- •Linguistic Education and Intercultural Communication
- •1 Look at the images above and say what you know about these organizations and their role in promoting foreign language learning and teaching policy.
- •2 Generate ideas on the following issues.
- •1 Read the following excerpt from Jeremy Harmer’s book ‘How to Teach English’ and say what the difference between acquisition and learning is.
- •What is ‘Plurilingualism’?
- •2 Decide if the statements are True or False:
- •3 Scan the text again and give the suitable words and phrases to match the following definitions.
- •Plurilingualism/Multilingualism in Various Countries
- •Vocabulary
- •1 Read the excerpt from the article and note down the key words that best fit each space, there is an example at the beginning. Definition of Culture Learning
- •2 Word formation: Read the other extract from the article and using the word given, form a word that fits in the space in the same line. Dynamic View of Culture
- •3 Read the following passage and take notes on the main points of the reading passage.
- •A Round-table discussion
- •Introduction
- •Summary
- •Critique
- •1 Study the excerpt from the report of the British Commission on languages and complete the gaps with suitable language forms. Refer to the information on ‘Expressions with Future Meaning’.
- •1 Expressions with Future Meaning
- •2 Paraphrase the sentence using the word given.
- •3 Study the excerpt and complete the gaps with suitable language forms. Refer to the information on ‘Modifying Comparisons’
- •2 Modifying Comparisons
- •4 Read the sentences and choose the correct word or phrase:
- •3 Watch the part of Stephen Krashen’s lecture ‘Fundamentals of Language Acquisition and Bilingual Education’ at
- •3 Express your opinion on the following questions.
- •1 Conduct a survey.
- •2 Discuss the following questions.
- •2 Read the text again and create a comparative chart of the text, outlining the following:
- •3 Write an analytical overview of the text (in about 1000 words), focusing on the following:
- •1 Skim the text and name two issues that the author describes and compares.
- •2 Study the text again and prepare a comparative analysis of the following aspects:
- •3 Identify the italicized words in the excerpt and explain their meaning, illustrate it with examples.
- •4 Match the following words and their definitions.
- •5 Read the following sentences and fill in the gaps with suitable words.
- •1 Study the examples and choose the suitable language forms. Refer to the information on ‘Gradable and Ungradable Adjectives’
- •2 Choose the word or phrase which does not fit the sentence.
- •3 Talk about foreign language teacher preparation, using gradable and ungradable adjectives.
- •1 Read the questions and express your opinion.
- •1 If you had to continue writing the article, what would you tell about language teacher preparation in the period between the 2000s and the present period?
- •2 Analyze the main peculiarities of the issues under consideration and produce a scheme (a table, or an association map, etc.) to support your answer.
- •Foreign Language Teacher Preparation in Different Countries
- •3 Process:
- •4 Which four of the following are mentioned by the writer of the text?
- •Vocabulary
- •2 Read the following sentences and fill in the gaps with suitable words.
- •1 Comment on the following information. To what extent do you think the situation described in the text is relevant for the Republic of Kazakhstan?
- •2 Analyze the possible downsides of learning a language, rank them in order of their significance, then offer the solution for each one.
- •Vocabulary
- •1 Read the passage about General Certificate of Secondary Education in the United Kingdom and fill in the gaps with missing words. There is an example at the beginning (0).
- •Learning Styles (free) Intro.Mov
- •2 Match each sentence with the correct ending, a-g, below.
- •Vocabulary
- •1 Find out the meaning of the following words (consult the dictionary if necessary).
- •2 Read the following sentences and fill in the gaps with suitable words; there may be one or two words missing.
- •3 Give your opinion on the ideas of the text, compare the situation to the one in the Republic of Kazakhstan; use the words and phrases indicated.
- •1 Study the news excerpt from ‘Economist’ and paraphrase the information presented, using the ‘Impersonal Passive Structures’. Refer to the tips if necessary.
- •Impersonal Passive Structures
- •2 Read the sentences and choose the correct structure.
- •3 Write a passage about languages taught at school in the Republic of Kazakhstan, using at least eight examples of impersonal passive structures.
- •Video watching
- •2 Create a press-release of the Education Secretary’s speech/front page of a newspaper about modern languages education in the United Kingdom (or the Republic of Kazakhstan, the usa, etc.).
- •1 Discuss the following issues.
- •2 Read the text and find the answers to these questions. Language Education in the us
- •3 Choose the answer (a-d) to the following questions.
- •A Role Play.
- •The Agenda.
- •Foreign Language Education in the Republic of Kazakhstan
- •1 Intro:
- •1 Look through the text and say which of the following might be the main idea of the author:
- •What language do they speak in Jersey?
- •3 Read the passage and analyze the conversation according to the following aspects:
- •A conversation between a tefl professor and a student after class
- •4 Work with a partner: Create a scheme of the conversation, and then reproduce the conversation according to the scheme you have created.
- •5 Role play the following situations.
- •1 Read the following situations and talk to your partner analyzing and commenting on them, as well as offering a solution to the problems described:
- •7 Read the information given and express your point of view on the problem. Teaching 21st Century Skills
- •8 Read the information given and express your point of view on the problem.
- •A Conference.
- •A Discussion
- •A Role Play
- •A Polemic Discourse
- •A Discussion Club
- •1 Intro: a Discussion Club
- •The Debate Club
- •1 Intro: a Debate
- •1 Discuss the following issues:
- •2 Read the following role-cards and be ready to participate in the round table discussion on the theme above.
