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A BALANCED USE OF ERROR CORRECTION
A well balanced use of error correction
There are many problems associated with error correction in the EFL classroom. For example, every student wants to improve their accuracy but not every student likes being corrected. Another common problem is that students and teachers often disagree on the amount of error correction that there should be in class. As should be clear from these two examples, for most teachers today it is not a case of deciding whether there should be error correction or not, but the much more difficult task of getting the amount of error correction just right for each individual level, age group, nationality, personality type, learning style etc. To help with this, below is a list of signs that you might not have the right balance of error correction in your classes yet and some hints on how to adjust your lesson planning accordingly.
Possible signs that you are correcting too many student errors
• 1. Students are losing their fluency when they speak because they are scared of making mistakes
• 2. Students keep stopping and correcting themselves
• 3. The accuracy of their speaking is improving much more quickly than their fluency, use of complex forms, speaking strategies etc.
• 4. Many of the errors you correct are things that won't come up in their classes for a long time or even until the next level
• 5. Many of the errors you correct are things they knew but were just slips of the tongue
• 6. Most of the errors you correct are things they would have stopped making errors with anyway eventually once their subconscious had fully dealt with the language
• 7. The amount of time you spend on student errors is cutting into the time you can spend on new language
• 8. Students who think they have done well at a speaking or writing task get depressed when you do error correction and they realise how many errors they have made
• 9. Feedback after a speaking or writing task means mainly error correction, with a lack of suggesting more complex language, making encouraging comments etc.
• 10. Written work is a mess of red ink when it comes back to students
• 11. You give them more corrections in one class than they can possibly learn before the next class
• 12. You correct the same language over and over, even though students' accuracy hasn't improved at all since the first time you corrected them
• 13. Students show with their facial expressions or body language that they are not open to correction
• 14. You are correcting because you feel you must, even though you have no confidence that it will have an effect on accuracy with that group of students
• 15. Students don't note down most of the errors you correct
• 16. There are more than one or two error correction stages in one class
• 17. There are more error correction stages in your lesson plan than there are on the lesson plan in the teacher's book
• 18. Students never have a chance to speak or write without correction
• 19. You never leave an error uncorrected to see if it disappears naturally
• 20. Students who particularly lack fluency and/ or confidence don't get less correction than other students
• 21. You correct well over 20% of all student errors
• 22. You correct over an average of 20 errors per class
• 23. You usually correct the whole list of errors you collect during pairwork and groupwork
• 24. Most of the errors you correct are ones that we know persist naturally in all kinds of people learning English, such as third person s
• 25. Your only idea on how to improve student accuracy is to correct their errors
Possible signs that you aren't correcting enough student errors
• 1. Students complain about the lack of error correction
• 2. Students don't see the value of speaking activities or just see them as games
• 3. Students say accuracy is their main priority but you haven't adjusted the way you teach to take that into account
• 4. Student accuracy is not improving
• 5. Students' fluency or use of more complex language is improving much quicker than their accuracy
• 6. Accuracy is what is holding students back from reaching the next level or getting a higher score in an EFL exam
• 7. Students have particular difficulty with error correction tasks in the textbook, workbook, progress tests or EFL exams
• 8. Students keep on making the same mistakes and you have never tried correcting those ones
• 9. Students make many false friend errors
• 10. You never correct a piece of grammar that you haven't studied in class yet, even when students try to use it all the time
• 11. You usually skip the error correction stage that is suggested in the teachers' book
• 12. You usually correct errors when students are speaking but rarely use them in an error correction stage
• 13. You always assume an error will disappear naturally
• 14. You have never tried error correction games such as a Grammar Auction
• 15. Students who need more accuracy such as someone giving an important business presentation or writing a job application cover letter do not get more correction than usual classes
• 16. You correct well under 5% of all student errors
• 17. You correct under an average of 5 errors per class
• 18. You have never used an error correction code
• 19. You are standing around doing nothing instead of noting down student errors during pairwork and groupwork
• 20. You have been leaving a persistent error uncorrected without a conscious decision to monitor whether it naturally disappears or to tackle it another way.
• 21. You don't correct errors but have no alternative ideas on how to improve your students' accuracy
Other possible signs that you haven't got the balance right
• 1. The amount of error correction you do does not depend on the class
• 2. The amount of error correction you do has not changed over the years
• 3. You don't consider which errors could lead to miscommunication before correcting them
• 4. You never experiment with different amounts of correction
Ways of making sure you use the right amount of error correction
• 1. Think about all your classes and put them in order of how much error correction you think they need, from the class most in need of error correction (e.g. students stuck on the Intermediate plateau or ones who will be writing dissertations in English) at the top of the list to the class that least needs it (students who pause for a long time before they speak or students who had lots of grammar but little speaking practice in their previous English lessons) at the bottom of the list.
• 2. Write error correction stages on your lesson plan
• 3. Have a gap at the top of your lesson plan that says "error correction stage(s)"
• 4. Set a target for how many errors you will correct, how many error correction stages you will have and how much time you will spend on error correction and write it at the top of your lesson plan
• 5. Make a list of error correction techniques you would like to try, e.g. getting students to bet on whether each sentence is right or wrong
• 6. Always monitor for student errors and write them down, especially during pairwork and groupwork when you are more free to do so
• 7. Write down your personal criteria for when you will correct errors
Copyright © 2008 Alex Case. Written by Alex Case for UsingEnglish.com
There are many problems associated with error correction in the EFL classroom. For example, every student wants to improve their accuracy but not every student likes being corrected. Another common problem is that students and teachers often disagree on the amount of error correction that there should be in class. As should be clear from these two examples, for most teachers today it is not a case of deciding whether there should be error correction or not, but the much more difficult task of getting the amount of error correction just right for each individual level, age group, nationality, personality type, learning style etc. To help with this, below is a list of signs that you might not have the right balance of error correction in your classes yet and some hints on how to adjust your lesson planning accordingly.
Possible signs that you are correcting too many student errors
• 1. Students are losing their fluency when they speak because they are scared of making mistakes
• 2. Students keep stopping and correcting themselves
• 3. The accuracy of their speaking is improving much more quickly than their fluency, use of complex forms, speaking strategies etc.
• 4. Many of the errors you correct are things that won't come up in their classes for a long time or even until the next level
• 5. Many of the errors you correct are things they knew but were just slips of the tongue
• 6. Most of the errors you correct are things they would have stopped making errors with anyway eventually once their subconscious had fully dealt with the language
• 7. The amount of time you spend on student errors is cutting into the time you can spend on new language
• 8. Students who think they have done well at a speaking or writing task get depressed when you do error correction and they realise how many errors they have made
• 9. Feedback after a speaking or writing task means mainly error correction, with a lack of suggesting more complex language, making encouraging comments etc.
• 10. Written work is a mess of red ink when it comes back to students
• 11. You give them more corrections in one class than they can possibly learn before the next class
• 12. You correct the same language over and over, even though students' accuracy hasn't improved at all since the first time you corrected them
• 13. Students show with their facial expressions or body language that they are not open to correction
• 14. You are correcting because you feel you must, even though you have no confidence that it will have an effect on accuracy with that group of students
• 15. Students don't note down most of the errors you correct
• 16. There are more than one or two error correction stages in one class
• 17. There are more error correction stages in your lesson plan than there are on the lesson plan in the teacher's book
• 18. Students never have a chance to speak or write without correction
• 19. You never leave an error uncorrected to see if it disappears naturally
• 20. Students who particularly lack fluency and/ or confidence don't get less correction than other students
• 21. You correct well over 20% of all student errors
• 22. You correct over an average of 20 errors per class
• 23. You usually correct the whole list of errors you collect during pairwork and groupwork
• 24. Most of the errors you correct are ones that we know persist naturally in all kinds of people learning English, such as third person s
• 25. Your only idea on how to improve student accuracy is to correct their errors
Possible signs that you aren't correcting enough student errors
• 1. Students complain about the lack of error correction
• 2. Students don't see the value of speaking activities or just see them as games
• 3. Students say accuracy is their main priority but you haven't adjusted the way you teach to take that into account
• 4. Student accuracy is not improving
• 5. Students' fluency or use of more complex language is improving much quicker than their accuracy
• 6. Accuracy is what is holding students back from reaching the next level or getting a higher score in an EFL exam
• 7. Students have particular difficulty with error correction tasks in the textbook, workbook, progress tests or EFL exams
• 8. Students keep on making the same mistakes and you have never tried correcting those ones
• 9. Students make many false friend errors
• 10. You never correct a piece of grammar that you haven't studied in class yet, even when students try to use it all the time
• 11. You usually skip the error correction stage that is suggested in the teachers' book
• 12. You usually correct errors when students are speaking but rarely use them in an error correction stage
• 13. You always assume an error will disappear naturally
• 14. You have never tried error correction games such as a Grammar Auction
• 15. Students who need more accuracy such as someone giving an important business presentation or writing a job application cover letter do not get more correction than usual classes
• 16. You correct well under 5% of all student errors
• 17. You correct under an average of 5 errors per class
• 18. You have never used an error correction code
• 19. You are standing around doing nothing instead of noting down student errors during pairwork and groupwork
• 20. You have been leaving a persistent error uncorrected without a conscious decision to monitor whether it naturally disappears or to tackle it another way.
• 21. You don't correct errors but have no alternative ideas on how to improve your students' accuracy
Other possible signs that you haven't got the balance right
• 1. The amount of error correction you do does not depend on the class
• 2. The amount of error correction you do has not changed over the years
• 3. You don't consider which errors could lead to miscommunication before correcting them
• 4. You never experiment with different amounts of correction
Ways of making sure you use the right amount of error correction
• 1. Think about all your classes and put them in order of how much error correction you think they need, from the class most in need of error correction (e.g. students stuck on the Intermediate plateau or ones who will be writing dissertations in English) at the top of the list to the class that least needs it (students who pause for a long time before they speak or students who had lots of grammar but little speaking practice in their previous English lessons) at the bottom of the list.
• 2. Write error correction stages on your lesson plan
• 3. Have a gap at the top of your lesson plan that says "error correction stage(s)"
• 4. Set a target for how many errors you will correct, how many error correction stages you will have and how much time you will spend on error correction and write it at the top of your lesson plan
• 5. Make a list of error correction techniques you would like to try, e.g. getting students to bet on whether each sentence is right or wrong
• 6. Always monitor for student errors and write them down, especially during pairwork and groupwork when you are more free to do so
• 7. Write down your personal criteria for when you will correct errors
Copyright © 2008 Alex Case. Written by Alex Case for UsingEnglish.com
CLASSROOM LANGUAGE
Classroom language when using the board
Useful classroom language for teachers while using the board
When you are using the board is a critical time to make sure you use lots of interesting and relevant language, as the students are often passive while the teacher is writing on the board and the teacher has their back to the class and so can't make eye contact with the students to get their attention and check that they are understanding. The fact you are doing something and speaking about it also means that students can understand what you are saying from the context and so should learn the language you are using by watching and listening.
Useful vocabulary connected to the whiteboard or blackboard
(A box of/ a piece of) chalk
Board marker/ board pen
Permanent marker (= the kind you mustn't use on the board!)
Blu tack/ sellotape
Reflection
Chalk dust
Board eraser/ board rubber
To erase/ to rub off/ to wipe off/ clean the board
Leave something on/ up
To run out
To wash off
Pen cap
Magnets
OHP (= overhead projector)
Projector
A/ one/ this/ that section/ part/ bit/ side
Top left corner/ bottom right corner (of the board)
The centre/ middle (of the board)
The top half/ bottom half (of the board)
The right hand side/ left hand side (of the board)
The right hand column/ left hand column/ middle column/ second column (from the left)
Before you start writing
"Okay, I'll write the answers for exercise B on the board (as we check them)"
"Shout out any adjectives you can think of, and I'll write them on the board"
"I'm only going to write the words I think are difficult, so please ask me if you have any other questions"
Explaining what you are writing
"The red pen is the meaning of the tense, the part written in black is the name of the tense, and the blue part is the typical mistake/ [If you always use the same colour code] What does the red part (always) mean? And the black part? Good!"
"The right hand column is the object, the middle column is the verb, and the column on the left is the subject"
"This symbol means 'not equal' and this symbol means 'opposite'"
"'Adj' stands for adjective"
"This upside down 'e' letter is called 'schwa'. It's the last sound in 'computer'"
"The part of the sentence in brackets is optional"
"The part in capital letters/ italics is the part of the sentence that needs to be corrected"
"The underlined part is the part that usually stays the same"
Eliciting things onto the board
"What's the next word?"
"Can anyone give me an example sentence?"
"What's this sound? Where is it on the phonemic chart poster?"
While you are at the board
"While I'm cleaning the board/ writing this up, can someone/ everyone take out your books/ move the tables back/ pass out these worksheets?"
Checking
"Can everyone read that? What about the people at the back?"
"Is my writing big enough?"
"Don't be shy. I know my handwriting is awful, so tell me if you can't read anything"
"Is that colour okay?"
"Please tell me if the reflection on the board is a problem"
"Do you know what this word means?"
"Can I wipe that off now?"
"Has everyone finished copying it down?"
"Have you finished with this part? Can I erase just this section?"
Adding extra information
"Let me give you an extra example."
"I'll write the phonemic symbols on to help you"
"Let me mark every syllable as well as the main stress. That should help"
Asking students to copy things down
"Can you copy (just) the table into your notebooks?"
"You don't have to copy everything down, just whatever you really think is important"
"The parts I have underlined/ circled will probably be in the exam, so I suggest you write those bits down"
"No translations! Copy the English explanations and examples from the board!"
"There's no need to copy this down, it's all in your books. (We'll have a look at it later)"
"I'll give you time to copy it all down later"
Referring to the board later
"We don't say 'He do', do we? Have a look at the examples on the board."
"You will probably have noticed that the answers to the first two questions are already on the board"
"The example sentences from earlier all refer to the pictures in your book. Match the pictures there with the sentences on the board"
"You can use the information on the board to fill in the table in your books/ to correct the sentences on the worksheet"
Dealing with people who can't see
"Can you see the board better when I turn this light off?"
"Do you think closing the blinds/ curtains might help?"
"Maybe if you sat nearer the front..."
"Is it better if I use a black pen instead of a red one?"
"Okay, I'll try to write bigger."
Drawing their attention to things you have written up when they weren't looking
"The answers to that exercise are written up on the board mixed up to help you."
"I've written the rules of the game up on the board"
"This bit up here is the instructions for the listening task. Please do this, and not the task in your books"
"Here are some useful phrases you can use while you are playing the game"
Dealing with other problems
"Whoops, (I) dropped my pen!"
"Oh dear, (I) didn't mean to erase that part!"
"Sorry, I've mixed up the two meanings of 'will'. This one is a prediction and this one is a spontaneous intention. Can you change that in your books?"
"I'll just check the spelling of that word in my dictionary."
"You're right! I always have problems spelling that word"
"Can someone go to the staffroom and get me some more pens/ chalk?"
"I've lost the board rubber/ pen cap. Did anyone see where I put it?"
"There doesn't seem to be a board eraser. Does anyone have any tissue I can borrow?"
"Some idiot has used permanent marker on the board. Sorry about his, but we'll just have to use the right hand side for today"
If students are using the board
"Don't worry; this kind of pen will wash right off"
"You've got pen on your fingers. Do you want to go to the bathroom and wash it off?"
"You've got chalk dust on the back of your skirt. There's just a little bit left. Can someone help her brush it off?"
"Sorry, can you write a little bit bigger? Some people at the back can't see."
"Can anyone help Janet spell that word?"
"Can you pass the pen to the next person?"
"A little bit higher/ lower/further to the right"
Classroom language to explain games that use the board
Game 1- Board Race
• "From here" [cutting between two people with two arms out straight in front of you and your palms together] "to here" [sweeping your right arm over the heads of the people to your right] "is team A. From here" [chopping in the same place] "to here" [sweeping your left arm over the heads of the people to your left] "is team B."
• [Draw a line down the centre of the board]. "I want team A to stand in a line in front of this half of the board" [standing facing team A in front of the half of the board on their left in the spot where you want the first person to stand, move both arms out in front of you to indicate the direction of the line they will stand in]. Okay? Understand? Right, stand up. Go! A bit more straight at the back. Good. Can the person at the front go a bit further forward? Great"
• "Now here" [standing in front of the half of the board on their left, facing team B] "I want...? That's right, team B, to stand in... Yes, a straight line. Got it? Okay, let's go."
• "So, this side of the board is... Good, team A" [write 'Team A' at the top of their half of the board] "And so this half must be...? You got it!" [write 'Team B' on the other half]
• "The blue pen is for team A" [give the board pen to the person at the front of the line] "and the green pen is for team B"
• "The first person writes one word at the top of the board" [pretend you are writing something there with their pen] "then passes the pen back" [mime actually passing the pen back over your shoulder to the next person in the line] "and then runs to the back of the line" [mime doing that] "Then the next person...? Good. The next person writes a word. And then? And then they pass. The word is 'pass'. Good. Pass the pen to the next person, and then? That's right. Run to the... What's the opposite of front? Behind? Good, that's also the opposite of front, but I need another word. What's this part of your body? That's right, back. So, the person runs to the... good, back of the line. And so on. Are you with me so far?"
• "So, can one person write many words?" [mime covering the whole board with writing] "That's right. No, they can't." [gesture for no, e.g. wagging finger or making cross sign with your arms] "How many words can they write? Good, one. The other people in the team can help you, for example by shouting out" [gesture for shouting, hands around wide open mouth]
• "Right. So the words I want you to write today are irregular simple past verbs. Can anyone give me an example? For example, give, mmmmmm, given. Gave! Good. Any more examples like that. Needed? Almost. That is the past, but because it's just plus ed we call it "regular simple past". Do you remember, we studied that last week? Yes, is it coming back to you now? Okay, so, give gave, see...? Saw, good. Any more? No, not wanted, that's regular. Went, perfect. Right, so I think you are ready. Have you got your pens? Ready, steady. Ah, wait for it! Go!"
Game 2- Blindfold joining on the board
On the whiteboard or blackboard the teacher has written some things that need to be joined up by lines, e.g. adjectives on the left and their opposites on the right or sentence beginning on the left and sentence endings on the right.
