MODULE

English Language Teaching – Principles

and Practice Module 1 (ELTPP)

Curso de Formação de Professores em Exercício

Distance Education

Universidade Pedagógica
Centro de Educação Aberta e a Distância - CEAD
Copyright
This Module cannot be printed for commercial purposes. In case of photocopying, reference should be
made to Universidade Pedagógica and to the Authors of the module.

Universidade Pedagógica
Centro de Educação Aberta e a Distância - CEAD

Rua Comandante Augusto Cardoso nr.135

Telephone: 21-320860/2
Telephone: 21-306720
Maputo - Mozambique

Fax: +258 21 320860-2

E-mail: f:[email protected]
Acknowledgements
The Pedagogical University: Language Faculty – English Department wishes to thank those below for
their contribution to this ELT/PP Module 1:

To COMMONWEALTH of LEARNING (COL) for providing the Template used for the productions
designing the modules

To Instituto Nadional de Educação a Distância (INED) for the support and guidance provided

To Magnificent Rector, Dean of Faculty, Heads of Department for support provided during whole
process.
Technical Assistance

Author: Romão Beatus Paulo

Instructional Designing: Vitorino Guila

Language Review: Trindade Nahara

Graphic Designing: Anilda Ibrahimo Khan

Edition: Anilda Ibrahimo Khan

Contents
About this MODULE 1
How this MODULE is structured ..................................................................................... 1

Course overview 3
Welcome to Curso de Formação de Professores em Exercício English Language
Teaching - Principles and Practice Modulo 1 (ELT-PP) .................................................. 3
Curso de Formação de Professores em Exercício English Language Teaching -
Principles and Practice Modulo 1 (ELT-PP)—is this course for you? ............................. 3
Course outcomes............................................................................................................... 4
Timeframe......................................................................................................................... 5
Study skills........................................................................................................................ 5
Need help? ........................................................................................................................ 6
Assignments...................................................................................................................... 7
Assessments ...................................................................................................................... 7

Getting around this MODULE 8

Margin icons ..................................................................................................................... 8

Unit 1 9
Presenting Vocabulary...................................................................................................... 9
Introduction ............................................................................................................. 9
Lesson 1: Presenting Vocabulary .......................................................................... 10
Lesson 2:................................................................................................................ 13
Lesson 3:................................................................................................................ 15
Lesson 4:................................................................................................................ 18
Unit summary ................................................................................................................. 19
Assignment ..................................................................................................................... 20
Assessment...................................................................................................................... 21

Unit 2 23
Asking Questions............................................................................................................ 23
Introduction ........................................................................................................... 23
Lesson 1: Why do you think teachers ask quentions in class?.............................. 24
Lesson 2:................................................................................................................ 28
Lesson 3:................................................................................................................ 31
Lesson 4: Questioning strategies........................................................................... 34
ii Contents

Unit summary ................................................................................................................. 36

Assignment ..................................................................................................................... 37
Assessment...................................................................................................................... 38

Unit 3 41
Presenting Structures ...................................................................................................... 41
Introduction ........................................................................................................... 41
Lesson 1: Stuctures................................................................................................ 43
Lesson 2: Presenting Structures ............................................................................ 47
Unit summary ................................................................................................................. 49
Assignment ..................................................................................................................... 50
Assessment...................................................................................................................... 50

Unit 4 53
Teaching Reading ........................................................................................................... 53
Introduction ........................................................................................................... 53
Lesson 1: Learning to read .................................................................................... 55
Lesson 2:................................................................................................................ 57
Lesson 3: Activity before reading ......................................................................... 60
Unit summary ................................................................................................................. 61
 Language Teaching –Principles and Practice Module 1 (ELT-PP)

About this MODULE

English Language Teaching – Principles and Practice Module 1 (ELTPP)
has been produced by Universidade Pedagógica. All MODULES
produced by Universidade Pedagógica are structured in the same way, as
outlined below.

How this MODULE is structured

The course overview
The course overview gives you a general introduction to the course.
Information contained in the course overview will help you determine:

If the course is suitable for you.

What you will already need to know.

What you can expect from the course.

How much time you will need to invest to complete the course.

The overview also provides guidance on:

Study skills.

Where to get help.

Course assignments and assessments.

Activity icons.

Units.

We strongly recommend that you read the overview carefully before

starting your study.

The course content

The course is broken down into units. Each unit comprises:

An introduction to the unit content.

Unit outcomes.

1
About this MODULE

New terminology.

Core content of the unit with a variety of learning activities.

A unit summary.

Assignments and/or assessments, as applicable.

Resources
For those interested in learning more on this subject, we provide you with
a list of additional resources at the end of this MODULE; these may be
books, articles or web sites.

Your comments
After completing we would appreciate it if you would take a few
moments to give us your feedback on any aspect of this course. Your
feedback might include comments on:

Course content and structure.

Course reading materials and resources.

Course assignments.

Course assessments.

Course duration.

Course support (assigned tutors, technical help, etc.)

Your constructive feedback will help us to improve and enhance this

course.

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 Language Teaching –Principles and Practice Module 1 (ELT-PP)

Course overview

Welcome to English Language

Teaching – Principles and
Practice Module 1 (ELTPP)
Welcome to the ELT/PP. We hope that you will enjoy this module and
develop your knowledge and skills on issues related to ELT/PP via
distance learning. Congratulations on your choice and decision to commit
yourself, over the next few months, to serious study and putting into
practice your newly learning experience, skills and attitude towards
English Language Teaching.

You may have, most likely, enrolled for this module because you are
already in some way involved in providing or facilitating education, and
probably, you want to know more and increase your repertoire or in
simple words you want to improve your performance and practice. We
hope that this module will help you to develop the professionalism that
your work requires you to have and also that ELT/PP will increase your
appetite for further study in the field of ELT.

English Language Teaching –

Principles and Practice Module 1
(ELTPP)—is this course for you?
This course is intended for people who have some experience in teaching
and who are pursuing studies or teaching in the field of ELT. It is also
intended for all others involved in some way in teaching or prospective
teachers or facilitators. For example, you may be tutor at a learning centre
and so on. In this course you will develop practical skills in teaching
English as a Foreign Language. The course is especially designed to meet
the needs of the teachers who:

3
Course overview

Teach large classes without resources needed to accomplish their task.

Those teachers placed in the field without any training in the field of
English Language Teaching. Teachers, who want to enhance their
knowledge, improve their skills and be updated on the techniques and
methods and new insights into ELT.

This course is modular structured and the sequence of each unit can be
used independently. The course is designed to be used actively by you
working in the field.

Course outcomes
This course is outcome based. The term “outcome based” means that
there are clear indications of what you can expect to know and do when
you have successfully completed each unit and each module. One of the
expected outcomes of the course as a whole is that you will have begun to
apply within your work and community the knowledge, skills and attitude
you have developed.

Upon completion of English Language Teaching - Principles and

Practice- ELT/PP: Module 1 you will:

Be able to establish the importance of teaching meaning of new

vocabulary as well as the form and showing how the words are used in
context.
Outcomes
Be aware of the basic techniques for asking question types and be able
to show how they can be used for different purposes.

Be familiar with a range of simple visual aids.

Be able to make your own visual aids

Know what structures are, and how they can be used to make a
number of different sentences.

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 Language Teaching –Principles and Practice Module 1 (ELT-PP)

Timeframe
Each unit will depend on your own speed and how well you are
organised.

You should spend at least 2 hours a day to read each lesson

How long?

You should take at least two hours on self-study.

