Using the coursebook Penny Ur

2016

The coursebook

• Ready-made texts, activities, visuals

• Convenient package

• Structure

• Awareness of progress

2

Why adapt? (1)

• To overcome problems / inadequacies

3

Why adapt? (2)

• To make good material better: more interesting, learning-rich

• To suit our own teaching style

• To make more enjoyable for the learner

• To make more enjoyable for ourselves

• For the sake of variety

4

Sometimes we delete, add or substitute

• But finding alternative texts / tasks can be time-consuming.

5

This workshop

Using the given material, using simple, quick techniques of adaptation ...

... ‘tweaking’ the way you mediate, or the content.

6

Textbook components we’ll be looking at

Reading texts

Grammar and vocabulary exercises

7

Reading texts

8

Reading texts: what’s the aim?

Improving reading comprehension and fluency

Learning new language

So...

We want to facilitate understanding and fluent reading

We want to draw attention to and teach new items

9

Stages

First encounter: facilitating understanding and maintaining interest

Later work: promoting comprehension and fluent reading

10

Using reading texts (1): First encounter

11

How will you read it?

Tell them to read silently?

Ask them to read aloud in turn?

12

13

Dane wz woTshn amoOvy Wn Loosi n mErre kEm te teall him uboWt Hiz dog DJoni hood biN plEighing Otseide wyth uthe dogz wean mikl roAd bigh Oniz moutessiGHkl n rENim ohvA. Hy wz bEDlleigh heaRt soh Dane n LOosi Tuck im two TH veat, wAihl MErri foHnd th pLEece te teall thM ebowt th hitt n ruhn.

Comprehension questions

Don’t call out answers: just raise your hand if

you think you know the answer

1. Who was the owner of the dog?

2. What was the dog’s name?

3. What happened to the dog?

14

First encounter

Tell them to read silently?

Ask them to read aloud in turn?

Read aloud while they follow

(Amer, 1997)

Explain new (essential) items as they come up

15

Initial reading: Recap

Pre-teaching vocabulary doesn’t help much

Students’ silent reading: OK if you’re fairly sure they’ll understand

Students reading aloud: not usually helpful

Probably best is teacher read-aloud while students follow...

... Explaining new vocabulary as you go

16

Using reading texts (2): Promoting comprehension and fluency

17

Rereading and comprehension work

• Rereading in itself promotes understanding (Gorsuch & Taguchi, 2010)

... so think of ways to get them to reread

... that support comprehension

• Comprehension questions?

18

Problems with comprehension questions 1

They may not check comprehension

19

The text The changks voz blunging frewly nedeng the brudegan. Some changks vos unred, but the other changks vos unredder. They vos all polket and rather chiglop, so they did not mekle the spuler. A few were unstametick. The comprehension questions What were the changks doing? How were they blunging? Where were they blunging? In what ways were the changks the same and in what ways were they different? Were any changks unstametick?

What can you do about this?

• Use different wording • Ask students to answer about underlying

meanings, not the actual text. e.g Text: Mr Smith asked his wife for assistance. Bad question: Who did Mr Smith ask for assistance? Better questions: Who did Mr Smith get to help him? Was Mr Smith married?

21

Problems with comprehension questions 2

They are boring.

They tend to test, instead of supporting, comprehension.

22

What can we do about it?

Use a variety of tasks that involve comprehension, are more fun to do, and get students to reread for meaning.

23

Some ideas for alternative activities promoting text familiarity and

comprehension 1. Shortening

2. Lengthening

3. Changing

4. Selection

5. Transformation

Ideas adapted from Maley, A. (1999, 2011)

24

Shorten the text

• Delete words from the text, without altering the basic meaning.

(or phrases or full sentences)

25

Lengthen the text

Without altering the basic meaning of the text...

• Add single words / phrases/

• Add sentences.

• Add margin notes (explanations, comments).

• Add an ending/ continuation.

• Add a preface.

26

Change the text

Change the wording of the text without altering the basic meaning.

Synonyms or paraphrases.

27

Select bits out of the text

• Choose the most important sentence in the text.

• Choose the ten words and phrases that are most essential for understanding the main message.

• Find all the words or phrases that relate to (a topic).

• Find the word or phrase the teacher says

28

Represent in some other format or style

• Rewrite in simple English for a less advanced learner.

• Imagine the text is a book: draw a cover illustration.

• Rewrite as a different genre or style (email, very informal, brief notes...)

