International House Journal of Education and Development Issue 27 2009

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Editorial......................................................................................... 2
IH History
International House Hastings 1970 - 1999:
a personal perspective – Bill Harris........................................................................3
The Learner
Researching learning styles at IH Mexico – Orlando Mata...................................5
Understanding your Japanese students – Andrew Moxon...................................7
Dealing with Chinese learners – Stefano Maraessa...............................................9
The calling – Michael Berman.
................................................................................11
Classroom Matters
Using video: practice – Sebastian Taylor..............................................................13
No news is bad news! – A. Majid Hayati.
...............................................................15
Debating in a Chilean 6th
grade EFL classroom – Thomas Baker.
......................17
Phonology
Pronunciation clinic – John Owens.......................................................................19
/p/ versus /b/: a helpful tip
for teachers of Arab learners – Sulaiman Jenkins.
..............................................21
Teacher Training and Development
In training – Simon Bradley.
....................................................................................22
Get off your hobby-horse – Nick Kiley..................................................................22
Young Learners
Music in children’s classes – Mark Lowe.............................................................24
My Tuppence Worth – Personal Anecdotes
A light-hearted look as DOSing in China and Australia – Claire Firat.....................26
IHWO News
Lucy Horsefield, IH World.
................................................................................................28
Book Reviews
The 2008 Ben Warren International House Trust Prize winner:
Listening in the language classroom
reviewed by Barbara Muszynska, IH Wroclaw.........................................................30
How to teach listening – reviewed by Lucia Berenguer, IH Montevideo .
.............30
Working with images – reviewed by Raquel Rumor, IH Toronto...........................31
Teaching unplugged – reviewed by Louise Stringer, IH Budapest........................32
Contents
Issue 27 | Autumn 2009
Editor:
Andrew G. Scott
ihjeditor@ihworld.co.uk
Editorial.Board:.
Steve Brent, Pippa
Bumstead, Roger Hunt,
Jeremy Page,
Scott Thornbury
Lucy Horsefield
IH.Journal.Admin.&
Subscriptions,.
Advertising:
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Elizabeth Arbuthnott
Elizabeth.arbuthnott@ihworld.co.uk

IH Journal • Issue 27 • Autumn 2009
2
Editorial
Andrew G Scott
IH Journal Editor
Elizabeth Arbuthnott
IH Journal Administrator
It is huge, unmissable and unmistakable. Each learner brings their
own, as does every teacher. It is everywhere, in every classroom in ev-
ery language school in every country in the world. All thoughts and acts
are a product of it and how these are interpreted is informed by it. It
pervades the curriculum. Why is it, then, that culture receives so little
attention in the language classroom?
Classroom material may contain cultural references, what Kramsch
terms the four Fs, ‘foods, fairs, folklore and statistical facts’ (cited in
Hinkel, 1999, p. 5), but these simplify the complexity of the relationship
between language and culture. There are also many books that aim to
address culture in the language classroom but, all too often, they sug-
gest individual activities without providing a clear rationale that teachers
can take and apply consistently to their classes.
Pre-service courses rarely have an input session on culture. While
they might have one or two criterion that refer to it, it is not often ad-
dressed explicitly. For example, the Cambridge ESOL CELTA criteria
mention culture by name once (1b teaching a class with an awareness
of learning styles and cultural factors that may affect learning1
). Most
time and attention is spent on the areas represented by the other 41
criteria, such as language analysis and awareness. This is understand-
able, but it could also be argued that the importance of culture is not
sufficiently emphasized on teacher training courses.
The nature of culture makes it difficult to define and teach, which per-
haps explains its conspicuous absence. There are no written rules and it
is only when you transgress the unwritten ones that you become aware
of your false step, usually by behaving in a manner that is perfectly
acceptable in your own culture. The embarrassment, feeling of stupid-
ity and loss of face is only increased by the public nature of the slip.
These occur in social situations, in the real world outside the classroom.
Sensitising our learners to cultural issues, allowing them to develop ex-
pectations about social interactions and providing them with strategies
for dealing with them are essential if they are to use language effectively
outside the classroom.
One way of dealing with culture is by creating a tolerant classroom
environment created by the caring teacher. While no teacher wants to
make their learners feel awkward, self-conscious or ashamed, by avoid-
ing these issues as and when they occur in class we might actually be
doing our learners a disservice. Learners need to know what is culturally
appropriate and avoiding this only set them up for a fall.
A list of rules or dos and don’ts is ineffective, especially if the reader is
from a different culture than the writer. For example, advice to visitors to
Australia to avoid blowing your nose in public is usually meet with disbelief
by Australians. Yet for someone from a culture where blowing your nose
does not involve a tissue this might be appropriate advice. If this is difficult
to picture, think direct from nose to floor. The image usually results in looks
of shock and disbelief from tissue-using cultures and this reaction and the
judgment it indicates is the real issue for the language classroom.
An unaware language teacher is likely to misread their learners’
actions and misinterpret their learners’ culture, seeing bad attitude or
idleness where there is none. It also means that the language teach-
er is unaware that they are viewing, and judging, learners’ behaviour
from their own culturally bound position. Rosaldo notes that ‘the cul-
tural world, with its social order and constraints, serves as a background
against which a people’s subjectivities are formed and expressed’ (cited
in Hinkel 1999 p2). This lack of awareness can manifest itself in inap-
propriate stereotyping and comments like ‘learners from X country have
no imagination’. It also provides some teachers with a get out clause, an
insurmountable wall that cannot be breached, clearly not conducive to
learning. A teacher that critiques another culture without realizing their
comments come from their position in their own culture will never be able
to use these differences to enhance learning.
To deal with these issues we cannot sidestep them, either by being so
tolerant that the learners are unaware of the cultural slips they make, or
by declaring the issue too difficult. If our learners are to use language ef-
fectively and appropriately in the real world, we need to address cultural
issues explicitly and systematically.
I saw an example of this recently in the film Gran Torino. Walt
Kowalski, the anti-hero played by Clint Eastwood, teaches Thao, his
Hmong teenager neighbour, how to ‘talk like a man’. Not all of us will
be able to take our learners to a barber shop and I am not suggest-
ing swearing and ethnic slurs are good idea but after the scene Thao
has a much clearer idea of how to behave. He does not pick this up
simply by living in the culture but needs it to be addressed clearly. It
goes beyond simply the mechanics of the language and involves using
language in conjunction with our behaviour. As Gee states, ‘language
is always spoken (and written, for that matter) out of a particular social
identity (or social role), an identity that is a composite of words, actions
and (implied) beliefs, values and attitudes (1990, p. 140). The same is
true for our learners. Of course, how they wish to be or appear to be
‘in English’ and the identity we need to help them develop is an issue
for another editorial.
Writing about culture in research and second language pedagogy,
Eli Hinkel notes that ‘Applied linguists and language teachers have be-
come increasingly aware that a second or foreign language can rarely
be learned or taught without addressing the culture of the community in
which it is used’ (1999, p.2). We very much hope to include more articles
on this in future issues of the IHJ and welcome article submissions from
interested readers. By engaging with these issues we can begin to rec-
ognise and discuss the elephant in the classroom.
1
The example of CELTA is given as it is a widely recognized pre-
service course. No criticism of the award is meant by this reference and
the CELTA Syllabus and Assessment Guidelines makes clear reference
to both cultural backgrounds (p6 & p8) and cultural factors (p21).
References
Cambridge ESOL. CELTA Syllabus and Assessment Guidelines.
Retrieved October 20, 2009, from
www.cambridgeesol.org/assets/pdf/celta8_251103.pdf
Gee, J. P. (1990). Social Linguistics and Literacies:
Ideology in Discourses. London: The Falmer Press.
Hinkel, E. (1999) Introduction: Culture in research and second lan-
guage pedagogy. InHinkel, E. (Ed.) Culture in second language teaching
and learning (pp 1 - 7). Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge Univer-
sity Press
The elephant in the classroom
Editorial

