.g. a farmer, an archaeologist, 4 surgeon, an au pair, ave, etc. The students write down the words in the correct category. When {you've dictated 10 or 12 words, ask students to ‘compare their lists. When they've done this, ask them to call out their answers and write them on. the board in the correct category, so that they ean check the spelling. Alternatively, you could ask the students to take iin turns to write the answers on the board, ‘= Here are some more ideas for categories: 1 Revise family words, (Unit 1) Suggested categories: Male or Female, Have ot Don’t have (this will obviously lead to different answers for each student). 2 Revise adjectives to describe places. (Unit 2) Suggested categories: Positive or Negative, Can describe where we are now or Can't describe where 3. Revise past tense forms. (Unit 3) Suggested categories: Regular or Irregular, Past {orm the same asthe infinitive (eg. beat /beat, hut it et /set, ete.) oF Past form different from the infinitive (eg, choose chose, forget forgot, ride/ rode, ete.) 4 Revise sports. (Unit 5) Suggested categories: Sports with a ball and ‘Sports without a ball; Sports you play in teams and Sports you play individually: Spots you use ‘go with or Sports you use ‘play’ with 5 Revise parts of the body (Unit 9) Suggested categories: Abooe the wast and Below the waist, or You have one ofthese and You have foo ofthese 5 Mill drills Aim To provide controlled practice of new language in a drill-ike way and to give students the opportunity torepeat the same language with several different partners Preparation Organise your classroom so that the students can move around and speak to-one another. Prepare one prompt card for each student inthe class. The prompts will slepend on the language you want to practise. (See below for examples of cue cards.) Procedure ‘+ Tell the students that they're going to spend 10 to 15 minutes practising the new language, and that you're going to demonstrate this. ‘+ Give one card to each student in the class, and keep one for yourself, Write a sample dialogue on, the board. Point to the part ofthe dialogue to be supplied by the picture or word prompts on the card. For example: Sample dialogue side2 onboard ‘a a te Sample dialogue ‘on board A [aoe + Explain thatthe language will change according to the prompt on the card. Show the students how to hold their cards. This is important because cards rust be held in sich a way that when the students are talking to a partner, they're both able to see each. other's cards. ‘+ Choose a confident student to demonstrate the activity with you. Then ask two or three pairs of students to demonstrate the dialogue. ‘+ Askall the students to stand up and to go round the class or group, repeating the dialogue with as many different partners as possible, and using their cards as prompts. ‘+ Stop the activity after a few moments and ask the students to either exchange cards with another student, or turn their card around so that students get the opportunity to make new responses. 6 Five favourites Aim ‘This activity is good for revising any words learnt recently, Preparation None Procedure ‘Students look back through thei lesson notes for the last two weeks and select from the words they've recorded five words that they think are particularly useful. They compare their list with a partner and. together they produce a common list of five words. from the combined list often. To do this they'll have to argue for and against words on the combined list tuntil they are both satisfied that they have the mést ‘useful five. If you wanted to continue the activity, ‘you could ten have each pair join up with another ppait as a group of four and repeat the procedure, Depending on the sizeof yout class, you might continue until you had established a list of “five favourites’ for the whole class. ‘© ‘The value of this activity lies in the students looking back through their notes, choosing the words and then arguing for them to be part of the combined list, The whole procedure gives them valuable repeat exposure to words recently learned + A possible extension activity after each pair has formed their common list of five words is to collect the lists and redistribute them so that each pair has a different list. The pairs then write a dialogue or short story incorporating the five words they have fn the lst they've just received. You could then ask them to read out their dialogues or stories and the other students guess what the five listed words 7 Crosswords Aim This activity is good for revising lexical sets and can. help with spelling, Preparation Choose a lexical set you want to revise. For example, places ina city (Unit 2, office equipment (Unit 6), schoo! subjects (Unit 8), food (Unit 10), animals (Unit 11), ete Procedure ‘+ Students work in pairs. They'll need a piece of papat, preferably graph paper with squares on. Choose a topic, for example, schoo! subjects. ‘© Student A writes ‘Across’ words, and Student B ‘writes ‘Down’ words, ‘It’s good idea to provide the first word across, and ‘make sure that isa long one. Student B then adds another school subject down the paper from top to bottom. This word must intersect with the school subject written across the page. ‘© Student A then writes another school subject across that intersects with the school subject Student B has ‘written down, Students continue taking it in turns to write in their words, ‘Students build up a crossword until they can’t think fof any more school subjects. (You could make it {nto a game by saying that the last person to write a school subject is @ winner) Note that students must leave a one square between each word ~ this is why its better and clearer to use squared paper. 