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b. Was there much furniture in the room?

c. Had the body been there long? d. Did the man come alone?

e. What were his physical features? What did the man look like? f. Was he interested in the body? g. Why did he blow out the flame of the candle?

4. True-False Quiz:

a. The dead body was on the floor. (T/F) b. Nobody lived in the building. (T/F) c. There was a lot of dust on the floor of the room. (T/F)

where certain mistakes begin to sound quite correct. There seems to be an unspoken agreement NOT TO KNOW, rather like the attitude people take to the neighbor's ugly baby. Yet it is true that serious communication is hampered if one of the parties involved has a less than adequate grasp of the language. Furthermore, honesty would force a less hardy and dedicated soul to admit that oral drills and subject-verb agreement are not intrinsically fascinating or conducive to a profound meeting of minds.

The pleasure of language teaching seems to come when some basic grasp of the language is achieved and we can all proceed to do

d. There was a street just outside the things in English. There is obviously a differ

window. (T/F)

e. When the man entered the room, the door was locked from the outside. (T/F)

f. The man was really a prisoner. (T/F) g. It was very dark outside. (T/F)

h. He sometimes looked at the body but was not afraid of it. (T/F)

i. The young man and the dead man had been good friends. (T/F)

j. The candle was only an inch long and it would last only a couple of hours. (T/F)

REFERENCES

Barnard, Geoffrey. 1967. Reading to the class "with expression." In E.L.T. selections 1: articles from the journal English Language Teaching Journal, pp. 142-48, ed. W.R. Lee. London: Oxford University Press. First published in English Language Teaching Journal, 9, 1 (Oct.Dec. 1954), pp.24-30.

Bierce, Ambrose. 1949. A watcher by the dead. In In the midst of life: a selection, pp. 81-98. Tokyo: Kenkyusha.

A watcher by the dead. In Short stories by Ambrose Bierce, pp. 41-50, adapted by Virginia French Allen. Tokyo: Yohan Publishing, Inc.

West, Michael. 1967. The techniques of reading aloud to a class. In E. L. T. selections 1: articles from the journal English Language Teaching Journal, pp. 139-42, ed. W.R. Lee. London: Oxford University Press. First published in English Language Teaching Journal, 8, 1 (Autumn 1953), pp. 21-24.

KUWAIT

Conversation Piece

MARIA AL-SALEM

English Language Centre, Kuwait University

Being a dedicated and hardy breed, language teachers do not admit that the profession can sometimes be, well, boring. Not terminally. perhaps, but enough to bring one to the point This article originally appeared in Al-Manakh, journal of the Language Centre. University of Kuwait. vol. 5, no. I (January 1981). Used by permission.

ence between teaching, say, history in English and teaching English in English. Whereas in the former case, language is a means to an end, in the latter, language is both the means and the end.

Teaching subject matter and language

Recognizing this problem, Longmans, in conjunction with the BBC and the German State television network developed, some years ago, a program called "Challenges-a Multimedia Approach." The basic idea of the program was to treat English as a medium of instruction for topics relevant to high school students' own lives and experiences. Thus English-language skills were not stressed as a primary focus of the course, but rather as something to be acquired naturally in the process of learning something else.

In a sense, this is a logical development of pedagogical trends in language teaching. In what is now recognized as the "bad old days" of grammar rules and verb declension, instructors would teach about the language, after which, fiat lux,' it was recognized that one should teach the language, not about it. The latest addition to the pantheon is the proposition that one can teach something in English and the student will somehow acquire both the language and subject matter. Certainly this method would accelerate the learning process.

The stated aim of the Longman project was "to stimulate students into using English for communicative tasks which have direct relation to their own ideas and needs. Side by side with the development and practice of linguistic skills, however, the project aims to develop the students' ability to handle ideas and to develop their own self- and social awareness." The project relied heavily on audiovisual aids and task-oriented materials which required intensive student involvement. Among the many positive features of the program was its high appeal to students, who found it relevant to the "real" world. Teachers felt that it was a significant improvement over traditional "conversation classes," where student shyness combined with con

1. EDITOR'S NOTE: fiat lux: (Latin) Let there be light. (A quotation from the Bible, Genesis 1:3.)

Maria Al-Salem has taught English as a second language at the English Language Centre and the

English Department of Kuwait University for more than seven years. She received her B.A. in Russian and German from Lake Forest College in Lake Forest, Illinois, and her M.A. and Ph.D. in comparative literature from the University of Colorado at Boulder. She began her teaching career in TEFL as a Fulbright scholar in Austria.

trived situational formats usually reduced the conversation to stilted speeches or teacher monologues.

