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Articles

Crack down in China Worse and Worse

worse-and-worse

Crack down in China Worse and Worse

Despite its undeniable status as a global economic superpower, China has been heavily criticized in recent years for an apparent return to a Leninist-style leadership under Xi Jinping. Though the Chinese Communist Party has long been the only significant political force in the country, it abandoned the ruthless dictatorial style of Mao a while ago. However, Jinping’s style of government has raised fears that he’s actively working to restore the very same political philosophy that terrorized the country in the 1970s.

One of the General Secretary’s initiatives, the targeting of “tigers and flies” (corrupt officials and businessmen), has by now transformed into a mass political purge aimed at all those who oppose the government. The Party controls an extensive network of surveillance in the country, which has become even more active during this initiative. As a consequence, the media has found itself under even stricter censorship than before. In August 2015, a financial journalist for the business magazine Caijing was detained after having reported on government manipulation of China’s stock markets. He was forced to refute his own words on China Central Television.

The media hasn’t been the only victim, however. Religious minorities have been targeted, with “hundreds of crosses ripped from the steeples of Christian churches”. Even women’s rights activists and human rights lawyers have been affected.

At the same time, the domestic changes are perhaps less surprising than the foreign ones. The government is denying “unfriendly” foreign journalists entry into the country and blocking websites that disagree with the Party’s policies. Even more shocking is that instead of denying all this, the CCP publicly refutes Western liberal values, viewing them as obstacles to strong leadership and immediate economic growth.

The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) is the government agency in charge of overseeing the new anti-corruption campaign. It’s headed by Wang Qishan, an old friend of Xi Jinping, who essentially acts a grand inquisitor. Under Wang’s leadership, the agency has gained so much power that it’s allowed to hire and fire outside the Organization Department, which generally oversees high-level appointments. One reason for his agency’s success is of course the level of corruption that exists in the country; as officials are poorly paid, they often tend to accept bribes. As a result, they’ve had a lot of targets. Worryingly, their investigations seem to be above the law; they only stage show trials at the end of high-profile investigations. They’ve even designed a smartphone app that lets people upload photo and video evidence of officials violating the law.

For the Chinese themselves, this all is highly reminiscent of chilling rein of the Ming dynasty. The court went through several such agencies like the “Embroidered Guard” and the “Eastern Depot” (even a “Western Depot”, eventually), that gathered secret files on officials. Though Jinping’s approval rating is the highest of any world leader, the people are slowly realizing the danger he poses to even the most basic of freedoms. Heavy criticism is finally finding its way through the extreme censorship. Zhou Fang, a reporter for the New China News Agency, published an open letter criticizing censors for their violations of online freedom of expression. It was soon taken down, but not without causing a stir.

Jinping’s authoritarian style isn’t just a danger to China, of course. It directly affects everyone who depends on the Chinese economy. His aggressive foreign policies ensure that the Chinese economy will encounter many obstacles in its path to reformation. Though some are finally waking up to the threat, it could already be too late.

 

Source : Schell, Orville  “Crackdown in China: Worse and Worse.” The New York Review, April 2016, 12-14

 

#backtoschool, Articles

Methodology – Minimal Resources: Skills

role-playing

 

Minimal resources: Role-plays and discussion

ELT legend Scott Thornbury gives us some imaginative tips and ideas for using role-plays in lessons.

In the last instalment I looked at ways that dialogues could be set up in the classroom using minimal materials. An extension of dialogue-type interaction is the role play, in which the interactants get speaking practice by stepping outside their own character, job, and so on, in order to experience a wider range of situations than the classroom normally offers, and to explore other registers and domains of language use. Further along the line from controlled to free, discussions and debates provide learners opportunities to interact freely and spontaneously, to cope with unpredictability, and to voice opinions using language that is both complex and fluent.

Teachers are sometimes discouraged from setting up either role plays or discussions, because they think that they will need to provide elaborate resources, such as role cards, or preparatory reading texts, in advance. However, many of the most successful fluency activities require no materials at all. They simply draw on the learners’ own experience, knowledge, and imagination.

