Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
A P R I L I 9 9 8
C O N T E N T S
Editorial
MatthewBarnard
From A LanguageLearner'sDiary
Scott Thornbury
Igor Manko
DavidAIbery
12
t5
GrammarIn A Task-Based
Framework
Philip Kerr
I6
Transigence
and Transaction:The Response
VariousContributors
20
VsriousContribulors
24
Fructo-Linguistic
Pedagogies
Damien Parrott
26
And Answers
Questions
28
PracticeNetsI
GavinDudeney
30
Top Sites
GavinDudeney
3t
X Y Z Ampersand
Cathy Ellis
32
Remembering
LanguageTravelling
Brita Haycraft
34
OlntemationalHouseLondon 1998
Publishedby IntemationalHouseLondon
Editedby Matthew Bamard
Design:Matthew Bamard
ISSN1368-3292
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pleasecontactCentral Department. Singlecopiesarc alsogivento membersof thc lH London
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Editorial
Geniuses and enthusiasts
The architectGumbril Seniorin Huxley'sAntic Hay referredto the teachingprofessiol as 'the last
rclugeof feebleminds with classicaleducations'.It would, he went on to say,bc an excellent
professionif everyonewho went into it was asmuch interestedin teachingas fte was in lls job:
'It's
theseundecidedcreatureswho ruin it by drifting in. Until all teachersare geniusesand
enthusiasts,
nobodywill leam anything,exceptwhat they teachthemselves,.
It's a fu'ny thi'g, but it seemsto me that a grcatmany of the enthusiasts
within our professronare
just thoscpeoplcrvho drifted in. PrivatescctorELT thriveson thosewho perhapsstarted
olf
secingteachingas a sort ofstopgapor a ticket to travel;but r.vhether
it's the infectiousdedication
and inspirationofour initial training,or the thrill ofthose first yearsrvorkingabroadsunounded
by equallyeagcrcolleagues,
they end up being far fromjust casualpractitioners.And what of thc
gcniuses?Givcn the numberof r.vcighty
joumals aroundandthe queuesof academicstrying to
get lnto prlnt to cnsurethcir continuedaccommodation
in Ivory Towers,thereis no apparentlack
therecither. But thcreis a problem,and that is the continuingantagcnismbetwecnthe geniuses
andthe enthusiasts
rvhichoften stemsfrom a lack ofmutual respcct.How can the enthusiasts
be
surethat u'lratthe gcniusesaresayingis worth listeningto? A colleagueof minc, Rodney
Blakeston,suggestsissuingthem all with a brief questionnaire..
when clidyou lastleachu
Iunguuge?llrltendid tou last leorn a laiguage as a beginner?How much ofrecently handed
down theoryand ntcthodologywould haveremainedintactif the geniusesit.rvolvedhad beenable
to answer'lastmonth'to thcscquestions?
This discussioncropsup throughoutthis issucofthe IHJED, alongrvith any numberof cxamples
of idcasand thoughtsfrom the enthusiasts
witl.rinour organisation.ScottThombury,rvho somc
might classifyas an enthusiastic
genius,clearlydemonstrates
his ability to passthe Blakeston
Test,with his accountofa recentlanguageleamingexperienccwhich hasa grcatdealto o ffer
tcacllersand trainersalike, Igor Manko highlightsone ofthc failingsof con.rmunicative
teaching
and David Albery questionsthe teachingofculturc as it is tacklcdby somecourscbooksand
teacllcrs.The argumentsreally get going in the rcsporlscs
to this year,sIntemationalHouse
TeachcrTralningConference.I'herearepracticalideasin this issueas well - from the highertech
tips on usingthe World Wide Web, to the somewhatlower techtips on bananasin the classroon.
Allcl rve havesomedelightfulmemoriesfrom Brita Haycraftwhich offer someinsiehtsinto horv
nranyof us endedup rvherewe aretoday.
Having enthusedso much aboutour profcssion,I can't hclp feelingI havedeliberatelyavoideda
recuningand ratherfundamcntalqucstion,which is whethcrELT is really a professionat all. The
shcernumberof arliclesaroundthat questionthis rvouldseemto suggestthat it isn't (how mar.ry
piecesdo you coureacrossdiscussingrvhethermedicineor larvareprofessions?).But that,s
anothcrstory;Bravc Nerv World, perhaps.
l\Iattherv Barnard
Director of Studies.IH London
A D V E R T I S E M E N T
managingyourself
managingothers
systemsmanagement
educationaland organisational
management
Reading,guidcdassignments
andprojectwork will allow pafticipants
to examineandreflectworkingpractice.
NEXTCOURSE
BEGINS
1998
SEPTEMBER
The averageworkload for parlicipantsis estimatcdat between15 and
20 hoursper module. The feesfor the coursewill be fI050. Feescan
be paid by bank transfer.
PARTICIPANTPROFILE:
Participantswill be existing or potential educational managers working in an ELT
context. Participantsshould normally be graduates with a minimum of 5 years
experiencein ELT.
Much of the course work to be submitted for assessmentis task-based.so
candidatesneed accessto an ELT institution for the purposesof researchand
information-gathering,and to enablethem to completethe assignedtasks.
FORFURTHER
INFORMATION
CONTACT
HOUSELONDON,106PICCADILLY.
LONDONWlV 9FL
MAUREEN
MCGARVEY
AT INTERNATIONAL
llI
rtnrl l)Lrc.ltIntr:nr
L e s s o n7
Peter is back! But the class rs splrt betweenthe
quick and the dead. Poor old Nora - she'sfinding
it all uphill (exceptthe songs- it tums out sheu'as
a primary school teachcr and taught these songs
hersell). I'.and I are among the quick - but we
don't let on that we spent all last rveekend
practising as rve drove to Okarito and back asking each other inane qucstions like 'what
colour js that shcep?'as we drive along. (I even
made my first Maon joke: "What colour is the
sheep?" Ansrvcr: Ma (white). "What does thc
shccp say'?"Answer: Maaaa). But this srmply
supports my conviction that you can't learn a
languagein the classroom,at leastnot at the rate
of trvo hoursa rveek- the classroomrs really a pit
you check in for a changeof oil before
stopr.vhere
h c r d r n co l l ' r ! r r n t o t i n d a n y e x c u s et o l l s e i l .
D o n ' tl o s er t . u s ei t .
We have also been trying out Paul Natron'sword
card technrquc (Maorr rvord on one srdc,
lranslatlonon the othcr - test yourseif in both
directions- L2-Ll, Ll -LZ - test each other, keep
shufflrngthem). As Nation says,it doesn'tseent
to matter $,hcther the u'ords are semantically
linked or not - in t'actthe more randomthc bettcr,
as this rcallv tcsls your po*,cr and speedof recall
rnore than ii' you are aiready situatcd in a
p a r t i c u i alrc x i o a la r e a .r . e .i t ' s m u c h m o r e l i f e - l i k e
to have to recall numbersout of ordcr, and more
lile-like still to recail a number in the contextof
talking aboutsheep.
l,esson9
Our last lesson! It's not the cnd of the course(one
more lessonaftcr this) but P. and I are going back
to Spain. (Nora is amazed: "What, you both live
in Spain,rvhat a coit.rcidence
! " ). I am gcnulnely
sorry that it is over. I I'eel rcal rvarmth to the
group,and attributeit mainly to Juliet,her charm,
u,amrth,enthusiasm,and principally her pnde ir,
L e s s o n8
thc languageand r',,hatit stands for. It hasn't
As much as I am reconcrledto .Tuliet's
method(or
really matteredthat she is totally unformcd as a
lack of it) I am fiustratedby the nrfpickincss of
teacher- if anything, it has endearedus to her
lhe conlcnt of thc lessons- constantlygrappling
more than if she u'ere a technicalwhrzz. And it's
rvith nicctiesof grammar(the pronounsystemfor
not really thc languagewe havebccn leaming,but
cxample)which remindsme of IQ test rubrjcs: If
something about a people, and also something
'Ko
l , a i t a u t a n a ' m e a n s ' W h oi s y o u r s o n ? ' a n d about ourselves,as pakeha in a country that is
'Ko rvai
o n an t a t u a ' m e a n s ' W h oa r eh i s p a r e n t s ' 1 ' , arvkwardlycoming to termswith rts ethnrclty. All
horv rvouldyou say 'Who are their childrcn?' ctc.
the more reasonrvhy I regret having to miss thc
It doesseemthat, in real time, thereis no rvaythat
classexcursionto the marae- I'll neverbe able to
the complex decjsionsyou have to rvork through
performmy mihr rn real operatingconditions! But
(rs rt :n),. yours, hrs'?is it singular,plural or dual?