• "Can anyone tell me which one this word joins up with?" [hold the pen or chalk on the right of one of the words on the left] "Freezing? Here?" [start drawing a line that is going towards completely the wrong word] "No? Which direction? Up?" [move up, but too much in that direction] "No? Okay, what is this direction? Up, good. And what's the opposite of up, this way? Not quite, under in the opposite of on. What's the opposite of upstairs?" [mime your fingers walking up and down some stairs "Yup, downstairs. So, the opposite of up is...? Got it, down! So what's this way? This way? This way? This way?" [make a gesture for stop, e.g. open palm towards the students] "Stop! Good, so we've got up, down and stop so far. What about this way? Right, that's right! Right, that's right, ha ha! And the opposite is...? Good, left, but remember the difference between l and r that we studied before. What's the first letter of 'left'? L, good. So, flap your tongue. And the other word is, right, right! So, keep your tongue still. What's this?" [pointing at the light] "Light. L l l l l l light. And this direction? Rrrrrrrright. Like a dog growling. Great. So the four directions we learnt are up, down, left and ...? Right, that's right! Okay, I know, not funny. Sorry!"
• "Okay, any volunteers to join some of these words on the board together? No, okay. I'll close my eyes and spin round and the person who my finger is pointing at has to start. And that person is... Tomoko! Okay, Tomoko, stand up and come up here. Don't worry, everyone is going to help you. Okay, here's the pen. Do you want to start on this one here? Good. Make the pen touch the board next to that word and then just stop. Okay everyone, tell Tomoko which way to go to join that word to the correct one on the right. Left? No! Okay, shout out which way she should go. Right, right, I can't hear you! Good, good, got it! Let's give Tomoko a round of applause, clap clap clap clap."
• "Good, let's have a boy next. Alfonso? So, Alonso, I want you to do the same thing, but this time wearing... this!" [reveal one of those blindfolds that someone wears in a plane when they want to sleep, or anything else they can cover their eyes with such as a scarf] "Aha! Right, have you got it on properly? No looking! Good, take the pen."
• "Okay, everyone, what one do you want him to start with? This one. No? This one? Everyone agree? So, tell him how to get there. Up, up..."
• Etc.
Copyright © 2009 Alex Case. Written by Alex Case for UsingEnglish.com
Useful classroom language for teachers while using the board
When you are using the board is a critical time to make sure you use lots of interesting and relevant language, as the students are often passive while the teacher is writing on the board and the teacher has their back to the class and so can't make eye contact with the students to get their attention and check that they are understanding. The fact you are doing something and speaking about it also means that students can understand what you are saying from the context and so should learn the language you are using by watching and listening.
Useful vocabulary connected to the whiteboard or blackboard
(A box of/ a piece of) chalk
Board marker/ board pen
Permanent marker (= the kind you mustn't use on the board!)
Blu tack/ sellotape
Reflection
Chalk dust
Board eraser/ board rubber
To erase/ to rub off/ to wipe off/ clean the board
Leave something on/ up
To run out
To wash off
Pen cap
Magnets
OHP (= overhead projector)
Projector
A/ one/ this/ that section/ part/ bit/ side
Top left corner/ bottom right corner (of the board)
The centre/ middle (of the board)
The top half/ bottom half (of the board)
The right hand side/ left hand side (of the board)
The right hand column/ left hand column/ middle column/ second column (from the left)
Before you start writing
"Okay, I'll write the answers for exercise B on the board (as we check them)"
"Shout out any adjectives you can think of, and I'll write them on the board"
"I'm only going to write the words I think are difficult, so please ask me if you have any other questions"
Explaining what you are writing
"The red pen is the meaning of the tense, the part written in black is the name of the tense, and the blue part is the typical mistake/ [If you always use the same colour code] What does the red part (always) mean? And the black part? Good!"
"The right hand column is the object, the middle column is the verb, and the column on the left is the subject"
"This symbol means 'not equal' and this symbol means 'opposite'"
"'Adj' stands for adjective"
"This upside down 'e' letter is called 'schwa'. It's the last sound in 'computer'"
"The part of the sentence in brackets is optional"
"The part in capital letters/ italics is the part of the sentence that needs to be corrected"
"The underlined part is the part that usually stays the same"
Eliciting things onto the board
"What's the next word?"
"Can anyone give me an example sentence?"
"What's this sound? Where is it on the phonemic chart poster?"
While you are at the board
"While I'm cleaning the board/ writing this up, can someone/ everyone take out your books/ move the tables back/ pass out these worksheets?"
Checking
"Can everyone read that? What about the people at the back?"
"Is my writing big enough?"
"Don't be shy. I know my handwriting is awful, so tell me if you can't read anything"
"Is that colour okay?"
"Please tell me if the reflection on the board is a problem"
"Do you know what this word means?"
"Can I wipe that off now?"
"Has everyone finished copying it down?"
"Have you finished with this part? Can I erase just this section?"
Adding extra information
"Let me give you an extra example."
"I'll write the phonemic symbols on to help you"
"Let me mark every syllable as well as the main stress. That should help"
Asking students to copy things down
"Can you copy (just) the table into your notebooks?"
"You don't have to copy everything down, just whatever you really think is important"
"The parts I have underlined/ circled will probably be in the exam, so I suggest you write those bits down"
"No translations! Copy the English explanations and examples from the board!"
"There's no need to copy this down, it's all in your books. (We'll have a look at it later)"
"I'll give you time to copy it all down later"
Referring to the board later
"We don't say 'He do', do we? Have a look at the examples on the board."
"You will probably have noticed that the answers to the first two questions are already on the board"
"The example sentences from earlier all refer to the pictures in your book. Match the pictures there with the sentences on the board"
"You can use the information on the board to fill in the table in your books/ to correct the sentences on the worksheet"
Dealing with people who can't see
"Can you see the board better when I turn this light off?"
"Do you think closing the blinds/ curtains might help?"
"Maybe if you sat nearer the front..."
"Is it better if I use a black pen instead of a red one?"
"Okay, I'll try to write bigger."
Drawing their attention to things you have written up when they weren't looking
"The answers to that exercise are written up on the board mixed up to help you."
"I've written the rules of the game up on the board"
"This bit up here is the instructions for the listening task. Please do this, and not the task in your books"
"Here are some useful phrases you can use while you are playing the game"
Dealing with other problems
"Whoops, (I) dropped my pen!"
"Oh dear, (I) didn't mean to erase that part!"
"Sorry, I've mixed up the two meanings of 'will'. This one is a prediction and this one is a spontaneous intention. Can you change that in your books?"
"I'll just check the spelling of that word in my dictionary."
"You're right! I always have problems spelling that word"
"Can someone go to the staffroom and get me some more pens/ chalk?"
"I've lost the board rubber/ pen cap. Did anyone see where I put it?"
"There doesn't seem to be a board eraser. Does anyone have any tissue I can borrow?"
"Some idiot has used permanent marker on the board. Sorry about his, but we'll just have to use the right hand side for today"
If students are using the board
"Don't worry; this kind of pen will wash right off"
"You've got pen on your fingers. Do you want to go to the bathroom and wash it off?"
"You've got chalk dust on the back of your skirt. There's just a little bit left. Can someone help her brush it off?"
"Sorry, can you write a little bit bigger? Some people at the back can't see."
"Can anyone help Janet spell that word?"
"Can you pass the pen to the next person?"
"A little bit higher/ lower/further to the right"
Classroom language to explain games that use the board
Game 1- Board Race
• "From here" [cutting between two people with two arms out straight in front of you and your palms together] "to here" [sweeping your right arm over the heads of the people to your right] "is team A. From here" [chopping in the same place] "to here" [sweeping your left arm over the heads of the people to your left] "is team B."
• [Draw a line down the centre of the board]. "I want team A to stand in a line in front of this half of the board" [standing facing team A in front of the half of the board on their left in the spot where you want the first person to stand, move both arms out in front of you to indicate the direction of the line they will stand in]. Okay? Understand? Right, stand up. Go! A bit more straight at the back. Good. Can the person at the front go a bit further forward? Great"
• "Now here" [standing in front of the half of the board on their left, facing team B] "I want...? That's right, team B, to stand in... Yes, a straight line. Got it? Okay, let's go."
• "So, this side of the board is... Good, team A" [write 'Team A' at the top of their half of the board] "And so this half must be...? You got it!" [write 'Team B' on the other half]
• "The blue pen is for team A" [give the board pen to the person at the front of the line] "and the green pen is for team B"
• "The first person writes one word at the top of the board" [pretend you are writing something there with their pen] "then passes the pen back" [mime actually passing the pen back over your shoulder to the next person in the line] "and then runs to the back of the line" [mime doing that] "Then the next person...? Good. The next person writes a word. And then? And then they pass. The word is 'pass'. Good. Pass the pen to the next person, and then? That's right. Run to the... What's the opposite of front? Behind? Good, that's also the opposite of front, but I need another word. What's this part of your body? That's right, back. So, the person runs to the... good, back of the line. And so on. Are you with me so far?"
• "So, can one person write many words?" [mime covering the whole board with writing] "That's right. No, they can't." [gesture for no, e.g. wagging finger or making cross sign with your arms] "How many words can they write? Good, one. The other people in the team can help you, for example by shouting out" [gesture for shouting, hands around wide open mouth]
• "Right. So the words I want you to write today are irregular simple past verbs. Can anyone give me an example? For example, give, mmmmmm, given. Gave! Good. Any more examples like that. Needed? Almost. That is the past, but because it's just plus ed we call it "regular simple past". Do you remember, we studied that last week? Yes, is it coming back to you now? Okay, so, give gave, see...? Saw, good. Any more? No, not wanted, that's regular. Went, perfect. Right, so I think you are ready. Have you got your pens? Ready, steady. Ah, wait for it! Go!"
Game 2- Blindfold joining on the board
On the whiteboard or blackboard the teacher has written some things that need to be joined up by lines, e.g. adjectives on the left and their opposites on the right or sentence beginning on the left and sentence endings on the right.
• "Can anyone tell me which one this word joins up with?" [hold the pen or chalk on the right of one of the words on the left] "Freezing? Here?" [start drawing a line that is going towards completely the wrong word] "No? Which direction? Up?" [move up, but too much in that direction] "No? Okay, what is this direction? Up, good. And what's the opposite of up, this way? Not quite, under in the opposite of on. What's the opposite of upstairs?" [mime your fingers walking up and down some stairs "Yup, downstairs. So, the opposite of up is...? Got it, down! So what's this way? This way? This way? This way?" [make a gesture for stop, e.g. open palm towards the students] "Stop! Good, so we've got up, down and stop so far. What about this way? Right, that's right! Right, that's right, ha ha! And the opposite is...? Good, left, but remember the difference between l and r that we studied before. What's the first letter of 'left'? L, good. So, flap your tongue. And the other word is, right, right! So, keep your tongue still. What's this?" [pointing at the light] "Light. L l l l l l light. And this direction? Rrrrrrrright. Like a dog growling. Great. So the four directions we learnt are up, down, left and ...? Right, that's right! Okay, I know, not funny. Sorry!"
• "Okay, any volunteers to join some of these words on the board together? No, okay. I'll close my eyes and spin round and the person who my finger is pointing at has to start. And that person is... Tomoko! Okay, Tomoko, stand up and come up here. Don't worry, everyone is going to help you. Okay, here's the pen. Do you want to start on this one here? Good. Make the pen touch the board next to that word and then just stop. Okay everyone, tell Tomoko which way to go to join that word to the correct one on the right. Left? No! Okay, shout out which way she should go. Right, right, I can't hear you! Good, good, got it! Let's give Tomoko a round of applause, clap clap clap clap."
• "Good, let's have a boy next. Alfonso? So, Alonso, I want you to do the same thing, but this time wearing... this!" [reveal one of those blindfolds that someone wears in a plane when they want to sleep, or anything else they can cover their eyes with such as a scarf] "Aha! Right, have you got it on properly? No looking! Good, take the pen."
• "Okay, everyone, what one do you want him to start with? This one. No? This one? Everyone agree? So, tell him how to get there. Up, up..."
• Etc.
Copyright © 2009 Alex Case. Written by Alex Case for UsingEnglish.com
HISTORY AND GRAMMAR
Combining history topics and English grammar
Combining history topics and English grammar
These activities are suitable for English through History classes, CLIL classes, as supplementary activities when there are historical topics in an EFL textbook, or as grammar practice with classes who might find history an interesting topic.
Prepositions of position
• Not there, there!
Students read a text or listen to the teacher and mark the positions of people and equipment on a map of a battlefield. They then have to guess who won the battle or what happened next (e.g. what strategy Napoleon decided to take, which could also add prepositions of movement), and then read or listen and check. You can do something similar with drawing towns or areas of control of an empire on a map and guessing which was more successful.
• Coats of position
Students are given the elements of a coat of arms and have to tell the teacher or one person in their group where to put them to make the most impressive crest. They can then check with the original and see if they still think their design is better. Something similar can also be done with portraits with symbolic objects in them.
Prepositions of time
• At that point
Give students true sentences about history with the preposition taken out and replaced by a gap. Choose or write sentences where more than one preposition is grammatically possible but only one is true, e.g. "The Second World War ended _________ September 1945" (the correct preposition is "before", but "in" is grammatically possible). Students get one point if the preposition is grammatically possible and five points if it is the correct one. You can increase the fun by letting teams choose which one they want to answer next by how confident they are about it. This game can also be played as a Grammar Auction.
• Prepositions are your friends
Give students true sentences about history that are cut off after the preposition of time, e.g. "The 100 Years War really lasted for_______________" The endings of these sentences should be given mixed up somewhere else on the page. Choose sentences where each preposition of time is different, so that only one or two of the answers are grammatically possible each time. This will mean that students who are good at history and students who are good at English will have an equal chance of getting the answers right. This game can also be played as dominoes or pellmanism.
• Historical and prepositional errors
Take some sentences about history with prepositions of time in and change them all to make them incorrect, approximately half by making the grammar wrong, e.g. "People didn't used to have toilets in their homes in the 15th century", and half by making them factually wrong, e.g. "WWI started in 1915". Students get one point for spotting what kind of error each one is and 5 more points if they can correct the error. This game can also be played as a Grammar Auction, and could work with almost any other grammatical point.
Determiners
• Give me my article or give me death!
Students are given sentences with gaps that could be filled by different determiners grammatically but for which only one determiner gives the real historical answer, e.g. "Buddhism was ________ religion in India in 300 BC" ("a", because there were many religions)
Reference words (pronouns etc)
• Who me?
Students guess what is being referred to in sentences with "it", "he" etc. Give more and more sentences about the same thing until they guess.
• I don't think you mean me!
Give two sentences with the same reference word, e.g. "He lived in the 17th Century" and "He was a pilot", and students have to guess if the person is the same or different.
• Match me!
Students are given many sentences with words like "it" and "them", and try to match up the sentences that refer to the same person or thing and then guess what they are. They can then read or listen to texts about those people or things and check their answers.
Passives
• Was the king passive?
Give students key words from sentences about history that could be written in the passive but have had all the grammar taken out, e.g. "Sir Walter Raleigh/ execute/ King James". Some of the sentences should be given with the agent as the subject and some with the agent as the object. Students have to say or write full passive or active sentences depending on which one they think is correct, e.g. "Sir Walter Raleigh executed King James" or "Sir Walter Raleigh was executed by King James", and get points for correct grammar and factually correct sentences. You can make it more challenging by adding sentences that they have to make negative to make them accurate, e.g. "Sir Walter Raleigh/ execute/ Queen Elizabeth".
• Passive inventions
Give the students split sentences in the passive, e.g. "Paper was invented" "by the Chinese". Students have to put the sentence halves together. If you print out the activity as a table of two or four columns, it is also possible to organise it as a jigsaw by cutting out several cards together rather than cutting them out individually. Alternatively, it is possible to rearrange the pieces in the table before you photocopy it and cut it out and turn it into dominoes. There is an example of this activity in one of the Reward Resource Packs.
Reported speech
• You reported what??
Students convert the quotes they have been given into reported speech and the people listening have to convert it back into direct speech and then guess who said it and/ or what the topic was.
• Reporting what wasn't there
Students imagine a conversation from the past, either one that really happened like the Potsdam conference or an imaginary one like Alexander the Great meeting Napoleon. They imagine they are telling the story of what people said, and so instead of role-playing the conversation they tell the whole thing as reported speech.
• That's what I would've said
Explain the situation behind a famous quote and see if students can guess how the person responded (telling you their ideas in reported speech), and then reveal the real response.
• You will report what I have said
Students read predictions of the future (written in reported speech) and guess whether they came true or not.
Present Perfect and Simple Past
• Listen to my graph
The teacher dictates a graph from the past (e.g. the population of the world) without saying what it is, and the students draw the shape they are hearing and try to guess what it represents. The first time you describe the graph, only explain how it goes up and down and don't give any figures or explain what the axes of the graph mean. If they can't guess, you can give them more clues, e.g. those things or continuing the graph up to the present (in the Present Perfect). Students can then research other graphs about the past and dictate them to each other and guess in the same way.
Past Continuous
• Walking side by side through history
Students try to find things that were happening at the same time, e.g. people who were contemporaries, e.g. "Was Charlie Chaplin making films when Elvis Presley was releasing records?"
• A dangerous thing to be doing bluff
Give students sentences about things people were doing when something happened to them but with the details wrong, e.g. "Abraham Lincoln was watching a movie in a theatre when he was shot". They have to spot the wrong word or phrase for one point, and can then give the correct version for five points. The students can then challenge each other by changing correct sentences you have given them to make them wrong and then reading them out to be corrected.
• History lining up
Students are given a cut up version of one of those timelines that shows things happening in different parts of the world at the same time, e.g. the dynasties in the great civilisations. They listen to the teacher saying things like "The Ottomans were just arriving in Turkey when the Vikings were coming to an end" and try to put the slips of paper representing those things into the right places.
Past Perfect
• Life running backwards
Type out a series of historical events (e.g. the development of agriculture or the life of George Washington) in a single column table, with one event in each box. Cut it into cards and give one pack of cards to each group or 3 or 4 people. The group should spread the cards along the table face up. Give the answer key to one student, who will be the referee of the game. The first person to play should take two cards and say which thing happened first using the Past Perfect, e.g. "When the Egyptians created the Sphinx, they had already built the first pyramid". If they are right, they get one point and the cards stay on the table in that order. The next student should then take one more card and place it in that sequence of events, saying which thing it happened before or after using the Past Perfect again, e.g. "When Christianity arrived in Egypt the Sphinx had already been built". If the position in the sequence and the sentence are both correct, the card stays there and they score one point. Students continue taking turns until the whole sequence is complete, maybe with hints from the referee to help them if they get stuck.
• Past past sequences
As in the game above, give students cards that represent a sequence of events such as the important events in the reign of Henry VIII. The students should work together to try to put them in order. When they think that they have finished, give one person in the group the answer key. They should then tell their partners what is wrong about their sequence using the Past Perfect, e.g. "When he met Anne Boleyn, he hadn't divorced his wife yet".
