First IELTS class at my new centre, and if you’ve read my previous post, you’ll know my previous experiences with IELTS have been less than glorious. However, I was optimistic about this class; I would only be teaching reading, listening and speaking. No more having to read (often poorly-written) essays about graphs or charts.
One of my first students said she was, “Very excited.” I thought she meant about the lesson – but no, she was excited about New Year’s Eve and what she would be doing after class. Oh well … nevermind.
I thought it would be good to immediately get the students mixing and talking to each other, get them up from their seats, so I prepared a questionnaire. They had to interview different classmates and learn a little about them
Gather information about your classmates
Question
Name
Response
Why are you studying IELTS ?
Where would you most like to visit and why ? Would you like to live abroad ?
What is the hardest thing about learning English ? How do you solve this ?
How often do you use English ? Do you need English at work ? Do you write, read or speak English everyday ?
What do you like most about western culture or countries ?
What idioms do you know ? Which are your favourites ? Do you understand why people use these idioms ?
This lead into the idiom it’s raining cats and dogs which most students had heard (it means raining heavily).
Today’s reading and listening was based on types of housing and areas. I boarded some extra terms:
gritty / industrial
quite / safe / residential
boring / peaceful / suburban
bustling / vibrant / city centre
Which would you apply to these:
All photos are from the UK
New vocabulary introduced included:
apparently – something you believe to be true
conversely – the opposite, on the other hand, however
bear with me – please wait a very short time
Pronunciation focused on dates – the difference between 3rd, 13th and 30th.
Grammar was adjective-noun phrases – such as a stressful journey, a peaceful holiday, delicious food, expensive watch etc.
The IELTS exam is becoming increasingly important, as a sign of English proficiency, and as a requirement for working or studying abroad. It is quite academic, and requires a lot of work by the students. From a teacher’s point of view, it can be quite unappealing, as a lot of the work is quite dry; students will get bored and restless, which will manifest itself in their behaviour. I’m not just talking about teenage classes, or younger learners; one of my worst classes EVER was with an adult (so-called) IELTS class
I first encountered IELTS when I was applying for my second job in Sai Gon. This was with a smaller company, centrally located and smartly-designed, which offered IELTS classes. I had to prepare an IELTS lesson and I, of course, had no idea what that entailed. After some online searching, I groped together a vague lesson plan – it was a writing lesson, I believe.
The ‘lesson’ was for two young adults, under the supervision of the office manager. I recall I had to talk about a graph, then guide the students as to how an essay should be written (word count, structure, paragraphs etc).
Naturally, I had no idea how well I performed (because a lot of teaching is a type of performance) and waited for my Grabbike home, thinking that there were other schools to which I could apply. But the next day, I got the call that I was accepted. Obviously, their need for teachers overcame my blatant shortcomings.
The site of my second English centre, opposite the War Museum. The campus has now relocated and the site is a medical centre.
And so to IELTS. I was sent to ‘the best’ public school to teach 45-minutes classes. Public schools in Sai Gon are usually in rooms with no air-conditioning, probably no IT or whiteboard – it’s chalk and dusters – and an average of forty students, most of whom couldn’t care less about English. It was, for them, simply a free lesson, a chance to do their chemistry homework, or play with a Rubik’s Cube, or sleep, or anything save learning English.
It was certainly a mixed bag. Teaching the same lesson to different classes are different lessons. One class was silent as the grave (except one loud-mouth who thought he knew everything and was intent on proving how the Cambridge books were wrong and he knew better). Apparently they were used to the teacher speaking, and they just wrote (pretended to). Not great preparation for the speaking component. Another class of supposedly higher-achievers hated me, and loved showing it. I was lucky if I got five students to even acknowledge my presence in the room, let alone listen to me.
However, the last class of the week was the best. I was able to introduce Camus, Kafka and Rimbaud into the lessons. It made a change from the quotes attributed to Lenin that adorned several classrooms (apparently, “study, study and study,” or “learn, learn, learn.”). And it was one of these quotes from Camus that made to decide to quit this company:
“What am I doing here, wasting my time, destroying my vocal chords and exhausting myself when the vast majority of students couldn’t care less.” The situation was absurd. I want to spend my mornings drinking coffee and reading Camus. I resigned the same day. Merci, Albert.
