She was like...yeah, whatever....

It’s happened again.  I have ploughed my way through the pages on reported speech in the course book, watched my learners grind to a stand still as they struggled with backshift and deictic reference (“I’m fed up with this” → she said she was fed up with it) and dreamed up practice activities that were as close to everyday usage as I could imagine. Only to be hit with the thought : hold on, why have I not covered the (far simpler) contemporary way of reporting on conversations -  using direct speech with reporting expressions such as “like” and “goes”?

My children (age four and six) frequently recount entire conversations using “was like”. On the rare occasions they do use reported speech it is to upbraid me on promises I have broken: “But you said we could go swimming!”

“So she goes, don’t do that and I was like why not? And then she was like, yeah…whatever…” Exchanges such as this one can be heard everyday, and for the teacher and learner of English they have great appeal.  To paraphrase Phil Collins, no backshift required. 

This does not mean to say we should not teach reported speech to our learners. It is commonly found in written English (particularly newspaper reports) and used in spoken English by large numbers of  people who would regard expressions such as “like” and “go” to be sloppy, incorrect English.

However, like them or not, these expressions have become part of our language, and I believe we need to make sure our learners are able to use and understand them.

Strange Wedding Guests

It all started last night. Wednesday nights are usually Headway nights with my intermediate group of learners and we had just started Unit 12. This unit is entitled “Life’s Great Events” and begins by looking at reported speech through a dialogue in which a woman gets chatting to a rather smooth talking man at a wedding. It turns out later on that the man has been economical with the truth on a few counts, and that’s where the reported speech comes in: “But he said he was thirty!  He told me he’d never been married!” etc.

Anyway, as is usually the case, this rather inconsequential scenario is illustrated by a large photograph of a wedding scene.  However,  the photograph does not appear to have anything to do with the three characters in the dialogue I have just described.  On first glance, it looks like a typical course book photo peopled by smiling white teethed models with inoffensive facial features.  My learners and I looked at the picture and I elicited the usual vocabulary: bride, groom, confetti etc. Then someone pointed out the eerie figures standing in the cemetery, looking on.  A youth with a camera.  A middle aged man so pale he is almost transparent, standing  among the tomb stones and far removed from the rest of the party. And finally, a white clad woman in her fifties, watching the wedding party with a most curious look of rage and bitterness.

If you have access to this book, please do look at it closely so you will know I do not exaggerate. And then ask yourself: why? Is this the work of an ambitious course book photographer with secret ambitions to be the next Cartier Bresson? Or a disillusioned course book photographer who has failed to get into film school and amuses himself by injecting subversive elements into his photographs?

We may never know. I would, however, like to thank whoever took this photograph for providing such excellent inspiration for tonight’s lesson.  My learners chose the five most interesting people from it (the five people above, actually) and as a class we wrote detailed character profiles for each one, and created a story around the central relationships.  Each learner chose a character to write a dramatic monologue about, and we will continue these monologues next week.

A Year in a Book

We are moving into a spanking new custom designed new building in a couple of weeks. Glossy it may be, but bigger it isn’t, and so my boss has had to purge all of our out of date and no longer used resources.

When I arrived at work tonight, the back of my classroom was lined with five or six green crates, all of which were stuffed with student books, teacher books and cassettes going free to a good home.  I’m normally a fairly ruthless purger myself, but there was something sad about this huge pile of past their sell- by- date publications. It might be because I’ve been working on the same sixty minute course book spread for over a week, and I can only imagine the hours of mental exertion and toil which go into producing an entire volume.

I have a pile of rescued books strewn across my table as I write, and if you look beyond the casual sexism, perms and a-line skirts of one of the really ancient ones, there are some pretty neat ideas in there. And, while I can see why Reward Intermediate 2002 has to go (it contains references to the Spice Girls, Oasis and Macaulay Culkin) I realise (too late) what an excellent book it is. Wouldn’t course books last a whole lot longer if they avoided such ephemeral cultural references? Or am I missing the money spinning point of the whole industry?

On a happy note – I rescued a dog eared Headway elementary (1993) from the pile: the first course book I ever used. It was through this book that I learned (along with my class) about the difference between the present simple and continuous and when to use an apostrophe with its.  Flicking through the tattered pages vividly evokes moments from my first year in teaching English:  my class of army officers, the bridge over the Tisza, purple plum trees and long hot afternoons by the pool. Happy days: a proustian madeleine worth finding space for on my own bookshelf.

Another Busman's Holiday

Every time I go on holiday I usually spend at least one - child free – day in Edinburgh.  And every time, without fail, I end up whiling away a couple of hours in Blackwells on the city's  the South Bridge.  

Blackwells is a truly fine book shop, and with all its nooks and crannies has an intimacy that eludes other larger retailers. This visit, I  balanced a pile of ELT books on the arm of a comfortable sofa, and perused my selection while spring rain pounded the windows and turned passing shoppers in the streets below into a cheerful blur.

