How to be a more lexical teacher

Write down all the language you taught in your most recent lesson(s). Be as specific as possible. You have two minutes.

Let’s share some of the language you recalled

Put the words in each group in order of frequency. You have five minutes. 1ambitious / fun / serious / hard-working 2arise / supermarket / store / blonde 3trademark / controversy / criticism / headline 4paramedic / contend / Muslim / whereby 5after he / in terms of / singer / by the time

You have two minutes to write an example of these words and structures. ambitious beard Muslim paramedic criticism past continuous arise in terms of whereby

Where I'm coming from Strategies / Learning Indonesian in Jakarta Cobuild Course and Dave Willis's Lexical Syllabus Conversation Gambits The Lexical Approach and TBL Dogme before Dogme Innovations, Outcomes and the CEFR Priming Demand High ELT

Some assumptions - Are you in the same place? Words and grammar are interdependent Grammar plus words isn't true or helpful 'Natural' examples are important It’s important to think about the outcome to get input There's great value in 'spontaneous teaching' responding to students 'emergent' language Meaning can be studied and learnt Usage comes from exposure and use over time Games, activities, classes can easily be language-poor, often pointless and an avoidance of teaching

Assessing frequency serious fun ambitious hard-working arise store supermarket beard criticismcontroversy headlinetrademark wherebyMuslim contend paramedic in terms of by the timeafter hesinger after the 219 Numbers refer to occurrences per million in BNC: source phrasesinenglish.org / Macmillan dictionaryphrasesinenglish.orgMacmillan dictionary

The attraction of simple examples She is ambitious. He has a beard. She is Muslim. He is a paramedic. She receives a lot of criticism. The phone rang while I was having a bath. A problem has arisen. My job is bad in terms of money. whereby ….

Explaining the attraction availability bias representational bias / simple X is Y pattern priming

Frequent words: - are what students will see / hear and want to speak / write. - might be the ‘glue’ as much as grammar. Single words / simple examples: - may not illustrate meaning. - may not reflect actual use. - will not provide sufficient exposure to grammar! - will not recycle frequent words sufficiently. Chess masters and 10,000 hours Why it might be a problem

Getting better at judging frequency Google Find a friend

ambitious adverb - adjective adjective - noun Getting better at giving examples: Collocation

What about collocations of collocations? extremely, hugely, overly, too, wildly ruthlessly artistically, politically, socially attempt, plan, programme, proposal, venture aim, goal, target adv - adj - noun adj - noun - verb verb -adj - noun noun - verb - adj - noun

When? Why? Who to? beard Muslim paramedic whereby

Who was the guy with the beard? I haven’t seen him before. As a Muslim, I believe we have a responsibility to help everyone. When the paramedics arrived his heart had stopped beating, they got it going again and then rushed him to hospital. Immunization is the process whereby a person is made immune or resistant to an infectious disease, typically by the administration of a vaccine

overly ambitious face criticism From collocation to story to example

How did the workshop go? > I was overly ambitious as usual. I didn’t do half of what I’d planned. > It was OK, but I was overly ambitious and I ran out of time / I didn’t finish Miliband has faced a lot of criticism about his leadership, because he’s basically weak and he’s not doing enough to challenge the Tories.

From examples to noticing: grammar Who was the guy with the beard? I haven’t seen him before. As a Muslim, I believe we have a responsibility to help everyone. When the paramedics arrived his heart had stopped beating, they got it going again and then rushed him to hospital. Immunization is the process whereby a person is made immune or resistant to an infectious disease, typically by the administration of a vaccine How did the workshop go? >OK, but I was overly ambitious as usual and I ran out of time / I didn’t finish Miliband has faced a lot of criticism about his leadership, because he’s basically weak and he’s not doing enough to challenge the Tories.

- Why haven’t seen him before? - Why had stopped beating not stopped beating? - Why a person is made immune not a person made immune? - Why he’s not doing enough, not he doesn’t do enough?

From examples to noticing: patterns and vocabulary Who was the guy with the beard? I haven’t seen him before. As a Muslim, I believe we have a responsibility to help everyone. When the paramedics arrived his heart had stopped beating, they got it going again and then rushed him to hospital. Immunization is the process whereby a person is made immune or resistant to an infectious disease, typically by the administration of a vaccine How did the workshop go? >OK, but I was overly ambitious as usual and I ran out of time / I didn’t finish Miliband has faced a lot of criticism about his leadership, because he’s basically weak and he’s not doing enough to challenge the Tories.

Who was the guy with ………..? I haven’t seen him before. As a ………., I believe …….. When the paramedics arrived... … stopped / broke down.... got it going again rush him to hospital …….. is the process whereby... resistant to an infectious disease, [academic lang] How did …. go? as usual / ran out of time faced a lot of criticism about... …. ’s not doing enough to...

Questions that check understanding and generate language Why might you...? How might you feel if...? What might you say if...? What happens if...? What's the opposite of...? What preposition goes with...? What verbs go with...? What else....?

Recognizing what’s frequent and useful is not a given. Giving good examples is difficult especially if they require complex sentences. Need to notice and plan language within coursebooks.

Practice! How might we develop words we previously taught.

Other ways to be more lexically focused 1Plan what language not what activity. 2Plan not just to complete aims, but to allow for students’ talk. 3Think about what students might say in Speaking tasks. 4Write dialogues for particular situations. 5Brainstorm new lexical sets / networks. 6Write your own exercises. Find a buddy and... 7Discuss interesting errors you came across. 8Discuss interesting questions I was asked in class today. 9Discuss new language you'd never taught / thought about teaching until it came up in class. 10Discuss what you learnt about your students.