Teaching ideas - Modal Verbs

There must be plenty of ideas about how to teach modal verbs. During my fifteen years as an EFL teacher/Professor, I have been dealing with lots of groups in which I was (still am) supposed to teach modal verbs.

Thinking about the many possible ways of introducing this grammar point, I decided to write some entries on how to teach modal verbs in English.

A great deal of teachers introduce such grammatical points, especially when it comes to obligation and permission, by talking about laws, rules, regulations in many different places (countries, cities, etc.).

For example, you can show the students some pictures of schools and just say “you have to stay at school until you are 18” or “You don’t have to go to school after you are 21”.

It is also possible to invent some stories (students love story telling) telling your students to look at the pictures below and create a dialogue or something like that.

A: I think it might be a(n)…

B: No, it is not. It has to be a…

Another possible way of talking about modal verbs in English is by asking students to search for crazy laws in some countries and ask them to describe the laws by using the modal verbs (should, must, have to).

 After that, divide the students into three (or more) groups and ask them to discuss their crazy laws.

PORTAL DA LÍNGUA INGLESA has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-partly internet websites referred to in this post, and does not guarantee that any context on such websites are, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. 

In some instances, I have been unable to trace the owners of the pictures used here; therefore, I would appreciate any information that would enable me to do so. Thank you very much. 

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How to Teach Reported Speech: Alternative Approach.

  

Reported speech is used to talk about things other people have said. Instead of introducing this topic using a range of different tenses, stick with a very simple structure for this first lesson. “He said he liked soccer.” where both verbs are past tense, would be ideal. A lesson on reported speech is the perfect opportunity to review different structures and vocabulary.

How to Proceed

1 Warm up

Use the warm up activity to get some simple sentences on the board. You can elicit certain sentence structures if students need more practice with something in particular. You can do this by asking students to make groups and giving each group a different question to answer. This way you will get three to six sentences for each structure and can cover a range of topics. After giving students some time to discuss their questions and write individual answers, have volunteers read sentences aloud. Write some sentences and the names of the student volunteers on the board. Be sure to use at least one sentence from each group.

2 Introduce Reported Speech

You may choose to have students stay in their groups or return to their desks for the introduction. You can try to elicit the target structure by asking a question such as “What did Ben say?” Try to use a sentence that is written on the board. Most likely students will search for the name Ben and then read the sentence exactly as you have written it but you can then say “You’re right! He said he was very tired. Good job!” You have now introduced the target structure. Write the sentence He said he was very tired. on the board next to Ben’s original sentence I am very tired. Use a few more sentences from the warm up as examples and encourage students to make reported speech sentences. Now play a short game such as Crisscross with the remaining examples to give students some practice.

3 Practice

In their groups, students should trade sentences with group members and rewrite the sentences using the reported speech structure. Be sure to allow time for the majority of students to present their sentences to the class so that students can have lots of examples and some speaking practice. If students have questions, this is an excellent time to address them and review anything they are struggling with. Next use short video or audio clips for an exercise where students listen to material and complete a worksheet testing comprehension and practicing reported speech. You could also use a written dialogue for this type of activity but it will be more challenging if students have to listen to the material even if that means reading the dialogue aloud to the class. Check the answers as a class after several repetitions. If there is time, you can also play the material once more after the answers have been checked.

4 Produce

Reported speech is a great opportunity for students to do interviews with classmates, teachers or family members so this activity may be best as a homework assignment. If students have never had the opportunity to conduct interviews before, it would be good to provide them with several questions to ask. It may also be helpful to provide the translations of these questions for the interviewees.

5 Review

What students present depends on the amount of time you would like to spend on this activity. Students could either use the reported speech structure to talk about the response to one interview question or summarize their findings. This activity allows you to ensure that students are using the structure correctly. If students have difficulty with something, you can review and practice that in the warm up for the next lesson.

Being able to talk about things they have heard allows students to share more information. It is one thing to say what you think and totally different to talk about what other people have said. This will definitely be practiced further when you talk about giving advice because often someone will prompt advice giving by saying something like “I want to/think ~ but my parents said ~.” Covering this topic thoroughly now will give students the confidence to create this section of dialogue in giving advice dialogues and role plays later on.

See our Reported Speech worksheets here.

From: BusyTeacher.org

PORTAL DA LÍNGUA INGLESA has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-partly internet websites referred to in this post, and does not guarantee that any context on such websites are, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.

In some instances, I have been unable to trace the owners of the pictures used here; therefore, I would appreciate any information that would enable me to do so. Thank you very much.

