dictation—new methods new possibilities [pp. 56-118]

5/14/2018 Dictation New Methods New Possibilities [pp. 56-118]

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6.4 Around and aboutH ave the students draw a vett icall ine down a piece of papernought at the)ro tfo m an d a h un d re d at the top. D ictate the ' ~1;lrnberedexpl a In ing that the srudenrs should put each phrase on their sc I, OWIng,feel is appropriate: . a e as they

My!lWldmolhet s abou! 7S .She's inher midtwenties.Sh e wa s born int h e e a rl y, sizIies;rJ Ibuy. house wl ien r m in.my;late twenties.In m y early teens r wa s a hippie.

She's inher teens.MidlIineIeimth c:enguy.It's anxind hal f five.A lmos t 4 0 . .]us! o ve rth e a ge Iiuiit. Cambridg< Urn,miry p;


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from Latin ~~~e. educationad infinitum. etcetera'emerging as an imperial ..they continued their habit of nahon.Hll:lCUlue-dungarees. bangle. yoghas declined In the twenat:._--'--""_ lish h . lethnu_ ...........g as Influenced the......... IIec:IIne .. iDIemIdonIIlanguage-BUpelStar.motel,ladies'_MJlarc:i'ilM._""park. Eagfiah isstill changing today. as isseenIaDtbe""_ofllddthJClUlh c:uhuIe- punk. new wave. split,

B r i D I d1estudents gently bai:k to the present, centring them perhaps on. . o bje ct in d ie room.What you haft I i i U s h e d talking, give out copies of the time line On".59. . .NOWdi~ t h e foUowmg word sets asking the students to write themc l O W n at th e right place on the rime line. (The criterion is when they firstcame into English, rather than their linguistic origin.). . . , . . . . , 1 I I I I I I I I

- . c Ir i a 1 r , IJ)8Ik_ " Il ee f. II II II III II- . . . ..dln.egg.dIee d a c I d a a . eac,dopaedia, 8Ip8DIivec: II I I Icb, .agaL JIIiar. . . . ._ . . . .Pause heR for stodctaking. Have the students check their spelling and~ m e r have.put th e words in rime. When they have clarified their- CIDIlbIme with a SOnd batch.

I L b . " . . . . Jl8r:GIIaaI,per c:apira. . . . . . . . . . . . . . _ _JICIIaaid, ....... ., . . , . . . . . , . ,c'-d,. .... .,... C '81IdiII'-''''c::tirea. m e m o r i a l pck~JIIdr._......... daOI* a . .. .. .. . JOga.,.,I: rl,1DJII.-' ...... 1iI. . . . . . . . . . . , . . ,

Where on t he p a ge ?t~e s~udents on their own learning. What words do theylacking in English and should/Will be borrowed inthe future?student suggestions we have collected arc: One Norwegianfelt that English needed a word for day and night together _for brothers and sisters - sesken ; other students felt thatthings as a hobby', Wald s terben 'dying forests'. andwere needed; and a French student thought that san tegood in English.

find a list of origins for the words inthis exercise on page 115.

Imperialism Rock~+-+--r--.lr!-t-+-+-t--t-.!t-H-+-++-H~ 2000ADRenaissance t PunkAmerican English

C am brid ge U ni ve rs it y P re ss 1 9


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This section gives your stud~ts practice in writing with the assistance ofa len that they have hearil~~lther from yo~ or. from each other. Some ofthe exercises are quire traditional and straightforward, but Our studentshave made it dear that they I i / t e them. Probably. part of the attraction istile security o~having some o the language provided, rather than havingto tackle the problem of.creating or reproducing a total text.'Whisde gaps' (page 61 ) i s like the common reading comprehension

exercise in whidi students have to fill in gaps in the text in front of them.Here the gaps are in what the,y h ear, and their contribution to the texthas to be compatible with the surrounding language. In 'Words __,dictation . .. . storY' (page 62) you provide words which, students buildinto sentences before you provide a full story. Each level of textprovision allows for-reconstruction into larger text. The two 'cheating'exercises - 'Cheating dictation' (page 63) and 'Cheating with mime'(page 66) - consisr of blanked-out texts {Of,students to reconstruct. In'Piecing it together' (page 68) all the text is available for reconstruction,but in random fragments. 'Dictogloss' (page 70) works at sentence level.You will find it an excellent way of helping more advanced students,through reconstruction, to ger to grips with the style of a writer who isnew to them. Fmally, an exercise which involves quite a bit ofpreparation is 'Mutual dictation' (page 70). The effort is repaid by theamount of student cooperation which it stimulates.This is not the only section where the students are given a degree ofcoD~ol over an exerci~ by being asked either to give the dictation or tor lOYJde language which you include in it. For other examples seeIntafcrencc' (page 24), 'Adjectives' (page 76), 'Word by word' (page

~ _Bcfo_re nd. after ' ~page 77 ) , 'Student story' (page 82), and othersom ases m ~o_n~, Th~ messenger and the scribe' (page 86), andsaid,of ~ c _ aCtIVItiesm SectIons 9 and, especially, 11. There is a lot to be

o~ g i V I D _ g students the opportuni ty to do the reading themselves, orto p r O V I d e text fo~ it: the need to communicate accurately helps students: e a~tra:e on wh~t they are saying and how they are saying it; theand I con ey emotion encourages them to alter their tone and pacevo.uDle, to shout and to whisper _ to use in English the range of~r7'.on that!ey ~r~ well used to employing in their own languages;o COline 'Ptnt of cOOl!Crat ion is worth encouraging in itself.'"

to develop the realisation by the students that"er1erate:d by them is at least as valid and interesting as textl(t~le'texltb~'Okor the teacher.

I I Io us have done dictations in which we have given the students a, with gaps in it. The students simply fill in the spaces as the

the passage. It is a way of making dictation that bit easierdictation involves leaving gaps in the text you dictate,makes the task more challenging. Students have to think

,?;i~.Jt:~rd;,:a~cj.lfr


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7'2 Words- dIctation -+story aMPut up these words on the board or OHP:

IJ.4tlJ~db a c . k w o n : f t j Mel fotwarc;U,

~ ~ fin iD~~~ ~ G . t . e c L one, ~

h o m e ~ ~-ft iw-1irrubAsk a student to come to th e board and circle two of the words - shethen turns to the group and dictates a sentence that includes the twowords. For example, having circled stupid and home she might dictate:The stupid man went home.The rest of the students write down what she has dictated. If thedicrating student makes a mistake the teacher waits until the others havewritten it down, then tums to the board and also takes it. down. Theteacher asks the dictating student to work on the sentence until she gets

itright, on her ow n or with help rfromthe group. The dictating studentthen designates another student to come to the board. This studentcircles another two words and dictates a sentence of his own containingdiem. Repeat this process with 10to 15people. .Now ask ifanyone knows the story of the Hare and the Tortoise. Getpeople in small groups to reconstruct whatthey can remember of thestol')'.Tell the group one of the versions below, preferably the one that the

stu~ts s e e m to know least (or you may know of or invent anotherversJon).~wledgementT he central idea of the sentence dictatio.n and its correction by thestudent with the! help of classmates comes from the Silent 'Way, theapproadi CJ'eated by Caleb Gattegno. The teacher acts as a neutralf~ mechanism, not the giver of solutions. The teacher merely~ers thought by th e Students about the language they themselves areUIIIIg.

Tex t r e cons t ru c ti o n

.t.ri;"",.,n.': - she goes tonear end ofrace course.comes toMrsTortoise- very confused.toMrTortoise- more confused.- dies of exhaustion.

