YES WE CAN!

Can you recycle vocabulary with your students?

Can you practice pronunciation using various techniques?
Can you lower your Teacher Talk Time if necessary?

Can you use at least ten different activities based on pictures and images?

Can you help students get rid of those terrible fossilized mistakes?

Can you bring poems and creative writing tasks to your students?

Can you break the ice at the beginning of the course?

Can you build on trust and rapport with your students?

Can you use different short activities to warm your students or practise vocabulary?

Can you teach phrasal verbs, idioms and collocations?

Can you use L1/L2 effectively?

Can you incorporate homophones into your lessons?

Can you name at least three types of dictation activities?

Can you switch off your autopilot every lesson and break the routine?

YES, you CAN do most of these THINGS with ease and grace!

                                  *And if not, please, look back at our past TTC topics to learn more :) 

Source: https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQiDx7A7hPDtOFCpJYKIRFKz8hXgyuOlYk_U41BYkGxwdiJu645

Let´s focus today on the “CanDo” statements which can be commonly found in your course books (both at the beginning of a unit or at its very end), in English portfolios and other study and resource materials. 

Can you answer these “CanDo” questions?

Do you do these activities with your students or do you tend to skip them? Why?

Are students ready for these activities? Do they enjoy them?

Are they good at completing the tasks?

If you were in the shoes of a language student, would you be keen on these activities? Why/Why not? Have you ever tried them in the role of a student?

Do they understand what is the purpose of these activities and what are their benefits?

When do you use these activities?
How do you use them?
Do you combine them with the unit? How?

Can you prepare them if they are not part of your course book?

Can do statements may help us become aware of the goals of the ready-made material we are using and plan our weekly lessons accordingly.  They can help us focus less on grammar and vocabulary (such as we will learn how to use present perfect) and move with ease to communicative competence (we will learn how to talk about your life experience).

They can help us develop more independent learners who can set SMART learning aims. We can help them change the learning needs and wants from the unhealthy demotivating “I want to speak English fluently” to more realistic and valuable aims such as “I want to be able to answer a phone call in English and leave a message on the phone”. 

They can help students to reflect on what they have learnt and how well they have learnt it. They can make decisions for themselves on how to learn (outside the classroom).

Here are some activities I do in my classes:

Students work in groups. They choose one of the CanDos and prepare a revision activity, an informal test or a quiz for their colleagues. Then they swap the task with another group and do the tasks.

I use material (activities, exercises, tasks) from a different course book to help students decide if they “can do” the task in English.

I ask them to reflect on the unit we have just covered and prepare a list of can do statements themselves.

I ask them to mingle in the class and Find someone who …. (can talk about their family). Then we do some of the activities in the class.

I label two or three corners of the classroom with posters: Yes, I can. – Yes, more or less. – I need to work on it more.

Students move around the classroom to one of the corners while I read out the can do statements. They have 30 seconds to share their experience, knowledge, ask their colleagues in their group.

 Source:

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj42aV3sNXQRWbt0N7tJZiALsS8ww64oazug6ZmQ6o5qXNxxek-otNlgau7S-qEYlfZ6Jg6RJiadiNP59Ukg05xiuhmeKeoV6r-qB3HBK1MvIlTz8T33PR9yYftPaAcnqAWvJq3F-X4s6k/s1600/choice+wheel+.jpg

Can you use Can you … statements with your students :)? Let us know.

 

Stuck in a Let´s Check it Rut?

The end of the school year is here and it is time to reflect on what went well and what are the routines we follow without even knowing it. Let´s get rid of another “autopilot” programme and bring more surprise and variety to our classrooms.

Based on the observations, one of the most stereotypical areas even with experienced teachers is the procedure we use to get and check answers from students after their individual and pair/group work.

T: What´s the answer to number 10, Tom?

S: He bought a sandwich.

T: Yes. He bought a sandwich. Mary, number 4? 

S. b)

T: Do you agree? …. Yes, b) is correct.

Does it ring a bell with you?

