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Reading and reflection Flipbook PDF

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INTRODUCTION Famous American author and motivational speaker Jim Rohn has said that, “Reading is essential for those who seek to rise above the ordinary.” To rise above the ordinary life every individual must read. Not only we should read but we should reflect on what we are reading. To reflect on reading is to take the ideas, sense of impressions, the mood and expressions that the author has conveyed through language, and compare them to other mental constructs such as your own experiences, beliefs, values, or other texts you have read before. Reading reflection is essential because, it help us to read and understand each and every line of a text. When we read, we think, we imagine and we comprehend. Through reading and reflection, the person will not only be able to understand about the content, but also look beyond that content. The reader will think about how it can be inculcated in his life, how it can be practically applied, etc. Reading reflections involve a range of higher order thinking skills. The reader will summarize and understand the content, will describe what is new or interesting by analyzing and evaluating, and will identify those parts of the reading that are confusing and will understand how it is relevant in reader`s life. Reading and Reflection helps reader to develop skills like reading skills, writing skills, vocabulary, critical thinking, etc. Reading is the most convenient way to improve one`s vocabulary, spelling and grammar. It helps reader to understand the external meaning as well as the hidden meaning of a text. A reader should read texts of all variety to have a wider knowledge. Each text can give a new meaning to our knowledge and life. A good teacher can inspire hope, ignite the imagination, and instill a love of learning. It is essential for a teacher to read, so that she can have a world of knowledge and experience to which she can bring her students to become a better individual with a life full of light. Through the book “How to Teach English”, author Jeremy Harmer who was a teacher in Mexico and UK is trying to provide the details starting from the simplest elements in teaching learning process to the most complex parts like testing and various possible questions as it is concerned with the aspirations of thousand of student teachers.

TITLE OF THE BOOK “How to Teach English” Author - Jeremy Harmer Published Year - 2010

OBJECTIVES Reading Reflection help learners to ✔ develop reading skills ✔ develop self- assessment ✔ increase thinking skills ✔ improve the ability to understand, analyse, evaluate and develop interests to read all kinds of books ✔ understand about various new ideas and culture ✔ develop reader`s own personal meaning and interpretation ✔ improve teaching quality This book helps learners to ✔ understand why teaching and learning is important. ✔ understand the importance of language system and importance of teaching language. ✔ understand the use of various activities, lessons, its planning and course books to improve language skills. ✔ understand different aids to be used in classroom to effectively manage a classroom. ✔ understand in detail about elements of teaching like learner, teacher, classroom management, etc. ✔ understand about the facts to be considered while a person is following his heart to become a teacher.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Jeremy Harmer has taught English in Mexico and the UK, and has trained teachers around the world. He is the series editor of the How to teach English... series, and the author of the highly acclaimed The Practice of English Language Teaching and How to teach English, Hoe to Teach Writing, Teaching and learning Grammar, etc.

ABOUT THE BOOK "The How to teach English... series is written by teachers and teacher trainers, people who know the reality of the classroom and the support teachers need to get the most out of their students. Our aim is to build teachers’ confidence, knowledge and classroom abilities - and inspires them to try out new ideas." -

Jeremy Harmer

“How to teach English” is a text for teachers who are at an early stage in their careers and for those studying for CELTA (Certificate in the Teaching of English to Speakers of Other Languages). The book has 290 pages and fourteen chapters, in which the author has included almost all details that should be essentially learned by students. The text describes about who are learners, how they are different, their responsibilities, how a good teacher should be, what are the skills needed for a teacher, how to manage classrooms, elements of language learning and teaching, describe language and elements of language, how to teach language skills, use of course book, lesson planning, and include various other factors associated with teaching and learning process.

