CELTA Language Analysis Assignment

CELTA Written Assignment 2 Language Related Tasks For this assignment you should refer to grammar reference material (e.g. ‘Practical English Usage’ by Michael Swan or ‘Grammar for English language Teachers’ by Martin Parrott) and learner dictionaries, as well as ‘Learner English’ by Michael Swan and Bernard Smith to help you identify problems learners in your training context may have with the target language. All the language items for this assignment have been taken from the authentic text ‘Glastonbury fans set for more mud’ published on Yahoo! News. (www.yahoo.com) Include your references at the end of each part of the assignment and a word count. Grammar For each of the underlined language items below, complete a language analysis form as you do for your TP (LPF). You can refer to examples you already have. Assume that you are analyzing this language for the benefit of intermediate level students. 1. 2. 3. Lexis 1. 2. 3.

…less severe than…… …campsite had been improved, … ...(Some campers have already moved… …flash floods …triumphant (Grammar & lexis) …may break through

What lexical set (group of related words) could you draw out from the text? Write the set on the back of the last analysis forms..

Glastonbury fans set for more mud Music fans are coping with further showers as the Glastonbury Festival enters its second full day. Parts of the site have been turned into a quagmire by heavy rain, but long dry spells have provided respite. The conditions have not deterred most of the 177,500 festival-goers, who can expect to see a line-up headed by The Killers, The Kooks and Paul Weller. The weather has been less severe than the last festival two years ago, when flash floods hit the Somerset site. But the area that was submerged in 2005 is again the hardest-hit, with several dozen tents waterlogged after showers. Police said crime was on a par with 2005's festival, with 163 offences recorded by Saturday morning. In addition, a 26-year-old man from the Midlands is in a critical condition in Yeovil District Hospital after being found unconscious in the early hours of Saturday morning after a suspected drugs overdose. Friday's bill was topped by the Arctic Monkeys, with the Sheffield band headlining the event's main Pyramid Stage. Their triumphant set came just 18 months after the release of their debut album, Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not, and saw them perform tracks from both that and its follow-up Favourite Worst Nightmare. "I heard rumours that we didn't have enough songs to headline Glastonbury," frontman Alex Turner joked during the set, which saw them joined by rapper Dizzee Rascal. Amy Winehouse, The Magic Numbers and The Automatic were among the other acts who excited crowds on Friday. The busy areas of the site have turned to mud, which is several inches deep at worst.

Two years ago, several hundred tents in one area suffered heavy flooding. Organisers said the drainage in that campsite had been improved, with large pipes laid to take water away. But this year, the same area has become a swamp, with tents surrounded by standing water. Some campers have already moved to different spots, while others are digging channels with tent poles to divert the water and hoping the skies do not open again. "When we got here on Thursday night, the weather was fine and it was on rock hard ground," said Kerrie O'Leary, 22, from Sheffield. "I don't mind being surrounded by all this sludge, as long as it stays all right inside the tent." Heavy showers Another camper, Paul Kelly, 27, from Leicester, said one of his friends had left the festival as a result of the deluge. "She just decided she'd had enough," he said. "I'm thinking about moving, which is going to have to happen at some point. "I think they've improved the drainage at the Pyramid Stage. What they now need to sort out is the camping areas." Jenna Duncan, 22, from the West Midlands, had been bailing water out of the tent's entrance and said she would also move if conditions worsened. "This sleeping area is wet," she said. "It adds to the excitement I suppose." More showers are due on Saturday, but the sun may break through later in the day. The event, held on Michael Eavis' Worthy Farm, near Pilton, since 1970, draws to a close on Sunday. The Who, Kaiser Chiefs and the Manic Street Preachers are among the other big names appearing on the Pyramid Stage during the weekend.