29

Comprehension and fluency: recap

Rereading is important

Comprehension questions may be ineffective and/or boring

Other options: shortening, lengthening, changing, selecting, transforming, criticizing, creating a new text

30

Grammar and vocabulary exercises

31

Mostly

• Gapfills

• Substitution

• Transformation

• Multiple choice or true/false

• Matching

32

Substitution

Practise the modals: insert the appropriate forms. 1. I’m sorry, but I must leave early (have to). 2. When I was young, I played with dolls (used

to). 3. We should try to stay calm (ought to). 4. Teachers must prepare lessons. (have to). 5. Teenagers should be in bed by 11 o’clock (be

supposed to). 6. After he left, we could speak more easily (be

able to).

33

Matching

A B

I eat a ball

I read a book

I look at a chair

I sit on chocolate

I throw a picture

34

Gapfill

Write the correct past form

1. She ______________ early. (leave)

2. He ____________ the cake. (make)

3. I ___________ there for six hours. (sit)

4. They __________ the book. (read)

35

Ways of adapting 1: Interaction pattern

Usually: teacher-led ‘ping-pong’

36

Questions 1 1. What area in the world does the word tomato

come from?

2. Are there more native or non-native speakers of English?

3. What is the most common word in the English language?

4. Name two countries where English is an official language, but most people have other native languages.

5. What’s the difference between cellphone and mobile phone?

37

Ways of adapting 1: Interaction pattern

Teacher-led ‘ping-pong’ interaction means that

• Most of the time is teacher-talk

• Most of the students are not involved most of the time

• The shy students never answer

• It takes ages to get through the exercise

What are the alternatives?

38

Questions 2

1. What is the most common letter in the English language?

2. What is the plural of criterion?

3. How do you pronounce ‘sch’ in the word schedule in American English?

4. How do you spell the word center in British English?

5. How would you write out won’t in two full words?

6. What languages are from the family of Indo-European languages, other than English?

7. What does the prefix un- mean?

8. What are two meanings of the word leaf?

9. About how many native speakers of English are there in the world?

10. Where in the world do they speak ‘Cockney’ English?

39

Answers to Questions 2

1. e 2. criteria 3. /sk/ 4. centre 5. will not 6. Virtually all the European languages, except for Hungarian and

Finnish 7. ‘not’ or ‘the opposite of’ 8. a leaf on a tree, and a page of a book (or the verb, to turn over

pages as in the expression ‘to leaf through a book’ 9. About 300 million 10. In London

40

Try telling them...

‘You may not know all the answers. That’s fine. Do as much as you can.’ 1. Do at least the first three; more if you can. 2. Choose any five to do; then do more if you

can. 3. Do as much as you can in ten minutes. 4. Start with the ones you know you can do;

then consult classmates / the teacher about the others.

41

Then just tell them or write up the answers

... they self-check.

42

Ways of adapting 2: Tweak the actual text

Mainly by deleting some of the text to make the items ‘open-ended’

Allowing multiple responses instead of one right answer.

43

The original exercise: Write the correct past form

1. She ______________ early. (leave)

2. He ____________ the cake. (make)

3. I ___________ there for six hours. (sit)

4. They __________ the book. (read)

44

Open-ending 1 Show the past tense, delete the sentence ending

Complete the sentence 1. She left ______________ early. 2. He made ____________ the cake. 3. I sat ___________ there for six hours. 4. They read __________ the book.

45

Open-ending 2 Delete the pre-set verb

Put in a correct past form.

1. She ______________ early. (leave)

2. He ____________ the cake. (make)

3. I ___________ there for six hours. (sit)

4. They __________ the book. (read)

46

The result

• Less teacher-talk, more student-talk

• More students participate

• There is more practice of the target language

• The exercise becomes more interesting

• The items can be done at different levels of difficulty.

47

Possibly...

Do it once the conventional way, then a follow-up to get more and richer practice.

48

Thank you for your attention and participation!

Now try it out! pennyur@gmail.com

49

References and further reading Amer, A A. (1997). The effect of the teacher's reading aloud on the reading comprehension of EFL students. ELT Journal, 51(4), 43-47. Gorsuch, G., & Taguchi, E. (2010). Developing reading fluency and comprehension using repeated reading: Evidence from longitudinal student reports. Language Teaching Research, 14(1), 27-60. Maley, A. (1999). Short and sweet. Harmondsworth: Penguin Maley, A. (2011). Squaring the circle - reconciling materials as constraint with materials as empowerment. In Tomlinson, B (Ed.), Materials development and language teaching (pp. 379-402). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Mesri, F. (2012). The Effect of Different Reading Activities on Iranian EFL Learners' Reading Comprehension. Middle-East Journal of Scientific Research, 11(10), 1366-1376. Ur, P. (2015). Using the coursebook: A teacher's perspective. European Journal of Applied Linguistics and TEFL, 4(2), 5-17.

50