Study skills
As an adult learner your approach to learning will be different to that
from your school days: you will choose what you want to study, you will
have professional and/or personal motivation for doing so and you will
most likely be fitting your study activities around other professional or
domestic responsibilities.

Essentially you will be taking control of your learning environment. As a

consequence, you will need to consider performance issues related to
time management, goal setting, stress management, etc. Perhaps you will
also need to reacquaint yourself in areas such as essay planning, coping
with exams and using the web as a learning resource.

Your most significant considerations will be time and space i.e. the time
you dedicate to your learning and the environment in which you engage
in that learning.

We recommend that you take time now—before starting your self-

study—to familiarize yourself with these issues. There are a number of
excellent resources on the web. A few suggested links are:

http://www.how-to-study.com/
The “How to study” web site is dedicated to study skills resources.
You will find links to study preparation (a list of nine essentials for a
good study place), taking notes, strategies for reading text books,
using reference sources, test anxiety.
http://www.ucc.vt.edu/stdysk/stdyhlp.html
This is the web site of the Virginia Tech, Division of Student Affairs.
You will find links to time scheduling (including a “where does time
go?” link), a study skill checklist, basic concentration techniques,
control of the study environment, note taking, how to read essays for
analysis, memory skills (“remembering”).

5
Course overview

http://www.howtostudy.org/resources.php
Another “How to study” web site with useful links to time
management, efficient reading, questioning/listening/observing skills,
getting the most out of doing (“hands-on” learning), memory building,
tips for staying motivated, developing a learning plan.
The above links are our suggestions to start you on your way. At the time
of writing these web links were active. If you want to look for more go to
www.google.com and type “self-study basics”, “self-study tips”, “self-
study skills” or similar.

Need help?
In case of difficulties, please contact the following:

In Maputo:
Help
Romão Beatus Paulo

Faculty of Languages: English Department

Rua: Comandante Augusto Cardoso no. 135 Maputo

Telephone: 21 420860-2 or 21 306720

Monday to Friday: 8:00 to 12:00

Cell: 82 800 1190 can only be between 12:00 – 13:00 hours

Email: [email protected]

In the provinces:

In each province there is a resource centre available and a local Provincial

English Advisor to help you.

For any assistance related to academic issues the Provincial English

Advisor will be able to help you and do not hesitate to contact her or him.

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 Language Teaching –Principles and Practice Module 1 (ELT-PP)

Assignments
Throughout each unit, you will have to carry out a number of activities
that will help you consolidate the matters reviewed.

We recommend that you go through all exercises indicated without

Assignments immediately resorting to the key answers/correction guide.

Assessments
In this subject, you will have to write two tests per semester. In order to
complete the module, you will have to write a final exam at the end of the
academic year. Nevertheless, all exercises you will undertake at the end
Assessments
of each lesson and unit will be checked by your tutor for purposes of
formative and continuous assessment.

7
Getting around this MODULE

Getting around this MODULE

Margin icons
While working through this MODULE you will notice the frequent use of
margin icons. These icons serve to “signpost” a particular piece of text, a
new task or change in activity; they have been included to help you to
find your way around this MODULE.

A complete icon set is shown below. We suggest that you familiarize

yourself with the icons and their meaning before starting your study.

Activity Assessment Assignment Case study

Discussion Group activity Help Note it!

Outcomes Reading Reflection Study skills

Summary Terminology Time Tip

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 Language Teaching –Principles and Practice Module 1 (ELT-PP)

Unit 1

Presenting Vocabulary

Introduction
In this unit you are going to learn how to teach the meaning of
vocabulary as well as the form and to show how words are used to
convey meaning to primary or secondary school level students.

This unit is concerned with techniques for showing the meaning of new
words and how to reinforce new vocabulary by asking questions using the
new items.

Upon completion of this unit you will be able to:

Apply and explain what structures are, and how they can be used to
make a number of sentences.

Demonstrate ability of using different techniques to teach and present

Outcomes
the new structures as well as form, and showing how words are used
in context.

Explain the importance of structures in the ELT.

ELT/PP: English Language Teaching- Principles and

Practice

Terminology
ELT: English Language Teaching

Realia: Objects from real life used in language classroom

as aids. For example, mango. shoes, spoon, forks

TEFL: Teaching English as a Foreign Language

TESOL: Teaching English To Speakers of Other Languages

9
Unit 1 Presenting Vocabulary

CLT: Communicative Language Teaching

TTT: Teacher Talking Time

STT: Student Talking Time

Lesson 1: Presenting Vocabulary

Adapted from : Doff, A. 1995 Teach Englis, A Training Course for
Teachers, Cambridge : CUP.

By the end of this unit you will:

Be able to establish the importance of teaching meaning of new

vocabulary as well as form.

Be able to reinforce new vocabulary by asking questions using the

Lessons Outcomes
new items.

Have acquired a number of techniques used to present vocabulary and

showing the meaning.

It is advisable to spend 1 hour on this lesson.

How long?

Have you presented vocabulary to your students? What techniques do

you use? Can you explain them briefly? As teacher, you have been in
many situations that required you to present new words. In this part of the
lesson, you are going to deal with a number of techniques for teaching
new words. Can you think of any other techniques that you can use to
present vocabulary.

Say the word clearly and write it on the board.

Get the class to repeat the word in chorus.

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 Language Teaching –Principles and Practice Module 1 (ELT-PP)

Translate the word into Portuguese or local language.

Draw a picture to show the word means.

If you are working in groups or pairs, the purpose of these questions are
simply to let you think about your own teaching practice and about
possible techniques for presenting vocabulary.

We want to focus on the value of different techniques, and to demonstrate

two different ways of presenting new words. Can you guess which ways?
Yes, you might have said them in a different way and that is a good try. If
your answers are close to answers or ideas given below, you have to
congratulate yourself. This is what you might have probably said:

The answer to question 1 is simply translate the word into Portuguese,

local language or draw a picture to show what the word means. The
reason for this is often because it is simple and a clear way of showing
what the word means. But if you give direct translation, students cannot
see how words are used in an English sentence, to show this we need to
give examples.

How was it? Did you find it difficult? May be you were not sure and that
is not a problem as long as we go through the learning process, you will
see that it is not difficult as you might have thought.

Now, try to read the following different techniques of showing the

meaning of the words. Have you tried any of them? Which one did you
try? How was your feeling when you tried to use it? Are you able to
describe it to your classmates? Probably you might have been using
“giving examples” which is quite common in our situation, then you are
doing well but you can enrich your repertoire of techniques following the
examples below. Now read on:

1. Showing the meaning visually

2. Giving examples

3. Combining different techniques

4. Using a new word

5. Vocabulary expansion

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Unit 1 Presenting Vocabulary

1. Showing the meaning visually

To use this technique, you need to write the following words on the board
and explain how you could easily teach the meaning?

Explain how you could easily teach the meaning of the following
words?

Watch window elbow

Yes, you might have said, I will show them a watch, window and elbow
because these are objects that can be found in the class. That is quite good
and convincing way of teaching the words above.

But we can say that there are many other ways you could use to easily
show the meaning of the words above. But, we will suggest the
techniques that we think will help the students to understand easily. Do
you agree? Then let’s proceed.

You could simply point at the object and then say: Look – class, this is a
watch and so on.

This one way of showing meaning of the new words: by showing real
objects. Then, the question is: what kinds of words can be presented in
this way?

Probably, you might have said anything that is available in the classroom,
such as windows, doors, desks, textbooks and many other items that can
be brought into classroom.

You need to remember that, this is not the only way of showing the
meaning of new words. It all depend on the kind of the students that you
have and because you are the one in charge of the class, so you know
better than anyone else which technique will suit your students.

