ELTWeekly Issue#25, Research paper: Four Good Reasons To Use Literature in the Primary School ELT
By Tarun Patel
Four Good Reasons To Use Literature in the Primary School ELT
By Ghosn, Irma K.
Abstract
This paper presents four arguments in favor of integrating literature into English as a foreign language (EFL) classes for grade school children, particularly in cases where academic language proficiency is the ultimate goal of instruction but where English exposure and use is limited to the classroom and school.
The arguments include the following:
(1) authentic literature provides a motivating, meaningful context for language learning, and it presents natural language at its finest, promoting vocabulary development in context;
(2) literature stimulates oral language and involves the child with the text while exposing him or her to some aspect of the target language culture;
(3) literature can promote academic literacy and critical thinking skills, and has the potential of fostering private interpersonal and intercultural attitudes; and
(4) good literature deals with some aspects of the human condition and attempts to come to some understanding of life, either symbolically or metaphorically, and can thus also contribute to the emotional development of the child. (Contains 23 references.) (KFT)
Download full paper in PDF format at http://www.eric.ed.gov.
July 11th, 2009
ELTWeekly Issue#25, Article: Top tips for getting an EFL book published
By Tarun Patel
Top tips for getting an EFL book published
By Alex Case
- Do not bother sending book proposals. The traditional “send a book proposal, wait for review, proposal accepted if you are lucky, negotiate and then start writing” process to work anymore. It is dead. If you send a book proposal in, you might be very lucky if there is a new member of staff looking for writers and it makes them think you can work on their latest book idea. More likely, it will sit under another pile of proposals until it turns into mulch. Publishers now work under 5 year plans with the titles of almost all books in those 5 years decided. The next step is they send those details to people they think might be able to write it, and then you send a proposal showing you can write precisely the book they want.
- Specialize. If you only teach TOEIC and there is a TOEIC project coming up, you will fit together in naturally with no time wasted in the publishing office of whether you are the right person, and time is the essence. It also means that your details will go to the right person in the right department of the publishers. Don’t worry that being too limited might stop you writing more books, once you are proven to be a reliable, low maintainance writer who meets deadlines you will be allowed to drift outside your speciality. I have it on good information that one well known exam book author who went on to write an IELTS book had actually never taught IELTS!
Read the complete article is at http://www.tefl.net/alexcase/articles/elt-publishing/publishing-tips/
Alex Case has been a teacher, teacher trainer, Director of Studies, ELT writer and editor in Turkey, Thailand, Spain, Greece, Italy, Japan, UK and now Korea, and writes TEFLtastic blog (www.tefl.net/alexcase)
ELTWeekly Issue#25, Article: Developing Effective Listening Skills
By Tarun Patel
Developing Effective Listening Skills
By Prof (Dr) Shefali Bakshi
Good listening is one of the most significant skills to have in today’s multifaceted world. Families need good listening to face complicated stresses together. Corporate employees need it to solve complicated problems quickly and stay competitive. Students need it to understand complex and composite issues in their fields. Much can be gained by improving listening skills. Students need it to understand multifaceted issues in their fields. All the students who develop good listening skills can take up employment after the XII stage as Call Center employees, Medical Transcriptionists, Legal Transcriptionists etc. So developing listening skills must be incorporated in our daily school syllabus at all levels. There are two ways of Listening:
(1) Casual Listening: We listen with no particular purpose in mind, and often without much concentration, like listening to music while doing some other work.
(2) Focused Listening: We listen for a particular purpose, to find the information that we need to know. In past, Listening took the garb of Dictation. Today, it is a new methodology for an age-old exercise. In the latest trend, Listening Tasks are of three types: (i) Pre-Listening Task, (ii) While-Listening Task and (iii) Post-Listening Task. In the previous years, Dictation was the process of developing Listening skills. For example, One has to connect the relation between the sound and the spelling. A learner who hears the sound /s/ during a dictation/while-listening task can write:
s, ss, se, ‘s, c, ce, sc, st, sw, ps, etc.
