The Tunisian English Teaching Forum - Issue3

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I s s u e 3 Ma y 2 0 1 0
TUNISIAN
English Teaching Forum
The
T h e M a g a z i n e F o r A n d B y E F L T e a c h e r s I n T u n i s i a A n d A b r o a d
TEACHING SPEAKING
As it is Written, So
it Shall be Read
and Said!
More for those who
want more
Classroom Techniques
Testing Speaking
Assessment and Testing
In this issue:
Interview with
David
KAPULER
TUNISIAN
Using videos
in the EFL
classroom
Will language
labs promote
English
learning?
Teaching the
target language
or the target
culture?
Mohamed Salah Abidi
Editorial Review Board
Mohamed Salah Abidi
Graphic Design
Tarak Brahmi
The Tunisian English Teaching Forum is
a quarterly magazine issued and published by
The CREFOC, Sidi Bouzid.
Any copyrighted articles appearing in
The Tunisian English Teaching Forum
are reprinted with permission of the copyright
owners.
To be considered for publication, manuscripts
should be typed on a floppy disk or CD that
TUNISIAN
English Teaching Forum
The
Editors note,
Mohamed Salah ABIDI
TEACHER TRAINER
AND ELT INSPECTOR
IN THE AREA OF
SIDI BOUZID, TUNISIA.
Speaking!!! The poor cousin of the other skills is the central theme in this third issue
of our e-magazine. The articles by Steve Peha and Farida Ben Abdellah are good food for
thought and may trigger debate among the teachers and educationists so that we, teachers
and trainers, can go further in the discovery of better procedures and techniques how to
foster the process of teaching and learning speaking skills.
Adel Ghabri has conducted with his students at Rmilia prep. School a project on teaching and
testing speaking skills and I hope the report we upload to this issue will help the teachers to
improve classroom practice.
Integrating ICT in teaching English is a main concern and most preps in Tunisia are
equipped with language laboratories. For this, we think the article by Zohra Ammouri, a
teacher of English at Regueb prep, is a sample that can open doors for our colleagues who still
consider it building castles in the air to use these labs in the classroom.
Mohamed Souissi, ELT Inspector in Gabes, kindly provided us with an opportunity to have
access to his high quality article on virtual classrooms and Faten Romdhani, from Nabeul, who
has shown expertise in selecting videos to be exploited in the classroom with TEIT, wrote a
worthy article on the benefts of using videos.
Tarek Brahmi interviews in this issue David Kapuler: a renowned expert in the integration of
ICT in education and enriches this issue with a selection of visuals.
Abdelhamid Rhaim, University teacher in Gabes, reports on the 3rd conference held at his
institute on April 23rd, and 24th, 2010.
Fethi Bouguerra invites the readers to reconsider one of the common issues in ELT; Culture
and teaching foreign languages.
We are happy that the magazine is gaining popularity among the teachers of English
in Tunisia and abroad and we will be happier to receive the readers feedback so that we can
improve its quality.
c
o
n
t
e
n
t
s
The Tunisian English Teaching Forum is
a quarterly magazine issued and published by
The CREFOC, Sidi Bouzid.
Any copyrighted articles appearing in
are reprinted with permission of the copyright
owners.
To be considered for publication, manuscripts
should be typed on a floppy disk or CD that
has been virus-checked.
Letters, floppy disks or CDs should be sent to :
Mohammed Salah Abidi
LInspecteur dAnglais
Lyce Tahar Haddad
Regueb 9170
Sidi Bouzid
Tunisie
or e-mailed to: med.saha@gmail.com
For guidelines for writing articles and the
latest news and notifications, please visit our
blog here:
http://tunisian-etforum.blogspot.com
6
ADEL GHARBI
TESTING SPEAKING
Techniques to
promote speaking and
to enhance the oral
test in the EFL
classroom
10
STEVE PEHA
As it is Written, So
it Shall be Read-
and Said!
Using reading to foster
kids acquisition of
the pronunciation and
grammar of English
14
MOHAMED SOUISSI
more for those
who want more
A guided tour of the
Internet Classroom
Assistant (ICA)
18
Interview
An enlightening
conversation with
ICT guru David
Kapuler
22
FARIDA BEN ABDULLAH
teaching
speaking
Factors teachers
need to take into
account while
teaching speaking
24
FATEN ROMDHANI
USING videos in the
classroom
Videos in the EFL
classroom to motivate
learners and deliver high
quality lessons
26
ZOHRA AMMOURI
will language
labs promote
english learning
Thinking about the
CALL labs and the
ICT experience in
Tunisia
27
FATHI BOUGUERRA
teaching the target
language or the
language culture?
Getting students to
know not only another
language but also the
target culture.
33
ABDELHAMID RHAIEM
BOUNDARIES
A post-conference
report about the third
conference organised
by the Department of
English in ISL, Gabes
IN THIS ISSUE ...
I
n this issue, you can read a nice collection of articles from
Tunisia and abroad. Sit comfortably, have a cup of coffee, read
the articles and send your feedback and comments to the forum.
Your feedback is the fuel that keeps the magazine going. So, do not
hesitate to send a few words to the authors!
6 The Tunisian English Teaching Forum | Issue3 May 2010

Speaking tests are characterized by interactive role-switching; speaker-listener.
The teacher of language or the assessor asks the learner, listener at this phase,
questions and they switch roles. In other language tests; listening, reading or
writing tests present a set of questions and elicit a set of answers in which we
want to know how well learners can read or listen for specifc information or
write whereas in oral tests we want to know how our students can communicate
orally with their peers or other people. And to achieve this goal we should
design instruments that incorporate a number of different test techniques
which will give a quick and accurate measure of general profciency. (Bachman,
1990)
The broad aim of all these techniques is to encourage learners to speak
English by giving them something to speak about (Nic Underhill, The Speaking
Test). Of course, techniques vary depending on students levels and teachers
objectives.
I
t is generally perceived that oral testing is
difcult and a perplexing problem for many
language teachers. Te main obstacles are
a lack of efective and efcient assessment
instruments, time constraints and class size. In this
respect, I prepared a questionnaire for teachers to
study the difculties that face teachers in giving
the oral tests and how they attempt to deal with
them. Te survey I made showed that around 85%
of teachers of English in the regions of Maknassy,
Remilia and Menzel Bouzayene conduct the oral
test on a regular basis whereas 15% do not do so
because of either lack of time or unawareness of the
importance of this test. [Enclosed is a sample of a
questionnaire].
It seems that teachers need to have assistance and
encouragement in trying assessment of speaking.
Tey ought to build the habit of starting their
lessons with speaking tests as this gives a clear
image about how well students have acquired the
language so far and to what extent they have learnt
grammatical structures, new lexical items and used
them adequately in appropriate contexts. In short,
the accurate measurement of oral ability takes
considerable time and efort to obtain valid and
reliable results. In this article I will be discussing
some of the techniques that could be implemented
in classrooms, which all cater for assessing the
learners speaking abilities.
TESTING
SPEAKING
Supervised By Mohamed Salah Abidi,
ELT Inspector & Teacher Trainer
Prepared By Adel Ghabri,
Teacher of English
6 The Tunisian English Teaching Forum | Issue 3 May 2010
http://tunisian-etforum.blogspot.com 7
I will also highlight some of the advantages and