Providing material for various age groups

Although it may be too early to measure the effectiveness of the method, there are indications that such an approach may well become standard procedure. Certain schools in California have implemented the idea in teaching Spanish to elementary-school children. The program was not as sophisticated as Longman's format; they simply followed the standard curriculum-but in Spanish. The pilot programs reported significant levels of success, to the point where, by the end of the program, children never before exposed to Spanish would answer in Spanish to questions posed in English.

Psychologists have long held that children can learn any number of languages, especially if they consistently associate one particular language with one person. There is ample evidence of this in a cosmopolitan community, where a child may speak Arabic with his father, Italian with his mother and English with his teachers and friends. There is no reason. therefore, that a native speaker of Arabic could not conceivably learn English by participating in general English-medium instruction. The problem arises with older children, because language-acquisition ability decreases with age.

The Longman program addresses this problem by presenting topics of specific interest to the high school age group. Another possible approach might be to instruct students in English on topics with which they are already well acquainted, such as their own cultural history or traditions.

Problems in logic and reasoning

The sciences would seem to be another likely choice, since formulae, or the chemical symbol for sulphur, for example, are universal. Math problems or basic logic would develop reasoning ability and still incorporate necessary concepts of English. In Appendix (1), a math problem with three unknowns is presented. In asking students to explain the problem and their solutions, the teacher would cover "how" and "if" questions,

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weigh/weight exercises, singular and plural agreement, etc. Responses might include: If two pears and one bunch of grapes weigh fifty grams, two bunches of grapes and one banana weigh fifty grams, and two bananas and one pear weigh eighty grams, how much do the grapes weigh? How much does the banana weigh? What is the weight of one pear? etc.

Readings of general interest, including news items, can generate classroom discussion with the use of carefully prepared questions which help the student to read between the lines. The ability to recognize implicit information can be taught in stages, beginning with sentences and proceeding to full-length

texts.

The text presented in Appendix (2) has been abridged for the purpose of illustration here. Students are given a text and asked to read it carefully. The statements following the text represent a range of choices: true, probable, possible, unlikely, false. The five choices might be presented graphically:

True Probable Possible Unlikely False 10 8 5 2 0 This is a variation of the classic true-false test, with the addition of three more problematic choices. The point of the exercise is not to pass judgment on the students' accuracy, but rather to encourage their deductive reasoning. Apropos of question 5, for example, some students may be aware of Holland's long experience with dams and dikes, others may not be. To repeat, accuracy is not the primary consideration of the exercise; the student's ability to explain and defend his point of view is.

Learning games in general are very useful for this approach to teaching language, because they are task-oriented. Strip stories are deservedly popular for conversation practice, while simultaneously teaching paragraph order. Crossword puzzles can be useful in teaching vocabulary, from simple clues (synonyms) to complex, extrapolated ones that are subject-specific or dependent on problem solving.

Whether one uses learning games or a total package of material taught in English, it seems that teaching something in English facilitates teaching English. It is conversationproductive, it develops students' ability to deduce facts and draw conclusions, and it is process-oriented rather than answer-oriented. And, inshallah,2 it is not so boring.

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APPENDIX 2

Sir William Garstin first proposed the project in 1902. Some 72 years later, the plan to build a canal around the Sudd Swamp was finally approved. Egypt and Sudan plan to divide the water and the cost of the canal which will significantly decrease the evaporation of the Nile's water in the 12,000-mile swamp. The Jonglei Canal is expected to be completed in 1985. It is being built by French engineers and Dutch designers, with financing from Arab bankers. Some scientists, however, fear it will disturb the pattern of wildlife migration and that the price of development is too high.

