For a more intelligent review, see:
Aliens, Time Travel, and Dresden -Slaughterhouse-Five Part I: Crash Course Literature 212 https://youtu.be/F6g7S2W27Kc
Finished: A Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood....Review Coming Soon...Hopefully
So, this popped up in my twitter feed this morning:
As we near #Christmas, Christians reflect on the meaning of Jesus’ teachings of love, forgiveness, and caring for others.
They asked Trump which Bible verse inspired him. He chose an Old Testament verse Jesus spoke out against: “An eye for an eye,” reflecting his vengeful soul. pic.twitter.com/d9gIRYSD2I
The tweet is new, but apparently the news is old. I Googled it just now, and it looks like the quote is from years ago. But it also looks legit. This really is a real Trump quote.
And actually, a search through my own archives indicates I've used this before. It was in the context of an IELTS lesson, so I just prompted my students to discuss the issue, and didn't editorialize about it myself.
But, for some reason I never went on a rant about this before. So I'm probably overdue for a rant.
I complained way back in 2008 that the fact that this Bible verse keeps popping up as a conservative talking point indicates that conservative Christians aren't actually reading their Bibles. To quote myself from 2008:
Back in my Calvin days, I can’t tell you the number of times a conservative Christian would try and justify the death penalty to me by quoting from the Bible “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” It used to drive me crazy because (as anyone whose actually read the bible knows) Jesus specifically repudiates this in Matthew 6:43 “You have heard that it was said ‘Eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth. But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also….”
I’m digressing here I know, but this is one of my pet peeves.
Makes me absolutely furious how little Christians know about their own doctrines. I'd rant about itt more, but what can you do? We are living in times when things have gotten so stupid that it's almost a waste of energy to get outraged about things like this.
I guess we'll I'm on the subject, I might as well through in a link to GOP Jesus. Even though I know you've probably seen it already.
The joke has of course been done before. Al Franken riffed on this same theme with "The Gospel of Supply Side Jesus" in his book: Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them
(Travelogues)
I didn't have time to see any sights when I was doing the DELTA, So I just took out the camera to shoot some scenery around the school.
Apologies for this--this really should be one video. In the old days, I used to be able to combine these short videos together. But I lost my video editing software when the old computer died, and the current digital camera I'm using doesn't have editing software. So whenever I turn the camera off and on again, it becomes a separate video.
I have some time ago decided that George Orwell is my favorite author of all time.
I suppose then it's a little bit odd that I've been so slow to tackle his collected works. But I figure, there's no great hurry with these things. And why spoil it by rushing? Better to savor it by just reading a little bit of Orwell every so often.
At any rate, I've now read almost everything. 1984 and Animal Farm (these two in my youth, before I was blogging, so no review to link to). Keep the Aspidistra Flying, Homage to Catalonia, Collected Essays, Burmese Days, and Down and Out in Paris and London.
There are only a couple of books left actually.
Recently, I found Coming Up for Air at a used book sale, and grabbed it.
The Review
This is a short little book (247 pages). But there's a lot of themes in here to comment on. I'll try to divide my comments into sections, although there is some overlap.
Style and Narration
I've always loved Orwell's readable prose, that seems to just effortlessly carry the reader along. Even when Orwell is writing about something boring, his prose style makes me interested. This is true right from the beginning of the book, in which the main character is describing himself in the bath. Orwell can pull it off because he writes so well.
The style is first person narration.
Given how many of Orwell's books and essays are autobiographical (Homage to Catalonia, Down and Out) I thought for the first page or so that this was actually Orwell narrating. But although the narration style is 1st person point of view, the narrator is not Orwell himself, but the fictional character George "Fatty" Bowling. (Although he does share the same first name as Orwell--or at least he would, if George Orwell weren't actually a pseudonym for Eric Blair). According to Wikipedia:
A recent biographer, Michael Shelden, praised the "many passages of lyrical beauty, not unbecoming a novelist who once aspired to be a poet. The one serious defect in the novel is Orwell's attempt to be the voice of his narrator-protagonist. He does not make a convincing middle-aged, overweight, suburban-dwelling, low-brow insurance salesman, and the book is at its best when Orwell is 'out-of-character', speaking in a voice which is recognisably his rather than an imitation of 'Fatty' Bowling's."
I actually thought it worked. Mostly. Certainly Fatty Bowling is more intelligent than our stereotype of suburban insurance salesman, but then, maybe our stereotype is prejudiced. The book also explains that Fatty Bowling has had a literary background. (He had always been a reader, and had had a couple of years during the war when he was stationed out in the country with nothing to do, and educated himself by reading the classics.)
The only real problem is the problem with all first-person narration novels--separating Orwell's views from Fatty Bowling's. Mostly I assumed that Fatty Bowling's thoughts were also the thoughts of Orwell, but this can be dangerous.
There are a lot of serious and frankly depressing themes in this book (more on that below). But the narration style is frequently humorous or sarcastic. There's a lot of great sarcastic one-liners in this book. I couldn't possibly quote them all, but I'll give one below just to give you a taste:
Funny how we keep thinking about bombs. Of course there's no question that it's [the war] coming soon. You can tell how close it is by the cheer-up stuff they're talking about in the newspapers. I was reading a piece in the News Chronicle the other day where it said the bombing planes can't do any damage nowadays. The anti-aircraft guns have got so good that the bombers have to stay at twenty thousand feet. The chap thinks, you notice, that if an aeroplane's high enough the bombs don't reach the ground. Or more likely what he meant was that they'll miss Woolwich Arsenal and only hit places like Ellesmere Road [the street where the narrator lives]. (p.19)
That's typical of most of the book--Serious stuff, but the point is still made in a humorous way.
You'll also notice from the quote above that the narrator is already anticipating the outbreak of World War II. That's also another theme throughout the book.
Anticipating World War II
The book was published in 1939, right before World War II, and is an interesting time piece providing a glimpse of what people were thinking right before the war. According to this book, everyone knew the war was coming. Fatty Bowling narrates his thoughts while riding on a train and noticing a bomber airplane flying overhead.
One of the commercials cocked his eye at it for just a second. I knew what he was thinking. For that matter it's what everybody else is thinking. You don't have to be a highbrow to think such thoughts nowadays. In two years time, one year's time, what shall we be doing when we see one of those things? Making a dive for the cellar, wetting our bags with fright? (p17)
Passages like this, in which the narrator asserts over and over again that everyone knows the war is coming, are all throughout the book. Orwell (or Fatty Bowling) usually predicts the war will come in 1941, which struck me as prescient, until I remembered that 1941 was only the American entry. England actually entered the war in 1939, so it actually came sooner than Orwell thought.
The book also provides an interesting insight into the politics of England on the eve of the war.
Sometimes you read articles complaining that people weren't sufficiently outraged about what was going on in Germany before the war. But Orwell paints a picture of a society pretty worked up about it.
Orwell's narrator describes a lecture he attended:
...Of course he was pitching into Hitler and the Nazis. I wasn't particularly keen to hear what he was saying--get the same stuff in the News Chronicle ever morning--but his voice came across to me as a kind of burr-burr-burr, with now and again a phrase that stuck out and caught my attention.
"Bestial atrocities.... Hideous outbursts of sadism. ... Rubber truncheons. ... Concentration camps. ... Iniquitous persecution of Jews. ... Back to the Dark Ages. ... European civilisation. ... Act before it is too late. ... Indignation of all decent peoples. ... Alliance of the democratic nations. ... Firm stand. Defence of democracy. ... Democracy. ... Fascism. ... Democracy. ... Fascism. ... Democracy... ."(p.153)
What's interesting though (and this comes through a little bit in the passage I just quoted above) is that instead of being sympathetic to the anti-fascists, Orwell is mocking them. He views the whole thing as a type of group-think, where people just get together to mindlessly hate. Orwell even views the title "anti-fascist" as being ridiculous. To quote from the same page:
What's he doing? Quite deliberately, and quite openly, he's stirring up hatred. Doing his damnedest to make you hate certain foreigners called Fascists. It's a queer thing, I thought, to be known as "Mr. So-and-so, the well-known anti-Fascist." A queer trade, anti-Fascism. This fellow, I suppose, makes his living by writing books against Hitler. But what did he do before Hitler came along? ... But the grating voice went on and on, and another thought struck me. He means it. Not faking at all--feels every word he's saying. He's trying to work up hatred in the audience, but that's nothing to the hatred he feels himself. Every slogan's gospel truth to him. If you cut him open all you'd find inside would be Democracy-Fascism-Democracy (p.153-154)
If you've read 1984, these themes should be sounding familiar. (More on that below). Although I was surprised to find these critiques applied to the anti-fascists instead of to the totalitarian regimes themselves.
The meeting Orwell's narrator is describing is a meeting of the Left Book Club (W), and from reading Orwell's collected essays, I know the Left Book Club was a frequent target of his ire. Although I believe he was also a member, and they did publish a lot of his works. So I don't know what his exact relationship with them was. Maybe familiarity had breed contempt. Orwell had just grown contemptuous of the kind of mindless groupthink that occurred at these anti-fascist meetings, even if he knew they were on the right side of history.
(That's me being charitable, of course. The uncharitable explanation is that at this point in time Orwell wasn't taking the fascist threat seriously enough. But I got the sense from his collected essays--not to mention his own personal history fighting in Spain--that Orwell was always a committed anti-fascist.)
At the same time, however, Orwell's narrator does feel nervous about Hitler and Stalin.
He goes to talk to a classicist friend of his. (Classicist in the sense of someone obsessed with ancient Rome and Greece.). Orwell's narrator says that Hitler and Stalin are something that the world has never seen before, and expresses his fear for the future. The classicist says that nothing is new under the sun, and points out that ancient Greece had tyrants just like Hitler.
Orwell's narrator thinks to himself:
It's funny. I'm not a fool, but I'm not a highbrow either, and God knows at normal times I don't have many interests that you wouldn't expect a middle-aged seven-pound-a-weeker with two kids to have. And yet I've enough sense to see that the old life we're used to is being sawn off at the roots. I can feel it happening. I can see the war that's coming and I can see the after-war, the food-queues and the secret police and the loudspeakers telling you what to think. (p.166)
Orwell was right enough about the war coming of course. But what about the other stuff? Did life ever return to the way it was before the war? I'm not sure because I have no memory of what life was like before the war. Nor do most people nowadays. We certainly have some level of organized propaganda and government surveillance nowadays, but is this a change from before the war, or has it always been like this?
I suppose this gets into a larger debate--the debate people are always having about whether or not 1984 ended up coming true, and how much of it came true.
Which brings me to my next section...
Connections with 1984
Critic John Carey said of this book: "Nineteen-Eighty-Four is here in embryo. So is Animal Farm." (As quoted on the back cover of my paperback edition). Certainly a lot of the same ideas that would later pop-up in 1984 are in this book. Actually I've already referenced most of them.
The two-minutes hate, the empty slogan, and the duck-like men who give speeches in which they rhythmically quack empty slogans can be seen in the sections describing the anti-fascist meeting I described above. (Although, as I also noted above, it's ironic that all of this is being used to describe the anti-fascists instead of the fascists.)
The fear of a new world in which you're constantly being exposed to propaganda is in this book as well.
The protagonist in this book is middle-aged, just like Winston Smith. (Fatty Bowling is 45. Winston Smith was 39. Although Winston Smith's body was falling apart a lot more than Fatty Bowling who, aside from his false teeth, is relatively healthy for his age.)
The Nostalgia for Pre-War Small Town England
So, I haven't even gotten to it yet, but none of what I've been talking about so far are the main themes of the book.
The main theme is a comparison between the modern world, and the pre-war world that the character grew up in. (That's pre-war as in pre-World War I.)
A chance newspaper headline causes the narrator to start remembering his childhood, and a large section of the book is an extended flashback to him describing his childhood, and his childhood town.
There is an assertion that before the war, people lived a certain way, and that way of life is now gone forever. And that it's somewhat of a pity.
There's a lot of stuff in here, and it's probably no good me trying to summarize it. You really want to read the book to get the whole flavor of it. Orwell does a beautiful job of describing what it was like to be a boy in a small town before the modern world. He talks about fishing in the river, finding toads and birds nests, fighting with the other boys, playing tricks at school, et cetera.
It made me feel nostalgic for that life even though I never lived in England before the war.
What's interesting is that Orwell was lamenting the loss of childhood already in 1939--before air conditioning, before television, before ipads, before smart phones, and before Facebook.
I'm not sure what the lesson is. Perhaps the advancement of technology has now really ruined childhood in a way Orwell only vaguely saw coming.
Or, perhaps the lesson is that every generation is afraid modern technology will ruin childhood, and we should take these fears with a grain of salt. I don't know.
Orwell's character goes back to his small town to try to escape from modern life and regain some of the peace of his youth. Only to find that his small town has been destroyed by urban sprawl, the natural areas and fields have turned into suburbs, and there are too many people everywhere.
Here, I was immediately reminded of The Intellectuals and the Masses by John Carey. (Thank you again Whisky).
The premise of The Intellectuals and the Masses was that in the early 20th century, there were a lot of English writers complaining about how population explosion and urban expansion was ruining the English countryside. (Lady Chatterley's Lover , published 10 years earlier, also had a lot of passages talking about how the old town was being transformed by urbanization.)
In fact, I thought large parts of Coming Up for Air were sounding familiar, so I picked up my copy of The Intellectuals and the Masses, and sure enough, John Carey had summarized large sections of the plot in support of his thesis.
John Carey raised some interesting questions in his book about how fears of population explosion can lead (and did lead) to philosophies of population control or extermination. So there's obviously a dangerous edge here to all this. And yet, I find myself sympathizing with Orwell's lament about the loss of the small town.
The whole thing is a complex topic. I won't attempt to get into it all here.
Actually there's a lot of complex conversations that could be had. How much of the pre-war way of life was lost? And should it be lamented, or are we better off in the modern world? How much of this was unique to Orwell's generation, and how much of this sense of loss and childhood nostalgia is common to every generation?
Other Stuff
There's a lot of stuff in this book: Orwell's somewhat misogynistic portrayal of women, Orwell's narrator talking about how horrible World War I was, and trying to talk some men out of enlisting for World War II (different than the view you get in Orwell's essays, in which he views fighting against Hitler a necessity). Orwell's description of aging, and encountering his old girlfriend who is now middle-aged. Et cetera, et cetera.
This is one of those books that if I tried to write about everything in it, I'd be here all day.
And besides, what is the point of me spoiling everything? You'd be much better off picking up the book and reading it yourself. So I'll just end things here.
Background/ Why I Read This Book
So, I never heard of Edith Nesbit before. Maybe she's more well known in her native England than she is in America? Or is it just me? Did I just miss out, and everyone else knows about her?
I read her because I stumbled across her in a bookstore.
As usual, a lot of my reading list is dictated just by the limited selection of English books in Saigon. The bookstore doesn't have a lot of new releases, but it is stocked with cheap editions of Wordsworth Classics. And there's a whole row of them by E. Nesbit.
You can read about E. Nesbit (Edith Nesbit) on Wikipedia HERE. She lived from 1858 to 1924, and was a very popular children's author in her day. And also seems to have been a general all around interesting person. (co-founded the Socialist Fabian society, personal friends with Russian anarchist Peter Kropotkin).
She was a children's author, so presumably these books are not great literature in the sense of The Brothers Karamazov. But they are definitely old enough to be classics. Most of her books were published before World War 1.
I was looking for some light reading, and I figured I could justify reading a children's author if it also happened to be a classic book. There were several books by E. Nesbit on the shelves, but out of all the titles, The Enchanted Castle seemed to promise a magical immersive fantasy story, so I went with it.
The Review
The title is slightly misleading. I was expecting a fairy-tale esque medieval story about knights, princesses, dragons, fairy godmothers, and goblins. But it was nothing of the sort.
There are some magical elements to the story, but it is much more a "children getting into mischief" type story than it is a fantasy genre.
And the plot of the book revolves around the magic ring, not the castle. Really the book should have been called "The Magic Ring". (I actually strongly suspect that this was actually the working title, but then someone at the publishing house decided "The Enchanted Castle" would sell more books.)
Anyways, the book takes place during modern times. (Or what was modern times when this book was published in 1907. Nowadays I guess we'd call it Edwardian times.)
3 children are away from home on summer holidays, and with nothing else to do, they start exploring. (Shades of Narnia here.) This being England, there's an old castle in every town, and they soon stumble upon one on the outskirts of the town.
Throughout the book, there are some wonderful descriptive passages about the beauty of the castle gardens, both during the daytime and in the moonlight. (If you, like me, tend to read these kind of books to vicariously escape from the oppressiveness of city life, than you'll appreciate these sections.) But once the children remove the magic ring from the castle, much of the story actually takes place in their home or in the town. And in that respect, the setting is quite ordinary.
The plot of the book is episodic. The ring will create some sort of magic effect. The children will panic that their governess will find out about the magic, and work very hard to hide the magic from their governess. And then the magic will go away, and then something else magical will happen, and a new crisis will kick in.
The stakes are very low. Most of the time, the only danger is that the governess might find out about the magic ring. Very rarely are any of the characters in real danger.
At first, the ring turns the children invisible. There is considerable panic about how to become visible again. And then, eventually, the spell wears off. And then another child will put on the ring, and become invisible, and the panic will restart.
Later, the ring becomes a wishing ring. Although if you've read any of these types of stories before, you'll know that the magic wishing ring can't distinguish between real wishes and metaphorical uses of the words "I wish". And so the children are constantly creating problems for themselves by accidentally wishing for things they don't really want. This goes on for several chapters. (The children never really do gain control over their metaphoric speech, and are still accidentally wishing for things long after they should have learned not to.)
Again, all of this is episodic. The children will accidentally wish for something, panic that their governess will find out about the magic, work to hide the magic until the spell wears off, and then that's one crisis resolved, and another chapter ended. Until someone else will wish for something else stupid in the next chapter.
Because of the episodic nature of the book, and because of the low stakes throughout, it's hard to really get immersed in this story. But it is readable enough if you take it in small doses. And I was able to slowly chip away at it over multiple lunch breaks.
It wasn't a great book, but it had just enough charm for me to give it a cautious recommendation.
Finished: The Enchanted Castle by Edith Nesbit...Review coming at some point in the future, but a bit busy this week
Monday, December 10, 2018
Today in Hey! I know that Guy! Although in this since I'm stretching the definition of "know" to include "cyber-know". Stephan Hurtubise is one of the authors of The Ling Space. And he is a sometimes commentator on this blog, occasionally helping me work through my: Grammar Questions I Couldn't Answer series--see HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE.