disadvantages of each technique. And in the
following section I will shed light on some scoring
schemes. 1. Question and Answer:
Tis typically consists of a series of disconnected
questions that are graded in order of increasing
difculty, starting with short simple questions, such
as Whats your name? and Where do you live?
and working up to long and complex questions.
Learners should know how long they have to
answer and are explicitly encouraged to keep
speaking for the full amount of time. Tere is an
infnite range of possible questions that a teacher
may use in conducting an oral test applying this
technique. Generally speaking, question and answer
is a very common general-purpose test technique,
especially suitable for lower levels. Ask students
to formulate questions, name objects, say the date,
day, month and the year Teachers may ask good
follow up questions for brilliant students or just ask
students to recite the names of closed sets such as,
days of the week, months of the year, or seasons .
Below are samples of questions for 7th year
students:
Sample of general questions:
Simple questions More challenging questions
Whats your name?
How old are you?
Where do you come from?
What is your favourite hobby?
Is it (learners hobby) your only hobby?
What are the popular leisure activities in your village?
Do all your friends play football? Why?
Do your parents let you go out with your friends? Why and why
not?
Can you tell me about some dangerous hobbies?
Sample of questions about meals:
Simple questions More challenging questions
How many meals do you have every day?
What do you have for breakfast, lunch or dinner?
Can you name some fruit or vegetables?
What time do you often have dinner?
What do usually have for dessert?
Can you tell me about a traditional dish in Tunisia?
Is it delicious? What do you need to prepare it?
What is your favourite dish? Who prepares that for you?
Do all the family members gather for meals?
Do you think that breakfast is important to start your day? Why
and why not?
Sample of visuals that can help teachers conduct the oral test for 7th year students:
2. Discussion/ Conversation:
It is probably very natural when this happens in
real life, but it is bit hard for learners to enact a
conversation in front of the class without being
previously informed. However, the teacher can
make this task easier for learners to achieve by
writing some hints on the board or showing them
fash cards or visuals to help them feel confdent
and relaxed. In a discussion or a conversation,
teachers should take into account the examinees
tone , pitch of intonation, expressions of face
and body language which all contribute to the
making of the conversation. In such discussion/
conversation sessions teachers will be able to
assess how well their students express their
opinions, take the initiative, ask questions, express
agreements or disagreements. Here, there is a risk
that one of the learners assigned to be part of the
discussion/conversation session is more confdent
or talkative than his classmate. A teacher should
monitor such a situation and give his students
clear directions.
A) Sample of a conversation:
Level: 9th year students
Module: 2
Lesson: 4 Violence at school
Strategy: Distribute these questions and ask students to prepare a journalist-student interview for an oral test. For
the oral test we may choose two learners.
What do you think about violence at school?
Do you yell in the corridors?
Are you allowed to use your mobile phone at school?
Should students cheat in the exam?
If you sit improperly in the classroom what will happen?
Is fighting allowed at school? How do you call this phenomenon?
How do you call students who work hard?
How do you call those who respect their classmates and teachers?
Are you for or against school rules? Why?
B) Sample of a conversation:
Level: 8th year students
Module: 3
Lesson: 5 What do you do in your spare time?
Strategy: Stick 5 to 6 flash cards and pictures about different sports and entertaining activities on the board and
engage 2 learners in a conversation about spare time.
What do you think about violence at school?
Do you yell in the corridors?
Are you allowed to use your mobile phone at school?
Should students cheat in the exam?
If you sit improperly in the classroom what will happen?
Is fighting allowed at school? How do you call this phenomenon?
How do you call students who work hard?
How do you call those who respect their classmates and teachers?
Are you for or against school rules? Why?
Tese visuals can engage learners in discussions about violence at school

FLASH CARDS
3. Oral Report/Presentation:
Secondary school students are expected to give
oral presentations with reference to given notes,
but not reading notes aloud from the chalkboard,
fipchart or an overhead projector. Tey may use
notes as helpful hints to talk about a social or an
environmental phenomenon (pollution, divorce,
crime, violence, suicide). Choosing the topic is
very important. It should be relevant to the aims
of the programme or the needs of the learners
and should contain new information to call upon
the audiences (other students) attention. In this
respect, the teacher may ask some students to
prepare short presentations of 5 to 7 minutes and
provide them with a schedule for delivering their
work. Each day, one learner in turn makes his/
her presentation while the rest of the class are
expected to ask questions and discuss the topic.
Here again, some of the learners will play it safe
by choosing the topic they are most familiar with.
However, we may solve this issue by encouraging
our students to choose topics not dealt with
before and reward those who choose motivating
topics. Te assessor has to be careful; s/he should
take into consideration the degree of fuency,
accuracy, word choice and the way the presenter
handles the questions at
the end. At preparatory
schools, students are
expected to write short
reports about their
schools, towns, families,
and hobbies Te
time allotted should be from 3 to 5 minutes. If
students are not able to ask questions at the end
of the report, the teacher may do so to see how
well the learner responds to such questions.
(Continued on page 28)
Choosing the topic is very important.

It should be relevant to the aims of
the programme or the needs of the
learners.
Yell Cheat
Litter
Eat in
class
Mobile
phone
Fight
Over the last 15 years, Ive been fortunate to work with several thousand
English-language learners. Almost all of these kids have been from Mexico.
Spanish is their fst language and the language they speak at home. But I
have on occasion worked with a second type of English-language learner,
a type of student that I fnd much more interesting and immensely more
challenging.
W
hen I frst worked with Spanish-
speaking kids, I wasnt sure what to
do. So I just did what I do with native
English speakers. Essentially, I ran
a standard Writers and Readers Workshop. With a
few small adjustments, this worked well.
I do not speak Spanish. But I am curious about
languages and have studied a bit of comparative
linguistics. So I know some of the important
diferences between English and Spanish that might
hang kids up.
I also do one other thing when I teach Spanish-
speaking children, something I can actually do for
almost all children regardless of the language they
speak: I manage the classroom multi-lingually.
Even though I am not multi-lingual myself, I can
actually use any other language in the classroom
as long as the kids will teach it to me. I think of a
command I will be giving frequently like, Please
raise your hand. and I just ask a kid who speaks
a little English to tell me how to say it in their
language. Most of the time, I can only memorize
the phonemes I hear. I dont know the words or the
grammar. But it doesnt matter since Im using only
certain phrases at certain times and always in a strict
one-to-one correspondence with the equivalent
English-language command.
I focus on a multi-lingual approach to classroom
management for two reasons: (1) Most teachers, and
I am no diferent, use a relatively small number of
commands to get kids to do what we need them to
do. As such, there really isnt much language learning
for me to master; and (2) If I give commands in all
the languages in the room, everybody knows what
to doand this, almost more than anything else
makes kids feel safe enough to take the risks they
need to take to learn a language that is unfamiliar to
them.
So how do I do this if I dont speak the languages
the kids speak? I ask them to teach me. For example,
during writing, kids will frequently say something
out loud that is really interesting, but they wont
write it down, and in a minute theyll forget it. So,
in English, I say, Write that down! or Put that on
your paper! To learn that direction in Spanish, I ask
one of the kids who speaks a little English to teach it
to me. Te Spanish phrase I have been taught by kids
is Escribalo en tu papel.
AS IT IS WRITTEN,
SO IT SHALL BE READ
AND SAID!
Helping Kids Acquire the Pronunciation and Grammar of Common Standard English
Through Reading
By Steve Peha,
President of TTMS (Teaching That Makes Sense)
www.ttms.org
Often I make funny mistakes and the kids laugh at

me. For example, I once said Escribalo en tu papa.
Or Write it on your father. Another funny one
relates to hand-rasing. What I want to say is, Raise
your hand. Or in Spanish, Levanta tu mano. But
sometimes when my pronunciation is poor, it sounds
more like Wash you hand. Its fun for the kids to
see me struggle with their language, and I think that
helps them feel better about struggling with mine.
All in all, Ive had great success working with
English-language learners despite having had no
formal training in this area. But there is a second
type of English-language learner that I really struggle
withnative English speakers who do not speak
standard English.
I encounter these kids mostly in rural areas.
Particularly in the Southwhere I have worked in
North Carolina, South Carolina, and GeorgiaI
have struggled to help African-American children
who speak a variant of English often referred to as
BEV or Black English Vernacular. Te language
Im trying to teach them, the language of school and
formal American society, is referred to as CSE or
Common Standard English.
Te problem here is not that I cant understand the
kids or that they cant understand me. I might have to
get a feel for their regional accent but that takes me
just a day or two. But BEV is truly its own language.
It has its own vocabulary and pronunciation, and
most importantly, its own grammar as well.
But theres an even bigger problem.
Most of the Spanish-speaking kids I work with live
in urban areas. Tey may speak Spanish at home
and with their friends, but they encounter Common
Standard English throughout their lives, primarily in
school but also in the culture around them. African-
American kids living in rural areas often dont have
this environmental advantage. Tey live in small
towns that are often highly segregated. Tey grow up
learning Black English Vernacular at home. But they
also learn it in their community. And even in their
school, they may not have a single teacher in some
cases who speaks Common Standard English.
So as I have sought to help rural kids like these, I
have been stumped. How do I help them learn CSE
when their entire environment is BEV? Without
models of speakers of the target language, how do
kids acquire the target language?
For the frst year or two that I worked with kids like
this, I didnt know what to do. I taught and taught
and taught. And the kids went right on using BEV
and, of course, doing very natural things like putting
BEV syntax onto CSE vocabulary. So at least they
were learning something!
What I needed was an environmental source of
unlimited models of Common Standard English.
But with few, if any, adult CSE speakers in the
community, where would these models come from?
Ten it hit me: books.
Most of the books we have for kids to read in school
are written, more or less, in CSE. Once I got kids
reading them, and pronouncing every word correctly,
and reading in phrases, and reading with expression
that matched the meaning, BEV-speaking kids began
to learn a little CSE vocabulary, pronunciation, and
grammar.
My direction to the students was As it is written,
so it shall be readand said! Te point here is to
make sure the kids are using CSE with accuracy. For
example, many African-American kids will invert
the last two phonemes in the word ask. Instead of
ask, they say aks, and what a CSE speaker hears is
axe. So when a kid says, Can I axe you somethin,
Mr. Peha? I have to laugh a little. Much of the time
I just say, Sure. But when I want to remind them to
pay attention to CSE, Ill make a joke like, Only if it
doesnt hurt too much. Again, laughter is always the
best learning aid.
What I needed was an environmental source of unlimited

models of Common Standard English. But with few, if any,
adult CSE speakers in the community, where would these
models come from? Then it hit me: books.