Target Language: Quantifier & Adjective & Conjunction Example: The weather has been less severe than the last festival two years ago..... Form (as you would write it on the board or on a worksheet for students) Quantifier (less) & adjective (severe) & conjunction (than) Pronunciation (weak forms, contractions, phonemic transcription, word stress, etc) ‘Than’ is pronounced as /ðæn/. has a weak form. ‘Severe’ is pronounced /sɪˈvɪə/, with the second syllable stressed. . Meaning (What does the target language mean? How are you going to convey it and elicit it? How are you going to clarify the meaning to students? Mime, concept questions, diagrams, time lines, etc. The adjective severe, when referring to weather, describes weather that is extremely unpleasant and likely to cause harm or damage. Lexical item: The weather was better in 2007 than in 2005. To convey the meaning, I would draw a timeline with 2005 on the extreme left and 2007 on the extreme right. I would use weather symbols, similar to those used on the BBC weather forecast, to convey the difference in the severity of the weather during both festivals. The 2007 symbol would be a grey cloud with rain, and the 2005 symbol a black cloud with rain and thunder claps. To further emphasise the meaning, pictures of the Glastonbury campsite during both years could be shown above the weather symbols, to show the difference in the effects of the weather. Anticipated problems and solutions; (Do your best here, try and offer solutions, too) Meaning The difference between ‘less’ and ‘fewer’ may be difficult for some students, and a particular problem for Spanish speakers as the Spanish language does not differentiate between the two (menos = less/fewer). One method of explaining this would be to point out that ‘less’ usually precedes uncountable nouns (e.g. less confusion, less water), while ‘fewer’ usually precedes countable nouns (fewer cars, fewer bottles). To convey the meaning, I would use an exercise that included a list of (mixed) countable and uncountable nouns, and ask the students to match each one with ‘less’ and ‘fewer’. A concept question would be ‘Can you have two weathers? No’. With students at an intermediate level or above, it would be relevant to point out that informal English often uses less with countable words, but it is considered incorrect in the written form. The meaning of ‘less’ can also change, and this could also confuse the students. One strategy to explain the various uses would be to illustrate examples, such as the use of ‘less as an adverb, e.g. ‘I work less than I used to’. The students could then be asked to write their own examples of the other functions of ‘less’. Form The word ‘than’ may be difficult for Spanish speakers, as Spanish often uses the same word (‘que’) for ‘than’ and ‘that’, which could lead to students incorrectly using ‘that’. I would illustrate some examples of the uses of both words, and then give the students an exercise which would involve inserting either ‘that’ or ‘than’ into a series of sentences. Pronunciation Students may try to pronounce ‘than’ as /ˈθæn/, or as /tæn/ if the ‘h’ is silent in their native tongue. ‘Than’ also has a weak form (/ˈθən/). Students may attempt a phonetic pronunciation of ‘severe’, as /seˈvere/ rather than /sɪˈvɪə/. An appropriate solution for the pronunciation would be to drill the phrase in its entirety, with particular emphasis on the accent in ‘severe’, as it is pronounced as a two syllable word. ‘Severe’ and ‘than’ could

also be drilled separately. References: 1. Macmillan English Dictionary for advanced Learners. (2002). Oxford: Macmillan Publishers Ltd. 2. Jump, James R. (1995), The Penguin Spanish Dictionary. Penguin Books, London. P. 318. 3. www.answers.com 4. Griffiths, B. And Jones, D. G.: The Welsh Academy Dictionary (2002). University of Wales Press, Cardiff. 5. Swan Michael. (2009). Practical English Usage. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Word Count:

