Overview

Welcome to Module on Language Skills: Reading, Writing, Listening and Speaking.

Language is a cognitive process by which we communicate our thoughts and feelings to others.

Reading, writing, speaking and listening play crucial roles in school, and all four are interrelated

and affect one another.

Reading is a complex skill involving several sub-skills and can be developed only through

practice. Children who read actively from childhood have a wider range of vocabulary, can read

faster and understand better, and find it easier to express themselves when they are adults.

Writing is the expressive mode of written language and involves using written symbols of

language to communicate. Writing not only includes the ability to accurately represent the

graphic form of speech (letters and words) but also the ability to develop and express one’s

thoughts in a cohesive, structured manner. The skills required for effective writing include

knowledge of spelling, capitalization, punctuation, and grammar, an understanding of how word

order in sentences affects meaning, and the ability to distinguish main idea from supporting

ideas or details.

Listening involves understanding what we hear. To listen effectively, one must be able

to retain “chunks “ of language in short-term and working memory, recognize and understand

vocabulary, recognize the stress and rhythm patterns of speech and glean meaning from

context.

Speaking skills includes the correct pronunciation of words, the appropriate use of

vocabulary and grammar and ability to recall words from long-term memory. The goal of

speaking is to make our ideas and explanations clear and understandable to others. Effective

speaking also involves the ability to use language within the social context.

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Reminders for the Teachers
 Please allow students to approach you freely for clarification.

 Answers to test frames are provided for you at the end of the module, but not to the

students.

 Please assist the students as they begin their journey through he module.

 This modules serves as one alternative learning strategy.

Directions on how to use this module

 Open the pages of the module with care, to avoid destroying or crumpling them.

 Follow what is being directed in the module.

 Do not write anything on the pages of the module.

 Please try answer all items on the test frame, do not leave any number unanswered.

Reminders for the Students

 Your teacher is just a facilitator.

 You are given number of hours to finish each lesson.

 If you make some mistakes , don’t worry. You will learn the right answers.

 Please, do not move on, until you are through reading the lesson.

THANK YOU VERY MUCH! ENJOY READING AND ANSWERING THIS MODULE.

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Module Objectives
The objectives of this module are to enable teachers to:

 assess their students’ competence in reading and their motivation to read,

 demonstrate the use of strategies that increase the efficiency and speed of reading,

 develop skills for teaching effective writing through controlled and guided activities,

 help teachers devise and use meaningful activities to develop listening skills in the

classroom,

 provide teachers with a variety of listening exercises that engage students in pair and

group work activities to practice meaningful communication in English,

 enable teachers to help their students develop the ability to speak English effectively

and with confidence,

 help teachers develop activities to encourage students to express themselves fluently

using appropriate grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation

Module Outcomes
 help students develop their oral skills for academic purposes (making presentations,

participating in debates, extempore speech, group discussions and so on).

 develop your students’ ability to write effectively to communicate in a variety of

situations,

 stimulate your students’ interests in creative writing.

 help teachers devise and use meaningful activities to develop listening skills in the

classroom, and

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  provide teachers with a variety of listening exercises that engage students in pair and

group work activities to practice meaningful communication in English.

 teach students how to express themselves effectively using appropriate grammar,

vocabulary and pronunciation .

Time Frame
You will need approximately 1 month to finish this module

Study Skills
As an adult learner your approach to learning will be different from that of 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 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 with such things as essay

planning, coping with exams and using the Web as a learning resource.

Your most significant considerations will be time and space; that is, 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-directed study — to

familiarize yourself with these issues. There are a number of excellent resources on the Web.

For example:

 http://www.how-to-study.com/

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 The “How to study” website is dedicated to study skills resources. You will find links for tips on

study preparation (a list of nine essentials for a good study place), taking notes, strategies for

reading textbooks, using reference sources and coping with test anxiety.

 http://www.howtostudy.org/resources.php

Another “How to study” website with useful links to learning about time management, efficient

reading, questioning/listening/observing skills, getting the most out of putting your knowledge

into practice, memory building, staying motivated and 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 a similar combination.

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 Unit 1: Building Confidence in Reading: Countering Defects

Introduction

It is said that the human brain is “programmed” to want to learn. However, as a

teacher, you must have noticed that many students fail or get poor grades all through school.

We often think of them as lazy, uninterested or inattentive students. But often the truth is that

they are simply poor or weak readers, which has an adverse effect on their performance in

almost all academic subjects. They fall behind in class because they do not receive the

instruction, scaffolding and practice they require to become competent and fluent readers. In

this unit, you will learn how to motivate reluctant readers and help them build their confidence.

You will learn to use an interactive methodology to help students experience success in reading

and build confidence in their ability to read efficiently.

Objectives
The objectives of this unit will help teachers to:
 motivate passive and bored readers to become interested in the reading process,
 instill in students the confidence to read for longer periods.

Teacher Support Information

The activities in this unit will help you encourage your students to read efficiently and
develop confidence in reading. The activities require students to “learn by doing” so that they
are all actively engaged in the process of reading. One strategy you can use to support weaker
readers is to identify the more fluent and efficient readers and use them to support the poorer
readers in the class. The success of your programme will depend on how you can motivate and
sustain the interest of good readers, and use them to inspire their less able peers. You can
begin it as a pilot study with one of your Junior High School classes. For the best results, start it
early in the academic year and sustain until final term. Please do not expect miracles to

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happen, as different students may be at different stages of learning. You will have to allow the
students to work at their own pace in a tension-free and supportive environment.

Case Study

Miss Vilma Luiz was the English Language teacher for the Iloilo City Comprehensive

High School . She knew that during the year she would have to ensure that the new students

read English language words well enough to be able to leave school with good grades. She also

knew that many came from homes without a reading culture and would need help to use

reading as a learning tool. She was convinced that if she could make even a marginal

improvement in each student’s reading ability, they could improve their grades not only in

English but also in most other subjects.

When the new class came to her in June, she gave them a reading comprehension test and

discovered that only ten students out of a class of 52 scored more than 50% in the test. Most

had copied large numbers of the given text as answers; only ten students had composed

responses to the specific questions in their own words. Many had located the key word or

phrase but could not or had not taken the risk of formulating/composing a response to the

specific question asked. Five students appeared to be behind. They had trouble with the basic

mechanics of writing and had left more than three questions unanswered.

This was exactly what Miss Luiz had expected. She realized that she had another typical

English Language class this year and decided that she would use the reading programme that

she had pilot tested last year. She decided to share her plan of action with the class and involve

them in making the project a success. Over the next few classes, she did the following:

 She discussed and explained the crucial role of reading for success in school.

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 She discussed and analyzed the class score on the reading comprehension test she had

administered on the first day of the new term.

 She discussed each question, asked the highest scorer to read out his or her answer and

explained why it deserved the mark. The purpose of the detailed discussion was to help

students see that scores were not based on teacher prejudice or bias but on

performance expectations.

 She explained the class scores in terms of good, average and poor readers. The

emphasis was on performance level as reflected in the test. She then divided the class

into ten groups with five students in each group.

 Every group had one high scorer, two average and two or three poor readers.

The high scorer in each group was made Group Leader and was entrusted with the

responsibility of improving the scores of his or her group across the term. The group

that showed the maximum improvement would be awarded certificates and medals at

the school’s annual Academic and Non-Academic Parangal Program.

 She started a book corner in the class, with each student bringing in old books from

home, neighbours or used-book stores. Students were encouraged to borrow and read

books at least three times every week. The emphasis was on introducing a reading

culture into the class.

 During the term Miss Luiz noticed that her Group Leaders were taking their jobs very

seriously. She helped them devise strategies to help the weaker readers guess the

meanings of words from the context, and to read texts once quickly for overall meaning

and then with more attention to detail. Towards the end of term, Miss Rodgers’ students

showed marked improvement in their reading habits. The improvement between the

groups was so close that all the ten groups were awarded prizes.

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Points to Ponder

How do you judge or identify the poorer readers in your class? Do you use any special

strategy to encourage poor readers?

Research shows that children transfer their literacy skills (i.e., their ability to read and

write efficiently) across curricula. Have you noticed any similarities in your students’ written

responses to comprehension questions in different subjects?