Sure it does. Students like it. Students are used to it and once they answer one of the questions, they can fall asleep. If the teacher calls out students in a predictable order, they can quickly prepare the correct answer to one question only. If the teacher selects the nominees randomly, they work hard. It is quick. Teachers like it. It gives us, the god power to decide who is to answer and to correct the “invalid” answer. 

Source: https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQQAxnqciLjBlSXgcmN-YhWMpGNfvI0EtK41kMM4f-k25ZUzE7LWA

Well …  It is stereotypical. It is predictable. It does not involve any self-correction or peer correction. We do not get much feedback about the group and how much they are learning. We do not cater for fast finishers and/or weaker students … and .... it is sooo stereotypical and predictable.

Here are some tips which work in my classes.

• Call out students randomly to make students pay attention all the time.
• Students, not the teacher, nominate other students to provide answers. You can, for example, use a ball to throw around the class.

Surprise students:

• Vary the order of the questions. Go from the last question to the first, or skip around.
• Take names out of a hat at random to nominate the student who answers the question. Student A then draws another name out of a hat, etc.
• Students choose a number out of a hat which indicates the number of the answer he/she will give to the whole class (do it before they start working on the exercise or afterwards).
• Write down the numbers of answers on the board. Once they finished, students go to the board and write their name next to the question they are pretty confident about answering (send the weaker students first, especially after you have monitored their answer).
• Ask them to vary the way they give answers: e.g. whisper, shout, sing, write, say the answer (they can draw a card with an instruction or roll dice). 
• Ask students to write the answer to one question on the board.
• Put the answers on the board while they are working on the exercises but not in the correct order.
• Read out the sentences from a course book (e.g. the exercise where they decide which sentence is correct, which is incorrect, or true/false exercise) and they repeat the sentence after you only if they think it is right/true. They remain silent if they think it is incorrect/false.
• With these two types of exercises, you can also label two corners of the room (e.g. true – false), read out the sentences, they move to the appropriate corner of the room.

Pass the role of the teacher to the students:

• Ask one student to be in charge (give the answers to him/her e.g. using your Teacher´s book) or one student in each group gets the role of a teacher.
• Provide them with the answers on the back of the question paper (or fold the worksheet; once they have completed the exercise, they can unfold it and check the answers for themselves).
• Pass a key to the exercise around the class.
• Write the answers on the board using very small letters. They can get up, go to the board, and check the answers for themselves.
• Display the answers on the walls around the classroom. Once they finish the exercise, they walk around the classroom and check the answers from themselves. They can discuss the answers in pairs/small groups and ask their peers for explanations.
• Pass an envelope with answers to the exercise around the class.
• Tell them you are going to read the answers out loud but they you do not feel well today and you might make a few mistakes. They listen and must correct you immediately when they hear a mistake.
• Student A (or teacher) reads out the answers. The rest of the class react to the answers: they stand up if they agree, remain seated if they think it is not correct. Or: They clap hands, if they agree (and boo if they disagree). Alternatively: They repeat the answer if they agree with it.

What is your favourite way of checking answers and giving whole class feedback? Which of these activities have you decided to try to use in your class? Did it work? How did you alter it?

Share your ideas with us!

L1? L2!

Patřím k těm, kdo věří, že studenti a hlavně učitelé od nejnižších úrovní zvládnou hodiny v cílovém jazyce. Věřím také, že tím a možná hlavně tím, že studenty odnaučíme rozumět každému slovu, překládat si doslova komplikované vazby a vyhledávat si z knihy každé nové slovíčko nebo prostě spoléhat na okamžitou pomoc a kontrolu lektora, zvládnou pokračovat ve studiu jazyka až do úrovně pokročilý, nezávislý  a aktivní uživatel cizího jazyka.

Jak jste na tom Vy s češtinou? Co vás nutí používat češtinu? Proč ji potřebují studenti? Proč a kdy preferujete vyučovaný jazyk? Přidejte se a pojďte se zúčastnit malého průzkumu. Vyplňte krátký dotazník a zamyslete se nad tím, proč a v jakých situacích používáte a/nebo nepoužíváte mateřský jazyk (L1) a vyučovaný jazyk (L2).

