Happy Holidays !

I wish you A Happy New Year!
Oana

Hello Nicola!

I am happy to see Nicola as a contributor, without a contribution yet, but it is the first step. Please send me the photos you would like to display on our blog. And do not be shy, start posting articles! In Romania we have not started school yet, so I cannot tell you how the tricks we learned work withmy students, but be sure I'll share! I am in Bucharest now at a conference organised by Oxford University Press. Yesterday we attended a workshop held by Jeremy Harmer (does it ring any bells?). As soon as I get home I'll try to post materials and information we aquired here.
Hope to see your articles soon! Have patience with your students!
Love you all,
Oana

Teaching Collocations

Well, I bought "English Collocations in Use"-Michael McCarthy & Felicity O'Dell (Cambridge University Pess) and I found the argument at the beginning of the book quite interesting.
The authors, answering the question "Why learn collocations?" provide us with the perfect answer for our students when asking the same:" They will help you to speak and write English in a more natural way".
What is this "natural way"? It makes the difference between using vocabulary in certain structural patterns and using vocabulary in a way that makes sense to any native English speaker.
For example, a common mistake my students make(when they want to say >looking at something quickly without looking at the details>)is the use of "He threw his eyes over the window"-which usually makes me see the poor guy plucking his eyes and throwing them over... when the correct way of saying this is "He cast/run his/an eye over..."
This particular mistake is caused mainly because my students translate word for word. And the examples are many...
But, if we keep explaining this to them and give them such examples, they will eventually understand the meaning of "natural English" and will try to look for collocations in the dictionaries (and they will give up the habit of picking up the first entry).
I recommend you to try this book because it has tips for using the dictionary, types of collocations, register information and collocation exercises grouped on topics.

"There is nothing as practical as good theory" by Morgan Lewis

I would say that  one of the most important reflections we have  made in this summer course was the one related to the practise of teaching in our classes .

We were recommended  to read the 1st chapter of a book called "There is nothing as practical as a good theory" by Morgan Lewis.You may remember this book.Morgan Lewis draws his attention to the importance of teaching  collacations when learning   the English language.

The whole chapter is very interesting to read and comment on, so I would like to suggest you all to  revise the article and start a debate or something like it ,  so we could share our opinions about this teaching  turn of the screw.

 I´m sure many of these questions were also  in our teachers minds before we saw them on this chapter.Nevetheless, it is good to see them printed and made by a native English teacher.In any case, this way  we can see that non-native English teachers and native ones have quite the  same questions and worries.We are both teachers anyhow.

There are many different inquiries  along the chapter. However, these are just the introductory questions he made as an example:

• -Why is it that what my students learn doesn´t more closely resemble what I teach?
  
• -Should I spend so much time trying to achieve accurate grammar from my students?
  
• -Should my lesson plan rule the proceedings?
  
• -What is the most efficient way of improving students´performance, given they don´t have a lot of time to learn the language?(and I would add they don´t feel like spending much time studying the English language)
  
• -What can you really do for those  ´intermediate plateau´students who need a breakthrough and a feeling of progression?
  
• -What can you do for advanced students after they have met the third conditional?And what is ´advanced´English anyway?
  

-The task is :

• What percentage of the time in your training was spent at looking at teaching and what percentage was devoted to learning?
  
• After a lesson now, do you tend to think mostly about what you did, or about the learners?

On the other hand, I would like  to have a look to   the  two broad conclusions he came to:

1.THERE WAS NO GUARANTEE THAT LEARNERS LEARN WHAT TEACHERS TEACH.

2.THE GRAMMAR /VOCABULARY DICHOTOMY WAS SPURIOUS, AND THE CENTRAL ROLE OF GRAMMAR , AT LEAST AS DEFINED WITHIN MY TRAINING, PROBABLY NEEDED TO BE RE-EVALUATED.

• Would you read the chapter again?
• Have you ever made these kind of questions before?
• Do you find the matter so interesting to deal with it?
• Would you be interested in discussing about this subject?
• Do you think your teaching should be  re-evaluated according to his ideas?How ?
  
• What do you think about teaching collocations?
  

I would love you to have a look and try to think about this text. I´m very interested in it and your ideas may help me.Thank you for  all your suggestions, ideas,etc.

Shakespeare's Saints and Sinners

Place: St. Michael at the North Gate (Oxford)
Starring: Tom Peters
Theme: are Shakespeare's protagonists mainly heroes and villains? ( through a clever twist of thought we are shown that we can find saintly in the sinner and sinful in the saint)
Reviews: http://www.dailyinfo.co.uk/reviews/feature/3158/Saints_And_Sinners
Rating: xxxx

Carmen's Top 10

1.The best thing that happened to me :Sharing this fantastic course with such an incredible group of teachers.
2.The most beautiful place I visited:Oxfrod lively streets, the Bodleian Library and Blenheim Palace Gardens.
3.The best restaurant: The Chequers(I spent very good moments there)
4.The nicest event:The Fayrest Quene Concert
5.The best dish:our daily salad and coffee at the restaurant next to our school (for their good humour, atmosphere and price 10% off.)
6.The best place to spend your money:
7.The funniest activity:commenting on our latest personal interview exercise in class and completing idioms and colloations on the internet with Inga.
8.The most demorlizing thing :Spending too much time on a presentation when we were only given 5 minutes.
9.The best deal: A Penguin reference book´s collection Oana recommended us.
10.The saddest day:none ,there were no goodbyes. we just said ´I´ll see you´