Here are a few materials-light ideas for role plays and discussions:

1. Choose a holiday

The idea is to set up a situation whereby students in pairs shop around for a package holiday, visiting different “travel agencies” (also pairs of students) in turn, and then making their decision. Divide the class into two – one half will be “shoppers”, the other half “agents”. Divide these groups again, into pairs. The agent pairs should be distributed around the room, and separated as much as possible from the shoppers. Tell the agents each to put together an attractive ten-day holiday package, including destination, itinerary, excursions, accommodation, and so on. (It is important, by the way, that all the holidays cost the same – fix a price in advance – so that the agents don’t simply undercut one another). Meanwhile, the pairs of shoppers decide what it is that they, personally, want out of their holiday, e.g. relaxation, adventure sports, shopping opportunities, etc. The shoppers then “visit” each agency in turn – seating should be arranged so that the shoppers can sit down when visiting the agencies. After sufficient time has elapsed for the an exchange of information, the shoppers all move round one, and the process starts again, until all the shoppers have visited all the agencies. Each pair of shoppers can then decide which holiday they will choose.

The format for this role play works for a number of different situations that involve shopping around. I have used it successively for a “choosing a school” scenario: each “school” puts together a policy on such things as discipline, homework, uniform, compulsory subjects, extra-curricular activities, even a school motto! Meanwhile, each pair of “parents” decide what kind of school they are looking for, for their “special needs” child. They then interview – and are interviewed by – the school’s representatives.

Other situations that lend themselves to this idea are: choosing a flatmate, choosing a wedding function, choosing a retirement village, and so on.

The beauty of this role play format – apart from the lack of materials – is that there is in-built repetition, as each pair of shoppers repeats its interaction with a new agent. Task repetition is an important factor in the development of fluency.

2. Alibis

This is an old favourite which, like the previous activity, is inherently repetitive. It also has an added game element, in that the participants have to try and outwit each other. The basic format starts with two students being “accused” of having committed some crime, such as a robbery in the institution where the class takes place, in a fixed period, say, between the hours of 10 and 11 in the morning on the preceding day. The two “accused” then have to establish an alibi, and they go out of the room to do this. The alibi needs to account for their actions only during the time period in question (anything before or after is irrelevant), and it is important to establish that they were together for all that time. While the accused contrive their alibi, the rest of the class can prepare generic questions, with the teacher prompting, if necessary, of the type: What were you doing…What did you do next? Did you meet anyone? What did you say? How much did it cost? Who paid? etc. The accused are then led in, one at a time, and have to answer the questions put to them. (It helps to establish the rule that they are not allowed to claim that they don’t remember). Any significant discrepancy in their answers means that they are, of course, guilty.

With large classes, Alibis can be played in groups, each group playing their own version of the game. Alternatively, (and so long as they are out of earshot) the two accused can be interviewed simultaneously by two different groups, and then exchange places.

A variant is Green Card, in which immigration officers interview, separately, two candidates who claim to be members of the same family (in which case, they have to answer questions about the other members of their immediate family – their names, age, and appearance), or who claim to be partners (in which case, they have to answer questions about their daily routine). Another variant of Alibis is UFO, in which two people are interviewed separately by The Institute of Paranormal Research about an encounter with aliens that they claim to have experienced.

3. Pyramid (or consensus) debate

The principle of this format is that at first individuals work in pairs to achieve consensus on an issue, and then these pairs try to convince other pairs, before forming groups of four, and so on, until the whole class comes to an agreement. For example, the teacher might set the class the task of devising some “class rules” with regard to such things as classroom etiquette, discipline, duties, homework, etc. First individuals draft a list of a maximum of, say, eight rules. They then compare in pairs, and draft a new list of eight rules, but one that they are both agreed on. This will normally involve some discussion and negotiation. Once they have their list they join forces with another pair, and the process begins again. Finally, the two halves of the class come together to agree on the definitive version.

Other ideas that work well in this format are ranking tasks – e.g. the five most important people in history; the ten best pop songs of all time; the eight things I would take to a desert island; the six school subjects that should be compulsory, and so on. Or students take a bare statement and qualify it in such a way as to make it acceptable. For example:

– Children should be beaten.
– Smoking should be banned.
– Anyone should be allowed to adopt children.

 

#backtoschool, Articles

Methodology – Minimal Resources

ose-methodology-620

 

Minimal resources: Coursebooks

Exhausted every last idea from your coursebook and in search of new material? Think again! Miles Craven helps us wring every last teaching idea from your faithful coursebook.

Starter level

Speech bubbles: speaking

  • For lower-level students, choose a picture in their coursebook (or magazines – choose famous stars) that has several people in and have them think about what each person is saying.
  • This could be as simple as What’s your name? or How are you? but encourage students to be as creative as they can.
  • Give them time to think of their ideas, then tell them to write what they think each person is saying in a speech bubble on the picture.
  • Finally, put students into groups to practise the conversations they have made.

Pictionary: speaking

This is a good game to review vocabulary that students have covered in class, such as household objects, animals, jobs, food, sports, etc.

