Focus On The Learner

Diana Graur
Part 1: Background
Section A
There are 11 students in this Upper Intermediate group, with ages raging from
30 to 50. Their interests and hobbies include English, travelling, books and
sports. The students reasons for learning English vary from intrinsic (personal
development- Attila, Eva) to extrinsic (job requirements- Juja, Matias) and are
both integrative and instrumental in what concerns the majority. Most students
have been studying Englishon and off for the past ten years and they enjoy
speaking activities, pairwork and games. They all agree that they learn best
through active tasks.
Section B
With regards to communicative ability, the students express themselves clearly
and fluently in most cases, and manage to get their ideas across. Their spoken
English is not without faults but meets the requirements of the Upper
Intermediate level. The students tend to work around unfamiliar terms and
deduce meaning from context on their own. At times they either ask the teacher
for support or rely on peer teaching.
The matter of appropriacy hasnt come up in class, owing to a sensible selection
of the topics brought into discussion and a considerate, thought-out approach to
any potentially inflammatory subjects.
As for their skill taks abilities, students do well with reading tasks but sometimes
have difficulties tackling the challanges of listening activities. Student usually
have no trouble getting through the provided material for gist taks, although they
are still working on developing their skim reading skills. Detail tasks tend to sun
smoothly, with more problems at times for listening lessons.
Speaking and writing werent assesed as the main focus in a lesson but the first
has always been a very useful and much enjoyed subsidiary aim in follow-up and
freer practice activities while the latter was merely used to encourage students
to jot down words and ideas.
Part 2: Strengths and Weaknesses

Successful uses in SPOKEN LANGAUAGE
Grammar: They might have broken a glass. (correct use of modals that express
past probability)
Vocabulary: Shut up! It means to close your mouth! Be quiet, please! (correct
use of phrasal verbs)
Pronunciation: They are naughty. /nti/ (correct pronunciation of the

difficult cluster of consonants ght)
Mistakes/ Errors in SPOKEN LANGAUAGE

Grammar
1. What the student said:
2. What is wrong?
3. Why did the student make the

mistake?
1. I was at the USA.

2. Incorrect use of preposition,
should be I was in the USA.
3. Students probably know the
rules that apply to prepositions
but lack practice.
Vocabulary
1. Its rubbish food.
2. What is wrong?
2. incorrect use of compound

noun, should be junk food

mistake?
3. L1 interference
Pronunciation
1. It was, pronounced /vz/,

should be
pronounced /wz/
2. What is wrong?
2. mispronunciation: /v/
instead of /w/)
mistake?
3. They focus on fluency and

forget about accuracy.
Part 3: Helping the learner

*Vocabulary mistake: Its rubbish food, instead of junk food.
Aim: activity designed to provide the students with practice regarding compound
nouns + KEY (adapted exercise form Vocabulary in use- Michael McCarthy and
Felicity ODell)
Why I think it would be suitable for my students: Compound nouns
present a challenge to non-native speakers; very often learners need to learn by
heart these types of constructions, so they need all the practice they can get. My
students are no different, they struggle with compound nouns (e.g: saying
rubbish food instead of junk food).
How I would use it: as an activity for control practice; I would ask students to
do the exercise on their own and then check in pairs. I would then split them into
teams and have them take turns in testing each other orally, either by stating
part of the word or the definition; the team who gets the most answers right,
wins.
Choose the appropriate word from the box below and complete these networks.
Pay attention to word order; use column A. for words that go before the term in
capital letters and column B for words that go after it. Write the full words at the
end and match them with their definitions .
1.processor 2.driving 3. center 4. poisoning 5. care 6. whole 7. court 8.
authority 9. soft
10. stuff 11. comfort 12. energy 13. alcoholic 14.
health
15. food
A.
A. FOOD
B.
DRINK
B.
A.
B.
HEALTH
B
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
a. food that is not healthy because it

