In other words, we can’t give a pre-intermediate student the word ‘vessel’ because they won’t know how to use it or its pronunciation. It will probably be completely unfamiliar to them. They probably know the word ‘cup’ or ‘glass’ and might even have similar sounding words in their own language.

This does not just apply to pre-intermediate students. When discussing modal verbs with intermediate students, I have observed that they do not feel comforted by the explanation ‘it depends’ but want a neat rule that they can apply to language. They may never remember the exceptions to the rule but they will usually remember the basics of the rule itself.

These adaptations to our teaching are supported by a system of levels. I will always speak more slowly if the students are fairly low-level and at my natural speed with upper-intermediate or advanced students; but less-experienced teachers will be unsure about how to grade or adjust to different levels. Time and experience and the support of course books and teachers give our ‘younger’ teachers the scaffolding they require to look into their students’ needs.

Because I have spent so many years abroad and so much more time with students than with peers, I observed that my lexical bank was starting to become a little frayed around the edges. I was a little unsure about collocations and my language was rather simple. That was when I decided to invest the time and effort into looking at a different word every day, or, typically, a word for the day. I usually wanted obscure words, words that I did not need to use with my students, and this increased lexical awareness has paid off. I offer inducements rather than rewards for good homework and I know the difference between a tilde and a circumflex mark – all of which is somewhat useless but comforting.

In English City, Languagelab’s online ELT community, I used to offer a word for the week, and I still continue to offer a word for the month. As with myself, however, I doubt my students actually remember the more complicated concepts. One can only hope that it behaves like a brand of fastening tape consisting of opposing pieces of fabric, one with a dense arrangement of tiny nylon hooks and the other with a dense nylon pile that interlock when pressed together, used as a closure on garments or luggage in place of buttons, zippers, and the like (also known as velcro!)

Iffaf Khan

Iffaf is an IELTS examiner and a teacher at Languagelab.com

 
The slideshow includes music, illustrations, pictures of his teachers, classes and classmates plus screenshots of Anatoly’s own work.

Class topics range from business complaints to academic English (about Dutch flower auctions!), singing for pronunciation, conflict resolution, public service announcements, journalism, creative writing, idioms and more.

Thanks, Anatoly, for creating such a brilliant presentation!

 
Teachers are suspicious of ‘magical solutions’ but sometimes find it difficult to be truly pedagogical.

Quite rightly so, the high fees and the importance of customer care should mean that we pay attention to students’ requests and that we make them feel valued and listened to. That is the nature of EFL schools. We are in competition with other schools and we need the students to think of us as the best (and of course we want them to give us nice testimonials!)

In both General English and classes for English for Specific purposes, my aim is to build a solid foundation for my students but what the students often want is a quick-fix that offers value for money and an ‘answer.’ I am looking at communication techniques, the concept-checking of grammar, fun games to help them remember and dry activities to help them analyse and improve. In IELTS preparation and in EAP (English for Academic Purposes) courses, I want them to develop critical thinking skills, to look at the world around them and to question everything, by which I mean that I want my students to look at both stated and unstated information. These are the aspects of acquiring English and working in English that I believe will help them.

To answer the question implied in this post, I would like to suggest that we state our aims, that we remind the students of our aims and that we remind them of why they are doing specific activities. We can say it at the beginning of the lesson, we can concept-check at the end, and we can, if we want, remind them at the end of each lesson. Keep your students informed.

Iffaf Khan

Iffaf is an IELTS examiner and a teacher at Languagelab.com

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The 7th Atyrau regional petroleum technology conference, Oiltech Atyrau, brings together leaders in oil and gas from Shell, Tengizchevroil, NCOC, FLUOR and other high profile organisations to address the technical skills and knowledge required for operating in this region.

Languagelab is working with Tengizchevroil (Chevron) in Atyrau to train 400 of their employees in Oil and Gas English as part of a blended learning programme. The online programme equips TCO employees to carry out operations effectively in English by offering flexible study relevant to their working lives. Learners attend classes from work or home and learn contextually in virtual environments relevant their working environments, for example onshore rigs.

Tom Symonds will demonstrate at the conference how virtual training is being used by oil and gas companies to develop local content. By empowering local workers, companies are building the competitiveness of their workforce and accelerating the transfer of skills and technologies, meeting HSE requirements and enhancing engagement with stakeholders.

The timing of Oiltech Atyrau is opportune as domestic oil production in Kazakhstan is set to double following the launch of the world’s largest Kashagan field.

