3. 3. CREATIVE
Boredom and repetitiveness is what stu-
dents really hate, what’s more this is also what teach-
ers hate, at least most of them . Unfortunately, most
leading textbooks offer units with the same layout –
reading, grammar exercises, listening, speaking and
writing sections. Students understand that these are
indispensable language skills they have to practice,
still this fact introduces routine we all dread. Stu-
dents love new, unusual ideas, a great way to break
the still pattern of a lesson is to use one of many
warm-up and ice-breaking activities. These will give
some new perspective to language teaching.
4. MODERN
Students are sometimes better at modern
technologies than their teachers. This involves the
10 TOP THINGS whole range of digital devices, IT technologies,
working with computer, downloading things from
IN TEACHING internet, using net chat-rooms and countless other
LEARNING ENGLISH things. If language teaching is going to be fascinat-
ing it also should be modern and somehow connect-
ed to digital equipment. This not only gives students
1. INTERESTING AND UP-TO-DATE the feeling that they are in modern environment but
also gives the teacher credit for being knowledge-
The topic of what we study should be inter- able and keeping pace with modern technologies.
esting and up-to-date. There are so called “universal This may involve using audio and video materials
topics” like generation gap, ecology or sport, fashion, during the lesson, using computers with Internet ac-
teenage bullying and so on. Majority of students cess to browse web pages or u-tube recordings. The
find them somehow related to their lives. However latest device is of course the Smart Board with the
the teen interests and icons change so quickly and right programming for language teaching. Students
when there in a story in the text book about Star love this kind of classes as they can use the latest
Wars or Harry Potter and the main role model is technologies in the course of hands-on experience.
Frodo – topics which were on some years ago – it
is boring and most of students consider them as 5. USEFUL AND MEANINGFUL
“passé”.
According to the students taking part in
A good thing is to follow the teen fashion our programme, they do not particularly like ex-
in entertainment – as this area is probably closest to ercises or tasks which are far from being useful in
their lives – music, movies, books and fashion. their everyday lives. Only too often the teachers
can hear the otherwise obvious question: “why do
Why not ask your students what ‘s on these we have to do this, Ms?” If you, as a teacher want
days and prepare a song or an excerpt from the latest to answer: “because I say so”, maybe it’s time for
bestseller for reading comprehension. Be careful you to look for a less stressful job . But jokes aside,
though - some of the lyrics can be not suitable for students like the idea of their effort having some
school use. meaning. It transfers into the idea of usefulness in
the further course of studies, but more importantly
2. CHALLENGING in the real-life situations. The trick is that without
boring drill tasks like using Present Perfect Simple
Students do not like to be treated like children, they
vs Past Simple or inserting the right articles in the
like challenging tasks which they have to sweat on.
gaps and hundreds of others their language accuracy
Even if they realize the task involves a lot of effort,
will be impaired and even if they can communicate,
they look forward to finishing it as a kind of reward.
they will sound at least funny, if not impossible. Stu-
They realize that in life there is nothing for free so if
dents have to understand and accept the fact that
they want to be able to be fluent one day they have
the so called “dead boring” exercises will lead them
to work hard on it. For many students language
to proper use of the language. Not many kids realize
competitions on various levels serve the purpose of
that language learning is not a subject to study but
challenge. To be successful in any language contest
it is rather the whole process of acquiring new per-
one has to work very hard. Memorising thousands of
sonality that goes with the new language. Teachers’
collocations, grammar rules, sophisticated vocabu-
task is to make this process as painless as possible but
lary is hard but still many students feel this is the
we have to remind our students that we cannot have
best way of gaining the right language skills.
fun at discussing the latest spoof comedy if we can
4. 7. FLEXIBLE AND FLUENT EXPERT
The process of teaching should be dynamic
which means that the teacher should be open to
new ideas coming from students, their questions,
problems ect. Students should be sure that every
lesson potentially can be different, bringing some
new excitement. At the same time it is important
that the teacher is a clear expert and the student can
completely depend on teacher’s explanations and
knowledge.
