and right of the word and shout out the collocations for you to write up.
3 Continue for other occurrences of the same words, and their
collocations.
Follow-up
Students summarise the text using the collocations on the board.
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Five-Minute Activities for Business English
15.4 Figures in the news
Focus Finding key information in a text
Level Elementary Advanced
Procedure
1 Dictate 3 4 figures (numbers, percentages, amounts of money, etc.)
from a business news text that you are going to study or discuss later.
2 Ask students to work in pairs and check they have written down the
same figures.
3 Hand out the text. Tell students that they have two minutes to find the
figures and discover what they refer to.
15.5 Class-generated text summary
Focus Introducing a text through summarising
Level Elementary Advanced
Procedure
1 Before a reading or listening activity, tell students the topic of the text. If
it has a headline or a title, write it on the board.
2 Ask students to look at the text. Go round the group, allocating one
paragraph per student (in order, according to how they are seated).
3 Tell students that they have just two minutes to write a one-sentence
summary of their paragraph. They should use simple language, and
should avoid words from the original that other students might not
understand. They can ask you for help.
4 When the students are ready, they read out their sentences, in order,
round the group.
Follow-up
" Ask students to read their sentences in order around the group one more
time. Then divide the students into pairs and ask them to try to remember
and retell the whole summary.
" Move into a discussion of the content of the article, or use the text for
language work (perhaps looking for topic-related vocabulary).
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16 Language work: pronunciation
16.1 Phonological chunking
Focus Raising awareness of speech patterns (phonological chunks/tone
units)
Level Elementary Advanced
Preparation Find a short extract from a listening text that the students are familiar
with, and for which you have an audio recording. Write it on the
board. See the example in Box 67.
Note The text needs to be a monologue, composed of several separate
utterances, and lasting about 20 seconds.
Box 67 Extract from a listening text
Tai Chi is not Kung Fu or anything like that. The idea of Tai Chi is very different, it s
internal. There are four main elements: firstly, working on the way we breathe;
secondly, our body position; thirdly, learning soft movements to help energy and
balance; and the final element is meditation, a quiet part, which many people like.
© Cambridge University Press 2005
Procedure
1 Ask the students to look at the text on the board and try to decide where
the speaker would pause. This will always be at the end of a sentence, but
can be in the middle as well, perhaps several times. Emphasise that there
is no right answer, and that fluent speakers would pause differently on
different occasions with the same text.
2 Elicit possible answers and write on the board, drawing a diagonal line
where a pause is possible. Read the sentences aloud yourself as you go,
with the pauses the students suggest, to see if you/they feel it is natural.
In Box 68 there is a possible chunked version of the text in the first box,
with prominent syllables marked (as discussed in the Follow-up).
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Five-Minute Activities for Business English
Box 68 The same text as Box 67, with chunks and
prominent syllables marked
Tai Chi / is not Kung Fu /or anything like that. / The idea of Tai Chi / is very
different, / it s internal. / There are four main elements: / firstly, / working on
the way we breathe;/ secondly, / our body position;/ thirdly, / learning soft
movements / to help energy and balance;/ and the final element / is meditation,
/ a quiet part, / which many people like.
Follow-up
" Play the extract on the tape and get them to compare with what is on the
board.
" Students practise saying the extract themselves, paying attention to the
phonological chunking.
" After this, discuss with the students which would be the prominent
syllables inside each chunk. Underline them. Then practise:
a) first provide a model by saying the statements yourself, beating with
your hand to show the strongly stressed syllables;
b) now ask students to repeat each statement chorally after you;
c) finally ask students to practise by themselves, building up to saying the
whole extract with appropriate stress and pausing.
16.2 Stress patterns
Focus Awareness of rhythm and stress
Level Elementary Advanced
Preparation Start with the board full of a mixture of complete sentences, phrases,
collocations and single words. This could be left over from language
feedback following a speaking activity, or a list of recently-learnt
vocabulary, etc.
Procedure
1 Pick out several phrases and expressions on the board. Ask students to
say them to themselves and write down the stress pattern, e.g.
Do you agree? / o o o O /
2 When students are ready, ask them to compare together in pairs before
doing feedback with the whole group.
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Language work: pronunication
Follow-up
Choose some of the phrases and expressions to practise fluent
pronunciation. This might include work on linking (a sound at the end of
one word links with one at the beginning of the next), elision (a sound is
missed out in normal speech), or intonation patterns (identifying the main
stress and the movement of the voice up and down).
16.3 Problem sounds
Focus Noticing L1/L2 pronunciation differences
Level Elementary Advanced
Preparation Start with the board full of a mixture of complete sentences, phrases,
collocations and single words. This could be left over from language
feedback following a speaking activity, or a list of recently-learnt
vocabulary, etc.
Procedure
1 Tell the students that you are now going to focus on pronunciation. Circle
several syllables that contain vowel sounds you have noticed students have
difficulty with. Ask students to say the sound. Help them by, for example:
asking if the sound is short, long, or a double sound (diphthong).
For example: bill /i/ short, fee /i:/ long, time /ai/ double sound [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]