TESOL Language Training

Forming negatives is a largely rule-bound, mechanical manoeuvre and is thus is easy to teach and to test. Underlying this concern with how to form negatives is, it seems to me, the belief that negatives are used basically as reactions - in the answers to questions or in order to contradict a statement. I wish to raise here the issue of negatives used in preference to a positive declaration.

Nov 1, 2001 - Brenda Townsend Hall

Mentally I was unable to take in the pictures on my tv screen on Tuesday. Physically, however, the reaction was immediate. I started shaking uncontrollably

Sep 13, 2001 - Brenda Townsend Hall

CALL (Computer-aided language learning) will never replace the classroom, just as the classroom will never replace the real world. CALL can, however, provide people with certain needs with an effective study tool.

Sep 1, 2001 - Brenda Townsend Hall

In these articles I have concentrated more on advanced learners or ESP. To help rectify that, I am including a list of 60 questions for elementary level. They are intended to help help your students practise the language of daily life using some of the basic verb structures they will have learnt

Aug 1, 2001 - Brenda Townsend Hall

Being able to describe a sequence of events is a key requirement in academic writing; it could be describing an experiment; giving the background to a topic; relating an incident.

Jul 1, 2001 - Brenda Townsend Hall

Description in academic papers should be factual and objective

Jun 1, 2001 - Brenda Townsend Hall

What struck me about the problems students faced in writing was not so much their deficiencies in language structure (although they were serious enough) as their almost total lack of awareness about what constituents go into an academic paper.

May 1, 2001 - Brenda Townsend Hall

Learning a foreign language is just one aspect of learning to communicate with other nationalities. English is well established as the language of international business, but, when we travel and meet people from different backgrounds we find that linguistic obstacles are not the only barriers to understanding.

Apr 1, 2001 - Brenda Townsend Hall

The communicative and humanistic approaches to language training have shown us the importance of setting up genuine dialogue between learner and trainer and among learners themselves. When, as trainers, we ask a series of questions in the manner of quiz masters, where we know the answer and watch while the learner struggles to find something acceptable to us, we cannot claim to be setting up genuine dialogue; it is an unequal power game.

Mar 1, 2001 - Brenda Townsend Hall

The great advantage of games is that students become so engaged in the activity that they use the target language spontaneously. It's amazing what strategies they can find within themselves to put their ideas across, even if their knowledge is limited. I use a range of games for a variety of purposes, but I'd like to share these with you.

Feb 1, 2001 - Brenda Townsend Hall

When second languages were taught by the grammar/translation method, everyone seemed fairly clear about what should be taught and in what order. Verbs in all their complexity dominated the scene and conjugations and inflections were learnt by rote. The result was that language learners understood a good deal about how the target language was constructed but had little idea of how it was pronounced or used in ordinary conversation.

Jan 1, 2001 - Brenda Townsend Hall

So you want to become a business English instructor! This career choice sure makes sense. After all, many EFL students are learning English to further their business careers. Looking at the investment they have already made into improving their English skills, a weekend or two of business English instruction is quite small. They will seek out and pay for a competent business English instructor. However, there are a few new challenges you will face with business English

Dec 1, 2000 - Brenda Townsend Hall

Telephoning is a basic communicative activity that second language learners always find especially daunting. It's difficult when you can't see your opposite number and it's harder to predict what's coming next

Nov 1, 2000 - Brenda Townsend Hall

Teachers might like to use this quiz with their students

Oct 1, 2000 - Brenda Townsend Hall

I am very keen to see more business English materials available for sale on the internet for several reasons. Firstly the ease of accessibility means that you don't have any waiting time, as is the case so often if you order a book; secondly you can usually download free samples to evaluate. Thirdly I like the loose-leaf format that printing at home permits, as I find my business clients prefer a loose-leaf folder of materials to a textbook with its schoolroom associations

Sep 1, 2000 - Brenda Townsend Hall

Classroom visuals for structural and fluency practice

Aug 1, 2000 - Brenda Townsend Hall

This lesson plan gives an example of how visuals may be used in the ELT classroom for structure practice and fluency.

Jul 1, 2000 - Brenda Townsend Hall

When I observe lessons I find that in about ninety per cent of the time the teacher is using text-based materials. Nothing wrong with that, but text seems to take control of both students and teacher. The students have their heads bent down; some get stuck at specific problems; others read on, eager to forge ahead; some reach for their dictionaries in panic. The teacher too seems mesmerised by the written word and finds it hard to deviate or improvise - what is written rules. By contrast pictures let each student find their own text.

Jun 1, 2000 - Brenda Townsend Hall

Current theories on effective learning stress the participation of the student in all aspects of the process; far from being passive receptacles into which information is poured and stored, students need active involvement in order to succeed. Yet how many teachers really consult their students about their opinions?

May 1, 2000 - Brenda Townsend Hall

Language training in the business field is more pressured than general English teaching. Clients have limited time to attend courses; they want maximum results often for minimum effort -I don't mean this disparagingly - they just haven't the time to spend on studying; they are more likely to want to restrict the fields of language they practise to their own professional or commercial interests; they often like to feel more in control of the contents and methods used on the course; they will probably make swift judgements about the effectiveness of the training, based on results.