Some time later, I was working for one of the top centres and was offered an adult IELTS class. Let me do my best to reproduce the scenario.
There were about a dozen students, two over thirty years of age, but the rest teenagers. Oh, crap ! All types were represented here: the one that says his mother sent him and he DOES NOT want to be here, the one that walks into the room, ignores the teacher and begins to sleep on his desk, the one that looks with contempt and hatred at the teacher, deciding that there was nothing I could teach him and he was going to sigh and mutter throughout the lesson. Let us not forget the type that has confused a class room with a social club, and thinks it’s absolutely acceptable that he should carry on a conversation, top-volume, with his neighbour, in Vietnamese (which, as I’ve mentioned elsewhere, is not the most euphonic of tongues). Latecomers are par for the course in Vietnam, barely worth mentioning. And then there was the know-it-all; the student who had studied the grammar book and wanted to ask questions. And more questions. And … yeah, so on and so on.
The ‘Camus’ moment came when, after a lengthy discussion about the placement of adverbs, he informed me that he was going to continue using adverbs as he thought best, and ignore my advice (after all, I only have a distinction in linguistics, have written plays and been published, not to mention possessing a teaching qualification from one of the best teaching schools). I know teachers are supposed to be endowed with infinite patience, but after a long sweaty day, screaming teens, sourly teens, swearing teens, the odd-lunatic, and work-shy TAs, infinity somehow becomes a lot nearer. After three lessons, I requested, then begged, then offered to pay for a replacement teacher. Full credit to the centre, they complied, but it was the final nail, or straw, take your pick. Notice given and by October I was a free man … but after reading Camus, that is a very contentious statement. And now … time for coffee.
I use this sheet for many classes, usually for personality adjectives, as well as occupations. It’s adapted from a class I took at International House, London.
For higher level classes, you could also use this to illustrate the adage ‘don’t judge a book by its cover.’
The students have to guess the personality of my friends, just by looking at them; their expressions, posture, dress sense, hair style etc. Then they have to try to guess the occupation.
This is a great way to introduce new vocabulary and job titles. Additionally, students can learn that many adjectives are not necessarily positive or negative, for example ‘serious’. Being serious could be very positive (in a professional context) but negative in other situations.
I’ve put some sample adjectives and jobs after the last photo, as well as the answers to their current occupations.
estate agent / plumber / DJ / mechanic / bouncer / surgeon / accountant / actor / cook or chef / Uber or GrabBike driver / insurance agent / bank clerk / detective / businessperson / barista / lawyer / shop manager / unemployed / slacker
IELTS STUDENTS:
Use this as a basic for building complex sentences
EXAMPLE: In my opinion, Peter, who is the first gentleman, has a white-collar job, such as banking, insurance or management. I say this because of the way he’s dressed, a suit and tie. Furthermore, he is extremely well groomed by which I mean his hair is very neat as well as being clean-shaven. He appears very diligent. I’m positive he works hard, sometimes burning the candle at both ends.
Peter is unemployed. He has an MA in Business Studies and is currently looking for work, so he is sending out his CV and photo.
David is a DJ
Alex is an actor. He is also a Buddhist so normally has shaven hair. However, he is very big and strong, so he gets cast as gangsters or bad men, despite being very gentle and soft-spoken in real life.
Victor is a self-employed plumber.
Simon is a doctor. He is highly professional and serious, but is seen here on holiday, after a few sangrias (wine cocktails). Someone took a photo with a flash, so his eyes look wide and big.
Christmas is not such a big holiday in Vietnam. I wasn’t expecting many students, but 13 out of 17 showed up, proving they had nothing better to do, while I was 6000 miles away from the nearest mince pie. And so … to work.
Today’s theme was traffic, road safety and Top Gear ! However, the text book we use is American, and the lesson focused on the American version. I was having none of that ! It was Clarkson, May and Hamster or nothing !
For those who don’t know, Top Gear is a motoring program from the UK that has been broadcasting for decades, and sold all over the world. Many countries make their own version, but you can’t beat the British humour and irreverence of the original. The most famous hosts were Jeremy Clarkson, James May & Richard ‘hamster’ Hammond.