Present Perfect Continuous
• How long??
Students try to guess how long humans have been doing certain things and are told if it is longer or shorter until one person gets it right, "People have been making art for 5,000 years" "No, much longer". For the grammatical use to be correct, the events will have to be things that have been done continuously since that time and are still going on now, i.e. not hunting mammoths.
Past Perfect Continuous
• Extinctions
This is similar to the game above, but talking about things that are finished. Students try to guess how long things had been going on for when they came to an end, e.g. "The Dodo been living with humans for 200 years when it became extinct" "No, much shorter" or "The Japanese had been living more or less isolated from the world for 150 years when Commodore Perry and the Black Ships arrived" "No, quite a bit longer".
Used to
• We used to be stupid
Students look at a picture or scene from a film and try to spot anachronisms and describe them with the structure "(At that time) they didn't use to..." There is a version of this game in the book Play Games with English. As such pictures can be difficult to find, you could also show a present picture or sequence in a film and get students to spot things that weren't the same in the time in the past that you are studying. As a warmer or extension, they can look at something that is supposed to be the future, pretend they are living at that time, and make disparaging comments about people's lack of ability in 2009 (or whatever year it is when you are reading this).
• I used to know what time it was
Students are given a selection of different time periods and maybe places and describe what people did with "used to" and "didn't use to" until their partners guess which one they are talking about. This can also be played as 20 Questions.
• People used to be people
Students are given a list of particular people from the past, such as Roman slaves and apprentices in the Middle Ages, and have to describe one person's habits until the other students guess which one it is.
Will for predictions
• No they won't!
Students roleplay being a fortune teller and a client in the time in the past that they are studying. The fortune teller has to tell the client what the world will be like in 2009 (or whatever year you are reading this), with the client responding with disbelief to statements like "People will fly to different countries in big metal tubes" but just interest to things like "Most people will wear black jackets and trousers to work". If the fortune teller says too many "unbelievable" things, the client can refuse to pay because they think the fortune teller is a fraud. You can also do the same roleplay with someone who has come back from the future.
Second conditional
• A nice old fashioned dictator
Students try to think of reasons why they might reintroduce rules from the past such as branding or prohibition of alcohol, e.g. "I would reintroduce child labour if all the schools were closed for some reason", and get one point if no one else in their group can think of a better reason for doing it.
Third and mixed conditionals
• Rather him than me
Students are given a list of people in history who had difficulties. One student chooses one of the people without telling anyone which one and then says how they would have done things if they had been in their place (e.g. because they think it was a better idea or because they aren't as brave and intelligent as that person was). The other students have to try and guess who they were talking about.
• Alternative realities
One student starts a sentence about what would have happened if something had happened differently in the past, e.g. "If Hitler had invaded England, the Americans would have joined the war earlier". The next student then continues the same story, e.g. "If the Americans had joined the war earlier, they wouldn't have been ready". Continue until the consequences reach the present day (e.g. "...we would be living in an American colony now") or the set number of turns has finished. This can also be done as a writing task, and can be made more fun by folding over previous people's sentences so that people don't know which story they are continuing (= Consequences/ Chain Writing).
• Testing alternative explanations
Students take two or three alternative explanations for what happened in the past and take them to their logical conclusions to see which one more matches reality and so which explanation is more likely. For example, two (of many) explanations for the disappearance of Neanderthals are that they interbred with our ancestors or that our ancestors committed some kind of genocide. For the first explanation, students could create chains of sentences like "If Neanderthals had interbred with our ancestors, some children would have looked very different from other children" "If those children had looked very different, they would have been rejected from the tribe" etc until they reach the present consequence and then do the same for the other explanation.
• Impossible conversations
Students are told to imagine being able to say just one thing to a person in history, e.g. some encouragement, praise or advice, e.g. "If I could have met Marilyn Monroe, I would have told her to give her pills to someone else to keep safe". Students vote on their favourite of other people's ideas, with the person with the most votes winning.
• What went wrong?
Ask students to make choices on their way to achieve something like becoming a knight or joining a guild. Tell them at the end if they were successful or not. They then have to make true sentences about what would have happened if they had made other choices, e.g. "If I had gone looking for dragons I wouldn't have become a knight, because there was really no such thing as dragons".
• Life was a trial
Students read about a real trial from the past, e.g. an obvious mistrial like Galileo's, and discuss what other questions they would have asked, what witnesses they would have called, and what verdict they would have come to depending on what people said.
Linking words
• Split and link
Give students split sentences about history where the second part starts with linking words like "because", "then" and "unless". Students then use their knowledge of history and grammar to link the sentences together.
Infinitives of purpose
• To confuse people studying history
Students try to guess why people did strange things in the past such as duck women into lakes on special chairs.
Modals
Modals of obligation
• No more strange laws
Students read about strange laws in the past. Possibly tasks include choosing which ones are true, putting the right modal into them (weren't allowed to, could, didn't have to etc) and matching them to the country or historical period. The same things can be done with typical parenting and household rules, with school rules, prison rules, poor house rules, rules for soldiers or sailors, or with rules in factories.
• The best time to be a slave
Students read descriptions of conditions and rules for a particular group of slaves, serfs, agricultural workers or factory workers and try to guess the period. Try to include some texts that are very recent but students might first of all think are in the past, e.g. modern day slavery or sweatshop factories in the developing world.
• Guess how classy I am
Students read conditions and rules for particular classes such as merchants or peasants and try to guess the period, country and/ or class. Alternatively, the teacher can read out the description line by line and the first person who guesses correctly gets 10 points (with minus 1 point for each wrong guess).
Modals of ability
• Incompetent ancestors
Students try to guess what people could and couldn't do at a particular point in history, e.g. "Neanderthals couldn't make metal tools" or "In the First World War, people could fly planes". They then get points for correct answers, or read or listen and check.
• Machines that can't
Students predict what machines in the past could and couldn't do, e.g. whether cars at the turn of the century could drive in reverse or not.
• He really could
Students are told they have to undergo a challenge such as a difficult journey and are given a choice of mythical creatures, real or fictional heroes, Greek gods etc that they can take with them on their journey. As they reach each challenge, if they can say which ability their person or monster had that could help them at that point, they can pass. This works particularly well if you set it up as a board game with dice and the challenges on particular squares on the board. Similar games can be played with students describing a race or fight between their characters (a bit like Pokemon).
• I would've told you not to
Students are given different stories of comically unsuccessful attempts in history, such as early attempts at flight. They tell their partners what that person could have done, should have done, shouldn't have done or needed to do until their partners guess what the attempt was about.
• He couldn't look this stupid!
Students mime an ability or lack of ability of Neanderthals and people try to guess what they are miming, e.g. walking or not speaking (maybe by having their mouth tightly closed or making a cross in front of their mouths with their hands)
Comparative adjectives
• People from history Top Trumps
Students are given cards with details about famous people from history such as their height, weight, length of reign, number of husbands and wives etc. The student whose turn it is tries to guess which thing is better on their card than on their partner's (meaning both people's cards at the front of their packs- they can't choose which card), e.g. "I think my person was richer than your person". They then compare the numbers on their card, and the person with a larger number wins the other person's card. Continue until one person has all the cards.
• The usual used to suspects
The students try to put pictures of the ancestors of modern humans in chronological order, then the teacher explains what is wrong using comparatives like "The third person's head should be bigger"
• Bring me up to date, please
On a computer graphics programme, students change a picture of very distant ancestor of humans to a more recent one using a written or spoken comparison. They can then look at the original picture to check.
• Bigger better faster more
Students are each given a period of history and have to argue why theirs was a better time to live in than their partner's, e.g. "Cities were less polluted then"
• Surprisingly primitive (Yes, we are)
Students try to make comparative sentences about Neanderthals and modern humans and then read or listen and check. There are some nice surprises for them in this, such as Neanderthals' bigger brains!
Copyright © 2009 Alex Case. Written by Alex Case for UsingEnglish.com
Activities and topics about the Middle Ages for ESL classes
Interesting activities and topics about the Middle Ages for ESL classes
Gargoyles
Students design gargoyles for modern buildings, e.g. metal ones for Guggenheim in Bilbao
Armour
Students design armour for a present policeman, solider, American football player or teacher in a rough school using medieval technology
Pilgrimage
Students play a board game on taking a pilgrimage, role-playing difficult situations such as meeting bandits and pirates
Humane inhumanity
Students roleplay a lord and someone who is trying to persuade him to improve the treatment of suspects and prisoners. They have to come to a compromise position, e.g. still using the rack but stopping when you have stretched someone by two centimetres
Just like a jester
Students redesign a jester's costume using modern technology like flashing lights and a jet pack
War of the Ages
Students imagine that a medieval army is being attacked by a small band of modern soldiers and have to think up the tactics and weapons the older army could use to win without using any technology that didn't exist at that time
Modern apprenticeships
Students draw posters advertise medieval apprenticeships they have designed for modern jobs, e.g. for supermarket shop assistant you sleep in the shop and only get bed and board for the first 7 years but after 20 years you can take over the whole supermarket, or for diving instructor you spend the first 5 years just polishing the equipment without even going underwater but by the end of your career you have a monopoly on the whole reef
Which witch?
Students draw posters on how to spot a witch in the modern world, e.g. a car that has spoilers that are actually little wings that means it can fly when no one is looking or a black automatic pencil that is really a wand
Which witch? 2
Students accuse each other of being witches, making up evidence
Trial by Playstation
Students design updated versions of trial by combat, e.g. trial by mental arithmetic or trial by Wii Fit
Other topics that students might find interesting
• Medieval torture and punishments, e.g. the rack
• Medieval foods
• Food that hadn't been "discovered" yet
• Banquets
• Medieval music and/ or dance
• Pilgrimages
• The lives of rich people and/ or poor people
• Famous bandits
• How difficult overland travel was
• Strange laws and rules, e.g. trial by combat
• Weapons and warfare
• Training to be a knight
• Fairytales set in that period
• The Crusades
• The story of King Arthur, and the possible truth behind it
• The story of Robin Hood, and the possible truth behind
• The Silk Road
• The plague, leprosy etc
• The Vikings
• Guilds
• The mixing of German and French to make the English language
• Medieval sports, e.g. jousting at tournaments and early forms of tennis and football
• How carpenters, glassblowers etc did their jobs
• The lives of apprentices
• Witches and witch trials
• Women's roles
• Religion and superstitions
• Monsters and mythical creatures
• Ghost stories
• The Mongol Empire, and what technology spread from Arab countries and China in that time
• Sumptuary laws
• Lives of the saints
Prehistory and ancient history for ESL classes
Interesting activities and topics about prehistory and ancient history for ESL classes
What on earth came out of the earth?
Students speculate on what archaeological finds they are given photos of were or were for, perhaps using past modals of probability and possibility
Digging
Students read texts about how to spot archaeological fakes and then choose the photos of the ones they think are real and bid for them. The team that bought the most valuable real antiques for the most money are the winners
Spotting and digging
Students read a description of an archaeological dig and try to identify the place as accurately as they can on a map (probably with some guesswork involved). The team who are closest to the exact spot win
Drawing into the past
Students read a description of where a now disappeared Ancient Roman building, e.g. the old city walls of London, was and try to draw it on a modern map. The class that are closest to the real outline win. This can also be done as a treasure hunt outside or in the school building, with an imaginary buried structure if there isn't a real one.
Ruined but not forgotten
Students are given a picture of a Greek or Roman ruin as it now stands and a description of how it used to look and have to draw the missing part. They can then look at an artist's impression or computer reconstruction and check. Something similar can be done with adding the colours to a now pure stone sculpture or building.
Not as Neanderthal as you'd think!
Students try to make comparative sentences about Neanderthals and modern humans and then read or listen and check. There are some nice surprises for them in this, such as Neanderthals' bigger brains!
I guess we're in Greece
Students guess which list of vocabulary links to which ancient or prehistoric period, e.g. javelin, Marathon and Sparta for Ancient Greece. This can be done as a word by word dictation, with the most obscure or not clearly tied to one period words first and students guessing as soon as they are sure but losing points if their guesses are wrong.
Toto, I don't think we're in Rome anymore
Students try to spot the vocabulary or descriptions of technology that don't match the period, e.g. toilets with flowing water, baths and central heating are okay for Ancient Rome but cannons aren't
Neanderthals couldn't play miming games
Students mime an ability or lack of ability of Neanderthals and their team try to guess what they are miming, e.g. walking or not speaking (maybe by having their mouth tightly closed or making a cross in front of their mouths with their hands)
The usual prehistory suspects
Students put pictures of the ancestors of modern humans in chronological order, then the teacher explains what is wrong, using sentences like "The third person's head should be bigger"
Bringing cavemen up to date
Using a computer graphics programme, students change a picture of a very distant ancestor of humans to a more recent one with information from a written or spoken comparison
Still cavemen after all these years
Students discuss how the world would be different now if Neanderthals hadn't died out
They don't make flint like they used to
Students write a story of a Neanderthal who came to the present day in a time machine and all the problems doing modern day things he or she had
Love through the ages
Students write a love story between a Neanderthal woman and a modern man
Slices of history
Cut pictures of people from different ages and places so that each piece is a horizontal slice of a person, e.g. just their legs or just their head and shoulders. Give each student one piece and they have to go around describing that they have and asking questions until they have found all the other bits of their picture.
Where's your humanity?
Students roleplay a Neanderthal trying to persuade the chief of a human tribe to help them survive
What would the Romans ever do for us?
One student is a Roman general and the other is a "barbarian" chief. The chief has to try and persuade the Roman not to invade and the Roman general has to try and persuade the chief that they'd have a better life if they just joined the Empire anyway
Peace in our ancient time
One student is a Roman official and the other student is a representative of a warlike people on their border such as the Germans or the Picts. They have to negotiate a peace contract and then write it up in an official looking way.
How human are humans?
Students imagine that a village of Neanderthals has just been found living somewhere and debate whether they should be given full human rights or not
Less blood, more sports
Students try to think of replacements for people being killed in public in gladiator fights and Christians being thrown to the lions, and then roleplay trying to convince the Roman Emperor that it is a good idea
Other topics that could be interesting for students:
• Roman toilets
• Roman baths
• The different theories on why Neanderthals disappeared
• The differences between Neanderthals and modern man
• How Egyptians made mummies (pulling their brains out of their noses with a hook!)
• What hieroglyphs meant
• Stories of the Greek and Roman gods
• Stories of monsters and mythical creatures from those times
• The movie "300" and the real history behind it
• The movie "Gladiator" and the real history behind it
• The movie "Troy" and the real history behind it
• The Disney cartoon "Hercules" and the real history and "real myths" behind it
• Weird Roman foods
• The original Olympic games (competing in the nude etc)
• Trade in ancient times (Cornish tin going to Greece etc)
• The evolution of alphabets
• The story of Alexander the Great
• The story of Cleopatra
Combining history topics and English grammar
These activities are suitable for English through History classes, CLIL classes, as supplementary activities when there are historical topics in an EFL textbook, or as grammar practice with classes who might find history an interesting topic.
Prepositions of position
• Not there, there!
Students read a text or listen to the teacher and mark the positions of people and equipment on a map of a battlefield. They then have to guess who won the battle or what happened next (e.g. what strategy Napoleon decided to take, which could also add prepositions of movement), and then read or listen and check. You can do something similar with drawing towns or areas of control of an empire on a map and guessing which was more successful.
• Coats of position
Students are given the elements of a coat of arms and have to tell the teacher or one person in their group where to put them to make the most impressive crest. They can then check with the original and see if they still think their design is better. Something similar can also be done with portraits with symbolic objects in them.
Prepositions of time
• At that point
Give students true sentences about history with the preposition taken out and replaced by a gap. Choose or write sentences where more than one preposition is grammatically possible but only one is true, e.g. "The Second World War ended _________ September 1945" (the correct preposition is "before", but "in" is grammatically possible). Students get one point if the preposition is grammatically possible and five points if it is the correct one. You can increase the fun by letting teams choose which one they want to answer next by how confident they are about it. This game can also be played as a Grammar Auction.
• Prepositions are your friends
Give students true sentences about history that are cut off after the preposition of time, e.g. "The 100 Years War really lasted for_______________" The endings of these sentences should be given mixed up somewhere else on the page. Choose sentences where each preposition of time is different, so that only one or two of the answers are grammatically possible each time. This will mean that students who are good at history and students who are good at English will have an equal chance of getting the answers right. This game can also be played as dominoes or pellmanism.
• Historical and prepositional errors
Take some sentences about history with prepositions of time in and change them all to make them incorrect, approximately half by making the grammar wrong, e.g. "People didn't used to have toilets in their homes in the 15th century", and half by making them factually wrong, e.g. "WWI started in 1915". Students get one point for spotting what kind of error each one is and 5 more points if they can correct the error. This game can also be played as a Grammar Auction, and could work with almost any other grammatical point.
Determiners
• Give me my article or give me death!
Students are given sentences with gaps that could be filled by different determiners grammatically but for which only one determiner gives the real historical answer, e.g. "Buddhism was ________ religion in India in 300 BC" ("a", because there were many religions)
Reference words (pronouns etc)
• Who me?
Students guess what is being referred to in sentences with "it", "he" etc. Give more and more sentences about the same thing until they guess.
• I don't think you mean me!
Give two sentences with the same reference word, e.g. "He lived in the 17th Century" and "He was a pilot", and students have to guess if the person is the same or different.
• Match me!
Students are given many sentences with words like "it" and "them", and try to match up the sentences that refer to the same person or thing and then guess what they are. They can then read or listen to texts about those people or things and check their answers.
Passives
• Was the king passive?
Give students key words from sentences about history that could be written in the passive but have had all the grammar taken out, e.g. "Sir Walter Raleigh/ execute/ King James". Some of the sentences should be given with the agent as the subject and some with the agent as the object. Students have to say or write full passive or active sentences depending on which one they think is correct, e.g. "Sir Walter Raleigh executed King James" or "Sir Walter Raleigh was executed by King James", and get points for correct grammar and factually correct sentences. You can make it more challenging by adding sentences that they have to make negative to make them accurate, e.g. "Sir Walter Raleigh/ execute/ Queen Elizabeth".
• Passive inventions
Give the students split sentences in the passive, e.g. "Paper was invented" "by the Chinese". Students have to put the sentence halves together. If you print out the activity as a table of two or four columns, it is also possible to organise it as a jigsaw by cutting out several cards together rather than cutting them out individually. Alternatively, it is possible to rearrange the pieces in the table before you photocopy it and cut it out and turn it into dominoes. There is an example of this activity in one of the Reward Resource Packs.