Grammar Analysis 2 Target Language: Past perfect (passive voice). Example: Organisers said that the drainage in the campsite had been improved. Form (as you would write it on the board or on a worksheet for students) Past Perfect (passive voice): Subject (the campsite) & past simple of auxiliary verb ‘have’ (had) & past participle of ‘to be’ (been) & past participle of main verb (improved) Pronunciation (weak forms, contractions, phonemic transcription, word stress, etc) In the adjective improved, the word stress is on the first syllable (ɪmˈpruːvd). Meaning (What does the target language mean? How are you going to convey it and elicit it? How are you going to clarify the meaning to students? Mime, concept questions, diagrams, time lines, etc. The verb ‘to improve’ is a regular verb, which signifies an action to make something better. The past perfect construction is used here to signify an action that was completed before a given time in the past, and as is the case with this article, this tense construction appears in a sentence that contains two clauses: Organisers said that the campsite had been improved. The verb is used here in the passive voice, which does not signify the originator of the action. To convey the action and elicit the meaning from the students, a timeline could be used showing the present, the time in the past when the statement was made, and a preceding time when the improvements to the site were carried out. A concept question could also be asked, such as ‘Do we know the name of the company that improved the site? No’. Anticipated problems and solutions; (Do your best here, try and offer solutions, too) Meaning ‘Been’ may difficult for students to understand, as it is an irregular past principle. A solution would be to write the infinitive verb form ‘to be’ on the board, and then show examples of uses of the verb in its perfect forms, so that the students become aware that ‘been’ is the correct past participle of ‘to be’. This could be followed by an activity that would involve changing the tense of a series of tenses, from the present to the present perfect form. If this is the first time that the students have encountered the passive voice, they may be unsure of its significance and use. I would use examples of similar sentences, using both the active and the passive voices, for example, ‘the man saw the dog’ and ‘the dog was seen’. A concept question could be ‘Do we know who saw the dog? Yes (active). No (passive).’ Form If the students are encountering the passive form for the first time, they may be unsure of the verbs that can and cannot be used in the passive voice. I would need to show the students some examples of the use of intransitive verbs, which can be used with the passive voice, and transitive verbs, which cannot. Examples of transitive verbs include ‘fit’, ‘lack’, and ‘resemble’. I would illustrate examples of the same sentence in the passive and active voices, e.g. ‘the window was broken’ and ‘the boy broke the window’. A suitable follow-on activity would be to ask students to transform passive statements into the negative voice, and vice-versa. Real-life examples of the passive voice could be drawn from politicians speeches. Pronunciation In Spanish and Catalan, ‘v’ is pronounced as ‘b’, and this could cause problems with the pronunciation of ‘improved’. Spanish speakers also often mispronounce past participles and adjectives with an ‘ed’ suffix. In the case of ‘improved’, they might also pronounce the ‘o’, thus pronouncing the word as /imˈprɒved/ rather than /ɪmˈpruːvd/. In this case, I would drill the correct pronunciation with the

students, emphasising the correct pronunciation of the ‘v’ and the suffix.

References: 1. Dumford, Mark J. (2007). Weekend TEFL Coursebook. Leeds: i-to-i (UK Ltd.). 2. Macmillan English Dictionary for advanced Learners. (2002). Oxford: Macmillan Publishers Ltd. 3. http://spanish.speak7.com/spanish_miscelleneous.htm 4. Vives Boix, Gemma: Parla Catalá! (1992). Pia Press, Cardiff. 5. Clark, Daniel James: English-Catalan-Spanish Conversation Guide (1996). Edicions de la Magrana, Barcelona. 6. Swan Michael. (2009). Practical English Usage. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Word Count :

Grammar Analysis 3 Target Language: Present Perfect Simple tense/ adverbs of time. Example: Some campers have already moved to different spots, while others are digging.... Form (as you would write it on the board or on a worksheet for students) Present Perfect Simple. Subject (some campers) & adverb of time (already) & present simple of aux. verb ‘to have’ & past participle (moved) The adverb of time is placed between the auxiliary verb and the past participle of the main verb. Pronunciation (weak forms, contractions, phonemic transcription, word stress, etc) The accent is on the second syllable of ‘already’ (/ɔːlˈredi/) Moved is pronounced as a single syllable word (/muːvd/) (/həv/ /ɔːlˈredi/ /muːvd/) Meaning (What does the target language mean? How are you going to convey it and elicit it? How are you going to clarify the meaning to students? Mime, concept questions, diagrams, time lines, etc. ‘To move’ is a regular verb which signifies to leave a place or to change position. The use of the present perfect is to convey an event that started in the past that is relevant to the present. is used here to talk about a completed action that is connected to the present. The use of the adverb ‘already’ signifies that campers have been moving at any time, from the time that they started moving, up to the present moment. A timeline could be drawn to illustrate that the movement of the campers happened at a given time in the past and has continued up to the present.

Anticipated problems and solutions; (Do your best here, try and offer solutions, too) Meaning The word ‘already’ may be difficult for the students to understand if they have already used it within a different context, and the meaning could be conveyed to the students by illustrating examples of its usage. An example of a different usage would be to describe an event that happened unexpectedly, e.g. ‘has the show finished already?’ The structure can be explained as subject (campers) & auxiliary verb (to have) & adverb of time (already) & past participle of main verb (to move). A timeline drawing would be useful to convey an activity that started in the recent past, and is continuing up to the present. Form The word order could be problematic for some students. A simple explanation stating that when used to say that something has happened before the present moment, the adverb of time ‘already’ is always placed between the auxiliary and the past participle. Pronunciation The word ‘already’ could be difficult to pronounce for some students. The pronounciation could be practiced by writing the word on the board and then drilling it’s pronunciation, firstly as a whole class and then asking individuals to repeat it. Again, Spanish/Catalan speakers may have difficulty in pronouncing the ‘v’, as ‘b’ and ‘v’ sound the same in both languages. A solution would be to drill the word ‘moved’, giving particular emphasis on the ‘v’ sound. After it has been drilled a few times and the students are improving their pronunciation, the emphasis on the ‘v’ could be reduced so that a more natural pronunciation is then drilled. As well as the pronunciation of ‘v’, the students may have difficulty in pronouncing the whole word.