I ramble on and get incoherent in this video, so perhaps I should supplement this with a written statement. I've been experimenting with video reviewing the past couple years. At first my original idea was that the video reviews would act as a supplement to the written reviews on this blog.
I've been finding, however, that the Youtube videos are getting more views and comments than the written reviews on this blog. I'm gradually coming to the realization that no one really reads blogs anymore, but everyone is on Youtube all the time.
It's nice getting a lot of engagement with my reviews, but I've been feeling guilty for some time about how lazy my Youtube videos are. I just turn on the camera, ramble, and then turn the camera off and upload the raw footage directly. But that doesn't mean I can't get better in the future, right?
But then, it occurred to me, I already had a scripted review already in the form of the written review I write for this blog. It wasn't a video script per se, but it was perhaps better than nothing.
My original thought was that for each new book review, I would film two videos--one in my normal free flowing rambling style, one reading out from the blogpost script, and see which one got more engagement. I was originally thinking I would do this going forward for all new videos, but then I got the idea to go back and do it for all the video reviews I've already done. After all, the blogpost is still there waiting to be used.
And then I got the idea to take all the book and movie reviews I've done over the years, and make videos out of them. Most of these old reviews are languishing in obscurity in my archives, so maybe I could breathe fresh life into them by putting them up on Youtube.
Now, not all of this old stuff is good. Many of my reviews in the early days were junk. But, for better or for worse, I tend to be a completist in these things. (Those of you who know me well already know about this personality quirk). Once I start a project, I don't like to leave anything out.
So, I'm going to go through and make videos out of everything. I'll start back with my high school reports, and then work forward in chronological order through college, and then through my early blogging days.
I'll also be posting the Youtube videos on this blog as I do them, which is why I'm writing a long explanation here. (To explain what is coming in the future). I've got hundreds of old reviews, so this project will take a long time. Plus, I'm anticipating that I'm going to be very busy this year, and won't have time to post regularly. So maybe it will take me a few years to work through my backlog. But that's okay. No hurry. This is just a hobby after all.
Why I Read This Book
So, I was in Chiang Mai airport (flying back from the DELTA) and the only - books I had with me were heavy reads. I usually get a headache on planes, so I wanted a light little read that wouldn't be too demanding for the journey.
The selection of English books at Chiang Mai airport was limited. There were a couple history books that caught my eye, but the price was a bit intimidating (1000 Baht. Roughly 30 dollars!) I decided to look for something cheaper.
There were several fantasy books. I've always had a soft spot for fantasy books, but one of the reasons I read so little of them is that it's almost impossible to pick up a fantasy book in bookstore that's not in the middle of an ongoing series. Sure enough, all the fantasy books I picked up and flipped through looked like they were part of a larger series.
...Except for this one, which as far as I could tell (by flipping through it in the bookstore) was a standalone book. I've never read anything by Robin Hobb before (although I vaguely recognized the name as an author I've seen on bookstore shelves before). There were references on the back cover to the Farseer Trilogy (which I've never read), but it seemed like an independent story.
(After having read the whole thing, I can confirm it does stand as an independent story. Although, after having done my Internet research--see Goodreads-- it appears that the Piebald Prince was first mentioned as a legend in one of Robin Hobbs early books. So this apparently is fleshing out a bit of backstory in the mythos of her fantasy world. But it can totally be read by someone like me who has no knowledge of any of her other books.)
The Review
So... this is a short little book. Only 159 pages. More of a novella really. I finished it before I arrived home.
There's not a lot to say about a short book like this, so I'll just make a few brief comments, and then call it a day.
This is a fantasy story, but that doesn't quite describe it, because fantasy stories can vary widely in tone from each other. I'd describe this one as "fairy-tale-esque". The basic beats of the plot, if you stripped it down, is actually very similar to something that would pop up in the Brothers Grimm. Robin Hobb isn't quite as bare-bones in her storytelling as the Brothers Grimm. Hobb's write more like a modern day novelist than a 19th century folklorist. And yet, there is an element of minimalism to her narration. Events are recounted from the perspective of a narrator remembering the distant past, not from the perspective of an omniscient author. So you don't feel like you're actually in the scene with the characters (as you do with most novels) you feel like you're listening to an old tale, and that helps gives it a fairy tale-esque quality.
It's probably best read without any spoilers, so you can enjoy the twists and turns of the story as they unfold. So probably best to stop reading here if you think you might read this book someday. I'd give it a mild recommendation. I wouldn't recommend anyone go out of their way to track down this book, but if it falls into your lap, it's an easy and pleasant enough story.
**** SPOILER ALERT ****
The book starts out with a romance between a strong-willed princess, and a shy stable boy. I'll admit to being a bit bored with the whole romance thing. It seemed sappy, and cliched. (This was the plot of The Princess Bride as well, wasn't it? Falling in love with the stable boy?)
But, the part with the princess and the stable boy only lasts for half the book. The rest of the book is what happens to their offspring, the Piebald prince. And I found this story interesting.
Other notes:
* There are some echoes of real history in here. The whole part about the Queen-in-Waiting refusing to marry, and the politics around this, reminded me of Elizabeth I. In fact, I suspect the echos are deliberate.
* There's some interesting elements of ambiguity in the narration. The narrator admits she doesn't know things. Some parts are speculation. Some parts are left up to the reader's imagination.
It never gets to the point where it is frustrating. (I dislike authors who don't provide emotional closure to the readers. But this isn't one of them. All the major plot points pay-off. There's just some mystery around the edge of it.)
* I like the way the conflict between King Charger and Lord Canny was set up. Robin Hobb did a good job of showing that neither one was responsible for the fighting between their men, but that the conflict just naturally escalated as one event just cascaded into another, and got out of their control. I think a lot of events in real history can be like that as well.
* None of the characters really get fleshed out in this book. Which is both a positive and a negative. I felt like I would have liked to know some of them better. But then, that's kind of the point. The book has a minimalist narration style. And it's really short and sweet. It's over before you know it.
Started...and Finished The Wilful Princess and the Piebald Prince by Robin Hood (A short little book. Bought it in the airport, and finished it before I got back home. Review coming soon.)
(Grammar Questions I Couldn't Answer)
I've written about Past Perfect problems twice before (HERE and HERE). But another grammar question has come up.
This one comes from a grammar worksheet gapfill on the past perfect. The students have to answer each gap with a form of the word in brackets either in the past simple or the past perfect:
I had been warned about the dangers in Peru, but no one (1/tell)______ me how incredibly beautiful it was.
The teacher scheduled to teach this lesson was asking around for the answer, and none of us could decide. Although looking at it now, it looks to me more and more like it should be past perfect.
Saturday, October 20, 2018
Announcement:
Heading off to do the DELTA. Probably won't post anything for the next 6 weeks or so.
My History With This Book
I actually bought my copy of this book back in 2010. It was one of the required textbooks for a course I was taking in English phonetics & phonology. (The other textbook was A Course in Phonetics by Peter Ladefoged.)
The professor for the course would assign chapters of Ladefoged and Roach each week, but the weekly reading assignments would be based on the course syllabus, and not the internal chronology of the books. Thus we read the books out of order.
Plus, I'm ashamed to admit it, but how well I kept up with the weekly readings varied from week to week. (I had the best of intentions, but I didn't handle the stress of grad school well. Sometimes the overwhelming amount of weekly reading made me so stressed out that I couldn't absorb any of it.)
But, on the weeks that I did keep up with my weekly reading, I was always glad of Peter Roach's clear and simple explanations.
I often felt very lost in that phonetics and phonology course. There were weeks when I felt like I couldn't understand anything the professor was talking about, and I was terrified that I was going to fail the course.
But then, when I sat down to read Roach, I felt like I could understand him. It gave me confidence that maybe I could actually understand this phonetics and phonology stuff.
There were also written practice exercises at the end of each chapter. (You could do the exercises, and check your answers in the back.) And when I did find the time to sit down and do the exercises, I felt they really helped me understand and consolidate the information.
I also used some sections of this book as an authoritative reference for some of the papers I wrote that semester. (HERE and HERE).
But I never actually finished this book cover-to-cover
However, because I felt that this was one of the few books that explained phonetics and phonology in a way that I could understand, I had always intended to one day sit down and read this whole book from front to back. Which is why I kept it with me all these years. Even though I have to purge 90% of my book collection every time I move countries, this was one of the few books I always made sure to keep with me in each of my moves.
And now, I've finally gotten around to reading it.
...actually, it turns out that this book is also part of the recommended reading list for the DELTA. Which I've been trying to work through.
And at my work we've started up a book club for the DELTA recommended reading list. After finishing Speaking by Martin Bygate last month, we sat down to choose the next book. And this is what the other members decided to choose. "Perfect," I thought silently to myself. "I already have a copy at home."
[Sidenote: There are several different editions of this book floating around. The electronic version on our school's computers is the 2nd edition. The hard copy in our school's library is the 3rd edition. The edition I have is the 4th edition. As a result, book club members ended up reading different editions. As far as we could tell, there were no substantial differences. Page numbers were different, but the basic content seemed more or less the same. When it came to the discussion at the end of the month, we all seemed to have absorbed the same information. Although granted we never did a thorough line-by-line analysis. But after reading this cracked.com article, "6 Disturbing Things I Learned Writing Your Textbooks" I've learned that changes in editions are often just excuses to sell new books with no substantial change in content. (See point number 1 in the article linked above). I suspect that's what's happening here. Although I could be wrong.]
Anyways, enough rambling about my history with this book. Let's get on to the actual review.
The Actual Review
Actually after all that build up, I really don't have too much intelligent to say about this book in the way of comments or critique.
What can you really say when reviewing a textbook? (And it's very evident that the primary purpose of this book is to serve as textbook for introductory level university courses on phonetics and phonology.)
Unless you have enough expertise to critique how the author handles subject matter (which I don't), you can't really say much more than "It was readable" and "It was informative".
And, for the record, this book was readable and informative. But that's about all the level of insight I'm able to give on this one.
So I'll just jot down a few stray observations, and then call it a day on this one:
* Some of this book covers the same ground as Sound Foundations by Adrian Underhill. But what's interesting about Peter Roach is rather than tell you what the facts are, he likes to tell you what the controversy is. Are /n/ and /ng/ variations of the same English phoneme, or two different phoneme? Are there clear rules about where syllables are divided? Do native speakers agree on how many syllables a word has?
Each chapter further ends with a "Notes on Problems and Further Reading", which further highlights how much uncertainty there is in this field.
I enjoyed learning about how many unanswered questions there were in this field. It was really interesting.
* There are written exercises and audio exercises at the end of each chapter. I tried to keep up with these for the first few chapters, but in the end I gave up. (It's just not convenient to read this book in coffee shops if you keep having to stop to do all the exercises. Maybe someday I'll give it a re-read.)
* Confession: I finished this book way back on August 14. I did the video review on August 24, but got distracted from writing this book review until now.
I hate to say it, but this book isn't as fresh in my mind as it was two months ago. The video review was done when this book was fresher in my mind (although as always, I got a bit rambling and incoherent on the video review.)
I'm going to have to call this good though. I've got to get ready for the DELTA from tomorrow, so this will have to suffice as a review.
Google Drive Folder HERE
Body Parts Flashcards: docs, pub
Body Parts Write the Words: docs, pub
Body Parts Wordsearch: drive
Wordsearch Answer: drive
Body Parts Crossword: drive
Crossword Puzzle Answers: drive
Google Drive Folder HERE
Slap the Board: docs, pub
Write the Answer: Yes it is, No it isn't: docs, pub
Crossword Puzzle Is it a... drive
Crossword Puzzle Answers: drive
Journal from my CELTA days--all names have been changed. Anything not relevant to the CELTA has been deleted Monday May 17th, 2010
... I had to go to La Trobe University in Melbourne for the CELTA interview.
Interview was about an hour. It consisted of a spelling and writing test (in which I was told I was a bit weak on my spelling, and to which I answered I was probably a victim of the word processor generation.)
She also asked me about my last name (something that occurs often here in Australia). "We get a lot of strange names, and we've learned sometimes people can be sensitive about it, but we figure with Americans it's okay to ask."
A spot had opened up for me, so I was able to enroll in the course. So it's a done deal now. One less thing to worry about.
...On the other hand, one more thing to worry about. I was told by the interviewer that CELTA courses are extremely stressful, much more stressful than a masters course is. It will consume all my waking hours during the month I take it, and there will be lots of homework that will keep me up late. And she said most people consider it the most stressful experience of their lives.
So, once I finish this semester, I'll rush right into another stressful situation. And I'll probably have the same problems with procrastination and not finishing homework.
Once this year is over, I expect I'll have a lot more gray hairs and lines around my eyes--sigh....
Sunday June 6, 2018
...Kevin and I stayed and talked for a little bit more, and then we went back ourselves.
Kevin reminded me we have a meeting for Celta on Wednesday night. "Ah, fuck, I forgot about that," I said.
Neither Kevin and I had bought the books or done the CELTA pre-tasks.
Wednesday, June 9, 2018
Met up with Kevin at shortly after 5, and walked down to the CELTA course.
(The course will be meeting in the city most days, so most days we won't have to go all the way down to their other Campus like we did for the interview).
Did CELTA from 6 to 9. This was the first class, sort of an orientation type thing before class starts for real next week Tuesday.
Lots of "get to know you" type stuff, so we got to meet our classmates.
CELTA classmates were a relatively small group (11 people total, including Kevin and I). Some a bit older (mid-50s), some around our age or younger. They all seemed to be local Australians. (Unlike my masters course, which is made up of mostly international students).
Kevin and I talked to a girl named Ladia.
Probably most of the people (or at least most of the younger people) in that class were taking it because they hoped to travel. Kevin and I talked to Dennis (who seemed about our age), who said he had been working as a printer for the last few years, just got sick of it, wanted to travel, and so quit printing as of last month and signed up for the CELTA course.
All in all, not terrible, even if the administration stuff that we had to do was a bit boring.
What I really begrudged the course was the 3 hours (plus walking time) out of my night which I needed to be working on the bilingualism paper.
Got back, stayed in the library till about 2:30, when they started making announcements that it was closing soon.
June 15th, 2010 Tuesday
First day of CELTA today.
I'm not really sure what I'm getting myself into with CELTA. One of my Melbourne Uni profs had warned me that CELTA was "pretty full-on" and I could expect it to take up all my time while I was doing it.
And the lady who admitted me into the course (who's also one of the tutors) took some trouble to impress upon me at the interview how stressful it was. "It's much more stressful than the master's course you're doing now," she said, "because it's so intensive. You can see from the schedule all the assignments we have due, you'll be writing just as much as you did for your masters course but all in a one month period. It will consume all your waking hours for the time you're doing CELTA, including evenings and weekends with the homework. We've even had people tell us that they've had life threatening experiences that are less threatening than CELTA."
On the other hand our other friends Katie and Diana, both CELTA veterans, have told us it wasn't that bad, especially if you have prior teaching experience. "Most of the people who are taking it have never taught before," Diana said. "So they're freaked out by the idea that they have to start teaching on the second day already. But if you're used to teaching it will be no problem."
Well, we'll see how it goes, obviously. Both Kevin and I are hoping for the less stressful option.
As Diana predicted, Kevin and I are some of the only people who have had classroom experience. Although I'm beginning to wish I had just lied about it and said I didn't have any experience because now the expectations are going to be higher. And to be perfectly honest, I'm not sure if I've gained much from the past 8 or 9 years of teaching. Much of that time was spent as an ALT, where I mostly just stood in the front of the classroom and watched what was going on or occasionally read aloud from the textbook. And the other part was spent at NOVA and Vision, where I mostly just had conversations with students, or taught groups of two or three people directly out of the textbook..
That plus my natural laziness and apathy meant that I never really worked too hard to prepare creative lessons. Plus my natural shyness meant I never really had much of a great classroom presence as a teacher.
So, after admitting to everyone that I have had some 8 years of teaching experience in Japan, I'm worried my lessons are going to suck the worst.
Plus, although the actual teaching might not be very intimidating, having all my classmates and CELTA tutors watch it will be. If there's one thing I really hate, it's being observed teaching.
At the very least, I did find the first day, and it's emphasis on practical teaching, a bit of a nice change of pace from all this research methodology we've been studying the past semester in my Master's course.
And I wish I could add, "and at least it's a fresh clean start." However because we've been busy finishing up our assignments from Uni, Kevin and I haven't bought the books or done the initial readings or homework assignments from CELTA. So we're going to be starting this course behind already.
Anyway, walked down to LaTrobe University, near Queen Victoria Market, about 15 minutes from my dorm room. Met Kevin there.
CELTA classes from 9 to 1. We had a mock Spanish lesson given to us by one of the CELTA instructors so we could feel what it was like to be language students.
Since, unlike back home, most Australians don't study Spanish in schools it was something they could get away with here that they probably couldn't back in the States. However since I never studied Spanish myself, once we got away from basic greetings I found I didn't know any more than my classmates.
Had lunch break from 1 to 2. Kevin and I and Dennis (a CELTA classmate of ours) went to the park nearby to eat.
After class, we had the first teaching session.
It is the first day, so we just watched the instructors teach. (We'll be teaching from tomorrow.)
In order to get enough students for us to practice on, CELTA had advertised free English classes, and had gotten people to sign up in advance. Therefore it tended to be mostly people here on working holiday.
There were about 5 or 6 Japanese students in our class. I was sort of tempted to show off my Japanese to them, but even after class I wasn't sure if it was appropriate to switch out of English, so I didn't say anything. It was only the first day though, so I might try and bring out the Japanese later in the course.
The first half hour, we were supposed to talk to the students and get information about them. We did this in two 15 minute sessions at different tables, so we didn't talk to all of the students. I talked to one table which had two girls from Taiwan, and a guy from Colombia, and then a second table with a lady from Brazil and a guy from Taiwan.
Then we just observed the instructor's lessons and made notes on it.
At the end of everyday day we need to get the instructor to sign our attendance sheet.
I'm teaching from tomorrow already (they don't waste any time getting us right into it here.) So I had to go home and make up a lesson plan.
Was in the library working on my lesson plan. And I was still trying to finish up my Grammar assignment for Uni.
Actually as for the Grammar assignment, despite the fact that I still had one more day on it I ended up just submitting the damn thing. It wasn't very good, but at this point I doubt if a few more hours on Wednesday night would have made that much of a difference, and I just wanted to be done with it.