Activity 1: Understanding students’ attitudes

At the Junior High School level, students are old enough to take responsibility for their

own academic progress. In fact, as we have all experienced, rather than being told what is

good for them, children of this age group prefer to discover answers for themselves.

As reading is probably the most important language skill in terms of academic success,

students will benefit if they become aware of their abilities, strengths and weaknesses in their

reading proficiency.

At the Junior High School level, students are old enough to take responsibility for their

own academic progress. In fact, as we have all experienced, rather than being told what is

good for them, children of this age group prefer to discover answers for themselves.

As reading is probably the most important language skill in terms of academic success,

students will benefit if they become aware of their abilities, strengths and weaknesses in their

reading proficiency.

The beginning of the academic year is the ideal time to make students conscious of

the importance of being competent in reading. One way we can do this is through self-reflection

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questionnaires. You can make your own self-reflection questionnaire, or try out the one giving

Stoller’s Teaching and Researching Reading (Pearson Education, 2002, pp. 242–244). This is

a good source book for activity research.

For this activity, administer the questionnaire on attitudes towards reading

reproduced in Resource 1.

As this is an exercise on self-reflection, make sure the students do not spend too

much time pondering over each question; the answers should be quick and honest. You

could also tell them that there is no right or wrong answer; the student should say what is

true for him or her.

Practice the procedure on the board, so that students who are unfamiliar with the 1-

2-3-4 rating scheme can become comfortable with it before starting the questionnaire.

Analyze each section of the questionnaire to obtain three different scores for each

student.

The first score (based on Section I) will indicate the student’s previous experience with

reading. The second score will indicate the reading environment and the third, his or her

individual perception about the usefulness of reading.

You will notice that each of the three sections has six questions. So, to calculate

scores, add the section score and divide it by six. The average score will range from one to

four.

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 Lower scores (1 and 2) suggest a positive attitude to reading. Higher scores (3 and 4)

suggest a more negative attitude. Once all the scores have been calculated, look at the

individual profiles and then the class profile as a whole.

Insert the individual scores alongside the reading comprehension pre-test scores.

Study the correlation between the two scores. You may find reasons to explain student

performance. This will help you to counsel and to create individual reading instruction plans.

Note down your observations. You may wish to share some of these with the student

or his or her parents/guardians/other teachers.

Activity 2: Countering common errors in reading

When we read in a language in which our literacy skills are well developed, we do not

have to struggle with the words on the page because we read quickly and effortless This

activity should make students compare their reading skills in the language they are competent

in (usually the home language) with their skills in English. By reflecting on the strategies they

use to read in each language, the students will become aware of their reading errors, if any.

This will then enable them to use counter-strategies to overcome them. To begin the activity,

divide the students into small groups and have them brainstorm on the following points:

a.) Which language they like to read in b.) Why they can read better in that language (you

could prompt them to think about their familiarity with spellings and pronunciation of words,

etc.) c.) Whether they read in English with the same ease. d.) The differences they can

identify in their reading habits in these two languages .

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 The discussion and feedback on this task should include some of the following

reasons why we read better in a language other than English: familiarity with spellings and

pronunciation (so we do not have to stop and spell out any long word to understand it); and

familiarity with the meanings of words as well as the places and the events referred to in the

book, and so on.

Now give the students a short passage to read from an interesting book or magazine,

which is just a little challenging for them, or use the sample passage in Resource 2. Tell them

to note down their starting time and finishing time. Announce that this exercise is to find the

fastest reader in the class, but that not only should they read fast, they should also read with

understanding and be able to answer the questions you will ask them on the passage in

Resource 2). This will ensure that they do not merely pretend to read.

As they read, notice the following reading errors:

 Vocalization: murmuring and pronouncing the words as they read.

 Pointing: using their fingers to point to each word as they read.

 Eye span: reading one word at a time, rather than in sense groups (see Unit 2).

 Regression: going back to the beginning of each previous line.

 Skipping words: ignoring and moving over words that look difficult to spell or are

unfamiliar.

After they finish reading, bring to their notice how people who read silently, without

vocalizing or pointing with a finger, can read with speed. Have them reflect on whether they

had to go back to the previous line, or skipped reading certain words.

Now have them read the passage again (timing themselves again), consciously

avoiding these errors. This time, put the students in groups and have one of them monitor the

others’ reading habits.

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 You can then have them repeat this exercise (with different passages) over several

sessions, and ask them to note down their timings again at the end of that period. When the

students find an increase in their reading speed, they will realize that they have managed to

overcome their reading errors and will be far more motivated to read.

Activity 3: Developing efficiency in reading: Anticipating the Topic

This activity aims to help you build your students’ motivation to read by preparing

them for the reading process. Students with poor reading skills (like the ones mentioned above

and in Activity 1) can be motivated to read if they can anticipate what they are going to read.

Anticipation is a pre-reading skill that helps readers focus on the content even before they

actually begin the reading process.

For this activity, give the students, working in pairs, the following topics and ask them

to guess what they will read in the passage. Ask each student in each pair to write at least two

anticipation questions on each topic.

1. India : A nation with unity an diversity

2. Inside a Science Museum

3. Deforestation: Effective Measures

An example of anticipation questions for the first two topics would be:

 Is this passage going to talk about religion?

 Are there dinosaurs in a science museum?

As you will notice in Reource 3, the first passage does not address the first question, while the

second passage does mention dinosaurs. It is not important if the passage we read has the

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answers to all our questions, but it is important that we read the passage with more interest

and attention while looking for the answers.

Now play the audio clip of the first part of each passage, or read out the transcripts in

Resource 3, and let the students see if they guessed correctly. Even if they guessed wrongly,

point out that they listened to the passage with more interest and attention than usual because

they had a reason for listening. Even if they did not understand a few words in the passages,

this did not stop them from listening actively till the end. This is how anticipating the content

helps people read faster, and with better understanding.

Now have the students practice the skill of anticipating by working on a passage from any of

their English language textbooks. Have them note down the start and end times for each

passage. Their reading speed and comprehension are bound to improve after practicing a few

times. Ask them to try using the same strategy while reading other subject textbooks as this

skill will be useful in comprehending any text.

Often students do not like to read because their previous experiences of reading have

been unpleasant and frustrating. They may have problems recognizing letter-sound

correspondences, experience confusion caused by homophones, be unfamiliar with different

meanings of a word and so on.

The gap between their actual performance in reading and the expectations placed on

Junior High School students can soon become so wide that they give up reading altogether.

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Summary

In this unit we tried to make you aware of some common problems associated with reading,

and how certain reading challenges cause children to lose the motivation to read. We also saw

how important it is to make students aware of their reading habits, and what strategies we can

use to help them overcome their reading challenges. The activities in this unit can also help

students develop their reading efficiency across the curriculum.

Reflections

 What are the most common reading challenges you have noticed in your students?

 Do you think their comprehension will improve if they follow the strategies given in this

unit?

 What are some of the challenges/problems you may have to face in making students

practice their reading skills in the class? How will you overcome this challenges ?

 What are some of the weaknesses in the suggestions made in this unit?

Assessment

Talk to one or two colleagues and find out if they share your views on the students’

reading skills. Suggest some ways in which you can jointly involve students in activities that

will improve their comprehension and reading speed.

Do your students read faster and with better understanding when they are reading

storybooks? Can you think of any reasons for this difference?

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Resources

Source 1 . Student questionnaire on attitudes towards reading

STUDENT QUESTIONNAIRE Yes Always No Never

READ AND RATE EACH QUESTION

HONESTLY AND QUICKLY CIRCLE YOUR 1 2 3 4

CHOICE

Section I: Think about your past experience with reading.

I did well in reading last year 1 2 3 4

I like to read books that make me think 1 2 3 4

I like having the teacher say I read well 1 2 3 4

I visit the library with my family 1 2 3 4

I like to read on rainy Saturdays 1 2 3 4

I remember family members reading to me 1 2 3 4

Section II: Think about people you know who read.

Members of my family like to read 1 2 3 4

I know people who can help me with my reading 1 2 3 4

My brothers and sisters sometimes read to me 1 2 3 4

My friends like to read 1 2 3 4

My friends and I like to share books 1 2 3 4

I talk to my friends about what I am reading 1 2 3 4

Section III: Think about reading. How useful is it?