Jak jste na tom Vy s češtinou? Co vás nutí používat češtinu? Proč ji potřebují studenti? Proč a kdy preferujete vyučovaný jazyk? Přidejte se a pojďte se zúčastnit malého průzkumu. Vyplňte krátký dotazník a zamyslete se nad tím, proč a v jakých situacích používáte a/nebo nepoužíváte mateřský jazyk (L1) a vyučovaný jazyk (L2). 

Jako Senior Teacher učím lektory začátečníky, aby se snažili používat cílový jazyk „za každého počasí“ a minimalizovali použití češtiny u sebe i studentů. Společně hledáme možnosti, jak na to a jak dovést také studenty k maximálnímu využívání angličtiny.

Každý lektor musí tuhle zapeklitou dovednost zvládnout, přesvědčit se, že to jde i bez L1 a jaké výhody takový přístup přináší studentům.

Tak třeba, namátkou ...

• Musíme se naučit, jak dávat jasné a stručné instrukce, podpořit je gesty a ověřit si efektivně porozumění úkolu jinak než žádostí o překlad nebo překladem z naší strany. 
• Musíme se naučit před-učit typické instrukce pro práci ve třídě a s učebnicí už v kurzu začátečníků, aby se studenti mohli soustředit na plnění aktivit, nepřecházeli z jednoho jazyka do druhého,  a hlavně, aby si poradili s učebnicí (zcela/převážně) v cílovém jazyce i během domácí přípravy nebo pokud vynechají lekci s učitelem.
• Musíme se naučit nespoléhat se jen na verbální prostředky, používat gesta, mimiku, intonaci.
• Musíme se naučit prezentovat a vysvětlovat novou látku nejrůznějšími způsoby, aniž by dával nutně přednášky na téma „předpřítomný čas prostý kontra předpřítomný čas průběhový.“
• Musíme se naučit před-učit cíleně jazykové prostředky (včetně funkčního jazyka) tak a včas, aby studenti mohli zvládnout komunikační úkol bez použití L1.
• Každý z nás musí umět naučit studenty strategie, jak si poradit za situace kdy neznají slovíčko, hledají slova, neví, jak zareagovat. 
• Musíme se naučit říct studentům, „nevím“, tohle slovíčko neznám, pojďme ho najít ve slovníku/opsat, atd.

Až tyto dovednosti zvládneme, řekneme si na rovinu, že nic není černobílé. Jsou situace v hodině, kdy je o.k. použít L1. Musíte ale vědět, proč to děláte a jak by to šlo jinak …

A je samozřejmě v pořádku využít při výuce občas aktivity, které využívají hravě a smysluplně češtinu nebo materiál (text, menu) v L1.

Jaké aktivity využívající L1 (a překlad) používáte ve svých kurzech? Tady jsou aktivity, které bezostyšně používám v hodině já

 Svíčková, co je to?

Při rolové hře v restauraci použijte jídelní lístek v L1. Student A musí vysvětlit české pokrmy v cizím jazyce hostovi mluvícímu anglicky (německy, francouzsky).

Už jsi slyšel, co se stalo?

Využijte noviny, např. Metro, v češtině. Studenti si přečtou krátký článek v češtině, pak mluví o tom co se stalo s „rodilým mluvčím“ v angličtině/němčině, atd. Pomozte jim otázkami

 Source: modthink.com

Nejdřív česky, potom hezky

Velmi často zadáváme rolové hry. Nechte studenty nejprve udělat aktivitu v L1, pak teprve v cílovém jazyce. Tuto techniku doporučuji pro pokročilejší skupiny, je to vlastně varianta na „test-teach-test“ přístup.

Tlumočit prosím
Práce ve skupinách 3 studentů. Zadáním je interview se známou osobností. Novinář se ptá v cílovém jazyce, známá osobnost odpovídá v mateřském jazyce a student C je tlumočník. 