References: 1. Macmillan English Dictionary for advanced Learners. (2002). Oxford: Macmillan Publishers Ltd. 2. Dumford, Mark J. (2007). Weekend TEFL Coursebook. Leeds: i-to-i (UK Ltd.). 3. Swan Michael. (2009). Practical English Usage. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Word Count:

Lexis Analysis (4) Target Language: Lexical Item: when flash floods hit the Somerset site. Form (as you would write it on the board or on a worksheet for students) Compound noun, formed by an adjective + noun. ‘A flash flood’ would be written on the board Pronunciation (weak forms, contractions, phonemic transcription, word stress, etc) This compound noun is pronounced as word with two syllables, (/flæʃ ˈflʌdz/), with the accent on the second syllable. Meaning (What does the target language mean? How are you going to convey it and elicit it? How are you going to clarify the meaning to students? Mime, concept questions, diagrams, time lines, etc. A flash flood means ‘a sudden unexpected flood’, and ‘flood’ means a covering of water over something (usually a piece of land). I would use pictures of an actual flood and its’ effects to elicit the meaning from the students and invite them students to ask questions about the things that they see in the photo. A timeline with a very short time span and ‘before and after’ pictures of a flooded land would help the students to understand the concept of the flood happening in a flash. Anticipated problems and solutions; (Do your best here, try and offer solutions, too) Meaning Other uses of the word ‘flash’ may be familiar to the students, such as bright lights, a sudden appearance, or as an adjective to describe someone who displays his or her riches. I would undertake an eliciting activity and invite students to offer examples of the different uses of flash, and illustrate each of the different meanings by asking the students to rephrase the given sentences. Form The Spanish language pluralises adjectives as well as the nouns that they describe, and this could lead the students to also pluralise ‘flash’ as ‘flashes’ when referring to more than one flash flood. I would undertake an eliciting activity focusing on pluralising compound nouns, explaining that compound nouns such as ‘heavy drinker’ or ‘flash flood’ and ‘strong cigarette’ are pluralised by adding an ‘s’ to the final word. I would then ask the students to provide their own examples. Pronunciation Some native speakers of language that do not have the / ʃ/ phonemic could have difficulties with the pronunciation of flash. I would write the word on the board accompanied by it’s phonemic script, and drill the word with a marked emphasis on the second syllable

References: 1. Swan Michael. (2009). Practical English Usage. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collocation 3. Harmer, Jeremy. (2004). The practice of English language teaching. Essex : Longman. 4. Macmillan English Dictionary for advanced Learners. (2002). Oxford: Macmillan Publishers Ltd. Word count:

Lexis Analysis (5)

Target Language: Lexical item : Their triumphant set came just 18 months after the release of their debut album... Form (as you would write it on the board or on a worksheet for students) Triumphant is an adjective, written as ‘triumphant’. Pronunciation (weak forms, contractions, phonemic transcription, word stress, etc) Triumphant (/traɪˈʌmfənt/) The accent is on the second syllable. There is a schwa at the end of the word, and it also has a cluster of three consonants. The ‘t’ is silent when the word is spoken within a sentence, but spoken if the adjective occurs at the end of a sentence. Meaning A conceptual question such as ‘Was the performance a poor one? No.’ could be used to check students’ understanding of the adjective. Within the context of the given text, the adjective is describing a musical performance as a successful one. Anticipated problems and solutions; (Do your best here. Try also to suggest solutions.) Meaning Students could be confused by the meaning of ‘triumphant’ if they know it as an adverb to describe winning something. My explanation would be to state that triumphant does not always meant to win something, as in a football match, but can also describe something successful. The word ‘set’ could be problematic for the students, as they may be aware of thr definition as a collection of something, or even as a ‘set’ in a game of tennis. I would simply explain that, in the context of a rock concert, it means the songs that a particular artist sings. I would also point out alternative meanings, such as the one in the game of tennis.

