Glimpses of the Modern Approach to the Most Efficient Foreign Language
Teaching
Recommendations based on the analysis of contemporary foreign English
courses
The motto of contemporary teaching is fun and effectiveness, which
leads to success and progress for everybody.
The most effective approach to teaching is to combine the best of traditional methods with
more recent ones and help students to use English both accurately and fluently.
Here are some bits of advice that might help you to achieve the best results.
1. Activities and topics for discussions should be relevant, should
revolve around student life, memories, interests, fascinating topics (like history,
exploring the world, mysteries, investigations), key topics and burning issues of the
modern world (like pollution, drugs, migration). Students willingly speak about
themselves, their friends, hobbies, pastimes, their present problems and their plans for
the future, their dreams and ambitions.
The teaching – learning process should be personalized and motivated.
2. Pair and group work is especially recommended, as it saves time and
allows as much practice per person per minute as possible, and develops oral communication
skills. Pair and group work is not about correcting every single mistake; it’s about
developing communicative competence.
NB Don’t confuse controlled practice (when you vigilantly correct every
single mistake: drills, exercises, practice activities) and free speaking (when
students are encouraged to speak freely and you correct only a few typical mistakes after
the activity has been completed: group work, pair work, discussions).
Group and pair activities that students are particularly fond of: role-playing;
interviews; solving puzzles; commenting on ideas and quotations; projects (creating and
presenting), arguing about controversial issues; cheating during tests (the only one not
to be encouraged).
While students are working in groups or pairs the teacher shouldn’t observe passively,
but should monitor their work, going round the room and listening, giving help if
necessary, writing down some typical mistakes to be corrected after the activity has been
completed.
3. Students’ personal opinions, comments, additional information,
sharing and feedbacks should be encouraged. The teacher should show genuine interest in
what students have to say and avoid put-downs.
4. Students need knowledge, information and skills that can be used in
their present-day and future life. Teaching should be practically oriented.
5. The teacher should use a personal approach. Your students want to
see a human being in you, not a robot. Humour is an indispensable part of making your
students enjoy the subject and your teaching: don’t be angry, make them laugh. Remember:
in terms of modern teaching a stern, narrow-minded, rude, screaming educator is a relic
and should be placed in the Red Book as (hopefully) an extinct species.
6. Not all students have the same abilities, interests and motivation.
Do not humiliate or insult weaker and listless students just because they fail to live up
to your expectations. Tell your students it’s human to err and it’s all right to say
“I don’t know”. That’s why we are in the classroom: to learn. Be patient,
encourage pertinent questions and help weaker students to feel comfortable in your class
and to make some progress. Recognize and praise every little achievement they make. Give
them some extra help after classes.
7. Discipline will take care of itself if your classes are fun, if your
students are constantly occupied (actively, not passively), if the tasks you set are
intellectually challenging, if the activities stir the learners’ imagination and natural
thirst for knowledge, if your students like you and recognize you as a first-class
professional. Make them interested and motivated, not trembling with fear.
8. Before introducing your students to any new material or doing a new
activity ask your students what they remember from their previous studies in connection
with it. (Ex.: before reading a piece of English fiction ask your students what English
classical and modern writers they know and have read; what they know about this particular
author and his/her books)
9. Students should be encouraged to do research work, to look for
additional information, work with reference materials and monolingual dictionaries both in
groups and on their own. These skills will come in handy in their future life and further
education.
10. The mother tongue can and should be used in class, but only if it
serves the purpose of accuracy (i.e., vocabulary) and better understanding of the new
material. (i.e., while discussing grammar, students can look for differences and
similarities in the target language, L1 and another foreign language they might be
learning) All other activities that can be carried out in English should be done in
English. Students should be encouraged to say everything they can in English.
11. All four skills (reading, writing, listening and speaking)
should be developed systematically and integrated through relating tasks. Texts for
reading and listening should come from a variety of sources: magazines, newspapers,
science journals, extracts from literature, biographies, interviews, songs, poems, radio
programmes, adverts.
Speaking should be developed through various activities:
group and pair work, class discussions, role playing, describing and retelling. Most
discussions should end in compositions, oral presentations or projects connected with the
topics of conversation. Encourage students to suggest such assignments themselves. Teacher
should avoid giving students long texts and topics to be memorized.
The writing syllabus should include work on correcting
mistakes, writing grammar and vocabulary exercises, formal and informal letters,
form-filling, note-taking, written translation, writing a review of a book or a film,
writing an essay. While writing an essay or a review the following steps are suggested:
1) Draw a cluster in class (ideas are given by students:
brainstorming).
2) Edit the cluster.
3) Ask your students to write a first draft of their essay at home.
4) Discuss the drafts in class and add new ideas (can be done in groups).
5) Student read each other’s work and make suggestions (can be done as homework).
6) Students write the final version of their work and hand it in.
7) The teacher marks their compositions (do not mark a sloppy, poorly written composition
– return it to the student to be done properly).
8) In class the teacher writes on the board some of the incorrect sentences and words from
various essays and invites the students to correct them.
9) Students correct their individual work.
10) Put up or read out some of the final essays.
