Slides from the NATECLA Day Conference at Leicester College 10th May 2014. Free, voiced-over presentation available at www.elt-training.com

1. 101 ways with dictation

2. 101 ways with dictation
www.slideshare.net/jgakonga

3. One day Kerry celebrated
her birthday. Two days later
her older twin brother, Terry,
celebrated his birthday.
How?

4. Why use dictation?
NO

5. Writing
Spelling
Listening

6. Top Tips

8. Make it
interesting

9. I am a fruit.
I’m orange but I’m not an orange.
I have seeds but I’m not an apple.
I’m bigger than a pineapple.
You have to cook me before you eat me.
What am I?

11. Keep it short!

12. Don’t
VerrrOh! Nun
Sea Ate

13. Don’t
over enunciate

14. I’m orange
but I’m not an orange.
I’m bigger than a
pineapple.

15. I’ll have finished this
book by the end of the
week – would you like to
borrow it?

16. I’ll have finished this
book by the end of the
week – would you like to
borrow it?

17. How to
dictate?

18. Types of dictation
Teacher to
learnerLearner to
learner
Independent Collaborative
Computer to
learner

19. Teacher
dictation

20. Easy to do
Takes little preparation
eg. use instructions or warmers
from your course book...
When you left school, did you study, get a
job or do something else. Why?
Do you think it was the best thing to do?

21. OR:
Introduction to reading text
Title spelling dictation
T-H-E-F-A-M-I-L-Y-T-H-A-T-P-L-A-Y-S

22. Useful for:
Practice in listening for spelling
A E I O U J-G
Y Q X Z

23. From: New Cutting Edge Pre-Intermediate Pearson/Longman

24. From: New Cutting Edge Pre-Intermediate Pearson/Longman

25. Useful for:
Intensive listening practice
Raising awareness of connected speech
Adding variety

26. Your turn!
Think about the materials you use –
which parts do you think you could
use for dictation?

27. Dictogloss
Collaborative dictation
http://www2.klett.de/sixcms/media.php/10/A
08105-53990004_EU_Dictogloss_EB.pdf

28. An Inuit guide
The Arctic Circle
A polar bear
I looked to see what it was,
I kept as still as I could
stick your head out
sure enough

29. Read it once at normal
speed– learners just
listen
Read again at normal
speed, pausing after
each sentence –
learners make notes
NOTE: Learners DO
NOT write down the
whole sentence

30. In pairs or groups,
learners reconstruct
the passage
NOTE – this does not
have to be the same
as the original as long
as the meaning is
conveyed correctly
and accurately.

31. Learners compare
their version with
original. Attention
can be drawn to the
differences.

32. I was in the Arctic with an Inuit guide, a long way
above the Arctic Circle, where I was taking
photographs of seals
underwater. After a few days the weather turned bad
and we decided to spend the night on the ice. Early
the next morning I was lying in the tent, just waking
up, when I felt something moving against my feet. I
looked to see what it was, and I could see the shape
of a young polar bear which was playing with my feet
through the wall of the tent. I kept as still as I could,
and very quietly woke the guide and told him what
was happening. He said, ‘Don’t worry, just stick your
head out of the tent and it will go away.’ So I said.
‘Well, you stick your head out of the tent.’ And that’s
exactly what he did – he stuck his head out of the
tent, and sure enough the polar bear went away.

33. Useful for:
Vocabulary
New vocabulary, Revising vocabulary
Collocations, ‘chunks’ and common expressions
Grammar
Raising awareness, Revision
As a context for presentation
Discourse analysis and cohesive devices

34. Keyword dictation
Similar idea to dictogloss.
Gives a bit more support.
Useful for drawing attention to a
range of grammatical structures

35. earliest memory
swimming pool
three years old
my parents
taken
holiday
Spain.
playing
pool
brother
slipped
fell
water
couldn’t swim
father
nearby
jumped in
saved

36. My earliest memory is of a swimming
pool. I was about three years old and
my parents had taken me on holiday
to Spain. I was playing by the pool
with my brother and suddenly, I
slipped and fell in the water. I couldn’t
swim but luckily, my father was nearby
and he jumped in and saved me!

