Til issue

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engelsk pü mellomtrinnet a teacher’s guide

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juliet munden

engelsk pü mellomtrinnet a teacher’s guide

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© Gyldendal Norsk Forlag AS 2014 1. utgave, 1. opplag 2014 ISBN 978-82-05-46880-1 Omslagsillustrasjon: Antony Ashton Omslagsdesign: Antony Ashton Layout: Laboremus Oslo AS Illustrasjoner: Antony Ashton (s. 27, 38, 125, 145, 152, 165, 200, 231, 237, 311) Figurer: David Keeping (s. 58, 214, 216, 314, 328) Sats: Supernova Brødtekst: Minion Pro 10,5/15 pkt Papir: 90 g Amber Graphic Trykk: Dimograf, Polen 2014 Forfatteren har mottatt støtte fra Det faglitterære fond.

Alle henvendelser om boken kan rettes til Gyldendal Akademisk Postboks 6730 St. Olavs plass 0130 Oslo www.gyldendal.no/akademisk akademisk@gyldendal.no Det må ikke kopieres fra denne boken i strid med åndsverkloven eller avtaler om kopiering inngått med KOPINOR, interesseorgan for rettighetshavere til åndsverk.

Kopiering i strid med lov eller avtale kan medføre erstatningsansvar og inndragning, og kan straffes med bøter eller fengsel.

Alle Gyldendals bøker er produsert i miljøsertifiserte trykkerier.

Se www.gyldendal.no/miljo

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To Hannah and Hanna

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Acknowledgements

I have worked for many years as a teacher and as a teacher trainer, and the question of how to teach English has never ceased to fascinate me. As I wrote this book I thought back over the many conversations I have had with colleagues, students and pupils over the years. I also revisitied what other people have written about teaching and learning English, with a particular focus on research that is relevant to teaching English at mellomtrinnet in Norwegian schools. When the chapters were as good as I could make them, I sent each of them off to an expert. They have all helped make this a better book.

I am very grateful to my colleagues at Hedmark University College: Knut Øystein, who started out on this project with me, and commented in detail on two chapters; Susan and Anne-Line, who each read several chapters and answered hundreds of questions and cheered me on; Angela, Tom, Astrid G., Lars, Nina, Sylvi, Joke, Andreas, Åsne and Anne, who have each read and commented on a chapter, or parts of one; and Karianne, who proofread the reference list.

Thanks to teachers Jon, Kristin and Geir who shared with me their classroom experience. Thanks to Ruth for numberless conversations about the art of teaching. Thanks to Jørn for all those cups of tea. Especial thanks to Frale who made time to scrutinise each chapter and suggest linguistic improvements. Thanks to Tony for keeping me laughing with his zany illustrations.

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acknowledgements Thanks to the staff at Gyldendal Akademisk, especially editor Tor for believing in this project and editor Anders who calmly saw it through. Thanks to Hedmark University College for being a supportive employer. Thanks to Fagforfatterforening for a grant that allowed me to take time off to write. And no thanks at all to the rule-makers who don’t acknowledge that writing a book like this is serious academic work.

And last but not least: thank YOU. Thank you for putting aside time and thought to share this book with me.

Juliet Munden Hamar, February 2014

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Table of Contents

introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

15

chapter 1 teachers and tweens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

19 19 22 26 30 34 36 39 40

Being a good teacher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Being a tween . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Tweens in school . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Tweens with special needs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Newly-arrived tweens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Activities for getting to know each other . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

How to get everybody talking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

How to organise the learning space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

chapter 2 kunnskapsløftet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Introducing Kunnskapsløftet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The English subject curriculum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Basic skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Numeracy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Learning to learn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

44 44 46 48 49 52

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chapter 3 some central issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

English in Norway and the world . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

English teaching traditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Using English to teach English . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

From primary to lower secondary school . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Alternatives to the Norwegian state school . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

English in Steiner/Waldorf schools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

English in Montessori schools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

chapter 4 planning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

For and against lesson plans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Keeping track of plans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

A good learning sequence in five parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

How to write a lesson plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Five-minute activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Cross-curricular learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

chapter 5 assessment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Assessment for and of learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Teachers assess what they can do and what they can do better . . . . . . . . .

