Thessaloniki Linda Ruas April 2017

Teaching English: An introduction to language, planning and classroom management 1. How to start: basic principles. After the experience of learning another language from scratch, we’ll discuss and analyse basic principles of teaching a language. 2. Easy lesson-planning. Experience and discuss different simple ways to plan lessons, then practise planning more. 3. Using stories + help learners start to read and write. Using a simple approach, help learners develop literacy with Language Experience Approach. 4. Classroom management: discussion and practical experience of giving instructions, organising classes so different level learners all learn, reviewing and building on learning in a long-term plan and error correction. 5. Open: needs / questions / 1-1 discussions Follow-up: online materials, opportunity for 1-1 mentoring

Game to start with: Food/drink Something in this room Something you can wear eg. coffee chair cap

Competition vs collaboration How we work in class: Competition vs collaboration

About me…………. Linda Ruas lindaruas@hotmail.com Teacher trainer / teacher in London (+ Brazil + Japan + Sao Tome e Principe + Calais refugee camp) IATEFL Global Issues SIG Joint Coordinator New Internationalist Easier English wiki (eewiki.newint.org) 2 daughters (both at university) 4 step-grandchildren

Basic principles of teaching: engage What else?

Put these in order of importance: a) repetition b) minimal, simple teacher talk c) review and build d) sensitivity e) study skills f) maximise student talking g) differentiation i) relevance j) meaningful learning in context k) error correction

Lesson in Portuguese What do you expect to learn in 30-40 mins? How do you expect to learn?

Brasil

para comer

para tomar

no restaurante

Discuss in groups: Approach: what was order of writing, listening, speaking, reading? Why? Practice: Enough / too much? What sort? Correction /: Enough / too much? Enough encouragement and praise? Application: what can you learn from this about teaching beginners? Feelings: embarrassed, exposed, relaxed, bored, interested, frustrated? Language: too much /not enough? what? Any L1 use? Meaning: how was meaning conveyed? How much did you understand? Instructions: effective? How? Language?

Now discuss, in pairs: Feelings: how did you and others feel during the lesson? Target language: what? how were MFP covered? Teaching and learning: involvement, resources, approach What were the: Aims Objectives Stages Assessment opportunities / learning checks Differentiation strategies

Teaching principle: What : Why: How: 10 principles for teaching English – what, why and how - match the paragraph to the column (laminated cards): Teaching principle: What : Why: How: 1/ Maximise student talking a) Low level learners probably won’t understand verbal explanation anyway b) It can be useful for learners to simply listen to the teacher explaining (this exposes them to language, can help them listen better, allow them an important ‘silent period’ to try to make sense of sounds and words etc.), but it’s probably more useful to get the learners talking as much as possible instead c) Get them talking as soon as possible with simple pair or group tasks eg. one points at a picture, the other says the word; one asks for the thing in the picture, the other picks it up

2/ Easy lesson-planning 2/ Easy lesson-planning. Experience and discuss different simple ways to plan lessons, then practise planning more. Easy??? – lesson planning?? What? (language, skills, tasks, materials????) How? (PPP? ESA? TTT??) Why? (do we need to know???)

A/ Discuss, or think about these questions: i) What's a useful, effective lesson structure for adult groups? Why? ii) What's a useful, effective lesson structure for children’s groups? Why? iii) What are useful, effective lesson structure for beginner groups and for intermediate / more advanced groups? Are they different? Why? iv) Which lesson topics / areas of language would be good to tackle with each structure?

1) Words > phrases > task: a) Words – we start each lesson with 10+ simple words – we show a picture to elicit / show the meaning of the words and repeat each word a few times, then review b) Phrases – then we learn some useful phrases – we show a picture context to see the meaning of the phrases and repeat, and build up a dialogue with picture prompts, repeating regularly c) (optional) Grammar focus - if the learners are ready for this, we then look at some of the grammar patterns – we look at tables to see how the language works d) Task – we then use the language in a task where the students, in pairs can practise the new language in a real-life situation. If relevant/if the learners are ready for this, the teacher can show some language errors they made and see the learners can correct them.