I can learn a lot from reading 1 2 3 4

I have favourite subjects that I like to read about 1 2 3 4

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I read to learn new information about topics of 1 2 3 4

interest

I like to read new things 1 2 3 4

I can use my reading to help me with schoolwork 1 2 3 4

I sometimes read to my parents 1 2 3 4

Some of the items included in the questionnaire above have been adapted from A.

Wigfield and J.T. Guthrie (1997), “Relations of children’s motivation for reading to the amount

and breadth of their reading.” Journal of Educational Psychology, 89:420-32

Source 2: The Trip to the Temple Town

Jaydeep’s excitement grew. He was closing in, drawing nearer and nearer to his

goal. He wasn’t sure why he was doing this, wasting two valuable weeks of vacation, but he felt

he had to follow his instincts. Like a police sniffer dog that cannot be taken away from the

culprit, Jaydeep felt he was powerless to return.

At 6:30 in the evening, as the sun went down in an orange ball over the sea,

Jaydeep walked to the Shore Temple. The path was lined with tiny stalls that sold seashells,

souvenirs, prayer beads, incense sticks and other articles of worship. Would she be there,

waiting to see if he would follow her? Perhaps his decision to come was not such a bad decision

after all. Maybe she would agree to have dinner with him... maybe she would agree to be his

wife... maybe... Jaydeep stopped with a start. There she was, her long black hair swinging from

side to side as she walked along the shore.

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Questions:

 Did Jaydeep come to the place as a tourist to look at temples?

 How did he know the girl was here?

 What things did the shop sell?

 Did he see the girl?

Source 3 : Reading Passages

India : A nation with unity in diversity

India is divided into 28 states, which have their own governments, and seven union

territories. Each state is unique, with its own language, traditions and cultures. People from all

these states and union territories have an official language, which is usually the home language

of most of the citizens of that state, and many other languages and dialects. People of different

states look different, and have very different festivals, customs and traditions.

NB: Interestingly, however, people still share a feeling of belonging to one country —

India or Hindustan. They share their history of the freedom struggle, and consider Mahatma

Gandhi as the Father of the Nation. Indians across different states celebrate certain festivals like

Diwali — the festival of lights — and Holi — the festival of colors — and many states celebrate

the harvest and coming of the new year in April. Although people belonging to different states

speak different home languages, almost everyone knows English and Hindi, and can therefore

communicate with one another.

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 He Lives in a Forest

Last year we had an excursion to the Science Museum in our capital city. You can’t

imagine what we saw there! It was truly the most memorable day of my life. I really didn’t

know you could learn so much about science and the history of our scientific development! Our

guide took us around the museum, and showed us many different scientific collections. We saw

different kinds of aircraft, weapons of war, older models of radios and televisions, and other

fascinating machinery. They even had a huge dinosaur skeleton, and a robotic dinosaur which

opened its large jaws very wide, shook its head and screamed! I was really frightened when I

heard it scream — it sounded so natural! I also loved the section on rare butterflies and other

insects. Then there was the snake collection and the huge aquarium which had at least 30

different kinds of sea fish.

Deforestation: Effective measures

Deforestation refers to the cutting down of trees in a forest and using the area for

commercial activities. Deforestation is one of the biggest reasons for the increase in pollution,

global warming and soil erosion in modern times. Because of the rapid growth of population,

people across the world are thoughtlessly cutting down forests to make space for houses.

Although deforestation is considered illegal in many countries, it has not stopped people from

breaking the law, because timber (that is, wood from trees) is very valuable and people who

sell timber make a lot of money.

Deforestation has dangerous consequences. When we cut down trees, we make the

soil loose. The roots of trees hold the soil firmly, and this prevents the soil from being washed

away during heavy rains. When the soil becomes loose, it is easily carried away, and all the

important minerals contained in the soil also get washed away. This leaves the soil infertile.

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When floods come, the rains take away the soil, and the force of the water easily carries away

with it people’s houses, crops, animals and their means of livelihood.

Video

Resource files

See in the enclosed DVD a video recording of the activities:

Scripts\Module3\Unit1\Activity3\Resource3\Video\India_A_Nation_With_Unity_In_Diversity.mp4

Scripts\Module3\Unit1\Activity3\Resource3\Inside_A_Science_Museum.mp4

Scripts\Module 3\Unit 1\Activity 3\Resource3\Deforestation.mp4

Feedback

Question

 What do I do if half of my class reads poorly and the other half does not have much of

a reading problem? Sometimes it is difficult to give individual attention to all my

students, especially in large classes.

 How do I handle this problem?

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Unit 11 : Better Writing Using Personal Experiences

Introduction

Like most of us, students are more comfortable and confident in a familiar

environment. This makes them feel ready and more willing to learn new things. This unit

encourages you to use your students’ personal experiences and the school environment as

basic resources for teaching writing skills. These experiences, based on students’ familiar life-

spaces, will be a good starting point for them to write descriptions of themselves and their

family, their school and friends, important and interesting events in their lives, and also their

feelings and emotions.

Unit outcomes

Upon completion of this unit you will be able to:

 use your students’ personal experiences and the local environment to develop students’

writing skills,

 help students improve their grammatical and communicative competence by practising

writing about familiar people and events,

 inspire your students to develop their creative thinking and imagination, and

 help enhance students’ active vocabulary for describing people and events.

Outcomes

 use your students’ personal experiences and the local environment to develop students’

writing skills,

 help students improve their grammatical and communicative competence by practicing

writing about familiar people and events,

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  inspire your students to develop their creative thinking and imagination, and

 help enhance students’ active vocabulary for describing people and events.

Terminology

Active vocabulary = comprises words and phrases that one uses regularly in one’s

speech and writing. Passive vocabulary, on the other hand, describes the vocabulary that one

recognizes and understands in other people’s speech and in writing, but does not use oneself.

Autobiography = is a written account of somebody’s life written by himself or herself.

Narrative = a piece of written or oral text that describes an event in a chronological

order. A narrative usually has a clear beginning, middle and end, and may include conversations

and descriptions. Stories, novels and ballads are all examples of narratives.

Teacher support information

The activities in this unit will help you as a teacher to help your students to write

authentic texts such as descriptions and diary entries using your students’ knowledge about

themselves, and their home and school environments. This will provide a familiar context to

more easily motivate them to practice their writing skills. Resource 1: Using group work in your

classroom will assist you in planning and facilitating your students’ active participation and

learning through group activities.

Case study: Writing descriptions

Mr Amani Hamis, Mr John Katale and Ms Sara Samson are teachers at three

different secondary schools in Tanzania.

Recently, the three teachers participated in a professional development workshop

on teaching English. One of their assignments involved working on a group mini-project on

teaching effective writing to students who are in their early years of secondary education.

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 The group members discovered that they had all been using the students’ familiar

contexts in designing writing assignments. They agreed that describing people, events, things,

emotions and situations always stimulates students’ interest in writing lessons. They decided to

brainstorm on the activities that assisted them in their teaching.

Mr . Ang described the strategy he used. At the beginning of the activity, he

usually did a “show and tell” routine. He asked the students to bring to the class something

they wanted to describe. Each student showed his or her item and described it. Meanwhile the

teacher wrote on the board the keywords used by the students in the description. A different

student would then be asked to write a description of the object using those words. The

students were then encouraged to put their descriptions on the display board.

Sara and Mark used similar strategies in their classrooms, but since their class size

was bigger, both preferred putting students in groups for this activity. In their groups, students

would be asked to decide on an object to describe. Each group member then wrote a sentence

describing the object. The group sequenced the sentences and edited them, and one group

member presented the final description.

Mark added that, to encourage healthy competition, he had the class judge the

presentations, and the best two descriptions were displayed in the class every week. When the

teachers presented their group report, the workshop participants agreed that this was a good

way of motivating students to communicate spontaneously. They suggested, however, that the

teacher needed to intervene before the presentations were displayed, so that students learned

how to edit their written work for grammar and style.

Points to Ponder

 Have you attended any professional development courses? Did you learn some

techniques there that could be adopted in your classroom?

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  Do you think encouraging students to discuss or describe things from their own lives is

a good strategy to develop language?