I'll just really have to keep my fingers crossed the prof marks it generously.
Then I was up till 1 A.M. throwing together a lesson plan for CELTA.
Wednesday June 16th, 2010
CELTA from 9 to 5.
Talked to some of my classmates in breaks between classes. Was surprised at how well travelled many of them are. (Heard stories about travelling through Argentina, Europe, India, et cetera.) Hanging out with this English teacher crowd always makes me feel bad about how under-travelled I am.
In the afternoon we did our own lessons. I was part of the first group that taught. Sat through 3 of my classmates half hour lessons (which, I'll be honest, was pretty boring to sit through an hour and a half of.)
And then I taught mine.
Again, as one of the few people in the class with prior teaching experience, I did feel kind of pressured to do better than they did.
And I did, I guess. At the end of the day, after we had sat around and finished discussing how everyone's lessons had gone, the instructor said, "You all got satisfactory marks, except for Joel, his lesson was above satisfactory."
He then went on to say, "It wouldn't be above satisfactory for the final lesson. There were still some things to work on. But you showed a lot of confidence up there, you had a good classroom presence, and you had a clear command of the language you were teaching."
So, that was nice. Always good to be singled out for praise.
(I suppose given the fact that I'd had prior experience, this really didn't mean too much. But you take what little victories in life that you can.)
Thursday June 17th, 2010
CELTA again. Lectures in the morning, and then watched my classmates teach in the afternoon. (I wasn't scheduled to teach today).
Other than that, not much to report today. I'm teaching tomorrow, so I had to go straight home and worked on my lesson plan.
June 18th, Friday, 2010
Breakfast in the morning. (By the way, I've been waking up at 7:15 or 7:30 all week for this CELTA course. Which is quite a change from my previous schedule, but I'm adjusting quickly. When I actually do have a reason to get out of bed by a certain time, I can make do on a reasonable amount of sleep. The problem is just when I have the afternoon free that I tend to lay in bed for hours.)
Studied phonetic script in the morning at CELTA.
As my pronunciation was somewhat different than the rest of the class on certain words, I was briefly brought to the center of attention as my classmates all pointed this out to the tutor and asked what phonetics we use when they're are different dialects. The tutor tried to squash the discussion of this pretty quickly. "Look, I don't want to get into that, or we'll be here all day."
"And he says Melbourne with an R," says Kevin.
"I reckon he's just saying it right though, and we're all saying it wrong," Dennis said.
"We're Australians, surely our pronunciation must be the right one," another girl said.
"Look, I really don't want to get into this," the tutor said.
I had teaching in the afternoon.
My lesson went very well actually, and I got another above-standard mark with lots of positive comments.
I was very nervous before starting this course, but comparing myself to my classmates who have never taught before, it's amazing how much better I am.
It's interesting, because many of them are much more outgoing, more confident, more talkative, et cetera than I am. (And in some cases older and with more life experience than me.) But I guess I must have picked up all sorts of things subconsciously over the years without even realizing it, because I'm more comfortable teaching than they are, and my lessons run smoother than theirs. I suppose teaching, like anything else, is more of a learned skill than something people just naturally start doing.
Kevin and I are in separate groups for teaching practice. (He's in the upper-intermediate, and I'm in the lower intermediate.) But we compared notes later in the evening, and he had noticed the same thing. His experience in Japan has made him much better than his classmates, and he notices all sorts of things about effective lessons that they don't.
Still, I shouldn't jinx myself by saying all this, because you never really know how a lesson is going to go until you start doing it. I've been lucky to have smooth lessons this week, next week I might hit a few bumps.
But thus far, I've been the star of the class, and it's been nice.
The tutors announced after class that they were going to go to Ratissan hotel (where glasses of wine were being sold for only $2.50 during happy hour) and anyone was welcome to join them.
So a big group of us headed over, got a table, had some wine, and chatted.
Was sitting next to both of the course tutors at one point or another, and talked with them.
Because of my social awkwardness though, even as an adult I still feel awkward about talking to my teachers. The conversation went well when we actually had something to say, but during the silences I felt awkward about making eye contact.
Eventually though the tutors took off and left the rest of us there.
Saturday June 19, 201
Bit of a slow morning. In fact it was about 2 before I was really up and moving around.
Kevin and I had made it all the way through the first week of CELTA and still hadn't bought our books, so our plan was to buy them this weekend.
Because these were specialized textbooks, they were only sold at select bookstores. I didn't really have a clear idea of where these bookstores were and so, typical of me, I wanted to just rely on Kevin to suss everything out for me.
"Don't buy your books without me," I had been telling him all week. "Let me know when you're going to the bookstore, and take me with you. Or if you do go without me, buy two copies and I'll pay you back."
I don't know how many times I had said that to him over the week, and we had specific plans to meet on Saturday and buy the books together as well. But when I called Kevin up, we had already bought them.
Well it's fair enough I suppose. It's probably much quicker for him to bike over by himself and just buy his copies than to go through all the trouble of arranging a time and place to meet me first, and then walking down with me (I have no bike, so I'd have to walk).
Anyway, he gave me good directions, so I walked down and bought the CELTA books.
June 20, Sunday, 2010
Today was another one of my wasted days.
I had an assignment for CELTA due the next day. If I would have sat down and just hammered it out, it would have taken me 3, maybe 4 hours.
But instead I let it destroy my whole day. I would work on it for 10 minutes, get bored, go to the kitchen and grab something to eat, surf the internet for a half hour or so, and then try and get myself back into study mode, grab a cup of coffee, do another ten minutes of studying, and then lose interest and begin the cycle again.
As a result, I not only didn't get much work done on the assignment, but I didn't go out and have any fun either. I just let this little assignment destroy my whole day.
June 21st, Monday, 2010
Right, it's Monday again, so back into CELTA.
Today we had to observe lessons being taught in real classrooms by real teachers, so we had to go out to the Bundura campus of La Trobe University.
This was about an hour out of the central business district, so we all had to arrange rides over there.
Dennis agreed to pick Kevin and I up at 7:50 outside of Kevin's apartment. Since Kevin's apartment was about 20 minutes walk for me, to get their by 7:50 I woke up at 6:30 (I move slow in the mornings)which was pretty damn early for me since I'm still switching schedules. I never fully woke up all day.
Anyway, traffic was a bit jammed because of rush hour (and the morning fog). Dennis was a bit late picking us up, and the whole drive over we were worried we were going to end up arriving late, but we managed to make it in the nick of time.
We split into smaller groups to observe a 2 hour lesson. Kevin, Porcia and I went to observe the same lesson. (The teacher integrated us into it a little bit and had us talk to the students, but it was still a long 2 hours early in the morning without any caffeine).
The teacher was a veteran of CELTA herself. She asked us how it was going. Kevin and I said it was going alright, but the teacher warned us it gets more and more intense as it goes on. "By about the 3rd week, expect to have a couple people drop out, and at least one person burst into tears in the middle of the class," she warned us.
Rode back to the downtown campus for the afternoon.
Melissa and Kristy also rode back with Kevin, Dennis and I on the way back.
Kristy is actually from Mauritius. "I was really self-conscious about taking this course because of my accent," she said. "But now that your in it, I'm glad there's someone else here who speaks English with an accent."
"Oh no," I said, "I don't speak English with an accent, the Australians do."
I wasn't teaching today, so while my classmates were teaching, I was in charge of manning the video camera, and also taking notes for the peer reviews. (We've been having to do more and more peer reviews lately. I was assigned to take notes on Kristy's lesson and give her a peer review after it.)
For assignment number 3 in CELTA (due in a week or so) we have to interview and do a profile on one of the students, and I chose H- from Japan, in part because it gave me a chance to show off my Japanese if he couldn't answer everything in English.
He was eager to try, though, so I held off on my Japanese until the end, but then couldn't resist showing off a little. (I'll have to speak to him a few more times over the next week).
Kevin and I walked back afterwards. Got coffee and sweat breads in the Deli on the way back, and went to Safeway to do shopping. Parted company with him there.
Tuesday June 22, 2010
CELTA again.
It was my turn to teach.
Despite having what I thought was a less than ideal lesson, I continued to get positive feedback from the instructor (and from my classmates) and another above standard mark. (I don't think it's realistic to expect to continue to get above standards for everything, because the criteria gets more and more difficult for every week. Plus, as the instructor said, everyone has at least one bad lesson. Still, it's nice while the streak lasts.)
Went home. I should have been working ahead on my lesson planning to take the stress off of the following night, but I couldn't motivate myself to do anything productive, so I just wasted my evening on the internet, and then went to bed early.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
CELTA again. I wasn't teaching today, so just observed my classmates, and then gave peer-feedback to Porcia.
We switched tutors with the other group as of today. (They've got Alex now and we've got Betty.) Their style seems to be very different. She seems to be looking for different things, and perhaps a lot more critical. It'll be interesting to see how I do under her observation tomorrow.
We got our assignment one back. Everyone but George has to redo them.
Went back to the dorms.
Went to the library to write up my lesson plan for tomorrow.
Stayed in the computer lab till they kicked me out, and then went to the computer lab. Stayed their until shortly after one when I finished my lesson plan, and then went to bed.
Thursday June 24, 2010
My turn to teach again today.
I was a bit more nervous teaching under Betty, because I got the impression her eye was a bit more critical than Alex's. And she seems to be a lot more full-on, with a lot more things she wants us to put into our lesson like word stress and pronunciation drills with gestures. Some of this pushed me out of my comfort zone, and I felt awkward doing it.
It must have gone somewhat better than I thought, because in peer-feedback Melissa was assigned to me, and she had nothing but positive things to say. "I thought that was the best lesson in the whole class so far," she said. "In fact I can't even think of anything critical to say about it. It was just too good."
Betty, who overheard this, told Melissa, "Saying it's too good isn't good enough. Even good teachers want to know how they can improve." But Melissaa was unable to come up with anything.
I did, however, only get a "standard" on the lesson from Betty, breaking my streak of getting "Above Standards" for everything.
(To the best of my knowledge, Kevin and I are the only ones who have gotten "Above standards" at all, so "Standard" is pretty good.)
I think it was just mainly because Betty is more critical than Alex, and tends not to give out high marks easily. (Although Kevin was getting "Above Standards" under her last week.)
Friday, June 25, 2010
CELTA again.
Starting to feel really really tired these days. Staying up late working on lesson plans and waking up early is beginning to take it's toll. Even with the aid of a lot of caffeine I had trouble making it through the day.
At one point George even said to me, "Even you are starting to look tired."
"What do you mean even me?" I asked.
"Well you're still young and energetic," he said.
(George is in his 50s, so I'm young compared to him. There are a few other CELTA trainees who are a bit older as well--Porcia and Susan.)
We are going to be switching teaching groups soon, so in the afternoon George, Janet and I went to observe the other class.
It was interesting seeing how different the intermediate class was from what we're used to. But I still had trouble staying awake through it.
I mentioned to Janet how confident all the teachers from the other group looked. Janet was surprised I would say this, and told me I looked very confident when I was teaching.
Actually this is something many of my classmates have commented on, telling me I don't look nervous at all, and even asking me how I can stay so calm up front.
I must be hiding my feelings, because I feel very nervous teaching, especially when I'm being observed by peers and the tutor at the back.
(Update: I watched the video tape of myself teaching, and it's true I don't look nervous. It's funny watching yourself though, I don't look at all like I expected. If anything I look a bit too relaxed maybe. I should be using more energy in the classroom.)
At the end of the class, H-- gave me a letter he had written. (I need one piece of student's writing to analyze for assignment 3). And he talked to me a bit. His English isn't very good, but he's very friendly and eager to talk, which is good.
"How old are you?" he asked.
32, I told him.
"Me too. We're old men," he said.
I asked him how he had been able to do a working holiday in Australia if he was 32, and he said as long as you applied before you're 30th birthday you were okay.
After class Kevin walked back home with me. (Which was nice of him--he came on bicycle so he could have just cycled back.) We exchanged thoughts on how things are going, and what it was like switching tutors.
Interestingly enough, Kevin had gotten his first Standard mark under Alex, while I had gotten mine under Betty. We weren't sure if this was because we had switched tutors, or if the standards had just increased for week 2.
It was Friday night, but Kevin said he was going to go home and work on his homework for CELTA.
I really should have done the same thing, but realistically I knew I wouldn't go home and start cracking the books. "I'm too tired to do homework, but I feel too tired to go out," I said. "I'm not sure what I'm going to do tonight."
June 26, Saturday, 2010
...I went back to my room and tried to get some studying done for CELTA. (I have to write up a lesson plan and hand in another assignment by Monday. And I've got to get it done before Sunday night because I'm meeting Yousuke then.)
I got a bit done, started to get depressed, and so I figured I would go to the computer lab and work there to get out of my room.
The girl next to me was figiting around, and seemed to have just as much trouble concentrating on her homework as I was . I got the impression that she might be keen to talk if only I would strike up a conversation, but it still took me a couple hours to work up the courage.
Once I did start up a conversation though, she proved to be very friendly. In fact I felt like I hit it off quite well with her.
We talked about how much we both hated studying and being in the computer lab on a Saturday night. (Which is true. I really have been hating my life recently. I need a break badly.)
I suppose in keeping a long conversation going in the computer lab, I was a bit of a hypocrite, because I hate it when other people do that around me. But now that the semester has finished, the computer lab is just about empty anyway. Just a few people are there to watch videos or surf the net. She was there because she was a medical student and still hadn't finished all her exams. And I was there because I was doing the CELTA course.
Decided to take a break from the computer lab around 10:30, and, as so often happens, it ended up being the end of my studying for the night.
Sunday June 27, 2010
The afternoon was a bit stressful, because I had to plan a lesson for Monday, and also on Monday I had a written assignment due for CELTA.
Until 8 I tried to get some work done on my assignments in the school computer lab, but I'm just having a bugger of a time concentrating lately. I wonder if it might have been a mistake to do CELTA too soon after finishing 1st Semester, because I'm so burned out right now. Can't concentrate at all, and hate hate hate having to do all these papers.
In the end I just threw something together just so I could have something to hand in. I'm almost positive it's going to be flagged for re-submission. [Update: amazingly it passed.]
Monday June 28, 2010
CELTA.
I was teaching today.
Despite getting nervous and messing up a few of my lesson points, it went okay. I had a strong friendly beginning at any rate.
From tomorrow, we're going to be switching teaching classes, so people who had been teaching the advanced class (Dennis, Susan, Mandy) were observing to see how we dealt with the lower students. This meant observation groups were different from normal, and this was the first time they observed my lesson. Got a lot of praise from them, and in fact in the discussion afterwards the teacher used my lesson as a model for how to engage the lower students. "What class were the students most energetic?" she asked everyone afterwards. They all answered it had been mine. "Right, and that was because the activities had been very carefully scaffolded to build student confidence, and he used props to elicit all the language."
However I still got just a normal standard for the lesson. Which was fair enough, I knew I had stuffed up parts of it, and the tutor was most critical that I had drilled the sentence at the wrong place, and written it up on the board before I had practiced pronunciation. (As we are entering the 3rd week now the standards are higher and they are getting more and more nit-picky about these kind of things.)
After class, Janet and I are teaching a double class on Wednesday, so we had to prepare for that. And Dennis wanted my help going over his assignment.
(Dennis's been asking Kevin for help usually, but Kevin has been trying to get out of this lately so Dennis's started asking me. As someone without a strong language background, he struggles with some of the questions on the assignments even more than we do, and wants someone to talk them through with. )
My brain was fried so I found it difficult to do either. Janet and I agreed to postpone our discussion until tomorrow, and Dennis and I went out for a cup of coffee (which turned out to be a beer when it turned out we couldn't find any coffee places nearby) and I helped him with his assignment.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
CELTA
We had our individual consultations today.
Betty told me I was very typical of an ex-Nova teacher. I had a good classroom presence and good rapport with the students, but now I needed to learn how to handle language based lessons.
"But you've been using your previous experience to good effect, which is good," she said. "Not everyone does. You sailed through the first week because you already knew how to handle yourself in front of a class, but now the standards are going up, so keep working hard."
A little bit of drama in the afternoon, as some students tried to sneak into our English classes.
The lessons are free for students, but for some bureaucratic reason all the students have to be screened ahead of time, and there is a limit on how many can enter a class. The advanced class is already full, so some of the advanced students have been trying to sneak into the intermediate class for free English lessons, which our tutors are trying to keep an eye on. Apparently it happens every course.
There is one Korean girl in particular who has been kicked out of the class several times and keeps coming back. (Our tutors don't want her in the wrong class mucking up the prepared lessons.) The persistence with which she keeps coming back reminds me of Japanese stereo-types of Koreans as very aggressive when they want something.
Porcia was doing a reading lesson today on King Henry VIII and Katherine Howard. I found this pretty interesting (being more interested in history than in grammar) and so asked Olga for a copy of the reading in advance. Janet asked me if she could see it as well, but I insisted that it was my copy, and wouldn't let her see it. Throughout Porcia's lesson I would make comments about how interesting the story was, and that Janet was really missing out on it. This would become a running joke for the next few days.
After class, went back to the dorms.
Went to the computer lab to try and work on my lesson plan, but had trouble focusing. Could not seem to get more than 5 minutes of work done on the computer without spending 10 minutes surfing the internet. Eventually got so frustrated with myself I just decided to go to bed early and try and cope as best I could with an under-prepared lesson the next day.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Another day when we had to drive out to the Bundoora campus to observe lessons. So it meant we had to wake up at 6:30 again. (Which is a bit rough when you've been up late the night before preparing your lesson plan.)
Dennis swung by to pick up Kevin and me (This time making sure to allow ample time to avoid the white knuckle rush we had last week.)
Melissa, Mandy and I all ended up observing the same teacher.
He didn't know we were coming, and he was a bit under-prepared for the lesson. He explained everything instead of elicited it, and furthermore it was evident didn't fully understand the grammar himself and was explaining it to himself at the same time he was explaining it to the students. (I recognized this because I had done it myself many times in Japan.)
Mandy was pretty upset that he was so crap, but I actually took comfort in knowing a guy like that could get a job at a University. (He was just a recent CELTA graduate himself.) Gives me some hope for my future.
George, Kevin, Dennis and I all took the same car ride home. At one point in the ride, we realized that the 4 of us represented all the men in the CELTA course, and I said we should have spread ourselves out more carefully. If we got in an accident now, all the men would be wiped out in one blow.