I was looking for inspiration, as I am currently writing a chapter for an elementary level ESOL course book of my own. Ever since I started teaching (back in 1998) I have been pretty much a one-book woman.  As a shy young novice teacher, the Headway series swept me off my feet with its instructive and helpful Teacher’s book and flashy graphics. Later on that same year, I was too often embarrassed by its bad cover versions of great songs and its royal family obsession and finally dumped it in order to go solo. 

Over the years, I had many a flirtation with younger, trendier models, but there was always something missing. Imagine my delight when, on joining the ESOL team here in Shetland, I found out that their course book of choice was, indeed, Headway. What is it I love so much about this book? As I scanned the competition in Blackwells, I thought I knew the answer. Compared with so many other student books, the layout is wonderfully clear. So many rival publications are just too cluttered and confusing.  Or are they? Is my admiration of Headway’s structure and layout just another old habit?

So, what has this helped me to decide about the course book I am planning? Like Headway, it will have nice graphics and uncluttered pages. It will also have units of four or five pages rather than two. But – (and this is a big but Mr and Mrs Soars…) there will be no fawning texts on hard working royals. No Madonna (or any other a-list star, for that matter) reading comprehension exercises, and  - this, I swear - no more Beatles classics murdered forever for the sake of a five minute gap fill.

Something in the Air...

Something in the Air,

Lovely, gentle

Passes by

Something in the air

Like a feeling.  Premonition.

Like a breath and a shiver.

Like rustling and whispering.

At the last minute.

Something in the air.

That shines in the eyes,

That resonates in people

At each step.

Is this the secret

Inspiration for the song?

Or love?

Her breath and her sigh?

By Tone Pavcek

Translated from the Slovenian by Carmen.

Meaningful Holiday Homework Tasks

Next week we will have a fortnight’s Easter break, and my class have requested homework.  This gives me the perfect motivation to compile a list (did I say ten?) of meaningful homework activities.

1. Use the two week break to correspond with a pen friend in a different part of Scotland. Luckily I already have a list of names, short biographies and contact details of a group of Intermediate learners at a community education centre in the Highlands.
2. Meet your classmates at least once in an environment conducive to chat. 
3. Research Unst using the Shetland Tourist Board website and write a proposed itinerary for our class trip on the 20/21^st April.
4. Continue our poetry theme by visiting the poetry channel and watching poets read and perform their poetry.  You can do a google search if you wish to find an accompanying text. Choose a favourite and practise it, using the poet’s reading as a model.  To be performed at the next class!
5. Look in the “What’s on” section of the Shetland Times for community activities you could try out (going in pairs, small groups or even as a class to give you confidence) You might want to try,  for example Makkin an Yakkin (Knitting and Chatting) or visit that Shetland institution: Sunday Teas!
6. You could use free evenings to follow a British soap opera, for example Eastenders or Corrie.  What differences do you notice between Shetland English, and, say, East end of London English?
7. Keep a diary or start a blog! This can be shared on the return to class. You might want to blog about what you did when you would normally have been at English lessons!
8. Watch a film with English subtitles.
9. Make a point of eavesdropping on as many conversations as you can on one outing.  Remember any unfamiliar phrases or words you hear and note them down.  Share what you have learned (or what continues to puzzle you) on the return to class.
10.  Um, if all else fails there's always Headway Online!

I will ask learners to choose one or two of these tasks.  It will be interesting to see what they return with!

The Most Pointless Homework Exercise...

Comparatives and Superlatives with my class of pre-intermediates tonight.  I always find this fun to teach, probably because it has such visual and kinaesthetic potential in the classroom.

Tonight I divided the class into two groups. I indicated a most and least side of the table. Then the race was on for the groups to order themselves from most to least according to the adjectives I read out. Some were obvious (tall, long hair) while some involved more discussion (young, sporty).  Once groups had organised themselves accordingly, the rival group had to use their positions to make sentences using the adjective in its comparative and superlative form, e.g. Andrej is the tallest in the group.

So the French have decided to boycott homework, dismissing it as “useless” and “tiring”.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/mar/26/french-parents-boycott-homework?INTCMP=SRCH

Having to sit and encourage my six year old daughter to struggle through half an hour’s of spelling and maths homework every night, I would be inclined to agree. A couple of weeks ago I took the homework situation up with her  class teacher.  A rather bizarre exchange followed in which she ensured me that she personally “hated” homework, but that it was what the parents wanted.  Not this parent.

In the ESOL class, I tend not to give homework on the basis that learners have such busy lives with work, family and language learning commitments. On the rare occasion learners request it I have (lazily, guiltily) given them photocopied pages from the Headway workbook or a Stop and Check Test.  I feel guilty because I know full well that by using a little imagination I could easily dream up a meaningful homework task that takes advantage of the English speaking environment the learners live in.  Correcting workbook gap fills is as useless and tiring for the teacher as it is for the learner anyway.

The challenge starts today.  Tomorrow’s entry will include ten meaningful homework tasks for learners in the ESOL classroom.