  • First, make a list of twelve or fifteen words that you want to review.
  • Then draw a line down the middle of the board to split it into two sections.
  • Divide the class into two teams and explain that one person from each team must come to the board and draw a word that you give them.
  • Explain that the students in their team must correctly guess the word.
  • When their teammates have correctly guessed the word, they should sit down and another person from their team should come to the board and draw the next word.
  • Explain that they have to guess as many words as they can in the time available.
  • The team with the most number of correct guesses at the end is the winner.
  • Tell each team to elect one person to go first. Give them each a different word from your list to draw and begin the game!

Elementary level

Describe the picture: speaking

  • Choose an interesting photograph or illustration from your course book and put students into pairs to describe what they can see. You might want students to concentrate on using a target structure you have recently covered. For example, an elementary class might review the present continuous by saying what each person in a picture is doing. She is sitting on a chair/He is speaking on the phone, etc.
  • You could turn this into a game by putting students into groups of three or four and having one student ask a question (e.g. What is she doing?/Who is speaking on the phone? etc.) while the other students compete to be the first to answer. Students gets one point for each correct answer. The winner is the person at the end of the game with the most points.
  • Alternatively, choose a picture that allows them to recycle the vocabulary they have covered in the class, such as clothes, adjectives appearance and character, etc. He looks shy, I think she’s very intelligent.

Describe the picture: writing

  • Tell students to find an interesting photograph or illustration in their coursebook and to write a few sentences to describe what they can see.
  • Monitor and provide help as necessary. When they finish, put students into small groups and tell them show their picture while they read aloud their sentences.
  • You may wish to make this more challenging by telling students to include three factual errors. For example by writing The man is wearing a blue shirt when the shirt is actually white. As they read their sentences their partners must listen carefully to identify the three errors.
  • Note: You might want to include useful language for describing a picture, such as In the foreground/background, on the left/right, in the middle, I think it may/might be…because…, etc.

Intermediate level

Story building: speaking

  • Choose an interesting picture from the coursebook that includes some people and put students into groups to talk about it.
  • Tell them to choose one person in the picture and to think in detail about them; they should decide on the person’s name, age, job, what they are saying or thinking, where they are going, why, who they are going to see, etc.
  • Encourage students to build up as big a story as possible using the picture as a prompt.
  • Explain they have to remember all the details as they cannot make notes.
  • When students are ready, mix the groups and tell each student to say who they chose and then talk about the story they made up about them.

Vocabulary definitions: vocabulary

  • Put students into pairs with one person in each pair facing away from the board so they cannot see what you are writing.
  • Write on the board about ten words that you want to review from work previously done in class.
  • Tell the students facing the board to choose a word and describe it to their partner.
  • Give them a time limit and tell them to record how many words their partner can guess.
  • When they finish, have students swap chairs and repeat the activity with a different list of words.

Grammar mime: grammar

You can review grammar structures such as the past simple and past continuous through simple mime, by making a story.

  • Write Last night on the board and then mime to the class what you did (watched television, ate dinner, etc).
  • Have the class call out what you did as you mime each action. When you finish, repeat the mime with students all calling out what you did. Then put students into groups to do the same.
  • Encourage them to think up their own original stories and mime them to their classmates.

Vocabulary mime: vocabulary

You can use mime to review certain vocabulary sets, such as sport, jobs, character adjectives, etc.

  • Begin by putting students into groups to make a list of as many words as they can connected to each vocabulary set you want to review.
  • Have the group with the most words write their list on the board. Check spelling and add any additional words, then model the pronunciation and have the class repeat after you.
  • Then choose one word from the board and mime it to the class. For example, pretend to play tennis, be a doctor, be miserable, etc.
  • Encourage students to call out the word you are miming. Mime a few more as examples and then put students into groups to do the same.

Upper-intermediate level

Link the pictures: speaking

  • Tell students to turn to a page in their coursebooks that has several pictures and to try to think of a situation to connect all the pictures.
  • Tell them to build up a story with as much detail as they can. Then tell each group that they must prepare a role play of their story to the class.
  • Give them time to decide their roles and what each of them says, then tell them to perform their role play.

Good for any level

How many … can you find?

A good way to revise grammar is to choose a text from the coursebook and tell students to count the number of times they can see a certain structure. For example, ask How many examples of the past simple can you find? or How many irregular verbs are there? You can also focus on word forms this way, by asking How many adjectives/adverbs are there? etc.

