DIDCTICA DEL INGLSClassroom PracticeSusan House (coord.)Jorge Bascn, Beatriz Calle, Mike Downie, Gavin Dudeney, Ramiro Durn, Nicky Hockly, Katharine Scott, Paul Seligson, Karina Vidal9 Vol. IIFORMACINDELPROFESORADO.EDUCACINSECUNDARIA Formacin del Profesorado. Educacin Secundaria Serie: Didctica de las Lenguas extranjeras/Formacin y Desarrollo Profesional del ProfesoradoDirector de la coleccin: Csar CollCoeditanMINISTERIO DE EDUCACINSecretara de Estado de Educacin y Formacin ProfesionalInstituto de Formacin del Profesorado, Investigacin e Innovacin Educativa (IFIIE) Secretara General TcnicaCatlogo de publicaciones del Ministerio: educacion.esCatgolo general de publicaciones ociales: publicacionesociales.boe.esEditorial GRA, de IRIF, S.L.C/ Hurtado, 29. 08022 Barcelonawww.grao.com Susan House (coord.), Jorge Bascn, Beatriz Calle, Mike Downie, Gavin Dudeney, Ramiro Durn, Nicky Hockly, Katharine Scott, Paul Seligson, Karina Vidal De esta edicin: Editorial GRA, de IRIF, S.L.Ministerio de Educacin, Secretara General Tcnica1. edicin: junio 2011NIPO: 820-11-257-7ISBN: 978-84-9980-090-5D.L.: B-24.109-2011Diseo: Maria TortajadaMaquetacin: Albert LpezImpresin: CEVAGRAF, S.C.C.L.Impreso en EspaaQuedanrigurosamenteprohibidas,bajolassancionesestablecidasenlasleyes,lareproduccino almacenamientototaloparcialdelapresentepublicacin,incluyendoeldiseodelaportada,ascomo la transmisin de sta por cualquier medio, tanto si es elctrico como qumico, mecnico,ptico,de grabacin o bien de fotocopia, sin la autorizacin escrita de los titulares del copyright. Si necesitafotocopiar o escanear fragmentos de esta obra, dirjase a CEDRO (Centro Espaol de Derechos Repro-grcos, www.cedro.org).TABLE OF CONTENTSIntroduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71.Transforming the Curriculum into Activities and Work for the Classroom,Katharine Scott . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11Organisation of the syllabus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13Units of work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16From units to lessons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18The shape of a lesson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21Classroom activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22Mixed-ability classes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24Common problems with classroom activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26Assignments/Further reading/References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262. Choosing and Developing Classroom Material, Mike Downie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31Choosing and changing materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32Selecting a coursebook. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33Writing checklists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34Who am I teaching? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36What level am I teaching? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36What are the official requirements?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38General and detailed checklists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38Educating, not just teaching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39What else do I want from materials?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41Pilot, consult and gather opinions: learning by doing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42Developing and supplementing materials: plan ahead . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44Using technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47Assignments/Further reading/References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 483. Digital Literacies and the Language Classroom, Gavin Dudeney and Nicky Hockly . . . 51Technology today . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51Today's learners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53Digital literacies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55Practice. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71Assignments/Further reading/References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 724. Developing Productive and Receptive Skills in the EFL Classroom,Ramiro Durn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77The communicative competence framework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77Teaching and integrating the skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80Receptive sub-skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81Productive sub-skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84Assignments/Further reading/References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 885. Vocabulary Instruction in Secondary Schools, Karina Vidal. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91Fundamental concepts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92Some criteria for teaching vocabulary in secondary schools. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102Assignments/Further reading/References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1046. Getting Students Interested in Pronunciation: an Interview with Paul Seligson,Paul Seligson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109Pronunciation and Phonology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109Teaching and learning pronunciation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110Models for teaching pronunciation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112Mouth maps, phonetic script and sound charts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113Activities for teaching sounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118Weak forms, connected speech and sentence stress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122Rhythm and intonation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123Reading out loud . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125Generating exercises. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126Assignment/Further reading/References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1307. Effective Grammar Teaching, Jorge Bascn and Beatriz Calle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135What is the grammar of a language?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136The logical order of grammar input. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139The importance of contextualising grammar work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140Explicit v implicit grammar teaching. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141Deductive v inductive grammar teaching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142Learning how to learn. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144Example activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144Assignments/Further reading/References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1468. Classroom Management, Paul Seligson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149Manage the room and the students dont let them manage you. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152Manage your board well. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153Six more key tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153Think and teach visually. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154Really trust pairwork. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156The six key ingredients of good pairwork . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157Monitor well . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158Use mother tongue intelligently . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160Comment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160Pause often and elicit fairly. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162Exemplify at least as much as you instruct and avoid echo. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164Echo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165Routines are important but so is variety . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166Keep trying to improve your timing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167Dont be a dinosaur like me! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169Assignments/Further reading/References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1697INTRODUCTIONSusan House CoordinatorDidctica del Ingls. Classroom Practice is the second of three volumes for the subject of En-glish which make up the Formacin del profesorado. Educacin secundaria collection. Thisvolume of work provides eight chapters dealing with some of the most important aspects ofplanning and carrying out classroom practice. Your first taste of classroom practice will be inyour Practicum, which can be a rather nerve-wracking experience. Careful planning of yourlessons and classroom strategies will help you cope with some initial problems, but it shouldbe stressed that good teaching practice involves both careful planning and an ability to res-pond to situations on the spot. We mentioned in Volume I (House, 2011)1of these works that there is no such thing as teacher-proof theory, meaning that your practice cannot be simply informed by attention to theoreticalmodels. Jerome Bruner coined the expression folk pedagogy to underline the importance ofteachers beliefs about how learners learn and how teachers should teach. His observations showus that teachers often hold onto unexamined principles as to how we should carry out ourpractice. These beliefs tend to be grounded in our own experience as learners and our experienceof teachers during our own education. Some of these beliefs, although unreflective, are eminentlysensible, whilst others would benefit from a more considered and systematic scrutiny.It may come as some surprise to you to know that what is considered to be good teaching prac-tice varies widely in different educational environments. And this is because teaching practiceis not simply the putting into practice of universally held theoretical principles. Teaching is asocially and culturally embedded practice. It reflects other, more general values found in oursocial communities. In some cases these can be defined along national or regional lines, but youwill find others that are much more local in nature. One difficulty for English language teachersis that much of our literature is global in scope and, furthermore, has been forged from expe-riences in very different social, cultural and educational environments. This means that youwill be required to examine these principles from the point of view of your own educational environment, but you must also be prepared to put your own folk pedagogy on hold and beopen-minded when examining