Reported speech
• You reported what??
Students convert the quotes they have been given into reported speech and the people listening have to convert it back into direct speech and then guess who said it and/ or what the topic was.
• Reporting what wasn't there
Students imagine a conversation from the past, either one that really happened like the Potsdam conference or an imaginary one like Alexander the Great meeting Napoleon. They imagine they are telling the story of what people said, and so instead of role-playing the conversation they tell the whole thing as reported speech.
• That's what I would've said
Explain the situation behind a famous quote and see if students can guess how the person responded (telling you their ideas in reported speech), and then reveal the real response.
• You will report what I have said
Students read predictions of the future (written in reported speech) and guess whether they came true or not.
Present Perfect and Simple Past
• Listen to my graph
The teacher dictates a graph from the past (e.g. the population of the world) without saying what it is, and the students draw the shape they are hearing and try to guess what it represents. The first time you describe the graph, only explain how it goes up and down and don't give any figures or explain what the axes of the graph mean. If they can't guess, you can give them more clues, e.g. those things or continuing the graph up to the present (in the Present Perfect). Students can then research other graphs about the past and dictate them to each other and guess in the same way.
Past Continuous
• Walking side by side through history
Students try to find things that were happening at the same time, e.g. people who were contemporaries, e.g. "Was Charlie Chaplin making films when Elvis Presley was releasing records?"
• A dangerous thing to be doing bluff
Give students sentences about things people were doing when something happened to them but with the details wrong, e.g. "Abraham Lincoln was watching a movie in a theatre when he was shot". They have to spot the wrong word or phrase for one point, and can then give the correct version for five points. The students can then challenge each other by changing correct sentences you have given them to make them wrong and then reading them out to be corrected.
• History lining up
Students are given a cut up version of one of those timelines that shows things happening in different parts of the world at the same time, e.g. the dynasties in the great civilisations. They listen to the teacher saying things like "The Ottomans were just arriving in Turkey when the Vikings were coming to an end" and try to put the slips of paper representing those things into the right places.
Past Perfect
• Life running backwards
Type out a series of historical events (e.g. the development of agriculture or the life of George Washington) in a single column table, with one event in each box. Cut it into cards and give one pack of cards to each group or 3 or 4 people. The group should spread the cards along the table face up. Give the answer key to one student, who will be the referee of the game. The first person to play should take two cards and say which thing happened first using the Past Perfect, e.g. "When the Egyptians created the Sphinx, they had already built the first pyramid". If they are right, they get one point and the cards stay on the table in that order. The next student should then take one more card and place it in that sequence of events, saying which thing it happened before or after using the Past Perfect again, e.g. "When Christianity arrived in Egypt the Sphinx had already been built". If the position in the sequence and the sentence are both correct, the card stays there and they score one point. Students continue taking turns until the whole sequence is complete, maybe with hints from the referee to help them if they get stuck.
• Past past sequences
As in the game above, give students cards that represent a sequence of events such as the important events in the reign of Henry VIII. The students should work together to try to put them in order. When they think that they have finished, give one person in the group the answer key. They should then tell their partners what is wrong about their sequence using the Past Perfect, e.g. "When he met Anne Boleyn, he hadn't divorced his wife yet".
Present Perfect Continuous
• How long??
Students try to guess how long humans have been doing certain things and are told if it is longer or shorter until one person gets it right, "People have been making art for 5,000 years" "No, much longer". For the grammatical use to be correct, the events will have to be things that have been done continuously since that time and are still going on now, i.e. not hunting mammoths.
Past Perfect Continuous
• Extinctions
This is similar to the game above, but talking about things that are finished. Students try to guess how long things had been going on for when they came to an end, e.g. "The Dodo been living with humans for 200 years when it became extinct" "No, much shorter" or "The Japanese had been living more or less isolated from the world for 150 years when Commodore Perry and the Black Ships arrived" "No, quite a bit longer".
Used to
• We used to be stupid
Students look at a picture or scene from a film and try to spot anachronisms and describe them with the structure "(At that time) they didn't use to..." There is a version of this game in the book Play Games with English. As such pictures can be difficult to find, you could also show a present picture or sequence in a film and get students to spot things that weren't the same in the time in the past that you are studying. As a warmer or extension, they can look at something that is supposed to be the future, pretend they are living at that time, and make disparaging comments about people's lack of ability in 2009 (or whatever year it is when you are reading this).
• I used to know what time it was
Students are given a selection of different time periods and maybe places and describe what people did with "used to" and "didn't use to" until their partners guess which one they are talking about. This can also be played as 20 Questions.
• People used to be people
Students are given a list of particular people from the past, such as Roman slaves and apprentices in the Middle Ages, and have to describe one person's habits until the other students guess which one it is.
Will for predictions
• No they won't!
Students roleplay being a fortune teller and a client in the time in the past that they are studying. The fortune teller has to tell the client what the world will be like in 2009 (or whatever year you are reading this), with the client responding with disbelief to statements like "People will fly to different countries in big metal tubes" but just interest to things like "Most people will wear black jackets and trousers to work". If the fortune teller says too many "unbelievable" things, the client can refuse to pay because they think the fortune teller is a fraud. You can also do the same roleplay with someone who has come back from the future.
Second conditional
• A nice old fashioned dictator
Students try to think of reasons why they might reintroduce rules from the past such as branding or prohibition of alcohol, e.g. "I would reintroduce child labour if all the schools were closed for some reason", and get one point if no one else in their group can think of a better reason for doing it.
Third and mixed conditionals
• Rather him than me
Students are given a list of people in history who had difficulties. One student chooses one of the people without telling anyone which one and then says how they would have done things if they had been in their place (e.g. because they think it was a better idea or because they aren't as brave and intelligent as that person was). The other students have to try and guess who they were talking about.
• Alternative realities
One student starts a sentence about what would have happened if something had happened differently in the past, e.g. "If Hitler had invaded England, the Americans would have joined the war earlier". The next student then continues the same story, e.g. "If the Americans had joined the war earlier, they wouldn't have been ready". Continue until the consequences reach the present day (e.g. "...we would be living in an American colony now") or the set number of turns has finished. This can also be done as a writing task, and can be made more fun by folding over previous people's sentences so that people don't know which story they are continuing (= Consequences/ Chain Writing).
• Testing alternative explanations
Students take two or three alternative explanations for what happened in the past and take them to their logical conclusions to see which one more matches reality and so which explanation is more likely. For example, two (of many) explanations for the disappearance of Neanderthals are that they interbred with our ancestors or that our ancestors committed some kind of genocide. For the first explanation, students could create chains of sentences like "If Neanderthals had interbred with our ancestors, some children would have looked very different from other children" "If those children had looked very different, they would have been rejected from the tribe" etc until they reach the present consequence and then do the same for the other explanation.
• Impossible conversations
Students are told to imagine being able to say just one thing to a person in history, e.g. some encouragement, praise or advice, e.g. "If I could have met Marilyn Monroe, I would have told her to give her pills to someone else to keep safe". Students vote on their favourite of other people's ideas, with the person with the most votes winning.
• What went wrong?
Ask students to make choices on their way to achieve something like becoming a knight or joining a guild. Tell them at the end if they were successful or not. They then have to make true sentences about what would have happened if they had made other choices, e.g. "If I had gone looking for dragons I wouldn't have become a knight, because there was really no such thing as dragons".
• Life was a trial
Students read about a real trial from the past, e.g. an obvious mistrial like Galileo's, and discuss what other questions they would have asked, what witnesses they would have called, and what verdict they would have come to depending on what people said.
Linking words
• Split and link
Give students split sentences about history where the second part starts with linking words like "because", "then" and "unless". Students then use their knowledge of history and grammar to link the sentences together.
Infinitives of purpose
• To confuse people studying history
Students try to guess why people did strange things in the past such as duck women into lakes on special chairs.
Modals
Modals of obligation
• No more strange laws
Students read about strange laws in the past. Possibly tasks include choosing which ones are true, putting the right modal into them (weren't allowed to, could, didn't have to etc) and matching them to the country or historical period. The same things can be done with typical parenting and household rules, with school rules, prison rules, poor house rules, rules for soldiers or sailors, or with rules in factories.
• The best time to be a slave
Students read descriptions of conditions and rules for a particular group of slaves, serfs, agricultural workers or factory workers and try to guess the period. Try to include some texts that are very recent but students might first of all think are in the past, e.g. modern day slavery or sweatshop factories in the developing world.
• Guess how classy I am
Students read conditions and rules for particular classes such as merchants or peasants and try to guess the period, country and/ or class. Alternatively, the teacher can read out the description line by line and the first person who guesses correctly gets 10 points (with minus 1 point for each wrong guess).
Modals of ability
• Incompetent ancestors
Students try to guess what people could and couldn't do at a particular point in history, e.g. "Neanderthals couldn't make metal tools" or "In the First World War, people could fly planes". They then get points for correct answers, or read or listen and check.
• Machines that can't
Students predict what machines in the past could and couldn't do, e.g. whether cars at the turn of the century could drive in reverse or not.
• He really could
Students are told they have to undergo a challenge such as a difficult journey and are given a choice of mythical creatures, real or fictional heroes, Greek gods etc that they can take with them on their journey. As they reach each challenge, if they can say which ability their person or monster had that could help them at that point, they can pass. This works particularly well if you set it up as a board game with dice and the challenges on particular squares on the board. Similar games can be played with students describing a race or fight between their characters (a bit like Pokemon).
• I would've told you not to
Students are given different stories of comically unsuccessful attempts in history, such as early attempts at flight. They tell their partners what that person could have done, should have done, shouldn't have done or needed to do until their partners guess what the attempt was about.
• He couldn't look this stupid!
Students mime an ability or lack of ability of Neanderthals and people try to guess what they are miming, e.g. walking or not speaking (maybe by having their mouth tightly closed or making a cross in front of their mouths with their hands)
Comparative adjectives
• People from history Top Trumps
Students are given cards with details about famous people from history such as their height, weight, length of reign, number of husbands and wives etc. The student whose turn it is tries to guess which thing is better on their card than on their partner's (meaning both people's cards at the front of their packs- they can't choose which card), e.g. "I think my person was richer than your person". They then compare the numbers on their card, and the person with a larger number wins the other person's card. Continue until one person has all the cards.
• The usual used to suspects
The students try to put pictures of the ancestors of modern humans in chronological order, then the teacher explains what is wrong using comparatives like "The third person's head should be bigger"
• Bring me up to date, please
On a computer graphics programme, students change a picture of very distant ancestor of humans to a more recent one using a written or spoken comparison. They can then look at the original picture to check.
• Bigger better faster more
Students are each given a period of history and have to argue why theirs was a better time to live in than their partner's, e.g. "Cities were less polluted then"
• Surprisingly primitive (Yes, we are)
Students try to make comparative sentences about Neanderthals and modern humans and then read or listen and check. There are some nice surprises for them in this, such as Neanderthals' bigger brains!
Copyright © 2009 Alex Case. Written by Alex Case for UsingEnglish.com
Activities and topics about the Middle Ages for ESL classes
Interesting activities and topics about the Middle Ages for ESL classes
Gargoyles
Students design gargoyles for modern buildings, e.g. metal ones for Guggenheim in Bilbao
Armour
Students design armour for a present policeman, solider, American football player or teacher in a rough school using medieval technology
Pilgrimage
Students play a board game on taking a pilgrimage, role-playing difficult situations such as meeting bandits and pirates
Humane inhumanity
Students roleplay a lord and someone who is trying to persuade him to improve the treatment of suspects and prisoners. They have to come to a compromise position, e.g. still using the rack but stopping when you have stretched someone by two centimetres
Just like a jester
Students redesign a jester's costume using modern technology like flashing lights and a jet pack
War of the Ages
Students imagine that a medieval army is being attacked by a small band of modern soldiers and have to think up the tactics and weapons the older army could use to win without using any technology that didn't exist at that time
Modern apprenticeships
Students draw posters advertise medieval apprenticeships they have designed for modern jobs, e.g. for supermarket shop assistant you sleep in the shop and only get bed and board for the first 7 years but after 20 years you can take over the whole supermarket, or for diving instructor you spend the first 5 years just polishing the equipment without even going underwater but by the end of your career you have a monopoly on the whole reef
Which witch?
Students draw posters on how to spot a witch in the modern world, e.g. a car that has spoilers that are actually little wings that means it can fly when no one is looking or a black automatic pencil that is really a wand
Which witch? 2
Students accuse each other of being witches, making up evidence
Trial by Playstation
Students design updated versions of trial by combat, e.g. trial by mental arithmetic or trial by Wii Fit
Other topics that students might find interesting
• Medieval torture and punishments, e.g. the rack
• Medieval foods
• Food that hadn't been "discovered" yet
• Banquets
• Medieval music and/ or dance
• Pilgrimages
• The lives of rich people and/ or poor people
• Famous bandits
• How difficult overland travel was
• Strange laws and rules, e.g. trial by combat
• Weapons and warfare
• Training to be a knight
• Fairytales set in that period
• The Crusades
• The story of King Arthur, and the possible truth behind it
• The story of Robin Hood, and the possible truth behind
• The Silk Road
• The plague, leprosy etc
• The Vikings
• Guilds
• The mixing of German and French to make the English language
• Medieval sports, e.g. jousting at tournaments and early forms of tennis and football
• How carpenters, glassblowers etc did their jobs
• The lives of apprentices
• Witches and witch trials
• Women's roles
• Religion and superstitions
• Monsters and mythical creatures
• Ghost stories
• The Mongol Empire, and what technology spread from Arab countries and China in that time
• Sumptuary laws
• Lives of the saints
Prehistory and ancient history for ESL classes
Interesting activities and topics about prehistory and ancient history for ESL classes
What on earth came out of the earth?
Students speculate on what archaeological finds they are given photos of were or were for, perhaps using past modals of probability and possibility
Digging
Students read texts about how to spot archaeological fakes and then choose the photos of the ones they think are real and bid for them. The team that bought the most valuable real antiques for the most money are the winners
Spotting and digging
Students read a description of an archaeological dig and try to identify the place as accurately as they can on a map (probably with some guesswork involved). The team who are closest to the exact spot win
Drawing into the past
Students read a description of where a now disappeared Ancient Roman building, e.g. the old city walls of London, was and try to draw it on a modern map. The class that are closest to the real outline win. This can also be done as a treasure hunt outside or in the school building, with an imaginary buried structure if there isn't a real one.
Ruined but not forgotten
Students are given a picture of a Greek or Roman ruin as it now stands and a description of how it used to look and have to draw the missing part. They can then look at an artist's impression or computer reconstruction and check. Something similar can be done with adding the colours to a now pure stone sculpture or building.
Not as Neanderthal as you'd think!
Students try to make comparative sentences about Neanderthals and modern humans and then read or listen and check. There are some nice surprises for them in this, such as Neanderthals' bigger brains!
I guess we're in Greece
Students guess which list of vocabulary links to which ancient or prehistoric period, e.g. javelin, Marathon and Sparta for Ancient Greece. This can be done as a word by word dictation, with the most obscure or not clearly tied to one period words first and students guessing as soon as they are sure but losing points if their guesses are wrong.
Toto, I don't think we're in Rome anymore
Students try to spot the vocabulary or descriptions of technology that don't match the period, e.g. toilets with flowing water, baths and central heating are okay for Ancient Rome but cannons aren't
Neanderthals couldn't play miming games
Students mime an ability or lack of ability of Neanderthals and their team try to guess what they are miming, e.g. walking or not speaking (maybe by having their mouth tightly closed or making a cross in front of their mouths with their hands)
The usual prehistory suspects
Students put pictures of the ancestors of modern humans in chronological order, then the teacher explains what is wrong, using sentences like "The third person's head should be bigger"
Bringing cavemen up to date
Using a computer graphics programme, students change a picture of a very distant ancestor of humans to a more recent one with information from a written or spoken comparison
Still cavemen after all these years
Students discuss how the world would be different now if Neanderthals hadn't died out
They don't make flint like they used to
Students write a story of a Neanderthal who came to the present day in a time machine and all the problems doing modern day things he or she had
Love through the ages
Students write a love story between a Neanderthal woman and a modern man
Slices of history
Cut pictures of people from different ages and places so that each piece is a horizontal slice of a person, e.g. just their legs or just their head and shoulders. Give each student one piece and they have to go around describing that they have and asking questions until they have found all the other bits of their picture.
Where's your humanity?
Students roleplay a Neanderthal trying to persuade the chief of a human tribe to help them survive
What would the Romans ever do for us?
One student is a Roman general and the other is a "barbarian" chief. The chief has to try and persuade the Roman not to invade and the Roman general has to try and persuade the chief that they'd have a better life if they just joined the Empire anyway
Peace in our ancient time
One student is a Roman official and the other student is a representative of a warlike people on their border such as the Germans or the Picts. They have to negotiate a peace contract and then write it up in an official looking way.
How human are humans?
Students imagine that a village of Neanderthals has just been found living somewhere and debate whether they should be given full human rights or not
Less blood, more sports
Students try to think of replacements for people being killed in public in gladiator fights and Christians being thrown to the lions, and then roleplay trying to convince the Roman Emperor that it is a good idea
Other topics that could be interesting for students:
• Roman toilets
• Roman baths
• The different theories on why Neanderthals disappeared
• The differences between Neanderthals and modern man
• How Egyptians made mummies (pulling their brains out of their noses with a hook!)
• What hieroglyphs meant
• Stories of the Greek and Roman gods
• Stories of monsters and mythical creatures from those times
• The movie "300" and the real history behind it
• The movie "Gladiator" and the real history behind it
• The movie "Troy" and the real history behind it
• The Disney cartoon "Hercules" and the real history and "real myths" behind it
• Weird Roman foods
• The original Olympic games (competing in the nude etc)
• Trade in ancient times (Cornish tin going to Greece etc)
• The evolution of alphabets
• The story of Alexander the Great
• The story of Cleopatra
CURRICULUM VITAE
RESUMES, CVs & COVERING LETTERS
EnglishClub.com
Summary
1 Introduction
When you apply for a job, most employers ask for 2 important documents:
1. A CV or resume
2. A covering letter
Your CV and letter are usually the first impression that an employer has of you. And because an employer may have hundreds of job applications to consider, you have about 15 seconds to make sure that first impression is a good one.
WHY YOU NEED A GOOD CV
Your CV's job is to get you an interview. To do this, it must:
• attract
• inform
• persuade
• sell
A good CV is one of your most important tools in the search for employment.