Spelling check

  • Choose ten new words that students have recently covered from a unit in the coursebook.
  • Write them at random on the board.
  • Give students one minute to memorize them, then erase the words from the board and tell students to write down every word they remember.
  • Have volunteers come to the board and write the words. Then tell students to turn to the unit where you took the words from and to find each word and check the spelling themselves.
  • Finally, practise pronunciation and review the meaning of each word.
  • As a variation, rather than choose the words for this activity yourself you could tell the students to look through a unit and make a list of words themselves that they think are difficult to spell. When they finish, have them dictate their list to a partner.

Word jumble

  • Choose ten words that you want to review and write them on the board but with the letters jumbled up. For example, jantosirlu (journalist), roeevrttx (extrovert), etc.
  • Tell students to unscramble the words as quickly as they can. Then have them look through a unit they have completed and choose five words to jumble for their partner.
 Source: onestopenglish.com
Articles

A Positive Learning Experience

positive-classroom-environment

A positive learning experience

Teaching methods often change, but it’s always the students who can decide if they had a good learning experience. English teacher and writer Paul Bress recommends a few “dos and don’ts” for teachers.

Dos

  • The lessons should always be connected to the students’ interests. If a lot of them like movies for instance, teachers should try to talk about movies in class. This will make the learning process positive for the students.
  • Teachers should always allow their students to be creative. Of course, repeating exercises is very important, but it’s equally important to make the children practice their English in real world scenarios.
  • Teachers should always make sure that the tasks in class aren’t too difficult for their students.
  • Teachers should always make sure that their syllabus is clear to the students. Otherwise, the students may become confused and uninterested during the year.

Don’ts

  • Teachers should never get angry at their students. It’s important to try to understand students’ problems instead of yelling at them.
  • Teachers should never have favorite students. Though some students may seem smarter than others, that doesn’t mean that teachers should always have them respond to questions. Otherwise, the rest of the class will begin to dislike that student.

 

Bress, Paul. “A Positive Learning Experience” English Teaching Professional, March 2016, 36.

Articles

Dialogues on the move

 

dialogue2

Dialogues on the move

Dialogues are a very effective way of improving students’ English skills. They can teach students correct pronunciation and intonation, as well as the correct use of gestures and facial expressions.

Students, especially young children, usually find dialogues very enjoyable. For starters, all of the students become involved in the discussion, and thus the learning process itself. The most important benefit, however, is that dialogues improve students’ social skills, since they have to both listen and pay attention to what their classmates have to say. (In addition, they can also learn some “conversation strategies”, like using “filler” words, such as “eg, um, well…”.)

When organizing dialogues in class, it’s important to keep a few things in mind. First of all, the topics should be interesting for the students, so make the dialogues about family, hobbies, friends and school. Next, the atmosphere should always be positive; the children should all feel that they’re participating equally. Dialogue-based activities give shy children a chance to participate in a “protected environment” (talking with only one classmate instead of everyone).

Here are a few examples of the kinds of activities you can do with your students:

  • Swap-it cards

The students each get a card with a question on it (like “what is your shoe size?”, “do you have any pets at home?”, “what is your favorite food”, etc). Then, they go around the classroom to find a partner to ask the questions on their cards. After doing so, they swap their cards, so that they now have new questions to ask another partner.

2) Talking words

Two students are chosen to work in a team. They get a topic to talk about for 30 seconds along with some directions from the teacher. Some possible topics include “holidays”, “spiders”, and “free time”.

3)Guess my word

The students split into pairs or groups. One of them receives a card with a word on it, which the other students have to guess through questioning. The cardholder can only answer with “yes’ and “no

4) Two truths and one lie

A student has to think of two true statements and one false statement. It’s up to their partner to find which one’s the lie.

5) Chat stations

First, the students meet their partners at a “meeting point”. Then, they go to a “chat stations”, where there are envelopes with questions and answer prompts. They’ll ask and answer the questions.

6) Who am I?

The students split into pairs, with one of them putting a sticky note with the name of a famous person (real or fake) on their partner’s forehead. The partner then has to guess the name through questioning.

7) Double circle

The students make two circles, one inside the other. Those in the outer circle face the students in the inner one. The teacher gives them some questions to ask the person opposite them. After a few minutes, the students in the outer circle will move a step to the right and start asking questions to another partner.

8) Speed dating

The students form two lines and face each other in pairs. The teacher gives them a topic to discuss for 20 seconds, after which the students in the bottom line will move one step to their right and meet their new partner.

These activities can encourage your students and improve their self-confidence as well as their English conversational skills.