3
IH History
Articles | IH History
It wasn’t a sudden death, more a slow strangulation, but
teacher training at Embassy Hastings (what was IH Hastings
from 1970 – 1999 and was bought by Embassy in 1999:
Ed) is no more and it’s well after time to mark and mourn its
passing. Here are my thoughts as I look back on a unique
and hugely influential department.
Like many of us who created an amazingly varied and
versatile training team, I was myself a product of Hastings
training, having done my RSA prep in 1978 with Brian Hay
and my diploma under Tim Bowen in 1986. I worked on
courses for over twenty years till Embassy / Studygroup –
who took over the school in 1999 - finally pulled the plug on
teacher training in 2007. By this time the department had
shrunk to a half dozen people and the final move came in
March 2008 when the school closed as an all round opera-
tion and the surviving core of old lags were made redundant.
‘What a waste!’ you may say but it was very much a sign of
the times, with profit margins replacing educational integrity
and so called ‘core business’ replacing loss leading training
ventures.
And so the International Teacher Training Institute which
had started under the leadership of Adrian Underhill back in
the seventies is no more. That, as they say, is history, but
the question is how and why did a small school located in
Palace Court, the gorgeous rabbit warren of a former hotel
in a slightly seedy seaside town have such a tremendous
impact on the world of ELT? The location did play a part,
whether it was the fact that Hastings provided affordable
housing for teachers returning from stints abroad to settle
down and breed, or the stunning setting which gave views
of wave lashed promenade in winter and sun filled days in
summer. It’s the only school I’ve known where you could
nip across the road to the beach for a lunchtime swim or
sunbathe and return for afternoon class with batteries re-
charged.
One source of influence is clearly the writing which
emerged from the teacher training department. Jim Scriv-
ener’s Learning Teaching is hugely successful and a key
CELTA reference book but, as he admitted at the time, the
first edition was pretty much a distillation of all that was hap-
pening in the department, albeit brilliantly put together in
Jim’s unique voice. And almost every classroom I work in
all over the world has its copy of Adrian Underhill’s Sound
Foundations chart which changed the way teachers can
work with pronunciation. IH Hastings never produced a
Headway or Cutting Edge but Clockwise Pre-intermediate
by Vic Richardson and Bruce McGowen is a pretty good
contender for best ever book for short courses. Add to the
above Tim Bowen, Jonathan Marks and Mark Powell and
you have a collection of writers found on every school book-
shelf.
But more than the undoubted influence of Hastings’ writ-
ers and conference speakers, it is its work as one of the
original teacher training centres which gives the school its
special place in ELT history. I wonder how many of you read-
ing this article have a connection with Hastings as language
students, trainee teachers, teachers or guest trainers? In its
heyday the school ran some 14 CTEFLA courses a year, not
to mention Diplomas and foreign national courses. Many of
those graduates are scattered round the world as directors
of studies or teacher trainers, hopefully with something of
the light that the Hastings experience put into their hearts
still shining after all those years.
Ask me who put that light into our teaching and I’d have to
say the hugely inspirational Adrian Underhill. More than his
groundbreaking work on phonology, it was Adrian’s facili-
tative, person-centred approach, which helped create the
department ethos. Gently mocked by our more cynical city
cousins at IH London as ‘touchy feely’ sandal-wearing hip-
pies, there was a real feeling of caring and sharing between
colleagues which transcended the sixties cliche. Meetings
and in-service seminars resonated with Adrianesque terms
like ‘ joy ’ and ‘ elegant solution’ rather than today’s obses-
sions with technology and targets. But if Adrian was the
holistic heart of the training department, then Vic Richardson
was its systems orientated brain as he banged out missives
on those early Macintoshes. Vic always had a close working
relationship with Cambridge / UCLES and his mid course
International House Hastings 1970-1999:
a personal perspective
By Bill Harris
Palace Court

4
tutorial forms for the CTEFLA were the predecessor of to-
day’s ponderous list of assessment criteria in the CELTA 5.
Vic produced in - house teaching materials which promoted
discovery based language work without always relying on
text - a key difference between Hastings pedagogy and
centres like IH Barcelona. Another feature of IHH training
was that we tended to provide informed options for teach-
ing rather than giving oversimplistic dogmatic classroom
formulas. The oft heard cry of ‘Where was your PTV ( pre
teaching vocabulary) stage?’ was never heard in TP feed-
back in Palace Court or Gensing Manor.
Teaching as well as training was influenced - directly or
sometimes more subtly - by a combination of Adrian’s inter-
est in the Silent Way pioneered by Gattegno, Vic’s work on
learner independence and of course a general interest in
things phonological. As well as Adrian and Tim , colleagues
like Rosie McAndrew and Ellie Spicer were inspirational in
their knowledge and skill regarding intonation work. Though
initially my own teaching was fairly mainstream compared
to people like Allan ‘Master of the Rods‘ Bramall, I was
in embarrassment, but finished the scene with great elan
and exited to tremendous applause. Great days!
So where are they now? Vic is just about the only ex IH
Hastings trainer still working full time for Embassy, but some
of the Hastings diaspora, including myself at times, can be
found up the road at Bell, Bedgebury where Jim Scriven-
er is head of teacher development and Bruce McGowen
was director of studies until his recent move to work for the
Open University. Adrian travels the world giving seminars
and workshops and essentially being Adrian. Tim Bowen
writes on line for Onestop English and Ellie Spicer has been
involved in making training videos for younger learner teach-
ers for Macmillan as well as DELTA work. In fact, several
Hastings trainers including Ellie, Allan Bramall and myself
can be found doing mini lessons on the DVD accompanying
Jeremy Harmer’s Practice of English Language Teaching 4th
edition if you want to check us out in our old age!
Here’s news of other former IHH trainers - apologies for
anyone I’ve missed.
Steve and Deb Barratt are teaching out in Qatar. Pete
Redpath is alive and well and living in Galicia and writ-
ing for OUP. Allan and Rosie are teaching at Hastings
College. Judith Gleave (formerly Jude Wilkinson) is work-
Articles | IH History
The annual IH Pantomime
encouraged by my then DoS Jim Scrivener to develop my
brand of spontaneous, learner driven lessons which I went
on to christen ‘Organic’ teaching. In fact, I gave a talk on
this at IATEFL some years before Scott Thornbury’s work on
Dogme and Teaching Unplugged.
But if we worked hard together, by golly we played
hard! The funky Pig in Paradise pub downstairs became
a virtual extension to the school, especially for the man-
agement, and early Friday evenings would be a heady
combination of teachers, trainers, trainees, students and
assorted administrative workers celebrating the end of the
working week. And those long winter nights leading up to
Christmas were enlivened by rehearsals for the annual IH
Pantomime … the likes of which shall never be seen again.
We did them all from Robin Hood to Peter Pan and they
brought great joy to both performers and audience. There
were so many wonderful performances it’s unfair to single
anyone out, though my favourite memory is from Snow
White, with Adrian as the mirror. He was wearing mirror
glasses and a skin - tight, shiny leotard made decent by a
spangly scarf hanging from his waist. In one scene, how-
ever, the scarf slipped off, leaving Mr Underhill and his
Nurejev style bulge exposed for all to see. Needless to
say, the future president of IATEFL didn’t scuttle off stage
ing as a sign language support in FE and doing some
ELT work in the area. Kate Evans is living in Leeds and
doing DELTA training and exam writing for Cambridge.
Roz Balp is retraining as a primary school teacher, as
is Nicola Rendall. Simon Marshall is a freelance trainer
often working for Pilgrims. Gill Johnson teaches at a
nearby international school and has her book on culture
out soon. Terry Pack has gone back to being a full time
musician. Anne Robinson and Lynne Kennett, stalwarts
of the executive school as well as the TT dept, are doing
ELT work and a degree in speech therapy respectively.
As for myself, I’m freelance and still do the odd training
course at Gensing Manor for Embassy. I felt quite bereft
to be deprived of my IH identity with the Embassy take
over, but have since worked at IH schools all over the
world from Spain to Slovenia, Santa Monica to Sydney.
And wherever I go there’s usually a Hastings connection!
Check out my CELTA trainer blog on the Cactus web site.
And Teaching House New York where I worked in March
is now IH NY!
Hastings Pier and Palace Court sunset

5
Ex IHH folk meet up in Hastings now and again to share a
beer and fond memories as well as discussing current plans
and projects. The department is dead but its spirit lives on
in the collective ELT consciousness all over the world. And
every time I open up my box of Cuisenaire rods, teach the
phonemic chart a la Underhill, or facilitate an end of course
feedback with slightly bemused colleagues I think: ‘How
very Hastings!‘
A post script from Jonathan Marks now living and training
in Poland.
For me, the highlights were the autumn seminars with
Gattegno in Bristol. I remember once Adrian was inviting
someone to come and do an evening in-service session
on the Feldenkrais technique, which as far as I remember
entailed lying on the floor and doing microscopic muscle
relaxation exercises. This was being discussed at a staff
meeting, and Graham (Impey the MD) went into a rant about
money from the in-service training budget being squan-
dered just so that people could spend an hour lying on the
floor, to which Adrian replied “Ah, but this is ‘guided’ lying
on the floor.” Graham shot through the ceiling and went into
orbit round East Sussex.
Bill Harris has been working in ELT since 1981 and has trained teachers on initial train-
ing courses all over the world. He has also worked with experienced teachers of English
for many years – mainly in Hastings, England where he was one of the core trainers for
International House before becoming freelance.
Bill is a regular at IH and IATEFL conferences and has given talks on topics as diverse as
organic teaching, lesson planning on CELTA and how to promote quality teacher talk.
He is one of the teachers featured on the DVD accompanying the new edition of Jeremy
Harmer’s Principles of English Language Teaching.
The learner
Introduction
Back in May 2008 I had the chance to enrol on the pilot of
a new teacher training course which would help me prepare
towards the Delta course I ended up taking in December
last year: IH CAM. In this IH CAM course I was exposed to
a number of areas focused on methodology, one of which
was on catering for different learning styles and the inte-
gration and development of learner training and autonomy.
Like many teachers, I had sometimes found myself think-
ing about how my learners learn and whether I was actually
catering for their specific needs. I knew my students learnt
in very different ways; and still I sometimes did not know
how to approach their different learning styles in the most
convenient way.
Therefore, and as part of the IH CAM course, I wrote an
action research plan to carry out with my adult learners and
then assess the possible outcomes. I was interested in ex-
ploring my students’ learning styles, and the extent to which
knowing them would help me become aware of how I could
cater for their needs better. Such action research plan was
based on a task which could then be used as a benchmark
to measure results and outcomes. The following is a de-
scription of the action research plan and the corresponding
findings.
Learning Styles Action Research Plan
Objective: The main purpose of my study was (1)
to find any kind of differences in learner response on
grounds of learning style; (2) to describe such differ-
ences; and (3) to determine what further work could be
done so as to develop and improve the quality of learn-
ing achieved.
Task/ activity: The task to be used was an Authentic
Use activity (appendix 1 – activity description) taken from
Scrivener, Jim, 2005, Learning Teaching. Macmillan: UK.
(Resource Materials – 4 – What happened?). The very na-
ture of this activity was that of a skill-using communicative
whole-task. It clearly had the necessary features to cater
for at least two learning styles – visual and analytical. The
task certainly worked as a springboard for both spoken and
written output, likewise furthering reformulation by means of
co-operative work at a cognitive level. Similarly, facilitat-
ing anxiety was found, thereby helping learners carry out
the task successfully based on their schematic knowledge.
By the same token, language transference skills were also
fostered.
Procedures: The study was designed to provide in-
sights and retrospective data from English adult learners
taking English lessons in-company. I used three data
collection instruments in gathering information on this.
Researching learning .
styles at IH Mexico
By Orlando Mata
Articles | The learner