Activities

Activity 1 : Describing a person

Describing oneself and one’s family can be an exciting activity for both students

and the teacher. However, you need to prepare for it. Before carrying out this activity

read Resource 2: Using brainstorming/mind maps.

Hand your students a sheet with pictures of two people on it (see Resource 5). (If

you have access to an overhead projector, you can put the pictures on the screen

instead.) Tell them that one of the people in the picture has escaped from jail, and the

police are looking for him. Have a general discussion on what each person in the picture

looks like, so that they can be described accurately to the police. Practice key vocabulary

related to physical features (Resource 4).

Now ask the students to listen carefully to the description of the prisoner in the news

report in Resource 3, and then identify him from the photographs in Resource 5.

Have a general feedback discussion on how they managed to identify the prisoner

from the description in the audio, reminding them that it was certain words that helped them to

identify the man. Distribute the transcript of the audio for their reference.

Now put your students in pairs and announce that they are going to play a guessing

game. They are to write a description of their partner. Instruct them not to write down

the name of the person they are describing, as the game is to guess the person from

25
 the nameless description. Tell them their descriptions will be collected and jumbled up,

and then you will read each one aloud.

The class has to identify the classmate described. The more accurate the description

and the sooner the person is identified correctly, the more points the writer is awarded.

As an incentive, you could announce that there will be a prize for the most accurate

descriptions.

To prepare for the task, tell the students to use words from the list in Resource 4.

Remind them that their descriptions should contain information about their partner’s

general height and build, and also details of their face, and any other noticeable marks,

such as a birthmark. Ask the students to edit their work . Advise them to use a dictionary

to check the spellings of words that they are not sure of, and to make any necessary.

Activity 2 : Writing about memorable events : Writing a narrative

We all have events we remember because they were exciting, interesting or

appealing to us; they may be historical, cultural, scientific or topical. In this activity,

students will learn how to write a narrative passage on events of their choice.

As a pre-task activity, show the students the video in Resource 6. Then ask

them to narrate from memory the sequence of the events described. Play the video

once more to let them check that they can narrate the events in the correct order and

with all the details. Draw their attention to linkers such as firstly, then, after that,

meanwhile, in the end and so on. Explain that these linking words are like signposts,

helping the reader to move through the passage easily. They also help to keep the

reader interested in following the events.

26
1. Ask the class to name five or six recent school events that they enjoyed (sports day,

annual day, visit of a guest, etc.). Divide the students into groups of five or six, and let

each group choose one event to narrate. Have them brainstorm on the most important

parts of the event they would like to include.

2. The next step is to arrange the parts in a chronological order (i.e., beginning with the

earliest part).

3. Each group then writes a first draft. Encourage them to use linkers in their passages to

make their passage easy to read and interesting to follow.

4. The group then re-reads the passage and checks for errors in spelling, grammar or

facts. One group member then reads out the narrative to the class. After each

presentation you can discuss any mistakes so that the groups can revise their texts.

The groups then write their final drafts and submit them.

Activity 3 : Talking about ourselves : Writing diary entry

One activity that appeals to all of us is talking about ourselves. Keeping a diary is a good

way of recording our personal experiences. A diary is different from a journal entry or a log,

because it is not a mere record of events. In a diary we express our innermost thoughts and

feelings. At the JSS level, students are entering adolescence, which is a stage of life in which

they are naturally self-absorbed. As teachers, we can use this factor to encourage students to

practice their writing skills through diary entries.

1. Ask your students if they have heard of Anne Frank. Have a general discussion with

them about Anne Frank’s life and how she sustained herself in those difficult days, especially as

an adolescent. (See Resource 7 for a photograph of Anne Frank’s diary.)

27
2. Now discuss with them the habit of maintaining a diary. Ask them to work in pairs to list

the advantages and disadvantages of diary writing, if any. This pre-task will help them

brainstorm on diary entries in general.

3. Now distribute a handout containing three sample diary entries in different styles (see

Resource 8). Ask the students, working in groups, to discuss and note the differences between

a story and a diary entry.

4. Using the samples as a guide, encourage them to list the sections in a diary entry:

where to write the date, the personal address form “Dear Diary,” the introduction, body of the

text and ending.

5. Finally, ask them to write their own diary entries for that day. Encourage them to revise

their drafts to check for spelling, grammar, tense and style. Refer to Resource 9: Guidelines on

diary entries.

Unit summary

In this unit you learned how to use the experiences and local context of your students

to teach writing skills, and that description can create a familiar context upon which students

can base their writing. Group work can be a good way to manage large classes.

Reflections

* In what way was the unit useful to you?

* Did you try out the activities suggested in this module? If not, what could have been

the reason? If yes, was your lesson successful

Assessment

 What would you have done differently to make the activities more effective?

28
  In a big class, how would you make sure that each student’s spelling and grammar are

correct?

Unit Summary

In this unit you learned how to use the experiences and local context of your students

to teach writing skills, and that description can create a familiar context upon which students

can base their writing. Group work can be a good way to manage large classes. Always check

students’ spelling .

Reflections

 In what way was the unit useful to you?

 Did you try out the activities suggested in this module? If not, what could have been the

reason?

Assessment

 What would you have done differently to make the activities more effective?

 In a big class, how would you make sure that each student’s spelling and grammar are

correct?

Resources

Resource 1 : Using group work in your classroom

What group work does

Group work can be a very effective way of motivating pupils to learn by encouraging them to
think, communicate, exchange ideas and thoughts, and take decisions. In groups, pupils can
both teach others and learn from each other in ways that result in a powerful and active form
of learning.

29
When to do group work

Group work can be used:

 at the start of a lesson or topic, to find out what pupils already know;

 during a lesson, to encourage understanding or to share views and opinions about a

topic;

 at the end of a lesson, to help pupils think about their learning and be clear about what

they know and what they still need to understand.

Before you start

 Before starting a group session, be clear about what you want to achieve from it. It

needs to have a clear purpose or objective. For example: ‘By the end of the session we

will be able to describe how rain is formed and what it does to our local landscape.’

 Divide the class into manageable groups depending on the size of your class, but don’t

make them too large — everyone needs to be able to contribute. You may have to move

furniture or perhaps have some groups outside.

 Give each individual a job to do in the group. These could include: recorder of what’s

said; organizer; devil’s advocate; peacekeeper; spokesperson; link person with other

groups.

 Decide ways in which you will divide pupils into groups. You could use friend groups, put

people with similar interests together, have similar ability groups, mixed ability groups —

or have no category at all. Which one will work best in the situation you are planning?

 Plan enough time for the pupils to reach a conclusion as well as time at the end of the

session for each group — and you — to summarize the conclusions.

30
Introducing the group work: Once pupils are in their groups, explain that working together

to solve a problem or reach a decision is an important part of their learning and personal

development.

From: KR_HO_Using_group_work_in_your_classroom.doc (http://www.tessafrica.net)

Resource 3: A reporter’s story

Transcript

A notorious thief escaped from City Jail last night through a hole in a broken part of the

old wall, Police Commander Juan informed our correspondent. A red alert has been sounded in

the city, and the public has been warned to keep their doors securely locked at night.

A reward of 50,000 dollars has also been announced for any information on the escaped

convict, who has been identified as Anthony Carlos. When he escaped, Anthony was in prison

uniform. Here is the official description given by headquarters to our news desk. Anthony is

about 5 feet 2 inches tall, with a round face, bulging eyes and a broad nose. He is about 35

years of age, bald and with a long scar across his forehead. He also has a thin mustache. The

public has been requested to inform the police immediately if the thief is seen in their locality.

The emergency numbers 100 and 101 will be open for the public 24 hours .

