• Vocabulary Practice

3. A. Match the words and phrases from the text with their corresponding definitions.

1. to be bound by a) to produce an idea, etc.

2. irrelevant b) a severe test or trial

3. to come up with smth c) competent

4. to keep a balance d) to bring advantage to smth

5. to be faked e) to be required by an obligation or duty

6. effective f) inappropriate

7. to benefit smth g) abundant

8. rapport h) precise, exact, scrupulous

9. on the ball i) to maintain stability

10. a complex crucible j) not genuine

11. plentiful k) col. alert

12. accurate l) relationship or communication, (when

useful and harmonious)

2. Match the adjectives in the left column to the nouns in the right column (as they appear in the article). Make up your own sentences with them.

1. plentiful a) crucible

2. complex b)place

3. accurate c) users

4. effective d) transitions

5. irrelevant e) expectations

6. valuable f) opportunities

7. efficient g) intelligence

8. clear h) means

9. high i) definition

10. teaching j) instructions

• Text Comprehension

4. Here are the questions for you to answer and compare your answers with those of your friend’s.

1. Do you agree that participants of teaching-learning process are considered equally important partners? Why? Why not?

2. What does the author suggest dividing the work in ELT classroom into teaching cultures? Where are more teachers in Culture A or Culture B? Why?

3. What are the main features relevant to successful ELT classrooms? Name them.

4. What teacher’s skills does rapport in the classroom depend on? Single out the most important ones. Comment on your assumption.

5. In order to be more intelligible, the author builds up many statements on the contrast. Find the cases of contrast or antithesis in the text. (e.g. a heavy place - a light place, etc.). Why does the author employ them?

6. What do you think prevents teachers from:

• turning sketches of learning into nice colourful pictures?

• using the language as a means of communication through communication?

• altering the shape of lessons to accommodate teaching to learners?

• making a classroom a relevant place for learning? (Describe your considerations in written form).

7. Choose any definitions of the classroom suggested in the article and comment on them.

• Critical Reading

5. Look at the following phrases from the text and explain their meaning in your own words.

• Constraints of the institution’s administration…

• To turn sketches of learning into nice colourful pictures…

• An irrelevant place for learning…

• To use the language as a means of communication through communication…

• To enable pupils to use the language appropriately…

• Declarative knowledge of the language…

• To promote communicative practice…

• To throw fresh light on different areas of our teaching…

• To alter the shape of lessons overall…

• Your interest must not be faked.

• Talking points

6. Your University magazine wants to know the students’ opinion on a favourable classroom environment. So the students are asked to do the task: Put in order of importance the following factors enhancing teaching:

• Accurate definitions

• Efficient transitions

• Clear instructions

• High expectations

• Teacher intelligence

• Learner responsibility for learning

Justify your choice. Discuss it with your partner giving him/her pieces of advice in terms of establishing rapport in the classroom that promotes effective communication. You may do your answering in writing.

The following useful language may come handy.

Giving Advice

• If I were…

• If I were in your shoes, I’d like…

• I suppose you could always…

• The best thing to do is…

• Have you tried …?

• It might be a good idea to …

• You are strongly recommended (not) to …

• You would be well advised (not ) to …

• It might be advisable (not) to…

Reacting to Advice Positively

• Sounds like that would be the trick!

• That sounds like a good idea.

• That would be very helpful, thanks.

Reacting to Advice Negatively

• That's easier said than done...

• That sounds like a good idea, but…

• That’s all very well, but…

• I’m not sure that would work…

• Creative Writing

7. Read the rubric below and write your own article for the magazine.

A magazine for pre-service and in-service teachers has asked its readers to send in articles about their ideas about ELT classroom. In your article, you should describe the way you see the English classroom, mentioning your strengths and weaknesses in establishing rapport with your pupils. (Write approximately 350 words).

• Test Your Knowledge of Vocabulary

8. Translate the situations into English cramming them with the Thematic Vocabulary.

А Час постійно змінюється, що призводить до необхідності змінювати багато речей: починаючи від застарілих поглядів та закінчуючи методами навчання.

Для того, щоб побачити клас у свіжому, новому й незвичному світлі, вчитель має ретельно переглянути свої методи навчання. Він зобов’язаний змінити дещо в своїх підходах до цієї проблеми, щоб зробити навчальний процес більш ефективним.

Дійсно, існує багато чого у викладанні, що варто було б переглянути і змінити. Я пропоную розглянути клас як не зовсім відповідне місце для проведення занять. Справа в тому, що сучасним учням набридло звичне оточення, де вони проводять багато часу, навчаючись. Я впевнена, що зміна місця роботи з учнями може бути корисною як учням, так і вам (вчителям). Нові умови навчання (це може бути театр або кінотеатр або стадіон-відповідно до теми) захоплять учнів і спонукають їх до навчання. А чи не є це тим, до чого ви прагнули - вмотивувати навчальну діяльність учнів?

