We will discuss…






What are the challenges Matthew faces?
What are the teaching beliefs he holds?
How has he coped with the challenges?
What adaptations did he make to the
textbook? How?
What implications does all this have for
secondary school English teachers?
What does this suggest to principals and
panel chairpersons?
3
Matthew’s Scheme of Work
4
Matthew explains…
5
6
Matthew’s Teaching Beliefs
“When I teach English, I don’t want to restrict myself just to
the textbook. I want to use whatever sources I can find which
are suitable for my students… I believe learning English should
be fun. It’s my responsibility to make every English lesson
interesting. I know it is difficult but I try to make every English
lesson of mine interesting… If students can enjoy English, they
will be more willing to spend more time on this subject. And if
they can spend more time on it, their English will be better…
Learning English is not just learning something from the
textbook, yeah, students should expose themselves to all sorts
of materials. Yeah, if I can motivate them, let them become
interested in it… they can spend more time on it. Then, there
7
would be improvement.”
Background of the Students
 EMI school
 S.3 elite class
 Main strengths
 High intellectual capacity
 Strong linguistic competence
 Weaknesses
 Relatively weak in speaking
 Lack of vocabulary
 Lack of exposure to English
8
Exploiting the 4 Options




Omit the ‘Inappropriate’
Add to the ‘Insufficient Coverage’
Replace the ‘Inadequate’
Adapt the ‘Problematic’
(Maley 1998)
9
Overall Framework
Textbook and Authentic
Textbook
Authentic
Materials
as and
Vocabulary
Input
Materials as Vocabulary Input
Song
Song
Vocabulary
Vocabulary
Input
Input
Internet
Internet
Materials
Materials
Discussion &
Discussion
&
Presentation
Presentation
Controlled
Controlled
Task:
Writing:
Writing:
Task: a
“Design
“A brief
“A brief
“Design
time a report
on
report
on
time
capsule
the
the
capsule
for the
winning
winning
for the
HKSAR”
Time
Time
HKSAR”
Capsule”
Capsule”
Writing
Writing
Movie:
Movie:
“Back
Free
“Back
to the Writing:
Free
to
the
Future” Writing:
“A
Future”
“A
Letter
Letter
Poem:
to
Poem:
to
“What Myself”
“What
to do” Myself”
to do”
10
11
Scene-Setting




To arouse
students’ interest
To activate
students’ schemata
To contextualise
the scene
To help students
personalise the
task
12
13
What the textbook lacks
“I believe that in order to make a time capsule, there
should be other factors which we have to consider. So
that’s why I think the resources from the Internet
which are about time capsules should be able to give
students a better picture of time capsules… I look for
those resources because I have something I want them
to do in my mind; that is, I want them to have a group
discussion, to design the time capsule and what sort of
things they would like to put inside, so things like that.
Not just for the sake of looking for some extra
information or just for reading or fun. But it’s for
other purposes; in this case, it is for the group
discussion.”
14
Selecting authentic materials
15
… to provide ample exposure
16
… both linguistically…
17
… and conceptually and…
18
To challenge students
19
To cope with diversity…


Adapting ‘up’ the text
Adapting ‘down’ the task
 Jigsaw Reading Task
20
From Reception to Production
Discussion &
Presentation
Textbook and Authentic
Materials as Vocabulary Input
Song
Vocabulary
Input
Internet
Materials
Task:
“Design a
time
capsule
for the
HKSAR”
Controlled
Writing:
“A brief
report on
the
winning
Time
Capsule”
Writing
Movie:
“Back
to the
Future”
Poem:
“What
to do”
Free
Writing:
“A
Letter
to
myself”
21
Original
Adapted
22
Original
23
The adapted text is …
contextualised, localised
and personalised.
Examples of prompts appearing on power-point slides
Infectious diseases
SARS
bird flu
medical workers
(Dr. Cheung Yuen Man, Dr. Sham Cho Yiu, Dr. Yuen Kwok Yung)
civet cats
disinfectant
mask
Amoy Gardens
Prince of Wales Hospital
Popular culture
Roman Tam
Leslie Cheung
Infernal Affairs I (A blockbuster)
Anita Mui
flash mob
Nicholas Tse
3G
24
25
Cross-Group Presentations
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
26
27
The adapted task …





Maximises learner talk
Creates an ‘audience’
Challenges students
Develops their confidence
Gives them immediate
feedback


