Eurolink News Issue No 8 July 08
Whilst July 4 is remembered in the United States for independence and the fourteenth in France for the storming of the Bastille, I have greater affection for the third of this month seventy years ago when the "Mallard" broke the speed record for steam engines at 126mph. (Wikipedia link 
)
End-of-the-platform anoraks of yesteryear are your modern-day must-haves on the pub quiz team. As a former train spotter from the Midlands, my rail and bicycle trips to Rugby, Nuneaton and Grantham together with local observations in London have enriched my knowledge and curiosity on such diverse subjects as the states of Canada, famous admirals, classical gods, British warships, British regiments, famous racehorses, sundry names for antelope (as yet untapped!), famous stately homes and football clubs inter alia.
Snow Hill station in Birmingham and Margate on holiday added to my knowledge of kings and castles, public schools and the world of King Arthur respectively.
Making use of realia
What we dismiss as junk mail may be of value in the classroom; before you bin the next menu from the local pizza parlour or the flyer from the potential handyman which lands on your doormat, consider their potential as a change from the course book and an opportunity for students to develop real-life skills.
Visits to supermarkets can prove valuable educational shopping trips if you collect special offer leaflets and sales promotions.
The Post Office, banks and local tourist offices among others are a permanent source of take-away brochures and leaflets.
The information to be gleaned from all the above-mentioned can be phrased in language appropriate to the level of your class (es); the results will almost certainly boost the confidence of students as they realize they can understand something from outside in the safe environment of the class.
An aspect of pronunciation practice my students enjoy is a handout "quilt" of cut-out numerical expressions from the local newspaper – telephone numbers, prices, dates, websites, postcodes, percentages and fractions also test the use of the words "comma, point and dot".
Check-in or check in?
"Is this the Manchester check-in?"
"Do you have luggage to check in?"
The first example includes a phrasal verb used as a noun; the word is hyphenated and stress is on the verb.
In the second example the phrasal verb is used and the stress is on the particle to differentiate it from other phrasal verb expressions using the word check such as check out or check up.
Not all such nouns are hyphenated, but the change of stress is consistent.
Consider standby and stand by, getaway and get away, outbreak and break out: can you write sentences to illustrate the difference and read them aloud with the correct stress?
EX CATHEDRA
Other than verb tenses, the point of grammar I am constantly asked to revise with all my classes is the use of prepositions. So here is my proposition.
To accommodate a wider range of learning styles I like to utilize the physical and human resources of the classroom to practise prepositions, especially of time and position.
The personal and visual aspects of the learning add extra dimensions and help to consolidate the knowledge.
Language that is not locked inside a textbook or fixed on a handout may be remembered with an extra frisson of personal involvement with the language-learning process.
Classrooms are full of ins, ats and ons in terms of layout, seating positions offer potential for opposites, behinds, in front ofs, facings and next tos, depending of course on furniture arrangements.
Try a dummy-run in your mind’s eye and in the actual classroom as preparation and realize for yourself the full potential of such an exercise.
Ken Milgate
Chief Examiner
Eurolink News Issue No.7 - June.08
This month commemorates Juno, sister and consort of Jupiter, daughter of Saturn and Vulcan, mother of Mars and one of the most important of the Roman goddesses. She had many duties, but for most she was a protector of the Roman people and especially women, being the goddess of marriage, fertility and all aspects of pregnancy and childbirth.
WHAT’S IN A NAME?
..."that that which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet"
That’s June, Rose, Romeo and Juliet covered.
What I find disconcerting about the current fashion for naming children after present-day celebrities is an older generation of citizens called Kylie and Wayne! There again, who would call a new-born baby Sidney or Albert, Myrtle or Ivy?
I was christened Kenneth, but I am aka Ken and Kenny while the Margaret’s of this world often become Madge, Meg, Peggy, Marge, Margie or Maggie.
Named keyfobs are available which list the qualities of the more traditional names, but you are unlikely to be able to fasten your keys to a disc bearing the name and qualities of Darren or Stacey.
And then there’s the names of Sir Bob Geldorf’s offspring!
To appreciate the problem in the feline world I recommend TS Eliot’s "Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats" which will inform you that "a cat must have THREE DIFFERENT NAMES".