I did use some Maori outsideof class: I went to
rs it a big thing or a small thing?) could bc
visrt Ben in his shopto buy a bonependantfor my
opcratronallsedin time. But nor does practice
brother. "Kei te pehea koe?" I asked, self'seem to help automatisefluid production if you
consciously. "Kei te pai!" Ihat rvasthe long and
ckrn't a)rcady knorv it.
The altematrve the short of it, but it rvas something. And u'orth
mcmorising torntulatcchunks- rvell that'sflne ibr
all that slog tkough the pronounsystemS
tl'rcnrihl exprcssions,u4rich are formulaic almost
by dcfinition - you leam it by heart- but thcrc are
JLrsttoo nranychunks - my little sister,your eldcr
brothcr.his two cousinsetc. (I remembersomeof
i , J l ) , l L t ( t ! t i t ) ti t n t l l ) r \ . , , 1 t ) u i r l
COGNITM
When the communicativegoal is uppermostin the mind leamerstend to go for the nearestready-to-use
meaning-pattem' for communication that their minds offer - the L1 one, of course - and trace it word for
word, It doessoundlike English to the leamer,and the meaningought to be genuinelyconveyed.But on
the other, receiving end of the communication seesaw,Ll mental models can interfere in a much more
'It's
subtle,not to say devastating,
way. A remarklike
not that' could be interpretedin any one ofa dozen
'l
ways by a Russianspeaker,eachfurther from the intendedmeaningof mean somethingdifferent' than
the 1ast.
STORY FOR\{AT
Narration is certainly one of the most frequent
types of speakingactivity in the learner-centred
classroom. It is very motivating and provides
plenty of opportunityfor practice. Unfortunately
rt rs precisely the motivatlon and involvement
that distractthe studcntsfrom controlling therr
speechand resultin Ll meaning-pattems.Ifyou
have ever taught Past Perf'ector Future rn the
Pastto studcntsrvhoscL1 doesn'tprovide them
rvith a simrlarmodel. you'll know what I mean.
The story fbrmat acttvttiesoffered here involve
studentsin a nteaninqfuland anaiyticalexchange
rvhich rs at the same timc absorbrng and
motrvating,and has the advantageof a built-in
control:nechanism.
F r o m C l u e st o S t o r l ( l )
L
li). llilr]t1llt.tlui
F o r t h i s a c t i v i t y y o u ' l l n e e d t o c h o o s ea
number of different stories. Give eachpair
or group of studentsclues to one story on
cards(thesecould be in thc lbrm of words,
pictures or sentences)and ask them to
producea story of their own (in this instance
deciding on thc order. details etc. for
themselves). The various stories are then
sharedwith partnersfrom otherpairs/groups.
2. Givc out the original storiesfor the students
to comparewith the oncsthey havcmadeup.
While readrng,get thcm to reordertheir clue
prompts.
3. Onc studentfrom a pair/group(A) nrigrates
to anotherpartner and tries to guess thetr
story from the cluesnorv aranged according
to the storiesgiven by thc teacher. B is to
listen and nudge A in the nght direction
throughconection.
4. As and Bs swaprolesand repeatstage3.
Notes:
Giving studentsthe original stories aftcr their
own storles are creatcd and shared is a vcry
impofiant part of the activity. otherwisethe L1
tracingswon't be corected. The cluesyou give
shouldbe obvious enoughfor the studcntsto be
abic to createa story almostexactlythe samcas
the originalthat they get in stage2.
Storvrvise
In this activity a short story ts tapedbackrvards,
r.e. the last sentence first, the penultimate
sccond,etc. 1'hc original first sentcncecomes
last. Studentslisten and without taking notcs1ry
to reconstructrt in the naturaJorder (another
listeningmay be necessaryrvith lower groups).
Then the reconstructedvarrant is shared with
other pairs/groups.Ftnally thc original story is
playcdthe rrght rvayround.
Note: If studcntsomit sentencesrvhich they can
not placein the story while rcconstructingit may
DialogueCard Game
DIALOGUE FORMAT
i.
2.
l.
4.
5.
6.
Dialoguedictation
Note: Onceboth sidesof the draloguehavebeen
given somc thought and the intentions of the
speakersare clear, stage4 is very importantfor
intemalisrngthe languageassociatedwlth the
intentions.Stressand intonationcan be focussed
on here.
Foilorv-up:
With a lower-levelclass,give a handoutrvith the
dialoguervith gapsto frll in.
10
I hc lntonotiotul
4.
Follow-up:
l.
Somesumming-up considerations:
More olten than not the leamer is not aware that the languagethat he/she is producing ts traced from the
Ll mental background. Errors of this type are formed at the pre-verbal stageof speechproduction which
rs rvhy they are hardcr to exorcise. The approachshown in this article is not an immediate remedy. but
Justanothermeansofdealing wrth the problem.
Obviously the problem of Ll -tracings is not confined to the sort of Russian-speaking
monolingual
classroomI had in mind when devising these activities. It probably exists in a less explicit form in
multilingualgroupsas well. It would be interestingto dealwrth it intemationally.
The activities offered in this article aren't meant to representcomplete lessonplans. It's very much up to
the teacherto work them into the lessonswhen they see fit. I would suggestthat they be used within the
communicative lesson frame whenever there is a need.
The activities representa variety of forms and ways within a cognitive approach frame and are meant to
show how easily various materials can be transformedto serve the purpose. Ideally they should trigger
teachers'owninvention,as only the teacherknowstheir students'preciseneedsG
The
rnal
of
ON
Selectedextracts,accompanyingmsterials andfurther
referencessoon to be available ot the IH website
12
'I'ht
m
Y)
HU
ru
tLLI,
(l
Ihc lntauntinal
13
Hughes'ideas,mentionedearlier,might be useful)
so that they begin to see the culture in which they
find themselves on its own terms and do not
necessarilytransfer their own cultural knowledge
or their preconceptronsof the English-speaking
culture. Once this is established.
the studentsare
encouragedto become 'researchers'of the culture,
the social interactionsthey experience,including
the behaviour of people in those situations and the
languageused. To this end, the studentsmrght be
asked to choose which srtuation/interactionsthey
wish to research (breakfast with the host family,
an eveningrn the pub, travelling on the tube) and
then rvouldbe cncouragedto producea task whrch
would help them focus on the situations/
interactions they experience (I use the word
'experience'
herebecauseI believethat the needto
carry out such research might actually encourage
students to engage more with the situatron/
interaction rather than simply observe it). The
task mrght include rvho speaks to whom, when,
how often,who intenupts whom, how and so on.
It might also include commenting on the body
languageused,the intonation,the volume and so
on. And, of course,it would include how all thrs
cultural informationis expressedand reflectedin
the languageused.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Alptekin C. and Alptekin M. (1984) "The Questronof Culturern EFL Teachingin non-English
SpeakrngCountries"rn ELTJ Vol. 38 No. I Jan 1984pp 14-26
Barro A,, Byram M, , Grimm H, , Moegan C. and Roberts C. "CulturalStudresfor Advanced
LanguageI-earners"in Languageand Cultureed.by GraddolD. ThompsonL. and Byram M. (1993)
Clevedon:BAAL and Multilingual Matters.
Brooks N. "Culturein the Classroom"in CultureBound: Bridging the CulturalGap in Language
Teachinged. by ValdesJ. (1986) CambridgeUniversifyPrcss
Byram M. "Residenceabroad- fieldwork in pre-serviceteacherdevelopment"in Triangle l2 (1994)
Paris:Didier-Erudition
Fishman J. A. (1960) "A Systemization
of the WhorfianHypothesis"in Communicationand Cultureed.
(1966)
by SmithA. G.
Holt, Rinehartand WinstonInc.