CHAPTER ANALYSIS CHAPTER 1 LEARNERS Chapter one includes reasons for learning, different contexts of learning, learner differences, the importance of student motivation and responsibilities for learning and conclusion. In the first session reasons for learning, he says that in the world every student try to learn English, but the reasons to learn varies from person to person. Some students learn English because it is on the curriculum at primary or secondary level, but for others, studying the language reflects some kind of a choice. Many people learn English because they have moved into a target-language community and they need to be able to operate successfully within that community. Some students need English for a Specific Purpose (ESP). Such students of ESP (sometimes also called English for Special Purposes) may need to learn legal language, or the language of tourism, banking or nursing and for business purposes. Many students need English for Academic Purposes (EAP) in order to study at an English-speaking university or college, or because they need to access English-language academic texts. Then Harmer says that, it is essential to know the reasons for learning, and then he says that it is essential to understand the context of learning too. English is learnt and taught in many different contexts. Only if we understood that, learning and teaching will be effective. It has been suggested that students of EFL (English as a Foreign Language) tend to be learning so that they can use English when travelling or to communicate with other people, from whatever country, who also speak English. ESL (English as a Second Language) students, on the other hand, are usually living in the target-language community. They may need to combine their learning of English with knowledge of how to do things in the target-language community - such as going to a bank, renting a flat, accessing health services, etc. Then the language learning in schools differs in context. Depending on the country, area and the school itself, they may have the advantage of the latest classroom equipment and information technology, etc. Clearly the size of the class will affect how we teach. Pair work and group work are often used in large classes to give students more chances for interaction than they would otherwise get with whole-class teaching. The author also says that the context of teaching like teaching in company, virtual environment, etc differs. Then he says about learner differences like age, children, adolescents, adults, etc. Then he says about learning levels like learning of beginners, intermediate, and advanced learners.

Then he moves into another aspect of individual variation lies in the students’ cultural and educational background. Some educational cultures find learning by rote (memorising facts and figures) more attractive than learning by doing (where students are involved in project work and experimentation in order to arrive at knowledge). Then he says about the importance of student motivation. He also says about intrinsic, extrinsic motivation. He says that, teachers will not be successful if they merely try to impose a pattern of learner autonomy. Instead of imposing autonomy, therefore, we need to gradually extend the students’ role in learning. He says that, the teacher should encourage students to use monolingual dictionaries as well as bilingual dictionaries. Then he concludes the chapter by summarising the main points. The chapter was so much helpful for us as the author started it from the very basic elements of teaching like learners. He gave us new information about the various contexts of learning which we had never came into contact with and much new information were provided.

CHAPTER 2 TEACHERS Chapter two include how a teacher should be, skills needed for a teacher, tasks of teachers, knowledge of teachers, etc. The chapter begin by describing how a good teacher should be. The author quotes that ‘good teachers are born, not made’ it seem that some people have a natural affinity for the job. Teachers learn their craft through a mixture of personality, intelligence, knowledge and experience (and how they reflect on it), etc. Then he moves into who teachers are in class. When we walk into a lesson, students get an idea of who we are as a result of what we look like (how we dress, how we present ourselves) and the way we behave and react to what is going on. Teacher`s personality, adaptability, teacher roles, rapport, how teacher`s recognise students, how she is able to listen to students, how she should respect students, etc. Then author says about teacher tasks like preparation. Effective teachers are well-prepared. Part of this preparation resides in the knowledge they have of their subject and the skill of teaching. Administrative features of their job (taking the register, filling forms, writing report cards) and record making necessary. Professional teachers are reliable about things like timekeeping and homework. He says that being reliable in this way is simply a matter of following the old idiom of ‘practising what we preach’. Then says about teacher skills like managing classes, providing drills, how teacher make classes interesting, how learning outcomes are attaining, etc. Then he explains language systems, materials and resources, classroom equipments, etc. Then he moves into the conclusion of chapter. In the chapter the author helped to understand the importance of being a teacher and what a teacher should be aware of. As a budding teacher, it is very much useful for all of us.

CHAPTER 3 MANAGING THE CLASSROOM The lesson starts with classroom management. The teacher should be able to handle a range of variables. It include how the classroom space is organised, whether the students are working on their own or in groups and how we organise classroom time. We also need to consider how we appear to the students, and how we use our most valuable asset - our voice. The way we talk to students and who talks most in the lesson is another key factor in classroom management. Then the author says about teacher in a classroom. The physical presence can play a large part in our management of the classroom environment. The facts like proximity are considered. In which teachers need to consider how close they should be to the students they are working with. Then appropriateness is considered, deciding how close to the students you should be when you work with them is a matter of appropriateness. Generally way in which teachers sit or stand in classrooms. Then he says about the movement of teacher. Teacher should choose appropriately where she should stand and move. In order to manage a class successfully, the teacher has to be aware of what students are doing and, where possible, how they are feeling. This means watching and listening just as carefully as teaching. Then the author says about use of voice, like it should be audible, clear, good conversation, etc, along with the way teacher converse and give instructions to students. The author says that while talking to students, teachers should use various gestures, tone modulations, pitch variations, etc. He also mentions about use of L1 in classrooms. But the author doesn’t advocate for grammar translation method. But he says that there should be judicious use. Then he moves into describing various seating arrangements.