31
Resource file

See in the enclosed DVD a video recording of the activity:

Scripts\Module4\Unit 1\Activity 1\Resource 3\Video\A_Reporters_Story.mp4

Audio

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQeI7qo1usM

If you have trouble playing the video, you can have your students listen to the audio

recording (below) of the same conversation:Scripts\Module4\Unit

1\Activity1\Resource 3\Audio\A_Reporters_Story.mp3

Resource 4 : Common terms for describing physical features

Face: round/oval-shaped/square/pointed/triangular/ angular/ large

Hair: straight/wavy/curly/silky/shoulder-length/bald/ thinning/grey/pepper-and-salt

Eyes: round/almond-shaped/small/large/soft/bulging/narrow/ wide/ oriental/ light

Complexion: fair/dark/dusky/light/rough/pale/sallow/sickly

Nose: sharp/pointed/broad/small/flat/thin/large/hooked/flaring nostrils

Other marks: mole/birthmark/scar/spot

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 Body shape: thin/slim/stout/overweight/fat/angular/V-shaped

Lips: thin/shapely/broad/bow-shaped/wide/pouting/full/ cracked

Resource 5: Photographs of two men

33
Resource 6 : News report on accident

Transcript

Good morning! Here are the news headlines for today. First, the national news.

In our next section, we have a report coming in from Westlands. Four people perished

in a grisly car crash along Diversion Road when a saloon car collided with an oncoming

lorry in the wee hours of this morning. Our reporter Amos Jamandre has more on that…

…Traffic was brought to a standstill for several hours when a saloon car heading to

town collided with a lorry along Diversion Road , killing all four passengers on board.

According to eye witnesses, the van belonging to a city dairy company lost control

and then swerved onto the wrong lane, ramming into the saloon car. After the accident,

the driver and his turn-boy, who were unhurt, took off and the police are still on their

trail. Incidentally, this is the third accident to take place along the route this week.

Previous incidents, 15 people lost their lives, including seven members of the same

family.

Meanwhile, Diversion road area traffic commandant Andre Garingalao has called

on all road users to adhere to the highway code and to also ensure that their vehicles

are in good working condition to avoid road carnage. Amos Jamandre reporting for

News 54 in Iloilo City.

34
Video

Resource file

See in the enclosed DVD a video recording of the activity:

Scripts\Module4\Unit1\Activity2\Resource6\News_Report.mp4

Resource 7: Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl

35
Resource 8: Sample Diary Entries

Dear Diary

I’ve been excited to tell you what happened today! I think this is the best

day of my life so far! Guess what… My crush, Popot came away from his friends when I

entered the hall at Barbie’birthday party, and walked straight to me. I was so nervous

that I began sweating. I pretended him not to notice him coming, of course. Aby and

Rose pinched me from both sides, and just wouldn’t LEAVE. I was really irritated, I tell

you! But thankfully Popot looked at neither of them. He came straight to me, said “ Hi “

and then guess what !!! he asked me for a dance!!! Can you believed it!!! The

university’s Mr. Macho Man asking ME for a dance??? But could have slapped myself

just then, I tell you, dear diary! Instead of the low tone and husky vice that I carefully

rehearsed for for my words, I stammered and stuttered and actually tripped of my

dress… but thankfully he didn’t seem to notice …

Barbie, February 18, 2018

36
Resource 9 : Guidelines on Diary Entries

 Write in the first person. A diary is a personal account of the events of a day or some

hours in your life, so it is inappropriate to use the third person.

 In a diary we refer to events that have happened in our lives and to people who are in

our lives.

 We disclose our innermost feelings in a diary, so a diary entry includes our emotions. In

a diary we write about our feelings more than about facts.

 A diary has one particular point of view of events: our own. If we include other people’s

comments or judgement, we do it from our own perspective.

 A diary is a keeper of secrets. That is why a diary is for our own eyes only — we rarely

allow others to read our diaries.

For more guidelines and activities on diary writing, visit the

website www.kidsonthenet.com/adventureisland/teachers/worksheet_diary.pdf

37
Teacher question and answer

Feedback

Question: In a large mixed ability class, when students are working in groups, how do I

make sure that the slower learners are benefiting?

Answer: Make sure that the groups reflect the nature of your class. Groups should also

be of mixed ability to ensure that the faster learners are assisting the slower ones. During

group work make sure you move around to observe the participation in each group. Insist that

every group member contribute at least one point to the discussion. When you pick some

students’ work to read, make sure that you do it well.

38
Unit 111 : Speaking about Myself

Introduction

At the Junior High School level, students are at a transitional stage of life as they mature

from childhood to adulthood. At this stage of life, they are more interested in themselves than

at any other time, and they are trying to learn to come to terms with their physical and

emotional selves. Expressing their thoughts and feelings is important to them, but they may

lack e ability to project themselves with confidence in front of other people, especially in a

differerence language. In this unit, we will introduce some activities that you can use in the

class to develop your students’ ability to talk about themselves in English. By sharing personal

information through information-gap activities, students will learn to use English appropriately

in both formal and informal situations.

Unit Outcomes

Upon completion of this unit you will be able to :

 help your students develop the confidence and skills to express themselves

appropriately and fluently in English;

 use interesting texts, conversations, stories and other materials as resources for

promoting fluency and appropriateness in spoken English;

 improve your students’ ability to perform language functions in English; and help your

students organize their thoughts better and express themselves clearly and logically .

39
Terminology

Information–gap activities = are activities that are designed to be done in pairs or

groups so that each partner has some information on a given topic that the other does not.

They find the missing information through discussion. Activities like these create situations for

genuine communication to take place.

Competence = is the ability to use a language spontaneously in various situations. In

language studies, the term competence is also used to refer to the underlying knowledge of

the sounds, words and structures .

Flashcards Paper cut-outs = containing a series of pictures that are flashed one at a

time for students to describe, identify, pronounce or spell for language practice .

Teacher Short Information

When engaging students in activities that require them to share personal information or

describe one another, we should be careful to discourage comments on physical appearance,

race ender, or skin color as this might be offensive or hurtful. Also, both the teacher and

students should practice speaking clearly, audibly and in relaxed pace to ensure mutual

intelligibly.

40
Case Study

Alicia Marcos was a new English teacher at La Paz Junior High School in Iloilo City .

Many of his students could barely speak any English and were reluctant to even try. Most of the

time, they were found speaking Hausa, their first language. Mr. Martinez , his mentor, noticed

that he was desperate for guidance and invited him to observe her class at least once a week.

He noticed immediately that she had divided her class into three ability groups. She had also

designed special instructional materials for the weakest students. She spent more time with

them while the others were engaged in reading or writing activities. She had flashcards and

sentence strips, pictures and simple storybooks to read to them and allowed them to ask her

questions in Ilonggo , if they wanted to. In this way, she made them feel at home. Most began

to speak in groups and later in class directly, albeit in halting English. Mr. Martinez asked Mrs.

Marcos to watch him try this in his own class and to see how it worked out. The new strategy

worked very well, and the students developed confidence as well as competence.

Points to ponder

 Do you have a mentor or colleague with whom you could collaborate to improve your

students’ oral proficiency? Can you think of activities you could develop together for

your students?

 Do your students also belong to different ability groups? Would grouping them according

to this criterion work in your situation? Have you already tried using different sets of

exercises for students who are falling behind?

41
Activities

Activity 1: Making Introductions

One of the first things students have to do when they step out of the

classroom into the real world is introduce themselves and others. School, which for

many students is their only context for communicating in English, offers few

opportunities for students to make introductions. This leads to hesitation and

embarrassment when students are expected to use English in public. In this activity, you

will be able to help your students develop their confidence in making introductions by

engaging them in communicative exercises.

As a pre-speaking exercise, you might like to have a general discussion on the

expressions we use in introductions. For this, you can distribute the worksheet

in Resource 1a and have your students, working in pairs, say which expressions are

appropriate for introductions. (The correct answers are 2, 3, 6, 7, 10, 11 and 12. The

utterances in 1, 4, 5, 9 and 13 are greetings, and utterances 8 and 14 are examples of

impolite introductions.) During the discussion, mention that introductions do not include

only an exchange of names — we should add a little more information to make it easier

to start a conversation.

For this activity, divide the students into groups of four and let each of

them choose any one of the four information cards in Resource 1b. Using the

information on the card, they have to introduce themselves to the others. Then, one

42
 person from each group should introduce a group member to the class. The activity

should include not only making introductions, but also the appropriate responses. To

give the students an idea of how it should be done, play the video in Resource 1c or

read the transcript with two students whom you think are good at this. Have a quick

discussion about the expressions used in the introductions. Remind the students that

these are informal introductions. You can make a similar conversation to familiarize

students with formal introductions.