!I'oy:sof war. hter ofpeople likeyou.WhyteachWu,is not a,game. War isthe pomt1ess~gguns and rockets don'thun, it'syom children to play withdeath? Toyt the harmless? . ,ll'Iie.And childrenlike them too.Butare d :ave his tea; butweapons thatdont, iA1childcan play atdeath and get up anbullets and killreal people. Do you'!IlOokirnuchdifferentroma toyshoot ree~ by killingothers?Irs a dead.endwant t o teach your child t o solve probl. ding tokill a friend?Indeed,game. What possible fun can the~e~ ~::?etenwhat I1cmsible,lloodcan Itbe tokill y . f r lifenotweapons ofdeath,lIoycollwar toys.Buycreative toys.Buytoys 0

d I . hStreet LondonWei)(Issuedby the PeacePledgeUnion, 6 En s e'g, .. k d text on page 65, one to each pair, ofNow band out COlliesof the blan e h ass age you've just read. Givestudents. Their task is to reconstruct t e p

them the following rules:


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~11J is.game ;was suggeS ted by"a coml?uteqjrogram, Quartext, by JohnHiggins . a D d s Midlad J ohn so n. In th e program die students and the~~ oHerwords alternate1y . with.31 scoring s yste m. T he c om pu te r~ cb_eal$;OUr exeJ~ is an eJ('olmpleofr claiming good ideasfrom t h e - computer fo r th e c la ss rix lm . 'W h e n' th e c om pu te r p ro gram isrq,laei4 by t h e t ea cbe r, d ie result is a rno re subtle, hum an gam e w ithgrea ter group pamc ipa tion.


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Have a copy of a text which lends itself to mime - the example below isfor an elementary class. '"Group the students, standing up, 10 a tight Circle. Read through thetext at nonnal speed. It is n~t !~porrant at this ~t~ge for the students tounderstand everything-the mitial read through IS JUSt to focus attentionon the text. I' b I' Af '. INow read the text a second time me y . ~ne. . .re~ each inc pause andelicit.an 'action' from the students. If the hne IS open the can' then thestudents should mime opening a can, etc. Students should show With

rHE eGKEMAGHINE RGUNDiFHE CORNER

Y ' ou 'r :e stimd in g in f ro nt o f t il e C ok e m ac hi ne .1M y o ur f ia nd i nt o y o ur b ac k, po ck et .T a ke ou tf ure e lO pc oin s.P ut th em in o ne b y aile.

' \ ' O U heed he m achine click.fh oo Sf: y our drink an d p ress th e b utto n.Y o u heera terrib le g ro on fro m th e co nstip ated m ach in e.Ounk! ' I i i . can d ro ps d ow n.Pick it up .O pen the can.It S Q u i r t s C ok e in y ou r fa ce.T ak e a K leen e~ o ut o f y ou ~ b reast p ock et.lub your eye.L i d : y o ur t rp s.Take a sip.Burpl

q : : , Cambridge University Press J 988

T ext r e c on s t r; u ct io n'OO'Ole.,,~")'" they have understood you. Help with a little mimeIl,ltne";tu(lenrs,g;et stuck. (Props such as an empty Coke can and

rilhe,l!ru'p'~IP",~es are u se fu l. ) ,A l l the students should mime each action.extrovert, students to centre all the attention o n them~ C \ i ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ t t : ( f h ~ ~ d ' ~ ~ ~ ~

C:lInbrid~e University Press 19


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TI%I reeorrstnlaioil7;5 PIecing It togetherYou are go ing to read a stOry fo~which the students know the text _ bw h a t they havejs scrambled. Fust, read the story at a natural sp dutcouple o E limes. Then give out the sheet of phrases opposite. Givce hastudents lime to study it. Now ask them to turn the sheet over and li t e. th th ro F' II h IStento you reading e story a J b.me.. rn a y , t .e students us e thphrases toteCOnstruetdie whole text 10 their own writing: eI dan ' ! mmemb e r w t i o tIie ac ! reSS was but anyway, s he w en t i nto a r es ta ur an tmfClldeied acab.W b li nt he w al! er ~ the c:ikfj S he Said: Td prefer a b randy - take thecabaway,~'Tbehrandy,anivecUIie dranJilit iiiidthen Q!Jtup, as if to leave.v.,dam. Madam, ~~'lhewaiter c : a U e d .'Wha I about it?'You've forgctIen to pay for your hraildy; Mac!arru''HoIIsIi IIse, 19oe th e hraDdyin ~ for the rue.''WeII lheI I , ' said tliewairer, 'yOu JIIUSt pay for the cake.'' W l iJ ? ' sheasted; , _ ale it'

Have the students in pairs rot up the sheet ana sequence the phrases.AcIcnowlec!gementWe ~eamt this idea from a colleague in a 1985 workshop in EekJo,Belgium.

r r ex t r e cons t ru c ti o nthe waiter brought the cake

the waiter called. and ordered a cake.for the cake."

to pay: for "You've forgotten1don't remember who the actress was

she said: "I'd prefer a brandyas if to leave.

'~ou must pay for the cake.""Why?" she asked,

and then got up,butlan)'VlT,ayshe went into a restaurant

"Well then," said the waiter,

"What about it?""I never ate it."

your brandy. Madam."_ t~e the cake away, please."

"Nonsense. I got the brandy in exchange Camb ri dge Un ive rs it y P r es s 1 98


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Ackoow'~tThis-clasSicexercise was written up in '[lie' English'Language TeachingJournal in}!96J.1n the late seenties it iJeca)1lepopular in Australia. It ismore fully described ilian !lere in Once 'Upon a Time; by John Morganand MlIrioRinvolucri. S ee also the article by 1"erry :romscha ill PracticalEnglisHT~lihing

ThUi.c:xcr~ involyes srudents in cO"lbining two-part. texts into onecoonnuous J11~. ~re copies of gapped text A : and gapped rexrB opposite.Sitthe students facing each other in pairs, (In a traditional classroomhave front row mrn round and face tlie second row, etc.) Give

p e l $ O Q e a C h Pair aversion1\: sheer and person B a version B sheet.eacll has half the text. They should try not to look atA dictates and 8 writes, then 8 dicrates and A writes,story is.complcre.

~ students show each other their sheets rocheck (or

'ext recOnstruction

C amb ri dg e U ni ve rs it y P re ss 1 9 88

C am br id ge U ni vc t1 it) ' P le ss 1 98 8


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0"

Comp l e t e versionwas. V8IYhal clay an d the bus wa s very ClOwded. There was a tall.~man lIIaJIC!Ing_lhe froIit althe bus. Sitting near h im there W a sbeaDIiIaI girl. The man 8 I i l I had a lOrigjouniey!o do. He begins talking to the agirl. He l81li her that h e is very weaIthy. She pncks her ears up. He talks to haboaIhlsblgfaml-she-lOOksat hiinwith real interest. He tells her that he is erAd aD d JcmeIy. She JooIaI at hlfri with tender symJ) ll thy. Finally he tel ls her heneedS awile. hThe man saYJ!:'Let's get o!ftlle!ius at the next stop -t en we can talk.' SheIJIIISIIPaD d gelS oIfthe bus. S h e does not look behind her. He has taken herseat!Variat ion 7In language classes one is rarely .asked to sllout or whisper. People dopronunciation work with?ut really e~plor~ng the' expressive potential ofdie "oice. In both shouting and whIsperIng you expenence a foreignlanguage differently. In mutual dictation you can use both these modes.'ft isnot only valuable but adds fun, '

Ask the stUdents to sit across the room from their partners - put onsome low niusic for them to talk over. When you have given out versionsA and B of the passage slowly raise the volume of the music so thatpeople have gradually to raise their voices. Maybe you should warncolleagues teaching either side of you that this lesson will be a noisy one!When the students have shouted the first paragraph of the story totheir partners across die room, ask them to move close to each other andcontinue die mutual dictation" but, sotto voce, in whispers, Make surethey still sit facing each other, or the temptation to look at the other'stext will be overwhelming.Here is"another- text, should you wish to try out the shouting and

wliispering modes of mutual dictation.Spocms ( compl et e v ez si on )1 0 1 m died aDd WIII II I tla ! lJIJI to Hen. Great long tables. Bowls of del icious food.1 0 1 m . . amaredbythls sigbI . Even moreamazing were the spoons that lay~ tIIe bQ wk T b e yw are a fuDmetre and a half long. When you tried to eatwiIh.tbem JOUcoaldn'tgetlhem into your r iIauth. So everybody in Hell satJookiag at tile c I e I i d O a s food and IIarving.loImubd.ifhe cou ld go lip and have a look at Heaven. Up he went. AgainiIIMlloag tables laid with cIeIlcIouslood.1.gain great long spoons. He asked

J I O I I I e o a e whit tile i I I I f e r e n c : e between Heaven and Hell was. The answer he00t .. ftry deer. 'h i Heaven we 1118thl!1IPOONI to reed each otherl'It) Cambr id ge Un iv er si ty P re ss 1 9 88

' [e x t r e con st ru c t io n

____ and went straight,- . Great long .of -~------7"ood, J ohn w as by this __ .'-~-- amazing were tile - lay beSid:~~_

.ci~,i;~~~:;:';':;:'"'-il'hey ---- - ---..: and a half .

