Total Physical Response (TPR) is a methodology made famous by James Ashner.  It’s teaching style based on kinestetic learning.  Teachers speak and students respond in some manner physically.

We cover:what TPR isthe theory behind TPR and what it’s supposed to dohow TPR can be used in your lessonswhat are the main benefits, claims, and criticisms of the method

We’d love to hear how you use TPR. Post them

here or over at the ESL Teacher Talk forums. Ask questions or leave comments about the show.

Thanks for listening!

For more indepth information on TPR see Learning Another Language Through Actions by James Ashner or check out his website at http://www.tpr-world.com/<

Game of the Week: Treasure Island

This a game posted at MES-English. You can use it to practice various tenses, ‘There is …/ There are ..’/ various motion verbs/passive tense and more.  Mark also mentions a variation on working with story telling and sequencing events.  It’s a simple single sheet game and very versatile.  It can be done as a pair activity or as a group activity.  For more information check out the Treasure Island page at MES.  Here is the game board.

A question I was asked recently concerned the issue of firing an inefficient teacher. To be honest this is always a tricky situation. It is not an open…

… and shut case as, for example, it would be, if the teacher had committed some obvious breach of contract.

Before trying to take this drastic step, which might well have repercussions if the teacher took legal advice, it is better to look at the situation from a broader

perspective. First the definition of “inefficiency” needs to be clarified. Is the teacher inefficient because s/he does or does not do something that conflicts with the school’s guidelines? Is it a question of student complaints? Are the exam results poorer than they should be? Does the inefficiency consist of unacceptable behaviour such as lateness, missing classes, losing or failing to mark homework?

In other words, the inefficiency needs to be pinned down to specifics. If, it consists of lateness or absence, then the procedure is straightforward. According to your staff disciplinary guidelines, you should be able issue verbal and written warnings and, if there is no improvement, then the teacher can be fired.

However, if the teacher is performing badly in the classroom, you may have to look at your responsibility for the situation. Why was the teacher hired? Was a probationary period served? If yes, then you need to find out when and why the deterioration began. Has your school got adequate teacher support and professional development? Are there factors in the teacher’s personal life that are affecting work? Is the teacher having problems with a particular group of students? Is the teacher aware of your concern about classroom performance?

It may be that if these issues are investigated you can agree an action plan between you that helps the teacher through a bad patch. A classroom is not a factory. The dynamics of teaching vary from group to group, from day to day even so that a teacher’s performance may vary quite considerably. It is important surely to be mutually supportive in a situation of this kind: you need to help the teacher and the teacher needs to be willing to make the effort to improve.

If you can agree an action plan with milestones for appraisals then you will have a fair and measured approach that will see you through the challenge with an outcome that you can both accept. Either the teacher can up his/her game or, at the end of an agreed period, you can agree to part.

If you’ve ever tried to add phonetic symbols to your worksheets, you may know how difficult that can be. Instead of writing them in by hand or cutting and pasted each as separate images, there is a simple solution…

… and that is the Phonetics builder software application, which can be downloaded for free at www.language-power.cn/download/Phonetics.zip.

Feel free to try it out and comment on the tool here.

Until next time…

Carol Rueckert


Writer, ESL Lesson Plan
E-mail: crueckert@eslemployment.com
Blog: www.esl-lesson-plan.com

“I hear, and I forget. I see, and I remember. I do, and I understand.” - Chinese Proverb

*For more ESL-related Recommended Resources featured on ESL-Lesson-Plan, please click HERE!

I was asked recently why the future tense in English is used only for certain types of future expression. As I launched into my lengthy explanation, I realized very quickly…

…quickly that I had lost the attention of the student. The question “why” is always a tricky one. And that set me thinking about why it is so difficult to give students precise reasons for a particular language phenomenon.

One reason lies in the nature

of English as opposed to more rule-based languages. As an analytic language, English relies on its syntax for meaning rather than a more rigid system of inflected forms. One effect of this is that there is a great deal of idiosyncrasy in English and a great deal of importance on word order. A simple example is the effect of moving the word “only” in a sentence: only she paid for the coffee/ she only paid for the coffee/she paid only for the coffee.

Then there is the relationship of linguistic structure to ideas. Take the example of the future tense. The grammatical tense seems to express certainty but we all know that the future is anything but certain. It is therefore not surprising that we use the future tense as part of conditional constructions: if he wins the election, he will be the first black president. Or we use it when the weight of evidence suggests certainty: it will rain tomorrow morning but will be dry by the evening. We use it when we make a promise, as in marriage vows. We also use it to threaten, although threats are also often conditional: I will tell your mother if you do that again.

Explanations of why words that appear to be synonymous cannot be used interchangeably are equally difficult. Aspects of usage such as collocation and connotation influence our choice of words. For example, “slim,” “thin” and “skinny” are roughly synonymous but “thin” and “skinny” are pejorative, whereas “slim” can be used as a compliment. And of course, the word “quite” is a minefield. Tell your girl friend that the lunch she cooked was “quite nice” and you will be trouble, tell she is “quite exquisite” and she will be flattered.

It is important to give learners maximum opportunity to experiment and use language in whatever way is useful to them as individuals. Many of the mechanical …

… exercises they do in the classroom help them to try out and memorise new structures and vocabulary but often lack the personal dimension that makes the learning relevant.

One way of solving this problem is to provide them with frameworks into which they put their

own information. Thus if you want them to describe their company, a valuable exercise for business English students, they should be able to use the present simple tense, the present perfect and the simple past, and sequencing adverbs. They should then be able to use the framework below to describe their own company.