Back to regular CELTA in the afternoon.
I taught my first lesson in the Upper intermediate groups (and got an above standard on it).
The upper intermediate group is a lot different teaching style than the pre-intermediates I've been teaching up until now. Mostly they are made up of Italians and Argentinians. (Although there are 3 or 4 Japanese students in the class, and some other assorted Asians as well.)
Because there are so few advanced English students in Japan, I've had very little experience teaching advanced students--some experience one on one in Nova, but never in front of a whole class all at once. It was an interesting experience, and the Italians and Europeans especially were so enthusiastic, and joked around with the language so much that I really had a good time teaching. (Aside from the nervousness of being observed while I was doing it.)
While some of the other tutors were teaching, I was talking to our Tutor Betty in the back. (Unlike Allen, Betty's pretty chatty in the back of the classroom, and will often just talk to us trainees while she's observing someone else's class, especially when the students are doing pair work or talking amongst themselves.)
"The thing is," Betty was saying. "These students have had just as much language learning time as the lower level students. It's not the amount of time they spend studying, it's that they're just better learners. Well, okay, the Europeans do have an advantage over the Asian students because the languages is so similar. But this group also knows how to employ language learning strategies. Did you notice the way that as soon as you taught them a new piece of language they were already using it to each other and trying to figure out ways to play with it? That's what upper language learners do.
"And," she continued, "they are all very outgoing people. And people who are naturally outgoing learn languages quickly because are using it all the time talking to people. Unfortunately that's a big disadvantage to some Asian students who are more reserved because of their culture. Dutch, Germans and Italians are so friendly they walk into a bar here and they just pick up Australian friends naturally. Where all my Chinese students are really struggling to make even one Australian friend.
"No," she corrected herself. "There not struggling to make Australian friends. That's the problem. They don't see the need to make Australian friends. They have to be home every night to call their parents, and their parents get really upset if they are out partying with Australians instead of studying."
I commented that this was certainly true of many of the Chinese students I knew at Unilodge, who were very difficult to have a conversation with even if I wanted to because they kept running back into their rooms.
Although that being said, many of them are quite outgoing and socialable as well, so it is difficult to make generalizations.
I also thought about how true Betty's comments on learning language had been for me. I had studied Japanese so hard, and had made some progress on it, but never got close to the fluency of people I knew like Eion or Adam who were just naturally outgoing and were practicing their Japanese in bars all the time.
"See, that's the key word right there," Betty said. "You were studying HARD. That's a sign you're on the wrong track. People who learn languages have fun with it, and use it to make friends with."
Anyway...
At the end of the day, all of us teacher trainees looked so exhausted Betty told us to just take the night off, relax, and get to bed early.
Since I wasn't teaching tomorrow, I decided to do just that.
Walked home with Kevin. We stopped for sandwiches in the Deli. Kevin actually then went home to work on assignment 3, but I decided to follow Betty's instructions and just relax for the evening.
Thursday July 1, 2010
CELTA.
We got our teaching assignments for the next day, and Janet and I were assigned to split up a lesson on relative clauses, plan it together, and then teach both halves separately.
I had a slight advantage in this because the textbook we used at Vision had a unit on relative clauses, and I had had the experience of teaching it before (and all that tricky stuff about when the relative pronoun is the object of the clause it can be omitted, but not when it's the subject).
Janet had no clue about any of this, and she was assigned to present the new language first. So she was really panicking about it. "Betty, I don't think I can teach this tomorrow," she said.
"Sure you can," Betty said, and deconstructed some sentences on the board, which only confused Janet further.
In order to give us extra time to do our assignments, we had the option of going home early today if we weren't teaching. So I did that, but Janet and I agreed to meet up again at 5:30 in front of the State library.
We did that. And then we decided to walk to a Starbucks where we could study.
On the way there, we ran into H-- and S-- (and their friend T--) from our pre-intermediate class.
Talked to them briefly.
Ended up at Starbucks, where I continued to try and explain the grammar to Janet.
As the conversation progressed, it turned out she didn't know the difference between a subject and an object, and had only vague ideas about what noun and verbs were. Which made it pretty hard to teach her about relative clauses, but I did my best.
"How in the world do you know all this stuff," she asked me at one point.
"Well, we Americans have an advantage over you Australians," I explained. "About 20 or 30 years ago, British and Australian schools decided that they didn't need to explicitly teach grammatical labels or forms to school kids because native speakers naturally spoke perfect English anyway. Now I think they've started to bring it back a little bit, but your whole generation went through the school system in Australia without learning anything about grammar. Whereas in American schools, we still study grammar pretty hard core. I spent 7th, 8th and 9th grade having to diagram sentences."
"Ah jeez, so that's it. You could have told me that at the beginning of our conversation," Janet said. "Here I've been just thinking all this time that I was just an idiot."
(My friend John (from England) had explained all this to me a couple years back. If I got any of it wrong, blame John)
Left Starbucks shortly after 8. Parted company at the state library. Walked back to the dorms.
I had the usual problems with focusing. After working in my room for an hour (and not getting much done) I went to the University computer lab to see if a change of scenery would help. I stayed until they kicked me out at about 2. (Still had trouble focusing on stuff, but got the lesson plan more or less done.)
July 2, Friday, 2010
Practiced grammar in the morning.
I've discovered that I know more grammar than most people in the course (with the exception of George, who at 51 was of the generation where they were still teaching grammar in Australian schools, plus worked as a German teacher for several years) so I'm having to resist the temptation to show off and be a know it all. (A bit of a weakness of mine whenever I discover I know more on a certain subject than someone else.)
I was paired up with Susan in the morning, and we had to look at a list of sentences that had grammar mistakes in it and analyze what the mistake was and why the learner made it. (Susan is in her 50s as well, but a bit shaky on grammar). We were going through them, and Susan complained that I was doing them too fast. I ignored this complaint, until she snapped, "Let me have a go! Just do them in your head for a while."
We also practiced drilling, and as part of which we had to walk around the room asking people where they were born.
I got Kevin with the old Groucho Marx gag. "Where were you born?" I asked.
"I was born in Townsend."
"I'm sorry."
"Townsend."
"No, I heard you, I'm just sorry that---"
"Oh you prick!" he said.
Janet was still panicking. We had some time to prepare before class, so I made another attempt to explain everything on the white board to her. I'm not sure if it helped or not, but she said it did. "You're going to make a really good teacher once you finish this course," she told me.
Taught the students in the afternoon. Janet went first and then I followed her up.
Janet actually did really well. And I was the one who ended up stuffing up the grammar explanation to the students. (I told them they could omit the relative pronoun when it was the object, but I forgot to add this was only in defining clauses, and so directed them to the wrong answer on the first question.) But the tutor didn't seem to notice or care that much, and both Janet and I (and George who taught after us) got above standards for the day.
Since it was Friday afternoon, those few of us who were left (people who weren't teaching today got the afternoon off) went out to Ratissans Hotel for happy hour.
Saturday July 3, 2010
I should have been working on my CELTA assignments, but I wasted most of the day.
For whatever reason. Even though I had slept in, I was still feeling lethargic and tired all day and couldn't motivate myself to do anything. Just more or less surfed the internet the whole day. Pretty pathetic.
July 4, Sunday, 2010
Another wasted day.
I had two CELTA assignments hanging over me all day (#3, which technically had been due on Friday but I got an extension on, and #4.) And I just couldn't seem to motivate myself to do them. So I sat in my room not doing them.
I did spend a couple hours in the computer lab, of which only half of which was spent doing my assignment, and the other half was spent surfing the net.
As a result, I neither did much productive this day, nor went did I do anything fun. My lack of ability to focus made it a completely wasted day.
Monday July 5, 2010
CELTA.
I exchanged weekend stories with everyone. A few people (like Kevin) had had weekends which were very similar to mine, which made me feel a little better. "I didn't go out and have fun, but I didn't get any work done either: it was the worst of both worlds," Kevin said.
Because I still hadn't done my assignment 3 yet, I finished it in the computer lab during lunch break.
Went home, and worked on my lesson plan till late as usual. And then bed.
Tuesday July 6th, 2010
Did my lesson and got another above standard.
Went home and had to finish up my assignment 4 for CELTA.
Wednesday July 7th, 2010
Had a brief talk about EAP (English for Academic Purposes) in the morning. "Melbourne is the EAP capital of the world, so it's only appropriate we talk a little bit about it," said the tutor.
Before lunch we had some time to prepare our last lessons. I was logged onto the computer, and Janet wanted to know how she could get on to the computer even though she had forgotten her login address and password. I gave her a couple tips (told her her password would be her birthday, just like everyone elses, and her login ID would be the same as everyone elses with just the last 2 numbers changed.) Eventually Janet went off to see if she could find some more help.
She came back with Susan, and Susan just let Janet log on under her name and password. "See, someone is trying to help me," Janet said. Trying to make me feel slightly guilty that I hadn't thought to log in Janet under my password. (And indeed, the thought didn't even occur to me.)
As of today, people are beginning to teach their final lesson. Kevin was one of the people already finished, so he and some others went to the pub once we finished classes for the day.
"You could at least wait until the rest of us are gone before you organize this," I said to Kevin. "Now I'm going to be at home tonight typing up my lesson plans and just thinking to myself that Kevin's at the pub now."
Oh well, just one more day and I'll be done with my last lesson as well.
Up till around 1 a.m. preparing my lesson. Just stayed in the computer lab the whole time and worked straight on through.
Thursday July 8, 2010
Last CELTA teaching practice.
The tutor had encouraged me to do an original reading from an authentic text. So I had prepared a selection from one of my favorite books, "For Whom the Bell Tolls" (something I had a bit of fun putting together.)
Porcia and I were teaching in our group today. She couldn't make up her mind if she wanted to go first or last.
Initially she said she wanted to go first and just get it over with. Then yesterday she said she wanted to go first, unless she didn't get all her notes written in time, and then she wanted to go last. "Oh no no no no no," I said. "I don't want to change anything at the last minute. I don't want to find out suddenly I'm going first. You can go first or last, but whatever we decide we need to stick to it."
She said that she would go first then.
Later, I felt bad about this. Porcia was really struggling in this class, and I was breezing through it, so it was unfair of me to be so strict with her. Plus she was much older than me (in her late 50s) so I should have shown her more respect. So in the morning I double checked with her to make sure it was still okay if she went first. She said it was, but she was still typing up her notes at lunch and wanted to switch again. "Now, you want to switch now?" I said. "I was counting on that time to review my notes before I had to teach."
But once I left the computer lab I once again thought better of it. It would be selfish of me to force Olga to go first just so I could polish up an already finished lesson.
"If you really want me to go first, I can," I said.
"It just depends on if I finish this or not," she said.
"No, you've got to decide now."
"Oh, I really want to get it over with, but I'm not sure I'll be ready in time," she said. Eventually she decided, and I went first.
I did an alright lesson. It was fun to do a lesson based on literature. Interesting to do "For Whom the Bell Tolls" with students from Spain to see what they thought of it. I did unfortunately allow myself to get bogged down in some of the military vocabulary, and the lesson ended up having a heavy military focus. (So much for peace education in the classroom). But I got an above standard on it.
Porcia got a standard, which was usual for her, but she was somewhat depressed because she said, "I would have liked to get at least one above standard."
Kevin walked into the room and asked me how I did.
I'm actually of the old school where I believe you shouldn't talk about your marks to other students. Or at least not publicly. (Kevin and I have been comparing our marks after class, but not in the building.) However being asked directly about it, I saw no point in trying to be coy and just answered, "Above standard."
"You have a good chance of getting a CELTA A then," Kevin said.
"No, I don't think so," I said. "Betty told me they very rarely give those out. And she told me before I was about average for an ex-Nova teacher, so I don't think I'm in the running."
"But you got mostly above standards," he said.
"No, I got 2 standards I said." Kevin mentioned he had gotten 3 standards himself.
Porcia, who had never gotten above standard, was somewhat depressed to hear this. "Oh, you guys," she said. And I felt a little bit bad. And then the tutor Alex walked into the classroom, and I thought maybe Alex might have overheard us talking and thought we were picking on Porcia, and then I felt guilty about that.
Anyway, off to the pub in the evening to celebrate finishing CELTA.
The only one we could recruit to come with us was Charma (who had also finished today.)
July 9, Friday, 2010
Last day of CELTA.
At the end of the day we were going to put on a party for the students who had been coming to our class.
Those of us who were already done with our teaching were supposed to plan and organize it.
There was some confusion as to whether this meant we had to observe the last day of teaching practice.
Janet, who had to teach that day, thought it really wasn't fair that the rest of us got to get out of teaching observation to plan a party.
"The key is just not to think about it," I said.
"Yeah, I guess you're right," Janet said.
"So when you're in there teaching, try not to think about the fact that the rest of us are out having fun and going shopping for party supplies. Just try and wipe it from your mind."
"I should have known that was coming," Janet complained to the other people in the room. "After one month, I should be used to your humor by now. It's all sarcasm all the time."
During lesson prep time, Kevin, Melissa, Karen and myself, having no lessons to prepare, went out to do some shopping and eat some lunch.
We went to various places to buy stuff for the party. We still made it back to La Trobe University before 2, and it turned out we did have to watch the lesson practices. "You were free until 2 to plan the party," Betty said. "Did you think you had the whole day off? That wouldn't be fair if you were out at the pub while your classmates were teaching."
"It did almost seem too good to be true," I said.
So, we went and watched the last lesson.
We then brought the food into the other classroom, and all the students, both upper and lower groups, and us teachers, mingled together.
Lots of people had cameras, both teachers and students. And lots of pictures were taken.
We ended up at Radisssons again later for more drinks.
I think all of the teachers, and many of the students, came out for this. Although we began to gradually lose people as the night went on....
Celta Assignment 1
Section 1 Vocab
It’s a desk.
a). noun, elementary level
b). Tell students, “This is like a table. It’s wood, it has 4 legs, and you can put things on it. But it’s not for eating. You do writing or studying on this when you are sitting down on a chair. What is it?”
(Elicit “desk”.)
c). What is a desk used for? (“Writing” or “studying”.)
Where can you find a desk? (“School” or “study rooms”).
How many legs does it have? (4)
What do I use to sit down at it? (A chair)
d). /desk/
She suffers from claustrophobia.
a). noun, advanced level
b). If possible, elicit item by saying, “This is a fear of small spaces. Like if you’re crawling through a very small tunnel, and you get scared because you are in a small space where you can’t move freely, you might say, ‘I have…what?’”
However given the technical nature of this word, it might be necessary to pre-teach. Perhaps first teach that “phobia” means a fear, and then claustro refers to closed spaces, and try and elicit students to combine the word.
c). What kind of feeling does this describe? Is it a good feeling? (bad feeling, fear)
If you have this, what are you afraid of? (closed spaces)
d). ‘klɒs.trə’fəʊ.bi.ə
Section 2—Structures.
Oh, I was going to phone you last night.
a). Context: I would say to students, “Last night, I went home. I had decided to phone my friend. But I became busy, and I forgot to phone him. So I planned to phone him, but I didn’t phone him. Now, when I met my friend today, he asked me if I phoned him last night. I want to tell him that I had plans to phone him, but I didn’t. How can I say that?
b). Did I call my friend last night? (No, I didn’t.)
Did I plan to call my friend last night? (Yes, I did.)
c). Timeline
last night now
x planning to call x time I had planned to call X current conversation
d). Pronunciaton: was going to /wəzgəʊɪŋtə/
e). Form and concepts label: past progressive tense with going to: tense be verb (was, were) + going to+ base form of the verb to talk about plans or intentions that existed in the past.
f). And I was going to pay you back that money.
He’s been living in Melbourne for 6 months.
a). He arrived in Melbourne 6 months ago. He started living in Melbourne then. He is still living in Melbourne now. What can we say about him?
b). When did he start living in Melbourne? (6 months ago)
Is he still living in Melbourne now? (Yes)
c).
|started living in Melbourne Now|
XXXXXXXXXX6 months XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
d). pronunciation: he’s been living /hɪzbɪnlɪvɪŋ/
e). Present Perfect Progressive has/ have+ be+ verb-ing
When used with for or since, it describes an activity which took place in the past and is still continuing.
f). And he’s been working as a lawyer for 12 years.
Section 3—Functions
Oh, you must have felt embarrassed.
a). My friend was talking to me. He told me that yesterday he got to the check out counter, and then realized he had forgotten his wallet. When I heard this story, I was sure that he felt embarrassed at that time, so what would I say to him?
b). When did he feel embarrassed? (Yesterday)
How do I know he felt embarrassed? (Because of his story)
Am I sure he felt embarrassed? (Yes)
c). | past now|
X time of incident
d). Pronunciation: must have (or must’ve) /’mʌstəv/
e). Must + present perfect (have+ past participle)
“Must” expresses epistemic modality, referring to the speaker’s knowledge of the event. It means that the speaker is pretty sure something happened.
f). And you must have left everything there, right?
You should apply for that job.
a). You and a friend are looking at jobs. You see a job that you think would be good for your friend. You think it would be a good idea for your friend to apply for this job. What would you say to your friend?
b). Is it a good idea for your friend to apply for that job? (Yes)
Are you giving your friend advice, or information? (Information)
Is it for the past, present, or future? (Future)
c).
________________________| now___________________________________ |future
X when you are talking proposed action
d). Pronunciation: you should: /ju:ʃəd/
e). Should + base form of a verb
This represents deontic modality. It is used for giving advice.
f). And you should wear a tie to the interview.
Reference Material
An A-Z of English Grammar & Usage
Collins Cobuild Student’s Dictionary
English Grammar: An Introduction by Peter Collins and Carmella Hollo
Assignment 2
Text 3
I am working with a group of pre-intermediate learners. Many of them have fairly good receptive skills, but struggle to transfer these skills into production. They want to improve their English for daily communication in Australia. Some of them are interested in using their English skills in their future jobs.
As Scrivener points out, it is important to “grade the task, rather than the recording,” (Scrivener, 2005, p. 177). This means that any listening text can theoretically be used with any group of learners if the task is made appropriate for their level. However Text 3 is a text that can be understood by pre-intermediate learners because of the relatively simple vocabulary and sentence structure, allowing a variety of listening tasks to be used with it.
Task 1: Setting the context
The teacher will talk briefly about their last birthday to get the students thinking about possible birthday activities. Then the students will divide into small groups (2 or 3 people) and talk to each other about their last birthday. This will get students focused on the general topic, and get them to start generating some words or ideas which they might hear in the listening.