ACRONYMS
Are also names but the products of initial letters, such as tufti, scuba, quango, laser and radar. These may look like foreign words but they respectively stand for
- teaching under fives traffic intelligence
- self-contained underwater breathing apparatus
- quasi-autonomous non-governmental organization
- light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation
- radio detection and ranging
Pakistan, too, is an amalgamation of Punjab, Afghan Frontier, Kashmir, Baluchistan
SEX IN THE CLASSROOM
Actually, the issue is gender, but I wanted to catch your eye!!
Teachers and students can be both male and female, and so it is politically correct to recognize the possibility of both genders being appropriate without restricting the distinction with a "he" or "she".
It is the convention to write "s/he", but there is still the need to use his/her or should that be her/his, given that the letter "s" precedes the "he".
A more acceptable alternative is to use the plural form with singular reference.
I accept that the above arrangement offends purists, but at least manhole covers have not been re-labelled peoplehole or personhole covers.
EX CATHEDRA
To encourage my advanced speaking and listening class to make educational use of the internet I regularly give them a week’s notice of an international news matching exercise.
The students work in pairs to match ten numbered items with ten lettered items, each list arranged alphabetically to produce ten pairs of words or phrases specific to a piece of current news.
As a follow-up exercise we will read a newspaper article or internet download on some of the items for information and discussion.
At the end of the lesson each student selects one of the news items and reports the following week on any developments, but do allow duplication to encourage free choice.
For example, today (25 May 2008) I might choose
| 1 | Monaco | a | Lewis Hamilton |
| 2 | aftershock | b | 5.8 |
| 3 | Belgrade | c | Sir Terry Wogan |
| 4 | cigarettes | d | vending machines |
Re-arranged, the lists would read as below
| 1 | aftershock | a | 5.8 |
| 2 | Belgrade | b | Lewis Hamilton |
| 3 | cigarettes | c | Sir Terry Wogan |
| 4 | Monaco | d | vending machines |
In my experience the exercise, once initiated, fast becomes an addictive variant on language development for advanced students.
Happy surfing!
Ken Milgate
Chief Examiner
Eurolink News Issue No.6 - May.08
"Cast ne’er a clout till may is out" introduces two linguistic features of interest: the word "clout" is a cognate of the German "Kleid" and hence refers to clothing while the lower case "m" reminds us that it is not the month of the year whose end we must await but the blossom of the hawthorn.
Be that as it may, if only people would observe the distinction between "can" and "may": the more usual "Can I smoke?" is an unnecessary physical enquiry from someone with two lips and pulmonary function and has nothing to do with a request for permission.
SIZE DOES MATTER ... may or May?
... when it comes to upper or lower case letters. Can you correct the errors in these phrases?
- english-speaking
- tony blair
- buckingham palace
- edinburgh
- cleveland police
- a romanian teenager
- chariots of fire
- newcastle city hall
- king edward vii hospital
- the cairngorms
Check a grammar book for the rules if uncertain.
C or S?
Were it not for my grammar school grounding in Latin and weekly spelling tests, I would long ago have questioned my spelling of "practice" and "practise", having corrected the two forms on so many occasions in the course of Eurolink marking alone. For the record, the noun is spelt "practice" and the verb is spelt "practise".
It is worth reminding all potential TESOL practitioners that, whereas formal grammar may not be taught in British schools, their students will largely come from enlightened cultures where the teaching of grammar is considered fundamental to the learning of any language.
Other bones of contention are "advice" and "advise" with the different spelling and pronunciation, the English "defence" as opposed to the American "defense", likewise "offence" and "offense".
EX CATHEDRA
A constant source of irritation to me is listening to speakers on Radio 4 spouting statistics in a knowledgeable way and yet confusing countables and uncountables with such grammatical howlers as "less differences" and "the amount of people".
Whatever made "fewer" and "the number" redundant accuracies respectively?
- Basically, if a noun has a plural, you can count it.
- Students should be reminded that not all words ending in "s" are plural: consider the words — news, physics, mathematics, gymnastics, aerobics, economics and logistics: all are regarded as singular nouns.
- Some uncountable nouns are plural in their own right; they have no singular forms with the same meaning and cannot be used with numbers, eg macaroni, spaghetti, paparazzi. English words include — arms, clothes, customs, goods, groceries, police, remarks, thanks.
- Problem areas for non-native speakers include — trousers, jeans, pyjamas, pants, scissors, spectacles and glasses.