__ Hell sat looking

~ __ "':'_Iong spoons. _~vifia:tOtll;~;diffe'relice'A~--ic..--- _ _ and Hell was. The

Camb ri d ge Un iv e rs it y P r es s 1 9 88

.:.. -r- toHell. _, l' . amazed --tables. dehcious . ---- --- ,

. " . spoons that____ sight..Even more ---- ---h b Is wereafullmetre--- - ----__ t e ow .----. , eteat with them ------ - glong. When you ----- --them into . So everybody in _the delicious food --- --------.--,.----- -- and have a look ______ askediL- ----- -- -- ------------. Up he ----. ----- ----- ---- He asked

laid with delicious food, Again great - --- - - --H-e-av' enbetween r. ---someone --- ---------- c1ear:' __ HeavenThe answer he goL - - - - ------ ---' other!'

-- --- --- spoons -- ---- ---- 1"8". Cambridge University.rres~ 7 (I73


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Byl!WIiPuIating thegaps)'Ou a:eate,)'Ou can us~ mutual dictations verysuccessfuJIy in uiixeclrabilily'8!'WIp-s.~n the ~ given above, the gappingis rouglJtjr tlJually balanced. Student; Ii. ana s.tudenr B have much thesame amount of writing todo, But i~ ) 'OUknow that A is a lot weakerthan B , she should, have less ~ting to do and should have a morecompltre teXt B's- teXt should Have correspondingly fewer words in i t.The beauty of, this iHllat i\; t f i . c weaker. student, does more' dictatingthan B aD d Ilau dearer initial iaea o~ me whole passage than B . Thew e a I c c r - srudeiit-is put in the position of being one' up, though within acollaborative frame. 'Notel n c i d c : i i t a I I y , if you are thinkirig o f investing in a word processor, thep~tionof.this kina oexercise might be one reason for going'ahead!~tWe l U s t met this techhique in a ,colleague group- at the Bell School inBadi. We heard the bu s story from a Syrian male colleague.

t " "level students already have' enough vocabulary tof texts. But students themselves are nor always awarhave to find ways of encouraging them to noticethof their knowledge - 'see for example' Adjectivein this section involve eliciting a short texit back to them in some form or"othelanguage have already been discusse

in this section, 'Adjectives' (page 76) collects singword' (page 77) sentences are created, as they areand after' (page 77). Sentences are the startinI done?' (page 7 9) and 'Opinion poll' (page 80(page 8 1) and 'Student story' (page 8 2) depend,

an!""l!lJal~,' o n the elicitation of more extended text.easy it is to get text from the group, it makhard-working people spend so many thoela,qoratmg text sequences which have nothing directly, group. Textbooks? Home-baked bread oftthe pre-packaged variety.


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When the group has dried up ask each student to select arid write downthe four most effilones, the four most difficult ones and the four thatshe" likes most. Paif tlie students and ask them to dictate their lists toeach other. But the student taking down the words must take down theop~e of dieword dictated.When tile pairs have finished theil' dictations go back to the board andgo througJi what they've produced..Th is exercise i5 a valuable cue for a discussion of how many wordsyour students need, how many words they know and use in their firstlangua~, how imgor:tant vocabuhity is, and how they can manage tofunctionwlitn they don't know a par:ticular word. Equally, discussion ofadieti've endings comes in naturall.y h e re .

M any oppc:!Iitd W Il lbepossibk . for cuml1le', inler.national Irorn the list above might~oke Mti i :maJ, lou1, .inipk. Who . opposite w ould y ou provide for pink?

above Come from an unexceptional elementary group. Atstudents were very excited to realise that theyoiliprtlvP' had been asked beforehand how manyhave wildly underestimated

I Ito write down- the first word of a sentence. They dictatgroups. Group B proposes and writes down

dictate to the others. Group C provides a thirthem the groups have produced a 12-worsuspect . that the other has proposed a word thin terms of sentence building, they mwould follow that word?' If the other group cann

,:l!i!l:;r_~I:equaltenswer they can reject the word.

e ually well be done with pairs playing pairsqd-'d Is It's best to have players sitnng opposIn IVI ua . - hside by side, as this emphaSIses t e~a~e aS~teacher has to be everywhere at once, e ping

h Of The Q Book.. f J h Morgan co-aut or .exerc'lse rom 0 n ,


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An elementary class came up with the following:

The teacher added a and the. .Before continuing check there is enough lan?u~ge in the grammarsection. At a more elementary level there usually IS out you might like tosupply, say, a , t ne , to be, to nave, etc. if the stuClentshaven' t come upwitli them. At an intermediate or ailvanced level the students are liableto come up with less basic grammar words so a fourth category such as'one of the most common words in the English language' is necessary toprovide the 'guts' to facili tate sentence construction. ,Now ask the students to make as many. sHort sentences as they canfrom the words in, say, six minutes. They sHould use only the wordswritten on the board. Ask them to write on slips of paper. Collect intheir sentences.Now ask the students to choose a partner and sit facing their partner.Tell each student to turn a piece of paper lengthways and to divide itinto three columns. The first column should Delabelled 'before ' and thethird column 'after '; the middle column is where they will take down thediaation. Explain that you are going to dictate some of their sentencesback to them, they are to write them in the 'centre column, and then toadd one, two, three or four words either before or after each sentence,any words - not just the ones on the board. Ask each pair of students todecide which one of them is going to add words before the dictatedsentences, and which one after.Choose and dictate the sentences you take a fancy to as you skim readth~ students' work. Dictate amended sentences - you correct anymistakes as you go along. Short pithy sentences work best. Give theStu~ts ~e after dictating each sentence to think up their additions.The before students should not consult witH the 'afters' at this stage.~en y~u feel y?U have dictated enough sentences ask the pairs todecide which of fh~t sentences ate meaningful across all three columns.Finally ask each pall to read out their best three-part Sentence.

, When, the ,stud~ts .from t~e example group had combined theirbelores and afters with the dictated sentences some of their sentencesread as follows: '

DICTATED SENTENCE S AFTERw;;mted hard work years ago.why IS sh~ pretty because she likes herseU.tangenne must be bubbly tobe perfect.they want hard work this afternoon!:l~kirnvseli why is she pretty because she likes hersel!.to the future an umbrella is traditional isn't i t?i~'sa fantastic butterfly to find on mybirthday:why IS she pretty at this time.they want hard work inschool.a woman wanted to be mad yesterday.awoman wanted to b e mad after t he dance.an ugly tangerine must be bubbly inthe rubbish.an umbrella is traditional because rainnever endswanted to be mad because she alwaysd reams.it's a fantastic butterfly to find in the city centre.

I done? 1?! lI i~111I I

each student to write down on a sheet of paper fou,ii."ienci's.()t. their' own. . ktheir sheets and then use individual expenences to rna

like this:" " f . h (+ individual's experience) 700 US ave . ..

h udents have written in terms'Youmay need to reformulate what testlanguage accuracy. . ou dictate they supply theAs the students take down the sentences ho have had each experiencown guess at the percentage of the group wd out their estimates. FinalAfter the dictation get the students to rea to put their hands up, anasklhose who have had the expenencecompiuc it with the estimates.


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Using the students' text8.5 Opinion poll 1 ~ " ' = m m i I _ ~ . m .Ask each student to take a piece of paper and write five sentences givingan opinion. each to i~~ude the word home.Collea in these opirnon sheets.Ask the students to put a piece of paper lengthways and to make fivecolumns with these headings:I a gree /1 disagree I Most people in I X ... in my I Our teachermy country family would probablywou!d agree disagree agreesThe students should choose a person they know well in their family forthe X incolumn 4.Explain that you will dictate a selection of the sentences they have justwritten, They are to write each opinion down in the appropriatecolumn.Since there may well be mistakes in the sentences you have in front ofyou, dictate them in a corrected form, without pointing this out. Dictate10 to 15 opinions. .Now ge t the group up and milling about the room - ask students tocompare their categorisations of opinions. Sometimes strong, felt con-versations develop at this point. Encourage people to stay in English.At the end of the discussion phase ask students who are not surewhether they wrote the dictation accurately to dictate the sentences theyare unsure about back to you at the board. This allows them to checkout their doubts.

