The future of English Language Teaching conference 2017

What we learn when we listen: Danny Norrington-Davies

Text 1: Elementary

Task: Would you like to go on the Ozbus?

© Speak out elementary (Pearson 2011)

Text 2: Pre-intermediate

Task 1: Listen to the audio whilst reading the script. Are there any useful expressions or common errors that you could focus on in feedback?

Pat and Marco talking about their parents’ wishes for them

Marco: Did your parents have any ambition or plans for you when you were growing up?

Pat: Eh… my parents…. ambition about me to….. when grow up… when growing up… me good man….good man… and can help the company family, you know?

Marco: Company?

Pat: Company. Can help the company.

Marco: Yes.

Pat: Yes, my family have a company and my family want to me can help in the future and keep it (long pause) and wants to me a good boy, not bad boy, yeah?

Marco: Yeah.

Pat: and can… take care my old sister when my parent die. Umm. Yeah.

Marco: Eh…my father want to when I grew up she.. he want to.. I will be a lawyer but I don’t studied law so I…. he…now he is afraid about.. that. Umm. (Long pause/inaudible to self) He… my father pay for a private school where I studied when I was young but after the school I have to play drum so I don’t study law and…. (long pause) I am a musician but no a lawyer.

Task 2: Use the sheet below to think about how you would reformulate some of Marco and Pat’s language.

What the students said What I would say

Task 3: Are there any areas that you might be able to focus on in a follow up lesson?

Task 4: By doing this task, was there anything you noticed about Pat and Marco’s language use / skills / conversational strategies etc. that you could help them with?

Text 3: Upper-intermediate

Task 1: Listen to the audio whilst reading the script. Are there any useful expressions or common problems that you could focus on in feedback?

A suitable punishment

S1: Eh, maybe I think because this boy is age 14 so police put him… is not in jail… something to learn more and ehm.. and put him to work for something for social or something like this

S2: Yes, in my country has something like this. A social attendance that prevent that it continue doing this and doing… because mixture with the others can prove his, how can I say, criminal intentions.

S1: Yes, because he’s still young so maybe can learn something good for him

S2: Yes. For sure

S1: And jail is not useful for this age

S2: Jail is not the good solution. In my country we have kind of this school that will reform he. So.. but it does to work. In my country. I don’t know in the others’ country as yours.

S3: In our country there is a kind of prison for kids. Its conditions a bit nice… better than the prison and the are children under 18 years old if they are arrest they go to… to…

S2: .. this kind of prison. It’s not a real prison. It’s kind of to reform that kind of people. A reformer…isn’t it? Yes, in my country too we have this kind of rule. In fact it doesn’t work. In my country.

S1: Why they doesn’t work?

S2: People who manage this kind of social attention are not I think prepared to do this or hasn’t good intentions. My country is a very controversial situation that I can’t explain here. If I explain it here it will take long long time but it doesn’t work. The only thing I could say that is…. They are so so unprepared… doesn’t care about this situation. In my country is very difficult to explain. Really it’s really really difficult.

T: What would happen in Thailand?

S4: Like Turkey I think they have a.. it’s not a real prison. A real jail for the kids who under 18. In my opinion I think if they do anything wrong, OK, they have to punishment but it’s not like adult because they just 14. And I think the family is so important to shape his behaviour, everything, I think this is his parent’s wrong because he just 14. His mindset is up to his parents, his environment, they… his parents socialise the kids like that and he grown up to be like his parents so he just a kid. We can change his mindset, his behaviour. It’s not too late for that because he just 14. Not too old to change anything.

T: So do you think the parents should be punished?

S4: For sure. For sure. Because they.. I don’t know if they made something wrong but they should to punishment because they an adult and they old enough to think before they do something.

T: So what punishment do you think the parents should get?

Task 2: Use the sheet below to think about how you would reformulate some of your students’ language.

What the students said What I would say

Task 3: Are there any words or phrases that would have been good to help the students with during the conversation? Are there any areas that you might be able to focus on in a follow up lesson?

Task 4: By doing this task, was there anything you noticed about your students’ language use / skills / conversational strategies etc. that you could help them with? Were there any unexpected areas you could focus on?