WHAT A CV OR RESUME IS NOT
A CV is not a book.
A CV is not an obstacle.
A CV is not a tombstone.
A CV is not boring or difficult to read.
A CV is not your life story or autobiography.
A CV is not a catalogue of your personal opinions.
A CV is not a list of problems with past employers.
WHAT A CV OR RESUME IS
A CV is short.
A CV is seductive.
A CV is an important document.
A CV answers the question "Why?"
A CV is interesting and easy to read.
A CV is a list of benefits for the employer.
A CV is as much about the employer as about you.
WHY YOU NEED A GOOD COVERING LETTER
Your covering letter must sell your CV.
Before looking at your CV, an employer usually reads your covering letter. If it is badly-written, or untidy, or difficult to read, your CV will probably go into the nearest bin. If it is well-written, attractive, easy to read and persuasive, the employer will turn to your CV.
2 Your Covering Letter
Your covering letter is a sales letter.
When you send your CV to apply for a position, you should also include a short letter. This letter is called a covering letter or cover letter. A covering letter sent with a CV/resume is known as a letter of application.
Your letter of application is a sales letter. The product it is selling is your CV.
CONTENT
The reader of your letter does not want to waste time on unnecessary details. You should therefore design your letter to be easy to read. It should be short, concise and relevant. It should not be too formal or complicated. Your letter should:
1. confirm that you are applying for the job
2. say where you learned about the job
3. say why you want the job
4. say why you would be a benefit to the company
5. request an interview
FORMAT
Here is the typical format for your covering letter:
1. Your address - telephone - fax - email
Put your address and telephone number, fax and/or email address at the top in the centre OR on the right.
2. Date
3. Destination name and address
This is the name of the person to whom you are writing, his/her job title, the company name and address. This should be the same as on the envelope.
4. Reference
Any reference number or code given by the employer in their advertisement or previous letter.
5. Salutation (Dear . . .)
A letter in English always begins with "Dear…", even if you do not know the person.
6. Subject
The subject of your letter, which for a job application is normally the Job Title (for example "Sales Manager").
7. Body
The letter itself, in 3 to 6 paragraphs
8. Ending (Yours . . .)
Yours sincerely, Yours faithfully, Yours truly
9. Your signature
10. Your name
Your first name and surname, for example: Mary Smith, James Kennedy
11. (Your title)
If you are using company headed paper, write your Job Title here. If you are using personal paper, write nothing here.
12. Enclosures
Indicate that one or more documents are enclosed by writing "Enc: 2" for two documents, for example.
In the English-speaking world, an employer would usually prefer to receive a letter of application that is word-processed (that is, produced on a computer and printed). A hand-written letter could be considered unprofessional.
3 Your CV or Resume
Your CV must get you an interview.
CV stands for the Latin words Curriculum Vitae, which mean: the course of one's life. A CV is also called a résumé, resumé or resume (especially in American English). Your CV is a summary of your professional/academic life until now, and it usually concentrates on your personal details, education and work experience.
Your CV's job is very simple: to get you a job interview.
To do this, your CV must be:
• clear
• well-organised
• easy to read
• concise
• relevant to the job offered
CONTENT
You should include everything that is relevant to your employment or career and nothing that is irrelevant. There are usually 5 general headings of information to include:
Personal details: name, address, email and telephone number (and sometimes nationality, age/date of birth and marital status)
Objective: a headline that summarises the job opportunity you are seeking
Work experience: your previous employment in reverse chronological order - with most detail for your present or most recent job
Education: details of secondary and university education - including the establishments and qualifications
Personal interests: demonstrating that you are a balanced, responsible member of society with an interesting life outside work
Sometimes, you may need to give additional information for a particular job or because you have special qualifications.
FORMAT
Word-processed or hand-written?
Your CV should be word-processed, for several reasons. Firstly, in the English-speaking world a hand-written CV would be considered unprofessional. Secondly, many recruitment agencies and some employers like to electronically scan CVs. Thirdly, it will be much easier for you to update and modify your CV to target it to a specific employer.
How many pages?
It is usually best to limit your CV to a maximum of 2 pages. You can usually put everything you need to get an interview on 1 or 2 pages. If you put more than this, the employer has too much to read. In addition, if you put everything in the CV, you will have nothing new to say at the interview.
What size paper?
There are basically 2 standard paper sizes, depending on the part of the world:
• A4 (297 x 210 millimetres) - used largely in Europe, including the United Kingdom
• US Letter Size (8 1/2 x 11 inches) - used largely in the United States
What quality paper?
Remember that several people may read and handle your CV. It will also be an important document during your interview. Choose a good quality, fairly heavy paper so that it will remain in good condition at all times.
What sort of typeface?
Choose an easy-to-read typeface. Typefaces are designed for specific purposes. The standard typefaces Times New Roman or Arial are perfect for your CV. Not too small, not too large! A size of 10 or 12 point would be appropriate.
DO NOT USE ALL CAPITALS LIKE THIS! CAPITALS ARE VERY DIFFICULT TO READ AND MAY BE CONSIDERED IMPOLITE IN THE ENGLISH-SPEAKING WORLD.
4 Vocabulary
SIMPLICITY AND CLARITY
If you want people to read your CV, your language must be simple and clear:
Use short words and short sentences.
Do not use technical vocabulary, unless you are sure that the reader will understand it.
Talk about concrete facts ("I increased sales by 50%"), not abstract ideas ("I was responsible for a considerable improvement in our market position").
Use verbs in the active voice ("I organised this exhibition"), not passive voice ("This exhibition was organised by me").
POWER WORDS
Certain words are used frequently by recruiters in their job descriptions. You can study recruiters' advertisements and job descriptions and try to use these words in your CV and covering letter.
The most powerful words are verbs. And the most powerful verbs are action verbs. (Action verbs describe dynamic activity, not state).
So you should use plenty of action verbs matched to your skills, and use them in the active form, not the passive form. Which of these two sentences do you think is the more powerful?
Active form: I increased sales by 100%.
Passive form: Sales were increased by 100%.
Here is a list of typical action verbs categorised by skills:
Communication skills: address, arbitrate, correspond, draft, edit, lecture, mediate, motivate, negotiate, persuade, present, publicise, reconcile, speak, write
Management skills: assign, attain, chair, co- ordinate, delegate, direct, execute, organise, oversee, plan, recommend, review, strengthen, supervise, train
Research skills: collect, critique, define, detect, diagnose, evaluate, examine, explore, extract, identify, inspect, interpret, investigate, summarise, survey
Technical skills: assemble, build, calculate, devise, engineer, fabricate, maintain, operate, overhaul, program, remodel, repair, solve, upgrade
Creative skills: conceptualise, create, design, fashion, form, illustrate, institute, integrate, invent, originate, perform, revitalise, shape
Financial skills: administer, allocate, analyse, appraise, audit, balance, budget, calculate, control, compute, develop, forecast, project
Sales skills: sell, convert, close, deal, persuade, highlight, satisfy, win over, sign
Teaching skills: advise, clarify, coach, elicit, enable, encourage, explain, facilitate, guide, inform, instruct, persuade, stimulate, train,
BRITISH AND AMERICAN ENGLISH
There are sometimes differences between British and American English and conventions. Here are some of the most important differences for your CV/resume and covering letter.
UK: CV/curriculum vitae
US: resumé, resume
UK: covering letter
US: cover letter, covering letter
Paper sizes:
UK: A4 (210 x 297 millimetres)
US: Letter (8 1/2 x 11 inches)
UK: Mrs, Miss
US: Ms
UK: Dear Sirs
US: Gentlemen
UK: Yours faithfully
US: Yours truly
UK: Yours sincerely
US: Sincerely, Sincerely yours, Yours truly
UK: Managing Director (MD)
US: Chief Executive Officer (CEO), General Manager
Date formats:
UK: DD/MM/YY example: 30/12/99 30 December 1999
US: MM/DD/YY example: 12/30/99 December 31st, 1999
5 Internet
EMAIL
When you send your CV by email, you can send it either as inline text (that is, written in the body of the email) or as a file attached to the email (or as a combination of these). In all cases, make sure that the subject line is clear, and relevant. Nothing is more frustrating than trying to sort a hundred or more emails with meaningless subject lines like: "CV", "Job Application" or "John Brown". If your name is "John Brown", a good subject line would be:
• Resume: John Brown
• CV & Covering Letter: John Brown
• Job Application: John Brown
• Application for Post of Sales Manager: John Brown
Inline text:
It is best to use "plain text". Yes, you can write your email in "HTML" or "Rich Text", but will your prospective employer be able to read it? Will it arrive correctly formatted? Will colours, typefaces, tabs and spacing, and any special characters like fancy accents be correctly presented? Unless you are certain that what you write will be seen as you intended, don not take the chance. With plain text, on the other hand, you can be confident that what you send is what arrives at the other end. However, even with plain text it is advisable to:
• Keep the line-length short.
Use hard carriage returns (the "Enter" key) every 65 characters maximum.
• Avoid fancy spacing and tabulation.
A CV/resume that is beautifully formatted in MS Word cannot be reproduced with the same layout in plain text. You should not even attempt it. Instead, you will need a different, simpler approach.
Attachments:
Be very careful about sending your CV as an attachment. Many people are cautious about opening attachments, largely because they can contain viruses, and your email with an uninvited CV attachment may well be deleted before it ever sees the light of day. If you are sure that your prospective employer will accept attachments, then this can be a good way to submit your CV and covering letter.
Be careful too that your documents are properly laid out with a file format that can be read by your prospective employer. An MS Word document (.doc) can be read by most people, on PC or Mac. Better still, convert it to the universal Rich Text Format (.rtf).
Like the subject line for your email, be sure to give your attached files meaningful names. Do not simply attach a file called "CV.doc" or "coveringletter.doc". Once it has been saved to your prospective employer's hard disk, the name will be meaningless. Call your attachments something like:
• Resume - John Brown.doc
• CV and Covering Letter - John Brown.doc
• job-application_john-brown.rtf
• John Brown_Application for Post of Sales Manager.rtf
WEBPAGE
Placing your CV on the Web makes access to your CV easy and rapid world-wide. If you wish to retain confidentiality, you can password protect it. Don't become overly artistic when creating your CV webpage. The rules for paper pages about good, clear layout and legibility still apply to the Web. Remember that contrast between text and background increases legibility (readability). In general, black text on a plain white background is the easiest text to read. Remember, too, that a prospective employer may wish to print out your CV.
6 Tips
tip 1: Use design that attracts attention
Employers don't have time to read through each of your job descriptions to see if you have the skills they need. The design of your CV must do it for them.
tip 2: Match your headings to the job
Use a job title and skill headings that match the job you want. If you use unrelated job titles or skills, employers will automatically think that you are not right for the job in question.
tip 3: Write convincing content
Good design will get an employer's attention. But after that, you must concentrate on the content of your CV, the actual descriptions of your skills and abilities.
tip 4: Use "power words"
To control the image that an employer has of you, use power words that match the position you want. If, for example, you are applying for a financial post, you should use as many financial skills power words as possible.
tip 5: Use 0123456789
People react to numbers! Numbers are dynamic and powerful. They create vivid images in our minds. General statements are easy to ignore. Be specific and use numbers when describing your duties and achievements. Don't talk about "managing a major turnover". Talk about "managing a $27,000,000 turnover".
tip 6: Put important information first
List important information at the beginning of your job description. Put statements in your CV in order of importance, impressiveness and relevance to the job you want. A powerful statement with numbers and power words influences every statement that follows.
tip 7: Find key words from the job description
Let an employer do your work for you! Employers spend much time and money writing job advertisements and descriptions that contain key words for the position offered. Read these descriptions carefully to find the key words. Then use the same key words in your CV and cover letter.
tip 8: Sell benefits, not skills
Holiday companies do not sell holidays. They sell relaxation, adventure, sun, sea and sand (the benefits of a holiday)! You should not sell your skills (many other people have the same skills). You should sell the benefits of your skills. When you write your skills and past duties, be careful to explain their benefits to the employer.
tip 9: Create the right image for the salary
Use language that creates the right image for the level of job and salary you want. Position yourself at the appropriate level. The language you use will immediately influence an employer's perception of you.
tip 10: Target the job
You will have more success if you adjust your CV and cover letter for the specific skills an employer is seeking. This means that you would write one CV for one particular job and a different, modified, CV for another job. You "re-package" yourself. In that way, an employer will see immediately that you correspond to the job description. It is not dishonest to "re-package" yourself. You are simply presenting yourself and your skills in the best light for a particular employer.
tip 11: Solve your employer's (hidden) needs
Your CV and cover letter should show how you can solve the employer's problems and needs. And in addition to the skills or needs shown in a job advertisement, an employer may have other needs. You should identify these additional needs and show how you can satisfy them too. But concentrate first on the needs listed in the job description.
See also EnglishClub.com Business http://www.englishclub.com/business-english
(c) Copyright Josef Essberger 2006. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.englishclub.com
EnglishClub.com
Summary
1 Introduction
When you apply for a job, most employers ask for 2 important documents:
1. A CV or resume
2. A covering letter
Your CV and letter are usually the first impression that an employer has of you. And because an employer may have hundreds of job applications to consider, you have about 15 seconds to make sure that first impression is a good one.
WHY YOU NEED A GOOD CV
Your CV's job is to get you an interview. To do this, it must:
• attract
• inform
• persuade
• sell
A good CV is one of your most important tools in the search for employment.
WHAT A CV OR RESUME IS NOT
A CV is not a book.
A CV is not an obstacle.
A CV is not a tombstone.
A CV is not boring or difficult to read.
A CV is not your life story or autobiography.
A CV is not a catalogue of your personal opinions.
A CV is not a list of problems with past employers.
WHAT A CV OR RESUME IS
A CV is short.
A CV is seductive.
A CV is an important document.
A CV answers the question "Why?"
A CV is interesting and easy to read.
A CV is a list of benefits for the employer.
A CV is as much about the employer as about you.
WHY YOU NEED A GOOD COVERING LETTER
Your covering letter must sell your CV.
Before looking at your CV, an employer usually reads your covering letter. If it is badly-written, or untidy, or difficult to read, your CV will probably go into the nearest bin. If it is well-written, attractive, easy to read and persuasive, the employer will turn to your CV.
2 Your Covering Letter
Your covering letter is a sales letter.
When you send your CV to apply for a position, you should also include a short letter. This letter is called a covering letter or cover letter. A covering letter sent with a CV/resume is known as a letter of application.
Your letter of application is a sales letter. The product it is selling is your CV.
CONTENT
The reader of your letter does not want to waste time on unnecessary details. You should therefore design your letter to be easy to read. It should be short, concise and relevant. It should not be too formal or complicated. Your letter should:
1. confirm that you are applying for the job
2. say where you learned about the job
3. say why you want the job
4. say why you would be a benefit to the company
5. request an interview
FORMAT
Here is the typical format for your covering letter:
1. Your address - telephone - fax - email
Put your address and telephone number, fax and/or email address at the top in the centre OR on the right.
2. Date
3. Destination name and address
This is the name of the person to whom you are writing, his/her job title, the company name and address. This should be the same as on the envelope.
4. Reference
Any reference number or code given by the employer in their advertisement or previous letter.
5. Salutation (Dear . . .)
A letter in English always begins with "Dear…", even if you do not know the person.
6. Subject
The subject of your letter, which for a job application is normally the Job Title (for example "Sales Manager").
7. Body
The letter itself, in 3 to 6 paragraphs
8. Ending (Yours . . .)
Yours sincerely, Yours faithfully, Yours truly
9. Your signature
10. Your name
Your first name and surname, for example: Mary Smith, James Kennedy
11. (Your title)
If you are using company headed paper, write your Job Title here. If you are using personal paper, write nothing here.
12. Enclosures
Indicate that one or more documents are enclosed by writing "Enc: 2" for two documents, for example.
In the English-speaking world, an employer would usually prefer to receive a letter of application that is word-processed (that is, produced on a computer and printed). A hand-written letter could be considered unprofessional.
3 Your CV or Resume
Your CV must get you an interview.
CV stands for the Latin words Curriculum Vitae, which mean: the course of one's life. A CV is also called a résumé, resumé or resume (especially in American English). Your CV is a summary of your professional/academic life until now, and it usually concentrates on your personal details, education and work experience.
Your CV's job is very simple: to get you a job interview.
To do this, your CV must be:
• clear
• well-organised
• easy to read
• concise
• relevant to the job offered
CONTENT
You should include everything that is relevant to your employment or career and nothing that is irrelevant. There are usually 5 general headings of information to include:
Personal details: name, address, email and telephone number (and sometimes nationality, age/date of birth and marital status)
Objective: a headline that summarises the job opportunity you are seeking
Work experience: your previous employment in reverse chronological order - with most detail for your present or most recent job
Education: details of secondary and university education - including the establishments and qualifications
Personal interests: demonstrating that you are a balanced, responsible member of society with an interesting life outside work
Sometimes, you may need to give additional information for a particular job or because you have special qualifications.
FORMAT
Word-processed or hand-written?
Your CV should be word-processed, for several reasons. Firstly, in the English-speaking world a hand-written CV would be considered unprofessional. Secondly, many recruitment agencies and some employers like to electronically scan CVs. Thirdly, it will be much easier for you to update and modify your CV to target it to a specific employer.
How many pages?
It is usually best to limit your CV to a maximum of 2 pages. You can usually put everything you need to get an interview on 1 or 2 pages. If you put more than this, the employer has too much to read. In addition, if you put everything in the CV, you will have nothing new to say at the interview.
What size paper?
There are basically 2 standard paper sizes, depending on the part of the world:
• A4 (297 x 210 millimetres) - used largely in Europe, including the United Kingdom
• US Letter Size (8 1/2 x 11 inches) - used largely in the United States
What quality paper?
Remember that several people may read and handle your CV. It will also be an important document during your interview. Choose a good quality, fairly heavy paper so that it will remain in good condition at all times.
What sort of typeface?
Choose an easy-to-read typeface. Typefaces are designed for specific purposes. The standard typefaces Times New Roman or Arial are perfect for your CV. Not too small, not too large! A size of 10 or 12 point would be appropriate.
DO NOT USE ALL CAPITALS LIKE THIS! CAPITALS ARE VERY DIFFICULT TO READ AND MAY BE CONSIDERED IMPOLITE IN THE ENGLISH-SPEAKING WORLD.
4 Vocabulary
SIMPLICITY AND CLARITY
If you want people to read your CV, your language must be simple and clear:
Use short words and short sentences.