NoteThis exercise can be done with other emotive key words. Think forexample of thirsty. on time, sleep, light, A IDS.

U s in g th e s tu de n ts ' te xtthe story _11111

an exercise in shared story construction.the sentences below, and give the instructions in parenthesesdifferent tone of voice.

was having a rather heated exchange wi th his h is tory teacher. Shemore and more upset. (Please write the first few l ines ofthe)Giovanni got home he went in to the ki tchen and said hello tohis Mum.

ISedescril) her.)the family to table and they all sat down to eat. I td idn' t take long~lJIiO'l,iIIII:U 5M um and Dad to start arguing. (Write their argument)s tand i tany longer. He left the tab le and went upsta irs,

dii ling-room door behind him. When he got into his room he shutand put on some music. (Draw the rnusic.)

Cambridge University Press 1988

the students to read their stories to one another in pairs or small

. school teacher of Italian tostory above was suggested by a p~l~ary Chur in Switzerland. ForItalian migrant children during a wor 5 hP10 of lt~lian see O ggi c he. h I'd on the teac 109 ,more pnmary sc 00 leas .' dainFacc iamo, by Richard and Marjone Bau .

81


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USingliesiiiilmts'ex,.---------------8.7 Studentstory

to them. As an this exercise, you dictate students'warm-up, tell your class a story.Good topics for stories are:the rime you were hottesrlcoldest- a frightening experience with ~nanimal- coincidences- driving rests/lessons- gening somerhing new- the time I caught the wrong train/bus, etc.

Give the students a minute-or rwoto come up with their own story in thearea you have chosen. Ask the students to volunteer their stories. Keep acareful mental noteof each story you hear.-While the students are tellingtheir stories forget your role as a Corrector ana focus your' best attentionon the content and style for the retelling.After half a dozen or so stories, ask the students to get a pencil andpaper. Dictate the srory~stones you like t ? e besr; suitably enriching thelanguage. You may find It odd at f irst to dictate without a written text infront of you_,but doing this increases the immediacy for the students.Take down the text yourself on an OHP transparency as you dictate _doing the same task as the students _provides a model text for correctionand may also make you feel closer to the students.

Acknowledgement'Y e a~k?owle.dge a ~ebt to Bernard Dufeu's work on psychodramaturgielinguistique, m which student-produced text is enr iched and reforrnu-!ated by the teacher. More information on Bernard's work can be foundm the February/March 1983 issue of Le Fran,ais dans le Monde:

.approacn to language teaching has made the EF Lre you're always interacting with someone orvsruciems, sometimes, benefit from pools of introspective calm;their own. In using many of the exercises in this' ,students turning inwards and focusing with'on seemingly very simple tasks. Doing an

as~:"s,u' i-round,edby other people that you know is a lot:r,QI:)))JQQlmg! the Isame. task in the solitude of your room.feel more comfortable than studying at home,of sch'ools is their habit of chaining lively teenagersmorning to lunchtime. Moving around thepent-up energy, and in several of the exercisesmvement is a purposeful part of the learning

of sports training, mental and physicalis now routine. * As a sports trainer youyou were foolish enough to allow your athletes toof tension. The last four activities in this sectionimnonents designed to integrate relaxation into normal lan-channels to more personal comrnurucanon.

gi~ing some attention to the value of music, sim:e. it isi!!nll!rnitl.c! in several of the 'activities which follow, a~the trtles indicate.


15/

Lost in thoughtProbably none o J us wants music as a ~nive.f,sal wallpap~~, but it issignificant that tedtnology has been exploited m order to give us musicin the restaurant as we cat, and. in the car as w e drive, and in thestress-provoking street as we-jog. Ir is not only the case that we ca n bothlisten 10.music anil perform other physical lind mental functions a s wedo so; it is also that we benefit trom doing so, from tne relaxation anddistrllcDon the music provides.Music in the form of songs ris often used in the language classroom.Songs ate an excellent carrier of vocabulary andtof rhycpm. In thissection, music is inregrated with unsung text. In Classical Suggestopediaas deve loped by I!.ozanov, Baroque music is specifically chosen to slowthe rate of, the heartbeae and to make students' more susceptible tolanguage. Here, for.psycliologicalreasons, welhave felt it,useful to offera choice of music to the students, thougij interestingly we have founddiat stu~enrs . themselves do frequently opt, .,fo~.Baroque or perhapsRomantic muac, They seem to confirm that liozanov got it right .NoteFor further reading on the, encouragement of relaxation in the class-room,tI i see M~ory, Meaning and Methodlby Earl Stevick. Also. usefulare e SEAL journals,

9.1 ~ed transcoption

~ J ! h l s ~ : : a ~ o~ thefro~twall of the classroom. T e l lheth 1:_bi f th phon exercise, They come to the wall and reade,1Jn;( It0 e text. They go back t thei I . .They c o m e back; t th II ( o. eir p aces and wnte It down.."':te do ha .oh e wa o~ a second read and then go back andw , ., wnw Heycanhold he i h d' .I!text suitable for e l 10 t el~ ~a s, etc. No pens at the wall.W b ementary students IS given oppositee n most people have fi . h d h ..' .the. Wldl and give them rus e t e tral)sc[J~tlon, take the texts offth e original. out. Students check their transcription againstWha t do you do while the 5t db'O ne option ~ fo~ you to sit u ietlv ~re usily engaged in this activity?ebserve the audents at wo Itquret y ~n a corner and take the time toread; walk.1oo1t and !l". There L S pLenty to watch: the way they~. \\Intc:.

L~:~ O l!b on ~ for you tow d . d ."""'J w n n e n aD d ki an ee ~OUI) the room reading what IS5tudesus.are~g.ng DOli:$ for fUfD:[e reference of difficulties

Lo st i n t

to read the work being produced and poinroua mistake without telling her iohat it is. Yothis out on the wall.' If you do decide [0co,w:,V',;rf,,'I1< on recent mistakes. If the student is currently wortext don't point out something wrong in.the secon

years back in her experience. Don't speak to the studshe .gets back from the wall as she needs [0write down whead first. It 's a mistake to interrupt the readmgto-We' feel that while the third option assuages teacher guiltmake myself usef~I') the first two options are more usefulstudents. The third option can hinderstudent concentratJon an

into a sometimes fairly private learning world.


16/


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Lost in thoughtTell the group that you are going to show diem 12 important wordsfrom a text. You will let them see the words foe ortly seven seconds.After view.ing diey are to jot down as many as tlley can remember.'Flash' the words on the first transparency, ,F1asll the words up again, this time for five seconds. lrhey try to

complete the list.Now let them have a good long look at the words. Explain any thatthey don't know. , cNow show the second transparency, masking all but the first line ofthe text and allow them to see ir,for/ive seconds. They write it.Mask allllut the second line of rhe text and flash itup for five seconds.ontinue till they have gOHhe whole text. . . '.Students"now excliange transcriptions, and you let them see the textfor as long asthey need to correct their neighbour's work.ACknowledgement -,The idea of flashing words at a group is .usedin Vocabulary, by JohnMorgan and Mario Rimrolucri, ana originally derives from .a seminargiven ByAlan Maley and Alan Duff.

9.4 The never-ending story;Ask the students to have pencil and paper on their desks ready for adictation. Go toa far corner of the room (or outside into the corridor),a sk the students to gather found, and then read the text once through tothem:iA woman goes iIi to a s I l O P to ~some Shoes - she chooses a.pair for 12doIIafs. S he gave the aSSistant a 20 doUar bill, As the shop assistant had noc:han!ie liewent 10a near~ restaurant to get some. He gave llie customer 8doIlans change. A fe w IlIOInenIS laterthe restaurant owner came fuining intothe s boe shop. 'Tha12O doUar bill you just gave me is a forgery,' he shoutedaogIj!y. '!'be s ! i O P assistant gave him a new, g00dl20 doUar bill.The prOblem is this: Iiow II'i1lclI dld the s h Oe shop lose o n lhese transactions?