Then he described different student grouping. There are many occasions when the best type of classroom organisation is a teacher working with the class as a whole group. Group work and pair work have been popular in language teaching for many years and have many

advantages. They both foster cooperative activity in that the students involved work together to complete a task. Solo works allows students to work at their own speed, allows them thinking time, and allows them to be individuals. Class-to-class interactions are good for surveys (where students can work with students, they do not normally interact with in the English lesson), discussions, lectures and presentations. Then he concludes the chapter summarising major points. As a budding teacher, it is very important to understand about classroom management. The author helps to understand how we can successfully manage a classroom by bringing changes in the seating arrangement of students as well as how a teachers standing or sitting posture should be, etc.

CHAPTER 4 DESCRIBING LEARNING AND TEACHING In the fourth chapter he describes about Children and language, Acquisition and learning, Different times, different methods, Elements for successful language learning (ESA), ESA lesson sequences and ESA and planning. The chapter begins by describing about children and language. Language acquisition seems to be almost guaranteed for children up to about the age of six. They seem to be able to learn languages with incredible facility. They are also capable of forgetting a language just as easily. In order for acquisition to take place, certain conditions need to be met. In the first place, the children need to hear a lot of language. Such exposure is absolutely vital. During childhood we get an enormous amount of such language exposure. Furthermore, most of the language we hear - especially from our parents. Finally, children have a strong motivational urge to communicate in order to be fed and understood. Then he brings in the idea of Stephen Krashen. In the 1980s, he suggested that we can make a distinction between acquisition and learning. Then the author says that role of the language teacher should be to provide the right kind of language exposure, namely comprehensible input. Then says that principal function of learnt language is to monitor what is coming from our acquired store to check that it is OK. Then the author describes about the different methods in different times. He beginned with Grammar translation method, then move to audio- lingual method which emphasis on grammatical patterns with behaviourist theories of learning. Both Audio-lingualism and its assimilation into structural-situationalism have their modern equivalent in the procedure which is often referred to as PPP (Presentation, Practice and Production). Then he says about communicative language teaching, task based learning which include pre-task, task cycle, final language focus phase, students analyse the language they used for the task, making improvements and practising any language that needs repair or development.

Elements for successful language learning (ESA) are Engage, Study and Activate. ESA Lesson sequences are discussed by the author. Types of teaching sequence are straight line, boomerang procedure and patchwork lesson.

Straight line

Boomerang procedure

Patchwork lesson

Then he concludes the chapter by pointing major points included in it. In this chapter, author moves to the language area. He explains well about how language is acquired and learned. The best part was that, he explained about various elements for successful language learning along with its images. It was a very new idea for me as a reader.

CHAPTER 5 DESCRIBING LANGUAGE The chapter include Meaning in context, the elements of language, Forms and meanings, Parts of speech, Hypothetical meaning Words together, Language functions, Text and discourse, Language variables. It begins with describing what the speaker wishes to convey by saying it, depends entirely on two things: the context in which it is said and what the speaker wants people to understand. In each case, the sentence is performing a different language function. The meaning of language depends on where it occurs within a larger stretch of discourse and thus the relationship that the different language elements have with what comes before and after them. Then the author discusses about element s of language like grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, forms and meanings, parts of speech, collocations, lexical chunks, language functions, text and discourses, language variables like speaking and writing, registers, language varieties, etc. In this chapter he describe each and every aspects associated with language in detail. Each part of speech and grammatical rules are thoroughly explained. Then he concludes the chapter.

In this chapter, Harmer describes various aspects of language as a continuation from the previous chapter. He explained in detail about linguistic aspects and grammatical functions and elements. It was familiar topic for an English student.