Remember there is no single way you can describe as the best to teach the
meaning. How did you find the explanation, was it useful and the
techniques were they interesting? Well do not lose that pace!

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 Language Teaching –Principles and Practice Module 1 (ELT-PP)

Adapted from: Doff, A. (1995) Teach English, A training Course for

Teachers:, Cambridge: CUP, pages 1-8.

Lesson 2:
By the end of the lesson you will:

Have learned ways to show what words mean by giving examples and
using the word in context;

Be able to demonstrate how to present new words in context;

Lessons Outcomes

Next, let’s see how we can give an example using the context. Have you
ever tried this technique in your teaching? Maybe yes, you did try it but
you did not realise that you were using this technique. Then read on.

2. Giving examples

One of the techniques to show what the word means is by giving

examples, using the word in context. For example,

You want to explain the word “building.”

The examples below will help you to show meaning of the word.

Houses are buildings. This school is also a building. In big cities there
are many buildings – there are hotels, offices and cinemas. They are all
buildings of different kinds.

You want to show the meaning of the word “lazy” from the context.

Some people work hard. Others do not work hard – they are lazy. I have
got a brother. He is very lazy. He gets up late, and then does nothing all
day. I say to him, do not be lazy! Do some work!

All the above examples contain context in them. We are trying to include
the context to make the meaning clear.

These two examples illustrate that you do not necessarily need to give a
complicated examples to explain the meaning; it can be shown in simple

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Unit 1 Presenting Vocabulary

sentences. This can be done by making statements using the word (For
example, houses are buildings. This school is also building.) or by
imagining an example, in that case the second example about my brother.

Do you know any other technique that you can use to teach these items?
What other techniques could be used (can you use pictures? Can you
imitate someone else job (mime)? To make the meaning of each word
clearer?

The next technique combines a number of techniques to present

vocabulary. In class we often do this. Can you remember any moment
that you were able to combine different techniques? What was your
feeling that time? If you have to repeat and re-do-it, what would you
change after having this input about presenting vocabulary?

3. Combining different techniques

This part, we will go through how to combine different techniques to

teach meaning of the new words. Read these words. Have you ever tried
to use different techniques to teach the meaning of these words? How did
you do it? Did your students understand? What problem did you
encounter? Now decide exactly how you could present each word. If
possible think of a variety of techniques.

Smile absent mango

Cold shirt wall

You can use a combination of techniques to present each word. For

example, the word smile could be presented by drawing a picture of
someone smiling.

Teacher: Look, he is smiling. Now look at me. I am smiling (show by

facial expression.) Smile, we smile when we are happy.

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 Language Teaching –Principles and Practice Module 1 (ELT-PP)

Teacher: Smile (gesture)

Students: Smile

Teacher: What does it mean?

Students: Give translation.

Adapted from: Doff, A. (1995) Teach English, A training Course for

Teachers, Cambridge: CUP, pages 1-8

Lesson 3:

By the end of this lesson, you will:

Be able to give more examples of how a word is used to get

involvement of your students in class.

Have learned ways of giving chance to your students to practice

Lessons Outcomes
language items such as present tense, vocabulary and so on.

Be able to ask questions and practise the language using the new
words.

It is advisable to spend 1 hour on this lesson.

How long?

4. Using the new word

In the previous lesson, we saw ways of presenting vocabulary combining

different techniques. In this one, you will see how to use the new word to
make sure that your students really understand the new word. Imagine

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Unit 1 Presenting Vocabulary

that you have just presented the word “market.” Now, you are asking
questions using the new word. What is the purpose of this?

You probably said that the purpose of asking this question is to know if
my students understood the meaning of the new word. You are a good
student. You managed to come up with one of the points of asking
questions in class. There may be other purposes but for this exercise we
will say that:

The purpose of asking questions is to make sure that students understand

the new word. This exercise gives the students more examples of how the
word can be used in a way that involves the class and finally it gives them
a chance to practise other language items such as big, small, the present
simple and do on.

We need to point out that questions using the new word should be simple
and require short answers. If necessary give a few more examples of your
own, using other words.

Have you understood the purpose of asking questions in class?

If you did not read again and think of any other questions that you ask
your students from time to time and again revise the notes.

To make sure that you understood. Let’s do the following activity:

In pairs or groups, look at these words.

To cook lion holiday magazine windy

Group
activity Think of three questions you could ask class using these words.

You should imagine that you have just presented these words and you
should think of a few questions using each word.

5. Vocabulary expansion

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 Language Teaching –Principles and Practice Module 1 (ELT-PP)

When students come across a new word, they are likely to be interested in
learning other related words, and this presents a natural opportunity for
vocabulary development. This is sometimes called vocabulary expansion.

Look at these sets of words. How are the words in each box related to
cook?

Cook cook

Bake fry stove stir

Boil grill pot spoon

Can you see any similarity between these two sets of the words? You
might have said that all of them are related to the kitchen and that’s right.
But do you think this is the only explanation? No! You might have said
that there are different ways of cooking or different utensils that we use
when we cook, which is true. Now, our comment is that:

The words from the first set are synonyms: they are all words of the same
type and have the same general meaning (all method of cooking)

The second set of the words are related by context: they might all be used
when talking about cooking, although they are not synonyms. Try to do
the following activity for consolidation.

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Unit 1 Presenting Vocabulary

In pairs or groups, imagine that you are teaching these words:

− thief
Group
activity
− carpet

− custom officer

− marry

Can you think of other words that could be introduced as part of

vocabulary expansion activity? Think of the words that can be either
synonyms or be related by context.

Lesson 4:
By the end of this lesson you should be able to:

Point out why we need to spend a lot of time and care in presenting
all new vocabulary.

Make your students understand and produce more words as part of

Lessons Outcomes
active or passive vocabulary.

It is advisable to spend 1 hour on this lesson.

How long?

This lesson is about the use of active and passive vocabulary that we can
teach to our students. During your teaching how many times did you use
a certain word more often than others? Then that is the case of productive
and passive vocabulary. Can you give an example of any words that you
use a lot in your teaching and the one that you seldom use? We think that

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 Language Teaching –Principles and Practice Module 1 (ELT-PP)

it was easier to find the one that you use in everyday situation than the
one you do not use a lot. Is it true? Then let’s look together what we
mean by active and passive vocabulary?

1. Active and passive vocabulary

Active vocabulary is the words that we need to teach our students and
make them understand and also use them. In teaching active vocabulary,
it is usually worth spending time giving examples and asking questions,
so that students can really see how the words are used.

Words which we want students to understand (for example, when reading

a text,) but which they will not need to use them, themselves are said to
be passive vocabulary. To save time, it is often best to present them
quickly, with a sample example, if it appears as part of a text or dialogue,
we can often leave students to guess the word from the context.

Unit summary
In this unit you learned how to present vocabulary and meaning to your
students. The main points to keep in mind when presenting vocabulary
are:
Summary
You can use the basic procedures and techniques for presenting and
practising new language (vocabulary, structures, functions and
phonology).

Getting the students to repeat words is of limited value, It focuses

attention to the form of the word only (how it is pronounced.) It does not
teach the meaning of the word, which is more important.

There are so many realia in the classroom that can be used to teach or
show the meaning of words, so do not waste time, use them.

It is useful when presenting vocabulary visually to use real objects,

pictures, mime and so on.

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Unit 1 Presenting Vocabulary

We are using the word assignment to mean the activities that you have to
do.

Assignment
1. Activity

How could you easily teach the meaning of the following words?

