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EDITORIAL

In this second edition, New Ways International offers its readers a variety of interesting, high quality articles on English language teaching, written by experts and senior teachers from different parts of the world especially for our magazine.Dr. Ali Shehadeh, from United Arab Emirates University, contributes with a paper dealing with the cultural dimension in teaching the foreign language. Teresa Ting writes her experience at the University of Calabria, Italy, about helping learners to develop oral presentation skills. Rosana da Silva, from Brazil, makes a sound and important reflection on the challenges of foreign language teaching in the 21st century. Steve Darn, from Turkey, raises teachers´ awareness about the importance of the feedback provided by the students on language tasks and activities. Gillian Lazar, from Middlesex University, United Kingdom, writes on a frequently misregarded side of teaching: the appropriate use of words on the board, exploiting them to foster language learning. Charles Jannuzi, from the University of Fukui, Japan, presents an innovative activity for whole-class vocabulary development. Professor José I. Córdoba, from the Universidad Tecnológica del Chocó makes a description of a texbook that he wrote, entitled “An Ecotourist Travel Through Choco State”, for the purpose of teaching aspects about the department of Chocó (Colombia) through English, by means of reading passages and comprehension activities.New Ways International expects to publish a wider range of articles, including research articles that give account of scientific studies and experiences carried out by English teachers from all over the world. Our expectation is to spread information that may contribute to enrich the practice of English teaching in Chocó, Colombia and around the world.

Francisco Moreno MosqueraEditor

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Whose Culture and Whose Rules in the EFL Classroom?

Dr. Ali Shehadeh

Chair, Department of LinguisticsCollege of Humanities and Social Sciences

United Arab Emirates UniversityAli.Shehadeh@uaeu.ac.ae

Language and CultureIt is well established that teaching language to a large extent means teaching

culture because language is an expression of culture. Language is a means for

conveying and transmitting culture. It may not be divorced from its culture

because it is not created in isolation. It is also well established that each culture

has its own social norms, ethics, taboos, and concepts of what is socially

acceptable or unacceptable. For instance, having a boy/girlfriend, being a single

parent, living as an unmarried couple, participating in mixed-sex education, and

talking about female relatives or family trees are generally accepted in the

British–North American culture, which is made of more open, permissive, and

tolerant societies. These societies’ social norms regarding such issues are not

often accepted or even debated by many Arab people. By contrast, in the

Arabic culture, a more conservative culture, there are strict family, social, and

religious hierarchies. Also, many taboos forbid explicitly talking about certain

body parts or organs, talking about female family members, and shaking hands

with women. For instance, in some Arab counties, it is not appropriate to reveal

the name of your wife, mother, sister, or any other close female relative in

public. Below are two examples that illustrate the point.

Example 1

In one of the intensive courses I was teaching at a large public Gulf university,

the course textbook, Tactics of Listening, included a complete unit on the family

(Unit 9). Two tasks of the unit specifically required that students talk about

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family members. One required that students work in pairs or small groups and

ask each other two sets of questions:

SET 1: Do you have any brothers? What are their names? How old are they?

SET 2: Do you have a sister? What is her name? How old is she?

In doing this task, most students (male-only classes) were very hesitant to do

the activity that related to the female part. These students asked only if their

speech partners had any brothers and their names or ages, but not whether

they had any sisters and their names or ages. The other task required that

students draw their own family tree on a piece of paper and explain it to their

classmates or to the class. Many students were also reluctant to do this task.

Others who agreed to do the task asked me, “Should I also include the names

of females?”

Example 2

The other example comes from one of the episodes of a serial comedy entitled

Tash ma Tash (meaning roughly “enough is enough!”) broadcast on national

TV. The episode was about a schoolteacher who accompanied his ill mother to

the hospital. In the waiting room he met a colleague of his who was also waiting

to see a doctor. When the mother’s turn to see the doctor came, the nurse

called out her name: “Patient Monira, please proceed to clinic No. 2.” The man

took his mother to clinic 2. The other teacher then knew that his colleague’s

mother’s name was Monira, so he exclaimed, “I see, so your mother’s name is

Monira? Aha!” Soon the news spread! The following day all the other teachers

in the school called this teacher “Son of Monira” (“This is the son of Monira.

How are you, son of Monira. Did you see the son of Monira?”). A few days later

the schoolchildren followed the man on the street, clapping their hands and

shouting, “Son of Monira! Son of Monira, Son of Monira.” Soon, everyone in

town called him “Son of Monira”!

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The man got fed up and decided to flee the country completely. Returning after

more than 20 years, he was now quite old and thinking that everyone must have

forgotten all about him and his mother. He was close to the neighborhood

where he used to live when he asked an old man about an old building (the

house he owned before fleeing the country). The old man shot back, “Do you

mean Son of Monira’s house?”

Can You Teach Language Without Culture? A SurveyGiven that culture is inextricably intertwined with language, the main question to

answer is: Can you actually teach the language without its culture? In an

attempt to answer this question, I conducted a small-scale experiment in which I

tried to gauge my students’ views on the issue. I asked them two sets of

questions: one set related to their motivation, attitudes, and their goals of

learning English, and one set directly related to introducing the target language

culture (TLC) into the classroom. In the first set, I asked my students why they

were learning English and required them to rank their answers on a scale from

1 to 5 as shown below:

Why are you learning the English language?

On a scale from 1 to 5, mark the following answers to this question (with

5 being the highest score and 1 the lowest):

I am learning English because

(1) it is a vehicle for self-development.

(2) it is a method of training cognitive processes.

(3) I have a positive attitude toward the speakers of the English language

(intrinsic motivation).

(4) it is an entrée to the culture of other groups.

(5) I want to communicate successfully in the L2 with those who speak

that language.

(6) it is a way of promoting intercultural understanding.

(7) I want to become a proficient/effective L2 speaker.

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(8) I want to speak it like the native speakers of English.

(9) it enables me to get a good job (instrumental motivation).

(10) it is part of the curriculum (compulsory). I have no other choice.

(11) overall, I am personally interested in learning this language.

In the other set of questions, I asked students the following questions:

Would you like to learn the English language and know about its people

and the English culture, or would you rather learn the language and its

grammar only?

Would you mind being introduced to any concepts or issues that are part

of the TLC norms, or would you rather drop these or replace certain

concepts and issues that are part of the TLC norms with comparable

ones in Arabic, your mother language culture (MLC)?

FindingsWith regard to the first set of questions, I found that highly motivated and

stronger students (based on the students’ course marks and my personal

observation during class work and participation) ranked the responses between

3 and 5 points (average: 4). Less motivated or weaker students, on the other

hand, ranked the responses between 1 and 3 points (average: 2). With regard

to the second set of questions, highly motivated students commented that they

did not mind including concepts or issues of the TLC. Less motivated students,

by contrast, commented that they were more inclined to drop such

concepts/issues or replace these with comparable ones from the mother

language culture (MLC). For instance, these students stated that they would be

happy to talk about issues such as strong family ties and strong social relations,

replace target language (TL) proper names with Arabic names (e.g., Ali for

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John, Ahmed for Peter, Fatima for Mary), and replace the TLC contexts and

dialogues with Arabic contexts or dialogues.

So, the dilemma that you as a language teacher face in such EFL contexts is

that if you do not bring the TLC into the classroom, (a) you will distort the TL

and its culture, as you will be teaching a language devoid of its culture, and (b)

you are more likely to trivialize the learning/teaching process in the eyes of

highly motivated and stronger students. On the other hand, if you bring in the

TLC, you are more likely to alienate weaker and less motivated students.

What then can be done?

Some Ways ForwardOne way to move forward is to assure students, particularly the weaker and less

motivated ones, that learning the L2 and learning about its culture and people

are signs of cultural enrichment, not a cause of loss of their own culture or

identity. Learning another language and culture widens and deepens their

personal knowledge, enriches their personality, and makes them more

understanding, tolerant, and sensitive to other peoples and cultures.

Another way to move forward is to create an interculture (like interlanguage), a

negotiated culture that lies between the TLC and the native culture, with an aim

of approximating each student’s understanding in the direction of the TLC. For

instance, in my EFL classes, I introduced tasks and activities that required the

participation of both English and Arabic native speakers; we thus incorporated

both English and Arabic names, personalities, backgrounds, and contexts in the

classroom work. Students felt that they related to the task in some way that

made them more actively engaged in the task and the learning process as a

whole.