Teaching traps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Teachers assess pupils’ learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Pupils assess their own learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The European Language Portfolio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The national tests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

56 57 60 64 66 66 67 69 71 72 74 75 82 87 89 92 93 94 96 98 100 104 105

chapter 6 vocabulary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110 How important is vocabulary? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Selecting vocabulary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Teaching new vocabulary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Word lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

How we learn and remember vocabulary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Vocabulary learning strategies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Dictionaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Translation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Practising vocabulary – playing with words . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Vocabulary tests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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110 113 116 118 120 123 128 130 132 136

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chapter 7 grammar issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

So what is grammar? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Different views about teaching grammar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Teaching grammar communicatively . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Teaching grammar by noticing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

So how should we teach grammar? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1. Pedagogical rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

2. Don’t start by making grammar scary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

3. Provide a context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

4. Choosing and using grammatical terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

5. Testing irregular verbs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

6. Some final words of advice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

What grammar should we teach? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

142 143 144 148 149 151 152 154 154 155 156 157 157

chapter 8 grammar in practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162 The present progressive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Present simple . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

‘There is’ and ‘There are’ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The past simple . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

How to ask questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The passive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

‘Some’ and ‘any’ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

162 168 171 174 176 179 180

chapter 9 pronunciation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

What is pronunciation? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Whose English? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

What sounds should we concentrate on? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

How to teach pronunciation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Practising pronunciation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Trouble-shooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Spelling and pronunciation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

183 183 186 189 191 192 197 199

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chapter 10 talking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202 Kunnskapsløftet and oral communication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Communicative activities are a good idea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Activities that promote oral communication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Oral communication with the whole class . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Oral communication in groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Oral communication in pairs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Speaking alone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Drama work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Role play . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

203 209 212 213 217 218 221 224 230

chapter 11 listening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233 The skills of listening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Why we listen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Listening material and authentic spoken English . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Listening strategies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Listening support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Listening-only activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Listening to a story . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

234 238 239 242 244 248 250

chapter 12 reading and understanding texts . . . . . . . . . . .

Learning to read English . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Different ways of reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Types of text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Why we need reading strategies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Pre-reading strategies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Strategies while reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

What not to do! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

After reading the text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

255 256 259 260 261 263 264 266 270

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chapter 13 writing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274 The challenges and pleasures of writing in L2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Kunnskapsløftet and writing in primary school . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Spelling and dictation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Write coherent texts that narrate, retell, and express own opinions . . . . . .

Express oneself creatively inspired by different types of English literature . .

Note-making . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Digital writing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Writing in Year 6: My journey to school . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Starting the lesson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Generating ideas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Assessment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Building a paragraph . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

275 276 279 284 289 291 294 297 297 299 300 302

chapter 14 culture and society . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306 What is culture? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Why should pupils learn about culture? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

An intercultural perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Working with culture in the English classroom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Narrate about people, places and events in English-speaking countries . . .

Storyline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

306 308 309 312 316 319

chapter 15 books, films and songs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Reading books: why and how . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Book recommendations and reading programmes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Picture books for Years 5–7? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Books that include all children . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

What should pupils do when they have finished a book? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Films: why and which ones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Activities before and after watching a film . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Working with single scenes and film clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Responding to pictures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Why songs? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Which songs to choose and where to find them . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Six singing activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Twelve language-learning activities using song . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

323 323 326 328 329 330 332 334 336 338 340 340 342 344

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appendices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . appendix 1 numeracy language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . appendix 2 football role play . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . appendix 3 the paper bag game . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . appendix 4 female role models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . appendix 5 book recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . appendix 6 recommended websites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

349 350 352 354 358 360 365

references . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367 index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373

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[start innledn]

Introduction

‘You’ is a word I use a lot in this book. But who are ‘you’? I have several groups of readers in mind, including student teachers in GLU 1–7 and GLU 5–10, PPU students, and qualified primary school teachers who are taking an in-service course (etter- eller videreutdanningskurs) in English. Not least, I imagine myself talking to experienced English teachers who are on the look-out for new ideas. A book still has its advantages! You can read it at your own speed and return to it when you need some new ideas. Please write notes, underline things, add your own thoughts. It’s a good idea to write in books, at least if you own them yourself! There is a section at the end of each chapter called ‘To think about, try out and discuss’. I do hope you can find ways of doing just that; that you get the chance to talk about and try out some of the ideas and activities, either at college or in your own staffrooms and classrooms.

There are two main reasons why I have written this book. One is that pupils learning English in Years 5–7 can get a bit overlooked in teacher education. (The term ‘Years’ in this book always refers to the school year or grade, not to the age of the child). Even though they are represented in both GLU 1–7 and GLU 5–10, there is sometimes a tendency to focus on younger learners in GLU 1–7, while GLU 5–10 can tend to focus on lower secondary school. Also PPU students may well find themselves working with older pupils who for various reasons need support and activities of the kind offered here. So that is one reason for writing this book. The other is that I believe it 15

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introduction is tremendously important that we know what we are doing in the Englishlanguage classroom. As teachers we have all been through ‘the apprenticeship of observation’ – years spent watching our teachers teach. So if we want to teach differently, we really need to think about what we are doing. Of course there are many friendly, lively, learning-rich classrooms; but there are some very dull ones too. Let me explain …

I once observed a girl and a boy sitting towards the back of a classroom.