Tree tractor cow

Assignment

2. Activity

The examples below are not enough to make the meaning of the word
“market” clear. Add two or more sentences to each one, so that the
meaning of the word is shown clearly.

Market clothes noisy look for

3. Activity

In pairs or groups, look at these words.

To cook lion holiday magazine windy

Think of three questions you could ask the class using these words.

You should imagine that you have just presented the words and you
should think of a few questions using each word.

4. Activity

Imagine that you are teaching the words below.

a) Thief,

b) Carpet

c) Custom officer

d) marry

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 Language Teaching –Principles and Practice Module 1 (ELT-PP)

Think of four or five other related words that you could teach at the same
time.

Assessment
1. Simply by pointing to the objects.

You can buy food at the market and my mother goes there each
Assessment Saturday. She buys clothes sometimes she finds it difficult when she
has to look for certain items. She says that it is a noisy place.

2. In some magazines you can find pictures of wild animals, specially,

the ones explaining about holidays in Africa. There are packages of
holidays where you can enjoy beautiful beaches or alternatively you
can see the “Big Five” but also you can try some native dishes of
Africa cooked in a simple environment.

3. The words can be synonymous or related in context:

a) thief – burglar, robber, steal, robbery

b) carpet – rug, mat, doormat

c) custom officer – go through customs, goods, pay duty, smuggle

d) marry – married, separate, get divorced

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Unit 1 Presenting Vocabulary

Further reading:

− Doff, A. 1995. Teach English, A training Course for Teachers,

Cambridge: CPU
Reading
− Gairns, R. and Redman, S. 1986 Working With Words, Cambridge:
CUP.

− Morgan, J. and Rinvolucri, M. 1986 Vocabulary, Oxford:OUP

− Wallace, M.J. 1982 Teaching Vocabulary, Heinemann Educational.

A Practical Guide to Vocabulary Learning

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 Language Teaching –Principles and Practice Module 1 (ELT-PP)

Unit 2

Asking Questions

Introduction
This unit gives general techniques for asking questions in class. We will
show you how different kinds of questions are appropriate to different
settings and purposes. All the examples, texts, tests and assignments are
adapted from: Doff, A. (1995) Teach English, A Training Course for
Teachers, Cambridge, CUP, pages 1-8.

Upon completion of this unit you will be able to:

Be aware of the basic techniques for asking questions and be able to

show how they can be used for different purposes;

Be able to elicit short and long answers from the students in a natural
Outcomes
way;

Be familiar with questions types;

Be able to ask questions in class using different strategies;

Have practised structures as part of language learning.

Achievement test: Language test which test what the learner has been
taught

Text: A continuous piece of written or spoken language

Terminology

23
Unit 2 Asking Questions

Theme: A particular subject used as the basis of a unit of

teaching, for example, biography of Nelson
Mandela

Topic: What is being talked about in a particular situation

Target language The language the learner is trying to learn. Thus,

(TL): English is the target language for you and your
students.

Teaching Points: Particular aspects of the language selected by the

teacher for presentation to a particular class of
learners.

Deductive: Referring to the process of consciously working

out rules of the language from an analysis of
sample of the language.

Inductive: Referring to the process of gaining generalisations

about the language as result of practising sentences
which exemplify them.

Lesson 1: Why do you think teachers ask quentions in class?

By the end of this lesson you will:

Be bale to make your students aware of basic question types;

Be able to show the questions types can be used for different purposes.

Be able to elicit short and long answers from students in natural way.
Lessons Outcomes
Be aware of possible different strategies for asking questions.

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 Language Teaching –Principles and Practice Module 1 (ELT-PP)

It is advisable to spend 1 hour on this lesson.

How long?

In teaching our students, we ask so many questions. What do you think is

the main purposes of asking those questions? Can you suggest some
questions that you ask your students? Yes, there are so many questions
that we can fill pages and pages listing them. Then because we have so
many question that we ask our students, let’s concentrate on the common
ones that we ask our students nearly everyday in our teaching.

We ask questions in class for a number of reasons, for example,

To check that students understand: When we present new vocabulary or

structures, we can check that students understood by using the new
language in a question. When we present the text, we can use questions to
check that students have understood it.

To give students practice: If we want students to use a certain structure,

one way to do this is to ask a question that requires a particular answer.

To find out what really students think or know: We can use questions to
encourage students to talk about themselves and their experience.

In class, it is possible to ask many different questions in many ways.

Look at the following questions and what is the difference between

these three types of questions?

a) Do you drink tea?

Can you swim?

Did he go to university?

Are they coming to the party?

b) Do you prefer tea or coffee?

Are they brothers or just good friends?

Will you walk or go by bus?

25
Unit 2 Asking Questions

Did she study in Australia or in Canada?

c) What do you usually eat?

Where did she complete further studies?

How long have you known each other?

When are they taking off?

a) Yes/no questions

The first group of the questions is yes/no questions.

The reply can be “yes” or “no,” alone with short form: yes, I do or no, I
do not.

Make sure that you understand how to form yes/no questions.

The auxiliary verb comes first: present simple questions use “do/does”
past simple questions use “did”.

Practice the following questions to which you give true answers, for
example:

− Have you been to a training course before?

Activity

− Do you like living in city?

− Do you smoke?

− Can you speak Mandarin?

Think of other yes/no questions that can be used in class.

Yes/no questions are useful especially for checking comprehension.

They are often the easiest questions to answer – they do not require
students to produce new language.

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 Language Teaching –Principles and Practice Module 1 (ELT-PP)

b) Alternative or “Or” questions

The second group of the questions is Alternative or “or” questions.

The reply can is usually a word or phrase from the questions itself, for
example, “friends or just good friends.”

Or questions are formed in exactly the same way as yes/no questions, but
contain two final elements – “tea or coffee,” “friends or just good
friends.”

After we have overloaded you with so many examples, it is time for you
to exercise and practice the following few alternative or “or” questions,
for example:
Activity
− Is it safe or dangerous in here?

− Are you married or single?

− Do you teach adults or teenagers?

Think of others alternative or “or” questions that you can use in the
class.

c) WH – questions

The third set of the questions is WH – questions, also can be called

information questions.

In most of the WH – questions it is natural to give a short answer. So the

natural answer to “where did she study?” is in “Australia or Canada.” A
very few WH – questions require long answers.

WH – questions are formed in the same way as “yes/no” questions, but

they begin with a “WH” word, for example, when, where and why and
so on. How long and how much/many are included as WH – words.

Now, that you understood the three types of questions, you need to
exercise and practise a few WH – questions and give short answer, for
example:

27
Unit 2 Asking Questions

− Where do you come from?

− How long have you been teaching?

− How many students are there in your class?

− Who is your favourite film star?

Think of other WH – questions that you could use in class.

Remember that some WH – questions with “who” or “what” have the

same structure as normal sentence. These are called subject questions,
because they ask about the subject of the sentence, for example,

Something happened…. What happened? (What did not happen?)

Someone saw him…. Who saw him?

Someone knows the answer… who knows the answer?

Something fell over… what fell over?

Lesson 2:
By the end of this lesson you will be able to:

Give a demonstration of asking questions types;

Use different techiniques for asking questions;

Discuss why the students only need to give short answers;

Lessons Outcomes

It is advisable to spend 1 hour on this lesson.

How long?

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 Language Teaching –Principles and Practice Module 1 (ELT-PP)

1. Checking questions

How many times have you used checking questions in your class? Did
you have any idea that you were using checking questions? Is there any
example you can give for checking questions?

Then, checking questions are used to check that students understand a

new word or phrase. In a number of cases, checking questions need to be
replied by short answers, for example:

Imagine that you have just presented “made of wood/metal/glass/stone.”