We may all encounter kids in our teaching
who have limited access to models of the target
language. When this happens, books in the target
language can make up the diference. What we
have to attend to as teachers in order to make this
work are the following things:
Kids must read a lot, both silently and aloud.
Kids must decode every word.
Kids must pronounce every word correctly.
In languages like English that use a phrase-
structure grammar, kids must learn how to
phrase correctly.
Kids must also learn how to read expressively
as well.
Finally, I have also discovered that it makes
a huge diference to help kids with prosody.
English is a stress-timed language; Spanish is
a syllable-timed language. True to their name,
stress-timed languages use stressed syllables to
cue their listeners to word boundaries. Stress also
afects pronunciation and, in English, accounts
for much of the irregularity of English spelling
and pronunciation. For example, when a vowel
sound falls on an unstressed syllable it is usually
pronounced as a schwa. But if a vowel occurs on a
stressed syllable, it is usually pronounced in either
its long or short form.
Syllable-timed languages like Spanish are
considered to be unstressed. Syllable speed is what
native speakers use to parse word boundaries,
along with what might be considered greater
melodic variation that often characterizes the
prosody of syllable-timed languages.
So what does this tell me? First of all, it tells
me that when I speak English to Spanish kids
they almost always think Im angry with them.
Why? Because the only time they hear such
harshly-stressed syllables in their language is
when someone is angry. From my perspective,
I always think they speak too quickly because
without the stresses my brain has been wired to
listen for, Spanish sounds like an unending stream
of phonemes, as though an entire sentence were
somehow one very long word.
One simple application of this idea helped my
Spanish-speaking students learn to speak English
with less of an accent. Because Spanish makes
only limited use of stress, all vowels get their
full pronunciation. Te richer, rounder sound of
Spanish vowels is often what accounts for what
English speakers hear as a Spanish accent. But if
I teach Spanish-speakers how to use stress, as I do
in English, they will begin to naturally modulate
their vowel pronunciation to match the way
English vowels sound in context. Because accent
is carried in the vowels of a language, and using
stress changes vowel pronunciation, Spanish-
speakers who apply English prosody automatically
drop their accent as a result. Te same is true in
the other direction. When I want to drop my
English accent in a syllable-timed language, all I
have to do is drop my stress.
Once again, the direction, As it is written, so
it shall be readand said! is the cue I give
them to remind them of what they need to do.
Common Standard English is right there in front
of their eyes. Tey can study individual words,
phrases, and sentences, and match what they hear
themselves saying to what is actually on the page.
After a few hard months of this kind of focus,
Im amazed at how much of the target language
kids have internalized, especially where prosody,
grammar, and pronunciation are concerned.
1995-2010 by Teaching That Makes Sense, Inc. Used by permission. For
more information, visit our website at www.ttms.org or contact us at
info@ttms.org.
Because Spanish makes only limited use of stress, all vowels get
their full pronunciation. The richer, rounder sound of Spanish
vowels is often what accounts for what English speakers hear as
a Spanish accent.
STEVE PEHA

President of Teaching That Makes Sense,
Inc. Seattle, WA
TTMS isa successful education consulting
company with more than 100 clients
nationwide.
Steve Peha presented more than 250
professional development workshops.
He is author of more than 190 articles for The
Seattle Times Efective Learning Series.
Creator of more than 40 original workshops
in reading, writing, math, assessment, and
test preparation.
Website: http://www.ttms.org
RECENTLY IN THE NEWS:

VOLCANO ERUPTION IN
ICELAND
MARCH 2010
(Reuters) A volcanic eruption in Iceland, which has thrown up a 6-km (3.7
mile) high plume of ash and disrupted air trafc across northern Europe, has
grown more intense, an expert said on Tursday.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE63E2OU20100415
BRINGING THE
NEWS INTO THE
EFL CLASSROOM
A
s news articles, videos, podcasts, and pictures have
become more accessible and are in most cases free of
charge thanks to the internet, teachers can bring the
news much more easily inside their classrooms.
In this section, we highlight some current events and news
that can be used by teachers :It is a great way to bring
authentic material inside the classroom while at the same
time keeping students motivated and involved. Expanding
their knowledge and enriching their vocabulary are only some
of the obvious benefts students can reap.
A good picture can also be a great way to start a discussion or
to brainstorm ideas related to a given topic.
For more ideas, following are some interesting links:
Using CNN News Video in the EFL Classroom:
http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Mackenzie-CNN.html
TV News in the EFL/ESL Classroom: Criteria for Selection:
http://tesl-ej.org/ej27/a2.html
Te Volcano eruption in Iceland (See picture) can trigger a
class debate about natural disasters, global warming, etc..
MORE FOR
THOSE
WHO WANT
MORE
No two sensible people would disagree about the wide horizons the new information and
communication technology (NICT) has opened for its users, regardless of their feld of
speciality. Practically all professionals are actively using the tools of this new technology
- and particularly the computers in connection with the internet - to run their businesses
more efciently and to ensure a better yield. Education, being one of the businesses
that have ridden on the wave of computer use for efciency reasons and for the sake of
keeping abreast with the technological advancement is no exception.
E
ver since computers became a pervasive
tool toward optimizing student learning,
a fevered race to cater for the countless
and varied needs of learners has been
launched, and loads of computer programs and
concepts have been thrown in the market.
CALL (Computer-assisted language learning),
CAI (Computer-assisted instruction), CATS
(Computer-assisted testing services), DL (Distance
learning) and ICA (Internet classroom assistant) are
only a few of the many services that are available for
learners via the web.
ICA is a web-based classroom environment giving
teachers and students a forum to collaborate, share
ideas and do extra class activities in the hope of
improving their professional standards and their
grasp of the language they use via the internet.
Tis virtual class by analogy to virtual school
ofers many opportunities for teachers to assign
activities and extra work for the students beyond
the boundaries of the traditional classroom,
especially when the class time does not allow
teachers and learners to do this extra work. From
this particular perspective, the ICA can be regarded
as a continuation and an extension of the usual class
work. Were there no computers available in both
the teachers and students homes, the opportunity
to carry out this extra work would not be possible.
What is the Internet Classroom Assistant?
Te Internet Classroom Assistant is an environment
for online tutoring and teacher development
provided by Nicenet.org. It is a free non proft
site and any teacher can join in and create a virtual
classroom for his students to enrol in and do the
various assignments he / she would have uploaded.
By Mohamed Souissi,
ELT Inspector & Teacher Trainer
A guided tour of ICA

As a teacher, the frst thing you need to do is create a class by flling in a form online. When flling in the
form you will be prompted to suggest a name for the class. Once the form is flled in, you get a class key, and
that class key has to be given to the students who are willing to enrol in this class.
Te next step will be the furnishing of this class
with materials for students to work on when they log in. Te home
page of the newly-created class will display its content. Under the
name of the class in crimson fve items constituting the links
to the parts of the class invite the teacher to furnish them.
Conferencing: Te teacher suggests topics for conferencing and leaves it to the students to respond to the
topics by posting / submitting their messages.
Link sharing: Te teacher googles some sites related to the topic(s) suggested and adds their URLs
ICA is a web-based classroom environment giving teachers