During the activity, make sure every student gets to speak, and that each group gets

to introduce at least one member to the rest of the class. This will give them practice in

introducing themselves and others, and also responding appropriately.

Activity 2: Sharing personal information

As teenagers stepping into adulthood, your students are likely to welcome

opportunities to share personal information such as talking about their families or hobbies, for

example. Sharing information is also a skill they will need to develop in order to communicate

with people in both formal and informal situations when they step out of school. This activity is

meant to develop students’ confidence in speaking as well as their ability to articulate their

feelings.

For this activity, have the students work in pairs to find out three things they have in

common with their partner and three things they don’t. For example, both partners may enjoy

watching soccer matches on TV (the common interest), and one of them may spend their free

time listening to music while the other plays some sport (one thing they do not have in

43
common). When each pair has finished noting down the information, they will have to exchange

the information with another pair, identifying things that are common across all four group

members, and interests that they do not share. In turn, representatives from each group should

share the information with the rest of the class.

Since the focus of the activity is on practicing the language of sharing information,

remember to go around the class when the pairs and groups are sharing information. If you

notice any inappropriate use of language, you can make a note of it and then draw attention to

these mistakes later so that the whole class benefits. See Resource 2 for a sample conversation.

You can play the videotape/audiotape or read it yourself.

It is important to have the students share information amongst themselves rather than with a

teacher as this will make them less self-conscious and elicit more information. Also, in real life,

we rarely share information in public; this is normally done in a one-to-one communication.

Activity 3: Describing feelings and opinions

Describing feelings, opinions and beliefs are common activities we do in our home

languages. In communication situations outside the home or classroom, your students may

need to perform this function in English. Students at this level will probably be excited about

sharing their feelings and opinions with others, and this exercise will help them articulate their

feelings and opinions in a polite and appropriate manner. Students can practise doing this by

engaging in speaking activities in the classroom.

Introduce the activity by asking students their opinions on a popular topic, such as

whether tea is a better drink than coffee. Encourage the students, especially the quieter ones,

to say how they feel about each drink. Encourage them to give reasons for their choice. If they

44
respond by saying that they do not drink either tea or coffee, you can ask them to describe

their favorite health drink, and to say why they have chosen it. This preliminary discussion is

meant to prepare the students to express their feelings or opinions logically and clearly.

For this activity, put your students in small groups of four or five, and involve them

in a group discussion on a similar topic familiar to them. Resource 3a has a set of topics you

might like to use with different groups. To help the students articulate their feelings in an

appropriate manner, you can distribute Resource 3b, which contains common expressions (and

a vocabulary guide) for expressing opinions.

Make one group member the scribe: he or she should note down what opinion each

group member is expressing, or how they feel about the topic. When the discussion time is

over, the group scribes should share the information with the rest of the class.

Unit Summary

In this unit we looked at ways in which students can speak effectively in personal

communication situations by introducing themselves and others, and sharing information,

feelings and opinions. These activities are aimed at helping the students develop self-

confidence while speaking, and also enabling them to use appropriate words and structures

spontaneously. Speaking with their peers in class helps students express themselves without

being self-conscious. Speaking activities such as these should become a regular part of

classroom learning so that students can transfer their verbal skills to situations in the real world

after they leave school.

45
 Reflections

 What did you find most interesting and helpful in this unit?

 Were there any problems in implementing the activities?

What other activities could you use to motivate students to speak?

Assessment

 How would you plan group activities to ensure that students of different abilities

participate equally, and everyone has an opportunity to express themselves?

 How important is it to make students talk about personal things? How is this expected to

help develop their skills.

Resources

Resource 1 a : Introductions

Which of the following expressions do you think are good ways of making introductions?

Discuss with your partner and tick (√ ) or cross (X) the utterances as appropriate:

1. Hey — how’re you?

2. Hi, Musa! Meet my friend Rahila — she’s visiting us for a week.

3. May I introduce Mrs Abida Raheem? She’s our new English teacher.

4. Let’s meet for lunch on Saturday!

5. Hello, nice to meet you!

46
6. Hello. I’m Catherine Smith. May I join you?

7. Hi! Have we met before? I’m Catherine.

8. My name is Catherine Smith. What is your name?

9. How do you do?

10. Rahila, I’d like you to meet Catherine Smith. Catherine, this is my good friend Rahila Yasmin.

11. Friends, I’m honoured to introduce to you Professor Rod Macintosh from the university.

Professor Macintosh will speak to us today about global warming.

12. Hello, friends! I am Rod Macintosh from the University of South Africa, and I’m honoured to be

here today.

13. Hello! How’s life?

Hey — are you Rod Macintosh? I’m Catherine Smith.

Resource 1 b. Information Cards

Nina Rose L. Limsiaco Camille Grace Salmeron

Blk 46 Lot 14 Ana Ross
Village Brgy. Man –it, Passi City
Manduriao, Iloilo City

Nieva Gorantes Abigail Balderas

Lemery, Iloilo Calumpang, Iloilo

47
Resource 1 c: At a party: Introductions

Transcript

 Walter: Hello, Liz! How have you been?

 Elizabeth: Walter! Good to see you. Meet my husband, Tony. Tony, this

is Walter Jamolo — the friend from Lambunao I was telling you about.

 Tony: Oh, hello, Mr.Jamolo. I’ve heard a lot about you from Liz.

 Walter: Good to meet you at last, Mr. Price. It’s kind of Liz to say good

things about me!

 Tony: Call me Tony!

 Elizabeth: Are you here alone, Walter? Isn’t Mrs. Kimolo here?

 Walter: Sorry — so rude of me! Jane, dear, come and say hello to the

Prices... Liz, Tony — my wife, Jane.

 Jane: How do you do?

 Elizabeth, Tony: How do you do?

 Jane: I’d like to introduce my sister, Gillian. Gillian —Elizabeth and Tony

Price.

 Gillian: Glad to meet you, Elizabeth, Tony. Are you Walter’s colleagues?

Elizabeth: No, Gillian — Walter’s an old friend.

48
Video

Resource file

See in the enclosed DVD a video recording of the activity:

Scripts\Module2\Unit1\Activity1\Resource1c\Video\At_a_Party.mp4

Resource 2: Sharing personal information

Transcript

Student 1: What are your hobbies? I like to watch football on TV, play the guitar in my

free time and just hang around with friends. Oh, I also like to sleep a lot, especially on

Sundays. I hate waking up on Sunday mornings to go to church.

Student 2: Me too. Mother has to push me out of bed every Sunday morning! I love

sleeping too! I wish I could play the guitar — I don’t know how. I like to spend my free time

working in my uncle’s garage — I love cars, you know! That’s why I never get time to watch

TV. I don’t miss it, actually — and I have many friends at the garage.

Student 1: Okay, let me write this down. Common things — we both love sleeping, we

like talking to friends, we don’t like going to church. Okay — we have three things in common.

Student 2: Yeah. And you like watching TV, you like football and you play the guitar. I

don’t like these. I love cars, I work in my uncle’s garage in my free time, and what’s the third

point?

Student 1: Was it about friends? Oh, I remember: your friends are from the garage, mine

49
 Video

Resource file

See in the enclosed DVD a video recording of the activity:

Scripts\Module2\Unit1\Activity2\Resource2\Video\Sharing_Personal_Information.mp4

Resource 3 a: List of topics for expressing opinions

1. School children should not be allowed to watch TV as it will make them lazy and inattentive

towards their studies.

2. Girls are more serious students than boys.

3. Parents should listen to their children’s views rather than just forcing children to listen to them.

4. School should be over by noon so that children have time to take an afternoon nap and play

until evening.

5. Keeping the streets clean is not our business; there are officers to take care of that.

6. Girls should help with housework as they need to learn how to be a good housekeeper after

they get married.

7. Examinations should be abolished. Everyone should be allowed to get into the next grade.

Reading and writing in English are more important than listening and speaking in English

50
 Resource 3 b: Guide to expressing opinions : Sharing, agreeing and disagreeing

1. I feel that _______________________________________________

2. In my opinion ___________________________________________

3. I think __________________________________________________

4. I’d like to share my feelings on this __________________________

5. What I think is ___________________________________________

6. If you want my opinion, I’d say ______________________________

7. I agree with what you said about _____________________________

8. I’m afraid I have a different opinion about this __________________

9. I’m glad we feel the same on this _____________________________

10. I’m sorry, but I don’t agree with you here ______________________

Teacher questions and answers

Feedback

Question: Student-centered group work takes longer than when I am in complete control.