The lesson began with a vocabulary overload – lots of words and phrases associated with driving:
THEME: Traffic
rush hour ring road metro/subway/ U-Bahn/ the Tube congested
blind spot flyover motorway roundabout road rage one-way street
traffic jam chockablock cutting in cut me off hit every red light !
What are the issues facing you when you travel around Sai Gon ?
[what problems do you have]
This is an opinion question, so start your answer with:
In my opinion / In my experience/ For me / I think / I believe / It seems to me
First – think of the positives – Is it easy to travel around ?
Is petrol / gas cheap ? Are there many stations ?
Can anyone attain a driver’s licence ?
What about public transport ? Cheap, reliable ?
Conversely, think of the negatives – time spent travelling.
Accidents
Costs – insurance, petrol, maintenance
Dangers – pollution
Condition of roads
Is traffic getting worse in HCM ? Why do you think so ?
What can be done to ease this situation ?
Finally – what is your conclusion.There will probably be both good and bad points.
What the heck is happening here ?
What do you think will happen to the driver ? In your opinion …
Taking a Viet driving test
The second clip is from When Top Gear (UK) came to Vietnam, in 2008. They had a challenge – to buy a car then drive from HCM City to Hanoi.
What could possibly go wrong ?
This was followed by some dialogue practice:
THEME: Traffic Dialogue
Ian and Tom are driving to a business meeting.
Examples of how to use the new vocabulary in everyday situations
Ian Look at all this congestion ! It’s chockablock. What’s that idiot doing ?
Tom He’s trying to cut in. The other car’s blocked him. Oh … he’s getting out.
Ian He’s punching the car !Ha, over there, a traffic cop. Now he’s screwed !
Tom Yeah, road rage. Oh, at last, we’re on the move … and stop. What can we do ?
Ian Make the second turning at the roundabout. Take the ring road.
Tom Cool ! Avoid the rush hour in the city. Wish we were on the motorway.
Ian Yeah, put your foot down get there in next to no time. Why’s it so busy ?
Tom I get it, roadworks. They’re building a new flyover. That should ease traffic.
Sara & Vic are arguing in the car. Sara is driving.
Vic Why did you come this way ? District 7 at the rush hour, are you nuts ?
Sara I thought we could beat the traffic. There’s too many containers in D. 2
Vic Too many cars here and we’ve hit every red light ! Women drivers !
Sara That was sexist ! Anyway, you drive like a madman. Foot down and go !
Vic Cars are for driving, not stopping ! Take that turning, it’s quicker.
Sara That’s a one-way street, Einstein ! I hate back-seat drivers.
Vic Next time I’m driving. Women are terrible … what are you doing ?
Sara Pulling over. You can get out and walk ! Hope it doesn’t rain. See ya !
There were many new words / phrases so I suggested they apply logic.
For example, driving through busy area at rush hour is not a good idea. Therefore asking someone if they are nuts means ‘are they crazy ?’
Likewise, Einstein is a famous genius, but we use the name ironically in English – if someone does something very silly or stupid, we call them Einstein.
Other new phrases were a no-wake zones (times when people are not allowed to make noise such as boat or car engines) and the difference between attain and obtain – the former meaning to work and achieve, the latter, simply to get. People can study for years and attain a qualification OR go to a store in Bangkok and obtain a fake degree.
And on that bombshell … the blog reaches it’s destination. Safe driving everyone … and Merry Christmas.
A local joint in a side street surrounded by new residential blocks, Chap Cafe has a lunchtime contract to feed workers from a local engineering firm.
This dish is Bang Da Cua (noodle soup with crab meat). As usual in Vietnam, it comes with a plate of herbs and green leaves, banana plant and chilis, lime, and the ubiquitous fish sauce. This cost 35 000 VND (£1.20 / $1.50).
The cafe has a so-so reputation among locals, it’s OK but nothing special. I spiced up my bowl with chili flakes, fresh chilis and plenty of lime juice.
I’ve taught my engineering students about British politeness. They would now classify this cafe as ‘not the best’, nor ‘the most delicious in HCM’.