Look at these words with sound /s/: Us, Pass, Promise, John’s, Recite, Once, Science, Listen, Sword, Psychology. Thus, deciphering the accurate letter needs not only previous knowledge but also correct listening skills. The integration of listening and speaking skills has been projected very effectively in a series used today called ‘Buzzword’ by Orient Blackswan with very attractive images to motivate learning among the primary level. All the activities are in form of communication, so that learners use the language. The topics are known to the learner and reinforce not only the known but also the unknown. The listening activity is rightly followed by the activity of Speaking skills as listening is a receptive skill, which takes on to the productive skill of Speaking. The pronunciation of the words is developed and then used in communication by solving an activity of filling the blanks with appropriate words. Thus language is developed in communication form so that our learners are trained to use the English language in the outside world. Michael Webb, (March, 2006) rightly mentions: ”We can make a difference in the world by learning to listen better and by telling others about better listening. But only if they listen.”
Prof (Dr) Shefali Bakshi is the Deputy Director at Amity School of Languages. She has done a Project on “A Study of Verbal Interaction in Waiting for Godot” for the M.A. degree and has ompleted her PhD thesis on “A Study of Verbal Interaction in the plays of Samuel Beckett” for the Degree of Ph.D. at University of Lucknow, India. She has conducted over 75 workshops on ELT in various parts of India for school teachers and principals.
ELTWeekly Issue#25, Book of the week: English Language Teaching in its Social Context: A Reader
By Tarun Patel
English Language Teaching in its Social Context: A Reader
By C. Candlin
Book Description
English Language Teaching in its Social Context presents four major principles of English language teaching:
* focusing on the roles played by teachers and learners
* recognizing the individuality of language learners
* supporting teachers in the provision of active guidance for students’ learning
* examining both positive and negative patterns of interaction between learners and teachers.
About the Author
Christopher N. Candlin is Chair Professor of Applied Linguistics at the City University of Hong Kong.
Neil Mercer is professor of Language and Communications at the Open University, UK.
More Details
- Hardcover: 368 pages
- Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition (January 22, 2001)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0415241219
- ISBN-13: 978-0415241212
- Price: $160.00
- Second Language Acquisition (Oxford Introductions to Language Study) by Rod Ellis on 6 pages
- The Natural Approach: Language Acquisition in the Classroom (Language Teaching Methodology) by Stephen D. Krashen on 6 pages
- Input in Second Language (Issues in second language research) by Susan Gass on 4 pages
- An Introduction to Functional Grammar by M. A. K. Halliday on page 199, page 207, and page 268
- Learning Lessons: Social Organization in the Classroom by Hugh Mehan on page 106, and page 240
- and more.
ELTWeekly Issue#25, Worldwide ELT events
By Tarun Patel
THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON LANGUAGE AND LANGUAGE TEACHING (ICLLT-1), Padang, October 16 – 17
As a world-wide language, the great need for the teaching-learning of Ednglish as an L2 and/or an FL has been increasing significantly. However, the teaching-learning process of English as an FL in Indonesia has not been fairly successful yet. Natural, cultural, psychological, theoretical, and practical problems are still in crucial issues which need to be discussed seriously. In order to have significant success in the teaching-learning of English, professionalism in English Language Teaching (ELT) should be stimulated and promoted by means of various ways. Having conference on ELT is one way which can be held to obtain the intended professionalism.
Being inspired by the experiences in organizing and holding national and international seminars so far, the English Department of Faculty of Language Literature and Art, the State University of Padang would like to organize the scientific discussions and workshops into regular conferences which are labeled as Conference on Language and Language Teaching (CLLT). It is planned that CLLT is held annually in the level of national and international one with various focuses. In accordance with the planning, this is the first international level of CLLT, and this year it is focused on the English language teaching. This conference is held with the theme: “Promoting Professionalism in ELT”. Researchers, lecturers, teachers, or students of English are kindly invited to participate in this valuable conference.