How can I save time without being too teacher-centered?

Answer: Once you see your students making significant contributions and learning

from each other, you are likely to see that group work is worth the effort, though it certainly

51
comes at a cost. Clearly, not all topics call for group work and you don’t have to insist that they

finish all the group work within the class time.

Question: What do I do if my students are reluctant to share personal information, or are too

shy to talk about themselves?

Answer: The first time you do an activity like this, encourage all your students to

contribute, but do not force shy students to say much. Instruct their group mates to direct

questions to the shy partners so that they are gradually encouraged to speak. Most shy

students take longer to open up than less self-conscious ones, and we cannot expect a change .

52
Unit 1V Listening for Pronunciation Practice

Introduction

In this unit of the module on listening, we will illustrate a few activities that you can

use in your classroom to improve your students’ listening comprehension by making them

understand differences in pronunciation. As an English teacher, you might already be familiar

with the phonetic symbols for sounds in English. I you are not, you can refer to any good

English dictionary ( e.g. Oxford/Cambridge dictionaries ) that contains a pronunciation key.This

will help you become familiar with phonological inflation about English sounds which in turn will

enable you to device classroom activities to develop your students’ listening skills. As you are

perhaps aware, the pronunciation of English words differs according to which part of the word

is stressed, which vowel is long or short, which words in a sentence are pronounced in their

weak forms and so on . To be able to understand and respond appropriately to spoken English,

Junior High School students need to be aware of such distinctions when they hear English being

spoken. The activities in this unit will focus on giving students opportunities to hear

pronunciation differences in appropriate contexts, so they can use these skills for real life

listening.

53
Unit outcomes

Upon completion of this unit you will be able to :

 help your students recognize differences in English pronunciation stemming from vowel

length (i.e., between long and short vowel sounds).

 give your students practice in recognising the difference in meaning in words that are

pronounced with different stress when used as different grammatical words.

 familiarise your students with the use of weak forms of English words.

 design activities to give your students pronunciation practice in a specific context.

Terminology

L1 (First language) =is the language acquired at birth, normally informally

Phonetic symbols = the symbols developed by the International Phonetic Association to

represent each distinct sound found in human languages, such as vowel and consonant sounds.

Phonological = refers to the sounds of a particular language (e.g., the vowel and

consonant sounds of English).

Weak forms = the unstressed forms of structure/function words like auxiliary verbs,

pronouns and articles in an English .

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 Teacher support information

You might know teachers who do not think there is any need to teach listening

skills. This unfortunate because people actually engage in one or more listening activities than

they engage in reading for the purpose of extracting, understanding and evaluating information.

Listening skills will develop only when students have an opportunity to hear English being

spoken in natural context. Because a child’s home environment may not offer such a context, it

is important to include classroom activities where students can listen to samples of oral Elish

that represent or recreate real-life uses of English. In the Resource sections, listening passages

for you to read in a normal conventional style or to play on an audio or video player.

Case study

Mr. Lopez is an English teacher in a Junior High School in Villa, Iloilo. When he began

teaching a new group last year, he realized that his students did not understand the English

spoken on the radio. They tuned in only to music channels, and skipped other programmes on

the radio. He also noticed that the students only watched the pictures on TV and were unable

to understand what was being said. He decided that he had to do something to help his class to

develop an interest in listening to news, and other programmes, both on radio and on TV. He

also decided that he needed to develop his students’ interest in listening as he wanted to

improve their reading abilities. He realised that there were no materials available. There were

textbook passages for teaching reading comprehension but none for teaching listening

comprehension. He decided to try out his own strategies.

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 Mr. Lopez, who was not confident about his own speaking skills, decided to practice his

oral skills at home and tried to ensure that:

 his reading speed was at a normal conversational pace,

 his pronunciation was accurate, and

 his voice level and tone were modulated to make his speech intelligible.

He also selected some recorded material from the Teachers Resources Centre. However,

first he had to:

1. Adjust the seating arrangement so that each student could hear the recording clearly.

2. Adjust the volume of the audio system to a comfortable listening volume.

3. Minimize the effect of background noise that might interfere with the sounds while the tape

played.

After ensuring that these problems were taken care of, he made exercises for his students

to complete while and after listening to the recordings. The students found this new learning

resource interesting, and after a month or so of practice, their teacher found them spending

more time listening to radio and TV broadcasts and entertainment programmes in English.

Points to ponder

1. Do you think it is important to teach your students to practice listening, since they already

hear you speaking English in every class?

Have you used the audio player in your class to give your students pronunciation practice

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 Activities

Activity 1: Distinguishing sound differences

Second-language speakers of English often confuse the pronunciations of the long and

short vowel sounds of English. Some of these differences are found

in ship and sheep, full and fool, gull and girl and so on. Students can usually recognize or

pronounce these words correctly when spoken in isolation. However, when they hear the same

words in a specific context, they are often unable to distinguish the difference in pronunciation.

This sometimes leads to poor comprehension of spoken English.

In this activity, you can make students conscious of the differences between words that have

long and short vowels between the same consonant sounds. Before the students do the activity,

play the text in Resource 1 once (or read out the transcript) and have a general discussion

about the story. Then give them a sheet like the one below, and tell them to circle the word

they hear as they listen to the text for a second time.

For example, the first word they will hear is sleep, and the second one slipped.

1. a) sleep b) slipped
2. a) sleep b) slipped
3. a) bit b) beat
4. a) bit b) beat
5. a) lip b) leaped
6. a) lip b) leaped
7. a) sheep b) ship
8. a) sheep b) ship
9. a) peel b) pill
10. a) peel b) pill

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 To give your students more practice in distinguishing sound differences, you can make

similar activities with other comparable sets of words. Some examples are long /u:/ and short

/u/ sounds (book and food), /^/ and /ɜ:/ sounds (hull and hurl), /e/ and /ei/ sounds

(get and gate) or /^/ and /a:/ sounds (bun and barn), etc. You can create short passages

containing examples of the same sounds (as in Resource 1) or use several pairs of sounds in

the same passage to make it resemble real-life contexts. This exercise will help them recognize

the sounds when they hear them in contexts outside the classroom and will improve their

performance.

Activity 2: Recognizing differences in word stress

Like other languages, English has a fixed stress pattern for words containing more than one

syllable. This means that a particular syllable in a word is said with more force than the others.

For example, the word example is always pronounced with stress on the second syllable (ig-

ZAM-pl), while the word pronunciation has the stress on the fourth syllable (pro-nunt-si-EI-

shun). Sometimes, the same word has a different pronunciation according to whether it is used

as a noun, adjective or verb. For example, the word present is pronounced with the stress on

the first syllable when used as a noun (PRE-zent), and on the second syllable when used as a

verb (pri-ZENT).

This activity should help students notice these differences in stress when the words are used in

a specific context. Before you begin the activity, take the students through the list of words

below by putting them up on the board and pronouncing them with the correct stress each

time. For the activity, have the students listen to the passage in Resource 2 (you can say them

aloud or use the audiotape), and underline the part of each highlighted word (i.e., the syllable)

that is stressed .

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 Here are the words for the board.

PRE-sent (Noun) pre-SENT (Verb)

RE-cord (Noun) re-CORD (Verb)

OB-ject (Noun) ob-JECT (Verb)

PRO-duce (Noun) pro-DUCE (Verb)

AB-sent (Adjective) ab-SENT (Verb)

RÉ-sumé (Noun) re-SUME (Verb)

CON-duct (Noun) con-DUCT (Verb)

Activity 3 : Recognizing the use of weak forms

As you are no doubt aware, English is a stress-timed language — that is, in a

sentence, the stress falls at regular intervals. This gives spoken English its own definite rhythm,

and sometimes this rhythm poses a problem for listeners who do not have a similar rhythm in

their own language. One feature of English rhythm that commonly causes problems in

comprehension is the use of weak forms. For example, when pronounced in isolation, auxiliary

verbs or articles such as would, have or a are said with the vowels in their strong (normal)

forms — /wud/, /hæv/, /ei/. But in utterances, these are pronounced in their

unstressed, weak forms — /d/, /v/, /ǝ/, as in the sentences below:

 We’d like to see the principal, please.