Is something important missing? Report an error or suggest an improvement. Please, I strive for accuracy and fairness. If you see something that does not look right, contact me!

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Do you have any tips or examples to improve this page?

Do you disagree with something on this page?

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WARM UP ACTIVITIES FOR ENGLISH LESSONS.

Fact or Fiction

In this game, one person tells a short story about themselves or someone they know or heard about. Usually it is something funny or crazy. It can be a true story, or something made up.

Example: Josh tells a story about his Uncle Leo who sleeps in the nude. One day Uncle Leo was sleepwalking and he went outside and took his dog for a walk. The next door neighbor was coming home late from work and saw him! She called the police and he got arrested for being naked in public.

Everyone around the room has to say whether they think Josh's story is FACT (true) or FICTION (made up). Josh reveals the truth when everyone has guessed. Members can take turns telling a story.

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HOW TO CREATE A WINNING LESSON.

1.   KNOW YOUR PEOPLE:

Before you can make any kind of effective lesson plan, you have to know your students.

2.   KNOW YOUR PLAN:

Officially, you should know your learning objectives. These are the language specific objectives for your lesson. If you are teaching content, think about ways to tie it to reading, writing, listening and speaking for your English students.

3.   KNOW YOUR PRIORITIES:

What are the most important things your students should know from the lesson you are planning? For example, in a speaking class learning a specific set of vocabulary may be secondary. Learning cultural nuances may be a third level priority. When you define your priorities at the start of your lesson planning, you can be sure that your students will learn what they need to learn by the end of your class.

4.   KNOW YOUR PIECES:

Just like any good story, a good lesson plan needs a beginning, middle and end. Plan a way of introducing the subject that will get your students thinking about what they already know, making connections in the brain. Plan more than one activity to introduce and practice new material.

5.   ANTICIPATE YOUR PACE:

One of the hardest tasks for a new teacher is determining how much time a given activity will take. Make sure you are ready for anything in your class by over planning activities for each lesson. Be ready for anything, and after you present your lesson make note of how long you spent on each activity.

6.   PROCESS YOUR OUTCOME:

It is always beneficial to spend a few moments after a lesson evaluating how it went, but your evaluation does not have to be a complicated process. This will not only help you the next time you go through the same material with a future class, it will help you plan upcoming lessons better for the class you have now!

This entry was adapted from BUSY TEACHER. Read the full version >>here<<

May 2012 ELT Event: Natal.

Dear BRAZ-TESOL friends,

I am delighted to announce our May 2012 event in Natal:

Beyond Formulas, Towards Results

DATE | 26 May 2012

VENUE | FACULDADE MAURÍCIO DE NASSAU | Avenida Engenheiro Roberto Freire, 1514 – Capim Macio, Natal – RN, 59080-400 | (84) 3344-7800| mauriciodenassau.edu.br/ | Google Maps: http://g.co/maps/m8zdc

PROGRAMME

14:00 – 14:15  Opening (Room 114)

14:15 – 15:05  Plenary – Promoting individual attention within large groups (Room 114)

15:05 – 15:30  Break

15:30 – 16:30  Concurrent Workshops (Rooms 112 & 113)

16:30 – 17:30  Plenary – Beyond formulas, towards results. (Room 114)

17:30 – 17:50  Closing & Raffle (Room 114)

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PLENARY | Eduardo Santos

Promoting individual attention within large groups. (Room 114)

Teaching English to large groups may sometimes lead to the lack of learner’s individual attention. Is it possible to address the needs of individual students and still keep the others engaged in the lesson? This talk aims at discussing key issues suggested by the Demand-High Teaching movement and identified in my own classroom observations.

Eduardo Santos (BA in Languages, UFPE) has been working in the ELT industry for over 10 years. He worked for private language institutions and OUP in the past. He is now a freelance academic consultant and teacher trainer based in Recife. Eduardo is currently completing the Cambridge DELTA.

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WORKSHOPS

The power of body language in the EFL Classroom (Room 112) | Ana Beatriz M. M. Guilherme & Teresinha Iris Viana

The purpose of this workshop is to show the importance of body language in the process of teaching and learning. Participants will have access to specific information about the use of body language as a natural process of communication and will take part in a variety of simple activities for children, adolescents and adults that can supplement their classes in a fun, interactive way.

Ana Beatriz M. M. Guilherme is a language teacher and director of ProEnglish. She is currently completing a lato sensu postgraduate programme in ELT at Universidade Potiguar. Beatriz is also the current vice-president of the BRAZ-TESOL Natal chapter.