Answer and explain:

True-probable-possible-unlikely false 1. Sir William Garstin was Dutch. 2. The canal was approved in 1974. 3. The British bid to build the canal was too high.

4. The canal is supervised by Arab bankers.

5. The Dutch were asked to design the canal because they have good relations with the Arabs.

ence, he takes due precautions, as a matter of
habit, to assure that most of his classes do in-
deed "succeed."

Prerequisite conditions for successful
classes

The first requirement for an effective EFL class is no doubt a competent teacher; the second, reasonably effective instructional materials. Texts and supplementary materials may not be exceptional, but, in the hands of an experienced and imaginative instructor, they can be made to work. Such a teacher will be motivated to write his own supplementary materials—even if only a few drills and exercises to meet perceived pedagogical needs.

But even the happy combination of a good teacher and good instructional materials is not enough to guarantee consistent success, even when the materials have been prepared by the staff using them. A third requirement of every good classroom session is thorough preparation.' Such preparation takes a number of different forms.

THE IMPORTANCE OF A GOOD START

It is the main point of this article that the first few minutes of an EFL class are the most

6. The canal is named after Sir Wil- important part of the session. The opening liam.

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sets the tone. The habitually well-prepared teacher arrives on time and wants to make every minute count. He has relatively little time to accomplish all of his objectives in only fifty or fifty-five minutes, so he makes a point to his class about punctuality, both at the outset of the semester and throughout the course. Useful preliminary procedures

Essential to an effective beginning, when the teacher first arrives in class, are those courtesies of greeting common to most cultures of the world, and especially important in the so-called "third world” nations. In terms of time, a greeting is a small gesture, but in terms of helping to promote mutual respect between individuals of different societiesand to "break the ice" in class, as elsewhereit is indispensable.

The teacher who wants to keep his students learning outside of class will regularly assign homework, collect it promptly upon entering the room (so that the less industrious and less able members of the class cannot copy from friends during class), and mark it in time to return at the next session, so as to review and explain troublesome points. A simple but effective technique to avoid wasting time is—at the outset of the semester-to designate a desk near the door on which students entering the classroom are to place their homework notebooks before taking their seats. The teacher meanwhile obtains the assistance of

1. There are, of course, other important preconditions needed (and here assumed, in a good program), such as clear curricular goals, streaming of classes, limited class size, and an adequate number of contact hours for the students.

some students to return the old homework while he quickly takes attendance and the last students are turning in their new homework. At the same time, the students can inspect the marks made by the teacher in the old homework notebooks. Punctuality is promoted by letting the class know that after attendance is taken the new notebooks go into the teacher's bag or case, and those of laggards are no longer accepted.

Following these preliminaries, some teachers find that their students occasionally like to discuss, for a few moments, matters not directly related to their studies. Such topics are often of a humorous, cross-cultural, or current-events nature, and make using the foreign language much more enjoyable and "real" to the students than their often dull lessons. Such brief discussions, lasting only a couple of minutes, are valuable for promoting a positive attitude among the students towards their language class, and should never be discouraged. Occasionally, the teacher might even "prepare" a few comments of a noncontroversial nature, to see what kind of class response can be elicited, before the actual lesson begins.

Review of the previous lesson

An important part, and effective opening, of a well-planned lesson is the review of points covered in the previous session. Such review is essential for promoting continuity from class to class.

Pacing is important, so the teacher should already have prepared a series of key questions to ask class members in rapid-fire fashion. (Presumably, the teacher can call on all of his students by name after the first couple weeks of class.) The class should review at least some of the homework just collected, as well as parts of the lesson not assigned to be written. One technique for discouraging students from merely copying from one another outside of class is for the teacher, during the oral review, to open his gradebook and give marks to those students responding. Students quickly learn to prepare their written homework themselves, as well as to be ready for their "orals" the next time.

They are also then well prepared for quizzes, both announced and unannounced, which, when given regularly, keep students (and teachers) on their toes. Besides, diligent students want and deserve credit, in the teacher's gradebook, for their efforts, and the more frequent the check-up procedures, the better those students will do on their major

exams.