2) Words > reading > speaking/writing: a) Vocabulary – pre-teach some of the more difficult words/phrases in the reading to help with understanding eg. Showing pictures, laminated cards to match word and simple definition b) Pre-reading – learners predict content of text from heading, accompanying visual(s), words you’ve just done, questions they’d like to find out about the topic etc c) Understanding the reading – set a simple overview task for a first quick read (eg. Is it positive or negative? What’s the problem and the solution?), then a task that requires more detailed reading (eg. What? When? Where? Why? How?). Learners discuss each task in pairs after reading. Group feedback to check and guide. d) Set a speaking or writing task related to the reading for learners to do in pairs or small groups

3) Test > teach > teach / Task-based learning: a) Get learners to do a task eg. Pairs recommend what food is best to grow in a small vegetable garden b) Teacher write up all the words learners didn’t know / needed / used with errors in pronunciation or usage – focus on, repeat, check meaning c) Teacher guide learners to phrases they can use to make recommendations eg. ‘I think you should ...’ ‘If I were you, I’d ...’ Learners think of more examples, repeat, practise. d) Different pairs from stage a) do a similar task, using all the language they’ve worked on eg. Recommend to each other what food is best to grow in a farm

C/ Now look at these sample easy-to-use lesson plans: 1/ Lesson plans for beginners: word-phrase-task format: Media:6 lesson plans - word-phrase-task.pdf 2/ Lesson plans for intermediate learners: words-reading-speaking/writing format: Media:4 intermediate lesson plans - reading, vocabulary, speaking and writing.pdf (texts and images from New Internationalist Easier English wiki) 3/ Lesson plans for learners of pre-intermediate level and above: TTT (Test - Teach - Test) format: Media:5 simple TTT (TestTeachTest) lessons.pdf In small groups, look at these suggested lessons: • try out the lessons on each other • think of other topics that could be done with the same lesson format • plan another few lessons using the same format

3/ Help learners start to read and write 3/ Help learners start to read and write. Using a simple approach, help learners develop literacy with Language Experience Approach. Simple to learn and use and develop over months. Suitable and effective with individual learners and small groups, and flexible to allow for different types of learners in different moods. Very few materials needed: paper to write text on, scissors. Personal, contextualised, values learner experience, motivating and engaging, especially when you make the texts into a ‘book’.

Let’s start with a story …. Picture dictation Positive Negatives http://positivenegatives.org/c omics/ Hands Up Project: https://handsupproject.org/ Other ways of using stories? ‘My story’ (LEA – what are the stages?) Let’s start with a story ….

Stages of Language Experience Approach: 1. With visuals, discuss learners’ likes and dislikes eg. food / drink 2. T writes a short text on a large sheet of paper, using what learners say about the food, eg. ‘I like fish and potatoes. My sister cooks potatoes every day. Sometimes she puts green vegetables with the potatoes. It’s great when we all eat together.’ 3. ‘Read’ text again together/ individually several times. 4. Cut up text into sentences and individual words – learners re-order text. 5. Learners try to read again. 6. T focus on capital letters, full stop to divide sentences, similar spellings/patterns. 7. Learners copy out text. 8. Any of the stages can be repeated, reviewed, supported as many times as necessary.

4/ Classroom management: discussion and practical experience of giving instructions, organising classes so different level learners all learn, reviewing and building on learning in a long-term plan and error correction. Instructions 01 Differentiation 02 Long-term planning: reviewing and recycling 03 Error correction 04

Differentiation: what works best? Strong-weak pairs Strong-strong and weak-weak pairs Different tasks Same task - differing levels of support Same task – differing amounts Older learners together and younger learners together

What’s important for: Instructions & Error correction? Be selec- tive 1 Use as little language as possible 2 Check understand-ing thoroughly 3 Show don’t explain 4 Loca-ting and categorising helps 5 Do a few to-gether first 6 Get learners active-ly involved 7 Grade and focus your language 8

Long-term planning: review / build on / recycle 1/ What level(s) are the learners? 2/ What language should we do next? 3/ How can we recycle and review what they’ve learnt? 4/ How can we give the course a feeling of coherence?

Follow-up: Monday in person? 1-1 email/Whatsapp support with planning with experienced trainers/teachers (IATEFL Global Issues SIG etc)? Materials and information used today: https://eewiki.newint.org/index.php/For_vol unteer_teachers_of_refugees