alternative approaches. Teachingpracticeaffordsteachersmanypossibilitiesforengagingintheirownresearch and testing different approaches. You should embrace these possibilities not just now, during1. Ingls. Complementos de formacin disciplinar. Theory and Practice in English Language Teaching.your Practicum, but throughout your professional career. As students we have all experien-ced the dull, boring teachers who limit themselves to repeating established models of workyear after year without any attention to variety and changes of approach. And we all knowthat this is not good teaching practice! We have also experienced teachers whose constantrevisiting and reviewing of methods and materials made their lessons exciting, engaging andmotivating, and it is to this good teaching practice we should all aspire. The chapters in this volume are all independent articles written by a variety of specialists indifferent themes. Most of the chapters in this volume have a practical focus to provide youwith strategies and blueprints of activities you can use in the classroom. We have also inclu-ded some more academic articles to provide you with a rich source of both academic andpractical material. It is important that you remember that teaching is not an exact scienceand you will come across differences of opinion and approach to teaching and learning. Thepurpose of exposing you to a variety of ideas and opinions is to encourage you to developyour own teaching style. The chapters have been placed in an order from the more generalthemes to the more specific themes, but you can read these chapters in any order dependingon the themes you are working on in your teacher-training classes. This Volume begins with two chapters dedicated to general aspects of classroom practice. Thefirst discusses the transformation of a curriculum into a syllabus for classroom activities andthe second considers how we make choices regarding the materials and activity types we usein the classroom. Other chapters address specific aspects of language teaching such as wor-king with language skills; dealing with vocabulary; dealing with grammar; and how to workon pronunciation skills. There is a further chapter on using ICT in the language classroom witha comprehensive selection of technologies and related activities. Finally there is a chapter dea-ling with classroom management and organisation. Within the body of each chapter there is a series of tasks for you to carry out as you are wor-king with the contents. These tasks are designed to help you examine the issues raised in thechapter more carefully and to develop activity types for working in the classroom. It is im-portant that you become accustomed to observing and being observed whilst you are wor-kingwithstudentsontheseactivities.Receivingfeedbackonyourperformanceintheclassroom and giving feedback to your colleagues is an essential part of reflective teachingand will help you to adjust and modify your working practice.At the end of each chapter there are some assignments for you to work on which will helpyou further your knowledge and understanding of the issues that have been addressed in thechapter. These are longer pieces of work and require you to use a variety of different sour-ces, including other chapters in Volume I (House, 2011): Ingls. Complementos de formacindisciplinar. Theory and Practice in English Language Teaching, and Volume III: Ingls. Inves-CLASSROOM PRACTICE 8INTRODUCTION 9tigacin,innovacin y buenas prcticas. Teacher Development. It is also extremely importantthat you widen your research into other sources and that you keep a diary of your classroomexperience (teachers log) in order to include examples in your writing where appropriate. At the end of each chapter there is a short list of Further Reading. These are texts or digitaldocuments that the writers feel are useful for widening your understanding of the theme ofthe chapter. You should attempt to read at least some of these works; perhaps you could di-vide them up amongst the members of your group and report back to each other on the con-tents and ideas expressed in the works. The work you cover in your tasks, assignments and further reading will provide you with aconsiderable body of knowledge and information. This should help you to build up a file ofwork and sources towards your final assessment.1. TRANSFORMING THE CURRICULUM INTOACTIVITIES AND WORK FOR THE CLASSROOMCHAPTER CONTENTS Organisation of the syllabus Units of work From units to lessons The shape of a lesson Classroom activities Mixed-ability classes Common problems with classroom activities ConclusionKatharine ScottAuthor and Teacher TrainerThis article is aimed at clarifying the main issues involved in planning a syllabus, the sub-sequent units of work and the final classroom activities. The principal purpose of the arti-cle is to consider what to teach and what to do in the classroom, rather than how to teach(methodology). However, these two issues are related. How you teach has an impact onwhatyoudointheclassroomandsomethodologyinevitablyinfluencestheshapeofasyllabus. In general terms, the main direction of English language teaching at all levels inrecent years has focused on the importance of meaningful communication. This is reflec-ted both in recent methodological developments and in the Spanish state curriculum forforeign languages: [] el eje del currculo lo constituyen los procedimientos encaminados a conseguir una competen-cia comunicativa efectiva oral y escrita, en contextos sociales significativos, que permita a alumnos yalumnas expresarse con progresiva eficacia y correccin y que abarque todos los usos y registros posibles, incluido el literario. (Real Decreto 1631/2006)11CLASSROOM PRACTICE 12As such, communicative competence must be considered an essential organising principlein the development of a syllabus and of related classroom activities.The starting point for planning a syllabus of work is the official curriculum which provides thebroad framework within which the syllabus is constructed. The Spanish curriculum, which es-tablishestheEnseanzasMnimas forSecondaryEducation,hasbeendirectlyshapedbytheCommon European Framework of Reference (CEFR). This document describes language com-petence in terms of linguistic functions or capabilities. These functions are expressed as can dostatements and are organised by linguistic skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing. Theselinguistic skills are in turn divided into different communicative functions (e.g. speaking: com-mercial transactions). See Chapter 5, The Common European Framewada of Reference, bySnchez-Reyes, in Volume I (House, 2011a), for a detailed description of the CEFR.TheEnseanzasMnimas,followingthisfunctionalanalysisoflanguage,aredividedintofourmain blocks. The first two blocks are centred on communicative skills: Bloque 1: Escuchar, hablary conversar; Bloque 2: Leer y Escribir. The third block, entitled Conocimientos de la lengua, isaimed at an analysis and more formal understanding of the morphological structure of the foreignlanguageanditspointsofcomparisonanddifferencefromstudentsfirstlanguage.Whilethisblock, with its focus on language structure, may seem to lead to a traditional grammar focus, it is important to note that the study of language rules is intended to be fully contextualised: El punto de partida sern las situaciones de uso que favorezcan la inferencia de reglas de funciona-miento de la lengua. (Real Decreto 1631/2006)Thiswouldimplythattheanalysisandstudyofformalelementsofthelanguageshouldcome after exposure to and use of the language elements to be studied. Finally, the fourth block of the Enseanzas Mnimas has a sociocultural focus designed to in-crease students awareness of and interest in countries where the foreign language is spoken. In addition, the Spanish curriculum calls for the development of a range of learning skills ca-lled competencias bsicas throughout all curricular areas. Eight types of learning skills havebeen identified (Real Decreto 1631/2006): 1. Competencia en comunicacin lingstica.2. Competencia matemtica.3. Competencia en el conocimiento y la interaccin con el mundo fsico.4. Tratamiento de la informacin y competencia digital.5. Competencia social y ciudadana.6. Competencia cultural y artstica.7. Competencia para aprender a aprender.8. Autonoma e iniciativa personal.TRANSFORMING THE CURRICULUM INTO ACTIVITIES AND WORK FOR THE CLASSROOM 13See Chapter 4, Understanding the Curriculum, by House, in Volume Ifor a more detai-led description of the curriculum (House, 2011a). Sincetheyfocusonknowinghow,ratherthanonabodyofinformation(knowingwhat),these skills are often present in many of the communicative, task-based activities that makeup an English language class.It is worth noting that the curriculum contains no specification as to the methodology thatshould be adopted beyond its insistence on the communicative purpose of language. Tea-chers and learning centres are expected to decide on and adopt a methodology or metho-dologies which enable the objectives, broadly outlined in the curriculum, to be achieved.Task 11. Design activities for competencias bsicas: Make a list of activity types for the English language classroom that could develop one or moreof the competencias bsicas. Example: a survey competencia matemtica. Think of one or more topics to provide the subject matter for the activities in your list. Develop activities to cover all the competencias bsicas. Justify in your work how the competencias bsicas are developed through the activities. Present and describe your activities to your colleagues. 