Formative
Summative
28
Achieving Communicative Purposes
T: “That is a very good chance
for them to speak English…
Well, they have an audience,
right? They have the
reason why they have to
present.”
T: “... in the past I asked the
group, the whole group to
come out to present, but the
problem I, I found was that
not all the groups have the
chance to come out, alright,
so instead of doing it in this
way, I had this idea; that is,
they go to each group, alright,
so they have a chance to
present to all groups.”
S1: “… we can talk something to
the classmates and sometimes
they may ask us some interesting
questions. We need to think it
immediately. It is because we
only have three minutes to
present, so it is very difficult
and I think it is very challenged
also.”
S2: “I think you can talk in some
other words, But not really copy
the way you say in the first time,
second time, you can change
some words or another, you may
say something more interesting,
so you can learn how to
communicate with others if you
practice more.”
29
Developing Confidence
T:”… Students will feel
much more confident
when they have
something actually
written down on paper
first, alright. If you
don’t let them write
something, but just
let them speak, they
will find it very
difficult.”
( What do you think you
have gained from
presenting for nine
times? )
S: “My brave, improve
my brave.”
30
Controlled Writing Task
Discussion &
Presentation
Textbook and Authentic
Materials as Vocabulary Input
Song
Vocabulary
Input
Internet
Materials
Task:
“Design a
time
capsule
for the
HKSAR”
Controlled
Writing:
“A brief
report on
the
winning
Time
Capsule”
Writing
Movie:
“Back
to the
Future”
Poem:
“What
to do”
Free
Writing:
“A
Letter
to
myself”
31
Original
Adapted
32
Free Writing
Discussion &
Presentation
Textbook and Authentic
Materials as Vocabulary Input
Song
Vocabulary
Input
Internet
Materials
Task:
“Design a
time
capsule
for the
HKSAR”
Controlled
Writing:
“A brief
report on
the
winning
Time
Capsule”
Writing
Movie:
“Back
to the
Future”
Poem:
“What
to do”
Free
Writing:
“A
Letter
to
myself”
33
Catering for Different Learning Styles
LINGUISTIC
All Tasks
LOGICAL
Designing the Time Capsule,
Asking Questions
SPATIAL
Drawing the Time Capsule,
Watching “Back to the Future”
MUSICAL
Listening to “Time in a Bottle”
KINESTHETIC
Cross-Group Presentations
INTERPERSONAL
Student-Student Interactions
INTRAPERSONAL
“Writing a letter to myself”
Gardner (1983) 34
Tomlinson’s Framework (1998)
Providing ample exposure
Arousing interest
Developing confidence
Making effective use of authentic language
Achieving communicative purposes
Catering for different learning styles
35
The texts, materials, tasks and activities…
H
M
L
widened your knowledge of English and
provided you with new ideas about the topic
79.4 81.4 77.4
aroused your interest
74.4 75.0 73.5
were relevant and useful to your daily life
69.7 75.7
gave you lots of chances to use English in a
meaningful and purposeful way
79.1 76.1 75.0
gave you enough of what you needed to know
before completing the group discussion,
presentation and writing tasks
85.7 82.6 80.4
were challenging enough for you
75.6 77.1 73.6
catered for your needs, preferences and
learning styles
71.9 76.6 75.9
made you learn in a comfortable way
36
79.1 80.6 78.1
67.9
Students’ Voices – 1
“[If Mr. Tsang used more
of the coursebook], we
would have fewer chances
to practise our English…
We would not have
presentations anymore.
We would have fewer
chances to discuss with
our classmates in English…
we want to try some other
alternatives and it is more
interesting.”
37
Students’ Voices – 2
38
The texts, materials, tasks and activities…
Average
Score
widened your knowledge of English and provided you with
new ideas about the topic
79.4
aroused your interest
74.3
were relevant and useful to your daily life
71.1
gave you lots of chances to use English in a meaningful and
purposeful way
76.7
gave you enough of what you needed to know before
completing the group discussion, presentation and writing tasks
82.9
were challenging enough for you
75.4
catered for your needs, preferences and learning styles
74.8
made you learn in a comfortable way
79.3
39
Students’ Voices – 3
“For the materials to make the
time capsule, we need to check up
in the Internet materials… Also we
don’t know some words about the
current affairs, so we need to look
at the PowerPoint and write down
the words. Also we can look the
ideas of the students in the
textbook… at first we don’t know
this word but we see it on the
PowerPoint, so we write down it…
if we forget something, so we can
check something in the PowerPoint.
It is useful, like a tip for us.”
40
Coherence between Tasks





thematically linked
clear logic of themes
clear task purpose
“task continuity” and dependency
careful grading and sequencing
41
Highlights



Holistic and integrated
view of lesson planning
Effective use of
authentic resources
Guiding principles in
task and materials
design
42
Holistic and Integrated View
of Lesson Planning

Appropriateness




Balance




linguistically
cognitively
affectively
an integrated skills approach
authentic + textbook materials
written + spoken language
Coherence


between tasks
across tasks
43
Use of Authentic Resources

Judicious and Informed Choices




with thematic relevance
for a clearly defined purpose
for the design of meaningful tasks
to compensate for the textbook inadequacies
44
Guiding Principles
in Task and Materials Design


Text + Task Authenticity
Confidence-building = Right challenge



Contextualisation & Personalisation






Role
Purpose
Audience
Sense of Purpose


Sequencing: Comprehension-before-production
Adapting ‘up’ and ‘down’
The Input-Output-Input Model
Maximisation of speaking opportunities
Quality of feedback
Variety
45
To Principals and Panel Chairpersons







Trust teachers’ professionalism
Cultivate an open culture of trust
Assure teachers of flexibility and
autonomy
Create room for informal
collaboration
Encourage the sharing of resources
Promote the cycle of planning,
implementation, reflection
(and retrial)
Discourage “teaching to the test”
46
47