Našeptávač
Dialog mezi dvěma osobami v cílovém jazyce. Za každým z nich ale stojí 1 „našeptávač“, který jim říká, co mají říkat, ale v L1. Oni tedy musí přeložit a říct nahlas.
Nejlépe funguje při převyprávění scének z pohádek, např. Červená Karkulka a vlk.

Pošli mi ten překlad

Skupina A dostane krátký článek nebo jen větu v češtině/nebo sloku písničky (méně známé). Přeloží ji co nejlépe do angličtiny. Pak ji pošle skupině B. Ta ji přeloží zpátky do češtiny. Pošle skupině C, ta českou verzi přeloží do angličtiny, atd.  …. Pak si porovnají texty.

Tichá pošta cikcakcik

Pošeptám jednu větu/část písničky/titulek zprávy, atd. studentovi A. Ten si ji musí zapamatovat a pošeptat ji studentovi B, tentokrát ale v angličtině. Student B si musí zapamatovat anglickou větu a pošeptat ji C, tentokrát ale v češtině. Vyzkoušejte, jak to bude vypadat na konci řetězce…

A co když studenti „zlobí“ a např. při párové práci okamžitě sklouzávají k češtině?

Kromě toho, že je potřeba jít studentům příkladem (tedy třeba reagovat na dotaz v češtině anglicky, reagovat na email v češtině anglicky), zkuste třeba vyhlásit tři minuty během hodiny, kdy je dovoleno pouze a jenom používat angličtinu.

Vyvěste vlajku, napište smluvené „heslo“ na tabuli, nakreslete obrázek na znamení toho, že je čas mluvit i v párech/ve skupinách anglicky. Co byste na takovou značku dali vy ve svých skupinách? Hamburger? Anglickou vlajku? Královnu Alžbětu?

Source: flickr.com

Vypěstujte u studentů „pavlovův reflex“. Kdykoli studenti mají komunikovat ve dvojicích v cílovém jazyce, naučte je, ať židle otočí k sobě, tak aby komunikovali z očí do očí, a pak vyžadujte pouze L2.

A pro příznivce metody cukru a biče technika vyzkoušené v pomaturitních kurzech. Pokud někdo opakovaně používá češtinu, vybere si jeden trest z domluveného seznamu, resp. hodí kostkou a číslo na kostce určí, jaký trest si vyslouží.

Tady je ukázka posteru z jednoho mého kurzu. Jaké možnosti 1 – 6  byste zařadili vy ve vašich kurzech?

Těším se na vaše komentáře a aktivity. 

Dear Deer

Recently I introduced the idea of homophones to my upper-intermediate and advanced students.

It was part of my endeavour to make my students love English even more and enjoy playing with the language :), see the progress they have made and to motivate them to study hard(er) even though they can now somehow get by in most situations they encounter.

We have read and (re)told jokes and collected them on a Padlet wall; we were filling in cartoon speech bubbles or solving riddles in English; we read blurbs of novels to spot interesting adjectives and some even managed to finish their first novels in English; we practised spelling frequently misspellt words such as accommodation, tomorrow or colleague and dilemma … and I think focusing on homophones was an invitable step to take :)

To warm them up and show them what homophones are we used a homophone fairy tale. 

They were surprised how many words they already know are pronounced in the same way but spellt differently. Many fossilized mistakes in pronunciation were uncovered … Does flour really rhyme with flower? Are knight and night pronounced the same way? Cereal and serial have the some pronunciation? Won and one homophones, are you pulling our leg? 

Then I asked them to write their own sentences substituting homophone pairs. Each chose a fairy tale character (Czech characters invited ! ) or a famous personality.

Here are our examples:

Cinderella prepared a tomato source for her too stepsisters. 

Fifinka sent Bobík to buy sum flower and baked him a cake. Bobík eight ate peaces of cake at won go.

Miloš Zeman eight too pairs and was week for a weak.  

After that, I divided students into pairs. I dictated a homophone, they took turns each adding one word/one spelling to their poster. First, As started. Then in the middle of the activity, I swapped the order and Bs started.