37. Keyword dictation
My earliest memory is of a swimming pool. I
was about three years old and my parents
had taken me on holiday to Spain. I was
playing by the pool with my brother and
suddenly, I slipped and fell in the water. I
couldn’t swim but luckily, my father was
nearby and he jumped in and saved me!

38. Keyword dictation
My earliest memory is of a swimming pool. I
was about three years old and my parents
had taken me on holiday to Spain. I was
playing by the pool with my brother and
suddenly, I slipped and fell in the water. I
couldn’t swim but luckily, my father was
nearby and he jumped in and saved me!

39. 2franz6 Lima Peru. slideshare.net

40. Dictate a numbered list of descriptions of words, like this:
"No.1 the name of a male pop star; No.2 an adjective
describing some food; No. 3 a verb of movement, No.4 a
kind of animal" etc.
The learners should write down answers to these
prompts e.g. "Robbie Williams, salty, swim, kitten" etc.
When the lists are finished dictate a short story you have
prepared - but with appropriate gaps (into which the
learners will write their own previously chosen words) e.g.
"A car drove up to the zoo and stopped suddenly and - No.1
- got out. He looked really - No 2 - as he started to - No 3 -
towards the No.4's cage." etc. You'll get some very funny
stories.

41. Explain that you have a bad cold today (sneeze or cough a
bit to prove it!).
Tell the class that you're going to do a normal dictation -
but if you have to sneeze or cough (and they can't hear a
word) they should write any good word that fits the space.
For example you might dictate, "Last Thursday Maria
decided to have some cough for breakfast."
The learners could write the sentence with a word like
'eggs' or 'cornflakes' or 'whisky' instead of the cough.

42. Learner
dictation

43. Gives a real reason to make
language intelligible –
But…

44. Alternate/ info gap dictation
A mother cat was out for a walk with her kittens.
Suddenly they saw a big dog. The dog looked at them
and said ‘Grrr’. The kittens were afraid and said ‘mew,
mew’, but the mother cat looked the dog in the eye
and said ‘Grrr’. The dog turned and walked away.
‘Now’ said the mother cat to her kittens’ you see how
important it is to learn a second language!’ something,
they go to Solihull or Birmingham.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

49. Alternate/ info gap dictation
A mother cat was out for a walk with her kittens.
Suddenly they saw a big dog. The dog looked at them
and said ‘Grrr’. The kittens were afraid and said ‘mew,
mew’, but the mother cat looked the dog in the eye
and said ‘Grrr’. The dog turned and walked away.
‘Now’ said the mother cat to her kittens’ you see how
important it is to learn a second language!’ they go to Solihull
or Birmingham.

50. .
A mother cat was out for a walk with her
kittens. Suddenly they saw a big dog. The
dog looked at them and said ‘Grrr’. The
kittens were afraid and said ‘mew, mew’,
but the mother cat looked the dog in the
eye and said ‘Grrr’. The dog turned and
walked away. ‘Now’ said the mother cat
to her kittens’ you see how important it is
to learn a second language!’
Running dictation

51. A mother cat was out for a walk with her kittens.
Suddenly they saw a big dog. The dog looked at
them and said ‘Grrr’. The kittens were afraid and
said ‘mew, mew’, but the mother cat looked the
dog in the eye and said ‘Grrr’. The dog turned and
walked away. ‘Now’ said the mother cat to her
kittens’ you see how important it is to learn a
second language!’

52. calledAliceandshe
Onceuponatime
therewasagirl
livedwithherfatherin

53. calledAliceandshe
Onceuponatime
therewasagirl
livedwithherfatherin

54. Useful for:
Pronunciation practice
Listening practice
Increasing energy level in class

55. Computer
dictation

58. http://www.listen-and-write.com/audio/showt/6628

59. Any questions?
Find these slides
on SlideShare.net
(search JGakonga)

60. Thank you!
jo.gakonga@elt-training.com