2. Analysis of the CEFR: Download a copy of the CEFR from:Common European Framework for Languages: www.coe.int/t/dg4/linguistic/cadre_en.asp Find and list the different communicative functions for each linguistic skill identified in theCEFR.Organisation of the syllabus Traditionally a syllabus of work for English language learning was based on the teachingofgrammar.Studentsworkedthroughaseriesoflanguagestructuresstartingwiththeverbtobeandmovingonthroughthedifferentverbtensesandsentencestructures.Ive got to the past passive students would say as a means of explaining their level ofproficiency.However, by adopting a communicative approach, a syntactical organisation of the syllabusceases to be the central issue. This does not mean that grammar is unimportant. Nor does itmean that a progressive development of syntactical awareness should not be included in thesyllabus. It is, rather, a reflection on the role of grammar as a part of the communicative pro-cess. Grammar is not the end product effective communication is. Thecommunicativeapproach,outlinedintheSpanishcurriculum,callsforsyllabusorganisationbasedontopicsorthemesthatpromotecommunication.Languageisacommunicativetoolandweneedsomethingtotalkaboutintheclassroom.With acommunicativeapproachtheemphasisisnotoncorrectpronunciationorproducinggrammatically perfect sentences but rather on meaning: Clear, meaningful and interestingcontexts provide settings in which new language is understandable, and familiar languagebecomes more memorable and useful (Curtain, 2004). The focus of the class is not on thelanguage in itself, but rather on a topic or theme which provides a context for the learningprocess. For example, rather than learn a list of means of transport, students learn about thetransportation links between mayor cities in their area. In this way, a thematic organisationleads students to take part in activities that involve thinking skills and avoids the isolateddecontextualised practice of grammatical structures. The key questions for identifying suitable themes are often What will motivate students?or What are students interested in?. While this approach ensures that the themes are con-nected to students reality, it does not always lead to subjects that provide rich and variedopportunities for exchanging information and communicating ideas and opinions. Additio-nal questions needed to identify a suitable theme include: What language can students learn with the theme? What else can students learn? Does the theme add to their general knowledge and un-derstanding of the world? Does the theme provide opportunities for crosscurricular links? Does the theme provide opportunities for developing competencias bsicas? Does the theme help develop thinking skills? Does the theme provide opportunities for developing sociocultural understanding? Does the theme have the potential to develop different communicative situations andfunctions? Does the theme provide opportunities for a variety of task-based activities? What type of materials (print, audio or video) can I use with this theme?For a theme to provide material for meaningful communication, it cannot simply be a lexi-cal focus. Transport, for example, on its own may lead to nothing more than a list of dif-ferent means of transportation. However, Transport in the future, The history of aviationor Transport networks in my town are richer themes that are more likely to engage stu-dents and have a wider potential for the exchange of opinions, meaningful information andideas that make up communicative situations. Themes are typically:14 CLASSROOM PRACTICE1. WebQuests: an inquiry-based approach where all or nearly all information is researched on the internet by studentsin order to complete the assignment. Related to students everyday experiences. Related to popular culture. Taken from other areas of the school curriculum.The unfolding of CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) programmes of learningacross much of Spain has made this last category particularly relevant. By selecting themesfromotherareasoftheschoolcurriculumandexploringthemintheEnglishlanguageclassroom, useful links are established between different subject areas. This does not meanthat material already studied in, for example, Naturales, is simply repeated in the Englishclassroom. Instead, themes can be explored in more depth through hands-on activities andlearning experiences. See Chapter 6, Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) inSecondary School and Llinares, in Volume I (House, 2011a), for a more detailed discussionof CLIL programmes.The themes chosen provide the vehicle for all language learning in that the reading and list-ening materials, as well as the language focus, functional objectives and communicative acti-vities, are thematically connected. Whatever the theme, a syllabus must also contain systematicwork to develop linguistic skills as well as activities to practise the communicative functions des-cribed in the CEFR. It must also develop language awareness by exploring the features of theforeign language and promote cultural sensitivity. The construction of a syllabus, then, is chieflya matter of organising these and other elements of the curriculum, such as the competenciasbsicas, in a rational, systematic manner and grouping them around a number of themes.Task 2Discussion: features of a syllabus for English language learning Discuss the following list with your colleagues and identify the features you think are essential partsof a syllabus: Speaking skills. Language analysis. Writing skills. Pronunciation focus. Listening skills. Crosscultural focus. Reading skills. Projects or WebQuests.1 Syntactical development. Crosscurricular activities. Vocabulary development. Literacy focus.Write a description of any other features you think should be included. Justify your reasons.15 TRANSFORMING THE CURRICULUM INTO ACTIVITIES AND WORK FOR THE CLASSROOMCLASSROOM PRACTICE 16What is not clear is how to establish a rationale for the teaching of syntax. In other words, in whatorder should students start using different language structures? It is interesting to note that most mate-rials for teaching a foreign language deal with grammar as a progression of structures that build onfrom one to another. The verb to be leads on to the present continuous. The present simple is taughtbefore the past simple and so on. It is clear that this progression of language is not based on purelycommunicative reasons. If we analyse which verb tense we use most often in English, the answerwould probably be the present perfect. Yet this tense is not formally taught until an intermediate stage. Another aspect to bear in mind is that students are not beginners at the start of ESO. They havebeen learning English for at least six years and maybe for as many as nine. Many of the lan-guagestructuresatthestartofatraditionalgrammarprogressionarenotnewtostudentsin 1. ESO. While there is (often) no formal study of grammar in Primary Education, most studentsare familiar with and have used present, past and future verbal constructions.It would seem, then, that the traditional feeding-in of grammar, which means a child withyears of experience in English classes starts with to be at the beginning of 1. ESO, as ifthey had no previous experience of the language, does not have to be the invariable startingpoint for a syllabus of work for ESO.Task 3Analysis of classroom materials: grammar syllabus Choose a selection of four or five textbooks for secondary-school English language teaching. Work with a partner and draw up a chart showing the standard progression of a grammarsyllabus through the four secondary-school years. Identify common ground and differences in the syllabuses. Summarise your findings in an essay and give reasons for the similarities. Finalise your essay by writing a critique of the standard progression and describing any dif-ferences you would make.There are other possible criteria for feeding in language structures. Examples include: Language structures are chosen because of their relevance to the topic. Language structures are chosen according to their frequency of use. Language structures are chosen because they are perceived to be easy, perhaps due toa similarity to the first language.Units of workThere are several practical considerations to bear in mind when drawing up a syllabus. The num-ber of lessons per week and the length of the lessons will determine the scope of the syllabus. Lesson objectivesCommunicative functions: Listening. Speaking.Language: Lexis. Structures.Communicative functions: Reading. Writing.Language analysisCompetencias bsicas Crosscultural focusPronunciation focusUnit themeAs well as the features in the diagram above, a syllabus may contain other features, such asa crosscurricular focus or a literacy focus, which would be included in each unit.Task 4 1. Planning a content-related unit of work.Choose a theme from another subject area in the school curriculum and do the following taskswith a partner: Brainstorm and make a list of vocabulary the students would need to know. Discuss the theme with your partner and make a note of the structures most likely to occur whenworking on this theme. Choose and describe a literacy focus you could include. TRANSFORMING THE CURRICULUM INTO ACTIVITIES AND WORK FOR THE CLASSROOM 17In other words, how much work can be covered in the academic year? The number of stu-dents is also a determining factor in the scope of a syllabus. In general terms, more materialcan be covered with fewer students. A syllabus is usually divided into units of work (Figure 1), with the length of each unit, interms of lessons, a key question in the overall design of the syllabus. When a unit of workis based on a theme, one consideration is its range. How many lessons can be based on thetheme? How long can students interest in the theme be maintained?Within each unit of work, all the different component parts of the syllabus should be pre-sent so that the work is systematically and evenly distributed throughout the academic year.At the centre of the planning process is the theme for the unit.Figure 1. Structure of a unitCLASSROOM PRACTICE 182.Analysis of classroom materials: unit design. Choose a unit of work from the coursebook used in your Practicum. Copy the diagram in Figure 1 and fill it in with the details of the syllabus for that unit. Add any additional contents you think would improve the unit.From units to lessonsOnce the unit has been planned and the number of lessons within the unit determined, thenext step is the organisation of the features of the unit into lessons. Not all the features outlined in the map of the unit will be present in every lesson. Indeed, a unitneeds variety to sustain students interest. Moreover, there are certain aspects of the unit that standapart from the rest. In a lesson aimed at language analysis (often known as Grammar Focus orLanguage Awareness lessons) the development of concepts related to the theme of the unit willno longer be the central focus. Similarly, if there is a literacy focus working through the syllabus,these lessons will also have distinctive characteristics. In both cases, the thematic link to the unitshould be maintained. The language analysed in a dedicated Language Awareness class shouldhave been used previously in communicative activities. Similarly, the subject of the reading textthat provides the literacy focus should be linked to the unit theme.As with the syllabus and the units of work, lessons need to be carefully planned to ensurethat all the different aspects of the syllabus are covered systematically. Lesson plans are ne-eded to ensure that there is a balance of activity types within the lesson, to ensure the co-herent development of linguistic skills through the unit and to provide a unique, and ideallymemorable, learning/teaching focus for each lesson. See Chapter 8, Practicum, by House(2011b), in Volume III, for models of unit/lesson plans. Each lesson plan should start with a specic learning objective or objectives