8. ACTIVE AND SOCIALLY ORIENTED
The kind of exercises students like a lot
are these which have elements of social interaction.
Sure, for some students who like working alone it is
less important, still for majority all kinds of active
involvement is very stimulating. As favourite stu-
not express our basic thoughts in English. Another dents mentioned:
point to be made is what is meaningful for some is * projects where you work with other students
not necessarily for others. During our exchange pro-
gramme in Turkey, we took part in English lesson * role-playing
where students worked on religious parable, using
* games involving teaming up against another team
all skills –reading comprehension, speaking, vo-
cabulary work and the content of the story was very * guessing / detective lg games
important for them, which showed in discussion.
* projects with PBL ideas
6. ACCURATE FOR STUDENTS’ LEVEL AND
POSSIBLE These exercises give students not only a
leg –stretch and some excitement in the lesson but
We need to differentiate between chal- they also teach them how to co-operate and learn
lenging yet doable tasks and impossible therefore compromise while working together.
discouraging ones. If we make students undertake
the tasks which are too difficult for them we will put
them off the whole idea of language learning. They
will probably assume that they are either too dumb
to learn all this, or the teacher is a sadist and his sub-
ject is repulsive all the same. Either way we will lose.
On the other hand it is also a bad idea to give them
tasks which are too simple as this is simply boring.
Another important thing is to make the learning
possible by giving students hints on techniques how
to memorise or understand certain language issues.
Students themselves may have different ideas what
tricks they use to get better results and improve
their language performance. The best solutions for
memorizing things are:
• writing things to remember on colorful scraps
of paper and sticking them in different places
around the house
• repeating things out loud, often walking
• coming back to the same thing at least four
times
• memorizing through associations – imagining
the word or phrase to remember in colours,
different settings ect.
• using vocabulary, idioms and grammar struc-
tures in sentences, not alone out of the context
• teaching others – apparently explaining things
to others, puts your knowledge in order,
moreover if you want to explain something to
others you need to know what you are talking
about. It can be an incentive to organize your
knowledge.
5. 9. EVALUATED BY THE TEACHER 10. PASSIONATE
As everybody else, students like to be evalu- The last but not least is the style of lesson
ated and appreciated. There was the heated discus- or maybe more accurately – the style of the teacher.
sion concerning the way teachers evaluate students’ Students like the teacher to like what he or she does.
work – the remarks from our students were as fol- Passion the teacher presents during the lesson is
lows: usually contagious, it easily transmits from teach-
ers to students and in this way positive learning
•checking papers and tests on time - if the teach- environment is created. Many other features were
ers takes too much time to give the tests back, the mentioned like tolerance, spontaneity and friendly
students forget what the test was about, not mention attitude to wards students
the mistakes they made
The least favourite teachers’ behavior in the class is:
•giving students detailed information on good • unjustified anger “What is he on about this
and bad sides of the paper / test / speech ect. It is time?!?”
not enough to give B or C with almost no comment. • despise towards students “ You don’t know
They want to know what they did well and what THAT !!! What a shame!!!”
needs correction. • idea-killers “Cut is off and get back to your
•giving students the second chance to do better, book, please”
re-sit the exam or test if they fail • dull, monotonous way of lecturing “Pinch me –
I’m falling asleep”
•construct test or exam papers in such a way that • pretending to be “ a cool dude” – the students
they cover the information and topics of the lan- actually like the teacher to be someone they can
guage course. Inserting extra – curricular material admire, someone to look up to, and not their body.
into the test for “brighter” students to show off, is • wasting time on different meaningless things
unfair according to majority of our respondents. during the lesson
Above all, all our students like to be ap- The Top 10 were worked out by the students
preciated even for small things. Good word giving and teachers working together for two years on the
hope is sometimes a better motivator than a critical project. Apart from theoretical approach we also
remark. have some suggestions for class activities.