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A third way would be for the teacher to be a role model for his or her students.

For instance, in my attempt to get students to do the family tasks described

above, I first told my students how many brothers and sisters I had, their

names, and their ages. I also drew my own family tree on the board for

everyone to see. Students found that fun and were then actually more

motivated to follow suit and actively complete the task.

ConclusionIn conclusion, the solution to the dilemma of “Whose culture in the classroom?”

is to introduce a negotiated culture in the classroom situation that draws from

both the target language culture and the mother tongue culture. The solution to

the dilemma of “Whose rules in the classroom?” is also to introduce negotiated

rules that satisfy both the weaker students and the stronger ones, the more

motivated students and the less motivated ones. In other words, hard and

positive negotiations that strike a balance between differing expectations and

demands are the key requirements to the implementation of successful rules in

the language classroom in an EFL context.

ReferenceRichards, J. C. (2003). Tactics for listening: Basic (2nd ed.). Oxford, England:

Oxford University Press.

Ali Shehadeh is Chair of Department of Linguistics, United Arab Emirates University. His research papers have appeared in Language Learning, TESOL Quarterly, System, Journal of Applied Linguistics, and ELT Journal as well as in international journals and magazines on ELT like English Teaching Forum, English Teaching Professional, and TESOL Arabia Perspectives. It also appeared in edited volumes including Edwards, C. and Willis’s, J. (Eds.), (2005) Teachers Exploring Tasks in English Language Teaching, published by Palgrave Macmillan, U.K., and Coombe, C. and Barlow’s, L. (Eds.), (2007) Language Teacher Research in the Middle East, published by TESOL International, USA.

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Developing oral presentation skills and communicative courage: Cultivating Learners’ FL-ID

Y.L. Teresa Ting, PhD

Lecturer in EnglishFaculty of Sciences

The University of CalabriaItaly

yltting@yahoo.com

As university EFL teachers, we see it all the time, learners who can write a decent paragraph and even an entire scientific paper, who read and understand seemingly impossible technical reports but who balk when asked to express an opinion orally. And worse yet, when asked to stand up and give a presentation before a class of peers and friends. Imagine then, the terror learners must face when they must speak before a critical public at an international scientific conference…death through fear. Public speaking is, in fact, a source of stress and anxiety (Weissberg and Lamb, 1977), being “scarier than rattlesnakes… [with] the idea of making a presentation in public [being] the No. 1 fear reported by people in the US” (DeNoon, 2006). Imagine doing so then, in a foreign language. Unfortunately, for scientists and academics, speaking in public, before experts at an international conference, is a professional necessity. And English is the lingua franca of the international scientific community and international conferences. In addition, science and the scientific method are founding elements of Western Civilization in which objectivity is core in formulating truths and understandings. Therefore, the goal of scientific researchers is to prove that their objectively derived finding is worthy of insertion into the big picture that provides general knowledge to all, requiring scientists to nudge for space on the big picture which, at times, may mean disproving the hypotheses of others (see Ting, 2005). The atmosphere at international scientific conferences is therefore far from amiable. Imagine then, the young scientist who must be convincing, in a foreign language, before a pit of suspecting and critical experts.

As an EFL teacher at the Science Faculty of my university in Italy, I hold a 50-hour course which trains students of various Science and Engineer Doctoral Programmes on the crucial professional skill of giving scientific oral presentations. There are several challenges to this. The first is that we live in a very monolingual and mono-cultural social context so few have ever tested their spoken English on unsuspecting tourists meaning that whatever speaking they have done has been during those very stilted and quite unnatural role-plays in school and university EFL classrooms. Add to this that some of the foreign

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students in these PhD programmes do not know any English. How then can we train such a heterogeneous group of learners to give decent scientific presentations? The second logistic difficulty is that the content of scientific presentations are usually so highly specialized that even students within the same programme neither understand nor appreciate each others’ research. The thought of sitting through 25 such talks of 20 minutes each even once is a nightmare, let alone the 2-3 repetitions which would be necessary to make such talks decent enough for a conference. How then can we avoid such group-torture yet empower learners to give effective scientific presentations? To this, we insert the training needed to overcome any fears of public-speaking in a foreign language and one comes to suspect that EFL teaching and some psychological counselling occasionally overlap.

The solution is to cultivate what I call our learners’ foreign language ID (FL-ID), with ID defined as per Sigmund Freud: ID is that unconscious part of us that seeks gratification at all costs – the “I like, I want” part of our being. Granted the antithetic entity of Super-Ego is more desirable for standard modern-day classroom interactions, I feel that our users would be more confident FL-users if their IDs are also occasionally recruited in the FL classroom. Therefore, while the neurocognitive and psychological processes underlying FL-learning are clearly beyond the scope of this article, as EFL teachers, we should not forget that, along with their civilized super-egos, our learners also bring their subconscious IDs to class. To help our learners become more effective FL-users, we must therefore attempt to make FL-use an emotionally involving and positively gratifying process, so to cultivate stronger FL-IDs; how else could young PhD students stand before a critical international public of experts and speak about their first attempts at research in a foreign language which they do not master?

To cultivate and strengthen learners’ FL-ID, I have therefore adapted the fear-training approach of “flooding” to the oral presentation course, obliging learners to speak about things scientifically, before a critical public, in English. To establish a positive emotional context with ample space for humour, I ask participants to speak about very uninteresting everyday realia such as household gadgets, sweets and pastries, plants etc. which they would normally not bother to examine, let alone speak about in public. The challenge is that they must speak about these items scientifically, giving precise descriptions and propose functions and hypothesize future developments for the object at hand. All presentations must last 2 minutes, pushing learners to “speak about nothing” for quite a significant amount of time. Below are some excerpts which demonstrate how everyday objects can become invaluable prompts for a scientific oral presentation course.

A toothbrush:This is called a teethbrush [sic] and it is a much important [sic] invention for to keep [sic] our teeth clean…it has a long handle of plastic which is about long 20

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centimetres[sic], almost wide 1 centimetre [sic] and about thickness 3 millimetres [sic]. At one side [sic: end] of this teethbrush, in an area of about 1 for 2 centimetres [sic; by], there is the bristles [sic], which are thin plastic hairs..wires… which are about 0.2 “zero dot two” millimetres of diameter [sic]. These bristles are put together to make about twenty unities [sic; units] and cut to about long of one centimetre [sic]. The length these bristle units [sic] are much important [sic] because if too long, it is not possible to use…put in the our mouths [sic] in a comfortable way [sic] and if are too short [sic], there is lack of motion to clean the teeth [sic]….

Learners often continue to speak about the flexibility of the bristles (soft, medium hard), shape of the head (triangular, rectangular etc.) and textures and patterning on the handle (tapered, regular, curved, arched etc.). What is clear from this transcription is that, although errors abound, the meaning is nonetheless accessible. In fact, this process of “speaking about nothing” builds our learners’ communicative confidence and helps them become more competent FL-users. These activities benefit all learners, even those who are so shy they refuse to give oral presentations in their mother tongues. I have therefore used this approach with learners of all ages with excellent results. Particularly memorable was a very shy high school learner who presented a brass-wired barbeque brush composed of two brush-heads joined into a ‘V’ for cleaning barbeque grills as a “teethbrush for the horses” which was her invention for rich equestrians since, as she explained, the brushes were made of “the gold wires because gold cleans the most good the horse’s teeth.” In turning a mundane barbeque brush into an exquisite gold “teethbrush”, this learner transformed an otherwise fear-inducing situation into an emotionally manageable event, eliciting admiration and even laughter from her audience. This strengthened her FL-ID. In fact, at the end of the course, this high school student gave a 5-min oral presentation about the heat capacity of water, in English, before university physics professors who applauded her clarity and confidence (and who may have little to say about a barbeque brush).

In presenting realia, learners are also obliged to use presentation lexis such as “if you look here” and orient their body, gestures and indicative movements empathetically so that the audience can see what they are showing and speaking about. While scientific presentations may not use objects and realia per se, such lexis and associate body movements are essential in the repertoire of presentation skills as these allow the speaker to become an active interface between the information projected on the screen and the audience. In addition, at the end of their 2-min presentations, peers are obliged to be “devils’ advocates” and ask challenging questions. In the case of the toothbrush, some questions have been “can you make the handle with metal rather than plastic” or “would metal bristles be good instead of plastic bristles”. Clearly these are “silly” questions but they are necessary to train speakers to answer questions which may or may not be intelligent as not all queries raised at conferences are

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of high intellectual calibre and learners must know how to answer “stupid” questions diplomatically (see Table 1).