CamBr idge Unive rs it y Press 1988

When you have 'fini~hed the firs! reading tell the students you will readtHetext-a se~nd, third, fourrh, etc. time. They are to listen to as much asthey can: r etam ~nd then go and write it down. 1Jhey can come back andforth 35 man~ tunes as they want. Loop, back and begin reading again: Awomangcesmto a shopto buy ...Students should go and write as much of the firs sentence as they can8

o r fourrape recordings of the story and brin~" H~;~' to class ..Place the machinesalong the frofrom their places and wind the machinadvantage of the cassette recorders overthave more immediate control.

record the story onto all the student machines.Afrom the' machines. They walk over tothe101cue"us,reIlllJg,going back to their chairs to do the wnnng


18/3

9.5 Talking tothemselvesDo you remember how interesting it was to hear your own recordedvoice for the first time? This rechnique capitalises on that interest.In the language lab~ you speak die first sentence of a text into thestudents' earphon~, but not onto their- tapes. Each student then startsher machine and repeats the sentence as accurately as she can onto herown tape. She stops her machine. iY ou read the next sentence. Sherecords it in her own voice, etc. In this way, the students build up arecording of th em se lv es - not you - telling the story.The students then take dictation from their. own voices.In this exercise students are working as much on their pronunciationand intonation skills as on their ability to re-ericode English in a Writtenform.AcknowledgementWe first learnt the exercise from ~udith Sluggert, who has taught EuroMPs in Strasbourg, It also features in Bring the Lab Back to Life byPliilipEly. '

This exercise invo~vesno written response from the students, yet in someways you a~e asking them to .respond to your spoken words in a verycomprehensJ~e manner, showmg not only their understanding of yourtext but also Its total effect upon them. ' 'IBefo~edoing t.hedictation you need to get the group fully relaxed. There axanon exercise suggested here isone of many.

co!::?' a~~ the .s~dents to sit in their chairs in a physiologically. orta ~ posmon: feet flar on floor, hands flat on thighs back; r r 3 J g h t a~lDStthe chair back and head held upright. In this posit ion the~esbt m es are tense. Arms folded might be psychologically comfort-a e, ur not muscularly relaxed.Tell them they ma~ sh t th . 'f h .uncomfoCtabl 'f f d u err eres I t ey Wish. Some students feele I orce to dose their eyesSpeak these lines to the group i ..{leave]on,,;ch gaps b hU P m a quret, calm, but not soporific tone.,.,. etween t e sentences}:~~ my Ief! hand o n my left leg; .noace the C X I l 1 I a c t be tween the hand and the leg.l l lOdce my Ief! a nn o n my left thigh;lllOlice !be eoaIaCt be tween tbem.!lO

rtl '118.e,ontael:"1ei'N.eenm y le ft fo ot a nd th e g ro un d, th ro ug h m y s ho e'l ef t f oo t 18 finnly on the ground. 'leg an d n otic e th e w ay m y left th ig h res ts o n t he ch airifl'(:llrifacj~ befV Ireerln~v left thigh and the chair seat. '

~ /::~~ ~:~ ,~ ~"~ ~~ :~ : m y back and the back of t he chair.C l b od y an d th e contact it has wi th the chai r.o n th e c ha ir.'__'~",.ft., I " ft O . " is h ig h a bo ve t he c ha ir.not neavv, m y h ead is h ig h a nd c le ar.

Then tell the group you are going to read them a Japan92) and ask them to just let it flow over them.group you will read the poem again, line by line, andtime to picture the written form of the words as they hthem to visualise each word as a shape in their minds. Whbreak them up into sub-sections and allow lon. you read, thus giving time for the visualisationoff the exercise ask people to imagine what they will

;,nl;tW,"v,nnpr their eyes; the shapes, colours, textures and peoplew.,pn.'h'>' ' come back' into the room.to gently open' their eyes, look around and strestretch-vourselt.to talk about their experience through the relaxausternna. They may want to be alone with themselves. They

at the text of the poem. (You could post it round the w


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Dinner00 OIl! ina gust.thrashed downpourJ i I c e a drowned ratbuy tIuee ~ of ricefo r 24 se n and 5 rinfive dried fishon e piclded radlshredgingereggs from the C h i c k en coopseaweed liard a s b e at en steelfried dumplingssalted bonito gutsHea t s om e w at erea t J i I c e In!rig!!i",devils: o u r d i ii n er .The storm buildsslams against tIie roof-tiIesshakes , raIt Ies the hOuse.Our appet i te holds OIl! stun:lily,f ood tmns into l i Iood. mges instinct.S o o n . sude i led: blissful_ hold bands quietlycr y unIin'iiIed jo y inOlD' h e ansand pray: m ay the daily trivia h a ve lifem a y life 's e v ez y detail be i l lmninateam ay each o r lIS overf lowm ay _always D e r u n .Our dinner acquiresa power f ie rc er t han the Slonn.EaIiIIg dcail, sat ie tyawakens inlISa tnysteIious lustmak es lISmar v e1at ou r l imbsand bum inthe violent rain.Th i s isdinner for poor people like us.((ro lll Chi~koarrdother Poems o(Takamura Kotara, translated by HiroakiSaIO)

Acknow tedgemen tWe fintexpe.rimced the above described form of relaxation exercise in aworkshop le d by B ernard Dufeu, one of the initiators of psychodrama-turgie l inguist ique (see his article in the February /M arch edition of LeF ra n~ is d an s l e M o n d e).

I..Jemploy s music to open up students to recei h Ive t e angua

text' and ask the S tudents to translate u im he i. h hO t er r OImportant t at t e S tudents choose the variant of thfeel m ost comfortab le with. E xplain clearly that they

IUIUl" ......al ly , not l ite ra ll y - th e p ur po se b ei ng t o u nd ers tarelauo,n to their own language. W alk round, checkbut don t correct errors except glaring semantic on

tend to make m istakes in their own language when theyfrom E nglish, but this is not important here unlessshows that they have misunderstood the English.) Ifnum-unauai groups E nglish w ill b e the norm al w orking langua

1 S1 :i::x elri;j!;eg ro up th e stu de nts acco rd in g to th eir m oth er to ngkeep using E nglish as the w orking language.

tim e can highlight or underline useful or interth e tex t.E nglish text to music. The students should not wreading. The music should be something relaximusic or electronic music is suggested. If Indoomething y ou w ould find acceptab le as background m usic w

w:()n


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~ ~ o u , g ~ ~ ~ - - - - ~ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ~M Ie listen to musicwhen they work. It's relaxing and theyany peop . d id . Af doifind that it raises their energy levels an ar s.conce?tranon. te.r olngthis exercise lor the first time it's worth ~sk~n.gwhich. students lIsten tomusic when they are studying alone and mvinng them to suggest music

(or the next dictation. . ..Students enjoy translation. 1students ~re legitimately allo~ed to usetheir mother tongue productively once m a whll~, they WIll be lessgrumpy about being asked not to translate at other nrnes, .The students should be able to comprehend tHe dialogue easily andwithout anxiety. The dialogue should be a s bland as possible - studentsareoftenpresentcilwith 'authen~(;', 'funn~', 'useful', etc. type dialogues,but sometimes a bland dialogue ISrefreshing Doth as a change and as a1,"ayto give students room to flesh out ~ dialogue usi~g their ownimagination. Here .isan example. All the dialogue, mcludmg the scenesetting and die names of speakers, should be read.TheJob(Maria ishaving an interview with Mafgaret for ajob as an au pair. They aresittingin a~ J i o s ! I JiVjilg room in Ileautiftil armchairs.)M A R G A R E T : w e n now. Don't be nervous Maria. (Margaret looks very

~ very snobbishanil very over-dressed:) Iust want to askypuafew~ .MAllIA: Mm-Mm. Ye s ?MAR G AR F l ' : Wbele do Y 9 U Study:?)I!ARIA: At~ntres.MARGARE' l ' :At1d bow long are"You.stay ing in England?MliRlA: Ulilil the middle of next year.MA RG A RE T : ~ Have youeverJ5een an au pair befOre?M A R I A : : No, b U t rve looked after my ~ef's cliildIen a lot since herdivorce.M AR GA RE T: I s ee . G oo d. Can you drive? H you ca n drive you ca n take thedWdren to schoOl evIllY morning.M A R l A : Ye s . rYe been dri\'ing for ages. rm a very safe driver.M A R G A R E T : Jfyou like youcan borrow theicar occasionally at weekends.MAllIA: Oli. ' I'ha!'s nice. Hyou decide, to take me how much will I get~? .MA&GARET ; WeD.yo u ge t a room, meals and I'll give you some pocket

money. But you won't have towork for more than four to fivel iOuls a iIlty.Al1d it's l i 5 I h t work. fm sure you'l ll ilce the kids.lltA1II& T h a I sounds fiIie. TheSe chaits are n f c e and comfortable.MA RG A RE T : Y es . Wl\en: you ge t cosy it's difficult to ge t up again.