and students a forum to collaborate, share ideas and
do extra class activities in the hope of improving their
professional standards and their grasp of the language
they use via the internet.
Before responding to the conferencing topics, students can go to these sites for information and they
can even add other URLs they deem relevant.
Documents: Te teacher can upload as many documents as he / she wishes to. Activities pertaining
to the various skills can be added. Te ICA suggests that these documents be copied from any word
processor and be pasted onto the ICA document page.
Class schedule: It contains the planned events that the teacher would like to inform the students of.
Class members: Tis link takes you to the list of all the students who accessed the class online. In other
terms it is the class register or class roster.
Class administration gives the teacher an opportunity to fnd out who and how many students have
actually enrolled in the internet class. Te teacher can check attendance as well as the contributions
made by these students.
Conclusion
Computer-based activities in various environments are getting momentum and gaining in popularity
among people from all walks of life. Tis popularity does not come from a vacuum; on the contrary it has
solid foundations in all the areas where the computer is used. As far as education is concerned, computer
use in the classroom has more advantages than drawbacks. Probably the strongest argument for the use
of the computer in the classroom environment is that of student self-pacing. Computer- based materials
can also help teachers quickly access documents addressing individual student needs, thereby improving
motivation and efectiveness. Just like the internet-based classrooms, the language laboratories that are
being introduced and used in our teaching but unfortunately in a trickle, derive their legitimacy from the
fact that can help students improve their performance by providing them with opportunities to learn at
their own pace and to seek help from resources always available when the teacher is not sometimes there
for help.
An avid advocate of ICT and a top contender in the edtech arena, as a colleague
wrote, David Kapuler has been interested in the innovative and creative use of high
technologies in teaching for many years now. Googling his name will reveal the
extent to which David has been active in his speciality either through compiling great
references for teachers or by contributing a plethora of interesting resources in his
blog http://cyber-kap.blogspot.com and wiki: http://web20-21stcentury-tools.
wikispaces.com . David is also a member of many web 2.0 communities like http://
myiltce.ning.com, http://edupln.ning.com , http://www.edutopia.org, http://www.
classroom20.com, etc
David Kapuler was also a special guest in http://theunquietlibrarian.wordpress.
com and had an interview in http://certifcationmap.com as part of The Teachers
Certifcation Maps lessons from the feld, a series of posts featuring passionate,
inspiring educators from across the U.S.A.
K
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If I ask you to introduce yourself to Te
TETF readers, what would you tell them?
Im a 21st Century Educator who is
passionate about integrating technology
into education. Ive been working in the
technology educational feld for over 10 years,
been married for 5, and have 3 boys.
Tanks for the compliments regarding these
digital books. Te way it came about in
my current district was going through a tech
restructure and we were in the process of hiring
David, I frst got to know you via a series
of handy booklets that you named Blog
Companions which quickly established
themselves as very useful web 2.0 references
that are downloaded by thousands of teachers
and Tech specialists from all over the world.
Could you tell our readers a little bit more
about these Blog companions and why you
chose to call them so?
Interviewed by Tarak Brahmi,
Teacher of English
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a new tech director. I was hoping to use
some of the web 2.0 tools with the teachers
and wanted to run some ideas passed him.
At frst I was going to have him just read
my blog and be done with it. After thinking
about that for a few minutes, I fgured there
was no way he would have time to look
through all of it, so I compiled a book (PDF)
flled with resources that could be used in
a school setting. Not having any idea what
to call it, I went with Blog Companion as it
reminded me of a clif notes version of my
blog.
What is web 2.0 and why is it getting so
much attention?
Web 2.0 is considered the second generation
of the internet and how information is
being shared through collaborating with
others. Also, I think since a lot of web 2.0
technologies are free, this is a very viable
option to school districts that are having
tough times due to the economy.
compliance. Or at the very least that they
check with their tech director on issues
relating to safety, bullying, swearing etc. We
dont want any students to be able to post/
see anything that is inappropriate online.
Depending on a districts policy this might
prevent such useful tools (Voicethread,
Wikispaces) not to be allowed since there is
no true fltering going on.
You have been working with and reviewing a
good number of web 2.0 tools. What are the
top fve tools that you believe every teacher
should be acquainted with? Why?
Tis is a hard one to answer but when
Im teaching professional development on
Web 2.0, I start out with these: Glogster,
PhotoPeach, Voicethread, Capzles, and Diigo.
Te reason for this is they all are free, are
safe to use in a school setting, and each one
focuses on a diferent category (timelines,
presentation, social bookmarking, etc).
Does a teacher need some special skills to be
a successful ICT teacher? Could you specify
them?
I dont think a teacher needs any specifc skill set
to use ICT. However, I do think the teachers
that thrive using those technologies are the ones
that are creative and think outside the box. As
with any teacher being fexible and adapting to
diferent teaching strategies is a key.
What made you get interested in this feld in
particular?
I frst heard the term Web 2.0 about 4-5 years
ago when my previous tech director asked me
to attend a webinar on the topic. It was at
this online training that I started seeing the
potential on how these type of technologies
could be used in an educational setting.
What are, according to you, the advantages of
using ICT in the classroom?
I think using ICT in classrooms really helps
students learn on a more global scale. It
shows them how to communicate/collaborate
efectively. It provides up to date cutting
edge technology that is always changing.
Are there any limitations or hindrances you
advise teachers who are enthusiastic about
using ICT in their classroom to be aware of ?
Well, the frst thing I mention to teachers is
to make sure that whatever technology they
use they make sure they abide by CIPA
Te idea of creating a wiki is great. Could you
tell us how this idea came to you? How is a
wiki diferent from a blog? And did you achieve
some of the goals you set when you frst created
your wiki?
To me a wiki is more of a collaborative tool
then a blog. While a blog can initiate some
type of collaborating via a comment feld, a
wiki is truly designed to be used by more than
one user. Te reason I wanted to create a wiki
for web 2.0 technologies is because I wanted
to create a place where all users could go to
fnd their ICT type needs. I wanted to create
ICT in classrooms really helps students learn

on a more global scale. It shows them how to
communicate/collaborate effectively. It provides
up to date cutting edge technology that is always
changing.
not only a list of links but a list of reviews as
well and have others post their too. Tis way
people are not just stuck to reading my posts
but can check out reviews from all their favorite
educators!! To me I was hoping to create a kind
of site similar to what http://rottentomatoes.com
is for movies.
After creating a successful blog and a great wiki,
what might your plans for the future be?
Tis is an interesting question and Im not
really sure. What Id like to do is more
professional development either at a conference
setting or in a school setting working with
teachers. I hope to continue to collaborate
with Technology & Learning magazine and
get some things posted there. Finally, Id like
to continue collaborating and working with all
the innovative educators from around the world
who has inspired me such as: yourself, Naomi
Harm (http://blog.innovativeeducator.us/), Shelly
Terrell (http://teacherbootcamp.edublogs.org/) ,
Larry Ferlazzo, (http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.
org/), etc...
David Kapuler has a wiki with hundreds of useful tools for
teachers. Nowhere will you fnd a more complete list and a
better site for that matter. Carefully designed to maximise
navigation and ease-of-use for its readers, this wiki is
defnitely one of our best choices for this month.
Here are some of the video mixing and sharing tools that
we had a look at, appreciated and thought you could fnd
useful:
JAYCUT: great site to mix video and download
http://jaycut.com/
OPEN SOURCE CINEMA: excellent site for editing/
remixing video
http://www.opensourcecinema.org/
VIDINOTES: add notes to videos
http://www.vidinotes.com/
VODPOD: house your own videos and create widgets for
sharing
http://www.vidinotes.com/
*Neo K12: great site for free K-12 videos
http://www.neok12.com
*Tis site looks really promising yet inaccessible for the time being
You can visit Kapulers wiki here:
http://web20-21stcentury-tools.wikispaces.com/
Technology by itself is not

the answer to educational
problems. [T]he power
of technology will come
from its combination with
serious educational reform.
Schools must frst rethink their
mission and structure, starting
with the needs of students
and a set of instructional
principles, before they can
understand the ways in
which technology can help
them.
(Means & Olson (1994), quoted in
G.F. Hoban, Teacher Learning for
Educational Change: a systems
thinking approach, OUP, 2002,
p.116)
TEACHING
SPEAKING
T
he learner needs tools of communication.
English, as a foreign language, is for him
a means of direct access to the universal
thought. Te use of this language in oral
communication (voluntary or involuntary) allows
him to grow. Moreover, when the learner uses
English and its use is evaluated, he is prepared to (
and can) follow his development, which helps him
interact with others.
Te more the learner is exposed to the language, the
less it is difcult for him to hear and understand.
Te more the learner practices the language, the
easier he fnds it to speak and the better he includes
useful expressions in the interaction with others.
In recent years, new programmes have been
published in our country , taking into account the
social, economic, cultural and universal change.
Tese programmes are giving more importance to
Speaking, or more precisely, Speaking has had the
value it deserves.
WHAT IS REALLY HAPPENING IN OUR
CLASSROOMS?
Many Tunisian teachers still fnd themselves working
hard and facing learners who are not spontaneous
or who dare not speak in class.
I do not think that the problem lies in our
programmes or textbooks. I think the problem is
mainly related to :
1- the behaviour of the teacher in class
2- the practices of the teacher in class
When a learner does not communicate or
interact with his classmates or his teacher, it is
because he is afraid of any of the following factors in
the classroom:
1-unfamiliar or ambiguous situations
2-difcult tasks he can not prepare
3-speaking entirely in English
4-ridicule when making errors
5-teacher over correction (losing confdence )
6-authoritarian teacher
7-tests and evaluation
8-fear of failure
The Tunisian Education Act defnes the mission of education as a top
national priority in which the learner is central to the educational activity.
This is based on the guidelines and criteria which have been developed on
the basis of international meetings organized by the UNESCO in 1988 and
1991. Among the main skills to stress, I ( am, in this article, interested in
and ) cite the following:
1.Self-assertiveness: ability to communicate in a clear and assertive way
with others
2.Competence in communication: ability to communicate in a foreign
language to facilitate international contacts and to facilitate the
understanding of other cultures
By Farida Ben Abdallah (Jlidi),
Trainee Inspector
1- Survival; physiological needs: hunger, thirst,