Do not use technical vocabulary, unless you are sure that the reader will understand it.
Talk about concrete facts ("I increased sales by 50%"), not abstract ideas ("I was responsible for a considerable improvement in our market position").
Use verbs in the active voice ("I organised this exhibition"), not passive voice ("This exhibition was organised by me").
POWER WORDS
Certain words are used frequently by recruiters in their job descriptions. You can study recruiters' advertisements and job descriptions and try to use these words in your CV and covering letter.
The most powerful words are verbs. And the most powerful verbs are action verbs. (Action verbs describe dynamic activity, not state).
So you should use plenty of action verbs matched to your skills, and use them in the active form, not the passive form. Which of these two sentences do you think is the more powerful?
Active form: I increased sales by 100%.
Passive form: Sales were increased by 100%.
Here is a list of typical action verbs categorised by skills:
Communication skills: address, arbitrate, correspond, draft, edit, lecture, mediate, motivate, negotiate, persuade, present, publicise, reconcile, speak, write
Management skills: assign, attain, chair, co- ordinate, delegate, direct, execute, organise, oversee, plan, recommend, review, strengthen, supervise, train
Research skills: collect, critique, define, detect, diagnose, evaluate, examine, explore, extract, identify, inspect, interpret, investigate, summarise, survey
Technical skills: assemble, build, calculate, devise, engineer, fabricate, maintain, operate, overhaul, program, remodel, repair, solve, upgrade
Creative skills: conceptualise, create, design, fashion, form, illustrate, institute, integrate, invent, originate, perform, revitalise, shape
Financial skills: administer, allocate, analyse, appraise, audit, balance, budget, calculate, control, compute, develop, forecast, project
Sales skills: sell, convert, close, deal, persuade, highlight, satisfy, win over, sign
Teaching skills: advise, clarify, coach, elicit, enable, encourage, explain, facilitate, guide, inform, instruct, persuade, stimulate, train,
BRITISH AND AMERICAN ENGLISH
There are sometimes differences between British and American English and conventions. Here are some of the most important differences for your CV/resume and covering letter.
UK: CV/curriculum vitae
US: resumé, resume
UK: covering letter
US: cover letter, covering letter
Paper sizes:
UK: A4 (210 x 297 millimetres)
US: Letter (8 1/2 x 11 inches)
UK: Mrs, Miss
US: Ms
UK: Dear Sirs
US: Gentlemen
UK: Yours faithfully
US: Yours truly
UK: Yours sincerely
US: Sincerely, Sincerely yours, Yours truly
UK: Managing Director (MD)
US: Chief Executive Officer (CEO), General Manager
Date formats:
UK: DD/MM/YY example: 30/12/99 30 December 1999
US: MM/DD/YY example: 12/30/99 December 31st, 1999
5 Internet
When you send your CV by email, you can send it either as inline text (that is, written in the body of the email) or as a file attached to the email (or as a combination of these). In all cases, make sure that the subject line is clear, and relevant. Nothing is more frustrating than trying to sort a hundred or more emails with meaningless subject lines like: "CV", "Job Application" or "John Brown". If your name is "John Brown", a good subject line would be:
• Resume: John Brown
• CV & Covering Letter: John Brown
• Job Application: John Brown
• Application for Post of Sales Manager: John Brown
Inline text:
It is best to use "plain text". Yes, you can write your email in "HTML" or "Rich Text", but will your prospective employer be able to read it? Will it arrive correctly formatted? Will colours, typefaces, tabs and spacing, and any special characters like fancy accents be correctly presented? Unless you are certain that what you write will be seen as you intended, don not take the chance. With plain text, on the other hand, you can be confident that what you send is what arrives at the other end. However, even with plain text it is advisable to:
• Keep the line-length short.
Use hard carriage returns (the "Enter" key) every 65 characters maximum.
• Avoid fancy spacing and tabulation.
A CV/resume that is beautifully formatted in MS Word cannot be reproduced with the same layout in plain text. You should not even attempt it. Instead, you will need a different, simpler approach.
Attachments:
Be very careful about sending your CV as an attachment. Many people are cautious about opening attachments, largely because they can contain viruses, and your email with an uninvited CV attachment may well be deleted before it ever sees the light of day. If you are sure that your prospective employer will accept attachments, then this can be a good way to submit your CV and covering letter.
Be careful too that your documents are properly laid out with a file format that can be read by your prospective employer. An MS Word document (.doc) can be read by most people, on PC or Mac. Better still, convert it to the universal Rich Text Format (.rtf).
Like the subject line for your email, be sure to give your attached files meaningful names. Do not simply attach a file called "CV.doc" or "coveringletter.doc". Once it has been saved to your prospective employer's hard disk, the name will be meaningless. Call your attachments something like:
• Resume - John Brown.doc
• CV and Covering Letter - John Brown.doc
• job-application_john-brown.rtf
• John Brown_Application for Post of Sales Manager.rtf
WEBPAGE
Placing your CV on the Web makes access to your CV easy and rapid world-wide. If you wish to retain confidentiality, you can password protect it. Don't become overly artistic when creating your CV webpage. The rules for paper pages about good, clear layout and legibility still apply to the Web. Remember that contrast between text and background increases legibility (readability). In general, black text on a plain white background is the easiest text to read. Remember, too, that a prospective employer may wish to print out your CV.
6 Tips
tip 1: Use design that attracts attention
Employers don't have time to read through each of your job descriptions to see if you have the skills they need. The design of your CV must do it for them.
tip 2: Match your headings to the job
Use a job title and skill headings that match the job you want. If you use unrelated job titles or skills, employers will automatically think that you are not right for the job in question.
tip 3: Write convincing content
Good design will get an employer's attention. But after that, you must concentrate on the content of your CV, the actual descriptions of your skills and abilities.
tip 4: Use "power words"
To control the image that an employer has of you, use power words that match the position you want. If, for example, you are applying for a financial post, you should use as many financial skills power words as possible.
tip 5: Use 0123456789
People react to numbers! Numbers are dynamic and powerful. They create vivid images in our minds. General statements are easy to ignore. Be specific and use numbers when describing your duties and achievements. Don't talk about "managing a major turnover". Talk about "managing a $27,000,000 turnover".
tip 6: Put important information first
List important information at the beginning of your job description. Put statements in your CV in order of importance, impressiveness and relevance to the job you want. A powerful statement with numbers and power words influences every statement that follows.
tip 7: Find key words from the job description
Let an employer do your work for you! Employers spend much time and money writing job advertisements and descriptions that contain key words for the position offered. Read these descriptions carefully to find the key words. Then use the same key words in your CV and cover letter.
tip 8: Sell benefits, not skills
Holiday companies do not sell holidays. They sell relaxation, adventure, sun, sea and sand (the benefits of a holiday)! You should not sell your skills (many other people have the same skills). You should sell the benefits of your skills. When you write your skills and past duties, be careful to explain their benefits to the employer.
tip 9: Create the right image for the salary
Use language that creates the right image for the level of job and salary you want. Position yourself at the appropriate level. The language you use will immediately influence an employer's perception of you.
tip 10: Target the job
You will have more success if you adjust your CV and cover letter for the specific skills an employer is seeking. This means that you would write one CV for one particular job and a different, modified, CV for another job. You "re-package" yourself. In that way, an employer will see immediately that you correspond to the job description. It is not dishonest to "re-package" yourself. You are simply presenting yourself and your skills in the best light for a particular employer.
tip 11: Solve your employer's (hidden) needs
Your CV and cover letter should show how you can solve the employer's problems and needs. And in addition to the skills or needs shown in a job advertisement, an employer may have other needs. You should identify these additional needs and show how you can satisfy them too. But concentrate first on the needs listed in the job description.
See also EnglishClub.com Business http://www.englishclub.com/business-english
(c) Copyright Josef Essberger 2006. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.englishclub.com
INVICTUS
INVICTUS
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul. -
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed. -
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find me, unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate;
I am the captain of my soul.
by William Ernest Henley
At the age of 12, Henley became a victim of tuberculosis of the bone.[citation needed] A few years later the disease progressed to his foot, and physicians announced that the only way to save his life was to amputate directly below the knee. In 1867 he successfully passed the Oxford local examination as a senior student. In 1875 he wrote the "Invictus" poem from a hospital bed. Despite his disability, he survived with one foot intact and led an active life until his death at the age of 53.
"Invictus" is a short poem by the English poet William Ernest Henley (1849–1903). It was written in 1875 and first published in 1888[1] in Henley's Book of Verses, where it was the fourth in a series of poems entitled Life and Death (Echoes).[2] It originally bore no title:[2] early printings contained only the dedication To R. T. H. B.—a reference to Robert Thomas Hamilton Bruce (1846–1899), a successful Scottish flour merchant and baker who was also a literary patron.[3] The familiar title "Invictus" (Latin for "unconquered"[4]) was added by Arthur Quiller-Couch when he included the poem in The Oxford Book Of English Verse (1900).[5][6]
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul. -
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed. -
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find me, unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate;
I am the captain of my soul.
by William Ernest Henley
At the age of 12, Henley became a victim of tuberculosis of the bone.[citation needed] A few years later the disease progressed to his foot, and physicians announced that the only way to save his life was to amputate directly below the knee. In 1867 he successfully passed the Oxford local examination as a senior student. In 1875 he wrote the "Invictus" poem from a hospital bed. Despite his disability, he survived with one foot intact and led an active life until his death at the age of 53.
"Invictus" is a short poem by the English poet William Ernest Henley (1849–1903). It was written in 1875 and first published in 1888[1] in Henley's Book of Verses, where it was the fourth in a series of poems entitled Life and Death (Echoes).[2] It originally bore no title:[2] early printings contained only the dedication To R. T. H. B.—a reference to Robert Thomas Hamilton Bruce (1846–1899), a successful Scottish flour merchant and baker who was also a literary patron.[3] The familiar title "Invictus" (Latin for "unconquered"[4]) was added by Arthur Quiller-Couch when he included the poem in The Oxford Book Of English Verse (1900).[5][6]
Social Studies/Gender Studies
Grade Level: Kindergarten, 1, 2
Subject(s):
• Social Studies/Gender Studies
• Health/Family Life
Duration: 20-30 minutes
Description: Children look at the daily activities of their parents to determine if some jobs are for "women only" and "men only," or if most activities can be performed by both men and women.
Goal: To discover young children's sex-role concepts and expand their thinking, if limited.
Objective: As a result of this activity, children will identify most household activities and jobs as being the shared responsibility of men and women (mom and dad).
Materials:
• marker
• large piece of chart paper
Procedure:
As a group, have children brainstorm a list of activities that their parents do at home (playing with kids, cooking, feeding the dog, etc.) Record each activity on the chart as the children contribute them. After the chart is filled with several activities, ask the children who in their household performs each job, either mom, dad, or both. Explain to the children that next to each job you will be writing either M, D, or B according to their responses. As the children discuss who performs each task in their household, it is likely that most of the activities listed will have a B (for Both). This is a good time to point out that not all households have a mom and a dad, and that in many families one parent does everything. At the end of the lesson, point out that most household responsibilities can be handled by both men and women.
Assessment: Have the students draw pictures of their parent(s) engaged in an activity at home. Let the children present their pictures to the class. Did the children stick to stereotypical sex-roles for their drawings, or did they draw their parent(s) doing a variety of activities?
Subject(s):
• Social Studies/Gender Studies
• Health/Family Life
Duration: 20-30 minutes
Description: Children look at the daily activities of their parents to determine if some jobs are for "women only" and "men only," or if most activities can be performed by both men and women.
Goal: To discover young children's sex-role concepts and expand their thinking, if limited.
Objective: As a result of this activity, children will identify most household activities and jobs as being the shared responsibility of men and women (mom and dad).
Materials:
• marker
• large piece of chart paper
Procedure:
As a group, have children brainstorm a list of activities that their parents do at home (playing with kids, cooking, feeding the dog, etc.) Record each activity on the chart as the children contribute them. After the chart is filled with several activities, ask the children who in their household performs each job, either mom, dad, or both. Explain to the children that next to each job you will be writing either M, D, or B according to their responses. As the children discuss who performs each task in their household, it is likely that most of the activities listed will have a B (for Both). This is a good time to point out that not all households have a mom and a dad, and that in many families one parent does everything. At the end of the lesson, point out that most household responsibilities can be handled by both men and women.
Assessment: Have the students draw pictures of their parent(s) engaged in an activity at home. Let the children present their pictures to the class. Did the children stick to stereotypical sex-roles for their drawings, or did they draw their parent(s) doing a variety of activities?
lunes, 19 de abril de 2010
Halloween Costume Party
Halloween Costume Party
The classic Halloween Party, a costume party, encourages even the most boring adults to find their inner children, dressing up in costumes that range from silly to spectacular.
You'll Need
• Ingredients for each of the recipes and any serving tools you'll need
• Orange and black construction paper
• Orange or white 5"x7" envelopes
• Glue
• An assortment of Halloween stickers (spiders, cats, haunted houses, ghosts, witches, cauldrons, monsters, and so forth)—look in the scrapbooking or card-making sections of your craft store for cute, creative, or interesting flat, puffy, or three-dimensional stickers
• Scissors or paper cutter
• Glitter, paint pens, or other decorative writing instruments
• Black felt-tip pen
• Stamps
• Décor
• Favors
• Prizes
• Spooky Feel-It items
• Costume
• CDs
• Extra CD players/boom boxes
• Candy for trick-or-treaters
Date, Theme, Budget, and Venue
Halloween—The last day of October. If the date falls on a Friday or Saturday, have the party on Halloween. Otherwise, have the party the weekend before; if you wait until the weekend following Halloween, you run the risk of losing the spooky spirit because guests become reluctant to spend one more night in this year's getups. Begin your party at 8:00 or 9:00 p.m.
Halloween! theme—All things spooky, silly, black, and orange. Pull out all the stops for this party, decorating your home to the nines, playing spooky music, offering fun activities and delicious foods, and ending the night, of course, with a costume contest. Have fun with the theme—the only thing getting between you and the most fabulous Halloween party ever thrown is your budget.
Midrange to high budget—If you have the bucks, go all out and spend up to $25 per person. Heck, spend more if Halloween is your favorite holiday and you can afford to break the bank. You don't have to go nuts with the planning; it's quite possible to have a great party on a smaller budget. However, to throw a really great Halloween party, you'll probably need to spend at least $12 a person, so plan accordingly.
Your spooky house venue—Although some Halloween aficionados turn their entire homes into haunted houses, you might not have the budget to do so. At the very least, spiff up your main party area (living room, back yard), bathroom, and entryway, and add small, thematic touches to other, less-frequented areas, such as the kitchen, office, or bedroom.
Guest List and Invitations
Your guest list should include your entire address book. Halloween is one of those great holidays that almost everyone enjoys celebrating. Share the fun with your friends, neighbors, family, and co-workers—even your nanny or dog walker! After you set your budget, invite as many people as you can swing—also be prepared for any number of extra guests because Halloween parties usually attract posses.
Paper Halloween invitations can be a lot of fun to send out. If you have the inclination, make your own! Here's an easy idea:
1. Cut construction paper into rectangles: 10"x7" black rectangles and 9"x6" orange rectangles.
2. Glue the black rectangles to the orange rectangles, centering the orange paper on the black so that a ½" margin of black paper borders the orange page.
3. Fold the card in half, with the black page on the outside. Make sure your card fits into the envelopes you'll be using. You might have to trim the edges a little.
4. Decorate the front of the card with stickers or other trim; you can also draw simple sketch outlines of Halloween figures (spiders, cats, haunted houses, ghosts, witches, cauldrons, monsters, and so forth) in glitter or paint pen (silver or gold glitter looks great).
5. On the inside of the card, use the black felt-tip pen to letter your party details: date, time, location, contact information, costume contest details, and so forth. You can also use your computer to print this information onto a white piece of paper, trim it to 4"x6", and glue it to the inside of the card.
6. Put cards into envelopes, address with black felt-tip pen, stamp, and mail.
If you don't have the time or budget to make your own Halloween party invitations, either purchase paper invitations or use an Internet-based invitation system. Halloween Fun and Activities for Kids
The classic Halloween Party, a costume party, encourages even the most boring adults to find their inner children, dressing up in costumes that range from silly to spectacular.
You'll Need
• Ingredients for each of the recipes and any serving tools you'll need
• Orange and black construction paper
• Orange or white 5"x7" envelopes
• Glue
• An assortment of Halloween stickers (spiders, cats, haunted houses, ghosts, witches, cauldrons, monsters, and so forth)—look in the scrapbooking or card-making sections of your craft store for cute, creative, or interesting flat, puffy, or three-dimensional stickers
• Scissors or paper cutter
• Glitter, paint pens, or other decorative writing instruments
• Black felt-tip pen
• Stamps
• Décor
• Favors
• Prizes
• Spooky Feel-It items
• Costume
• CDs
• Extra CD players/boom boxes
• Candy for trick-or-treaters
Date, Theme, Budget, and Venue
Halloween—The last day of October. If the date falls on a Friday or Saturday, have the party on Halloween. Otherwise, have the party the weekend before; if you wait until the weekend following Halloween, you run the risk of losing the spooky spirit because guests become reluctant to spend one more night in this year's getups. Begin your party at 8:00 or 9:00 p.m.
Halloween! theme—All things spooky, silly, black, and orange. Pull out all the stops for this party, decorating your home to the nines, playing spooky music, offering fun activities and delicious foods, and ending the night, of course, with a costume contest. Have fun with the theme—the only thing getting between you and the most fabulous Halloween party ever thrown is your budget.
Midrange to high budget—If you have the bucks, go all out and spend up to $25 per person. Heck, spend more if Halloween is your favorite holiday and you can afford to break the bank. You don't have to go nuts with the planning; it's quite possible to have a great party on a smaller budget. However, to throw a really great Halloween party, you'll probably need to spend at least $12 a person, so plan accordingly.
Your spooky house venue—Although some Halloween aficionados turn their entire homes into haunted houses, you might not have the budget to do so. At the very least, spiff up your main party area (living room, back yard), bathroom, and entryway, and add small, thematic touches to other, less-frequented areas, such as the kitchen, office, or bedroom.
Guest List and Invitations
Your guest list should include your entire address book. Halloween is one of those great holidays that almost everyone enjoys celebrating. Share the fun with your friends, neighbors, family, and co-workers—even your nanny or dog walker! After you set your budget, invite as many people as you can swing—also be prepared for any number of extra guests because Halloween parties usually attract posses.