Suggestions for implementation:1. Always ensure that you have as many different items as you have

learners as each presenter will speak about a different item. Make sure that the items are common and simple. Contrary to what many believe, the simpler the object, the more difficult it actually is to talk about it for 2 minutes.

2. Give learners 3-5 minutes to prepare their presentations, allowing them to ask each other as well as you, for vocabulary. This establishes a relaxed atmosphere for learning new lexis and makes a scary situation much more enjoyable. While longer talks about more complex topics undoubtedly require longer preparation times, preferably at home, for such short 2-min presentations about everyday realia, having learners devise a presentation on the spot is more empowering, showing learners that they can almost give a presentation “about nothing” off the top of their heads.

3. Before the presentations, tell the audience that they are responsible for asking challenging devil’s advocate questions after each presentation so they are alert during others’ presentations. Answering less-than-friendly questions is a crucial part of scientific oral presentation training as, as mentioned earlier, fellow scientists are ready to criticise and reluctant to praise. A list of how one may respond to such devil’s advocate questions is listed in Table 1.

4. Sit among the audience and make sure the speaker learns to scan the audience and not just stare at you, the teacher. If speakers can make eye-contact with the audience, what they say carries more weight. However, if speakers are shy, encourage them to scan the audience, looking at their hair – but not shoes. Although such “eye-contact” is not real, no individual in the audience would know that the speaker is actually not looking at anyone in particular.

5. Once the speakers start their presentations, never intervene, even when they ask for help with lexis. Refraining from being the helpful teacher may seem cold-blooded, but, since we will not be accompanying our learners to their international conferences as simultaneous translators, this obliges them to learn and strengthen their paraphrasing skills and thus become more successful speakers.

6. Students should learn to develop a talk which contains an introduction, body and conclusion. While the introduction and body are usually quite well done, a good conclusion is often absent, with speakers merely fading out, diminishing the impact of even the most wonderful presentations. In a Power-Point presentation with slides, a slide entitled “conclusion” usually can do the trick but when presenting an object, concluding well is particularly important. A list of conclusion-indicators are given in Table 2. If learners can conclude without slides, it becomes

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automatic later on with their scientific presentations when they do use slides.

Table 1. Potential typologies of questions and potential ways to start your answers

Typology of question Possible way to start your answerStupid question – the person clearly has no idea of the topic

Well, that is an interesting question…however…it is beyond the scope of this research…here I was looking at x, not y……if you remember, I talked about x (and repeat x)

A mean question – the person is probably just trying to make you look bad

That is a very good observation/Thank-you for that question……If I understand correctly, you want to know about x (an direct that x to something you can answer)…which I explained was…

A question of real interest – the person is truly curious

Well, that is a great question/I see you were paying attention! And answer the question amiably

Table 2. Conclusion indicators So, to conclude… In summary… So, I have talked about [list]… Therefore, if you remember, I started by telling you I wanted to talk to you

about…I hope that I have been able to elucidate this [topic]

Anything mundane works. Obliged to speak about such common objects such as forks, clothes pegs, zippers, calendars etc. for 2 minutes, learners are pushed into the challenging position of “speaking about nothing for a long time”. Such activities bypass the challenges of a scientific oral presentation course mentioned above. First of all, in speaking about something familiar to everyone in the class, it becomes easy for everyone to be “mean” devil’s advocates, devising very silly but challenging questions which lighten the atmosphere (e.g. metal bristles for a toothbrush) when learning an otherwise serious and tedious skill. Since students need to learn how to give diplomatic answers, answering “mean questions” is a start and it is good to start in a context where everyone’s meanness is really comical. By extension, as learners acquire the skill of “speaking about nothing” about something for which they are not the expert, in a foreign language, they are less intimidated when it comes to speaking about their scientific research, of which they are the experts.

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Biscuits, sweets and pastries make for exciting lessons as do children’s toys. In fact, leaping frogs, yo-yos, spinning tops and jumping spiders all have mechanisms which, when analysed scientifically, can easily become 2-minute presentations in engineering. Likewise, rigatoni pasta as opposed to spaghetti and macaroni, all have different diameters, surface structures, arc angles, wall-thicknesses and possible production processes which make us look at our pasta differently hereafter. My favourite lesson is the “pastry lesson” when I ask students to select their preferred sweet from a tray of fresh pastries of assorted shapes, sizes and content: students cannot eat them until after their presentations. Sitting through the sweet aroma which waffles up from the pastry they so delicately hold while thinking in English is surely a way to reach learners’ subconscious “I like, I want” FL-ID!

ReferencesHodge, LW. 1999. Speech anxiety among international students. In Civic Discourse: Multiculturalism, Cultural Diversity, and Global Communication (Vol 1), (Eds) KS Sitaram, MH Prosser, Greenwood Publishing.

Ting, YLT. 2005. The Value of Narrative Inquiry in Professional Development: A case study in recognizing the value of equilibrated methodologies in teacher-led classroom research. Centro Editoriale e Librario.

Weissberg and Lamb (1977). Comparative effects of cognitive modification, systematic desensitization, and speech prepara-tion in the reduction of speech and general anxiety. Communication Anxiety, 44, 27-36.

Y.L. Teresa TingFollowing the logic of Italian academia, with my degrees in Biology and Psychology and a PhD in Neurobiology (US), I became a Lecturer in English at the University of Calabria. To find out what this seemingly unrelated profession could offer, I obtained an MA in TEFL Education (UK) and have since discovered that the FL classroom is very fertile grounds for delineating what is now increasingly known as “brain-friendly” education. In fact, the communicative EFL classroom changes how scientific concepts can be learnt through CLIL (content and language integrated learning) which is a main interest of mine. Another topic that interests me is the qualitative and quantitative study of one of the most tangible yet challenging products of human cognition – language: the output of my foreign language learners (of both English and Chinese) continually amaze me, reassuring me that applying my neurobiology knowledge to study FL-learning rather than rat brain physiology was a wise one.

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THE CHALLENGES OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE TEACHING IN THE 21ST CENTURY

Rosana da Silva, English Consultant Brazilrose.avli@yahoo.com

It goes without saying we live in the era of technology and globalization, that is to say that information is being spread much faster than it used to. Along with technology, we are constantly coming across crucial changes which have occurred on behalf of it: thoughts, attitudes, habits, culture and education are being transformed and language teaching cannot be set aside this process as teaching a language involves teaching about life. How can foreign language teachers use modernity to foster students’ learning and make the most of their lessons using these technological tools? What types of challenges do teachers face when teaching a foreign language in the lessons of the new millennium? First of all, we must see foreign language teaching as a tool to broaden students’ knowledge of the world. Language teaching cannot be seen as an isolated subject or something which people need to use only when working, traveling, or studying. Thinking this way, we may lead our learners to an aimless empty room, with no connection with the real world, where they receive isolated bits of information and make limited use of them. When learners decide to start learning a foreign language, they bring their intrinsic motivation along with them. However, throughout this learning process, students need extrinsic motivation to keep the pace and cope with the whole learning process. It is not unusual to see students giving up a foreign language course after the first year or in the middle of it just because their intrinsic motivation has diminished due to many reasons, one of which possibly might be demotivating lessons. The repetitive use of resources and techniques, the lack of adaptation to students’ needs and the lack of connection to real life situations may turn a lesson extremely demotivating.The learner of the new millennium is more interactive and seeks for further information and practice inside the language lesson and outside that as well. It makes no difference if the foreign language learner is from Brazil, like my students, or from any other country of the world. Learners are individuals; therefore, wherever they come from, each one will have different needs and expectations. In addition, dealing with other cultures is an extremely relevant issue as far as globalization and sharing information are concerned. In spite of that, each country has its cultural aspects which must be respected when planning a foreign language lesson. Technology may be seen as the fastest way to bring this interaction to a lesson and to students’ life. The materials used in language lessons have amazingly improved: There is a wide range of resources available for language teaching nowadays like CDs, DVDS, Cable TV, iPods, MP3s, the internet, e-mails, interactive boards, the use of more authentic materials. All these things are just there; we only have to reach out to get them. Besides, teachers and language