If you spend more time researching the grammar, you will make fewer mistakes and save a vast amount of time dealing with any number of queries — more or less!
Ken Milgate
Chief Examiner
Eurolink News Issue No.5 - Apr.08
What a mixed bag of emotions April arouses! Yet the Romans considered the month to be sacred to Venus, goddess of love; its name may be taken from that of her Greek equivalent, Aphrodite.
We play tricks on the opening day, for TS Eliot it was "the cruellest month", for Edna O’Brien it was "a wicked month", while gardeners eagerly await its showers.
Whatever the weather, enjoy — now there’s a word that gets my goat! See what I mean about mixed reactions!
UK NEW CITIZENS
For whatever reason, more and more non-British nationals are prepared to take an oath of allegiance to seal their acceptance as British citizens.
A student of mine from Indonesia recently did just that but proved the transformation is not an overnight sensation, if at all: the day after her ceremony she left the classroom several times in quick succession for private nasal decongestion. Fully aware of her predicament from a cultural point of view, I reminded her jokingly that she was now a UK citizen and "permitted" to blow her nose in public. Her reaction of stifled embarrassment was cut short when I played down her dilemma.
It’s as Beattie says in Arnold Wesker’s play "the things that make you proud of yourself — roots!"
Just as Lord Tebbitt’s cricket challenge would always found out Indians or Pakistanis wishing to change allegiance, so we must maybe accept that some aspects of culture will remain for ever sacred and immutable. It is after all the richness and diversity of culture that enriches a nation.
PHONETIC SYMBOLS
Whilst handwriting is a matter of personal choice, subject to a gamut of vagaries in terms of letter formation and styles, phonetic symbols should be respected and copied uniformly.
The formation of phonetic symbols in the IPA should be strictly adhered to to avoid confusion and in the interests of standardization.
Symbols often "abused" and malformed are the schwa, /z/, the voiced "th" and the letter "a" in diphthongs.
As certain symbols "include" the long sound often reproduced in orthographic English by the letter "r", it is worth remembering that phonetic transcription replicates the sound of words rather than the spelling.
If in any doubt, consult the introduction to each module of each unit of Practical Phonetics.
EX CATHEDRA
What with the lack of any logical correlation between the spelling and pronunciation of the English language, not to mention the added problem of countless homophones, spelling will forever be a challenge to learners of English.
While advocating extensive reading as a long-term method of self-improvement, I find that my students appreciate the odd word dictation as a way of focussing their attention on recording the written form from a heard word.
Having to choose the correct version from a selection of two or more options also concentrates the powers of recall.
More advanced classes can test their proficiency with word jumbles, in which only the initial letter is identified.
Problem words can be dwelt on for stress recognition, correct pronunciation and spelling aloud.
Special beneficiaries of such practice are those learners used to symbols rather than letters and Spanish speakers, who regularly write a single consonant when a double is correct in English.
Practice makes perfect — so cast your spell and work your magic!
Ken Milgate
Chief Examiner
Eurolink News Issue No.4 - Mar.08
IN LIKE A LION, OUT LIKE A LAMB
- or the other way round. Such are the vagaries of the British weather that both versions of the saying are valid.
Whatever the weather, here’s a quiz to activate the brain cells on the theme of "lion" and "lamb".
- Who was nick-named the Lion of Vienna?
- Which Lamb played cricket for Northamptonshire and England?
- Name the Christian who does not get devoured by a lion in a G.B. Shaw play?
- What is the eleventh letter of the Greek alphabet?
- What is the name of the lion in "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe"?
- What is also known as corn salad?
- Which culinary lion is known as "pis en lit" in French?
- Who wrote the novel "Michael Lamb"?
- What is the group name for lions?
- Name the London residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury since 1197
LISTENING UP FRONT
In an age when we are constantly confronted with background sounds like the inane irritating musak in departmental stores and restaurants, not to mention the lollipop classics while we hold the line in a telephone queue with the constant reminder (recorded) that our custom is important to the faceless organization, may I suggest a listening exercise that requires concentration but promises reward rather than demanding patience and accelerating hair loss.
Principally with non-native speakers in mind, try listening to a conversation for a pre-specified period of time, noting any numbers, personal names, dates, geographical features inter alia on a rotational basis.
For example in a ten-minute listen you might listen out for numbers in the first two minutes before allowing the same amount of time to the other above-mentioned categories. Radio is the ideal medium as your concentration is clearly focussed on what you hear.