Reading. It can be a good idea to have a class library of
English books. Encourage students to borrow books on a regular basis and exchange views
about what they have read. Give them books to read for summer (something exciting and not
too difficult).
While teaching reading first teach students to “skim”: looking through the text
quickly, without exploring it in detail and without stopping at unknown words. Students
should be able to get the main points at this stage: What is the text about? Who are the
main characters? Where does the action take place? Before they read ask them what they
think the title means.
The next stage is scanning: looking for specific information in answer to questions
(trying to find it as quickly as possible). These are very necessary skills in dealing
with printed materials in the modern world.
Detailed work with vocabulary and contents can be done later, if the text is worth it.
Encourage students to ask you questions on content and vocabulary.
Then comes discussion (students are taking notes) and possibly some retelling or
roleplaying. While discussing add as much new vocabulary as the students need. Have them
learn both the new vocabulary and the vocabulary from the text that you consider worth
learning.
The whole effort can end in an essay on the topic of discussion, or a presentation of some
extra information, or project work, or a contest/game for younger students.
Listening comprehension. There should be a lot of
listening comprehension in class (video, audio cassettes). If not included in the teaching
materials, they can be found by the teacher. While listening to a tape or watching a film
students should be taught to take short notes. In handouts or textbooks find the
correct answers; take notes to answer questions (questions are before their eyes); take
notes under the headings. Students should write down only words or abbreviated sentences:
married 1940
had a son named Tom
divorced after the war
an accident in France
10 people killed.
It is not necessary to give the students all the new words
before they listen to the cassette. Ask them to guess the meaning of some after they have
listened and done the tasks or just ignore them. Do not give texts with too much new
vocabulary for listening.
While listening to the cassette for the second time you can stop the cassette occasionally
and ask your students to repeat what they have heard, or to translate it, or to render a
passage in their own words.
NB Taking notes during class activities is an essential part of the modern
teaching-learning process. Encourage your students to take notes while listening and
discussing as well as during grammar and vocabulary work. All the new information that
isn’t written down, thought over and used in practice is immediately forgotten!
The whole lesson can end in a discussion or retelling, using the notes
and adding comments.
12. Work on all aspects of language.
Do pronunciation exercises at all stages of learning (have the students repeat
after the tape, encourage correct sounds and intonation. Contracted forms can be a
problem: He’s been there; she’d seen it. If I’d been warned I wouldn’t’ve done
it. I wish you’d stop smoking (the way people really pronounce their language). Work in
chorus and individually.
While working on vocabulary focus on modern spoken and written language. Explain
the difference between formal and colloquial words and expressions and contexts in which
they are used. Point out the differences between American and British English.
Work on prepositions, synonyms, antonyms, homonyms, compounds, phrasal verbs and idioms.
Give quizzes for feedback.
Special attention should be given to collocations and contexts in which a word can be used
(“weak” collocates with “tea” but “feeble” doesn’t. To make: tea, progress,
a decision, a bed, a mistake, an impression, a deal, a mess. To do: a project, a research,
the dishes, one’s hair, the ironing, a sum.)
NB Discourage artificial phrases, constructed by students just for the sake of
using a new word and expression.
Pay special attention to
A. Cultural expressions for:
Being polite
Excusing oneself
Addressing people
Making requests
Apologizing
Making offers and suggestions
Expressing interest and surprise
Giving advice and talking/rejecting it
(see the dialogues below)
B. Social expressions:
Pleased to meet (see) you
How are you?
How do you do?
Nice talking to you.
Have a safe trip
C. Exaggerating, understatements, exclamations
D. Differences between formal and informal speaking styles
Addressing people: Hey, Pete! Come and play with us. (informal)
Excuse me, officer, could you tell me the way to the nearest bus stop? (formal)
Grammar should be acquired actively, not passively. Have
students analyse examples, compare the usage of different tense-forms and work out rules
for themselves.
A lot of practice via drills and exercises is absolutely indispensable in terms of
accurate grammar acquisition. Sentences and situations should be taken from real life
(authentic sources) and represent modern standard spoken and written language. Avoid
intimidating primary school students with complicated rules, charts, names of tense forms,
parts of speech and structures. At this stage it is more efficient to teach them English
as they were taught their mother tongue: through demonstration, communication, games,
songs, poems, imitation, i.e. showing and practicing the language in various situations.
Teaching grammar and vocabulary is not like building blocks. The same grammar and
vocabulary units should be met and practiced in different contexts, new situations.
Language items should be recycled and brought up again and again.
13. Tests and quizzes are essential and should be
administered regularly to evaluate students’ progress and to give the teacher the
necessary feedback for planning his/her future work. TESTS also give students additional
exterior motivation to work harder, some students will only learn if they know there will
be a test on this or that material. However if most results are not satisfactory, it means
that YOU failed, not your students. A test is a feast of knowledge, not doomsday.
14. Consider yourself as a teacher:
You have 20 years of experience? Are you sure it’s an asset? Forget
about it and start anew. Try new things. Be a different teacher every year.
Don’t try to be in control all the time. It’s so depressing. Give
your students a chance to rule the world or at least share power with you in class.