Task 2: Predict the specific content
As Scrivener suggests, getting the learners to start predicting the content is a good way to help the listeners understand the text. “Making a good prediction of the content or shape of a listening text will definitely help us to make better sense of it when it happens. Rather than having to start from scratch, the listening may fall into a neatly imagined framework we have already set out for it” (Scrivener, 2005, p.179).
Tell the students that the listening is going to be about someone’s birthday. Have the students make a list of words that they expect they will hear somewhere in the text. It is expected that students would probably predict words like cake, presents, candles, happy birthday, party, family, friends, old, et cetera.
Task 3: Listening for gist
Scrivener suggests that it is easier for learners to understand a text when they first are asked to get a general understanding of the text before they are asked to pick up specific details (Scrivener p. 179).
A general gist question here would be: “Was it a good birthday, or a bad birthday?”
Task 4: Detailed listening
Students listen to the text again, and this time answer more detailed comprehension questions. (See attached questions in the appendix).
In order to avoid confusion with questions phrased in the first person, tell the students that the story is being told by a character named Eddie, and then ask the questions about Eddie’s story in the third person.
As Scrivener notes, it is best to avoid overburdening students at this stage. “If you are asking them [students] to listen and write (e.g. note down names, times, etc.) then this is using two skills at once. Unless note-taking is a specific skill being practiced, it is often better to limit the amount of writing demanded of students, especially at lower levels” (Scrivener, 2005, p. 173).
In order to avoid forcing students to write while they listen, the detailed listening task will simple require the students to circle the correct answer from two choices. At the same time, however, this more detailed listening task will require the listeners to pick out several key segments from the listening activity.
It while however be a challenging activity for lower intermediate learners, because several of the answers are given in quick succession in the intermediate text, requiring the learner to listen to the text very carefully, and note down all the answers very rapidly. It is possible that they may not get all the answers during the first listening.
However as Scrivener points out, as long as the listener is stretching their listening powers to the limit, getting a right or wrong answer is not as important as the task itself, even if it requires playing the CD multiple times. It may be necessary to play the CD at least twice for the learners to be able to answer all the questions.
The students will then check and discuss their answers together in pairs, and then the teacher will ask individual pairs to give their answers to the class to ensure that everyone has the right answer.
Task 5: Production
The students will finally be encouraged to think about their ideal birthday, and write down things that they would want to do or would want to have happen on their birthday. Then they would compare their answers with a partner. This will encourage students to think more deeply about the topic at hand, as well as encourage them to use some of the ideas and vocabulary they have learned from the listening script. By creating their own ideas from the listening script it will cause them to further cement these ideas in their memory.
1. Whose birthday was it? Eddie’s / My brothers
2. How old was he? 18 / 21
3. Where did the family go? An Italian restaurant / a Chinese restaurant
4. How many people were there? 12 / 15
5. Who did Eddie sit next to? His grandmother / His cousin
6. What did they drink? Wine and coke / beer and coffee
7. How long did they stay there? 5 hours / 3 hours.
8. What time did they get home? 10 PM / 1 AM
CELTA Assignment 3
This is a profile of student “H”. Student H is a Japanese student who is part of the pre-intermediate learners group.
The pre-intermediate group is a group of learners studying in Australia. Although they can appear to be somewhat quiet in class, this can be somewhat deceptive as their receptive skills are much higher than their productive skills. Many of them have studied English formally for several years back in their home countries, but struggle to put their intellectual knowledge of grammar and vocabulary into practical productive use.
Student H also fits this profile. He studied English in Japan for a total of 6 years (3 years in junior high school, and 3 years in high school.) He took English at this time only because it was a mandatory subject, and did not enjoy it and was not motivated to learn it during his student days. Partly this was because the way it was taught to him in the Japanese school system. He was expected to be purely passive in the classroom, and simply memorize vast amounts of lexical and grammatical knowledge. He found this too difficult and soon gave up.
He also had personality conflicts with his English teacher, who he strongly disliked.
H did not study English at the tertiary level, and ended his formal English education after graduating from high school.
Several years after he had graduated from school he decided he wanted to learn English.
In Japan he worked as a hotel receptionist near a snowboarding resort that was popular with international travelers. During this time, he wanted to communicate with many of the English speaking foreigners, but felt that he was unable to do so. His receptive skills were such that he felt he could understand most of what was being said to him, but was unable to produce a reply.
He wanted to communicate with the foreign travelers, and he has dreams of improving his English to the point where he can work as a tour guide for foreign travelers coming to Japan for winter recreation, so that he can combine his love of snowboarding with an improved English ability.
He arrived in Australia on a working holiday visa, but with the intention of learning English while he lived in Australia. When his original visa expired, he transferred to a student visa and enrolled in a language school, and is now in Australia purely for the purpose of improving his English abilities.
His own analysis of his English ability is that English grammar is the most difficult area for him. The subject verb object structure of English is different from Japanese grammar, and for this reason he struggles to produce grammatically accurate English sentences.
Because he feels that grammar and speaking are his main weakness, these are the areas he primarily wants to study more. He wants to study English in a way that is not simply focused on memorizing new vocabulary, but one that analyses whole sentences and focuses on production. But he says there are no types of classroom activities which he particular dislikes.
Although his confidence in his English ability is low, he tries to participate in all the conversation activities in the class. He is also eager to make English speaking friends, and will hang out after class to talk to the teachers. Even though he at times appears to be visible uncomfortable speaking English, he is pushing himself out of his comfort zone to achieve this practice.
Language Strengths
Despite his own low-confidence in his grammar abilities, he does fairly well for a pre-intermediate student. And, despite his complaints about the difficulty of the subject verb order in English, he has never been observed mistaking this order in conversation or in writing. In his written work especially he shows a strong knowledge of differing verb tenses and the appropriate times to use them. Examples in his written work show him correctly choosing and using the present tense (“I need to speak English”) the past tense (“I visited Sydney”) the present perfect (“I have been in Australia for 11 months”)the present progressive (“I’m learning English”) and non-finite verbs (“I want to be a tour guide”).
(This is not to say, however, that it his verb tenses are completely without mistakes, as in “I had lived in Niigata”.)
Language Weaknesses
Swan identifies number and articles as one of the major difficulties for Japanese learners of English. “Many Japanese learners achieve really creditable proficiency in all aspects of written English except for articles and number-countability problem,” (Swan, 1987, p. 304). This is because articles do not occur in the Japanese language. Nor does the distinction between count and mass nouns.
And indeed both of these problems occur in H’s writing.
For example, he writes, “I want to be a tour guide for foreigner.” It is interesting that tour guide is correctly identified as a singular noun with an appropriate article, but “foreigner” is not, perhaps because the word foreigner is thought to be a class of people, or a concept, and is thus not considered countable. These types of errors occur repeatedly: “I like making customer happy,” “Niigata and Nagano are famous snow place in Japan,” “It’s all original design,” et cetera.
Articles are also occasionally left out of sentences, as in “I made website in here,” and “It’s Japanese restaurant.”
Pronunciation is also an issue for H. As Swan notes, Japanese learners often have trouble with consonant clusters, particularly when the final consonant is an /n/ or linking /r/ (Swan, 1987, p. 298).
In H’s case his biggest problem is the pronunciation of English words that have become loan words in Japanese. For example his pronunciation of the word “circus” is much closer to the Japanese pronunciation (spelled “saakasu” in Japanese) and was initially completely unintelligible in English.
Part 2
Because of H’s pronunciation difficulties with /r/ and /l/, unit 48 of “Ship or Sheep: An intermediate pronunciation course” by Ann Baker will be particularly useful to him. (See attached copy in back.) This lesson highlights the pronunciation of /r/, but also contrasts it with /l/.
Because H has problems with using articles, exercises 14 and 15 from “Basic English Usage Exercises” by Jennifer Seidl and Michael Swan. (See attached copy in back.) This material will help him to differentiate between definite and indefinite articles, something that Swan mentions is a problem for Japanese learners.
Outside of the classroom, H should probably continue to try and interact with as many English speaking friends as possible. Because, according to his own self-evaluation, his receptive English skills are much better than his productive skills, the important thing for him is to activate his productive capacities through practice.
H has already shown some initiative in using written English outside of the classroom, particularly by interacting with English speaking friends on his facebook page and even creating websites in English. He should continue to do this as this will also aid his productive abilities. If he can focus on addressing some of his problem grammar areas in his writing, it would help him cement the grammar.
Also studies have shown that Japanese pronunciation of /r/ and /l/ can improve as their perception increases ( Lively, et al. 1993). And also that perception may increase with increased exposure to English (Flege et al. 1996). So it would be good for H to try and listen to English media outside of class.
Perhaps H can also improve his English by attempting to read some easy English books or articles. This would give him a better flow for how English sentences fit together (something he highlighted as one of his weak points) and allow him to recognize vocabulary he is already familiar with in new constructions.
Part 3
References
Baker, Ann. (1981). Ship or Sheep? An intermediate Pronunciation Course. Cambridge University Press.
Flege, J., Takagi, N., and Mann, V. (1996.) “Lexical Familiarity and English-Language Experience Affect Japanese Adults’ Perception of /r/ and /l/,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 99, 1161-1173.
Lively, S. E., Pisoni, D. B. (1991). “Training Japanese listeners to identify English /r/ and /l/. II: The role of phonetic environment and talker variability in learning new perceptual categories.” J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 96, 2076-2087
Seidl, Jennifer and Michael Swan. (1986). Basic English Usage Exercises. Oxford University Press.
Swan, M & B. Smith. (1987). Learner English. Cambridge University Press.
CELTA Assignment 4
Part 1
In my lessons, I think one of my weaknesses is highlighting pronunciation features.
This is a problem for me for a couple reasons. First of all, I have discovered in the CELTA course exercises that I have a pretty bad ear for word and sentence stress myself. Although as a native speaker I believe I naturally speak with correct stress and rhythm, when asked to identify where in stress mark is I frequently get it wrong. I feel I can model pronunciation, but this makes me hesitant to highlight stress on the board for students.
As Scrivener says, word stress can be very important. “Getting the stress wrong can seriously damage your chances of being understood,” (Scrivener, 2005, p. 289).
Some of the word stress could be identified ahead of time using a learner’s dictionary. For example, Collins COBUILD Student’s Dictionary has some of the stress marks for many of the individual words. However sentence stress would still be a problem. Also since words in a sentence are often stressed differently than they are in isolation it would be dangerous to rely too much on the dictionary even at the word level.
Also, because I am not used to drilling pronunciation, some of my drills are not as tight as they could be. This was mentioned on one of my lesson feedback forms: “* Remember to use gestures to guide Students and keep the drill tight.” Also I still feel awkward highlighting pronunciation on my fingers.
Another area of weakness is classroom management. I sometimes let a few students dominate the student talking time. This was another thing mentioned on the lesson feedback forms. At times I may be guilty of what Scrivener calls, “Flying with the fastest,” and getting a false impression of the classrooms abilities because I am only relying on the stronger students. Scrivener suggests one way to deal with this is to call on different students or “sometimes actively ‘shh!’ the loud ones—or simply not hear them” (Scrivener, 2005, p. 108).
Although asserting authority has not been an issue in issue with our group of students, in a different environment I worry I might be guilty of another of Scrivener’s concerns about classroom management, “Insufficient authority/ over-politeness” (Scrivener, 2005, p. 106). I should work on speaking with authority.
I believe one of my strengths is trying to elicit from students as much as possible instead of explaining. Sometimes I will use pictures or visuals to try and elicit target vocabulary. And although I am not above falling into the trap of explaining some things I should have elicited, I feel pretty happy with much of the eliciting I have done.
As Scrivener says, starting with eliciting is a good way to teach students because students usually know more than we give them credit for, it is a good way to start the lesson with student production, and question and answer movement towards new discovery is more effective than giving lectures (Scrivener, 2005, p.98)
Part 2
My action plan
What I want to work on
1. pronunciation and stress
Why I want to work on it
* My drilling is not as tight as it could be.
* I do not have a good ear for word or sentence stress.
* Learning word stress is important for the student to be understood
How I’m going to work on it
* Practice drilling pronunciation in my classes until it becomes natural. Try and push myself out of my comfort zone.
* Use a learners dictionary to learn word stress
* Next semester I am enrolled in a phonetics course at the University of Melbourne
What I want to work on
2. Classroom management
Why I want to work on it
* I tend to allow a few vocal students to dominate the class
* It is important to make sure everyone understands an activity or instruction in order for the activities to go smoothly
* It is important to build the confidence of weaker students.
How I'm Going to Work on It
* Practice calling on different students
* Try and actively shush some of the louder students. (This is something I do not feel comfortable doing, but I can try and push myself out of my comfort zone.)
* Use clear authoritative voice.
What I want to work on
3. Elicitation
Why I want to work on it
* Students often know more than we give them credit for.
* starts the lesson with student production
* help moving the students to a guided discovery is more effective than a lecture
How I'm going to work on it
* Plan elicitation questions in advance in the lesson plan
*Try to resist excessive teacher talking time
* prepare prompts (pictures and other materials) to encourage elicitation.
CELTA Lesson Plan 1
Vocab Sheet
architecture cinema city nightlife A park public transport restaurant shop traffic weather
1. places you can go to in a city at night, like movie theaters, bars, restaurants, clubs, and concerts:________________________
2. A place you can go to see new movies on the big screen. A movie theater_________________
3. A place where many people live, for example Sydney, Melbourne, Perth or Canberra._____________________
Activity Sheet
Person 1:
Where are you from? Answer
What___ the ___ like in _______? _________
Person 2:
Where are you from? Answer
What___ the ___ like in _______? _________
Person 3:
Where are you from? Answer
What___ the ___ like in _______? _________
CELTA Lesson Plan 2
Cambridge CELTA Lesson plan Week 1
Name __Joel Swagman________________________ Date June 18th, 2010________
TP No ___2________ Time (minutes) ___30___ Level ______Pre Intermediate___
AIMS (For sts to learn/revise/practise... To enable sts to... To develop the skill of ...)
For students to become more comfortable in their listening skills
MATERIALS
CD, CD player, white board, text book, copies of textbook for students to write on, copies of script to distribute to students at the end.
Visual Aids: pictures of Doctor and patient, nurse, Pyjamas, game show host, couple, announcer
TARGET LANGUAGE Complete this section if you are teaching vocabulary, grammar or functions.
What words or sentences are you teaching?
Try to analyse the language for form, meaning and pronunciation.
Aim of stage: Vocabulary introduction
Time: 5 min
Interaction T---Ss
Procedural steps: Show students pictures. Elicit words: Doctor, patient, nurse, uniform, pyjamas,
Aim of stage: set context
time: 5-10 min
Interaction T---Ss
Procedural steps: Open the book and read it together with the students.
Show students pictures and explain game concept on the board
Ask questions to check understanding
Aim of stage: 1st pre-listening
time: 2 min
Interaction: T---Ss
Procedural steps: read the questions together with the students, and get the students to do first question together.
aim of stage: 1st listening
time: 5-10 min
interaction T---Ss
procedural steps: Play CD for students. Possibly play CD player twice
Check answers
aim of stage: 2nd listening set context
time: 2 min
Interaction: T---Ss
procedural steps: explain and ask questions
aim of stage: 2nd pre-listening
time: 2 min
interaction: T---Ss
procedural steps: Do the first question with the students to confirm understanding
aim of stage: 2nd listening
time: 5-10 min
interaction: T---Ss
procedural steps: Play 2nd listening for students, check answers
aim of stage: Read along with script (time permitting)
time: 5 min
interaction: T---Ss
procedural steps: Hand out script and have students read it with the CD player
If extra time at the end, have students form groups of 3 and assign roles for them to read aloud
Additional Notes:
Stage one dialogue: Okay, good afternoon everyone. Today, we’re going to start out by looking at some pictures (show picture of doctor and patient.) Who are they? Who is this?
(Point to Dr first. Try and elicit answer from students. Write on board Next point to patient.)
Okay good, now who is this? (Elicit nurse). Good. What is she wearing? Can you see that? Would you wear these clothes? No, these are special clothes. What kind of clothes are these. (elicit nurse’s uniform).
Okay, next some more clothes. (show picture). These are clothes I wear at night in bed. What are they called?
(Remember to use Australian spelling when writing on board!)
Next, practice new vocab:
Okay, everyone, listen, and repeat:
Doctor (2x)
Patient (2x)
Nurse (2x)
Nurses uniform (2x)
Pyjamas (2x)
Stage two:
1st read through the description in the book.
Okay, so this is a game show. Do you ever watch game shows on TV? Who is in a game show? Who is this? (Show picture). Yes, that’s right, he’s the Game Show Host.
So, we have the host and we also have the game show contestants. The Contestants are the ones who play the game show. What are their names? (Elicit Rosie and Dave).
Right, Rosie and Dave are a couple. Do you know couple? Boyfriend and girlfriend, right? They’re in love. What do you think, do they look like a nice couple?
So, in this game, Rosie and Dave are in separate studios. (Draw studios on board).
Rosie can hear the host. Dave can hear the host. But Rosie and Dave can’t hear each other. (Draw lines on board.)
Can Rosie hear the host? Can Rosie hear Dave? Can Dave hear the host? Can Dave hear Rosie?
Okay, so the host is going to ask Rosie and Dave questions about how they met for the first time. If their answers are the same, they get a point. If their answers are different, they don’t get a point.
Okay, so this listening has 4 people. The game show host, Dave, Rosie, and at the very beginning there’s also the announcer (show picture). But she’s only in the beginning.
The first time is Rosie’s turn. The host is going to ask Rosie Questions. So look at the sheet. Question one is “How did you first meet?” How did who first meet? (Elicit Dave and Rosie). Good. I’m going to play the CD. When you hear the answer, yell out “Stop!” Okay?
2nd Listening Context dialogue
Okay, next,
Whose turn is it?
Did Dave hear Rosie’s answers?
How does Dave get points?
CELTA Lesson Plan 3
Cambridge CELTA Lesson plan Week 1
Name ____________Joel Swagman_____ Date _June 22, 2010_____________________
TP No _____3_______ Time (minutes) ____40___ Level ____pre-intermediate_____________
AIMS (For sts to learn/revise/practise... To enable sts to... To develop the skill of ...)
Listening practice: for students to develop listening skills
Speaking practice: for students to develop increased speaking skills
MATERIALS
White board, markers, various worksheets, pictures
TARGET LANGUAGE Complete this section if you are teaching vocabulary, grammar or functions.