sleep, ...
2-Security; security needs: physical and moral
protection ...
3-Socialization; social needs: friendship, afection,
exchange ...
4-Esteem: esteem needs; self-respect,
consideration, prestige ...
5-Accomplishment
(Tese 5 needs form the basis of the motivations
of individuals. Tey are present in all of us. Tey
are hierarchical. One can not be aware of any
higher need only when the lower needs are met.
Te teacher has to take into account the needs
of the learner in communication (this is a way to
acknowledge them) and it is on this basis that he
should prepare the atmosphere and the activities
to teach Speaking. By such doing, Self-esteem and
Accomplishment are guaranteed.
WHAT MUST THE TEACHER DO TO
TEACH SPEAKING EFFICIENTLY?
1-First of all, the teacher must be creative not to
cause boredom.
2-He must be fexible. Te learner does not like
the authoritarian teacher because he blocks his
desire to speak.
3-He must provide a good atmosphere in the
classroom.
4-He must respect the learners need for
autonomy.
5-He must be convinced that errors are simply an
exploration of meaning.
6-Most importantly, the teacher must use some
techniques to help and incite the learner to speak.
Examples of these techniques are:
equipping the learner with fllers to give him
thinking time
teaching and encouraging the learner to start
by getting the language he needs from his peers
exposing the learner to listening activities
using as many authentic materials as possible to
enable him to use the language naturally.
CONCLUSION
To teach Speaking efciently, to lead the
learner to a better acquisition of the language
and to enable him to communicate in a clear
and assertive way with others, I think that the
teacher has to refect on his non verbal behaviour
and his practices in class, and work hard
1-to establish an atmosphere of motivation and
security
2-to get into context
3-not to give much importance to accuracy
4-to encourage imagination
5-to encourage spontaneity
The more the learner is exposed to the language, the less it
is difficult for him to hear and understand. The more the
learner practices the language, the easier he finds it to
speak and the better he includes useful expressions in the
interaction with others.
Tese factors _ and perhaps others _ produce a learner who does not feel safe. And it is the role of the
teacher to help and make him feel safe.
Te teacher has to have an idea about Maslow's Motivations. Here, I emphasize the necessity that the
teacher respect the following needs among the learner:
1-the need for security
2-the need for social relations (learner/learner learner/teacher)
Needs of
Accomplishment

Needs of Esteem
Social Needs

Security

Survival Needs
By Faten Romdhani,
Teacher of English
Teaching English as a second language , nowadays , is facing a lot of changes
which are imposed, either directly or indirectly by the current needs of the
digital era .Its more than true that we are living in an age that is controlled in
all its aspects digitally. No matter how profcient is the teacher in this domain ,
everyone of us feels the urgent need to accommodate oneself to ones learners
needs and adapt ones teaching to the prevailing scene .Rarely do we see a
learner at whatever age not carrying or using one of the technical facilities (
i-pod , mobile phone , CD player , PC , )
It is inescapable to all of us as teachers or as learners. So why dont we take
advantage from the learners changing needs in order to make them more
engaged , more motivated ?
USING VIDEOS IN THE
CLASSROOM
I
n this article , I would like to share with
you one of the wonderful experiences that
boosted my teaching impetus .I know that
this is not a new experience to many of
us ,but it is sharing experiences with each other
, and at least for those who are afraid of using
technology inside their classrooms , I want to tell
them not to feel so .To be clear , I downloaded
some useful videos for our learners and which
go hand in hand with the ofcial program , and
I used one of the videos ( about family matters
, with frst forms ) as a tool to set the stage for
the lesson , to brainstorm ideas and to discuss
the matter (a teenager who was invited by her
friend to go out and what was the reaction of
her parents and the three possible alternatives to
the teenagers behavior ). What astonished me
is that I did not expect such an important rate
of engagement from approximately all learners
and what added extreme pleasure to the lesson
were their instant, spontaneous responses. I was
amazed at the quick, positive responses of my
learners even those who were never engaged
in whatsoever lesson or activity. First , all were
interested to sit conveniently to watch the video
clip ( though it was in black and white ) but the
presence of this visual aid( using the laptop to
show video clips ) inside the classroom was to a
large extent motivating to the learners .Ten they
were totally engaged in the listening / watching
. I have never seen such an engagement from the
most uninterested pupil, who was usually sitting
at the corner of the classroom. After watching the
video clip once, most of them, unconsciously and
naturally speaking, rushed in with comments. For
those who found linguistic difculties, asked to
replay the video again, then a fruitful discussion
started. It was a lovely experience and Im
convinced that teaching from now on , should be
based on visual aids ( slides / video clips / short
flms / comics / cartoons ,) brought to the
learners in order to enhance learning the language
.I felt a great joy myself and not to hide anything
from you , I was as engaged as them .
And towards the end of the lesson, many of the

pupils suggested to re-view the video. Teir eyes
were the mirror of their joy and utter engagement.
After this lovely experience with my learners, I
knew how far is it in our hands as teachers, as
facilitators of the learning process to engage our
learners in the lessons and to take advantage of this
technological era in favor of our career of teaching.
Tat was a touching experience and I really felt
very touched because my learners taught me a good
lesson and all their positive reactions were as if they
were telling me: As much as you engage us, we
will be as active as you want us to be! Even after
some sessions, the vocabulary learnt in that lesson
was never forgotten and they made proof of strong
memory, they remembered the structure used only
by pointing to them the instance in the video clip.
After living this wonderful experience, I am more
convinced that the present era is ofering to us
many facilities to make not only learning easier for
our learners but also paving the way for a smooth
teaching. We, in fact, are facing new challenges,
it is not the scarcity of the materials that we are
complaining about, it is rather the fact that we are
submerged by the vast amount of information and
useful resources to our teaching. What is crucial for
all of us is managing our time to better choose the
appropriate teaching tools.
In the end of this article, Id like to express my
deepest regards and gratitude to all the staf of
this e-magazine for their great efort and untiring
pursuit to better inform and engage teachers in
the teaching/learning process. In fact , we are
better engaged in our concerns as teachers thanks
to their constant eforts to engage us .Please let
me express my deepest regards to Mr. Mohamed
Salah Abidi for his great eforts to help us , and
continuous encouragement . Last but not least
,Many thanks for our respectful I.C.T. trainer :
Hadji Abdelmalek ,for his unremitting help to fnd
proper ways to explore the audio-visual materials
inside the classroom .Furthermore , he did not
save any efort to help us concretize ideas into the
classroom .Well , I hope I convinced some of the
reluctant teachers to use technology inside their
classrooms . Te frst step is the most difcult one
but if one tries, one shall get used to it and even
not satisfed to teach otherwise.
We, in fact, are facing new challenges, it is not the scarcity of

the materials that we are complaining about, it is rather the
fact that we are submerged by the vast amount of information
and useful resources to our teaching. What is crucial for all
of us is managing our time to better choose the appropriate
teaching tools.
TEIT, Teachers of English In Tunisia
Faten Romdhani & AbdelMalek Hajji started TEIT almost a
year ago. It is a very active group on Facebook with more than
500 members. Te group shares all kinds of teaching-related
resources including videos made by the members themselves,
collections of articles, photos, tips, lesson plans, downloadable
documents, etc...
We picked some cool videos that teachers can try in their
classrooms:
Real English Video (added by Faten Romdhani)
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=114211728610315&o
id=76440910504
Object Pronouns (added by Faten Romdhani)
id=76440910504
What time is it ? (added by Faten Romdhani)
id=76440910504
Cinderella (added by Karray Boussaid )
id=76440910504
Prepositions (added by Karray Boussaid )
id=76440910504
Lunch Date ( added by Fedwa Abid)
id=76440910504
Fore more videos and resources and for the chance to meet a
lovely community of wonderful teachers and educators, you can
visit the group here:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=76440910504
WILL LANGUAGE LABS
PROMOTE ENGLISH
LEARNING?
C
ALL lab, language lab, or multi-
language laboratory can be presented
as an aid, like the OHP (Overhead
Projector), the board, cassette or CD
player that the teacher can use in the classroom.
Its a pedagogic aid we are going to use in
teaching language and we hope that it will be
helpful.
Te group of teachers (trainers and trainees)
followed the training on the CALL Lab software.
Te Call Lab allows teachers to use audiovisual
aids and to provide the learners with more
opportunities to increase their contact with
authentic material and more exposure to English
language. Te lab will enable the teacher to control
and check from her own computer (the server) the
process of teaching a lesson or going through an
activity done by the pupils each one from her/ his
own computer.
Moreover this tool will motivate the young
learners. So I anticipate the integration of
language labs in teaching English will facilitate
things for the teacher and the learner as well.
Personally I have a great enthusiasm for this
technology in language teaching (teaching
English) and I saw both trainers and trainees
share the hope that the integration of multimedia
laboratories in our English classes will be useful.
I see at the beginning we will spend some
time learning how to master technology and the
software programs (they are changing all the
time) and the way we use them in the lab. An
efective use of these labs necessitates the mastery
of technology and the software programs designed
for language classrooms. In the CALL Lab, I
see the pupil will be an active agent thats why
technology knowledge is necessary for him/her.
After mastering the use of technology and the
software programs something more important
is worth to be taken into account: Te activities
that necessitate the use of the multi-media lab.
In preparing the activity or the lesson we should
think of its feasibility, usefulness , and how it
will maximize the learning gains. We must think
of what kind of activities with the help of CALL
Lab will foster the learning of English. Teachers
need to design and update a bank of feasible and
useful activities that would help them save time.
With the great enthusiasm toward the use of
language labs in teaching English, we should
think of the difculties and complexities (slow
progress in learning the technology and the
software, the idea is still foggy for most of the
teachers, the problems in the hardware and the
software) but these, with patience, hard work,
and perseverance, will not hamper us from making
proft from new technologies in fostering English
language learning.
By Zohra Ammouri,
Teacher of English
As an attempt to integrate new technologies in English classrooms, a group of
teachers, supervised by Mr. Fathi Bouguerra and Mr. Abdenbi Omri, attended CALL
lab training sessions at Sidi Bouzid CREFOC.
Language learning is also believed to be motivating when students are focusing on