Ask a series of questions with short answers.

Teacher: Look (pointing to table) – is this made of wood?

Students: Yes,

Teacher: very good!

Teacher: (pointing to wall) what about this, class? Is this made of wood?

Students: No, it is not.

Teacher: What is it made of?

Students: Stone, and so on.

Teacher: You are excellent students.

There are two main reasons why students should give short answers.
First because it is more natural and second because at this stage the
teacher only wants to check that they understand. Later on they can be
asked to produce the new language.

Now that you have seen ways of asking checking questions, try to do the
following exercises. Do not worry about getting right or wrong, the
learning process is made of trial and error and do not be discouraged. If

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Unit 2 Asking Questions

you do not get it right the first time, there is always room for
improvement by doing more exercises.

Adapted from: Doff, A. 1995 Teach English, A Training Course For

Teachers, Cambridge: CUP

Imagine that you have just presented each of these words or phrases.

Wide/narrow belong to inside/outside far from

Activity Write down one or two questions you could ask in class to check. Use
“or” and “WH – questions”

2. Real classroom questions

Many situations that naturally arise in the classroom give an opportunity

to ask real questions of the three types learnt previously in this unit. If the
teacher asks such questions in English, it will help the students to feel
that language is real, not just something in a textbook.

What questions could you ask in these situations?

a) It is hot day and all the windows are closed.

b) One of your students looks pale and tired.

Maybe for:

c) Do you feel hot? Do you want the window open?

Probably for b:

Do you feel ill? Are you tired? Do you feel alright?

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 Language Teaching –Principles and Practice Module 1 (ELT-PP)

What questions could you ask in these situations?

a) You set homework last lesson. Today you are going to check the
answer with the class.
Activity

b) Several students are absent today.

c) When you come into a class, you find a bag on your desk.

d) When you come into a class, you find a face drawn on the
blackboard.

In class, we often want students to produce longer answers, so that they

can practice making sentences, for example:

I get up seven in the morning and then have breakfast. I usually have
manioc (cassava) and a cup of tea.

Lesson 3:
By the end of this lesson you should be able to:

Discuss the three possible ways of eliciting long answers;

Ask a more general question which would naturally lead to a longer

answer.
Lessons Outcomes

It is advisable to spend 1 daily hour on this lesson.

How long?

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Unit 2 Asking Questions

How many ways of asking questions do you know? Can you list them?
You might have said there is only one way of asking questions and that is
not bad. You went close to what we want you to say. We can say, well
done! Now, let’s see together how many ways we can use to elicit long
answers from our students.

There are three possible ways of eliciting long answers:

1. We could ask question and insist on a longer answer

For example, Teacher talking to student: Answer with complete sentence.

What time do you get up?

Student: I get up at seven in the morning.

This gets the students to practice language effectively, but only by

forcing them to answer in an unnatural way. As a result the conversation
that takes place in the class becomes artificial and unlikely real English.

2. We could ask more general questions which would naturally lead

to a longer answer

Teacher talking to student:

What do you do in the morning?

Student: Well, I get up seven in the morning and then I have breakfast.

This is much less artificial and allows the conversation in the classroom
to be more like the language spoken in real life.

To show you more examples, you could ask a few general questions like:

− What did you do yesterday?

− Did anything interesting happen to you?

− Do you have any brothers?

− What are they doing?

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 Language Teaching –Principles and Practice Module 1 (ELT-PP)

− Why did you decide to learn English?

− Instead of asking a complete question, we could give a short

prompt

Teacher talking to student:

Tell me about your day?

Student: Well, I get up early in the morning at about six …

Teacher: then what do you do?

Student: I have breakfast, usually just a piece of sweet potato and some
tea…

This is an easier and more effective way of getting students to produce

language than asking a question.

To show you other examples, you could talk about various topics by
giving prompts; such as:

− Tell me about your family?

− Describe this room?

− Tell me about your village, what about customs and traditional

ceremonies?

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Unit 2 Asking Questions

Lesson 4: Questioning strategies

By the end of this lesson you will:

Know how to organise questions and answer work in class;

Be able to use different ways of asking questions;

Lessons Outcomes
Be able to use questioning strategies.

It is advisable to spend 1 hour on this lesson.

How long?

Adapted from: Doff, A. 1995 Teach English, A Training Course For

Teachers, Cambridge: CUP.

Which of these strategies do you use in your own class? Which one do
you prefer to use most of the time?

Strategy A:

Teacher asks a question to the class and all the students raise their hand to
answer.

Question: What is that made of? Teacher points at the desk.

Class in chorus: wood

Strategy B:

Teacher: What is this made of…? (Teacher names Manuela)

Manuela: It is made of wood.

Strategy C:

Teacher: Names Jaime and then asks, what is this made of?

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 Language Teaching –Principles and Practice Module 1 (ELT-PP)

Jaime: It is made of wood.

Strategy D:

What is this made of…? Yes, Susana.

Susana: It is made of wood.

Keep in mind that there is no single best strategy – it is important for you
to be aware of different possible strategies and to be flexible whenever
one of them needs to be used.

In addition, we would like to point out that:

With large class, strategy A can be effective for simple questions with
yes/no answers. Otherwise it is likely to be too noisy and uncontrolled. It
would, of course, be suitable for a small class where there are no
discipline problems, for example, a group of adults.

Strategy B keeps the class involved but still under control. It enables the
teacher to give a chance to weaker students as well as more confident
ones, though, if the questions are too difficult it may make students feel
threatened. In general, it is a good strategy for routine.

Strategy C is highly controlled and it is not a good way of keeping the

attention of the class, as all the students expect ones answering the
questions and the rest can switch off. In general, it is better to ask
question first and then choose who is to answer.

Strategy D encourages bright students and makes the class seem to be

successful because students are volunteering answers. But if it is the only
strategy used, it allows the class to be dominated by the best students
while weaker and shy students tend to be excluded. It also makes it easy
for students to avoid answering questions. In general, it is a good strategy
to use for difficulty questions that only some students will be able to
answer.

Adapted from: Doff, A. (1995) Teach English, A Training Course for

Teachers, Cambridge: CUP, pages 1-8

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Unit 2 Asking Questions

Further reading:

− Doff, A. 1995 Teach English, A training Course for Teachers,

Cambridge: CUP.
Reading

− Heaton, J. 1981 Using English In Classroom, UK: Longman

− Wingard, P and Abbott, G. 1981 The Teaching of English As

International Language, Glasgow

− Willis, J. 1981 Teaching English Through English, Longman: UK

Unit summary
In this unit you learned:

− General techniques for asking questions in the class.

Summary
− We ask questions in class to check that students understand the new
structures by using the new language in a question.

− When we present a text, we can use question to check that students

have understood it.

− Questions are also used to give students practice particularly if we

require a particular answer and elicit long answers.

Finally, remember that all strategies are useful, it all depends on you as
teacher to decide which one to use and do try to vary them

The word assignment is used here to mean the activities

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 Language Teaching –Principles and Practice Module 1 (ELT-PP)

Assignment
Language awareness activities:

1. The utterances below were all made by foreign students. The

nationality of the speaker is given beside each example: Read each
example and then answer the comprehension questions below each
Assignment one.

Adapted from: Gairns, R. and Redman, S. 1986 Working With Words,

Cambridge: CUP.

2.

a) I have studied in a public school. (Mozambican)

Question: Did the student pay, get scholarship or have free

education?

b) I live in São Paulo which is great city. (Brazilian)

Question: Is the student giving factual information about São

Paulo or expressing his opinion?

c) Can you tell me the way to the subway? (a Mexican at

Piccadilly Circus)

Questions: Does the student want to cross the street or take a

train?

d) I feel sorry for people who live in the suburbs (Angolan)

Questions: Does the student think the suburbs are boring and middle-
class, or ugly and poverty –stricken?