contains a lot of fat, salt, and sugar
b. food that is good for you because it
does not contain artificial substances
c. food that you enjoy very much and
often eat when you are feeling sad
d. food that does not contain artificial
substances and has not been treated to
make it look better or last longer
e. a piece of electrical equipment used
for cutting food into very small pieces
or mixing different foods together
f. a group of food shops in a shopping
centre with a central area where you
can sit at tables and eat your food
g. an illness affecting your stomach,
caused by eating food that contains
harmful bacteria
h. type of beverage which is purported
to boost mental or physical energy.
i. a liquor containing alcohol
k. driving after you have drunk too
much alcohol
l. a building where people can go to
see a doctor or nurse
m. an organization that is responsible
for hospitals and medical services in a
particular area
n. a cold drink that does not contain
any alcohol
o. the services that look after people's
health
Junk food(a), health food(b), comfort food (c), wholefood (d), food processor (e),
food court (f), food poisoning(g)
Energy drink(h), alcoholic drink(i), soft drink (n), drink-driving (k)
Health center(m), health care (o), health food (a)
*Bonus exercise, that I couldnt bear to part with but that is too long and
causes me to go over the word limit.
Grammar mistake: I was at the USA, instead of I was in the USA.
Aim: activity designed to provide the students with practice regarding at/ in/ to
prepositions + KEY (adapted exercise form How English Works- A Grammar
Practice Book, Michael Swan and Catherine Walter)
Why I think it would be suitable for my students: Students have trouble
distinguishing between different meanings and uses of prepositions (e.g. I was at
the USA instead of in the USA; at the morning instead of in the morning; on the
picture instead of in the picture). They probably know the rules, they just lack
practice + L1 interference (from what I understand Hungarian speakers use
postpositions rather than prepositions)
How I would use it: I would split student into three groups and give each group
a different set of prepositions (gr. 1- at, gr.2- in and gr. 3- to). I would put one
sentence at a time on the board and ask that only the students holding the
appropriate set of prepositions answer; every student in each group needs to
answer at least once, this way everyone is involved. The team who has the
correct preposition needs to say the whole sentence out loud. For this activity not
only would the learners need to get the preposition right but theyd also need to
pay attention to see when its their turn to answer.
Put in the correct preposition.
1. Ive spent the day .. York.
2. Why dont you take Joe the cinema?
3. Your keys the reception desk.
4. We usually meet the pub.
5. Theyre delivering the furniture .. my flat on Tuesday.
6. Whats the easiest way to get .. Bristol?
7. Stop shouting me.
8. Throw the keys down me and Ill let myself in.
9. Lets throw snowballs . At Mrs Anderson.
10.Can you shoutPaul and tell him its supper time?
11.When you smile .. me like that Ill do anything for you.
12.Promise youll write me every day.
13.I went Canada to see my father.
14.I went to see my father . Canada.

15.I was . the USA for my dads birthday.
16.I went .. the USA last summer.
1. In
2. To
3. At
4. At/in
5. To
6. To
7. At
8. To
9. At
10.
To
11.
At
12.
To
13.
To
14.
In
15.
In
16.
To
Pronunciation mistake: It was, pronounced /vz/, should be pronounced /wz/
Aim: activity designed to correct students pronunciation and help them practice
making the sounds/ w/ and /v/ and differentiating between them. (Headway
Upper intermediate)
Why I think it would be suitable for my students: In Hungarian /w/ is
pronounced as /v/; Hungarians dont have the /w/ sound; this is a case of L1
interference.
How I would use it: I would ask each student to fill in a grid using /w/ and /v/
words. I would then ask students to work in pairs and enquire about each others
grid (e.g. What is in box A1? West; What is in box B1? Er.. veal.)
Work with a partner. Without letting your partner see, fill the grid marked You
with nine /w/ and /v/ words. Remember you can use a word more than once. Now
one of you can dictate what you have written so that the other can write it down
in the box in the grid marked Your partner.
You
A.
B.
C.
1.
2.
3.
Your
partn
er
A.
1.
2.
3.
B.
C.
Word count: 1580 words with bonus exercise, 1080 without.

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Diana Graur

Part 2: Strengths and Weaknesses

Pronunciation: They are naughty. /nti/ (correct pronunciation of the

Mistakes/ Errors in SPOKEN LANGAUAGE

3. Why did the student make the

1. I was at the USA.

1. Its rubbish food.

2. incorrect use of compound

3. Why did the student make the

1. What the student said:

1. It was, pronounced /vz/,

3. They focus on fluency and

Part 3: Helping the learner

a. food that is not healthy because it

14.I went to see my father . Canada.

Word count: 1580 words with bonus exercise, 1080 without.

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