Magnet, Island or Bridge
1. If you have a magnet, show it to the class and check if they know what it is called. Otherwise, you may need to explain it in the next step. On the board draw three columns, heading them respectively `magnet', `island' and `bridge'. Divide your class into pairs and ask them to draw up a list of characteristics in the columns on the board.
2. Ask your students to think for a moment about the way they act in various social contexts, for example at parties, with colleagues, in the family - more like a magnet, an island or a bridge. Divide the class into groups to discuss the problem briefly.
3. Ask them, still in groups, to discuss which attitude - the magnet, the island or the bridge - is most conductive to a good working environment in class and what that implies in term of actual behaviour.
4. Discuss as a class the findings of the groups. They should feel that being a bridge is the most conductive and that it implies a spirit of co-operation, participating, helping others. At the same time a magnet may on occasions act as a catalyst to encourage shyer members of the class when/how a magnet might be a positive element in a class and when/how a negative one.
5. Extend the discussion to how bridges can be formed out of class. Draw up a list on the board.
6. Give your students a few minutes to discuss with those sitting near them which of these ideas they feel are most appropriate to them and how they intend to implement them. It is better in this phase to let pairs/groups form spontaneously than to impose them. Ask a few members of the class what conclusion they came to.
Encouraging Reading
1. Initiate an informal discussion on your student's reading habits in their own language. Ask which of them are in the habit of reading regularly in English outside class. Ask what kind of things they read and where they get their reading material from.
2. Put it to the class that for most learners regular reading out of class is absolutely essential to reach an advanced language level - it is one of the best ways of expanding vocabulary and probably the only way to get a good sense of style. Tell them you are going to work with them to set up a framework that encourages them to read regularly.
3. The first hurdle is to find a source of suitable books. With the help of your students, write a list on the board of possible sources of books in English. Tell them to copy it into their notebooks. It will probably look like this:
a) public lending libraries;
b) school libraries;
c) bookshops;
d) each other.
Discuss with the class which of these sources is/are most readily available.
4. Arrange with your students for all to bring a book to class the lesson after next so that everyone can get an idea of what their colleagues are going to read.
5. When the class brings their books, ask each student to set a realistic target date to read their book by. Tell them that the date must be agreed with you. Draw up a class list of author/title/target date for all their books and fix this to the classroom wall.
6. As target dates are reached, check on progress, do not be 'heavy' if they do not achieve their targets but remind them that they are the ones who set the target dates and that you do expect them to finish soon.
7. As students finish their books, ask them to fill in information about the books they have read on a `book recommendation sheet', which you van fix to the wall for your students to consult. It might look like this:
Recommended Reading
Author Title Interest Difficulty Comments Reader
For `Interest' and `Difficulty' it is best to use a scale, for example one to five, to indicate the degree of interest and difficulty.
Variation
The same broad principles apply to listening. Below is a list of possible sources for material:
a) English-speaking people that students meet
b) television programmes
c) films (original or subtitled), film clubs
d) videos
e) theatre
f ) radio
g) songs
h) spoken word cassettes
Discuss with your students which of these are available locally. Draw their attention to the help that images give in understanding and to the high level of concentration needed when listening, which is quickly tiring. Follow-ups for listening are more difficult to set up than for reading. Once again, in general encourage reflection. Here are possible headings for a `recommended listening sheet' that you can fix to the classroom wall:
Culture Project
1. Initiate a discussion with your students about their interests. Ask them about how they might link those interests to their study of English. Put it to them that they could extend an interest or begin a new one by doing a project on some aspect of English-speaking culture. Tell them that they can choose anything they like within that, only that at the end of the project they must produce something to present to the others in the class - orally or in writing. This can be something quite modest but its purpose is simply to provide some kind of objective. If you get a reasonably positive response, go on to Step 2.
2. Tell them that the hardest part is often choosing the project. So give them copies of the handout given below:
Example topics for personal culture projects
1. History
a) A long period, e.g. the Elizabeth era, the Victorian era
b) A short period, e.g. the American Civil War, Henry VIII and the Reformation
c) An incident and the events surrounding it, e.g. the Spanish Armada, the Wall Street Crash
2. Geography
a) A country you do not know about where English is spoken, e.g. one of the Caribbean or Pacific islands
b) A region or state in an English-speaking country, e.g. Florida, Wales, Queensland
c) A city or town, e.g. Cambridge, Stratford-upon-Avon, Auckland
3. People and their work
a) Statesmen and women, e.g. Gandhi, Churchill, Lincoln
b) Scientists, e.g. Newton, Darwin, Einstein
c) Artists of all kinds, e.g. The Beatles, Constable, Blake, Jane Austen, Shaw
d) Entertainers, e.g. Charlie Chaplin, Fred Astaire, Marilyn Monroe
e) Individuals, e.g. Martin Luther King, Bede, Dr Johnson
4. Other areas
a) Traditions and customs, e.g. Pancake Day, Thanksgiving
b) The Royal Family
c) Political institutions
d) Castles, stately homes and gardens
e) Folk music
f) Food and cooking
g) Porcelain and pottery, e.g. Wedgwood, Royal Doulton
h) Sport
i) Ways of being, e.g. attitudes, norms, taboos, behaviours
Ask your students each to decide on their project to tell you next lesson.
3. Next lesson ask each student what their project is going to be about and make a note of it. If more than one wants to work on a particular area, suggest they work in a pair, but discourage more than two students working on one project. There are so many to choose from that it is a pity not to have a wide range. Agree a target date for completion of the project and presentation to the class - in a one-month course it will have to be near the end of the course, in a year-long course towards the end of the term you start the project in. Tell your students that you will ask them from time to time how their projects are going and will set aside some class time to discuss progress and to deal with any problems.
Mini-projects have great success, where the students identify some small thing about English-speaking culture they want to know about and have just one lesson in a library to find out. You accompany them to the library and help them find the materials they need. The next lesson they report back what they found. Among the mini-projects which may be suggested are: willow-pattern pottery, Shakespeare's life, the historical King Arthur, prehistoric monuments in Britain, Elgar, Liverpool and child labour in Victorian England.
2.3 Project Work Activities for the Advanced Level
Taking the Plunge
1. Ask your class what they think are the main problems of being a more advanced learner. They usually talk about difficult vocabulary, complex structures and other language items. Accept these points but put it to them that there is often a much more fundamental problem, namely how they go about their learning. If any student raises any of the more fundamental areas outlined in the handout, use this as a direct springboard into the next step.
2. Give each student a copy of the following handout.
Being a good advanced learner
Many learners of English manage to reach a level where they can understand, speak and write for everyday purposes. Yet only a relatively small proportion of these people ever become genuinely advanced users of the language, though many make the attempt. As you are just beginning a course in more advanced English, it is important for you to be aware of what you need to do and how to go about it, so that you can make a success of your course.
You are going to read a short text, with a series of tasks to do as you read. This will provide an opportunity to reflect on your learning and, through your answers to the tasks, will give your teacher valuable information about you as a learner, so that he or she can give you greater guidance for the future.
Beyond spoon-feeding
In many language courses the teaching at lower levels tends to follow a pattern of what could be described as 'spoon-feeding' - the teacher chooses the elements of the language to teach (the food), plans how to present it (puts it onto a spoon) and teaches (feeds) the learners with it, as if they were children. However, just as children become progressively more independent and in due course have to assume full responsibility for themselves as adults, so learners of a language, as they advance, have to become more independent and assume greater responsibility for their own learning.
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