8 Odd one out Aim This activity can be used to revise almost any language. Preparation. ‘Think of the vocabulary, pronunciation or grammar point you want to revise. Procedure Write five words on the board andl ask students ‘which one is the odd one out. The students then explain why: This is usually relates to the meaning of the word. pink red dog blue yellow Here dg is the odd one out because it’s an animal The other words are colours Note that it ddesn’t matter if the students can’t explain in perfect English why dog is the odd one out. The important thing is that they're looking at and thinking about the words you want them to ‘You can use this format to practise and revise all sorts of things. Here are some examples: 1 For meaning sister / nephew / daughter / wife / mother nephew is the odd one out because he's a man. ‘The other words describe women, 2 Forspelling: ppen / book / bag / phone / diary diary is the odd one out because you spell the plural ies. The other words you just adds 3. For pronunciation: sounds AIT/H/J/K Tis the odd one out because the vowel sound is different. 4 For pronunciation: stress hospital / banana / potato / Italian / computer hospital isthe odd one out because the stress is on the first syllable. The other words have the stress on the second syllable. 5 Forcollocation: do or make your homework / the washing / an appointment / a training course / the shopping ‘a appointment isthe odd one out because you "use mate. For the others you use do. 5 For grammar cash / credit card / cheque / coin / note shtis the odd one out because itis uncountable you can’t say «cash. All the other words are countable, ‘You should tell the students what the criteria i, Sr example ‘think about meaning’ or ‘think about Se sounds’. To make the activity a little more “Gallenging, instead of writing the words on the ‘Beard, you can dictate them, As a follow-up, ask the “Seecents to write their own odd ones out, 9 Making sentences Aim This activity is god for revising any type of vocabulary Itworks best ifthe words are a fairly random selection and not part ofa tight lexical set. Preparation Choose 12 words you want to revise and write them in a circle like a clockface) on the board. Procedure ‘© Students work in pairs. They choose two or more of| the words and try to make a sentence with them, Example sentences: My brother is doing yoga in the park. ‘The snowoboarder ents organic vegetables on Friday 1 saw an ambitious puppy inthe canal with a blue neck blue eae ee roo Pa " pened cr e an ets pt park ‘+ ‘Thestucents then read out their sentences and you, connect the words they have used on the board. You can correct the grammar as necessary (or you can make it more difficult for the students by only accepting grammatically correct sentences). It doesn’t matter how bizarre the sentences are, the ‘important thing is that students spend time looking at and remembering the vocabulary. ‘© Ifyou write the words and draw the connecting lines on an OHP transparency, you can show it to the students a few weeks later and see if they remember the sentences they wrote. 10 Random letters Aim ‘This activity is good for revising any type of vocabulary. Preparation None Procedure + Ask the students to call out any seven letters from the alphabet. (It doesn’t have to be seven letters anything between seven and twelve is fine.) Write the letters scattered on the board. ‘© Then ask the students in pairs to think of a word. beginning with each letter on the board. The most “obvious criteria is to revise words from a specific lexical set that you have taught recently, e.g obs, clothes, fod, animals, ete. Alternatively, you could simply ask them for words they've noted down in lessons over the past two weeks. + Another possibility would be to find the most interesting words they can from the Student’s Book ‘unit that you've just finished. Ifthe lexiat set you ‘want them to revise is particularly rich, you could. ask the students to think of as many words for each letter as they can in say three minutes: make it into a contest to find the most words. + There are lots of possible variations using different criteria for words from the letters on the board. Here are a few: 1 Use the same criteria as above but ask the students to think of words ending with the letter fn the board 2 Ask the students to write only nouns, or Adjectives or irregular verbs or some other part of speech. 3. Ask the students to write only words with three syllables or words with the same vowel sounds. 4 Ask students to write only words that start with the same letter in their own language or only words that start with a different letter. 5 _Askstudents to think of words that can combine tomakea coherent sentence, e.g, Basil likes selling Christmas trees at weekends. Accept only ‘grammatically correct sentences no matter how bizarre they might be. Anecdote tasks New Inside Out Pre-intermediate includes a number of ‘extended speaking tasks, where stuclents tackle a longer piece of discourse, We've called these ‘Anecdotes’. They are based on personal issues, for instance, memories, stories, people you know. When you learn a musical instrument, you can’t spend all your time playing scales and exercises: you also need to learn whole pieces in order to see how music is organised. Anecdotes give students a chance to get to grips with how discourse is organised. We have found the following strategies helpful in getting our students to tell their Anetdotes. 