RECORD OF PAST LESSONS

It should be pointed out that the EFL instructor with several courses, teaching several classes each day, cannot keep his teaching schedule organized effectively without careful, detailed records of what he has done in each class. Such records, written after class,

Victor W. Mason has been in charge of the Tests

and Measurement Office of the Kuwait University Language Centre for several years. He has had extensive experience in teaching, test development, and administration in many English-language teaching programs in Japan, Kuwait, Thailand, Vietnam and the United States. He has published scholarly articles in a number of journals.

are in addition to the outlined lesson plans prepared before class. They are indispensable to the well-organized and efficient teacher trying to keep to his schedule. Review of previous lessons and continuity from class to class and week to week are very difficult without such formal memory aids.

A class record is a vital supplement to the lesson plan, because quite often the teacher changes a part of the lesson in class, either adding or omitting something, or otherwise modifying a part of the lesson plan or his teaching schedule. For example, to make a class study harder, an exasperated instructor might suddenly say: "Okay, next time we're going to have a test on this reading, and you'd better understand it and know all the vocabulary!" It would be not a little embarrassing for the teacher then to forget that warning and walk, unprepared, into class the next time to confront a well-prepared group of studentsready to be tested.

THE BEST TIME TO PREPARE

The best time to prepare a lesson plan is shortly after teaching the previous session. It is at this time that the instructor can best record the activities of that last class, because he can easily remember what he told the class to expect over the next several sessions.

Basic preparation

It is, of course, not possible to complete the lesson plan until student papers (homework, quizzes, tests, etc.) have been marked, so that the teacher knows what to concentrate on in his review and explanations at the start of the next class. But by welding all these components into an effective lesson plan at the earliest opportunity, the teacher is psychologically motivated to look forward to teaching that class-not worried (1) by not remembering what he should do in that class or (2) by not yet being prepared to teach it.

Such out-of-class preparation for each session may take a considerable amount of time if done with the thoroughness customarily required. When done prior to the day on which the next session is scheduled, the teacher can give sufficient time to the careful consideration of each part of the upcoming lesson.

Last-minute review of the lesson plan

Yet even when all of this time and care have been devoted to the preparation of the next class, the class can get off to an unsuccessful start, or otherwise go sour, if the teacher does not take one further, vital precaution: he must skim his lesson plan shortly before entering the classroom, to refresh his memory of the major topics and subtopics that must be covered that day. He must think carefully about what he has to do to get his teaching points across. With this mental set, he can enter his class with greater confidence, get through the preliminaries efficiently and good-naturedly, and pace his class accordingly, from teaching point to teaching point. He can be sure that he will not accidentally omit something and that he will cover all essential points adequately.

Actors rehearse their lines, musicians practice their instruments, basketball players do lay-ups and lawyers review their documents outside court shortly before having to perform "for real," not because they do not know how, but to give themselves confidence and to hone their skills. They thus not only release nervous tension, but channel that tension constructively by assuring themselves that they are, indeed, psychologically ready to perform. A teacher who neglects this vital last-minute "warming up" exercise essential to practitioners of many professions risks having his class fall flat-not because he is incompetent or basically unprepared, but simply because he has not refreshed his memory for all the important details essential to the performance of his profession that day. The inexperienced or incautious instructor will then walk into class and make the discomfiting discovery that mentally he is not "up" for the class-not "ready to teach." It is quite likely that he will find this out at the worst possible time: during the first few minutes of class.

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CONCLUSION

To summarize: being ready for a lesson means, first, having all of one's papers in order before walking into the classroom as well as feeling psychologically ready to teach. Long-range preparation involves correcting papers on time, developing the lesson plan thoughtfully, and perhaps writing supplementary teaching materials. Short-range preparation requires quickly reviewing all important points in the lesson plan, and might include choosing a nonacademic topic for a brief social chat with the class following the opening courtesies. By regularly being punctual, the conscientious teacher sets a good example for his students, as well as his colleagues.

To be safe, the committed professional overprepares for every class. As a result, over the years, he tends to arrive for classes a bit early, to finish a bit late, gradually to accelerate the pace of all his classes, seldom to finish

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