Apr 1, 2000 - Brenda Townsend Hall

When teachers have to confront a difficult student, they often have more of a problem with their own feelings than with the student whose behaviour is disruptive. This is because the teachers have a sense of failure, of having their expertise rejected. It is important to begin, therefore, with some clarification of what types of behaviour are likely to be disruptive; next to understand what might cause such behaviour, then to generate solutions to the problem

Mar 1, 2000 - Brenda Townsend Hall

As far as trends in ELT are concerned, the nineties were the decade of the lexical approach. There were three issues that led to this concentration on the lexical element in language. One was a recognition coming out of the communicative approach, that to be understood speakers of a second language did not need to produce grammatically perfect sentences.

Feb 1, 2000 - Brenda Townsend Hall

To be proficient in a language requires more than structural competence and a good vocabulary. English language teaching generally concentrates far too much, in my opinion, on structure, on functional grammar , on referential meaning.

Jan 1, 2000 - Brenda Townsend Hall

This month I am giving a checklist of grammar points and words that are a frequent source of confusion. The obvious mistakes are given and explanations provided.

Dec 1, 1999 - Brenda Townsend Hall

Language trainers need to be adaptable. There is seldom a week goes by without your finding yourself called upon to stand in for your colleague who has had to take her rotweiler to the vet, or when you can't do the wonderful video session you planned because the VCR is on the blink, or, out of the blue, someone offers you a freelance slot at a moment's notice. So what we all need is a box of tricks that requires no technology, no copies, no books: just you and a group

Nov 1, 1999 - Brenda Townsend Hall

The behaviour of words in relation to other elements in the sentence through syntactical patterns is another area which is neglected in the classroom. One reason for this might be the complexity of differences in style between, say, forms of spoken and written English.

Oct 1, 1999 - Brenda Townsend Hall

It has been useful to distinguish between syntax (how words relate to each other) and morphology (the different forms a word may have) in order to emphasise how each aspect has its influence on meaning. Patterns of morphology have in fact been much more commonly the focus of classroom attention than patterns of syntax.

Sep 15, 1999 - Brenda Townsend Hall

The connotations a word acquires are perhaps the most changeable aspects of meaning. The denotative meanings of words change too: it is now almost impossible to use gay, for example in its earlier meaning. But connotation is that aspect of meaning which carries judgement, feeling or opinion, and as public attitudes changes or are moulded by commercial, political or other influences, so words acquire new connotations implying certain attitudes or emotions on the part of the user.

Sep 1, 1999 - Brenda Townsend Hall

Collocation is the tendency of words to co-exist. At its simplest it is a predictable association of words that naturally fall together in certain contexts such as 'cup of tea' or 'bread and butter'.

Aug 1, 1999 - Brenda Townsend Hall

The importance of stress in marking the focus of information in a sentence is not easily perceived by learners and they can easily misunderstand what they hear and, in turn, be misunderstood by not stressing the appropriate elements themselves.

Jul 1, 1999 - Brenda Townsend Hall

This is the first of a six-part summary of essential grammar points for English language teachers.

Jun 1, 1999 - Brenda Townsend Hall

The decision to take an immersion course in an Anglophone country means the investment of a lot of time and money. Expectations are naturally high that such an investment will be worthwhile.

May 2, 1999 - Brenda Townsend Hall

the majority of students develop reading and writing skills before those of listening and speaking. This is, of course, in direct opposition to the way in which we acquire our first language. As a result of this topsy-turvy approach, the non-native speaker arriving for the first time in an Anglophone country often finds the language s/he hears all around completely incomprehensible. And to add insult to confusion, this same non-native speaker finds that no-one can understand his or her version of the English language either.

Apr 1, 1999 - Brenda Townsend Hall

I started thinking about what would be the content of a conversation class. First I had a look at what the web had to offer. Perhaps the most useful resource is a list of conversation topics with appropriate question to be found in the TESL Internet Journal at htt://www.aitech.ip/~iteslj/questions/. However this topic-based approach is aimed more at stimulating individual class members to talk than at teaching the interactive nature of a group conversation.

Mar 1, 1999 - Brenda Townsend Hall

Paradoxically, the proliferation of the means and tools for communication has resulted in less not more clarity. Confusion abounds, not least in the field of information technology itself, where instructions are frequently oblique, relying on false assumptions about users' existing knowledge.

Feb 1, 1999 - Brenda Townsend Hall

The exercises below are to help you explore ways in which the Cambridge International Dictionary can help you learn more about English.

Jan 1, 1999 - Brenda Townsend Hall

It is always difficult to wean students off their bilingual dictionaries, so it is probably best to encourage them to use their learners' dictionary alongside their bilingual crutch. However, to help them make the most of all that the learners' dictionary has to offer, the teacher needs to show them how to navigate its many routes.

Dec 1, 1998 - Brenda Townsend Hall

Three key points of interest for learners who want to use the Internet to help them with their English studies are: - the availability of online teaching - materials offering opportunities for practice and consolidation - shortcuts for searching the web for other sites of interest.

Oct 27, 1998 - Brenda Townsend Hall

English language learners wishing to take a public examination as part of their course of study should think very carefully about which exam is appropriate to their needs.

Oct 7, 1998 - Brenda Townsend Hall

What qualities does an English language teacher need? A simple question, but not an easy one to answer.

Sep 7, 1998 - Brenda Townsend Hall

As a truly global activity, English language teaching benefits greatly from the ease of access to material on the Internet. The well-heeled learner of English has always been able to travel to an English-speaking community for an immersion course, probably the most effective means of learning.

Jul 14, 1998 - Brenda Townsend Hall