The course book isn’t a Bible. You can choose what to teach and how
to teach, what to add and what to omit.
Your students hear and take in only what they can and are willing to
hear and to take in. This is the law of psychology. “Students learn what you teach” is
an illusion which can misguide you and lead to frustration. Constantly rephrase, revise,
and practise what has been taught. Be happy when you achieve at least some results.
Let go of stereotyped cultural symbols like “double-deckers” and
“Big Ben”. Teach attitudes, values, ways of behaviour that will help your students to
integrate culturally into the society (i.e., People in Britain don t jump queues and
don’t push. English people are very house-proud. Say something nice about their house.).
Teach your students to be effective language users (how to be polite,
what reactions and phrases are acceptable in various social situations).
There isn’t a right way to do everything. There’s only the right
way for you and for your students at the right moment. Make the right
decisions at the right moment. Have confidence in yourself. Experiment, try out new
things, be open to new ideas. Find your own method that is effective and enjoyable for you
and your students. But remember that language learning is all about interaction and
sharing and the motto must be progress for all.
Social Expressions
(What to say in various social situations)
1. Which of the two examples will you use, under which circumstances? Who is speaking
to who? Which is more polite? Practise them in pairs.
A: I’m sorry to bother you, but could you possibly change a
five pound note?
B: Have you got change for a five-pound note?
A: Where’s the station?
B: Could you tell me where the station is, please?
A: This is a present for you.
B: For me! Oh, how kind! You shouldn’t have, really. Thank you
so much.
C: This is a present for you.
D: Thanks.
A: Can you come to a party on Saturday?
B: No, I can’t.
C: Can you come to a party on Saturday?
D: Oh, what a pity! I’m already going out, I’m afraid.
C: Never mind.
D: Thanks for the invitation.
A: Excuse me! Do you mind if I sit down here?
B: No, not at all.
C: Is anyone sitting here?
D: No.
A: You forgot to post my letter.
B: Sorry.
C: You’ve split red wine on my dress!
D: I’m SO sorry. I do apologize, Madam. I don’t know how it
happened. Let me get a cloth.
A: Can you give me a hand? I need to carry this box upstairs.
B: OK,
C: I wonder if I could possibly ask you a favour? You see, I
need to get this box upstairs. Would you mind helping me?
D: No, not at all.
A: Goodbye. It was a lovely evening, Thank you so much. We had a
wonderful time.
B: We enjoyed it, too. So glad you could make it. Safe journey
back. See you soon.
C: Bye.
D: Good night. Take care.
E: Goodbye. Thanks for the meal.
F: Bye. See you.
2. Practise requests and invitations in pairs. Think of your own
polite refusal.
A: Hi! Listen, can you come round for a meal tomorrow evening?
I’m cooking Chinese.
B: Oh, I’d love to, but I’m afraid I’m already going out.
Oh, what a shame!
A: Can you help me with my maths homework? We’re doing
algebra.
B: Believe me, 1 would if I could, but I don’t know the first
thing about algebra. Sorry.
A: Would you like me to babysit this evening so you can go out
for a meal?
B: That’s very kind of you, but we’ve arranged for my sister
to come over. Thanks for the offer though.
A: Can you tell me where the nearest post office is, please?
B: I’m afraid I don’t know. Sorry.
A: Hi, it’s Susan, here. Could I ask you a big favour? Could
you look after my dog next week? I have to go away,
B: I’m terribly sorry, Susan, but I can’t.
I’d love to have Molly. You know I adore dogs, but I’m going away myself for a few
days.
3. What can you say during a dinner party? Practise in pairs, giving
your own replies.
A and B = Hostess and Host, H = Henry
A: Pat! Неllo! How lovely to see you. Come on in. Let me take
your coat.
You: _____________________________
Give the flowers to your host.
A: How kind of you! They’re lovely. Thank you so much. Now, do
you know everybody? Let me introduce you to Henry. Henry, this is Pat.
H: Hello, Pat. Nice to meet you.
You: _________________________
H: Where are you from, Pat?
You: _________________________
H: That’s interesting. And what are you doing in London?
You: _________________________
H: And how do you find London, Pat? Is it like home, or is it
very different?
You: _________________________
A: Now, Pat. What would you like to drink?
You: _________________________
A: Right. I’ll just get that for you.
B: Pat, will you have some nuts.
You: _________________________
A: Right, everybody. Dinner’s ready. Come and sit down. Pat,
you sit here next to me.
You: _________________________
B: Has everyone got a drink? Cheers, everybody!
A: Pat, help yourself. Would you like some roast parsnips?
You: _________________________
A: Roast parsnips. It’s a vegetable. Maybe you don’t have
them in your country. Would you like to try some?
You: _________________________
A: Pat, what about some more to eat?
You: _________________________
B: Another glass of wine, perhaps?
You: _________________________
B: I hope you enjoyed your meal, Pat.
You: _________________________
A: Well, Pat. We’re so glad you could come, It’s a shame you
have to leave so early.
You: _________________________
B: Thank you, Pat. Safe journey back. Bye now!
You: _________________________
Make similar dialogues that will sound natural and polite.
By S.V. Vysotina
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