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learners are more demanding on what they want to get from a lesson because the world also makes great demands on them. Moreover, computers are more frequently used for extra curricular activities providing a great variety of software installed like dictionaries, educational games and activities. Computers have also been integrated to the lesson by leading students to do research or search for information on the internet. I dare to say that the internet is one of the most powerful tools to help foreign language learning nowadays. It brings motivation to students, especially to young learners who are fascinated by the variety of information they may find on it. It helps them get to know about a country’s history, visit museums or send messages to key-pals.In contrast, foreign language teachers have a greater mission nowadays. We are expected to handle the language we have to teach, to deal with individual competences and abilities our language learners have, we have to cope with technological advances and tools available and plan the lessons in a harmonic way, in order to foster their potential and encourage them to achieve their best. The new millennium teachers have to be aware of what is going on around the world, and the ultimate changes in the different areas of foreign language teaching. Have you observed how fast modern written language has been changing? Although written Language is regarded as formal, along with all this modernity, interest for a more informal way to use written language has been aroused. There are chat rooms, instant messages, emoticons, e-mails, SMS, MSN, among some other acronyms; they are much more informal than before and this type of information cannot be omitted in language lessons. Isn’t it authentic language? This type of written language promotes communication all over the world; therefore, this new language has to be taught as well. Nevertheless, it is the teachers’ role to make foreign language learners be aware of where, when and how to use it. Needless to say, verbal language has also changed. The language spoken nowadays is more dynamic, it changes more quickly in contrast to written language; new expressions, chunks, idioms, slangs are created every moment. The language of the politicians, the language of the TV series, films, programs, and the language we use at work, at home, to do business, to talk to our friends, family, to do the shopping. Every single country, state or city has its own way to communicate effectively. This type of information has to be considered whenever a lesson is planned.Another relevant issue is: what type of attitude do we expect from our learners? We come across two antagonistic situations. On the one hand, what is ideally expected from learners in class. On the other, what we really can get from them. When we talk about learners here, we must take into account the age group as each age group has an expected attitude. As for young learners, they are more active but get bored very easily. As a result, lessons cannot be planned expecting these students to be quiet all the time. Technology sounds like magic to them. Why can’t the things they have in their natural environment be exploited to make the lessons more lively? Students could send an SMS to

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their peers in class to practice the language; they can send e-cards or e-mails to their peers or teacher as homework, or even an e-mail to the fan club of a pop star they like. I am certain they would rather do that than write this on paper. Communication would be more realistic, they would have a real purpose for doing things and that would lead to motivation. All in all, we should help our students learn as dynamically as the world that surrounds them is. Adult learners on the other hand, have a different pace, but that does not mean that they are slower learners, they also want new things going on in class and want to feel the sense of dynamism and achievement. Finally, what is your expectation of what an English lesson should be? Teachers and learners have to see the lesson as an opportunity to see new horizons. It may sound too philosophical but in fact, that is true. The lesson of the new era is the moment when cultural aspects are contrasted and broadened, people with different personalities interact, each one of them is unique, with their aims, needs, background knowledge, expectations and … some times … limitations. It is also a moment to practice patience, tolerance, and respect for the differences. A language lesson is not only a place to learn a language but to contribute to form an individual, a better human being. All this is not done only by the teacher, but also by the learners who are all interacting. As a result, the idea of how a teacher should behave in a lesson has also changed. Foreign language teaching in the 21st century really demands a great load of work from teachers. Constant recycling and innovation is what is expected from these professionals. Teachers now are observers who collect data for future actions, monitors who guide their students and provide assistance, if needed, respecting their moment of group interaction, not monopolizing the lesson. We are instructors who provide students with clear, objective instructions on what they are expected to do in the activities, and why not saying…LEARNERS who learn from their everyday contact with different people. Language learners are not the only ones who have changed. Last but not least, we are the teachers of the new millennium who use our own knowledge of the world, to still improve it; who seek for information using the technological tools that are available, doing our best to keep updated. We are the ones who search for additional data to plan an effective lesson, observing the group’s needs and potential and working on them, providing our learners with the opportunity to get the most of every moment of the lesson. Being a foreign language teacher is a rewarding challenge as we become more complete professionals as well as better human beings and help our learners enlarge their horizons rather than simply learn a language. Do all language learners realize the extensive and laborious work we do? Maybe some of them do, but the most important is that we witness their improvement and progress and that is what really makes the difference for life.

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Rosana da Silva holds a postgraduate degree in Education.She has been working with teacher training and  foreign language teaching in language institutes in Brazil for more than 20 years. She writes FL materials and is keen on developing techniques to facilitate language learners' integration in FL lessons.

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Student Feedback on Tasks and ActivitiesSteve Darn, Freelance Trainer, Izmir, Turkey

www.stevedarn.com stevedarn@gmail.com

Introduction

Here is a fairly typical classroom exchange:

Teacher: and what’s the answer to number 3?Whole class: He bought a sandwich. Teacher: and number 4?Whole class: He drank orange juice.

This teacher-whole class exchange is a common way of obtaining feedback on tasks, activities and exercises which, is familiar to all teachers, possibly without questioning the rationale or effectiveness of the technique, and seeing the only viable alternative as ‘teacher question – student answer’ around the class in a lockstep pattern.

Teacher-centred feedback is particularly common among less experienced teachers and tends to happen because the teacher is reluctant to lose control of the class, needs reassurance that his or her teaching has been successful, or has not extended the principle of learner-centredness to this aspect of classroom practice. Possibly teachers are emulating the way that classes were conduced when they were students themselves

The rationale of whole-class feedback is questionable and is symptomatic of the teacher-centred classroom in that the technique serves to satisfy the teacher’s desire to check that the students have the correct answer. If the correct response emerges from at least some of the students, then the teacher assumes that understanding has taken place.

Drawbacks of whole class feedback

The disadvantages of this kind of feedback are clear:

The teacher is in control and decides when to move onto the next question. The teacher is probably doing most of the talking. Just because the teacher has heard someone say the answer it doesn’t

mean that all the students know what the correct answer is. This method doesn’t help weaker students – they often get lost during the

feedback, particularly if they have a lot of incorrect answers.

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Anxiety is caused for students who don’t know the correct answer. Correctness is established, but understanding is not checked. Most importantly, the teacher is not informed of the problems the students

had with the activity or if they need further practice. The students have found out that ‘He drank orange juice’ is correct, but not why it is correct, or why ‘He drunk orange juice’ is wrong. Effective learning has not taken place for either the students or the teacher.

The notion of feedback

Feedback from students is a somewhat neglected area, rarely being mentioned in teachers’ manuals and training courses. Feedback to and from students may take a number of forms.

Giving students an idea of how they’ve done after a speaking activity – looking not only at their errors but also the positive aspects of their performance.

Asking students what they think about an activity they have done or to reflect on recent classes.

Checking the answers to activities and exercises the students have done.

It is the third of these where teachers appear to be unaware of viable alternatives. Here are some simple but effective ideas.

1. Give the students an answer key or put the answer key on the wall or the board

2. Give each student the answer to one or more questions – they read out for the class to check

3. One student has the answer key and ‘plays’ the teacher4. Pairs of students have half the answers each.5. Get students to write the answers on the board or on an overhead

transparency6. Get one student to read out his/her answers – the rest of the class see if

they have the same7. Coursebooks sometimes encourage students to listen to the answers8. Give the students a reading text with all the answers in9. Students nominate each other to give the answer10. Do it as a competition – students work in teams to check their answers

and then get points

The choice of technique may depend on a variety of factors including the availability of time, the level of the students, and the type of activity or exercise.

A rationale for alternatives

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a) Learner autonomy and responsibilty is encourages if the teacher is not always the provider of correct answers. Putting the answer key on the wall or the board gets the students out of their seats. This can be turned into a race between teams, rather like a running dictation.

b) Although the teacher provides the answers, the students are in control of the feedback.

c) The student with the answer key has to be able to answer questions asked by the class to make it more effective.

d) If students are working in pairs, with half the answers each, a communication gap is created, providing the opportunity for meaningful pair-work, simulating a normal classroom activity.

e) This is a good way of giving students who finish early something to do.f) This works well if students have different answers to questions because

they can discuss the answer to come to an agreed conclusion.g) A good way to introduce intensive listening into your classroom with a

real purpose.h) An alternative way to encourage reading. It practises scanning skills with

a real purpose.i) A student-centred version of whole class feedback. It works better if

students choose the questions to answer at random as it keeps them on their toes and encourages them to listen to each other.

j) Makes the feedback more interesting and fun and could help to change the pace of the lesson.