Once the session is up, you can check your notes and refer appropriately for correct spelling and pronunciation.
The list of possibilities is endless and could encompass every part of speech.
On your marks, get set, listen!
EX CATHEDRA
Every picture tells a story, so they say. A favourite teaching activity of mine to promote deductive skills among more advanced students is to present them with photographs extracted from newspapers and magazines for oral pair work.
Such photographs are often accompanied by explanatory text, but the students are given only the visuals which they are then asked to contextualize: rather than simply describing what they see, I encourage them to imagine the circumstances leading up the still, any likely dialogue and any possible consequence.
The flat picture soon comes alive and gives rise to not only prima facie descriptive language but also practice in modals of deduction and speculation.
Students could supply a suitable dialogue if the picture is appropriate in that respect or comment on the significance of the shot in abstract or evaluative terms, explaining its ethical, environmental, emotional or even philosophical import to name but a few possibilities.
A plenary session in preparation with suitable teacher prompts could get the ball rolling before learners are given free reign to the powers of their imagination.
Ken Milgate
Chief Examiner
Eurolink News Issue No.3 - Feb.08
IF IT’S A LEAP YEAR, IT MUST BE THE OLYMPICS
2008 is a leap year with 29 days in February, the final day being the traditional time when women can propose marriage, a tradition believed to have originated in 5th Century Ireland following a complaint by Saint Bridget to Saint Patrick. According to legend, Saint Patrick ordained that marriage-desirous women could propose on this one day in February during a leap year.
As for the Beijing Olympics, it is worth remembering that since the last games China has revised its laws to protect women’s rights - "It is the first law in China specifically enacted to safeguard women’s legitimate rights and interests, to promote equality between men and women and to enable women to play an active role in society, and millions of women have benefited from it" (Prof. Wu Changzhan).
On both counts, the times they are a-changing.
STRESS MANAGEMENT
A frequent source of frustration with students of phonetics is coping with the stress-related pronunciation of English, its seemingly arbitrary productive system defying the rules of oral engagement which often hallmark other world languages.
Good pronunciation stems from good listening, and there can be no finer source than the radio for models. Those students based in the UK could do worse than tune in regularly to Radio4 for a variety of accents and programmes; those abroad have the BBC World Service at their fingertips.
Whatever source you choose, let the sounds wash over you and be alive to the appropriate stresses in isolation and then contextualize them as the expression of prominent words.
Active listening is fast becoming a dying art, keen as we all are to make ourselves heard, but a keen ear for detail will soon produce the selective stresses that convey the true import of our words and feelings.
THE VALUE OF SECOND SIGHT
For Baron Lytton, "the pen is mightier than the sword"; for all writers the brain works faster than the hand, the consequence being that we do not always write down what we think we have written. The value of proof-reading is to compensate for this disparity when the mind’s concentration is focussed on reading and checking.
Worksheets that have not been spellchecked or have been written in haste will undoubtedly influence any marker, almost inevitably when the candidates are or hope to become practising teachers, who by the very nature of their work should insist their students re-read work before it is submitted.
Sauce for the goose .......
EX CATHEDRA
One of my leisure time pursuits is creative writing, in the execution of which I write football reports for the Durham City AFC web page.
A lesson packed with geographical and cultural awareness, pair/group dynamics, phonetics and pronunciation centres on the fixtures for the next round of Premiership football games.
Pairs/groups are required to plan the road journey for the away fans via or avoiding motorways as the case may be.
Once the routes have been established and agreed in plenary session, the spelling and phonetic transcription of the team names can be practised.
A review of the current League tables and a summary of the latest results can give practice in numerical expressions – the times of the goals, the attendance, the final score, League position – to facilitate both cardinal and ordinal number statements.
More advanced classes could describe the team colours, research the significance of the club nicknames and the origin of the grounds’ respective names and even the meaning of the Latin mottos (see Everton, Blackburn, Tottenham and Newcastle for examples).
Ken Milgate
Chief Examiner
Eurolink News Issue No.2 - Jan.08
2008 AND ALL THAT
Who knows what this year holds? Take a cue from the motto of Penrith FC – res non verba – and be resolved that losers let it happen and winners make it happen.
Why not set yourself an achievable career goal or at the very least deal with any backlog of module worksheets?