Teresinha Iris Viana is an experienced language teacher having worked with learners of various levels and age ranges. She is currently teaching at ProEnglish.

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Teacher, What’s a Yankee? Well, It Depends…Contextualizing Language Learning

For a long time, as a child, I didn’t know what a “Yankee” was.

Sometimes, as in the phrase “Damn Yankees!” it seemed to refer to the people from the Northern states during the American Civil War. Other times, as in “Yankee thrift” or “Yankee ingenuity,” it seemed to refer to individuals from only New England states, and then still other times seemed to be directed at Americans in general. If I tried to ask an adult what “Yankee” meant, she would usually respond with another question, “Who said it?”, which just further confused me, leaving me with the impression that “Yankee” was something pejorative, something one shouldn’t say. But of course the adults were right in this case: who a “Yankee” is depends on who says it. If the speaker is from within the United States, she probably means someone from the north, probably New England; outside of the United States, and he’s probably referring to Americans in general. To further complicate matters, at one time in history “Yankee” was actually how the American soldiers referred to the British troops, as in the song, “Yankee Doodle Dandy,” which mocked their effeteness. But the context of that particular cultural reference, the American Revolution, has long disappeared.

Much of Language is Context Specific

The question “Where are you from?”also demonstrates the contextualized nature of language in that the answer to this depends on where I am now. If I’m on campus, I’ll reply, “The ESL Department.” If I’m in my hometown, I’ll answer, “The Greenhaven neighborhood.” If I’m in New York, I’ll respond, “California,” and if in Paris, I’ll say, “The U.S.” Mixing the answers up would seem strange, perhaps bizarre (Imagine responding to the copy clerk on campus that you’re from the United States when he asks where you’re from because he needs to know where to direct the copies.) Students should for this reason be taught the contextualized nature of language and how it is based on situation.

What Material Should Be Taught in Teaching Language and Context?

[FALSE FRIENDS/ FALSOS COGNATOS] VOCÊ SABE O QUE SIGNIFICA “PROFESSOR” EM INGLÊS?

Essa é uma daquelas palavras que pode causar um pouco de confusão. Sim, “professor” significa professor em português, mas não no sentido geral. Nesse caso, nós usamos “teacher”, pois “professor” é usado no sentindo de professor de nível universitário.

Exemplos:

He is a very good professor. He works at Harvard University.

[Ele é um bom professor universitário. Ele trabalha na universidade de Harvard.]

Julio is a high school teacher.

Lembro que independe da disciplina ensinada. Tanto “teacher” quanto “professor” são usados para Língua Inglesa; Química, Física.. Nesse caso, colocasse a disciplina como um adjetivo para qualificar o professor.

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What Does an English Teacher Do?

In general, English teachers instruct middle school, high school and college students about reading and writing in the English language. They teach grammar, composition, reading comprehension, literature and more. In college-level programs for English majors, English instructors teach very specialized classes in topics such as middle English, writing short stories, literary theory and more. The job responsibilities of an English teacher will vary depending on the level of the students that he or she teaches.

An English teacher at the middle school level might teach more generalized classes that discuss a variety of topics such as grammar, composition and literature. A high school English teacher might teach both general classes and specific topics such as creative writing. College-level English instructors often teach classes focused on very specific areas, such as American literature, novel writing, journalism and others.

An English teacher might teach as many as six class periods a day or as few as two or three a day, depending on where he or she teaches. Typical daily duties of an English teacher include preparing, assigning and grading lessons and homework and evaluating students and preparing progress reports. They instruct students in the classroom through both lectures and hands-on activities.

English teachers at the middle school and high school levels meet and interact with parents to provide updates on student progress as part of their jobs. At college and university levels, English teachers often have designated office hours, during which they spend time meeting with students one-on-one to answer questions and provide more personalized instruction. College and university English teachers frequently are professionals in language arts fields such as poetry, novel writing or journalism.

Some teachers travel to countries where the native language is not English in order to teach the English language to people there. English teachers instructing in non-English-speaking countries might instruct young students or university students, or they might teach classes for businesses or corporations. Some of the countries that have high demand for English teachers include Japan, Brazil and Spain.

The educational requirements for English teachers will differ depending on where they instruct. At the middle school and high school levels, they generally will need at least a bachelor's degree and a teaching credential. English teachers in middle schools and high schools sometimes are called language arts teachers. College and university English teachers, also called professors, typically have master's degrees or doctorate degrees. To teach English abroad, a four-year degree often is required, and English-as-a-second-language certification might also be required, depending on the country.

Source: http://www.wisegeek.com/what-does-an-english-teacher-do.htm