www.frenglish.ru www.frenglish.ru OXFORD UN IV ERSITY PRESS Great Clarendon Street, Oxford 0x2 d p Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide in Oxford New York Athens Auckland Bangkok Bogota Buenos Aires Calcutta Cape Town Chennai Dar es Salaam Delhi Florence Hong Kong Istanbul Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Mumbai Nairobi Paris Sao Paulo Shanghai Singapore Taipei Tokyo Toronto Warsaw and associated companies in Berlin Ibadan o x f o r d and o x f o r d E n g l i s h are registered trade m a rk s of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries © Oxford University Press 2000 The moral rights of the author have been asserted Database right Oxford University Press (maker) First published 2000 All rights reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organization Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the ELT Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above You must not circulate this book in any other binding or cover and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer Photocopying The publisher grants permission for the photocopying of those pages marked ‘photocopiable’ according to the following conditions Individual purchasers may make copies for their own use or for use by classes they teach School purchasers may make copies for use by staff and students, but this permission does not extend to additional schools or branches Under no circumstances may any part of this book be photocopied for resale Illustrations by Margaret Welbank i s b n o 19 437173 Printed in Hong Kong www.frenglish.ru Contents Foreword ALAN MALEY Introduction Part One 1.1 How to use classroom English 1.2 Teaching classroom English Part Two 2.1 Starting the lesson 2.2 Pronunciation and repetition 2.3 Activities in class 2.4 Working alone and together 2.5 Boardwork 2.6 Working with books 2.7 Cassette recorder and video 2.8 Games and songs 2.9 Checking understanding 2.10 Classroom control 2.11 Teacher comments 2.1 Ending the lesson www.frenglish.ru Foreword There is a formidable range of materials published worldwide for teachers of English as a Foreign Language However, many of these materials, especially those published in English-speaking countries, assume that teachers using them will be working with smallish classes and have abundant resources available to them Also many, if not most, of these materials make implicit culturally-biased assumptions about the beliefs and values of the teachers and learners This situation is ironic in view of the fact that the vast majority of English as a Foreign Language classrooms not correspond at all to these conditions Typically, classes are large, resources are limited, and teachers have very few opportunities for training and professional development Also, the cultural assumptions of teachers and learners in many parts of the world may vary quite significantly from those of materials writers and publishers This book shows how, with no sophisticated materials or equipment, teachers can capitalize on the ways English can be used in the classroom to establish routines, give instructions, and evaluate performance Classroom language has the advantage of being a highly authentic use of language: there is a real communicative need for it It also allows for almost unlimited repetition in a natural context: classroom instructions are part and parcel of every lesson, so there is no need to invent contexts of use In this way the language gradually becomes absorbed unconsciously by the students Much classroom language can also be linked to actions, as in Total Physical Response: ‘open your books’, ‘get into groups of four’, ‘look at the picture’, etc This close link between saying and doing can help further strengthen the acquisition of language items Most importantly, however, the book offers a framework for teachers who may lack training and support The hope and expectation is that such teachers will begin by following the suggestions for using classroom English quite closely, but that, as their confidence and proficiency increases, they will adapt and add to their repertoire of classroom language This is an im portant book: one of the few attempts to address the problems of the 'silent majority' of teachers worldwide who have little or no