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Unit 2 Asking Questions

Assessment
1. Activity feedback

It depends on the questions that you can ask or write but make sure you
Assessment include the words given in your questions. For example,

Is the road to Namaacha narrow or wide?

Does this pen belong to Maimuna? And so on…

2. Activity feedback

a) Have you all done your homework?

b) Who is absent today? Is Marcella here today?

c) Whose bag is this?

d) Who drew this nice picture? What is this supposed to be?

3. Activity feedback

Possible prompt/questions:

− Tell me about the view?

− Then what did they do?

− What did they do at the main square?

− Describe the square?

− What about the traffic warden?

4. Language awareness activities:

They are all common examples of Mother-Tongue interference, leading

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 Language Teaching –Principles and Practice Module 1 (ELT-PP)

to communicative error.

a) The student is translating “escola publica” which means state school

directly into English.

b) The student is giving factual information. In this case, the student

chose great rather than big not realising that great here would mean
marvellous.

c) The student wants to take a train. A Mexican student would probably

be more used to American English where subway is the equivalent of
underground train in British English.

The student is referring to poverty-stricken areas. “suburbios” is the

shanty area outside a city.

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 English Language Teaching – Principles and Practice Module 1 (ELTPP)

Unit 3

Presenting Structures

Introduction
This unit focuses on ways of introducing structures. It does not include
techniques for practising structures.

Upon completion of this unit you will be able to:

Know what structures are, and how they can be used to make a
number of sentences.

What structures are, and how they can be used to make a number of
Outcomes sentences.

Have reflected on your own practices and examples to present new

structures;

Be able to highlight ways of showing the meaning of new structures

as well as their form.

Be able to make sure that students know the structures.

Be able to introduce the structures and apply variety of techniques to

teach them.

Aware that structures can be used to generate a number of sentences.

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Unit 3 Presenting Structures

Acquisition: The process of picking up a language without

formal instruction and without a sustained
conscious effort to learn the language.

Terminology
Acquisition usually occurs as a result of highly
motivated exposure to the language in use plus the
need and opportunity to communicate in the target
language.

Audio lingual An approach to language teaching based on

approach :
listening and then speaking. It relies heavily on
oral imitation, memorization and drills designed to
produce correct language habits.

Authentic Materials such as train tickets, newspaper articles,

materials:
magazines, brochures, letters, recordings of news
and airport announcement and so on, which were
originally used in real situations and were not
designed for use in language teaching. Such
materials are used in classroom to expose the
students to language in real use.

Authentic tasks: Responses to written or spoken materials which

would be natural to real participants in a real
situation.

Behaviourist Theories based on the assumption that language

theories:
learning is a process of habit formation relying on
correct imitation and frequent repetition.

Bilingual : A Person able to speak a second language as well

as his or her first language.

Collocation : Words which co-occur or are frequently used

together. For example, pick flowers.

Audio-Visual aids: Aids such as televisions, films and video

equipment which allow the learners to see a
situation as well as listen to the language used in
it.

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 English Language Teaching – Principles and Practice Module 1 (ELTPP)

Lesson 1: Stuctures

Upon completion of this unit you will:

Know whats structures are and how we can use them to make a
number of sentences;

Have experienced ways of presenting new structures;

Lessons Outcomes
Have reflected about your own teaching situation.

It is advisable to spend 1 hour on this lesson.

How long?

All below tasks and examples are taken and adapted from: Doff, A.
(1995) Teach English, A Training Course for Teachers, Cambridge:
CUP, pages 1- 9.

Now, read the following sentence and try to identify the structure.

I’d like to visit Paris

Did you managed to identify the structure? Can you tell us? What was
your focus on identifying the structure? Can you give more examples of
structures? You might have said that to identify the structure I need to
check the where verb phrase is, that is very good. You may even have
said that in any sentence and in all languages to have a sentence you need
to have verb and that is correct. Then if you said that, you have to
congratulate yourself. Now below is what we can say about structures.

Structures are important because they allow us to generate and make

many sentences, so if students learn main structures of English, it will
help them greatly to speak and write the language.

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Unit 3 Presenting Structures

Climb mount Kilimanjaro

I would like to Earn more money

Go home

Look at each sentence in turn. Think of two or three more examples of

the structures in italics. Write a sentence in a table.

a) Shall I close the door?

b) He seems to be rich.

c) Is there any tea?

d) The room was so dark that I could not see anything.

Have you tried? Was it difficult? This is what we think you might have
done.

close the door?

Shall I bring you a glass of water?

take you to the station?

be very friendly

He seems to like jazz music

work hard

1. Showing the meaning of a structure

When we present structure, it is important to:

Show what the structure means and how it is used, by giving examples,

Explain clearly how the structure is formed, so that students can use it to
make sentences of their own.

2. Showing meaning visually

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 English Language Teaching – Principles and Practice Module 1 (ELTPP)

Classroom setting is appropriate place to show meaning visually. Use the

real objects that are around the class to show the meaning visually, for
example, teacher can use structure “too.”

Teacher: (pointing to the ceiling,) what is that?

Students: the ceiling.

Teacher: (try to touch it,) Look! I am trying to touch it. Can I touch it?

Students: No.

Teacher: No, I can not touch it because it is too high.

The ceiling is too high to touch.

3. Showing meaning through a situation

It is not always possible to show the meaning of a structure visually,

using what is in the class. Another way of showing meaning is to think of
a situation from outside the class, in which the structure could naturally
be used. The situation can be real or imaginary.

The structure to be presented is:

There is no point in …ing.

Teacher: Imagine that you are with a friend. You are going to visit your
uncle, who lives nearby the school. Your friend says: let’s go by bus.
What will you say? Yes/no?

Student: no

Teacher: why?

Student: because he lives nearby.

Teacher: yes, he lives nearby. So you might say, we can walk there in 10
minutes. There is no point in going by bus. There is no point in doing it.

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Unit 3 Presenting Structures

This is how different teachers presented adjectives of comparison to their

students. Which presentation do you think is…

− The most interesting?

Activity
− The easiest?

− The most useful?

Structure:

-er than

Not as …as…

Teacher A:

I talked about two buildings in town. (The post office is bigger than the
bank.)

Teacher B:

I drew lines on the board. (Line A is longer than line B.)

Teacher C:

I called a tall and a short student to the front and compared them (Ana is
taller than Maria.)

Teacher D:

I drew pictures of two men on the board and compared them.

(Malichocho is taller than Macucule.)

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 English Language Teaching – Principles and Practice Module 1 (ELTPP)

Lesson 2: Presenting Structures

By the end of this lesson you should be able to:

Give several examples of presenting structures;

Give several examples of presenting structures;

Write a variety of structures on the board before asking the class to

Lessons Outcomes
read;

Use pictures to show the structures and give the situation based on the
picture;

Explain the structures;

It is advisable to spend 1 hour on this lesson.

How long?

You have just presented the structure has been…-ing…for… to your

class. To make the meaning clear, you drew pictures on the board and
gave this imaginary situation: A churchgoer (someone who goes to
church) starts waiting for a bus at four o’clock. At five o’clock, the bus
comes. He has been waiting for an hour.

How did you find this example? Was it useful? Can you give more
examples of the same type?

The next exercise you need to organise these teachers´ notes for the
lesson. They are not in correct order and you have to put them in the
correct order. What order should they be in? Are all the stages necessary?