HughesG. IL "An Argumentfor cultureanalysisin the secondlanguagcciassroom"in CultureBound:
Bridgingthe CultureGap in LanguageTeachinged. by ValdesJ. (1986) CambridgeUnversityPress
Kramsch C. (1993) Contextand Culturein LanguageTeachingOxford lJniversityPress
Lado R. (1957) LinsuisticsAcrossCultures UniversityofMrchigan Press
Valdes J. (ed) (1986) CultureBound: Bridging the CulturalGap in LanguageTeaching Cambridge
UniversityPress
Referencehas also been made to a lecture on culture and ethnographicstudy given by Celia Roberts of
ThamesValley University at TheInstitute of Education, Universily ofLondon, 1995 and to documents
produced hy Roberts C. et al concerning ethnographicstudiesand Ianguagelearning (TVU).
14
'lhe
lttcrnoti<nnl llout
Ben Warren International House Trust Prize was establishedin memory of Ben Warren, founder of
the IntemationalHouse group ofschools in Catalunya,who died in tragic circumstancesin 1991. This
prtze of f2,000, rvhich was first awardedin 1997,is given for outstandingwork in the field of language
teachereducation.
The panelofjudgcs is madeup of:
Jereny Hanner, best selling ELT author
Jonathan Dy kes,Barcelnna
This book developsthe theoreticolposition set out in the author's highly acclainecl
The Lexical Approach
and adds net+,insights and comprehensiyesuggestionsto enable teachersto take the approach
di"ectb, into the clossroom.
AI]OUT LANGUACE
Scatl addrcssesthe.luestion 'Iyhat is it that a teachcr needslo know about English in order to teach it
el/ectitel;" arul developsteachers' awarenasso;fthe language through a tide range of ktskswhich involve then
itt analysing English to discover its underlfing system. llith full key antl commentary',
this book can be used on treini g coursesor for self-sntdy.
APPROACH
Michael J. Wallace.CtiP
l)cvcloput:nl
15
FNAMEWONK
IN A TASK.0ASEO
GR,AMMAR,
SecondIanguageacquisition researcherstell us that it is unrealistic to expect
predictedlearningof specificitemsof grammarto occur. If studentsaren't going
to learn whatwe teachthem,doesthis meanthat we shouldn't be teaching
grammarat all? Philip Kerr, Director of Studiesin InternationalHouseLondon,
takes a look al grammar in a task-basedmodel of languageteaching..
Many teachersconceive of their teaching as a
variety of quite distinct lesson types, or types of
lesson segments. Typically, these include the
grammaror vocabularylesson,and'skills' lessons
- reading,wnting, speakingand listening. These
lessontlpes may be integrated: indeed, a standard
DTEFLA lesson would include more than one
segment, held together by a unilying toptc.
Syllabuses(both in schoolsand coursebooks)and
teachers' course timetables reflect this
of languageteaching.
conceptualisation
According to this model, grammar is taught in
'skills'
grammarlessonsand skills are taught in a
lesson. However, second language acquisltlon
researchsuggeststhat much of the gmmmar that ls
taught in a grammar lessonis not leamt, and that it
'skills' lesson that students, in
is during a
strugglingto expressor decode meanings,will
push their interlanguage (i.e. their grammar)
forward. This insight led some teachers to
abandon all up-front grammar teaching and to
concentrate exclusively on a more holistic,
integrated skills approach. More recently,
however, the pendulum has swung back with the
aclmowledgement that a focus on language
systems - grammar, lexis and phonology - will
benefit the leamer. *'ill increase thc potential for
leaming, even though it may be unrealistic to
assumethat leamrng of particular discrete ttems
will occur.
In a task-based framework, such as that put
forward by JaneWillis, a communicative task (i e.
involving a language skill) is at the centre of the
lcsson,but languagefocus activities(also known
activities)follow on lrom
as consciousness-raising
this. In the illustrations of such activities that
follow, the intention has been to ensure that there
is an opportunity for the three leaming processes
that MrchaelLewis suggestedwere indispensable
for ianguageleamingto take Place:
l.
t6
o b s e r v a t r oonl l a n g u a g eb. o t h i n c o n t e x ta n d
in isolation
'/'ht
H e r ea r et e n c o u n t r i e sC
. a ny o u i d e n t i f yt h e m ?C h o o s ef r o m t h e l i s t b e l o w .W h e n
you have finished,listento Steve and Liz playingthe game. What are Steve's
answers?
Argentina
tran
Ni g e r i a
@t"
Denma rk
lraq
Norway
England
Japan
Portugal
India
New Zealand
Sw e de n
1>t
N
( Hr"J
L$Vsd.
France
Korea
S p ai n
\,'r'/
( Y
t )
V
Tapescript
t0
l5
l0
25
l0
35
Woman Right,we ve got ihis litlle gam lhat we'd llke you lo
p l a y . E m . . . t s g u e s s i n gc o u n l e s f r o mt h e o u t l i n e s
Man Oh lhals go ng lo be hard
Woman Yes, yes il m ght be. I mean, we've helpedyou out by
g v i n gy o u a c h o i c e. .
Man Oh yes see.
Woman
So that makes it a bll easier.
Man Oh we I, that s not quile so bad lhen I thlnk l ll play
W o m a n Y o u l h a v ea , y o u l l h a v ea g o w i l y o u ?
M a n l l l h a v ea g o .
W o m a n R i g h t W h a td o y o u t h n k o f n u n r b eor n e ,
Man Righl,nLrmberone Well, lhat's .. lhat's a good one to
slart with becauseI know lhat one, I th . . At leasl I think I do I
think thal s Denmark,becausethere's lots of islandsa I over
thepace lth nkI
recognse that as Oenmark
Woman So you re going to go for Denmark?
M a n Y e s ,g o t o r D e n m a do( n n u m b e ro n e
Woman Righl OK.
M a n N o w n l m b e r t w o ,t h a ts o h . . T h a ls q u i l ea n o d do n e .
r l s l o r g a 1 d l h i , r* i l h L he r s l a ' l d so t l
Woman [,lmm
M a n . . . t h e e f t h a n ds l d e ,s o l h a l m u s lb e t h e s e a s l d e ,a n d
perhapsihe land side's lhe other side. So, think that s up ln
S c a n d i n a v iaag a i n S o l m g o i n gt o g u e s sN o r w a yf o r t h a to n e
Woman Righl, and what do you make of numberthree?
Man Erm
W o m a n A n o t h e rf u n n ys h a p e
M a n T h a l s a f u n n ys h a p e .E r . . . A o a i nI l h i n k t h a t ' s a
comp etely difierenlpad of lhe wo.ld Don't knowwhlch ls land
and wh ch is sea on thal one. Let s have a look at th guesses
can have. I th nk l l guess Porlugalfor nunberthree.
Repfoduced
byprmisson
of OxlordUnrversily
Press,iromOxtofd
Supplenenlary
Ski{s:Lislaning
/.termediale
byVvane Ounn& Oiann
Grlber@Oxlo.dljn verslyPress1987
17
vtTtE1
1, Look:
4. Look:
chance
rest
heart attack
word
Have a
if you're feeling
tired.!
Peoplewho smoke are more likelyto have
p e o p l ew h o d o n ' t .
a _than
l ' l l h a v ea
with him in the
morning.
D o y o u t h i n kl h a v e a
of
w i nn i n g?
We all had a
wnen we
went out last n ight.
She's going to have a
the end of the summer.
2. Who says 'right' more often - the man
or the woman?What does it mean?
5. Look:
(l think) that's Denmark (1.77)
l'm going to guess Norway for that one.
1.28/29)
(l think) I'll guess Portugal for number
three. (1.36/37)
I'll guess Koreafor that one. (1.52)
The man uses presenttense, 'WILL', and
' G O I N GT O ' t o m a k e h i s g u e s s e s . W h a t
verb forms did you use when you played
t h e g a m e?
hard
funny
difficult
odd
tl.4)
(1.33)
{1.49)
{1.23)
3. Look:
Oh well, that's not quite so bad then. (1.9)
That's quite an odd one. (1.23/24)
Those were quite diff icult. (1.55/56)
' R a t h e r ' o f t e nm e a n st h e s a m e a s ' q u i t e ' .
ls it possible to use 'rather' in the
examples above instead of 'quite'?
18
'111.,
I le Mlit)nol Il0u.rt .lotuttLt/rl l')rlL!.tttit)n
tntl l)(clt)prtr'til
continued...
square{1.43)
s q u a r i s h( 1 . 5)1
t.2/s)
That's not quite so bad then. (1.9)
Let's have a look at the guesses lcan
have. 11.35/36)
Number seven's the best one of the lot.