6
The first was a set of questionnaires given to the learners
which contained a number of questions concerning learning
style, brain side use propensity (Ducharme, Adele & Watford
Luck, 2001, Learning Styles Preferences. Valdosta State
University Press: USA), and multiple intelligences. Students
were asked to answer such questionnaires accordingly and
make any comments on them via email. The second data
collection instrument was a brief interview conducted by
me. The six learners were interviewed individually and their
comments taken into account for the writing of their profiles
(appendix 2). The third data collection instrument was the
observation of learners’ behaviour in class while engaged
in tasks.
Report and analysis .
of my action research plan .
upon implementation
Data Analysis: The data collected allowed me to see
differences in terms of learner response and possible de-
velopmental work on grounds of learning strategies for
learning. The fact that I carried out this plan with a 6-learner
group allowed for greater leeway in terms of thorough analy-
sis and reflection thereof. In writing my findings, I first looked
at learners’ task performance regarding learning style, mul-
tiple intelligences and brain side use, to then account for
such differences by means of clarification on the possible
dissimilar processes they went through when carrying out
the task.
Outcomes and findings: Generally, I had success in
identifying learner responses to the activity given to them.
The data analysis confirmed differences, showing, for ex-
ample, that while logical/mathematical learners excelled at
ordering and creating the corresponding story based on
their pictures, learner 1 experienced some difficulties in it
– this being evidence of faulty cognitive learning. However,
albeit most of the learners were logical/mathematical, these
did show a number of differences when paired up for the
first time. This was the case of learners 2 and 3, who, in spite
of carrying out the task successfully, went through differ-
ent metacognitive processes when engaged in the first and
second part of the task respectively – written, and spoken
output -, thereby favouring linguistic and spacial intelligenc-
es accordingly.
Similarly, results indicated that right brain learners dis-
played some reluctance to carry out the task headlong, this
at times being a problem with pairs of right brain and left
brain learners – thereby increasing the amount of time allot-
ted to the task. Likewise, it is worth pointing out that while the
majority of the learners engaged readily in the task, learner
4 somewhat showed resistance to the learning material –
this being due to his thick ego-boundary1
.
Finally, the second part of the activity – writing – also gave
evidence of individual variation, for reflective learners per-
formed far better than activists- this being confirmed with
their later production of comprehensible output.
Further improvement .
on learning and action .
research plan
In this case, it was considered most useful to provide and
implement a series of learning strategies whereby learners
could satisfactorily do elaborative or active mental pro-
cessing of both classroom and non-classroom learning at
different levels of reasoning. Similarly, a wider range of op-
tions should be given to cater for far more learning styles,
this by means of production of mixed-ability supplementary
material whereby learners could carry out tasks accord-
ingly – allowing for more multiple intelligences and freer
patterns of interaction whereby learners could strike a bal-
ance among their ego-boundaries
Conclusions
Perhaps the greatest benefit of this action research plan
was that it helped me become more aware of the processes
that my learners go through when engaged in productive
tasks. The fact that I had the chance to explore this area
of teaching and learning (learning styles) more thoroughly
also allowed me to put myself in the shoes of my learners
from a very different perspective, which in turn allowed me
to plan my lessons better and cater for their needs more
objectively than before. I believe this action research plan
could probably be extended to other classes I teach, so that
I can be able to compare findings and outcomes in this area
of teaching which has shown to be worth researching.
References:
• Arnold, Jane, 1999. Affect in Language Learning. Cam-
bridge University Press: UK.
• Ducharme, Adele & Watford Luck, 2001, Learning Styles
Preferences. Valdosta State University Press: USA
• Scrivener, Jim, 2005, Learning Teaching. Macmillan: UK.
1 Madeline Ehrman refers to ego-boundary as the fundamental psychoanalytic person-
ality difference in compartmentalization of experience. `By ‘ego’ is meant a system of
mental operations, cognitive and affective, that constitute an individual’s sense of self,
rather than a perceivable object’. She then divides ego-boundaries into thin boundar-
ies and thick boundaries. See Arnold, Jane (1999). Affect in Language Learning.
Cambridge University Press: UK.
Appendix 1
Authentic Use activity description
Activity: Story telling based on visual prompts
Objective: To let SS use the language they know freely
based on a series of visual aids to tell a story.
Procedure:
1) T hands out a set of pictures and asks learners to work in
pairs (learners 1 & 4 ; learners 2 & 3; learners 5 & 6).
2) T asks learners to tell a story based on the visuals
and order it in the way they think the relevant events
happened.
3) Once finished, SS are asked to put their story in writ-
ing.
4) T then asks SS to change pairs and narrate their story
to the other classmate.
5) Finally, SS share stories in OC.
Material: Set of visual aids.
SS narrative.

7
Appendix 2- BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON LEARNERS
Orlando is a CELTA trainer and a Cambridge Oral Examiner, and he has started an MA
in TESOL with the University of Manchester. He enjoys listening to jazz and cooking
Italian food at the weekends.
LEARNER 1 LEARNER 2 LEARNER 3 LEARNER 4 LEARNER 5 LEARNER 6
First Language Spanish Spanish Spanish Spanish Spanish Spanish
Country Mexico Mexico Mexico Mexico Mexico Mexico
Motivation Intrinsic Intrinsic Extrinsic Extrinsic Intrinsic Extrinsic
Age 25 38 28 26 45 22
*Multiple
Intelligence
1: Bodily / Kines-
thetic
2: Spacial / Visual
1: Logical/Math-
ematical
2: Linguistic /
Verbal
1: Logical/ Math-
ematical
2: Spacial/ Visual
1: Logical / Math-
ematical
2: Musical
1: Logical / Math-
ematical
2: Musical
1: Logical / Math-
ematical
2: Bodily / Kinesthetic
**Learning Style Reflector
Reflector /
theorist
Activist / Reflector Reflector / Activist
Activist/
Pragmatist
Reflector
***Brain Side
propensity
Left Right Right Right Right Left
Formal Education Undergraduate Graduate Graduate Graduate Graduate Undergraduate
Work Experience 7 years 17 years 9.5 years 7 years 25 years 1 year
Prior study in
English
Private Language
Institute
5 years.
Private
Classes
4 years.
Private language
institute.
8 years.
University
2 years.
University/ Private
language Institute
8 years.
School Instruction
10 years.
Week in English
Instruction
21 21 21 21 21 21
Ego-Boundary Thin Thin Thin Thick Thin Thin
The following data shows the corresponding findings on my students’ ‘learning profile and behaviour in the English classroom:
* Findings based on the administration of Multiple Intelligences questionnaires.
** Findings based on the administration of Learning Styles questionnaires.
*** Findings based on the administration of Brain activity questionnaires.
Prepared and filled in by Orlando Delgado Mata (2008).
Teaching is without doubt one of the finest professions
one can become involved in. To play a part in another’s
educational growth can be rewarding on many levels.
Within the hands of the classroom teacher lay the future
possibilities and potential of the student. Their hopes, wish-
es and dreams can often begin the fulfillment process in
the classroom. However, it goes without saying that stu-
dents are different. Some learn quicker than others. While
some seem to have a natural gift for learning or absorbing
information. This is no more evident than in the ESL set-
ting. Here, the teacher will be confronted with not only the
task of imparting keys to the second language, but also will
need to deal with a variety of already established language
ability learned from a variety of sources from comics, TV,
native speakers and from teachers at high school whose
usage and understanding of English may not be the most
sound. Thus, the teacher’s role is not only to teach a stan-
dard framework of skills (grammar, listening, reading,
writing and the all important conversation) but also unpick
those inaccuracies acquired in the Mother Culture. In addi-
tion to this there is Cultural Influence and this is an area of
understanding quite often neglected in the classroom.
Understanding .
your Japanese students
By Andrew Moxon

