STRAND 2

Francisco Melara Gutirrez

ENGLISH LANGUAGE SKILLS FOR
PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATION PURPOSES
CONTENT TEACHING IN BRITISH SCHOOLS
Handouts' scheme:
Th-9

Fr-10

We-15

2.1
(10-12)

2.2
(13-18)

2.3
(27-32b)

We-29

Th-30

2.4
(67-72x10)

2.5
(75a-c-76)

List of activities and tasks:

A1: HOTS vs LOTS (introducing yourself to your class)
A2: 1st, 2nd and 3rd position (getting to know our classmates)
A3: Back to the board (collecting info about classmates)
A4: Asking around (how well do you know your classmates?)
A5: Activities to connect back with students' attention
A6: Repertory Grid Technique (Teaching Competences: your best teacher)
A7: SWOT analysis (your needs analysis as a teacher)
A8: Activating understanding of vocabulary
A9: Scaffolding contents with language
A10: Create a mind map (on what you learnt from previous lessons)
A11: Pie Chart (on language of Science for Primary Education)
A12: Dictating and giving instructions (on even/odd numbers, mathematical operations)
A13: Dictating and giving instructions (on shapes, sizes, numbers, colours, )
A14: Create a visual glossary (on the language of maths)
A15: Giving instructions (on origami)
A16: Think-Pair-Share activity (about problematic language)
A17: ICQs and CCQs / Language for the classroom management
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------T1: Language of subjects:
Bank of Linguistic Resources
T2: Giving instructions
T3: Teacher's Language

STRAND 2 - Teaching Competences Programme - Oct-Nov 2014 - PALOMA CARRASCO LPEZ

ACTIVITIES
A1: HOTS vs LOTS (introducing yourself to your class)
Step-by-step:
A slide with 4 images is displayed on the board. The teacher asks the students to
try to find something these images have in common.
Time to share and comment suggestions, encouraging the students to be creative.
All of them are about the teachers' life.
Comments:
Original way to introduce yourself to your students: making them thinking.
The question has many possible answers.
HOTS vs LOTS: Higher Order Thinking Skills VS Lower Order Thinking Skills

A2: 1st, 2nd and 3rd position (getting to know our classmates)
Step-by-step:
Talk to your partner about some items (name, job, hobbies, ...)
The teacher asks you about the person you talked to
Comments:
Transferring information from ones to others (instead of asking directly)
Moving from 1st position (asking directly) to 2nd position (asking the partner) or even
to the 3rd position (asking another observer in the classroom)

A3: Back to the board (collecting info about classmates)

Step-by-step:
A student is back to the board. On the board the teacher writes the name of
someone in the classroom. The class must give clues to the student back to the board
to help him/her finding out the person whose name is written behind.
Comments:
This activity can be used for many different things. At the beginning of the course it
is good to collect info from every student, and to socialize.

A4: Asking around (how well do you know your classmates?)

Step-by-step:
The names of all the students in the classroom is written on the board.
The teacher ask the students to fold the worksheet (HO 10) so that they cannot
read the external columns.
The students are asked to write all the names in the central column.
They have to move around and ask their classmates to complete the list of questions.
STRAND 2 - Teaching Competences Programme - Oct-Nov 2014 - PALOMA CARRASCO LPEZ

Comments:
Again this activity can be used for many different things: to get to know new mates,
to review contents from previous lessons: "What does ___ know about the planets?"
"Ask ___ about a rigid material"
Resources:
HO 10

A5: Activities to connect back with students' attention

List of activities:
The three "yes": The teacher asks the class three easy questions to which most
students will answer yes (ex. How many of you already attended other international
training courses?). He/she ask them to raise their hands.
Asking silly questions: "Do you sleep with your eyes closed? Why do you know
that?"
"A penny for your thoughts"
"3, 2, 1, clap!"
Comments:
Activating students and connecting back with their attention, usually through
activities provoking them to give an answer quickly.