9. ,, :RUNLQJ ZLWK WH[WV I didn’t want to be too early to school, but I couldn’t
stay in the house anymore. I donned my jacket -- which had
RQ (QJOLVK OHVVRQV
the feel of a biohazard suit -- and headed out into the rain.
It was just drizzling still, not enough to soak me through
immediately as I reached for the house key that was always
hidden under the eaves by the door, and locked up. The slosh-
Why not include even large excerpts of books or ing of my new waterproof boots was unnerving. I missed the
magazine articles popular among teenagers. A lot of mate- normal crunch of gravel as I walked. I couldn’t pause and
admire my truck again as I wanted; I was in a hurry to get out
rial can be downloaded from Internet. of the misty wet that swirled around my head and clung to my
hair under my hood.
Twilight by Stephany Meyer - excerpt Inside the truck, it was nice and dry. Either Billy or
Charlie had obviously cleaned it up, but the tan upholstered
seats still smelled faintly of tobacco, gasoline, and pepper-
excerpt from 1. FIRST SIGHT mint. The engine started quickly, to my relief, but loudly,
Forks High School had a frightening total of only roaring to life and then idling at top volume. Well, a truck
three hundred and fifty-seven -- now fifty-eight -- students; this old was bound to have a flaw. The antique radio worked, a
there were more than seven hundred people in my junior class plus that I hadn’t expected.
alone back home. All of the kids here had grown up together- Finding the school wasn’t difficult, though I’d never
-their grandparents had been toddlers together. I would be been there before. The school was, like most other things, just
the new girl from the big city, a curiosity, a freak. off the highway. It was not obvious that it was a school; only
Maybe, if I looked like a girl from Phoenix should, the sign, which declared it to be the Forks High School, made
I could work this to my advantage. But physically, I’d never me stop. It looked like a collection of matching houses, built
fit in anywhere. I should be tan, sporty, blond -- a volleyball with maroon-colored bricks. There were so many trees and
player, or a cheerleader, perhaps -- all the things that go with shrubs I couldn’t see its size at first. Where was the feel of the
living in the valley of the sun. institution? I wondered nostalgically. Where were the chain-
Instead, I was ivory-skinned, without even the link fences, the metal detectors?
excuse of blue eyes or red hair, despite the constant sunshine. I parked in front of the first building, which had
I had always been slender, but soft somehow, obviously not an a small sign over the door reading FRONT OFFICE. No
athlete; I didn’t have the necessary hand-eye coordination to one else was parked there, so I was sure it was off limits, but
play sports without humiliating myself -- and harming both I decided I would get directions inside instead of circling
myself and anyone else who stood too close. around in the rain like an idiot. I stepped unwillingly out of
When I finished putting my clothes in the old pine the toasty truck cab and walked down a little stone path lined
dresser, I took my bag of bathroom necessities and went to with dark hedges. I took a deep breath before opening the
the communal bathroom to clean myself up after the day of door.
travel. I looked at my face in the mirror as I brushed through Inside, it was brightly lit, and warmer than I’d hoped.
my tangled, damp hair. Maybe it was the light, but already I The office was small; a little waiting area with padded folding
looked sallower, unhealthy. My skin could be pretty -- it was chairs, orange-flecked commercial carpet, notices and awards
very clear, almost translucent-looking -- but it all depended cluttering the walls, a big clock ticking loudly. Plants grew
on color. I had no color here. everywhere in large plastic pots, as if there wasn’t enough
Facing my pallid reflection in the mirror, I was greenery outside. The room was cut in half by a long counter,
forced to admit that I was lying to myself. It wasn’t just physi- cluttered with wire baskets full of papers and brightly colored
cally that I’d never fit in. And if I couldn’t find a niche in a flyers taped to its front. There were three desks behind the
school with three thousand people, what were my chances counter, one of which was manned by a large, red-haired
here? woman wearing glasses. She was wearing a purple t-shirt,
I didn’t relate well to people my age. Maybe the which immediately made me feel overdressed.