Whatever option you plum for – indolence is not acceptable – may your efforts be richly rewarded.
CYBER CHUMS
Many students have emailed their occasional sense of isolation on a distance learning course and sought advice from their tutors.
May I remind all students that there are biographical notes available which identify course participants and are for circulation to other course members. The final entry is often used by students to state their email address and thereby signal their willingness to contact others for support and an exchange of ideas.
If you do not have such a booklet, please contact Eurolink Head Office in Sheffield.
Once established, so-called buddy groups will close the loop on what can be a solitary learning curve.
ROUND THE CLOCK
The shortest day of the year is a timely reminder for us to respect time zones. Email cris de coeur come from all corners of the globe and are timed at source, but the moment of reading and reply may be considerably delayed because of the time differentials, which can be a source of irritation both for anxious students and possibly otherwise-engaged-at-the-time tutors.
Phone calls from students I have received, mostly at acceptable UK times, underline the 24/7 commitment of Eurolink’s insomniac intelligentsia!
ESOL FOR WORK
The above examination is the latest addition to the University of Cambridge’s portfolio and is currently accredited and funded at E3 and L1.
The generic work-related qualification is unitized and so allows for separate assessment of reading, writing and speaking/listening, but all modes must be passed for certification and funding.
The flexible on-demand delivery of the test is matched with a fast and accurate evaluation of level; an interesting assessment feature is the computer adaptive testing of the reading and listening modes, which can be sampled on www.esolforwork.org
For general information visit www.cambridgeesol.org
A general website trawl will reveal other examining bodies also offering certification in ESOL for Work.
EX CATHEDRA
We all have our favourite educational theorists and practitioners. One of mine is in the unlikely person of Mary Poppins, who advocated that in every job to be done there should be an element of fun!
A gap-fill with a difference comes in the shape of the Beatles’ hit "When I’m 64".
The choice of words to be deleted from the lyrics is a matter of individual choice depending on the level of the class, but the completed worksheet could be performed in unison, once the vocabulary and cultural significance have been examined.
Next song? Try "Clouds" or "Big Yellow Taxi" by Joni Mitchell as a running dictation with a more advanced class.
Simon Cowell, are you listening?
Ken Milgate
Chief Examiner
Eurolink News Issue No.1 - Dec.07
Read all about it!
Welcome to a bulletin aimed at keeping in touch with you on a less formal basis than by your marking slips and problem-related emails or telephone calls.
WHAM BAM SPAM
As our email in trays are daily invaded by rogue visitors peddling spam, it might be timely to advise all students to signal their legitimate correspondence with an appropriate subject. It would be regrettable if an innocent enquiry were to end up in the cyber-bin of unsolicited advertisements for hedonistic self-advancement, all for the want of a meaningful identification.
MAKING THE MOST OF MARKING
May I respectfully request that all students submit worksheets one at a time in order to profit from tutor comments on any previous worksheets.
On several occasions in the Practical Phonetics Unit I have felt obliged, in the interests of fair play, to return worksheets unmarked, knowing full well that they have been completed in advance of receiving the previous submission, in which case errors have been repeated.
I have experienced students who submit all modules for the unit in one batch or multiple modules. What you may save on postage, you will undoubtedly lose on informed comment and scope for improvement through error-prompted guidance.
The purpose in returning all marked worksheets is the frequent provision of regular course feedback thus mirroring face-to-face tuition at a distance.
ESOL FOR WORK
I shall be in attendance at the launch of the above new qualification at the University of Manchester at the end of November and promise to detail in a subsequent newsletter any useful outcomes.
EX CATHEDRA
In this section of the newsletter I propose to offer teaching tips of a practical nature.
One of my subject areas is British Citizenship, when I prepare students for the Life in the UK Test.
There is a fascinating lesson available in your pocket, purse or wallet (if teaching in the UK) in the form of British currency.
When did you last take a good look at the coins and notes?
What is the significance of the motto on the 2p coin? Why the thistle on the 5p coin? What do you know about Britannia on the 50p coin? Why the serrated edge on some coins? What does "nemo me impune lacessit" mean on the £1 coin? Who said "standing on the shoulders of giants" and what does it mean? (£2 coin) Who are the famous people on the notes?
Do some research and treat your students to a lesson with a difference!
POST SCRIPT
If you have any ideas for inclusion in this newsletter, please drop me a line.
Ken Milgate
Chief Examiner
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