Page 19 - ELG1601 Jan Issue 432

ELreviews
January 2016 Page 19
Masterly overview

Wayne Trotman looks at a guru’s latest offering Book of the month

Key Issues in Language eties of English and English as The focus in Part Three is ‘Lan- Teaching children how to learn stimulate children’s imagination which
Teaching a lingua franca. Further chapters guage and the four skills’, and
Jack C. Richards, Cambridge expand on the several theories includes coverage of the nature Gail Ellis and Nayr Ibrahim, Delta can be used as a teaching aid. Part B
Publishing;
contains practical ideas like making a
University Press; of language learning, along with of grammar, criteria for choos-
978-1-1074-5610-5 differences between approaches ing items for a grammar syllabus, 978-1-9050-5886-6 vocabulary diary. Part C encourages
personal reflection. I love the Toolkit, a
and methods such as grammar- plus how grammar affects lan- The latest book in the Delta Teacher bank of ready-to-use teaching material in
overing
eight
translation and audiolingualism.
guage learning. Useful tasks in the
over
C hundred pages (and Completing Part One is cover- appendix here include suggestions Development series has a specific focus: reduced format – full-size pdfs are
learner training for children. It is based on
downloadable from the web. The book
age of the skills that define the
weighing in at about a
for teaching the passive voice. It
kilo) the much-published and competence of a professional was noticeable, and at the same a ‘plan – do – review’ cycle. Part A contains advice on developing storytelling
discusses the theory behind ‘learning to
skills and how to encourage home
highly regarded Jack C. Rich- language teacher, including time very encouraging, that prior learn’ and is of relevance to all language involvement. The authors draw on their
ards in this title, his latest tome, improvisational performance to dealing with the main language teachers. It introduces Wilbur the Worm, considerable experience in this area.
is nothing less than expansive in (how and why teachers depart skills, phonology is given exten- an appealing mascot figure designed to Recommended.
his overview of the many issues from their original lesson plan) sive coverage. Sadly, too often
that constantly exercise the men- and the development of a spe- phonology in many such texts
tal muscle of all involved in cialised knowledge base for gets merely an honorary men- Become an Online English importantly, processing online potion can change into
language teaching. If I tell you language teaching. Of particu- tion. It was also pleasing to see Teacher payments. Chapter seven different animals. The book
that the acknowledgements alone lar interest in the latter is the that a whole chapter is devoted Nestor Kiourtzidis, Pavilion; contains teaching ideas and incorporates some tricky
run to about fifteen pages, then author’s research on a com- to ‘Discourse and Pragmatics’. 978-1-9103-6677-6 includes links to online words, like kingdom,
you’ll understand that he draws parison of how literature and Knowledge of speech acts, dis- materials like Expemo, a enchantress, potion and
on multiple sources. Teachers non-literature graduates dealt course features and genre analysis This slim 124-page guide is flashcard app. Users will need cauldron, and manages to
and other colleagues from around with the same reading texts should enable teachers to more aimed at language teachers to supplement this book to get remain accessible for the
the world were invited to read (page 116–117). fully understand what effective interested in the growing further teaching ideas. target readers by providing
chapters and provide numerous The second part of this title written and spoken communica- phenomenon of teaching simplified definitions. I
insightful vignettes that draw looks at the second language tion in English involves. online. Chapter one looks at Merlin especially like the
upon their personal experience. learner. Chapter five covers the The fourth and final part deals Skype and various tools like Janet Hardy-Gould, OUP; imaginative, stylish
Interspersed throughout are role of learner beliefs, plus styles with the teacher’s environment. Google Docs. It describes how 978-0-1942-4974-4 illustrations, and the language
questions for the reader regard- of participation that include an It covers firstly curriculum to record online classes and exercises at the back are
ing their own particular opinions interesting section on what are planning and needs analyses share documents. I found the Merlin is a 34-page graded useful. The accompanying
or contexts, while all chapters termed ‘phantom students’ – before moving on to monitoring book helpful on the business reader. The level is ‘quick MultiROM includes a
end with a lengthy list of probing those who get on with things to the impact of a course. Valu- side, dealing with the starter’, aimed at A1 students; dramatised reading of the
discussion questions. Thus, the such an extent that the teacher able advice is provided here on practicalities of setting up and it uses 250 headwords. The story. A new Gamebook
interactive nature of Key Issues hardly notices them. Also dealt choosing ELT coursebooks marketing online courses. It intriguing story concerns a version on the web includes
in Language Teaching would with are motivation, identity wisely. After coverage of the provides tips on finding young wizard, Merlin, who fun vocabulary games.
encourage its use on a wide vari- and affective factors. The three use of technology and then test- students, building a blog and, through drinking a magic Engaging.
ety of teacher education contexts. case studies ending the chapter ing and assessment, Richards
Part One, ‘The scope of illustrate what it takes to become ends with a chapter outlining the
English and language teach- a successful language learner. increasing emphasis in the ELT Reviews by Pete Sharma for the Bournemouth English Book Centre: www.bebc.co.uk
ing’, looks initially into factors Further chapters provide an world on professional develop-
promoting the use of English overview of the language lesson ment, pointing to the value of
around the world, such as glo- and managing classroom learn- teachers investigating their own
balisation, the media and the ing. Information and tasks on classrooms by carrying out prac-
idea that knowing English, at these aspects in particular would titioner research in the form of
least according to Sayer (2010), be of excellent use for work- peer observation, case studies
is ‘sophisticated’, ‘cool’ and shops given to novice teachers. and action research. n
even ‘sexy’. Other topics cov- Age-appropriate pedagogy ends
ered in this part include English Part Two, which looks at pro- Wayne Trotman supervises
as an international language, viding ELT courses for young teacher research at Katip
learners’ views of English, vari- learners, teenagers and adults. Çelebi University, Izmir, Turkey

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