CHAPTER 6 TEACHING THE LANGUAGE SYSTEM It include Teaching specific aspects of language teaching, examples of language system teaching, explaining meaning, Mistakes, slips, errors and attempts, Explaining language construction, Correcting students, Practiced and controlled practice. First the author describes about specific aspects of teaching. Explanation, repetition and practice is a form of what we have called study. M any people have contrasted two approaches like deductive and inductive for introducing students to specific aspects of language. Harmer also provides us various examples to make the reader to understand the approach thoroughly. Deductive can be seen that this explain and practise approach in which straight arrow sequence is used. While in inductive, boomerang-type lesson sequence is used. Then the author says about explain meaning. He says that, one of the clearest ways of explaining the meaning of something is to show it. Teacher should demonstrate with example and teach them for better understanding. Many teachers use time lines to explain time, use facial expressions to explain the meaning of sad, happy, frightened, etc. If describing meaning isn’t appropriate, we can list vocabulary items to explain concepts. We can also use check questions to make sure students have understood correctly. Then the author moves to explain language construction, which include sentence construction, use of stress, intonation, etc. He also advocate the use of Cuisenaire Rods. Then he says about practice and controlled practice. We ask students to practise the language they are studying so that they can try it out and get used to saying it or writing it. This practice helps them to internalise how the language is constructed so that when it passes from their short term memory to their long-term memory, they know how it is put together. Then he explained controlled practice. The first stage of controlled practice is repetition and this can be either choral or individual. In choral repetition, we get all the students to say the new word or phrase together. Then he move to describe about, examples of language system teaching. He explains teaching grammar, pronunciation, use of words in various situations, teaching vocabulary, etc. Then author make us aware about various mistakes, slips and errors made by students. We can divide mistakes into three categories. Slips are mistakes which students can correct themselves, once the mistake has been pointed out to them. Errors are mistakes which they can’t correct themselves - and which, therefore, need explanation. Attempts are mistakes that students make when they try to say something but do not yet know how to say it. To correct their errors a teacher should not interfere in between when they are doing any activity.

Teacher can ask any students to help them out or can correct them after the activity. With these the author concludes this chapter. In this chapter, he moved into the teaching of language system where he explains the importance of explanation, repetition in the transaction process. Along with that he explained approaches of teaching, and importance of teacher’s facial expressions and gestures, etc. He covered almost all aspects related to language teaching.

CHAPTER 7 TEACHING READING This chapter include Reasons for reading, Reading sequences, Different kinds of reading, more reading suggestions, Reading levels, Encouraging students to read, Reading skills extensively, Reading principles. It begins by introducing the reasons to read. There are many reasons why getting students to read English texts is an important part of the teacher’s job. Students want to read to make an academic growth, simply for pleasure, etc. Teacher should do things that can help them to read more and more. He says that good reading texts can introduce interesting topics, stimulate discussion, excite imaginative responses and provide the springboard for well-rounded, fascinating lessons. Then he moves into different kinds of reading like extensive which refers to reading for pleasure and intensive reading which refers to the detailed focus on the construction of reading texts which takes place usually in classrooms. Then he moves to describe about reading levels, and reading skills. In reading skills he mentions about skimming (skim a text - as if they were casting their eyes over its surface to get a general idea of what it is about), scanning,( scan the text for particular bits of information they are searching for ) and Reading for detailed comprehension. Then he describes about reading principles like Encourage students to read as often and as much as possible, Students need to be engaged with what they are reading, encourage students to respond to the content of a text and explore their feelings about it not just concentrate on its construction, Prediction is a major factor in reading, Match the task to the topic when using intensive reading texts, Good teachers exploit reading texts to the full. The author provides a detailed understanding of each principle to the reader. Then he moves into explaining about sequences of reading. He explained different kind of reading texts and reading tasks. He provided the reader various examples along with picture to understand the idea. Then he included more reading suggestions like jigsaw reading, reading puzzles, using newspaper, poetry reading, reading newspaper, etc. Then author moves into encouraging students to read extensively through library, and how they should choose book which can bring them joy of life, and teacher should give students an opportunity to give feedback verbally or written form and teacher should remind them to allot time for reading in each day. Then he concludes the chapter.

Reading is an important factor of life. In this chapter, the author explained details of reading from the basic facts like reasons of reading to various principals of reading. It was really helpful.