1. Say: she has been waiting for an hour, and then asks the class to
repeat it phrase by phrase.

2. Explain how the structure is formed.

3. Write the sentence on the board: she has been waiting for an hour

4. Give other situations and examples: Another person arrived at 4.30.

He has been waiting for half an hour.

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Unit 3 Presenting Structures

5. Ask the class to repeat the sentence.

6. Ask individual students to repeat the sentence.

7. Draw pictures to show the situation, and gives the example: she has
been waiting for an hour.

1. Contrasting structures

Sometimes we need to show the difference between the structures, this is

especially important when there is a contrast between two structures in
English which does not exist in the students´ own language. There are
two ways of doing this: by giving examples and by simple explanations.

Look at the following pairs in turn.

What is the difference between the sentences?

a) I have got some bread. I have not got any bread.

b) I have seen that film. I saw that film last week,

c) If they build reservoir, there will be plenty of water.

To illustrate this we will use the structure “how much and how many.”

We will start with this example to show the difference between them:

Oil?

How much Flour?

Sugar?

Eggs?

How many Loaves of bread?

Plates?

We could give the following explanation:

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 English Language Teaching – Principles and Practice Module 1 (ELTPP)

How many is used with words that have singular and plural form (an egg
– eggs)

Further reading:

− Doff, A. 1995 Teach English, A Training Course for Teachers,

Cambridge: CUP
Reading

− Harmer, J. 1983 The Practice of English Language Teaching,

Longman: UK

− Gairns, R. and Redman, S. 1986 Working With Words, Cambridge:

CUP.

− Morgan, J. and Rinvolucri, M. 1986 Vocabulary, Oxford: OUP

− Swan, M. 1980 and 1984 Practical English Usage, Oxford: OUP.

Unit summary
In this unit you learned how to present structures and different ways of
giving examples. When you present structures it is good to use a table.
When you present the structure in a table it allows the students to see
Summary
clearly how to generate other sentences. Avoid a number of examples that
could embarrass your students.

Assignment
What do you need to bear in mind when presenting structures?

What do you need to do if you want to show the meaning visually using
an item that in not in the class?
Assignment
The words below can all be illustrated by pointing at the object itself. In

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Unit 3 Presenting Structures

each case think of another words or words that are clearly similar and yet
distinct from the item given. For example:

Sink washbasin

Distinction: largely one of function and location, in other words, sinks are
found in kitchens and used for washing dishes and pans, while
washbasins are found in bathrooms and used to personal hygiene.

Suitcase/briefcase

T-shirt/vest

Word assessment is used here to mean feedback.

Assessment
feedback

1. Possible comments:
Assessment
Drawing lines on the board. Very simple and clear, but not very
interesting.

Comparing two students. Would be very interesting, but it could be very

embarrassing for the students concerned,

Drawing two imaginary people on the board would be safer and just as
clear.

Referring to local buildings. Would be very clear, could be made more

interesting by showing pictures.

2. Possible answers:

1. Draws the pictures and gives example.

2. Gives a model and asks the class to repeat.

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 English Language Teaching – Principles and Practice Module 1 (ELTPP)

3. Asks the individual students to repeat the sentence.

4. Writes sentences on the board

5. Explains how the structure is formed.

6. Ask the class to copy the sentence.

7. Gives other situations and examples.

Note: Many variations are possible, for example, the teacher could give
several different examples at the beginning, or could write the structure
on the board before asking the class to read it. Many of the stages could
be left out. It would be important to give a situation and example (which
could be done without pictures,) and to give a clear model (although the
class could be just listening instead of repeating.) Writing the sentences
on the board would also be important, but it might not necessary to
explain the structure or ask to copy it – this would of course depend on
the type of class.

3. Example of the situation to show the meaning:

Teacher: (drawing picture) look! You see this churchgoer. What is he

doing?

Students: He is waiting for a bus.

Teacher: And what time is it?

Students: It is four o’clock.

Teacher: Yes, it is four and he has just started waiting.

Teacher: (drawing the second picture) What is the time now?

Students: Five

Teacher: Yes, five and the bus is coming. But the churchgoer has been
waiting for a long time. How long, can you tell me?

Students: One hour, teacher.

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Unit 3 Presenting Structures

Teacher: That is right. He has been waiting for an hour.

“Shall I…?” Can be presented directly, using things in the classroom, for
example, it is hot here – the window is closed. Shall I open the window?

“He seems to …” could be presented through a situation. For example,

My neighbour next door to me. I do not know him well, but I think he is
rich because he has many expensive cars such as Mercedes and BMW.
He seems to be rich.

4. When you present structures you need to:

− Show what the structure means and how it is used, by giving

examples,

− Show clearly how the structures are formed, so that students can use
them to make sentences of their own.

If you want to show the meaning and the item is not in the class you need
to think of a situation outside the class, in which the structure could
naturally be used. This situation could be real or imaginary. For example,
you want to use an imaginary situation to present the structure:” there is
no point in …-ing.”

− You can tell your students. Imagine you and your sister want to visit
your brother, who lives nearby. Your sister says: “let’s take a chapa”.

− You: It is close, we can walk.

− Sister: Why should we walk?

− You: Because he lives nearby. We can walk there in 10 minutes. (So

you can say) there is no point in taking a chapa.

Suitcase/briefcase: there is difference of size and probably shape, and the

function of these bags is not the same.

T-shirt/vest: T-shirts are worn under other clothes (like a vest) they are
generally more decorative.

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 English Language Teaching – Principles and Practice Module 1 (ELTPP)

Unit 4

Teaching Reading

Introduction
This unit is concerned with basic procedures for using texts in class: it
considers ways of organising reading and what can be done before and
after reading. All texts, materials, assignments are adapted from:

Doff, A. (1995) Teach English, A Course for Teachers, Cambridge:

CUP, pages 1-9

Upon completion of this unit you will be able to:

Be more aware of what is involved in reading text;

Have seen a range of techniques for using texts in class;

Have enhanced your knowledge about different types of reading

Lessons Outcomes
materials;

Be able to use a variety of reading texts in classroom;

Be able to plan pre-reading, while-reading and post-reading activities;

Be able to give students the purpose of reading.

Context : The language which is used before and after a

particular utterance being referred to. This is often
known as linguistic environment or the linguistic
Terminology context of the utterance.

Creole: A language which has been developed as a result

of a combination between a local language and a
foreign language which has become the native

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Unit 4 Teaching Reading

language of a community of its speakers.

Declarative: A declarative sentence is one in which the subject

precedes its verb. For example: Mario collapsed
with only few hundred kilometres to go

Denotation: The actual thing referred to by a word or group of

a word as opposed to ideas or feelings associated
with the word.

Extensive reading: Reading to fairly length texts, for example, novel

without necessarily achieving a hundred per cent
concentration or comprehension.

Exponent: The actual expression used to communicate

particular aspects of language functions, for
example, invitation function. Exponent will be, for
example, would like to come…or, how about
coming…

Exposure: All the language which students hear or reads.

Receptive skills : Listening and reading. Those skills requiring the

ability to receive communication rather than to
produce them. These skills used to refer to us as
passive skills.

Reading Text: Reading a text depends on the purpose for which

we want to use it: Is it to develop reading
comprehension skills? Is it a way of presenting
new words and structures? Is it a basis for
language practise?

Lesson 1: Learning to read

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 English Language Teaching – Principles and Practice Module 1 (ELTPP)

By the end of this lesson you will:

Be aware what is involved in teaching reading;

Be able to use some techniques for teaching reading texts in class;

Lessons Outcomes
Be able to organise ways of reading and what can be done before and
after reading.