They were thirteen years old. In the course of the lesson they were both asked one question by the teacher, and both answered quietly and correctly. When required to write in their work books, they did so. The boy occasionally turned to make eye contact with a friend sitting behind him; the girl sat right at the back. She hardly moved during the one hour that the lesson lasted. Her face barely expressed any emotion. After the lesson I went over and chatted with them in English. This is more or less what was said: Me: What did you learn in this English lesson?

Girl: I think maybe this word was new to me. (She looked down at the textbook and pointed at a word.)

Me: That one word? That is what you learnt today?

Girl: Yes, I’m sorry.

Me: Don’t be sorry! I got the impression that you know lots of English words?

Girl: Yes, I read a lot of English. I’ve just finished Lord of the Rings.

Me: Really! In English?

Girl: Yes (and she looked down apologetically again).

Then I turned to the boy.

Me: What did you learn in this English lesson?

Boy: I don’t think I learnt anything, actually.

Me: Why was that, do you think?

Boy: The topic doesn’t really interest me Me: So what interests you?

Boy: I like to read about World War 2.

Me: In English?

Boy: In English and in Norwegian, it doesn’t matter.

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introduction When I mentioned these pupils to the teacher, he referred to them as ‘dream’ pupils – ‘drømmeelever’ – because, I suppose, they were quiet and clever and did well on English tests. But I was left wondering why those children had to spend time in that classroom. Were they actually learning any English at all at school? And since they were ‘drømmeelever’, I wondered what kind of dream this teacher had for his pupils. Had he considered asking them to read something more interesting to them than the short texts in the textbook? To speak more than one or two sentences during a lesson? To write something more complex and thought-provoking than a few short sentences that probably nobody, not even the teacher, would read?

1 According to a large-scale qualitative report on the state of teaching in Norwegian schools (Sandvik and Buland, 2013), the situation for these thirteen-year-old pupils is typical of many primary classrooms. Most English lessons that the researchers observed involved pupils listening to a text from the course book, reading the text aloud in chorus, answering simple comprehension questions, and translating and writing down vocabulary. The report goes on to say that 2

In classroom dialogues pupils are given feedback that includes affirmation or correction of the answers they give and of their reading aloud in class. […] We observed little feedback that challenged the pupils’ thinking. […] Pupils then read the same text at home and drill vocabulary for the end of week test. (2013: 132, my translation)

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‘Qualitative’ means that the researchers knew what questions they were interested in finding out about, but they didn’t know what they would find. A qualitative study might for example investigate how a small number of teachers actually teach. Researchers explore a situation, or many situations, observing, interviewing, looking at what people write and say, trying to answer ‘how’ and sometimes ‘why’ questions. Quantitative research, on the other hand, typically investigates statistically where and how often things occur. A quantitative study might find out, for example, the percentage of qualified English teachers in Norwegian primary schools. bekreftelse

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introduction Children are required by law to spend a large part of their lives in our classrooms and they deserve the best we can give them. Nearly all the teachers and student teachers I meet genuinely want to do a good job. In this book I suggest and discuss how to do that good job in the English classroom, how to help pupils learn English in Years 5–7. Chapter 1 is about what matters most: learners and their teachers. Kunnskapsløftet is a good place to start thinking about what we can and should be doing, so Chapter 2 presents Kunnskapsløftet, with a focus on the English subject plan. Chapter 3 actually looks at some central issues that Kunnskapsløftet does not address, but that teachers need to think about. It also includes a brief look at the two main alternatives in Norway – Steiner and Montessori schools. Chapter 4 is about lesson planning, and includes, as an example, teacher Silje’s learning sequence – a model of good lesson planning. Chapter 5 is about assessment. Chapters 6, 7 and 8 deal with vocabulary and grammar. Chapters 9, 10 and 11 have to do with oral communication, and Chapters 12 and 13 with written communication, including Thomas’ learning sequence, another model of good practice. Chapters 14 and 15 deal with culture, society and literature.

The reason I have written this book, and the reason, I hope, that you are reading it, is that we both dream of English lessons in Years 5–7 that are wellplanned, effective, varied, motivating and, at least sometimes, fun. In the end, though, “This book will be most useful when you have forgotten all about it 3 and the ideas have become a part of your own personal repertoire”.

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Adapted from Davis and Rinvolucri, 1989: 9