CHAPTER 8 TEACHING WRITING The chapter include Reasons for teaching writing, More writing suggestions, Writing issues, Writing sequences, Correcting written work, Handwriting, etc. The chapter begins by saying about reasons for teaching writing like writing gives them more ‘thinking time’ than they get when they attempt spontaneous conversation. This allows them more opportunity for language processing. It is helpful to make a distinction between writing-for learning and writing-for-writing. But even if he explained, it doesn’t contain much information about reasons of writing. Then about writing issues like the teacher should think about what genre the learner should write in, the genre should be analysed, the writing process which include planning, drafting, reviewing, editing, etc and also says about building writing habits, etc. Then the author also makes more suggestions like teacher should provide instant writing activities, using music and pictures to write, newspaper writing, brochure writing, poetry writing, collaborative writing, writing to each other through live chat, postcards, emails, pen pal, etc. Then about brain storming and guidelines, etc should be provided. Then he says about how to correct a written work. it very dispiriting if they get a piece of written work back and it is covered in red ink, underlining and crossings-out. It is a powerful visual statement of the fact that their written English is terrible. Along with that over-correction can have a very de-motivating effect. Then the author says about handwriting. He says that, teachers cannot ask students to change their handwriting style, but they can encourage neatness and legibility. Especially when students are intending to take pen-and-paper exams, such things are crucial. Then he says that teacher can give them tips to improve handwriting and can be asked to write in the air to give them confidence or to trace letters on lined paper which demonstrates the position and height of letters, before going on to imitate them. Then he concludes the chapter. In this chapter he explained the next skills, writing and how important it is to teach about writing. He said that, while teaching writing, from the sentence construction and ways of writing to hand writing should be carefully taken care of by the teacher.

CHAPTER 9 TEACHING SPEAKING It include Reasons for teaching speaking, Speaking sequences, Discussion, More speaking suggestions, Correcting speaking, what teachers do during a speaking activity.

The chapter begins with explaining the reasons for teaching speaking. According to Harmer, there are three main reasons for getting students to speak in the classroom. Firstly, speaking activities provide rehearsal opportunities as a chance to practise real-life speaking in classroom. Secondly, speaking tasks in which students try to use any or all of the languages they know provide feedback for both teacher and students. Finally, the more students have opportunities to activate the various elements of language they have stored in their brains, the more automatic their use of these elements become. This means that they will be able to use words and phrases fluently without very much conscious thought. Then he moves to explain Speaking sequences. First one is photographic competition in which students have to discuss criteria before reaching a final decision. They also have to be able to give reasons for their decision. It is a group activity in which students are the judges of a photographic competition in which all the images are of men. Before they see the four finalists, they have to decide the criteria they are going to use to make their choice. Finally, the groups have to report back on their choices and say exactly why they have chosen them which criteria made them choose one above the others. This can develop into a longer whole-class discussion about what masculinity means, or about photography and how it has been changed by the invention of digitised images, etc. In here Harmer also provided the pictures to be used in the competitions. Second one is role play. The following role-play sets up a dramatic situation and then gives the participants, role-cards which tell them how they feel and what they want to achieve. Third one is interview. And finally he explains about discussion and importance of making them into buzz groups. As a good author, to make the readers understand the concept, he provided an example for each sequences and some with pictures also. Then at the end he provides us various suggestions about activities in which speaking can be used as a skill. He describes about storytelling, describing about their favourite objects, how to do greetings in an occasion, surveys, student presentations, etc. there are no hard and fast rules about correcting. Some teachers who have a good relationship with their students can intervene appropriately during a speaking activity if they do it in a quiet non-obtrusive way. This kind of gentle correction might take the form of reformulation where the teacher repeats what the student has said, but correctly this time. Then he concludes the chapter by shortly describing about what a teacher should do during speaking activity. He says that, teacher can participate with the students, but they should not dominate. It is probably better to stand back so that you can watch and listen to what’s going on, students can also appreciate teacher participation at the appropriate level. In this chapter Harmer talked about teaching of speaking. He said that, before teaching a skill first teacher should understand the reason why the learner is learning the particular skill. So he beginned with the reasons to learn speaking, then he mentioned various activities to improve it. This chapter can help a teacher to understand with various activities how we can improve speaking skills of students.