Presentation slides and video to follow.

 
From the end of this month Languagelab.com will be offering AMCHAM employees our cutting edge virtual Oil and Gas English course. The programme  provides tailored materials to professionals working in the oil and gas sector who need to improve their English language skills for their daily activity.

The online classes will take place on our virtual onshore and offshore rigs, so students engage in their working environment while acquiring the necessary language skills to succeed in international oil and gas companies.

Helio Blak, Managing Director of AMCHAM, explained the advantages of the oil and gas English course to the Rio Times as follows: “It meets the demand of our oil and gas sector members and helps also to expand the membership base by creating conditions for members to participate effectively, even when they are not present in person.”

As Monica Szwarc, country manager of BridgeBrazil, added: “Rio is all about oil and gas and we’ve seen the increase on [expatriates] from the segment coming to us to learn Portuguese because of oil and gas projects, and they would tell us they were being hired precisely because they spoke English bearing in mind the specific vocabulary of the segment. They would also say their Brazilian colleagues were sometimes even better than they were “technically” as Brazil is at the cutting edge of this industry. It was obvious for us that there was a market for this!”

We are very much looking forward to welcoming AMCHAM employees to Languagelab!

Read the Rio Times article here.

Find out more about Languagelab’s Oil and Gas English course.

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Decisions over whether or not a topic is controversial or even taboo are usually based around cultural and religious sensitivities.

How do we decide on whether or not a topic needs careful consideration or needs to be avoided? Sometimes, the Director of Studies will set out guidelines but most of us take our themes from our textbooks or from our experience with students from different countries. There is also a raft of supplementary material that fill in the gap in the market for intercultural communication, such as Utley’s ‘Intercultural Resource Pack’ (2004) or MacAndrew and Martinez’s ‘Taboos or Issues’ (2002).

MacAndrew and Martinez (ibid) lay out a complete set of exercises for discussion and/or reading on ‘shocking’ topics such as sex for sale to societal discussions around vanity but what is interesting is how they introduce the topic. The authors themselves explain how it is done through their description of the book’s methodology. They (ibid) say,

“Bearing in mind the sensitive nature of many of the topics, we suggest it will usually be best to start by asking students to think silently about some of the questions before they are asked to say anything at all. They then work in pairs and small groups before the topic is opened up to the whole class.”

Utley’s topics are much less specific and, to some extent, I would agree with these umbrella topics (‘Why does culture matter?’ ‘Types and Stereotypes,’ ‘Profiling national cultures,’ ‘Profiling corporate cultures,’ ‘Profiling group cultures’ and ‘Culture and communication.)’ Within these topics he has intellectually stimulating exercises around case studies or bell-char graphs. He says (2004),

“The main role of the teacher is to present the activities and then to mediate and channel the mental and nervous energy they will almost certainly generate. The questions posed are not trick questions, nor will they have one ‘correct’ answer.”

English City, Languagelab’s virtual ELT community has learners from 80+ countries

These two books of supplementary material are not the definitive answer to dealing with difficult topics but some of the exercises are a good starting point.

In English City, Languagelab’s virtual ELT community, students get a chance to air their views but topics need to be managed sensitively. With students from around 80 – 100 different countries, our students live in diverse cultures and often have very different outlooks to each other. This is where the teacher has to walk a careful line, between stopping insensitive students from offending others whilst providing freedom of expression. It is the teachers’ own experience that helps them here. Having students cry about war crimes (as happened with an Iraqi student of mine) will make the teacher think twice about getting too country-specific.

In virtual reality, in English City, long pauses are often an indicator. If a student begins saying things about others’ countries or cultures that seem insensitive the teacher will send them a private instant message politely but firmly asking them to stop, and the student will almost always do so. Also, if other students feel uncomfortable with the conversation they can message the teacher privately to let them know. Our teachers are highly skilled at managing these situations whilst subtly and swiftly returning the class to its true focus – teaching English to students all around the world.

It would be interesting to hear from you. When has a controversial topic been too controversial and when has it gone well? You can contact me directly here.

- Iffaf Khan, English language teacher and IELTS examiner

Bibliography

MacAndrew, R and Martinez, R (2002). Taboos and Issues. Hampshire: Heinle. Introduction.

Utley, D (2004). Intercultural Resource Pack. 7th ed. Hampshire: Cambridge University Press. p3-8.