(.63/64)
8. Look:
There's lots of islands all
place. (1.| 8)
Lols oI coastline (1.60)
ovet
the
Completethe f ollowingsentences:
I need lots o{
to improve
m y s p e ak r n g .
Lots of
. (at the end of a
letter)
He likes it with lots of
a n ot e m o n .
It's a big, airy room with lots of
There was lots of
at the
meetrngabout our plans for the future.
I t ' s a s m o o t h drink with lots of
9. Look:
smoking dope
1 1 . W h i c h o f t h e f o l l o w i n gp r e p o s i t i o n s
can you find in the text ?
inside-out
back - to - front
upside- down
on - and - off
lmagine someone in this room wearing
clothes that are inside-out,back-to-front
and upside-down
!
1 2 . F i n d e x a m p l e so f ' T H A T ' i n t h e t e x t .
For each example,decide if it is possible
to replace'THAT
w'i t h ' T H I S o' r ' l T ' .
F i n de x a m p l e so f ' l T ' i n t h e t e x t . F o r e a c h
example,decideif it is possibleto replace
' l T ' w i t h ' T H I S o' r ' T H A T ' .
W h a t d o e s ' o f t h e l o t ' m e a n ?C h e c ky o u r
idea by looklngat these examples.
.
o
.
.
.
( r . 71 )
.
.
19
TRANSI1ENCE
&
TRANSACTION
LANGUAGEANALYSIS:
PRACTICES
AND PROGRESS?
TheInternational House
Teacher Training
Diana England of IH Torres Vedras as/<s
for further
Conference1998wasa
clarif.cation about what trainers are reully up to
tremendoussuccess)
following Philip Kerr's talk basedon his recent researcl.t.
sttrqcti ng porticipa nts and
A deliberateuseofthe plural and questionmark,and a
speqkersfrom uound tlre
deliberatereferenceto Louis Alexander'scoursebook.Why
globe. Here are someof
do so many CELTA timetablesseemto be stuckin the same
the reactionsto what
old mould of dealingwith LA atomistically,linearlyandvia a
participsnts
transmission
modeof leaming? Given the vastanount of time,
moneyandconsultationthat hasgoneinto revampingthe CTEFLA,
heurd.
why did the majority of timetablesthat Philip referredto still dealwith verb
phrasegrammar(modality, narrativetensesetc.)? Philip's talk left me wanting to lctow more
abouttl.rerationalebehind some of thesetimetables: four of them madeno mention of the tcrm
LA (eitherasLanguageAnalysisor LanguageAwareness).Why? How was languagework being
dealt with? One had six sessionson vocabulary. W1latdid they deal with? Maybe these
timetablesare tlie exceptionsthat prove that changesin pcdagogicalconstructsand trainingstyle
andprocessaretakingplace,albeitat a slowerpacethanUCLES rvasperhapshoping for..
A PERSONAL RESPONSEFROM
MARTIN PARROTT
The onl1,conferenceI con remember where every
sessionI attendedwas really worlh the eJJbrt.
Three of llle sessionsI attended were given by
academics; HenD, Il/iddowson, Dave Willis and
Guy Cook. None of tlrcm disappointed; I was
infonned, entertained and challenged. And at
times I was made angry. Angry? The three
acadetnics,it seemedto ne, nade questionable
(and disparaging) assumptions qbout what
happensin languageclassrooms,and in each case
thefundanental assL{nptionwas lhol teachersdo,
or haye done, whot they (the academics)and their
colleaguesltave excrted teachersto do.
Ile are ernergirtgfron a period when applied
linguistshave been telling us that learning takes
place through 'negotiatingnteaning',and that the
ftrnction of a teacher is to sefle up authentic
language data ctnd to organise actit'ities in which
leorners interact. Their new message is tlut
authentic language data and interaclion are not
enouglt; llrat teachers need to help learners to
20
'lht
BUTTHEYAtt TOVEDETMER!
Mark lYilson, ol IH Sebastirin,wonders wltetlter the two exlremes in the authenticitr-/artif ce argument
are really sofar apart, and if they might not be missing thepoint altogether.
TlToughout the conferencethere was much talk about authenticity and artificiality. At one point, torvards
the end of a panel discussion,therewas an intervention{iom the floor (literally - it was a real bums-oncarpetjob for many of us) to thc effect that however unrealistic, artificial and otherwisepassl it may now
seem, most teachersof a certain generationrecall Eimer's phone call to his mum from Streanlirc
Departures("We've done everythingtogether!")as, dammit, somethingstudentsenjoyed,remembered
and learnedfrom.
Of the speakersI saw at the conference,I-lenryWiddorvsonand Guy Cook spokeofhow languagethat has
been concoctedthrough artifice, or languagewhich has no overt communicative purpose or transactional
valuecan be a greatinvestmentfor leamingas long as it avoidsdullness,encourages
playfulness,insprres
engagement.On the other hand, Dave Willis, JaneWillis, Michael Swan and Paul Robertsall showed
difi'erentrvaysin rvhich 'real languagc'data can usefully and interestinglybe usedas a sourceof'stuff
fbr teachersand learnersto work on.
But are thcrcreally two campshere- the Arties versusthe Auths? As the sedimentsiowly settlesafterthe
mental shake-up the conferenceso refreshingly provided, it seems to me that 'authenticity' and
'artificiality' both terms are magnetsfor invertedcommasbecauseno two commentatorsseemto mean
exactly the same thing by them - need not really be in oppositionat all. If the tcrms are side-stepped
altogether,we nright considerinsteadthe locationon the following diagramof the languagewe use for
teachingpurposesand the classroompracticeswith which we approachit:
ENGAGING
WORTHWIJILE
INVESTMENT
WORTHWHILE
REHEARSAL
(not necessarily
realrs/lc)
(tendingtowardsrealiszr)
DULL
Wc simply needto stay abovethe'horizon', in areasA and B, applyrnga suitablebalanceof the engaging
ttnd plal,ful (invcstment) and lhe engaging aru| lifelike (rehearsal)- I borrow this 'investment-rehearsal'
tlichotomyfrom Widdowson). The CommunicativeApproachmay have rescuedus from the Grammar
'lranslation
strongholdin area c, but its unfortunatelegacy has been, as Guy cook pointed out, an
lntransigent'authcnticis best' ethos in some quaders,landing us with worrisome frequencyin areaD.
And that's a countryElmer ain't nevervisited.
RESPONSE
IhL'/ntttltrtirnul
t u t r n u e so v i n t d l
21
e t a n d i n q i n t hr ae i n ,
whyremark onth ef acLNhaf,
y a u rn e i q h b o u r i e w e t ?
(namernd addresssupplierl)
TRANSIGENCE
ANDTRANSACTION
Roger Hunt, Director ofStudies TeacherTraining IH London and Conference
Organiser,has hissa1,...
Thc Conferenceaddressed
the issueofhow languageis described,prescribed,and even invented
for purposesof teaching,teachertraining and coursebookwriting. Onc of thc centralissuesthat
emergedwas the use of authenticlanguageas a startingpoint for syllabusdesignand consequent
teaching.
Hcnry Widdorvson'sopening plenary and almost immediately attackcd the use of authentic
languagein the classroom(and the Cobuild project in particular for advocatingthe use of
authenticlanguage). Hc showcd an article from The Independentwith the headline 'lt Takes
'quaff'
'wassail'in
Bottle to Cross Channel'and words suchas
and
the text, and suggestedthat
thescmight be somewhatincomprehensible
to lcamersof Englishand not vcry uselul shouldthey
happento leam thern. As teacherstend to be quite sensiblcin their selectionoftext and choiceof
vocabularyincludedin their lessons,I thoughttheservereunrealislic,cxtremeexamples. Some
membersofthe audiencesighedaudiblyat this affrontto their intelligencc.