Those who are interested in ELT may write paper(s) related to one of the following topics:
(1) ICT-based ELT
(2) Media in ELT
(3) Curriculum and Material Development in ELT
(4) Evaluation and Assessment in ELT
(5) School-based Curriculum of ELT
(6) English for Young Learners
(7) Researches and Methods in ELT
(8) English for Specific Purposes (ESP)
(9) Literature in ELT
For further details and pre-registration, please visit: http://callhavid.wordpress.com/2009/05/31/international-conference-on-language-and-language-teaching/
16th Annual iEARN International Conference, Ifrane, July 19-25
iEARN is a non-profit network that supports over 25,000 teachers and 2 million youth in more than 125 countries to collaboratethrough a global telecommunications network on projects designed to make a difference in the world. Since 1988.
In July 2009, iEARN-Morocco (MEARN) will be hosting the 16th Annual iEARN International Conference and 13th Annual Youth Summit. This is a gathering open to all, which typically brings together teachers and students from over 70 countries. It builds upon previous conferences in Argentina (1994), Australia (1995), Hungary(1996), Spain (1997), USA (1998), Puerto Rico (1999), China (2000), South Africa (2001), Russia (2002), Japan(2003), Slovakia (2004), Senegal (2005), the Netherlands (2006), and Egypt (2007).
Conference Goals
To facilitate communication and develop partnership between educators and youth locally, regionally and globally.
To use communication technology in education to improve health and welfare among communities.
To improve skills for better quality in education.
To establish institutional links among all partners of education.
To strengthen understanding of people for better education .
To support E-learning and professional development.
To promote inter cultural dialogue
To develop and prospect Pedagogical contents in countries around the world
To share models for how educational telecommunications can be used to affect positive social, political and economic change, and address unmet human and environmental needs.
To share successful classroom project examples that make a meaningful difference, and ideas/models of curriculum/classroom learning enhancement.
To demonstrate and provide hands-on experience in leading technology.
To encourage cross-cultural understanding through the use of different languages in project work, making place for voices which are not usually heard, and exploring other ways of breaking down barriers.
To enlarge the iEARN community to expand its global community of educators and youth leaders using telecommunications.
To share innovative educational resources from different centres, countries and organizations.
To identify steps toward enhancing and sustaining on-line project participation.
To create environment for new collaborative project ideas to be developed, and enable participants to return home with specific action steps to create and/or expand educational telecommunications project work.
To build on the highly successful inaugural teachers and students’ previous meetings and conferences in different countries. Open to educators from outside the iEARN Network.
To discuss and demonstrate of the latest developments in educational practice utilising telecommunications and associated technology will be the key focus of the workshop sessions.
For further details and pre-registration, please visit: http://www.iearn2009.ma/spip.php?article214?lang=en
The 2009 Asia TEFLInternational Conference, Bangkok, Thailand, August 7-9
The Asia TEFL International Conference Committee is now accepting presentation proposals for its7th conference to be held in Bangkok, Thailand. The official language for the conference, including presentations and submissions, is English. Under the Conference theme of “Collaboration and Creativity in English Language Teaching and Learning in Asia,” proposals are being accepted in the following content areas:
Subtopics (Content Areas)
The Conference Organizing Committee invites abstracts and presentation proposals on the following subtopics (content areas):
- Approaches and Methodologies
- Curriculum / Materials
- Distance Education
- Education / Language Policy
- International / Intercultural Communication
- Language Acquisition
- Material Writing and Design
- Multiple Intelligences and Learning Styles
- Teacher Education
- Teaching Young Learners
- Testing, Assessment, and Evaluation
- The Use of IT in Language Teaching
- Using Local Literatures in English or translations for teaching English
Types of Presentations
Presentations may be made in one of four forms:
- Colloquium (60 min.): Panelists (and audience) participate in the discussion.
- Workshop (60.): Audience actively participates in the presentation.