Oana's Top 10 (the rest are invited to contribute with their top 10)

1. The best thing that happened to me: I met great people
2. The most beautiful place I visited: Blenheim Palace
3. The best restaurant: The Grand Cafe (for the atmosphere)
4. The nicest event: "Mamma Mia"-the feature film-Pierce Brosnan
singing
5. The best dish:"Jack potato"-for the novelty
6. The best place to spend your money: Blackwell bookshop
7. The funniest activity: punting
8. The most demoralizing thing: the rainy weather- 1st week
9. The best deal: a Penguin reference books'collection-9.90 pounds
10.The saddest day: the day Monica left-I saw tears

Collocations-example

A great example of how to use authentic materials in teaching collocations:

All of the words in brackets are grammatically possible. Choose the alternative that sounds best in each case, then listen and check.
An Englishman in New York

I don't drink (coffee/alcohol/beer) I take (soft drinks/water/tea) my dear
I like my toast done on one side
And you can hear it in my (accent/voice/words) when I (speak/talk/say)
I'm an Englishman in New York.

See me (strolling/running/walking) down Fifth (Road/Avenue/Street)
A walking cane here at my side
I take it (anywhere/everywhere/most places) I walk

I'm an Englishman in New York.
I'm an alien I'm a legal alien
I'm an Englishman in New York
I'm an alien I'm a legal alien
I'm an Englishman in New York

If, "Manners maketh man" as someone said
Then he's the (winner/hero/champion) of the (world/hour/day)
It takes a man to suffer ignorance and smile
Be (yourself/honest/brave) no matter what they (call you/say/do)...


This can be done to any other song, where the teacher chooses the word that forms a collocation adds 2 distractors. Easy, no?

Classes

Being 16 participants at the course, we were placed in two groups, so that I found myself in the same class with Carmen, Marivi, Kirstin, Tina, Tanja, Bernadette and Inga. The best class ever! Not to forget, Rob Duff, the course tutor, also contributed to the nice and relaxed atmosphere.
The schedule didn't say much when first read, but everything was interesting and, at the end of the course, we realized we had loads of materials to take back home.
Every day classes started at 9.10 and ended either at 1.10 (on even days) or 4.30 (on odd ones).

The emphasis was laid on collocation, connotation and context and we were shown the importance of teaching English in an environment as authentic as possible, where collocations play a vital role. Many of the exercises focused on how to elicit students'prior knowledge and to stir their interest in using the newly aquired information.
The inductive approach to grammar was another issue of interest to all of us. I shall give examples of exercises and activities in a separate chapter.
Correction was another thing that draw my attention, because I for one never conceptualized the correction techniques or thought of the advantages and disadvantages of a certain correction method, so that to apply the best technique for a certain situation/error.
All in all, we were shown that teaching can be fun and that we can have a great atmosphere in the classroom if we are ready to sacrifice time preparing useful(read intelligent) materials.

Things I saw and places I visited in Oxford- Oana

There is much to see and do in this historic and vibrant university city. For a start a bus tour(Hop On-Hop Off) is recommended, but the walking tour is always a better option, not to say that it is free.
The Colleges, 39 in number and spread all over the city, represent its very heart and some of them can be visited. The oldest colleges are University College, Baliol and Merton. If you want to visit the Christ Church College, take your time and stay in line as people come from all over the world to see the place where many of the scenes in the Harry Potter feature films were shot. Some others want to see the school where Charles Dodgson, Lewis Carroll for literature, came to study maths and ended up writing the world famous "Alice's Adventures".
Unfortunately I did not have the patience to spend half a day waiting at the gates, so I missed this opportunity... but people say it is worth visiting.



The Botanic Garden, an oasis of peace and calm and an interesting place even for those who are not particularly keen on studying plants. Go there on a sunny day and enjoy the stroll !



The museums are not to be missed. The Museum of Natural History, for example, facilitates a close up look at the Dodo bird and the complete skeletons of a Eustreptospondylus and a Camptosaurus, which, in spite of the intricate names, look like any other dinosaur to me. But the kids can have a great time here!



Ashmolean Museum, Britain's first public museum, exhibits an impressive collection of art and artifacts: from Egyptian to Roman, from Turner and Constable to Kandinski. My favourite? A David Tindle...



I couldn't find time to reach the Modern Art Museum, which had an interesting (I think)exhibition: "Painted doors".



Oxford Castle, that used to be a prison, is now a luxury hotel. The old tower can still be visited for a 6.20 pounds fee (student discount 10%). As a matter of fact, if you have a student ID, there are lots of places offering the 10% discount.



We spent every night out, going to the cinema or the theatre, some of us enjoyed a baroque or classical music concert in the chapel and all of us ended the day, almost invariably, in a pub (and there were some on our street).