E.g. I said /sam/, A wrote some, B had to add sum. I dictated /nait/, B wrote night, A had to come up with the word knight.

For sample list of homophones to choose from, see the link here. 

This was a challenging activity for them and they enjoyed the collaborative part. Alternatively, you can divide students into two groups. They stand in two lines, facing the board. Say one homophone, two people, one from each team, rush to the board and write down the two words.

I knew it is vital to make the homophones memorable. We tried to come up with sentences where pairs of homophones are used together in a funny way. Then they read the sentences to the class saying “banana“ or “beep“ instead of the words. The rest of the class were guessing which pair of homophones it is. Challenging, indeed, and real fun.

Would you like to solve our homophone puzzle sentences?

My banana students stared at the banana.

There is a banana sitting on your banana.

There is banana banana among us.

I banana banana cookies yesterday.

On this tropical banana banana walk down the banana with my bride.

I don´t know banana the banana will be nice or not. Let´s stay at home.

The wind banana my banana shirt into the river.  

We also drew some posters to illustrate some of our homophone sentences.

To steel steal

None nun

Knight at night

weak for a week

bare bear

hare on your hair 

Some time ago I have found the following riddles that combine the two expressions on the Internet. Can you guess the homophones using the clues here? The first was done for you.

1. Two of a fruit  => pair and pear
2. A room in prison to exchange for money
3. not strong for seven days
4. to look at the ocean
5. a type of animal that grows on your head
6. Not there to listen
7. A baking ingredient in the garden
8. After dark in shining armour
9. To encounter the beef
10. A painful tool
11. A beloved forest creature
12.  To cry for a sea creature
13. A boy the planets revolve around
14. Swallowed the number
15. To find how heavy the path is

Well, how good are you at answering the questions?

In the class, I passed posters around with two riddles on each. Each riddle was numbered. Students worked in pairs noting down answers to the riddles. Then we checked the answers in pairs. 

Here are more “advanced” riddles. My students would not manage to answer most of these. 

For lovely homophone poems, see this link. 

To introduce the idea of homophones in one of my classes, I dictated “homophone” prompts to them. 

Their task was to write down three associations that came to their minds once they heard the word. They were not supposed to write down the original word. Then they compared the lists in pairs/small groups and discussed their lists. Of course, often their chains of associations were based on different original words (i.e. Homophone pairs, such as eye – I, read – red, break – brake, peace x piece, knight – night, pair – pear, bare – bear, flower  - flour).

If I dictated /flaur/ - Student A noted down rose, garden, smell x student B wrote down white, bake, cake.

This helped us to brainstorm the list of homophone pairs and to focus on the meaning of both words. As a follow-up activity, they prepared their own prompts for another group.

To recycle the words in a learner-centred way, I gave each pair a blank sheet of paper divided into 16 squares. Their task was to prepare a homophone memory game/Pelmanism for another pair. In one class, they were asked to prepare pictures which illustrate the homophone pairs. In another class, they just provided couples of words. Their task was to choose homophones they find difficult themselves. When playing the memory game, the task was to use the word in a sentence any time they turn the card. Sentences cannot be repeated.

What are your suggestions for practising homophones? Which activity would you like to try out in your class? Have you spotted another useful resource material? Do you find teaching homophones interesting or useless in your classes?

Take Your Pen and Get Ready

I used to hate the technique as a student. I found it sooo boring and useless and tiring. “Why the hell are we doing it?“ I kept asking myself. “Is it just to kill time?“

I never told my teacher trainees to try it out and make it part of their lessons. I found it too old-fashioned, traditional and totally uncommunicative. “There is nothing students can get out of it. It is just about drilling spelling and copying blindly what the teacher says.“ I kept telling myself.

I have not used it as a teacher for ages.        Or have I? 

Actually, I do use IT in my classes. I use DICTATION surprisingly often. Even though it is traditional, uncommunicative and old-fashioned  …  I just do it DIFFERENTLY from what I experienced as a student of English back in late 80ies and beginning of 90ies when the grammar translation method was still flourishing in the classrooms.