 I’ve missed classes the whole of last week, you know!

 It’s a hit!

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 In classrooms, teachers usually speak to students slowly, articulating each word

carefully for ease of understanding. While this is a good strategy when explaining a concept, it

does not give students exposure to the “real” English that they will encounter outside the

classroom. In this activity, you will be able to give students practice in understanding English

spoken at normal conversational speed, when weak forms are used. Before you begin the

activity, have class discussions on contracted forms of verbs. (You can also refer to Activity

2 of Unit 2 in Module 6 — Communicative Grammar for a discussion of contracted forms.) This

discussion is meant to refresh your students’ knowledge of the use of contracted forms in

informal English. You can, for example, have students complete the following exercise in pairs.

You can also ask them to add similar words to the list. In Column 2, write the full form of the

contraction in Column 1.

Column 1: Contracted form Column 2: Full form

I'll

I'm

Haven't

Don't

She'll

We've

You'll

I'd

You're

He's

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 Have a class discussion on how these contracted forms are the written versions of

the weak forms of the verbs, and how people use these weak forms in informal conversations.

If the students are to easily understand what people say in conversations, they must become

familiar with this special feature of spoken English.

For the activity, tell your students that they will listen to a conversation (Resource 3a) twice.

The first time they will just have to listen with attention. The second time, they will have to fill

in the blanks in the passage (Resource 3b) with the full forms of the words that they hear.

To give your students more practice, you can put them in groups of four (i.e., to make two

pairs). The first pair will prepare a dialogue similar to the one in Resource 3a, and have a

conversation. The other pair will have to write down the words that are said in their weak

forms. The pairs then repeat the activity; the second pair writes their dialogue, and the first pair

completes the task.

Unit Summary

In this unit, we looked at a few important aspects of spoken English that JSS students

need to be familiar with. The skill of listening improves only when students have regular

exposure to the spoken form of the language. Also, practising pronunciation of words in

isolation does not help much, as in conversations people tend to speak faster and use certain

conventions like weak forms, for example. To enable students to understand spoken English,

you should use activities involving providing answers both while and after listening.

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 Reflections

 Which activity was relatively easy for you to use in class?

 Which activity was easier for the students to do?

What kinds of activities could you design for pronunciation practice?

Resources

Resource 1: Pat and TheSheep on Noah’s Ship

This transcript of a short story shows the difference in pronunciation between the

short /i/ and the long /i:/ sounds of English. You can play the audio version or read it at a

normal conversational speed to the class for the activity. The text should be read twice, with

the students being asked just to listen the first time. Before reading the text for the second

time, announce that they should do the activity while they listen.

Transcript

“Mummy, Mummy, wake up!” shouted Patricia.

Sally yawned and stretched. “Will this child ever sleep?” she thought. Suddenly she heard a

thud. “Oh, no!” thought Sally, “Pat must have slipped again!” “Mummy!” she heard the child

scream. Her eyes flew open to see milk poured all over the bed. Her daughter was trying to fill

the spilt milk back into the bottle. Sally bit her tongue to stop herself from shouting. “I think I’m

going to beat her up now!” muttered Sally to herself. But before she could say anything, Pat ran

straight into Sally’s arms. Sally noticed that her daughter had a cut on her upper lip. Sally leapt

off the bed quickly and ran down to the bathroom to get some antiseptic. She returned to find

Pat standing beside her bed looking at her. In one hand she held her broken milk bottle and in

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the other she carried a storybook. Sally suddenly realized why her daughter had come to her. It

was 7.00 a.m. “Mummy, please tell me the story of the black sheep on Noah’s ship!” she

pleaded. Sally laughed. How easily the child had forgotten about her fall and her hunger! Sally

quickly peeled a banana, fed it to Pat and popped a headache pill in her own mouth. “She really

is a sweet and clever child,” thought Sally. She must remember to tell her husband about this

morning’s events!

Audio

Resource file

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kk3DvdsTj_k

This audio recording can also be found on the DVD, in the following location:

Scripts\Module1\Unit1\Activity1\Resource1\Audio\Pat and the Sheep on Noah’s Ship.mp3

Resource 2 a : Allen’s announcement ( transcript )

Allen: Good morning, everybody! Please pay attention to this announcement.

Amina: Wait a minute! I don’t think everyone’s here — Ricky is absent, and so is Sheila.

Allen: Well, I can’t hold the announcement just because they choose to absent themselves

from work! There’s good news for us — there’s a present for you if you present the record of

last week’s activities accurately. The video guys will record the best presentation! And the boss

wants the best presenter to submit his or her résumé at my desk so that your promotion can be

processed!

Amina: I don’t object to getting a promotion, but what is the object of carrying it out like this?

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 Allen: We’ll come to that in a while. All right, guys! Who will conduct today’s session?

Remember, there’ll be marks for good conduct as well!

Amina: Let’s not forget that we have to produce a good report at the end of the day.

Allen: True. And after that everyone’s been ordered to resume work — no holiday, guys!

Audio

Resource file

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=El-Zkeia9u8

This audio recording can also be found on the DVD, in the following location:

Scripts\Module1\Unit1\Activity2\Resource2\Audio\Allen’s Announcement.mp3

Resource 2 b : Allen;s announcement ( worksheet )

Underline the part of the word (the syllable) that is stressed in each word you hear.

1. Ab-sent

2. Ab-sent

3. Pre-sent

4. Pre-sent

5. Re-cord

6. Re-cord

7. Re-sume

8. Re-sume

9. Ob-ject

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10. Ob-ject

11. Con-duct

12. Con-duct

13. Pro-duce

Resource 3 a : Practicing weak forms transcript )

Teacher: Kenny, why haven’t you been in class all week?

Kenny: Sorry, Teacher. I’ve been unwell.

Teacher: Well, I’ll have to mark you absent for the whole period.

Why don’t you get a certificate from your doctor?

Kenny: She’s out of the country at the moment, Teacher.

I’m going to ask her to write one when she comes back next week.

Teacher: We’ve finished three chapters in the last few days, so you’ll have to finish your homework

for all of them.

Kenny: I’d like to meet you after class, Teacher, if you’re free.

Teacher: I’m sure we can arrange something, Kenny. Meet me after class at four today.

Kenny: Thank you, Sir. I’ll bring my father along. He’s been wanting to meet you to discuss this .

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Audio

Resource file

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKsf5-V9mII

This audio recording can also be found on the DVD, in the following location:

Scripts\Module1\Unit1\Activity3\Resource3a\Audio\Practicing Weak Forms.mp3

Resource 3 b: Practicing weak forms (worksheet)

Teacher: Kenny, why ______ you been in class all week?

Kenny: Sorry, Teacher. I ______ been unwell.

Teacher: Well, I ______ have to mark you absent for the whole period. Why ________ you

_______ get a certificate from your doctor?

Kenny: She ______ out of the country at the moment, Teacher. I ______ going to ask her to

write one when she comes back next week.

Teacher: We ______ finished three chapters in the last few days, so you ______have to finish

your homework for all of them.

Kenny: I ______ like to meet you after class, Teacher, if you ______ free.

Teacher question and answer

Feedback

Question: In the class we read English lessons aloud to the students before making them read

these themselves. Is this not enough to help them learn good pronunciation?

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Answer: Listening to the teacher read out a lesson in English is an effective means of giving

students exposure to good pronunciation. However, the English textbook may not have enough

instances of the language spoken in real life, as in the form of conversations. Students need

exposure to the kind of informal English spoken in the real world, not just the language of

stories and poems. Lessons should therefore be supplemented with activities that require

students to listen to other, more natural instances of language use because this is what will

prepare them to respond appropriately to people outside the classroom.

THANK YOU FOR USING THIS MODULE

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 References

https://www.bmconsultantsindia.com/advanced-english-workbook.html

http://mek.oszk.hu/10300/10365/10365.pdf

https://global.oup.com/education/content/primary/series/international-

english/?region=international

Remedios, V. (2012). College reading and writing; textbook with workbook.

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