for the lesson.These objectives (sometimes described as outcomes) are most effective when they describewhat the students will be able to do at the end of the lesson. In turn, students should be ableto answer the question What have I learnt today?.In part, the lesson objectives should reflect communicative linguistic functions: I can talkabout my daily routine. However, when objectives are only expressed in linguistic terms,be they functional or grammatical, they become removed from what the students themsel-ves consider as important. Decontextualised language objectives are difficult to assimilateoncetheyareremovedfromameaningfulcommunicativecontext.Thelessonobjectivesshould include, then, not only the linguistic functions that are being practised, but also alearner-centred objective connected to the unit theme that gives context and meaning tothelearningprocess.Learner-centredobjectives(orstudent outcomes)oftendescribewhatthestudentswilldoduringthelesson:Studentswillcarryoutaclasssurveyto determine how their classmates travel to school. ThispointisaddresseddirectlywithinanyCLILprogrammeofwork,beitasubjectclasssuch as Music taught in English, or an English language class doing a unit of content-relatedwork. CLIL is described as dual-objective learning because each lesson has two objectives,one linguistic and one taken from an area of the general curriculum (content objective). Interms of language learning, the linguistic objective has more significance, but in terms of thestudents it is the content objective that provides meaning.Therearemanydifferentformatsforplanninglessons.Theytypicallyincludesomeorall of the features given in Figure 2:Figure 2. Features used in lesson planningUnit theme:Lesson title:Linguistic objective:CLIL objective:Student outcome:Language: Structures: Lexis:Materials:Outline of activities:Assessment criteria: Lesson title: describing the individual lessons through a lesson title helps to ensure thatthe topic of the unit is coherently developed and to make each lesson unique by dis-tinguishing it from the rest of the unit. Linguisticobjective:thisshouldbeexpressedintermsofcommunicativefunctions:Students will be able to . CLIL objective: within a CLIL programme, the area of the curriculum and the specificcontent objective should be listed for each lesson. Student outcome: this is needed to describe the aim of the lesson from the studentsperspective rather than a linguistic perspective. This section should help students answerTRANSFORMING THE CURRICULUM INTO ACTIVITIES AND WORK FOR THE CLASSROOM 19CLASSROOM PRACTICE 20the question What have I learnt/done today?. It should also serve as a descriptor forwhat the students are going to do in the lesson. Language:allthelanguagethatisthefocusoftheclassshouldbelistedhere.Itisimportanttoemphasisethatthisbynomeansrepresentsallthelanguagethatwill be used during the class. This section indicates the language that will be used by thestudentseitherreceptively(readingmaterialsororalinstructions)orproductively inspeakingorwritingactivities.Itmaybeusefulheretocategorisethelanguageaccording to whether it is new to the students or has been seen before. Materials: these may include posters, audio materials, realia, printed materials, ebooksandDVDs,aswellasthestandardtextbook.Itisimportanttomakealistofthematerials for simple reasons of personal organisation. Many English language teachershave a huge number of students and various different classes within the same workingday. A checklist of materials ensures that the teacher does not forget vital material fora class. Outline of activities: this includes a detailed description of the class activities and anindication of the estimated time for each activity. It could also include an indicationas to the class dynamic for each activity (individual, pair work, small groups). Assessment criteria: assessment procedures are essential as a means of checking stu-dents progress and ensuring they are assessed continuously at all stages of their lear-ning and not just in a final evaluation. The procedures do not need to be formal andmuch of the most effective assessment is based on classroom observation. However,in order for the observation to acquire relevance within an overall marking scheme,students must be systematically observed and the results recorded. Checklists and ob-servation sheets can be very useful as a means of recording individual students per-formance in class.Task 5Designing a thematically based lesson Choose a theme and make a note of some language objectives that fit well into the theme. Plan a lesson using the outline above. Write a checklist for recording classroom observations for the lesson you have planned. Deliver your lesson and make notes in your lesson plan to indicate successful activities andproblems. After delivering your lesson, assess the efficiency of your checklist and how you used it. Make any adjustments you need following your assessment of the efficiency of the checklist. Plan and deliver a PowerPoint presentation of your checklist for your colleagues.2. Caretaker speech: a description of how careers talk to and encourage speech in infants learning their first language.3. For a more detailed description of caretaker speech and its role in Krashens comprehensible input theory see Krashen(1981, p. 125).TRANSFORMING THE CURRICULUM INTO ACTIVITIES AND WORK FOR THE CLASSROOM 21The shape of a lesson A few minutes are needed at the start of the class to help students change register and startthinkingin English.Warm-upactivitiesneedtobesimpleandquick.Theycanbegamebased, but the game should not need a lot of explanation. One of the most effective warm-up activities, however, can be as simple as conversing for a few minutes with the class inEnglish. The conversation should be informal and based on points of common interest, per-haps relevant to school or family life such as sporting events, school outings, exams, newmusic, family celebrations and so on. The point of the conversation is both to warm up theclassforthinkinginEnglishandtoestablishapositiveaffectiverelationshipwiththestu-dents.Ithastheaddedadvantagethatstudentsheartheforeignlanguagebeingusedna-turally.Teachersshouldsurroundtheirstudentswithlanguagewhileatthesametimesupporting students in their replies. Elements of caretaker speech2can be adopted such asprompting through closed questions, repeating back muddled or unclear utterances, provi-ding unknown vocabulary, and making a conscious effort to keep the conversation going.Answers that are given all or partly in the students first language can be repeated back inEnglish and correction should be kept to a minimum as the aim is to encourage a naturalcommunicative situation.3Language work within a lesson is typically divided into three stages of practice. Students movefrom a presentation activity through to activities where key language is practised in a teacher-controlled setup and on to freer and more autonomous production of the language. This formathas the advantage of focusing closely on items of language and is appealing to language tea-chers who are chiefly concerned with covering a series of syntactical and lexical objectives. Example outline1. Presentationactivity:studentsfollowanaudioscripttoassociatepastholidayexperiencestonamed characters.2. Controlledpractice:studentsfollowamodeldialoguetoaskeachotherabouttheinformationpreviously gathered: Has (Sally) ever...?.3. Free practice: students carry out a class survey to collate information about their own past expe-riences: Have you ever...?.This pattern, however, allows no space within a lesson for reviewing and recycling langua-gethathasbeenlearntpreviously.Itdoesnotbuildonpreviouslinguisticknowledge,orCLASSROOM PRACTICE 22 indeed on any other kind of knowledge. In this lesson plan, the emphasis is placed on thelinguistic objectives, with other learner-centred objectives taking second place. An alternative lesson plan could place the emphasis on developing the student outcome asthe focus of the lesson. Example outline1. Initial phase: the teacher introduces the lesson through a whole class activity. Examples: brainstormholiday destinations. Ask about types of holiday activities at the different destinations and list onthe board. The purpose of this stage is to prepare the students both linguistically, cognitively andconceptually. In other words, they should be stimulated to start thinking.2. Class work: students work individually, in pairs or in groups to carry out the proposed activities. Atthis stage they put into practice both the language and the concepts introduced earlier.3. Round-up:thefinalphasecanagainbeawholeclassactivitythatfocusesonboththekeycon-cepts and language of the lesson. It is useful to end the lesson with activities that encourage stu-dents to connect what they have learnt in the class with their wider reality. It is notoriously difficulttotakeactivitiesintheEnglishlanguageclassroomoutsidetheclassroomwalls.Thisfinalphasecan be regarded an opportunity for students to transfer the focus to themselves and use the newlanguage to talk about their own experiences. Task 6Identifying student outcomes List at least four different student outcomes related to a theme of your choice. Include diffe-rent types of outcomes (roleplays, written texts, oral presentations, etc.). Justifyyourchoicesbydescribingthecommunicativefunctionsthatwillbedevelopedthrough the student outcomes. Choose one of these and develop a lesson plan. Deliver the lesson in your Practicum. If possible ask a colleague to observe you as you work. If you have been observed, ask your colleague to write a short, critical report. If you have notbeen observed, write your own critical report.Classroom activitiesFor classroom activities to meet the lesson objectives, they should develop the linguistic ob-jectives at the same time as leading to the nal student outcome. TRANSFORMING THE CURRICULUM INTO ACTIVITIES AND WORK FOR THE CLASSROOM 23As meaningful communication is the purpose of an English language class, all classroom ac-tivities must develop communicative skills. It is important not to mistake communication fordrillsorothermechanical,oralactivities.Thereisverylittlecommunicationinvolved, for example, in describing elements of a picture that are obvious to everyone: The boysgot a red shirt. For communication to take place a message, a piece of information or an opinion has to beexpressed and exchanged. Sometimes this can be achieved simply by changing an aspect ofa standard activity. If the activity above is presented as a game and the student is relying onmemory to describe the elements in a picture, then the activity becomes communicative. Ithas both a context for communication (the game) and a purpose (winning points are ear-ned for each correctly remembered item).Within the CEFR, communicative situations are classified