Paper Halloween invitations can be a lot of fun to send out. If you have the inclination, make your own! Here's an easy idea:
1. Cut construction paper into rectangles: 10"x7" black rectangles and 9"x6" orange rectangles.
2. Glue the black rectangles to the orange rectangles, centering the orange paper on the black so that a ½" margin of black paper borders the orange page.
3. Fold the card in half, with the black page on the outside. Make sure your card fits into the envelopes you'll be using. You might have to trim the edges a little.
4. Decorate the front of the card with stickers or other trim; you can also draw simple sketch outlines of Halloween figures (spiders, cats, haunted houses, ghosts, witches, cauldrons, monsters, and so forth) in glitter or paint pen (silver or gold glitter looks great).
5. On the inside of the card, use the black felt-tip pen to letter your party details: date, time, location, contact information, costume contest details, and so forth. You can also use your computer to print this information onto a white piece of paper, trim it to 4"x6", and glue it to the inside of the card.
6. Put cards into envelopes, address with black felt-tip pen, stamp, and mail.
If you don't have the time or budget to make your own Halloween party invitations, either purchase paper invitations or use an Internet-based invitation system. Halloween Fun and Activities for Kids
HALLOWEEN: Tricks and Treats
Tricks and Treats
How to play:
1. Give each of the players a bag filled with ten pieces of wrapped candy.
2. Have the players write their names on their bags so that the bags don't get mixed up.
3. Decide on a time limit. If you are giving a party, you could keep the game going the entire time, even while you are doing other activities.
4. The object of the game is to catch people saying any of the following words:
• HALLOWEEN
• CANDY
• WITCH
• PARTY
• GHOST
• PUMPKIN
5. It might be helpful to write the words in large letters on a piece of paper and tape the paper up where everyone can see it.
6. If you catch someone saying one of the words on the list, that person has to give you a piece of candy from his bag.
7. The person who has the most candy at the end of the game wins a prize.
The best part is, everyone gets to keep any candy they have left in their bag.
How to play:
1. Give each of the players a bag filled with ten pieces of wrapped candy.
2. Have the players write their names on their bags so that the bags don't get mixed up.
3. Decide on a time limit. If you are giving a party, you could keep the game going the entire time, even while you are doing other activities.
4. The object of the game is to catch people saying any of the following words:
• HALLOWEEN
• CANDY
• WITCH
• PARTY
• GHOST
• PUMPKIN
5. It might be helpful to write the words in large letters on a piece of paper and tape the paper up where everyone can see it.
6. If you catch someone saying one of the words on the list, that person has to give you a piece of candy from his bag.
7. The person who has the most candy at the end of the game wins a prize.
The best part is, everyone gets to keep any candy they have left in their bag.
What is Probability? How Does It Shape Our Lives?
Have you ever heard your parents or other adults wishing that they could win millions of dollars in the state lottery? Experts say that a person has the same chance of winning the lottery as the chance of being struck by lightening! Only a few people are hit by lightening just as only a few people win the multi-million dollar prize in the lottery. These are two examples of probability and two examples of very unlikely events. An unlikely event is one that probably won't happen. See how close the word "probably" (which you already know) is to "probability"?
Let's pretend that you are taking a walk in the park along a paved trail and you reach a fork in the path. You can take the path on the left side or you can take the path on the right side. It's up to you to decide and you don't know what is ahead in either direction. You have no preference as to which way to turn. Then we could say that you have an equal chance of turning left or turning right. This means that the probability, or chance, of turning left or turning right are the same because there is nothing to influence the choice.
Let's skip ahead to your senior year in high school when you are ready to go to college. You like two schools with about the same costs to attend. You receive a scholarship for $10,000 to attend one of the schools and no scholarship from the other. What is the probability of attending each school? It is very likely that you will attend the school that offered you the scholarship. Then the probability of attending that school is higher than attending the school without the scholarship.
Probability is all around us and it does influence our lives every day. Before the measles vaccine was invented, most children became sick with measles when they were in elementary school. Back then the probability of getting measles was high. Since so many children would get sick, researchers decided to look for a vaccine. Now if children get vaccinated for measles, the probability of getting measles is very low. Working at preventing diseases that have a high probability of making people sick is one example of how probability influences lives.
Weather forecasts are another way we use probability every day. Do you ever see the forecast that says 80% chance of showers for tomorrow? That means that in the past, 8 days out of 10 that had weather like today were followed by showers. That's a high probability and you had better bring your
Why Is Calculating the Probability of Events Important in Life?
Probability is the chance that something might happen. When you calculate the probability of an event you look at chances of getting what you want versus all the possible things that can happen. The probability of an event that you know for sure will happen is 100% or 1 while the probability of an event that will never happen is 0% or just plain 0.
What about other events that you're not so sure about? The probability of these events can be given as a percent or as an odds ratio. Let's pick something a little silly but simple as an example. Let's pretend that you want to wear a sweater to school and you have a blue sweater and a yellow sweater. The probability of wearing the blue sweater is 50% or the odds are 1 out of 2. What is the probability of wearing the yellow sweater? It would be the same. The probability of all the events that are possible must add up to 100%.
There are lots of these simple examples that we could use to discuss more about probability. But this time we want to talk about Events Important in Life. As you grow up you need to think about your actions and what the consequences of these actions will be. It's important to know how to use probability when you make decisions about your future. Probability is a whole lot more than just selecting blue sweaters or blue socks from the drawer.
A lot of people just wish that they could win the lottery as a way to solve all their financial stresses. In fact about one-third of the adults in the United States think that winning the lottery is the best way to become financially secure. But you have a better chance of being struck by lightening or being in a plane crash (and there really aren't very many plane crashes) than you have of winning the lottery. The probability of winning the lottery is very close to 0. You need a better plan for your financial future than the lottery!
When you consider probability and your money, you decide how much risk you want to take. The government says that you will get back your money if the bank itself has financial trouble. If you put money in a bank that is insured by the federal government and you don't exceed the maximum insured amount, the probability of losing your money is 0. But banks usually do not pay very much interest back to you on your savings. You have low risk
Let's pretend that you are taking a walk in the park along a paved trail and you reach a fork in the path. You can take the path on the left side or you can take the path on the right side. It's up to you to decide and you don't know what is ahead in either direction. You have no preference as to which way to turn. Then we could say that you have an equal chance of turning left or turning right. This means that the probability, or chance, of turning left or turning right are the same because there is nothing to influence the choice.
Let's skip ahead to your senior year in high school when you are ready to go to college. You like two schools with about the same costs to attend. You receive a scholarship for $10,000 to attend one of the schools and no scholarship from the other. What is the probability of attending each school? It is very likely that you will attend the school that offered you the scholarship. Then the probability of attending that school is higher than attending the school without the scholarship.
Probability is all around us and it does influence our lives every day. Before the measles vaccine was invented, most children became sick with measles when they were in elementary school. Back then the probability of getting measles was high. Since so many children would get sick, researchers decided to look for a vaccine. Now if children get vaccinated for measles, the probability of getting measles is very low. Working at preventing diseases that have a high probability of making people sick is one example of how probability influences lives.
Weather forecasts are another way we use probability every day. Do you ever see the forecast that says 80% chance of showers for tomorrow? That means that in the past, 8 days out of 10 that had weather like today were followed by showers. That's a high probability and you had better bring your
Why Is Calculating the Probability of Events Important in Life?
Probability is the chance that something might happen. When you calculate the probability of an event you look at chances of getting what you want versus all the possible things that can happen. The probability of an event that you know for sure will happen is 100% or 1 while the probability of an event that will never happen is 0% or just plain 0.
What about other events that you're not so sure about? The probability of these events can be given as a percent or as an odds ratio. Let's pick something a little silly but simple as an example. Let's pretend that you want to wear a sweater to school and you have a blue sweater and a yellow sweater. The probability of wearing the blue sweater is 50% or the odds are 1 out of 2. What is the probability of wearing the yellow sweater? It would be the same. The probability of all the events that are possible must add up to 100%.
There are lots of these simple examples that we could use to discuss more about probability. But this time we want to talk about Events Important in Life. As you grow up you need to think about your actions and what the consequences of these actions will be. It's important to know how to use probability when you make decisions about your future. Probability is a whole lot more than just selecting blue sweaters or blue socks from the drawer.
A lot of people just wish that they could win the lottery as a way to solve all their financial stresses. In fact about one-third of the adults in the United States think that winning the lottery is the best way to become financially secure. But you have a better chance of being struck by lightening or being in a plane crash (and there really aren't very many plane crashes) than you have of winning the lottery. The probability of winning the lottery is very close to 0. You need a better plan for your financial future than the lottery!
When you consider probability and your money, you decide how much risk you want to take. The government says that you will get back your money if the bank itself has financial trouble. If you put money in a bank that is insured by the federal government and you don't exceed the maximum insured amount, the probability of losing your money is 0. But banks usually do not pay very much interest back to you on your savings. You have low risk
How To Improve Reading Comprehension
Specific Strategy for Teaching Reading Vital
Teaching reading is at times difficult even when everything seems to make sense. For children, especially learning to read, at first is a big challenge. Much of the problem seems to be in helping children understand what they have read. Learning Comprehension about what is being read by the student is an important step.
One of the first steps to that end is learning to draw an inference.
Author Kylene Beers talks about this situation in her book "When Kids Can't Read". She believed at first that if a child could make an inference, if they were able to make an inference of any kind, then much of her problems teaching would be gone.
Much of the problem with achieving comprehension and understanding seems to be that children could not seem to form a basic inference. "It took many years for me to figure out how get around that concept" said Author Beers.
We have to keep in mind that students need to be able to answer the question:
What is it that we are talking about?
Much of the solution seems to be that while some children seem can't make inferences, we make inferences each and every day, and we draw conclusions and infer information based on a lot of different factors. What people appear like, the expression on someone's face, how articles are set up in a room, there are a lot of different things that we can comment on that we infer every day.
So how do we set out to transfer that skill to interacting with written words on a page? Ahh.. There is the challenge that confronts us.
What does it appear like or look like?
Ms. Beers talks about how to use resources to help both teachers and students. She speaks about resources that will assist in teaching these vital skills.
Some of the Inference types that skillful readers utilize:
-Use clues from context to figure out meanings of words unknown to them.
-Be able to identify and recognize pronouns, and their antecedents.
-Use clues to identify personalities, beliefs, motivations and beliefs of characters.
-Use the reading to provide clues and information about the setting or venue.
-Work to try to understand the relationships about one character to another
-Work to try to understand how the author views the word
-Figure out the bias if any that the author has.
-Offer alternate conclusions, and explore the conclusions made in the text.
How Can I adapt, Use, or set this fact apart?
As you demonstrate and model "inferential reading" to your students, try and illustrate things that they see each day. Use events and common things to help explain and achieve comprehension for your student. Try to show similarities to the inferences that students draw each day in their daily activity.
Find an event that happens in your student's lives, and help them to draw conclusions and inferences from it. Then try to help them see how they can do the same to an event or item that they have read.
Perhaps the first time you can do this as a whole class activity, using the computer or a classroom chart. Work through the steps for drawing an inference one by one, as a class as a group. Then, assign some sample events and ask the students to draw inferences individually,
As students accomplish this, then help them transfer this to their reading. Yes, this can be a challenge, but when modeled in a clear concise way it does not need to be necessarily mind-bending. As you work the process with your students, make each step clear and as real to them, using examples as you go.
Make a chart and list the steps as you go, with lots of class participation. Post the Chart when you are done in the classroom as a ready reference.
-Read Aloud Short Passage as a class
Have your students read, and read out loud yourself often. Separate students into small groups, or partners. Encourage students to "Think out loud" and to share what they see in the text as they read.
As you do this, try to zero in on what inferences are present in the text. Ask students to identify the inferences, using their reference list. -
What is the meaning of what the author wrote?
Show and model for students that making inferences is a step-by-step process. Authors do not think their readers will create inferences or have understanding out of the blue.
Demonstrate and model that authors use both implied information, and literal information. Show students that as a reader we will be the ones inferring. And that as authors, either information is actual and literal, or it is implied by what they write.
-Comments and Encouragement For students
As you move forward you can help students by helping encourage and comment on your student's progress. Some of the things that you can share with students to help them are:
"After reading what can you tell me about the character and how they act?"
"What are the pronouns in what you are reading, and what to they mean?"
"When your done reading, tell me why the character acted the way they did?"
"What is the setting, and how would you change it?"
"Why did the series of events happen the way that it did?"
"How did the characters act when (reference a specific area in the reading) and why did they act that way?"
"Write down words you don't know and see if you want figure out the meaning by the words around them?"
"What do you think the Author thought or felt about (Insert the name of a character or a topic in the reading"?
Memory
Have students sit and write down answers to specific questions after they read. Use the following as a guide: When? Where? How? Who? What? And perhaps the hardest for some students. Why?
As students progress, gradually make the questions harder.
Using these types of questions will assist your students to THINKING about their reading, and hopefully they will be able to grow to identify and come to their own conclusions, including drawing direct and implied inferences from the reading.
Teaching reading is at times difficult even when everything seems to make sense. For children, especially learning to read, at first is a big challenge. Much of the problem seems to be in helping children understand what they have read. Learning Comprehension about what is being read by the student is an important step.
One of the first steps to that end is learning to draw an inference.
Author Kylene Beers talks about this situation in her book "When Kids Can't Read". She believed at first that if a child could make an inference, if they were able to make an inference of any kind, then much of her problems teaching would be gone.
Much of the problem with achieving comprehension and understanding seems to be that children could not seem to form a basic inference. "It took many years for me to figure out how get around that concept" said Author Beers.
We have to keep in mind that students need to be able to answer the question:
What is it that we are talking about?
Much of the solution seems to be that while some children seem can't make inferences, we make inferences each and every day, and we draw conclusions and infer information based on a lot of different factors. What people appear like, the expression on someone's face, how articles are set up in a room, there are a lot of different things that we can comment on that we infer every day.
So how do we set out to transfer that skill to interacting with written words on a page? Ahh.. There is the challenge that confronts us.
What does it appear like or look like?
Ms. Beers talks about how to use resources to help both teachers and students. She speaks about resources that will assist in teaching these vital skills.
Some of the Inference types that skillful readers utilize:
-Use clues from context to figure out meanings of words unknown to them.
-Be able to identify and recognize pronouns, and their antecedents.
-Use clues to identify personalities, beliefs, motivations and beliefs of characters.
-Use the reading to provide clues and information about the setting or venue.
-Work to try to understand the relationships about one character to another
-Work to try to understand how the author views the word
-Figure out the bias if any that the author has.
-Offer alternate conclusions, and explore the conclusions made in the text.
How Can I adapt, Use, or set this fact apart?
As you demonstrate and model "inferential reading" to your students, try and illustrate things that they see each day. Use events and common things to help explain and achieve comprehension for your student. Try to show similarities to the inferences that students draw each day in their daily activity.
Find an event that happens in your student's lives, and help them to draw conclusions and inferences from it. Then try to help them see how they can do the same to an event or item that they have read.
Perhaps the first time you can do this as a whole class activity, using the computer or a classroom chart. Work through the steps for drawing an inference one by one, as a class as a group. Then, assign some sample events and ask the students to draw inferences individually,
As students accomplish this, then help them transfer this to their reading. Yes, this can be a challenge, but when modeled in a clear concise way it does not need to be necessarily mind-bending. As you work the process with your students, make each step clear and as real to them, using examples as you go.
Make a chart and list the steps as you go, with lots of class participation. Post the Chart when you are done in the classroom as a ready reference.
-Read Aloud Short Passage as a class
Have your students read, and read out loud yourself often. Separate students into small groups, or partners. Encourage students to "Think out loud" and to share what they see in the text as they read.
As you do this, try to zero in on what inferences are present in the text. Ask students to identify the inferences, using their reference list. -
What is the meaning of what the author wrote?
Show and model for students that making inferences is a step-by-step process. Authors do not think their readers will create inferences or have understanding out of the blue.
Demonstrate and model that authors use both implied information, and literal information. Show students that as a reader we will be the ones inferring. And that as authors, either information is actual and literal, or it is implied by what they write.
-Comments and Encouragement For students
As you move forward you can help students by helping encourage and comment on your student's progress. Some of the things that you can share with students to help them are:
"After reading what can you tell me about the character and how they act?"
"What are the pronouns in what you are reading, and what to they mean?"
"When your done reading, tell me why the character acted the way they did?"
"What is the setting, and how would you change it?"
"Why did the series of events happen the way that it did?"
"How did the characters act when (reference a specific area in the reading) and why did they act that way?"
"Write down words you don't know and see if you want figure out the meaning by the words around them?"
"What do you think the Author thought or felt about (Insert the name of a character or a topic in the reading"?
Memory
Have students sit and write down answers to specific questions after they read. Use the following as a guide: When? Where? How? Who? What? And perhaps the hardest for some students. Why?
As students progress, gradually make the questions harder.
Using these types of questions will assist your students to THINKING about their reading, and hopefully they will be able to grow to identify and come to their own conclusions, including drawing direct and implied inferences from the reading.
COMMUNICATING IN ENGLISH: SAMPLE UNIT FOR PRIMARY
COMMUNICATING IN ENGLISH
TITLE OF THE ACTIVITY: Wild animals.
LEVEL AND NUMBER OF STUDENTS: Primary Education 2nd cycle, a class with eight students.
It´s a single and whole class activity.
MATERIALS:A photocopy with wild animals, the note book, scissors and glue.
AIMS:
-To develop oral and written skills using “HAS GOT”
-To review vocabulary related to wild animals.
-To build a fantastic animal chanching different body parts of wild animals.
-To describe the fantastic animal.
DURATION:About 20 minutes.
WARM – UP:
They have been working with verb “To have got “, previously, so we´ll start with an oral activity reviewing all vocabulary related to wild animals and body parts, then they say some short sentences using “have got”.
ACTIVITY:
When they are ready I´ll give then the photocopy and they have to cut it out and form a fantastic animal,then they write about this animal and then they have to read it aloud to the rest of the class.
POSSIBLE VARIATIONS:
They can start describing themselves, or real wild animals.
In two groups A / B: Group A can describe a given animal and group B has to guess it.
SKILLS DEVELOPED:Listening, writing, speaking and reading.
COMMUNICATING IN ENGLISH
TITLE OF THE ACTIVITY: Who´s got what?
LEVEL AND NUMBER OF STUDENTS: 2ND Cycle of Primary Education, a class with eight students.
MATERIALS:A photocopy per child, cassette, scissors, crayons and some picture flashcards with the following words: moustache, beard, glasses.
AIMS:
-To practise asking questions.
-To practise using formal forms of address.