A6: Repertory Grid Technique (Teaching Competences: your best teacher)

Step-by-step:
Think about your two most (A, B) and two less (C, D) effective teachers in your life
and write their names.
What do A&B have in common, so different to C&D, that makes them effective? Write
down on a post-it 3 ideas-reasons.
Share them on a poster: "thinking area".
Article to read about teacher-student relationships (HO 12)
Comments:
Using the RGT: Repertory Grid Technique. This is a research technique to get info,
in this case, about teaching competences.
Interesting to start from personal experiences and individual reflection, to obtain
final common conclusions.
Resources:
HO 11, HO 12

A7: SWOT analysis (your needs analysis as a teacher)

Step-by-step:
Think about your skills as a teacher, and write in four different post-it about your
STRAND 2 - Teaching Competences Programme - Oct-Nov 2014 - PALOMA CARRASCO LPEZ

strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.

Sharing on a poster, with a different area for every one of these four categories.
Reflecting on the topics of the activity: language, language skills, teaching content,
classroom management, language of subjects (grammar, jargon: being able to transfer
ideas/knowledge), methodology (engagement, negotiating meaning, transferring ideas to
students and checking they understand, feedback, requiring work to be done, ...)
Comments:
SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) is a powerful
technique as a needs analysis.
Introducing connected topics about methodology:
PPP: Presentation, Practice, Production
ESA: Engage, Study, Activate
TI-FO-SO-R: Tuning In, Finding Out, Sorting Out, Reflection
KWL (Know, Want, Learn) grid: Another needs analysis technique to reflect on what
you know, what you want to know and what you have learned.
Needs analysis techniques should be used with our students.
Resources:
HO 13

A8: Activating understanding of vocabulary

Step-by-step:
Introduction about the language of subjects. Corpus/corpora: most frequent words
of a subject; example: academic/business corpora (HO 14).
Small cards to each student with words that should match together with another's:
collocations. Moving around to find a partner based on that.
Placing this pairs of words on a graph with two criteria to locate them (ex.
usefulness and danger to the environment for words about anergy sources; HO 15).
Discussing the graph, establishing a debate.
Comments:
Active way to make students think about new vocabulary.
Resources:
Wordle: online tool to generate "word clouds"
HO 14, 15

A9: Scaffolding contents with language

Step-by-step:
Completing the given worksheet about neurones (HO 16) in order.
Resources about the language of science, as an example: HO 17, 18 and TED Talk.
Comments:
It is a good example of how language helps acquiring new contents, making the
STRAND 2 - Teaching Competences Programme - Oct-Nov 2014 - PALOMA CARRASCO LPEZ

learner to infer them. Guide the process of language learning and content learning.
Resources:
Wordle: online tool to generate "word clouds"
HO 16, 17, 18
TED Talk: "Hey Science Teachers: Make it fun (Tyler DeWitt)

A10: Create a mind map (on what you learnt from previous lessons)
Step-by-step:
5 groups of 4
The students reflect and share items on a mind map
The teacher write on the board his mind map and explains it
Ask the students to compare theirs with it

Comments:
Good as a review activity on a 3rd lesson on certain topic, to continue with it
Check Franciscos mind map on our lessons on this strand; fully complete list of
contents and methodology, activities, materials,
Resources:
www.draw.io : Online tool to create graphs
Magazines: AQUILA (presents many activities about any subject; updated; thinking),
The Linguist, The Economist, Wired, Monocle (these others are general, with
very interesting articles on any current topic; useful to obtain text connected with

STRAND 2 - Teaching Competences Programme - Oct-Nov 2014 - PALOMA CARRASCO LPEZ

our subjects)

A11: Pie Chart (on language of Science for Primary Education)

Step-by-step:
5 groups (as many as elements to represent) of 4
A different piece of information for each group, with a percentage to represent on a
pie chart
Each member does his/her try; then, compare with the others
Switch into 4 groups of 5, with a representative of the previous groups in each
Share info to complete the pie chart
Back to the original groups and Show it to me! (get attention from students)
Each group draw it on a paper plate
Stick them on a wall and ask every group to explain it
Comments:
Modelling with a group while giving instructions (example)
Show it to me to call students attention
Resources:
Excel graphs
HO 27