truth was that I didn’t relate well to people, period. Even my The red-haired woman looked up. “Can I help you?”
mother, who I was closer to than anyone else on the planet, “I’m Isabella Swan,” I informed her, and saw the immediate
was never in harmony with me, never on exactly the same awareness light her eyes. I was expected, a topic of gossip no
page. Sometimes I wondered if I was seeing the same things doubt. Daughter of the Chief ’s flighty ex-wife, come home at
through my eyes that the rest of the world was seeing through last.
theirs. Maybe there was a glitch in my brain. “Of course,” she said. She dug through a precariously
But the cause didn’t matter. All that mattered was stacked pile of documents on her desk till she found the ones
the effect. And tomorrow would be just the beginning. she was looking for. “I have your schedule right here, and a
I didn’t sleep well that night, even after I was done map of the school.” She brought several sheets to the counter
crying. The constant whooshing of the rain and wind across to show me.
the roof wouldn’t fade into the background. I pulled the faded
old quilt over my head, and later added the pillow, too. But I
couldn’t fall asleep until after midnight, when the rain finally
settled into a quieter drizzle.
Thick fog was all I could see out my window in the morning,
and I could feel the claustrophobia creeping up on me. You
could never see the sky here; it was like a cage.
Breakfast with Charlie was a quiet event. He wished
me good luck at school. I thanked him, knowing his hope
was wasted. Good luck tended to avoid me. Charlie left first,
off to the police station that was his wife and family. After
he left, I sat at the old square oak table in one of the three
unmatching chairs and examined his small kitchen, with its
dark paneled walls, bright yellow cabinets, and white lino-
leum floor. Nothing was changed. My mother had painted the
cabinets eighteen years ago in an attempt to bring some sun-
shine into the house. Over the small fireplace in the adjoining
handkerchief-sized family room was a row of pictures. First
a wedding picture of Charlie and my mom in Las Vegas, then
one of the three of us in the hospital after I was born, taken
by a helpful nurse, followed by the procession of my school
pictures up to last year’s. Those were embarrassing to look at
-- I would have to see what I could do to get Charlie to put
them somewhere else, at least while I was living here.
It was impossible, being in this house, not to realize that
Charlie had never gotten over my mom. It made me uncom-
fortable.
10. 2QUUKDNG VCUMU
1. True / false questions
a. Bella felt uneasy before her first day in new school T/F/DK
b. Bella’s appearance was typical for valley of sun area T/F/DK
c. Charlie’s house was small but modern and professionally decorated T/F/DK
d. The secretary gave Bella only the most important documents to fill T/ F/DK
2. Match the words with their explanations
a. flighty 1. small stones used for making paths
b. toddler 2. crazy and unsettled
c. clutter 3. small rain
d. slender 4. a small baby who is learning to walk
e. gravel 5. put too many things in one place
f. drizzle 6. thin in an attractive way
3. Give equivalents in British English
Highway - ………………………………
Gasoline - ……………………………………
Truck - …………………………………….
Quilt - ……………………………………
4. Write the next paragraph, different from the original story.
5. How would you feel in Bella’s situation when you move out to a strange place and new school.
6. Find some information on the author of the book Stephanie Meyer to share on the next lesson.
7. Translate an excerpt of your choice into Polish, remember that this is a literary work!
97. :+$7 , /,.( :+$7 , +$7(
• reading interesting stories • extensive homework
• multiple choice tasks – at least one • memorising vocabulary or irregular
answer is correct stuff
• paraphrasing sentences • listening comprehension with heavy
• translating things especially lyrics accent
• new ideas • drill grammar tasks
• dialogues – writing and role playing • word formation
• matching things • boredom