something other than language such as ideas , issues and opinion. Because language
conventions can vary according to purpose, audience and culture ; it is important to
raise the issue of the relationship between teaching the target language and the target
culture.
T
he national syllabus has adopted an
eclectic view that blended two diferent
prespectives.( Dar, 2003) suggested
using localized English teaching
materials because they present students with real
life and culturally familiar contexts.
(7th Year textbook: Lets Learn English )
Welcome to Tunisia, p 54
Alys House, p75
Uncle Hedy Farm, p 80
On the other edge of the pie we fnd Alptekin (
2002) who viewed learning a foreign language as
a kind of enculturation where one acquires new
cultural frames of references and new world view
, refecting those of the target language and its
speakers.
(8th Year textbook: Lets Discover More English )
London Wonders, p 23-29
Te party is on, p 65-70
Transport, p 96-100
Pets, p 134-138
Te point is that being monolingual and culture
bound many students develop an antipathy
towards the language they are learning. It is the
teachers role to reduce their cultural biases and
to develop tolerance of foreign thinking and
behaviour. Most important of all is the teachers
neutrality at all times. He must overcome any
temptation to try to prove the superiority of one
culture over the other.
In other words the teachers task is not to
convert the students to other cultures ; the role of
the EFL teacher is to help students get to know
and understand diferent cultures because this
knowledge and understanding are indispensable
for successful cross-cultural communication.
By Fathi Bouguerra,
Teacher Trainer
TEACHING THE TARGET
LANGUAGE OR THE
TARGET CULTURE?
4. Show and Tell:
Basically, in preparatory classrooms a learner
shows his/her favourite object like a cell phone,
doll, vase, map, pet, a picture of a pet and tells a
story about such an object. A learner speaks more
confdently once he shows his favourite object. A live
object generates confdence and helps a learner to
perform well in an oral test. Personally, I've tried this
technique and it worked well as my students brought
various objects to class continuously and that helped
them become more confdent and develop their
speaking skills especially, the weak learners.
5. Role-play:
Te learner here is asked to enact a particular role
in a particular situation. Te teacher should give
the learner a set of instructions at the start of the
test. Situation 1: Imagine you are a foreign tourist
in London, and you want to visit Trafalgar Square.
You are talking to a man in the street. Find out how
to get there. Or the instructions may be made more
specifc, to give the learner more direction and to
elicit more comparable language from each learner:
Situation 2: You are a foreign tourist in Britain. You
want to visit Edinburgh, so you go to see a travel
agent. After you have explained the situation, ask him
how to get to Edinburgh. Ask about the price, the
traveling time, comfort, etc and ask for his opinion.
Decide how you will travel and explain why. Te
ability to ask questions is very important particularly
in this example.
Te situation chosen for a role-play may be simple
of an ordinary everyday event that young learners
might fnd themselves in easily. For example, learners
taking the cast in the role of a foreign visitor talking
to a waiter at caf ordering a drink, asking for local
information, describing their needs, talking about
themselves
Some examples of matching roles for young learners
are: A couple meeting at a party, a shop assistant and
a customer, a hotel receptionist and a tourist, a doctor
and a patient, two students meeting for the frst time.
A complex situation has an added feature that
is unusual and more challenging, especially
for secondary students, an urgent message, an
unexpected surprise, ofer, a breakdown, a job
interview or an accident. It sometimes involves a
degree of suasion or puts the learner in a role that he
has no experience of. Situations can be specifed in
great deal in the instructions depending on students'
diferent ages, imagination, and familiarity with role-
playing.
6. Re-telling a story from written stimulus:
Te learner reads a passage or a series of short
passages silently then is asked to re-tell each one in
his own words immediately afterwards. Tere is no
fxed time limit on the reading stage, but he is not
allowed to refer back to the written text again. In our
classrooms we might try this technique functions
as memory-reinforcement exercise for learners.
Teachers can also use taped passages to save time
particularly with slow readers. Tis technique can be
implemented easier with higher levels as the learners
are endowed with sufcient linguistic tools that
enable them to speak more confdently.
7. Reading a blank dialogue:
Te learner is given a dialogue with only one part
written in it. He is supposed to read the dialogue
and fll in with the missing lines. Te teacher asks
another student to read through the written part of
the dialogue while the examinee reads his answers
aloud. Te aim is to give the learner a clear idea
of functional meaning of the missing parts. Te
technique is useful for getting the learner to ask or
answer questions.
Example of a missing dialogue:
A: Can you tell me how to get to the university campus?
B: .
A: .?
B: No, its not far.
A: Is it expensive?
B: .
In the example above, the stimulus the learner
is given is an answer for which he must supply a
suitable question or answer.
At a higher level, blank dialogues can be constructed
that require the use of more complex functions, such
as suasion, excuse, polite disagreement, warning and
so on. Of course, the time allotted for the learner to
prepare depends on the difculty of the task.
Teachers should take into consideration the degree
of difculty and the linguistic competencies of each
learner before he is a given a task.
Testing Speaking (following)
A live object generates confidence and helps a learner to

perform well in an oral test.
8. Using a picture or a picture story:

In preparatory classrooms, a teacher of English
may use a very simple technique picture or
picture story- to encourage students to express
themselves freely and easily in a speaking test.
Te learner is given a picture or a sequence of
pictures to look at. Ten the teacher asks him/ her
to describe, interpret, or react to the picture or
the story. Te teacher may help the learner if he
falters or hesitates by guiding or giving him clues.
Generally speaking, the learner will assume that
he has already fnished his commentary as soon as
the teacher begins to ask questions. So, a teacher
should know when to start asking questions to
avoid interrupting the learner. For young learners
a picture or cartoon story usually helps a lot a
learner perform well in a speaking test because
a visual stimulus lets the learner feel at ease and
more confdent. Visual stimuli are an economic and
efective way of providing a topic of conversation
without giving the learner words or phrases to
manipulate and give back. A well-chosen picture
inspires the learner, generates confdence and
makes the teacher judge more easily which learners
communicate best. However, with a visual stimulus,
there is a risk that the learner will miss the point of
a picture or a story, for personal cultural reasons. A
learner from a rural area is not expected to say too
much about Valentine's Day, but if he is shown a
picture story about Eid Al Idha he might express
himself easily. For this reason, a teacher ought to
choose the pictures carefully as some pictures could
be a demotivating factor. Although cartoons are
helpful, suitable ones are hard to fnd and difcult
for a teacher to draw.
9. Sentence Correction:
Te learner is presented with a sentence orally or
in writing, which contains an error. He is expected
to identify the error and then correct it. A simple
passage with few errors could be given to young
learners whereas a passage that contains several
and difcult mistakes will be suitable for secondary
learners. With young learners we might ask them
to identify the errors and correct them while with
older ones we might invite them to ofer more
than one possible correction. Ofering a learner the
opportunity to correct his own error is a strategy
that can be done in the course of every oral test.
However, there is a danger that the learner starts
to monitor his speech much more closely and
becomes less willing to speak. Te teacher may take
notes of particular errors made by the learner made
in the course of the oral test, and at the end present
him with one or two to see if he can correct them
immediately.
10. Reading aloud:
Tis technique requires the learner to read aloud
to the teacher, either a passage of a text, or part of
dialogue in which another learner reads the other
part. Te teacher can choose passages according to
the style, topic and difculty of language desired. If
the same passage is used among diferent learners
this will guarantee a great degree of test reliability
as such a test will help the teacher judge which
learner performs best. Another advantage is that
this technique is simple to administer. However,
one might say that this technique is not authentic
since we rarely read a text passage aloud. Good
performance depends to a large extent on reading
skills. So, if the learner has poor reading skills,
he will inevitably face difculties in speaking.
Tere is another disadvantage that even secondary
learners will vary in the degree of confdence with
which they can read aloud from a written text. In
spite the fact that this technique is suitable for
assessing the mechanical skills of language such as
pronunciation, intonation, word order and stress
patterns, it is hard to mark during the oral test if a
teacher does not prepare a checklist in advance.
The teacher may help the learner if he falters or hesitates by