В Клас викликає різноманітні асоціації як в учнів, так і в учителів. Його можна порівняти і з садом, сценою, міні - версією суспільства або навіть із суровим випробуванням.

Вчителі створюють атмосферу в класі відповідно до «культури», яку вони представляють - деякі з них , в першу чергу, є носіями знань, інші .вчать учнів використовувати мову як засіб спілкування через спілкування. Але, щоб зробити учнів умілими користувачами мови, потрібен баланс. Щоб надати учням можливість користуватися мовою відповідно, точно і швидко, вчитель має дотримуватися простих правил.

По-перше, це управління класом. Відомо, чим краще організований клас, тим ефективнішим буде середовище навчання. По-друге, це очікування що до успіхів учнів. Якщо очікування вчителя високі, то учні зможуть досягти високих результатів. Такт учителя теж важлива складова його успіху.

Різноманітність видів діяльності, чітко сформульовані цілі, віддача з боку вчителя та учнів - все це сприяє ефективності сучасного уроку.

Але, мабуть, найголовнішим є те, що вчитель має бути зацікавленим в кожному учневі, а також любити справу, якою займається.

• SKIMMING READING

• TEXT 8

1. Read the magazine article below and think of a title for it. Do the assignments that follow.

The girls in Jill Gugisberg Wall's science class at Farnsworth Elementary School in St Paul, Minnesota, get angry when they think about the bad old days. At the schools they attended before coming to Farnsworth, 'the boys got all the attention,' says Carrie Paladie, 12. 'Every time we asked a question, the teacher would just ignore us.' Her classmate, 11-year-old Jennie Montour, agrees: 'The boys got to participate in everything.' Jennie says the teachers made her feel 'that I was stupid.' Their new science teacher's mission is to change all that. 'In my classroom,' she says, 'I encourage everyone to be involved.'

Unfortunately, there are too few teachers like Wall. Sexism may be the most widespread and damaging form of bias in the classroom, according to a report released last week by the American Association of University Women. The report, which summarized 1,331 studies of girls in school, describes a pattern of downward intellectual mobility for girls. The AAUW found that girls enter first grade with the same or better skills and ambitions as boys. But, all too often, by the time they finish high school, 'their doubts have crowded out their dreams.'

In elementary school, the researchers say, teachers call on boys much more often and give them more encouragement. Boys frequently need help with reading, so remedial reading classes are an integral part of many schools. But girls, who just as often need help with math, rarely get a similar chance to sharpen their skills. Boys get praised for the intellectual content of their work while girls are more likely to be praised for neatness. Boys tend not to be penalized for calling out answers and taking risks; girls who do the same are reprimanded for being rude. Research indicates that girls learn better in cooperative settings, where students work together, while boys learn better in competitive settings. Yet most schools are based on a competitive model. The report also indicates that schools are becoming more tolerant of male students sexually harassing female students.

Despite these problems, girls get better grades and are more likely to go on to college, according to the report. But even these successful girls have less confidence in their abilities than boys, have higher expectations of failure and more modest aspirations. The result, the report concludes, is that girls are less likely to reach their potential than boys.

The differences between the sexes are greatest in science. Between 1978 and 1986, the gap between the national science achievement test scores of 9- and 13-year-old boys and girls widened - because girls did worse and boys did better. Girls and boys take about the same number of science courses, but girls are more likely to take advanced biology and boys are more likely to take physics and advanced chemistry. Even girls who take the same courses as boys and perform equally well on tests are less likely than boys to choose technical careers. A Rhode Island study found that 64 per cent of the boys who had taken physics and calculus in high school were planning to major in science or engineering, compared with only 18.6 per cent of the girls who had taken those courses.

More than two-thirds of the nation's teachers are women. Presumably, their gender bias is unintentional but no less apparent. ... 'When researchers have asked teachers to remember their favorite students, it always ends up being kids who conformed to gender stereotypes,' says researcher David Sadker. 'The ones they like best are assertive males and the ones they like least are assertive females.'

Keith Geiger, president of the National Education Association, the largest teachers' union, advocates incorporating gender awareness into teacher training and classroom reviews. Also, he says, as schools upgrade their math and science standards, they should encourage more participation by girls. A more controversial solution might be single-sex schools or sex segregation at crucial points in a girl's development.

In Jill Wall's class, girls get a lot of support from their teacher. Wall learned more about teaching girls after receiving an AAUW fellowship in 1990 during which she studied elementary science education. ... At Farnsworth, her students give her straight A's. 'She treats us all the same,' says Tamika Aubert, 11. Equity in the classroom won't turn all girls - or boys -into physicists. But maybe a generation of teachers will emerge who can delight in assertive girls and shy boys with a talent for the arts.

(From English for the Teacher

by Mary Spratt)