- Demonstration (30 min.): Presenter shows a technique to the audience.
- Research Paper Presentation (30 min.): Presenter reports research and results.
ELTWeekly Issue#25, Worldwide ELT news
By Tarun Patel
Nick Seaton: School language teaching leaves children lost for words
AS with almost everything else they’ve touched in education, the present Government has made a pig’s ear of foreign languages in schools.
Read the complete news here: http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/opinion/Nick-Seaton-School-language-teaching.5438889.jp Dhreima children hone
English language skills DOHA: Fifty-five children started training yesterday at the Qatar Orphan Foundation (Dhreima) to hone their English language skills. For the first time, Dhreima flew a five-member team of experts in teaching English from the UK to conduct the four-week-long Camp, Hassan Manan, an expert at Dhreima told The Peninsula at the conclusion of the press meet held to announce the programme. Also present at the press conference held at the Dhreima premises were Khalid Kamal, Director General of Dhreima and Jade Stevens, Director of Studies, British Council.
Read the complete news here: http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=Local_News&subsection=Qatar+News&month=July2009&file=Local_News2009070814857.xml
War against the English languag We live in the United States of America. We speak English. We do not speak Spanish. Not that you would know in some places in the U.S. It’s pissing me off that these days, I go into stores and the employees are speaking Spanish. The billboards are in Spanish. The wrappers on candy are in Spanish, with the occasional English subtitle thrown in. The English language is being subjugated. And it’s time to say enough. There’s a thin line people balance about racism. Wanting to be able to speak your own language in your own country and expecting others to speak it as well is not tipping over the edge. To put it kindly, I am very sick of having to ask for translations when I go to McDonald’s. I’m sick of miming questions that should take a person a few seconds to understand and not much longer to answer.
Read the complete news here: http://www.uiargonaut.com/content/view/8211/49/
Young N. American immigrants to be trained as English teachers In an increasingly globalized world, Israelis are feeling the pressure to improve their English proficiency – and their secret weapon may be new young immigrants from North America. A 14-month Teachers for Israel program, which has been developed by the Jewish Agency, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Absorption and Nefesh B’Nefesh, will allow North American students with a bachelor’s degree to immigrate to Israel while becoming English teachers. The program, in which students are supported by a stipend, launches this summer for the inaugural class of 50 students, who will begin a five-month Ulpan followed by teacher certificate courses and a paid internship in a small Israeli classroom.
Read the complete news here: http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1246443746598&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull
Languages without the nuances
PIERRE Ryckmans, one of Australia’s most distinguished public intellectuals, has drunk deeply at the springs of East and West. The Belgian-born Sinologist, author of a suite of groundbreaking essays written in protest against Mao Zedong’s Cultural Revolution, is fluent in French, English and Mandarin. Ryckmans, who writes under the pen name Simon Leys, was formerly professor of Chinese at the Australian National University and the University of Sydney. He taught Mandarin to Kevin Rudd at the ANU.
In semi-retirement from academic life he has written, among other things, an exquisite novel, The Death of Napoleon, in his native tongue and a new translation of The Analects of Confucius. Book reviews and essays on subjects as diverse as novelist Andre Gide and the shipwreck of the Batavia flow from his pen, as he eschews the computer. A study of Stendhal, that most vivid and attractive 19th-century French novelist, is under way.
Read the complete news here: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25746992-16947,00.html
Pupils to study Twitter and blogs in primary schools shake-up
Children will no longer have to study the Victorians or the second world war under proposals to overhaul the primary school curriculum, the Guardian has learned.
However, the draft plans will require some children to master Twitter andWikipedia and give teachers far more freedom to decide what youngsters should be concentrating on in classes.
The proposed curriculum, which would mark the biggest change to primary schooling in a decade, strips away hundreds of specifications about the scientific, geographical and historical knowledge pupils must accumulate before they are 11 to allow schools greater flexibility in what they teach.
Read the complete news here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/mar/25/primary-schools-twitter-curriculum