1 Choose global topics that everybody can relate to (One ofthe main objectives of an Anecdote isto encourage students to experiment with and hopefully {grow more competent at using language at the more ‘demanding end of their range. It therefore seems only fai to ask them to talk about subjects they know something about. With familiar subject matter students can concentrate on how they're speaking as well as what they’te speaking about, The nine Anecdote topics in New Inside Out Pre-ntermediate have been carefully selected to appeal tothe widest range of students, whilst atthe same time, fitting in tothe context ofthe unit Unit 1 | Somebody who is portant to you Unit2 The best place you have ever visited 'A present you bought for somebody ‘Your experiences of sport at school A person you know with a good job | Unit Your favourite subject at school Unit 10 | The fitest/healthiest person you know Your pet ora pet you know | ‘The most incredible building you've | “Unit 11 Unit 12 [Assoon as you have got to know your students well tenough, you'll be able to choose other Anecdote topics suited to their particular interests and experiences. 2. Allow sufficient preparation time ‘Students need time to assemble their thoughts and think about the language they'll need. The Anecdotes are set up through evocative questions. Students read ot listen toa planned series of questions and choose ‘what specifically they'l talk about; shyer students can avoid matters they feel are too personal, This student preparation is a key stage and should not be rushed. Research, by Peter Skehan and Pauline Foster among, others, has shown that learners who plan for tasks attempt more ambitious and complex language, hesitate less and make fewer basic erors. ‘The simplest way to prepare students for an Anecdote is to ask them to read the list of questions in the book land decide which they want to talk about. This could bbe done during class time or as homework preparation for the following lesson. Ask them to think about the language they'll need. Sentence beginnings are provided in the Student's Book to give the students some extra hhelp. Encourage them to use dictionaries and make ‘notes — but not to write out what they'll actually say. Finally, put them into pairs to exchange Anecdotes. + A variation isto ask the students to read the questions in the book while, at the same time, listening to you read them aloud. Then ask them to prepare in detail for the task, as above. “Alternatively, ask the students to close their books ~ and. then to close their eyes. Ask them to listen to the questions fas you read them aloud and think about what they evoke, Some classes wil find thisa more involving process. It also allows you to adapt the questions to your class: adding ‘new ones or missing out ones you think inappropriate ‘Affe the reading, give them enough time to finalise their preparation before starting the speaking task, 3 Monitor students and give feedback It's important for studeni?to feel that their efforts fare being monitored by the teacher. Realistically, it's probably only possible for a teacher to monitor and _give feedback to one or two pairs of students during ‘each Anecdote activity. I's therefore vital that the teacher adopts a strict rota system, and makes sure that ‘everyone in the class is monitored over the course of 4 term. Constructive feedback helps students improve their delivery 4 Provide a ‘model anecdote’ T's always useful for the students to hear a model "Anecdote at some stage during the Anecdote task cycle. The most obvious model is you, the teacher. Alternatively, you might ask a teaching colleague for friend to talkto the students. For every Anecdote ‘activity in New Inside Out Pre-intermediate there's a ‘mode! listening on the CD with an accompanying task ‘in the student's book. 5 Repeat the same anecdote with a new partner at regular intervals Consider going bic to Anecdotes and repeating them infater dase Let the students know tht youre BON todo his Ths wil eanurethem tat youre doing item purpose, but more inporaty wil mean at they be more motivated fo dese some tine and though to preparation When you repent the ask, mi theclassothateach student work witha new pane, ie one who has not previously heard the Anecdote, In our experience, most students are happy to listen to their partner’s Anecdotes. I, however, any of your students are reluctant listeners, you might think about giving them some sort of ‘listening task’. Here are three examples: + Ask the listener to tick the prompt questions that the ‘Anecdote teller’ answers while telling the Anecdote + Ask the listener to time the ‘Anecdote teller’ In Teaching Collocations (page 91) Michael Lewis suggests reducing the time allowed to deliver the Anecdote each time i's repeated: for example, in the first instance the student has five minutes; for the second telling they have four minutes; and the third three minutes. + Ask the listener to take brief notes about the Anecdote and write them up as a summary for homework. Then give the summary to the “Anecdote teller’ to check, ‘The pedagogic value of getting students to retell Anecdotes ~ repeat a ‘big chunk’ of spoken discourse ~ cannot be over-stated. Repeating complex tasks reflects real interactions. We all have our set pieces: jokes, stories, and we tend to refine and improve them as we retell them. Many students will appreciate the opportunity to do the same thing in their second language. Research by Martin Bygate among