-To identify people from oral descriptions.
DURATION: 30 Minutes.
DEVELOPMENT:
1-Review vocabulary related to body parts and teach the unknown words such as moustache, beard...
2-Show the students the photocopy.
3-Explain that they´ll listen to each person describing himself / herself and saying a name which is based upon a color, for example: Miss Blue, the students can indicate the name by coloring the box in each picture.
4-The students listen to and color the features as specified.
5-Then they cut out the faces and spread them out the tables, they take away each face as you read aloud the descriptions one by one , read them all except one, the fist student to identify the missing person wins.
6-You can ask about one face: who´s got big, round, red glasses?
POSSIBLE VARIATIONS: They can choose a photo and describe it in a written form and then read it aloud to the rest of the class.
SKILLS DEVELOPED:Listening, speaking, reading and writing.
TITLE OF THE ACTIVITY: Wild animals.
LEVEL AND NUMBER OF STUDENTS: Primary Education 2nd cycle, a class with eight students.
It´s a single and whole class activity.
MATERIALS:A photocopy with wild animals, the note book, scissors and glue.
AIMS:
-To develop oral and written skills using “HAS GOT”
-To review vocabulary related to wild animals.
-To build a fantastic animal chanching different body parts of wild animals.
-To describe the fantastic animal.
DURATION:About 20 minutes.
WARM – UP:
They have been working with verb “To have got “, previously, so we´ll start with an oral activity reviewing all vocabulary related to wild animals and body parts, then they say some short sentences using “have got”.
ACTIVITY:
When they are ready I´ll give then the photocopy and they have to cut it out and form a fantastic animal,then they write about this animal and then they have to read it aloud to the rest of the class.
POSSIBLE VARIATIONS:
They can start describing themselves, or real wild animals.
In two groups A / B: Group A can describe a given animal and group B has to guess it.
SKILLS DEVELOPED:Listening, writing, speaking and reading.
COMMUNICATING IN ENGLISH
TITLE OF THE ACTIVITY: Who´s got what?
LEVEL AND NUMBER OF STUDENTS: 2ND Cycle of Primary Education, a class with eight students.
MATERIALS:A photocopy per child, cassette, scissors, crayons and some picture flashcards with the following words: moustache, beard, glasses.
AIMS:
-To practise asking questions.
-To practise using formal forms of address.
-To identify people from oral descriptions.
DURATION: 30 Minutes.
DEVELOPMENT:
1-Review vocabulary related to body parts and teach the unknown words such as moustache, beard...
2-Show the students the photocopy.
3-Explain that they´ll listen to each person describing himself / herself and saying a name which is based upon a color, for example: Miss Blue, the students can indicate the name by coloring the box in each picture.
4-The students listen to and color the features as specified.
5-Then they cut out the faces and spread them out the tables, they take away each face as you read aloud the descriptions one by one , read them all except one, the fist student to identify the missing person wins.
6-You can ask about one face: who´s got big, round, red glasses?
POSSIBLE VARIATIONS: They can choose a photo and describe it in a written form and then read it aloud to the rest of the class.
SKILLS DEVELOPED:Listening, speaking, reading and writing.
10 Tips for Inquiry-Based Learning
Inquiry based learning is a technique whereby a teacher involves students in the learning process through focusing on questions, through problem-solving activities, and the use of critical thinking. Some students prefer this type of learning approach because when they become involved they understand concepts better. While inquiry-based learning obviously works well in science, consider how you can this approach for all subjects. Here are some tips for the inquiry-based learning approach.
Give yourself time to prepare. Inquiry-based learning involves much more prep time than other lessons. It is important to give yourself proper time when preparing such lessons. You want to be sure that you are able to guide your students through the process and have proper closure to the lesson with the students' full understanding of what was taught.
Using collaborative learning. Inquiry-based learning generally works best in a collaborative setting. Try dividing your class into small groups. Give each group a question that they will work on together, and then let them develop a project based on the question that supports their answer.
Age-appropriate activities. This approach to learning works well with any age group and with any subject. The key is to make sure that you develop lesson plans that are age-appropriate. Since much of the planning falls on your shoulders, you need to keep your students abilities in mind at all times.
Developing good questions. Because inquiry-based learning is based on answering questions, your job is to develop strong questions that are applicable to your lessons. Make sure your questions are open-ended, giving students the ability to think out of the box. Ask other teachers how they would develop questions and use their examples.
Incorporate discovery into lessons. Giving students a chance to discover things on their own can make concepts click to where they understand what is being taught. Add questions to your lessons whereby students have to explore to find the answers. An example might be having students build a model in order to answer questions in a sequential order.
Incorporate observation into lessons. "Seeing is believing." Some students gain an advantage in learning when they have the opportunity to observe what is being taught. Of course, we generally think of science experiments when referring to this concept, but consider using this approach in all areas of learning. For instance, create a mystery box whereas you give a team of students a sealed box. After reading a story, let the student teams guess what might be in the box based on the story. Let them open the box and see if they made any correct guesses. Then explain why you put the particular items in the box in the first place.
Use measurement in lessons. This approach is best used with science lessons. When a student is given a chance to measure progress it helps them learn important concepts. An example exercise might include the bubble gum experiment. Here's how it works:
The flavor in gum is mostly due to the sugar content or other sweetener it might contain. While chewing gum, you notice the sugar dissolves and the gum loses its flavor. You are actually swallowing the sugar. Once the flavor is completely gone, sit the gum out in room temperature and use the difference in a new piece of gum compared to the chewed piece to measure the percentage of sugar that is in the gum. Now you can use this demonstration to come up with new questions related to gum and the ingredients they contain. Let students do more experiments to answer the new questions.
Use model-building exercises in lessons. Give your students something they can identify that can be changed into something else. Label the identifier as "A" and the change it can make as "B." Now have them make a model of "B" and then explain how the transformation takes place. This technique can be used in art context, through story reading and character changes, as well as with physical changes in science experiments.
Incorporate design techniques into lessons. This approach is best used with science lessons. This is a student's chance to design something physical and use it to prove or disprove a theory. For instance, when teaching about buoyancy, let students make boats out of clay. Of course, when they put their boats onto water, they will sink. Use this opportunity to explain about buoyancy and why it works.
Incorporate hands-on activities in lessons. Any opportunity to let students work with their hands is a good way to use inquiry-based learning. Hands-on activities can be used in all subjects. One such example might include giving students (either individually or in groups) unfamiliar objects. Let them look and hold the objects and speculate how they might be used. The goal is for students to observe the objects giving special attention to details. Now the students must give arguments to support their speculations. This is a great way to introduce a new subject in the classroom.
Give yourself time to prepare. Inquiry-based learning involves much more prep time than other lessons. It is important to give yourself proper time when preparing such lessons. You want to be sure that you are able to guide your students through the process and have proper closure to the lesson with the students' full understanding of what was taught.
Using collaborative learning. Inquiry-based learning generally works best in a collaborative setting. Try dividing your class into small groups. Give each group a question that they will work on together, and then let them develop a project based on the question that supports their answer.
Age-appropriate activities. This approach to learning works well with any age group and with any subject. The key is to make sure that you develop lesson plans that are age-appropriate. Since much of the planning falls on your shoulders, you need to keep your students abilities in mind at all times.
Developing good questions. Because inquiry-based learning is based on answering questions, your job is to develop strong questions that are applicable to your lessons. Make sure your questions are open-ended, giving students the ability to think out of the box. Ask other teachers how they would develop questions and use their examples.
Incorporate discovery into lessons. Giving students a chance to discover things on their own can make concepts click to where they understand what is being taught. Add questions to your lessons whereby students have to explore to find the answers. An example might be having students build a model in order to answer questions in a sequential order.
Incorporate observation into lessons. "Seeing is believing." Some students gain an advantage in learning when they have the opportunity to observe what is being taught. Of course, we generally think of science experiments when referring to this concept, but consider using this approach in all areas of learning. For instance, create a mystery box whereas you give a team of students a sealed box. After reading a story, let the student teams guess what might be in the box based on the story. Let them open the box and see if they made any correct guesses. Then explain why you put the particular items in the box in the first place.
Use measurement in lessons. This approach is best used with science lessons. When a student is given a chance to measure progress it helps them learn important concepts. An example exercise might include the bubble gum experiment. Here's how it works:
The flavor in gum is mostly due to the sugar content or other sweetener it might contain. While chewing gum, you notice the sugar dissolves and the gum loses its flavor. You are actually swallowing the sugar. Once the flavor is completely gone, sit the gum out in room temperature and use the difference in a new piece of gum compared to the chewed piece to measure the percentage of sugar that is in the gum. Now you can use this demonstration to come up with new questions related to gum and the ingredients they contain. Let students do more experiments to answer the new questions.
Use model-building exercises in lessons. Give your students something they can identify that can be changed into something else. Label the identifier as "A" and the change it can make as "B." Now have them make a model of "B" and then explain how the transformation takes place. This technique can be used in art context, through story reading and character changes, as well as with physical changes in science experiments.
Incorporate design techniques into lessons. This approach is best used with science lessons. This is a student's chance to design something physical and use it to prove or disprove a theory. For instance, when teaching about buoyancy, let students make boats out of clay. Of course, when they put their boats onto water, they will sink. Use this opportunity to explain about buoyancy and why it works.
Incorporate hands-on activities in lessons. Any opportunity to let students work with their hands is a good way to use inquiry-based learning. Hands-on activities can be used in all subjects. One such example might include giving students (either individually or in groups) unfamiliar objects. Let them look and hold the objects and speculate how they might be used. The goal is for students to observe the objects giving special attention to details. Now the students must give arguments to support their speculations. This is a great way to introduce a new subject in the classroom.
Tips for Learning New Vocabulary Words
Preparing for vocabulary tests, such as the SAT or GRE Verbal, can seem quite overwhelming. A vocabulary study list could easily be 1,000 words. While you may be familiar with some of the terms already, to think of memorizing even 100 new ones is a daunting task. However, all students face the same challenge. What's to be remembered is that there are indeed ways to prepare, from practice tests to flash cards to mnemonic techniques. Find the one that works best for you and conquer those words!
1. Practice Vocabulary Tests: These tests, available online and in book form, are a great way to assess your vocabulary IQ. From analogies to sentence completion, they also give you an idea of what to expect from the actual test. In school, we're told to look at study questions at the end of a reading assignment first. The reason being is that you'll then know what to look for when reading. The same holds true for practice vocabulary tests and/or quizzes. It's even better if you take the tests under test conditions (timed, with no outside distractions).
2. Study Word Parts: Familiarize yourself with word parts. That is, the roots and affixes of words. Most of the English language comes from Greek, Latin, and Anglo-Saxon. If you become familiar with common roots, prefixes, and suffixes, it should aid you in spelling and comprehension. For instance, the Latin root "-gress" (or -grad) means "step, walk, decree." From this root, we get words like progress, digress, regress, transgress, and congress.
3. Read Vocabulary Lists: These are available online, at the bookstore, and in your library. They typically contain the most common terms found on standardized tests like the GRE. As with practice tests, to know what to expect from your real test is part of the readiness. With vocabulary lists, make note of the words you know and those that you don't. From the list of words unfamiliar to you, begin your research.
4. Mnemonics: These memory tricks can be a great help in learning and memorizing new words by way of association. Mnemonic techniques make use of what we already know, providing context to that which is new. From a cartoon to a rhyme to an acronym, mnemonics can help us make sense of the unfamiliar. For instance, with vocabulary cartoons, the new word is given a definition, a link word (rhymed; e.g. lament and cement), a visual, and a fun caption. This multi-sensory approach gives your brain a robust reference to return to later when the word is needed again. When preparing for a vocabulary test, a mnemonic technique can truly simplify what looks to be impossible.
5. Flash Cards: These are excellent for self-quizzing and can be taken wherever you go. Flash cards have been used since our earliest education years, but they remain just as effective when studying for the SAT or GRE. You can make cards yourself, which works well if you have a specific word-list to study. You can also purchase the cards in book form (for a low price) or download/print them from online sources. If you do make your own flash cards, just remember to make the definition small enough that it cannot be read in a "flash." Include the definition and sample sentences to review when simply studying from the cards.
6. Word Games: Word games like word searches and crosswords are fun ways to study. By engaging in such skill games, you're giving your brain the building blocks for new words and the memorization of them. For vocabulary tests, it can only help if when you look down at the test, the words jump out; much like they do in a word search, a crossword, or an anagram.
7. Create Sentences: Measure your progress by taking a self-quiz. As a helpful exercise, take a set of new vocabulary words (say, 25 at a time) and list them. Go down the list and try to write a sentence for each. Afterwards, check them against your study aids. If your sentence is written correctly, using the right definition, then you can check it off your list for now. For those you got wrong, put them to the side for your next quiz. As your real test approaches, begin to time yourself. Give yourself 45 seconds for each sentence, so about 12 minutes total for 25. Under test conditions, you will need to be decisive. (Note: Even for the words you get right, continue to review them - even if you're not quizzing yourself. Repetition can only help.)
8 Enroll in a Prep Course: For those studying for the SAT or GRE, it's recommended that you take a prep course. You can sign up through your school or online. Courses vary in price, format, and length, ranging from a weekend cram session to a week-long study seminar. They're also available online. Keep in mind that independent study can prove as effective, especially if you invest in a software program. Prep courses are helpful however in identifying where you should focus your "prep" the most.
9. Join the Discussion: More economical than a prep course, simply immerse yourself in an environment that's all about learning new words. Study groups, both in-class and online, can help you stay in practice while not even realizing it. Ever join a roundtable discussion about a favorite TV show? You could quote from past episodes, cite scenes and pieces of dialogue that support your opinion. You're an expert and you don't even realize how much effort you've put into becoming one. The same can be said of vocabulary. If you make it one of your interests, you could be well on your way to being a wordsmith. Try and put your new vocabulary words into practical use, such as in casual conversation with friends. By doing so, your brain will get a bit of helpful reinforcement and a mini-workout.
10. Practice Makes Perfect: Remember, you may need to learn 1,000 vocabulary words for your test. I know it sounds insurmountable, but it's not. Solid preparation can do wonders for your confidence as test-day approaches. Be confident that your studying will pay off in the end. It's of course not going to be easy, but it will be rewarding.
"A vocabulary of truth and simplicity will be of service throughout your life." - Winston Churchill, 1874-1965
1. Practice Vocabulary Tests: These tests, available online and in book form, are a great way to assess your vocabulary IQ. From analogies to sentence completion, they also give you an idea of what to expect from the actual test. In school, we're told to look at study questions at the end of a reading assignment first. The reason being is that you'll then know what to look for when reading. The same holds true for practice vocabulary tests and/or quizzes. It's even better if you take the tests under test conditions (timed, with no outside distractions).
2. Study Word Parts: Familiarize yourself with word parts. That is, the roots and affixes of words. Most of the English language comes from Greek, Latin, and Anglo-Saxon. If you become familiar with common roots, prefixes, and suffixes, it should aid you in spelling and comprehension. For instance, the Latin root "-gress" (or -grad) means "step, walk, decree." From this root, we get words like progress, digress, regress, transgress, and congress.
3. Read Vocabulary Lists: These are available online, at the bookstore, and in your library. They typically contain the most common terms found on standardized tests like the GRE. As with practice tests, to know what to expect from your real test is part of the readiness. With vocabulary lists, make note of the words you know and those that you don't. From the list of words unfamiliar to you, begin your research.
4. Mnemonics: These memory tricks can be a great help in learning and memorizing new words by way of association. Mnemonic techniques make use of what we already know, providing context to that which is new. From a cartoon to a rhyme to an acronym, mnemonics can help us make sense of the unfamiliar. For instance, with vocabulary cartoons, the new word is given a definition, a link word (rhymed; e.g. lament and cement), a visual, and a fun caption. This multi-sensory approach gives your brain a robust reference to return to later when the word is needed again. When preparing for a vocabulary test, a mnemonic technique can truly simplify what looks to be impossible.
5. Flash Cards: These are excellent for self-quizzing and can be taken wherever you go. Flash cards have been used since our earliest education years, but they remain just as effective when studying for the SAT or GRE. You can make cards yourself, which works well if you have a specific word-list to study. You can also purchase the cards in book form (for a low price) or download/print them from online sources. If you do make your own flash cards, just remember to make the definition small enough that it cannot be read in a "flash." Include the definition and sample sentences to review when simply studying from the cards.
6. Word Games: Word games like word searches and crosswords are fun ways to study. By engaging in such skill games, you're giving your brain the building blocks for new words and the memorization of them. For vocabulary tests, it can only help if when you look down at the test, the words jump out; much like they do in a word search, a crossword, or an anagram.
7. Create Sentences: Measure your progress by taking a self-quiz. As a helpful exercise, take a set of new vocabulary words (say, 25 at a time) and list them. Go down the list and try to write a sentence for each. Afterwards, check them against your study aids. If your sentence is written correctly, using the right definition, then you can check it off your list for now. For those you got wrong, put them to the side for your next quiz. As your real test approaches, begin to time yourself. Give yourself 45 seconds for each sentence, so about 12 minutes total for 25. Under test conditions, you will need to be decisive. (Note: Even for the words you get right, continue to review them - even if you're not quizzing yourself. Repetition can only help.)
8 Enroll in a Prep Course: For those studying for the SAT or GRE, it's recommended that you take a prep course. You can sign up through your school or online. Courses vary in price, format, and length, ranging from a weekend cram session to a week-long study seminar. They're also available online. Keep in mind that independent study can prove as effective, especially if you invest in a software program. Prep courses are helpful however in identifying where you should focus your "prep" the most.
9. Join the Discussion: More economical than a prep course, simply immerse yourself in an environment that's all about learning new words. Study groups, both in-class and online, can help you stay in practice while not even realizing it. Ever join a roundtable discussion about a favorite TV show? You could quote from past episodes, cite scenes and pieces of dialogue that support your opinion. You're an expert and you don't even realize how much effort you've put into becoming one. The same can be said of vocabulary. If you make it one of your interests, you could be well on your way to being a wordsmith. Try and put your new vocabulary words into practical use, such as in casual conversation with friends. By doing so, your brain will get a bit of helpful reinforcement and a mini-workout.
10. Practice Makes Perfect: Remember, you may need to learn 1,000 vocabulary words for your test. I know it sounds insurmountable, but it's not. Solid preparation can do wonders for your confidence as test-day approaches. Be confident that your studying will pay off in the end. It's of course not going to be easy, but it will be rewarding.
"A vocabulary of truth and simplicity will be of service throughout your life." - Winston Churchill, 1874-1965
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