It is advisable to spend 1 hour on this lesson.

How long?

In your teaching environment you have so many times given reading

lessons. Can you explain how you start your reading lesson and how it
ends? Is there anything you do to make your reading lesson interesting? If
not read the following situations:

This happened in Korea with a colleague of mine while teaching reading

and this is what she/he told me:

“I like teaching reading. I just have to prepare the lesson and materials,
go to the class and give them the text and then off I go to see my parents
who live nearby and then after 30 minutes I come back to give them
feedback.”

The next situations happened in Mozambique with one of my trainee and

this is what she/he said:

“Teacher, I enjoy teaching reading. I need only to prepare materials and

tasks, go to the class and give them the materials and tasks and then I sit
doing my own things. After 20 minutes I give them feedback and my
lesson is over.”

Now, if you were teaching these two streams do you think students
will enjoy the reading? What else can be done to make the reading
lesson enjoyable?

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Unit 4 Teaching Reading

There are three possible ways of reading a text in class:

1. The students all read silently to themselves, at their own speed.

2. Teacher reads aloud, while the students follow in their books.

3. Students read aloud in turn.

Demonstration 1:

Read the following text about how fossils are formed taken from Human
Origin by R. Leakey.

When you tell the students to read you need to give them guiding
questions and here are samples of guiding questions:

− Only very few animal remains become fossils. Why?

Sometimes instead of giving your students guiding questions you can tell
them to discuss the questions briefly and then let them read.

Look at the first part of the text and then read it silently and find the
answer to the guiding question.

1. Read the first part of the text silently:

How to get preserved as a fossil

Unfortunately the chances of any animal becoming fossils are not very
great, and the chances of a fossil then being discovered many thousand
years later are even less. It is not surprisingly that of all the millions of
animals that have lived in the past, we actually have fossils of only a very
few.

There are several ways in which animals and plants may become
fossilised. First, it is essential that remains are buried, as dead animals
and plants are quickly destroyed if they remain exposed to the air. Plants
rot, while scavengers, such as insects and hyenas, eat the flesh and the
bones of animals. Finally, the few remaining bones soon disintegrate in
the hot sun and pouring rain. If buried in suitable conditions, however,
animals and plants remains will be preserved. The same chemical which

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 English Language Teaching – Principles and Practice Module 1 (ELTPP)

change sand, and silt into hard rock will also enter the animal and plant
remains and make them hard too. When this happens we say they have
become fossilised. Usually only the bones of an animal and the toughest
part of a plant are preserved.

Lesson 2:

By the end of this lesson you will:

Give guiding questions for the second time as a part of helping your
students to understand reading materials;

Motivate students to tackle reading materials and be interested in

Lessons Outcomes
reading;

It is advisable to spend 1 hour on this lesson.

How long?

Demonstration 2:

As we told you, you need to give guiding questions for any kind of
reading that students have to do. For the second part of reading here are
guiding questions:

− How can soft part of animals become fossilised?

− What kinds of fossils are often found in caves?

Now, read second part of the text yourself, and ask students to follow in
their books. Then discuss answer to the questions together.

Remember you will be using the normal school course-book. So you can
choose any of the readings that the schools course-book contains.

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Unit 4 Teaching Reading

1. Now read this while students follow you.

The soft body parts of animal or the fine fibres of a leaf may
occasionally become fossilised, but they must be buried quickly for
this to happen. This may sometimes occur with river and lake
sediments but is much more likely to happen with volcanic ash. One
site near Lake Victoria, where my parents worked, contained many
thousand of beautifully preserved insects, spiders, seeds, twigs, roots
and leaves. A nearby volcano must have erupted very suddenly,
burying everything in a layer of ash. The insects had no time to
escape before they were smothered.

Caves are another site where fossils are easily formed, and luckily
our ancestors left many clues in caves which made convenient
shelters and homes. Things that people brought in: as food or tools
were left on the cave floor, and they were buried by mud, sand and
other debris washed in by rivers and rain.

3. Which techniques:

20 Make it easier to understand the text?

21 Are more helpful in developing reading skills?

Some of the ideas you might have expressed are:

Understand the text: You may intend to help students by reading the
text aloud to them, but it can in fact make reading more difficult. In silent
reading, students can all read at their own pace, and if they do not
understand a sentence they can go back and read it again. If the teacher
is reading the text aloud this is impossible. Everyone must follow the
speed set by teacher.

Developing reading skills: When students read in English in the future,

for example; for studying, reading instructions, reading magazines, they
will need to do so silently and without help, so this is the skill they need
to develop. We need to give them practice in looking at a text and trying
to understand it, without always hearing it at the same time.

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 English Language Teaching – Principles and Practice Module 1 (ELTPP)

Control of the class: You often prefer to read the text yourself because it
seems to give more control over the activity, but of course you can not be
sure if the students are actually following the text at all. In silent reading,
nothing seems to be happening, but students are in fact concentrating on
the text and thinking about the meaning.

Now tell your students to read aloud in turns.

The points to bear in mind when students reading aloud in turn are:

- Reading aloud can be useful at the earliest stage of reading:

It can help the students to make connection between sounds and spelling.

For reading a text it is not a very useful technique because:

− Only one student is active at a time, the others are either not
listening at all, or are listening to a bad model.

− Students´ attention is focused on pronunciation, not on

understand the text.

− It is an unnatural activity – most people do not read aloud in real

life.

− Students usually read slowly, it takes up a lot of time in class.

− Reading aloud in very difficult – many people find it hard to read

aloud in their own language. So if a teacher wants students to
read aloud, it should be the final activity at the end of a reading
lesson.

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Unit 4 Teaching Reading

Lesson 3: Activity before reading

By the end of this lesson you will:

Present some of the words which will appear in the text;

Give one or two guiding questions (orally or written) for students to

think about as they read.
Lessons Outcomes

It is advisable to spend 1 hour on this lesson.

How long?

Have you tried to give to your students questions before they read a text?
If you have, it means you are doing well in helping students to understand
the text and enjoy it. Then, let’s see other ways of helping our students to
enjoy reading.

Before your students read a text it is best to give them pre-reading

activity so that it can help them to focus their attention on it as they read.
Pre-reading or before reading activity includes:

− Presenting some of the new words which will help them focus
attention

− Giving brief introduction to the text,

− Giving one or two guiding questions (can be orally or written on

the board) for students to think about as they read.

Presenting new vocabulary

You do not need to present all the new words in a text before the students
read it, you can encourage them to guess the meaning of unknown words
from the context and help them to develop reading skills by giving them
practise this way.

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 English Language Teaching – Principles and Practice Module 1 (ELTPP)

Only the words which would make it very difficult to understand the text
need to be presented before hand (for example, fossil in the previous
activity,) other words can be dealt with after reading the text.

Unit summary
In this unit you learned several techniques used in teaching reading.
When you teach reading, you need to give your students activities before
reading so that you can give them purpose for the reading.
Summary
You do not have to present all vocabulary at once, but you can encourage
your students to guess the meaning of unknown words from the context.

It is important to introduce the theme of the text before we ask them to

read.

Give them guiding questions, which can be done orally or in written form
on the board. This allows them to think about them as they read. The
guiding questions should be concerned with the general meaning or the
most important points of a text.

Further reading:

− Bryne, D. 1986 Teaching Oral English, Longman. UK.

Reading
− Nutall, C. 1982 Teaching Reading Skills in a Foreign Language,
Heinemann: UK

− William, E. 1984 Reading In a Language Classroom, Macmillan:

UK

Word assignment is used to mean activity.

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