- •A Case Study ‘Global World and Knowledge of Foreign Languages’
- •1 Read the following case and be ready to discuss the following stories of people who share their experience and opinions on studying foreign languages.
- •'A language looks good on your cv'
- •'There was no one at school to inspire you'
- •'It's fun to teach your toddler'
- •'We weren't learning stuff that would be useful if you went to the country'
- •1 Choose one of the topics 1-4 and write your essay in 300-350 words in an appropriate style.
- •2 Choose one of the questions 1-6 and write your answer in 300-350 words in an appropriate style.
The Agenda.
The chairperson will bring everybody up to date on the problem to be discussed (5min.).
Each person will be invited to put forward his/her views on this situation (5min.).
A general discussion period will follow, where each member will put forward suggestions and recommendations to help to reach a satisfactory compromise (20 min.).
3 Talk about comprehensive schools, international schools, Nazarbaev Intellectual Schools in the Republic of Kazakhstan; then prepare a report outlining the structure and organization of education/foreign languages education in these types of schools? Create a chart to illustrate your studies.
A PROJECT
Foreign Language Education in the Republic of Kazakhstan
1 Intro:
What do you know about the Bologna Process and the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages?
What levels (A1-C1) correspond to the stages of Foreign Language Education in the Republic of Kazakhstan?
2 TASK: Analyse the necessary documents and prepare a presentation about the peculiarities of the foreign language education in the Republic of Kazakhstan.
3 PROCESS: Study the resources, conduct the survey, synthesise the results of the study. What is the structure of the foreign language education in the Republic of Kazakhstan?
4 EVALUATION: Use the ‘Evaluation Rubrics’ to evaluate the results of your research. RESOURCES: You may analyse documents of the ‘Common European Framework of Reference for Languages’, the ‘Concept of Foreign Language Education in the Republic of Kazakhstan’, compare the European classification of language levels and the classification of language levels according to the cognitive lingua-cultural methodology in the Republic of Kazakhstan.
5 CONCLUSION: Present the results of your analysis and research in class (e.g. a brochure, a poster, a report, a video report, etc.).
READING
1 Look through the text and say which of the following might be the main idea of the author:
The foreign language teaching in the U.S. depends on the number of the theory textbooks American teachers read.
American teachers do not know an appropriate approach of “how to teach”.
The foreign language teacher should take into account language differences.
“About Foreign Language Teaching”
In our system of education, modern foreign languages appear as a hothouse growth, and as one that is neither wisely planted nor well tended. Two, three, or four years of French, German, or Spanish in high school and perhaps a few more in college produce no sensible result. The alumnus neither speaks nor understands his foreign language; he has learned to decode short stories and novels by thumbing a glossary, but a wise instinct leads him to drop this occupation as soon as he has completed his course of study. It would be of little interest here to describe the reasons for this failure. What we know about language has been learned since the beginning of the nineteenth century, but our schools still adhere to the traditions of an earlier time. It is safe to say that not one in a hundred of our teachers of foreign languages has read such books as Henry Sweet’s “Practical Study of Languages,” Otto Jespersen’s “How To Teach a Foreign Language,” Harold E. Palmer’s “Principles of Language Study,” or, for that matter, any respectable handbook of linguistics. The fault lies not with the teachers but in their training and direction, which is entirely in the hands of educationists and professors of literature.
Improved methods of communication and travel and the exigencies of war have confronted us with the need for foreign languages. In such things there is a lag until pressure results in a shock. In the year 1941 officials of our government saw that we should need men who could speak various foreign languages; we could no longer depend on outsiders.
At ordinary conversational speed, a foreign language sounds rapid, blurred, and vague. Some essential distinctions of sound escape the learner because they are absent in his language. A German, for instance, cannot at first hear the difference between English words like bag and back; in the same way, we are likely to miss such essential features as the tonal distinctions in Swedish or Chinese or the distinctions of plain and nasalized vowels in French. For the most part, both in hearing and reproducing a foreign language, we are likely to replace the foreign sounds by the nearest sounds of our language.
The first task of the instructor, accordingly, is to awaken the students to the foreign sounds, to train them to imitate exactly, and to point out elusive distinctions. When this is done, some students are able to mimic, but others cannot: one has to show them in the new positions and movements. For all this, of course, the instructor must be competent in phonetics – that is, he must know how speech sounds are produced.
The second task of the instructor is to choose the phrases which are to be learned. These should be natural, beginning with the commonest and most useful expressions, such as greetings, formulas of courtesy, and requests for food, drink, or information. Strangely enough, this is not always evident to persons untrained in linguistics; thus, some of our conventional elementary textbooks for foreign languages begin with bizarre and unusual discourses, such as telling of a child’s table in stilted literary language.
“About foreign Language Teaching” by Leonard Bloomfield. The Yale Review, Volume 34
2 Read the text once more and choose the key sentence in every paragraph.
3 Summarize the text using the key sentences.
4 Analyse the historical perspective of the article and give your opinion about the ideas expressed by L. Bloomfield. Are these ideas still relevant nowadays? Why? /Why not?
COMMUNICATION
SAMPLE 1
1 Listen to the conversation: audio file (jersey.mp3).