guiding or giving him clues. Generally speaking, the learner
will assume that he has already finished his commentary
as soon as the teacher begins to ask questions. So, a
teacher should know when to start asking questions to avoid
interrupting the learner.
With young learners we might ask them to identify the errors

and correct them while with older ones we might invite them
to offer more than one possible correction. Offering a learner
the opportunity to correct his own error is a strategy that can
be done in the course of every oral test.
11. Giving instructions/ description/ explanation:
Implementing this technique, the learner describes
an object, a system or an everyday procedure.
Choosing an object or a chart that is familiar for
everybody is a good way of getting the learner to
produce connected discourse on a given topic but
allows considerable freedom of choice of expression
without requiring extensive preparation. Learners
might be given a wide range of suitable topics:
How do you make a good cup of tea or cofee?
Describe a bicycle.
Describe how to prepare a favourite dish from
your country.
Give instructions for using a public pay
phone.
Explain how you would advise someone to
look for a job.
Describe how people in your country
celebrate the New Year.
How does the education system work in your
country?
Te choice of topics can make the task more or
less controlled. A question such as "Describe your
favourite meal" would be less controlled as there can
be a lot of possible answers compared to "Explain
how you change a car tyre? which is more controlled
and requires basically one answer.
12. Sentence Transformation:
Tis technique tests to what extent the learner
manipulates sentences in order to demonstrate
knowledge of specifc language structures. For
example, a frst-year secondary student is given a
sentence written onto a piece of paper in the active
and then is asked to transform it into the passive
voice or an eighth-year student is assigned to
change a sentence from the simple present into the
simple past. Tis technique is neither authentic nor
communicative, but it does allow rapid testing of
particular structural areas. Trough implementing this
technique we will encourage our students to develop
their abilities to report, rephrase and summarize.
Scoring:
Tere are three important suggestions on scoring.
One is to use a scoring sheet. At the left raters can
number the test item. Next to the test number is
a short version of the cue. At the right are at least
three boxes for raters to check- the frst for 2-point
answers, the next for 1-point responses, and the next
for "0" or unacceptable answers (Bachman, 1990).
Another suggestion is to score the speaking test
immediately if possible. Usually the scoring of
a speaking test is more accurate when it is done
during the process of the test itself. So if they feel
comfortable testing and scoring at the same time, it
is recommended that teachers handle both together.
Usually, however, it is difcult for teachers to
handle both. Te alternative method is to determine
the score immediately after the test has been
administered.
Testing Speaking Skills: Marking Criteria
Task Achievement
3 Giving and seeking personal views and opinions in
informal or formal situations, confdence in dealing
with unpredictable elements in conversations,
expressing ideas clearly and efectively with a high
degree of fuency and accuracy.
2 Giving and justifying opinions when discussing
matters of personal and topical interests, efective
interaction in discussion, adaptation of language to
deal with some unprepared situations.
1 Active participation in discussion, but when
discussion concerns complex and unfamiliar area,
there are problems to follow the discussion and
implement tasks.
0 Inadequate answer bearing little or no relation to
the task, no logical structure.
Fluency
4 Fluent mastery of the language, very long pauses,
general meaning clear.
3 Clear and efective communication, a few
unnatural pauses, few interruptions usually
necessary but intention is clear.
2 Competent communication making themselves
understood with little or no difculty using the
language to meet most of needs for information an
explanation.
1 Basic communication, short conversations,
seeking and conveying information in simple
terms, unnaturally long pauses, some interruptions
are necessary, longer pauses to search for word or
meaning.
0 Communication full of pauses, very halting
delivery.
Conclusion:
Previous literature on classroom testing of second
language speech skills provides several models of both
task types and rubrics for rating, and suggestions
regarding procedures for testing speaking with large
numbers of learners. However, there is no clear, widely
disseminated consensus in the profession on the
appropriate paradigm to guide the testing and rating
of learner performance in a new language, either from
second language acquisition research or from the
best practices of successful teachers. While there is
similarity of descriptors from one rubric to another in
professional publications, these statements are at best
subjective. Tus, the rating of learners' performance
rests heavily on individual instructors' interpretations
of those descriptors (Pino, 1998).
In spite of the difculties inherent in testing speaking,
a speaking test can be a source of benefcial backwash.
If speaking is tested, unless it is tested at a very low
level, such as reading aloud, this encourages the
teaching of speaking in classes.
In my opinion, testing speaking skills could be a
very interesting experience, as it gives teachers an
opportunity to be creative in selecting the test items
and materials. Moreover, it has a great impact on
students by making them enjoy taking the test and
feel comfortable doing so if the teacher chooses
the materials that interest their students and that is
suitable to their age and levels of knowledge. One
should bear in mind that in testing, as in teaching,
learners are the biggest asset, and like any other
resource, they can be used efectively or badly.
Oral Testing
(TEACHER QUESTIONNAIRE)
Date:
1. Complete with information about yourself:
School in which you teach: __________________________
Number of classes you teach: _________
2. Number of years of teaching experience: _____________
3. Grade level(s). Tick all that apply:
7th year Basic Education: [ ]
1st year Secondary Education: [ ]
2nd year Secondary Education: [ ]
3rd year Secondary Education: [ ]
4th year Secondary Education: [ ]
4. Tick the best answer.
a. How often do you give your students the oral test?
Every session [ ]
Once a week [ ]
Once a fortnight [ ]
Once a month [ ]

b. How many students do you call for each oral test?
1 student [ ]
2 students [ ]
3 students [ ]
More than 3 [ ]
c. How many times does each student take the oral test each term?
Once [ ]
Twice [ ]
3 times [ ]
More than 3 [ ]
d. How long does each test last?
3 minutes [ ]
4 minutes [ ]
5 minutes [ ]
More than that [ ]
e. Which test techniques do you use to help your students take the oral test?
Questions and Answers [ ]
Visuals [ ]
Using picture story [ ]
Other techniques [ ]
f. Do you penalize students who do not prepare for the oral test?
Give them a second chance [ ]
Give them a second chance and penalize them [ ]
Do not give them a second chance [ ]
Just ignore them for the rest of the school year [ ]
g. How do you motivate your students to take the oral test?
Encourage them verbally [ ]
Reward them [ ]
Do not encourage them [ ]
Just ignore that they performed well in oral tests [ ]
h. I dont see a major beneft for my students to take the oral test.
I strongly agree [ ]
I agree [ ]
I am uncertain but I disagree [ ]
I strongly disagree [ ]
5. What do you see as the greatest difculties facing you in giving the oral test?
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
6. To what extent does the oral test help the teacher assess his students?
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________

Tank you for your cooperation
Prepared by: Adel Ghabri
References:
1)Nic Underhill (The speaking Test)
2)Pino, B. G. (1998). Pro-achievement testing of speaking: matching instructor expectations, learner proficiency level, and task types. Texas
Papers in Foreign Language Education, 3, (3), 119-133.
3)Heaton, J. B. (1988). Writing English language Tests. Longman.
4)Angela Blackwell & Therese Naber, Open Forum 2, Academic Listening and Speaking, Oxford University Press 2006.
5)Mary Slattery & Jane Willis, English for primary Teachers, Oxford University Press 2001.
6)Lyle F. Bachman, (1990). Fundamental considerations in language testing. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
BOUNDARIES
T
he English department third
conference on BOUNDARIES was
a great success. It took place at the
Institute of Languages of Gabes on
April 23rd and 24th 2010. Te conference was
sponsored by the University of Gabes, ISLG
and Wanderlust International Language Center
(WILC).
PARTICIPANTS
More than 28 participants from various institutes
and faculties in Tunisia convened at ISLG for the
conference. Of course coming to the conference
was not only about attending programme sessions,
but a unique opportunity that allowed participants
to share experiences, make new contacts and
strengthen existing relationships. Tis academic
event helped them also bone their ideas and
knowledge.