What words or sentences are you teaching?
Try to analyse the language for form, meaning and pronunciation.
Will introduce new words in this lesson (foot spa, jewellery, wedding anniversary, occasion, pounds et cetera) but none of these words are target vocabulary, so no pronunciation drills
Aim of stage: elicit vocab
time: 5-10 min
interaction: T---Ss
procedural steps: Talk with students about when they normally give presents. Elicit some target vocabulary
Aim of stage: gain listening skills
time: 10 min
interaction: T---Ss
procedural steps: Listening (Set up, pre listening, peer check, and post listening)
Aim of stage: practice written production
time: 10 min
interaction: Ss---T
procedural steps: Students write down the answers to the sheet. Teacher monitors and assists as needed
Aim of stage: practice spoken production
time: 10 min
interaction: Ss---Ss
procedural steps: Students talk to their partner and complete their own sheet. Teacher monitors. (If time allows, there is space for students to record the answers of 3 extra people in addition to their first partner. If short on time, skip the additional people.)
Aim of stage: practice reporting (changing to 3rd person)
time: 5 min (time permitting)
interaction: Ss---Tt
procedural steps: Pairs report back to the class on what they found (time permitting)
Good afternoon everyone. Today, we’re going to talk abou...presents! (Show picture of present.) When do we give presents?
(Try to elicit: Birthdays, Christmas, Weddings, anniversary, et cetera.
(If necessary: anniversary elicitation technique: Is anyone here married? When were you married? So what day is __(date)______ for you?
Good, so these are all examples of what? (try to elicit or teach “occasion”)
Ask students: Would you like to receive jewellery? What sort of present would you like to receive?
Set up listening, sample dialogue:
When you buy a present for someone, how much money do you usually spend? (Answers). Okay, good. Now in Australia, what kind of money do we use? $, right? What about in Japan? Brazil? (et cetera).
This is Eddie. Eddie is from England. What kind of money do they use in England? (Try to elicit Pound. Show symbol picture.)
Does anyone know how much one pound is worth? What is one pound worth in Australian dollars? According to the internet, one pound is about equal to 1.68 Australian dollars.
Now, Eddie bought a present for someone. We’re going to listen to the CD about Eddie’s present.
(Set up listening: do first example, and then read through
Have students peer check with each other.
Check answers.
Additional questions when checking answers.
#2. Her birthday. Right. How old was she? 30. Is 30 old?
#3. On the internet. Have you ever bought something on the internet? What did you buy? I buy books, has anyone bought books on the internet?
#5. Right, a foot spa. What is a foot spa, does anyone know? (Elicit answer, or show picture.) What do you use this for?
#6. Fifty pounds. Right. What do you think, is that expensive?
#7. What did he write on the card? (If no answer, set as task for follow up listening).
#8. Did she like the present? Why? (If no answer, set as task for follow up listening).
Worksheet instructions:
Okay, next, it’s your turn. I want you to think about the last time you gave someone else a present. Not received. Gave. And fill out this sheet. (Give instructions before handing out sheet.)
Listen to Eddie talk about the last time he bought somebody a present.
1). Who was the present for? His friend / sister.
2). What was the occasion? Her birthday / wedding anniversary.
3). Where did he go shopping for the present? To the city centre / On the internet.
4). Did he know what he was going to buy? Yes he did / No, he didn’t.
5). What did he buy in the end? Jewellery / A foot spa.
6). How much did he spend? About £50 / £15.
7). Did he buy a card too? Yes, he did / No, he didn’t.
8). Did the person like the present? Yes she did / No she didn’t.
9). Was it the sort of present he would like to receive? Yes it was / No it wasn’t.
Talk to your classmates and ask them about the last time they bought a present.
1). Who was the present for?
Person 1 Person 2 Person 3 Person 4
2). What was the occasion?
Person 1 Person 2 Person 3 Person 4
3). Where did you go shopping for the present?
Person 1 Person 2 Person 3 Person 4
4). Did you know what you were going to buy?
Person 1 Person 2 Person 3 Person 4
5). What did you buy in the end?
Person 1 Person 2 Person 3 Person 4
6). Did you buy a card too?
Person 1 Person 2 Person 3 Person 4
7). Did the person like the present?
Person 1 Person 2 Person 3 Person 4
8). Was it the sort of present you would like to receive?
Person 1 Person 2 Person 3 Person 4
9). Write your own question here:
_________________________________________________________________________________?
Person 1 Person 2 Person 3 Person 4
CELTA Lessson Plan 4
Lesson plan
Name ______Joel Swagman__________________ Date _________June 24_________
TP No ___4_________ Time (minutes) __40____ Level _____Pre intermediate______
Action points from last feedback
*vary the volume of voice for effect
* cut down on TTT •
• •
What I want to work on in this lesson
* get students talking more
•
Aims (For sts to become familiar with /revise/practise... To enable sts to... To develop the skill of ...)
FST revise knowledge of question vocabulary,
FST develop the skills of asking and answering questions
Materials and aids
White board, markers, sticky tac, visuals, worksheets
Assumptions about students’ knowledge/ abilities
(Try to predict what knowledge sts already have of the TL; or of language they should already know to help them cope wit h
The TL, or with texts, tapes, etc).
Should already be familiar with question vocabulary, but might need some re-activation.
Anticipated problems
(Consider the areas of concept, form, pron, and the skills being practised. You may not have problems in all these areas. Be
very specific; list problems separately).
* Students might have problems with pronunciation of question phrases, particularly linking how with a word starting with a vowel sound
Complete this sheet if you are going to teach any language (grammar/ vocabulary)
Meaning (and concept checking questions)
Because the focus of this lesson is one questions itself, give students a statement and have them guess the meaning.
For example: A gazelle can run at 40 miles per hour. Now this is a cheetah. What can you ask me?
Form
How is combined with an adjective or adverb at the beginning of the sentence. When asking about a noun, sometimes this is added afterwards, as in “How many cousins” or “How much cash”. The rest of the sentence is inverted. In case of sentences with be verbs, the be verb is moved in front of the subject after the how + adj/adv. In other sentences, the dummy operator “do” is used and moved in front of the subject, followed by the verb.
Pronunciation
How often /haʊˈɒfən/
Howoften / hawəfən/
How old /haʊəʊld/
Howold / hawəʊld/
Aim of stage: FST become familiar with topic
time: 5-10 min
interaction: T---Ss
Procedural steps: *Show students pictures. Elicit words “Fit” and “unfit” and activities that go with each
Sample dialogue: Show students picture of jogging couple. “What are they doing? Good, are they healthy or unhealthy? Healthy, good. What’s another word we can use for healthy? (Elicit “Fit”. Might have to add, “It starts with an “F”.) Good, what about this picture? What can we say about him? (Try to elicit “unfit.”)
Put pictures up on white board using sticky tape. “What kind of things do fit people do?” Or “What kind of things are healthy” (if needed) (Try and elicit 3 activities.) “What about unfit?” (3 or more activities)
aim of stage: FST practice talking about fitness
time: 2-3 min
interaction: Ss---Ss
Procedural steps:
*Assign students pairs, and have them talk to each other about their own fitness habits.
“Talk to your partner about yourself. Are you fit or unfit? Why?
aim of stage: FST gain reading practice
time: 5-10 min
interaction: Ss---Ss
Procedural steps:
In pairs students read through the survey and discuss their answers with each other.
“I’m going to hand out a sheet now. I want you to go through and talk about this with your partner. Are you and your partner the same? Do you have different answers? Which one of you is the most fit?
aim of stage: FST reactivate vocabulary
time: 2 min
interaction: T---Ss
Procedural Steps:
Teacher emphasizes question 5. Then asks some other questions using “How Long”
Okay, let’s look at question 5. How long does it take you to walk a kilometre?” (Ask this question to several students). Okay, how long does it take you to eat breakfast? How long does it take you to brush your teeth at night? How long does it take you to walk to the train station? How long does it take you to clean your room?
aim of stage: FST have controlled practice
time: 5--10 min
interaction: Ss---Ss
Procedural Steps:
Students ask each other the questions in the hand out. (This activity is dependent on time allowing).
“Okay, I’m going to give you a piece of paper. I want you and your partner to ask these questions to each other.”
aim of stage: FST become reactivate question vocabulary
time: 5-10 min
interaction: T---Ss
Procedural steps:
Teacher holds out pictures and elicits questions from students starting with “How”.
“We’re going to play a game now called, “Guess the question.” (Write on board). “Every question will start with how, and an adjective or adverb (write on board).
For example, it took me 10 minutes to make breakfast this morning (show picture). This is picture of dinner. What can you ask me? (continue through with all the pictures and words
This is a gazelle. A gazelle can run 40 kilometers per hour. This is a cheetah. (Elict how fast)
There are 3 girls. Here are some boys. (Elicit how many)
The baby is one year old. Here is a man. (Elicit how old)
Sydney is 700 km from Melbourne. This is Paris. (Elicit how far)
James is very good at playing the piano. This is Frank. (Elicit how well. If necessary give hints: James is very good. James can play the piano very WELL.)
Here is some money. It’s 165 Australian dollars. Here is some more money. (Elicit “How much”.) Good. Why not how many? (Elicit explanation. Possibly refer students back to earlier lesson.) This is my jogging schedule. I go jogging 3 times a week.. This is my swimming schedule. (Elicit How often).
aim of stage: FST have controlled practice
time: 10 min
interaction: Ss---Ss
procedural steps:
Students complete worksheet in pairs—collect answers together
Aim of stage: FST gain understanding of pronunciation
time: 5 min
interaction: T---Ss
Procedural steps: Chorus drilling with key vocabulary
Aim of stage: FST to get conversation practice
time: 10 min
interaction: Ss---Ss
procedural steps: Students ask each other questions and write down answers.
far fast long many much often old well
1). How______ do you take the bus?
2). How ______ did it take you to get to class today?
3). How______ brothers and sisters do you have?
4). How______ water do you drink everyday?
5). How ______ is it from your place to the nearest beach?
6). How ______ can you run?
7). How ______ is the oldest living person in your family?
8). How ______ do you know your neighbours?
How long does it take you to…
(1) get ready in the morning?
(2) eat lunch?
(3) read a novel?
(4) get to sleep at night?
(5) take a shower?
(6) decide whether you like someone?
(7) write a letter?
1). How often do you take the bus?
Person 1 Person 2 Person 3 Person 4
2). How long did it take you to get to class today?
Person 1 Person 2 Person 3 Person 4
3). How many brothers and sisters do you have?
Person 1 Person 2 Person 3 Person 4
4). How much water do you drink everyday?
Person 1 Person 2 Person 3 Person 4
5). How far is it from your place to the nearest beach?
Person 1 Person 2 Person 3 Person 4
6). How fast can you run?
Person 1 Person 2 Person 3 Person 4
7). How old is the oldest living person in your family?
Person 1 Person 2 Person 3 Person 4
8). How well do you know your neighbours?
Person 1 Person 2 Person 3 Person 4
CELTA Lesson Plan 5
Lesson plan
Name ______Joel Swagman__________________ Date _________June 28_________
TP No ___5_________ Time (minutes) __40____ Level _____Pre intermediate______
Action points from last feedback
* tighter drilling
* Drill at appropriate times
*Don’t get more practice than the students
*Stay back when talking to the students
What I want to work on in this lesson
* drills
* increased student participants
* don’t rely only on higher level students
Aims (For sts to become familiar with /revise/practise... To enable sts to... To develop the skill of ...)
FST refresh knowledge pre-existing knowledge of present perfect
FST use the present perfect to communicate with eachother
Materials and aids
White board, markers, visual pictures,
Assumptions about students’ knowledge/ abilities
(Try to predict what knowledge sts already have of the TL; or of language they should already know to help them cope wit h
The TL, or with texts, tapes, etc).
Most of them have already encountered the present perfect form at some point in their student days, but may not be able to use it readily. They also know about the past participle form of verbs, but may need some support to form it on a word by word basis.
Anticipated problems
(Consider the areas of concept, form, pron, and the skills being practised. You may not have problems in all these areas. Be
very specific; list problems separately).
1.The present perfect has many different possible uses. According to “An A-Z of English Grammar and Usage,” it can be used to talk about:
(5a) an event in which the results are still in the present,
(5b) something in the recent past with already, still and yet
(5c) experiences in the very recent past with just
(5d) experiences up until now, and
(5e) something which began in the past and continued until the present. Explaining all of these uses in one lesson might overload and confuse the students. The textbook (New Inside Out) on page 151 appears to mix 5d and 5e in their presentation. The introduction sentence are appropriate for 5d, but the explanation of these sentences is focused on 5e. Activities 2 and 3 are 5e, but the side bar and pair work activities are 5d.
2. Even if students understand how to form the present perfect, they may not know all the past participle forms of every verb
Solutions to the problems
1. Focus on only one meaning of the present perfect. Re-write activities and presentation to only focus on 5d.
2. Provide a “cheat sheet” of verb forms on student hand outs for written exercises.
CELTA Language Analysis Sheet
Complete this sheet if you are going to teach any language (grammar/ vocabulary)
Meaning (and concept checking questions)
The present perfect has a variety of uses, but in this lesson the focus will be on using it to talk about experiences. The present perfect took place at an indefinite point in the past, where the past simple is used to talk about specific moments in the past.
CCQs: Did he see a tiger? (yes)
When did he see a tiger? (I don’t know)
Form
Have / has + verb past participle form
Pronunciation
I have /aɪ həv/
I’ve /aɪv/
Aim of stage: to set context
time: 5 min
interaction: T---Ss
Procedural steps: Ask students: “Where am I from?” (See if students can guess answer.) “I’m from Michigan. But I’ve been to many places.” (Show pictures). “I’ve been to New York City. And, I’ve been to Chicago. I’ve been to California. I’ve been to China. I’ve been to Japan. I’ve been to Sydney.”
Aim of stage: FST become motivated
time: 2 min
interaction: Ss---Ss
procedural steps: Put students in groups. Get students to talk about where they have been.
aim of stage: to introduce target language
time: 5 min
interaction: T---Ss
procedural steps: Show students picture of Mr. Mulrose. “This is Mr. Mulrose. He’s had a very interesting life. He’s been to many places all over the world. He went to France. He went to Brazil. He went to India. He’s talking to a reporter right now. Prompt “I’ve been to France. I’ve been to Brazil. I’ve been to India.”
Introduce other verbs with picture prompts. “Not only has Mr. Murlose visited many places, he’s also done many exciting things. He ate kangaroo. He saw a lion. He rode a horse. He met the Queen. What does Mr. Mulrose tell the reporter? (Try and elicit from students: I’ve eaten kangaroo. I’ve seen a lion. I’ve met the Queen. I’ve ridden a horse. Et cetera.)
aim of stage: FST become familiar with the form
time: 5-10 min
interaction: T---Ss
procedural steps: Students learn that the present prefect is formed with the verb “has + past participle” (if possible by elicitation). “This is called the present perfect. It has two parts. What are they? (Elicit or give ‘have’ and ‘past participle.’
aim of stage: FST become familiar with pronunciation
time: 5 min
interaction: T---Ss
procedural steps: Model drilling: I have been. I’ve been. Repeat after me: “I’ve been. I have eaten. I’ve eaten. I’ve seen. I’ve met. I’ve ridden
aim of stage: FST practice creating the form
time: 5-10 min
interaction: Ss---Ss
procedural steps: Students do worksheet in which they select the correct form of the verb. The teacher explains the sheet. “Okay, I want you to write the past participle verb form on this sheet. Do this with a partner. Then, if you’ve done it, you can check the box. You get one point. See who can get the most points.
CCQs: What do you write here? (the past participle). How do you get a point? (If you’ve done it.)
Now, if you have any trouble with this, I also have a sheet of verb forms to help you. You can look at this as you write.
Pass out papers. Nominate pairs.
“Let’s do the first one as an example. I’ve_____in a restaurant. What goes here? Worked, good? Have you ever worked in a restaurant? Yes? Then you can check this box here. Ask you partner. Have they worked in a restaurant? If yes, check your partner’s box.
Who will get more points, you or your partner.
(Students do activity. Teacher checks answers.)
aim of stage: FST learn meaning
time: 5-10 min
interaction: T---Ss
Procedural steps: Teacher elicits the difference in meaning between the past and present perfect. “I’ve seen the movie last Friday.” (Write on board.) Is that okay? No? Good. Why not? When do we use the present perfect? For sometime in the past. If we know the time, we can’t use the present perfect. (Draw time lines.)
CCQs: What can we say for yesterday? (I saw the movie—write on board.) Good and what can we say for sometime in the past. “I’ve seen the movie.”
aim of stage: FST practice meaning
time: 5-10 min
interaction: Ss---Ss
procedural steps: Students practice on worksheet in pairs.
“Okay, I have a worksheet I’m going to pass out to you. I want you to decide whether you need to use the past, or the present perfect for these sentences. You can do them together with your partner. Let’s do the first one together as an example. I ___ a great CD last week. What can we put here? (Bought)
Give students time to do the worksheet.
Correct answers together
aim of stage: FST gain conversation practice using present perfect
time: 5-10 min
interaction: Ss---Ss
procedural steps: Give directions for worksheet. Hand out worksheet. Students do worksheet together.
“Now, I’m going to hand out a worksheet. You can work on this together. I want you to find people, and ask them the questions on this sheet.” (Hand out sheet). “Okay, let’s do the first one together.” Demonstrate with students. “Okay, so I’ll write his name down for this blank here. The goal is to find as many people as possible and try to fill out this entire sheet.
CCQ: What do you write here? (Person’s name)
How many people do you talk to? (As many as possible.)
Verb Sheet
Present Past Past Participle
break broke broken
buy bought bought
cry cried cried
cut cut cut
forget forgot forgotten
give gave given
go went gone
learn learned learned
meet met met
own owned owned
play played played
ride rode ridden
see saw seen
sell sold sold
sing sang sung
swim swam swum
watch watched watched
work worked worked
1. I’ve __________ at a restaurant.
(work)
2. I’ve __________ someone famous.
(meet)
3. I’ve __________ snowboarding.
(go)
4. I’ve __________ a kangaroo.
(see)
5. I’ve __________ a car.
(sell)
6. I’ve __________ in the ocean.
(swim)
7. I’ve __________ golf.
(play)
8. I’ve __________ a dog.
(own)
9. I’ve __________ to play the piano.
(learn)
10. I’ve __________ an opera.
(watch)
Total points:
Me My Partner
1). buy a painting
Have you ever __________________________________?