In all the above cases, the teacher remains involved by monitoring while students are on task and making a note of common problems to concentrate on later. Teacher-time is saved as only problematic answers need to be dealt with. One of the drawbacks of whole-class feedback is that there is little chance for students to discuss their answers and to learn from their mistakes. The majority of the above alternatives allow for and encourage discussion of answers, also providing the teacher with valuable input as to what needs to be clarified, revised or re-taught.

Before feedback

Before using any of these techniques, it is important to get students into the habit of checking their answers together with a partner. This gives students confidence, a chance to communicate in English to discuss their answers and is a common feature of the communicative classroom The teacher may have to intervene, as students are prone to slipping into their mother-tongue, particularly where arguments arise or where metalanguage is needed, but many problems can be pre-empted by providing the necessary ‘task-language’.

“I think....” “What do you think about...?”

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“What have you got for number three?” “I think so too” / “Me too”“I don’t agree, I think it’s……because…….”

Encouraging students to give each other feedback after activities and introducing the appropriate task language, not only provides opportunities for discussion, but also the opportunity to use language for a real purpose. Students practise conversational strategies of negotiating, agreeing and disagreeing and turn-taking as well as thinking skills such as rationalising and problem-solving.Pair-checking also provides the teacher with a reason to recombine pairs and particularly to encourage stronger students to help the less able ones. Some students will always finish exercises more quickly than others and it is often useful to tell them how many of their answers are correct, but not which, so that they have a purpose for reflecting on their work

Learning Training

Pair-checking and student-centred feedback sometimes comes as a shock to students who have become accustomed to whole-class feedback, teacher question – student answer, or giving their work to the teacher to mark. The introduction of alternative techniques is a gradual process involving explaining strategies to the students and training them to use the techniques to best effect. Issues to be considered include:

Issues Solutions Students need to understand

the purpose behind using different feedback techniques

Explain that they will learn and understand more if they are in control of the feedback as it will be more meaningful and they will be involved in communication for a real purpose.

Some students might not feel comfortable being told an answer by another student

Encourage a positive classroom atmosphere and use activities at the beginning of a new class whilst building the group dynamics

Some students might feel uncomfortable about taking this kind of responsibility

Students need to be shown that they can learn from each other and that the teacher is not the ‘fountain of all knowledge’. Demonstrate that they should and can take responsibility for their own learning.

Students don’t know how to When introducing the

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check answers for themselves techniques, show the students exactly what to do. They can also be encouraged to self-check homework by referring to an answer key.

The earlier these techniques are introduced, the sooner the students will see them as part of everyday classroom procedure.

ConclusionThe aim here has been to suggest some alternative ways of obtaining feedback to activities and exercises. If teachers use student-centred activities in their classrooms, it sees logical and important to support these with student-centred feedback on those activities. In many ways, feedback on tasks is similar to checking test papers in that the results are of little value unless something is learned or gained from them. Using a variety of techniques will result in feedback having a real, meaningful and communicative purpose and will ensure that students learn from the process.

Steve Darn is a teacher trainer and ELT Consultant for Oxford Teachers Academy and the British Council in Turkey. He has worked at Izmir University of Economics, School of Foreign Languages. Responsible for teaching English to undergraduate and graduate students, and teacher and trainer- training and development as a member of the Teacher Development Unit.

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Chalk and Talk: Using words on the board to foster language learning

Gillian LazarMiddlesex University, United Kingdom

G.Lazar@mdx.ac.uk

Chalk on the blackboard, or its more sophisticated equivalent, the marker pen on a whiteboard, is undoubtedly the oldest and most versatile tool of the language teacher. Yet, too often the board is only used in language lessons to record key vocabulary or grammatical structures, which students then copy down rather mechanically into their exercise books. Using the board to facilitate record keeping is certainly important, but can the humble blackboard be used in other ways to make language-learning classrooms more motivating and interactive for the learner? This article aims to suggest some ways in which words on a board (whether single or in phrases) can be used to generate engaging and useful classroom activities. There are many advantages to maximising the use of the board in the classroom. Firstly, most classrooms have one…or something similar. Using a board wisely means that, even without textbooks, photocopies, videos or other expensive resources, the classroom can become a livelier environment. Secondly, boards are low maintenance – just a quick wipe, and the teacher can start all over again. Thirdly, while planning what will be written on the board might take some time, the actual process of doing so is relatively quick and easy. This obviates the need for teachers to find time in their busy schedules to spend hours developing complicated resources. The activities generated by words on the board should aim to facilitate as much classroom interaction as possible, preferably by getting students to work in pairs or groups on a particular problem-solving or communicative activity. Of course, while students are doing the activity it may be difficult to prevent them from slipping into Spanish, but so long as the outcome of the activity is in English there will still be a clear focus on the target language they are learning. What follows are a number of different ideas for using the words on the board to generate activities which are easy for the teacher to prepare and do not take long to write on the board.

1. Single words on the board

Single words on the board can be used to provide students with a reason to listen, help to revise vocabulary or generate creative dialogue or role-play activities. Here are a few suggestions:

a. Predictive listening

Devise a short listening passage. This could be a little story about a family event, with an unexpected ending, which practises the simple past. Or if you

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have just taught a lesson on another grammatical structure, you may want to include that in your listening passage. Choose one key word from the passage, and write it up on the board. Ask students to write down at least three other words they predict will be in the passage, based on the word. (For example, if the word ‘aunt’ is in the passage, students may predict that the passage will include words such as ‘uncle’, ‘cousin’ or ‘sister’.) Read the passage aloud, asking students to tick off any of the words that they had correctly predicted. How many of there predictions were correct? To extend this activity, you could ask students to write their own short stories. Each student should then choose one word from the story and other students should make predictions about the other words in the story before the story is read aloud to the whole class.

b. Vocabulary Revision

Write a list of words on the board that you have recently taught students. Check that they remember the meanings, and ask them to consider:

Which word they like the best, and why? Which word they like the least, and why? Which word they find the most difficult to remember, and why?

Ask students to discuss this in pairs. Then the class could be asked to vote on which word is the most/least ‘popular’, and which is the hardest to remember. With the words that are difficult to remember, ask students to suggest some strategies for remembering them more easily (e.g. visualising the word, creating personal associations around the word, etc.)

c. Cue for dialogue/story writing/role-play

Divide the board into two columns, the one headed ‘People’ and the other ‘Places’. In the ‘People’ column, elicit as many different types of people as possible, e.g. teenager, pensioner, middle-aged housewife, little boy, etc. In the ‘Places’ column, elicit words such as ‘park’, ‘beach’, ‘market’, etc. In pairs, the students should choose two people from the list, put them in one of the places on the list, and - Write a short dialogue between the two people in that particular place OR- Write a short story about the two people in that particular place OR- Act out a short scene between the two people.Once the students have prepared their work, it can be read aloud or acted out for the class. The task of the students listening is to identify which people and which place was chosen by the writers. There are many variations on this activity. For example, fairytale characters (witch, fairy, dragon) or animals (giraffe, lion, elephant) can be used with younger learners to generate more imaginative writing, while jobs (bus-driver, doctor, teacher) can be used with older learners to encourage them to practise the kind of language that people in those jobs may typically use.

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2. Phrases on the board

Phrases on the board can be used to focus on common chunks of language that are either used formulaically in particular contexts or as common collocations. Phrases on the board can also be used to revise vocabulary in the textbook, and the differences in meaning between similar grammatical structures.

a. Formulaic phrases

Write a list of phrases on the board, such as:Congratulations! Happy birthday! I’m sorry. Oh dear! Well done! Oh no!That’s great! Pleased to meet you. What do you mean?Go through them with students, explaining what each of them mean and the contexts in which they are typically used. Then read aloud a series of sentences in random order, and tell students to use one of the phrases to respond to the sentence, using the appropriate intonation. For example:I’m turning thirteen tomorrow. Happy birthday!This activity can be extended by getting students to write and read out sentences to which the whole class have to respond appropriately with one of the set phrases.

b. Common collocations

Collocation (words which typically go together) is always something that students find difficult. To help them with this, write up these phrases on the board in five different columns:to DO your hair, to MAKE a cake, to HAVE breakfast, to TAKE a photo, to GIVE a speech.Ask students to try to add more nouns to each column, e.g.