Widdowsonhad a lot to say about
all sorts of things, including
pedagogic valency and ludic
language,but thc main point he
made that I personally found of
parlicularintcrest,was that teachersneedto havea specialistknowledgeof their subject- for us,
the Englishlanguage- if thcy are to haveprofessional'authori1t' (this might roughly translateas
respectin the eyes of their peersand studentsand, indced,self-respect).He irnplied that this
specialistknou'ledgeis easierto acquireif rve can define languagein simplc, clear terms rather
than altemptingto grappler.viththe intricaciesof authenticlanguagc. Descartessaid much the
sametl.ring- a subjectis easicrto study (and acquirea specialistknowledgeo1) if you break it
dorvninto its componentparts. This also ties in with Chaostheory,paft ofrvhich, thc scicnccof
complexity,states"'fhe scienccof complcxity... is the studyof how complcx systcms,govemed
by simple ruics, produceorder". In our caseI would like to suggestthat 'complexity' is the
languagerve teacl't;tlie 'simple rules' rve give are,still, essentiallythe structuralistdescriptionsas
fomulated by l-eonardBloomfield et al in the 1930's (at leastfor most courscbookwriters and
teachers);
and'order' is the professionalauthority,the spccralistknowledge,to r.vhichWiddowson
alludes.
22
ttrrl l)et,,,lol,tntttl
3{ 1{:Jr
l. Conditionals
3. Someand any
2. Tenses
Considertraditional rules of tenseforms and
their usesand how theserelate (or not) to
thefollowing:
r
In conclusion
My conclusion
to this shortarticleis simply
to restatewhatI havesaidalready.Any rule
we giveto students
shouldbe accurate;
the
simplestway to ensureashigh a degreeof
accuracyaspossibleis to work from
examplesof the languagewe speakandwrite
ratherthanstartingwith contrivedexamples
whichmay not evenexistwith any degreeof
significantfrequencyin reallanguageuse
(youmightliketo listenout for examples
of
the'3rd' conditional
in realuse- research
hasit thatthis form virtually neverhappens).
Nextyear'sconference
is provisionally
titled
Confuence.Thethemeis themeeting
(confluence)
oftheoryandpractice,
notjust
linguistictheorythis time but
methodological
theoryandpracticeaswell.
Al occasionfor academics
andpractitioners
to standup andstatetheir caseslG
23
Dear Matthew,
I enjoycdthe editorialin lssue4, in which you asked"Can we
pinpointsomcintrinsic/lrrressthat we all share?"and suggested
that the answer is no: "Our ability to react and adapt to
idiosyncrasy
is our strength".
and are
Twrns usuallysee the differencesbetweenthemselves,
puzzled that others teachers,friends and even sometimes
family - contusethem. Similarly, IH teachersare often arvareof
what makes them different from one another, and are puzzled
that outsidersmay seenot this,but their similarity.
I came lnto III as an outsider,and would argLrethat - at least
historically - there has been an identihable /lrcss that
characterises
teachingin the organisation: lively classrooms
rvherelessonshave a definite shapeand identifiable,discrete
linguistic arms, rvhere there is a high degree of learncr
intefaction,and rvhere leaming, typically, involvcs a high
degreeof 'fun'. The origin of the 1,4resslies not only in thc
kind of training that teachersreceive,but also in the lact that
selectionused to be made from among those who obtaineda
GradeB (earlierknorvn as a 2.1 or 2A) or higher. Thosc rvho
did well on courseswere thosewho had engagingpersonalitics
and clear classroommanagemnt,who were ablc to learn (or
rinlearn) quickly and rvere able to perforn (in however
superficially a leamer-centred rvay) within the vcry nanow
constraints and artificial environment afforded by teaching
practice, berng able to establishrapport abnormally fast and to
be unintimidatedby the presenceof observers. Now that lH
selectioncriteda are broader,it falls to Directorsof Studiesto
help many of their nerv teachersto develop the qualities rvhich
singleout the high flyers on our courses.
If this /hes.i in teachingis lesseasyto recognisein 199U,it is
not because it is less distinctive but because it rs n'lore
widespread.The proliferatronofCELTA courses(basedon the
IH model) and the universalcunency of Hearlwriy(the book
n'hich so pcrfectlycnslrrinesthe valuesand practicesof ./lnr:-rs)
and it cloneshave extendedlftnes.routside IH, and in a sensethe
rvorldis i'ull of non-lH schoolswhich copy the lH model.
In your edilonal you refer to McDonalds ("the mother of all
multinationals")and suggestthe "we take things a little furtirer
and that we are happy to e the same yet different". I would
argue that the comparison with McDonalds is an apt one.
,ir, ,:'
*r
{*
j'r
"rt
rli
::
Dear MattherY,
t,
,r:
i!
Martin Parrott
February1998
{t
1l
.ii
{r
1r
;}
{,
11, ,i
.;
Dear Jenny,
So what you're trying to say is, could you have a bit
of freeadvertising?
Matthew
25
FRUCTO-LINGUISTIC PEDAGOGIES
Of the manyfringemethodologies
in ELT someof the mostchallengmg
are thosebasedonfructo-linguistics. Here Damien Parrot| of IH Viseu,
discusses
a new approachwhich hascometofruition with hisyounger
learners.
Ithough still in the early stagesof researchand development,an exciting new
methodologyis emergingin second-language
teaching. This is most commonly
known as thefruity approach. In this article I want to give a quick overview of
current theory, and then describethe experiencesthat my col'leagues
and I have had with
one aspectof the approach:bananas.
THEORY
The fruity approachis developingas a less
refined but more substantialversion of the
juicy method,which seepedinto ELT theory
a few yearsago but never really took root.
The juicy method was, as Crombie and
Sutcliffe have pithily descnbedit, "watery"
and "in necd of a bit nrore bite". The basic
theorieshowever,are the same;to propagate
leamir.rgvia a natural processof branching
structuralism, that
given
nourishing
conditionswill cventuallyblossomand ripen
into a complete and organic system of
lingua-bites. Nonetheless,'fiuity teaching'
is neverto be thoughtofas exclusive.It was
realised early on that the growth of the
'fruity leamer'is
best serwedif the approach
is not nr.lrturedin isolation, but is grafted
onto exrstingmethodologies. In pafiicular,
Dunn has argued that the multi-sensory
approach",.. continucsto give scant regard
to tirerole of tastein the perceptivereception
of new lexis, and fails to titillate the tongue,
which is surely of vital import in the
production of language.". Miller and
Snoijinkhavealsomadea casefor addingan
eighth intelligencetype to thc theory that
cites seven diflerent neurological systems
tluough rvlrich people leam. Are you a
'gastronomic'
leamer?
At the moment it is thought that all fruits
have a valid role in the classroom,although
tomatoes remain a little controversial.
26
PRACTICALLY
I fimt used bananasto spice up a role play
with a multi-lingualgroup of adults. I went
into the class with a standardlessonabout
telepl.roneconversationsand a mystenously
bulging bag. When I'd explainedthe roleplay, I took out a couple of bananasand at
once they becametelephones. The fun we
had made the role-plays much more
immediatelydrowned in a generalwave of
doubt. The bananawas in my pocket. I took
up a Clint Eastwoodpose, whipped it out,
rvaggled it meaningfully and asked the
question again. Every hand sl.rotinto the air
above a mock-terrifiedfacc. As I realised
that I had just succcssfullymenaced the
entiremob with
a banana( !?!),
the possibilities
suddenly
l l t c I ' t l t t t t r i l r r r t i t ! l l t ) t t . \ . . l t ) | t I t t l t ) i l . t i u t t t ! l t ) J ti t n t l l ) f | L l ! j p
i nl
2,'
TheColumnfor peoplewith
something
on theirminds...
A chanceto air the questionsthat
navevexedYou,and helpout
othersin a state of vexation.
Prcase
addressall corresoondence
to: Q&A,TheEditor,IHJournaletc.
etc.. TheEditoracce?tsno
responsibilitv
for the contentor
accuracvof what follows.
Beforegoingto the new batch,
nerearesomeresponses
to
queriesin previouslssues:
Sir,
ln thcQ&A section
of Issue4
Derin Kent gave an exampleof a
helpfui spel)inghint rvherereaderswere told:
"ltop It,'pr. ri1, ' ,,r,. uherethe magic'e'
can serl'c to ntakc the vorvel long".
Unforlunately this examplc is misleading.
Firstlv, this is a pronunciationhint rather
than a spclling hint, and secondly,the
distinctionsignalledby the differentspelling
is diphthongization,not lcngtheningof the
'
'
I orre].I ip rrp \'s i rf( ralp . for exrrnplc.