CHAPTER 1O TEACHING LISTENING The chapter include Reasons for listening, Different kinds of listening, Listening levels, Listening skills, Listening principles, Listening sequences, More listening suggestions, Audio and video. The chapter starts with mentioning about reasons for students to listen. Listening is a skill usually most of us have, but the most important thing is whether we are actively listening or passively listening to the words of other person. The author says that, the teacher should do everything to make things little easier for the students. Teacher can use face-to-face interactions, TV, radio, theatres and cinemas, tape, CDs or other recorded media to promote listening skills. Listening is good students to learn pronunciation, pitch, intonation, stress, and the sounds of both individual words and those which blend together in connected speech. Then he says that one of the main sources of listening for students is the voice of their teacher. But he also mentions that, people in a country with different regional varieties will face difficulty. Students need to be exposed to different English, but teachers need to exercise judgment about the number and degree of the varieties which are present. Then he says about different types of listening like intensive and extensive. Intensive listening is different from extensive listening in that students listen specifically in order to work on listening skills, and in order to study the way in which English is spoken. It usually takes place in classrooms or language laboratories, and typically occurs when teachers are present to guide students. He also mention certain listening sources and recorded extracts like tapes, CDs, etc. He says that they need to be able to recognise paralinguistic clues such as intonation in order to understand mood and meaning. Then he moves to principles of listening like Encourage students to listen as often and as much as possible., Help students prepare to listen, Once may not be enough of playing audio files, Encourage students to respond to the content of a listening, not just to the language, Different listening stages demand different listening tasks and Good teachers exploit listening texts to the full. Then he says about listening sequences like how important listening in our daily life.For a beginner who want to improve listening, he can start from listening to interviews. Then buy ticket from ticket counters, can listen to pre-recorded authentic interview-narrative, etc. Teacher can create such situations for the students to listen and speak.

Then he provides various suggestions to teach listening. They are Jigsaw listening, Message-taking in which students listen to a phone message being given by the teacher, audio tracks consist of speech, creative tasks like imagining film scenes, responding to mood and atmosphere, saying what the music is describing, listening to a news broadcast, listening to poetry, stories, etc. Then he moves into the last session to discuss about use of audio and video to improve listening. The author asks teachers to Play the video without sound, Play the audio without the picture, pause button and asks the students what’s going to happen next, half the class face the screen. The other half sit with their backs to it. The ‘screen’ half describe the visual images to the ‘wall’ half. This chapter gives the reader a clear idea about how we can help students to improve listening skills with the help of various activities and aids and clarifies how it can be effectively used in real life settings.

CHAPTER 11 USING COURSE BOOKS It include options for course book use, Adding, adapting and Replacing course book, Reasons for (and against), use of course book, Choosing course books. It begins by describing the use of course book. For every teacher course book is essential. As it help teacher to look in detail about each lesson for a particular class. He says that with a good course book, there is a strong possibility that the language, content and sequencing in

the book will be appropriate, and that the topics and treatment of the different language skills will be attractive. But if the teacher finds that, the texts or activities are not appropriate for a particular group of students or a particular lesson, and then she should find alternatives. According to Harmer, there are four alternatives like we might simply decide to omit that activity. Here pick and choose’ approach should be used. Another alternative is to replace the course book lesson with one of teacher`s own, but this may have disadvantages as well. The third option is to add to what is in the book. The final option is for teachers to adapt what is in the book. Teacher can adapt the lesson by rewriting parts of it, replacing some of the activities (but not all), reordering activities or reducing the number of activities in the sequence. I felt the third and final alternative more appropriate as a reader cum budding teacher. Then with three examples author show how course book material can be used differently by teachers. To illustrate his idea he brings in course book called New Cutting Edge Elementary by Sarah Cunningham and Peter Moor which give importance to grammar, practical activities, choosing right words, short quiz, and include questions to be practiced with peer. A good course book should be like this.

Then he says that most of the course books contain words list at the back of the book. Many teachers avoid it. Harmer says that, every teacher should find time to explain those words. Teacher can do personal engagements by asking students to discuss questions like ‘Which words have a positive meaning for you?’. Teacher can conduct word games, etc. Then he brings in the course book of Burton Holmes, etc. Then he discuss the merits and demerits of using course books. He says that, some teachers find it boring, stifling (for both teacher and students) and often inappropriate for the class in front of them. It sometimes prevents students from referring other books, magazines, and variety of other sources. It may prevent students from thinking critically about valid points. While some feel positive about course book as it provide good teaching material which is attractively presented. A course book is made after many researches. It includes grammar syllabus, vocabulary exposure, development of skills, etc. Most course books guide teachers to proceed smoothly with teaching as well as provide additional ideas. Then he points various points related to both sides of the argument.

He ends the chapter by saying about the importance of choosing a course book. The price, information, layout, design, instructions, methodology, syllabus, skills, teacher`s guidance etc should be considers according to the author. In the chapter he has provided every detail about the course book which is essential for a budding teacher.