To DO your hair

To HAVE a bath

To TAKE a walk

To GIVE a party

To MAKE a cake

the dishes, the washing, homework

a break, breakfast, a cold, fun/a party

the bus, a holiday, a photo, an exam

somebody a kiss, an opinion, a speech

the bed, money, a promise, a noise

Then, ask students to use as many of these collocations to make up a series of sentences with humorous or unexpected endings, e.g. If you do the dishes, I will give you a kiss/have a party.If you make a noise, I will take a walk.If appropriate, these sentences can be combined to form a longer ‘rap’ with appropriate clapping or gestures, which students can perform at the end of the lesson.

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c. Semantic relationships

Write a series of cues on the board, such as:FAT is to THIN, as TALL is to ……….BANANA is to FRUIT, as RED is to ………POTATO is to CARROT, as RED is to ……….PLUMP is to FAT, as LITTLE is to ……….Ask students to complete the cues, and identify the relationship between the different words in the cue. You could also ask students to brainstorm some other kinds of semantic relationships, e.g. FEET are to DANCE as MOUTH is to SMILE, or STAR is to SKY as FISH is to SEA.Then ask students, working in teams, to try to come up with as many other possibilities for each semantic relationship as possible, e.g. FAT is to THIN, as TALL is to SHORT, as DAY is to NIGHT, and YOUNG is to OLD etc.Students can leaf through their textbooks to help them remember as much vocabulary as possible. The winning team is the one with the highest number of correct ‘semantic relationships’.

d. Contrastive grammar

Write two similar phrases on the board that have contrastive meanings, e.g. Do you like…….?

Would you like….? Have you ever been…..?

Did you go to……? If I win……

If I won……. I’m eating an apple…….

I eat an apple……..Ask the students in teams to complete each one of the two phrases as imaginatively as possible to make a complete sentence in English. Get students to read their two contrastive sentences out aloud to the class, and explain the difference in meaning between them. Students then write a dialogue in which they use both contrastive sentences. This dialogue is given to another team to read aloud to the class.

In conclusion…..

This article has focused on the way that words or phrases on the board can be used to generate different kinds of classroom activities. There are, of course, many other ways to use the board effectively in the language learning classroom, such as the use of simple line drawings as cues for drills and role-plays or the use of quickly drawn cartoons as cues for story-writing. All of these verbal and visual cues can be used to make the classroom a more interactive environment, in which students engage in problem-solving tasks or

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communicative activities. In a world of rapidly advancing technology, the oldest teaching tool in the world - the board - still provides our students with plenty of opportunities for ‘chalk and talk’!

Gillian Lazar is a Senior Lecturer at Middlesex University, United Kingdom. She has worked in the field of English Language Teaching as a lexicographer, materials writer, teacher and teacher trainer. She is the author of Literature and Language Teaching: A Guide for Teachers and Trainers (1993), A Window on Literature (1999) and Meanings and Metaphors (2003), all published by Cambridge University Press.

A Whole-Class Vocabulary Development Activity Charles Jannuzi University of Fukui, Japan

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Introduction

In EFL situations, when we say 'vocabulary study', the two activities that most often come to mind for students most likely are (1) looking up words in a bi-lingual dictionary and (2) compiling and studying bi-lingual word lists. If this is what is meant by vocabulary study, it hardly could be called 'systematic'. The weaknesses of such an approach to vocabulary compound. For example, students may use an L1-L2 dictionary to confirm the meanings of an L1 meaning in L2, and then forget the L2 item. Also, bi-lingual word lists are hard to organize; indeed, they lack any organizing principle except that an L1 word should be matched with an L2 counterpart and that such items, once translated, should follow each other on a list. Little wonder then students do not find time to study and review them. What is more, the input of vocabulary to be learnt, revised, or reviewed is too limited to words encountered in the textbook or specified by the teacher. Finally, and most importantly for the purpose of this introduction, the most obvious flaw is that there is very little communicative or social activity required to use a dictionary or make a bi-lingual word list. So the weakness of inherited, intuitive, default approaches to vocabulary learning and practice is that we can not easily acquire, review, revise or expand our vocabulary skills in ways that prepare us for communication in real time.

The semantic mapping activity described below in a 'cleaned up', ideal form could be adapted to just about any topic, and the selected topic then determines the possible lexical semantic focus. The content of the classroom activity can then be based, at least in part, on the needs and wants of the students. The author used 'sushi' as a topic because it is one Japanese cuisine that is internationally popular, and EFL students here said they wished to be able to explain more details of it both to foreign visitors to Japan and to people overseas when the students travel overseas.

Students' needs analysis

Some of the issues students raised in expressing a need to study the vocabulary associated with sushi include the following:

1. When foreign friends visit Japan, many Japanese wish to take them out to their favourite sushi restaurant, but a sushi restaurant's menu will contain dozens, perhaps even hundreds of seafood items for which the Japanese do not know the English translations. Students who did not have this experience in cross-cultural difficulties with sushi were made aware of the language issue by having an initial discussion, before the semantic mapping activity, about the topic of 'sushi'. The teacher proposed two initiating questions. They were, (1) "What is your favourite type of sushi?" and "What sushi item(s) do you always order?" These seemed promising for an interesting discussion in English.

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However, students soon hit a 'wall' with vocabulary and found that they knew very little English for this particular topic.

2. Some students also reported that even when they go to a sushi restaurant and the menu items are already translated into English, the foreign guests do not really understand the translations because these are seafood items which they are not necessarily used to eating (e.g., 'trepang', 'sea urchin eggs', 'garfish', 'saury', 'file-fish', etc.). So students need to learn how to talk about sushi and seafood so that someone who has never eaten a particular type of seafood might have some sort of idea what they are eating. For example, a local favourite here in Fukui (on the Japan Sea side of Honshu) is the fish 'kawahagi', which is translated as 'file-fish', which usually means nothing to the foreign guest. The English-speaking host at a sushi restaurant might more usefully explain that it is an odd-looking fish, but more importantly that it is also a fresh, locally caught fish with a white, light-tasting flesh.

3. Many Japanese students stay and study abroad in places like the US, UK, Australia. Many Japanese also travel to non-Anglophone European countries and encounter the diverse food cultures there. So students who have gone or might go abroad are curious about the cultural differences that arise with food and seafood, since seafood and fish are such an important part of the modern Japanese diet. Many are surprised to find out that, while overall people in other countries eat less fish and seafood than most Japanese, there are also some types of fish and seafood which are eaten overseas and not in Japan: for example, catfish, which is very popular in the southern US, or carp, which is no longer widely eaten in Japan but is a special holiday food in Central Europe. They are also surprised sometimes by the fact that, along with Japanese, other cultures, such as in the Mediterranean and in other parts of Asia, also eat a lot of the same sort of seafood that might be unfamiliar, for example, to someone from the Midwest of the US (e.g., squid, cuttlefish, octopus, sea cucumber/trepang, and eel). Some are also shocked to learn that raw fish and shellfish--as well as fermented and pickled fish-- are eaten outside of Japan. Also, a different sub-set of vocabulary related to fish and seafood might consist of the sort a Japanese student living abroad might find in a supermarket in the US or UK (cod, halibut, flounder, turbot, sole, etc.).

The basic procedure

1. An initial pair work (or groups of three) discussion of several questions can be used to frame the 'problem' The problem in this case is that learners need more vocabulary from within the set of 'seafood and fish that we eat' as well as to learn how to talk about a thing in explanatory language rather than simply trying to translate back and forth between the L1 and the FL. The initial questions that this author used were, as stated above, "What is your favourite type of sushi?" and "What sushi item(s) do you always order?" After students attempt to ask and answer such questions, the purpose of the semantic

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mapping activity is more likely to have been established. The purpose of the subsequent activity might be summarised as aiding in the rapid presentation, learning, revision and review of the vocabulary for talking about food, seafood and fish that we eat, and communicating in English a sushi restaurant when hosting foreign guests. For those students who will study abroad, another possible goal is to study the vocabulary necessary to deal with the seafood and fish section of a supermarket in an Anglophone country.