A12: Dictating and giving instructions (on even/odd numbers, mathematical

operations)
Step-by-step:
A student reads a list of instructions for the others to
draw this:
At the same time, he/she draws it on the board
Explain the rules of the game
(to obtain a number by mixing them)
Expression to use:
I think we need to

Add +
1, 2, 8
Multiply x
1, 2

Substract
5, 9, 4, 6
Divide :
3, 7

Comments:
Introduction with 5 and 10 pounds notes, about odd/even numbers
Resources:
HO 28

A13: Dictating and giving instructions (on shapes, sizes, numbers, colours, )
Step-by-step:
Teacher dictates instructions for students to draw: 2 triangles (one bigger), 3 squares
(different sizes), a rectangle, a circle around the biggest square, a circle inside the
STRAND 2 - Teaching Competences Programme - Oct-Nov 2014 - PALOMA CARRASCO LPEZ

smallest triangle
In pairs (A, B): As dictate colours to Bs.
Comments:
Now the teacher dictates, and without drawing it on the board
Resources:
HO 28

A14: Create a visual glossary (on the language of maths)

Step-by-step:
Before a break, ask the students to type on a word document (on the screen) one
term about maths.
Create the wordle.
Comments:
Could be used for the language of the topic, at the end of a lesson
Could be stuck on the classrooms walls
Resources:
www.wordle.net
HO 29, 30a, 30b

A15: Giving instructions (on origami)

Step-by-step:
In pairs: look for the person with the same coloured wrapped chocolate
One student has a HO with the visual procedure and the other a piece of paper to
do the origami
Comments:
Reflection: Was it easy? Accurate language?
Giving instructions we need:
- to check for understanding
- modelling the activity (give examples, visual support, show how to do it with
one group, )
Variety of language in the classroom!
Resources:
HO 31a, 31b, 31c, 32a, 32b

A16: Think-Pair-Share activity (about problematic language)

Step-by-step:
Individually: Matching examples to descriptions of problems (HO 67)
In pairs: Sharing
STRAND 2 - Teaching Competences Programme - Oct-Nov 2014 - PALOMA CARRASCO LPEZ

 TED Talk to reflect about the need to give clear instructions to get the expected
result.
Comments:
We need to adapt language to our students
TPS activities
Resources:
HO 67
TED Talk "Brain Magic (Keith Barry)"

A17: ICQs and CCQs / Language for the classroom management

Step-by-step:
Every group is given several pieces of paper with different steps to order them,
completing a sequence about a teacher giving instructions and checking that they
were understood (HO 68).
Sharing in the classroom and commenting it.
After reflecting on that, extending with other handouts about management.
Comments:
ICQs (Instructions Checking Questions) and CCQs (Concepts)
1st, give instructions; 2nd, check they understood; 3rd, ask them to do it; last:
grouping the students and giving them worksheets.
Rules of classroom management:
1. Get them in (engagement)
2. Get them out (proper ending)
3. Get on with it (content & manner)
4. Get in with them (rapport)
We need to be conscious about the usage of language: guiding processes with proper
and rich language
Resources:
HO 68, 69, 70, 71, 72(x10), 75a-c
Video: "Teachers TV: Manage your class"

STRAND 2 - Teaching Competences Programme - Oct-Nov 2014 - PALOMA CARRASCO LPEZ

TASKS
T1: Language of subjects: Bank of Linguistic Resources
Instructions:
Compile any kind of language oriented material:
- language, vocabulary: glossary
- structures, expressions
- activities
- texts (from magazines, )
Organize the work in groups
Compilations to be shared with our colleagues at our Spanish schools
Outcomes:
A compilation in a different folder for each subject, available in this DROPBOX.

T2: Giving instructions

Instructions:
In groups
Choose a difficult concept on a subject
Design a complex activity on this topic
Elaborate a script with the rules or instructions to be given
Outcomes:
Description of the activity and rules/instructions.

T3: Teacher's Language

Instructions: (detailed at HO 76)
Get an audio or video record of yourself teaching
Select six examples of your speech
Self-assessment: good aspects (why?) and things to improve
Write about 500-700 words
Outcomes:
Recordings
Written self-assessment

STRAND 2 - Teaching Competences Programme - Oct-Nov 2014 - PALOMA CARRASCO LPEZ