Teaching for Success - Week 2 Knowing the Subject
The week's topic: Knowing the Subject
Different kinds of knowledge that students must have:
Learners need to know much more than just the meaning of new language, whether it’s a word, a phrase, a grammatical structure or a fixed expression.
It will be useful for my students to focus on the following questions when working with vocabulary. J
Different kinds of knowledge that students must have:
| Types of knowledge | |
| Linguistic knowledge | Knowledge of English and of other languages |
| World knowledge | ‘General’ knowledge or specialist knowledge |
| Sociocultural knowledge | Knowledge about communities and social practices, how language is used by different groups of people, in different situations, for different functions |
It will be useful for my students to focus on the following questions when working with vocabulary. J
1. What does it mean?
Does it mean different things in different contexts?
Does it directly translate to my language?
Is it similar to other words I know in English?
Does it have any positive or negative connotations?
Does it mean different things in different contexts?
Does it directly translate to my language?
Is it similar to other words I know in English?
Does it have any positive or negative connotations?
2. How do I say it?
How will it sound when I hear it?
How many syllables are there?
Where is the stress (the strongest, loudest part of an utterance)?
Are any sounds connected or altered in some way?
Does it need special intonation?
How will it sound when I hear it?
How many syllables are there?
Where is the stress (the strongest, loudest part of an utterance)?
Are any sounds connected or altered in some way?
Does it need special intonation?
3. How do I spell it?
Is it spelt like any other words?
Is there anything unusual about the spelling?
Does the spelling change e.g. for different verb forms, or ‘British’/’American’ spelling?
Is it spelt like any other words?
Is there anything unusual about the spelling?
Does the spelling change e.g. for different verb forms, or ‘British’/’American’ spelling?
4. How do I use it?
What part of speech is it?
Can it be more than one part of speech? (e.g. a verb and a noun)
Does it usually go with other, specific words?
Can I make other words from it?
Techniques to check understanding
1. Asking questions
Asking targeted questions can help learners to pinpoint meaning. It’s often a good idea to start with closed questions, which offer a choice, before moving onto more open questions. For example, if you want to check the meaning of ‘I lived in Delhi’ you could ask:
* Am I talking about the past, the present or the future? (the past) closed question * Do I live in Delhi now? (no) closed question * Tell me about a place where you lived before open question Remember that asking ‘What does this word mean?’ can be tricky for lower level learners. Think about how you would answer before asking this! Also, if you ask ‘Do you understand?’ it is easy for learners to answer ‘Yes!’, but you won’t really know unless you check properly. Some learners are reluctant to say when they don’t understand something.
2. Asking learners to demonstrate
Examples: ‘How do you look when you feel interested?’, ‘Point to something which is heavy’, ‘Show me what you do when you yawn’. Of course, this doesn’t work for everything. You could ask individuals or the whole class to demonstrate.
3. Testing knowledge
Giving learners an exercise to complete is one way of seeing how much they understand. There are lots of options: examples include a matching activity, wordsearch, crossword, writing words for definitions/writing definitions for words. Multiple choice activities probably need to be followed by another way of checking too, as learners may have just guessed! Learners need to be reassured that if they don’t know the answers, it’s OK!
4. Using images
Displaying an image and asking questions can be a good way to check understanding. For example, you could show a picture of a man in prison and ask ‘What has he done?’, to check the present perfect structure. Or simply show a picture of a word you want to check, like ‘ski resort’. You could ask younger learners to draw the item you want to check.
5. Using translation
Practising the language
Menu of Practice Activities
Introduction to Teaching Pronunciation Workshop - Adrian Underhill
Wrong Lyrics Activity
The Teachers' Room: Teaching word stress
What part of speech is it?
Can it be more than one part of speech? (e.g. a verb and a noun)
Does it usually go with other, specific words?
Can I make other words from it?
5. When do I use it?
In what social situation and for what purpose?
Is it used more in speaking or writing or both? Where will I see it?
Are there times when I shouldn’t use this language? Why?
In what social situation and for what purpose?
Is it used more in speaking or writing or both? Where will I see it?
Are there times when I shouldn’t use this language? Why?
Techniques to check understanding
1. Asking questions
Asking targeted questions can help learners to pinpoint meaning. It’s often a good idea to start with closed questions, which offer a choice, before moving onto more open questions. For example, if you want to check the meaning of ‘I lived in Delhi’ you could ask:
* Am I talking about the past, the present or the future? (the past) closed question * Do I live in Delhi now? (no) closed question * Tell me about a place where you lived before open question Remember that asking ‘What does this word mean?’ can be tricky for lower level learners. Think about how you would answer before asking this! Also, if you ask ‘Do you understand?’ it is easy for learners to answer ‘Yes!’, but you won’t really know unless you check properly. Some learners are reluctant to say when they don’t understand something.
2. Asking learners to demonstrate
Examples: ‘How do you look when you feel interested?’, ‘Point to something which is heavy’, ‘Show me what you do when you yawn’. Of course, this doesn’t work for everything. You could ask individuals or the whole class to demonstrate.
3. Testing knowledge
Giving learners an exercise to complete is one way of seeing how much they understand. There are lots of options: examples include a matching activity, wordsearch, crossword, writing words for definitions/writing definitions for words. Multiple choice activities probably need to be followed by another way of checking too, as learners may have just guessed! Learners need to be reassured that if they don’t know the answers, it’s OK!
4. Using images
Displaying an image and asking questions can be a good way to check understanding. For example, you could show a picture of a man in prison and ask ‘What has he done?’, to check the present perfect structure. Or simply show a picture of a word you want to check, like ‘ski resort’. You could ask younger learners to draw the item you want to check.
5. Using translation
Practising the language
Menu of Practice Activities
Teaching Pronunciation
Wrong Lyrics Activity
The Teachers' Room: Teaching word stress
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