Last week I was so impressed by my teenage class. This week, I want to quit, or do anything to find a replacement teacher.
Obviously, I won’t be naming and shaming, but the general pattern should be familiar to teaching of these wonderfully polite, respectful and hard-working students (yes, an example of irony).
The lessons are three hours (which is far too long, in my opinion). The teacher has a set book and must teach the assigned pages, but there is still time for activities, games, warm-ups, anything to break the boredom of sitting and ploughing through seemingly endless, seemingly pointless text.
This class has twenty students, most are willing to participate, but some are committed to seeing out the entire three-hour lesson without saying a word and some will speak… but not in English, just Vietnamese, and theirs is not the most euphonious of tongues. I find it akin to a dozen drunken cats having a fight in a karaoke bar … only worse.
As it was Christmas, I had more activities planned, and wanted to reduce the book work, to focus more on producing English speaking. The first game was a B2B – I’d prepared a number of slides and one student had to sit with her back to the board and ask questions while the other students offer clues; they are not allowed to sat exactly what they see. For example, if they see a cat playing piano, the could say, “An animal like a dog, a pet making music, but not a guitar.
Well, one of the smart-asses just began saying exactly what she saw. It was clear the game was dead in the water, so I moved onto book work.
One exercise was putting life stages in order; same student just shouted out the first thing on the list. Once someone starts destroying the plan, others join in, the pack mentality, the need to express their rebellion. The misnomer that Vietnamese respect teachers is greatly over-stated. As mentioned in other posts, they relish the chance to express their pathetic teenage angst. They will refuse to work, talk over the teacher and break every class rule as a challenge … and there is nothing they want more than to argue with the teacher.
Ultimately, it’s their parent’s money they’re wasting, but, as an old-hand informed me, they know they’ll get some (basically worthless) certificate that says they attended a class – after all, this is a business and got to keep the customer satisfied.
As expected, the rot spread. One student, not graced with fair of face, began eating in class, ostentatiously masticating while trying to out-stare me. Other students just stared at me when I tried to elicit a basic answer.
It was really a case of running down the clock
I’ve taught teenagers at several schools. It a mixed class, naturally, but I feel no hesitation using words like ‘obnoxious’, ‘disrespectful,’ and ‘futile.’
Let’s see if i can do some horse-trading – agree to another class IF I can drop this one. I no longer care about helping this motley collection. Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.
As a Christmas coda, or miracle if you will, I have subsequently been informed that I will not have to ‘teach’ this mob again – tiding of comfort and joy.
I really wasn’t looking forward to this: teaching teenagers, on a hot, weekend afternoon can be a nightmare, and the class size had mushroomed from 13 to 20 students. If it was like the Sunday class at another office, or one’s I’d endured at other centres, I’d have to reconsider my future with this company, or even in this profession.
Instead, they turned out be little darlings; motivated, responsive, polite and reasonably quiet. To paraphrase Eagles, teaching teens, “Can be Heaven, can be Hell!”
The early-comers were treated to the ‘Don’t say, “I’m fine,”‘ patter (see a previous post under teaching notes), and they actually warned each other to comply so students, even late-comers, answered with, “I’m good / great / OK.”
I told them I’d introduce them to a new idiom each week. We kicked off with:
hold your horses – meaning be patient, wait, don’t start yet.
First game was just a warm-up; what did they know about London ? This was in the form of a quiz, two teams shouting out the answers to such questions as the British currency, traditional British food, the Queen’s eldest son (Charles, not William), the name of the famous clock in London, what did 007 mean ? etc.
This centre really tries to promote students speaking (in English) as much as possible, so the first group work was plan a day for a friend of mine in HCM City – what would the friend need ?
We elicited a place to stay, food to eat, things to buy, places to visit, nightlife and how to get around.
This lead into showing a video of top attractions in London, for interest but also to boost vocabulary and expose the students to different accents.
I asked the students to listen out for all the adjectives and to notice how they are used, as well as the pronunciation and intonation. For example, we had, “beautiful Queen’s House,” “dazzling Crown Jewels,” “amazing city views,” etc. There was also a lot of new vocabulary and expressions (to keep something at bay). I then asked then to choose which attractions appealed to them (which ones they were interested in, wanted to visit). Finally, we learnt about the Prime Meridian 0 degrees that passes through London.