into three broad groupings or com-municativemodes.Intheinteractive mode,thereisatwo-wayflowofcommunicationwhere participants are both producers and receivers of information. In other communicati-ve situations the flow of information is one-way from the producer of the message, in writ-tenororalform,tothereceiver(s).Thesesituationscanbeproductive,whenstudentsproduce the message, or receptive, when students receive the message. Within an English language class all three communicative modes should be present at diffe-rent times. When the teacher explains activities or outlines a theme, the communicative modefor students will be receptive. When students produce a piece of written work or do an oralpresentation in class, the communicative mode is productive. It is interesting to note that in bilingualprogrammes,whereanothersubjectareaistaughtinEnglish,thecommunicativemodes that are practised are largely one-way with a strong emphasis on the receptive mode.This is not surprising as teachers are focused on transmitting knowledge (both information andskills) related to their subject rather than on developing language competence. The interactive communicative mode, however, is central to language development. Inter-activecommunicativeactivities,withstudentsworkingtogetherinpairsorgroups,shouldbe part of all language lessons once students are old enough to work with a degree of auto-nomy. Cooperative learning tasks, where students need to work together to achieve the setgoal, hold great potential for the English language classroom. When students work together,the opportunities for language use are greatly increased and group tasks provide a naturaland meaningful context for practising language. These activities have to be carefully plan-ned and managed and teachers should expect a certain level of noise in the classroom. Inorder for students to stay on task and keep using English, it is essential that they are equip-ped with the language they need to carry out the task. This may mean providing vocabularysheetsandexamplesofmodelsentencestructuresforthestudentstouse.Incooperative learning tasks the teacher takes a back seat, although this by no means implies a passive atti-tude. The teacher should be moving around the class monitoring language use and the deve-lopment of the activity, as well as solving problems and providing extra language as needed.Mixed-ability classesWhile all students start Secondary Education with previous experience of learning English asa foreign language, by no means do they all start at the same level of language competen-ce. English language classes are notorious for the differences in levels of ability among stu-dents.SomestudentsmayattendextralanguageclassesandsomestudentsmayhavestudiedunderabilingualprogrammeforPrimaryEducation,whileotherstudentsexpe-rience will be more limited. Classroom activities should have an inbuilt flexibility to addressmixed ability in the classroom. One way of dealing with a mix of abilities is to make it a fac-torwhenorganisinggroups.Strongerstudentscanbeplacedtoworkwithstudentswhohave a lower level of language competency to help them carry out class activities. Howe-ver, faster students should not only be treated as teachers helpers. Their use of language alsoneeds to be developed and encouraged. Activities that are open ended can be extended forfaster students. For example, faster students should not be expected to work from a closedlist (for example, of holiday experiences), but should be asked to draw on their wider know -ledge. The round-up at the end of class can also be a moment when students express them-selves using a wider range of language.In short, planning classroom activities consists of engineering communicative situations in theclassroom that allow students to interact linguistically in order to full a goal or objective (stu-dent outcome). The following aspects should be considered when planning an activity: Type of activity: exchanging information, a survey, giving directions, etc. Procedure: a list of the steps students will follow to carry out the activity. This infor-mation can be given to students orally. Language: this includes lexis and structure. Final outcome: a description of what students will have produced when they finish theactivity. Examples: a completed text, a graph, a map. Grouping: pairwork, groups, whole class, individual, etc. Timing: an indication of how long the activity will take. Assessment: the criteria for assessing the activity which could include: the use of tar-get language whilst carrying out the activity, the standard of the final product, the ac-curacy of language use, and so on. The assessment of an activity also needs to fit intoan overall marking scheme.CLASSROOM PRACTICE 24Task 7 1.Analysis of classroom materials: linguistic skills and activity types: Look through the English language textbook used by your class in your Practicum and make alist of common activity types. Draw up a chart showing the linguistic skills developed in these activities. 2.Review of a unit of work: Choose a unit of work and write a critical review. Consider the following: - Balance of language skills.- Focus on student outcomes.- Opportunities for communicative exchanges.- Group dynamics.- Assessment procedures. Concludeyourreportwithyourpersonalopinionoftheunitofworkandanychangesyouwould make. Common problems with classroom activities1. Students are unclear about what to do: this sometimes occurs because an activity istoocomplexandhastoomanysteps.Alternatively,thismightoccuriftheactivity,with its component steps, has not been explained clearly.2. Students are unclear as to the larger (nonlinguistic) purpose of the activity: students shouldbe able to answer the questions What am I doing? and Why am I doing this? withoutreference to the language goals (to learn new words in English). The answers to the abovequestions should refer to the student outcome what the students are doing or producingwith the activity: a class survey, a completed story, an information sheet about3. There is no connection between the activity and the theme of the unit: an activity doesnot exist in isolation. Activities need to be connected to the theme of the unit and todevelop the objectives of the class. In other words, they need to fit into the larger fra-mework. This is important as it contextualises the classroom activity within the theme.It also helps to give shape and pattern to the learning experience. Memory relies verystrongly on pattern and it is generally easier to remember an activity if it forms part ofa whole. In addition there needs to be a sense of forward progress in students workas they work through the concepts connected to the unit theme.4. The planned student outcome does not help students achieve the linguistic objectivesof the class: paradoxically, this most often occurs when the linguistic objectives overs-hadowthestudentoutcome.Whenplanningactivities,theemphasisshouldbeonwhat students do with the language not on the language itself.25 TRANSFORMING THE CURRICULUM INTO ACTIVITIES AND WORK FOR THE CLASSROOMCLASSROOM PRACTICE 26ConclusionThe work of transforming the curriculum into classroom activities relies on careful, layeredplanning from the design of the syllabus through to the structure of each unit, the objectivesof the lessons within the unit and, finally, to the classroom activities needed to achieve theobjectives. The component elements of the syllabus should be chosen to meet the broad ob-jectivesintheofficialcurriculum.Thematicplanningofunitswithinthesyllabusensuresthat its distinct elements are distributed evenly throughout the course and worked on syste-matically. Lessons within the units are planned to establish the linguistic objectives and stu-dent outcomes that make class work relevant and meaningful. Once these stages of planninghave been carried out, the design of each activity becomes clearer. They are, in essence, com-municativesituationsthatareconstructedasameansofachievingthelessonobjectives.ASSIGNMENTSAssignment 1 A report on WebQuests and language learningWebQuestsareusedincreasinglyinsecondary-schoolproject-typeactivities.Researchsomeofthe WebQuests available on the internet: WebQuests: http://webquest.orgChoose one to write a report on. Consider the following questions: How can WebQuests fit into a syllabus for language learning? Which communicative linguistic functions are being practised?Then design a project for your students in your Practicum using the WebQuest. Include any ad-ditional language practice you think they need and any additional resources. Assignment 2 Essay: What are the advantages and dangers in bilingual education programmes?An increasing number of Autonomous Communities and regions are moving towards a bilingual modelof education programmes. However, some specialists think that this move has been made without pa-ying due consideration to the possible difficulties and problems thrown up by this model of education.TRANSFORMING THE CURRICULUM INTO ACTIVITIES AND WORK FOR THE CLASSROOM 27 Draw up a questionnaire to find out teachers opinions on bilingual education in the scho-ol where you are doing your Practicum. Ensure you ask both English language teachers andteachers of other subject areas. Use your findings and your own opinions to write a critical essay titled: What are the ad-vantages and dangers in bilingual education programmes?. Consider the question from the perspective of both an English language teacher and a tea-cher from another subject area.Assignment 3 Design a complete unit of work Choose and justify a theme for a unit of work. Design the unit of work. Indicate the number of lessons within the unit and identify the linguistic objectives and stu-dent outcomes for each lesson. Develop classroom activities for each lesson. Draw up a full list of materials and resources needed by you and your students. Complete your plan by describing what you expect the students to have learnt by the end of the unit.FURTHER READINGBooksCURTAIN, H. & DAHLBERG, C.A. (2004). Languages and Children. Making the Match. Har-low: Pearson Education.A comprehensive guide to implementing a communicative model for language learning in theclassroom.Itincludesadiscussionoflanguage-acquisitiontheoryaswellasmorepracticalguidelines for a thematic approach to syllabus planning, classroom activities and assessment.GILLES, R.M. & ADRIAN, F. (eds.). (2003). Cooperative Learning: The Social and IntellectualOutcomes of Learning in Groups. London: Routledge.A collection of articles that discuss the role of groupwork in the learning process. The articlesrange across the spectrum of formal education from preschool to university and link theories ofgroup dynamics to their application in the classroom.CLASSROOM PRACTICE 28KRASHEN, S.D. & TERRELL, T. (1996). The Natural Approach. Language Acquisition in theClassroom. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.Aresearch-basedexaminationofsecond-languageacquisitionwhichunderpinsKrashenshypotheses of language learning, including the theory of comprehensible input. MARSH, D. & LANG, G. (eds) (2000). Using Languages to Learn and Learning to Use Lan-guages. Jyvskyl, Finland: University of Jyvskyl.An outline to the CLIL approach and its benefits for young learners. The article examines dif-ferent CLIL classroom experiences.WebsiteCommon European Framework for Languages.www.coe.int/t/dg4/linguistic/Source/Framework_EN.pdfThis website contains the full document describing the CEFR and its role in language teaching.TRANSFORMING THE CURRICULUM INTO ACTIVITIES AND WORK FOR THE CLASSROOM 29REFERENCESCURTAIN,H.&DAHLBERG,C.A.(2004).LanguagesandChildren.MakingtheMatch. Harlow: Pearson Education.HOUSE, S. (coord) (2011a). Ingls. Complementos de formacin disciplinar. Theory and Prac-tice in English Language Teaching. Vol. I. Barcelona: Gra.HOUSE, S. (coord) (2011b). Ingls. Investigacin, innovacin y buenas prcticas. Teacher De-velopment. Vol. III. Barcelona: Gra.KRASHEN, S.D. (1981). Second Language Acquisition and Second Language Learning. Oxford:Pergamon Press. Legislation Real Decreto 1631/2006, de 29 de diciembre, por el que se establecen las enseanzas mni-mas correspondientes a la Educacin Secundaria Obligatoria. Boletn Ocial del Estado(05/01/2007), 5, 677-773. Also available online at: .2. CHOOSING AND DEVELOPING CLASSROOMMATERIALCHAPTER CONTENTS Choosing and changing materials Selecting a coursebook Writing checklists Who am I teaching? What level am I teaching? What are the ofcial requirements? General and detailed checklists Educating, not just teaching What else do I want from materials? Pilot, consult, and gather opinions: learning by doing Developing and supplementing materials: plan ahead Using technology ConclusionsMike DownieAuthor and Teacher TrainerIf I had more time, I would spend it surfing the net looking for materials, downloading andthen adapting them for each of my groups. And of course if my students had more time (andweremoreself-motivated),Iwouldgetthemtosearchformaterialsandcreatetheirown activities to bring into class too. Unfortunately the reality is that I dont have the time and the majority of my students dont either. So, like most teachers, I make compromises. Publis-hed materials and coursebooks offer us the possibility for that compromise, providing a bank of materials that cover our syllabus requirements and which, with creative management, canbe supplemented and developed to better suit our individual needs. Personally, I try to be31pragmaticwiththesematerialsratherthandogmatic(followingthebooktotheletter)ordogme(tic) (not following the book at all).But what do I choose? There are so many different kinds of materials available. No study thatI am aware of has ever established the absolute efficiency of one particular method, approachor type of material over another. Indeed, practice suggests the reverse: different strokes fordifferent folks. Of course, some of our choices will be inappropriate (or even wrong). We allsometimes make mistakes when we choose materials; the difference between a good teacherand bad one is that good teachers will learn from their mistakes. Looking for material, then,is not the search for the holy grail; it is rather a reection of who we are as teachers and whatkind of relationship we want with our students. Materials should help define our relationshipnotonlywiththechanginguseoflanguagebutalsowithindividuallearnersandtheirlearning. This article will look at some of the questions we need to reflect on before makingthat choice and how, once it is made, we can best develop the materials with our studentsover the duration of their course.Choosing and changing materials There is enormous pressure on teachers to change materials. On the one side, publishers areconstantly adapting materials to keep pace with new technologies and bringing out new titlestoincreasetheirmarketshare,whilstontheotherside,studentsarebecomingincreasinglymorearticulateanddemandingintermsofcontent.Youngerpeoplenowadaysarethenewconsumers. But changing books to keep up with the latest fashions and trends can be disastrousunless the change is for the better. And as I suggested at the start of this chapter, our materialsshould be developed over time with students to get the best out of them. If we are constantlychanging books, this never happens. So we need to be very clear why we are changing. One very good reason for changing material is that it doesnt work. It is often easier to seewhysomethingdoesntworkthanthereverse.Whenconsideringachange,then,agoodstarting point is to think about what has not worked with our present materials. Possibilitiesinclude: Too difficult. Too easy. Confusing. Monotonous. Too much material. Not enough practice. Out of date. Mistakes. Others.32 CLASSROOM PRACTICEIf you hardly ever use your coursebook in class, it is definitely time for a change. It is unfairto make students buy materials that are not working. Such a situation is a good opportu-nity to find resources that will be more effective for your teaching circumstances.Ofcourse,sometimeswearerequiredtochangematerialsthathavebeenworkingforus becauseofeducationalreform.Itisimportantinthiscasetothinkaboutwhatthereform impliesintermsofcontents,goalsandmethods andwhatdifferentkindsofmaterialare needed. Our choice of new materials will be conditioned by what we are expected to teachand how we are expected to teach it. Task 1Interview three practising teachers and write a report. Include the following information: The teachers reasons for last changing their classroom materials. Were any of the above reasons mentioned? Which ones? Any other reasons they gave. Classify their reasons in order of importance and discuss them. Summarise your findings.Present your report to your colleagues. Selecting a coursebook Working with a coursebook in class should never mean shouting aloud the page number andfollowing to the letter everything the book suggests. Selecting and developing materials implieswe are taking control. We should be in charge of the material, not the reverse, and we canonlydothisfromapositionofawareness.Weneedtoknowwhatwearedoingandwhywhich implies knowing who we are teaching and why.So why are we teaching a modern foreign language? The answer to this question is criticalforchoosingmaterialswefeelcomfortablewith. OurreasonsforteachingEnglish asamodern foreign language will inform our method and inspire the techniques and activitieswe employ.A recent study carried out by the Council of Europe into why teachers around Europe areteaching modern foreign languages suggested three important reasons shared by most of them(Council of Europe CUP, 2001). The rst reason is that we are teaching a living language, andteaching students to communicate in that language. The second reason is that we are teaching33 CHOOSING AND DEVELOPING CLASSROOM MATERIALstudents for lifelong learning, that is, helping students to become more independent both inand outside the classroom by equipping them with the strategies and attitudes to carry onlearning foreign languages not only in school but also outside and throughout their life. Thethird reason is to provide relevant and recognisable qualications so our students can travelwithin education and employment around Europe. Whilst the study itself was not prescriptivein its approach to either method or technique, but rather described good practice, it didnevertheless highlight the close link between communicative approaches and success inmeetingthesethreeobjectives:developingcommunicativelanguageskills,encouragingindependent learning strategies and attitudes and providing useful qualifications. The answer to why we are teaching, then, requires some reflection on who we are as tea-chers and our assumptions about learners and learning. Reading the CEFR provides an inte-restingoverviewofrecenttrendsandpracticesinteachingandlearningmodernforeignlanguagesinEurope.Importantly,thereasonsforteachingamodernforeignlanguageasdescribedintheCEFR(communication,lifelonglearningandrelevantqualifications)arealsoreflectedinofficialdocumentsdescribingcurricularrequirementsinPrimary,Secon-dary and Bachillerato not only in Spain but throughout Europe.Task 2Examining and reflecting on our motives and goals in teaching English as a foreign language canhelp us make a more informed choice as to which materials we will use. Write answers to the following questions: Why are you teaching English as a modern foreign language? What are your main aims with respect to your students progress? What should materials be like as a result? Writeadescriptionofthethemes,activitytypesandmethodologicalapproachyouwouldlike to work with.Writing checklistsWhen looking at new coursebooks it is always a good idea to read the blurb on the back ofthe book. This gives you a sense of who the book was written for, its components and someof the authors concerns: a two-level course preparing students for university entrance;extendsstudentsknowledgeofvocabularyandgrammarinaclearsystematicway; focuses on strategies needed for autonomous language learning.34 CLASSROOM PRACTICEDoes the blurb sound interesting? If so, the book is worth us investigating further.There are many ways of analysing a coursebook, depending on the time we have available andour experience. Checklists are a useful way of identifying features we expect coursebooks tocontain, although it should be noted that some writers like Sheldon (1988) see coursebookassessment as fundamentally a subjective, rule-of-thumb activity, one for which no neat formula,grid or system will ever provide a definite yardstick. Checklists can be more general or moredetailed, more objective or more subjective. Hutchinson and Waters (1987), in an attempt tomake checklists more reliable, created lists of questions which were both subjective and objective.So, for example, they suggested asking both a subjective question, What language points shouldbe covered?, and a more objective one, What language points are actually covered in thematerial?. They saw the best materials as the ones that provided the closest match between both.So whilst good checklists can provide us with an understanding of a writers approach anda clear description of contents, they can also reveal discrepancies between what we wantand what the materials contain. To this extent they are very useful for shortlisting possiblecontenders for our course. But which checklist should we use, or rather, whose? Using anoff-the-peg checklist is timesaving and if we have never written one before it can inform us ofareasofconcernthatweshouldtakeintoconsideration.However,eventhemostprofes-sionally crafted general checklist needs to be tailored to our needs if it is to be effective. Wri-tingourownchecklistmakesusmoreawareofourownlearningandteachingsituationsince in order to prepare a checklist we need to know both what we are supposed to be te-aching (the syllabus) and how (the method or approach). Knowing these things will form thebasis for developing our checklist and for subsequent evaluation of materials. Task 3When we choose materials for teaching we need to be very clear as to our students needs andcharacteristics, which may vary considerably from class to class and level to level.Consider the following questions: Who am I teaching? What level am I teaching? What are the official requirements for the course? Are there any official exams? What do I want from materials?Now use your answers to create your own checklist.Compare your checklist with those of your colleagues and discuss any differences. 