1. Parts
This involves the parts of something and how they fit to form the whole. Example: My company has a head office, three regional branches and two wholly-owned subsidiaries.

2. Classification
Classification structuring sets up categories. Example: The company has three main activities: a manufacturing plant, warehousing and administration.

3. Comparison
Comparison structuring highlights the similarities between items/concepts. Example: Our regional branches each have a similar structure with a factory and a warehouse.

4. Contrast
Contrast structuring highlights differences between items/concepts. Example: Our head office is different in that it deals only with the administrative functions of the company.

5. Cause-Effect
Cause and effect structuring establishes a relationship between two events, where one is shown to cause the other. Example: Our market share has been increased by 15% since we acquired our two subsidiaries.

6. Problem/Solution
Problem/Solution structures are usually used for persuasive speeches, and offer plausible solutions to stated problems. Example: We have been able to streamline our stock management by installing a computerised stock-control system.

7. Time Relationships
Time relationships sequence events in a chronological order. Example: Two years ago we started to develop a strategy for export to the Far East. Last year we broke into the Japanese market and this year we have had our first order from Taiwan.

Mt. San Antonio College seeks a Director for its English as a Second Language programs. Under the direction of the Dean, Continuing Education, the Director will plan, organize, control and direct the operations and activities of English as a Second Language (ESL) programs including the development and implementation of academic, vocational, citizenship and career education courses and matriculation services

to meet the needs of students who speak little or no English; hire, coordinate, and direct personnel, communications, curriculum, information, services, instructional functions and resources to assure smooth and efficient program activities and enhance student learning and educational effectiveness; and supervise and evaluate the performance of assigned personnel. The position requires a Master’s degree and five years of increasingly responsible experience working with ESL or related instructional programs, including two years in an administrative capacity. Interested applicants should apply online.

Eilidh Morrison reports on “Taste of Scotland,” organized by the Moray English for Speakers of Other Languages project and the Moray College and Moray Community Planning Partnership. More than 170 students have attended ESOL classes since they began in March, and the event was intended as a celebration for students as well as an introduction to traditional Scottish culture. “We felt it would

be a good thing if they sampled or saw a bit of Scottish traditional life. If people learn English it makes it easier for them to integrate into their communities, and they’re more likely to stay in the area for longer,” said Joan Scott, who worked with the ESOL project. Attendees at the event enjoyed traditional music and dancing as well as Scottish culinary demonstrations.

Worcester State College seeks a Staff Assistant/ESL Instructor to teach in the full time intensive program (approximately 20 hours weekly) providing interactive, communicative, and theoretically informed instruction that provides language training through a variety of approaches and focuses on specific curricular and programmatic goals: college preparation, academic skills, test preparation, personal

development, and cultural experience and personal growth. The staff assistant/ESL instructor assists the Program director and Coordinator in initial assessment activities, course placements and daily class scheduling, including orientation activities designed to assist students in their adjustment to Worcester State College life and routine aspects of daily life in the US. The position requires a minimum of three years experience of in-class ESL instruction, and a Master’s degree in TESOL is preferred. Interested applicants should send a cover letter, resume, original transcripts of highest degree, and 3 current, original letters of recommendation to:

Director of Human Resources
Worcester State College
486 Chandler Street
Worcester, MA 01602-2597

The key to making staff meetings really useful is to keep them to a minimum. In other words, don’t hold weekly meetings for the sake…

… of routine; call them only when they are needed. Of course, in many schools a weekly meeting is necessary, as new intakes arrive and classes may have to be reorganised. But if that is not your situation, then schedule your meetings only when you really have a need to bring everyone

together.

It is important to remember that teachers attending staff meetings are working, so the meetings should come out of school time. Don’t try to cram them into lunch breaks and, if they are held after hours, pay for the extra time; at least that is an incentive for keeping them short. Indeed you can work out just how much each mmeting costs as a tool to help ensure they are productive.

Don’t have woolly, unfocused meetings. Always work to an agenda and state the purpose of the meeting clearly. Start the meeting on time. Latecomers will have to catch up; you shouldn’t penalise the punctual by making them wait for the tardy. Respect the timings on the agenda too. Make sure that no individual dominates the meeting and that everybody has a chance to say their piece.

Even if you don’t want formal minutes for meetings, somebody should be responsible for taking notes so that you know who is responsible for doing what as a result of the discussion of each item.
It sounds easy, doesn’t it? Well organisationally it is, but the meetings still need to be managed while they are in full swing.

There are always some team members who have sabotaging meetings as one of their hobbies: they may be confrontational (stop them in their tracks and tell them this is not the time for personal onslaughts); they try to deviate from the topic (cut them short and remind them what the items being discussed really is); they may clown around (suggest that they leave if they are not able to make a serious contribution); people may break into smaller side meetings (remind them that everybody is her to discuss the same topic at the same time).

If you build a reputation for tightly run, effective meetings then your team will attend willingly and make useful contributions. Then you can all go to the pub.

The conference aims to bring together K-adult educators to discuss and share ways to foster the integrated nature of language and culture in our classrooms and communities. It is an opportunity to initiate and sustain meaningful professional dialog across programs, levels, and setting. All classroom educators, administrators, coordinators and specialists are most welcome!

The conference

planning committee requests presentation submissions addressing any of the following cultural connections:

* Ways of connecting with our communities
* Connecting our classrooms to the cultures of our students
* Integrating culture into our curriculum
* How language, culture and community are interconnected
* Connecting the ELL and mainstream classroom teachers
* The connection of identity to language
* How academic content areas connect to specific language features and vocabulary
* How to connect best practice with the reality of our schools
* Other related topics