Thc long vou,cl, r' ri:p /, involvcs another
spelling.rcr?.
2u
Yours,
DermotF Murphv
ThamesValley University'London
I recentlycompleted
a training
coursein BritainandI wasstruck
by thenumber
wearing
ofteachers
waistco-ats.I wonderedif this had any
pedagogrcal
value andwhetherit was the
sameabroad.What I'm askingis, do I need
to buy one beforestartingmy firstjob?
Yours,
RecentlyQualified Fashion Victim
Newcastle
Funny you should say that. I was vtorking
'frends
on a Current
course with a colleague
in III London some time ago, and despitettll
our ef.fortsto imbue the edgerparticipants
with best theory arul pructice from our
comhinedexperienceof ELT, they seentedto
get the inpression that it was all down lo
waistcoats,7'intberlandboots and Blu Tack.
Perhups \rttt.\| ( o(tIs comc wi Ih expcri cncc.
Try investingin Illu Tackfor now. Ed.
providegreat
I klow conferences
opportunities
for stimulating
the
mind,swapping
teaching
or
professionalstogetl.rer,networking and
gencrallyhaving a good time - my DOS tells
me everytrme shegoesaway. But what do
they achievethat can't be done for
considerablylessexpenseby e-mailand inhousemeetings?Can any school,given the
currenteconomicclimate,justify sending
staffto distantcontinents,wtth all the
cxpcnscof fl igltts.accommodation.
restaurants
and so on, to saynothingofthe
effectthat their absenceoughtto haveon the
schoolthey're leavingbehind? It seemsto
nle that theremust be betterways ofkeeping
up-to-date,aswell as marketingourselves,
that*'ould benefitmore of a school'sstaff
lhanthcscjollies.
Yours.
Disaffected,
IH Poland
I was recentlyobservedby my
DOS andwascriticisedfor doing
a PPP lesson.Whilst I accept
that a-totofpeople fail to seeany valuein
this approachany more, whcn I askedwhat I
wassupposedto do, I was told to try a more
'Turn
task-based
approach.
the lessonon iI's
head', shesaid 'Do the roleplayfirst - this
will create the needfor the ktnguuge- then
give themthe language'. Isn't that Test
Teach Test? What's the difference?
Yours,
Mystified,
(nameand addresssupplied)
Yours,
Vexed
Non-IH school,Holland
Why is theDTEFLAbeing
changed
to DELTA? Does
anyoneknow of a single
alreadyheardof plenty of disadvantages)?
Yours,
Prospective
Candidate,
lH Hungary
29
PRACTICENETS - T
In this new series,Gavin Dudeney - Webmaster
for International House Barcelona presentsa practical ideafor using the ll/eb ulongwith a guide to a few usefulsites.
on preparinga songclass. Youcanfind an example.ftnished
PracticeNetsI concentrates
sonp class at http://www.ihes.com/NetWorld/b lur.html.
It's an old, old story:teachergoesinto classarmedwith Dave Dee,Dozy, Beaky,Mick and Titch
cvery useofthe PresentPerfectand,30 minuteslater,thc classis
songwhich amply demonstrates
in revolt over such old-fashionedaural stimulation. In a fit of pique, the teacherchallengesthe
studcnts- "We11,why don't you bring in a songthen?" A few dayslater,the poor teacherstaggers
Extreme,The Fluff Trvins and God
out ol classrvitl.rarmfuls of the latestCDs by Deathmaster
krorvs rvhatelse. Later, at home, s,4refinds that none of the CDs have lyrics, and tlle next few
to transcribethe rvords.
daysaretakenup playing and re-playingeachsong,trying desperately
tsnterthe nerv improvedNeteachcr[g) who simply spendstwenty minuteson the Net and u'alks
arvayrr ith a collectionof pcrfectlycraftedsong*'orksheets.So rvhat'sthe secrct,and horv is it all
you'Ilneed:
donel Forthis session,
1.
2.
3.
4.
For the purposcof this afiicle, I'm going to assumeyou'reusing Windov,s.htternetErplorer and
Word- themost commoncombinationof softrvarc- and that you'rcreasonablylamiliar rvith horv
they rvork. If this is not the case,the altemativesall rvork in a similar fashion,so clon'tdesparr.
and forgiveme nty Microsoft-slantedsoftwarecl.roice.First we're going to stafi up thc software
and word proccssorrunning. If you'reusing
we'Il be using,so make sureyou haveyour bror'vser
Wintlot,s95, you car.rhavethem both going at the sametime and you'll be ableto srvitchbctween
then,by c)ickingon the iconson the taskbarat thc bottomofthe screen.Now to get thc lyrics...
Go to http://rvrvrv.lyrics.chand click on the Searchbutton. When you get to thc searchpagc,
you cancntcrl/-tist,/llhum or Song,or any combinationof the tlrreesearchcriteria. Ifyou havc a
look at tlrc cxanrplesong I'r,c prepared,yodll seeI enteredBlur in lhc Artist sectionand rvaited
for rt to give nrea list of Blur songsit had - when the list cameup I chosc You'reSo Greal and the
lyrics appcarcdon tlle screen. When you'vegot to this point in your brorvser.click on the Edit
menuand chooseSelectAll, then click oncemorc on thc samemenu and chooseCopl- You tlorv
havcthe lyrics copied.
Click on your rvord processoron the taskbarat the bottom of the screenand once it appearson
screen,chooscthe Edit menu and click on Paste. The lyrics should now bc pastedinto your
documcnt.Norvall rvc needis to find a photoof thegroup...
Click back onto your *'eb browser,using its icon on the taskbar. Co to http://rvlvlv.y'ahoo.com
and cltck on the music option (it's a small sub-optionof the Entertainmentsectiondown on the
lefthand side). Oncc thcre,click on the Artists option(the first on the left) and then entcr.B/lrrtn
the searchfielc1at the top of the pagc. Make sureyou selectthe Search only in Artists option.
then click the grey Search button. You'I1now bc presentedwith links to plenty of pagcsabout
30
TOPSITES
Ask Jeeves - http://www.askjeeves.com
l f y o u ' r e t i r e d o f u s i n g s e a r c he n g i n e sa n d n e v e rf i n d i n g
w h a t y o u w a n t , p a y a v i s i t t o t h e f i r s t o f a n e w b r e e do f
s e a r c ha g e n t sw h i c h u s e ' r e a l l a n g u a g e ' . N o w , i n s t e a do t
h a v i n gt o t y p e o b s c u r ec o l l e c t r o n so t w o r d s t o f i n d w h a l
y o u w a n t , y o u c a n s i m p l yt y p e a q u e s t i o n . T r y " W h y i s
t h e s k y b l u e ? " ," W h e r e c a n I f i n d p i c t u r e so f c a t s ? ' , ,e t c .
Y o u ' l l f i n d p l e n l y o f e x a m p l eq u e s t i o n so n t h e o p e n i n g
Page to get you started.
its-onlina- http://its-online.com
Green Travel -
'l
://bbc.co.uk
T h e B B C p a g e sh a v e a w e a l t h o f i n f o r m a t i o nf o r t e a c h e r s
a n d s t u d e n t s ,f r o m l e s s o np l a n s . i d i o m p a g e s ,l e s s o n si n
s l a n g /e t c , , t o a t e a c h e rs e c t i o n l o o k i n ga t t h e l a t e s t
a p p r o a c h e st,e a c h i n gt e c h n i q u e sa n d i d e a st o b r i g h t e nu p
y o u r c l a s s e s . F o r t h o s e l i v i n g a b r o a dt h e r e ' s a l s ot h e
chance to listen to live radio: Radio 5 Live!
(http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio5/live/live.html).
NetWorld- http://www.ihes.com/NetWorld
Netwo d was set up as a site for lH afJiliateschools
u s i n g - o r w a n t i n g t o u s e - t h e l n t e r n e ta s a t e a c h i n g1 o o l .
I t ' s s t i l l q u i t e y o u n g . b u t t h e r e a r e a l r e a d ys o m e u s e f u l
r e s o u r c e st,r o m l e s s o np l a n s w i t h a c c o m p a n y i n g
worksheets to a copy of our lnternet Explorer Favourites
( a k a N e t s c a p eB o o k m a r k s I)r o m t h e I n t e r n e tC l a s s r o o ma t
l H B a r c e l o n at o d o w n l o a d a n d e n j o y . H e l p y o u r s e l f ,o r
s e n d s o m e t h i n gt o b e a d d e dt o t h e s i t e .