2. Next, write a subject such as 'sushi items' on the blackboard and prompt and encourage students to brainstorm words and phrases that fall under that description on a piece of paper or in their notebooks. (One way to assure more uniform results in note-keeping is to give each student a blank A4 or B4 piece of paper and have them fold it in half; this creates four equal sized sections to keep notes on the four main stages of the semantic map.) Students could do this individually or while they remain in the pairs or groups of three. I usually start a semantic mapping exercise with a very general topic and then try to get students to give me anything that comes to mind about the chosen topic. I also encourage them to contribute by writing my own response on the board (in the case of my favourite sushi item, this happens to be 'cuttlefish' ('ika' in Japanese). At first, this might be written up as a list or mass of words and phrases. Then, I have them copy in their notebooks all the information that the entire class has come up with. (See Figures One and Two below.)

In the case of a conversation topic like 'sushi items', I went back to the initial conversation questions and asked students to write on the board the name of their favourite. In this case then I allowed for repeated items, since one student's favourite type of sushi might well be the same as a lot of others' favourite. The key at this stage is to get everyone as active as possible in thinking about a general topic and then activating their vocabulary.

If students are at a beginning level, then it might be necessary to accept L1 responses or to have them use dictionaries. Also, in the case of mixed level classes or topics that might tap into somewhat less common vocabulary, teachers need to decide whether or not to allow bi-lingual responses. I not only accept but encourage it because that way other students are more likely to understand the words and phrases that are being put on the board. Making the map bi-lingual with beginning level classes has at least two benefits: (1) The entire class can potentially understand the language. (2) It is a much more efficient use of time and effort to parcel out looking up words in a dictionary than to have each student individually look up all the words they do not know now.

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Some teachers might find it faster to have students give words and phrases orally while the teacher or a student writes items on the blackboard. In Japan, since students are reluctant to speak English in front of the entire class, I have students individually or as group representatives go to the board to write.

3. After a raw brainstorm map has been scattered all over the board, I ask the students to fill out their own initial brainstorm notes by copying the information that is on the board. Repeated items need only to be written once.

4. Depending on how familiar students are with semantic mapping techniques for language study and practise, I might suggest connections across the concepts listed on the board by drawing lines and

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explaining why we might associate them. I might also ask students to find relationships by asking questions and giving hints. Somewhere in between, a teacher might point out a relationship and ask students to give a reason. Importantly, all such discussion and interaction requires communication. I also get students to read all the items out loud, repeating after me.

5. The next step requires the teacher to stay ahead of the students. This is a teacher-centred manoeuvre that one hopes will help to set up learning-centred activities, which one then hopes become learner-centred and personalised. The art is knowing how much support to give at any one time and when to give it so as to get the most from students without discouraging them. On the one hand, you can not challenge students beyond what they are prepared to give. On the other, if students are not engaged and challenged, they may have a hard time thinking of and writing down anything interesting about a topic.

The teacher has to take the first raw map (which may look like a list or a scatter-shot posting of ideas or lists) and selectively, partially organise the information and useful vocabulary and phrases into a more organized map of topics and subtopics. Each topic selects or at least suggests its own possibilities for structuring. For example, the topic of 'sushi items' in the centre was surrounded by various types of sushi 'neta' written in both English and Japanese. 'Neta' is the various material (not always a seafood) that goes on top of the balls of vinegared rice in order to make the most popular form of sushi called 'nigirizushi' (hand-pressed); this is the sort of sushi known best in other countries, along with rolled sushi ('makizushi'). Looking at the raw map that the class had produced, the following sub-topics occurred to me: shellfish, fish, other. Also, take note, if the first raw map has not yet yielded a lot of useful information, then another round of brainstorming is due. (See Figure Three below for an example of how the structured map was used in one particular class, with results typical of this activity.)

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6. Specifying sub-topics gives the map structure and sets up the potential for a usefully productive mapping exercise. If the structure leads to a usefully productive exercise, then it will result in more sub-topics, sub-sub-topics, sub-sub-sub-topics, etc. If the chosen topic does not lend itself well to easy structuring, try simple dichotomies, such as 'good things' and 'bad things'. One variation on the sushi theme that got used in another class was 'favourite sushi' vs. 'sushi you can not eat'.

7. Students should then be asked to fill in items that fall under the sub-topics. They also should be asked not to repeat items at this stage. For example:

Topic Sushi: Subtopic 1 shellfish Subtopic 2 fish Subtopic 3 other

Subtopic 1 shellfish: Example 1 shrimp/prawn (ebi). Subtopic 2 fish: Example 1 mackerel (saba).

Subtopic 3 other: Example 1 sea urchin eggs (uni).

As the map expands (and students practice producing the sort of vocabulary they will need to talk about a topic), students share their ideas, their knowledge,

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and their language. This is why I not only tolerate but even encourage bi-lingual maps, since not all students are going to understand each others' choice of English vocabulary or the English for a topic area that to quite an extent falls outside standard word lists.

8. Have students on their paper or in their notebook start a second map that follows the one being constructed on the board.

9. The teacher can continue to ask the students to keep adding new items to the map as it has already been structured until there are many items under each sub-topic. Just as the entire class builds the map on the board, students should continue to record a copy in their notes.

10. As details are added, a more complex structure might yet suggest itself. In the case of 'sushi items', once it was structured to the sub-topics of 'shellfish', 'fish' and 'other', a more refined structure suggested itself because of the many examples students provided. So I re-cast the map's sub-topics as:

shellfish: hard-bodied soft-bodied fish: white-fleshed fish (shiromi)dark-fleshed/oily/fatty fish/silvery-sided fish (hikarimono)other types of fish: other seafood:

11. Students can then start a final map using the more refined semantic map scheme, both on the blackboard and on their paper. In the case of the 'sushi items' map, this yielded a very large amount of vocabulary from the entire class. And it seemed to provide a mnemonic structure to remember more of that vocabulary when discussing the topic again. (See Figure Four below for an example of the final results of one particular class in which this activity was used.)

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12. Again, have students read and repeat out loud the items on the map. Some should become written in memory by this point.

13. Once the map has been completed to sufficient detail and students have copied the information in their notes, it is time to try speaking activities. These can start with the more structured and transition to less structured. Recently in Japanese universities, discussion times have become more potentially interesting for cross-cultural exchange because now many students from China, Korea, Taiwan and S. Asia are attending English classes. Some follow-up activities that I have tried with oral communication classes include the following:

(1) A simple activity where students learn to talk about a word they might not know the exact translation for in simple English words, describing it. For example, this example dialogue:

A (Japanese student): Do you know the type of sushi called, 'chirashizushi'?B (Chinese student): No, what is that?A: I don't know the English word for 'chirashizushi', but it is a very popular type of sushi. We make it at home, because it is easy to make. We take cooked rice and then put a special vinegar on it. Then we top it with many different types of seafood and egg. B: Yes, I have eaten that. I forgot the Japanese word for it.

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This might be introduced in full dialogues or dialogue 'templates' with the key word missing. (2) A dialogue of about 4-6 exchanges for ordering sushi or a seafood dinner at a restaurant overseas;

(3) A set of questions about food, seafood, sushi etc. that students might use to interview each other with in pairs or groups of three;

(4) A role play in pairs or groups of three where two students play host at a sushi restaurant to one student who has the role of the foreigner who can not speak Japanese or read the menu;

(5) Discussions on cultural differences concerning food (e.g., What is halal food? Do you eat raw fish or shellfish in your culture? Why do Japanese prefer fish from the sea instead of fish from rivers or lakes?)

Alternative vocabulary sets

Here are some suggestions for alternative vocabulary sets that lend themselves to classification and detailed discussion. You might explore with your class in order to do vocabulary study and cross-cultural comparisons in English:

(1) Special holidays and their customs. (2) Foods we eat on special holidays.(3) The main features of automobiles (also a good way to contrast US and UK vocabulary)(4) Weather and seasons (for example, Japan's climate has four distinct seasons, as well as typhoons and rainy seasons at the beginning and end of summer).(5) Specific vocabulary sets that students might never have studied or practiced systematically, such as:

-animals we keep as pets, -vegetables and fruits we buy in the current season, -things to drink.

Conclusion

TEFL might prove easier and more predictable both in planning and classroom execution if we could simply give the FL to our students through the presentation of generalizations, principles and hard-and-fast rules. However, foreign languages need to be learned and acquired painstakingly through exposure to thousands of meaningful examples in real communication. Grammar then becomes something much softer, but complex and elusive. Unfortunately, if the FL is not used as a means of communication in the society

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outside our classroom, we can not assume that students will get the language experiences they need to build up and cognitively internalise the FL. Teachers must exert themselves to create language classrooms that are rich in language use and communication. However, they also have to make sure that the activities they use to do this are integrated with the specified curriculum and syllabus while also responsive to student needs and wants. It is hoped that activities and variations on activities such as the one outlined above can help teachers in this important endeavour.