8
When there is a class of mixed nationalities, it is gen-
erally not too difficult to identify the ‘stand outers’. For
example, most European nationalities and South Ameri-
cans are not afraid of verbalizing their points of view even
though grammar and pronunciation may not be accurate.
However, the South American and European cultures tend
to be more outgoing as part of their cultural pattern. Saudi
Arabian students, especially the ladies, appear to be more
studious and therefore more reserved, also controlled by
their cultural constraints. Added to this cultural combina-
tion are Asian (Japanese, Korean, Taiwanese and more
recently Chinese) students who more often than not, tend
to represent the higher numbers in the Australian ESL
classroom, also controlled by their own cultural limita-
tions. And whereas it may be said that students, no matter
where they are from, are students and therefore the same
rule of thumb can be applied, this risks forfeiting student
development for the sake of standard practice. There are
many factors which dictate how well, or badly, an Asian
student does or does not progress in the learning of a
second language in the target language environment. In
the following discussion, Japanese examples will be giv-
en as: a) these are the writer’s experience of having lived
in Tokyo for some 10 years and b) are fairly representa-
tive of the Asian learning model in general.
Japanese society is an organized society founded on
the important principle of ‘Kata’. This broadly means there
are long established roles and rules which help to ensure
that the balance and harmony within society is maintained
and education in these begins from a very early age. The
Japanese understand the protocols and keep quite rigidly
within them. However, these same protocols have led to
serious misunderstandings when naturally applied in an
overseas learning environment.
‘The Japanese have .
nothing to say’
In general, it can be said that Japanese learning is very
much passive. This stems from the ancient Chinese system
where learning was the prerogative of the elite and the best
employment situations were to be found in the administra-
tion of national and local government. Thus it was required
that students be of the highest level and having studied
under the most prominent scholars of the day where one
was required to listen and learn. To a large degree, little has
changed and this is worth keeping in mind. Especially for
those teachers who are as yet unfamiliar with teaching Asian
students.
In classroom speaking activities, teachers will note their
Japanese/Asian students will respond well to topics such
as sports, hobbies, interests, family and so forth. But when
asked why they like these activities or what especially they
like or enjoy about them they are less forthcoming. Asking
about global or social issues is also likely to return a more
negative response. In regards to the first point, in the Japa-
nese view, liking or simply enjoying something, someone or
activity need go no further than that. He, or she, simply likes
or enjoys. The reason for this need not be analyzed. If a
Japanese friend were to tell about taking up rock climbing,
for example, other friends would simply say how good or
great it was and possibly say they had often thought about
doing something similar. Very few would volunteer to ask the
whys or wherefores for this choice. When it comes to more
complicated topics and questions, teachers often come up
against either a minimal response or nothing. But this is not
because the Japanese student has no views but rather be-
cause analysis plays little or no part in daily life and in the
classroom at school.
Another important aspect of Japanese communication
is what is not said. In general, the Japanese do not like
to deal with complex issues, especially in public. And for
the student, this spills over into the classroom earning
them the reputation of having nothing to say on anything
of depth or importance. The reason for this ‘appearance’
is largely concerned with what is appropriate to say and
how strongly, and more importantly how a response may
affect the speaker who asked the question. This is to say,
it is better to say little or nothing rather than cause pos-
sible embarrassment. Especially if the response is strong.
Thus, the student will sit in on a paired activity contributing
little and being able to withstand any ‘pushing’ to respond.
Which raises another key point in understanding the Japa-
nese mind.
In Western systems of education, individualism is en-
couraged. Asking a question in class may receive many
responses. Ask an individual student a question and some
form of response can be guaranteed. Indeed, in the West-
ern classroom setting, individuals may even freely volunteer
questions and responses. Or perhaps even challenge what
the teacher has said. All of which goes to promoting a healthy
study environment. In contrast, Japanese society functions
on ‘group-ism’. Groups play an important role in all aspects
of Japanese society. And not surprisingly, this is also found
in the classroom. When there are activities, they are carried
out within one’s group with the ‘Sempai’ or group leader tak-
ing charge. There is no real equivalent definition of ‘Sempai’.
Even ‘Group leader’ does not accurately convey what this
position is. In Japanese society, however, it is very clear. It is
a position of trust and authority in which the Sempai is quite
often the link between the group and the teacher. Within
a class then, there will be different groups, under different
Sempai and all competing with each other. Nobody wants to
let their group or Sempai down. As a natural consequence,
all decisions or responses are made by the group with the
Sempai supplying the outcome. Individuals are rarely asked
to respond to questions or volunteer opinions. Even though
a student may have an answer, he or she will rarely give it
on the off chance it may be incorrect, thereby ‘letting the
side down’.
Western teachers, in contrast, may particularly target a
student as a means of sounding out the student’s depth of
ability. A question may be given and even extended. If the
student is unsure, the teacher may resort to prompting or re-
directing until the student begins to understand and respond
more clearly. In the Japanese classroom, this strategy simply
does not work. Students do not like to be cut out from their
group and often feel threatened by a well-meaning teacher
when they are and this may be for a combination of reasons.
The student may genuinely not know how to respond; there
is the embarrassment of being singled out; the pressure of
group responsibility and shared class embarrassment (as
other students in the class empathize). In the ESL setting,
teachers will hear students say they want to communicate
with ‘foreigners’ (the Japanese still have a clear division

9
between themselves and others). And this may be truly a
heartfelt wish, but breaking through cultural constraints is
difficult. Asking a student to give personal views is prob-
lematic. Even for Upper Intermediate and Advanced levels,
Asian students will mostly work within their comfort zone.
Strategies such as argument and speculation they find dif-
ficult in that these are almost unchartered waters.
Being aware of cultural background, the ESL teacher can
begin to establish new ground for the Japanese/Asian stu-
dent. However, extending ability is not enough, the student
also needs to be guided in to a new area of confidence: to
be able to give their views without the restrictions of cultural
concern; to be able to volunteer views even though they
may not be in agreement with others; to raise objections
when appropriate. Those traits Western students willingly
show, need to be carefully implanted into the learner’s skills
base if they are to function effectively in the second lan-
guage and in particular going on to tertiary study. Japanese/
Asian students need to be made aware that the western way
of education is more flexible and an essential key is interac-
tion; to be able to freely participate.
Often, Japanese students say other students dominate in
speaking activities. This is a result of not interrupting others
while they are speaking. It is considered extremely impolite.
But if it is explained that interruption is an essential skill in the
discussion process and is therefore acceptable, students
can then begin to make inroads to this particular form of
communication although teachers should not expect overly
strong interjections. The Japanese will remain polite even
when interrupting.
To Western non-native speakers of English, the second
language can become a convenient extension with very little
cultural interference, as there are many cultural similarities.
Being outspoken, body language and gestures, the expres-
sion of personal views and interruption are natural aspects
of western communication, but not in Asia. Thus in the ESL
classroom, more thought needs to be given to how these
subtle communication keys are introduced so that the learn-
ers’ skill is enhanced and not distanced.
It can be seen then, that teaching Japanese students is, to
a large degree, to meet the culture head on and Japanese
culture is complex. What is seen in the classroom, in many
cases, is the tip of a much deeper iceberg. There seems to
be very little awareness to how much pressure Asian stu-
dents are under and how much responsibility and obligation
they have. Often, the expectations they have are unrealistic.
All of which, in addition to the cultural dimension, can make
progress difficult. But with understanding and care, ways
can be found to help them overcome the many barriers
they have.
Andrew Moxon is a Senior Teacher and EAP Co~Ordinator at Viva College, Brisbane.
Andrew has been in the ESL business for over thirty year. During this time he has
taught all levels ranging from Beginner to Upper Intermediate including FCE, CAE and
IELTS courses. However, a personal favorite is EAP at Upper Intermediate and Ad-
vanced level. His approach to teaching is more than simply lessons but the steady
removal of cultural barriers which have caused so many study issues at tertiary level
especially for students from Asia. His 10 years of living in Japan has provided valuable
insights in to the workings of the Asian mind
This short article would like to talk about my experience
with Chinese students. In the beginning I’ll mention a few
characteristics about their characters and environment.
After that I’ll point out a few features I’ve noticed, more
classroom related. I hope this will be of some use for those
teachers dealing with Chinese learners.
A few words on the Chinese .
learning environment
When I was asked to write an article on Chinese learn-
ers, I started wondering about how they were different from
the others. I also asked my colleagues who have taught
in China to see if their points of view were different from
mine, also due to the languages (Spanish and German)
they were teaching.
Broadly speaking, I think that those teachers who have Chi-
nese learners in class must be aware of the Chinese school
system (hence their learning background). I taught in primary
schools for some time and I got to know that they have the fol-
lowing characteristics:
• Long hours
Children stay at school from eight in the morning until
noon. Then from two until five.
• Classroom size
There are from fifty to sixty kids in one classroom.
• Teachers’ behaviour
A feature (Confucius’s heritage) common to almost all
teachers in China, is that teachers do the talking, students
listen. This is the classical view of knowledge ‘possessed’
by the teacher and ‘passed on’ to the students (like water
from a jug into a glass). In a language class, most teach-
ers don’t provide any opportunities for students to speak.
Everything is about grammar rules, vocabulary repetition
and reading comprehension.
Dealing with Chinese learners
By Stefano Maraessa