A g r e a t r e s o u r c ef o r t e a c h e r sl o o k i n gI o r i n f o r m a t i o na n d
a c t i v i t i e sb a s e da r o u n dt h e t h e m e o f t r a v e l . T h e G r e e n
T r a v e ls i t e s p e c i a l i s e isn ' E c o - T o u r i s m ' a n dh a s a
w o n d e r f u lc o l l e c t i o no f h o l i d a y sa r o u n dt h e w o r l d , w i t h
p h o t o s ,m a p s , p e r s o n a a
l c c o u n t s ,l r a v e l l e rg o s s i p ,e t c .
There's also a VeaI What Kind of Traveller arc YouT qutz
t o g e t t h e b a l l r o l l i n g ,a n d t h e o p p o r t u n i t yt o s e n d a n
electronicpostcard from some of the destinations.
ht l n t tttlt t i on o l ll o utt .lqr tut l o./ &l u(. t t it)n o n(l / )r\'r'l opntcn l
3l
of IH Barcelona,consideringsomeof the
intricacies of the Englislt language
Whcn it comes to analysing language it's often the simplest'looking
rvords which are among the most subtle and and is no exception. If
you add to that the intricaciesof but, it's pretty obvious that thesetiny
pimples on the epidemrisof the Ilnglish languagehave plenty up their
collectivc (or conjunctive'?)sleeveto mislead us, given half a chance.
To start with the more straightfonvardone, and is an example of a
connectiveor co-ordinatingconjunction(you knerv that, of course)and
as sLrchis used to join two syntacticunits of the sarnekind. So l'ar, so
good. As long as your units are of the sar.nekind, 1'ou can't go hr
rvrong here. And can also, horvever, have certain interesting
'Slte
inrplications:
ran Jbstcr otd.tr.ller' implies progression,tlcrcasing
's/re
(in this case) speed;
ren o cl ren otd rart implies great dulatiott
'shc
(on arrd on and on): so
rau tntl r.rn, fasler anrl./ir"s/et''istr't lust
coruecting ideas.it's adding speedand tirrre(the poor u'oman, uhoet'er
'/bl
ntiles unrlntilcs ttnd
slreis, must be exhausted).Or rlaybe she ran
'Do
'rlles
here the inrplicationis of greatquantity or a great nuntbcr.
thut agai and I'll kill tctu!'- and here irrplies causation,i.c. ilyou do
that again, the result lill be death. And rvhat airout this one: "Thr:re
are maidens and there are maidens,but that wasn't onc of tlte best".
You may well be rvonderrngabout the provcnanceof this, so perbapsI
should add hastily that it's from a rvcary crickct commentator(yes, that
kind of ruaiden) during a West Indies cricket tour after yct another
mnless over on the part of the England batsmen. Here's anothcr
example, lron Ilobert Brorvning (1855): "Alack. there be roscs and
roscs, Johnl". The idea is to expressa difference of qualrty between
things of thc semenanlc or classancllhcrc arc cxamplesclatingfiom as
long ago as thc l6th ccntury up to thrs. liom a recent edition of 77re
Nctt,Yorker: "Thcrc $,crc ways to stcal and $.aysto stcal" (i.e. sonreo1'
them rvorkccl,some of lhcm tlidn't, or.somc of thenr had class.somc of
them didD'tctc.).
aKlp
ers
axld
l2
Ilt. l,ti'rn
titati
l l ( . r t t ( . / r ) : t l t i c lt ) l | : | | | | . u i i | , I t i l t t ! i ) t - \ , , l t ) l , i i i . \ i
are three little questiol.rsto be answeredabout but. The first tu,o are the same as for and. and the
answersare thc sarre. ('Plren" -ed.). The third is wl.retherbut should bc follorvedby an objcct or subjectlhen
the rueaning is ercepl as in 'Thev hed all escoped but ([or) her/she' and 'All but her/she had escaperl'. A 11ew
rcltrence sourceI llave discovered,one Dr. Onions, rvhosesimple explanationsbrings tearsto thc eyes of even
t l r c r r r " s ll r r | d e r r e d5 t a l l s l l c \ - g i r t l t e r r g| lrgl r t r r t r l r i r n ss. l a t ( . \i t \ e r y c l c a r l y . H c s a y s b u t a c t s f , s I p r e p u r l l l o n
hcre atrd like other prcpositionsgovcms the accusativeor object. So his vote rs for 'but
fot. her'. But All but
her lrud ttccrpul 'l or "l'hc boy .\toed on the hurnitg deck,/Il/henc'eoll but him hact./led"/ A bctter explanatiol
scerISto be to put the oblcct rvhen it comes at the end of the sentenceand the subJectin the miclclle. So. 'I,cl,
hod oll cscapcd but.for her' and 'All but she had escapetl' and The boy str.totlon the btrrning deck,/ lt/lrcnce all
had fled but for hirt'. Thafs better (I think).
Lastly, atrothetcouple of littJecuriositiesabout but. 'l he exprcssionsccu/cttttttotbut and cau't help bn. The
llrst secmsto have the same meaning rvhetherpositive or negativeis used, for example in this front The Suntlay
Trnrcs "...scttirg a standardothers can but hope to follow" 'carrol but hory' rvould do as well. It seemsto
lotur a double negative$ith but. The other expressionis onc rvhicl.rEric Partridgc says is "positively clumsy
:Lncishould bc avoided" and others agree. 'Millions ofhcarts could not help but thrill in response'(rrust havc
sorlrcthrngto do rvith thc Royal Farnily). In this case,ifs a triple negative. It should read 'Millions of hearts
thrilled in response'. I don't know, doesn'thave the sanrering to it of helplessnessin the face of an irresistible
lblce. sorncltorv.
,qrlv\\'a\'.Jtrstttr caseyou're still wonderiDgabout the relevanceof the title, this & is the anper.santland tt tsed
to conre3t the end of the alphabetso that childrcn reciting their ABC would finish'X,Y,Z and per se and'. per
'\c rrrcarrs lt.t ltsel/' n Latin, and u'ith time lhis 'tnd per se arrrl' becameshortenedto 'an'rpersand',giving the
srsn rts r']ilrl]c. I he only other thing to say on the subjectis beware of thc redundantbutl What's the redundant
'
, . r | * , r l J t r \ J l l . ie \ p l a r nb. u t . . .r h J t ' cr r r o t h esr r o r -l.l,
'I
33
REMEMBERIN6
TRAVELLING
LAN6UA6E
Brita Haycraft, co-founderof InternationalHouse and inspiration to
manyover theyears, looks bsck on a varied and glittering life and sends
somepostcardsJiom thepast.
olling off the IH staff roll as I did in July 1997,I norvreflecton the many good thingsthat
havecomemy way, mostof themthroughbeinga teacherof English.Had I stayedin Srvederr,
EngJish
might still havebecomepartof my life asmy parentsrvercinvolvedin othercountries
and languages,
and they passedthis on to me. But *'ould I havehad the chanceto live and work in
fabled fbreignplaccs? And rvould there have been the adventuresand Iln if a cenain intrepid
Englrshnrrn
crllcdJohnhadnot whirledintomy lrfe.'
y Noldic horizonsstarledto broaden
during the six years rve lived in
SoutrremSpain back in the 50s.
going back therel'eelslikc comrng
Norvadays
home. Folkloren'as still very much alive at
that trmeand could bc rvitnesscd
cvcry day in
the city of Clordoba:the regularcries of the
vanous streetscllcrs,the srngingand guitar
strumming, the laden mules rn cobbled
alleyrvays,
the little errandboys rvho ran rvith
messages
likc they do in operaseven though
mosthomeshadtelephones.
An clderly cleaning-womanbecame our
'maid'.
Shesaid shc knov how to look after
Englishpeoplebecauseshc could make tea.
Sl.relvouldplacethe shoppingon her headand
rvalkbehindme dorvnthe street. I persuaded
hcr to rvalksidebv sidcbut the head-carrying,
shesaid,r.vas
easierlbr her back. NeitherJohn
nor I couldmakeourselves
call Micaela'tu',
as it seenri:d
disrespectlul
to sonreone
her age.
