1. Bell Teacher Campus July 2018
From Mistakes to ”Protakes"
Adrian Underhill
Blog: adrianunderhill.com

2. The diversity of mistakes
Introduction: We are “learning beings”.
Curiosity & playfulness – natural attributes
You as learner: What kind of mistakes do you make?
What kind of assistance do you like?
Distinctions: Slip v Error v Mistake
Nuisance or Gift?
Correction v Insight
Mistake v Outcome
You as teacher: How do you deal with mistakes?

3. Can we reduce mistakes AND exploit them better?
Dictation
Quick Tips: The Prof; Now get it wrong!
Slow Down
Finger Correction
Using the Inner Workbench
Ping Pong
The anti blurt device
Upgrade v Correction
The last one to say it…
What are some mistakes that your Sts repeatedly make?

4. Dictation Before: Ask Sts to choose a dictation text
Sts predict words they will get wrong.
“Are you sure you want to get them wrong? Sts check again
Each St gives a number for the mistakes they will make…
After the dictation
“How many did you make?” Was it more, or less?
Choose your best mistake. Interview it (Hello mistake? How did you get here? Where did you come from? Will you come again? Have you any advice?)
One or two students tell the story of their best mistake.  

5. Three quick tips
Appoint The Prof - St who keeps making the same mistake…
 Appoint as The Prof
 Or place the correction in a visible location
Get it wrong and right – by choice
Pron, Word stress, Word order, Grammar

6. Slowing down …
Listen to this sentence but don’t repeat after me… How many words? Say it s-l-o-w-l-y but don’t change the sounds Re-shape it as needed Put the words back together. Add the stress, Say it normally … and fast Feel the unique choreography of every word

7. Finger Correction - 5 steps from slip to error
Mistake occurs – 1. ‘Pause’ St, an opportunity to self correct 2. Load utterance on to fingers, including the mistake 3. Take St slowly through utterance 4. Take St to the mistake and ‘hold’ to allow recognition 5. Correct the mistake Make a short sentence with a mistake typical of your students. (Mistake can be grammar, vocab, pron)

8. Inner Workbench: Using inner ear & inner voice
Ex 1 Vocab - don’t repeat after me….
Can you still hear it?
Get ready to say it… but don’t ….!
Now say it
Ex 2 Make a 7-word sentence, eg from a fairy tale
Prepare sentence internally
Hear it, repair it, stress, join the words,
Rehearse it in the inner voice, get ready to say it aloud….
Now say aloud. How does it compare?
Integrating use of the inner ear, inner voice, inner visualisation and inner rehearsal is what I call:
Using the Inner Workbench

9. Internal rehearsal of St response
Questions after a text in class: “What happens to the person in the poem?” Find the words you want in your inner voice Practice silently inside How many words? Join the words together Where will you put the stress, How will you say it? Get ready to say it… but don’t ….! Now say it aloud … just for yourself… Now delight your neighbour with your view….

10. Say it aloud – just for yourself
This enables the student to :
Practice privately
Notice the different fidelity of inner and outer voice.
Encourages thinking before speaking – good anti-blurt device!
During internal rehearsal Sts notice and correct their slips.
And it’s a great way for Sts to identify and correct mistakes

11. Ping Pong Teachers sometimes accept the first answer.
The T’s question is extinguished after only one response
Get more value from your questions by
Collecting several responses
Bringing in more Sts.
Create a meaningful reason to listen to each other.
Let Sts change their minds.
Ping pong V ping pong pong pong ….
Getting the right answer and learning are not the same

12. Collect student responses
Create a reason to listen to each other AND collect responses: What is your answer? And yours … And yours? Who has something different? Listen to each other as we go round What did she say? Did you hear him? Listen to the differences - Can you hear them? Is that the same as his? How many different ones have we got?

13. Invite class to examine their responses
Is that Ok? Do you want to change it? Do you agree with that? Are there any mistakes in that? Yes? How many? Who likes this one? Which one more English? Can you improve it? Can you write yours / hers on the board? Let’s put all the different ones on the board… Now, one of these is correct…which one?

14. Correction v Upgrade A correction:
Makes something ‘wrong’ into something ‘right’
“Correct” often means the right words in the right order
An upgrade
Improves whatever is offered (mistake or not)
Invites the best each student can do at that moment
You don’t need a mistake to do an upgrade:
If there’s a ‘mistake’ - the upgrade includes it.
If there’s no ‘mistake’ - we still upgrade anyway
Everybody gets a personal upgrade, a little quicker, clearer, more interesting, but always DO-ABLE …
In this way we remove the ceiling (of correctness)
Upgrades allow diversity to flourish

15. Individual upgrades
To St A: How many words …? To St B: Say it faster C Slower and more clearly, D Where is the stress? E Yes, now join the words together … F You need another word… G Take a word out… H Say it with interest!

16. Individual upgrades I Whisper it, J Make it a question, K Change it!
L Change one word
M Look at your pronunciation
N That’s correct, but now In English!
O All of you…find another way to say the same thing

17. T is the last one to say the item…
Why might this be a problem?
It invalidates the student effort / voices.
It keeps the teacher IN CONTROL
How not to be last?
Leave the last St version hanging
Agree how to improve it
“Practise that this evening. We’ll come back to it tomorrow
If teacher is last to say it then:
Say it intentionally (not as ‘throwaway’)
Get Sts to listen internally
Leave it ringing … and move on

18. Attitude Playfulness The teachable moment The least that is sufficient
Slip – Give the least that is sufficient to activate criteria
Error – Help them discover/invent it from what they know
or give it.

19. Bell Teacher Campus July 2018
THANK YOU!
From Mistakes to ”Protakes"
Adrian Underhill
Website: adrianunderhill.com