CONFERENCE PROGRAMME
Te programme of BOUNDARIES was a rich
mix of menus ranging from plenary sessions
featuring many motivated and thought-provoking
young researchers to intense, highly-interactive
discussion sessions. Te main conference schedule
included six plenary sessions, each followed by a
20-minute discussion session.
Te opening panel speakers on Friday 23rd
included Radhia FLAH GAIECH, Samar
FRITIS, Radhia BESBES and Khadija GZAIEL
BELLAGA, all of them are from ISLG. Te
speakers provided a reading of some literary works
where boundaries are crossed. Te session ended
with a lively and highly-provocative discussion.
Te second session tackled exclusively cultural
issues in todays world. Hassen ZRIBA, from
the University of Gafsa, dealt with multicultural
discourse in contemporary Britain and Olfa
BAKLOUTI, a teacher at ISLG, questioned
the moral standards in the Global Age. Fethi
BOURMECHE, from the University of Sfax,
explored the situation of Native Americans after
Barak Obamas winning election and Henda
BAHLOUS, from the University of Jandouba,
focused on social control in Post-War American
movies.
Te afternoon programme included two sessions.
Te frst was predominantly an efort to re-read
the post colonial discourse with one paper on
the South African writer Andr Brink presented
by Imen YACOUBI and another on Salman
Rushdie by Hanene BEN MAHMOUD. Lassaad
ELMAHDIs interest was in the boundaries in
relation to comparative literature whereas Hatem
ZITOUNI preferred to study the boundaries of
the body in Fred Frosts online work Meat. Te
second session, however, was totally devoted to a
linguistic approach to the question of boundaries.
Izzeddine SAIDI pointed an accusing fnger at
the evaluation system which the newly-recruited
teachers would face. Naoufel HAJ LTAIF clarifed
the view of philosophy towards a world without
borders and Salah BELHASSEN stressed the
inability of linguistics to locate a given word
within a determined linguistic world.
INSTITUT SUPERIEUR DES
LANGUES DE GABES
THE ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
THIRD CONFERENCE
GABES, April 23rd and 24th 2010
by Abdelhamid RHAIEM
M. A., Higher Institute of Languages, Gabes
Saturday began with two very diferent but very
well-attended plenary sessions. Te frst ofered a
close reading of the fuid boundaries in modern
and post modern fctional writing. Yassin NAJJAR,
for instance, sheds light on the rigid conventions
and elastic inventions in Don DeLillos writing and
Abdelhamid RHAIEM provides a reading of Virginia
Woolf s Orlando, a book that transgresses both the
boundaries of genre and gender. Adel BAHROUN,
from the University of Sousse, dealt with desire
beyond spatial boundaries in Deleuze and Guattaries
philosophy and Boutheina BOUGHNIM studied the
relation between philosophy and literature.
Te second and fnal session included two speakers
whose papers narrowed the view on the theatre. Aida
BEN AHMED compared between Dr. Johnson
and the Shakespearian tragi-comedy and Dorra
TOUZRIs psychoanalytical approach delved into
the boundaries between the conscious and the
unconscious mind in Shakespeares King Lear. Te
third speaker, Amel BEN AHMED tried to explain
the meaning of a male Pamela in a reading of Henry
Fieldings Joseph Andrews. Te last paper, presented
by Mourad TABOUBI, draws a picture of a discipline
in crisis by focussing on the teaching of literature in
the LMD system.
SUMMARY
Te conference agenda ofered a wide variety of topics
that was highly appreciated by both participants and
attendees. Tis was due to the quality of papers and to
the richness and pertinence of the discussions.
Based on the number of attendees and their feedback,
it is clear that all sessions were hugely popular and
highly-appreciated especially those dedicated to
themes with which students are familiar. Tese
included sessions dealing with literature, culture
studies and linguistics.
THEMES
Te main conference agenda was organised around
these themes:
-Boundaries and their relevance to feminist criticism.
-Boundaries and gender relations.
-Boundaries and language acquisition, competence,
and learning.
-Community and the outlines of social boundaries
as far as conformity/ nonconformity/ repulsion/
reward are concerned.
-Boundaries and telecommunications in a world of
information fows.
-Boundaries in relation to comparative literature
and their impact on the tempting prospects of
cosmopolitan literature.
-Boundaries and literary genres.
- Boundaries and theology.
-Cultural boundaries: in a multicultural world, how
relevant are boundaries to such notions as identity,
adaptation, assimilation etc?
-Geographical boundaries and their signifcance for
the preservation of sovereignty and autonomy.
COMMENTS
Abdelhamid, my deep gratitude to you and
to all the organising members for your nice
reception and great organisation, wish to see
you again in future events.
Imen YACOUBI
Hi , Si Abdelhamid thank you very much
indeed for your hospitality during the
conference. I wished to atend your presentation
but due to work commitments I could no. I hope
it was a hit. See you soon inchallah in Gafsa.
Keep in touch.
Hassen ZRIBA
Hi , thanks a million for the conference. I found
it very interesting and enriching. I have a
question though: Did you choose ORLANDO for
the conference; or the conference for ORLANDO?
I think it was successful . I enjoyed it.
Montaha NBIBA
It was very interesting
Nesrine TL
Everybody talks about the
weather, but nobody does
anything about it.
Mark Twain
Solutions to the riddles on page 36
A N S W E R T O T H E A L P H A B E T R I D D L E S
A . T h e l e t t e r Y ( W h y )
B . B e c a u s e t h e B ( b e e ) i s a f t e r i t .
C . T h e l e t t e r C ( s e a )
D . T h e l e t t e r Q ( q u e u e )
E . T h e l e t t e r i . ( I )
F . A t e a p o t !
36 The Tunisian English Teaching Forum | Issue2 January 2010
The Lighter side
A- Which letter is always trying to fnd reasons?
B- Why is the A like a fower?
C- What letter of the alphabet has got lots of water?
D-What letter of the alphabet is always waiting in order?
E-Which is the most self-centered letter of the alphabet?
F-What begins with T, ends with T and has T in it?
What sunshine is to fowers, smiles are to
humanity .They are trifes, to be
sure; but, scattered along lifes pathway,
the good they do is inconceivable.
Joseph Adison
By Fathi Bouguerra,
Teacher Trainer
ALPHABET
RIDDLES
I take it you already know
Of tough and bough and cough and dough?
Others may stumble, but not you,
On hiccough, thorough, lough and through?
Well done! And now you wish, perhaps,
To learn of less familiar traps?
Beware of heard, a dreadful word
Tat looks like beard and sounds like bird,
And dead: its said like bed, not bead -
For goodness sake dont call it deed!
Watch out for meat and great and threat
(Tey rhyme with suite and straight and debt).
Funny
poems
Quoted by Vivian Cook and Melvin Bragg 2004,
by Richard Krogh, in D Bolinger & D A Sears, Aspects of Language, 1981,
and in Spelling Progress Bulletin March 1961, Brush up on your English.
http://iteslj.org/c/jokes-riddles.html
(Check page 35 for the answers)
36 The Tunisian English Teaching Forum | Issue2 January 2010
You know youve been on-line too long when...
You name your children Eudora, Mozzilla, and Dotcom.
You tell the cab driver you live at http://123.elm.street/house/bluetrim.html
You get a tattoo that says Tis body best veiwed with Internet Explorer 5.0.
As your car crashes through the guardrail on a mountain road, your frst instinct
is to search for the back button.
You check your mail. It says no new messages so you check it again.
Internet addiction
Can you raed tihs?
Olny srmat poelpe can. I cdnuolt
blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd
waht I was rdanieg. Te phaonmneal
pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to
a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it
deosnt mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers
in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is
taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit
pclae. Te rset can be a taotl mses and
you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm.
Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos
not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the
wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig, huh?
Yaeh, and I awlyas tghuhot
slpeling was ipmorantt!
Fun with
ENGLISH
http://www.joke-zone.co.uk/jokes/4/4001
http://www.say-it-in-english.com/englishfun.html
The third issue of the magazine features great articles by teachers, educators,
experts and inspectors. We would like to thank all the contributors who very
warm-heartedly shared their ideas and expertise in the field of education for
their time and for the genuine efforts they invested in creating this issue!

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PAGE 24

I will also highlight some of the advantages and

Tese visuals can engage learners in discussions about violence at school

Choosing the topic is very important.

Often I make funny mistakes and the kids laugh at

What I needed was an environmental source of unlimited

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A guided tour of ICA

ICA is a web-based classroom environment giving teachers

ICT in classrooms really helps students learn

Technology by itself is not

1- Survival; physiological needs: hunger, thirst,

And towards the end of the lesson, many of the

We, in fact, are facing new challenges, it is not the scarcity of

Language learning is also believed to be motivating when students are focusing on

A live object generates confidence and helps a learner to

8. Using a picture or a picture story:

The teacher may help the learner if he falters or hesitates by

With young learners we might ask them to identify the errors

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