Shetold us that in all her lit-eshehad ncvc:
beencalled'usted'(thepoliteword of address)
and I think it norvpleasedhcr. Shc calledme
'la Seilorita'and
John the uncxpectcdand
chaming'cl Seiiorito'.Shetalkedto us in the
third person"ll/cnld lu Sefinritalike this?",
", just asrvc did in
"fIas lhe Seiiorito
.finished.2
Srveden.She never stoppedbusyinghcrself,
andkneu,evcryaspectof nrindinga household
to perf'ectron.
nrakingmc wondcr rvherethe
myth aboutlazy Andalucians
stemmedfrom.
She could have Sr:ndayso11,rvc told her.
"What for?" slre rvondered,"Well, to spend
trmc at vour housc and relax". Micaela
l4
'/lrt
ltttt,rnutiotrrtl llt..lt:t.Jortrnrl
hesrtated,
thenacccptcdthe oI}'er.But still she
rvouldoften linger,and we realisedthat home
to hcr rvasa crampcd,dark, damp coupleof
roomsoff a patio,wlth no mod cons. These
shesharcdrvith her daughter,son-in-lau,,
their
littlechildandonebachelor
son.
A fcx' of our classcsrvcrc given in people's
homcs. Whathomesl Picturean entrance
past
massrvervoodendoors u,ith gleamingbrass
studs,a marble Iloor taking you up to an
cxqulsrtervrouglrt-iron
gateopenedby a maid,
neatin capandapron,rvhotvouldleadthervay
through one sumptuouspatio aftcr anothcr,
past playing fountains.undemeathtlorvers
trailingfrom uppcrgalleries.Many doorsand
tapcstrvcurtainslatcr, I $'ould entel'the.rdl.jll
rvheremy pupil rcceivednte, and our lessolr
\\'ouldstaft.
decadclater,rve are in Ron-tc,sctting
up an lntemationalIlouse in Dottore
Zappa's ne*ly lound palazzo. Our
lamily are lodgingat the krp of this spiendid
vrlla and rye havc had to get accustomcdto thc
contincntalhabit of risrng a1 darvn in order to
get our children to school in time. Every
momlng at hall past seven we zoom along tlre
ring road and rnto the hlstoric Borghese
gardens to thc french lycee. Dcsprte its
bcautiful position, the lycee has a forbidding
and sullcn atmosphcrc.
fhe day before
Katinka's tenth birthday she and her whole
class have to do two hundred lincs lbr somc
trivial misdemcanour.To comfbrl her ."vehavc
hcr birthday picnic in thc Clolosseum. Wc
rvander in, climb to a top ticr and lay out the
'l litil,tiit,u
iltLi I)rt,loltitii,/tl
decadeslater.in subzeroJanuary.
flt..
| .lolrran.l I are luggingour crsesand
aboutbetweenaeroplanes
I floundcring
airport
for 'intemal' flights.
at the Moscorv
Unable to decipherthe sparsesignposts,we
almost board a plane to Novosibirsk by
mistake. Managingto avoid this unexpected
detourto Siberia,rvc boardour flight to Alma
Ata andwithin tbur hourswe arein themiddle
of Asia, disembarkinginto a sort of country
br.rsstationwherepassportcontrol1ssummary.
In the hall beyond,a scoreor so of men in fur
hatsand bootsstandrvaitrng. Tall, rvith dark
rvavy hair and GhengisKhan eyes,they look
formidablc, but thcy greet therr travellers
warmly. Onc is holdinga placardrvhrchsays
'John and Brita. Welcome to AIma Ata'.
Beaming,he saysin lrnghsh"l'm Talgat. I am
Verypleased
to meetyou".
reccptionliom a
Whata shangeandrvonderi'ul
total stranger in the depths of the Asian
continent. And it's just bccausewe arc
'lhis
canonly happcn
bearingEnglishto them.
peoplesin the rvorldand I
to English-spcaking
am so luckyto be in on the act. Talgatsayswe
are the hrst Englishpeoplehc has ever met,
yet somehowhe is the Sorosappointeein this
rvildemess. IIe explainsthat as our Kazakh
visaswill only arrive the followrng moming
with the SorosNerv York group,we'd better
stay a$'ay trom our stylish hotel and lodge
u'ith him lbr the night. He drivesus through
thc city rvhicli glimmers in the snorv and
boastsa magniticentwhite mountainrangefor
a backdrop. We get to a plcasanthousing
c5trlc \\ ith ehildren tobogganingin its
playground,rather like in Sweden. Talgat's
t\\'o-roomIlat is humble,rvith a Clhineseair
eboutlt. llis rvil'elooks completelyChinese.
But the food sened is lamb and couscous- a
N{uslim banquet. Talgat plays us his one
Beatleslecordand showshis book of Somerset
\{aughamshortstories.We talk into the small
hours,in I-rcnchto his rvrtb, as that is her
lirrcirn language.Their little son can only
spcrk Russian, he says apologetically,
lci.rLrse.alas. rvhat use is Kazakh? "]'hc
g:rvcus cducation.If they hadn't
l{L;s-ilrns
lt
l t , t . t . . t t ,r . t l l l ' . '
.t,,'
,,'|
't!
l5
friendly,well-informedand courteous,unlike
theircreepyMinistryof Educationsuperior.
They responded with interest to our
programmeand when we gave them the
habitualSpanishlcsson,they masteredit in no
time- We were surprised,but, interestingly,
they explainedthat it was just like English.
They liked our dernonstration
of visual aids
but mentionedthe problem in a class of a
hundredchildrenand one trce to displaythe
rtems...I'Iowever,
thev amiablytook.Tohn's
polntaboutrealia- sand, stones,clouds,birds,
hyenasand the likc. Thcy told us true storics
about their daily life and the dangersthat
lurkedif everthey spentthe nightawayfrom a
township.A tcacherwealthyenoughto own a
brke was readl' prey for bandits. Our
Europeanmethods suddenly seemed
rather trivlal to us, and we told them
it rrrs rcally we who were leaming
from them. They protestedand said
that they loved the Enghsh languagc
a n d l i l e r a l u r e r n t l r rc r e l g l i n s t
national demands to change to
S u a h i l ia s t l t en t c d r u mu l ' l n s l r u c t i o n
at primary school level. I wondered
at this extraordinary devotion of
theseex-subjccts,none ofwhom had
ever bccn to Bntain!
drsappointing
having to seethe Frenchscene
through a mistrustful [nglish filter.
Scandinavians,
fortunately,areallowedto love
theFrench,unhrndered
by history.
In Paris, in the fabulousPassageDauphine
premises,John made the most of the theatre
potentialwith regularteachingcabarets
in both
Englishand French,and dramaperformances,
too - Tony Duff playing an unforgettably
moving Hamlet. But more of this in John's
own memoirs,dueout in the autumn.
In that experimental climate my first
pronunciation
workshoptouk place. I hacl
alreadynotedthe witheringareaof speechcare
and had for some yearsbeen tryrng to grow
pronunciationplants in the classroom,but it
was not easywith so many
ancient weeds to dig up.
Still, this pursuithasproved
ever inspiringand ennching
to my teachrng.
hu-fJ*u.^
arre"
n$ffieryr
Ar
ERt-""'EASR
f,ApA,t VgnNrK
haveneverceasedto
feel Swedish. ln fact
it hasonly heightened
o!
r.as'AxN,,.4
'r6spov
Fett'w9F ttEttlts,
TESF,@tf
"E'{',".niin
c5!t!!n"rFAi6v,.
lfly',!!"!,r"",
lt#ofiffrn+r,
*irnqoliixAR4
ow manypcoplefathomthe
uniqueness
of havingtheir
language and country so
rvidely known? Imagine Srvedish
being campaigned for by a
tDLrlgKTH4N.""
populationnearthe equator! Of all
the world's languages,
it could only
have been English, or perhaps
French.Pcoplefrom so manyplaces
abroadhave told me, as a Srvede,
horvmuchthey love Englishand the
people.I knorvhow they feel - I f'eel
the same.The only time we seemto
part companyis in France,another
home country for me, where the
othenvise charming British can
sometimcstum into blinkeredBrits.
In Paris,rvhcre we lived betrvcen
197I and 1972, trying to put IH
Parison its feer,ir wrs sometimes
s:?ry'i
ucux
36
'l'hank