CHAPTER 12 PLANNING LESSONS The chapter include Reasons for planning, A proposal for action, Lesson shapes, Planning questions, Plan formats, Planning a sequence of Lessons, and planning after the lesson (and before the next) He begins by explaining the various reasons of planning lessons. According to the author, the results of lesson plans range from the very formal and elaborate to a few hurried notes. But even the notes are still a plan of a kind. The evidence of a plan shows that the teacher has devoted time to thinking about the class which strongly suggest professionalism and commitment. He says that, for teachers, a plan gives the lesson a framework, an overall shape. A plan helps to remind teachers what they intended to do. So it is an essential part in our teaching learning process. Then he moves into the proposal for making a lesson plan. It should not be slavishly followed. To take an action, the teacher should have an idea about the intended learning outcome. In this session, he provided various examples for situations to make us understand that, there are possibilities that can change our plan. When the students start working on this activity, it is obvious that they need more time. Clearly the plan will have to be modified. The author says that, even if a teacher had planned a lesson, teacher need to be flexible enough to cope with unforeseen events and need to adjust with it. He also says that, even if the plan is altered, there can be certain magic moments like: a student suddenly says something really interesting, something which could provoke fascinating conversation or suggest a completely unplanned (but appropriate and enjoyable) activity. This can make class more interesting. Then he moves into the lesson shapes. He says that a good lesson needs to contain a judicious blend of coherence and variety. In a lesson, every activity should be connected with one another. Then he says about the importance of planning questions about lessons before entering a class. The make-up of the class will influence the way we plan. A teacher should question herself about who exactly are the students for this activity, what we want to do in the lesson in terms of activities, skills and language, whether each activity is appropriate according to the content, age and interest of the learners, what will students know or be able to do and understand or feel after the activity, how long will it take, how does it work, what will be needed, what might go wrong (like possible problems), etc should be considered. Then he says about format of plan. He says that a format is essential which should contain elements like: description of the students, aims and objectives, procedures, anticipated

problems, extra activities, materials to be used, etc. Along with that he provides table which includes all this. But it is not a lesson plan we use in the present education system.

Then the author discussed about planning sequences of lessons. This is important as students will want to see a coherent pattern of progress and topic-linking so that there is a transparent connection between lessons. Then they can perceive some overall aims and objectives to their program of study. But the author never says about what are sequences of planning a lesson or about its importance. He merely mentions its possible prejudices hindering successful sequencing like predictability (if students know that is going to learn, then they will be less motivated to learn) and Sameness (students may feel less enthusiastic about today’s lesson if it starts with exactly the same kind of activity as yesterday’s lesson). Then he mentions about book on planning by Tessa Woodward, who is a teacher and teacher trainer. Then Harmer says about what teacher should take care of while planning about what should be done after the lesson. He says after finishing each chapter, teacher should judge whether it was successful. Both teacher and students should evaluate how well things occurred. Teacher should receive feedback from students with open heart. Harmer says that, teacher can invite a college while taking a class to observe her class and to provide suggestions to improve. This

peer observation will be effective according to him. Teacher should also keep record of their activities, emotions, etc to have a self evaluation. Then he concludes the chapter, As a budding teacher, for me this chapter was very much useful. I never thought that, a teacher should keep a record of our feeling after and before taking a lesson so that we can evaluate. I will definitely try it in my life. This was very effective chapter which provided many ideas about planning a lesson. But still I think that the information about planning sequences of lesson could have been better. It was much vague idea for me.

CHAPTER 13 TESTING This chapter include reasons for testing students, marking tests, how a Good test should be, how we should design tests and various types of tests. The chapter begins by mentioning the reasons for testing students. He says that, there are various tests according to various fields. There are placement tests, progress tests, achievement tests, public examinations, proficiency tests, portfolio tests, etc. Then he says that good tests should be valid and reliable. He says that a test should have backwash effects. The back wash effect is the influence that a test has on the way students are taught. It is the outcome of a test or an examination which results either in positive or in a negative way. Then he says about types of tests such as direct test items that ask students to do something with language like letter writing, building conversations, etc. Then he says about indirect tests which focus on word collocations. Then he describes about indirect test items like multiple choice, fill-in-the blanks, transformation items related to grammar, etc with examples. Then he gives explanation for direct test items like reading and listening, speaking, writing tests, etc. Then Harmer moves to explain the marking of tests. The marking of tests is reasonably simple if the markers only have to tick boxes or individual words. Marking should be objective. He provides an example that, if we are marking a student’s oral presentation, we might use the following scales: 1

2

3

4

5

Grammar Vocabulary Pronunciation Coherence Fluency He also provides example of scale for assessing writing. Then he describes about designing a test. Before designing, teacher should understand the characteristics of a good test in mind. He explains the difference in designing each type of tests and what should be taken care of.