Inspired by Paul Davis and Mario Rinvolucri (Dictation)  believe that it is important to decide and vary

• Who dictates
• Who chooses or prepares the text to dictate
• What is dictated
• How long it is
• How it is dictated
• What is to be written down

And here is one important question I would like to add:  What do you do with the text that was dictated then? How does it link to the rest of your lesson? 

Ask these questions, too, switch off your autopilots, surprise and challenge your students and test some dictation techniques in your classes.

Whistle/Banana Dictation

Choose a short text, e.g. the first paragraph of a story you are going to read in a course book (5 sentences maximum). Dictate it to the class. Gap some words and whistle instead of them or say “banana”. Students should complete the missing words and write the complete text down.

Would you like to give it a try? Check this Voki. 

Drawing dictation

Ask one student to come to the board. Give the rest of the class the same picture to describe. They take turns to “dictate” the picture to the student who draws the picture on the board. Use a picture which leads into new topic or which recycles vocabulary you have just studied. Check google clipart, fotosearch.com or cartoon strips.

Alternate Dictation

Prepare a short text consisting of about 10 sentences. Divide students into pairs. Each student gets half of the story, but their sentences or lines alternate, i.e. student A has sentences or lines 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 and student B has sentences/lines 2, 4, 6, 8, 10. Students take turns dictating their parts of the story to each other. Students then work with the story, e.g. continuing it, coming with a surprising twist …

Student A

1 It is 10 p.m. on a cold Friday and I am standing

2 _____________________________________

3 to persuade him to find my friends. “Can you shout

4 _____________________________________

5 The friends I´m supposed to meet later are

Student B

1 _____________________________________

2 in a smelly phone box speaking to a barman, trying

3 _____________________________________

4 out?” I ask, “or maybe look for them?”

5 _____________________________________

6 in a bar somewhere in Central London, and we haven´t yet …

Upside down

Prepare a suitable text, 3 or 5 sentences max. Dictate it to students, but students should write down the opposites when they can think of any. Of course, each student gets a different version of the story. Then they compare it in pairs/groups. Finally, they can try to reconstruct the original story.

I usually use fairy tales such as Cinderella.

Once upon a time there lived an unhappy young girl. Her mother was dead and her father had married a widow with two daughters. Her stepmother didn't like her one little bit. All her kind thoughts and loving touches were for her own daughters. 

Partial Dictation

Dictate a sentence (a prompt, a question), students write only a response.

I usually revisit tapescripts to focus on functional language and to get students ready for ESOL listening Part 1.

E.g. Could you lend me some coffee, please?

What about going to the cinema tonight?

Riddle me 

Challenge students with  “what” you dictate. Use riddles or jokes as a warmer or a lead—in to a topic.

• Three eyes have I, all in a row; when the red one opens, all freeze. What am I?
• I have a tail, and I have a head, but i have no body. I am NOT a snake. What am I?

 Check the answers here.

Variation: Dictate about five questions from here. Then students work in groups trying to answer the riddles. 

Variation 2: Dictate questions to group A. Dictate answers to group B. First, they try to complete the missing part. Then they work together to complete the jokes. 

Collocations

Dictate a set of first parts of collocations, students only write down the missing part of the collocation.

E.g. You dicate take/pass/fail, students write down “an exam”. Or you read: “sunny/foggy/rainy”, students write down “weather”.

Then later on, they can reconstruct the prompts again.

Groaning Dictation (from Dictation)

Prepare a list of about 10 to 15 words. Dictate them to students very quickly, without pausing while students are groaning trying to write them down. Then they work in pairs or groups trying to reconstruct the complete list. Then they can predict what kind of text the words come from or what they are going to read about, or write a story using all the words.