35 CHOOSING AND DEVELOPING CLASSROOM MATERIALWho am I teaching? I have unfortunately been in too many classrooms where teachers use material written forolder students with younger children. In the past this was understandable, as fewer materialswere available and we used what we had. Sometimes materials inappropriate to the agegroupwerechosenbecauseoftheirhigherlevel,especiallyasyoungerandyoungerchildren were being entered for higher-level examinations. Nowadays there are plenty ofgood materials for students of all ages. Books written for adults with a range of adult topicsshould not be used with teenagers. Their interests are different, the kinds of interaction andactivities are different and if we want to motivate students, finding books with the kinds of activities and topics that reflect their world is vital. Task 4It is important to match your classroom materials closely to your students field of interest. It is ne-cessary to introduce students to themes that you think they will find interesting, not just ask themto come up with a list. Design a list of topics for different age groups. Brainstorm some ideas for different age groups with your colleagues and justify your choices.- 11- to 13-year-olds. - 14- to 16-year-olds. - 17- to 18-year-olds. Then interview some students from each age group and compare your choices with theirs. Summarise your findings and report back to your colleagues.What level am I teaching?Look at the bigger picture. Did students have any contact with English in their previous school?What have they studied previously? To what level? We should expect coursebooks to providelots of spiral revision of language, but going over the same language every year as if studentshadneverstudiedEnglishpreviouslycanbetremendouslyfrustratinganddemotivatingforthem. Testing and evaluation too should provide students with ambitious but realistic targets.This is particularly important when we consider that lifelong learning depends on learners beingaware of their progress. The CEFR levels are particularly useful in this respect as they describeintransparent,jargon-freelanguagewhatstudentscandoatdifferentstagesoflearning. See Chapter 5, Framework for Languages, by Snchez Reyes, in Volume I (House, 2011), forthe CEFR Global Scale table showing the levels from A1 to C2. In this Global Scale there are general, overall and particular descriptors for each of the skills which are important to know,36 CLASSROOM PRACTICE especially as international and European language exams have been benchmarked to these le-vels (Table 1). We should check that the materials we choose reflect the CEFR levels and that theevaluation they provide tests appropriate Can Do descriptors. The key questions are: Are the materials linked to the CEFR levels? What qualifications do the materials prepare students for?Table 1. Comparison of exams in ALTE37 CHOOSING AND DEVELOPING CLASSROOM MATERIALLevel 5Level 4Level 3Level 2Level 1Breakthrough levelC2C1B2B1A2A17.5+6.5 - 75 - 63.5 - 4.531-2CPECAEFCEPETKET-Advanced.Higher .Intermediate.Intermediate.-Elementary.Basic.910+701 - 910541 - 700381 - 540246 - 380-276+236 - 275176 - 235126 - 17596 - 125-ALTE LEVEL CEF LEVEL IELTS EXAM CAMBRIDGE EXAM PITMANESOL TOEIC TOEFLTask 5Use the information in the chart above and find additional data on the following websites: The Association of Language Testers in Europe: www.alte.org Council of Europe: www.coe.int/t/dg4/linguistic/cadre_en.aspMap the Secondary and Bachillerato qualifications onto the Common European Framework levelsand the exams in ALTE.Download some sample exams (both secondary-school exams and the ALTE exams). Compare: The types of skills that are tested. The vocabulary contents. The structures tested.Write a report comparing the three modes of assessment. What are the official requirements?Whilst most coursebooks closely follow the content requirements for the educational segmentthey are written for, it is still important for teachers to be aware of what these requirementsare. (See Chapter 4, Understanding the Curriculum, by House, in Volume I (House, 2011),for a detailed description of the official curriculum). Some of the requirements in the officialcurriculum may be specific, for example, requiring the past simple to be taught in the first orsecond year of a course. Others may be more general, for example, in the Ley Orgnica2/2006, de 3 de mayo, de Educacin (LOE) documentation referring to reading in 1. ESO:Comprensin general e identificacin de informaciones especificas en diferentes textos sencillos au-tnticos y adaptados, en soporte papel y digital, sobre diversos temas adecuados a su edad y rela-cionados con contenidos de otras materias del currculo. Thedescriptorsuggeststhatmaterialsdevelopskimming,scanningandgistreadingskills(see Chapter 5, Vocabulary Instruction in Secondary Schools, by Vidal, in Volume II, fora more detailed explanation of these skills), but doesnt mention the kinds of texts to be used,only that they be simple authentic and adapted texts relevant to the age group and, tan-talisingly, that they should have a crosscurricular link. A lot is left to teachers and course-book writers indeciding which specific texts are most appropriate.General and detailed checklistsGeneral checklist questions can be used to create a shortlist of books that we want to analysein detail. We can use more detailed questions to compare where particular strengths andweaknesses lie. So, for example, whilst the question Does the book contain a variety ofreadings of interest to my students with links to other subject areas of the curriculum? willindicate to us in a general sense whether or not the book deals with the reading skill inrelevant contexts, questions such as What kinds of readings are in the book? or Whatkinds of reading strategies are practised? will give a much more detailed picture of howcomprehensive and thorough the book is in dealing with reading and whether its choice oftexts is best suited to us.Whilst many descriptors might be general, they can form a basis for more detailed questions.For example, descriptors taken from the LOE documentation below on learning to learn maygive rise to a general question:ESO 1 4: Aplicacin de estrategias bsicas para organizar, adquirir, recordar y utilizar lxico. Does the material develop basic strategies for storing and reviewing vocabulary?However, the descriptors also allow for more detailed questions which could be either open What types of activities does the material use to develop strategies for storing and reviewingvocabulary? 38 CLASSROOM PRACTICE Does the material have:- A learner diary or language portfolio?- Brainstorming activities?- Vocabulary-building activities?- Different ways of revising words?Bothtypesofquestionsallowustoseethekindofactivitiesthatarepresentinthebook.What is of primary importance in setting the questions is understanding beforehand what therequirements for our course are and then setting questions to check if materials cover the re-quirements and, importantly, finding out how.Task 6Write a general and a detailed checklist of questions for the descriptors below: 1. ESO (LOE) Contenidos Bloque 1 (Escuchar, hablar y conversar). Escucha y comprensin de mensajes orales breves relacionados con las actividades de aula:instrucciones, preguntas, comentarios, dilogos. Obtencin de informacin especfica en textos orales sobre asuntos cotidianos y predeciblescomo nmeros, precios, horarios, nombres o lugares, presentados en diferentes soportes. Uso de estrategias bsicas de comprensin de los mensajes orales: uso del contexto verbal yno verbal y de los conocimientos previos sobre la situacin.Discuss and compare your checklist with a colleagues and make any adjustments. Educating, not just teachingAnotherimportantquestionraisedbytheCEFRconcernsculturaldiversity.Namely:Domaterials promote pluricultural awareness?In a school context, the ways in which a book deals with sociocultural issues are as im-portantashowitaddresseslanguagelearning.Aseducatorsinthebroadersense,wewould expect a book to promote positive values and attitudes with open-minded, pluri-cultural, nonsexist agendas. There are crosscuttingthemes in education for which all te-achers should take responsibility: moral and civic education, peace education, consumereducation, health and safety (road safety), education in nonsexist and nonracist attitudes.In this context, it would be wrong to use materials that only represent a narrow band ofwhite middle-class children when learners themselves are from a broad mix of ethic andsocial backgrounds.39 CHOOSING AND DEVELOPING CLASSROOM MATERIALTask 7Write an analysis of the coursebook your pupils are using in your Practicum and answer the follo-wing questions: What is the ethnic mix in the materials? Does it reflect my students reality? Are different kinds of social reality represented? Are other social issues dealt with? How are they dealt with? Are they relevant to my students lives?Prepare a PowerPoint presentation of your analysis and present it to your colleagues.Where they are available, look carefully at descriptors of sociocultural content. Some of thedescriptors in the LOE documents, for example, deal specifically with sociocultural content:1. ESO: Valoracin del enriquecimiento personal que supone la relacin con personas pertene-cientes a otras culturas.A general question prompted by this descriptor might be: Dothematerialsreflectonhowcontactwithotherculturescanbepersonallyenri-ching?A more specific question would be: How do the materials show that knowing other cultures is personally enriching?Task 8Look through your coursebook again. Copy and complete the chart below focusing on the ques-tion: How do materials show that knowing other cultures is personally enriching?: Through reading. Yes/No How: Through listening. Yes/No How: Through speaking. Yes/No How: Through project work. Yes/No How: Other. Yes/No How:Related to this is the fact that materials should explore the richness and diversity of the worldstudents