Don't forget the S!

Forgetting the final -s is a common problem for learners of English as a foreign language. As I have discussed before, the Cambodian language, like other Asian languages, does not modify nouns to make plurals or possessives, and neither does it conjugate verbs for gender or number. On top of that, final consonants are not strongly pronounced as it is. Therefore a lot of Ss mysteriously go missing, or students hypercorrect and try to put an S on everything. Oops!

A forlorn snake seemed appropriate.

So I made this handy handout to run through when we need a final -s. It was originally intended for pre-intermediate students but was a good refresher for intermediates too. It finishes up with a correction exercise. (Spoiler: there are 10 mistakes.) The free download includes an enlarged projector version of the exercise, one with answers and one without.

Don’t forget the final -s…

In present simple with third person singular (he/she/it). I/we/you/they     go, play, eat, drink, have he/she/it            goes, plays, eats, drinks, has

In plural nouns (more than one) A cat, a house, a tree Two cats, some houses, seven snakes, a hundred trees

To show possession The car of my brother = My brother’s car

At the end of some words always sometimes

Contracted ‘is’ She is a nice girl = she a nice girl  She’s a nice girl

Correction exercise

How many mistakes can you find? Correct them!

Yesterday I went to my friend house.  Sopheak live in a big house that have three bedroom and many tree in the garden.  Sopheak have two brother and sometime we play volleyball with them.  But yesterday it rain so we didn’t play.  We will play next week when the weather better.

Click HERE to download the handout FREE (includes projector version and answer key)
Link opens in Google docs. No sign in required. You can then edit, print and download as required.

Grass skirt - a practice activity for any grammar point

This is an endlessly adaptable grammar practice activity for any level of ESL learners from pre-intermediate upwards. Just make up some prompts that lend themselves to the grammar structure that you want to practice. Print them up on some brightly-coloured paper and make cuts in the paper so that each prompt can be pulled off separately.

For example, here I wanted to practice modal verbs of deduction (could have, might have, must have, can't have):

The louder the colours, the more fun it is.

Model an example on the board and specify how many sentences you want them to write. For example:

My manager looks very tired.

• He must have been working all day.
• He might not have slept very well.
• He can't have had a break today.

Give each group of 3-4 students a grass skirt. You can blu-tack it to the edge of a desk, onto the wall near each group, or on the wall on the other side of the classroom if you want them to be running backwards and forwards. Instruct the students that you have to OK their sentences before they can get the next prompt. You can have each group appoint a writer, or require every student in the group to write one sentence.

This one is for past perfect.

The first group to get through all the prompts wins the game. You can adapt this for almost any grammar structure and it works with both young learners and adults.

Do you use any variations on this or have another favourite grammar practice activity?

Stop the tuk tuk!

My students were getting bored to death of "Stop the Bus" as my go-to filler so I decided to think of a variant. "Stop the Helicopter" worked fairly well for a short time, which was not in fact a different game, I just used parts of speech for the categories: eg. think of a noun, verb, adjective and adverb that begin with P.

The name change didn't fool them for long, so I promised I would write a new game called "Stop the Tuk Tuk" that was going to be completely different. And it isn't, but it caused so much hilarity that it's a shame not to share it.

This is all you write on the board:

STOP THE TUK TUK

I was going to the _________________

on/in my _____________________

when I hit a ______________________

Explain that the first line is a place, second line is a form of transport, and the third line is an object, animal, or anything you can hit with a vehicle. I demo this with T: "I was going to the temple in my tuk tuk when I hit a tree". Other letters that work logically are C (cinema, car, cat), H (hospital, helicopter, house) and M (museum, motorbike, monk*). I had exhausted all the logical letters but the students were still having fun, so we ended up producing the beautiful sentences "I was going to the zoo on my zebra when I hit a zombie" and "I was going to the kitchen on my kangaroo when I hit the king".

This is more fun than Stop the Bus because it creates a surreal mini-story rather than a dry list of unconnected words. I've never had a class of adults so gleeful. It also sneakily practises past continuous with past simple for interrupted actions.

Have you put your own spin on a traditional filler? I'd love to know about it!

*actual student's suggestion, not mine. I would never advocate joking about monks in this part of the world, or kings for that matter. But if the students come up with it of their own accord, who's to stop them?