Word by Word (from Dictation)

Students work in groups. Each group has a sheet of paper. Group A writes down the first word of a sentence and dictates their word to the other groups. Group B comes up with the second word and dictates it to the other groups. Group C adds a third word and dictates it to the other groups …

Strings of a story

Give each student a strip of paper with one sentence from the text. Give it out in a random order. Students take turns to dictate their sentence to the class. Everyone takes down what is dictated. Then they work in pairs/groups, check the answers and then reconstruct the text, putting sentences into correct order.

Variation: Challenge your students. They have to learn their strip of paper by heart.

Lost in translation

Dictate a sentence in English to student A. Student A writes it down then dictates its Czech version to B who writes it down. B then dictates its English version to student C, etc. Put some “party music” on to make the task more challenging.

It´s (not) me

Dictate sentences to students, e.g. sentences containing a grammar structure which you need to practise with them. Students write down only sentences which are true for them.

E.g. I have never been to London. I have drunk three cups of coffee today. I have never eaten sushi. I have just got married.

Variation: They write down all sentences you dictate but must alter them to make them all true about themselves.

Personally, I believe

Dictate statements related to a topic, e.g. statements on animal rights from NEF advanced.Students only write down statements which they agree with or only write down the response/reaction to it, e.g. using language such as Yes, but …

And here´s a well-know activity you have definitely done, but which is worth reusing from time to time J

Running dictation

Students work in pairs. One student is the writer and the other is the “runner”. The short passage is put on the wall. The runners have to go to the text and return to their partners having memorized the first line of the text, which they dictate. They keep returning to the text until they have dictated the full text to their partner. The role can be swapped in the middle of the activity.

If interested in Dictogloss, Human tape recorder and other challenging activities, check Dictation in our Glossa library. 

Collocations, Phrasal Verbs and Idioms

Two weeks ago I gave a workshop on phrasal verbs, idioms and collocations.

I believe that teaching collocations is similar to teaching any other vocabulary area and similar rules and principles do apply to it; similar types of activities and games can be used in the classroom.

However, many of us feel less confident when teaching collocations and we do it rather randomly …. unsystematically … once in a blue moon … only if there is an exercise in the coursebook  … even though it should be a part of our every day regular classroom practice from elementary level of students.

CALL MY BLUFF! Which is the correct definition of a collocation? 

e) a word or a phrase not used literally, but used to describe somebdy or something in a more graphic way and to make the description more powerful, e.g. he flew to the door

b) informal words and expressions that are more common in spoken language, especially used by a particular group of people, e.g. teenagers. They often go in and out of fashion very quickly.

c) a frequent combination of words in a language. Often they are the only possible combination to express the concept, e.g. heavy rain

 openclipart.org

Give it a try. Play the Call my bluff game with your students to pre-teach or to recycle vocabulary. Give students words and ask them to prepare three definitions (making use of their monolingual dictionaries); one correct, two distractors. Or, give them collocations, idioms, or phrasal verbs to define!

Here are some statements on collocations. Do you agree with them?

Cllcatins, hw wrds ccr togthr in spech nd wrtng, re n imprtnt prt f spekng and wrtng flently.

Usng cllcatons crrctly cn mke yur Englsh sund ntral, flent and mre prcse.

Cllcatns occr s frquntly in Engish tht stdnts ned to mstr thm if thy ar evr ging to prgrss.

OOPS, MY DOG HAS EATEN ALL THE VOWELS! Can you identify the message?

Btw, try this activity with your students to introduce a new topic, a text (e.g. a headline, the first paragraph), to warm them up.

Look at these expressions. Can you use three of them in a personal sentence(s).

• make a mistake
• apply for a job
• totally unaware 
• shrug shoulders
• live dangerously
  heavy rain
• to see eye to eye
• film star
• give up
• half understand
• to set the ball rolling
• run out of money

Can you identify any types of collocations, e.g. adverb + adjective (e.g. completely incomprehensible).

Here are some practical tips for teaching collocations:

• Fristly, make students aware of collocations.
• Help them identify them in context.
• Teach collocations, practise them and use them in context and full sentences.
• Help students to group them and record them effectively (e.g. by topic, or using collocation forks). 
• Help them remember them with images, stories, TPR activities.
• Do not teach them in isolation and/or through long lists from a coursebook. 
• Do not overwhelm them (up to 6, 8 expressions at one go?)