Community Language Learning is that the,n!:1'ollme-tanauaze and so produce their own text. LessonsSuggestopedia, offer relaxed learningtext. This exercise combines the bestof both

',,,.,, ...",....N see Section 11.)accompany a text like the one below (seetheGive out copies of a transcript of a groupclass. The transcript is to be used forthe dictation as and when they wish.'UI"~"a,,," of a transcript that has been corrected.

95


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Lost in thoughtUR SUL A : Do y( ! .U h av e a ny spegal decorations in y our country Cor

Christmas?A NA RO SA : Yes .UR SUL A : Wha t ?A N A R O S A : n'stheSllJrll3sshere.Jt lAN~ Spanish P.!l9ple havenJ got a Father Chr i s tmas . S pa nis h p eo ple

have got three kings.M A N U E L : Three mag ic k in gs .EIJZAIIETH: In Brazi lw e hav e m ag ic king)! to o a nd F ath er C hris tm as .FLORENCE: 11: ' very stupi_d.J U A N : The magi c l


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10

Traditionally, dictation has been seen as an en? in irself .or a ~ a revisionctivity The text involvedhas come from outside+ from a collection of:a$S;lg~ o~perhaps from the course text, and usually ~heactof dictatingan d transcribing has been separated fro~ other activity and conductedas a comparrmentalised and somewhat Impersonal exercise. We hopethat at l;ast some of tile tasks offered in earlien sections, have shown thatthis need not b e the case. Dictation can be ,integrated with otheractivities, and-it am draw upon the personal language and experience ofyou the teacher and of your students. . '.' J .The next section in this book Will be looking at dictation 111 thecontext of CommuniI)' Language Learning. In this section, we offersome dictation activities wnich .engage the personalities and experienceand emotions of you and your students, as material for the languagewhich is rransmitted.Some of, the activities which follow lead naturally to pair or ,groupdiscussions. You have the opportunity to find out more about yourstudents and vice versa, In 'The teacher's autobiography' (page 99), forexample, tile teacher dictates four sentences about her own life, onlythree of wl\ich are true. The students nave to take down the one theythink is false. The juice of this exercise lies in the discussion afterwardsas studenrs compare their impressions. The dictation itself provides awarm-up or incubation period during which ideas form and take shapein jndividual minds,An essential feature of activities of this kind is that - as illustrated in.Rr~ious sections - the learners are engaged in' a double task: not onlytaking down th.edictarion, but makinga personal judgement about whatthey have heard. The idea of-offering students a double activity parallelsnonna~ experience. Very often people do things better when they havetwo things to pay attention to. Some like to listen to the, radio as theycook, or _w~tchtelevision while ironing, or do mathematics with popmUSII: SWirling around them OJ drive whiletalking to a passenger. We~ve found the same with dictation: it is more enjoyable and is doneWIthmore C1lCT.8Y when there is a parallel thinking task to accomplish.,Mal_lYclassroom hours are spent in states of very low energy and rhissecnon seeks corcmcd)( that situation.

are.revealing to your st~dents something of yoursefour statements about periods in your life. Ishould be true and one should be false.You'len-batches. One of us wrote the following examples:school.":-.


23/

Vsr iat ion2The versions proposed here are personalised as we feel it natural forteacher and students to find out a Iota bout each othe.r over the span of acourse. You could of course use the sa~e ~ecl\nI~ue as a kind ofdictation quiz on more impersonal tOpICS like history, botany .orgeography. For example: .Sydney is thacapital ofAustralia. .NewCaledOnia is th e French tertitory nearest Australia.Sydney is inNew Sout I i W ales.Canbeii'a is a r at he r smaIllown.

Acknow ledgemen tThis exercise type was suggested by Gail Morare who works with theAdult Migrant Education Service in Melbourne, Australia.

10.2 About myselfGive the question page opposite to one of the students, and ask her todictate any question she wishes to you. Take it down on the board andmen answer it: the 'I' is you! Ask her to choose and dictate a secondquestion. Write itsomewhere else on the board and again answer it. Anda third one.Take back the page and dictate 10 to 15 of the Questions, leaving timefor the students to answer the questions with reference to themselves.The students write their questions and answers on completely blanksheers of paper (A4 is the minimum size suitable). Encourage them towrite all over the paper, rather than from the top Gown.Invite the students to discuss their answers in pairs.Draw the group together again and ask them to dictate the questionsback to you. You write them on the board. This will allow them to checkspellings.

Variat ionYou could ask die students to each pick a person in their lives whomthey know well. The questions would then need to be in the thirdperson:W ho can IIie or be II1lII?W he re d o es abe or h e co me fro m?

100

~--P ........" VLOea whole new wave of people into th Ie c assroom:

1


24/

10.3 How can you say that?This task explores the ways in which it isappropriate to talk to differentpeople that we know. It develops a sensitivity to language in. personalcommunication.Ask the students to turn their writing sheets lengthways and produce agrid like the one opposite. '. ' ."Say something to tHegroup loudly. i[~en ask them how you spoke. Ifpossible elicit loudly and have them write loudly at the top of the firstcolumn.Repeat with these ways of speaking: softly, angrily, kindly, fast,dearly, politely, sexily, boringly, threat~ningl)'. Add in a ... way as afurther category. ,Tell the students you are going to dictate questions to them about theway different people speak in given situations; Tliey should take thequestions down and answer by ticking the appropriate column or bywriting the right wordis) in the 'in a .. . way' colu",ln.

How do I (the teacher) speak to thiS group? How do policemen speak to teenagers?How do you sPeakin a shop?How do people Speak to each other In.chufch?How doe&'did your father speak to you at the table?How do you speak to your best mend on tl ie phone?How WOriIdGod speak to you, if this could happen?How do you speak 10 tOddlers?How does your favourite TV star speak on the 'screen? "

Cunbri age Unive rs ity Press 1988Tell students to add five more questions of their own to fillout this set.Finally, invite students to compare their answers and explain thecontexts.'n whIch the speaking takes or has taken place. Finish the taskby drawing together on the board-the new adverbs students may haveneeded to use in their 'in a ... way' column.

NoteMore qUestionna!re dictarions can be found in The Q Book, by JohnMorgan and Mana RlDvolucri. "


25/

F i n di it gou t a 60ut t! aw o t he r

This risk explores the topics (and emotions) you are likely to raise inconver;satioltwith others.Tell the srodents to rom a piece of paper lengthways and to rule fivecol umn s. Th e column Beadings are:For adults:&r;mger inatn in t Mypm; t ne r !My1iOl fS IMymorlier I()~ ifyou have a dass of teenagers:My1Joyl,guJfiiehd I Mymothe t l Mybestmend I My favouri te "star" ITell them to pur.a person of dieir own choice as the fifth columnheading:Writeup on the Board:Rowmuih do you weigh?A s ! c th e srudentswho therfeel they could say this to. If they could sayit to a boy- OF girlfrien!4 then they sliould write the question in thatcolumn.lf tfley could also sa y II to th~ir modier, they should tick the'mother' colu~, and SOon.You then dictate di e questions below, which they put into the columnther,feel makes mosr sense.1fhq;also tick other appropriate columns.