others has shown that given this opportunity students become more adventurous and at the same time more precise in the language they use. You can also use the Aneedates to test oral proficiency and thereby add a speaking component to accompany the tests in the Teacher's Book, Key concepts in New Inside Out The following excerpts are from An A-Z of ELT by Scott Thornbury (Macmillan Books for Teachers, 2006). They give clear authoritive definitions and explanations of some of the most important concepts in New Inside Out. Contents ‘+ classroom interaction + collocation + communicative activity + context . + drill a + dynamics: group, classroom + fluency + focus on form + function + grammar teaching + learning-centred instruction, tearning-centredness «+ learning style « listening + motivation + noticing + personalization + practice + pronunciation teaching + reading + speaking + task + vocabulary teaching = writing Note: SLA = Second Language Acquisition Scot Thornbury classroom interaction METHODOLOGY Cassroom interaction isthe general term for what goes on betiveen the: people in the classroom, Particularly when it involves language. In traditional Enstooms, most interaction is initiated by the teacher and leames either respond individually, or in unison. Teacher-centred interaction ofthis kind is associated with fsmisive teaching, such a8 8 lecture or presentation, where the teacher tis the content of the lesson tothe Teamers. In order to increase the amount of student involvement and interaction, teacher-leamer interaction is often combined with pairwork and groupwork, where Tearners interact among. themselves in palrs oF small groups. Other Kinds of interaction include ringing milling, Pairwork and groupwork are sociated with a more leamencented approsch Rather than pasively receiving the lesson content, the learners ae actively engaged in sing language ani ascovering things for themselves, The value of pairwork and groupwork has been reinforced by the elit that interaction facilitates language learning. Some would go as fara to say that I is all that is requ The potential for classroom interaction is obviously constrained by such factors as the numberof students, the size of the room, the furniture, and the purpose ‘or type of activity: Not all activities lend themselves to pairwork or groupwork. Some activities, such as reading, are best done as individual work. On the other hand, listening activities (such as listening to fan audio recording, orto the teacher) favour a whole class format, as do grammar presentations. The whole class is also an appropriate form of organization when reviewing the results of an activity, as, for ‘example, when spokespersons from each group are. reporting on the results of a discussion or survey. ‘The success of any classroom interaction will also. depend on the extent to which the learners know what they are meant to be doing and why, which in turn depends on how clearly and efficiently the interaction has been set up. Pair- and groupwork can bbe a complete waste of time if learners are neither properly prepared for it, nor sure of its purpose or outcome. Finally, the success of pairs and groupwork will depend on the kind of group dynamics that have been established. Do the students know one another? Are they happy working together? Do they mind working without constant teacher supervision? Establishing a productive classroom dynamic may involve making ecisionsas to who works with whom. Itmay also mean deliberately staging the introduction of different kinds of interactions, starting off with the more controlled, teacher-led interactions before, over time, allowing learners to work in pairs and finally in groups. collocation VOCABULARY IF two words coloat, they frequently occur together. ‘The relation between the words may be grammatical, fas when certain verbs collocate with particular prepositions, such as depend on, account for, abstain rom, or when a verb like male, take, odo, collocates With a noun, as in make an arrangement, take adsuntage, do the shopping. The collocation may also be lexical, as when two content words regularly co-occur, as in 1 broad hint narrow escape (but not wide hint or "a tight scape). The strength of the collocation can vary: a bron stret ora narrow path are weak collocation, since both elements can co-occur with lots of other words: 1 broad rider, a busy street, ete. Broad hint and narrow scape are stronger: Stronger still are combinations Where one element rarely occurs without the other, as in moot point, slim pickings and scot free. Strongest of all are those where both elements never or rarely ‘occur without the other, such as dire strats and spick ‘an span. These have acquired the frozen status of fixed expressions Unsurprisingly, learners lack intuitions as to which words go with which, and this accounts for many fervors, such as You enn completely enjoy it (instead of thoroughly), On Saturday we made shopping (instead of went), and We went the incorrect tay (fr wrong). Using texts to highlight particular collocations, and teaching new words in association with their most frequent collocations are two ways of approaching the problem. Nowadays lamers’ dictionaries, such asthe Macmillan English Dictionary for Advanced Learners, also include useful collocational information, ‘communicative activity METHODOLOGY ‘A communicative activity is one in which real ‘communication occurs, Communicative activities belong to that generation of classroom activities that emerged in response to the need for a more ‘communicative approach