Person 1 Person 2 Person 3 Person 4
2). give a speech
Person 1 Person 2 Person 3 Person 4
3). break the speed limit
Person 1 Person 2 Person 3 Person 4
4). cut somebody’s hair
Person 1 Person 2 Person 3 Person 4
5). cry at the cinema
Person 1 Person 2 Person 3 Person 4
6). forget your mother’s birthday
Person 1 Person 2 Person 3 Person 4
7). break your leg
Person 1 Person 2 Person 3 Person 4
8. sing karaoke
Person 1 Person 2 Person 3 Person 4
9. ride a horse
Person 1 Person 2 Person 3 Person 4
10. go fishing
Person 1 Person 2 Person 3 Person 4
1. I (buy) _____________ a great CD last week.
2. I (not go) _____________ to the beach yesterday
3. I (meet) _____________ some interesting people.
4. I (not do) _____________ anything last night.
5. I (do) _____________ a lot of silly things when I was a student.
6. I (read) _____________ all the Harry Potter books.
7. I (read) _____________ The DaVinci Code in 2005.
8. I (eat) _____________ too much at lunchtime.
CELTA Lesson Plan 6
Lesson plan
Name ___Joel Swagman_____________________ Date _____________June 29, 2010______
TP No ____6_______ Time (minutes) __40______ Level ___________Advanced___________
Action points from last feedback
•Keep working on logical notes of presentation
•Ensure contexts are accurate for meaning
•
What I want to work on in this lesson
• clear directions for activities
Aims (For sts to become familiar with /revise/practise... To enable sts to... To develop the skill of ...)
Materials and aids
White board, markers, textbook, visuals (family, dorm, apartment, erosion)
Assumptions about students’ knowledge/ abilities
(Try to predict what knowledge sts already have of the TL; or of language they should already know to help them cope wit h
The TL, or with texts, tapes, etc).
Anticipated problems
(Consider the areas of concept, form, pron, and the skills being practised. You may not have problems in all these areas. Be
very specific; list problems separately).
Students may not understand some of the vocabulary: for example erode, empty nest
Solutions to the problems
Aid comprehension with picture.
CELTA Language Analysis Sheet
Complete this sheet if you are going to teach any language (grammar/ vocabulary)
Meaning (and concept checking questions)
Erode
(Book’s definition: gradually wear away e.g. the surface of rock by the weather or sea. used metaphorically
Form
Pronunciation
aim of stage: FST understand context and acquire motivation
time: 5 min
interaction: T---Ss
(Ss---Ss)
Procedural steps: Show picture of family. “This is a picture of me and my family. My father, mother, brother and sisters. But I don’t live with my family anymore. When I was 18, I moved into the University dormitory. (Show picture). Then, after University, I got an apartment (show picture). What about you? Is it the same in your country? When do young people usually move out of their homes in your country? Talk to your table. (students talk to each other)
CCQ: What do I want you to talk about?
aim of stage: FST begin to predict language that they will encounter in the reading
time: 10 min
interaction: T---Ss
(Ss---Ss)
Procedural steps: So, is it a good or bad idea for young people to leave home? What do you think? (Try and elicit answers from students). Why?
(Through elicitation, try and establish one or two positives and negatives that can be put on the board. Try and divide this for things that are from the parent’s perspective, and things that are from the children’s perspective.
Divide students into groups A and B. Tell group A to make a list of positives and negatives from the children’s point of view. Tell group B to make a list from the parent’s point of view
CCQs: Which group are you? (parents, kids) And what do you have to think about? (positives, negatives)
Allow 3-5 min for discussion
Then ask for the groups to report back to the class.
aim of stage: FST read for gist
time: 5-10 min
interaction: Ss---Ss
Procedural Steps: Direct student’s attention to the reading and the title. Read the questions with the students. Tell the students to look at the first paragraph and read it, then answer the questions with a partner.
Next, collect the answers. Then go over the answers as a class.
aim of stage: FST read for detail 1
time: 10 min
interaction: Ss---Ss
Procedural steps: Assign group A Vicki’s story. Assign group B Martin’s story. Highlight the questions with the students. Have the students read in their groups, and then compare their answers with a partner.
Then assign students to a partner from a different group to do the jigsaw activity. Go over answers in class.
aim of stage: FST read for detail 2 (if time)
time: 10 min
interaction: Ss---Ss
Procedural steps: Direct student’s attention to the #4 questions. Have them work through these, and then compare the answers with a partner, and then compare with the whole class.
(If no time this activity will move to Janet's lesson)
CELTA Lesson Plan 7
Lesson plan
Name _________Joel Swagman________________ Date ______July 2、2010_____________
TP No ____7______ Time (minutes) ___40____ Level ___Advanced______________
Action points from last feedback
*Increased pace
• •
• •
What I want to work on in this lesson
•explain task before giving out materials.
Aims (For sts to become familiar with /revise/practise... To enable sts to... To develop the skill of ...)
To revise and practice relative clauses and participles
Materials and aids
White Board, text book, CD, CD player, worksheets
Assumptions about students’ knowledge/ abilities
(Try to predict what knowledge sts already have of the TL; or of language they should already know to help them cope wit h
The TL, or with texts, tapes, etc).
Students have already encountered relative clauses and participles at some point in their education. They already know how relative clauses are formed, and when the relative pronoun can and can not be omitted. This lesson will only be refreshing that knowledge, and adding the distinction of defining and non-defining clauses. Likewise participles they will have already studied before.
Anticipated problems
(Consider the areas of concept, form, pron, and the skills being practised. You may not have problems in all these areas. Be
very specific; list problems separately).
A)Timing might be a big issue. Lots of activities on this page.
B)All of the activities are on the same hand out. Difficult to prevent students from reading ahead.
C) spaces in exercises are too small for students to write in
Solutions to the problems
A) Possibly cut out activity number 5 depending on how time is going. Try to make sure there is still adequate time (10-15 minutes) for the production activity at the end.
B) Try and use strong clear voice when giving directions. If necessary ask students who don’t appear to be paying attention
C) create extra worksheets with space for students to write
CELTA Language Analysis Sheet
Complete this sheet if you are going to teach any language (grammar/ vocabulary)
Meaning (and concept checking questions)
Relative Clause
A relative clause is a subordinate clause in a complex sentence which describes one of the nouns in a larger clause.
A relative clause can have two types: defining and non-defining. A defining clause is telling us essential information about who or what is being talked about.
A non defining clause gives us an extra piece of information.
Participles and participle clauses can be used as adjectives. Present participles describe actions or states that are still happening. Past participles describe states which have already happened to the noun
Form
Relative Clause
The relative clause begins with a relative pronoun (who, whom, whose, which, that) and immediately follows the noun that it modifies. The relative pronoun can be omitted if it is the object of the clause, but not if it is the subject
A present participle is the ing form of the verb. The past participle is the ed form of a regular verb, and differs for irregular verbs
Pronunciation
In non-defining clauses there is a slight pause before and after the clause (indicated in punctuation by commas).
Aim of stage: FST experience less controlled practice with defining and non-defining relative clauses
time: 5 min
interaction: Ss---Ss
Procedural Steps: Teacher draws student’s attention to exercise 2 (p. 72). Students complete exercise with a partner. Go over the answers as a class.
Directions
I’m going to pass out these sheets. I want you to decide which of these sentences make sense by themselves, and which of them need some more information to make sense. Let’s do the first two as an example. Look at number one. The apple tree in our garden needs to be cut down. Does this make sense? (Yes) Do we need to add any extra information to it (no). Good, let’s look at number 2. “People live longer.” Does this make sense? (No) Good, why not? (We don’t know which people—longer implies a comparison). Okay, good, finish these with your partner.
...okay, good which numbers need more information?
Aim of stage: FST experience additional less controlled practice forming sentences with relative clauses
time: 10 min
interaction: Ss---Ss
Procedural steps: Teacher draws student’s attention to exercise 3. Students complete exercise with a partner. Go over the answers as a class.
Directions: Alright, now look at exercise 3. We have 8 sentences which we can put into exercise 2 as relative clauses. Let’s start with number 1. The apple tree in our garden needs to be cut down. Which sentence can we put in here? Good, and how can we re-write it? Okay, now do this in pairs. And I have extra sheets for you to write on if you want.
(Go over answers as class)
aim of stage: FST experience less controlled practice with participle clauses
time: 10 min
interaction: CD---Ss
Procedural steps: Students listen to CD and pick the correct answer
Directions: Look at activity 4. We have a list of topics in column A, and a list of adjectives in column B. Take a minute to talk to your partner. Which topics do you think go with which adjectives. (Hand out sheet. Allow a couple minutes). Now, look at the example. It’s raining again. Oh no another miserable day when we’re stuck indoors. How does she feel? why. Good. I’m going to play the CD, I want you to listen and write down the answers to the other exercises.
aim of stage: FST experience additional less controlled practice with participle clauses [Optional activity time permitting]
time: 10 min
interaction: Ss---Ss
Procedural steps: Teacher directs student’s attention to activity 5. Students complete the activity in pairs. Check answers as a class.
Directions Look at activity number 5. This is done in the same way. You have to chose either the present participle or the past participle. (Do the first one as an example.
aim of stage: FST practice forming a sentence out of relative clauses, participle clauses, and adjectives
time: 10 min
interaction: Ss---Ss
Procedural steps: Teacher directs student’s attention to activity 6. Students complete it in pairs.
Directions: Look at number 6. It has a sentence, “A woman was sitting in her garden.” You have to add all the words and phrases in the box into that sentence. All of them.
ICQs: What do you have to do?
Do this together with a partner.
aim of stage: FST get production practice with the target language
time: 10-15 min
interaction: Ss---Ss
Procedural steps: I’m going to hand you a sheet with 5 sentences on it. These 5 sentences make a short story. You’re job is to make this story more interesting by adding in extra words. Relative clauses, participle clauses, adjectives, adverbs, anything is okay. Add anything you want to make this more interesting.
What do you have to do?
Good, now when you’re done, you can walk around the room and look at what the other groups have written.
A B
1. exam results
2. a holiday
3. gossip
4. a journey
5. a job
6. a hard luck story
7. a TV documentary
8. a social situation challenging/ challenged
shocking/ shocked
disappointing/ disappointed
boring/ bored
relaxing/ relaxed
exhausting/ exhausted
amusing/ amused
embarrassing/ embarrassed
Example: depressing /depressed
“It’s raining again!”
‘Oh, no! Another miserable day when we’re stuck indoors.”
How does she feel?
She’s _________.
Why?
The weather is ___________.
1. exam results
How does she feel?
___________________________________________________________
Why?
___________________________________________________________
2. a holiday
How does she feel?
___________________________________________________________
Why?
___________________________________________________________
3. gossip
How does she feel?
___________________________________________________________
Why?
___________________________________________________________
4. a journey
How does she feel?
___________________________________________________________
Why?
___________________________________________________________
5. a job
How does she feel?
___________________________________________________________
Why?
___________________________________________________________
6. a hard luck story
How does she feel?
___________________________________________________________
Why?
___________________________________________________________
7. a TV documentary
How does she feel?
___________________________________________________________
Why?
___________________________________________________________
8. a social situation
How does she feel?
___________________________________________________________
Why?
___________________________________________________________
A man was walking down the street.
He went into a house.
He saw someone.
They talked.
The man ran out of the house.
Now make all these sentences longer by adding relative clauses, participles, adjectives and adverbs.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
1. The apple tree in our garden
___________________________________________________
needs to be cut down.
2. People
___________________________________________________
live longer.
Name _Joel Swagman_______________________ Date _____July 6, 2010______________
TP No ______8______ Time (minutes) ______40_ Level ______Pre-Intermediate__________
Action points from last feedback
• include more correction in later stages of lesson •
• •
What I want to work on in this lesson
• giving feedback to students
Aims (For sts to become familiar with /revise/practise... To enable sts to... To develop the skill of ...)
FST learn about homonyms and homophones
FST enjoy playing with the language, and learn about puns and jokes
Materials and aids
CD player, CD, white board, markers, textbook (photocopied) handout sheet, some pictures
Assumptions about students’ knowledge/ abilities
(Try to predict what knowledge sts already have of the TL; or of language they should already know to help them cope wit h
The TL, or with texts, tapes, etc).
Some students may not know the metalanguage vocab of homonym and homophone, but they will be familiar with the concept. Most of the vocab in this lesson will also be vocab the students have previously encountered.
Anticipated problems
(Consider the areas of concept, form, pron, and the skills being practised. You may not have problems in all these areas. Be
very specific; list problems separately).
Some vocab might be new to the students.
Metalanguage might be new to the students.
Solutions to the problems
As much as possible try and have students explain vocab to each other by directing questions back to the class. Also have visuals on hand for some tricky words (cell, jam)
Highlight metalanguage by first showing examples, and then trying to elicit terminology
CELTA Language Analysis Sheet
Complete this sheet if you are going to teach any language (grammar/ vocabulary)
Meaning (and concept checking questions)
Homonym: two words with the same spelling and pronunciation, but different meanings.
Homophones: two words with different spellings and meanings, but same pronunciation.
CCQ’s: is the spelling the same or different? Is the pronunciation the same or different? What about the meaning? Are these the same or different?
Form
Nouns
Pronunciation
Metalanguage: pronunciation drills not necessary.
Aim of stage: Set context/ motivate students homonyms
time: 5 min
Interaction: Ss---Ss
Procedural steps: * Students talk with each other about the meaning of the words.
“I’m going to write a word on the board, and I want you to tell me what it means. What does this word mean?”
Write “Fine” on the board. Wait for students’ response. If necessary encourage with, “I can think of at least 2 other meanings” et cetera. Or what about the weather/ traffic ticket.”
Okay, I’m going to hand out a sheet. Look at the 5 words in the box at the top. With a partner, see how many different meanings you can come up with.
Look at these 5 words. What do they mean? Talk about them with your partner.”
aim of stage: Introduce topic
time: 2 min
interaction: T---Ss
Procedural steps: Teacher highlights meaning of homonyms. “Does anyone know what we call a word with the same spelling and pronunciation, but more than one meaning?” (Elicit homonym)
CCQ: Is the spelling the same or different? Is the pronunciation the same or different? Is the meaning the same or different?
aim of stage: FST get controlled practice
time: 5-10 min
interaction: Ss---Ss
Procedural steps: Students complete exercise 4 with a partner.
Teacher collects answers and puts on board
“Next, look at number 4. There are five questions. For each question, put the same word in both sets. Let’s do the first one together. You’ll like Paul. He’s a really_____ what? Cool, good. He’s a really cool guy. Nice. What about “There was a lovely______. Good, cool also. So is the spelling the same or different? Is the pronunciation the same or different? What about the meaning? Are these the same or different? What does it mean in the first sentence? What does it mean in the second sentence?
Okay, do 2-5 with a partner.
(Collect answers from the class. Encourage students to read whole sentences when reporting answer. Teacher writes key word on the board.
aim of stage: [Optional activity time permitting]
FST get less controlled practice
time: 5-10 min
interaction: Ss---Ss
Procedural Steps: [Optional activity time permitting]
Students do activity 5.
“Look at the words in the box. With a partner, try and think of 2 meanings for each word. Let’s do the first one together. Wave, can anyone think of a meaning for wave?” Elicit answers. “Okay, do the rest with your partner.”
aim of stage: Set context homophone
time: 5 min
interaction: T---Ss
Procedural steps: Give one example on the board. “mail, male”. Do they have the same pronunciation? Same spelling? Same meaning? What do we call these?
aim of stage: FST get controlled practice
time: 5-10 min
interaction: Ss---Ss
Procedural steps: Students do activity 6. Teacher does the first one and writes on the board. Students nominated to write answers on board
aim of stage: [Optional activity time permitting]
FST get less controlled practice
time: 5-10 min
interaction: Ss---Ss
Procedural steps: Students do activity 7. During feedback stage teacher nominates students to write on the board
aim of stage: FST get practice with using homophone for humour
time: 5-10 min
interaction: CD---Ss
Procedural Steps: Students listen to and complete listening exercise.
1st draw attention to pictures. “Lots of children’s jokes are made with homonyns and homophones. Read these two. Talk about them with your partner. Which word made the joke?
There are many jokes like this in English. We’re going to listen to some more now. I’m going to play a CD for you. There are 8 jokes. I want you to listen, and find the word that makes the joke.
(Pass out handout).
Do the first one as an example.
Students listen to CD. Have them Peer check. Possibly listen to the CD a second time depending on time.
Teacher collects answers on the board. (Because of space and time write down target word only rather than whole word. Give students handout containing dialogue after feedback.)
Aim of stage:[Time permitting] FST get production practice
time: 5-10 min
interaction: Ss---Ss
Procedural Steps: Students practice production
“Okay, now it’s your turn. With a partner, I want you to think of an English joke you already know using homonyms or homophones. Or make your own joke. Write them down on a piece of paper.
[Share as a group if time.]
1. Homonyms
Customer: Waiter! I’m in a hurry. Will my pizza be long?
Waiter:_________________________________________________
What word makes the joke:_________________
What are its two meanings? _________________________________
_________________________________________________________
2. Homonyms
Teacher: You missed school yesterday, didn’t you Johnny?
Johnny:______________________________________________________
What word makes the joke:_________________
What are its two meanings? _________________________________
_________________________________________________________
3. Homophones
What’s the difference between a sailor and someone who goes shopping?
__________________________________________________________________________
What 2 pairs of words make the joke?
__________ and __________
__________ and __________
4. Homophones and Homonyms
What’s the difference between a jeweller and a jailer?
___________________________________________________________________________
Homonyn: What word has two different meanings_______________
Homopones: What pair of words have the same sound but different meanings?
__________ and __________
5. Homophones
What sort of crisps can fly?
___________________________________________________________
What pair of words make the joke?
__________ and __________
6. near homophones
Why was the doctor angry?
___________________________________________________________
What pair of words make the joke?
__________ and __________
7. Homonym
What did the sea say to the beach?
___________________________________________________________
What word makes the joke:_________________
What are its two meanings? _________________________________
_________________________________________________________
8. homophones
_____________________________________________________________?
A newspaper.
What pair of words make the joke?
__________ and __________
9. homonyms
What do you get when 5,000 strawberries try to go through a door at the same time?
