Assignment 2 - Focus on the Learners Background Angeles is Catalan, 40+, lives in Barcelona and speaks Catalan, Spanish and

is studying English at Pre-Intermediate level at IH. She has studied English for several years and this is her fourth attempt to study to a level of fluency, which is her aim. She began studying English at age 18 and reached intermediate level but then stopped classes for 15 years. She has taken 2 subsequent 3-month courses the most recent at the University in Barcelona. Motivation Angeles is highly motivated and interested in improving her English for personal reasons although she feels it could also be useful in her work to some degree. Her sister lives in London and is married to an Englishman and she has visited England several times. She likes to watch films in English and to go to the cinema to watch old English language films, the most recent being last weekend (singing in the rain). She is always early for class, has 100% attendance record and actively seeks out opportunities to converse in English. Learning Style Angeles is extremely studious and a voracious reader (mainly travel & biographies). Although she finds it difficult to read in English she does and she accesses the internet in English as well as Spanish. She finds listening extremely difficult but knows she needs to improve. She says she finds listening to the radio in Spanish also very difficult. On the VARK scale her key areas are visual and reading/writing. She responds better to listening activities if she has preread a matching text and knows the context of the exercise. Angeles enjoys pair work and group activities, but is also focused and able to work independently. Strengths Angeles is very keen to learn English for intrinsic reasons, it is important to her and she values the work she has already put into learning a base of English to pre-intermediate level but is determined to advance to her aim of upper intermediate. She is careful about her speech and prioritises accuracy over fluency. She likes to be corrected, actively notes corrections for her own reference and often corrects herself. She has a wide range of interests and enjoys engaging in conversation. Although she makes some rudimentary errors in terms of the precision of her language she has gathered a wide vocabulary (a reflection of her interests in life). She likes to gather and use specific words that are appropriate to a particular situation rather than those in common use. Weaknesses
Error Grammar I have she pen Reason for error Use of pronoun in place of possessive pronoun. Correction I have her pen Suggested resource http://www.ego4u.com/en/cr amup/grammar/pronouns/exer cises?04 and http://www.ego4u.com/en/cr amup/grammar/pronouns/exer cises New Inside Out Pre-Int WORKBOOK 2008 (Kay with Jones & Kerr). Grammar review P4-5. Macmillan Inside Out student book (Pre-Int)

No, I not want

Present simple negative requires an auxiliary (do/does) student has omitted do, perhaps because in Spanish there is no auxiliary, you simply say I want ../ I not want.. This problem also occurs with the interrogative form - Do you want? Word mis-selection (selection of wrong word), probably because the Spanish verb asistir means to attend.

No, I dont want

Lexical

I assisted a class ..

I attended a class..

Online resource for student self teaching http://www.macmillandiction ary.com/dictionary/british/lo ok This online dictionary and thesaurus has the phonetic representation of the word as well as an audio button

Assignment 2 - Focus on the Learners

so students can hear the word pronounced. Im pretending to find Word mis-selection (selection of wrong word), L1 interference as pretender (sp) means try in English Confusion over pronunciation of final s. Use of // sh sound in place of hard s /s/. Perhaps due to L1 interference. Im trying to find As above or a good learners dictionary such as Longman learners dictionary.

Pronunciation

He /w/ in /hptl/

He /ws/ in /hsptl/

Online exercise for self testing http://www.englischhilfen.de/en/exercises/pron unciation/index.php Or http://www.englishzone.com/convo/prons1.html

Looked /lked/ Washed /wed/

Word stress in wrong place, mis-pronunciation of ed endings. Probably due to L1 interference.

Looked /lkd/ Washed /wd/

Phonetic list in Inside Out Student Book (Kerr, Jones & Kay) P130. Online resource with audio presentation. http://www.englishclub.com/ pronunciation/-ed.htm

2 specific activities to help the learner improve Listening Angeles finds listening incredibly challenging and has particular issues listening for key information. She does however respond well to listening activities where she is in direct communication with the source (conversational activities or listening to instructions or presentations from a teacher in class). I would recommend a set of activities as follows: 1. Introduce a story theme

2. Present a familiar story text (little red riding hood or similar) to the class & allow for a first read through for gist
with simple task (which of the 3 titles best fits the story). Mini FB 3. Play the audio for the text. Controlled Practice

4. Ss answer key questions which draw out key information: the main idea, characters, key story
elements/stages. FB: Discuss answers as a class & highlight key sentences in the text to the class to highlight key story elements. Freer Practice 5. Have the class arrange a mixed up storyboard (a series of picture boxes) and then match with a key sentence for each. 6. Ask them to work in pairs to write a list of key vocabulary they remember as important in the story. Follow Up Activity 7. Ask the class to re-tell the story using the storyboard to their partner (work in pairs). 8. FB on the tasks, how easy did they find the exercise.

Assignment 2 - Focus on the Learners 9. Collect storyboards and arrange in wall presentation/poster format for display in the class. (Have students do this if they have time).

Grammar revision I would like to focus on a set of revision exercises to help consolidate Angeles knowledge of the present tense particularly in negative and interrogative forms. I would suggest that working through the grammar revision section of the Macmillan Inside Out Pre Intermediate Workbook (with audio) Page 4 and 5 (attached as copy or at http://www.scribd.com/doc/67910920/New-inside-out-Preintermediate-workbook) would be extremely beneficial to Angeles but I would add a pair work activity (alternate questions and answers) focused around family (to also actively use pronouns another weak area for Angeles) and replicate and personalise some of the activities as freer practice in order to check understanding.

Resources http://www.grammar.cl/Games/Simple_Present_Tense.htm Online tenses game for students to test their knowledge. http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/pron/ Online pronunciation tips with audio for key sounds. http://www.btinternet.com/~ted.power/l1spanish.html Common pronunciation errors, tips on how to practice correct pronunciation and practice materials.

Bibliography Online http://www.economist.com/blogs/johnson/2011/10/auxiliary-verbs http://spanish.about.com/cs/vocabulary/a/obviouswrong http://www.scribd.com/doc/67910920/New-inside-out-Pre-intermediate-workbook http://www.scribd.com/doc/67910920/New-inside-out-Pre-intermediate-workbook Hardcopy Practical English Usage Swan (Oxford University Press) Grammar for English Language Teachers Parrott (Cambridge University Press) Learner English - Swan & Smith (Cambridge University Press) How to teach English Harmer (PEARSON Longman) How to teach pronunciation Kelly (Longman) How to teach vocabulary Thornbury (Longman)