Form Spelling may be an issue for Spanish speakers as the /f/ phenomena is represented by an ‘f’ rather than the English ‘ph’. The correct spelling of the word could be written on the board, and then drilled, allowing the students to make a connection between the form and the pronunciation. Pronunciation The consonant cluster ‘mph’ could be difficult for some students to pronounce. I would write the word on the board, with it’s phenomic transcription, and then drill the whole phrase ‘their triumphant set’ with the students. Rather than pronouncing ‘triumphant’ in isolation, this would help students to understand that the ‘t’ at the end of the word is silent, as some of them may attempt to pronounce a marked ‘t’.

References: 1. Swan Michael. (2009). Practical English Usage. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2. Macmillan English Dictionary for advanced Learners. (2002). Oxford: Macmillan Publishers Ltd.

Lexis Analysis (6) Target Language: Lexical/Grammatical Item: the sun may break through later in the day. Form (as you would write it on the board or on a worksheet for students) Subject (the sun) & auxiliary modal verb (may) & phrasal verb (break through) The phrasal verb to break through can occur without a direct object (e.g. the sun broke through) or with a direct object (e.g. the soldiers broke through the enemy lines). Pronunciation (weak forms, contractions, phonemic transcription, word stress, etc) May break through (/meɪ/ /breɪk/ /θruː/) ‘Through’ has a cluster of three consonants (‘thr’), and ‘gh’ is silent Meaning (What does the target language mean? How are you going to convey it and elicit it? How are you going to clarify the meaning to students? Mime, concept questions, diagrams, time lines, etc. The use of the modal verb may signifies a possibility that the sun come out. A concept question that could be asked is will the sun definitely come through?, to clarify that the sun coming through is a possibility, not a definite future action. I would use various props to project the meaning of the phrase, for example, a toy car and a wall constructed from child could be used to visualise a subject (the car) breaking through an object (the wall). To specifically convey the meaning of the sun breaking through the clouds, I would stick a cardboard cut-out of the sun on a white board, and then stick two cardboard cut-outs in the shape of clouds to cover it. Moving one cardboard cut-out to the left of the sun and the other to its right would visualise the sun breaking through. Anticipated problems and solutions; (Do your best here, try and offer solutions, too) Meaning The modal verb ‘break through’ in its bare infinitive form is visually and orally similar to the noun ‘breakthrough’. The cardboard cut-outs of the sun and cloud show clearly the meaning of ‘to break through’. A suitable example to illustrate the meaning of ‘breakthrough’ would be a newspaper article about a discovery made by a group of scientists, with the word ‘breakthrough’ in the title, e.g. ‘Cancer researchers make significant breakthrough’. Form If the students are aware of the word ‘threw’ (past participle of throw), which is pronounced identically, they could spell ‘thorough’ incorrectly. It would be important to write the word on the board before drilling, so that the students can make the connection between the sound and the spelling. Pronunciation The silent ‘gh’ at the end of the word could cause pronunciation problems, especially if the students are aware of words with similar suffixes but different pronunciation, such as ‘thorough’ and ‘trough’. This could lead the students to wrongly pronounce the word. Again this should be drilled until it is pronounced correctly. The students may try to pronounce ‘break as a two syllable word (bre/ak), especially if they speak a language such as Spanish which clearly pronounces each individual vowel separately. To check that the students understand that it’s a single syllable word, they could be asked the concept question ‘How many syllables are there in break? One.’ The word would be drilled thoroughly before the concept question, as this would help students to understand that it is a single syllable word. References: 1. www.bookrags.com/intransitive 2. Harmer, Jeremy. (2004). The Practice of English Language Teaching. Essex: Longman. 3. Macmillan English Dictionary for advanced Learners. (2002). Oxford: Macmillan Publishers Ltd. 4. Swan Michael. (2009). Practical English Usage. Oxford: Oxford University Press

Lexical Word Set – Severe Weather and its Effects showers a quagmire heavy rain dry spells flash floods submerged waterlogged mud heavy flooding a swamp standing water a sludge a deluge wet