Present and recycle collocations in groups. You can use so called COLLOCATION FORKS. 

openclipart.org

E.g.     make                                               

            earn

            save                     money

           spend

Think of collocation forks your students should know.

A)     dictate the verbs, ask students to guess the missing nouns, e.g. pass/take/fail … an exam.

B)     Write down the forks on the board. Erase the verb; keep first letters only, gap it out for students to reconstruct coming to the board one after another.

BANANA STORY  

Make students put all related collocations into a short story to remember them beter.

openclipart.org

I banana(ed) my final exam last week but I banana(ed). Hopefully I’ll banana next time.

PHOTO OF MY COLLOCATIONS

Distribute collocations/groups of collocations to your students. Ask them to take a photo on their mobile phone (give them a time limit in the classroom or ask them to do it for homework/on their way to work/in the office). Then they work in pairs/small groups and recycle the collocations. Be creative with the follow-up activity. Make them use the collocations.

DICE GAME

Write numbers 1-6 on the board. Elicit collocations from a text students have just read. Then students roll the dice. They use the word they have chosen in a story/first line of a story/in a poem/in a personalized sentence/in a question/in the “I´d like to find someone who…” phrase.

Make sure to replace the collocations you have used with another examples from the text. You can look for different types, e.g. 1 – noun + noun, 2 – adjective + noun. 

BUSY BETTY, LAZY LEO

Introduce characters such as Busy Betty, Lazy Leo, Happy Henry, Exhausted Eve, Cool Cathy, or Frustrated Fionna to students. They choose one character and write a diary entry/tweet using as many collocations as possible. E.g. On Monday … 

COLLOCATION TENNIS

Learners take turns to add collocations to create a chain of collocations. The word which collocates can come before the previous one (presenter – sports (presenter)) or after it (television – (television) presenter).

You could have a string such as:

Heavy – traffic – light – colour – television – presenter – sports – adventure – hair-raising – film  - series – crime – appalling – weather – forecast …

I use an online collocation dictionary with students. They enter the word into a seach engine,scan the entry and choose the  next collocation.

Make it authentic

It is important to see and teach collocations in context. Do not forget to use authentic sources, show them the language in magazine articles, songs, cartoons, adverts.

Google Run out of

Simply, google the collocation (e.g. run out of) and use authentic headlines, song titles, etc. to help students understand and use the collocations.

Guess the collocation

When working with a text, I often use an activity in which students listen to the story and when I pause, they try to guess what comes next. Then read more, pause, and let them guess the word(s) again. Of course, the process of guessing is more important the “correct” answers.

A success story

In 2005, Sheri Schmelzer was a 40-year-old stay-at-home …

mom when she decided to get …

creative with …

her family's multiple pairs of Crocs …

shoes. The plastic slip-on …

shoes have ventilation …

holes across the top and Schmelzer, armed …

with …

clay created mix-and-match designs that would fit in the …

holes.

Collocation Treasure Hunt

Before reading a text, give each student/pair a note indicating a type of collocation, e.g. noun + noun, or instructions such as “Find an expression which means … Find a two-part verb which means …a chunk which means…” . They read the text and find the lexis.

Of course, make the task learner-centred. They create the prompts for another pair themselves.

 Mime the Collocations

Before students read the text, write the collocations from a text on the board. Students work in pairs and prepare to mime the collocations.

Then read the text aloud and students act out the collocations when they hear them.

Variation: Students read silently the text and they mime the words as they come along them.

It´s my Collocation – Do not Jump the Queue

Distribute collocations to students, each on a separate poster/card. Students listen to a song and when they hear the phrase, they have to put up the card.

Variation: With a bigger group, they are asked to come to the board when they hear their phrase and stand in a line. If they hear the phrase for the second time, they have to move to the end of the line.

The activity was done in the workshop.

So, would you like to add your own collocation activity? Share it with us!