in the teaching of second languages. (In their more evolved form as tasks, communicative activities are central to task-based earning). They attempt to import into a practice activity the key features of ‘real-life’ communication. “These are ‘+ purposefulness: speakers are motivated by a ‘communicative goal (such as getting information, making a request, giving instructions) and not simply by the need to display the correct use of language for its own sake ‘+ reciprocity to achieve a purpose, speakers need to interact, and there is as much need to listen as to speak + negotiation: following from the above, they may need to check and repair the communication in order to be understood by each other ‘+ unpredictability: neither the process, nor the ‘outcome, nor the language used in the exchange, is entirely predictable + heterogeneity: patticipants. can use any communicative means at their disposal; in other words, they are not restricted to the use of a pre- specified grammar item. And, in the case of spoken language in particular ‘+ synchronicity: the exchange takes place jn real time The best known communicative activity is the information gap activity. Flere theinformationnecessary to.complete the task is either in the possession of just (one of the participants, or distributed among them. In order to achieve the goal of the task, therefore, the learners have to share the information that they have. For example, ina desrite-and-draw activity, one student has a picture which is hidden from his or her partner. The task is for that student to describe the picture so that the partner can accurately draw it. Ina spot-te-liference task, both students of a pair have pictures (or texts) that are the same apart from some minor details. The goal is to identify these differences. In a jigsaw activity, each member of a group has different information. One might have a bus timetable, another a map, and another a list of hotels. They have to share this information in order to plan a weekend break together. Information gap activities have been criticized on the grounds that they lack authenticity. Nor are information gap activities always as productive as ‘ight be wished: unsupervised, leamers may resort to communication strategies in orcer to simplify the task. Amore exploitable information gap, arguably, is the one that exists between the learners themselves, Je, what they don't know ~ but might like to know = about one another (-+ personalization). context LINGUISTICS, ‘Thecontext ofa language tem isits adjacent language items. In the absence of context, itis often impossible to assign exact meaning to an item. A sentence like Bon takes the bus to work, for example, could have past, present, or future reference, depending on the context: I know this chap called Ben. One day Ben takes the bus to work, and just as Most days Ben takes the bus to work, but sometimes he rides his bike If Ben takes the bus to work tomorrow, he'll be late, because there's a strike Likewise, a sentence like You use it like this is ‘meaningless in the absence of a context. By the same token, a word or sentence in one context can have a very different meaning in another. The sign NO BICYCLES in a public park means something different to NO BICYCLES outside a bicycle rental shop. It is sometimes necessary to distinguish between different kinds of context. On the one hhand, there is the context of the accompanying text, sometimes called the co-fext. The co-text of this sentence, for example, includes the sentences that precede and follow it, as well as the paragraph of which it forms a part. It isthe co-text that offers clues as to the meaning of unfamiliar vocabulary in a text The situational context (also context of situation, ‘context of use), om the other hand, is the physical and temporal setting in which an instance of language use ‘occurs. The typical context for the spoken question Are you being served? is in a shop, for example. Both co-text and context influence the production and interpretation of language. Discourse analysis studies the relationship between language and co- text, including the way that sentences or utterances are connected. Pragmatics studies the relationship between language and its contexts of use, including the way meaning can be inferred by reference to context factors. : Various theories have been proposed in order to account forthe ways that language choices are determined by contextual factors. One of the best known of these is Michael Halliday’s systemic functional linguistics. Halliday distinguishes three variables in any context that systematically impact ‘on language choices and which, together, determine a texts register: ‘+ the field: what the language is being used to talk about, and for what purposes ‘the fenor: the participants in the language event, and their relationship ‘+ the mode: how language is being used in the ‘exchange, eg is it written or spoken? For example, this short text shows the influence of all theve factors Do u faney film either 2nite or 2more? Call The field is ‘making arrangements about leisure activities’, hence the use of words like film, 2nite (Gonigl), 2moro (tomorrow). The tenor is one of familiarity and equality (accounting for the informal fancy and the imperative: call me); and the mode is that of a written text message, which explains its brevity its use of abbreviated forms (u, 2nite) and the absence of salutations. A change in any of these contextual factors is likely to have a significant effect con the text. Language learners, it is argued, need to