When designing tests for classes, it is helpful if we make a list of the things we want to test. Then teacher should decide how much importance should be given to each thing on the list. After the designing, teacher should try the test out with students of roughly the same level as the ones it is designed for. This will show us if there are any items which are more difficult or easier than we thought, and it will highlight any items which are unclear or which cause unnecessary problems. This chapter was useful for me and it will be useful for every budding teacher. Testing is an important factor of teaching to evaluate the performance of students. This chapter make us understand that, a teacher cannot put a test all of a sudden. Teacher need to consider various other factors and teacher should plan, understand and then should design a test appropriate for her students.

CHAPTER 14 WHAT IF? This chapter is about various problems faced by teachers in the form of if questions. That is visible from the title of the chapter itself. It include various questions like, What if students are all at different levels?, What if the class is very big? , What if students keep using their own language?, What if students don't do homework?, What if students are uncooperative? What if students don't want to talk?, What if students don't understand the audio track?, What if some students finish before everybody else? The chapter begins by explaining what if students in a class are from different levels, which is one of the biggest problems a teacher may face. The author says that, to tackle it teacher can adopt different materials, technologies, different tasks, use help of peer, etc. Then he says about the problem of having a big class. It can be tackled by using worksheets, pair works, can use class leaders to pass materials; teacher should focus on writing or presentation in a bigger handwriting, etc. The next problem, he talked what about what a teacher should do if students are using own language continuously. Then teacher should talk with them about the issues, encourage using English language appropriately, only responding to English use, creating English environment to promote speaking in English, Keep reminding them, etc. Then he says about tackling the issues of students not doing home works. The author says that, in such a situation, teacher should ask them reasons for not doing it, make learning and activities more fun, give home works which can create an enthusiasm in the students, etc. Then he says about having uncooperative students. In this situation sometimes emotional detachment will be effective along. Teacher can change means of communication; can try to change their behaviour, etc. If we are facing students who don’t want to talk, then teacher can implement pair works, allow them to talk in a controlled way, use reading out, use role play, use recordings, etc.

Then the author moves to another issue in which students find it difficult to understand audio tracks. Then teacher can use language labs, play in chunks, help them listen all the time, etc were discussed. If some students finish tasks before others, then teacher can provide them extra activities, materials, or teacher can use little worksheets, puzzles, readings, etc which can be done quickly. Then he concludes the chapter. The chapter is useful as it provides answers for many questions and gives instructions to tackle those problems effectively.

TASK FILES The book contains extra details after the entire chapter. In this session, the author included exercises in this section all relate to topics discussed in the relevant chapter in the book. It provides exercises based on the title and content of each chapter. In this 47 pages included questions related to the chapters and other 33 pages included the answers of each question. I felt that, this chapter is really interesting and something new, which was not present in other book related to education. This session can help teachers to understand, how we should create a book and the exercises also act as a model for various activities.

SUGGESTIONS This book is useful for teachers, budding teachers and educational institutions. But I think that, the author could have added extra information and could have made this book a better one. ✔ In my opinion, the book is well arranged as it moves from simple details to complex details. The introduction of the book contains more information about how the book was constructed. But I think that, the author could have included a well organised information about why the book was constructed and what it is its aim. ✔ I think that the book could have included more information like methods of teaching, strategies that can be adapted by a teacher in the classroom, etc. ✔ The book has included details about teaching various language skills, but didn’t include how to teach grammar portions. ✔ Even if the book has included a different chapter about learner factors, it doesn’t include the importance of various learning theories like behaviourism, cognitivism and constructivism. ✔ The book included information related to course book, but doesn’t mention anything about curriculum and syllabus. ✔ I think, the book could have included information about various audio- visual aids and its effective use in classrooms.

CONCLUSION “How to Teach English” is a book with a purpose to help teachers, budding teachers and teacher trainees to improve their teaching in English language. This book has certain flaws, but still it has included much information that is relevant in the teaching field. I am sure that it is a very beneficial book. It focused on providing much information from the basic facts of teaching to answering the possible questions that could have been disturbing a teacher. This book makes teachers to look into their own teaching and help them to understand various new facts and to know about the extra information about known facts of teaching. English is a global language, so each day its importance is rising. With that, every English teacher will be getting new opportunities to follow their passion to teach. With the help of technology and these kinds of books we can improve our teaching and can become more efficient teachers.