Articles

Using audio with text is the easiest extension from just using text. In its most effective form this consists of a recording being made of someone reading the narrative or poem. The recording might be made by the author, which gives a satisfying degree of authenticity to the project, but, sadly, not all writers are good readers.  Sometimes, therefore, the voice will be that of an actor. Either way, this is a chance to hear a speaker reading aloud a text that the students have studied.

The 'Text and Activities' method is the most common approach to using fiction and poetry in the classroom. It is low tech in that all we really need are words on a page, but that conceals a problem for many teachers. Where can we find appropriate texts and what about issues of copyright and authorial permission? Once we’ve located the texts, and got permission to use them, how can we best exploit them, especially if our students are reluctant readers.

Let us be sure about what we are talking about here. This is not an article examining films that have been made from books or their less common cousins, books made from films. That is another story – as it were – altogether. It is more about the relationship between, say, poetry and film – a relationship which is reciprocal.

Teaching Unplugged is the term used for a teaching method and philosophy which has three primary aims: teaching through conversation, taking out external input such as course book and technology and letting the lesson content be driven by the students rather than being pre-planned by the teacher. Based on the ‘Dogme ELT’ approach to teaching, its origins lie in an article written in 2001 by Scott Thornbury and Luke Meddings called ‘The roaring in the chimney’. They later wrote ‘Teaching Unplugged’, a comprehensive guide to this type of teaching and winner of the British Council ELTons award for Innovation in 2010.

Many newly qualified or inexperienced teachers tend to base their lesson planning on the traditional PPP approach (Presentation, Practice, Production) because it is reliable and it is a valid framework around which to base a series of classroom activities.

Northanger Abbey, like Pride and Prejudice, features a range of characters who behave heroically and those who behave more villainously.

The last novel that Jane Austen had published was Persuasion.

Rather like Austen’s most famous novel, this book’s title immediately lets us know that it’s a story about emotion and reason, ethics and morals.

Like Pride and Prejudice, Emma is a novel that cleverly explores human relationships, and the infinitely varied, day-to-day choices in how we interact with each other.