know how these contextual fctorscorrelate with language choices inorder to produce language that is appropriate tothe context, One way of doing this is to ask them to make changes to a text (Such as the fext message above) that take into account adjustments to the field, tenor, or mode, drill merHopoLocy ‘A drill is repetitive oral practice of a language item, whether a sound, a word, a phrase or a sentence structure. Drills that ae targeted at sentence structures are sometimes called pattern practice drills Drills follow a prompt-response sequence, where the prompt usually comes from the teacher, and the students respond, either in chorus (a choral dri) or individually. An imitation drill simply involves repeating the prompt, a in: ‘Teacher They have been watching TV. Student They have been watching TY. A substitution drill requires the students to substitute ‘one element ofthe pattern with the prompt, making, any necessary adjustments They have been watching TY, They have been watching FV. ‘Teacher Student ‘Teacher She Student She has been watching TV. ‘Teacher 1 Student Ihave been watching TV. etc. A variable substitution drill is the same, but the prompts are not restricted to one element of the pattern: ‘Teacher They have been watching TV. Student They have been watching TV. ‘Teacher She Student She has been watching TV. ‘Teacher radio Student She has been listening to the radio. Teacher We Student We have been listening to the radio. ete Drills were a defining feature of the audiolingual method, and were designed to reinforce good language ‘habits’. The invention of language laboratories allowed sustained drilling without the reed for a teacher to supply the prompts. With the demise of audiolingualism, drilling fell from favour. However, many teachers ~ even those who subscribe to a communicative approach ~ fee! the need for some form of repetition practice of the kind that drills provide. This may be for the purpose of developing accuracy, or as a form of fluency training, ie, in order to develop automaticity. Hence, communicative drills were developed. A communicative drill is still essentially repetitive, ‘and focuses on a particular structure or pattern, but ithas an information gap element builtin. Learners ‘ean perform the drill in pairs, or as a milling activity (G+ classroom interaction) and they are required to attend to what they hear as much as what they say. The milling activity popularly known as Find someone who ... is one such activity. Students are set the task of finding other students in the class who, for example, can ride a horse, can speak French, can play the guitar, etc. They mill around, asking questions of the type Cant you ...? until they have asked all the other students their questions, and then they report their findings, dynamics: group, classroom METHODOLOGY Dynamics are the actions and interactions, both conscious and unconscious, that take place between members of a group, whether the whole class or sub-groups. Group dynamics are instrumental in forging a productive and motivating classroom environment. They are determined by such factors as; the composition of the group (including the age, sex, and relative status of the members, as well as their different attitudes, beliefs, learning. styles and abilities); the patterns of relationships between members of the group, including how well they know each other, and the roles they each assume, such as group leader, spokesperson, etc; physical factors such as the size of the group and the way it is seated; and the tasks that the group are set, eg Does the task require everyone to contribute? Does it {encourage co-operation or competition? Are the goals of the task clear to the group members? Ways that the teacher can promote a positive group (and class) dynamic include + ensuring all class or group members can see and each other's names eepifig groups from getting too big ~ three to:six members is optimal setting ~ or negotiating - clear rules for groupwork, such as using only the target language, giving everyone a turn to speak, allowing individuals to ‘pass’ if they don't want tosay anything too personal using “ice-breaking’ activities to encourage interaction, laughter, and relaxation ‘ensuring that group tasks are purposeful, interactive, and collaborative personalizing tasks, ie, setting tasks that involve the sharing of personal experiences and opinions defining the roles and responsibilities within the group, and varying these regularly, eg by appointing a different spokesperson each time ‘monitoring groupwork in progress, and being alert to any possible conflicts or tensions between members, and reconstituting groups, if necessary discussing the importance of groupwork with learners, and getting feedback on group procestes cy SLA IF someone is said to be fluent in a language, or to speak a language fluently it is generally understood that they are able to speak the language idiomatically and accurately, without undue pausing, without an intrusive accent, and in a manner appropriate to the context. Infact, research into listeners’ perceptions of fluency suggests that fluency is primarily the ability to produce and maintain speech in real tine, To do this, luent speakers are capable of + appropriate pausing, ie © their pauses may be long but are not frequent © their pauses are usually filled, eg with pause fillers like erm, you know, sort of © their pauses occur at meaningful transition points, eg at the intersections of clauses or phrases, ather than midway in a phrase ‘+ long runs, ie, there are many