Bastkowski, Martin. "Dialogues on the Move" English Teaching Professional, March 2016, 19-21.


 


 


 

	

	
	




	
	

			
	

				

			Articles
		

			
Crack down in China Worse and Worse

		

			 		

	


		

		
worse-and-worse


Crack down in China Worse and Worse


Despite its undeniable status as a global economic superpower, China has been heavily criticized in recent years for an apparent return to a Leninist-style leadership under Xi Jinping. Though the Chinese Communist Party has long been the only significant political force in the country, it abandoned the ruthless dictatorial style of Mao a while ago. However, Jinping’s style of government has raised fears that he’s actively working to restore the very same political philosophy that terrorized the country in the 1970s.


 


One of the General Secretary’s initiatives, the targeting of “tigers and flies” (corrupt officials and businessmen), has by now transformed into a mass political purge aimed at all those who oppose the government. The Party controls an extensive network of surveillance in the country, which has become even more active during this initiative. As a consequence, the media has found itself under even stricter censorship than before. In August 2015, a financial journalist for the business magazine Caijing was detained after having reported on government manipulation of China’s stock markets. He was forced to refute his own words on China Central Television.


 


The media hasn’t been the only victim, however. Religious minorities have been targeted, with “hundreds of crosses ripped from the steeples of Christian churches”. Even women’s rights activists and human rights lawyers have been affected.


 


At the same time, the domestic changes are perhaps less surprising than the foreign ones. The government is denying “unfriendly” foreign journalists entry into the country and blocking websites that disagree with the Party’s policies. Even more shocking is that instead of denying all this, the CCP publicly refutes Western liberal values, viewing them as obstacles to strong leadership and immediate economic growth.


 


The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) is the government agency in charge of overseeing the new anti-corruption campaign. It’s headed by Wang Qishan, an old friend of Xi Jinping, who essentially acts a grand inquisitor. Under Wang’s leadership, the agency has gained so much power that it’s allowed to hire and fire outside the Organization Department, which generally oversees high-level appointments. One reason for his agency’s success is of course the level of corruption that exists in the country; as officials are poorly paid, they often tend to accept bribes. As a result, they’ve had a lot of targets. Worryingly, their investigations seem to be above the law; they only stage show trials at the end of high-profile investigations. They’ve even designed a smartphone app that lets people upload photo and video evidence of officials violating the law.


 


For the Chinese themselves, this all is highly reminiscent of chilling rein of the Ming dynasty. The court went through several such agencies like the “Embroidered Guard” and the “Eastern Depot” (even a “Western Depot”, eventually), that gathered secret files on officials. Though Jinping’s approval rating is the highest of any world leader, the people are slowly realizing the danger he poses to even the most basic of freedoms. Heavy criticism is finally finding its way through the extreme censorship. Zhou Fang, a reporter for the New China News Agency, published an open letter criticizing censors for their violations of online freedom of expression. It was soon taken down, but not without causing a stir.


 


Jinping’s authoritarian style isn’t just a danger to China, of course. It directly affects everyone who depends on the Chinese economy. His aggressive foreign policies ensure that the Chinese economy will encounter many obstacles in its path to reformation. Though some are finally waking up to the threat, it could already be too late.


 


Schell, Orville  “Crackdown in China: Worse and Worse.” The New York Review, April 2016, 12-14

	

	
	




	
	

			
	

				

			Articles
		

			
A positive learning experience

		

			 		

	


		

		
positive-classroom-environment


Teaching methods often change, but it’s always the students who can decide if they had a good learning experience. English teacher and writer Paul Bress recommends a few “dos and don’ts” for teachers.


Dos


    

  • The lessons should always be connected to the students’ interests. If a lot of them like movies for instance, teachers should try to talk about movies in class. This will make the learning process positive for the students.
    • 

  • Teachers should always allow their students to be creative. Of course, repeating exercises is very important, but it’s equally important to make the children practice their English in real world scenarios.
    • 

  • Teachers should always make sure that the tasks in class aren’t too difficult for their students.
    • 

  • Teachers should always make sure that their syllabus is clear to the students. Otherwise, the students may become confused and uninterested during the year.
    • 



Don’ts


    

  • Teachers should never get angry at their students. It’s important to try to understand students’ problems instead of yelling at them.
    • 

  • Teachers should never have favorite students. Though some students may seem smarter than others, that doesn’t mean that teachers should always have them respond to questions. Otherwise, the rest of the class will begin to dislike that student.
    • 



 


Source: Bress, Paul. "A Positive Learning Experience" English Teaching Professional, March 2016, 36.