10
All of the above means that when students come to a lan-
guage school like IH, they’re very passive, at least at the
beginning. Elicitation is quite difficult as they’re afraid of mak-
ing mistakes and consequently ‘losing face1
’ in front of the
others. However, after a while and with some work on their
confidence, Chinese students are like all the others. They enjoy
speaking activities, are very hard working, follow the teacher’s
instructions (as they have great respect for her/him.2
) and so
on. But this respect doesn’t usually mean that those students
will come on time and won’t use their mobile phones in class!
This is something the teacher must be quite strict about, from
the very beginning. I think that this habit comes from what
happens in their university: they’re crowded in huge halls and
the teacher / lecturer talks for hours. As a consequence they
become bored and start playing and juggling with their pens
(I saw amazing things they could with five fingers and a pen!).
And if there is something they don’t like in the lesson, they
won’t tell you, the teacher! They go to reception or to the direc-
tor to complain.
About language skills:
• Pronunciation
I think that there are two main problems:
Segmental
– Central vowels are difficult both to recognise
and realise
– Realisation of dental fricatives
Suprasegmental
– The tendency to be accurate rather than fluent leads
learners to speak very slowly thus not paying much
attention to prominence and intonation (not to men-
tion that catenation, vowel reduction and intrusion
are also affected)
• Vocabulary
For many, studying vocabulary means remembering by
heart a long list of words with their translations; as far as I
could see, no attempt is being made at school to deepen
the knowledge of a word. Hence, I think it’s really worth
analysing a word together, see its degree of politeness,
its connotation, what part of speech is, with which words
it collocates, etc.
• Grammar
Grammar is seen, as in many other countries, as a set of
fixed rules to follow. Learners don’t usually have at their
disposal a meaningful context to study a grammar point.
1 This is quite a strong characteristic of all Chinese people and it refers to
the thinking that if you make a mistake, you’re ‘dishonoured’ e.g. if I ask
for directions, the person would never say that s/he doesn’t know it, but s/
he would say at least something to ‘let me go’.
2 (lao shi) commonly translated as “teacher”, literally means vener-
able master.
Grammar is considered like something ‘apart’ from lan-
guage and from communication. Although we teachers
try to explain that grammar is the result of a communica-
tive purpose, a lot of students (especially those attending
university – where they have grammar tests) do want our
lessons have a strong focus on it.
• Functional language
This notion is almost completely unknown. It seems that
it’s difficult for students to link those grammar rules and
lexical items they have learnt to convey a specific mean-
ing in a specific context.
It’s quite startling, at least at the beginning, seeing that a
foreign language is just like any other subject, to study
and learn; it’s not as it should be a resource useful to
communicate ‘real’ things, to describe life, as well as to
ask for directions or order in a restaurant!
About language skills
• Listening
Very difficult to get students to do the assigned task and
not paying attention to all the words in a listening text.
It takes time and practice for them to understand the
importance of the task (thus improving their listening sub-
skills).
• Speaking
Here the main problem is the fear of making mistakes
and losing face in front of the others so learners tend to
focus on accuracy and don’t practise fluency. As a result,
many speak very slowly.
• Reading
Chinese students are usually strong with written text.
However, the main difficulty for them is to retrieve missing
information from their background knowledge. Some-
times it happens that if they don’t know a lexical item,
they don’t make use of the knowledge they have in order
to guess it, they just stop and look for their (electronic)
dictionaries.
• Writing
As with many other students of any language, developing
this skill requires a lot of exposure to the target language.
A lot of work is needed because they have to get rid of
their habit to translate their thoughts (or texts) word by
word.
I only hope that what I’ve written has given you some in-
sight about the Chinese as students. In the end, I’d like to
thank to Alexandra Millan Garcia, Maria Valle Carreras and
Kristina Windisch for their suggestions.
Stefano Maraessa (IH Mexico City) was the Director of Studies of IH Xi’an for nearly
two years, until May 2009. In this period he taught Italian and English, trained Chinese
teachers and also developed with IHWO and other IH teacher trainers an IH Course for
teachers of Chinese.

11
Something drew me to the announcement of a Con-
ference for English Language teachers to be held in
Georgia although, to be entirely honest, at that stage
I did not even know where it was. I just felt that I had
to go there so I immediately sent details of the presen-
tations I could offer to the contact person, and then
promptly forgot all about it. However, some time later
I received a reply. The answer was yes, they would be
delighted to have me and to arrange accommodation
as long as I could cover the cost of the fare. That was
easily arranged as the College where I worked was pre-
pared to do that. But the next problem was how to get
to the venue as there were no flights to Georgia from
the UK at that time.
It seemed I had to fly to Frankfurt, and then take an
Air Georgia plane to Tbilisi, the ticket for which could
only be purchased at the Air Georgia desk in Frankfurt
airport. I arrived expecting to pay by credit card but
only American dollars were acceptable so I then had
to find a cash point machine, withdraw the money in
marks and convert it at a Bureau De Change. To make
matters worse, there followed a five-hour delay on the
runway. Apparently the airport fees hadn’t been paid
by the impoverished airline so the pilot wasn’t given
clearance for take-off until the bill was finally settled
with the dollars my fellow travellers and I had handed
over at the desk.
The reason why there were no flights from the UK
as I found out later was that the planes, all Aeroflot
rejects, were not deemed to be airworthy. Hardly sur-
prising when you consider that half of the seats had
no seatbelts and the toilet did not even have a door
that closed. My main concern, however, was that as
the plane was making its final descent into Tbilisi, the
one and only pilot had joined the passengers and was
drinking wine and singing with them in the aisle. Who, if
anybody, was in the cockpit I’ll never know, but amaz-
ingly we landed safely.
Most places you visit can be compared to somewhere
else you’ve been but Georgia was truly an exception.
There’s no way it can be neatly classified and categorised
and that’s part of its attraction. The people had hardly
anything, recovering as they were from the after-effects
of their struggle for independence and a civil war, but
whatever they did have they would share with you. Fierce-
ly independent, they would never admit to the difficulties
they were experiencing and acted as if everything was
just fine.
Life revolved around the extended family, without
whose support nobody could have survived through
those times. The only form of social activity was sitting
round the table for extended feasts to which everyone
who came contributed something. A Tamadah would
be appointed, always a man, and he would make an
endless series of toasts for which we were all obliged
to stand and drink. This was done from a Kanzi, a hol-
lowed-out horn, so the wine, all locally produced, had
to be drunk in one swig, as the horn, once drained of its
contents, could only be laid on its side. Candles were
always placed on the table, not for any decorative pur-
pose but in preparation for the inevitable electricity cuts
that would occur without any warning.
As for the Conference itself, despite the fact that there
was no electricity and no equipment, not to mention
the fact that I had to give my sessions by candlelight
wrapped up in a coat, the enthusiasm of the delegates,
starved for so long of contact with native speakers of
English, was truly contagious. And despite the fact that
there were no textbooks in the schools, ridiculously over-
crowded classes and antiquated methods, the standard
of English was remarkably high.
One Professor at the State University, an elderly
woman, stood out from all the rest. She was always ac-
companied by one of her students with whom she would
walk arm in arm. I later found out that this was because
she had been blind since birth. Despite the fact that
Braille was unheard of in Georgia, her English was na-
tive speaker level. She had a photographic memory and
her students read to her and escorted her in return for
lessons. Her fighting spirit and ruthless determination
to succeed despite all the odds won my wholehearted
admiration. No doubt she was an impossible person
to live with, being extremely tyrannical and selfish, but
nobody could fail to admire her resolve, which repre-
sented everything the younger Georgians had lost. For
a generation the State had provided for them, so they
had no need to do anything for themselves. Now that
the situation was reversed they were totally lost. They
had no idea how to use their new power to take control
of their lives and just regarded themselves as victims
of circumstance. This coupled with the revival of the
Nationalist movement with the resultant disinterest in
alliances with other states (surely the only way forward
for such a small country) left a fertile land inhabited
by people with a rich culture with an extremely bleak
outlook.
Anyway, I’m starting to digress and it’s time I returned
to the subject. At the end of the Conference there was a
farewell dinner in the organiser’s house to which Kete-
van had been invited. She brought her guitar along and
sung an old Beatles song, I believe it was “Yesterday”
while another of the teachers accompanied her. At the
first available opportunity I went over to her and tried to
make conversation. But my introduction was followed by
silence on her part. Then she blurted out “I’ve got two
children” I didn’t know how to respond. “Really? Tell me
The calling:
an overseas course of study or a pilgrimage?
By Michael Berman