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AN ECOTOURIST TRAVEL THROUGH CHOCO STATE

ENGLISH READING COMPREHENSION TEXTBOOK.

PROFESSOR JOSE I. CORDOBA MORENO.

kwaiti@hotmail.com

Universidad Tecnológica del Chocó (Colombia)

ABSTRACTThis book is addressed to readers of English in Chocó state, Colombia and

people from all over the world who love the difference. Various types of reading

comprehension exercises are suggested by me in order for readers to be aware

of what they are going to discover visiting the paradise that the chocoanean

region, in Colombia is. The exercise-types suggested can be adapted for all

reading levels. The book begins with a general presentation of our department

followed by information regarding each one of the 31 municipalities which

constitute this terrestrial entity, among them Bahia Solano, Acandí, Quibdó, its

capital etc.

INTRODUCTIONThis book consists of an introductory chapter which has to do with foundations

and beliefs about ecological tourism, in general sense, where the readers will

learn the history of ecotourism, direct environment impacts, mismanagement of

eco-tourism sites, guidelines and education for eco-tourists, among other

aspects. Then, the main part of the work, divided into 18 lessons comes, here

in, the 31 municipalities or townships are involved. There are also a variety of

exercises to ease the reading understanding such as:

* Questions about the reading

* matching exercises

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* Synonyms and antonyms exercises

* Gap-fill exercises

* Multiple choices

* Rewriting exercises

* Worksheet exercises etc.

At the end of the book you will find the answers related to the questionnaires

and a glossary to facilitate the book global comprehension

ECOTOURISM: Definition.

According to www.answer.com, www.wikkipidia and many people who have

written and believe in ecotourism, also known as ecological tourism, it is a

form of tourism which appeals to the ecologically and socially conscious.

Generally speaking, ecotourism focuses on local culture, wilderness

adventures, volunteering, personal growth, and learning new ways to live on the

planet; typically involving travel to destinations where flora, fauna, and cultural

heritage are the primary attractions.In Choco department ecotourism would

have great potential for sustainable development because of the following

reasons:

conservation of biological diversity and cultural diversity, through

ecosystem protection

promotion of sustainable use of biodiversity, by providing jobs to local

populations

Sharing of socio-economic benefits with local communities and

indigenous people by having their informed consent and participation in

the management of ecotourism enterprises.

increase of environmental & cultural knowledge

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minimization of tourism's own environmental impact

affordability and lack of waste in the form of luxury

local culture, flora and fauna being the main attractions For many

townships, ecotourism wouldn’t simply be a marginal activity to finance

protection of the environment but as a major industry of the departmental

and national economic, For example, in places such as Bahía Solano,

Acandí, Nuquí, juradó, Baudó, Atrato and San Juan rivers, ecotourism

can represent a significant portion of the gross domestic product and

economic activity.

GENERAL COMMENTS ABOUT THIS TEXTBOOK

Chocó has been ignored by the national government and mass media not only

on the economical and social development, but also in what has to do with the

national tourism; for that reason it is the opportunity for Chocoanean People,

with the help of some tourism agency, of beginning writing and issuing a mass

commerce advertising in behalf of our country men, showing images of the up

to now unknown tourist paradise we have, not only in our two seas, but also our

virgin jungle, folklore, people kindness, and in general, all those positive

aspects that Afro-descendant people from Chocó have. With this work I want to

undertake this titanic task, and I hope that from now on scholars and writers

consider to continuing on this pleasant activity because our people all over the

Chocó Department need it.

This is then a reading comprehension textbook regarding the chocoanean

culture, its people, folklore, sightseeing, festivities, annual carnivals, custom or

the way they struggle here and there for making a living, it is a well illustrated

teaching material to draw the readers’ attention not only at local but also at

national and international levels as to biodiversity to show the charming of our

region, people hospitality, our typical dishes, believes, anguishes and needs in

order for the friends of ecological tourism enjoy with something different of what

they have been admiring in another places of the universe.

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I really believe that it is worthwhile for people from Chocó, Colombia and the

whole world to recognize that our department is a developing terrestrial entity,

rich in natural resources, which lack to other urban centers where it is not

possible to breathe a pure air due to pollution caused by big existing factories

around our planet, specially the united states of America, western Europe,

China and Japan. Being aware of this situation, it is necessary to show

humanity the advantages of visiting virgin places like those of Chocó state in the

Colombian Republic because in this earthly paradise is the healthy future of

human beings, since Chocó is on its way to become the lung of the earth.

The book has been designed to improve reading comprehension inside and

outside the different academic programs in Chocó University on the one hand,

and the rest of Colombian educational centers, on the other; it will be fantastic

that Chinese, Japanese, Russian, the Arab community, people from India and

so forth knew Chocó state, reading and learning English, because with the help

of this material reader will improve their reading comprehension abilities for

there are questions and a variety of exercises about each one of the eighteen

lessons which allow him/her develop their capacity of understanding written

discourse.

The book consists of a chapter related to foundations and beliefs about

ecological sightseeing, eighteen lessons where the 31 Chocoanean

Municipalities are included, each one of them with its respective set of

questions and varied exercises to help reading comprehension, bibliography,

web page references, solution to questions and exercises, and a section of key

words where the meanings are well explained in the target language.

It is important to highlight that this is not a historic, geographic or political

textbook, but a didactic material in English thinking of the future development of

our state, when we can get to the Pacific Ocean on car, the Tribugá port, when

people coming from everywhere read it and know our reality.

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Finally with the fact of having conceived the idea to write this reading

comprehension teaching-learning material readers will be able to:

1. Value our environment, which is one of the most diverse all over the

world as to flora, fauna and water.

2. Know our best ebullient spots around our department.

3. Talk appropriately about our exceptional tourist places in the different

regions of our state.

4. Feel curiosity for visiting the different regions of our state without

bothering certain difficulties got on the path

5. Raise the self- esteem of being from Chocó State.

6. Feel proud of appertaining to this marvelous region of the Colombian

country

7. Recognize the bio-diverse power of our region, not only for having a

good time, but also for scientific research.

8. Display and issue our culture and folklore regarding the local festivities

which are a combination of the religious faith imposed by evangelists in

time of the Spanish conquest, and the African dance heritage that all

Chocoanean people have in their blood

9. Better their reading comprehension abilities having as raw material our

environment in the frame of “Chocó Bilingüe” (Chocó bilingual)

Supported by the Ministry of Education orientated by Doctor Rosa María

Cely, regarding bilingualism.

10. Increase their English vocabulary concerning new words and common

expressions used in the ecological sightseeing.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

ARCHIVO FOTOGRAFICO AFROCOLOMBIANO. 2007. Chocó, Memoria

Visual. Universidad Tecnológica del Chocó “Diego Luis Córdoba”. Quibdó

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JORDANA, Chamberlain. 1997. Diccionario Inglés Nauta. Oxford and Cardiff

Universities.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN PUBLICATION DATA. 1993. The

American Heritage Collage Dictionary. Third Edition. Houghton Mifflin

Company. Boston.

New York. URDANG, Laurence. 1985. The Basic Book of Synonyms and

Antonyms. United States.

www.answer.com

www.wikkipidia.com

Professor José I. Córdoba Moreno studied at The “ Instituto Integrado Carrasquilla Industrial” in

Quibdó, getting a high school diploma in the 70s decade, more precisely, in 1977. He is a B.A

from Chocó University “Diego Luis Córdoba”. Where studied Languages (English, French,

Spanish and literature). He also got an M.A Diploma in Applied Linguistics to the Teaching of

English as a Foreign Language from The Universidad Distrital in Bogotá “Francisco José de

Caldas”, a Diploma in AVA (Learning Virtual Simulation) with the UNAB.

Professor José I. is a member of the research group: Didactic of the foreign languages,

recognized by COLCIENCIAS, in the program of English and French in Chocó University in

which is the coordinator of the Bilingual Education line, and co-investigator of ESP, new

technologies, teaching English to children and the four skills lines under the direct responsibility

of professors Fidel Bejarano, Francisco Moreno, Aristarco Martínez and Alfonso Mosquera

respectively.