Managing ADHD in the TEFL classroom

Last summer during a short-term TEFL contract in Austria, I was teaching a class that had a few students with diagnosed ADHD. In developed countries this condition can be diagnosed and medicated, with the parents' involvement. But in developing countries such as Cambodia where I currently am, young people who would probably be diagnosed with ADHD in the West are unlikely to ever be diagnosed or receive any specific treatment. It's debatable whether this is a wholly bad thing - I feel that labelling a child or teenager as having something 'wrong' with them can attach a lot of stigma and cause some degree of alienation. I also feel that while medications can be helpful in some cases, they may be over-prescribed and may do more harm than good. Anyway, I'm a teacher, not a psychologist, and it's not my job to diagnose students' mental health. But it is my job to try to achieve a happy, productive lesson for everyone, and when a student displays ADHD-like behaviour, this can be an obstacle to face.

In the TEFL classroom, classroom management already has an added level of difficulty due to the language barrier, which is obviously worse the lower the level of the students. A student with symptoms of ADHD may have a lower level of English compared to others in the same class due to difficulties with completing the class work, which increases the potential for misunderstanding instructions, getting frustrated, and ultimately blocking learning for themselves and others around them. So when you suspect a student has ADHD, diagnosed or not, what can you do to create the right learning environment for everyone involved? Here are some tips from my experience.

1. Let the class in on the lesson plan.

ADHD sufferers can be easily overwhelmed by unexpected events. At the beginning of the class, give an overview of how the class will run and what you want to cover. If the students' level is quite low, write the schedule on the board and refer to it as you go along. There won't be any shocks during the lesson if the students can keep track of where it is going.

2. Set behaviour expectations.

Run through classroom rules at the beginning of term. Get the students involved with creating the rules. Let them know that the rules apply to the teacher, too! For example, if they must listen to you when you speak, you must also listen to them when they speak! Discuss what will happen if the rules are broken. Setting boundaries helps the students know how they need to behave.

3. Pay super attention to instructions.

ADHD sufferers need clear, specific instructions, and especially in the TEFL classroom. Plan in advance how you can give instructions for a task in the simplest, clearest way possible. Do the first example with the class and write it up on the board. Specify how long you will give them to do the task. Start monitoring around the class about 30 seconds after giving the instructions to make sure that everyone has got the right idea. Your ADHD students may have lost focus during the instructions despite your best efforts, and may just need a nudge in the right direction.

4. Reward good behaviour.

Give genuine, enthusiastic praise when the students do something well. Let them know that if everyone gets through the class work in good time, there will be a game, song, or video clip at the end. If you have young children, they may love getting a sticker for good behaviour. Teenagers seem to just appreciate a sincere acknowledgement of good work (but don't over-praise work that isn't up to standard).

5. Nip bad behaviour in the bud...

If a student is getting restless and looks like they are about to get disruptive, approach them quietly to check what is going on. I've seen teachers send an ADHD student out of the room at the first hint of trouble, but often all they need is a little encouragement and refocusing and they settle down again. Sometimes some 'time out' away from the class will be what is needed, but it shouldn't be your first recourse.

6. ...but if it doesn't disrupt anybody, let it go.

ADHD students have a higher need to get out of their seats and wander around the classroom than others. If they're not really disturbing anyone else, let them wander. Make use of their willingness to move around by asking them to hand out worksheets, get involved with grouping students, or clean the board. It will let them burn off a bit of excess energy and help keep boredom at bay.

7. Divide your attention as equally as possible.

Students with ADHD can tend to monopolise the teacher's attention. Try not to let this happen. When conducting class feedback, make it clear that you want everybody to have a chance to speak. Use nominated feedback to specify who you want to answer a question, or use a ball for feedback sessions and only allow the student who has the ball to speak. If other students shout out answers, ignore them in the first instance. If they carry on, remind them it's not their turn yet.

8. If all else fails, revert to L1 or appoint an interpreter.
Sometimes reverting to the student's own language is the only thing that will work. If they've become anxious and distracted, "English mode" might be the furthest thing from their mind. If you speak their first language well enough, then try that. Otherwise another student is often willing to act as an interpreter to get an important point across.

9. Above all, be firm, fair, kind, and patient.

A little understanding goes a long way. I've found that my students who display ADHD-like symptoms generally want to do the work and be included in the class, and are confused and frustrated by their differences from their peers. Teach them how to be kind and patient with themselves, by modelling that behaviour yourself.

That's all I've learnt so far, but I'm still working on improving my approach. Have you got anything to add? If you've got another tip just leave a comment.