training, and few resources to work with ALAN MALEY Assumption University Bangkok, Thailand www.frenglish.ru Introduction Who is this book for? Classroom English has been written to help teachers choose the right words and phrases when they want to use English to give instructions, ask questions, make comments in the classroom, and encourage their learners to respond in English W hen we began writing the book, we were thinking of the teachers we had trained to teach English None of them were specialist teachers of English, and most of them had few opportunities to learn and use English themselves They all taught learners who were beginners— either complete beginners or learners who were in their second or third years of learning English To help these teachers, we have tried to use easily understood English We have also tried to write the book as if we were talking directly to the teacher In this way, we hope the book will be friendly and easy to use What is in the book? The book is divided into two parts In Part One, there are two chapters about giving classroom instructions in English These chapters are not about the theory of teaching; they are about what you can in the classroom Then, in Part Two, you will find all the language you need to give the most common classroom instructions, ask simple questions, and make brief comments to your learners in English Also, where appropriate, we have added replies that you can teach your learners to use We have chosen the simplest ways of saying things To help you find the expressions you need, we have divided Part Two into sections, each containing a different type of classroom activity And sometimes we have added a ‘Language note’ to give extra help with words which we know cause problems How to use the book We suggest that you read Part One before you look at Part Two It may be very tempting to turn immediately to Part Two, but please don’t Part One is designed to help you use Part Two as well as possible Also, we suggest that when you have read each chapter, you stop and think about your classroom, your learners, and your teaching You could ask yourself if you already the things that we talk about If you do, then we hope that by reading about them you www.frenglish.ru will become even more confident If you don’t, then you could ask yourself which things would improve your teaching Then you could think about how to start doing them You will probably find it easier and better to change a few things at first, then gradually change a few more— and so on Changing everything at the same time could be very difficult for both you and your learners If you are teaching English for the first time, then we hope that Part One will help you make a good start Part Two, as we said, contains the most common classroom expressions in English which you will need with beginners By ‘beginners’, we mean learners in their first three years of learning English You can turn to Part Two whenever you need to, but we suggest that it will be most helpful when you are planning your lesson You will know the expressions you want to use and which of them you want to give in English, so you can turn to the appropriate sections to check on the correct expressions to use For example, you may want to use English to give the learners instructions about getting ready to use their coursebooks, so you would turn to Section 2.6, ‘Working with books’, and check that what you want to say is: ‘Take out your books, please’ and ‘Open your books at page , please’ You will see that some of the expressions have a word or phrase in brackets, for example, ‘Tell me in [the name of your language] what you have to do’ or ‘[Name], collect the books, please.’ Obviously, these are occasions when you would put in the words which you want to use You will also see that we have added the words ‘Teacher’ and ‘Learner’, or ‘Learners’, before some expressions This is to indicate where the learners need to give answers to the teacher’s questions Some expressions appear in two or more sections That is because we thought it would be easier for you to have all the language you need for a particular type of activity in one place This means that you don’t have to look through all the sections for the expression you want to use Finally, we want to remind you that these are all quite simple expressions As your learners become better at using English, you will be able to change some of the wording For example, you will be able to put some instructions together to make one longer instruction— ‘Take out your books and open them at page , please.’ So really, Part Two is a starting point for you It provides you with simple instructions in English that you can use with beginners If you are not very confident at first, this section will give you confidence You can start with a few instructions, then use more, until finally you begin to use instructions not given in this www.frenglish.ru Introduction book But please don’t confuse your learners with more instructions in English than they are ready for That’s all we want to say as introduction We hope that this book will help you in your work, that you will enjoy your teaching, and that your learners will enjoy learning English BRYAN AND FELICITY GARDNER www.frenglish.ru www.frenglish.ru Part One www.frenglish.ru How to use classroom English We thought it would be a good idea to start this book by looking at two basic questions you will need to ask yourself: ‘Why should I use classroom English?’ and ‘How much classroom English should I use?’ What we want to in this chapter is to put together the most im portant answers to these questions Many of you will have heard the answers before, but we hope that bringing them together here will be a useful reminder for you For those of you who are less experienced, we hope that this chapter will give you a good introduction to the topic For everyone, we hope that the chapter will help discussions in your schools Why should I use classroom English? Using English as much as possible in your classes will emphasize to your learners that the English lesson is very different from any other lesson in the school day It will help to maintain a good ‘English-speaking atmosphere’, and this will help your learners focus on learning and using the language Also, if you give them instructions, ask questions, and make comments in English, the learners will have to listen carefully to what you say all the time This will keep them thinking in English You only use a language well when you think in it and don’t have to translate everything in your head before you speak So it is important, from the early stages of learning, to avoid translation as much as possible and make the learners think in that language When you use classroom English, you are helping that process As well as listening carefully to you, the learners have to something in response If you say to a girl ‘Come to the board, please’, she has to leave her place and move to you This means that she is both thinking and doing something—in other words, she is an active learner To learn actively is better and more effective for the learner than learning passively (for example, when learners just sit and listen to the teacher) Active learning is better because it links words and phrases to actions, objects, ideas, and people in a strong and positive way This helps the learners learn and remember When you give an instruction or ask a question in English and the learners or say something in reply, they quickly realize that they can understand something in English This gives them a feeling of success and will help improve their confidence Remember how im portant a feeling of confidence is when you are learning a language Feelings of success and confidence will help your learners www.frenglish.ru Activities in class ‘Listen to me!’ ‘Everyone, | repeat after me.’ ‘Girls, ‘Boys, ‘[Name], ‘Take out your pens.’ ‘Take out your pencils.’ ‘Take out your coloured pencils.’ ‘Draw a picture of a(n) [object].’ ‘Colour the picture.’ ‘Copy these words into your books.’ www.frenglish.ru Activities in class ■ ‘Rule a line under the word [a word], please.’ ‘I want you to exercise six.’ ‘Answer the questions on page eight.’ le a rn e r ‘Please, will you repeat that?’ te a ch e r ‘Yes, certainly.’ ‘Do you understand what to do?’ ‘Don’t start yet.’ ‘You can start now.’ ‘Put your hand up if you Language note ■ ■ have haven’t finished.’ ‘Ruler’ is sometimes confused with ‘rule’: ‘ruler’ is a noun (for example, ‘Take out your rulers.’) ‘rule’ is a verb (for example, ‘Rule a line under your name.’) Remember ‘a car’ but ‘an orange’ When the noun begins with vowel we use ‘an’ 2.4 One learner www.frenglish.ru Working alone and together ‘I want you to work on your own.’ ‘[Name], come to the front, please.’ ‘Go back to your seat, please.’ Two learners (pairs) ‘I want [name] to work with [name].’ ‘Get into pairs.’ te a ch e r learn er(s) ‘Has everyone got a partner?’ ( o r ‘[Name], have you got a partner?’) ‘Yes’ o r ‘N o’ (oR‘Yes, I have.’ or ‘N o, I haven’t.’) ‘[Name] and [name], come to the front, please.’ ‘Go back to your seats, please.’ ‘Compare your answers with your partner.’ Three or more learners (groups) ‘I want you to work in groups of three four ‘Get into groups of five ‘This is group one two.’ people.’ ‘I want [name], [name], and [name] to work in group one.’ ‘Get into your groups now, please.’ te a ch e r learn er(s) ‘Is everyone in a group?’ ( o r ‘[Name], are you in a group?’) ‘Yes’ o r ‘N o’ ( o r ‘Yes, I am.’ o r ‘N o, I’m not.’) ‘Group [number], come to the front, please.’ ‘Go back to your seats, please.’ ‘I need a volunteer from each group to ‘Pick one person from your group to Language note 24 write the answers.’ draw a picture.’ ‘Work on your own’, but ‘Work in pairs / groups.’ 2.5 www.frenglish.ru Boardwork ‘Everyone look at the board, please.’ ‘[Name], come to the board, please.’ ‘Write [a word] on the board, please.’ ‘Draw a picture of [an object] please.’ I or ‘Put your picture on the board, please.’ 2.5 www.frenglish.ru Boardwork ‘Underline [a word], please.’ TkiS is a red awd 4^11 ow car ‘Thank you Go back to your seat, please.’ ‘Everyone, ‘[Name], read this word.’ ‘Say it again.’ ‘Everyone, ‘[Name], read these words.’ ‘Say them again.’ ‘Everyone, ‘[Name], repeat after me: [a word or phrase].’ ‘Copy these words into your books.’ ‘W hat is this word in our language?’ [the name of your language] ‘Do you understand?’ ‘Put up you hand if you don’t understand.’ Language notes 26 If your board is black you can say ‘blackboard’ If it is green or white, then you will find it easier to say just ‘board’ But you can also say ‘board’ for ‘display board’, so when you say ‘board’, you may need to point to the board you are talking about Remember, ‘Write on the board’, but ‘Write in your book’ 2.6 Getting books ready www.frenglish.ru Working with books ‘Take out your books, please.’ ‘[Name], give out the books, please.’ te a ch e r le a rn e r ‘Who hasn’t got a book?’ ‘I haven’t.’ ( o r l e a r n e r s ‘We haven’t.’) ‘[Name], share your book with [name], please.’ Looking at books ‘Open your books at page [number], please.’ ‘Turn to page [number], please.’ 2.6 www.frenglish.ru Working with books ‘Turn over, please.’ ‘Look at the picture, please.’ te a ch e r ‘Can you see le a rn e r ‘Yes, I can’ (or ‘N o, I can’t.’) ‘Yes, we can’ (or ‘N o, we can’t.’) learn ers a o r an [item in picture]?’ some [items in picture]?’ ‘Point to a [item in picture], please.’ ‘Point to some [items in picture], please.’ ‘Look at exercise [number], please.’ ‘point to Language notes Remember these combinations of verb and preposition: take out give out open at look at turn to point to turn over' fill in start at You can say ‘textbook’ or ‘coursebook’, but always say ‘dictionary’, not ‘dictionary book’ 28 www.frenglish.ru Cassette recorder and video Cassette recorder ‘Let’s listen to the cassette now.’ ‘Listen to the cassette.’ ‘Can you all hear?’ ‘Put up your hand if you can’t hear.’ ‘Stop talking and listen.’ ‘Listen carefully.’ ‘Did you hear th e ?’ ‘Listen again.’ ‘I’ll play it again.’ ‘Listen and repeat all together.’ ‘Listen and tell m e ’ ‘Listen and answer the questions.’ Video ‘Let’s watch the video now.’ ‘Watch the video.’ ‘Can you all see?’ ‘Put up your hand if you can’t see.’ ‘Stop talking and watch.’ ‘Watch carefully.’ ‘Did you see th e _ ?’ ‘Watch again.’ ‘I’ll play it again.’ ‘Watch and answer the questions.’ Language note 29 2.8 Games and songs Games www.frenglish.ru ‘Now we’ll play a game.’ ‘Get into two teams.’ ‘Guess what where who it is ‘Guess what’s missing.’ te a ch e r le a rn e r LEARNERS ‘Whose turn is it?’ ‘It’s mine.’ ‘It’s [name’s].’ ‘It’s OUrS.’ ‘Now it’s your turn.’ ‘It’s [name’s] turn now.’ ‘A point for team t w o ’ ‘This team has won.’ ‘Well done!’ team o ne n w -iw - Songs t e a m tw o m - (i/ ‘Now we’ll sing a song.’ ‘Let’s all sing a song.’ Language note ■ ■ ■ 30 Remember, ‘Guess what/ where/ who it is’, not ‘who is it’ Useful words and phrases for playing games: ‘winner’ ‘The next round.’ ‘loser’ ‘It’s a tie.’ Useful words and phrases for singing songs: ‘verse’ ‘chorus’ www.frenglish.ru Checking understanding te a ch e r le a rn e r ‘[Name], is that right?’ ( o r ‘[Name], is that right or wrong?’) ‘Yes, it is.’ o r ‘N o, it isn’t.’ ( o r ‘It’s right.’ o r ‘It’s wrong.’) ‘W hat is the right answer?’ ‘W hat you think?’ ‘Has anybody else got an idea?’ ‘Put up your hand if you don’t understand.’ le a rn e r te a ch e r ‘Please, I don’t understand.’ ‘W hat don’t you understand? Tell me in [the name of your language].’ ‘Tell me in [the name of your language] what you have to do.’ ‘[Name], tell [name] in your own language what you have to do.’ ‘Put up your hands if you know the answer.’ r = 1MCT via m | ir j 31 www.frenglish.ru Classroom control If things are going well in the lesson, it is a good idea to begin to use English for simple classroom control This is what this section is about— simple instructions for normal situations But if there is a disciplinary problem, your own language is more natural for you and for your learners It is also more forceful, and the learners will respond more quickly to it than to English In fact, it can make things worse if you try to use English Many of the instructions can be found in other sections, but we thought you would find it helpful to have them collected together in one section ‘Sit down, please.’ ‘Everyone ‘[Name] sit down, please.’ ‘Quiet, please!’ ‘[Name] be quiet, please.’ ‘Stop talking!’ ‘Listen carefully!’ ‘Listen to me [name].’ the tape.’ www.frenglish.ru Classroom control 2.10 ‘[Name], turn round, please.’ ‘Sit still, please.’ ‘Sit still and listen.’ ‘Sit still and listen to me [name].’ the tape.’ ‘Look at please.’ me, the board, ‘Are you ready?’ ‘Don’t start yet.’ ‘Start now!’ ‘Stop writing, working, what you are doing, please.’ ‘Stand up, please.’ ‘ [Name] stand up, please.’ ‘[Name] come here, please.’ ‘Hurry up!’ ‘Go back to your seat, please.’ ‘Be careful!’ ‘Don’t touch!’ 33 2.11 Teacher comments www.frenglish.ru We know that sometimes English teachers can be worried about what comments to make to their learners They don’t want to say ‘Good’ all the time, but they are not sure what else to use Often they will use ‘OK’—but that worries us because we know that it is poor example to give the learners It can make them very lazy witl their English if they start to use ‘OK’ all the time So this section will be different from the other sections It will give you several expressions which mean the same thing, so you have a choice Never say ‘Wrong!’ It sounds very harsh and does not help the learner to improve It will also damage his or her confidence ‘That’s not right’ means exactly the same as ‘wrong’, but it doesn’t sound as bad and the learner will find it easier to make another attempt Give the learner another chance by using ‘Try again’ We have placed the comments in groups ranging from the most tc the least positive Differences are shown by star ratings, like hotels, with the very best as five stars and the poorest as one star or nothing ★★★★★ ‘Excellent!’ ‘Very good!’ ‘That’s excellent!’ very good!’ ‘Very well done!’ ★★★★ ‘Good!’ ‘That’s good!’ ‘Well done!’ ‘Great!’ ‘Yes, that’s right—good!’ 34 www.frenglish.ru 11 Teacher com m ents -—» ■ —I — X ★ ★★ ‘That’s it!’ ‘Yes!’ ‘OK!’ (but please only use this occasionally to avoid lazy use by learners) To show improvement ‘That’s better!’ ‘That’s better—well done!’ To encourage progress ‘That’s nearly right— try again!’ ‘That’s almost right— try again!’ ★★ ‘Not quite right— try again!’ ‘Not quite right— will someone else try?’ ‘Not quite right! [Name], you try!’ ‘No— that’s not right Try again!’ ‘No— that’s not right Will someone else try?’ ‘No— that’s not right [Name], you try!’ Language note ■ Remember, ‘very good’, not ‘very well’ 35 www.frenglish.ru 2.12 Ending the lesson ‘This is your homework.’ ‘I want you to exercise nine.’ learn the song.’ colour the picture.’ draw a picture o f learn these new words.’ ‘Close your books, please.’ ‘Put your books away, please.’ or‘ [Name], collect the books, please and put them on my desk.’ 36