12
about them.” I’d actually noticed her earlier when she
walked through the Conference Hall, arriving late for one
of my sessions. I’d also observed that she sat through the
repeat. I vainly thought this was because she’d enjoyed
it so much although it turned out that she was simply too
tired to move on to the other hall and used the session to
have a little nap in. And that’s how it all started. It was the
ultimate challenge and I couldn’t resist it. It turned out I
was the first foreigner Ketevan had ever spoken to, so her
suspicion and mistrust were understandable.
I managed to persuade her to go out for dinner with me
the following night, the last night before my return. My pre-
sentations over, I felt more relaxed and showed her my
better side. And yes it was love at first sight. I kissed her
good night outside my hotel, not expecting to see her again.
But the next morning I found her waiting at the airport, which
is when I invited her to come to London for a holiday. The
holiday turned into a happy ever after and we remain to-
gether to this day.
I would be lying if I said it has been plain sailing as the cul-
ture shock that hit Kate when she first arrived was immense.
And I was not as patient as I might have been, not used to
having to deal with someone else’s problems in addition to
my own. Not being assertive by nature, it took Kate a long
time to find any work and it was a struggle for me to sup-
port us both and pay all the household bills too. However,
we have slowly and painfully adapted to our new roles and
hopefully the worst is now behind us. Irakli and Natia, Kate’s
children, live with their grandparents but come to join us for
their long summer holidays each year. And now we’re trying
to have a child of our own.
Do I have any regrets? - None at all. Moreover, despite all
the temptations due to the nature of my work, I have stayed
faithful, something I have never succeeded in doing before.
And am I happy? That’s a question I have never been able
to answer, possibly as I still have to learn to love myself and
happiness can truly only stem from that. But that’s another
story!
* * *
Whan that Aprille with his shoures sote
The Droghte of Marche
Hath perced to the rote…
Than longen folk to goon on pilgrimages
- taken from The Canterbury Tales by Chaucer
An instinctive longing to move with the seasons has
been with us since before we were ‘human’. The call
to Pilgrimage can be as profound as such an instinct.
When we are called to go on Pilgrimage we enter
into a special relationship with landscape, time and
place that hallows both Way and Wayfarer in a way
that that can only be understood through personal
experience.
A pilgrimage can deepen our relationship with place
and is also profoundly balancing and grounding, no
doubt that is why so many are called to it after experi-
encing a life change, loss of a loved one, or a spiritual
experience. The calling can take many forms. A long-
ing, a desire to learn about a deity associated with
a particular place, synchronicities that all point at the
same destination, or just a slow growing idea that takes
shape over months or even years. The important thing
is our response. In a sense, preparing for a long pil-
grimage involves letting go of a previous self (often in a
very real way, leaving jobs, homes, family and security
be behind) and making room for a new self to emerge.
(An extract from the article “Pilgrimage for Pagans” by
Kate Fletcher & Corwen ap Broch. In Pagan Dawn, Bel-
tane 2009).
Although I did not fully realize it at the time, my first visit
to Georgia turned out to be very much a pilgrimage and the
start of a new life, in the same way as our overseas students’
first study trip to an English-speaking country often turns out
to be. In other words, it is frequently a highly significant pe-
riod in their lives in which their main preoccupations have
little if anything to do with learning English. In fact, as a form
of pilgrimage, such a journey can even take the form of an
initiatory process:
Although its outer forms may sometimes appear to be
different, the initiatory process has common features
in all religions and spiritual traditions. In Buddhist tradi-
tion, the journey of the Buddha towards enlightenment
combines worldly renunciation and austerity with the
use of meditative techniques to quiet the overactive
mind, cultivating detachment and inner peace; signifi-
cantly, the Buddha’s inner journey is also connected
with a profound reconnection with the natural world. He
leaves the city and enters the forest, where he teaches
the deer and finally finds enlightenment under a bo-
dhi tree, assisted by a serpent deity called the Naga
King as well as by the Earth Mother. In Christian tradi-
tion, the equivalent initiatory path is represented most
clearly by the discipline and unworldliness of the mo-
nastic life, which began in the early Christian era with
monks moving to live in the desert between Egypt and
Palestine. Christian mystical tradition sees a ‘dark night
of the soul’ as central to the process of inner purifica-
tion, and often compares the soul’s initiatory journey
to stages in the life of Jesus Christ, culminating in his
crucifixion and resurrection. Here, as in several other
mystical traditions, including forms of Hindu asceticism
and Buddhist tantra, the individual’s meditation upon
suffering, death and impermanence of the flesh is a
vital stage in the initiatory process. In Celtic myth and
in the Grail legends that it shaped, a commitment to
the initiatory journey is often represented by the cross-
ing of one or more ‘perilous bridges’. These dangerous
crossings are the testing gateways to the Grail castle,
where deeper spiritual insights may be obtained. (An
extract from Mann, N. & Glasson, P., 2009, ‘The Glas-
tonbury Experience & the Path of Initiation’ In AVALON,
Issue 42, Summer 2009).
Being English Language teachers, whether we like it or
not is actually a very small part of our jobs, and if we pre-
tend otherwise then our effectiveness to help those who are
entrusted to us is clearly greatly diminished.
PS To bring the above story up to date, nearly fifteen
years have passed since my first visit to Georgia de-

13
scribed above. It turned out that we were unable to have
children of our own, but Natia and Irakli both moved to the
UK to live here with us. As for Ketevan, she is now the
Managing Director of Caucasus Arts Ltd, a company
set up to promote both visual and performing artists
from Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and the other inde-
pendent states in the region. And Georgia through Its
Folktales, with tales translated by Ketevan and notes
on them written by me, is due to be published in paper-
back by O-Books in March 2010.
Michael Berman BA, MPhil, PhD (Alternative Medicines) works as a teacher and a writer.
Publications include A Multiple Intelligences Road to an ELT Classroom and The Power
of Metaphor for Crown House, The Nature of Shamanism and the Shamanic Story for
Cambridge Scholars Publishing, and Tell Us A Story (a resource book for teachers
on storytelling) for Brain Friendly Publications. Shamanic Journeys through Daghestan
and Shamanic Journeys through the Caucasus are both due to be published in paper-
back by O-Books in 2009. Michael has been involved in teaching and teacher training
for over thirty years, has given presentations at conferences in more than twenty coun-
tries, and hopes to have the opportunity to visit many more yet.
Journeys bring power and love
back into you.
If you cannot go somewhere
move in the passages of the self.
They are like shafts of light,
always changing,
and you change
when you explore them
Jelaluddin Rumi – 13th
century Sufi
Classroom Matters
In my first article (in the last issue of the IH Journal), I
looked at some important features of video material and
summarised some of the research that has been done into
its use within an EFL/ESL teaching context. I also offered a
brief outline of some of the factors a language teacher might
want to consider before using filmed material in the class-
room, as well as putting forward a few of the functions that
video material can perform within the classroom which other
text types may not fulfil in quite the same manner.
With this follow-up article I’d like to shift the focus onto the
more specific approaches a teacher could take to incorpo-
rate filmed material into a lesson. Clearly, video material can
easily be substituted for another text type (written, audio)
without any great change in purpose or desired outcome.
As long as you have a relevant piece of material, you can
easily exploit it in the same way that you would an article,
email or audio extract. This is certainly the easiest way to
begin the process of developing new approaches to make
the most of the unique qualities of each type of material.
A teacher’s experimentation with new materials and new
methods of exploiting materials can be described as a three
stage approach:
• familiar methods with familiar materials/types of material
• familiar methods with new materials/types of material
• new approach with new materials/types of material
Examples of task types
As with any material used in the classroom, there are a
variety of stages at which learners could be asked to carry
out tasks and respond to input. We are all used to setting
learners tasks before we introduce a written or audio text,
possibly involving pre-teaching of vocabulary, personal-
ization tasks or context setting exercises. We might follow
these with tasks which require our learners to scan or skim
through a text, or listen just once, to identify key informa-
tion or outline the structure of the text. Maybe we ask them
to listen out for lexical items (antonyms, synonyms, all the
names of pieces of fruit mentioned, etc.). We might then
finish off with exercises which ask our students to read or
listen for detail, identify uses of target language or analyse
the text in some other way. The same frameworks we use for
other material are equally applicable to video material. The
following are some ideas and variations of tried and trusted
task types:
1. Predicting content
As with other texts, the learners can be given the title of
the film clip, some still pictures from the film or a selection
of keywords associated with the video clip and be set tasks
involving content prediction and hypothesis generation.
Watching the extract then allows the learners to confirm
their ideas or identify differences between their predictions
Using video: practice
By Sebastian Taylor
Articles | Classroom Matters

14
and the actual content. Predictions could involve cliches of
the genre, visual content such as costumes and sets, audio
content such as soundtrack style or tempo, etc. as well as
the more usual prediction of topical content.
A variation on this - which is only possible with video - would
be to play the clip without any audio and ask the learners to
predict content based solely on what they have seen. Al-
ternatively, turn off the TV or projector and play the audio
without the visual information and do the same with ques-
tions such as “Where are they?”, “Who are they?”, “What’s
happening?”, “What do you think happened previously?”
etc. A further variation (possible with DVD) would be to play
the clip at double speed or even faster and again ask the
learners to react to and comment on the situation/content.
Tasks such as these will encourage learners to speculate
together based only on visual or audio clues, before more
information is provided with a complete viewing.
Any of these activities would serve as an important acti-
vation stage, as with any other text type, and engage the
student’s interest, elicit important language and focus the
learner on the subject at hand.
2. Whilst watching
As with audio material, the teacher can give the learners
a series of simple tasks to do whilst watching the clip. As
any of us who have learned additional languages can testify,
watching, listening and writing at the same time in a second
language is not easy, so it’s important not too demand too
much of learners!
Tasks could take the form of a table to complete with key in-
formation, a list of events, words or objects to be marked in the
order in which they appear, the task of counting the number
of times a certain word or phrase is used or a certain object
appears, etc. The task could also be along the lines of “How
many different ways do the people in the film have of saying
X, Y or Z?”
3. Post-watching
There are a huge number of activities possible after
watching the clip:
• Summarising the clip.
• Devising questions to accompany the clip.
• Using the clip as a springboard for discussion or de-
bate.
• Discussing cultural or regional differences in response
to the clip.
• Isolating and analysing language points
• Correcting mistakes in a summary or transcript.
Basically, anything you can do with a written text or a CD,
you can do with a video clip. Many DVD players have repeat
functions so that a specific segment can be re-watched
and, with DVDs divided into chapters, it is relatively easy to
skip forwards or backwards at will. Subtitles in a variety of
languages are also normally included.
Unique Resources
Here are just a few examples of additional video resourc-
es available which are unlike anything in other media:
• Live webcams – many cities have webcams at interest-
ing sites which can be accessed live via the internet.
• Short movies – the BBC offers a selection of one-minute
movies and there’s even a competition for ten-second
films.
• Video cameras can be used in the classroom to en-
hance feedback and error correction, as well as to work
on posture, body language and paralinguistic features
with learners wanting to prepare for presentations, in-
terviews or speeches. Learners can actually see and
hear themselves, and review their performance togeth-
er with their teacher and fellow learners.
• Students can also be encouraged to develop their own
short films, reports or interviews which can be record-
ed for analysis, discussion or just for posterity’s sake.
• Software such as Camtasia allows teachers to record au-
dio alongside live screen-capture (recording everything
that happens on their computer screen) whilst working
with normal office software. For example, a teacher can
correct and suggest reformulations of a learner’s written
text in Microsoft Word and turn this process into a short
film with audio – a much more personalised way of giving
feedback.
• Every Friday the Guardian website produces a Viral
Video Chart with links to the twenty most-watched viral
videos of the week. These are normally either of topical
interest (political, sport or social interest) or are simply
amusing.
Sample lesson for IHWO level 6 and above
• Language focus - third and mixed conditionals
• Material - video of an appearance by Al Gore on Sat-
urday Night Live which can easily be found on the
internet. A full transcript is also available freely online.
The video clip is a fictional (and satirical) Address to the
Nation, given by Al Gore as if he had beaten George
W. Bush in the 2000 American elections.
• Procedure
1. Before playing the clip, learners could be asked to
think about major events in their lives, in their coun-
tries and on the world stage that happened between
2000 and 2008. Ideas could be collected in small
groups and fed back in open class. It would prob-
ably be necessary to show pictures of George W.
Bush and Al Gore and ask the students what they
know about them and how their images of each
may differ.
2. Learners watch the video and are asked to iden-
tify where their recollections differ from this fictional
world. It will probably be necessary for students to
be given a few prompts so they know what kinds of
things to watch/listen out for.
3. Comparing this fictional reality with real events
provides a great route into the language focus on
conditionals, which can then be extended into more
personalised tasks and practice activities.
4. Practice could come in the form of learners be-
ing asked to look back over key decisions and
events in their lives and draw up an alternative
reality timeline where things happened differently.
Each of the points on these timelines provides an
opportunity for production of sentences using