1Do Jt!!l ~ m e ?, 2 H o W l ii u c: l\ lD O I I e y dofOIl earn?3 HO W O ld ar e you?4 W b e te h a ve YOI l c o m e frOm?5 When ' s Y O I ! r ! ? i r t J i d a Y ?6 CalLYl ' I I iendme,$SO?7 W bo didJ'OIl VOle 1m ?8 lire YOI l ftoiiurOlmd bere?Q Have Y O Ilg ot'a bo y/llir lftie Jx l? 10 Do YOI l believe inC lo In11 Wbal'aup?1 2 D iaYO ll inow ,YOIlr flies are 1 l I I d o z i e ?13 , )IrefOIl being lIOIIeII?14 Wha t didYOIl dream abOut , then?)5 CanlbonowJ:OQr~

ClC:iID~ Univcrtrtr Pr es s 1988Get the stucknts OUtof th . d'comparethrir resP!lnses. err seats an moving around. Ask them to

Finding out a bout e ac h ot

events or objects in our experience can give rise!e~r~,:1!t~~I~J:~:~~~~.~~~~d t~e ,mo~e meaningful language is,~i IS listening to It.

about steps and stairs. There may be .interesthouse or flat, or those of your stude, we were small: they Were big. Maybe tn~SQlTle',I:I)gntsf steps you always went up or down in a cercan be interesting. People use stairsand down. Stairs can be metal, shalldark or the other way round.to;'i'iitlltcta~i;bn"pass'lgeabout two or three iots of stairs that armemorable. (Alternatively mentally prepare a pas_"""',~_' - the ?assage. Then ask the studenteach other about stairs of their own.is that you are using the dictation as a kin,U!l'1lI,ipC,LJVU


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11 CommunityLanguageLearning

Earlier sections, particularly the previous one, have looked at ways ofdrawing on the language and persona.1 resources of the students indeveloping text for dictation. It ISpos~lble to go much further In thisdirection by incorporating the techniques of the SIlent Way andCommunity Language Learning and SImilar approaches. But this goesbeyond the scope of this book. .': .In this Sectionwe simply offer three suggestions which rake you a littlefurther, raising some of the questions and introducing some of thetechniques which Community Language Learning presents.Our debts are apparent.

11.1 Student transcriptions (from Community LanguageLeaming)W h at is C om m u n ity La ng ua ge Le arn in g?The best answer to this question is to outline what happens in abeginners ' class . The students sit in a circle with a tape recorder in thecentre. You need a microphone with a longish lead and a pause buttonon it, or, for a smallish group, a pocket dictaphone which can be passedround. You stay outside the circle, behind the students' backs.

The conve r sa t i onsWhen a student wams to say something to another member of thelearning group she calls the teacher over and produces her utterance inthe mother tongue (or the working language of the group). You whispera translation in the target language in her ear. The student takes themike and starts the recorder before saying what she wants to say in thetarget language to her addressee in the group. She then stops themachine, Her target language utterance has been recorded on themachine.H .the phrase the student wants translating is a long one, or if itrequires a long translation in the target language, the teacher cansegment the translatIOn and have the student record it piece by piece. As

I06

.... .,,_--==r;;;=lIv'come to realise that the productiontranslation into the target language hinde:j;gc,fdl'es!;ecdc~ci,:lesto answer she calls the teacher over and tis repeated. But of course the addressee mif she has nothing to say, or if another group membanother utterance directed at someone else.complete control of the turn-raking in the convcrshas to abandon all attempts and temptationsIn physical terms this means that you must avthe a'ddressee. of a target language utterance, a

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.....---c:ommunity Dinguager.eanrtngdoesn't recognise something that she has said, or has forgotten themeaning. There is nearly always someone in the group who doesremember. If nobody can remember, they will normally ask the knower.During the translation back phase, the knower is busy noting down thesentences needed for the third phase.Language thinkingThe teacher as informant writes up on the board sentences from the tapethat present grammatical/visual similarities of the sort the students arelikely to notice easily, and which may provoke them to ask questions.With real beginners three at four phrases may well be enough.It is during this third phase that the knower is most likely to fall backinto the trap of being a teacher and taking over the activity. To avoidthis the informant tells the students that she is there to answer anyquestions they themselves may have about the sentences that are up onthe board - their meaning, grammar, sounds, spellings or anything elsethe students. may want to ask. This question and answer work takesplace in the learners' mother tongue or in the working language of thegroup. It is vital that the informant does not stray beyond the role ofinformant and confines herself to answering only questions that havebeen asked.These three stages outlined above normally constitute a lesson.Work on the transcriptPrior to the next session, the knower transcribes the tape. The renderingmust be as faithful as"possible to what the students have actually said onthe tape. If, in an early session, a student has really made a hash of anutterance, you should either omit it completely or transcribe a correctversion. Usually, from the second session on, some learners will tryoutw:l~ds and phrases on their own, without calling for translation, thoughtheir sentences will sometimes teem with errors.At the start of the session the transcriptions are given out and thelearners read the first page of their own group textbook. During thisreading work students ask each other and ask the knower a largenumbc: of qllest!0ns, as they have often forgotten two-thirds of whatthey discovered III the f irst session. 'The teacher must be available andhelpful, but must not intervene, propose or test.The work on the transcript naturally leads on to the recording of anew conversation, but this time some learners may well want to tryoutthings they have learnt from the first dialogue.

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of Community Language Learning are quite ssession the group creates the next pages of their ownThe problem lies with the way the group developsnot impose a learning style and this means th. illl:'le:!Cnm~ processes of the people in the group are allois often an arduous negotiation as to how'De'O~galmseu;with leadership struggles and attempted hijastyles to be imposed on them, and

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(i;ommunity Language Learninggroup if necessary. 'Youmight like to intervene ~s a last resort ifan errorhas been missed by both groups, or to help with register. Repeat with, other transcripts.If the students have rranscribedonro paper via ,3 secretary, then rushphotocopy enough copies fof.each student to be abl~, 'to see.or have acopy of'each transcript. The students can then ~orrecterro~s jn groups,or, i f they prefer, individually. You may hR,e to go through thetranscripts with the wholeclass at the end when most students have, finished. , ' ,This variation reduces tfie workload for the.teacher and allows her toquietly observe the students atwork, i.e, the students transcribe, not theteacher. The session outlined above leaves the teacher out of therecording stage. At any level from post-beginner on the students arecapable of making their own decisions about language. The teacher ismore likely to be an inhibiting factor. If this activity is, repeatedthroughout a course, tlie students become expert and, very quick atmaking tapes, transcribing and correcting. To facilitate 'this it isimportant at the beginning of each recording session toask the studentshow they feel about the-last session and how to improve the forthcomingsession. It is also useful to initiate a debriefing after the recording,Students often like to hear their tapes again during the error-correctionstage and this facilitates pronunciation work. When you'come to the endof a course, offer the students ihe chance ro relisten to tapes made at thebeginning. This is an excellent way of allowing students to 'realise whatthey have learnt.More advanced groups may-feel restricted by making short tapes. Letthem make more extensive tapes and instead of transcribing the wholetape ask them to select five segments of 'good' English and five of 'bad'English. .'

11.3 ShadowCommunjty I1anguage LearningDivide the class into an even number, of groups of not more than ten~~ ..Supposing you have two groups; arrange them in concentric circlesaround a [a~ recorder. Ask the inner group to make a short tape - seethe mtroductlon to Community Language Learning on page 106. Askthe outer group to 'shadow' the inner group, giving their best attentionto what the st~denrs have to say. Explain to the outer group that whenthe recording IS finished tliey'll be asked to recreate the inner group'sconversation as faithfully as possible.Ask the innerand outer groups to swap places. The new inner group

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Broderick of the International Buddhis

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This' b oo k a s a g ift to in itia l tra in e e sWhen initial trainees first face a class it is a well-known' fact that theyoften fall back on the well-tried techniques they experienced-in the pastas learners. Dictation comes into this category. By working in this areathe trainer is accepting the reality of the trainees's previous learningexperience and building on from there..1_"hisbook serves as ~ bridgefrom traditional learner experience to exciting new way of teach mg.Several of our trainer colleagues have recommended the book in itsPilgrims Pilot format to their trainees at the end of one week introduc-tory courses to TEFL and at the end of the RSA Preparatory Course.Maybe you would like to do the same?If you want to introduce people to some of the ideas in this book, youcould start by giving them this dictation:Some of you may remember dictation frorn your schooldays with pleasure, tosome it may have fel t boring, while some may have found it an encouragingexercise. Inmany cases the teacher probably read you the passage, dictated itand then read it a third time so you could check through. To many people this.and nothing else, isdictation.The picture begins to change if you ask yourse lf a series of questions:Who gives the dic tat ion and to who?