After the book work, we did activities guessing the personalities and occupations of five of my friends (see next post for photos). The students look at five of my friends and have to deduce (give me an idea) of what my friends are like – inside, not physically. Then they must guess what jobs they do.
I also encouraged forming long sentences using opinion expressions (in my opinion / I feel that / I think / for me … etc)
A great start to the session … let’s hope it continues … watch this space !
The theme of the first class was portrait galleries – what can be seen there, what a portrait was and what other types of painting / photographs there are.
For review, and as a warm-up exercise, I asked the students what types these paintings were:
One is a portrait, one a landscape, the last is called a still life.
Still means not moving – for example, if a policeman shouts, “Stand still !” it means do NOT move. So a still life is a painting of objects (usually fruit or flowers).
What do YOU think of these paintings ? There is no ‘right’ answer – just think about them and give your opinion using expressions:
In my opinion ….. For me ….. I think ….. I feel …….
This is a nice class, about 14 students, evenly split between ladies and men. They are motivated and enthusiastic, which makes the teacher’s job much easier (and then some).
Today I introduced some British history; a young lady sneezed and I said, “Bless you.” The reason we say this goes back to the plague.
People who got this disease would die in five days. One sign that a person was getting the plague was sneezing so when a person sneezed, their friends and family would say, “Bless you,” meaning God protect you.
Today, if someone sneezes, we say, “Bless you,” the reply is then, “Thank you,” and the first person then says, “You’re welcome.”
Football was also a subject as tonight’s theme was ‘A Night To Remember’, and many people will remember last Saturday. Vietnam beat Malaysia and won the AFF Championship. The score was 1 – 0 (one – nil)
Other words tonight were bonus (something extra e.g. a Christmas bonus meaning extra money) and present (a gift at birthdays or Christmas / Tet).
Tonight’s pronunciation included telling the time: It’s nine o’clock = it’s ninea clock. Then the date … today is the 19th so we practised the ‘th’ sound.
For music, we listened to Led Zepplin ‘Whole Lotta Love’ (in standard English ‘A whole lot of love’)
The first part of the lesson was book work – a lot of listening (which most students find very difficult), so the second part was totally students producing, practising grammar (past simple) and then asking each other questions, moving around the room, trying to speak to new people.
This helps with speaking and listening skills, as well as the grammar.
Many thanks for my students for helping me with my Tieng Viet, and sorry for continuing to mispronounce their names …. rat xin loi !
I use this as a warmer / ice-breaker with most of my new classes. On, the board, I’ll write:
Do NOT say, “I’m fine.”
The first students arrives and I ask how they are …
“I’m fine,” is, invariably, the response. I point to the board and try to elicit alternative answers.
This is repeated with all new students, and becomes integrated into the lesson. Late-comers (there are always late-comers in Vietnam) are greeted with the same question, and look perplexed when the whole class laughs at them for saying, what they believed to be, the ONLY possible answer.
It seems that from Kindergarten class, Vietnamese students are drilled with:
“How are you ?” “I’m fine.” Maybe an, “I’m fine, thank you,” and it’s left at that.
English is such a rich language which, admittedly, can be daunting for learners – so many ways to say the same thing.
I explain that native-speakers don’t really use “I’m fine.” It’s meaningless and conveys no emotion. If anything, it’s used sarcastically, in fights between partners:
“I’m not going to help you, do it yourself !”
“OK, fine !”
From this point we can start suggesting other responses … and intonations.
“I’m good,” “I’m great,” “I’m over the Moon.”
This leads to how we use so much intonation to express meaning in English.
A less positive reply could be “I’m so-so,” or “I’m OK.” Even there, “I’m OK,” get’s it’s meaning from how it’s pronounced … it can mean good or just so-so depended on paralinguistics (body language, tone of voice, expression).
Then we come to not feeling so great.
“I’m terrible,” “I feel lousy,” “I’m a little under the weather,” (idiom)
So, we have an ice-breaking session and mini lesson featuring pronunciation, intonation, vocabulary and use of idiom. That is rather more than fine.
Thay Paul's Notes 