live in and encourage them to reflect on their place within it. The amount of per-sonalisationinmaterialsisofparamountimportanceinthisrespect.Activitiesaboutmy40 CLASSROOM PRACTICEworld, my school, my friends, my parents, my family and so on should encourage studentsto bring the real world into the classroom. Key questions to add to our checklist would therefore be: Does the book allow for personalisation of the language/topic/skills? How and how often?Task 9Use the coursebook your pupils are using in your Practicum and answer the following questions: What is the proportion of girls and boys represented throughout the materials? In what roles are they found? Write a critical summary of the gender/role balance in the coursebook and explain how you thinkit should be improved. What else do I want from materials?Other differences between materials can also affect our choice. When all other factors areequal, these differences can be decisive. They concern aspects such as the overall attracti-veness of material and the range of extra resources. Task 10Use the coursebook your pupils are using in your Practicum and answer the following questions: What is the quality of visuals and the design of the book? Is the material up to date? When was it published? Are there extra resources (DVD, CDs, CD ROMs, MultiROMs, etc.) for the student? (Are theyuseful? Are they attractive to the age and level of my students?) Are there extra resources for the teacher? (Are they useful?)Summarise your findings by describing how these aspects could be improved. And finally price, an important part of any course: Can my students afford the book?41 CHOOSING AND DEVELOPING CLASSROOM MATERIALPilot, consult and gather opinions: learning by doingMost practising teachers will tell you that you can never be sure about materials unless youusethem.Thisiswhyavitalstageinchoosingthemostappropriatematerialsispiloting.Piloting means taking part of a book and trying it out in the classroom with our students. Thelonger the trial the better the feedback you are going to get. However, even trying one ortwo activities can help us get an idea of how materials work. Checklist questions can helpfocus our piloting.Task 11Use the coursebook your pupils are using in your Practicum and write a critical review focusingon the following questions: Communication:- Are students given opportunities for freer practice? How? How often? - Do student learn by doing or being told? - What is the attitude of the materials to mistakes? - Are students allowed to personalise? Lifelong learning:- Is the material teacher-centred or learner-centred?- Is there a learner training syllabus?- What student resources are there for independent learning? Evaluation:- Does the material test what it teaches?- Are there different types of evaluations? Teacher, peer, self?- Does the material allow for positive washback? Are students made aware of what they can do? Read a review by one of your colleagues (of a different coursebook) and discuss the differences.Otherquestionscanaddresspracticalissuessuchaswhetherinstructionsareclear,howeasy activities are to manage and so on. Another advantage of piloting is that we can ask ourstudents for their opinion too.Task 12Prepare a questionnaire for your pupils in your Practicum about their materials. Include the follo-wing questions and some more of your own: Do you enjoy the material? Why? Why not? Are you able to follow the structure of the coursebook easily? Why? Why not?42 CLASSROOM PRACTICE Do you feel involved? Do you feel it helps you learn effectively? If you were the teacher, would you choose this material? Why? Why not? ....Use the questionnaire in a discussion class with your pupils. Video the class and then write a report on the results of the questionnaire.Unfortunately, we are not always able to pilot materials in class; in this case consultationand gathering opinions become more important. Talking to users of the material who are ina similar situation to ours can give us a good idea as to whether material will work for us. Task 13Use the coursebook your pupils are using in your Practicum. Prepare a questionnaire based on thelist below, and ask a colleague to rate the material on a scale from 0 to 4:0 = not at all1 = a little2 = OK3 = quite a lot4 = a lot Does the material promote communication? Does it give opportunities for students to be more independent? Does the material involve students? Is it user-friendly? Is the Teachers Book helpful? Are students resources useful? Clear? Does the material recycle sufficiently? Does it work well in large/small groups? Doesitproviderelevantevaluations?Whattype?(Formal,informal,teacher-led,self,peer?)How often? Does it promote a positive attitude to learning? Do your students enjoy using the book? Is it fun to teach with?Compare the results of the questionnaire with those of your colleagues. 43 CHOOSING AND DEVELOPING CLASSROOM MATERIALDeveloping and supplementing materials: plan aheadNo coursebook should be used in every lesson. Indeed, over-reliance on a single course-bookcanbedetrimentaltoouroverallgoalsofcreatingindependentlearners.Therewillbe obvious times when we will want to supplement a topic or digress. Very often the pacing ofmaterials will require us to add things, or at certain times of the year special festivals willprovide an opportunity for bringing in extra material. However, we will almost always needto be selective with additional materials as we have a limited amount of time. In order to plan we need to know how much real time we have with our students. An hourin the classroom is never a full hour, for we spend time at the start of each lesson settlingour class and setting homework or collecting work at the end. An hour is sometimes only50 minutes or even less. Lessons are always shorter than we would like them to be. Not tomention what happens at the start of term. How many classes do we use getting to knownew students? And how many classes are used for evaluation through the year? How manyclasses coincide with special events? In order to develop supplementary materials while still covering our objectives we need toplan ahead. Questions to ask include: How many hours is my course in theory? And in reality? What core content do I need to cover in that amount of time?If you do not plan ahead, and if you constantly digress, you will find yourself either not co-vering the syllabus or rushing through items that come later in the course. Either way, youare storing up problems for the future. As we work through our course material we will discover points where we have an opportunityor a need to bring in other resources. The type of students we have, their particular interests andmotivations, which things they find easier and which more difficult will all suggest different typesof supplementary material. This may be a reading about a particular topic, a song, or a differentway of looking at a particular language point. However, it is essential to link supplementary ma-terial to the content of the syllabus. A more topical reading could be used to replace the one wehave in the unit, but we should make sure it practises the same strategies. Supplementary mate-rial should not be seen to compete with our course material but rather complement it. It is also important to give some thought as to how we organise the resources that we use tosupplement our coursebooks. Creating banks of resources and self-access materials allowsus and our colleagues in the department to use these materials more easily and effectively.Simple systems can be organised around coursebook units, topics or even specific syllabusrequirements. The original copies should be kept in plastic sleeves and should include some44 CLASSROOM PRACTICEnotes on how they can be used. Well-stocked and well-resourced schools are infinitely bet-ter places to work than those that are resource poor, but it is important to have clear routesinto this wealth of complementary and often competing materials.Studentsshouldalsobeencouragedtokeepsupplementarymaterials.Theycanbegivensimple files or encouraged to use the dossier section of a Language Portfolio. Language Port-folios are a collection of individual students work put together by them in a file or a ringbinder. The Portfolios belong to the students and can be updated as language learning con-tinues by adding to and taking away pieces of work. Portfolios are a good way not only ofencouraging students to reflect on learning goals and helping them keep track of work done,but also are a useful tool for getting them to start to take control of their learning. See Chap-ter 5, The Common European Framework of Reference, by Snchez Reyes, in Volume I(House, 2011), for a more detailed description of Language Portfolios.Task 14TheEuropeanLanguagePortfolioformspartoftheassessmentstrategiesrecommendedintheCEFR: Read the documents describing ELP from: www.oapee.es/oapee/inicio/iniciativas/portfolio.html Find out and describe the characteristics of the three parts of a Language Portfolio. Consider and describe how you would encourage students to use their Portfolio.Using technologyWhere technology promotes our goals in relation to communication and lifelong learning,we can safely judge it to be a valuable resource. However, do the ways in which techno-logy is delivered have any other knock-on effects on classroom interactions? Task 15Evaluate the technology used in your Practicum by answering the following questions: Do the technology platforms allow students to work more independently? Are they time-efficient? Do they offer equal access to all students in large groups? Do they discriminate against different learning styles or aptitudes?Compare your answers with a colleague and say what changes you would make to improve your results.45 CHOOSING AND DEVELOPING CLASSROOM MATERIALWeshouldbecareful,forexample,inthecaseofdigitalwhiteboardstoensurethatthe materials do not remain solely in the hands of the teacher, without ever passing to the stu-dent. Technology should encourage students to take the initiative and become more condentand independent in the classroom. What perhaps is less controversial is the use of techno-logy to find and prepare supplementary material for the classroom. There are many exce-llent sites for teachers and students to find ready-made materials and a plethora of other sites(text, audio and video) that we can visit and select material from. It is worth building up alist of the best EFL sites. Task 16Do an internet search for EFL sites. Make a list of your top ten EFL resource sites. Classify your list into different types (articles on teaching theory, useful activities, resources, fo-rums and discussion groups etc.). Hold a class discussion with your colleagues and make a database which you can all share. Doing away with coursebooks In 2000 Scott Thornbury