Shaping the way we teach English

Professional development program

Manizales, 2K9
 Imagine that…

You’re a construction worker digging a hole

for a new subway system when you
suddenly come across a beautiful painted
bowl. It is obviously very old and probably
very valuable. You have never seen
anything like it before! What would you
think? What would you say? Would you
take it hyome for decoration? Would you
tell the media? What’s a bowl doing down
there, anyway?
 Here’s the task…

The city of Manizales has selected you

to design a new subway station and
to include a museum where travelers
can enjoy the long lost wonders of our
underground ancient city. Decide
what artifacts, artworks and
architectural ruins you might include.
Then draw a floor plan of the
subway, showing where you will place
everything.
 Younger Xpeditioners: Choose one of the artifacts, artworks,
or ruins you've seen, and write a story that includes it as part of
the action or background. You might write about the people who
kept a beautiful vase in their home, or perhaps about the life of
a rat in an ancient Greek sewer. Use your imagination!

 Older Xpeditioners: Would you like to be an archaeologist?

Imagine that you have the opportunity to dig up ancient Greek
ruins. Describe the things you would be most excited about
finding, and explain what those things reveal about daily life in
ancient Greece. What questions do you have for further
archaeological exploration?

 Parents: Discuss with your kids some of the things that might
be discovered if you were to dig under your city or house. Native
American artifacts? Graves of 19th century settlers? The
foundations for previous homes in your neighborhood? Sewer
pipes and fiber-optic cables? If you're feeling ambitious, do some
sleuthing in your city's government offices or archives to find out
what's really down there.
 VOCABULARY

SCHEMATA
ASSUMPTIONS

CONTEXT
CHALLENGES
TOOLS

PARTICIPANTS PURPOSE

EXPECTATIONS
EVALUATION
 Let’s recap
Contextualization is…

a. What each individual knows about the world

as a result of his/her own experience.
b. The meaningful use of language for real
communicative purposes.
c. Teaching approaches, methods, materials
and techniques.
d. A strategy or group of strategies or
procedures that the learner uses to perform
academic tasks or to improve social skills.
 Let’s recap
Language is constructed through a blend of…

- Games
- Skills
- Social needs
- Materials
- Purpose
- Feedback
- Motivation
- Tone
- Situation
- Realia
 And now…

Fuck
 Some bibliographical
references
 JEFFRIES, Leslie. Meaning in English: an introduction to
language study. McMillan, 1998. (BLA)
 ANDREWS, Stephen. Teacher Language Awareness.
Cambridge, 2007. (BLA)
 HOLLIDAY, Adrian. Appropriate methodology and social
context. Cambridge University Press, 1994. (CL)
 RICHARDS, Jack C. & FARRELL, Thomas S. C. Professional
development for language teachers: strategies for
teacher learning. Cambridge Language Education series,
2005. (PD)
 Some more bibliographical
references
 DÖRNYEI, Zoltán. Motivational
strategies in the classroom.
Cambridge Language Teaching
library, 2001. (MLC)
 DÖRNYEI, Zoltán & MURPHEY, Tiim.
Group dynamics in the language
classroom. Cambridge Language
Teaching library, 2003. (MLC – G/PW)
 Grammar safari

Students of English who limit their

study of grammar to what they find
in grammar books are like naturalists
who limit their study of nature to an
encyclopedia. Once you leave the safe
confines of the grammar books, you begin
to learn all kinds of interesting things
about the way English is used. It isn't
easy; in fact, it's a jungle out there.
 Grammar safari

1. Think of a word related to

____________.
2. Think of all the possible meanings and
conjugations for that word.
3. Read a piece of the news and locate
the word.
4. Compare the meanings of the word in
the article and those you had given
previously.
 BUILDING LANGUAGE
AWARENESS
Research has shown that selectively
focusing on aspects of language use
within a given context can be an
effective teaching and learning
practice. Language awareness is more
than a focus on form. It also includes
the use of that form in context, which is
called the pragmatic use of language.
 PRAGMATICS

Pragmatics is a subfield of linguistics

which studies the ways in which
context contributes to meaning.

1.Linguistic knowledge
2.Context of communication
 Language awareness

 The use of meta-language to talk

about language.
 The training of learners to become
better, more conscious participants
in their own learning.
 A balance of inductive and deductive
techniques to focus on specific
aspects of language.
 Language awareness

 Focus on appropriateness of
language used, both situational and
cultural.
 The use of comprehensible input in
the form of materials from authentic
sources.
 The use of language that students
are more likely to encounter and use.