syllables and words between pauses hear one another, and that they know (and use), Allof the above factors depend on the speaker having, 4 well-developed grammar, an extensive vocabulary, and, crucially, a store of memorized chunks. Being able to draw on this store of chunks means not having to depend on grammar to construct each ‘utterance from scratch. This allows the speaker to devote attention to other aspects of the interaction, such as planning ahead, Speakers also use a number of ‘tricks’ or production strategies to convey the illusion of fluency, One such strategy is disguising pauses by filing them, or by repeating a word or phrase. Some proponents of the communicative approach redefined fluency so as to distinguish it from accuracy. Fluency came to mean ‘communicative effectiveness’, regardless of formal accuracy or speed of delivary. Activities that are communicative, such as information-gap activities, are said to be fluency- focused. Thsis the case even for activities that produce short, halting utterances. Separating accuracy and fluency, and defining the latter as communicative language use, s misleading, though. There are many speech events whose communicativeness depends fon their accuracy. Air traffic contro talk is just one. Moreover, many learners aspire to being more than merely communicative. Classroom activities that target fluency need to prepare the learner for real-time speech production, Learning and memorizing lexical chunks, including useful conversational gambits isone approach. Drills may help here, as will some types of communicative activity that involve repetition, Research has also shown that fluency improves the more times a task is repeated. Fluency may also benefit from activities that manage to distract learners’ attention away from formal accuracy so that they are not tempted to slow down. (Thishas been called ‘parking their attention’) Some interactive and competitive language games have this effect. Drama activities, such as roleplays, recreate conditions of real-time language use, and are therefore good for developing fluency. Finally, learners can achieve greater fluency from learning a repertoire of communication strategies, ic, techniques for getting around potential problems ‘caused by a lack of the relevant words or structures. focus on form sta When learners focus on form, they direct conscious attention to some formal feature of the language input. The feature may be the fact that the past of has is had, or that enjoy is followed by verb forms tending in -ing, or that adjectives do not have plural forms in English. The learners’ attention may be self- directed, or it may be directed by the teacher or by another learner. Fither way, it has been argued that a focus on form is a necessary condition for language learning. Simply focusing on the meaning of the input is not enough. Focusing on form is, of course, rot anew idea: most teaching methods devote a ‘great deal of time to the forms of the language, eg when new grammar items are presented. But the teem focus on form captures the fact that this focus can, theoretically, occur at any stage in classroom instruction. Thus, correction, especially inthe form of negative feedback, is a kind of focus on form. In fact, some researchers argue that the most effective form focus is that which arises incidentally, in the context ‘of communication, as when the teacher quickly elicits a correction during a classroom discussion, This incidental approach contrasts with the more traditional and deliberate approach, where teaching is based on a syllabus of graded structures (or forms), and these are pretaught in advance of activities designed to practise them. This traditional approach is called ~ by some researchers ~ a focus on forms. function ticursrics The function of a language item is its communicative purpose. Language is more than simply forms and their associated meanings (ie, usage). It is also the communicative uses to which these forms and ‘meanings are put. These two sentences, for example, share the same forms, but function quite differently lin an email] Thank you for sending me the, disk {a notice in 3 taxi] Thankyou for not smoking. ‘The function of the first is expressing thanks, while the second is mote like a prohibition. Likewise, the same function can be expressed by differen forms: {a notice in a taxi] Thank you for not smoking. [a signin a classroom] No smoking. Thus, there is no one-to-one match between form and funetion. Assigning a function to a text or an utterance usually requires knowledge of the context in which the text is used. The study of how context and function are interrelate is called pragmatics. Communicative functions can be categorized very broadly and also at increasing levels of detail. The “big’ functions, or macrofunctions, describe the Way language is used in very general terms. These include the use of language for expressiee purposes (eg poetry), for regulatory purposes (eg, for getting people to do things), for interpersonal purposes (eg for socializing), and for representational purposes (eg to inform). More useful, from the point of view of designing language syllabuses, are microfunctions ‘These are usually expressed as speech acts, such as agrecing and disagreeing, reporting, toarning, apologizing, thanking, greting, et. Such categories form the basis of functional syllabuses, a development associated withthe communicative approach, They often appear fs one strand of a coursebook syllabus. Functions

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