15
the target language “If I hadn’t … , I would/could/
might have …”, or, “If I hadn’t … , I would …” con-
ditional sentences.
Conclusion
Video is a very flexible resource which can be used to
fulfil many classroom purposes, whether as an alternative
source of input, to reinforce language previously learnt, to
stimulate discussion, to bring variety into the classroom,
to activate passive language or to analyses native-speak-
er models. There is no end to the content of video clips
available, from short films to historical documentaries,
training videos to situation comedies.
The only limiting factors are the teacher’s imagination and
creativity!
Links:
BBC one-minute movies:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/films/oneminutemovies/
Ten-second films:
http://www.tensecondfilms.com/
British Council Flash Grammar Movies:
http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/try/resources/grammar-
movies
Viral Video Chart:
http://www.viralvideochart.com/
Example of a vlog:
www.mayda3000.blogspot.com
Sebastian Taylor is Director of Studies for English at IH Berlin PROLOG. He started as
a freelance teacher in Berlin at the beginning of 2002, following an enjoyable period
teaching ESL and working in adult education in the UK. Having been fortunate to find a
home at PROLOG, he enjoys his role as DoS, developing himself further professionally,
working together with a great team of teachers and making the most of life in such a
wonderful city. He is neither a technophile nor a technophobe, but does have a soft spot
for the school’s interactive whiteboards.
One of the main problems that English as a foreign lan-
guage (EFL) learners face is how to improve their language
proficiency, in general, and speaking fluency, in particular.
This is actually the concern of both EFL learners and instruc-
tors. In the same vein, many EFL learners at the level of
universities of most Eastern countries may read different
textbooks to build up their lexicon and become familiar with
different genres used in different texts, read different gram-
mar books trying to improve their syntax, watch different
movies or listen to different radio programs in order to im-
prove their language skills and finally apply what they have
learnt to deal with any real life or other purposeful situations.
For example, they may try to use what they have learnt
in developing oral communication with their classmates,
teachers, people from other countries speaking English,
or even native speakers for either functional or other pur-
poses. However, when it comes to oral communication and
particularly fluency in speaking, the majority of them fail. In
other words, their way of speaking is mostly filled with awk-
ward and inappropriate pauses and lacks satisfying fluency.
The origin of this problem might be due to their insufficient
amount of exposure to fluent speech genres such as those
of radio-TV news.
The role of any stretch of news is to present and convey
the actual events around the world. Due to the nature and
characteristic of radio-TV news, it is mostly presented in a
very straightforward manner. In fact, it avoids ambiguity,
figurative meaning, slang, and other linguistic factors which
add to the confusion of comprehension. Furthermore, the
vocabulary items chosen are relevant and have precise
meaning and rarely present ambiguity.
As an obvious instance, in the present century of speed,
in which most people are busy making their livings, the time
devoted to TV broadcasting is increasing more and more,
so that these days most of the countries endorse 24 hours of
TV programs. Let alone the huge number of the channels. In
my opinion, apart from its disadvantages in some emotional
aspects, TV has shown to be a rather good bed-fellow to fill
the gaps in one’s personal solitude, functioning as a bridge
to connect people of different origins, cultures, viewpoints,
feelings, etc. Needless to say, this very communicative
bridge is held together by different strong ropes called
languages. Therefore, both the content and the language,
i.e. the bridge and the rope in our metaphor, are mutually
bound together. That is the more languages you know, the
more information you may have about the surrounding world
and vice-versa, i.e. the TV itself may play a significant role in
teaching you the language(s) of the world.
In this relation, one of the most important ways of improv-
ing fluency in speaking is through having a great amount
of exposure to fluent native speakers or even fluent non
native ones. In more particular situations, from among all
No news is bad news!
By A. Majid Hayati

16
the radio-TV programs, the news has shown to be very ef-
fective in teaching different aspects of language. However,
in countries like Iran, where English is treated as a foreign
language and accordingly the speaking skill is not empha-
sized enough, TV news may have a different look for at least
two reasons: first, many language learners seem to be inter-
ested in different news types depending on their personal
dependency and/or affiliation; second, due to the various
discoursal functions of the TV news, the listener may or may
not have to focus on either form or the content.
Whatever the story, according to many studies, one of
the audio-visual inputs which may prove effective in helping
EFL learners to improve their fluency in English speaking is
the radio-TV news speech genre because it utilizes a more
redundant use of vocabulary and concepts and provides
greater elaboration and explication of topics.
Why the news?
The radio-TV news genre provides listeners/viewers with
specific material made around one of the most authentic
kinds of discourse, focusing on currently broadcast local
and global events with which most individuals make a real
sense of connection.
Linguistically speaking, there are a number of particular
characteristics observed in TV news which make it different
from other news genres. In this regard, one of the charac-
teristics of TV news which make it pedagogically worthy is
the feature of recycling vocabulary, which is considered as
redundancy of input generally understood by the students
to help their second language comprehension. In the same
line of argumentation, news writers and very experienced
news reporters or newscasters are aware of the role of the
news genre in the public attitude. As a result, they make
their attempts to present the news stories, discussions, and
commentaries as precisely and directly as possible to main-
tain individuals’ attention. To reach the goal, news agendas
also use specific vocabulary items and structures in order to
make the news more understandable with a large group of
the public. In other words, ambiguous structures which may
hinder comprehension are almost avoided in developing
and presenting news items. The lexico-syntactic features of
this genre are what makes radio-TV news a valuable source
of vocabulary input for EFL/ESL learners.
Another essential characteristic of the genre is the fluency of
speech which is the use of appropriate pausing, rhythm, intona-
tion, stress, rate of speaking, and the use of interjections and
interruptions. Consequently, fluency of speech is a dominant
linguistic feature which can be observed in utterances designed
and developed to be read by newscasters. Moreover, one more
important feature of radio-TV news is the special discourse
which is used throughout the issue. In this regard, essential fac-
tors such as the nature of the news, the cognitive, affective and
social status of both the news items and the audience, the struc-
ture of the news, etc. should be of focus.
Practical experience
As a result of the above considerations, it was hypothe-
sized that the news genre can be helpful in enhancing the
students’ speaking ability; therefore, in order to evaluate this
hypothesis, an experiment was conducted with 60 EFL uni-
versity students aged from 21 to 26 including both males and
females majoring in fields other than English. The students
were then divided into two groups. Throughout the semester
which lasted 13 weeks (26 hours), Group One was provided
with different kinds of radio-TV news as one kind of genre
specific language listening material including both video and
audio extracted and prepared from Voice of America (VOA)
and British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) stations to work
on in- and out-side the classroom and write down whatever
they heard which was discussed later inside the classroom
every session. Moreover, inside the classroom, this group
was asked to listen to the same news again and not only dis-
cuss the content but also focus on the prosodic features. In
other words, they were asked to focus on the intonation pat-
terns, stress, and appropriate pauses at appropriate junctures
which were highly observed by reporters and the newscast-
ers. In order to make the comprehension of the radio-TV news
items easier, a list of vocabulary, concepts, people, places
and events that were relevant to the report was generated
before watching the news. Accordingly, group one students
had almost no problem with the vocabulary items used in
radio-TV news. After watching each news item, the students
in Group One were asked to retell the news and talk about
it. This caused the students to recall and use the vocabulary
items they required for their description automatically.
However, Group Two did not watch/listen to the radio-
TV news genre inside the classroom. On the contrary, the
students in Group Two had only exposure to a sample of
utterances extracted from different kinds of radio-TV pro-
grams rather than news.
Highlighted consequences
During the study, the students in Group One could im-
prove the fluency component of their oral proficiency. One
of the reasons behind this might be due to the fact that
fluency as one of the linguistic features of any kinds of radio-
TV news genre could lead Group One language learners
to develop this essential feature in their language learning.
Further, having exposure to radio-TV news speech genre in
which the prosodic features are all observed helped the par-
ticipants in Group One to follow the same patterns in their
speaking. In other words, during the study and especially
in the post-test, less inappropriate pauses at inappropriate
junctures which led to the automatic production of speech
or a satisfying speaking fluency were observed in the utter-
ances produced by Group One students.
The students in Group One also showed their willingness
in creative use of different words, sentences, utterances, and
structures used in the news when talking about the topics
during the interview. Through this, they could present the
amount of their ability in the kind of words and structures they
needed to express their ideas. Moreover, they tended to em-
ploy more directed utterances while speaking about a certain
topic. Their automatic production of speech and appropriate
use and rate of pauses at specific junctures with correct use
of suprasegmental features (rhythm, intonation, and stress)
similar to that of the news was also significant. They were able
to focus on the message they were supposed to exchange
in response to the questions posed by the interviewer. This
reflected how impressive exposure to radio-TV news speech
genre was on the students’ speaking fluency.
The students in Group Two, however, could not improve
their speaking fluency to a significant extent during the pres-
ent experience. Though, this does not mean that they could