Who controls the pace of the dictation?Who creates or chooses the tex t?Who corrects?If all power remains in the hands of the teacher , then we have a bleak.traditional landscape. But dictation can be otherwise . ..

After your colleagues/trainees have taken down the dictation invitethem to decid~ what an~er~ they can find to the questions. Thisshouldlead na~rally I~to expenencmg some of the techniques in this book ..In this exercise the tramees are do ing what they are being asked tothink ahut.he one 'loops' into the other like an Escher drawing. Welearnt this teacher training technique from Tessa Woodward who hasap~lied i.t to many .areas of methodology. When she want~ to showtram=. Jigsaw re.admg for example, she gives them a jigsaw readingabout Jigsaw reading.H2o

covering this area is G oede l, Escher, Bach (A n.. by D.R. H~fstadter. Lo~p-I npu t by Tessa Wood-this.Idea ISused m teacher training,

~techlniqlu.eisaVe,Syou, the trainer, from being p hy si ca ll y p re se n t a~e worked on. Perhaps less trwelling? And yousession could be a big plus m terms of reducing thto take a discussion mike and a good recorder into th'db served' . She should place the mike so that it picks up a

voices as possible.number of minutes of the lesson.of your own room you then get two recorders and plaon one, while re-recording it onto machine twa comment to make you stop machine one and recorto say onto machine two. Then restart machine one ...trainee the cassette with her lesson interspersed wi

~n>n'n ..rrrc She produces a transcript of this tape, writing in twscript on one side and your comments on the otheof this lengthy task isto let her pay really detailed attentiointeraction with her students.

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Now giveour a phorocopy of the text below for group discussionSuppose you have a tame programmer sitting opposite you whose job it i s toprogram the micro for dictation correct ion. You have to giVtl her thepedagogical infonnat ion which allows her to wri te the r ight kind of program.S he might ask these questions:Whan should the machine react to amistake? The moment a wrong letter istyped in; a t the end of the word in which there is a mistake; at the first fullstop; at the end of the passage?How should the machine react? By writing the word correctly in a box at the topofthe screen: by f lashing a quest ion mark over the wrong letters; by writ ingthe sentence at the top of the screen with the type of error identified, e.g.word, segmentation. punctuation, spacing, spelling, etc.?

How should the machine react tomistakes from a sensory point of view?Jumping letters; burglar alarms; sound effects; music; colour?Could the machine's feedback, once thestudent has typed the whole passagein,besimply toshow the student her own text interl ined with the correcttext?

Sho u ld a variety of correction medes beprogrammed in and the 'decision as towhich one to choose left tothe user? If so, you would need an initial menuscreen. How would you succinctly describe each correction mode?

C am b rid ge U niv er sit y P re ss 1 98 8NoteSome of the facilities outlined above are available in Microtext aframe-based text presentation language that runs on the BBe micro-computer. MicTotext can be used to control a suitable audio taperecorder.

AcknowledgementThe ideas came out of a discussion we had with John Morgan co-authorof Once Upon a Time, and Vocabulary. '

below are the obvious answers. Students will come up w~~r"allSV"er'S, and some of these can be more unusual than the ones giin 3.1, 'Taking a message', answers have included:

is a priest.the boy's mother's first husband, the surgeon being

;...";';;.h",f,,n,rl

:"(o['d",hellds:.Sports words are Corner, foul, goal, start, drop. whilet in, defensive, wall, move, and block. Less obvious wordscould make a plausible case for include spat, interruptions,

A

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6 .6 1 "im e d i ct a ri on ' :s u pe rs ta r. m o te l Ame ri ca n En g li sheat, drink, speak Anglo-Saxonv ea l. b ee f, mu tt on Normancow, sheep Anglo-Saxonwant , dirt. e gg . d ie Vikinge du c at io n , e n cy cl op a ed ia . e xp e ns iv e Renaissancechurch, ange], priest Christianitysplit. punk, new wave Punkn .b . a g en da . p er a nn um , p er c ap it a Renaissanceman . w if e . . m e at , h o us e Anglo-Saxonpolaroid, blitz, ersatz American Englishg iv e, g et , s is te r, s ky Vikingd em a nd , am or ou s, c omm en ce Normanl ad ie s' r oo m , s en io r c iti ze n. m em or ia l p ar k Am er ic an E n gl is hcrime, p ar k, ta x Normancandle, master, school Chrisrianityd u ng ar ee s; b an g le , y og a Imperialisma d ol es ce n ce , r oy al , s ump tu ous Normansleep, dream, weep Anglo-Saxon7.1 'Whistle gaps': I 'm walking along this street in Leicester you see, late oneafternoon and it's rain}ng~ and suddenly. there 's this middle-aged womanblockmg my way, stand~ng 10 front of me right-in the middle of the pavement.And she looks at me with her eyes glaring, and she says: 'Why don't all youblack bastards go hom~? You come here and you take all the jobs and all thehouses, an? all you do s live 'on the Social. You've none of you ever done a'decent day s work 10 your lives, Sogo on, clear out, go back to the jungle whereyou c ame f rom ! '9.2 'The m e s ~enge~and the scribe' : The judge knows that the doughnut seiler' sComwill be Oily.Oi l will float to the top when that coin is put into the water.9.4 'The never-ending sro ' . .s20 ina rh,hopassistanrisS12. ry. ,assummg I at the value of the shoes to the

116

Richard and Grinder, John, The Structure o( Magic vols. I and Iand Behaviour Books, Inc., 1976.Richard and Grinder, John, Tranceformations. NellroLinguistic

"PrOK"amlmi'"g, Real People Press, 198 J.Richard and Grinder, John, Frogs into Princes , Real People Pres~ichard and Marjorie, Oggi che Facc iamo , Pilgrims Publications

A Dictionary of Foreign Words and Phrases, Routledge & Kega~!.Jnallge"tX,Jean-Pierre, Neuronal Man, Pantheon Books, 1985.~lUlev,elana, Bernard, Master Teaching Techniques, Connecting Link Press, 198"....orrmcau, John and Stanford, Gene, A Guidebook (or Teaching about t

English Language, Allyn & Bacon, 1979.(Jurran, Charles, Counselling Learning: A whole person model (or educationApple River Press, 1972.Dufeu, Bernard, 'La psychodrarnarurgie linguistique', Le Francais dans,Monde, February/March, 1983.Dyer, W . W . and Vriend, J. , Counsell ing Techniques that Work, APGA Pre1975.Ely, Philip, Bring the Lab Back to Life, Pergamon, 1984.Prank, Chris tine and Rinvolucr i, Mario, Challenge to Think, Oxford UniversiPress, 1982.Hrank, Chris tine and Rinvolucr i, Mario, Grammar i7 1 Action, Pergamon, 1983

Gattegno, Caleb, Teaching Foreign Languages in Schools the Silent WaEducational Solutions, 1972.Gatregno, Caleb, The Common Sense of Teaching Foreign Languages, Eductional Solutions, 1976.Hofsradter, D. R., Goedel, Escher, Bach (An eternal golden braid), Pengui1979.Jaoui, Gysa and Gourdin, Claude, Transactions, Inter Editions, 1982.French)Maley, Alan and Greller , Francoise, Mind Matters, Cambridge University Pre1981.McArthur, Tom, Longman Lexicon ofConlemporary English, Longman, 198

Morgan, John and Rinvolucri, Mario. O"cc Upon a Time, Cambridge Univesity Press, 1983.Morgan, John and Rinvolucri , Mario, The Q Book, Longman 1988.

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ISBN 0-521-34819-6CAMBRIDGEU VEltSITY l'RES .

I I I I I I " "780521 348195

dictation—new methods new possibilities [pp. 56-118]

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