1 Engage:
students and teacher look at a picture, website or DVD of new generation robots.
Perhaps they can watch a brief clip of the movie
I, Robot
or some other contem porary film
with a similar theme. They say whether they like or don’t like the idea of robots.
2 Study:
the teacher shows students (the picture
of) a particular robot. Students are introduced to
‘can’ and ‘can’t ’ (how they are pronounced and
constructed) and say things like ‘It can use a cash
m achine’ and ‘It can’t play the piano’. The teacher
tries to make sure the sentences are pronounced
correctly and that the students use accurate
grammar.
3 Activate:
students work in groups to design
and describe their dream robot. They make a
presentation to the class saying what their robot
can and can’t do.
We can represent this kind of lesson like this:
ESA straight arrows sequence
54
Describing learning and teaching
Straight arrows lessons, much like PPP procedures (see page 49), work very well for certain
structures. The robot example clearly shows how ‘can’ and ‘can’t’ are constructed and how
they are used. It gives students a chance to practise the language in a controlled way (during
the study phase) and then gives them the chance to begin to activate the ‘new’ language in
an enjoyable way.
However, if we teach all our lessons like this, we may not be giving our students’ own
learning styles (see page 16) a fair chance. Such a procedure may work at lower levels for
straightforward language, but it might not be so appropriate for more advanced learners
with more complex language. It won’t be of much use if we want students to get involved
with a reading text or have a discussion about something. It wouldn’t be terribly useful
either if most of the students already know how to use ‘can’ and ‘can’t’.
Thus, while there is nothing wrong with using the straight arrows sequence — for the
right students at the right level, learning the right language - it is not always appropriate.
Instead, there are other possibilities for the sequence of the ESA elements. Here, for example,
is a
boomerang
procedure:
1 Engage:
students and teacher discuss issues surrounding job interviews. W hat makes a
good interviewee? W hat sort of thing does the interviewer want to find out? Hopefully, the
students get interested in the topic.
2 Activate:
the teacher describes an interview situation which the students are going to act
out in a role-play. The students plan the kind of questions they are going to ask and the kind
of answers they m ight want to give (not focusing specifically on language construction, etc,
but treating it as a real-life task). They then role-play the interviews. While they are doing
this, the teacher makes a note o f language difficulties they have and particular mistakes that
can be worked on later.
3 Study:
when the role-plays are over,
the teacher works with the students on
the gram m ar and vocabulary which
caused them trouble. For example,
students can compare their language
with more correct usage and try to work
out (discover) for themselves where they
went wrong. The teacher may explain
what the problems were or refer students
to gram m ar books, etc. They m ight do
some controlled practice of the language
(see pages 85-87).
4 Activate:
some time later, students
role-play another job interview, having
absorbed the corrections to the language
they used last time round.
A diagram for boom erang lessons can
show this procedure like this:
EAS(A) boomerang sequence
55
Chapter 4
In this sequence the teacher is answering the needs of the students. They are not taught
language until and unless they have shown (in the activate phase) that they have a need
for it. In some ways, this makes m uch better sense because the connection between what
students need to learn and what they are taught is more transparent. However, it places
a greater burden on the teacher since he or she will have to be able to find good teaching
material based on the (often unforeseen) problems throw n up at the first activate stage. It
may also be more appropriate for students at intermediate and advanced levels since they
have quite a lot of language already available to them to use in an activate stage.
Boomerang sequences feel m uch m ore like the kind of TBL procedures we discussed
on page 51; the task came first, not a specific language point. But then the boom erang
comes back (if we need it) to rem ind us to study some of the language used, more or less
successfully, in the task. A more specific type of boom erang sequence is sometimes called
test-teach-test
where the students are first asked to use language in an activation stage,
and are then taught how to deal w ith things they made mistakes with before trying the
testing part of it again.
Many lessons aren’t quite as clear-cut as this, however. Instead, they are a m ixture of
procedures and m ini-procedures, a variety of short episodes building up to a whole. Here
is an example of this kind of
patchwork
lesson:
1 Engage —► Activate:
students look at a picture of sunbathers and respond to it by
comm enting on the people and the activity they are taking p art in. Maybe they look at each
other’s holiday photos, etc. Then they act out a dialogue between a doctor and a sunburn
victim after a day at the beach.
2 Activate:
students look at a text describing different people (with different skin types)
and the effects the sun has on their skin (see page 103). They say how they feel about the
effects of the sun.
3 Study:
the teacher does vocabulary work on words such as ‘pale’, ‘fair-skinned’, ‘freckles’,
‘tan’, etc, ensuring that students understand the meaning and the hyphenated com pound
nature of some of them, and that they are able to say them with the correct pronunciation
in appropriate contexts.
4 Activate:
students describe themselves or people they know in the same kind of ways as
the reading text.
5 Study:
the teacher focuses the students’ attention on the relative clause construction
used in the text (e.g. ‘I’m the type of person who always burns’ and ‘I’m the type of person
who burns easily’). The use of the ‘who’ clause is discussed and students practise sentences,
saying things like ‘They’re the kind of people w ho enjoy movies’, etc.
6 Engage:
the teacher discusses advertisements with the students. W hat are they for?
W hat different ways do they try to achieve their effect? W hat are the most effective ads
the students can think of? Perhaps the teacher plays some radio commercials or puts some
striking visual ads on an overhead projector.
7 Activate:
the students write a radio commercial for a sunscreen. The teacher lets them
record it, using sound effects and music.
56
We can represent a (version of a) patchwork lesson sequence in the following way:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Describing learning and teaching
EAASASEA (etc) patchwork sequence
Such classes are very comm on, especially at intermediate and advanced levels. Not only
do they probably reflect the way we learn - rather chaotically, not always in a straight line
- but they also provide an appealing balance between study and activation, and between
language and topic.
Engage, Study and Activate are the basic building blocks for successful language teaching
and learning. By using them in different and varied sequences, teachers will be doing their
best to prom ote their students’ success since various theories and procedures which have
informed debates about language learning are reflected in sequences such as straight arrows,
boom erang and patchwork lessons.
ESA and planning
When we think of w hat to do in our lessons, we have to decide what it is we hope our
students will achieve by the end of a lesson (or the end of a week or m onth, for example).
We then try to plan how to get there (see Chapter 12). In this context, balancing up the
three ESA elements reminds us of the need for student engagement; it prom pts us to ensure
that there are study events built into the plan; it ensures that in almost all lessons there
are also opportunities for students to have a go at using the language they are learning
(or learnt yesterday, last week or last m onth). W hen they try to use language (whether for
interacting with other people’s texts and conversation or in order to produce language
themselves) they get a chance for the kind of mental processing that makes all that learning
and acquisition worthwhile. We will remember, too, that is important to vary the sequence
of events for the reasons we stated on page 29.
Many teachers have to plan around a coursebook (see Chapter 11) which has been
chosen for their classes. But even where lessons are based on coursebook pages, it is
important to manipulate the activities in the book so that the three elements, engage, study
and activate are evident in appropriate sequences.
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