_______________________________________________________________
What word makes the joke:_________________
What are its two meanings? _________________________________
_________________________________________________________
CELTA Lesson Plan 9
Lesson plan
Name _______Joel Swagman__________________ Date _________July 8, 2010__________
TP No ___9_________ Time (minutes) ___60____ Level _____Upper Intermediate________
Aims (For sts to become familiar with /revise/practise... To enable sts to... To develop the skill of ...)
FST gain confidence in English reading ability by working through an authentic text from a well known author
--Secondary aims—practice reading for gist and for specific information from a text
Materials and aids
Hemingway book (in form of handout), flip board, whiteboard and markers, visuals pictures, realia (map, pencil) book
(Stopwatch to time gist reading?)
Assumptions about students’ knowledge/ abilities
(Try to predict what knowledge sts already have of the TL; or of language they should already know to help them cope wit h
The TL, or with texts, tapes, etc).
Students will probably have heard of Hemingway, but will probably not have read his books, at least not in the original English. European students will already be familiar with the history of the Spanish Civil War, but Asian students may not be.
Anticipated problems
(Consider the areas of concept, form, pron, and the skills being practised. You may not have problems in all these areas. Be
very specific; list problems separately).
1). There is a fair amount of military vocabulary in this reading. Much of it is not blocking vocabulary, but some of it is (blow, reinforcement, sentries, and aerial bombardment.)
2). European students might have an advantage over Asian students because they’ll be more familiar with the historical context. Also some of the more technical military language might have cognates in European languages.
Solutions to the problems
1). Turn the pre-teaching of vocabulary into an activity. Have students scan the reading for military vocabulary, and discuss the possible meanings with their partner. Then collect examples from students and put on board. Make sure blocking vocabulary is covered. Other military vocabulary address only as the student’s highlight it.
2). Ideally European students would be paired up with Asian students so that that the expertise is not all on one side of the room, and students can teach each other. (Or would it be better to keep the partners balanced so that one does not dominate the other?)
I also want to avoid the appearance of racial profiling by assigning pairs on skin colour, so instead of intentionally pairing up Asians to Europeans, simply tell students to partner with someone from a different country, and hope that this will end up mixing up the Asians and Europeans naturally.
(Perhaps at the beginning of class tell students to stand up and find someone from a different country? But would this violate the principle that the teacher should nominate pairs?)
CELTA Language Analysis Sheet
Complete this sheet if you are going to teach any language (grammar/ vocabulary)
Meaning (and concept checking questions)
There is lots of vocab that students potentially might not know, but hopefully will not block understanding. (Be prepared to explain the words if they come up, but don’t pre-teach anything that’s not blocking vocab.)
These vocabulary words are necessary for understanding the reading and answering the questions, but they are not useful in daily life. Therefore do not spend time drilling pronunciation with these vocab words. Make sure students understand meaning, and then move on.
Aim of stage: Introduce novels
time: 5 min
interaction: T---Ss
Procedural steps: “Today, we’re going to talk about novels. (Show book). What are some different types of novels?” (Try and elicit as many genres as possible and write them on the board. If necessary prod students by providing a couple of examples. Try and get at least 7 on the board before moving on.)
Aim of stage: FST gain motivation for reading
time: 5-10 min
interaction: Ss---Ss
Procedural steps: *Ask students to talk to partners about their favourite book or author.
* collect some of the feedback as a class
Dialogue: “I want you to talk to your partner about your favourite book and your favourite author.”\
ICQ: “What do I want you to talk about?”
FB:
After students finish: “Okay, stop. What are some of the books and authors you mentioned?”
(After getting examples, ask, “What type of story is it?” Refer to genre words on board.)
aim of stage: Motivate students to read English
time: 5-10 min
interaction: Ss---Ss
procedural steps: Ask students if they have ever read or tried to read a book in English. Get students to talk in groups. Collect feedback as a class.
“Next, have you ever read, or tried to read any books in English? Was it difficult or easy? Talk to your partner.”
FB:
“Okay, stop. Has anyone ever tried to read any English books?”
aim of stage: Set context for book
time: 5 min
interaction: T---Ss
Procedural steps: “Well, today you’re all going to get some practice reading a real English book. I have one of my favourite books here.” (Show book, but hide title.) “It’s by a famous author. Can you guess who it is?”
If necessary, gradually give hints. “He’s an American.” “He lived from 1899 to 1961.” (Write dates on board.) “During World War I, he joined the Italian army as an ambulance driver.” “He lived in Paris, Spain, and Cuba.” If need be give title of one of his book. “He wrote ‘A Farewell to Arms’.” If at this point the answer is still not known, provide it for students.
“Has anyone read any of Hemingway’s books? What are some of the titles?” Elicit as many titles as possible. If necessary give titles. Make sure “For Whom the Bell Tolls” is put on board.
Ask students: “Have you ever read this book? Or seen the movie with Gary Cooper? What do you know about it?” Try and elicit as much student knowledge as possible
Show students picture of book cover (picture is somewhat small so make sure to bring around to the tables so that the students can see.) “What is this?” (elicit book cover). “Good, and what can you see on the book cover?” (Several possible responses. Try and direct student’s attention to the bridge.)
“What kind of story do you think it is?” (Student response. Teacher may occasionally ask “Why do you think that?” but don’t comment on correctness of guess.)
Aim of stage: FST do gist reading
time: 5-10 min
Interaction: Ss---Ss
Procedural steps: Teacher sets scene. In this part there are two men sitting at a table and talking.
(Alternative: Draw picture on flip board and ask student’s to describe it. “What can you see hear? What is this? What is that?”
One of them has a (elicit map by showing realia) and a (elicit pencil through realia).
I’m going to give you some pages from the 1st chapter. I want you to read quickly, and answer these 3 questions. (Show questions on flip board).
1). What are the names of the two men?
2). What are they talking about?
And, 3), I want you to try and think, what kind of story is this? Is this an adventure, comedy, romance, what?” (Point to examples already collected on the board.)
You only have 3 minutes, so you’ll have to do this quickly.
ICQ’s: How much time do you have? (Possibly give students one minute longer than they’re told to allow for the long reading, but still provide a sense of urgency.)
“Stop. Now, talk about the answers with your partner.”
Go over answers: What are their names? (Robert Jordan and Golz.) Good, what are they talking about? (Blowing the bridge). Aid comprehension with pictures if necessary. “Okay, so what does it mean to blow a bridge? Good you have a bridge here. And what is this man doing on the bridge here? Good, and then you have the explosion here? And what happened to the bridge?
And what kind of story is it? (Possibly differing answers: historical, adventure, et cetera. Try and elicit or highlight “War story”. Also if students have not picked up on the romance, try and highlight that as well.)
“Only war? I have the movie poster here. What kind of story does this look like? Look at lines 67—72 (write on board). What are they talking about? (girls). What kind of story could that be? (Romance). “Good, so this book is? (War and romance).
aim of stage: FST scan for vocab
time: 5-10 min
interaction: Ss---Ss
procedural steps: “A war story has a special type of vocabulary, right? What kind of words would we usually find in a war story?” (Try and elicit a couple examples from students.)
With your partner, I want you to go through this and find all the words about war. Then, talk about their meaning with your partner. If you don’t know the meaning, try to guess the meaning.”
ICQs: What do I want you to find? (war vocabulary)
What do I want you to talk about?
(the meaning)
What do you do if you don’t know the meaning? (try and guess).
Do an example with the students. “Let’s do one together. Look in the reading. Who can find a war vocabulary word? Good, and what does it mean?”
Give students a few minutes for the activity. If time is tight, don’t let students go on for two long.
“Okay, stop. Look up here. Can someone tell me a word?” And what do you think it means?
Get a few examples from students, but make sure to elicit blocking vocabulary. If blocking vocabulary is not produced in the first 5 examples, give it. Blocking vocab is: General, blow, aerial bombardment, reinforcements, and guerrilla.
Try and elicit vocab meaning. Highlight meaning if eliciting is inadequate.
(Show picture of General McArthur) “Who is this? What’s his name? What is his job? (elicit general) What is a general? (He’s a very high position in the army).
What is this? (Show pictures of bombs?) And what is this? (Show pictures of aerial bombardment.) “Aerial bombardment”. Good, aerial means what? (from the air) bombardment means? (drop bombs).
What are reinforcements?—(extra men brought in to help during a battle.)
And what is a guerrilla fighter. (Someone who fights behind enemy lines using ambush and sabotage—like blowing up a bridge.)
CCQs: Is the general in the army?
Is his position high or low?
Where do reinforcements go?
Is a guerrilla war like a regular war?
What does a guerrilla fighter do?
To ensure all students have the correct answer for the blocking vocab, hand out sheet
aim of stage: FST do detailed reading
time: 5-10 min
interaction: Ss---Ss
Procedural steps: “Next, I’m going to give you a sheet. I want you to work on this with your partner. I’m going to pass it out, and then we’ll do the first one as an example. What is Golz’s job? Good, a general. Finish the rest of these with your partner. I’ll give you a hint. You can find the answers to these in part 2.
ICQ: What do I want you to do? (Finish these with a partner)
Where can you find the answers? (In part 2).
Allow time for students to work in pairs.
After they have been working for a few minutes, assign different numbers to report back to class. “Can you guys do number 2 for the class?” et cetera.
“Okay, stop, let’s go over the answers. You guys, what did you get for number 2?”
Teacher writes answers on the board as students give them.
aim of stage: To elicit background information from students
time: 5 min
interaction: T---Ss
Procedural steps: Hopefully it will be elicited through the exercise that the book takes place during the Spanish Civil War. Otherwise try and ask students, “What’s happening in Spain at this time?” “What are they doing in Spain?”
Once topic of Spanish Civil War has been elicited, get as much information from students as possible about the war and the role that international volunteers played.
After this, direct their attention to section C and quickly read through it.
aim of stage: FST do second detailed reading [time permitting]
time: 5-10 min
interaction: Ss---Ss
procedural steps: [Time permitting] “Now, what is the plan? Look at number 11. Why does Robert Jordan need to blow the bridge? I’ll give you a hint. The answer is in part 1.”
(Try and elicit answer from students.) Good, finish the rest with your partner.
Allow students time.
“Okay, stop. Let’s go over these together.” Write answers on the board. (Or OHT?)
aim of stage: {Time permitting} FST get production practice/ exploit text for speaking practice
time: 5 min (or longer)
Interaction:Ss---Ss
procedural steps: [Time permitting]
“This book is 477 pages long? What is going to happen next? What story can you imagine? Talk to your partner about what you think will happen in this book.
ICQ: What do I want you to talk about?
Time permitting, give delayed feedback for any production mistakes picked up during monitoring.
Time permitting, collect student predictions at the end.
aim of stage: [Time permitting]
FST get writing practice/ exploit text for writing practice
time:5-10 min
interaction: Ss--Ss
procedural steps: [Extra activity if time permits]
With your partner, I want you to imagine two people are sitting at a table making a plan. (Flip back flip chart to picture of two people.) Who are they? What are they talking about? Imagine they are making a plan. What are they planning? Write down their conversation with your partner.
ICQ: What do I want you to do?
For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway
From Chapter 1
"To blow the bridge is nothing," Golz had said, the lamplight on his scarred, shaved head, pointing with a pencil on the big map. "You understand?"
"Yes, I understand."
"Absolutely nothing. Merely to blow the bridge is a failure."
"Yes, Comrade General."
"To blow the bridge at a stated hour based on the time set for the attack is how it should be done. You see that naturally. That is your right and how it should be done."
Golz looked at the pencil, then tapped his teeth with it.
Robert Jordan had said nothing.
"You understand that is your right and how it should be done," Golz went on, looking at him and nodding his head. He tapped on the map now with the pencil. "That is how I should do it. That is what we cannot have."
"Why, Comrade General?"
"Why?" Golz said, angrily. "How many attacks have you seen and you ask me why? What is to guarantee that my orders are not changed? What is to guarantee that the attack is not annulled? What is to guarantee that the attack is not postponed? What is to guarantee that it starts within six hours of when it should start? Has any attack ever been as it should?"
"It will start on time if it is your attack," Robert Jordan said.
"They are never my attacks," Golz said. "I make them. But they are not mine. The artillery is not mine. I must put in for it. I have never been given what I ask for even when they have it to give. That is the least of it. There are other things. You know how those people are. It is not necessary to go into all of it. Always there is something. Always some one will interfere. So now be sure you understand."
"So when is the bridge to be blown?" Robert Jordan had asked.
"After the attack starts. As soon as the attack has started and not before. So that no reinforcements will come up over that road." He pointed with his pencil. "I must know that nothing will come up over that road."
"And when is the attack?"
"I will tell you. But you are to use the date and hour only as an indication of a probability. You must be ready for that time. You will blow the bridge after the attack has started. You see?" he indicated with the pencil. "That is the only road on which they can bring up reinforcements. That is the only road on which they can get up tanks, or artillery, or even move a truck toward the pass which I attack. I must know that bridge is gone. Not before, so it can be repaired if the attack is postponed. No. It must go when the attack starts and I must know it is gone. There are only two sentries. The man who will go with you has just come from there. He is a very reliable man, they say. You will see. He has people in the mountains. Get as many men as you need. Use as few as possible, but use enough. I do not have to tell you these things."
"And how do I determine that the attack has started?"
"It is to be made with a full division. There will be an aerial bombardment as preparation. You are not deaf, are you?"
"Then I may take it that when the planes unload, the attack has started?"
"You could not always take it like that," Golz said and shook his head. "But in this case, you may. It is my attack."
"I understand it," Robert Jordan had said. "I do not say I like it very much."
"Neither do I like it very much. If you do not want to undertake it, say so now. If you think you cannot do it, say so now."
"I will do it," Robert Jordan had said. "I will do it all right."
"That is all I have to know," Golz said. "That nothing comes up over that bridge. That is absolute."
"I understand."
Part 2
“Let us now have a drink. So much talking makes me very thirsty, Comrade Hordan. You have a funny name in Spanish, Comrade Hordown."
"How do you say Golz in Spanish, Comrade General?"
"Hotze," said Golz grinning, making the sound deep in his throat as though hawking with a bad cold. "Hotze," he croaked. "Comrade Heneral Khotze. If I had known how they pronounced Golz in Spanish I would pick me out a better name before I come to war here. When I think I come to command a division and I can pick out any name I want and I pick out Hotze. Heneral Hotze. Now it is too late to change. How do you like partizan work?" It was the Russian term for guerrilla work behind the lines.
"Very much," Robert Jordan said. He grinned. "It is very healthy in the open air."
"I liked it very much when I was your age, too," Golz said. "They tell me you blow bridges very well. Very scientific. It is only hearsay. I have never seen you do anything myself. Maybe nothing ever happens really. You really blow them?" he was teasing now. "Drink this," he handed the glass of Spanish brandy to Robert Jordan. "You really blow them?"
"Sometimes."
"You better not have any sometimes on this bridge. No, let us not talk any more about this bridge. You understand enough now about that bridge. We are very serious so we can make very strong jokes. Look, do you have many girls on the other side of the lines?"
"No, there is no time for girls."
"I do not agree. The more irregular the service, the more irregular the life. You have very irregular service. Also you need a haircut."
"I have my hair cut as it needs it," Robert Jordan said. He would be damned if he would have his head shaved like Golz. "I have enough to think about without girls," he said sullenly.
Key military Vocabulary
Aerial /ˈeə.ri.əl/ (adjective before noun)
In of or from the air.
Bombardment /ˌbɒmˈbɑːd.mənt/ (noun-action)
The act of using bombs
Aeriel Bombardment (adjective noun combination)
Example: There will be an aerial bombardment (line 41).
The act of dropping bombs from airplanes.
Blow /bloʊ/ (verb)
Example: “To blow the bridge is nothing” (line 1).
It means to cause something to be destroyed by an explosion. Sometimes we say “blow up,” but Hemingway only writes it as “blow.”
General /ˈdʒen.ər.əl/ (noun--person)
Example: “Yes, Comrade General.” (line 5)
A general is a position in the army. It is one of the highest positions.
Guerrilla /gəˈrɪl.ə/ (adjective)
Example: It was the Russian term for guerrilla work behind the lines (line 61)
Guerrilla war is a conflict between an organized army on one side, and irregular groups on the other. Guerrilla fighters usually use sabotage and ambush against the army.
Reinforcements /ˌriː.ɪnˈfɔː.smənt/ (noun-plural)
Example: “That is the only road on which they can bring up reinforcements.” (lines 32 and 33)
Reinforcements are extra men brought in to help during a battle.
A. Characters: Robert Jordan and Golz
Hint: Look at part 2 (lines 53-78)
1. What is Golz’s job?______________
2. What is Robert Jordan’s job?________________
3. What does Golz look like?___________
4 What does Robert Jordan look like? _____________
5. Who is older, Golz or Robert Jordan?___________
How do you know?__________________________________
6. Does Robert Jordan have a girlfriend?_______________________
7. Where do you think Golz is from? (Try to guess.) Why do you think this?
___________________________________________________________
8. Where do you think Robert Jordan is from? (Try to guess.) Why do you think this?
___________________________________________________________
B. Setting
9. What country do you think they are in now? (Try to guess.) Why do you think this?
___________________________________________________________
10. What year do you think it is now? (Try to guess.) Why do you think this?
C. Background
The Spanish Civil War was from 1936 to 1939. The Spanish Republicans fought against the Spanish Fascists. Many international volunteers, like Robert Jordan and General Golz, came from all over Europe, America, and Russia to defend the Spanish republic.
The book “For Whom the Bell Tolls” takes place in June, 1937, the second year of the Spanish Civil War.
D. The Plan
(Hint: Look at Part 1)
11. Why does Robert Jordan need to blow the bridge?
_______________________________________________________
12. When should Robert Jordan blow the bridge?
_______________________________________________________
13. How will Robert Jordan know that the attack has started?
_______________________________________________________
14. What will happen if he blows the bridge too early?
_______________________________________________________
E. Predictions
“For Whom the Bell Tolls” is 477 pages long. What do you think will happen from here? Will they blow the bridge? Will they win the war? Will Robert Jordan find a girlfriend? Will Robert Jordan get a haircut? What else do you think might happen? Talk to your partner.
11. Why does Robert Jordan need to blow the bridge?
To stop the reinforcements from coming.
12. When should Robert Jordan blow the bridge?
Once the attack has started.
13. How will Robert Jordan know that the attack has started?
He will hear the aerial bombardment.
14. What will happen if he blows the bridge too early?
It will be repaired before the attack.