17
not improve other components of language which were out
of the scope of the study. Group Two students’ utterances
and speeches offered less trace of fluency and automatic
speech production. Their attempts to produce their ideas
were accompanied with long silence before starting their re-
sponses to the interviewer’s questions.
In all, the reason that the students in Group Two failed to
improve the fluency component of their oral proficiency to a
significant extent might have been due to their exposure to
miscellaneous speech genres such as movies, songs, differ-
ent kinds of radio-TV talk shows, and other general language
listening materials rather than specific speech genres during
the study. This might have caused them to lose their concen-
tration on one specific genre of speech. Maybe they could
benefit more from one of the above audio-video programs,
i.e. movies, songs, talk shows, etc. Nevertheless, the impor-
tant lesson given by the study was that the news genre, for its
distinct characteristics, was more influential in motivating the
students to focus on certain features of language.
The final word
Those language teachers responsible for preparing
some listening materials for their EFL learners are sug-
gested to make their selection out of different radio-TV
news speech genres. As a result, EFL learners will have
the chance of having greater exposure to more fluent
speech genres inside the classroom which will help them
improve their speaking fluency. Language teachers can
also guide their EFL learners to listen and have exposure
to radio-TV news speech genres outside the classroom.
In other words, language teachers can guide their EFL
learners to use radio-TV news speech genres for their in-
tensive and extensive listening materials to improve their
speaking fluency. Moreover, language teachers can also
ask their students to, for example, discuss the radio-TV
news content. The focus should be rather centered on
the prosodic features of the new language, appropriate
pauses, and automatic production of speech at normal
conversational speed than centered on speaking faster. In
this regard, one of the most important ways of improving
speaking fluency may be through having a great amount
of exposure to fluent native speakers or even fluent non
native ones. To achieve this purpose, one of the audio/
visual inputs which may prove effective in helping EFL
learners improve the fluency of their speaking proficiency
is radio-TV news, the nature and the size of which may be
determined by the teacher depending on the level of the
students, class atmosphere and time limitation.
A. Majid Hayati, holds a doctorate degree in Linguistics from the University of Newcas-
tle, Australia. He teaches TEFL, Language Testing and Linguistics at Shahid Chamran
University of Ahvaz. Hayati has published a number of articles in Roshd Magazine (Iran),
Language Teaching Journal (Iran), Reading Matrix (USA), PSiCL (Poland), Asian EFL
Journal (Korea), Arts and Humanities in Higher Education (England), GLOSSA (Puerto
Rico), ELT (Canada) and ESL Magazine (USA). He has also published the second edition
of his book “Contrastive Analysis: Theory and Practice” in 2005. His recent book, “A
Review of Language Teaching”, was published in 2007.
Introduction
By the end of November, my class of twenty-five 6th
grade
boys had finished their textbook and taken their final exams
for the 2008 school year. Every student had passed and
would be going on to 7th
grade. But there were still three
more weeks of school to go! What was I going to do in the
final three weeks? The purpose of this article is to share
with colleagues how I used debates with my students during
those three weeks.
Why did I .
decide to use debates?
There were two reasons I decided to use debates.
First, I had used various forms of debate in the past as a
classroom speaking activity. One of my favourites is the
“Balloon Debate”. In this activity, a group of four to eight
students is formed. Each student chooses to be a famous
person who is in a balloon that is rapidly losing altitude.
The group can only be saved if one person sacrifices him/
herself by jumping overboard. To decide who must jump,
each student must give reasons why they should stay in
the balloon. The teacher and/or the class (by voting) then
decides who has made the least persuasive argument.
That person must jump. This process continues until there
is only one person left in the balloon, who lands safely, win-
ning the debate.
My second, and most important, reason for using de-
bates with my class of sixth graders was because of a
Debating in a Chilean 6th
.
grade EFL classroom
By Thomas Baker

18
movie I saw, “The Great Debaters” (2007). It was di-
rected by Denzel Washington. In it Denzel also plays the
role of Melvin Tollson, coach of the undefeated Wiley Col-
lege Debate Team of 1935. The movie is based on a true
story.
Let me describe the simple yet powerful scene that made
me think to myself, “Even my sixth-graders can understand
that”. Denzel is explaining his philosophy about debating.
The room is full of nervous students who are trying out for
the debate team:
Denzel: “Debate is combat. Your weapons are words. In
a debate there is a “resolution”. One team, called the “af-
firmative team”, argues for the resolution. The other team,
called the “negative team”, argues against the resolution.”
When I heard that, I knew that was “all” my students need-
ed to get started debating.
What is beneficial .
about debating?
At the 2006 JALT Hokkaido Language Conference, two
researchers, Mandy Manning and Tomoko Nakamura, gave
a presentation entitled, “Teaching Debate in the EFL Class-
room”. Manning and Nakamura have developed a debate
course for high school EFL students in Japan. They make
the following claims:
1. Debating ability is a valuable skill.
2. Debate utilizes useful English.
3. It is a unique way to teach grammar.
4. It develops critical thinking skills.
5. It introduces global issues.
6. It develops research skills.
Dr. Alfred Snider, Director of the World Debate Institute
at the University of Vermont, in his book, “The Code of the
Debater: Introduction to the Way of Reason” (Snider, 1999,
p.5), also lists six answers to the question, Why debate?
They are:
1. Debating is fun.
2. Debating is a sport of the mind and voice.
3. Debating is controlled by you.
4. Debating creates the skills you need for success in
life.
5. Debate can give you the power to change things.
6. Debating is not just for “geeks” or “nerds”.
Are there any disadvantages?
Yes! There can be arguments, shouting, insults, even
physical attacks if a debate is not conducted in a respect-
ful manner. It is therefore essential to ensure that debaters
are taught to “disagree agreeably”. Dr. Snider lists an ex-
cellent, “Code of the Debater” (Snider, 1999, p.13) in his
book. Three of his rules of conduct that I taught my class
were:
I will respect the rights of others to freedom of speech,
even though we disagree.
I will respect my partners, opponents, judges and coaches.
I will be a generous winner and a gracious loser.
How did I teach debating .
to sixth-graders?
First, the class was informed that for the final three weeks
we would be debating. My 25 students were divided into 6
teams of 4 students each. One of my best students was
selected to be my “Assistant Coach”.
Next, the meanings of the terms resolution, affirmative
team, and negative team were explained. Turn-taking was
explained. One member of the affirmative team speaks
first, then one from the negative team. This continues
until everyone has spoken.
After that, the speaking roles of the four team mem-
bers were explained. The first speaker on each team is
the Captain. This person introduces their teammates and
outlines the main arguments their team will make. The sec-
ond and third speaker for each team, in turn, presents their
argument for or against the resolution. The final speaker
for each team summarises the arguments their team has
made.
The “winner” is the team that has scored highest in
three categories: teamwork (strategy), content (argu-
ment) and delivery (how well the speech was made).
The students are judged on a scale of 1 – 10 in each cat-
egory with 30 points being a perfect score. The judge’s
decision is final. The judge explains why they scored the
debate as they did and offers constructive criticism to
both teams. Respectful discussion, including questions
and opinions, are allowed by both teams. The idea is
that this kind of immediate, two-way, post-debate feed-
back will help students to improve their performance as
debaters.
As a fun, motivational tool, I also had my class copy and
memorize the following,
“Debater’s Creed” from the movie, “The Great Debat-
ers”:
Denzel: “Who is the judge?”
Debaters: “God is the judge.”
Denzel: “Why is God the judge?”
Debaters: “Because God decides who’s right or
wrong, not my opponent.”
Denzel: “Who’s your opponent?”
Debaters: “My opponent doesn’t exist.”
Denzel: “Why does your opponent not exist?”
Debaters: “Because our opponent is a voice dissent-
ing from the truth I speak.”
Denzel: “Speak the truth.”
Debaters: “Speak the truth.”
Final debate preparation
In our next class the students reviewed what they had
learned in their last class. Each captain introduced his
teammates and then together each team said the Debater’s
Creed. This was done in teams. My Assistant Coach and I
circulated to observe.
After that, the teams were given the same debate reso-
lution: Resolved – “Spiderman is better than Superman”.
Working together, each team now had to decide on what
their arguments were going to be and in what order they
would be speaking. My Assistant Coach and I circulated,
helping with vocabulary and grammar. At the end of the
class the debate pairings were decided upon for the next
class.
The debates
The debates were lively and fun. All students par-
ticipated. My Assistant Coach was the timekeeper. All

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